Disclaimer: Let’s see… I’ve written 8 stories, about a hundred chapters, and STILL none of it belongs to me. Don’t I get any credit?

Jessica Black1: I’m glad you love the story! Makes me realize what I’m doing is good. Also, due to spoiler reasons, I’m not telling if Jason will come. But you will see him, I promise. Just maybe not in the way you expect. You’ll see what I mean.

Funky In Fishnet: Great name! You’re reason for it is awesome. Says something about you. Just to remind you, ALL the original Power Rangers powers were destroyed. They were “vaporized” or something right after Billy made the regenerator to restore the Rangers to adults from being kids. He was able to revive himself with the coin, but then the other Coins were destroyed before he could save all of them. But don’t worry. I’ll explain ALL your questions in this chapter… Maybe…

BlackNightWolf04: Um… While those are interesting suggestions that’s not how I’m gonna go about it. Sorry… PLEASE DON’T HATE ME! BUT one thing’s for sure, not EVERYTHING is gonna be revealed this chappy. I mean, if it was, than what would be the point of reading on? You’ll see what’s gonna happen. Hope you like it anyway.

hartfelt: Wow, you are an enthusiastic little slav—I mean reviewer, aren’t you? Me like! ::big goofy grin:: Yes, Billy has a VERY good reason…But I’m not telling yet! ::pulls down eye and sticks out tongue:: You’ll see eventually.

Oh, and um… Trini’s not gonna be COMPLETELY void from the story…You’ll see.

OnmarSaba is creepy? Hmm… well, that was not my intent, but sure! Yeah, I like the mini-Zords too. And let me assure you, they are FAR better than the robotic dogs. (I actually got one of those things a while back in a gift exchange… Go figure). Anyways, thanks for reviewing! Great name, by the way.

Dark-Kimberly-Hart: Don’t worry, more is on the way! Oh… wait… ::looks at chapter four:: it’s right here… ::ponder::

AchlysJust to let you know, the original 6 mentioned by Cera refers to the original 6 mini-Zords. That might mean something… ::HINT, HINT, NUDGE, NUDGE, WINK WINK::

AN: Sorry about the delay. College student after all.

Color Wars Part One: Black and Blue

Chapter Five: Questions Answered, Mysteries Deepened

The young woman could not believe her eyes that day. It was probably one of the happiest days of her life.

The day started as any other day. She got up, had some herbal tea with breakfast, and went for a morning stroll. She always loved those morning strolls because it gave her time to think. Lately, she had been thinking of her past, and her old friends. While it made her sad, it also lifted her spirits.

But when she came back to her house, she had a surprise waiting for her. One of her oldest and best friends was waiting on the porch for her to return. They embraced happily. Her friend had two gifts for her: An old coin, and the most unusual kitten she had ever seen.

The next few weeks were spent with him. They walked, and talked, and remembered the past. Then they relived it. Yes, the woman had never been so happy.

Until that day.

That wicked, terrifying day.

He was driving her home after a long day in the park on a rainy, gloomy night. Neither of them minded, because they both loved water, and the rain was pleasant. But driving along they hit a bad traffic jam, because someone’s car had stalled in the water. It was getting late, and neither wanted to be out much longer.

“Hmm…” said her friend. “This is becoming a bother. Shall we look for a different route?” She nodded to him and the first chance he got, he drove down an old side road, trying to find another way through. That’s when it happened.

The street didn’t have a single street light, which made driving at night hard. So it was no wonder that they suddenly caught an animal in their headlights. A wolf or a dog was in the road. The blackest dog they had ever seen. Swerving to avoid hitting the animal, the young man couldn’t see where he was going. He did see one thing though. What he thought was a wolf was not one at all. No, he was horribly, horribly wrong.

His car skidded out of control and headed toward the wall of an old building. He used his arm to shield his friend from harm as the car crashed into the wall. Because of his quick response, both passengers were saved from injury, and they both climbed out of the shattered car. But now their troubles were just beginning.

