(Watching the first two episodes of Power Rangers: Dino Fury with excitement) Oh my Celestia, this is definitely kicking things up to another level of awesomeness!! The morph sequence, the theme song, the suits, the backstory! It's all super AWESOME!!! (Static) Sorry, guys. I'm just super stoked about Dino Fury because of the nostalgia feels and amazing new firsts, like the first Hawaiian actor for a Ranger, first Green Ranger to be female, first gender swap since Wild Force! So many firsts and this new season is pulling out all the stops! Too bad there hasn't been a Sixth Ranger with a Dragon Zord since Tommy, but… (lightbulb dings as I gasp) Idea~! (zooms to my computer and gets typing as the Morphin' Grid shows the Disclaimers)
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, as it is owned by Hasbro as of May 1, 2018.
Pine Ridge, USA. Quite a few people live here, and everyone has heard about Dinohenge at one point or another. Some believe it's haunted, others just want facts, still others want to just enjoy the majesty it holds. I fall into that third category because I am a nature girl by heart and soul. I'm Rowan Park, and this is my dino-tastic story.
My morning started out pretty normal, as I was just finishing up a vlog on some style hacks. Sure, I have a natural affection for my hair and my beauty as I always tried to make sure I stayed camera ready, but when it came to the outdoors, I was no slouch. I wasn't afraid of getting down and dirty when the time came for it and I knew how to fight, what with several years of Kung Fu in the Dragon Style under my belt and a third degree black belt to boot, the training coming from a master all the way in Ocean Bluff that I still kept in contact with to this day.
Anyway, I was just signing off on my vlog with these words: "Thanks for watching this week's video, and remember, whether it's on the outside or inside, you'll always be furiously beautiful." I stopped recording and closed my laptop for the morning, getting out of my bed and grabbing my socks, shoes, and favorite yellow cardigan for the bike ride of the day. Usually I went downstairs and grabbed a quick post-breakfast snack before heading into the woods for some peace and quiet near Dinohenge where I could work on my ideas for my next vlog or maybe allow my creative mind to work on something completely new while I was there.
I wasn't just a mechanic whiz for show; I actually did use it to help others. My mother was a mechanic, so I knew the ins and outs of different machines. But my dad being my dad, he personally wanted me to stay away from big machines like Zords. Yeah, good luck with that.
I slid down the railing of the steps and landed cleanly, jogging into the kitchen and grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl before getting some orange juice from the fridge poured into a glass. After closing the carton back up, I tossed it into the air and kicked the fridge door open before spinning around and sending the carton back in its place in the fridge with a backhanded shot before kicking the door shut, all of it in one. Fell. Swoop.
Dad had just walked into the kitchen to see me kick the door closed and when I looked up, I saw him with an amused face and I immediately straightened upright, an embarrassed blush on my face. "Sorry."
"Hey, at least you're getting your martial arts practice in for the day." He smiled at me happily.
I smiled back as I sat down and started eating. My family is Asian American on my dad's side and Spanish on my mom's side. Heck, my dad even had his own awesome team of friends that he hung out with and fought aliens with.
Yeah, you guessed it: My dad is Adam Park, former Power Ranger. Unfortunately, I had never gotten the chance to meet my mom as she had died from lung cancer when I was about five months old, so Dad's raised me for all his life with help from his friends, including the amazing Dr. Tommy Oliver. But I never complained about it. Dad had a martial arts studio of his own in town that he ran, so between him and my Pai Zhuq training, I always got in some practice and I learned what I needed to from Dr. O and another of Dad's buddies, Billy Cranston.
Dad sat down next to me with his coffee and morning newspaper as he sighed softly. "Gotta admit, Warden Garcia's doing a good job on preserving Dinohenge."
I nodded in agreement as I sipped some juice. "Mhm. Every time I go out there, I see the site get just a little more beautiful, papì. I'm actually heading out there again today, come to think of it."
He chuckled as he ruffled my hair. "Well, don't get yourself caught up in any adventures."
