Episode 31: Part 1
It had been just over a month since the Vanguard Rangers had ended a climactic battle against the menace of the Four Horsemen atop the mountains. In addition, they had even acquired the powers of the Red Seraphim battle armor, an invaluable new weapon in the fight against Archangel Gideon and his army of Cambion demons.
Still, the demons had been quiet of late. Whether it was because they were too distracted by their own infighting or intimidated by the Rangers' recent triumphs, it was hard to say. For the time being, the Rangers all decided to try and enjoy the temporary peace and return to a relative state of normalcy.
It was a gray Monday afternoon in February as Isabel Herrera carried some boxes of decorations for an event later in the week. Valentine's Day was coming up that weekend and her sorority was sponsoring a Valentine's Day dance competition to raise money for charity. As she made her way down the snowy street toward the Union, Izzy smiled to herself thinking how much fun this was all going to be.
Valentine's Day had always been one of her favorite holidays and she loved the idea of excitement and romance. There would be dancing at the event, which was another activity she loved to do and she had a perfect dance partner in mind to help win it this year. Her thoughts turned to her friend and fellow Ranger Danny Winthrope.
He had always been a difficult person to peg and in many ways seemed like a walking contradiction. He was always well dressed and came from a wealthy family, yet he was a surprisingly modest person who seemed to hate the behavior of snobby rich people. He sometimes slacked off in his studies, but in reality was a very smart person. Other times he behaved like a bit of a clown, but also knew when to be serious and had proven himself to be an excellent second in command to the Rangers in battle.
She also knew he liked her and would tease and flirt at every opportunity. While she had found it annoying at first, she had begun to change her mind. As she got to know him better and become his friend, she saw that he truly was a good person at heart, showing himself to be a brave teammate, a caring friend, and someone who was genuinely thoughtful towards others. Even now, she sometimes found herself thinking of him and feeling attracted, but she wasn't completely sure... much less able to confront him about it.
Perhaps having him be her dance partner would be a good way to find out for certain how she felt, especially since she knew he was an excellent dancer too. As a passing thought, she smiled and wondered if she should also try to talk Joe and Claire into coming too. While the Red and White Rangers were nowhere near as good at dancing as she and Danny were, those two would likely still have fun doing something romantic since they had begun dating.
As she turned a corner, she bumped into another person and spilled her boxes to the ground.
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that," said a handsome young man in a black coat who looked to be a fellow student at the University. He was tall, well dressed and had dark Mediterranean features, "Here let me help you with that."
To Izzy's surprise, he hurriedly picked up the boxes and handed them back to her with a stunning smile, "It was hard to see around those boxes, but I didn't think there would be such a pretty girl behind them."
As he handed the boxes back, their fingers touched and the Pink Ranger felt a strange electrifying feeling while her mind felt a little fuzzy. "I uh... thank you," she stammered back lamely. "I was just headed to the Union with these."
"Well, that's not far at all. Let me help carry these for you... um?"
"Isabel," she answered dumbly with a blush which made him laugh.
"Nice to meet you Isabel. And what a pretty name too. My name is Lucas. Lucas Sarpente."
Hefting the boxes, he gave a wink and tilted his head toward the Union, "Shall we?"
Meanwhile, back in the Dark Spire of the Abyss, Lady Shemhazai made her rounds, busily accounting for her all her remaining troops. On Lord Gideon's orders, they would all be moving out soon and attempt to breech the Great Seal to Earth. As she swiftly made her way down a dark hallway, she ground her teeth angrily, "Where is that accursed incubus? The Legion is mobilizing and he is nowhere to be found!"
The Cambion Counselor stopped and glanced over as a shade materialized from the darkness to give a report to her, "My Lady Shemhazai, if you seek the demon Lucavis, he has left the Abyss and headed to Earth by himself."
Shemhazai narrowed her eyes furiously and snarled, "Without my consent? Why would he do such a thing?"
The shade bowed its head respectfully to its mistress, "I am not certain my lady. He had mentioned something about settling a personal grudge."
Shemhazai scowled. The thought of a member of her legion deserting to get revenge made her uneasy. The stupid incubus was acting out of blind passion and would no doubt be dangerous. Still, he was the Rangers' problem now, not hers.
"Very well," she nodded before turning away and heading back down the hall, "Continue with the invasion plans. Relay a message to all the other troops in my legion. If there are any more renegade demons who move without my orders, they will face summary execution at my own hand. Is that understood?"
The shade bowed and sunk back into the shadows, "Perfectly my lady."
Back at the university, Danny Winthrope sat taking a breather in one of the campus gyms as the other Rangers finished some sparring practice with Kara. Even if there hadn't been any demon attacks recently, they felt it was a good idea to stay sharp and keep learning new hand to hand fighting moves from Kara.
While the Blue Ranger wiped some sweat from his brow, he glanced nearby to see Claire hand Joe a water bottle with a sweet smile, "Thought you could use a drink Joey."
"Thanks Claire bear," he grinned as the two shared a quick kiss on the lips and exchanged a playful laugh between each other.
