Chaoter 5- Memorabila Excavation

“Y’ know dude, when you said Dr. O still had some stuff in his pad to put away, I thought you meant he had a pile of stuff, not Mt. Everest!” Conner exclaimed as he saw the piles of boxes, boxes, and more boxes littered all over Dr. Oliver’s underground lab.

“Oh, trust me man. You didn’t see how this place was last week.” Ethan replied.

“Somehow I don’t think I want to know.” Kira remarked.

“Whoa!” CRASH!

The four Rangers then turned around and saw their teacher Tommy Oliver lying on the ground blinking his eyes. Contents were spilling out of the box he had dropped and were covering him in notebooks, papers, and other sorts of paraphernalia.

“Uh…taking a paper shower, doc?” Conner asked as he and Trent helped their teacher to his feet.

“Yeah, all I need is White-out 2000.” Tommy replied. Everyone laughed.

“Look, you guys don’t have to do this.” Tommy said to his proteges. “Thanksgiving break starts tomorrow, by rights you should be out having fun and spending time with your folks.”

“Maybe, but what about you doc, what are you gonna be doin’?” Conner asked, “Digging through old stuff?”

Tommy sighed, “Among other things.”

Ethan then lifted the box that had fallen on his teacher and put it on top of a pile. He then walked over to Dr. Oliver and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Dr. O, in addition to being your students, we are also your proteges, fellow rangers, and in a way, your friends. Now I don’t know about you guys, but I’m not gonna let a friend spend his Thanksgiving down in his ‘Power Ranger Lab of Solitude’ digging up memorabilia fossils, or at least not by himself. We’re a team, we’re supposed to look out for each other.”

“Thanks, Ethan.” Tommy replied. “By the way, do your parents know you’re here?”

“Already called ‘em.” Conner answered.

“Mom already knows.” Ethan said.

“My folks were going out to a club tonight, so they didn’t mind.” Kira said.

“I spoke to my dad, and he said it was okay.” Trent said.

“Well, then what are we waiting for? Let’s get started.” Tommy replied. “Oh yeah, you guys wouldn’t mind if I ordered pizza, would you?” he asked.

“Not at all.” Conner and Ethan said with glazed raptures on their faces.

Kira shook her head at this and Trent chuckled.

“How about you guys?” Tommy asked.

“Same here.” Trent replied.

“Ditto.” Kira said.

“OK, great. I guess you guys can get start unloading some boxes then. I’ll head upstairs and put in the order. I’ll come back down to help you guys once I’m done with that.”

“You got it, Dr. O.” Conner replied.

As Tommy headed up the stairway the four teens looked at all the piles of boxes scattered all around them.

“So who gets which?” Trent asked.

“Dibs on this one.” Conner said as he plopped down next to a box labeled High School stuff.

“Dude, you always get the cool stuff.” Ethan said accusingly.

“It was fate Ethan, karma.” Conner said.

“That’s not karma, that’s luck.” Ethan declared as he sat next to a box labeled Misc. “Now if I was to be the undisputed Halo II champion, that would be karma.”

Everyone but Trent looked at him blankly.

Ethan shook his head, “Forget it.”

--

Tommy walked up the hidden staircase, reaching for his portable phone. Though he had a communicator on his bracelet, he kept his portable home phone handy in case he wanted to order in or if he was expecting a phone call, which was seldom. As he entered his home and started to look for the yellow pages he then thought about what Ethan had said to him for it really stuck. His students didn’t have to spend their Thanksgiving break helping him put away some stuff, and yet here they were, ready to help him out. In this respect, it was as if they weren’t treating him as their teacher, it was as if they were treating him as though he were their age, as if he were one of them. Strangely enough, it gave him a sense of belonging that he hadn’t felt since his days as the White and later Red Ranger.

It’s amazing how that makes you think about the people you had formed good friendships with, and…some who became more than that.

He didn’t think of it, but almost instantly he then thought back to the dream/nightmare that he had last night.

Man, I have got to stop dwelling on that. He thought to himself as he found the book and began flipping through the pages. As soon as he saw the phone number for Pizza Hut he then began to dial the number.

--

While Conner and Ethan were already prying open the boxes, Trent looked around the piles and then he saw one box catch his eye. He then walked over to Kira and tapped her on her shoulder, “Hey, Kira.”

Kira then turned her face towards him, “Yeah?”

