Conner turned, and walked away.

He heard footsteps following, but only one pair. Dr. O, then. Kira might have let Trent follow on his own, but Ethan wouldn’t have. He managed to make it around the corner before Dr. O caught up with him.

“You okay?”

No. He’d walked far enough that they had some privacy, so instead of brushing Dr. O off with an easy excuse he said, “I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if I’m cut out for this super-hero stuff.”

“Still have doubts?”

“It’s just when . . . you see someone like Krista, who believes so strongly in what she’s doing that nothing can stop her. I don’t know if I have that in me.”

Of all the possible reactions he’d thought of, laughter hadn’t really been top of the list. Dr. O shook his head, still smiling. “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.” Too much, according to most people.

But Dr. O shook his head again. “Cockiness and confidence are two different things. There’s a whole world you haven’t even tapped into yet. Beyond Triassic power and Super Dino Mode. But you gotta believe you deserve it. And when you do, you’ll be blown away by what you can do.”

Conner paused, struggling for a response. Maybe Ethan would have been able to come up with something meaningful, or Kira, but he felt like his tongue had turned into a dead lump, incapable of movement. He wanted to ask Dr. O more, about whether he was just saying that, or if it might really be true.

And then the alarm beeped behind them, and his worries about Krista came rushing back. “What’s up?” he called, only to get the answer when he saw the screen: triptoids. Pity. He hadn’t missed them. At least Krista was nowhere in sight.

“Is it Zeltrax?” asked Dr. O.

“No,” said Hayley. “But it looks like some of his old friends are throwing him a welcome back party.”

“We can handle the triptoids.” Conner almost looked forwards to it.

“Trent, you stay here in case Zeltrax makes another appearance,” said Dr. O.

Like, where the tree used to be. Where Krista was.

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind as Trent replied, “You got it,” sliding past him to take the chair next to Hayley.

“Ready?” Conner asked the others, morpher appearing on his wrist. They nodded back, and he flipped the Dino plate on his morpher, yelling, “Dino Thunder, power up!”

Morphed, they headed towards the bunker where Dr. O kept the Raptor Cycles. Kira and Ethan went in first, but Conner wanted—needed—to ask Dr. O something.

“Dr. O?” He grabbed his teacher’s arm just before he followed the others out the door.

“Yes?”

Easier to ask this, somehow, when they both had helmets on. Less revealing. “Do you believe I deserve it? What you were talking about earlier?”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you believe it.”

So not helpful. “But . . . how do I get that much passion about being a ranger?”

“Conner, passion doesn’t just happen. You make it grow.” And now it was Dr. O’s turn to grab Conner’s arm before he left. “And Conner . . . I do believe you deserve it. I always have.”

--

“You played right into my hands!” Zeltrax said, clutching the hunk of broken wood that was all that remained of his tree-monster. “Eternal life is mine!”

They didn’t have time to dodge as pink light blasted at them, knocking them all to the ground.

And when Conner looked up, Zeltrax was gone.

“Where is he?”

“He got away!” Kira sounded ready to kick something. Probably Zeltrax. “What did he mean, ‘we played right into his hands’?”

Dr. O didn’t answer her. He was already talking into his communicator. “Hayley, where is he?”

“I don’t know. For some reason the scanners are having trouble picking him up. I think you’re going to have to search the old fashioned way.”

“Keep trying,” said Dr. O. “We split up. Where would he go?”

“Back to the spring,” said Conner. “I’ll go there.” And pray that Krista had come to her senses and left.

“Good,” said Dr. O. “Ethan, you go—”

Conner didn’t stop to hear. He ran to his Raptor Cycle, speeding back towards the school.

--

He arrived just in time to see Zeltrax throw the remains of the tree into the spring of life, roaring as fresh power poured into him. Krista lay on the grass, and from her face he didn’t think she’d be able to get up and run anytime soon.

“Stay back, Krista!” he yelled, hoping she wouldn’t recognize his voice.

Zeltrax turned to face him, looking stronger than ever. “Meddling fool!”

Conner had his Thundermax Saber out before Zeltrax finished talking. He ran towards Zeltrax, who pulled out his staff. He blocked Conner’s first four strikes easily, ducking when Conner tried a spinning kick.

Mistake. The move put him off balance enough for Zeltrax to strike him across the chest, sparks flying from the impacts. The third hit knocked him to the ground, and he rolled away, clutching on to his saber.

He struggled to get up. Zeltrax strode over to Krista, grabbing her by the arm and hauling her to her feet. “Come with me,” he growled, Krista crying out in fear.

“No, please, let me go!”

“You will be a lesson to anyone who crosses me.”

He looked up, and before Conner could do anything they disappeared in a flash of red light.

“No! Krista.” He managed to struggle up, his communicator starting to bleep on his wrist.

“Conner,” came Hayley’s voice. “There’s been a sudden spike of energy at the old quarry. I’m still not picking up anything clear, but it might be Zeltrax.”

Conner staggered towards his cycle, feeling that however fast he got there, he would be too late.

--

Conner drove as far as he could, getting off only when the quarry rocks became impossible to pass. He went as fast as he could on foot, still aching from Zeltrax’s earlier blast.

“Krista!” he shouted, hoping she was still capable of yelling. “Where are you?”

No response, and he stumbled, one of his knees buckling under him. He wanted to drop to the ground, just give up, because it was really a miracle he hadn’t demorphed yet. Whatever power the spring of life had given Zeltrax, it was more than Conner could stand up to.

Where were the others?

He heard a faint scream, and looked up. What he saw made him wish he hadn’t. Zeltrax was half way up a cliff, holding a screaming Krista under one arm as he climbed.

“Krista!”

They both looked at him.

“Let her go!”

This time, Zeltrax didn’t even bother to reply. His eyes glowed yellow, and light came blasting at Conner. Even after traveling over hundreds of meters it had enough force to send Conner flying backwards.

He hit the ground hard, hearing Krista scream again.

The sound made him try to push himself up, but he could only make it as far as his knees.

He still couldn’t hear the roar of approaching Raptor Cycles. And Zeltrax could drop Krista at any minute, or just blast her, and if Conner could barely survive it in morph . . .

He remembered Dr. O’s words about power. About how he would be amazed at what he could do. And about how he had to make it happen.

“Alright,” he said, somehow forcing himself to his feet and barely realizing he was speaking aloud. “Now would be a really good time.”

He forgot his doubts. He forgot the mistakes he’d made, the times he thought he could have done better. He forgot everything, stopped thinking, and felt the power.

At first it was familiar. His tired muscles recharged in an instant as his suit grew spikes, accessing Super Dino Mode without any help from him. But then that passed, and he felt Triassic power, but without any help from Kira or Ethan.

And then it changed again, becoming stronger, more his, and he suddenly knew what he could do.

“Battilizer, power up!”

It grew on his back, fire-like power surging around him as it did. He felt his body become stronger, felt the impossible disappearing. Like this, he could do anything. He felt like he could take on Mesogog himself.

Zeltrax? No problem.

“Nice trick,” snarled Zeltrax. “But you’re too late!”

More than a trick, Conner wanted to tell him. And he wasn’t too late.

“Try me.”

Krista screamed as Zeltrax flung out his arm, throwing her into the air hundreds of meters above the ground. There should have been no way Conner could get to her in time, and he imagined Zeltrax thinking that Conner would only be able to watch he fall.

“Super stretch!” he commanded, and like they didn’t even belong to him anymore, like they were no longer human, his arms extended till they grabbed Krista. He pulled her back to land beside him.

She stared at him in amazement. “You okay?” he asked, then remembered that he was supposed to be the Red Ranger, not Conner McKnight. “Take cover over there!”

“Okay,” she said, and ran.

“Zeltrax!” Conner yelled. “Don’t go away mad! Just go away!”

He blasted Zeltrax, but Zeltrax managed to jump away, landing on top of the cliff. “I will not be defeated!”

Conner ran forwards as Zeltrax blasted away part of the cliff, sending rocks showering down. Some of them hit Conner as he jumped up, and others he used as stepping stones, till he landed facing Zeltrax.

Now, it was on.

He grabbed Zeltrax’s staff, but Zeltrax was still too strong for him to yank it away without a major struggle. He let go, spinning round to build up force before punching Zeltrax in the chest.

And watched as Zeltrax went flying backwards, skidding along the ground before coming to a halt. “Battle punch!” he commanded as Zeltrax got to his feet, and slammed his fist into the ground. It sent shockwaves flying towards Zeltrax, but the cyborg managed to stay standing.

Now it was Zeltrax’s turn to attack, trying to blast Conner with his staff. Conner dodged easily, using the cliff to vault over Zeltrax and land facing him on his other side. Their next struggle only lasted seconds before Conner grabbed Zeltrax and simply threw him into the air. As Zeltrax fell, Conner jumped up himself, spinning and kicking Zeltrax, who went flying backwards over the cliff edge.

Some part of Conner had gone numb with shock, but the rest of him was filled with an almost arrogant confidence.

His strength felt limitless. Zeltrax, who earlier had pounded Conner almost to defeat, was powerless against him.

He jumped after Zeltrax, barely noticing the distance to the ground. “Super stretch kick!” he commanded, his leg shooting to an impossible length and slamming Zeltrax to the ground.

Conner landed several meters away, hearing an explosion behind him. He spun round, to see only a cloud of dust. “Had enough?”

Zeltrax reeled to his feet. “Never!”

Fine with Conner. “You asked for it.” The new power gave him new knowledge, each weapon springing to mind just as he needed it. “Dragon yo-yo!”

It looked like a yo-yo, anyway, a spinning ball of light on the end of a fiery rope he could use to fling it at Zeltrax. It hit Zeltrax four times. Zeltrax staggered, but Conner didn’t wait to see if he would fall. “Cannon!”

The weight on his back increased as the cannon formed on his shoulders. He jumped up, to hit Zeltrax from above. “Battle blast! Fire!”

Red energy slammed into Zeltrax, and by the time Conner landed, Zeltrax had fallen to the ground in a second huge explosion.

And Conner didn’t think he’d be coming out of this one asking for more.

He hadn’t even noticed the others arriving, but now they came running over to him from where they’d been standing with Krista. “Dude!” Ethan yelled. “That rocked!”

“Good job,” said Dr. O.

“Yeah!”

“Thanks,” said Conner, the part of him that felt numb with amazement starting to win out.

He would have powered the Battilizer down, but from behind them he heard a familiar growl.

Zeltrax had survived.

Conner spun round to see him struggling up, looking his old self: his new powers from the spring of life destroyed. “This is only a small set back,” Zeltrax rasped, struggling to walk. “You can be sure of that!”

And in a flash of red light, he disappeared.

Conner stepped forwards, feeling only confidence when he said, “We’ll be ready.”

--

“I wanted to go and find Krista,” said Conner, not wanting to brush Dr. O off but not wanting to stay too long either. “Apologize for earlier.”

Dr. O smiled. “She might be a little busy at the moment.” He nodded towards the screen. “You were all too busy celebrating to pay attention to the news. The city council have announced that they’re abandoning plans to build a parking lot, and are going to plant a new tree there instead. And guess who they’ve asked to do the honors?”

“Krista?”

“Well, it said the organizer of the demonstration, but I think that’s her.”

Conner couldn’t help but grin, imagining Krista’s reaction. “She’ll be so pleased.”

“Yeah. And so am I.”

“What?” Conner frowned, wondering if he’d missed something, because Dr. O hadn’t seemed that worried about the tree . . .

Dr. O smiled, shook his head, and clarified. “With you. You did really well today.”

Conner felt himself blush, and looked at the ground rather than meet Dr. O’s eyes. “Thanks, I guess.”

“How did it feel? Using the battilizer, I mean?”

“Amazing. I just couldn’t believe how powerful I felt. It was like I wasn’t even human anymore, like I couldn’t be hurt by anything . . .”

“Yeah, well, don’t get over-confident.”

“I won’t.” And hadn’t Dr. O been telling him earlier that he needed more confidence? “But even without it, I feel different. Like I’m more aware of my Dino Gem. And it just makes me feel . . . I don’t know. Stronger.” Like he might be an okay ranger.

“Good. So, maybe in future you’ll believe people when they tell you you’re a good ranger, and a great leader?”

Conner grinned. “Maybe.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

--

“And then they came and asked if I was alright, and the Blue Ranger walked me back into town.”

Conner smiled, remembering their hurried discussion over whose voice Krista was least likely to recognize. “Pretty exciting stuff.”

“I know. I mean, it’s like something you see on TV.” She shook her head. “I still can’t believe it would happen. And why Zeltrax would go after a tree like that! It’s just . . . evil . . .”

“Maybe it was something to do with the strange silver water you saw.”

“Maybe.”

He hesitated before what he said next, unsure of her response. “Krista . . . I’m sorry I didn’t come with you.” Because how must it look to her? Him staying behind in safety while she went off into danger? “I just . . .”

“No, no. You were right. It was too dangerous, and I should have listened. And don’t get used to hearing that! But sometimes I just get so caught up in things I don’t think. And that would have been one of those times.”

“But that’s what makes you so great! Because you don’t care about the danger, you just do what you think is right. I really admire you for that.”

She stopped walking, looking up at him, eyes wide and startled. “You admire me?”

“Yeah.” She still didn’t look convinced, so he tried to explain. “You’re just so passionate about what you believe in. It’s like, nothing can stop you. And you’re just so dedicated. You give up all this time just because you believe in something, and I’ve never seen you complain or look unhappy about it.”

She actually blushed, something Conner didn’t think he’d ever seen her do before. “Thank you . . . but, you know, you make me sound like some kind of saint! And I’m really not. Sometimes I do just wish I could stay in bed, or watch TV instead of drawing posters. But . . . don’t you wish you could sometimes stay in bed, instead of going out running in the morning?”

“How do you know I do that?” Because that was quite creepy. Hardly anyone knew he did that, mainly ‘cause it didn’t fit in with the whole ‘effortlessly good’ image.

“Trent told me. You were missing a math class because of a soccer match, so we sat next to each other. We got talking.”

Which creeped him out just a little, imagining Krista and Trent talking about him. “It’s not the same.”

“Yeah? Because to me . . . I mean, I would just never do that. But you always seem excited about soccer, even when it’s raining or you think you’re going to lose. And you put so much work into it. I kind of . . . well, I kind of wished I could be that dedicated about what I do. That I don’t just do it, but be really happy while I did.”

“It’s not the same.” It was true, he loved soccer, and before becoming a ranger it had pretty much been his whole life, but . . . “It’s not helping people, is it? It’s not a cause, like you have. I mean, the environment . . . that’s important. Soccer’s not.”

“It is to you. And if you want a cause, why not find one? I wasn’t born caring about the environment, you know. Yeah, I’m passionate about it now, but it took a long time. And you have to work at it, and keep working, to stay dedicated.”

He remembered Dr. O’s words again. ‘Passion doesn’t just happen. You have to make it grow.’

Could he do that? He didn’t love rangering like he loved soccer, but maybe that just meant he’d have to work harder. And there were some bits he liked. The power, the training with Dr. O, being with the team. Which was more than some of the others enjoyed. They complained about training, but Conner actually looked forward to it.

And he’d saved Krista, used the Battilizer without help from anyone else, and, okay, the tree might be gone, but Zeltrax hadn’t exactly looked in the best of shape.

“Do you think it matters if you don’t feel confident about something?” he asked. “As long as you try hard, and do okay at it? And sometimes better than okay?”

“I think if I was doing that, I’d start to feel confident. Isn’t that how it works?”

He felt more confident now than he had before. Confident enough to say to Krista, “I have something to tell you.”

“What?”

He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of telling her before. Embarrassment? Fear? But if anyone would understand, it would be her, surely. And he owed her. “You know I’ve been hanging around with you a bit, and asking questions . . .”

“I had noticed.”

“Well . . . you know Trent?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re going out.”

It came out in a rush, but she understood, eyes going wide as she clapped her hands to her face. Then she dropped them, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “If this is some kind of—”

“Krista, honestly, would I joke about this?” He bit his lip, willing her to take him seriously, say something that would make it alright.

“I never know with you.” But then she smiled, her face lighting up. “You know, everything kind of makes more sense now. I would never have guessed, but now I know?” She shook her head, still looking amazed. “I’m really happy for you.”

Was that it? It felt over so quickly, but anything but anti-climatic. He felt bubbly inside, happy and excited, delighted at finally having told someone. On impulse, he hugged Krista, squeezing her hard. “Thank you.”

“Well, what did you think I was going to say?” she said, gently pushing him away.

He shook his head, not replying. She smiled, taking his arm. “Well, come on. Because someone really nice recently took me to this place called Hayley’s, and I want to go there again . . .”

--

He found Trent walking alone, obviously headed back home after the party at the cyberspace. Conner hadn’t even seen him leave until Kira pointed it out, and now he ran up to jump on Trent from behind.

“Ow!” Trent yelled, and Conner saw him tense to fight before he realized who it was. “Conner! I was about to hit you.”

“I wanted to surprise you.” He left his arm around Trent’s shoulders, leaning against him just hard enough to make Trent poke him in the ribs.

“Get off. Why aren’t you still at the party, anyway?”

Conner didn’t let go, but Trent didn’t complain again. “I wanted to see you. Why’d you leave?”

“Tired.”

He did look tired, his eyes shadowed. Conner supposed it must have been a long day for him. The cyberspace had been busy even before they all turned up to celebrate the new tree. “Well, we can go watch a DVD or something.”

He didn’t bother to check if anyone was around before kissing Trent, feeling reckless and bubbly with happiness. Trent kissed him back briefly, before shoving him away. “We’re in public.”

“So?”

“Doesn’t that normally worry you?”

Conner shrugged. “I told Krista. About us. She says she’s happy for us.”

Trent studied him for a minute, before smiling and ducking his head. “Good. ‘Cause I’m quite happy for us too.”

--