Hi! I'm not dead! Just really busy with finishing up school for the semester, and then working a lot over break (translation: finished school and then sat around watching Disney Plus all day, then going to work about 3 days a week). I know I said about once a month and while I may have skipped December and January, I won't be skipping February (as you can see). I just have been suffering from a lack of interest, luckily, by the end of writing this chapter, I seem to have gotten my drive back. Just bear with me, please.
One more thing: I added this to the first chapter, but I'll also say it here. There is now a Power Rangers Fanon Page for this series. While it isn't up to date yet, I plan on adding to it as the series moves along.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and thank you for your patience.
Myth 14: A Golden Opportunity
"Big announcement before I start the lesson today," Mr. Ford said as he got up from his desk, "as many of you know, the school's art and music competition is coming up this weekend. As such, I expect to see all of you in the gym at that time to support your classmates."
His announcement was met with many students rolling their eyes.
"Yeah, like anyone will actually show up to support their classmates," Jay remarked to himself.
"Anyway, on to the lesson…"
"I'm assuming you heard about the art competition in your first class today?" Mera asked as she and Jay sat down at the lunch table.
"Yeah, and they actually expect us to show up!" Nate said before he began to laugh.
"Hey, my brother's in that competition!" Diana shouted as she walked up to the table and sat down, glaring at Nate all the while.
"Calm down, you two," Valerie said, putting her hands between the two teens. "just…play nice, alright?"
"They started it!" Nate and Diana shouted together as they pointed at the other.
Jay just facepalmed as Victor looked on, confused by the behavior he was seeing.
"Ok, I heard that from across the cafe," Adrian said as he sat down next to his sister. "Who started what?"
"Nate was laughing about the competition, and Diana was defending everyone in it," Jay explained to the newcomer.
"You know they have door prizes, right?" Adrian said.
"Wait, you get free stuff for showing up? Seriously?" Nate said, his eyes glowing. "Why didn't the teachers just start with that!?"
"Perhaps it could be that they actually wanted people to show up for support instead of greed?" Mera asked.
"Why do I feel like we just opened a can of worms?" Jay asked as Nate looked off into the distance, probably seeing the free stuff he would get.
"I specifically told Actaeon to get those Purple Olympian Gems before they bonded with someone! Now we have eight Rangers to deal with!" Hades roared as he slammed his fist on his throne. "Eventually they're going to run out of colors, right?"
"I suppose," Persephone said.
"But it won't matter how many Rangers there are once my army is ready," Hades said. "Speaking of which…Gryphon!"
The bronze plated warrior stepped out of the shadows and kneeled before Hades.
"Yes, my lord?" he asked.
"Go and check on my Spartoi army," Hades ordered. "I want to make sure they are growing at the proper rate."
"As you command," Gryphon said as he stood up and melted into the nearest shadow.
"How he does that in solid bronze armor, I'll never know," Hades commented. "It's really hard to do anything surrounded in solid metal...oh!" He suddenly stood up. "I've got it!"
"What is it, my lord?" Persephone asked. "What have you figured out?"
"How to stop the Rangers in their tracks!" Hades announced, "and if the Rangers can't move, they can't search for the remaining Gems!"
"But how would you accomplish this?" Persephone asked.
"Midas!" Hades shouted as he sat back down on his throne. "I have need for you!"
He reached into the blue fire in the brazier next to his throne and threw a ball of it at the wall, creating a blue portal. Out stepped a fat man with the ears of a donkey. His clothes were golden silk, and he had a very prestigious air around him.
"Midas, I want you to use your powers on the Rangers to stop their search of the other Olympian Gems," Hades ordered as he created a new portal. "Now go!"
"I hear you, sire, and I'll tell you, this job is good as gold!" Midas said before stepping into the new portal.
"I know," Hades smiled as he leaned back in his throne. "The Rangers can't win this time. I'm certain of it."
"So, were you going to the competition tomorrow?" Valerie asked as she and Jay walked down the street. School and training had just ended and Jay was now walking Valerie back to her house.
"Let's see...support my friends or sleep?" Jay asked himself out loud. "I might need to think about this one…"
"Well, don't spend too long thinking about it," Valerie said with a smile. "There isn't much time left to decide anyway. The competition is tomorrow."
The two were about to pass a dark alley when someone or something stepped out of it. The light of day revealed it to be Midas.
"Times up," Midas grinned as he pressed his palms onto Jay and Valerie, who could only watch in horror as liquid gold quickly traveled from the contact point to the rest of their bodies.
"I assume you're ready for tomorrow?" Diana asked her brother as they walked down the street a few streets over from where Jay and Valerie had just been attacked.
"Yeah," Adrian said as he sketched on his drawing pad as he walked. "I just gotta figure out what to add to my song."
"First, you need to watch where you're going," Diana said as she went up beside her brother and navigated him through the crowd of people, "and second, how does drawing help you write music?"
"All the arts are connected: music, painting, even sculptures, they all compliment one another," Adrian explained. " A lot of the time, they work together to create a larger experience. Every movie has its soundtrack."
"I guess so. So what are you doing, putting your painting and music skills together?" Diana asked as the crowd began to thin out.
"Exactly," Adrian said as he nodded. "I'm going to play a song, and drawing helps me focus on my subject."
"And your subject is…?" Diana asked
"A secret," Adrian said.
"Fine, be that way," Diana said as they turned down a side street.
"Oh, don't be like that," Adrian said, "I just don't want to spoil the surprise."
"Speaking of surprises…" a voice said off to the side.
Adrian and Diana looked over to see a darkened figure who quickly stepped into the light, revealing himself to be Midas. He pressed his palm to Diana, but Adrian dodged just in the nick of time. He watched as his sister was turned into a gold statue that Midas then lifted onto his shoulder.
"Get back here!" he shouted as he prepared to chase after Midas. Once he started running, however, a group of Spartoi jumped out of a blue portal and blocked his way.
"Diana!" Adrian yelled as the distance between him and his sister grew.
"You ready?" Nate asked as he shifted into a fighting stance. He shifted his legs on the mat to a more advantageous position.
"But of course," Mera responded as she shifted into a similar yet different stance. "The better question would be: are you ready?"
"You bet!" Nate said.
"Then let us begin!" Mera shouted as Nate charged at her. She leapt into the air and kicked him right square in the face, causing him to crumble to the ground, grabbing his face and groaning in pain. Victor looked up from his newest project for a moment before returning to it.
Hermes flew over to Nate and did some quick healing with his white-glowing hands.
"I am enjoying this," Mera commented as Hermes helped Nate up.
"Just because I can heal you, doesn't mean that you two can't fight nicely," Hermes said as he flew back to the side of the mat.
"Well, I-" Mera began before she was cut off by the alarm. Hermes quickly flew over to the mosaic computer and started typing away. He turned back towards the two teens and frowned.
"Something's not right," he said. "I just lost track of Jay, Valerie and Diana all within the space of two minutes."
"What?" Nate said, "what do you mean you 'lost track of them'?"
"People do not just vanish into thin air," Mera agreed.
"Hermes?" Adrian's voice said, coming through the computer. "We may have a problem. A guy with donkey ears just kidnapped my sister, and now there's Spartoi blocking my way."
"I'm sending Nathanial, Victor, and Merrida now," Hermes said as the three rushed to the blue-glowing Doors that swung open to accept them, then swung shut as they left.
"Get out of my way, you piles of bones!" Adrian said as he sidekicked a Spartoi into a wall. He tried to climb over some of the Spartoi, only to fall to the ground. He looked up to see Mera, Victor and Nate rushing towards him. Nate helped him stand up as the three flanked him.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Adrian asked the three.
"Yeah, I'm thinking that it's Morphing Time!" Nate shouted.
The four crossed their arms over their chests as the gems glowed with power.
"Gold Olympian Power!"
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Black Olympian Power!"
"Blue Olympian Power!"
In a flash of multi-colored light, the teens were replaced by the Olympian Force Rangers.
"Alright, let's get through them and find my sister!" Adrian said before he led the other three into an attack against the Spartoi.
Adrian and Victor shoulder-charged the Spartoi, knocking them to the ground before Nate and Mera flipped over the two to strike some of the Spartoi still standing.
Adrian jumped towards the wall and kicked off it to punch a Spartoi in the face with the added force as Mera flipped onto Nate's shoulders before coming in for a flying double kick to defeat the remaining Spartoi.
"Come on!" Adrian ordered. The other Rangers nodded as they followed their gold-clad companion down the alley.
"My own little statue garden!" Midas cackled as he began to dance around the three teen statues of Jay, Valerie and Diana. "Oh what fun!"
He was inside a warehouse full of actual marble statues, and his three golden ones.
His fun time was interrupted by someone smashing through the front door, leaving a gaping hole the four remaining Rangers leapt through.
"Fun time's over, you ass!" Adrian said as the other Rangers flanked him.
"Nice one, man!" Nate said as he broke formation to give Adrian a fist bump. "You thought of that yourself?"
"As soon as I saw those ears," Adrian responded.
"Like I haven't heard that one before," Midas said as he rolled his eyes, "but now I have more subjects for my statues, and I'm feeling...inspired!"
He leapt towards the Rangers, who all rolled out of the way before summoning their weapons.
"Sun Bow!"
"Battle Spear!"
"Blacksmith Hammer!"
"Ocean Trident!"
The three melee Rangers swung their weapons around themselves to ward off Midas as the one ranged Ranger leapt up to higher ground in the form of giant wooden boxes stacked up together. He rained down glowing arrows of gold energy.
"Damn it, if we can't touch him, we can't beat him!" Nate said as he tried stabbing Midas with his trident before recoiling away from Midas' hands.
"I agree, the only way to beat him would be a ranged attack," Mera said as she rolled away from Midas, trying to maintain her distance.
"But the strongest ranged attack we have needs Jay and Valerie to complete," Victor said as he slammed the ground, knocking Midas off balance for a minute with the shockwaves. "Without them, we can't form the Olympian Crossbow!"
"I've got it!" Mera said. "I read about Midas in a Greek Mythology book!"
"And we've never needed any knowledge about Greek Myth before now?" Nate asked sarcastically. "That's literally what we always fight: monsters from Greek Myth! Why have we never read a book about their weaknesses? To drag out the plot?"
Mera ignored him and continued.
"There was a river that blocked his power and returned things turned to gold back to normal," she said. "His weakness is water!"
"I've got plenty of that! One water blast coming up!" Nate announced as he pointed his trident at the three statues of his friends, one with each point. A jet of water shot out of each of the points and soaked the statues.
For a second, nothing happened, but then the gold began to melt away, revealing the three teens.
"Oh, I can scratch that itch I've had for the last hour!" Valerie said as she scratched her arm.
"That's so much better!" Jay said as he stretched.
"Took you long enough," Diana commented as she crossed her arms.
"How about you guys Ranger up and we defeat this donkey-eared freak?" Nate suggested.
"Forget that, I'm outta here!" Midas shouted as he leapt into a blue portal that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
The four morphed teens demorphed as the three unmorphed ones ran up to meet them.
"I knew you'd find us!" Jay said.
"Where'd he go?" Victor asked as he looked around.
"He went through a portal, most likely back to the Underworld," Mera explained.
"Well, it's over, for now at least," Adrian said. "Let's go home."
"Tell me, what do you call that performance?" Hades asked Midas as he kneeled in front of the throne.
"A first run?" Midas asked.
"I call that a failure!" Hades roared as the blue flames on his head turned red shot up to become an inferno before falling back to normal height.
"No, no!" Midas said. "I was testing them, and now I know to target all of them at once, that way no one can save them!"
"Do not fail me again," Hades warned, "or the Rangers will be the least of your worries!"
"Alright, I'm heading out early to the competition!" Adrian called through his large house before stepping out the front door. The sun had just risen, and the prep time for the contestants in the competition would start soon.
He set down the empty street, alone in the world, if only for the moment. He enjoyed the silence for a minute.
Adrian quickly reached the school and walked in. Around him was the large number of artistically and/or musically gifted students that attended the school. Adrian showed his ID card to the teachers guarding the door and was quickly let in.
Adrian looked around as he walked through the doors. Around him were large displays of art. From collages to statues, there was a bit of everything for everyone. There was even a stage in the back for musical performances.
Adrian sighed in contentment. These were his people. This was where he belonged.
He backed up to look around and bumped into a girl about his age who was also backing up in the opposite direction. She had straight brown hair and a green dress with floral patterns on it.
"My bad, my bad!" Adrian said as he turned around. "I wasn't looking where I was going."
"No, you're fine," the girl said, "I wasn't looking where I was going either and we kinda…"
"Collided?" Adrian finished.
"Exactly the word I was looking for," the girl said as she stuck out her hand. "Christina, nice to meet you!"
Adrian took her hand and shook it.
"Adrian," he said, "same to you."
"Anyway, what are you here for, specifically?" Christina asked.
"Music," Adrian answered, patting the messenger bag on his side. "What about you?"
"Well...it's better if I show you," Christina said as she led Adrian to her tables. On them were flowers of all varieties, but they were arranged in geometric patterns.
"Wow…" Adrian said as he took in their beauty. "That's a really unique thing you created."
"I know, right?" she said, "you see, what I did here was…"
As she continued on, it was easy to miss the green stones in the center of one of the flower displays.
Jay sighed as he looked at his watch in front of the school.
"Just like when we went to the movies all over again…" he commented.
"We're here!" Valerie said as she was followed by Mera, Diana, Victor and Nate.
"Let's get going!" Nate said. "That door prize is calling my name!"
"Remember, we're here to support Adrian," Jay said. "The door prize is just a bonus. Speaking of Adrian, shall we go see him before the music portion starts?"
They were about to enter the building when a legion of Spartoi arrived in front of and around them, fencing them in. In front of the teens, a blue portal appeared and Midas stepped out.
"This journey into the world of art has been postponed...permanently!" he cackled as he rushed around and tapped his palm to all of the teens.
"Again!?" Jay shouted in frustration before turning into a gold statue for a second time.
Nate looked down at the gold spreading before looking back up, "this is such bulls-" he said before he froze too.
The other teens froze too soon to really react at all.
"Take them to my showroom!" Midas ordered the Spartoi before turning towards the school. "I'll get the last Ranger myself."
"-And that's what I did with this display," Christina finished.
"Amazing work," Adrian commented as he looked around. "But what are those two gems in the center? It can't be…"
"Hey! You can't just walk in here!" one of the teachers outside shouted before he was suddenly cut off.
Midas stepped through the door and picked Adrian out of the crowd.
"You, I have your friends. I'll give you an hour to surrender, or I'll drop them from the top of...somewhere high!" he finished, somewhat flustered. He disappeared into a blue portal.
"Was he talking to you?" Christina asked.
"Yeah, I gotta go, see ya!" Adrian said as he rushed towards the exit.
"Yeah, well, I'm coming with you!" she said as she was about to start after him. She looked over at the flower display as the green stones began to glow. She grabbed them to examine them and was shocked when golden bands appeared on her wrists and the stones attached to them.
Adrian turned back to argue, but saw the new bands on this girl he barely knew.
"You too?" he asked quickly.
"Me too what?" she asked as the two of them started out the exit.
"Those bands, they mean something really important," Adrian said as the chilled air hit them as they ran outside. "Where did you find those stones?"
"I found them one day, just lying in my rock garden," she said. "They seemed special, so I put them in my flower display."
The two of them were halfway to the warehouse where the teens had fought last time when Adrian finally explained.
"Have you heard of the Olympian Rangers?" he asked as he slipped on his morphers.
Christina quickly nodded
"Who hasn't?" she asked. "They only save the city once a month at least."
"Well," Adrian said as he slowly began to run out of breath, but he kept running, "Gems like them grant the Rangers their abilities."
"What!?" Christina said as she stopped. Adrian stopped and turned back before running back to meet her.
"You're going to be a Power Ranger now," he explained. The two of them looked at each other for a minute.
"I don't want to be a Power Ranger," she said simply.
The two were about to discuss it further, but some Spartoi came to block their way.
"Just follow my lead," Adrian said, "Gold Olympian Power!"
He ran forward into a pillar of light and on the other side he emerged as the Gold Olympian Ranger.
"What the heck," Christina said "Green Olympian Power!"
She ran forward into a pillar of green light and emerged on the other side the Green Olympian Ranger!
She had a medium-green coloring to her, and had the skirt of the female members of the team. Her belt and morphers were gold and her helmet was in the shape of a scythe turned at a 45 degree angle.
"This feels amazing!" she said as she looked at herself. "I feel like I could lift 3 tons!"
"Wouldn't try it," Adrian grunted as he leaped into the center of the Spartoi before side kicking one into a wall and then judo-throwing another into a dumpster.
"One problem with me being a Power Ranger…" Christina said as she tried pushing through the Spartoi to reach Adrian.
"And that is?" Adrian asked as he hook kicked a Spartoi into the wall again.
"I'm a pacifist."
Adrian turned to look at her as he stopped fighting. The Spartoi looked confused as to why neither Ranger was attacking.
"You're a what!?" Adrian said as he went back to punching and kicking the Spartoi.
"I'm a pacifist, it means…"
"I know what it means!" Adrian said as he slammed the last Spartoi into the ground before they all dissolved. "A pacifist superhero! Who would've thought?"
"I don't mind helping people, as long as no one gets hurt," Christina explained. "Violence isn't going to solve anything."
"Well...you know what? I might be able to work with this," Adrian said. "Ok, here's the plan…"
"I gave the Gold Ranger one hour to surrender and what does he do? Not surrender!" Midas shouted at the Spartoi standing next to him. "Now, Hades gave me you piles of bones for a reason! Help me defeat this...this...teenager with attitude!"
"Someone ring for me?" Adrian said as he walked into the warehouse, still morphed.
"This doesn't look like surrendering to me!" Midas yelled. "Don't you care about your friends? How about your sister?"
"Yeah, I care about them enough to know that they would want me to keep fighting!" Adrian retorted.
"Spartoi! Get him!" Midas yelled as he pointed at Adrian.
As Adrian got into combat with the Spartoi, no one was paying attention to the golden statues. Midas was too enthralled in the battle, waiting for his chance to jump in and turn the last Ranger to gold.
Christina slowly entered the warehouse, fire hose in hand. She rolled behind a pile of crates and slowly snuck around the corner towards the frozen teens. She pulled back the release on the hose and held on tight as it fired a jet of water at the statues. Wherever the water hit caused the gold to melt and the teens to be freed.
Jay wasted no time in strapping on his morphers, quickly followed by the others.
"Ready?" he prompted.
"Ready!" the other five teens said as all six crossed their arms.
"Silver Olympian Power!"
"Pink Olympian Power!"
"Yellow Olympian Power!"
"Black Olympian Power!"
"Blue Olympian Power!"
"Red Olympian Power!"
There was a flash of light, and the Rangers were transformed.
"Alright, team, take them down!" Jay ordered as the Rangers ran towards the Spartoi.
"Finally!" Adrian shouted as the Rangers leaped into battle. "I was hoping to get some help here!"
"See you've been busy," Jay said as he elbowed a Spartoi in the face before kicking it into the wall. "Who's your new friend and what is she doing?" He gestured to the Green Ranger who was trying to stop the Rangers from attacking the Spartoi.
"Oh…" Adrian said as he rubbed the back of his helmet. "That's Christina, and she's a pacifist."
"Look, lady, I gotta kick these skeleton's butts, so move!" Nate ordered as she pushed Christina out of the way so he could advance on the Spartoi again.
"But violence isn't going to solve anything!" Christina protested.
"Unfortunately, it kind of does," Valerie said as she landed from a flip over next to Christina. "Look, if you don't want to fight, that's fine. Just stay out of the way."
Midas leapt at Christina, who put her arms up to protect herself, which summoned a scythe that she then blocked the attack with.
Midas growled and struck at her again. She nimbley dodged to safety. Midas turned around to find Victor standing there with his hammer, prepared to strike.
"Uh...any chance we can talk about this?" Midas joked before Victor wound up and swung his hammer into Midas' mid-section, causing him to fly into a wall, which cracked from the force.
"Rangers, let's form the Olympian Crossbow!" Jay ordered as the primary Rangers summoned their weapons and combined them, with the twins on either side creating a Gemini Arrow.
"Olympic Lightning Storm!" Jay yelled as he infused the sword with his power and pulled the trigger. "Fire!"
"Gemini Arrow!" Adrian and Diana shouted as they released their arrows. "Fire!"
The three projectiles turned into one, the sword absorbing the arrows into its own power, and hit Midas in the mid-section again.
"I just wanted to get the gold!" Midas shouted before exploding in a cloud of fire and ash.
The Rangers sent their weapons back to the pocket dimension and walked up to Christina, who slowly backed away from the teens.
"I-I don't want any part of this!" she shouted as all eight teens demorphed. "This violence! It-it just causes more suffering for all involved!"
"I'm not going to argue against that," Jay said, "but if you don't want to fight, you don't have to."
"I...I don't?" Christina asked. "Then what do I do with these...powers?"
"Use them to help people," Adrian said as he walked up to Christina. "We can't be everywhere when battle occurs. Help get civilians to safety. Move debris from the battles, there's so much more to helping people than fighting."
"You're not going to demand the Gems for someone who wants to use them?" Nate half-whispered to Jay.
"We don't really have a choice," Jay whispered back. "The Gems chose her, not us."
"Hey!" Adrian shouted as he looked at his watch. "We got an art competition to get to, let's go!"
He and Christina ran off together, with the rest of the team not too far behind.
After freeing the teacher from his statued fate, the teens could finally enjoy the art competition. As they walked in, a man rang a bell.
"We have our 100th person! What's your name, young man?" he asked as he pointed at Nate.
"I'm Nate," Nate said, "what do you mean '100th person'?"
"It means you get a prize!" the man said as he reached into his bag.
Nate waited with bated breath for his prize.
"Here, have a frisbee," the man said. Nate's face immediately dropped.
"A frisbee!? A frisbee!?" Nate started before the other teens grabbed it and dragged him away.
"Thank you, sir," Mera said to the man as she pushed Nate along.
"A frisbee...:" Nate muttered. "All this effort it took to come here and I got a frisbee…"
"You know, the rest of us came too, and we got nothing," Valerie reminded him.
"Now, I better get on stage, I'm up soon!" Adrian said as he grabbed the bag he had left at Christina's table.
A few minutes later, Adrian was up. He opened the bag and pulled out a lyre.
"I'd like to dedicate this next song to the most important people in my life: my friends, both old and new," Adrian said with a smile.
He started to play, and Jay smiled as well. Even if it didn't win the contest, it was a song worth its weight in gold.
And that's a wrap! Finally done! Took over 2 months to write a little over 4500 words. Here's hoping to finish the next one in half the time or less!
