Summary: This is an Original Team Power Rangers fic. Halfway through the school year, a new student enrolls in Rush Academy boarding school. (Ok, so maybe I suck at summaries but give it a chance, k?)
Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. I did not invent the Power Rangers. I did, however, create everyone in this story. ^_^ I am very proud of this.
AN: Special thanks to m14mouse and shigeki_jkp for their help with this. Without you guys, this so would have never been written. ^_^
Power Rangers Stellar Force
Chapter 1: First Impressions
"You go by Jase, right?"
"Yeah," Jase muttered.
"Ok then," Ms. Trendore said, still cheerful, as she led the way down the hallway. "This'll be your room," she said, sliding a card over the electronic lock of one of the doors. "Sam?"
No answer.
"Hmm, not here," Ms. Trendore said. "Well, no matter, you two can get aquatinted later. Here's your student handbook and information packet, and your room card. You'll have to go down to the student directories office to get your ID card. I recommend doing this as soon as possible, you can't do much on campus without it.
"You have a copy of the rules in there, although I'm sure you've already been informed of them. You also have your class schedule. I would recommend locating your classrooms before first period on Monday. This is a big campus, it's easy to get lost."
"Yeah, sure. I'll get right on that."
"Well then," Ms. Trendore said, apparently choosing to ignore the sarcasm, "I'll leave you to unpack."
"Right." Jase sighed when she left, looking around there room. Things couldn't get much worse.
"I heard he burned down his old school," Brian said.
"His parents are rich or something, they bribed the judge to let him come here instead of sending him to juvie," Tyler told them.
"Come on, you can't believe every rumor you hear," Marcus said seemingly disinterested, as he picked up a forkful of spaghetti.
"It's not a rumor, I heard Trendore talking in the office. This kid got sent here cause he's trouble."
"He's trouble? And why where you in the office? Rigging the soda machine to give out free sodas, or was this when you set the bell to ring 5 minutes into 3rd period to get out of taking the history exam?"
"Actually, it was for the drinking fountain thing," Brian admitted, grinning sheepishly down at his tray.
Marcus snorted.
"Whatever. It's not like the both of you haven't done your fair share of pranks. And it's not like I have a criminal record."
"Well, I know a way we could find out exactly what's true," Tyler said, grinning.
"You're suggesting we hack into the school's records?" Marcus asked.
"After lunch," Tyler said seriously, picking up his sandwich.
Carson groaned as he heard the solitary clapping when he finished the drum solo, "Very good Mr. Gray. With your talent, I don't know why you refuse to join the school band."
"I'll tell you what," he said, getting up, and putting his drum sticks in his back pocket. "You start playing Metallica in the school band, and I'll consider it."
Mr. Miller chuckled, "You know, if you joined, you could practice here all you wanted, without getting in trouble."
"Whatever. Just gimme the detention slip," Carson muttered.
"I'll let it slide, this time. But only if you promise to think about it."
"Yeah, all right," Carson said, leaving the music room before Mr. Miller decided to change his mind. He sighed as he reached his locker, entering the combination.
"Hey Cuz!" Melanie called brightly, bouncing up to him, books held against her chest.
"What do you want?"
"Oh you're such a grouch! You know what would cheer you up? Taking your little cousin shopping."
Carson looked at her, "And what makes you think I'm gonna do that?"
"Come on Car, please?" she asked making her best sad puppy face.
"No."
"But it's Liza's birthday next week and I still have to get her a gift!"
"Take the bus," Carson told her, pulling his backpack out of the locker and slamming it shut.
"Come on Car! Can't you take me?" she pleaded, following behind him. "Pleeeeese?!"
Carson, stopped walking. "Fine," he sighed.
Melanie squealed and threw her arms around him from the back, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"Melanie," he choked out, prying her arms from his neck, "you're choking me."
"Oh, sorry," she said, letting go.
"Parking lot in one hour."
"Right!" Melanie grinned. She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you Cuz!" she called as she ran off.
Carson watched her leave, "I'm gonna regret this."
"So? What's it say?" Brian asked from his position as lookout at the door.
"Jase Mason. He's a junior, transferred from Setland High. Age-"
"Yeah, we know all that. Why'd he get kicked out?"
"It says he was expelled for arson."
"See? I told you he burned down the school!"
"What else does it say?" Marcus asked, looking over his shoulder.
"He's not a bad student, 3.4 GPA, a lot of art classes. Looks like he was suspended last year for vandalism."
"Teacher!" Brian hissed, running back to the table. Tyler quickly closed the window and put the computer to sleep. Then he dove into one of the chairs in the waiting area.
"Hello boys," Mr. Frankfurt said coming into the office. "Did you have an appointment?"
"No, sir," Marcus said, standing up. "But Tyler here was hoping to get some advice on colleges."
"I was?" Marcus shot him a look. "Right! I was."
"He's shy about asking," Marcus explained.
"Ah, well no need for that. Picking the right school is a big decision. I'm glad to see you're making an effort." Mr. Frankfurt looked at his watch, "I have about half an hour till my next appointment, would you like to talk about it now?"
"Uh, sure," Tyler shot Marcus a dirty look as he headed into the other room.
"The rest of you boys should be thinking about colleges too you know. You can make an appointment with me any time, you know."
"Yeah, we'll get right on that," Brian promised.
Jase sat on the bed, pen in hand, tying to figure out how to make life sound less miserable than it was.
Hey Rog,
How are things back home? Rust Academy is... Well, it's everything they promised in the brochure, that's for sure. I still haven't met my roommate-Sam, I'm told-but the room's smaller than I thought it'd be. This has the potential to end in disaster.
I haven't seen much of the campus yet. I figure if I look around too much before Monday, I won't have a good excuse for being late. I'm thinking of heading into town later. Greenstead, it's about five miles from here. You know that. Maybe they'll have a decent art store there. Stupid two bag rule.
A loud shrieking noise that someone probably interpreted as music suddenly came from the other side of the wall. Jase groaned, "On second thoughts, maybe I'll just go now."
Carson looked at his watch, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Hey Cuz!" Melanie's perky voice floated over.
"I said one hour," he said crossly turning towards her.
"Sorry, I couldn't decide what to wear."
Carson rolled his eyes, opening the passenger door for his cousin. "So where exactly are we going?" he asked, coming around to the driver's seat side.
"The mall, duh."
"Of course."
"This'll be great. Hey, maybe we can catch a movie. Oh! I've been dying to see that new one, Paper Hearts."
Carson hit the breaks, turning towards her, "Ok, let's get one thing straight. This is a shopping trip so you can get a gift for your friend. No movies, no stopping for lunch, no trying on every outfit in the store, one hour. Is that clear?"
"One hour?! But I can't find something in just an hour. Carson, be reasonable."
"One hour. That's it."
"But-"
"It's either that or you can take the bus."
Melanie huffed, crossing her arms across her chest, "Fine."
"Good." With any luck, they'd be home by dinner, he though bleakly.
"Hey, you wanna go spy on the new kid?" Brian asked. "Now that we know he really is trouble."
"How are you gonna spy on him if you don't know what he looks like?" Marcus reminded him.
"Oh, right. Too bad Mr. Frankfurt came in before we found out which dorm he was in."
"Whatever. I can't anyway. I need to go pick up a new soldering iron."
"All right, your loss. I'll call ya' if anything catches fire."
Marcus rolled his eyes, "Right."
Two hours into the shopping trip, it was obvious that Melanie hadn't intended to just buy a gift. Actually, it had become obvious thirty seconds into the trip, Carson thought grimly. He should just leave her here and let her take the bus back to the school.
"Ooh, what do you think of this one?" Melanie asked, holding up a pink dress.
"It's fine. Listen-"
"I'm gonna go try it on," she said, throwing it on her already enormous pile of clothes she had picked out.
Carson sighed, "Look, I'm gonna go get something to eat. I'll meet you back here in twenty minutes?" Knowing his cousin, left to her own devices she'd probably still be at the very same rack in twenty minutes.
"Ok," she called absently over her shoulder, apparently having spotted another article of clothing she couldn't live without.
Carson shook his head, heading out of the store. He looked around, trying to decide which way to the food court. He'd only been at the mall a couple of times. When he couldn't remember, he picked a random direction and started walking. That was one good thing about malls, whichever way you walked, sooner or later you'd hit what you where looking for.
Unfortunately, it seemed as if it was going to be later, Carson realized, as he found himself outside. He wasn't even on the right level, the food court was upstairs.
He sighed, and was about to go back inside, when a shadow fell over the courtyard. Carson looked up, and gaped in disbelief. Directly above, was floating a giant spaceship.
Carson, and everyone else who happened to be in the courtyard, stared at the huge black ship in the sky above them. Suddenly, a beam of green light shot down, and a second later a being stood in it's place.
It resembled an insect, brown-green skin, with what looked like two antennae on the top of it's head. It's arms, legs, and chest where covered with what was either armor or an exoskeleton, probably both.
"People of Earth," Carson stepped back defensively when it spoke. He noticed that it's mouth-or what he assumed was it's mouth-didn't move. "I am Jarek! And you, you are all now part of my army!"
Then chaos broke loose. People started screaming and running in any direction. The creature just laughed. Carson looked around, trying to figure out what to do. He had to get to Melanie. But before he could act, a green light from the spaceship engulfed the courtyard, and everything was black.
It took his eyes a few moments to adjust. He was in a small dark room. He could vaguely make out the shapes of other people.
"Where are we?" a male voice asked.
"I think we're on the ship," Carson said.
"Of course," a girls voice said bitterly. "First day after you send me here, and I get kidnaped by aliens. I think an 'I told you so' is in order."
"You knew you'd get kidnaped by aliens?" the first voice asked, a hint of amusement in his voice. The girl didn't answer.
"Can anyone find a door, or anything?" Carson asked.
"There's something over here," he said after a minute. "I think it's a control panel."
"Controls for what?" the girl asked.
"How should I know. It's pitch black on an alien spaceship." There was a clank as something fell a second later. "Hold on." There where some shuffling sounds, then a few sparks, then some beeping noises.
"Well?" Carson asked after a minute. As if in reply, part of the wall slid open and a much brighter, but still dim light flooded into the room. "All right!"
"How 'bout we get out of here first, and celebrate later?" the girl asked.
"Right."
"Hey, you go Rust Academy, don't you?" the other guy asked.
Carson looked at him in the light for the first time, "Oh yeah, we have English together. I'm Carson."
"Marcus."
"And I'm outta here," the girl said, peering out into the corridor before slipping out of the room.
"Hey, wait," Marcus hissed. "How do you know which way to go?"
"We have two options, left, or right, I chose right. If you know better..." she didn't bother finishing the sentence as she crept down the hallway. The guys exchanged a glance before following.
"Well at least tell us your name," Carson said after a minute.
The girl sighed, "Jase."
"Wait, you're Jase Mason?" Marcus asked.
"Yeah."
"You know her?" Carson asked.
"But... you're a girl," Marcus said, ignoring him.
"Brilliant observation," Jase rolled her eyes. "You really think this is the time to be making it?"
"Wait, you thought she was a guy?"
"She's the new transfer student," Marcus told him. "The one who burned down her last school."
"I didn't burn down the school! It was just the art lab, and it was just a small fire. It didn't burn down."
"Oh, well that's much better then," Marcus said.
The corridor they where in opened into a room lined with consuls. Marcus went over to the nearest one, "It's not in English."
"English? It's not even human," Jase said, peering at some of the controls.
"Hey guys?" Carson said after a minute, looking at the stand in the center of the room. "Check this out."
"What is it?" Marcus asked.
On the stand were three silver objects with a black numbered ring in the center. Carson reached for one, picking it up carefully, "They have a strap."
Jase and Marcus followed suit, each picking up one of the small devices.
A sound down the corridor they had come from startled them. "We've gotta get out of here, now," Jase stated the obvious.
"I think this is the teleportation," Marcus said, heading to one of the control panels, still holding the silver object.
"Wait, what about the other people?" Carson asked?
"I don't even know if it'll get us out of here. Hopefully it'll transport everyone back."
"They've escaped!" A voice yelled from the corridor.
"Well it's not like we have a choice," Jase said. Marcus nodded, pressing the button.
In a flash of green light, the courtyard reappeared around them, and with it, the two dozen people that had been there before. There was a moment of confused murmurs, before a cheer rose up from the crowd.
"We did it!" Carson said in astonishment.
They didn't have long to celebrate. Just seconds later, a shower of laser fire rained down from the ship that was still hovering above them. Everyone still in the courtyard scattered, running for safety.
"We've got to get out of here," Marcus said.
"You Earthians have stolen my morphers!" Jarek's voice boomed through the courtyard. "Return them to me now or I will destroy your pathetic planet!"
"Morphers?" Carson wondered.
"Crap," Jase said, looking at the device she was still holding. The three of them exchanged looks.
"What do we do?" Marcus asked, just as another shower of lasers came down.
"We run!" Carson said.
"No!" Jase told them, staring determinately at the ship. "We fight."
To Be Continued...