I laughed brightly and grinned back. "No promises." I knew exactly what my dad was talking about: Power Rangers adventures. To be fair, I had no idea that I was gonna become one though.
After my snack, I bid my dad goodbye with a cheek kiss and went out to my BMX bike, my helmet on and my backpack at the ready as I turned on some music. I was really into the Japanese music of tokusatsu shows for some reason, but I never was sure why. I just thought they were catchy. My tunes this time were themes from the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises.
My earbuds in place and blasting the Kamen Rider Saber theme into my ears, I kicked off and pedaled down the street and to the closest trail I knew of, swerving around cars as smoothly as a sail. Once I hit the trail, I tapped a gear with my left foot and the pedals shifted to air pedals as an engine started up and my bike wheels went parallel to the ground, speeding off with a cheer.
I kept riding through the forest, letting the wind hit my face and blow my hair back as I passed by someone else, stopping when I heard the person's yelp through my music and looking back before I made a U-turn and headed back to see a boy about my age trapped in a net and struggling to get out.
One of the vloggers I knew from BuzzMedia, Amelia, ran over apologizing profusely and trying to get the net off the boy, but accidentally electrocuting him in the process as I heard him shouting, "Wro-o-ong butto-o-on!"
I cringed in reflex and got off my bike, pulling my earbuds off and quickly helping the boy out of the net easily before giving him a hand to his feet as he panted and spoke normally: "That thing really smarts."
Amelia tried to deny his claims, but shocked herself in the process with a whimper of pain before she looked at us. "I mean, I hardly felt a thing."
The boy scoffed lightly and talked with Amelia as I grabbed my bike and turned the hover function off secretly, turning it back to a normal bike before the two could look over. I usually didn't like showing my inventions off, as it made people think I was a know-it-all. Of course I knew quite a bit about the Power Rangers thanks to my pen pals from Summer Cove, Brody Romero and his brother Aiden, Sarah Thompson, and Preston Tien, my dad and his friends, and my studies at the Pai Zhuq Academy, but I also knew that one of the BIGGEST Ranger rules was to never reveal their true identities. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, Dad told me there were a few teams that were publicly known, so that rule was pretty much moot by now. Phooey.
I rolled my eyes at the boy's annoying tone as I dusted my bike off, only perking up when I heard the two mention Dinohenge. "You guys are going to Dinohenge?"
The boy nodded to me. "Yeah."
"So am I. Don't worry, I've been down this trail a few dozen times in my life since moving here." I reassured them. "I'll lead you there." I started down the path again, the boy walking beside me on one end and Amelia on my other side as I looked at him. "Anyway, I'm Rowan."
"And I'm Amelia." Amelia introduced herself as well.
"I'm Ollie." He introduced himself.
I smiled at Ollie; he seemed pretty cool. Hawaiian, from what I could tell, with bits of Malaysia and Filipino thrown in. A nice mix up of ethnicity for a boy like him. Not that I was attracted or anything, of course. I didn't like getting into relationships because I knew they'd only lead to trouble later.
Amelia spoke up, looking at Ollie. "So you're clearly not here for zaps. What's the deal?"
"Mom and I just moved to Pine Ridge," he explained. "She's an archaeologist, wants to unearth some of the history here."
I shrugged plainly. "I personally enjoy the scenery and the excitement."
"Well, you're in luck," Amelia told us. "This place is packed with both."
I nodded to Ollie and motioned to the sight in front of us all. "See for yourself."
Up ahead was the majestic monument known as Dinohenge, a group of seven petrified dinosaurs standing in a perfect circle. From what I recognized, there was the tyrannosaurus rex, the triceratops, the ankylosaurus, the saber tooth tiger, the stegosaurus, the mosasaurus, and a dragon which was a little odd considering dragons were mythological, but as Dad told me: "If Dr. Oliver's Power Coin could use a dragon's abilities, practically anything goes."
