Disclaimer: Lets clarify this, okay? If I owned them then I would not be a fan I would be the owner. Therefore I wouldn't be writing fan fiction I would be writing screenplays and scripts, wouldn't I? If I owned them I would be making enough money to get to the damn convention in 2007 instead I'm just a poor girl desperately trying to find the money for an air ticket. So don't bother to sue, if I had the money to give you I would. You want to sue go right ahead but I don't think the judicial system takes too kindly to having it's time wasted.

Summary: Messagog has put a fiendish plan, worthy of only the most evil villains, into action. Dr. Thomas Oliver – the Black Dino Thunder Ranger – is reminiscing on life and turning twenty-five (only half way to fifty you know!). How will their two fates collide and will Tommy be able to keep winning battles as he draws older.

Thanks: Once again all thanks goes to Rene. She ahs just been so helpful and down right demanding with this story that I just couldn't stop writing it. So if you hate, blame her for inflicting it upon you all, without her pushing me to get this done – yep got the bruises on m back to prove it - it would most likely never have seen the light of day. Also, a general thanks to the writers of Angel for writing an episode similar to plans for later chapters in this; you make great inspiration! Also one last thanks to Hannah and Becks for being the most slash happy people I now in real life, without there constant hyperness for me to write slash I wouldn't have gotten this done, either. Yep those two and Ren just make a posse you are unable to say no to.

A.N: Hope you like reading this as much as I like writing it. It's a bit unusual but hopefully you'll like it. Any medical knowledge in this is only from what I've learnt of ER, Casualty or any internet resources I've found so please don't blame me if they are wrong. I'm not a qualified doctor, yet. Also, got to say this, yes this will be slash so if it offends you don't read it 'cause I ain't changing it.

Amnesia Chapter One: Like A Hole In The Head

Dr. Thomas Oliver climbed steadily out of his jeep before heading to the cyber café. A signature black t-shirt clung to his toned, upper-body adding great definition to the athletic muscles his frame bore. A dark-denim pair of jeans trailed down his long legs to the floor, giving him a slight grungy edge which was only the tip of the iceberg compared to how he used to dress. It was quite hard for him, as well as everyone who had known him since puberty, to believe that he had actually grown up into the man he now was. A clean-cut teacher with short, spiky hair and a doctorate in palaeontology? Had anyone told him when he was fifteen years old that, that in ten years time that was exactly what, well rather who, he would be, he would have laughed in their face. Thomas "Tommy" Oliver, a doctorate in palaeontology and the most sought after teacher at Reefside High? No chance.

Through the window he managed to spot a trio of his students hanging out at the bar with his close friend, and the café's owner, Hayley. It wasn't that there weren't any of his other students there, much to the contrary; the majority of his classes were here, his eyes just naturally searched for those people as they were the ones he spent a large proportion of his time with. Hayley's cyber café was a favourite hang out for the teens from the local high school and its business had increased greatly when a large proportion of the student body found out that Dr. Thomas Oliver, Dr. O for short, the most favoured and fancied teacher at the school, hung out there too.

Hayley often asked Tommy why he spent so much time in there with her and the kids when he could be out getting drunk or meeting women, or both. Every time he brushed it off with the same old, worn excuses. "I like hanging out with you." "I feel better being near the team in case something happens." "You know I prefer coffee and smoothies to beer and vodka anyway." He never commented on the chasing women part though. He knew that would only start more questions off which he really didn't want to answer. Since his rather… close relationship with Kat he hadn't had a girlfriend, mainly because he didn't want one and Kat and Kim, his first girlfriend, were the only ones who ever knew exactly why. So instead he came up with the same old, tired excuses time and time again. He knew Hayley didn't believe them, she always saw straight through his lies, which is why he usually avoided lying to her in the first place, but his real reasons were something quite personal. Something he would never tell anyone. He always thought that the cyber café reminded him of the Juice Bar back in Angel Grove where he would spend his days after school hanging out his old with his friends back during his high school years. A part of him missed that, missed them, missed the life. The cyber café was his one little, indulgent reminder of the life he left behind in Angel Grove; even if he was continuing a certain part of it here in Reefside.

