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Being a Ranger was difficult, what with all of the battles, the life or death and world-ending consequences of failure, the bruising, the strained relationships, and the lying to loved ones, not to mention the possibility of being turned evil, kidnapped, experimented on, or trapped in alternate dimensions. But there were a lot of things about being a Ranger that were great too. There was the appreciation and admiration of the townspeople of Reefside, there was that Japanese TV show that was based on them, and there were stories about the long line of Rangers that came before them.
Being a part of the Ranger legacy, knowing that they had lived up to the Rangers before them and would be looked on as models of what Rangers should be if more Rangers one day came after them, that was both gratifying and humbling.
The Ranger group chat they got invited to once Mesogog had been defeated was pretty awesome too.
Dr. O had told them all when they had first gotten the invite that he had not allowed them to be invited until the end of their tenure as he was afraid prior Rangers would make them question their decisions, or, more likely, that the teens would get distracted by the chat. It was probably a good conclusion- every time Kira, Connor, Ethan, and Trent met up, in any configuration, they spent a good deal of time rehashing the conversations and gossip they had gotten from the chats.
There were several chats- there was a general chat for all the Rangers of every team. It was where the newest former-Rangers had introduced themselves and been welcomed. Rangers constantly added general information and updates about their lives, about meetups, about news clips, about found action figures and other memorabilia.
There was also a team chat, but the Dino Thunder Rangers rarely posted in it as they all generally met up at least once every few days, and honestly, after the amount of time they had spent together over the last few months, most of them felt that even every few days was far too often.
Connor had said he had been added to a team leader chat. Ethan had been added to a chat for the more technically minded Rangers. Trent had asserted that he was in a former-evil Ranger group chat, although the others were mostly sure that he was joking. Kira had been included in a chat full of Rangers who sang or played some sort of instrument- her favorite chat group by far, where she posted often.
Then, of course, there were the so-called color chats.
The Yellow chat was the bane of Kira’s existence.
Dr. O had often reassured his Red, Blue, and Yellow Rangers that the powers and color that had chosen them had not been a mistake. He had told them how they possessed the skills and personalities that made Reds red, Blues blue, and Yellows yellow. Kira had heard how Yellows were even keeled but protective, strong yet compassionate, how they often tended to be the moral and ethical compass of a group. Kira, while she had served and heard these things from Dr. O, had been so proud to be a Yellow and so anxious to meet the other Yellows.
But now, just six weeks after she had powered up into spandex for the last time, Kira would have gladly drowned every single Yellow that came before her, and all because of the stupid Yellow group chat.
Because Yellows were, Kira was learning and Dr. O had failed to mention, the absolute worst type of busybody gossips. And their favorite topic of conversation was Dr. O’s sex life.
She had, of course, protested this topic of conversation several weeks ago when Tanya had pointedly asked her in the chat if Tommy’s getting any. She had responded with eww. Please can we not? He’s my teacher and mentor. I DON’T need to think about that.
The rest of the Yellows were less than sympathetic to her disgust.
And he’s your teammate… I think that trumps teacher. Plus, he’s hot. We won’t judge you for looking, one Ranger had asserted.
That poor man has been trapped in spandex on and off for like a decade. He deserves to get laid, another said. This particular comment had started #GetTheRainbowRangerLaid in the group chat and there were at least three messages a day that included it even now, weeks after the initial conversation.
Trini had been ever so slightly more diplomatic. We don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Kira. Tommy just deserves to be happy after all the time he’s had to give over to being a Ranger and working with the other teams. And intimate relationships are an important part of being a healthy adult. #GetTheRainbowRangerLaid.
A few days after this particularly uncomfortable exchange, Kira had discovered that her yellow predecessors were not just content with getting Dr. O laid; they would only settle for getting him laid by a particular person. It seemed that Kimberly Hart, first pink Ranger and first Ranger to hold the pterodactyl zord was their target. And apparently, this had been almost the exclusive concern of the entire yellow chat from the time it had first been put together.
It had been a Monday two weeks ago when Kira had finally decided to follow the old adage if you can’t beat them, join them. If they could come up with some sort of plan, the other Yellows could put it into play and Kira could demand that one of her teammates punch her really hard in the face so she could forget and when she got out of the hospital the Yellow chat could be normal, like the Red and Blue chats, and not this.
So, Kira spent a decent part of one afternoon feverishly throwing ideas at the group.
Kira: Blind date?
