Hey guys, here's the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it - it's one of my favorites!

"I will destroy you for killing my mother!" Almops, the giant the rangers were fighting, yelled. "I will destroy you all!"

Aiden shook his head as they all stood in front of him, having regrouped after being smacked to the ground by Almops' large staff, which had a likeness more to a baseball bat in that the top was thick and the bottom was thinner. The rangers were panting and exhausted from the fight, but were still standing strong.

"No." Aiden proclaimed. "You'll never beat us! No one will!" He looked at the others. "Let's blast this son of a bitch back to where ever he came from."

The others nodded and all took out their blasters, training them on Almops. He smirked at them. "Try me, rangers. I will get my revenge, trust me." October concentrated for a moment on Almops, and he began twist his head in slight pain. "That's pathetic, pink ranger."

Bella put one hand towards a nearby tree, making the branches twist out and wrap around Almops, holding him firmly in place so they would have a clear shot.

"Ready?" Aiden looked at his teammates, and they nodded. "Fire!"

The six rangers fired at Almops, hitting him dead on and making him fly back, hitting the ground hard. The branches that were holding him laid on the ground, smoking from the blast that had fired near them.

Luca frowned. "Why is he just laying there?" He asked, looking at the others. "Shouldn't he explode like all the others?"

"Maybe it's different because he's a giant," Bella suggested. "I mean, monsters don't usually just get knocked out in a fight, do they? So, he must be a goner."

"Bella's probably right." Aiden said. "But we should check it out just to be sure."

"You guys can have fun with that." Ryder shook his head, demorphing before anyone could protest. "I'm getting out of here." He told them, walking back towards his motorcycle, which he had parked a ways away when the battle started.

October put her hands on her hips. "Ryder, you can't just leave. What if he's not dead?"

"Did you not hear Bella?" He crossed his arms. "Monsters don't just get knocked out. He looks dead to me - not breathing or anything." Ryder pointed out, and the rangers discovered that he was correct when they looked over. "So I'm leaving."

The pink ranger frowned at him. "Ryder, I..." She was cut off when he revved his motorcycle. "Where's your helmet?" She asked when she saw him get on without said helmet on his head.

Ryder shrugged. "I don't know, I'll figure it out later." He said, revving again when she tried to open her mouth to respond. Ryder finally started driving off, rather fast - even faster than he usually drove, passing by the others relatively quickly, even though he wasn't too close to them.

"Ryder!" He heard the others yell in fear, and turned slightly to see Almops, who was just ahead of him, moving to get up. he tried to steer out of the way, but Almops was quicker than him and slammed his staff into the side of Ryder's bike, throwing him extremely off-balance and making him slide towards the floor until he rammed into a parked car and spun out.

- Cue Opening 2 -

* Earlier that day*

October was in her bathroom, finishing up her makeup for the day. She touched up her hair a bit and straightened out her shirt before exiting the bathroom and picking up her backpack on the way out of her bedroom. When she left the bedroom, she saw the hall bathroom light on with the door open, and paused as she was walking by, taking in the sight before her.

She saw Ryder standing at the sink, staring at himself in the mirror, obviously lost in the thought. October was quite surprised that he left the door open while he did this, and knocked lightly on the door, startling him out of his stupor.

"Jeez, October," He frowned at her. "Haven't you ever heard of privacy?"

"Oh please." October rolled her eyes. "You left the door open. What are you doing?"

He shrugged, grabbing his jacket off of the counter. "Getting ready."

"Are you alright?" She asked, after a moment of looking him over. "You were just staring at yourself in mirror. I know something's going on."

"Don't look too much into things. I was just spacing out from waking up so early." Ryder muttered, turning the light off and moving past her to walk out into the kitchen, looking through the fridge.

"And you need to stop acting like I'm an idiot." October crossed her arms. "I know that you're still hurting over Mari's death. You've been having trouble ever since it happened."

Ryder's jaw clenched in anger. "She didn't have to die." He said lowly.

October nodded. "I know. You're right, and I'll never think any different but.. there's a point where you just have to accept what happened and move on. Dwelling on it won't make her come back, and neither will messing yourself up."

"I'm fine," Ryder glared at her. "I stopped doing it."

She stared at him for a moment. "You did?"

