Power Rangers Dino Thunder: The Hidden Gem

Beneath the Surface

Author's Note: It's time for a new Dinozord to be added to the Zord arsenal as well as for Lewis to begin working on a secret project! Enjoy!
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Lewis' POV
It was the start of another Sunday afternoon and I was walking over to the Cybercafé to do my paper on the importance of music with some help from Kira. I sat next to her and we began writing as well as brainstorming on what musicians to talk about such as Johnny Cash, Elvis, David Bowie, and even Queen, while Conner was starting to write a paper on soccer. 20 minutes later, I started to hear gaming sounds. I looked up and saw some things never change as Ethan was intensely focused on beating another computer game except this time, the game he was playing looked more like a spaceship game. "Oh no you didn't! Eat laser, you intergalactic freaks." Ethan said while playing and it was starting to annoy the hell out of Kira and Conner. Just to have some fun, I said in a robotic voice, "Reload! Spacecraft out of ammo."
"What?! But I reloaded around Level 6," Ethan said in confusion. He then realized he got duped as when he tried reloading, the game came up with a screen that said AMMUNITION FULL. As Conner and Kira laughed, Ethan turned to me, "Alright...very funny, Lewis but we'll see who has the last laugh when I beat this game." I shrugged and said, "Whatever you say, buddy." As soon as he got to Level 12, Conner had enough and turned off the computer. "Hey, what was that for?!" Ethan said.
"I can't really concentrate with you blowing things up in my ear!" Conner said. I then quietly joked to Kira, "He actually concentrates when doing schoolwork?" Kira chuckled and shushed me as Conner turned to look at us.
"It took me 3 hours to get to that level," Ethan said annoyed.
"Sorry, but I'm with Conner on this one. Our paper's due tomorrow and speaking of papers: how come you aren't working on yours?"
Ethan replied, "Finished it last week. Trent and I did it while you 3 were off being David Beckham and Milli-"
Kira retorted, "Don't even finish it."
Ethan said holding up his hands in surrender, "Wasn't even going to."
I chuckled and continued writing with some advice from Kira. I then asked her, "How's this for a final sentence: Music always comes in different shapes and sizes. Let's make sure we know where to find it." Kira thought for a moment and said, "Not bad but it sounds a little too on the nose." Soon, she looked around and said, "Where even is Trent? I thought he was working today."
Conner replied, "Hayley gave him the day off. He said he wanted to spend some quality time with his dad."
I scoffed and accidentally said out loud, "Pfft, actual father and son time? Or just in word only?" My friends then looked at me with surprise as well as disappointment.
Ethan replied, "Jeez dude. I wouldn't call Mercer the world's greatest dad but he's not a monster either."
I said, "Listen, don't take what I said the wrong way. It was just those times I've seen him with Trent, Anton doesn't really seem to care about Trent unless he wants him for something whether it's for the company he runs or just to be more like him."
Kira sighed, "Yeah, that's true. I wouldn't exactly be smiling at my dad either if he tried to force me out of a job I like to work in a job that's more the family name."
Conner said, "Same. If my dad wanted me out of soccer just to pursue a career in something like accounting. I think I'd say no too."
Soon, Kira and I finally finished our paper on music and as she read through it, she seemed to like it until she noticed something and asked, "Hey, what did you mean by 'There will always be new talent in the world of music'?"
I smiled, "Well, I'm looking at new talent."
She blushed a little and said, "S-shut up you."
I smirked and said teasingly, "Make me." Kira smirked back and gently elbowed me.
*Timeskip to tomorrow*
Lewis' POV
Kira and I sat next to each other at Tommy's paleontology class, going through another mundane day of school. While Kira was writing new lyrics in her notebook to drone out her boredom, Tommy said to everyone, trying to drum up enthusiasm, "Alright, there's only so much you can learn in a classroom. Who's ready for some fieldwork? Let's go!" As we grabbed our things, Kira and I saw Cassidy try to give a long-winded excuse to Tommy on filming the dig for her journalism class until Devin called her out, saying that she thought nature and science were dull as dirt. Tommy smirked, "Relax, Cassidy. You can film the dig." We rolled our eyes and continued to walk but just as we passed the main office, we did a double take as we couldn't believe that we saw Principal Randall wearing an explorer outfit that would either make Indiana Jones confused or offended. "You don't think she's actually joining this dig, are you?" I asked Kira.
"I hope not but something sadly tells me otherwise." She replied.
I sighed, "Let's just get on the bus." As Kira and I sat down on the bus, we saw Tommy come up with Principal Randall much to our disappointment though I also saw that he looked a little surprised.
I walked behind to where Tommy was sitting and said quietly, "Pst! Dr O, you okay? Randall didn't say anything too awful to you, did she?"
