A/N: Next chapter! Sorry for the late update. I'm also sorry if the characters still seem OOC. I'm trying my best.
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or the Super Sentai references, sadly. They belong to their respective owners.
~PRLG~PRLG~PRLG~PRLG~PRLG~
"When Emma is meets a man led astray, she seeks a way to turn his life around."
Power Rangers: Legendary Guardians
Episode 11: The Good Samaritan
March 3, 2016
Emma skips along the path in the city park. She's on her way to the grocery store, hunting for ingredients to bake some pastries for her friends.
It's a generally peaceful day. The sun is out. People are outside. No Armada ship is on radar, at least, there wasn't when Emma left the base.
Emma is very happy about these facts, so much so that she's started skipping down the concrete path in the park.
At least, until she hears someone crying.
Her heart immediately goes out to whoever is sad. No one should be sad.
She was sad once (depressed was more like it), when her mom died, and she doesn't want anyone else to go through what she did as a kid.
Emma quickly locates the person in distress, despite the fact that he's hiding behind a tree. Once she has a visual on him, she slowly walks over to him, her grocery shopping completely forgotten.
"Hey," she softly says, and the guy immediately looks up at her with a deer-in-the-headlights look, wipes his almost-nonexistent tears away, and pretends like nothing is wrong.
"H-Hey," he stutters. He's a black-haired man, Asian ethnicity, as tall as her, around his late teens, early twenties.
Emma merely smiles at him, one hand on her pocket, the other resting gently on the tree beside them. "Don't worry. I won't bite. Do you need a shoulder to cry on?"
The young man pauses, pondering over her offer, before replying, "I guess I could use someone to talk to. Do you mind?"
"Do you think I'd be asking if I did?"
Emma makes a valid point, the man decides, and finally begins, a bit hesitantly, like he's reluctant to burden her with his problems.
"I am Joshua Hizashi. I just got fired from a job that I really need."
"You mind telling me why you need it?" Emma gently urges him to continue when he pauses again.
"My family is low on cash, and ever since my mother passed away five months ago from breast cancer, I've been the only source of income."
Emma feels a huge bout of sympathy and empathy, together, leave her. She glances down at the necklace he's wearing. It's a square pendant, white background with a Japanese kanji on it, all hooked onto a worn-out, leather string.
"Is that…a keepsake from your mom?"Emma asks, motioning towards the necklace.
Joshua follows her gaze. "Yeah, on this side is the kanji for love." He turned it over to reveal another kanji on the other side of the pendant, "And this is the kanji for family. Both were things she believed in, and…passed down to all of us."
"I know how you feel," Emma confesses, a large wave of sadness washing over her. "My mother died in a car crash when I was eight, and she gave me this necklace," she motioned the gold necklace around her neck, "just two days earlier, on my birthday."
"I'm so sorry," Josh immediately apologizes.
"It's alright. You have nothing to be sorry for–"
However, Emma is cut off by a strange voice. "But you will be sorry for interrupting this little business call."
Emma's head immediately turned to see an Armada Action Commander, along with a group of X-Borgs, standing there in front of her and Josh, and people from all over the park making a break for it.
Instinctively, Emma steps in front of Josh. "What do you want?" she demands.
"I am Action Commander Zaggai, and I want his necklace," Zaggai points to the necklace around Josh's neck, the latter of whom immediately wraps his hand around the pendant.
"Why?" Emma asks, her tough side creeping out.
"Its pendant is worth a fortune in Armada currency, not to mention in Earth currency as well," Zaggai informs, and Emma and Josh are automatically quiet. "If you just hand it over to me, I will leave you alone."
"Why do you want it so bad?" Emma asks, attempting to ignore the emotional connection Josh has with it.
"I just told you, for the pendant. It's made from a very special space rock, apparently, from long ago." Emma didn't buy that. The Armada must have been misinformed or something.
"No, I won't give it up," Josh's defiant voice cuts through Emma's train of thought. "I won't care if it's some special asteroid or whatever. It's the only piece of my mother I have left!"