I walked up to the monument as the other two talked and sat by the dragon, pulling out my notebook and starting to write in it as Ollie and Amelia talked with his mother. I looked over and saw the drone start scanning the monument, the dragon's eyes above me glowing yellow and giving me quite the scare as I got up and went to the others. "Okay, you saw that, right?"
Amelia nodded. "The dinosaurs' eyes."
Suddenly the ground started to shake below us all as I got into a steady position. "Wah!" I had a gut feeling from my intuition that something was up now, but I had no idea what.
Within the next few seconds, the earthquake stopped and I looked at my companions in confusion before hearing Mrs. Akana's voice and rushing over with them to view the scanner photos.
"Look at this. Below the Dinohenge statues, there's some sort of…" Mrs. Akana couldn't understand it, but I knew instantly, finishing for her: "A hanger." It reminded me of the Dino Thunder base and how that was hidden under Dr. O's house.
"Underground? Right here? No way." Amelia sounded excited as she looked over.
Suddenly, a more authoritative voice spoke up: "What's going on here, folks?" I looked at where the voice came from and smiled, running over to Warden Garcia. "Buenos Dìas, Señor Garcia."
"Ah, buenos dìas, Rowan." The warden smiled at me. "Keeping out of trouble?"
"Yes, sir." I nodded proudly and let him go to work while I decided to cruise around the area curiously to see what else I could find. Warden Garcia and I were cool with each other as I was friends with his kids, Izzy and Javi. I always showed up to Izzy's competitions to watch her win and played drums for Javi while they came around to watch me work on my newest inventions and they'd also train with me since their dad agreed it'd help them in the long run.
I saw something flash nearby and quickly hid as I watched a purple and silver knight appear out of thin air and head towards the others, seemingly searching for something and finding it as his scanner spoke: "Energy Source detected."
"Under those old statues? Interesting." The knight himself had a somewhat robotic voice, but I knew better: This knight couldn't be anybody good.
Suddenly I stepped on… something… behind the dragon statue and it activated a teleportation function that sent me below ground. Surprisingly I landed right into a main base like area, looking around in curiosity. "Whoa…" Dad had told me about all sorts of Ranger bases, but I never thought I'd actually drop into one, let alone be teleported down into a base.
Suddenly an explosion got my attention as I saw debris falling down from a different room and I quickly backed up, bumping into some sort of chamber and looking over my shoulder to see a figure encased in darkness.
A closer look told me that it was… a Red Ranger! But this one was different from other reds, with a stylish T-Rex helmet and his suit being mostly red with a black zigzag dividing his left upper torso from his right, the left side being silver.
I backed away quickly. "Nope. Uh-uh. No way. Dad told me not to get into any adventures." This was becoming too familiar of a scenario.
I heard Amelia and Ollie's voices and looked over, running to them. "What are you doing?!" I heard a scream from them as I rounded the corner to see… Ollie holding Amelia like Shaggy holding Scooby. Not the weirdest sight to me.
"What are you doing?" Amelia got down quickly. "We just saw you disappear like that… knight or whatever he is appeared!"
"Like I'd know offhand??" I hissed to her, but Ollie shushed us and ushered us behind a panel, the three of us looking out to see the knight walk into the room. "Where is that energy source? It must be mine!"
I gritted my teeth and snuck off to grab any weapon I could find to use to protect… whatever that knight was looking for. I found myself by a panel of swords, each one identical to the other with a silver bladed edge and red spikes down the other side, a dinosaur head as the connection holding blade and hilt together. I sighed as I grabbed one of the blades and muttered to myself, "Dad will kill me for this if that knight doesn't slay me first."
I heard a zap and saw that the knight had injured a dinosaur like woman, shouting at her for answers. My studies with Dr. Oliver had given me the conclusion that she was a Solonosaurus, but that was unimportant at this rate. Right now, I knew it was do or die, so I ran over and struck the knight from behind with my blade, using my experience to help me out.
"What the?!" Void Knight looked at me in shock.
I took my battle stance and glared at him. "Back off the Solonosaurus, or I will destroy you." My tone had become more dangerous and experienced, as if I had been through dozens of battles before.
