Yes everyone, I am in fact still alive. I actually had the idea for this chapter way back when I wrote the first chapter and realised that I accidentally said the ninja rangers now lived in the same place as one of my other favourite ranger teams, Jungle Fury. Which got me the idea of what would happen if the two actually met.
You probably don't need to know much about Jungle Fury to follow this, since it's more focused on the ninja rangers still, but a little background wouldn't hurt too much. This all occurs back at the very start of that series, so no major plot points spoiled that wouldn't be spoilt by watching the opening. And if you like one of these shows, I almost guarantee you you'll like the other. I may have taken a bit of artistic license at one point - in this one Casey's injured in his fight against Dai Shi after Theo's fight with the gecko monster, but that's the only departure from the plot. I love both these series too much to make any drastic changes.
Also yes, it is canon that the Jungle Fury rangers grew up with power rangers and wanted to be them as little kids. You cannot convince me there were not comics made. I wrote an entire story around the idea. May expand on it further - we'll just have to see.
This was the one time in history it was a good thing that baggage had been put on the wrong plane.
Blake wasn't very happy about, though Dustin couldn't see why. He'd have no problems with the air transport system for eating all his dirty laundry but obviously something important must've been in the suitcase with the grimy socks and underwear because Blake insisted on standing at the complaints desk for two hours demanding to know what happened to the all-important case. The best guess anyone had was that, when Blake stopped at Mariner Bay, his luggage had been put on the plane to Amber Beach, the route he'd intended to take before he found a shorter one, rather than making it onto the flight to Reefside. Regardless, there was nothing anyone could do about it now – the best they could do was go home and call the desk tomorrow to see if they'd located it.
"What's so important in there anyway?" Dustin asked as the car set off towards home "You lose the ring for Tori or something?"
Blake froze in the back seat, clinging onto his carry-on luggage like he was worried that was going to disappear too.
Shane peered at him in the rear-view mirror with a look of worry. "Are you kidding me? You put that in baggage?"
"It wasn't the ring!" Blake insisted "Cam's got it. He's the only one I can trust not to lose it."
"Will you hurry up and propose to her, man?" Dustin groaned "We're getting old here and I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually starting to miss Digit."
Digit had been relocated to Thunder Academy until after the big question was popped. The little mechanical owl was about as good at keeping secrets as Dustin. Shane had joked multiple times about sending Dustin to Thunder Academy too, just as a precaution. Considering how long it was taking Blake to pluck-up the courage, Dustin was finding it increasingly hard to keep his mouth shut. He wanted to be an uncle already, dammit!
"These things require planning!" Blake insisted, turning increasingly red in the face, though that could've just been the air sweeping over the top of the convertible and right into his face doing that "I can't just do it anywhere. It has to be special and—"
"Whatever man, I'm dying here" Dustin groaned, leaning back in his seat. It wasn't very often he was allowed to ride shotgun and he was totally taking advantage of it now. "If you don't ask her, I'm going to."
"I'm sure Marah would love that" Shane joked, then flicking his eyes back to the rear-view mirror again "If it wasn't the ring, then what was it?"
Blake mumbled something under his breath.
"The top's down, dude!" Dustin yelled back to him "We can't hear you!"
"Baseball caps" Blake finally announced loud enough for them to hear him "I got you all matching baseball caps."
Dustin outright roared with laughter. Shane tried to remain focused on the road but was biting the inside of his cheeks to stop the giggles.
"I was in Bostan! Okay!" Blake complained "What was I supposed to get you?"
"Why can't you go back to Neo York?" Dustin complained "Those bagels were awesome!"
"I thought you were racing the whole time" Shane pointed out "When did you have time to go shopping?"
"The airport" Blake confessed.
That just sent Dustin further into raptures. "You bought your two best friends, your brother and your future wife airport baseball caps! They probably all look the same as well!"
"It's Red Sox territory, Dustin" Blake reminded him "You're sort of limited to two colours."
That didn't stop Dustin was laughing though. Instead he rocked back and forth in his seat, like he was about to take off or throw up.
"Why are we going this way?" Blake asked, surveying the coast road they were following "Wouldn't the motorway be faster?"
Blue Bay Harbour didn't have an airport, go figure. But Reefside did. With the surfing season being in full swing and Hunter being called to Thunder Academy for an 'emergency' (Sensei Ominou had probably lost his glasses again), Shane and Dustin had offered to pick the motor cross champion (though Dustin argued coming in fourth hardly made him a 'champion', did it?) up from the airport and bring him home. Of course the flight was delayed and his baggage got lost, but that was probably Shane's fault. He just seemed to carry bad karma around with him wherever he went.
"Triple car pile-up southbound" Shane told him "It's quicker this way. At least, we'll be home for lunch."
Blake may've asked what happened, or what they were having for lunch, but a sight caught both his and Shane's eyes. As they drove past, they saw three people walking down the side of the road. The cliffside edge at that. And they were heading in the same direction as their car.
Blake turned his head to watch the trio as the car sped past them, the three quickly disappearing behind a bend in the road.
"Who do you think they were?" he questioned.
"Who?" Dustin peered behind them, trying to see who Blake was talking about.
"Backpackers" Shane guessed.
"They weren't carrying anything" Blake pointed out "What if they got stranded, or their car broke down?"
"We haven't seen a broken car" Shane reminded him.
"Car? Where?" Now Dustin was even more confused, all but standing up in his seat to get a better look.
"We can't just leave them there" Blake pointed out "It's blistering hot out here. They'll get heat stroke or pass out. We could at least take them to a phone booth or something."
Shane didn't stop, but he did slow the car down, like he was considering it.
"Dude, the last time we stopped at the side of the road to help someone, our school got sucked up into space" Dustin reminded the driver.
Actually, the last time they'd stopped, it was a trap that left Blake fighting a Kelzak whilst dangling off the side of a cliff, but Blake negated to mention that. He felt that would only add more fuel to the 'don't stop' pile.
Shane glanced into the rear-view mirror, searching for the hikers. He couldn't see them though – the road was winding and they must've gone a mile past them at least.
With a sigh, Shane stopped the car and performed a three-point turn in the road.
"Are you kidding me?" Dustin groaned "We're not gonna get any lunch before my shift!"
"We can't leave them there" Shane told him "You have a phone, don't you? If they need help, we can call them a tow truck or something."
Dustin groaned like the idea actually pained him, but fished out the phone anyway.
They ended up driving past the trio, who thankfully hadn't plunged off the cliff edge to their painful deaths, before turning around again and pulling up beside them.
"You guys broken down or something?" Shane, ever the diplomat, asked them.
