A/N: I'm surprised that only two of you guys picked up on Kim's issues. Looks like some of you are skimming...

sabina21: Being in the same room is going to be tough, that's for sure.
Kimberly's going to have to deal with it, I'm afraid. Lots of heartbreak to come.

TheTombedSpirit: No, please tell me. You were getting really pissed, I assume? Maybe even worried? And yeah, KRENT is back baby!

SM1: I totally agree, they just seem like brother and sister to me. I never really saw Kira and Conner being more than a fling, if anything at all. Thanks! I'm glad that you think so highly of this FF.

hewhoreaps: I think Conner and Trent were both being dense, the former a lot more than the latter. I dunno about the attention thing though... I like to think that she just wanted to fill the void in her heart and she thought that Conner would suffice.
Yep, maybe Ethan's curse was to have his friends, as well as him, suffer the consequences.

Apollo Holmes: IKR. And I don't celebrate Halloween but thanks!

SageModeSasuke: Thanks, I'm glad to know that my FF got you back into as a whole. Sorry if you got bored after a while, but I really do have to follow the series.

M . gotze: I like Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. Oh and you were right, Bayern beat Arsenal 5-1! Urgh! I'm hoping Arsenal make a come back for the next two Champions' League games but with so many good players injured, I really don't know :'(

brankel1: Thanks.

Evangella Akriti: Wow, the first reader that I know of who reads both 'A Princess and Her Protector' as well as this FF. Did you just recently start? Yes, Conner is really dense and Krent rules! But yes, Kim's situation is very unfortunate, especially since her friends are slowly starting their own families.

On a school morning, Michael and Hayley sat at the computers in the dino lab, monitoring Reefside when the alarm beeped. The screen changed to show Elsa leaning over a pool of green slime with an extractor gun.

"What's Elsa doing out there?" Michael asked, leaning over Hayley's shoulder.

"Should I call the others?" Hayley questioned, staring at the screen in confusion.

"Wait, let's see what she's up to," the black ranger replied, as they watched Elsa dip her extractor gun into the pool. "She's taking a sample."

Elsa laughed and disappeared.

"What was that stuff?" the red head asked.

"I don't know but if Elsa wants it, we'd better find out," Mike told her. Hayley grabbed his arm just as he was about to leave.

"Mike, you'll be careful won't you?" she implored, looking up at him in concern. "What if something else happens to you?"

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," he reassured her, before leaving.

Hayley looked back at the computer screen, sighing. She still had the same suspicions about Elsa's identity as she did months ago but she kept them to herself. She didn't want to sound jealous. She went back to tracking the black ranger.

"You should be at the poolside now, Mike," she informed, prompting the black ranger to dismount his ATV.

"Urgh, this is nasty!" Mike commented, leaning over the pool of slime. All of a sudden, he was attacked by tyrannodrones. "I really shouldn't be surprised," he told himself as he got up. "Brachiostaff!"

Kira, Trent and Conner walked onto the school grounds together out of habit rather than actually wanting to. It had been a week since the break up and Conner and Kira still weren't on speaking terms. As for Trent and Conner, it was just short, clipped, responses rather than actual conversation. Fortunately, Kira and Trent were still speaking albeit they refrained from being too flirty with each other in front of Conner.

Conner and Kira started throwing the former's football between them, something that they'd done ever since they first became friends. It seemed so natural so when Conner suddenly refused to catch the ball, Kira frowned deeply. The abandoned football bounced off of the jock and lay on the grass as Conner walked straight past it. Kira felt awkward but picked the football up nonetheless, wondering how she was going to fix the damage that she'd done.

Trent looked between Conner and Kira, feeling guilty. If Conner's cold behaviour towards him, as well as Kira, was anything to go by, he guessed that he was probably partly responsible for their breakup.

Conner walked ahead, heading for Ethan. He was torn between guilt and resentment. He recalled some of the mean and uncalled for things he'd said to Kira that day and he just couldn't shake it off. Did he deserve Kira's forgiveness? Did she forgive his? Was Trent really to blame in all of this? Would he, Conner Michael Eric McKnight, make the first move in repairing his friendships with both Trent and Kira? No, probably not.

