Hey, I'm back with the next chapter! I've been spending time lately planning what's gonna happen in the story, and I think I've got it at this point, so be prepared for what's to come!
Also, thank you guys so much for the kind reviews! I've been a bit busy and couldn't respond like I'd like to, so thanks!
Brent is portrayed by Jake T. Austin
Aiden sat down in a lawn chair, watching as the other rangers sparred. It was Ryder against October and Luca against Mari. Since there were five rangers, Aiden decided that they couldn't all spar together, making the teams up.
All of the rangers were dressed in their training uniforms, which included black capri tights for October and Mari, black shorts for Luca, Ryder, and Aiden, and they all had tank tops in their respective colors. They also wore exercise shoes.
Aiden noticed October glancing at him out of the corner of her eye as she ducking under a punch from her brother and swept his feet out from under him. As she helped him up, she looked directly at the red ranger.
"So, are you gonna spar now, or continue to drink your lemonade, princess?" October asked, crossing her arms.
Aiden sipped his drink and feigned innocence to her. "What could you possibly mean? I told you guys what teams we had. I'm the leader, and you listen to what I say."
She scoffed. "Well, when you get hurt in a battle because you haven't been practicing, I'll enjoy a lemonade while I make you spar to get back into shape. I am second-in-command, so I can do that."
"Are you worried about me?" Aiden smirked, putting his drink on the ground next to him. "I knew you liked me."
October rolled her eyes as Ryder crossed his arms. "I think you just don't wanna spar 'cause you're afraid to lose," Ryder challenged. "It's not that hard, Aiden. Just come up here get your ass beat,"
The other rangers let out a few laughs and Aiden stood up. "Alright, then. October, sit out. I got this."
"I was going to with or without your permission," She muttered, going to sit in his chair.
Aiden got into a fight stance opposite of Ryder. The red ranger threw a punch that Ryder caught and twisted his arm to the side. Aiden winced in pain but quickly tried to bring his other arm down to escape his grasp, however Ryder also grabbed his other arm.
"Is that all you can do?" Ryder asked, chuckling.
Aiden growled and kicked him in the side of his thigh, immediately throwing the green ranger down. "I guess not." Aiden smirked.
Ryder quickly kicked at Aiden's feet, making him fall to the ground as well. He stood back up as Aiden lunged at him. Ryder defended himself against the punches, throwing back some of his own when October grabbed him at the waist and pulled him back while Mari and Luca held Aiden back.
The green ranger immediately pulled out of her grasp, making her give him a strange look. He put his hands up in a surrender. "It's fine."
October watched him walk off, before turning on Aiden. "What was that?!" She exclaimed. "Once someone's down, it's over."
"Ryder kicked me down after he was down," Aiden gestured to the retreated figure. "So I'm guessing it's not over if your little brother decides it's not? Oh and it's also not okay to defend myself? I think you need to learn, October, that you're not a leader!"
She scoffed. "And you are? Why don't you look in the mirror once in a while? Maybe then you'll learn something about yourself."
"She's not wrong, Aiden," Mari whispered as she slowly began to follow the pink ranger. "I'm sorry."
When they left, Aiden turned to Luca. "Are they for real?"
Luca sighed. "Look, mate, I'm gonna be the nice guy in this situation and listen to what you're telling me, but you might want to consider what they're saying. They don't like your attitude."
"What attitude?!" Aiden exclaimed, exasperatedly as he crossed his arms. "I'm the leader, you guys have to listen to me! I'm in charge! Not them!"
"That one," Luca clapped him on the shoulder. "You need to realize that everyone on the team is important, not just you."
As Luca walked away, the red ranger stood there, staring after his team in shock. Why don't they get it?! Aiden thought. I am the most important member of team! They need me. He shook his head. They're gonna get it. I'm the leader. Nothing's gonna change that.
- Cue Opening -
"I don't think Aiden should be the leader," Ryder muttered as he and Luca sat at lunch the next day. "He's an ass."
Luca shrugged. "I agree that he's a jerk, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be a leader. I think he needs to learn that the real quality of a leader is knowing when to follow. He's more of a straight-forward person in the sense that he knows what he wants, he's going to get his way."
