School seems so different now that we know that Dr. O isn't coming back. His replacement does not believe in fun or even attempting to teach us something that actually do us some good. She is by the book and usually winds up reading out of that same book to us most days. I think I can understand wanting to go back home, there is a great wanting to go back home, but there is a great expense to actually get him here with us, considering that he is helping Kim so much right now. I know that their responsibilities have to be tire some, but they seem to be the only ones that can do it and we are the only ones that can take on the ranger mantle here.
"Conner!" Meagan yelled as she ran up to him in the hall. He had been slipping away every time he saw her lately and she was going to make him talk now. She needed to talk to him, it was the only way that she would make any progress with this situation. He was falling out with all of his friends and she couldn't allow that to happen. He had to come back to his senses or things were going to get ugly.
"Oh, hey, Meagan," Conner said as he closed his locker and started towards his next class. No he didn't enjoy math, but he had no choice about taking it and he didn't want to catch hell from Kira for not showing up. Ever since they had started dating, he had become more of his true self and he did not regret her for a minute. His friends may think that he was crazy, but he was willing to lose some of them if they weren't willing to understand.
"Why don't you just skip and come with us?" Meagan suggested as Conner shook his head no and continued on his way. He knew that Kira and Dr. O would kill him if he started acting like the sports star that he was. The rangers had all been rather popular in high school, but they never skipped classes, they knew what would happen if they did. They had a certain responsibility to uphold and they had passed on that tradition to their own rangers. "Conner, when did you become an uptight asshole?""I've changed, accept it and maybe you'll find out that Ethan and Kira are not so bad, you just need to give them a chance. They're more than willing to do the same for you," Conner said as Phillip walked up and put his arm around Meagan. He thought that maybe the two of them were finally working out their problems. "I hope the two of you have fun."
"What…Conner…" Phillip said as Conner just walked away. His friends deserved at least this for what they had done to Kira lately. It had taken all of his self control not to go beat the living crap out of them, but he still wanted believe that they could change. He had to have that hope that his friends were not so close-minded that they could not even attempt to accept the girl he was falling for.
"He's determined that they're cool," Meagan said as Phillip just nodded. He had been able to actually talk to Conner and he was happy with the people that he had chosen as his friends. What could they possibly do to stop that?
"And he's probably right. We should give it a chance, think about everything that we have made him do lately. He just needs friends, not people who want him to be something that he isn't," Phillip said as Meagan shook her head. She hated that idea, but there was nothing she could do to make him change his mind and she also knew that he was right. If they didn't try to accept them, they were going to lose Conner as their friend.
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"Hey, Kira, I'll catch up with you later. I've got to practice before I can come to Hayley's," Conner said as Kira nodded and then gave him a hug. He had walked her this far, but she knew that he had to go. They had been worried for the last couple of days that Mesogogg was going to launch a major attack, but so far they had been lucky. They just hoped that it would keep up a little while longer.
"You better win with all this practice that they have been putting you through lately," Kira said as Conner nodded. That was exactly his thinking right now. The coach had given them the afternoon off, but they still had to go because the team captain 'strongly suggested' that they showed up. All that meant was that it was mandatory practice, without the coach around.
"I'll be there as soon as I can," Conner said as he ran off in the direction of the soccer field and Kira watched him go.
"Kira…" Meagan said, tentatively, as she approached her and Kira slowly looked over her shoulder. She did not want to have to deal with some lecture about how Conner didn't deserve her again. She just wanted to get to Hayley's and listen to Ethan ramble about some stupid computer game. "I'm not going to kill you."
"I don't understand why you are here though. You hate me, I don't need that forced into my brain anymore," Kira said as Meagan looked around and then in the direction that Conner had gone.
"Conner means a lot to me, I guess I have to get you know you, at the very least," Meagan said as Kira gave her skeptical look and just nodded. She didn't know how true this was, but she knew it was tearing Conner up to have to choose between her and the friends that he had had for years.
"It would mean a lot to him for you to do that," Kira said as Meagan sat down at the picnic table and Kira sat down across from her.
"So what do you have that I don't?" Meagan asked as Kira looked over at her and started to stand up. She did not want to have to deal with this sort of conversation. It honestly pissed her off that she would even start it. "Kira, I don't mean it like that…I just never pictured that this would happen."
