Power Rangers: Cosmic Guardians

Chapter 1: Chosen Ones

45,000 years ago

Unknown Place

"We need to destroy them!" a female voice says calmly, not wavering once. She never takes her eyes off the others. "It's the only way we can ensure they remain defeated."

"There has to be another way," a younger voice remarks with sadness, knowing precisely what she is saying.

"There is no other way," she says softly, touching his shoulder. She lifts his chin up, looking into his eyes tenderly. "You have seen all the outcomes. This is the only way."

He averts his eyes, anger shining briefly in them. "But we all know that outcomes can be fluid."

"We don't have time to find another way," she says softly, dropping her hold on his chin. She stands up straight with a determined look. She glances around at the other figures. "I'm the leader and I'm making the decision."

Behind them, screams and battle cries can be heard filling the sky as flames danced around them. Bodies and bodies are littered around the battleground, with battlebot bits scattered around. The five figures are in the middle of a white protective dome, though that is currently being beaten down.

"Once I say, you four get clear of here!" she commands, giving each of them a glare, daring them to defy her. Once she saw no verbal objective, she nodded her head, holding out her hand. "It was an honor to call you my family."

One by one, the figures demorphs, handing her a wrist-looking device with sadness shining in their eyes. Once she has them, she nods again. She closes her eyes briefly, before flashing them open again, steel in her voice. "Now, go!"

She turns her eyes toward the army beating down their white protection bubble, her eyes fixated on them. She closes her hands over the devices, her back turned towards her family. She taunts the army. "So, is this what you want? Come get it if you can!"

The bubble finally gives way, allowing the minions to swarm towards her. She expertly slashes her fiery sword, cutting down swarms of them as her friends are hesitant to leave her. They watch as she cuts down scores of them, before falling back to a a menacing figure approaching. They can't hear the voice, but they know all to well what the figure is saying before raising it's hand. In the background, the one who spoke before attempts to run into the fight to help her before someone stops him. "Come on."

"Grab him and let's get out of here!" an elder voice says, pointing to the one squirming in the grasp. They were able to open a portal but before they could take it, the male broke the grasp and sent a bubble toward the female just as she was about to be struck down. It envelopes her, saving her life but the male takes the brunt of the attack, falling down due to sheer exhaustion. The female looks back towards him in shock, before turning her attention to the figure, moving with speed faster than the eye can see. The figure is knocked back before she turns towards them, and throws the devices towards them. She mouths "Keep them safe!" before pulling out something, pulling a pin, and launching herself at the figure.

The others understood what that meant, grabbed the devices, grabbed their downed friend, and took the portal just in the nick of time before the place exploded.

Present Day

Astroville

"Come on," a male voice pleads, looking at his map. He sighs, trying to make sense of it. "The map says this way, but clearly, that's wrong. But if I turn it this way, the landmarks don't match up."

"You know, taking to oneself tends to lead people to believe they are crazy," a female voice chuckles behind him.

"So does one who refers to people as oneself," he replies, looking at the speaker.

The first thing he noticed was the wavy light blue hair with a white hairband in it. Her glasses covered green eyes as well as her freckles. She wore a white top with blue jeans and she held her books in her hand. She smiled at him.

"Well, oneself is called Lily," she introduces herself. "Sophomore here at Nexus Horizon University."

"Nice to meet you, Lily," the male says. "I'm Ethan and this map makes no sense. Like, how is someone supposed to know where to go?"

"You aren't the first person to say that," she chuckles lightly, her voice sounding soft. She looks at the map. "Where are you trying to go?"

"Pollux Hall," he replies.

Her eyes lit up. "Ah. You must be in the botany course."

"How did you know?" Ethan replies, fascinated at her guess.

"See, I'm part of the oceanography program. In my first year, we partnered with the botany program for a project, and well, Pollux Hall was my home for a good chunk of time."

Ethan chuckles, moving his hand through his bushy pink hair. He had on a black hoodie with brown shorts. He was average size. He had his suitcase beside him.

"Come on," Lily says, indicating for him to follow her. She teases him. "I'll lead you there, so you don't get lost."

"Har har har," he responds, picking up his suitcase. He falls in step with her. "How do you like it here?"

"I'll be honest," she responds, as they weave around students, parents, and professors. "NHU wasn't my first choice, but this has the best oceanography course, so I applied and got accepted. The first year was tough to get used to living on your own but I wouldn't trade it for anything."

"I see," Ethan says, stepping around people. He pauses as they pass by a flower bed. Lily stops as well, looking at him with a smile. Ethan bends down to examine the flowers before resuming his walk. "Sorry. I tend to get caught up in plants."

"No need to be sorry," Lily states, as they finally pull up to Pollux Hall. "I'm the same way when it comes to any type of water. My family has always joked I was part mermaid."

"My sister calls me plant boy," Ethan chuckles.

"Well, I do have somewhere to be," Lily says, nodding her head towards the building. She cracks a grin. "Now, I suggest you get a better map because I won't be here all the time to save your butt."

"Thank you your Waterness," Ethan says, dramatically bowing. He stands up and with a wave towards Lily, he enters the building.

He pulls out his forms and begins to look for his dorm. As he walks the bright but green hallway, he starts to read out the numbers on the doors."Let's see. Room 2023. 2004, 2014, 2022… ah. Here it is."

He opens the door to a small, single-bed dorm. In the corner, a twin bed stood barren. Beside it was a mini fridge, a desk, and a chair. A small closet is beside the window, which has a perfect view of the sky.

Ethan lets out a small smile, enters the room, and closes the door. "Thank the stars. I have a single room. Time to unpack and then go search for food."

It takes Ethan thirty minutes to fully unpack before looking satisfied. His stomach begins to growl, telling Ethan it's time to eat. He quickly exits his room before going to search for food. Stepping outside his room, he gets handed a flier, promoting the football game tonight. After finding something to eat, Ethan went back to his dorm, took a quick shower, and changed into more comfortable clothing. His yellow eyes eyed the galaxy necklace his parents gave him before moving to Astroville. He briefly touches it before hanging it around his neck and leaving for the stadium.

Joining the stream of fans piling into the stadium, Ethan was pleasantly surprised he was able to find a good seat, nearing the front. To his surprise, Lily soon appeared beside him, followed by 2 other people. Lily smiles at him.

"Hey, Ethan. I'm surprised you found the stadium," she teases with a grin.

"This wasn't so hard to find," Ethan retorted. "Just needed to follow the masses and voila."

"Voila? Really?" Lily asks, her grin widening.

"Oh geez," Ethan mutters. He looks at the other two, who both were just grinning. "Is she always like this?"

"No. This nothing," the male says with a grin towards Lily. "Hey there. I'm Alex."

"Ethan," Ethan responds. He notices that Alex has long red hair, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. Ethan quickly noticed his necklace, which had a lion crest. Ethan frowned at that before the other person introduced herself.

"Hello," she says, leaning forward, her blonde hair falling over he face. "I'm Emma. I'm Lily's roommate."

"Hello Emma," Ethan says, also eyeing a necklace around her neck. Frowning, he looks over at Lily. "This may sound like a weird question, but do you also have a necklace?"

Lily pulls out her blue with two white lines necklace, wondering why Ethan asks. Her eyes widen when he pulls out his, Emma pulls out hers, and Alex pulls out his. Alex whistles, asking a question."What are the odds that four people have a zodiac necklace at the same school?"

"Zodiac?" Ethan asks, tucking his necklace back into his shirt.

"You know, the star constellations," Alex replies, pointing up to the sky. Ethan never realized how dark it got but looking up, the sun had set, giving way to a nice, clear night with twinkles in the sky.

"Alex is an Astrophysics major," Lily explains. She also tucked her necklace into her shirt. "He spends his free time reading zodiac signs."

"I find them fascinating," Alex says, shrugging. Before he could speak, a thunderous applause rose through the stadium as the NHU Chargers came out on the field. They were led by their QB, Jack O'Connor. He waves to the crowd before touching his bull necklace for good luck.

O'Connor leads the team to a 27-14 victory to open the season, much to the fan's delight. That night, the students all partied hard, dancing the night away. But Alex was looking at the sky, as a light suddenly flashed before disappearing again. Alex, Emma, Lily, Ethan and Jack's necklaces all glowed faintly before going back to their dull colors.

Deep in space, alarms blared as a single rift began to tear open as a single warship departed. The rift closes immediately behind them. "It's been 45,000 years. It's time for revenge!"

"Was that?" a voice says, fear creeping into his voice,

"Yes, they have returned," another voice answers him.

"Do you think Andros' team can handle them? Or the Lost Galaxy?" the first voice asks.

"Even if they could, they would be at a disadvantage," the second voice replies. "No. This is our fight."

"I don't know if I have the strength to do it again," the first voice says in an almost defeated tone.

"I know it's hard, but she will want you to lead them," the second voice responds gently.

"I don't know if I can," the first voice repeats himself.

"If you don't, the same thing will happen to everyone. Is that what she would want? Do you think she sacrificed herself for you to give up so easily?" the second voice asks.

"When it was your wife," the first voice says, that memory still entrenched in his mind.

"You got this," the second voice says. "And we will help."

"Fine," the first voice says, resigned to the fact. "I'm only doing it for Sheila."

"Stars protect us!"