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Chapter Text

Power Rangers: Dino Thunder

Stronger Together

Welcome to Reefside

Tommy Oliver cursed, drowning his sorrow in a bottle of beer. He wasn't an alcoholic by nature but he couldn't deny that it took his mind off things. He knew alcoholism led to a vicious cycle of self-destructive habits. He remembered his adopted father lashing out against them while drunk. Tommy promised himself that he'd never try to drink his problems away but he desperately needed to forget the pain and misery even if it was for a few hours.

Why was it always him?

He had no one he could turn to for help. He knew his old friends had their own lives and the last thing he wanted to do was drag them back to this insanity.

Why did this always happen to him? What had he done to deserve all the bad karma in the universe?

He swung his arm in a wide arc, sweeping the bottle off the table and watching with cathartic joy as the bottle smashed into pieces, shards of broken glass and liquor littering the ground.

He hated his life.

Why couldn't he just have a normal life? Every time he thought he finally had a chance of putting his past behind him and setting his roots somewhere, everything goes up in flames. He was damn sure the universe didn't want him to be happy!

Just then, a portal opened in the middle of his apartment in Amber Beach and two individuals stepped out, one of them a reptilian humanoid with brown scales, big lizard eyes and wearing a red cloak and the other a red headed woman in a simple purple dress. 

"Keeper!" His speech slurred as he glared at the entity who got him into this mess in the first place.

"I apologize, Thomas but the universe needs your help." The millennia old creature said gently.

"Fuck off." He snarled turning his back on the duo, only to lose his footing and falling down on the floor. He yelped as the broken glass seared through his hands.

"Shit! Get a hold of yourself Oliver!" The woman yelled, helping him up. "You are not the only one who was screwed over by Mesagog."

Tommy shrugged, trying to pull away from him. "Leave me alone, Hayley."

"I can't, not till we make Mesagog pay for everything he has done." She snarled.

"What?" Tommy stared at her incredulously. "Mesagog is dead." 

"I got a vision from the Grid suggesting otherwise." Keeper stated grimly.

"Okay, again with the visions. But by all means, please continue." He drawled, deliberately ignoring Hayley's reproachful glare. 

"He will be searching for the dino gems. They are the key to fulfilling his plans of resurrecting the primeval dinosaurs." 

"The gems were destroyed in the explosion." Tommy stated.

"Not exactly." The Keeper raised his staff, the yellow gem on its tip glowing brightly as golden light washed over Tommy, relieving him of his drunken state and healing his cuts. "The Dino gems were forged by the spirits of the ancient dinosaurs and the extradimensional energies released sixty-five million years ago. They wouldn't be destroyed by a mere explosion."

"Then, where are they?" Tommy asked.

"Reefside." The ancient alien informed. "The coast city beside Mercer Island. You two must secure the dino gems. It's time for another team of rangers to protect the world."

"I am not going to hand out morphers to teenagers. I won't let others go through what I experienced."

"That's not your call to make, Thomas. You must trust the Grid. The power chooses it's wielders, not the other way around."

"We'll see, Keeper. But we need to make a command center in Reefside then to coordinate the search for the gems."

"Already done." Hayley smirked. "I bought us a house on the outskirts of the city, a cyber café to scout for teenagers with attitude and I may have offered your resume to Reefside High. You are going to be the new science teacher. Also it's not my place but you should probably break the news that you are alive to your friends, atleast to Katherine and-"

"No." Tommy cut her off, his voice harsh and leaving no room for argument. "They're better without me. I can't go back to them, not like this. Not with this mess looming over our heads."

He took a moment to steady himself. "But why the hell do I need to be a high school teacher? Did you forget that I was always late to classes and barely passed my exams?"

"Only because you were busy saving the world! Duh!" Hayley smirked. "There's no way you are getting out of this, Tommy."

"I trust you two to do what's needed to protect your world." The Keeper cut in. "I wish I could aid you more but I need to return to my own dimension."

The two nodded before the alien teleported away in a swirl of red smoke.

It was the first day of his last year of school. Unlike many of his classmates who just wanted to treasure every minute of their senior year, he just wanted it to get over fast. 

Nick Russell was just about to open his locker as he heard it.

"Hey Cassidy! Look at this."

"What is it, Devin! Can't you see I'm busy?" Cassidy snapped before stopped to look at Devin's smartphone. "Mercer Industries buying majority shares of Reefside Corporations. What's the big deal? Why should I be interested in this?"

"Mercer as in Anton Mercer?"

"Who?"

"The rich guy who disappeared after his private island exploded and killed a lot of people?"

His eyes narrowed. While the incident got a lot of media coverage, nothing conclusive was found and all the scientists and staff employed by Mercer were presumed dead along with the industrialist himself.

His cousin, Regina had been on the island when it exploded. She was gone while Mercer Industries lived on. Her death and that of so many others were being trivialised as nothing more than news articles.

His hold on the handle of the locker tightened as he flung his arm, unknowingly ripping the locker door from the wall. It fell on the ground with a sharp metallic clang.

"What a creep!" Cassidy screeched as she and the other students scurried away from him.

"Oh. I'm sorry." He fumbled as he tried to fit the locker back in place.

"Leave it. Look at you poor thing, venting out your frustration and destroying school property on the first day." He turned around to see a woman in a grey suit, rimmed glasses and short hair looking at him with a predatory gleam in her eyes. It was the new principal, Miss Randall.

"Sorry. I don't know how it happened. It was an accident."

"It always is an accident with you, Mr. Russell, isn't it? I've seen your record. Throwing temper tantrums and vandalizing public property. Everyone has their trauma, darling but that doesn't turn them into delinquents."

"Excuse me?" Nick blinked.

"I know exactly what you need. One week of detention after class and you'll be set straight." She smiled before walking past him. "Come along now."

There was something familiar about Randall but he dismissed the notion. He'd definitely remember if he'd met someone as unpleasant as this woman before.

Great! First day of school and he already had detention.

Tommy grimaced as he walked into Reefside High, despite telling himself it was literally the worst idea. He and Hayley had tried to find the gems for a year only to fail. He didn't want to believe it but Keeper was right. The gems chose the wielders not the other way around. They had to wait till the gems chose the new rangers. Meanwhile, they had created morphers and ranger armour to go along with the gems, even though the biozords were still in Mesagog's clutches.

As he walked past the sea of students in the hallway, a woman swerved beside him, strutting in her high heels. "Doctor Oliver, I'm Principal Randall."

"Nice to meet you. It's your first day too, isn't it?" He held out his hand.

"I'm still trying to figure out why a doctor of palaeontology would come all the way to Reefside to teach science to teenagers." Randall ignored his outstretched hand and continued walking.

"I guess I am looking for some peace and quiet."

"So, you came to Reefside. That doesn't make a lot of sense, now does it Dr. Oliver?" She smirked. "Why waste your time on bunch of teenagers?"

"Well, I don't think shaping the minds of the future generation is a waste of time, Miss Randall."

Her smile dropped. "You'll find most of these morons don't have brains, Tommy. Anyway, we'll talk later. I have my first truant to find."

Tommy sighed. That had to be one of the weirdest chats of his life and he'd interacted with aliens and megalomaniac monsters, not to mention Bulk and Skull.

He shook his head as he entered the classroom, only to find an utter ruckus. God, they weren't that unruly back in high school, were they? He sure hoped not and he'd have to deal with this on a daily basis? Well, after this, his respect for Miss Appleby and Principal Caplan elevated quite a bit. Being a teacher wasn't as easy as it looked and he hadn't even started teaching yet!

"Hey! Everyone, settle down please!" He shouted over the chaos. He internally sighed in relief as the students stopped chatting and looked at him. "Hi, I'm Doctor Oliver and this is first period, science. Before we start, are there any questions?"

A blond girl raised her hand with a bright smile on her face. "Dr. Oliver, as you might know, I am Cassidy Cornell, the anchor and field reporter for the school TV station. Our viewers might be wondering aren't you a bit young to be a teacher?"

Well, that was straight forward. He could hardly imagine anyone from Angel Grove High asking a pointed question to their teachers. What exactly had he got himself into?

"I assure you Cassidy, I'm old enough to be a teacher." He said sternly as Cassidy snapped at a boy in green, who was carrying a video camera, for not recording this. "But enough about me, this class is about you guys and what you should expect yourself in this class because that's what is really important."

He scanned the room. Unlike Angel Grove High, the students here had no sense of decorum or discipline. He spotted a few backbenchers typing away on their phones. His gaze flickered towards the empty chairs in front of Cassidy. "Is there someone missing?"

Conner McKnight leapt in the air as he kicked the soccer ball towards the goal. He landed back on his feet as the goalie yelped and dodged the ball.

"Dude, you're supposed to try and stop it!" He said exasperated.

"Are you sure it's okay to be here. It's already first period. The bell rang and everything. And it's the first day of school!"

'Dude, chillax. Stop acting like a nerd! If anyone asks, tell them Conner McKnight gave you permission to be here." Conner smirked. As captain of the soccer team, he had gotten away bending rules and silly pranks before.

"Yeah. But I heard the new principal is crazy, like she worked in a prison or something before she came here."

"Dude! Don't worry about Randall. She's a woman! And women are just grown-up girls." He chuckled smugly, not hearing the footsteps behind him nor noticing the cutting motions the goalie made until it was too late. "Need I say more?"

"I think you have said enough, Mr. McKnight."

Conner turned around to see the new principal glaring at him and a boy in a red shirt, jeans and a leather jacket behind her looking bemused.

"Principal Randall, I've heard so many wonderful things about you." He gave a charming smile at her. Flattery and charm always made it easy for him to persuade other people. No reason why it shouldn't work on this woman. After all, his smile can melt the coldest of hearts.

His grin faltered as Randall continue to glare at him. The other boy was trying to hold his laughter.

"Vicious rumors, I assure you." Randall snarled. "Detention! Come along now. I can't wait to hear what your parents think about your opinion of women."

"My parents?"

"I think they should be notified when their son disrespects the principal." Randall smirked cruelly.

"I didn't! I didn't even know you were here." Conner stuttered.

"So, you are too afraid to say what you think about girls to their faces?" She drawled. "What a man!"

"I'm really sorry."

"No, you're not. But I know how to make you reconsider your priorities in life." Her lips twisted into a sinister smile. "You're off the soccer team for the next two months, Mr. McKnight."

Everyone looked at her in shock.

"You can't!" Conner cried out. "I'm the best player on the field."

"I'm sure we can find someone else. Come along now." She started to walk before noticing the goalie still looking at them shocked.

"What are you looking at?" She snarled, running forward and kicking the ball at him with such ferocity that he smashed into the back of the net. "Now get back to class!"

Conner and Nick exchanged shocked stares before following Randall back towards the school building. Whoever this lady was, she wasn't to be messed with!

Just then, Randall broke into a grin as she found her next target- a girl sitting on one of the benches with a small crowd gathered around her as she sang while strumming on her guitar.

The moment she finished the song, the crowd broke into cheers only to disperse as Randall stepped through. "Miss Kira Ford, was it? I am afraid you need a written permission to perform on school grounds. Let's go."

"Are you aware that students who play an instrument have a fifty percent higher chance of getting into college?" Kira shot back haughtily.

"Well," Randall peered through her glasses. "You're hardly college material, are you, Miss Ford? Now come on."

Kira's jaw hung open for a second before rolling her eyes and joining the other two students. "Whatever."

Without any warning, the sprinklers went off, spraying everyone in the ground with water. Kira yelped as she tried to shield her guitar with her sling bag while Randall fumed.

"What the heck!" Conner cursed, as he and Nick were completely drenched from head to toe.

"Ethan James! I should have known!" She snarled as she spotted a young man walking by under a blue umbrella, smiling happily. She trotted towards the prankster and hauled him over to the group.

"Anyone else who wants detention!" She hollered, turning towards the onlooking mass of students.

Just then, she spotted a bespectacled girl with smooth brown skin, her hair in a messy bun, wearing a purple top and a black hoodie over it trying to discretely cross the school gates.

"Miss Kaur, where do you think you're going?" Randall raced over to her.

The girl turned around, surprised. "Nowhere?" she managed a weak smile.

"DETENTION!" She barked. "Come along now. Haven't got all day!"

The girl rolled her eyes before joining the other four as Randall led them back inside the school. This wasn't how she wanted her first day to go.

"SIT!" Randall ordered, pointing at the bench outside her office.

"Miss Randall, I'd like to point out there's no hard evidence linking me to the unfortunate sprinkler incident."

"Save it for Judge Judy! Five of you have detention for a week!"

"What? I have computer cub!"

"Guitar lessons!"

"Soccer practice!"

"Environment club!"

"I don't care!" She seethed, storming into her room. "Meet me here after classes. If anyone decides to run off, that's a month of detention!"

"Okay, somebody seriously needs a hug!" Kira grimaced.

"Dude, computer club? Environment club?" Conner turned towards Ethan and the new girl with a bemused expression.

While Ethan rolled his eyes and ignored him, the girl leveled a glare on him. "Hey hotshot, got any problem with it?"

"You guys actually go to these clubs?"

"Not everybody in this school is a dumb jock." She retorted coldly, as Conner shut up. Never had a girl talked back to him like this before today. First Randall and now her.

"Hey, we probably shouldn't shout and give the crazy principal more excuses to bury us with detentions." Nick said, clamping his hand over Conner's mouth before he could come up with a reply. "I am Nick. Good to meet you."

The girl looked him over, her lips twisting into a faint smile. "Glad to see not everyone here is a jerk. I'm Ahana."

Nick was about to reply when Conner licked his fingers. "Eww!" He made a face as he instantly removed his hand from the soccer player's face and wiped it on his shirt as Ahana started giggling and Conner smirked. Ethan's lips twitched while Kira just gave an exasperated sigh.

"I'm sorry." Conner said to her. "I'm sure that the environment club is very cool and so is the computer club." He gave Ethan a small smile, to which the gamer just nodded.

"It's okay. Maybe you're not a dumb jock after all."

"Well, Randall just kicked me off the team for missing classes. So I guess not anymore." Conner sighed, before slumping backwards into the seat.

"That's pretty harsh. Sorry to hear that." Ahana said gently.

"Hey, where were you trying to go?"

"I was going to join a protest at Reefside Park. The mayor has authorised a petition to turn it into some kind of parking lot. That's unthinkable considering how much important the park is to the environment and so many birds and small animals are dependent on the trees."

"That sounds bad." Ethan cut in. "But what's one protest going to accomplish if it's already sanctioned?"

"Well, we have to do something. If we don't hold those with power accountable for their actions, we are enabling whatever wrong they're doing." She stated vehemently.

"Right." Conner nodded.

"Really, you understood all that?" Ahana raised an eyebrow.

"Seriously, just because I'm a pretty face doesn't mean I'm dumb!" Conner groaned as the other three snickered at his expense. Even Kira gave a small smile.

At the end of all his classes, Tommy huffed before packing everything in his suitcase and turning off the lights. While he was apprehensive in the beginning, the students weren't all inattentive. He was even impressed by some of their answers.

He felt at ease in the classroom and quickly remembered that it wasn't the first time he was teaching kids. Back in high school, he and the other rangers used to teach basic martial arts and self defence to kids and anyone else who were interested. Sure, teaching science was different from demonstrating katas but at the same time, it was similar. All he needed to do was make the students understand the practical importance and necessity what they were learning and he was sure he was successful in doing that.

As soon as he stepped in the hallway, Randall was by his side. God, was she a freaking ninja?

"How was your first day, Dr Oliver?" She asked curtly.

"The kids were great, no problem."

"Good. You're going to see more of them in detention."

"Detention? Mind telling me what I did?" The words were out of his mouth before he realized he wasn't a student anymore.

"No. You're in charge of it." She said bemused, a flicker of a smile gracing her lips.

"Ah." Tommy said sheepishly. "Actually, I can't. I was planning to head to this museum out of town and-"

"Perfect, bring the little monsters with you." She cut in as she led him down the stairs and around the corner where the five students were waiting for them. "That should be sufficient torture for them. You've all met, I presume."

She gave him a tight nod before walking away.

"So, you guys like museums?"

Zeltrax didn't remember much aside from one name… Tommy Oliver. With the help of his master, he slowly pieced together his missing memories. He was apparently a brilliant scientist before Oliver sabotaged his work and left him to die.

He stopped in front of a mirror and saw his reflection… nothing but a robot in grey and blue armour. His entire body felt numb. Everything was cold and mechanical.

He had tried searching for his old identity… Terrence Smith. What Mesagog informed him was disheartening. He had no family to speak of or any home to go back to. Everything was gone. His parents were casualties of an alien attack led by the evil green ranger back in 1993. He had been taken in by the Promethea Foundation till he came of age.

The green ranger was none other than Tommy Oliver… the man who destroyed his life two times.

Zeltrax growled. He hated Oliver with his entire being. He longed for the day when he'd finally destroy him and exact his vengeance!

"Whoa! Check out the T-Rex!"

"Hope this museum is better than the last museum I went to…" Ahana muttered under her breath as Dr. Oliver parked the jeep and they climbed out. There was no one in sight except them and the giant statue of the tyrannosaurus outside the museum.

Tommy narrowed his eyes as they noticed the chains barring them from the entrance. "That's weird."

"Oh well, no museum for us." Conner smirked as they looked around the grounds. No security personnel or faculty in sight.

"Great! Let's go home!" Kira shrugged and the others nodded.

"Tell you what," Tommy folded his arms. "I want you to have a look around the grounds. If you find anything prehistoric, I'll cancel detention for the rest of the week. I'm going to see if I can find someone who knows when they are opening up."

"Sweet!" Ethan smiled.

"That seems extremely vague. You can't expect us to find fossils in here." Nick said dryly while Kira sighed, dragging him with her before Tommy could reply.

"What?" He asked.

"In the off chance we do find something, we don't have to see Randall's stupid face for rest of the week. So, let's go before the good doctor changes his mind." She shrugged as they entered the woods.

"It does seem strange. What kind of teacher tells their students to go off in the forests to find something prehistoric?" Ahana scoffed, making air quotes.

"So, you sent five kids off in the woods alone to find something prehistoric?" Hayley said incredulously over the phone as he video-called her. "Are you kidding me? I'll be surprised if they don't revoke your teaching license by end of this month."

"Relax, Hales. It can't be a coincidence I end up with five teenagers the same time we investigate the museum for dino energies." Tommy winced as he replied.

"You think they are chosen by the gems?"

