Chapter 14-Party Crashers

“…So, after I graduated and got my Ph. D., I then kicked off my paleontology expeditions.” Tommy said as he and Kat were back in Tommy’s jeep, heading back to the cyber café.

“So, in essence, you pretty much made like Alan Grant from Jurassic Park and traveled the world looking for fossils?” Kat asked.

“Well, sort of.” Tommy replied. “I didn’t really travel the globe, for I pretty much stuck to doing my digging here in the U.S., but with all the digs I’ve gone to and the different places I’ve gone to, I may as well have gone around the world, and in probably less than eighty days.” He said sarcastically.

Kat laughed. “Probably.” She said. “You know, there’s still something I’ve been wondering though; what made you want to go from digging up dinosaur bones to teaching High School?” She asked.

Now that was a question Tommy didn’t really know how to answer, mainly because he wasn’t sure if he should tell Kat the whole story. “Well, I guess…after a time, namely after spending a couple of years going to digs and traveling around to places ranging from Southern California to upstate New York, I just decided that it was time to go for the ‘peace & quiet’ route. Besides, as a result of my digs I’d learned more than I ever thought I could learn when it came to science, which is actually pretty contrasting, especially considering the fact that I was never a science buff.”

As soon as he said those words Tommy then found himself thinking back to a time many years ago, back when he was still in high school. He had been studying for a biology test alongside his good friend Billy and he hadn’t exactly been having much luck being able to understand the material. Even with Billy’s help, he was still racking his brains a little too much. Nonetheless, the two buddies went over it a couple of times more, and by about the fifth time Tommy was finally able to nail it.

“You know, I’m surprised you never thought of teaching at Angel Grove High.” Kat pointed out.

“Oh, believe me, at first I thought of doing that,” Tommy answered. “But when I got around to thinking about it, the idea of me teaching in the same school where I went to…I don’t know, it just felt-to me anyway, it just felt kind of weird. Besides, I wanted to make a fresh start myself, just like you. So I looked around and heard they had an opening for a science teacher here at Reefside High, so I went for my job interview and, well…the rest is history.”

“How’s it been so far?” Kat asked.

“Well, in a word, it’s been…quite interesting.”

“You don’t give your students extra homework, do you?”

“No, not at all.” Tommy said as he brought the jeep to a red light. He then looked at Kat who gave him a look that said, “Are you sure?”

“Seriously, I don’t.” Tommy said. “Besides, I know only too well what it’s like having almost a full plate and just trying to make sense out of it. What I do for my classes is try to give my students challenges that will require them to use their heads, but it’s not like it’ll be something they can’t handle. That way if they do bump into something that is mind-boggling, they won’t be intimidated too much and they’ll hopefully know what to do.”

--

At this exact moment, neither Conner, Ethan, Kira, Trent or Hayley knew what to do. But considering the fact that they were completely surrounded by Tyrannodrones, Elsa, and the White Ranger clone, along with everyone else in the building they didn’t really have any options.

“Oh come now, what’s wrong?” Elsa asked nonchalantly. “No more music? No chitchat even?”

Hayley then stepped forward. “Okay, look, whoever or whatever you are, what do you want?”

Elsa smirked and pointed her sword at Hayley. Or more specifically, her throat. “Oh, well, let me think about it for a second…oh yes, now I remember. What I want, or who I want is the Power Rangers. But I don’t mean in a meet & greet, can-I-have-your-autograph kind of way, I mean it more in a bruised, broken, bleeding, (or to put it bluntly,) dead kind of way. And until that happens, me and my good friends Felectro and our dark ranger clone here are going to be your hosts for the rest of the evening.”

“And just in case if there’s anyone here who feels otherwise and wants to do something about it…well, let me just say you’ll be in for a…hell of a shock.” Felectro said as he flexed his scythe-like claws outward, causing electricity to crackle around his hand, almost blinding anyone who was foolish enough to look directly at it.

Conner seethed a little bit at the hybrid once the latter stopped his light show, but then he quickly realized he wasn’t in his Ranger guise, and plus Krista was with him, so he buried down his fury as best he could.

“Well, seeing as how that’s already been said let’s really get this party going my way.” Elsa said as she withdrew her sword from Hayley’s throat, and then shoved her towards the main counter. Fortunately Trent and Kira were nearby and were able to catch her before her back hit the counter’s table. Smirking evilly Elsa then snapped her fingers, and two Tyrannodrones then flanked off from the others and began to approach the dancing area where some of the people had been dancing before, along with everyone else there. Among those were Conner and Krista who were being slowly herded into a large corner of the café. Though Trent and Kira had been at a distance away, they too were pretty much shoved in the same direction as everyone else was, only that once everyone in the area was herded together, Trent and Kira were pretty much standing parallel to the right side of the counter, behind everyone else. Meanwhile another pair of Tyrannodrones went off and started to head towards the kids/adults who were seated at some of the tables (in addition to the ones standing) and began herding them together as well.

