Chapter 3: Recruits
Conner groaned. "I'm not going. You can't make me," he muttered, rolling away from his persistent former teacher. The three had managed to spend the night on the floor, nearly a pile by morning from moving closer to each other during the night. Conner couldn't say that he was shocked about that since Kira nearly suffocated him in her sleep when they were together and Ethan had become subconsciously protective over his two friends since the final fight. Still, it wasn't exactly a comfortable way to sleep and he was still tired from it. To make matters worse, Tommy was standing over him, rolling his eyes with his arms crossed at the younger man.
"Well, you can't stay on my floor," he answered. "And you have class."
"You don't know that!" Conner disagreed. Ethan and Kira had covered their ears and rolled over since neither of them had a morning class that day. Tommy folded his arms.
"Yes, I do. Remember? We made you give us your schedules so we wouldn't have to call you out of class often," he answered. "Now get up and go to class. And you two. Go home."
"Comfy," Kira whimpered as he shook her. Ethan pulled away from Tommy's touch.
"Am home," he muttered. Tommy rolled his eyes and threw up his hands.
"Kim! Will you help me with them?" Tommy groaned toward his fiancé who just laughed.
"Conner, Ethan, Kira, breakfast," she said calmly. All three teens rushed toward the kitchen, nearly running their mentor and former teammate over. Kim smiled softly and then shrugged toward Tommy. "They're teenagers."
"I guess," Tommy muttered and sighed. "And we're getting four more of them."
"Yes we are," Kim said proudly. "We already have two. Do you have an idea for the other two?"
"Not quite and we're going to have the other two over here tonight. Elsa promised that she'd be on the lookout for anything that seemed like they might work too. It's a lot easier to work with the principal for the greater good than against her," he answered. "And we've made sure that the older three know that we still want them, right?"
"Well, we told them, but you've been grumpy lately. At least you were grumpy with the new kids too," Kim scolded. She turned toward the teens and put her hands on her hips at the sight. "Conner! Ethan! Stop that! You'll choke!"
"See? I told you," Kira told her companions as they scarfed their food down quickly. They ignored the advise and Kira shrugged at Kim. "At least they're not racing this time."
"Rac… Ethan! Conner!" Kim exclaimed again. Tommy sighed and walked over to them, waiting until they swallowed before hitting them upside the head.
"Listen to Kim," he lightly growled. "You're adults now and if you didn't wake up early enough to make it to class on time without choking, it's your own damned fault."
They both made noises that sounded like affirmative answers before going back to eating. Kim glanced over at Ethan a little confused. "You don't even have class this early."
"Nope. But Conner is the only one of us who has a car," Ethan answered. "And I want a ride back to college," he answered. Kim shrugged and nodded at the answer, though she was still rolling her eyes at the boys' antics. Kira seemed perfectly fine with the whole thing which told her that she was used to her best friend's and boyfriend's way of doing things. They finished, Kira reminding them to put the dishes in the sink, and they raced out toward the door.
"Thanks for breakfast, Kim!" Conner exclaimed, giving his mentor a quick hug as he raced out the door.
"We'll see you after school!" Ethan promised as he took the book she handed out to him and followed the other.
"Thanks for putting us up for the night," finished Kira as she followed the other two. "Have a good day! And don't worry! We'll be back before he brings the new kids home!"
Kim sighed as she heard the car turn on and them race off. As much as she wanted to throw her hands in the air and yell "teenagers" at the top of her lungs, part of her was pleased by the way the morning had gone. There was a sense of normalcy there, even with the city under attack and all of them going through the issues brought from the previous year. She kissed Tommy as he calmly headed toward the door after them before locking the door and heading down into the lab, taking her turn at watching for attacks.
"Look, we have to get out there and get our cars fixed. Or at least yours fixed," Jera muttered as she walked. "I think mine is thoroughly trashed."
"That's assuming those things didn't tear what was left of the cars to pieces. Face it, Jera, you're good, but you're not that good," he answered, shifting his backpack to the other side as they walked. His companion snorted and folded her arms.
"Shows what you know," she answered and lowered her voice. "Did you, uh, have any problems last night? Once you got home?"
"Like what?" He asked and she sighed.
"Like last night I wanted a glass of water but I didn't want to get up to get one. I was just too tired. When I woke up this morning, the bathroom was flooded," she answered. "My parents figured that one of my family members was sleepwalking. Maybe I'm just paranoid."
"Maybe," Seth answered. "Doesn't mean you're not right though. I mean, we were saved from spider creatures by robotic dinosaurs. I think 'unbelievable' is gone. And look, it's your buddy from yesterday."
