A/N: This is a request from my good friend alpona. She thought there weren't enough of these stories, so I took it upon myself to make sure there is now at least one more! Personally, I like Luka/Marvelous so this is a bit more friendship-like. Hope that's okay! It's a rewrite of the beginning of episode 25. I hope you all enjoy!
"Attention!" Gai cries, interrupting the quietness of the Galleon. Luka looks up from the paper, annoyed but then her features soften slightly as she sees the maniacal sparkle in Gai's eyes. It's going to be one of those days, she thinks. "We are now going to study some Super Sentai history," he continues.
Or maybe not.
"Eeeeh?" she says loudly, putting the paper down to stare incredulously at him."Sounds like a pain." She leans back on the couch, relaxing her head against the cushiness of it. Next to her, Joe sighs and crosses his arms, clearly not a big fan of this plan either. "I don't want to do this."
Ahim and Don, who look very eager to learn, turn their heads to her with surprise and disproval. They're sitting in chairs right in front of the whiteboard that's decorated in pictures from past Super Sentai. Gai walks forward, a small frown on his face.
'"That's no good," he reprimands her. "Even though I already know it, you guys probably don't." Luka scowls at him, not wanting him to know he's right. They aren't that informed on Sentai history but they've gotten along fine without knowing it. Why does that have to change now?
"He has a point," Don remarks, smiling. "It might come in handy."
"Let us listen," Ahim says pleadingly. Luka can tell she really wants to learn it, for some strange reason. Luka can't imagine why, it sounds like too much work. She barely remembers some of Earth's customs and Goaki changes, now she has to learn more?
She doesn't think so.
"I know you have a short attention span Luka," Gai begins. Luak's eyes widen as the others stiffen. Gai may be part of the team but it's clear he still doesn't know a thing about its members.
"Eh?" Luks gets up from the couch, hands on her hips. "What do you mean, I have a short attention span?" Her eyes snap with anger as Gai tries to backpedal.
"That-that's not always a bad thing," he stammers. "Luka-san, I just meant that you… well you…"
"Well I what?" Luka demands, frowning at him. Marvelous looks on smiling, seeing this as the best form of entertainment all day. Ahim looks like she wants to say something but stays out of it, as does Don. Joe jut rolls his eyes.
"You can be very quick to judge…?" Gai mumbles, a little afraid of the brunette's reaction. He didn't mean to say it like a bad thing, but it's true. She is always one to jump in headfirst to anything without thinking things through. Act now, ask questions later. That sort of thing. And sometimes it's not good.
But other times it has saved them more than once. And that's one of the things he likes about her, maybe the most, is that she is ready for anything.
Except studying.
"That is true," Joe interject, looking unfazed by everything going on around him. Luka turns on him, her scowl marring her features and Gai sighs in relief, glad that her fury is not on him anymore.
"What? I don't know what you guys are talking about," Luka says, not really too mad about their comments. She never really cared what others said about her and she's not going to start now.
She sits down, still frowning but this time, more at the board then anyone in the room. It seems she has to argue with at least one person every day. Not that she minds that, it's quite fun actually. And today it just so happens to be Gai, which isn't bad either. It's just when people try to contradict her, it never turns out well for them. But it's their relationship and it works well for them. They talk like best friends, play like children, argue like husband and wife- Luka makes a face-and protect each other like brother and sister.
Yep, that's pretty much them in a nutshell. Emphasis on nut, in Gai's case.
"Now that that's over," Ahim says nervously, trying to pull the attention away from what just happened. Gai smiles brightly, getting himself back on track.
"Oh yes. There's also going to be…" he strokes a pose, his arms over his head and pointing at Luka, no longer wary about what just happened. "A test!"
"A test?" Joe repeats, looking sour. Marvelous's smile from their bickering vanishes as Luka's mouth drops open.
"You better be joking," Marvelous says, standing up and crossing his arms, ready to shove Gai away from the whiteboard if necessary. Luka nods in agreement. A test? A freaking test? They're superheroes, they're pirates! Not some poor lemming students at school.
"But we might know what Navi means when he navigates," Don points out. "If we study." There is always one person who insists upon doing something no one else wants to. And that person today would be Don.
"That'd be good," Navi comments as Marvelous glares at her.
