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Zero: Realizations
Dillon… wasn’t well. Summer often had good instincts about him, and right now they were saying he wasn’t well. She first noticed it after they returned from Omega City with nothing to show for it. Well, besides Gem and Gemma. But what they had gone there to do, what Dillon had gone there to do. Nothing. No trace of his past. Not only that, but it was all a ruse anyway. She knew he must be feeling guilty. He didn’t say anything, even referred to the team as “the answer” with only the question missing. But soon she found out how much the team was the answer.
He threw himself into training and fighting. He even let Dr. K use her vigorous program of blasters in the fridge to help him be ready for attacks anywhere. Apparently, there was a mini one in the blender now, and even worse, one pointed at Dillon’s car. He should be mad, furious even, that Dr. K dared to threaten his beloved car. But when asked, he said he understood her motivations and that he needed to be prepared to protect the things he cared about. The people he cared about.
When fighting Grinders and Attack Bots, it almost seemed worse. He got more aggressive than usual, which led to more mistakes. Or was that simply tiredness? Summer knew how much trouble he had sleeping when they first recruited him. And maybe a cyborg didn’t need to sleep that much, but he was still part human. He needed sleep. She thought he’d gotten better over the time spent here. But the trip to Omega City must have reverted him back to staying up at all times.
But the real kicker? When he wasn’t training, fighting, helping Doc K investigate Venjix hardware, or refusing to sleep, he was just staring at his pocket watch. He let the eerie lullaby-like music consume him until he wasn’t able to pay attention to anything or anyone else. Sometimes this went on for hours if there was nothing else to do. That was probably what he did at night instead of sleeping too.
The most recent battle was the hardest to watch. Dillon was slow in getting his invincibility shield up, resulting in Ziggy getting hurt. They won the battle in the end, and Ziggy was fine, but it was clearly weighing on Dillon. When they returned to the Garage, Dillon said something about going to bed, which Summer knew was a lie. The rest of the team awkwardly wished him a good sleep as he went up to his room.
Flynn looked after him a moment before heading over to make a smoothie. Scott scoffed and turned around to fix up his own car. Gem and Gemma seemed entirely unaffected, but Ziggy stood there with Summer looking up at Dillon’s room.
“Alright, enough!” Summer finally reached her limit. The team turned towards her and her outburst. “We need to do something.”
“What do-” Gem started.
“-you mean?” Gemma ended.
“I mean about Dillon. He clearly needs help!”
“Oh!” Gemma smiled. “You mean how-”
“-he’s clearly self destructing?" Gem nodded.
Scott looked up from his car. “Listen Summer, I’m worried too. I think we all have noticed. Even the boom boom twins over there. But what can we do? It’s not like he asked for our help. He probably doesn’t want it.”
“Are you sure?” Ziggy chimed in. “I mean cause, uh, you know me and mi amigo are pretty tight. Came to Corinth together, survived prison together-”
Flynn laughed. “You mean how Dillon saved you from every criminal wanting to destroy you?”
“Yeah that. But what I mean is, he’s never asked me for anything. You know with him, you sorta got to… work out what he wants.”
“You sure that isn’t because people don’t ask for your help because you failed your driver’s test five times, flunked out of the mob, and only accidentally became a power ranger?” Scott added.
“And still I help people. But that’s not the point.” Ziggy quickly added in. “He likes to be mysterious. Telling people isn’t his style.”
Summer thought for a moment. “That… is actually really astute, Ziggy.”
Ziggy smiled. “Well, you know, sometimes you got it-”
“And sometimes you stumble into it.” Flynn started cutting his fruits for his smoothie.
“Hey!”
“Ya know, if you really wanted to help him, you'd get him outta this stuffy Garage.” Flynn offered. “I mean, I may be a simple mechanic, but even I need to get outside once in a while. Enjoy the sun.” The scot put the fruit in the blender and added some ice. The team was silent as he turned it on, letting the bananas and peaches churn about and turn into liquidy goodness. When he finally poured it into a cup and added a fun umbrella thingy to it, he took a sip and smiled at his victory. Then, realizing the silence, looked up and shrugged. “I mean, that’s just what I’d do.”
One: Summer
Running as fast as he could into the park, Dillon realized something was wrong. As in, absolutely nothing was wrong. The city shields were up, the sun was in the sky, and people were milling about their day with no Venjix Attack Bot in sight. He chimed into comms. “Summer, are you sure you gave me the right place? Where are you?”