"I don't know. Keeper did say we have to trust the Grid and everything."

"I thought you were against giving morphers to teens."

"I still am. I just need these kids to give me the gems and then I am going to deposit them in Promethea's highest security vault. There are several other heroes out there who can handle Mesagog for all I care. There doesn't need to be another ranger team."

"Sneaky. I didn't think you had it in you. The Keeper is not going to be pleased."

"I really don't give a damn what that asshole thinks. If it weren't for his paranoia, we wouldn't be in this fucking mess."

"You should really give him a chance, Tommy. He really didn't mean for all this to happen-"

"I don't care." He shrugged, turning to the doors of the museum and spotting the logo that was attached to it.

"In case of emergency, call Anton Mercer…" He read out slowly. "What the hell!"

"What happened?" Hayley asked.

"See for yourself." He said, showing her the logo.

"How is this possible?" Hayley said shocked. "Anton is dead and since he had no child, the company was supposed to dissolve and it's assets bought by Bio Labs."

"I don't know."

"I'll see what I can find out." Hayley nodded at him, cutting the call.

"Damn it!" Tommy cursed, putting the phone back in his pocket. Anton was his mentor and like an older brother to him. He was one of the few he'd trusted with his past as a former ranger. If he somehow survived the island, why hadn't he reached out to him? Nothing about this made any sense!

"Hey! Did you guys hear about the guy who was hiking up there and fell into a giant sinkhole?" Ethan asked as they walked deeper into the woods.

"Must have missed that one," Kira droned.

"Come on, it was on all the urban legends websites!" He protested. Ahana's lips twitched.

"Dude, you know this isn't computer club, right?" Conner smirked at him.

"Oh, I can see you're too big and bad to surf the web. What do you do in your spare time?" Ethan inquired.

"Me? I go out with girls. You know they're the ones at school that smell really good with the long hair and the makeup." Conner smirked.

Nick was trying to not giggle. Kira rolled her eyes and Ahana shook her head.

"I think you don't know what a girl is." Ahana retorted, running her fingers through her short curls. "No long hair and no makeup and I'm pretty sure I'm a girl."

"Sorry?" Conner said sheepishly.

"Whatever." Ahana walked past him.

"Dude, you really need to think before opening your mouth." Nick snickered as he and Conner followed the girls.

"All I'm saying is stuff happens out here!" Ethan shouted, lagging behind them. "Don't come crying to me when you fall into a giant sink-hole!" The moment the words came out of his mouth, the ground gave way beneath their feet and they screamed as they fell down.

While the other four fell on their backs, Ahana landed on her feet. She grimaced, eying the gaping hole above them. The others pulled themselves up and brushing the dust off their clothes.

"How did you do that?" Ethan asked.

"I am a ninja." She said flippantly, winking at him.

"No kidding." He shook his head.

"Alright. You guys stay here. I'll climb up and come back with help." Conner told them as he began to climb the cavern wall.

"Yeah, I don't think you should…" Nick started as Conner moved mere inches before he lost his grip and crashed down with a yelp. "And you're back."

Ethan smirked, helping him up.

"What do we do now?" Conner asked.

"We can call for help by you know, calling someone." Kira said plainly, taking out her phone and dialling the emergency number, only to find her call declined. "Any of you guys wanna try? My phone is bailing on me."

The others checked their phones to find the same.

"Great, there's no service here!" Nick groaned, turning around to find a light blinking at them from within the darkness surrounding them. He used the torchlight of his phone to find a tunnel in front of him.

"Guys, I think there's a way out after all."

"That definitely wasn't there a minute ago." Ahana narrowed her eyes. "I don't like where this is going."

"What? Scared of a little dark." Conner teased her.

She glared at him. "No. But there are crazier things out there. Aliens, monsters, you name it."

"You really think an alien is there in that tunnel?" Conner raised his eyebrows. "Ahana, this is Reefside. Nothing ever happens here."

"People said the same about Blue Bay Harbor and Turtle Cove. Look what happened there." She retorted.

"Come on now. That's the only way out. Don't be scared. If anything happens, I'll protect you." Conner grinned at her, flexing his arms.

"My hero." She said sarcastically before giving a slight smile.

"Let's go already. This place is giving me the creeps." Kira hurried, turning on her torchlight and stepping into the tunnel. Ethan and Nick followed her and Ahana sighed.

"After you." Conner said, making an exaggerated bow before her. She rolled her eyes as she entered the tunnel, Conner following closely behind.

She sighed. She hated entrapped places, especially after what happened last year. She'd tried to block the memories, moved cities and quit the Wind Ninja Academy to get away from that insanity and now it felt she was walking right back into it. She was an air ninja student before she was captured by Lothor almost a year ago. She spent months, trapped in an energy bubble, unable to move any part of her body, yet seeing and hearing everything that happened around her. After being saved by the Ninja Storm rangers, she and the other ninjas fought with them one last time to defeat Lothor before she returned home to her parents, who were beyond relieved to see her alive. While she'd loved being a ninja and training to be a guardian, she now knew that these powers came with a great cost… her entire life had to be devoted to this cause. Her family and friends thought she was dead for months. She lost an entire year of school and all her friends had graduated already. She needed to focus on her real life right now and restore some sense of normalcy to it. The world was not her concern anymore.

Kira led them through the tunnel, humming softly.

"Babe, would you keep it down? I'm trying to stay focused," Conner interrupted, walking past her and Kira stopped abruptly, glaring at him. "Did you just call me babe?"

She turned at the others. "Did he just call me babe?"

"I dunno, I wasn't listening. I was still grooving to your tune," Ethan shrugged his shoulders. Nick grimaced and Ahana nodded.

"Listen, my name is Kira!" She snapped at the boy in red. "Maybe you should write it on your hand or something. Don't call me babe!"

"Okay. Sorry!" Conner held up his hands as she shoved past him.

Nick raised his eyebrows as he smirked at Conner. "You really have a way with girls, don't you?"

"What's up with today?" He huffed, following the others.

After a while they came to a dead end with a dinosaur skeleton framed on the wall.

"That's weird but highly convenient." Nick whistled.

"This screams Jurassic Park to me." Kira quipped.

"This will get us out of detention forever!" Conner whooped, grabbing the jaw.

"Wait! I don't think you should-" Ahana shuddered, feeling a wave of power nearby. Whatever this place was, it was filled with mystical energies that would put the Wind Ninja Academy to shame.

The wall beside it collapsed, sending a wave of dust that obscured their vision and forced them to cough. Ahana put he hands behind her back, making quick hand motions and summoning a gust of wind that cleared the dust.

"Whoa!" Ethan gasped, seeing the strange cave before them, with statues of five dinosaurs surrounding a pedestal in the middle.

"What the heck is this place?"

"I could do a crazy video in here." Kira commented, taking out her phone and snapping pictures of the place. Strange holograms lined the wall, flashing mysterious symbols and alphabets none of them could understand. A large logo inspired by a lizard's footprint was etched across the floor.

"You were saying?" Ahana snarked at Conner, her hands fidgeting. They needed to get out of there fast.

"This place is unreal!" He exclaimed. "Yo Ethan, this must be the mothership for you dude."

"Normally I'd be insulted," Ethan said, eyes glazing over the futuristic holograms. "But when you're right, you're right."

Ahana looked at Nick, whose eyes were fixated on the stone statues. "What are dinosaurs doing in an alien cave?"

"I don't know but I definitely know what aliens do to kids snooping in their lair." Ahana retorted.

"Yo, don't touch that!" Ethan yelled, bringing all of them to the pedestal where they saw five glowing gems lying on top of a smoking rock.

"Why not?"

"You're really taking this dumb jock thing to a new level." Ethan shook his head.

"Look I have sat through enough lame science classes to know that these rocks look fully prehistoric." Conner frowned. "And it means we are getting out of detention. And there are five of these for each of us."

"I hate to agree with him." Kira sighed. "I really do but I already missed one rehearsal."

Ahana looked reluctant but her eyes were unable to waver from the purple gem in front of her.

"And I really need some down time to visit my sister in Ocean Bluff." Nick said, rubbing his arm, eying the red gem.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Conner said.

"Okay…" Nick's hands reached for the red gem, only for Conner to grab it. Ethan, Kira and Ahana picked up the blue, yellow and purple gems leaving only the pink gem. Shrugging, he lifted the gem. As soon as he did, all the gems shined eerily before dimming back to normal.

"What are these things?" Kira asked, inspecting the gem.

"I can go online later and see if I can find out." Ethan suggested.

"You surfing web. Wait, let me put on my surprised face." Conner mocked.

"You know ten years from now, when your hairline is receding and you're playing pick up soccer in the park because your dreams of becoming a pro never quite worked out, I'll have my own multimillion dollar software business," Ethan scowled.

Kira rolled her eyes and headed for the exit, closely followed by Nick and Ahana.

"Where are you going?" Ethan noticed them.

"Technically, we are breaking, entering and stealing in some alien's creepy cave and I really don't want to be here when they get home." Nick deadpanned. "Let's go."

After hurrying back through the tunnels once again, they finally found an exit.

"This way!" Conner cried as they ran outside the tunnel. "Great, we are in the middle of nowhere."

"Chillax. I got GPS in my phone." Ethan said, taking out his phone. He turned left. "We need to go that way."

Before they could start walking, a strong gust of wind blew past them and a roar echoed from the trees. "What was that?"

"The wind?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, I don't think it's the wind." Nick bit his lips as they heard a second roar.

Ahana didn't say anything as a horde of black armoured lizard like monsters arrived in front of them and they froze.

"Don't move…" Conner whispered.

"And be lizard lunch? Yeah, no thanks." Nick snapped. "Run!"

Ahana was a fully trained ninja but she was still bound by the oath of secrecy. She couldn't reveal her ninja abilities unless absolutely required. If they couldn't outrun them, she'd ninja-streak all of them out of here.

They ran through the forest as fast as they could, the creatures following closely behind.

Conner, Ethan and Ahana leapt across a ditch but Nick and Kira landed in the ditch.

"Come on!" the three turned back to help them but the monsters jumped at the two teens, their blades poised.

Kira screamed but it was more like a jet taking off at high speed. The monsters were thrown back and Nick covered his ears. When she realised what she did, the noise stopped and their ears stopped ringing.

"What the heck was that?" Ethan demanded, helping her up while Conner pulled Nick out of the ditch.

Ahana grimaced. That was a superpower and there was only one thing that it could have come from. The gems. That also implied these monsters were after the gems. What had she landed herself into this time?

"I have no idea…" Kira admitted.

"We are not out of the woods yet, guys. Pun not intended." Nick said, pointing at the monsters, who had recovered and charging at them.

They ran at different directions.

Ahana saw from the corner of her eyes, Conner becoming a jet of red light as he sped through the monsters, disarming them and Ethan's arms glowing blue as he apparently gained super strength and tore through his attackers.

Nearby her, Nick stumble and fell again. The monsters had cornered him. She ran in his direction to help. Rules be damned, she wasn't going to let anyone get maimed or killed when she could stop it. But before she could reach him, tiny shards of ice crystallised out of thin air and cut through the monsters, destroying them in a small explosion.

She sighed with relief. Her momentary distraction had allowed the monsters to get the drop on her and they surrounded her from every direction.

She grimaced, falling into her familiar fighting stance. As one of the monsters leapt at her, she dodged the attack, using her ninja speed to catch it by it's arm and used it's own momentum to throw it back at the others. To her surprise, it imploded before it hit it's companions. She narrowed her eyes as she noticed that the monsters' blades were glowing red. Shit! They had blasters!

Ahana raised her arms in front of her, preparing to ninja-streak to a safe distance, just seconds before she felt a strange sensation. Purple lines cracked across her skin, reaching her fingertips before coalescing into an energy sphere.

God, she had new powers too! Tendrils of purple energy shot out from the energy orb, lashing out at the lizards and destroying them. The energy spheres fizzled out and her skin went back to normal.

"Over here!" Conner's call drew them back together as they looked at the gems in their hands.

"Yo, how much do I love detention!" Ethan said gleefully, looking down at the gem in his hands.

"Hey!" Doctor Oliver's voice reached them and they shoved the gems into their pockets quickly. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yep! We're fine." Ahana smiled.

"Nothing out of the ordinary happened?" He asked curiously.

The air ninja narrowed her eyes. This man knew more than what he was letting on.

"Nah, just your routine hike in the woods. Lots of furry creatures." Ethan shrugged.

"And a few scaly ones." Kira mumbled under her breath. Doctor Oliver frowned.

"So did you get into the exhibit."

"Still working the kinks out." He shook his head. "We better get you guys back." He looked around, walking back towards the museum.

"Don't you guys think we should tell him?" Kira asked.

The others looked at her incredulously.

"Kira, we got superpowers. As cool as they are, if word gets out of this, do you realise what will happen?" Nick pointed out.

"He's right. I've got over a thousand movies and guess how many times, the guy with superpowers ends up strapped in a shady government facility table with wires in his head?" Ethan asked.

"Even I know that." Conner agreed. "And it's not just movies. You know what they did to mutants and metahumans back in the 90s, right? They captured them, experimented them and quite literally made them extinct. I sure don't want to join them."

Everyone stared at him.

"Didn't take you for a conspiracy theorist, dude." Nick smirked.

"Well, it runs in the family." He replied dryly.

"Either way, he's right. People may think superpowers are cool in movies and comics but when they see it in real life, all they want to do is lock us up to reassure their insecurities and paranoia. We can't tell this to anyone, not even our parents." Ahana said firmly, her eyes lacking any trace of mirth.

The others nodded quickly.

"You guys coming?" Doctor Oliver called out to them and they looked at each other before heading towards the jeep.

That night, Ahana couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, her mind flashed back to the day she was captured.

It was just like any other day and their mentors were training them as usual, when suddenly four bolts of light slammed amidst the grounds, transforming into two aliens and what looked to be two girls wearing insect themed armour. All of them ebbed with dark energies and spent no time wasting to attack them.

Then the villains summoned the kelzaks and their ship fired on them from above. They were still holding their own till the green alien bent over and the white backpack opened to reveal energy orbs that entrapped them and all of them were sucked into the spaceship above, where they remained for almost an entire year, immobilised yet unable to sleep for a single second, forced to watch as Lothor and his goons made plans to destroy the rangers.

Ahana didn't have the strength to go through something like this again. She didn't want to be a hero or a ninja anymore. She gulped as she realised what she was about to do.

"Okay, so we all agree," Conner spoke as they walked through the school grounds next day, after their classes were over. "Not to talk about this to anyone? No matter what," He looked at the other four, before Ahana stopped.

"I can do one better." She handed him her purple gem. "I'm out. I can't deal with this craziness right now. Forget I was here and I'll do the same."

"Wait, how come he gets it?" Ethan demanded.

"Well, here," Ahana gave a frustrated sigh, took it from the soccer player and gave it to Ethan. As he grinned, Kira rolled her eyes, took the gem from Ethan and held it back to her. "Hey, I know it's scary and believe me, I want no part of this either. Whatever this thing is, it is part of us now. Last night, I tried to get rid of my gem. Threw it out the window, flushed it down the drain, hid it in my mom's safe. No matter what I did, I found it back in my pocket."

"You flushed it?" Nick wrinkled his nose. "Did you wash it afterwards-"

"Missing the point, Nick." Conner smacked him lightly over his head.

Ahana narrowed her eyes. "I am sorry but I am out." She said, before storming off towards the school bus.

"Ahana!" Kira called after her as suddenly the wind picked up again and the same monsters from yesterday sneaked out from the parking lot, grabbed her and disappeared into a green portal, leaving only her backpack behind.

"She's gone!" Ethan said shocked as Nick lifted her backpack and the others looked gobsmacked by the sudden turn of events.

"We've got to find someone to help." Kira said as they hurried into Conner's car.

"Who do we call? The police?" Ethan asked.

"My sister has some contacts in the Silver Guardians. Maybe they can help." Nick suggested, dialling his sister.

"Would they believe us?" Conner asked sceptically.

"Great! Sabrina's not picking up." Nick scowled, slamming his phone against his seat. "Damn it!"

"We can't just sit ducks while Ahana is God knows where!" Kira shouted as Conner started his car.

"Wait!" Ethan said, holding up his phone. "I reached out to some of my online friends. Apparently good old Dr Oliver is not only from crazy town Angel Grove but was on Promethea's payroll for a few years. And he took us on this crazy field trip that led to all this. He's a dinosaur guy. These things are dinosaurs, sort of. And remember how he kept on asking if anything happened yesterday. Obviously, he knows something."

"Where does he live?" Conner asked.

"1992, Valencia Road." Said Ethan, checking his phone.

"Valencia Road? That's in the middle of the woods!" Conner frowned, shifting the gears and driving the car as fast as he could.

The four finally arrived at Doctor Oliver's home, hurrying towards the door. Ethan knocked while the others peered through the tinted windows.

"Knock again," Conner said, fidgeting. God knows where Ahana was. Ethan knocked again but there was no response.

"Now what?" Nick asked.

"Seriously?" Kira sighed, pushing the door and to their surprise, it swung open.

"Why would he leave it unlocked?"

"He's got no neighbours,"

"What, you never heard of the three bears?"

"Is that the last book you read?"

"As much as I hate to interrupt the budding bromance, we have a missing friend to find." Nick said sarcastically before following them inside.

"Doctor Oliver!" Kira shouted. No response.

"Is he still in school?" Nick wondered.

"Don't think so. All the teachers went home while we were in detention with Randall." Ethan supplied as they stepped into what appeared to be the living room.

"Hey, check it out," Conner said, walking over to a model of a T-rex and reached for it's jaw.

"Stop! Remember what happened the last time you did that?" Ethan said, smacking his arm.

"Dude, relax. The guy is a science teacher not-"

There was a loud noise. Kira leapt, colliding with Conner as the floor beneath her began to move and a trapdoor opened, revealing a staircase that led to a dark room below.

"Batman." Conner finished lamely.

"What the hell!" Nick cursed. "I'm not liking where this is going. Anyone else getting serious déjà vu vibes?"

"Come on, let's see." Kira led them downstairs, only to stop suddenly. While it wasn't the same room, they got the gems from, it definitely had the same aesthetic with holograms, computer screens, dinosaur themed decorations across the room and the same logo etched on the floor.

"Guys?" Kira asked nervously.

"Something is definitely up." Nick said angrily. "Dr Oliver is definitely involved in all this shit!"

"Are you freaking out right now?" Conner asked.

