"Izzy, Tasha, it's time to wake up." D.E.C.A said.
The both of us dragged ourselves out of bed and after a silent fight for the shower I stood under a cold shower which woke me up. Once I was done Tasha got her own shower and we dressed in the outfits we'd sat aside for today.
When Andros had given us the ship he had given all of us crew type uniforms that we had kept for more serious occasions. They were much like the one that Andros had worn when we'd met him but made of a black fabric instead of a silvery gray. They had the same pants and jacket, boots and a shirt that went underneath that was whatever color we were.
Our team would be the only one wearing them though. The Ninja Rangers had opted to wear the leathery outfits from the Ninja Academy and the SPD Rangers were going to wear their dark gray patrol uniforms. However it hadn't stopped Daphne and Lara from trying to convince me to wear my Ninja Academy outfit.
I pulled on the bright red shirt and black pants before tucking the shirt tail into the waistband of the pants. I tucked the bottoms of the pants into the boots and buckled them up before pulling on the jacket. I brushed out and curled out my hair before tying a red ribbon into it as a headband. After a little bit of eyeliner I was done and headed out of the room.
"Good morning." I smiled at my brother as I walked into the Rec Room.
"Morning." Ethan replied from where he stood by the Synthetron.
Ethan's outfit and mine were just about the same since we were the same color. The only difference was his shirt was more a deeper red while mine was brighter.
"Coffee?" he asked.
"With lots of chocolate please." I replied.
Ethan typed in our order before pulling out two mugs of piping hot coffee.
"Yum. Perfect. Thanks." I smiled sipping appreciatively.
"Welcome sissy." he smiled and we walked to the bridge.
"How long before we reach KO-35?" I asked leaning over the chair Jakob was sitting in to see what he was doing.
"About 15 minutes. Then we have to get a hold of Andros so we can get permission to land." Jakob said with a little sigh.
"Tired?" I asked leaning against the panel so I could face him.
"Kinda." he replied sitting back in his chair and giving me a weak smile.
"Here. Have a drink. It'll put hair on your chest." I smiled handing him my mug.
His smile brightened a little and he took the mug and took a drink of my coffee and grimaced.
"Whoa! Sugar shock much Iz?" he laughed as he handed me back my mug.
"What can I say? I love my chocolate." I grinned.
He laughed and looked back at the panel. I could tell there was more to his mood than fatigue and I thought I knew what it was.
"You miss Ann huh?" I asked.
He looked up at me, "Am I that transparent?" he asked.
"Nah…I just know you. If it's any consolation we miss her too." I replied.
"It is some but I think I miss her in a different way than you guys do." he smirked.
I smiled, "Well eventually this whole thing will be over and she'll come back from Aquitar and you two can be together again."
"God it can't come fast enough." he sighed.
Smiling I hugged Jakob and kissed his cheek, "You'll be alright."
I picked up my mug and sat down in my chair, relaxing back. Soon D.E.C.A came on.
"Now approaching KO-35." she said.
The screen turned on and a beautiful bluish purple planet appeared on the screen. Slowly it got large and larger and I got more and more excited.
"It's kinda weird isn't it? I mean another whole planet with people that are human like us?" Nathan asked sitting down beside me.
"It is. I'm really excited though. I never thought that I'd get to see another planet. It's kind of a kiddie dream thing. It's like you dream about going to space and everything but when you get older you just give up on that idea." I smiled.
"Agreed." he nodded and returned my smile.
We both turned back and looked at the beautiful planet in front of us. Jakob let Andros know that we were coming. He got us clearance for landing and soon we had touched down on the planet.
"Alright lets move out." Ethan smiled and we headed for the to the bottom of the ship towards the doors.
When we stepped out Andros was waiting for us with a big smile and lots of people. They cheered when we got off and I felt the heat rise in my cheeks a little. Looking around I saw that everyone else's faces ranged from embarrassed like mine to proud like Nathan.
"Welcome to KO-35." he smiled.
"Nice to see you again Andros." Ethan said shaking his hand.
"It's nice to see you all again as well. We heard about your work in the Scion Nova Galaxy." Andros replied.
