Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Dino Charge. This story is fan-made.
Riley's first official shift back to work wasn't going his way. There was nothing really getting in the way of him doing a good job, but his duties weren't coming back as naturally as he had liked. Perhaps, being on the farm and away from the city for so long had clouded his memories of what being a waiter was actually like. He had imagined it being easier than cleaning out pig pens; he forgot humans were pigs as well.
"Hey, brainiac!" a voice called, almost teasing him in more ways than one. Riley felt a sense of familiarity from this voice and just knew more trouble was on the way, as if his day wasn't hard enough. Also, the voice was literally mocking him, as he turned to the source and saw an old classmate of his sitting in one of his booths. He sighed as he made his way over. He knew if he ignored him, he would simply continue to call for him and mock him.
"Might as well get this over with," he said and pulled out his pad and pen from his apron. "Burt, how can I help you?"
"You're working here?" Burt asked, teasing Riley as he turned to his two other friends and started to laugh. "What's wrong, couldn't hack it as a farm boy? Had to demote yourself to a lowly waiter?"
Riley rolled his eyes. It wouldn't have mattered if he were a waiter, the manager, or the owner of the museum. Burt would, and always had, teased him for everything he did. Brainiac was just one of the names he had called Riley growing up.
Both were from a farming community north of Amber Beach. It was a small town with just one school. As such, Riley had been in the same class as Burt and his friends since kindergarten. Riley had no idea what he had done to prompt the teasing, but almost from the very first day, Burt had singled him out. It was only Riley's desire to leaving the farming town one day that kept him from caring too much what Burt said, and the green Ranger had managed to annoying the taunts through all the years.
Though that didn't mean he wasn't still annoyed by Burt, and wished the bigger kid would stop picking on him for once. It was never a good feeling, seeing Burt in the classroom and knowing he would be subject once more to a day of name-calling.
"Are you here to order something or are you just wasting everyone's time?" Riley asked. Burt chuckled.
"Neither, actually," he said. "I'm here to compete in the Amber Beach Marathon this weekend."
"A marathon?"
"Don't look so excited," Burt said. "Marathons are for athletes. Winners, in other words. And you're... neither of those."
Riley wanted to argue that before coming to Amber Beach, he had been interested in fencing, and practiced every day in his family's barn. And since coming to Amber Beach, he trained every day as a Ranger, improving his strength and stamina. He was more of an athlete than anyone else at the table. But he knew arguing with Burt was futile, so he let it go.
Hough no completely, "I could run a marathon."
"Anyone could run a marathon," Burt chuckled. "But could you do it without embarrassing yourself? You do know the crowd isn't going to wait three days just to see you cross the finish line."
Riley clenched his pen and pad tightly. He had never been the fastest runner in town, or even the strongest, but he had been far from last place. Riley was always usually around average in gym class, and especially successful in sports that required more agility, patience and discipline than strength.
And now that he was a Ranger, he was sure he could beat Burt in any sport they competed in. Especially a marathon. He thought of the energem, tucked safely around his neck, and the boost in power it would provide him if he called on it.
"You really think you're better than me at everything?"
"I'll prove it," Burt nodded and set his arm on the table, challenging Riley to an arm wrestling match. Riley set his pad and pencil down and took up the challenge. On go, Burt pushed against his hand. Riley could feel some strain, but it was nothing that threatened him. Riley was barely putting any energy to the competition and wanted Burt to struggle first before he was beaten. Just when Riley thought it was time to summon power from his energem, the call of his name interrupted him. Burt was still focused and managed to slam Riley's hand down on the table and the green Ranger's attention shifted to Kendall.
"What exactly do you think you're doing?" she snapped at him. "I pay you to take orders, not mess around with your friends."
"But Ms. Morgan..."
"Back to work!" Kendall ordered and Riley sighed. He picked up his pen and pad and made his way over to a new table.
"Bye, Wiley," Burt teased him as he and his friends got up to leave. "See you later, loser!"
Riley clenched his jaw. Burt had really managed to get under his skin this time.
-Dino-Charge-
After disciplining Riley, Kendall made her way down to her lab. She didn't want to handle the museum or its staff again today and left them to look after themselves. She had to take care of her lab, and ensure that while she had been gone, nothing went missing.
She took everything important with her home. The energems stayed with their Rangers and Kendall took care to keep the chargers, her computer and her books close to her. If there was a break in, she didn't want the aliens getting anything important. She didn't want them to use her own technology and weapons against her.
She walked around the lab, doing a quick check. Seeing everything was as she left it, she placed her energem in the crystal bed and walked to her work station. She set her laptop down on her desk and quickly programmed it to analyze the lab. She wanted to know where she could increase security to ensure that no monsters would have access to the lab.
As her computer ran a scan, Kendall sat down in her chair and rubbed her face in her hands. She had gotten no sleep, too worked up by the events of the night before to even think about closing her eyes.
Someone had come after her while she closed up the museum. They had tried to grab her right outside the museum and drag her off. Kendall tried fighting, but found herself powerless against them. She couldn't remember how she eventually managed to slip away, but the time before that had been terrifying. She thought, for sure, the person who grabbed her would take advantage of her; that he would hurt her.
She shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes, before anyone came down and saw them. She didn't want to talk about what had happened. She didn't want the others to know. She was a Power Ranger. The common, human scumbag should have been no problem for her. The moment he grabbed her should have been his biggest mistake, and yet it had almost been the end for her. How could she be expected to lead the Rangers, to support them against the monsters and keep up their hopes that they could once again defeat the aliens when she couldn't even protect herself against a human?
But there was one person she could talk to. Heckyl didn't know she was a Ranger, or that she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. He didn't know she was looked to by her friends to stop aliens in their path. To Heckyl, she was just Kendall, just a woman. He wouldn't think any less of her for almost getting caught by a predator. If anything, he might think she was brave for being able to escape. She reached for her phone and was just about to dial his number, hoping wherever he was, he would pick up when the elevator doors opened and Chase stepped out. Kendall jumped in her seat, startled by his appearance.
"Chase..."
"I'm just about to punch in," he said. "I thought I'd see how you were doing after last night, first?"
"Last... Last night?" Kendall stammered. Did he know what happened last night? How could he have? Riley and Ivan had taken him home before the incident and she hadn't told anyone about it. Not even Koda.
"With that... monster," Chase nodded. "You took some hard hits."
The monster! Kendall remembered now that attack hadn't been her first. The monster in the park had given her and Chase a pretty good beating. She nodded her head and looked to the black Ranger with a little worry.
"I'm fine, Chase. But you should rest. You took the worst of it."
"I'm fine too," Chase assured her. "I'll probably be taking it easy at work, though."
"If you're sure," Kendall nodded. Chase gave a little frown, seeing the purple Ranger wasn't herself.
"Kendall... is everything okay?" he asked as he walked over to her. "Are you thinking about last night?"
"Last night?" she questioned again, worried he knew more than he was letting on.
"The kiss," he said. "You didn't think I'd forget that, did you? The kiss... meant something, right?"
Kendall bit her lip and nodded her head. She had forgotten all about the kiss. She looked to Chase a little guiltily.
"Sorry, I just..."
"You're focused, I get it," he said. "With the attack and the base being compromised, you have other things to think about. If you need more time, that's cool."
He started to turn away and Kendall felt her guilt grow. She jumped out of her seat, shaking her head.
"I meant it. I want us to give this a shot."
Chase turned around, excitement lighting up his face, "Really?"
"Slow, though," she said. "This is all still... new to me."
"Yeah, sure," Chase nodded. "We'll take it slow. Have you thought of a date yet? When are you free?"
"I... I'm not sure," Kendall shrugged her shoulders. "Can we figure that out later?"
"Sure," Chase smiled. "I'll just be upstairs then, whenever you're ready."
Chase turned to leave, making his way back upstairs with a huge grin on his face. When he joined Tyler in the kitchen, the red Ranger couldn't help but notice his friend's upbeat attitude despite the bruises.
"Someone's looking better," he said. Chase nodded his head.
"It worked!" Chase smiled. "Last night worked!"
"It... what?"
"I mean, it was a complete accident," Chase said. "But... she kissed me! Kendall's going to give me a shot! She likes me, mate! She really likes me."
"That's great," Tyler smiled but quickly turned his gaze away. "Good for you..."
"Yeah, maybe we can double date again sometime," Chase suggested, oblivious to Tyler's change in tone. "Me and Kendall, you and..."
"She ran."
"Huh?"
"Shelby," Tyler said, setting down the spatula. "I thought you were right and decided to give it a shot. I was just about to ask her when she just... left."
"Did she say anything?"
Tyler shook his head. "Nothing."
Chase frowned deeply, then started to smile, "Aw, mate, you're just pulling my leg..."
"I'm serious, Chase. She took off and... We haven't been able to even look at each other since. Are you sure she likes me."
"Yeah," Chase nodded. "Mate, that's weird. Want me to..."
"Don't," Tyler shook his head and grabbed Chase's arm before he could leave the kitchen. "Don't mention a thing about this, especially to her. Things are already awkward enough and... I'd rather not miss out on my chance of being with her and lose her as my friend in a little over a day."
"Understandable," Chase answered. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Yeah, help me fill these orders in, will you?" Tyler asked.
