Hello. After reading Ghostwriter's "Training" I got bitten by this plot bunny. Could take place at any point in WF after "Reds Forever".
The Power Rangers aren't mine. Sniffle.
"Hi-yah!" Max did a roundhouse kick, followed by a punch at the punching bag he had hung from a tree in the park. His mouth in a rare flat line he continued to beat up the punching bag.
"Ouch," observed a strange voice behind him. The seventeen-year-old turned around to see a fair-skinned teen about his age with cropped brown hair. Max folded his arms across his chest.
"Who are you?"
"Justin. And you're Max."
Max frowned warily at the other teen. "How do you know my name?"
"Tommy and TJ told me about you," Justin explained. "Cole talked to them a bit about his teammates, which included you."
Cole hadn't shut up about meeting Tommy Oliver, the greatest Power Ranger of all time, for weeks after his adventure with Tommy and the other Reds. Max asked curiously, "You're a former Power Ranger too?"
Justin looked down at his blue flannel shirt and joked, "Yep- guess which color."
Max had to laugh, glancing down. For once he wore a white long-sleeved shirt with thin blue stripes with his jeans instead of his usual orange long-sleeved shirt. "Just like me."
"True blue," Justin agreed. Sticking his hands into his pockets he asked, "Wanna take a walk?"
"Sure," Max agreed, grabbing his Wild Force vest from the grass. As they walked along the path Justin asked sympathetically, "How have things been?"
With an uneasy shrug Max replied as he tugged on his Ranger vest, "All right. Taylor doesn't call me kid or guppy as often and I think they've got it through their heads that I am much as a Ranger as they are."
Justin noted, "If they start teasing you, just tell them off by saying you're the same age Tommy was when he was using his Red Zeonizer."
"Really?"
Justin nodded, beaming.
"Ha! That would shut them up!" A pleased Max looked over at the other teen. "Justin, when were you a Ranger? You don't look much older than me."
"I'm seventeen."
"Hey! So am I! Sweet."
Justin grinned. "Yeah. Anyway, I was the Blue Turbo Ranger."
"Turbo…" Max tried to think of when that was. Out loud he mused, "Time Force was last year, and I know Mighty Morphin started in ninety-three, Zeo was the ninety-six to ninety-seven school year… okay, I give. When was Turbo?"
"1997."
"Just five years ago? Nice," went Max before it hit him. Five years ago he had been 12, and if he and Justin were the same ago…
"A twelve-year-old Ranger?" Max winced out of sympathy. "Your teammates must have given you a lot of graft for that."
Justin chuckled. "Eleven-going-on-twelve, thank you. My birthday is in late June, so I started out as an eleven-year-old Ranger for about a month until I hit twelve. Actually, my earlier teammates took me on my own terms."
"Really?" Max asked in surprise. "I wish the other Rangers would do that. Well, Merrick doesn't treat me as a kid… but then he mostly ignores me like he does everyone. Except the Princess of course."
Justin gave him a look. Max sighed. "Long story. Like three thousand years long."
"Ah."
As they strolled along Justin continued after a minute of comfortable silence, "Yeah- my first teammates were Tommy, Katherine, Adam, and Tanya. Tommy had become a Ranger when he was fourteen- only about two years older than me, which is why is he accepted me so readily. That helped to clinch it with the other three since he was the Red Ranger."
Max thought on how everyone (everyone but Merrick anyway) followed Cole's lead. And even when he was an active Ranger Tommy Oliver was already a legend. "I can see where that could happen."
"Yeah, but Adam was only three years older than me when he first became a Power Ranger. Plus he's big on the Zen factor- to him as long as I had the spirit of a Power Ranger (and not to brag but I do) that's all that mattered. Katherine mostly followed their lead, but I think she knew I was smarter in a lot of ways than my peers. So she treated me like an equal too. Tanya… she was still a kid in a lot of ways, so I think she was happy to have someone to play with. Plus she knew due to her personal experiences as a Ranger that maturity came in different forms, and that age and maturity didn't always come in the 'typical' configurations."
Max nodded. "But?"
Justin made a face. "Dimitia got them to 'move on' and choose their successors. Now don't get me wrong, they chose some good people to replace them. But they didn't have the history and understanding that comes from being a long-term Power Ranger. So TJ, Cassie, Ashley, and Carlos all treated me like a kid a lot."
"Hang on," Max realized. "Weren't you the most senior Ranger on the team then?"
"That was the rub," Justin rolled his eyes. "I had the most Ranger experience out of the five of us, as the most senior Ranger, but they all kept treating me like a kid. But I dealt. And nowadays they realize that they should have taken me on my own terms."
"Do you think the same thing will happen with me and my teammates someday?" Max asked wistfully. Justin playfully punched him in the arm.
"As long as you give them reason to."
"I'm trying," Max replied with a shake of his head. Justin assured him, "It's worth it. As long as you know you're being the best Power Ranger you can be, it's worth it despite the teasing."
"Thanks, Justin."
"No problem," and Justin got out a pamphlet on the technology company Triwolf Industries. "Hey, listen. A couple of hours every Tuesday evening we Blues come and hang out for a while in the president's office."
"Doesn't Billy Cranston mind us Blues using his office as a party place?"
Justin gave him a wide grin. "Since Billy is the first and only Blue Power Ranger… not really."
"Aren't we Blue Power Rangers?"
Justin did a so-so motion with his free hand. "Kind of. But my exact title is Blue Turbo Ranger while yours is the Blue Wild Force Ranger. But Billy's exact title is the Blue Power Ranger."
"He was the first Blue Power Ranger back in Mighty Morphin."
"Just like Tommy Oliver was the Green Power Ranger and the White Power Ranger, Trini Kwan the first Yellow Power Ranger, Aisha Campbell the second Yellow Power Ranger, Zack Taylor the first Black Power Ranger, Adam Park the second Black Power Ranger, Kimberly Hart the first Pink Power Ranger, Katherine Hilliard the second Pink Power Ranger, Rocky DeSantos the second Red Power Ranger, and Jason Lee Scott the first Red Power Ranger and the Gold Zeo Ranger," Justin ticked off the other nine Rangers of the first ten with his fingers.
Taking the pamphlet Max looked at it. "Funny, Lucas didn't mention this."
"Lucas didn't know at the time," Justin refuted. "Remember? It was only after your team-up that the rest of Time Force decided 'what the Putty' and stayed in the 'present'."
"Good point. I'll definitely come this coming Tuesday."
"Great. I'll look for you there," Justin grinned. The two did a fist bump. Then Max stretched, saying, "I'd better get back to Animaria before Danny starts to worry."
Justin had a parting piece of advice.
"Don't forget, Max, there's a difference between treating a teammate like a kid and having honest concern for a teammate's well-being."
Max grinned as Justin turned to go.
"I know. I've done some fretting of my own over my teammates… Danny and I have come to the agreement that if Eric ever hurts Taylor we'll TP his house for starters."
"Never mess with a Blue's teammates," Justin agreed. "We all take after Billy… and he's part-Wolf."
"So that means I'm part-Merrick. Now that's an idea that would REALLY freak out my teammates," Max laughed. Justin laughed too, and waved good-bye as he loped off. Max waved good-bye until he couldn't see the fellow seventeen-year-old anymore; then he turned back to go get his punching bag and to go home.