Chapter 114

A Star Is Born

"Showoffs," T.J. complained good-naturedly. He was sitting at a table at the back of the field with the other public-identity Rangers, where they mayor had asked them to sign autographs. They had no sooner sat down than they'd been set upon by townsfolk and tourists, until everyone in the autograph lines had abandoned them to rush the stage.

"Aw, I thought we'd have the best entrance for sure," Cassie said. She motioned to T.J. with a Pink Turbo Ranger plushy a little girl had handed her to sign and promptly forgotten in the mad dash to witness the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers' arrival. "Isn't this thing great?"

"I sent you a box of those," T.J. pointed out. As all Power Rangers merchandise had to be approved by him, he was rather desensitized to its novelty.

"I've got writer's cramp already," Wes said ruefully.

"How long are we planning to do this, anyway?" Zhane asked.

"I don't know," Chad said, "probably until it's the Mighty Morphin Rangers' turn."

"They have a separate table," T.J. said, gesturing to a table set up on the east side of the field.

"How did they do that?" Carter wondered aloud, staring up at the sky. "They can't fly, can they?"

"I can answer that," said Justin, coming over to the table with Rocky, Adam, Aisha, Tanya, Kat, Anton, Elsa, Hayley, the Wild Force Rangers, the Ninja Storm group and the remaining Dino Rangers. He held up a remote control device. "Billy has a flying car, did you guys know that?"

"The RADBUG," T.J. said, nodding. "I'd forgotten about that. Trini told me about it."

"Apparently it can fly by remote," Justin said. "Since only Jason, Trini and Zack have powers, they had me operate it so that they could jump out way up above the stage."

"We did the rest," Hunter said proudly. "Jason asked us personally."

"Hunter and I do lightning," Blake added. "The wind was Shane, and Dustin did the earthquakes."

"Wish we'd thought of that," Ashley said enviously. "That was incredible."

"You know, guys," Chad said, "no offense or anything, but I don't think it's a good idea to be talking to us. We're public identity, you're—"

"We're not talking to you," Kira interrupted, her eyes wide with fake awe. "We're meeting you."

"Yeah, we're taking advantage of the fact that everyone else is watching the Mighty Morphin guys to get your autograph without standing in line," said Rocky.

"We weren't actually planning to do autographs," Joel said. "Mayor asked us after we got here. We were just planning to wander around, see the sights, maybe take some pictures…"

"And now we're second stage," Carlos said. "Probably should have expected it."

"We should make with the autograph books," Rocky said. "Before anyone comes running back to the line. And then we're splitting up, right?" Several of the others nodded.

"We'll meet you at the Youth Center for the beach party," T.J. said. Then, raising his voice, he pasted a smile on his face and winked up at Kira. "And what's your name, little girl?"

Kira snorted and handed him an autograph book. "Kira. K-I-R-A."

The secret identity Rangers lingered at the autograph table for a while, having fun pretending to be in awe of the Power Rangers. The only exception was Ninja Storm, who actually hadn't met any of the other Ranger teams before and really were in awe of the Power Rangers. The lack of familiarity produced some interesting moments—Marah and Kapri were thrilled to meet both Karone and Ryan, Dustin was eager to meet everyone in general, and Cam stalled the line completely to ask Andros about space travel. Thankfully the mayor's speech was lengthy, and most of the crowd was still surrounding the stage, waiting impatiently for the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to speak.

Eventually, however, people began drifting back to the autograph line, especially those who had been talking to one of the public-identity Rangers before the original Rangers' entrance. A girl ran up in a panic about the fate of her Pink Turbo Ranger plushy. An older woman shook Karone's hand and said, "I forgive you," which earned her a nearly tearful hug from a grateful and apologetic Karone. A teenage boy asked Andros why he dyed his hair like that, and another teenage boy proudly displayed his own Andros-inspired streaked hairdo. As the line swelled with eager fans, the incognito Rangers felt it best to quietly slip off.

"Hey," Dustin said, frowning as he and Trent wove through the crowd together, "I thought we were gonna go check out the guy selling the comic books."

"We are," Trent assured him.

