Disclaimer: The Rangers in this story belong to Hasbro.

Author's Note: Inspiration has been harder to find than a Levi Weston album on Amazon. ;) However, inspiration hit with the news that Adam himself, JYB, is going to be at our local convention thing in April, and it inspired me to finish this darn story. I'm fairly certain I've got about two more chapters in this, with apologies for the two or three year wait. *facepalm*

CHAPTER 9

Adam walked into the CyberSpace Café, and the feeling of being the elder statesman intensified as he looked around at all of the teenagers on the stools, in the chairs, noses pressed to computer screens. Yeah. This was a great idea. He followed Tommy up to the bar. Standing behind it at a smoothie machine was a cute redhead in a CyberSpac t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Hey, beautiful," Tommy said to her back, and she turned, giving him a wide grin.

"Hi back," Hayley Ziktor greeted him, flicking off the machine and sliding the plastic cup down the bar to a boy with long dark bangs and a white longsleeved tee. "Trent, employee discount only works if you stay working long enough to be employed," she told the kid. "I swear," she told Tommy with an exasperated shake of her head, "that kid spends more time in that sketchbook lately."

"You would too, if you were designing cover art for an up and coming ingénue," Tommy replied, giving Trent a high five as he sat down. "Hayley, this is my friend Adam. Adam, this is Hayley."

Hayley's eyes widened when she saw Adam standing behind Tommy. Before he could say hello, she had turned back to the smoothie machine, throwing ingredients together, finally handing him a mint green drink with crushed Oreo on top. "The Froggy Day," she explained with a smile.

Adam's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He looked at Tommy. "I, how do you-"

"Hey!" Someone threw their arms around Adam from behind and he nearly dropped the drink, adjusting quickly, reflexively. He was hugged from behind, and Kira Ford bounced into view in front of him. "Mr. Retro!"

Tommy coughed to hide a laugh. "You're one to talk," Adam muttered, but smiled and gave Kira a one-armed hug. "Hey, Kira. Good to see you again," he greeted her.

"You too! Connor, Ethan, come here!" Kira waved over two boys, one in a red Arsenal FC jersey, the other in a blue t-shirt with an 8-bit video game character that Adam couldn't place. "Adam Park, this is Connor McKnight and Ethan James," she introduced them with a grin. "Guys, this is Adam."

"One of the originals," Ethan grinned. "Cool."

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Originals?" he repeated. "Adam wasn't-"

Adam smiled. "I got called up in round two of the draft," he told the guys. "But it's nice to meet you both. Kira mentioned the two of you when we worked together….and another guy-"

"That would be him," Kira cut in, pointing to the boy with the dark hair and the white tee at the bar. "Trent, come say hi!"

Trent Fernandez got off his stool, leaving his sketchpad open on the countertop. "Hi. I'm the 'other guy,'" he said.

"Hi," Adam returned. "Hey, Kira, congrats on the single. That's really cool."

Kira beamed. "I'm really excited. You'll have to come back to town for the release party when we have it. Bring a date. The more the merrier!"

Adam coughed. "Uh. Right. Yeah, will do."

"Trent!" Hayley yelled from behind the counter. The boy's cheeks tinged pink and he shrugged.

"Duty calls. Nice to meet you, Adam. Kira's told us a lot about you. All good," he reassured the older man at the shocked look on his face. Tommy watched the exchange bemusedly. Then, Trent was off, swiping two plates of something chocolatey and gooey off the counter.

"I should get back to my set," Kira said. "Hayley paid me to come in today for some background tunes and some hype."

"And we're the hype men," Connor said, with a smile at Kira. "Nice to meet you, man."

"Yeah, you too," Adam said, meaning it. Tommy's students took off for the small stage in front of the big front window. He looked at Tommy. "Great kids."

"They really are," Tommy agreed.

Adam watched Kira tune her guitar as Connor and Ethan ribbed each other, sitting on the edge of the stage. "So…who signed Kira?"

Tommy snagged a copy of her single off the stand by a display case and flipped to the back. "Uh….Rocket Records?" He saw Adam pale. "Tanya's label," he realized. "Adam, man." Tommy put a hand on his shoulder. "You gotta…that was like…." He sighed. "Look, okay, I know I'm the last one to talk, but you gotta let Tanya be in the past, man."

Adam leaned back on the bar, resting his elbows on the Formica top. "Yeah, I know. Seriously, I do," he assured Tommy. He flicked a hand in Kira's direction. "Hard to let stuff go when it keeps coming back around, you know?"

"Oh tell me about it," Tommy said. "And it seems like Ranger stuff comes back around the worst."

Adam nodded. "Like this whole thing with Rachel?" he said. "Like, her husband. This was one of Rita's monsters, or one of the Machine Empire goons, and you morph and take 'em out. Done. Day saved." He sighed. "But real life? Not so easily solved."

"It's weird, right? Like we should be able to handle anything with everything we've seen," Tommy shrugged. He nodded to the three teens. "That's why I'm encouraging these guys so much to do other stuff. Trent's art, Connor's soccer camps, Kira's music…there's gotta be some kind of normal after all this. Trent and Kira are gonna get together, and life's gonna go on."

"And you and Hayley?" Adam nodded to Hayley, who was laughing at something one of her customers was saying over by the computer consoles.

Tommy grinned. "I sure hope so," he said. "I really like her. A lot." He glanced at Adam. "And you? What about you? Gonna get some confidence in the real world?"

Adam bit his lip. "Here's hoping."

"Look, about Rachel," Tommy started, but he was interrupted by the acoustic chords from Kira's guitar. The two men turned their attention to the stage.

Just a little more time and, just a little less thinkin'
Just a little more time is all that I need
Just a little believin', just a little more breathin'
Let's give it time…

Adam found himself nodding along with the music. It had a great pop beat and the lyrics were catchy. He realized he was almost enjoying himself.

Moving forward. It sounded amazing. Rocky had. Tommy, it appeared, was doing the same. Tommy was right, Tanya was a long time ago. Being the Black Ranger, the Green Ranger…it was a part of his past. It wasn't going to be his future. Rocky had accepted that. The dojo, and Amber, and their traveling, that was Rocky moving forward. Billy had his science stuff and his city contracts.

So what will moving forward look like for you, Adam Park? Adam wondered to himself.

He thought about the tournament the dojo was doing in a few weeks. He thought about the fact that he hadn't been back to Korea since he'd been turned into a ten year old.

And he thought about Rachel and Jenna Connors. Maybe, he thought, I just need to start with making a new friend. Rachel could use one. And so could he.

Kira launched into her next song and Hayley dropped off another Froggy Day with a knowing wink in Kira's direction. Should've guessed. That kid is something else, Adam shook his head with a grin as he stirred the green concoction with his straw.

Path of Light
Angel Grove

"Okay, so fifteen entries," Rocky tapped out the numbers on a calculator. "Entry fee, uniform patches…" He flipped the screen and showed it to Adam. "Think that'll work?"

Adam nodded. "Oh yeah. We've got a good shot at winning a few things too," he added. He leaned back in his chair, tossing a black and green stress ball up in the air and catching it. "Stone Canyon won't know what hit 'em," he laughed. "How times have changed."

"Yeah, no kidding, right?" Rocky shouldered his duffel and stood up, the registration packet in hand. "I think we're ready for this. You think the kids are?"

Adam leaned back in his chair, looking out the door to where their students were huddled around one another, talking animatedly. Several were already dressed and ready to compete. Adam noticed Jenna Connors hanging back from the group a little, eyeing her phone. "Let's round 'em up," he told Rocky, grabbing his bag. He let Rocky go out and yell at their students to get ready to go, and then followed him out. On the way, he passed Jenna and whispered, "Everything okay?"

She nodded….then shook her head. "Mom's boss needs her to cover 'til someone's car gets fixed. She didn't know if she was gonna make it to the first round."

"I'm sure she'll get there when she can." He smiled. "That just means you have to do your best to stay in all the way to the end!"

Jenna looked at him, and Adam could see the nervousness on her face. "But what if I can't? What if I'm really not good enough for this?"

Adam shrugged. "Then we chalk this up as learning experience, and tell ourselves we'll work at it to do better next time." He put an arm around her shoulders. "I wouldn't have had you sign up for this if I didn't think you could do it. We wouldn't let you go if we thought you'd embarrass yourself." He winked. "We're mean, but we're not that mean."

He got Jenna to smile, which is what he wanted. "Although…we probably should get in the van before Sensei DeSantos decides to leave without us. Are you ready?"

He waited. Jenna bit her lip. Then, she nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm ready."

Adam nodded, and the two of them headed outside. Jenna crawled into the back, hopping over Abbott, who slid over to make room for her, and Adam climbed in the front. He pulled out his cell as Rocky pulled away from Path of Light and headed into Saturday morning traffic.

Adam tapped out a quick text. Hey, Rachel. Jenna's first round is at 11. Hope you can be there. Will send updates through the day.

It was a moment before he got a text back. TYSM! Coworker's car wouldn't start, she had to call a cab. Hoping I can make it soon. Thx again!

Adam tucked his phone away, nerves of his own starting to settle in as Rocky put them on the highway headed for Stone Canyon.