Tommy replied back, "I'm fine. Though with Principal Randall, I think she's..flirting with me."
I retorted, "Oof, now we REALLY need to keep an eye on Randall. Also, I think I might need Kira's ptera scream right about now."
Tommy chuckled, "Relax, Lewis. I know she's not exactly...pleasant with students but I think there could be something more to her that you might not be seeing."
I said back, "Well I agree with you when you said she's not exactly pleasant. Just watch out, alright? She might not be so flirty as she'll lead you to believe."
Tommy then replied, "I can handle her, Lewis."
As soon as the bus parked at the dig site, all of us got off the bus and Tommy gave some clear instructions: Look around the site for anything prehistoric and try not to wander off too far. Kira, Conner, and I walked around, we couldn't find that much outside of dirt, rocks, sand, and some already-discovered dinosaur bones. I tried not to glance too much at Tommy and Randall interacting but it was like seeing an ex-couple flirt, something just seemed awkward. Things didn't get any better as Cassidy was getting ideas to write about it in her gossip corner, even calling it 'The Randall Scandal'.
I joked to Kira, "How about the Cassidy Calamity? The first issue is Why and how is this girl writing?"
Kira chuckled, "It's the only time I agree with Devin when he said that Randall is incapable of actually feeling love."
Conner snickered, "I highly doubt she's incapable of feeling anything else besides anger or annoyance." We then hear Ethan shout, "Hey, you guys, Over here!" We quickly ran over to him and saw that Ethan uncovered a dino egg.
I smiled, "Dr O's going to have a field day over this!" Kira and I walked back to Tommy and Randall. She said to Tommy, "Dr Oliver, we need your help identifying something. We think it might be a morrosaurus."
I added, "Or maybe an Alamosaurus."
Tommy replied, "Sure, I'll be right there." The 3 of us walked away from Randall and after Tommy asked Ethan what he found. Ethan simply replied, "I think it might be a dino zord egg." He then carefully gave it to Tommy but just as we were about to leave, Principal Randall came and said with fake enthusiasm, "Ooh, a discovery. How exciting!"
Tommy said back, "No, we're not sure what it is yet."
"It looks like a prehistoric egg. May I?" Randall replied, wanting to hold the egg. Tommy then hesitantly gave the egg to the principal and she looked at it like it was the most interesting thing in the world which couldn't be a good sign.
Tommy then said, "I should really take that back to the school lab and examine it." As Randall was about to give the egg back to Tommy, an army of tyrannodrones came from out of nowhere, causing the students to panic and run. Tommy then gave a silent nod to us and we started to take down the tyrannodrones. I teamed up with Kira and we flipped some of the tyrannodrones over and even kicked one into a wheelbarrow which gave me an idea. "Happy travels!" I quipped before quickly turning the wheelbarrow around and kicking it into other tyrannodrones, causing them to fall into a pile of mud.  After all of the tyrannodrones were knocked out, we walked over to Randall and Tommy holding the egg. The principal then asked us, "Would you mind explaining to me where you learned to fight like that?"
Conner replied, "Karate club. Everyone should know how to defend themselves." I quickly replied, "Summer vacation with my uncle." We then quickly ran to the bus before Randall could ask us more questions. Later, we went to the lab under Tommy's home and began investigating the Dino egg. "Have we got anything?" Kira asked while Ethan was scanning it.
Ethan replied, "I don't know. Something's not right. I'm not getting any signs of life!"
Tommy replied with a hint of suspicion, "Something's off. I'm sure that was a dimetrozord egg."
I asked, "Sorry, dimetrozord?"
Tommy then explained, "It was developed from the dimetrodon."
Kira said, "That would explain why the tyrannodrones want it."
After another few minutes of scanning, I said, "I don't want to jump to any conclusions but maybe we should look back at the dig site. Just to be sure we didn't miss anything."
Tommy got onto his computer and looked at the dig site again and soon enough, he said that he was getting a heat signal from it.
Kira said, "But the egg's not even there anymore!"
Ethan thought, "Maybe there's another one."
I said, "Maybe one of Mesagog's henchmen is looking around for it."
Tommy said, "I'd better go check it out. You guys stay here and keep analyzing this one." As soon as Tommy left, we continued analyzing the egg just to see if anything would be in it. Ethan said, "Guys, I really don't think a dinozord is in here." Our attention was then brought to the screen as much to our surprise, the dimetrozord was walking around. Ethan then opened the dino egg we had and we saw a hologram of Elsa evilly saying, "Not what you expected, rangers!?" She then laughed evilly and left the egg. "Okay, can I just say I'm so over the evil laugh," Kira said annoyed.
