Kendall never expected Ranger life to be so... chaotic.
Only a few months after stopping Sledge and all the other monsters he had brought down to Earth, Kendall had the museum rebuilt. It was nowhere near its past glory, but she had enough of it up and running that she could hire back a few of her old employees. Taking Emma's advice, and the advice first given to her by Chase, she ditched the dinosaurs for now and created displays on the Power Rangers.
It was a long line of heroes that until now were only honoured on TV news. Since most teams preferred anonymity, no one had ever thought of trying to open up a museum dedicated to them. Kendall herself had at first believed the idea to be farfetched, almost completely dismissing it when Chase brought it up before his visit to New Zealand. She doubted any of the past Rangers would be in favour of having their lives tucked away behind glass for people to ogle. But when Emma brought it up as well a few weeks after that, Kendall had to think maybe it wasn't too crazy.
She contacted Tommy Oliver and ran the idea past him. He seemed intrigued at the concept of a Ranger museum and told Kendall he would get back to her after reaching out to other former Rangers. Before Kendall knew it, blueprints for old weapons and some battle gear that was no longer needed were being sent to the museum address. She spent the next couple of weeks building Rangers' weapons from the blueprints she was sent and setting up displays to honour the heroes who came before her, doing her best to organize the museum to keep Ranger teams together.
Finally, it was the grand re-opening of the museum. Kendall would miss the dinosaurs and did have plans on using a wing of the museum to bring back her passion, but she also found this was going to be a new adventure.
"The line up is huge," Cammy stated, looking out the front doors. She turned around, smiling to her friends. "I think people are going to be excited."
"I'm not surprised," Chase smirked as he adjusted his name tag, the picture of the Parasaurolophus removed so that the tag was simply his name in white on black. "This is a fantastic idea."
"And if people ask how we got all this stuff?"
"The Rangers donated it to make up for trashing the museum," Chase and Cammy both answered Kendall at once. "And they did so anonymously."
"Good," Kendall smiled. "Don't start letting people in just yet. I just need five more minutes to make sure everything is perfect."
As Kendall walked off, Cammy turned back to the front doors, eyeing the crowd with excitement. She missed having the museum around and was looking forward to being able to visit and help her sister at work after school.
Cammy didn't get to watch the crowd for long as she heard Chase whispering her name. She turned around and saw the black Ranger calling her over to the ticket counter. She made her way over and leaned across the counter.
"Can you keep a secret?"
"Uh huh," Cammy nodded. Chase opened up his sweater pocket and took out a little black box. Cammy looked to it curiously. "Is that a present for Kendall?"
"Kinda," Chase answered. He opened the box, revealing a ring, "What do you think?"
"It's pretty," Cammy smiled. Suddenly her eyes widened as the significance of the ring hit her, "Wait! Is that an..."
Chase nodded his head then covered Cammy's mouth before she could let out an excited squeal, which would be sure to draw Kendall over.
"What do you think?" he asked Cammy when she was able to calm down enough. "Do you think she'll say yes?"
Cammy nodded her head and smiled brightly.
-Dino-Charge-
Kendall made her way through the museum, checking up on her employees, making sure everyone was ready for the crowd to come in. The museum was going to get busy and it would be difficult for everyone to get in touch should something occur.
"Kendall, we've got this," Tyler assured her with a laugh. He was glad to be back working in the museum, even if it wasn't where he thought he would end up. Still, he didn't have many other places to go. His father had retired from travelling now that he was back at home with his wife. This meant if Tyler wanted to travel, he needed to find his own way of doing it. Saving up enough money to go around the country looking for adventure started with getting a job. Since Kendall was only too happy to offer, he was happy to accept.
Besides, he didn't want to leave for his travels just yet. He wanted to wait until Shelby finished up with her classes. He wanted to take her with him and they could search for fossils together.
"I talk about blue Rangers," Koda confirmed with Kendall. "But not tell anyone I blue Ranger."
"Exactly."
"Then, how I know so much?"
"You don't," Kendall said, to which Koda scratched his head. She pointed to the cards she gave him, "You only know what's written here."
"I do?"
"Yes."
"I miss burgers," Koda sighed.
"I know, Koda. I promise, as soon as I've got the money for it, I'll reopen the cafe."
"A Ranger Cafe?" Riley asked, coming through with the last big cardboard display board they needed to help direct guests.
"Considering the Mighty Morphin Rangers and our team had side by side displays near where the old cafe used to be, I figure it wouldn't be too crazy to open up the Dino Cafe once again."
"Not a bad idea," Tyler smirked. Kendall nodded her head, asked her friends one last time if they were ready to open then signaled to Chase over the walkie-talkies to let the crowd in.
-Dino-Charge-
Mrs. Fisher couldn't attend the first few hours of the reopening of the museum, but did make it down eventually to support her daughter. She was happy with the turnout, thinking it inspired hope for the future of the museum.
"Excuse me," she said, cutting through a couple of kids who were standing it awe in front of what looked like the display for the Ninja Storm Rangers. Mrs. Fisher wasn't quite sure of all the Ranger team names just yet.
