Hey guys, I'm back again! As I'm guessing you've noticed, I've been updating pretty fast lately, especially if you've been reading my previous works. I was in a bit of a funk with writing, but I've gotten back into it ten-fold, and with the extra time I now have on my hands, if just makes everything way easier. Anyways, here's the next chapter.
While Luca and Mari practiced their powers a bit more outside, October, Aiden, and Ryder were inside reading up on their history. Liela, however, was trying to get Ryder to go practice his powers outside.
"I don't want to," Ryder told her, shrugging her hand off of his shoulder. "I'd rather study."
October laughed. "That's surprising,"
Ryder glared at her. "Actually, I'd rather not do either."
Liela sighed, frowning. "Okay, what's going on? I get that you might not be the whole working kind of person, but you have to do something better yourself as a ranger. That's just the way it is."
"Well, what if I don't want to?" Ryder crossed his arms.
"Then you might want to find something else to do, because if you don't get better, you will get hurt. Trust me, I've trained enough teams to know that." Liela told him.
October and Aiden were studying together, but they looked up when they heard this. "Ryder, just do it. What's the problem?" October asked, frowning at him.
Ryder shook his head. "I guess, since you didn't notice, that there's nothing wrong."
She gave him a look. "Excuse me? I have no idea what you're talking about. What should I have noticed?"
He sighed. "I don't wanna talk about it. I'll go outside with Luca and Mari."
Aiden and October watched him leave. "Okay, I have no idea what's going on with him." October said, rubbing a hand on her face tiredly. "But this is getting old."
"How long has he been acting like that?" Liela asked, sitting on the edge of the couch they were on.
October shrugged. "Sort of since we became rangers. I know it hasn't been that long, but it's really getting on my nerves. Every time I say something to him he either ignores me or gives me the cold shoulder."
"Did you do something wrong?" Aiden asked, putting his book down.
"I don't think so," October responded. "I've tried to ask, but he just ignores me or says he doesn't wanna talk about it. He's so annoying," She muttered.
Aiden chuckled. "He's acting kinda like a girl," When October gave him a look, Aiden spoke again. "I mean..."
"Just stop," October put her hand up. "I get what you mean, even if you're being a dick about it."
Liela cleared her throat. "He's probably just going through a phase. It could be nothing."
October sighed. "I don't know, Liela. It could be something, too."
"You're a jerk!" Mari yelled as she stormed in, soaked in water. "Where are my real clothes? I'm changing!"
As she stormed upstairs to change, Luca and Ryder came in. Luca walked quickly away from Ryder and towards the others. "I think he has anger issues."
The three frowned. "What's going on?" October asked, standing up.
Ryder put his hands up in exasperation. "Oh, and now October gets to come in and fix everything. Go ahead - do it. I'll let you try."
October huffed. "Okay, Ryder, if you want me to fix it, then why don't you tell me exactly what's wrong!"
"You really wanna know?" He asked. Just as he was about to speak, the alarm blared loudly throughout the command center. He took a deep breath and looked at his sister, who had a worried expression on his face. "Don't worry about it," He told her. "It's not your job."
She watched him run out, with Luca and Mari right behind him. Aiden put his hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay. We have to go."
The two ran out out of the command center. I really, really hope you're right. She thought.
- Cue Opening -
When the rangers got to the battle, they saw a very strange creature waiting for them. It was a Hippalectryon, a monster with the front of a horse and the back of a rooster.
"That cannot be real," Aiden stifled a chuckle. "That's crazy."
Mari frowned in disgust. "We're not actually gonna be fighting that thing, are we?"
October pursed her lips into a smile, avoiding laughing. "Unfortunately, we are."
The Hippalectryon whinnied at them, attracting their attention back.
"Ready, guys?" Aiden asked.
"Ready,"
"Guardians, Rise Up!"
"Red Guardian!"
"Pink Guardian!"
"Blue Guardian!"
"Yellow Guardian!"
While the others called out role call, Ryder pull his sword out and ran forward, starting the battle.
"Ryder!" October ran after him as the others got sidetracked with Titans.
Mari was immediately swarmed with multiple Titans, all of them pointing their spears at her. She shrieked, stepping back a bit, but unfortunately backed into more Titans. She pulled out her own spear and stabbed one of the Titans with it, startling her. She shook it off and swung it to the side, hitting more on the way.
