Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers!
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Chapter One
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She frowns, narrowing her eyes as her pencil scratches the surface of the paper. She's sitting on a couch hidden in the back of a music store, ignoring the sounds of people chatting as they looked for records and CDs.
"Drawing again, Allie?"
Allie jumps at the soft chuckle and it breaks her concentration, accidentally making a huge scratch across the page. She looks up and finds herself staring at a camera lens and throws an annoyed look at the dark haired girl standing in front of her. Maddie grins sheepishly and gently lowers her camera as she takes a seat besides her. With the same shade of hair and eye color, people thought they were related.And sometimes, she and Maddie like to trick people into thinking they were twins.
"It's the same, " Allie sighs tiredly, frustrated at the drawing in her hands. She hands Maddie her sketchbook who takes it carefully and flips through the pages with a small frown on her face. The drawings are filled with different fantasy creatures and battle scenes and of a boy with dark hair and blue eyes.
"The same guy?" Maddie furrows her eyebrows. Her hand traces over the boys' face.
"Ever since I moved to Briarwood," Allie sighs. "I never understand them."
"He's pretty cute," Maddie gives her a teasing smile, prompting Allie to roll her eyes and shake her head. "Are you sure you've never met him before?"
"Nope," Allie glares at the page with distain. "I think I would've remembered someone like him. "
"Well, you know what they say about dreams, " Maddie sates matter of factly. "If you dream something more than once, it's sure to come true. "
"Did you seriously just quote Cinderella at me?" Allie snickers, taking back her sketchbook and flips over to a blank page.
Maddie turns red, "Hey, you watched those movies a lot when we were kids, " she says, playfully tossing a rag at her which she catches with ease and laughs.
"Oi!" a strong Australian accent could be heard over their laughter. "Toby doesn't pay you guys to just sit and chat!"
"I'm on my break, " Allie snorts, and tosses the rag at the tall boy who catches it with one hand. "What's your excuse?"
"I'm a supervisor, " he winks at her. "I get paid the big bucks for giving out orders."
"Which is basically doing nothing," she points out.
"Exactly," he laughs. "Whatcha drawing there anyway?"
He reaches for the book but she just snaps it shut on his hand. He jumps back, yanking his hand away from the book, and frowns at her.
"Aw, come on, you let Maddie and Chip see it!" He exclaims, offended.
"Maddie and Chip won't make fun of them," Allie gives him a meaningful stare.
"Aw, come on, you know I'm not that mean," he pouts.
"That's not gonna work on me, Xander."
"You might as well give up," Maddie intervenes, "she's not gonna let you."
"Oh alright," Xander rolls his eyes. "But, seriously, get back to work you two! Chop chop!" He snaps his fingers as he makes his way to another boy with red hair wearing a Cape over his uniform.
"Xander's more annoying than usual today," Allie rubs where a burst of pain throbs from her temple.
"Which is everyday," Maddie sighs in agreement. She gets up from the couch, grabbing her camera as she did. "Have fun drawing your dream Prince. And by the way, it was from Sleeping Beauty!"
Allie laughs and waves at her friend mockingly, watching as the other girl goes back to her sister who was at the turntables scratching records and dancing along to music. Allie's smile slowly disappears as she glances back down at her drawing. Who are you?
"Oh, Toby!" she hears Maddie exclaim loudly from the other side of the store.
Her eyebrow quirks up as she glances over. She shuts her sketchbook and brings it with her as she shimmies through the small shelves. And once she reaches the front, she struggles not to laugh as her boss comes in still wearing his snorkel and flippers from his day at the beach.
"Weren't you supposed to have the day off today?" The girl leaning against Maddie smirks.
"Yes, I--," he's struggling to take the snorkle off his face. "I -I was. But, az I was swimming, this tiny fish appears right by my face and asks me, cAre your employees doing their work like they should be doing?' " Toby mimics a fish face, which prompts laughter from his employees. "And I have to swim back to the reef and tell that fish... No! Guys!"
The shaking ground causes her to lose her balance and knock her head against the countertop, hearing Toby shouting for them to stay calm.
She clutches her head in agony, ignoring the falling CDs around her.
"Are you okay?!" Maddie shouts with concern. "You just spaced out on me!"
"I--I'm fine," Allie says weakly. "I'm fine, don't worry."
"Okay," she tenses at Maddie's skeptic look.
They wait a few tense seconds before realizing the shaking has stopped. Allie picks herself up from the floor, offering a hand to Maddie who gladly accepts her help.
"Great, the store's even messier than before!" Maddie groans.
"Which I didn't even think was possible!" Vida agrees from her place by the couch, walking with Xander following close by her.
"Well, whatever it is, the worst is over," he grins, only to earn a deadpan expression from Allie.
~*~
An hour later of cleaning, Allie finds herself sitting on top of a truck, drawing furiously in her sketchbook. She's in deep consentrstion, trying to remember her dream from the night before. She couldn't remember much, just a lot of fire.
"Just keep running!" a man's voice pleads over the roaring flames.
"I can't leave you!" the girl clutches onto him tightly, eyes wide as they both watch villagers run in terror.
"And some even use artistic skills!" Maddie's voice brings her out of her thoughts and she gives the shy girl a fond smile. Maddie chuckles as she childishly sticks her tongue out at her.
