The door to Jen's apartment slid closed behind her as Trip raced to the couch, clutching the book of ranger rules.
"I hope he doesn't hurt himself in his haste," whispered Katie as she moved to get the rangers some hot chocolate.
"Don't worry," laughed Jen, "if he does, we'll just blame it on Lucas.
Katie threw her friend a dirty look, "hey, he's not here to defend himself!"
Jen shrugged, "then we'll just blame it on Alex."
"You always do," said a cold voice from the doorway.
The pink ranger smirked as she sipped on her coco, but decided not to comment.
"Come on you guys," Trip whined from the couch, "let's read some more!"
Alex shrugged off his uniform jacket and sat down beside Katie, "I thought you were supposed to take that to the Archives," he said, his voice coming out in a harsh whisper as he eyed the book suspiciously.
"Get over it," Jen groaned. "Besides, you know you want to look," she teased.
He glanced up, his eyes dancing with anticipation. "No way," he lied, prompting Katie to pound him, not so gently, on the back.
"Well we do, so shove over or get lost."
Alex sighed and scooted over so that she could get a better look at the rules, "fine, but no one ever finds out," he said pointedly.
Katie rolled her eyes and gave Jen a half mocking smile, "always the officer…"
221. Just because you can walk through walls, it does not give you the right to spy on the girls. (Jack, Z and Syd are still after you for the shower incident)
222. Don't try to black mail your teammates with incriminating photos; chances are they have worse ones of you. (Remember that Christmas party a few years ago Rocky? Yeah, Jason has pictures too…three words…French maid outfit…)
223. Stop stoking your morpher and hissing "My Precious!" (You are NOT Gollum and its seriously creepy Chip.)
224. Sky, a bracelet alone does not make a friendship, but it may give your red ranger license to mock you…forever…
225. Taylor, put down Eric's Quantum Defender and step away from him! Eric, did you have to get the last word in?
226. Guys, give Cam his laptop back, it was funny the first time but now he's rewiring your bikes.
227. Xander and Vida: Yin and Yang. Perfect for each other. (Ducks from flying projectile from Vida) Then again...
228. Quite picking on Bridge, the finger wiggle is cool!
229. Guys, by now you should no better not to tick off the girls... but I've been wrong before. (Conner you may want to hide for a few days.)
230. Say it with me people: "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." (Not, "maybe failing is your thing." Stop it Justin, it was only funny the first time.)
231. While tattoos are cool, it helps to know if the person giving it to you is evil or not. (You could end up like Ryan…cool cobra tattoo, nasty side effects)
232. Arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand, so the next time your rookie red ranger decides to play the hero, you might want to make sure that rescue crews are standing by.
233. It's not, "when animals attack," its "when stupid rangers get bit." (Conner, please stay away from Wes' dog. Cujo really doesn't like you.)
234. Speaking of animals, it is rude to sniff other people's dogs without permission. (Bridge!)
235. Things that are no longer allowed in the command center: Magic 8 Balls. (And we thought you were a real genius Billy!)
236. So your leader is a dog and his assistant is a cat? Don't worry you haven't gone completely insane, you're just at SPD headquarters, expect the unexpected.
237. Do NOT give Wes Pixie Sticks, Pepsi, or any other sugary substance before a battle. He's cheerful enough already and frankly, his uber-happy-go-lucky-no-one can-touch-me-attitude is starting to get old.
238. Be happy when the little blue brat decides not to join you on the space shuttle. It means you're going to get a cool new ranger with multi colored hair and a superiority complex.
239. The prank wars end. NOW! (Dying Tommy's hair bright yellow and painting Jason's favorite motorcycle pink, while funny, resulted in some pretty harsh punishments for a certain red Dino ranger. Conner still shutters to remember the month he spent in their special "training" program.)
240. "You're banging coconuts together" is never to be uttered when you see a fellow ranger on horseback. In fact, please keep all Monty Python quotes to yourselves. (Kimberly could not look Tommy in the face without laughing for a month. It was quite sad.)
"I can't believe it," said Trip, "they actually dyed the great Tommy Oliver's hair yellow? I'd have given anything to see that!"
Jen choked on her drink, "and they painted Jason's motorcycle pink?!?"