One of the Titans grabbed her spear and pulled her forward, making her hit the ground hard. She rolled over onto her back, dusting herself off a bit as she looked up in shock, surrounded by a group once again.
Luca wasn't having much more luck than her. He was grabbed onto a low branch on a tree and swung himself towards a few Titans to kick them down, but was grabbed by the waist and pulled down. He landed on the ground, pinned down under at least three.
Aiden was being pushed and punched around in a group of Titans. One of them suddenly grabbed him and held tight while the others beat him around.
Meanwhile, Ryder was kicked away by one of the rooster feet, and October ran forward, holding her dagger in hand as she jumped up on a car and flipped towards the monster.
She ducked under it's head to come in under it's chest, but was kicked hard by the other rooster foot, one of it's claws going slightly in her helmet. She pressed her head to the back of her helmet and screamed as it threw her to the side like a rag doll.
Ryder growled and stood back up, immediately running back towards the monster, who quickly turned towards him, ramming him in the chest and knocking him back into a car, demorphing him.
The monster went up on it's hind legs, letting out another whinny before disappearing along with the Titans.
October pushed herself up painfully as she demorphed and ran over to her brother, who was also working on getting up.
"Ryder!" She knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Why do you care?!" He exclaimed, shoving her hand off of him. "Get away from me!"
October, hurt, sat back on the ground and stared up at him as he got up. He looked back down at her, and took a deep breath, not being able to handle the look on her face. "It's nothing," He whispered.
He ran off in the direction of their apartment as Luca walked over to help her up. She was about to run after him when Aiden held her back.
"You need to get looked at," Aiden told her. "You're hurt."
"Yeah, and so is my brother! I need to help him," October tried to pull away.
Luca stopped her as well this time. "Look, we get it, but he needs obviously needs sometime to cool off before you two can talk."
Mari nodded as she pulled herself over to them. "Yeah, October, just let him calm down. He'll be fine."
"But..." October tried to pull away again, but to no avail.
Mari grabbed her arm in her own. "Come on, it'll be easier to talk to him once he's calm. In the meantime, we can go back to the command center and talk about clothes, and boys." She added.
The others led her away while October continued looking back in the direction of her brother.
- PRGG -
Ryder arrived at their apartment, out of breath and tired. His whole body hurt, and he just wanted to lay down and forget this all happened, especially with what he did to his sister... No, October.
He realized something was off about their godly parents, and it made him realize that something mentioned in that list was impossible.
It made him angry that no one ever told him, and it made him even more angry that he had lived a lie. He felt so wrong being around October because she wasn't the same as he thought she was.
The worst part about it was that it wasn't October's fault, but Ryder had no one else to be angry at. The look on her face when he pushed her away was almost too much to bear for him.
He took an apple out of the fridge and began to eat it as he sat at the island in the kitchen.
By the time he had finished, October came into the apartment, with a worried look on her face. She looked at him and sighed. "I know you're mad at me, though I'm not sure why, but you could've at least came to the command center to get cleaned up."
She walked towards him to look him over, but stopped halfway. He pursed his lips. "Yeah, I needed to cool off."
October sat down at the island. "What's going, Ryder?"
"We're not really siblings, you know," He muttered, crossing her arms at her. "Did you know that?"
She frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, you have a godly mother and a human father," She nodded, beginning to realize what he was saying. "I have a godly father and a human mother. We're not related."
"Wow," She reveled in that for a moment before looking back up at him. "That's.. unexpected, but you're wrong about one thing."
He scoffed. "I don't think I'm wrong."
She smiled at him. "Yes, you are. Just because we have different parents, doesn't mean we're not siblings. Hey, family doesn't end in blood. I still love you like my brother, and I'll never not think of you as my brother, even if you want me to. I'm your big sister."
He rubbed a hand over his face. "It feels weird. I don't feel like you should have this responsibility if you don't have to."
"What are talking about?" She asked.
"You know," Ryder gestured to the apartment and himself. "When mom and dad died, you took responsibility of me, and you didn't have to. Now, you know that you're not related to me, so I feel uncomfortable with you doing this."
October rolled her eyes. "I did that because I love you, and I would've done it if you were my blood or not. Like I said, you're still my brother, no matter what you say, and I'll always be your sister, whether you want to believe it or not."