"Yeah, I'd have to say I am." Ethan said nervously while Kira nodded.

"If you are looking for extra credit," Kira and Nick yelped at hearing the familiar voice. They spun around to see their science teacher standing in front of a skeleton and glaring at them darkly. "You're in the wrong place."

Hope you liked this chapter and please review. :)

Chapter Text

Tommy sighed. It was bad enough that he still hadn't managed to find the gems, now four of his new students had not only broken into his house but also discovered his secret base. He didn't have time to waste.

"Doctor O before you say anything, can we explain why we are here?" Ethan asked,

"Dude, he's just gonna laugh if we tell him." Conner gulped. He'd already got on the wrong foot with Randall, he didn't need another adult on his back.

"Wait, we don't need to explain anything. It's you who should do the explaining." Nick glared at the teacher. "This basement… this symbol…" He pointed at the claw insignia in the centre of the basement. "Why is this so similar to the one where we found the gems-"

Tommy's eyes widened. How could he have been oblivious! They had found the gems after all, now he just needed to convince them to hand the gems over before they bonded to the dino spirits. Wait, wasn't there another student with them?

"Do you know where those things took Ahana?" Nick demanded.

His heart hammered. Mesagog may have access to a gem and more importantly, a civilian hostage. "Hey Nico, was it? Just calm down and tell me what is really going on."

"Some weird dinosaur creatures kidnapped Ahana when we were coming home and disappeared into a green portal. We need help and you seem to be involved in all this somehow." Kira cut in before Nico could say anything.

Tommy paled. If Mesagog had Ahana, there was no saying what he will do to her. It may already be too late to save her and once again, it was his fault … for bringing teenagers into it and trying to outsmart the grid.

"He doesn't look convinced." Conner muttered.

"The creatures … they're called tyrannodrones and we have no time to spare." He walked past them and pressed some keys on the consoles. "Initialize a scan for invisiportals in the city."

"So, you are involved in all this?" Ethan's eyes narrowed.

"I helped create them." Tommy admitted guiltily.

"Oh, class project?"

Tommy shrugged. He made stupid life decisions and now he was being judged by a high school student of all things. For a moment it felt like Billy and Trini were staring down at him and Kim and Zack were yelling "What the hell were you thinking, Tommy!" at him, which is probably what they would be doing if they knew about all this.

"It's a long story but for now, we gotta figure out what they want with Ahana." He looked at them waiting for them to take out the gems. The four teens exchanged looks before nodding and taking out the gems. Bingo!

He noticed that the fifth gem was with them despite Ahana's absence. On one hand, that was good- Mesagog had not got his claws on any of the gems yet but on the other hand, without the gem, Ahana was expendable to him…

Ahana blinked, opening her eyes, finding herself in a dark room. Wait, where was she? And everything came back to her. She was kidnapped by those things and taken through a portal. That was the last thing she remembered before falling unconscious. This was not good. She was captured by some unknown force again! The very reason she had left Blue Bay Harbour… given up that gem to which she had felt an inexplicable bond with… and still she was kidnapped! Damn it. Can't the universe give her a break?

She was lying in a plain foldable bed, not unlike the one in the dentist's office and the room was dimly lit. The whole place was like a dungeon and made her more uneasy than the cave where they found the gems.

"The gems." Something hissed in her ear. She turned around. Nothing.

"The gems…" Again, that same voice that sent chills down her spine.

She got up from the bed and whirled around. Even with her ninja training, she couldn't spot anyone.

"Come out so that I can see you." She called out. At least, then she'd have a fighting chance.

Just like that, something or someone appeared right in front of her but she didn't feel any air movement. It was a lizard dressed in a black trench coat. It must have been there all along and somehow had cloaking abilities.

"The gems, where are they?"

"I don't have any jewelry." She tried to be coy only for the thing to sneer at her.

"Don't lie. I sensed them and I felt you."

"I don't know what you are talking-"

Another hiss.

"You mean the stone I found in the woods yesterday.?"

"Yes!"

"I flushed it down the drain. You have to search the sewers, I guess. It's just a piece of junk."

"Silly girl!" He hissed, before vanishing.

She didn't like this place. It seemed to be Frankenstein's laboratory.

"I need to get out of here."

"Unlikely." A cold sneer drew her attention to the left where a glass door slid open and a woman in black leather and dark lipstick walked out with a red sword.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"My master calls me Elsa."

"Master?" Ahana quirked her eyebrows. "Whatever? Tell me how to get out of wherever this is."

"You have quite an attitude, girl. You will stay here till my master says so."

Ahana's eyes twitched as she felt the same power she had wielded yesterday manifest again. With a yell, she wrenched her hands forwards, letting loose an energy blast that threw Elsa crashing through the glass doors, creating an opening.

"What's going on here?" It was a man's voice. A being covered completely in grey metal stepped through the wreckage, followed by the creatures from before. He helped the woman to her feet.

"Get her!" She snarled.

Ahana smirked. She ninja-streaked through the opening into the corridors, speeding past the monsters. She won't let herself get captured again, no matter what. Just then, a green portal opened in front of her and something in her head compelled her to jump through it and she did, trying to ignore the unpleasant feeling of going through a vortex. She didn't know why she landed herself in such situations but damn if she let those monsters take her without a fight.

"We are really sorry," Conner said quickly as they handed over the gems to Dr Oliver. "How were we supposed to know these things had superpowers and that those lizard dudes would come looking for them?"

"You weren't. What you were supposed to do were hand the dino gems over to me as soon as you came out of the woods." Tommy sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I guess I was expecting teenagers to do as they were told, which rarely happens and so it's kind of my fault. So, I'll fix this."

"Uh uh." Nick glared at him, stepping forwards. For a vague moment, Tommy felt a sense of familiarity as if he knew Nick from before but couldn't place the feeling. "You obviously know what's going on with these magic stones and crazy monsters."

"Yeah, dude. You need to come clean." Conner agreed.

"Okay first, don't call me dude," Tommy grimaced. "Second, as hard as it seems, you four need to forget about all this. I'll find Ahana," With that, he turned away. There was no way he was going to involve these kids in the fight against Mesagog. These four got detention on the first day of school… They were hardly the model students Jason and the others were and furthermore even if they were, he had no interest in turning children into heroes.

As he turned around, he felt a red streak blurring past him blocking the exit. The red streak slowed down to reveal Conner.

Tommy groaned.

He looked back at the others. "Do all of you have superpowers now?"

They nodded back at him. He was too late. The gem's powers were bonded to these kids.

"You can tell us all about it now or at our next parent teacher conference," Conner smirked at him. Tommy could tell the kid was bluffing but didn't say anything. He knew firsthand how stubborn teenagers could be and time was of the essence.

"We are not going to forget about this." Kira told him. "Fyi, I tried getting rid of the gem. It kept coming back to me. Besides we all got into this mess together and we are not leaving till we find Ahana."

Tommy relented. The kids could help after all. He could figure out what to do with the gems after they rescue Ahana. Maybe he'd lock them in a secure Ranger Vaults in a Promethea faculty and notify Lightspeed or the Silver Guardians to deal with Mesagog.

"Okay, come on." He told them as he led them out.

As they sped down the road in his rover, the kids pestered him with questions.

"So, when you said you created those… tyranno…whatevers, you were just kidding, right?" Ethan asked.

"They weren't supposed to be used like this," He sighed. "Someone has modified their programming. A few years back, I was doing research on xenobiology and the possibility of dinosaurs and their extinction being linked to ancient alien attacks. Originally the tyrannodrones were an attempt to fuse alien DNA with androids to serve as sentries against possible invasions. My partner, a scientist named Anton Mercer-"

"I remember that name, he is that really rich dude who disappeared in the island explosion. My cousin Regina worked with him and a lot of other people too. All of them went missing." Nick scowled. "Of course, the island exploded. You were nutcases. Alien technology and dinosaurs?"

"You are Regina's cousin?" Tommy asked him. "I am sorry, Nick. The experiments were supposed to be safe. They were a joint collaboration between Bio Labs, Promethea and Mercer Industries. Regina helped me escape the island. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have made it out of there."

"So, it wasn't an accident that the island exploded?" Nick asked suspiciously.

"No. Shortly after Mercer disappeared, our lab was attacked by a creature calling himself Mesagog. All of our research was destroyed or at least I thought it was. Regina, Dr Phenomenus, James and Lani … All of them gave up their lives so that Mesagog couldn't get his hands on the gems. Apparently, they only managed to slow him down."

"So this guy… Mesagog is back and he is after the gems… which are bonded to us?" Kira asked.

"Looks like it," Tommy nodded.

"Not to be rude but how come you made it off the island while Regina and the others didn't?" Nick asked. "Is there a chance they survived too?"

"I almost didn't and the only reason I did was because I was saved from drowning to death in the ocean by an ancient deity calling himself the Keeper. I don't want to give you false hope, Nick. Mesagog is vicious and merciless. Lightspeed and the Silver Guardians couldn't find them or any trace of our research in their rescue operations. I am sorry, this is a lot for you to take in-"

"We need to find Ahana fast." Kira said worried.

Tommy slowed the rover to a stop at a crossroads and waited.

"Why are we stopping?" Conner asked.

"Do you know about parallel dimensions? They exist in the same space as ours but vibrate at different frequencies. Occasionally there are breaches between the dimensions. My research team at Promethea called these gaps in the dimensions invisiportals, basically passage between our dimension and all others."

"Well, this is all fascinating but how is this helping us find Ahana?" Ethan asked skeptically. "I mean she is not just gonna fall out of the sky and land right in front of us."

As Tommy opened his mouth to say something, Ahana dropped out of a green portal and landed on the hood of the rover.

"That was fast." Nick commented. All five of them exited the car and ran over to Ahana.

"How did you do that?" Kira asked.

"I located the interdimensional breaches in the city. There were high chances of a invisiportal opening up here. I was planning of going inside and rescuing Ahana but apparently, she didn't need our help."

Ahana groaned as the other teens helped her off the car. "I am never doing that again."

She blinked and looked at her classmates and teacher. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to rescue you."

"Oh, thanks but I already escaped a crazy dinosaur, a cyborg and a maniac woman all by myself. You guys were a little late for the party."

Just then, another invisiportal opened and a small group of tyrannodrones leapt out of it followed by a figure in metallic black armour and wielding a sword and a shield.

"You sure about that?" Conner retorted as they looked at the villains warily. Tommy stepped forwards, glaring at the cyborg. "Mesagog found a new goon to do his dirty work?"

The cyborg let out a low growl.

"You are not fit to speak my master's name," He snarled at them. "Come with me peacefully or suffer the consequences."

"I am going to say…no," Tommy retorted. The cyborg yelled, charging at them, the foot soldiers following closely.

While he tackled the cyborg, the students faced off against the tyrannodrones.

Nick yelped as he barely ducked a punch from a tyrannodrone. He shoved it back and stepped back. Suddenly, two tyrannodrones leapt from behind him and pummeled him to the ground. Nick yelled, shielding his head from the attacks when he felt something stirring inside him. Something cold. The attacks stopped.

He opened his eyes to see all his attackers encased in ice.

"That's cool…literally!" He whooped as he got up. He looked down to see his hands glowing in white energy. Five more tyrannodrones charged at him. He raised his hand at them and let out a blast of ice shards that tore through his assailants.

Ahana sighed. She was going to take a long nap after all this. She was done with covering up her ninja abilities. She ninja-streaked through the tyrannodrones, dismantling them in a matter of seconds.

She ran over to the others, who had also finished off their own opponents with their new powers. If any of them asked, she'd just tell them her ninja abilities were just superpowers.

"Make sure you tell your master Doctor Oliver is back," Tommy declared, kicking the cyborg back. The monster stumbled, regaining his balance.

"I will tell him that this battle is over but the war has only just begun." The monster warned ominously before disappearing with his remaining soldiers.

"That was interesting." Nick commented.

"Yeah, let's never do that again." Ahana said dryly.

"We should get out of here. It's getting late. I don't want your parents to worry." Tommy said, heading back to the rover.

"I bet you don't." Conner snarked at him.

Tommy rolled his eyes before relenting. "I'll fill you in after school, I promise." The four looked at each other before following him to the rover.

As soon as they entered the class, Ahana and Kira found themselves face to face with a microphone, courtesy of Cassidy.

"Kira Ford, Ahana Kaur, I am Cassidy Cornell, Reefside News Network," She beamed at the two.

"Cassidy, I know who you are," Kira rolled her eyes. "We have homeroom together?" Ahana shook her head, as she tried to slither away from the self-proclaimed reporter, only for Cassidy to turn towards her.

"Anyway, what can you tell me about the mysterious goings-on in Reefside. For example, the sudden friendship between you two, Conner McKnight, Ethan James and Nick Russell?"

Kira rolled her eyes again. Ahana hid a smile as she noticed it. Kira rolled her eyes a lot! It was a miracle her eyes haven't fallen off.

Cassidy turned the microphone towards her direction. Ahana gave a small smile.

"I am really not fond of cameras that much?"

Cassidy ignored her completely, posing a question of her own. "What about the strange creatures that appeared out of nowhere and attacked you in broad daylight? What about that, huh?"

Ahana gulped. Really, she had spent half her life hiding that she was a ninja from the world and now she was on the spotlight thanks to some robot lizards. Typical!

"Look, we have no idea what you are talking about. But as you can see, I'm just fine and so is she." Kira took over the conversation boldly. "But you…" She scrunched her eyebrows. "You look kind of pasty."

Cassidy looked scandalized.

"Pasty? Are you serious?" She fussed over herself. "I hate fluorescent lighting!"

Just then, Dr Oliver walked in and taking advantage of the distraction, the two of them went past Cassidy and took their seats.

"Cassidy, unless you plan on taking a lecture on the Mesozoic Period, I suggest you take your seat,"

The blonde girl gave an apologetic smile as she hastily returned to her seat, taking out her makeup mirror and scrutinizing her face.

"Thank you," Dr Oliver said. "Okay, so who can tell me when it all began?"

Ahana raised a hand just when the ground started shaking and the lights started to flicker on and off. Stormy clouds blanketed the sky, cutting off the sunlight. Nearly all the students ran to the windows to see the strange happenings.

"Cassidy, you are not going to believe what is going on!" Devin stumbled into the classroom.

"Let me guess the skies just went black in the middle of the day?" She asked sarcastically.

"It did?" he looked outside and his eyes widened. "Whoa look at that!"

"Devin, hello! What?" Cassidy snapped her fingers, turning his attention back to her.

"I just heard this whacky report about mechanical dinosaurs attacking down-town!"

Ahana and Kira looked at each other before turning their heads at Dr Oliver, who looked pale.

"Oi! Grab your camera! We need to get there! This can make our careers, Devin!"

"Wait a minute you two!" Doctor Oliver stopped them before they could leave. The speakers came to life as Principal Randall's stern voice echoed throughout the building.

"Everybody, please stay calm. The mayor has declared a state of emergency. Please report to the front of the school for immediate dismissal. Again, remain calm." Everyone hurried out of the classroom, leaving only Dr Oliver and the five teens.

"Doctor O, now would be a very good time to have that little chat," Kira told him.

"What madness have we got ourselves into?" Ahana groaned. She just wanted a normal year… a normal life. This was anything but.

"We are out of time. If Mesagog revived the BioZords, we got to act fast!" He shook his head. "Come on!"

The teens followed him. They didn't know what was going on but one thing was clear. Doctor Oliver was the only one who had all the answers.

"So, these mechanical dinosaur things, they are your friends?" Kira asked.

"Bio-Zords," Tommy sighed. "Fusion powered replicants, using actual dinosaur DNA for their neuro functions."

"I'm guessing you helped build them too?"

"I'm afraid so," He winced. "But right now, we… I mean, you have to tame them."

"I'll BBL if that's all the same to you," Ethan gave a nervous laugh as he headed for the exit.

"What's that mean?"

"Be back later, duh." Conner explained.

Tommy shook his head. So, the jock can't appear for classes but knows chatting abbreviations. Conner is seriously reminding him of Rocky. Let's just hope he doesn't share his humungous appetite!

"Ethan, wait!" The boy in blue turned back to look at his teacher.

"You can do this but you don't have to do it alone," He told them. He internally groaned. Keeper was right all along. No one else can harness the dino gem's energies even through the morphers. They were the only ones who can fight Mesagog. He had tried contacting Lightspeed and Silver Guardians but their forces were stretched thin currently thanks to some kind of demon outbreak in Stone Canyon. They don't have the resources or the rangers to spare.

"Ever since I found the Dino Gems, I have had these waiting if I ever needed to harness their powers," He led them over to a case sitting on a table.

"Into what?" Ahana asked suspiciously.

He opened up the briefcase to reveal five morphers, with different dinosaur heads on them in different colours… the colours of their gems.

"Dino Morphers." He told them. "Use these to become Power Rangers."

Ahana gave an exasperated sigh. Nick looked somewhere between excited and cautious. Conner and Kira looked somewhat eager but Ethan looked as if he were about to faint then and there.

"I gotta sit down," Ethan staggered and Conner caught him.

"Breathe dude."

Ahana's eyes were fixated on the purple morpher.

"We can't be superheroes!" Kira exclaimed, shaking her head. "Aren't you supposed to fly or have superhuman strength, stuff like that?"

Tommy looked mildly amused. In their time, they didn't have civilian powers but these kids do.

"Kira, aren't you forgetting the last two days?" Nick asked.

"Oh yeah… sorry. Slipped my mind." Kira bit her lips.

"Your gems are from the asteroid that crashed into the Earth millions of years ago, wiping away the dinosaur population," Tommy explained. "The Keeper, a benevolent alien found them and enlisted me to look after them so that they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands."

"How do you know that these are the right hands?" He asked.

"The Gems are magical, linked to the Morphin Grid that is the source of all life and the power source behind every ranger team in the universe and created by the Morphin Masters, the most powerful beings in all of existence. They are in a way, alive and sentient. Believe me, they chose you and not the other way around. Only you five can successfully use the powers of the gems."

"Can't they unchoose us?" Ahana asked.

"They have already bonded with your DNA," He told them plainly. "That's what gave you your powers."

"So, if they have already bonded to us, why are Mesagog and his goons still after them?" Ethan asked.

"The only way these powers can be taken away is if you are destroyed," came the grave answer.

"Okay for future reference, that's not a great selling point." Ethan said.

"Look all I know is, I don't remember asking to be a superhero!" Conner waved his hands.

