Hey guys! Thank you to everyone who reviewed or has reviewed, favorited, and/or followed this story so far! It means a lot! Here's the next chapter!
Mari walked through the halls, her small purse bouncing against her hip and a binder and textbook in hand. Her heels clicked along the tile floors of the hallway as she was trying to get to her locker. She had her phone in her purse and her earbuds in her ears playing Walking on Sunshine by Katrina & the Waves, trying to making herself a bit happier on this day.
She made it to her locker and put her textbook away before looking in the mirror she had put on the door of her locker. She reached up and grabbed her makeup bag from the top shelf of her locker and began to fix her makeup with the free time she had during break.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone waving at her behind the door of her locker and looked up to see October standing behind her locker door. She pulled out one of her earbuds.
"I know that's a good song, but did you have to ignore me for it?" October joked.
Mari chuckled. "Sorry, I was just listening to it because I'm free now. I almost got it taken away in second period."
October frowned. "You don't seem like the type to listen to music in class. You seem more like the type to talk and text."
"Usually," Mari nodded. "But today I wasn't feeling it."
"Why? What's wrong?"
Mari sighed and took out her other earbud before putting it in her purse along with her phone. "I'm meeting up with my parents today. Well, more like my dad and step-mom. They want to reconnect or something."
"What's wrong with that?" October asked. "If my parents were still alive, and I was in your situation, I wouldn't mind."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but I bet your parents were actually cool people. Mine aren't. They kicked me out of the house on my 16th birthday. They had an apartment waiting for me and everything." She shook her head. "I'll never forgive them for that."
October gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry that happened. What I said, though, still stands. Someday they aren't gonna be around, and you might regret not reconnecting now."
Mari scoffed. "Well, what if I died? They would regret the way they treated me, wouldn't they?"
"That's true, but what do you think is more likely to happen?" October said.
"Never know," Mari shrugged. "Seeing that we're..." She leaned in closer and whispered, "Power rangers, we might have a better chance."
October pursed her lips. "Yeah, I can agree on that, unfortunately. I worry about that too."
Mari looked up at her. "You know, October, you're a great friend and all, but you're also second-in-command. I'm really hoping you're just saying that to make me feel better and not because it's what you actually think."
October crossed her arms. "Why is that?"
"Come on. You're supposed to encourage us, not tell us that you're worried about us dying. Be second-in-command." Mari mocked her pose.
The older girl shook her head and scoffed. "Please. And just when I thought we could be good friends, too."
As October began to walk away Mari put her arms out in confusion. "Don't be like that, October. You know its true."
"I'm not the only one," October said before continuing to walk away.
Ryder, who saw them from afar, walked away from his friends and over to Mari. "What did you say to her?" He frowned.
Mari rolled her eyes. "So, what now? You're gonna come over and lecture me for upsetting your sister with the truth?"
"It depends on what you said," Ryder crossed his arms. "What did you say?"
She sighed irritatedly. "I told her that a good second-in-command wouldn't tell us that she's worried about us dying."
Ryder almost laughed. "What? Dude, I'm worried about us dying too. So is Luca and Aiden. You are too, probably. Don't be such a hypocrite. Besides, you're not second, so how could you know what a good one is like?"
The bell rang, and he walked away, shaking his head at her. She sighed, leaning a bit against the lockers as she looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed and closed the locker before heading off to class.
- Cue Opening -
"Polus," Saturn sat in his throne, tapping his fingers impatiently on the arm of the chair as he waited for the monster to respond.
Polus looked up, a bit scared. "Yes, master?"
Saturn gestured lazily around him. "Where's my next monster? We need to take the next step against those rangers."
"I thought we told them not to fight against us anymore," Polus frowned.
Saturn sat up suddenly and leaned towards Polus. "I thought you were supposed to be smart, Polus. Do you really believe that the rangers are gonna stop fighting us just because we told them to?"
Polus leaned back, chuckling nervously. "No, of course not, master."
"Okay, so what monster are you sending out to destroy them this time?"
"Umm..." Polus looked through the papers he had sitting around, in which he had typed all of the ranger's activities. Nearby him was a portal, which not only transported any of them anywhere in the universe, but also could show them anything they wanted, including the rangers. Polus looked up and saw something interesting. "I have an idea."
Saturn looked over at the portal as well, and smirked. "I think the yellow ranger might have just made a mistake."
"Alecto," Polus called.
Out of a tunnel where the creatures resided, a female monster, called an Erinys, made it's way out of the darkness. She had a coal black body, snakes for hair, bloodshot eyes, bat's wings, and the face of a dog. She held a brass-studded scourge in hand, which was used to whip with it's multiple ends.