Maybe it was just the way she turned her head to look at him, because for a few seconds Trent could have sworn his heart rate was beginning to skyrocket. Come on man, snap out of it. It’s just…Kira. He thought.

“Trent? What is it?”

Trent quickly shook it off and smiled, “Oh, it’s just that I saw a box that I think we can empty out.”

“Really? Which one?”

“That one right there.” Trent then pointed to a box labeled Music/Entertainment. “Want to take that one?”

“Why not? It’s my kind of box.” Kira said as she walked over to the box and sat next to it. Trent sat right next to her and lifted off the box’s cover.

“Y’ know, for a Power Ranger legend, Dr. O sure has a tendency to accumulate a lot of junk.” Ethan remarked as he pulled out a bundle of notebooks labeled Grad school notes. “Sometimes I think that if he didn’t become a teacher, he probably would’ve turned into an adult hippie with the mind of a-“

“Teen?” Conner, Trent, and Kira asked.

“Yeah.” Ethan said. “Although I still find it hard to imagine Dr. O at our age.”

“Tell me about it.” Kira said sarcastically as she pulled out some styrofoam and saw a bundle of CD’s under it. “OK Dr. O, let’s see what music you were into.” She then pulled out several of them out of the box and went through them one by one. “Foreigner, Richard Marx, Bryan Adams, Brian McKnight-“

“Did I hear someone say my name?” Conner asked as he gently placed Tommy’s diploma on the ground.

“No, I was just looking through Dr. O’s music collection.” Kira replied. “It looks like one of the artists has the same last name as yours.”

“Oh, c’ mon, who could possibly have my last name?” Conner asked. Kira shook her head.

“Let me see.” Trent asked. Kira then handed him the ones she saw.

“Hmmm. Not too bad of a selection.” Trent said as he looked through the albums. He then took another one Kira handed him and he saw an almost shocked look on her face as she gave him it.

“Kira, you all right?” he asked.

“Just look on the front of that cover.” She said.

Trent looked at the CD cover, “It only says…Def Leppard?” he then looked at Kira and raised his eyebrows.

“Dr. O listens to 80’s metal? Cool.” Ethan said.

“I’ll second that.” Conner replied.

“You guys call that music?” Kira asked.

“Hell yeah.” Conner and Ethan answered.

“Besides, that kind of music goes quite nicely when I play old-school games.” Ethan said.

Kira just sighed.

Conner chuckled as he reached into the box to pull out another layer of styrofoam. As he took the layer off he then saw photos of what looked like his teacher and other people. Curious, he took a closer look and picked up the top one.

“Speaking of teen hippie.” He thought out loud. “Hey guys, come on over here. You should see this.”

Ethan, Kira, and Trent got up from where they were and walked over to where Conner was.

“See what?” Kira asked.

“This.” Conner said. He then gestured over at the pile of other photos. “And probably those too.”

“So this was Dr. O’s old posse.” Ethan remarked as he looked at the photo. It had a guy in a red sleeveless shirt sitting in the back. Next to him was a black guy wearing a black T-shirt. Next to him was a pretty Asian girl dressed all in yellow. In the front was a bespectacled guy in blue overalls. To the right of him was a girl with caramel-colored hair and was dressed all in pink.

Conner raised one eyebrow. “Wow, she’s cute.” He said with a smirk.

“I hear you, man.” Ethan said.

Kira just glared at the both of them.

Conner then looked at the left of the girl and saw a long-haired guy dressed all in green holding a soccer ball in his hands.

“Dr. O?” Conner, Ethan, and Trent said at the same time.

“No way, that cannot possibly be him.” Ethan said.

“Believe it.” Kira said.

“You don’t look surprised.” Conner pointed out.

“Oh, I am. It’s just that looking at that reminded me of another picture I saw months ago when I was helping Dr. O do some inventory. It had all six of them in their Ranger costumes smiling for the camera. I saw Dr. O’s hair and I laughed about how he had it.”

“What the hell was he thinkin’?” Ethan remarked.

Conner chuckled as he put the photo down and went to another one. This one showed Tommy dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans with Billy and Kimberly standing next to him. However, instead of Trini, Zack, and Jason, there was Rocky, Adam, and Aisha standing with them.

“Y’ know, the guy should’ve stuck with a mullet instead of putting hair fertilizer on his head and growing a mane.” Ethan said.

“Who are those guys?” Trent asked.

