AN: I began writing this story before the season was even 5 episodes in, so there will be some serious differences from cannon. I am going to try and work in some of the things that happened in the series cause they were awesome, but this will be very AU. This story begins around the time of episode 7, Pizza Slice of Life. Basically anytime before 3 things happened: Fran finding out about the rangers, RJ becoming one, and Jarrods memory being erased.
Prodigal
It was an ordinary day at Jungle Karma Pizza. RJ was supervising his employees with the occasional guru-ish advice, while Fran was hurrying from serving to the kitchen to bussing the tables in her usual crazed way. Lily was waiting the tables with her million dollar smile, charming a good 20% tip out of every customer she turned it on.
Theo was showing off again. He spun a pizza over the top of his head and delivered another with his free hand. With a quick little twist only someone of his stature could pull off, he dropped the second pizza on another table. He pulled two pizza cutters from his apron and tossed them into the air. Miraculously, they each landed in the middle of the pizzas. Theo grinned cheekily, and he turned ever so slightly. He grinned back at his observer and winked, and Casey found himself blushing.
Casey was watching Theo instead of doing his job, so yeah that made it a normal day. He shook his head and tried to ignore the blush Theo's innocent wink had stirred, and he returned to tallying up the check he had been working on.
"Focus might be something we have to start working on, young one." RJ's voice sounded in his ear, and Casey gritted his teeth to keep from jumping.
"How do you do that?" He wanted to know as he turned his head to glare at the Pai Zhug Master.
RJ just starred back at him with a raised eyebrow. "Do what?"
Casey shook his head. "Never mind. What about focus?"
"Ah!" RJ pointed at Casey with both his index fingers and moved them back and forth menacingly. "Perhaps if you weren't quite so… distracted, you might have heard me sneaking up on you."
It was true. In the past couple of days alone RJ had made him jump out of his skin several times, but Casey mostly attributed that to the fact that he was as sneaky as he was cryptic and obnoxious.
It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that he had been watching Theo's lithe form with an unnerving amount of scrutiny. It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he could practically narrate Theo's every move like some trashy romance novel in his head. And it definitely had nothing to do with the fact that Casey was seriously unable to concentrate on anything but Theo.
Which, in and of itself, was ridiculous.
Lily brought a new order over to Fran, who insisted RJ had not perfected his Teriyaki Tsunami Pizza yet, and RJ insisted she had no idea how to make pizza recipes and to stay out of it. The two bickered their way back into the kitchen, and Lily came over to hand Casey some more tickets.
"Ah, the joy of puppy love." Lily quipped, and Casey's head snapped to look at her.
"What?" He asked quickly, fumbling the keys on the register.
"RJ and Fran." Lily told him with an amused look. "They're so totally crushing on each other."
"Oh, right." Relieved, Casey turned back to the register, and then frowned. "Wait, RJ and Fran? Seriously?"
"Yeah," Lily chided, poking Casey's arm. "Who did you think I meant?"
Before Casey could answer, Theo's voice interrupted with, "Are you going to do anything besides stare at the register today or are you finally taking a hint and leaving the work to the professionals?"
Casey scoffed. "I'm making sure you don't mess up your tickets for the third time this week."
"Hey," Theo shrugged. "Math is not my strong point."
"Which really is not right." Casey intoned casually.
"Was that a racial implication?" Theo raised an amused eyebrow.
"No, just a character observation. You'd think the perfectionist would know his times tables, that's all." Casey teased, and Theo smacked him in the arm with a rag.
"Whoa!" Lily interrupted, holding her hands up in a time out gesture. "Slow down, guys. The way you two tear into each other, I swear, you're like an old married couple."
Lily walked away, and missed the look that passed between them. All things taken into account, that was probably for the best.
"You stare enough to make the title fit." Theo teased quietly.
Casey reached out and let his hand gently brush Theo's. "Don't act like you're not showing off just because I'm watching."
"Never said that." Theo grinned as he pushed off the counter and headed back to check on the tables.
Casey tried very hard not to sigh. He probably shouldn't have kissed Theo. He knew it was only going to complicate things. Logistically speaking it could have been a lot worse. Theo could have been sending the complete wrong signals that night, and Casey had considered the fact that he could have ended up with a black eye.
But they were the only two who shared a sleeping area. Lily had her own small room, and RJ had his master bedroom, while Casey and Theo shared the main area with Casey's hammock and Theo's bean bags. And this meant that when everyone else was asleep, the two of them either fought or laughed themselves to sleep.
And apparently, sometimes they kissed. It was already complicated, and something told Casey it was only going to get more so.
Of course, watching Theo wink across the room at him like that wasn't exactly a bad perk.
"If you think you can do better, then I dare you to go ahead and try!" RJ announced as he came back from the kitchen with an appalled looking Fran trailing behind him.
