Chapter 2- Tyranno Kicks

“Push it up!”

17 year-old Conner Mcknight heard the coaches’ command almost as much as he heard the few spectators watching the game. He paid no attention to it though, he already knew what he had to do; besides, to him, whenever he was on the field, there was only him, his teammates, his opponents, and the soccer ball.

He passed the ball to his attacking midfielder and quickly broke into a run towards his opponents’ goal. The midfielder tried to pass back to Conner, but no sooner had he received the ball had an opposing midfielder checked him on his left. Conner’s teammate then saw a fellow forward on his right running ahead of him. He quickly passed it to the latter as hard as he could. The forward received it smoothly and got into position to shoot, but got caught off guard by a defender that was blocking his angle. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Conner running towards the goal. The forward then crossed the ball towards Conner, hoping he’d get it and score.

Conner saw the cross, but since he and the sweeper were within the same distance of the ball, he doubted he could get it before the sweeper could.

Well, not by skill alone anyway.

He ran towards the ball at about the same time the sweeper did and was able to catch it with his chest. However, he wasn’t able to turn around and shoot for the sweeper was on him.

Time for some fancy footwork…

Conner then concentrated, and the Dino gem on his bracelet began to glow. He then began to shift the ball between his feet, slowly at first, and then faster and faster until all the sweeper really saw was a blur.

Well, dino-style, anyway.

Conner smiled to himself as he twirled around the surprised sweeper and shot the ball off towards the far-post area of the goal. The goalie leaped to stop it, but the ball had already hit the right corner of the goal.

“Good shot, Mcknight!” the coach said.

As Conner returned back to his position the coach then blew his whistle to the two teams, “Okay, chaps. Let’s call it a day, shall we? We’ll continue our practice Thursday.”

As Conner walked over to his soccer bag, one of his teammates approached him. “Yo, Mcknight! How’d you do that?”

“Do what?” Conner asked.

“That little footwork back there.”

Conner shrugged. “Just a little practice.” He replied nonchalantly.

“Well, whatever it is, keep at it man, ‘cause we could use that move to win a few.”

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Conner chuckled as he reached for his backpack and headed off to the locker room to change.

When Conner stepped out, he saw his friends Ethan James, Kira Ford, and Trent Fernandez talking by a soda machine.

“Guys?” Conner asked.

“Well, if it isn’t the future David Beckham.” Kira quipped.

Conner laughed. “What are you guys doing here?”

“Well, we figured before we head over to Dr. O’s place we thought we’d see you in action.” Ethan replied.

“Dr. O’s? Has Mesogog been up to something?” Conner asked.

“No, not that I know of.” Ethan replied. “It turns out our good ole’ doc still has a lot of paraphernalia lying all over his underground pad and he still hasn’t gotten around to fixing it up. I went by his place last week to get that extra credit paper and I found him buried underneath a hill of stuff. I asked him if I could help him out but he said it was all right and to go on ahead. Besides, what with Thanksgiving break comin’ up he felt we could use the time off, seeing as how Mesogog hasn’t been up to anything lately.”

“Yet.” Trent supplied.

“Exactly, so I figured, why not go help him out? It’s something to do, plus if lizard-breath decides to conjure up his next turkey, we’ll be waiting for him.” Ethan said.

“So you insisted?” Conner asked.

“Yeah.”

“How about you guys?”

“Didn’t need any convincing here, man.” Trent said.

“Ditto.” Kira answered.

“So how about you?” Ethan asked.

“Well, seeing as how you guys were kind enough to see me practice, you’ve convinced me.” Conner said dramatically.

“Speaking of practice, I thought I saw you doing some fancy footwork towards the end of your scrimmage.” Kira pointed out.

“Well, I…kinda gave my feet a head start.” Conner replied.

“Or put simply, using your dino gem, you made like Sonic the Hedgehog and ‘juiced’.” Ethan said.

“All I did was throw him off a little bit, then it was all me.”

“You were at least subtle when you used it though, right?” Kira asked.

“Yes, mom.” Conner answered.

Conner’s car was parked right in front of the field, so it wasn’t a long walk for the four rangers. As they got in they then headed in the direction of Dr. Oliver’s house.

“Y’ know, with all this peace and quiet, I’m really starting to wonder if Mesogog is up to something big.” Ethan said.

“Please dude, don’t jinx it. Let’s just enjoy our time off and hope that Mesogog is in a bad enough mood that he still hasn’t found a way to bust up our Thanksgiving break.” Conner said as he turned onto Valencia Road.

“Oh, c’mon, Conner. Ever heard of ‘calm before the storm?’”