"Law, what the hell did you do to my car?!" Jera groaned as she looked up to see Henry, the boy from yesterday glaring at her. She shrugged.
"I fixed it. You took it to the mechanic, right? Like I told you too?" She asked, her arms still folded with a new look of annoyance on her face.
"It was your job to fix it!" He snapped. "What good are you if you can't even fix my car?"
Seth pulled Jera behind him and looked at Henry. "Back off." Jera winced a bit. Seth usually tried to stay away from the bullies since he knew that they were usually in better shape than him, but when one of them pushed him too far, he often did something like this and walked away with a black eye and shattered pride.
"Seth, calm down," Jera gently instructed, having gone through this before with him. "It's not worth getting upset over. And Henry? Beat it, huh?"
"If Turner wants to play, then we'll play," Henry answered, moving closer. Jera moved from behind Seth and got in the middle.
"Alright, guys, check your testosterone at the door," she snapped. She wasn't sure how it happened, but she found herself on the ground shortly after. It took her mind a minute to remember that Henry had shoved her out of the way. She glanced at Seth and saw that he was livid. Normally, she would have probably thrown her hands in the air by this point and walked off to leave them to their masculine posturing, but she watched as his hands turned redder and redder. She quickly got up and pulled on his arm. "I'm fine, Seth. Come on. We'll be late to class."
"Jer…" He hissed, but she'd have none of it and dragged him behind one of the classrooms.
"Seth, your hands," she whispered as he looked down and his eyes widened. As his anger fled, his hands returned to normal and he looked at Jera.
"This is going to be a long day, isn't it?" He asked and she nodded.
"Look at the bright side. When it's over, we'll be able to drive Doctor Oliver nuts with questions about what the hell he did to us. Maybe we can even throw in some unconvincing threats," she answered. Seth could only nod.
"Wow! This one looks great, Ben! Can I have it? Huh? Can I? Please?" The young botanist laughed a bit at her pleading face as she pointed at a plant he'd been working on where the flower had finally bloomed. He was thrilled to see that the cross pollination had worked and he understood her excitement. It was a very lovely flower.
"After I'm done with it, Tara," he answered. "I still need to take down some notes and stuff on it. Time?"
"We've got a little while longer, but you might want to start to clean up. So, can you do anything for Principal Randall's fern?" She asked. Ben nodded.
"Yeah. I'm going to have to hold on to it for a bit, but I think I can keep it alive," he answered, concentrating on one of the other plants. He'd asked Tara to join him so that he wasn't late for class, or rather didn't make it to class, again. She'd easily agreed and had brought Principal Randall's fern with her asking if he could save it. While Randall was trying to move away from the image she had had the year before, she couldn't keep plants alive to save her life.
"Oh good! She'll be so happy about that. She looked really upset when I asked her about it," Tara answered. Ben stopped what he was doing and shook his head as he looked at her.
"I think you're the only student in this school who doesn't run the other way when they see her, you know," Ben informed her. She shrugged.
"She can't help what her doppelganger did, Ben. And she's been trying to make up for it. Besides, if she's trying, then what's the point in being mean?" She asked. "Do unto others!"
"And if she starts acting like she did last year?" He asked.
"Then I'll run the other way and if she attacks, then I'll fight back long enough to get away," Tara answered as if she was reading off a script. He had made her repeat it several times so that she didn't get it in her head to try to save whatever was good in the principal at the cost of her own life. "In case you've forgotten, I'm the one who can fight. I know various martial arts."
"I know," he said affectionately. "I was there when you told your parents you wanted to learn Aikido. I think it's time for us to get going."
"Okay! Hey Ben? Thanks for helping me with the homework," she added as they headed off to class. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and nodded.
"You're welcome, Tara," he answered.
Tommy relaxed as the class left, for once dealing with the entire lot of them with no one missing. He loved teaching and he didn't want to do anything else, but with everything else that was going on in his life, he was starting to get tired from everything that went with it. He rested his head against his clasped hands and slowly breathed in and out to try to work through the bounding stress he felt. He knew he'd feel better once the other two were chosen and they'd begun training, but for now, he was just tired.
"Did they give you that much trouble?" Tommy glanced up and offered a small smile to Elsa as she walked in, shutting the door behind her. She was holding two files in her hands and he couldn't help but to feel a bit curious. She set them down and looked at him with a smile of her own before ignoring her own question. "I think I may have found us an answer."
"Two more?" He asked and at her nod, his small smile widened. "Elsa! How?"
"Considering that Mirinoi and Aeris are the only two left, I figured that these two students might work. And since you already have a slight rapport with them, I figured that they might work. And Tommy, please don't be too picky," Elsa requested.