The three looked at each other uncertainly, like they expected a trap to spring on them. Blake didn't blame them – if some strange car pulled up beside him on the highway after already going past him, he'd be suspicious too. Granted, now he was a little suspicious of them. Up close, he could see that, despite the biggest being taller than Shane and the smallest making Blake look like a giant, the three were wearing matching grey…pyjamas? Training gear? Monk robes? Could girls be monks? He'd say they were ninjas if the uniform wasn't applicable to either academy. And then there was the fact they were all baby-faced teenagers, eyes wonder-struck and looking like they'd never set foot into the big wide world alone before. He honestly wondered if they'd escaped a mental asylum or something.
"You speak English?" Dustin tried "Comprende Spanish? Chinese? Hello?"
Blake felt embarrassment on behalf of humanity.
"We're fine" the only girl amongst them finally managed. The two boys stared at her, one seemingly scandalised that she would talk to another human being and the tallest one looking slightly impressed, if not a little uneasy still.
"You hikers?" Blake guessed.
The three looked between each other again. Blake idly wondered who was in charge between them and came to the conclusion that they were wondering the same thing.
"Hitchhikers" the tall one offered after a pause, only to wince as the shorter boy's foot trod down on his toes in a way that said he was trying to be as discreet as possible.
"You need a lift?" Shane offered "Where are you heading to?"
This time there was rapid whispering between the three, the girl and the taller boy nodding frantically whilst the shortest looked like he wanted to punch one – or both – of them for suggesting such an idea. Finally, Shorty pulled an envelope out of some hidden pocket and unfolded it, staring at it for a moment before declaring:
"Ocean Bluffs."
"Bluff" the tall boy corrected him, only to receive a sharp glare.
"Hey! We live there!" Dustin suddenly broke out into a grin "We can drop you off on the way home! Where abouts exactly are you going?"
Dustin didn't get an answer, because once again the wonder trio started looking at each other uncertainly. After a few more tense seconds of that, the girl huffed.
"Well, I don't know about you boys" she declared "But I'm not walking any further. See you in Ocean Bluff/Bluffs-whatever."
Without waiting for them to comment, the girl hoped over the side to sit next to Blake. Blake reluctantly got out of the car to put his carry-on bag in the boot – this was going to be a tight fit if all of them wanted a ride.
It was a tight fit. Shorty ended up having to sit on Tall Boy's lap whilst Blake and the girl were crammed into what little space the back seat of the convertible had left. It wasn't a long journey to Ocean Bluff though, only a few minutes, so there was no point in anyone complaining.
"So where'd you guys come from anyway?" Dustin asked, curious about the strangers who'd invaded their back seat.
"Stony Creek" Tall Boy offered, but then immediately looked guilty, like he wasn't supposed to say that. The girl appeared nervous again whilst Shorty just rolled his eyes.
"San Angeles, originally" he supplied "Lil too."
"How'd you guys all end up travelling together?" Blake frowned. San Angeles was more than five hundred miles away – Stony Creek even further. They couldn't possibly have hitchhiked that whole way, could they?
"We…attended the same school for a while" The girl, Lil apparently, offered, but Blake got the feeling that wasn't the whole truth. Maybe he was naturally suspicious – he'd grown up at a ninja school after all. Who was he to question regular high school demographics?
"Us too!" Dustin declared excitedly "Well, me and Shane and Tori anyway. We actually live kinda near it still."
"Technically the school's in Blue Bay Harbour" Shane reminded him.
"Ocean Bluff, Blue Bay Harbour – same thing" Dustin shrugged "They're part of one of those metropolis things, right?"
"Not really" Blake offered "Technically Ocean Bluff is considered a part of Blue Bay County – they're two different towns that encroach upon each other. Metropolises are like San Angeles and Neo York."
"Well sorry I don't eat the encyclopaedia for breakfast, dude" Dustin scoffed, and Blake resisted the urge to point out he probably meant the dictionary. Now into his mid-twenties and Dustin didn't show any signs of mentally aging past twelve. Thank whatever deities that may be that he had enough heart to make up for it.
"San Angeles was like a real big town" Lil told them "You could walk all day and you wouldn't even get close to crossing it. Remember, Theo?"
"Not really" Theo – Shorty – shrugged.
Blake and Shane looked at each other through the rear-view mirror, both on edge. How could he not remember the place he claimed to be from?
"You been away from home a long time?" Shane asked, only to get silence in response.
"Yeah" Lil finally told him, but not until he'd almost forgotten he'd asked the question.
"So what prison did you break out of?" Dustin asked, nearly causing Shane to crash the car.
After a beat of stunned silence, Theo looked outraged whilst the other two started laughing.
"They can't say that about—" Theo turned to Lil, not finishing the sentence but frantically gesturing at his clothes.
"Yeah, they can Theo" Lil laughed "I'm sorry, but these are practically prison attire. We could pass for extras for The Shawshank Redemption in these."
The image of their mutant parolee friend Shawshank sprung to mind, only now dressed in the trio's outfits, and Shane almost laughed himself off the road.
"Your shirt has got different squares to theirs" Dustin realised, staring at Tall Boy's shirt "That mean something? Different crime? You live in solitary confinement or something?"
Instantly the atmosphere in the convertible turned from joking to frosty, Tall Boy staring at everyone uncertainly. Shane swore the guy had spoken exactly twice since they pulled over. He was either the strong, silent type or was under strict orders to keep his mouth shut. The latter didn't exactly put Shane at ease over who he was transporting around.
"I—" He didn't really manage to speak, just looking at Lil frantically for some sort of advice "I…Well, I'm—"
"Someone who shouldn't be here" Theo finished for him, the ice in his eyes communicating what his words didn't – talk to the kid again and we're getting out.
Tall Boy looked upset for maybe half a second, before ducking his head like he accepted it was the truth. Lil looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't know what, so kept her mouth shut too.
After that, it was an uneventful drive, if only because no one dared break the uncomfortable silence settling in the air.
Within five minutes, the car arrived at the main intersection of Ocean Bluff. Shane wasn't sure where they wanted dropping off, so he pulled into the taxi rank and hoped they wouldn't be too long. He certainly felt like a taxi.
"We're here, everyone out" he told them, only to receive three blank looks "You want directions or something?"
"No" Theo hastily declared before scrambling out of his seat, the other two quickly following him. They exited from the side that faced the street and all three former rangers winced as Lil was almost taken out by a car speeding by. Whoever they were, they clearly weren't used to dealing with traffic hazards.
"You guys know where you're going?" Blake asked, a little uncertain at leaving these three to their own devices in such a built-up area.
Tall Boy looked like he was about to say no, but Theo grabbed his hand and pulled him away before he could say anything.
"Thank you for bringing us this far – we appreciate your hospitality" Theo told him before dragging Tall Boy down a side street, Lil hot on their heels.
The three left behind in the car paused for a minute, waiting to see if they'd come back, before Shane saw a taxi coming their way and made a speedy exit.
