Book Two: "Blue"
Darkness. Darkness and pain. That's what Chris felt and saw. His mind began to wake up and his eyes suddenly fluttered open. As the light of the room around him came into focus, he kept scanning his surroundings. He was in a room with completely white walls, machines lining the interior. He was lying in a bed of some sort, the rhythmic beeping of a machine coming from his left. He felt a pain in his head and went to bring his hand up to his forehead. But as soon as he moved his right arm, a shooting pain ran from his hand up to his shoulder. He let out a cry of pain and looked at the source of the pain. As he did, he saw that his shoulder and arm were completely wrapped up in bandages. That's right. That bastard, Exos, broke my arm. Fantastic. He leaned his head back and took steady breaths, looking at a chair right next to the bed he was in. On it was his shirt, his jacket, his wallet and… wait a second. His heart started beating faster and his left hand frantically searched his pocket. His Delta Morpher… It's gone! Chris quickly got up, pain shooting through his arm every time it made the slightest move. As he stood up, he looked at himself in a mirror across the room. There was a giant scar running down the center of his chest. He gently touched it, almost not believing it was real. This is all Seth's fault. I'm going to kill him next time I see him. He pushed the thoughts out of his head and he walks through the sliding white door. He came face to face with a curving hallway. The walls were the same white, the glare almost blinding. So. They brought me back to the Beacon. Probably a good thing. Gonna be hard to explain this injury to a couple of clueless doctors. He stumbles his way down the hallway, his legs still a bit wobbly. He makes his way to another room and sees Alex lying in a bed. The boy in green was asleep, his chest rising and falling calmly. Chris slides the door open and takes off one of his shoes. Throwing it at Alex, the shoe hit the sleeping boy right in the chest. Alex jumped up and screamed, falling out of the bed. Chris bluntly says, "Hey! Where did my Morpher go?" Alex pops up from behind the bed and says, "Dude! I have no clue! I was sleeping this whole time! I still have mine, see?" Alex reaches into his back pocket, but a look of nervousness comes over his face. He frantically pats his jeans, looking for his Morpher as well. Alex looks up at Chris and says, "M-my Morpher is missing too." Chris rolls his eyes when suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jerks his head to the side to see Stephanie, her face flushed with nervousness. "Guys! I can't find my Morpher!" Chris rolled his shoulder to shake her hand off and says, "Yah. Neither can we. We woke up and they were gone." Stephanie puts a hand to her chin and says, "Same with me… Where could they have gone? I remember having it when Alistar teleported us away. Wait! Maybe Alistar has them!" Chris looks from Stephanie to Alex, who was putting his glasses on. Alex shrugs, saying, "It IS a possibility. We should go to the main room of the Beacon." Chris nods and the three of them make their way down the hallway towards the center of the Beacon.
The sliding doors open and the three of them step in. The room was empty, except for two figures. Satchel and Wick, who never seem to be away from one another, were busy typing something into a computer. The computer had a wire leading directly to the center console, which was shining a bright, blue light. There, hovering within the blue light, was his Morpher. He could also see the red, green and pink Morpher. But then he noticed something strange. Upon further examination, he saw the YELLOW Morpher as well. He cocks his head, confused. Breaking the silence, he says, "Hold up. You got Lisa's Morpher too?" Satchel whips around and so does Wick. Wick, upon seeing them, flushes a bright red and turns back around to keep typing into the computer. Satchel stands up and walks towards the Center console, smiling. "Well. Good evening to you too! Yes, we got the Yellow Delta Morpher from Mrs. Pilkinton." Alex took a step forward and says, "You thief! How could you steal something from a girl who was almost killed!?" Satchel raises an eyebrow, confused. "Steal? No, no. We didn't steal the Morpher. She gave it to us." Stephanie speaks up, saying, "Gave it to you? I thought she didn't want any part of this." Chris was about to add something when a sound was heard behind him. Coming out of the sliding doors was two figures, laughing. One was a tall girl in a yellow tank top and the other was a boy in a black shirt with a red jacket. Chris stared at the boy in red, a fire burning inside of him. Seth looks at Chris and says, "Oh. Hey guys!"
Chris walks up to Seth, not saying a word. Bringing his left hand up, he curved it through the air, landing a left hook right across Seth's face. Seth went spiraling to the ground and Chris got on top of Seth. Punching the boy in red in the gut repeatedly, he was filled with nothing but rage. Lisa and Stephanie both tried to pull Chris off, but he shook the two girls off of him. As he kept punching, Stephanie yelled out "Chris! STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!" However, Chris ignored her. He kept punching, blaming everything that happened to him on Seth. The scar, the broken arm… It was all because their "Leader" decided to be a hero. Chris was about to rear back and throw a final punch, but his muscles froze. He tried to force the final punch to connect, but he couldn't move, no matter what. A deep voice echoed through the room, saying, "Christopher! That is enough!" Chris was slowly forced to his feet and Seth scrambled away, holding his side. Breathing heavy, the boy in red stared at Chris, his lip bleeding. Chris was slowly turned around so that he was facing the source of the voice. Alistar, whose normal glow was dimmer than usual, was standing there, his eyes glowing a cloudy grey-blue. Alistar raised an eyebrow. "Mister Corso! We are all upset at what Seth has done. However! I will NOT tolerate any violence here, ESPECIALLY not between two rangers! You are supposed to be a team! If you are enemies, then you mind as well kiss this Earth goodbye now!" Chris said nothing, just stared at Alistar. Alistar took a deep breath and said, "Now. Can I let you go? Or will you go back to fighting?" Chris gave a small snarl before saying, "I've gotten my anger out. For now." Alistar shook his head and released his mental grip on Chris. The boy in blue crumpled to the floor. Alex and Stephanie walk over and help him up and he shakes both of them off. They both back away slowly, their hands up in the air. He shoots a look at Satchel, saying "You! What are you doing to my Morpher?"
Satchel, who had been staring as this all went down, cleared his throat. "Well. Alistar told us that you sort of got yourselves destroyed by Exos. Granted, you all had no real chance to begin with, Wick and I decided to give you a little… Upgrade." The boy in the silver vest presses a button on the console. A holographic image appeared above the center machine. It was a gun, rotating to give a 360 view. It looked like a traditional revolver. Of course. Why wouldn't it be cowboy themed? The revolver was sleek, giving off a silver tint. A glow came from the area where the bullets were stored, giving a red glow. The barrel had a symbol on it. Two v-like lines and a downward pointing arrow. The same symbol they had seen so many times. He walked up to the console, surprisingly entranced. He gave a huge grin and said, "What... What IS this?" Wick, who had been silent this whole time slowly stands up and walks next to Satchel. "We cll them the Delta Blasters. They each hold six shots and can be reloaded three times. Once you use all of them, you will have to wait until your next morph to use the Blaster again." Seth speaks up from his spot on the floor, saying, "So, they will automatically show up when we morph? How did you manage to do that?" Satchel smirks and says, "Wick was able to change the Morphing Code. You see, your Morphers follow a specific alien code. Everything they can do is because of this code. There is a code for battle armor, there is a code for strength enhancement, so on and so forth. So, Wick figured out how this code works and can change it to add things to your arsenal when you Morph. Right now, we are working on melee weapons, but for now you have to settle for Delta Blasters." Lisa walks up to the console and watches as the gun rotates. She sighs and says, "Wow… That's really cool." Chris shoots a sideways look to Lisa and says, "And since when are YOU so interested in Ranger stuff. I thought you quit on us." Lisa turned around and leaned against the side of the console. "Well. I WAS going to quit on you. But then Exos attacked me and my family. He made it personal. And now, I want nothing more than to see that bastard erased from this planet." Chris rolls his eyes and says, "Pffft. Pathetic." With that, he grabbed his Delta Morpher and began to head back to grab his shirt. Stephanie stopped him as he passes by. "And where do you think you are going?" Chris looks her right in the eyes and says, "I'm going home, sweet cheeks. Now get out of my way." Stephanie, flustered by the name he called her, stepped out of the way. As he walked through the sliding doors, he called back, "Later losers!"
After he had grabbed his shirt and other belongings, he got on his bike and pedaled home. It was difficult to do with only one hand, but just like he did with other things in his life, he pressed through it. One he came to his home, he parked his bike in the driveway. He then took a moment to look upon the "Glory" that was his house. It wasn't even a house if he was being honest. He lived in a trailer with his mom, dad and older brother. As he was walking to the door, something hard flew through the air and hit him in the back of the head. His left hand came up and rubbed where the object had hit. Chris's older brother, Chuck, had just threw a small stone at him. "What's up, nerd? Where you been?" Chris shrugged his brothers comment off, saying "Don't worry about it." Chris ducked his head down and headed into the trailer. As soon as he did, the smell of cigarette smoke and alcohol hit him like a brick wall. He coughed and waved his hand in front of his face. He closed the door and walked down the length of the trailer to his room. It wasn't even a real room. Instead, it was a bed with a dresser at the end. He threw his backpack on his bed and flopped down, covering his eyes with his forearm. He hated it here. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. "Hey boy! Where you been?" He knew this voice to be his father. And by the waver in the old man's voice, he knew his dad was drunk again. Chris just rolled onto his side and said, "Why do you care?" His dad took a few more steps closer and pointed a stern finger. "You getting' smart with me, boy?" Chris sits up and says, "Maybe! What if I am? You're just going to get drunk again and forget it!" Chris's father came into the room, grabbing the boys good arm and twisting it behind his back. Chris let out a cry of pain as his father yelled, "You watch your tone when you talk to me, you ungrateful brat! I would kick the living crap out of you if your mother wasn't such a damn sissy!" Chris struggled, but he was too weak from the Exos fight. He looked for his Delta Morpher, but he saw it under his jacket. Chris struggled some more, saying "Let me go!" His father kept his hold on Chris for a bit before releasing him. He gives a huff and stumbles towards the door. Once he gets to the entrance of Chris's room, he turns around. "You were a mistake, you know. Don't you ever forget that." Chris knew he didn't mean that. That was the alcohol talking, not his father. He simply buried his face in his pillow and waited until he heard his old man walk out the door and to his truck, driving off to the bar.
