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"Riley! Riley look out!"
Their otherwise quiet afternoon working at the Dino Bite Cafe had been unceremoniously interrupted when Sledge decided to send another monster down to Earth. This time he sent Shatterquake, a boulder-type monster wielding a massive hammer that you guessed it, caused earthquakes. Sledge wasn't being very creative lately and didn't seem to have any better monsters to send at them.
Shelby, Riley and Chase were the first rangers on the scene, as they were the three working at the cafe at the time, they got the alert first. Tyler and Koda let them know they weren't far behind.
"Looks like I only have the pleasure of defeating three rangers today!" Shatterquake cackled as he stomped his large feet against the ground. They were out in the center of the city, so when Shatterquake stomped his feet, the ground around them began to shake furiously.
"Whoa!" Shelby shouted when the ground began to crack and spread apart underneath her feet. "Is this because I just watched Ice Age with Tyler?!"
"Come on! That was a great movie!" Tyler had appeared with Koda, now the entire team was together and morphed.
Shatterquake wasted no time in trying to knock the rangers off of their feet and at first, he was successful. His furious stomping sent Shelby and Riley to the ground, landing on top of each other in a broken heap. Though it was Koda who was much quicker and as he launched himself into the air, he managed to tackle Shatterquake to the ground.
"You fool!" Shatterquake bellowed and tossed Koda off to the side. Koda's grunt alerted everyone that he was fine, just a bit shaken up.
The monster turned to his right, just as Shelby and Riley were getting back to their feet. "You two should go first. The weakest of the group, you should be the easiest to take care of."
"Shelby! Riley!" Tyler yelled as he began running towards the duo, but it was Chase who managed to get to them first.
"Riley!" Chase growled as he quickly got in the way and lifted his gun and aimed at the monster.
Shatterquake hadn't noticed Chase at first, but when he did, it didn't really matter. He was going to destroy at least one ranger today, it didn't match what color spandex they were wearing. Swinging the large hammer above his head, when he finally leaned forward to swing, he ended up hitting Chase instead of Riley.
"Chase!!" Riley screaming Chase's name was the last thing the black ranger remembered hearing before he lost consciousness.
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"He's going to be just fine. Just a bump on the head, some bruised ribs. He'll need to take it easy the next couple of days. And by taking it easy I mean no skateboarding, no being a parkour enthusiast, no rugby."
Chase was in and out of consciousness, but it was a voice that slowly brought him back to reality.
"I can make sure he rests. No problem."
It was Riley. Kendall was there as well, and if what he heard was correct, he could hear her heels clicking further and further away. Either Kendall was gone or she was in the far corner of Chase presumed was their dinolair. But how did he get here? Wasn't he just in the city center fighting a monster with the other rangers?
... Oh. That's right.
That monster was ready to destroy Riley and Chase wasn't going to let it happen. He stepped in and the last thing he remembered was Riley screaming his name.
"Riley?" Chase groaned but kept his brown eyes shut.
The sound of a chair skidding across the floor and rubber against tile could be heard before Chase felt someone latch onto his hand. He had no doubt in his mind that it was Riley.
"Chase!"
The New Zealander cracked an eye open and resisted the urge to shut it again due to the bright light. But seeing Riley's face made him smile. "Hey there, love."
Riley gave Chase's hand a tight squeeze and leaned down to press his lips to his boyfriend's forehead. "How are you feeling? You took a pretty nasty hit."
Eyes now fully open, Chase looked around the room. They were indeed back at their base, and Kendall was nowhere to be found. "Kendall had that meeting with the investors. She asked me to help bandage you up when you woke up." Riley said as he reluctantly let go of Chase's hand to turn towards the opposite table and rummage through a medical bag.
"Bandage me up why? I'm not falling apart. Nor am I a mummy."
Even injured, Chase was still a sassy Kiwi.
"Bruised ribs. You're lucky none of them broke." Riley held up some medical tape and a few rolls of wrappings. "Do you think you can sit up?" Of course Chase would act like he wasn't hurt, had to put on a show for Riley but the younger man knew he was hurt by the way his eyes squinted shut with each move he made. "I'm sorry, Chase. Don't mean to hurt you."
Slowly shaking his head, Chase urged Riley to continue. Carefully slipping the brunette's shirt over his head, Riley quickly got to work wrapping the bandages around his chest. A few grumbled, pained words escaped Chase's lips and every single time Riley found himself apologizing.
"Love, it's fine."
Riley's heart always skipped a beat whenever Chase called him love.
"Besides, I know you're enjoying seeing me without a shirt."
And then Chase would say something like that.
"You know if you weren't injured I would wrap your mouth shut with this instead." Riley smiled and made sure Chase knew he was kidding. Almost.
The two sat there in silence as Riley finished up his wrap job and after securing it with a bit of medical tape, placed the remaining supplies back in the bag. "There we go. Now you're supposed to take it easy for a few days. But I know you, you won't."
Chase sat there staring at Riley.
"It's probably lucky I've been staying with you lately, because I really don't want you by yourself while you're recovering and I--" Riley stopped his speech when he caught Chase staring at him. "What? What's wrong?"
Chase shook his head and smiled.
"Oh nothing. Just thinking how I took this hit to save you and in the end, you're saving me." He waved a hand at his newly bandaged chest. "Funny how things work out."
Riley smiled. "I really wish you didn't take that blast for me but, it's what we do. We're always going to protect each other."
We're always going to protect each other.
"Come on, let's get you home and in bed." Riley helped Chase shimmy back into his shirt and with those words, the brunette wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "No, Chase. You're hurt. I'm supposed to take care of you!"
"But you would be taking care of me, love!"