Ethan sat at the computer, trying to refine the image. The more data they had to send to Dr. O, the better.

He heard Conner come running in behind them, hopefully in a better mood. Ethan had no idea what Conner’s problem was with Trent, but he was starting to get tired of it. Not just because he liked Trent—because, honestly, he’d all but given up on finding another ranger who liked sensible things like comic books—but because he wanted his best friend back. Conner thinking about Trent was not a fun Conner.

“What’s up?” Conner asked, leaning against the back of his chair with Kira.

Kira gestured at the screen, which showed a giant Terrorsaurus stomping through some woods. “Our problem just got a whole lot bigger.”

Ethan nodded. “He’s in the woods outside of town.” The sensors gave him another reading, and he noted it down. Now Conner was here, they could contact Dr. O. They would have before, except Kira had worried about getting Conner in even more trouble with Dr. O. Ethan agreed. Besides, it wasn’t like Terrorsaurus was actually doing anything.

Conner’s next words did not fill Ethan with a great deal of hope for staying trouble-free. “So, what are we waiting for?”

Ethan glanced up at him. This was so not good. Conner looked angry, frustrated, and reckless. Dangerous, in other words, not so much for Terrorsaurus than for Kira and Ethan. He could just imagine what Dr. O would say about this.

“Our orders, remember?” said Kira. “Dr. O said to call him and Trent if that guy showed up again.”

“Yeah, but why? I mean, it’s obvious they’ve got something important to do. We can handle this.”

Ethan exchanged a look with Kira, wishing they’d not waited for Conner before calling Dr. O. They couldn’t handle Terrorsaurus on their own—not if this fight went anything like it had earlier, anyway.

But Conner sounded angry enough that he might just go after Terrorsaurus on his own. Heck, he sounded angry enough to try biting Terrorsaurus to death.

Sometimes, Ethan wished Trent had never moved to Reefside. Things would be so much simpler.

“C’mon,” pleaded Conner, which made Ethan start to feel guilty. Conner was technically supposed to be the leader. He was also the closest thing Ethan had ever had to a best friend, even if they only understood each other for about two seconds a day.

Didn’t he owe it to Conner to at least try this?

He looked at Kira again, who sighed. “Okay,” she said, “But the minute things get ugly, we call for back-up.”

Good plan in theory, but Ethan knew the chances of it turning out to be that simple were almost non-existent. He could just imagine pausing in the middle of a fight to try and explain to Conner that they needed to call for help now.

“Sure,” Conner agreed, at least looking as if he meant it.

Ethan turned back to the computers, trying to shrug off the feeling that disobeying Dr. O’s orders, all because Conner felt mad about Trent, was a very bad idea. “Let’s do it. I’ll call the zords from here.”

--

“The Triassic Power was always meant for you, Conner. All you had to do was trust in yourself. Then it was easy for others to trust in you too,” said Dr. O.

Ethan nodded. “See? All that jealousy and look how great everything worked out.”

Conner’s cheeks felt hot, and he just hoped that in the low lighting of the Dino Lab it wasn’t totally obvious. He still couldn’t get over the fact that Kira and Ethan had trusted him so quickly with their powers. Would he have done the same? He wanted to think he would, but . . . he didn’t know.

And he did trust in himself, didn’t he? Except he never knew when he was doing the right thing. And he couldn’t make up his mind about anything. And he didn’t know who to trust.

So he shook his head at Ethan. “Almost everything.”

Trent had gone straight home after the battle, not waiting to talk to any of them. Conner couldn’t help but feel guilty, remembering what Trent had looked like after draining his powers into the Shield of Triumph for Conner.

If he had been evil, he wouldn’t have done that.

Which meant Conner had to swallow pretty much everything he’d said to Trent. While using the Shield, as the Triassic Ranger, in some strange way he’d been able to feel the other rangers . . . Yellow, Blue, Black and White, mixing into his own Red.

His strength as the Triassic Ranger came from that, and it had left it impossible for him to have any more delusions about Trent. He would have known if the White Dino Gem was still evil; he wasn’t sure if he would even have been able to use Trent’s power if it wasn’t good.

Whichever way he looked at it, he’d been wrong. Trent’s Dino Gem had no more trace of evil, and Trent had left himself barely able to walk draining his power for Conner to use.

Conner wouldn’t have done the same for Trent. Not in a million years.

He didn’t notice Ethan leave, only realizing he and Dr. O were alone when Dr. O sat on the steps next to him.

“Are you okay? Getting new powers can sometimes leave you feeling drained.”

Dr. O would be the expert. “No, I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

Conner shrugged. Dr. O sighed.

“Fine. I wanted to talk to you anyway, about something else. About Trent.”

“I’m going to apologize,” Conner interrupted before Dr. O could go on. “I know he’s good now.”

“Thank you,” said Dr. O, but not in a sarcastic way. He sounded like he actually meant it. “We have been having some problems as a team lately.”

“My fault. I’m sorry.”

“No. Not completely. I could have been more understanding; but the search for the Shield of Triumph was distracting me. I wasn’t even sure I’d got the location right today. I just hoped. That’s one of the reasons I didn’t tell you.”

“One of them?”

“You weren’t needed. That’s another. And I wanted to make absolutely sure it was for you. I always believed so, but . . . I had to know. That you felt it call you proves it beyond doubt.”

The idea that an amazingly powerful prehistoric shield chose him did make Conner feel a little better. He must not be a complete failure as a ranger if he was supposed to have the Triassic powers. “It was cool,” he said.

“Good. Now, I think Trent went to the Cyberspace to help Hayley. You can go apologize by helping him close up.”

“What?” He had been going to apologize, of course, just not now, and not while doing an activity lasting some time and requiring cooperation.

Dr. O patted his shoulder. “Of course, you could always stay here and I could think of a punishment for disobeying orders and convincing your teammates to go along with you.”

Conner sighed. Anything Dr. O picked would doubtless be doubly horrible in punishment for him trying to avoid Trent, and as he had planned to apologize anyway . . . “Fine. I’m going.”

“Good. I’ll call Hayley and tell her you’re on your way.”

Conner scowled at the back of Dr. O’s helmet, then decided keeping quiet would be the best option.

--

The Cyberspace was mostly deserted when Conner walked in, only a few computers still occupied. All the tables were clear, and the sofas. Trent gave Conner an awkward wave from behind the bar.

“Hey,” he said. “Hayley said you were going to help close up?”

He didn’t have to sound that doubtful. “I do know how,” Conner informed him. “I’ve helped Hayley before.”

“Yeah, I know, I just . . .” Trent trailed off. Conner fidgeted, looking at the ground. Since when was apologizing so hard? He glanced at the customers still on the computers. He should wait till they left. He wasn’t wimping out or anything, just . . . well, what if they heard something about ranger business?

Trent gestured at the table. “If you want, you could wipe down the tables and put the chairs up.”

Nice, easy, and wouldn’t involve going near the bar. As a downside, it would signal pretty strongly to the customers that they were supposed to be leaving.

He really, really didn’t want them to go.

“That’s fine,” he said to the floor, avoiding looking at Trent as he circled round the bar to get a cloth.

They worked in silence, Conner running through words in his mind. He’d never been good at talking, or at knowing what to say. Trent didn’t try making conversation, just locked the refrigerators in silence.

Conner watched the last customer walk towards the door with a growing feeling of despair. Trent was going to laugh at him, refuse to accept the apology, insult him, make him grovel . . . or worse, act like he didn’t care at all what Conner had said. But as soon as the door swung shut, Conner dropped the cloth and turned to Trent.

“Trent? Can I talk to you a sec?”

Trent dropped the glass he’d been holding. It bounced on the floor, cracked, and fell to pieces on the next hit. “Sorry!” Trent said, bending down.

Okay. So, not exactly how Conner had imagined it going, but that was fine. He could deal. He twisted his fingers together as he watched Trent clear up the mess, wishing the other boy would hurry up. He just really wanted to get this over again.

“Sorry,” Trent repeated, standing up. He looked slightly redder than usual. “I didn’t . . . sorry. Anyway, what were you going to say?”

Conner stared at him. Suddenly, everything he’d rehearsed—which wasn’t much—disappeared, replaced by a white fog that seemed to block him from thinking of anything. “Uh . . .”

Trent looked down. He was still holding the pieces of broken glass, smeared with some pink stuff Conner would never have dared drink. When Conner didn’t say anything else, he said, “I just have to go throw these out, okay?”

Conner nodded. As Trent left, he went forward to sit at the bar. Maybe this would be easier if he wasn’t trying to stand and talk at the same time.

When Trent returned, he didn’t give himself a chance to get nervous. “Trent, I’m sorry. For thinking you were evil and being a jerk and everything.” He glanced at Trent, who looked several miles past ‘surprised’ and approaching ‘stunned’. “And I’m not just apologizing ‘cause Dr. O said. I was going to anyway.” It felt important for Trent to know that. “I know you’re good now.”

Trent paused, staring down at his still pink and sticky hands. He shook his head, looking at Conner again. “Wait, you believe I’m good now?”

Conner nodded. “The Shield . . . and then, the Triassic power . . . it’s kind of hard to explain. I can’t not know. Not just because of what you did, but because . . .” He shrugged. “It’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Oh.”

Conner waited for more of a reaction, because he might just kill Trent if ‘oh’ was the only thing he was going to say. Eventually, Trent shook his head again. “Conner, it’s . . . I’m really glad you know I’m not evil anymore. Really, really glad.” He did look it, smiling as he spoke. “Thank you for apologizing. You really didn’t have to.”

Was that it? It felt anti-climatic, after all Conner’s worry. Like something more should have happened. “I did need to,” he said. “I was a jerk.”

“You thought I was evil. That’s a pretty good excuse.”

“Everyone else knew you were telling the truth.”

“Everyone else could have been wrong.”

Conner shrugged, wishing Trent wasn’t being quite so reasonable. This would be easier if he’d rub it in Conner’s face a bit, rather than being so nice.

He realized Trent was hovering, waiting for Conner to do something, so he stood and took a few steps back. “Um, I should go. I have soccer practice tomorrow.”

Trent just nodded, and Conner felt a flash of disappointment. He didn’t know what he wanted, just . . .something. Something that would make things seem a little bit better.

But Trent didn’t say anything, so he turned and headed for the door. Once there, he paused, looking around. “Oh! Dr. O told me I should—”

“No, it’s fine. You helped. I can finish.”

Conner nodded, relieved he could leave. This was just too awkward and horrible. “Okay. See you.”

“See you.”

--

Like before, Conner caught the ball as Alexi came running after it. “Here,” he said.

Alexi took it with a smile. “Thank you.”

He didn’t run back to the others. “So, how are you?” Conner asked.

Alexi squinted up at him, tossing the ball nervously from hand to hand. “Good, uh . . . you are Conner, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Look, I just wanted to say that—” Conner began.

At the same time, Alexi said, “Conner, I just wanted to—”

They both broke off, grinning to cover embarrassment. “You first,” said Conner.

Alexi shook his head. “No, you.”

Fine with him. “Look, I just want to say I’m sorry. About getting all up in your face back at the Cybercafé. I mean, my friends are always telling me to shut up, and—”

Alexi caught on fast. “Please, stop.”

Conner grinned. “Yeah, just like that.”

But Alexi didn’t return the grin, looking at the ground again. “No, no, it’s me, I . . . my English, it’s not very good, and I just don’t think that you will understand me.”

Conner felt understanding dawn. “So that’s why you didn’t want to talk before?”

“I am, ah, how you say . . . nervous about my English.”

“Dude, your English is great!” Besides, as long as he knew how to play soccer, who cared? “Look, let’s forget the whole thing and start again. Deal?”

Alexi grinned. “Deal.”

--