Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. If I did, we would not be waiting until DECEMBER for more episodes, and Dillon and Summer would have kissed and gotten together by now.
It was childish, and she knew it. But it didn't make it any less romantic to her.
Once in a while, she dreamed of being a servant girl who was granted her one and only wish, of being able to go to the kingdom ball, where she would meet the handsome prince and they would dance until the clock struck twelve. Then, she would run away in the night, leaving behind only a glass slipper, which the prince would find and use to come looking for her. Later, he would find her, hard at work for her step family and ask for her hand in marriage. And they would live happily ever after, sharing true love's first kiss.
She was a servant girl in a way.
But instead of washing her evil step-sister's clothes, scrubbing floors, and slaving over meals, she was a servant to the domed city of Cornith. Always fighting Venjix's attack-bots that dared to terrorize her city.
There were no grand, kingdom-wide balls. And the only shoes she ever lost were the ones in her closet that disappeared behind her wall of purses, back in her princess days.
As for handsome princes, the only man she would even think of calling a prince was a brooding bad boy with an attitude problem, who was so ignorant to everything, he wouldn't even know what a female was if he didn't work with them.
But Summer continued to dream of her perfect fairytale, hoping that, one day, it would come true.
Sometimes, she would fantasize that she was a naive princess, who ran away from home and found a home of seven odd, caring little men who took her in. Despite the long journey from home, she would still be found by her wicked stepmother, who would trick her into eating a poisoned apple. The apple would throw the beautiful princess into a deep sleep, only to be awoken by the kiss of a handsome prince.
She did, indeed, lived with some strange guys. But her mother was most definitely not wicked, and only time she was ever jealous of her daughter was when Summer bought the brand new Gucci bag before it hit shelves. And unless someone hacked into Dr. K's food security system (which she created to prevent the Rangers from getting sick) to spike the fruit selection, she didn't think she had to worry about any poisoned apples.
But still, her knight in shining armour was entirely and completely unaware of her fantasies and would probably only laugh at her childishness.
But the Yellow Ranger continued to daydream.
At times, she dreamed she was a lovely maiden trapped in a tall tower with no doors or stairs. There was only a small window where should sing softly to the birds and woodland creatures. In her some of her songs, she would sing of a handsome prince who would come to her rescue from the evil witch and take her out of the lonesome tower. Until one day a prince heard her beautiful voice and rode his white horse all the way to her tower. He would call to her to throw down her flowing blond hair so he could climb to her and they would share true loves first kiss.
Well, she did sometimes think of herself as trapped in her own tower. The Garage. The Rangers were required to be at the Garage at all times. Only sometimes Dr.K would let them go out. But other than that, Summer was never really connected to the outside world, but overall she loved her job and wouldn't change it for anything. As for her singing, her 'prince' often made snide remarks about her singing, calling it 'noise'.
He just never seemed to care about her striking blond hair, saying if she spent too much time caring and treating it, he'd think she was turning back into 'Princess Summer'.
In the end, her life was not the perfect fairytale she always dreamt off. And she was far from a damsel in distress. But as much as she liked to pretend she was on of her storybook princesses, all she really wanted was the knight in shining armor or the prince charming. The handsome prince with whom she would share true love's first kiss.
Now of course she had had her share of kisses. Ever since she had been caught up with her story book tales at the age of three, had she wanted that first kiss. So she went off to a high - end society preschool, with every intention of getting one. And she did; an innocent, but simple, peck on the cheek from a sweet boy in her class.
That was the first of many kisses from her princess life. Some more serious, some more passionate, but never any true love.
Those were the thoughts that ran through Summer Landsdown's mind as she sat on her bed in her room at the Garage. Then, out of nowhere, the alarm blared, signaling there was a new Venjix attack bot in the city that needed to be destroyed.
Summer sighed as she hopped off her bed and raced out of her room to meet the others in Dr. K's lab downstairs.
After a quick briefing, all seven Rangers boarded their vehicles. Scott in his sports car, Dillon and Ziggy in the Fury, Flynn and the twins in Flynn's hummer, and Summer on her bike.
Apparently, there was a generation 17 Venjix attack bot down in sector G29, and it was interfering with the city shields, meaning it had to be taken out as quickly and soon as possible. The scanners and radars also were able to pick up signs of Tenaya 15 or Kilobyte. It was hard to tell. There were also signs of dozens of Grinders.
Thankfully, there had been no sign of causalities or injuries so far. But the shields were weakening with every sonic blow from the attack bot. Venjix had wasted no time in sending in some drones. They damage was getting worse and worse, though. What confused everyone was that Venjix had sent the attack bot to the city pier. But they went on with no hesitation. Scott had radioed everyone, telling them the plan. Summer and Dillon were to attack from the docks. Ziggy, Gem, and Gemma went over to attack from the rooftop of a nearby abandonded buliding. Flynn and Scott were going to come in from behind Tenaya 15.
The plan was going well. Everyone was almost in position, except for Dillon and Summer. The two Rangers only had one more fifty yard dash across the docks to a large crate. From there, it would have a better position for a shot on the attack bot. The two were crouched down, ready to run over.
"You ready Summer?" Dillon asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Summer responded.
Dillon shot Summer a reassuring smile. It was the one smile he seemed to reserve, only for her. It was more than his usual sarcastic smirk, the one that he always gave the others when he was amused. It was a true smile. Summer sometimes liked to think that he only really smiled when she was there. That his smiles were just for her. But she pushed that thought aside as she gave him a smile of her own and added a small wink.
With a deep breath and a count of three, both took off towards the horde of Grinders and attacked.
The Grinders seemed somewhat surprised, but charged towards the team of Rangers. The Red, Blue, Green, Black, Gold, Silver Rangers ran to the Grinders while the Yellow Ranger ran to fight Tenaya. None of them noticed Kilobyte standing not to far off. He blasted some sort of sonic boom at the unsuspecting blond ranger. Summer cried out. Her body was thrown back by the force of the blast and she was thrown off the pier into the awaiting waves of Corinth Harbor.
As Kilobyte's attention was occupied by his current, but short lasting victory; Scott, Flynn, Gem, Gemma, and Ziggy immediately open fired on the robot and he was taken down and incapacitated within seconds.
Dillon too, had reacted quickly. As he watched in slow motion, it seemed, as Summer was blasted of the dock. And it was only seconds later that he had jumped in after her.
The water was murky and dark as he searched frantically for the beautiful Yellow ranger.
His eyes searched for anything that might seem familiar, a flash of yellow and black, a soft hand, a blond curl… and that's when he saw it. Not ten feet away, was a sinking head of soft blond hair.
She was unconscious, falling silently into the clutches of the waiting sand below.
Dillon quickly had to suppress his anger. There was no way he would allow the Summer, the most important person to him, to die. There was so much more she could do with her life. So much more they could do... together.
He swam as fast as he could. Even with his robotic implants, he couldn't seem to move fast enough for his liking. It wasn't long before his body ached. Each pull made his lungs screamed for oxygen, and with every kick his muscles begged for rest, but he couldn't stop. Not until she was safe. Not until he knew she would be okay.
Just as he thought he wouldn't be able to get to her, the current allowed her petite hand to move slightly. It was now just close enough to him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. He held on to her waist as he rapidly used his other hand to swim up to the seemingly never- ending course towards the surface.
Just as the Black Ranger's lungs were about to collapse from lack of oxygen, his head broke through the surface. He took in frantic breaths as he swum to the dock, still holding tightly to the unconscious Summer.
He reached the ladder to the dock with relatively no difficulty. He paid no mind to his aching, screaming muscles and gently placed the Yellow Ranger over his shoulder so that he could make the climb up the rusted ladder.
Dillon could vaguely heard his teammates yelling for him, telling him to wait for them, but nothing mattered in this moment. Nothing mattered but Summer. He gently laid her down onto the wooden dock and checked for a pulse.
There was no pulse.
He tilted back her head and opened her mouth to see if she was breathing.
She wasn't.
Dillon wasted no time in starting CPR.
He could feel his own heart beat, racing at an amazing speed, inside his head, thumping against the rhythm he had set in his chest compressions. He didn't even realize he was slightly shivering from being drenched by the cold water.
He tried to breathe life in her. With each breath he prayed that she would be okay. He made promises to every god he had ever heard of that he would do anything, ANYTHING, if she was brought to life.
The rest of the RPM team were near him now. They were yelling at him to stop and take a break, to let someone else take over. But he didn't pay any attention to them. Couldn't they see he was busy? He was trying to save the most important person in his life.
He slightly paused to check her pulse again.
Still nothing.
Her breathing?
Non-existent.
He wouldn't give up. He couldn't give up. She needed to smile. She needed to laugh. He needed to hear her beautiful voice again. He needed to tell her how he felt!
Again he started his chest compressions.
'Please Summer… this team needs you... you keep us all together… Summer, please... I'm nothing without you…' Dillon thought silently to himself. He could feel tears, almost burning in his eyes.
He tilted her head back again and their lips touched.
And she started coughing.
She was alive!
Dillon helped her roll to her side to spit out any water still in her lungs. The entire team sighed in relief. Gemma hugged Flynn, who blushed and hugged her back. Ziggy and Gem were both just trying to remain calm. Scott patted Dillon on the back but stopped and pulled back when Dillon winced from the strain. But despite the strain, Dillon managed to maintain a smile. Summer was okay.
As her coughing fit subsided, Summer laid back and closed her eyes for a moment, trying to catch her breath. When she opened them she saw Dillon knelt next to her, staring at her intently with a sad smile. Summer gave him a reassuring smile and a wink, just like she always did. He reached out and softly touched her face with his hand, tracing her cheek and smile with his thumb. For that one moment, no one else in the world existed. After a moment, Summer's eyes widened slightly as she realized something.
Dillon had kissed her.
It wasn't the result of a steamy confession. It wasn't a death defying experience, where in a moment of weakness a kiss is shared to show relief that the other is okay.
Well.... not really anyway.
It wasn't exactly the fairytale 'true loves first kiss' she had often dreamed about…
But it was a start.
And she could wait a bit longer for her Prince Charming/ Knight in Shining Black armour.
So... what do you think?
^_^