Note: I do not own Power Rangers or Greek Mythology. The only things I own is the new characters and the interpretation of any mythological beings.
Now that that's out of the way, Enjoy!
Power Rangers Olympian Force Chapter 1: Power of the Pantheon
"There's no way he's going to make this," Jason "Jay" Parker said to the girl sitting next to him on the grassy hill, "it's just not possible, right Mera?" Jay was currently looking out at a track field with a 20 foot bar on two poles towering over all who looked at it. His usual red t-shirt was currently covered with a red sweatshirt. He was glad to wear jeans today; this September had been especially cold for the town of Olympia Hills.
The girl, Mera, didn't even look up from her book, "he seems pretty certain that he can," she responded in a Welsh accent, "he's completely wrong, but it will be amusing to spectate." The wind picked up and her red hair blew around behind her, completely untied. She shivered slightly and zipped her grey hoodie up a bit more over her yellow polo shirt.
Jay gave her a playful nudge, "someone's been using that thesaurus that I gave her for her birthday!" he teased. Mera just rolled her eyes and flipped the page in her novel.
The man of the hour was kneeling down lacing his shoes, the cold obviously not affecting him at all, as he wore a blue sleeveless muscle shirt and sweat shorts, with both making his darker skin even more obvious. His blond afro-like hair didn't shift a hair out of place from the latest blast of wind. Another boy in a black shirt and blue, dirty overalls with tools sticking out of every pocket shuffled forward with a large metal staff in his large hands.
"Nate," the boy in the overalls said, "why do you do this to yourself? It's extremely unhealthy and dangerous." His black half-beard bristling a bit as he frowned, obviously worried for his fellow student.
Nate's head shot up as he jumped from the kneeling position into a standing one. He reached out and clasped the staff, yanking it out of the other boy's hands.
"Because I can," he responded simply, "now just watch, Victor!"
With a shout, he charged at the pole and jumped. Victor could barely watch through his fingers as Nate rose into the air. As he reached the peak of the jump, Nate pressed the button on one side of the staff. Suddenly, a blast of flame spewed out of the end and lifted him high enough to clear the bar barely. He landed on his feet and raised the staff above his head, as if the staff was capturing all of the cheers from his classmates.
"Thank you, thank you! I'll be here all week, and I guess you will be too!" he said as the applause grew around him, with a few laughs from his joke. His latest stunt has brought in quite the audience.
His celebration stopped when he heard a small cough behind him. He slowly turned around to see a man in his early 40s glaring at him behind thick glasses. His white muscle shirt and black shorts gave him an air of a man who was used to law and order.
"Oh…hey Mr. Rogers, how are you doing this fine Tuesday morning?" Nate addressed the teacher innocently.
One could almost see the fire raging in the teacher's eyes, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
Nate glanced down at his wrist, as if checking a watch, "Wow, would you look at the time, I think I have a class to get to. Look, this has been a great talk, but I got places to be and things to learn, you know the drill. See ya!" he said quickly as he turned away and took a run for it.
Mr. Rogers grabbed Nate by the back of his shirt and easily held him as Nate feebly tried to break free. As Nate struggled, the teacher put a slip of paper in his hand.
"I'm sure you can learn quite a lot today… in detention."
Up on the hill, Jay shook his head in disbelief, "he thought he could get away from Super Soldier Rogers? He must be crazier than I thought."
Mera shook her head for a different reason, "listen here, I know you love comic books, but you can't just give everyone comic book inspired nicknames. It's just… weird."
Jay gave her smirk, "what about your nickname, Mera? Or should I say Merida?"
Mera sent to Jay a glare that could kill any creature in her path. Jay responded in kind. One could almost see the lightning sparking from their eyes at one another.
"Say my full name again, and I'll push you off this hill face-first," Mera growled.
"Insult my interests again and I'll… well, I'll…" Jay dropped his glare and stood looking puzzled for a moment, "what would I do to you? I'm basically your best friend. I think you hurting me would be punishment to yourself. Isn't that right, Merida?"
Mera raised her arms to push him, but before she contacted him, the two started laughing. The people around them gave them a strange look as the early bell rang. Everyone started down the hill as the two continued to laugh.
"Man," a girl said as she came up behind them, "you two have the strangest bonding methods I have ever seen."
"But Valerie," Jay responded, "no two bonds are truly alike, should you truly judge one that you are not a part of?"
"Did you eat too many fortune cookies, or are you trying to sound like some sort of Zen master?" Valerie replied, her black hair with pink streaks swinging through the air as her head shook back and forth.
