~Zemariah~
I woke up on a ship. Where am I? Was the first thought to cross my mind. There was a soft blue glow on the floor, and I heard voices and the sounds of battle. "Goodbye, brother!" I heard. What I saw next was horrifying. I saw my father Zordon, trapped in his energy tube. Astronema dead on the floor. Andros in his morphed form was holding his sister, begging her to wake up. A green android came into view, That must be Ecliptor. I observed. The two exchanged fierce blows, and Ecliptor vowed to make Andros pay for killing his sister.
"Andros, listen to me. It is your duty as a Power Ranger to save the universe. Now is the time." My father boomed in his deep voice. Andros grabbed his Spiral Saber, and sliced downward, ending my father's life as a wave of pure golden energy raced outwards and across the universe.
I shot up in my bed, breathing heavily from the nightmare. I looked at the clock, 5 in the morning. I groaned quietly, and got out of bed. Since I spend my weekends at Kalina's house, I had more than one outfit. As I put it on, I looked towards my sleeping girlfriend. She's so beautiful. Indeed, Kalina looked gorgeous in the early morning sunlight. The first sun rays hit her hair, and made it glow orange instead of red. I saw her stirring slightly, but she just rolled over.
After a couple of minutes, Kalina's golden eyes opened, and she looked at me worriedly. She had just shaken off the last cobwebs of sleep and gotten out of bed. "Are you alright? You look tired." She said. I nodded and replied, "It's just the 28th anniversary of my father's death today, so I'll be kind of out of sorts the entire week." Kalina's eyes widened, and she hugged me tightly. "I'm so sorry, I can never apologize enough for what my father did." She said, looking like she was about to start crying. "It is not your fault, do not be upset. No matter what happens, I'll always love you." I said.
"love you so much." Kalina said. "I love you too, now come on, let's clean up and get redressed." I replied. She nodded, and we did exactly that. We walked out of our room, hand in hand, me feeling better despite my nightmare. "Did you guys have a good morning?" Irene asked with a smirk. "Yes we did, as a matter of fact." I replied. "Sure you did, I did hear some squealing ya know." Irene added. I scowled.
"How did you hear that?" Kalina asked, blushing. "These walls are incredibly thin. I may have forgotten to mention that." Dr. Oliver said. "Coffee?" He asked. I nodded, and he handed me a glass. "Thank you." I responded. "Are you guys ready to go back to school?" Dr. O asked when we were all at the table. "Unfortunately." Irene snarked. Selina and Halcyon both snorted at that, as they swung their backpacks on their shoulders.
We all got in to the jeep, and drove towards Bridgesport High School. "They repaired the school that fast?" Selina asked. I noticed that most of the damage had indeed been repaired. Dr. Oliver shrugged, and said, "SPD helps fix most of the damage from monster attacks, considering everything that happened last year. It was only superficial damage anyways. I'll see you girls in Ranger History."
As we walked inside the school, we noticed that a lot of the kids seemed relatively unharmed, which was amazing. I noticed an older woman at the front desk, but not the receptionist. When I got a closer look at the purple skinned woman, I realized she was my mother. I muttered a few choice words in Eltarian, which my mother heard. She frowned at my language.
"Zemariah, you know better than to say such foul words in front of your friends." My mother said. She was basically an older version of me, but with brown hair instead of black. "I'm sorry mother. I forgot you were taking me out of school for the day. May I introduce my friends, and my girlfriend. This is Kalina, my girlfriend, and my friends Selina, Halcyon, and Irene. Girls, this is my mother, Zephyr." I said, pointing at them in turn.
Selina, Halcyon, and Irene waved at my mother, while Kalina hid behind me. I wondered why, but then I remembered she had never wanted to meet my mother because she was afraid my mother would be mad at her for what Andros did, not because of our gender. "What's wrong youngling?" My mother asked Kalina in a soft voice. "You're not mad at me? You should be furious at me." Kalina responded, her lower lip trembling.
I saw our three friends silently back away and head to their respective classes. "Why would that be? Unless you've hurt my daughter, you have nothing to worry about." She responded. "Mother, her father is Andros, the Red Space Ranger." I elaborated. My mother had several different reactions all at once. Anger, sadness, pity, desolation, and finally, to my great shock, understanding and acceptance.
In a move I was not expecting, my mother hugged my girlfriend, wiping away her tears. "What your father did is not your fault. I have already accepted that, and you should too. Though thinking about it, I can see why you would be worried about meeting me." She said. "Would you like to join us for today?" Kalina froze like a deer in headlights. She gave a tiny nod. My mother smiled. "I'll go clear it with the woman at the desk." Mother said, going to do exactly that.
"I told you she'd be OK with you. Silly girl." I said, hugging my girlfriend tightly. Kalina snuggled close to me as mother returned. "We're all ready to go, so come on." Mother said. We got in her car and drove to my house. After about ten minutes of uncomfortable silence, we arrived at my house. "It's so big and pretty!" Kalina said. Our house was rather big, five stories and multiple bedrooms. We walked in the door, and the first thing my girlfriend noticed was my father's energy tube in our living room.
"Is that…." She trailed off, pointing at the tube. I nodded. "That's the energy tube my father used for when he was home. Elgar destroyed the one in the Power Chamber before Divatox wiped the Power Chamber off the face of the Earth." I said. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but is that a staff?" Kalina asked. I nodded. "It's part of what we're doing today." I said.
Before we could get started, our Morphers beeped a six note beep. Mother heard, and saw my Morpher. "I can explain mother." I said. "You're the Red Ranger, right?" She asked. I stared at my mother. "I saw you guys on the news, and I recognized your voice. Go, you have work to do. " I nodded, too surprised to speak.
"It's Morphin Time! Powers Of Earth, Activate!" We both yelled.
"Forceful as Fire, Red Earth Force Ranger!"
"Powerful as the Earth, Yellow Earth Force Ranger!"
Kalina and I ran as fast as we could towards the battle. When we got there, it was absolute chaos. Nyx and another monster was there, and the Voidlings. Nyx was pummeling our friends with some sort of dark energy, while the Voidlings were terrorizing innocent civilians. "Kalina, help our friends while I take care of the Voidlings." I ordered.
"Attack and capture the Yellow Ranger." Nyx ordered. Instantly, the bad guys were all over my girlfriend, forcing her to demorph as she was attacked on all sides. Nyx wrapped an arm around my girlfriend, and held a wicked looking sword to her neck. "Surrender now, or she gets it." Nyx yelled. Kalina shook her head softly. The others demorphed instantly, but I pulled out my Runeblaster, and fired at Nyx's hand, which caused her to let go of my girlfriend. Everyone instantly remorphed, and wiped out the Voidlings using their personal weapons.
"Power Blaster!" I ordered, and in an instant, I held the powerful weapon, with my friends supporting me, as the recoil was massive. KABOOM! Nyx's monster and foot soldiers were disintegrated on the spot. Nyx teleported away, and we cheered. "Guys, Kalina and I have to get back to my mother's house. We'll see you tomorrow." I said. The girls nodded, and we teleported out.
As Kalina and I walked into my house, there was a wonderful smell. I inhaled deeply, and smiled. "Triple chocolate cookies." I said, alerting my mother to our presence. "Hello girls, I made these for after the ceremony." My mother said. "What is this ceremony exactly?" Kalina asked. "We use the staff, which has psychic abilities, just like us, and we mourn for the dead while celebrating his memories, or something." I said. "Grossly simplified, but we need to get started before the day is over. Kalina, I put a seat next to me so you can watch." My mother added.
In an instant, the room was awash with the orange memory field. I saw my mother and father meeting for the first time, him becoming the Red Ranger and her being the Yellow Ranger. Other memories included their wedding, my mother saying she was pregnant with me, me getting named. Dad getting trapped and him trapping Rita Repulsa in turn. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers being formed, everything. My mother focused on a special memory. "What's this memory?" I asked. "You'll see." She responded.
"Daddy, can you tell me a bedtime story?" My younger self asked. The three of us were at Aunt Dulcea's temple on Phaedos, and she was watching with a small smile. "Once upon a time, there were five brave warriors. These warriors were the best of friends, and had incredible powers. They could do anything they put their minds to. They always fought evil, no matter where it was. They fought all sorts of scary monsters and they always won." My father stated.
"What happened next?" Child me asked eagerly. "They stayed friends forever and ever. Eventually, they beat the monsters for good." My father ended the story, and little me pouted, only to get a kiss on the forehead from both my parents. "We love you angel, now be a good girl for Aunt Dulcea while we're gone." My father said. I nodded, and hugged him tightly. "Love you too mommy and daddy." Child me whispered as she fell asleep.
The memory ended there, and I gasped lightly, before starting to cry. "I miss him so much, more than anything!" I sobbed into my mother's shoulder. She cradled me lovingly, and I felt Kalina hugging me tightly. The memory field was still on, and I saw my father brushing child me's hair back, humming a soft Eltarian lullaby to me, which my mother was singing now. I calmed down in a few minutes, sniffling occasionally as my girlfriend handed me a tissue. The last memory of child me with my father was him reading me a book, watching me fall asleep as he got up and left, but not before leaving me the locket I'm wearing now, to go save the world.
"Your father was the most amazing man in the entire universe. We're lucky that we had him. Your daddy loved you so much, never forget that. I love you so much. He's always watching over you." My mother whispered. "Can I sleep now?" I asked. My mother nodded. "Of course you can. Kalina, can you take her to her bedroom?" Mother asked. "Where is it?" My girlfriend asked. "It's on the third floor, first door on the left. The door is purple, and has her name on it." Mother replied, smiling.
I crawled into bed, taking my clothes off so I was just left in my panties, not caring about pajamas. "I love you, so much. I'm always here for you, no matter what." Kalina murmured, as I felt her wrap her arms around me as we both drifted into slumber.