Disclaimer: While I don't own the overall concept of Power Rangers, Zords, and all else that goes with it, I, along with the friends that are involved with the story, do own Power Rangers Literati itself and its own componants. This would be the fifth story in the series... if you haven't read the other four... Why?
Power Rangers Literati
"Memories"
By J.T. Magnus, "Turbo"
Mr. Z was trying to catch up on paperwork in his office and not let thoughts of the past sweep him up. He was failing miserably. The young people he had working for him reminded him too much of him and his friends at that age, in more ways than one.
J.T., the protective one and leader-type, both hot-headed and calculating, and Jessica, part-tomboy, part-girly-girl, all attitude. Together they were the 'perfect couple'. They reminded him of a saying about a couple being like a pair of scissors - often moving in opposite directions, but joined so that they punished any that came between them. The only problem with that was that as soon as they had come together, the direction they went was whichever way the other was going. Z bowed his head, hoping they'd have better luck than his friends...
Then there was Daniel, who was a good guy, a lot calmer and more focused than J.T., but when it came to his friends, Z's fellow African-American was known to turn dangerous. There was also Amanda, a girl who had broken years of family tradition, as much an enigma as her boyfriend, Amanda was compassionate, defensive, out-going, self-serving, aggressive and withdrawn, all at once. Of the two couples, they were the 'unexpected couple', not the two who you would expect to get together, but they did and it worked. Thinking about their counterparts reminded him that he needed to call them...
Yolanda was bubbly, fun, hyper, and girly. In a way, Z felt sorry for the boys that overlooked her because she didn't have a 'Baywatch' figure, she was a good person. While she didn't spend as much time visible as the others, she probably was even more important since Z knew she watched everything that went on around her. At least she was easier to understand that one of his friends was...
And Justin, like he had been, Justin was the more-normal one of the group. The voice of reason, Justin was usually the one who kept the others from killing each other. Z didn't envy him that task.
The only one of his employees missing was Jon and, as wrong as it should be for a business's owner, he wasn't upset in the least that he wasn't there. For a long time, Jon had been a good employee, maybe not the best, but a good employee still. Then, recently, he had begun to develop a real attitude - and not the tolerable kind the others had - and skipping out on work. If this kept up, Jon would probably soon find himself out of a job.
Laying his pen on his desk, Z gave up on the paperwork and headed out of his office toward the main area of Highway 2. In one of the open areas between groups of shelves, the six employees that were there that day were bent over something, laughing. Quietly, he walked up until he was right next to them, unnoticed.
"Hey, enough looking at dirty magazines, back to work!"
Startled, the Literati Rangers almost jumped at their boss's words.
"Mein Gott in Himmel," J.T. said, trying to catch his breath, "You scared us, boss."
"I try," Z said, smiling, "What are you guys laughing at?"
Amanda laughed, "A clear case of future-boyfriend abuse."
Z stopped and looked at her for a minute before she held up a scrapbook and pointed to a picture in a library of a girl hitting a boy over the head with a book.
"This is from back in high school," Amanda explained, "Before they fell in love, those two," she waved a hand at J.T. and Jessica, "Couldn't stand each other. This was one of the times they couldn't agree on how to do things in the school library."
"Oh, yeah?" J.T. asked, grabbing the scrapbook and flipping through it to find a picture of a punk-looking dirty blonde male and a petite blonde girl, "Who's the one who wanted to date Jon Maxwell?"
"Don't remind me..."
"You wanted to date JON?" Jessica asked, surprised.
"One, I was an idiot. Two, it was before I met Daniel."
Daniel smiled, "Remember when I met your parents, Mandi?"
"I do," J.T. spoke up, turning pages, "In fact, there's a picture of it in here somewhere. Hey, there it is!"
The picture he pointed out was of Amanda and Daniel hugging, viewed from behind Daniel, with two adults looking out a door in sheer horror while her brother cheered them on.
"Where are you, J.T.?"
"Mr. Z, I was the photographer of the picture you see here."
"Which explains why you work here and not as a professional photographer," Z answered.
"What's this?" Justin asked, picking up a small tan four-point shuriken that had been tucked away in the scrapbook, "Is this... tape?"
J.T. laughed, "Yeah. I must've made dozens of them during different classes with boring videos. I'd just take some tape, tear off a couple pieces, stick 'em together and start folding."
"Give me that," Jessica said, taking the scrapbook, "Where is... Ha!"
"Where is that?" Amanda asked.
"That's from when my dad invited J.T. to our family reunion last year," the other girl answered, "That is J.T., my dad, my brother Mark, uncles Martin and Xander and cousin Peter involved in... I still don't know what they were involved in, actually..."
"Is that a graduation invitation?" Z asked.
"Yeah," J.T. groaned, picking it up and searching through his pockets, "Where's my lighter?"
Holding one corner of the invitation, J.T. flicked his lighter until there was a flame, then touched it to the opposite corner and let it catch on fire. Holding it until the flame was so close that he couldn't anymore, he watched it burn to ashes.
"What was that for?"
"Just... exorcising some ghosts, Mr. Z, just ghosts of the past," J.T. said in a solemn voice, reaching over to take Jessica's hand.
"Is that you guys?" Justin asked, indicating one picture of an elvish female, a man in a blue cloak, a figure garbed entirely in black including a black ski-mask and a girl with red hair and orange skin with black stripes, all standing at the waterfront.
"No," J.T. said, "That would be Laiwing, Luincollo, The Arashi Tatsujin and Neko-Nariko - That was the Halloween we double-dated down by the waterfront. "
"How did we let you two talk us into that?" Daniel wondered.
"It was a group discount, remember?"
"Oh, yeah..."
There was a small piece of paper sticking up between two pages, and Z pulled it out, "KB Toys, discounted action figure, three-ninety-nine... what's this?"
J.T. and Jessica laughed while Daniel, Amanda and Yolanda scowled, leaving Z and Justin confused.
"Amanda and Yolanda are Lord of the Rings fans, right? And they love Aragorn and Legolas," J.T. explained, "Well, when Amanda's birthday rolled around, my better half decided to get her an Aragorn figure."
"That doesn't sound so bad."
"You've gotta understand, Mr. Z, Amanda was upset because, appearantly, plastic doesn't look, smell, or even sweat like the real thing."
"And I still hate you both for that," Amanda grumbled.
Z thought for a minute, then stepped back into his office and came out with a framed picture of six teenagers.
"What do you guys say I tell you a few tales on my old friends?" He asked.