"I thought the comic books were over there," Dustin said, jerking his thumb in the opposite direction.

"We're taking the scenic route."

Dustin frowned and started to reply, but just then he caught a glimpse of blue and realized Blake and Kira were maybe thirty feet ahead of Dustin and Trent. Dustin was about to point this out when Kira hesitated to look at something on a vendor's table and Trent came to a halt. Dustin stopped also, watching Trent suspiciously—sure enough, as soon as Kira and Blake started moving, Trent did too.

"Are… are we following Blake and Kira?" Dustin asked, confused.

"Not following," Trent replied absently, his gaze focused on Blake with laser intensity. "Going in the same direction as nonchalantly as possible."

Dustin thought about this for a while. He watched Blake and Kira, trying to figure out why Trent wanted to follow them. Finally, when Trent's eyes narrowed dangerously at the vision of Kira laughing at one of Blake's jokes, it clicked.

"Dude, you know Blake's totally into Tori, right?" Dustin asked Trent.

"I know," Trent confirmed without glancing away from Blake.

"…And Kira's totally into you," Dustin continued.

"I know."

"So… there's no need for us to follow Blake and Kira."

"We're not following them. We're going in the same direction as nonchalantly as possible."

"Right," Dustin said, shooting a wistful look in the direction of the comic books.

After the initial greeting from the mayor, Jason, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, Zack and Tommy were happy to sit in their color-coded chairs while the mayor gave a rousing speech and listed their accomplishments. All too soon, however, the mayor concluded his speech and turned expectantly to the six Rangers, waiting for them to begin their own speeches.

"Morph order," Jason hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

"Zack, you're up," Kimberly whispered.

"No names—colors only," Jason ordered.

"You're one to talk," Tommy muttered. "Does the Ranger parade ring a bell?"

"Black! Go!" Kimberly hissed.

"White goes first! White goes first!" Zack wailed as quietly as possible.

"He's going last. Do it, Black," Jason hissed.

Tommy helpfully put a hand on Zack's shoulder and shoved; Zack gulped and climbed to his feet, approaching the podium slowly. The crowd cheered as he moved into position and cleared his throat, at a loss for words.

"Hi," Zack said nervously. "I'm, uh… the Black Ranger." A roar went up from the crowd. "For those of you who are colorblind." The crowd laughed. Zack fought to come up with something, anything. "I, uh… well, what can I say? I'm a Power Ranger. I like being a Power Ranger. Do a lot of good, you know?" The crowd cheered. "Yeah. Fight a lot of bad guys. I like fighting bad guys, you know… being a hero… I also like dancing. Yeah, dancing is cool. And I like football. And sports in general, you know, basketball and volleyball…" Behind him, Jason groaned, Kimberly giggled and Tommy put a hand to his forehead. The crowd, however, seemed to enjoy Zack's diatribe. "Surfing, you know, I like that too… and skateboarding…" Zack floundered for a moment before struck by sudden inspiration. "But most of all, I like being a hero. We can all be heroes, though, Power Rangers or not. You don't need weapons or zords or costumes—all you need is to care about the world and about helping your fellow man. So… remember that, and be a hero." Zack left the podium to thunderous applause and returned to his seat, practically collapsing into it from relief.

Kimberly was still giggling as she went up to the podium. "Hi. I'm the Pink Ranger," she said, to applause from the crowd. "Which you may have noticed. I'd just like to say that I love Angel Grove." She waited a moment for the cheering to die down. "This city will always be home to me, no matter where life takes me—and let me tell you, it's taken me lots of places. And even though we're not here defending the city from Rita, we will always be here when Angel Grove needs us. Thank you, Angel Grove!"

The crowd roared its approval and Kimberly waved as she went back to her seat. Billy let out a terrified groan before making his way up to the podium. "Hi. I assume you are all aware that I am the Blue Ranger. I am very proud to be a Power Ranger, and to defend this fine city. I am, however, completely unprepared to adequately deliver a speech on my behalf, for which I apologize. I will hopefully be more articulate once fully acclimated to my surroundings." He hurried back to his chair amidst cheers, laughter, and a few confused shouts of "Huh?" Trini clapped him on the shoulder before taking her turn.

"We have faced a lot, as a city, as a people," Trini said. "The invasion of Rita began an onslaught against our city by numerous beings that would have exterminated us. Fighting against that evil wasn't easy, but fighting for this city and this world was easy. The city of Angel Grove is worth protecting and no matter how much terror and trauma I experienced, I would face it all again. Being a Power Ranger taught me a lot—honor, strength, integrity—but it was Angel Grove that taught me to never give up."

Trini returned to her seat and Jason took the podium. Once the cheering died down, he said, "So I'm the Red one," and received the largest cheer yet. "I was the leader of the original Power Rangers, as I'm sure most of you know—" the crowd roared in response— "but what most of you probably don't know is that I wasn't a hero. I was a guy. An average guy with an average life who found myself in control of a superhero team and had a lot of hard choices to make and a lot of tough enemies to fight. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that it doesn't take an extraordinary person to be extraordinary. You can call me a superhero, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm more than a superhero—I'm a person. Any one person can achieve great things, like Einstein or Washington or Lincoln—they don't even have to wear spandex." The crowd laughed. "So what's to stop you from being that person? Not a thing. Get out there and be it, because greatness is found by those who are looking for it, and every single person has the potential to find it."

The crowd screamed as Jason returned to his seat, and didn't bother stopping as Tommy stood up and came to the podium. "Well," Tommy said, "being a Power Ranger was fun while it lasted. I miss it every day, even though, to be perfectly honest, I don't miss Rita." The crowd laughed. "I think my team has said it all, so I'll just say thank you, for all your support, for making this town a place I was ready to fight for. Here's to hoping the fight is over."

As Tommy returned to his seat, the mayor climbed back onstage, along with a technician carrying handheld microphones. The mayor came up to the podium and called, "Let's have another round of applause for our city's heroes!" and gestured for the Rangers to take a bow. The crowd went nuts.

"Wow," Shane called to Hunter and Cole over the noise, "we keep standing out here and we're gonna go deaf by the end of the day."

"Tell me about it," Hunter shouted back.

Cole winced even as he clapped enthusiastically. "I have very good hearing," he yelled.

Finally the roar died down, and the mayor announced the next step for Power Rangers Day. Two podiums had been set up at opposite ends of the stage, and people were now invited to queue up at them to ask the Rangers questions.

"Brace yourselves," Shane said, and all three boys dug in their heels as the enormous crowd began to stampede.

"Wow. It's worse than a mosh pit," Hunter commented, casually throwing an elbow at someone who was attempting to go through him rather than around him.

"Mosh pit?" Cole asked curiously.

"It's like this with fewer people and less noise," Shane replied through gritted teeth as a posse of teenage girls crashed against him.

The mayor asked everyone to calm down—to no avail—and a number of security personnel and miscellaneous staff members did their best to control the situation; it wasn't until people began to give up hope of getting into one of the two lines that order was more or less restored. By that point, each of the six Mighty Morphin Rangers had been given a handheld microphone, and once everyone had settled in, the mayor pointed to the podium on the west side of the stage and told the man behind it to ask the first question.

"We'll never get through the line," Cole said with a sigh. "Even half the line will take at least an hour."

"Don't worry, man, we're card-carrying members of the Ranger club," Shane pointed out. "We can ask our questions at the beach tonight. Hey—where did Hunter go?"

Cole looked around, then shrugged. "He must have got swept up in the crowd. So. What do we do now?"

Shane grinned. "I guess we make our own fun."

"How lame," Conner complained as the applause for Tommy died away. "All those science lectures I had to sit through, and these people only get a few words?"

Kat chuckled. She and Conner had ducked out of the autograph line together, while Marah was asking Karone questions about Astronema and Kapri was asking Ryan if he had a girlfriend. "So you were Tommy's student?" she asked Conner.

He nodded. "Yeah, for senior year. Then me, Kira and Ethan got detention together and—"

"Why'd you get detention?"

"Oh, well… I kind of skipped class to play soccer," Conner admitted. "It was the first day of school, I didn't think anyone would miss me… but it turned out the principal was an evil villain in disguise and she caught me. Caught Kira and Ethan, too."