Tommy often wondered if he would ever be able to shake off Rangering and the ties that held him to it. Not that he wanted to completely, it was a big part of him and his life. If it hadn't been for rangering he wouldn't be the person he was now. Probably in a jail cell somewhere in downtown LA thanks to his, once, short temper and martial arts skills. It just seemed like the others all managed to stay inactive but involved whereas he spent every day putting his life on the line. Not that he minded, the adrenaline rush it gave him was amazing and he felt good to know he was saving the world but he was becoming older and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last. When Rita had picked him as the Evil Green range she obviously didn't have this in mind, that's for certain. He had gone from pure, unadulterated evil, or pure, perfect goodness and he was still saving the world as the latter of the two lifestyles. He had been saving the world since he was roughly fifteen years old and he was starting to doubt how much longer he could last. He may be the great Tommy Oliver, ultimate Ranger and once white knight but even he couldn't save the world forever, could he?

Dismissing the thoughts with a slight shake of the head he began to stride across to the café door. His every pore oozed confidence and masculinity; it wasn't hard to see why he was such a heart-breaker. He could hear the loud murmurs of idle chatter from teenage customers crammed inside. He always wondered how Hayley managed to keep such a thriving business going and help him with all that Ranger technology he didn't understand fully. He always knew he should have spent more time around Billy. Maybe he would understand it all that little bit better if he had spent more time around the genius boy in blue.

Hayley was his new Billy, his female Billy, his closest thing to a replacement for his close teenage friend. Part of Tommy knew that a lot of what he had in Reefside was a replacement for the old friends he had left in Angel Grove. Not in a bad way, as he loved them all equally for whom they were, not who they reminded him of, but the similarities were very apparent, to him at least.

Hayley was just like Billy; super intelligent, a good head for science and computers and always inventive constantly coming up with new ideas and designs. Kira was a mix of both his former female team mates. The feisty side of he was alarmingly similar to Kim, her singing voice was just as good, probably better. However Kira's calmer, peaceful side was extremely like Trini, calm, peaceful, honest Trini who was always there for anyone. He guessed she held aspects of all the other female Rangers he'd worked with too. Kat, Tanya, Aisha… all had made an impact on him and all had character traits held by the newest yellow ranger. That was probably why he chose her, well why the gem chose her; it was what made her perfect ranger material. Ethan was something else all together a mix of Billy and Adam's intelligence with a lot of Adam's compassion and thought. He also shared their penchant for sci-fi, which was a good trait to have when you are fighting monsters that look like they could've walked straight from an audition for the next George Lucas movie. Actually, most of them looked like rejects from the next George Lucas movie. Then there was Conner. Conner the red ranger who took on the character of Tommy's closest, most loved friend. Okay, so he had aspects of Rocky too, but all red rangers had the same aspects as Rocky. Well maybe not the always read smile and quirky sense of humour like Rocky and Conner shared but there was something else about Conner which Tommy had only seen in one other ranger. Jason.

Tommy couldn't think of the words to aptly describe his best friend and Bro. There were plenty, just none which seemed to do the original red any justice. He was strong, bold and stubborn, yet compassion, caring and forgiving. Tommy had tried to kill him for God's sake but he had forgiven him with ease and accepted him as a friend. Okay, there may have been a little rivalry at first but Zordon helped them work through that and they soon became closer than close. They were so similar, yet from such different backgrounds, that if you didn't know that Tommy was originally a grungy L.A street kid and Jason originally a clean-cut captain of the football team you could quite easily think of them as two exceedingly close brothers. What reminded Conner most of Jason was that fiery look in his eyes, the look that conveyed so much confidence and conviction despite the wearer being nervous and apprehensive. That was what Tommy admired most about Jason, the one thing he always made sure he had when he became leader, was the ability to instil confidence in others just with a look despite being terrified and unsure of what the outcome could be.

Pushing open the door Tommy let the slight breeze from outside swirl around the cosy café for a moment before letting the door fall shut behind him. He cast his eyes across the room taking in all of the faces he knew well, some he vaguely remembered and the odd few he'd never seen before. There weren't many people in Reefside he didn't know, it had been the same in Angel Grove, after all when you spend your days saving the occupants from other worldly evil beings you get to know quite a few faces. He had to admit it was easier to recognise them with the terrified facial expression they often wore the first time he met them but he couldn't expect them to walk around like that just for his convenience.

