Back in time
Chapter 8
The next morning, Jason, Tommy, Zack and Kim were all walking through Angel Grove park, discussing the confusing events of the day before as they walked towards school.
"I just don't get why that Kira has such a problem with us?" Jason was muttering, barely focusing on where he was going.
"When we were in Zedd's palace, she seemed to be a mix of pissed off and amused." Kim said, frowning as she thought back to their conversation. "Although, she did talk to me a bit about where the get their powers from, but she didn't say much."
"What do you mean?" Tommy asked, holding her hand as they walked.
"She said that they get their powers from those gems that they wear on their wrists. The ones that turn into their morphers. That's also how they get those extra abilities of theirs. Although, she said something about the gems choosing them…." She said, trailing off at the end.
"Don't you mean their mentor choosing them?" Zack asked.
"No. She said the gems chose them." She frowned, looking at something in the distance before pointing it out. "Well, there's 4 of them." They looked and saw the 4 Dino Thunder teens sparring at the top of the hill.
"Let's go talk to them." Jason said, marching over before they could stop him. "What are you guys doing?" He asked as they got near, making the teens stop and turn to face the other Ranger team.
"Training. We were bored and Dr O kicked us out of the command centre." Conner said, panting slightly as he caught the water bottle that Ethan threw him.
"Why are you all out in the open? Someone could see you." Jason practically hissed.
"And all they would see are some teens on a school trip who had some downtime and chose to spend it at the park." Kira replied, putting her hands on her hips. "Both Zordon and Dr O said it was fine for us to be here. The only one of us who should stay hidden is Dr O, and that's because someone who knows him could get suspicious."
"And no one's going to get suspicious about you guys?" He snapped.
"Chill dude." Ethan said, standing next to Kira. "No one here knows us. In this time, we are all 8 and living in Reefside. I think that we're good."
"Where did you get the clothes? I thought you guys hadn't brought anything." Kim asked, trying to change the subject.
"Billy and Trini brought them to the command centre for us this morning. Said that we would blend in better with clean, and different clothes." Trent said, pulling at the white top slightly.
"Look, we've got to get to school. We'll see you guys later." Tommy said, grabbing Jason's shoulders and pushing the red ranger away, the other two following with a quick wave.
"Idiots." Kira mumbled, pushing her sleeves up slightly.
"Kira, they're not- what's that?" Conner asked, looking at Kira's arm in shock.
"What?" She looked down and realised her mistake. Pushing her sleeves up had revealed the bruise near her elbow, the large, black/blue mark standing out against her tan skin. "Nothing." She said hastily, moving to put her sleeve back down.
"That isn't nothing." Ethan said, grabbing her wrist and holding her arm up slightly, only to drop it in shock. "Kira, that's a handprint!"
"What?" Conner and Trent asked in shock, not believing what they had heard.
"The bruise, it's in the shape of a hand." He repeated, making Kira look slightly nervous.
"It's fine. It's probably from when Zeltrax grabbed me." She said, not looking at any of them in the eye.
"Kira, that is not from Zeltrax and you know it." Trent said, making Kira sigh. "What happened?" Before she could reply, a blast knocked the 4 off their feet, sending them rolling down the hill they were on top of. They looked up to see Zeltrax stood where they were previously stood, an army of putties and one of Zedd's monsters.
"Get them!" Zeltrax called, making the Putties begin to attack them. The teens all jumped up and fell into the fight easily, numerous of hours fighting tyrannodrones made the putties easy to fight out of morph.
"This is insane!" Ethan called as he used his Tricerra skin to block a hit. "Where are they all coming from?"
"The evil minion factory." Kira commented, using the climbing frame behind her to dodge the putties and swing herself around to hit them.
"Trent, we need to get to Zeltrax!" Conner called, making the other teen nod. "Let's morph. Ready?"
"Ready." The others replied, falling into their stances behind him, most of the putties now down for the count.
"Dino Thunder, Power up!"
"White Ranger, Dino power."
Once morphed, the rangers fell back into the fight, Kira, Conner and Trent taking on Zeltrax and the monster while Ethan took care of the remaining putties.
"Need some help?" A voice asked as a red blur jumped over Kira and slashed the monster with a sword.
"Thanks Jason, but I'm fine." Kira snapped, pulling out her Ptera grips. They continued to fight, Kira and Jason fighting the monster, Conner and Trent fighting Zeltrax and the rest fighting the new Putties that turned up suddenly.
"Watch out!" Conner called as Zeltrax sent him and Trent flying into Kira and Jason. The yellow and Red rangers managed to stop themselves from falling and steady the other two, but just barely.
"Those 4." Zeltrax hissed to the monster who began to laugh. "Show them what you can do, brainasaur."
"Here we go!" The monster, Brainasaur, said, shooting a beam at them from a gem on his head, first at Jason and Kira, and then at Conner and Trent. However, the second beam fell short of its target and blasted the ground instead, letting off an explosion. The 4 Rangers flew back, falling to the ground with a loud thud and getting knocked out of morph.
"Let's go." Zeltrax hissed, teleporting away with Brainasaur and the putties.
"Guys!" Ethan called, de morphing and running over to the 4 on the ground. "You alright?"
"Fine. We're fine." Conner said, sitting up and looking around. "What happened?"
"You got knocked out of Morph. Are you ok Jas?" Tommy asked, making to help his friend up.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Kira replied, making everyone frown. Kira suddenly froze, looking up in shock. "Why do I sound like a girl?"
"Kira?" Ethan asked, frowning at the yellow clad teen.
"Oh no." Jason replied, looking at Kira with wide eyes. Kira looked over, and her eyes widened at what she saw. "You have got to be kidding me."
"Oh…. My…. God." Ethan breathed, looking at the two teens with a concerned, but slightly amused expression as he realised what was going on. "Am I dreaming?"