“I think those three were the replacements for the other trio.” Conner replied. He then looked at Trent. “Oh wait, you never saw Dr. O’s video journal, did you?”

“What video journal?” Trent asked.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Conner replied. “Ok, long story short: Dr. O has a video journal that basically tells the entire Power Ranger legacy; the teams, people, and zords. Starting from the original Rangers to us.”

“Whoa.” Trent remarked.

“I know, that’s what we said after we saw the whole thing.” Ethan said.

Conner then flipped through a few more pictures but he didn’t look at them as long as the first two for they were mostly group pictures. He then came to a picture that had a picture of Tommy in a racing jumpsuit standing with his uncle outside a large garage next to a cool-looking car.

“Whoa, Dr. O was a race car driver?”

“What!?” Kira, Trent, and Ethan said.

“Dr. O a racer? Get out of here.” Ethan said.

“Take a look for yourself, man! How do you explain the jumpsuit?” Conner asked as he showed the others the photo.

“And he went into paleontology after that?” Ethan wondered. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why didn’t he just stick to racing and be the next Jeff Gordon or something?”

“Who knows?” Trent offered. “Although it does explain why he likes using his Black ATV so much.”

“Probably.” Conner said. “Although I do have to ask Ethan, how do you know about racing?”

“I have Cruisin’ USA for my N64, plus some racing games for my XBOX and PS2.”

Typical. Conner thought. He then reached into the box and grabbed another pile of photos. When he looked at the top photo he saw a tall woman with long blonde hair, dressed in a light pink shirt and blue shorts smiling at the camera.

“DUDE.” Was all he could say.

Ethan, Kira, and Trent glanced at the photo for a second, and then their eyes widened and they glanced closer, namely Trent and Ethan.

“DAAAAMN.” Conner, Ethan, and Trent said in unison.

“Who is that?” Kira asked, trying to hide her irritation at seeing Trent’s jaw drop at the sight of the woman in the photo.

“Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, eat your hearts out.” Conner said dreamily.

“Hello??” Kira then whacked Trent and the other guys on the head, and not at all gently either. “I think I asked you hormone-induced maniacs a question: ‘Who is she?’”

Trent quickly snapped out of his trance as he rubbed his head. “Maybe it says something on the photo or on the back.” He said as he looked apologetically at Kira.

Conner looked at the photo and other than the girl herself, there wasn’t anything else. He then flipped it over and saw some writing on the back.

To Tommy,Hope you like the picture.Love, Katherine.XOXO

“Wait, now I remember!” Ethan said. “She was in the video journal! She was the one who took that other girl’s place-what was her name-Karly, no-Kimberly! Yeah, Katherine was the one who took Kimberly’s place.”

Conner then pulled out the second photo of the bundle and it showed Tommy and Kat leaning against a tree. However Kat was more leaning on Tommy than on the tree with her right arm on his chest.

“All right, go Dr. O, go Dr. O!” Conner and Ethan said.

“Did I hear someone call me?” said a voice from upstairs.

Shit! Conner thought, and from the looks on his friends’ faces, they were thinking the same thing.

“Quick! Let’s put up the photos!” he whispered.

“Guys?”

The foursome quickly yet gently piled the pictures up, and then put them behind the box so their teacher wouldn’t see them. They had just breathed out a sigh of relief when-

“Guys?”

“Oh, hi Dr. O.” Conner said.

“Did you guys call me?” Tommy asked.

“Oh no. We were just talking to ourselves.” Ethan said.

“So were you able to call?” Trent asked.

Dr. Oliver shook his head, “Line was busy.” He replied. “By the way, were you guys able to take some stuff out of the boxes?”

Conner shrugged. “Well, we’re making progress.” He said.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

“Speaking of progress.” Kira said sarcastically.

“Should’ve known that was gonna happen sooner or later.” Tommy said as he walked over to the computer and began punching keys, then a picture of Tyrannodrones and a big, hulking monster appeared on the viewing screen.

“Looks like Mesogog just unleashed his turkey.” Ethan said.

“Then let’s send it back to him stuffed and roasted.” Conner said confidently.

“While we’re at it, let’s not forget the gravy.” Tommy quipped as he rose from his chair.

The five rangers walked over to the center of the lab, and took their stances.

“Ready?” Tommy asked.

“Ready!” the others replied as their bracelets turned into morphers.

“Dino Thunder, power up, hah!”

“White Ranger, dino power!”