Gemstone Rangers

Briar Rose and the boys looked at Tiara in confusion. The same question was on their minds. “Ti, what’s he talking about?” Briar Rose asked. “There’s something going on here that you’re not telling us. We need to know what it is, what you’re obviously not telling us.”

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Tiara groaned. This was something that she never wished to explain to anyone. It was something that Tiara never wished to deal with, not ever. She quickly glanced at her uncle. None of this was ever supposed to be revealed, and he knew that. The experiment from nine years ago caused an incident that only Tiara remembered, and that was only because it was her uncle who performed the experiment. If it weren’t for that familial relationship, Tiara’s memory would have been wiped as well. “Uncle Archimedes!” she yelled. “What happened? Why did you renege on your promise? You swore that this wouldn’t happen.”

Uncle Archimedes rolled his eyes in hi niece’s direction. “I know what I promised, Tia. However, I never expected that the five of you would actually need to use the abilities I gave you. You were eight, and it was never supposed to be this way. You and I know this to be true. But, certain mitigating circumstances prevented this experiment’s effects from lying dormant with you. It’s time for those abilities to become active and for you to become the Power Rangers you were meant to be,” he explained. “I know you were always repulsed by this, but you were the one that volunteered you and your friends for this.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tiara said, rolling her eyes. “It’s just that you caused me to lose something when the experiment was done. And, there’s no way for me to get that back. I don’t want them to know about this.”

“But, they must,” her uncle reminded her. “You know that. If anything happened, you and your friends were to take up the responsibility of being the Gemstone Rangers, remember?”

“Yeah. I remember,” Tiara groaned.

“Then, you must tell them,” Uncle Archimedes said.

“Fine,” she growled

Tiara was about to tell Briar Rose and the Jonas boys of the events that transpired nine years ago when Nick spoke up. Considering that he had rarely spoken to anyone other than his brothers, Tiara found this shocking. “Tiara, you need to tell us what’s going on; we need to know.”

“I’m aware of that,” Tiara grumbled. “Telling anyone about this, however, was never my choice. It was supposed to remain between me and my uncle. You were never supposed to find out.”

“Why?” Briar Rose asked. “What happened?”

Tiara sighed, and begrudgingly told the other four of what she never wished to be told, something that she always wished to be kept a secret from the others. “Years ago, when we were younger, my uncle decided that he was going to do an experimental procedure to give people supernatural abilities. He intended on using stranger, but, being the naïve eight year-old that I was, I suggested us. Not only would my uncle be able to do this experimental procedure, but he would also be able to examine how the abilities affected us throughout puberty. It was only ever supposed to be a surveillance experiment, but it seems quite evident that it never my uncle’s intention for that to be the case,” she said, glaring at her uncle.

“Why don’t we remember this, or you for that matter?” Joe asked.

“A memory wipe, Joseph,” Archimedes explained. “None of you were ever supposed to know of this experiment. Tiara, however, escaped the mind wipe and has known since was eight years-old that these abilities lay dormant within you, just waiting to be activated. And, now is the time for each of you to learn what you can do and become the Power Rangers.”

“Power Rangers?” Briar Rose asked. “But, I thought they only existed in the TV show. You know, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and its subsequent series: Zeo, Turbo, Space, and countless others.”

Everyone looked over at Briar Rose. “How could possibly remember that? It was fifteen years ago.”

“YouTube,” Briar Rose shrugged. “Probably good that I did since that’s exactly what we’re about to become. For instance, if we’re about to become Power Rangers, there are three very important rules that we’ll have to follow.

“Which are what?” Joe asked.

Briar Rose sighed and grabbed the nearest piece of paper and pencil from the desk, writing something down. The paper was then passed around, ending at Tiara. She looked at the paper she had been given and saw what Briar Rose referred to as the Rules of Rangerdom.

-- Use of Ranger powers for personal gain is prohibited.
-- Powers should only be used for defense.
-- Power Ranger Identities should be kept a secret.

Tiara passed the paper to her uncle, who was the only one to comment on what Briar Rose wrote. “This will definitely come in handy. Keep those rules in mind because they should be followed.” Everyone nodded. “Now, on to business. It has been mentioned before that this was never supposed to occur. Your powers were only supposed to lay dormant within you. But, the reason that you were called here is because of someone from my past: Lord Pylor. It’s been years since I saw him, and I know for a fact that he is back, not only for revenge, but to take over the world. Pylor, or as he was known years ago, Peter Lore, was always something of a mad scientist. Throughout college, he was always the type of person to be sitting around in the chemistry lab, concocting potions. Well, one day, the chemistry lab had an explosion and everyone—myself included—thought he died. I only just discovered that this was not the case, and is attempt to rule the world. Something inside him snapped and Pylor is now attempting to take over the world for what happened to him.”

“What did happen?” Tiara inquired of her uncle, knowing that she never heard this story before.

Archimedes pressed a few buttons on his computer and an image of Peter “Pylor” Lore appeared on the screen. Quite honestly, Tiara didn’t see how this man could become something so evil. The image that was set before them was that of a dark-haired man with grayish eyes. There was nothing truly menacing about this guy. What made this guy out to be such an evil villain? “Uncle Archimedes. An explanation would be nice here,” Tiara informed her uncle. A second image was soon presented to the quintet; Tiara then realized what was going on. Pylor was now portrayed as being the same man from before; only this time, he had to flesh on his face. Tiara jumped when saw that. “Holy shit!” In all her life, Tiara had never seen an image as bizarre as the image her uncle just showed her. It was too freaky.

“That’s what the explosion did to him,” Archimedes explained. “And now, he’s trying to take over the world.”

“Why?” Joe asked.

“That’s the thing…no one really knows. But,” Archimedes explained, “I suspect that it roots from that explosion. It made him twisted and cruel. His nonexistent facial skin caused people to abhor even glancing at him, so that intolerance of his unusual appearance could have introduced this sudden world domination plan. I can’t be sure of that.”

“And, what about the experiment?” Kevin inquired. “What did that do?”

“I was just getting to that. I preformed the experiment nine years ago, and, for a time, even I couldn’t be sure of the powers you each possessed. After a few years though, I was able to uncover what they were. I was able to analyze each of your genetic make-ups to discover the two powers that you were each afforded with when I did the experiment nine years ago. Nick, you are the Ruby Ranger. And, as the Ruby Ranger, you have pyrokinesis and telekinesis. Joe, you are the Gold Ranger, having the ability to control the Sun and telepathy. Kevin, as the Silver Ranger, you control the Moon and have the ability of flight. Tiara, my niece; as the Sapphire Ranger, you are a hydrokinetic can become invisible. Finally, Briar Rose: plant manipulation and flexibility were granted to you in the experiment allowing you to become the Emerald Ranger. Together, you five must become the Gemstone Rangers, working together to ensure that Pylor doesn’t take over the world.”

When her uncle finished, Tiara glared warily between her uncle and Joe. Uncle Archimedes knew how much Tiara despised Joe. After everything that happened between them nine years, why would her uncle still force the two of them to work together? Didn’t he know what he was getting himself into when asking that Tiara, Briar Rose, and the Jonas boys do this? Infighting between Joe and Tiara was sure to be used to Pylor’s advantage, and the world would crumble because of her uncle and his delusion that Tiara would put aside her feud with Joe to save the world from the danger that Pylor threatened it with. He was aware of Tiara’s displeasure when she was around Joe, and how much she couldn’t stand even being around him. So, there was absolutely no way in hell that Tiara would be willing to do as her uncle asked. It just wasn’t going to happen; not in a million years would Tiara ever agree to that. “You have to be kidding! Uncle Archimedes, you know perfectly well how much I despise being in proximity to Joseph Adam Jonas! There’s no way that I can work with him; I’m incapable of doing such a thing,” Tiara reminded her uncle.

“I know how you feel about all of this, Tiara,” her uncle explained. “But, you have no choice in the matter. You gave up that choice when you were eight years-old. Working with Joe is required in order for Pylor’s world domination plan to be foiled. I’m sorry, Tiara. But, this has to occur.”

Tiara groaned. She was really starting to hate Pylor. It was because of him that Tiara was being forced to work with the boy she despised so much. Pylor must pay for this. And, as for Joe, I refuse to let him help me with any of this. He knows perfectly well how much I hate him, and I am not about to let come anywhere near me, even with what my uncle wants me to do.

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As Tiara’s uncle—whom no one ever knew about—explained what was going on, Joe kept his eyes trained on Tiara McShea. For no apparent reason did the girl hate him. It was extremely frustrating since Joe had no clue as to what Tiara freaked out about; he was positively clueless. The only thing that Joe Jonas wanted was to understand Tiara’s reasoning for all of this. But, a part of him knew that it was never going to happen. That girl was far too stubborn for her own good and kept her distance. Joe looked to Archimedes. “If you want us to fight this Pylor character, how are we supposed to do that exactly?”

“So glad you asked, Joe,” Archimedes replied, walking over to a cabinet on the other side of the room. “If the need for this ever came—and, Tiara, I do mean if—I made something for you guys to use.” He removed what appeared to be a black case from that cabinet and brought it over, placing it on the desk in front of him. After it was opened, Joe and the others peered inside to determine what he was talking about. “These,” Archimedes explained, “are your morphers.” He pointed at the five oblong devices placed neatly on the suede lining of this case. They each held a gemstone inside, one that corresponded to the ranger colors they each had been given. “When Pylor sends out an attack—which I can promise you, he will—and it gets to rough for you to handle unmorphed, hold up the morpher and yell out It’s Morphing Time. In correspondence to the rules that Briar Rose laid out, do not do so unless you are in over your head.

Joe removed the gold morpher from its place in the case. He stared at it for a moment, particularly at the gold inserted into the center of the morpher. Its gleaming brilliance almost seemed to be calling out for him to take it. As he pocketed the morpher, Joe turned to face his triplet brothers, who were standing with Briar Rose; Tiara was on the other side of the room along with her uncle. Tiara had already made it perfectly clear that she was not willing to do this, particularly if Joe was involved, but he wondered about his brothers and Briar Rose. What about them? “I don’t about your opinions on this matter, but I say we do this. It could be fun. Plus, if we do as Archimedes requires of us, we’ll be known as the unsung heroes of the world—since we obviously can’t tell anyone what we did.”

Briar Rose was next, shrugging as she removed the emerald morpher. “It’s not like we were really given much of a choice anyway; Tiara took away that choice when she volunteered us for the experiment. Becoming rangers seems to be the only way,” she said.

Kevin followed. “I’m with her on this one. We need to do this.”

Nick nodded, taking the ruby morpher. “Agreed.”

Tiara merely stared at Joe and the others in disbelief. Having known her since they were young, Joe could tell just from looking that Tiara hated the fact that everyone—her best friend included—was willing to do this. She obviously wasn’t. The prospect of fighting alongside Joe rather than with him did not seem for appeasing for her. “I cannot believe you guys are so willing to do this!” Tiara exclaimed, almost angrily.

“We don’t really have a choice now do we?” Briar Rose reminded Tiara. “You’re the one who so callously decided to volunteer us for your uncle’s little experiment. We were eight, may I remind you, and had our whole lives ahead of us. In volunteering us for the experiment your uncle had in mind, it’s no longer our decision as to what we must do with our lives. We have to save the world. You’re the one who did this to us, and yet you’re the one objecting so vehemently to it. Just get over your hatred of Joe and work with him to destroy Pylor for trying to take over the world. All of us must do this.”

“Do you really think I care?” Tiara asked. Upon saying that, Joe and the others watched Tiara McShea storm off, leaving the sapphire morpher still sitting in the black leather case her uncle produced.

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Hidden in the deepest, darkest cavern, sat a dark-haired man. His gray eyes glinted with an evil malice as he was staring at the monitor before him. The image before him was that of a light brown-haired girl. She was storming away from a building he recognized, one he spent some time at in his younger years. As he was watching this occur, a blond guy with a shaggy hair appeared at his side. “Brother, what do we have here?” he asked curtly.

“An opportunity, little brother,” the man replied. “An opportunity has arisen for us to do what I had always intended on doing.” He extended his index finger out to the monitor and used it to point at the screen. “It all starts with that teenage girl. Archimedes’s niece is the key to the world’s destruction. Everything I want is in reach, because of that young girl.”

“I’ll go get her then.”