Summary: A new threat decides to take on Angel Grove, only 10 years after the Zeo rangers became the Turbo Rangers and passed there Morphers onto a new team. A group of new teenagers have to decide whether or not they want to become Power Rangers, and for one particular teenager, it hits close to home. Five normal kids may have to team up with a figure from the past to help take out a threat of the present.
Word Count: 2,692
Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers. If I did, the new story lines wouldn't be as bad as they are and Jason Lee Scott would have made a comeback already.
Chapter 1
Angel Grove – 2007
Three teenagers sat in the tutor center of Angel Grove High, waiting for their students. Liz Scott took the silence as a chance to start some of her AP Calculus work, relaxing in her seat. Patrick Johnson started to use his pens as drumsticks, tapping the table lightly. Melanie Rogers sat awkwardly in her seat, nervous about having to teach anyone anything.
"Pat, stop that," Liz demanded after a few minutes. "I'm trying to get these stupid problems done."
"Oh please Lizzie, you love that stuff," her friend scoffed. He shifted in his seat to turn towards his brunette friend. "Why am I here again?"
"You skipped school and got caught and know you have to teach science to a freshmen," she rolled her eyes. She'd known Patrick for most of her life, and he never took anything seriously. "Of course the fact that you barely passed Biology didn't seem to bug Principal Jeffery."
"Like you still know what hypothalamus is," he scoffed at again.
"It's the part of your brain that monitors and controls metabolic processes located on the brain stem under the thalamus," she told him smugly. "Are you forgetting I'm the reason you passed that class?"
"Freak," he muttered, glaring towards the door.
"Melanie," Liz called out to her other side. "Are you okay?"
The blonde looked up from the wooden table and looked towards the other girl. She knew that Elizabeth Scott was a senior in a few of her classes. Liz was a straight A student and would probably be Valedictorian at graduation. It was slightly intimidating.
"I've never taught anyone," she confessed. "I'm doing this because I need more extracurriculars."
"Trust me, I've been doing it since freshman year, it's not that bad. And you have English, which is always pretty easy to teach. You'll be great," Liz assured her. Barely a minute after she was done speaking, there was a large commotion in the hallway.
"This is ridiculous, my grades are fine," a male voice protested.
"Not fine enough to stay on the team," another voice countered. Liz knew that voice. It was Adam, her brother's friend and the volunteer soccer coach for the team. "I got you the best tutor here Jake, she happens to be a friend of mine."
Liz groaned on the inside. Jake Aarons was one of the biggest jerks in school. He was the star of the soccer team but a horrible team player. He also constantly picked on some of the younger kids at school. The boy was a bully and Liz had a large amount of disdain for him. Though Adam vouched he had potential that it was all the people feeding his ego, she had to disagree. When Adam asked her to tutor one of his players in Math, she had said yes without thinking. Adam had known her since she was seven and was a loyal friend of her older brother, Jason. Now she was starting to regret it.
"Good luck on that," Patrick smirked at her. "I don't think he's going to care about brainy you are Liz. Just watch out for your lunch money."
The door opened soon after and Adam poked his head in. His black hair was parted to the side and his face looked exhausted; though when he saw his friend's sister he had to smile. She looked so much like her older brother it was hard not feel reminiscent. He opened the door wider and stepped in. Elizabeth stood up immediately and went to hug him.
"Hey kid, how's it going?" Adam asked as he hugged her back.
"Not bad," she replied, eyeing the brown haired boy behind him with wary. They pulled away and Adam gestured for Jake to move up. He took a few steps toward his coach and his green eyes studied Liz carefully.
"Liz, this is Jake Aarons," Adam introduced. "Jake, this is Elizabeth Scott. She'll be helping you with Trig. She's one of the smartest people I know. She'll get your grades up in not time."
"Hi," Liz greeted with a small smile, extended her hand for him to shake. She had plenty of experience in being polite, but apparently he didn't. He merely stared at her hand until she pulled it away. She looked at Adam and he pleaded with her with his eyes. Sighing she pointed to their desk as other tutors and students filed into the room.
"Bye," Adam waved, leaving the two to work it out.
"Alright, what section are you working on?" Liz asked as her best friend got to work with his student.
"Look, we both know I don't want to be here," Jake said bluntly. "So why don't I just give you my homework assignment, you get a few wrong, and I turn it in time to play."
Patrick and Melanie had both heard him, seeing as how the three shared a table. Patrick saw Liz's fist clench and kicked her under the table. Melanie had a feeling that Liz wouldn't act on her anger, but Patrick wanted to make sure she wouldn't blow a fuse. Melanie turned back to her sophomore and Patrick did the same with his student.
"Look, I am not going to cheat for you," she replied firmly. "Adam told me he thinks that you have potential and that you're a good guy, so I believe him. But you need to prove it on and off the field. Scouts won't take a player with an attitude problem, so own up."
Jake was slightly shocked at the way she had spoken to him. No one had ever really put him in his place before. Even his coaches had put up with him for the sake of the team. Adam was firm, but he never actually spoke to him like a parent. For the next half hour, he sat and listened to her talk about math, and he had to admit he understood it better after she was done.
Patrick smiled after he heard his best friend hit a sore spot. Everyone knew that Jake had a problem with scouts for the past month or so. They saw how Jake would openly disregard Adam's calls and didn't want him. Liz was honest and firm and that's why he loved her. She didn't put up with bull and made her opinions known.
Melanie admired how Liz could just stand up for herself so confidently. Melanie was always slightly shy and had been picked on plenty before, but she always walked away or took it. Although she was past her awkward stage, it was still daunting to be in a big crowd or be the center of attention for her.
"We're done," Liz smiled. Jake was intrigued at how she had gone from stern to cheerful in such a short amount of time. "You did a great job. If you need any help, you know where to find me."
She put her things into her small red trapezoid bag and buckled the strap across her chest. Jake took his red backpack and walked away. She shook her head at his disregard and sighed. Grabbing her car keys from her pocket, she began towards her car. Patrick grabbed his black messenger bag and ran down over to her. He cut off in front of her and started to walk backwards so he could face her.
"Hey, want to do me a huge favor?" he asked with a smile. She rolled her eyes at him.
"What happened to your car?" she asked without hesitation.
"The thing is," he began. "When you skip school, they tend to call your parents. And my lawyer parents decided proper punishment was to take my T-Bird away. Now I can't have – "
"Fun, fun, fun," she cut off. She shook her head at her friend in disbelief. "I can't, I promised Ernie I'd teach a couple of classes at the Youth Center this week and I have to be there in ten minutes. Your place is out of my way.
"So," he said. "I'll just join your class or hang out there until you're done."
"Deal," Liz nodded as she looked for her car in the lot. She saw the bright red Mustang and smiled at her baby. Unlocking the car with her remote, she opened the driver door and waited until Patrick had his seat belt on to start the engine.
"What is it with the color red?" he asked for what Liz counted as the hundredth time.
"I told you, Jason bought me this car for my birthday and he loves red."
"Doesn't mean you have to," he muttered. "Then what's with the bag?"
"I'm a girl doofus. I have to match," Liz teased.
They drove to the Angel Grove Youth Center listening to the new Kira Ford single, "Just Words." The top was up on the car and Liz lost herself, driving just a little too fast than she probably should have. They got there in record time and she went to get ready to teach her Martial Arts class.
Patrick left to hang out at the juice bar rather than stick around gym area. He saw Ernie, the owner, working behind the counter and ordered a strawberry smoothie. While he worked, Patrick thought about how long it had been since he had actually been in the Youth Center. He rarely came in the past few years, telling Liz that he had just outgrown the place. He remembered meeting Liz in the playground there years ago with her brother and his friends. The place hadn't changed much from when he was younger. The equipment had been updated as well as the furniture, Ernie had repainted the place and there was now an upstairs area with a pool and batting cage.
"Hey kid, long time no see," Ernie commented as he handed over the smoothie. The bar was slow so he decided to start up a conversation. "You here for you're buddy?"
"Yeah, she's my ride home," he smiled. Ernie was almost the same as he had been since Patrick had been a five year old. His hair was a little grayer and his belly was a little bigger, but he still had the same smile and heart. "What's with the martial arts thing?"
Ernie had known Liz for just as long as Patrick, but he had a feeling that Ernie probably knew her better. He had known her older brother Jason, and that was who Liz always aspired to be. They both knew that she worked herself tired so that she could live up to the great Jason Lee Scott, the boy with all the trophies on the mantle.
"Jason and Tommy taught her in a class here when she was little, don't you remember?" the older man asked the teenager. Patrick shook his head. He and Liz hadn't gotten really close until school started and they had been in the same classes. "Well, she wanted to give back some."
Just then one of Patrick's friends, Kyle Barrett came up to sit next to him, ordering a bottle of water. His conversation with Ernie was lost as the two boys talked about school and music. Before either of them knew it, Liz had joined them with a smile and her car keys.
In a house on the outskirts of town, a man with dark hair and dark eyes studied his state of the art equipment, waiting. He had seen some odd energy readings in the past few days, and he was waiting for something to happen. He knew exactly who to call when it did, but he wasn't sure how he could. How was he supposed to explain who he was? How was he supposed to tell his former ranger that he hadn't really been dead, merely reincarnated? It wasn't going to be easy. His thoughts were interrupted by one of the machines going off.
It was happening.
"I'm ready," she informed Patrick. "Kyle, do you need a ride too?"
"Sure, that'd be great," the other boy smiled. They paid Ernie and left to go to her car. They were all watching the park across the street and the little kids playing and some of their classmates as well. Although at times they had always felt confined in a small town like Angel Grove, they all had to admit it was nice to be able to have good people around.
"AAHHH!" one of the little kids screamed, pointing to the trees. The teenagers and almost everyone in the park looked towards what she had seen. Off into the trees were a bunch of … creatures with green metallic heads and silver robotic bodies heading towards the kids.
Liz took off towards the park as she saw a little girl, intent on finding something in the bushes, hadn't noticed the creature coming up behind her. She jumped above the girl and kicked it in square in the chest, knocking it down. She moved the girl away and she ran towards her mother.
"Great, she had to go and save the world," Patrick muttered as he headed toward his lifelong friend. "You coming Kyle?"
"Do I have a choice?" the other boy asked sarcastically, running towards the commotion as well.
Liz had been surrounded by the creatures in no time at all, and she was pulling out all the stops. When one charged towards her, she roundhouse kicked it across the metal face and knocked it into a group of the off to her side. She remembered how her brother reminded her that you could kill two birds with one stone.
Patrick and Kyle had less experience with martial arts, but were good fighters. The boys stood back to back, waiting for the robotic enemies to come forward first, throwing basic punches and kicks. They followed Liz's tactic and knocked their enemies into each other.
Jake, who had been in the park playing soccer with a few friends, watched as one of the things started to attack his tutor from behind while she was fighting off another. He took his aim and sent the soccer ball sailing to the attacker's head. Liz saw the ball fly right over her shoulder and hit her would be attacker. She grabbed its arm and flipped it over her shoulder into the creature she was fighting. Jake ran over to her and started hitting.
"Thanks for that," Liz grunted as she hit one of her enemies in rib.
"Someone has to help me with math," he brushed her off and sent a bicycle kick into one of them. Liz heard a scream and saw Melanie being approached by one of the metallic beings. There was a book in her hand and she was one a bench.
"Can you handle this?" she asked him, dodging a punch in the face.
"Go," he insisted.
Liz darted over to her classmate and was surprised when the girl did a flip over the bench to avoid being hurt. As soon as she was behind her opponent, Liz sent a kick to his back, sending the head straight into the wooden bench.
"Where'd you learn that?" I asked, still shocked.
"My mom made me take gymnastics when I was little, but I hated it," she explained. Liz nodded and was about to take on some of the others that had shifted towards the only prey left in the park, but they all stopped and disappeared in a puff of green smoke.
The teenagers all gathered towards the middle of the park with creased foreheads. They all looked around, in case they were being tricked, but no one else was left in the park.
"That was way weird," Patrick commented once they had all relaxed.
"But it was pretty fun," Jake admitted. The others looked at him in utter disbelief. "I could do that every day."
"I want to know what happened," Liz commented as she saw Adam jogging towards them, obviously having heard what had been happening.
"Maybe I can explain," a deep voice said from behind them causing them all to turn around.
AN: Hello Readers! I've been having a bit of trouble with writing lately so I figured I'd turn back to something that I really loved and was fun for me. I may be 15 but I'll always love the Power Rangers. This first chapter kinda flowed out of me, and if I get enough reviews I'll follow it up. I'm hoping this will help me go back writing from the heart again so PLEASE review.