He shook his head. "I don't get it October," He said. "Why?"
"I already told you," October smiled, reaching out to him. "It's because I love you."
He backed away, putting his hands up to keep her away. "I just.. give me some time to think."
She watched him go into his room and sighed. Well, doesn't this just suck.
- PRGG -
"I can tell," Mari responded after October told them what had happened. "You two look nothing alike. At all. I was surprised when I first met you guys. The only thing you really have in common is brown hair and height, even though he is a bit taller than you."
October rolled her eyes. "It doesn't matter, though. I don't care if he's not my blood sibling, it doesn't change the fact that he is my sibling!" She exclaimed. "He just needs to get it through his head."
Luca put his hand out to attract her attention. "Look, October, I get where you're coming from, but if I had a sister and I found out she wasn't related to me, I'd be shocked too. That's a big bomb to drop on somebody. Just because it doesn't bother you, doesn't mean it won't bother him."
"It doesn't bother me because it shouldn't." October shook her head. "You guys don't get it. Just like I told him, family doesn't end with blood. I don't care what anybody says, I'll never say Ryder isn't my brother."
Aiden nodded at her. "You guys are pretty close, huh?"
"Yeah," She gave a small smile. "We always have been. We look out for each other. I know that he loves me, even he doesn't say it that much. I hope we'll always be close, especially once we get past this hurdle."
"Maybe you should just make sure he knows he's wanted," Mari said.
"You don't think he knows that?" October asked, raising her eyebrow.
- PRGG -
Ryder and Mel were sitting at the park, having skipped school to hang out together. He explained the situation to her as well as he could without revealing their identities, and Mel crossed her arms.
"I wouldn't stay with her. She's a bitch," Mel told him. "She probably knew and just hid it from you."
Ryder gave her a look, "I don't think she did, and she's not a bitch."
Mel scoffed. "Why are you defending her? She's not even your sister. I don't think you should care about what she does anymore. You have no ties."
"Well," Ryder rubbed the back of his neck, feeling conflicted. Since he had started to think about it, what October was saying made more and more sense, especially hearing what Mel was saying. "I don't know, Mel. It was weird yesterday and since I found out, but now it's not really. I mean, I'm starting to think she might have been right."
"About?" Mel asked, raising her eyebrow.
Ryder sighed. "About us still being a family. It doesn't matter if we have blood, we're still brother and sister, you know?"
"You know what I would do if I was in this situation?" Mel asked. "I would leave."
He looked at her with a side glare. "Look, Mel, I know you don't like October, and you're probably just looking out for me or whatever, but you have to accept the fact that I can make my own decisions and I think October is still my older sister."
Mel shrugged with pursed lips. "Whatever you wanna think,"
Ryder looked at her as she went back on her phone. For some reason, Ryder had had a small crush on her, and maybe it was because of how she treated him before they dated, and for a little bit after too. Now, however, Mel was jealous very easily, and always had a rude comment to say. The worst part about dating her was October.
Mel and October used to be friends when they were younger, in about eighth grade to sophomore year, but when their parents died and October had to spend a few weeks out of school, Mel dissed her for new friends. Ryder did think this was a very rude thing to do, but she had never acted that way to him, causing him to wonder if there was more to the story than what he knew.
Then again, his sister had never lied to him before, from his knowledge. October was always very straightforward, and usually told everyone the truth. This is also the reason he doesn't think she knew. She would've told him. October was much too young to remember anything from back then anyways, so if their parents did get married while his mom was pregnant with him, she wouldn't have known.
He then looked back at Mel. He wondered why she wanted to date him in the first place because, before October and Mel stopped hanging out, Mel never really noticed he was around. In fact, when she did, she would always think he was annoying.
"Hey, Mel?" She hummed in response, not looking up from her phone. "Why did you want to start dating, anyway? I mean, we never talked when you and October were friends."
She shrugged. "You're cute, and you're cool. What's not to like?" She asked, seeming uninterested by this question. "Do you think something's wrong?" She gave him a look.
He shook his head. "No, just wondering."
- PRGG -
"So they aren't related?" Alice asked as she and Luca sat in the living room of her house. Her dad, Bill, was at work, leaving them alone - through much trust he eventually gave them. Bill was technically Alice's grandfather, though had adopted her after some issues with her mother. While her mother, Sarah, was in a much better place now, Alice still chose to stay with her dad.