"All by yourself? Don't make me laugh." Void Knight swung at me, but he was blocked by another blade. "Huh?!"
Ollie had grabbed a blade and blocked the attack just in time. "Leave her alone!" He slashed down and knocked Void Knight back as Amelia fired her electro-net at him.
"This may come as a shock, but no one likes a bully." Amelia electrocuted Void as Ollie went to her side.
"That won't hold him long," the Solonosaurus told us as she gave me an unusual figurine. "Use this Key in the Saber and then the Hengemen will fight for you."
I nodded and flicked the figurine to be a Key, about ready to feed it into my Saber before a blast knocked both of us back, sending the Key into Void Knight's hand.
"Wrong! They're going to fight for me!" Void Knight loaded the Key into his Saber and moved the dinosaur head twice, charging his blade up. "A new toy. I'll enjoy this." He unleashed an energy surge that made the statues come alive as I rejoined my new friends and looked at them, quickly taking the lead with my friendly attitude gone and replaced by a leader like persona. "What's your battle experience?"
"Uh, three years of karate," Amelia responded.
"Same, plus six years of fencing," Ollie agreed.
"Five years of Kung Fu in the dragon style and seven years of weapons and tactics." I spoke calmly, my voice authoritative. "Amelia, Ollie, keep these guys distracted. The Solonosaurus needs help getting that panel back up. I'm going over to help her. Let's power up!" Instantly, I started to battle the Hengemen like a master, utilizing my skills 110% as I flipped and slashed down the soldiers easily, impressing Amelia, Ollie, Void Knight, even Solon.
Soon the former two started battling Hengemen like I was, both looking a little out of place but holding their own well enough.
I backflipped over to Solon and landed, working my magic on the panel while handling Void Knight and some of the Hengemen at the same time. Kinda hard to do when you're literally fighting for your life though, not gonna lie.
Suddenly, my Saber started glowing a bright yellow, the same exact yellow I had seen in the dragon statue's eyes, before the energy travelled to my left wrist and gave me… a morpher. A morpher with a rotatable piece. "Yep, Dad will definitely kill me."
"They have Morphers! I haven't seen that since…" Solon ran over, holding three other Keys. "Here, have these!" She tossed the Keys to me and the other two while I spun around in midair and landed by them.
I caught mine and flicked it readily, looking at Ollie and Amelia. "Follow my lead and we may just save our skins." I got into position, getting an idea of what to do from watching my dad's videos of his past battles. "Dragon Key, activate!" I plugged my Key into the Morpher and held my left hand up. "It's Morphin' Time!" I spun the silver part with my first two fingers from my right hand and poised, a surge of energy pulsing through me and morphing me into my suit. I was now the Yellow Ranger, a dragon styled helmet covering my head, shoulder pads on my front with the silver where it was supposed to be being replaced by a metallic dark green.
When Ollie and Amelia morphed, they gained a triceratops and ankylosaurus themed pair of suits, Ollie being blue and Amelia pink as her suit included a skirt. The two were excited about the new change. "We're Power Rangers!" "Emphasis on 'power'!"
I stood in front of my new team, glaring at Void Knight as I swung my sword to be crossways. "You're in big trouble now, you creepy knight!"
"Tear them apart!" Void's response came quickly as the Hengemen charged at us.
I lead off with a special triple spin kick I had learned from Dad, knocking a couple of Hengemen into each other, and ran over to Solon as she was attempting to get the panel working. "Here, let me." I slammed my fist into the thing at a surprisingly perfect start-up point, reactivating the panel.
"Thanks! Behind you!" Solon warned me, and right on time too, as Void Knight nearly cleaved my head off!
"Whoa!" I bent over backwards to avoid the slash and started sword on sword combat with him, both of us even now that I had morphed.
But as we fought, I got knocked into a container full of unusual orb-like things, getting curious. "What are these?"
"They're Sporix! That's the energy source I detected! I need those cells!" Void shouted triumphantly.
