Liv ducked as a tennis ball flew so close to her head that she was able to feel it brush against her hair, which she had tied into a messy bun before she'd left her and Kendall's apartment that morning. Currently, the nineteen-year-old was in the Rangers' base with Riley, Chase, and Koda, though the latter was still asleep in the side cave that he had called his home ever since Liv, Chase, and Kendall had unfrozen him from the ice block that the Blue Ranger had been stuck in for the last 100,000 years.

Riley was training with his Dino Saber and a machine that automatically shot out tennis balls--like the one that flew at Liv's head--while Chase was sitting across from the Topaz Ranger at one of the desks in the center of the base, singing to himself as he fixed the wheel axles on his skateboard. Across from him, Liv was working, using her tablet to track the Maiasaura eggs that were due to arrive in Amber Beach that afternoon after initially getting rerouted to Albuquerque. Luckily, Kendall hadn't asked about the delay yet, so it was likely that Olivia didn't have anything to worry about.

But, it seemed as if Chase's singing, which did little to bother Liv after the brunette had been hearing it for almost three years, was periodically distracting Riley from his morning training session if the third tennis ball that flew past Liv's head was any indication. And though Chase's singing was by no means terrible, obviously it was wearing down on Riley's focus the longer the Kiwi did it.

"Riley!" Liv exclaimed, slamming her tablet down onto the desk after yet another tennis ball almost hit her. "If you're not going to manage to hit those balls with your Dino Saber, turn off the ball return! Someone's going to end up getting hurt!"

"Don't blame me!" the Green Ranger retorted as he pushed the button to turn off the tennis ball machine, and gestured wildly with his Dino Saber towards Chase, who was completely oblivious to the other two Rangers' conversation since he had his headphones in and was likely hearing nothing but whatever music he was currently listening to. "Blame your boyfriend's obnoxious singing!"

"Chase is not my boyfriend!" Liv shot back, her face burning just as Shelby slid into the base, her Energem shooting into the crystal beds where Chase's, Koda's, Liv's, and Riley's Energems were already floating. "And his singing is not obnoxious,"

"Good morning guys!" Shelby said as Riley stuck his tongue out at Liv before turning on the ball machine again and readying his Dino Saber again.

"You're late," Liv said, crossing her arms as she rounded the desk to lean against the edge of the worktable beside Chase and turned her gaze towards Shelby. "And what are you wearing?"

"What are you talking about?" Shelby asked, sounding genuinely confused. "I'm just glad I don't have to come to the museum and look like..." the younger girl trailed off as Tyler walked into the base through the sliding doors, dressed in what Shelby should've been wearing, i.e. a Dino Bite Cafe apron and baseball cap. "...that,"

"Isn't it great?" Tyler, oblivious to the previous conversation began as he held his arms out, presenting his outfit to the other Rangers gathered within the base before pointing to his brand-new T-Rex-themed nametag. "I get to be a busboy at the cafe,"

Reaching underneath the desk, Liv grabbed an extra apron and hat before dropping them into Shelby's arms as Kendall walked in, with Liv sending the Pink Ranger a smug grin.

"Please, Chase," Kendall began, picking up the Black Ranger's skateboard and handing it off to him as Shelby glared at Liv. "This is a sterile laboratory, not a garage,"

"Liv doesn't seem to mind," the Kiwi retorted, glancing over at the Topaz Ranger as Kendall entered her workstation, whipping her head around to look at Chase again.

"I," the museum director shot back sharply. "Am not Liv. No. More. Skateboards."

Chase quickly held up his hands in surrender against Kendall's wrath, and Liv glanced over at him, silently mouthing "sorry" as an apology. It was really touch-and-go with Kendall on whether or not she'd put up with Chase's shenanigans, and it seemed as if today was a day that she wouldn't. Chase just shrugged in response to Liv, silently telling the Topaz Ranger himself that it wasn't a big deal, but Oliva still felt bad.

As Kendall walked over to one of the computers at the workstations, Shelby followed, seemingly trying to understand why she still had to work at the museum when she was, allegedly, now a superhero, for lack of a better word.

"Why," the Pink Ranger began, sounding almost offended as Liv paused beside the small pile of crates that Chase had now chosen as his makeshift repair table for his skateboard after Kendall had kicked him off of her desk. "is Tyler dressed to work in the cafe? We're Rangers now, you know? Busy saving the world?"

"We might be Rangers," Liv added, turning around to face Shelby as Kendall fiddled with the machine that created the team's Dino Chargers. "But, it's just like with superheroes and their secret identities. Working at the cafe or the museum when we're not actively being Rangers helps us blend in. Yesterday we might've saved the world, but today, it looks like you're going to be serving burgers,"

"She's right," Kendall told Shelby as the younger girl stared down at the apron and hat that she was still holding. "This way, as civilians, no one will suspect that you guys are Rangers. Koda, Chase, and Liv work at the museum to protect their identities. It's not the end of the world if you do too,"

Shelby still looked apprehensive about this whole thing, but the sound of a yawn stopped the Pink Ranger from speaking, and Liv turned to see a shirtless Koda stretching his arms above his head as he exited the small side tunnel that led into the cave the prehistoric Ranger called his home.

"Someone say, mmm," Koda grunted as he stretched. "Burgers?"

From where she was standing beside Chase, Liv couldn't help but let out a laugh. Koda was a sweetheart, and you could always count on him to know when someone was talking about food, even if he had been in a dead sleep before.

Tyler, Riley, and Shelby obviously hadn't known beforehand that Koda didn't live off-site from the rest of the museum, so when the Blue Ranger walked out of the tunnel, having just woken up, Tyler looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"Koda," the Red Ranger began. "Do you, like, sleep in that cave?"

"Yes," Koda answered a moment later, nodding his head and pointing towards the cave as he pulled on a blue t-shirt with the sleeves cut off over his head. "My home,"

"Koda found the Blue Energem 100,000 years ago," Kendall explained, having finally completed her checks of the Rangers' equipment around the base. "During the Pleistocene Era,"

"So..." Shelby trailed off, and Liv knew she was trying to make sense of everything Kendall had explained, which Liv could relate to. Finding out that Koda had found the Blue Energem thousands upon thousands of years ago, but still hadn't aged a day past how old he was when he had found the Energem had definitely been an adjustment, especially once Liv realized she wouldn't age a day either, but now, after two-and-a-half years, the nineteen-year-old was finally getting used to it. "Koda's a..."

"Caveman," Shelby, Tyler, and Riley spoke in unison, though while Tyler sounded in awe of Koda's real age, Shelby and Riley leaned more toward the side of skepticism.

"Awesome," Tyler murmured, and Koda grinned before the two of them headed down the tunnel towards Koda's room, as Riley glanced between the Blue Ranger and Kendall, crossing his arms.

"Really?" the Green Ranger asked. "He's 100,000 years old? That's impossible,"

"Once he bonded to an Energem," Kendall explained as Liv felt Chase hovering behind her shoulder. "Koda stopped aging. None of you will age when you're bonded to an Energem,"

Liv had been shaken when Keeper had first explained everything to her years ago, having been the first of their current Team (aside from Koda) to find and bond with her Energem. It had been a tough new reality to adjust to, dealing with the fact that as long as she was a Ranger, she'd stay the same age and always look the same, but she supposed it was a good insurance policy, the Energems ensuring that, if anything were ever a threat, whoever was a Ranger would still be healthy enough to combat it.