"No joke," October commented as she and Mari joined them. She didn't fail to notice Ryder scooting over a bit on the bench when she sat down. "He's what I like to call a brat, or a bitch. Take your pick."
"You know, I find that guys think girls are more attractive when they don't have bad mouth," Mari commented, giving October a look.
October rolled her eyes, "I don't think I should rule my life around what guys want from me. Maybe you can, I'm not like that. I don't care what people think. Anyone doesn't like it can go screw themselves. No biggie."
Mari frowned and opened her mouth to speak when Aiden sat down, causing the whole table to be silent. "What?" He asked, looking through his lunch.
"I'm sorry, are you here because we're doing something that you don't like, Aiden?" October sneered. "Oh, I mean Dictator."
Aiden smirked. "You wish I was your dictator."
October made a face. "I think that's the other way around."
"Come on, guys," Luca stopped them. "Let's just enjoy our lunch. We're all friends here, right?"
"Barely," Mari said.
The group began to eat lunch silently, before Ryder frowned. "This is the worst lunch I've ever had to sit through." He stated. "I'm surrounded by people I don't know, and don't like."
October gave him a hurt look, but he tried to ignore it. "Look, this sucks. We were talking, before Aiden got here."
Aiden crossed his arms. "So you don't want me here?"
"I don't like anyone does," Ryder growled. "No one likes you! Do you even have friends?! And if you do, why are you sitting with us?"
October elbowed him. "Hey, that's not cool, Ryder. Aiden may be a jerk sometimes, but you can't talk to people like that."
"Don't tell me what to do, October. You don't have the right," He stood up, grabbing his food. "I'm gonna go sit with my girlfriend."
"What?!" October exclaimed. She turned to the others. "Did I just hear that right or what?"
Mari nodded. "Yeah, you did. That's brutal. I think he's going through a rebellious phase,"
"Please," October rolled her eyes. "Ryder's whole life is a rebellious phase." She turned to Aiden. "Look, I'm not happy with you either, but I feel like I should apologize for what my brother said. He doesn't usually act like that. I don't know what's gotten into him."
Aiden opened his mouth to say something snarky back, but when he saw the look on October's face, he decided not to. "It's fine. He's not wrong, I should go hang out with my friends, because obviously none of you are them." He stood up to leave, when he turned back to her. "Thanks, for the apology."
As he left, October stared after him in shock. "I don't exactly know what shocks me more," October said. "Ryder storming off like that, or Aiden being mildly nice."
"He seemed upset," Mari frowned. "Like legitimately hurt by what Ryder said."
Luca nodded. "I agree. He did seem upset,"
October looked over, seeing Aiden go towards the field and the bleachers, before pursing her lips. Maybe he's not that bad after all.
- PRGG -
Aiden got to his apartment, which he shared with his best friend, Brent Perez, and Brent's twin sister, Dani. When he got there, he found his friend sitting on the couch, watching TV. Brent was about 5'8 with tan skin, brown hair, and brown eyes. He wore a white, long sleeved shirt with black jeans and black and white converse. He held the remote in his hands, looking at the TV in interest.
"Hey," Brent called to him, throwing him a can of soda from his position on the couch.
Aiden opened the can. "Thanks," He nodded to him before sitting down as well. "What are you watching?" He looked around. "And where's Dani?"
Brent gestured to the door. "Dani's at a friend's house, and I'm watching this movie.. I don't know what it's called, but it has Rosemary and Grayson Diamond in it, so you know it's good."
Aiden chuckled. "That's for sure." After a few moments of silence, Aiden sighed. "Hey, do you think I suck?"
Brent gave him a strange look. "If I thought that would you be living here?"
"Probably not," Aiden nodded. "But I mean, what don't you like about me?"
"What's this about?" Brent laughed. "This kinda weird."
Aiden shrugged. "It shouldn't really matter that much, but I've been hanging out with these people, and they think I'm an ass, basically. I don't know why I even care, I've never cared what they've thought of me before, but.. it's different now."
"I don't know who else you're hanging out with, except for October, who I thought you did care what she thought," Brent said, smirking a bit.
Aiden gave a small smile. "Yeah, there's always been something different about October."
Brent frowned a bit. "Then why are you always a jerk to her and the others? I mean, I don't hang out with you guys, but I know you have a tendency to be jerk sometimes. That, and you can be bossy."
"Well, how do I change what they think of me?" Aiden asked, crossing his arms. "I don't want them to think I'm like that."
Brent sighed. "Look, Aiden, I get where you're coming from, but you are like that. You're not perfect, and you can be hard to deal with sometimes. That's who you are."
Aiden frowned at him. "Are you saying I can't change?"
"You've been like this since you were a kid. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks," Brent told him.
The red ranger got a bit angry, not only with his friend but with himself. If he wanted to change, why was he asking others to do it for him? He needed to do it for himself.
He felt his locket get hot just like Liela said it would when there was a battle.
Aiden reached up and grabbed his locket in his hand, feeling the coin that sat on the side of it. I know exactly what I'm gonna do.
- PRGG -
When Aiden got to the battle, he found the other rangers already there. While Mari and Luca were taking on the Titans, October and Ryder were attempting to fight off the monster, who seemed to be a Minotaur.
The Minotaur stood up on it's feet, the body of a fit man up until the right shoulder and arm, where it became a bull, manifesting the most in the head. It had black pants on the bottom, and black boots, and it was a strong fighter.
October flipped back out of the way of an attack, but was quickly rammed down by the Minotaur running forward and head-butting her to the ground. Ryder came at the monster, but was easily thrown to the side.
Aiden then looked over to Mari and Luca, who actually seemed to be handling themselves against the Titans, using their weapons and everything.
Mari leaned back to avoid a hit from one of them, before ducking down and kicking out a group of their legs. She then turned around and stabbed at a few with her swords. She took a blaster out of her belt, blasting one away from Luca, who was about to get hit.
He nodded in appreciation. "Thanks," Luca flipped down from the top of a car, stabbing one Titan and throwing it off to the side. He kicked one out of his way ended up in the middle of a group of them. He quickly put his sword out and spun around, taking them all out in the process.
Seeing as they were handling themselves well, Aiden knew he had to help October and Ryder. Without morphing, similar to the others, he pressed his locket, giving him a sword in hand and ran forward.
He flipped over a group of Titans and kicked the Minotaur down.
"Aiden?" October looked up at him in awe. "You're here!"
Aiden nodded with a little smirk. "You can't do it without the leader," At the look on her face, he offered her his hand. "And I can't do it without you guys."
October gave him a smile and took his hand to help her up. "What made you have a change of heart?"
"I want you guys to see me as a good person, not just a jerk, even if I am one sometimes. I'm sorry for the way I acted," He told her, before realizing they were still holding hands.
She blushed and pulled away. "Sorry, I got distracted. I appreciate your apology."
"Don't be," He smiled. "I'm glad."
"Guys," Mari waved her hand between them. "Sorry to break up your super cute moment," She gave October a playful smirk, "But the Minotaur kinda wants to kill us."
The team lined up in front of the Minotaur. "Ready?" Aiden asked, standing in the middle of the team, looking to the sides. October stood immediately to his right, with Mari next to her, and Ryder stood immediately to his left, with Luca next to him.
"Ready," The others nodded.
They took the coins from the sides of their lockets and pressed it into their morphers. "Guardians, Rise Up!"
Suddenly, a rush of wind surrounded Aiden. Red lighting bolts crackled around him, forming his suit from the feet up. His entire suit was red except for his chest, neck, and cuffs around his gloves and boots being white. He had a golden belt to separate the white from the red, and the white chest went around his entire upper body, cutting off at his arms and belt. He had a gold line down the middle of the white area, along with one on both of his upper arms. His helmet was red with a bit of gold above his visor, and he had a little circle at the top right side of his chest with eight colors on it - red on top, then pink, green, blue, yellow, white, forest green, and black - which was outlined in gold as well. "Red Guardian!"
Pink glittery dust began to surround October, forming her suit from the ground up as well. Her suit was similar to his, except pink, and with an addition of a white skirt after her belt. "Pink Guardian!"
Green sand began to rise from the ground to cover Ryder, forming his suit. "Green Guardian!"
Deep blue water began to rain onto Luca, forming his suit. "Blue Guardian!"
