Under the cerulean Summer sky, a yellow school bus cruised along a coastal highway, followed by a white box truck, crisp ocean waves crashing against the shore to their left, hilly woods to their right. A light breeze rustled the treetops as tiny critters scurried to and fro, and the sounds of teenage chatter radiated outwards from the vehicle’s open windows.

They were heading towards Amber Beach Dinosaur Museum, which was right on the west-northwestern edge of Angel Grove, a suburb of Los Angeles and a city in its own right. The facility to which they were traveling sat right at the southern tip of McCadden National Forest, which was host to a number of federally-authorized fossil dig sites. The day's excursion was part of Angel Grove High's Summer School Extra Credit Program, which encouraged students to participate in charitable events such as the fundraiser they were bound for in exchange for "floating" credits that could be applied to any core class when the Fall term began in early September.

Inside the bus, Shelby Watkins stared incredulously forward over the seats as Karone Morrey sat towards the front, continuing to snap pictures with her phone, the blonde girl typing away excitedly as she captioned her uploads to her Instagram account.

“Gah! She’s totally missing the point!” the dark-haired girl grunted, crossing her arms as she sat back, face pouting. “This is for charity! To help people! But all that bitch cares about is clout!” She turned and glared at Tommy Miyazoko when he didn’t immediately reply, who was sitting in the same seat, looking out the window. He noticed the silence and turned to her.

“What?” he shrugged, holding his hands palm-up. Shelby just scowled at him as he grinned. “What did I do now?”

“You’re defending her!”

“I am not! I didn’t say anything!”

“But you were thinking about it!” she accused, narrowing her eyes. She then looked away with her chin up. “I know you watch her streams.”

“So?” he replied, earning another grunt from Shelby as she rolled her eyes. “What? I like her content! It’s… entertaining!”

“Let me save you some time, losers,” came a voice from behind them, and they turned to see a slightly heavy boy leaning over, a cocky smirk on his face. “Talking about Karone won’t get her to notice you. Not when we’re around instead.” He gestured towards himself with a thumb as a second, taller and skinnier boy popped his head up.

“Yeah!” he added, chewing on a piece of gum. “You losers don’t stand a chance!” The two punks looked at each other and nodded, pleased with themselves. Then uttered in unison, “Loo-sers! Loo-sers! Loo-sers!”




“How did Bulk and Skull even get in this program?” Shelby wondered out loud, ignoring them. “I suppose the same way Karone did. By kissing up to -”

Suddenly she was cut off as two kids on the other side of the aisle started arguing. Apparently, one had been watching a political video and it had sparked a fierce argument.

“No, you listen!” one of them demanded. “We need Karl Ziktor as our next President! And I hear he’s choosing Anton Mercer as his running mate, which is even better! Our country needs a strong leader, and I am so grateful I turned eighteen soon enough to register to vote in November’s election!”

“No, you listen, mother fucker!” the other growled. “Do you know why everyone calls that piece of shit Ziktor ‘Grimlord?’ Because his Corporatist Party only cares about their rich donors! They don’t give a fuck about working class families in need!”

The two continued to scream at each other until their chaperone, Miss Kendall Morgan, came stomping down the aisle towards them, snapping her fingers.

“Hey! HEY!” she commanded, the entire vehicle going silent. Even the driver knew not to mess with her. “If you two can’t behave yourselves, then keep that political crap off my bus! Not another word from either of you! Zip it!”



“You rock, Miss Morgan!” Karone said happily, typing away once more on her phone.

“She is so fake,” Shelby sulked as she continued to watch the blonde streamer.

“Give it a rest, will you?” Tommy shook his head and smirked. “Do you have a crush on her or something?”

“Wha-what?” she replied, eyes huge. “N-no! Why would you even suggest that?!”

“Hey Finn,” the boy said with a laugh, leaning over to the seat directly in front of him. “Shelby has a crush on Karone. Look, she’s blushing!”

“I AM NOT BLUSHING!” she insisted, despite the reddish glow spreading across her cheeks.

Earlier That Morning

“You pathetic fool!” The monster was horrifying. Staring into its shiny black orbs for eyes, Ozzy began to feel himself getting nervous. The creature was nearly twice his size with talon-like hands that were webbed to its torso with a thin leathery membrane resembling that of a bat. The breath of each word could be seen in a haze of condensation that seemed to rhythmically flow out of its salivating mouth. Its lips could barely maneuver around it's large, razor sharp teeth when it spoke. “I'm going to savor every morsel of you!”

