Chapter Text
Kendall was picking things up around the base when the Rangers got back.
“Rangers, how did that g-” She froze mid-sentence. “Wh-Why are they here?”
“It’s ok! They aren’t gonna hurt us.” Red said.
“As far as you know,” Riley said under his breath.
“Riley!” Chase glared at him, holding back his laughter.
“What? We might kill them! I’m just being honest!”
“Not helping our cases.” The older of the two gently elbowed Riley, who rolled his eyes in response.
“…Anyway, they aren’t evil, they were just forced to fight us! So we wanna help them. Right guys?” Red looked at Shelby and Gold, smiling slightly.
The two hesitantly mumbled in agreement.
“Oh, we never gave you our names! I’m-”
“Tyler Navarro, the son of James and Lucía Navarro. You are Shelby Watkins, daughter of John and Tasha Watkins, and you…” Riley cleared his throat. “ Sir Ivan of Zandar! Son of I don’t fucking know because their names aren’t on Wikipedia!” Riley put on a fancy Shakespearean voice describing Ivan. Chase snickered slightly.
“How-how do you know that?” Tyler asked.
“I was genetically modified to be super smart and know…basically everything. I’m a walking Google page. Made obsolete by a phone…” He mumbled the last part.
“Well you can’t cuddle phones, and phones can’t kiss you, so I’d say that you are much better than a phone.” Chase gave him a little peck on the cheek.
“Oh, shut up.” Riley blushed.
“Never~”
Kendall coughed.
“So…are you going to help us?” She asked.
“I can’t go back there.” Chase muttered. “I’ll go with you. But only if Riley is going too. I can’t be without him.” His face was dusted with a light pink.
“If you're going, then I’m going.” Riley held Chase’s hand and smiled softly.
Chase took Riley’s other hand and kissed him. He could feel the other man smile against his lips.
The Rangers (except Ivan) made “awwww”’s in the background and Riley glared at them. Chase snickered slightly.
“We have work to do.” Kendall finally said. “I need those cuffs.” She said, pointing at the cuffs around Riley’s arms and tails.
“…Why?”
“I need to see if there are trackers in them.”
“Oh. I-god, I didn’t even think of that, I’m supposed to be the smartest man in the worl-'' Riley carded his hand through his hair, but Chase stopped him.
“Riley. You’ve been raised in hell for most of your life, where trackers and shock collars were the norm, and you were trained not to think critically about anything. So why would you think about how there might be trackers in those cuffs? It becomes as obvious as breathing. Which is horrifying when you think about it but that’s not the point.”
“Y-Yeah, but I’m supposed to think critically-”
“Why?”
“Because that’s my purpose-”
“Not anymore! You’re free. We’re free. You can be as dumb as you like.” Chase giggled.
“Alright Miss Morgan, have these.” Shelby said, handing the cuffs over to her.
“Hey!” Riley said.
“You guys need more spatial awareness.” She quipped.
Kendall sighed again. “Thank you, Shelby.” She went to her desk, inspecting the cuffs.
“So, while she’s working, we should show you two around!” Tyler said.
“Oh. Sure, I guess.” Chase said dumbly.
“Yeah. What he said.” Riley seconded.
The group walked out of the base until Riley stops him and Chase from progressing.
“Yo, what happened? Why’d you stop?” Tyler turned around and tilted his head slightly.
“We can’t be seen in public.” The blonde said.
“Why not?”
“…Why do you think?”
“Well, I dunno-oooohhhhh. Right. Guess we just have to wait til closing.”
“Mhm. You two should rest anyway. You have a big day tomorrow!” Shelby said.
“Really? What’s happening tomorrow?” Chase asked.
“It's your first day as Pseudo-Rangers! You aren’t bonded to an Energem, but you are helping us, so you guys count as Rangers!” Shelby exclaimed.
“…Oh.” Chase said, hoping that his disappointment didn’t bleed into what he just said. If it did, the Rangers didn’t say anything.
“Yep! A monster might attack tomorrow, so you gotta be rested!” Tyler added.
“So we’re gonna…fight people? Again?” Riley grimaced.
“You could put it like that. But this time, you will be fighting for Earth. It is really a quite noble task if you think about it.” Ivan put a hand on Riley’s shoulder and smiled.
Riley gave him a small uncomfortable smile back.
“We should go help Miss Morgan with the cuffs ‘n stuff, but you two can look around! Kinda. Sorry. See you guys later!” Tyler said, before running off with the other ‘real’ Rangers following.
“‘Nobel task’, eh? That sound familiar to you?” Riley frowned.
“Yeah. ‘Nobel task’, ‘helps the company’, ‘assignment’.” Chase let his tongue fall out of his mouth and made a ‘bleh’ sound. Riley chuckled slightly.
“…Are we falling for the same thing again?” The two tailed man asked.
“Maybe. But we’re smarter now. We can…leave.” Chase said.
“Yeah. Elope.”
“I’d like to elope with you.”
“Me too.”
They stared at each other for a minute before kissing again, and then headed back to the base.