"Things changed and I…we became more than we ever were before. I don't have anything that you don't I just…we just…we fit," Kira managed to mumble as Meagan looked over at her. She had never been able to say anything like that about their relationship, Conner had always been uncomfortable with her. They were fine as friends, but e every time they did more than kiss, it pushed him over the edge. He wanted to be polite, but she could tell it was not his favorite activity, so they broke up and went back to being friends.
"He's lucky," Meagan said as Kira just looked at Meagan, what was going on here? She didn't expect that from her. She expected to be ranted at about taking Conner away from her, again and she didn't have the patience for that today.
"Who changed your mind about me?" Kira asked as Meagan looked over her shoulder as Phillip walked up and she smiled.
"Conner made his point all too well today. I can't lose him as a friend, Kira and that means I have to try to be friends with you. I can't do what I've been doing anymore. He's too good of a friend to throw it away over a girl that I don't understand," Meagan said as Kira's face lit up and she looked over towards the field and saw the smoke. She knew what that meant and she knew that she had to get moving, quickly. There was a chance that Conner had absolutely no help and that was not a good thing right now.
"No," Kira said as her expression changed and she jumped up and ran towards the field. She knew that Conner was going to need some help with whatever had showed up in the last few seconds.
"What's that about?" Meagan asked as Phillip just shook his head. He didn't know what it could possibly be. "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, I think it's the smoke that made her runaway from you," Phillip said as Meagan barely nodded. That definitely made her just a little bit queasy as well. She knew that Conner was in that general direction and that would certainly make her run after him, if she had been his girlfriend.
"Maybe we should go help them," Meagan said as Phillip just shook his head. He felt that he would worry them far too much if they were there as well. They needed to stay out of trouble and away from whatever was going on. "Come on, Conner could be in trouble.""And he doesn't need us there if he is, we'd just be one more thing for him to worry about. He needs to be able to think straight in order to get out of all of this," Phillip said as Meagan shook her head and then ran off, leaving him no choice, but to follow. He was not going to let her go to her death alone.
"Conner!" Kira yelled as she saw him fly through the air and land next to a car. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better," Conner muttered as he stood up and pulled out his morpher. "I'm glad that you came. I was starting to worry that I would be alone, our communicators are on the fritz right now. We've got to get Hayley to fix them."
"I was talking with Meagan and I saw the smoke, sorry it took me so long to get here," Kira said as Conner morphed and she soon followed him. Unfortunately, Meagan and Phillip arrived in time to see them transform. They couldn't help but be shocked as the people they knew became something that they never thought they would be.
"Holy crap," Meagan said as Kira looked her way for a brief second before throwing a tryannadrone into a wall.
"Get out of here!" Kira yelled as Conner was t-boned by the monster and she ran over to him thinking that she would not have to worry about the others. They surely would heed her warning after seeing their friend be thrown around like a rag doll and leave this place without a second thought.
"Oh no!" Meagan yelled as they were blown into the air and she was held back by Phillip.
"We need to get out of here, we are no help to them, especially with no powers," Phillip said as three rangers materialized only a few feet away from them.
"Tommy no," Kim said as she grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She wanted to see what the other rangers could do by themselves, they were going to have to be working by themselves a lot more from now on.
"Oliver, so nice to see you come out to play," Zeltrax said as Tommy glared over at him and Meagan and Phillip just stood there in shock. They could no longer try to move, they had just heard something that made them think that things were really crazy. That could not possibly be Dr. Oliver in that suit. He was in Angel Grove and it was impossible for him to get here this quickly.
"Kim go help them. I'll take care of him," Tommy said as he walked over and began going after Zeltrax, with a new vengeance. He was getting tired of wasting his energy on these monsters, when he and Kim have much bigger fish to fry. Demetri and Nadrox were still out there and although they had not shown themselves lately, that still did not comfort Tommy. He knew that they were still a deadly pair to the two of them. "Kids, get out of here!"
"I got them, Tommy," Kim said as she ran towards the two teenagers and practically dragged them away from the entire scene. She could not understand why they were sitting around sightseeing. "There is no need to sight see, get inside something, quickly."
"You've got to be kidding, we just saw Dr. O show up. What the hell is this?" Meagan asked as Kim spared her one glance before running back over to help Tommy, who was struggling with Zeltrax.