"He has a hard time making it to class," Tommy mentioned as he opened up the two files. Elsa rolled her eyes and shook her head, though there was a slight smile.
"Like that. Conner missed your class on purpose, as I recall, and we're not even asking this one to lead a team," Elsa reminded him. Tommy nodded and sighed.
"Alright. Why these two?" He asked.
"Well, Ben might be a little distracted at times, but he's brilliant with plants. Anton was telling me that he's supposed to check out his work for a possible internship. Unlike Seth and Jera, he's not exactly confrontational and he's willing to step back and look at a problem," she told him. Tommy nodded, but looked worried.
"He's also shy and doesn't like confrontations. Not exactly helpful in a Ranger," he reminded her.
"None of them are going to be perfect coming in, Tommy. You know that. I've watched the footage you have on the Ninja Storm Rangers and they weren't exactly the top of their class," she reminded him. "I just think that someone who stands back to think about the problem might help them out at times."
Tommy sighed and nodded. He knew she was right, he knew that Kim would agree with her, and he knew the others would be fine with it. Not for the first time, he wondered if maybe he was too picky or if he was looking for a younger Jason, Trini, Billy, and him. He turned his attention back to the situation and looked at the other. "You're kidding."
"Funny, I thought you'd say that," she answered. "Let me guess, you worried about how long she'll be able to concentrate on it?"
Tommy looked a little surprised. "Uh, yeah."
"Don't. Her grades and scores are impressive and she's skilled in various forms of martial arts," she answered. He looked at her a little confused. "I asked Hayley to do some research for me. It didn't take her long."
"They'll work," he finally decided. "Now I've just got to figure out how to convince them. And Elsa?"
"Next week. You're not getting off detention duty all year," Elsa said. "But I already talked to Terry and he's willing to switch weeks."
"Thanks," he told her gratefully. "I know where to find Ben, but what about Tara?"
"She'll be with him. She took my fern to him earlier to see if he could fix it before showing back up in your class. They headed back out while I was on my way here," she said.
"Thanks again," he told her honestly. She smiled.
"Don't forget to thank Hayley as well. The information and display was all her. Just… don't interrupt," she said and Tommy nodded. He'd call her if it was necessary, but he didn't want to interrupt otherwise. After months of stepping around it, she'd finally managed to ask Billy out and none of them wanted to ruin it for their friends. They would be there for the meeting after school, but then they were going.
"I won't," Tommy promised. "After all, it's usually my basement when they fight and I don't want to deal with them for another three days if Billy were to blame her for letting me ruing their evening."
"So, we're helping how?" Ethan asked as he hung on for dear life. "And how did your girlfriend get out of going on Mr. Conner's Wild Ride?"
"I'm not that bad. Stop whining. We're picking up Jera and Seth because their cars are totaled and Kira didn't come because she's on the recruitment team. We're hoping the last two have seen her or have gone to see her recently so that when she and Doctor O talk to them, they'll listen. Hold on."
"You're just as bad as Doctor O… he's been teaching you again!" Ethan blurted out and Conner grinned.
"Yeah," he answered. "Comes in handy."
Ethan shook his head. "Hey Conner? You okay? You haven't been yourself lately."
"I'm fine, Ethan," Conner said, his smile fading. "I've just been stressed."
"Well, I'm here if you need me but maybe you should talk to someone, you know? I don't want to be the Jason to your Doctor O," Ethan said after a minute. Conner nearly slowed down, but he managed to keep himself going.
"You really feel that close to me?" He asked and he saw Ethan nod. "Fine. I'll… I'll find someone to talk about it with later, okay?"
"Yeah," Ethan said, calming down before he completely panicked and grabbed the dashboard. "Stop sign, Conner! Stop sign!"
"Chill! I see it!" Conner answered. He quickly stopped at the sign and waited only a minute before tearing down the road again. He'd mentioned the lack of police involvement when it came to speeding or driving wildly that the Rangers seemed to have to Tommy, adding that it might have been a second part of their powers. Tommy had laughed and assured him that while the regular police might not, there were still the Silver Guardians and they weren't affected by any sort of powers thanks to their commanders. He cited the incident between Taylor Earhardt and Eric Myers as an example. Still, cosmic justice did seem to lean away from ticketing Rangers.
"Left up here," Ethan told him. "There they are!"
"I don't think they were expecting us," Conner mentioned as the two look confused and then annoyed.
"Gee, Sherlock, what was your first clue?" Ethan quipped. Conner pulled over and shot him a look as the two younger teenagers came toward the car.
"What the hell did your boss do to us?" Jera snapped as she reached the window. Seth was right behind her looking just as unpleased by the incident. Conner rolled his eyes.