"The Gems wouldn't have bonded with you if you didn't have anything that could handle the power," He explained patiently. "Please, time is running out."

Exchanging anxious yet eager glances, the five of them reached out and took their morphers.

"So now what?" Ethan asked as they scrutinized the morphers. They could feel the power emanating from them. "Do we need to have some kind of secret command or password?"

"All you have to say is 'Dino Thunder, Power up," and you'll be transformed. You'll know what to do." Tommy nodded at them.

"Dino Thunder?" Conner repeated, glancing at Ethan. "Did you come up with that?"

"I kinda like it." Ethan admitted, which made Conner smirk.

"You would," Ethan rolled his eyes.

Again, with the eye rolling. What's up with these teens and their snark. Out of all the rangers he'd served with, only Kim, Zack, Aisha, Tanya and Cassie could possibly keep up with their sass.

Tommy cleared his throat. "Look, I know you five are from different worlds, I get it. But you are going to have to work together or this can never happen. This won't be easy. Nobody knows that better than I do."

Nick narrowed his eyes at him and once again, Tommy felt a sense of déjà vu. He had this feeling that he should know this kid from somewhere but he couldn't place the feeling.

"But you're going to have to believe in yourselves because I do." He continued.

"Really?" Conner asked skeptically.

"Really." He confirmed. "You five are the world's best and only hope of survival."

As their teacher drove them downtown, Ahana felt the memories come back to her. She had trained her whole life to be a Guardian and then, Lothor happened. One year of getting stuck in a tiny orb gave her a lifetime's worth of trauma. Her body had been in stasis while her mind was active. She couldn't escape or will her body to break free. But then when Mesagog captured her, she did find a way out of his fortress. These things… kidnapping of innocents by monsters… She couldn't let stuff like this happen to others. As much as she wanted to resume a normal life and watch from the sidelines, she was born for this… to be a hero and she wouldn't back down, not now. She had faltered but she wouldn't let the fear control her life anymore. It was time to be a hero.

"Okay. This is it." Tommy announced, stopping his rover and they looked out to see the massive zords terrorizing the city. They climbed out to see the giant robotic versions of a tyrannosaurus, a triceratops, a pterodactyl, a raptor and a plesiosaurus stomping across the city, tearing down buildings.

"That must be them!"

"Wow, good call, Conner." Kira rolled her eyes.

The cyborg from before landed in front of them. "You'll have to get past me before you get those zords!"

"That's the part I'm looking forward to," Conner retorted.

"You guys ready?" Ethan glanced at the other four.

"Oh yeah," Kira smirked.

"Damn right." Nick flashed a devilish grin at the cyborg.

"About time." Ahana glared at the monster.

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP, HA!" They morphed into their new suits, which had white spikes running down the sides and a golden claw emblem engraved on their chests.

"Whoa!" Nick smiled, inspecting his pink suit. He was a superhero and though it irked him a bit that he was the pink ranger, he couldn't be happier! He was a power ranger… a superhero… something every kid wanted to be… He was living his childhood dream and nothing could ruin his mood, even the fact that he was covered from head to toe in pink spandex!

Ahana studied her purple suit. It was flashy for sure but it felt nice. She could feel the absolute power of the Grid coursing through her veins, burning away any insecurities she might have had.

"So… you are power rangers." The monster drawled.

"Call on your weapons!" Doctor Oliver yelled, "They are in your belt!"

"You got it, Dr O!" Conner whooped and their belts began to glow as beam of golden light shot out of them and circled the new heroes before taking physical form and dropping in their outstretched hands.

"Nice, I got a tyranno staff!" Conner exclaimed.

"I can come to grips with this! Ptera Grips!" Kira twirled the dagger like weapons, before taking a battle stance.

"Sweet! A Tricera Shield!" Ethan shouted like a five-year-old who had just got a new toy.

"Awesome! Raptor Claws!" Nick felt himself grinning ear to ear. His weapons were the coolest. He wore vermilion gauntlets, which had sharp claws extending out of where his knuckles should be.

"I can get used to this! Plesio Crossbow!" Ahana couldn't hold back her excitement as she pointed her new weapon at the cyborg and fired. Energy arrows pelted out of the purple crossbow, heading straight for the monster.

"Enough!" The cyborg raised his shield, deflecting the attack though he was sent staggering back. "Tyrannodrones, get them!"

At his command, an invisiportal opened over him and a platoon of foot-soldiers leapt out, heading straight for them.

The rangers nodded at each other and met their opponents in battle. After six years of training in the Wind Ninja Academy, fighting was second nature to her. She let out a battle cry as she ran at the robots, firing from her crossbow and taking out several of their ranks. As she reached closer, she smirked, kicking a tyrannodrone back to another. She used her free hand to catch a punch by one, before lifting it up and throwing it back to the ground hard. She pointed the crossbow at the remaining attackers and fired, watching with grim satisfaction as the ensuing blast dismantled all of them into scrap heap. She turned around to see others make quick work of the other tyrannodrones.

Nick swung his claws, striking down two foot-soldiers. "Loving this!" He struck his claws to the ground, letting loose a seismic wave that shook through his would-be attackers and tore them apart.

"Freeze!" Nick saw Ethan attempt to stop the cyborg, only for the villain to unleash a laser of light that wrapped around the blue ranger and lifted him off the ground, before slamming him to a billboard. He yelled as he fell down.

"NO!" Ahana screamed. Even if the suit could protect him from a fall from such a height, she wasn't ready to risk it not when she could save him, secrets be damned. She ninja-streaked towards him, catching him and breaking his fall, as both of them landed safely on the streets.

"Whoa!" Ethan gasped. "That was-"

"Amazing!" Nick whistled as the other rangers ran up to the two.

Conner nodded approvingly.

"Guys, we still have to take care of this creep!" Kira reminded them, turning towards the cyborg.

"Rangers, combine your weapons!" Dr Oliver yelled, his voice carrying over the sound of the giant robots tearing through the city.

"Right!" Conner nodded. The five stood together and by instinct, combined their weapons into a blaster.

"Z-Rex Blaster, ready! Fire!" They unleashed a torrent of energy at the cyborg, who was sent crashing through a building.

"We did it!" Kira shouted.

"It's not over yet, rangers!" The cyborg stood up with the support of his battle axe. "You showed me your weapons, now meet mine!"

A large ship flew towards them, unleashing laser attacks that shook the ground, making them tumble to the ground.

"Ok, how do we fight that?" Conner panted, getting up.

"You got to tame the zords." Dr Oliver told them as he helped Ethan and Kira get up. "Concentrate. Your morphers will communicate your thoughts to your zords."

Ahana nodded. Though it was brief, she had seen the ninja zords in action. The very thought that she could pilot one of her own was exhilarating.

"Look at that!" Conner pointed at the triceratops, which grunted at them. "They are huge!"

"Calm down boy," Ethan extended his hands in the direction of the triceratops. "It's alright. I'm your friend." He maintained eye contact, assuming the zord could see through his visor and look directly in his eyes, as he raised his morpher. "Tricera Zord!"

The zord roared as it's colour changed from dull grey to bright blue.

"It worked!" He cheered.

"Okay, my turn." Kira turned towards the ptera zord as it flew overhead. "Ptera Zord! We can be friends, right?" Almost instantaneously, the zord turned yellow and let out a friendly screech.

"Heyo!" Nick gave an awkward wave at the raptor, who snarled at him.

"Careful." Ahana warned.

"Sorry, was never that great with pets." He scratched the back of his helmet sheepishly.

"Just be yourself, Nick and the morpher will do the rest." Dr Oliver advised.

"Right." Nick raised his morpher at the giant raptor. "We can be partners, right? Please don't eat me."

Nick smiled as a burst of pink light restored the zord to her true form. "Atta girl! Knew we can do it!"

Ahana smiled, turning towards her own zord. She raised her morpher and as Dr O advised, tried to connect with her. I know how it's like to be held captive against your will. Just let me help you and you can be free. She pleaded the zord.

She heard a deafening roar as the plesiozord turned purple and nodded at her.

"That was quick." Nick whistled. "You didn't even say anything."

"She did." Dr Oliver gave her a knowing smile. "Just not aloud."

"Conner! The Tyranno Zord is still out of control!" Ethan yelled in alarm as the zord attacked the others.

"Do something!" Kira screamed as the ptera zord crashed to the ground as a result of being hit by the tyrannozord's tail.

"Come on! I need you to work with me here!" Conner yelled at the zord, scrunching his eyes and reaching out in desperation. He raised his arm. "Tyranno Zord!" The zord roared and hesitated for a while before turning red and roaring again, this time declaring his independence.

"You did it!" Nick gave him a one-armed hug as the others cheered.

"Only one more thing to do! Bring them together." Dr Oliver said.

Nick grinned. "A megazord!"

"Okay, let's do it!" Conner called, jumping into their zords.

"Logging in, combine powers!" The tyranno zord folded on itself, forming most of the body of the megazord till it's knees and it's right arm. The raptor zord and plesio zord formed the lower legs of the megazord, the ptera zord it's head and the tricera zord it's left arm. The tail of the tyranno zord detached and became a sword for the megazord to wield.

"It worked!" Ahana was buzzing with excitement as she joined the others in the cockpit.

"Your power is no match for mine!" the cyborg yelled from his ship, opening fire on them, the attack pushing them back.

"Now I'm mad!" Conner grunted. Cables shot down from the ship and wrapped around their arms, sending a jolt of electricity through them.

"Time to head for the back of the net!" Conner commanded. Using the cables holding them in place as support, the megazord jumped to the air, heading straight for the ship much to the cyborg's shock. "There's the heart of the ship. Dino Drill, engage!"

They drove the tyranno sword, which started to rotate, through the ship, destroying it in one huge explosion. The monster fell out of the ship just in time before escaping through an invisiportal.

When Tommy held out the briefcase containing the morphers, he felt a bit proud but also anxious. Was this how Zordon felt about them?

Hayley had wanted to get know the kids on her own before letting them know she was part of Tommy's team. The Keeper as usual was a no show. For now, he was their only mentor and despite his urge to lock the morphers in one of the vaults, he had decided to let the kids be rangers. They were bonded to the gems and the Grid for that matter and nothing could change that now. They were now part of the Ranger family.

The morphers changed form to become simple grey bracelets with the gems in their center.

"Keep these bracelets with you at all times," he told them as he passed them their bracelets. "They'll access your morphers when you need them and you can use them to communicate with me and each other."

"Dr O, I know you must be real smart, science teacher and all, but this is…Well…" Kira broke off, looking at him curiously.

"Exactly what I want to know." Nick turned his head at the science teacher again.

"The morphers? It's not easy to get your hands on such technology." Ahana added, looking at him suspiciously. "Who are you?"

Tommy sighed, setting the now empty case down. "I know you need answers but right now, the less you know, the safer we all are. Believe me, I don't want you fighting monsters and piloting giant dinosaurs but the gems are already bonded to you. They chose you. I can't change that no matter how much I want you guys out of harm's way. I promise I will fill you in, on time."

"Speaking of time, you think Mesagog's going to stick around for a while?" Ethan asked.

"Unfortunately, they always do."

"They?" Ahana repeated.

"I know this is a lot to take in. Your lives have changed in ways you couldn't have imagined," Tommy said seriously, feeling slightly guilty as he dodged Ahana's question. "But as long as you work together and remember you are a team, no one can defeat you. No one." He reassured them, praying that he would be able to guide them as well as Zordon had guided him. He hated being on the sidelines but without his morphers, this is all he could do. He just hoped it would be enough.

Hope you liked this chapter and please review. :)

Also there's a "post-credits scene" for this chapter, which won't directly affect future storylines of this story but sets the stage for connected prequels and sequels that take place in the same continuity as this story, which I fondly call the Guardians!verse.

Nick Russell counted himself one of the luckiest people in the planet. He was adopted and unlike other adopted kids, he had no desire to find out his biological parents or learn why they gave him up, frankly because it didn't matter. Those people might have given birth to him but they were not his real parents. The Russells were his real family, the ones who loved him unconditionally and took him in when no one else would. They rescued him from the streets after he ran away from his foster home and for that, he'd always be grateful.

Rick and Tina Russell were his parents and Sabrina was his sister. Nothing and no one in the world could change that. They trusted him so much and were always there to catch him whenever he faltered in anything, dealt with his temper tantrums and always reassured him that he was a part of their family, no matter what.

So that's why it hurt to keep a secret from them. He was anxious even thinking about it but as Dr Oliver had explained it, it was to keep them safe. Moreover, if they knew he was a ranger, they would worry about him continuously and God forbid, try to help him too.

He bit his lip as he opened the door to their apartment. He really didn't want to lie to his parents but what they don't know can't hurt them, right?

"How was school, honey?" His mother asked him, coming from the living room, his father following closely behind. "I heard there were monster attacks."

"And Rangers!" His father jumped enthusiastically. He was obsessed with the power rangers, even going as far to make a scrapbook detailing the various ranger teams.

"It was good. We got off early. School was cancelled because of the attacks. I stayed back in the school with a couple of friends till it was over." He lied.

"Good thing you did, dear. The city is not safe during the attacks. You don't remember much but God, the attacks in Angel Grove used to be downright terrifying." His mom fussed.

"Yeah."

"The news said they have a red, blue, yellow, pink and purple ranger. Guess what, Pink's a dude! And they have a dinosaur team since the original team!" His dad almost squealed with excitement.

"Aren't you too old to be geeking out over superheroes, dad?" Nick joked.

"The superheroes are awesome. For you kids, it's normal… aliens, monsters and heroes. In our time, these things were only in comics and tv shows. The world has changed so much." His mom said gently, giving his dad a quick peck in the cheeks.

"Yeah whatever. It's cool." Nick said. "Guys, I'm super tired."

"Yeah, go rest in your room. We will wake you up for dinner." His dad gave him a one-armed hug.

As he went to his room, he didn't notice his parents looking at each other worriedly.

"You sense it too, don't you?" Tina whispered. "We were so careful."

"There is no reason to worry." Rick reassured her. "Just because he is a ranger now doesn't mean he will remember-"

"But he will be targeted-"

"Just like any other ranger. He will have his team beside him. We can't let anyone find out the truth. That's why we can't interfere."

"But he is our baby."

"I know. We have to trust him and his team to keep him safe for now. We always knew it was his destiny to be a hero."

"But why after all these years?"

"I don't know, Tina." Rick embraced his wife in a hug, as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"We have to let Sabrina know. If the Phoenix has awakened, that means the return of the Darkness is near. The Order needs to be ready." She sniffed.

"It will be alright, dear. We have to trust in him. We protected him as much as we can but we can't run from destiny forever."

