Conner fell through the portal and to the ground with a grunt, the red Dino Thunder Ranger rolling onto his back with a groan as he blinked a few time to reorient himself. Pushing himself up off the ground, Conner dusted himself off and looked around to see that he was in a city park and, judging by what was around him, it wasn't the Reefside City Park.
"Okay, so the portal worked," he mumbled, "so let's find out where it sent me."
Leaving the park Conner walked around the city and was able to quickly discover that he was in Angel Grove as he passed by the Angel Grove Youth Center. His eyes wide, the Red Dino Thunder ranger walked through the front door and looked around the building. He had been there with his team before, a little trip that Tommy had planned for them so they could see where the original rangers started, so it wasn't strange for him to see it. What caught his attention though was the group of familiar teens talking to each other.
'No way,' he thought moving to hide behind a nearby pillar.
Conner could feel his heart racing as he peeked out from behind the pillar to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. Luck wasn't on his side though as, sitting there at a table not far from him, was a group he was familiar with. Tommy, Jason, Kimberly, Trini, Billy, and Zack were all sitting together, laughing at something that Zack had just said without realizing they were being watched.
'Alright let's play the 'Guess What Year We're Now In' game,' the young red ranger mused as he looked the teens over, 'I can take a pretty good guess that they're currently high school based on how young they look.'
Glancing over at Tommy and Kimberly, he took in Tommy's outfit and noticed that Tommy was wearing green instead of white, red, or black, and Kimberly was flirting with him.
'Tommy's wearing green which means that he's still the green ranger and Kimberly is flirting with him, putting me in...nineteen ninety-three,' he thought glancing over to Jason, Trini, and Zack, 'yeah, nineteen ninety-three, those three are still here.'
Tommy and Jason stood up, both of them grinning, before they headed over to the training mats and bowed to each other. Moving so that he could get a better look, Conner smirked as he watched the two of them get into a fighting stance, Jason making the first move as he stepped forward and spun around to kick his sparring partner. Tommy blocked it with ease as he pushed the leg towards the ground and stepped in to punch Jason. The rest of the group walked over to watch the match, Kimberly cheering the both of them on as she jumped up and down allowing Conner to notice something important was missing.
'What the...where's her power morpher?' he wondered, looking over at her with wide eyes, 'for that matter, where's their wrist communicator?'
Conner's stare didn't go unnoticed as Trini looked over and spotted him, her eyes narrowing as she saw who he was looking at. Leaning over she whispered something into Zack's ear, Zack frowning and looking over at towards Conner catching Billy's attention. Wanting to avoid conflict Conner started to move away to the other side of the training mats only to notice that the three teens had followed after him.
"Hey you," Zack called making Conner groan, "hold up we just want to talk."
'Great I guess we're doing this now,' Conner sighed turning around to face them.
"What's up?"
"Look I understand that a lot of people like Kimberly," Trini said frowning, "and I mean a lot of people, but we want to give you a heads up."
"A...heads up?" Conner asked confused.
"Kimberly has taken a liking to Tommy over there," Billy explained, nodding towards the teen in green, "so if you wish to pursue any type of courtship with her then you might want to act fast."
"I don't get what you guys ar...oh...OH!" Conner said as realization hit him, "no no no no no no, I don't like Kimberly like that trust me."
"Then why were you observing her like you were?" Billy asked confused.
"Yeah, the way you were staring at my friend didn't really leave us with that impression," Trini huffed.
"Look it's...okay answer me this then," Conner sighed as he looked over at Jason and Tommy, "how long has Tommy been here in Angel Grove?"
"About a week why?" Zack replied.
"A week?" Conner whispered looking back over at Tommy, "then that means he should still be under Rita's control."
"Um...who's Rita?" Trini asked frowning.
"Who's Ri...you're joking right Trini?" the future red ranger asked in shock, "Zack, Billy you guys know who Rita Repulsa is right?"
"Okay so I'm pretty sure we've never seen you before so how do you know our names?" the hip hop martial artist asked curiously.
Conner groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, as he tried to think of a way out of this situation. This wasn't what he had wanted, as soon as he saw them he had hoped that he would simply be able to avoid talking to them so that the risk of messing up the timeline wouldn't be there but of course, Trini had to see him. Seeing that her friends had moved, Kimberly looked around until she spotted them, smiling as she walked over to the group.
"Hey guys why didn't you tell me you were moving?" Kimberly asked, Conner glancing over at her, "oh hey, I don't think I know you, are you new here?"
"Uh yeah kind of," Conner replied holding up his hand, "Conner McKnight."
"Kimberly Hart, nice to meet you," Kim said happily, looking over at her friends, "so what's going on?"
"We were just talking to...Conner right?" Zack asked looking over at him and seeing him nod, "right we were talking to Conner and it turns out, he already knows our names."
"You do?" Kim asked confused, "so I didn't need to introduce myself?"
"Look it's hard to explain, and I don't really have the time to…"
"The time to what?" Jason asked walking over to them, Tommy next to him, "what are we talking about?"
'Abort, abort!' Conner screamed in his mind, looking around for an exit.
"We're trying to figure out how someone new to Angel Grove knows our names," Billy explained.
"You're new here as well?" Tommy asked grinning, "cool, glad to see I'm not the only one."
"I-I'm not really moving here, just visiting," Conner replied backing up, "look I need to go so if you'll excuse me."
"Hold on, I want to know how you know my friends' names," Jason said frowning.
"Oh trust me Jason I don't just know their names," Conner mumbled.
"You know my name as well?" Jason said surprised.
Conner groaned and once again looked for a way out when Tommy spoke up to save him.
"Hey I know I'm just the new guy," Tommy said, "but maybe we should give this guys some slack."
"Tommy's right," Kimberly agreed, Conner sighing in relief, "I mean it's not like we're not well known around here."
"But Conner just said he was visiting," Zack reminded her, "so I just want to know how he knows our names."
Conner glanced over at Tommy and Kimberly, noticing just how much he looked like them, and then back at the rest of the group. Looking at each of them he could see that they weren't mad, just curious, and he knew that they deserved answers.
"Alright, I'll tell you," Conner assured them, "but not here, there's somewhere we need to go first."
The group all looked at each other in confusion but nodded in agreement, following Conner out of the Youth Center. They quickly discussed where they could go and Tommy offered up his house for them to go to so they could talk. After piling into their cars they made their way to the Oliver household and Tommy led them inside, the group being greeted by his mom.
"Tommy is that you?"
"Yeah mom it's me, I brought some friends over," Tommy called back, his mother walking into the living room.
Conner stopped as he looked at the Oliver woman and took her appearance in. She was smaller than Tommy wa, with bright blond hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in a simple purple blouse and some capris, an apron wrapped around her waist and a dish towel in her hand as she dried them off.
"Oh hello there everyone," Mrs. Oliver smiled, "and I don't think I've seen you before."
"Sorry, my name is Conner," Conner said shaking her hand.
"Well nice to meet you Conner," she replied, "you know you look like Tommy."
"I uh...I do?" the future ranger gulped.
Mrs. Oliver leaned in and looked Conner over for a few seconds before stepping back and smiling once more.
"Most definitely, though you do have some differences from my little boy."
"Mom," Tommy groaned as he blushed bright red.
Kimberly giggles, catching Mrs. Oliver's attention and making the older woman turn around to look at her.
"And Kimberly Hart, you look as beautiful as Tommy described you," she said making Kim blush as well.
"Oh is that so," Kimberly replied, giving Tommy a smile, "what have you told her about me Tommy?"
"Right so why don't we all head up stairs," Tommy ordered moving the group up stairs.
"Oh Tommy I have some cookies if you and your friends wants some," Mrs. Oliver told them, Kimberly slipping pass Tommy and walking over to his mother.
"Oh I'll help you with them Mrs. Oliver!"
"Well aren't you just the nicest little thing," Mrs. Oliver giggled, "you better not let this one get away from you Thomas."
Tommy groaned again and the teens all chuckled at his dilemma, Conner merely smirking as he followed the past version of his mentor to his room. Walking inside Conner looked around the room and saw that it was about what one would expect from a teenage martial artist protege. The walls were covered in certificates and awards from his time at different dojos and taking part in different competitions, off to the side there was a well used punching bag and, much to Conner's amusement, an array of weapons that Tommy had a mastery in. Next to Tommy's bed on the bedside table was something that caught Conner's attention, a new picture of Tommy with his new friends, the group of teens surrounding him with Jason behind him and Kimberly on his lap.
"You know, you really do kind of have some resemblance to me," Tommy admitted, walking over to him, "wonder why that is."
"Not sure," Conner lied, "I've never really thought of it before it was mention."
Tommy nodded but didn't press the issue, turning around when he heard the door to his room open. Kimberly walked in, a smile on her face and a plate of hot cookies in her hands, as she closed the door behind her and set the plate down where they could get to it before sitting down on the bed.
"So then," Zack started as he munched on one of the cookies, "you going to tell us how you know our names now?"
"Yeah," Conner replied taking a bite of the cookie in his hand, "but I have a question for the six of you first before I tell you."
"I don't think that's how this works," Trini replied skeptically.
"Humor me," Conner said setting the cookies down.
The teens all looked at each other again, Jason and Tommy shrugging in response and the others all looking back over to Conner.
"Alright then, what's your question?" Jason asked curiously.
Conner took a deep breath and once again looked at the picture on Tommy's bedside table, looking back at them with determination in his eyes.
"What do the six of you know about the power rangers?"