Chapter 17 – The Ties That Bind

Valley High School

Summer was officially over in Hunston Valley and the city's school aged children were casting a depressing shadow throughout the streets. Valley High School was a prestigious and well respected school in the state of California. Many of the students were from the well off families that resided in the city. Unlike most schools they had a mandatory uniform which consisted of black trousers, a white shirt, a green blazer and a green and silver tie.

The final bell had rung and Riley was leaving the building as quickly as he possibly could. He threw his school bag over one shoulder and dragged his blazer behind him. He was trying to avoid one particular student who had not stopped harassing him all day. He had almost made it off the grounds when he heard her voice, "Hey Riley, wait up".

The green ranger paused, "Hello Marissa", he groaned. He turned around and was greeted with the smiling face of Marissa Moyles. She was a couple of inches shorter than Riley and had long strawberry blonde hair. Like Riley she was also dressed in the Valley's school uniform. Marissa was the head of the sports and social committee and was in charge of organising the various after school clubs. Riley hadn't told anyone this but when he was younger he had a crush on her but her exuberant personality sometimes grated on him.

"I've been trying to catch you all day", Marissa replied, "I was beginning to think you were avoiding me", she gave the green ranger a playful nudge and a small smile.

"Yeah sorry, my head's all over the place, first day and all", he replied.

"Don't worry, I forgive you", Marissa smiled, "I was just interested to know when the first fencing club meeting will be? I need to make sure it doesn't clash with any other club". She carried on talking but Riley had begun to tune her out and his attention had wondered somewhere else. He snapped back to the present when he caught sight of a couple of familiar faces. Shelby and Chase were approaching the entrance of the school and the pink ranger gave him a wave as she passed him. "So I was thinking maybe we could discuss this in more detail", Marissa continued, "perhaps one day after school". She saw that Riley was being waived at by another girl and her shoulders immediately sagged, "Friend of yours?" she asked with a small voice.

"Yeah kind of", Riley mumbled.

Marissa looked away from the green ranger, suddenly very interested in the tarmac, "Well I've got to go, catch you later Riley", she turned around and quickly walked away, leaving a very confused green ranger behind.

"Talk about crashing and burning", Chase grabbed the green ranger by the shoulder, "who's the hottie?"

"That's Marissa, she's in charge of organising the after school clubs", Riley began, "and she's a junior like myself", he added quickly.

"I wasn't thinking about me", Chase replied, "I was thinking she'd be perfect for you".

"Me", Riley asked, "why?"

"Dude she was totally into you", Chase smiled. Riley looked at him blankly, "You mean you didn't notice", the green ranger shook his head, "oh you poor blind bastard". Riley walked away from the black ranger but Chase wasn't giving up, "Don't you find her attractive?"

"Of course I do", Riley blurted out before he had a chance to stop himself.

"So why don't you ask her out?" Chase asked.

"Why are you and Shelby here", Riley sighed, changing the subject quickly.

"Shel wanted to visit her alma mata", Chase replied, "I think she's missing not having to go to school anymore". Chase paused for a moment, "And we also wanted to see if you're alright, you've been pretty pissed with Tyler for the last few days". After the red ranger had been tricked by the Deboss Generals, everyone had chewed him out for his recklessness. Chase had been the worse but after a heart of heart over a few beers, he had quickly apologised to the red ranger. Everyone else had apologised as well, except Riley.

"I'm fine", Riley replied shortly, "shouldn't I be asking you if you're ok with our fearless leader".

Chase sighed, "Yeah I was pretty annoyed but in case you haven't noticed, I'm pretty prone to making snap judgements myself. I get why he did it, even if he did go about it the wrong way".

"I just don't get where he's coming from", Riley snapped, "he accuses me of being young and immature but he then goes and walks into a trap".

"Don't you get it Riley", Chase began, "all of his bravado and bounciness is just a mask. Deep down he's still hurting that his Dad left him behind all those years ago. I don't think he realised how much it hurt him until recently". He sighed, "That's why we all need to stick together".

Riley nodded slowly, "Fine but you owe me".