Two parents held each other contemplating the future, knowing the trials their son would face yet bound by circumstances and fate to shield him from the truth.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Ahana pursed her lips into a thin line as she ninja-streaked her way into the city of Blue Bay Harbour within a couple of minutes. She landed in an alley near Storm Chargers and looked around. There was no one who saw except for a couple of cats who were lodged on top of a dumpster, scavenging through the garbage. One of them looked up and scowled at her before going back to whatever he was doing.Ahana shrugged. Animals were far more susceptive of the paranormal than humans were.
She ran her hands through her short curls before walking out of the alley and heading for Storm Chargers. She didn’t want to go to the Academy so soon after leaving her and chances were that the gang would be with Kelly, considering ninja classes usually started in late evening, back when she was a student.
Was she being impulsive? Should she have checked with them before dropping on them unnoticed. Probably… 
Her friends had moved on with their lives while she was imprisoned in a bubble on Lothor’s accursed spaceship. They had new friends now… the Bradley and Romero siblings and the other rangers from the different academies, not to mention Cam, who somehow deigned to leave the academy grounds and his cousins, space ninjas who defected from Lothor, including that Marah who hovered around Dustin like a persistent fly.
Ahana shook her head. It really wasn’t her business who Dustin was hanging around with nowadays. She made her choice when she left the Academy. She couldn’t have stayed here, even for him.
She entered the Storm Chargers and smiled as she saw Kelly behind the counter.
“Ahana!” Kelly’s eyes lit up on seeing her. She ran up to her and engulfed her in a hug.
“How are you?” The older woman asked her, letting her go and putting her hands on her shoulder. 
“I am good!” Ahana smiled. The Holloways were their neighbours while she stayed here and Kelly never really bought the explanation that she was away from Blue Bay Harbour as a foreign exchange student though she never pressed for more information.
“Wait, did you say Ahana?” She looked around to see Dustin look up from the couch before noticing her and jumping over the couch and running across the store to her. She laughed as he  threw his arms around her, wrapping her in a tight hug, the impact nearly knocking her over. She squealed as he whirled around, lifting her to the air. He laughed as he set her to the ground, smiling.
“Dude, what are you doing here?” He asked, the goofy grin etched across his face.
“Can’t I drop in here for a visit?” She grinned. “Was missing you guys.”
“Of course, you can, Ahana.” Kelly said, smiling at her warmly. “We all missed you. You are always welcome here. Are your folks dropping by too?”
“No. I came alone. The plan was kind of spontaneous. Just decided a half hour or so ago.”
“Isn’t Reefside like an hour and half drive from here?” 
It was so easy to talk to Kelly, sometimes she forgot that Kelly didn’t know that she was a ninja.
“The bus used a short-cut through the mountains.” She shrugged. Dustin winked at her mischievously, catching her slip-up.
“Right.” Kelly said not believing her but as always did not press for more. “Hey, I’ll leave you two. There are some customers I need to talk to but Ahana, meet me before you go back.”
“So, where are the others?” She asked Dustin as Kelly headed for the counter.
“Tori is meeting Blake and Hunter in Stone Canyon. Shane is in the Academy.” Dustin said. “Hey, wanna go for a walk?”
“Sure.” Ahana said, waving to Kelly as they exited Storm Chargers. 
Dustin held out his hand. Ahana smiled, locking her arm with his as they walked through the streets, crossing several small shops and apartment buildings lining the streets. The beach was walking distance from Storm Chargers and Ahana could already hear the waves crashing on the shore.
“So, how’s Reefside?” Dustin asked.
“It’s good.” Ahana replied, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
“I hear there are rangers there now.” Dustin smirked at her.
“I know. I saw them.” Ahana said. “They are pretty cool!”
“As cool as us?” Dustin asked her grinning.
“Well, I think I root for them more since I saw you guys as rangers only once.” She smirked.
“But that was the most epic fight ever! Dude it was the fight against the big bad! It’s like equal to ten of the usual monster fights!” He protested.
Ahana laughed. “Okay, okay… You guys are great!”
“Thank you.”
“I wish I got to be with you guys last year though.” She said wistfully.
“Me too, Ahana. We missed you so much. I missed you.” He replied slowly, snuggling closer to her.
Ahana felt her face heat up. “Yeah, about that. I never got to ask you guys, how was it being a ranger?”
“It was the greatest, dude! I was a freaking superhero!” He exclaimed. “Can you believe that, I was a superhero!”
“Actually, I can!” Ahana laughed. “Remember when we first joined the academy, you made a costume to moonlight as a vigilante before Uncle Jackson confiscated it.”
“Yeah, probably not my best idea.” Dustin laughed. 
“But you guys changed after being rangers, right?” Ahana asked. Dustin tilted his head to look down at her. “I mean Shane gave up his chance to go pro!”
“Yeah, I mean we learnt that with great power…”
“Don’t say it.” Ahana groaned, face-palming herself.
“Comes great responsibility.” Dustin finished with a grin. “Come on, I know you love comics as much as me.”
“Not at all.” Ahana retorted.
“Liar!”
“Okay, maybe a little bit, but I never thought you three would be, you know, responsible? No offence though.”
“None taken.” He smirked. “I mean, dude, we were the last people on Earth to be heroes. But that’s every comic book starts with… the rookies becoming the main heroes, the last line of defence against total annihilation!”
“Nerd.” Ahana shook her head.
“What, it’s true!” He defended himself as they reached the beach.
“Yeah and you guys were awesome but don’t you think giving up on your lives is a bit too much. I mean you wanted to be a professional motocross rider since forever but you seem to have paused it. I get it when you were rangers but why now?”
He sighed looking up. “It’s complicated.”
“Dustin…” She bit her lips as Dustin let go of her hand and looked the other way.
“It took us a long time to properly harness our powers because we weren’t fully trained ninjas. We were slackers. That’s why we couldn’t just storm Lothor’s ship and free you guys even with our ranger powers.”
“It’s not your fault, Dustin.” She placed a hand on her shoulder. “You guys did the best you could. And now Lothor is gone, you don’t need to put your dreams on hold anymore.”
“I am not sure I have a choice, Ahana.” He made a popping sound with his mouth.
“What do you mean?”
“It wasn’t just chance that Shane, Tori and I were the only ones who were late that day and escaped capture.” He sighed. “Before our final fight against Lothor, Sensei showed us a scroll from centuries ago. It showed us three along with the other rangers. It was our destiny to defeat Lothor and be the most powerful guardians. If that’s so, we can’t just retire when there’s other evil around the world. It is our responsibility.”
Ahana gulped. She hadn’t expected that.
“I don’t know what to say…” Ahana met his eyes. “But it isn’t your responsibility to save the world on your own. There are hundreds of guardians across the planet, not to mention rangers. Your fight is over, no one would blame you if you decided to leave the academy.”
“Why did you leave?” He asked her bluntly.
“It didn’t feel safe here anymore.” She sighed. “At the academy, I thought I was one of the best but when Lothor came, I got captured along with everyone else. One year of my life snatched away from me and it made me realise there’s more to life than being a guardian and fighting for others. I need to figure out what I want in life other than all this.”
“That makes sense.” Dustin nodded. “I am sorry we couldn’t save you before.”
“Listen to me, Dustin. It wasn’t your fault or anyone’s fault other than Lothor’s.” She took his hand.
Dustin pulled her to a hug and they were so close that she could feel his warm breath on her forehead. 
“I know. But there are others like him who will come after the abyss and we are the guardians of the abyss. I talked it over with Shane and Tori. Our morphers were toast after the fight. Till Cam fixes them, we have to… we want to stay at the Academy and help out.”
“And if the morphers are fixed, will you be rangers again?” She asked as they let go of each other.
“I dunno. It’s cool being a ranger but I don’t think I will. Besides the morphers aren’t ours. They belong to the academy and we will pass it on to our students.”
Ahana nodded before smirking. “It is still bizarre to think you are a sensei now!”
“I now, right.” Dustin laughed. “But it’s fun to teach.”
“A year ago, you hated training and now you help train others.” Ahana twisted her lips. “Being a ranger has changed you.”
“A good change, right?” He asked.
Ahana waited a minute before nodding. “Yeah, a good change.”
She smiled, taking his hand again as they sat down on the beach. Ahana rested her head on Dustin’s shoulder and closed her eyes. It was good to be back here, to feel the slight cool breeze from the ocean but the warmth of the sun at the same time, the chaos of the people scurrying around the beach getting drowned by the crashing waves on the shore.
Blue Bay Harbour had been her home for a long time and coming back here made her question why she had left in the first place…

Chapter Text

"No!" Conner yelled as a little girl fell behind. "You guys go get him, I will help the girl!"

They nodded, following the monster while Conner split off to help the child.

"Watch out!" Kira called as they followed the monster, who had started to throw vehicles and objects at them in an attempt to get them off his tail.

"Whoa!" Nick narrowly dodged a flying car that exploded behind them.

Ahana and her raptor leapt to the air, avoiding getting hit by a lamppost the monster threw at them.

The monster growled as he flew higher.

"I guess we are doing what you said, Nick!" Ahana told them as her raptor leapt up to a building, latching on it with her claws and running as if the vertical border of the building was the ground.

"I guess we are!" Ethan shrugged, looking at Nick and Kira as they followed her.

As they followed the monster, he cackled, diving down and landing on the ground.

"You afraid of heights?" The monster mocked them.

"You wish, you freaky bird!" Kira snapped, patting her raptor as she jumped, stomping on the monster as he attempted to fly away.

The others leapt to the ground and dismounted their raptors. The yellow raptor let the monster go.

As he staggered to his feet, Ahana fired her arrows at him, blasting him backwards.

"Let's finish this!" Conner said, catching up to them and jumping off his raptor.

"Z Rex Blaster!" They shouted, combining their weapons. "Fire!"

The multi-coloured torrent of grid energy from their weapons collided against the monster, disintegrating him.

"The goose is cooked!" Ethan cheered, seconds before a dark green cloud appeared overhead and started to rain on the spot of black ash, all that remained of the monstrous atrocity.

"What the actual fu-" Nick screamed as they jumped back.

"Doc O, we have a problem!" Conner cried alarmed, raising his morpher.

"Let me guess, a 30-storey version of the guy you were just fighting." He replied.

"You have done this before, haven't you?" Ahana asked curiously.

"Once or twice," Dr O replied mysteriously. "I'll send the dino zords."

"Ready?" Conner asked. They nodded, leaping into the zords, shortly before combining them into the Thundersaurus Megazord.

The monster didn't waste a second to throw an energy blast at them. As they staggered backwards, Kira grunted.

"I got an idea!" She called, taking the reins and the megazord stood up. "Ptera Rang!"

The wings of the pterazord which were lodged in the front of the megazord launched themselves at the monster like a pair of boomerangs. Not giving him a second to recuperate, the megazord leapt at him, slashing though him with their Tyranno Drill, destroying him completely.

"Now that's what I call monster busting!" The yellow ranger exclaimed happily to the cheers of her friends.

Conner leapt from the megazord and the others followed curiously, seeing him wave to the little girl he had saved.

"Thank you!" The girl ran up to him with a wide smile and hugged him.

Conner nodded, returning the hug.

As the girl returned to her mother, Conner waved at them and Ahana smiled underneath her helmet. She had an inkling Conner had found a reason to continue being a hero, just like she had.

Ahana could be considered a tomboy by many, but she would be lying if she told anyone that she didn't grow up playing dress up and singing country songs with Tori.

She was dressed in a sleek red dress and a purple jacket over it as she walked into the Cyber Café. She had straightened her hair and given up her glasses in favour of contact lenses.

She lit up on spotting Kira on stage. She looked lovely, wearing a fashionable green jacket.

"You look awesome!" She gushed as she approached the stage.

"Thanks, and you too!" Kira smiled.

"You both look amazing!" They turned around to see Trent carrying two lemonades.

"Thanks." Ahana smiled and Kira nodded.

"Good luck, Kira." Trent told the singer with a smile before walking off to serve the customers.

"Oh, shut up." Kira told the purple ranger, who was grinning impishly at her.

"I didn't say anything." She protested.

"You didn't need to. Your face said it all." Kira retorted, her face a little flushed.

"Okay, okay." Ahana relented. "You're going to kill it!"

"Thanks." Kira beamed at her. She nodded, getting off the stage and heading over to where Ethan and Nick were sitting just as Conner walked in.

"Hey, I didn't expect to see you here." Ethan grinned at him.

"Why not?" Conner asked, smiling. "We are partners in crime, aren't we?"

Ethan and Nick exchanged confused glances while Ahana smiled knowingly.

"Are we?" Nick asked.

"Yeah dude." Conner clapped his back. "You guys are stuck with me!"

"Hey, what happened with the Wave?" Ethan inquired as they walked over to the counter.

"I had to make a choice. That little girl made me realise that there's nothing more important than what we are doing." Conner told them as they sat down.

"Hey Conner, sorry you didn't make the team." Hayley said, appearing in front of them abruptly and smiling kindly at Conner.

"Um… yeah."

"These are on the house." The red head gave them their shakes before walking towards the stage.

"How does she do that?" Conner turned at Ethan.

"Hayley knows all, man." The blue ranger grinned. "And I am sorry too."

"Yeah, us too." Nick nodded.

"Yeah look, you guys know I would have still chosen you guys right?" Conner looked at them earnestly.

"We know." Ahana smiled at him and he grinned at her.

They looked up as Hayley took the mike on the stage.

"Tonight, we have got something special for you. A young girl with a lot to say. Ladies and gentlemen, Kira Ford!"

Everybody started to cheer as Kira stepped forward and started singing while strumming her guitar.

"Hey, wasn't Dr O supposed to be here?" Ethan asked, looking around for their mentor.

"Guess he is still cleaning up his basement after the raptors wreaked it." Ahana suggested.

"Whatever it is, let's chill. Maybe he's grading our assignments or something." Conner said.

"Yeah…" Ethan nodded as the four of them focused on Kira, cheering her on, totally unaware of what was happening just outside the café.

Hope you guys liked this chapter and please review.

Chapter Text

The five of them entered the Dino Cave, looking for their teacher only to be disappointed as he wasn't there.

"Wait, you can speed search the entire house." Ethan said to Conner. "He must be here somewhere."

"What the what now?" Conner asked, scratching his head.

The blue ranger said exasperatedly. "Dude! Speed search. Haven't you ever read any issues of the Flash?"

"The what?"

"Oh god." Ethan clutched his head.

Ahana rolled her eyes at the theatrics. "What he means is you can search the house in your super speed. It will take far less time than if we all start searching for him."

"Why didn't you just say that?" Conner asked Ethan.

"He was making references to comic book stuff." Ahana supplied. Kira and Nick face palmed while Conner made a face.

"Such a nerd." He smirked. "But a great idea."

He disappeared in a blur of red only to reappear a second later.

"He isn't here. I searched every corner of the house." He informed them.

"This is bad." Kira said.

"Very bad. Worse than crashing after getting to level 9 in SNSW."

"Super Ninja Space Wars." Ahana translated when the others looked at the others looked at Ethan confused.

"Great, you are a nerd too." Conner joked.

"Hard not to be when Dustin is obsessed with them." Ahana said.

"Who's Dustin?" Conner asked.

"A friend back in Blue Bay Harbour." She said quickly. "We need to find Dr O."

"Don't you think we are getting a little too freaked out about this?" Conner asked.

"Dr O doesn't show up for my gig, then misses a full day of school without calling." Kira reminded them. "I say we've achieved exactly the right level of freaking out."

"I guess there's only one way to find out what the good doctor has been up to." Ethan said, eying the computer.

"Ethan, no." Ahana started. "That'd be a breach of privacy."

"But maybe he left a message or something?" Nick suggested.

"It's not like we can call up anybody else for all this. He's the only one who seems to know about all this crazy stuff." Kira said.

"I mean there was that Keeper guy but I'm pretty sure we don't have his number or if he even uses a phone." Ethan rambled. "This might be our only shot."

"Conner?" Ahana turned towards the red ranger.

"I mean, better to ask for forgiveness than permission?" He shrugged.

"Fine. But this was all you guys." Ahana shook her head.

Ethan sat in the chair and started typing. "There is an encrypted message after all. Wait, I'm in."

"Yeah, but where?" Kira asked as a video of Dr Oliver appeared on screen.

"I'm Tommy Oliver and if you are not me, then something is seriously wrong. This is a confidential archive, only to be viewed in the case of an emergency. What you are about to see is a history of my life."

"More dinosaur bone stories. Yawn." Conner drawled.

"My history as a Guardian of the Earth-"

Ahana's eyes narrowed. So, she was right. Dr O was a guardian after all. Was he a ninja or Pai Zhua or a mystic?

"And as a Power Ranger."

"Ok, un-yawn." Conner said as all of them leaned forwards, curious and a little shocked.

"My story begins in Angel Grove when six teenagers with attitude were recruited to fight the evil space sorceress Rita Repulsa."

The five of them watched in astonishment as six teenagers like them morphed into rangers.

"They are the OG power rangers!" Nick pointed excitedly.

"They harnessed the powers of prehistoric beasts to become Earth's first publicly recognised power rangers."

Ahana gasped softly, noticing the careful wording, which cleared any doubt regarding the extent of Dr O's affiliation with the guardians. Only the guardians would have known that there were various teams of rangers before the Mighty Morphin team, like the Samurai team, the Mystics or the rangers of the Guardian academies.

The video continued, showing footage of their first fight against infamous villains like Goldar while a red and gold android cheered them on.

"Under the guidance of the intergalactic being Zordon, Trini, Zack, Billy, Kimberly, Nandita and Jason bravely defended Earth, which forced Rita to create her own ranger."

"Okay, so where's Dr O?" Kira asked.

"I think we are about to find out." Ahana said as the video changed to Angel Grove High School, showing a much younger Tommy Oliver wearing a green sleeveless shirt.

"I'm Kimberly." The original pink ranger introduced herself. She was a petite brunette, smiling shyly at Tommy.

"Yeah, I'm Tommy." He introduced himself.

"Wait, is that Kimberly Hart, the Olympic medallist?" Kira noticed. Ethan paused the video to get a closer view.

"It is her!"

"More importantly, see how Dr O is blushing." Conner said, pointing at the screen. "They totally hooked up."

"Conner, don't be crass." Nick elbowed him. "But yeah, the vibes are totally there."

"Guys?" Ethan looked at them pointedly as he started the video again.

"What's going on?!" Tommy demanded as an invisible force immobilised him after he had defeated a squad of putty patrollers, who had ambushed him on his way home.

"Tommy! I have chosen you!" Rita Repulsa declared as she took control of him.

"Her evil magic was too strong. I couldn't fight it." Doctor Oliver said from the corner of the screen as the video showed him becoming the evil green ranger and take on the other rangers. "She commanded me to destroy the other rangers and I almost succeeded."

"I know you are the green ranger." Kimberly whispered to Tommy as he was lifting weights in the Youth Centre gym.

"Well then, Pink Ranger." Tommy turned towards her menacingly, his eyes flashing red. "You should also know that you and the other power rangers will soon be destroyed."

"But my friends never gave up. They destroyed the Sword of Darkness and liberated me from Rita's dark spell."

The screen showed the rangers fighting against Tommy and freeing him from the spell.

"You are no longer under Rita's power. Fight by our side and we can defeat Rita." Jason insisted.

"After everything that's happened?" Tommy asked.

"It wasn't your fault, Tommy." Nandita the Saffron Ranger stated firmly. "Rita did something horrible. She took away your free will and used you like a puppet. Whatever happened was all her fault not yours."

"Will you join us, Tommy?"

Jason and Tommy shook hands as Tommy smiled.

"And that's when I joined the team but not for long. I soon discovered the green ranger powers were only temporary."

"As you are aware, the Green Ranger powers were completely decimated by the last few battles. Alpha and I felt it was time to create an even more powerful ranger to battle Lord Zedd and his diabolical evil." Zordon spoke. "And now I present to you, the White Ranger." A new ranger in white wearing a black and gold shield with the tiger emblem on his chest appeared.

"Guess who is back?" He removed his helmet to reveal Tommy. He smiled at his friends.

Ethan paused the video and the others turned towards him.

"What did you do that for?" Kira asked him.

"Cause I'm so buggin', I can't even deal!" Ethan raised his hands as all of them looked at each other, letting what they learned sink in.

"I used to play with white ranger action figures." Nick said.

"Our teacher is the oldest living power ranger." Conner breathed.

"Not the oldest, just the best." All of them whirled around to see Hayley, who stood at the entrance.

"Hayley?" Ethan asked.

"How did you get in here?" Conner demanded as they walked over to her.

"I built this place." She smirked. "Before we waste time, yes, I know you five are rangers."

"Do you know where Dr Oliver is?" Ahana asked.

"I know that he is in trouble and you five are the only ones who can help him. I have been helping Tommy prepare the ranger energies since grad school. Who do you think, built your morphers? I mean Tommy's good with dinosaurs, fossils and the occasional magi-tech but a rocket scientist he ain't."

"And let me guess you are?" Conner asked her.

"Among other things, yes." Hayley nodded walking over to sit by the second chair in front of the computer.

"I have a pretty good idea where Tommy is." She reached to her bag, pulling up a disc from within it and inserted it to the computer. "This is a surveillance tape from the day of your gig, Kira."

Another video popped up on top of the others, showing the streets outside the Cyber Café. Dr Oliver came into view, appearing to walk towards the Café when suddenly he was attacked by a group of tyrannodrones, who pulled him into an invisiportal and disappeared.

"Why didn't he just morph?" Conner asked. "I mean he is a power ranger."

"Not anymore, or did you not reach that far?" Hayley started the video.

"Try to escape this, power rangers!" Lord Zedd mocked the rangers from his war zord Serpentera.

"With Lord Zedd escalating his attacks and three rangers leaving, we went on a quest to find the mysterious Sword of Light."

"The Sword of Light will allow your powers to be transferred to create new rangers." Zordon revealed three new candidates.

"Rocky! Adam! Aisha!" Tommy beamed on seeing that the new rangers were his new friends.

"Trini, Zack and Jason passed on their powers and the three new rangers stepped forward and just in time." The video changed to show Rita and Zedd standing together. "With the union of Rita and Zedd's forces, came new enemies. Rita's brother Rito led an attack that devastated our zords and disrupted our connection to the Morphin Grid, the source of all our powers."

The video showed the wreckage of the zords and the other rangers holding Kimberly back as she screamed at the sight of her firebird zord falling apart in sparks and flames.

"Looks like we lost more than our zords. We lost our powers." Tommy told the others as he looked around.

"Your journey is about to begin!" A being in blue announced grandly.

"A ranger never gives up. Zordon sent us on a quest to find Ninjor, a warrior from the past who showed us the secrets of the ancient ninjetti." Doctor Oliver told them.

Ahana covered her face with her hands in shock. The Ninjetti were supposed to be one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy. The ninjetti style was a lost art, the precursor of the animal spirit styles taught in the Pai Zhua Academy.

"Our quest complete, we gained new weapons, new zords and new enemies."

The rangers in ninjetti robes fought off tenga warriors.

"But along with new enemies, came new friends."

Tommy introduced himself to an Australian girl named Katherine.

Conner smirked seeing him.

"Dr O's got game!" He whistled.

"What, no." Kira protested. "We saw him with Kimberly. He and Kat could be just friends."

Hayley laughed, pausing the video. "Conner is right on this one, Kira. Kim broke up with Tommy shortly after she left. Kat helped Tommy recover and they became something more than friends. Kat is Tommy's wife."

The five of them turned towards her at shock.

"Wait, what?" Conner asked.

"Dr O has a wife!" Kira exclaimed.

"Yes." The red head replied.

"Then where is she?" Ahana asked.

Hayley sobered. "She is somewhere safe. With Mesagog targeting him, Tommy thought it would be wise to distance himself from Kat. For all she knows, Tommy died in the island explosion."

"That's-" Ahana cut herself off. "That's a huge sacrifice."

"It's messed up." Conner said bluntly.

"It was Tommy's decision." Hayley said, her face all but saying that she agreed with Conner. "If Tommy doesn't reach out to Kat, Mesagog can't know about her. It's messed up but it keeps her safe."

She clicked the mouse and the video started playing again.

"When Kimberly chose to leave, Katherine was the only choice."

It showed Kimberly giving her power coin to Katherine.

"Katherine assumed the pink ranger powers and just in time. Rita's father, Master Vile joined the crusade to conquer Earth. Using the Orb of Doom, he turned back time, reversing us to kids and disabling our powers. Thankfully, we had help. The Alien Rangers of Aquitar helped save the planet while we went on a quest through time and space to find the shards of the zeo Crystal and restore time to it's natural order."

"Wait, there are rangers on other planets?" Ethan asked, his eyes wide. "Can we meet them?"

"Yes, there are rangers across the universe. Different lifeforms can wield the power of the Grid to become heroes of light." Hayley told them. "And not right now. You can probably meet them in a ranger reunion."

"There are ranger reunions!" Ethan squeaked as Hayley started the video again.

"During the quest, Aisha left us behind to help the wildlife of Africa fight off a deadly plague, but chose Tanya to be her successor. Rita and Zedd launched a sneak attack, which destroyed the Command Centre but all was not lost. Beneath the ruins, we found the Zeo Crystal, a mystical power that guided us to the next chapter of our lives as rangers."

Zordon beamed at the rangers from his plasma tube.

"Rangers, the power of the zeo crystal now resides within you. They will bestow you with powers beyond your imagination."

The six rangers except Billy morphed into the zeo rangers, but their colours changed. Tommy was red, Rocky was blue, Tanya was yellow, Adam was green, Kat was pink and Nandita was purple.

"The Zeo powers were awesome, but when we needed reinforcements, we turned to an old friend."

The video changed to show Tommy grinning as a figure came out of the shadows, revealing Jason.

"Jason returned and assumed the powers of the Gold Ranger from their previous wielder, Trey of Triforia."

The video showed Jason helping the other rangers with his golden power staff and his pyramid themed zord before it switched to graduation.

"After high school graduation, we were ready to face the world but not before one last adventure as rangers. A space pirate called Divatox launched an all-out attack on Earth."

The video showed the zeo rangers fighting off against Divatox's pirate army as they were trying to protect a small alien holding a silver key, only to be defeated easily by the huge number and sheer brutality of her henchmen.

The video zoomed in to show Rygog, Divatox's right hand man facing off against Rocky before slamming the blue ranger against the ground, forcing him to demorph. With a cruel gleam in his eye, the alien impaled Rocky's back with his sword.

"Oh no!" Kira gasped while the others watched with horror in their eyes.

"That's…"

"Rocky was critically injured. We used up all the energies of the zeo crystal to heal him. The stakes were higher than ever before. It was time to shift into a higher gear. Before Billy left for Aquitar to learn more about the universe, he left us with new morphers, made with zeo energies and augmented with technology we salvaged from our fights with the Machine Empire."

"Shift into Turbo!" Tommy shouted as they shot across a desert in their new car zords.

"Though Rocky survived, he was in no state to fight again and we got a new blue ranger…"

"Guys, I'm the new blue ranger!" A young boy announced with a smile, hopping out of Mountain Blaster.

"Wait, that guy is a kid!" Ahana pointed out.

"Hey, I know him!" Nick furrowed his eyebrows. "No freaking way, that's Justin!"

"You know him? How?" Kira asked.

"Yeah, we were in the same class in Angel Grove before my family moved to Reefside." He stated.

The video took a leap in time, showing a city-wide attack. Tommy and Kat were being overwhelmed before two others, an African American boy in red and an Asian girl in pink helped them. The green, purple and yellow rangers were shown being helped by a latino boy, a blond girl and an Indian girl as they evacuated the city.

The video skipped to Dimitria asking the rangers to select their successors and the five who helped them stepped forwards, joining Justin as the second team of turbo rangers.

"TJ, Cassie, Ashley, Carlos and Neha proved they had what it takes."

Hayley paused the video and the rangers looked at her.

"After that, Tommy went to college, where he met yours truly." She told them. "But when the Keeper came to him asking for his help in protecting the Dino Gems, he knew he could never escape the Power for long."

"Seeing as I don't want us to be the end of the line, can we get back onto the subject of finding Dr O?" Ethan asked.

"What about those green portal things? I mean that's how they kidnapped him and that's how I escaped after they had taken me." Ahana asked.

"I have been looking on to that. I have an algorithm in place, which checks the breaks in dimensional planes and predicts when and where spontaneous invisiportals can open."

"What's she saying?" Conner asked Kira, who shrugged.

"I am finding a way to hack access to the invisiportals so that you guys can go through it and save Tommy." She explained slowly.

"Okay." Conner nodded.

"But it will take time. So, here, watch more of your heritage." She said, resuming the video. "You might learn something."

"Divatox was tough and her pirhanatrons were relentless. She wasn't ready to give up and staged a fearsome attack, taking out the Power Chamber and their powers along with it. She headed for space and Earth's ultimate destruction."

"We have to head for the Cimmerian Planet."

"We have to stop Divatox before she comes back."

The bruised and battered former rangers snuck past the gates of NASADA compound to board the Astro Mega-shuttle. Justin watched from the ground as it took off to the unknown.

"The rangers knew they had to follow Divatox and embarked on the most dangerous mission ever, leaving behind the world they knew for the treacherous unknown lurking in the cosmos."

Ethan watched wide eyed.

"They just up and left Earth without powers!" Conner exclaimed.

"They had to." Hayley noted. "They were the only chance Earth had of surviving the UAE. But yes, they acted on instinct and luckily for us, everything worked out."

"What's the UAE?" Nick asked.

"The United Alliance of Evil." The red head replied. "A being called Dark Spectre had united all the forces of evil and planned on conquering Earth."

"The journey into space was treacherous." Dr O continued.

"It's pulling us in." Neha said anxiously as the Mega-Shuttle was pulled in by a tractor beam from a bigger ship.

"And the line between friend and foe was a thin one. Andros proved that he was more than a friend. He was just the kind of leader they needed to fight a new enemy…"

"Open the outer space hatch." The red space ranger commanded the ship's AI, DECA.

"We're coming with you." TJ said firmly as he and the other rangers followed him out of the ship to the deserted planet beneath.

"All right, let's rocket!" They morphed and except for Cassie and Ashley, their colours changed. TJ became blue, Carlos became black and Neha donned a gleaming gold suit.

The rangers discovered a cryo-tube containing a silver ranger in one of the locked rooms of the Megaship.

"Who is he?" Neha asked, feeling a connection to the mysterious ranger despite not knowing who he was.

"His name is Zhane, the silver ranger." Andros informed.

"Together, the space rangers freed Zhane from his slumber and the silver ranger was a noble addition to the team. Alliances were tested as Astronema was revealed to be Andros' long-lost sister, Karone. She defected to the side of good but not for long. Dark Spectre schemed to capture her and with the aid of cyborg technology, turned her into his general again, more ruthless than ever before."

Astronema, now in metallic armour, red hair and cybernetic implants fought the rangers alongside her generals.

"She created some of the deadliest enemies any ranger team has ever faced… the Psycho Rangers."

The video showed the Astro rangers getting pummelled by evil rangers with jagged demonic armour.

The galaxy was overrun by evil forces. Angel Grove was in a state of ruin.

"We are the power rangers!" The civilians turned around to see the six Astro rangers in their civilian forms on top of a building, facing down the vast army of foot-soldiers and monsters.

"Let's Rocket!" They leapt down, joined by the civilians as they fought off the forces of evil.

"The Astro rangers were brave but were not enough to save the city from Astronema's forces."

Cassie was thrown against a wall, her satellite scanner ripped from her hands as the quantrons stomped on it, leaving her utterly defenceless just when the robotic soldiers surrounding her fell apart in a shower of sparks, revealing the pink morphin ranger standing with her power bow.

A shield whirled past Cassie and sliced it's way through another group of quantrons before returning like a frisbee to it's holder- the pink zeo ranger.

"You are not alone." Katherine said, helping her up.

"We are all fighting with you." Kimberly promised, handing over her blade blaster to Cassie.

Nearby, the blue turbo ranger steamrolled over a group of soldiers with Storm Blaster. The blue zeo, blue morphin, red zeo and red morphin rangers fought with TJ.

The Saffron Ranger fought with the Gold and Silver Astro Rangers.

Ashley was aided by three other yellow rangers, one of them donning a suit similar to the yellow morphin suit, but her helmet was modelled after a bear instead of a saber tooth tiger.

The black morphin, green zeo and black Astro rangers fought against Elgar.

"Rangers from the past answered the call for help one last time all across the universe."

On  another planet, the gold zeo ranger fought against Rita and Zedd.

The phantom ranger and Blue Centurion fought off the forces of Machine Empire.

The planet Gratha was defended from Divatox and her monsters by the alien rangers.

"But it was not enough. It took a noble sacrifice to save the universe."

Zordon closed his eyes as Andros swung his Spiral Saber, shattering the plasma tube and releasing his life force in the form of a golden wave that spread across the galaxy, turning monsters to ashes and breaking those who had been brainwashed to be evil.

"Zordon's sacrifice saved the universe and Earth was safe again for a while."

"A short time later, Earth in accordance with the Galactic Space Union made it's first space colony called Terra Venture, aiming to discover a new planet for humanity in the great cosmos. In a distant planet called Mirinoi, a monster called Scorpius attacked a peaceful village, trying to acquire powerful magical swords stuck in stone, only to be deemed unworthy. He turned his wrath on the villagers, who were saved in the nick of time by a village girl called Maya who had escaped through a portal and got allies from Earth to help her- five GSA agents, Mike Corbett, Kendrix Morgan, Kai Chen, Damon Henderson and Shayan Sen and one straggler, Mike's brother Leo. In the ensuing battle, they withdrew the Quasar Swords but Mike fell into a crevice within the planet, passing on his sword to Leo. Under Scorpio's orders, the entire planet along with everyone in it was turned to stone and the evil lord set his sights on Terra Venture. The six chosen became the Galaxy Rangers. They defended the space colony till Scorpius' daughter unleashed an old evil, one we thought was lost forever…"

The psycho rangers captured the galaxy rangers one by one. Psycho Red cornered Leo, only to be stopped by the timely intervention of Andros.

The other Astro rangers joined them and the Galaxy Rangers in defeating the Psycho rangers, leaving only Psycho Pink the sole survivor of the evil team.

"Seeking revenge, the evil ranger sought the destructive powers of the Savage Sword, unleashing a wave of dark energy that would have consumed the universe if not for Kendrix, who sacrificed herself to save everyone."

"I'll always be with you." Kendrix's spirit told the grieving galaxy and Astro rangers before the quasar sword ascended to deep space.

"However, an old enemy turned friend came to their aid. Karone redeemed herself by becoming the new pink ranger and helping the rangers fight off Trakeena. In their final battle, Terra Venture was destroyed but it's crew made it safely to a new planet, which turned out to be Mirinoi. By putting the swords back in the stone, they reversed the spell turning the populace of Mirinoi into stone as well as brought Kendrix back to life."

"That was awesome!" Ethan squealed. The others nodded.

"Meanwhile on Earth, the city of Mariner Bay was in trouble and an elite team was being put together to fight a new battle against an invasion of demons. Carter, Dana, Chad, Joel, Kelsey and Arya became the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers."

The lightspeed rangers fought against the demonic forces led by Diabolico, Loki and Vypra when they met their match.

A duo of evil rangers tore though the rangers. The titanium and platinum rangers cackled as the rangers lay defeated at their feet.

"As a decade long scheme by Diabolico was foiled, the Titanium and Platinum rangers joined the rangers, revealing themselves to be Ryan Mitchell and Himiko Hamada, Dana's brother and childhood best friend."

"Titanium Power!"

"Platinum Power!"

The purple and platinum rangers fought side by side against Vypra while the red ranger helped Ryan get free from a serpent demon spirit.

The video paused and the five rangers turned towards Hayley.

"I was watching that!" Ethan complained.

"Yeah, funny how it seemed to be a movie! Kind of freaky all this happened in real life!" Nick said, running his hand through his hair.

"Sorry, but I got something." Hayley said.

" What, you found him?" Conner asked eagerly.

"Almost." Hayley said. "I have got a lock on the back-door to Mesagog's firewall. In theory, it should lead us straight to an invisiportal."

"Then what?" Kira inquired.

"I'll let you know when I get there."

"What's happening?" Conner asked as Hayley grumbled in frustration. The screen which was showing a map of Reefside went black as 'SEARCH FAILED' appeared in the screen in bold red letters.

"Either, I'm losing my touch or Mesagog is really smart for an evil freak." She sighed. The screen glitched as a new video started.

"What's it doing now?"

"It's retrieving more ranger history." Hayley told them.

"My friends and I are from the year 3000." A stern looking girl with curly brown hair wearing a white jumpsuit said, holding a morpher in her hands.

"Whoa, hold up!" Ethan paused the video. "Rangers from the future?"

"They are down with time travel and everything right?" Kira wondered. "Couldn't they take us back to the moment Dr O was kidnapped?"

"What so we can watch it happen all over again?" Conner snorted. All six stared at him blankly. "Oh, so we can stop them… got it!"

Nick giggled while the others shook their heads.

"It's worth a shot." Kira nodded. "Let's see if it tells us how to stop them."

"We are trying to capture a group of mutant criminals who escaped through time and take them back with us." She explained to a blond boy on a bike, who looked at them sceptically "We think you are the only one who can unlock these morphers so we can defeat them."

The boy took the morpher, whooping as he morphed along with the others to the Time Force rangers.

"Rangers from the future chased a mutant criminal through time. Jen, Lucas, Trip, Katie and Priyanka were members of the elite organisation Time Force dedicated to protecting the timeline. Together with the help of Wes Collins, an ancestor of their former leader, they protected Silver Hills from criminals."

The video showed another man being thrown against a wall in a warehouse, before he unlocked a morpher of his own, morphing into another red ranger.

"It took a while for Eric to learn that the greatest virtue of being a ranger was not the power but the reward of helping mankind."

"That was sick… but not helpful." Ethan decided as the video showed the rangers defeating the mutant army before Ransik surrendered, ending the conflict and the rangers returned to their own time.

"Wait… those are Wes Collins and Eric Myers, leaders of the Silver Guardians." Nick pointed. "If they were Time Force, maybe they have access to time travel technology. Maybe we can ask them for help? My sister works with them. So, I can alert-"

"No, we can't." Hayley said grimly.

"Why not?" Conner asked.

"Because Time Force can't interfere in situations unless the timeline has been threatened and Tommy's kidnapping was a normal event in the timeline as far as we know. Stopping it would be changing the timeline for our own benefit, which will make us time criminals and open a whole different can of worms."

"But we are the good guys!" Conner protested.

"I know but we can't break the rules for our own benefit. We have to find another way." Hayley told him.

"So, what about the other rangers? There must be like a hundred of them on Earth? Couldn't we team up and scout over the city?" Nick asked.

"It's not that easy." Hayley grimaced. "Most rangers don't have their powers anymore and some never wanted them at all."

They turned to watch the screen as it started showing the chronicles of a new team.

"We need a new ranger." A girl in a white jacket spoke before a yellow ranger demorphed behind her and three others, revealing a blond woman in a yellow jacket.

"Calm down guys." She scoffed. "I say we are doing just fine."

"Cole joined Taylor, Alyssa, Danny, Max and Muskan as the Red Wild Force Ranger. Together with the spirits of the ancient animals of Animaria, they fought off the orgs, demonic creatures who planned to conquer the planet through pollution and destruction. They saved the ancient warrior Merrick from the spirit of the org Zen-Aku and he joined the team as the Lunar Wolf Ranger."

A man in white robes rose from the ground before morphing into the blue and silver suit of the Lunar Wolf Ranger.

"Master Org revealed himself to be a human and sometimes, humans can be worse than aliens or demons at cruelty."

The video showed Muskan morphing into the pink ranger, the spirit of the squirrel wild zord empowering her, before she charged at a squadron of putties, who were guarding her captured teammates.

"You are all alone, young girl." Master Org leered at her as she was thrown back, sparks flying across her suit.

"She's not alone." The deity called Animus said, through his vassal – a young boy called Kite as he appeared on the hills nearby.

He raised his hands, deflecting the energy attacks Master Org threw at him.

Three rangers teleported in front of the injured pink ranger – a green deer ranger, a golden cheetah ranger and a grey bat ranger.

After saving the captured rangers, they removed their helmets.

"The final members to join the team were Princess Shayla, Linda Wang and Isamu Takahashi. Together, they defeated Master Org and saved the planet."