Think, think! Ozzy's eyes darted back and forth as he tried to come up with a plan. At any moment, that bipedal monstrosity could lunge forth and by then, Oz would be doomed. As his breathing became more intense, the young man started wiggling his fingers frantically, a nervous tick meant to draw up inspiration as quickly as possible. Wait, he thought. Those eyes. They're basically all pupil... bat-like... nocturnal. A slow, crooked smile began to form across Oz's face.

“DIE!” screeched the creature and, with that, he sprung up into the air, intent to descend upon its teenage prey.

“Not today!” Oz shouted back. The young man's hands began to glow as they rotated around one another as if forming an invisible ball. That void was quickly filled with light and, with a bite of his lip, Oz pushed that ball of light right toward the monster's face. Then came the dreaded words that shook Oz to the core...

MISS

The creature's claws them buried themselves into Ozzy's flesh. He cried out, but it was too late. The world was getting dark. Everything faded to black. And then the worst words of all appeared...

GAME OVER

“Fuck!” Oz shouted, slamming his fists into his desk as he looked on at the computer screen that continued to display his failure.

“What, sweetie?” called his mom from downstairs.

“Er... Nothing, ma!” he shouted back. “Just a great start to what is bound to be a splendid fucking day,” he said, trailing off into a mumble.

“Well hurry up, your breakfast is cold and you're going to be late for school! You've got that trip today don't you?”

Oz's eyes widened at the realization. “Shit, that's right! Okay, I'm coming!”

++++

Presently

The bus ride wasn't exactly the smoothest. Oz found himself sitting toward the middle rows in the aisle seat. He didn't care much for a window because his eyes were glued to his smartphone, taking in the local news. The constant little bumps and curves of the terrain were making him a bit nauseous. If he were to keep this up, he was sure to vomit and ruin the yellow and black flannel shirt he was wearing. Defeated, he shoved the phone into the front pocket of his dark jeans and sighed as he pushed his black rimmed glasses back up into the correct position on the bridge of his nose.

Sounds of teasing and squabbles from the other students filled his ears. He didn't care enough to eavesdrop at the moment. He was just eager to get where they were going so they could get out of this rust bucket on wheels. His mind drifted off to the virtual world of Land Of MageCraft and how he could face that monster again, but this time come out victorious. He wasn't even sure he'd be able to do it on his own. Usually people had to form a party to take on such a boss fight, but finding a party required being social – something Oz was not in a hurry to do.

Talk of Karl Ziktor suddenly filled his ear as a student rained down support of the man, quickly followed by heated rebuttal from someone else. The teacher quickly chastised the two students for their handling of the discussion.

“...Keep that political crap off my bus!”

“That wasn't political discussion,” Oz said audibly, but only loud enough for a small radius to catch. “That was a dick measuring contest. Its a good thing she stopped it now before they started unzipping.” He let out a singular huff of laughter at his own musings before inhaling deep and letting out another dramatic sigh. At this point, all he could hope was for the Dinosaur Museum to redeem the worthwhileness of the day.

Weeks earlier...

Henry and Bruce Bailey stood around the open hood of a Ninetey-Two Nissan 300ZX. The prospective seller stood nearby, his arms crossed as he watched them argue over it.

"She's about as old as me. Needs a priest, not a mechanic." It was true enough that the paint was in rough shape, and it sat on four flat tires. And there was some kind of nest in the air intake.

"I don't need to restore it or nothing, but if I make it run, I can sell it to someone who will. I've gone and done it before. Besides, it's old, but it's been sittin', right?" He turned to the seller, a man not much older than Bruce himself.

"Huh? Oh, yeah man. My dad parked it because the clutch was going bad, he just never fixed it, and I don't really wanna so..."

