A/N: It took forever to get this chapter up, even though writing it took, like, three days. God, editing takes forever. But I got it up. Nothing that alters the characters' lives or anything buta nice update nonetheless. Enjoy!
hunt:Concerning all your questions, they're all which will be answered within coming chapters. Let the story unravel and the storyline will reveal everything eventually. It just might take almost or more than twenty chapters to do so... I tend to drag my stories out more than need be.
A/N #2: As a method to take out confusion, Kimberly, Ashley and Taylor are going to refer to each other as each other's sisters. It should make sense after spending two years fighting evil and defending each other's lives.
I thought of a possible new title for this fic that I like a hell of a lot better than 'Journey On' but I don't think I should change it just yet. I was thinking something along the lines of 'Lexis of an Unwritten Story'. It makes almost no sense but I like it. What do you guys think?
Thanks, everyone, for the reviews. It did a lot in pushing me to edit this chapter quicker.
Chapter 3:
It didn't matter how nice she looked, she was going to be unaccepted by everyone at the reunion, regardless of what she wore. At least, that was the only thing that Ashley could hear in her mind as she went outfit through outfit Saturday morning. Nothing looked right and she was seconds away from relinquishing her attempts and deciding not to go and face any humiliation that waited for her. If it hadn't been for Taylor and Kimberly showing up out of nowhere with several aluminum platters of food asking her which three she wanted to take, she might've felt all right about that decision. When she told them she was thinking of backing out, she could swear Taylor was getting a fireball ready to throw at her in an effort to convince her to go.
Kimberly added in her two cents just to finish the deal. "You are not going to back out of this now. First of all, it would look really bad if, after all your efforts these last three weeks, you just didn't attend this reunion. Secondly, you promised me that you and Taylor would be there for me if I decided to go, and guess what, I'm going. Lastly," she held up the pile of aluminum platters in her hand higher, "I did not make all this food so that Taylor and I could walk in and look as if we either had nothing better to do than cook or that we're desperate to please everyone there." Once Taylor gave a look of forewarning, Ashley felt almost scared to stick with the refusal of attending.
"All right, all right, I'll go. Just pick something out for me, I can't decide on what to wear and I don't feel like being confused any more than I already am with these clothes." Ashley waved her hand toward her pile of clothes on her bed she thought were possible outfits for the event and went over to the platters her sisters set on the table to take a peek at the food they brought.
Barely a minute later, Taylor called her name from a few feet behind and the next thing she could see when she turned around was purple. Grabbing the cloth from her face, she saw the violet V-neck tank top she brought when she packed back at home, forgetting for a moment that it was in her suitcase. She just couldn't understand why Taylor chose that color. "And the choice is purple because…"
"Just because," Taylor said, searching the pile for something suitable for the bottom part of Ashley's attire. When she tossed a pair of black flair jeans, she was faced with Ashley's persistent questioning countenance. "Fine," she ceded. "Considering our recent circumstances, I didn't feel it would be all that great to wear our colors. Plus, Kim started it all; she wore a purple top and made me wear one so I suppose we should complete it with you. You know, I never thought I'd see the day I'd be the one deciding the outfit for the fashionable one of us three," Taylor finished. She thought the last comment was under her breath but it was loud enough for Ashley to hear and cause her to slap Taylor slightly on the arm for it.
Even so, Taylor's reason was rational enough for Ashley to accept before she went off to the bathroom to change. When she came out her cell phone rang on the table with Cassie's number on the caller I.D. As it turned out, she was only five minutes from Ashley's hotel, driving over to give her a ride to the park and to the reunion Ashley couldn't stop dreading. Ashley turned to her sisters after she hung up to finalize any details.
"So are we all set?" she started.
"Pretty much," Kimberly said.
"So I'm going to help set up for a while and then when the whole thing is like 45 minutes in, I'll call Taylor when everyone's pretty much set into the whole milieu, right?" Taylor nodded in the affirmative that allowed Ashley to go on. "And whenever things seem calm enough, you want us to call you, Kim?"
"Probably better if you do," Kimberly answered.
"Okay. Here I go. See you guys later," Ashley finished with a hug to each sister before grabbing three aluminum platters stacked for her to take for her part. Once she met Cassie downstairs and joined her in the car, she knew there was no going back at this point.
From behind the closest and biggest oak, Taylor peered toward the incredibly large gathering in a distance. She couldn't believe that so many people actually came, or that her entire team did too. Over the last few years before she left for San Francisco when they kept connected with each other, no more than two of them at one time could find the time to meet and catch up. The one time they were all there and all the rangers throughout time were here too. Just perfect, Taylor sarcastically commented silently.
Her stomach already clenching with apprehension, she was ready to shimmer back to the hotel room and check on Kimberly when her cell phone rang with the ring she had solely for sisters. She knew what it meant; it was clear for her to come into the reunion without much trouble going on. She knew there wasn't any point in prolonging it and that she couldn't wait until Kimberly came since it would look awfully suspicious. Straightening her shirt and grabbing the platters Kimberly gave to her, she stepped from behind the tree and onward to the crowd, knowing the Rubicon was well behind her, butterflies going crazy in her stomach. Taylor was getting closer and closer to the crowd, heading for the picnic tables with all the food, and once she was there she was spotted by Ashley a few feet away at the next table. Catching her sister's eye, Ashley could see her sister's nervousness as Taylor introduced herself to Aisha Campbell, the young woman in charge of the food during that time. She walked over to help Taylor if she needed it while keeping the fact restricted that they knew each other.
"Hey, Aisha," Ashley greeted when she came over, "Tanya asked me to look for you just to let her know; she hasn't seen you the entire time you've been here."
"Thanks, Ashley, I'll meet up with her as soon as I'm done with my shift." Aisha turned to Taylor before introducing the two yellow rangers to each other. "Hey, Ash, this is Taylor Earhardt, the Yellow Wild Force Ranger. Taylor, this is Ashley Hammond, the second Yellow Turbo Ranger and the Yellow Astro Ranger."
The two girls shook hands and switched pleasantries as if they were really meeting for the first time. The three spoke for a little while before Rocky DeSantos came over to check on Aisha and to grab some food new food before his friends beat him to it. When Aisha left to scold her boyfriend for being a pig as usual, Taylor breathed a sigh of relief and faced Ashley again.
"The beginning of a long line of introductions, eh?"
"You got that right. So everything fine so far?"
"So far. I just wish maybe we could turn back time and not have this little reunion thing happen. My stomach won't untangle and I'm getting more nervous by the minute."
"Well, we could try and turn back time," Ashley mused aloud, "but I'm pretty sure we'd get into ridiculous trouble with the Elders if we did. Besides, this may be the perfect chance for each and everyone one of us to explain individually to our teams and friends."
"Still," Taylor added, "I have preferences for the moment."
"Come on," Ashley said grabbing her sister's arm, "let me introduce you to my team and some other people I know. And actually, our secret might not be so crazy to them when we tell it."
Taylor had a moment of confusion when Ashley made her remark. "Why… not?"
"I met the Mystic Force Rangers. Turns out they deal with magic, but it's the sort of old-time, medieval, wave-the-wand magic. But even so, it might ease our news," Ashley explained, coming up to her friends.
"I hope so," Taylor said before she put on a smile when Ashley introduced her to Cassie and Karone.
Time slipped by as Taylor met the team members of the Turbo and Astro Power Rangers, save for Andros whom Ashley was still working on getting the courage to talk with again. At one point, Taylor thought it was time she try and find some of her own teammates, or at least get a soda to drink, so Ashley let her go and told her she'd see her later before calling Kimberly. Just after she took a few sips from her Coke, Taylor heard a name called from behind her and turned around to see her friend Alyssa Enrile smile at her and rushing over to hug her. She was surprised by an overwhelming feeling of relief when Alyssa wrapped her arms around her friend she hadn't seen in so long.
"Oh my freaking god," Alyssa exclaimed, "Taylor Earhardt, what on earth happened to you? I haven't seen you in forever."
"Try a little over two years, Alyssa," Taylor said while chuckling at her friend who hadn't seemed to change a bit.
"You know what I mean," Alyssa said smiling before slowly dropping it and facing Taylor with a serious expression. "Really, Taylor, what happened to you? We were so worried, I thought something horrible happened to you. How come you never called me or anything?"
Taylor knew this was coming and she thought she would have been better prepared when it did but some things had to be unexpected. But she couldn't explain it all just now. "I'll tell you everything, but now right now. I just want to enjoy my day seeing everyone again. Is that okay?"
