V
Ron had gotten used to the stares whenever he took the bullet train from Kyoto to Tokyo, or vice versa.
It wasn't entirely out of order for the civilians to see someone clad in ninja attire, but seeing a ninja covered in dried blood was definitely something they didn't tend to see everyday.
Ron sat with his katana laid on his laps, eyes so dulled they were almost closed as the teal tint of the train's interior coloured his vision.
He'd mastered the art of dulling his senses on these trains, to the extent that he barely registered the apoplectic mutters of a mother some ways beside him.
A small figure appeared in his peripheral, and he looked left to see a little girl, looking at him almost... pityingly.
"Daijobudesuka?" she said in a sweet voice.
Ron blinked at her, then looked up to see her clearly frightened mother frowning with worry.
His gaze fell back to the child to see her own equally worried eyes, worried for him.
He leaned down to her slowly, trying his best not to come off as intimidating with a demon mask on his face.
"Watashi ga genki," he replied softly smiling at her with his eyes. "Okasan no tokoro ni kaette."
The girl seemed to nod, before turning and sauntering back to her mother who pulled her close and instantly began silently berating her heedlessness.
The train began to slow down, Ron stood, barely acknowledging the way the rest of the train's occupants collectively jerked, until the door slid open.
Outside was more of the same, just unabashed staring from the people around him. He paid it no mind as he climbed out of the station and into the city's view.
There was someone there, leaning against a lamppost as she watched him amble towards her.
"I called you." the olive-skinned girl said, her slim eyes peering at him from under her black-haired fringe.
"As you can see, I was busy." Ron replied without even turning to look at her as he strode past.
"Did you spare any of them?"
That question made Ron halt, the girl stared at his back, waiting.
"You know the answer to that, Yori." Ron answered in a voice that was hard to hear with the bustling people in the background.
The clearly Japanese girl identified as Yori frowned, her gaze a bit sad as Ron pushed on and kept walking. She sighed quietly and followed him.
YAMANOUCHI, JAPAN: YAMANOUCHI NINJA SCHOOL
Ron barely registered when the copter slowly descended to the heliport situated behind the school. Yori pushed the passenger doors open and hopped out, Ron followed, not bothering to close said doors.
Yori turned to wave thankfully at the equally ninja-clad pilot in the cockpit as Ron walked past her. There was someone waiting for them on the nape of the long pathway that led to the back-gate of the school.
He brought his arms to his front, hands hidden behind the baggy sleeves of his crimson red kimono. He was an old, petite man, with the only hair visible on him stemming from his face, falling in a long, kempt, greyed out beard and moustache.
"Sensei." Ron breathed once he reached the man, placing his hands together before bowing his head.
The short man bowed in return before looking up at his student, taking note of the dried blood on his person, but rather than acknowledge it he asked...
"Are you injured?"
Ron shook his head slowly, eyes dim in every way possible, Sensei lifted up a small smile, knowing Ron wasn't being completely honest.
"Get some rest, today the students learn the Bo staff, I want you to teach them."
Ron nodded obediently before ambling past his master and towards the gate.
Sensei watched his retreating back as Yori came up beside him.
"He's not getting any better." Yori said from his side.
"Ron-kun is in going through a tumultuous journey at the moment, but we will not lose him to the darkness."
"I'm not so sure anymore, sensei." Yori argued, frowning at Ron's form as he disappeared behind the gates.
"He is a good kid, Yori. We just have to allow him heal." Sensei replied assuredly.
Nobody was outside besides a few of the students who were practicing their forms in the training area, he acknowledged them as kindly as he could before slipping away into his quarters.
He slid the shoji open and stepped into his room. The rooms at the school weren't large, but they were spacious enough for basic necessities like beds and closets.
Ron had told Sensei he didn't need a TV, but his master insisted on him having one, he didn't know why since he never used it.
When he reached the foot of his bed he put a hand to his mask, before slowly pulling it off with an exhale. He heard something to his right and turned in that direction, he met nothing but his mirror.
He stared blankly at his reflection, taking note of the dried blood that decorated his body and hair, and the cut that had healed into a tiny scar on the side of his top lip.
At times, he barely recognized himself, or maybe this was just him now, he wasn't sure.
With a swift motion he undid his belt and stripped off his clothes. The showers were thankfully also empty, which he took advantage of to let the beads of water from the shower head rain on him like an endless drizzle.
He didn't even bother drying himself as he exited the general bathroom, his towel simply hanging around his neck as his wet feet squished on the floor.
Immediately, he noticed that the students weren't back in the quarters yet.
Which was weird.
The students should have been done by now, but his quarters were still empty. The thought floated stubbornly around his head until he got to his room.
