Author's Note: Sorry about the lateness of this update. I guess I've been a little too busy with school (Which I'll be graduating from in two weeks' time) and finding a job after college (Which I hope to be getting in two weeks' time). Thanks for your patience.

One thing I noticed as I was writing this first chapter was the fact that this story isn't a conventional start to Power Rangers. I wanted to copy the way that the show does things, with a one episode or two part style. It's just not how I work though. I feel that what held me back from submitting earlier was the fear of people not digging what I have to offer here.

This is a different Power Rangers story. I'll have one episode chapters when I feel it's necessary, but now isn't the time. I want readers to connect with my characters, and I think that it's best to patiently build up the story and get into their minds. Hopefully, you guys will appreciate what I'm doing with the tale. Enjoy Power Rangers: Elite Force, and take it easy. This is a ride that I hope you won't miss.

Gabriel Mambo

Chapter 1: The Flower Shop

The sun emerged over the horizon. It was the brightest moment of the day for Delta City. However, seven million people lived in one cluttered metropolis; not everyone was going to agree that dawn was a good thing. Its light usually brightened up the east side, and the west had to wait a while to get the desired warmth of the morning star. Most of the time, it was like the west side was looking away. Maybe everyone wanted the sun; but neither the east nor the west seemed to enjoy sharing it.

A bridge was built between the eastern and western sides of Delta City. As a matter of fact, there were two mailing addresses within the area. A person either lived in East Delta or West Delta. There were no in-betweens, unless you lived in the suburbs of Wenton and Crowsley, or a less-than-fantastic borough called Mixix. Everything was split apart on the city's maps, with every district colored in. Different shades of blue were for the right side of the map. Red was for the left.

Dwyane Terrelle received the newest map for Delta City. The piece of paper was made in 2021, right after the census for the United States was finished. Growth wasn't really a factor in the ten years before the 2020 counting of every U.S. citizen. With high crime rates and civil unrest since the treaty, who really wanted to come out here? Delta City never changed for the better. That's how Dwyane had seen it for all of his life.

Dwyane wore a pair of reflective aviator sunglasses that cast back reversed images of green highway signs and modernized vehicles in his path. There was also the display of a road that hadn't been fixed for years. The tires on Dwyane's Pontiac car seemed to hop a few inches from the ground with every bump and pothole that they collided with. It was a wonder how manufacturers were unable to think of flying cars in the year 2025.

As the Pontiac made its way down the interstate, it managed to weave around a couple of cars in its path. The car made a whirring sound, as if a robot's arm was constantly cranking itself in a circular rotation. Dwyane managed to buy an electric car after working hard in his most recent job. Its battery life was meant to last for about two more years. Even though manufacturers didn't like the fact that they couldn't make more up-to-date vehicles without assuming the risk, they decided to go ahead and change with the times. Fighting change would have only led to their ruin.

Eventually, Dwyane reached a traffic jam. He wasn't fazed by it. For years, he remembered waking up and staring out the window of his room. It oversaw a good chunk of the city. Beyond the factory that puffed out black smog everyday was a glitter on the snake that made its way through the metro area. On top of the path of gray was a long line of crystalline shapes that honked and blared in the distance. Dwyane could have sworn that he heard a few curse words back then as well.

The entire street became clogged. It was the condition of the early weekday morning of Delta City's workers. People wanted to beat the traffic jams. They'd get up early in the morning, groggier than ever, and try to outdrive the buildup. Their hopes would never become a reality. Interstate 99 was always going to have a traffic jam.

Dwyane sat back and relaxed. He pushed his thumb against a touch screen on his pristine radio and pressed a red button on the panel underneath.

"Voice command activated," said the device. The automated voice came out of a small, wiry speaker built into the radio. "What would you like?"

"Play the jazz station for me please," said Dwyane. His baritone voice was always commanding, yet quiet. He was never really the type of raise his voice, but was respected anyway. He had no history of being bullied. It made him very popular in school.

As a melisma of saxophones and trumpets filled the empty space of his car, Dwayne's eyes wandered. The cars on the interstate blared their horns, just like the instruments on the radio. Some drivers stuck their heads out of their windows and shook their fists. Many of them exclaimed curse words with gritted teeth.

Dwyane looked in the opposite direction. One car had tinted windows, but dark silhouettes could be seen through the glass. Two figures sat up front, waving their arms in the tight environment of their vehicle. Their hands were abnormally wide and long. Dwyane noticed that the heads of the two figures had fins at the top that protruded from their scalps all the way down to the back of their necks, and probably further down.

In the backseat, a little girl was playing with a doll. Dwyane could see that she had webbed hands. The little girl was twirling the blonde hair of her doll, while moving her thin lips. She seemed to be babbling nonsense. Soon, the girl turned her head out towards the nearest back window and stared right at Dwayne.

Her big, black eyes blinked two or three times. Everything on her face screamed curiousity. The little girl pressed her face against the dark glass of the backseat window. When she smiled, tiny razor sharp teeth pressed against each other, gleaming behind the glass.

Dwyane quicklylooked away and kept his eyes on the traffic ahead of him.