"We've got trouble, Tommy," Kim said as she began beating on the monster in front of them. "Those two know who you are."
"Yeah, I was there teacher, I would expect it," Tommy said as Kim just shook her head and he gave her a confused look. What was she talking about then? There was no way that they could know that he was a Power Ranger
"They know that it's you in this suit," Kim said as the earth shook and the two of them fell to the ground and watched as the tryannadrones and Zeltrax disappeared. Obviously, this was real earthquake, not something that a monster had manifested and that saved them from continuing in a fight that would surely push them to their limits.
"Are you okay?" Conner asked as they ran over to the two veteran rangers and watched as Kim and Tommy both rolled over and slowly stood up. They could see that they were going to be sore the next day, but that was something that they could deal with.
"We're fine," Tommy said as Kim crawled over to him and he wrapped his arms around her. "Are your friends still here?"
"No, I don't know where they went," Conner said as Kim looked up at Tommy and he then teleported them to the Command Center. They had far too much to talk about and he didn't want for most of this to get out in the open, not yet at least.
"This isn't good, Tommy," Kim said as Tommy looked over at her and then looked away. He had to agree that this was not an ideal situation, but he couldn't do anything about it. They had heard and maybe even seen Kira and Conner. They knew that they were rangers and now they had to decide what to do with them.
"They saw, there is nothing we can do about it," Tommy said, simply, as Kim looked over at him, slightly concerned. He looked so tired and she knew that everything that had happened was pressing on him far too much. He needed some relief, he needed to be able to be a normal person for a little while, but he didn't have that right now.
"You honestly think that they saw us?" Conner asked as Tommy sat down and just tried to think this all out. Meagan and Phillip had to have seen them. That was the only thing that would have kept them there and also made them mutter aloud about the two elder rangers' identities.
"It may not be such a bad thing, we need more rangers and they're both able bodied enough to manage to become rangers as well," Ethan said as Tommy and Kim exchanged a glance. This thought process was coming from their genius, but it was still hard to put that all together without a lot of experience as a ranger.
"Bring them here," Tommy finally announced as Kim gave him a shocked look. "We might as well give them the gems, we don't need them anymore."
"Yeah, you do have a point," Kim said as Conner looked between the two of them. Something was definitely going on that they didn't know about. "We have to get back soon, so will you hurry?"
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" Conner asked as Tommy walked over to the panel and just teleported Meagan and Phillip in.
"I don't know, maybe because I still have school tomorrow and I need some sleep," Tommy said, as he did not want to mention their training sessions with Ninjor to them. It was something that only the two of them seemed to truly understand.
"What the hell," Meagan said as she slowly turned around. This place far exceeded any expectations she had had for a Power Ranger station.
"We don't have a lot of time," Kim began as Tommy walked over to her and Meagan and Phillip just stood there. "We have an appointment."
"What kind of appointment?" Meagan asked, curiously, as Kim just looked up at Tommy.
"Look, we don't have time, actually we need to be going right now. Conner, bring them up to speed and ask them. If they want to be rangers we'll meet up here tomorrow, but we have to go," Kim said as Tommy grabbed her hand and they teleported away.
"Bring them up to speed," Conner muttered to himself as he looked over at his friends. "I don't think this is going to help you any, but here we go. Dr. O was a ranger some eight to ten years ago and has been one off and on since then. The being that we are fighting has been after Kimberly for years, because of Dr. O. We have these gems that give us power and we are offering you the two spots that they vacated."
"You want us to be rangers?" Meagan managed to sputter out as Conner nodded his head yes. He had honestly expected this sort of shock from them. It was not a normal thing to be asked by your friend, no matter how close you are. It didn't make sense to put them in danger, but they really had no choice but to ask, since they had discovered them.
"That's the basic idea. Look, we'll give you the night to think it over, we all need to get home and get some rest. Today was pretty rough on us," Conner said as he teleported all of them to the back room of Hayley's Cyberspace. "We're heading out the back and you might want to do that before you actually go in, we don't need to be too suspicious."
"Okay," Phillip said as he looked over at Meagan and they all headed out.
"We'll see you tomorrow," Kira said as the three rangers walked away and the two formerly normal people just watched as they went. Today had changed their outlook on life and it had also changed the way that they were going to handle everything from this day forward.