Chris pulled his head out of his pillow, feeling a flurry of emotions. He couldn't believe that his father would say things like that. He was angry, sad, frustrated, annoyed and scared at the same time. He got up to go to the bathroom, he needed to put some water on his face to cool down. He got up and walked towards the bathroom, turning the light on. His sink was a mess, his mother's electronics all over the place. One thing Chris DIDN'T notice, however, is that they were still plugged in. He turned on the sink and as he did, saw that water was pouring all over one of the cords. He turned the water off with his left hand and used his right one to reach for the mangled-up cord of his mother's curling iron. As soon as his hand touched the wire, however, a spark jumped out and sent Chris flying backwards. He hit some cabinets on the other side of the trailer, his head spinning and his vision blurry from the shock he just received. He went to rub his eyes and forehead when he realized something. The hand he was rubbing his face with… it was his right hand. The one that had gotten broken… it didn't hurt anymore. He studied his hand, moving his fingers and making a fist. He felt regenerated, brand new. If his mind wasn't already spinning from getting shocked, he could swear that he actually felt STRONGER than before. But he pushed that idea to the side. Chris stood up and threw a couple of punches with his right arm. To his amazement, he was actually punching faster than normal. He stared at his hand in delight, smiling ear to ear. He needed to tell the others about this! He grabbed his shoes, his wallet and his Morpher and went out the door of his trailer. As he did, his brother said, "Hey stupid! Think fast!" The older boy threw another rock straight at Chris's head. Chris simply put his hand up, catching the rock inches from his face. His brother stared at Chris in amazement, his mouth open. Chris reared back and threw the rock back at Chuck. The boy tried to catch the rock, and he succeeded! But as soon as he did, he let out a cry of pain, clutching his hand which had gotten injured from Chris's throw. The boy in blue didn't say anything. He just smirked and got on his bike. He headed towards the beacon, excited to tell the others his news.
On his way there, he passed a quiet park. This was Spencer Park and it was always full of happy people either jogging, biking or taking their dogs for a walk. He smiled as he saw the people in the park. But out of nowhere, an echoing boom sounded from the center of the park. The source of this noise was a gigantic lightning bolt that had struck the ground. Chris looked up to the sky to see a completely clear day, not a cloud to be seen. He made his bike come to a skidding halt. Hopping off of it, he ran towards the source of the boom. As he came over a hill, he saw a sight that made his heart drop. Standing there was a creature unlike anything he had ever seen. The creature was humanoid and it looked like a female. She wore leather chaps and had a striped vest on. Her skin was a pale purple and she wore a black cowboy hat. She had a dark purple bandanna with the symbol of the Intergalactic Council. In her hands were two red whips, each one about five feet long. She smiled and reared back a hand. The whip snaked through the air before being sent towards a tree trunk. Once the whip made contact, the tree exploded into a cloud of flying splinters and wooden shrapnel. She let out a maniacal laugh, saying in a witch-like voice, "oh, Blue Raaaangerrrr. Come out to playyyy. I know you're here! Don't be shy!" Chris's heart started beating. He knew what he had to do, but he was probably going to need help. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Alex. "Hey. Get to Spencer Park. Ranger emergency!" He then put his phone back in his pocket and slid down the hill. The woman with the whips turned around to face Chris. She gave a wicked grin and said, "Awww, how cute. And who might YOU be?" Chris smiled and pulled out his Delta Morpher. With a smirk, he says, "I'm the one you're looking for, you crazy old hag." The villain blinks a few times, estranged that someone would call her that. She got an angry look on her face and began to twiddle her whips around. "And who exactly do you think you are," the villainess asked. Chris smiled and said, "I am the Delta Force Blue Ranger! And if you have any sense of self preservation, you will lay your weapons down right now and crawl back to whatever dark hole you came out of!"