"Yes, master?" She moved her head to look over at the two, the snake's heads following her line of vision. Her voice also came out like a hiss.
Saturn looked her over before gesturing to portal, where it replayed the scene. "Can you do something about that?"
The Erinys crossed her arms. "No one has made a complaint to me. My job is to punish the insolence of those who have been complained about."
Saturn grabbed a large scythe next to him and stood above the monster. "Well then, do something about it. Make them complain."
"As you wish," Alecto bowed quickly before hopping through the portal.
- PRGG -
Suddenly, Alecto was in the hallway at the school. Looking around, she quickly took in a deep breath and morphed into a normal looking girl at about the age of 18. She looked almost exactly like October's best friend, Alice. She wore a tan, toga dress with sandals.
The bell ran above her, signalling school being over. Today, there wasn't any practice due to the coach being out sick. She saw then saw the ranger she was looking for, October, coming out of a nearby classroom. Alecto caught up with her and smiled as October looked over in confusion.
"Yeah?" She asked, looking Alecto over. "Oh, hey, Alice. Why did you change your clothes? You usually don't wear things like that."
Alecto shrugged. "I wanted to try something new. Anyways, what's going on? I saw you and Marissa fighting earlier."
October rolled her eyes. "Yeah, Mari was being a bitch, honestly."
"A bitch? Really?" Alecto smirked to herself.
"Yeah, she was telling me that I wasn't a good enough second-in-command because I was worried about us dying against these monsters. I mean, they're really powerful." October sighed.
"That's definitely something to be worried about," Alecto noticed the hallway had basically cleared out, before she transformed back into her monstrous form. "Something you should also be worried about right now."
October got into a fighting stance and growled. "You're not Alice. What have you done with her?" October demanded.
Alecto chuckled. "I don't have time to deal with anyone but the rangers."
"Well, you got one. Now what?"
October went up to reach for her locket when Alecto kicked her hand away. The pink ranger grasped her hand in pain and ducked under a punch. October kicked her in the stomach and tried to run to get to one of the others, who she knew were close.
Alecto pulled out her scourge and whipped it at her, wrapping it tightly around her waist as she made her fall over and dragged her back, despite her efforts to break free. October kicked Alecto's face, making the grip around her weaken and allowed her to get up and try to find the others again.
The Erinys growled and ran with inhuman speed in front of her and shoved her back hard. October flew back onto the ground and slid to a stop in front of a wall. She groaned in pain and pushed herself up weakly.
"Is that the best you got?" October asked, wiping blood away from her mouth with the back of her good hand.
Alecto rolled her eyes. "Not even close. Unfortunately, you're not the one I want."
October titled her head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"You wont live long enough to find out,"
Alecto whipped her hard with her scourge, making her hit a wall of lockers and fall unconscious.
"October!" A sudden gust of wind shot out at Alecto, slamming her back into a nearby wall as Aiden ran over to October. He knelt down next to her and let his hands hover over her for a moment, not knowing exactly what to do. He then turned her head up to see a nasty cut going across her hairline.
He moved her gently and made sure she was on her back. Putting a hand lightly on her cheek to hold her head steady, he shook her shoulder cautiously. "October?" He asked. "Come on, wake up."
She groaned quietly in pain but didn't come to. Aiden turned angrily towards the Erinys, who made her way to her feet and smirked dangerously when she saw him.
"Son of Jupiter. Leader of the rangers." She shook her head, clicking her tongue in a disappointed manner. "Falling for the daughter of Venus, are we?"
Aiden growled. "What are you?" He demanded. "And what did you to her?"
Alecto shrugged, crossing her arms defiantly. "I didn't do anything special. I can't. Not to her, at least. By the way, do your research. I'm one of the three Erinyes. The name is Alecto."
"There are three of you?" Aiden asked, kneeling next to October to protect her.
Alecto sighed exasperatedly. "Not to fight right now. I'm the only one here, as you can obviously see. You're dumber than I thought."
Aiden stood up and pulled out his blaster. "You're dumber than I thought for underestimating me." As the red ranger moved forward and shot a blast, Alecto ducked under it and used her scourge to pull it out of his hands and knock it to the floor. She then grabbed him by the chest with it and raised him up into the air, laughing while doing so.
"Any last words?" She cackled.
Suddenly, she was blasted back, making the whip throw Aiden back towards the wall. He heard a sickening crunch as he hit, and groaned out in pain. He looked over to see October holding his blaster out at Alecto.
"October?" He gasped out.