He'd just put some pants on when he heard faint scuffling from outside.
Now, he'd have just pinned that down to the students getting extra work in, but what he was hearing wasn't battle grunts and clashing fists or swords.
When the sounds started getting louder and he heard an unmistakable scream he swerved away from his bed sharply, swiping his sword off the wall before he sprinted out his room.
It wasn't eve seconds after he'd burst through the lofty wooden doors of the main dojo that he saw...
"What?!" Ron bleated at the sight before him, the sight of tall, tattooed, green skinned creatures attacking everyone on the school premises.
On the roof of one of the dormitories, by the Yin Yang fountain, by the open yard where the students had been training, where he could see Yori protecting them from one of the creatures who was armed with a double-sided blade.
Ron growled.
Yori backflipped over a swing from the creature, landing in-front the students who were trying their best to look brave with wooden staffs in their hands.
"Who are you? What do you monsters want?!" Yori raised with anger, the creature grunted with a smile, then launched himself towards her without an answer.
Yori set herself in a stance, but ended up only watching as the creature had to adjust itself mid-air to block a strike from Ron that was aiming to cleave its head in half.
They landed and immediately engaged in a fast and furious sword melee, Yori could barely follow any movement besides the sparks that flew around them from the clashing metal.
With one final clash both combatants jumped backwards, and Ron landed in-front of Yori.
"Are they okay?" he asked of the students, knowing Yori herself was good.
"They're all fine," she assured. "These creatures came in some kind of extraterrestrial ship of some sorts, two of them headed straight to Master's quarters."
"So they might be aliens." Ron said, still in his stance as the alien faced him.
Ron looked at the alien, he really looked at it, and the memory lit up in his head.
"I know what these things are, they're an alien species called the Lowardians, I killed two of them five years ago."
Yori blinked at him, he flicked his eyes back at her.
"Long story," Ron said almost comically. "Get the students to safety, I'll deal with him and get to Sensei."
"Okay." Yori nodded and ran off with the students in tow.
The Lowardian didn't even look in their direction, his now catatonic face stared at Ron.
"You... it was you." he said in a somber voice, his lip began to curl in indignation as he gripped his weapon. "You are the one who killed commander Warhok and Warmonga!"
Ron lowered his stance as the alien barged at him furiously, but that blind rage had already decided the outcome of the fight.
The Lowardian swung fruitlessly, slashing through air as Ron ducked with a spin and sliced at the creature's knees. He sprung into the air with the alien mid-yell and slashed its face with another vertical spin.
It could no longer bare the pain and fell to its knees, blood splashing upon impact with the ground like a burst paint balloon. And that was immediately followed by Ron immediately slicing off the arm that wielded a weapon.
"Agh!" the creature growled in pain, hissing as its severed limb fell to the ground, before being kicked away by Ron's boot.
The Lowardian lifted its head up with a burning glare, Ron returned it. The former lifted itself up and charged towards the blonde again, two seconds later it lost its second arm.
Ron stood behind the alien now, sword raised by his side as the second severed limb fell to the ground.
"Your friends came to this planet with intent to destroy it, they tried to kill me, my friends, and almost destroyed my city." Ron said, boring eyes into the back of the Lowardian. "Trust me, you aren't the one who's pissed off here."
Then as though awaiting a cue, the creature's head slowly slid off its body.
Ron had a quick scan of his surroundings, realizing with growing dread that no other Lowardian was outside, before hearing a loud scuffle coming from his master's quarters.
He'd sprinted as fast as he could, he had an idea of where they would be and sprung up onto the roof, right over the area he had in mind.
When he broke down through the roof and immediately rolled forward and up into a stance, he muttered a "Fuck" at the sight before him.
This large room was the "Chasm", where the school kept all their special artifacts, it was softly lit with a golden hue sparsely spread across the ceiling and within the glass cases that contained all the relics. Despite the Chasm's all-encompassing allure, upon entering it'd be hard for your gaze not to be captured by the object in the middle of the room.
The last Jade idol, one of five monkey reminiscent statues that held the Mystical Monkey power. It was the last one because Ron had destroyed the other four a long time ago, in prudence of the risk of them falling into the wrong hands, particularly Monkey Fist's.
But Fist was dead now, so Ron thought it'd be perhaps better to preserve said ancient power.
Well, that didn't matter now.
The closest one of the four Lowardians before him glared at Ron scathingly, pieces of the shattered idol littered at his feet. Another two stood off to the side while the only female among them held his master in the air by his collar.
"Let him go." Ron said through gritted teeth.
The one closest to him likely responsible for shattering the idol stepped forward, lifting his metallic pike beside him menacingly.