"Kira and Ethan play soccer?"

"Nah. They got detention for different stuff on the same day. Anyway, Dr. O was put in charge of detention that day and he took us to a museum on the outskirts of town. He went to check out the museum and sent us into the forest to find something prehistoric, we fell in a sinkhole right above the tunnel network leading to Dr. O's secret lab…" Conner shrugged and nodded at his bracelet. "Found these."

"Well, they are prehistoric," Kat quipped.

Conner grinned. "Hayley says something that ironic could only happen to Dr. O."

Kat laughed. "That does sound like the sort of thing that would happen to Tommy."

"How'd it happen to you?" Conner asked.

Kat winced. "It's a rather long story." She nodded at the crowd. "A delicate one, too."

"We could go into the trees," Conner suggested hopefully.

Conner was all set to give her a list of excuses about how they could probably hear the loudspeakers from in the forest anyway and there would be less chance of Marah and Kapri finding Kat and they probably shouldn't spend the entire day in the sun, but Kat needed no convincing. She just smiled and slipped her arm through Conner's. "I'd like that."

"You are so lucky you got into MIT, Justin," Ethan said enviously as he wandered between the vendors' stalls with Justin and Cam. "I have always wanted to go there. No way could I afford it, even with scholarships."

"I always wanted to go there too," Cam admitted. "Dad needed me to help out at the academy, though."

"Cam's dad's in charge of the Wind Ninja Academy," Ethan whispered to Justin.

"Oh, cool," Justin said. "I want to hear all about it when we can actually, you know, talk about it."

"Sure," Cam said. "In the mean time, what's MIT like?"

"It's a great experience," Justin said with relish. "Not only do you get to learn cool stuff about whatever your classes are teaching you, but you really learn about life. How things work, how people work… it's like I'm finally living in a world I never realized existed."

"Crazy party life, huh," Cam drawled.

Justin nodded fervently. "The best."

"Oh, man," Ethan whined. "I'll probably end up at Reefside Tech."

"That's a good school, though, isn't it?" Cam asked.

Ethan shrugged. "Oh, sure. It's just not MIT. It still ranks among the best tech-based post-secondary institutes in the country, though. Both my parents went there; that's how they met."

"Ethan!" Trent came over, looking annoyed. "Have you seen Kira? Or Blake?"

"No," Ethan replied. "Weren't they hanging out together?"

"I lost them," Trent grumbled, practically growling in frustration.

"Weren't you hanging out with Dustin?" Cam asked Trent.

"Was, but we ran into Taylor; she said Marah and Kapri challenged Randall to some sort of ex-villain duel," Trent replied. "Dustin left with Taylor—said it sounded like more fun than following Kira and Blake."

"Why were you following Kira and Blake?" Cam asked.

"Not following," Trent insisted. "Going in the same direction as nonchalantly as possible."

Justin, Cam and Ethan frowned at him. "Um… okay," Ethan said. "Haven't seen them. Sorry, Trent." He turned to Cam. "Listen, Randall can fight. You think we should go break it up before Marah and Kapri get hurt?"

Cam stared at him for a moment and replied, quite simply, "No."

Ethan was about to argue when someone called "Ethan!" and he turned to see Cassidy running towards him.

"…Marah?" Cam asked, confused.

"Cassidy!" Ethan called, waving eagerly at Cassidy.

"That's Cassidy Cornell," Trent told Cam. "You're right, though—she does look a lot like Marah. Maybe she's your cousin, too."

"Actually, they're my step-cousins," Cam said. "Their dad married my dad's sister. Lothor's sister, too."

"So your aunt's evil like Lothor?" Trent asked.

Cam winced. "No, just… weird."

"I used to think my family was weird," Justin commented. "Then I started talking to Power Rangers. Tanya's parents vanished for years, Tommy's adopted and has a long-lost brother, your dad's a ninja sensei and Trent's dad use to be Mesogog. My family's practically normal in comparison."

"Wait til you meet Conner's mom," Trent said dryly. "I can tell you stories."