The woman was out first. “What was that?” she asked, her voice shaking.

The man didn’t hesitate. “No time to explain!” he shouted. “Just follow my example!” Then he rekindled his long lost past. His friend did the same.

The two stood there, unsure of what was going to happen. It was silent. Every second seemed like a year, and all the two could hear was the soft pelting of the rain, and the sound of their own frightened breaths.

The attack came swiftly and suddenly. Neither friend expected it. And just as the young man feared, the attack was aimed at her.

“Look out!” he shouted as he dove for her. But he couldn’t reach her in time. The beast was much too fast. A high-pitched scream was heard, and then a loud flop to the ground. He ran over to his friend, to see the damage.

Lying there quietly, he found her. Not even checking for damage, he fell to his knees and drew her up into him. Feeling his presence, she buried her face in his chest. Her breaths came in short gasps. The man knew she would soon draw her last.

“I… I’m so sorry…” was all he managed to squeeze out.

She looked up him and managed a weak smile. “Don’t be…” she said. “I haven’t known such happiness since I last saw you…” She coughed, blood coming up. “I’m just… glad… you came back… to me…” Then she saw no more. The young man held her tight. Tears ran down his cheek and mixed with the rain water. He turned to his attacker, still staring in the dark night.

“I don’t understand…” he said. “Why are you doing this…? What did I do to you?”

The beast stood firm, unmoving. “You know what you did,” he said. Then in a flap of wings, he was gone.

Connor watched the Blue Ranger suspiciously. They were all in the Dino Cave now, but Connor still wasn’t sure he trusted him.

But it was obvious Tommy trusted him. All the way to the Cave, he and the Ranger were talking and laughing. It was small talk, sure, but talk nonetheless. They almost seemed to be reminiscing. And when they finally got to the cave, they were acting like old buddies. Connor didn’t know what to think of that one.

But he still didn’t trust him.

At least, he thought he didn’t trust him. In the back of his mind, he thought that maybe the reason he didn’t trust him is because he was out of the loop. He and Tommy had a special bond, and Connor wasn’t part of it. Maybe he felt jealous…

But jealous of what? He didn’t know.

So for the time being, he had to ignore it.

Sitting in the cave, he held Roxie in his lap and watched the others get settled. Each of the Dino Rangers had their mini-Zords, and now Tommy had one, too. He seemed to already know his Zord, but Connor couldn’t think of a reason as to why. But it didn’t really matter.

What mattered was that Ranger.

Roxie was really excited to see Cera and Tiger, and she fought Connor to go see them. But Connor told her not right now, and that she’d see them soon. Roxie was disappointed, but she understood. He had only had the little Zord for a few days, but she learned really fast. And he loved it when she called him Daddy.

Finally finished, everyone settled down. The Blue Ranger was the first to speak.

“I’ll bet you are all wondering what is going on,” he said. “So, I’m going to let you ask me questions. I can’t guarantee I’ll answer all of them, but I’ll do what I can.”

“Who are you?” Connor blurted out almost before the Ranger had finished speaking. The Blue Ranger laughed.

“That’s an easy one,” he said. “I’ll show you.” He stood up and carefully removed his helmet.

Everyone gasped at who it was. Their science sub!

Billy laughed again. “Don’t give me that,” he said. “You all knew it was me, even Tommy. Your minds just wouldn’t accept it.”

“How could you know that?” Kira asked.

Billy smiled. “Because of Ethan,” he said. “He knew it from the very beginning. What did you call it? A Blue Ranger vibe? Very cleaver.” Ethan hesitated a minute, then grinned.

“Alright, now it’s my turn,” Ethan said. “How’d you know who we are? And how’d you get your powers back? Dr. O said they were destroyed.”

“The Coins were destroyed, Ethan, not the Power,” he said. “Power like that can’t be destroyed. All I had to do to get it back was make exact replicas of the Coins, then the Power came on its own. And as for knowing whom you were, that just took a bit of observation. I am a Power Ranger after all. I know the signs.”

