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It wasn't the first time that Conner had met Xander. After Kira had gotten back from fighting with her new team, she'd insisted on introducing both of her teams to each other. Tori had easily just smirked at the other Dino Thunder Rangers, who grinned back at her. As always, Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder had stayed in touch. Hayley had muttered to anyone who would listen that they were more trouble that way, but it wasn't like either side couldn't be completely chaotic on their own so it was nice that it was just one, larger, chaotic event when they were together. Granted, even Conner knew that they probably tripled the chaos so it wasn’t actually easier on anyone. Bridge hadn't been able to stay long before he'd had to flee back to the future. Adam had regretted every moment of staying as they asked him question after question regarding their mentor and not a single Dino Thunder Ranger was apologetic about it. That just left Xander. It had been, sadly, a quick introduction as the various teams needing to head home, but Conner was taken in by the other’s style and the fact that he was extremely hot. He knew he should have gotten his number, but he'd been distracted at the time. And then he'd been busy with the camps and he’s put thoughts of the other Ranger to the side.
When Krista had called him to help in her latest advocacy event, he'd agreed. He'd easily gotten the parents to sign off on it, as most of the kids in his camps were low-income and it would help the parents to have a place for their kids to go for the day, and he'd been willing to foot the bill. This did mean, however, that he had several tiny and excitable children that were ready to cause mischief and get into everything. They were also, for children, excited about being able to do grown-up things to help save the planet, which was the reason he had brought them to begin with. Krista had handed him a shirt and buttons to the children and he just let them run around after that with supervision, amused by them telling anyone who would listen that they were saving trees and plants as if everyone there wasn’t doing the same. Fortunately, most of the people were amused and Conner was able to redirect if they weren’t.
"That is a lot of kids, mate."
Conner turned and saw Xander standing there, just watching the tiny terrors run around. "You'd be surprised what parents are willing to sign off on to get the kids out of the house for a couple of hours, dude."
"Didn't expect you to be at this sort of thing," Xander told him.
"Same," he fired back and Xander laughed slightly.
"You'd be right if my magic wasn't dependent on it," he admitted. "And that time I nearly turned into a tree."
"Seriously?"
"Magic is weird," Xander told him. Conner considered this and shrugged.
"Guess it's not any weirder than anything else we did," he admitted. "Do they know you can do magic here?"
"50/50," Xander said. "We've been keeping less of a secret about Briarwood since we heard some aliens are coming to Earth. They're going to have a hard time."
"And you think the better idea is to open yourselves up to prejudice?" Conner asked. Xander shrugged.
"Makes it easier to give any new Earth resident a place to go," he answered. "And if you look at the woods some politicians are looking at, Briarwood is on the chopping block, so someone is already upset with us."
"Huh," Conner said. "So, since you can, can you grab Abby for me?"
Xander shrugged and used the roots from one of the trees to turn her around. The child in question giggled in delight, but made her way back to the others. Xander just looked at Conner. "Letting them loose seems like a lot of trouble."
"They're fine," Conner assured him, knowing where every single one of them were. "Just excitable. Dylan! Get down! That tree's too little. Try the other one!"
Xander gave him an amused look. "What if he falls?"
"Like you'd let him fall, dude," Conner said, waving it off. Xander was a fellow Ranger who wasn't in hiding at the moment. Whether or not he was good with kids, Conner knew he'd do the right thing and catch the kids if necessary. Xander looked like he wanted to protest, but didn't. Conner, in turn, motioned for all of them to come over which they did minus one. "Catch Dylan for me, will ya?"
"What... oh shi... shoot," Xander said, catching his language as the kids rushed by him. He reached up and caught Dylan with a vine and set him next to Conner. Conner folded his arms at the kid.
"You're lucky Mr. Xander was there to catch you. What did I say about jumping before we got here?" He asked.
"Don't."
"And what did you do?"
"Jumped," he answered. "I won't anymore!"
"Good. Now thank Mr. Xander," he said.
"Thank you, Mr. Xander," Dylan parroted.
"No problem, mate," Xander said, sounding more confident than he likely was. Conner was great with kids, having set up the camps for them. Xander seemed like his strengths were in other things which Kira had mentioned. Still, he seemed to be impressed by Conner, which the latter was taking as a win. He really needed to ask for Xander's number when this was over and he wasn't distracted by his tiny soccer players.
"Xander! You're up!" Krista called out easily. She gave her ex-boyfriend an amused look as Conner was watching. When he was pretty sure the kids weren't looking, he scowled at her playfully and she grinned even harder. If this didn't end up making its way to Cassidy, he'd be shocked. Gossip rags weren't Cassidy's bread and butter, but she was exceedingly nosy and wanted to hear about how her former classmates and friends were doing. Krista would likely let it slip to her for Cassidy's agreement to push the protest on her blog if the paper wouldn't touch it. Cassidy's ability to alternate the two types of reporting was next level in impressive.
He watched as Xander gave an impassioned speech right after, but Conner wasn't paying too close of attention. Instead, he was focused on Xander's movements, the confidence he radiated when he was speaking. He was definitely giving Xander his number and if he forgot, he was nagging Ethan until the other found it for him. The Green Mystic Ranger finished, heading back over as Krista once again took over the group. Conner looked around and then back at Xander. "I think you riled them up."
"That was the goal," Xander said. "I'm not worried about Briarwood. Anyone who tries anything is in for a bad day. We're its protectors after all."
"Not worried about the law?"
"That's Madison's dilemma and I think she’s the only one. Vida will back me up. So will Chip and Nick," he said. "It's going to be getting half of them to pull back that will be the problem."
"We can send Kira to stop them. Or help them. She still has her scream from your team up," Conner offered. "Ethan, Trent, and I are, sadly, still powerless."
"What happened with that? Kira mentioned it," he said. Conner reached into his pocket and tossed his drained gem to Xander.
"No Power," he said. "It just... stopped."
Xander looked at it. "Stopped?"
"We shoved all the power it had into a crazy lizard," Conner answered, cheerfully ignoring the internal reminder from Dr. O that dinosaurs weren't lizards and that even crocodiles would be closer. Conner didn't care because crocodiles were kind of cool and scary and Mesogog sucked. Dr. Mercer never corrected him because he also knew Mesogog sucked and was also evil once and wanted the trio to like him.
"I think this is beyond Udonna," Xander admitted. "But we might be able to get Mystic Mother to help."
"Who the... Power is Mystic Mother?" Conner asked, biting back the swear.
"The head of all good magic," Xander told him. "She can probably fix it."
"Here, give me your number and we can go when I don't have the kids with me," Conner said, catching Abby around the waist as she moved to sneak off. Xander grinned at him as he handed it over. Conner hoped he wasn't the only one interested.
***
"So, I still have zero magic," Conner reminded Xander.
"Yep."
"And you're sure that won't be a problem?" Conner asked and Xander looked at him.
"Worst case scenario, she asks you to leave," Xander said. "But we're meeting at Root Core and Udonna is fine with you being there so Mystic Mother probably will be too."
Conner just nodded as they headed in. An older woman made her way over. "You must be Conner. I’m Udonna. Xander let me know you were coming to talk to Mystic Mother."
"I'm hoping she might be able to fix the gems," he said. He held out three and looked a little sheepish. "I mentioned it to Trent and Ethan and they wanted to see if she could fix theirs too. As long as it doesn't like hurt her, dude."
Udonna gave him an encouraging smile. "She'll let you know if it's a problem."
Conner nodded as Xander sat down next to him. He gave Xander a semblance of a smile as there was a glow of light as Mystic Mother stood before them. She smiled at Udonna, taking her hands gently in greeting before turning to Conner and Xander.
"I understand you have a question for me," she said, taking a seat across from them. Xander nodded.
"Conner asked me if I could ask you to help him recharge his powers."
"And what sort of mage are you?" Mystic Mother asked, looking at Conner. He noted that this seemed to just be a normal situation for her and he paused when he realized it was. It was likely that other witches and wizards came to her when they realized something was wrong with their magic and asking for one of the Mystic Force Rangers to mediate made sense.
"Well, I'm not," Conner said. She blinked once, waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, she reached up and touched her head in a way that Conner had seen Tommy do when he was annoyed with the four of them, but not angry enough to scold them. "I'm... well, I was, a Power Ranger."
Her hand slipped back down to her side as she understood. "First, you don't stop being a Power Ranger simply because your morpher doesn't work."
"Well, sure," Conner said. "I know the 'Once a Ranger' motto. I'd still run through a burning building..."
"I have no doubt about that," she said quickly. "But I'm more concerned about your self-esteem on this one. You did something that few others have done. I should know. I'll see what I can do to help, but sometimes the Power drains from an item."
"If it doesn't work, I'm not going to be in a different position," he agreed. "Here are the other two."
"Only two?" She asked. "There were three of you?"
"Five," Conner answered. "Kira got hers back during her team-up with Xander. Ethan, Trent, and I didn't. And Dr. O has like 7 million other morphers so he's probably fine because he already can morph using the... uh... red one. Neo, maybe?"
"Possibly 'Zeo'?" She asked and Conner grinned.
"That's it!" He said. "Ethan keeps track of all of that better so I just ask him. It drives Dr. O up the wall."
"Does your 'Dr. O' happen to be Tommy Oliver?" She asked.
"Yep," Conner answered. "Do you know him?"
"We've met," she answered. "And I believe you're right on him already having a morpher. If he wants this one fixed, let him know he can come see me. But for now, let's see the gems you have."
Conner didn't missed that Xander moved in closer as she took the gems. He could have just been trying to get a better look at what she was doing, but he was pretty sure he didn't need to be closer to Conner for that. Udonna politely ignored it while Mystic Mother raised an eyebrow and looked somewhat amused before focusing. Maybe Conner wasn't imagining things. She moved the gems in her hand somewhat and relaxed slightly.
"The good news is, Conner, that this won't be difficult to fix. The Power isn't gone as much as it's dormant," she explained.
"Like a volcano?" He asked, not quite sure where she was going with this.
"Like a volcano," she agreed. “Eventually, in time, it would gather enough energy to wake up. However, it’s also like a battery which means that it can collect an outside power which means I can use magic to wake it up."
"It won't hurt you or anything will it?" He asked.
"I'm the Empress of all Good Magic," she said dryly. "I think I can handle a little zap."
"Sorry," Conner said, realizing he'd insulted her. "I don't know this magic thing and usually Ethan or Kira stop me from saying stupid shit."
"Not Trent?" She asked, catching onto their names a lot quicker than Conner would have been able to.
"Nah," he answered. "We have a good relationship now, but part of the getting past it is that he just watches while I get slammed and laughs."
"And you want her to fix his, mate?" Xander teased and Conner waved him off.
"Hayley says that we only can speak through sarcasm for a reason," he answered. Both of the other two just looked amused by that. A quick glance told him that Udonna was trying not to laugh. Xander wasn't able to reply before she was using magic on the gems and they watched as the gems colored and then brightened.
"Here you are," she said, handing the gems back. Conner gingerly touched his and was giddy to feel the super speed rushing through him. He'd missed it.
"Thanks, Mystic Mother," he said honestly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Two things," she said and he nodded. "First, tell me how you met Tommy."
"Oh, he was my high school teacher," he said. She nodded, though she did seem to be surprised by that fact. Probably because he had a doctorate and was still teaching instead of doing doctor stuff. "What's the other thing?"
"Tell him 'Rita' says hello," she answered. Conner shrugged.
"I can do that," he agreed. "Thanks, again!"
She just nodded. "It was good to meet you, Conner. I'm glad I could help the three of you. And good luck to you and Xander."
She disappeared before he could protest that they weren't actually dating. Nor did they have any sort of relationship whatsoever. Conner looked at Udonna. "Is she always like that?"
"Not that I've ever seen," she answered. "But I'm not sure she's ever had the opportunity to either."
Conner shared a look with Xander. They were going to need to talk about this before it got out of control.
“Thanks for letting me stop by,” he said instead, as Xander motioned with his head. Udonna just assured him he was welcome back anytime as Conner followed Xander out, the two making sure no one else was around before they talked. Conner found himself starting.
"So, you're hot," he informed him. He felt his internal tact, what little there was, facepalm at that. It was interesting that his inner tact sounded like a mix of Ethan and Kira, come to think of it. He should probably think about that more later when he wasn't hoping to score a date. "Like, really hot, dude. That speech you gave turned me on."
Xander looked surprised, but also relieved by Conner's words. "Thought this was going to be harder than that, mate."
"I don't like things to be complicated," he answered.
"Well, you made an impression too."
"I was just watching a bunch of kids," Conner told him.
"You had command of a bunch of little kids," he told him. "Is that how you were as a leader?"
"That's... a long story," he admitted. "Dr. O used to be a Power Ranger. And then he got a new morpher and how do you go against your mentor?"
He gave a half shrug as Xander winced. "Sorry."
"Just because I couldn't on the field, didn't mean it wasn't pushing at me," he said. "So, I took it and used it with soccer and the camps. It works. And the other three listen to me well enough when we're in Power Ranger situations."
"Huh," Xander told him. "When do you have to be back in Reefside?"
"Whenever. We didn't know how long this was going to take."
"Want to go fuck for a bit since we've both been horny for days?"
"I just got the Power back. I'm hopped up on energy," Conner warned. Xander grinned.
"The kind of challenge I actually like," he told him. Conner wasn't certain they'd make it to a building. Thank the Power Xander could control plants because in fifteen seconds they were going to need the trees to block the view. Or grass. Or vines. His thoughts were interrupted when Xander pressed forward. They definitely weren't making it anywhere else and Conner was fine with that.