The day was hot, and although the wind off the water kept the temperature on the beach comfortable, it was still plenty warm enough for a bathing suit. Or a bikini. Or a thong. Conner was certainly appreciative of the view. He himself was sporting long red shorts with black stripes on the outside leg, and a red tank. After all, he was here to see, not to be seen.Ethan was similarly attired in black shorts with blue pockets and a blue t-shirt.

Though Conner and Ethan had privately debated the merits of their teammate in a bathing suit of her own, Kira had chosen to wear a long sleeved yellow shirt over a black and yellow skirt over black leggings. She'd grumbled something about "meat markets" and "not conforming to the media ideal" when she'd arrived, but her protests were generally ignored by her male counterparts.

In spite of her unconventional beach wear, Kira was enjoying the free day as much as the boys. It wasn't often the three of them hung out, outside of Ranger duties or school. And for Conner to pick something as random as surfing to bond over – well it was just weird. Not one of the there of them knew the first thing about surfing, so the afternoon was turning into a chance to get to know each other. It was strange, but fun.

Once Kira managed to turn the conversation away from the relative merits of a bikini versus bathing suits, she learned some things about her teammates. Behind all of his snarky humor and gameboy-geek speak; Ethan had a lot to say. He was almost philosophical. But she didn't see that side of him until Conner had gone to grab them some drinks. And Conner, in spite of his thoughtless demeanor, gave a lot more thought to things than Kira had ever given him credit for. But he didn't demonstrate it until Ethan had gone on a snack run.

"Hey Kira?"

"Yes?" Kira looked over at Conner who was propped up on his elbows leaning back on the towel he'd brought to sit on. His attention was fixated on a surfer in the water; she was a beautiful girl, of course. Kira was afraid he was going to launch into another ode to bathing suits, but stopped herself from cutting him off when she noticed the thoughtful expression on his face.

"Do you think that girl chose to be a surfer? I mean…did she choose it, or did it choose her?" Kira heard the echo of what Dr. Oliver had told them about bonding with the dino gems – where was Conner going with this? Conner turned to look at Kira only to be met with a look of expectation. "It's not just surfing…it's us too. I mean, Dr. O. said the gems chose us, right?" He sat up, pulling his knees up and crossing his arms across them, and turned his attention back to the surfer in the water who was now swimming with her board toward the shore. "I made my choice; I know you and Ethan did too. But, is it enough? What if the gems chose wrong?"

Kira almost didn't hear that last part because Conner's voice had dropped so low. She sat in stunned silence. This is so not where I saw this conversation going. I think the bathing suit debate was better. Then she shook herself out of it and thought about how to respond. He was being serious, so she was going to take it seriously too. Kira decided not to over think and just responded from her heart. She scooted a little closer to Conner and laid a hand on his arm.

"Seriously, Conner I don't think the gems can be wrong. And it will be enough. We can do whatever needs to be done if we do it together. Besides, the good guys always win, right?" She smiled up at him. Conner smiled back.

"Hey! Am I breaking something up here?" interrupted Ethan as he crash landed on the blanket, dropping bags of chips and pretzels everywhere, and knocking Kira into Conner, toppling them both. "Sorry!" But the grin on his was anything but apologetic.

"The only thing that'll be broken will be you." growled Conner as he crawled up out of the sand. Ethan scooted away holding his hands up in a warding off gesture. "I'm just the delivery guy." Conner lunged, but his feet got tangled up in the towels and he landed heavily on one knee showering sand all over Kira.

"Hey!" she yelled in protest. So much for our though provoking moment…

Conner only had eyes for Ethan who'd taken advantage of his fall to get up and start sprinting away. Conner practically climbed over Kira who continued to protest vehemently as he took off running after Ethan.

Kira stood up, brushed off the sand and watched the whole mess go down. It was like watching a train wreck. A train wreck in slow-motion where there's nothing you can do about it except try to find survivors when it's done. Ethan and Conner took off from their place on the beach, both of them laughing like lunatics. Ethan initially tried to put as much distance between himself and Conner as possible, but then he changed his game plan. It was clear he'd never out run Conner, so he tried to be evasive instead.

Conner knew immediately what Ethan was trying to do, and deliberately dropped out of Ethan's line of sight, dodging behind groups of tourists, but ever getting closer. As Ethan took a wide loop closer to the water - Conner stayed inland, always moving and getting closer to his target. Kira could see that Ethan was trying to get back to her position, as if she were on home base or something. What did she know, maybe in the minds of the boys she was.

Ethan, having lost sight of Conner, made a break for the towels. At the same time, Conner made his move, sprinting from Ethan's right. "GOTCHA!" Conner executed a beautiful flying tackle, Ethan never saw him coming. It would've been spectacular if he'd taken into consideration that one last group of tourists between Ethan and Kira – they never saw him coming either. As it was, Conner knocked down Ethan and both of the guys in the group. The girl was spared, but fought to keep her balance as she crashed into Kira. Kira steadied them both, but the girl was unable to maintain her grip on the very large soda she'd been carrying.

Train wreck. Grape flavored.