PR: Gemstone (some of you may remember it as well) returns!

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Raleigh, North Carolina; 3:30 P.M.


Miranda Copperfield hummed happily to herself as she skipped down the sidewalk. School had just let out, and she was ecstatic.

The guy she’d had her eye on for several weeks had asked her to come to his house for dinner with his family. She couldn’t wait to tell her aunt and uncle the good news, provided they’d allow her to go.

As she walked along, the very guy she’d been thinking of stepped up beside her.

“ So, are we still on for tonight?” Jake Marinsky asked her. She blushed slightly.

“ Sure. If Aunt Chrissy and Uncle Lucas okay it,” she replied. Jake gave her another award-winning smile and went back to join his friends. Miranda lived just a few short blocks from school, so she walked there and back every morning.

About twenty minutes later, she walked in her front door and closed it behind her.

“ Hello? Aunt Chrissy? Uncle Jake? Are you here?” she called out. She went into the kitchen and read the note on the door; she couldn’t help but laugh with happiness.

“ What luck. Now I can go without having them ask how much I like him!” Miranda exclaimed to herself.

There was a chicken leg and some macaroni and cheese in the oven – still warm – so Miranda washed it down with a glass of orange juice and rushed upstairs to do her homework.

The minute she opened her door, her phone rang. Trying not to act to overly eager, she casually picked up the phone.

“ Hello?” she said.

“Hey, Miranda. I just heard the news!” her best friend Emma Lewis practically shouted.

“ Yeah! Jake asked me over for dinner with his family!” Miranda happily replied. On the other end Emma whistled aloud.

“ Dang, girl. He sure does move fast. Cut straight through the dating process all the way to meeting his family. That sure is serious,” Emma said.

“ How so?”

“ Because, next thing you know you’ll be having his second child.”
Miranda laughed, she just couldn’t help herself.

“ If you were over here I’d knock some sense out of you!” she jokingly replied. At that moment, her door burst open. And the line went dead in her hands.

Ecstasy was replaced by fear as she hung up the phone and stared at the strange thing confronting her. “ What the heck are you?” Miranda shouted, leaping off her bed.

The robot thing walked towards her, holding its hand out. “ I have come to bring you to my master, Arqueno,” the thing said.

“ I don’t think so, buster,” Miranda replied. She grabbed one of her decorative swords off the wall – she loved collecting old weapons as a hobby – and quickly swung at the robot.

It easily blocked her thrust and grabbed the sword from her hands. “ I do not wish you harm, Earthling,” it said as it put the sword back in its place.

Miranda glanced toward her open window and made a dive for it. The robot again blocked her escape. Then it grabbed her hand, and the next thing she knew they were standing in some kind of strange room.

She shoved away from the robot and glanced around, her fear growing with every second.

“ I am sorry my friend had to confront you the way he did. But we desperately need your help,” a voice said from behind her.

Miranda whirled to find a seven-foot violet-haired, violet-eyed man staring at her. “ Who are you?”

“ I am Arqueno, of the planet Laneria. That is my friend, GenX4.9,” the man replied.

“ I don’t care who you are. I’ve got a date tonight,” Miranda retorted. The man that called himself Arqueno stepped in front of her.

“ I am afraid that that is really not as important as what I have to tell you. An evil space villain is coming to attack this planet that you call home,” Arqueno said.

Right behind him stood a giant monitoring system. And at this moment it was going off. Putting all thought of other plans on hold, Miranda stepped forward to glance over the man’s shoulder.

And her eyes lit with righteous anger. On the screen, several alien beings were attacking her school. And at that very second, two of them were harassing Jake and Emma.

She snarled and screamed in fury. Arqueno typed something into the keypad; Miranda was instantly at the school.

In front of her, the two alien beings were advancing closer to her friends. Before she knew it, she’d somersaulted over the beings’ heads and landed in a protective stance in front of her friends.

“ Hey! Butt-uglies! No one messes with my friends!” Miranda shouted. She swept her leg along the ground, knocking them off their feet.

Then she picked both of them up and slammed them together twice before dropping them to the ground. Jake and Emma tugged on her arms, trying to get her to go inside to safety with them.

She shoved away from them and leapt in the air, just as one of the ugly alien things rushed her.

She landed on the ground again and kicked it where its butt would be, sending it tumbling into its two companions. Then she grabbed her friends’ arms and practically dragged them to safety in one of the tall oak trees in the schoolyard.

Below her, a group of the alien things surrounded the tree trunk. There were about eight in all. She did the only thing that occurred to her; she prayed for a sudden wind to take them all away.

Just as she wished, a heavy wind swept across the yard, taking all the alien beings with it.




reposting it, cause i just found out how to copy and paste it from " My Documents"

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Miranda lithely jumped from the tree to survey the damage. Several cars were overturned, and several bikes were twisted in half or torn apart. She shook her head in disgust, just as a dark light formed near her.

A female being stepped from the dark light, a black staff in her hands. “ A pathetic human attempting to protect her pathetic friends,” the alien scorned.

Miranda was spitting mad. “ You cheap little hussy,” she retorted. The alien woman was taken aback by her comment, which was lucky for Miranda.

Arqueno appeared beside her and handed her a small object. The thing glowed as he strapped it onto her wrist.

Just as quickly, the alien man disappeared, leaving Miranda to face the alien woman.

“ Arqueno a friend of yours, Earthling?”

“ Never met the man before today.”

“ Looks like you’re about to die, just the same. Anyone who supports him dies or is enslaved.” Miranda leapt out of the way as the alien woman shot lasers out of her staff.

They struck the ground where she’d been standing a minute before. “ Whoa! You’re in trouble for that!” Miranda screamed at the woman.

“ Yeah right.”

“ Yes, you are,” Miranda said as she stood straight and tall. She crossed her wrists together in front of her chest, then held them straight in front of
her.

“ Yellow Amber Gemstone Power!” she shouted as she pressed the button on her morpher. First her suit appeared; in the middle of the chest appeared a gold circle with the symbol of a Griffin on it.

Then came her helmet and gloves, which were the same color as her suit; the gloves and boots had gold around the tops. Last of all came her helmet, which was in the shape of a griffin’s head.

When the transformation was complete, she stared down at herself through the visor on the helmet. “ Holy cow!” she muttered to herself. The alien woman in front of her screamed in frustration.

“ The Gemstone powers are being harnessed! This can’t be!” she screamed aloud. Miranda glared at her behind her visor.

“ It is, and you’d better leave here!” Miranda screamed back.

The alien glared at her and charged. Miranda held up her arms in self-defense. Instantly a wind blocked the alien’s attack, shoving her up against the trunk of a tree halfway across the yard. “ Gemstone Saber!” Miranda shouted, unsheathing the sword from her back.

Holding it in an iron grip, she jumped and landed directly in front of the alien. With one slash, the alien was lying on the ground. She glared at Miranda.

“ I’ll be back, Ranger!” she shouted as she disappeared.

Miranda sheathed the saber again and went back to check on her friends. Before she got there, though, someone approached out of her field of vision.

She whirled to face them; it was the robot dude from that room she’d been in.

He told her that she must come back with him. Ignoring him yet again, she ducked behind the nearest overturned car, demorphed, and went directly to her friends.

They were still in the tree, and amazed when she showed up without a single scratch on her body.

“ Did you see that Power Ranger? I can’t believe it – they actually exist,” Emma whispered in awe.

“ Yeah, can you imagine what it’d be like to be her?” Jake piped up. “ It’s – well, I mean she sure did pack a powerful punch,” Miranda put in.

Before she could say more, the thing on her wrist beeped. She grunted in annoyance and ignored it yet again. “ Do this mean that we can’t have our date tonight?” she asked Jake.

“ Sweetheart, I don’t care if those things were to come back. We’re still on,” Jake replied, brushing a quick kiss across her hand.

On the school grounds, things were slowly coming back to life. People cam out of hiding to check on the damage themselves.

Miranda helped Jake and Emma from the tree, then walked over to Principal Simms, who was trying to console a grieving student. “ Is everything okay?” she asked the young girl.

Miranda recognized her as a young girl from fifth grade. “ No. They killed my cat. The one I brought to show my teacher. They killed it!” the girl sobbed.

Miranda took the girl into her arms as she sobbed.

Beside them, the Principal was at a loss for words. “ Shh, shhh. Don’t cry Sam. I can promise you that those beings will pay,” Miranda whispered in the girl’s ear.

She slowly quit crying, drying her tears with a tissue. “ I hope that Power Ranger comes back and kicks the crap out of them,” the girl muttered with anger.

Miranda put on a smiled. “ I guarantee you that if that alien comes back, then the Power ranger will come and beat ’em worse than a thief caught stealing from Celene Dion,” Miranda replied.

“ Yeah,” the girl replied. When she spotted her friends, she bounded off to talk to them. Principal Simms gave her a grim half-smile.

“ Thanks for that, Ms. Copperfield. The damage to this school today will take a while to repair. Many of these students will have to wait here for a while until their parents can pick them up,” the principal moaned. Miranda shook her head.

“ No they won’t. With your permission, Principal Simms, I would ask to take charge of some of the younger students. I’d need one or two of the school’s buses, but I could take them back to my house, let their parents come by there and pick them up,” Miranda said.

“ Consider it done. I know sixty students may be a bit much to handle, but I’ll have three of the teachers accompany you,” the Principal replied.

She went inside while Miranda went to her friends. “ I hate to ask you this, Jake, but I’ll have to take a rain-check on dinner tonight. I’m taking sixty of the students back to my house until their parents can pick them up. Three of the school’s teachers are going with me. We’re taking two of the school buses,” Miranda explained to Jake.


comments, n e 1?

[Zord_Crazy]

Sounds really cool. Need more to really o-pine on though.

[WhiteDragonRanger]

awesome stuff. cant wait to read more

[Kali_WolfChilde]

He and Emma just smiled. “ No problem. I’ll have my mother and father come over to your house. Between them and the three teachers – plus the two of us – I’m sure we can keep the kids entertained,” Jake said.

They had no more time to talk, for the teachers were ushering the kids into the buses.

Jake and Miranda got in the first bus with the first teacher, so Miranda could direct them to her house. Less than a half-hour later, everyone had been unloaded onto her front lawn.

Some of the kids were still scared, so Miranda divided all sixty kids between her, Jake, Emma, and the three teachers; each of them took about ten kids.

Miranda and her History teacher, Mr. Newman, took their kids down to the basement, where a game room had been set up several years ago for Miranda to play with her friends.

The kids – many of them no older thirteen – glanced around at the games and things set up. One boy spotted an air hockey table and yanked his friends over to play.

Another group of girls spotted a game of Twister on the shelf, and quickly commandeered it for their group.

Within five minutes, all the kids were laughing and playing the various games in the room, their previous experiences at school temporarily forgotten.

Miranda offered Mr. Newman a glass of green tea from the mini-fridge, which he gratefully accepted.

The two of them reclined on two of the stuffed armchairs, as if they did this every day.

“ Wow. I never thought I’d say this, but that vacation the board offered me sounds pretty good right now,” he muttered after he’d swallowed a bit of it.