"What is it Ethan?" Kim asked, looking at the teenager in worry.
"I know what happened. They swapped minds!" He replied, smirking slightly.
"WHAT?" The remaining ranges shouted, only Zack sounded more amused than the others. "Are you kidding?" Tommy asked.
"Nope. Kira and Jason swapped. That's Kira in Jason's body and Jason in Kira's." He said, pointing to the ones in question.
"I'm a girl?" Kira, or Jason in Kira's body, asked in a strained voice.
"I'm a guy!" Kira cried, looking down at her body, or the red clad body of Jason that she was in. "This is creepy!"
"What do we do?" Kim asked, looking at Tommy, who was looking as confused as she felt.
"Guys, I don't want to add more bad news to this situation, but we have to be at school in 10 minutes." Zack said, making Tommy shake out of his trance and look at Kira.
"You're going to have to come with us and pretend to be Jason." He said, making them both look up.
"What? No way! I don't want to spend another minute as him!" She said, jumping up, only to fall back as she wasn't used to Jason's build.
"You have to. I have perfect attendance and you are not ruining that for me." He said, making the Dino Thunder teens look at him in shock.
"Seriously? Dude, you have just been turned into a girl, got a girl inside your body, and you're concerned about your attendance?" Conner asked, looking more confused than ever.
"We don't have time to discuss this. You four get back to the command centre and try and figure out what is going on." Tommy snapped, snatching the red rucksack that lay on the floor and tossing it to Kira. "You'll need this. Jason has classes with me all day, so you can just follow me around." Kira looked at her teammates for support, only for Tommy to grab her shoulder and drag her with them.
"Come on Jason. Let's get to the command centre." Ethan said, helping the teen up. "God, this is too weird."
"You're telling me." He mumbled, looking down at the yellow gym gear that he, or Kira, was wearing. Ethan just shook his head before lifting his morpher to his mouth.
"Dr O? Can you ask Alpha to teleport us back? We may have a problem." He said, looking at his three companions as he spoke.
"Teleporting in 5." Dr O replied. 5 seconds later, they were all turned into beams of light as they were teleported to the command centre, materialising in the main command centre. "What happened to you guys?" He asked, seeing their dirty clothes and confused faces.
"Zeltrax happened." Conner said.
"Zeltrax?" Dr O asked, frowning at the annoyed look on Trent's face, the slightly amused look on Conner's, Ethan's confused face and Kira's slightly disgusted one.
"He attacked us with one of Zedd's monsters. At least, I think it was one of Zedd's." Ethan said, still giving his teammates side glances.
"Right, go and get changed, and then we'll talk about it." He said, watching the teens nod and walk down the hall. He thought for a moment before following, his eyes on one person. "Kira? Can I talk to you?" He asked, making the yellow clad teenager groan slightly.
"What's up?" She asked, turning. Jason tried to sound cheery, but he also didn't want to overdo it.
"Are you alright?" He asked, his concern shining in his eyes.
"Umm…. I think so." Jason said, trying not to think about how he was going to get changed.
"Are you sure?" Jason frowned slightly, confused as to why Dr O was showing more concern for Kira than the guys.
"I'm fine, Dr Oliver." He said, the words almost sounding almost like a question.
"Kira, we're alone. You don't have to call me that." He said in a soft voice, Jason almost smacking himself as he realised what was going on.
"Wait, what?" He asked, making Dr O frown.
"Kira, what is going on? You haven't called me Dr Oliver when we're alone since we started dating." He said, getting more confused when Kira's eyes widened and filled with slight disgust.
"You're dating Kira? One of your students?" Jason nearly shouted in shock. Dr O, realising that something wasn't quite right, froze.
"Kira?" He asked, hoping that she was playing a prank on him.
"No." The girl replied, making him back up slightly.
"Who…. How…. When….."
"The how I don't know, but this morning. And Jason." Jason snapped, making Dr O look around before grabbing his arm and dragging the him into a room.
"What is going on?" He asked, trying to piece together what had just happened.
"Well, the monster we fought swapped mine and Kira's minds. Oh, and you are dating your student, who is 9 years younger than you!" Jason snapped, Kira's voice sounding too nice for the way he was feeling.
"Ok, Jason, you cannot tell anyone about me and Kira. Including my team!" He said. "No one knows."
"Fine. But just remember who is in front of you. And please, don't be gross." He said, turning and walking out of the room, only to pause at the door. "Hang on," He said, turning around to look at the older man again. "If you're dating Kira, what happened to Kim?" Dr O sighed, shaking his head slightly.
"It didn't work out. I haven't spoken to her in a long time." He said, regret filling his eyes.
"Why not?" Jason asked, crossing his, or Kira's, arms.
"I haven't spoken to any of you. We all fell out of contact soon after we stopped being Rangers." He said, crossing his arms across his chest. Jason looked at him like he had gone insane.
"So what? We stop being rangers and that's it? You cut off all communication with us? Are we only good enough to be your friends when we're rangers?" He snapped, making Dr O's eyes narrow.
"You were the ones who stopped talking to me. I tried. After Kim broke up with me, you all stopped returning my calls." He said, his voice rising slightly.
"Kim broke up with you? Dude, what did you do?" He asked, unable to keep his laughter at bay.
"None of what happened is my fault. I spent a long time thinking that it was, but now I realised that it never was." He snapped. His eyes softened slightly as he looked at Kira's face, unable to stay mad when he saw her eyes, even if it was Jason in there. "Look, you shouldn't know any of this. You'll find out when it happens. But right now, we have to figure out how to swap your minds back." He started to walk to the door, only to freeze when a thought occurred to him. "Hang on, if you are here in Kira's body, then where is Kira?"
"She's in my body…. At school."