Disclaimer: I don't own them. Saban does.
AN: Trying out a bit of a strange style for her voice. Reviews on if it worked out or just sounds really stilted would be appreciated.
I often wonder whether I belong here. I've fallen into the world of Angel Grove quite quickly. Most people don't remember a time I was not here. In fact, according to the change in time, I WAS always here in the Americas. But my memories are different.
I remember a plain, hot and dusty, with the unmistakable taste of the dry earth in the air. I remember plants struggling to grow in the hot savanna and clustering around the waterholes like starving children. I remember the waterholes, cool oases where you could find predator and prey drinking near one another, wary eyes keeping a wary peace. I remember the coolness of the water against my lips and skin. I remember it all so very vividly.
Angel Grove is so different. The only animals here are tiny ones like rabbits or mice. The air tastes of the salt of the nearby ocean. I am always surrounded by the bounty of the trees. And somehow the water here does not taste as sweet.
The people here are very nice to me. The rangers include me in their lives and teach me new skills. I've learned I am very good at throwing and enjoy playing baseball. Boys are the same here as they are everywhere, proud and insecure over their place in the cycle, boastful and vain of being a man, as if it was something special. My aunt told me that boys must be coddled, must never be allowed to know that we know how weak they are inside, for they cannot bend like us woman and and so break instead.
Kat and her family have been very welcoming. She helps me with all those little things a female must know and do, wherever she is. And Tommy is a great leader, although a sad one. Kat tells me it is because he misses the woman he loves, who must now live apart from him for a time. Rocky is a steadfast second. He used to be the red ranger before but has stepped aside gracefully into his new role.
Billy is very wise and knowledgeable. He has made an even greater sacrifice than Rocky, stepping out of his role on the team altogether. I know it pains him to not be on the battlefield with us and I can see how he is pained by the absence of my predecessor. They all are, and are so wrapped in their own sadness that none can see it on the others.
Adam is a bit of an enigma. He is quieter than the others and keeps things to himself. He and Rocky have a strange relationship; he follows Rocky's lead on the field but Rocky seems to follow his when they are not on it. It is a sign of their friendship that they fall into this so seamlessly. Adam is shy but he is thoughtful. It is him and Billy who have spent the most time with me on getting my fighting skills "up to par" as they say it.
I have made many friends among my schoolmates at the high school. Shawn is very attentive but is dishonest. He is trying to do better and I will try to help him as much as I can. Raymond is quite intelligent and has helped me with learning how to use computers, which are new to me. And the girls are very friendly, having invited me into their clubs and to their activities.
Still, I miss the wilds of my african home. I miss the sounds and the smells. I miss the people. I miss the elders who tell stories. I miss the mothers who teach me new skills. I miss the children who would play with me. And I miss being a child. I have grown up very fast and very suddenly. I feel like I have missed part of my life and will never get it back. But I think it's worth it to be a ranger, to fight for the world.
I love who I am now...but I miss who I used to be.