Chapter 3: Wave Goodbye
"Haley's Cyberspace… Conner!" Kira yelled when she saw him.
"Ethan called you too?" He asked her as he walked up to her.
"Yeah… Said it was super important. What is this place anyway?" She asked him.
"No clue."
"Let's check it out."
"Matt and Abigail couldn't make it?" He asked her. No sooner had he said the words, when Abigail walked around the corner. She was looking behind her.
"You are so slow sometimes you know that?" she said to the person walking behind her. "Hard to believe that you're part of the football team."
"That's what you get when you stuff all this work on me the very last minute." Matt yawned. He couldn't tell her he had been sleepless, because a certain dirty blonde had been on his mind and has been haunting his dreams.
"If you showed up more for the student council meetings then you wouldn't have that problem."
"I told you a bazillion times that I can't make it when it falls together with my football practice."
"It's the vice-president's job to take notes during the meetings, you're lucky I record it for you every time."
"Lucky!? Not if you give me the recordings from the summer meetings plus the ones I already missed at the start of term." He shook his head. They were bickering like they were always doing and suddenly Matt noticed the other two.
"Kira, Conner!" He yelled to them and rushed over. Abigail spotted them too and did the same.
"Lemme guess… Ethan called you?" Conner asked them.
"Yeah..." Abigail responded.
"Well let's go in then." Kira motioned for the door. They nodded and walked in. Conner and Kira walking up front opened two red doors. Matt and Abigail followed them through the doors.
"Wow, you think he lives here?" Conner asked them unsure.
"I think he wishes he lived here." Kira replied. They looked around and they were in a sort of bar like place. Lots of people were bustling around.
"Doesn't seem like the kinda place Ethan would hang out, despite what the name says." Matt said to them.
"I think it's pretty cool." Abigail said in defense of the place.
"There they are! My brothers and sisters in crime." Ethan walked up to them grinning. "Or at least crime-fighting. Welcome to my world." He motioned at café.
"Whaddya think?" He asked them with a smile.
"Yeah, I guess it's kinda cool in a techno retro dorky sorta way." Conner replied.
"I think it looks great Ethan." Abigail glared at Conner for saying it and then her glance slid to Matt to shut him up.
"Thanks. You can do anything here, game, chat online, listen to music, eat, drink."
"Who came up for the idea for this place?" Kira asked Ethan, while she was looking around.
"That would be Haley, she's a techno legend." A red haired woman looked around, when hearing her name. "MIT-grad, programming genius. Got tired of working for a big technology and decided to open up this place."
"Good thing for you." Kira said with sarcasm.
"No lie." Ethan responded ignoring her sarcasm.
"Anyways, so what is so important?" Conner asked him, he put an arm around him in a friendly fashion.
"I just figured… hey… since we're saving the world together. I wanted you guys to know what I'm about." Ethan told him. Conner glance slid from Matt and Kira to Abigail. Conner smirked.
"Okay whatever dude."
Kira noticed a red-haired woman walking up to them.
"Hey guys, what can I get you?" She said with a smile.
"I'll just have an apple juice." Kira said thinking she might as well get a drink while she's here.
"Oh that's easy." Haley smiled at her and motioned for Kira to follow her to the bar. The rest followed suit.
"Kira… right?" She asked Kira.
"Yeah, how did you know?" Kira asked her.
"Oh… I'm all about information. It's my business." She turned around to face Kira. "Now… you sing don't you?"
"Yeah I do." Kira was kinda feeling uncomfortable, not knowing how to behave in front of this woman.
"Great, how about this Friday, you and your band play here? We'll call it an audition."
"Well, yeah! I mean that would be great!" Kira said excitedly.
"Alright see you then." Haley responded happily. She walked past Kira and the gang and Kira turned around to face them.
"Okay. I love her!" Kira told them happily.
"That's Haley for you." Ethan told her. "There's not one kid in here she doesn't help out somehow."
"Doesn't help to me." Conner sneered.
"Conner McKnight. The soccer player." Haley greeted him and gave Kira her apple juice. "I'm surprised you're not at the open try-outs for the Reefside Wave."
"Open try-outs?" He asked her incredulously.
"Yeah, at their practice field right now."
"You're kidding, right?"
"No." She shook her head, while smiling.
"You were saying….?" Ethan smirked.
"Dude, what are you waiting for? Go!" Matt pushed him off the barstool. Conner snapped out of it and ran off.
"Good luck bro!"
Haley walked off and Kira came to a sudden realization.
"I gotta go too. I need to put together a set list and restring my guitar." She said confidently and passed her apple juice to Abigail, who merely looked at it and took a sip from it. "Here, bye!"
"Talk about spreading the love." Ethan grinned. "So what about you guys?"
"It's a cool place, nice owner too." Matt replied. "I'll hang out here for a while, I kinda like it."
"Matthew Deverest, quarterback of the Reefside High football team, vice-president of the student council." Haley appeared in his view. Matt raised an eyebrow.
"Looks like you just flushed out all the rumors about me." He smiled.
"Not all of them though." Abigail reminded him.
"Abigail Lanchorus, Student council president right?" She turned to Abigail. Abigail nodded and took another sip from the apple-juice.
"Matt, I heard you were looking for a job, if you have spare time you could come work here." Haley turned back to Matt. His face turned from a smile to a surprised face.
"That would be awesome! Well looks like you got yourself a new waiter, boss." He grinned.
"Cool, you can start tomorrow, because I have a new guy coming in today."
"Okay, just explain the things that need to be done and leave the rest to me."
Abigail grinned and sat down together with Matt and Ethan. No sooner did Ethan, Matt and Abigail sit down they heard their morpher go off. They looked around and Matt and Abigail sat in front of Ethan putting him out of sight.
"Yeah doc, you got Ethan, Abigail and Matt." Ethan responded.
"Can you guys meet me out at the end of riverside road in an hour?" He asked them over the communicator. Ethan looked at the other two, they nodded.
"Yeah sure whatsup?"
"Just be there and I'll fill you in."
Ethan got up and the other two pretended to look at the time and got up in a hurry as well.
At Mesogog's lab….
"Well!?" He barked at Elsa.
"Well… what, sir?" she asked him with a stern face.
"Where's my explanation?" He asked her.
"My lord. We offer no excuses. Only apologies and promise to improve our performance." Mesogog eyed Zeltrax carefully.
"Is this correct Elsa?" His glance slid from Zeltrax to Elsa. "Am I to understand that you feel no need to explain yourself?" She did not look Mesogogg in the eyes.
She groaned.
"Lord Mesogog, it is in my humble opinion that it would be a waste in your valuable time. Time better spent in destroying Dr. Oliver and his new Power Rangers." He looked away, but in a split second eyed her very carefully in her eyes.
"Exactly the answer I was looking for…" His intense gaze lingered on Elsa for a while and she didn't dare look him in the eyes.
"Now… Have you had any luck in tracking down what we discussed earlier?"
"We know they're out there." Elsa answered quickly, while Mesogog sat down on in his chair.
"Oliver hasn't made his move yet. When he does we will be there to stop him." Zeltrax explained in his low voice.
"You had better be." Mesogog's gaze never left them during the conversation.
Out on the Reefside wave soccerfield…
A lot of people were trying out for the Reefside Wave team. On one practice field, Conner got a pass towards him and he tapped the ball with his head towards the goal and scored. The coach and his trainer were watching him play. An approving grunt came from the coach. Conner dribbled passed the man in front of him, a second one came into his view and spun around this opponent with the ball, he also passed a third and shot towards the goal. The keeper dived towards it, but it hit the top bar. The ball bounced of the bar back towards Conner, he back flipped and hit the ball again, scoring with ease.
"Who is that kid?" The coach asked his trainer. The trainer shook his head, he didn't know. One of the soccer players was stretching and stood up at the coach's question.
"That's Conner McKnight. He is still in high school, plays on the local club team." He answered. Conner in the mean time was having the time of his life, stealing the ball from his opponent with a slide and passed it forward. The coach grunted approvingly again and opened his binder, scribbling down Conner's name.
Out at the end of Riverside road…
"After the island exploded, some of my experiments were scattered all throughout this area." Dr. Oliver explained Matt, Abigail and Ethan. "There!"
He pointed at 5 glowing orbs, rushed towards them and kneeled beside them.
"What are they?" Ethan asked Dr. O unsure.
"Eggs." Dr. O said excitedly.
"Oh, it's cool Dr. O. I just had lunch a couple hours ago." Ethan joked and Dr. O laughed.
"No, we're not gonna eat 'em." Dr. O told Ethan reassuringly. "We're gonna hatch 'em. Then you're gonna ride 'em."
"You know it's kinda quiet out here… So did I just hear you wrong or did you just say we're going to ride these?" Abigail asked Dr. O unsure.
"I did." He replied. "Trust me Abigail when these things are ready, they're gonna be a big help to us."
Abigail, Ethan and Dr. O picked up the eggs and put them in Dr. O's backpack. Matt was looking around and instead of taking Abigail's remark as a joke, he thought it was indeed quiet. 'Too quiet…'
No sooner had he thought it, something flashed by. Dr. O and the other two looked up. They quickly stood up and looked in the direction of the flash. 'Me and my big mouth… err thoughts.'
"You saw that right?" Ethan asked the others.
"We have to protect the eggs no matter what." Dr. O ordered them. He put the backpack over his left shoulder.
"Who'd wanna hurt them?" Matt asked Dr. O.
Elsa stepped into view from behind a tree.
"I would." They looked around and saw her. No sooner had they turned around or Zeltrax had also popped up.
"And I. I'm starting to have my doubts about your intelligence, Dr. Oliver." They were distracting him and a couple of Tyrannodrones sneaked up on Dr. O.
"Tjeez… is it me or do you ugly goons multiply by the minute?" Matt threw a smartass remark right back at them.
"Dr. O!" Abigail had noticed the Tyrannodrones. They quickly reached for the bag and grabbed it. Ethan tried to get rid of the Tyrannodrones that got the backpack.
"Attack!" Zeltrax ordered his minions. Matt jumped in front of them and took a stance. Dr. O kicked back a drone that got a hold of his backpack. Another jumped right on top of the bag. Ethan elbowed one of the drones and grabbed the fist of another, using the drone's own strength against him to get him off balance and throw him back. Abigail jumped over a drone and when landing swiped the drone off his feet. She recovered herself and hit one drone backwards. Matt dodged an incoming attack and using his whole body threw the drone backwards. Without hesitating he turned around lunged forward and used his hands to throw himself back on his feet. In this single motion he dodged 2 drones, turned around and knocked their heads against each other.
"Ding! Round 1."
The drone that was on Dr. O's bag was grabbing it tightly and another attacked him in back. Dr. O spotted the drone and kicked him back. He resumed to struggle for the bag.
"Hands off!"