Taylor: Tried that. They figured it out. Apparently, they at least still talk occasionally. Tommy was suspicious when Aisha tried to set him up with a friend because he’s not really all that close with any of the yellows and he figured she’d only be interfering in his love life if her friend was Kim.
Kira: Have a big party and maybe they’ll get drunk?
Trini: Didn’t work. They said ‘hi’ then stayed on opposite sides of the room for almost the entire night and were both responsible drinkers.
Kira: Lock them in a room together.
Dustin: Kim climbed out a third story window before we could even get Tommy into it.
Kira: A closet then.
Aisha: Tommy kicked down the door.
Kira: Then I don’t know! Have you tried mushing their faces together to make them kiss?
Trini: Zach tried that at the party we tried to get them drunk during. They both punched him.
Kira: Maybe you should take this as a sign that they don’t want to get together.
Dustin: No. That’s not it.
Tanya: They seriously want each other
Trini: They’re destined, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.
Kira had thrown her hands up in frustration, logged off the computer at the Cyber Café and stomped out the door at this. She needed to punch something, but the only place she knew of that had something she could punch was the lab in Dr. O’s basement, which wasn’t exactly ideal at the moment, but was her only option.
Dr. O had found her shortly after she had wrapped her wrists and put on the boxing gloves while she was wailing on the heavy bag in his basement. She had tried to mostly ignore her mentor and teammate as he held the bag steady for her in silence for several minutes, but she could tell that he was perplexed and worried about her. After about ten minutes, she stepped back from the bag, momentarily exhausted, to catch her breath.
“Want to talk about it?” Dr. O asked, passing her a water bottle.
“No.”
“Connor getting under your skin again?”
“No.”
“Did something happen with Trent?” This reminder of her relationship reminded her that she was stuck in a nightmare of Yellow Rangers trying to get the man next to her laid.
“No.” She jumped back up and started wailing on the bag again, this time without the gloves. If she was lucky, she’d beat her hands until they bled, and she could bleed to death and be free of the Yellow chat hell forever.
At some point, Dr. O must have called her teammates because all three boys were there, Dr. O hovering in the background, whispering among themselves. It seemed that Connor must have lost because he was sent to try to calm Kira. “Hey, Kira? Uhhh… did something happen?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” She grit out, accenting each word with a punch that sent the heavy bag swinging.
“How about we all go out and get tea? You like tea!” Connor said. Kira shot him a dirty look. “That’s a no to tea then?”
“Ice cream?” Trent offered.
“Chocolate?” Ethan guessed.
“If I still had my powers, I would use my scream to blow out all of your eardrums.” She turned back to hitting the now much abused bag.
The boys, concerned, turned to Dr. O. “Maybe we should let her tire herself out,” he conceded, ushering the teen boys up the stairs.
Another fifteen minutes with the heavy bag had Kira well and truly exhausted, but her frustration was still ever present. She needed a solution. She didn’t want to give up the chats altogether- the musicians’ chat was amazing and she was constantly getting new ideas for songs from the former Rangers on it. She loved hearing the comings and goings on the general chat too. And Dr. O and Hayley mostly contacted them through the Dino Thunder Team chat. The problem was that when she opened the chat a window for each of her groups popped up, so it was just impossible to not at least see a little of the Yellow chat, even if she closed it right away. (Not to mention that if she did close it, when someone else responded a new window would pop right on up over top of whatever else she was reading or doing. And goddamnit, the Yellows did not shut up.)
There was only one solution. Kira had to get Dr. O and the first Pink Ranger together by herself. That way, she’d take the glory of the win from the group, forcing them to shut up, and they wouldn’t be able to talk about any of this anymore and Kira could get some damn peace. Even if she had to sell her soul.
Now, two weeks later, Kira had finally found her opportunity. Kim had posted about a fundraising event to raise money for the music department of the school district she worked for (although she herself taught English and Drama). It was going to be in a hotel ballroom in Lakeview, several towns over from where she worked and about thirty minutes southeast of Reefside. And it was a 90s flashback party. I know it would be too far for anyone to actually come out, Kim had written, and I wish you all could. I’ll be there and most of the other teachers are so much older than I am, so I might be a bit bored. However, I figured I’d post anyway in hopes that you’d want to throw a few dollars at the fundraiser so the band can buy new uniforms. Some of you know how expensive all that is for the school district…”
Kira stomped over to the table the other three teens from her team were occupying. She had been in a foul mood ever since the incident two weeks ago and all three boys would bend over backwards to her request to keep from further angering her, she knew. “We are all going to a 90’s flashback party on Saturday afternoon.” She told them. “It’s a fundraiser and you will all pay the $20 each to get in. Connor, you are driving. We are bringing Dr. O and we are not saying a single word about this to Hayley. Am I understood?”
All three nodded. “If I’m allowed to ask, why aren’t we allowed to tell Hayley?” Ethan ventured.
“Because I said so,” Kira responded lowly, Ethan nodded, trying his best not to make eye contact with the very scary Yellow in front of him.
(Dr. O had been equally easy to convince. It had only taken Kira demanding team bonding time before they all went away to college to make Dr. O agree.)
____________
Kira was pleased when Dr. O told them that he would drive himself to the event and meet them there as he didn’t want to have to squeeze into Connor’s car with the rest of the team and because he was out of the way of their route.
He texted the group when he left his house, as they were all gathering at Connor’s. They would get there just before Dr. O.
“All of you listen up.” She said to the boys once they were on the road. “The Yellows have been driving me insane for the last two months, and that’s ending today.”
All three boys’ expressions were cautious- she knew they were afraid of her biting their heads off. She continued. “The original Pink Ranger is going to be at this thing,” she saw all three boys’ faces light up at the thought of meeting an original Ranger. “We are not going to say a single thing to her. Luckily, she shouldn’t have any reason to recognize any of us.”
“Why can’t we…”
“Because the Yellows are driving me nuts.” Kira bit out before Connor could even finish his question. “They are bound and determined to get Dr. O and Kim together and it’s all I ever hear about.”
“I’m confused.” Trent admitted, looking to the other boys for help.
Kira took a deep breath. “Dr. O and Kim used to date, apparently. The Yellows are determined to get them back together by any means necessary. The entire chat is them asking me for anything I might know about Dr. O’s sex life-”
“Eww! Why would you say that?! That’s disgusting,” Connor interrupted as Ethan made a choking sound and Trent’s face twisted into a pained expression.
“And they spend a ton of time trying to come up with ways they can force them to get together. I can’t take it anymore, so I’m taking this situation into my own hands.”
“Can I please turn around,” Connor said, looking pale. “I don’t want anything to do with Dr. O having… you know.”
“No. This needs to end so I can have a normal color chat and so I can keep them from talking about this anymore. We are doing this.”
“How are you going to get this all accomplished if the other Yellows who have known them longer haven’t been able to?” Trent asked. He didn’t look particularly pleased about this, but at least he seemed to understand how badly Kira needed all this to end.
“Dr. O and Kim always suspect their friends of trying to interfere. They wouldn’t expect it of me, of us. Also, it seems like the Yellows are always being really obvious about it- locking them in closets and trying to force them to get drunk together. That’s not what we’re going to do. We are just going to show up and slowly spend less and less time with Dr. O. We can dance. There’s food. Hopefully, at some point, Dr. O and Kim will bump into each other. At which point, the four of us are going to get the hell out of dodge. After that, it’s up to them. I’m not forcing anything here. In fact, I would almost prefer it if they don’t get together so I can rub it in the other Yellows’ faces.”
__________
The teens, having arrived ten minutes before their older teammate and mentor, went inside first. They were glad to see that Kim was already there, that the room was filling quickly, and that Dr. O probably wouldn’t immediately see her, thus he wouldn’t suspect his young team of trying to interfere. Kira and Trent claimed them a table clear across the room from the one Kim was hovering around, the dance floor and DJ between the two tables. Connor and Ethan waited near the door, waving Dr. O over as soon as he’d paid for his entrance and gotten inside.
For the first half-hour, the team mostly stayed together. Ethan was determined not to dance, so he’d stayed at the table, Dr. O with him except for a line dance that had come on, while the others danced. They had all gone together to get food once the buffet opened up. After they ate, Kira pulled Trent onto the floor when a slow song came and then slowly pulled the other teens to join them as subsequent, faster songs came on. They need to get themselves separated from Dr. O and find some way to get Dr. O to the other side of the room where Kim had mostly stayed put.
In the end, they didn’t have to do much of anything. “He’s going toward the cash-bar,” Connor reported quietly to the group when he saw their mentor making his way across the room.
“Perfect, she’s in line right now,” Trent said from his vantage point across their little group dance circle from Connor.
“Don’t let them see you looking,” Kira warned, “but Trent, let us know what happens when they see each other.”
After another minute, Trent stiffened, “oh, that sucks.”
“What’s happening?” Ethan asked.
“She was paying attention to not spilling her drink and Dr. O was looking at his phone. They walked right into each other. From the way Dr. O is looking at his shirt, I think it got soaked.”
“Oh, that’s not a good start.” Ethan said.
“How are they handling it?” Kira asked.
“Laughing. He’s smiling at her. They’re talking.” Trent looked over at Kira, smiling. “They started looking around the room. I’m not sure what they’re looking for, but it’s probably better for them not to spot me watching.” Kira nodded.
The group shifted position until Connor could keep an eye on their position from his peripheral vision without looking straight at them. “Dr. O is pointing us out to her, but it doesn’t look like they are coming over,” he said after a few minutes. Then, after another few minutes, “I think they’re going to her table.”
Another slow song came on at this point, so the teens retreated back to their booth, deciding it was better to be out of Dr. O’s line of sight and start to plan their escape.
__________
“Kira, our Yellow, suggested coming. Something happened, we’re not really sure what, a few weeks ago and she’s been in a bad mood. I think she’s just upset with the powers being gone and all of them splitting up soon to go off to college. We’ve been having team bonding time.”
“Well, that’s sweet.” Kim said. “They looked like they were having a good time on the dance floor.”
“Yeah, I’m surprised she got Ethan, our Blue, out there. Connor’s been on the floor almost the entire time flirting with girls and Trent, he was white, will follow Kira anywhere she goes.”
Kim nodded and a look crossed her face. “You said Kira’s a Yellow… you don’t think…?”
“Never,” Tommy laughed. “Not even the Yellows could be that bad as to try to rope my student into setting us up. Anyway, all of the team have spent the entire time here together and they’ve been with me for a lot of it. None of them where even with me when I went over to the bar.”
Kim relaxed a little. “I’m sorry for all the shit the Yellows have been putting you through,” she said.
“Putting us through,” Tommy corrected, bumping her shoulder with his. His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out, reading the message from Ethan before showing it to Kim. Hi Dr. O. We’re not sure where you got to since you weren’t at the table when we got back. Connor’s feeling a little sick- I think he ate too much, so Trent is driving us all back.
“So, they definitely aren’t in on the Yellows’ plans. They’d never let us actually be alone.” Kim agreed after reading the message. “That’s a relief.”
“So,” Tommy asked, “how did you end up here?” While they did talk, occasionally, they mostly got their information about each other from the team chats they were both on. They only talked to warn each other of the interference of some of the others or to double check and make sure the other wasn’t being set up on a blind date when Aisha contacted them.
“I work for the school district and this is a fundraiser for the band.”
“Don’t you teach English?”
Kim laughed, “yeah, but I can still support the band. A bunch of my students that are also in the band are here. I like to support all of them.”
Kim’s presence would have to be support enough for her students as she and Tommy, to the exclusion of everyone and everything else, really talked for the first time since before they had broken up.
__________
“Let me buy you breakfast,” Kim said as she stretched. Once the party had cleared out, they had gone to her apartment to continue talking and they had fallen asleep on her living room couch.
“On one condition,” Tommy agreed. “Let me take you out to dinner next weekend?”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Kim asked, looking guardedly hopeful.
“You told me you’re single, and I am too. We talked about the letter and the breakup and where we both fell short. We talked about how every one of our relationships have gone to crap because we measure everyone up to what we had with each other.” Tommy shrugged. “Look, I say we give it a try. Either it will work out, or we’ll decide that it just doesn’t work. If it doesn’t work, maybe we’ll have a better shot with later relationships because we won’t hold each other on a pedestal anymore and we can at least agree to have a more amicable relationship, like we have with the rest of our teammates. And if it does work…”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Let’s go get breakfast then.”
__________
The next weekend, Kira was in her half-packed room at her parents’ house, trying to work out a chord progression on her new song, when she received a text message from Connor. For you, was all it said, but there was a picture attached.
“Oh, that’s disgusting,” Kira complained as she opened the picture. It was Dr. O and Kim kissing, Kim in a pretty dress and pressed up against brick wall in the alley next to Lombardo’s, the nicest Italian restaurant in town.
She loaded the picture onto her computer, trying to not look at it the entire time, logged onto the Yellow chat and simply posted You’re welcome along with the picture.
When Dr. O later found out that his reunion with Kim was, in fact, orchestrated by a Yellow Ranger, he was only a little mad.