Pink Ranger Problems

I shouldn't have agreed to meet up on the same day. How am I meant to show myself in public? I don't have any girl's clothes to go over my suit. Will a hoodie and some jeans do the job? They'll have to. As long as it covers me up it'll be fine. Why did I agree to this? Everyone was going to be there and I was going to look awful. What if someone recognizes me?

Scott: Hey Ryan. We are meeting at the youth center later. There's a girl I want you to meet.

Of course he invites me. This just gets better and better. Guess I need to learn how to be in two places at once.

Ryan: Sorry, dude. A little under the weather today.

It feels awful lying to him. Especially after he was so open last night, but it's not like I have a choice.

Scott: I'll introduce you another day then. She's cute. Seems like your type. 

Is he talking about Filia? That's my name now, isn't it? 

I morph. This time there's more than just weightlessness. My chest swells, as the rest of me shrinks, my hands become more slender, and the stubble that I can never completely get rid of seems to melt. It's exhilirating, like power I didn’t know I have is flowing into me.

Carefully, I take off my helmet, gloves and boots as well as the jacket. Thankfully, nothing seemed attached to the suit or me. Underneath the suit is a girl’s body, no doubt about that. A modest chest, petite hands and hips that make me question the functionality of morphing into a girl. I slide my jeans over the spandex, and a hoodie over my head. Thank the Power that my hoodie is long enough to cover my jeans being unzipped. My hips don’t fit otherwise.  

Scott and I agreed to meet up before everyone else. He needs someone to help him come out, I guess. If I didn't have to be Filia, Ryan could be helping him through this. It doesn't seem like he minds too much though. It dawns on me that he is going to be in his original body. Should I act surprised? That would make him feel weird though, but if I don't he might catch on that it's me in here.

I tiptoe out of the house. Dad shouldn't be home for another hour, but it's always better to be safe. It'd be hard to explain a girl in the house. I walk down to the youth centre alone, my phone in my pocket in case Scott calls. 

Why am I doing this? Why am I walking there? That just gives me more time to think! What if he realises it’s me and thinks I want to be a girl? What do I do then? Pretend to be a girl for the rest of my life? If I tell him the truth he might think his transformation was an accident. I can't let that happen. He's helped me too much. I owe him that. Damn it, I'll have to drink like so much Clownfish Orange and because I'm a guy I'll pass out and it will hurt and ugh. I could move away and we could stay in touch by text, that way I wouldn't have to be a girl all the time and he could just think I'm one. I could just stay morphed maybe.  

"Hey, Filia!" he calls. Before I knew it I was there. Damn these fast thoughts.

"Hi Scott!"

"I'm glad you could recognise me like this," he chuckles sadly. Looking at him, now I can't see anything other than a guy. The way he moves and talks and acts, he's so obviously the same Red ranger from earlier.

Filia is definitely shorter than Ryan. Why am I shorter than Scott? How much did I shrink? He's around two inches taller than me! It pisses me off.

"I mean. You are just as handsome." I shouldn't have said that. Why did I say that? I'm trying to affirm him. That's it. He needs to know that he is a man no matter what. That is all.

"Haha, thanks. You're pretty cute yourself." My cheeks feel warm. There is no way he’d call me that if he knew who I am. Maybe that's why I'm blushing, my disguise is working. “I was hoping to introduce you to everyone, but Ryan wasn’t able to come. I hope he’s okay.”

“Why wouldn’t he be?” I ask. It means a lot that he's worried about me, but he shouldn't waste his energy. 

“We barely made it out of the Youth Center yesterday. He wasn’t teleported with us.”

“He’s fine. Don't worry about it, Scott.”

“How do you know that, Filia?” 

“Astrus said so yesterday, right?” I am not gonna blow my cover this early. This was going to be fine. Moving on. “Anyway, are you sure the centre’s gonna be open today?” 

“I think it is? Aside from some broken glass and some left over building materials falling there wasn’t any big damage done to the place. That’s what Ernie said anyway. Do you know Ernie? He runs the place. I haven’t seen you here before so maybe you don’t.” He's rambling. I haven’t seen this side of him since we were kids. All awkward and rambly and cute. What am I saying? “Wanna go inside?”

“Sure.”

The youth centre looks pretty good considering it was hit hard by the earthquake yesterday. Everything looks bigger though. It's odd to see normal things as slightly bigger than they used to be. Odd but not necessarily bad. Maybe I had to eat less in this body. I could also probably sneak and hide easier. 

“Hey Ernie. You open?”

“Hey, how’s my favourite teacher? Yeah we are open. Some stuff might be off the menu until I can get a new blender though.” 

“Damn, I was hoping to get a smoothie,” he laughs. There was something off about the way he's talking. It feels empty. Small talk usually does, but Scott knows how to make it work. What is up? “Hey, Ernie.”

“Yeah, sport?”

“Would you be okay with calling me Scott from now on?” Scott mumbled. There's no bravado or joy in his words. Is he worried? Ernie'a great? There is no way he'd reject Scott. 

“Of course I’m okay with that. You alright, mate?”

“Yeah Erns. I think I might be a guy.”

“That is totally alright. I’ll update the flyers for your classes if you’d like. I’d be a bit of a hypocrite if I judged someone for that.” 

“Oh, please do!” A smile spread across his face. That's the look I want to see. I wish I could show that in a way aside from just smiling dumbly at his joy. 

“Who’s the girl by the way, Scott?” The smile on Scott’s face broadens at hearing his name. I'm so proud of him. I kind of wish I could be honest with him, just so I can tell him how proud I am. 

“Oh her name’s Filia! I met her last night after teaching. I had to rescue her from some Anemobots.” I look at his face to find him smirking about his stupid lie. All the deflated energy was gone. 

“You did not!” I squeak

“Did too. I had to bridal carry you.” Is he like this with all girls? I didn’t even know he liked them. Or is he just trying to be cool? I'm not going to dignify his lies by imagining them. 

“I bet you couldn’t bridal carry me if you tried, Scott.” I tried to ignore his teasing. He was trying to rile me up. “Hi, Ernie. I’m Fi--” 

The ground disappears from under me, it's like I'm floating. That is until two warm arms dig into my back. Did he just do what I thought he did? He didn’t. Did he?

“Apparently I can, princess,” he whispers into my ear with his soft husky voice. His arms were warm against my back and under my legs. I feel so small. He looks down at me mischievously. A stupid smirk on his stupid face. He hasn't even taken the Clownfish stuff and he can pick me up. 

“Scott!”

“What?” He smiles a very mean smile. As soon as I turn back he’s gonna get a swift slap to the face.

“You! Well. I. You can’t just do that!” He's so damn comfortable. This isn’t okay. How much smaller am I that I can be princess carried? Could he do this to me in my old body?

“You aren’t asking me to put you down.”

“I thought that was implied!” Has the euphoria gone to his head?

“Put her down, Scott. You don’t want to scare her away.” 

“Hey, she dared me to!”

“Never pick someone up without their consent.” 

“Wait damn, you are right. Sorry Filia.”

“It’s fine.” I say as he puts me down. I need to catch my breath and somehow force my heart to stop thumping. And make my cheeks less red. I just needed less of everything to be happening. 

“Hi, Filia. I run this joint. If you need a feed let me know. We usually have smoothies and junk food for a decent price but my blender broke during the earthquake last night. If you need something free, we have fruit, on the house.” 

“Nice to meet you, Ernie.”

“Hey Alison? Are you here yet?” Summer had arrived. I’d done okay re-meeting Ernie now I just had to re-meet all my friends. 

“Over here, Summer. I have a girl I’d like you to meet.”

“Damn it dude. If you are trying to set me up again, it’s not going to-- oh, hi.” I ignore the first part of that sentence (Does he do that a lot?). How am I going to introduce myself? Me and Summer never really talk?

“Hi, I’m Filia.” I say.

“Summer,” she says as she reaches out for a handshake. “It’s nice to meet you in a more normal setting.”

“Since we are doing introductions, I’m Scott. I realised I’m trans.” He says it so casually. It's nothing like it was with Ernie. 

“Oh awesome, Scott. Wanna sit down?”

“Sounds good.”

Ziggy and Leo come in together, bickering about something. Is Summer staring at me?

“All I’m saying is who is she?”

“Probably just a girl we don’t know, Ziggy?”

“You could come over and meet her, you know?” Summer says. I can't read her. Is she being mean or joking.

“Oh she’s here.” Leo says. It felt weird knowing that everyone sees me as a girl. As someone they’ve never met before. Weird but comforting in a way. They have no expectations of Filia. She's just a random girl who was chosen alongside them. I can be whoever.

“I’m Filia. Sorry, I don’t know many people, I just moved here.” I lie. It feels bad lying to my friends, but it's not like I can tell them the truth. That would defeat the purpose. 

“Oh! I’m Leo! Nice to meet you, Filia! I look forward to fighting with you!”

“What he means is he wants to fight alongside you. I’m Ziggy. They/them pronouns if you please.”

“Of course, Ziggy. I got the point of what he meant though.” I flash my friendliest smile. The character of Filia has to be different to me. Sweet, kind, girly. Compared to tired, gloomy, manly Ryan. No one will suspect anything. 

“Where’s Ryan? Is this just like a rangers only meetup or something?” Ziggy asks a little too loudly for comfort. We aren't meant to let anyone find out.

“He’s not feeling well. Maybe yesterday scared him?” Scott explains. I swear that Summer just looked at me. What did I do? “He already knows what I’m about to tell you anyway. I’m thinking of changing my name to Scott, and transitioning. I know this might be shocking.”

“Not that shocking, dude.” Leo says. “I mean you are the manliest person I know and it’s obvious that Ryan looks up to you as some pillar of manliness.” Are they seriously talking behind my back? “Proud of you for realising it though, bro.”

“Good on ya mate.” Ziggy chuckles. “Took ya long enough.”

“Let me guess Ziggy? You knew.”

“I had a hunch. You've been gloomy as hell when not teaching the last few weeks. You were getting jealous of Ryan yesterday for goodness sake."

“I was not!" Him, jealous of me? What does he have to be jealous of? "Anyway, Astrus says he knows a way to get Clownfish Orange. I might be able to look like my ranger all the time.”

“Hopefully it’s not expired.” Leo says.

“From what I’ve heard some groups have been studying it so they can make a copy.” I blurt out. Why can't I keep my mouth shut? Why do I know so much about this? I need a distraction. Something to distract everyone from asking how I know. “Also if you pick me up again, even if it’s to test strength differences or whatever I will--” Perfect. 

“You’ll what? Blush more?” 

“Shut up!” He is letting my handsome comment go to his head. Am I not allowed to compliment my friend? From his perspective he’s only known me for a day, but that doesn’t excuse bridal carrying me! "How else would I respond to a guy picking me up?" 

Now it's his turn to blush. "I guess that makes sense."

"Can you two get a room?" Leo helpfully interjects. 

"Dude!" Scott and I shouted in unison.