A ten year old boy sat by a window; he looked pathetic sitting in the chair. It was raining out, and it fit his mood perfectly. In the matter of a week he had lost everyone he cared about. No, he took it back, it had been two years since he had lost his sister. Now within the last week he had first lost his father to an accident and then a few hours ago, he had lost his mother to grief-stricken suicide.
So there he was sitting in the lobby of the hospital where his mother had been brought in one last ditch attempt at saving her. He had with him a small bag containing the last of his belongings, a few clothes and a few pictures of his former family.
"You must be Andros. I am Kin-won," an older man said, standing near where he sat.
The boy whipped around and looked up at the man. "Are you here to take me to the orphanage?"
"No, not the orphanage," the man replied. "Now stand up, will you? I need to get a good look at you, and I can't very well do that with you all scrunched up in that chair."
Andros looked up. "But they said I am an orphan now, my family is all gone. So shouldn't I go to the orphanage?"
"Your father knew his job was risky. He had known that for quite a while. He came to me about three years ago. He asked that if anything happened to him and your mother couldn't care for you or your sister, my organization would assume custody of you." Kin-Won explained. "Now stand up, I really do need a good look at you so I know where to place you."
Andros slowly stood up, holding his bag close, not wanting to lose his only possessions. "Please sir, what are you going to do with me?"
"Why, I am in charge of the Ranger training facility. Hmm, you're a little on the skinny side and look a little tired but that is nothing that a good meal and a decent night's sleep won't fix. Now come along, you of course will be expected to pull your own weight. Don't think you'll have the easiest life but it will be better then the one your father could have provided you with."
Andros followed the man out the doors cautiously. What did the man mean by a better life? Sure he had always dreamed of being a ranger but he knew his family's place was working with the heavy manufacturing equipment.
They came to a building that Andros recognized; he had walked past it several times when he was on school trips. The building was big, bigger then most of the buildings in the city, with several divisions and sprawling training grounds. All kids his age wanted to step foot in the building but never had the chance to. Strange, he thought, it took his parents dying for him to get in. As he walked in he didn't know what his life would hold for him now.
He held onto his bag as Kin-Won showed him to a dining hall. It was late at night and the hall was pretty much empty, with the exception of some late stragglers who were talking. Kin-Won went into the kitchen and came out with a plate of food. "Here, eat this. Then I will show you to a room for the night."
Andros took the plate and looked at the food. It might be warmed leftovers but he had to admit it was the best he had smelled since his father's accident a week ago. His mother had not been in the mood to fix anything special even if they had had the money to spare like before the accident.
Kin-Won sat and watched him eat. "I don't normally take boys as young as you here, but I made a promise to your father. He was an honorable man and kept his word with other matters. If you remember nothing else of your father know that he was honorable."
Once Andros had eaten everything on his plate Kin-Won took it and put it in the washroom. "I will show you a room for tonight and when you wake up, I will show you my office. You come right there with this uniform on and I will show you what will be expected of you for as long as you stay here."
Andros nodded and followed the man, grateful for the meal he had just had, knowing that if this was the orphanage he probably wouldn't have gotten anything at all. Walking to a room on a different floor, Kin-Won pointed out his office. The room he was shown to was not much more than a bed in a room the size of a closet but it was a room with a window overlooking the training fields where he could see a group of six training very hard in the dark.
"Ahh, I see you saw the future rangers out there. Their parents were rangers so unless they fail their tests and training levels, which is in most cases is the most unlikely thing because they have been bred to be rangers, they will be the next team. You will meet them in the morning, but right now they should be finishing up their night training and getting themselves to bed, as you should as well. I can promise you will have long days ahead of you here," Kin-Won explained as he shut the door leaving the young boy alone.
As the door clicked shut, Andros climbed into the bed, gently setting his bag down. He curled up into a ball and cried himself to sleep. He had felt sad before but now he felt alone, as he realized how different his life would be now. As he slept he dreamt of his mother and father, they seemed happy and he knew they were because they were together even if it meant he was alone.
When he awoke, he did as the man had said and put on his uniform, which bore the rangers symbol but instead of being as nice as the ones he had seen the real rangers wear when they had been in town, his was a dark blue jumpsuit and was one piece. Picking up his bag, not wanting to leave it lying around, he walked to Kin-Won's office.
He didn't even have a chance to knock before the door opened with Kin-Won at the door as if he had been waiting for Andros to come down. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, ushering Andros into his office as the boy nodded slowly. "Good, you are going to be glad you did because as I know I said today you will be working for your keep as everyone else does here regardless of whether they have parents supporting them. This institution makes children grow up very fast."
Andros bit his lip nervously as he looked to the ground and rubbed the toe of his new regulation boot on the floor. "Sir, what will be expected of me here?" he asked in a low nervous voice.
"Well, for now you will start out being an assistant to one of the future rangers, as all young members who joined from non ranger families do."
Andros looked confused at the description.
"Oh, um, how do I put this? Are you familiar with the ancient Knight tales from the legends that came from Earth?"
Andros nodded, of course he was familiar with the stories; they were required reading in the nine year olds class.
"Alright then, you are familiar with the stories of Squires and how their jobs were to assist the knights? That is sort of what you will be doing, however it will only be for training and learning the way a ranger is supposed to act."
Kin-Won walked back out the door indicating that Andros should follow and so he did once more, only this time the halls were filled with older kids rushing from place to place. "Usually I only consider taking children twelve and older but seeing as you are a special case, amends will have to be made for you with the fact that once school begins again you must attend. Whether a tutor is brought here or if you will be expected to attend the local school we will see but for now work on your training."
"Ki-Kin-Won," Andros stammered, "do I really have to go to school?"
"Yes, you know perfectly well that it is required mandatory for all children between the ages of two and twelve to be enrolled in a school."
Andros dropped his head; of course this would have to mean going to a new school as well. He had lived just shy over the border in a small off shoot village that he had attended a small village school. Taking in a deep breath, he paused just so slightly and almost lost Kin-Won in the crowd that was moving through the hall from one training exercise to another.
Once Andros had caught up to Kin-Won, he followed swiftly to make sure he wouldn't get lost again.
"Your father told me he saw potential in you as a young boy and I see it as well, you have a spark in your eye that tells me you would make a fine attempt at training alongside the red ranger in training."
Kin-Won found the rangers in training taking a break in the lounge, drinking plenty of water for it was a hot day out. "Zimri!" Kin Won called out upon entering the room.
"Yes sir? Anything I can do for you, headmaster?" the dark haired, dark eyed boy asked, standing up before his name fully left Kin-Won's lips.
"I would like you to meet Andros; he will be your new assistant for the time being and will start his duties as such officially tomorrow," Kin-won said, stepping aside so Andros was visible to the other boy.
"Him?" Zimri asked. "But he can't be older than ten!"
"Yes, he is only ten, but I made a promise to his father that if he was not able to ensure that his son would be well cared for that he was to come here and earn a living, so whether you like it or not Andros son of Emmett will be your assistant and you are to treat him with respect."
Zimri turned, crossed his arms, and grumbled but then looked Andros up and down. "Can you carry a sword?" Andros nodded but looked back at Kin-Won; Zimri seemed to have some distaste for him.
Kin-Won just smiled. "Good, I will come back in a few hours to show Andros to his permanent room. Till then get to know each other and maybe show him some of the basics of what will be expected of him." He left the room with a smile.
Once Kin-Won was out of sight, Zimri smiled and, being the oldest of his group he was also the strongest, so in one swoop he picked Andros up and put him headfirst into the trashcan before walking off with a smile on his face.
Andros struggled to get out of it, but he couldn't pull himself out. It was a few seconds later when he felt two sets of hands grab his ankles and pull until he popped out and nearly fell flat on his face. He sat up and looked at the two kids that pulled him out.
"Sorry about that, Zimri has a tendency to be a bit of a bully. I don't know how he has made it this far into his training but he has." The boy who stood over him said, "I am Zhane, by the way. I just started here a month ago and Zimri was mean to me as well, so it's not just you, don't worry."
He then pointed to the girl in yellow who had helped pull him out. "That's Esiila; she is Zimri's cousin."
Andros sat up as Zhane introduced the older girl to him. She was pretty and he could tell that there was a resemblance to Zimri, although the way she composed herself was completely different. "It's nice to meet you and I just want you to know that if you stick with it, eventually my cousin will treat you well." She had a sweet voice that flowed gently. "Let me introduce you to the rest of our future team." She paused and pointed to the others still sitting drinking water. "In the pink is Azalia and in the blue is her brother Gaynor, and over there in the black is Kasch. All of us were born into ranger families so I guess you can kind of figure out who our parents are."
Andros nodded. He finally got to meet some rangers or at least rangers in training and all he could do was sit on the floor recovering from being dumped in the trashcan.
Kasch stood up flipping his blond hair out of his face. "Yeah, he'll like you if you don't go running to your mommy's arms before he's through with you. I will tell you no one has made it through the assistant phase under him before to even have a shot at claiming the red morpher from him; he knows what he is doing." He spoke sternly and walked out of the room to find his friend.
Azalia laughed as she walked over and offered Andros her hand. "I wish you luck; no one and I mean no one, who has been placed as a challenger to the red morpher has made it farther then a few weeks. They all end running so I will tell you it's not going to be an easy shot."
Andros stood and tried to act tough but he knew inside that his guts were shaking with nerves. He collected himself and firmly said, "Well, I have nowhere to run, if it wasn't for a promise Kin-Won made to my father I would be in an orphanage right now."
Gaynor, who had till now seemed uninterested in the boy perked up. "An orphan, you say?" He smiled deviously. "Don't tell Zimri that because it will only make his game even more enjoyable and besides, it will give you a playing card to use silently."
Esiila looked at Gaynor and cocked an eyebrow. "Why are you thinking that?"
"Oh come on Esi," he said, calling her by her nick name, "you know that anything would be better than your cousin, even an orphan and what better to give him a hard time? I know, I know, you like your cousin but face it. How many bad choices has he made in the simulations that if it were a real battle field would have resulted in death? He really needs to grow up some more."
Esiila just stomped her foot. "You're just saying that because you want to be the red ranger, but you know you can't, so you think if you get someone who can be trained better than Zimri then you can be his senior because you would have more experience." She turned with tears in her eyes."
"Esi, no, that's not what I meant and you know it. You know perfectly well what I meant. What's got you so irked that you are sympathizing with your cousin?" He went over and hugged her and she smiled, cuddling into his arms as if all was forgiven between the two.
Zhane looked at the two and turned away, sticking his finger in his mouth he pretended to gag, but stopped after a few seconds when Azalia knocked him over the head. "Grow up, Zhane, just 'cause you are the baby of this group doesn't mean you can taunt us about our relationships because one day you're going to have a girl and we are going to taunt you like you do us."
Andros stood there, not realizing that he had some garbage in his hair till Kin-Won returned and found him standing watching the others, minus Kasch and Zimri.
"Where's Zimri? I thought I told him to get to know Andros…" He paused when he saw the small flakes of trash in the boy's hair, "I see Zimri didn't waste anytime in bullying his new assistant. I will be having a talking to that boy! He can't go an hour without bullying others just because they weren't born into the privilege of the morpher." He shook his head. "Come along Andros, I will show you to your room."
Andros followed and as Kin-Won led him to his room he passed Zimri in the hall talking to a pretty girl while leaning against a storage locker. He couldn't be sure but it sounded like someone was banging on the door trying to get out.
He knew for sure when Kin-Won grabbed Zimri by the arm. "Just because you think Hadara is pretty doesn't mean you can lock Brencis in a closet because he is her boyfriend and you want her. Now didn't I tell you that you were to treat Andros with respect?"
The boy nodded. "And I did, I just decided that I was needed elsewhere for a bit."
Zimri smiled while shooting a glare at Andros, who was standing there still holding his bag.
"I don't call finding Andros with trash in his hair being treated with respect. You are going to have to get over your superiority complex because whether you like it you are stuck with Andros. I am placing him as your understudy and if you know what's good for your future status as red ranger, you will not mistreat Andros. Consider this your last test before your worthiness exam in which how much he has learned will weigh heavily on your exam points," Kin-Won ordered the boy.
He just responded with a simple 'yes sir,' but as soon as Kin-Won's back was turned, he rolled his eyes and glared at Andros for just a second longer. Then he spun on his heel to find Kasch and the rest of his team for more training.