Fic: Thunder Rises; Chapter One: Lost; Rated PG-13
This is the first chapter for my claim on prau100. Enjoy!
Title: Thunder Rises
Fandom: Power Rangers: Time Force and Dino Thunder
Pairing: When I cross that bridge, I’ll let you know.
Prompt: #94 Lost
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The show isn’t mine. It’s Disney’s.
Summary: After losing everything, the Dino Thunder Rangers run to the two Rangers who might just understand how they feel and the only two who can actively help.
Warnings: Character Death, adult language, and probably slash as well as group pairings.
Author's Notes: Takes place before “Triassic Triumph” and takes off in a different direction though it has been a month since they got Trent on their side. No White Ranger clone either. Finally, they were able to get Tommy out of the amber with no other side affects.
Ethan glanced at his wrist, tracing the slight crack in the blue gem before shaking his head and getting back to work. He pushed back his emotions and ignored the pacing going on behind him. If he was lucky, Conner would get tired again and sit down. The Blue Ranger nearly hit the broken screen in disgust. There wasn’t anyway to turn it on and from what he could see, the hard-drive to this one was smashed too. He supposed that he should look at the bright side that they’d been able to get through the hidden door as it was.
“Can you fix it?” Ethan glanced over his shoulder toward Conner as the other boy looked at him intently. Again. It was the third time Conner had asked the question within the last half an hour. Ethan gave him a slight look before glancing back at the computer. It was completely trashed, the information that wasn’t on disks was lost, and most of the disks were completely destroyed. He picked up the other disks and set them gently in his backpack before shaking his head to Conner. “You sure?”
Ethan nodded. Conner sighed, but accepted it. The Blue Ranger glanced around, looking between the damage and trying to find anything that wasn’t broken or that was useful. The Raptor Riders and Raptor Cycles had been torn to pieces and Ethan wasn’t certain all of the pieces were still there. The house had been burned, the fire extinguished before they got there. The stone had protected the Lair itself from catching on fire, but it had been hot like an oven when they first got there. They’d spent some of the time outside so they didn’t overheat. They were silent for a minute before Conner gave Ethan a slight smile. “It’s okay, dude. Hayley can fix it.”
Ethan nodded, rubbing his throat as he did so while Conner gave him a slight shrug. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to talk, but over the past few hours, Ethan just lost the ability to. He wondered if it was a coping mechanism just like Conner seemed to hate the silence and had barely shut up. “I-I don’t think she’s going to be able to help.” They glanced up and saw Trent walking in, gently helping Kira walk. The Yellow Ranger was obviously trying to stop from crying, again, and Trent was white and looked nauseous. He paused for a minute and shook his head. “She didn’t m-make it. They got the café.”
They were silent for a moment and then Kira’s muffled sniffles became sobs. Trent helped her to the ground, still holding on to her, as Conner reached out and took her other side. Ethan headed over and leaned down, reaching out as she sobbed into his shoulder. The boys didn’t bother to hide their own tears as they huddled together, the reality finally catching up with them. Tommy and Hayley weren’t coming back. There wasn’t going to be a last minute save like when they’d gotten him away from Mesagog or out of the amber. Hayley wasn’t going to have a new toy that could save them. They’d lost their mentor, the tech, their base, and most importantly the two eldest members of their Ranger family. This time, they were truly alone.
***
“Smithy!” Tommy called out. The others dodged the monster, letting their mentor fight against Zeltrax. He’d done it before and the cyborg would aim for the Black Ranger anyway. It just saved time.
Ethan moved to the left as the monster struck, and Kira hit it from behind with her Pteragrips. He grinned as it stumbled and smacked it with his shield. Trent got it from another side with his dagger and Conner struck it from the opposite side with his staff. The monster fell, though they weren’t surprised when it came back. “Doctor O?” Conner asked and Tommy nodded.
“I’ve got him. Go!” He ordered. Ethan couldn’t remember the battle. It didn’t matter. They won. It was dead. It didn’t matter. What mattered was getting back to Tommy.