Finally, yellow fire swept up Mari's body, forming her suit. "Yellow Guardian!"
"Power Rangers," They called. "Guardians of the Galaxy!"
Their swords were now at their belts, along with a blaster, a dagger, and a retractable spear.
"This is so cool!" Mari exclaimed, smoothing out her skirt.
Aiden gestured at the Minotaur in front of them, who didn't seem impressed. "Let's go guys!"
Mari and Luca ran in first. Mari slashed at him with her sword, using her power to make it hot so it burned the creature when she slashed at it. She flipped over him, allowing Luca to slash him, using his power to make the water from his sword extremely cold, slashing just above the mark Mari made, causing the creature to howl in pain.
Ryder and October went in next. Ryder used his super strength and agility to slash through the monster hard, making a deep cut in the Minotaur's skin. As he pivoted out of the way, October used her biological manipulation to make her arms stronger, slashing through the monster with ease.
As the Minotaur was almost done, Aiden ran forwards, using the wind to make him faster, and slashed through him with the lighting power of Jupiter.
The creature cried out in pain before falling to the ground and exploding behind them. The rangers looked amongst each other before looking back. They demorphed.
"We did it!" October exclaimed, jumping into Aiden's arms for a hug as all of the rangers cheered in excitement.
Aiden was stunned at her hug, but hugged her back almost immediately. "Yeah, we did." He smiled, hugging her close.
She pressed her face into his shoulder, before realizing how long she had been hugging her and then pulled away. She looked at him awkwardly. "That wasn't weird, was it?"
"No, never," Aiden assured her.
The team began to walk back to the command center, Aiden walking a bit behind the others, watching them excitedly talking. October glanced back at him, noticing him feeling a bit left out.
She was about to walk back to join him when Mari grabbed her arm and began talking about how cool the battle was. She looked back at him almost apologetically as Mari continued to chatter in her ear.
- PRGG -
The next day, October saw Aiden glance at the table before walking towards the bleachers again. "Wow, our amazing leader isn't gonna sit with us?" Ryder sneered sarcastically.
October frowned at him. "Shut up, Ryder. I don't know what's up with you lately, but I don't like it. If you don't wanna talk about, at least don't be a jerk about it."
"Well, you want him to sit here?" Mari asked, poking at her salad with a plastic fork. "I mean, he was great in that battle yesterday, but you have to admit that he's kind of mean."
Luca gestured to Mari. "Even though I like to be the nice guy, I have to agree with Mari."
October shook her head. "I think there's more to Aiden than meet the eye. He apologized for the way he acted, and told me that he needed us. I believe him, and I'm gonna go to him."
She picked up her back and lunch before walking over to the bleachers. When she walked over, she saw him laughing and talking with friends, and stopped walking. He looked like he was enjoying himself, and she suddenly didn't want to go over there and stop him.
She turned back around and began to walk back to the table when Aiden spotted her from his seat.
"Hey, I gotta go guys," Aiden told them, grabbing his bag and lunch. "October!" He called. "Wait up!" October turned around with a smile as he caught up with her. "Hey, why were you leaving? You could've come over. I'd rather hang with you guys than them anyway, I just didn't think you guys felt the same."
October shrugged. "Well, the others might not be all for it, but I am. You may be a total d-bag sometimes, but you have your moments. I think you're a good person."
Aiden gave her a small smile. "That means a lot, thanks."
"No problem. If you ever need someone to remind you of that, I'm your girl." She told him.
Next time on Power Rangers Guardians of the Galaxy: Ryder reveals to October what's bothering him, leaving her in shock.
So, what do you think of Aiden and October, huh? And what do you think about Aiden's change? I thought it was pretty good, even though I didn't make much out of the idea. This chapter's a bit shorter than I would've wanted it, but I tend to be shorter at the beginning most of the time, so I'll be writing longer chapters soon.
Also, what do you think Ryder's so upset about? He really doesn't seem happy with his sister. I haven't really mentioned it before, but if you look at the last chapter and really do the math about the gods and the rangers, you might find something weird.
Anyways, I really hope you guys liked it. I usually don't write twice in one day (I updated Animal Guardians, if you were wondering and don't read that story), so this was a bit of a treat for you guys!
© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley