Hi all. I’m sorry it’s been so long between posts. Things here have been less than fun, but I am going to try and finish this series. As to this chapter: Conner loves Kira. Kira loves Conner. But can they survive when things outside of them try to separate them? And now, to the story…

Legends and Heroes

By Jeannine Trevizo

-x-

Chapter 19: Beautiful Mess

“So, what’s this flyer all about?” asked Conner as he and Ethan walked down the corridor on their way to English class.

Ethan looked up to see the color flyer of a tree posted along the wall, another tacked on a bulletin board less than twenty feet away.

“No idea bro. Looks like some tree hugging or something. You know, if it doesn’t have wires or keyboards, I’m usually clueless.”

“It just seems there are a lot of them all over the place. I saw some in the science building.”

“Well, it looks like the perpetrator of the signs is right up there. You can ask her yourself,” Ethan remarked dismissingly.

“Krista, right?” Conner asked, remembering the girl from junior high.

“Yep, that’s me,” she said in a distracted tone as she finished tacking up another flyer and turned to leave.

“Hey, wait, I wanted to ask you about your poster. So, there’s…” Conner started as he finally got a good look at the poster as she handed one to him, “a tree that needs saving?”

“Yeah, behind the school. It’s over one hundred years old, and Randal wants to tear it out to put in a new parking lot.

“That’s seems like such an injustice,” remarked Conner, somewhat sarcastically, but Krista didn’t seem to notice.

“It’s a crime against nature,” she said passionately, “that tree has been part of the eco system longer than any of us have even been here. Dozens of creatures depend on it.”

Conner looked at her and suddenly recognized something – that the passion she had to save that tree was so like Kira’s for her music, or his own for soccer. Maybe he could help…

“Where do I sign up?”

“Really? You want to help?” Krista asked, almost suspiciously.

“Yeah. Just tell me what to do.”

“Okay… how about you come to the rally. The information’s all there. And anyone you can bring would be great.”

“Cool.”

With that, Conner headed off to join Ethan, who was already down the hall and rolling his eyes at his friend, who sometimes seemed to get them all roped into more stuff than anyone else he knew.

Down the hall, Krista watched as Conner met up with his techie friend and clutched her stack of flyers. She would never have pegged Conner McKnight as an environmental supporter. So his offer to help had surprised her.

“So, McKnight offered to help?” said a voice behind her, and she turned to see Trent Hernandez from the Cybercafe leaning against the lockers.

“He did. It was very nice.”

“And the fact that a handsome jock was paying attention to you was all beside the point, right?” Trent asked frankly.

The fact of the matter was that he’d seen Krista at the café. And more than once he’d seen her attention focused on Conner. Which, if he was right, meant that she was interested in the jock in more than an activist kind of way.

And that was fine by him, since he had an interest in seeing Conner dating someone other than Kira…

He looked at Krista and she blushed slightly and he knew he’d been right.

“Well, he’s handsome and funny… but I heard he’s dating some musician…” she demurred, her eyes darting away from Trent and down the hall.

“What would you say if I told you that he wasn’t?”

Krista’s eyes flew back to the young man next to her and Trent smiled a bit too brightly as he thought exactly how she could help him break up Conner and Kira. He knew that the dumb jock didn’t deserve Kira, and maybe some attention from Krista could drive a wedge between the two of them, leaving him the chance to sweep in and convince Kira she’d been wrong about Conner.

And give him a chance to show her that he was what she needed.

-x-

“So, you want to come?” Conner asked Kira as they left Geometry and headed for the parking lot.

“You mean for that rally thing?” Kira questioned, surprised at her boyfriend’s sudden interest in the environment. “No thanks. I have a gig at the café, remember?”

“Crap! I forgot. Look, you’re going to be there for an hour, right? I sort of promised I’d show up and help, so I’ll meet you there before your set is up, okay?”

“It’s no big.”

“Yeah, it is. I haven’t missed any of your shows before now, and I don’t plan to start. It just sounded like Krista could use all the help she can get, and well… I know how that feels.”

Kira smiled at Conner tenderly. Who would have ever suspected that the self absorbed jock that she’d know at the beginning of the term could have been so thoroughly changed? She liked to think that she had something to do with it, which she knew she did, but more than that had been their becoming rangers. The months since he’d become the Red ranger had matured him to a level that while wasn’t quite all that mature; he was miles from where he’d been before.

“That’s sweet. You go and chant and all that, and I’ll see you at the café,” she said, leaning in for a quick kiss that made both of them smile like fools.

-x-

That evening, Tommy had finally emerged from the bedroom that doubled as his study, a huge stack of graded papers in hand. It had taken him the last three hours, but he’d finished them for tomorrow. After stuffing them away in his briefcase, he headed to the kitchen to find Kim humming softly as she made dinner.

He couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face as he watched her, back to him as she moved from the refrigerator, back to the stove and then to the counter. In the months since they’d picked up their relationship again, he’d never have imagined the thrill just watching her cooking in his… their kitchen would give him.

“All done Beautiful,” he said finally, coming in to sit at the table and watch her in action.

“Good timing. Dinner will be ready in a half hour. So, anything news?” she questioned, happily making small talk with the man she loved.

“No, not really…”

“I heard that Principal Randall wants to put in a new parking lot,” Kim commented as she cut up the chicken for their meal.

“Where did you hear that?”

“Ethan mentioned it when he came by earlier and went downstairs to get some game he forgot in the command center last week. He mentioned he and Conner went out there to ‘show support’.” And that you came out to try and keep things from getting to out of hand before you came home.”

“Ah, well… it’s a touchy subject. Some of the kids are protesting, saying that the tree where the new lot would be should be preserved, while some of the kids and teachers are really looking forward to some extra spaces. It would certainly mean you could come by at lunch and find a place to park,” Tommy remarked as he moved behind Kim and leaned his weight on the edge of the kitchen table, crossing his arms in front of him to keep from wrapping them around Kim’s waist.

“You just want an excuse for me to come to school and make out with you during your lunch hour,” she accused as she moved the chicken to the baking sheet.

“True. But there are a lot more kids with cars then there were in our day. It begs the question if one tree is worth all the trouble?”

“I don’t know.”

“Neither do I. All I do know is that everyone has an opinion, and sometimes when you think you’re right, you do things that are stupid and dangerous. I hope no one goes over the line.”

Kim nodded and finished preparing their dinner and carefully slid it into the oven. Closing the door, she turned around to regard her boyfriend before her, and smiled.

“So, dinner will be ready in twenty minutes. Wanna watch the news?” she asked with a glint in her eye that said television was the furthest thing from her mind.

“Twenty minutes?” Tommy repeated as he reached forward and captured Kim’s waist in his hands, pulling her flush with his body. “I can think of something more interesting to do in twenty minutes.”

Just as Tommy leaned in to kiss Kim into mindless oblivion, there was a pounding on the front door. Pulling back with a sigh, Tommy released Kim and moved to see what was up. Opening the door, he found Kira, Conner and Ethan there, slightly out of breath and with looks of concern on their faces.

“Guys?”

“We’ve got problems,” Conner said flatly, as he waited for Dr. O to invite them in.

In the kitchen, Kim had turned off the oven, thrown open the basement door and was hurrying down, knowing that the others would be behind her momentarily. Once she was in the command center, she raced to the console and opened the communications channel to let Jason know something was up. Then she turned to find the rest of the team and Tommy was sitting down already, looking slightly pale.

“Zeltrax is back? How is that even possible?” Conner commented, looking at the Black Ranger as he remembered the fiery destruction just weeks ago of Zeltrax’s ship and Dr. O’s razor fine escape.

“And why does he want a tree?” questioned Kira.

“I think I can answer both those questions,” announced Hayley as she and Jason came into the command center from the cave door. “The tree must be growing over a life force spring.”

“You’re talking about a fountain of youth?” Ethan asked, stunned.

“Those are real?” commented Conner.

“Apparently, this one is,” Tommy replied as he watched the footage Hayley had called up on the computer screen before them.

“So that’s what kept the tree alive for so long,” guessed Kira.

“Not only that, but the sap, because it’s being nourished for years by the springs waters must have amazing powers of its own.”

“That must be what Zeltrax is after,” Jason interjected, looking to Tommy for confirmation.

“I’d be willing to bet that he’s not the only one,” Tommy replied, a grimace appearing on his face.

“So, what do we do?” asked Kira, confused.

“I guess we have to wait and see,” replied Tommy, leaving everyone concerned, before the image of the spring gave way to the site the tree had been at, and a woman came into view, headed for the hole surrounded by yellow barricades.

“Look, its Krista,” pointed out Kira as everyone’s attention turned towards the screen again.

Realizing that Krista had put herself in danger, despite his attempts to stop her, Conner started for the door, leaving everyone else speechless. Hurriedly, Tommy got up to intercept him.

“You okay?”

At Dr. O’s voice, Conner swung around and faced the older, wiser ranger.

“I don’t know. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m cut out for all this super hero stuff.”

“Still have doubts?” Tommy questioned, surprised; he’d thought Conner had gotten past this issue long ago.

“It’s just when you see someone like Krista, that believes in something so strongly that nothing can stop her… I don’t know if I have that in me. I… I’ve given up too easily. Both with my soccer, and then I almost gave up being a ranger… Maybe…”

“You crack me up.”

“What’d I say?”

“You remind me so much of myself when I was your age. I had all this ability and raw emotion but it took me a while to get the confidence to believe in myself; what I was truly capable of…”

“I’ve got confidence.”

“Confidence and cockiness are two different things. There’s a whole world that you haven’t even tapped into yet. There is something beyond Jurassic super dino mode, but you have to believe you deserve it. And when you do, you’ll be blow away by what you can do.”

Conner nodded, realizing that perhaps Dr. O had a point when the alarm started, and they both turned to race back to the main console.

“What’s up?” asked Conner nervously.

“Is it Zeltrax?” Tommy questioned, feeling Kim’s hand land on his shoulder.

“No, but it looks like some of his old friends are throwing him a welcome back party,” Jason quipped.

“We can handle the triptoids.”

“Hayley, can you stay here and let us know if Zeltrax shows up?”

As she nodded, everyone headed out, focused on just one thing: winning this one battle, and maybe along with that, the war.

-x-

“Your battleizer is really cool,” Ethan whispered to Conner as they sat at their table at the Cyberspace the following day.

Conner nodded, realizing that Dr. O, in his infinite ranger wisdom had been right. He’d been able to rescue Krista and defeat Zeltrax to retreat with his confidence in his powers and his role as a ranger.

“Well, Dr. O said I’d come into my powers once I believed in them.”

“According to Jason, that whole riff Dr. O gave you was pretty accurate. The greatest ranger ever had a confidence issue and what Kim refers to as “The Oliver Guilt Complex”, but you didn’t hear me say that.”

Laughing, Conner reached over and took a sip of his soda. The idea that Dr. O was ever in his shoes still seemed bizarre to him, but if Kim and Jason said it was true…

“And I heard that they decided against a new parking lot?” Ethan commented.

“Yeah, they planted a tree this afternoon to replace the old one. So all in all, everything worked out okay. In a hundred years, it will be back to the way it was before Zeltrax tore it up.”

Ethan nodded and when he heard his e-mail ding that he had new mail, he quickly went back to his laptop. His friend now fully re-engrossed with his computer, Conner turned his attention back to his English paper, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and looked up, expecting Kira, but was surprised to see Krista.

“Hey Krista. So, it’s really great about the new tree,” he said simply as she stood there, nervously staring at him.

“It is. I’m just glad that Randall didn’t get her way.”

“Yeah. So, is there something I can do for you?”

“I… I was thinking that maybe you might want to go to the movies… with me?” she said softly, her eyes staring at him in a nearly pleading manner.

Stunned, Conner could only stare back. The thought that she was asking him out wasn’t so much the reason for his shock, more than the fact that he didn’t know why she was asking now. Maybe his support of her tree-saving initiative had made her think he was trying to pick her up…

“Krista, I’m flattered, really…”

“But you don’t want to go out with me.”

“I’m sorry. I… I didn’t mean to give you the impression I was… well, interested,” Conner stammered as Krista stood next to him, hands wringing as she felt more embarrassed with each passing second.

“No, it’s my fault. I thought…”

“It’s not that you’re not a nice person and all, it’s just…”

“You’re still dating Kira Ford.”

Conner looked slightly surprised at that. Why wouldn’t he be ‘still’ dating Kira. Actually, if he had to be honest, when he and Kira had hooked up, the whole school seemed to know about it, and the gossip had gone on for weeks about what the jock saw in the alternative rocker chick. If things had changed between them, the whole school would have known, including Krista. But she had seemed to think they weren’t dating anymore…

“Yeah.”

“My mistake. I thought things had changed. Since they haven’t… I’ll just be on my way.”

Conner watched as Krista hurried out the door, his head spinning.

“What was that all about?” said Kira, having just come off the stage at the end of her set for the afternoon and watched Krista heading for the front door.

“That was someone who was confused about you and me,” he said, turning to Kira as she moved to his side. “So, now that this adventure’s over, how about we spend some time together. Wanna go to dinner?”

“Sounds nice, just as long as it’s someplace that isn’t going to complain if I want to eat veal or non Dolphin safe tuna. I’ve had enough of the environmentally friendly thing for one day.”

Laughing, Conner nodded and took Kira’s hand to walk them out of the Cyberspace, never even noticing the sour look on the young man behind the counter’s face as they left.

-End-

Okay, I don’t know if I will be on schedule (every 2 weeks) or not, so just keep a look out for new chapters. Thanks!