Eventually, she found Kendall in all the chaos, sharing what she knew about the Dino Thunder team to the group that was more than happy to listen. When she saw her mother, Kendall stopped her speech, called Riley over to continue for her and pushed her way through the crowd.
"Mom, you made it!"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Mrs. Fisher smiled and hugged her daughter tight.
"Where's dad?"
"He got held up," Mrs. Fisher shrugged and pointed somewhere to the front of the museum. "He bumped into Chase who asked to speak with him quickly."
"About what?"
"I'm not sure. I went on ahead. I couldn't wait to see what you've done with the place."
"It's great, isn't it?" Kendall smiled. "Everyone seems to love the idea. And I've got former Rangers contacting me saying they'd be more than happy to continue helping down the road."
"You've done well," Mrs. Fisher assured her daughter. "Mind if I check the place out?"
"Absolutely," Kendall nodded her head and let her mother go. Finally, she had a moment to herself to look around at the museum. She glanced over to Riley and smiled as she watched him fascinate the crowd with his knowledge of the Dino Thunder team. She was very glad to have him back at the museum, though she was sure he was happier to be back in the city. As much as he loved his family back home, she knew the country life didn't suit him. She had offered him a job here at the museum, but promised flexible hours so that he could return home and see his mother and brother whenever he wanted. Riley was only too happy to accept.
She switched her gaze over to Tyler, who was the happiest she had ever seen him. Considering Tyler was the most optimistic of the group, that spoke volumes to how well he was doing now. He enjoyed having both his parents home, in spite of the initial trouble it caused when he and his father had to explain to his mother what they had been up to.
She laughed as she watched Koda read off the cue-cards she had providing him. He still seemed baffled as to why he needed to be told what he knew about his own team, but trusted her immensely and did as he was asked.
Kendall liked that feeling. Koda trusted her. He always had – from the moment she rescued him from the lab years before, he had been her best friend. But finally now she was able to appreciate exactly what that meant. He had faith in her, faith that she wouldn't steer him in the wrong direction and faith that she was a good person.
Lots of people now had faith in Kendall. They believed in her, in her ability to do right by others and in her ability to do right by herself.
It seemed odd to her know that she had once been alone. It seemed completely out of her character for her to rely only on herself and push other people away. Her friends had done nothing but good, and even in the times they had made mistakes and caused her pain, they had only been acting with the best of intentions. She couldn't imagine her life without any of her friends.
She also couldn't imagine her life without her family. She had finally allowed herself to be completely open with the people who loved her most in the world. While she would forever be upset with her father, and while she would always be hurt her mother had taken her own life, she was glad that her life had turned out the way it did.
As she walked over to the Dino Charge display, she couldn't help but look to both Sledge and Heckyl cut-outs. In a way, she had them to thank. Had they not threatened the safety of the planet and forced the energems to have to choose her and nine other strangers, she never would have had the life she had now.
"Kendall!" Chase called out to her, making his way through the crowd and then taking her by the hand, "Mind if we speak in private for a minute?"
"About?"
"Something," Chase said and Kendall rolled her eyes at his response, but followed him anyways. She really couldn't imagine where she would have ended up without Chase. He was one of the first to see this person hiding inside the shell she used to be and he fought hard to pull her out. He was definitely one of the best things to happen to her.
As he whisked her away, Cammy watched from a distance, hiding from the crowd up on one of the Megazord displays. Though she had also done a lot of growing since meeting the Rangers, she was still quite small. In a crowd of this size, she was easily pushed around.
"Hey kid, you okay?" an older girl called out to her and Cammy looked down.
"I'm just hiding."
"From what?"
Cammy gestured to the crowd of people. The girl laughed.
"It is a bit busy in here," she agreed. "So, you don't want a hand down?"
Cammy started to shake her head, but then looked to the ground and realized it was a lot easy to climb up the Megazord than it would be to get back down. Initially she thought she might wait for one of the Rangers to help her out but seeing how busy they all were, it occurred to her she might be trapped for a while.
"Uh, maybe."
"No problem," the girl said and reached into the bag she carried on her back. Cammy watched as she pulled out something that looked a bit like Chase's skateboard, but when she dropped it, it didn't hit the ground. The girl stood on it and it held her weight.
"Whoa!"
"Neat, huh?" the girl smiled while the board lifted her up into the air, bringing her up to Cammy's height. "Hope on. It's safe."
"Are you sure?"
"Mostly."
Cammy hesitantly shifted off the top of the Megazord and planted her feet on the floating board. The older girl held onto her arms as the board started to lower. Just before they reached the ground though, the board started to shake and then suddenly gave out. Fortunately, it wasn't too far a fall.
"Sorry about that. I have some adjustments to make, I guess. Are you okay?"
Cammy picked herself up and brushed herself off. She nodded her head, "Yeah. What about you?"
"I'm fine," the girl said. "So, do you need any help finding your parents?"
"No. My sister works here. I know where everything is."
"So, do you know where the washroom is?"
"Yeah. It's past the ninjas."
"Ninjas, got it," the girl smiled then offered her hand to Cammy, "Sarah, by the way."
"Cammy."
The End. Stay tune for Ninja Steel!