He sighed and clapped Ethan on the shoulder as Kira and Trent caught up with them.

"So Cass, are we-"

"Hey Cass, can I come-" Devin interrupted Ethan, stopping when both Ethan and Cassidy gave him dirty looks. "Oh, uh, I'll be over there..." he said, walking off quickly.

Cassidy and Ethan both smiled and started walking towards the school.

"Are we still on for the picnic?" Ethan asked, somewhat nervously.

"Yeah, totally. I thought that we could start with the cheese appetiser and then for the main course, trout almondine," she replied with a huge grin.

"No, let me handle everything. You're my guest, I don't want you to lift a finger," Ethan insisted.

"Oh, you're so sweet," Cassidy complimented, turning around to face him. "And who says chivalry is dead?"

"Yeah, see ya," Ethan muttered, watching her go with a frown on his face. A hand clapped his shoulders, a few seconds later, to reveal Conner.

"What was I thinking?" the blue ranger asked his friend, as Kira and Trent also joined them.

"First date jitters?" Conner enquired sympathetically.

"I wouldn't know," Ethan responded, shrugging as the four of them walked to school together. "This is my first date ever."

"No way," Trent said, a teasing tone in his voice.

"Aw, I think it's sweet," Kira spoke up, making Trent smile at her. Conner watched this exchange and scowled.

"A twenty-gig hard-drive with a five hundred and twelve-meg portable backup is sweet," Ethan corrected the purple ranger, frowning at her. "This is pure torture."

"Dude, don't sweat it," Conner reassured him with a confident smile. "We'll put you through dating boot-camp! When we're finished, you'll be Cassidy and Casanova!" Kira walked ahead, rolling her eyes, as Trent laughed and caught up with her. "The power couple of Reefside!"

"Does he know who Casanova is?" Kira muttered to Trent who gave her an amused shrug, as Conner and Ethan followed them inside.

This was going to be a long day.

"Okay class, the crocodile," Doctor Mercer began to speak. "Now this amazing reptile has been around for millions of years without evolving," he told them as he set a confiscated rugby ball down on his desk. "It's a testament to the creature's near perfection. It was about a million years..." he stopped suddenly, and swayed, turning away. Everyone looked up from their notes and frowned.

"Is he alright?" Trent heard someone say as he looked at his father in concern.

"As I was saying," Anton resumed speaking, turning back around. "About a million years ago, the...uh..." he stopped again. "Excuse me for a moment, please," he staggered out of the classroom and Trent followed him out.

"Well, I guess slime really does pay," Tommy commented, looking at the container of slime that Mike had obtained. Hayley looked up from her microscope.

"This is crazy but it might just work," she told him, turning around to nod at Mike.

"So what's the emergency?" Conner asked as they ran in, ducking under the rising door.

"Hey guys," Michael greeted as he and Hayley turned around. "Hayley thinks she can demorph me."

"That's great!" the guys cheered happily.

"How?" Kira asked, her eyes wide in amazement.

"With a little help from this slime," Hayley answered, gesturing towards the container that sat in front of the computer. "It might work as a synthesising agent that I think can help bring Mike back to his normal self."

The teen rangers, Kim and Tommy watched as Hayley set everything up. Soon enough, Michael McKnight stood inside some kind of specialised machine.

"Man, I can't wait," Conner mumbled, this being the first good event in his life since the break up.

"Okay, I've input your molecular structure and DNA information, so now...to add the slime," Hayley narrated aloud, carrying the slime over to the machine. "I hope this works."

"You're not the only one," Michael reminded her.

"Good luck Dad," Conner called as he and the others watched Hayley insert the slime.

"Catch you on the flip side..." Tommy spoke up, sounding pretty nervous himself.

"Yeah," Michael breathed in response, sounding just as anxious.

Hayley switched on the machine and walked over to stand with the others. They watched in slight shock and disgust as the slime began to pour all over Michael. They let out confused cries when Mike's suit shattered and disappeared. However, the slime continued to move as if it was sliding off something.

