CHAPTER ONE — DINOHENGE
destination dinohenge — part one

"Maybe the dinosaurs had their own Michelangelosaurus" — ada cranston

ADALINE CRANSTON MISSED ANGEL GROVE. Or more specifically, she missed her Papa. 

For months he had been obsessing over the possibility of bringing back Zordon, which worried Ada and her Dad, but what really pushed things over the edge was the appearance of Robo-Rita. Ada wasn't sure where this Rita Repulsa had come from, but for some reason she believed it to be connected to whatever her Papa was trying to bring back his old mentor. And when the mechanical version of his old foe killed one of their own, James Cranston had had enough.

Trini Kwan died to save Billy's life and the guilt ate him up inside. He wasn't doing okay and he needed some space. And James, fearing for their daughter's safety, took Ada away from everything Power Ranger — yes, Ada knew about her Papa being a Ranger, she had done for most of her life — to start fresh in a place called Pine Ridge. If only he knew. 

But Ada missed him dearly and even in a new town, she wanted to help her Papa continue his search for his mentor. So, she was currently working on a device that she hoped would aid him in his quest.

She had designed it to track high concentrations of grid energy as she hoped it would give her Papa what he needed to refine his search for Zordon. Buuuuuuuut it wasn't quite done yet.

So she was currently sat in her new room, boxes still unpacked in the corner, hunched over her new desk as she soldered wires together. Her tongue poked out from the corner of her mouth as she focused on her task with a trained engineer's eye. Music blared in her ears and her head bopped along with the beat; she found that it helped her concentrate.

Heat from the iron could be felt against her skin as she fixed the last of the wires in place. Now the device was almost complete. A months worth of designs and creating was coming to an end and Ada couldn't be more excited. Not only would it mean her Papa could have a better chance in his search but it also meant she wouldn't have to divide her time and could solely focus on her project. 

Ada Cranston loved to make things. She always had done and she always would. And it was something she shared with her Papa which just made her talent for tech that much more special. 

As soon as the last wire was attached to the board, Ada Cranston lowered the soldering iron. She wiped away the sweat on her brow with the back of her hand. Then she began to put the finishing pieces onto her scanner. Oh if this worked, everything would be golden. 

So, fingers crossed.

In her hands sat a months worth of work now ready to be tested. She knew that the only people who would want this device were Power Rangers (or the enemies of Power Rangers) so it wasn't something she was planning to add to her company, when she finally made on that was. Still, Ada was proud and happy with her creation and that was what mattered.

A deep breath in and a deep breath out.

Then Ada reached for the controls.

It was her device so she obviously knew how it worked, she was just curious to see whether it would work. Excitement gleamed in her eager eyes as she flicked on the switch and the Morphin Grid scanner whirred to life in her palm. That was a good sign.

The screen illuminated with power, a low beeping echoing from the sides. It was searching, which meant it was working. 

A grin appeared on Ada's face as she looked down at her creation; she had done it. Joy consumed her and she erupted into relieved laughter. This was going to help her Papa find Zordon, she just knew it.

Ada, satisified that her newest invention did indeed work, went to reach for the off switch. Then something unexpected happened: the beeps stopped.

But that wouldn't have happened.... unless it found something.

Wide-eyed, Ada looked down at her device in shock as she could not believe what her new scanner was telling her. Staring at the screen whilst eyeing the wires at the side, Ada mumbled. "Please let there just be an issue with the range." Perhaps her device could scan a very large area? That was what she hoped for anyhow. That or her there was something wrong with the scanner.

But once she looked deeper into her device, she realised the truth.

Whatever it had detected, it was within the vicinity of Pine Ridge. There was a high concentration of Morphin Grid power nearby.

After everything her Dad had done to get them away from Power Rangers, it seemed he had accidentally picked a town close to a strong source of Morphin power. The irony. 

But whatever it was, Ada Cranston knew that she had to find it.

THE TWO CRANSTONS HADN'T BEEN IN PINE RIDGE LONGER THAN A WEEK SO ADA HAD NOT YET HAD TIME TO VISIT THE LOCAL FORESTRY. But right now she was deep in the woods as her Morphin Grid scanner led her who knows where, so she could cross something off of the list of things to do in her new home. And it was most definitely a nice park; the trees were towering and gorgeous and everything was so peaceful. Unlike her Dad's early morning snoring session.

Ada pulled the strap of her bag tighter with her spare hand as the other grasped the scanner. The faint yellow screen was pointing her in the right direction like a compass so she couldn't do much other than follow. She was trusting her newest creation to find the Morphin Grid power as she had no idea what it would look like. But part of her felt like she would know it when she saw it.

She had to make this trip quick because her Dad would soon be done setting up his classroom for his new job at the local High School and he had no idea what Ada was up to. If he did then he would have taken away her new scanner and forbade her to go anywhere near the grid energy. And would probably even move them to somewhere completely different. Ada couldn't blame him though as it was the very thing they had left Angel Grove to get away from. 