"First, Doctor O isn't our boss. At most, he's our mentor. Just like Kim. Second, he's your mentor now too and so are we. Third, we were nice enough to stop by to give you a lift and your bagging on us, so shut up and get in the car before I ask Ethan here to give you a small taste of his gift," he hissed. Ethan turned and looked at him incredulously.
"Conner, I'm pretty sure Doctor O and Kim don't want you beating up the new Rangers," he reprimanded. Conner shrugged and motioned for his friend to let them in. Ethan sighed. "You two are in the back."
"So, how do we do this? Because I remember your pep-talk to us and it made us want to run out the door," Kira mentioned as she followed him to the greenhouse. Tommy had met Kira outside shortly after his talk with Elsa to head over and try to convince the other two that they needed to be Rangers.
"Kira…" Tommy reprimanded gently, but at her shrug, he dropped it and sighed. "I'm not sure."
"Alright. Try to avoid mentioning death and destruction. It's not a selling point. Mention how it changes your life in a good way, that'll help. Umm… best people for the job instead of 'we're desperate' might be good," Kira said, trying to remember what she would have liked to hear. Tommy sighed, but smiled at her, patting her shoulder. "So, why isn't Elsa helping?"
"It's not her job. Both Hayley and she went out of their way to help us on this, but neither of them should have to do anything. Elsa is helping because of last year and Hayley… I'm not sure why she helps other than friendship and loyalty," Tommy answered. "Though, I think your little surprise helped."
"Just trying to help her feel appreciated," Kira said happily. "There it is."
The two of them looked at each other and nodded as they head in. They could already hear Tara talking a mile a minute and an occasion affirmative answer from Ben. Both teens were looking over a plant that was starting to bud new flowers. "So, the flowers are poisonous?"
"No, Tara, they're similar to a Venus Flytrap. They're pretty and they have a smell that we can't smell, but insects can. Still, I wouldn't touch them," he answered and she looked confused.
"How did you manage to make it?" She asked and he shrugged.
"I didn't," he answered. "Here, why don't you check on the lilies? I know you like them."
"Okay!" She answered, heading off a little bit. Kira looked at her mentor who shrugged. Both of them shook their heads, but headed over anyway.
"Tara, Ben, can I talk to you for a minute?" Tommy asked and both of them looked up and over at him.
"I made it to class!" Ben said quickly, looking a little pale. Tara looked proud of herself.
"And I wasn't late," she added. Tommy shook his head and looked at Kira who gave him a look that acknowledged they were the only ones there. Tommy sighed and took a deep breath.
"It's not about that. Tara, Ben, this is Kira Ford. Kira, meet Benjamin Striker and Tara Snow," Tommy introduced them. Tara's eyes lit up.
"I watch you every Friday!" She exclaimed. "You're really good!"
"Thanks," Kira answered with a smile before looking about as serious as her teacher. Tommy noticed it and nearly laughed as he realized that she was extremely similar to him. "We have something we need to talk to you about."
Ben looked a little suspicious, but his companion looked interested. Tommy took it as a sign to continue on both ends. He held up the holographic generator that Billy had made him using the 'memories' of the raptors. He pressed the button and the spider-creature from before appeared. The two younger teenagers looked at it and then back up at him. "Last year, a creature named Mesagog attacked the city, destroyed buildings, and killed those who couldn't get out of the way quickly enough. He was defeated thanks to the Dino Thunder Power Rangers who risked everything to stop him. A couple of days ago, these were released upon the Earth. They killed everyone on the ship that carried them and were unleashed not to far away from here."
"The Power Rangers will handle it again. It's what they do," Ben answered with a shrug. Kira shook her head.
"They can't. They'd love to, but can't. See, during that last battle against Mesagog, their Zords were destroyed and they lost the Power. So, while they can still do some cool things, they can't take this on and they can't take on new powers," Kira continued.
Ben looked between the two and shook his head. "How do you know this?"
"They were the Rangers," Tara answered helpfully. All three of the others looked over at her in surprise. "What?"
"How?" Tommy asked, not sure if he could get anything else out.
"My sister was in your class. She said that you, Kira, and two other boys stayed after class every time there was a crisis, you started to do more with the three of them, and they started to become friends. She didn't think about it, but I did. Besides, you're color-coded. Am I going to be color-coded too?" she answered helpfully. Ben just blinked. She looked a little more annoyed when they still just stared. "What?!"
"Is she right?" Ben asked and both of the other two shrugged and nodded. "So, you want us to be Power Rangers."
"We'd appreciate it," Kira answered. Ben shook his head and backed up.
"I think you have the wrong guy. I'm, uh, not good at fighting or talking to people or being around people or even keeping track of time," he said, stopping once he hit the table behind him. Kira smiled softly.