"Hey Dr. O!" Kira greeted warmly, Tommy wasn't even sure how he'd managed to make his way across to the counter, he sure couldn't remember moving, mind he couldn't remember much recently. The teens were reminding him of that at every available opportunity. Sure he had had gotten used to the jokes about his awful memory after years of having Jason, Kim, Bill, Trini, Zack and most of the following Rangers tease him about it but he still couldn't stand it when the latest bunch did it. Maybe it was a teacher thing, he felt they should respect him as their elder and as a figure of authority in their lives – okay maybe if you forgot the fact he spent most days putting them in mortal peril to save the world then the last part would work. Either way, it still agitated him beyond belief, so he was going to make sure not to say anything which might provoke another bout of taunting and teasing. Especially with his birthday looming so near.

Nodding his head slightly in recognition, Tommy turned to Hayley, about to order when she pressed a cup of steaming hot coffee into his hands, "A… oh thanks Hayley."

"No problem," She smiled happily before lowering her tone, "I got the base computer linked up to the laptop I have back behind the counter so it'll send any warnings the system gets straight from the base to me here." So that's how she does it, Tommy mused to himself sipping the scalding liquid tentatively after giving her a nod of immense approval. At least it didn't taste like the battery acid he usually made.

"Everything okay Dr. O?" Yep, tactless Conner blundering straight in, again. It was obvious to them all something was up with Tommy but they were hoping to maybe edge it out of him bit by bit and get a little farther than just trying to blatantly force it out of him, who knows though, maybe Conner's rather forward manner would work. Nothing else they had tried did, maybe Conner's rather unorthodox approach would work. It was better than their only other idea which was beating it out of them. None of them had been too keen on that, not for fear of hurting Tommy in the process, more for fear of being hurt themselves. Tommy was one hell of a fighter so beating it out of him was the last, last, LAST possible option for any of them. Well besides phoning up Kim – who Hayley had spoken to on occasion – and getting her to either beat or banter it out of him. She was the one who found it most easy to manipulate Tommy and the trio of kids were hoping to pick up a few tips on her visit, being able to manipulate Tommy might end up in them getting less homework after all.

"Hmm, yeah, just been thinking, that's all."

"Is that safe at your age Dr. O?" Ethan was only teasing but it did annoy Tommy slightly, he was sick off all the jokes being aimed at him about his impending birthday. He was only turning twenty-five, just because he had a terrible memory and was almost half way to fifty didn't mean he needed constant reminders about it.

"About Angel Grove?" Hayley asked softly. It was at times like this Kira couldn't help but wonder why these two people, so perfect for each other, weren't together already. Okay she had a sneaking suspicions they both had feelings for someone else but those would pass, surely. They were meant to be together, in Kira's eyes and least, and it wasn't for want of trying on her part. On numerous occasions she had gotten the guys, who had been easily persuaded to her way of thinking after a few choice karate moves Tommy had taught her, to help her set the two up. Each time had failed and Kira couldn't see why. Maybe they were just too close to ever become physically closer.

Nodding slightly Tommy tried to brush it off wishing Hayley couldn't read his mind the way she did. It always infuriated him that people could do that, even if Hayley and Jason were the only ones.

Jason. Hmm, Tommy had been thinking about his old friend a lot lately. They hadn't kept in very good contact over the past few years and Tommy was very regretful for that. It wasn't easy though, keeping track of his biker friend once he just upped and left. At one time not a day went by when they didn't speak to each other but, after the peace conference, things had changed quite a bit, they had changed quite a bit. Tommy had taken over Jason's signature colour, which was strange enough on its own, and then Jason had returned as the Gold Ranger and almost died in the line of duty. Then there had been the trip to the mood for all Red Rangers; that was a rather unusual reunion for the pair who barely ever spoke and had no clue as to where the other was in the life. They had become so distanced so fast neither of them seemed to realise how, or why, it happened. Still, no matter what happened, they were still best friends and Bros and they always would be; no matter how far apart they were. Their friendship meant too much to both of them to let time and distance get in the way. However, Tommy wasn't afraid to admit it, he missed his best friend. There was a hole in his heart which could only be filled by his best friend and the bond they shared. It was like a part of him was missing along with Jason.

"Well, hey, your birthday is coming up so you never know they may all surprise you with some cards or maybe a phone call, you may even get a few e-mails if they can track you down. I'm sure your computer friend, Billy you called him, would be able to hack into somewhere and find it so you never know, try and stay optimistic and positive at least. I know it's hard but you don't know what the future holds or what surprises lie around the corner." Hayley said brightly, doing her best to cheer up the multi-coloured ranger without revealing her plan. She'd been organising it for weeks and she wasn't going to ruin it all now. Upon finding out that world renowned scientist Billy Cranston, whom she had gone to college with, was actually the original blue ranger and one of Tommy's closest childhood friends she had decided that it was time to use her contacts for his twenty-fifth birthday. After all it was a big one, half way to fifty. Just don't remind Tommy of that.

It had taken a long time and months of meticulous planning but between her and Billy they had managed to pull of something which was going to be spectacular. After finding out that it was indeed Tommy who was the black ranger in Reefside – he and Adam had, had their suspicions from the fighting style they recognised on the news but Hayley was the only way they had, had their suspicions confirmed – Billy had gone into over-drive rounding up the old gang. Adam was easy for Billy to find; since coming back from Aquitar they had stayed in close contact, both working in the same street. Billy worked in a large research and design laboratory in the industrial part of Angel Grove and Adam worked just down the road in Angel Grove General Hospital as a psychologist. They had bumped into each other one day on the lunch breaks and had made sure not to loose contact like the others had. It had upset everyone, unknowingly, how the groups had just split and barely stayed in contact. This made the pair even more determined to not just stay in contact, but to round up the whole old gang… or gangs depending on how you looked at it. Adam had helped him track down Rocky, whom he had stayed close with; they were best friends since kindergarten after all, they weren't going to break contact that easily even if they had wanted to; their ties of friendship ran too deep for that. In a way that pained Billy as he had thought that he and the originals (Himself, Jason, Kim, Trini and Zack) would have stayed in contact just as easily. Ah well, things change, people he supposed. Between the three of them they had managed to track down Kat, Zack and find out that Aisha was overseas.

The others, however, were much harder; no-one had seen or heard from Kim or Jason since Trini's funeral. That had been almost a year ago. None of the rangers had expected it – a car crash of all things killing one of the most loved, original Rangers. Once one of the top fighters - who always held an air of peace and calm about her - Trini had been mown down by a drunk driver who ploughed into the side of her car recklessly as she took her turn to head across the junction on the green light, it shouldn't have happened like that. It seemed unjust and unfair. Trini had survived much worse on regular occasions without, barely, a scratch upon her, yet one man, one stupid drunken man, managed to end the life of the amazing Mellow Yellow. She deserved so much more, but with time the team came to grips with the loss of their close friend but, rather than leaning on each other for the support they craved, they broke apart once more, becoming more distant than they had ever been.

Jason and Kim had pretty much been unheard of since then. Well apart from on the news. Kim seemed to have her fair share of appearances on the small screen, that's what being an Olympic gold medallist gymnast did to you. After the Pan Globals her career had rocketed and now she ran her own training academy, apparently, for younger gymnasts hoping to become world class. That was just in her spare time between training herself for the next Olympics which were to be help in London in the yea 2012. There were others in between than and now which she was also training for, but Kim had always hoped to compete in England, so the 2012 Olympics meant much more to her than the others. Even though they were all prestigious and meant the world to her. It hadn't taken Billy too long to find her, but quite a bit longer than any of the others. It was actually quite by chance they had managed to track her to the academy, had Kat not decided to look into gymnastics for a project for the children she taught they wouldn't have found the webpage with her name and an e-mail address to contact her directly on. Billy should have guessed Kim would make sure all her mail went directly to her, she always told them that if she ever did set up an academy that it wouldn't be full of receptionists and random hangers on. She felt a need to be in the forefront, to know everyone and everything going on, personally. So that was how they had tracked down Kim to invite her along to the birthday bash. Billy, and Hayley, and the others come to think of it, were all rather worried about inviting Kim after everything which had happened between her and Tommy. The break-up letter hadn't be pleasant but the pair did seem to be on speaking terms when they lat met. Although, that may have just been because of the difficult circumstances surrounding the reunion, Trini's death affected them all profusely.

Jason they knew even less about. The former leader and red ranger just seemed to have disappeared off the face of the planet since their brief, and somewhat emotional, reunion a year ago. According to Billy's sources he hadn't, as he had contacts on petty much every planet in the galaxy so he had to be somewhere on earth. He wasn't on Aquitar or Triforia or any other planet Billy had been able to check for him on, which was, pretty much, every planet in the galaxy. Had it not been for Billy and Hayley's combined hacking skills he highly doubted they would ever have found him. A search they had done managed to track him down to Chicago but where in Chicago took a lot longer. After much time, and hacking of major corporations – you would think they would have better firewalls than ones which would allow Billy and Hayley access - they had found Jason following his dream with a big firm. He was head architect of a small sector and relatively high up for someone so young, Jason had always shown great promise as an architect. A bit more hacking had traced him as the owner of a local dojo as well, typical Jason. Billy could've hit himself for not checking that out first. From this they had managed to gleam certain information such as an e-mail address, well a valid e-mail address unlike the one Jason had told Billy a long time ago, which was now out of service, a snail-mail address and a telephone number. They went for telephone messaging as Jason couldn't quite be trusted to check his e-mails regularly, in Billy's mind. Hearing what they were planning Jason jumped at the chance and, it had to be said, was the most enthusiastic out of them all; he and Tommy had been Bros after all.

So that was everyone sorted. They could've found more, Tommy had served alongside so many Rangers in his short life time they could've probably filled the entire café five times over with his former team mates. Instead they just chose the earliest lot and the latest lot, they would be crammed enough as it was in the cosy cyber café. Hayley was shutting up for the day to allow them to all surprise Tommy. Everything had been planned right down to the most minute details, well to when the flights were getting into the local airport and when Kira would contact Tommy to hell him something was up down in the café because Hayley had closed up, but to them that was minute. After all, Tommy wouldn't really care what kind of party it was, or where they were, or how long it lasted, all he would care about was the thought his friends had put into it and the close friends who had turned up. Hayley and Billy just hoped everything would go without a hitch, which, for an ex-Ranger and someone closely involved with Rangering, was very wishful thinking.

Slightly worried about her friend's slightly depressed demeanour, Hayley apprehensively placed a tentative hand on his shoulder. Just as she opened her mouth to speak she was interrupted by a beeping from her computer signalling an attack in downtown Reefside. Turning to her group of friend she didn't have to say a word for them to know exactly what she wanted to tell them. Gulping back the rest of his coffee Tommy stood abruptly and left, soon followed by the three Dino Teens.

Sighing to himself as he morphed, Tommy couldn't help but wonder, again, if he was getting too old for all of this.

XXXXX

They had been fighting intensely for an hour now and neither side seemed to be letting up. They all knew Zeltrax was determined to do something, as if the bad guys actually had a half decent plan this time. The Rangers were beginning to ware out with the sheer intensity of their fighting, it was all hand to hand combat – bar a bit of help from a few weapons such as the Bracchiostaff – and, despite seeming to have the upper hand over Zeltrax, the rangers new the battle would not be coming to an end soon. Not unless disaster struck and Zeltrax was able to carry out his fiendish plan, but the rangers were completely unaware of such a thing.

"Dr. O! Watch out!" The yell erupted from Conner's mouth as soon as he saw the danger heading his way. He had just witnessed his friend and mentor be knocked down badly enough to cause him to de-morph and now he was about to witness something even more horrific.

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. Tommy heard the words and did his best to move but his body wouldn't allow it. Conner and the others just watched in horror as they saw Zeltrax bring down a heavy blow to the front of Tommy's cranium. His aim was perfect for the plan he had set out to complete. Conner blasphemed, wishing his legs could move faster, he felt like he'd been running for eternity to reach his mentor. He may have the power of super speed but to him it still felt like he had been running for forever. It barely felt as if he were covering any ground in his attempt to shorten the distance between him and his teacher. He started as soon as he yelled but still didn't make it in time, he was willing himself there but he just couldn't get there. When he finally did manage to reach him Zeltrax disappeared through an invisa-portal just before the others caught up. Conner knew that had he stayed a second longer the three Dino Teens would have ripped him limb from limb with their bare hands in an act of vengeance for their mentor. The fighting was getting dirty now and they didn't care any more what they did, all they cared about was making sure Tommy was in one piece.

"We have to get him to Hayley back in the command centre. Now Conner, Kira! Move it, the pair of you!" Ethan demanded his friends to move, both snapping out of their daze quickly as they began to help him lift their mentor before trying to get him to Hayley.

They all knew the blow could have killed Tommy but they also all knew that if it was going to kill him, he would probably have died already, but, due to the pulse Ethan had managed to locate, that appeared not to be the case. There were much easier ways for Zeltrax to have killed Tommy had that been his endeavour and that seemed to scare the Dino Teens more than the limp, unconscious form of their teacher in their arms. Mesagog was planning something and they had no clue how to stop him, not without Tommy. Without Tommy they were leaderless. He taught them everything they knew. He guided them from the beginning. He was their Zordon and they knew it was going to be ridiculously hard without one of, if not the, strongest member of their team. It appeared that the most vital link in the chain ha been broken; only time would tell is that would cause the rest of the chain to fall apart. Right now the teens were more bothered about getting Tommy back to Hayley. Hayley would be his saviour in all of this; she had to be.

She would know what to do; she could fix this, fix him. She had to.

Meanwhile, in the lair beneath Tommy's large house in the middle of the forest Hayley stood clutching the edge of the desk for support, her knuckles white with fear and pressure. She was sure that if she continued to increase her grip the way she currently was she was going to break straight through the metal. This couldn't be happening, not now. Not when things were finally going to go right for her beloved best friend. He was going to reach his twenty-fifth birthday and celebrate in style that he had reached the landmark age in one piece. Now all of that was collapsing down around them. He couldn't die, not now. He was finally going to be reacquainted with all his old friends, he was going to start living his life, maybe fall in love, or at least stop denying his feelings for the one he truly loved. He was going to be happy and healthy. That was what she had envisioned for him. She knew the risks of battle for all of the Rangers but a small part of her couldn't quite believe this was happening to Tommy. Doctor Thomas Oliver, the greatest Ranger ever to have lived. The Ultimate Ranger.

This couldn't be happening, not now of all times; especially not now. She had to help him, she had to save him. She would know what to do somewhere in the complex workings of her crammed full mind. She just had to know what to do.

What if I don't know what to do, though? What if I can't help him? What if I'm not enough? What if it's too late? All these questions swam round Hayley's mind as she waited for the rangers to appear from battle, an unconscious Tommy draped between them. Suddenly it struck her. It was a long shot but if she didn't know what to do there would only be one other person that did. She needed him here as soon as physically possible. She desperately needed his help. Tommy needed his help. In a blind state of panic Hayley forced back the hot tears brimming in her eyes, threatening to spill down her colour drained cheeks. It caused her eyes to burn and sting due to the build up but she was determined not to cry, she had to remain together, she had to keep composure. Not for he sake but for the Rangers sake. They were, after all, only teenagers. How were they supposed to deal with this? She had to be the one in control, the calm, realistic one who remained in charge and didn't let emotions get in the way. Gulping she reached a shaky hand for the phone as she realised who she had to be like. She had to be like Tommy, correction, she had to be Tommy. Taking a few steadying breaths she began to punch in the numbers of the Angel Grove phone number which had become so well known to her it was almost like a second language. With each ring the knot in her stomach grew tighter with a mixture of anticipation and dread. He had to pick up, he had to be there, he had to be in, he had to answer, he just had to. He would know what to do; he could fix this even if she couldn't. She would try her best but if she failed he would be able to succeed, he could do anything. He could help anyone. He could help his high school friend, he could help Tommy.

"Billy…?" Her voice came out more shaky than she intended it to but much strong than she ever thought possible. She could do this, she could help Tommy survive, and Billy would help her within that task.

They would do it together. They would save their friend together. They just had to.