Chapter Four:
Chosen
Late one night, after the candidates had gone to bed, the core members of the Ranger Project gathered together in a conference room, looking over the files of the remaining three. All four rangers were there, as well as General Kenpachi, Katie Young, Tammy Hayes, Dr. Watanabe, and Doug and Harriet, who had "dropped out" of the running the morning before.
"What do we think about Sawyer?" Kenpachi asked, pulling over the first file.
"She's easily the best in all of our physical tests," Katie said. "The biggest problem with her is strategy. She always takes everything straightforward, never considering an alternative option."
Kenpachi nodded. "I noticed that too," he said. "What about Marquez? He had no such problems."
"True," Joshua said. "However, he has consistently failed every empathy test we put in his way, even that last one that everyone else passed."
"And what about Mr. Austin?" Kenpachi said, pulling over the third and final file on the table.
"Doug and I like him," Harriet said. "He was the main reason we decided to drop out this morning. He deserves the position."
Doug nodded in agreement.
"He hasn't excelled in any one category," Katie said. "But he has scored well across the entire board."
"And he was the first to pass an empathy test," Tammy pointed out. "And has consistently passed every single one since."
Kenpachi looked around the room. "What about our rangers? How do you feel about Austin?"
"We like him," Dayton said, gesturing to himself and Sean. "He's a good kid."
Sean nodded. "Friendly, passionate, works well with others. I'd be glad to have him on my team."
Joshua shrugged. "He's the best pick of the three in my opinion," he said. "I'm on board."
"And what about you, Miss Madison?" Kenpachi asked.
Peggy remained silent, leaning over to look through the files again. "He's fine," she said simply. "I don't have a problem with him."
"Alright then." Kenpachi gathered up the files. "Are we all in agreement of our choice then? What about our suit, Doctor? Is it ready to go?"
"Yes, sir," Dr. Watanabe said. "We just put the finishing touches on it. It's good to go whenever you are."
"Good to hear. Then I suppose all that's left is to inform the candidates of our final decision. Dismissed."
The next morning, Kenny lay on his cot in the barracks reading through a letter from home. His mom's handwriting shared with him a bunch of stories about the animals that had come to visit her in the last few months and how their various recoveries were going. He smiled, missing her and the clinic.
His alarm went off, and he sat up. Was it that time already? He folded up his letter and looked around. The room around him was empty, not even the other two candidates still around. Had they gone to breakfast already? He wondered. He briefly looked at the cots Doug and Harriet had taken up until the previous morning, when they'd stepped down. He missed having a couple of friends to talk to in the group.
He got up and headed to breakfast. To his surprise, his competition was nowhere to be found there either. Maybe they'd gone for an early morning workout, he thought. He quickly ate a parfait and headed to the command center.
There was no one there either. There weren't even any scientists or officials like Kenny was used to seeing. "Hello?" he asked, looking around in confusion. Had he slept in? Had he missed something?
His eyes fell on the green ranger suit, lying on its table in the middle of the room like always. Once again, he felt that sharp tug in his chest, calling him toward it. He took a step forward, reaching out a hand to touch it.
A door opened and Dr. Watanabe stepped through. Kenny dropped his hand and stepped back self-consciously. "Ah, Mr. Austin," the doctor said, "right on time as always. General Kenpachi wanted to see you in his office."
Kenny shook his head in surprise. "General Kenpachi wants to see me?" he asked. His mind raced. Was he being cut? Had he done something wrong?
"If you'll follow me," Dr. Watanabe said. He led Kenny out of the command center toward the north end of the complex. Kenny followed quietly, his mind considering every possibility as to what this could be about.
"Here we are." The doctor stopped in front of a door and pushed it open. General Kenpachi waited inside, seated behind a desk.
"Ah, Mr. Austin, please come in."
Kenny glanced at Dr. Watanabe and the doctor smiled supportively in response. Kenny stepped through and took a seat opposite the general.
"You wanted to see me, sir?"
"Yes, I did," the general said. He had Kenny's file open on the desk before him and was flipping through it. "You seem to have done well here, Mr. Austin," he said.
Kenny shrugged slightly. "Not that well, sir," he said. "Not as well as Sawyer or Marquez."
"I'm not sure I would say that." The general looked up at Kenny, leaning forward to get a nice, long look at his face. "You seem to have made a good impression with several members of my team. Enough of a good impression, in fact, that I want to give you this."
He reached into his desk and withdrew a letter, handing it over to Kenny. Kenny looked at the letter nervously for a second, glancing sideways at Dr. Watanabe for a second before taking it. He opened the letter and started reading.
"I believe congratulations are in order," General Kenpachi said.
Kenny stared at the letter, his brain struggling to process what he was reading. "I—I've been chosen? You want me to be the Green Ranger? What about the other two? They were more qualified."
"That may be true, in some regards," General Kenpachi said. "But neither of them had every quality we were looking for. You do. So, Mr. Austin, are you ready to be a ranger?"
Kenny stared up at the general. He thought about the suit in the lab, that strange pull he felt toward it. He thought about the first time he'd seen the rangers on television, the inspiration they'd been to him then. He sat up straighter. "I'll do whatever I can to make the uniform proud," he said.
General Kenpachi smiled. "Glad to hear it," he said. He got to his feet and held out his hand. "Welcome, officially, to the Ranger Project."
For the rest of the day, Kenny worked with Dr. Watanabe and the rest of the science team in the lab. They showed him all the inner workings of the suit, how it worked, what all the various components were made of. They had him try on the glove so that he could start to get used to the added strength. Which was far more than he'd expected, he quickly learned after accidentally demolishing a target with a single punch.
"Whoa," he said, staring at his own hand.
After a little while, they were joined by various members of the Ranger Project. Doug and Harriet were the first to congratulate him.
"We knew you could do it," Doug said, clapping him on the shoulder. "We recommended you."
Harriet grabbed his hand. "Come on," she said, pulling him across the room. "You can meet the actual rangers now."
She led him up to the four Kenny had already started to suspect were the rangers. "This is Joshua Cage," she said, introducing him to the large, olive-skinned man with the buzzcut. "He's the red ranger and the team's leader."
"Welcome to the team," Captain Cage said, holding out his hand. Kenny shook it, surprised by the captain's strength.
"Sean and Dayton are our blue and yellow rangers," Doug said.
Kenny shook both of their hands. "I kinda figured you were both part of the team," he said.
Dayton grinned and elbowed Sean in the side. "What'd I tell you, Cassidy. A sharp cookie, this one."
"And finally, Peggy here is our pink ranger," Harriet said. "She only joined a couple of months ago."
"Welcome to the team," Peggy said stiffly, holding out her hand to shake his but still keeping her eyes averted. Kenny shook her hand and she looked up at him for a second. He flashed her a friendly smirk again, and once again she looked away quickly, pulling her hand away. Kenny raised an eyebrow but let it slide.
The rest of the main crew congratulated him. His instructor Lieutenant Young clapped him on the shoulder as she and another familiar face stepped up.
"You're the girl from the park," Kenny said, shaking the hand of the girl with curly brown hair and glasses standing before him.
"That's me," the girl said. "Sorry about that. I was sort of a decoy to test you guys. You can call me Tammy."
Kenny felt a hand on his shoulder as Joshua Cage held up the boots for the green ranger suit. "Now that you've met everyone," he said, "let's see how you handle the suit's speed. Come race me around the gym."
For the rest of the day, Kenny trained and worked with the other rangers, getting to know them and building a rapport with them. When the end of the day came, they all ate their dinner together in the mess hall before turning in to bed.
Kenny sat alone in the new quarters he'd been given as part of the ranger team. He sorted through his stuff, finding a place for everything that wasn't just his footlocker for once. His brain ran at a thousand miles a minute, still reeling from everything that had happened that day.
A knock sounded on his door and Dr. Watanabe poked his head in. "Mind if I come in," he said.
"Sure," Kenny said, putting the rest of his clothes away and sitting down on his bed. Dr. Watanabe stepped in and held up a bottle of wine.
"I thought we might celebrate a little," he said. "Not too much, of course. You have a big day tomorrow with your official promotion happening."
Kenny smiled. "I could have some," he said.
Dr. Watanabe sat down and undid the bottle's cork, pouring out a glass for each of them. "So, are you excited?"
Kenny grinned brightly, taking a sip of his wine. "Oh, yes," he said. "I still can't believe it." He stopped for a second, studying his reflection in the red liquid. "Why did they pick me?"
Dr. Watanabe looked up. "What's that?" he asked.
Kenny looked up at him. "Out of all the candidates who were here, all of them so talented, why did they pick me? I was always in the middle of the group. I was never as good as Sawyer or Marquez or any of them."
Dr. Watanabe smirked. "Well, that's the thing," he said. "All of those others, Sawyer, Marquez, they were all the best in one or two specific categories, but they all struggled in other areas. You, however, you were never the best, but you were good, in all categories. And that's what we need. Someone who can handle all aspects of the job."
"I see," Kenny said, swirling his drink for a second. Dr. Watanabe watched him, studying his face.
"More importantly," the doctor said, "at least, in my opinion, is that you have a good heart."
Kenny raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Dr. Watanabe sat back and took a sip from his glass for a second. "I've been working with this team for a while now," he said. "They're all different, they all have different backgrounds and personalities, and they all have their own story to tell. But the thing I find that binds them all together is how much they care about the people they are trying to protect. See, our job here is to fight the Black Cross. But it's really easy to get too focused on the fight rather than the reason for the fight. That reason being protecting the people that the Black Cross want to hurt. And if you ask me, keeping those people in firm focus is the most important aspect of being a ranger, more than any physical or mental skill. And you, my friend, have that focus in spades. At least, that's why I chose you as a candidate in the first place."
Kenny sat silently for a moment. "Thank you for doing so," he said.
Dr. Watanabe smiled. "Any time," he said.
The doctor finished off his glass. "Well," he said, corking the bottle again. "I should let you get to bed. Have a good night."
Kenny raised his glass. "Good night, doc," he said.
Dr. Watanabe got to his feet and headed out, leaving Kenny alone in his room again. Kenny finished off his glass and set it on his side table. He sat back on his cot, his eyes falling on the acceptance letter beside him. Despite himself, a wide smile spread across his face. He was going to be a ranger. He fluffed his pillow, switched off his light, and laid himself down to sleep.