"And I know just how to repay you", Chase threw his arm around the green ranger, "you're going on a date with that red head and I'm going to coach you into having the perfect date". Riley sighed, he really did like Marissa, he just wasn't that confident talking to girls. He had a feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

Hunston Park

A couple of days later, Riley found himself on a very awkward picnic with Marissa. Chase had secretly sent the girl an invitation the same day that he had been at the school. Needless to say it came as a surprise to Riley when she threw her arms around him in the hallway. Kiera and Shelby had then decided that he needed a makeover so he had spent most of yesterday evening getting dragged around the mall. He ended up with a new pair of jeans and a green button shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The most cringe worthy experience was getting dating tips from Tyler, Koda and Jason. Each of them had different styles when it came to women so Chase had stepped in and said that he was going to talk the green ranger through the date.

Riley wasn't sure where Chase had gotten the ear piece from but it was extremely uncomfortable. He kept scratching his ear so often that Marissa eventually noticed, "Riley are you ok, you keep itching your head".

"Yeah I'm fine", he replied, "I just have a flaky scalp, that's all".

"Smooth Romeo", Chase called out through the ear piece. The black ranger was positioned in a tree overlooking the pair. Using his skills learned from the army, he had a great view of the couple but they weren't able to see him, "Pay her a compliment, chicks love it when guys do that".

"You smell really nice", Riley blurted out.

Marissa blinked a couple of times, "Thanks, I think".

"You really suck do you know that", Chase taunted.

"Look Riley I must confess I didn't ask you here to talk about school", the girl began, earning a sarcastic comment from Chase that Riley tried to ignore. "Riley Griffin I really..", suddenly a beam of red light hit Marissa. She didn't seem to be affected until she reached across the blanket and slapped Riley hard across the face, "I really hate you", she screeched, "ooh you smell nice", she imitated the green ranger, "get a life, dork". She stood up and stomped away across the park, leaving Riley to massage his face.

Chase jumped out of his tree and walked over to his team mate, "Ok I wasn't expecting that".

"Yeah it was like a switch flipped in her head", Riley rubbed his jaw, "it's a good thing we don't have a boxing club".

"I know you were hardly Mr. Charming but I don't think you were to blame". Chase pointed across the park where a white coloured monster with a giant pair of golden scissors was sneaking up to a couple. He brought the scissors up and snipped at the air, sending a red beam towards the couple. Just like Riley and Marissa earlier, the woman punched the man on the nose before leaving him behind.

"An anger themed monster?" Riley asked.

"Could be both", Chase replied, "either way he needs to be stopped". The pair ran as quickly as they could across the park, calling the others to help in the process. They pulled out their Dinovolvers and morphed on the run, "Hey that's far enough".

"Try and stop me rangers", the monster replied. The two rangers punched the monster, called Snipster, staggering the creature. Snipster's outer body was jagged like poorly cut paper and he used this to his advantage. He raked his arms down the bodies of the two rangers, pushing them back with sparks flying off their suits.

Riley summoned his Dino Blade and Chase used his Dinovolver to provide cover for the green ranger. Snipster was quick and he was able to parry most of Riley's attacks. The occasional jab was able to get past the golden scissors of Snipster but it wasn't having much effect. "Time for plan B", Riley said and inserted an Energem into his blade.

The black ranger plugged a gem into his Dinovolver and called, "Para Blast", pulling the trigger, he launched a black energy beam at the monster.

"Raptor Slash", Riley added, his green energy mixed with Chase's and accelerated towards Snipster. To their surprise, the monster blocked the energy blast with his scissors. Snipster then turned the scissors into an offensive weapon, throwing them like a boomerang at the pair. The scissors slashed Chase and Riley across the chest, knocking them to the ground. "I can't believe I'm saying this", Riley choked, "but I wish Tyler was here right now".

"You called", Tyler said and jumped in front of the fallen rangers. He parried an attack by Snipster with his Tyranno Fang before punching the creature in the stomach.

"Talk about timing", Chase added, rolling onto his knees.

"Don't worry, we've got this", Shelby said, spinning the drill blade on her weapon. She teamed up with Koda to take on the monster. The blue ranger acted like a blocker for the pink ranger, using his shield to deflect most of the damaging attacks. Shelby drove her Tricera Drill into the monster's arm, causing his scissors to fly into the air.

"You will not hurt anyone else, monster", the gold ranger announced his presence and used his Thunder Blade to destroy Snipster's scissors, releasing several beams of light into the sky.

"My precious scissors", Snipster cried.

"Maybe that means you've got a second chance with Marissa now", Chase said, slapping the green ranger on the back.

"Great", Riley sighed, "I think". The black and green rangers armoured up and called their special weapons into their hand. Chase returned the favour to Snipster and raked the sharp edges of his Para Shot across the abdomen of the monster. With Snipster staggered, he blasted him at close range. Snipster stumbled straight into the path of Riley who used his Raptor Claw and Dino Blade to slash the monster twice in quick succession.

"Enough playing with the monster", Ivan called out and snapped his blade closed, "Thunder Blade, full power", golden energy slammed into the monster, forcing him to his knees. The other rangers assembled the Dino Lance and with one final strike, the monster was destroyed. They waited a few moments but surprisingly the dreaded ice crystals didn't hit the monster.

"Huh well that's a pleasant surprise", Tyler said to everyone. He ejected his Energem and powered down, "so how did the date go?" he asked Riley.

"Pretty well I thought", Riley responded, "right up until she slapped me", he showed off the red mark on the left side of his face.

"Ouch", Shelby gently prodded the growing bruise, "she hits harder than one of the Legion's monsters".

"It's wasn't Farm Boy's fault though", Chase defended the green ranger, "the monster did attack her with some kind of energy beam".

"Well what are we waiting for", Tyler grabbed the green ranger by the arm, "we need to find her, there's still hope for you yet". The red ranger dragged the youngest team member off, closely followed by the others.

Hunston Mall

The rangers spent the next hour trying to locate Marissa and they eventually tracked her down to the food court at the mall. Riley found himself rooted to the spot as he watched the red headed girl idly stirring her drink. "Don't worry man, we've got this", Chase rubbed Riley's shoulders.

"Thanks but I need to try this on my own", he took out the ear piece and handed it back to Chase. He then turned to Tyler, "I'm sorry for how I've acted these last few days", he apologised.

"Don't worry about it man", he shook the green ranger by the hand, "I'm not the type of person to hold grudges or stay mad at anyone for too long". He gave Riley a reassuring smile, "Now there's a girl over there who needs cheering up". Riley nodded and walked across the mall towards the food court.

"Go get her tiger", Shelby called out, in response the green ranger gave her a rude hand gesture, "well that was uncalled for".

"What did that mean?" Ivan whispered to Koda.

"You probably don't want to know", the blue ranger replied, "and I wouldn't suggest repeating it either".

Riley arrived at Marissa's table and grabbed the chair opposite her, "Is this seat taken?"

"Hey", she smiled as she looked up from her drink, "how did you find me?"

"I had a little help from my friends", he pointed over to where the others were standing, all of the rangers had eager expressions on their faces. "Apparently they don't know how to be subtle either".

The red head pointed at Ivan, "Is that a sword on that guy's back?"

Riley rolled his eyes at the gold ranger, he still wasn't sure why he insisted on carrying his sword everywhere with him, "Yeah he's off to a cosplay tournament later".

Marissa laughed before her face fell, "I wasn't expecting to see you again". She reached over and tilted Riley's head, "Did I do that?"

"Yeah", Riley replied, "but it wasn't your fault, I heard on the news that the rangers took care of a monster in the park about the time we were there. Apparently it affected people's emotions, made them lash out when they didn't mean to". The red head looked slightly relieved so Riley continued, "I'll be honest with you, I'm not great at talking to girls. I'm not sure how this dating stuff is meant to work".

"How about we find out together", Marissa blurted out. Her hands jumped up to her mouth, "I'm sorry I don't know where that came from".

Riley smiled, "It's fine", he laughed nervously, "can we take this slow and see what happens?"

"Of course", Marissa reached across the table and kissed Riley on the cheek. He blushed a bright shade of red, not helped by the sound of loud cheering coming from where the others rangers were standing. Riley turned around and glared daggers at them, causing them to turn around and walk away as quickly as possible, "I like your friends", Marissa laughed.

"Yeah, they're certainly something", Riley shook his head before turning back to his date for the rest of the day.

A/N - Aww young love. Next time out there's a cameo from an MMPR favourite and a guest starring role for a former ranger...well a version of a former ranger...