The line moved along and soon Dwyane was moving out of Interstate 99. He made his way to the downtown area of Delta City. Again, not much was different for him. His old high school was still the same way it had been since he first stepped into it. A pizzeria with a cartoon-like chef revolving on top of the roof was still on a street corner across from the Laundromat where Dwyane's aunt used to wash her bed sheets.

Dwyane's car stopped in front of a Florist shop. It had a dozen different bouquets placed behind a display window. They were on polished mahogany wooden pedestals. As Dwyane stepped out of the car, a scent of every flower imaginable filled his nostrils.

As he entered the flower shop, he took a look around. There were petals scattered all over a black and white tile floor. There were seeds for different plants on one wall inside tiny little packages. Another part of the Florist's shop had more bunches of roses, lilacs, lilies, and sunflowers. They were waiting to be picked and wrapped into multicolored paper, waiting to be wanted.

Behind the counter was a short and stout black woman with white-grey hair. She looked tired and exhausted, but still managed to hum a happy tune. Her voice was strong and powerful, causing chills to go down Dwyane's spine. She had hands that were veiny and trembled. The old woman was trying to stay steady as she cut some extra length off of a ribbon, which was wrapped around a bouquet of pink bell flowers.

"I'll be with you in just a minute," the woman murmured. She was so focused on her work. Dwyane decided to let the woman take her time. After she finished, she looked up and smiled broadly. "Now how can I help you…?"

The woman's jaw dropped. She covered her mouth with both of her hands and shook her head from side to side. The woman looked up to the sky, whispered a few words, and then ran fast from behind the counter.

Dwyane held back tears. He managed to maintain composure as the woman wrapped her frail arms around his well-built torso. She buried a side of her face into his sternum. There was a mix of laughter and crying in her voice.

"Oh baby," she said, "Oh, my little baby Dwyane's come back! Dwyane…"

Dwyane tightly embraced his aunt Winona. He let a smile form on his face as the both of them rocked in their hug. "Hey Aunt Winona," he said.

Winona looked up at Dwyane and wiped tears away from her face. Then, she changed the look on her face. Her brow wrinkled itself and a fire filled both of her eyes. Aunt Winona's teeth gritted and suddenly Dwyane felt her hand strike his chest. She hit him a lot of times within the next minute and Dwyane was actually starting to feel sore.

"How dare you get up and leave!" she snapped. "How dare you get up and leave without saying goodbye, or…or calling me, or anything else like that! Do you know how heartbroken you left me? I'm your only family left and I thought that you were going to leave me here to die alone!"

Dwyane frowned. He dug both of his hands into his pocket and looked away from the woman who raised him. In five years, Dwyane realized how different she truly looked. Though grey was starting to appear in her hair from a young age, Dwyane at least remembered Aunt Winona being younger. Her hands weren't so varicose, her eyes didn't droop so often, and it wasn't hard to see a smile on her face. Now, Dwyane couldn't help but look away from the woman he left behind.

"You ought to be ashamed!" Winona said. "I know I didn't raise you to leave the city and never say anything to anyone on your way out! There wasn't even a goodbye…"

"I know Aunt Winona," Dwyane replied.

Winona put her hands on her hips. "You should know! Your mama wouldn't appreciate it, your father surely wouldn't appreciate it, God rest both their souls, and I know I didn't appreciate it!"

Dwyane stayed silent. He just stood and looked away from his aunt, pretending to be interested in something else. The flowers were still looking nice this morning, organized on top of the round pedestals. Soon, the glare in Aunt Winona's eyes started to fade away. She took a deep breath and sighed before taking both of Dwyane's hands and squeezing them tight. Even in her fifties, Winona Westinghouse was a strong woman.

"Look at me baby," she said. "Go on now…look at me."

Dwyane wiped a tear away from his face. It had trickled down past the shield of his sunglasses and froze on his left cheek. He had to sniffle a couple times while wiping it away and gazing at Winona.

"I'm glad that you're here," she said. "Forgive me. Those words shouldn't be said, and I should just forgive you for what happened then. I know how you felt. It was painful. And I still think everyone feels the pain."

Dwyane nodded, and still didn't say anything back.

"Are you here to see them?" Aunt Winona asked. Dwyane nodded again. "Then you'll need flowers, won't you?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I'll get you whatever you need." Aunt Winona walked behind the counter and opened a few drawers that were under the cash register. "When are you leaving again?"

Dwyane shrugged. "I don't know. I told myself I'd come and see you."

"Will you at least come to say goodbye?"

"I wish I could just say hello."

"Well then…" Winona walked up and wrapped her arms around Dwyane again. "Welcome back baby," she whispered.

Dwyane broke down. He let tears stream down his face and held onto Aunt Winona tightly. "I'm sorry Aunt Winona," he bawled. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"

"Shh..." Winona said. "Don't cry now. It's alright child…it's alright… It's going to be alright."

The sun continued to rise in the eastern side of Delta City. It was the brightest moment in the day for Delta City. A new dawn brought in new hope. Some people in the city still remembered happier times. Others wished that they never existed to begin with. Still, many wished for a better past and wished for days when things weren't so hard. They wished for the better days, times, and people that they loved to return.