"If you didn't make your pizza recipes so complicated and… well…" Fran trailed off and pushed her glasses up on her nose.
"So complicated and what?" RJ asked her, giving her a daring stare.
"Well…" Fran caught RJ's condescending look and stood up taller. "So ridiculous! I mean, who really wants Teriyaki on their pizza?"
RJ was looking at Fran as though she'd slapped him. Mouth agape, he tried several times to speak and nothing came out. Finally, he pointed to himself three times and said, "I was Teriyaki on my pizza!"
Fran threw her hands up but before she could reply RJ held up his hands and took in a deep breathe.
"I can not work like this. You are stifling my creative energy." He turned to the rest of his employees who had gathered to watch the scene. "I will be in my chair!" And with that RJ stormed back through the kitchen and up the stairs.
Fran took off her apron and tossed it on the counter before any of the rangers could comment. "I'm taking a break." She announced as she walked out of the store.
Lily, Theo and Casey all watched the scene with bemused expressions. Finally though, Casey turned to Lily with a grin.
"Okay," he told her decidedly. "I'm beginning to see it."
"I think we should order in." Theo told the two of them as Lily sunk the ball in the net and Casey let out a strangled cry.
"No! This is not happening!" Casey was complaining. "You should not be better than me at this!"
Lily ignored him. "Theo, we live in a restaurant. What's the point of ordering food?"
"We don't live in a restaurant. We live in a pizza parlor." Theo corrected her, and he saw Casey roll his eyes behind her. "And I for one am sick of pizza."
"We don't live in just any pizza parlor!" Casey said loudly, glancing over at RJ's chair. He'd been there since his scuffle with Fran earlier, and he didn't look like he'd be moving soon. "We live in the best pizza parlor in Ocean Bluffs!" Casey tossed his arms around both Theo and Lily as he whispered conspiratorially to them. "Best not to put salt in the wound, if you know what I mean. The guy does control our training schedule."
All three rangers shared a look, and together all three of them laughed heartily.
"That's right!" Lily strode towards RJ's chair. "Where else can you get a pizza with pineapple and teriyaki?"
Theo scoffed. "Well, nowhere, that's where."
"Your flattery is appreciated but decidedly ineffective at making me feel better." RJ told them, unmoving. Theo grimaced. RJ did turn his head to tell them in a pained voice, "And please, don't mention the teriyaki," before he returned to watching his many TV's.
The three rangers nodded and walked away from their distressed master.
"Don't worry." Casey assured them when they were out of earshot. "I'm sure he'll be better in the morning."
Theo just shook his head. If that was what having a crush on someone was like, he was glad he and Casey had just skipped right over that part. The thought entered his head unbidden, but even so he couldn't stop himself from sneaking a glance at the red ranger.
"I feel like we should do something for him." Lily's maternal instinct interrupted.
"I feel like we should eat." Theo argued. "Something that isn't pizza."
Lily glared at him disapprovingly, and Theo held up his hands in defense.
"Not that I don't love pizza!" He insisted, taking a step back from her. "But a little change of pace would be nice."
Casey rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "This from the obsessive compulsive neat freak."
"Right?" Lily agreed, smacking Theo's shoulder. "Who are you and what have you done with Theo?"
Theo sighed, obviously having lost the battle. "Fine, leftover pizza it is."
It shouldn't have surprised him to feel Casey come up behind him and sit down on one of his beanbags later that night, but it did. He wasn't sure why, but he thought he should pretend to be asleep.
"You really that sick of pizza?" Casey's voice asked him. His knee was just barely touching Theo's back, and it was such light contact that it almost tickled. "I brought you something," Casey continued when Theo didn't answer.
Slowly, Theo turned his head just enough to catch sight of Casey's wry grin in the semi darkness. He waved something that looked suspiciously like a sandwich.
Theo rolled onto his back and sat up, resituating himself on the beanbags with Casey's weight.
"I knew food would get you up." Casey teased. He handed Theo half of a sandwich and took a bite of the other half.
"Thanks." Theo answered, taking a bite of his half and ignoring the jab. It was ham and cheese, but it wasn't fried or covered in tomato sauce, and that was good enough for him. "Where'd you get sandwich stuff?"
Casey shrugged. "From my stash," he said smugly, and Theo grinned.
"You have a stash?" He asked playfully.
"I might." Casey wiggled his eyebrows. "Interested?"
Theo bit his lip and then took another bite of his sandwich as he thought, Not in the stash.
"I don't know what you were gonna say," Casey warned coyly, "But I bet I'm about to say something better."
Theo just raised his eyebrows as he finished his sandwich, and Casey started blushing before he even opened his mouth.
"Wanna make out?" He asked with a grin that might have been dashing if Theo couldn't see how red his cheeks had gotten. Theo laughed a little bit and Casey lost it too and they were giggling together before they knew it.