Ethan decided to jump onto the drones arms and it let go, Dr. O hurried away and Ethan kicked away the drone. They tried to get away and dodged incoming attacks. Ethan stepped away from one drone and jumped over another, kicking a third that came right for him. Matt ran right at one drone and used him as a shield to bash the others. Abigail moved through the drones gracefully and using her subtle body she continuously evaded them. Deciding it was time for action she did a handstand and grabbed one drone by the head with her feet and crossed them. She pulled him forward and the drone being unable to get away and throwing himself off balance got lunged forward. Ethan used two trees to hold on to and dodged another drone, but a second hit him in the stomach falling onto the first and then unto the ground. Two more surrounded him and held him tight. Abigail wanted to dodge and attack but the moment she stepped out of the way another drone gripped her tightly and two more jumped towards her feet.
Dr. O was unable to use two arms at the same time and was only blocking. They eventually got him and forced him to the ground. Reaching for the bag again he kicked them away one by one. Matt was also being surrounded and instead of coming at him one by one, they all came at the same time. They forced Matt down and restrained him. Dr. O clutched the bag tightly and instead of defending, he worked on the offense. He kicked the drones away and spin kicked to keep them out of reach, keeping the bag close to him at all times. Ethan had managed to wrestle himself free.
"Ethan! Call the others!" Dr. O shouted out to him. Ethan forced the last drone off of him and shouted into his communicator.
"Guys!" He got kicked into a tree.
Meanwhile Conner was still in the try-outs. "We could use some Dino-help over here." Conner looked at his bracelet and the ball got stolen from him.
"No, not now!" He murmured to himself. He looked back and saw a goal scored against him. He then looked at the coach. Conner ran off and the coach spotted him.
"Where's he going?" he asked the people beside him. "Where are you going!?" He shouted at Conner.
"I'm sorry!" Conner shouted back, while running off. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Kira was holding new strings in her hand and walked back through an alleyway. Her dinobracer went off. She looked at it and then around to see if no one was there.
Ethan got forced on the ground and he stood up. He relaxed his body and pointed at the drone.
"You asked for this, not me." He took a stance to morph.
Matt forced off his opponents with his super strength and recovered himself, he saw Ethan looking at him and Abigail, whom had also recovered. They both nodded and also took a stance to morph. Their morphers appeared.
Kira had also taken the morphing stance, so did Conner, who had now moved out of sight.
"Dinothunder. Power up! Ha!" The 5 morphed into rangers. The drones attacked Ethan, Matt and Abigail. Ethan forced them back with his sword, but got kicked against a tree. One was about to charge, when Conner stepped in to block him. Matt was holding his ground, but Abigail soon got forced back by outnumbering her. Kira blasted them away with her blaster.
"You guys couldn't have done this another day!?" Conner snapped at Ethan.
"Don't tell me! Tell them!" Ethan nodded towards the drones.
"Let's make it quick!" Conner reached for his weapon. "Tyrannostaff!" He swung it to point the head towards the drones.
"Ptera-grips, baby!" Kira swung her arms around.
"Tricera-shield!" Ethan held it out in front of him.
"Plesio-Rope dart!" Abigail spun it around and grabbed the dart.
"Let's end this here and now! Titano-blades!" Matt took battle position pointing his right sword at them and held his left sword behind him.
The five charged towards the drones. Conner swung towards a drone and it rolled out of the way. With the end of his staff he forced one drone to the ground and hit another with the Tyranno head. He swung the staff around and behind him.
"I'm over you!" He put the staff on the ground and dodged a punch. The drone was with his back towards Conner and Conner used the back of the drone to launch himself upwards. Using the staff as a pole he landed a few yards further. Using the staff to block one drone and forcing it towards the side and blocking another drone, spinning it around to the ground. Conner lashed out and his attack got blocked. He again used his staff as a pole and kicked the drone on his head. It fell to the ground.
Ethan threw away one drone with his shield. To his right one drone charged him, but Ethan kicked him away. Ethan stood over him.
"Yeah!" He shouted as he turned around.
Three drones attacked him at once, but he blocked them with his shield. He pushed them all backwards.
"Outta my face!"
They surrounded him, he low kicked one drone of his feet. Turning in the process and knocked back another drone with his shield. Looking behind him, he saw his next target and jumped. His jump turned into a kick and he hit one drone. Using the same drone as a foothold to turn in the air and kick another drone with his other leg.
Kira jumped through the drones and made a summer salt right into a group of drones. She recovered herself and defended with her grips.
"I'm in it to win it." She yelled as a drone on her right side attacked her. She blocked his attack and sliced in his stomach with her grips. From this position she kicked to her right and knocked away an incoming slice from a drone. She spun around and dodged another attack, when she had spun around she blocked another attack. With her left leg she kicked away one the legs of the drone and it fell forward. She turned left and sliced a drone behind her and kept on turning to block another attack and kicked the drone backwards. Kira jumped backwards using her hips as the rotation axis, her legs spun in the air, while the rest of her body remained at the same height. Upon landing she swept a drone off his feet.
Abigail rolled into a group of drones and recovered in a spin. Her rope dart spun around too, like a toll spinning with a rope. It hit several drones.
"Oh yeah! Didn't expect it did ya?" She taunted the drones. They attacked her and she launched her dart forward. Stepping onto the rope it launched backwards, taking out three drones, one in front, one in the middle of attacking and one behind her. Abigail pulled the dart backwards and spun it round very fast above her head. Pulling it with her right hand behind her, slicing a drone behind her and upon impact lunged it back against the head of another drone. Her left side was open and one drone attacked her there. She blocked with her arm and kicked it back, temporarily leaving her rope dart untouched. They all closed in on her.