"I'm just over her, period," I replied. "Man, that's messed up. How did she do that?" Ethan said. The screen beeped again and we saw the dimetrozord was now attacking Little Reefside. "We better get the zords. Come on!" Conner said and we quickly morphed into our Ranger personas. We quickly arrived at the dimetrozord's location and our zords tried attacking the dimetrozord but it proved to be stronger than we thought and it knocked the zords down. Suddenly, the ground began to shake. "Great, now what?" I muttered. We then saw another one of Mesagog's mutations called Scorpex entered and said, "Targets sighted!" We quickly jumped out of the way before he could stomp on us. "Alright, let's at least be able to take this whackbag down!" I said and we quickly formed the dino megazord. Kira tried using her ptera-rang attack but unfortunately, Scorpex was able to block them. I tried using my Apato Zord attack but the monster blocked it like it was made of paper. Ethan then tried the tricera fist but Scorpex attacked back. "The thundersaurus megazord isn't powerful enough, you're going to need something that can break through his armor," Tommy said through our morphers.
"Like what?" Conner asked.
"Like a blade...or a saw. I have an idea: use the dimetrozord!" Tommy said with determination.
I retorted, "Dr O, it's not like he's playing nice with us."
"Let me see if I can do something about that," Tommy said, it's clear he has a plan going. We then saw the dimetrozord charging toward us. I sighed, "This is going to sting." The dimetrozord then began slashing the megazord with its saw until it fell to the ground. Thanks to Tommy, the dimetrozord was finally free of Elsa's control and it quickly slashed Scorpex. We then heard Tommy's voice on our morphers, "It's all yours, guys! Wait til you see what he can do." The dimetrozord then attached itself as another arm to the megazord and slashed both of Scorpex's blades. "Now I'm really mad!" Scorpex shouted. "Ready for more?" Ethan quipped. The megazord then used its fire attack as well as the full power of the dimetroblade, destroying Scorpex for good. After Scorpex was nothing but ash and dirt, we celebrated another victory as well as having another zord in our fight against Mesagog.
As another day of school reared its head, I sat with Kira, Ethan, and Conner in our paleontology class, minding our business until we heard announcement music come on. We then saw Cassidy come onto the screen as she said, "This is Cassidy Cornell with a special report. I have discovered that we have a superhero working right here at Reefside High." The 4 of us desperately hoped that it was something else and that Cassidy and Devin didn't film us while we were out being rangers. Cassidy continued, "Yes, our very own Principal Randall fended off several prehistoric creatures in an act of selfless bravery." I was surprised but also relieved that Cassidy didn't say any of our names. After that, Cassidy tried to show footage of Randall fighting off tyrannodrones but instead was just embarrassing footage of her and Devin, causing everyone to laugh. Later, we spotted Tommy and Randall having a chat, it ended with Randall harshly saying, "That's the bell, Dr. Oliver! Your next class isn't going to teach itself." After we poked some fun at Tommy about his talk with Randall, we realized that all of us were late for our next class and Conner asked if Tommy could write a note and he simply replied, "Dream on."
After school ended, I arrived home by bus and as I entered, I realized that my mom was still at work and I had the place to myself for a few hours. I then went upstairs and entered my bedroom. I looked at the pictures I placed on my wall: The Dino Thunder logo, a group picture of Connor, Ethan, Kira, and me as well as an old picture of my dad, mom, and my uncle. After staring at the pictures, I got an idea. If Tommy decided to do a video diary about his life as a Power Ranger as well as include the history of other teams, there should be something to commemorate all the Power Ranger teams. I decided to create a website called History of the Rangers as a way to pay tribute to all the Rangers that came before me. I began with Mighty Morphin and started typing their history, using Tommy's video diary as a guide. It took a lot of hours but I was finally able to get up to Dino Thunder. I smiled and said to myself, "Not bad for a weird kid." I turned off my computer as I heard my mom arriving in the driveway. I then opened the door for her and after she told me about the interesting parts of her day, we began to have dinner. As we ate, I felt a bad cough coming on as well as feeling like I was about to throw up. "You okay, sweetie?" She asked with concern.
"I-I'm okay. I think I just need some sleep." I said, my throat sounding a little hoarse.
"Well, finish up and then go to bed." My mom replied. After I finished eating, I went up to the bathroom and gently washed my face. As I looked in the mirror, I saw how pale, exhausted I looked. Either the work of being a Power Ranger is getting to me or I desperately needed sleep. After I sneezed and then let out a couple more coughs, I saw small specks of blood on the tissue. I then quickly rolled it up and tossed it in the trash can. I then went to my bedroom and took some deep breaths to try and steady myself. I slowly laid down on my bed and tried to get some sleep. I didn't want to think I was dying but it was sadly all I could think about.
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Editor's Note: Yes, an Alamosaurus was a dinosaur species. As soon as I found out, I had to put that in. Plus it's far better than having to put in triceratops, brachiosaurus, or even tyrannosaurus.