APRIL 5; 2017

ANGEL GROVE

It had been a month since they became rangers and defeated Rita Repulsa... a few weeks since they completely eliminated what was left of Goldar and came in contact with A.P.E.X ... Life went on. It was their new normal now. Battling paranormal threats in colour coded skin fitting alien armour. It was the weirdest thing that'd happened to them but it had changed them for the better.

Trini smiled dodging another blow from the simulation putty. Training was progressing as usual. Zack complained it was unnecessary given that they were nearly impossible to beat with their powers, but it kept them in top physical shape and gave them an excuse to hang out with one another.

Kim shouted, launching a flurry of kicks at her opponent, knocking it down. Jason, Zack and Billy were already done with their training.

Trini charged forwards, ramming the putty to the wall, watching as it disintegrated.

"Great. Another day of gruesome training over." Zack smiled, highfiving Billy.

"Oh, chin up, Zman. You know you love it." Trini punched his shoulder.

"I know I love you." He smiled widely at her, flashing his sparkling teeth.

"Aww... I love you too." She said, ruffling his hair. "Seriously, I am flattered but you know I prefer girls, right."

"Yeah, crazy girl. Just messin' with ya." He smiled, kissing her forehead.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt the lovefest here. But if you guys wanted to be part of a Disney movie this bad, we should've gone to watch Beauty and the Beast-" Kim said, blowing out her bubblegum.

"I still can't believe you're a sucker for disney movies, Kim. You look far too edgy for that." Jason said jokingly.

"Who says Disney and edgy can't go together ?" Kim pouted at him.

"Everyone ?" Jason smirked at her.

"Seriously, you guys need to get a room. All this passive aggressive flirting is grossing me out." Trini stuck put her tongue at the two.

"What ?" Jason and Kim drew back from each other. "We're not flirting."

"Yeah, definitely." Kim nodded her head quickly.

"You're cute." Zack smiled. "Yo, Billy. Were Jason and Kim flirting right now ?"

"No, I suppose not." Billy looked at them. Jason smiled at him and Kim gave him a thumbs up. "See he gets us-"

"But they are dating."

At that moment, Trini and Zack burst into laughter while Kim facepalmed. Jason stood shocked for a second before joining in the laughter.

"Was it something I said ?" Billy asked innocently.

"No, bro." Trini smiled, putting an arm around him. "You just exposed their secret."

"Well, it wasn't a secret. You two were making lovey dovey looks at each other for weeks." Zack said.

"Yeah. You caught us." Kim said dryly. "We're kissing, holding hands and hooking up."

"We wanted it to be a secret so as to not mess up the group dynamics." Jason supplied.

"Stop using big words, boss. More like you wanted to escape the merciless teasing." Trini smirked, crossing her arms.

"So what's your shipping name- Jimberly, Kason, Jasim, Jasberly ?" Billy asked.

"I think Jasberly is the most wierd." Zack said." That's totally your couple name."

Jason and Kim openly gaped at them.

"How do we know these people ?" Kim asked Jason.

"We met when we met at a mining site, found five glowing coins, jumped off a cliff and found an alien ship with an alien and a robot." Trini supplied.

"We're screwed." Jason said as the other three giggled at their expense.

MOON

Rita floated endlessly, her powers and magic preserving her and protecting her in the vacuum of space.

While her body was immobile, her mind was not. She reached out to the Astral Plane and sought out her mentor - the one who persuaded her to betray her team and showed her the truth of the universe that there is no good or evil, only the strong and the weak.

The reason she'd waited till now was because of her own greed. She didn't want to share the power of the zeo crystal with anyone, much less someone already stronger than her. Now she'd little choice left.

Rita Revilo

A chilling cold voice resonated in her head. She felt herself unable to speak as he ravaged through her memories. As much as she hated it, she needed his help. So she expressed nothing while he violated her memories and her emotions.

"Zordon, judge me ?" It was her own voice filled with anger and arrogance...

I expected you to be better than this. You let your anger blind you. You let your hubris doom you to a fate worse than death.

She tried to speak back but didn't because it was the truth.

Do you still have the coin ?

She nodded. The coin had been split from her staff but it was right beside her, her magic enclosing her and the broken pieces of her staff in a protective air bubble.

Good. I am lending you my powers. Don't disappoint me. Choose a successor for your coin.

Rita didn't want to part with her coin or her ranger powers. However the tables have turned. Even with them, she can never access the full extent of her ranger form. The green coin had been disconnected from the other coins when she betrayed her team, weakening it. She needed to find an alternate source of power for it. Either way, the grid would reject her attempts to morph again. She needed a pawn... someone noble of intent... someone she could easily manipulate.

Yes . She replied to the voice inside her head. Save me from this state and I will be your herald, like you asked of me all those eons ago.

Red demonic energy flowed into her body, twisting her armour. Her black hair became silver and her sclera became black and her irises became dark red. Her armour turned crimson. Her skin became chalk white and lips bloody red. Her nails extended. Gold from her staff circled her before fusing with her new armour. A cape flowed out from her armour at the level of her waist.

A new staff appeared. It was wooden except for the top, which was in the shape of an arc and a red gem was inbetween the arc, completing a circle.

You are now linked to me. Destroy the rangers, capture the zeo crystal and free me from my prison. Then you can rule beside me as my queen.

Rita smiled as she grabbed her new staff in one hand and her old coin in the other.

"Gladly, Emperor Shadam." She smiled. "Zordon and his pesky power brats won't know what hit them when I come back."

The bubble burst and a black spell seal enveloped her.

Stone Canyon

The Olivers were a close knit family with two kids, one of whom was adopted. They lived in the family mansion with their extended family.

Jade Oliver looked at her husband, Frank and then to her mother in law. They were childhood sweethearts. Their grandparents were good friends and had migrated from Japan to America together.

"This is the last straw." Jade said, glaring at her mother in law.

"What do you mean ?" Miyuki asked.

"We're moving out of here. Both of us got very good job offers in Angel Grove months ago. The only reason we didn't go was to be here with family. But after this, we're going. The offer's still standing and we'll have a good life there." Jade replied.

"You have a good life here." Her mother in law protested.

"Like hell we do. You treat my daughter like trash-"

"That akuto * is not your daughter. She's not even Japanese. She's not family !" Miyuki shouted.

"She is, to us." Frank said, coming down the stairs with two suitcases. "Tell dad we're not coming back and not to come after us."

Two girls followed him. One was japanese while the other was of latina descent.

"You are choosing them over your family." Miyuki hissed. "They are a disgrace."

"They are our daughters. Our family. And regardless of what you think, we love them." Jade said, opening the door.

Frank moved out with the suitcases while the two girls stood with Jade facing their grandmother.

Hayley, the Japanese girl with dyed blond hair, in an orange jumpsuit held hands with her adopted sister Tomiko 'Tomi' Oliver, the Latina girl with straightened black hair wearing a green jacket. Her parents had adopted Tomi when they were kids. Tomi had been found in the woods they were camping in, badly beaten with no memory of who she was. They'd tried a lot to find out who she was or where she came from, only to cone up with nothing. So the Olivers adopted her. Hayley always wanted a sister and 'Tomi' became a part of the family.

When they moved in with their grandparents into the family mansion, they were wary of Tomi, always making slightly veiled insults at her.

A few weeks ago, Hayley came out as a lesbian to their parents, who already knew. Miyuki found her kissing a girl in the park yesterday and was enraged at the ' dishonour to their family name '. On coming back home, she threw a tantrum and tried to convince her parents to send her to conversion therapy. When Jade strongly put that idea down, Miyuki put the blame on Tomi, claiming that her influence had corrupted the family and turned Hayley gay. She tried to haul her out of their mansion, only to be stopped by Frank, who decided to finally move out of the mansion.

"What I chose was my decision, Sobo*. It wasn't influenced by anyone else-"

"Damare konoyarou* !" Miyuki shouted. "I knew it from the start when you convinced Frank to adopt her. The western influence ruined our family. It made you accepting of such atrocities."

"Miyuki, please !" Jade pleaded. "It's hard enough as it is. Don't tarnish whatever respect you have left Infront of your son."

Frank came back. "The car's ready."

"I hope you're proud of yourself. You two raised your daughters as akuto* and yariman*. I'm glad your parents are not here to see this, Jade." Miyuki spat.

"Mother !" Frank looked at her shocked.

"It's all because of you, Kisama*!" The elderly woman accused, pointing her finger directly at Tomi. "You ruined my family. I hope you're proud."

"I'm sorry-"

"It's not your fault. It's mine for thinking this place could ever be safe for me to raise my kids." Jade said, glaring at Miyuki. "Let's go Tomi. I love you, both of you."

"Don't turn your back on me !"

"Goodbye Haha*. You'll never see us ever again. I'm disappointed in you." Frank said, as he led the three out of the house and into the car.

"It's going to be okay, kids. A new beginning." Jade tried to smile.

"Will it ?" Tomi looked up at her. "It's all my fault. The entire thing... If I wasn't here, they'd have accepted Hayley-"

"Bullshit and you know it, Tomi." The short haired girl snapped. "Bigotry needs no excuse to bully others. It's their fault for reacting the way they did."

"She's right. You're our daughter... our family." Frank said, starting the car. "Never doubt that, both of you. No matter what happens, you'll always have a home with us. If they thought they could throw you out without us knowing, my parents were in for a rude awakening. What they did was unforgivable. You didn't deserve that."

They set out for Angel Grove, blissfully unaware that they were going to get involved in a war of galactic proportions.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

#1.

As you can see, we'll be dealing with discrimination a lot here, which will be explored in the coming chapters.

Discrimination of all kinds are prevalent all over the world, be it Racism or Homophobia. It exists everywhere, even within our families. The world has changed a lot within the last few years but there's still a long way to go before we see each other for who we are... humans. People should be judged for their actions, not the colour of their skin, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, gender or any other stuff that doesn't really matter.

I know this story is going to deal with stuff like this a lot and I haven't done a story like this before but I'm not going to shy away from it. This is the story I want to tell and I'll try to make it as authentic and realistic as I can.

The star marked words are japanese words and some of them are swear words so don't use them in casual conversation.

Akuto - outsider/ homewrecker

damare konoyarou - shut up you bastard!

yariman - Slut

sobo - grandmother

haha - own mother

kisama - bastard

#2.

And for those who noticed, Shadam is a reference to the Diaranger villain but will be a different version of the character.

#3.

And please review. :)