"I'm going to go with the fortune cookies," Mera agreed as the two girls high fived as the three walked through the door.
"Oh, girls, you wound me," Jay said jokingly as he covered his heart with both hands, "I truly am a Zen master."
The girls look at each other and nodded; the two of them raised their hands and smacked him upside the head.
Jay was about to turn around and argue when he noticed that they had reached the main intersection, which was created from the four main corridors of the school coming together. Instead he said, "I guess I'll see you girls at lunch at the usual spot, right?"
Without an answer, the girls walked to the left, as Jay walked to the right. Jay could feel a presence behind him. Without a word, Nate passed him on the right, leaving Jay to catch up.
"So, Nate, crazy thing you did today. How did you ever get Victor to create that staff for you? He hasn't made anything for me ever, and I'm basically his only friend."
Nate turned his head to face Jay, "I just told him what I wanted to do, and asked how much I had to pay him. He said that the challenge was better than any money. Personally, I think he just wanted to get out of the apartment, and his mind away from his old man, you know?"
"Is that still a problem?" Jay asked as he reached the Calculus class door, "I mean, the two of them have been arguing since forever, I just assumed it would have solved itself by now."
Nate shrugged, "I guess you'll have to ask him yourself. I try not to pry into other people's problems, while you try too hard to fix it for them. I got to get to class." Nate turned away from Jay and continued up the hallway past the wall of lockers, "I'll see you at the usual spot for lunch. Later."
Jay sighed and walked through the door into Calculus. This was going to be a long, uneventful day.
It was the middle of third period, and because of the rotating 6 class schedule, the class before lunch. He was sitting in a room filled with students with glazed eyes and the rapid clicking of cell phones being texted on. He was pretty sure he was the only one listening, besides Valerie, who sat two seats to his left in the very back. He turned his head to look at her again.
Her pink tank top that showed her belly and sweat shorts certainly left little to the imagination, while also showing off her flawless olive skin. Her black hair with the pink streaks in it made her stand out in a crowd, and her face… well…
"Mr. Parker?" the teacher asked again, her patience growing thin, "did you hear my question to you?"
Jay's head shot around quickly to face front again, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Woolston" he said, "Could you repeat that question?"
Mrs. Woolston sighed, "I asked the creation of Rome. Can you tell us how Rome was founded?"
Jay smiled, he knew the answer to this. "There were twins, Romulus and Remus, who were the children of one of the Vestal Virgins and Mars, the god of war. This was a horrible sin, as the Vestal Virgins were supposed to remain pure, so the children were put into a basket to hide them as they floated down the Tiber River that runs through Rome, until a she wolf named Lupa found them. She raised them for a little while until a shepherd and his wife found the children, and raised them into adulthood. The brothers decided to build a city, but fought over what to call their new city. Romulus killed Remus, and named the city Rome after himself."
Mrs. Woolston gave him a dry look, "why don't we try to stick to history, instead of mythology? Does anyone else have a better answer? An answer actually based in fact?"
Jay sighed, "If she didn't like my answer," he thought, "she shouldn't have asked for it. Besides, even if someone can't prove myth is true, no one can prove that it's false."
When one wanted to have lunch in the perfect place, all they had to do was go to the roof of Olympia Hills High School. The roof was the location of the student-ran Athens cafe, and the meeting spot of Jay and his friends.
"Thanks," Jay said to the cashier as he walked away with his tray. The selection hadn't been very good lately, with the cold ruining fruits and vegetables as they grew. Luckily, the roof was covered in a glass, greenhouse-like cover that retracted when the weather was nice, so it was nice and warm inside.
Jay walked up to the table in the back right corner. He had found this table on the first day of school, and people had come one by one to join the table. Mera was a given, as she wanted to sit with her best friend. Valerie came next to sit with her best friend. Nate joined when he realized he had nowhere else to sit, and had become fast friends with the group. Victor was last, as no one wanted to sit with him, and the group welcomed him with open arms. While others came and went, these five were always at the table during this lunch period.
"Man," Jay said as he sat down on Mera's right, "Rogers was not in a good mood today thanks to Nate's antics. Do you have any idea how painful 50 push-ups are after sitting in Calc for an hour?"
Nate shrugged, "not my problem Rogers decides to squash any creativity in this school, he just won't let me be me."
"You being you almost made you crash head first into a metal bar 20 feet in the air," Valarie remarked as she sat down on Mera's left, glaring at Nate across the table,"you may be hard-headed, but even that bar would hurt. You're not as tough as you think you are."
"Seriously," Mera said as she put her book down to eat, "do you even think of the consequences of your actions?"
"Not particularly," Nate said as he took a bite out of his cheeseburger.
"Duly noted," Victor said as he sat down on Nate's left, across from Jay, "if I had known exactly what you were planning to do, I would have never built that staff for you."
"Well," Nate said as he took another bite, "you did, so… nothing you can do about it now."
"I know better for next time," Victor said.
"Who wants to think ahead?" Nate said with his mouth full, as he stuffed the rest of the cheeseburger into his mouth, "don't worry about the past or future, the present is all that really matters...ow!"
Mera gave a grin as Nate held his shin. "They say those who forget history are doomed to repeat it, case in point, I kicked you in the exact same spot yesterday, and you still haven't figured it out."
Everyone, except Nate, started to laugh. Nate, however, look around strangely.
"Do you guys feel something… weird? Like someone is watching you?" Nate asked as he glanced around quickly.
"Now you're just trying to change the subject," Valerie said, "we're your friends, and we're worried about your behavior." Jay and Victor nodded in agreement, while Mera frowned and pursed her lips.
"I'm not really worried about his behavior, if he wants to make stupid decisions, that's his fault, not mine."
Nate suddenly pointed behind Jay, Valerie and Mera, "look! Over there! Behind the cafe!"
A dark shadow lurked behind the cafe building, before dashing away faster than the teens could follow. When they looked back, a bright white envelope was in the middle of the table.
"OK," Jay said, "that was definitely not there before."
There was a moment of silence. Someone could have cut the tension with a knife.
"Is everyone just going to sit there, or is someone going to open it?" Valarie asked impatiently.
With no one else making a move towards it, Jay stretched his arm out and grabbed the letter. He ripped it open as he rest of the group stared at him.
"This isn't uncomfortable at all," Jay said under his breath as he noticed all the stares from his friends.
"Well, what does it say?" Mera asked.
"'Dear Jason, Merida, Victor, Valerie and Nathaniel, I have been watching you for a while, and I believe you are perfect for my new program. Meet me in library Study Room O after school at 2:40. Please don't be late, sincerely, H.'" Jay read.
Nate snorted, "Merida? Your name is Merida?"
"Sure beats Nathaniel," Merida countered.
Valarie put her hands between the two of them. "You two are acting like children," she said, "can we get back to the task at hand?"
"Yeah," Victor agreed, "What are we going to do about this letter? Do we go to the Study Room, or should we report this?"
Jay stood up and slammed his hands on the table, "I vote that we go and figure this out. This is just too weird to not get answers. Who's with me?"
One by one, the teens raised their hands. Mera was first, followed by Victor, then Valerie, and then, after a little persuading, Nate.
"You guys do realize I have detention, right?" Nate asked the group, "they're not just going to let me leave."
"I can get you out of it," Jay said confidently, "if I say I'm going to tutor you in the library, they should be willing to let you go. Plus, we're already really going to the library anyway."
Victor let out a sigh, "I guess I have to give up my work time after school. I had a new project and everything."
"Maybe next time, big guy," Jay said, "the letter asked for all of us, so I assume it's best to go as a group."
"I guess I'm going to be skipping dance practice today," Valerie said as she texted a message on her phone, "Coach is going to be so disappointed."
"And I have to give up Math Club today," Mera said as she sent a message on her phone. She looked up to see 4 pairs of eyes giving her a strange look.
"...Math Club?" Nate snorted, "I'm skipping Detention, Victor's having a day off from the metal working room, Valerie is skipping her dance team, and you're worried about Math Club?"
"Oh no…" Jay whispered to himself, "here come the fireworks."
Mera's eyes sent a piercing stare at Nate, while her hands balled into fists. The fire of her anger was almost visible, as if it was creating an aura around her.
"Do you have a problem with me being in Math Club?" she growled as Nate cowered a bit, before regaining his composure and gaining the same fiery aura.
"Do you have a problem with me having a problem with Math Club?" he snarled back.
"Is that really the best he could come up with?" Valerie whispered to Victor as Jay stood between the two verbally-battling teenagers. Victor replied with a shrug.
"Alright, how about we have a time-out for a minute. You two should separate and calm down, in fact, the bells about to ring, so how about you go to class?" he said as the self-appointed peacemaker.
The two combatants glared at each other as they grabbed their bags and stomped down the stairs.
'Good thing those classes are on the opposite sides of the school,' Jay thought, 'or this never would have worked.'
The final bell rang as the students, who were already standing by the door, despite the teacher's wishes, pushed each other out of the way as everyone tried to leave at once, except Jay. It just so happened that this classroom was also the detention room for the week. He stepped up to the teacher as the rest of the students finally forced their way through.
"They do know that door is supposed to fit one student at the time, right?" Jay asked the teacher.
"Who knows what teenagers think these days," Mr Ford said as he grabbed the sign-out sheet from the desk in front of him, and replaced it with the detention attendance sheet. He glanced down at it and looked up at Jay again.
"You don't appear to be on my list, Mr Parker," Mr Ford said as he sat down in his chair, "so why are you here?"
"I decided that I need to help my fellow student today," Jay responded, "so can I borrow Nate today? I was going to take him to the library, I can sign us in when we get there."
Mr Ford looked up from his phone slightly, "yeah, sure, do whatever you want."
As Nate walked in, Jay motioned for him to walk out. "Alright, thanks."
The two turned the corner as they passed the gym, then the auditorium, until they reached the library. They walked in to see that Victor, Valerie and Mera had beat them there, and were sitting in the bean bag chairs next to the non-fiction area. Valerie was texting on her phone, while Mera was back into her novel, ignoring the sound of Victor messing with his little metal bits and pieces he kept in his overall pockets.
Jay walked towards the librarian's desk and signed it. Every since the problems the school had to face last year with student's...poor decisions, the students had to sign in everywhere. He turned away and motioned for everyone to follow him to the right wall, which had study rooms.
"L...M...N...O!" Jay said as he read the letters on the plaques next to each door. "Who knew we had enough Study Rooms to reach O, huh?" Jay asked the group. The response was silence. "Everyone don't laugh at once," he muttered as he pulled open the door, holding it for everyone before entering himself.
"Looks normal enough to me," Nate said as he crossed his arms.
"Why isn't there somebody here?" Valerie asked as she scanned the room, "I assumed they would meet us here."
Victor glanced down at his homemade watch, "It should be 2:40 in 3...2...1…"
The appearance of the room began to change as the walls began to slide down, revealing a much bigger room around the small box. However, the larger room was not the library, instead it was like a temple. Marble pillars lined the walls and surrounded the former study room to form a square in the middle of the room, holding up the roof, which had carvings on it of animals and humanoid beings on it.
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Jay remarked as he stepped out of the box, with the others following. With a click, the "room" from which they came flipped over from carpet into the same material as the rest of the room.
"We're trapped!" Valerie yelled out.
"Relax," Victor said, "there has to be a way to either reverse everything back, or another way out."
"Good thinking, Victor," Jay said as he flipped back to serious mode, "everyone look for that way out."
Everyone nodded and headed in a different direction.
Nate walked to the right and found himself in front of a display of many types of weapons.
"Wicked," he said as he walked around the area, checking out each weapon instead of looking for the way out.
Victor walked straight ahead until he found a large mosaic on the wall.
"Aren't mosaics supposed to be on the floor?" he asked as he stepped towards it. As soon as he was within ten feet of it, the mosaic stones began to rotate into a blue screen with many tan folders on it.
"This seems more high tech than the rest of the place," Victor muttered as he sat down at the "computer" and began to click buttons with symbols he had never seen before.
Mera and Jay walked together towards the back wall. Mera was digging in her bag for a minute before pulling out a book titled "Architecture of the Ancient World".
"Of course you have that book," Jay remarked, "you always seem to have the right book for every situation."
"Shut up a minute," Mera said as she held up a finger. "Ah, here it is: the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian pillars were originally Greek, then adopted by Roman for use in their temples. So this must be Greek or Roman ruins!"
"Looks too new to be ruins," Jay said, "if they were, wouldn't the pillars not be that white, they would be dirty with age. These pillars look brand new."
"Well, thanks for completely ruining my theory," Mera said sarcastically as she stopped walking.
"No problem, what are friends for…woah!" Jay exclaimed as the walls in front of them slid up to reveal five separate storage areas. In each one was a set of colorful armor. In the center was a red set of armor with a Lightning Bolt- shaped visor, with the bolt at a 45 degree angle, and surrounded in gold trim. On the chest/body armor was an elongated omega symbol in the same gold as the one surround the visor, as well as a gold belt. The arms were red too, until it reached the wrists, which each had a gold bracelet with a indentation, and then a white glove. The legs were the same red as the rest, except for the golden knee pads and white boots.
Each of the other armors were the same, except for the visors. The sea-blue armor on the red armor's left had a Trident-shaped visor. The black one on the right of the red armor has a hammer-shaped visor that looked like a "T". The yellow and pink ones has little skirt attachments, and a spear and heart-shaped visor respectively.
"You know what these look like right?" Jay said as he nudged Mera.
"Oh no," Mera said as she covered her face with her hands, "they look like the…"
"POWER RANGERS!" Jay yelled as he began to run around in a circle freaking out, "I knew they were real!"
"Not again…" Mera muttered, "I thought we were done with this." She shifted back to her normal volume, "it's not that I doubted their existence, it's that I doubted we would ever encounter one."
Valerie walked over from her search, having just found two large doors held together by some invisible force.
"Why is Jay running around like a chicken who lost his head?" she whispered to Mera as Jay continued his celebration.
"You haven't seen his collection, have you?" Mera responded. When Valerie shook her head, Mera said, "I'll have to have him show it to you one time. Long story short, he is obsessed with the Power Rangers."
"Hey, guys?" Victor said in a louder voice than he had ever used in school before, "you may want to look at this." He gestured to the mosaic-screen as it showed photos of each one of the group doing everyday activities.
Nate walked up behind the other four, "so we have a stalker? ALL five of us have the same stalker?"
"Just what kind of 'program' is this?" Valerie asked, "because this just seems too...freaky to be allowed by the school."
"I don't know, have you seen the school's meatloaf?" Jay asked before Mera smacked him. "Ow!" he shouted in pain, "that joke wasn't that bad."
"Alright, that's it. I'm done here. This was a waste of my time, it's just a big room full of weird junk. I'm actually missing detention, so I'll just go now…" Nate said as he turned around to try to find the way to leave again, before he stopped and stared above him.
"Why did you trail off… uh, guys?" Valerie said as she turned around and looked up too, "why don't you turn around for a moment?"
Victor stood up from the chair as he joined the rest of the group as they all turned around and gaped.
Floating in front of them was a man about 30 years old, with light brown hair about down to his ear. He had a silver cap with white wings on it that matched the wings on his sandals. He wore a white tunic that clashed against the golden staff he had in his hand, which had two green snakes winding around it. His eyes opened to reveal a normal brown color.
"You sure know how to keep a god waiting, you think being asleep for almost 2000 years would make waiting four hours easier, but it does not," the humanoid said as he descended to ground level, "My name is Hermes, but I'm pretty sure the staff, sandals and caduceus gave it away."
"Caduce-what?" Victor whispered to Mera.
"It's the name of my staff," Hermes said, "no need to whisper. As the Messenger God, I can hear just about anything. Any other questions?"
Nate cleared his throat before speaking. "Yeah, how about where the video cameras are?" he said as he looked up, "alright, you got us good. Great prank, but can we just end this and go home?"
Hermes smiled. "Oh, Nathaniel…you just don't believe anything you can't prove, do you? Is that why you do stupid stunts? Because you don't want to think about the future? You're worried that…"
Nate put up his hands, "alright, alright. I can believe that you're a god if you can believe in respecting privacy."
"Sorry," Hermes said, "I'm just so used to the Greeks and Romans. They didn't really keep secrets from family, biological or otherwise."
"Family? I barely know these guys! They aren't my 'family' by a long shot!"
Hermes nodded as he whispered, "that's going to have to change quickly in order for them to win the upcoming battles…"
Jay stepped up, "so, maybe you could explain the letter, the pictures, the armor?," he said with a grin on the armor part of his question.
"Of course," Hermes said as he rose into the air and floated above the teens in order to sit in the chair Victor was once in.
"Let me start at the beginning," he said as the screen changed into a black sky and green earth."It began with Uranus and Gaia, the sky and the earth. They created many creatures like the Cyclops and Hundred-Handed Ones, but the Titans were their favorite children. These Titans were led by Cronus, who eventually betrayed Uranus and took control of everything for himself and his siblings."
The screen changed to a large man eating a swaddled baby. Valerie grimaced the most out of all of the teens.
"When Cronus had children, he feared to be overthrown himself, so he ate his three daughters and two sons as they were born. Only Zeus, the sixth child, escaped. Zeus grew up and rescued his siblings from Cronus' stomach. The five others had grown up in Cronus' stomach, and were ready for war."
The screen changed again, this time into the armor found on the back wall, but on giant beings wielding many weapons
"They were joined by other like-minded gods, and became a group known as Olympians, in which they called upon mighty battle armor forged by the Cyclops to become powerful warriors. You would probably today call them one of the first teams of Power Rangers."
"When the Olympians fought the Titans for control of Mt. Olympus, and the world, they defeated them and imprisoned them in the darkest depths of the underworld with Cronus thrown into Tartarus, the worst place anyone alive, or dead could go. When it came time for Zeus and his two brothers, Hades and Poseidon, to decide which god got which domain, Zeus won, and chose the sky and the heavens, while Poseidon got the seas. Because no one was allowed to choose the earth, or the developing species that lived upon it, Hades could only choose the Underworld."
