Episode: During Episode 89, "Goldar's Vice-Versa"

"Aisha, are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Rocky. He felt like his chest was going to explode just thinking about it; he didn't want to know what would happen if he actually tried to do it.

Aisha just rolled her eyes at her friend. "Rocky, you've been thinking about this for years. You're really going to chicken out now?"

"Well when you put it like that…" Actually, Rocky was still considering doing just that. But Aisha had a point. He'd been thinking about this since his junior high years. He'd actually almost worked up the courage a couple of weeks ago, after the scare with Lord Zedd. He could still remember it clearly: the cool dank atmosphere of the cave, the smell of must and mildew that surrounded them. Worse yet, he could still see the barely-concealed fear in his friends' eyes. They'd all had chafe marks on their wrists for days after that; Adam's were the worst, courtesy of his constant squirming. Rocky had never been so terrified in his life, if he were being perfectly honest. The thought of being forced to serve the skin-lite evildoer still managed to churn his stomach.

When they got out of there, he made his resolution to finally do it. He and Aisha had spent days planning it. It was going to be perfect: after the triathlon, he and Adam were going to go camping. They'd be all alone for days, nothing but them and the beautiful outdoors. It would be chilly out, so he'd start a campfire, and he and Adam would be huddled up in front of it, and that was when he'd tell him.

Adam, we've been best friends for almost our whole lives, right? We've done so many things together, and you know I care about you, right? The thing is, though, Adam, I really care for you. More than as a best friend or a brother. I guess what I'm trying to say is…I love you, Adam.

That was exactly how he'd say it, too, and the number of times he'd rehearsed the line was a secret that would stay between him and his bathroom mirror. Only, the triathlon hadn't gone quite as planned. Ranger business had gotten in the way big time, and for the first week after they'd become Rangers, Rocky had hardly had time to think about it. Not to say he hadn't thought about Adam – no, he'd spent more than enough time on and off the battle field worrying about the younger teen – he just hadn't thought it was the best time to…advance their friendship. And besides, if Adam turned him down (which Rocky had accepted he probably would) he didn't want to risk it distracting them and endangering them or their friends.

Of course, then came an interesting opportunity that, according to Aisha, Rocky couldn't pass up: the Angel Grove High School dance. As soon as she had suggested it, Rocky pointed out the obvious – that it was a "vise-versa" dance. The girls were meant to ask the guys, and Rocky was obviously not a girl, so he couldn't ask his guy. Never mind the fact that Adam would probably have more offers than he knew what to do with; the guy had the sort of subtle beauty and sensitive almond eyes that drove the girls mad.

"Then you want to see him dancing with some girl?" Aisha had retorted, and he'd had to concede the point. No, he did not, in fact, want to see Adam dancing with some girl. "So do something about it, big boy." She was a lot more confident than Rocky was that Adam would return his feelings.

Which led them to where they were now, huddled up outside the Youth Center before one of Rocky's karate demonstrations with Adam.

"Here's what you're going to do," she began, and with a grin of devilish glee, she explained her master plot to him. According to her, it was foolproof, and since Rocky didn't have any better ideas, he was going to go along with it. Aisha would see to it.

A glance at his watch showed that it was just about time to be meeting Adam, so with a last farewell to Aisha (and a promise that he would follow the plan) he jogged into the Youth Center to meet his friend.

Punctual as ever, Adam was already waiting for him on the mats. As Rocky came to join him, he tried not to let himself think about how good he looked in that incredibly tight black tank top he was wearing, or how happy he was to be wearing loose pants.

"About time," Adam chuckled, his grin crinkling the corners of his gorgeous almond-shaped eyes. "I thought you'd never show up."

"Hey, I'm not that late!" Rocky protested indignantly. The grin on his own face probably weakened the effect a little bit, though.

"Of course not. What was I thinking?" Adam replied. Rocky caught him roll his eyes amusedly, before the younger teen assumed his stance. "Ready to start?" he asked.

Rocky fell into his own stance immediately. "Whenever you are," Rocky said. He barely had time to blink before Adam started moving, and just like that, the demonstration was on.

As Adam dodged out of the way of Rocky's last roundhouse kick, they both seemed in silent agreement that they were done. Rocky favored him with a smile, and was pleased to see Adam return it in kind as they clapped each other on the shoulders. The small crowd that had formed started to disperse, and together, they turned away from it and headed towards Billy.

"Hey Billy," said Rocky.

Beside him Adam continued, a little out of breath. "Hey Billy, you missed the demonstration."

"I know, I'm sorry," Billy said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I had a meeting with the Vice-Versa dance committee."

Rocky couldn't help the spark of excitement that flared at the mention of the dance. "You know," he said, "that's gonna be a blast." That, or a catastrophe, but he was working on his optimism today. Of course, to keep up appearances, he continued, "It's about time the girls had to ask the guys to a dance," as they walked up the stairs towards the Juice Bar.

They chose the first table they came to, and Rocky pulled out his own chair at the middle. "Who are you going with?" Adam asked, pulling out the chair to Rocky's left.

"Jessica Peterson," Rocky lied smoothly. He hadn't been altogether sold on the idea of lying to his best friend, but Aisha said the surprise would make it worth it. "Man, I can't believe she asked me."

"How about you, Adam?" Billy asked. Rocky was glad the older boy had asked, because the suspense was killing him. He had already imagined that Adam would have a date to the dance, and planned accordingly, but he still wanted to know who his competition was.

To his surprise, though, Adam pulled a face, his nose scrunching up and the corners of his lips pulling down like it always did when he was embarrassed about something. "I don't think I'm going," he said finally.

Rocky had to fight to keep his jaw from hitting his folded arms. "Why not?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice casual, and of course a little concerned.

Adam dropped his gaze to the table, briefly, before raising it. "Well," he muttered, "no one's asked me. And I don't think anyone's going to."

Once again, Rocky's jaw seemed to be the victim of a gravity surge, and it was all he could do to keep his face schooled as Billy started talking.

"Don't feel bad, Adam," he said. "No one's invited me yet, either."

That seemed to bring a little bit of light back to Adam's face, and Rocky reminded himself to thank the genius later.

Of course, at right about that moment, a girl in pig tails and a plaid jumper came up breathlessly behind Billy. Rocky knew what she was about to say even before she opened her mouth, and he cringed as the two spoke privately for a moment. Rocky could see that little bit of light fading from Adam's face again, and he forced a smile, bumping him reassuringly on the arm. If nothing else, he could keep him pleasantly distracted, and he pointed to Bulk and Skull at the table behind Adam. The two were crouched over a small army's worth of junk food, hiding their faces as the school's resident punk girls came running in.

"Hey, what's wrong, Bulk?" he asked as the two girls started calling out some rather embarrassing nicknames for all the world to hear. Why people thought that attaching –poo to the end of someone's name made them sound cute, Rocky would never know, but he was going to use this to his advantage to cheer Adam up. After all, what could be more uplifting than seeing Bulk and Skull get harassed by the only two people in school that were weirder than they were?

"They want to ask us to the dance," Bulk replied without turning around. "We should go, Skull."

"Oh. Yeah." Skull chuckled nervously. "Wouldn't want to be late for detention, you know." As they made their quick escape, their two hunters spotted them, and Adam had to lean in towards Rocky to keep from getting butt-bumped out of his seat by the bigger of the two.

The distraction only lasted until Billy returned, though. His grin told all as he resumed his seat. "Hey guys," he said, "Laura just asked me to the dance."

Rocky could literally feel the dark cloud settle deeper around his best friend, but he forced a smile for Billy's sake. "Hey," he said approvingly.

"Looks like I'm the only one without a date," Adam muttered miserably. The smile on Rocky's face fell as he watched his friend sink lower in his chair. "Even Bulk and Skull are going, if those girls ever catch them."

"Don't worry, Adam. Someone will ask you." That much he could promise. Whether or not he would actually want to go with this someone, or (more likely) punch him in the face and run the other way, was a question that Adam would have to answer for himself.

His assurance fell on deaf ears, though. "I gotta get going," Adam said, and pushed up from the table. Rocky had to fight to keep himself in his chair; part of him wanted to jump up and ask Adam right there, just to get that kicked puppy look off his face, but Aisha's warning rang clear in his head and kept him grounded. "Later, guys."

"See ya," Billy muttered. He glanced at Rocky as Adam left the Youth Center, and all Rocky could muster was a shrug.

As school began the next day, it was time for Aisha to commence the next step of her brilliant scheme. She'd spent too long watching both her friends cast sidelong looks at each other, and frankly, she was tired of choking on the sexual tension. And besides, it was time for the two of them to be happy, and who better to set that up than the master-matchmaker herself?

This part of the plan required her to find Adam, so after checking in all his usual haunts, she was forced to wait until a few minutes before the bell. Sure enough, right on time, Adam made it to his locker right as Aisha was coming down the hall.

"Adam!" she said. "Do you have a date for the dance yet?" She made sure to keep her smile down to an only slightly blinding so as not to alarm the more skittish of her two companions. All the same, he looked uncomfortable, tinkering with the book in his hands.

"No," he admitted, keeping his eyes trained on some random page of the book. See, like she said: skittish. "I think I'll just stay home that night and catch up on my reading."

As miserable as he sounded, Aisha was pleased. Her plan was going better than she'd imagined; Adam not having a date already eliminated one of her scheme's biggest complications. "Not if I have anything to do with it," she said, and then it was time to sell the set-up. "You know Sarah Dias? She plays on the volleyball team?"

"Yeah, she's beautiful," Adam said. He was genuine enough, but Aisha could've laughed at the naïveté. Poor Adam, thinking he could pull the wool over her eyes. "And really smart, too," he continued. Poor little lamb had no idea he'd been made. Well, he was going to come out of that closet, if Aisha had to drag him out by his cute, curly hair.

"I happen to know for a fact that she thinks you're cute," she said. Sell, sell, sell.

Adam snorted. "Yeah, right," he said, and promptly averted his attention to his locker. As if she wouldn't be able to see the blush on his face. It never ceased to amaze her how a boy as pretty as Adam could be so shy all the time, but pay him the slightest of compliments, and he lit up like a tomato. And if it was Rocky paying the compliment…well, stop lights had nothing on him.

"I'm serious!" she protested. "I bet if you go to her volleyball practice after school, she'll ask you to the dance." Little did Adam know that there would be someone else waiting at the park. Sure, Sarah really did have a crush on Adam, but it was bros before hoes, and Rocky had dibs on the adorable Asian.

"Really?" Adam asked.

Aisha stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "Trust me," she said. "I know these things."

Adam seemed to think for a moment, and Aisha could imagine the mental sparring match going on in his head. He had to keep up appearances, and he didn't want to be the only guy on the team that didn't have a date for the dance. She knew that it was a risky move; if things didn't play out the way she'd planned, Rocky and Adam would both probably be dateless and down, but she was confident in her mad skills. This had to work.

Adam made his way through the park that afternoon, his heart thumping in his chest so loudly he could hardly hear the birds. As he reached the top of the hill, he caught sight of his target. There sat Sarah, studying after her practice at on the hillside.

"There she is," he said to himself. He still wasn't sure he wanted to do this. He knew that he didn't want to be the only guy without a date to the dance, but he hardly even knew Sarah. He'd seen her a couple of times in the hall, and had class with her before, but he definitely didn't like her enough to ask her out. Granted, she would be doing the asking, but still…he didn't want to dance with her or anything, and that was what people did at dances. He would much rather be dancing with—

He shook his head. "She's just a human being," he told himself. She wasn't some scary monster, and this was just a dance, not a lifetime commitment. If nothing else, it would keep Rocky from suspecting anything. He hadn't exactly been subtle with his disappointment when he'd heard Rocky was going with that Jessica girl. Of course he'd get the prettiest girl in school; well, next to Kim, and of course Tommy had firsts on her.

He tried to convince himself that it was a good idea. "A pretty, smart, athletic, female human being." Pretty much everything his parents wouldn't disown him for asking out.

Just as he worked himself up enough to go talk to her, though, he heard something. Turning on his heels, he saw a troupe of Putties appear. He couldn't keep the miserable groan back. "Aw man, not now," he grumbled. Seriously, did these guys ever take a vacation? Regrettably, it wasn't like he could ignore them. Better to get this over with quick, and maybe Sarah would still be there.

He made quick work of the goons – to be fair, they got in their share of punches too, particularly one to his gut that knocked the air out of him and left his stomach aching sharply – and hurried over to the crest of the hill.

Only to sigh. "I don't believe this," he muttered. It was like the whole park had been evacuated, without a soul in sight. So much for his date.

Just as he turned and left the park, another soul came running towards the volleyball net. Cursing under his breath, the red-clad figure checked his watch. He still wasn't late, but then…where was everybody? Aisha said she'd set it up…and not only was Adam missing, but everyone was gone.

With one last look around, the figure gave up the ghost and headed home.