"I'm ready," Ahim says sweetly. Oh wait. Make that two people. Marvelous sighs and sits back down in his chair, ready to get this over with. Luka sends him a look-really? He just shrugs, looking bored once more. Luka sighs as well, definitely not looking forward to this.
Gai smiles, nervous and hoping for the best. He knows that at least three of them are not looking forward to it. But he wants the chance to educate them on something that he loves so much and is now a part of. Then he begins his lessons. "Well first, let's review all the Grand Powers that we got." He starts to rattle them off but Luka tunes him out for the most part, leaning on the arm of the couch and resting her head in her hands. This is going to be a long day.
She entertains herself by just paying attention to Gai's stupid poses. He's trying to recreates the past Sentai's signature poses but it's not working out really well. That's the only way she can follow what he's saying as he rambles on about them.
Magiranger, she thinks as he raises three fingers. Dekaranger, as he lifts his arm above his head. Gaoranger, as he makes claws with his hands.
She yawns as he continues on, the faint memories from achieving each Grand Power running through her brain. Really, all she can recall is a bunch of transformations, big explosions and the yells of themselves but hey, that counts for something.
"We've gotten pretty good at using them, haven't we?" Don says, smiling at Ahim. She nods in agreement. That pulls Luka out of her daydreaming for a moment but when Gai starts up again with Gekiranger, she dips back into her fantasies and entertains herself with those.
"And the ones entrusted to me…" Gai starts, taking another one of the red magnets and throwing it onto one of the pictures. "Timeranger, Zyuranger, and Abaranger."
He pauses for a breath. Luka realizes that he, finally finally, is done for now. She shakes her head of cobwebs and brings her attention not the board, starting to count them.
"Two, four, six, eight…that makes eleven," she points out, smirking. "That sure was a lot of work." It was. And it's only eleven.
Joe just shrugs, not really paying attention either. Marvelous blinks rapidly, pretending he was awake the whole time but Luka raises an eyebrow, knowing he dozed off too.
It wasn't that hard, Luka-san," says Gai, getting his voice back after speaking so long.
"Speak for yourself," Joe mutters.
"Yeah, you didn't even help us get some," Luka points out. Gai raises his hands in 'hold-on' sign, not wanting to get into another argument with her.
As fun as they are.
"But-but we got that many when we fought Kurojuu Jiou. It's amazing," he laughs, throwing his hands in the air and spinning around. Luka rolls her eyes at his enthusiasm, but can't help a small smile coming to her face as well. As much as she hates to admit it, his happiness is contagious.
Yet when he starts to rattle off some more heroes, she tunes him out once more, his voice becoming a buzzing in her ear. How can he remember them all? And so well, too. All their catch phrases, all their poses, all their transformations, the order of them all. Does he have nothing else to worry about?
"I wish I were there!" he cries, bringing her out of her thoughts. He makes a loud groan of frustration and hugs himself, his emotions once again getting the best of himself. Luka tilts her head to the side, unsure of what he's talking about but decides it doesn't really matter that much.
Gai turns quickly so he's facing the board and places his hands on it, as if he could really touch the people inside the pictures. His passion is…inspiring, maybe, Luka thinks. But it's also a little obsessive.
"If I met AkaRanger and Big One-san…" He continues to stare lovingly at the picture of said Sentai. Luka rolls her eyes. "They're legends among legends!"
Marvelous motions with his head to the door. Joe nods and gets up as Luka realizes what they're doing. She rises quietly as well, ready to leave this lesson. Silently they make their way to the door as Gai exclaims 'I wish I could meet them!"
Luka waves to his back, smiling at her freedom. She does feel a little bad about leaving, but it's just not her thing. Studying, paying attention, tests…definitely not up her ally.
Even if Gai makes it a little better than usual.
As they make their way off the Galleon, they hear a cry come from the ship. "Whhhhy?" it echoes throughout the sky and bounces off of the Galleon's walls, making it's way down to their ears.
"I think they noticed we're gone," Joe comments, sounding like he doesn't really care one way or the other. Luka nods, smiling up at the ship tied in the bright, blue sky.
"Whatever," Marvelous shrugs crossing his arms. "Let's go get some ice cream."
"Oh yeah," agrees Luka happily as she starts to skip next to him with Joe on her other side. "Sorry Gai, maybe next time."