Regardless, Liv knew she wouldn't trade being a Ranger for anything, immortality or not. Shelby, apparently, held the same mindset, if the priorities only slightly changed.

"So I'll stay eighteen?" the younger girl asked, her gaze flicking between Kendall and Liv, and Olivia gave the Pink Ranger a small nod of confirmation. Flighty and stubborn attitude or not, Shelby was a good person, and she was an asset to the team. "This job's got some great benefits!"

"And I--" Chase added as he walked forward and tossed an arm over Shelby's shoulder, gaining the Pink Ranger's attention as Liv rolled her eyes. "Will always look like this,"

Liv walked up next to Chase and tugged on the cord to his headphones, yanking the Black Ranger's head downward and directing his attention away from whatever charm he had been trying to work on Shelby.

"Ignore him," Olivia said as the three of them started down the tunnel towards Koda's room, which Riley had gone down a few minutes earlier. "Obviously, our new status of immortality also has some downsides,"

"Okay, rude," Chase retorted, pressing a hand to his chest and pretending to be offended. "I happen to think that I'm adorable,"

"You would," Liv shot back, biting back a smile and Chase's mouth dropped open again in mock shock before he gave Liv a grin of his own.

"Touche, Olivia," he told her. "Touche,"

Chase walked on ahead towards Koda and the others, and as she and Shelby trailed behind, Liv could see that the Pink Ranger was practically vibrating with her urge to speak, and Liv quirked an eyebrow in her direction.

"What?" she asked expectantly, and Shelby whooshed out a breath.

"How long have you and Chase been together?" the younger girl asked, and all Liv could do for a moment or two was stare at Shelby in shock, before shaking her head.

"Chase and I aren't together," to say Shelby looked surprised at Liv's admission would be an understatement, because, for a couple of seconds, the Pink Ranger just blinked before scrunching her eyebrows together and fixing Liv with a skeptical look.

"Really?" Shelby asked in disbelief as she and Liv neared Koda's cave. "I would've thought--with the flirting and the looks, and--"

"Chase flirts with everybody," Liv told her simply, glancing at Shelby once more and giving the younger girl a small smile, trying desperately to ignore the way her chest suddenly felt tight. "I doubt I'm anything special. But," she added in a whisper as the two of them reached the cave where the boys were perusing Koda's collection of Ice Age-era heirlooms. "If we do ever end up dating, you'll be the first to know,"

If Shelby wanted to say anything else, Koda's voice cut her off as she and Liv finally reached the opening that led into Koda's cave. Tyler was peering over Koda's spear collection, and the Blue Ranger explained everything to the Team's newcomers as he pulled a blue cutoff tank top over his head.

"My spear is good for hunting saber-tooth tiger," the caveman said, and Tyler's attention quickly turned to the array of painted designs that covered the walls of Koda's cave.

"You write on the walls?" Tyler asked, and Shelby walked forward, her gaze slightly awed at the cavernous yet cozy cave that Koda had made his home once he'd awoken in the modern day.

"Petroglyphs," the Pink Ranger explained. "It's a prehistoric form of writing,"

"They're actually pictographs," Liv corrected, glancing at Shelby. "Petroglyphs were carvings. Koda painted these on the walls. Therefore, they're pictographs,"

As Shelby went to study the paintings closer with Tyler and Riley, Liv felt Chase lightly grab onto her elbow with one of his hands, and the Topaz Ranger turned to look at her closest friend.

"You and Shelby took a while to get down the tunnel," the Kiwi began. "What took so long?"

Liv didn't like to lie to Chase. She didn't like to lie to anybody, but Chase least of all. The two of them had been friends for so long and shared so much, that it made Liv feel itchy whenever she had to hide something from him. But, in a way, Liv supposed not disclosing to Chase that she'd had feelings for him for an entire year helped better protect their friendship.

As much as she cared about him, Liv knew it was unlikely that Chase would ever change his skirt-chasing ways, and if he hadn't asked her out yet when he'd asked out Shelby within thirty seconds of meeting her, it was unlikely that she and Chase in a romantic relationship would ever happen.

And she was okay with that. She was. Besides, if Liv did admit her feelings for Chase and he ended up not returning them, she could say bye-bye to their friendship as a whole. And Liv wanted that least of all.

"Nothing," the Topaz Ranger answered her friend after a while, and it was a long enough pause that Chase looked dubious with Olivia's answer. "Look," Liv continued, reaching forward and setting her hand on Chase's arm before she could stop herself. "It's nothing you have to worry about," she told him quietly. "I promise,"

The Black Ranger still looked unconvinced, but Koda, from across the cave, started explaining the reasoning for his cave paintings to the newer Rangers, and Liv left Chase where he was standing to go over to Riley, Tyler, and Shelby.

"I...write my story here," Koda explained as he and the other Rangers stared at the cave's walls.

Tyler lightly brushed his fingers over the different paintings that Koda had added to his massive mural over the years, and Liv's breath caught in her throat when she saw the Red Ranger pause in front of a solid silhouette of a monstrous figure. The same monstrous figure that James Navarro had written and sketched in his journal before he disappeared.

Fury.

Tyler didn't know who the lion creature was, and Liv still hadn't told him, which, in hindsight was probably not her smartest course of action, but regardless, what was done was done, and there was nothing that could be done to change it now.

"Who's that?" Tyler asked, and Liv was able to see the way Koda's face hardened as he stared at the silhouette of Fury.

"That is Fury," the caveman all but grumbled, and as Tyler rushed out of the cave, likely to grab his dad's old journal and show the Rangers the sketch of Fury, Koda explained who Fury was to Riley and Shelby. "Very bad. He fight to steal Energem,"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Riley added, causing Liv to whip her head around to stare at the Green Ranger. "He tried to take my Energem,"

Liv's eyes widened. Riley had never mentioned that he'd run into Fury before, but then again, he hadn't been privy to her, Shelby's, and Tyler's original conversation about Fury in the Red Ranger's Jeep on the way to the museum, since that had been before the four of them had met, but then again, Liv supposed she shouldn't judge, since she hadn't told Tyler about Fury when she'd first seen the monster in James Navarro's journal.

Speaking of, Tyler returned a few moments later carrying the small leather-bound notebook, opened to the page that showed the sketch of Fury. "Guys, look at this," the Red Ranger said as he held the open notebook up until it was side-by-side with Koda's painting of Fury. "Is that him?" Tyler asked as Koda glanced at James' sketch, and the caveman nodded.

"Yes," Koda answered, sounding rightly shocked, and Shelby, who had been looking at the notebook over Tyler's shoulder, turned towards Liv.

"You mentioned Fury when we were on our way here after finding our Energems and fighting that first monster," the Pink Ranger started. "Why didn't you tell us Koda had run into him too?"

"First of all," Liv retorted, holding up her index finger in response to Shelby's accusation. "Would you have even believed me when I said that Fury is an alien monster that wants the power of the Energems? And second of all, I had told you both to be patient and that I'd explain everything once we got to Amber Beach. Not my fault you couldn't last another half an hour,"

Before Shelby was able to say anything in response, the alarm from the bases' computer system went off, startling everyone and prompting the six Rangers to rush out of Koda's cave and back into the main base, where the holo-console in the center of the work area had erected a hologram-like model of the northern hemisphere, with little red squares representing several bogies that were flying their way towards Earth from outer space.

"Several objects entering Earth's atmosphere," Kendall said gravely once the Rangers gathered around, and Liv narrowed her eyes before glancing at her older sister.

"Think it's Sledge?" she asked, wondering if the intergalactic bounty hunter had finally decided to make his move against Earth, especially since it had been over a week since the battle with Ice Age.

"It might be," Chase said from beside her, and Liv turned her head to look up at her friend, only to see the Black Ranger already staring down at her with a small smile. "Let's go find out,"

🖤🧡🖤

A little while later, the Rangers were running through a small grove of trees towards the coordinates that showed where the bogies from space had landed. The coordinates led the six of them to a large and open clearing where, on the opposite side, a small army of Vivix marched towards the six Rangers, led by three monsters other than Fury.

The three leading monsters were odd-looking, to say the least. One of them looked like a jar of candy had thrown up and turned evil, while the one next to her looked like a diabolical version of the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz (the book that was now ruined for Olivia) and the final leading monster looked like a walking junkyard. She had no idea what their boss looked like, but Liv highly doubted that any of these monsters were Sledge. If anything, the alien bounty hunter had sent more of his lackeys, as he had before with Fury.

"Oh, look," the pink monstrosity sneered as the monsters and the Rangers stood across the clearing from each other in a tense standoff. "It's the Rangers,"

"What are you?" Tyler asked as the two groups paused in front of each other. "A walking lollipop?"

"A walking lollipop that looks like Valentine's Day died and went to hell," Liv muttered under her breath, and from where she was standing in between Chase and Koda, Olivia heard the Black Ranger choke out what sounded something like a laugh before the walking lollipop spoke up.

"Well," the feminine-sounding monster began. "It's lovely to meet you, too! Not. Allow me to introduce the most magnificent intergalactic bounty hunter in the universe..."

Suddenly the sound of engines from above caught Liv's attention, just as another monster, this one looking like a mix between Shrek and Robocop, complete with mini jetpack engine thrusters on his shoulders landed heavily in between the army of monsters and the Rangers. Liv felt her hair blow back from the resulting shockwave as the evil walking lollipop waved with one of her massive hands toward the new monster, whom Liv assumed was Sledge. The monster looked like a Sledge.

"The one, the only, my future husband...Sledge!" Liv was right, though why Sledge, who looked like the gunk between car tires came to life, would be engaged (apparently) to an evil walking Valentine's Day advertisement, the Topaz Ranger wasn't sure. Opposites most definitely attracted between those two, that was for sure.

Sledge, meanwhile, once faced with the Rangers he was sure to be fighting soon, only laughed, to which Liv felt undeniably insulted.

"This is a joke, right?" the alien bounty hunter cackled as he looked at his fiancee. "You're the Rangers who destroyed my monster?"

Liv assumed he was talking about Ice Age, but the Topaz Ranger also didn't think Sledge was all that, as much as he thought he was, especially since, according to what Keeper had said, Sledge had been looking for the Energems for millions of years, and had yet to get his gross hands on a single one, while Liv and her team had managed to get six out of the eleven in the last couple of years. Really, who had the better track record here?

"Power Rangers," Shelby corrected Sledge's initial assessment of the Rangers, and honestly, Liv had to give the younger girl credit where credit was due.

As it were, Sledge, Poisandra (the walking lollipop), and the other monsters weren't impressed with the Pink Ranger's show of courage, because they all burst into a cruel kind of laughter.

From beside her, Liv saw Koda sniffing the air, and though to any other person, that would've seemed undeniably weird, it caught Olivia's attention because, since he was a caveman and had needed more survival skills to survive in the harsh weather patterns of the Pleistocene Era, Koda also had stronger senses than the average human being.

"What's wrong, Koda?" Liv asked, and the Blue Ranger glanced over at her for a moment before jerking his head in the general direction of a hill that rose above the clearing on Sledge's side.

"Fury," he said, nodding towards Liv before lightly slapping his hand against Tyler's shoulder to catch the Red Ranger's attention. Koda then pointed up towards the hill again. "Up there,"

Liv wasn't able to see the crest of the hill very well from where she was standing, but she was able to see Fury step out from behind a small grove of trees, and judging from the sharp-sounding gasp that Tyler let out, the Red Ranger saw him too.

"That's him!" Tyler exclaimed as Chase, Shelby, and Riley turned to look toward the top of the hill too. "The creature in my Dad's journal!"

"Keeper said Fury's working for Sledge right?" Chase asked, and Liv glanced over at him. "Then, that means he's been after the Energems too for at least as long as Sledge,"

"Makes you wonder what Fury wanted with your Dad, Tyler," Liv told the Red Ranger, and she saw Tyler narrow his eyes for a moment before movement from Sledge's side of the field caught the Rangers' attention again, just as Sledge made some sort of hand motion towards Fury, before grunting and turning back to the Rangers.

"As I was saying," the bounty hunter continued, though frankly, for a moment, Liv didn't remember what Sledge had been saying. She hadn't been paying that much attention to him. "You're the troublemakers that stole my Energems,"

"Your Energems?" Liv burst out before she could stop herself, ignoring the sudden horrified look that Chase sent her. "I don't think so!"

A whooshing sound cut Liv off before she could continue, and a moment later, Keeper materialized in front of the six new Rangers, much to their surprise. As far as Liv knew, Keeper hardly even left the base.

"Keeper..." Sledge growled as the alien guardian walked further in between Sledge's small army and the even smaller team of Power Rangers. "It's you,"

"The Energems belong to no one," Keeper told the bounty hunter firmly. "And especially not to you,"

"Ha, my dear old friend," Sledge laughed drily, but Liv's eyes widened almost comically, her mind lodged particularly on the fact that Sledge and Keeper may have been friends. "You thought that blowing up my ship could stop me? Think again. I waited in deep space for millions of years for a comet to pass. I caught it with my Electronets and rode it all the way to Earth. But, it was worth it," Sledge added, walking forward until he was almost nose-to-nose with Keeper. "Because, finally, I will destroy you, and then I'll leave here with the Energems,"

"The Rangers possess the power of the Energems," Keeper retorted again. "And the strength of ancient dinosaurs. If you try to take the Energems, you will be the one who is destroyed,"

With that, and seemingly ignoring Sledge's resulting snarl of frustration, Keeper turned around and walked away, disappearing again into a cloud of mist almost identical to the one he had appeared from when he'd first interfered in the Rangers' standoff against Sledge and his monsters.

For a few seconds, Liv blinked in shock, staring at where Keeper had disappeared. She knew the alien guardian expected them, as Rangers, to fight their own battles against Sledge, but she'd at least thought he'd stick around. The team as a whole was still new, and it would take time for her, Chase, and Koda to get used to having three new Rangers fight with them when it had only been the three of them for the past few years.

Apparently, the rest of the Rangers held the same sentiment as Liv, because when Keeper disappeared, Riley also stared at the spot where the alien guardian had disappeared from, eyes wide before he glanced around.

"Uh...Keeper?" the Green Ranger asked slowly, sounding about as nervous and wary as Liv felt. But, Shelby just shook her head and glanced around at the rest of the Rangers, though Liv thought her show of bravado, while admirable, would end up backfiring.