"Yeah, not that it makes a difference. I still feel the same as I did before." Ryder rubbed a hand down her face. "Look, this isn't a conversation I want to have right now."

"That's fine, we'll pick it up after school." October said, and her tone made it clear that she was not leaving room for argument.

Ryder shook his head. "No. I don't want to. I'm fine, okay?"

She shrugged. "Then you shouldn't care if we pick this back up."

His hands pulled into a fist. "I'm leaving." Ryder grabbed his backpack by the door and left, walking as quickly as he could to get away from his sister, who was close on his tail. He heard a bit of conversation behind him and heard footsteps rush back to meet him. "This isn't happening, October."

"Not October," A familiar voice spoke from beside him. He turned to see Alice looking pointedly up at him. "I figured I should try to talk to you if I could."

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not interested. Besides, all you're gonna do is try to talk me into being better for October because you don't care about me, you only care about her."

"Hey, I'm trying to help both you and October, alright? Look, you're worrying her," Alice said, giving him a hard look. "I'm not a stranger to depression, Ryder. I know how it is, but you're never gonna feel better if you continue to wallow and do nothing about it. At least try to talk to her."

"Yeah, so she can send me to therapy or rehab or whatever she sees fit," Ryder retorted. "I'm not gonna let her send me away like that."

Alice elbowed him. "She's not gonna send you away, stupid. Your sister loves you and you know it. If you two can work this all out, I don't see why she would send you away. Besides, therapy isn't away, and you might need it."

Ryder scoffed. "I don't need it. I already go and it doesn't help." He ran a hand through his hair, almost exhaustedly. "I just want to be left alone."

"Come on..." Alice trailed off as Ryder cut across the street and left her alone, only for October to catch up with her. "It didn't go very well." She said, before October could ask. "But you could probably catch him after school or something."

October sighed. "Alright. Come on, let's get to school." She said, gesturing for them to continue walking.

- PRGG -

Jackie was walking through the parking lot that morning, having cut through to get into the school sooner to make sure she wasn't late. Checking her phone, she found she was actually a few minutes earlier and sighed in relief, since she knew too many tardies would result in detention.

As she was about to walk into the school, she saw Aiden at his truck, messing around in the back seat, which seemed to be filled up pretty heavily. She could also see that the back of his truck was open at the moment, and there were even more objects stuffed in the trunk.

"Aiden?" She walked over to him, startling him. "Why is your truck so heavily occupied?"

He stared at her for a moment, trying to think of a response. "Well, I'm moving, so I had to put my stuff somewhere, right?"

"Why not your new place?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked closer, looking in his trunk. "This.. is an abnormal amount of things to just keep in your truck while you're moving. Shouldn't your clothes at least be at your new place?"

"I..." Aiden sighed and closed his trunk, gesturing for her to come towards the front of his truck for privacy from any prying ears. "I haven't found a place yet."

"You don't have a home?" She frowned. "Do you not live with your good friend, Brent?"

Aiden looked down. "I did, but he kicked me out because it was apparently too dangerous to have me as a friend."

"Because you're a power ranger." Jackie concluded. "You should ask Liela for a room at the command center."

"I can't." Aiden told her. "Liela doesn't want anyone staying there because it reminds her too much of Mari, so that's a bust. It's okay, though, I'll find something. Don't worry about it."

Jackie made a face. "I may not be very empathetic, but I do care about you as my friend and teammate, therefore your request not to worry will be disregarded."

"Okay, well, at least don't tell anyone." Aiden requested. "I really don't want anyone to know. I'll figure this all out, I swear, just promise me that this can stay between us."

She looked to the side, a bit conflicted. While she knew it would be the logical thing to tell someone and get him help, he assured her that he would be fine and would be able to find a place without it. Jackie looked at his face once more, and sighed when she saw the look on it. "I will avoid reporting this to anyone for now."

Aiden let a breath out in relief. "Thank you." He opened his mouth to say more when the bell rang, signalling class about to start. He gave her a look. "Well, I guess we better get in there." Aiden said, trying to rush her away from his truck. "Let's go."

- PRGG -

Later that day, Bella was gardening in the small garden they had at the back of the school during 4th period, for which she had a free period. She often went to the garden during her free period, as it was one of her favorite things to do.

Nature calmed her a significant amount, and she assumed that was because of her mother. Being the daughter of the Goddess of agriculture, it only made sense that nature would make her feel very peaceful and at one with herself.

There was nothing that she had ever done that made her feel better than nature did, as she had tried to replicate that feeling so many times when she was unable to be outside, but she found that, while certain things definitely made her feel a bit better, it was nothing in comparison to nature. Nature was practically her drug of choice.

In all honestly, Bella would choose doing something in nature over practically anything else she could be doing. She had skipped going to parties with her friends just to take a stroll through the park, and had spent a whole day gardening even though she had other plans.

Bella hummed a bit to herself as she tended to her garden, watering certain plants, as well she helping some grow with her abilities. She heard footsteps behind her and stopped her task, only to turn and find Eliza behind her. "Oh, it's just you. I was worried it was gonna be someone else." Bella said, before continuing.

Eliza walked over and looked at the garden, seeming impressed. "Wow, this is pretty nice. Did you do this all yourself?"

"I wouldn't say I did it all by myself, but most of it, yeah." Bella nodded, smiling proudly. "Do you like gardening?"

The intern shrugged. "I've never really done it, so I don't know."

"That sucks." Bella chuckled. "Gardening is probably the most amazing thing I've ever done. I love it so much," She looked Eliza over. "Do you like.. swimming or something?"

"What do you mean?" Eliza raised an eyebrow, a bit confused.

"Well, I've always assumed that I love gardening so much because my mother is the Goddess of agriculture, so I was wondering if you liked something that has to do with water or the sea." Bella explained. "Otherwise, I'm just a freak for gardening."

Eliza laughed. "Well, I love the ocean. There's definitely an effect I feel from being there." She paused for a moment. "Why are you being so nice to me? You and most of the others said I was guilty of Mari's death."

"You're not." Bella shook her head. "I never said you were guilty of Mari's death - I said you were guilty of breaking your word against the Gods. I agree with October, though. You tried to stop it and you shouldn't be scrutinized for not being able to." Bella sighed, turning to Eliza. "Besides, I know something about being scrutinized by the others."

She frowned. "How so?"

Bella pursed her lips. "I know it's not personal, I do, but it's still hard to see the expressions on their faces when they look at me. Whenever talk about Mari, some of them give me a certain type of look, you know?"

Eliza chuckled humorlessly. "Trust me, I get that look all the time. I know it better than anyone."

"Maybe you should just talk to them, individually, of course." Bella suggested. "A few days ago, I talked to Ryder - like really talked to him - for the first time, and we actually kinda bonded. He's not unreasonable, and neither are Aiden or Luca. Just present your case and they'll eventually come along, and if they don't, that's their loss. Remember that."

"Really?" Eliza rubbed her arm nervously. "It's their loss?"

Bella nodded. "Definitely. They're the ones holding onto something that can't be changed and, by talking to them, you're letting go and putting it in their hands. Whatever happens after that is on them."

The bell rang above them, and Eliza stood up. "Thanks, Bella. I appreciate it." She said, a bit awkwardly. Eliza had never seen Bella be so kind before, and assumed it may have something to do with her gardening. "I have to lunch. I'll see you later?"

"Yeah, sure." Bella smiled and watched Eliza walk off, before she continued tending her garden.

- PRGG -

Saturn sat in his throne, carefully watching his monitor to see what had happened in the rangers' last battle to lead to a defeat. Polus watched him from afar, with Iapetus right behind him, observing his behavior.

Iapetus shook his head. "Saturn is becoming useless," He ground out, glaring at Polus. "His strategies never win against the rangers."

"Quiet, you fool." Polus scolded him. "You know that that is entirely untrue. He did what he needed to do against the yellow ranger, and will gain the upper hand when the next part of his plan is prepared."

"Not for a long while, if I must say." Iapetus crossed his arms. "It all depends on the status of our demigods, and it's not doing well."

Polus rolled his eyes. "You are ignorant, Iapetus. The son is moving forward, the daughter will discover her true self in time, and our special weapon.. well, she'll be ready when we are. Ops is still hidden with the humans, doing her job."

"And what is to come before that?" Iapetus asked. "Nothing? Is that our only plan?"

"Iapetus," Saturn's voice boomed through the area, startling the two generals for a moment, before they stalked into the room to stand before him. "Are you questioning my leadership?"

He bowed to Saturn. "Of course not, my liege. I'm simply wondering the status of our plans."

Saturn nodded slightly, standing up with his staff in hand, walking down to stand before Iapetus, pulling him roughly up from his bow and throwing him across the room, cracking the wall of Tartarus' cave. "Never question me!" He bellowed, causing the room to shake. "My plans are to get revenge against the Gods! These children are nothing!"

Iapetus looked up at him. "I'm sorry, my liege. I just wanted to help."

"You are not helping," Saturn hissed. "You want to rule. You want something you cannot and never will have, understand? I have plans for said children, and I will handle them on my time, not your's."

Polus continued to bow and face down, "Big plans, right, my liege?"

"Very big, Polus." Saturn smirked as he continued to glare at Iapetus. "Laestrygonians, Charybdis and Scylla, Gorgons, Furies, my family... So many choices." He grabbed Iapetus and shoved him to his feet. "I am a force to reckon with. Remember that, Iapetus." Saturn pushed him away and walked back up to his throne, ignoring him as he and Polus exited the room.

- PRGG -

Alice was walking through target, having to pick up some things for her dad after school. She was about to grab a cart and walk around the store, when she saw Aiden stacking the hand-held baskets back in order. At first, she thought he was just doing it to be nice, but then she saw the target logo on his shirt and raised an eyebrow, walking over to him.

"Aiden, what are you doing?" She asked, startling him slightly. "Since when do you have a job?"

He frowned. "Jeez, everyone's on my ass today." Aiden muttered. "I just got it a few days ago, for your information."

She nodded slowly. "Okay, but why? I mean, your mom has a pretty good amount of money, and I know she lets you use it all the time. Did she cut you off or something?"

"She and her husband are leaving to move closer to his family, and she's taking her money with her." Aiden explained, his expression tight.

Alice made a face. "Wait, she's not leaving you with anything?"

Aiden sighed. "She is, but not enough to live off of for long."

She shrugged. "Well, with Brent's help, I think you two could make rent for a while, right?"

"I'm not gonna be living with Brent anymore." Aiden admitted. "He doesn't want me, and I don't want to impose, so I'm moving out too. On my own, I could pay rent for a while, but only if I spent exactly zero dollars on anything else at all times, including food or anything like that."

"Wow, that's harsh," Alice rubbed his arm comfortingly. "Do you have a place yet?"

He looked down, ashamed. "Kind of." If you count my car as a place to live, He thought to himself."Don't worry about it, I'll be fine."

Alice scoffed. "So, how many people have you used that line on today? What's really going on? A person with a good, stable place wouldn't have that look on their face. They would be a lot more grateful, especially someone like you."

"I have a place, alright?" He crossed his arms. "This is just for extra money, and it's nothing to be concerned about. I would say something if anything was wrong."

She rolled her eyes. "You're such a liar. You wouldn't tell anyone if something was wrong because you'd want to handle it yourself so that you don't bother other people with your problems. I know that road, and it's not a good one - trust me."

Aiden shook his head, stacking the baskets once more. "I have to get to work and, even if I didn't, it's none of your business what's going on, alright?" He glared, stalking off after he finished his task, leaving Alice behind.

- PRGG -

"Get off my back, October!" Ryder yelled as the two stood in the living room, arguing. It had started out as a calm conversation, but had taken a bad turn, leaving both of them angry and fighting. "You're always bothering me like this!"

October scoffed. "Like I have a choice! You never listen to anything I say and I always have to repeat myself, or else you'd never get it through your head! Not that you do anyways,"

Ryder nodded his head, having expected her response. "Yep, because I'm the worst and you're the queen of the fucking world, huh?"

"I.. what?" October frowned, rather confused by this turn. "What the hell are you talking about?"

He glared at her. "You've been better than me! You've always thought that!" Ryder accused. "Everybody loves you. Everybody cares about you. No one else cares how I'm really feeling, as long as I'm not worrying you!"

"That's not true." She quieted down, the mood having shifted dramatically in her mind. "We all love you a lot, Ryder. Everybody cares about you too. Why would you think that?"

"Because all anyone thinks about when they see us is how amazing you are. I don't even begin to compare in anyone's mind," Ryder sneered. "All they talk about it you. Alice came up to me today and told me that I was worrying you, and that's why I should just become fixed all of a sudden. You're the perfect person to everyone. You can handle anything, but I can't."

"The way we handle our problems has nothing to do with what other people think of us," October replied. "Where is this coming from?"

Ryder looked down guiltily. "Everything is piling on me and I'm tired of keeping locked up from the world. I'm sick of everything." He paused, before yelling. "Everything is just bullshit!"

"Okay well, let's handle it, then." October said, trying to soothe him. "I will do anything you need, alright? I just want you to be okay."

"Don't do that." He growled through gritted teeth. "Don't. Every time you try to make feel better, it makes me feel worse because that means I'm really hurting you and I don't have it in me to deal with that pain. The pain that I'm hurting my only family - the only person that I still love and care about in the midst of all of this crap."

October took a deep breath. "You're not hurting me, okay? I promise," She reached out and hesitantly put a comforting hand on his shoulder. It remained for a moment before it was shrugged off. "I love you too. I'm just trying to show you that I care about you. I won't make you do anything you don't want to; I only want you to be better."

Ryder scowled. "I'm not gonna be better! Don't you get it, October! I'm a mess! I'm a broken piece of crap and I'm not getting better! The only thing I'm living for is you!"

"And I'm here for you." She said, calmly. "I don't want anything to happen to you, ever. I don't care how broken you are - I will always try to put you back together, I promise. I may not know what it feels like, but I will listen to whatever you have to say."

He stared at her, shocked for a moment before he got angry again. "Stop being nice to me!" He exclaimed. "Stop!" Just at that moment, their lockets heated up, and their eyes met briefly before the two left the apartment, Ryder running ahead of October.

*Now*

Ryder's motorcycle hit the car and spun out hard, sending him flying off of it and onto the ground, hitting his head and knocking him unconscious. The other rangers watched him in shock for a moment, before they saw that he wasn't going to be getting up anytime soon.

"Ryder!" October screaming, using her blaster to shoot Almops, finally taking him out with an explosion, before she ran and slid to her knees beside her brother, demorphing in the process.

She turned him onto his back and stared at him, her hand hovering just inches above his body. October didn't know what to do or where to start. She looked him over, cringing at the way his leg was bent out of shape and the road burns covering his exposed arms and some of his cheek.

There was a gash freely bleeding on his head, and she knew there were probably injuries she couldn't see. Pressing her hand lightly along his ribs, October felt a few give away at her touches, and that was only one side.

Taking a deep breath to calm the fear that was growing in her chest, she tapped his cheek lightly. "Ryder?" She called, though it seemed futile with the condition he was in. "Please?"

A tear ran down her face as she pulled him close to her, holding him protectively as she turned to see the others standing there, watching in fear. "Call an ambulance. Now!"

"What about Liela?" Luca asked. "She could help."

October glared at him. "No! I want a real doctor!" She turned to Aiden. "Dial it! Now!" Aiden nodded and pulled out his phone as October buried her face in Ryder's shoulder, his head lolling on her's. "Wake up," October whispered. "Please."

Next time on Power Rangers Guardians of the Galaxy: While the rangers wait by to see if Ryder will wake up, he finds himself dreaming of a world without the rangers.

Next Chapter Title: Collision Part II

This chapter was the start of Ryder's main character arc, and it will continue as the background for a few more chapters until he makes his breakthrough with everything. The next part will be coming really soon, within the day or so. His arc is probably my favorite out of all, besides Bella's, which will come closer to the end of the series.

There's a poll on my page asking for your favorite Power Rangers: Animal Guardians ranger this time, so please go vote if you read that! It'll bring that character back for my Earth Defenders 5th anniversary team up, and Roger is currently in the lead! Guardians of the Galaxy rangers come next - I'll let you guys know when!

Anyways, here are the upcoming five chapters!

Ep 19: No Place Like Home - Aiden focused chapter.

Ep 20: Goddess Of War - October focused chapter.

Ep 21: Politician's Daughter - Jackie focused chapter.

Ep 22: Fair - Bella focused chapter.

Ep 23: Middle of Nowhere - Luca focused chapter.

I hope you guys liked this chapter, and I'll be back with the next one soon!

© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley