Chapter Text
One moment Tommy was sparring against Rocky and the next he was flat on his back in the middle of a clearing in a forest, surrounded by teenagers. They were all his age, juniors or seniors in high school. His head spun as he looked at them because he knew he should know who they were but he didn’t.
“He’s awake!” One of the three teenagers that were closest to him called out. She was blonde, wearing a leather jacket over a yellow shirt and torn black jeans. The other two were boys. One was wearing a soccer jersey and shorts both in red. The other was wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans.
At her proclamation, the other teenagers drew closer. The boy in red flapped his hand at them, shooing them away. “Don’t crowd him!” All of them took a few steps back.
Tommy gingerly sat up, dizzy and vaguely nauseous. He stared at the twenty teenagers who were staring at him. Their faces were pale and most had a slightly panicked expression. “Uh,” He looked around. This forest wasn’t something he could recognize and he was familiar with every inch of Angel Grove and the surrounding countryside. “This isn’t Angel Grove is it? Where am I? And who are you?”
The three teenagers hovering over him exchanged concerned-panicked glances over his head. The boy in blue said, “Please tell us you’re joking. Oh god, you’re not joking.”
“Deep breaths, Ethan, deep breaths.” The boy in red said, his voice shaking slightly with fear but keeping it together well. Tommy was proud of him for some reason, the dizzy feeling of knowing but also not knowing returning to him. “Okay, so this will probably sound strange, but, um, an evil dinosaur sorta de-aged you? You were, like, thirty-five or something a second ago.”
“You can’t just say it like that,” the girl in yellow and leather hissed at the boy in red, “You have to break it gently.”
“No, actually, that makes a lot of sense,” Tommy said as he climbed to his feet. He saw the looks from the crowd of teenagers and shrugged, “What? I’ve been de-aged before. All of Angel Grove was for an entire summer. I remembered everything though. Guess this is a different way of de-aging?”
“What.” The teen in blue said, voice flat with shock. The boy in red had called him Ethan, right?
“Yeah, Master Vile reversed the Earth’s rotation to destroy the Rangers or something. But it only effected Angel Grove for some reason. Or maybe it effected everywhere but only Angel Grove remembered it? I don’t know. It was weird. I was a very short ten year old. It got annoying real fast,” Tommy said. Then before anyone could ask, he continued, a very effective technique he learned from Bulk and Skull of all people to stop anyone from asking him questions, “So, why am I with you guys if I was thirty-five a minute ago?”
“You’re our science teacher, Dr. O,” said one of the teens in the crowd, a boy with a camera held loosely in his hands, though it wasn’t really pointed at anything.
“Science teacher? Huh, never thought I’d be doing that,” Tommy said. He wasn’t a Blue. A Green, a White, and a Red, but not a Blue. Not yet? No. That didn’t feel right. He didn’t have the disposition for a Blue anyway. Although, that was what they thought about Rocky and he made a great Blue, even if he wasn’t the most academically-inclined person, he was amazing at hands-on building things.
“You don’t? What sort of career are you looking at right now?” One of the girls said, she reached out and shook his hand vigorously, “Cassidy Cornell, Reefside High News.”
“Uh, I’m a race-car driver right now. But in a month I’ll be going off to college. I haven’t picked a major yet,” he said, a bit overwhelmed. Even after the last four years of being a Ranger, he still didn’t know how to interact with pushy reporters. At least he usually could just stay silent and hidden under his helmet. The Pinks were the best with the public, usually, though it was technically a Red’s job, since they were the leader of the team.
“A race-car driver!” The boy in red said, eyes wide in shock.
“Ever got into a crash?” Cassidy Cornell asked eagerly.
“Um, I dislocated my shoulder recently when I totaled after being sideswiped,” Tommy said. It was the truth, though a bit distorted. It hadn’t been during a race and he had been the Red Turbo Ranger at the time. Divatox, the Intergalactic Pirate Queen of Evil, had created a new monster which tried to eat his car-slash-zord. Thank Zordon that Rangers could heal minor injuries like that in an hour or so, because he really did have a race that day. Which he ended up winning.
“Wow,” a few of the teens whispered.
“I didn’t know you were cool, Dr. O,” the boy in red said.
“It’s Tommy. I mean, we’re the same age now, and I don’t have a doctorate yet,” Tommy shrugged before pausing and asking, “What do I get a doctorate in, anyway?”
“Um, paleontology, I think,” the girl in yellow said.
“Huh, I can actually see that. Though I’m surprised I didn’t go down the mad scientist route, honestly. Always thought I’d be good at that.” It probably came from being mind-controlled or turned evil a bit too many times, but Tommy really did think he’d be a great mad scientist. It always sounded fun. He could cackle like the best of them too.
He missed the glance the three teens in primary colors exchanged.
“So why are we out in the middle of the forest? An ecology lecture? Or botany?” Tommy asked.
“Actually, yeah, botany was exactly what we were doing before that, er, evil dinosaur attacked,” the boy with the camera said.
“Cool, so I guess we should go back to the school? Reefside High, you said? How did we get here?”
“You drove us in the bus.” Ethan told him.
Tommy nodded. He could drive a bus. Totally. If he could control the semi-sentient white tiger zord, how hard could a bus be? “Let’s get going then.”
Apparently used to following his instructions, the class started their way through the undergrowth to the bus, even though he was the same age as them, maybe a few months older at most. Or maybe it was because of his leadership skills he honed as the Red Zeo and Turbo Rangers. Either way, he was glad that he didn’t have to deal with herding annoyed teens that wouldn’t listen to him.
But, of course, nothing in his life could be simple.
The bushes around them rustled before some…things jumped out to block the class’s path.
“Tyrano-drones!” The boy in red shouted as a few of the teens screamed and backpedaled.
Hm, were these tyrano-drones like Rita’s putties or Divatox’s piranhatrons? Certainly seemed like it. Tommy narrowed his eyes and took a breath, focusing on his inner self. He was still connected to the Morphing Grid, the matrix of energy that gave the Rangers their powers. Oh, he wasn’t going to morph, wasn’t sure if he even could, but it did give him the boost to strength, speed, agility, and durability he was used to. It was probably a permeant change, as Billy hypothesized, and his were exponentially more powerful than new Rangers like Justin, the newest, youngest Ranger in his time. His extensive connection to the Morphin Grid came from being three different Colors over three teams in four years.
So, knowing that he could help and protect his students, Tommy stepped forward and called, “Hey, why don’t you let us through?”
The tyrano-drones just made their unnerving noises and then charged at him. Just like the putties and piranhatrons, he thought, get their attention and they’ll attack you and only you. He surged forward to meet them, ignoring the shouts of shock from behind him. There were only a dozen. He could do that, though it would be difficult without his team backing him up.
A grin split his face. It wasn’t a nice grin. After all, before everything else, he still thought of himself as the Green Ranger, the original Evil Ranger.
*****
Conner really didn’t think the day would go like this. He assumed that their field trip would be boring, just looking around at plants of all things and then going back to school. Maybe there would be a fight that afternoon. He was not expecting a t-rex knockoff to come charging through the trees, fire off a beam of light from its unicorn-like horn that hit Dr. O and turned him into a teenager, before the t-rex jumped through a portal and disappeared.
He was really not expecting for teenage Dr. O—Tommy but Connor physically couldn’t call his teachers by their first name even if they were the same age now—to get into a fistfight with the tyrano-drones. Without morphing, thank goodness, but, actually that was probably even worse on second thought.
“Why is this our life,” Ethan whispered despairingly as he herded their class away from the fight. Devin was recording the whole thing. God, this was going to suck when it came out to the rest of the school.
Why was Dr. O such an insane person? Like, Conner knew that already, obviously. The dude had a secret lair underneath his house, after all, but it was so much more apparent when he was a teenager. Who fist-fought monsters as a regular person? At least when the Dino Thunder trio did it, they had their powers to fall back on. Dr. O was just insane. And why the hell did Dr. O never mention that he was a cool teen, with his long hair and shit? Or that he was a race-car driver? Though it did explain how he did that whole high-speed chase with the mechanical t-rex that started Conner, Kira, and Ethan on the path to becoming Power Rangers.
As Ethan and Kira led their class away, Connor ran back to the fight. Dr. O was surrounded, but there were only half of the tyrano-drones left. The rest were lying prone on the ground, groaning. Well, we need to tell him we’re Power Rangers anyway, Conner thought, as he blurred into super-speed, taking down three of the remaining tyrano-drones.
“Thanks,” Dr. O said with a large grin as Conner stopped beside him. The de-aged Black Ranger shouted as he did a spin-kick Conner had seen Dr. O do many times before to a tyrano-drone’s head, throwing it across the clearing into another tyrano-drone. They didn’t get up again.
The last tyrano-drone standing used its tiny brain for once and ran away, jumping into the portal that opened up beneath the prone tyrano-drones.
“Well, that’s that,” Conner said, “So, uh, we should talk over a few things before getting back to class.”
Dr. O stared at Conner with such intensity that it made Conner uncomfortable, honestly. Then he blinked and said, “I should’ve recognized a fellow Ranger at first glance. Sorry, I should probably have left this fight for you, then.”
“I mean, the super-speed wasn’t obvious until I helped you, so it’s fine,” Conner said, “And you were protecting our class. I get that.”
“I meant your connection to the Morphing Grid,” Dr. O said, “Though it is…less complete than the connections I’m used to in my teams. More like Justin than Billy.”
“Huh?”
“Justin is my Blue Ranger. The newest of my team. Billy was the first Blue. He’s the only one that’s been doing this longer than me. Or maybe I have more experience now, I guess,” Dr. O said musingly, “He’s been retired since the Zeo team.”
“What’s that got to do with this Morphing-whatsit?” Conner asked, trying to follow the leaps in logic, feeling like he was taking one of Dr. O’s science tests after forgetting to study. He didn’t know much about the earlier teams—just their names, not the Rangers’ names, but the teams’, that is. They may have been mentioned in that little history video Dr. O created about the Rangers but Conner had honestly forgotten almost all of that.
Dr. O looked surprised, “The Morphin Grid gives the Rangers their powers. You don’t know it? Who’s your mentor?”
“You,” Conner said with a snort, “And the Power Gems give us out powers.”
He held out his Power Gem. Dr. O leaned in close, squinting at it.
“Sorta. It’s more like it accesses the Morphing Grid for you, channelling the power into you. It’s definitely different than the Power Coins and Zeo Crystals, that’s for sure. Oh, that’s probably why your connection is less than mine. You don’t touch the Grid directly. Though less connection doesn’t mean less powerful, just…” He gestured vaguely. Conner had no idea how to interpret it.
“Uh, okay, I’ll take your word for it,” Conner said. How the hell did Dr. O still have his usual aura of ‘mysterious mentor’ even when they were the same age? “We should, um, get back to school. Then we’ll have to go to Hayley’s and tell her about…this,” he waved at Dr. O.
“Who’s Hayley?” Dr. O asked as they started back to the bus.
“Oh yeah, you said you met her in college. She’s your best friend, I think. A tech genius. She owns a cyber-cafe and sometimes helps us out. Trent also works at her cafe. Er, he’s the White Ranger. He, uh, doesn’t really get along with us, though, since we had to fight him when he was evil.”
For some reason that made Dr. O laugh, “A reformed Evil Ranger and a White Ranger? Sounds familiar. I can’t wait to meet him.”
“What?” Conner asked, but Dr. O didn’t answer.
The rest of the walk back to the bus was in silence. Conner felt a bit awkward, but if Dr. O did, he didn’t show it.
“Oh my god, are you guys okay?!” Kira yelled as soon as they stepped out of the woods and onto the road where the rest of the class was gathered around the bus. The class swarmed around them.
“Huh? Yeah, those tyrano-drones,” Dr. O sounded out the name slowly, “Were just like putties. Not too hard to fight.”
“What the hell’s a putty?” Devin asked, his camera for once nowhere in sight.
“Rita’s minions, you know, Rita Repulsa? The reason that the Power Ranger exist in the first place?”
“You can’t just fight them, you could get injured!” Kira shouted, voice going shrill.
Dr. O shrugged, “I mean, I guess I should tell you you guys shouldn’t since I’m your teacher. And I’m a nationally ranked martial artist so don’t try that at home and whatnot.”
“We’re learning the weirdest things about you today, Dr. O,” Ethan said with a groan.
Dr. O grinned, “Oh, trust me, that’s not the weirdest thing about me.”
There were several glances between the class before Devin elbowed Cassidy who asked what they all were too much of cowards to. “Then what’s the weirdest thing about you?”
Dr. O kept ginning but didn’t say a word. This suitably intimidated the class.
“Get on the bus,” he ordered. They all scrambled into the vehicle, expect the three Dino Thunder Rangers. He looked at them and said, “I’ll need a navigator since I don’t know where Reefside High is.”
“I’ll do it!” Ethan volunteered, whipping out his PDA to look up directions.
“Uh, are you sure you can drive the bus?” Conner asked.
Dr. O shrugged, “Can’t be harder than a zord, can it?”
“Oh, you told him already?” Kira said.
