Random Hayley OA AU fic

[estirose]

tptigger and I have been working on this fic. It takes place kind of in the "White is the Color of Guilt" setting, or at least branches off the Hayley AU of Opposites Attract (that is, Hayley is a Tomorrow Person). This one spawned a plot bunny for another story; brownie points to whoever can figure out what happened to spawn it.

Spellchecked as best as possible, but otherwise straight off chat.


Volleyball Or Not, Here We Come
by Estirose and TpTigger
c 2007

"You brought your computer to the beach?" Conner asked, staring at Ethan incredulously.

"Gotta hide from all of Doctor O's friends somehow," Ethan replied, doodling with his laptop's trackpad.

"Can I borrow that?" Trent asked. "If I have one more formerly evil Ranger pull me away for a man to man talk, I think I'm going to scream."

"And how many have you had so far?" Kira asked, sipping at a smoothie.

"Four," Trent said. "Karone, Merrick, Mike, and the Bradley brothers double teaming me. I guess, technically, that's five, huh?"

"Sounds like five to me," Conner said sagely. "Who haven't you got so far?"

"Kat... hm," Trent said. "But I could do without the talks."

"Didn't Lightspeed have an evil Ranger too?" Ethan asked absently.

A blond man walked up, shutting Ethan's laptop. "They did. That would be me, I'm Ryan Mitchell. Which one of you is Trent?"

"He went on a soda run," Conner said helpfully.

"Yeah," Trent said absently.

"Really? 'cause I count four of you, Tommy makes five, and hear you guys don't have a sixth."

The four teens exchanged glances.

"Had enough of the lectures? Cam was telling me we overdid it with the Bradley brothers last year."

"Could be," Trent said noncommittally. Kira was hiding a grin behind her hand.

"So do I get the dirt from you four about Tommy's return to the morpher or what?" Ryan asked, grinning.

"Ask them," Trent said, pointing at the original trio of Rangers in his group.

"He did try to take out a big monster with only his brachiostaff that one time," Conner said.

"Didn't he succeed?" Kira asked, finally regaining her composure. Trent poked at Ethan's computer, while Ethan slapped his hand away.

"I think Conner's thinking of the time he tried to kick it before we called the zords," Ethan replied.

"I wasn't there," Trent said.

Ryan grinned ferally. "So *you're* Trent."

"Uh oh, busted," Trent said.

"Ru roh, raggy," Conner said with a grin.

"Look at it this way; Dr. O didn't give Ryan a description," Kira said, also grinning.

"Like he needs to," Ryan said. "Color withdrawal and all."

"So you were messing with me?" Trent asked.

"Yup," Ryan said. "Think you guys can talk Tommy into a volleyball game? Carter's been itching for a rematch after last year, but with Jason's arm in a cast, Tommy's usual team won't want to play."

"Least we can do," Conner said, his grin turning feral. "Trent, you want to do the honors?"

"Think of it as revenge for sicing all those evil Rangers on you," Kira added.

Trent grinned. "Maybe. But we'd be better off talking Hayley into it and letter her set on Dr. O with the puppy dog eyes."

"Right," Conner said, as if he hadn't thought of it himself.

"And mental note: dress all in, say, red next time," Trent said.

"Do I need to explain to you about color withdrawal?" Ryan said. "Unless you really want to wear boxers under your swim trunks."

Trent looked abnormally cheerful. "Thanks for the hint."

"Tommy is going to kill me," Ryan muttered.

"Ok, so you asking Dr. O or Hayley, Trent?" Conner asked.

"Hayley. Talking Dr. O into it is definitely his girlfriend's job," Trent said, grinning.

"His what?" Conner, Kira, and Ethan asked in unison.

"Um," Trent said, turning an interesting shade of red. "You guys didn't know?"

"No," Conner said.

Trent grinned. "Serves Dr. O right." He winked. "But if he asks...."

His teammates grinned back.

"Anyway, I'll go ask Hayley," Trent said, getting up.

"Viral's the way to go," Ethan said absently.

"Don't get waylaid by any more evil Rangers," Kira said, with a twinkle in her eye.

"I'll go distract Kat," Ryan said helpfully. "I think she's the only one Trent hasn't talked to."

"Billy seems to be doing a good job of that," Ethan said, nodding in their general direction.

"Uh-oh," Ryan said. "Kim's been matchmaking. Look out, Kira, she'll be setting you up with one of your teammates."

Kira took Trent's hand. "She's too late for that."

Trent grinned. "We've got that covered. Feel sorry for, say, Blake and Tori." He strode off in Hayley's direction.

"Blake and Tori?" Ryan echoed. "Like Dustin needs any help."

"Every team seems to have its matchmaker," Kira observed. "Thanks, by the way. Dr O means well, but...."

"He can be a little overzealous?" Ryan asked. "Besides, I've heard Justin's complaining about how overprotective he can be. I figured multiply that by about a thousand for your four..."

"Trent's got the brunt of it right now, with everything going on," Kira said. "Though we've all gotten it at some point or another."

"Yeah, remember your mom's friend?" Conner asked. "He so had Dr. O's knickers in a knot."

"I got the nice end of the stick," Ethan said. "Invisible help with my first date."


"Yeah," Kira said. "That was really nice of him. I'm glad that Chris has never figured things out."

"Hey, remember the time you came to practice late because of the soccer game, Conner?" Ethan asked.

"Longest lecture ever," Conner said. "Never mind that I was this close to being thrown of the soccer team."

"Everyone's had to make sacrifices for the greater good," Ryan said.

"Hey, would be nice if I could keep a cover going," Conner groused. "Kira's the only one that can really continue things, the rest of our lives have been messed up."

"I didn't get reelected computer club president," Ethan added. "I was kinda worried about getting into MIT because of it."

"Fortunately, Dr. O writes killer recommendation letters," KIra said.

"I'm surprised he didn't recuse himself," Ryan said.

He was met with three shrugs. "Hey, my life nearly got messed up, too," Kira said, thinking of Chris and how close he came to finding out about her life as a Ranger.

"Dana passed up a chance to be a supermodel," Ryan pointed out.

"And breezed through Med school," Ethan replied.

"Andros nearly had to destroy his sister," Ryan added.

"But he didn't," Conner said.

"There are times," Kira said, "when we wish we'd been given a choice about being Rangers. Trent especially." She bit her lip. Trent really didn't want to go into the circumstances of his rangerhood, and she was glad he was talking to Hayley at the moment.

"There's always a choice, Kira," Ryan said.

"We couldn't pass our powers on to anyone else, like Dr. O and his team all eventually did," Conner replied. "What choice did we have, really?"

"Conner's got a point," Ethan said. "The three of us picked our gems up by accident, and Trent didn't have a choice."

Ryan rubbed his eyes. "Have you guys talked to Tommy about this?"

"Are you kidding?" Conner asked.

"We don't want Dr. O to lose faith in us," Ethan added.

"What's with all this Dr. O stuff anyway?" Ryan asked.

"He's our teacher," Kira said.

"Did you guys graduate?"

"Um," Kira said.

"Yeah, but..." Ethan added.

"He never said not to call him that," Conner added.

"So we keep doing that," Kira said.

Ryan bit his lip.

"Hayley's going to talk to him," Trent reported, rejoining the group.

"I think she's got the right idea," Ryan said, "be right back."

"Uh oh," Conner said.

Trent watched Ryan leave. As soon as he was out of earshot, he echoed, "Uh oh?"

"He asked why we were still calling Dr. O 'Dr. O'," Kira said.

"This could get ugly," Conner added.

"That's an understatement," Kira said. "We were reminding him that none of us really had any choice about our powers," she added to Trent.

"Oh," Trent said.

"Yeah," Ethan said. "I suspect Dr. O's going to want to have a heart to heart on the way back to Reefside."

"Oh, lovely," Kira sighed.

"Last time we got ice cream," Conner pointed out.

"And a heart to heart," Kira reminded him.

"Whenever he buys us ice cream, it means he's feeling guilty," Trent said.

