Gemstone Rangers

After a few more clicks of the keys, a man in his mid-thirties found what he was looking for. An image popped up on the screen and the shaggy, black-haired man was faced with his worst fear: his mortal enemy. Remembering what had transpired so long ago, the man knew what he had to do. To save the world, it was necessary to bring about a force the world had not yet seen, a force that could fix what was about to happen. It was time to call on the Power Rangers.

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On the outskirts of Santa Barbara, in a club called Verein, sat five teens. For the most part, these five teens were friends, helping one another out when they could. But, there were other times in which they couldn’t stand each other. Today was just one of those days. So, rather than spending time with each other, each of the five teens did their own thing.

Nick Jonas was sitting in the corner of the club, tapping his pencil up against the red notebook sitting in front of him. He was alone, and that was just how he liked it. Aside from his brothers, Nick rarely associated with anyone. It just wasn’t his style. Rather than hanging out with friends as his brothers preferred to do, Nick secluded himself. His brothers were the only friends that Nick really needed. Sure, he was friendly with his brothers’ friends, but they were more acquaintances than friends to Nick. And, he really didn’t care.

For Joe Jonas, coming to Verein meant flirting with all the girls there. Joe was the most popular guy in school and had just about every girl fawning all over him, wanting to be Joe’s girlfriend. To be perfectly honest, Joe enjoyed all of the attention he got, but there was something on his mind. The one girl that Joe wanted the attention of was the one he couldn’t get. After an incident that occurred nine years ago, that seemed to be quite impossible. Under no circumstances would she ever bring herself to fall for Joe, not after what happened. And, that bugged him. So, to get his mind off of the fact that getting her attention seemed to be quite impossible, Joe surrounded himself with every girl in school.

As this was going on, Tiara McShea sat on the opposite side of the room drawing. Every so often however, she would look up and give the evil eye to Joe. Nine years ago, she was the one Joe got into a fight with, and she had yet to forgive him for what he did. The incident sickened her, and Tiara wanted nothing to do with Joseph Adam Jonas as a result of everything that he had done to her. And, she knew how much Joe wanted her attention, something she was never going to give him. Tiara refused to give Joe the time of day so as to apologize for what transpired nine years ago. Any apology would be too late, and Joe needed to understand that. Maybe if Joe had apologized to Tiara for what happened in a timely manner, then maybe Tiara would have accepted Joe’s apology and forgiven him for what happened. But, since that was not the case, Joe would continue to receive the cold shoulder from Tiara.

Seated at the counter was Kevin Jonas. While his brothers were writing in a notebook and flirting with girls respectively, Kevin was working on a science project along with his best friend, Dustin Hickory. Both boys were geniuses, so it wasn’t going to take too long for this project to be completed. Since Kevin was President of the Science Club, it was assumed that Kevin spent all of his time focusing on scientific fact, and that science was his life. This couldn’t be further from the truth. No, that was actually Dustin’s personality. He was the science guru. For Kevin, he was more focused on using his intellect to win over the heart of the girl he was in love with, someone only he knew the identity of.

Last but not least of the five was Dustin’s twin sister, Briar Rose Hickory. At the moment, Briar was seated just a few feet away from her twin brother, reading a copy of Black Beauty. While her brother was interested in science and technology, Briar Rose’s passion was horses. And, when Dustin and Briar Rose weren’t helping their parents run the family winery, Briar Rose would be out at the stables caring for her stallion, Harvest Moon. From the time she was a little girl, Briar Rose had always found horses to be fascinating. So, on her eleventh birthday, her parents got her a horse while Dustin opted for a chemistry set. She was one of the girls that asked for a horse and actually got it. Of course, that was only because she loved horses so much, and intended on caring for him herself. Over the past six years, Briar Rose would spend a few hours out of every day at the stable to see Harvest Moon. In fact, in a few minutes, that was where Briar Rose was headed.

Aside from Tiara—who hated Joe’s guts—everyone was pretty good friends with one another. Tiara was always the exception to that rule though. The hatred she possessed for Joe was never-ending, and nothing anyone said or did was ever going to change that. Their nine year feud would never end. For Briar Rose and the Jonas boys though, they were fairly close. Nick would sometimes hang out with them, but that was rare. He preferred his own company instead. Most of the time, it was Briar Rose, Joe, and Kevin that hung out, with the occasional appearance from Nick, Tiara, or Dustin, depending on what was going on at the time. But, for the most part, it was always Briar Rose, Joe, and Kevin Jonas that hung out. Tiara’s and Nick’s personalities never really depicted them as being the personable type; Tiara was more of a stubborn ass and Nick was a loner. That was just the way things were.

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While each of the five teens did their own thing at Verein, Archimedes Carter stared at the computer screen, and the image still plastered on the screen. He still couldn’t believe that Pylor had returned. Pylor was supposed to be dead; he was supposed to be gone. How could that have happened? It had been fifteen years since Pylor disappeared, and Archimedes hoped that things had stayed that way. He never wanted to do this, to call on the Power Rangers. It was never his intention to do this. Archimedes groaned as he pressed a few buttons. “I really did not wish to do this, not in a million years,” Archimedes said.

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Things were winding down in Verein. Most everyone was going home. Dustin closed his science book and, upon saying goodbye to Kevin, walked over to where his twin sister was sitting. “Briar, are you headed over to the stables after this, or can we expect you home?” Dustin asked.

“Stables,” Briar Rose said, closing her copy of Black Beauty. “Not only do I need to go see Harvest Moon, but Bevin wants to see me about something.” Briar Rose pushed her blonde curls out of her face and stared intently at her dark-haired fraternal twin brother. “Why?”

“Just wondering,” Dustin shrugged. “Alright. I’ll see you at home.”

Briar Rose nodded. “Yeah.” Dustin soon left Verein and headed back home. For a time, Briar Rose went back to her book, wanting to read this book, despite the fact that she had read this book more than once already. She only got a few more pages read before a manicured hand appeared over the book. Briar Rose looked up and smiled. “Hey, Tiara. What’s up?”

“Why don’t we go out?” Tiara suggested.

Briar Rose winced. “Sorry, Ti. I can’t.”

“Why not?” Tiara asked.

“Stables,” Briar Rose said.

Tiara rolled her eyes. “You and your horse addiction.”

“It’s not an addiction; it’s a passion,” Briar Rose corrected.

“Whatever,” Tiara shrugged.

Briar Rose then fired back. “And, besides, my passion for horses isn’t much different than your hatred of Joe. I really don’t see why you hate him. This hatred for him is completely unfounded, and you need to know that.” Over the years, Briar Rose watched as Tiara and Joe got into tiffs over the stupidest of things. It wasn’t right. Since they were eight years-old, Tiara always had this conniption about Joe being around. No one ever understood it, not even Briar Rose, and she was Tiara’s best friend. And, since Tiara never wanted to talk about it, it seemed as if no one was ever going to understand the feud that Joe and Tiara had. “What’s happened between the two of you nine years ago?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tiara groaned. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Whatever,” Briar Rose shrugged.

Briar Rose was about to gather her things and leave when a white beam surrounded her. As the white beam lifted her up, Briar Rose wondered what it was. What the hell is going on here? she wondered. The beam subsided and Briar Rose found herself standing in a cavern. Four more white beams appeared, allowing Tiara and the Jonas boys to appear as well. “What’s going on here?” Briar Rose wondered, glancing between Tiara and the boys.

A middle-aged man with shaggy black hair and a pale complexion appeared before them. His appearance seemed quite disheveled, and he was exhausted. “Briar Rose, the answer is simple. You and…”

Tiara cut the man off. She looked absolutely pissed by what this man was about to tell Briar Rose and the others. “No! Uncle Archimedes! You promised! You promised that this was never going to happen. That’s the only reason I even agreed to let you do what you did. If I had known that you were going to do this, I never would have allowed any of this to go on. We were eight when you did this to us. This was only supposed to be an experiment. It was never supposed to become anything more than that.”

The man groaned. “I’m sorry, Tiara, but we have no choice. I never wanted to do this either, but you five are the only ones who can do this. You five are the Power Rangers, and the only ones qualified to save the world from being taken over. Tiara, you and your friends must do this.”