Ronny smirked as she crossed the finish line, the checkered flag waving down at her. She'd done it, broke the record of races won in a row, seven. Her father never even got close to breaking that record. Of course, that was because he quit after his first season to go to school and settle down with Mom, Kira, and her.
She shook her head to clear it as she eased her racer to a stop, unhooked her harness, and climbed out as news reporters and cameramen vied for her attention as the race officials wove their way through the crowd with the trophy in their hands.
Ronny removed her helmet, allowing her long blond locks to fall around her shoulders as she listened to the cacophony of questions flying towards her. She smiled brightly at the cameras, grabbed the trophy, and held it up in the air in a victory pose.
She frowned as the back of her neck prickled, and her necklace which she always wore since her adoption, buzzed excitedly. There was a low clank coming from the trophy as if something was inside it. Whatever it was, it was making her Keeper Protection excited, so it probably was the kind of thing she probably shouldn't look at in front of the cameras. Even if it was innocent, she didn't want the Keeper's curse to kick in and have her face-plant it on national television.
She laughed at one question fired at her and gave a sarcastic reply before excusing herself, peering into the trophy with curiosity. What could be hidden in there?
Inside was a small golden square flip device, that almost looked like a flip phone, but not quite.
"That was a great race, Ronny," her sponsor, and great uncle, John Oliver, announced, approaching her, "Just Amazing, why don't I treat you to a drink."
Ronny side-eyed her uncle, "Okay, what's going on? You know that I'm underage, Uncle John."
"I didn't say anything about it having to be alcoholic," John insisted.
"What happened?" Ronny demanded, eyes narrowing.
"It's nothing serious," John insisted.
"Uncle John, you better tell me what's going on right now or I'm sure I can find some juicy tidbit about your date last week that could happen to slip out during an interview."
John chuckled, knowing that Ronny was joking, before letting out a sigh, "It's nothing that you need to worry about. Just Jane and Timothy somehow snuck their way past security to your trailer.
Ronny groaned, "Jane and Timothy Robinson," she repeated, "I can't seem to be able to turn around this season without them standing there. It's like all of a sudden, now that I'm famous, they remember that I'm their daughter. I bet they just want a cut of my paycheck."
"Yeah, knowing my sister the way that I do, I'll have to agree with you,' John sighed loudly, "Your father suggests that you get a restraining order. They are stalking you."
"I'll think about it, but if they're already sneaking into the off-limit area of the racetrack, then I kind of doubt a restraining order will deter them." Ronny insisted, handing John her trophy, "Can you put this in my trailer for me, I'm going to find a group of fans and do some autographs, hopefully by the time I get back security had dealt with Aunt Jane and Uncle Timothy. If they wanted me in their life, they shouldn't have left me on Grandma and Grandpa's porch."
…
As soon as Ronny was sure that Uncle John had left, she slipped behind a now empty ticket stand, holding up the golden square, "Now what do we have here?" she asked, "You almost seem to have Morphin' energy around you."
She shook her head, don't get your hope up Ronny, she scolded herself, you aren't a Power Ranger yet, you can't feel morphin energy.
Carefully she flipped open the square, and inside a hologram popped up, okay, Ronny now you can get excited, only power rangers and masked knights have technology this advanced, she informed herself, as the hologram, a Mr. Andrew Hartford invited her to his manor just outside of San Angeles for the opportunity of a lifetime.
"San Angeles is California," Ronny announced, "Which means it's probably Power Ranger related… I wonder if Dad knows anything about Andrew Hartford? Maybe he's forming a power ranger team? Now won't that be exciting?"
…
Ronny sighed as she dropped down on her bed in her trailer, glancing around, Uncle John had left with a couple of friends to celebrate her success, and no one else should be able to get into her trailer without permission.
Smiling at herself, she pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for her dad.
"Hi Ronny, what's up?" Her dad asked.
"Do you know anything about Andrew Hartford?"
"Andrew Hartford? I think that's the name of the guy who TJ called me about, he's putting together a ranger team, if I remember right."
"I thought I sensed Morphin energy," Ronny announced, "I think Mr. Hartford might be recruiting me… I received a message from him, saying that he had an opportunity of a lifetime for me."
"That's great, Ronny, I know how much you wanted to be a ranger."
"How am I supposed to tell Uncle John?" Ronny asked, "I mean, I have a contract, I can't just walk out midseason without a good excuse, and 'Sorry Uncle John, I'm being recruited as a power ranger and have to quit racing for you' isn't going to cut it. What if we're supposed to keep our identities secret?"
"Well, for now, tell John that you've received an invitation to a dinner party from someone you think might be interested in sponsoring you."
"And when I don't return?"
"You focus on saving the world, everything will work out," Tommy insisted, "If you're public, he'll let you off your contract. If you're secret, you'll be given a way to teleport so that you can do battles when you are not racing."
"You sure Dad?"
"Absolutely, worse comes to worse, you tell him the truth, I know that Nick had to so that he could keep his job."
Ronny nodded, she remembered Nick mentioning it once, not that it really mattered, seeing as they revealed their identities to everyone during their final battle, "Okay Dad thanks."
"Call me anytime you need me."
…
Ronny glanced around the house, it was like part museum and part home all at once, and easily bigger than even Anton Mercer's place back in Reefside. She glanced at the terrarium, wondering what type of creature called it home, and if she'll have to worry about it. Venomous snakes and Keeper's Curse were a bad combination.