They rushed toward him as he demorphed, lying tiredly on the ground. He went to pull himself up when the sword was plunged into his back. His eyes widened and he went slack. They continued toward him as blood began to drip from his mouth. His eyes were cloudy. Ethan’s mind absently processed that he must have damage to his lungs or stomach, probably the stomach. He shook it off. Zeltrax glanced over at them and pulled the sword out. They turned, standing ready. Instead, he just turned and walked through one of the portal, leaving them alone.
They demorphed. They shouldn’t have, but they did as they ran toward Tommy. Conner made it there first, his eyes wide and scared as he touched…
The scream jolted Ethan awake, hand on his morpher, praying he’d be able to morph this time. He glanced around, seeing that Conner and Trent had both woken up and were equally alert, but there fortunately wasn’t anything there. “Oh shit. Kira! Wake up!”
Conner was shaking their female teammate intently, determined to wake her up one way or anything. She turned her head, still half-asleep and the scream changed into her Pterascream, flinging Conner across the cave. Trent quickly wrapped his arms around her from behind, whispering assurances as Ethan headed over and helped Conner up. He moved his head to the side and Conner nodded. “I’m fine.”
“So am I,” Kira whispered, more fully awake. “Sorry, Conner.”
“It’s only been a week, Kira, and staying in a destroyed hideout isn’t the best way to make us feel better,” he said bluntly as they made their way over to her. Trent sighed.
“No, but it was that or get separated,” he reminded the other. Ethan winced at that. The death of a Power Ranger and a teacher, which were fortunately separated due to Ethan’s quick thinking, tended to cause populations to flee and their families were some of the first to get packing. Not to mention the destruction of a popular hang-out and the death of the owner caused quite a bit of commotion. Ethan’s mother had been insistent that they leave when she found her son wasn’t talking. He knew that Kira and Conner’s parents weren’t much better. So, they’d runaway, back to where it all started. If the police force wasn’t so busy helping to evacuate, they might have actually had to worry about the way they were surviving. As it was, they were taking food and water from abandoned stores, grabbed some blankets from trashcans and boxes that people had left behind, and taking flashlights when they found them. Their petty crimes weren’t nearly as severe as the riots and looting that had been carrying on, however. To make matters worse, they hadn’t had time for an adjustment period. Kira’s nightmare wasn’t the first they’d been through.
For Ethan, the worst part was that he had been forced to an outside roll on the team since the whole thing started. His frustration with the situation was understandable and Trent had been doing most of the finishing off when it came to Zords in the other three couldn’t make their megazord. Not being able to speak meant that Ethan couldn’t morph. He couldn’t give advice or shout warnings and was forced to only help when it didn’t call for them to be morphed. He’d taken his frustration out on the Tyrannodrones several times, causing Conner to joke that Ethan could take on them while the others got the monster. Ethan hadn’t found it very amusing and it had cost Conner one of the rationed candy bars to get the Blue Ranger to forgive him.
“We can’t keep living like this!” Conner answered, breaking Ethan out of his thoughts. All three turned to look at him. “We’re stealing, hiding, and fighting. We’re living from battle to battle. Trent, when was the last time you drew anything?”
“When you forced me to draw the Happy Sun?” He answered, pointing to the one picture they had up. It literally was a picture of a smiling sun with the words ‘It can only get better’ written below it. Conner had insisted on Trent drawing it so there was something happy on the wall.
“Besides that,” Conner said flippantly. “Over a week ago. Kira, when was the last time you played anything?”
“Over a week ago,” she answered, already on their teammate’s point.
“And Ethan hasn’t touched his computer in that long either!” Conner answered. Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He could have at least asked the question. “And for the hundredth time, I’m not asking you questions that involves non-American sign language, Ethan. No more charades when we know the answer.”
Ethan scowled, but nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, Conner had a point. It was difficult to communicate with them at the moment. Not that he was the only one with problems, of course. Kira had been distant with all of them unless they forced it on her. Conner, while forcing himself to do both his own and Tommy’s job, had been significantly less physically active or at least just tired a lot. Trent’s love of art seemed to be missing, having thrown his art book across the room when he had thought no one was there. Ethan just had the obvious physical problem. Conner slacked down onto the blankets and looked at them. “Still, we can’t keep doing this. I’m tired, I’m hungry…”
“It’s just until we win,” Trent offered. Conner snorted.