"What's going on?" Conner demanded from Hayley who stared ahead rather blankly.

"He's gone," Kira stated as the slime slowly ran out.

"No, I don't think he is," Kim countered as a towel moved in mid-air and wiped the slime away.

"Look, the towel!" Kira exclaimed, pointing at it.

"Dad? Are you there?" Conner spoke hopefully as the towel continued to move.

"Yeah, I'm here," Michael responded. "Hayley, any guesses on what's going on?"

"Looks like the slime made your dino power of invisibility kick into overdrive," she offered up her theory. Trent nodded; it sounded reasonable.

"Great..." Mike said with a sigh. "I've got my body back but now I'm invisible!"

"An invisible science teacher," Ethan started, laughing a little. "That is so totally graphic novel." The only one who found that funny was Trent but his smile faded when both Conner and Kira glared at him.

"Glad you find it funny Ethan," Mike spoke dryly, making the blue ranger become serious.

"Is there anything you can do?" Kira asked Hayley as Mike moved, still holding the towel.

"This is a tough one. I have no idea how to counteract that agent," the genius admitted.

"Don't worry, Doctor McKnight. We'll figure it out," Trent told him with a smile.

"Uh, guys, over here?" Mike called as the others turned around to see the towel floating by the stairs. "There's nothing you can do right now. Hayley and I will work on it."

"I guess now is a good time to give Ethan his make-over," Conner announced, smirking at Ethan's wide-eyed reaction.

"But..." he started to protest but his friends dragged him away.

All the rangers, except Michael, sat in Hayley's Cyberspace, attempting to teach Ethan how to behave on his date.

Kira lay down on the sofa, groaning in frustration as she covered her face with her hands. Getting Ethan to dress fashionably was almost impossible and that was saying something, coming from her.

Conner put an end to her misery by moving Ethan onto the dance section. Kira barely moved out of the way in time to avoid being squashed by Conner, who Ethan had gracefully dumped on the sofa.

"Wow, this is just unbearable," Kim commented, standing up and rolling her eyes. "Conner, just let me do it."

"What, you can dance?" Conner asked, raising his eyebrows at her. "I mean, properly?"

"Yes, I can. As a singer, I had to learn in case I was invited to any important parties," she told him as a matter of fact. "Tommy can dance too."

"Oh yeah," Tommy confirmed, remembering his first dance with Kim as well as the one with Kat. "I guess we can teach you."

"Come on Kira, you might as well learn too," Kim insisted, taking her jacket off. "You're going down the singer career path."

"Who- who will I dance with?" Kira asked nervously, her eyes darting between Trent and Conner.

"Right, get up Trent," Tommy ordered, smirking at the younger boy.

"No, I think I'm fine," Trent responded as Conner stared at him. He didn't need to make things more awkward, it was already uncomfortable enough knowing that Kira and Conner's break up probably had something to with him.

"Aren't you two going to go to the prom?" Kim asked innocently.

"Wh-what?" Kira and Trent both stammered, their faces going red. Tommy sniggered, knowing that they had interpreted Kim's words incorrectly.

"She means that your dates will probably wanna dance," he told them, almost laughing when they took a collective sigh of relief.

"Anyway, suit yourself," Kim said to the pair, beckoning Ethan over to where she and Tommy were standing.

The couple began to attempt to teach Ethan how to dance, with him either standing on their feet, or tripping and falling. Eventually, he managed to grasp it well enough that the two veteran rangers deemed him ready.

"I think that's enough," Kim declared, as she and Tommy collapsed on the sofa beside Kira and Conner. They watched as Trent attempted to teach the blue ranger table manners.

"Okay, hold it at the bottom," the white ranger instructed as he held a bottle and passed Ethan a glass. "Tip the glass, try not to hit the rim, twist," he poured the liquid into the glass. Ethan nodded before drinking the entire thing in one slurp. "What are you doing?" Trent demanded, making Ethan pause with his mouth full. He shrugged as the others tried to hide their laughter. "First," Trent started, lightly tapping his glass against Ethan's. "Cheers."