The screen changed into a pale faced man with flames on his head and long black robes sitting on a bone throne with a skull on the top.
"Hades was jealous of the better fortune of his brothers, because while their domains could grow and thrive and support life, Hades was left with an ever expanding world of death. He tried many times to escape, creating many natural disasters whenever he did, but the Olympians were always there to stop him. So he bided his time, raising an army while he did, and waited for the gods to vanish. And with the rise of other religions and beliefs, the Olympians lost their power, until they became nothing more but memories of an ancient past. Now Hades has rose again, and because there is no Olympians left, I have to turn to mortals for help."
The screen turned black again as he finished.
"And we're those mortals?" Mera asked skeptically.
Hermes nodded,"yes, I want you to become the newest Power Rangers."
He tapped a few of the runes on the keyboard and the mosaic screen changed into a pink background with pictures of Valerie doing good deeds.
"Valerie, you have passion for everyone and everything. You never turn down a person in need, and help them in anyway you can. You will be the Pink Ranger."
The screen changed to a blue background and pictures of Nate's stunts, "Nathaniel, you throw yourself wholeheartedly into whatever goal you are trying to achieve, even at personal risk to yourself. You will become the Blue Ranger."
The screen changed to black, and showed pictures of Victor building things and then giving them to people.
"Victor, even though people take advantage of your skills, you still use them to help people who truly need it. With your ingenuity and abilities, you will be the perfect Black Ranger."
The screen changed, this time into yellow, with pictures of Mera studying and tutoring other students.
"Merida, you use your knowledge to teach others, and improve them as students and people. You shall have the power of the Yellow Ranger."
The screen turned to red, with pictures of Jay stopping fights and solving other problems.
"And Jason, you become the peacemaker in any argument, and always try to solve other people's problems. With these qualities and your great leadership, you will lead the team as the Red Ranger."
Jay stood there staring at the god. "I can't be a leader," he said, "leaders need to be confident and ready for anything. I'm neither of those things."
Hermes nodded, "You are right about that, but the truest heroes are the ones who are afraid, but still fight to do the right thing anyway. I believe that you have the ability to overcome great fear, and I also believe you will find a way to bring this team together."
Jay looked around, "You're right, Valerie would never want to lead, Victor is too shy to say something, even if he did, and Mera and Nate would argue over the leadership for a while."
Hermes nodded again, "you are the one who brought this group of friends together, and you will be the one to change them into the warriors we need now.
Jay contemplated this for a minute before making his choice.
"I'm in."
He put his hand out in the center of the group.
"If people really need us, I'll help," Victor said as he put his hand on top of Jay's.
"I want to help people, if this gives me the chance, I'm in," Valerie said as she put her hand on top of the other two.
"Let's face it, you guys would be lost without me," Mera said as she joined the circle.
They stood there a minute before looking as Nate.
"Come on, Nate," Jay said, "we need you."
Nate sighed as he put his hand in. "Fine," he said, "but just because I want to, not because some god told me to."
"Looks like we're all in, Hermes," Jay said, "what do we do next?"
Hermes flew over to a golden box and grabbed it before returning to the teens.
"These Olympian crystals contain what's left of the essence of the Olympians. They are what will allow you to morph into the Olympian Force Power Rangers."
Lying in the box were five sets of two golden metal bracelets. In the center of each bracelet was a certain colored stone. The colors of these stones were red, blue, black, yellow and pink respectively.
Each of the teens took a pair of brackets that matched the color Hermes had told them they would be. Jay grabbed red, Nate received blue, Valerie obtained pink, Mera acquired yellow, and Victor was given black.
"In order to transform, you must cross the bands over your chest and yell the color you are followed by 'Olympian Power.' Now, we should train before..."
An alarm sounded as the mosaic stones flipped and twisted around again to reveal skeletons rising from the ground in the city.
"Training will have to wait,"Hermes said as he floated down into the chair again, "guess you'll have to learn on the job, I'll be in contact with you the entire time. Hephaestus invented phones and radio contact before mortals could even imagine it."
Nate raised his hand, "this is going to sound like a stupid question, but how are we going to get there?"
Hermes snapped his fingers and the double doors to the left of the computer slid open.
"These doors were created by Janus, the god of doorways. They'll take you anywhere you want to go."
Jay nodded as he gestured for the rest of the new rangers to follow him, "and here we go!"
Jay found himself in the town square, with a few new additions to the decorations. Skeletons with short swords were chasing civilians away as they destroyed everything in their path.