She can't morph here. She's around a civilian, no matter how much danger Josh is in. But these guys will kill him if she doesn't do something.
Zaggai shortly pauses, before drawing his weapon, "then I'll crawl over your cold corpses to retrieve it."
Josh immediately shudders in fright, before Emma grabs a hold of his wrist, pulling out her gun and blasting at Zaggai and his troops, before pulling him away.
After quickly recovering from Emma's shots, Zaggai and his troops chase after them as they run toward the city.
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Tommy led Ziggy, TJ, and Emily to the city park, where the Armada was spotted on sensors. But they stopped upon an empty park.
"Fan out," Tommy ordered. "Search for any sign that the Armada was here."
As the guys did as Tommy said, Emily pulled out her morpher and called the base, "K, are you sure the Armada was here?"
"Positive. Energy signatures indicate that they were rampaging there just moments ago," K replies.
"Well, they're not here," Emily points out. "Can sensors tell us anything else?"
"Hold on," K informs them, as Emily puts the call on speakerphone. After a short pause, K tells them, "Energy readings also indicate that Emma was there the same time the Armada attacked…"
Emily glances up at the three males, all sharing the same thought. Emma was not here either. What could have happened?
"Could Emma have been…?" Emily cut herself off.
"Kidnapped by the Armada?" Ziggy continues.
"Possibly," Tommy says. "It would make sense."
"But for what? Ransom?" TJ asks them.
Tommy shakes his head. "No idea. K, find Emma's current location."
"Already on it." After another pause, K tells them the results of her research. "She's in the city, running down Main Street. She's morphed, and she has a civilian with her, and the Armada is on her tail. She shouldn't be that hard to spot."
"Let's go," Tommy gives the simple order, and they chase after Emma, their morphers and keys in hand.
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Emma and Josh immediately grind to a halt when they run into a dead end. "Crud," Emma curses, before she and Josh turn around to face Zaggai and his troops, closing in on them.
"Fire Style," Zaggai announces, powering up for his attack, "Flame Explosion!" Green beams of light shoot at them and explode as they land around the two.
Emma immediately covers Josh to shield him from the attack.
"What do you think of my fighting style?" Zaggai asks.
Emma turns back around, fully morphed. "Legendary Ranger Mode!" She inwardly thanks Gosei or whoever invented morphing, because her morph just now blocked her and Josh from getting hurt by Zaggai's bombs.
"What?!" Zaggai demands.
Josh barely has time to register his shock before Emma jumps up and blasts her gun at Zaggai a few times. Each shot hits their targets, but it's not enough to beat him. He sends his green beam bombs at her again, causing her to fall in front of Josh.
However, she quickly gets back up, kneeling in front of Josh, protecting him.
"Ready to surrender already?" Zaggai asks.
"Nope, ready to escape!" Emma corrects him. "Legendary Ranger Mode! Pink Pteradactyl Ranger Power!"
As Mighty Morphin Pink, Emma uses her Power Bow to fire a few shots at him, more powerful than her Legendary Gun. The small explosion caused by her arrows gives her enough time to morph again.
"Legendary Ranger Mode! Go, Go, Megaforce!"
Emma uses her old Megaforce powers to use the Windrive card and its wind to transport her and Josh away.
~P~O~W~E~R~~R~A~N~G~E~R~S~~L~E~G~E~N~D~A~R~Y~~G~U~A~R~D~I~A~N~S~
"You're the Pink Legend Ranger," Josh mutters for the hundredth time in those ten minutes the two have been hiding from Zaggai.
Emma is de-morphed, desperately hoping the others are on their way. Why hasn't she called them yet? Oh, yeah, the Armada could probably trace her call and easily locate her.
"Yes," Emma replies. "I am the Pink Legendary Ranger. But please keep that information a secret."
"Sure, sure…oh, why is this day filled with such bad luck?" Josh asks her, almost in despair.
Emma kneels in front of him, and places both hands on his shoulders. "Hey, hey, don't cry. Things will get better, I promise." Josh glances up at her, surprised to see a smile on her face. "Maybe not right away, but I assure you, they do."
