2/13/2023
Gotham City/Gargoyle Academy
Sitting in the Gargoyle Academy library was Erik with a lot on his mind as he recalled his conversation with Tommy Oliver inside of the morphing grid. Basically, Erik was a defender of the innocent and powerless aka a power ranger and he can gain unique powers from the morphing grid itself.
The statues were of previous power rangers throughout the multiverse and timelines of reality but in this reality, Erik is the first power ranger and probably the last since the grid didn't sense any other power coins on earth. Anyway, Erik basically has to train himself and get stronger in order to properly 'Morph' and be a true ranger.
Tommy himself was very patient and helpful despite his condition. Apparently, he wasn't the 'true' Tommy and instead is something more like a remnant of Tommy's soul that is inside of the morphing grid, which allowed him to know and understand things that the original Tommy might not have been able to comprehend.
The power coin itself has bonded with Erik's soul and now Erik himself has limitless potential for growth compared to some other rangers from the past. The morphing grid itself was similar to the 'Force' from Star Wars in a way since it allows Erik to use abilities that he otherwise couldn't, but the fact remains that Erik still has to work towards getting those powers.
Tommy said that Erik could morph now if he really put his heart into it, but the form might not last long and it would drain Erik's energy considerably. Tommy also tried explaining the finer points of the morphing grid but a lot of it went over Erik's head and to make it simpler he again compared it to the 'Force' since rangers have been known to use magic, Ki, sci-fi weapons and other things depending on their connection to the grid.
Erik couldn't help but groan from the headache that all this thinking was causing him, but he at least memorized the main lessons of being a power ranger. The lessons of compassion, forgiveness, honor, virtue and so on. Those lessons actually resonated with Erik, but at the moment they didn't help him with his studies since he is currently trying to study any and everything, he could about supernatural abilities, magic, metahuman powers and so on.
He had a decent stack of books next to him along with his notebook on the desk and a pencil in hand as he took notes, but he was still struggling with wrapping his mind around this entire situation.
"Doing research on stuff like this should be fun but it feels like I'm studying for a career change." Erik said to himself before leaning back in his seat and stretching a bit.
Soon enough when school let out, Erik was walking around Gotham or more specifically he headed over to the nearby nature preserve in Gotham aka a massive plot of land with dozens of trees, plants and even a moderate sized lake that doesn't lead anywhere. It was built years ago for people in Gotham to enjoy nature and a small national park.
Nowadays the miniature national park was in a bit of a bad way in terms of maintenance and care. Litter on the ground and spray paint on some statues but Erik wasn't heading there for the sights. Erik made his way to the park for training purposes.
Erik looked up enough fitness and environment books to know that natural is basically a free gym except it holds a high risk of insect bites, stings and possibly animal attacks but since the only animals here were stray dogs, Erik felt like he didn't have to worry too much about it. So, he rolled up his sleeves and started doing several random exercises for roughly two hours before he was covered in sweat and made his way over to a bathroom area split into two sides for boys and girls.
Erik went into the boy's restroom and splashed some water on his face before cleaning up with paper towels as he made his way back outside and when he did, he caught sight of a girl walking out of the restroom.
This girl seemed to be around his age, but she was slouching a bit, she has dark green hair going down to her shoulders, a slim but curvy frame, she has a long tongue poking out of her mouth which seemed to act like a prehensile tail and she is wearing a gray tank top and basketball shorts and sneakers on her feet while she also has a blue towel slung over her shoulder.
Erik thought that the girl was a bit odd but in a cute way and that she was undoubtedly a metahuman. However, Erik also noticed that the girl had white bandages wrapped around her forearm with what looked like fresh blood as the girl was messing with the bandages.
"Are you alright?" Erik asked before the girl noticed him and flinched slightly.
"Yes. I'm fine, just a small cut, is all." The girl responded in an unsure tone of voice.
"Are you sure?" Erik said with a bit of concern as he looked at the wound and the bandages. "You tied the bandages a bit too loose. Do you mind if I give you a hand?" Erik asked the girl since he did know a thing or two about first aid thanks to his mother.
"You know first aid?" the girl asked as she let Erik tie her bandages a bit, which made her wince in pain a bit.
"I know a bit and sorry about the discomfort, but this is how you tie bandages of this variety. My name is Erik by the way and it's nice to meet you." Erik said with a smile.
"My name is Tsuyu but you can just call me Tsu." Tsuyu said before Erik finished wrapping up Tsuyu's wound before the two of them started talking a bit and sure enough the both of them became fast friends.
"You're going to Legends Academy?" Erik asked in surprise after Tsuyu told him that she was going to school to study and become a pro hero and member of the Justice League.