"No prob," the Pink Ranger began seemingly confident. "We got this...I guess,"

"Aww," Wrench, the evil Tin Man, cackled as he hefted his gleaming ax higher into the air. "Looks like they're gonna cry!"

The walking junkyard, whom Liv had heard Sledge refer to as 'Scrapper', let out a cackle of his own, before Sledge growled again, punching a fist into the palm of his opposite hand.

"Bring it on, weaklings!" the bounty hunter shouted, and from beside her, Liv saw Chase hold up one of his Para Chargers.

"Dino Charger!" the Kiwi called out as Liv grabbed one of her Maia Chargers, but when the other Rangers didn't join in, and more importantly when Tyler didn't join in, the two of them glanced over at the Red Ranger. "Tyler," Chase hissed, and Liv saw that he was still staring up at the hill where the six of them had seen Fury earlier, and judging from the way Tyler was staring at the hill, Fury was still standing there.

"Something wrong?" Koda asked, but Tyler didn't seem to hear the Blue Ranger either.

Only when Shelby slammed her elbow into his ribcage and hissed his name like Chase had done did Tyler snap out of whatever memorial trance he had been trapped in, and glance around at the rest of his team, all of whom were holding their own individual Dino Chargers and waiting for the Red Ranger's signal to morph.

As Tyler almost scrambled to retrieve his T-Rex Charger from the pocket of his jeans, Liv stared at him. She knew that the Red Ranger wanted to know about his dad's disappearance, or, more likely, what Fury knew about his dad's disappearance, but right now, Olivia was worried about whether or not she'd walk away from this fight alive.

"Ready!" Tyler shouted once he finally had his Dino Charger out and activated. As Liv and the others shouted 'Ready!' in unison, Sledge hefted the clunky-looking blaster he held in his right hand and fired several blasts of green energy, surrounding the Rangers in a cloud of smoke, with explosions going off at every side of them.

"Woohoo!" Poisandra exclaimed as a cloud of smoke engulfed the entire Ranger team, and the diabolical Valentine's Day advertisement hopped into the air and clapped her hands. "You destroyed them!

But, inexperienced team or not, the Rangers weren't as easy to destroy as Sledge, Poisandra, or the rest of their monsters and Vivix thought. The six of them had managed to morph just before the blasts from Sledge would've destroyed them, and now, the Rangers were ready to clash with the alien villains.

"Better get your eyes checked!" Liv heard Tyler shout as they all ran forward out of the clouds of smoke that had momentarily concealed them from Sledge and his cronies. "Let's do this!"

"Yikes!" Poisandra gave a sharp yelp before scrambling away. "This isn't any fun!"

Sledge released his small squadron of Vivix, and the short cushion-like monsters were the first enemies the Rangers encountered in their battle. Once again, Liv found herself fighting beside Chase, and witnessed the Black Ranger's ability with his blaster, as he fired off three shots from his Dino Morpher, hitting a Vivix and destroying them each time.

"One, two," Chase counted off each Vivix he destroyed, even managing to hit one that had been sneaking up from behind by pointing his Dino Morpher over his shoulder. "Three. The hotshot does it again,"

Liv, instead of using her Dino Morpher, was using her Dino Saber to slash at the Vivix and had destroyed almost as many of the monsters as Chase, though the Black Ranger did get a hit in on one that Liv hadn't seen, shooting the Vivix over Olivia's shoulder, returning the favor from the one that the Topaz Ranger had destroyed for him when the Rangers had battled Ice Age.

Suddenly, as she was distracted by Chase destroying the Vivix behind her, Liv was only just able to hear the Black Ranger let out a shocked cry of "Olivia!" before Scrapper came out of seemingly nowhere, launching the Topaz Ranger into the air and throwing her backward with one swing of his left hand, which looked suspiciously like a massive flyswatter.

When Liv hit the ground several yards away from Chase and Scrapper, it was with enough force that she demorphed, lying stunned on the ground as she struggled to catch her breath.

Startled at the fact that Liv was now injured, the Black Ranger whirled on Scrapper, with Chase throwing himself into a sidekick that managed to knock Scrapper back a few feet, but Sledge's monster wasn't going to be defeated that easily.

"I'll destroy you!" the walking junkyard snarled, and Chase gritted his teeth beneath his helmet.

"I'd like to see you try," he retorted, shooting Scrapper a few times at point-blank range with his Dino Morpher.

Again, it seemed like the Ranger might've given himself an edge over Scrapper, but the monster recovered himself quickly and used his flyswatter hand to fling Chase back like he had done with Liv a few minutes before, throwing the Black Ranger towards his teammate, with Chase also demorphing as soon as he hit the ground.

Their team, Liv was beginning to realize as she struggled to sit up and catch her breath after Scrapper had thrown her, was too inexperienced. None of them know how to work together as a team yet, which was why it was so easy for Sledge and his cronies to beat them.

Even when Tyler went up against the intergalactic bounty hunter himself, it didn't take long for Tyler to get thrown backward by Sledge and demorph. At this point, Liv and Chase had regained enough motor function to help Tyler to his feet, the six demorphed Rangers gathering warily in front of Sledge, Scrapper, Poisandra, Wrench, and the Vivix.

If Sledge was going to end up destroying her and her friends, Liv knew that she wasn't going to go down without a fight.

"One last warning, Rangers," Sledge growled as Liv readied herself to jump into the fray once again. "Hand over the Energems in an hour, or I'll blast this planet to pieces. One hour,"

With that, Sledge punched his shoulder, activating his suit of armor's inlaid jetpack before rocketing off into the sky beneath a cloud of choking dark gray smoke. When the cloud cleared, Poisandra, Wrench, Scrapper, and the Vivix were gone too.

Only once the Rangers were alone did the adrenaline that Liv had been running on finally dissipate, and the Topaz Ranger felt herself sway on her feet as she felt the onset of fatigue hit her like a freight train, along with the sharp pain in her chest that likely meant Scrapper had cracked a few of her ribs when he'd thrown her across the clearing.

Liv felt Chase set a hand on her back as the Black Ranger made sure she was okay, but it took a few seconds before Liv managed to look up at him and silently tell him that, although her ribcage currently felt as if someone kept stabbing it with a spike, overall, she was better than dead. Liv also knew she'd need Kendall to look over her when they got back to the base, but right now, the nineteen-year-old was more worried about Sledge's deadline than any injuries she might've sustained during the Rangers' fight with him.

"Uh, one hour?" Koda asked, turning to Shelby as Liv managed to stand up straight, taking the hand that Chase offered and allowing the Black Ranger to wrap one arm around her waist, helping Liv keep on her feet. "How long is that?"

"Not long," Shelby answered the caveman before looking around at the other Rangers. "How do we stop him?"

Honestly, though she'd had her Energem for years at this point, Liv, along with Chase and Koda, had never actually crossed paths with Sledge before. They'd met Fury before, sure, but never Sledge, and since even Keeper knew next to nothing about the intergalactic bounty hunter, figuring out how to beat him was going to be next to impossible.

"We..." Riley had to catch his breath for a moment before continuing. "We need to come up with a plan to beat him together,"

Liv agreed with Riley, and she nodded and opened her mouth to tell the Green Ranger as much, but before she could speak, Tyler nodded his head towards the hill that Fury had been standing on earlier, before making to walk in that direction.