"I bet that Conner guy had a lot of explaining to do," said Katie as she gave a stony faced Alex a playful shove. "Come on boy," she said, her tone light and joking, "you know it was funny!"
Alex glanced up at her, trying to hide the twitching at the corners of his lips, but his mutinous muscles failed him and his face broke into a smile. "Fine," he said with a small laugh, "it was kind of funny. Wonder what prompted Conner to do such a thing……"
------
Reefside 2004
Conner McKnight glared at his science teacher's back, plotting all kinds of horrible vengeance on him as he venomously scribbled down the notes, his mind miles away.
Oh yes, he thought savagely, he is going to pay!
"Conner, hello earth to Conner!"
He looked up to see Kira waving her hand in front of his face, a quaint smile plastered across her face. "What," he asked.
"Did you just hear anything I said?"
"No," the red ranger admitted, "otherwise, I wouldn't have asked what."
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her book bag, "see, this is why you failed that last science test, not because Dr. O was mad at you about…whatever you think he was mad at you about."
"No, I failed because he hates me, and that's not why I'm mad," he complained, following her out the door and into the parking lot. "But no worries, I have a plan!"
Kira groaned, "oh no. Please, tell me I'm not involved in your plan."
The smirk on Conner's face widened, "but Kira, I couldn't do it without you!"
"No!" She protested as he drug her to his car, "NO Conner, forget it! I won't help you! Are you listening to me you dumb jock? I WON"T!"
------
Tommy held his head high as he walked into his classroom on Friday morning. He had spent the morning preparing himself for the onslaught of giggles and questions that he knew were inevitable, and he had also given Kimberly an earful for not waking up the night before when he chased the, then unknown, intruders into the woods. It hadn't taken him long however to figure out who they were, or what their punishments would be.
He opened the door to find himself face to face with the most notorious reporter in the whole school. "No Cassidy," he said, pointing to her chair. "Sit, now, unless you want detention for the next five months."
Her mouth dropped open in shock, "but Dr. Oliver, I just wanted to make sure you were ok!"
Tommy glared at her as he entered the room and walked to the blackboard, trying in vain to block out his snickering students. "Go ahead and laugh," he muttered bitterly, "because you won't be laughing much longer."
He glanced over his shoulder to find his red ranger grinning broadly down at his pencil. "Conner," he said innocently. "I want to see you after class…"
That wiped the smirk off of his face real quick. He turned pale and glanced at his friends for help that was not forth coming.
"Nope," said Kira under her breath, "you got into this and you can get out of it."
Conner swallowed hard and watched as the hands on the clock slowly moved towards the sinister looking nine and the bell rang, signaling the end of classes and the end of his life as he knew it.
"Dr. O," he said, approaching the man with extreme caution, "is there something I can do for you?"
Tommy turned around slowly, his neon yellow hair making his dark expression seem more clown like that frightening. "No I think you've already done enough," he said slowly, "however, there is something I can do for you. Meet me at my house after school today, and come alone."
Conner gulped, trying to force the lump in his throat down. "Yes sir…" He made a bee line for the door, suddenly desperate to be outside.
"Oh and Conner," said the good Doctor, his back now to his student. "The motorcycle you spray painted a lovely shade of hot pink is not mine…it is my friend Jason's."
The blood rushed from Conner's face with extreme velocity, leaving him reeling and on the verge of hyperventilating. He knew Jason all too well. He was a big man, big and scary, and twice as intimidating as Tommy, twice as likely to pound him into oblivion. He gave his teacher one more glance before rushing out of the room and colliding with Kira.
"What did he say," asked Ethan as Conner pushed the yellow ranger away and flew passed him in the hallway.
Conner shook his head, unable to speak as he thought about all the horrible things that Dr. O could do to him.
Resting against the wall by the water fountain he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kira smiling up at him.
"Don't worry Conner," she said, sympathy written all over her face. "He can't do anything too bad, I mean he is our teacher and murder is against the law."
Conner shook her hand off. "Yeah it is, isn't' it?" He started to feel better as his blood started to flow normally through his body again. But Kira just couldn't leave well enough alone…
She got a wicked smirk on her face as she added, "but then again, he is a power ranger, I'm sure he could make it look like an accident…"
So, see that pretty little button? Make me smile. Also, suggestions for rules are more than welcome and very much loved.