"Hey!" Jay yelled as the rest of the civilians fled from the square, "why don't you fight someone who has a chance?"
The skeletons turned around and pointed their swords at the teens.
"Uh...anyone have any ideas?" Valerie said as she looked around nervously at all of the swords pointing at her.
"Just one," Jay said, "It's Morphing Time!"
Each of the teens crossed their arms over their chests as the gems glowed.
"Pink Olympian Power!"
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Black Olympian Power!"
"Blue Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
There was a flash of multi-colored lights that would have caused the skeletons to cover their eyes if they had any.
Standing in the teens' place were the Olympian Force Power Rangers.
They then began their role call:
"Aphrodite, goddess of love! Pink Olympian Ranger!"
"Athena, goddess of wisdom! Yellow Olympian Ranger!"
"Hephaestus, god of the forge! Black Olympian Ranger!"
"Poseidon, god of the sea! Blue Olympian Ranger!"
"Zeus, god of lightning! Red Olympian Ranger!"
"Using the powers of the past to protect the future! Power Rangers Olympian Force!"
If the skeletons were impressed, they didn't show it. Instead of cowering in fear or being in awe, they just charged the rangers.
"Alright, guys" Jay said, "we're here to save the city, so let's take them down!" He shifted into a fighting stance.
"Right!" the other teens agreed as they shifted into their unique fighting stances. With a cry, they charged at the advancing skeletons.
Nate was the fastest, so he was the first to meet the warriors head on. He gave a rapid jab to one of the skeleton's heads, before roundhouse kicking it straight off.
"This is going to be easy," Nate bragged as he turned around to face another warrior. To his surprise, he was suddenly grabbed from behind by the warrior he had already defeated.
"Hey! What gives?" he yelled as he struggled to break free, "I already defeated this guy! Why is he still fighting?"
Hermes voice came in over the radio, "These are the Spartoi, they can only be defeated if their heads are blocked from returning to their bodies, otherwise they'll just regenerate forever."
Nate groaned, "Now you tell me."
"Hang on, Nate!" Valerie yelled as she did a flying kick over Nate and knocked the head off the Spartoi again, before punting it into a trash can.
"And it's in!" Jay yelled as he saw his team's progress.
However, another Spartoi just went over to the trash can and fished his buddy's head out before throwing it to the headless one, who put his removed cranium back in place.
"Alright," Victor said, "this isn't working."
"I agree," Mera confirmed, "our efforts appear to be futile."
Hermes voice sounded on the radio again, "don't worry, rangers. Help is on the way."
The gems on the rangers' bands began to glow before weapons materialized out of them.
Jay's created a sword with a lightning bolt design: the blade was a zig-zag shape and the hilt was red, which clashed with the golden blade.
Victor received a large sledge hammer with a black neck and a silver head. It took two hands for him to hold it aloft.
Valerie gained a pink bow with white accents. As she pulled back the string, a pink energy arrow was created.
Nate got a large trident with a blue body and three bronze points on the head.
Mera lifted up the spear she was given. The body was yellow and the point was a dark metallic silver.
"Lightning Sword!"
"Blacksmith Hammer!"
"Love Bow!"
"Ocean Trident!"
"Battle Spear!"
"These weapons should be able to destroy those Spartoi," Hermes said over the radio, "best of luck, and may the power protect you."
"Alright Let's try this again!" Jay yelled as the rangers jumped back into the group of Spartoi.
"No!" Hades yelled as the Red Ranger in his blue magic flame-screen sliced a Spartoi head in half, "I thought the Olympians were gone! With both them and other ranger teams out of action, I would have conquered the Earth quickly! I have to deal with them quickly, before they learn of all of their powers and become too dangerous."
"My lord Hades," the woman with blonde hair and a white dress sitting next to him on a slightly smaller, but otherwise identical throne said, "don't you think maybe this is a sign you should stop your assault before it truly begins?"
"Silence!" Hades said as he put up a hand, "your outbursts about peace annoy me, Persephone."
He dipped his hand into a blue-flamed torch and drew a fireball from it. He threw it at the ground before his throne.
"If the Spartoi can't win the world for me, I just need to give them a little support."
A cyclops rose from the blue flame. He has dark tan skin and a white horn. The only clothes he wore were a simple loincloth covering his… nether regions. He wielded a club in his left hand.
"It's time to smash these rangers!" it shouted as it flexed its muscles and slammed it's club on the ground.
Hades grabbed another ball of flame.
"Now, go! Go and destroy these… teenagers!"
