Chapter 3
The Princess and the Ranger
In the capital of Ken, Celestine was in middle of some grueling paperwork as she signed one paper after another. Beside her was her close friend, Claudia, leader of the Dawn Templers and second in command to the goddess reborn.
"You'd think that being the goddess you would avoid paperwork all together" Celestine said with a smile
"That maybe but may I remind you, you are also the queen of Eostia and this comes with the responsibilities your majesty" Claudia said making Celestine sigh
"Yes I know, thank you Claudia" Celestine replied, making the Dawn Templar smile.
Then with another stroke on the quill, Celestine finished her last paper and placed in a pile with the rest. She then leaned back in her chair let out a sigh of relief, seeing that her paperwork was complete.
"Please tell me that's it?" Celestine asked hoping to be done for the day and relax
"Almost, just one small report from one of our border villages" Claudia said holding a small, folded piece of parchment
With a sigh, Celestine held out her hand and grabbed hold of the parchment. She then unfurled the parchment and looked it over. As Celestine scanned across the page she came across something quite unusual, at the bottom of the page was the causality report, it always broke her heart to read that part, but when she saw it she was quite surprised to see the number of death's for human's or elves were zero while the enemies number was forty.
"Um…Claudia is this right?" Celestine asked pointing to the section
Said knight then looked at the causality report and was quite surprised as well.
"I believe it is your majesty" she said
Celestine then looked in shock at this, not quite believing what she saw.
'This doesn't make any sense, even if their defenses were at their best, even the best solider would fall to any foe…unless' Celestine thought as her eye widen in realization
She then thought back to her changed vison, the one that showed the four warriors and the white light.
'Could it be…there already here?' she thought as she stood up from her seat
Celestine then turned to Claudia with a serious look in her eye, surprising the Dawn Templar.
"Claudia, is their anyone we can send to investigate this village" Celestine asked
Claudia then thought about, thinking over the possible people they can send. At first nothing was coming to mind until one individual came to mind.
"I believe Kaguya is close to that village, it's just on the path from Thorn" Claudia said as Celestine nodded to this
"Perfect, I'll send her a message through the viewing stone" she added
Celestine then left the room at a quick pace, making Claudia quite surprised.
'I wonder what's got her all riled up' she thought, eyebrow arched
(~~~~)
In a distant field a wooden carriage could be seen being pulled along the dirt path. Inside the carriage was one of the leaders of the Shield Alliance, the mystic shrine maiden of Thorn, Kaguya. Like the rest of her friends she is quite beautiful, with short black hair, bright orange eyes, and fair skin. Her attire consisted of her red shrine maiden outfit that hanged loosely on her body, a golden crown on her head and in full view was her undergarment. She's currently in a meditative state, trying to calm her mind, but it was then cut short by a soft glowing coming from a smooth stone in her bag. Noticing this Kaguya then reached out and grabbed the stone and brought it to her face. The stone's surface then rippled like water until the face of Celestine could be seen.
"Your holiness" Kaguya greeted
"Hello Kaguya, how are doing, how is your trip?" Celestine asked as Kaguya smiled
"It been nice and there has been no trouble along the way" she replied as Celestine nodded to this
"That's good to hear, although I was wondering if I can ask a small favor you." Celestine asked
"But of course, anything for her holiness" Kaguya replied
"Thank you, you see I want you to investigate a village that is close to where you are" Celestine asked, confusing the shrine priest.
"Any reason for this?" Kaguya asked
"It just a feeling but I believe there's something there about a vision I had" Celestine answered as Kaguya nodded at this
"I understand, I'll tell you if I find something" she said making Celestine smile
"Thank you Kaguya, I really do appreciate this" Celestine said as her face disappeared from the stone
With the message over, Kaguya put her stone away and went back to her meditation. Although now she couldn't help but wonder, what is in that village that has Celestine so interested and why?
(~~~~~)
In the village Eric was busy setting up the front of the shop so that they can open, but during all this Eric couldn't help but wonder, was reveling themselves such a good idea. Eric was glad they were able to save Beth and her sister, but now rumors of them were spreading fast in the village and it was matter of time before they spread to the other countries. Once that happened, it was only a matter of time before both sides go looking for them and depending on who it is will determine their fate.