"Well, I think our work here is done," Conner proclaimed, ready to bolt from the cybercafe.

"You think you're ready?" Kira asked Ethan, making him frown a little.

"Yeah," he responded with a nod. "I'm feeling pretty good. I can do this," he said as he got to his feet, sounding like he was trying to convince himself more than the others. He walked over to the door but immediately turned around. "I can't do this. I can't. Can't do it," he sat back down.

"Look, just be yourself, and she can't help but like you," Kira told the blue ranger.

"She obviously likes you already otherwise why did she agree to go out with you?" Kim asked him. Ethan's eyes drifted over to Conner and Kira who were sitting next to each other.

"Well, people don't always go out with someone because they like them," he pointed out, unable to help himself. He looked away from them to see Trent glaring at him. "Alright. Be myself. Ethan." Just as he was about to get up, their morphers beeped.

"You lucked out," Conner told Ethan and for one second, the latter contemplated what he meant. Lucked out because he didn't have to face Cassidy just yet? Or because Conner didn't get to beat him up because of his untoward comment? He shook his head and decided he didn't want to know, following the others out of the building.

The rangers arrived on their vehicles to see the newest monster showing off.

"I'm invincible!" he declared, before turning around as he heard them approach.

"Giant thorny thing. Looks about right," Conner said, nodding as they dismounted. "Hey, didn't your mother teach you to play nice with others?"

"I'll show you what she taught me!" Thornox roared at them.

The four rangers ran to fight him while he wrapped a sort of luminous green light whip around them. The lights faded to reveal vines that restrained them.

"Oh man!" Ethan groaned.

"Alright, now what!" Kira asked in frustration.

"Oh great!" Kim hissed, the fact that the vine was squeezing her abdomen pissing her off. It reminded her exactly why she was so miserable as of late. Tommy looked at her in concern, wondering when her next relapse would be.

"Lasers!" Conner shot Thornox with his thundermax laser gun, freeing him from the vines. "Tyrannostaff!" He swung at Thornox with his weapon but the villain grabbed it and used it to hit the red ranger. Conner went flying through the air and landed on his back.

"Think I'll try out my swing!" the monster decided as the others ran over to him. "Don't try this at home!" He hunched over, giggling.

"Golf?" Conner said, gulping.

"Huh!"

"Look out!" Kira yelled. Thornox hit the golf ball which split into five, each one hitting a different ranger.

"See you in the clubhouse!" Thornox told them before he disappeared.

"Oh man! I'm late for my date!" Ethan cried out, jumping up and hurrying off.

"Good luck!" his friends called out after him.

"Kim, I told you. I don't care if we don't have kids," Tommy told his girlfriend, stroking her hair. They were currently sitting on a bench in the park. The green ranger's fears were confirmed; the fight with Thornox threw Kim back into a bout of grief.

"How many babies will I keep having to flush down the toilet, Tommy, before we get it right?" Kim asked him, sniffing as she leaned into him.

"I don't know. But you see, even if we could, we're not going to have kids right now. Are we?" he questioned, pulling her closer to him.

"No but... I couldn't help but think about it," Kim admitted, rubbing her watery eyes. "When we actually make the decision to try for babies, it'll be a lot of miscarriages before we get a full term. And even then, what if they're stillborn?"

Tommy had to admit that she was right. It would take a lot of patience to have a healthy, live baby. Say they made the decision to have kids in a few years, it would be more like ten years before they actually got one. Kim's fertility - her ability to conceive - would dwindle as she got older, making it even harder for them to have a child.

"Surrogacy?" Tommy offered weakly.

"It's illegal in this state," Kim told him, sniffling a bit more. "I already checked."

"Maybe we can move somewhere else?" he suggested, knowing that was a little unlikely. Not that they didn't have enough money but he didn't think that either of them wanted to move again just yet.