"Like you'll surround me!" She quickly pulled the string of the dart and swung it below her feet, jumping over it. It swept all the drones off their feet.
Matt swiftly dodged the incoming attacks and sliced a drone in front of him. He stuck his blade in the ground and using the same drone as a foothold he lunged himself upwards. Turning in midair, he landed and sliced one drone with his other Titano-blade. He pulled the other out of the ground.
"You guys ever had a lesson in pain? Well I'll teach ya!" He yelled at them. Matt lunged his left sword straight into the stomach of one drone, slicing him and swung his right blade in his hand and stabbed behind him. He recovered himself and threw his blades in the air and grabbed one drone by the head and threw him backwards into a group of others. Catching his left blade he sliced the group once and then caught his other blade sliced the group a second time. He brought them into the air and sliced them a third time.
"Welcome to your first lesson. You're all dismissed!"
Dr. O. was also still fighting, but not being a power ranger he had a bit more trouble. He blocked a kick of a Zeltrax and stepped backwards, spotting Elsa coming for him. He dodged and got forced towards Zeltrax again. He dodged another blow from him and spun around and kicked him. He spun again in the other direction and hit Elsa. Zeltrax came for him again and Dr. O. kicked his shield. Quickly he grabbed onto it and used it to block Elsa's sword. Elsa decided to grab unto Dr. O and so did Zeltrax. They nodded to each other and raised their weapons to hit him. Dr. O. using their temporary being off guard leaned backwards and dodged. They let go off him by mistake and he lunged forward, breaking free. He pushed Zeltrax away and spun around to kick Elsa. He low spin kicked, but Elsa easily jumped over it. Zeltrax took a step backwards and Dr. O. went for Elsa. Dr. O. high kicked her and hit her arm.
"Elsa!" Zeltrax hurried to her side worriedly and bashed Dr. O. aside. The rangers ran to Dr. O.'s side.
"Awww look, the ugly goons are being lovey-dovey." Matt retorted.
"Seems like they were dating after all." Kira smirked under her helmet.
"Guys…" Abigail hit them in the shoulder. They quickly returned to serious mode.
"You guys really like these odds!?" Ethan asked them. "Cause you look busted to me."
"We're not through with you Power Rangers!" She eyed them angrily, especially the gray ranger.
"Nor you Dr. Oliver." Zeltrax shouted at him. Elsa raised her sword and they disappeared in a green vortex. The rangers looked and they were all confused.
They relaxed.
"They're a pleasant couple." Kira retorted. Matt chuckled.
"Yeah, we better get these back to my place." Dr. O told them.
"What are they?" Kira asked.
"We're going to ride them." Abigail chuckled.
"Huh?" Kira asked confused.
"Look I have to get back to tryouts, can you guys handle this?" The red ranger asked.
"Yeah go ahead, Conner." Dr. O. patted him reassuringly on the shoulder. "They can fill you in later."
"Let us know how it went soccer boy and good luck." Abigail poked him. He nodded and went off.
"Thanks." He shouted while running off.
Back on the soccer field…
The coach was wrapping up the equipment. Conner ran back in a hurry and greeted them. The coach grunted and stood up.
"McKnight." He said. "Got you down as a D.N.F. Did Not Finish." The coach walked off.
"Look I'm sorry." Conner apologized. "I had something really important to take care of." He could hardly tell the coach he was a power ranger.
"Hmph is there anything more important to you than soccer…. Then this isn't the place for you." The coach told him.
"There is nothing. More important that is." Conner quickly answered him.
"Thanks for trying out." The coach patted him on the shoulder, not believing him. He grabbed his stuff and walked off. Conner sighed heavily, being seriously bummed out.
"Ohh man…" He noticed a soccer ball rolling against his foot. He looked up and saw a little girl running after it. Her mother standing a few feet behind her.
"Kick it!" She told him.
Conner smiled at her and kicked back. She stopped the ball with her foot.
"Good stop." He commented her. She smiled at him.
"Thanks!" She picked up the ball and ran back towards her mother, who welcomed her.
Conner smiled, but soon the realization came back that he blew his shot. He scratched his head in frustration.
Back at Haley's Cyberspace….
Ethan was playing a computer game, Kira was working on something, presumably her setlist, Abigail was setting up her next meeting and Matt was listening to something with a headphone, pausing it every now and then and typing it down. Ethan waved for his attention. He pulled off one side of the headphone and looked up.
"Sup?"
"Man, Dr. O. is into some weird and funky stuff." He told Matt. "I don't even want to know what he's hatching down in that cave right now."
"I have a feeling that we won't have to wait too long to find out." Kira replied looking up briefly and looked behind her.
"Wow…" She spoke after 3 seconds. "Who is that?" She spotted a boy walking in, asking a question to the first person he encountered.
"I dunno." Ethan responded looking back as well.
"Haven't seen him before." Matt never looked up. In response he got smacked on the head by Abigail.
"Maybe you should look before answering, he's a new transfer to Reefside."
"Hellooooo." Ethan waved his hand in front of Kira, who was still staring. "Anyone in there?"
"He's really… wow… isn't he?" She said dreamily. Matt rolled his eyes, a pang of hurt somewhere in his lower gut.
"Can I get you a glass of water, maybe an oxygen mask?" Ethan smirked.
"Or maybe somebody should call 911, because someone's heart is on fire!" Matt joked, receiving another smack up the head by Abigail.
"Get to work!" She ordered him.