“Like wearing your Ranger color all the time?” Tommy asked.

Billy grinned. “Exactly.”

“Did you recreate all the Coins?” Kira asked.

Billy nodded. “Of course. There really isn’t much point to doing only a few.”

“Why?”

Billy smiled again. “Without the coins, how am I supposed to run the Mega Zord?”

“Now I have a question,” said a voice from the back of the room. Everyone looked toward the entrance and saw Haley walking down the walkway, her little Raptor at her heels. Tommy froze.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned.

“The question is,” she said. “What am I not doing here? Why wasn’t I invited to this little Question and Answer session?”

“Sorry Haley…” Tommy said. “It was kinda short notice…”

“Right…” she said grinning. She turned to Billy. “My question?”

“Sure, by all means.”

“How on Earth did you make these mini-Zords?” she asked. “I’ve been studying mine for quite some time, and I just can’t figure them out.”

Billy laughed again. “Before I answer, I want to know. What did you name them all?”

Connor went first. “I named mine Roxie,” he said.

“Daddy gave me a good name!” Roxie said grinning. “He’s a good Daddy!” Connor smiled, at Billy’s shocked look. “She’s learned really fast,” he said. He patted her gently on the head. “It’s good having her around. Keeps me on my toes.”

“That’s not funny, Daddy!” she said, attempting to put her little hands on her hips.

Ethan went next. “I was going to name her Spike until Cera said she was a girl,” he said. “So I settled for Tracy.” Tracy had been sitting quietly on Ethan’s lap until that point, but now that everyone was looking at her, she turned away and hid herself in Ethan’s shirt. Ethan smiled a little. “She’s shy.”

“Has she said anything?” Billy asked.

“A little,” Ethan said. “But not much. Most of the time she keeps really close to me.”

Kira spoke up next. “I named my Petri,” she said. Billy raised an eyebrow. “What?” she protested. “I like ‘Land Before Time’.” She grinned. “Petri is really hyper, but he doesn’t say a whole lot. That’s fine though, because it’s hard enough trying to keep up with him.”

“The males usually are hard to keep up with,” Billy said. “You should’ve seen it when Cera was little.”

“Humph,” Cera said. “I’ll have you know, I’m quite capable to fend for myself now.”

“Sure, Cera, whatever you say…” Billy grinned.

Trent went next. “Mine’s name is Kazul,” he said. “She’s named after a character from a book I read.”

Kazul smiled at Billy. “Nice to see you again,” she said. Billy blinked at the creature.

“She’s matured really fast,” Trent said. “I’m not sure why…”

“Each Zord matures at their own rate,” Billy said. “The rate of growth depends a lot on their master’s maturity, but sometimes other factors outdo that.” Billy had to say this to convince himself. If Kazul had really matured that fast, that could say something about Trent. He decided not to say anything.

“And mine,” Haley said, finishing the group. “Is named Veronica. She a girl.”

Veronica jumped up on Haley’s shoulder. “You can all call my Ronnie. That’s what Haley calls me.” Billy nodded.

“All right,” he said. “Now that I know all their names, I can tell you how I made them.” He sighed. “But it might take a while, so just kick back.

“Basically, I took the idea straight from Jurassic Park. I took dinosaur DNA strands and programmed them into living beings. Except, I didn’t want then to be fleshy on the outside. I wanted them to be Zords.

“So I decided to try something. I created embryos from the DNA and planted them in the exoskeletons of the Zords. Then I planted the whole thing in a thin plastic shell. Their exoskeletons are made of a special metal from the planet Zaeryth. The technology there is beyond anything I have ever seen. The metal is bendable and stretchable, yet, it is in a way like the legendary metal Mythril. It is very strong, and very light. It made the perfect covering.

“I created the Zords to be exactly what their DNA made them. They were essentially dinosaurs, just with metal for skin. But I was constantly having trouble with them.

