Chapter 15 : When A New Pink Ranger Emerges

Somewhere in the Lost Galaxy on the planet Mirinoi...

Karone and the four remaining Lost Galaxy Rangers stood in an open field where the rangers were prepared to begin their search for Leo and Mike on their airborne Jet Jammers. Karone went with them to bid them farewell though she wished she could accompany them on this quest. "Karone, contact us on the new communicators if something comes up," Damon advised her. "We have no idea where Leo and Mike are so it might take us a while to get back." Karone, having nothing much to say just nodded her head and in a matter of moments, the Galaxy Rangers soon took off into the vastness of space.

Karone stood there and waited for the jet jammers to fully disappear. They were still within the atmosphere of Mirinoi, but Karone had never felt so far away from them. Inside she wished she could still be something important like a Power Ranger, even if she could only be a temporary replacement. Even the thought of having as much power and authority as the evil Astronema went through her head. But she scolded herself at thinking of such an absurd thought. Her eyes remained fixed at the sky and soon there was no more sign of the jet jammers. She then turned to walk back to the city colony, thinking it pointless to just stand there and stare at the sky.

Karone wasn't in a hurry to get back to the city even though she still had endless chores to do back at home. She enjoyed her time walking through the vast, unexplored forests of Mirinoi. Sometimes she even took some of the children of Mirinoi to these places so they could get a better understanding of their surroundings. There was never any danger around these places and everything reminded her of peace, of her brother Andross, even of her lost childhood. She thought of these things often during these brief walks and no matter how much pain her past brought to her, these walks always brought a feeling of calm trough both her mind and body.

But deep inside Karone felt an emptiness she could not explain. She felt that there was something missing from her life, something like love, but she had plenty of that from her friends here on Mirinoi. It was the same emptiness she felt when she was Astronema when she felt alone and orphaned. When Andross had come back to her life, the emptiness seemed to slowly disappear, but it all changed when she left them to go start an adventure of her own. Eventually the emptiness began to return and it grew as she wandered further and further away from the earth or KO-35. Pretty soon it began to form into a deep hole. But then her life changed forever when she found the Quasar Saber. She had never felt like she had a purpose in the world until she became the replacement Pink Ranger. The battles and the adventures were the experience of a lifetime and she would give anything to do it again. Now that she was no longer the pink ranger, she felt completely empty.

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Karone finally returned to the small capital city of Mirinoi. It must have been hours since she had last seen the Galaxy Rangers leave the planet. She must have been so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even bother to check on the time. Although it was a common thing for her to do, she was surprised at how much time had passed by this time. But that was the least of her worries as she saw smoke rising into the air and the scene of panicking citizens scrambling to find a safe place to hide. The people seemed to be running from a small group of Piranhatrons who were mercilessly attacking the city with their arsenal of weapons. She knew she had to do something about it or the entire city would be reduced to rubble in a matter of moments. She kept asking herself why the Galaxy Rangers had to leave at such an inconvenient time. Hastily, she ran to the small group, hoping that she alone would be able to stop her.

Karone removed an Astro Blaster attached on the back of her pants and given to her only by her overprotective older brother Andross who thought she might need it in her perilous journeys. It was carefully hidden to surprise her enemy, but she thought against surprising her enemies this time since the group was pretty large. She fired at the group of approximately twenty Piranhatrons who turned and ran towards her when they saw her. She managed to take out five of them, but they kept coming towards her with their weapons ready to strike. Karone fired another set of rounds, but only managed to take down two of her targets. Soon she found herself surrounded by the remaining group, but she refused to surrender. Unfotunately, one Piranhatron managed to knock the blaster off her hands, tipping the scale in favor of the Piranhatrons.

Karone closed her eyes, prepared to accept her fate. She wished she still had her ranger powers or the other rangers would soon show up and come to her aid, but that was not a possibility. She knew that wishes were useless and she knew that better than anybody else.

To her surprise the unexpected happened. Five streaks of light appeared above the sky and looked as if they were on a collision course with the Piranhatrons. The Piranhatrons scrambled in fear of their lives. But that wasn't the case. The streaks of light soon materialized into five beings whom Karone recognized as the alien rangers or Aquitar. Karone was so relieved that they had come at such a convenient time. This event distracted the Piranhatrons and gave her the opportunity to escape to a nearby building. There she kept a close eye on the battle that soon ensued.

Karone noticed that the alien rangers of Aquitar were unsurprisingly skilled warriors and the small team of five easily took down the enemies with just a few simple hand to hand and sword techniques. The Piranhatrons' first action was to fight back. They should have known that wherever there was any sign of danger, there would always be someone to defend the defenseless. They had been so confident in their success when they witnessed the departure of the Galaxy Rangers and didn't expect the arrival of another team. The Piranhatrons fought in vain as the alien rangers took them down one by one. Their screams filled the air and their fallen bodies littered the ground. When the last Piranhatron fell, the scattered team began to regroup. When Karone saw that all was clear, she left her hiding place so she could have the opportunity to thank her saviors. She remembered to pick up her Astro Blaster she had dropped in the earlier battle.

"Thank you rangers, " thanked Karone. She was still somewhat shocked that the alien rangers had come at such a perfect time, but still grateful nonetheless. "For a while I thought it was the end for me. Thank you again."

"Greetings Karone," the white alien ranger replied. Her voice was so full of authority that Karone had concluded that she was most likely the leader of this team of rangers. The white alien ranger slightly bowed her head at Karone, a sign of respect on her planet Aquitar. "You are welcome, but that is not our reason for being here," she explained. "We are here in search of the Galaxy Rangers for we require their aid in our mission. Will you be able to lead us to them?"

"I'm afraid that is impossible," Karone answered with a slightly disappointed tone. "But I am able to keep in contact with them." It was all she could do to help the alien rangers and she was a bit disappointed that she could not help them any further than that.

"If that is all you can do then please contact them," said the grateful white ranger, bowing her head once again.

Karone nodded her head and took out the communicator Damon had given her earlier. It was designed by Kendrix who designed it to be able to contact anybody from as far as the earth. "Damon," she spoke into the communicator after activating it. She waited a while but she didn't receive a response. "Kendrix, Kai, Mya, Damon," she tried again. She grew slightly worried when there was still no response from any of the four. The five rangers stood there, staring at Karone and waiting for any response from the galaxy rangers and after a long and tiring wait, a noise came from the communicator, followed by Damon's voice.

"Damon here," said the unclear voice. "What's up Karone? Anything new?"

Karone could barely understand, but managed to make out Damon's words. "The rangers of Aquitar have come here to look for you. They want to know where you are."

"What? Can't - under- bre-" came Damon's scrambled reply. "Electr - tic - orm." Soon the signal was followed by static and Damon's voice could no longer be heard.

"Hello?" Karone spoke into the communiactor, hoping to get a response. The last message she received was so scrambled that she didn't understand a single word of it. She waited for another response but received none. There was a long silence before Karone finally shut off the communicator. Now she was more worried than ever. The communicators were built to withstand any type of interference and this was highly unusual Something must have happened to the rangers, but she had no idea what it was or had any way to help them. "I've lost contact with them," she told the alien rangers.

"That is truly unfortunate," said the white alien ranger, bowing her head once more, but this time as a sign of her gratitude. She placed a hand on Kerone's shoulder for a brief moment before turning to leave with the other rangers. "Perhaps we will meet again, Karone of KO-35. Good-bye for now."

Karone watched the five alien rangers walk into the distance, still disappointed in her inability to help them. The scene looked somewhat familiar. It looked much like the last time she saw the galaxy rangers before they took off into space and into whatever danger they encountered. There was a feeling inside her that grew tired; tired of always being left behind, tired of being unable to help, and most of all tired of being useless. She didn't want that anymore, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. It felt like she was Astronema again when there was absolutely nothing she could do to bring down the rangers, but this was totally different.

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The alien rangers were prepared to leave the rangerless planet of Mirinoi, but Aurico, the red Aquitar ranger, felt that they had more to do on this planet. "Wait," he said as he stopped and took a hold of one of Delphine's, the white Aquitar ranger's hands. "We could use some help. Maybe she could be of some use to us. I mean she has had some experience. Why not try to see if she is capable of harnessing the power of the star power coin?"

"You can't expect to trust someone who almost destroyed the entire universe do you?" inquired Cestro, the blue Aquitar ranger, also taking a hold of one of Delphine's hands. "She could easily turn on us as easily as the last candidate. Especially with her past reputation!" Cestro's tone of voice made it clear that he was against the idea. "Who knows what she's capable of?! You don't want to go through the same experience we went through last time, do you? I know I don't!"

"You are too untrusting of others, my friend," Corcus, the black Aquitar ranger pointed out.

"If you remember, she was quite a worthy pink galaxy ranger," Tideus, the yellow Aquitar ranger, reminded him. "And in my opinion, she would do quite well as a ranger of Aquitar."

"I agree with these positive things you three say," Delphine said in a calm and neutral tone. "Cestro." She turned her attention to the blue Aquitar ranger. "I am hoping you will agree with what they say, although you are entitled to have your own individual opinions."

There was a brief silence, but soon the blue ranger dropped Delphine's hand and hesitantly nodded his head. The black, yellow and red rangers put their hands on his shoulder and assured him that they would not make a mistake this time. He already agreed to their hasty decision, but that didn't mean he would easily trust Karone. There was an ill feeling inside of him that he wanted to keep secret from the others, but at the same time also wanted to get out.

"Then the decision is made," Delphine concluded, turning to see if Karone was still behind them, waiting for them to depart. Much to her surprise, she was still there, watching them as if she had nothing better to do. Delphine motioned for the other rangers to follow her as she slowly made her approach to Karone.

Karone stood there wondering why they were making their way back to her. She noticed the white alien ranger holding something in her hands and she wondered what it was. It looked as if she was holding some priceless possession and it was her sole duty to protect it. Soon she came face to face with the alien rangers of Aquitar and the white ranger held out her hand to show her the object she possessed. "Behold, Karone of KO-35," she said as she fingered the priceless object in her hands. Karone's eyes widened upon seeing the golden object lying on the white ranger's trembling hands. Karate was confused and didn't know what the meaning of this was, but as she was about to speak, she was interrupted by the white ranger's next words. "You have been chosen to become the holder of the star power coin, the source of power of the pink Aquitar ranger. Do you accept your fate?"

Karone stared at the power coin for a moment. This was what she had wanted so bad for such a long time and now that it was finally happening, she did not know how to react to it. "Ye-Yes, I do" she stuttered, reaching out for the power coin. She could feel its tremendous power from a distance, but as she moved her hand closer to the coin, she could feel its power beginning to overwhelm her. It was the exact same feeling she felt when she first encountered Kendix's Quasar Saber. She wondered if she was truly worthy or even ready to accept such an honor. Karone was so close to grabbing the coin, but she hesitated just a little bit. She thought about it a while but soon she found herself holding the precious object in her hands.
She left her palm open so she could wonder at the golden glow coming from her coin, but it did not stay still for long. The coin mysteriously began to float and it floated in circles around Karone as if it was studying her. It landed on her left wrist where a strange energy began to glow and surround her entire wrist. When the energy subsided she stared in awe as she noticed a wristband around her wrist where her power coin lay in the center. From this point on she was speechless.

"We welcome you to the team Karone," the white ranger said with pride. "From this day forward, you will be known as the Pink Aquitar Ranger, the sixth addition to our team. You're symbol will be the star, the symbol of friendship on our native planet Aquitar. Use your powers with great love and dedication as we will be observing you expectantly."

"Thank you," Karone said as she took a hold of the white rangers hands with both of her own. "I am forever grateful. You don't know how much this means to me."

"Now you must learn to harness the power which has been granted unto you," she said and put her other hand on Karone's shoulder. "Search deep within yourself and you will find the answer to the powers you will soon know."

Karone nodded her head and crossed her arms in the shape of an x. She closed her eyes, feeling the power of the coin growing stronger. She took a deep breath and finally reopened her eyes when she felt that she was ready. "Pink Aquitar Ranger Power!" she yelled out. A soothing energy energy began to encircle her body and she felt like she was being doused in pure, healing water and her body felt like it was being re-energized. A tight but comfortable pink suit began to cover her body and a rush of energy ran through her body, forcing her to close her eyes. When she emerged from the field of powerful energy, she opened her eyes only to find herself standing before the Aquitar rangers in her new pink ranger attire.

To be continued....

AN : Sorry again for the long wait and I seriously hope you enjoy this chapter cause I really enjoyed writing it. I seriously love the idea of Karone becoming a permanent power ranger. And besides the alien rangers need a sixth member on their team! Don't you agree? Next chapter soon(maybe a week). Ninja Storm fans will definitely like the next chapter(especially Hunter and Blake fans) and not to mention Karone's first battle as the PINK AQUITAR RANGER!!!