"I know how you feel," she answered. "When I first got my powers, I couldn't figure out why they wanted me at all. Or why I was chosen, but being a Ranger was a great time in my life and we're really hoping you'll do this for us."
She pulled out the orbs and looked at Ben and Tara. Tara didn't hesitate as she picked up the yellow orb, giggling as it bonded to her. It almost tickled and she felt energetic and bouncy. Ben looked at Kira and then over at Tara. "Someone's got to keep on eye on her, right? I'm not going to have to lead or anything like that, right?"
"The last one is green. Red leads," Kira assured him. "And you don't have a Red personality. Trust me. I'm dating one."
Ben nodded, took a breath and reached for it. He felt the bond as it grounded him and intensified his connection to the earth. It was definitely comforting. Mirinoi and Aeris had both accepted their carriers. Kira grinned. "Come on, the others are waiting back at the Lair."
"The Lair?" Ben asked and Kira laughed.
"You'll see."
"So, what's going on?" Jera demanded. Seth's arms were folded and, while he was letting his friend do the talking at the moment, it was clear that he was just as unhappy as she was. Conner, not really in the mood to deal with them, was pointedly ignoring the duo while Ethan had been trying to calm them down.
"Look, the orbs must have started working so superhero stuff for you. It's cool. Trust me. I got hard skin and strength from it and Conner over there got super speed," Ethan answered. Jera gave him a look.
"Did you ever almost fry someone or flood a bathroom?" She asked and he shook his head. "You've got nothing."
"At least none of your teammates should end up with anything close to a Pterascream. I hated her Pterascream," Ethan informed them. "It might have thrown those bastards we were fighting back, but I thought I was going to end up deaf by the end of it. Especially in the warehouse with the bomb. That sucked."
Conner shot him a look. "You guys pole-vaulted out of that," he reminded him. "I got buried alive down here."
Ethan shrugged. "You lived through it. Kira made out with you. We got to meet other Rangers. And Kim cut off Trent's ear."
"True," Conner agreed, though he still looked unhappy. Seth raised his hand.
"Uh… Trent?" He asked.
"White Ranger. He was evil for a while, if you remember, but he was good at the end, so I guess he was a teammate. He tried to kill Kim and she sliced off part of his ear," Ethan answered as Conner nodded and looked a bit proud. Ethan winced as a hand hit his shoulder, though not too roughly and Kim gave him a look having entered in the middle of his story.
"That's enough of that, Ethan," she said calmly. She glanced over at Conner. "You too. I believe my fiancé wanted you to keep them calm, not run them out the door."
Conner folded his arms, but nodded once as Ethan shrugged. "Sorry, Kim," he said honestly. "I was trying to make up for the lack of conversation that –someone- started."
Kim sighed. "Ethan, try to keep Jera and Seth from running out the door and explain to them that Trent's a good guy now. Conner, upstairs."
The former red Ranger did as he was told and headed up the stairs, onto the couch, making sure that he was directly across from the chair so that she'd be able to scold him properly. Not for the first time, he realized that he did manage to get himself into way too much trouble. He was more than surprised when Kim shook her head and motioned toward the spare room which had been converted into a workout room. She let him in, closed the door, and motioned him over to a couple of chairs that had been set up there in order to allow others who didn't want to train interaction with those who did. Once seated, Kim turned to him. "We need to talk."
Conner nodded. "Okay. What about?"
"We've all noticed the change in your attitude, Conner. You're more quick to temper, harsher, temperamental, and angry all of the time," she said as gently as possible. "Just as important, Mercer mentioned that you were having nightmares. He managed to make sure that no one else noticed and he only told me, but I have the feeling that Ethan and Kira know if not consciously, then unconsciously."
"No offense, Kim, but I'm not sure if you'd understand," he said, trying to push past the emotions that were coming forward. He'd been wanting to scream, to cry, to yell, to throw a fit over them for a while now, but he kept up his mask. Kim folded her arms.
"I don't understand exactly what you're going through, you're right. But I do know that I wake up wanting to scream if it's still dark out. I can't sleep alone anymore. I hate being in confined places. I jump sometimes if Tommy doesn't announce himself there. I get nervous being in the Lair by myself. And that's not counting the nightmares," she answered. He looked at her and bit his bottom lip before he spoke.
"It's always cold and dark," he whispered. "And when I go to sleep, I'm not sure if I'm ever going to wake up."
"And you can't tell Ethan or Kira because they won't understand," she continued. Conner shook his head and she nodded. "Just as Tommy won't."
"You… you haven't told Doctor O?" He asked and she shook her head.