Continuing her trek, Ada headed straight for the source of the Morphin Grid reading. But when she made her way around a tree, she found herself staring at two people staring at each other and one of them didn't look very happy. 

"Uh, hi?" Ada spoke up which gained the attention of the two in front of her.

The girl in pink sent her a beaming grin. "Hi!" She waved at Ada. "What are you doing out here?"

Ada quickly hid her scanner behind her back. "I'm just exploring. I'm new here and I thought a walk in the woods would be nice."

"Yeah, this forest is really beautiful."

The unhappy boy picked up his bike after nodding at Ada to acknowledge her presence. He glanced down at his phone and groaned at the time. "Well, now I'm late. So, which way?" He asked, looking at his surroundings. 

As the boy muttered to himself, the cheerful girl with the strange weapon — was it a weapon? — turned to Ada. "Hi, I'm Amelia."

"Ada."

"Both our names start with an 'A', that's cool!" She grinned. In front of them the boy was talking to himself and when he mentioned something called 'Dinohenge' the girl, Amelia, perked up. "Dinohenge?" Whatever it was, it had a very interesting name. "That's where I'm going." She turned to look at Ada. "It's like the coolest thing in the woods, so you have to see it if you're exploring." 

Maybe she could divert some of her time and see the local landmark. Besides, it could be fun and Amelia seemed too nice to turn down.

"And... I have a map." Amelia stated as she whipped out the said map from her pocket and made her way over to the boy. Unfolding the paper, Amelia then announced. "It's that way."

One glance at her scanner made Ada realise that this Dinohenge was in the direction of whatever grid energy source was nearby. So perhaps she could do two things at once.

Amelia was leading the way through the forest and Ada trailed behind them. She kept flickering her gaze between her surroundings, these new people and the scanner to make sure she was remaining on the right path. This forest truly was beautiful.

"I'm Ollie, by the way." Ollie introduced himself.

"Amelia."

Turning back to Ada, Ollie tried to offer her a small smile to apologise for his attitude just before. "I'm Ada."

The boy's jaw dropped and he came to a halt, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. "I—I knew I recognised you. You're Ada Cranston, right?" 

Oh dear. But there was no escaping it now. 

"Yeah, I am." He knew about who her Papa was so she could most certainly not let him learn about the more powerful side to the Cranston name. "It all got a bit much, so me and my Dad moved here to Pine Ridge. How did you know anyway?"

A beaming smile spread across Ollie's lips. "I am a huge fan of your other Dad's work." It was no secret to the world that Billy Cranston, CEO of Cranston Tech, had a husband and a daughter. But Ada wasn't sure many people were interested in that. "It is so good to meet you."

Amelia was a little confused. "Uh, can someone fill me in?"

Before Ada could respond, in swept Ollie with his excited reply. "She's the daughter of Cranston Tech's CEO."

"Really?" Ada nodded. Then Amelia smiled. "That is really cool."

If they thought that was cool, they had another thing coming. 

Managing a smile, Ada said. "Yeah it is, but sometimes it's a lot to deal with." 

Ollie's enthusiasm faltered. "I am so sorry if I overwhelmed you." He quickly spoke up and in response, Ada offered the boy a kind smile to reassure him it was all okay. He had good intentions and that was what mattered.

Thank the Morphin Grid for Amelia because she quickly brought their conversation away from her. "So, you're clearly not here for zaps, so what's your deal?" Zaps? What had Ada missed?

"Like Ada, my Mom and I just moved to Pine Ridge." Ollie told them as Ada glanced to her scanner once more. Still on the right track, and getting closer. "She's an archaeologist, wants to unearth some of the history here." Now that reminded Ada of her Uncle Tommy who was a Doctor in Palaeontology. When she was little he would take her out on digs he had been invited to and would teach her all about the different dinosaurs. 

"Well, you're in luck. This place is packed with crazy history." Then they rounded around another bush to come before Dinohenge. "See for yourself."

Wow, it was absolutely stunning.

"No way!"

"This place is incredible." Smiled Ada. She stared at the landmark: a circle of dinosaur statues. There was a Tyrannosaurus, an Ankylosaurus, a Stegosaurus, a Mosasaurus, a Pterodactyl, a Saber-toothed tiger and a Triceratops. They were all standing equal distances apart, staring at the centre. And that was when Ada realised. This was it. This was the Morphin Grid energy source her scanner had detected. And just to make sure, the young scientist discreetly pulled out her device only to find the screen flashing.

She had reached her destination.

Ollie, like them, was staring at in in awe. "Where'd they come from?" He asked.

"Nobody knows."

"Amazing aren't they." A new voice caused them all to turn to see a kind looking woman heading their way. This must've been Ollie's Mom. "They're carvings of dinosaurs. Could be millions of years old." Ada stared at the statues in thought because perhaps she was right, perhaps they were that old.

Ollie queried. "Who could possibly have been around to make them?"

"Maybe the dinosaurs had their own Michelangelosaurus." Smirked Ada as Ollie gave her a look of disbelief.

Ada and Amelia turned to introduce themselves to Ollie's Mother who they then found out to be a Dr Akana. Very nice. And apparently Amelia was out here to make a story for something called 'BuzzBlast', Ada didn't really know.

Dr Akana glanced to her son with a warm smile. "Our first day here, and you've already made friends. I like them." Ada liked her too. Just because she grew up with two Fathers, it didn't mean she lacked wonderful female figures to look up to in life and from what she could already tell about the archaeologist, she was definitely someone Ada could look up to.

"Yeah, 'cause she didn't shoot you with an electrified net." Ollie retorted and spared a glare towards Amelia. Oh, so that was what happened. Still, Ada was a little confused.

"Oh, it's nothing." Amelia quickly dismissed Dr Akana's confusion and then turned to all the gear on the trolley. Ada too was intrigued by all the equipment and the purpose of it at a site so full of Morphin Grid power. "So, what exactly are you working on here?"

Looking around at the statues, Dr Akana's face was plastered with excitement. "Oh, we're gonna try and solve the mystery of Dinohenge with the help of my scanning system."

Now that was interesting. But part of Ada was worried about what they may find.

Her eyes glazed over the equipment in Dr Akana's possession before raising an eyebrow at some of it. "You have Cranston tech?"

"Yeah, you recognise this?" She questioned and looked between Ada and the device. No normal young adult would have a clue as to what this was for which just made her like Ada even more. And unbeknownst to everyone, the reason she recognised it was because she had helped her Papa design it. 

Amelia looked over the trolley to the drone in the centre of Dinohenge. "So the scanner's mounted on the drone?" She asked.

"That's right." Dr Akana confirmed Amelia's assumption. "Its sensors can detect buried structures." Ada joined Ollie and Amelia in the centre of Dinohenge, biting her lip in anticipation as the archaeologist prepared to launch the drone. "Here we go."

The drone whirred to life and took off into the air. It scanned the statues. But as soon as the scanner ran across each sculpture, the eyes glowed with power. Morphin power.

In her pocket, Ada's scanner released a blaring beep. She immediately withdrew it from her pocket and her eyes widened at the results. "Holy shit." The Morphin Grid energy had strengthened. 

Each statue had a different colour glow and she curious over how the Saber-toothed tiger and Pterodactyl statues did not share the same colours as the Mighty Morphin Rangers. And also, she couldn't deny this feeling deep in her gut as she stared at the yellow aura of the Pterodactyl. Perhaps it was because it was like her Aunts combined. Ada didn't know.

If the others weren't too distracted by the glowing statue eyes they would have noticed Ada's device which she quickly turned off and returned to her pocket.

"Uh, did you see that?"

Amelia nodded, taken aback by what she had seen. "The dinosaurs's eyes." 

"How intriguing!"

Then, all of a sudden, the ground rumbled beneath their feet. 

Ada held her arms out to steady herself as the ground shook. Her eyes darted around for any sign of an explanation but couldn't find one. First the statues glowing and now the quake, it had to be connected.

"Is that an earthquake?"

But as soon as the question fell from Amelia's lips, the quake stopped and the ground was stable once more. It was like the quake had not even happened in the first place. This was very odd.

The drone landed and the data arrived on Dr Akana's computer. She stared at the results with intrigue as they appeared. "Very unusual." The others hurried back to her side so they could see exactly what the drone had discovered. "Look at that. Below the Dinohenge statues, there's some sort of... chamber."

They all cast their eyes to the floor. Ada had no idea what was beneath their feet at this moment but she was eager to find out.

"Underground? Right here? No way!" 

"What's going on here folks?" The new voice made Ada look up to find a Park Ranger staring at them, hands resting on his hips.

Amelia sighed in annoyance. "Great, it's Warden Buzzkill."

Dr Akana plastered on her kindest smile as she walked up to the interrupting warden. "Good afternoon, Warden Buzzkill." Ada snorted at the woman's words. "I'm Dr Lani Akana from the Global Association of Archaeology."

She went to hand him her card, but the warden remained where he was. "It's Park Warden Garcia, actually." Dr Akana stepped back. "And you don't have permission to be out here."

Amelia was quick to protest. "But Warden, I'm doing a story on Dinohenge—"

"Save it, Miss Jones." He told her sternly. "I don't care if you're a reporter, or the Queen of England. You're trespassing."

Ada frowned at his words. They were trespassing? She didn't know. She must've missed the signs when she was focusing on her scanner. Oops.

"So, pack up." He said and then added. "Oh, and I'll need you to come back to the Parks HQ and file a report." 

"Happy to comply."

Park Warden Garcia pointed behind them. "It's this way." Then he began to lead the way for Dr Akana to follow. Honestly, Ada was a bit surprised he hadn't asked her but she gathered he believed them to be of one group.

"Load everything into the car and meet me in town.  We've got all the data we need for now." Dr Akana told her son as she removed her tool belt and hurried off into the direction the warden went.

Immediately both Ada and Amelia began to help Ollie pack away his Mother's things and the latter questioned their report acquaintance about her connection to the warden. It seemed she had a habit of being in places the man didn't like and had been cautioned many times.

"He's not a fan of Ghost Hunters."

Both Ollie and Ada stopped in their tracks. A lot had happened in Ada's life and she knew a lot of crazy things were real, but she had always thought Ghosts weren't real. But she would be glad to be proved wrong. Something about them intrigued her.

"Ghost hunters? Are you serious? You shot that net at me because you thought I was a ghost?" Now it all made sense. 

"Well, it was hard to see... and your poncho, and..." The curious girl gave in with a small sigh. "Ok, maybe I did, but come on. Your Mom's an archaeologist." Ollie and Amelia grabbed a large box between them as Ada started to put away the open equipment on the trolley. "You've been in tombs, crypts, catacombs. You must have seen ghosts."

"Never."

As the two continued to debate the existence of ghosts, Ada was packing away all of Dr Akana's things and checked the time. Her Dad would be done soon and would return home and find her not there. She had to come up with a good excuse to explain herself.

The two made their way over to her as she closed the last of the open containers on the trolley. "But why should I explain myself? You're obviously closed-minded."

"Closed-minded?" Frowned Ollie. "Try rational. Rational people do not believe in things without evidence. You're with me on this, right Ada?"

The girl lifted her arms up in surrender. "Don't bring me into this. I'm not on either side of this debate."

"At least you're more open-minded, Ada." Smiled Amelia gratefully before returning to Ollie with an annoyed look. "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."

"Strongly disagree." Emphasised Ollie. Amelia just grunted in anger and pushed the trolley a little towards Ollie. 

But before their debate could get even more heated, thunder boomed in the air above them. She looked over her shoulder only to see a purple beam shoot down to the ground and a dark purple warrior appear.

They were scanning the area with some sort of device which meant they were searching for something in particular. The armour, the weapons, it all looked so... familiar in a way.

The three dived behind a statue for cover but they could hear the beeping of the warrior's device speed up as they drew nearer. Ada peeked around the statue to get a better look at this new arrival and that was when she realised.

They looked like an evil Power Ranger. A dark knight Ranger. 

She didn't know how but they had the same sort of look as Rangers. Oh what had she gotten herself into.

The scanner stopped beeping as soon as the warrior pointed the scanner at the ground. It was heading for the underground structure. And with one great slash, the sword was brought down and tore a hole right into the ground. This was definitely Morphin Power.

The dark knight descended into the earth which allowed the frightened trio to emerge from behind the Triceratops statue. Amelia headed straight for the opening with Ada not that far behind, but Ollie was a bit more hesitant.

"Where are you two going?"

Ada turned back to offer Ollie a reassuring smile. "We're going to see what evil Batman is up to." Both Ollie and Amelia frowned at her comparison. "Because they're a dark Knight?" No response. "Just forget it." 

"You're not afraid, are you?" Questioned Amelia.

"Uh, of course not." Ollie replied as he followed after the girls. Yep, he was definitely lying. And the raised eyebrow she was sending him told him that she knew. "I've been in plenty of tombs, chambers, all sorts."

They approached the hole in the ground and then Amelia turned back to Ollie and Ada. "Ok, let's go."

Then carefully the trio descended into the earth after the evil Ranger-looking warrior. And as Ada headed down she couldn't help but think: My Dad is gonna kill me. 

Welcome to Chapter One!!!

I didn't write a prologue for this fic because I felt like it didn't need one so I just went ahead and started writing for the show.

Ada doesn't know for definite that it was because of her Papa that Robo-Rita escaped, but she has her suspicions. He will tell her at some point, but he was too ashamed to admit it at the moment. Trini's death is so recent, they're all still in shock and mourning. And poor James: he picked Pine Ridge because he thought he could get Ada away from the Ranger life. He has no idea that that made her become more involved with Rangers. 

I currently have 7 other chapters pre-written but I don't think my schedule will be regular. I'll post a new chapter once I've added another pre-written chapter to my collection so there will always be seven until I finish this fic. But I hope I can write these chapters in decent time.

Also, I added the title to the gif at the top which I'll be doing with all the chapter gifs. 

Thank you for reading!!!

Sincerely Rosie aka Winter326