When they stopped, the silence lingered between them as Casey waited for Theo to actually answer him. But when Theo caught his eyes, he couldn't actually bring himself to kiss him.
"Maybe tomorrow." Theo told him. With that he turned his back and laid down on his beanbags again.
"Awe." Casey complained instantly. "I bring you food that isn't pizza, and I don't even get a kiss?" Theo was silent. "No fair."
Theo was glad Casey couldn't see his smile. "You know how I am. It takes dedication to win my affections."
He could practically feel Casey roll his eyes. "You are a horrible human being."
"Try again tomorrow." Theo teased. Casey sat there for a long moment, and Theo thought he might roll him over and kiss him anyway. It wasn't that he didn't want to kiss Casey, that wasn't it at all. It was something of a mix of not quite knowing how to feel about kissing Casey and enjoying making him work for it.
"Fine." He felt the weight shift on the beanbags and heard Casey's footsteps pad across the room. "But if you don't kiss me tomorrow, I'm so kissing you in front of Lily and RJ on Thursday."
Theo rolled his eyes, an annoyingly Casey like gesture. The chance of that happening was minuscule at best, but he figured he'd better kiss Casey tomorrow just to be safe.
He probably should have kissed him tonight, but the moment was gone and Casey would be asleep within minutes. Still, there was the promise of tomorrow, so Theo tried to close his eyes and go to sleep.
Damn. He really wanted that kiss now.
It was the bouncing that woke her. If there was something she disliked at all, it had to be being woken by obnoxious noises. Lily rolled out of her makeshift bed and stood, stretching first towards the ceiling and then touching her toes. She did a couple of yoga poses before she took a drink and opened her door.
They were playing basketball. Or at least, they were playing something that would have been basketball-like if Theo had his feet on the ground. Currently, Theo had the ball in his hands, but Casey had wrapped his arms around Theo's waist and was spinning him around as Theo objected between laughs.
Lily grinned as she watched them. The two foot height difference made them an entertaining pair to watch in any circumstance, but when they were playing like this it was almost like slapstick.
As soon as Casey saw her he dropped Theo, who fell to the floor and complained about it immediately.
"If you're gonna swing me around like the gorilla that you are, you could at least let me land on my feet!" Theo grumbled. Casey waved at Lily before offering Theo a hand to help him up.
"Having a good morning guys?" Lily asked them as she approached. Casey just smiled, but Theo gave her an appraising look.
"Oh look, sleeping beauty decided to grace us with her presence." He tossed the ball at her, and Lily took it and sunk it in the hoop.
"How lucky for you!" She teased as she smacked Theo's shoulder.
Casey was staring at the hoop. "It's just not right."
"Casey, you just have to get used to loosing to a girl and everything will work out fine." Lily told him, patting his shoulder gently.
Casey gave her a look. "We'll see about that."
Lily grinned and she evaded responding as RJ's door opened at the other half of the room.
"I've had an epiphany!" RJ announced to the group at large. Curious, Lily and the others headed towards him and waited. "Jungle Karma Pizza is no more!"
"What?" Lily objected immediately. Beside her Theo and Casey were making various noises of disapproval.
"That's right! From now on, we are no longer a pizza parlor!" RJ smiled happily as he threw his hands up in the air. "We are a pancake house!"
There was silence for a moment, and then Casey asking, "Wait… we're Jungle Karma Pancakes?"
"That's right!" RJ agreed quickly. "Let Fran stick that in her pipe and smoke it!"
And he walked out and down to the pizz- no, pancake house. The rangers waited, but he didn't come back, and finally they exchanged varying looks of worry.
"Well," Theo drawled slowly. "Today's going to be an adventure."
When they came down the stairs dressed in their uniforms (which, side note, Casey had never taken the time to appreciate Theo getting dressed only 10 feet away from him before and was rather pleased with the result) they saw RJ and Fran already arguing about turning the Pizza Parlor into a Pancake House.
Instead of joining in, Casey thought it might be a better idea to sit by and let the two of them work it out. Lily on the other hand seemed to want to take a more proactive approach.
"Look, you guys!" Lily interrupted. "We obviously can't turn the store into a pancake house today, before we open. We're going to have to serve the customers that are already waiting for pizza. Maybe we can renovate over the weekend."
"And by then maybe RJ will have changed his mind." Theo whispered to him. Casey had sat down at a table, which meant that Theo had to lean down to talk to him which was unusual but not unappreciated.
"I thought you were sick of pizza." Casey prodded, and Theo shrugged.
"If the choice is between 24 hour pancakes or 24 hours of pizza, I'd choose pizza." He admonished, and Casey grinned.
Before he could say anything, their sunglasses beeped. Fran turned a furious look on them.