"No. The only person I've been able to talk about it with is Mercer and now you," she answered. "You need to talk about this. Mercer and I do, when we're alone, we set up times for it."
"Really?" He asked, sounding so much younger to Kim. She just nodded. "Does it help?"
"Very much so. Mercer suggested it, and I agreed, that it might help if you joined us. We didn't go through exactly the same thing, but it's close," she answered. "Would you like to?"
He nodded, not able to trust his voice at the moment. He felt a tear run down his face and quickly wiped the it away, furious at it's betrayal. He didn't want to drop it, to lose his mask. He didn't want to admit that he was hurt. He tried to speak after a minute, but nothing came out. Finally, the last several months since the final fight hit him and the emotions within him poured out. His mask fell out of place and the pain that he'd been hiding came through. He couldn't stop the flood of tears if he tried now. Kim reached over and gently pulled him to her, rocking him back and forth. He accepted it without pulling his normal embarrassed pull away act. He couldn't. Right now, he could only feel all of the fear, pain, and other assorted emotions he'd been repressing. His mentor gently rubbed his back soothingly as she spoke. "It'll be okay. Give it time. It'll be okay."
"Where's Kim and Conner?" Kira asked as Tommy and she led the other two recruits down into the lair. Ethan glanced up having managed to convince Jera and Seth that they need to wait for everyone else.
"Having a chat over how to treat houseguests," Ethan joked. "I think. Anyway, upstairs somewhere. They'll be back in a bit. So, you got them, huh?"
"Yep. Tara here already knew," Kira answered. Ethan looked a little impressed by that and walked up to both Ben and Tara, holding out his hand.
"I'm Ethan James. Former blue Ranger. Pleased to meet you," he said with a grin. Both of them took his hand, Tara first and then Ben, before the latter jumped back and pointed.
"What is that?!" He asked, pointing at the raptors who had come into view, curious over the new arrivals. Red chirped a bit to keep Black from rushing over and the lead raptor looked over the new teens. Considering that the other humans had brought them in, he figured that they were wanted here. Still, he would prefer that one of his humans was down here to agree. Ethan glanced over and grinned.
"Those are our raptors. Meet Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black," Ethan answered. Tara giggled a bit as Yellow glanced her over only to be snapped at by Blue who was in protective mode, but Ben just looked afraid of them. Understandably in Ethan's opinion and the former blue Ranger reached over to pet Blue and prove that they were friendly enough.
"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask about that. So, when do we ride them?" Seth asked, moving toward Red. The raptor squawked indignantly and snapped at the boy. Seth's eyes opened and he fell backward. Red's fury grew. How dare this human think that he would have the privilege of getting on his back. The other three new Rangers backed away, more than a little freaked out as Red advanced toward Seth. For his part, the young red Ranger moved slowly, still on the ground. Red squawked again and leapt at him, landing directly over the boy.
"Red! You knock that off right now!" A voice came from the stairs. Kim rushed down, followed by Conner as they rushed toward the furious lead raptor. Kim moved right in front of him, hands on her hips. "These are our guests! Hopefully, they'll be family to us one day. You are not to attack them! Do I make myself clear?!" Red chirped something in response, but Kim shook her head. "No! I mean it!"
The raptor backed off and away from Kim and Seth, heading over to Conner who reached up pet him to try to consol his companion. "Hey, Red. You know the rules. No attacking allies. It's bad enough Elsa won't go anywhere near you," he said and the raptor snickered. To Kim's dismay, Conner joined in. "Yeah, that was pretty cool wasn't it?"
"Conner!" Kim scolded and both of them settled down, mumbling and chirping an apology. It wasn't as if they disliked Elsa, but both tended to think of Evil Elsa and Good Elsa as two people. If she hadn't been so afraid of Red, they may have forgotten completely what the raptor had done to her.
"So, what did you say to my raptor to get him all up and arms?" Conner asked as Red rested his large head on Conner's shoulder.
"I asked if we were going to ride them," Seth answered, looking annoyed. "And then he attacked me."
Conner put an arm around Red, pat his neck and gently pushed him off. "The raptors are ours. Besides what's left of our powers, they're all we have left. They'll help you, they'll protect you, and with time even Red there will probably let you ride him during Raptorball, but normally only Kim and I ride Red. Blue is Ethan's, Yellow is Kira's, and Black is Doctor O's. If they let you ride them, then don't expect it to be an every time thing. Got it?"
"Yeah, no problem. Don't want to anyway," Seth answered, his mood getting darker by the minute. Conner nodded and turned to Red.