"Well they were weird" Dustin remarked.
"A little too weird" Blake agreed "Anyone get that other kid's name?"
"He barely spoke at all" Shane pointed out "Small, Dark and Brooding over there kept them both pretty under wraps."
"He was just like you, Blake!" Dustin remarked.
"I'm Hispanic, Dustin" Blake corrected him "That guy was Filipino."
"Yeah, I know that" Dustin waved the remark off "But you're both short and dark and have this look on your face all the time."
He pulled a face that was probably supposed to be brooding, but came off looking like he really needed the toilet.
"I don't like leaving them to run all over the city" Shane admitted "Maybe we should get Cam to keep an eye on them?"
"You don't think they really broke out of prison, do you?" Dustin queried "I mean, I was just joking, but…"
"I know" Blake remarked "Don't suppose they could be aliens, could they?"
Shane slammed on the brakes, startling them both, before bashing his head off the steering wheel.
"What happened?" Blake immediately asked.
"Of course they're aliens!" Shane groaned "The unfamiliarity with Earth, the cover stories! It's Alien 411! I'm an idiot – my best friend's dating an alien and I didn't notice!"
"Hey!" Dustin protested "It's not your fault! They didn't say they were aliens! I'm dating one so I should've known!"
"If they're aliens, they're probably looking for us" Blake pointed out "Odds are someone told them to look for the rangers living in Ocean Bluff."
"And we just let them walk away" Shane groaned, then addressing the litany of car horns blaring behind them "Alright! Alright! I'm going!"
The car pulled off again in the direction of their apartment.
"Look, man, we'll call Dr Oliver when we get back, okay?" Dustin suggested "And I'll tell Marah – maybe she knows who they are or something. They could be, like, her third cousins on summer vacation."
"We can contact Wes as well" Blake suggested "He's affiliated with SPD now – if there are aliens in Ocean Bluff they'll probably know something, or want to know."
That didn't exactly put Shane at ease. Cam was going to blow his top when he found out about this.
"Aliens?" Cam stared disbelieving up at the two men (though he still didn't believe that they were men – they seemed more like pre-pubescents than men) invading his personal space.
"Downtown, like, an hour ago" Shane nodded determinedly "Three of them in prison jumpsuits."
Cam turned his disbelieving gaze on Hunter, who raised both hands in a defensive gesture.
"Don't look at me – I wasn't there" he insisted.
"There are no aliens in Blue Bay County" Cam declared dismissively "At least, none I'm not related to."
"Just take a look at the security cameras!" Shane complained "They're so weird, you'll see what I mean right away!"
Hunter and Cam were both skeptical, one more so than the other, but Cam recently sighed and began pulling up the security feeds across town from that day.
"Where did you last see them?" he asked.
"The taxi rank on Main Street" Shane answered "Like an hour ago."
Cam found the only camera focused on the taxi rank and re-wound it. At about the time Shane had pinpointed, Cam located a blue smudge that may be the group's convertible, with three grey blobs moving away from it to the right of the screen.
"They don't look like aliens" Hunter remarked.
"Look, just ask Dustin and Blake!" Shane protested "I mean, Dustin's at work and Blake's catching up on jetlag but when they get back you can ask them!"
Shane found himself on the receiving end of two unimpressed stares.
"I'll talk to SPD – see if they know anything about aliens in the area" Cam said the word with an air of dismissal "If they haven't—what the…"
As Cam broke off his sentence and stared at his computer screen with bafflement, the other two crowded around his again to see what he was staring at.
"Er…" Shane had no idea what he was looking at.
"They have spears" was all Hunter could say "And they're jumping up and down in sync."
Resignedly, Cam stood up. "I knew there was a reason we kept up our training."
"So, the world's ending?" Tori guessed, looking down at the three men sat around a laptop in the middle of her apartment, looking like they'd just witnessed the brutal murder of a close friend.
"Feels like it" Hunter complained, his eyes practically bugging out.
With a sigh, Tori turned to her boyfriend, who was half propped-up on the sofa and looking like he was about to nod right back off to the land of dreams at any moment. "What happened?"
"I don't know" Blake groaned "They just burst in and started yelling."
At that moment, Hurricane Dustin came bursting in through the front door. "Is it true?! Did the aliens attack the city?!"
"No" Cam admitted "Now we're all here, I supposed Shane should start."
Tori sighed and took a seat next to her boyfriend. She'd been at work all day and just wanted a nice shower and a long nap, but apparently the boys had gotten into trouble and now she had to sit through the explanation.
Shane went into a short explanation of the hitchhikers he, Dustin and Blake had picked up on the way back from the airport (Tori had already heard that part from Blake's 'I'm Home' text at lunch) and telling Cam and Hunter about it. Cam took over and explained how they'd seen the strange bouncing monsters with spears (Tori demanded video proof before finally acknowledging the creatures did exist) on the video feed. However, by the time they'd gotten there, the monsters were gone.
"So, what, were they like Kelzaks or—"
"Shhhh!" Tori waved her arm in Dustin's direction "Is there a point here?"
"Yeah, can we get to it?" Blake yawned "I think I'm halfway to bed."
"I'm getting to it" Cam frowned with disapproval before continuing.
Confused but not finding any answers where the monsters had been, like they'd just evaporated or something, the trio had headed home. Only, about an hour later, Cam had received a call from his cousins, screaming about how it wasn't their fault this time and they had no idea who had done this.
"Giant mantis?" Tori guessed.
"And the ray of light from the sky that punted it over the horizon" Cam added "Apparently there's nothing alien about that."
Tori could fill in the rest of the blanks herself. Dam burst. Flood. Giant creatures fighting in the streets. Giant mantis go bye-bye. Spend all evening assessing how badly the shop was hit. Thank whatever being was up there that their apartment complex was situated at one of the highest points in the city.
"But it's not aliens" Tori double-checked.
Cam grimaced. "No. So we decided to see what footage the city cameras had caught and…well, this happened just before the giant mantis."
Tori and Dustin moved across the room to look at the laptop screen. Shane and Hunter still looked deeply traumatised, which worried them greatly. What was so awful about what the cameras had captured? Even Blake shuffled on the sofa so he could see the screen, at least partially.
The video rolled. For a few seconds, nothing happened, except for a few discreet flashes of light somewhere offscreen. Just as those who hadn't seen the video were starting to wonder what was going on, something green went flying across the screen, crashing into a pile of rubble.
"Small mantis?" Dustin guessed, only to get shushed again.
And then it happened.
A figure all-in-red came running into frame and immediately started wrestling with the small mantis monster.
Tori yelped. Dustin started pointing and making 'oooh'-ing noises. Blake leant forward to get a better look.
"If that's not either of you two…" Dustin looked between Shane and Hunter, his brain working overtime to try and process what it was seeing.
"Conner?" Blake guessed, leaning so far forward he was almost about to fall off the sofa.
"Take a look again" Cam zoomed in on the figure's head. Sure enough, the helmet wasn't the same as Conner's. It was ornate and sculpted to look like a cat, engraved whiskers and everything.
"It doesn't look like any of the helmets of the groups I met in San Angeles" Tori confessed.
"We sent it to Dr Oliver and everything" Shane told her "He hasn't seen anyone like this."
"A baby ranger?" Dustin appeared to be both excited and nervous at this revelation "In Ocean Bluff?"
"It gets better" Cam told him "Keep watching."
As soon as he spoke, the mantis blew up into tiny pieces. And as if they weren't shocked enough, two more rangers came running into frame, with the same sort of design as the red one, but colour-scheme blue and yellow.
"Three of them?!" Dustin's voice reached an unholy high pitch.
"And that may not be all of them" Cam added "There may be more off-screen."
Hunter didn't say anything. He was too busy staring at the new rangers like an Android might regard a Smartphone.
"Do they…the cameras? Do they show where they went?" Tori asked, a little breathless herself.
"No" Cam admitted "But I don't think their identities are that hard to figure out."
"Huh?" Dustin stared at the former green ranger cluelessly.
"Three new rangers appear in our city" Cam commented "On the same day you three brought three unusual hitchhikers out from the wilds."
Dustin made a gasping noise, an epiphany crossing his face. Shane and Hunter stared at each other, then at Blake and Tori, like that idea had never crossed their minds.
"Well, at least they're not aliens" Blake remarked.
"They could be alien rangers" Dustin pointed out "There have been some of them before."
"I think that's highly unlikely" Cam told him "Most new rangers have a habit of acting suspiciously – they try too hard to conceal their identities. Alien rangers tend to react the opposite way. Still," Cam frowned at the screen "I wish they'd turn around. Most of these groups have their emblems on their chests, but they only ever stand with their backs to the camera or profile. If we at least knew their signature, we could at least stand a chance of identifying them."
"Well, if they live here, we may see them again, right?" Dustin pointed out "I mean, if we start helping them out—"
"No."
Everyone turned in surprise to Hunter.
"We can't morph" Hunter pointed out "Yeah, we can fight, but these guys were barely breaking a sweat. They're trained, and they know what they're dealing with. This isn't Lothor – we're out of our depth here."
He made a good point. They may still be fighters, but they were hardly young either. They knew nothing about their enemy. They weren't in a position to defend the world and these young newcomers clearly were.
"If we see them, we could offer our help, though" Tori pointed out.
"I don't see a problem with that" Shane nodded "We'll all keep an eye out. We may not be running the show this time around, but I don't see a problem with giving them a leg up."
"How come we've never heard of this place before?" Shane stared up at the sign hanging above the door.
"It's been here a while" Tori told him "A couple of co-workers recommended it, so I thought we should check it out."
"Jungle Karma Pizza" Hunter read "Anyone else think there's a yoga room upstairs?"
"Hmmm…I could use some yoga" Blake mumbled, rubbing his shoulder with a pained look on his face. He'd taken a tumble in one of his races right over the handlebars of his bike, and he hadn't been feeling 100% since then.
They'd made a pact when they realised that, due to work schedules and Blake's frequent trips away, they'd started seeing less of each other besides when they crashed back at the apartment they all co-owned. Every time Blake was at home and Hunter wasn't at Thunder Academy, outside of competition season, they would try out a new restaurant either in Blue Bay County or in a neighbouring one. Which lead to the five of them standing outside the doors of Jungle Karma Pizza.
They'd invited Cam, of course. They always made sure Cam was invited. But Cam always managed to wriggle out of being seen with them in public. Today it was because Marah and Kapri were moving into a new apartment and he was helping them. Everyone doubted that Cam was being that generous. Shane's comment about Cam being allergic to human interaction appeared to be the more likely answer.
"If it's any good, we can totally order from here, right?" Dustin asked.
"It'd have to be pretty good pizza to beat Dominos" Hunter commented "Do they even do home delivery?"
"They've got a car" Blake pointed out, gesturing to the safari-coloured open-top jeep parked outside the front door.
"Well, maybe as well try it out" Tori offered, taking Blake's hand and pulling him into the pizza parlour which had surprisingly dim lighting, especially compared to the sunshine outside.
"They really went jungle themed, huh" Shane commented, looking at the plants hanging from the ceiling and across the walls, and the plastic animals decorating the surfaces.
"I think it's got style" Dustin nodded approvingly.
"I think we're not gonna get seated" Hunter commented, glancing around the room for a table that could possibly sit five people. Suddenly Cam not coming seemed like a good thing.
Before they could locate a table for themselves, someone in an unusual combination of an orange cap, green shirt and back-and-white striped trousers came up to them.
"Hello and welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza. How many people will you need seating?"
Shane was too busy staring at what appeared to be a huge open oven where he could see pizzas baking to pay attention to who was speaking. "Yeah, could we get a table for—"
"IT'S YOU!"
Everyone jumped at Dustin's sudden outburst, including the one speaking.
"I-I'm sorry?"
Shane glanced at the poor soul, prepared to apologise, and immediately realised who it was. Teenager, tall, short dark-blond hair, friendly face with eyes that seemed to meet everyone's at once.
"Tall Boy?" Shane realised, which didn't appear to put the boy at ease.
"It's the alien!" Dustin yelled out, getting the attention of everyone in the restaurant.
Tall Boy looked over his shoulder towards a girl with glasses that Shane didn't recognise, perhaps looking for advice or an exit strategy or the number for the local psych ward. She was staring at the group of former rangers uneasily.
Blake sighed like he was losing his faith in humanity and pushed to the front of the group. "Sorry about them – they're just a bit excited. Do you remember us?"
Tall Boy stared back at him like he thought Blake was crazy, before it obviously clicked in his mind. He relaxed visibly, a smile crawling back onto his face.
"You're the guys who gave us a lift" he realised.
"Yeah! You totally bailed on us without telling us your name!" Dustin exclaimed.
An embarrassed flush came across Tall Boy's face. "Oh, sorry. It was a bad day, for all of us. Can I get you a table?"
Tall Boy pushed together two tables to try and get them seated in the packed restaurant. They all had to squeeze up a bit, but they fitted. Doing the maths, Blake wondered how they were going to fit five pizzas on here. Someone was probably going to have to share.
"So, do we just order—" Blake started, flipping over one of the plastic menus, but by the time he looked up, Tall Boy had scampered away into what he assumed was the kitchen "Alright. Bye, I guess."
"Do you think his name's, like, super embarrassing or something?" Dustin guessed "I mean, he keeps running off before we can ask him it."
"This coming from the guy called Waldo" Shane pointed out.
