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Power Rangers: Shattered Dreams
Chapter 2: Water
01
Kevin misses swimming.
It isn't something that he has absolutely no time for whatsoever. Mentor Ji is not some workaholic tyrant after all, and the nighlok assaults aren't so constant that he can't find at least some time of his own. But it just isn't the same...swimming in a public pool, making way for those slower than he is. He's like a shark swimming among fish, only intent on protecting rather than consuming them. And there's always the knowledge that he could be called back to base at any time, that he could always become a fish out of water in that frustrating time between exiting the pool and getting dry.
And there's his own commitment that's killing him...he's abandoned one commitment to follow another.
And every time he tries to savour what he once had in his old dream of being an Olympic swimmer, he feels guilty for it.
02
Kevin misses being the best.
There, he's admitted it, as embarrassing/shameful as such a fact is. He misses being the best swimmer in the pool. He misses being a martial artist that everyone around him used to look up to. He misses being in circumstances where his skills were regarded as actual skills rather than necessities.
It's really a good thing that this isn't the case anymore he supposes. He's part of a team where fighting is, for better or worse, the only course of action open to them. He's part of a team where everyone is striving to improve their skills, to get to the level that the red ranger...not blue...represents. He offers his help, but is always turned down, as it should be in the realm of self fulfilment. Yet deep down, he's still discontent.
He's no longer the best. The one that everyone looks up to.
And as a member of the Samurai Rangers, he never will be.
03
Kevin misses his father.
As much as he misses being the best, he also misses the means by which he could be measured as such. His dad didn't sugar-coat the truth as parents do to their children-if he needed to work harder, he knew it. If he was failing at something, he was told. When he overcame obstacles, he was given the right amount of praise, and nothing more. The Samurai Rangers aren't without honesty, but friends will inevitably bend the truth to preserve that friendship-hence why none of them will say outright that he's boring, instead maintaining that he's disciplined. The same type of discipline that got him through his early life as a swimmer...and at the hand of his father, led him to take his place as a samurai.
Kevin misses his father...the only one he could honestly measure himself against.
04
Kevin misses proper food.
Yes, proper food, thank you very much. As in, food that isn't basic fuel to keep him going or worse, Mia's cooking. Cooking that he and the rest of the team are far too polite to give an honest opinion on. They all have it tough (even Mike, despite not knowing the difference between carbohydrates and lipids apparently), but he feels he has it harder than the rest of them. After all, he's spent most of his teenage life swimming for a place in the Olympics, a process that's psychological as well as physical. A process that involves a careful balance of foodstuffs, whether it be short burning energy or protein. Here however, food takes a backseat to samurai discipline and whatnot. Effective in its own right, but if this battle with the nighloks ever ends, Kevin knows he'll have lots of work to do in getting his old balance correct.
For now though...he needs to focus on involving Mia's 'cooking.'
05
Kevin misses regularity in his life.
True, this was offset at Christmas somewhat by the new watch he got, finally eliminating that nasty three second lag. True, there's regularity in a superficial sense-sleep, train, fight, train some more...but there's no timetable. No warning. No advance notices from Master Xandred saying that "I attend to attack at 3:30pm, with breaks to ensure that the episode of our conflict lasts half an hour. Not that he'd expect the nighlok to, but still...
There's no order, only chaos. No timetable, just torn up pieces of paper to symbolize his past attempts at making timetables. No-one who truly understands how much the blue ranger really depends on order in his life...ironic considering how rigorous and disciplined the samurai lifestyle is meant to be. For Kevin, it's not disciplined and rigorous enough.
And while order may be restored once the forces of the Netherworld are defeated...that day seems a long time coming.
06
Kevin misses having a normal life...sometimes.
"What about you? I heard that you left your dreams of swimming in the Olympics to be here Kevin. Don't you miss it?"
"No. When a samurai decides to serve, he's committed. Forever."
And he believes it, even if he has to life about not missing swimming. He believes it, even as Mike eats snacks right in front of him. He believes it as the months drag on. He believes it that so much that he starts lying to himself...and knows it.
He misses the days where he didn't have to be so dishonest.
And deep down, despite all his assertions to the contrary, Kevin misses a lot more.
A/N
So, chapter 2. Of the five rangers in these shorts, I'd say Kevin was perhaps on the same level of difficulty as Emily (more on her in the future). There's key aspects to hone in on in both characters, in the blue ranger's case, swimming. The problem is, outside that, there isn't so much, and while I'd say both Kevin and Jayden have some development, it's Jayden that gets far more IMO.
Anyway, character analysis aside, Merry Christmas and a happy new year.