"You're not leaving?" Fran pleaded. The three of them shrugged simultaneously.
"Gotta go, you know how it is. Good luck Fran!" Casey called to her.
As they reached the door Lily turned the 'closed' sign to 'open' and shot Fran a smile before the three of them hurried out.
"Something strange is going on here!" Fran called after them. "And I'm going to figure out what it is!"
Casey didn't doubt that. As intelligent as Fran was, it wouldn't be long before she put together the fact that every time the three of them ran out the Power Rangers appeared. Of course, if she had to deal with the rush at the store every time, it could be a while before she figured out anything.
The three of them put on their sunglasses and headed for the beach. Casey thought they were ready for anything, but what they saw when they got there stopped them in their tracks.
"You've failed me for the last time!" Jarrod and or Dai Shi had just knocked Camille to the ground, and she was crawling away from him weakly.
"Please, Dai Shi, I've always been loyal. I beg you! Give me another chance!" Camille pleaded, crawling away from Dai Shi as he advanced slowly at her.
"No Camille. This is your end. I see now that you can't be trusted." Dai Shi spoke harshly, and tears streamed down Camille's face.
"Wait a second," Lily commented as they watched the scene. "They're fighting each other?"
"I don't know about you," Theo answered happily, "but any development that works in our favor is one I'm not going to question!"
Dai Shi was raising his sword, and something inside Casey snapped. "We can't just stand here and let him destroy her!"
"Casey!" Lily caught his arm as he tried to go forward. "She's been trying to destroy us for weeks!"
"That doesn't mean she deserves this!" Casey broke free of Lily's grip and rushed towards Camille and Dai Shi, unsure what he was going to do when he got there but knowing the tiger inside him couldn't just stand by and watch.
He pulled out his shark sabers just as Dai Shi was raising his sword above his head to strike Camille. He lunged and caught Dai Shi's sword with his shark sabers just before it would have hit Camille, and Dai Shi looked at him angrily.
"Foolish boy! I'll teach you to stay out of my business!" Jarrod's already harsh voice was echoed by Dai Shi's darkness, and Casey growled back at him.
"Keeping you from hurting people is my business!" Casey retorted, lifting Dai Shi's sword with his sabers and shoving him backwards. He stepped protectively in front of Camille, whose cries had stopped and turned to confusion.
Casey raged against the tyrant, his tiger growling inside him and pushing him forward. How could someone be so cruel, so heartless? He knew he shouldn't hurt Jarrod- he as least was human. But Dai Shi's lion armor shielded Jarrod's face, and all Casey could see was the lion and the red glowing around him.
"What is he doing?" He heard Camille ask the other rangers behind him, her voice weakened and startled.
"Saving your life!" Theo retorted, and he heard the brandishing of a weapon. "Come on Lily, let's get in there!"
They rushed into action behind him, but Dai Shi saw them coming and snarled. Holding Casey off with on hand, he raised the other and a beam of light shot from it.
"No!" He shouted, and suddenly Casey felt cut off from the other rangers. "The boy and I will finish this alone!"
Something shimmered out of the corner of his eye, and Casey realized what he had done. They were encased in some kind of dark orb, and there would be no backup coming for him this time.
Casey steeled himself and lunged forward once more.
Dai Shi sent a spinning kick into his chest and Casey compensated as best he could, rolling to the ground and right back up to strike at Dai Shi's left shoulder. His shark sabers were a perfect match to Dai Shi's armored claws, and they seemed to be at a stalemate.
Outside the bubble, he could hear Theo and Lily had been occupied with Rinshi.
Casey was getting tired, but he wasn't about to give up.
"Face it," Dai Shi let his helmet fall, revealing Jarrod's snarling face. "You're nothing without your friends."
"You're one to talk!" Casey guffawed, taking the moment of Dai Shi's gloating to regain his energy.
"I don't need others to do my fighting for me." Dai Shi put his helmet back on. He rushed Casey, but instead of roll or dodge Casey planted his feet and took the blow head on, striking back with one of his own.
It hit him like a train, and he felt himself flying backwards. They'd collided energies, and Casey hit the barrier Dai Shi had created and fell. He tried to raise himself, but all he could do was raise his head.
Dai Shi had demorphed, revealing Jarrod's smaller body… floating? He was off the ground, holding onto his head. His voice was pained. "What's… happening to me?"
Casey struggled to push himself up. Suddenly Jarrod's body dropped to the ground, and a large golden orb was hovering above it. He recognized that orb; that was Dai Shi's spirit.
"Dai Shi!" Casey shouted. He couldn't quite see it, but the orb appeared to turn to him. In another split second he saw it rushing towards him.
He put up his arms to block it, but it did no good.
The last thing he heard before it went dark was Theo's voice, panicked and far away. "Casey!"