Danny smiled to himself and gave a small sigh. He was genuinely happy for his two friends and glad that they could freely act on their feelings for each other now. In a way, it was also a little encouraging to him thinking that if they could be brave enough to start an official relationship, then there was no reason he couldn't either.
"They're cute, aren't they?" Nick grinned, interrupting Danny's train of thought, "You thinking about following their example?"
Danny glanced over as the Green Ranger approached then shrugged, "Maybe. Izzy was going to come by and meet me here after practice. She said she was going to ask me to do a special favor for her."
"Special favor eh?" Nick chuckled waggling his eyebrows, "I wonder what kind."
The Blue Ranger tossed his sweaty towel into Nick's face and checked his wristwatch, "Get your mind out of the gutter dude. Come to think of it, she's actually running a little late."
"Come on, there's really no need to worry... is there?" Nick grumbled as he pulled the dirty towel off him.
Danny grabbed his gym bag and hurried out the door giving his other friends a wave goodbye, "She said she'd be at the Union today. If she's running late, I might as well go try to catch her first."
After a short jog to the Union, he was surprised she wasn't there either. According to one of her sorority sisters who was still decorating, Izzy had left for the Mugshot café a short while ago. With a confused shake of his head, he made his way across campus town and finally arrived at the café. As he tiredly opened the door and stepped in, he found Izzy sitting at a nearby table laughing and having a cup of coffee with another young man.
The Blue Ranger felt his pulse quicken and heat rise from his collar as he steadied his breathing and tried to maintain a neutral expression. Upon reaching the table, he cleared his throat, "Izzy? Hi. What's going on here?"
The Pink Ranger's eyes went wide as she checked her watch and covered her mouth. "Oh my gosh! Danny! I'm so sorry! I forgot I was supposed to come meet you at the gym today. I completely got caught up in all the activities this afternoon and it slipped my mind."
She seemed apologetic enough, but the Blue Ranger cast a wary glance over to the other guy, "I can see that... Who's your friend?"
"Oh... Danny, this is Lucas Sarpente. He's a Junior here majoring in Finance."
Danny eyed Lucas carefully and gave a half hearted handshake, "Danny Winthrope. I don't recall seeing you in any classes."
"Oh... I just transferred in," Lucas replied giving a charming smile, "I actually just bumped into Isabel today on the quad and she was helping me get oriented."
The Blue Ranger kept a stony expression, "You know, they do have maps in the Student Services office."
Izzy gave a slight frown, "Danny. Be nice."
Danny ignored her chiding and asked, "Izzy, I came because there's something you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Right. I wanted to tell you about the Valentine's Day dance contest this coming Saturday. We're raising money for charity and..."
"Did you say dance contest?" Lucas interrupted with a bright smile, "What a great opportunity! I love to dance. Back home, I even won a few awards from some local competitions!"
Izzy stopped and gave an impressed look, "Really? I... wow... I'd be interested to hear more about..."
Danny cleared his throat again showing a hint of growing annoyance, "Excuse me Lucas. Do you mind not interrupting for a minute? I was trying to talk to Izzy here."
"Danny! You're being awfully rude now," Izzy cut in with a glare.
Lucas gave a smile and waved it off, extending a gallant hand, "Trust me. No offense taken. But Isabel, if you're free that Saturday, maybe you'd like to enter that competition with me? I'd love to participate."
Danny growled quietly before Lucas stopped a moment, "I'm sorry. That was really forward of me. I didn't want to upset your boyfriend here and..."
"He's not my boyfriend," Izzy replied giving a disapproving frown toward Danny, "And Lucas? I'd be happy to enter the competition with you."
"You can't do that Iz! I mean... for goodness sake! You barely know this guy!"
Izzy crossed her arms, "Well, I do know he's not going to be acting like a little child having a fit."
Lucas turned to Danny giving a sympathetic look, "Come on now Danny. I think we just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you sit down, relax, and let me buy you a coffee?"
The Blue Ranger clenched his fists and furiously turned to head out the door, "No thanks. I'm feeling warm enough already."
Later that week, Joe and Nick sat in the cafeteria of their dormitory eating breakfast on Friday morning while reading the campus newspaper.
"Hey man, check this out," Joe said looking over an article, "Looks like another girl was found passed out around campus. This time she was in a library study room and had to be taken to the hospital to recover. Like the others, she doesn't remember what happened. You don't think..."
Nick stirred his scrambled eggs with a fork, "That it's a Cambion demon? Nah. My guess is that it's probably just another crazy who got too drunk at a party and wandered off."
The Red Ranger furrowed his brow and shrugged before Izzy came to join them at the table. She was looking exhausted but happy. As she sat, she looked dreamily to a new colorful charm she wore on her own silver bracelet.
"Uh... hey! Good morning! Earth to Izzy?" Nick prompted with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh... hi guys," she said with a yawn, "Sorry I didn't see you there. My mind was elsewhere."
The Red and Green Rangers exchanged a puzzled look as Nick continued, "We can see. Zoning out over your bracelet by the looks of it."
"Oh... this," Izzy replied showing the pink charm dangling from her bracelet, "Yeah. One of my other guy friends gave it to me recently and I was just admiring it."
"Other guy friends?" Nick asked curiously.
Izzy smiled dreamily, "Sure. His name is Lucas. Lucas Sarpente."
"Who is Lucas?" Joe frowned suspiciously, but Izzy seemed to ignore his tone. She went on to tell them how she met Lucas earlier in the week and they had really hit it off. He was handsome, and funny, and charming, and as it turned out, a great dancer too.
"After classes today, I was actually planning to go practice with him before the contest tomorrow night. He even got this pink charm to accent the dress I was planning to wear and I was thinking how great it would look. Don't you think it was really sweet of him to do that?"
"Um, don't you think things are moving a bit too fast?" Nick asked in concern, "I mean... you're already sounding a little smitten here."
"Relax you guys," Izzy reassured them with a wink, "Lucas and I are just friends... though between you and me... he's really hot."
Joe gave an uneasy grimace, "I don't know Iz. If you're going to a dance contest, I would have thought you'd have chosen Danny as a partner for the event. He's a great dancer... better than Nick and I combined."
"I would have if he didn't piss me off earlier this week," The Pink Ranger replied quickly, "The moment I introduced him to Lucas, he started getting all grouchy and jealous."
Izzy rose from the table and bean to leave, "I might as well head out to class. If I think about Danny's bad behavior any more, I'm just going to get mad all over again. See you guys!"
The two male Rangers waved goodbye and watched her leave before exchanging another skeptical look.
"Is it just me?" Joe sighed to his friend, "Or did we already have this conversation once before... only the other way around?"
"This does sound a little weird... even for Izzy," Nick agreed as he pulled out his phone, "I think it's time to give our old pal Danny a call and get to the bottom of this."
Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, Danny was returning from an early morning swim at the pool. He had been feeling agitated and needed to blow off some steam from the thought of some smug new transfer student moving in on Izzy.
While Danny had expressed his interest early, he had also spent over a year building a solid foundation of genuine trust and friendship with her. In less than a week, she was already swooning over some other charming guy she barely knew. It just wasn't fair!
His thoughts were interrupted as he heard a shrill cry for help coming from a nearby park. Fingering his Keyrune, the Blue Ranger forgot about his own problems and took off running to respond if there was trouble.
Nearby in a campus park, Lucas raised a glowing hand as the terrified female student tried to call for help again. Before she could scream, the female underclassman collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. The pink charm bracelet on her wrist glowed brightly while draining her of her strength, causing her to fall unconscious.
"That was really stupid of you girl," the incubus snarled while taking on his true demon appearance. "Too bad you're not going to remember what happened now."
Just then, the incubus Lucavis turned around as he heard Danny rush around the corner of a hedgerow to investigate.
"Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here demon?" the Blue Ranger growled pulling his Keyrune in a flash.
"What does it look like boy? I'm feeding on the gullible hearts of these stupid young women," Lucavis answered with a sneer.
Seeing the coast was clear, Danny quickly morphed and pulled his gladius, "We've dealt with your kind before. Now get lost before you end up the same way your fellow heart sucker Lilith did."
Lucavis roared in fury and charged the Blue Ranger, "How dare you talk about my mate that way!"
Danny gasped as the enraged demon took several swings at him and kept his guard up to deflect the blows. Lilith had been this thing's mate? The thought was both shocking and disgusting at the same time.
"I've heard of you Blue Ranger," the monster snarled, grappling with Danny, "You're indirectly responsible for my beloved Lilith's death. Once I take revenge on her killer, then I'll take the rest of my hate out on you."
Danny growled again as the demon grabbed hold of his sword arm and shoved him backwards to break the grapple. Using the momentum of the roll, Danny found his footing and pulled his Feather Stinger pistol, squeezing off a few shots as the demon dodged them and retreated into a dark cloud of smoke.
"I don't have time for you now Ranger," the incubus laughed as he disappeared, "I've got another hot date to catch."
Danny remained crouching on the snowy ground catching his breath from the sudden and unexpected battle. As he holstered his weapons, he hurried over to the unconscious victim on the ground and was relieved she still had a pulse. Upon rolling the young woman over, his eyes caught sight of the strange pink bracelet that had been glowing when he arrived.
The Blue Ranger powered down and tucked the bracelet away into his pocket before picking up his phone to call for help. The moment he did, his phone began to ring and he saw that it was Nick. Whatever the call was going to be about, Danny had a sinking feeling that it wasn't going to be good.
A/N:
The chapter title was taken from Corinthians 13:4-8
Since several other writers around here are doing Romance themed stories, I thought I'd join in the spirit of things too (even though I'm personally not a fan of Valentine's Day at all)
Before I forget, I also wanted to give a few special salutes to Kuro no Okami for his help with the Red Seraph Battlizer in the prior chapter as well as Stormasius for some plot inspiration in this episode. Thanks again guys! You rock!