"Something's going on," the Red Ranger said, and Liv narrowed her eyes at Tyler, wondering what exactly he was getting at. "I'm gonna follow him,"

Liv knew that was a bad idea on so many levels, and apparently, Shelby thought the same, because Tyler only got a few paces away before the Pink Ranger grabbed onto his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

"Tyler," Shelby began slowly. "I know you want answers about your dad, but--"

"It's not about my dad," Tyler cut Shelby before she could finish. "Fury was signaling him. I've got a hunch,"

"Forget your hunch, mate," this time, Chase was the one who stopped Tyler, grabbing onto the younger guy's shoulder and spinning him around so the two were able to look eye-to-eye. "We're a team now, we have to work together or we don't stand a chance,"

"Chase is right, Tyler," Liv added, walking forward to stand beside Chase as the two of them, plus Shelby, basically cornered the Red Ranger into staying near the group. "That signal could've meant any number of things. You don't know it meant anything bad,"

"But it could've," Tyler retorted, and while Liv admitted she might be able to see the logic behind it, that wasn't the team's biggest issue at the moment. "I have to know for sure. We don't always have to be together to work together. Don't worry," Tyler added a moment later, turning away as Liv tossed her hands up in the air in surrender, realizing that there was no way she'd be able to get through to the Red Ranger. "I'll see you guys back at the base,"

Shelby went to follow after him, but Liv grabbed onto the Pink Ranger's arm, stopping Shelby before she was able to trail after Tyler any more than she already had.

"Let him go, Shelby," Liv told her quietly. "Until Tyler finds whatever he thinks is out there, we're just going to need to make a plan without him,"

🖤🧡🖤

Though their journey back to the base was surprisingly uneventful, Chase practically shoved Liv at her sister when the five remaining Rangers returned to the subterranean basement below the museum, and as much as Liv found her friend's concern sweet and endearing, there was a point where it became overbearing, and Chase was teetering dangerously close to that line.

As the others murmured to each other about what to do about Sledge's plan and wondered aloud where Tyler was and how his investigation into Fury's "signal" was going, Liv sat dutifully (however indignant she might've felt towards Chase) on a table as Kendall checked her over, periodically pressing her fingers against Liv's ribcage to see where the Topaz Ranger's injuries were the worst.

"Well, they're not broken," the museum director said, and Liv sent Chase a smug look over her sister's shoulder, to which Chase just narrowed his eyes before Kendall turned her head again to look at her younger sister. "But, your ribs are definitely bruised. Impending planetary destruction or not, you need to take it easy for a bit and not overwork yourself. That goes for all of you," Kendall added a moment later, glancing over her shoulder at Chase, Koda, Shelby, and Riley, who all nodded their heads wildly in agreement, too intimidated by Kendall to do anything other than agree with her.

"Not my fault Scrapper has a human-size flyswatter for a hand," Liv muttered, half to herself before she hopped off the table Kendall had inspected her on. "Besides," she continued. "We have bigger things to worry about. Like, what the hell are we going to do about Sledge's deadline? It's not like we can just give him our Energems?"

"I might have a solution for that," Kendall spoke up, and Liv turned towards her sister as the older woman walked over to the transmitter that Kendall used to create the team's Dino Chargers. "I started working on this just after you guys went to fight Sledge and Scrapper. We just have to hope it works. Chargers, please,"

Even though she was still a little confused at what exactly her sister was planning, Liv handed over one of her Maia Chargers, and Kendall placed it into one of the protective cylinders in the transmuter. Koda, Chase, Shelby, and Riley handed over one of their Chargers a moment later, while Kendall swiped up one of Tyler's extras and placed all of the Dino Chargers into their respective spots on the machine.

As Kendall flipped the switch that turned the machine on, Liv watched as each of the six Dino Chargers glowed their respective colors for a moment, before turning dark again. Once the transmitter was done doing...whatever it was that it was doing, Kendall reached up and removed the caps from the cylinders, removing the Dino Chargers that lay within.

"With Keeper's help," Kendall began as she handed the Chargers back to each of the Rangers. "I've upgraded your Dino Chargers using the transmitter. Your Chargers will now be able to activate a high-strength armor mode called Dino Steel,"

"But," Shelby cut in as she took her Tricera Charger back from Kendall. "Will Dino Steel be tough enough to beat Sledge?"

Liv knew that Shelby's argument held validity. None of them knew just how strong the intergalactic bounty hunter was, and as genius with inventions as her sister was, Liv also knew that not even Kendall was invincible. Plus, the Rangers were down one teammate.

"Maybe," Chase said quietly from his spot beside Liv, and the Topaz Ranger turned her head to look at him as Chase continued, holding one of the T-Rex Chargers. "If Tyler hadn't left us,"

Before anyone else could dispute Chase's claim--or argue with it--an alarm went off on one of Kendall's computers, and they all rushed over to check it out. Kendall looked at the computer screen for a couple of seconds before turning back to the Rangers, her face grim.

"Alien DNA detected in the northwest quadrant," she began. "And Tyler's there too,"

Regardless of whether or not the Red Ranger had unknowingly abandoned the rest of the Rangers right when they needed him most, Tyler was still a part of their team, and Liv and the others knew they couldn't just leave him to fight whatever monster Sledge had sent all by himself.

The northeast quadrant of the city wasn't very far from the museum and base, so, taking Tyler's extra Dino Charger that now held the activation for his Dino Steel, Liv, Chase, Koda, Riley, and Shelby headed out, reaching Tyler's coordinates just as he was blasted off of Wrench as the Red Ranger battled the evil walking tinman and Scrapper.

"You're gonna regret getting in my way, Red Ranger!" Scrapper grumbled as Tyler hit the ground and demorphed, writhing in pain from the hard landing as Wrench hefted his battle ax into the air.

"Say goodbye!" Wrench shouted as he and Scrapper ran forward to finish Tyler off.

Liv wasn't about to let that happen, so, along with the rest of the Rangers, Liv lifted her own Dino Morpher and let loose an orange blast of energy, the array of rainbow-colored energy blasts hit the ground in front of Wrench and Scrapper, creating a cloud of smoke that momentarily blinded the monsters and sent them flying backward, giving the Rangers a chance to help Tyler to his feet and figure out how the Red Ranger had crossed paths with Sledge again.

"Are you okay?" Shelby asked as she helped Tyler stand, and the taller guy winced, lightly holding his chest for a moment before turning to the rest of the Rangers.

"Yeah," the Red Ranger said wearily. "Yeah, I think so," Then, Chase rounded on him.

"You're fighting alone? You could've been killed. That's why you don't follow hunches," the Black Ranger spoke as if taking on Wrench and Scrapper solo was the dumbest thing Tyler could've ever done, which, as someone who had been training to battle alien monsters and protect the Earth for the last two-and-a-half years, it was dumb. But, Tyler wasn't trained, he didn't know that he wasn't supposed to battle a monster by himself (though, in a way--common sense). Right now, though, Liv was on Tyler's side.

"It's not like he knew that Wrench and Scrapper would ambush him," the brunette retorted, making Chase glance over at her as if he was confused that Liv was actually disagreeing with him on something. "It could've happened to any of us,"

"Chase is right, Liv," Tyler's voice was quiet, the Red Ranger probably still smarting from the beating he'd taken at the hands of Wrench and Scrapper, but it made Liv whip her head around to stare at him, just as Tyler turned towards Chase. "But, so was my hunch. Sledge wasn't going to give us one hour," Tyler continued, and Liv hissed a breath out from between her teeth and leaned her head back as she realized that the Rangers had all been duped. And Tyler had been the one to figure it out.