I looked at him and kicked him back, getting ready for a fight. "What do you need them for anyway?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," he retorted, blasting me away from the crate and back over to Solon, who had just gotten the chamber open in time to release the Red Ranger.
"Solon, what's happening? Why are the Hengemen activated? And who are they?" He asked, pointing at Ollie and Amelia and then me.
"They're new and friendly," Solon quickly explained as she helped me up. "But the Sporix are being taken! Hurry!"
"Oh no." The Red Ranger quickly leapt into action, slashing down Hengemen and battling Void Knight like a professional.
I quickly got back into action, fighting alongside the Ranger and together we got the chest out of Void's hands, but at the cost of breaking it open and releasing the cells. Uh… oops?
The Red Ranger chased Void out as he tried to follow and I joined him, grabbing him and pulling him away from falling debris that Void Knight created as he fled.
"That could have been nasty." I felt I had to comment on the debris because I've seen Rangers pinned down before. Not fun.
I joined Ollie and Amelia as the three of us demorphed, Ollie looking at me in amazement. "Rowan, you're like a pro at this."
Amelia smiled as well. "Yeah, you took charge like it was no big deal. That's super impressive."
"Indeed." We looked at the Red Ranger as he walked over, looking at me. "You have extremely high levels of experience with monster fighting, despite not knowing about the Sporix."
I shrugged modestly, hiding a prideful blush. "Just pure instincts." I didn't like telling others my big secret nor did I like boasting, and quite frankly the four of them didn't need to know my family history… yet.
I watched with Ollie and Amelia as our Morphers went into standby mode, which reminded me of Brody's Datacom. "Huh. Clever way of hiding the big secret."
The Ranger powered down to reveal a young man of possibly New Zealand descent, judging by his near human appearance, emphasizing the near human part due to his antennae that curved above his forehead slightly. "I'm Zayto, and this is my wise friend Solon." He motioned to the Solonosaurus.
Solon walked over to us. "Greetings."
I looked at Zayto calmly, nodding to him and Solon and stepping forward as the other two looked at him in shock, something I could have laughed at, but I was more about facts right at the moment. "My name's Rowan." I extended my hand to him.
He took it and nodded. "Confident, empathetic, observational, knowledgeable, accepting, and a warrior against evil."
I blinked in surprise, realizing that he had telepathy, like the Red Space Ranger Andros had telekinesis.
Zayto read Ollie's mind next. "Ollie: Irrational, logical, adventurer, and scientist." He then moved on to Amelia. "And you're Amelia, an imaginative and unstoppable truth seeker." I noticed that Zayto held each of their hands while he read their minds. Could he only do that through touch?
I nodded a bit to Zayto. "So you're definitely not from Earth. It explains the telepathic abilities and the antenna."
He nodded before looking at Solon. "How long was I in the stasis pod?"
"A very long time, I'm afraid." Solon responded sadly.
"Over 65,000,000 years long, judging from the statues above the base." I agreed, remembering about the legends I had heard about the formation of Dinohenge. "But I won't deny you and Solon look great for over 65,000,000." I smirked casually, crossing my arms. I knew there were other Rangers far younger than Zayto, but still older than many Rangers today.
"If Zayto's an extraterrestrial…" Amelia wondered, looking at Solon. "Does that make you a…?"
Ollie finished her sentence. "A cybernetic dinosaur?"
"Yes, a Solonosaurus." Solon confirmed for them. "Young Rowan had figured my species out already though."
I looked away, fighting that silly prideful blush again. Dang it, why did it have to happen whenever they touched on me and my knowledge?!
"However, I was badly wounded in an ancient battle against the Sporix." Solon spoke again, looking to Zayto after. "You should tell them, Zayto."
The Red warrior acknowledged Solon by going to us and placing his hands on Ollie and Amelia's shoulders, with me grabbing their hands. "65 million years ago, the Sporix invaded my planet, Rafkon. They hatched into ferocious beasts. I led the Knights of Rafkon, fighting to defend our home."
As he spoke, I saw the vision of his past he was showing us, him leading a group of knights against the Sporix and both factions battling hard.
