I just randomly thought of this next one and here's the premise, five Power Rangers fans from their own real world are transported to the rangerverse via unfortunate events and circumstances (think Prism Mouse Ranger a couple of excerpts ago, only a whole team/motif of their own), there, they are to face the forces of evil and control their own powers in order to return, will they wake up or are they stuck?
Flash forward to a year to the day, Ginger's POV.
I woke up in a bland white room, it harbored so many machines, some beeped, some hissed and some wheezed, my eyes followed a thick tube attached to one and it was attached to a smaller one down my throat, helping me breathe… until it's purpose was starting to get defeated, that thing was choking me.
"It's alright." What sounded like a kind, but unfamiliar voice reassured, the tube gently moving back up and out of my throat before what looked and felt like an oxygen mask was shoved in my face. "Just relax." I obeyed and knowing that I'd be told to breathe, I drew a deep one. "Oh, good job, keep it up." My eyes darted to the left and saw a nurse who's scrubs and hair matched the room, oh the face it reminded me of, more on that later.
A more familiar voice caught my attention. "Gingerbread." That sounded like my mom, my peepers darted in the opposite direction and I saw me 20 years later fiery red hair and all, otherwise known as my mother. "Jokes on all those doctors, you made it."
"Gingerbread, eh? Nice nickname." The nurse said.
"Yeah." I rasped, dang that tube sure does a number on the throat.
"I'll go get her some water, Mrs. McCormick, don't let her speak until I get back." The nurse said before leaving the room.
"Next time you're late for work, please allow yourself to be for once?" Mom pleaded, taking my hand, I rolled my eyes and nodded my head, everyone acts as though I'm deaf or don't retain memories long term, that's not the case, at least I hope that's still not so.
"Okay, as soon as you take a sip, state your name." The nurse said, coming back in, holding a cup of water before carefully helping me sit up in the bed, gently tugging my mask off with her free hand and setting the Styrofoam rim to my lips, I took a sip.
"My name is Ginger Artemis McCormick." I said a little less raspy, each new sip came with a question and I answered each one thrown my way decreasingly raspy, I'm an old enough age to be employed, that's all you need to know, my employment is doing dishes for the elderly and disabled.
I just had to say something to my mom when the nurse left us to our reunion. "Oh, Mom, You won't believe the coma-dream I had." Neither will you.
Present day.
I woke with a start, sitting up, it all appeared to be a Hammock nestled within the glass walls of a room in a beach house, I couldn't believe it let alone remember what happened to have me end up here. "Where am I?" It looked like paradise.
"What's the last thing you remember?" A deep and broad non-American accent startled me, triggering a yelp out of me, my head craned in the direction of the voice and saw a 6 foot man with artificial-colored red hair, green eyes unlike my amber ones and skin porcelain like mine, every rippling muscle draped in a red knee-length hospital gown, I didn't even know they actually came in that color. "Well?" He smiled, it was like looking in a mirror that showed what you look like if born the opposite sex.
Holy crap, would I have looked so handsome?
I gave the question a minute thought, and gave my report as it came back to me. "Last I remember… I was late for work, I'm too self-conscious regarding punctuality so I forgot to look both ways at the crosswalk and the driver didn't hit the brakes quick enough, it all happened too fast for anything else to be remembered." The man's smile dropped, helping me out of the Hammock and onto my feet.
"Must've been sudden for you." The man said. "We should go, there's more like us waiting in the den."
"Wait a second, 'more like us'? What do you mean?" I asked, baffled about the situation as he lead me to the… well den, it was occupied by what looked like three more patients and a doctor.
The doctor had tan skin, raven hair and a build that looked somewhere in between a dad bod and athletic, The only indication of him being a doctor was the copper-hued scrubs.
"I am Doctor Andrew Anderson, the team's mentor." the doctor, Andrew said carefully, as if I were some mentally unstable patient in a psychiatric ward. "You've already met your red Ranger, Axel." That name, Axel, my father told me of a long lost cousin with that name.
I'm kind of a delayed trigger, but in away that was the least associated with the word 'trigger' the Power Rangers fan in me was so nonetheless. "Holdup, 'Red Ranger'? Are we in the world of Power Rangers?" The man, Axel smiled at my question, indicating the answer was yes. "The actual world?"
"Right you are, meet your team." Dr. Andrew Anderson said, he gestured to a swimmers built Asian man with bleach-blond hair and green eyes. "This is your blue Ranger, Milo." Shifted his gesture to a lanky, but pretty black man with gray eyes. "Your Yellow Ranger, Joseph." Shifted it once again to a completely albino girl, one eye was violet and the other was gray. "And your black Ranger, Sandy."
"Bonjour." Joseph Said, with what sounded like a French accent, i'm not fluent in Joseph's native tongue, but I do know for a fact that it means hello.
"Zdravstvuyte." Sandy said, with what sounded a tad like a Russian accent, what she said probably meant hello in what sounded like her native tongue.
My understanding at that moment was that the Ranger suits we were probably going to get matched the hospital gowns, knowing that and wondering where the pink Ranger was, I looked down at myself, my hospital gown was pink, Well, At least I could stick it to the naysayers that say gingers who wear warm colors are tacky, granted they specifically meant orange, but that is beside the point.
"What's your name?" Milo asked, with the same accent as Axel.
"I'm Ginger." My words reluctantly escaped my lips.
Before anyone could say "Is that your hair color or your name? Haha", We suddenly heard a scream from outside, dr. Anderson scrambled to a window to get a glimpse of all the fuss. "We got what appears to be foot soldiers."
"Actual Foot Soldiers?" Sandy asked, sounding and looking like she was about to geek out.
"What do they look like?" Joseph Asked.
Dr. Anderson handed something to Axel, a flip phone like device. "Get out there and see for yourself." He handed another to Milo, then to Joseph, then to Sandy.
that couldn't be what I thought that was. "Are those, morphers?" It seemingly was my turn to geek out.
He looked at what I was going to receive. "Yes, Ginger." He said before I took it in my hand. "Now go." And off we went, Literally outside the front door.
That sandy beach was inundated with everything thus far, from Mighty Morphin's putty patrollers to the hengemen from Dino Fury.
"What in grid's name…" Milo blurted out flabbergasted.
"One crazy thought to ponder." Axel curiously said. "Something we can do later, we've got to intercept these things."
"Lead the way, Axel." I enthusiastically said.
"All I've got is pick a foot soldier and have at them." Axel said. "I'll take all the Zordon era foot soldiers."
"Post-Zordon era foot soldiers." Milo chimed in.
"Austin and Sloan Disney sub-era." I interjected before someone else could, it's my favorite era what can I say?
"Kalish sub-era." Sandy spoke up. "I'll also take on the grinders."
"I guess that leaves me with the Neo-Saban and Hasbro eras." Joseph finally said.
We all sunk into fighting stances, screamed our "hi-ya's" and sprinted into battle.
Such a battle was a trip, like watching the altercation Through the ranger's eyes, accept those were my eyes, I really did just do the splits to avoid getting decapitated by a kalzak and did so all too effortlessly and painlessly for this to not be a dream before a tyrannodrone and a triptoid grabbed me by the upper arms and yanked me off the ground, my now flailing legs kicked a kalzak fury, then did a backflip off of it in order to regain my footing and back onto my feet I went, all that was left for me to do was to get the 2 foot soldiers that still had a grip on me off as a token of my gratitude, sent them careening towards their comrades like a bowling ball knocking down pins.
"Guys, everyone alright?" Axel asked when round one was seemingly over and we all gathered around once more.
"Never better." I enthusiastically said, this day was so exciting.
"Now shall you deal with me." An unknown, but familiar voice bellowed, you'd think it would chill us all to the marrow, but we weren't, at least I wasn't.
"Who are you." Sandy demanded as we all flinched in the direction of the scary voice.
"I'd ask you the same thing." The unknown voice boom and louder as if increasing rage was instilled.
"Show yourself." Axel demanded.
With a throaty chuckle that was Associated with evil, there was an explosion before our eyes and when the dust settled, a figure we never thought we'd see again, let alone for real.
"Zelltrax!" That name escaping my lips in shock and awe. "But how?"
"Doesn't matter, let's morph." Axel said, raising his morpher to his kisser. "Power Rangers: REM." He snarled, pressing a random button, before anyone knew it, his hospital gown turned into a red ranger spandex suit (don't tell Dr. K I called it that), a helmet to match covered everything else from the neck up.
We all were astonished, and expressed it a little unaccordingly. "Axel, look at you, mate." "You look great" "Dyvovyzhnyy, Axel." "Oh mon."
"Guys, I get it, but we should focus on the task at hand." Axel said, using a tone best paired with an eye-roll.
"Right." We all nervously chuckled in almost unison before raising our own morphers to our mouths, shouting "Power Rangers: REM." And pressing a random button, that actually was in unison, I suddenly felt a surge of power flow through me, I looked down at me and pink spandex replaced my hospital gown, my vision looked like I was wearing sunglasses that I couldn't feel.
"Ridiculous costumes won't help against me." Zelltrax said, not sure if this guy was for real on account of the very last time he went up against Power Rangers. "I was revived and given more power by a man more powerful and appreciative than Mezogog."
I thought if this was our first time in these suits, he wouldn't exactly know what he was talking about; we all sunk into fighting stances, yelled our "hi-ya's" once more and counterattacked.
Axel jumped high enough in the air to footdive Zelltrax's chest, Milo punched him in the shoulder while he was doubled over, sending the adversary to the ground flat on his back.
Sandy and I pulled weapons out of thin air, a bow to shoot arrows made of energy for me and an axe for Sandy, who was first to wield her weapon when Zelltrax got back on his feet, Crisscross slashes were made across Zelltrax's abdomen.
I followed suit by drawing back, an energy arrow materialized within the drawback, all that was left was to lose the arrow and it buried itself into Zelltrax's shoulder before it dematerialized.
"Whoa, we have those?" Axel asked only to have a sword materialize in his hand, answering the question in the process. "Oi, we do."
Unfortunately, before Milo and Joseph could pull a lance and pair of daggers out of nowhere like the rest of us, Zelltrax slowly started to dematerialize.
"I'll be back and you will be no match for me when I do." He said, showing no signs of distress even remotely connected to his dematerialization.
"We will be ready." Axel sneered, I could only mischievously smirk in agreement. "You coward."
…
We all sprinted back inside, not sure about the others, but I was still oozing energy as a Ranger fan whose childhood dreams literally came true, but enough of it wore off to allow me to notice how the Ranger suit felt, simultaneously tight and loose, a glance into a full body mirror nearby showed how I looked in the suit, there wasn't a lot of chunk and curve attached to me, but I was cinched and vacuum packed with no ill affects of it. "It's even more beautiful than I could ever imagine." I told my Reflection with eyes full of joyful tears.
"You guys have done well." Dr. Anderson said, snapping me out of my happy tears before they could flow.
"Doctor, How was Zelltrax back from the dead?" Axel asked, I guess someone had to beg a question like that, it was warranted after all.
"I get the Feeling we will find out soon enough." Was Dr. Anderson's answer, it wasn't much, but then again, it was only the beginning. "And hopefully with it, a way to get you guys back to your real world." Wait, he knows we're not from the world of the Power Rangers?
I was so not the only one to stare at him in shock. "Yes I know this isn't your real world." Dr. Anderson said. "Rest assured, you're all going to be okay."
Can I interest you in a "next time on Power Rangers: REM Paragons" in case I want to continue this story?
Turns out she was comatose too? And… "They recast her role? Now I'm torn." I thought she messed up big time, but I didn't think she would know at all, let alone this way. "Why, Gingerbread?" "Well, you see…"
"Check this out, it's the green tiger." "That's our sixth ranger?" "If Dr. Andy can find a candidate for the ranger powers, yes."
"Are you alright? What's your name?" For storytelling purposes…"I'm Lita, where am I?" "What's the last thing you remember?" "… I must've hit my head while doing a stunt on set."
Oh gosh, It's like she wanted to open Pandora's box. "One particularly devastating onset accident and she thinks she gets to fight foot soldiers like the rest of us?" "Ginger, you don't mean that." Seeing as how I was pissed as hell at her, I sort of was.
"I didn't mean to upset anyone when I said those things." "Ha-oh, Trust and believe there is more to why people are upset with you than what you said." You see, these days, when a mainstream entertainer tells fans what to do and then not do what they really wanted them to do, bad things could happen to their career. "And besides, what you meant doesn't matter."
"Are those guys saying I should've dropped everything I was doing at the time to reprise a role I haven't played in a decade and a half?" "Unfortunately, unless you can think of a more effective way to keep the toxic fans off your back, then yes." "Oh, come on!" "I know it's unreasonable, but two wrongs only make it worse."
Maybe someday on Power Rangers: REM Paragons.