"Hey man, were all set up back here, are we ready to open?" Michal asked from the back
But when Eric didn't answer Michal then walked out to see what was going on and found Eric leaning on the counter, with his chin on his hand.
"Eric are you okay, you look worried?" Michal asked as Eric turned to look at him
"I'm fine, just…" Eric said but Michal already knew
"Still worried about our debut huh?" Michal asked which Eric nodded, "Dude, sometimes you worry too much" he added making Eric frown.
"How can I not, if rumors spread far enough Olga could send an army after us or worse?!" Eric shouted making Michal roll his eyes
"Okay that's a bit out there, why would you think that Olga Discordia would care about a small village like this one?" Michal said making Eric groan
"You don't know that, I mean we did kill a good chunk of her forces" Eric replied making Michal sigh
"I highly doubt that she's going to care that a couple orcs die" he said
"Maybe but…" Eric said until Michal raised his hand
"Okay man stop, you need to calm down" He said making Eric stop talking, "You have to remember, we live out here, right on the border between the bad lands and Ken, so believe me when I say this…we…wouldn't…get…caught" Michal said putting emphasis on his last few words.
This seemed to calm Eric down as he took a deep breath. He then gained a smile on his face as he turned to look at Michal.
"Thanks man I needed that" Eric said which made Michal smirk
"Yeah well, sometimes you little slap of facts to clear your head" he said making Eric roll his eyes.
Then outside the shop both Michal and Eric saw many of the town folk running to the front of the gate, confusing the two.
'That's weird, wonder what's got everyone so riled up' Eric thought
Eric and Michal then made their way outside to see what all the commotion was about. Once they stepped out they were greeted by a large crimson colored carriage, it looked extremely fancy with its golden trim and elegant designed patterns.
"Wow looks like someone important has come to town" Michal said with a chuckle
"Yeah, probably a nobleman or something" Eric added, looking at the carriage with curiosity
A lot of thoughts ran through Eric's mind right now, who was here and why are they here. Though he didn't have to wait long because the door to the carriage opened, and the person that stepped out…was Kaguya of the Princess Alliance. Eric and Michal were in complete shock, not only was because of the amazing beauty of the shrine maiden but also the fact that one of the main rulers of Eostia had come to their little village. Eric then shot a dirty look and Michal, causing him to awkwardly chuckle from Eric's hard gaze.
"Hehe, well…isn't that a coincidence"
(~~~)
Back at the bakery Alex and Kelvin had just finished a batch of some classic chocolate chip cookies. Both of their mouths watered at the smell from the cookies. They wanted so bad to try one but these were for the customers which means not eating them.
"Man, these cookies sure look good" Kelvin said, eyeing the cookies with hunger
"Yeah no kidding" Alex added, eyeing the cookies
The two of them then looked at each and gained a devilish smirk.
"I don't think they'll notice two cookies gone" Kelvin suggested
Alex and Kelvin then slowly reached for two of the cookies on the tray, just waiting to eat the amazing treat. But before they could the bakery door then slammed open causing them to jump in surprise and back away from the cookies. Looking in the front they saw both Eric and Michal quickly closing the door behind them, both out of breath and having some worried looks on their faces.
"We didn't touch them I swear!" Alex said holding his hands in surrender as well as Kelvin
Although neither Eric nor Michal seemed to care as they quickly turned the sign to close and quickly rushed the others into their meeting room. Once they were in, both Eric and Michal started to take in gulps of air which confused Alex and Kelvin.
"You guys okay, you look a little freaked out?" Alex asked just they calmed down
"Oh yeah were fine…expect for that fact that KAGUYA OF THR PRINCESS ALLIANCE IS HERE!" Eric shouted
Both Alex and Kelvin's eyes went wide at this, both of their mouths hanged opened in surprise. They then quickly recovered as they tried to comprehend what Eric just said.
"Your joking right?" Kelvin asked, which only earned him a glare from Eric and Michal
"No!" they shouted making Kelvin jump
"Okay…got ya…so other question, why is she here!?" Kelvin asked
"We don't know, she just showed up out of the blue" Michal replied
"I think I know why" Alex said making everyone look at him, "…it's us" he said
Everyone then went slacked jaw as it hit them. How couldn't they see it before, it was obvious, the rumor of the power rangers spread far enough to warrant a search!
"Darn it I knew this would happen!" Eric said as slammed his head against the wooden table with a huff.
"Well at least it was Celestine and not Olga" Alex added making Eric sigh
"I guess, but still doesn't change the fact that were now being searched" Eric said
Everyone let out a sigh as they could help but realize in how much trouble they were in.
"Well…at least things can't get any worse" Kelvin said, trying to assure everyone
Suddenly they could hear a knocking at the front door of bakery, making everyone freeze up.
"Excuse me, boys, her majesty Miss Kaguya would like to speak with you" a guards can be heard from outside.
Everyone then paled as they heard, until turning to Kelvin with an annoyed glare.
"Haha, whops"
(~~~~)
Just outside the bakery, a group of the village's guards were accompanying Kaguya in her search, so they can assure her safety. One of the guards was knocking on the door, hoping that owners were inside.
"Are you sure there here?" Kaguya asked
"I'm sure your majesty, they never really leave the bakery" one guard answered
Kaguya then let out a huff as she crossed her arms, waiting for the owners to open up. This was the last place in the village she need to check out, so already asked most of villagers already but all said the same thing. They all said that a group of four white warriors came out of nowhere a defeated the orcs easily, that was it.
'Who every these "white warriors" are, they must be what her holiness was talking about, I just hope whoever here can shed some more light on this matter" she thought as she glared at the door
Then finally after minutes of waiting the door opened to reveal Eric, looking quite tired and out of breath.
"Ah, Eric good to see you young man!" the guards said as Eric nodded at this
"Yeah, good to see you too" Eric replied, taking a deep breath
Eric then set eyes on Kaguya making him freeze, and then quickly bowed his head to show his respect.
"Your majesty, it is a privilege to meet you" Eric said politely
Kaguya simply nodded at this, appreciating his manners and quickly got to business.
"Thank you, but I am not here pleasantries, I'm here to ask some questions" she said making Eric sweat slightly at this.
He then straightened himself as he looked at the shrine maiden in the eye, trying not to look like he's worried.
"Of course, what questions are those?" Eric asked as Kaguya stepped up to him
"It's pertaining to the attack a couple of days ago, apparently there was a group of white cladded warriors that saved this village single handily…do you know anything about that?" she asked making Eric go slightly pale.
'Ah shoot, Alex was right she's searching about us' Eric thought as gripped his hands tightly into fists
"Um, I'm afraid I don't know anything about that our Majesty, I was in the shelter with the rest of villagers" Eric answered, hoping that was convincing enough
Kaguya almost seemed to buy it, making Eric relax slightly. But that feeling soon left when one of the guards spoke up.
"No your weren't" he said causing Eric to freeze up in fear
Kaguya then glared at Eric as she walked up to him, almost right up in his face.
"Is this true?" she asked making Eric sweat bullets
"Um, yes our majesty" Eric replied, making Kaguya glare harder at him
"And why is that?" she asked
She then reached into the sleeve of her dress and pulled out one her infamous talismans. Eric then gulped at the sight of it, now worrying what the shrine maiden will do with it. Kaguya then brought the talisman up to his face, causing it to glow with an unnatural light making Eric shiver.
"I should let you know that this talisman is enchanted to detect any lies that any person says, if they do well…let's just say they won't like the punishment" Kaguya said as she placed the strip of paper on Eric's chest.
'Oh shoot, this is not good!' Eric thought as the shrine maiden stepped back
"Now I ask…where were on the day of the attack?" Kaguya asked slowly
Eric then started to breathe rapidly; he's nerves acting up as he could feel a burning sensation from the talisman. He was now super worried trying so hard to think of a way out this but with the talisman on his chest and guards all around him, things were not looking good.
"Well…uh…you see…uh" Eric stumbled out making the talisman glow
It then started to get hotter, causing Eric's chest to hurt and only got worse and worse. Eric then tried to pry off the paper but it wouldn't budge no matter how much he tried.
'Aggh, this hurts like crazy!' Eric shouted in his head as he gripped his chest in pain
Eric then fell to his knees due to the intense pain as Kaguya merely looked down at him.
"Just tell me the truth, and this will end" Kaguya said
Eric knew this, but he couldn't, if he told her he had no idea what would happen to them now. It wasn't the right time, they needed to wait. Eric then opened his mouth, ready to say something until the sound of a bell rang out.
Hearing this all the guards then started to run to the front gate, causing Kaguya to rip the paper off Eric's chest.
"Another band of orcs has been spotted coming this way, to your positions now!" a guard shouted
Kaguya then made her way to the front gate as well, with a different talisman in hand.
"We'll discuss this later, right now this village is in need" Kaguya said just as Eric got back to his feet
Once Kaguya was out of sight the others then came out the bakery, all of them looking furious.
"What the heck is her problem!?" Michal shouted in angry
"Yeah man, she was practically torturing you!" Alex said as he checked on Eric's chest
"It's okay guys, she was just doing what she was ordered to do" Eric replied gaining an eye roll from the others
"Dude, sometimes you can be a big softie at times" Kelvin said
"Softie or not, it was better for us if I did this alone anyway" Eric said making Michal scoff
"And why did you need to do this alone?" Michal asked
Everyone then looked at Michal with a "really" look making him offended.
"Hey!" Michal shouted
Once that was settled Eric then took out his morpher, surprising them.
"You're still going to help her, even after what she did to you?!" Kelvin said as Eric nodded
"Yes because to ignore these people is to spit on the legacy of the Power Rangers, so matter what they do to us we will always be the better person and rise up to help them" Eric proudly said making everyone look down with guilt
After all Eric was right, they were Power Rangers now, mighty protectors that defended the weak and stopped evil. They felt ashamed to even think like that at all, and to add salt to the wound that line that Eric said was something Alex's dad said to them many times before. So pushing aside their guilt they then brought out their own morphers.
"Well…what are we waiting for?"
(~~~~~)
Outside the village walls, Kaguya and the guards were trying their best hold back against the horde of Orcs. While the guards were fighting against the Orcs head to head, Kaguya was holding them back with a protection talisman which was creating a force field holding the monsters back. Although to their dismay the force field was failing due to the sheer number of Orcs and their strength, even Kaguya was starting to waver and lose strength from the constant assault.
"I don't think I can hold them off much longer" Kaguya strained to say as she fell to one knee
She held her talisman high in her hand, trying her best to hold the enemy off, but it was pointless and she knew this. It was only a matter of time before they broke through and decimated this village and even during all this, she couldn't help but feel guilty.
'Is this really my fate, is this some sort of divine punishment for what I did to that boy' she thought, just as another Orc slammed against the shield, 'It must be, I acted on instinct and didn't even think about the consequences of my actions and now I am to suffer for it' she thought as a tear rolled down her check.
Then all the Orcs then raised their fists ready to smash the force field into pieces, as Kaguya closed her eyes shut and waited for her fate. Then, just as the horrible beasts were about to strike, they were then struck by four white figures causing them to go flying back into the group, causing them to topple over from the force. The four figures then landed in front of the group and then reveled to be the White Rangers from before. At this time Kaguya then opened her eyes, realizing that the final strike was never brought, and when she looked out she saw the four white Rangers standing before her. Her eyes widen in shock at them, they looked exactly like the people said they did, down to the final detail.
"It's them, the ones who saved us, The Power Rangers!" one of the guards shouted
"Power…Rangers?" Kaguya breathed out
The Tiger Ranger then turned his head to look at Kaguya, surprising her.
"Are you all right your majesty?" he said as she nodded slowly
"Good, now please stay back we got this" Rhino Ranger said lifting his gauntlet
The four of them then walked forward, facing the army of Orcs head on with looks of determination behind there visors.
"What did we tell you all last time about hurting this village?" Drago said, drawing his sword
All of the Orcs then rose to their feet, clearly angered by the sight of the four Rangers.
"You mess with these people, you mess with us!" Tiger said drawing Saba
"Oh my, more of these disgusting monsters" Saba said looking at the horde
"Yeah, but don't worry, we'll make quick work of them" Tiger said, getting into his stance
Omega then got into his stance while brandishing his morpher.
"Since you didn't learn your lesson from last time, we'll have beat it into you guys again" Omega said
Rhino then raised his gauntlet and readied himself as well.
"I'm all for that idea" Rhino said
Then with a shout the band of Orcs then charged at the rangers, causing the team to charge as well. They then jumped into the crowd and started to cut the forces down to size.
(Play Dino Thunder Fighting music)
Tiger and Drago cut down most of the Orcs with their swords, blocking and stabbing through all the unfortunate Greenskins that came at them. Then two Orcs then came up behind them with their clubs raised, but before they could get them the two rangers jumped out the way and quickly retaliated.
"Laser Arrows"
"Saba"
"Fire!"
They then shot their respective blasts at the group of Orcs, causing a huge explosion as they turned away from it. With Rhino and Omega they were using there martial art skills and easily deflecting there foes strikes and following up with their own. They then saw a huge group coming at them but Omega got in front of them.
"Let's finish this quick, Omega Morpher, Hyper Mode!"
Omega then twisted the handle on his morpher, causing his palm to glow yellow. Once he slammed the handle back in place everything seemed to slow down, while Omega delivered a barrage of superfast punches which completely decimated the entire group with ease. Once the rush was over all that was left were a pile of bruised and crushed corpses.
"Show off" Rhino said crossing his arms
"Nah, I'm just that good" Omega remarked
(End Theme)
Looking over the scene before them, they couldn't help but notice how easy this fight was compared to the last one.
"This must have been a scout party, thought they could score an easy win today" Tiger said kicking over a corpse
"Must be, because that was to easy even for Ranger standards" Rhino said
"Ahem" a voice said
The four Rangers then turned to voice and were faced with Kaguya herself, who looked a little worse for wear but still kept a prideful stance.
"I assume you are the warriors that saved this village the first time around?" she asked
The rangers then sheathed there weapons as Tiger walked to confront the shrine priest.
"Yes we are, were the Power Rangers or more specifically White Hope" Tiger said as Kaguya cocked her eyebrow
"Hope? Hope for what?" Kaguya asked but Omega shock his head
"Can't say now, but you will know soon" Omega answered
"But don't worry, we'll be here to fight the good fight when the time arises" Tiger added
Then with a respectful bow, the four Rangers then jumped into the air and out of sight, leaving a surprised Kaguya.
"Well…this was…interesting."
(~~~~~)
After the battle, Kaguya realized she got what she needed and decided to head out to Ken. While on the road she then contacted Celestine through the Viewing stone. In a matter of minutes Celestine's face appeared on the stone's surface.
"Your holiness" Kaguya addressed her
"Kaguya, good hear from you again, how did your investigation go?" Celestine asked as Kaguya sighed
"It didn't bear as much fruit as I hoped, but at least now I can put a name to our mystery warriors" Kaguya answered
Celestine's eyes then widen in shock at this as got up close to the stone.
"Well who are they then?!" Celestine eagerly asked which surprised Kaguya
"It seems they call themselves … Power Rangers" she answered
Celestine then leaned back from the stone as she thought over this new bit of information.
"Power Rangers? Interesting" She said to herself
Celestine then turned back to the stone and nodded to Kaguya.
"Thank you for this my friend, I'll see you when you arrive" she said as Kaguya nodded back
"Look forward to it our holiness" Kaguya replied as the stone went back to being blank
(~~~~~)
Back in the village, it was turning to night and most of people had turned in for the night, expect for White Hope that is. They were in the middle cleaning up their shop and getting ready for the next day.
"Well today was sure fun, meet a princess and stopped an Orc invasion" Michal said as he turned the sign on the door
"Sure, minus the fact the Eric here got tortured today" Alex said as Eric rolled his eyes
"I'm fine guys, not even a scratch" Eric said as the others let it go
"Fine, we'll let it go but guys I don't what be "that guy" but there is an issue to handle" Kelvin said as the others frowned
"Got that right, with the Alliance now knowing our existence, it'll be a matter of time before Olga finds out too" Michal asked
"Right which means we need to enact our plan, which we still have no idea how to do it" Alex added
Eric then let out sigh which got everyone's attention.
"There is…one way" Eric said, surprising everyone
"There is!? Why didn't you tell us before?!" Michal asked as Eric looked away
"That's the thing I was hoping to avoid this option but seems were all out of options" Eric said
"Well what is it then?" Alex asked as the others listened in
Then with a heavy sigh Eric then turned to others to address them.
"We all know that Vault marched into the badlands to take Olga's castle right" Eric said as the others nodded, "So on that note, the best way to get into badlands is…to join the Black Dogs" he said
The others were then fell silent as they processed what Eric said. Then after a few minutes, their mouths then fell out as it dawned on them at last.
"WHAT!?"