"He hates holding us at arm's length," Kira said.

"So why is he?" Ethan asked, "I mean, Ryan's right, we've graduated."

"Because Tommy worries too much," said a voice from behind them.

"Hey, Jason," Conner said.

"How..."

"Cast," Conner said.

"Right," Jason said, coloring a little.

"So, which of us will get the worst of it?" Trent asked as Jason joined their group. "And do you think Ryan's going to tell him about the Dr. O thing or the whole thing about the gems?"

Ethan shrugged. "Could be either."

"Or both," Kira said.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll make sure he hears about the other one," Jason said.

"Thanks," Conner said sarcastically. "Do you want to make our lives miserable."

"No," Jason said. "We want to make your lives better. You shouldn't keep things from your teammates."

"As Trent found out," Ethan said.

"Rock and a hard place defense," Trent replied.

"I thought we buried that hatchet," Kira added, taking Trent's hand.

"Yet not even he's learned his lesson," Jason asked.

"There's important stuff, team stuff, and then there's..." Trent trailed off.

"Adult versus kid stuff," Conner said.

"Yeah, he's still our mentor," Kira said.

"And way older," Ethan added. "He just... wouldn't understand a lot of stuff."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Because he's never been there?"

"He's forgotten," Ethan said.

"Adults forget stuff," Conner added.

"We know he's been there, it's just...." Kira said.

"Anyway," Trent said, "The gems are kind of a touchy issue...."

"He wasn't exactly happy about us finding them at first," Conner said.

"We were the kids who managed detention on our first day," Kira added.

"Yeah, because of Principal-" Ethan said, before Trent cut him off.

"He understood later, or so Kira tells me," Trent said. "Dr. O's the only one who really chose to have a Gem."

"Yeah," Kira said. She looked at Jason. "We'll talk to him. Eventually."

Jason tried to cross his arms, wincing as he jostled the broken one. "Eventually?"

"It's not like we're Rangers anymore," Kira said. "Doesn't matter so much."

"Once a Ranger, always a Ranger," Jason pointed out.

Trent hugged his girlfriend. "As Kira said, we'll talk to him. Eventually."

"Why are you afraid to talk to him now?" Jason asked. "Look, you guys are going to start college in the fall, you need to quit being so scared of adults."

"We're not afraid of adults," Conner said, "It's just... well... it's taking us a while."

"We'll tell him when we're all a hundred miles away," Trent said brilliantly.

"I'm going to school in San Francisco," Conner reminded him.

Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Look we... it's just..." Conner said, not quite sure what to say. "It's just so hard to explain."

"Oh?" came a new voice.

The four teenagers winced.

"What's going on, guys?" Dr. O asked, looking them over with concern.

"Weren't we going to play volleyball?" Trent asked hopefully.

"I got that, and a few other things," Dr. O said, crossing his arms.

"Busted," Ethan whispered.

"Excuse us," Jason said, hauling Ryan away.

"Sit, guys," Dr. O said, pulling up a patch of sand.

The others exchanged glances. This did not Look Good.

"Wanna hope we discover how to spontaneously teleport?" Trent asked quietly.

"You want to go first, Trent?" Dr. O asked.

"Can I do detention instead?"

"Not an option," Dr. O said firmly.

"I think I'd rather figure out how to teleport first," Trent said, hoping against hope he cold figure out how to do so.

"Why don't you guys want to talk to me?" Dr. O asked quietly. "Are you scared of me."

The other four exchanged glances--they didn't really want to hear Dr. O's disappointed voice at the moment.

Trent, still trying to figure out how to teleport, spontaneously chameleoned in embarrassment.

"Not really, Dr. O," Kira said, trying to pay attention to Dr. O.

Trent phased back in.

"Guys, seriously, what's going on?" Dr. O asked. "You're acting like you're talking to a teacher or something."

Conner raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh."

"I think that's the problem, Dr. O," Ethan said, while Trent dug in his bag for some aspirin for a sudden headache.

Dr. O scrubbed a hand over his face. "You really think you'd be at a beach party with a teacher?"

"Well, no," Kira said. "But..." She trailed off.

"But what?" Dr. O asked.

"I guess you're a little more than that."

"A little?"

"This isn't exactly a normal situation, Dr. O," Conner said. "None of us really know how to handle it."

Trent flopped back. "Yeah." He didn't feel up to much more.

Kira nodded. "We're still figuring things out."

"How do I help?" Dr. O asked.

The others looked at him blankly.

Kira smiled slightly. "I think we need time."

"And aspirin," Trent mumbled.

"We're trying to get our heads around it finally, Dr. O," Conner said.

Dr. O reached out, squeezing Trent's shoulder. "I'd give you time, but we don't really seem to be getting anywhere. You guys haven't dropped the 'Dr. O' thing for example."

"We're allowed to?" the other four asked in unison.

"Yes," Dr. O said slowly.

Trent closed his eyes. "Ask about it again when I get over this killer headache." He walked off, looking for aspirin.

"Kim usually has Advil in her purse," Dr. O called after him.

"Can we play volleyball now?" Conner asked.

"No."

The three remaining Rangers looked at one another and made puppy eyes at him. "Are you sure, Tommy?" Kira asked.

"Nice try, Kira," Tommy said. "But I think we need to talk this out."

"Trent's not here," Conner pointed out.

"I trust Kim to send him right back," Tommy said.

"What's the hold up?" Hayley asked, bounding over to them. "Are we playing volleyball against the Lightspeed Rangers or what?"

"Not until we clear up some issues," Tommy said firmly. "We can't work as a team if we're holding things back."

Kira looked around. "We really should wait for Trent," she said, looking around. However, he seemed to have disappeared, and she wasn't sure where. She spotted Kim, but not Trent.

"I'm cool with the Tommy thing," Ethan said, diverting the issue. "Right, Conner?"

"Right," Conner said. "Tommy. Got it."

"You guys stay put," Hayley said, "I'll go find Trent."

"Hayley!" Kira said, grabbing the other woman's arm as if it were a lifeline.

"This conversation is a long time coming, Kira," Hayley said.

Kira winced. "Right."

"Left," Conner said helpfully.


Kira smacked him. "Knock it off, Abbott."

"Ok, Costello," Conner threw back.

"Did Conner just get that reference?" Ethan asked.

"Hey, I have hidden depths," Conner rebutted.

As Hayley disappeared, Ethan added, "Well, at least we're in better spirits."

"So, wanna tell me what's bugging you?"

"The fact that we didn't have a choice about our powers?" Kira asked. "Not to mention Trent just disappearing like that weirded me out."

"You're telling me this after our powers were destroyed?"

"Dude, Trent just chameleoned!" Conner pointed out.

"I can't go rock though," Ethan said. "I tried."

"I can't scream," Kira contributed. "But it still bugs me. Conner, have you tried superspeeding lately?"

Conner shrugged. "Nope."

"Okay, we're all weirded out," Ethan said.

"Conner, could you try superspeeding?" Kira asked.

Conner got up and concentrated. "Nope. Trent's just weird."

"Trent's always been weird," Ethan said. "But Dr. - er, Tommy's got a point. Our powers are gone now."

"We think," Kira said.

"Remember what happened to the Ninja Storm Rangers," Conner added.

"These things do happen," Tommy said. "Look, I don't want to force anything on you, with the gems powered down, we might be able to convince them to bond with someone else."

"Like who?" Conner asked, disbelieving.

"We're at a Ranger beach party."

The others stared, not moving. Shaking their heads.

Tommy just smiled. "You're not jumping at the chance I see... Trent, did Joel bring a super soaker this year?"

"Um." Trent flicked some of the water off of his hair and wished he wasn't dripping wet. Hayley had promised him a talk later after pushing him back towards his teammates. "Where were we?"

Ethan tossed Trent his towel. "How's your head?"

"Ethan is ducking the question of us trying to transfer your gems' powers to other Rangers. Since they're not powered up--at least at the moment, it might be possible."

Trent shrugged. "I don't really care." He worked on drying himself off. "And I feel a bit better."