"Anyone have a clue why we're here?" a girl around her age with black hair pulled up in ponytails asked, stepping into the room and looking around.
"Nope," Ronny quickly lied, she had learned from her parents and younger siblings that people tend to freak out and panic when they are told that they have been chosen as a power ranger, "Received an invite so I showed up."
An African American man stood up from his expectation of the pool table, "This Hartford guy must be some wacky bazillionaire. He had me break into his own bank in Brazil," He bragged.
Ronny rolled her eyes, great just great, there's an arrogant one, why does every team have to have one?
"Hi guys, what's going on here?" a new voice asked as a tall young man entered the room, closing the book he had obviously been reading.
"Join the party, we got a message from that Hartford Guy just like you," Ronny announced, kind of scanning the room, five team members, a typical power Ranger team, now that whoever this is has arrived.
The teen however frowned, obvious confusion on his face, "Message, what message?"
Ronny hummed softly to herself, a nervous tick she had obviously picked up from Kira somehow. If he wasn't there for the meeting, who was he, and why were there only four of them?
Before she could think much more about it, Andrew Hartford rushed into the room from a different entrance, clapping his hands together as he greeted everyone.
The teen boy looked up at him, "What's going on Dad?" he asked.
Ronny nodded, that explains why he didn't know about the message.
Hartford quickly rushed forward, ushering his son out of the room, obviously, he didn't want him to know what was going on. Must be planning on keeping them secret identity then.
Finally, he closed the door and turned around to face them, "I'm Andrew Hartford, I am so glad that you all decided to accept my invitation. Before we get started can I interest anyone in some lemonade?"
Ronny wondered if TJ warned him that alcohol and powers don't mix, or if he just isn't offering anything stronger because a bunch of us are underage.
"Spencer," Hartford called out, glancing at a man in a suit standing nearby, must be a butler.
"No, thank you sir, but I'm quite fine."
"For them, Spencer," Hartford said, exasperated.
After Spencer left, Hartford cleared his throat, "I am sure that you all have a lot of questions, and I will get to them, but first… I need your help because without you, without your talents, without your intelligence, our world, our universe, is going to be destroyed."
"Wow," Ronny said, "If it wasn't for the fact that I have a very good idea on what's going on here, I would accuse you of being over dramatic."
"What is going on here?" the other girl asked.
"The devices that we received with the recorded invitations on them aren't exactly something that you can find at a high-end tech store. Only someone with connections to the Power Rangers or Masked Knights, and considering that Masked Knights don't recruit, I'll say that you're recruiting us for some sort of Power Ranger team," Ronny insisted, "Am I right?"
Hartford blinked, before nodding, "Yes," he admitted, "You see, during my last expedition I found the Corona Aurora which according to legend has powers not just over this planet but the universe. Millennia ago in a galaxy on the other side of the universe two brothers… Moltar and…"
"Moltar and Flurrious," Rose interrupted, jumping forward, "They tried to steal the Corona Aurora but the crown was so powerful, it cursed them, changed their appearance, and set them off to distant planets, imprisoning them in their own elements," she paused glancing around at everyone, "I took a year of ancient universal legends at Harvard," Rose explained, "Besides it's just a myth, and is supposed to be from a different planet, how did you find it on Earth."
"Because the Sentinel Knight, who was the guardian of the crown, knowing that the Corona Aurora was dangerous, took the five jewels and scattered them on a distant uninhabited planet, which of course is Earth. According to Grandpa Sam, the Sentinel Knight came to the original Keeper, and gave him a map showing him the locations of all five gems, only due to the Keeper Curse, and the centuries passing the map, the locations of all five gems been lost in time."
Everyone now turned to look at Ronny, "What?" she demanded, "My Great-grandpa taught the Ancient Universal Legend Class at Harvard."
Will stood up from where he was leaning against the wall, "So let me get this straight, you found an old crown, freed some millenia old villains, and want us to become power rangers to clean up your mess?" he scoffed, "Yeah right, I don't do teams," he announced, turning to leave, the others following until only Ronny was facing Hartford, who was trying to reason with the others to stay.
"Don't worry, they won't get far," Ronny insisted, "Somethings about to happen and they are going to change their minds."
As if speaking caused it there was a sudden flash of lightning and a blinding light appeared in front of the others, "He spoke the truth," it said, "the fate of your planet, your universe, rest in your hands. I am too weak to go after them myself, without your help there will be no more."
"See something always happens to make them change their minds," Ronny announced.
"You sure do know a lot about Power Rangers," Rose announced, "What's up with that?"
Ronny opened her mouth, about to announce that her father was the leader of all power rangers when she froze, a sudden realization coming over her. Her father was the leader of all power rangers, when the morphin grid doesn't pick them by maneuvering fate so that they are at the right place at the right time, her father does. Those Invites weren't random, the morphin grid didn't pick her, like it did Kira and Nick, no, her father must have picked her. If she told them who her father was, they'd assume that she just got the job because of her connections, just like all those other racers whom she had taken great pride in wiping the smirks off their faces on the race track because they claimed that she got the job from her uncle and couldn't really race.
"Well?" Dax asked.
"I know a few power rangers," she admitted, "My younger brother is Nick Russel, and you should hear some of the stories he tells."