Disclaimer: I do not own the franchise, but I do own this team.
*Italic indicates thought
' ' indicates Zach using sign language
Episode IV: Watch Me
Chapter Two: Blue Ranger Blues
A/N: Hello people of Earth! Thank you to everyone who read the story! Please review! Pretty please with Morphers on top! And...commence reading!
"You are not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have." -Oscar Pistorius
Back at the dojo Zach watched was Sensei inspected Miley's wrist. "It's just a small sprain," he told her.
"It feels like its broken."
"It will for a while. Just take some aspirin tonight."
"Ok," she said.
Chiron turned his attention to Zach. "How's your head?"
Zach gave the other two a look. 'You told him?'
"Yes, they told me."
'It feels fine. It went away a while ago."
"Does anything else hurt?"
Zach shook his head. 'Sensei, the monster said his name was Polyphemus. That name sounds so familiar."
"It should," Sensei said. "Have any of you read the Odyssey?"
"I think I did," Kyle said. "In freshman year, but I don't remember anything about it."
Chiron went over to the monitors and they'd something in. He brought a picture of the monster. "This is Polyphemus. He's a cyclopes."
"I've heard of them," Miley said. "Aren't they half godly?"
"Yes. Much like you three they have the blood of the gods."
"I think that comparing us to them is more like apples and oranges."
"True," Sensei said.
"So who is Polyphemus's parent?"
"Poseidon."
An odd sort of silence gripped them. Zach felt like he was going to faint. 'Poseidon...as in my father...Poseidon?'
"Yes."
"He moved weirdly," Miley said moving the uncomfortable topic away from Zach. "His eye was all messed up."
Sensei typed something in and made a close up of his eye. "That's because when he crossed paths with Odysseus he was blinded."
"If he's blind, then how does he fight?" Kyle asked.
"There are ways to fight with disabilities," Sensei said. "You three of all people should should know that."
"Yeah," Miley said, "but if he's blind, then it'll be easier to defeat him."
"Definitely," Kyle agreed. "We'll defeat him with our superior eye sight."
Zach just stood there uncomfortably. He looked at the ground and shifted his feet. Sensei noticed the change in his demeanor. "Go home," he told them. "Get some rest. You can strategize tomorrow."
"Right," Kyle said. "We'll see you later. " he grabbed his bag and headed out,.
"Bye, Zach," Miley's said, before following Kyle out.
Zach grabbed his duffel bag and his his schools bag. He turned around a jumped out of his skin when he saw that Sensei was standing behind him. 'You scared me,' he signed.
"Are you ok Zach?"
'Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?'
"I thought you might be bothered by some of the comments Miley and Kyle made."
'No. I'm fine.'
"Zach, you're truly remarkable given your situation. You know that?"
'Yeah. I have to go. I have homework to do.'
"Ok. See you tomorrow Zach."
'Bye. See you.' Zach left the dojo and headed for home. He walked through the streets, careful to stick to the side walks. He kept looking around constantly. If a skateboarder or some thing went by he would need to move, and would only be able to see them. He turned down his street and walked up to his front door. He unlocked it and went in.
He walked into the kitchen and picked up a note. Zach, I'm working late. Dinner's in the fridge. Love you. he sighed. Of course she is. He went upstairs to his room and dumped his stuff at the foot of his bed. He pulled his binder out of his bag and put it on his bed. He grabbed headphones and plugged them into his stereo. He put a cd in and turned up the volume. He has these cool headphones where you could blare the music and no one could hear it. He put them on his chest and sat on his bed and started his homework.
Being deaf he obviously couldn't hear music, but if there was a deep bass sound, or if the music was loud enough he could feel the vibrations in his chest. So the volume on his iPod and stereo were always turned up to the max volume. He smiled and began to do his pre-calculus homework as the beats thumped through his body. After a few minutes he tossed his book aside and shut the music off. He paced around his room, his mind traveling a hundred miles an hour.
He stopped by the tank of his pet turtle, Triton. He smiled as he peered in at his small green friend. 'Hey buddy. What's up?' Triton stared at him. He blinked in response. 'I know. Life must be boring as a turtle. You should try being a deaf demigod. It's a lot more interesting. Always having to prove yourself. Always doubting yourself. Feeling bad because you can't pick up your part of the slack.'
He stopped as Titan blinked again, then appeared to nod. 'You agree don't you? I mean...I know I've been able to do things that are...different...but I can't do a lot. I just wish I could do things the way everyone else does.' Tian looked at him then retreated into his shell. Good talk buddy. Good talk.
The next day before soccer practice Zach dribbled the ball up the field. He did a trick with his feet and shot the ball into the net. He ran to get it. He retrieved it and turned around.
"You got skills," Steven said, now showing Zach he was there. "Coach should put you on the offensive."
'Yeah sure,' Zach signed after he dropped the ball and passed it to Steven. 'I'm pretty sure there's a reason I'm stuck in the goal.'
"You don't like being goalie?"
'I do. I just miss doing foot stuff.'
"Being the goalie is a very important job. You're our last line of defense. And your really good at it, which is good because its a pretty high-pressure job."
'I'm sure the other positions are high-pressure too.'
"You sound like, coach. He's a real hard-ass when it comes to some of this stuff. I can tell you, one of the advantages of being deaf is you can't hear him yelling."
'I can still read his lips and see what he's saying.'
"Not during a game. He makes a high pressure situation even worse."
'Nice.'
The was silence for a few minutes as the two of them passed the ball back and forth. A friendly bit of competitiveness started to show around them as they did trick footwork. Steven laughed. "You're not bad Zach. You know you're the coolest deaf guy I know."
'How many deaf people do you know?'
"Well you. But I also have a cousin about my age who's deaf."
'Really?'
"Yeah. That's how I learned sign language. He's nothing like you though."
'What you mean?'
"I mean, look at you. You try to communicate with others, you've figured out a way to enjoy things like music and tv, you play on a varsity team. My cousin, he just sits around saying he can't do anything."
'Really?'
"Yeah. I love him to death, but it's cool how you don't let something as silly as not being able to hear hold you back."
Zach blushed. More players came over. Zach left to put on his goalie gear, stripping his shirt off as he did.
After practice Zach and Miley made their way to the dojo. When they arrived Kyle was pacing back and forth.
"What's up?" Miley asked.
"I've been trying to think of a way beat this guy," Kyle said.
"Please tell me you weren't thinking about this all day."
"I was. Well, not at football practice. I managed to keep my head on sports then."
Miley sighed. "I thought about it all last night. There has to be someway we can exploit his blindness."
"If only we knew how he fought," Kyle said. He thought of something. "Hey Zach," he said turning to the blue ranger. "You know a lot another fighting with disabilities. Can you think of anyway we can beat him?"
Zach rubbed his forehead. 'Actually I don't, because I'm deaf, not blind.'
Kyle blinked. "You know what, forget I asked. I'll never be able to understand what you're saying."
Zach stared him angrily. 'Fine.'
Sensei came down from the actual dojo. "Have you figured anything out yet?"
"No," Miley said. "I don't get it. To should be easy to beat someone with such an obvious disadvantage."
Zach balled his fists. 'Well its not! Having a disability isn't the end of the world you know! There are ways around it! You don't have to be a perfectly functioning person to know how to fight, or even do it well!' He ran up the stairs and out of the dojo.
Miley and Kyle looked at each other, then at Sensei. He sighed and shook his head. "I do believe you two need to talk to Zach."
"About what?" Kyle asked.
"About what he just said." Sensei told them what Zach had signed just before he left. "I think you two need to rethink what you've said."
"I guess we really hurt his feelings," Kyle said.
"You need to remember that even though he's very confident, Zach still has some insecurities when it comes to certain things."
"I guess we really didn't think about his feelings," Miley said. "We need to find him."
A second later the alarms went off. "That'll have to wait," Sensei said. "It appears the monster has returned."
"Call Zach and tell him where," Kyle said.
"Kyle," Sensei said. "According to this, Zach is already there."
"What?" Miley asked. "He's facing the monster alone? We have to help him."
"Come on," Kyle said. "Let's go give him a hand."