She looked over at him before taking a few more deep breaths and falling back unconscious. Aiden winced and pulled himself over to her, holding her close and turning his back towards the creature in an attempt to protect the pink ranger.
"October!"
"Aiden!"
Aiden looked up to see Ryder and Luca running towards them. Alecto looked among them and growled. "I don't want any of you."
"Well, that too bad," Ryder growled, standing close to his sister. "Cause you got us." Ryder fired a shot from his own blaster, but when he did so, Alecto disappeared into thin air. Then, he looked down and pushed Aiden away from October. "Don't touch her." He warned, picking her up himself, making Aiden glare up at him from the ground. "She's hurt, we have to get back. I don't want your hands anywhere near her."
Luca leaned down and helped Aiden standing, supporting him as he was up. "Hey, calm down, mate," Luca told him. "He protected her. She could've died if he didn't show up. And either way, he's hurt too."
Ryder adjusted his grip on October and held her closer. "I don't want anyone to touch her. She's hurt."
"I'm sorry," Aiden muttered. "I just tried to help."
The green ranger turned away awkwardly. "Let's just get to the command center."
Luca gestured after them. "Well, let's go. You need to get check out too, mate."
- PRGG -
Mari sat in the living room at her house, watching as her step-mother, Summer, poured tea for her. Her father, Bruce, walked in and sat in a chair in front of her, smiling.
The yellow ranger crossed her arms. "What do you guys want? I don't really wanna be here longer than I need to be."
"Sweetie, why have you been so distant?" Summer asked, causing Mari to avoid her glance.
Mari looked directly at her father. "Dad, why am I here?"
Bruce sighed. "We have something to tell you."
"What?" She crossed her arms.
"Well, we're moving to New York. As you can see, we already have plenty of things gone. I wanted you to come over to ask you if you wanted to come with us." Mari stared at them in shock. "If not, we're going to have to cut you off from our money and our lives, Marissa. We don't have a choice."
"Excuse me?" Mari scoffed. "What do you mean, you don't have a choice?! I haven't done anything wrong!"
Summer put her hand up. "Actually, you've been using our money for the past 6 months, and we're going to go broke if we keep this up. Either you move back in with us and come to New York, or you stay here and you're cut off."
"You have no right to do that to me, Summer," Mari growled.
Bruce stood. "Don't talk to your mother that way, young lady!"
Mari rolled her eyes and stood as well, not intimidated a bit by her father standing tall above her. "She's not my mother, and never will be!" Seeing the look on both of their faces, Mari nodded. "Oh yeah, you thought I wouldn't find out, didn't you? Well, too late for that!"
Calmed down a bit, and shocked at this turn of events, Bruce took a deep breath and spoke again. "How did you find that out?"
"Someone who's never lied to me, told me. Of course, you'd probably never figure out who that is, considering you're both liars." Mari picked up her purse. "I don't even know why I thought it would be a good idea to come over. Maybe I just thought it would be good to reconnect because, you know, some people don't have parents at all, and it's a privilege that I do, but it's worth it. I don't care what you do to me. I'm not leaving with you anywhere."
Mari stormed out of the house just as her locket got hot against her chest. She pressed it. "Yeah?"
"You need to get to the command center. Now."
- PRGG -
"I'm fine," Aiden insisted as Liela looked him over. October had already been looked at, and was now awake, leaving Liela to take care of Aiden's injuries. "Liela, I'm telling you..." He yelped when Liela pressed a hand lightly against his chest.
Liela rolled her eyes. "And I'm telling you, you broke at least two ribs. I'll wrap them up, and you can't fight for at least a week or so."
Aiden sighed. "Great."
"So," Liela began to wrap up his chest. "What's going on between you and October?"
"Why would you think something was going on?" Aiden asked, avoiding looking at Liela.
"Oh please," She rolled her eyes. "Just ask her out already. You two obviously like each other."
Aiden shook his head. "I don't think she likes me like that."
"Really? Why did she get upset when you claimed nothing was going on on the roof two weeks ago?" Aiden gave her a look, and Liela shrugged. "October said something about it, plus we have video and audio surveillance."
"Was she really mad? I mean, we haven't talked as much as we usually do. I'm worried that I really screwed up."
Liela made him look at her. "Look, Aiden, just ask her out on a date. She likes you. You like her. Do it."
He seemed a bit uncomfortable. "I've asked out tons of girls before, and I've never had this hard of a time doing it. I've been trying to find the opportunity, but I'm too nervous."
She chuckled. "That just means that you really, really like her. Which is a good thing. I think you can do it."
Meanwhile, Mari got to the command center to find Luca and Eliza sitting in the living room. "Where is everybody?"
