Chapter 8

Being a ranger meant putting their duties above their personal interests and hobbies. In other planets, it's a full time job. Marigold still couldn't understand how these kids managed to not only protect their planet but also defeat villains like Zedd, Rita and the freaking Machine Empire while juggling their personal lives and going to school.

She sighed as she watched the rangers fight against holographic monsters in one of the Promethea training facilities, which were on par with those of SPD. Following the defeat of Ivan Ooze and rescue of the captured EAGLE agents, the former rangers of Earth had been whisked away by Ninjor for an entire week and when they returned, they decided to put their personal lives on hold and be rangers on a full time basis till the threat of UAE was neutralized.

She always knew humanity was meant for great things, especially after being on the field with legendary 'plumbers' and heroes like Carol Danvers and Max Tennyson. But the galaxy at large refused to accept Earth as a member of the Council of Worlds and the few humans aware of the fact that Earth was hardly the only planet with life agreed, knowing that humanity needed to evolve before they became a part of the greater galactic society.

Few aliens to get stranded on Earth have been depicted as monsters in various legends and were hunted down, even if they were mostly harmless and innocents. She was part of the special plumber taskforce to rescue captured aliens from the infamous Area 51 ten years ago.

Humanity was full of bigotry and prejudice. They had a long way to go before they could accept the complexity of other worlds and cultures. They had a hard time accepting different races, religions, sexualities and differentiated on basis of gender and ethnicities.

However there was hope. The youngsters before her were proof of that.

"Penny for your thoughts?" She turned around to see Arella leaning against a pillar.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"It's a Earth thing. What are you thinking?" The elf asked, giving her a small smile.

"This world is not ready for Dark Spectre. He destroys everything." She grimaced.

"Earth is more resilient than others know. We won't give up without a fight." Arella reassured. "There are warriors all over the planet, ready to assist at a moment's call."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm from the Magic Realm and it connects to all parts of the planet with magic. In ancient times, it used to be connected to other planets too but to protect our kind, we had to restrict ourselves to a secluded planet... Earth. Over the years, our kind have shared our knowledge with humanity. There are guardians ready to do whatever it takes to protect Earth from all sorts of evil." Arella smiled. "That's all I can tell you. There are others ready to step up should we fail. Dark Spectre and his unholy alliance would fall. We have won against worse."

"That is reassuring." The titan smiled. "I have heard of the Magic Realm. Legends tell that it was once connected to the legendary forests of Griffalzor in my home planet."

"It was and part of Griffalzor still exists as part of the realm. It's beautiful. Most of the residents of the Realm were refugees from other planets. My friend, Adonis the Gryffin Knight is a titan. There is an entire colony of Titans in Griffalzor."

"I'd love to visit the Magic Realm sometime." Marigold said awestruck.

"That can be arranged. I may have to ask the Mystic Mother for permission but as a fellow ranger and a peace keeper, you are more than welcome in the magic realm." Arella gave her a soft smile. "Would you like to spar Marigold? No magic, I promise."

"I'd love that." The titan stretched her arms. "And call me Mari."

Kat's eyes watered as she hugged Justin.

"I'm so sorry. Why did you not tell us?"

"You were halfway across the world. All of you were." Justin sighed. "And I had Storm Blaster. I wasn't alone."

"It wasn't safe, Justin." Tanya rubbed her forehead. "You are a kid. And no, young man, I don't mean that as an insult. You are a hero but you are also a child. You deserve to live a normal life, not fight monsters and live on the streets. You could have reached out to us and we would have been there in a heartbeat."

"I'm sorry. After dad left again, I knew he wasn't coming back this time and I could not wait around in the orphanage. And I had already finished school-"

"So you and Storm Blaster took off on a world trip until Blue Centurion detected your energy signatures all the way in Japan when he reached Earth. Do you realise how unsafe and irresponsible that was, Justin?" Adam scolded. "How did you even get money for food and supplies?"

Justin gulped, looking down. "I kind of hacked my dad's credit cards."

"Well that's... he deserved it but still you could have told us. Most of us were off town but every one of our parents would have been more than happy to take you in." Tommy said.

"I'm sorry guys. I... I didn't think-"

"That we cared. Of course we do, Justin. Your dad is a jerk but you still have a family. You'll always have us, Justin. We are your family, Justin and we will always look out for you. " Rocky promised.

Justin sniffed as he was pulled into a group hug by his friends.

Trini looked up from her book as Billy and Cestria continued to have an animated discussion with Grace about some kind of new technology. She sighed.

"You do know jealousy is not a good look on you." Kim teased, slumping down on the couch beside her and pulling her close.

"What?" Trini asked befuddled. "No. Why would I be jealous?"

"I know you had a crush on Billy. You literally climbed a mountain to save him. You understood his technobabble when no one else even bothered to try. It was obvious." Kim rolled her eyes. "You know I thought Billy liked you too."

"Well I never said anything and now it's too late." She grimaced. "It's weird. Billy was dead scared of fishes and now he moved to another planet to be with one."

"Trini, you still like him."

"Well I always liked him since we were kids but it always seemed like he was more excited about tech and science than girls or even boys. I thought he was asexual and I didn't want to make it weird between us by saying I had a crush on him."

"Well there are plenty of fish in the sea." Kim quipped only to cringe as Trini narrowed her eyes. "Sorry. That came out wrong but seriously you are a queen and hot as hell. Anyone would be lucky to have you."

"Yeah. I know." Trini gave her a patient smile before giving her a pointed look. "Please don't tell me you are going to try matchmaking now."

"Too late." Kim stuck out her tongue. "We're going on a double date today evening. It's been way too long since we put ourselves out there."

"With whom?"

"Marcus and Spencer, two nice guys I met in the HQ yesterday. Spencer is one of Grace's top scientists, so I guess you two will hit it off while Marcus is super hot and a field agent." The brunette informed her casually. "I may have planned ahead."

"Typical." Trini rolled her eyes. "How did you even have the time to set all of this up?"

"Well, I wasn't the one moping over a guy, so I did some work, chatting it up with the folks in here... It reminded me of high school, the gossiping and connecting with others..."

"And somehow we never got to finish high school, atleast not in the normal way." Trini said. "I mean I got to be part of a peace conference and you participated in a global tournament but at the same time, we missed out on so much normal stuff. I'm not saying that I'm not grateful but even without us being rangers, our lives were never the same as others. We always did more."

"And I think that's exactly why we became rangers." Kim completed. "I mean look at us now. I fulfilled my childhood dream at 18,then went on to have a demon in my head and now I'm learning magic. I mean who can say something like that? You and Zack are changing lives and influencing decisions on an international level. Billy is one of the most revered scientists in the whole universe and Jason is basically royalty on another planet."

"Yeah." Trini agreed. "Well a date will be pretty normal even if it's with a spy and a scientist employed by a top secret organization."

"Hey who are we to complain? We are superheroes!" Kim pointed out as they started to giggle.

Dimitria of Inquiris was regarded to be one of the wisest entities in the entire universe yet that didn't make her immune to making impulsive and emotional decisions. Upon hearing of the attack on Eltar, she had deserted her responsibilities and left everything to rush to Zordon's aid. With all her magic and powers, she was unable to make any difference and her old friend was captured. His last words to her was to protect Earth, his home away from home… the planet he had protected for thousands of years.

So she returned… to the ruins of the Power Chamber. No rangers or Alpha 6 present there to welcome her back. She had failed her rangers… her children. They hadn't been as ready as she'd thought. Divatox had won, all thanks to her and Earth had been left defenseless.

She reached out through the Grid to search for her children. She felt only Justin's presence on Earth.

She reached out to him, finding him happy with his father, moving to a different city. When his father was busy, she appeared before him to his shock.

He immediately hugged her… or at least he tried to. His hands went through her phantom form but she appreciated the sentiment nevertheless.

He filled her in on what happened following her departure and her heart filled with horror! What were these kids thinking? Going to space without powers to save Zordon from the ultimate evil? That was a suicide mission!

One look at Justin and she could tell he was thinking the same thing.

"I don't know what came over us." He repeated. "We didn't think. I didn't think… I just let them go."

She knew how hard this must be on him. He was a blue ranger after all, the brains of the team. Yet it wasn't his fault.

She could sense it. The subtle traces of pure Grid energies on his mind. It was destiny.

On rare events, the Grid had been known to influence their champions. Not controlling them yet nudging them towards impulsive decisions… decisions which eventually work out for the best. In the Grid Academy, her mentor - the Keeper had taught her to trust the Grid and to hone her instincts. That was the lesson she and Zordon had imparted to their children as well…

That only meant one thing - the Grid was keeping TJ and the others safe. Still she needed to make sure. She told Justin to not worry and that everything would be alright.

It wasn't long till she found them in the Astro Megaship, with new powers and in the company of the last kerovian ranger. After a brief reunion and contemplating whether to stay with them or not, she realised they didn't need her anymore. They had DECA and Andros as their guides through the vastness of space and unlike them, she didn't know how Astronema operated… Her children didn't need her hovering over their heads anymore, hence she decided to return to Earth.

With the turbo rangers all but disbanded, Blue Centurion still in Eltar, the planet had no protection against the forces of evil.

Zordon had left her in charge of protecting the planet and she won't fail him again.

I always hated the fact that Dimitria just disappeared after the Turbo finale, never to be mentioned ever again. While she's no Zordon, she's no amateur in my opinion.

Hope you like this and please review. :)