Luckily though Ethan had taken cover underneath the tables as soon as he saw the drones head towards the tables so as a result, the Tyrannodrones didn’t see him. Once he was sure he was out of their line of sight Ethan then began to make his way over to the main counter, turning his head every few seconds and picking up the pace a little more if he saw the drones getting close.

Even though he was crawling under the tables, Ethan knew full well that he could have gotten up and clobbered the nearest Tyrannodrone with one hand tied behind his back, and if things were to get ugly, no problems there. All he would have to do is use his skin armor and ram the drones like Knuckles the Echidna punching his way through a brick wall; he wouldn’t even have to morph.

Unfortunately though, because he and his friends weren’t the only people in the building, that wasn’t really an option.

Man, its times like this I really wish I had Dr. O’s invisibility, or even Trent’s Predator-like camouflage.

Once Ethan saw that the drones started to turn around and head away from the tables he breathed a sigh of relief and quickly went behind the counter. However, as he went behind it his left foot accidentally hit a leg of one of the nearby tables. Needless to say, that got the attention of the two nearby Tyrannodrones and made them turn their heads.

Shit! Ethan thought.

“What are you doing, you fools?” yelled out the White Ranger clone. “Finish grouping up the hostages and get back over here, now!”

Instantly the two drones forgot about the noise and went back to herding those who weren’t already grouped together.

Once Ethan was behind the counter and well hidden from sight, he then looked to his left and saw Trent, Kira, and Hayley standing near to the other side of the counter along with some other teenagers and young adults. Deciding to take a chance he then crawled over to the trio as quietly as he could. As soon as he was close enough he then tried to get their attention.

“Psst!”

No answer.

“PSSST!”

Upon hearing it the second time (and much louder, too) Trent then turned his head a little bit, wondering where the noise was coming from, and judging from the look on Kira’s and Hayley’s faces, they heard it too. Then when he turned towards the pathway to the counter, he and Kira saw Ethan kneeling on the floor, gesturing them to get over to where he was pronto.

It was actually just at that moment that Felectro saw what he thought looked like an exchange between Trent and Kira. “Hey!” he hollered out at the two. “If you kiddies wanna talk amongst yourselves, go ahead, but don’t start looking at each other like maybe you might need a hotel room.”

Now it was Trent and Kira’s turn to glare at the hybrid.

I swear, I’m gonna be polishing my Drago sword with that guys’ claws when I get through with him.

Once Felectro turned around, two Tyrannodrones then approached him.

“Keep an eye on these people over here. If one of them starts to get rowdy with you, shut them up and let me know so that way I can give them…shocking results.”

As soon as the hybrid was out of sight, Ethan then began to gesture to them again.

Now Trent knew he could make his way over to the counter via his camouflage, but Kira didn’t exactly have that ability. And even though he knew she could take care of herself, Trent wasn’t about to leave her there. Suddenly, an idea came to him.

“Kira,”

“Yeah?”

“Look, I know this is going to sound crazy right now, but hug me.”

Now if it had been any other time, in any other situation, Kira wouldn’t even have hesitated, but when she heard Trent say that she narrowed her eyes in surprise. “What?”

“Just trust me, I got an idea. And if it works, I can probably get both of us to the counter, and maybe all four of us to the back room.” He concluded as he looked at Hayley to indicate her as the fourth person.

“What about Conner and Krista?” Hayley asked.

“Also part of my idea.” Trent said. “Don’t worry, we’re not gonna leave them here.”

Kira then wrapped her arms around Trent’s upper shoulders and held onto him tightly. Trent then wrapped his arms around Kira’s waist and fought to keep himself from blushing slightly as he concentrated. Suddenly his dino gem began to glow and Trent saw his body begin to blend in to the background. Luckily they were standing behind everyone else so with the exception of Hayley nobody saw them, not even the Tyrannodrones or Elsa for that matter. At first when Kira saw Trent blend in she then looked at herself and almost laughed, for to anyone who was looking, it seemed like she was hugging nothing. Then when she looked down at where Trent’s left wrist was she saw his dino gem glow a little more brighter, and suddenly she saw her own body disappearing and blending into the background as well. It wasn’t like Dr. Oliver’s invisibility, where he disappeared completely, but it was more like the type of camouflage that was seen in the Predator movies for when Kira looked at her arm she saw a phantom-like apparition and not much else.

