Being Red.
By Fenestrae.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, except Metallispore, he's my pet.
Summary: Being the leader is never easy, and admitting you need help is even harder. Change is never easy and trust even harder to give.
Chapter 1 - Stress
Being a ranger was like being responsible for the entire world, 24 / 7. That was what Connor McKnight thought as he sat in one of Dr. Oliver's classes gazing out of the window. He had only recently begun to understand this. Having to make excuses when a monster attacked as to why he was leaving his friends and running, usually, straight toward the danger that they were all running from. Of course, his friends never actually understood why he was hanging around with the king of computer geeks Ethan and the musical freak Kira, either.
He had been a ranger for two months and had barely had time to get his work done for school between splitting his time defeating the latest monster Mesogog sent their way, trying to get to know Kira and Ethan and spending time with his friends who thought that he was abandoning them to spend time with the freaks. He was tired and stressed, his grades were slipping and his mother was getting suspicious as to what exactly he was doing all those times when he should have been somewhere and didn't turn up and the late nights due to ranger business.
Sighing inwardly he focussed his mind back on to what Doctor Oliver was saying about the Ankylosaurus.
"With it's armoured tail, the Ankylosaurus is able to defend itself by using the club of fused bone on the end of its tail to bludgeon any attackers." Pointing to a diagram on the board behind him, the black Dino Ranger looked across the class and noted the slightly tired look on Connors face. Continuing his lecture on the benefits of the dinosaurs armour he made a mental note to talk to Connor after class about how he was coping combining being a ranger with his schoolwork and football.
Five minutes before the end of class the alarm began to ring and Principal Randall could be heard over the Tannoy announcing that the city was under attack and that all students were released in order to make their way home to safety. As the class began to break up Connor's best friend Aled leaned in and said, "Cool, we can escape this boring lecture!! You comin' McKnight?"
"I need to ask Dr Oliver something about that assignment that he set. I'll catch you up later, kay?" Connor asked, once again making a lame excuse.
"What assignment? You doing one for extra cred or something?" he asked, giving Connor a confused look.
"Yeah, something like that" Connor replied. If you call saving the city extra cred… "I need to boost my grades, my mom is starting to nag."
"You're beginning to turn into one of those geeks McKnight. Okay, catch you later." Aled said as he walked for the door.
As the other people left the room, Connor walked over to where Kira, Ethan and Tommy were stood waiting.
"You guy's ready?" Ethan asked when the rangers were the only remaining people in the room.
"Lets Rock!" Connor said enthusiastically. He could really use this as an excuse to work off some of his frustration with his friends and his slipping grades.
Raising their morphers they began to morph. With a collective cry of: "Ready, Dino Thunder Power Up, Ha!" They morphed into their ranger forms.
"Hayley, what have we got?" Tommy asked, as they raced out of the school and headed downtown to where the clouds of dust from crumbling buildings could be seen.
"A monster is attacking the local Oil Refinery, he's destroying the tanks of fuel they have stored there. If he keeps going, he's going to blow up the entire refinery."
"Looks like we would know where he was anyway, the only thing in that area that could produce that much smoke is the refinery." Kira said.
"You're right," agreed Tommy. "Let's go!"
Upon reaching the refinery it was clear as to how much damage had already been done as barrels lay strewn around the main loading yard and three of the eight gasoline storage tanks were already destroyed, the others already on fire.
"Looks like we got here just in time to stop the other tanks from exploding." Ethan said in an awed voice as he gazed upon the damage. "This is one nasty monster to be able to do this much damage."
"More toys!!" came a loud mechanical voice from behind them causing them to jump and turn around.
Turning to see where the exclamation had come from the rangers saw the source of the destruction. It was a cross between a prehistoric plant and a tank, and vaguely resembled something that you would see on an old eighties children's cartoon. Large treads could be seen merged with thick vines to form its legs and arms with a solid metal torso. The arms had reinforces cannons built into them and an array of weapons could be seen attached to its back even from a distance. Its head was like that of a Venus flytrap sat upon a metal flexed neck with glowing red eyes.
"You have got to be kidding me," Tommy said in a disbelieving voice. "It looks like a Saturday morning cartoon character!"
"Or a reject from that Little Shop of Horrors movie." Ethan added.
Connor was losing what little patience he had. He really wanted for this to be over so he could go home and get to sleep, he was so tired. "Whatever it looks like, I'm going to stop it!" Ignoring his fellow rangers he charged ahead and called his Tyrano staff. Coming in from on high he landed a few good shots before the monster was able to block and counter.
Blocking a vicious swipe from Connor's staff, the monster slammed its fist into Connor's chest, knocking him off his feet. "You cannot destroy me, you little toy! I am Metallispore and I will crush you and this entire city!!!!" Raising its arm cannons it prepared to fire at the downed ranger.
Should I leave it there?? (Grins Evilly)Please leave a review if you want.
