Power Rangers Alpha Star Chapter 1: What Once Was, Is Again, Part 1, a power rangers fanfic

Chapter 1: What Once Was, Is Again, Part 1.

Chapter Plot: Two teens stumble into something they can't quite explain.

By: Dancer of Dreams

A Car Driving On The Highway

11:34 a.m.

The car ride was both long and grueling. Six and a half hours in a car with no air conditioning. Something not that good in the California heat. It didn't help that Olivia Piper was stuck next to Annie, her foster families actual blood related child. They had nothing in common. Annie was a perky, overly exuberant, obnoxious, snob, who thought she was better than everyone else. Olivia was a foster child that had been found by the side of the road with no idea who she was. She pulled at her neon pink shirt tank top, getting some air into her shirt. Her neon green pants were sticking to the leather of the seat and her brown curly hair was sticking to the back of her neck. It wasn't much but it was enough. She let her head rest against the glass of the window, tired. Annie looked as fresh and perky as she had when they got into the car. It was sickening.

"Olivia. Are you alright?" A voice from the front of the car called out to her.

Olivia looked up at female driving the car. "I'm fine, Nikki." Nikki was Olivia's foster mother. She was the one person that Olivia could count on.

"You sure?" Nikki continued. Olivia looked like she was going to be sick. She would have let the girls roll down the windows, but it was raining quite hard.

"I'm sure." She replied, ignoring the look of disgust that Annie shot her. Olivia read a sign as they entered the city limits. Welcome To Sky Hills. Sky Hills. Who in their right mind would have named their town that? Still, maybe things would be better.

Maybe.

Sky Hills High School

8:12 a.m.

The car that had entered the city limits the day before, pulled into the front of a school. It was like most of the school in the state. Large and full of school spirit. Well, one could only hope the reason the lawn and most of the school was decorated in a mixture of yellow and green was because of school spirit.

Nikki turned to the two teenagers in the back seat. "Girls, I just want you to know I realize it's not easy moving to a whole new town – especially for you, Olivia, right?" Olivia was a very good girl but she had a hard time making friends. She was very defensive when she didn't know some one or was feeling like someone was mocking her.

Olivia stopped fiddling with the hem of her large neon pink shirt and matching pants. "Did we move?" She asked in mock surprise.

Nikki laughed. "I'm just saying you don't make friends as easily as... uh, some people."

Annie reached over forward and turned up the radio.

"Annie, for instance?" Olivia guessed, her voice raised to carry over the music. Nikki might have be a wonderful woman, but she was blind to her daughters faults.

"That's not what I meant... necessarily." Nikki turned off the radio, ignore her daughter sound of indignation. "The point is, the first day at a new school is bound to be difficult..."

Annie once again turned the radio on, this time even louder.

Nikki turned the radio off, once again, giving her daughter a look of warning. She turned around to face Olivia. "Don't ger upset if it takes the other kids a little while to warm up to you."

Annie finally gave up and got out of the car, mumbling a goodbye to her mother. She was greeted at the door by five other teens, obvious introducing themselves.

Olivia shook her head. It figured. Not that she really had a problem with it. When Annie was with others that meant she wasn't around Olivia. Not all and all a bad thing. "I think I'll manage." She climbed out of the car and poked her head back through the door. "Bye, Nikki."

"Wait a minute..."

She shut the door and faced the school. Well, here it goes.

Olivia faced the Principal McGuire, Annie had already gotten her schedule and headed off to her first class.

Principal McGuire was sitting behind her desk, facing the teenager in front of her. "It is state mandate that says you have to take the psychological exam."

The teen shook her head. "What about Annie?"

"She already took it at the beginning of the school year at the previous school. You, however, we have no record of ever taking it." McGuire stated.

Olivia shook her head. "I never have." At the administrators curious look, she gave in. "Alright. Bring it on."

"Miss. Piper. I am Mr. Davidson. The guidance councilor. I'm the one who's going to be giving you the test." He motioned for her to take a seat on the chair in front of him.

Olivia eyed the man wearily. But she still sat, not seeing the harm in it.

Mr. Davidson smiled. "Alright then. We're going to start with some word associations. I'll say a word and you give me the first word that comes in to your mind, okay?"

She nodded, irritated that he was speaking to her like she was five.

"Okay, then. Hot."

"Hot."

"Cold."

"Red."

He could feel the vein in the top of his head, pounding. "Your supposed to give me a different word!"

Olivia held back a smile. She was just messing with him. "You told me to say the first word that pops into my head. And when you say red the first word that pops into my head is, well, red."

Mr. Davidson took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Okay. Lets try something else then. I will show you a picture and you tell me what you see. Simple enough?"

She nodded once again. Like it was that hard.

He held up a picture of a blob that kind off looked liked a decapitated bunny. "What do you see?"

Olivia pretended to take a few moments to contemplate it. "I see... a Christmas tree, a roller coaster, an orangutang, hoards of angry villagers, and a herd of beautiful wild ponies running free across the plains. "

Mr. Davidson frowned, finally figuring out that the girl was messing with him. He wrote something on a piece of paper and shoved it in her hands. "Give this to the principal and get out. Out!" He practically pushed her out the door.

"Hey!" She called. The door slammed closed behind her. Shaking her head, she opened the paper.

Low Self-Esteem.

The teacher of this certain class was leaning against the desk. Five... four... three... two... one... Time for the self-esteem class. She motioned for the class to calm down. There was about ten of them. Two to a table. "Esteem... a teen. They don't really rhyme, do they? The sound's don't mesh. And that is the case in the fact of teen and esteem. They just don't go together. But here we are to begin realizing your actuality. Then each and everyone of them will be able to proudly say, 'I am.' Now, before we.." Mrs. Pruitt trailed off as one girl in neon pink raised her hand.

"Excuse me." Olivia interrupted. "I have a question."

Mrs. Pruitt shook her head. "Sorry, question and answer time is later."

Olivia replied, "I want to know what 'realizing your actuality' means."

The teacher fiddled with a pencil nervously. "It means... look. Just let me get through this part, okay? Then there'll be a video. Before we unlock your potential..." She returned to speak to everyone in the class.

The boy who was sitting beside Olivia at her table leaned over and whispered to her. "She doesn't know what it means. She's got the whole speech memorized. Just enjoy the nice woman's soothing voice." He was about a head taller than her and was wearing a plain blue shirt and blue jeans. His hair was a dirty blond and messy.

Olivia just whispered back, "How am I supposed to follow her if I don't know what she's talking about?" He seemed nice enough, but she was still kind of weary. It was a natural defense.

The boy just shook his head. "I can fill you in later. I've taken this course six times."

The moment the class was over, the boy turned to her. "I'm Daniel Marsh."

She paused a moment before introducing himself. "Olivia Piper."

"It's nice to meet you. You new here?" Daniel asked her.

"Yep." Olivia smiled at him.

Daniel headed to the door. "Come on. I'll fill you in on the class."

"So, then, after the role-playing, next they spilt the girl and boys into different groups and take them into separate room. I don't know about the girl's, but with the boy's its our self-image and self-concept." Daniel informed her. He watched as she shifted the books then stopped and placed them on the ground to tie her shoe.

Olivia looked up at Daniel as she spoke. "I don't get it, Daniel." He was nice enough and was actually talking to her, which was a big plus. And a major step over the people at her other school. "You've got the entire course memorized. How come you can't pass the test to get out?"

He shrugged. "I could pass the test, but I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special."

Olivia laughed out loud. It felt nice, but wasn't something she had done in a while. Actually, she couldn't remember the last time she did it.

"Really, I don't have anything better to do. I like knowing what's going to happen before anyone else. It throws the others off balance." Daniel replied. He grinned and held a hand out to her to help her up.

She looked at his hand for a moment before deciding to take it. Olivia was hauled to her feet. "Thanks." She looked around. "I should be getting home." She headed toward the street.

Daniel blink in surprise. "Hold on." He hurried after her. "Let me walk you." He smiled when she didn't stop him. "So where are we headed?"

"Are we sure that we should be going through here?" Daniel asked his new friend. He had never been into these woods before.

"They exit out on Peach Street, right?" Olivia heard his reluctant yes. "Then it should cut off about ten minutes from the walking time."

Daniel continued to look unsure. "Still..." He eyed the woods around him wearily.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "The sooner we get there, the less chance that we'll get caught in the rain." She pointed to the rain clouds above head.

He nodded and it was quiet for a few moments. That was, until, well, Daniel was the first to feel it. He wiped the droplet of water off of his forehead. "Uh oh." He felt another drop of water hit his arm. "Run." Daniel yelled at her. He grabbed her arm and pulled her behind him for a few moments, until she got her bearings and met him pace for pace. By then it was coming down hard.

Olivia wiped the rain water from her eyes. It was pouring. Hard. She blinked and managed to see a large object in front of her eyes. It seemed to be a house. "Let's go in there." She pointed to the house and headed for it. Until a hand gripped her arm.

"Wait." Daniel shook his head. "It's haunted."

"What?"

Daniel sighed and yelled louder over the rain. "It's haunted!" Thunder crackled over head.

Olivia resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Oh, come on! You don't believe that, do you?!" She yelled. He couldn't believe that, could he?

"Yeah! I do!"Came the reply.

Olivia felt something hard hit her in the back of the neck. And then another. And then another. It was hailing. She grabbed him and pulled him toward the house. "Well, suck it up." They made it with the occasional ow, ouch, or his in pain.

"Thanks." Daniel said to Olivia, once they were inside the safety of the porch.

She nodded her welcome. Olivia was to busy examining the porch. It was old and obviously abandoned. She pushed the door open and entered.

Daniel was watching the rain. He looked to Olivia only to find her gone and the door wide open. "Olivia?" He walked to the door and leaned inside. "Olivia?!" A thump and ouch was heard from inside.

"What?" She walk back into the entrance, irritable. She had bumped her head on the door frame when he called her name. Okay, so she was a little jumpy.

"We shouldn't be in here." He whispered and entered what seemed to be a living room.

"It's not like anyone lives in here." She pushed open a door and entered a room that looked pitch black. "Wonder what's in here..."

"We really shouldn't be here..." He said more for his own comfort than anyone else's. It was quiet. Too quiet. "Olivia? Olivia..." He looked into the room she had entered. It was impossible to see a thing. He stepped into the room. "Olivia?" He walked deeper into it.

"Boo!" Olivia shouted, behind Daniel. She couldn't help but let out a giggle as he grabbed his heart.

"Olivia!" Daniel practically yelled. He shook his head. "Why even bother?" He turned to leave the room when the door slammed shut. The room now completely black. "That wasn't funny, Olivia."

"I didn't do that." She whispered. Olivia headed for area where the door was and felt for a doorknob. She couldn't even feel the door seam. "Oh, dear. Oh, dear." That was repeated a few more times.

"Oh, dear? Oh, dear doesn't sound good." Daniel muttered. "What's wrong?" He questioned her.

Olivia was still frantically trying to find the door. "I can't find the doorknob. I can't even find the seam!"

Daniel shook his head. "No. That can't be right. There has to be one."

"Well get over here and help me then!" She grabbed around until she felt his pant leg and pulled him forward.

"I can't find it either!" Daniel cried out.

"Duh! That's what I said!" Olivia told him. "It's useless." She leaned against the wall and slapped her hand to the wall. "Crap!"

The area where she had slapped the wall began to glow. Light shot up and down the wall and to both sides. It filled the area and it became apparent that what they thought had been a room hadn't been more than six feet both wide and long.

"What did you do?" Daniel demanded. "What did you do?!"

"I don't know! I don't know!" Olivia shot to her feet soon followed by Daniel.

The room gave a jerk and started to slide down. It was an elevator. A couple moments later, it stopped and the two all but ran out of the enclosed area. The room automatically lit up, as if sensing that someone was there. There was just a bunch of tarp's cover stuff. In the middle of the room there was a box. There was something about it that drew the two.

Olivia was the first to try to touch the box. The moment her fingers touched it, the top of the box sliced down the middle and it opened.

Daniel couldn't understand what was going on. It was like his feet were on autopilot. He reached in and grabbed a blue star crystal out. He fiddled with it for a moment before placing it on his wrist. It glowed and grew, enclosing his forearms. The moment the light died down there was a gauntlet on his left arm, made out of some sort of dark blue leather and the crystal in the middle.

Then Olivia reached out and grabbed the pink one. She, too, placed it on her wrist and it created the same gauntlet only with the leather a dark pink and the crystal a light one. As the glow died down, Olivia let out and cry and tried to pry it from her forearm. "Come on! Get off!"

Daniel also struggled to pull his off. "Maybe there is something on one of the tables to get them off." He reached over and pulled some tarps off. Underneath one of them, there was a computer. "Cool!" The puzzle solver could help himself, even though there were more pressing matters at hand. He pressed a button. And then another.

"Daniel! Stop it!" Olivia called to him and walked up behind him.

The screens lit up and a woman's face appeared on the screen. And beside them appeared a full bodied hologram. The woman had black hair, with blue streaks and a leather outfit that had a blue strip down the middle. Both the screen and the hologram began to speak, "I am the AI X79HY56, code name Lilanda. I welcome you, the new protectors, to central command."