"That crusher creep," Tyler waved a hand towards Scrapper, who was still wiggling on the ground. "He followed you guys back to the base. He's heading off to tell Sledge where it is so they can steal the Energems. That's their real plan,"

"So if you hadn't followed Fury..." Shelby trailed off as she came to the same realization that Liv had already reached.

"Sledge would be making his way into our base right now," Riley added, continuing Shelby's thought as he glanced around at the other Rangers. "Destroying everything and everyone,"

"Which includes the crystal beds, all of our technology, Keeper, and Kendall," Liv added, realizing that if not for Tyler, all of them could've been in fatal danger.

Meanwhile, on the street, Wrench and Scrapper were finally regaining their composure, and Scrapper struggled to his feet as he waved one angry hand in the direction of the Rangers.

"You wrecked my hubcaps," the monster growled, and Liv tilted her head, confused at what exactly Scrapper was so angry about before Koda shook his head, glancing between Chase and Tyler.

"I am confused," the caveman began, and Liv frankly, was pretty confused herself. "Is hunch bad or good?"

"Right now?" Chase responded as he looked over to Tyler with a small smile. "It's good,"

Liv was happy that Chase and Tyler arguing with each other was no longer an issue, at least for the time being, but that didn't change the fact that the Rangers still had Wrench and Scrapper to deal with, and neither of the monsters was intimidated enough yet by the Rangers to just give up without a fight. Oh, how Olivia wished it could be that easy.

"Let's do this," Tyler said, glancing from Chase to the rest of the Rangers. "Together,"

"Together," Chase agreed before the Kiwi reached into his pocket and pulled out the red Dino Steel charger that he had been tasked with carrying from the base. "With a little help from Kendall,"

"Kendall developed an entirely new armor mode for us," Liv added, giddy as Chase held up Tyler's Dino Charger. The Red Ranger took it, and Liv's attention was diverted to Scrapper and Wrench as the two monsters staggered to their feet.

"Come on," Scrapper burst out, waving his arms wildly. "Let's get out of here! I still gotta tell Sledge where their base is!"

"Don't count on it," Tyler said, before holding up his Dino Charger. "It's morphing time! Dino Charger!"

"Ready!" Liv and the rest of the Rangers shouted in unison before they inserted their individual Chargers into the barrel of their Dino Morphers, spun the dial, and shouted: "Energize! Unleash the power!"

Six hologram-like Dino heads, shaped like a Tyrannosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Maiasaura, Stegosaurus, Velociraptor, and Triceratops, exited the end of their Dino Morphers and swirled through the air, before chomping down on the six Rangers and fully morphing them into their battle mode suits.

"Okay, guys," Tyler began once they were all morphed. "Let's check out our new armor mode,"

Liv thought that was as good an idea as any so, along with her friends and teammates, the Topaz Ranger retrieved another one of her Dino Chargers and inserted it into her Morpher.

"Dino Steel! Armor on!"

The Rangers' new weapons appeared with a flash of silver light, and when the light dissipated, the weapons appeared in each of the Rangers' hands. Each weapon was unique to each specific Power Ranger and the dinosaur spirit they contained, and when Liv looked down at her new weapon, she found herself holding a powerful-looking glimmering orange longbow, the grip of the weapon shaped like a Maiasaura head.

She had to admit, she was impressed. Liv was smart, but she knew more about dinosaurs themselves than anything to do with the technology and magic within the Energems and how to create the different Dino Chargers the Rangers used in their fight to protect the Earth. Liv left that side of the fight to Kendall, and her sister had outdone herself yet again.

"It's about to get wild!" Tyler exclaimed, and Liv watched as Scrapper waved wildly with one of his arms.

"Vivizords!" the monster shouted, and the Topaz Ranger braced herself. "Rise!"

The Vivix combined into two massive Godzilla-like monsters, and all of the Rangers stood in shock at the two massive monsters that had suddenly appeared, seemingly from nowhere. But, then, Liv got an idea, and she turned toward Chase.

"Chase!" she exclaimed, causing the Black Ranger to look over at her. "You and I are the only ones who could hit either of those monsters while we're all this far away. You use your Para Chopper, I'll use my Maia Bow, and we'll blast them together!"

"Great idea, Liv!" Chase agreed before he and the Topaz Ranger ran off to the side, away from the rest of the Rangers, and readied their weapons.

The Vivizords roared in synchronicity as they saw the two human Rangers separate from the rest of their Team. Down on the ground, Olivia hefted her bow into the air, pulling back the bowstring until it was taut. As she drew back the bow, an arrow made of pure orange-colored energy appeared on the string, and Liv almost dropped her bow again, she was so surprised.

To her right, Chase lifted both his Para Chopper, which looked like some sort of modified crossbow-like blaster, and his Dino Morpher, and pointed them at the Vivizords beside Liv's Maia Bow. Exchanging one final glance with her friend, Liv saw Chase give her a nod that signified he was ready before they both turned toward the Vivizords.

"Para Chopper blast!"

"Maia Bow strike!"

In unison, Chase and Liv fired on the twin Vivizords, and the black and orange energy blasts hit the gigantic monsters with enough force that even from the ground Liv was able to see the explosions erupt from the Vivizords.

With the Vivizords distracted, the rest of the Rangers took on Scrapper and Wrench, and while before the team had been vastly unprepared for their fights against Sledge's monsters now, though they were still more or less untrained, they worked together better than they had that morning. Riley was able to take on incapacitate Wrench with his new Raptor Claw, and Shelby was even able to destroy an entire squad of Vivix all by herself.

Koda and Tyler were the ones currently fighting Scrapper, but as the Vivizords she and Chase were shooting their own weapons at seemed to shake off the effects of the Maia Bow and Para Chopper, Liv realized she, quite literally, had bigger things to worry about than what her friends and teammates were up to. The energy arrows that came from her Maia Bow never seemed to deplete, and it looked as if she was able to keep shooting the powerful energy arrows indefinitely, but she also knew that she wasn't able to. Her arms were getting tired, and the Vivizords were regaining their strength.

"Uh, guys?" Chase shouted over his shoulder to the other Rangers as the Black Ranger also noticed the Vivizords gaining ground towards where he and Liv were standing. "A little help?"

Shelby was the one who answered his call, and the Pink Ranger ran forward after she had defeated her squad of Vivix, and reached into her belt for one of her extra Dino Chargers.

"Time to see what my Zord can do!" the Pink Ranger exclaimed, retrieving the Dino Charger and clicking the button on the side. "Dino Charger, ready! Summons Tricera Zord!"

Shelby threw her active Dino Charger in the air as hard as she could as Liv regained some of the strength in her arms (honestly, it was probably an extra adrenaline rush) and continued shooting her Maia Bow and Energy arrows toward the still-advancing Vivizords.

There was a rumble throughout the entire city as Shelby's Zord, which did indeed look like a mechanized rose-pink Triceratops, thundered into the battle, and even though she wasn't able to see Shelby's face through her helmet, Liv was able to hear the younger girl's excitement as she spoke when she saw her Zord.

"There she is!" Shelby exclaimed, running forward to meet her Zord as Tricera rumbled throughout Amber Beach.

The Vivizords seemed oblivious to the incoming Zord, but the monsters had regained enough of their strength to send a burst of icy-green energy hurtling toward Chase and Liv.

Luckily, along with the Energems extending their lives and awarding them superhuman strength, all the Power Rangers had gained ultra-fast reflexes in case of emergency, and since this whole situation definitely counted as an emergency, the Black and Topaz Rangers were able to dodge out of the way of the Vivizord's blast with plenty of room to spare.

"Too slow!" Chase exclaimed as he and Liv landed steadily on their feet again, and though he wasn't able to actually see her face, Liv sent the Black Ranger a glare anyway.

"Really?" the Topaz Ranger cried out from where she stood beside him, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath after the whole ordeal of almost being barbecued. "Can we maybe not piss off the three-hundred-foot-tall Godzillas?"

All Chase did was shrug, but apparently, the Vivizords weren't amused by the Topaz Ranger's comparison of them to the 1950s-era Japanese monster, because this time, the energy blast meant to destroy the Rangers the Vivizords aimed was purely at Liv, and the nineteen-year-old would've gotten completely vaporized had Chase not tackled both of them to the ground at the last second.

"You're welcome for saving your life, Livvy," Chase retorted, his accent always getting thicker when he was upset, and while Liv usually adored hearing the Kiwi accent, regardless of the situation, right now she was trying to make her heart rate go back to normal from, you know, almost dying.

"Thank you," she said quietly as Chase helped her stand once they were both out of the Vivizord's line of sight, and the Black Ranger squeezed her arm in acknowledgment before they both heard Shelby's voice come through the comm line in their helmets.

"All right!" the Pink Ranger exclaimed. The comm line usually connected all of the Rangers so they would be able to talk between their helmets, while also connecting the Team to Kendall, who usually acted as their 'woman in the chair', back at the base, 9 times out of 10. "This is the best!"

"I see you met your Tricera Zord!" Chase called out to the Pink Ranger as Shelby neared them, and the younger girl jumped off the Tricera's nose where she had been perched and landed on the ground beside Liv and Chase.

"Yep, she's awesome!" Shelby exclaimed, clapping her hands together in sheer excitement. "Just watch what she can do! Go Tricera!"

With a roar, Tricera leaped into the air and spun around so her tail faced the Vivizords before the tail started to spin, turning into a massive version of the Tricera Drill that Shelby received from her Dino Steel Charger. Then, the Tricera-Zord went through both of the Vivizords, leaving massive holes in the beasts' chests for only a moment before both of the giant monsters exploded and were destroyed.

"Good work guys!" Tyler exclaimed as he ran up to Shelby and Koda, the caveman having been struggling to block Scrapper's strikes against him.

"We finish this," Koda began once the Blue Ranger finally managed to knock the walking junkyard back a few paces, the caveman also reaching into his belt and retrieving one of his own Dino Chargers and handing it to Tyler. "Our powers are stronger, uh...together,"

"Combine them?" the Red Ranger asked as he took Koda's extra Charger, the Stego Charger joining the T-Rex Charger that Tyler already held in his palm. "Great idea, Koda!"

From where she stood off to the side with Chase and Riley, Liv didn't know exactly what it was that Tyler planned to do with both his Charger and Koda's, but she knew that, whatever it was, the new combination between the two dinosaur spirits would be powerful.

The Red Ranger inserted Koda's Stego Charger into his own Dino Morpher and spun the dial, red sparks erupting from the body of the Dino Morpher as the mechanized voice exclaimed:

Stego Charger: Engage.

Then, Tyler fired his Dino Morpher, and two different bursts of energy exited the barrel of the blaster. One was the red that was always associated with the T-Rex spirit and the Red Energem itself. The other energy burst was blue and had to have come from Koda's Stego Charger and the power from the Blue Energem.

Both energy blasts hit Scrapper dead-on, and with an eruption of red lightning, Scrapper was destroyed, the monster letting out a lasting yell of: "I'm crushed!" before he exploded.

Liv almost let herself be excited that the Rangers had defeated the monster that had almost found and destroyed their base, but if the team's fight against Ice Age had been any indication, no monster stayed destroyed for long.

A fact that was proven a moment later when a beam of blue light descended rapidly from the sky onto the spot where Scrapper had been standing, magnifying the walking junkyard until he was a hundred times his previous size.

"I'm going to flatten you all!" The now-magnified Scrapper yelled, and all Olivia could do was stare up at the massive monster in shock as Scrapper started to rampage through the city, flattening whatever he touched.

"He big like mammoth!" Koda exclaimed as the Blue Ranger also stared up at Scrapper in shock and awe, but Tyler didn't seem all too concerned, because the Red Ranger just reached into his belt and retrieved one of his Dino Chargers.

"We'll take care of that!" Tyler exclaimed, activating his Dino Charger and throwing it through the air. "Summon T-Rex Zord!"

T-Rex Charger: Engage.

Rexy, quite literally, erupted from the volcano where the Red Ranger's Zord more or less slept when he wasn't needed, and before long, the red-yellow-and-white mecha reached Amber Beach, going for a dramatic entrance by flipping onto the street, causing a shower of cement and stone to rain down around everyone from the sheer weight of the Zord itself.

"Whoa!" Tyler exclaimed as he leaped into the air and onto the top of Rexy's head. "Nice entrance, Rexy!"

Scrapper, on the other hand, was less than impressed with the robotic T-Rex's show.

"That prehistoric piece of junk is no match for me!" the monster cried as he started to lunge towards Tyler and Rexy, but the Red Ranger was ready, and braced his feet into a battle stance.

"Bring it on!" he cried, and Scrapper roared, opening his mouth to shoot blasts of purple energy towards Tyler and Rexy, but with a massive leap, the Red Ranger and T-Rex Zord were able to jump over them and out of the way to safety.

Rexy even managed to kick Scrapper in the face with both of his feet before backflipping again so he and Tyler landed on the top level of a nearby parking garage, an action that just made Scrapper more angry.

Suddenly, Kendall's voice sounded in Liv's ear, and though her older sister was mainly speaking to Koda, the commline connected the museum director to everybody, which was why Liv heard her as well.

"Koda," Kendall was saying as Tyler dodged another blast from Scrapper. "Call your Stego Zord. I think I've found a way to combine your Zords,"

"That is great, Kendall!" the Blue Ranger exclaimed as Liv's eyes widened in shock. "We stronger together!"

"Wait," Liv cut in. "We can do that?"

"Hopefully," Kendall answered, which suddenly and severely depleted Liv's confidence level. "But, there's no time like the present to try, isn't there?"

Liv wanted to argue, to tell her sister how many variables could go wrong if the Zords weren't able to combine, but she knew that defeating Scrapper before the gigantic monster destroyed the entire city was the Rangers' top priority, and if Kendall believed that the Zord combinations would actually work, then Liv needed to trust her. Because, 99% of the time, Kendall was actually right.

Reaching into his belt, Koda retrieved his last extra Dino Charger, clicking the button on the blue Stego Charger to activate it.

"Dino Charger," the Blue Ranger exclaimed, holding the Dino Charger out. "Ready! Summon Stego Zord!"

Stego Charger: Engage.

The Stego Zord primarily slept in a snowy ice field, scarily similar to the one where Chase, Liv, and Kendall had found Koda himself frozen in a glacier, 100,000 years ago.

"This doesn't look good," Scrapper muttered grumpily as the Stego Zord--curled up into a ball like a prehistoric hedgehog--came whirling in towards Scrapper, the plates on the Zord's back like rotating saw blades before the Stego Zord slammed into Scrapper and knocked the monster back.

Tyler jumped back down to the ground as Koda's Stego Zord and Shelby's Tricera Zord joined Rexy. "Whoa!" the Red Ranger exclaimed as he stared in awe at the three massive Zords as they faced off to Scrapper. "Our Zords are awesome!"

"Tyler!" Koda asked as he and Shelby ran over to meet the Red Ranger. "The Zords will combine?"

"That's the plan!" Tyler answered, before waving his arm through the air. "Dino Charge Megazord: Tri-Stego formation!"

Stego Charger: Engage.

Tricera Charger: Engage.

T-Rex Charger: Engage.

The Stego Zord and Tricera Zord walked up to meet Rexy before all three Zords folded up, and changed shape. Rexy became the body and torso of the new mechanized Megazord, while Koda's Stego Zord became a bright blue right arm holding a shield, while Tricera became the left arm, still colored pink and holding a massive drill.

Zords Combine!

Stego Zord, combine!

Tricera Zord, combine!

Dino Charge Megazord: Ready!

"Wow!" Liv exclaimed as she ran forward to get a better look at the Megazord, while still staying on the ground with Chase and Riley since Koda and Shelby joined Tyler in the cockpit of the new Megazord. "Kendall's idea actually worked,"

"It's so cool!" Riley added, and even Chase seemed impressed.

"I'll smash you!" Scrapper shouted, shooting more blasts of purple energy at the Rangers as the Megazord, piloted by Tyler, Shelby, and Koda, flew forward and blocked every single one of the blasts with the Stego Zord's shield arm.

Then, the Megazord flipped, slamming its feet into Scrapper and knocking the monster back several meters, something that did little to help Scrapper's mood, as the monster next blocked one of the Megazord's strikes with his flyswatter arm.

"You'll never defeat me!" Scrapper shouted again, and as the battle between the Megazord and the massive monster continued, Liv was able to see as the Rangers started to gain an edge.

"The results are in, Scrapper!" Liv heard Tyler's voice through her helmet, and even the monster sounded confused because he let out a 'what?' before the Red Ranger continued. "You're trash!"

Then, the three Rangers within the Megazord readied for the final attack against Scrapper.

"T-Rex Zord!" Tyler, Shelby, and Koda all exclaimed. "Final strike!"

The Megazord spun around a final time before the head of the T-Rex Zord, which sat on the right shoulder of the Megazord, started to glow, before Rexy opened his mouth, and a giant glowing hologram of the T-Rex Zord's head exited, flying towards Scrapper.

"I'm headed for the scrap heap!" Scrapper cried out just as the glowing dinosaur head hit him, obliterating Scrapper and finally destroying the monster for good. As Scrapper exploded, Tyler turned the Megazord around so it was framed by the explosion.

"Monster, extinct."

🖤🧡🖤

Back at the museum, the Rangers had obviously demorphed, and most of them were now actually working their shifts at the cafe. Since Liv's job at the museum didn't constitute flipping burgers and wearing the corny baseball caps that were part of the Dino Bite Cafe's uniform, she didn't join the rest of the team in the kitchen, and instead sat at the dining counter, draining the remnants of another mango smoothie as she finished up some civilian work on her tablet.

As he walked behind her, and almost as if he knew, Chase swiped Liv's now-empty smoothie cup and pushed through the doors to the kitchen to refill it as he dumped some of the abandoned dishes from customers who had just left.

A commotion a moment later made Liv glance away from her tablet into the kitchen, just in time to watch Tyler stop Chase and Riley from running into each other, an avoided collision that would've caused Riley to drop a tray of full drinks.

"Uh, hey," Liv watched as the Kiwi stopped Tyler from returning to the grill where the Red Ranger had been in charge of the burgers and toasting the buns, and as Riley passed her, Olivia wondered what exactly her friend wanted to talk to Tyler about. "Look, I wanted to apologize," Liv's eyebrows flew up her forehead. "I was wrong to think you'd abandon the team,"

Frankly, Liv was impressed. Usually, it took a lot for Chase to admit he had been wrong about something, and considering he hadn't even known Tyler for very long, let alone been on the team with him, it just cemented even further in the Topaz Ranger's mind that this team was meant to be.

"I'm sorry, too," Tyler added, and Liv had the feeling the Red Ranger wasn't one to hold a grudge. "I shouldn't have been so quick to go off on my own. Fact is," Tyler continued a moment later. "We work better together,"

Liv hid a smile as she turned her gaze back to her tablet and her 'real' work, but her attention was diverted to the other Rangers once again as Shelby pushed through the door to the kitchen, looking less than pleased.

"It doesn't seem right," the Pink Ranger burst out, though she kept her voice relatively quiet since there were other customers still in the cafe. Customers that weren't exactly privy to the goings-on in the secret underground base right beneath their feet. "We save the world in the morning and serve them lunch in the afternoon,"

"Have you never seen a superhero movie, Shelby?" Liv asked as she finally abandoned her spot at the counter to join her friends and teammates in the kitchen. "Even superheroes need a secret identity to mask their heroic actions from everyday people,"

"Liv's right," Tyler said, his words slightly drowned out by the sound of the blender as Chase started making the refill to Liv's smoothie, but the Topaz Ranger sent a smug smile towards Shelby anyway, one the Pink Ranger returned with a deadpan glare. "Check out what I learned,"

This time, Tyler returned to the grill, readying the spatula with one hand and balancing a burger on top of it, before flipping the spatula so the burger flew up in the air and spinning around. But, when Tyler finished his turn and faced the grill again, the burger didn't land on the spatula, which Liv assumed had been his plan the entire time.

Tyler glanced suspiciously at Liv, Chase, Shelby, and Riley, who all stood in the front of the grill to see whatever it was that Tyler had learned, the Black Ranger having given Liv the second smoothie.

Liv just shrugged when Tyler looked at her, sipping the sweet and tart smoothie as innocently as she could. Riley, on the other hand, braced a hand against his chest as he stared back at Tyler.

"Don't look at me," the Green Ranger said, and Tyler narrowed his eyes before turning to look at Koda, who had been standing behind him washing dishes...and whose mouth was now suspiciously full.

As he noticed Tyler staring at him, the caveman avoided eye contact, trying to smile as un-guiltily as he could while still keeping his mouth full. It was an act that proved to be too difficult for the Blue Ranger to handle, because a moment later, Liv saw Koda's cheeks bulge a split-second before he spit the half-chewed hamburger all over her, Chase, Shelby, and Riley.

Liv was too shocked to do anything, but Shelby screamed, while Chase found the entire thing hilarious (typical) and started cackling, and Riley cried out in disgust.

She was able to see Koda start to giggle as Liv used her free hand to wipe the chunks of half-chewed burger that had gotten stuck to her shirt. Thankfully, her smoothie was safe, and had none of the burger chunks on or in it.

Their team may be dysfunctional--they had a caveman on it, for goodness sake--but they were still teammates, and Liv knew that when they worked together, they were practically unstoppable.

When they were ready, Sledge wouldn't know what hit him.