"Quiet, he's coming over here." Kira shushed them, quickly turning back to the laptop in front of her. The guy walked over towards them, looking around and searching for someone.
"Hey." He greeted them. "I'm looking for Haley, I'm supposed to start work today."
"She's around here somewhere. Haven't I seen you at Reefside?"
"Yeah." He smiled. "I just moved here last week. My name's Trent."
"I'm Ethan, these are…"
"Oh so you're the new guy huh?" Matt looked up, receiving a glare from Abigail. "Nice to meet you, I'm Matt, I'm starting work tomorrow." He smiled at him. "This is Abigail, don't piss her off or she'll physically abuse you." She kicked him under the table. Matt let out a fake yelp of pain. Trent smiled at their antics.
"This is Kira." Ethan said ignoring them.
"Hey." Trent greeted her. Kira didn't talk back, her heart was racing too fast. "Are you okay?"
"She doesn't speak, we've been trying for years, but we just can't get through." Ethan joked.
Kira looked up. "I'm fine. It's nice to meet you." She looked up at him, then glared at Ethan and resumed work.
"Haley!" Matt spotted her and waved her over. "Your new guy is here."
She rushed over. "Trent. Good timing, come with me and I'll get you started."
"Cool." He replied. "I'll see you guys later."
Everyone but Kira waved him off.
"Isn't he just so wow? " Matt retorted. He received a kick from Kira this time and she slapped Ethan on the arm.
Conner walked towards them bouncing his red little soccer ball up and down. He was still wearing his soccer uniform and the first to greet him was Abigail.
"Hey soccer boy, how did it go?" She asked him with a small smile. Matt looked up to her and was temporarily confused that Abigail was this open to strangers. 'New friends…' He corrected himself in his thoughts. The other two looked up from their laptops at Conner.
"How did it go?" He was bummed out and his look not to mention his voice made that much clear. "It's over. The coach basically said forget it and who can blame him. I mean I left in the middle of practice."
"It's not like you didn't have a good excuse…" Kira told him comforting.
"Right." He snapped. "Well maybe next time I'll bring a note from my teacher. 'Sorry Conner couldn't make it to practice today. He was busy fighting freaky looking dinosaur things in the forest.'" The rest had got up and followed him. Upon his explosion, Matt quickly pushed him towards the sofa on the other side.
"Sssssst."
"I bet he's never heard that excuse before." Ethan replied.
"Whatever!" Conner threw back at him. They sat down on the sofa and Abigail sat down on the coffeetable in front of them. Matt was still standing and crossed his arms.
"The point is… What was I supposed to say? I mean this whole saving the world deal is… seriously starting to bum me out." He threw his head backwards. He came to a sudden realization.
"I need to talk to Dr. Oliver." Kira stopped him.
"I think he maybe kinda busy. He's got this whole new proje-" Kira tried to explain but Conner cut her off.
"Too bad! I was busy today. That didn't stop him from messing up my life." He snapped at them. Ethan and Kira looked at each other.
"Wait!" Ethan suddenly said. "We'll go with you." Kira looked pleadingly at Matt and Abigail. Matt raised his shoulders in defeat and motioned that he'll follow.
They came in through the secret entrance and Matt touched the skeleton to open the door. They heard a screech and when they looked in they heard a voice.
"Don't come in it's not safe!" Dr. O. screamed at them and they saw stuff flying all over the place. Then a peculiar object got launched in the air and Matt recognized it as Dr. O.
"Uhh…. Yeah we kinda got that." Kira replied. A blue tail swung Dr. O. towards the opening, right in front of them.
"Is that what was in those eggs?" Ethan asked him. Dr. O. got up and he looked at his hands, they were all sticky.
"I'm trying to train them."
"How's it coming?" Abigail asked with a face of disgust, when looking at Dr. O.'s hands.
"Uhh… Slowly." He dodged an incoming. It looked like a red tail to them. They all looked surprised at the force of the tail that hit the wall.
"Look… I can see that you're… busy with… well whatever, but I need to talk." Conner told him. Dr.O looked over his right shoulder. When he looked back, he didn't notice the red tail and it hit him in the back. He fell forward because of the blow and landed on his face. The entrance started closing and Ethan hurried out from under it. Dr. O. looked back and inspected his hands.
"Guess I can take a break." He told them. Ethan helped him, forgetting the hands were slimy and Dr. O. grabbed his hands to pull himself up. Ethan stared at his hands being slimy and his first reaction was how disgusted he was.
"So, whatsup?" Dr. O. asked Conner.
"Ya gotta find someone to replace me." Conner told him.
"What are you talking about?" Abigail asked him.
"You're talking crazy." Ethan told him.
"Dude, no way." Matt replied.
"Conner, you can't be serious?" Kira asked him incredulously.
"Alright settle down you guys. What's the problem?" Dr.O. asked.
"Look… I'm a soccer player. That's all I ever wanted to do. Every moment of my life has led up to playing for a pro team and I get the greatest chance of my life and I blow it." He told him seriously.
Kira and Abigail looked down.
"I understand. And you're right." Dr. O told him.
"You're agreeing with him!?" Ethan asked shocked.
"Conner, I know how you feel. Cause I felt that way before. I want you to think about this before you do anything."
"Look… I got things I wanna do." Kira told him. "But I'm here, I'm dealing."
"Good for you."Conner replied with some iciness, but he meant it differently. "I guess I'm just different."
Matt wanted to speak up, he was more busy then Conner in everything. But he could understand, all he ever wanted was to not stand out but it happened anyway.
