Power Rangers Literati
"Spirited Beginnings"
'Part Five, Rangers'
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"
The next day, Highway 2 was the scene of a showdown, six of the employees were gathered in a semi-circle around the seventh. J.T. in black jeans and jacket stood like a tank in the middle of the semi-circle. Flanking him were Jessica, athletic and lithe in blue jeans and green shirt on one side and Amanda, shorter and waif-like as though a pixie on the other, dressed in a purple skirt and shirt with yellow flowers, a yellow scrunchie in her hair. Daniel, in blue jeans and a blue shirt stood next to Amanda, on par in height with J.T. Next to Jessica was Yolanda, wearing pink shorts and a white t-shirt, beside her was Justin in a red t-shirt and black jeans. In the center of the semi-circle was the person they were all facing; Jon's messy blond hair was off-set by his own black jeans and purple heavy metal band t-shirt.
The question they all had for him was finally voiced by Amanda, "Why?"
Jon lifted a hand in a half-shrug, "You still don't understand, do you? This is who I am. What I am."
J.T. growled and took a step forward.
"What are you gonna do, Magnus? You can't exactly fire me without telling the boss why, and if you do tell him you'll blow your little secret. I'm not afraid of you, Dragon Ranger."
There was a low rumble in J.T.'s throat as he spoke, "You SHOULD be..."
"When did you take 'Stereotypical Hero 101'?" Jon sneered.
"Get out of here, Jon," Daniel warned, "Before we let him do something we wouldn't regret."
"Fine," Jon said, flipping them a smart-aleck salute, "Be seeing you."
After Jon had left, the others had relaxed and spread out, leaning on shelves and taking seats on the counter.
"You're sure we can't morph and go after him so we can beat him up?"
"Amanda," J.T. said in a mock-British accent, "That would 'ardly be cricket."
"It'd still make me feel better," she grumbled.
"So, what? We're THE Power Rangers now?" Daniel asked.
Amanda brushed a hand through her hair, "I'm not sure I WANT to be, that helmet does bad things to my hair."
Nearly all the others rolled their eyes.
"I don't really think we have a choice in the matter," Jessica commented, "I mean, we don't even know the how and why of us being Rangers, what are we gonna do?"
"I hate it when you're right," Amanda told her.
"So we're stuck?" Justin asked.
"Hey, look at it this way," J.T. shrugged, "We get cool outfits, weapons, and giant robots. It could be worse."
All of the others promptly took their turns hitting J.T. over the head.
"What was that for?"
"You know the rules about saying that!" Jessica said.
"I said it COULD BE worse, not that it COULDN'T BE."
"Oh... In that case... Sorry."
Rolling his eyes, J.T. groaned, "And to think, I could have taken a delivery job at Pizza Hut..."
"Besides," Justin said, "Someone has to handle Jon... and I think that it's a bit out of the police's ability."
"So, I'm in," J.T. said.
"Me too," Jessica added.
"Why do I have this feeling I'm gonna end up being even later for classes?" Daniel wondered, "Oh, well, count me in."
"Why not?" Yolanda asked.
"Being a Power Ranger, okay," Justin commented, "It's the spandex thing that bothers me."
"It's lycra," Amanda said, causing everyone to stare at her, "What? Lycra's funnier."
The fact that she was completely serious caused everyone to continue to stare at her. Their conversation was cut short when the door opened and a black man in black jeans and a multi-colors striped shirt walked in. The Rangers didn't bother jumping to help since this wasn't a customer, it was their boss and he was lax enough not to care as long as they didn't break anything too important.
"Hey, Mr. Z."
The boss shook his head, "Man, J.T., I've told you, don't call me mister."
"Which is exactly why I call you mister."
Mr. Z smiled and started walking to his office, then the news from last night hit him and he looked back at his employees...
'Oh, boy,' he thought, 'Here we go again...'