"No," Kim replied, sighing. "And this is going to sound silly, but I want to carry the baby myself and give birth to him/her. I want that connection. And I'm afraid that my resentment for myself will stop me from loving a child that I didn't give birth to. I'd start resenting my own flesh and blood. I don't want that."

"We'll figure it out," Tommy told her, hugging her. "We've always found a way around things. We're power rangers. I'm sure that when the time comes, we will succeed."

Just then, a little girl ran into the park, her mother and father chasing after her. And then all of Tommy's hard work came crashing down, in the form of Kim's sobs.

"My man," Conner praised, as Ethan managed to impress Cassidy, which in turn, impressed Conner. "Making big points there."

Kira and Trent bit their lips, trying not to laugh.

"Aww, how cute is he?" Kira said to Trent, who was leaning over her shoulder, holding onto her chair and the desk to keep himself upright. She secretly loved how close he was standing to her, blushing every once in a while.

"Looks like I'm not the only expert teacher around here," Mike observed, drinking some water. Kira and Trent laughed, 'looking' at their teacher before looking back at the computer screen.

"NO!" Conner yelled when Ethan started to talk about gaming. Kira sighed in disappointment while Trent shook his head in disbelief and hung it in defeat.

It only got worse as Ethan and Cassidy fell into an awkward silence and Ethan offered her cider, unintentionally spilling it all over her sweater. He apologised sheepishly and she told him it was alright, that it was only cashmere.

"Only cashmere?" Kira repeated in shock.

"He's having a complete meltdown!" Conner cried out, sounding like he was going to burst into tears on Ethan's behalf.

"This is so sad to watch," Trent said, sighing. This seemed to aggravate Conner even further.

"At least they're on a date and not dancing around each other like some people," he spat, unable to control himself.

Trent tensed up, wanting to leave the room as an awkward silence ensued. Kira felt him tense up and spoke quickly, afraid that he was going to leave or that he and Conner were going to start a fight.

"Doctor M? Is there anything we can do to help him?" she implored, almost begging. There was no response. "Doctor McKnight?" The trio started look around in confusion. "Where did he go?"

She and Trent immediately stopped moving their heads as they found their faces very close together. They both went red, making Conner snort in disgust.

Luckily, what happened next distracted the trio before it got worse. They watched the computer screen as the candles seemingly lit themselves. Ethan looked very confused as a bouquet of flowers floated behind Cassidy's back and landed beside him. He picked them up and held them out to Cassidy. The blonde smiled, delighted at the gift, completely oblivious to Ethan's confusion.

"I think Ethan might be getting a little help," Kira told the boys, with a grin.

"You think?" Trent asked, with a laugh.

Conner grinned as his invisible father turned on the CD player, prompting to ask Cassidy for a dance. However, as soon as they started to dance, several tyrannodrones appeared and surrounded the pair. Ethan asked Cassidy to run off so that he could morph. He then fought off the monsters with Michael's help.

"We gotta help him," Kira announced, bringing herself to look at Conner before the alarm beeped. The video changed to show footage of Thornox and the evil white ranger in the city. "Oh great, it's Riley."

Conner looked at Kira in bewilderment. Kira smirked at Trent - Riley was the name that they had come up with for the evil white ranger.

"We gotta take care of these guys first," Conner told them, snapping out if. The others nodded as they all moved away from the computer.

"White Ranger, dino power!"

"Dino Thunder, power up! Hah!"

The trio made it to Thornox and Riley in no time.

"Tyrannodrones!" the monster summoned, making about a dozen of said foot soldiers appear. "Get them!" The rangers began to fight off the monsters easily. "Time to get thorny!" Thornox growled.

Blue lights surrounded him and then faded, revealing a sort of upgrade.

"Whoa!" Kira shrieked.

"Now you'll see the point!" he claimed, laughing and joining the battle. He attacked Kira, and with one blow knocked her through the air. "You're no match for tree!"

Trent continued battling the tyrannodrones while Conner fought with Riley, secretly imagining he was hitting Trent instead.

Soon, both Kira and Conner were on the ground.

"Too easy!" Thornox boasted as Riley rejoined him.