Luca shook his head. "Not technically. They're step-siblings, I assume."
Alice nodded. "Makes sense. October told me a bit about it earlier and said that she thinks his mom was pregnant with Ryder when she married her dad. I wonder who their other parents are."
"Yeah," Luca muttered, even though he knew. He couldn't just tell her - she'd wind up in trouble, and that wouldn't be good.
"So, why have you and O been hanging out without me lately?" Alice asked. 'O' was nickname given to October, first by her brother, and was also called that by Alice at times. "You guys have more fun with the others?"
"No," Luca hugged her close. "We just.. have a situation with them."
Alice frowned. "What? You guys are in a club or something?"
He chuckled nervously and shrugged. "Sort of. It's kinda like charity work, I guess."
"Ooh," She smiled. "Can I join?"
Luca sighed. "Well, it's a tight-knit group. We don't really have any openings. I'm sorry."
She gave him a half-hearted smile, obviously disappointed. "Alright, but if there are, you'll tell me, right?"
"Of course," He told her, kissing her on the forehead. "I'm really sorry, Alice. You know I would if I could."
Alice nodded. "Yeah, I know. So, I can still sit with you guys at lunch? 'Cause I've just been hanging out with Ms. Sher, and she's great and all, but I wanna hang out with my boyfriend and best friend."
He laughed. "Yeah, you were never kicked out. I was actually wondering why you weren't there."
- PRGG -
Meanwhile, Mari had taken October, out of force, to the mall with her to shop for clothes for the quickly approaching season of fall. Mari was dragging her into all of her favorite stores, trying to pick out things for her.
"Mari, you don't have to do this," October said, pushing a shirt out of her face when Mari held it up to her body. "I mean, I like shopping and all, but I have enough clothes. Actually, I have too much - I need to throw some away."
The yellow ranger gestured to a nearby Sephora. "You need makeup?"
October gave the store a longing look. "It may not seem like it, but I really do like makeup," She told her.
"I can tell," Mari smirked, gesturing to her face as she pulled her into the store. "You do your makeup really good. I would recommend, however, to wear lighter lipstick. You're pretty pale."
October, who usually wore either a dark pink or red lipstick, frowned. "I like how it looks,"
"Your bestie, what's her name? Alice? She wears dark red lipstick too, huh?" Mari asked.
"Yeah, but mine isn't as dark, and besides, I think it looks great on her. She does it really good." October responded, crossing her arms as they entered the lipstick section. "Besides, she is thinking of going more for a nude color. Maybe one of the NYX lingerie colors would be nice."
Mari shook her head. "I'm telling you, you're a bit pale for it."
October rolled her eyes. "I can wear whatever I want. I think it looks good, and that's what matters," She sighed as she was swatching colors on her hand. "So, what do you think about the whole Ryder situation?"
Mari shrugged. "Honestly, right now, I'm a bit more concerned about this color than your brother," Seeing the look on October's face, she continued. "You know what I mean."
"Yeah, but still," October wiped the lipstick she had on off and put a more vibrant color on. "I can't focus on all of this makeup with everything that's going on,"
"October," Mari stopped and turned towards her. "You need to relax. You spend way too much time stressing about your brother and not about yourself. He's 17, and I think he's old enough to take care of himself in that sense."
October scoffed. "Well, I'm 18 and I don't think he is. I still have to remind him to do basic things. I mean, if I wasn't there, he'd probably just sleep and watch TV all day. He probably die, in all honesty. He takes medication and I always have to remind him about it."
Mari gave her a strange look. "What does he take meds for?"
October looked up, thinking for a moment. "Well, there's a few things, but I'm not sure if he'd want me to talk about it. He doesn't like seeming.. weak, I guess."
"But.. he's okay, right?"
She nodded. "Oh yeah, he's fine. He's pretty good at handling that stuff. Besides me reminding about the meds themselves, he's good at handling everything else like eating habits and stuff. The only times he really slips up is if he lets someone else get food or something for him."
Mari raised her eyebrows. "He has an eating disorder or something?"
"I wouldn't call it that," October said. "Just let him tell you. He doesn't really like to talk about it. The only reason he talks about it with me is because he has too, honestly."