"Things got a little messy but we managed to handle it." Drake proudly boasted.
"Messy? What do you mean?" Andros asked suddenly looking concerned.
"Parker got grabbed by a couple of big Sand Drones grabbed him." Bridge said.
"I'm okay though." Parker smiled. He had a dark bruise on his cheek and some soreness in his ribs but he was doing much better. He'd be ready for battle again soon.
"Good. As long as all of you are safe. Now I think Ashley has food waiting. I don't even want to think about what she'll do if it gets cold." Andros said.
The bunch of us followed Andros to wherever he was leading us. As we walked Andros filled us in on the history of the planet. Some years before it had been invaded and it had actually been abandoned. However when Andros was a Power Ranger, him and the team of Rangers he had been leader of had found where the people had settled. Eventually they had managed to stop the forces that had driven them from the planet and the people had returned.
Since then things had flourished and there were homes and people again. The planet was also working on alliances with other planets.
Eventually we came to his house and stopped out front. It was a decent sized house sitting on a huge patch of land and I could already smell food cooking from inside. Three little kids, two girls and a boy, ran laughing and squealing around the front yard while a guy with white blond hair chased them, laughing as well.
"Daddy! Save me from Uncle Zhane!" one of the little girls laughed and ran straight at Andros. She couldn't have been more than three or four and had long dark brown hair and big brown eyes.
He scooped her up and smiled at her, "You want to meet some people?" he asked. She nodded and turned to us.
"This is my daughter Astrid. Astrid do you remember the new Rangers that Mama and I have been telling you about? These are them." he said.
"Are you really Power Rangers?" she asked looking at us.
"You bet." I smiled.
"Do you have akro morsers?" she asked.
"She means Astro Morphers. They're the ones our Rangers use." Andros explained.
"Well we don't have those but we do have these." I smiled and pulled my morpher out and handed it to her to look at.
She examined it for a few moments before looking at Andros, "Daddy I like these better. It has a pretty bird on it." she said looking at him.
Andros laughed, "Of course."
Astrid handed me my morpher back just as Zhane came walking up carrying the other little girl, the little boy trailing behind him.
"Are these the new Rangers?" he asked.
"They are." Andros confirmed.
"I'm Zhane. Former Titanium Ranger." he smiled.
"I'm Elara!" the little girl piped up. She was the same as Astrid and had the same white blond hair that fell all the way to the middle of her back in pigtails and green eyes.
"This is my daughter." Zhane replied.
"And that's my son Artemis." Andros replied pointing to the little boy who had the same blonde and dark brown hair as Andros and overall looked like a mini version of him. He was probably about 6 or 7.
"Hey why don't you two go tell Mommy and Aunt Ashley that the New Rangers are here?" Zhane said.
"Okay Daddy." Elara said.
Andros and Zhane set Astrid and Elara down next to Artemis.
"Come on Astrid…come on Elara." Artemis said seriously and took both of the little girls hands in his and walked them towards the back of the house.
"He's protective huh?" Z smiled.
"Yeah. He watches out for his sister and cousin all the time." Zhane smiled.
"I know what that's like." Ethan grinned and put his arm around my shoulder.
"Food's ready!" A female voice called from the back of the house.
"Let's go." Andros said and led us to the back of the house.
The backyard was just as large as the front and there were tables set up with all sorts of food. I didn't recognize most of it but I spotted a few Earth dishes.
"You must be the newest Rangers!" A woman with dark brown hair and huge smile that matched her pregnant belly smiled.
"Welcome to KO-35!" the woman behind her who had long blond hair grinned.
"This is my wife Ashley," he said motioning to the pregnant woman "and my sister Karone who is Zhane's wife." he said pointing to the blonde woman.
We greeted them and Ashley only smiled bigger.
"I made plenty of food so feel free to eat as much as you want. I know how that food tastes on the Astro Megaship. I know you guys won't know all the dishes since I made a lot of them out of vegetables and fruits you can only find in this galaxy but I made some Earth favorites too from some imported ingredients." Ashley grinned.
"Oh you really didn't have to go through all that trouble! I mean cooking for all of us is way more than enough!" Tasha replied.
"Don't worry about it. Now come and eat." she replied.
I filled my plate with both unfamiliar and familiar foods including a burger which I'd missed horribly. The ones on the Megaship were good but they tasted a little like cardboard.
I took a seat at the table with Ethan, Bridge and Jakob. Ashley, Andros, Karone and Zhane sat close to us. Astrid plopped down right beside me, sitting on her knees so that she could reach the table.
"What color Power Ranger are you?" Astrid asked as she ate something that looked a little like a blue carrot.
"I'm red." I replied.
"Girls aren't red! Girls are Pink or Yellow! Mama was yellow and Aunt Karone was Pink!" she chirped.
"You were a Power Rangers too?" I asked looking at Ashley and Karone.
"We were. I used to be Pink Galaxy Ranger." Karone said.
"And I was the Yellow Turbo Ranger and the Yellow Space Ranger." Ashley replied.
"Wait…Turbo? Wasn't Dad a Turbo Ranger?" Ethan asked looking at me.
"Yeah so was Justin." I replied.
"Who's your Dad?" Ashley asked.
"Tommy Oliver." we said in unison.
"Oh! Yeah! He was the one that TJ took over for. And you two know Justin?" she asked.
"Justin is our English teacher." Chris said from a couple people down.
"He's a teacher?! Oh man…it's so weird to think of him as an adult!" Ashley laughed.
"This is him." I said and pulled out my cell phone and found a picture of him and Dad acting goofy. There was really no use for my cell in space since not even the best plan covered galaxy hopping but I kept it because I had pictures of home in there.
"Wow! He really is all grown up." Ashley said and handed me back my phone.
"Oh! Andros there was something I wanted to ask you about. I think that D.E.C.A may have a glitch." Jakob said.
"A glitch? What kind?" Andros asked.
"Well this morning we all got a rude awakening. The alarm was going off for no reason and D.E.C.A was shut down." Jakob replied.
"That's weird. Are you sure that someone didn't shut her down and set off the alarm? Maybe as a joke?" Andros asked.
"No. My room is at the end of the hall and everyone was in their rooms. Since the doors are set to automatically open when the alarm goes off I could see them all." Bridge replied.
"I'll take a look at it with a couple of the mechanics who helped make D.E.C.A." Andros said.
"That would mean a lot. Thank you." Jakob smiled.
As we ate Ashley, Andros, Zhane and Karone talked about how they had all returned to KO-35. Initially all four had returned to Earth to live after Zordon's tube had been destroyed. However soon Andros and Zhane began to miss KO-35. Since it was becoming the place it had once been both decided to go back. Ashley, being in a relationship with Andros, had gone with them. They had been married there.
Karone had become the Pink Galaxy Ranger after she had saved the Pink Quasar Saber. She served out her time as a Power Ranger but soon missed her brother and friends. She had gone back to her home planet and soon her and Zhane had been married too. Years later they'd had the kids.
After we ate Astrid and Elara begged us to show them how we morphed. It took some prodding but Tasha, Lara, Kiera, Aria and I morphed for them. We did a mini fashion show before powering down.
Once we were done Elara looked at both Lara and I, "You're not the right colors but I like it." she grinned.
"Well I used to be pink." I smiled.
"Really? Why did you change colors?" Astrid asked cocking her head to one side.
"Because she became a Wind Ninja." Drake said coming over with Ethan beside him and Artemis trailing along behind.
"What does that mean?" Artemis asked joining his sister and cousin.
"It means that we have special powers." Drake smiled.
"Ooh!" Elara said her eyes as wide as saucers.
"Can you show us?!" Astrid asked.
"Sure thing sweetheart." Drake said and turned to me.
"I'll go get Daphne and the others. If we're going to give them a show we're going to give them a real one." Drake said and hurried over to the others.
"Do you think our powers will work here? I mean it's not exactly earth." Daphne whispered as we gathered.
"No clue…just try." I replied and she nodded.
"Okay we have a demo that we do for new students that we're going to do. Izzy you stand by me and just do what I do." Drake instructed.
I nodded and everyone got into place.
Parker went first. He flicked his wrist and there was a puff of smoke and then he was gone and the earth was moving. A moment later he popped up behind the kids who gasped and cheered. He ducked back down and popped up across the yard a few moments later.
Daphne moved forward and Drake pointed up to me. Understanding what he was talking about I rose into the air along with him. Daphne did a motion with her arms and water appeared. She made it do all sorts of formations in mid air before shoving it towards the kids. I thought it was going to soak them but Drake tossed his hands out and together created a cyclone of water around the kids.
I began to move my hands in the same way as Drake, pushing the air around and concentrating it in a circle. Drake smiled at me and dropped his hands and floated back down. I almost lost my focus and dropped not only the water but myself. However I managed to concentrate again in time.
The kids grinning faces rippled behind the wall of water. I saw little fingers poke out from the wall and heard squeals of laughter.
"Okay on the count of three up and left!" Daphne yelled.
"Gotcha!" I nodded.
"1-2-3!" she yelled and we moved our arms in tandem and threw the water away. I let myself drift down from the air just in time to watch Sebastian and Lara.
Together they raised their hands and we watched as the sky darkened but only in a small radius around us. They would point and thunder would boom from the direction they pointed. I looked at the kids to make sure they weren't scared. Their eyes were wide but not scared.
After a few blasts of sound they dropped their hands and everything went silent for a few moments. Well until there was an eruption of applause.
"That was amazing!" Karone smiled.
"Yeah! Who knew that you had that much Power Iz?!" Ryan laughed.
"Can you teach me to do that?!" Artemis asked.
"You already have powers like that silly!" Astrid replied.
"Do you want to see the powers we have? We can do stuffs too!" Elara said looking at us.
"Of course!" I smiled.
"Okay!" she said and pointed a stick on the ground and a moment later it levitated.
"How did you learn to do that?" I asked looking at her.
"It's a standard power on KO-35." Zhane replied and levitated an apple from the table towards his hand before taking a bite.
"Hey! Did we miss a party?"
All of us turned and saw a group of people about our age. They wore suits like ours but they were the same silvery gray as Andros's outfit. They walked over and Andros turned to us.
"This is our team of Rangers. This is Steven our Red Ranger, May-Lily our Yellow Ranger, Tyson our Black Ranger, Heather our Pink Ranger and William our Blue Ranger. Guys these are the teams from Earth; The Ninja Rangers, the Ninjetti Rangers and Space Patrol Delta." Andros introduced us.
"Nice to meet you." Heather smiled, her icy eyes shimmering in the dying sun.
"So when do we leave Andros?" Steven asked.
"Actually now. You guys have to get a move on. Staying here too long isn't smart. Who knows where Zard is or what's he's doing." Andros said.
"It's a good thing we brought our stuff with us." Tyson smiled.
"Well it was nice meeting all of you." Karone said and hugged each of us.
"Please send Justin my love and tell him how proud I am that he became a teacher. I'm sure he's amazing." Ashley said hugging us.
"Do you have to go already?!" Astrid whined.
"I'm sorry but we do. We have to go stop a bad guy from hurting people." I replied.
"Oh. Okay." Elana said sadly.
"How would you guys like to see a real life space ship?" Zhane said out of nowhere.
"CAN WE?! CAN WE DAD?!" Artemis asked looking at Andros.
Andros shot Zhane a look which Zhane returned.
"We have to check out the ship for glitches anyhow remember?" Zhane said to his friend.
Andros sighed, "Fine but you're not to touch anything unless you ask. Understand?"
All three of the kids nodded and with final goodbyes to Ashley and Karone we all set off for the Megaship.
Astrid seemed to have taking a liking to me because she kept a tight grip on my hand the whole way there. Elara kept hold of Tasha just as tight and Artemis stayed firmly planted at Ethan's side.
When we got to the Megaship all the kids looked up in awe.
"C'mon you wanna go inside?" I asked and Astrid eagerly nodded.
I picked her up and balanced her on my hip before walking in. We took the kids to the base first and let them watch for a few moments while Andros and Zhane began to fiddle around with different buttons.
After they grew bored of all the flashing lights we showed them the Synthetron and gave them each taste of a grape from it. After that Ethan, Tasha and I took the kids down to the SimuDeck to look around, leaving the other Rangers to their own devices.
"This is where we train?" May-Lily asked speaking for the first time.
While we showed the ship to the kids the KO-35 Rangers had followed us around as well.
"Yeah we can simulate any situation that you want. We have a schedule that we all sign up on each day." Ethan replied.
"We go by team and individual. The teams get it from 6 in the morning until noon and then after noon its individuals." Drake said.
"The sign up sheet is right by the door." I replied.
"Can we try the simulator?" Astrid asked.
"Hmm…D.E.C.A?" I asked.
"Yes Izzy?" she replied.
"Do we have a Simulation that is child friendly?" I asked.
"We do. Simulation #123" D.E.C.A replied.
"Right. Load Simulation #123." I said.
"Before this starts though you're going to need morphers. Hold your wrist out Artemis." Ethan said and took off his morpher and knelt down beside Artemis, strapped it to his smaller wrist.
Smiling I took my Morpher off the back of my pants and handed it to Astrid while Tasha did the same.
"All you need to do is say 'Go Morpher!' and you'll be a Power Ranger!" I smiled at them.
"Okay!" they all cheered.
The simulation started and we stood off to the side and watched as the kids fought little mini monsters. None were too scary looking and the kids didn't seem to be too scared.
Once the simulation was over we took them to Megadeck 2 to see our rooms. We showed the KO-35 Rangers where they could stay before heading to Tasha and I's room since Nathan had decided to crash in his and Ethan's.
"I wanna be a Power Ranger just like you!" Artemis said looking at Ethan.
"Really?" Ethan smiled.
"Yeah but I wanna be Blue." he said.
Ethan looked a little taken aback but shrugged.
"I wanna be a Power Ranger too! I wanna be purple!" Elara said.
"You can't be purple! There's no Purple Power Ranger!" Astrid replied.
"Uh-huh! I can be any color I want!" Elara replied.
"Nuh-uh!" Astrid snapped.
"Uh-huh!" Elara yelled even louder.
"Hey! Hey! Let's not fight! You're both right." I replied and knelt down so I could look both of the girls who were feuding in the midst of Tasha and I's room.
"Most of the time there isn't a Purple Ranger." I said looking at Elara.
"HA!" Astrid said and stuck her tongue out at her cousin.
"But you never know…there could one day be a Purple Power Ranger and you could be it." I smiled.
"Really?" Elara asked.
"Yes." I nodded.
"Then can I be the Rainbow Ranger?" Astrid asked.
"Anything is possible." I smiled.
"Okay kids it's time to go. The others have to get going." Andros said walking into the room.
"Aww." they all sighed.
"Wait…Andros give us a second." I replied and hurried over to the wardrobe.
From the back I pulled out my laptop, portable printer and my camera.
I took a picture of Ethan and Artemis, Tasha and Elara and Astrid and I. After the photos were taken I printed them off and grabbed a pair of scissors from beside my bed. I snipped each photo in half and gave the kids the half that had either me, Ethan or Tasha in it.
"I promise that we'll see each other again okay? Until we do though you keep this picture of us and we'll each keep one of you. Then the next time we see each other we'll put it back together again and it will be whole. Sound okay?" I asked.
"Yeah!" Astrid smiled.
"Good. Now I think it's time to go." I said.
"Bye Izzy." Astrid said and wrapped her arms around me.
I smiled and hugged her back as Ethan and Tasha hugged Artemis and Elara. With a wave they left. Once they were a safe distance from the ship Ethan guided it off of KO-35.
When we were able to move around I decided that I would go find out what Lara was up to. Kiera was on the SimuDeck training, Aria was playing virtual checkers with Sebastian and the new girls were busy settling in. Tasha had gone to bed early, still tired from the rude awakening that had taken place that morning. I just hoped that Andros had fixed whatever issue had gone on.
I found her in her room. I knocked on the doorframe of the open door and Lara jumped.
"Oh! I didn't realize I forgot to shut the door." she smiled guiltily as she shoved something under her pillow, her eyes were puffy and red like she'd been crying.
"What are you hiding?" I asked.
"N-Nothing." she replied waving her hand as if to wave the issue away.
"And why do you look like you've been crying? Lara…what's wrong?" I asked.
Lara sighed, "If I tell you, you have to swear that you won't tell anyone."
"I swear." I replied and hit the button to slide the door closed before walking over and sitting beside her.
"I was hiding this." she replied and from under her pillow pulled out a stack of photos which she handed to me.
My eyes widened as I looked through them. All of them were of her and Hunter; him with his arms around her waist, her head rested in the crook of his neck half asleep while he snapped the photo, one of them kissing while she held the camera out so the photo could be taken. There were around 20 of them, all with just her and Hunter.
"You and Hunter are dating?" I asked.
She smiled and shook her head. Before I could ask if they had broken up she reached into the neck of her shirt and pulled out a thin silver chain. Hanging on the chain was a beautiful diamond ring.
"Oh. My. God! Are you engaged or married?" I asked.
"Just engaged right now." she smiled.
"When!?" I asked.
"Well we were dating for about a year when he proposed. We didn't mean to fall for each other you know? I mean he was like 27 and I was 17 and it was illegal since I was underage. But it happened and the day I turned 18 he proposed."
"I woke up and there was this scroll resting on my nightstand. I opened it and it was a map. I followed it to this gorgeous waterfall that Hunter had found randomly one day. We had a picnic and went swimming and when we climbed out of the water he handed me this heart shaped box like you get on Valentine's Day and inside in the center was the ring box with this in it." she smiled looking at the ring.
"Okay but why can't I tell anyone?" I asked.
"Because if Sensei found out he'd flip! He's really strict about dating when you teach at the same school. And on top of all that if he wasn't already strict about that he'd flip his top if he found out that we were dating BEFORE I became a teacher. Right now we're just keeping it a secret until all of this gets settled and we can figure out just how to tell everyone." she replied.
"Oh! Okay! Gotcha! My lips are sealed!" I swore.
"I love him so much though Izzy and I totally miss him." she sighed.
"It'll be okay. We'll be home before we know it." I said and pulled her into a hug.
"You don't know how lucky you are Izzy. I know that you aren't together with him but you have Nathan here. From what Daphne has told me I just know that you're going to get back together. You're too perfect together to stay apart. It'll just take some time." Lara said as she sat with her head on my shoulder.
I left Lara's room a while later and my mind was buzzing. Her words kept ringing true in my mind and all I could think about was Nathan. I missed him so much. I missed how close we had been. We were friends now but there was that barrier there that I hated. It kept us from being real friends.
That's when everything became straight in my head. Drake was sweet and kind and nearly almost everything I wanted when I looked for a guy. However he didn't have one thing.
He wasn't Nathan.
He never could be.
As the realization that I needed Nathan back hit me I hurried to find him. I knocked on his door but there was no answer. I hit the button to open the door but the room was empty.
"Damn it." I cursed and set off to find him.
As I walked down the hall I spotted Drake walking towards me.
"Drake! Have you seen Nathan?" I asked.
"Yeah I think he had training after Kiera. I think he went down to the SimuDeck." he replied.
"Thanks!" I replied and headed for the elevator.
I climbed on and hit the button for the SimuDeck. It seemed to take forever to decent those 3 floors but finally it stopped and the doors slid open. I was careful to walk quietly. I didn't want to startle him since he was training. Simulation or not he could still hurt himself even if the monsters couldn't.
I could hear noise coming from inside the SimuDeck but it didn't sound like any simulation I'd heard before. Wondering what Simulation he was working under I slipped up to the door and peered through the small window.
Suddenly my heart stopped and my stomach fell to my feet.
Nathan was in the simulation room but there wasn't a simulation running and he wasn't alone.
Leaning against the wall, just out of sight of D.E.C.A's cameras, were Nathan and Kiera. His hands were tangled in her crimson hair as their lips moved against one another's in a passionate manner. They were making out.
Stifling a sob that threatened to break out of my throat I hurried away from the door and back to the elevator. I managed to keep it together the whole way to MegaDeck 2 and all the way to my room. It wasn't until I collapsed on the floor of the bathroom that I finally allowed the sobs to escape my body as I cried for my broken heart.
