“Without the Black Ranger, they will be easily defeated,” said Elsa.

The White Ranger agreed. Conner could lead his way round a soccer pitch, but beyond that he was helpless. The other two would never follow him after the Black Ranger had been destroyed. They’d be foolish to—both were easily more intelligent. “But the Black Ranger is too clever to fall for any simple trap. He has been a Ranger too long, is too suspicious. We must use one of the others.”

“So who? I assume you have some idea.”

“The Red Ranger. Conner McKnight. He will believe whatever I tell him; he will be easy to use. His feelings for the human I used to be make him weak. I will be able to manipulate him without any effort.”

Elsa smiled; a smile full of anticipation for the downfall of the Power Rangers. “Then go. I have every faith you’ll be successful. The monster will be ready shortly.”

--

The bounce of the ball against the tarmac soothed him. It was simple and repetitive, something to distract him from all the things he didn’t want to think about.

It worked very well, until Trent stepped out of the wall in front of him.

“You know, you shouldn’t walk to school alone,” said Trent. “You never know who you might run into.”

Conner hovered between running, throwing back something insulting, and asking what he really wanted to ask at the risk of sounding stupid.

He went for no. 3. “How did you do that?”

Trent’s smirk grew a little. “You didn’t think you were the only one with Dino Gem power?”

Next time, Conner promised himself he’d pause to work out the obvious. This time, he felt less concerned with saving face and more concerned with getting out of there. “I don’t want to fight.”

“Well, that makes one of us.” Before Conner could say anything else, Trent had raised his wrist to his mouth and muttered, ‘White Ranger, Dino Power.’ His eyes didn’t leave Conner’s till the white flash surrounded him.

And there stood the White Ranger. If Conner couldn’t see his mouth, but he didn’t need to. The White Ranger’s helmet practically smirked at him.

“Bring it on,” the White Ranger muttered, his voice raspy and low, and so unlike Trent’s Conner almost shivered.

Conner tossed his ball aside, not bothering to watch where it landed. “If that’s how it has to be.” He could play the tough guy too. And maybe this time he’d be the one doing the ass-kicking. He might win the lottery as well. Morphing automatically—by now he could do it in his sleep—he said, “Show me what you’ve got.”

“No problem.” The White Ranger ran at Conner, who stood his ground. They exchanged kicks and hits, testing each other’s defenses. Conner gasped as a kick caught him in the ribs, knocking him aside—but he’d got the White Ranger too. He didn’t need to think before launching into his next attack. The hours of training finally paying off.

He tried to get Trent into a hold, only to end up being grabbed himself. Both of them ended up pressed alongside each other, unwilling to let go and give up the advantage. “If doesn’t have to be this way,” said Conner, pain shooting up his arm from where Trent held it. “Why won’t you let us help you?” Kira had said Trent recognized her, hesitated before attacking. Dr. O had said Kimberly had tried to help him. What if Conner could get through to Trent now?

“I don’t need anyone’s help,” the White Ranger growled. “Least of all yours,” he said.

Least of all Conner’s? “Fine. If that’s how you want to play.” He could live with it. This wasn’t Trent. Just some evil freak who needed to be taught what a Ranger-ass-kicking felt like, just like every other evil freak the Rangers faced.

They broke apart, knocking each other down. The White Ranger drew his sword as he rose, Conner only a second behind. When they clashed, sparks flew from the metal of their blades. Conner spun away, feeling the shock of impact up into his shoulder. That would hurt tomorrow.

He rolled back up onto his feet, leaping up to clash with Trent in mid-air. He knew what Trent would do before he landed, and had his gun in his hand as his feet touched the ground.

Shots slammed into him, energy pulsing through his suit and into his body. The impact knocked him back, crying out involuntarily. He hit the ground, only aware that Trent was still standing.

For a few seconds. Then the White Ranger followed him to the ground, slumping onto his knees, landing face down. It looked a lot less painful than Conner’s impact with the hard cement.

The gun had paralyzed him, and the fall hurt him even through his suit. When two monsters appeared—Zeltrax and another one, a new one—he could barely even look up.

“Perfect timing!” cried the new one. “Should I infect them both?”

Them both? Wasn’t the White Ranger on Mesogog’s side?

“No,” said Zeltrax. “Do as we’ve been instructed. Just the white one.”

Trent? What were they going to do to him? Conner glanced over at the fallen White Ranger, head aching at every movement. Trent still looked unconscious; if he had heard anything, he wasn’t giving any sign of it.

“Yes, master,” the monster hissed. Yellow electricity shot out, engulfing Trent’s body. Conner looked away; the light burned his eyes even through his visor. When he looked back, Trent was lying demorphed, and still unmoving.

“What have you done?” he yelled, suddenly more scared than he’d felt even during the fight. Trent might have still had good left in him . . . and the monster might have killed him.

Zeltrax looked in his direction, and gestured to the monster. “Let’s go.” They disappeared with a flash of green.

“Power down,” Conner commanded. Without the power, he struggled to push himself to his feet. Panting for breath, he ran over to Trent, kneeling down beside him. “Trent! Are you okay?” Please answer me, he silently begged. Please be okay. Please get up and attack me, or insult me, or anything, just don’t keep lying there like that…

Trent moaned. Conner grabbed his shoulders to steady him as Trent tried to push himself up, collapsing back into a sitting position. He looked around with wide eyes, gasping for breath. Conner tightened his grip, wondering what was going on.

Trent looked around, his eyes wide and scared. “I’m better than okay,” Trent whispered, sounding shocked and confused. “I’m me.”

I’m me. Conner looked away, a million hopes rushing through his mind. His heart started beating very fast, so fast he could hardly breath. “You’re . . . you mean you’re . . . you’re, like, good again?”

Trent still looked dazed, pushing himself up and looking around. Did he remember anything? Did he know where he was? Could he remember them fighting? “Trent . . . can you . . . remember stuff?”

“Yes.” Trent licked his lips, cleared his throat. “Oh, god. Conner . . .” he clutched at Conner, pulling him closer. “I’m so sorry. I . . . I can’t believe what I’ve done.”

Trent’s obvious pain pulled at Conner, wiping away any thoughts of caution. He remembered what Dr. O had told him. He’ll need you. “No, it’s alright. You couldn’t help it.” And even if he could have, did it matter? Trent was himself again, clinging to Conner, needing Conner’s help . . . and Conner would give it. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“No. It was the . . .” Trent paused to wet his lips, pink tongue flicking out over dark lips. Conner’s eyes dropped to watch it, and he felt himself flush. Pay attention! He scolded himself.

“It was the Dino Gem,” Trent continued. “It turned me evil. I couldn’t stop it! Oh god, Conner, what if it happens again?”

“It won’t. I promise. I’ll stop it.” Or he’d get Dr. O to stop it. Either worked, as long as Trent kept holding onto him like that.

“How?”

“Well, I’ll ask Dr. O. He knows lots of stuff. He’s the one who made us Rangers. Don’t worry. Everything’ll be fine.” He tried rubbing Trent’s back. Wasn’t that supposed to be comforting?

Who cared? He liked rubbing Trent’s back.

Trent shook his head. “He’ll never forgive me. Not after all I did.”

“He will. He was once an evil ranger, you know.” Trent winced slightly, and Conner hurried to explain. “Not that you were evil. Just the gem was evil. Like Dr. O was under an evil spell. It just made him act evil. He wasn’t really bad. Like you weren’t. And even if he doesn’t agree, I’ll just . . .” he struggled to think of something he could do. “I’ll . . . I’ll threaten to leave the team if he doesn’t!”

“Really?”

“Well . . . I don’t know if I actually could. I mean, it’s important, being a Ranger. But I’ll make him help you! And we can talk to Kira first. She believes it isn’t your fault. She’ll agree to help.” He knew Kira would. Ethan too, probably. How could they refuse? None of them wanted Trent to turn evil again, after all.

“Conner, I’m so sorry . . .”

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault.”

“I’m still sorry.” He looked up at Conner, brown eyes wide and scared. Conner felt himself blush.

“It’s okay,” he said, his voice sounding gruff. He cleared his throat and tried again. “It’s okay. Really. It wasn’t your fault. It was the Dino gem, like you said.”

Trent nodded, looking away. Though he knew it was inappropriate, Conner could help but bite back a smile. Trent was good again. Everything he’d been so worried about— the White Ranger, his own feelings—all of it could be sorted out now. Things could be okay again. And Conner hadn’t realized, until now, how stupidly happy Trent turning good again would make him feel.

“Trent,” he said. “I’m really glad you’re you again. Really glad.” Which didn’t come close to covering how he felt, but he hoped Trent would get the general idea. “While you were evil . . .well, before then, as well, but this thing happened, and I kind of realized . . .”

Trent smiled. “You know, the White Ranger was really obsessed with you, and I think it’s because . . . the White Ranger was the opposite of everything I am. So he hated you because I . . . I like you. I just don’t think I should spend any more time with you.”

Conner stopped breathing, going hot and cold at once. That was not in the script. “What?”

“I just don’t want to put you in danger,” said Trent. “While there’s any chance that the dino gem might still have some power over me . . .”

Oh. Conner let himself breathe again, and tried to relax. Strangely, Trent’s comment made him feel even warmer inside. Trent cared about him, really cared. Didn’t want him to be in danger. “Well, then we’ll get help. As soon as possible.” He checked his watch. They’d missed most of first lesson. “We’ll grab Kira and Ethan before second lesson, and go talk to Dr. O.”

“You better go talk to Dr. O alone. He might not trust me.”

Conner started to argue, but Trent looked determined. “Okay. Though he understands. He was the one who made me realize it was just a spell.”

Trent let Conner pull him up, but grabbed hold of Conner’s sleeve before they could move. “What?” asked Conner, the look in Trent’s eyes making him feel very unsure.

Trent smiled, almost a smirk, and reached up to tangle his fingers through Conner’s hair. Conner’s feeling of uncertainty grew, something in Trent’s eyes putting him on edge. But then Trent pulled him down, tilting his head, and brought their lips together.

At first it was a little more than a brush of skin, which was all Conner had expected. But Trent’s grip tightened in his hair, and the other boy deepened the kiss, pressing harder and letting his tongue slide across Conner’s lips. When Conner didn’t resist, couldn’t do anything but clutch at Trent’s jacket, Trent slipped his tongue inside Conner’s mouth. For a second his tongue pushed against Conner’s, hot and wet and . . .

Trent pulled away.

Conner couldn’t do anything but gape, completely shocked and more aroused than he could ever remember being over kissing some passive girl. Trent just looked at Conner with that half-smirk. “Thank you,” he murmured, then nodded towards a nearby building. “You should go and get your ball.”

--