“Now that I’m looking, I can tell,” Dr. O smiled, “There’s not many reasons to stick with one color clothing, after all.”
Kira wrinkled her nose, “It just feels wrong to wear another color. How do you do it?” She gestured to Dr. O’s green karate pants, white tank-top, and red flannel.
“All of these are my colors,” he said, “Did I never tell you that?”
“Uhh,” Ethan looked at Conner, who shook his head. He hadn’t told Dr. O about being the Dino Thunder Black Ranger, “Well, you did show us a video of the Ranger history, but, um, that was months ago and we’ve forgotten almost all of it, really. We’ve had a lot of other things to worry about.”
“Let’s get back to school,” Dr. O said, “Then we’ll meet with this Hayley and Trent and you can tell me all about what’s going on here. And hopefully figure out how to get me to my correct age.”
They climbed into the bus, the Dino Thunder Trio squishing into the bench behind the driver’s seat, where Dr. O settled himself.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Conner asked fretfully. “I don’t want to die in a bus crash. That’s a lame way to go.”
“I’ll go slow,” Dr. O promised, “Just tell me the directions.”
By now, the rest of the class realized that Dr. O, currently a teenager and apparently a freaking race-car driver was at the wheel of the bus. The semi-terrified silence was only broken by Cassidy speaking rapidly into Devin’s camera and Ethan’s directions. But Dr. O did keep his promise and drove slowly and carefully, barely going above thirty miles per hour once they got back to the main roads.
There was an audible sigh of relief once they arrived back in the school parking lot. Dr. O stopped the bus in front of the school, ignoring the ‘no parking sign’. He admitted to the Dino Thunder trio that he wasn’t confidant about his ability to park in the bus space without hitting anything.
The rest of the class rushed out of the doors, with the Rangers following more sedately.
“Oh no, Mrs. Matson is coming over,” Conner moaned.
“Who’s Mrs. Matson?”
“The calculus teacher. She hates Conner. And Kira.”
“That paint bucket wasn’t our fault!” Kira said passionately.
“Ethan, Kira, Conner! What is going one here! You shouldn’t be back until the end of the day—and where is Doctor Oliver?” Mrs. Matson asked, half-shouting as she pushed through the crowd of students streaming into the school building.
“I’m Tommy Oliver,” Dr. O said.
“What?” The Rangers winced at the shrill shriek. “No more pranks. You are all getting detention.”
“So, um, you see, Mrs. Matson, Dr. O,” Ethan gestured at the muscular teen next to them, “He got hit by something from one of those Power Ranger enemies and is now a teenager.”
“It’s true,” Conner and Kira nodded.
“Just ask Devin, I think he has the whole thing on film,” Ethan said.
Mrs. Matson blinked at them, stupefied, before nodding, “Right. God, the world’s a mess nowadays. The three of you, and Devin, are coming to the principle’s office with me now. We’ll sort this whole thing out there.”
*****
Tommy sat in the uncomfortable chair in the principle’s office, while they waited for Principle Randall to arrive.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the principle’s office,” he said.
“Oh yeah? What’d you do?” Conner asked excitedly.
“Bulk and Skull brought a few cakes into class and, of course, Bulk ended up falling onto them. Rocky, Adam, and I cleaned it up.”
“Aw, you never got in trouble at school?” Devin said, disappointed.
Tommy thought about it, “Well, Mrs. Applebee always is annoyed whenever I have to ask for a pencil. Or a piece of paper. Or a marker. I always seem to forget something,” he said with a sheepish chuckle.
“Yeah, you still do that,” Ethan said. “I’ve lost more pencils to you than these two, I think.”
“Also I broke a window during the last week of school,” Tommy said, just now remembering the incident. “But that wasn’t really my fault. I was sparring with Kat for a demonstration and, well, things got a bit out of hand. She didn’t mean to throw me through it. We thought it would be more sturdy, but I guess it got a bit compromised because of the earthquakes.”
“Were you okay?” Ethan yelped.
“Huh? Yeah, the glass that stabbed me was only like two inches long. It was fine. I got Alpha to stitch me up.”
“What even is your life?” Devin whispered, eyes wide as saucers.
Tommy shrugged, about to say something about being pretty normal, which even he knew was a big fat lie, but then a woman who he assumed was Principle Randall walked in the door. He shivered, immediately knowing that this woman was powerful and not to be crossed without consequences. Also, she was probably evil and an opponent for the Rangers.
Great.