"Hey Red? Why don't you guys go out for a bit. We'll call you if we need you," Conner assured him. Red paused for a minute before chirping and racing out the door. Conner turned to Tara and Ben. "I'm Conner McKnight, the former red Ranger. I guess Doctor O and Kira were able to convince you, huh?"
"Yep," Tara answered happily. "I already knew though."
Conner nodded and grinned. "Cool."
"So, now can we know why we're freaks?" Jera asked. Tommy looked a little confused and Ethan shrugged.
"They got superpowers," he informed his mentor. Tommy nodded and turned back to the three.
"If you look at the morphers we handed out to you, you'll see an element. Aquitar is underwater. There are areas that were built that aren't, but for the most part, the world itself is a water world. Kalderon is filled with volcanos, a fire world. Mirinoi is a jungle world, so it's a earth world. And Aeris is a world uninhabitable on the ground so everything is high on cliffs, in the cliffs even. Everything is dependant on windfalls, though they do have space capabilities. An air world," Tommy told them. Conner glanced up.
"Aerislians have wings too," Conner said helpfully. Tommy looked in surprise and Conner looked a little sick. "There were still parts of them left."
Kim quickly took over, not wanting her protégé to got into more detail. "So, each of you has a power from it: Fire, water, wind, and earth. We're not sure how much of it you'll have. You may be able to create your element, manipulate, or have similar powers to the people of the world. We just don't know yet."
"Well, Jera and I do. I can create and she can manipulate at the very least. We sort of set them off," Seth told them. "Nobody got hurt, but they might next time."
"Which is why we're going to train you," Tommy said, understanding why they had been so upset now. "Make sure that no one gets hurt."
"Cool. How?" Jera asked. Ethan grinned a bit and looked calm.
"Seriously? They're going to take you out and let you go nuts in an area you can't destroy. It'll be great," Ethan answered. "I enjoyed it."
"You also enjoy video games over anything. I don't think you're one to judge," teased Conner. Ethan opened his mouth to mock Conner back, but Tommy shot them both a look and they settled down.
"Kim, you keep an eye on things in here. Conner, Kira, Ethan, you three are coming with me," Tommy said. "I might need your help. You four, come on. You're going to have to learn sometime."
The four new Rangers looked at each other. Tara was the first to break away, skipping over to the older teens. Ben sighed, but followed after. Seth and Jera shrugged at each other and joined them as they headed outside. Conner shook his head and glanced over at Ethan. Ethan smiled back at his friend and shrugged as Kira wrapped an arm around both of her boys. All three of them had the feeling that this was going to be a long day.
"So, control. How are we going to do that?" Seth asked as they got into the open area away from most of the vegetation. There was still some left, but not too much that if Seth lost control they'd have a forest fire loose on their hands. Jera was sitting down on a large rock next to him, arms folded and looking just as interested. Further away from them, Ben fidgeted as he looked on and Tara was calmly listening, if not getting a little distracted every once in a while. Once Seth had asked the question however, even she was focusing.
"Practice," answered Conner with a shrug. "That's how Ethan, Kira, and I learned."
"Yeah, though it was fun to watch you super run into things," Ethan teased.
"Hey! At least I didn't break everything I touched when I was angry," argued Conner. Kira made the move to shut them up, but Conner winked at Ethan who nodded. "Or break windows when I couldn't keep my Pterascream down."
"Those were accidents! Besides, I helped Doctor O pay for the new ones," she argued. When her former teacher started to laugh, she looked his straight in the eye. "You know, I was awake when you and Kim were having that talk about not being able to control your own power, Doctor O. And I'm willing to give everyone here nightmares to match mine."
Tommy blanched at her threat and immediately kept quiet as all six of the others looked confused. Kira's unchanging look only proved that she wasn't bluffing and he stifled his laugh. He quickly coughed a bit to regain his composure before turning to the others. "They're emotion and thought related. You control both and you control your power. As they mentioned, it's not a quick adjustment."
"So, does this mean I'm going to need to get angry every time I want to use it?" Seth asked and Tommy shook his head.
"Just at first. Why don't you all give it a shot? One at a time, of course," he suggested. Seth shrugged.
"Alright," he answered as he got as angry as he had earlier that day. His hands turned redder and redder until, finally, it moved away from his hand and he was holding a small fireball. He stared at it for a second before it disappeared. "Cool."
"I'll show you 'cool', Fireboy," Jera teased and concentrated on wanting water like she had before. Seth's hands flew up to protect him as water shot up near him. The fear in him it became fiery and crashed against the water, sending both teens flying back as both the fire and the water disappeared. The older teens looked at each other, back at the duo, and shook their heads. While their teacher helped pick Seth and Jera up, they turned to Tara and Ben.
"Go for it," Conner said and Tara did. Unfortunately, her concentration wasn't that great and she sent herself flying up into the air, unable to come down.
