Hey guys, sorry it took a month (or two) to get this next chapter out, but I was busy with not only my other stories, but personal matters as well! It's alright though, because here's the next one! For all of you animal lovers, this may be a sad chapter to read - I know it was a sad one write, as I'm one myself, but here you go!
Also, you're about to meet some of the Roman and Greek gods. While I usually refer to them in the former, there will be times with the latter so when I introduce them, I'll put both of their names for their portrayal to clear things up.
Jackie is portrayed by Alona Tal
Jupiter/Zeus is portrayed by John Novak
Minerva/Athena is portrayed by Jessica Alba
Juno/Hera is portrayed by Kelly Preston
Mercury/Hermes is portrayed by Steven R. McQueen
Ceres/Demeter is portrayed by Jennifer Lopez
A teenage girl, about the age of 16 years old, kneeled at the feet of three individuals sitting in very fancy, marble chairs, almost looking to be thrones. As she kneeled, her short, curly blonde hair obscured her face. She wore a white t-shirt tucked into a black mid-thigh length skirt with overall-like straps, a blue and tan checkered cardigan, black flats, and a diamond pendant necklace around her neck. Also on this necklace was a locket.
"Jacklyn Oberstar," The only man, sitting in the middle, called to her. He was a tall man with dark hair and a dark beard, tan skin, and blue eyes. Along with him were two women, on his sides. The woman on his left had light brown hair, blue eyes and lightly tanned skin, while the woman on his left had tan skin, brown eyes, and dark blonde hair. They all wore Greco-Roman robes, with the women having headband-type crowns in their hair. "Please rise."
The teenage girl rose, revealing an innocent face with pale, delicate features and brown eyes. Despite the innocence on her face, it was clear she had seen more than she would've liked to in her time.
"It is almost time for you to descend from Mount Olympus to Earth." The man told her, and she bowed her head once in a nodded.
"I am aware, Zeus," Jacklyn responded. "I feel ready to preform my duties to help save the Earth."
Zeus, or Jupiter as he was also often called, nodded. "I hope you truly are. It will be a long, and hard journey to defeat Saturn, but we have faith that you can make it."
The woman on his left let out a chuckle. "We do not need faith when we have the wisdom and intelligence to win, Jupiter."
"Just because you don't need it, doesn't mean it isn't useful," The woman on the right responded, fixing her hair gently.
"Minerva," He shot the woman on his left a glance, "Juno," He then looked to the right, "Jacklyn will have everything she needs to assist the other rangers in this fight, correct?"
Jacklyn nodded. "Of course." She would have said more, but she knew better than to talk back to her superiors, especially considering her superiors were gods.
"Good," Jupiter stood up, as did Juno and Minerva. Minerva walked forward as another God, Mercury, appeared in the room, holding a paper.
Minerva touched Jacklyn's cheek. "You'll do well, my daughter."
"Thank you, mother," Jacklyn touched her mother's hand, before Minerva took her hand away to stop the intimate moment. As they pulled away, Jacklyn walked over to stand with Mercury, who nodded to his fellow Gods.
Mercury patted her on the shoulder, making her pull away slightly. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of Jackie." He said as he grabbed Jackie by the arm and they disappeared before the rest of the Gods.
As they left, another demigod approached them, her head concealed by a robe. When she took the hood off, it was revealed to be Eliza. "Jupiter, Juno, Minerva," She kneeled before them. "I have come to you for answers."
Minerva nodded once, "Child, please rise." Eliza stood back up, facing them. "What answers do you seek?"
Eliza sighed. "You sent me to Sol Valley to help and protect the rangers, but I don't feel I'm doing my job if what you claim will happen to Marissa will happen. I feel I must warn her or something. I cannot bear to let anything happen to any of the rangers."
"You have developed relationships with them," Jupiter looked down on her, his tone condescending. "We sent you because we believed you could handle the job and let the rangers do their job. Marissa is not the intended server of the yellow ranger powers, and if you choose to let her remain.. it could cost us all dearly."
The intern bowed her head in distress. "She can get stronger, and fill the role just as well as Isabella."
Juno shook her head. "It seems we have sent the wrong demigod to assist the rangers. If you allow Marissa to survive - if you warn her - you will pay for the severity of your actions."
"But she'll..."
Jupiter put a hand up. "No matter what happens, Marissa will not stay on the team, do you understand?"
Eliza nodded. "Yes, Jupiter." She whispered.
Minerva crossed her arms at Neptune's daughter. "Leave us, and remember the consequences of your actions, Eliza. You cannot allow your emotions and connections with the rangers cloud your judgement."