“If we win,” he muttered. Still, after that, he dropped it and headed over to their food supply, dividing it. “Here, Kira.”
She took it, waiting for him to move on, but he waited. “What?”
“I want to see you eat it,” he answered. She glared, but took a bite. Satisfied, he handed the next piece to Ethan making sure he ate it and then doing the same to Trent before taking a bit for himself. He leaned back against the wall, making sure not to cut himself against anything they hadn’t managed to tear down yet. Ethan turned his attention back to his own food. As he managed to take his first bite, however, that nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach overtook him once again. A quick look to the others told him that it wasn’t the food, but their internal Ranger telling them it was time to go. They dragged themselves up, headed outside, and got into Conner’s car as they ate on the way.
They didn’t need to move as quickly considering the city was nearly in ruins. Ethan had to wonder why they were fighting so hard to save people who had abandoned them, and Tommy, when things got so tough. They’d just packed up and left, leaving everything to the four of them. He shook those thoughts back as they arrived at what was left of the school. To Ethan’s horror, there was a new monster, a pack of Tyrannodrones, Elsa, and Zeltrax. They quickly split up as Conner took Zeltrax, Kira took Elsa, Ethan took on the pack, and Trent faced off against the monster. The other three morphed and Ethan tried to concentrate on his own battle. The matter of numbers eventually came into play and he felt the effects of hunger and sleep-depravation on a Ranger’s body.
Trent crashed to the ground, demorphing as he landed next to Ethan. He gave a small whimper, only loud enough for Ethan to hear before he went unconscious. Kira slammed into him, already demorphed and unconscious at that point. Conner was last, landing to his right side, bleeding, and trying to stay awake. Ethan picked himself up, trying to stay strong as Conner tried to stand beside him. The energy that Zeltrax fired at them ended that and the ground became hazy, shifting into darkness. He couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take Mesagog to take over when they were dead.
Title: Thunder Rises
Fandom: Power Rangers: Time Force and Dino Thunder
Pairing: When I cross that bridge, I’ll let you know.
Prompt: #94 Lost
Rating: T
Disclaimer: The show isn’t mine. It’s Disney’s.
Summary: After losing everything, the Dino Thunder Rangers run to the two Rangers who might just understand how they feel and the only two who can actively help.
Warnings: Character Death, adult language, and probably slash as well as group pairings.
Author's Notes: Takes place before “Triassic Triumph” and takes off in a different direction though it has been a month since they got Trent on their side. No White Ranger clone either. Finally, they were able to get Tommy out of the amber with no other side affects.
Ethan glanced at his wrist, tracing the slight crack in the blue gem before shaking his head and getting back to work. He pushed back his emotions and ignored the pacing going on behind him. If he was lucky, Conner would get tired again and sit down. The Blue Ranger nearly hit the broken screen in disgust. There wasn’t anyway to turn it on and from what he could see, the hard-drive to this one was smashed too. He supposed that he should look at the bright side that they’d been able to get through the hidden door as it was.
“Can you fix it?” Ethan glanced over his shoulder toward Conner as the other boy looked at him intently. Again. It was the third time Conner had asked the question within the last half an hour. Ethan gave him a slight look before glancing back at the computer. It was completely trashed, the information that wasn’t on disks was lost, and most of the disks were completely destroyed. He picked up the other disks and set them gently in his backpack before shaking his head to Conner. “You sure?”
Ethan nodded. Conner sighed, but accepted it. The Blue Ranger glanced around, looking between the damage and trying to find anything that wasn’t broken or that was useful. The Raptor Riders and Raptor Cycles had been torn to pieces and Ethan wasn’t certain all of the pieces were still there. The house had been burned, the fire extinguished before they got there. The stone had protected the Lair itself from catching on fire, but it had been hot like an oven when they first got there. They’d spent some of the time outside so they didn’t overheat. They were silent for a minute before Conner gave Ethan a slight smile. “It’s okay, dude. Hayley can fix it.”
Ethan nodded, rubbing his throat as he did so while Conner gave him a slight shrug. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want to talk, but over the past few hours, Ethan just lost the ability to. He wondered if it was a coping mechanism just like Conner seemed to hate the silence and had barely shut up. “I-I don’t think she’s going to be able to help.” They glanced up and saw Trent walking in, gently helping Kira walk. The Yellow Ranger was obviously trying to stop from crying, again, and Trent was white and looked nauseous. He paused for a minute and shook his head. “She didn’t m-make it. They got the café.”
They were silent for a moment and then Kira’s muffled sniffles became sobs. Trent helped her to the ground, still holding on to her, as Conner reached out and took her other side. Ethan headed over and leaned down, reaching out as she sobbed into his shoulder. The boys didn’t bother to hide their own tears as they huddled together, the reality finally catching up with them. Tommy and Hayley weren’t coming back. There wasn’t going to be a last minute save like when they’d gotten him away from Mesagog or out of the amber. Hayley wasn’t going to have a new toy that could save them. They’d lost their mentor, the tech, their base, and most importantly the two eldest members of their Ranger family. This time, they were truly alone.
***
“Smithy!” Tommy called out. The others dodged the monster, letting their mentor fight against Zeltrax. He’d done it before and the cyborg would aim for the Black Ranger anyway. It just saved time.
Ethan moved to the left as the monster struck, and Kira hit it from behind with her Pteragrips. He grinned as it stumbled and smacked it with his shield. Trent got it from another side with his dagger and Conner struck it from the opposite side with his staff. The monster fell, though they weren’t surprised when it came back. “Doctor O?” Conner asked and Tommy nodded.
“I’ve got him. Go!” He ordered. Ethan couldn’t remember the battle. It didn’t matter. They won. It was dead. It didn’t matter. What mattered was getting back to Tommy.
They rushed toward him as he demorphed, lying tiredly on the ground. He went to pull himself up when the sword was plunged into his back. His eyes widened and he went slack. They continued toward him as blood began to drip from his mouth. His eyes were cloudy. Ethan’s mind absently processed that he must have damage to his lungs or stomach, probably the stomach. He shook it off. Zeltrax glanced over at them and pulled the sword out. They turned, standing ready. Instead, he just turned and walked through one of the portal, leaving them alone.
They demorphed. They shouldn’t have, but they did as they ran toward Tommy. Conner made it there first, his eyes wide and scared as he touched…
The scream jolted Ethan awake, hand on his morpher, praying he’d be able to morph this time. He glanced around, seeing that Conner and Trent had both woken up and were equally alert, but there fortunately wasn’t anything there. “Oh shit. Kira! Wake up!”
Conner was shaking their female teammate intently, determined to wake her up one way or anything. She turned her head, still half-asleep and the scream changed into her Pterascream, flinging Conner across the cave. Trent quickly wrapped his arms around her from behind, whispering assurances as Ethan headed over and helped Conner up. He moved his head to the side and Conner nodded. “I’m fine.”
“So am I,” Kira whispered, more fully awake. “Sorry, Conner.”
“It’s only been a week, Kira, and staying in a destroyed hideout isn’t the best way to make us feel better,” he said bluntly as they made their way over to her. Trent sighed.
“No, but it was that or get separated,” he reminded the other. Ethan winced at that. The death of a Power Ranger and a teacher, which were fortunately separated due to Ethan’s quick thinking, tended to cause populations to flee and their families were some of the first to get packing. Not to mention the destruction of a popular hang-out and the death of the owner caused quite a bit of commotion. Ethan’s mother had been insistent that they leave when she found her son wasn’t talking. He knew that Kira and Conner’s parents weren’t much better. So, they’d runaway, back to where it all started. If the police force wasn’t so busy helping to evacuate, they might have actually had to worry about the way they were surviving. As it was, they were taking food and water from abandoned stores, grabbed some blankets from trashcans and boxes that people had left behind, and taking flashlights when they found them. Their petty crimes weren’t nearly as severe as the riots and looting that had been carrying on, however. To make matters worse, they hadn’t had time for an adjustment period. Kira’s nightmare wasn’t the first they’d been through.