“ Yeah,” Miranda replied as she kept a watchful eye on the kids.

“ Another reason I think I’ll take that vacation. I’m a grown man, and could swear that a Power Ranger came out of nowhere and started fighting the aliens,” he muttered.

“ Um, Mr. Newman? It was a Power Ranger,” Miranda hesitantly replied. Mr. Newman nodded his head and downed the rest of his drink.

Miranda heard a knock on the front door, then footsteps as whoever it was came to the basement door.

“ Miranda. Sam’s parents have come for her and her brother,” Jake called down the stairs.

Sam and Mick bounded up the stairs into their parents arms as Miranda followed them. Their mom smiled at her.

“ Thanks for bringing Sam and Mick home with you, Miranda. I’ll be more than happy to tell your aunt and uncle how responsible you’ve been,” she said as the family went out the door.

The next people to arrive were Jake’s parents; and they brought bags of chips, dips, and popcorn with them.

Miranda showed them to the kitchen and helped set everything up. Then she went down to the basement and called all the kids and Mr. Newman up for snacks and drinks.

All sixty-six people – including Miranda herself – had a rather great time. Almost fifteen minutes after Jake’s parents arrived, another knock came on the door.

Miranda went to answer it, and was a little disappointed to find Arqueno standing there.

“ I must talk to you in private,” he insisted.

“ Look, pal, I appreciate you giving me the morpher earlier and all, and helping me to protect my friends, but I’m busy right now,” Miranda said.
Before she could shut the door, Arqueno grabbed her arm and kindly but firmly guided her inside the house and upstairs to her room.


lemme know whatcha think.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

When he shut the door, she whirled on him. “ What right have you to do that to me in my own house?” she demanded to know, anger glittering in her eyes.

“ I did that because I am your leader. The morpher recognized you as its owner. That in turn allowed you to transform into the Yellow Amber Ranger,” Arqueno insisted.

“ So what? I transformed into a Power Ranger. Listen, it’s not that I don’t enjoy helping people out, but I just don’t understand why I should help out some guy that claims to be from another planet,” she insisted stubbornly.

Before she could say more, screams sounded from downstairs. Both cursed – Arqueno in the native tongue of his planet, Miranda in English – as they bounded down the stairs.

Many of the once playful kids were cowering on the floor. The five adults, plus Miranda’s two friends, were standing stock still, their gazes averted toward the kitchen windows.

“ What is it?” she asked Emma. “ The kids – some claim they saw one of the little alien thingies from earlier in your yard,” Emma whispered, fear evident in even her eyes.

Beside her, Miranda felt Arqueno stiffen in anger. In as calm a voice as she could manage, Miranda ordered the adults and her friends to get all the food and kids down to the basement.

It took at least ten minutes to accomplish this; by that time, even Miranda was a little scared, because she also spotted one or two alien beasts trying to sneak through the backyard.

With a flick of his hand, Arqueno sealed the basement door.

To Miranda he said, “ Those alien minions are Kairobees, mindless servants to the villainess Festess. One of her generals, Archillia, is who confronted you today at your school.”

Miranda watched as the ugly little Kairobees darted through the shrubs and trees in her backyard. Arqueno’s hand came to rest on her shoulder.

“ You know what you must do,” he whispered to her.

With a determined nod, she crossed her wrists in front of her chest, brought them out in front of her, and shouted: “ Yellow Amber Gemstone Power!” She pressed the button on the morpher.

Transforming still unnerved her, but she threw aside her fears and withdrew her saber.

Nearly a half-dozen Kariobees were now openly stalking towards the back door of the house.

With renewed anger and determination, Miranda stepped out the kitchen door and faced down the ugly alien beasts.

They barely waited a moment before attacking her. She shook her head and charged, ruthlessly swinging the saber at the beasts.

When they moved away from her, she reversed the direction and arc of her swing, taking down several beasts at once.

When it seemed that the little beasties were going to get the best of her, she sheathed her saber and reached deep into her mind. A fierce wind sprang up.

She channeled it s energy against the Kairobees, sweeping them up into the sky and further than she could. The wind – because of its source in her mind – didn’t affect anything else.

As Miranda was about to go back inside the house, a black glow descended in front of her. She stepped back, just as Archillia stepped from the light.

“ Ranger,” Archillia said.

“ Hussy,” Miranda retorted. This got Archillia mad.

“ You might as well give up, human Earthling. There is no way you can win against us!” Archillia roared.

“ Oh yeah! I’ve got something you’ll never have!” Miranda screamed.

Her bluff worked; Archillia lowered her staff just low enough for Miranda to fire an energy laser from her morpher straight at the alien woman’s shoulder armor.

Archillia snarled in fury at her stupidity. Then she retaliated by blasting Miranda with a concealed laser gun. The blast stunned her just long enough for Archillia to gain her feet – and promptly disappear.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Arqueno helped Miranda to her feet. “ That was – a rather interesting battle,” Miranda muttered as she walked back towards the house.

She demorphed just as she reached the door, and shakily walked inside.



Austin, Texas; the “ Haunted Horror” movie theater; 2:45 P.M.

Kristan Jones laughed aloud as her two friends shrieked in half-terror, half-delight. On the screen “Scary Movie2” was playing, and it was her all-time favorite.

The movie ended and the credits started to roll. Kristan and her friends got up and left. Tanyetta was still a little shaky after the end of the movie, making Kristan laugh all the more.

“ Come on, Tanyetta. The thing wasn’t that scary,” she teased her friend, who immediately stuck out her tongue.

“ I don’t see how you can watch that thing over and over again. It gives me the creeps,” she complained, tossing her empty chip bag in the trash bin.

The trio walked over to Dorothy’s 2000 red convertible and climbed in.

As Dorothy started the car, Kristan’s attention was drawn to the news on the radio. “…. in Raleigh, NC today. Police and investigators are trying to keep it under wraps, but it has many a person across the nation worried. More coverage on this supposed alien attack when the information comes in,” a voice was saying on the station.

Kristan flipped the switch off and sat back against the black seat. “ This just proves it,” she muttered. Dorothy and Tanyetta turned to face her.

“ What?” they said in unison.

“ At about two thirty, I felt some kind of tremors going through me. My mind was telling me that something was wrong. I guess it was that attack in North Carolina,” Kristan replied, her thoughts still very much occupied.

“ Oh, come on. You’re just being melodramatic as usual,” Dorothy said as she pulled out of the parking lot onto the road.

Kristan was just about to give a sarcastic reply when she spotted something standing about a hundred yards away from them in the middle of the road.

As they got closer, Kristan saw it wasn’t anything human. Just as Dorothy spotted the creature, it disappeared into the trees.

Kristan whirled around in her seat, but couldn’t see anything. Disregarding it as just a mutated animal, she focused her mind on her animals at home.

Less than half an hour later, Dorothy pulled her car up to Kristan’s house. It was a two-story ranch-style house, with wraparound porches and a barn on the other side of the yard.

The trio of girls hopped out of the car and raced up the steps, always – as usual – trying to outdo each other. And as usual, they all got to the door at the same time.
All three were laughing as they went inside to the kitchen.

Kristan’s mother, father, and grandma were sitting at the table, talking steadily about something. When they saw the three girls, they fell silent.

“ Oh, you’re home,” her mother said in a lilting Irish accent.

“ Yeah. Um, what were you guys talking about before we walked in?” Kristan asked as she got her friends some apples out of the fruit basket on the table and bottled juice from the fridge.

“ We were talking about the recent occurrences in North Carolina,” her father replied in his own Irish accent.

Kristan shrugged her shoulders and went upstairs to her room; her friends followed and sat down on her bed as she turned on the radio.

Some of Toby Keith’s music came on, causing Tanyetta to start an impromptu singing contest between the three girls. It was Toby’s “ Wanna Talk About Me.”

[Kali_WolfChilde]

They sang their lungs out, and when the song was over they all sank back on the bed, giggling like kids. The smiles and giggling stopped when Kristan’s solemn-faced mother came upstairs to talk to her.

“ There’s a man downstairs. He says he’s from the government, and says you are one of the only people who can help him,” Kristan’s mother said.

Kristan knew her mother well enough to know that her mother wasn’t kidding, and also to know that her mother truly believed the man.

More curious than afraid, she walked downstairs to the front door. A man in a black coat was standing there, staring up at her.

Kristan could sense the intensity in his gaze, so she suggested that they go and talk in the barn while she fed her two horses. The man agreed and followed her all the way to the barn, after insisting that her friends not follow her.

Kristan shoveled hay into Phoenicia’s stall as the strange man sat on an overturned barrel. “ Ms. Jones, the Earth is in terrible trouble,” the man started saying when Kristan tossed the pitchfork away and stared at him.

“ I knew it. I knew that those attacks earlier on the East Coast were aliens,” she muttered. The man removed his hat, revealing his violet hair.

“ You’re an alien, too,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“ Yes. I am Arqueno of the planet Laneria. I have come to ask you - ” The strange man got no further as a group of strange-looking aliens appeared in the barn doorway.

He whirled to face them, causing something to fall from his pocket. As he began to fight hand-to-hand with the aliens, Kristan bent down and picked the object up.

Definitely curious now – because the object looked exactly like a morpher – she slipped it on her left wrist.

The morpher began to glow, energizing her body. Then Kristan noticed one of the alien creatures coming towards her and Phoenicia, so she let out an ear-shattering scream.

When a ball of fire engulfed that alien – and three of the ones fighting Arqueno – she was stunned and terrified. When the aliens fighting Arqueno left him and started toward her, she held up her arms in self-defense.

Tongues of flame leapt from her hands, and burnt the first alien to a crisp, making the other ones stop and reevaluate her as a threat.

The morpher on her wrist glowed with a reddish light, making her stare down at the symbol on it. It was the symbol of some kind of bird.

She crossed her wrists across her chest, extended them in front of her, and shouted: “ Red Ruby Gemstone Power!” Her suit appeared and covered her body; in the middle of the chest was a round gold circle, with a Phoenix symbol on it.

Then came the gloves which were also red, with gold bands around the tops. Last of all came the helmet, which was shaped like a Phoenix head.

The transformation didn’t startle her that much, partly because she’d always dreamed of being a Ranger. She stared at the aliens.

“ Kairobees, is it? More like butt-ugly pieces of the wrong side of an asteroid that just got destroyed,” she said aloud. Arqueno stood up beside her, a little amazed that she wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of the alien minions.

“ The Red Gemstone Ranger. I found another one,” he whispered. A startled scream form the doorway snapped Kristan’s head up. Dorothy and Tanyetta were standing in the doorway, startled looks on their faces.

The Kairobees saw the two girls, and decided they would be easier pickings, so they leapt towards them.

The two girls screamed again and took off running back towards the house. Another group of Kairobees appeared in front of the girls, cutting them off.

They went wild with fear, trying to shove their way. The Kairobees were none to friendly, and just shoved Dorothy and Tanyetta to the ground.

Kristan saw this, and rage built up in her. “ NO ONE MESSES WITH MY FRIENDS!” she bellowed.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

With a running leap, she landed inside the circle of Kairobees. She let out another ear-splitting scream.