"We're just getting started," Conner warned and Thornox laughed, only to be blasted from the sky.

"Have no fear, Blue Ranger's here!" Ethan declared as he flew towards the battle on his hovercraft cycle. He flew through the air and blasted Thornox again, flying past the monster and Riley, both of whom rolled out of the way.

"Sneaky!" Thornox cried out as he got to his feet.

Ethan leapt off his bike, landing in front of Thornox and Riley.

"Who wants to go?" Ethan challenged.

"Nice entrance," Kira told the blue ranger as they ran over to him.

"Let's take it to the next level!" Conner ordered. "Super dino mode!"

"You'll never get rid of this thorn in your side!" Thornox told them.

"We'll see about that!" Conner retorted.

"You're about to have the pruning of your life!" Kira threatened.

"We're through playing nice!" Ethan told them.

"Words are pointless," Riley muttered, before both parties charged at each other.

The rangers leapt through the air and easily fought off Thornox and Riley.

"Don't think this is over yet rangers," Riley ground out.

"Hardly!" Kira called out in response.

"We don't but this should do the trick!" Conner pulled out the z-rex blaster.

"Ready?"

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

Thornox cried out as he was destroyed while Riley escaped before he could get hit. The rest of the tyannodrones also disappeared and Trent looked around.

"Huh! That wasn't so tough!" he said just as Thornox reassembled and grew.

"Talk about Miracle-Gro!" Thornox joked as he towered over the rangers.

"It's zord time!" Conner summoned the zords.

Brachio appeared, carrying their zords with him. Conner, Kira and Ethan formed their megazord. Thornox flipped through the air and kicked their megazord, knocking them back.

"Try to stop me now!" Thornox taunted. He spun, kicking them again and they cried out.

"Guys, we have to focus!" Conner told his teammates.

"Right!" they nodded, only to be blasted again.

Riley showed up with his megazord and started attacking them. They cried out, falling backwards as Kim and Tommy's megazord showed up to fight with Riley's.

"Time to go triassic!" Conner decided, raising his shield. The other three summoned their energy to power it and call on the mezadon rover as Conner's suit changed.

He moved to the rover as the other two continued to pilot the thundersaurus megazord. Thundersaurus and Mezadon faced off Thornox as Quetzal-Aardon and Dino Stega continued their fight nearby.

"Wheel spin attack!" Conner activated his megazord's powerful attack, blasting Thornox.

"Tyanno tail!" Kira ordered, also striking at Thornox.

"Take this!" Kim called out, unleashing her fury on Riley.

Thornox and Riley's megazord fell in unison, causing the former's explosion. Riley's megazord stood up.

"It'll take more than that to defeat me," he told the rangers smugly before disappearing.

Conner walked into the cybercafe, separate Trent and Kira who followed a few seconds later. It was still too awkward for Conner to face the two of them; his ego was still bruised. He headed for Ethan, who was sat at a table using his laptop.

"Dude, what are you doing here?" the red ranger asked, making Ethan look up. "Aren't you gonna finish your big date?"

"Oh, that," Ethan said with a sigh. "Cassidy's great but I found out we really don't have that much in common."

"I coulda told you that," Kira told him with a smirk.

"Plus, I'm a ranger. I gotta be ready to go whenever duty calls. I don't know how to tell her it's over..." Ethan explained, looking off into the distance. "I think she really likes me."

"Better think of something quick," Trent warned, putting a hand on his shoulder as Cassidy walked in. "I'm gonna go see if Hayley needs some help in the back." He looked at Kira, gesturing over to the back of the cafe.

Conner stared at Cassidy while Kira stared at Trent.

"We'll go with you!" the purple ranger said, shoving Conner in Trent's direction to give Cassidy and Ethan time alone.

A/N: Lol, I came up with Riley because I could not be bothered to write 'evil white ranger' every single time. Lazy, I know. I actually got the name from Twilight where Riley is some evil guy who is loyal to an even more evil loser to do her bidding. Kinda like this Riley - they're both essentially a pair of puppets at their masters' disposal.