"Conner…" Abigail spoke up softly. Matt raised an eyebrow at the genuine in her voice. "It's okay. If this is what you want then we can't stop you."
Conner nodded and decided to walk off.
"Wow… and I thought the red guy was supposed to be the leader." Ethan said. Matt couldn't make out if it was anger or just sarcasm.
At Mesogog's lab…
Mesogog was pacing around.
"If Dr. Oliver trains those creatures." He told his servants, more or less talking to himself. "He will be able to use them against us… and that will be… disastrous…" He paused every now and then his voice and hiss lingered on his last word.
"The time has come for Dr. Oliver to become a student instead of a teacher." He continued. Zeltrax grunted approvingly. Mesogog faced Elsa.
"Initiate the genorandomizer." Elsa smiled a cruel smile and turned walking towards, what appeared to be, a workbench or control panel. She started typing away on a keyboard and Zeltrax too began to work.
"Entering DNA code." Zeltrax said as he pushed some levers upwards.
"Engaging!" Elsa replied in her cruel voice. The tubes in front of her moved upwards into a larger tube. She too pushed some levers upwards. "Hmm.." She let out approvingly.
"Excellent." Mesogog hissed. And their gazes shifted towards a massive tube.
"Genetic mutation complete." Elsa let her master know.
A monster appeared and the doors opened and it stepped out. It looked like a huge plant with a bird face. It grunted.
"Excellent." Zeltrax approved.
Back on the soccer field…
Conner was letting out frustration by shooting a couple of soccer balls into the net.
"McKnight." A voice behind called out for him. He turned around and the coach walked up to him.
"Coach?" He let out surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"I got a call from one of your teachers. Tells me it was his fault you had to leave today."
"Does that mean I have a shot?" Conner asked, confused at Dr. Oliver helping him out despite abandoning the others. The coach chuckled.
"You always had a shot son." He told him reassuringly. "You sure you really want this? You'll need to give up everything."
Conner was dumbstruck.
"Yeah! I am." He replied quickly, thinking his inability to speak would be seen as him doubting.
"Alright, I'll let you know." The coach turned and walked away. The others were watching from the sidelines and Abigail was the first to jog up to him.
"Everything went alright with the coach?" She asked him. The rest followed up, except Matt who appeared to be absent.
"Yeah, I think so." He answered. "Listen… I'm sorry you guys. You gotta understand."
"Yeah we do." Kira replied.
"These two do more then me, but if it's what you really want." Ethan told him. He gave them a sympathetic smile.
"Where's Matt?" He asked them. "I thought he would be with you guys."
"I think he went to football practice." Abigail replied while thinking about it. Conner realized she wasn't wearing glasses today, or any other day he had previously seen her, but she really wore them last year. Her hair, instead of being braided behind her, was tied up at one point and was hanging over her shoulder to the front. Her hair was still wet and Conner found herself gazing at her.
"What?" She looked at him confused.
"I was just wondering why your hair was wet." Conner quickly replied.
"Swimming. I went for a few laps before Kira came to find me." She smiled at him. Conner thought this was weird. The Student Council president is usually very strict with anyone and rarely smiles, or this is how Conner and the rest of his soccer team know her. Ethan eyes darted from Conner to Abigail and shook his head confused. Kira merely nodded to acknowledge Abigail's story.
"I thought I might find you guys here." A voice said. They looked around and saw Matt. He was holding a large bag. His hair was still wet from what they assumed to be a shower.
At Dr. Oliver's place…
Dr. O was monitoring the screens as one of the security cameras showed lots of people running away from a monster.
"Not good."He muttered. He switched security cams and in another part of town Tyrannodrones were terrorizing the citizens. The little girl that Conner talked to earlier is hiding under a plastic table.
"Guys we have a situation."
On the soccer field the five teens looked at their dinobracers.
"There's a monster attacking the city, people are in danger." Dr. O. informed them.
They looked at Conner and he looked back to each and every one of them, his gaze, unintended, lingered a bit longer on Abigail. She gave him a pleading look.
"Okay, but this is the last time." It was meant for all of them, but more to Abigail. She flashed him another smile and Conner with a heavy heart felt something stirring deep inside of him. He quickly put the feeling aside and stepped forward.
"Ready." Conner said as he took morphing position.
"Ready!" The rest spoke after them and assumed the same position, Matt dropped his bag and their morphers appeared.
"Dino Thunder, Power up! Ha!" They morphed into Rangers and hurried to the scene where the monster was at.
"Nasty!" Ethan said while gazing upon the monster. It roared at them.
"Let's do it!" Conner and the other rushed towards him. Conner got thrown into salto on the ground and Ethan's kick got blocked and pushed back. Kira got hit in the side by the monster's weapon, what looked like a branch. Matt charged into to punch him, but he dodged and swept Matt off his feet. Abigail jump kicked at him, but he grabbed her feet and swung her at Matt who gets thrown to the ground by her weight. Ethan kicked again and Conner, who got up, got blocked. He took on both Ethan and Conner at the same time and blocked them easily, knocking them back. It turned around to fight Kira and she tried to kick and punch him. He blocked those easily and he swiftly turned her around and kicked her in the back, Matt caught her and set her back on her feet. Abigail rolled towards him and dodged an attack, but the monster was vicious and kicked her away. Matt's punches were easily blocked, despite the power he put in them. Kira was about to assist him when the monster lashed out and Matt got thrown her way. Matt quickly deciding to turn around, grabbed her and turned again, his back got smashed into the wall and crumbled upon him.
"Hey, bird brain! Thundermax!" Ethan shouted and shot his blaster at him. It got hit and it got hit again by Conner.
"Thanks guys." Kira was the first to recover.
"You okay?" They rushed over to them.
"Yeah." She replied, but Matt failed to respond. He merely groaned and they removed the rubble from him.
"Dude?"
"I'm fine, sorry to make you worry." Matt shrugged off the remaining pain. They took out their blasters and pointed at him.
"Give up!?" Conner asked him.
"Catch me if you can." The monster laughed and jumped off.
"He's getting away!" Kira was about to run after him, when Conner stopped her.
"We'll never catch him." Matt explained. Their morphers beeped.
"You can!" Dr. O. told them. "Meet the Raptor riders!" He sent them their way.
Kira, confused, turned around at a screeching sound and saw the raptors coming towards them.
"Oh yeah!" Conner shouted excitedly and grabbed on. He sat down on his Raptor.
"Yeah baby! Yeah!" Ethan chimed in.
"They're great!" Kira shouted.
"Just like riding a pony! Only faster!" Abigail exclaimed happily.
"So these for sale? Or just exclusive?" Matt joked. They all laughed while riding them.
"Go, Raptor Riders!" They all yelled.
The monster flew over a parking lot, with the rangers hot on his tail. Ethan and Matt's Raptor jumped over several cars and Conner ran right against a few empty barrels. Abigail found herself following Conner.
The Tyrannodrones were still terrorizing the citizens. The little girl quickly hid behind a small wall, which was the wall of a staircase. One of the drones saw her hiding and started to roar at her. She backed away scared, but had no where to run. Conner noticed this and was shocked.
"No!" he suddenly let out. The others noticed it too.
"I'll help the girl!" He ordered them. "You follow that freak!"
"Right!" Kira agreed and started following the monster. "On it." She ran right through a street with a lot of cars, yelling to watch out and that she would pass by on the left. Matt raced after her and jumped over the cars.
"We've got your back." Ethan shouted and Abigail and they jumped off their raptors.
Conner had jumped off too and kicked away the drone in front of the girl.
"You okay?" He asked the little girl. She nodded. Her mother hurried back and quickly reached out for her.
"She's safe now." Conner told the mother giving her the thumbs up. Abigail and Ethan attacked the drones, keeping them busy while the citizens got away. The monster jumped up unto a building. Kira and Matt jumped after him. The monster jumped unto another building and so did they in pursuit. It decided to not jump unto another building, but jumped off the current building. Kira and Matt looked over the edge.
"Wow!" Kira let out.
"You afraid of heights?" The monster taunted her while looking up. Kira grabbed her Ptera grips.
"You wish you freaky bird!" The raptor jumped off the building and Kira used her grips to slash the monster. Matt took out his Titano-blades and jumped off as well and sliced right after Kira. The monster had not been expected it and got sliced by Conner's Tyrannostaff, Ethan's Tricerashield and Abigail's Plesiodart. Abigail circled around him and the dart hit the monster in the face. It flew backwards.
"Raptor Riders!" They closed the distance between them and Matt threw his swords towards Conner and Abigail threw her dart. Ethan and Kira jumped on Conner's Raptor and combined their weapons.
"Z-Rex Blaster!" They fired the weapon at the monster. The blast shot straight at the monster and it caught the blast head-on.
"That goose is cooked!" Ethan yelled excitedly.
"Yeah! Awesome!" They all cried triumphantly.
Mesogog was watching the battle furiously and saw his monster crumble to pieces.
"Must I do everything for myself!?" He hissed in anger. "Activating Hydro-Regenerator!" He pushed a lever upwards.
The sky turned dark and rain started to fall precisely where the monster had fallen. The pieces of the monster started to liquefy and grew back together to form a larger blob. It took shape of the fallen monster.
Everyone looked up surprised. Conner, not hesitating, called Dr. O.
"Dr. O…" He told him. "We may have a problem on our hands."
At Dr. Oliver's place…
"Lemme guess… a thirty story version of that guy you were just fighting?" He asked them.
"You've done this before, haven't you?" Ethan asked him.
"Once or twice." Dr. O. responded. "I'm sending the Dinozords." He typed away on his keyboard.
The monster looked shocked and saw the zords incoming.
The group cheered as they looked up.
"Ready?" Conner asked to the group.
"Oh yeah!" Kira responded. They jumped towards their zords.
The Megazord formed. The monster fired his cannon at them, but they blocked with the help of the Tricera.
"I've got an idea!" Kira suddenly spoke up. The Megazord grabbed the wings of the Pterazord. "Ptera-rang!"
The Megazord threw the Ptera-rang and it cut off the leaves of the monster's body.
"Alright, leave this guy up to me!" Matt called back to them.
The Megazord reached for the sword on the back.
"Titano-cleaver!" The megazord jumped and it charged at the Megazord.
"You've had it bird brain!" Matt shouted at the monster as the sword cut clean through. The monster exploded and vanished into thin air.
"Now that's what I call monster busting!" Kira complemented Matt.
"Yeah, we sure showed whose boss!" Matt turned around psyched.
They jumped out of their zords and saw the little girl and her mother waiting for them. Matt crossed his arms. Kira and Abigail looked peculiar at them. Ethan merely nodded at Conner.
"Hey!" Conner waved over and they ran towards each other, upon reaching Conner knelt in front of her.
"Thank you." She said shyly and hugged him.
"Anytime." He replied and patted her on the back. "Anytime." Conner was in an inner conflict about what to do.
The girl and her mother walked off.
