Like I had said earlier, this story wouldn't just be about the older Rangers. I would also include some young moments of the Rescue Ops Rangers in this story. This story is one of them.

Also, to clear up some air, this isn't a flashback and takes place around the same time as everything in California is taking place. This is simply a viewing of what's going on in the younger Rangers' lives and how they grew up.

Also, with Winter Break coming to a close, my updates may once again become slow depending on my schedule. My schedule this semester, however, has a lot more free time than I did last semester, meaning I will have more time to write and outline my chapters. Sorry and I hope you understand!

Anyways, on with the story!

==Palisade, North Carolina, United States==

School had finally started in Palisade and the elementary school got ready for its day to start. Kids got to school in their school buses and were ready to start learning.

Midway through the day, the school bell rang and allowed the students to leave for recess outdoors. All of the students grouped up with their friends and ran outside to play together. Different kids assembled in different areas: some kids went to the soccer field, some kids went to the basketball court, some kids went under the shade to play with toys, and some kids were on the playground.

Eight-year-old Chase Vereen ran around the school playground playing tag with a few friends from his class. It was a small group of four children, so they had their little individual fun in their half-hour window of recess playtime. While they weren't paying attention, a pretty brunette girl in a white flowery dress was watching their game intently.

"Chase, you're it!" a boy ran over to Chase and tackled him.

"Aw, man!" Chase exclaimed.

"No tag backs!" the boy ran away.

Chase climbed up the ladder up to the top of the playground to inspect where all the little kids were running. Even from such a young age, Chase was a very strategic kid. He would plan out his actions before actually carrying them out.

He spotted a boy trying to run up the slide. By predicting his actions and plotting his time and distance, Chase bolted towards the slide and slid down. On the way down, he ran his hand through the boy and tagged him. Then, Chase quickly darted away before the boy could even realize it.

"No tag backs!" Chase stuck his tongue out and ran away.

The game was going fine and uninterrupted for about a few minutes. The kids were tagging each other back and forth and were just having a good time. Then, the girl in the flowery dress walked over to them. Chase and the rest of the boys ran down from the playground to go see who she was and what she wanted from them.

"Who are you?" Chase asked.

"And why are you here?" another boy asked. "You're a girl, and girls are icky!"

"I'm not icky." the girl defended herself. "I just want to play tag."

"No." one boy shook his head. "You probably have the cooties."

"Ew!" all of the other boys, including Chase, shouted. "Cooties!"

"I do not have the cooties!" the girl crossed her arms. "I just wanna play tag! The other girls are boring. I just wanna run around and have fun with you guys."

"Just let her play." Chase told the boys. "If she's not good or anything then we can tell her to leave."

"Okay, but if you give us the cooties then we're telling on you." one of the boys warned her.

"Go ahead, I won't give you the cooties." she said. Chase placed his hand on her shoulder. "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Tag! You're it!" Chase and the rest of the boys started to run away.

"I'm gonna get you!" she laughed.

All of the kids started to run around and play tag for a good while. What started off as a rough standstill for the girl turned into a fun game of tag. She was able to tag the boys pretty easily and even proved herself more athletic than them. She quickly had them on their tails as they all started to tire down around her.

"Boy, you're making us tired." Chase huffed. "How are you faster than us?"

"And we're not sick yet!" another boy exclaimed.

"I told you I didn't have the cooties and that I'm capable of playing with you guys." the girl crossed her arms. "Now are you guys going to keep running or are you letting me tag you while you're standing?"

The boys, who were all scared of being 'it', started to scramble away from her. It didn't take long for her to catch up with them and she managed to get Chase first. Chase groaned and started to run around and play 'it'.

Before the kids realized it, the half hour had passed and it was time for recess to end. All of them groaned and started to walk off the playground in order to continue the rest of their school day. Realizing that the girl was leaving them without telling them anything about herself, Chase jogged to keep up with her.

"Hey, I had fun." Chase smiled as they both walked towards the school. "Did you have fun?"

"I did too." the girl replied and slowed herself down when she realized that Chase was panting. "Thanks for letting me play with you guys. I just wanted to have some fun and the girls playing with the Barbie dolls weren't really doing anything"

"It's no problem. What's your name, by the way?" Chase asked.

"I'm McKenzie Taylor, but everyone calls me Kenzie."

"I'm Chase Vereen." Chase introduced himself. "Nice to meet you."