"Help? Please?" She called downward to her surprised junior mentors. All three of them looked at each other, trying to decide what to do. Ben, on the other hand, stared up at her before the vegetation shifted and a tree branch expanded to her. She held on and it shrunk again, giving her a way to climb down. "Thanks, Ben!"
"No problem, Tara," he answered, sounding a bit embarrassed. Everyone else just looked at him in surprise, other that Tommy who was just nodding his approval. "I'm, uh, good with plants. It's going to be rocks and dirt that I have a lot of trouble with."
"Yeah, right," Seth said, jealousy kicking in a bit. Conner and Ethan looked at each other, nodded, and split off toward each of the boys: Conner to Seth and Ethan to Ben. Kira, on the other hand, helped up Tara and made sure the girl was doing okay.
"Hey, Dude, chill," Conner said, trying to sound as soothing as possible. As both of his teammates, his mentors, and pretty much everyone else who knew him brought up, Conner was not the most tactful of people and the goal was to call Seth down, not make it worse. "Don't tell him I told you this, but Ethan was better at some stuff than I was and I was Red. We Reds want to be the best at everything, but it's a team effort, okay? You'll learn stuff from the other three, they'll learn stuff from you, and you'll make a good leader."
Seth paused and looked at him. "Me? Leader?"
Conner nodded. "Yeah. Your orb thingy. It's red, right? You're a Red. Reds lead. And it wouldn't have picked you if it didn't think you could do the job."
As Seth pulled it out and held it, Conner walked off back toward Kira and sat down next to her, wrapping an arm around her to hold her tight. Ethan joined them a moment later and looked at Conner. "He jealous?"
"Yep. Imparted my knowledge to him…" Conner began.
"That couldn't have taken long," Ethan teased and Conner nudged him, giving a slight glare before continuing as if Ethan hadn't said a word.
"And he seemed better. What's wrong with the Green?" He asked.
"They have names, Conner," Kira scolded. "You can't just called them by their colors."
"Just did. You knew who I was talking about. So, Ethan?" Conner asked as his best friend was grinning along with Conner to Kira's dismay.
"Shy, not sure he's up for the job, not many friends. I'm hoping he doesn't run away in battle," Ethan said with a shrug. Conner nodded and turned to Kira.
"What about the Yellow?" He asked.
"Now, you're just doing it to annoy me," she snapped. He shrugged, nodded, and kissed her cheek, causing her to throw up her hands before continuing. "Tara is a little easily distracted, but I think she's more here than she lets on. Like knowing we were Rangers. They're arguing again."
"Let them," a fourth voice said as he joined them. They all moved over to let Tommy sit down next to them. "And to finish, Jera's cocky."
"Great," Conner said sarcastically. "So, we've got a cocky Blue, a jealous Red, a shy Green, and an air-headed Yellow."
"Every team has different people, Conner. You three should know that best of all," he reminded them. "Being a Ranger helps you to become more of who you are instead of just what they outside shows. We'll be fine if they're anything like you three were."
"Like us? Even if we eat all of your food?" Kira asked and Tommy laughed, wrapping an arm around her to give her a quick half-hug.
"Even if you do that. Often," he answered before getting the new Rangers back on course. The other three shrugged and joined him as they tried not to show how much pride they had in his words. They were broken from their thoughts two seconds later when Tara accidentally blew some of Jera's water into Seth, causing a more than slight disagreement.
Author's Note: I am so sorry I didn't get this out last week. By the time I was ready to, it was Thursday and I decided to wait until this weekend. Still, I feel bad I didn't get it out before.
The only power that even made me wince a bit was Tara's. I swear I tried again and again to give her the water power, but it just didn't work. Wind is just Tara. Unfortunately, that leaves me with the airhead with the air power. I apologize for the pun.
Red. Red, Red, Red. Red's attitude in this chapter will be mirrored later on toward another Ranger, though I'm not going to tell you who. Red is like that grumpy old dog that likes it's family but doesn't want anything to do with outsiders. Also, seeing the difference between Good Elsa and Bad Elsa seemed important to mention for later on.
Finally, Conner. The scene with Kim and Conner was one that I was dying to write. While I was planning it out, I was thinking about how hard it is to talk to others about bad things if they haven't happened to the other person. Someone close to me went through something terrible that I'd gone through several years ago and called me right away because I'd understand. It was eerily similar to mine and I helped her through it a bit. Therefore, I could see Conner not telling the other two because "they wouldn't understand" and Kim not telling because "they'd feel guilty about it" which I've noticed are two major reactions people tend to have when they've been through something horrible. I hope I portrayed it well.