"Strange coincidence, huh?" Tori commented "Running into them here. I suppose they have to have a day cover."
"There's no way they're the rangers" Hunter shook his head "What rangers operate out of a pizza parlour?"
"We operated out of a waterfall cave" Tori pointed out "Xander's group lived in a tree. Rangers can come from strange places nowadays."
Hunter considered that, eyes sliding down the menu and wondering what a Chocolate Sunday Surprise Pizza was.
"So" Dustin hissed "Do we tell them?"
"Tell them what?" Tori frowned.
"That we're rangers" Dustin answered, trying to keep his voice down as much as possible "That we know they're rangers."
"This is probably not the place for it" Blake commented, taking in the packed restaurant "Last thing we need is to blow their cover."
"But then, when are we gonna do it?" Dustin asked, whining just a little bit.
"If we see them getting into trouble, we'll step in and help them out" Shane told him "If they're doing ok on their own, we should just leave them to it."
Before anyone could interject or argue, Tall Boy came bursting out of the kitchen again, frantically pointing at them and talking to someone behind him. Lil, the girl, stepped out and spotted them immediately, running over to their table and pulling up a chair to sit with them.
"Hey! It is you!" she had a huge grin on her face, almost bouncing with excitement "When Casey said you were out here I thought he'd made a mistake, but it's really you!"
"You're a lot more chipper today than you were last time" Shane commented.
Lil's smile became a little more strained. "Sorry. We'd…someone we cared about had just died and we all took it hard. Sorry if we came across as rude."
Instantly Shane felt bad. People grieved in their own ways – heck, Blake and Hunter were proof of that – and he guessed that losing someone would probably put you in a surly mood. The idea that he'd called them aliens made him bow his head with shame a little.
"So this was the place you guys were looking for that day?" Dustin guessed "It's a good job you didn't ask us for directions – we'd never even heard of this place!"
"Yeah, it's pretty much home to us now" Lil nodded "Casey loves it here – I don't think he's had much stability before. And Theo…he's adjusting. He's not used to taking orders from people, you know?"
So Theo must be red ranger then, they all guessed. He probably ruled his team with an iron fist. They could only imagine they would have been the same if Cam had been made red ranger.
"Theo's the short guy, right?" Dustin tried to remember. Trying to keep track of who was who was hard when no one would give you their names voluntarily.
Lil suddenly laughed embarrassedly. "We never told our names, did we? I'm Lily."
Lily. Yeah, that made more sense than Lil. Unless her surname was Wayne.
"You know Casey" she nodded in the direction of Tall Boy, who was talking to the girl with glasses, probably trying to reassure her they weren't crazy stalkers "And Theo's upstairs. He's had a long day. Some geck—some guy beat him up this morning and he's been sulking ever since."
Gecko. Yeah – they'd seen that on the cameras. Shane was glad their monsters had managed to keep their feet on solid ground – they could barely stay coordinated right-side up let alone sideways.
"I'm Shane" Shane took it upon himself to introduce everyone "That's Tori, her boyfriend Blake—"
"If he would only get a move on—!"
Hunter quickly grabbed Dustin in a headlock before he could say anything else incriminating.
"His brother Hunter, and the loudmouth's Dustin" Shane finished "You probably remember Dustin."
"Of course" Lily nodded "Theo's still hung up on the whole 'looking like criminals' thing."
Tori shot Blake a curious look and he promised to tell her later.
At that moment, a tall man wearing a bandana stepped out of the kitchen, getting the attention of everyone in the room without saying anything.
Lily immediately jumped up. "That's my boss. I'll see you guys around. My advice, go for the Sandy Explosion Pizza. It's a mess to create but so good to eat."
She jogged over to where her boss was talking with Casey and Glasses Girl, granted with more hand gestures than were strictly necessary.
"Cool tat" Hunter remarked.
"Where?" Shane frowned.
"On the boss's arm" Hunter told them "The right one. It's cool."
All eyes immediately zoomed in on the boss's right forearm. Sure enough, there was a tattoo there. Three long diamonds.
"Hey, have we seen that before?" Dustin remarked.
Shane racked his brain but he couldn't think of an occasion he'd seen the design before but came up empty. "No."
A clicking noise descended over the table and everyone looked at Blake, who appeared to be frantically texting someone.
"Did you just take a photo?" Tori frowned with disapproval.
"It's kinda rude" Hunter agreed.
"Dustin's right – we've seen it before" Blake told them "I just don't know where. I'm sending it to Cam – his brain's better than mine."
It took several minutes for Cam to respond. In that time, they ordered four pizzas of different types – including Lily's Sandy Explosion Pizza – and watched as the boss and Theo left the restaurant. They were pretty sure it was Theo anyway – the figure was short and carrying a large green armchair over his shoulder. When Cam did respond though, everyone jumped as Blake's phone began blaring out it's ringtone at maximum volume. They shut it up and glanced around, but no one reacted in a way that said phones couldn't be used here, so they put it on speaker mode.
"Where are you guys?" Cam's voice appeared frantic, an unusual tone for him.
"Eating pizza" Dustin answered, his mouth stuffed with the food in question.
Cam's end of the line went silent, as if he either hadn't heard Dustin or was in disbelief.
"We're in a pizza parlour" Hunter clarified.
"Phai Zhua own a pizza parlour?" Cam seemed even more in disbelief.
"No, pizza – not pies" Dustin corrected him.
"Phai Zhua!" Cam insisted, as if emphasising the words would magically make them understand what he meant.
"We're losing you here, Cam" Tori summed up all their thoughts "Could you…maybe explain it in English?"
Cam groaned exasperatedly and told everyone to listen up because he was only going to say this once. Everyone gathered together as closely together as possible and held the phone at maximum volume between the five of them.
"As you all know, Wind Academy and Thunder Academy used to be a part of the same school. A disagreement between head teachers caused them to split up about two hundred years ago. But approximately five hundred years before that, they themselves used to belong to a bigger school. They were known as Phai Zhua – Order of the Claw."
The five at the table stared at each other, not knowing what to say. None of them had particularly studied the history of the academies before, so this was all new to them.
"They had…other ideas about harnessing the powers of the natural earth. They believed that everyone has an animal spirit, and by mimicking the fighting style of that animal, they could reach their highest potential. When students began practising harnessing the powers of the earth, sky, water and thunder, they were immediately thrown out. These…rejects, if you will, went on to form the school that would later become the Wind and Thunder ninja academies."
"…We're rejects?" It wasn't just Dustin – everyone had focused on the same thing from that monologue.
Cam sounded like he was about to explode. "Yes, I supposed you could call it—" His voice then turned distant as he turned his head away from the phone. "Yes Marah, we're all rejects. You and Dustin really are compatible, you know that?"
"Marah's there?" Shane was surprised.
"And Kapri" Cam added "The whole family—Dad! I told you to leave it alone! I'll be there in a minute!" Cam let out an aggravated sigh. "Note to self, being a ninja master does not make you a master at furniture building."
"Sensei's building furniture?" Dustin summed up what they were all thinking, again.
"We're helping Kapri and Marah move out" Cam reminded them "What did you think we were doing?"
The table went silent.
"You were helping them move out" Tori finally saved them all from the wrath of Cam "Of course we knew that, you told us, remember?"
"We totally didn't think you were allergic to—" Once again Hunter and Shane leapt at Dustin, covering his mouth for what felt like the millionth time.
"Why are you calling me about Phai Zhau when you know I'm busy?" Cam asked, apparently choosing to ignore Dustin's outburst.
"They have rangers now" Blake told him.
Cam was quiet for a while. "Are you sure?"
"It's the same three kids we picked up before" Shane confirmed "And their boss has that…Pigs Quack tattoo."
"Phai Zhau" Cam corrected him automatically "And he knows they're rangers?"
"Apparently they live above the shop" Tori explained to him "And he comes across as a wise guy. I somehow don't think he'd miss his most socially awkward employees running off every time there's a monster attack."
"Good point" Cam recognised "Do they know you're from the Academies yet?"
"It's not come up" Hunter told him "We barely got their names today."
"I still think they're aliens!" Dustin declared loudly enough to get gaged again.
"That's probably a good thing" Cam considered this "Our schools parted on bad terms. I'm not sure how they're react."
"They seemed in a better mood today" Blake remarked.
"Apparently someone close to them had died" Shane added on.
"Oh" Cam seemed surprised by this "So the rumours are true then."
"What rumours?" Hunter asked.
"Not long after you picked up those three hitchhikers, both Thunder and Wind Academy lost complete contact with Phai Zhau" Cam explained "Ever since the schools were attacked, we'd agreed to stay in contact with each other as a safety precaution, even if a begrudging one. Dad went to investigate, but the whole school had been abandoned. He managed to track down a few former students. They said a black mass attacked the school and either killed or abducted several of the masters and students, only letting the lowest-ranking ones escape. He wasn't sure if there was any truth in it. We've been looking into it for a while now."
"So these guys are the last of their kind?" Tori suggested "Like we were when Lothor took the schools?"
"Possibly" They could practically see Cam nodding along through the phone "A master and a few students managed to escape the carnage, and have now tapped into the morphing grid to…Oh."
"That doesn't sound like a good oh" Dustin commented.
"It slipped my mind" Cam remarked "Haley contacted me a while ago. Apparently someone had approached Trent, who'd gone to Tommy about tapping into the morphing grid. Asked if a knew a Robert James Finn. Finn, as in, the well established Phai Zhau family lineage."
"They've been asking about becoming rangers?" Blake frowned "And this just…slipped your mind when three strange rangers turned up in our city?"
"It was five years ago" Cam pointed out "And he was asking about purple and white morpher. I assumed he wanted them to backup an existing team with those colours, had to explain they wouldn't work without at least a corresponding red, blue or yellow. Never heard about it again. I just assumed Haley had given him what he wanted or he'd given up." He sighed in aggravation by the sound of it. "This boss you saw? We he late-twenties? Long hair? Looks like a hippie?"
"Nail on the head" Hunter agreed.
"That's him" Cam confirmed "He's been separated from the Order of the Claw for years. With any luck he'll be somewhat receptive to any help we can give them. I'll talk to Dad about it . He knew him and his father personally…Yes Dad, it's RJ. He has his own trio of rangers apparently…No, I don't know was Mao was think either…Dad that is not how you use a staple gun! Put it down!"
There came from commotion from the other end of the line, then it went quiet.
They lost Cam for about a minute, during which they swapped pizzas and tried to catch the eye of Casey until he went scurrying back into the kitchen again. Before they could try for Lily next, Cam came back to the line again.
"Sorry guys, I have to go, or someone in this family is going to get killed" he told them with a hint of bitterness in his voice "Just try not to bother them for now, until we've talked it over. They don't need a bunch of old geezers harassing them while they're trying to save the world."
"Old geezers?!" Shane sounded offended.
"Seriously?!" Blake seemed equally upset by this remark "I'm barely twenty-five!"
"At least we're not all over thirty and without a girlfriend!" Shane retorted.
"I don't care, so long as we can have their pizza!" Dustin declared, shoving two slices of two different pizzas into his mouth at once "Mmmm! It's delicious!"
"They are most certainly not old geezers, Cam" Tori sighed "They're far too immature for that."
In all fairness, they did try to avoid them. It wasn't their fault a battle interrupted the grocery run.
It was a Tuesday. Shane and Dustin both had time off work, and Tori had decided to close to shop on its slowest day to have lunch with her two boys. How lunch had turned into:
"You know, we could really use some more vegetables, since we have time. And some fresh bread. Come to think of it, there's a supermarket just across the road. Going now would be a good idea, right guys?"
Shane sincerely wished Blake would get on with proposing to Tori and move them both out already. He, Dustin and Hunter needed some bro time that wasn't going to be interrupted by grocery missions; and if Tori was going to be such a mom she couldn't see what a waste of a perfectly good afternoon this was, then that wasn't his fault, was it?
So that was why Shane and Dustin were stuck lugging groceries across town to their apartment with Tori bringing up the rear, silently agreeing to abandon her and her precious groceries in favour of video games as soon as they got into the apartment. Besides, Tori loved gaming – she'd find herself joining in and forgiving them sooner rather than later.
They were just crossing from what was officially Ocean Bluff into Blue Bay Harbour when they saw a lot of people running for their lives in a familiar panic.
"Cam said not to get involved" Tori pointed out.
This was the first time they've ever actually been at the scene of a monster attack when it broke out for years. There hadn't exactly been a plan about what to do should such an occasion arise.
"We could at least take a look" Dustin suggested "Make sure no one's hurt at least."
"I like that plan" Shane agreed.
So the three of them ran, groceries and all, towards the chaos, cutting through the crowd they best they could whilst juggling cabbages and cartons of milk.
Shane got there first, to be faced with a familiar sight. The square they'd reached was filled with the Kelzak-looking monsters, all swarming together. Some were shooting laser blasts out of their spears at the vanishing crowd. Others were going after the three rangers, all suited up and ready for battle and kicking bad-guy butt in a way that may have brought a tear to Shane's eye. Yes, Cam said to keep their distance. But he didn't say he couldn't watch.
"Check that out!" Dustin remarked, the other two catching up now "Make you feel nostalgic, doesn't it?"
"I won't miss the bruises" Tori commented "But adrenaline rush was something else."
