Hi all. Happy Turkey Day! We go Sentai for a bit, but that just gives the old guys something to talk about. This will be short, since well, there’s not really a battle this week, except on the Aba Ranger show. Also, just to note, there were 4 reviews from ff.net and 1 on PRIU2 for last chapter… hello? I expect a drop in reviewing but that’s way low. If you went to read the adult version, there was an e-mail link… so be kind and give feedback. So with that said, to the story…

Legends and Heroes

By Jeannine Trevizo

-x-

Chapter 14: Other Side of the World

As Conner and Kira entered the darkened Cybercafe, they were assaulted by the sounds of TV set at the far end of the building near the front door. They looked at one another in confusion.

“What’s going on?”

“No clue,” replied Kira.

The sound of switching channels and Ethan’s laughter carried in the silent café as Conner and Kira made their way to the large screen TV and the overstuffed sofa behind it.

“Dude, what are you doing? We were supposed to meet at the library,” asked Conner as they rounded the TV to find Ethan laid out on the couch, bowl of popcorn on his lap and clicker in hand.

“Hayley got a new satellite dish. 937 channels of paradise,” explained Ethan as if that was the most logical thing in the world.

“900 channels and I bet there’s still never anything on,” snarked Kira.

“Are you kidding? This is amazing! Foreign language soap operas, sumo wrestling, Junior Girls High School synchronized swimming; I may never leave this room again!”

And on that note, Conner reached around the TV and pushed the off button.

“Hey, I was watching that.”

“What about your social studies assignment on comparing two countries?” asked Conner in his best leader/responsible person voice.

“I’m almost done,” complained Ethan.

“Me too,” added Kira, moving to join Ethan on the couch.

“Yeah, well, I haven’t started. I’ll see you guys later,” Conner announced, admitting his defeat, and quickly moved to give Kira a kiss on the cheek before turning to leave.

Ethan turned the TV back on and started flipping channels. Suddenly a cheery musical tune in Japanese started to play and Ethan and Kira both sat up in their seats.

“No way!” exclaimed Ethan. “Conner, you gotta see this.”

“What?”

As Conner moved back to the sofa, Ethan scooted over to let him sit next to Kira as before them, the Red Ranger in all his Dino Thunder glory appeared in a circling camera shot.

“Whoa. It’s us!” Kira said astonished.

“Not exactly,” remarked Conner as a Japanese man was shown morphing into the Blue Ranger’s uniform.

“According to the satellite guide, it’s a Japanese show about the world-famous Power Rangers. They even dubbed it in English!”

“We’re a TV show in Japan? I gotta see this,” interjected Kira as Conner started to munch popcorn from Ethan’s discarded bowl.

“Look, there’s Dr. O!” Ethan pointed out, until the Black Ranger morphed into another Japanese dude. “Maybe not.”

“It looks whack,” complained Conner, still eating popcorn.

“How do you know its whack? You haven’t even given it a chance.”

“It wasn’t even made here. I mean, what would they know about Power Rangers in Japan?”

“Only one way to find out. I. for one, wanna know what they think of us,” remarked Kira, turning to Ethan and proceeding to give a unity handshake of support to watch the show.

“Uh huh!”

Conner sighed and then settled in to watch with the others what he was sure was going to be crap.

-x-

“You have to come and see it,” said Conner as he, Kira and Ethan stormed into the cave, finding Jason, Kim and Dr. O reviewing footage of what seemed to be previous battles.

“See what?” asked Tommy, swinging around in the center console chair so he could level his students and team mates with a focused stare.

“Hayley got a satellite dish. It’s got like a billion shows from everywhere,” announced Ethan with a wide grin. “And we’re on it!”

“What?” questioned Jason in a near exclamation as he stood nervously.

The three teens pulled up short. They didn’t know Jason was back, and they immediately moved to show their happiness at his return.

“Hey Jason! Good to have you back,” stated Conner, moving to shake the white ranger’s hand.

“We were starting to wonder if you were gonna stay in Angel Grove,” added Ethan, likewise grasping Jason’s hand in greeting.

“It’s a good thing you finally came back… Dr. O is having problems with his morphing,” commented Kira before giving him a hug, and prompting Jason to look to his friends.

“Long story. Short version is that Hayley’s working on fixing the morphing problem, but for the most part, I’m good. So, what’s this about a TV show?” explained Tommy succinctly.

“It’s a Japanese TV show with rangers!” gushed Ethan.

“It’s so cool!” exclaimed Kira happily.

“You have to come. We told Hayley to keep the sofa empty until we got back. There’s supposed to be another block of episodes in an hour, so we just have time…” Conner explained in a rush, making the older members of the team cringe slightly at the hyper-interest of the younger members of the team.

“Whoa, slow down, okay?” interjected Kim, looking from Tommy to Jason and realizing that someone had to figure out what the hell was going on here. “You said ‘we’ were on TV. What do you mean?”

“It’s a power rangers TV show, and they have all of us – the red ranger, yellow, blue, black… all of us. Well, except it’s not really us,” Kira attempted to explain, but started to frown as she felt she wasn’t describing it right.

“They’re Japanese actors. And they story lines are really weird. I mean, half the time they don’t make any sense. And the monsters are all so fake looking,” interjected Ethan, adding to Kira’s description and making the older members of the team start to get the picture.

“So, they’re pretending to be the dino thunder rangers, but they don’t know anything about us?” Tommy asked finally.

“Nope, although they got the morphing call right. Not sure how they did that,” Ethan remarked confused.

“Okay, now I’m interested,” added Jason, smiling slightly, also relieved at the kids unreserved welcome of him after the rampage of the evil white ranger. “Besides, I could really go for a cappuccino.”

“You just want to see Hayley,” whispered Kim close to Jason’s ear, and he cuffed her playfully.

“All right, let’s go… I can see that any battle analysis isn’t going to get done today,” sighed Tommy as Kim and Jason nearly hauled him up and followed the kids.

-x-

“Hey,” said Hayley as she saw the team troop in with the older members in tow, her eyes lighting up at the arrival of Jason along with the group. “I see you got them all to come.”

“It wasn’t too hard. Dr. O was the difficult one to convince. Jason and Kim actually wanted to come.”

Hayley’s eyebrows lifted at that remark, and Jason averted his eyes. He had planned on seeing her soon after his arrival in town, but this was less than 24 hours… a lot faster than he planned. He knew that there was still a lot to be said, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to say any of those things yet.

“Can we get something to drink?” Conner questioned of Hayley, breaking her focus on the White Ranger.

“Preferably with alcohol,” grumbled Tommy until Kim leaned over and kissed him softly, and he smiled.

“Come on, let’s sit down… it should be starting soon.”

The six rangers moved to the window near the front of the café, taking up seats around the big screen TV. Ethan scooped up the remote and flopped down on one end of the huge red sofa, Kira and Conner sitting together at the other end. Jason found one overstuffed armchair at one end, while Tommy sat in a second across from his friend, Kim perching on the arm. Once she was settled, Tommy wrapped an arm around her back and tucked her into his side, his head leaning slightly into her side.

“Okay… here we go,” gushed Ethan, flipping on the set and starting the show.

“Ooh, it’s a new one!” commented Kira, as she snuggled into Conner.

Kim looked from the set to the Yellow Ranger as she cuddled with the Red Ranger and smiled. At this rate, over half the team would be dating someone… a ranger first. Then the music started on the set, and her eyes swung back just in time to see the credits roll, and she threw a hand to her mouth to smother the giggles that were trying to break free.

“Wow, he has worse hair than you ever did Tommy,” joked Jason as the Black Ranger appeared on the screen.

“Hey! At least my Japanese ranger is taller than the girls,” Tommy snarked back as the White Ranger was introduced as a much shorter man than Jason was.

“Aren’t all Japanese shorter anyway?” asked Conner, prompting a groan from several people and a poke in the ribs from Kira.

“Sorry, he’s still suffering from “America is the greatest country ever and everywhere else sucks” itus,” offered Kira as apology for Conner’s insensitivity.

“Okay everyone, can we settle down? The credits are over… the show is starting,” complained Ethan, nearly shushing everyone.

As the team on the screen huddled in the ‘secret’ lair and discussed doing something totally silly, Kim sighed and everyone looked at her.

“I’m just in awe that someone could think that ‘this’ is what we do when we’re not saving the world,” she explained.

“Would you rather think that the Purple and Black Ranger were screwing like rabbits?” tossed back Jason, making Kim shoot daggers at him with her eyes.

“Whoa! Too much information!” called out Kira, as Conner and Ethan gulped and focused directly on the show before them.

“If you wouldn’t mind, we’re trying to watch this show,” complained Tommy, frowning at his best friend. He thought of Jason as a brother, but the constant ribbing about his and Kim’s relationship was starting to wear thin.

“Okay, sorry. I’ll lay off, okay?”

Tommy nodded as the team was called in to fight the new monster the villain had sent to attack the city. The teens started laughing as the lipstick monster began to paint the town red… and blow it up.

“Don’t laugh,” said Kim with a frown. “We fought a lipstick monster once.”

“You’re kidding!” Conner said with a stunned look.

“Zedd took some of the contents from my purse and well…”

Tommy grasped Kim’s hand, remembering that interrupted date. At least now they didn’t have to worry about Mesogog throwing a real wrench in their relationship.

“You know, I just realized, I think I’m offended,” Jason announced suddenly.

“Why?” asked Ethan, curious.

“We were the first team, and we never had a TV show about us,” said Jason, waving towards the team calling their zords as the monster grew to gigantic proportions on the screen. “It’s only now, after years and a lot of luck that Kim, Tommy and I am back that we’re being turned into Japanese stars.”

“Well, maybe, but are you sure? Did you ever check Japanese TV back when you were first rangers? For all we know, they’ve had a team show for every incarnation of rangers?” Kira questioned, making Tommy, Kim and Jason wonder.

“I guess I’m going to have to do some internet research,” Tommy said as Kim and Jason nailed him with a stare, as the PhD had the best Google and research skills among the three of them.

“God, that would have been funny. I wonder if they had Zedd…”

“Or Zordon,” Tommy remarked, making Kim and Jason frown slightly.

“Okay, they’re going all Megazord on the monster!” Ethan exclaimed, bringing them all back to the show, and they watched as the team on the screen dispatched with the Tyrano Drill the lipstick monster, making the world safe for cosmetics again.

As the end credits began to run, the three teens looked hopefully to the older members of the team.

“Well? Wasn’t it cool?” asked Ethan with a huge grin.

“Okay, it was kinda cool,” admitted Tommy grudgingly, and the three teens started a round of high fives and congratulations. “I still think my hair is better than the Black Ranger.”

“Of course it is handsome,” Kim said soothingly as she leaned down to kiss his cheek.

“So, another episode?” questioned Conner, and the three older rangers gave a slight groan.

It was going to be a long day.

-x-

“So, you moved out of Tommy’s place,” Hayley commented to Jason as the rest of the team continued to watch the fourth episode in a row of the Japanese ranger show, while Kim and Tommy seemed to have slipped off for home without anyone really noticing.

Jason nodded, realizing that Hayley was warming up to the big question, and he knew he could either take the plunge himself or wait for her to say something. But he was a leader, a ranger… he could do this.

“Yeah. Kim and I sort of switched living arrangements. Although I wasn’t sleeping in Tommy’s bed.”

Hayley gave a slightly surprised look at the frankness in his statement. She had guessed that maybe Tommy and Kim’s relationship had finally gone that final step, but to hear it from Jason just validated her theory.

“I guess that means you have your own place.”

“It does.”

“You planning on any visitors?”

Jason fought the blush that her straight forward comment brought up in him, and looked at the striking red head on the other side of the counter. Reaching across the Formica he caught one of her hands in his.

“I’d like to ask you to dinner first. See if this really is something. Then maybe if it is, we can see about, after a suitable period of dating, you could come by my place for a drink…” Jason suggested with a small grin.

“I’d like that.”

“Okay, well then… Friday then? Although… I’ll need a recommendation for a restaurant.”

Hayley laughed and smiled at Jason, placing her other hand over his.

“I think I can help you out.”

-End-

P.S. as ff.net’s e-mail notices don’t seem to work anymore, please feel free to subscribe to the Yahoo group PRIU2, as I post there as well. Or, you can always just check ff.net Friday evenings or Saturday, and 100% of the time there will be something posted weekly on either of those days. Thanks – J.