Power Rangers Flight Squad Volume 1: Dawn of Heroes

Episode 3: The Anti-Rangers

Swish. Dylan Menville watched the basketball sail over his head and go into the basket without touching the rim. It bounced passed him and was caught by Collin. Grinning at his best friend, he said, "Well, that makes three out of five. Final score: three to one."

Dylan became mockingly indignant. "Seriously, you don't think I couldn't have beaten you?"

Collin shook his head. "I know you couldn't beat me Dylan. But thanks for the fun anyway."

Dylan get offended. He was used to this outcome by now, and he knew Collin wasn't really being rude to him. He just shook his head and commented, "I don't know what the school team would do without you."

"I don't know, lose?" suggested Collin. Both boys laughed together. Then Collin threw Dylan his ball and went to retrieve his skateboard. It was time to head over to Alisha's shop and meet up with the others.

Collin was completely looking forward to telling them how he had smoked Dylan at baskets for the sixth time in a row. Unfortunately, just as he turned the corner, he nearly got himself in a collision. Stopping just in time, he looked to see who he had nearly killed with his skateboard. When he saw who it was, he wished he hadn't stopped in time after all.

The boy was a head shorter than him and a little gangly. His skin was whiter than most people in town, and his brown hair was curly and untidy. He had so many freckles on his face, it hid most of the pimples he hadn't taken of yet.

"Lucas," said Collin, "don't you know better to look both ways before crossing?"

Lucas just laughed. "That's funny, I was going to say the same thing to you. Oh well. How's your day going Collin? Personally, mine's been pretty dull. It would be more exciting if the Power Rangers showed up and did some epic action and whatnot. What do you think of them? Wouldn't it be cool to know who they are? What do you think?"

Collin was thinking he was no longer sure whether Lucas knew how to breathe, considering how he talked so much. It had been nearly two weeks since the incident at the fairgrounds. Despite the seeming inactivity of Medusa's Glare, Ivan was sure they would strike again soon, though he wasn't sure when that would be.

Aloud, he told Collin, "Come on, Lucas. Get real. What's the point of obsessing over the Power Rangers? Yeah, I guess they got some cool moves, but other than that, there's really nothing special about them."

Lucas was complete unabashed, quite the contrary. If anything, he seemed more eager to continue the conversation, which was treading down some treacherous waters. Especially since Collin was the team's Red Ranger.

"Please, Collin. Think about it. Yeah, the fair was fun before those freaks showed up. But things got more exciting when the Power Rangers showed up and blew that thing sky high. If I knew who they were, I'd hang out with them every day. We'd be best buds."

Collin sincerely doubted this. None of his friends really liked Lucas that much. Each of them had individual classes with him. Collin remembered having him for a lab partner in physics last year. That had been the worst part of his high school experienced so far.

On that day, they had been trying to make rock candy, and Lucas had not listened to Mrs. Edison's instructions of avoiding using beakers with cracks on them. This had resulted in their would-be rock candy to explode and land all over Collin. At least he had been exempt from the assignment while Lucas had failed. Still, he would've enjoyed tasting that rock candy.

"Well, whatever you say, Lucas," he finally said. He walked around him and got back on his skateboard. "Look, I got somewhere to be. I promised to meet up with my friends. I got to move to the beach. Good luck getting over your obsessions."