They stood a watched from a safe distance for a while, content that the new rangers seemed to be handling things well. There didn't seem to be an individual monster this time, just a lot of foot soldiers. More than usual, by the look of it. The rangers seemed to realise this too, and appeared to be tiring towards the end.
"They're looking pretty tired, guys" Dustin commented, echoing Shane's thoughts.
"They're nearly done" Tori pointed out "Let's give them a chance."
"Not gonna lie" Shane told them "I really wouldn't want to have to go work in a pizza parlour after this."
The others gave mumbles of agreement to that.
Finally, it seemed to get two much for one of the ranges. Red took a particularly brutal laser shot to the side and he staggered back into a set of dumpsters. All three former rangers recognising the flicker of a morph failing.
"Oh!" Tori remarked, searching for the other two rangers.
Shane was too, but they were at the other end of the square, taking on the remainder of the foot soldiers together. They wouldn't be able to help.
One more punch to the stomach took Red out entirely. The morph failed and Casey felt back against the base of the dumpster, clearly beyond exhausted.
"Did anyone else not see that coming?" Dustin commented "Because I could've sworn-"
Shane didn't hear any more of what he said after that. He was too focused on Casey, who insisted on staggering to his feet and trying to take on the soldiers unmorphed. An effective suicide mission. But Shane knew better, and from experience, that a young rookie red ranger wasn't going to flee from a battle their comrades were still in whilst they were still breathing.
Blue and Yellow was still on the other side o f the square. They wouldn't make it in time.
Shane checked to see if anyone as still around. No, just them and the rangers.
He made his mind up.
He threw is groceries into the air, knowing one of the others would catch them, and ninja streaked across the square as fast as he could. Within the second, he was full body tackling the foot solider that was trying to drive it's spear through Casey's chest.
He didn't give himself time to think. He immediately went after the other foot soldiers, surprising himself at how tired he felt doing it.
As he felt he was making his way through the herd, he heard the sound of Tori and Dustin backing him up, a little relieved that at least Cam wouldn't just be chewing him out for this later.
As he finished off one solider, he heard the sound of series of frustrated groans and gasps behind him. Turning, he saw Casey struggling to fend off a pair of foot soldiers while holding his side.
Shane didn't think about his next move either. He summoned up a wind and sent the two soldiers flying towards Dustin and Tori, away from Casey. He saw another one try and get in where its comrades had failed, but Casey didn't even give Shane time to react to that one. Shane felt a force move through the air, the sound of a tiger's roar in his ears, and the foot soldier went flying after its friends.
The two men stared at each other, both gasping for breath as they tried to ride the adrenaline to recovery.
"Nice job!" Shane finally managed.
Casey grinned at him a for moment, apparently appreciating the compliment. Then it seemed to sink in who he was talking to, and his face turned to horror as he tried to get the hell out of there. Before he could make it a few steps though, he was forced against the dumpster for lack of energy again.
"Hey! Hey, take it easy!" Shane grabbed his shoulder and forced the young man, probably still a teenager, to sit down on a barrel next to the dumpsters "You've just been forced out of morph. It's going to hurt for a while."
"CASEY!"
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Shane looked up to see Casey's two comrades racing across the square towards him. He couldn't see their eyes through their helmets, but he could take a guess at the looks of protectiveness and malice in their eyes right now. He had it in his own eyes many a time he saw one of his own teammates take a hit.
"He's ok! He's ok!" Dustin stepped between then, waving his arms in an attempt to calm the pair down "You can trust us, we're safe!"
Tori now finished with the last of the foot soldiers, also hurrying over to the group.
"Hey, I remember you!" Yellow demorphed, eyes tired but suspicious as Lily looked them over "You were the ones who picked us up!"
"Why are you following us?" Blue demanded, demorphing and shrinking about a foot into the form of an equally agitated Theo "Everywhere we go you guys are popping up. You work for Dai Shi?"
"Don't know who that is" Shane told them "We saw you needed help."
Casey still looked like he wanted to wriggle out of there, looking angry and embarrassed, probably at himself for giving away their super-secret identities that really weren't that super-secret.
The other two looked at each other, then at Casey.
"You ok, Case?" Theo asked.
Shane was already impressed at the bonding that had apparently been going on between the three of them. Not a month ago, Theo wouldn't even call Casey by name, let alone a nickname.
Casey tried to give some sort of affirmative, but it came out as a series of wheezes and gasps.
"Hey, take it easy" Lily apparently got over her suspicions upon seeing he injured comrade and went to sit down beside him "You're still recovering, and that was one of the worst battles yet."
"You don't have to keep going off on your own" Theo pointed out "RJ said we're a team, so we're a team. We cover for each other's weaknesses."
Casey just looked up at him as if he clearly didn't believe him. Remembering the cold way both of the other member of the team had been treating Casey at their first meeting, Shane couldn't really bring himself to criticise him.
"Theo still owes you for the amount of times you've covered his shift in the kitchen for him" Lily pointed out "Master of Phai Zhau, maybe. But still not a master of dough tossing."
"I'm half his size!" Theo protested "Of course a giant finds flinging half-made bread into the air easy!"
Casey's gasps now seemed to turn to something like laughter, a grin starting to cross his face.
"Actually, pizza's a great way to get back all that energy you loose in a demorph" Tori supplied "I swear, we must've eaten out the entirety of Dominos over the year!"
"You know about morphing?" Lily frowned at her in confusion "How?"
The ninja trio looked at each other, then made a decision. A familiar one/ Namely: screw Cam's advice.
"We're all former rangers" Shane told the younger trio "We were based here in Blue Bay Harbour. We-"
"Ninja Storm!" Theo burst out, then suddenly seemed embarrassed at his own words.
"The comic book!" Lily's face brightened immediately "I used to read that all the time! When we could sneak them into the academy that is." She pointed at Tori. "So you must be blue," then at Shane "You controlled the air so you must be red," and then she turned to Dustin "And you must be yellow!"
"There are comic books about us?" Tori frowned "Already?"
"Does anyone else feel old?" Dustin scratched his head in thought.
"Did you know about us then?" Theo asked "When you picked us up?"
"Is there, like a ranger detector out there or something?" Lily asked "Can you introduce me to the pink Time Force ranger? She was amazing!"
"Or Quantum Ranger" Theo chipped them, then looked embarrassed again "Just saying."
"What about the reds?" Casey now recovered well enough to ask "Andros or Wes? Unless we're not ready yet. We don't want to bother them."
"Wes has comic books written about him?" Dustin seemed ready to laugh.
"Eric has comic books written about him" Tori pointed out to him, which caused Dustin to actually laugh now "How do you think he took that?"
"About as well as a brick to the face" Shane guessed with a grin.
"So you actually all know each other?" Theo seemed surprised "That seems…useful, actually. Strategic."