Fiery waves leapt from the mouth part of the visor, encircling at least three of the Kairobees, burning them to a crisp as it had the other ones earlier.

While they were momentarily distracted, Kristan grabbed both her friends’ hands and jerked them towards the house.

“ Get back into the house! Don’t let mom and dad come outside for anything!” she shouted as she turned back to face the Kairobees.

The girls quickly obeyed, running like hell for the front door. When they were safely inside, Kristan advanced her fight on the alien minions, moving so fast that they couldn’t get a good grip on her.

She was a bit tired after the Kairobees had all been beaten, and hurriedly demorphed.

Then she realized that Arqueno wasn’t standing beside her, so she ran back to the barn to check on him. When she saw him, she stifled back a scream.

Arqueno was lying on one of the bales of straw, several gashes on his forehead and arms. At that moment, a strange robotic figure appeared and picked the man up.

Kristan walked with it as it carried Arqueno into her house.

Her parents were obviously hiding in the basement, so she just had the robot carry Arqueno up to her room. The robotic man introduced himself as GenX4.9.

“ My master is very weak. There is nothing on this planet I know of that might cure him. And we cannot leave to find remedies form our home planet,” she robotic man said sadly.

Kristan sat on the bed by the alien man, and was startled to find him quite handsome.

The morpher on her wrist brushed against the man’s skin, bringing to mind an old saying she’d heard before: Phoenix tears have remarkable healing powers.

Startled, Kristan realized that her symbol was the Phoenix, and knew that she could help him. Telling the robot to stand back a little, Kristan held her morpher over where Arqueno’s heart would be.

She closed her eyes and concentrated her very soul on healing her new-found friend.

As she concentrated, she heard a cawing sound coming from the distance. When the object of the sound got closer – in Kristan’s mental state, at least – she realized it was Phoenix bird.

As her mental mind watched, the ghost-like apparition stopped over Arqueno’s still body. Its head hovered over Arqueno’s heart, and three tears fell from its eyes onto Arqueno’s body.

The Phoenix cawed and flew away.

When Kristan opened her eyes, she saw a ghostly apparition flying through her open window. When she turned her gaze back to Arqueno, she was more than startled to see the gashes on his head and arm disappearing.

He let out a choked gasp and sat up. The robot man was more than startled as he stared at Kristan. She smiled and immediately gave Arqueno a big hug.

“ Thank goodness you’re okay,” she whispered.

“ Without you I’d probably be dead. The very soul of the Phoenix resides in yours,” he replied with a smile of his own.



New York City; the “Dove Royale Hotel”; 4:00 P.M.


Abigail McCourt walked through the lobby of the hotel she lived in. At twenty-one, she was as beautiful as some of the Broadway actresses.

She smiled at several familiar people as she walked into the elevator and rode it up to the top floor. The top floor was occupied by the presidential suite, where she lived.

Since her parents owned the hotel, she didn’t have to pay to live there.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

When she opened the door, she immediately spotted he sister, Carmen, in the sitting area. With a happy shout, Abigail tossed her bag onto the floor and dashed into her older sister’s arms.

“ Hey, squirt,” her sister said with affection. “ Hey. I haven’t seen you in nearly two years,” Abigail said as she closed the door and put her bag on the living room coffee table.

“ Yes. I was touring Europe. And I picked up something that I won’t be returning,” Carmen added as she held up her ring finger.

A huge diamond glittered in a pure gold setting. Abigail squealed like a schoolgirl as she hugged Carmen again.

“ Wow. My sister a married woman. I can’t believe it,” Abigail said as she tidied up the room.

Carmen stood up and helped her.

“ I remembered that your class was supposed to be today; that’s one of the reasons I decided to come. Tom wanted to see what you were like, as I’ve told him so much about you,” Carmen said as she helped her sister fix a tray of glasses of orange juice.

They’d just set the tray on the coffee table when the doorbell rang. Abigail went to open it and let her students in – there were only ten in all.

A man about her sister’s age came in after them. Abigail assumed that this was Carmen’s fiance, so she allowed him to sit on the couch as she shut the door.

She took off her own coat to reveal her white martial arts uniform with her black belt. Her students – all between the ages of thirteen and sixteen – took off their own coats to reveal their own uniforms.

Each child was in a different stage of learning.

She introduced the children to her sister and Tom. When she told them that her sister was getting married, the whole class let out happy cheers.

Carmen and Tom were both a little embarrassed at the attention. They sat together on the couch and watched as Abigail and class began to warm up with a few stretching exercises.

They stretched for ten minutes before they got into the regular routine. When it came time for Abigail to pick a partner to show a new move, she picked one of her most talented students, a girl with a black belt.

They sparred with each other, ended with a traditional bow at the end of the routine. The rest of the class applauded.

They had just downed their orange juice when the phone rang on the end table. Abigail picked it up and said hello.

“ Ms McCourt, get to the safest place in your suite! There’s an attack going on outside the hotel! A group of monsters are attacking pedestrians!” a voice screamed.

The phone slammed down on the other end, so Abigail put her own phone down and turned to her students.

“ Get to my bedroom and stay there, away from the windows. Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” Abigail said as she went into the elevator and rode it down to the lobby.

Just as the doors opened, James – the one who’d called her phone – came hurtling into the elevator. Abigail looked through the lobby to the front doors, where three alien creatures were breaking through the glass to get inside.

“ Thank god I love martial arts,” she muttered to herself as she crossed the distance between them. They stared at her for a second before attacking.

Abigail dodged the first punch, and the second. The third punch aimed at her face she blocked – and grabbed the alien.

Then she grabbed one of the other two aliens, and smashed their heads together with enough force to make them disappear.

She still had the third one to contend with, so she stared angrily at it as it raised it lance-like weapon at her.

When it swung the weapon, Abigail deftly grabbed it out of the alien’s hands.

She twirled it around her own head, never stopping her momentum as she finally swung the sharp end at the alien’s head. When it connected, the alien – and the weapon – disappeared into thin air.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

When she was certain there were no more little surprises waiting around, she went around to check on all the personnel in the lobby.

There weren’t more than a few minor scrapes and bruises, for which she suggested green tea, aloe vera, and vitamin A.

James in the elevator was a little more bruised up than the others, so Abigail personally gave him the rest of the day off to heal up a bit.

She got back to her suite and told her students and her sister and Tom to come on out.

She had to tell them what happened, because they refused to take no for an answer.

By the time the story was over – about twenty minutes later – the students reluctantly let and went back to their various homes.

Tom and Carmen invited Abigail out to dinner with them, but she declined the invitation, saying instead that she wanted to stay home and research those things she’d fought.

When the two of them left, she went upstairs to her bedroom and got on her laptop.

She began surfing through recent events in the States, especially the last few days.

She was more than surprised when she found two events, one from North Carolina, and one from Texas.

When she saw the dates, she froze – the dates were today, and less than an hour apart in each state.

After searching through those files, she saw that in each case, a Power Ranger was reported to have stopped the attack before civilian casualties occurred.

“ Yeah, right,” she muttered to herself as she logged off and went to take a shower.

Eight different shower heads sprayed out water that caressed her body, washing away all the anxiety of the past hour.

After climbing out and toweling herself dry, she went downstairs to the kitchen to fix herself a ham sandwich.

She’d just sat down at the table when her doorbell rang.

Rolling her eyes, she got up and went to answer it. A young woman of about seventeen was standing there. “ Who are you?” she asked the girl.

“ I’ve come to talk to you about the attack on the hotel just a while ago,” she said as she came in the door.

“ If you’re a reporter, get out,” Abigail said rather bluntly.

“ I’m not a reporter. I come from Raleigh, North Carolina, where the first attack occurred.” The girl’s own blunt response startled Abigail.

“ How could you have gotten here in thirty minutes? No plane or vehicle is capable of such a feat,” Abigail stated.

“ No, but teleportation is,” the girl said.

Stunned yet again, Abigail allowed the girl to come inside as she shut and locked the door. “ What’s your name?” she asked the stranger.

“ My name is Miranda Copperfield. And your name is Abigail McCourt.” Abigail’s mind reeled.

“ First of all, how did you know my name. Second of all, how could a mere teenager teleport herself somewhere when such a thing only happens in movies.”

“ I know your name because I was told it by a friend of mine. And teleportation is real, not just in movies.”

Abigail was about to reply when there was another knock on her door.

Saying a few colorful words at yet another interruption, she opened the door again.

A robot was standing there, and it moved towards her. She ducked out of the way and kicked it, sending it face forward into the room.

She slammed the door and took on a martial arts stance as the robot got to its feet.

That wasn’t strange; the strange thing was that the girl helped the robot get up. And she wasn’t afraid. “ My name is GenX4.9. I was sent here by my master. He wishes to speak with you in Texas,” the robot said.

“ First of all, I’m not going to Texas to talk to someone who I don’t know. And second of all, get out of my suite before I call security,” Abigail threatened.

The girl and the robot refused to move. However, when she moved towards the phone, the girl blocked her way.

“ If Arqueno wishes to speak with you, then go,” she said.

Abigail set her jaw and glared at the robot and the girl. “ I will not go anywhere. I am a grown woman, and I make my own decisions,” she said with more than a little anger.
“ If you will not go willingly, then I will have to make you go,” the robot said.

He reached out and grabbed her arm before she could react, and she felt a whooshing feeling surround her.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

She blinked her eyes, and suddenly they were in a different room.

It was a girl’s bedroom to be sure, but she had no idea where they were.

When the door opened, she whirled around to face another girl and a man with violet hair.

“ Who the hell are you?” she demanded to know.

“ I am Arqueno, of the planet Laneria. This Kristan Jones, Miranda Copperfield, and GenX4.9,” the violet-haired man said.

Abigail just glared at the people – and the robot – in the room.

Then she leapt backwards, straight out the open window, and landed on the porch roof.

She ran down it and jumped to the ground, landing on both feet before taking off running again.

She’d only gone a few yards from the house when a group of aliens – exactly like the ones in New York – surrounded her.

She shouted in fury and shoved at them.

When one of them tried to stab her with its weapon, Abigail yanked the weapon away and used it as she had in New York less than an hour before.

She fought for two minutes before two more people joined the fight.

When she glanced to her right, she nearly fell off her feet; a red and a yellow Power Ranger were standing there.

And she knew that they were the girls she’d just escaped in the bedroom.

They held some kinds of swords as they tried to get her to go back to the house.

In response, she used the weapon she was holding to sweep a couple of the aliens off their feet, and promptly stabbed the first one, causing it to disappear.

Because of her martial arts training, she was prepared to fight, and used her knowledge to her advantage.

Since there were about two dozen of the ugly little things in all, she drew eight of them towards the house.

When they followed her, she danced around them, confusing them. When the first stabbed at her, she parried with a thrust of her own, and dropped to the ground, sweeping two of the butt-ugly beasties off their feet.

She grabbed another staff and twirled both of them over head. Another little alien was dispatched as she hurled the second staff like a javelin, leaving her with six more to fight.

Huffing in anger, she karate-chopped one on the neck, punched another in the gut hard enough to stun it for a few seconds, then ran like the devil away from them.

She only got so far before they caught up. One of them got ahold of her shirt and ripped a long gash in it. She stared at it in furious rage.

“ THIS WAS MY FAVORITE SHIRT!” she practically bellowed.

This new burst of anger gave her more energy, enough so that she impaled two different aliens at the same time, watching satisfactorily as both disappeared.

The remaining four got over-anxious, allowing her to pick up another lance-like weapon.

This time she just settled for stabbing them while still holding onto the weapon.

By the time these four were dispatched, she was nearly exhausted from the hard work.

She still had the weapon, though, and turned to face the two Power Rangers. The sixteen aliens they were fighting had somehow grown to twenty.

Abigail swore like a New York cab driver as she stalked toward the fight. Pulling her arm back, she let the weapon fly through the air.

Amazingly, it impaled and dispatched three beasties at the same time.

Unfortunately, however, now she was without a weapon, and becoming bone-tired on top of it all.

She was about to collapse on the grass when Arqueno came up and strapped a small device around her wrist. The thing sent a jolt of energy through her body.

She stood up, crossed her wrists over chest, held them out in front of her, and shouted, “ White Diamond Gemstone Power!” pressing the button on her morpher.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

First the suit appeared and formed to her body; in the middle of the chest was a gold circle with a unicorn emblem.

Then came the boots and gloves, which had gold around the tops.

Lastly came her helmet, which was the shape of a unicorn’s head.

The transformation was amazing to her, as was the power now flowing through her.

She unsheathed the saber from the holster on her back and charged toward the remaining seventeen aliens.

They’re called Kairobees, a voice inside her head told her as she reached the other two Rangers.

Both stood on either side of her. As one they charged forward.

The red Ranger let out a fiery cry, sending several Kairobees up into flames.

The yellow Ranger swept her arms over her head, creating a wind that swept some of the Kairobees away.

And Abigail herself stopped suddenly and leapt into the air, kicking four opponents in the face before landing again and dispatching them.

There were only six left, which made the odds slightly more desirable.

Abigail stepped forward and sheathed her saber, crossing her arms over her chest. As she concentrated, her white suit began to glow.

The more she concentrated the more it glowed. Finally she shouted, “ Power of Light!”

Beams of white light from her suit leapt out and engulfed the remaining three Kairobees – Kristan and Miranda had finished off the other three – instantly blinding and destroying them.

Abigail stood straight and tall as Kristan and Miranda came up to her.

When they tried to slap her on her shoulder, she grabbed both their outstretched hands and flipped them onto their backs on the ground.

“ Listen, next time you want help, ask. Don’t try kidnapping me, don’t come into my home without my permission, and most importantly DON’T cause those butt-ugly aliens to rip up another of my shirts,” she told them.

Then she demorphed and went back to the house, going upstairs to the bedroom where Arqueno was waiting.

“ Listen here, buster. I’m a grown woman. And I don’t appreciate being kidnapped. I would appreciate it if you’d tell me how I can get back to New York City without having to fly or take a train,” she told the alien man.

“ As a Ranger, Ms. McCourt, you have the ability to teleport to a location that you need or desire to be at. You will have to learn how to use it,” Arqueno replied, unruffled by Abigail’s perturbed manner.

Abigail said a few colorful words and marched up to Arqueno.

“ Look here. I didn’t ask for this – this privilege as you call it. I want to go home. And I want to go now,” Abigail demanded, just as Kristan and Miranda came into the room.

“ Hey, Abbie. Why’d you toss us on the ground?” Kristan asked.

Abigail stared at her. “ Because I felt like it. That and the fact that my favorite shirt is now ruined. If I hurt you, I apologize.”

They shook hands as Arqueno watched them. All of a sudden, he cringed and sat back on the bed. Kristan was immediately by his side.

“ What’s the matter?” she asked him, concern on her face.

“ I – I have sensed something that troubles me. The next Ranger is in trouble. She is about to be killed,” Arqueno mumbled as pain ripped through his head.

Kristan held him as he crumbled onto the bed. “ Go. To Chicago. She’s there. I’ll take Arqueno back to his home so that he’ll feel better,” she told Abigail as she and Arqueno were teleported away.

For once, Abigail was willing to help. The two Rangers stood together, side by side.

“ If any harm comes to an innocent person, I swear I’ll personally strangle the one that harms them,” she stated to Miranda as they were teleported to Chicago.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Chicago, Illinois; fashion show; 5:00 P.M.

Darla McGee squeezed into her black evening dress as the other models around her watched with some measure of disapproval.

“ Hey Swallowtail! Hurry up! You’re on in five!” her assistant shouted to her.

“ Even my assistant calls me that name,” she muttered as she zipped her dress up and the makeup woman artfully applied the makeup to her face.

Her hair was simple, as it was just ear-length.

She swallowed a knot of apprehension as she noticed a familiar face near the curtains. Then she heard her name being called, and quickly got up and walked through to the walkway.

She was more than nervous on the inside, but couldn’t let it show for fear she’d lose her job.

She did the appropriate twists and turns as the announcer talked about the various types of her makeup labels, who designed the dress, and how much the shoes would cost if anyone wanted a pair.

Just as she was turning around for the final time to go back to she noticed someone sneaking backstage.

Keeping her outward appearance calm, she sauntered back to her dressing table.

Several black-clothed women – and a few men as well – were gathered around her area. She shut her eyes for a brief instant and went to them.

The leader smirked at her.

“ Little miss hotshot. Looks like you’re doing pretty good for yourself,” the girl scoffed.

“ Look, Diandre. I left the group because you killed my boyfriend. I want no part of it anymore. I’ll ask you to leave one time before I have all of you hauled out of here,” Darla replied as she tried to move past them.

The group formed a circle around her as the leader stood in her way. “ No one can leave the group forever, Darla. These phonies don’t care about you. They only pretend to. You’ll never be one of them,” Diandre stated with an angry smile.

Darla shook her head. “ I’ll never be one of you. Now leave, before I really do have you hauled out,” she retorted as she shoved past Diandre.

That was a mistake on her part.

Diandre roughly shoved her to the ground.

As Darla tried to recover, Diandre pulled out a knife and stabbed her in the stomach twice. She let out an ear-shattering scream of pain as blood began to spurt from the wound.

Diandre leaned over her. “ You’ll die before you leave the group,” she told Darla.

Blood was beginning to pool around Darla’s body. Two women came hurtling through the curtains that separated the stage from the dressing area.

When they saw the group gathered around Darla’s body, they took running leaps and landed beside Darla.

Abigail turned to Diandre, who was still holding the bloody knife.

With an anger born of years fighting bullies on the streets, she kicked the knife from the woman’s hand.

With the same kick, she caught Diandre in the stomach, sending her crumpling to the floor.

Miranda knelt beside Darla’s bleeding body as Abigail faced down the rest of the group.

“ You black-hearted bastards,” she hissed.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

They charged towards her. She poured her anger into every punch and kick.

She’d knocked out half of the group when the security guards showed up.

They quickly apprehended the whole group – even the unconscious ones – and hauled them away. One guard knelt beside Abigail and Miranda as they tried to stop Darla’s bleeding.

The wound in her stomach was still bleeding, and Darla was beginning to look pale. Paramedics arrived at that moment, and quickly went to work.

The two Rangers stood by helplessly as the blood flow was finally stopped, and Darla’s unconscious body was loaded onto a stretcher.

Abigail whipped out her cell phone and dialed a number. Within minutes, a helicopter could be heard outside.

“ My parents’ helicopter is outside. I’ll have her flown to New York and have her treated by our doctors,” she told the medics.

They didn’t argue as they wheeled Darla’s body outside. Two people jumped out of the helicopter and gently loaded Darla’s body inside.

Miranda and Abigail climbed in after them and the doors were shut behind them.

The helicopter quickly lifted off the ground and sped toward New York.

During the flight, Abigail herself helped the two medical assistants tend to Darla’s body. They tested her blood and found she was type A.

Abigail was also type A, so she called and arranged for her personal medical team to meet them at the hotel.

Less than an hour and a half later, the helicopter landed on the roof of the hotel.

Abigail and Miranda leapt out and stood by as the two medical assistants took Darla’s paled body from the helicopter.

Abigail’s personal medical team guided the two men from the helicopter into her apartment.

The work out room had been converted into a hospital, complete with a hospital bed in the middle of the room.

Darla’s body was put on the table; the stretcher was rolled away.

The doctors and nurses turned when Abigail sat in a chair next to the bed and held her arm out.

“ I’m donating blood for this woman. Hook up an IV from my arm to hers, there’s no time to waste,” she told them.

They quickly did as she said, and soon blood was flowing into Darla’s body.

Miranda announced that she was a universal donor, so they hooked her up too.

They only allowed each girl to donate a pint and a half before unhooking the IV’s from their arms and shooing them into the kitchen to get something to maintain their strength.

Abigail tossed together two sandwiches, which they quickly ate before returning to Darla’s side.

The doctors had hooked up an IV drip in her right arm, and were feeding blood from an IV bag into a needle in her other arm.

They watched over her for an hour before announcing that they’d done all they could and that it was now up to the woman herself to heal.

Abigail sat back down in the chair she’d vacated, her eyes never leaving Darla’s face.

“ Come on, now. You can’t die just because someone wants you to. You have to live,” she whispered. Miranda came to sit beside her, and they held hands and concentrated on getting Darla better.

As they concentrated, a magical flow surrounded their hands and Darla’s body.

When they opened their eyes, Darla was slightly less hurt, and looked slightly healthier.

Abigail thanked her Ranger abilities as Darla smiled. “ Thanks for saving me. Do you think you could get these needles out of my arms? I’m scared of ’em,” she rasped.

Abigail removed the blood bag needle, and was just removing the one with the morphine drip when a ghostly apparition floated through the room.

It floated over Darla, and materialized into a ghostly image of a Phoenix.

Two tears fell from the bird’s eyes and fell on Darla before the bird disappeared. And miraculously, Darla sat straight up in the bed.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Abigail smiled and encircled her arms around Darla’s neck.

“ It is a good thing you are alive,” she whispered. When Darla tried to climb out of bed, Abbie shook her head.

“ Where do you think you’re going?” she asked the girl.

“ I haven’t used the bathroom in nearly six hours. Can I please go?” she asked.

Abbie stifled a laugh and showed her where it was. The minute she was gone, Arqueno and Kristan appeared.

They waited with Miranda and Abigail until Darla came back.

And when she saw Arqueno, she let a sharp gasp.

“ What the hell are you doing here?” she asked. Everyone in the room was startled at her outburst.

“ What do you mean by that?” he replied uncertainly.

“ Shouldn’t you be on Laneria defending the planet from Festess and her forces?” Darla asked.

Arqueno’s mouth dropped open.

“ How would you know where I’m from when we’ve never met?”

“ I’m not some dumb idiot. The only reason I was allowed into the cult was because of my hacking skills. I hacked into your planet’s security system months ago, when Festess was just starting her attacks on your planet."

" I knew all that, just like I know about your robot friend, and that these woman are Power Rangers.”

Darla’s response more than dumbfounded the three Rangers and Arqueno.

“ But how – how could you have hacked into an alien system?” Arqueno asked her.

“ When I entered the cult, the group made me a member almost immediately because the leader said I possessed the prowess of the werewolf."

" That spirit sort of powered my hacking abilities,” Darla said as she sat down next to Abbie.

Arqueno’s mind whirled with the implication; he mentally summoned GenX4.9, who appeared by his side.

In his hands he held a morpher, which Arqueno took and strapped it onto Darla’s wrist. She stared at it in wonder.

“ Wow. The Werewolf morpher. That’s pretty cool,” she whispered as she stared at it.

“ She’s the Ranger you told us about?” Kristan asked; even she had a hard time believing it.

“ Yes, I am. Now, if you’ll excuse me, GenX4.9 and I have to get to work on a little Ranger project,” she replied.

The two of them instantly disappeared. Abigail shook her head in disbelief.

“ I am so not believing this,” she mumbled.

“ Yes, well, I’ve never met anyone so – assuming before,” Arqueno agreed as the four of them sat down and had something to eat.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Charleston, SC; 10:00 A.M.(the next day)


“ Tigers Win! Tigers Score! Tigers Gonna Wipe the Floor!” Rachel Whistler shouted along with the rest of her cheerleading squad.

She jumped off the top of the human pyramid and did a split on the floor, holding her pom-poms in the air with enthusiasm.

On the basketball court, the Tigers scored a point, just as the final buzzer sounded. The crowds went wild with cheering.

Rachel laughed and did backflips with the rest of her team as they did their final cheer for the night.

When it was over, the squad rushed to the girls’ locker room to change out of their outfits.

Donna Evans and Katherine Huggins came up to her as she was removing her top.

“ Did you hear?” they asked excitedly. Rachel smiled and shoved her top into her locker, taking off her skirt at the same time and putting it in with the top.

“ About Tom Summers. Rumor is he’s going to ask you out today!” Donna practically shouted.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders as she got into her blue-green skirt and blouse, then slipped into her blue high-heel sandals.

“ So? I’ve had my eye on him for months. It’s about time he asked me out,” she said.

Donna and Katherine giggled again and dashed off to spread the rumor to the other girls who hadn’t heard it yet.

Rachel shook her head, slammed her locker, picked up her backpack, and strolled from the room.

When she stepped from the room, Tom Summers came up to her.

“ Hey, Rachel. Listen, I was wondering if you’d like to come on a date with me tonight. You know, maybe go to The Battery and have lunch there or something,” he mumbled as he scuffed his shoe against he floor.

“ Great! I’d love to!” Rachel replied, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before dashing off to her next class.

For the rest of the day, which wasn’t very long due to the ball game, Rachel could think of nothing but Tom.

The day finally ended, though, and she took the bus home.

Her parents were in the kitchen fixing a late dinner. When she told her parents about her date with Tom, her mother laughed and her father shook his head.

Barely pausing for a quick bite of the lasagna, Rachel ran upstairs and raced through her homework.

It took nearly half the usual time, so she took a quick shower and stood inside her closet with nothing but her robe on wondering what to wear.

She glanced over and discarded all the choices until she came to a beautiful blue, v-neck dress.

It went with the shoes she’d worn to school today, so she laid the dress out on her bed and went back to the bathroom to blow-dry her hair.

When she looked back at the clock, it was nearly five, so she squeezed into the dress, did her hair up in a bob, casually applied her makeup, and slowly waltzed out of the room.

Just as she was stepping into the living room, tom came in through the door.
He took one look at her and was instantly by her side, admiring her looks.

“ You look good enough to eat,” he whispered in her ear, making her blush.

She let out a nervous laugh and the two of them went outside to Tom’s 2002 blue Bentley. Instead of driving them to a restaurant, Tom drove them to the Battery.

Rachel was on the verge of complaining when she saw the romantic little dinner he’d set up at the edge of the railing, directly by the water.

“ I knew how much you loved the sea, so I thought this would be a lot better than some stuffy room,” he told her as she took her seat across from him.

A waiter arrived and delivered a platter of shrimp and two plates, each with a lobster on it. Rachel took one whiff of the lobster and her mouth began to water.

“ I’ve – never been treated so well before,” she stuttered.

“ I’ve never had a reason to treat anyone like this before,” Tom countered as they both began to eat.

They’d barely taken a few bites before someone in a ski mask ran up and demanded their money.

Before tom could hand him his wallet, the thug knocked him out, stole the wallet anyway, and pushed Rachel over the railing into the water.

She gasped as the brief shock hit her, then began to tread water in an attempt to keep afloat.

When she glanced down, she saw something floating in the water in front of her, so she picked it up and hesitatingly put it on.

It was some kind of wrist decoration, though she could hardly tell in the falling darkness.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

As soon as it was around her wrist, her vision amazingly became clearer.

She looked down into the water and nearly choked when she realized she could see the ocean floor nearly twenty-five feet below her legs.

There was also something lying buried under the sand.

Sucking in a deep breath, she dove beneath the surface and swam until she reached the bottom.

Then she began to dig with her hands until she’d discovered some kind of satchel. She tied the bag around her waist and swam back for the surface.

By the time she climbed back over the railing, a few people were already gathered around Tom.

She shook the excess water from her hair and knelt beside him as he began to regain consciousness.

After realizing he was all right, she insisted on taking him back to her house to make sure there were no internal bruises; her mother was a doctor, so she’d check him over thoroughly.

She slipped him into the passenger side of the Bentley and pulled it out of the parking lot, then sped back to her house.

Her parents were shocked when she drove up and helped Tom inside, especially since she was soaking wet.

She told her mom to check Tom over; then she bolted upstairs to change.

The quickest thing to slip into was her favorite pair of blue jeans and blue top.

She was just about to go back downstairs when the satchel on the bed began to let out a weird glow.

More curious than anything else, Rachel went to the bed and opened the bag.

In it were three small balls: one blue, one green, one black.

Rachel dumped them out, and saw they weren’t balls at all, but crystals of some sort.

Each crystal had some kind of symbol in the very center.

When she touched the blue one, it let out a small spark and then returned to normal.

Shaking the head at the absurdity of her thoughts, she slipped the crystals back into the little satchel and tied it back to her waist. Remembering Tom once again, she dashed downstairs to check on him.



Raleigh, NC; 5:00 P.M.

Back at Arqueno’s hidden little space capsule, he, Miranda, Kristan, Abbie, and Darla were gathered discussing different plans on how to defeat Festess.

Miranda got fed up and just went back to her home. The moment she walked in the door, she knew something was there waiting for her.

She didn’t sense anything evil, but something was definitely there.

She followed her sense all the way out to the back yard, and to the edge of the woods where and old shed had once stood.

The morpher on her wrist seemed to be telling her to dig into the ground, so Miranda grabbed a shovel from the new tool shed and started digging.

Before she’d gotten a foot, the shovel hit something cloth-like, so Miranda bent down and picked it up.

She tossed the shovel away and went back inside the house.

Once up in her bedroom, she cleaned the little satchel off and dumped its contents onto her bedspread.

Three little crystal balls came rolling out: one red, one white, one yellow.

She picked up the yellow one and studied it.

In the center was a griffin, the same as the one that showed in the middle of her chest when she morphed.

At that moment – in Arqueno’s space capsule – GenX4.9 suddenly appeared.

“ Master, they have awakened,” he stated.

Arqueno stared at him in amazement. “ Where?” was all he asked.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

“ Three of the crystals were just reported to have been found by Miranda at her house. The other three were discovered a few minutes before in South Carolina,” the robot stated.

Arqueno leapt to his feet. “ Rangers, I’m going to need some time alone,” he said as he went over to the wall monitors.

The three Rangers – a little miffed at having being dismissed so quickly – did as he said and teleported back to their various homes. Since Darla had nowhere to go, however, Abbie said she could come live in her suite in New York.

Miranda was still examining the three little crystals.

The red one held an image of a phoenix bird, the white one an image of a unicorn.

She picked up the yellow one again, still feeling compelled to keep it within her grasp.

At that minute, she heard a voice inside her head: We are friends. You must uncover our secrets before it is too late. Miranda was so started that she almost dropped the crystal.

“ Girl, you really need a vacation,” she mumbled to herself as she put the crystals back in the bag.

Before she could take a step out the bedroom door, Arqueno’s voice came over her morpher.

“ Miranda! Kristan is helping Darla and Abbie fight off Festess’ minions in New York. There’s also an attack going on in Charleston, South Carolina. I need you to morph and get down there now!” he shouted.

Miranda tied the satchel with the crystals around her waist and shouted,
“ Yellow Amber Gemstone Power!”

The minute she was morphed, she teleported down to where Arqueno had described.

She was now standing beneath a bunch of shade trees. In the fading light, she saw someone wrestling with an alien near the railing on the Battery.

“ Gemstone saber!” she called out, unsheathing her saber and running towards the fighting pair.

She stopped short when she saw that the person fighting the alien was a Ranger.

Miranda her arm through the air, sending the alien flying backwards into the ocean. The other Ranger stared up at her, also startled.

“ Who the heck are you?” the blue Ranger asked her.

“ Miranda Copperfield, Yellow Amber Ranger. Who are you?”

“ Rachel Whistler, Blue Sapphire Ranger.”

“ What are you doing here? I didn’t know there was a Blue Ranger,” Miranda said, staying on guard and suspicious.

“ I was here not that long ago with a date. I discovered a morpher and some kind of crystals,” Rachel replied, harboring her own suspicions against Miranda.

Rachel’s reply temporarily stunned Miranda. “ You don’t mean three crystals, do you?”

“ Yeah. A black, green, and blue one. Why do you ask?” she wanted to know.

Miranda sheathed her saber and took the crystals she’d found out of the satchel, which was still around her waist.

The satchel disappeared as the crystals touched the air.

Rachel took out the crystals she’d found, holding them up to the ones Miranda was holding.

Before either Ranger could say anything more, the six crystals sparked and began to glow.

Golden images swam through the air, surrounding the two Rangers and spiraling up into the air.

Miranda’s mouth dropped open behind her helmet as two of the images came up to her and Rachel.

Thank you for rescuing us, Yellow Amber Ranger. We will serve you for your rescue. Right now, you must get to New York. Your friends need you, the griffin image told her.

Miranda nodded her head and teleported straight to the top of Abbie’s hotel in New York.

She didn’t need to glance around to know that Rachel was standing right beside her.

Below them on the street, Darla, Abbie, and Kristan were morphed and fiercely fighting an alien that they’d never seen before.

As the hotel was twenty stories high, Miranda just jumped from that building to the roof of a neighboring building, which was only ten stories high.

From there she and Rachel jumped to the ground and withdrew their sabers.

Since the alien’s back was to Miranda and Rachel, they fired several energy lasers from their morphers straight at the alien.

He screeched and fell to the ground, allowing Rachel and Miranda to reach Miranda’s friends.

[GeoRanger]

Interesting. Can't wait to read some more.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Darla and the others were more surprised to see the arrival of a Ranger they didn’t know existed.

Rachel shook hands with the other three Rangers as Miranda introduced her.

Their attention was drawn back to the alien, who was regaining his feet.

“ Gals, I’d like you to meet Bobo,” Abbie said with exaggerated flourish.

“ More like Bobo the clown,” Darla muttered under helmet. Even Rachel had to let out a slight giggle.

Bobo seemed to glare at them from his white metal eyes.

“ Ecchhh! Rangers! Two more still will not be enough to beat me!” he shouted as he fired dozens of lasers at the Rangers.

Miranda, Abbie, and Kristan leapt out of the way; unfortunately, Rachel and Darla were hit by them.

Both fell to the ground as the other Rangers ran back to try and help them.

Kristan opened her mouth behind her visor and screamed as loud as she could.

A fiery wave engulfed Bobo as he tried to put out the flames.

He continued to screech as Abbie enveloped him with the brightness of her suit, and spun around in the air, kicking him twice in the chest.

When she landed on the ground again, Bobo blew up.

The other Rangers let out cheers of joy, just as Archillia appeared, her staff held in front of her.

She chanted something they couldn’t understand, then disappeared as a rumbling noise attracted the Rangers’ attention.

When they glanced at the monsters’ ruins, they were horrified to see Bobo growing to an enormous size.

By now he was as tall as the ten-foot building beside Abbie’s hotel.

“ I feel big again!” Bobo screamed.

When he spotted the Rangers staring at him, he stomped his foot and knocked them off their own feet.

“ What in the world? How are we supposed to beat that?!” Kristan screamed in frustration.

Miranda glanced down at her morpher as she felt power flowing through her.

She held her wrist up with the morpher facing the monster.

“ Griffin Megazord!” she shouted. A yellow glow of light spiraled into the air and shot away into the faded sunlight.

A few seconds later, she saw a golden image flowing towards her. It swirled around her and entered the emblem on her chest.

When the golden image went into the emblem, a cawing and roaring sound split the distance.

Miranda hollered with excitement, put her feet together, and shot up into the air.

She landed in the control console of the Megazord. She smiled beneath her helmet as the Megazord faced down the giant Bobo.

“ Hey! Ready to rock and roll, clown boy?” she asked the monster.

Bobo snarled and swung a fist at the Megazord. Miranda automatically blocked the punch and used the Megazord’s other arm to send Bobo reeling backwards.

Before he could recover, Miranda operated the Megazord so that it was in a crouched position.

“ Griffin Roar!” she shouted, pressing the proper button on the panel.

From deep within the Griffin’s body, a load roar sounded.

Waves of sound poured out of the Megazord’s opened mouth, blowing Bobo to bits before he could even cover his ears.

The Megazord stood back up straight.

The other four Rangers watched as Miranda waved at them from the control console.

She ejected from the Megazord to the ground, and watched as it disappeared into the sky.

Then she smiled at her friends.

“ Now that is what I call dynamite,” she chuckled.

Kristan and Abbie laughed with her.

Darla and Rachel did to, and the five Rangers streaked across the sky together.

[GeoRanger]

Very good. :D Can't wait for more

[wildranger]

Very good

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Santa Fe, New Mexico; (three days later) 10:15 A.M.

“ Hey, Dawn! Will you get off your lazy butt and help me with the dishes?” Mrs. Jones called up the stairs.

“ Coming, Mom!” Dawn shouted back.

She slipped into a pair of faded-out jean shorts, put on a light green sleeveless shirt, and put her hair up in a hasty ponytail before bolting down the stairs to the modest-sized kitchen.

“ It’s about time. Honestly, how many times can you watch that movie?” Mrs. Jones asked as Dawn plunged her hands into the soapy dish water.

“ Mom, Gone With the Wind is a classic. For instance, did you know that Atlanta really was burned by Sherman? And that he really did march through South Carolina and Atlanta on his way to the sea?” Dawn asked as she scrubbed the dishes

“ How could I not know as many times as you watch that movie?” her mother joked.

Dawn laughed and hurriedly finished washing the dishes. Just as she was drying her hands on the dish towel, the doorbell rang.

She left the kitchen and went to the living room, where she could see someone standing at the door.

When she opened it, she saw that the person standing there was her boyfriend of three years, Marco Sanchez. He held out a bouquet of fresh daisies and roses.

“ Hey, Sunshine,” he said as she threw her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his sun-darkened cheek.

“ Hey, Marco. What brings you here?” she asked.

“ I thought I might come to see my favorite girl.” She playfully punched his arm.

“ I’m your only girl,” she replied, still smiling.

“ Truthfully, though, I came to see if you wanted to go for a ride. I got the car for a while, and it’s such a beautiful day,” he added while Dawn put the flowers into some water in the kitchen.

“ Can I go?” Dawn asked her mother.

She waved her hand towards the door. “ You’re eighteen years old. I can’t keep you cooped up forever,” she said.

“ Thanks mom,” she replied. She was up the stairs and down again in a few minutes, this time in a pair of green flip flops.

Marco led her outside to his parents’ 1993 black corvette. She climbed in the passenger seat as he started the car and drove away from her house.

The wind tousled her hair as she and Marco sang along to the radio, which was belting out a song by Usher.

They were just entering a turn in the road when some kind of mutated monster dropped down on the hood of the car.

Marco screeched on the brakes and swerved the car to a stop to avoid a wreck as the monster screeched at them.

Marco and Dawn scrambled out of the car as another monster joined the first.

“ Marco, you were born on the streets, right?” Dawn asked him.

“ Si,” he replied.

“ Good. I hope that street fighting comes in handy,” she said as four more monster joined the first two.

They hissed and screeched at the two people as they backed them up again the car.

Marco let loose a few obscenities in Spanish as he started to fight three of the six monsters.

Dawn leapt in the air onto the hood of the car as one of the monsters charged her; then she grabbed a car jack and tried to defend herself with that as they tried to hit her with their lance-like weapons.

She was quickly disarmed, and stood there helpless as the three monsters advanced on her.

In self-defense, she held her hand out in front of her, with the other hand against her side.

When a monster tried to hit, she blocked the punch and shot her fist out at its mid-section.

Before her punch connected, a web of some kind shot from her wrist and circled the alien’s feet, knocking it to the ground.

She blocked the second one’s punch, and again a web covered it and knocked it out of the way for a few seconds.

The third was dispatched as well, in much the same manner.

Dawn stood there, staring at her wrists. Another monster appeared.

She held both her arms out, and vine-like webs covered it from head to toe, and slowly dispatched it.

She looked over to see Marco being forced to the ground by two of the three monsters he hadn’t beaten.

She let out a loud scream and automatically flung her wrists forward, covering those two aliens with vines that also killed them.

Then she ran to Marco and helped him to his feet.

His face was badly bruised, and his nose was bleeding. She ripped his shirt from his chest, shredded the strips that weren’t bloody, and tied them around his bleeding arm.

She led him back to the corvette and eased him into the passenger seat.

There was a spare coil of rope in the trunk, so she cut off a piece with the knife there and used it to tie the make-shift bandages tightly to his arm.

Then she climbed in and turned the car around, heading back for her house.

Her parents were already waiting on the porch. Without a word, her mother and father helped lift Marco out of the car and carried him inside to their basement.

Instead of a dust-covered floor and dust-covered junk, the basement had been converted into a laboratory of sorts.

Near the wall was a hospital-type bed, where they put Marco.

Dawn sat beside the bed as her mother carefully cut away the make-shift bandages and threw them into the trash.

“ It looks like he’ll need stitches, Judy-Ann,” her father told her mother.

“ I know. I’ll have to call his mother and tell her to come over here,” her mother replied as she dialed a cell phone.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

She talked on it a few minutes before putting it back in her pocket. Then she started talking with Dawn. “ How did you force these aliens to leave?” she wanted to know.

“ They didn’t leave. I killed them,” Dawn said.

“ Oh. So you discovered how to use your abilities,” her mother mused aloud.

When she was young, Dawn had been told by her whole family that she possessed strange abilities that would one day help her.

“ Yeah. And it’s not like you being able to see things that are about to happen, or like dad’s ability to shot ice from his fingers. When I fought them off, vines shot from my wrists and turned into webs that trapped and killed the aliens,” Dawn told both her parents.

“ That is one not yet discovered in our families’ histories. It will definitely be a cool new project to tackle.”

At that minute, Marco’s mother appeared directly by his side.

Dawn went upstairs to her room to leave the adults to talk by themselves.

When she got there, she turned on the TV. A news reporter was covering something that was happening behind her.

When she moved, Dawn saw that it was some kind of alien attack.

With a startled gasp, Dawn realized it was happening at the place where she worked, and that the aliens were exactly like the ones she’d fought.

Without even bothering to call her mother, she whipped out a remote control from her dresser and pressed a combination.

Below her window, her motorcycle appeared.

She put the control in her pocket and leapt out the window straight onto the bike.

It immediately started off down the drive and onto the road.

She drove it until she came close to the bookstore.

She pressed another button on the bike, which instantly clothed her entire body in a suit of dark green.

A mask with slits for the eyes covered her face.

She drove through a ring of reporters straight towards the monsters, who were relentlessly shoving and pushing a group of high school students.

She put the motorcycle on auto-pilot and leapt off, straight on top of two of the beasts.

She gut-punched two of ’em and kicked another one as she fought her way to the students.

When she got there, she cast out a web of vines, temporarily stunning the aliens.

While they were stunned, Dawn ushered the students to safety behind a police barricade.

At that second, one of the monsters landed on her back and shoved her to the ground.

She landed with a stinging thud and rolled onto her back to face all twenty of them.

With a big smile underneath her mask, she shot vines from her wrists and encircled the entire group.

She shot two more sets of vines around the aliens, slowly suffocating them until they all disappeared.

She whistled for her cycle; it roared to life beside her. She hopped on and sped away from the bookstore.

She still had her suit on when she got back to her house. She jumped off the motorcycle onto the porch and went inside to the basement.

Her parents and Marco’s mother were still there talking.

When her mother spotted her, she smiled. “ Looks like my little hero finally tried out my new invention,” she said as Dawn removed the hooded mask.

“ Yeah. I had to help fight another group of the aliens, ones exactly like the ones that hurt Marco. No one recognized me,” she added after Mrs. Sanchez’s worried glance in her direction.

“ Bravo, daughter. You have made your old man proud,” her father said.

“ Thanks, dad. I am glad that I can help out.”

With these words Dawn escorted Marco and Mrs. Sanchez upstairs to their corvette.

Marco gave her a quick kiss as he climbed in and his mother drove off. Dawn waved goodbye until their car disappeared down the road.

She’d just taken her suit off and sent it to the motorcycle’s storage compartment when she heard her mother screaming.

Swearing in English and Spanish – her second language – she bolted for the basement door.

Luckily it was unlocked, so she threw the door open and stared at her mother, who was pointing at a shadow near the far wall.

As Dawn watched, the shadow detached itself from the darkness and came forward.

Dawn swore again when she saw that it was another alien; only this time, it was a female and she was carrying some kind of blade-like weapon.

“ I am Coriana, a fighter with Festess’ forces. We request that you come with us,” the alien woman said to Dawn and her father.

“ Come upstairs. I’ll talk with you outside,” Dawn said in a steely voice.

She silently ordered her mother to stay down there while she and her father dealt with the alien.

Once they got onto the front lawn, Dawn hit the alien with a web of vines and her father hit the alien with ice from the tips of his fingers.

While she was stunned, Dawn called for her motorcycle and yanked her father on behind her.

When she revved it up and started to circle the alien, she pressed the button near the speedometer.

Once again she was instantly covered in a dark green suit, along with the hooded slitted mask.

She turned the bike on a straight line for the alien, put it on auto-pilot, and leapt off. She held her hands at her sides as the alien regained her feet.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

“ What the devil? You are not a Ranger!” Coriana shrieked in rage.

“ Yeah, you’re right about that. But I am special. I’m gonna help take you down!” Dawn shouted back.

She held her hand out and shot a few lengths of vine into her hand.

These she threw like a lasso, and encircled the alien’s feet. With astonishing speed and ease, Coriana sliced the vines in half, rendering them useless.

“ Looks like they’re useless against me,” she said with a smile.

She aimed her blade-like weapon at Dawn and fired.

A web of energy shot towards her. She blocked it with a web of vines.

When the two met, they exploded, throwing both alien and human to the ground.

Both were quickly back on their feet, and both were steaming mad.

A streak of red flashed across the sky; a red Ranger was soon standing directly beside Dawn. “ Get back into the house!” Kristan shouted at Dawn.

“ When will you rangers ever learn? You’re to weak to issue orders to anyone!” Coriana shouted, blasting both the Ranger and Dawn.

“ Dammit! I said get to safety!” Kristan screamed as she withdrew her saber.

And charged the Coriana. Dawn smiled beneath her hood. “ Rangers aren’t the only ones who can fight,” she whispered.

She let out a whistle; her motorcycle appeared by her side.

Her father was still on it, so she hopped on in front of him and gunned the engine.

She got around behind the alien, while the Ranger was distracting it, and both she and her father hit it – she with vines, her father with enough ice to freeze Coriana for a full ten seconds.

Then the Ranger slashed the alien with her saber, blowing the alien to bits.

She sheathed the saber and started toward Dawn, just as another female villain appeared.

She pointed the staff she held at the alien’s ruins, chanted something, then disappeared.

Kristan jumped from her current spot to land beside Dawn and her father, just as the monster grew into a giant.

“ Crap! How can I beat this!” Kristan yelled.

The giant Coriana screeched and blasted the ground where they stood.

All three people – and the motorcycle – were thrown through the air and landed near the end of the driveway.

Dawn stared at the red Ranger as she struggled to get up. Then her gaze wandered to her father, who was out cold.

The motorcycle was undamaged, so she put it on auto-pilot and sent it – along with her father – back into the house and the basement.

Then she pushed off the ground and helped the Ranger to her feet.

“ Are you okay?” she asked Kristan.

“ I think the alien hit me pretty hard,” the Ranger said.

Then she collapsed into Dawn’s arms, demorphed and unconscious.

Dawn was at a loss as to what she could do, especially when the giant Coriana turned her gaze to her house.

All of a sudden, yet another alien man appeared beside her.

He strapped something onto her wrist, and whispered into her ear: “ The others are busy fighting on the East Coast. You must fight Coriana alone.”

He whispered something else in her ear before lifting Kristan into his arms and disappearing.

Dawn stood around to face the monster. She crossed her wrists in front of her chest, put them out in front of her, and shouted: “ Green Emerald Gemstone Power!”

First came the suit, which a pretty green in color. Then came the gloves and boots, which had gold bands around the tops.

Lastly came the helmet, which was in the shape of a faerie’s head, with little wings on the sides.

“ You’re going down, you ugly piece of trash!” Dawn screamed at the alien.

Then she held up her morpher facing Coriana and shouted: “ Faerie Megazord!”

A golden light flew through the distance and entered the emblem on her chest.

Dawn put her feet together and flew into the air, landing in the control console of the Megazord. She glared at Coriana through the Megazord’s visor.

“ You’re gonna pay for what you’ve done!” Dawn screamed.

When Coriana went to swing her weapon at the Megazord’s shoulder, Dawn moved it out the way and used its whip-like reaction thrusters to move around behind Coriana and slashed her back.

When she whirled around, Dawn again moved the Megazord, this time using its saber to slash through Coriana’s armor and straight to her alien heart.

With a hideous scream, Coriana fell forward and exploded for the final time.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Dawn exited the zord and watched as it streamed up into the sky.

She ran into the house to the basement. Both her father and mother were okay, so she climbed onto her motorcycle and drove it up the stairs.

She pressed a button on her morpher; she and the bike were teleported to Charleston, where the other Rangers – save Kristan – were busy fighting more of the aliens.

She drove the bike forward through the shade trees.

When she neared the alien minions, she plowed the bike right on through until she reached the other Rangers.

Then she hopped off and sent it back through the trees, while she turned to face the Rangers.

“ Hi. I’m Dawn, the green Ranger. Kristan’s recuperating at your headquarters. I killed Coriana. Let’s kick some alien butt,” she said before the other Rangers could question her appearance.

When one of the Kairobees ran at her, she merely side-stepped it and shot a web of vines at its feet.

She smacked the next one in the face and pulled out her saber.

“ Will you guys never learn? Once an idiot, always an idiot,” she quipped as she slashed two more oncoming Kairobees.

She fought her way through to the outside edge of the ring, then calmly and purposefully leapt into the air.

When she was twenty feet high, she held her wrists together and covered all fifty Kairobees with a noxious web of energy vines, which soon killed them all.

Unfortunately, it also weakened her a bit, so she had to land on the ground demorphed.

The other Rangers swarmed around her. She shakily got to her feet as they demorphed and stared at her.

“ A sixth Ranger hmm? Well, I guess that completes the set of the world’s only feminine hero group,” the girl in black clothes quipped.

“ I’m not part of a ‘set’ as you call it, Darla. We’re Power Rangers. We fight bad guys and blow ’em up when they get too big. We try to keep them from winning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Santa Fe and my parents,” Dawn retorted.

She whistled for her bike, which came revving through the trees.

Ignoring the startled looks of the other four girls, she hopped on and started to drive away.

Before she got even an inch, Darla was standing in front of her.

“ Your bike. It is a marvel in technology. I would like to use its programming to duplicate Ranger cycles for the others, and make modifications to it as well,” she said.

“ No way. My dad and mom engineered this bike themselves. No one, not even a fellow Ranger, is going to tinker with it,” Dawn replied as she drove around Darla and headed for the trees.

Just before she drove through the shade, she pressed the button on her bike and teleported back to her home in New Mexico.

She went up the drive, and was surprised that her macaw – Taka – came flying towards her.

“ What’s wrong, Taka?” she asked the trained bird.

“ Bad guys come and hurt parents, over! Bad guys come and hurt parents!” the bird squawked.

Dread flooded through her at the bird’s words.

“ Where are mom and dad?” she asked it.

“ Squawk! They’re down in the basement!” it replied and flew back towards the house.

With fear creeping up her spine, Dawn drove the bike straight through the open doorway and down the basement stairs.

She stifled a scream when she saw both her parents lying – seemingly dead –in the middle of the room.

She practically flew off the bike and landed beside her mother. Checking for a pulse, she was glad to feel it beating. Her dad was also alive, thank goodness.

Glad of her new Ranger abilities, she leaned down and picked up her mother to lay her on the hospital bed.

Since it was quite large, she also put her dad n it, beside her mom.

She quickly tried to recall everything they’d taught her about how to fix wounds and bruises should she happen to get hurt.

She’d just taken a bottle of morphine from the cabinet when she heard someone enter the room. Looking around, she saw the alien man and the girl named Kristan standing there, looking at her.

“ What are you doing here? Can’t you see you’re too late to help my parents? They’ve already been attacked. Luckily they’re still alive,” Dawn told them in a barely controlled voice.

“ I am Arqueno, green Ranger. I have come to help you. Kristan contains the spirit of the Phoenix bird within her. Because of your help in the fight with Coriana, she is willing to use the Phoenix’ healing powers to make your parents better,” the alien man said.

“ What?” Dawn stuttered, not believing what she was hearing.

“ It’s true,” Kristan said as she held her hands over Dawn’s parents’ heads.

From her morpher, a golden image came and surrounded Dawn’s parents.

A ghostly apparition – presumably a phoenix – came flying from Kristan’s morpher and hovered over Dawn’s parents before flying away.

The golden light surrounding them disappeared, and they sat up together.

“ My daughter,” Judy-Ann said and held her arms out.

Dawn let out a strangled cry and bolted into her parents’ arms, laughing and crying all at the same time.

“ There is no need to cry, daughter. The red Ranger and the spirit of the phoenix saved us, as did something else,” her mother added with a telling look at Arqueno.

When he caught her gaze, his mouth dropped open in shock.

“ Rantal?” he asked. Then his gaze went to Dawn’s dad.

“ Bantur?” he asked.

Kristan and Dawn were both confused.

“ Whoa. Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you know my parents?” Dawn asked.

Arqueno merely nodded his head.

“ Yes. We’ve known Arqueno here for a long time. We knew him when we lived on Laneria,” Dawn’s father replied with a smile. He and Judy-Ann got up and hugged Arqueno.

“ Okay. Time out. I think I need to know what’s going on,” Dawn stated aloud.

“ Yeah. Me too,” Kristan put in.

The group took seats on two different couches across the room.

Arqueno decided to tell the two Rangers how he knew Dawn’s parents.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

“ When I was but a young man of fifteen, I had a brother named Bantur. He and I would always compete, and loved to build things, especially things that no one else thought could exist."

" We discovered the Gemstone powers together one day when I was sixteen. We tried together to harness them, but could not figure out how, even with our vast knowledge of technology.”

“ Then he fell in love with a striking young woman named Rantal. On Laneria, people married as young as seventeen, so Rantal and Bantur waited for three years until they married.”

“ About that time, the leader of the planet – our father – decided to start sending people to live on Earth, so that they could gather knowledge or live there for the rest of their days."

" It was an alternative to staying on the planet and constantly being harassed by Festess’ forces, an alternative my brother and sister-in-law decided to take.”

“ They left the planet, right before a big explosion hit and killed our father. I was immediately picked to be the leader, as I was the only heir left."

" I tried in vain for years to find my brother, but had no success.”

“ After nearly a decade of searching, I presumed him dead and tried to forgot about him. When GenX4.9 and I came to Earth ourselves to find the people to harness the Gemstone powers, I began to feel a strong vibe deep in my heart."

" I knew not what it was, for in truth I ultimately believed my brother dead.”

“ When we arrived her just a few minutes ago, that vibe again struck me. I cannot believe that after twenty years I’ve finally found my long-lost family again,” Arqueno finished, tears sliding down his cheeks.

“ Wh-what? That means that you’re my uncle,” Dawn stuttered.

“ Yeah. How come you didn’t tell the Rangers you had a long lost brother?” Kristan wanted to know.

“ I’ve only been here on Earth for a few days, Rangers. I did not think it would be wise to tell you for fear I might reopen old wounds of mine,” Arqueno said.

Dawn – slightly angry at her parents for keeping such an important secret from her – left in a huff, stomping up the stairs to her room.

Kristan followed, slightly miffed herself. Dawn went to the refrigerator in the corner and pulled out a bottle of water.

She tossed one to Kristan and chugged down half the bottle before she spoke up.

“ I can’t believe it. I used to have dreams about being an alien on another planet. Mother told me it was just childish fantasies. And it really turns out that I am an alien like my parents!” she fumed, trying her best no to shout.

“ Yeah, well, I wasn’t expecting that blow either. Looks like both of us were surprised,” Kristan agreed as she sipped her own water.

Then she noticed the workbench against the wall and sauntered over to it.

There were several little compacts sitting there.

She picked up one and opened it.

Dawn saw what she was doing and came over to stand beside her.

“ I’ve been working on these things personally for months. They’re little video communicators. I’ve gotten everything assembled right, but I just can’t get ’em to work,” she mumbled as she picked up the green one.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

It let out sparks of green energy; the one Kristan was holding let out sparks of red energy.

Both girls stared at the things they held.

“ Wow. Looks like you found the missing component, Kristan. It’s not necessarily what parts I put in it."

" If I want them to work, I’ve got to find the person with the right DNA,” she mumbled as the little video communicators blinked on.

The two girls put them in their own pockets and started talking about their favorite kinds of music, and other trivial things.

In the basement, the three family members were talking about things much more serious.

“ The planet is nearly deserted. Everyone on it has either been enslaved killed, or eventually fled here."

" There are not many fighters left, if any really are remaining,” Arqueno said with a sad sigh.

“ What about Atali? Is she alive?” Dawn’s mother asked with fear in her eyes.

Arqueno nodded his head.

“ She was one of the first ones to flee Laneria and come here when the first wave of attacks began all those years ago."

" I haven’t seen or heard from her in months. Last I knew of her, she and Winsun were trying to sneak into the country,” Arqueno replied.

“ Winsun? And Atali? They’re together?” Bantur asked in amazement.

“ Yes. They were married not long before the first attacks were launched,” Arqueno said.

Rantal laughed.

“ Imagine. My sister and your best friend. What a couple they make,” she giggled.

Bantur and Arqueno laughed with her.

They stopped laughing when Kristan and Dawn came down the stairs together.

Dawn handed her parents two of the little brown communicators, while Kristan handed Arqueno a purple one.

“ I’ve been working on these for months. They didn’t work, until Kristan figured out that they have to bond with a person’s DNA first."

" I am sure beyond a doubt that these will work for you. They are video communicators. Use them to keep in visual contact with each other and the rest of us at all times,” Dawn said as Arqueno and her parents examined the little gadgets.

Before she could say more, her macaw came flying into the room.

“ Squawk! People coming up the road! Squawk!” it said before flying back out again.

Dawn went up the stairs, Kristan on her heels.

Since Dawn knew the layout of her land better, she had Kristan wait by the front door as she went up to the roof to watch the strangers coming up the path.

Kristan’s mouth dropped open in shock when she saw her very own parents standing near the steps staring up at the house.

She went outside and stared at them.

“ Mom, dad? What are you doing here?” she asked them.

Dawn was shocked at Kristan’s words, so much so that she jumped off the roof to land beside her.

Movement behind her prompted her to turn around.

Her own parents, plus Arqueno, where standing there staring at Kristan’s parents.

“ Winsun? Atail?” Dawn’s mother said.

“ Rantal!” Kristan’s mother shouted with joy as she threw her arms around her sister’s neck.

“ Oh no. Do not tell me that my parents are aliens too,” Kristan said as she watched the little reunion happening in front of her.

“ It is. Come on. Let’s go and leave them be. Looks like they have a lot to catch up on,” Dawn told her as she hopped on her motorcycle.

Kristan got on behind her and the two of them rode off down the road.

Back in Charleston, Darla and GenX4.9 were going over a software program she’d created the night before.

“ Dawn’s cycle was a great model for the new cycles I’m creating for the rest of the Rangers. I’d taken six ordinary cycles and infused them with the spirits of the zords."

" I even created one for the green Ranger, in case she’d show up. Now that Dawn has become the sixth Ranger, I can use some of the technology from her motorcycle to help finish the Ranger cycles,” she told the robot.

“ That is a very good thing, Darla. You are smarter than I first gave you credit for,” the robot replied.

“ Yeah. I thought you were just some dumb goth freak,” a voice replied behind them.

Darla whirled around and found herself facing a female alien.

“ Festess!” the robot man shouted in astonishment.

“ Shut up, GenX4.9. I’ve come to talk with my daughter,” Festess replied with a wicked smile.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

Darla’s insides quivered with disbelief. “ Daughter?” she questioned.

“ Yes. When I was bored with destroying Laneria, I came to Earth for a spell and started messing around with some of the rougher men here. I ended up pregnant with a human baby, which I didn’t want, so I gave her away as a slave child. I tracked her down recently, and here we stand,” Festess said with another malicious grin.

“ It cannot be true! I am not the daughter of a monster!” Darla screamed.

The robot shook his head.

“ I am afraid it is true, Darla. The villainess is your mother,” he said.

She glared at the alien woman. “ Not for long she’s not,” she whispered with deadly calm.

Then she morphed into the Black Onyx Ranger, withdrawing her saber and charging at Festess with fury raging in her veins.

Festess easily side-stepped her swings and sent her sprawling onto the ground.

“ You’re pathetic, daughter. I thought you’d have more in you,” she said aloud with a snicker.

Darla leapt to her feet and renewed her attempts to hurt the villainess.

An energy blast from the direction of the water distracted the villainess.

“ Hey! Mind if I cut in?” Rachel called out as she swung her saber in arc against the water.

A large ball of water leapt up and flew against Festess, knocking her through the air.

“ I call that the water cannon-bomb. Care to see more?” she smirked at the alien woman.

Festess glared at the Ranger.

“ Yeah. I for one would love to join the fight,” Miranda said as she appeared beside Darla.

“ As would I,” Abbie said as she appeared in a flash of light beside Rachel.

“ Four Rangers will not be enough to stop me,” Festess hissed.

“ Hmmm. Methinks the alien is a little loco,” Abbie quipped as she and the other Rangers withdrew their sabers.

Festess held out her hand and a wicked-looking sword appeared in it.

She readied it to slash the four Rangers.

A blast from behind her caused to fall to the ground.

A web shot forward and grabbed the weapon, sending it flying through the air into the water.

Darla continued to help GenX4.9 with the bike program as the other five Rangers faced Festess.

“ Hey. What do you call something that’s ugly, evil, and don’t know how to dress?” Rachel asked.

“ What?” Festess asked, anger in her eyes.

“ You,” Rachel quipped with a happy grin under her helmet.

Festess snarled and held her hands up.

Black energy swirled around them, which she quickly directed at the Rangers.

All but Abbie fell to the ground.

She sheathed her own saber and allowed her body to glow with a blinding white light, trying to combat Festess’ dark energy.

It worked for a minute, until Abbie began to tire.

Then Festess took the opportunity and slashed her to the ground.

She was now ten feet from Darla and the robot man.

“ You’re mine to destroy!” the alien woman shouted.

“ No!” Dawn shouted. She weakly got to her feet and glared at the alien woman.

As Festess turned around, Dawn took a small pouch from her suit and opened it.

“ Faerie Dust!” Dawn called out. The contents of the bag flew towards Festess and settled around her, rendering her unconscious for thirty seconds.

Dawn got the other Rangers over to Darla, just as Festess finally woke up from her stupor.

“ You will pay for that, White Diamond Ranger!” the villainess screeched.

“ You’re – the one – who’s gonna be sorry!” Kristan wheezed out.

She tried to stand straight and tall as she glared at the alien woman.

The other Rangers copied her defensive stance while Darla and the robot man hurried to finish their project.

“ You see, Festess? We – will never – give up the fight!” Miranda said.

“ We are – the Gemstone Rangers!” Dawn said.

“ And we – will – win!” Rachel shouted through clenched teeth.

“ You will die before the next battle!” Festess replied.

She held up both hands to the sky; it began to darken as lightning slashed through the sky.

She held her hands towards the Rangers as a lightning bolt slashed through each of their suits, demorphing all but Darla, who glared at her with unabashed hatred.

[Kali_WolfChilde]

“ You will pay this day, my mother,” she stated in a deathly calm manner.

Then she held her morpher to the sky and shouted: “ Were Cycle!” A black blur appeared from the trees.

Darla took a running leap and landed on the seat, turning the bike to face Festess, and taking attention away from her fellow Rangers.

Call your cycles, my friends.

Your zords will send them to you, she told them.

Her friends quickly morphed again and called their cycles.

Each one was designed exactly to suit the Ranger it belonged to: Darla’s cycle was black with a werewolf head on the front of the bike, plus fang-like designs up and down the body; Miranda’s was yellow with a griffin’s head on the front, plus tornado-like swirls up and down the length of it; Kristan’s was red with a phoenix head, and fiery swirls on the body; Abbie’s was white with a unicorn head, and orb-like balls painted around the body; Dawn’s was green with faerie’s wings, and clouds covering the body; and Rachel’s was blue with a mermaid’s fin, and waves painted all over it.

The Rangers lined their bikes up side by side as they faced the villainess.

“ Gemstone Cycles! Charge!” they shouted in unison as they started the cycles forward.

Darla fired her lasers, prompting the other five Rangers to do the same.

Festess dodged all but the last few blasts, falling to the ground, shrieking in furious rage.

“ I’ll be back again, Rangers! And I won’t lose next time!” she shouted, disappearing back to her hideout.

The Rangers got off their bikes and teleported to Dawn’s house in New Mexico.

Arqueno was waiting in front of the house with Dawn’s and Kristan’s parents.

Darla marched up to him, her saber drawn, and held it against his throat.

“ Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t run you through right now for not telling me the truth!” she shouted, her eyes glinting with anger behind her helmet.

The adults stared in fear and apprehension.

Dawn tried to pull her away, but Darla merely shoved her off and pressed her saber deeper against Arqueno’s throat.

“ What truth?” he asked. She swore at him worse than a New York cab driver.

“ The truth about Festess being my mother, you fool!” she shouted.

Startled gasps went up from the other four adults. Arqueno’s shoulders slumped.

“ I did not think it important enough to tell you about,” he admitted with a sigh.

Beneath her helmet, Darla’s face grew red with rage.

“ Not important enough to tell me?! It’s my mother we’re talking about! The villainess who tried to destroy your planet and your own family!” she shouted.

She could feel the suit heating up, could feel her anger getting away from her.

“ I am sorry you had to find out this way, Darla,” Arqueno said with a sad look. Darla’s anger was too much – even for her – and it caused her to demorph.

With a furious snarl, she hauled Arqueno off his feet and threw him to the ground.

Before she could pounce on him, Abbie stepped forward and knocked her upside her head, causing her to black out.

The other Rangers demorphed. All but Kristan followed Abbie as she carried Darla’s unconscious body inside the house.

Kristan stayed and helped Arqueno to his feet.

“ I am sorry she acted that way, Arqueno. If there is any way I can help, let me know,” she said. Interest over him was evident in the look she gave him.

The other four adults no