Without even wasting a second Trent moved slowly but surely towards the counter where Ethan was waiting. Once he and Kira were at the counter he then knelt down, released Kira, and deactivated his camouflage.

Once Kira let go of Trent her body quickly reappeared. When she looked at Trent she saw him breathing a little bit heavily. “Trent, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just need to catch my breath. I’ll be alright.” He said assuringly.

“We gotta get into the back room.” Ethan said.

“Hang on a second, Ethan. Not yet.” Trent said as he began to concentrate again. Once again his dino gem started to glow and he camouflaged himself again. He then got up and walked over to where Hayley was and tapped her on her shoulder. Hayley almost jumped out of her skin.

“Shhh. Hayley, it’s me, Trent.” Trent whispered. He then quickly deactivated his camouflage and hugged Hayley around her waist so when he reactivated it, his camouflage would be able to cover both of them.

Once they were all behind the counter they then went to the back door that was quite literally behind them. They had to crawl, of course, so that way none of the Tyrannodrones or Elsa would see their heads. Fortunately the backdoor was a type of door that didn’t have a doorknob or a bar to press, so all the foursome had to do was just push it slowly and hope that it didn’t make a creaking sound as it opened. Luckily though, it didn’t.

“Man, that was too close.” Ethan remarked. “And Trent? That was some sweet use of your dino gem, man.” He complemented.

“Thanks Ethan.” Trent said.

“Well, we’re safe now, but we still have to figure out how to get Conner, Krista, and all those other people to safety.” Hayley said as she took a peak outside.

“And while we’re at it, we gotta contact Dr. O and let him know what’s going on.” Ethan said. “And figure out how to kick Elsa and co. out of here too without morphing in front of everyone.” He then raised his left arm where his dino gem bracelet/communicator/morpher was and grasped it with his other hand.

Dr. O, please don’t be in traffic. Ethan thought pleadingly.

--

Bee-oo-eep!

“What was that?” Kat asked.

“Hmm. I don’t know.” Tommy replied. Damn it, of all times…why now?

Luckily for Tommy there were cars passing by so the sound was muffled somewhat, but that didn’t stop Kat from hearing the chime.

“I think my watch is acting up again. Funny, I thought I had it fixed…” Since they were at a red light, Tommy was able to roll up his right plaid sleeve a little bit, revealing his watch. As he pretended to look at it and make adjustments, Tommy then “accidentally” grasped the sides of his left wrist where his bracelet was and started making some manipulations on his bracelet with his fingers, all the while “adjusting” his watch.

I just hope Conner and co. don’t chew me out too much.

--

“Anything?” Kira asked.

“Nope,” Ethan answered. “The doc’s not answering.”

“Okay, that’s weird. Why wouldn’t he answer?” Hayley wondered.

“I don’t know.” Ethan said. “Either he’s in traffic and he just can’t hear us, or maybe…”

“Maybe what?” Kira asked.

“Maybe he’s got…someone in his jeep. Probably a woman.”

Kira then gave Ethan a disgusted look.

“Whoa, I don’t mean that, I mean that he probably has a woman in his jeep and he’s giving her a ride somewhere. I mean, that’s gotta be the reason, otherwise he would’ve answered.” He then paused for a moment before continuing. “I mean, come on, Dr. O doesn’t strike me as somebody who would abandon his fellow students/protégés just to have some rendezvous with some woman.”

“Well, it looks like until Tommy gets back, we’re on our own then.” Hayley said. “Let’s just hope we can buy some time.”

Trent nodded along with everyone else, then walked over to the door and looked through a small crack in the doorway and looked out as best he could. As he looked he then came to a spot in front of the counter and nodded invisibly to himself. “Guys, I think there may be a way.” Trent said as he turned to the others.

“Is this part of your idea?” Ethan asked.

“Mm-hmm.” Trent nodded. “Well, I’m making it up as I go, but yeah.”

“So, what’s your plan?” Kira asked.

A smile crept up on Trent’s face. “Right now, at the moment, create a little…mayhem.”

A puzzled look then crossed Kira and Hayley’s faces. Ethan’s face on the other hand turned towards the backdoor, and then as he turned back to the others he then got a little bit of an evil smirk as he began to guess as to what Trent had in mind. “Yo, go for it, man.” He said.

“Will do.” Trent said as he took one more look outside. Apparently the Tyrannodrones were standing near by the leftover food, but luckily for Trent they weren’t near the deserts that he and Hayley had set up. Trent then concentrated, and activated his camouflage. Once he was “invisible” he then slowly opened the door, crept out, and began to make his way around the counter, to where the deserts were.