"We were not strong enough. The Sporix Beasts ravaged my planet, leaving few survivors." I saw the destruction the massive beasts were causing, smoke flying everywhere along with lasers.
"But their thirst for destruction could not be satisfied. The Sporix left Rafkon, hungry for their next target." I saw the Sporix leave the devastated planet and came out of the vision, looking at Zayto as I knew what planet he was talking about: "The Sporix came to Earth to destroy it."
Zayto nodded and continued as I reentered the vision: "We followed the Sporix. Determined to eradicate them, we fought alongside the dinosaurs to save Earth." The vision showed us the dinosaurs fighting with the Knights to stop the Sporix.
"With each battle, the Beasts became stronger until finally, they grew giant. We were forced to retreat. It seemed the Earth too would be lost, until the legendary Morphin' Masters arrived, ageless beings with untold powers. They were here to help us." The vision showed us seven silver figures, each with a colored cape, floating out of a portal and making the seven Rafkon warriors and their partners gather around.
"I'd heard of the Morphin' Grid before, but I had no idea how strong it was. The Morphin' Grid joined us with the spirits of the dinosaurs, morphing us. Then the Morphin' Masters gave us our mission." The vision showed the Morphin' Masters uniting their powers and petrifying the seven dinosaurs before the energy went into the Knights, morphing them into suits that were the very same that ours were today, before they gathered around and looked at the Masters.
"You are the Dino Fury Power Rangers. Together, you must defend the Earth against these evil Sporix." The Red Master spoke to the team first.
Zayto stepped forward in the vision. "But how? The Sporix Beasts are gigantic."
"Then we will make you mighty weapons." The Master said as the vision showed robotic versions of the dinosaurs, including some dinos that I hadn't seen yet.
I came out of the vision with the other two as Ollie asked, "So did the Zords help you beat the Sporix Beasts?"
Zayto walked around, suddenly silent as Amelia asked, "You did win, right? I mean you're still here to tell the story."
I knew what could have happened, looking at Zayto with a sad expression. "Your team didn't survive. Only you and Solon did."
Zayto nodded to me. "It wasn't the kind of victory you'd celebrate. We captured the Sporix and locked them in this chest." He motioned to the chest sadly. "But my friends, the other knights, they were… lost."
"Zayto and I tried everything to destroy the Sporix, but it was impossible." Solon told us as we walked over to Zayto sadly. "All we could do was keep them hidden and guard it."
"So you've been here ever since?" Ollie asked.
Zayto nodded. "Yes. It's my mission to make sure that the Sporix never get loose in the universe again. And today I failed."
"All because of this Void Knight!" Solon walked over to him. "Why would he want Sporix?"
"I hate to think… but right now, we need to find them and get them back." I saw the leader-like stance he regained, the authority he held, and I was more than willing to help him, even as a lingering thought ran through my head: 'Screw Dad's anger. It's my legacy now.'
"They'll hide for now, until one by one, they hatch into Sporix Beasts. There are dozens and dozens of them and all they know is destruction. They must be stopped. Your planet is in grave danger and we're the only ones who can save it." Zayto told us informatively.
I nodded bravely with a smirk. "I'm not letting aliens of pure destruction ruin my home planet." As far as I was concerned, this was gonna be my biggest adventure yet.
Zayto smiled back. "Then I'd like you to be my second in command, Rowan."
I nodded and stepped over beside him, looking at Ollie and Amelia. "First things first: We gotta get some training in. You two ready?"
Ollie smiled as he looked at Amelia. "Are you kidding?"
Amelia nodded to us. "Just tell us what to do."
I smiled at Zayto and Solon, knowing that this was gonna be epic on another level.
Whew, finally! My fingers are cooked! (shakes my hands off) But oh boy, this was a doozy of a premiere! Instant lore, instant lair fight, all awesome! Now I'm gonna try and work on this story during the hiatus, so once I reach Episode 9, don't expect any chapters for a while as I wanna keep up with this. As always, feel free to comment and like this story!