“First, while most paleontologists believe that dinosaurs were rather intelligent, mine were clueless, and they kept getting themselves into trouble. Sometimes it would kill them. Then those who didn’t kill themselves died in a few weeks. Not one made it past 7 weeks of age.

“I didn’t know what to do. Finally I decided the only thing I could do was to give them human intelligence and immune systems. So I did.

“Cera was my first successful mini-Zord. He represents all my hard work. After him, creating the other Zords became easy, and I haven’t lost a Zord since.”

“So they didn’t cause problems anymore?” Kira asked.

Billy shook his head. “I didn’t say that,” he said. “There really weren’t problems, but there are so many things I can’t explain, and it boggles me.”

“Things like what?” Ethan asked.

“Well,” Billy started. “Like why I have male and female. Technically speaking, I should have only female. We are all female in the womb, and it’s the same thing for dinosaurs. It’s the Y chromosome that makes us male. But I didn’t have Y chromosomes in any of my Zords. They just came out the way they did. After I got Cera, I spent weeks trying to figure out why he was male. I never did figure that out.

“There’s also the question of their intelligence. While I did make them with human reason and intelligence, they often surprise me with what they know. They can make their own ideas about things too.”

“Man,” Tommy said. “Is that all?”

Billy shook his head again. “Not even. The two things that baffle me the most besides the gender issue is their voices and their memories.”

“Their memories?” Haley asked.

Billy nodded. “I programmed each one of the original 6 with a few memories from the past, so I wouldn’t have to keep explaining myself. But they make their own assumptions of them, and they often know things that I never told them. Like Saba for instance,” he said, pointing to the Zord. “The Dino Thunder Rangers don’t know this, but Saba was originally the spirit inside the White Ranger’s saber. But when I raised Saba, he suddenly knew everything there was to know about the White Ranger and he possessed the spirit of the sword. And I simply can’t explain it.”

“So that’s why Dr. O already knew his Zord!” Connor exclaimed.

“Precisely,” Saba said.

“You said their voices confused you,” Trent said. “Why?”

Billy nodded over to Cera. “You’ve all heard Cera and Tiger’s voice, correct?” Everyone nodded. “Then you all know that Cera has a British accent, and Tiger does not. I can’t explain it. I didn’t program their voices. The fact is, I was surprised when Cera first talked to me. And each voice is different for each Zord. Cera has always had his accent. Tiger never had one. But the Pink Ranger Zord has a slight accent, and the Red Ranger Zord has an Australian accent. And the Black Ranger Zord sounds almost exactly like the original Black Ranger did. I don’t know why they have them, but they do.”

“Sounds like you have some bugs to work out,” Tommy said.

“Bugs!” Tiger protested. “Really, Tommy! What a horrible thing to say!” She turned her head away.

Billy laughed. “That’s another thing. Each of their personalities are very different. I don’t understand it. So I’ve given up trying to.”

“But why make them in the first place?” Kira asked.

“Why not?” Billy said. “You may not really need them, but like Connor said. They’re good to have around.”

“And we’re cute, too!” Roxie said with a grin.

“So have I answered all your questions?” Billy asked.

“One more,” Connor said. “Why are you here?”

Billy’s smile slowly disappeared. “I… I’m sorry, Connor. I can’t tell you. Not now.”

Connor folded his arms. “So you still have some secrets, huh? I don’t think that’s fair.”

Billy shrugged. “I’m sorry, but I’ve told you all I can, for the time being. Perhaps you’ll understand later.”

“But--”

“Connor, just drop it,” Tommy said. Connor looked at his teacher. Tommy looked back. “Besides,” he added. “It’s time you all go home and get some rest. It’s late, and your families will be wondering where you are.”

Connor opened his mouth to protest, but Tommy’s glare told him to keep his big mouth shut. Everyone got up and started to leave. Everyone except for Trent.

“Um… Dr. Cranston? Can I speak to you in private?” he asked.

“In a minute, Trent,” Tommy answered for him. “I need to talk to Billy. Wait outside, and he’ll be right out.”

Trent beamed. “Thanks,” he said, and walked outside.

Once everyone was outside, Billy turned and looked Tommy square in the eye. “So you just assume I can drop everything and talk to you?”

“Don’t give me that,” Tommy said. “You have some explaining to do. Like, why aren’t you on Aquitar? And why did you recreate the Power Coins?”

Billy hesitated. “I already told you,” he said finally. “I can’t tell you.”

“And why not? What happened?”

“Look, Tommy, it’s not like I don’t want to tell you why I recreated the Coins,” he said. “It’s just, the last time I told it too soon, it… didn’t end well.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine,” Tommy said. “But what about Aquitar?”

Billy hung his head, then turned away. He paused. “That’s a secret I’ll never tell.”

“Why?”

Billy didn’t answer.

Tommy hesitated. “Billy,” he said. “Did something bad happen there?”

Billy nodded.

“And it’s painful to talk about?”

“You can’t even know the meaning of the word ‘pain’,” Billy answered. “No one knows pain like I do.”

Tommy almost froze at that last statement. Whatever had happened there was no simple thing. “Okay, Billy, I’ll drop it,” he said. “I just didn’t realize--”

“Let’s just forget about it, okay?” Billy said.

Tommy nodded. “Alright, we’ll just forget about it.” After seeing his friend so strong and new for the past few days, it was a shock to see him so vulnerable. “I’ll send Trent in here to talk to you.” Then Tommy left.

Billy sat down hard on one of the chairs. He rested his head on his hands, trying to think, and trying to not think. Why did Tommy have to bring that up? A voice raised in his head.

“What did I do?”

“You know what you did.”

That horrible voice that haunted his every waking moment. The terrifying line that echoed in his dreams. That--

“Dr. Cranston?”

Billy strained himself to calm down and he turned around to meet Trent. He forced a smile. “Yes, Trent, I’m here,” he said. “Now, what did you want to talk about?”

Trent hesitated, Kazul sitting quietly on his shoulder. “It’s… um… Can you keep a secret?” Billy nodded. “It’s about… You know Mesogog, right?” he asked.

“Yes, he’s your foe,” Billy said.

“Yeah, well,” Trent said slowly. “He’s… he’s also my father.”

Billy raised an eyebrow. “Your father?”

Trent nodded. “I don’t know the story behind him turning into Mesogog, but I do know one thing. He doesn’t want Mesogog there. He wants to be rid of him.” He paused. “So I have to deal with Mesogog at home.”

“Does he know you’re the White Ranger?” Billy asked. Then he thought a moment. “Wait a minute, of course he knows. You were on his side for a while.”

“Yeah, and that poses a problem,” Trent said. “I can’t be at home anymore. Dad is having a harder and harder time control the Mesogog side of him, and it’s just not safe anymore. I’ve even been sleeping in the Cyber Café the last several weeks.”

Billy was in shock. This was a problem. “What can I do to help?” Billy asked.

“Well,” Trent said. “You’re a genius, right? I don’t know, um… is there a way to fix him?”

Billy thought hard. If he could get his hands on some of the expierements that Anton had been working on, he might be able to do something. But that could take a long time. And he couldn’t let Trent sleep in the Café all by himself…

“Tell you what, Trent,” Billy said. “I promise you, I’ll do everything I can. This problem won’t escape me that easily. But until then, why don’t you sleep at my place? I have an extra room that has your name on it.”

Trent smiled. “Really?”

“Really,” Billy said. “And while your there, will work on getting rid of Mesogog.”

Trent beamed. “Great!” he said. But then he frowned. “Dr. Cranston, please don’t tell anybody. Especially Dr. O. He was close friends with my Dad.”

“My lips are sealed,” Billy said, and the two of them left the Cave to get Trent settled in at his new home.

AN: THIS IS THE END OF PART ONE! Sorry it’s so short. It’s more of a prequel than a part. The next part will be under Color Wars Part Two: Red and Green. I’ll get it up as soon as I can! hope you liked this first part!