Zayne? Zayne, it's me. It's Kara. If you can hear me, if you get this message, please send anything back down the link. I miss you.
Zayne? Zayne, it's me. It's Kara. If you can hear me, if you get this message, please send anything back down the link. I miss you.
Zayne? Zayne, it's me. It's Kara. If you can hear me, if you-
"What're you thinking about?" A surprised squeak escapes me, and I glance over from my seat at the dining table, seeing Leo. He's emerged from the guys' bathroom, hair still wet from his shower. And shirtless. My face squishes up, and I turn back around, giving him a small backwards wave.
"Put a shirt on, then maybe I'll tell you." He laughs one of those bright, almost childish, laughs, then there's the rustling of him pulling on a shirt. "Thank you."
"So," he begins, stepping over to the kitchen and grabbing an apple, "what's bugging you, o wise one?"
Ugh. One of the many nicknames the others have coined for me, and one of the multiple that have stemmed from me being "experienced", thanks to the Space Rangers. Each other member of the Galaxy Rangers will take turns every night asking for a story, I swear.
"If you keep calling me that-"
"Fine, fine! What's bugging you, Kara." I nod.
"Better." Great. Now I actually have to be somewhat transparent. Since the game of truth or dare we played the other week, somehow they'd finally gotten me to tell them about Zayne. Needless to say, Kai was absolutely floored, but his reaction was one for the history books. But what I didn't tell them was that we'd shared a telepathic, and emotional, connection. "Uh, you probably won't believe me."
Leo's face drops into a frown. "I've literally stood on the head of a giant fire-breathing lion. Try me."
The man has a point. "My ex… my boyfriend? Whatever we are, Zayne and I used to share a telepathic and emotional link." The chunk of apple he'd taken a bite of flies out of Leo's mouth and onto the floor. I make a face, "I told you you wouldn't believe me!"
"No, no, it's not that," he explains, reaching for a paper towel to pick up the apple, "I'm just glad you didn't tell your brother that. He'd have burst a blood vessel or something."
Oh, man. The way I can actually see that happening… I burst into laughter, and when Leo follows suit, we're both cackling, my stomach nearly hurting from laughing so much.
"T-that image…" I pause to take a breath and steady my mental state, "that's too much, man."
Leo wipes at his eyes, and I nearly start laughing again when I notice that he laughed so hard he'd cried, "Right? I'm just glad I could cheer you up. 'Cause from the looks of it, that… bond or whatever, it's not working."
"Did I really look that," I pause, gesturing with a hand, "sad?" When Leo nods solemnly, I cringe. Yikes.
"Five bucks and you promise to not speak of it?"
"The sad thing or the telepathic and emotional link thing?"
Hmm. "Both, I guess." Leo's face breaks into a mischievous grin, and I narrow my eyes at him. Oh, gosh.
"Ten."
"I strongly dislike you." His eyebrows furrow, and I know for a fact that he's about to argue, but at that perfect moment, our communicators go off.
"What's wrong?" Leo asks.
"We've got trouble." At Kai's grim response, Leo and I exchange determined glances.
"Let's go."
"Hold it right there, Gasser!"
"Power Rangers, I'm glad you decided to show up!" The monster braces itself to attack, and I yelp, diving out of the way of the red gas it spews. Well, at least it lives up to its name.
"Quasar Sabers!" Leo orders, and I unsheathe my weapon, holding it up as I charge alongside the others.
Going into battle with this team is still vastly different from battling with my old one. Onboard the Megaship, we'd had weekly, if not daily, training sessions. Our skills had been honed to near perfection. But now, with nearly all of us having jobs on Terra Venture, we hardly have time to practice, at least not together.
Somehow, we make it work.
Sometimes, though, I realize Gasser spits out another gas cloud, we still can't get it together. The gas seeps through my helmet, and I stumble, grabbing at my throat as the toxins soak into my body.
"Fire power!" Heat radiates out from Leo as he unleashes a blast of fire, and the gas dissipates, allowing me to stand.
"Nice try! But it'll take more than a couple of color-coordinated teenagers to stop the Gasser!" The monster leaps away, and we're about to go after it, until Alpha's voice comes in over our comms.
"Rangers! Furio's attacking the command tower, but I have something to help you stop him!" Galaxy Gliders? Oh, I'd love to be able to hop on mine again…
"Alright, we're on our way!"
When we arrive back on the Megaship, I see that Alpha hasn't brought back the Gliders. Instead, they look to be something even cooler.
"Rangers, these are the Jet Jammers! Since Furio is stuck in the elevator, they are the only other way to get to the command tower."
"Alpha, you're a genius!" Leo murmurs, and I push past him, raising an eyebrow.
"So are you gonna try them out or just keep staring?" Even though I can't see his face, I figure he's probably sticking out his tongue at me.
"DECA and I just finished building them for you," Alpha explains as I climb into my aqua-colored Jammer. "Please be careful!"
"We will," Kai reassures our robot companion.
"Don't worry, Alpha," Leo adds.
"We'll let you know how they perform!" Kendrix chips in, ever the logistician.
"Let's jam!" Damon orders, and I nod. "Thrusters online."
"Open docking bay!" The doors of the ship open up, revealing the black expanse of space, and I grin. It's been a while, but it feels so good to be able to travel like this again.
"Ready guys?"
"Let's go," I reply, giving Leo a quick nod, and then we're off, zooming out of the Megaship. The controls are smooth, not giving too much feedback under my hands despite being brand new. Pretty good, I guess, since it was made by two robots.
"Alright, let's get to the command tower-" Leo's next command is cut off when the telltale buzz of Stingwingers approaches us. Who knew those things could breathe in space? "Stingwingers!" he warns, and I bank to the right, narrowly avoiding one. "Let's see what these things can do!"
"Right!" We echo in response, and as the Stingwingers circle back around, we push our thrusters as high as they can go. I whip around one, and as it turns back around, I shake my head.
"Too slow, bugbrain," with a press of my controls, lasers blast out of the mounted cannons on the side of my Jammer, and I let out a whoop of success.
"Nice shot!" Damon cheers.
"I've got two dead ahead, I'm locked on!" Leo announces, and I watch as he takes them both down at once. Guess the thing about getting good marks at the GSA's entrance test was true, "Alright, there's the control tower. Let's bring 'em in!"
I've never been one for horror movies. The poorly made ones are almost always tacky, not worth much time, and the high quality ones are too scary for me. A lose-lose situation all around. So when we arrive at the control tower, only to find everyone slumped over in their seats, or flat out on the ground, I can't help but get the creeps. Way too much like a horror movie. I hope no one tells us that we should split up.
"Oh no, the gas got in here too!" Damon observes.
"Commander Stanton! They're all asleep," Maya adds, and I breathe a little easier. At least it's not anything worse.
"Rangers! Gasser is just outside of the command center," Alpha announces over comms, and I get up from where I'd been checking on my co-worker, Steph.
"We can worry about this situation later. Right now, our main priority should be to take down Gasser." During my time with the Space Rangers, I'd been third-in-command to Andros and TJ, and sometimes, my commanding tone comes out just when I need it. Damon sets down Matthew, a boy who he'd been talking to, and with that, we're off.
As always, Leo's the first to attack, but he's knocked back almost instantly thanks to Gasser's, well, gas. He stumbles back and onto the ground, and when we surround him to help him up, we're hit by a gas cloud ourselves. The feeling's like seasonal allergies, but ten times worse, burning my throat and my insides like I'd swallowed molten lava. My head whirls, vision blurring in and out of clarity as the gas infiltrates my lungs-
A roar echoes out from the city, one that I recognize to belong to-
"The Galactabeasts!" Leo gasps, and I squint, bringing my vision back into focus enough to see all of our Zords there. Relief washes through me, momentarily halting my pain as I spot my snake Beast, "They're sucking up the gas!"
My moment of reprieve doesn't last much longer, though, because once all the gas clears, the Beasts begin to fossilize. "The Galactabeasts… turned into stone!" Kai murmurs, and I gulp, pushing back the dread that's quickly growing. They're our strongest, and only, allies right now. If they're down…
"I can't believe it," Kendrix whispers.
"We've gotta do something!" Despite not knowing what, exactly, to do, we rush after Leo's lead anyway, sprinting through the throngs of still awakening Terra Venture citizens. "Oh, no, we're too late…"
If only to make matters exponentially worse, explosions begin to erupt around the now stone figures of our Beasts. Sparks shower out, and I turn my head, shielding my eyes.
"I won't let him destroy them," Leo growls, and with that, he's leaping onto the head of his lion Beast. I shake my head, but do the same regardless. Even though the Red Ranger's plans often involve jumping in first, thinking second, it ends up working out in the end. Most of the time, at least, "Lion Galactabeast!"
"Condor Galactabeast!"
"Gorilla Galactabeast!"
"Wolf Galactabeast!"
"Wildcat Galactabeast!"
"Snake Galactabeast!"
"Let's see if the Transdaggers will infuse them with more power. It's our only hope!" Leo shoves his Transdagger into the air, and when we follow suit, for a split second, nothing happens. That is, until six different colored beams of energy shoot down from the sky, enveloping us and our Beasts. The remnants of pain from the gas dissolve, and every achy muscle and tired bone revitalizes like someone's injected caffeine straight into my veins. And I know my Galactabeast feels it, too, since when the light fades, it moves under my feet. "Now they're even stronger!"
"You sucked up my gas, so I'll have to beat you the old-fashioned way!" Something tells me that no matter what way Gasser attempts next, we'll be strong enough to beat him. My suspicions are confirmed when our beasts transform before our eyes, turning from flesh-and-blood animals into more mechanical beings.
Zords.
As we charge towards Gasser, my snake Zord lifts into the air, curling around the Megazord's body in the style of a belt, and I let out a whoop. "Guys, meet the Megazord!"
"And you didn't tell us we'd get our own?" Kai jests, and even though I know he can't see me, I mockingly mouth the words back.
"Galaxy Megazord Saber!" We call in unison, and with a slash of our giant sword, Gasser falls.
I'll admit. Most kids these days tend to get on my nerves (except for babies. Babies are the best.) But as Commander Stanton removes the medal of honor and presents it to Matthew, Kendrix and I exchange a proud glance. After all, without him, there would've been nothing any of us could do to protect Terra Venture.
"Because of your courage, and your bravery, Terra Venture is safe," the Commander declares, looping the medal around Matthew's neck, and I smile.
"Thank you. All of you," the boy murmurs, but despite the happy occasion, his tone is sorrowful, "I just wish my mom were here to see this." Damon filled us in before the ceremony, explaining that Matthew had snuck on board Terra Venture seeking a thrill, not realizing that he'd have to leave his family behind. Pity stabs at my chest as he walks away, head down and eyes lowered to the ground.
But when Damon chuckles, I know he has a plan.
I take back what I said about Matthew being a good kid. I mean, it still stands, it's just that it makes me nervous to have a kid onboard my Megaship.
"Commander," Damon begins as the transmission feed starts up, "we'll be escorting Matthew home."
"Cool, huh?"
"We'll miss you Matthew. Thank you," the Commander replies in a rare show of fondness. It's like seeing a teacher outside of class: strange, but somehow nice.
"Hey. Thanks for letting me see outer space." Commander Stanton laughs.
"It was an honor." With that, the feed cuts out, and I step over to my station, readying the engines and accelerators.
"Wow," Matthew breathes, "Wait 'till my mom sees this."
"Alpha. Set a course for earth." Damon's words send a pang of wistfulness through me, an echo of the time when Andros used to give that very order.
"You got it!" And as we blast off in the Megaship once more, I can't help but yearn for a time when I'll see my team again.