"We thought you were all retired" Lily told them "That's why we hadn't seen any other rangers."
"You seemed to be handling yourselves well, so we stood back and kept an eye on you" Tori explained "I guess the other teams did as well. It's usual best just to let the current team handle the danger. Too many cooks and all that."
Casey now turned to her. "Are you really a Michelin rated chef when you're not a ranger?"
That just sent Dustin into hysterics.
"No, I'm a surf instructor" she corrected him "But I am the best cook out of this lot."
"That's not saying much" Shane pointed out.
"Oh" Casey seemed a little disappointed "I guess the comic books were wrong about that."
"Please tell me you're dating the Navy Thunder Ranger though, right?" Lily asked "Please don't let down my entire childhood by saying they made that up too!"
Dustin was now flying on the floor, probably dead from lack of oxygen. Shane was also starting to double over with laughter.
"Oh, so they caught that, did they?" Tori seemed a little faint at the idea.
"The story of your love is splashed all over the pages of a comic book!" Dustin tried to get to his feet and failed "I need to find this and read it now!"
"Theo has a copy you can borrow" Lily offered, causing Theo to shoot her a glare. Whether it was because he wasn't willing to share his comic books or because he didn't want to own up to having them, no one was sure.
"I got saved by Rex Ling" Casey seemed to barely breathe, staring at Shane in wonder.
Shane frowned. "Who?"
"Oh" now Casey seemed embarrassed "Um…you were Chinese in the comics?"
Before Casey could elaborate on any other drastic changes the comics had made, their attention was grabbed by a man rounding the corner into the square. It was their boss – RJ, they were pretty sure Cam had said – charging in like a man on a mission, carrying a wooden box under his arm.
"RJ, it's all good!" Lily rose to her feet, quickly reassuring the clearly worried man before he could attack them or something "They saved us!"
"They saved Casey" Theo corrected her, then backpedaled a little "Well, they probably helped us a bit, too."
RJ appeared to scan the rangers with suspicion, not quite ready to dismiss them as a threat. Shane couldn't help but wonder why everyone was suspicious around here. Yes they'd lost their school, but so had Shane and he didn't remember being this suspicious around anyone who wasn't blatantly an alien. Was their enemy a shapeshifter or something?
"They're former rangers" Casey chipped in "Ninja Storm."
RJ finally noticed Casey amongst the throng of people and relaxed a bit. Saw his lead ranger being attacked on surveillance and rushed to help? Shane couldn't help but feel pity. This guy wasn't even thirty and he was trying to mentor a team by himself, probably with no clue what to do without a Sensei to guide him like Cam did. Maybe they should've stepped in earlier after all.
"You, from the parlour" RJ seemed to recognise them "You helped my rangers?"
"Twice" Shane admitted "We might have saved them from being thrown off a cliff."
"They give us a lift into town that first day" Casey clarified.
"We swear we weren't stalking you!" Dustin then chipped in, probably making matters worse "We have no idea you guys were rangers when we first went there and your pizza's really good so we just kept going but we weren't spying on you, we promise!"
That didn't seem to reassure them one bit.
"They're Ninja Storm" Lily told their mentor "You know, like the power rangers comics?"
RJ seemed to grow a little less weary at that. "Cam sent you?"
"Cam told us to stay away" Shane explained "We saw a fellow ranger in need and stepped in to help, that's all."
Now the whole load seemed to come off RJ's shoulder, apparently reassured his team was no longer into danger. Shane could sympathise – he had Cam, Hunter and Sensei to rely on for help, but he'd still felt sick ever time he saw one of his team take a hit. He couldn't imagine going it alone.
"You ok, Casey?" he asked the red ranger.
"I'm fine!" Casey reassured them all "Seriously, nothing wrong with me! Never been better! Just got separated, that's all! It's could've happened to Theo or Lily!"
"But we're not trying to prove something" Theo pointed out smartly "And we certainly aren't trying to kill ourselves proving it."
Casey's jaw tightened and Shane backed off a little. He had seen Hunter make that face enough times to know it was time to start ducking flying lawn chairs.
"Alright, no fighting in front of the big rangers" RJ expertly stepped in and put an end to the quarreling "People who waste their energy fighting each together instead of the enemy become the enemy."
"What, that makes no sense!" Theo protested "I'm not going to turn into RinShi because Casey's an idiot with a death wish!"
Ok, so maybe their teamwork was still improving. Shane was distinctly remember trying to severe Hunter's head from his body enough times to realise that at least it was just barbed words, not weapons this time around.
RJ just sighed and turned to Tori. "Thank you, we all mean it."
"It's no problem" Tori reassured him "If you need help, with a battle or ranger tech or just wanna swap war stories, we're just across in Blue Bay Harbour. Here." She pulled a business card for her surf shop out of her pocket and handed it to him.
"We mean it" Shane added "Anything you need, just call."
"Well, we were the ones who spilt the milk and made the mess" RJ told him "I'm sure our combined qi can coax the milk back into the bottle again."
"I still don't believe that's a real thing" Theo insisted, as if this wasn't the first time RJ had used the phrase.
"Even if some of us are slower to accept the wide world out there calling" RJ smartly added, effectively shutting Theo up "Thank you, we'll keep this in mind."
"As long as you keep giving us pizza, we'll show up anytime!" Dustin insisted "You're all part of a big ranger family now! And in family, no one is left-"
"Are you quoting Lilo and Stitch at them?" Tori rolled her eyes "Seriously?"
"What, it's a good simile!" Dustin insisted.
"It is in fact a very metaphor" RJ agreed, seeming a bit wistful himself as his finger traced the edge of the box he holding thoughtfully. Then he snapped out of whatever thought he was having and happy grin jumped back onto his face. "Right then, I command all baby ducks to return home to Mama immediately and lick their wounds until they, and my parlour that you left in such a mess, are clean."
"That's mixing metaphors" Theo pointed.
"RJ, we didn't even leave a mess!" Casey protested "We were gone, like, half an hour, at best!"
"Au contraire, my friends" RJ told them "Any mess you leave behind will follow you until it is cleaned again. Follow you in the form of extra shift work. Chop chop!"
With that, he began to lead the grumbling rangers out of the square.
"Any one else getting-" Tori didn't even finish the question before Dustin answered it.
"Nostalgic?" he grinned "Oh yeah! Well, not about Cam bossing us around. But anything else? Oh yeah!"
"It just keep going, doesn't it?" Shane remarked "New monster, new rangers. Someday they're going to be watching a new team of rangers waxing on about comic books made about them."
"That means we'll be, like, grandparents!" Dustin cheered.
No one else was cheery about being a grandfather by the age of probably about thirty five. But the point still was valid.
"That's if they don't fail and the world ends first" Tori pointed out.
"It won't" Shane reassured her "But they have a lot of rangers backing them in they do."