She said nothing, turning away from the Gods and leaving Mount Olympus.
- Cue Opening -
Luca walked out of his house that Friday morning, his blue backpack slung over his shoulder lazily as he yawned into his hand. He walked down to his truck, opening the driver's door and shoving his backpack in, before trying to get in himself.
As he did so, his mother came over to him, a worried look on her face. He frowned, stepping away from his truck. "Mom? What's going on?"
"I'm having the vet come out here later today," Gaia told him, crossing her arms tightly across her chest. "Freckles is very sick. She's laying down and refuses to stand or eat anything. I'm afraid it may be her old age finally getting to her," Upon seeing Luca's distressed look, she put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, baby."
Luca pulled away, slamming his truck door shut as he walked out towards the barn, his mother close behind him. "I wanna see her," He told his mother, opening the barn doors.
In the barn, they had two other horses - Lightning and Misty - who were both happily drinking from the water trough. They were Freckles' offspring, and were around two years old now.
Gaia stopped and stood next to the other two horses, rubbing Misty's back as Luca went to the stall at the end, finding Freckles laying on the ground on her side.
Luca kneeled down next to her, petting her side lightly, making a few huffs come from the horse. "Hey girl," He whispered, looking around and seeing a carrot on the floor. "You okay? You wanna eat?" He put the carrot in front of her nose, letting Freckles smell it a bit, but she turned her head away. "Alright," Luca sighed.
He patted her gently as began to stand up. He stopped and frowned, kneeling back down as he saw an inflamed mark on her leg. It seemed to be some kind of bite, though it was matted with blood and fur, and Luca didn't want to move it and risk hurting her.
"Mom," He called, gesturing for her to come over. Luca gestured to the bite as she kneeled next to him. "I think I know what's going on."
Gaia nodded grimly. "That's a snake bite." She confirmed. "That's not good, Luca. It's obviously poisonous."
Luca sighed, check his watch. "I have to get to school," He stood up. "Mom, if the vet can do anything.. let her try. I know Freckles is old, but I'm not ready for this - it's not her time." His mother nodded at him, and Luca took one last look at the horse before leaving the barn.
- PRGG -
At lunch, Aiden and October were walking towards the usual table the rangers sat at, when they saw Mari walking over to them. Mari grabbed their arms and began to drag them towards the library.
"What are you doing?" Aiden frowned as they made it inside, and Mari let go of them.
Mari gestured over to a table where Luca, Alice, and Ryder were sitting, Luca seemed to be searching something on his laptop, while Ryder and Alice were engaged in a conversation. "We're having lunch in here today."
"Why?" October asked, following Mari over to the table. "What's going on?"
Alice looked up as they approached. "Luca's looking up snake bites." She told them, gaining an odd look from both of them. "His horse got bit by one and he's trying to figure out which one."
Luca shook his head. "We don't have snakes in New Zealand - nothing like this has ever happened before." He responded, before groaning. "Why in the hell are there so many snakes around here?! I'll never figure this out."
October, Aiden, and Mari sat down with them, Mari reaching forward to touch Luca's arm lightly. "Hey, it'll be alright. You and the vet can figure this out," She said, not noticing the look Alice was giving her.
"Yeah, hopefully," Luca gave her a grateful smile, about to look back at his computer when his phone beeped with a text. He quickly took it out of his pocket, his eyes widening at said text.
Luca, Freckles is gone.. I don't know where she went, but she's not in the barn or on the ranch. The vet and I are looking for her now. Try not to worry, the vet said she couldn't have gotten far.
"Freckles escaped," Luca said, looking up at the others in alarm. "She couldn't even get off the ground or eat this morning, and now she's ran off?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound very normal to me," He looked around the table. "Do you think Saturn could have something to do with this?"
"Why would Saturn want anything to do with Luca's horse?" Ryder crossed his arms, frowning. "Not saying it's impossible, but it doesn't really seem like he would gain anything from stealing a horse."
October shrugged. "It would get Luca angry," She pointed out. "I say we keep a look out and if anybody..." She was caught off when she felt her locket get hot around her neck. She looked to the other rangers, noticing the looks on their faces as well.
Alice looked around, wondering at first why all the rangers had quieted, before quickly realizing what was going on. She gestured out. "Go on. I'll take care of your stuff and all - I have a free period right now."
The others nodded gratefully, Luca kissing her on the cheek, before they all rushed out of the library.
- PRGG -
The rangers got to the fight, standing strong as they saw a group of Titans standing in front of them. Behind the Titans stood a seemingly very tall woman with a toga-like shirt draped across the top half of her body. She was very pale, and had freckles all over her body, as far as the rangers could see.
"A giant?" Mari asked, looking to the others as they also frowned up at the monstrously tall woman.
Aiden shook his head. "I don't know - doesn't seem like it, but there also doesn't really look to be another explanation."
Ryder looked her up and down. "She sure looks like a giant."
"Ita de me quid vultis?" She spoke, the rangers frowning in confusion. "Centaurus sum, et vos causa eritis necis omnium!"
October raised her eyebrows. "What did she say?"
"She's speaking another language," Luca said, pointing it out like it wasn't obvious.
The woman stared straight at Luca, her eyes suddenly glazed over with a murderous rage. "Luca," She said, causing all of them to turn to him in shock. "Delicias disperdens vos auferam."
Aiden gave Luca a look. "You know her?"
Luca scoffed. "I think I'd know if I knew an eight foot tall woman speaking a language that none of us can understand."
"Impetum militum," The woman drawled, gesturing at the Titans to move on the distracted rangers.
Aiden looked to both sides of him, at the other rangers. "Ready?"
"Ready!"
"Guardians, Rise Up!" They called.
They all morphed, October, Ryder, and Mari going straight for the Titans, while Aiden ran forward to the woman. When he made it through the Titans, he was shocked to see that the lower half of the woman's body, was that of a horse. The horse's body was white with tan spots, and Aiden could see a red, inflamed mark on her leg.
"Snake bite," He whispered to himself, looking back to see where Luca was. When he did, he could see that the blue ranger had tried to make his way over to Aiden to help him, but had stopped just behind him, staring up at the centaur in shock.
Luca also noticed the snake bite relatively quickly. "Freckles?" He said, frozen to the spot.
Freckles looked down on him, and smirked. "Morieris, pater." Her eyes slowly made their way over to Aiden as well. "Antequam hoc." She immediately kicked one of her hooves out, striking Aiden in the chest hard, and knocking him back into a car.
The blue ranger watched his friend hit the ground, and then he pulled his sword out, closing his eyes as he blocked her leg coming at him with his sword, making her cry out in pain. He opened his eyes and ducked under another kick, sliding out under her and making his way to the other side. It didn't seem to matter, however, as she simply kicked him with her back leg, almost rolling her eyes at how easy it seemed to be.
"Facile," She smirked.
Aiden got back up from the ground, running in with his own sword. He used his powers to propel himself into the air and on the back of the centaur, but soon realized he didn't really have much of a plan past that. He grabbed ahold of Freckles' arms and tried to hold her back as Ryder escaped his fight with the Titans, trusting October and Mari to handle it while he helped the struggling red and blue rangers.
Ryder stabbed at Freckles with his spear, jumping back every time she attempted to land a hit on him with her hooves. The centaur, however, seemed to be struggling quite hard to throw the red ranger off of her while also fighting against the green. She growled, stepping down on Ryder's spear as she swung her body to the side, knocking her own self down as well as throwing Aiden to the ground.
Because of the way she fell, Aiden and Ryder unfortunately found themselves at the brunt of the large monster as she fell, causing them to demorph. Aiden's leg was trapped under the side of her body while Ryder, who had scrambled to run out of the way when Freckles fell, found himself being thrown into the air at her impact and landed hard on the ground, audibly knocking his helmeted head against the concrete.
The commotion attracted the attention of the other three rangers - Luca, who was recovering from the hit he took and October and Mari, who were fighting off the Titans.
At the sight of her brother's and boyfriend's distress, October stabbed a Titan in her way with her dagger and ran over to the Centaur, who had yet to get up. She ran at the monster, her dagger out and ready.
Luca watched as she stabbed the Centaur in her snake bite wound, seeing how suddenly distressed Freckles became, right before she seemed to pass out. Aiden winced, pulling himself out from under her as Luca ran over to check her pulse. It was weak and thready, but it was there.
When he looked up from his position at her side, he saw Mari helping Aiden lean against a saw as she demorphed and ripped part of her cardigan to stem some bleeding in his leg. He then looked over and saw an also demorphed October leaning over Ryder, trying to rouse him from unconsciousness while also holding some sort of fabric to a sluggishly bleeding wound on his forehead.
October looked up, her eyes immediately darting to Mari and Aiden, looking alarmed. "He's not waking up," She reported, suddenly gaining a protective stance over Ryder when Luca stood, making a move to help her. "Nothing personal, but if you come over here, I will not hesitate to shove you to the ground." She ground out. "By the way, what the hell happened to your horse? Because, last time I checked, horses don't have human bodies!"
Luca shrugged, taking a step away from them. "I don't know. It must have been Saturn! I swear!"
"October," Mari said, just before she spoke again. "Look, we have more important things to do than fight right now. Aiden and Ryder are injured and need medical attention,"
Aiden tried to shrug it off, though it was apparent that he was becoming lightheaded due to blood loss. "I'm fine - Ryder's unconscious. Help him first."
"We're helping you both," October said, looking him in the eyes with concern in her own. She eyed the centaur on the ground. "What are we gonna do about that?"
"Call Eliza," Aiden said, rubbing a hand down his face. "Have her teleport us and that.. horse, to the command center. We need some time to figure this out."
- PRGG -
Bella was walking out of the mall, starting towards her car. She had many shopping bags in hand, one of which she was trying to keep hidden behind the other bags which were from clothing or beauty-oriented stores.
She made it to her car, opening the back door and putting the bags in. She walked around to put some of the larger bags in the back, bumping into someone walking as she did so.
"Hey, watch where you're going," Bella growled to the blonde girl in white before her, who was also standing with a young man who looked to be in his 20s. As she looked at them, she saw a strange dull white aura around the girl, almost looking like a light. At first, that's what Bella thought it was, until she felt a strange sensation come over her, and realized that the girl was looking around her as well. "What?" She asked, her mouth dry.
"I apologize, though I do believe that you were also unaware of where you were walking," The girl responded, almost stiffly.
Bella raised an eyebrow, and looked at the guy standing with her. When she did, she could see light fog in his place for a moment before it faded to just being around him. "Who are you?" She asked, frowning in confusion.
"This is Jackie," The man said, chuckling awkwardly. "I'm.. Kael."
Jackie looked her over. "You're Bella," She said, causing Kael to quickly glare at her.
Bella tightened her jaw. "How do you know my name?" She asked, holding the bag she was holding close to her chest. From Jackie and Kael's spot in front of her, they could see a vine beginning to rise out of the bag, something Bella seemed to notice and was not surprised by.
Kael narrowed his eyes. "You know, don't you?"
"Know what?" Bella pushed past them suddenly, putting the bag in her trunk and closing it, before glaring at them. "Look, I don't know who you are but you need to leave me alone," She said, her voice wavering a bit.
Jackie frowned. "What is the..."
"Come on," Kael grasped her arm lightly and pulled her away, Bella watching them leave, rubbing her arm in nervousness. When they left, she closed her trunk and got in her car, taking a few deep breathes.
Bella looked around before relaxing herself in the seat. "What the hell just happened?" She whispered to herself.
- PRGG -
Aiden winced as Mason bandaged up the gash in his leg, after having stitched it up. He watched how skilled Mason seemed to be at medicine and such, before looking up at the boy's face.
"Hey, what do you think is gonna happen to Luca and his horse?" He asked, crossing his arms as Mason suddenly wrapped a bit too tightly, causing pain to jolt up his leg.
Mason sighed. "I have no idea," He muttered. "Honestly, at this point, it seems that the easiest thing to do would be to put her down. We don't know how to get her back to a regular horse, and, even if we did that, we have no idea what to do about the snake bite in her leg. If she wasn't a centaur right now, she might be dead."
Aiden frowned. "So, there's no hope really?"
"Pretty much. It's sad, especially since it's not the horse's fault that all of this is happening," Mason said. "It's just a bout of wrong place wrong time, you know? Getting bit by a snake was bad enough on it's own, and now this."
The red ranger nodded. "Yeah. Are you gonna tell him?"
Mason shook his head. "No, Eliza is. She's checking it out right now. It's not good, more so when you add October stabbing her in the leg."
Aiden cracked a small smile. "She was just protecting me and Ryder."
"Not saying it was her fault, nor that there wasn't a reason, but it's not exactly helping," Mason commented, glancing to the side at October.
October was sitting at the side of her brother's bed, while Ryder was sitting up against some pillows and rubbing a hand over his face. The pink ranger grabbed his hand when it got too close to the cut on his forehead.
"Be careful," She warned him, and he gave her a tired chuckle.
"October, I'm okay." Ryder said. "Not in too much pain right now."
She smiled. "I'm glad," She then gave him a look. "But you still have a concussion and a nasty gash on your head so don't tell me that you're okay. You're almost as bad as Aiden," October said a bit louder, looking back at the red ranger, who laughed at her.
"You're just a mother hen," Aiden retorted.
"Guys," A voice said from the doorway, attracting their attention. It was Mari, who sighed. "Luca and Eliza are outside with the horse. They're gonna put it down. When they come back in, we should be really supportive and sympathize with him, okay?"
October nodded. "Of course."
Mari gave her and the others a grateful smile. "Okay, I'm gonna go out and see how he is." She left, walking out into the living room, where she saw Eliza walking in. "Is it..?"
"Yeah," Eliza nodded, looking her over in a strange way for a moment. "Umm.. you should go out there - he's sitting near the water on the beach."
Mari nodded. "Okay." She walked outside, seeing the blue ranger sitting on the sand, looking out over the water as the sunset in the distance. She sighed and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder in a comfort as she sat down next to him. "Are you okay?"
Luca didn't look at her. "Not really. I mean, it may seem like just a horse, but she's been around since I was a kid and I remember that I could always ride her when I was upset or anything, you know?" He shook his head. "I just didn't think it would happen like this, or this soon. I wish it could've been a better end, I guess."
"There's nothing wrong with that. No one should wish an ill death like that," She wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Are you gonna be okay?"
He looked at her now, almost as if seeing her for the first time. "I think so," Luca and Mari stared at each other for a moment, before they both leaned in for a kiss. It quickly ended, but just left the two with their faces close, staring at each other and hearing the other breathe. Then, the two pulled away, and Mari stood up.
She shook her head at him. "We can't do that," She whispered, Luca standing up with her, both looking confused. "We can't. You have a girlfriend. We're not cheaters, Luca."
"What are we gonna do?" Luca asked, tightening his jaw.
Mari looked down. "Nothing. We can't do this. You can't do this to Alice, and neither can I. I mean, I'm not exactly her friend, but I'm not like that. You need to stay with her and be there for her."
"Mari, I'm sorry." He said lowly. "I'm so sorry."
She nodded. "Me too." Mari sighed. "Me too."
- PRGG -
Later that night, Bella was laying asleep in her bed when she heard a voice call to her. She frowned, opening her eyes and looking around, surprised to suddenly see a woman, dressed in Greco-Roman attire, walking towards her from the corner of the room. The woman had tan skin, long brown hair, and deep brown eyes.
"Who are you?" Bella asked, sitting up quickly and pushing herself against the back rest of her bed. "What are you doing here?"
The woman stopped at the foot of her bed. "I am Ceres, the goddess of agriculture. You are my daughter, and you will soon take on a powerful role. When you are ready, you will need this," Ceres placed a coin on the bed, one with a small hole at the top. On this coin was a cornucopia. "You'll know what to do."
Bella took the coin, but didn't feel any different. "What do you mean? What's this supposed to do?" She asked, looking up from the coin.
Ceres smiled. "You'll know what to do when the time comes." She said. "Trust me."
"But..." Bella said, however, Ceres was already gone, almost having disappeared into thin air. Bella frowned, looking back down at the coin in her hands. It didn't look like a normal coin, being a bit smaller, and was a bronze color. When she turned it, it reflected yellow in the light of the moon, which surprised Bella for a moment. "What is this?" She asked herself.
The coin still did nothing, and Bella stood up, walking over to her jewelry box, opening a small compartment that had nothing else in it and dropped it in carefully. She stared at it once more before closing the small drawer and going back to her bed.
Next time on Power Rangers Guardians of the Galaxy: A succubus makes October think she's not good enough when she takes away her confidence and ability to feel beautiful. Meanwhile, Luca and Mari struggle with their growing feelings, and Jackie searches for Tommy Oliver's white ranger power coin.
Next Chapter Title: Skin Deep
So, I wanted to say that chapters will still be far and few in between because of my now busy updating schedule, but I promise that it won't take two months to update like it did before. I will not be forgetting about this story, especially when it's getting into this little upcoming arc, but I will also be focusing on my other stories since they're more new than this one and need some work to a point where I can update on a more organized schedule.
Speaking of my other stories, sorry for also being a bit absent to those (if you read them), but I will be all of them sometime in the next week or so. I've just been having some problems with writers block that started right after my OC contest winners were chosen, which was very inconveniencing, but I'm getting back into it!
Oh, and I know some things in this chapter are crazy, particularly the revelation about Mari, but all will be explained and I do have a plan for her. I'll get into more detail in the upcoming arc.
Anyways, here are the upcoming chapters!
Ep 12: White Ranger - A new ranger appears!
Ep 13: Captured - First part of the New TBA Ranger arc (don't want to give away spoilers).
Ep 14: Daughter of Nature - Part two. TBA (also spoilers) becomes a ranger.
Ep 15: Clash of the Rangers - Part three (final part of the arc). The other rangers clash with the new ranger.
Ep 16: Love Animals - Luca focused chapter.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you guys soon! Bye!
© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley