Gemstone Rangers

It was time. The time had come to launch another attack on Carter and his no-good Power Rangers. Pylor refused to allow them to ruin his plans. But, the question was how? How was he to keep those pesky teenagers from foiling his plans? “I must wipe them out,” he concluded. “I’ll take them down one by one and make them suffer for stepping in my way.”

As he sat there contemplating how to destroy the Power Rangers, a young voice spoke up. “Uncle, I know of a way to get them. I can get those pesky rangers so that your plan will succeed.”

“Can you guarantee success?” he inquired.

“Since it is a long-term assignment, I cannot be sure at the moment,” the voice cautioned. “But, I shall try my best to bring down those rangers from the inside. I will not allow them to further delay your plans.”

Pylor nodded. “Good. Go then, young one. In the meantime, I shall send out an attack for the rangers. Should your plan fail, we must have a fallback prepared; I am not about to let those no-good teens have their way. Not when Archimedes Carter is leading their little band of heroes. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he has destroyed me again.” The voice disappeared and Pylor returned to his musings. “Now, what to send after those pesky kids; what would be the best way to destroy those idiots?”

◘♠♣♥♦◙

Nick could barely concentrate. His pencil thrummed against his notebook absentmindedly as he gazed out the window. Since learning of the experiment Tiara’s uncle performed on them—and their subsequent powers—it was the only thing he could think of. He doubted that his brothers, Briar Rose, or Tiara were having any luck in doing so; this was a major shock to all of them, and would not be forgotten that easily. He was rather pleased of the class’s conclusion as lunch was next, a chance to speak with the others about what was going on.

Tiara was the first he found. She was seated in the far corner of the room, not really caring about anything. She had this rather contemptible look on her face, which wasn’t really that surprising. From the beginning, Tiara had despised what her uncle had done and still had not fully accepted her duty as the Sapphire Power Ranger. No one, especially not Joe, would ever be able to convince Tiara McShea to take her place as a ranger and protect the world from whatever terror Pylor intended on releasing against them. It was imperative that she accept her fate, so that their defenses against Pylor would not be weakened; they needed to be at full power to defend Santa Barbara from impending attacks. Nick carefully slid into a seat beside Tiara. “Hey, you okay?” he asked her.

“Not even!” Tiara grumbled.

“Because of Archimedes?” he confirmed.

“Of course,” she intoned. “My uncle completely blindsided me. Not once—before yesterday—did Uncle Archimedes ever tell me of Pylor—the reason we were obviously given these powers in the first place. Now, because of my uncle’s ignorance, I must accept a fate I never wanted. It’s despicable.”

“And, you have the morpher?” Nick asked.

Tiara tapped her pocket. “No choice in the matter. My uncle wouldn’t let me leave home without it. Crazy old man. What the fuck was he thinking when he let me talk him into performing the experiment on us? I was a naïve little girl who wanted nothing more than a close relationship with my uncle, something I clearly don’t have with my mother and step-father.”

Nick nodded silently as Briar Rose and Joe slipped into seats beside Tiara and Nick respectively. “Still, that doesn’t mean that you can back down on a promise you made him,” Nick argued. “When you insisted that the experiment be performed on us nine years ago, you sealed our fate by making a promise to Archimedes that we would be on call to protect the world should danger ever strike. You have to remember that, Tiara, because breaking such a promise will have sealed our doom; Pylor would be in control of the world right now—and killed her uncle—if we were never given those powers you so clearly despise.”

Nods of approval came from Joe and Briar Rose.

Tiara rolled her eyes. “The whole thing is completely stupid. And, anyway, I never expected that my uncle would force this on us; I thought I made that clear when this happened, when we were first told about the job my uncle wanted us to do. I NEVER wanted any of this.”

“Yet, you have no choice,” Joe commented.

“Shut up, Joe!” Tiara yelled. “I know that!”

“Then let it go, Tiara,” Joe insisted.

“Let it GO!” Tiara roared. “That has got to be the stupidest idea I have ever heard. Although, coming from you, I guess that’s quite understandable; you are the stupidest person I have ever had the displeasure of knowing. Why my uncle even agreed to let you do this when he knows I hate you is beyond me. After all, it is your fault that I hate this so much. You and my uncle are the cause of my unwillingness to deal with any of this.”

“Me?” Joe asked. “What do I have to do with any of this?”

“Everything!” she yelled.

Nick rolled his eyes. This was becoming a regular occurrence. It had only been a few hours since they first realized their powers and the only constant was that Tiara refused to accept her fate. No one could convince her that it was the right thing to do and things were getting out of hand. Pylor had not attacked again, but it was only a matter of time until he did. Consequently, Tiara needed to be prepared for the inevitable: her participation in defending Santa Barbara. But, how were they supposed to do that when she refused to believe them?

Furthermore, the argument between Joe and Tiara had escalated for some unknown reason. No one knew why. Something about yesterday's events triggered a change and Tiara, ultimately causing the already strenuous relationship she had with Joe to completely sever. Tiara would pick a fight with Joe whenever the opportunity came. And, it was far worse when it came to discussing the Power Rangers issue. Arguments and insults were traded almost mercilessly; Nick, Kevin, and Briar Rose were sick of it. Since the arguments begin, they had tried anything they could think of to quit the fighting and get them on track so that they could destroy Pylor for what he was trying to do to the world. Nick cast a glance at Briar Rose. “We need to end this,” he said as his brother and Tiara were arguing.

“No kidding,” Briar Rose murmured. “This is ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous?” Kevin asked, taking a seat.

“Those two,” Nick muttered, pointing at Joe and Tiara.

“Oh, them,” Kevin realized. “Well, that’s not the only thing we have yet to worry about. There’s something far worse than the in-fighting. Nick, Tiara, Joe, you guys need to know of this.”

Briar Rose almost jumped out of her seat. “You didn’t tell them? Kevin, you were supposed to tell them. We both know what’ll happen if they aren’t prepared for such an occurrence. We spent the entire morning trying to figure this out, and you were supposed to mention it to them; if the others knew, they’d be able to help and we would have had an easier time keeping this quiet. Kevin, you know that.”

“I do,” Kevin agreed. “But, I was hoping that you and I might be able to fix this on our own. If we could do that, my brothers and Tiara might not need to know of the unfortunate dilemma we have. Clearly, telling them is for the best since neither one of us has been able to convince him to drop this. He just refuses to quit until he finds out what’s going on.”

Nick peered curiously between his brother and Briar Rose. Not once had he heard of this, whatever it was. And, that didn’t seem right since hiding secrets within the group would prove to be a downfall. “Briar, Kevin, what’s going on? What are the both of you hiding?”

Briar Rose bit her lip. “Yesterday when we got our powers, I came home to discover that my explanation for what I was during our little escapade was no longer valid. Because of that, Dustin’s suspicious of what’s going on; Bevin too. So, while it the process of destroying, Pylor, we need to ensure that my brother and Bevin don’t uncover our little secret.”

With Joe and Tiara still bickering over pointless dribble, Nick was the only one to hear of the dilemma they were faced with. “Briar, Kevin, you should have mentioned this earlier. Who knows what could have happened if Dustin or Bevin discovered our secret,” Nick reminded them.

Kevin nodded. “We know.”

“Then, can you explain to me why you never told any of us about the possible breach? Archimedes, I hope you realize, is going to flip when he finds out that someone may know what we are. And, Tiara? We all know what Tiara would do if she ever found out,” Nick said. He glanced over at Tiara and his brother, who were still arguing over the Power Ranger issue.

Briar Rose groaned. “There is no way I want to sit through a lecture from Tiara about how we shouldn’t have done this. Everyone knows how much she hates this. In fact, I really wouldn’t be surprised if a certain person we all know found out about this. It wouldn’t end well.”

“Agreed,” Nick said. “He can never find out about this, else we’ll have far more to deal with than school, our Ranger duties, and keeping all of this secret. There must be a way to keep this quiet.”

◘♠♣♥♦◙

A fly on the wall of the school cafeteria flew away from its perch just above the five teenagers. Despite having to sit through the incessant bickering of two of their group, the fly was able to glean enough information that would prove useful in the plan that was being made to destroy them. It would not be long before they were gone and everything could go back to the way it was before these ranger brats existed. Until that occurred though, the plan to take over the world had been halted and a reconnaissance mission was introduced to ensure that this issue was being dealt with. The fly buzzed around the five teens for a few moments before returning to the wall. A voice emanated from the fly, that of Zylor. “There is a way to destroy these brats. And, I will not rest until I find it. I will make sure that Pylor is capable of ruling the world, just as he was meant to do.”