"Hmm..." Mari hummed as she went back to looking through the makeup. She found a shade of lipstick she really liked and showed it to October. "So, what do you think?"
October looked it over and nodded. "It's good. I'd get it."
"Well, do you like anything?" Mari asked.
She nodded. "Oh yeah, I like this one," She picked up a magenta color.
Mari chuckled a bit. "You always go with lipstick colors that don't go with your skin tone," She shook her head. "What are we gonna do with you?"
October gave her an irritated, pursed lips smile. "Well, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, right? I like it, and I don't need your evaluation to pick out makeup. I do it by myself all the time." She crossed her arms on her chest, feeling a bit uncomfortable.
Mari put her hands up in defense. "Alright, sorry. Let's get out of here."
Just as she said that, their morphers got hot around their necks. "Damn it," October whispered. "Look we don't have enough time to stand in line. We have to put them back in come another time."
October put hers quickly back down while Mari whined. "Really?" She looked up at the ceiling before putting the lipstick back and running out of the store.
- PRGG -
By the time October and Mari got to the battle, Luca and Aiden were already there. This time, there were no Titans, but the Hippalectryon was back and it seemed very angry.
It whinnied loudly and kicked Luca back with both of it's rooster legs, knocking him into a nearby building and demorphing him. Aiden quickly ran in to possibly help, but was charged at and rammed into, knocking him back hard into the ground, demorphing him as well.
"Luca!" Mari cried, running to his aid.
"Aiden!" October yelled, also running to help him.
October knelt down next to him as he groaned in pain. He gave her a small smirk. "I knew you liked me," He chuckled.
She rolled her eyes, but offered a small smile in response. "You're right, Aiden. I like you.. as a friend," She added.
"That's harsh," Aiden had a shocked looked on his face as she helped him sit behind a nearby car for safety. "I'm just cool with it because I know you'll admit your love for me soon enough."
October stood up and looked down at him. "I hope that works out for you," She stepped out in front of the car and pushed her power coin into her locket. "Guardians, Rise Up! Pink Guardian!"
After getting Luca to the other side of the building, Mari also morphed to join October. "Guardians, Rise Up! Yellow Guardian!"
They ran in just as Ryder showed up. He watched them fight for a moment, a bit unsure of how to approach this beast. He saw Mari get hit hard with the front horse hooves and he growled, seeing his sister near the monster.
"Guardians, Rise Up! Green Guardian!" He yelled, pulling out his sword and running in just as the monster threw out it's other hoof to demorph her as well. He quickly put his hand out, using his super strength to catch the hoof in his hand.
The Hippalectryon looked shocked as Ryder threw his hoof back, throwing the monster back as well, landing it on it's back.
He helped October up. "You were right," He said. "I'm sorry for the way the treated you. You're my big sister, and it was wrong of me to disrespect you like that."
She smiled. "It's okay. I understand why you were shocked and uncomfortable, but never, ever feel like you're a burden on me. Or that I don't want the responsibility. I love you, and I'll be there for you, alright?"
"I love you, sis," The two embraced as the monster got back up, standing on it's hind legs now, looking angrier than before. "You wanna finish this together?"
"Of course," She pulled out her sword as well.
October ran forward first, slashing right through with her finishing move, before he ran in with his. The Hippalectryon whinnied weakly one last time before falling over and exploding behind them.
The two demorphed as other rangers pushed themselves up to join them. "You guys did it," Mari exclaimed
"Always," October smirked, wrapping her arm around her brother's shoulders.
Aiden gestured to them. "You guys are good?"
Ryder nodded. "Always," He mocked, making October shove him away with a laugh.
Next time on Power Rangers Guardians of the Galaxy: October struggles to balance work and being a ranger.
Well, how did you like that moment between Mari and October? I know this chapter focused more on Ryder, but I decided to add a more mundane moment between the two girls on the team, especially since I haven't really focused much at all on Mari or Luca so far. Don't worry, though, their chapters are coming up!
Also, about that scene, I was only putting those comments Mari made because I've heard a lot of statements that certain skin tones shouldn't wear certain colors, and I think that's so stupid. People should just wear what they want, and no one else needs to comment about it.
Oh, and if you know where the quote October was saying is from, you're awesome!
Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter, and I'll be back soon with the next one. I'll most likely update Animal Guardians first, but I'll be back very soon.
© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley