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It's later than usual when Dustin finally opens the door to the house he's renting with his two best friends. Between teaching a pretty rough class and then working until close at Storm Charger's, he's pretty wiped. He's really looking forward to just melting into the couch and watching something mindless on TV.
His keys clatter into the bowl they keep on a little table just inside the front door. Tori got it after the third time Dustin lost his keys so now the first thing he does is dump them there. There's something nice about seeing all their keys together when they're all home.
It also gives away whenever someone gets home.
"Yo Dustin, have you seen the new Yellow Ranger?" Shane calls from the living room.
"Other than Kira?" Dustin shouts back, taking a detour into the kitchen for a drink.
He contemplates the inside of the fridge for a moment, debating between a bottle of water or a beer. He settles on the beer. After the long day he's had he's earned it, so he pops the top off and heads for the living room.
"Haven't you heard of the new team in Briarwood?" Tori asks. She's kicked back in the cheap, used, but surprisingly comfy recliner they got at a flea market.
Shane is sprawled across their equally cheap loveseat that had a pattern so ugly Tori had insisted on getting a cover for it. The blue cover (because of course it's blue) is soft, but doesn't fit all that well. They spend more time than they should tucking it back under the edges.
Dustin taps his friend's shins and thankfully Shane takes mercy on him and sits up, freeing one seat. He plops down, making the whole thing creak in protest, and takes a quick swig of his beer
"Oh yeah, aren't they a something-Force," Dustin says, waving his bottle at the TV that's currently showing the news.
And the news is showing some shaky footage of said new team fighting whatever their villain's foot soldiers are called. They almost look like zombies or ghouls, but there's really no telling.
"Magic, mythic, mystic, something like that," Shane says, rearranging himself into a comfortable position. "Check out their Yellow though."
The video isn't great, but thankfully yellow is such an eye-catching color that he's able to pick out said Yellow Ranger. At first he doesn't see anything other than just a new ranger. They've got a cool bird type visor on their helmet and oh! They've got a cape!
"That cape is sick," Dustin exclaims.
"That would be what you'd focus on," Shane mutters with fond exasperation. "Look at what's missing."
Dustin frowns and tries to pick out what his friend is getting at. He's still trying when the footage ends and the news goes on to something else he doesn't particularly care about.
"Dude, I'm wiped, just tell me," Dustin whines, slouching in his seat.
Shane sighs the most put upon sigh. "Their Yellow doesn't have a skirt."
"Wait, you think it's a guy?" he asks, way more interested than he was seconds ago.
"Just because they don't have a skirt doesn't mean it's a guy," Tori objects in the way that indicates it's not the first time. "Maybe they just don't want the skirt."
"Fair point," Dustin allows, but it doesn't diminish the spark of enthusiasm in his gut. "But it does mean it's a possibility."
"A guy could also want to wear a skirt, y'know," Tori adds, and she sits up like she's about to go on another lecture, which Dustin just does not have the energy for.
"Chill Tor," Shane says quickly, "we're only going by the pattern so far. It's not our fault that the Power seems to code things that way."
Tori harumphs but, mercifully, relaxes again. "Alright, I'll give you that."
"Well, there's only one thing to do," Dustin declares, taking a swig of his beer to add anticipation. His friends are both watching him with barely disguised trepidation which rude, he has great ideas thank you very much. "I've got to take a road trip North."
"And by road trip you mean you're going to ninja streak up there and spy on them," Shane teases, elbowing him gently in the ribs.
Dustin shrugs, grinning at his friends. "It's not like it'll be hard to pick out the color-coded group of friends."
"You could see if their team has been added to the Ranger Network," Tori suggests only half-hearted-ly because she knows him. Knows his response even as she's saying it.
"But where's the fun in that?"
And that's how Dustin ends up in Briarwood several weekends later. He follows some signs to the downtown park, figuring it's a good place to start on a nice day. Rangers tend to be nature lovers and active bodies, so his thought process is to hang there and see if he spots any of the tell-tale signs (seriously how any team has kept secret identities is a wonder to him).
That's his plan, right up until he spots the sign for a shop called Rock Porium. It stands out among the traditional, plain looking buildings around it. Especially with the van and sidewalk sign making sure no one misses the hole in the wall place that most would probably pass by.
There's something there though, something niggling at his senses, familiar but different.
"Welcome to Rock Porium, let us know if you need help finding anything," he's greeted by a pretty girl with long dark hair, soft brown eyes, and a smile that lights up her face. She's helping, what he assumes is another employee given their matching purple work shirts, stock some shelves.
A grin stretches across Dustin's face when he realizes just what kind of shop it is. It's his kind of shop. There's a little of everything, including, of all things, a DJ stand where another girl is having the best time, bopping and dancing to the music she's playing. The comic book shelves definitely catch his eye, but another thing entirely is pulling at his senses.
There's that tingle of familiarity, like a buzz under his skin that says he knows it and yet there's something different. Like a remix of a favorite song, beloved but with a new twist.
"Hey, are you okay? You look a little lost."
Dustin startles a little at the curious voice whose owner somehow snuck up on him. That's not fair, he's the one that's supposed to be sneaking up on people. He didn't realize he was that tuned into that strange feeling and it's a little embarrassing, but at least Tori and Shane aren't here to see it.
He turns to the speaker —another employee. The very first thing he notices is that the dude has flaming red hair, which stands out so much in comparison to all the other employees who have darkish hair. He also has a boyishly good looking face liberally painted with freckles and the kind of eyes that seem to smile at you.
"Just not sure where to start," Dustin replies, eyes flicking to the nametag. "What do you suggest, Chip?"
"Well, if you're into comics we just got the new Lords of Light," Chip answers with no hesitation and an infectious amount of enthusiasm.
"Dude, no way! I forgot that was coming out so soon."
"I know, I can't wait to get off work and read it."
Dustin can't help but grin as Chip practically bounces away to the comic book shelves. He follows, of course, but then yet another employee comes in through a backdoor and the buzz under his skin intensifies. Now he's almost positive that it has something to do with his connection to the Earth, but how? It's instinct to turn towards the source and he locks eyes with the guy, seeing the same kind of curious confusion.
What the hell is going on? Dustin can't help but wonder.
The dude is definitely a looker. Come to think of it, all of the employees are pretty good looking. Which tickles a different spidey-sense because good-looking is definitely an unofficial ranger trait, or at least that's the consensus on the Network.
A quick glance around and yup—red, green, yellow, blue, and pink—the colors are there. And Chip is wearing yellow. Did that weird little familiar-but-not tingling really bring him right to his targets?
"Are you sure you're good, dude?"
Dustin whips his attention back to Chip, who is holding a comic and giving him full-on concerned puppy eyes. He brushes a hand through his hair and wonders just what he looks like to these guys that's had this stranger ask him twice if he's okay.
"Yeah man, I'm fine," he assures with a sheepish smile. "There's just this…feeling in the air."
"Feeling?"
Dustin bites his lip and decides to throw out a line and see what he catches. "Yeah, like a buzz? Or tingle? It got stronger when that dude walked in." He motions toward who he suspects is the Green of the team.
"You feel it too?" the dude in question asks (with an accent Dustin can't immediately place) eyebrows shooting up.
"Familiar, but not?"
"Yeah, that's it."
Dustin kinda wishes that Tori was here, because she's much better at subtle than he is. He knows he can't just come out and ask if they're rangers, but he's also not sure how to approach this Earth connection thing either. He'd come to talk to Yellow, he hadn't suspected the other thing.
"Well, uh, I have a very strong connection to the Earth," which is possibly the most awkward way he could've said that, but it's out there now. He is rewarded with the other guy's eyes going just that little bit wider before schooling into neutrality.
"I don't know what that means," the dude replies, but his eyes flick around to the other employees. There's no one else in the shop and all eyes are on the two of them like they're some kind of weird show.
Dustin bites his lip again, wondering if he should just back off and try to gather more evidence that these guys are who he thinks they are. That Earth connection is driving him nuts though. This guy in the green undershirt definitely has some kind of Earth connection, but it's different than his own.
"Y'know, a special kinda of connection, like the kind that might let me do things others can't." It's the most the most he's willing to reveal without the other dude giving him something to work with.
It's not the guy he's talking to that answers though. It's Chip.
"You mean like magic?"
He looks at Chip and can't help but grin at the eagerness written all over the dude's face. "Well, not exactly, not for me anyway. Is that how it works for you?"
The last question is directed back at the other dude, who looks like he's not sure how to respond.
"Chip," the DJ hisses. She's gone from vibin' to high alert, her fierce gaze laser-focused on Dustin.
Whatever anyone was going to say is abruptly cut off by the all too familiar panicked screams of civilians under attack. Different city, different villains, same old tired tactics. And damn if it doesn't still pull on every ranger instinct he has to get out there and fight. Except there's kind of an unspoken code in the Network—you don't interfere in another team's fight unless they ask or desperately need help.
"Uh, sorry man, we have to close up," Earth-connection guy says at the same time Chip starts ushering Dustin towards the exit.
That's really all the confirmation Dustin needs. This is definitely the new team and Chip is their Yellow.
Once he's outside, Dustin goes around a corner and then ninja streaks onto the roof to watch. It doesn't take long for all five Rock Porium employees to run out of the building and beeline for the park. He streaks along after them and gets himself into a good hidden spot to watch.
The monster is some kind of…thing. It's ugly as sin with sickly gray skin, four tentacle arms, and a big maw full of teeth.
Some quips are exchanged, as per battle tradition, and then he gets what he's been waiting for.
"Magical Source, Mystic Force!"
Huh, I think Shane even guessed Mystic Force.
There's a roll call, because of course there is, and he pays special attention to the Green Ranger.
"Strong as a tree, Green Mystic Ranger!"
Tree, huh? That's Earth in a different way for sure, especially with the magic twist to it. No wonder it's been needling at him.
The fight is going alright at the start, but it's super obvious how new to the Power they are. Definitely still learning how to fight and work as a team. They'll get better, he has no doubt about that, but they're not there yet.
Pink and Red are sent flying out of sight by a swipe from one tentacle, while Green and Blue get wrapped up by two others and slammed around all over the place. Yellow is free, but he's having to do more dodging and avoiding the tentacles than fighting, especially after he cuts one off and two more grow back.
Dustin grins despite himself. He doesn't miss the danger of having his own city in trouble, but he's not going to kid himself that he doesn't miss being an active ranger. There's a rush to it that nothing, not even winning a race can match.
"Ninja Storm, Ranger Form! HA!"
Power surges through him for the first time since his team helped the Dino Thunders and his body sings with it—from his toenails to the roots of his hair. For the life of him he'll never be able to explain the feeling to a non-ranger, nothing compares, not even the best orgasm he's ever had.
As soon as he's morphed he pulls his Lion Hammer and drops underground. He travels the short distance between his hiding spot and the battle, then launches himself up behind the monster. It doesn't even have a chance to realize he's there before Dustin slams his hammer down on the thing's head with all the force he can manage.
The monster bellows and flicks a tentacle around to grab at him, but Dustin drops back into the ground. He comes back out hammer first, catching the monster under what counts as a chin. As soon as his feet touch the ground his spins and brings all his strength and momentum around to bash the thing in its toothy maw.
As the monster flies backwards, Dustin backflips to where the Yellow Mystic Ranger is standing motionless.
"Hope you don't mind my intrusion, but you looked like you needed help," he says, propping his hammer on his shoulder.
"Y-You're the Yellow Ninja Ranger," Chip stutters, clearly awestruck.
"Yellow Wind Ranger, actually, but close enough."
"How about you hero worship after you free us!" the Green Ranger yells from where he's still being whipped around by a tentacle.
"Before I throw up," the Blue Ranger pleads.
"We can't cut the tentacles," Dustin muses, "but I bet crushing them will do the trick."
Chip nods eagerly. "As long as they're not severed, it can't duplicate."
"You keep it busy and I'll do the smashing," Dustin says and holds out his fist.
Chip bumps his fist and he can practically feel the other ranger vibrating with excitement. "Let's do it!"
From there everything happens real fast, as it tends to do when battles really get going. They free the other rangers just as Red and Pink come back with a vengeance. Dustin plans to back off and let them finish the fight, but wants to do one more thing before he does.
Grabbing one of the tentacles he smashed, he dives into the ground with it, then travels over to the other damaged one. He yanks it underground as well and then twists and tangles them together until it has no hope of using them again. Satisfied, he leaps into the air, catches a tree branch, and pulls himself up to sit on it.
The monster is apoplectic in its fury, but the Mystics use the advantage Dustin gave them and their teamwork clicks into place. The Green Ranger summons vines to capture the other tentacles and then it's an all out beat down. Each ranger takes a turn using their element—water, air, lightning—and then the red ranger finishes it off with a fiery attack.
Dustin braces along with the Mystics for the the monster to grow. When it doesn't, he let's himself tip off the branch and twists around to land in a superhero pose. They approach him as he straightens and he grins at how the Yellow Ranger is still practically vibrating.
"Hope you guys don't mind that I jumped in," Dustin says and raises his hand to brush his fingers through his hair before he remembers the helmet in the way.
"You saved our asses, but what are you doing here?" the Red Ranger asks, taking command of the situation like any good Red would.
"Honestly? I wanted to see if the your Yellow really was a dude," Dustin explains, his own enthusiasm bubbling up. "So far I'm the only one on Earth."
The Blue Ranger laughs and reaches over to squeeze Chip's shoulder. "You've probably just made his day."
"Day?" Chip says incredulous, "try week, maybe year."
"Easy mate, don't scare him off before you've even talked face-to-face," the Green Ranger teases.
"Speaking of," Red steps in, taking back control, "we should go to Root Core, you're welcome to come with us."
And that's how Dustin ends up in their tree base after having enthusiastically walked into the mouth of a dragon to get there. Okay, it was only the head of the dragon and it was shaped out of the tree, but it was still cool. He can't wait to tell Shane and Tori about it.
"You!" the Green Ranger crows when Dustin demorphs. "I knew there was something about you."
Dustin grins at him and holds out his hand. "I'm Dustin, and sorry if I freaked you out back in the store."
"Xander," the dude returns, demorphing and shaking his hand. "No worries, mate. It was just driving me nuts. You feel like-like a steady, low thrum."
"Weird, you feel like a buzz, like I dunno, energy and life under my skin?" Dustin combs a hand through his hair. "Must have something to do with how we connect to the Earth differently."
The other rangers demorph and introduce themselves—Red is Nick, Pink is Vida, Blue is Maddie—and by then Chip is literally bouncing in place. He only seems to get wound up further as they take the time to introduce Dustin to their mentor, Udonna, and her apprentice, Clare. That seems to be all that he can take.
"Can you tell us about other rangers? What was it like beating Lothor? Is there some kind of ranger brotherhood, or oh! A guild? Can we—"
Dustin laughs and holds up his hands as if he can ward off the deluge that's been unleashed. "Woah dude, now I know what my buddies must feel like."
"Give the guy a chance to answer ," Vida teases.
"Perhaps we could offer our guest a seat," Udonna speaks up as she motions to an area with tables and chairs.
For a moment Dustin looks around, taking in everything around him. The place is straight out of a fantasy setting, a whole living space shaped into the hollow of what is possibly the biggest tree he's ever seen. It wasn't carved, he can tell that much through his Earth sense, no it was shaped lovingly and with the permission of the tree itself. There's respect and love in every inch.
It's not just a base of operations, it's a home.
He soaks in the feeling as he follows his hosts to a round table in the center of the room that has an honest to god crystal ball, orb, thing in the middle. It's bigger than anything he's seen a fake psychic use and appears to be full of some kind of smoke.
"I can disappear into the ground, duplicate myself, and ninja streak but it still blows my mind that you have actual magic," Dustin exclaims as he takes a seat. "Like don't get me wrong, the Morphin Grid feels like magic sometimes, but Cam says it's an 'extra-dimensional blah blah blah, Dustin, not magic' but I call b.s, y'know?"
Chip is nodding along while the others share looks that are equal parts amused and apprehensive.
"Are we sure it's a good idea for these two to be in the same room?" Xander stage whispers.
"Aw, I think it's cute that Chip finally has someone to geek out with," Maddie whispers back.
"Hey Dustin," Vida says as she takes a seat. "Chip did ask one question I'm curious about."
Dustin shoots her a grin and leans back in his chair. "Hit me with it."
"Is there some kind of, I dunno, guild or whatever?"
"Not a guild, no," he answers with a laugh. "It's nothing official, really, but Joel called it the Ranger Network and it's kinda stuck. It's really just a bunch of groupchats and number exchanges, though Cam says that Billy is working on an app or something that can connect us all."
"Why haven't we heard about this Network yet?" Nick asks, almost demands.
Dustin shrugs, "Usually the team before you, which would be the Dino Thunders, makes first contact. Maybe Dr. O thinks you need to get settled as rangers a little more."
"So you broke tradition by coming here instead of the Dino Thunder Rangers?"
"Well, it's not like set in stone or anything. Besides, I really needed to know if there was another dude in Yellow. The girls don't mind me being in the Yellow groupchat and all, but it feels like I'm invading their space, y'know? They deserve to have at least one space with no dudes, but now Chip and I can have our own chat."
"Dudes in Yellow unite!" Chip yells, reaching out to fist bump and Dustin doesn't hesitate.
"And I think that's where I'm gonna check out." Vida rolls her eyes but there's too much fondness in it for her to truly mean it.
"We'll let you Yellows geek out," Xander agrees.
"Aw, don't be jealous guys," Dustin teases, "I'll let the others know I popped your team's ranger cherry."
He laughs as that gets the mixed reaction of outrage, disgust, and amusement that he's going for.
Everyone but Chip heads off to whatever it is they need to do, even Udonna and Clare who he gets the feeling actually live here. It's a nice gesture to give them privacy, though he also gets the feeling that they're just not ready for the explosion of excited rambling that's about to take off.
Their loss.
Dustin loses track of time as they chatter back and forth. It's mostly answering questions about ranger things, but Chip is just as happy to talk about magic and what's going on with their team. It's the first time he's met someone who can not only keep up with his racing mouth and thoughts, but is maybe even surpasses him.
It's a breath of fresh air.
"Wait a minute, you turn into your own zords?"
Chip bounces in his seat. "Yeah! It's the coolest thing ever!"
"How does the Megazord work then?"
"It's like, we mind-meld. Like, we're each our own part, but also we're one. The first time was wild, and terrifying, and oh man, like I can't even begin to describe it."
Dustin laughs. "I think you just did."
"I tried. There aren't words for it."
"Man, I'm so jealous."
Then Dustin's phone goes off with Shane's ringtone and their babblefest is brought to an abrupt halt.
"Hey dude—"
"What the hell are you doing, Dustin?"
Dustin pulls his phone away from his ear, gives it a confused look, and then brings it back. "You knew I was coming here—"
"To figure out if the new Yellow was a dude or not," Shane cuts in and wow he's fired up. "What were you thinking jumping into their fight?"
Oh. Ohhhhh.
Someone must have caught them on video and it's made the news. Ranger battles always make the news. There's even a 24hr channel that covers exclusively ranger news around the world. A combination of Billy, Lightspeed, Cam, and probably some others make sure there's never any chance of identities getting out.
"Dude, they needed help," Dustin shoots back. "What was I supposed to do, sit back and watch? That's not the Ranger way and you know it."
A sigh echoes down the line. "I know, but I don't like you getting into shit without us there."
"He's a worrywart," Tori yells in the background.
That snaps the tension that had been growing and Dustin laughs. Shane's end goes muffled like he's put his hand over it. Chip is giving him a look that's somewhere between curious and concerned. He just waves him off as Shane comes back on the line.
"You should know that Conner isn't happy about you stealing their thunder."
"Their Dino Thunder?"
"Duuuude, that's bad even for you," Shane groans.
Chip is head-thrown-back cackling though, so Dustin counts it as a win.
"Anyway, he'll get over it. He still has to add Nick to the Red chat and everything," Dustin says, winking at Chip. To his delight, the dude totally blushes, the red flushing his pale skin adorably.
"Easy for you to say, you're not IN the Red chat," Shane grumbles. "Anyway, the other reason I called is Tori wants to know if you're going to be home for dinner."
"Yeah man, I'm gonna ninja streak back."
"You better. It's chicken pot pie."
"Dude, if you eat it all I swear—"
"Then I guess you better get home, huh?"
The jerk hangs up before Dustin can respond.
"Need to get home for dinner?" Chip guesses as Dustin stands up.
"Tori makes this amazing from-scratch chicken pot pie and I'm not missing out on that for anything."
They exchange numbers and Dustin adds Chip to the Yellow chat. He then creates a new chat—Yellow Fellows—and adds him to that too.
"If you need anything, just reach out," Dustin says as he's getting ready to leave. "You're expected to handle your shit as best you can, but if things are going in a world ending direction, you let the Network know."
"Got it." Chip bites his lip, looking unsure for the first time. "Is it, uh, ranger business only or…?"
Dustin grins and claps his fellow Yellow on the shoulder. "Nah dude, we can shoot the shit."
"Sweet!"
The enthusiasm is frankly adorable and Dustin leaves with the feeling they're going to be very good friends.