Chapter 2

Preparing the Team (Following Taylor)

The mysterious young man in all black was the first to volunteer to download the morpher software; Taylor thought his name was Dillon, but she couldn't remember because she had other pressing thoughts during the briefing. He is a good looking young man, she thought, but he is still just a boy; probably just as immature as one too. Taylor watched the newest black ranger take center stage, take off his shirt, and lay down on the surgical table ready to begin the download. Dr. K started placing electrodes on the surface of his skin: first to his temples, then down his muscular arms, and on his uncovered chest. This is all a little to science fiction looking for me, Taylor thought. Taylor looked over at Jen who was staring at the young boy being connected to a computer.

"So Jen, do you think this whole bio programming thing will work?" Taylor asked her old friend.

"Well of course I do. It is how all the rangers get their morphers in the future. Actually Dr. K is the founder of bio programming. Don't worry Taylor." Jen replied.

"In that case, I guess the real question I should be asking is how long till the wedding?" Taylor questioned

"Oh so you did notice. I thought you hadn't considering you had the entire trip here to ask me." Jen playfully responded

"Uh, Jen you know I don't get all mushy gushy about that sort of stuff. Plus Eric already told me that Wes was going to propose."

"How did you know I was going to say yes?"

"Jen, I would be more surprised if you said no than if a giant dinosaur were to pop in to this room and eat me up."

"I doubt a dinosaur would ever eat you. You're too bitter for his taste." Jen said sarcastically

Taylor and Jen started to laugh, but soon stopped when the rest of the rangers turned to stare at the gleeful girls. What? Haven't you ever seen two girls laugh before? Hmm… I guess not considering all these guys look like they have a power bow up their butts. I get it. It is a crisis, but that doesn't mean we can't joke around. Taylor thought. She grinned at her internal monologue, but slowly faded as she watched Dr. K start downloading the morpher software into the black ranger. Taylor thought the young man was taking it well although she wasn't sure what it was suppose to feel like. She looked at his face, trying to analyze what he was feeling. Taylor guessed that it probably didn't feel like anything, and that was why he looked to be unaffected by the download. The download didn't take long to complete, and soon Dr. K was taking off the electrodes taped to his flesh. Taylor watched as the boy hopped off the table and threw on the shirt he had taken off only a short while before. "Who's next?" Dr. K asked as she cleaned off the electrodes. Jen walked up to the medical table and laid down. The short doctor looked at Jen then to the crowd of other rangers. Dr. K shrugged and turned back to Jen. She took an electrode and slowly ran it up through Jen's shirt and stuck it right bellow her collar bone. Taylor looked around and noticed that the black ranger was not amongst the crowd of the other rangers. Taylor wanted to understand the mysterious black ranger, so she set out searching through the garage to find him. The garage was foreign to her, but it wasn't big enough for her to get lost in. She walked through a hallway where rooms were labeled with only colored panels next to the closed doors. Taylor figured that while she was tracking down the black ranger she might as well take a look at what was going to be her room. She opened the door with the yellow panel next to it. She was totally surprised to see Dillon spring up from the foot of the bed that he must have been sitting on. "Umm… I might not be from the year 2110, but I think the room with the yellow panel is for the yellow ranger." Taylor sarcastically said. Dillon looked at her and smiled. She hated that smile; it was just like the one that Eric use to give her. Arrogance radiated from that smile. " My apologizes. I just use to live here and this used to be the room that I spent so long wanting to go in but never found the courage to. I guess I should be leaving," Dillon politely said as he tried to walk past Taylor. "No. I don't like that answer. Tell me why you are in my room," Taylor said authoritatively.

" I am telling you the truth, ma'am. I have never been in this room, and wanted to see it. It reminds me of all the great memories I made when I was a ranger here," Dillon said in a monotoned bad boy voice he usually speaks in.

"What did this room use to be? Obviously something pretty terrible for you to be so scared of it,"

" It was the yellow rangers room, and I'm not scared of anything."

"Was she really that big of a bitch to never let you in her room?"

Dillon sprang up and grabbed Taylor's vest and held a fist up in an attack position. "Summer is not a bitch!" Dillon exclaimed making sure Taylor knew never to call her that again. "Oh wow the big tough bad boy has fallen in love, but was too afraid to even knock on her door." Taylor retorted unfazed by Dillon's aggressive action. Dillon shoved Taylor out of the way trying to leave the room, but Taylor abrasively pinned Dillon to the wall with her palms pushing against his shoulders. "Look boy, I get that you liked this girl, but that doesn't give you an excuse to come into what is now my room, threaten me, and then avoid my questions. We are on the same team. I might not be this Summer girl you're so fond of, but you better get it through your thick skull that I don't like having a teammate that is willing to stab me in the back." Taylor half yelled to Dillon. Dillon looked straight into Taylor's eyes and said very calmly, "There never was a Yellow ranger bitch in this room till you showed up." Taylor glared at Dillon. She was steaming with anger. That is about all I can take of this melodramatic, hormone crazed boy. I might be a bitch, but that gives him no right to call me out on it, she thought. Taylor threw the boy in all black from the wall on to the floor and positioned her foot on top of Dillon's neck. "I don't know who this Summer is, but I can guarantee she never taught you how to talk to ladies with respect. I haven't done anything wrong. I was simply wondering what you were doing in my room, and have only been asking you questions to find out a little more about you." Taylor told Dillon. Dillon grabbed her foot and used his Venjix hardware to force her off of him. Taylor fell due to his surprising strength, and soon Dillon was on top of her pinning her arms down above her head. "Stop acting like you are better than me, and have to obey your every command." Dillon yelled. Taylor smiled and mockingly said, "I bet you never did this with Summer." Dillon was furious at Taylor for mocking him, for mocking Summer. He picked up his fist and was about to start pounding on Taylor's face when he heard the voice of the pink ranger say, "Well, looks like you two are having some fun. I better not tell Eric about this, huh Taylor?" Dillon sprang up and shoved past Jen to angry to even think. Taylor laughed as she was still on the floor looking as Dillon hastily walked away. "Goodbye Dillon. I hope we can have another nice chat later," Taylor called out. She gripped Jen's outstretched hand to give her some leverage to get off the floor. Jen was smirking at Taylor, and Taylor laughed, " That asshole should think twice before avoiding me from now on."

"Really because it looked like he was winning," Jen said in a semi-joking.

"Oh no. You just walked in at the wrong time. I promise I was about to let him have it."

" Sure Taylor, whatever you say. Just be careful with him, he has a criminal record and is part robot. He is super strong even without the morpher."

"That explains why he could throw me as hard as he did. I can take care of myself though, Jen."

"I know you can. You're the only one left that needs to get the morpher software downloaded. So hurry up"

Taylor laid back on the table and watched as Dr. K picked up electrodes and a roll of medical tape. Taylor felt Dr. K's hand go up her shirt and place a cold, metallic circle on the underside of her collarbone above her heart. Dr. K put a piece of medical tape on top to keep it from slipping. The next two electrodes were secured on her temples, then one was placed at the center of her forehead. On each of her arms she had electrodes placed on her wrists and upper bicep. The last one was taped on her stomach diagonally from the one under her collarbone. She was nervous. She had never had anything loaded into her before, and even though it wasn't suppose to hurt she wondered if she would still feel something. Dr. K walked over to the computer, and Taylor could see that the blue ranger was geeking out over the futuristic computer model. With a few keystrokes Dr. K had started the process. Taylor wasn't sure what was happening; she could feel a slight tingling in her head, but nothing more. Soon it was done and Dr. K was carefully pulling off the electrodes from Taylor's skin.