"Let's get it on the trailer, daddy. I can make this work"

~~~

Now...

Bruce was seated by the window, next to a kid named Oz, and both boys were similar engrossed on their phone. Bruce had seven different tabs open in his browser, looking for parts for the Nissan that had become the bane of his existence. He'd thought he'd put in a new clutch, some shiny tires and offload the thing, but everywhere he looked there were new problems.

Eleven hundred for this, but then I can't afford both struts, only one is all that bad but I really should do both, and I can't find a good set of calipers for this model anywhere...

On and on he went, lost in his thoughts without anyone to really talk to. He didn't have many real friends. Kids he went to shop classes with were the closest to relating to him, but none of them were interested in dinosaur day, or whatever this was called. Of course, neither was Bruce, but he needed the credits.

There was Helia, of course, but she scared him a little in a way he couldn't explain. He'd talk to her if she struck something up, but usually he kept his head as far down as his stature allowed.

The kid next to him suddenly opened his mouth, “That wasn't political discussion. That was a dick measuring contest. Its a good thing she stopped it now before they started unzipping.”

Bruce hadn't heard the rest, but the off color joke caught him off guard and he let out a much louder bark of laughter than he meant to.

Ignore

In the back left of the bus, if one looked, they could find a human wreck crawled into the corner, a head of messy red hair lolling on the backrest, mouth open and snoring loudly. The rest of Helia was hidden under her sweater turned into a makeshift blanket. This week has not been kind to the girl, having to fill in for another server at Ernie's who was taking her paid time off. Naturally, a pipe had to start leaking in the bathroom, so she had to quickly make a trip to a utility store and then replace the seal. The things that get trapped in the sink in female bathroom...

Helia went for a swim in the evening, leading to her present state. Waking up to make the bus has been a nightmare, and three alarms fell in that battle before the redhead got up, sucked down two cokes back to back to get a caffeine jolt and zombie walked to the school. She had half the mind to skit the adventure and make the credits in some other way. But no, this was community aid, and she never cheaped out on that, regardless of her comfort. She did intend to make up for the lack of sleep on the way though.

Or so she would, if somebody didn't notice her and decided to use her as a hoop. A ball of crumpled paper landed in her mouth, making Helia wake up with a startle, spitting it out. She rubbed her eyes open, by now entirely too late to see who tossed the offending object. "I swear, I will set fire to something you own." she threatened noone in particular.

She looked outside, figuring out they were still some way form their destination, and settled back to sleep. Or so she would, had some two loudmouths not started arguing about somethingorother, before being settled down by the teacher. And of course, the local suck-up had to chime in. Seriously, what was the Brat even doing here?

Now realizing she didn't even know who else was present, she looked over the bus. Delighted, most of her usual gang was here, along with some other more questionable characters. The thought of a possibility that a paper that touched Skull's hand has been in her mouth almost made her vomit right there and then, and was abandoned quickly after. She tried focusing her ears on the conversation, and regretted it shorlty after. "Polydical posturing aside, does anyone know what we'll be doing? A Pickmeup and carrymeoveryonder?" she inquired of the group, hoping that was not the case, as heavy lifting was not something she would enjoy after yesterday.

Finn had spent much of the night before baking brownies, cupcakes, and cookies for the bake sale he had planned today. You would never know that by looking at him. He still had plenty of energy, and was in a chipper mood. The bake sale was Finn’s idea, but there were other members of the cheer squad present to assist. Most of them were on this trip for the extra credit, but Finn was here solely for the joy of sharing his creations with others.

While on the bus, he sat next to a boy named Sa’cha. He was a new kid, and Finn had seen him around, but until today, they hadn’t talked much. Finn was going to change that today. The two chatted on the bus, and by chatted, it was mostly Finn doing most of the talking. He was used to that. It was going quite well, until Skull and Bulk opened their mouths.

Finn cringed the entire time Bulk and Skull were arguing. Finn wished those two didn’t come on this trip. Finn didn’t have it in him to actually hate anyone, but those two greatly reminded him of his childhood bullies. As bad as it sounded, he couldn’t stand being in the same room with them for fear of doing something he might regret. So he avoided any interactions with them whenever possible.