Cassidy reached them, drawing up short a few feet away from Ethan. Suddenly her enthusiasm was replaced by awkwardness. She smiled tentatively at Ethan, who returned the gesture, also looking rather uncertain.

"Hey," Cassidy said.

"Hey," Ethan replied.

"Hey," she repeated.

"Hey," Ethan agreed.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey, Cassidy," Trent interrupted loudly.

"Oh—hey, Trent," Cassidy said, looking startled to realize Trent, Cam and Justin were there. She held out her hand to Cam. "Hi. Cassidy Cornell."

Cam shook her hand, frowning at her oddly Marah-like appearance. "You're not an evil alien space ninja, are you?" Cam asked before he could stop himself.

Cassidy gave him a look of such wounded dignity that Trent hastily stepped in. "Sorry, Cassidy. Cam's got a weird sense of humor. Um, this is Cam Watanabe and Justin Stewart, they're… friends of ours."

"Oh." Cassidy dropped Cam's hand and then shook Justin's, glaring at him as if daring him to equate her with anything remotely related to aliens. Justin refrained from speaking, his entire mouth twitching as he tried not to laugh.

"I'm sorry," Cam said. "I didn't mean anything by it."

"You look like this really hot actress in a movie about evil alien space ninjas," Trent added, hoping to diffuse Cassidy's temper.

"Oh," she said, obviously mollified by this. She cleared her throat and looked back at Ethan. "I meant to call you."

"I meant to call you," he said.

"Is this gonna be like the 'hey' thing?" Cam asked.

Trent rolled his eyes at Cam. "Maybe you shouldn't speak."

"Where's Devin?" Ethan asked, in the desperate tone of one who wants to hide.

"Um… over by the comic books," Cassidy said. "I got bored waiting for him to…"

Cassidy trailed off and she and Ethan stared at each other, eyes wide. Justin and Cam looked askance at Trent, but he was more confused than they were—he hadn't really seen Cassidy and Ethan this awkward before, and he couldn't think what might've caused it.

"You know what?" Cassidy asked with a suddenness that made Ethan jump slightly. "This is stupid. We're friends, Ethan."

"Yeah," Ethan said. "Yeah. I mean, we're just… yeah. Friends."

Trent frowned suspiciously at them both. "I thought we established this months ago."

They ignored him. "This is so not a thing," Cassidy continued.

"Exactly," Ethan said. "Hey, do you want to go somewhere and talk? Like old times?"

"Graduation was three weeks ago," Trent reminded them, and was again ignored.

"I'd like that," Cassidy agreed, beaming at Ethan. She slipped her arm through Ethan's and began marching him towards the trees. "Bye, Trent! Guys." Ethan called a vague goodbye over his shoulder.

Trent blinked after them. "What the heck was that?" he wondered aloud.

"You tell us," Cam said. "You're the one who knows them."

"If I had to guess, I'd say sexual tension," Justin said brightly. Trent gave him a horrified look. "What? I was the youngest Ranger ever and I started high school at twelve. Spent way too much time hanging around teenage relationships. It gets easy to read the signs."

Trent let out a disgruntled sigh. "Great. That's a thought that's gonna fester."

"Does anyone else have an urge to go in the same direction as them as nonchalantly as possible?" Cam asked. Justin raised his hand in the air and they both looked at Trent.

Trent shrugged. "Either it'll turn out to be nothing or completely scar me for life. Might as well play the odds."

End Notes: We've gotten quite a few great ideas for upcoming chapters from several of our reviewers, and we're looking at a few more. Thanks to everyone who submitted one, and feel free to keep doing so if something strikes you. When and if we use it, we'll credit you in the chapter(s) it comes up. Although we do have to say—SPOILER ALERT—we can't have Rita and Zedd show up. We're planning to use them later, and also we figured that the minute they heard about Power Rangers Day? They would run in the opposite direction as fast as possible. Wouldn't you, if you were them?

Also, a huge thanks goes out to psychochick32, who pointed out that as far as questions for the Rangers go, we should ask the reviewers. So we'd like to ask—if you met the original Power Rangers, what would you ask them? What would you want them to sign?