"And meanwhile, back in reality, we still have no way of finding Dr O." Ethan noted, looking down.

"I know that there's at least one more team out there." Hayley said. "They had a guy called Cam. He's even more of a genius at all this than I am."

Ahana winced, knowing where this was going.

"Ninja Storm…" She muttered.

"Yeah! That's it!" Conner said excitedly. "My twin brother Eric goes to that super-secret ninja school. Everyone there knows a few of the students got chosen to be rangers."

The others turned towards him, Ahana's eyes narrowing.

"The academies are supposed to be a secret."

"Not that much! My dad has been pestering us to go there for years. Something about building character, discipline and all." He waved her off before turning back to her.

"You are a legacy ninja." Ahana noted.

"Hey, why are you taking all this personally?" He asked.

"You'll find out soon, I suppose." She turned cryptically towards the computer. Conner exchanged a worried look with the others as the video started, showing a secret training ground in the mountains.

"Deep in the mountains, secret academies train students to be the guardians of Earth against all paranormal and supernatural threats, chief among them are the Ninja Academies. There is the Hayate Way Academy in Japan with several offshoots across the planet. In America, the academies have located themselves near sites of hidden power. The Thunder Academy in Stone Canyon, the Fire Academy in Summer Cove and the Wind Ninja Academy in Blue Bay Harbour. However, a rogue ninja called Lothor attacked the academies and captured their students."

The video showed the Wind Ninja Academy getting destroyed while all the students were captured, entrapped into glowing balls of light.

"I was one of them." Ahana said slowly. "I was a wind ninja before Lothor captured me and the others for almost a year."

"What?" Nick said, shocked.

"Makes sense. You fight better than all of us put together." Conner surmised.

"That's horrible." Kira said, placing a hand over Ahana's shoulder and pulled her into a hug.

"That's why you didn't want to be a ranger or get involved in the gem stuff." Ethan deduced.

Ahana nodded. "We were trapped. The ninja academies were destroyed but the other academies weren't. The guardians didn't save us. They could have stormed the ship but they didn't. They left us to Lothor's mercy."

"That is… How could they-" Hayley broke off.

"In a way, it makes sense strategically. They didn't know if we were still alive or not and they didn't know what was in Lothor's ship. They focused on protecting Earth from other threats and strengthening the barriers around their academies." Ahana continued. "But it still hurt. So, after we were rescued, I left the Academy instead of completing my training. I came here and still stuck into being a hero anyway."

"I don't know what to say." Nick said honestly. "Being trapped in a spaceship for a year… That's something out of a horror movie. I am sorry that happened to you."

The others nodded at her empathically.

Ahana gave a small smile. "It's okay now. I have come to terms with it. Being a ranger helps me make sure that no one can do to others what Lothor did to me and the other ninjas."

"These are your Power Ranger Wind Morphers." Cam told three ninja students, giving them their morphers.

"Yes! See? I knew it dude! I was right! Power Rangers are real!" The boy in yellow garb said excitedly.

"That's Dustin for you." Ahana giggled seeing Dustin's reaction.

"Wait, that was the Dustin you mentioned earlier?" Conner asked. "You knew him!"

"Yeah, I knew all three of them. They used to be my best friends in Blue Bay Harbour and complete slackers before they became rangers." She said, smiling. "You know the reason they weren't captured alongside us was because they were late to class."

The others laughed.

"From this point, you will be known as the Wind Power Rangers." Sensei Watanabe said, in his guinea pig form.

"Wait, their Dr O was a rat?" Conner asked.

"A guinea pig." Ahana corrected. "He was cursed to be in that form by Lothor."

"Three unlikely ninja students commanded the power of Earth, Air and Water. But they wouldn't face this battle alone. They were joined by the last remaining fire ninja, Dahlia Romero the vermillion ranger." Dr O narrated over the footage of the four rangers fighting off various monsters.

"It was the power of thunder that gave them their biggest challenge."

The crimson, navy and saffron rangers held Cam in their grasp, before demorphing to reveal their identities – a blond boy in crimson, an Asian boy in navy and an Indian girl in amber, all of them wearing biker gear.

"But their greatest enemies proved to be their greatest allies."

The crimson and saffron rangers demorphed in the middle of the island.

"Do you know who we are?" Diana asked them warily.

"Our friends." Hunter grinned at them as she helped him to his feet. Anjali nodded as she took Tori's hands.

"When their powers were stolen, emissaries from other guardian academies stepped in."

As an army of keljacks approached the city limits, the unmorphed ninja rangers looked at each other, readying their swords when suddenly something cut through the foot-soldiers.

The dust settled down to reveal new rangers.

The Orange Ranger, representative of the Shaolin Academy.

The Pink Ranger of the Pai Zhua.

The Arcane Knight of the Mystic Realm.

The Red Ranger of the Samurai Clans.

The White and Grey Rangers of the Hayate Way, representing the power of illusions and shadows.

Four Rangers of the Cosmic Academy, the Silver Ranger with the power of gravity, the Platinum Ranger with the power of Light, the Amethyst Ranger with the power of space and the Obsidian Ranger with the power of Darkness.

"With Earth on the brink of destruction, Cam went back in time with help of the Gold Time Ranger to retrieve the one power that could save them all – the power of the Samurai Amulet."

"Sorry to spoil your fun!" Cam said, fighting his father's twin, a young Lothor as he placed the samurai amulet over his neck.

The green ranger demorphed to reveal Cam.

"While the Cosmic Rangers departed to their duties protecting different parts of the planet, other guardian rangers stayed behind on Blue Bay Harbour to help but Lothor wasn't out of tricks yet. He created his own dark ranger, embodying the forbidden art of the chaos ninja."

The black ninja ranger fought through the eleven rangers, only to waver as he held the Katana of Darkness over the defenceless Vermilion Ranger.

The Cosmic Rangers appeared out of a portal, forcing him to retreat.

"The black ranger turned out to be Dane Romero, Dahlia's brother. He sided with the rangers once the rangers destroyed the Katana of Darkness, breaking Lothor's thrall over him."

Lothor cornered the rangers at the Abyss of Evil.

"In their final battle against Lothor, the rangers made the ultimate sacrifice."

"I have your ranger powers!" The dark ninja gloated, holding the Samurai Amulet, with which he had drained the powers of the ninja rangers.

An army of monsters were fighting the remaining rangers, easily overpowering them till help arrived in the form of all the Guardians - mystics, shaolin monks, Pai Zhua warriors, the Samurai and the ninjas, who had just been rescued from Lothor's ship.

"We may not be Power Rangers, but we still have power!"

"Power of Air!"

"Power of Earth!"

"Power of Water!"

"Power of Fire!"

"Power of Thunder!"

"Power of Lightning!"

"Power of Metal!"

"Power of Inferno!"

The ninjas combined their powers, creating a torrent of energy that tossed Lothor over the edge of the Abyss of Evil and sealed it shut, with a huge purple explosion.

"That was something!" Nick gaped.

"Woah! Ninjas are real and apparently all of them have control over elements?" Ethan turned towards Ahana. "What is yours?"

"Air." Ahana answered. "Not all ninjas have control over elements. There is a League of Shadows somewhere, who train ninjas without any elemental powers."

"Wow!" Kira blinked. "Never knew there are so many people with superpowers or insane abilities living amongst us."

"That's why we are ninjas. We are good at hiding." Ahana smirked, before casting a side-eye at Conner. "Well, most of us, anyways."

"Hey, my brother taught me some moves." Conner said. "Watch!"

He stepped back and did a kata of several punches and kicks Ahana recognised as signature earth ninja style moves before executing a spin kick that hit a computer, causing it to explode.

"Please tell me that didn't just happen." Kira breathed.

"I think we lost our last hope of finding Tommy." Hayley said as the screen faded to black.

Conner paced the room as Hayley and Ethan were typing furiously.

"Anything?" He asked panicking. If the computer didn't work and they lost their only lead on finding Dr O and saving him because of his stupidity, he wouldn't be look himself in the eye.

"Got it!" Hayley announced happily as the screen returned to normal. They all gave out a collective sigh of relief.

"Even geniuses need help sometimes." Hayley looked at them with a beaming smile. "That jolt must have done something to the wiring because I am getting something."

They all looked at the computer as Dr O appeared on the screen.

"With the return of Mesagog, it became necessary to invoke the power of the dino gems. Should anything happen to me, these five are in charge of protecting the planet." Dr O told them as the video changed to show the five of them receiving their dino morphers and morphing.

"It's us." Kira said, seeing them on the same screen where moments before she had seen various heroes.

Ahana looked down at her purple morpher, smiling as she realised that she was part of a rich legacy of heroes that came before her.

"You are in good hands." Dr O nodded before the video ended.

"He really trusts us!" Conner exclaimed.

"He does." Hayley confirmed with a soft smile.

"We have to save him." Ethan spoke up.

"We owe it to him." Nick agreed.

"The whole world owes him." Ahana corrected.

"It worked!" Hayley yelped happily. "I have got a lock on an invisiportal!"

The coordinates appeared on the screen.

"Time to save a teacher!" Conner smirked, putting his hands together.

Ethan, Ahana and Kira nodded, ready to save their mentor.

Just then, a glowing purple portal appeared before them and the Keeper exited.

"Where the hell have you been?" Hayley snarled, getting up from the chair and walked aggressively towards him. "Tommy was missing and you like usual were not responding to my distress calls."

"I apologise Hayley." The alien said calmly, not bothered by Hayley's rage. "I know Tommy has been captured and I was getting help."

Six figures stepped out of the portal and the rangers' jaws dropped on seeing who they were.

"So, you guys are the new rookies?" A man around Dr O's age, wearing a black jacket over a red shirt said, looking at them.

"Jason, don't scare them." A blond woman in pink scolded him. She turned towards the rangers with a smile. "Hi, my name is Katherine and apparently, my dead husband is not dead, got a job in high school and then let himself be kidnapped."

"Now who is scary?" Jason muttered.

"They appear to be more shocked than scared though." A petite woman wearing a fashionable pink cardigan said.

"Affirmative." The spectacled man in blue agreed.

"You guys are the guys from the video!" Nick almost squealed.

"What video?" The Asian man in black shirt asked.

"We will have time for that later, Adam. We must save Tommy first." The last of the newcomers, a stern Indian woman with short hair, wearing a fighter pilot uniform said briskly. "And after that, I'll kill him myself for making us think he was dead."

"Get in line." Kat muttered.

"I believe that all of you will be able to save Dr Oliver." The Keeper said, walking back into the portal. "May the Power protect you all."

"Typical." Hayley rolled her eyes as the Keeper disappeared and the portal closed.

"Do we know where Tommy is being held?" The pilot asked them. "I'm Nandita Shah. You guys can call me Nancy."

"We have the coordinates." Hayley nodded her head. "Thank you all for coming."

"Despite his stupidity, he is my husband." Katherine said.

"And he is family." The other woman in pink said. "And so are you all. I'm Kimberly."

"We have watched you guys on the news. Not bad for rookies!" Jason said to Conner, who glowed on getting a praise from his predecessor.

"Let's save the meet and greets for later." Nancy interrupted.

"Right." Hayley said as the dino rangers straightened, determined to save their teacher.

Chapter Text

The assembled rangers, both old and new nodded determinedly as they headed towards the exit of the cave, hoping to save one of their own before it is too late.

"Remember you have to reach a speed of 563 miles per hour upon entry otherwise you will never make it past the firewall and probably be ripped to pieces!" Hayley said quickly, making them all halt to a stop and turn towards her incredulously.

"Did I not mention that?" Hayley said a bit abashed, seeing their faces. "I'll take that as a yes."

"How exactly are we supposed to get through then?" Ahana asked. "Even if I ninja streak, I doubt I can cross it. Maybe Conner can with his superspeed…"

"You don't have teleportation capabilities?" Billy asked.

The resident genius nodded her dissent. "Even if we did, we couldn't cross over to another dimension but never fear, I have something for just the occasion."

Hayley pressed a button on the keyboard and the wall on the lower left lowered to show five bikes in red, blue, yellow, pink and purple.

"That is sick!" Conner exclaimed. "Which one's mine?"

As the others turned to look at him, he rolled his eyes. "I'm kidding guys!"

"You so weren't kidding." Ethan countered.

"Not in front of the OGs, Ethan!" Conner hissed.

"These are your new Raptor Cycles." Hayley informed, walking over to them. "They should be able to reach the portal coordinates within approximately 92.75 seconds. Use your gems to access the hyper drive."

She turned towards the veteran rangers. "I am sorry. Like usual, the Keeper didn't inform me that he was bringing reinforcements."

"You guys can hitch a ride with us." Kira offered.

"Thanks kid but don't worry. We can summon our own rides." Jason said. "You guys ready?"

"Ready!" They answered.

"It's Morphin Time!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"Triceratops!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Mastodon!"

"Raptor!"

"Zeo Ranger One, Pink!"

"Power Rangers!"

"That was amazing!" Ethan gawked. The others nodded behind him.

"Shark Cycles, activate!" Kim said as a bolt of lightning struck the ground before them, revealing six stylized bikes patterned after sharks – red, blue, black, pink, saffron and white.

Katherine took the white shark cycle while the others took their respective colours.

"Impressive." Hayley smiled amazed, turning towards the dino rangers.

"Once you cross through the portal, head straight for Mesagog's island fortress."

"Island?" Conner repeated, quirking his eyebrows.

"Yes, why?" Hayley frowned at him, not understanding his sudden hesitation.

"Well, islands… they are surrounded by water." Conner said.

"Usually." Hayley nodded, still not getting it.

"No… Don't tell me star athlete Conner McKnight can't swim?" Ethan smirked.

"I didn't say that." He snapped.

"But, it's true. You can't." Ethan pressed, amused. Conner looked flushed as he looked at the ground.

"Don't sweat it kid. This one…" Kim laughed, poking at Billy. "Was scared of water and fishes, then he ended up moving to a underwater planet and dating a fish alien, no offense to Cestria though."

Billy swatted her hand away. "It's been years Kim, it's not funny anymore but yes, I did find Aquitar fascinating once I overcame my hydrophobia."

"Uuh, what?"

"He means fear of water." Kim supplied.

"Oh, cool." Conner gave him a thumbs up.

"Besides, the invisiportal will take you directly to the island. You'll never have to get wet." She told him with a smile.

"Cool. I guess it's time now." He nodded at the others, who met his gaze. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"DINO THUNDER, POWER UP! HAH!"

They morphed into their suits in flashes of coloured lights and leapt on their new Raptor Cycles.

As they raced towards the beach alongside the veteran rangers, they were amazed at fast their new vehicles were travelling as their surroundings became nothing but a blur before they halted to a stop.

"Woah, it just stopped." Ethan said.

"What's up with that?" Conner asked.

"It's the coordinates Hayley gave us all." Billy answered. "The portal might be opening any time now."

Just as he said it, a portal appeared nearby.

"Look, it's there." Ahana pointed out.

"Let's hope Dr O is on the other side." Nick said.

"Hang on Tommy, we are coming." Kat whispered as they started their bikes again.

As they started to approach the portal, a group of tyrannodrones alongside Zeltrax and Elsa jumped out of it, blocking their path.

"Hey! No one invited you to the party!" Conner yelled at them.

"I'm crashing!" Elsa retorted, before turning to notice the other rangers. "I see you brought new friends too."

"God, her outfit is so trashy!" Kim scoffed.

"Agreed." Nancy nodded, smirking underneath her helmet as Elsa's nostrils flared.

Zeltrax growled, drawing his sword.

"Are they dating?" Kim asked Kira.

"Seems like it but they are very defensive about it." Kira answered, much to their enemies' growing anger.

"Oh, villainous love. Never gets old!" Kim snarked in a sing-song way.

"Enough!" Elsa threw a bolt of lightning from her sword towards the three rangers, which they effortlessly dodged.

"You are not getting through that portal, unless you are in chains." Zeltrax snarled.

"Ooh, kinky, are we?" Kim taunted, much to the cyborg's frustration. "Besides sweetie, take a good look behind."

The two villains turned around to see the other rangers cross through the portal.

"NO! How!" Elsa fumed, turning towards the tyrannodrones. "What are you looking at? Get them!"

Even as the tyrannodrones turned towards the rangers, they were hit by laser fire from behind.

Kim, Kira and Nancy rode towards them with their blade blasters and thunder-max blaster in hand.

"Kinda sad to say it, but they don't make villains like before." Kim mocked them, dodging Zeltrax's sword.

She swerved around, summoning her power bow and took a shot, watching with satisfaction as her arrows hit him right on, causing a small explosion, sending him staggering backwards, sparks flying through his armour.

"Yeah, first rule of battle. Don't get distracted." Nancy told Elsa, summoning her thunder whip.

She shot the whip, latching it around Elsa's sword and yanked it out of her hands, disarming the woman before firing at her with her blade blaster. "Another word of advice. That outfit may be good in whatever cosplay fest you have got going on, but really impractical for fight."

Kira blasted her way through the robotic minions, till she reached the portal. She looked at her predecessors as they confidently defeated Zeltrax and Elsa effortlessly before joining her.

"That was awesome!"

"All in a day's work!" Nancy told her, smiling.

"Now let's go and join the others." Kim said. The others nodded, crossing the portal while Elsa shrieked behind them.

They joined the others inside the fortress, slowing to a stop and looked around.

"Hayley, all of us are in."

"Good! I'll recalibrate the bikes for your exit." Hayley told them over the coms.

"Cool." They jumped off the bikes.

Ethan noticed that as soon as the morphin rangers leapt off their shark cycles, the bikes disappeared.

"Stay morphed." Jason cautioned them. "We don't know what's lurking around here."

The others nodded.

"If they are holding Dr O where they took me, it should be this way." Ahana said, remembering the place from when she was being held captive.

"This place gives me the creeps." Kim muttered.

"At least we still have the element of-" Kira was cut off as a large creature stepped out from the shadows. He resembled a dinosaur humanoid in a black coat.

"Surprise." Kira finished lamely as they stepped back.

"Welcome, we have been expecting you." He hissed.

"You again." Ahana glared at him.

"You remember me, I trust." He mocked.

"As if anyone could forget that face?" Kira snarked.

Kim giggled. "That's a good one but that is hardly a face. Even putties have better faces than this freak."

"Ah, the original power rangers, you honour me with your presence." He made an exaggerated bow with his left hand. "Yet you like your successors are in dire need of discipline."

As he fired a strange energy from the crystal in his forehead, Kat stepped forwards.

"Zeo One, Power Shield!" She yelled, summoning her shield as it blocked Mesagog's attack, a pink forcefield surrounding them and protecting them from the attack.

"Enough of this!" Kat fumed, pushing forward against Mesagog's energy attack and rammed Mesagog with her shield.

The mutant crashed against the wall, slumping to the floor.

"You will pay for this!" Mesagog snarled at her, just as Zeltrax, Elsa, a monster and a squad of tyrannodrones appeared out of a portal.

"NO! Master!" Zeltrax ran to Mesagog's side, helping him stand up.

"Stop them, you fool!" He yelled, shrugging off Zeltrax's arm.

"We will take care of them." Jason said, turning towards Billy, Kat and the Dino rangers. "You guys find Tommy."

"Right." Ahana nodded. "This way guys!"

"Stop!" Mesagog shrieked as his minions tried to follow them, only to halt as they heard the cackling of a whip.

"What's the hurry, folks!"

They turned around to the sight of the black ranger holding a canon, the red ranger wielding a sword, the pink ranger with her bow ready and the saffron ranger with her whip.

Jason ran forward, his sword clashing with Zeltrax's sabre.

Adam tore his way through the tyrannodrones with his mastodon cannon.

Nancy's whip latched around the monster's arm, sending a jolt of electricity through it.

Kim dodged Elsa's sword before easily disarming her with a single punch. She turned towards Mesagog, pointing her blade blaster at him.

"You have no idea who you are dealing with." He warned in his raspy voice sending a wave of psychic energy at her, which she dodged.

"No, you have no idea who you are dealing it." She said to him coldly, an edge to her voice that sent chills down the mutant's spine. "You attacked one of us, took him your captive against his will. But remember one thing, when you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us."

She aimed her power bow and fired.

"No!" Zeltrax screamed, pushing Jason off him and leaping in front of Mesagog, taking the blow.

As he fell to the floor, smoke coming out of his armour, Mesagog scoffed.

"Pathetic fool, get her!" He kicked the cyborg.

"Yes master." Zeltrax said, forcing himself to stand and charging at Kim.

"Is this how you treat your allies?" She asked Mesagog.

"Servants, not allies." The mutant monster said, blending into the shadows. "They exist to serve me. My will is why they exist."

"Someone's got a god complex." Kim snarked, blocking Zeltrax's sword with her bow. Jason jumped over her, striking the cyborg down with his sword.

"Let's go!" He said as the rangers had defeated their opponents.

As Ahana led the others towards the main lab, they heard Dr O yelling something.

"Doctor O!" Conner cried as they entered the lab.

"Good timing! Hit the red button on the panel." He instructed.

Kira pressed the button, freeing him. As he stood up, he noticed that the dino rangers weren't the only rangers in the room.

"Billy?" He asked before his eyes wavered to the pink zeo ranger. "Kat? What are you guys doing here?"

"Is that your way of saying thank you?" The pink ranger told him coldly. "Because if it is, it needs a lot of work."

"I am sorry. I can explain. I will explain all of it when I get out of there." He replied, his voice breaking. He hadn't expected his old friends to come here.

"You better." She said stiffly.

"I will." He promised.

Just then, the other rangers ran to the room.

"Tommy!" Kim said happily, seeing him safe and sound.

"You guys are here too?" He asked.

"Of course." Jason said. "You owe us an explanation to why you let us all think you were dead for more than a year."

"I will. And thank you for rescuing me, all of you. We need to get out of here fast. We can use the invisiportal network." He said, moving to the consoles and pressing a button and an invisiportal opened in front of them. He pressed another button, closing the doors just as Mesagog and his minions were about to enter.

There was a deafening sound as the doors were blasted opened and the tyrannodrones swarmed the room.

"Get to the portal!" Tommy shouted, making a run for a crystal on the other side of the room, dodging the tyrannodrones.

"Is he crazy?" Nick deadpanned, drawing his thundermax blaster and firing at the incoming robots.

"All of us are, kid!" Jason retorted, slashing through the tyrannodrones with his power sword.

"Get out of here!" Tommy yelled, swerving under Zeltrax's sword as he held the crystal.

"In case, you didn't get the memo, we are not leaving without you, Tommy." Kim drawled, firing pink arrows at the monster.

"Got you!" Mesagog snarled, tugging at the crystal with his claws. Tommy winced as the talons cut through his wrists.

"Get off him!" Adam yelled and there was a echoing boom as he fired his Mastodon canon at Mesagog, the resulting attack forcing Mesagog to let go of Tommy and crash against the computers, sparks flying everywhere.

Tommy sprinted towards his friends. Kat and Jason held him as they jumped through the portal, the other rangers following closely behind as they escaped Mesagog's fortress.

They appeared on the island, where the raptor cycles were waiting.

"Do you really need a souvenir?" Kat asked, eying the crystal.

"This one, we do need." He confirmed just as Zeltrax and Elsa followed them through the portal.

Kat shook her head, summoning the shark cycles along with the other veterans.

Tommy climbing on the white shark cycle behind Kat as they sped through another invisiportal.

They appeared in the middle of the city, getting off their bikes just as Zeltrax, Elsa, the squid monster and a squad of tyrannodrones appeared in front of them.

Zeltrax let out a roar of fury, shooting a torrent of dark energy at Tommy, which he blocked with the crystal, resulting in a shattering sound and an intense white light, blinding everyone.

When the light subsided, there wasn't nothing but smoke and shattered shards where Tommy was standing.

"Dr O!" Conner shouted.

"Tommy!" Jason, Kim and Adam shouted. Billy and Nancy stood mortified.

Kat made a choking sound, falling to her knees.

"This can't be happening!" Kira gasped. Nick gulped while Ahana stood still, horrified. After everything they went through to save him, this can't be how everything ended.

"Such negativity!" Elsa taunted them, grinning gleefully. "Haven't you learned that in our world, anything is possible."

"Including the destruction of the great Tommy Oliver." Zeltrax gloated.

The air in front of them shimmered as a voice spoke up.

"I heard my name."

Kat looked up hopefully as Tommy rematerialized.

"You missed me, didn't you, Zeltrax?" He taunted the cyborg.

"Yes!" Jason cried happily, as they surrounded Tommy.

Kat stood up and walked over to him, pulling him to a tight hug.

"Don't ever do that to me again." She said tearfully.

"I won't." He smiled, shutting his eyes, preventing himself from crying. He had missed Kat so much, not to mention all his other friends and family back in Angel Grove.

"Hey, Dr O. What's this?" Conner asked, seeing a small object in Tommy's hands.

Tommy opened his hand, revealing a black gem.

"A black dino gem." Ethan breathed.

Jason looked at Adam, elbowing him. "He's coming after your colour now."

Adam chuckled. "Three colours weren't enough for him."

"Oliver won't stop till he gets the whole rainbow." Nancy muttered underneath her breath.

"Let me guess, the powers of invisibility?" Nick asked their mentor.

"Looks like it." Tommy said, stepping forwards.

"That gem belongs to my master!" Elsa snarled.

"There are two things you guys need to learn about the dino gems." He told them. "One, you don't choose them. They choose you."

"What's the second?" Elsa demanded.

"They really go well with Dino Morphers." He told her, raising his arm, revealing a black and gold morpher on his arm. He slammed the gem into the morpher and smirked.

"Aren't you a little too old for this, Tommy?" Elsa drawled.

"Look who's talking." Kim sneered at her. "Aren't you a little too old to be parading around in fishnets?"

Elsa let out a roar of frustration.

"I may be old but I can still pull it off." Tommy stated boldly. "DINO THUNDER, POWER UP!"

He morphed into the black ranger, golden spikes running down his arms. "BRACHIO POWER, DINO THUNDER BLACK RANGER!"

All around him, rangers both old and new cheered.

"Just like riding a bike!" Tommy commented, feeling the power wash over him again.

"One more makes no difference!" Zeltrax yelled furiously. "ATTACK!"

The tyrannodrones and the monster charged at the twelve rangers.

Tommy felt like a force of nature as he ran into a squadron of tyrannodrones. He laughed, dodging a blow, and sweeping off his opponents by a powerful kick.

"Hey, you stole my colour!" Adam complained cheekily, appearing beside him, blocking an attack by a tyrannodrone who had attempted to sneak up behind him and countering it with a punch of his own.

"Well, you stole mine first." Tommy joked, slamming his elbow into a robot, throwing it back.

"Fair." Adam shrugged as the last of the robots surrounding them were destroyed.

"Plesio Crossbow!" Ahana summoned her crossbow. Kim stood beside her, power bow in hand as they shot arrows at the tyrannodrones coming at them, causing them to explode in a shower of sparks. Elsa charged at them throwing bolts of lightning from her sword.

Ahana dodged the attack, taking out her thundermax blaster, turning it into sabre mode and blocking Elsa's sword with her own.

"We are not intimidated by your teacher." She huffed.

"Then, you haven't taken one of his pop quizzes." Ahana retorted, blinking underneath her helmet. That was such a Conner thing to say. She had been hanging around him too much.

Elsa growled as she kicked her backwards.

Kim ran up to her, having disposed of the tyrannodrones attacking them.

"This isn't over!" The henchwoman glowered at them, before retreating into an invisiportal.

"Typical." Kim smirked as they turned to help the others.

"Raptor Claws!" Nick leapt at the tyrannodrones, slashing through them with his claws. Nancy joined him, swinging his power whip in a wide arc, dismantling the robots swiftly.

"Power Lance!"

"Tyranno Staff!"

"Zeo One, Power Shield!"

Billy, Kat and Conner fought together, their staffs colliding against Zeltrax's sword, forcing him back.

Billy swung his lance, an arc of blue energy slamming Zeltrax back. Conner leapt over his shoulders, striking the cyborg with his staff. Kat threw her shield like a discus, watching as it strikes the cyborg before coming back to her arm. Catching it, she leapt forward with her zeo pistol, firing at the general till he retreated into a portal.

Ethan and Kira cornered the monster with their thundermax blasters.

Conner, Ahana and Nick ran up to them, as the monster struggled to stand up.

"Let's finish the job!" He commanded.

"Right." The others said, uniting their weapons.

"Z-Rex Blaster!" Conner announced. "Fire!"

A torrent of energy slammed against the monster, destroying it.

"Brings back memories." Kim said, tilting her head, watching the rangers cheer.

"You do know what happens next, right?" Jason asked her.

"Don't jinx it." She snapped, punching his shoulder lightly.

"Too late." Billy noted as purple clouds gathered over them, raining over the remains of the monster and it was revived as a gigantic monster.

"Oh yeah!" The monster yelled, towering over them.

Tommy groaned as everyone regrouped. He looked down at his morpher as it beeped. "Hayley?"

"Welcome back. I have got a little homecoming present for you." Hayley spoke. "Found it on the north side of the forest."

They looked up to see a massive zord, ten times bigger than their usual zord, approaching the city. It was a giant black brachiosaurus.

"Heck, it's even bigger than Titanus!" Jason exclaimed, the other veterans nodding behind him.

"Meet the Brachiozord. Retrieving the black gem must have awakened him. Wait till you see what he has inside. I think you can handle it from here." Hayley said over the coms, as the Brachiozord opened in various places, revealing the other five zords.

"A carrier zord." Billy noted.

"Awesome!" Conner said as the five dino rangers leapt into their zords as they united to form the Thundersaurus Megazord.

The monster cackled as his tendrils wrapped around the megazord, sending jolts of electricity through it.

"We are getting rocked!" Conner yelled.

"We could use some reinforcements."

"Hayley, you got any more surprises?"

"Can't the Brachio zord just stomp on the monster?" Nick asked.

"Not without causing collateral damage to the city." Hayley replied. "But I do have one more trick up my sleeve. Try the Cephala Zord."

The brachio zord opened once again, and a smaller violet zord jumped out.

"Is it just me or is that zord wearing boxing gloves?" Ahana said, peering closer from the cockpit to get a closer view.

"It sure is!" Nick laughed as the zord punched the monster head-on and floored it.

"The Cephala zord can link up with your morpher for even more power!" Tommy said over the coms.

"Did you guys hear that?" Conner smiled. "Let's do it!"

One of the arms of the megazord detached, making space for the cephala zord to connect instead. The monster ran at them, ready to retaliate.

"Cephala Power Punch!" With a few quick punches, the monster exploded.

The rangers, old and new, cheered at a victory hard earned.

Tommy paced the room as Katherine looked at him expectantly.

"I don't know where to start." He said honestly.

"Tommy, you let me, your friends and our families you were dead for nearly two years till an alien teleported into my living room to tell me you were kidnapped and needed help." Kat said, her voice quaking with anger. "Can't you see how messed up this was?"

"Kat, Mesagog is not like Rita or Zedd. He is the type of person who will go after anyone even remotely linked to me just to hurt me." Tommy sighed. "You were safe in Angel Grove. Promethea, the other rangers… Mesagog could not get to you there."

"You know as well as me that I can damn well take care of myself." Kat retorted.

"I know but I didn't want to take the chance that he could hurt you Kat!" He shouted.

"We had a funeral Tommy! We mourned you! We thought you were fucking dead!" She yelled at him. "Was that not hurting me!"

"I… I am sorry but-"

"Would it have been too much of a hassle to let us know you were alive?" Kat asked.

"If I had returned to Angel Grove, Mesagog would have known. He would have followed me and Angel Grove would be the one getting attacked." He said frustrated. "I had to stay in hiding till we detected the dino gems. The other rangers, our friends, you… You have been through so much as a ranger and I would be forcing you guys back to that fight, because of something I did."

"It was not your choice to make Tommy." Kat told him stiffly. "We made a commitment to each other when we got married. To forgive each other's mistakes and to support each other no matter what."

"I am sorry…"

"Is that how little our marriage means to you, Tommy?"

"No…never. You are my world, Kat. I love you." He protested, his eyes watering as he took her hands.

"Then why did you hurt me?" She screamed at him, tears streaming down her cheeks, swatting his hands away. She banged her fists on his chest. "The thought of you dead… That hurt me more than Mesagog ever could!"

"I am so sorry Kat. I love you."

"Then why didn't you trust me?" She asked.

Tommy gulped, turning away from her, and sitting down.

"There is a reason I did not morph into any of my old ranger powers before." He started slowly. "When the island exploded, I did not make it in time. I drowned. I almost died."

Kat narrowed her eyes, sitting down on the other chair.

"My morphers… they healed me but at the expense of their powers." He lifted his shirt to reveal a faded scar on his abdomen, transversely crossing his navel and what appeared to be black stitches on it… except they were more like tattoos, each representing a power Tommy had held before – the dragon claw, the tiger print, the falcon, the pentagram shaped star representing his tenure as the red zeo ranger and an outline of a car. "But it was not enough. Even the Keeper's powers couldn't heal it completely. The only reason I am alive is because I have a connection to the Grid thanks to the energy of my old morphers. The moment it runs out, so does my life force."

"Tommy." Kat murmured.

"I am about to die, Kat. There is no stopping it." He relented. "If I had told you, not only would I be putting you all in danger, but I would have had to leave you all over again." He said, tears falling out from his eyes.

"Tommy, I am not leaving you." She promised, tears falling. "I will find a way to save you."

"I searched the ranger archives, the Grid archives… this is just stalling the inevitable." He said truthfully. "Even the Keeper…"

"Screw the Keeper, I don't care what he says. I am not losing you, Tommy." She said, grabbing his hands and bending down so that their foreheads touch.

"I love you so much." Tommy said.

"I know." Kat said, breath hitching in her throat as he caressed her cheeks. "I won't lose you again."

She cupped his face as she kissed him, drowning out whatever he was about to say next.

"What a day," Ethan said. "New bikes, new zords…"

"New rangers!" Conner finished, looking over Dr Oliver and his friends. "Well, sort of new."

"So, just how exactly did you have that morpher ready?" Billy asked.

"Right after these five became rangers, I got an energy reading on the tracking system. I had a good idea that it was another gem so I asked Hayley to build the morpher, just in case." He said, flaunting the bracelet. Kat sat by his side with a tight smile.

"And the day of my gig?" Kira asked as Hayley sat on the arm of the sofa beside her, after serving the veteran rangers coffee and holding a cup for herself.

"I was coming to tell you that the energy had moved and we needed to investigate."

"When you were nabbed by the goon patrol." Conner said.

"Yeah, but it all turned out okay." The teacher nodded and got to his feet.

"Why didn't you morph into your old ranger forms?" Ahana asked curiously.

"When the Mercer Island exploded, my morphers were destroyed." He replied with a dark look.

"Are you guys staying here for a while?" Nick asked the veteran rangers.

"Unfortunately, we have our lives in Angel Grove to go back to, but we will drop by occasionally to check on you guys." Nancy said. "And don't hesitate to call for help anytime you need it."

"I am staying here though." Kat smiled at them.

"But we need to be going now. You too." Jason said, pointing at Tommy. "There are a lot of people who are waiting to see you in Angel Grove."

"Yeah and after that, we need to take you shopping." Adam said. "You need more black clothes in your closet."

They laughed.

"So long, guys." Kim waved at them. Kat held on to Tommy tightly as Tommy and the veteran rangers teleported away in jets of coloured lights.

"Wow, that was cool!" Ethan said. "They teleported, dude! I am so jealous!"

"Don't be. Billy will drop by later to help me set up a teleportation network in Tommy's basement." Hayley reassured them.

"I still can't believe we met and fought alongside the original rangers!" Nick exclaimed.

"Same!" Conner agreed.

"I can't believe Ahana is a super ninja!" Nick pointed out.

"It's really not as big." Ahana started.

"You kidding me!" Ethan retorted.

"Well…"

"You got to teach me some ninja tricks!" Ethan pouted at her.

"Well, you seem more of a water ninja. So you probably have to ask Tori." She spoke.

"Oh, your old friends are also rangers!" Kira remembered. "Have you told them that you are one too?"

"I will. Just waiting for the right time." Ahana said.

"Can we meet them?"

"They are really busy being teachers of the Wind Ninja Academy."

"Can I enrol in the academy?" Ethan asked, eyes widening. "I so want to be a ninja!"

"I don't know." She laughed. "You do realise you are talking to someone who dropped out of the academy."

"Hey, I can teach you guys, what Eric taught me." Conner offered.

"No, thanks. Last time you did, you almost fried Dr O's computers." Nick laughed.

"That was an accident." He protested, making the others laugh.