In Dr. O's basement they demorphed.
"Hey you guys are coming to watch my first gig right?" Kira asked them hopefully. Ethan, Abigail and Dr. O. nodded. Conner wasn't sure yet.
"Matt?"
"Uhh… yeah… I have a game that day, I don't know if I'll make it…" He said dejectedly and scratching his head.
"Oh…" Kira said sadly. Matt comforted her and with a heavy heart spoke up.
"I'll at least drop you off to make up for it." He said and they walked to his car.
Friday at Haley's Cyberspace.
Trent gave Kira a drink.
"Good luck, Kira." She flashed him a smile and thanked him.
Conner walked towards Ethan and Abigail.
"Didn't expect to see you here." Ethan told him.
"Why not?" Conner asked him while putting his hands in his pockets. "We're partners in crime-fighting right?"
"Are we?" Ethan asked him surprised. Abigail slapped him playfully.
"Yeah, we are." Conner replied.
"Well good to have you back leader." Abigail smiled.
"Hey… what happened with the Wave?" Ethan asked him.
"I had to make a choice." He answered. "That little girl made me realize that there is nothing more important than what we're doing." They sat down at the bar.
"Hey Conner!" Haley walked up to him with two bottles. "Sorry you didn't make the team." Conner was speechless.
"Uhh…" He glanced at Ethan and Abigail, they smiled sympathetically. "…Yeah."
"These are on the house." She put down two cokes in front of Ethan and Conner and went around grabbing a third for Abigail.
"How does she do that?" Conner asked Ethan.
"Haley knows all man." Ethan smiled. "And I'm sorry too."
"Yeah… look… you know I would have still chosen you guys right?"
"Yeah I know."
Abigail caught Kira's eye and saw her looking at them, but only noticing three of the four there. She expectantly looked at the door and her sullen look replaced with a smile. Matt came bursting through the door, thinking he was too late and rushed over. He walked past the three and straight up to Kira.
"You made it." She smiled. She noticed he was wearing sweat pants and a hoodie that had a big R on it.
"If you flash that smile whenever you see me, I might quit football altogether just to see it." He gave her a lopsided grin. She got off stage quickly and smacked him on the head. He just kept smiling and gave her a quick hug and wished her good luck. He then walked over to the rest, Abigail had just gotten a coke.
"Trent, mind giving me a cold coke." He smiled at him. Trent nodded.
"Hey smellycat." Abigail grinned at him.
"I showered you know." He told her pouting. Trent gave him a coke and he gulped it down.
"I hurried, showered, pulled on my clothes, skipped debriefing and rushed over here, ignoring three stoplights." He sighed. "But I made it."
"Heya." Conner greeted him.
"Well if it isn't my soccer counterpart." He grinned. "Good to see you."
"You're not asking about my decision?"
"Not really, your choice is your own." He shrugged. "I'm sure you made the right choice, even if I rather have a different choice."
"So if I told you I didn't join the Wave…" Matt looked surprised and suddenly his face turned into a smile.
"Well I'm glad you decided to stay my fearless leader."
Conner nodded and noticed Haley on stage so he cued the others. The rest turned around.
"Thanks guys. Tonight we've got something really special for you." Haley announced. "A young woman with a lot to say. Ladies and gentlemen, Kira Ford!" The people applauded. And Matt let out a whistle on his fingers. Ethan, Abigail and Conner cheered her on. She started playing a yellow electric guitar. She was wearing something like a coat and a yellow shirt underneath.
And it goes like this… Yeah… yeah… Yeah… yeah…
I can't tell you why, but I can't stop thinking about you baby… Oh… Yeah…
Don't you think it's time
I walked around every word you're saying… Oh… Yeah…
She tried to avoid looking at the bar where her new friends were sitting. Her gaze lingered on them for less that a few seconds. Matt was smiling at her.
Trying hard to figure out
Tell me what it's all about
'Cause I don't want to freak you out
Freak you out
Freak you out
I wanna know, know where you're at
I'm at the front but you're still at the back
She kept on singing her song and Ethan suddenly realized something.
"Wasn't Dr. O. supposed to be here?"
Just outside Haley's Cyberspace, Dr. O. walked down the street and was about to step inside when he was suddenly stopped dead in his tracks by Tyrannodrones. He looked back and saw more, including Zeltrax. They attacked him and he was unable to fight them off. They restrained him and he and the drones teleported out. Zeltrax laughed hard and he too vanished.
At the end of the gig, Kira looked around and asked where Dr. O. was.
"I don't know, maybe he got caught up in some work." Ethan said carefully. They tried the comm, but no response. They currently just shrugged it off and would ask on Monday where he was. Kira walked back to pick up her guitar and Matt jogged up to her.
"Want me to drop you off?" He asked her. She looked around and nodded.
"I'm glad you made it."
"Yeah. I suddenly realized, I wouldn't want to miss it for the world. You played really well and you can sing." He told her nodding to himself. She smiled at his complement. She saw him thinking about something.
"So if you're at the front and I'm still at the back, how does a guy get at the front to you?" He asked her with a goofy grin on his face. She looked at him and hadn't expected it.
"Are you flirting with me?" She faked her anger.
"Maybe." He backed down a little, just in case she was going to smash the guitar against his head. "I'm just curious."
"Stick around and maybe, just maybe you'll find out." She smiled. Matt solemnly swore to himself that he would.
Abigail's note: Oh my gosh... Long chapter D: Hope you enjoyed it.
Fire's note: Yes we do realize a large part is still the same in the series, but thats how we planned it.