Finn didn’t acknowledge their antics, and was grateful to Tommy for providing some kind of distraction from them. “Aww, leave her be Tommy.” Finn replied. “If she does, she does, and if she doesn’t she doesn’t. You don’t need to tease her about it.”

He then turned his attention back to Sa’cha, and smiled. ”Anyway, I know some people on this trip aren’t exactly here for charity… It isn’t my place to judge them. Me? I’m here to share my sweet treats with people. I love baking! My mom, little sister and I would bake together when my mom was free. Sharing sweets is a great way to bond with people I think.”

Tommy had chuckled at Oz’s comment about the dick-measuring contest, and then grinned when Finn and Sa’Cha insisted he stop teasing Shelby.

“Yeah!” she nodded repeatedly, arms crossed. “You should stop teasing me!”

“But you’re too cute when you’re embarrassed!” he replied playfully.

“I am not embarrassed!” she insisted. “I have nothing to be embarrassed about!”

“Relax, I’m just messing with you,” the dark-haired boy said after another chortle, pulling her into a one-armed shoulder-to-shoulder hug and kissing her on the forehead. “I’ll quit teasing you now, ya big crybaby.”

“Yeah, well you’re a big jerk,” she added, crossing her arms again and looking away, chin up. But then she turned back and grinned. “But you’re lucky you’re a cute jerk!”

After Helia had inquired about the purpose of the day’s event, Shelby was the first to reply.

“There are so many awesome things going on at the Museum today!” she explained excitedly. “We’re heading there to help out with a fundraiser to save the place from being closed down. And like Finn said, he made baked nummies!”

“So, do you got any ‘special’ brownies in your stash, Finn?” Bulk asked quietly with a grin as his head popped back up over the seat.

“What, you mean ‘special’ like my grandmother’s cookies?” Skull inquired as he chewed the gum in his mouth loudly. Bulk just rolled his eyes.

“No, you dolt,” he replied, shaking his head. He leaned in and whispered in Skull’s ear, after which the other boy’s eyes grew wide.

“Duuuuuude!” he said excitedly to Finn, a bit too loud. “If you got weed goodies, fork ‘em over, twerp!”

“Ixnay on the grasstalk!” Bulk barked angrily in a hushed tone when he noticed Miss Morgan glancing in their direction. The two punks then dropped back down and were quiet the rest of the drive.

“Hey everyone!” Karone called out, holding up her phone, which had the Twitch app open. She then flashed a toothy smile. “Say hi to the chat! We have seven thousand people watching right now!”

Shelby let out a squeal of protest and dropped down out of sight of the camera. “I really hate that girl...”





As the bus turned off the main highway, they could see the Museum at the other end of a winding road. There were dozens of vehicles finding their way into the parking lot, and quite a few tented stalls had been set up throughout the forested grounds surrounding the main building.






As the students began exiting the vehicle once it had parked, the white box truck that had been following them pulled into the lot as well. The driver hopped out and slid open the back rolling door as Tommy and the others walked up to help unload the supplies for the event.

“Hey guys, how was the ride?” the older man asked. He looked to be in his mid-to-late-forties, well-built, and covered in tattoos. Many of the teens thought he was the coolest teacher at Angel Grove High, and he had been a beloved local celebrity back when he was a student there in the nineties.



“It was stellar, Mr. Oliver!” Karone replied happily before anyone else could. “I had over seven thousand viewers on my stream before Miss Morgan made me turn it off!”

“That’s… impressive!” he replied.

“It totes is!” she agreed wholeheartedly while Shelby looked at the others and made a silent puking motion.

Soon they were loading up their supplies - including Finn’s baked goods - from the shelves and cabinets inside the truck onto carts and wheeling them to the row of tents that had been allotted to them. Before their stalls opened for business, the teen volunteers were taken on a quick tour of the facility, which included a restaurant called the Dino Bite Cafe.




(the episode linked below also gives a good look at the Museum and Cafe)

Finn giggled at Shelby and Tommy’s banter. Then Bulk and Skull had to go and ruin it… Without missing a beat, Finn replied with a smile on his face. “Well, all my treats are special. They’re handmade with love and care! Also, please don’t call me a twerp… That’s not nice.” He had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Finn was also grateful to Miss Morgan for shutting those bullies down quick.

When the bus finally arrived at the museum, Finn was one of the first to get off. First, he had helped to unload the supplies for the event. Particularly his baked goods, onto the carts, and wheeling them to the tents. Finn was excited to start, and he was not afraid to show it. He started bouncing up and down, waving his arms, and started to sing.

All you have to do is take a cup of flour
Add it to the mix
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour
A bit of salt, just a pinch
Baking these treats is such a cinch
Add a teaspoon of vanilla
Add a little more, and you count to four,
And you never get your fill of...
Cupcakes! So sweet and tasty
Cupcakes! Don't be too hasty
Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!

He finished his little routine by doing a cartwheel. “Weee!” After that, he went to join the group that went on a tour of the facility.

Ozzy was thankful to be off the bus, that was for sure. As soon as his feet hit the Earth, he stretched out, slow and exaggerated, like a cat. Soon supplies were unloaded and a tour commenced. As they passed the Dino Bite Cafe, Oz impulsively uttered, "Wow... It's like The Flintstones."

He took a quick snapshot on his phone, evidence for the tale he would surely tell his parents once he returned home. Curiosity lead him toward the counter where he caught a glimpse of the menu and one particularly humongous dino-sized 'Bronto-Burger' that the was featured upon it. "Good lordy, I'd have to unhinge my jaw," he said out loud as he rubbed his chin in discomfort at the mere ponderance of eating that thing. "What the hell is 'a bowl of fries'?" he asked as he kept reading. "A bowl of fries?!"

Eventually he turned back around to face the group and pointed back behind himself toward the counter. "If one of you can scarf that thing down, clean the fry bowl and not die, I'll pay for the meal," he said with a crooked grin as he issued the challenge.

One of the first stops on the tour was the Dino Bite Cafe. It was a cute dinosaur themed restaurant. When they went in, Oz issued a challenge for whoever could finish an entire bowl of fries. Finn giggled and spoke to Tommy and Sa’cha who were next to him. “I could probably do it, but well… It wouldn’t be healthy for me to be scarfing down cupcakes and fries all day.” He flexed one of his biceps. “I’m a cheerleader, I worked hard to get this body. I can’t afford to let myself go. Besides, I have a feeling someone else will take him up on that.” He said with an eye towards Bulk and Skull.

Helia - Museum grounds

As the bus lurched to a stop, Helia used the motion to catapult herself to her feet. She chuckled dryly at the mention of the special cookies. "Exhibit number one, oxen desperate to graze on Grass. Morrey are you getting this? You should make a video tour out of it." She sneered as she walked past the BS.

A truck rolled in with a mancandy of a teacher, and Helia shook her head to stop staring. What was it with her having an eye for jacked guys nmed Tommy? She walked to the back of the truck to clear her head theough soulcrushing labor just as Bulk and Skull tumbled off of the bus. "You two! Help me with this." She called over.

"Who died and made you the-"

Helia shot them a deadly glare.

"-Yes ma'am" he finished without pause, Helia taking care to pick something not easily broken to load into their arms. She picked up a couple more boxes and off they went.

Once all the stuff was at it's place, the group wandered into a bar slash restaurant and Oswald made the mistake of offering a poor person a free meal: "I'll take that action!" She grinned, licking her lips hungrily. On cue her stomach growled like a dragon.

Bruce let most people go by before expending the effort to unwedge and unfold himself from the little bus seat. There was a reason he had driven himself to and from school ever since he had been allowed. Getting his license was blessedly around the same time he had become simply too big to fit on a school bus.

Despite being one of the last off, Bruce was one of the first to reach to truck to begin unloading, blowing past the reluctant Bulk and Skull. He took more than his share in his arms and started to follow along to the tents where the real action would be.

"I tell ya, I won't mind if it's all lugging stuff back and forth. Can do that half asleep and wake up feeling fine."

All too soon, the lugging was over and while some other volunteers set up shop, the students were taken on a nice tour. Bruce looked on politely, but dinosaurs weren't really his thing, and when they reached the restaurant, it was the "Cafe" bit that interested him, not the "Dino Bite."

Oz issued a general challenge to eat the Cafe's largest offering, and Helia had already vocally accepted.

"Well, I ain't about to let myself get out eaten, so you're both on."

Tommy smirked as Finn began singing his cupcake song, and he and Shelby even joined in for the last few lines. They both then chuckled at how easily Helia commanded around Bulk and Skull. It was hilarious and a completely welcome sight.

“How much you wanna bet they’re both actually bottoms?” Tommy whispered in Helia’s ear with a giggle as he walked by her.

During the tour, the teens chuckled at Oz’s challenge, some of them even taking him up on his offer. One person who did not get on board was Karone.

“Ew, you guys are disgusting,” she grimaced at the greasy food. She then turned to the cashier. “Do you have anything that isn’t gutter trash? Any vegan options? Nevermind, forget it. I wouldn’t trust it anyway.”

“Funny how different she is when her fans aren’t watching,” Shelby groaned as she frowned at the blonde girl.

After eating and finishing the tour, the teens made their way back to the tents, where they spent a few hours selling their goods, such as Finn’s baked treats. Tommy grinned as he saw Sa’Cha and Finn interact periodically throughout the day, and at one point he leaned in and whispered to Sa’Cha with a chortle, “Just ask him out already, ya damn pussy.”

Meanwhile, Shelby was trying to stay in proximity to Helia. She was hoping to use this outing to get to know her better, as they both had significant history with Tommy and Finn but not as much with each other. Not to mention they were the only two girls in their social circle, and, of course, “that bitch” Karone didn’t count to either of them.

“Is it just me or does Mr. Oliver seem positively swoon-worthy?” she asked the red-haired girl with a whispered giggle as they watched him lift up a stack of empty crates to take back to the truck. “I dare you to run up and slap his ass.” She was kidding, of course, but it gave them something to laugh about together.

After they finished selling their goods and cleaned up their stalls, Miss Morgan began breaking them up into smaller groups for various tasks. Many of the teens were happy when Bulk and Skull ended up on a separate team from them, but Shelby was noticeably disappointed when they learned it would be Miss Morgan, and not Mr. Oliver, leading their group. She then groaned when Karone joined them.

Soon Miss Morgan, Tommy, Shelby, Karone, Finn, Helia, Sa’Cha, Bruce, and Oz loaded up cases of water, folded chairs, tables, and other supplies into the back of several long orange vans with the Museum logo on the sides. The group then hopped in themselves and were driven by facility staff up a winding road into the forest. They stopped outside the mouth of the Sampson Caves, and soon were hauling the supplies inside, setting up the tables and chairs and such.

“At the end of the tour later today, there will be a presentation here in the caves,” Miss Morgan explained when asked why they were moving all the stuff there. “Once we’re done, we will…”

Her words trailed off as they suddenly heard a ferocious rumbling in the distance that seemed to move towards them rapidly. A moment later, the ground below them began to quake, and Shelby stumbled and fell backwards. Tommy tried to help her up but he fell too as the shaking grew worse.

“What’s going on!” Shelby cried out.

“This isn’t good! We need to get out, now!”

“Oh my god, it’s an earthquake! I’m too young and beautiful to die here! AAAAEEEEIIIIIYYY!!”

“Everyone, calm down!” Miss Morgan barked. “Don’t panic! Don’t-”

Before she could finish her sentence, the ground beneath them caved in, and they felt themselves tumble into the darkness below. After a few seconds of falling, they crashed into an underground river that was rushing past, and were whisked off deeper underground along the raging current. By that point everything was pitch black, but they could still hear the rumbling of the quake in the distance, partially drowned out by their own panicked screams.

At some point, the flow pushed them completely underwater as they shot through a submerged tunnel. Shelby thought for sure she was going to drown until they were spit out into an enormous underground lake. They all frantically swam to the surface and floated there for a moment, catching their breath. They found themselves inside a spacious grotto, where a slanting rock wall led out of the water and to a hole up above, where sunlight was bleeding in. They also noticed several other ledges sitting around the inside of the cavern.



“Is everyone okay? Anyone hurt?” Miss Morgan checked with everyone as they floated there. “Let’s get out of the water. We’ll see if there’s a way up through that hole in the ceiling.”

They began to swim towards the light, but after another lingering shockwave from the cave caused a few loose rocks to fall onto one of the ledges, Tommy stopped and stared.

“Did you guys see that?”

“See what?” Shelby asked.

“That rock… it looked like it hit something invisible. There was a tiny flash of light and then it was gone again...”

“You’re just shaken,” Miss Morgan insisted. “We all are. Now let’s keep moving.”

But Tommy wasn’t convinced. He kept staring, and then saw the invisible thing fizzle again before a cloaking field of some sort vanished, revealing what appeared to be a futuristic vessel.

“I knew there was something there!” he cried out before swimming towards it rapidly.

“Is that a spaceship!?” Shelby cried out excitedly as she followed close behind.

“Guys! GUYS! You don’t know what that is! We need to get out of here! Guys!” Miss Morgan barked, then sighed loudly as all the teens began following Tommy towards this new discovery. Reluctantly, she swam after them as well.

The group pulled themselves out of the water and began climbing up the cliff face towards the ledge, then approached the ship slowly. As if beckoning them inside, a ramp dropped down and a door slid open.




(jump to the 19:00 minute mark in the video below for the scene the ship was inspired from)


“Do NOT go inside there!” Miss Morgan commanded as she rushed up behind them, slightly out of breath. “We have no idea what we are dealing with here!”

The teacher then grunted angrily as the teens all ignored her and walked through the doorway regardless. They all felt as if they were being pulled by something, like destiny or fate pushing them towards a strange energy of some kind. They pulled out their phones - which were luckily waterproof - and flipped on the embedded flashlights as they explored the silvery corridors of the vessel.

Soon they found their way to what must be the bridge of the ship, and lined up along the edge of the front window were a series of metallic belt buckle-sized objects in the shape of dragon heads, but the eyes of each were a different color - red, blue, green, pink, black, copper, silver, gold, among others - it seemed every color imaginable was represented.





These strange objects were drawing the teens forward, and despite Miss Morgan’s repeated protests, they approached the ledge where they were mounted. Suddenly, the eyes of eight dragon heads began to glow brightly, and these levitated into the air, surrounded by an aura matching the color of the eyes. The metallic objects began vibrating as they flew in a spiral pattern around each teen, summoning forth multicolored tornadoes around each of them, seemingly out of nowhere. Lightning and thunder flashed and cracked within, and they all felt a glowing warmth wash over their bodies.


(The image above gives an idea, but the videos below paint a pretty good picture too. I envision it as a fusion between the Ninja Steel and Beast Morphers metamorphosis wherein the mist is the nanoparticles from the suit linking up together over their bodies)



“Uh, guys?” Shelby called out warily from inside her twister. “What’s going on?!”

“I have no idea!” Tommy called out in reply.

“Whoa, my hair and clothes are drying, like… magic!”

Indeed, the teens had been completely soaked just moments before, but were now drying as the dragon buckles exhaled the multicolored dust that now whipped around each of them. This dust then began solidifying from the feet up, covering their bodies in some sort of perfectly-fitting exosuit. Once it got to their neck, the dragon buckle expanded and folded itself over their heads, forming a helmet.

“What the… hell!” Karone cried out as the metamorphosis completed.

“This is… like an Iron Man suit or something!” Shelby exclaimed as she looked down at her hands and the others. Sure enough, a Heads-Up Display appeared on the inside of their visors, showing statistics on their suit, powers, weapons, other lifeforms nearby, environmental conditions, etc. At first it displayed in some kind of unfamiliar language, but then began to shift into something more legible. “You guys… The script and descriptions are changing into English! I think… I think these suits must have built-in translators or something!”

“Do you guys feel… Powerful? Energized?” Tommy asked as he looked around. They all nodded. “It’s like… this incredible energy, new and invigorating, yet familiar, as if it’s been within my grasp all along… It’s a strange sensation...”

“These suits… They must have bonded with our minds to translate the interface to something we can understand, and to allow us to absorb some innate knowledge of how this new power works… Yet it feels incomplete, as if it will require considerable practice to fully utilize these new abilities...”

“Okay, clearly we’re all hallucinating,” Miss Morgan said after a long moment, throwing her hands up. “Maybe the quake dislodged some kind of toxins or spores. This cannot be happening. This is not happening. This is -”

She was cut off as they all noticed a fizzle of light towards the front of the bridge, and suddenly, a humanoid male appeared seemingly out of nowhere. He was wearing a suit similar to theirs, but it was multicolored, as if a fusion of them all. He then turned his head and looked over everyone, speaking in a strange, echoing alien tongue. A moment later, he realized they could not understand him, and then stood motionless, as if in deep thought.

“My apologies,” he replied in perfect English, speaking in an American accent. “The ship’s Communications Matrix absorbed your language when you bonded with the Nanosuits, but it took a few moments for my neural pathways to access and implement it.”

He looked around at them again, and then lifted his hands, which caused the suits to dematerialize and compress back into the buckles, floating in front of each teen. Once he saw their faces and attire, his own form shifted in a flash of light, changing him into a human male with a kind, compassionate smile.



“Please take your Morphers and keep them close to you at all times. I’m sure you have a lot of questions about what’s going on here. I will answer all-”

“What the hell are you?” Miss Morgan demanded, interrupting him as she stomped over angrily. “Who the hell are you? What have you done to my kids?”

“I understand your confusion, allow me to explain,” he replied calmly. “My name is Zordon, and I am a holographic virtual intelligence system from a distant planet called Eltar. My crew and I crash-landed on your world centuries ago, and have been trapped here ever since. This ship is operational, but the Quantum Drive is permanently damaged, and thus we were unable to return home.”

“Where is your crew now?” asked Tommy as he placed the dragon buckle in his pocket. “And what are these Nanosuit things we bonded with?”

“My crew is dead, unfortunately,” he revealed. “We were betrayed by one of our own, Bandora. My team gave up their lives to destroy her. They used to wield the Nanosuits you now bear, which are unique and transformative armor sets, each powered by a Zeo Microcrystal, within which exists a pocket dimension. This private inner world is used to store excess Nanomatter, weapons, gear, and robotic assault exosuits called Zord Battle Mechs, and also provides a remote connection to the Zeo Mother Crystal, from which the Morphing Power is drawn... I apologize if the names for these things seems a bit off, I'm translating as best I can given that I only learned English a few minutes ago. Though, I must confess, I am a bit surprised to see the Nanosuits have found new hosts while I was slumbering. Tell me - how did you find this ship?”

As the teens began explaining everything that had happened, Miss Morgan stood there with her arms crossed, still suspicious. Meanwhile, Karone sat down in one of the chairs on the bridge, suddenly feeling lightheaded. When Zordon had mentioned the name Bandora, she had felt a momentary sensation of… seething hate…

The fair, if it could be called that, was extremely boring even by Helia's standard - And she was content hopping on some rooftops and watching the ants down on the street if it meant not going home for another hour if there was nothing better to do. Here she was, cleaning stalls and not getting paid, making her miss Ernie's a little bit. It was a gruelling work at times, but the boss was great, and it made her somewhat independent. That and she got to go medieval on anyone who harassed her, let alone tried to slap her behind - Ernie might not have looked it, but they guy was ex military and in foreign service, and Helia was positively gobsmacked when he sassed a patron out after one such episode.

At least Shelby kept her company. Weirdly, she had some normal topics to talk about, without dropping into Japanese randomly. Not usual, not unwelcome. What was not welcome was the fact that Shelby could read the redhead like an open book. Helia went a bit pink in the face and decided to borrow a couple of words form the Shelby dictionary to make it clear she was displeased as she jokingly punched the other girl: "Baka! Uzai!" before bursting out laughing.

Some time later they arrived at the caves, by which point Helia was nodding off again. She groaned as she got up fro the seat in the van. "I'd take the world ending over this, at least something interesting would happen." she complained.

A few minutes later, she would swear to sew her mouth shut as she fell down a sinkhole along with the others. What properly woke her up was splashing into the water at the bottom (And thank every saint and their grandmothers it was there!) She reoriented herself to float feet first as the currents took them, hoping to break her legs on any rocks rather than her skull.

Fortunately no such thing happened, and an insanity later they found themselves on a spaceship. "I take back everything I said today. I did not need this much excitement in my life." she said, but was grinning madly and her eyes were darting form side to side, taking in all the sights. Was there a nobel prize for falling through random caves and finding alien space ships?

As they made their way into what Helia could only describe as a command center, several artifacts looking like dragon heads seemed out of place on the modern looking vessel. She inched closer, her eyes falling on the red one. IT seemed like it was calling to her, drawing her in... Only for Morrey to bump her out of the way and in front of the orange one as the 'celeb' butted in with that blasted phone of hers, taking videos.

She was forced to agree with her a while later though - What the hell indeed?! Some technicolor storm seemed to envelop the lot of them, and when it subsided, some of them were turned into iron man clones. Not Helia though. "Aw man?! Why does everyone get a cool armor and I get spandex and a tutu?" she pulled at the edge of the skirt of her suit, glad for the helmet masking her frown.

A moment later they found out there was someone on the ship, and it ain't them. The AI that introduced itself as Zordon provided some explanation on what just happened, most of which flew straight over Helia's head and whatever she did comprehend she was not sure if it was describing their situation or Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. Zeo crystal? Morphing energy? ... What? Well, at least it seemed to give Tommy a high, whatever 'it' was. At least the suit could fold back into compact form, one that for Helia seemed to take the form of a watch on her left wrist.

"Umm, apologies Mr. Receeding Hairline. We fell in a cave and another rock seemed to bounce off of nothing which turned out to be your ship. We've got curious and here we are. So... What do we do? Do you want these back?" She asked, not wanting to start an interplanetary incident by stealing the guy's stuff on accident.