"October and Aiden were injured," Luca informed her, gesturing for her to sit with them, which she did. "They're gonna be fine, but Liela's checking them out."
Mari frowned. "How did this happen?"
Eliza spoke up. "An Erinys happened."
"What is an Erinys?"
She pursed her lips. "It's basically a female demonic creature from Tartarus that feeds off of vengeance. In the simplest terms I can explain, they torture those who have acted out and are complained about. They hear these complains and decide what to do based on the 'crime' committed. I guess you could say that they deliver karma."
Mari looked at her like she was crazy. "Why would these Erinyes want us?"
Luca sheepishly looked to her. "Actually, Mari, I don't think it wants all of us. When the four of us were all there, it said that the one it wants wasn't there. I think you're the one it wants."
"I didn't do anything, though. I mean, who would complain about me to them?" Mari crossed her arms.
"October did," Ryder walked out of the infirmary to join in the discussion since the three were the only ones left to fight. "You were being a bitch, and she thought she was confiding in Alice, but it was just Alecto in disguise."
Luca frowned. "Is Alice okay?"
Ryder nodded. "October texted her and she's fine." He turned to Mari. "There's no way Alecto isn't after you. Honestly, she's probably hunting for you right now."
"How do we get rid of her?" Mari asked, frightened. "I don't wanna be tortured!"
Eliza cringed. "Well, unfortunately, the only way to get rid of her is to fight her and win. Just keep in mind, if you lose, she's gonna kill you. The good thing is, though, that she can't kill anybody that she's not assigned to fight. The only way she could do that is if all of you commit a similar act, which you didn't.
"So, what do we do?" Luca asked.
"I have a plan, but you two are gonna like it." Eliza chuckled nervously. "It's kinda dangerous."
"Aren't we always in danger anyways?" Ryder rolled his eyes. "What the worst that can happen if she can't even kill us?"
- PRGG -
"This is bad," Ryder crossed his arms and shook his head as he and Luca stood in the town square, where Alecto was last seen. "I don't like this."
Luca nodded. "Me either, mate, but it's the only way to try to keep Mari safe."
Ryder glared off into the distance, where Mari was hiding away. "Well, she didn't keep my sister safe,"
The blue ranger frowned. "It wasn't on purpose. In this line of work, you should expect to get injured."
"You mean like how we're about to?" Ryder muttered. "Why do we have to be the distraction while Mari prepares to give her the final blow? Mari should be the distraction."
Luca shook his head. "She could easily be killed doing that."
A hiss came from behind them and they turned to see Alecto behind them. "You mean like you'll hopefully be in a few moments?"
"We know you can't kill us," Ryder and Luca stood in position in front of her. "Good luck. Ready?"
"Ready."
"Guardians, Rise Up!"
"Green Guardian!"
"Blue Guardian!"
Ryder pulled out his sword while Luca pulled out his spear. "Let's do this,"
Meanwhile, Mari watched them fight from afar. She was already morphed, and waiting for the best moment to deliver the blow. She had a feeling Alecto would be highly sensitive and would know exactly when she got there, so she had to wait until Alecto was deeply distracted.
Luca jumped onto a car and jumped again when Alecto's scourge came out at his feet. Luca stomped down on it hard, feeling a bit bad about the car underneath him. Alecto pulled on the whip hard, causing Luca to fall to the ground next to the car, breaking one of the windows on his way down.
Ryder slashed at her with his sword, cutting her shoulder deeply. She cried out in pain and glared daggers at the green ranger. "That one was was for my sister," He kicked his foot up at her head, throwing her back at a nearby tree. "That too."
Alecto growled and whipped her scourge out, catching him in the chest and throwing him to the ground. He groaned loudly in pain and looked down to see a nasty welt already appearing through a cut in his suit.
"Her whip can break through our suits!" Ryder yelled as he held his arm over the injury.
The Erinys held her scourge up with honor. "Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?"
Luca blasted her from behind the car he had fallen beside. Alecto used her scourge to grab him and slam him back down on the ground hard, demorphing him. Ryder stood up shakily to help, and Alecto shook her head at him.
"You're not even a challenge," Alecto said as she whipped him once more, demorphing him also.
Mari watched as Alecto turned her back on her and looked towards the two fallen rangers. She slowly made her way out, her hands glowing yellow as they were wrapped around her blaster.
Alecto's snakes turned towards her before Alecto herself stopped what she was doing. The Erinys turned around and smirked at her. "Well, well, well. You've finally decided to join the party, huh? I've been waiting."
Mari pointed her blaster at Alecto, which didn't even face the monster. "Be careful what you wish for, Alecto."
The yellow ranger pressed the trigger, causing a yellow ray to shoot out of the blaster like normal, but it was quickly followed by two rays of fire wrapping around the original ray. Alecto was shocked and tried to hold her ground against the blast, but Mari pressed the trigger harder.
The blast stopped as Alecto stood there, surrounded by fire. "You'll get back for this, Marissa. I promise you." Alecto fell over and exploded.
Mari demorphed and ran over to help the two guys stand. "You guys okay?"
"Does it look like it?" Ryder held his arms over his chest to protect his injuries. Luca was limping as well.
"We'll just get you back to the command center. Let's go," Mari sighed as she helped them walk towards their destination.
- PRGG -
October walked out of the infirmary, rubbing her head a bit with her injured hand. Her other hand was sprained and bandaged up while her head was stitched and not bandaged. She was lucky enough not to have a concussion, but was still told to take it easy.
She saw Aiden sitting on the couch with his chest bandaged up, but no shirt over it. She found herself staring a bit until he noticed and chuckled at her, causing her to blush.
"How are you?" Aiden asked after a moment of awkward silence.
October shrugged. "I'm okay. Just a few stitches and a sprained wrist. No big deal." She looked him over. "How about you?"
Aiden shrugged as well. "Few broken ribs. No big deal," He smirked at her as she sat next to him on the couch. October sat there awkwardly until Aiden sighed. "Hey, October, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
He rubbed the back of his neck. "For saying our talk the other week or so was nothing. I thought maybe you didn't want me to say anything.. I don't know, really."
"What?" She looked a bit confused. "No, I totally get it. It's fine. I just.. well, I don't know either."
"No, I know you're upset about it. We had a moment, and I totally screwed it up by saying that to the girl I really..." He was cut off when the other three ranger burst in from outside, startling the two.
October and Aiden both stood, seeing the injuries sustained by Ryder and Luca. "Ryder?" October moved closer and held him up, since he looked in almost too much pain to stand. "Are you okay? What happened?"
"We were the distractions," Ryder muttered as she helped him towards the infirmary and Mari was behind them, helping Luca. Aiden also followed.
"The what?" October let her brother sit on a bed and turned towards Mari. "They were the distractions?"
"It wasn't her fault," Eliza spoke up as she looked at the welts covering Ryder's chest. "I suggested the plan because Alecto would've killed Mari the minute she didn't have prior engagements."
October frowned and pushed her away from Ryder. "I can patch him up myself, in that case,"
Eliza sighed. "October, it was to keep Mari alive."
"So all of us had to get injured to keep her alive? Nice." October rolled her eyes. "I think we should've found another way." Mari looked around before storming out of the room. October sighed and turned to Liela, who was watching them all while Mason patched Luca up. "Can you do this while I go talk to her?"
Liela nodded and October followed after Mari. Mari was up on the roof, crying with her legs drawn up to her chest. October walked over to her and sat in front of her.
"You okay?" She asked.
Mari almost laughed as she looked up at October. "Do I look okay?"
October frowned sympathetically. "You went to see your parents today, didn't you?"
She nodded. "Yeah. They're moving to New York and they said I have to come with them or else they're gonna cut me off from their lives and money. If they do that, I'll be homeless. I don't have a job, or money to support my apartment. I can't do anything."
"I could help you find a job, and I'm sure you could stay with a friend or something," October offered.
"No one would want me to stay with them for that long."
October pursed her lips. "Well, maybe you could stay here? I mean, Liela probably wouldn't mind. Her old team lived here and everything. You'll be okay."
"You think so?" Mari looked up at her with puppy-dog eyes.
"Oh yeah," October stood up and helped her up with her. "I know you will. I'll help you, and so will the others. If you need a job, I could get you one at Fred's. He wouldn't mind extra work."
"Thanks, October," Mari wiped her tears. "It means a lot."
October nodded. "No problem." She gestured downstairs. "Come on, let's go back downstairs and see what we could do."
Next time on Power Rangers Guardians of the Galaxy: Aiden struggles to accept his mother's marriage as the date comes around, and decides to invite October to come with him. Meanwhile, Ryder gets sick, leaving only Mari and Luca to help Periboea, a giantess, find her son, Ajax.
Next Chapter Title: Not My Father
Here I am almost exactly a week later, which is pretty fast, considering I started to write this yesterday. I really hope you guys liked this chapter - it turned out a bit differently than I wanted it too.
And, Alecto has two sisters (the other two Erinyes), huh? That could spell trouble in the future...
Anyways, as always, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I appreciate the support of every single person who has read, reviewed, favorited, or followed this story! It really keeps me going!
© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley