Chapter Two: The Gathering
A large shuttle landed at Angel Grove's air port ready to pick up the first group of cadets for the new Ranger Academy. Standing or sitting around the landing pad were teens waiting to be let in and head towards their futures.
The sound of screeching brakes and the smell of burnt tires filled the air as a dark smoke formed around the shuttle.
"Finally they get here. It's past fourteen hundred hours. Two hours past due." A male said. He had short spiked brown hair and icy blue eyes. He was wearing military issue utility uniform.
"Would you please shut up already?" Another male replied. He had short blonde hair and red eyes. He wore a pair of blue jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt.
"Would you two knock it off already? You are giving me a headache." A female said. She had long black hair that waved in the breeze. Her eyes were the brightest shade of green that anyone could remember. She had a soft smile. She wore a pair of blue jeans with a belt hanging off of the side of her right hip along with a small pink shirt under a brown cut off leather jacket.
The shuttle's door slid open as a tall man stepped out. He was wearing a gray uniform with a red design along the front. His hair was short, brown, almost black, and he had brown eyes.
~*~
"If you would get into two lines, we can get this over with quickly." The man called to them. Within a few moments, two lines had been formed like the man had asked for. "For those of you that don't already know who I am...I am…"
"Sir!" another male voice cut him off. "We just got a report, sir! You might want to come and see it!" He added.
The man rolled his eyes a bit before looking back at the cadets. "Follow him inside. We'll continue this conversation later." The man said stepping back into the ship.
The cadets looked at each other before looking back at the man that remained outside with them. "Hurry please." The man said as he moved back into the ship. The two rows right behind him.
~*~
The cadets had all finally taken their seats as the pilot. The same man that had interrupted the other had made sure to take roll call to make sure they hadn't left anyone behind. He smiled to them before walking into the cockpit. He entered to find that the other man was watching something on one of the display screen. "By the look on your face sir, it's not good news." The pilot said.
"One of the shuttles that were picking up new cadets was attacked and destroyed as it passed the planet Onyx." The man replied and then added. "The Mega ship and the Mega Winger are going to check the area out. They hope to find out what happened from the shuttle's black box and maybe so of…"
"I understand sir." The pilot replied. "There's no need to say anymore. Are you going in the back to tell the cadets?" he asked.
"No. The Admiral wishes to do so himself since this is the second group from Earth. A few of these cadets might have siblings on the other ships." The man replied.
"Understood sir," The pilot said as he took his seat. He then pushed a button which displayed the seatbelt sign in the back.
~*~
The shuttle took off hovering above the air strip for a moment before pulling up into the air building up speed as it climbed. Once it broke through the atmosphere, it started to again speed up moving to get out of Earth's gravitational pull. When the pilot was sure that the shuttle was far enough away from the planet, he activated the ship's hyper-drive engines.
It took only a moment for them to start up as the shuttle gave a large jerk forcing everyone forward before slamming them back into their seats again. "They still haven't been able to fix that." The pilot said turning back to the other man.
"Yeah I know. The tech guys will have their work cut out for them." He said.
"Couldn't we use the Megaship or one of the others to pick cadets up for a while?" The pilot asked.
"The Megaship, like most of the others, weren't designed to do so." The man replied.
"Oh. Didn't think of that." The pilot replied with a sigh.
"Should go back and talk with them some more. I'm just afraid that it'll slip out."
Meanwhile, in the back, of the shuttle...
A lonely looking girl was staring off into space out the window she was leaning against from her seat. She was about seventeen, Caucasian, had very dark brown hair and eyes, had two small silver hoop earrings in each ear and wore glasses. She then noticed that a girl had taken a seat next to her.
"Hello." the girl said smiling over at her. "Nice earrings."
The lonely girl turned her head and looked at the girl sitting next to her and frowned. "Thanks." She replied snarling under her breath a bit as she turned around and looked back out the window.
"Not really the talkative type are you." the girl replied sighing a bit before adding. "So where are you from? If you don't mind me asking what abilities do you have?" she asked.
The lonely girl sighed a bit before replying. "Silver Hills, California." She replied before pausing. "I... I can transform."
"Sweet! I've been to Silver Hills once just before the Time Force Rangers appeared. Wasn't there for a week before it was attacked." She said smiling a bit. "What can you transform into?"
The girl sighed. "Something that kept me isolated from the outside world for most of my life."
"That must have sucked." the other girl replied. "Well if I could turn into anything, there's only two things I'd like to be. One is a dragon and the other would be a demon."
The girl let out a small whimper and shuddered.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you."
The girl took in a deep breath. "It's not your fault."
"That's what you can turn into isn't it?" the girl asked. "People can be assholes when it comes to something dark like a demon. My name's Catherine Mann. What's yours?"
The girl stalled for a minute before replying. "Angelina Moreau."
"Hello Angelina." Catherine replied smiling again. "Maybe you can show me what your demon form looks like sometime. I'd so love to see it."
Angelina rested her head against the window and closed her eyes. "You don't want to." She replied. "I can't control myself."
"Well we are here to train in using are abilities." Catherine replied. "But it's alright. I won't force you."
"Thank you." She replied before opening her eyes again.
"No problems." Catherine replied. "So you like metal music and drawing right."
Angelina turned her head slowly and looked Catherine eyebrow raised, shocked. "How... how did you know that?" She asked.
"One of my abilities lets me see the future." Catherine replied. "When I was heading for the airport, I saw you in a vision telling me that you liked those two things."
Angelina slowly grinned before turning back around and looking back out the window. "That explains it."
Catherine laughed a bit. "I was just glad that this seat wasn't taken." she said. "I'd been wanted to talk to you since the vision."
Angelina smiled. "Destiny has its ways."
"Yup." Catherine replied with a short laugh. "So is there anything you'd like to ask me?"
Angelina thought for a moment. "I was going to ask you if I would ever have any friends... but I think I know the answer to that already." She replied as she turned around back at Catherine and smiled warmly.
"You'll have many friends. One of which is me. Also there are a few more on this shuttle." Catherine replied smiling warmly back. She then pointed to the pair a crossed from them. "Those two guys well become close friends."
Angelina looked over at where Catherine was pointing to and smiled. "I never had friends before." She said.
"Yeah same here." Catherine replied. "Had to be the little soldier, but let's not get into. Those lives we left behind the moment we left Earth. We'll both make a lot of friends and become as close as blood sisters." she added smiling.
Angelina smiled back. She felt like crying. She couldn't believe the fact that her life might be able to change for the better. She hadn't felt this happy in ages. She the dug into one of her front pockets and pulled out a Sony PSP. She smiled. "I like videogames as well."
"It's ok to cry." Catherine replied as she too pulled a Sony PSP out. It was a dark green one. "Me too. What's one of your favorites?"
Angelina looked at Catherine before she looked back down at her PSP. "I don't usually play games as much..." She replied before digging into her pockets again and pulled out a Family Guy PSP disk. "I like watching shows and stuff."
"I have that one too." Catherine replied laughing as she pulled it out. "I have a few others if you want to watch them?"
"Sure, I would love to watch them." Angelina replied happily.
Catherine handed Angelina the disk before the two newly befriended girls started to talk some more.