For Ethan, the worst part was that he had been forced to an outside roll on the team since the whole thing started. His frustration with the situation was understandable and Trent had been doing most of the finishing off when it came to Zords in the other three couldn’t make their megazord. Not being able to speak meant that Ethan couldn’t morph. He couldn’t give advice or shout warnings and was forced to only help when it didn’t call for them to be morphed. He’d taken his frustration out on the Tyrannodrones several times, causing Conner to joke that Ethan could take on them while the others got the monster. Ethan hadn’t found it very amusing and it had cost Conner one of the rationed candy bars to get the Blue Ranger to forgive him.
“We can’t keep living like this!” Conner answered, breaking Ethan out of his thoughts. All three turned to look at him. “We’re stealing, hiding, and fighting. We’re living from battle to battle. Trent, when was the last time you drew anything?”
“When you forced me to draw the Happy Sun?” He answered, pointing to the one picture they had up. It literally was a picture of a smiling sun with the words ‘It can only get better’ written below it. Conner had insisted on Trent drawing it so there was something happy on the wall.
“Besides that,” Conner said flippantly. “Over a week ago. Kira, when was the last time you played anything?”
“Over a week ago,” she answered, already on their teammate’s point.
“And Ethan hasn’t touched his computer in that long either!” Conner answered. Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He could have at least asked the question. “And for the hundredth time, I’m not asking you questions that involves non-American sign language, Ethan. No more charades when we know the answer.”
Ethan scowled, but nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, Conner had a point. It was difficult to communicate with them at the moment. Not that he was the only one with problems, of course. Kira had been distant with all of them unless they forced it on her. Conner, while forcing himself to do both his own and Tommy’s job, had been significantly less physically active or at least just tired a lot. Trent’s love of art seemed to be missing, having thrown his art book across the room when he had thought no one was there. Ethan just had the obvious physical problem. Conner slacked down onto the blankets and looked at them. “Still, we can’t keep doing this. I’m tired, I’m hungry…”
“It’s just until we win,” Trent offered. Conner snorted.
“If we win,” he muttered. Still, after that, he dropped it and headed over to their food supply, dividing it. “Here, Kira.”
She took it, waiting for him to move on, but he waited. “What?”
“I want to see you eat it,” he answered. She glared, but took a bite. Satisfied, he handed the next piece to Ethan making sure he ate it and then doing the same to Trent before taking a bit for himself. He leaned back against the wall, making sure not to cut himself against anything they hadn’t managed to tear down yet. Ethan turned his attention back to his own food. As he managed to take his first bite, however, that nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach overtook him once again. A quick look to the others told him that it wasn’t the food, but their internal Ranger telling them it was time to go. They dragged themselves up, headed outside, and got into Conner’s car as they ate on the way.
They didn’t need to move as quickly considering the city was nearly in ruins. Ethan had to wonder why they were fighting so hard to save people who had abandoned them, and Tommy, when things got so tough. They’d just packed up and left, leaving everything to the four of them. He shook those thoughts back as they arrived at what was left of the school. To Ethan’s horror, there was a new monster, a pack of Tyrannodrones, Elsa, and Zeltrax. They quickly split up as Conner took Zeltrax, Kira took Elsa, Ethan took on the pack, and Trent faced off against the monster. The other three morphed and Ethan tried to concentrate on his own battle. The matter of numbers eventually came into play and he felt the effects of hunger and sleep-depravation on a Ranger’s body.
Trent crashed to the ground, demorphing as he landed next to Ethan. He gave a small whimper, only loud enough for Ethan to hear before he went unconscious. Kira slammed into him, already demorphed and unconscious at that point. Conner was last, landing to his right side, bleeding, and trying to stay awake. Ethan picked himself up, trying to stay strong as Conner tried to stand beside him. The energy that Zeltrax fired at them ended that and the ground became hazy, shifting into darkness. He couldn’t help but wonder how long it would take Mesagog to take over when they were dead.