A/N: Here's a new story to kick off the new year!

Story takes place weeks after the Thunder Storm teamup. This will be my first Kira/Conner attempt, so be easy on me because I haven't watched much of Dino Thunder as I have of Ninja Storm.Other couples will be added to the mix as well. (Don't want to give too much away, although there's the obvious) Now that being said and done, enjoy!

Chapter 1

"Familiar Stranger"

Conner, Ethan, and Kira all met up at Hayley's Cyberspace Cafe after another day at school. Hayley greeted them as the trio walked inside and settled for a table for three. Ethan bust out his laptop to complete the last two levels on some adventure game, in which he couldn't stop talking about along the way to the cafe. Conner and Kira were annoyed with his constant rambling when suddenly his eyes were glued to the computer screen. Kira begins taking out a few books from her yellow backpack to do some serious studying for Dr. O's test while Conner continues to play with his red soccer ball. Kira lost her train of thought and grunted as soon as the ball landed on her paper. "Conner!"

He quickly grabs the ball and raises his hands up defensively. "What?!"

"People are actually trying to study here." She said rolling her eyes. Conner impersonates her with a mocking look as Ethan chuckles from behind. Kira shot him an evil glance. "Argh! I can't study here." She gathers her things and strides towards the couch where Trent was studying peacefully during his break.

Ethan scoffs once Kira excuses herself from the table. "Like if she's gonna be able to study with him. Those two love birds will end up reciting poetry and singing songs to one another."

Conner rolls his eyes. "Whatever, dude." Moments later, a familiar blonde woman enters the Cyberspace Cafe as she made her way over to the bar. She wore blue denim jeans along with a blue long sleeve hooded shirt. Her hair was put in two braids with a white hat over her head. Conner watches her carefully as she and Hayley begins to talk nearby. "Dude." He gently elbows Ethan to the side.

"Hmm?" He responds vaguely with his eyes fixed onto the computer.

"Dude, look."

"What?" Ethan finally looks up at the direction Conner was pointing at. He opens his eyes wide. "Whoa. Isn't that?"'

"The crazed ninja terminator?" The red dino thunder ranger smirks. "Oh yeah."

Ethan raises an eyebrow. "Okay so?"

"So?! Dude, look at her."

He grins, getting his point. "Alright. I'm looking."

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"Nice to see you again, Tori."

"Thanks, Hayley. You too."

"So what brings you here to Reefside?"

The blonde beauty just shrugged as she takes off her hat. "Well you know, I heard that you provide the best drinks that California has to offer."

She smiles pleasingly. "You came to the right place. What can I get you?"

Tori looks up from the menu, drumming her fingers against the table. "Hmm...a wild pineapple smoothie sounds great."

"Alright. One wild pineapple smoothie coming up."

She smiles. "Thanks, Hayley."

"No problem."

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Conner turns back around from his seat and faces Ethan. "She is so cute."

He grins at him. "Go talk to her."

"No, man."

Ethan smirks. "Why? You chicken?"

He scoffs. "I am not chicken."

"Yeah? Then go talk to her." Conner turns back around to take one good look at the blonde. Ethan knew he was stalling as he groans impatiently and bangs his fist on the table. "Just go!"

Startled, he shook the table a bit. "Dude! Alright. Alright, I'm going." Conner rises up from his seat and pops his collar of his jacket. "So how do I look?"

Ethan arches his brow. "You don't expect me to comment on that now do you?"

"Dude!"

"Just hold on a sec." The blue dino ranger turns around from his chair. "Kira!" He shouted from across the cafe. The diva looks up from her science book with an evil glare. Ethan smiles innocently as he signals her to come over.

She groans reluctantly. "Oh this better be good." Trent chuckles as she lazily gets up and heads over to their table. "What is it?"

"How does Conner look?"

Kira arches a brow as she turns her gaze over to him before looking back at Ethan. "I got called over for this?"

"Just answer the question."

She faces Conner and groans. "You look fine."

"Just fine?"

Kira rolls her eyes. "Who are you trying to impress this time?"

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"Hey, I'm Cassidy Cornell." The perky blonde introduces herself to Tori as she takes a seat right next to her. "I don't think we've met."

"No, I don't think so. Hi, I'm Tori."

"Um yeah, whatever. Devin!" She yells out. "Get me a latte!" Cassidy turns back to her with a forced smile. "You're not from around here are you?"

Tori nods her head. "No, I'm actually from Blue Bay Harbor."

"Oh. That's nice."

"Here's your latte, Cass."

"Thanks, Dev. Now shoot." He nods and walks back to his table. "So Blue Bay Harbor eh?"

"Yeah." Tori studies her face carefully. "You know, you look so familiar."

Cassidy shrugged while twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "I know I get that a lot. I'm a news reporter."

"Oh! That must be it."

"Totally." She takes a sip of her drink, and makes an unpleasant face. "Devin!" Cassidy yells out again. "This latte is too cold! Fix it, pronto!" Tori looks away, feeling bad for the guy as she hands him the cup. "Anyway, I have work to get too. Nice to meet you, Toby."

"Uh, it's Tori." She corrected her.

"Whatever." Cassidy stood up and weakly shakes her hand before walking back to her table.

"I hope she's not giving you a hard time." Hayley suddenly comes in with a glass of pineapple smoothie.

Tori nods her head. "No, it's fine. I deal with people like that back home."

"I bet. Well, here's your order."

"Thanks, Hayley. Looks great."

"Anytime. So how are you doing? How are the guys?"

She took a sip of the delicious smoothie through a straw and nodded her head. "Great. We're all doing great."

"And Blake?" She grins.

Tori paused and slowly look up at her. "How do you know--?"

"Hayley knows all, sweetie. Well? How's it going between you two?"

"Nothing." Tori averts from her gaze and sighs deeply. "Our feelings for each other pretty much died."

She pouts. "Oh, I'm sorry--"

"It's cool, Hayley." Tori smiles reassuringly. "We're both heading to different paths. He has a successful motorcross career to worry about, whereas, I am happy teaching at the Wind Ninja Academy with my boys, so it's all good."

Hayley smirks. "Your boys eh? Ever thought of hooking up with one of them instead?"

"What?!" Tori laughs out of disbelief. "No. First of all, Shane and Dustin are like my best friends and it'll always stay that way between us no matter what happens. If I'd ever hook up with them, it's like creating incest." Hayley chuckles in amusement. "Trust me, that's how tight it gets. Cam...honestly, I can never picture myself with him, or at least with a girl like me. He deserves someone who is a lot like him; an intelligent perfectionist."

"And Hunter?"

Tori paused to think about it for a moment. She looks back at Hayley and smiles. "Hunter will always be Hunter. We're just different, hardly any chemistry between us."

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"Dude, what do you think they're talking about?"

Ethan and Kira looked at each other and rolled their eyes once they figured he was still standing there. "Come on already before she leaves."

"Yeah, she's like halfway through with her drink.

"Okay, but what do I say?" Conner begins to panic.

Ethan shrugged. "Gee, I don't know. Tell her how nice she looks."

Kira coughs from behind her book. The guys turned to her. "What? Or maybe, you can two talk about how she and her ninja friends kicked our butts last week."

"You're still not over that?"

Kira glares at Ethan. "Yes, I'm over it. It's called sarcasm."

"Whatever. Just because you weren't able to kick her butt..."

"Ethan!"

"What?!"

Conner rubs his eyes out of frustration. "You guys are missing the point here."

"Ugh! Whatever!" Kira gives in as she threw her backpack over her shoulder. The guys stare blankly at her. "Just be yourself, Conner. That's all a girl ever asks for." She pats him on the shoulder before exiting the cafe with her stuff. Conner turns to Ethan and shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright." He rubs his hands together nervously. "Here goes nothing..." Conner turns back around, and to his surprise, find that she was no longer there.

A/N: Good? Bad? Let me know if I should continue...