"All right, but you have to promise you'll tell me everything. I'm not letting you slink away without an explanation," Alyssa warned with a staid tone. Once Taylor assured her that she would, Alyssa led her to the rest of their team.
The crash of hugs and surprised exclamations made Taylor smile while still dreading the one person she was eager yet fretful to see again yet. But she made a decision to enjoy her friends as much as could before her world could potentially collapse down on her. She spent her time catching up with every one she missed the past two years, surprised at how some of them turned out but glad that they all ended up where they felt they were happy doing what they were doing. Alyssa was teaching, Danny and Max were still traveling the world to find a place they felt perfect to live it beside Turtle Cove, and Cole continued to work with animals at the local research facility. It was just how they all should've ended up. The stress and worry dissolved with every minute she spoke and laughed with her friends, barely thinking about the thing that pushed Ashley to come to Angel Grove which began bothering Taylor when she heard news of the reunion four days ago. Her friends hadn't even asked how she heard about the reunion since they could never get in touch with her; they were just happy to see their friend again. There were no worries in the world right at that moment for Taylor. She just seemed to forget one thing…
There was a cautious tap on Taylor's shoulder that caused her to turn around. She encountered a lively-looking blonde in a pink summer dress who gave Taylor a welcoming smile that also expressed moments of contemplation Taylor could not figure out. Letting a thought of suspicion pass, Taylor uttered a hello to the young woman that instigated an introduction between the two after it appeared that the woman forgot her ponderings for the moment.
The blonde laid an open palm out for Taylor to shake, which she took willingly. There was no reason for Taylor to be wary of the girl's intentions, considering that she was attending a gathering of Power Rangers. "Hi," she greeted, "I'm Dana Mitchell, the pink ranger of the Lightspeed Rescue Team. And you are?"
"Taylor Earhardt, Yellow Wild Force Ranger. I'm sorry, but do I know you?"
"I was just thinking," Dana began, shifting her subtle head tilts from left to right that exposed her vacillation on what to say to Taylor. "I thought you looked really familiar. I just can't seem to remember where…"
A confused deliberation over Dana Mitchell's remark ensued in Taylor's mind. She had never met the girl before, she was sure she never saw Dana in her life. So how could Dana say she saw Taylor from somewhere before? She gave a quick run of her mental rolodex of how anyone could know her without actually knowing her, or at least meeting her; she rarely ever forgot faces. The girl didn't look like anyone Taylor had helped out with her powers in the past two years and she definitely did not look someone who had anything to do with the army that was not Power Ranger-related. She gave more effort in delving deeper into whatever her memory would prompt in her mind again. Her mind was getting worn out just from the transient recap and she still could not recall anything good enough for any stranger to remember her. Taylor decided to go week by week backward to see if any success would come yet still zilch. She absentmindedly took another sip of the Coke still in her hand, not really noticing that it was in her hold. An abrupt reminder came when Taylor remembered one of Ashley's ideas and its outcome a month previous and she was about to quickly say something to defer Dana from continuing on the subject but it seemed Dana was faster with her words as she was with her memory.
"Oh my god, you're that girl I saw in the Vogue magazine," the young woman said, surprising all of Taylor's teammates and causing Taylor to accidentally choke and spit out the Coke she drank in shock. She became beset with astonishment and commencing distress when she saw that the Coke ended up on someone's jacket that was coming toward her direction and felt even more self-conscious. This cannot be happening to me, Taylor thought irately as she took the napkin in her hand and tried to help dry the Coke.
"I am so sorry, I didn't think-"
"No, it's all right," the voice of the person with the spilt jacket replied. "It's just a jacket."
"But still-" Practically all thoughts coherent in her mind before broke to pieces and mumbles when Taylor looked up to find the face of Eric Myers who was staring back at her with the same shock. She could not form anything in her mind except one that she voiced without thinking ahead. "Holy shit."
As soon as the expletive was said, neither could do any more but open and close their mouths in hesitation of speaking. Taylor tried to get something out but it seemed as long as Eric was staring straight back at her, there was nothing she could say, so she turned to Dana instead who caused her to choke on her drink in the first place.
"Uh- um- excuse me?"
"You did a spread for the newest Vogue, like, a month ago, right," Dana asked. "I know it was you, your face is hard to forget."
"Well, yes, but- well- huh?" Taylor was aware that she was coming off as a bumbling fool now but there was nothing she could do to help. She couldn't even feel the ability to shimmer and disappear. Despite the lack of her words verbally, she was screaming in her head. Did someone actually notice her in that one job she did because of Ashley and her designs? This could not be happening…
Dana Mitchell spoke again before Taylor gave anymore thought to the consideration. "I never thought that a model would be a Power Ranger; although then again, I was one before I became a ranger. You know, some of my friends in the fashion industry said you had some great potential."
To say that Taylor was dumbfounded would have been quite an understatement. She barely managed to get out a stuttering, "Excuse me?" as a response, fully remembering that all her friends and Eric were nearby.
Dana looked as if she couldn't believe Taylor had not known this. "Yeah, I still keep in touch with some friends from when I modeled. They were doing a spread for a fashion designer all around the U.S. and were picking out the best pictures for the magazine. I mean, it isn't out yet, but I got a few sneak peeks at it and they were commenting on some of the girls. They said they hadn't seen a blonde model that radiated this assurance and that extra something since me. I was kind of excited to meet you."
Instantly, something inside Taylor went on a defense. "Well, that was actually a one time thing as a sort of favor for my friend, so you shouldn't expect any more from me."
The expression on Dana's face told Taylor like she knew that the statement was not going to adhere merely because she said so. "Still, they said they didn't find a lot of girls like you in San Francisco." Taylor couldn't help but redden when her friends just found out where she had been this entire time. "Well, anyways, it was great to see you; I hope I see you a lot more in the future. I'll let you get back to your friends."
After Dana left, Taylor didn't dare turn around and face her friends at that moment. I am so going to kill Ashley for this, she thought, vowing that she would never let Ashley talk her into modeling one of her designs to an agent ever again; otherwise incidents like this would happen much too often for her penchant. She wished so much that Kimberly and Ashley were with her to take her out of the situation, or at least to take the attention off of her. But she had to face to music sooner or later.
Taking a huge breath that didn't do anything to help her circumstance, Taylor turned around to see stunned faces on her teammates. "So…" she began, trying to scan for something to utter in her mind. However, Alyssa was the first to speak.
"Modeling?" Alyssa asked, disbelief and amusement spread all over her voice and words. "I never thought you would be the type-"
"I'm not," Taylor replied curtly, not wanting any idea to form in her friends' heads. "It really was just a thing that occurred after my friend did… something," she finished inexplicably, sounding a partially confused herself. She was deep in the situation, she could feel it. She felt it was the perfect time to go find Ashley, or just plain run away. And that was exactly what she did after excusing herself from the part of her past she had wanted yet panicked so much about meeting.
Taylor kept mumbling, "Damn it, shit, shit, shit," angrily as she walked rapidly to anywhere far from everybody and everything. Taylor was sure both Kimberly and Ashley could feel her irritation and embarrassment. Finding a bench far enough that she did not expect anyone to find her, she sat down and put her head in her hands, not believing everything that was spiraling down; at least things appeared to be going that way from her perspective. She freaked out even more when she heard someone behind her and felt a hand on her left shoulder. Out of instinct and reflex, she grabbed the hand and flipped the person over to the ground in front of her, getting herself up in a defensive stance instantly. She couldn't believe the person she saw groaning briefly in pain on the floor. "Oh my god, Kim, are you okay?" she said, rushing to help her sister back up.
Kimberly let out another groan before answering. "Yes, but next time I guess I'll just orb in front of you instead." She was rolling her left shoulder to let the pain pass. Taylor felt bad for throwing down her sister of all people.
"I'm so sorry, Kim. You just freaked me out."
"Yeah, I can see that," Kimberly responded to Taylor's quick spill. "I could sense it too. I figured it was about time for me to make some sort of entrance when I was trying to sense for you and Ashley and there was, like, this radar that was going crazy in my head."
"Well, gee," Taylor started with her typical sardonic tone, "it's great to know my sister's going to keep a radar on me at all times."
"I'm not," Kimberly guaranteed, "I just did it this time to check up on you guys. You know how big this is."
"Which is one of the reasons I'm freaking out beyond all possibility."
Kimberly seemed ready to say something else when she turned her head slightly to the side and gave a countenance of thought. Taylor could tell her sensing power was kicking in, as it typically came up out of the blue. Kimberly turned to Taylor with a face of warning. "Someone's coming. I can't figure out who it is."
"Is it Ashley?"
"No, definitely not. I would know. Here, I'll just orb over there," Kimberly said pointing to a group of red oaks a few yards away. "If you need me, just scream or something, or panic in your head, and I'll orb in."
With that, Kimberly disappeared, leaving Taylor to prepare for whoever was coming. She decided to just get up and pretend to leave in case the person actually wanted to talk to her. She wasn't wholly surprised to see that it was Eric walking around the bend of the grove that shielded her from the world temporarily. Of course, she did her best to say nothing and keep walking without looking at him. She had no choice but to halt when he grabbed onto her left arm and refused to let her go when she firmly asked him to.
"Let go, Eric."
He pulled her to face him, nearly jolting her into a scare with the heated and wounded guise in his eyes. "You really expect me to let you go after losing you for two years?"
"We were never together," Taylor pointed out while forcefully shrugging her arm out of his grip, "so you never really lost me. And I didn't come here today to deal with questions like yours," she lied, feeling like she drove a knife deeper into his wound, as well as hers, that started when she disappeared from Turtle Cove.
"And I suppose you expect me to think that one of the reasons you're here isn't to explain to me why you left," Eric asked while crossing his arms, staring her straight in the eyes, not letting his gaze waver. He was being the same Eric that Taylor knew and the Eric she expected… the same one she used to think she loathed above all prospect.
As she knew her instinct would make her, Taylor stared directly back at him in the challenge, keeping herself from losing her resolve in this one lie and from telling him everything right here and now. "Don't be so self-centered, Eric," she said as sharply as she could, "I never made you a priority." A quick feeling of nostalgia hit her when she felt the memory of when they first met and their cold, eventually heated, attitudes toward each other.
The same hurt expression Taylor saw when she told Eric to leave her alone years ago when her powers had started coming about cursorily flashed and she felt horrible for lying to him again. However she could see him recovering quickly, she expected nothing less from him, and waited for him to speak again. "Fine then," he said stiffly. The awkward moments lapsed with neither saying anything, unwilling to face the other. Suddenly, Eric asked, "Aren't you going to go?"
A scoffed chuckle escaped Taylor when she looked at Eric after avoiding his gaze the last minute. "And deal with their endless questions about what Dana Mitchell pointed out? No way in hell, at least not yet."
"And what makes you think I'm not going to ask any questions like they ones they're so eager to put you into interrogation with," Eric queried, his signature smirk taking its apt place on his lips that caused Taylor do the same.
"Because I know you," she answered, leaning her head to the side as a point of emphasis. They both made similar smiles of amusement, seeing for a moment a part of what they missed the last two years. When they realized that, the smiles and slight laughs lessened until they existed no longer from that moment on.
"If you really knew me," Eric began after their amusement passed, "you would know I missed you a lot after you just left with no warning."
The personal disclosure surprised Taylor, for she knew that though Eric had emotions like everyone else, she had never expected him to confess them to even his best friend Wes, let alone her. But it brought a deeper subject back to her mind; knowing that this was exactly what she came here for, despite her contradiction earlier, she deliberated over the idea in her mind. She wanted to tell him so many things: that she left for his own good as well as hers, that she was going crazy back then over the thought that she might actually hurt him if she hadn't, that so many things had changed for her, that for too many days she wanted to drop everything and return to Turtle Cove and Silver Hills to see him again, the list couldn't end.
Taylor settled on the one thing she felt was right for the moment, dropping her head to avoid the attention in his eyes. "I missed you a lot, too."
Eric's voice was abnormally subtle when he asked her why she left again. She answered that she wasn't ready to tell him yet, an answer she felt that she would have a lot of chances to reinforce later. She assumed he would have ceased any further questioning for awhile until he asked, "All this time?"
She said nothing more than, "Huh," confused at what he was referring to.
"All this time," Eric repeated, "you were in San Francisco?" Taylor softly nodded to answer and let Eric continue. "I never really thought to look in California, or the West side of the country, really," he mused aloud, causing Taylor to make a small smile she tried to hide by dropping her head down again.
This time, the silence between them didn't feel so awkward; it was simply the peaceful and silent continuation of their banter before one of them spoke again, which Taylor was about to do when they both heard a substantial 'What' from the direction of the reunion. "I guess we should get back," Taylor said when she gathered her thoughts and started walking back, slowly enough until she could hear Eric agree and walk a few feet behind her. As soon as they got back, she was glad that practically no one was paying attention to them. What she didn't like was that an evidently confused and surprised group had formed around Kimberly at the picnic tables a distance from Ashley. She knew this was not going to be good. She excused herself from Eric, understanding that saying she'd see him later was unnecessary, and walked over to her former teammates.
The first person to notice her return was Alyssa who didn't seem to let her off on anything now. It seemed she also noticed Eric return alongside Taylor. "And what were you two doing for the last ten minutes," she asked, adding a raised brow while she was at it.
"Nothing like what you're thinking," Taylor assured, admonition heavy in her voice. She turned back to Kimberly and the group of original Power Ranger teams around her. "What's going on?"
"I'm not sure," Alyssa started, "The brunette over there came like the rest of us but it seemed like a few of the people around her noticed and suddenly yelled out 'Kim' and all this happened. Apparently, she's reason for a lot of commotion for the initial Power Ranger teams."
I'll bet, Taylor commented silently. At least we're all here to see something blow up, whatever it is. The concern for her sister made Taylor want rush over and come to Kimberly's defense to whatever accusations her former friends had to throw at her, but all Taylor could do was what Ashley was doing: standing and witnessing any possible unraveling of built-up anger, questions, and damage. She hated feeling useless when it came to problems such as this. Kimberly was too far away for Taylor to hear anything short of screaming from anyone of the group. For that moment, she wished she had anything close to enhanced hearing, but this was what she got from putting so many demons on fire and electrocution along with Ashley blowing them up like bombs and Kimberly throwing them toward walls and shelves that broke in seconds. She was surprised they weren't deaf yet.
Since she got there, all Taylor could only get from Kimberly and her friends what she could see from reading their lips, which wasn't much. All she could assess was that Kimberly's former teammates were basically in awe and astonishment of her returning to Angle Grove after all these years. Most of them went over to hug her, as if they couldn't believe she was actually there until they felt her, but some kept their distance, something Kimberly couldn't blame them for. It was easy to see that she was being besieged by endless questions of the same type queried to Ashley and Taylor, all which she took evenly and quietly without agitation.
Something that caught Taylor's eye was that Kimberly may have been keeping her head partially down but the focus in her eyes was directed toward Tommy Oliver who was trying to keep his distance from everyone around her. Taylor surprised herself by smiling at the situation. It fell quickly once she noticed Andros walking up to Tommy and whispering something into his ear that, from both their countenances, appeared urgent. They discussed the news briefly before Andros nodded and went back to the former Astro Rangers. Right after, Tommy's attention went back to Kimberly answering some of her friends' questions until another guy in a red shirt Taylor had not met yet went to tell Tommy something that caused him to nod and address all the former, and recent, Power Rangers.
"All right, everyone," Tommy said, grabbing everyone's attention and taking the bullhorn his friend Adam Park passed to him before speaking again. "It seems that practically every Power Ranger is here. Although I wouldn't try to conduct any type of roll call," he said eliciting a few chuckles from around him. "My name is Thomas Oliver, and I wouldn't ask myself the ranger teams I've been on for reasons some of you already know. We're here to celebrate a long line of tradition we seemed to have inadvertently begun over a decade ago. But we have to admit, it's a great tradition, one of honor, privilege, learning, fulfillment and so much more for each and every one of us. If you look at all the teams and groups here, you can see just how much impact we've created, how many of us were and are willing to fight for the safety and livelihood of the lives we've known for all our existences. We've lost a lot along the way, but we gained enough to suit us for a lifetime. It seemed time to meet the teams who fight for the same cause as each of us did before. Now I know we've had a good time meeting each other so far, and we'll have more time to get to meet everyone, but I'd like to introduce the teams, starting with the most recent and probably the most interesting team we've seen so far in ranger history. Please welcome the Mystic Force Rangers." He signaled where the group of teenagers stood, each waving and saying a general hello to everyone else. And so did every group when Tommy Oliver presented them in ascending order: Mystic Force, Space Patrol Delta, Dino Thunder, Ninja Storm, Wild Force, Time Force, Lightspeed, Lost Galaxy, Astro, Turbo, Zeo, Aquitian, Ninjetti, and finally the original Power Rangers. Everyone barely had time to see all members of each team before they realized the gamut was much too big for a quick scan. Tommy finished up without an overview of the rest of the day except saying that everything else was up to everyone standing before him, which set some of the younger rangers into a big roar of 'Whoo!' that seemed to let the real celebration commence.
Taylor conversed with Alyssa for a few more minutes, noticing that she was putting a lot of effort to convince Alyssa that she and Eric certainly did not do anything but talk for the small while when she was gone. Seeing that even though Alyssa would say she believed Taylor, she knew there wasn't anything to change Alyssa's preconceived notions so she told her friend that she would go see some rangers from the other teams and that they would see each other later. Taylor found herself walking around, eventually running into the blue and pink Mystic Force rangers Madison and Vida Rocca who told Taylor some of the specifics of their team and methods of fighting evil after introducing themselves. She was actually quite interested and somewhat relieved to see that they did indeed work with magic as Ashley had informed. It gave her small hope that her and her sisters' former teammates would understand their recent circumstances.
When the girls excused themselves when their mentor called for them, Taylor went around finding both her sisters sitting at a table playing a card game with some of the other rangers from other teams who apparently had the same interest. The flipping of cards and slapping of hands on certain sets of cards let her know they were playing one of her favorite games: ERS. She observed as her sisters basically kicked everyone's ass in the game and eventually scared most of the Power Rangers from playing, though those who lose did end up standing around to watch who would ultimately beat either girls, or which one would win against the other. When Cassie Chan lost, it looked like there was no one but each other for Kimberly and Ashley to play against, but they announced they were unwilling to play with just themselves, which became a signal for Taylor to join, challenging against her sisters to win.
"Actually, I'd like to play," she said taking the bench seat in-between the two girls. "If you guys don't mind, that is."
"Not at all," Ashley assured with a smile her sisters always associated her with. "Taylor, right?"
"Yep. Ashley?"
"Got it," she affirmed, having fun that Taylor was going along with the charade that they didn't know each other. "And this here is Kimberly Hart, the original pink and Ninjetti Crane Power Ranger. Kimberly, this is Taylor Earhardt, the Yellow Wild Force Ranger."
Switching hellos with each other, they smiled at the silliness of this façade but let on as it seemed to everyone else. Picking up their hands and shuffling just in case, they started the game, but not before Kimberly passed a thought to both her sisters silently. Same deal as always, she asked in their minds, looking at both of them who nodded for the answers before she added, Then let's start.
The three girls made the game into a flurry of card flips and slaps in due course while trying to mess with each other in their mental states with a goal to win. Kimberly had an upper hand with her experience in telepathic messaging over the years, but Taylor had the greatest mentality shield that she hoped would hold out this time. And thankfully she did, letting out a huge smile at beating her sisters and mentally reminding them to get their canvases ready for tonight.
She waited for someone else to come up and play with her, hoping some of the formers losers would feel encouraged enough to engage in the recreation. Most of them still weren't positive about their chances of winning but she was happy when she heard one person say that they would play. Of course, she had a feeling of caution when she saw that it was Eric. She could just feel the smirks her sisters were giving her when he took the seat across from her. She was going to have to do something about that tonight when they met up with each other back at the manor. But bringing her mind back to the moment, she couldn't help the smirk she gave Eric when she said, "Fine then," shuffling the deck of cards and dealing their hands.
"Same stake for the game?" Eric asked when he grabbed his stack of cards, patiently waiting while Taylor debated in her mind.
The first thought in her head was whether or not he was serious about that question. To tell the truth, she was surprised he even remembered their deal each time they played a different card game. Considering the stake every time they played ERS, she had some amusements thinking about the possible result of this game and how it could have ended up like most of the other times they played. Giving a small smile she hoped Eric didn't see, Taylor faced him in the eye and said a resolute, "Yes."
For what seemed the longest time, no slaps on the cards were called for; all hands either of them claimed were legit calls and both were wondering if they wanted a game sans hits where they wouldn't have to deal with the end later on or a game full of competition they might've regretted anon. Both got a hold of their answer when a pair of sevens appeared and they went in for the kill faster than most around them could see. Taylor's hand got there first but the electric shock that hit her hand when Eric's arrived half a second later stunned her; she hadn't felt that shock since the first time she jokingly slapped his arm a long time before after which they both jumped to the side a bit from the wave. Looking up to catch his expression, she saw that he sensed the same shock and it took them seconds longer than necessary to take their hands away. When they finally did, Taylor cleared her throat to try losing the feeling and said, "That's one."