The flameball struck the ground and created a ring around the Cyclops before becoming a portal that sent the monster to the surface.
"Alley-oop!" Nate yelled as he removed a head from a Spartoi and threw it up in the air before skewering it on the three points of his trident.
"Here, let me point you in the right direction," Mera said as she stabbed the point of her spear into another Spartoi head, before flinging it into another Spartoi, incapacitating two enemies with one move.
"Sorry," Valarie said as she pulled back the string of her bow to create three glowing energy arrows, "but love hurts!"
She released the string to cause the arrows to go clean through the Spartoi heads, leaving gaping holes in their foreheads.
Victor swung his hammer down onto a Spartoi.
"Man," he remarked, "I'm really crushing it."
"Sorry, it's been a slice," Jay said as he bisected a Spartoi down the middle, "but I think it's time for you to go home!"
With all of the Spartoi defeated, the teens ran back into a group. They began to celebrate their victory before a large circle of blue flame appeared in front of them. Out rose the Cyclops as he slammed his club into the ground in an act of intimidation.
"Rangers! My name is Polyphemus, and I will be your doom!"
Hermes gasped as Polyphemus appeared. 'The rangers are too inexperienced' he thought, 'they aren't ready for a threat like a Cyclops.'
Much to his dismay, Nate did not agree with his evaluation of the situation.
"Alright, hornhead!" Nate yelled as he leaped into the air with his trident raised points up, "you're screwed now!"
Polyphemus just backhanded him out of the air and into the nearest bus stop glass ad, which he shattered with the force he was flying at.
"Well, that didn't work," Mera said smugly as she and the other teens helped their teammate to his feet, "any other great plans?"
"Oh, shut up!" Nate retorted, "like you had any better plan?"
"That's it!" Jay shouted as he shifted back into his serious mode again, "would the two of you stop fighting long enough for us to defeat this monster?"
Mera and Nate looked at Jay before looking at each other, then back at Jay.
"Fine," Mera said as Nate nodded in agreement, "I guess we can put aside our differences long enough to combat the current menace."
"What she said," Nate agreed, "but with less complicated words."
"Now that that's out of the way, I have a plan," Jay said as he gathered the team in a huddle. Polyphemus started to charge at them as they finally broke apart.
"Time to combine weapons!" Jay shouted as all of the teens threw their weapons into the air.
Nate's trident bent 90 degrees as the "teeth" spread out and bent to form a handle. Victor's hammer landed on the ground handle side up as the love bow clicked onto the former trident, which then clicked onto the hammer handle. Mera's spear was bent around the bowstring to make it thicker as the behemoth of a weapon hit the concrete.
"Olympian Crossbow!" the rangers shouted.
The girls were knelt down to support the firing end, while Vincent and Nate pulled back the string to allow Jay to place his sword into it.
"...Uh oh," the monster muttered as he stood his ground, stuck in place by fear.
"Olympic Lightning Storm!" Jay yelled as he infused the sword with his power and pulled the trigger, "fire!"
The sword came rocketing out the bow and flew through the air. Suddenly, lightning struck it, turning a piece of metal into the world's sharpest stun baton.
Polyphemus screamed in agony as he exploded from the electric impact.
"That won't haunt my nightmares forever," Valarie said as she shook her head, as if to shake out the noise.
"I hear that!" Jay said as the crossbow teleported back to who-knows-where.
Back at base, Hermes was congratulating the team on their first victory.
"Good job! You save numerous people and buildings from destruction!" he said until his face turned sour, "but it took far too long. All of you need training immediately!"
The mosaic stones turned a sickly green and black as they turned to form Hades' face.
"You teens must be proud of yourselves, but don't think I'll give up that easily! You certainly haven't heard the last of me!" he shouted as the screen slowly changed back to normal.
Hermes looked at the blank stones confused, "He shouldn't have been able to do that, and if he could, why only deliver that short message? Something must have blocked him... " he said as he trailed off while thinking it over.
"So what do we do now?" Nate said.
"It's almost 6:00," Mera noticed, "my parents will have a fit if I don't show up home soon."
"Training will begin at the crack of dawn tomorrow!" Hermes said as he flew around the weapons area.
"What about school? That starts at the crack of dawn," Jay remarked.
"Training will start...after school tomorrow!" Hermes declared as the teens turned away to head through the doors.
"This battle between good and evil could escalate quickly," Hermes said as he flew down to a computer as soon as the teens were gone, "time to start Project: Gemini, just in case…" he ended mysteriously.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to establish everyone, and have a ranger fight! We'll see how long future chapters are.
Until next time, may the power protect you all.