“Right here.” Summer tapped him on the shoulder.
Spooked, Dillon grabbed Summer’s arm as he turned around, thinking she was a threat. Quickly, though, he released it when he saw who it was. “I’m confused. I thought you said you were in danger?”
He was even more confused by what Summer was holding. A picnic basket and blanket. Summer smiled. “I am in danger. In danger of having to enjoy a perfectly nice picnic all alone.” She nudged his shoulder and started walking to find the perfect spot. “You can help me choose where to sit.”
Dillon scoffed and shook his head in disbelief. “You expect me to sit down and enjoy a picnic?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I expect you to do. Come on.” She said in a voice that left no room for argument. Lucky for Dillon, he’d find that room anyway.
“What about me says ‘picnic’ to you?” Dillon held out his arms for Summer to get a good look at the brooding bad boy in dark clothing style that Dillon was always sporting. His face would’ve also left no room for arguments except that Summer was better at this than him and she knew she’d win.
Summer smiled knowingly. “Do you remember when I first recruited you onto the team? We were standing in this very park. I explained to you the importance of Corinth and why it was worth fighting for. You didn’t believe we could trust you because you failed to save someone. But I saw you were still looking for them, still wanting to protect them. The rain started and you looked just over-” Summer searched out at the park for a second and pointed, “there! A family having a picnic. I could see how much that family, that happiness for them, meant to you. That part is the part I see that says ‘picnic’ to me.”
Dillon was quiet for a moment, clearly weighing his options and seeing how far he’d make it if he just started sprinting now. Probably further than Summer given his upgrades, but he’d feel like he let Summer down somehow. Eventually, he sighed. “Fine. One picnic. One.” He put up his finger for emphasis. Summer’s smile widened. “But we are not sitting over where that family in the rain was.”
She laughed. “I think the symbolism might cloud up your head a bit too much if that were to happen.”
Despite himself, Dillon smiled.
Two: Ziggy
The next day had more beautiful sunny weather. And after Summer’s success, well Ziggy knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from trying to cheer up his bestest buddy if he tried. And why would he try?
Dillon woke early to continue his training, but it was clear he had actually woken. As in, he slept. When lunchtime came around, Dillon paused his training for a bit and Ziggy saw the perfect moment to swoop in. He slid down the stairs and stopped Dillon before he could reach the fridge (which was still armed for some reason?). “Woah woah woah there friend! Not so fast.”
“Ziggy, I want lunch. I’m not in the mood for one of your games.”
Ziggy smirked. “And lunch you shall receive. But not in this dusty old place. I mean have you tried the pizza that Scott stocks in the freezer? Oh boy oh boy, it is not good. Seriously though, why does he have that many pizzas in there? And where’s the variety, it's all cheese or meat lovers stuff! Oh and don’t get me started-”
“I won’t.” Dillon stopped Ziggy there. “Now move.”
“Uh uh uh! No, I know just where we’re going!” Ziggy tried linking arms with Dillon, but Dillon just took his arm away. “Right, not there yet… but no matter! I will introduce you to the best. Pizza. In. The. World. Which I know isn’t saying much considering it’s just Corinth left, but but! It was the best even before the apocalypse happened. And you know there is the little fun fact that years ago, the first store was home to previous Power Rangers that were-”
“If I say yes, will you stop talking?”
So the two started on their way to Jungle Karma Pizza. Dillon tried to take the car, but Ziggy insisted on walking so they could “enjoy that fresh sunny air” to which Dillon immediately pointed out it was all programmed to be this way. Ziggy laughed at how smooth their banter was. Dillon had to look away so that Ziggy wouldn’t see his smile.
When the two finally arrived at Jungle Karma, Ziggy ordered the largest BBQ Chicken pizza sliced they had. “Don't worry, this’ll be all on the Zigster’s card.” The Zigster’s card was declined.
Dillon sighed and took out his own. “You’re lucky I never use my salary as a Ranger for anything.”
Ziggy smiled brightly as the two grabbed their freshly sliced pizza. Dillon wanted to just sit down in one of the booths and eat quietly, but Ziggy pulled him outside.
“It’s a bright and beautiful day, Dillon! We can't just waste it inside a, respectfully nice, but ultimately crowded and boxed in restaurant!”
Which is how Dillon found his way to a relatively nice bench on the side of the street surrounded by flowers, with the sun beating down on him. He thought he’d have had enough of the sun after living out in the wasteland for a bit, but Dillon had to admit. It was… nice. It was nice yesterday with Summer, just enjoying some sandwiches and chatting about mundane things. And it was nice now. Yes, even with Ziggy rambling on about whatever he was rambling on with his mouth full of pizza. Dillon was only paying attention to every fourth word out of his mouth and smiled as he ate his surprisingly good pizza.
Ziggy nudged his arm to get Dillon’s attention. He gestured to the pizza and nodded. “Hey what did I say right? Ziggy promises, Ziggy delivers!”
Three: Flynn
The next time someone offered to take Dillon out for the day, he was surprised. He knew he and the others were a team, but only really thought Summer and Ziggy cared about him outside of that. But when Flynn came up to him, putting his arm around Dillon’s shoulder and patting it with a huge smile, he sensed he might be in danger.
“Nothing to worry about, lad!” Flynn led Dillon out of the Garage. “Just a couple of pals going to have a good day!”
Against his better judgment, Dillon went with Flynn. He felt more comfortable saying no to Ziggy and Summer, likely because he knew eventually they’d either leave him alone or would be right anyway. But with Flynn he felt more awkward saying no. Plus the Blue Ranger was probably the only one who could literally pull him to their destination.
Thankfully, Flynn let them drive to where they were going, and the two ended up at Corinth’s beach. Not the one Scott and Dillon had used to race on before Omega City, but one filled with people. “A beach, really? You wanted to take me out for a swim?”
“No, lad. Besides I don’t know how your Venjix hardware would react to that, so I’d rather keep you functioning.” Flynn hopped out of the driver's seat. “But it is a beautiful day, so instead of lollygagging about with a picnic or pizza, I’ve decided to have us do some good on our day out.” He headed to the back and opened the trunk.
“Excuse me,” Dillon stopped. “What do you mean-”
“Welcome to the Corinth Coastal Cleanup!” Flynn grabbed two litter sticks and threw one to Dillon, which he instinctively caught.
Dillon eyed his with suspicion. “I’m sorry, what? You want to spend a day off in the hot sun, cleaning up? Doing more work?”
“Doing charity! Good for the soul, my da always says. Well said since we’ve come to Corinth. Used to say ‘No good deed goes unpunished’, but now I’m a Ranger, so I proved him wrong, eh?” He patted Dillon on the back and went to go where the people were less dense but the trash was abundant. Dillon still looked unsure. “Oh come on. Stay out for an hour, we’re already here! If you don’t like it, you can head back to the sad Garage and hope either Ziggy or Summer asks you on another date. But for the next hour,” he pointed at Dillon and smiled, “you’re my boyfriend.”
Dillon frowned, but sighed. “Fine, but you’re changing the metaphor.”
“Aye, I can do that! Now let’s go do some good!” The scot put his arm around Dillon again and led him to the trash filled part of the beach.
Dillon and Flynn stayed for a good two hours before some other beach goers recognized the Rangers and joined in. That section of the beach was cleaned by the time the sun had gone down.
Four: Gem and Gemma
Dillon had caught on enough to what people were doing to not be shocked when Gem and Gemma were next. What did shock him was when Gem showed up without Gemma and started up a conversation. He waved enthusiastically. “Hi Dillon! Gemma and I were just talking and decided we should join in the fun and go on a date with you too!”
“Why is everyone calling it that?” Dillon hung his head in defeat.
“Cause it’s a playdate, silly!” Gem smiled. “So, you in?”
“I-”
“Great!” Gemma’s voice was behind him, along with a sack that she put on his head. “We told the Doc that we were gonna-”
“-kidnap you for the day and that no matter how-”
“-long it takes, no one should look for you until we all get back.”
Dillon resisted, but Gem and Gemma were freakishly strong, even with his Venjix Upgrades putting his strength in full gear. He simply had to accept it when they put him into a car, Flynn’s he realized when they turned it on, tied him up and started driving. They went for a while with Gem and Gemma chatting to fill the silence with random topics of interest, usually whatever they passed and commenting on how big or shiny or cool it was. None of their observations helped Dillon figure out where they were going. It wasn’t until much later (really how big could one city be?) that they ended up somewhere with scent. Bad scent. Dillon was almost thankful for the sack because it probably saved him some of the stench.
“Alrighty Dilly, time-”
“-to have our date!”
Dillon didn’t care enough to figure out which twin was which. Mostly he wanted to punch something. Maybe them. The sack was pulled off. The sun was in his eyes
“Ta-”
“-da!”
Dillon was in a junkyard. He turned towards the twins. “What is this?” His anger only grew.
Gemma smiled widely. “Perfect! It’s like-”
“-you know what’s about to happen!”
“What?” Dillon wanted to grab something and throw it at them.
Then something unexpected happened. Only Dillon should really be expecting this kind of stuff with Gem and Gemma. The Gold and Silver Rangers morphed. Took out their weapons. And ran at him.
Dillon barely got enough time to morph and turn on his invisibility shield. “What the hell, you two?!”
The two kept fighting him, and Dillon had almost no time to react to any of the moves coming in, but his anger and rage kept him going.
“We realized that you-”
“-were angry all the time and it was really-”
“-just getting in the way! So-”
“-we decided to help you get some of-”
“-that rage out!”
Dillon had no clue who was speaking. He hated this. He hated them. Why on Earth did they think this was a good idea? Why were all these people calling it a date?? Why was everyone being so nice to him?! Dillon fought back with so much vigor and strength, getting as many precise hits as he could. And those hits were very precise. His Rocket Blaster usually hit its target person, but Dillon was getting specific. Arm here, foot there. His great hits were two consecutive headshots at the two Rangers, causing them to fall back and unmorph through too much overuse.
Quickly, Dillon realized what he had done and ran over to them. Gem was laying on the ground by an old rusted car. He grabbed Gem’s arm and pulled him up, only to be met with a wide grin. “That was great!”
“Yeah!” Gemma shouted behind them by a couple meters. “We should really-”
“-do that again sometime!”
Dillon stared at the two maniacs. Then he laughed. Like really laughed. “You two are insane.”
“Thank you!” The pair said in unison.
Five: Scott
“You busy?” Scott grabbed a chair, swinging it around so he could put his arms on the back while he sat.
Dillon put down his pocket watch. Oh he was looking forward to this. “Not particularly.” He had to hold back a smile. Scott was probably the person least likely to want to take Dillon out on a “date”, but he was Team Leader. And if everyone else was doing it, he had to show the Right way of doing it.
Scott, however, did not hold back a smile. “Follow me.”
“What? No fanfare? No kidnappings? I expected more from our glorious leader.”
“You’ll find I don’t need those tricks.” Scott hopped out of the chair. He held out his hand to Dillon. “Come on then.”
“Alright then.” Dillon let Scott pull him up. “Woo me.”
After some bickering of whose car they’d take, each man decided to take his own with Dillon following Scott to some sort of field. There were a couple paths of matted grass and flowers that dotted the grass every so often. As Dillon closed the door to his car, Scott pulled out two large blankets. The two made eye contact and Scott gestured toward one of the paths with his head.
They were silent as they walked through the field. Dillon felt a little uncomfortable. This stroll was actually kinda romantic. For someone who was into that stuff. Dillon was not. Scott probably was, Dillon thought. He knew that everyone had been calling these dates, he knew he had added on to it with a joking tone. But had Scott taken it seriously?
“You know you don’t hide your emotions as well as you think you do.” Scott’s voice took him out of it. “Despite what everyone has been saying, this isn’t a date. While I do think we could work out, I’d rather have someone on my level of cool.”
“You want someone worse than me?” Dillon felt the tension leave his shoulders.
Scott laughed. “I suppose I walked into that one.” He stopped where the path did. “Here we are.”
Dillon looked around. “Where is here?”
But Scott started to spread out the two blankets next to each other in the field that continued where the path didn’t. Then he laid down on one of them and rested his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky.
“What are you doing?” Dillon walked over to Scott and looked down at him.
“Enjoying the sun. The breeze. This nice field.”
“Why?”
Scott closed his eyes. “We spend so much time fighting, so much time going around the hustle bustle of the city. We never take the time to remember the Earth that we are fighting to protect. Why not spend some time enjoying it?”
Dillon tilted his head. “You do this often?”
“Time to time. Care to join?”
A moment passed before Scott heard the shuffling of the blankets as Dillon laid down on the blanket next to him. A couple of minutes of silence passed between them. Scott looked over at Dillon, whose eyes were also closed. Scott smirked. “Enjoying the date?”
“I’m going to throttle you.”
Six: Dr. K
It was done. Dillon was free. Each of the Rangers had chosen their date and taken him on one. Maybe they’d do it again, but Dillon found that he didn’t mind so much. Flynn had made him a smoothie and he found it tasted better than anything he had had that week.
“Ranger Operator Series Black, I believe it is time for us to date.”
Dillon choked on his smoothie.
Dr. K looked confused. “I thought your Venjix Hardware decreased the likelihood of any accidental harm to yourself?”
He put up a hand to ask the Doc to give him a moment. After a couple moments he was able to breathe again. “Decreased. Not impossible.”
She seemed satisfied with that answer. “Very well. Come with me.”
“Doc, I really don’t need you to-”
“Gem and Gemma have informed me of outings each Ranger Operator has concocted for you to go on. I may not be a Ranger, but I consider both myself and you a crucial member of this team. With that in mind, it is vital that our relationship is that of a strong one so that we may trust one another when Venjix sends his next attack bot.”
Dillon sighed. “I trust you, Doc. At least, more than I did when you were a computer screen. But-”
Dr. K brought up some notes on a clipboard. “Your precision has been down 34% and aggression up 22% since your return from Omega City-”
“Your psycho twins have dealt with that.”
“-and while that may have dealt with part of the problem, your ability to focus on my instructions while in the suits or the Zords has made it difficult to keep not just the people of Corinth or the other Rangers safe, but you as well.”
Dillon stopped. What did it matter if he was safe? He had his family, that was all that mattered. As long as they were fine, he was content.
Dr. K noticed his silence. She sighed with annoyance. “Ranger Operator Series Black, please do not tell me you do not believe your safety vital?”
“Just…” Dillon looked away. Fine. He’d do this. As long as she stopped asking questions. “What did you have in mind?”
“I do not like to go outside as the Alphabet Soup entity liked me to believe I was allergic to the sun. ‘Old habits die hard’ as Flynn would say.” The woman put the clipboard down and started walking towards the lab. “But I have noticed many of these outings or ‘dates’ and Gem and Gemma referred to them, have taken place in the sun. Thus I have created the illusion of the sun in the lab for us to enjoy.”
And when Dillon walked into the lab, he saw it was so. Some holographic sun was in the air, and paper flowers and trees were colored in with crayons taped to the walls. He didn’t dare ask if it was Gem and Gemma or Dr. K that colored them in. Although given that she wanted some sort of special “outing”, it was likely her. He hated to admit that it was sort of sweet. Dr. K wasn’t sweet. She was cold and calculating and-
“I have heard that music in the air is a beautiful thing. I can play the violin. Would you like to listen?”
He had heard her play the violin before, but he needed this over as soon as possible. “I suppose.”
Dr. K took out her violin, and while it was usually hooked up to some speaker system, it was not this time. After a couple of moments tuning the violin, she started playing a familiar tune. The tune was a little off, not because she couldn’t play but because he wasn’t used to it being played on the violin.
It was the tune from his watch. How many times had he stared at that thing, listening to the tune? And here Dr. K was trying to give him what no one could. His past. His memories. What he lost. It was a sweet gesture. Dillon wiped a tear away from his eye. He looked away.
“Was it bad?” The music stopped.
“No. It was… thank you.”
Seven: Rangers
Dillon made his way back to the park. The one that started it. Not just these “dates”, but his decision to become a Ranger. Only this time, he made a new decision. A new start.
“Hey buddy! Toss the frisbee over here!” Ziggy ran a long ways away as Dillon tossed it.
Scott caught it instead and passed it over to Summer, who then passed it to Flynn. Gem and Gemma decided to make the game monkey in the middle as no one seemed to let Ziggy catch the frisbee. They were all too tall and too good a shot. Dr. K was there too, in spirit. Or rather, in tv form, as Gem had set it up where she could see all that was going on. She assured them it was so she could get updates on their whereabouts and physical progress. Dillon would have taken her at her word before, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“Hey come on guys! That’s not fair!”
Eventually Dillon gave in and “accidentally” let Ziggy get the frisbee from him, leading to Dillon being in the middle. And his next plan? Get Scott to take his place. But when he got there and Ziggy tossed the frisbee to Gemma, Dillon looked around at the Rangers. At his friends. The answer. His family. He would be okay.