Conner stared. "What'd you do, dude, jump into a wave or something?"

"Or something," Trent replied.

"I wouldn't transfer mine to anybody," Kira said. "I wouldn't want to do that to them."

"Even if they were willing?" Tommy asked. "Trust me, we'd have volunteers around here."

Kira shuddered. "I wouldn't do that to *anyone*."

Tommy shifted, sitting next to Kira and putting an arm around her shoulders. "What is it?"

Kira tensed.

Tommy moved away. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's caused so much pain and suffering," Kira said. "Look at what happened to us. Look what happened to *Trent*."

"What about all the good we've done?" Tommy asked. "All the lives we've saved?"

"We did some good," Ethan said. "But I could have done with evil dude wanting to kill us because of them."

"Or Trent being turned evil and nearly going mad," Kira said.

Trent nodded, looking thoughtful.

"Would you trade it away if you could, Trent?" Tommy asked.

Trent looked at him, searching his gaze.

"This isn't a test, I promise," Tommy said.

"Would you skip past being an evil Ranger, Dr... um, Tommy?" Trent threw back.

"Yeah," Tommy said. "But you can't change the past."

"Mostly," Ethan pointed out.

Trent looked down at his hands as he tried to wipe the water off his arms.

Tommy looked Trent over. "Trent are you okay?"

"I will be," Trent said. "I'm just having a very weird day."

"Anyway," Conner said, trying to attract attention off his teammate, "I guess the Gems are a part of us."

"Like our Ranger powers," Ethan said. "But it's still... I don't know if this is something I'd have chosen if I had a choice."

"We have them now," Kira said. "It bothers us that we didn't have a choice in the first place."

"I couldn't make you take those morphers you know," Tommy said.

"Well, after we had the Gems, we felt compelled," Kira confessed.

Tommy sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Us too," Trent said, stomach twisting. He had a feeling that they'd just brought Tommy's guilt burden up by several tons.

"I did't mean to make you feel more guilty, Dr - er, Tommy," Kira said. "None of us did. That's why we didn't want to tell you about it."

Trent nodded, mopping his hair with the towel.

"Is that the only reason?" Tommy asked.

"Dude, does the mind reading come with the morpher or the teaching certificate?" Conner asked.

"We have like this rich heritage, this important legacy," Kira said.

"How could we tell you we didn't want it?" Ethan added.

"You'd been through enough," Trent added.

"After Trent joined especially," Conner added.

"Diplomatic much, Conner," Kira said.

"What?" Conner asked. "None of that shit was his fault."

Trent looked away.

"Anyway," Kira said, "We didn't want to guilt you, D-Tommy."

"I'd probably freak you out worse by hugging you, huh?" Tommy muttered. "I want you guys to feel like you can come to me with *anything*. I can't always be everything a teammate should be to you, but at least I can be an adult who isn't a parent who's there for you."

"And come out with a worse guilt trip than Trent's," Kira pointed out.

"Leave me out of this," Trent muttered, falling over backwards.

"Trent, are you sure you're okay?" Tommy asked, concerned.

"Ask Hayley, she knows everything."

Tommy frowned, moving over and placing a steady hand on his shoulder. "You really can tell me *anything* you know."

Trent nodded. "Volleyball? Please? I think we're all getting a little too uncomfortable with all this touchy-feely stuff."

"Play with us," Kira said, hoping Tommy would get the underlying meaning. Teachers, after all, didn't play volleyball with their students.

"You don't want Carter thinking we're chicken, do you?" Conner added.

"I sure don't," Ethan said, getting up. "I vote for volleyball."

"Me too," Kira said.

"Tripled," Conner added.

"Four against one, Dr. Tommy," Trent said.

"Now you sound like Jason," Tommy said, laughing.

"Oooh," Kira said. "I sense a story."

"And you don't have a good excuse not to tell us," Ethan said, smiling wickedly.

"Later, guys," Tommy said, still smiling. "Volleyball first. We have a team to beat."

"Okay!" Conner exclaimed, followed by the others.

The five grinned at each other and headed for the impromptu court.

End