"Help!" an elderly man shouts, startling the group. "Will someone please help me?!"
She and Maddie exchange looks of worry before the others catch up to them.
His shouts cause a group of people passing by to stop and walk towards him.
"Someone help, please!" The man exclaims. "It's my brother. A creature grabbed him and pulled him into the woods!"
A few people hesitate and shake their heads as they back away from him.
"I'll go," a boy pipes up. Everyone turns to look at him.
She freezes.
It's him.
He shrugs when all pairs of eyes turn in his direction, looking at him as if he were insane, "It seems like everyone here is too afraid to."
She stares at him in disbelief, too frightened to do anything.
"I'll go too!" Vida exclaims. "Not everyone in this city is a coward."
They stay still, watching as Chip and Vida follow them into the woods.
"Don't look at me!" Maddie exclaims when Xander and Allie both turn to her expectantly. "I'm the sister with the common sense!"
"Alright, I'm going after them," at Maddie's look, he explains, "C'mon, knowing them, they're probably heading straight into danger without even knowing it...Plus, I don't like the guy they're with, he's fishy."
"Jealous much?" Allie raises an eyebrow.
"Hah! He wishes I was jealous of him," Xander laughs as he opens the car door and hops in.
"Xander, my sister is going to kill you for touching her car!" Maddie exclaims as he jumps in the front seat.
"No, she won't," Xander smirks. "She's all talk and no bite."
"Xander..."
"Look, if it bothers you so much, you can come with me!" Xander points out. "I'm still going after them."
Maddie looks torn between going inside the car or retreating back to the safety of Toby's store, "Alright," she sighs in defeat and climbs into the passenger seat.
"Aren't you coming with us, Allie?" Maddie asks with a frown.
"I'm not going," Allie says, shaking her head. "I--I just --no, I'm too freaked out by him!"
"The old man?" Xander frowns.
"No, I -- Mads, can I talk to you for a second?" Allie gestures towards somewhere they can talk more privately. Maddie shrugs at Xander who shakes his head at her. She sighs and gets out of the car once more.
"You want to explain what's gotten you so freaked out?" Maddie asks once they're out of Xander's way.
"It's him!" Allie hisses, her hands shake as she opens her sketchbook. "They're exactly the same!"
Maddie's jaw drops in disbelief, "No way, " she says, glancing back at the forest.
"What am I going to do, Maddie?!" she panics. "I didn't think he'd actually be real!"
"Oi! Are we following after them or not, you guys?"
"I'm coming, wait for me, Xander!" Maddie shouts to the boy who throws his hands up impatiently. "Are you seriously not coming, Allie? You dreamt about him for a reason. And this is why! This could be your chance to talk to him!"
"I --I can't. I'm sorry, Maddie," she apologises.
"Alright," Maddie throws her a skeptic look. "I'll tell you what happens later. Cover for us?"
"Sure thing," Allie chuckles although still winded from her nerves.
She watches them until they disappear from her line of sight before making her way back inside the store, just in time to see Toby stepping out of his office, looking deep in thought.
"Where is everyone?" Toby frowns when he glances up from his paperwork.
"There was an emergency in the woods," Allie explains at his confusion. "and everyone decided to help the old man find his brother. "
"Great," Toby groans. "Why can't they help out like that in the store when I need them to?"
"Wish I knew," Allie mutters under her breath. "What do you need me to do, Toby?"
"Think you can clean the shelves in the back room for me, Allie?" Toby asks as he skims through all the envelopes in his hands. "Some of them fell over in the earthquake."
"Sure thing, boss!" she replies with enthusiasim in her voice but looks over at the shelves with dread.
Sometimes she curses herself for being so short.
"Hey, Allie!" she hears Maddie call for her. "You still back there?!"
"Yeah, I'm here!" Allie calls. They must have gotten back from helping the old man. "Just give me a sec!"
"We have someone we want you to meet!" Maddie shouts.
Allie tenses. Usually that giddy tone of hers meant boys and she didn't think she can handle any more human interaction. She groans softly and opens the door with reluctance. Her eyes are greeted with a stunning shade of blue.
It's him, her mind keeps repeating the phrase over and over, mocking her. She's stunned into silence.
"Hi," the guy greets, reluctant and is completely befuddled by her stiffness.
His voice brings her back to life. She lets out an embarrassing squeak and slams the door in his face. Her cheeks warm up at the soft snickers at the other side of the door and she slowly sinks down, wrapping her arms across her knees.
"Was that--?" she hears the new guy ask in confusion.
"Yup," she hears Vida cackle.
She never liked Vida.
"Trust me, she gets worse," she could practically hear the smirk in Xander's voice.
She never liked Xander either.
"I swear, she isn't usually like that," Maddie defends her.
"I thought I came here for a job not a date," the guy says.
And now he's working here. And she just made a complete fool of herself in front of him.
She hates her life.
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[A/N] Welcome to A Pheonix's Tear! I've had this idea in the back of my head for a long time and didn't even think of it until rewatching the show on Netflix! This started off with an oc not getting ranger powers but that unfortunately didn't work for this particular story. She does get them but not right away! Thank you for reading and don't forget to leave a review!