Legend's Academy works as something of a school for people to learn and master their abilities and powers in order to become pro heroes or become members of the Justice League. Basically, it was a school for people looking to make use of their powers, but they still had to adhere to rules and regulations put in place by the government since they don't want people with powers getting out of control or anything.
"Yes. I come here to train myself so I can be ready for the entrance exam, but I got cut by a few thorns when I landed near a large bush." Tsuyu replied and just like that, Erik knew what he had to do now.
The school is still willing to take in students which means that Erik can apply for Legends Academy and work to become a pro hero.
"Being a pro hero was something I wanted to do but I always felt like I couldn't do it but now. Now, I know I can become a hero, so I think I'll be applying to Legend's Academy too." Erik said to Tsuyu with a smile before she stood up.
"If you're serious about it, then I hope we can both make it in. Legend's Academy is a tough school after all, and the exams are making me a bit nervous." Tsuyu said honestly before Erik also stood up.
"Well maybe we can help each other train and study. I've got a lot of free time so I can come to this park after school." Erik said as Tsuyu thought about it for a moment before responding.
"Sure. I wouldn't mind." Tsuyu said back and that made Erik smile before the duo parted ways for the day.
2/20/2023
Gotham City/Natural Park
At the moment Tsuyu and Erik were both racing through the park against each other to see who was fastest and sure enough when they reached the stopping point by a few wooden benches Tsuyu proved that she was faster.
"Not bad Erik. You're getting faster." Tsuyu said before sitting on one of the benches.
"Maybe but your wicked fast. It must be cool having the powers of a frog." Erik said with a chuckle.
"I didn't always think about it. Being born with an active metagene made me an easy target for bullies but now I don't concern myself with their opinions or preconceived notions about me." Tsuyu said back with her tongue sticking out of her mouth a bit.
"Getting bullied sucks but now I can at least focus on moving forward like you. My mom was surprised but happy when I told her that I wanted to go to Legend's Academy and had no problem telling the principal and a few teachers where they could go after how bad I got bullied. Now I just have to wait until the testing day and hopefully I can enter the school with you." Erik said with a smile as he looked up at the sun and let the sunshine hit his face.
Now, Tsuyu and Erik are both wearing tracksuits that don't expose too much skin so when the rays hit Erik's face it felt nice and inviting compared to sweating and baking in the track suit.
"What kind of powers do you have Erik? Or are you applying as a metagene negative hero?" Tsuyu asked and for the moment Erik didn't really know how to respond.
"Well, I can enhance my body with electric energy, and I can even create a bit of electrical energy, but I still need more practice with my powers." Erik explained as his physical training helped him gain a proper connection to the morphing grid along side his conversations and meditation with Tommy and sure enough Erik stood tall and focused as he generated a current of rainbow-colored electricity around his body.
"Rainbow lightning?" Tsuyu asked with her head tilted.
"Basically." Erik replied before he raised his hands and focused again before creating trails of rainbow-colored sparks between his hands before he stopped and stopped generating electricity.
"Cool." Tsuyu said back making Erik smile and blush a bit. However, they were quickly alerted to the sounds of screams nearby making them look towards the east as they saw a bizarre sight before them.
The duo saw people getting attacked by strange monstrous beings.
"Tsuyu, go get the police or find some heroes quick." Erik quickly said to Tsuyu.
"I'm not going to leave you here." Tsuyu quickly said back before Erik looked back at her.
"Tsuyu please trust me. I can buy you some time to go and get help. So, don't argue and go get someone down here before these monsters go on a rampage." Erik told her firmly as she gave him a sad look before turning around and headed out of the park with powerful jumps instead of simply running.
"Ok. It's do or die time." Erik said to himself before he focused electrical energy throughout his body before he charged at one of the monsters. There are five in total and each one is humanoid with baggy pants and black leather-like skin with their brains exposed. "Ha!" Erik shouted as he delivered a high kick to the first monsters head making it stumble back a bit and get away from the woman who was being attacked and wasted no time in running for her life.
"Looks like I'm out numbered here. The training I've been doing with Tsu and Tommy seriously needs to pay off now." Erik said before the five monsters charged at him with grunts and strange noises as Erik acted defensively and evaded some strikes before countering with his own that were enhanced with electricity but frankly the power only seemed to be no more powerful than a taser, and then one of the monsters backhanded Erik.
Erik raised his arms to block but he was still knocked off his feet and sent onto the ground hard, with his arms bruised and feeling as if he had just been hit by a brick wall.
"If you think one hit will stop me…Then your wrong." Erik said through grit teeth before the monsters once again charged at him as he slowly rose to his feet before Tommy's words rang through his head.
"The key to morphing is having something in your heart. It isn't about fighting but protecting. If you have something or someone you want to protect, then the morphing grid will respond and give you the power you need."
Erik felt as if the world around him had started moving in slow motion as he thought about not only the situation but what he wanted to protect…He wanted to protect that woman from being hurt, he wanted to protect Tsu and make sure she didn't get hurt, he wanted to protect his mother. Erik knew that he wanted to protect everyone and just like that he felt a sudden rush of power wash over him which emitted a flash of light blinding the monsters and when the light faded, they tilted their heads and made grunting noises in confusion.
Erik looked himself over as well and saw that he actually morphed and was now looking like an actual power ranger. Erik is now clad in a red body suit with white gloves and boots with a rainbow-colored bolt of lightning in the center of the chest, he is also sporting a white belt around his waist containing a pistol holster and around his head hiding his face is a red helmet with a wide black visor.
"So, this is the power Tommy told me about." Erik said as he felt newfound strength coursing through his body before he looked on at the enemies. "It's time to take you guys down." Erik said before he drew his sci-fi looking blaster and fired at one of the monsters quickly knocking it down onto its back from the powerful energy shot.
The other monsters charged towards him, and Erik quickly put his pistol away before defending against the monsters attacks but this time the attacks were a lot less damaging and Erik had more power in his strikes as he countered with his own punches and was able to knock the monsters back and took them down one by one before he was the only one left standing.
"Incredible." Erik said to himself before he noticed that he could alter his vision behind his visor and out of curiosity he zoomed in and looked around to see police coming to the scene, so he quickly focused back and de-morphed before the police came onto the scene.
Erik was questioned by the police at the scene, but he wasn't in trouble, however it seemed that the thing he attacked was known as a Nomu or at least several weaker ones. When Tsu came to the scene, she was so worried she was crying a bit and that made Erik feel terrible, but he was able to calm him down and returned home to his worried mother.
1
It was late at night when Erik went to sleep and when he did, he was back in the dojo style room where he talks and trains with Tommy and sure enough, he saw Tommy with a smile on his face.
"Congratulations Erik. You managed to morph into a power ranger. But you are a bit different from other rangers and it seems that you can alter your ranger forms like the original Tommy could when he had the master morpher." Tommy explained before waving his hand and various images of suits, weapons and abilities appeared.
"What's all this?" Erik asked as he looked around at the various images.
"These are powersets and abilities that you can customize and create right now. Granted you aren't getting access to anything too powerful at the moment, but it seems that the grid is allowing you some liberties. Similar to how you can have different gear layout in a videogame." Tommy explained to Erik whose eyes went wide at the explanation.
"Wow." Erik replied simply.
"It seems that your able to handle morphing but again if you use up too much power you could burn out and be left vulnerable so I will at least caution you on abilities if you want to alter your suit or create a new one at the moment." Tommy explained before Erik looked through the images while Tommy explained the powersets and abilities of each image.
Erik didn't add a new suit to his abilities yet and instead modified his current ranger suit with Tommy's help. He added a protective chest piece and a power sword. Tommy advised that adding the chest piece and sword would be enough at the moment. The chest piece absorbed kinetic energy as well as being able to nullify small amounts of energy when hit and the sword could ignite with flames in addition to being able to channel Erik's electrical abilities.
"Tommy I can see the benefit of getting these powers but since I'm an inventor. Could I create things to add? Like making a headset for the helmet or something?" Erik asked as Tommy nodded his head.
"Of course. However, that requires you to change parts of your gear in the real world instead of doing it here in the morphing grid." Tommy replied as Erik smiled.
"Awesome." Erik replied with a smile.
"Well now that you've changed things up a bit. Let's try a little sparring session." Tommy said before the screens vanished and he was surrounded in green light before showing his ranger suit which was a bright emerald green with white accents and a gold chest piece as he also has a dagger at his side that almost looked to be a flute and his helmet resembled something similar to a lizard or something.
"Bring it on." Erik said before focusing and morphed into his suit as he felt the weight of his new chest piece as he focused and magically summoned his sword into his hands before he attacked Tommy starting the sparing match between the two power rangers.
Unsurprisingly Tommy won the fight, but Erik could at least be happy that he now stood more of a chance against bad guys in the real world and could protect the people he cares about.
END!
A/N: Another chapter is done and gone, and I am adding in other sources to move the story along like Froppy from MHA because she is adorable and I want her in the story. Anyway, please fav, follow and review.