"How can you smile after you lose someone? After we were just attacked by the Armada?" Josh asks, really wanting to know the answer.
"Because that's what my mom would want me to do," is Emma's answer. "She always believed that one little smile can make anyone's day, that one random act of kindness can turn anyone's life around. That's why I smile so much. I smile, so other people can find reason to smile too."
Emma offers Josh one more gentle smile, and this time, he smiles back.
"I doubt you'll find a reason to smile once I'm through with you two!"
Zaggai was back, along with his X-Borg troops.
"Because today is my lucky day. I'm getting the space rock and the head of a wanted prisoner of the Armada! Once I have both of you in my possession, you can join all of your Ranger friends, Pink Ranger!"
Emma's fists immediately clench. Just the thought of that day, of The Taking, is enough to make her blood boil.
Josh, however, catches this. 'All of your Ranger friends…' Emma here lost her team to the Armada, and yet she still finds reason to smile.
That was strong.
But right as Zaggai and his troops charged, a couple shots from a gun stopped him in his tracks. Both Emma and Josh looked up to see Tommy's gun smoking.
"Stop right there, Armada Scum," Tommy announced the arrival of him and the other three, unmorphed, with their weapons out. "You really didn't think you could get away with kidnapping one of our own, did you?"
"Nice try~" Ziggy sings.
"We'll always find you," TJ adds, his grip on his Saber tightening.
"Emma, you okay?" Emily asks. Emma nods, smiling up at them.
"Kidnapping? I don't know what you're talking about! X-Borgs!" Zaggai yells. "Attack!"
"Sorry, Emma," Emily quickly holds up her Saber. "We gotta take care of a pest problem first. Just hold on."
Tommy uses both his Saber and his Gun on his little group, while TJ and Emily both uses their Sabers, and Ziggy uses his Gun, along with a mixture of his own style of martial arts. And Emma and Josh watch as the four quickly take care of more than half the X-Borgs.
When they re-group, Emma joins them. "You hurt, Emma?" Ziggy asks, as she joins the group in her usual spot in the line-up.
"No, I'm fine. Thanks for asking."
TJ and Tommy quickly turn to Zaggai. "You really think you could get away with kidnapping Emma?" TJ asks.
"No matter what you do, we'll never pay whatever ransom you put on Emma's head," Ziggy adds.
"What? What are you talking about?" Zaggai asks. "What ransom?"
"Don't play dumb!" Emily orders.
"No, I'm really not," Zaggai quickly states. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Enough talk," Emma quickly says aloud, not wanting Josh to get confused for kidnapping her. If anything, she kidnapped him, but Zaggai was their enemy, and as long as he was being blamed, he was going down anyways. "Let's go, guys. It's Morphin' Time!"
"Legendary Ranger Mode!"
"Legendary Red!"
"Legendary Blue!"
"Legendary Yellow!"
"Legendary Green!"
"Legendary Pink!"
"Power Rangers: Legendary Guardians!"
Emma is the first to draw her Saber and Gun. "Let's go!" And the others followed her straight into the fight.
They're more powerful when morphed, and Emily feels the need to switch her Gun with another Saber. Emma is more than happy to switch with her.
Emily, after combining both Sabers into a Saber-Staff, is able to dispatch her group of X-Borgs more quickly than before.
Somehow, Emma feels safer with two Guns, instead of one Gun and one Saber. She can't explain it. Must have something to do with her original Megaforce powers.
When Josh cries out, Emma quickly glances over and sees that he is being attacked by X-Borgs, so she quickly goes over and shots all the X-Borgs that surround him.
After successfully getting rid of them all, Emma kneels beside him again. "Are you okay?" Josh nods. "Stay here, okay?" He nods again and watches as she runs off to rejoin the fight.
Zaggai screams aloud in frustration when the Rangers destroy all of the X-Borgs in one giant explosion.
"Damn you Rangers!"
"All that's left is the leader," Emily points one end of her Saber-Staff at him.
"Woah, woah, woah! Time out! I never touched the Pink Ranger, right?"
Emma merely shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Damn you, Pink…you liar!"
"Shut up!" After Tommy blasts Zaggai with his Gun a few times, the Action Commander suddenly sounds out his green beam bombs again, this time, sending all five Rangers to the ground.
"What's what you get, you liars!" Zaggai is still mad.
Emma presses the button over her belt buckle again. "Let's go Legendary, guys!"
"Legendary Ranger Mode! Go, Galactic!"
Now, morphed into the Lost Galaxy Rangers, the five unsheathe their Quasar Sabers and engage Zaggai.
He meets them halfway, and the five attack him with their sabers. After a short struggle, when he sees he's about to lose, he quickly spins around, creating a whirlwind surrounding him.
"Red Fire Power!"
"Blue Water Power!"
"Yellow Lightning Power!"
"Green Wind Power!"
"Pink Flower Power!"
The five Rangers use their individual elemental attacks to counter it. The five combined attacks push Zaggai back. When he lands, the five Rangers rush back to meet him before he can attack them again.
They attack him once again, one by one.
"Fire Slash!"
"Water Slash!"
"Lightning Slash!"
"Wind Slash!"
"Flower Slash!"
Not giving him the time to rest, the five Rangers morph back into their default forms, and pull out their Legendary keys and place them into the slots of their Guns.
"Legendary Gun Flare! Charging! Final Strike!"
Zaggai sees no more that day.
Emma turns to her four teammates. "Thank you, guys."
"No problem," Ziggy replies, right before Zaggai grows ten stories taller.
"Damn! They sure are persistent," Emma complains.
Tommy doesn't say anything, only pressing in the code to summon the Galleon.
Josh watches, intrigued, as the Rangers form the Legendary Megazord.
"Just watch, Rangers! I destroy you with my explosive technique!"
They're hit with Zaggai's green beam bombs again, but they refuse to back down.
"We've got an explosive technique too!" Emily counters, inserting her Yellow SPD key into her slot.
"Legendary SPD Megazord! Ready!"
With this Megazord Mode, the Rangers easily dodge and counter his green beam attacks, and fire their Guns at him with all their might.
Zaggai lands on the ground, in pain, but it's still not enough to beat him.
"We need something else," Emma informs them.
"I got it!" Tommy quickly comes up with an idea. "Ranger Key, Set!"
"Red Lion!" Tommy holds up another red key, and once again, they insert their keys into the slots.
"Legendary Samurai Megazord! Ready!"
Zaggai gets mad, again. "Just give me that space rock!"
"Never!" Emma cries out, and the Megazord blocks Zaggai's attack, and after sending a few more strikes at him with their double edged sword, he's had enough.
"Legendary Fire Smasher! Samurai Final Strike!"
And Zaggai is never seen or heard from again
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"I'm really sorry to have dragged you into this," Emma apologizes, honestly, to Josh.
"It's alright. I'll keep your secret," Josh quickly forgives her. "Thank you for protecting me. From now on, I'll do my best to smile for others. Just like you."
Emma immediately blushes. "Just like me?"
"You do your best to make sure other people are happy, when you have so much to be sad about. The Armada, your mom, all of your prisoner friends…"
"Wha…?" But she sees where he's going with this, and she understands. And she smiles. "Thank you."
"I hope you're able to find and rescue them," Josh reassures her, using her own words, as he turns to leave. "Things will get better. They always do."
Emma's smile grows wider as she and the other four Rangers watch him walk away.
Because one door never closes without another opening right after.
~PRLG~PRLG~PRLG~PRLG~PRLG~
Somewhat based off of Gokaiger 13: Tell Me the Way
Note: All of what Emma says about her mom is mainly my headcanons, so please, bear with me. Also, the necklace I'm talking about, for Emma, is the one she wears in Megaforce.
A/N: Do review, please. If you guys have any ideas you want me to consider adding, please PM me. A preview for the next chapter:
Episode 12: "Traffic Jam"
"The Rangers meet a familiar face they can't really put a name to, just as Levira mysteriously falls in love with this said stranger."