Power Rangers: ARCANA
Deck 3: The MAGICIAN Part II-1
The next day at school, Daphne makes her return. Alone, she seems vicious and detached. The students usually recognize her with Tate as the cheerleader dating the jock. But without him, people only saw the cold beauty that's known for having a harsh tongue.
With her attitude and looks, all the hearts she's broken and all the envy she's generated toward her seemed to somehow bond with Nyx's dark energy that was inside her. She was changed, but in a way that most couldn't understand. The other teens stared at her. Not because she was beautiful, but because she seemed completely and utterly unattainable.
"Daphne." Janet heads toward the chilly girl. "Hey." The brunette says but redhead only looks the girl in red up and down. "So where have you been? I found your morpher in the forest and-"
"What? Are you stalking me now?" Daphne cocks her head.
"No." Janet shakes her head. "It's just, well Daniels thought you may have been kidnapped. I mean, there were burn marks-"
"Burn marks? Really" Daphne says with her icy tongue. "You're losing it Jane."
"Jane?" Janet furrows her brows. "Um, well Tate's been pretty worried about you. I know we aren't especially close, but If you need someone to talk to-"
"Talk to?" Daphne raises her brow.
"Yeah. I mean, about being a ranger. I mean we're just regular girls in high school with tons of responsibilities and now we have to protect Hal Valley. It's a lot on our plates." Janet smiles warmly .
Daphne rolls her eyes then looks at Janet angrily." You're just Miss congeniality, huh Janet?"
"Excuse me?" Janet furrows her brows.
"Student council president. Star athlete. Red ranger? And you're nice looking." Daphne shakes her head. "You must think you're the shit. Huh, leader?" The redhead grumbles.
"Daphne. What are you talking about? I was just trying to be friendly." Janet's smile disappears.
"Friendly? I don't care about friendly. And I certainly don't care about Hal Valley or any of this ranger crap." Daphne finishes. Janet only stares perplexed. "Now get out of my way." Daphne pushes the girl in red away, leaving her unsure of what just happened.
Down the hall, Daphne meets Tate.
"Hey babe." He says around all his pals and teammates. He reaches for a hug but is brushed off. His friends make ooosounds childishly. "What's wrong Daph?" The blond boy asks confused.
"You. You're what's wrong." The redhead says sneeringly. Tate doesn't know what to say as Daphne leaves. Tate's mostly ridiculed by his friends but he wasn't sure what to do. The redhead's behavior was weird, even for her.
~Lunchtime
Daphne sits alone at table looking malicious; she doesn't even bother to get food. Her girlfriends were just followers, when she waved them away, they left her. Sage walks past Daphne's table while conversing with a friend, Daphne succeeds at tripping him and knocking him on his face.
"Hey!" Sage hops up and Mika hears him. "Why would you do that?!"
Daphne says nothing, her face blank.
"What's going on?" Mika treads over from her table.
"Nothing. And my leg slipped theatre geek." Daphne says coldly.
Sage stares at her, at a loss of words. He looked like he was going to break down. Mika pats his back then goes close to Daphne. "We're teammates now." The girl in yellow whispers hard. "I don't care about what you're little friends think. If you don't want to talk to us, then fine. But you don't have to be a bitch just to look cool." The redhead scoffs and Mika backs away.
"You're messed up Daphne." Mika holds her Sage and they walk away. Daphne continues to only sit there, still utterly taciturn.
~After School-Tarot Clubroom
"You believe her behavior has something to do with Nyx?" Daniels says sitting.
"It has to. She's never acted like this." Tate stands, trying to speak up for Daphne.
"Daphne's cold. I don't understand how she could even be a power ranger." Mika says and Tate looks at her. "I thought you had to be good. Not evil."
"She was acting strange. Even for Daphne." Janet proclaims.
"You guys are saying this like she's some sweet person. She's probably doing this because she doesn't want to be a ranger." Sage says still downcast over what happened earlier.
"Perhaps." Daniels says lowly.
"Guys. It's Nyx. I know Daphne. She's changed. She's never been like this."
"How can you be sure?" Sage speaks up. His eyes were red from crying earlier. "Do you remember that girl Raven?"
"Who?" Tate asks.
"That girl who had black hair and wore glasses? Yeah. She moved away right?" Mika asked.
"I heard that." Sage nods. "I also heard she ran away because of Daphne's gang bullying her earlier in the year." Sage says curtly.
Tate looks down. "No."
"Speaking of Daphne, I guess she isn't coming to club." Janet says. "This is going to be our meeting room for ranger ops right?"
"For a time." Daniels says.
"I doubt she cares." Mika looks out the window. "We'll need a new pink ranger." The girl in yellow says.
"Not yet. She fought alongside you all before, I'm sure she won't leave her duties." Daniels says and then his wristwatch starts blinking red.
"Trouble?" Janet asks.
"Yes. It's similar to the one the other day."
"That ugly tiki mask?" Sage asks.
" ." Daniels says.
"Didn't we destroy him?" Mika says confused.
"I thought so too, but there's something different. He seems more powerful, but It's the same essence.
"Well whatever it is, we'll take him down." Janet stands.
Sage nods. "Let's go. I've got to go let off some steam." Sage walks out.
"Um. Where is the Gate Shadow?" Mika asks.
"He's in an open area near the shopping center." Daniels says.
"The old center plaza. All those buildings are gone. What's he doing there?" The girl in yellow asks.
"We'll have to go find out." Janet says and they head for the doors.
"What about Daphne?" Tate says before leaving.
"We'll have to go without her." Janet says. She leaves. Tate moves slowly toward the exit.
"She will come Tate." Daniels assures him. The blonde frowns.
"Yeah." He says unsurely and then heads out.
As they run Janet purposely falls behind and contacts Daniels with her morpher. "Daniels. What did you do with Daphne's morpher?"
"It's still with me. Why?"
"I think I saw.." Janet then thinks for a moment. Wasn't there a morpher on the girl in pink's wrist when she had seen her in the halls? "No reason."
"All right then. You all be careful."
"Always." Janet says then follows after the others.
~Abandoned Shopping Center
"I don't see anything." Sage says looking around.
"Yeah. But this is place is regularly deserted." Mika says.
"Hmm." Tate looks around. "Did Daniels get the coordinates wrong?" Tate says.
"No." The girl in red says. She stands still as the others watch her. "Something's coming."
"Is it getting hot?" Mika says. Suddenly, something burst through the ground in a ball of flame and magma.
The rangers fall back as the Gate shadow makes his entrance. The rangers steady themselves and look at the shadow, looking more monstrous then before and covered in ominous blue flames now. They noticed another figure next to him. It is humanlike and blue-skinned wearing a mismatched display of red clothes and fabrics.
"Hello rangers." The blue-skinned figure says.
"Who are you?" Janet asks.
"Well power ranger, they call me the puppet master." The figure smiles eerily. "Nebiros."
"You work for Nyx, Nebiros?" Tate asks.
"Of course. She is my queen. And she'll cloud this disgusting world in darkness." Nebiros shows his beastly teeth.
"Hmph." Tate scoffs. "That's all I needed to hear." The boy in blue lifts his arm. He summons his Arcana card. "Within the cards, Arcana ranger!" He swipes the card on his morpher and is engulfed in gold then blue.
The blue ranger charges at Mada and Nebiros. "Tate!" Janet hollers, following after him with the others. The alpha shadow is blocked by the mask, knocking Tate back. He is caught by the other rangers.
"Don't be stupid!" Mika exclaims.
"Teamwork man." Says Sage.
"Sorry guys." The blue ranger says.
"Together now." Janet says.
"Within the cards," Janet, Sage and Mika summon their cards. "Arcana ranger!" They swipe them and are covered by gold light and then their respective ranger colors.
"Arcana Yellow!" Mika poses in a kicking form.
"Arcana Green!" Sage poses in style.
"Arcana Blue!" Tate takes a strong stance.
"Arcana Red!" Janet stands solemnly in her ranger uniform.
"Arcana rangers!" They cry. Smoke colored the same as their ranger uniforms explode behind them.
The Alpha shadow, Nebiros, only smiles.
