Adventures in Dating - 11. Epilogue

Ten years later:

“Hey, where’d everyone go!? Why’s it so dark in here?”

A young boy’s voice is heard, as he enters his home and sees no one is there and all the lights are off. It’s pitch black, and for a moment he thinks about leaving and going back to school or his friend’s place. The boy is short, with dirty blond hair and a penchant for the colour green.

Another boy stops beside him. Quieter, and with self-assured confidence. His black hair matches the black workout clothes he enjoys wearing so much. He’s carrying a skateboard with him.

“Relax Hunter, I’m sure everything’s fine. You know how they are. Let’s go grab some food, I’m starved!”

The first boy grabs the hand of the other. He’s more of a thinker, more worried about analyzing why things were out of place.

“But Caleb, they’re never gone like this, and it’s never ever dark like this. We should at least think about calling them or looking to see what’s wrong.”

“Sure little bro. Right after we get some food.” Hunter replied, obviously nowhere near concerned about the circumstances around him.

Both boys cautiously walked from the doorway towards their family’s kitchen. When both were about to cross the threshold, all the lights came on and an explosion of noise surrounded the boys.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB AND HUNTER!”

The boys were in shock. Their two fathers, Riley and Chase, stepped out from the top of the stairs to their bedrooms, smiling at the surprise birthday celebration they were able to arrange for their twin sons. Surrounding both smiling fathers were their old Ranger team, and in the kitchen other family members were crowding around, eager to see the twins and help celebrate their ninth birthday.

The boys rushed up to hug their fathers and the rest of the family and friends that had shown up.

“Boys!” Chase called out to the twins. “Head out into the back yard and get the pool ready, your friends from school are going to be here shortly for the rest of your birthday party.”

The two boys ran out of the house and out to the yard, with the Rangers and family following close behind.

As the party continued on, the boys were entertained by their friends and the family members who had come to visit, giving Chase and Riley a rare opportunity to be alone with their past teammates.

“Hard to believe that ten years ago, we were all a bunch of teenagers. Look at what we’ve been through since then.” Tyler said, arms wrapped around Shelby and her growing bulge.

“Yeah, who would have thought that starting our families would be even more challenging than fighting off Sledge and Heckyl. At least then we knew exactly what we were supposed to do, even if we weren’t sure how to do it yet.” Shelby added, eyes twinkling with nostalgia.

Koda eyed the food hungrily. Some things hadn’t changed, though his command of the English language had. “So… food now?” He asked, knowing the answer already but determined to ask anyways.

Everyone laughed, it was good to be back together. Even Ivan had to laugh at how some things simply did not change, even if they had all become vastly different people than they were before.

Shelby and Tyler had ended up traveling across America, looking for Tyler’s father after their time as Rangers came to an end. Their adventures continued on, though they were never so far away that they couldn’t be reached. It came as absolutely no surprise when Tyler asked Shelby to marry him.

Miss Morgan continued on at the museum. Her list of research growing and her notoriety increasing with every paper she created. She was happy, knowing she couldn’t have done it without the first-hand accounts of both Koda and Ivan, who regularly helped clarify and explain things that science weren’t able to determine.

Koda and Ivan, of course, stayed in Amber Beach. While Ivan had been offered an opportunity to return home to Zandar, he knew the Zandar he had lived in was long gone. In truth, he thought of Amber Beach as his new home, and was happier to stay there where he found belonging after hundreds of years of being trapped within Fury.

Koda had nowhere to go and nowhere else to turn, but his knowledge of the ancient past he lived through convinced the museum directors to hire him as a research assistant to Miss Morgan. He was happy to stay with the friend who had helped him first learn to live in the modern era.

Riley and Chase moved to the outskirts of Amber Beach. They found time to travel and visit their families in New Zealand and Riley’s family ranch, and both become experts in their field. Chase ended up completing his degree and going on excavations for dinosaur fossils, and Riley became a highly sought after consultant. His quick mind and sharp analysis of problems made him sought after in the field.

Riley intertwined his fingers through Chase’s hand and thought back to all their adventures as Rangers, and later as lovers. When he first chased Rubik down and found the Green Energem, he had no idea how much his life would change. Even when he first morphed into a Power Ranger and took his turn saving humanity from certain destruction, he didn’t really contemplate how much things would change. He knew Ranger teams came and went, but what happened after wasn’t something the television cameras and media coverage noticed.

As he looked into the back yard of his home and his two children, he realized that his was the adventure he was supposed to have, and for once he didn’t analyze things, he just accepted that they were the way they were.

Forty yearslater:

Riley and Chase are sitting down in their living room. Their two boys have long since left to start families of their own, and the two men are happily retired, having more than enough to sustain them through their golden years.

Their connection to the rest of the Rangers wasn’t what it once was. Time, jobs and real life had separated them, and even with a new Rangers organization dedicated to maintaining links between the historical Rangers and their teams, there were some things that happened and couldn’t help bridge past divides.

The one thing that hadn’t changed was the love that Riley and Chase felt for each other. Riley looked at his husband, who was staring back at him with a funny expression on his face.

“Chase, what’s on your mind?” Riley asked.

Chase looked back, and for once the trademark confident smirk was replaced by something that almost looked like concern.

“Riley… Baby Raptor. Was the adventure worth it?”

Riley smiled, remembering those first words that led to them becoming nearly inseparable. That first step all those years ago inside the underground base of the Amber Beach museum.

“Yes Hotshot. Yes it was.”

The two smiled at each other, and slowly climbed the stairs to return to their room. They didn’t travel or do anything exciting, but their adventures together weren’t ever going to be over.