Power Rangers: Reasons To Join A Karate Class In Angel Grove (Patreon)

Jason had hoped he’d get all kinds of students for his karate class, but he had to admit, he wouldn’t have pegged Billy Cranston for one of the new recruits. Not that there was anything to rule him out. He was reasonably tall, not too out of shape, not thin as a broomstick like the classic nerd stereotype.

He was just awkward. Something about the way he combed his hair, held his body, looked at things through his thick eyeglasses. He didn’t seem like the physical type. And Jason had heard through the grapevine how Billy got treated.

On the whole, most of the student body ignored him, some were friendly, but Jason had heard enough stories of the pranks that Bulk and Skull had pulled on Billy to make him worry. He made polite conversation for a bit, asking about Billy’s schedule, talking about the kind of physical activity he’d be expecting from Billy in class, the kind of gi he’d need to buy, before he got down to the nitty-gritty.

“Hey, Billy, d’ya mind if I ask you a personal question?”

Billy shrugged with a single shoulder, the gesture moving haphazardly through his otherwise normal body. “Statistically speaking, ninety-four percent of people enjoy talking about themselves. I don’t see the problem with being invited to do so. It seems like something one might be expected to encounter in any personable conversation.”

Billy’s way of talking took some getting used to as well, but once you realized he was sincerely translating thought to words, it was surprisingly endearing. “This class…” Jason broke off—reached out and touched Billy on his shoulder. “I’ve heard that some guys around here can give you a pretty hard time, but if you were thinking about learning kung-fu and putting them in their place… I understand, but that’s not what this class is for.”

Billy’s brow furrowed, as if considering the idea for the first time, like the thought had never occurred to him. “Why would I want to invite a physical confrontation? I feel the odds of such a dispute resolving in my favor are… poor.”

Somehow, Jason believed him. If the guy could fake that level of guilelessness, he had a future at the Academy Awards. “Then you’re just… interested in learning karate?”

Billy nodded with ponderous consideration. “According to all my research, physical fitness goes hand in hand with mental well-being. To reach my intellectual peak, my body has to have a corresponding level of athleticism. Wasn’t Plato a wrestler, after all?”

Jason wasn’t doing that well in history class. “Uhh… yeah. Good point. Well, if you’re willing to put in the work, karate is a great way to get in shape.”

Billy smiled at him. “Can’t be any harder than memorizing the hydrogen bonds between ribonucleic acid!”

Okay, maybe Billy was messing with him. Maybe.

***

“So this is, like, for real martial arts, right?” Trini asked. She’d filled out her entry form, but wasn’t handing it over yet.

Jason turned his motion to take it into setting his hands on his hips. “Yeah. Real self-defense. Although if someone’s giving you a problem…”

“No, nothing like that. Just nice to be able to throw a punch.”

“Well, if that’s all you want to learn…” Jason held his fist up, thumb outside of fingers, and slowly extended it in the proper form.

“I’d like a little bit extra,” Trini said with a giggle, handing over the form.

“Alright, but you should know we teach that the best way to win a fight is to run away.”

“I’m interested in when you can’t run away.” Trini crossed her arms. “A couple days ago, my mom gave me a rape whistle. I guess something she heard at work got her worried.”

“Oh.” Jason was at a loss for words. “If it helps, I don’t think Angel Grove is the kind of place where you have to worry about much more than someone TPing your house.”

“Yeah, that’s why my parents moved here. Boring, California,” Trini quipped, trying to lighten the mood. “But my dad, you know, he’s spent his whole life helping people—in the military, as a doctor—if I see someone getting hurt, I want to do more for them than just blow a whistle.”

“That’s pretty cool of you.”

Trini nodded, a little too tightly, like she was embarrassed. Then she brightened, quickly touching Jason’s arm. “But if it’s just me, I’ll run away. I am on the track team.”

“Yeah, I saw you at the track meet last week. You were really… fast.”

“I guess you didn’t see much of me then,” Trini grinned, taking the entry form from him. “I’ll just… oh, right, I already filled this out.” She handed it back to him. “I’m gonna go.”

“See you at class,” Jason told her.

“I’ll move slow,” Trini promised, hoping that didn’t sound as desperately awkward as she felt.

***

Jason took Kim’s entry form like he was expecting a Mad Libs, but no, everything on there looked right, from her home address to her contact information. He didn’t suppose this would count as getting Kimberly Hart’s phone number. Shame.

“What?” Kimberly asked.

“What what?”

“You seem…” Kimberly set herself in a cocked stance, her weight on one foot. She held her left elbow with her right hand. “High-spirited.”

“I was just thinking that if you’ve got an opening for an extracurricular activity, and you’re choosing karate, the cheer team is going to kill me.”

Kimberly snorted. “Yeah, no, they’d hate if I actually joined. They hate me even doing gymnastics. But it’s about as athletic as I can get without doing cheer.”

“You don’t like cheer?”

Kimberly rolled her eyes. “It’s… fine. I could take it or leave it, but if I take it, then I’m in this whole social hierarchy with being prom queen and dating a quarterback and all this who’s-the-queen-bee stuff, so… I leave it.”

Jason grinned. “I suppose I don’t have room to complain until I join the football team.”

“Yeah, you’d probably hate dating the cheer captain,” Kimberly teased.

“I probably would.” He glanced at her entry form again. “Still, why karate? I bet any afterschool Angel Grove has would be happy to have you.”

Kimberly shrugged. “Trini’s here, she’s great, and Billy signed up, he seems nice… you I don’t know about.”

Jason laughed at her sarcasm.

“And I don’t know,” Kimberly continued. “I want to get out of the house, so why not karate?”

“What’s wrong with your house, if you don’t mind my asking? Everything okay?”

“It’s fine… it’s not fine, but it’s not a disaster either,” Kimberly stammered, breaking her usual easy eye contact. “My parents are… They don’t like each other. I don’t want to be there while they don’t like each other, so if you and Trini and Billy are all doing spin-kicks, I’m there.”

Jason met her eyes when she looked at him for… something. “I’m sorry. If there’s anything I can do…”

“Teach me how to do a spin-kick,” Kimberly said.

***

Jason couldn’t say there was anyone he expected to take a karate class less than Billy Cranston, but seeing easy-going Zach Taylor take an entry form—he had to say it was up there. But it was a welcome surprise. There were only a few people who were rubbed the wrong way by Zach’s class clown antics and Jason was not one of them. With him in the class, Jason wouldn’t have to worry about keeping things light.

“So hol’ up, hol’ up,” Zach said as he filled out the form. “This is just karate, right? You know, hi-yah, hadouken, not that MMA, roll around in the dirt, drop you on your head and punch you in the face thirty times stuff, is it? Because I cannot have that happening to—“ He summoned up a Sears Photo Studio look. “—this face.”

“It’s about discipline, health, and self-defense, not fighting,” Jason stressed. “I think there’s something in karate for everyone, even if they never trade blows with someone.”

Zach handed over the form. “That’s good, that’s good. Me, I can’t imagine anyone having a problem with me, but if they do, I wanna little more than my dance moves in my backpocket. And I can’t lug a taser around. It’d ruin the lines of my threads.”

Jason crossed his arms. “Think you can pull off looking good in a gi,” he asked, knowing he was giving Zach another chance to boast.

“Jace, my man, I can look good in anything. But I’ll look best in a black belt. Because—as I am living proof—black is beautiful.”

Jason held the form in the air as he went to file it away. “Hey, if you’re willing to put in the work, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“What would shock you, Master J? I’ve seen you at those karate tournaments—you fight like you’ve got eyes in the back of your head. But listen here, listen…” Keeping pace with Jason, Zach put an arm around his shoulders. “It may be that I have a slight ulterior motive. Not that I’m looking to start my own dojo or anything, I wouldn’t do ya like that—do ya dojo like that—“ Zach flashed a grin at his own joke and Jason found himself smiling along. “But I do like the multitasking. And it could be that ya boy Zach found himself heartbroken—“ Zach pressed a hand to his chest. “Heartbroken. Unlucky in love. So, Master J, wait, no, Sensei Scott… tell me… while I happen to be learning the martial arts, could it be that there are some fly honeys in the gi next to me?”

“Zach, why do you think I started learning karate?”