“Well, I have to say, this has been almost too easy.” Elsa said as she looked at the two hostage groups. “But all the same it’ll only make fighting the Rangers (once they show up) even more entertaining.”

“One can only hope.” Felectro said as he took a plastic cup with Hawaiian Punch and took a sip. “Hmm. Needs a little more…flavor.” He then stuck out his arm, causing his claws to glow, “grab”, and bring a Mountain Dew bottle, a MUG root beer bottle, and a Sprite bottle to him. Still using his magnetism Felectro then unscrewed the bottle caps, and poured all three sodas into his cup in one shot. He then placed the bottles (minus the caps) on a table and then pointed one hideous claw at his drink and shot a small stream of electricity at it. Satisfied, the hybrid then chugged the soda down. Once he was done he then threw the empty cup backwards, where the computer tables were, belching loudly as he did so. “Now that’s what I call a drink.” He gloated.

“So it would seem.” Elsa said. Then as she looked around she then saw the uncovered bottles on top of the tables. In spite of herself, Elsa was beginning to find herself kind of thirsty. Luckily though Felectro hadn’t emptied all three soda bottles.

“Drone,” Elsa said to the nearest Tyrannodrone. “Yes, you. Come here.”

As soon as the drone came close, Elsa gave it an icy stare as she continued to speak. “Apparently it seems that despite the fact that this hostage-taking was actually more boring than easy, I seem to have acquired a small thirst. Do you think you can actually make yourself useful and get me a drink?” she asked rather coolly.

From his position by the deserts Trent then quickly picked up a plate that had a half Apple pie slice and looked at Elsa once. Out of the corner of his eye he also saw a Tyrannodrone heading in his direction. The drone couldn’t see him, of course, but it was actually heading towards the half-empty Hawaiian Punch bottles, which was right next to where Trent was.

Well, here goes nothing. Trent thought. No time for style or finesse.

He then raised his right arm, aimed the plate, and threw it.

It looked like something out of one of those teen comedy shows, for the pie flew fast in the air, and hit Elsa point blank in the face.

Needless to say, everyone started to crack up and laugh like crazy.

Jackpot. Trent thought. Not wanting to waste a second he then took a nearby aluminum pot that had traces of pumpkin pie in it and quickly placed it right on the nearby Tyrannodrone’s hands.

“Okay, now I would really like to know as to who was the asshole who threw that.” Elsa fumed as she wiped some of the apple pie off her face. Once she wiped the pie off her eyes, the first thing she saw was the confused Tyrannodrone who was holding the pumpkin-pie pot.

“You know, I thought I made myself clear and direct (without being confusing) when I asked you to bring me a drink.” Elsa said as she approached the drone menacingly. “But it looks like I may not have been clear. No worries, though. For hopefully this should be a little bit of an eye-opener.”

With that, she then unsheathed her sword, drew her arm back, and fired a high-energy blast at the drone. Once the cyborg stopped firing, the energy died down, and the only thing that remained was traces of ash where the Tyrannodrone once stood.

“Humph, can’t get good help nowadays.” Elsa mused as she looked at the pile of ash. “And what are you bio-tin-cans looking at?” she asked as she looked at the other Tyrannodrones, who quickly backed away.

Elsa hadn’t even turned her head for even a second when all of a sudden a piece of marble ice-cream cake hit her, and point blank in the face again.

Then the White Ranger clone and some Tyrannodrones were hit with some leftover turkey pieces and stuffing. “What the-?”

Then a long glass with water was thrown at Felectro, or more specifically, his eyes.

“Ahhhh! Water!” He yelled as he tried to rub his eyes with his claws. Suddenly electricity started to crackle out of his eyes as he rubbed them harder.

Seeing his chance, Conner then ran straight for the nearest Tyrannodrone, knocking it down shoulder-to-shoulder. Now there were other drones (namely those who were supposedly watching the people from the tables) standing right by it so as a result the latter went down along with the former, then the other and the other in a sort of domino-effect. The last one at the end of the domino effect was the White Ranger clone.

Surprised, Conner looked at the disheveled villains. Man, I never thought my soccer skills would come in handy in a jam like this. He then turned towards Krista and some of the other people. “C’ mon, lets get out of here!” He said.

Neither Krista nor the two groups of hostages needed to be told twice. They quickly snapped to and rushed out of the café, running over some Tyrannodrones as they hurried out. Once everyone was out they quickly made a mad dash for their cars, vans, and jeeps.

Conner then turned around in hopes of seeing Ethan, Trent, Kira, and Hayley run out of the café as well, but he didn’t see anything other than Tyrannodrones getting up and Elsa looking as if though she wanted to nuke the whole place, if not the whole city. He knew he had to head back in and find his friends/teammates so that they could really crash Elsa’s party, but he couldn’t risk heading back in and having Krista follow him, or worse-case scenario, having her see him morph. He then looked around and saw a pay phone straight down the street.

“Krista.” He said.

“What is it, Conner?” Krista asked as she ran a small distance to him.

“Have you seen Ethan, Trent, Kira, or Hayley?”

“No, I haven’t.” Krista replied. “But what with everyone running like hell to their cars, I couldn’t really tell.”

Just as I thought. Conner thought. “Look, I gotta go back in there. If my friends are in there (which I’m pretty sure they are,), I gotta get to them before those freaks do.”

“By yourself? Are you crazy!”

“Krista, don’t worry, I can take care of myself. Besides, if you go with me one of those freaks might get you and take you hostage. I’m not about to let that happen.” He said as he then put his hands on Krista’s shoulders. As he looked into her green eyes he could tell she still wanted to help.

“Look, there’s a pay phone down the street. Call the cops or…something, I’ll head in, get my friends, and head out. I’ll be okay, I promise.” He said as he put a reassuring hand on the girls’ left shoulder.

Krista sighed and lowered her head a little bit, but then she raised it and looked eye-to-eye with Conner.

“Be careful.”

Conner gave a small smile. “I will.” And with that he then turned around and took off towards the cyber café, while Krista, after watching him for a couple of seconds then made a decision and headed off towards the pay phone.

Instead of heading right for the front door, Conner decided to head around the side, in hopes of finding a back door. As soon as he saw it he then opened it and saw that Ethan had grabbed it as well.

“Cut it kind of close, don’t you think, bro?” Ethan asked.

“Ah-ha. Ah-ha. Very funny, dude.” Conner said sarcastically.

“Is Krista all right?” Kira asked.

“Yeah, I sent her to a pay phone to call for help, ‘cause something tells me we’re gonna need it.” Conner answered. “Oh yeah, by the way, weren’t you guys huddled up with Krista and me?

“Well, I was at the tables soaking up the atmosphere, so I was at a distance away.” Ethan replied. “And Kira and Trent were…dancing, much like you were doing.”

“Oh yeah, where is Trent?”

“Right here, man.” Trent replied as he deactivated his camouflage and reappeared right next to Kira.

Suddenly a light bulb went off in Conner’s head. “Wait a minute dude, were you the one doing the makeshift food fights?”

“Yep.” Trent replied.

Conner then raised his bracelet sarcastically and looked at Hayley. “Hayley, are you sure our dino-gem powers can’t be switched?”

“Nope.”

“Didn’t think so.” Conner said. “Oh yeah, speaking of bracelets, have you guys tried to get a hold of Dr. O?”

“We’ve tried, and nothing but dead air.” Ethan said.

Conner sighed. “All right. Well, I guess we can breathe down our teacher’s neck about it later, right now we got ourselves a party to crash.”

“You can say that again.” Ethan said as he and the others followed Conner back into the cyberspace.

“Oh, and guys?” Hayley asked. “Try not to wreck everything like last time.” She said referring to Ethan’s Wizard Wood incident.

“We’ll try not to.” Ethan said as he followed his friends to the main part of the cyber café.

“I cannot believe this!” Elsa raged at her comrades as she flung a paper plate to the floor. “We had everything under control, and then all of a sudden…”

Suddenly the back door flew open before the cyborg could finish her sentence. Once she turned around she saw four teenagers facing her.

“So I take it the four of you had enough guts to show up and join my party, eh? Better late than ever.”

“Actually, we’re not here to join the party,” Trent quipped.

“We’re here to crash it.” Conner finished as he raised his bracelet and activated his morpher. “Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino thunder, power up!”

“White Ranger, dino power!”

Once Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent morphed they then drew their Thunder-max sabers/Drago sword respectively.

Elsa then drew her sword, while the Tyrannodrones and the White Ranger clone flanked her even closer.

“Well, well, well,” Felectro mused. “And here I thought this whole hostage thing was going to be boring.” His eyes then began to crackle with electricity as he eyed Conner and the others like a predator to prey. “You kiddies may wanna brace yourselves, because if you thought things were rowdy before, guess what, it’s about to get nuclear.” He then flexed his claws as he said the last word, creating blinding energy balls in his hands as he did so.

Ethan just looked at Elsa, the White Ranger clone, the Tyrannodrones, and last, but not least, Felectro. Or more specifically, the deadly electric sparks he was holding in his claws.

Man, we are gonna have a hard time cleaning this place up once this is all over.