"It seems there is no crystal here," he said, using his leg to sweep the broken pieces away, before looking to Ron's bloody blade with a deepened frown. "You killed my comrade."
"You're next if you don't let my sensei go, right now." Ron growled.
He was met with a loud, mocking laugh. "I suppose it is fitting for half-baked narcissists like humans to be audacious even in the most unpropitious circumstances." the Lowardian said, before holding his weapon over his shoulder. "Kill them both."
The sound of metal slicing through the air instantly emanated through the room, but not in the direction anyone had been expecting.
One of the other two aliens who'd made to jump at Ron suddenly had only half a head stalked on his shoulders.
Ron and the lead Lowardian widened their eyes in unison, looking to the female who'd unhanded Sensei and now swung her chain scythe in her hands, the old man was knelt on the ground behind her, holding his neck in pain as he looked up at her with shock himself.
"What is the meaning of th—" the Lowardian started but had to quickly use his pike to roll the launched chain blade to a stop right in-front of his face.
The female Lowardian who'd inexplicably began attacking her own teammates suddenly gasped, before a frosty coating began to slowly grow over her body, enveloping her to almost resemble an ice sculpture.
A ghostly wisp literally snaked out of her body, before fully forming above her as a certain snow-haired halfa.
Danny stared down at the befuddled alien perfunctorily, casually exhaling visibly icy breath.
The Lowardian frowned in apoplectic rage. "You swine! How dare—"
His words were cut short by blood spilling out his mouth, he gurgled uncontrollably before looking down to spot the source of his injury, finding a sword stabbed clean through his heart from the back.
"Not too bad for half-baked narcissists, huh?" Danny grinned, receiving one last struggled glare before the Lowardian fell to its knees. The sword was pulled out before he fell flat on his face, pike rolling to the side.
Ron stood behind its now dead body, he looked to the last Lowardian left to see it just standing like a mindless zombie.
"What'd you do to that one?" Ron directed to the floating halfa.
"Froze his brain," Danny answered. "I'm taking him and this one back to states." he finished, referring to the wholly frozen Lowardian below him.
"Oh," Ron uttered, eyes still on the temporarily mindless one before he slowly looked up to Danny.
"... Thanks, man."
Danny nodded.
Sensei's coughing cut through the air and stole Ron's attention, he was sprinting over to him the next second.
"Ron! Sensei!" came Yori's voice before she burst through the room. She came to a stop when she observed the scene before her, blinking in confusion as she looked around, then up at Danny who descended to the ground. Yori looked to the frozen Lowardian again, then turned to Danny with her palms together.
"Phantom! It is an honour to be in your presence, the school is indebted to you for your aid."
Danny waved her off almost shyly. "Don't sweat it, was just helping out a friend."
Ron was thankful that he was backing Danny when the latter said that, not wanting him to see the way his face dropped in guilt, because he knew he was undeserving of that title.
"Are you okay?" Yori asked as she came up behind Ron.
"I'm fine," Ron answered. "What about you, Sensei?"
"This old man has survived far worse," Master answered with a faint cough-riddled laugh. "My quarters may need some refurnishing though."
His students threw dinky smiles at him.
"Rest up, Yori will take care of you." Ron assured and stood slowly, letting said girl take over as she bent to first tend to Master's wounds.
"Hey Yori, I kind of have to—"
"Go, I can handle things around here." she cut him off, looking back at him with a wider smile.
Ron managed a smile back and turned to the waiting Danny.
"Ready to talk now?" Danny asked.
"Helicopter's in the back, I assume we don't have much time, let's go." Ron answered.
A knowing grin found its way to Danny's lips.
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: REBELCREST SKATEPARK
'CLEAN YOUR BLOOD OFF THE RAMPS' read a sign on the wire fence that rounded Rebelcrest skatepark, which made the dried blood on the ground just three steps into the park even funnier.
Caution wasn't exactly a watch word at this skatepark, the skaters didn't let rookies wear gear, or stay sober for too long, so skating at Rebelcrest was really done at your own risk.
Deep into the open cocoon of hilly, graffiti covered ramps were one of the many groups of youth present, sat in a circle. A couple passed a joint between each other, a few others were tweaking their boards, and the rest hounded the bucket of chicken in the middle of the group circle. All laughed and conversed heartily, except for one.
His close proximity to the group suggested he was probably one of them, but he was too busy to sit at the moment. He popped his two spray paint cans open on the knees of his dark cargo pants, raising them up to the wall in-front of him.
He jerked his head back slightly, wanting to avoid accidentally getting paint in his cornrows, the silver hoops in his ear lobes dangled as he did so. He dragged the cans across each other, intersecting the paint before flipping said cans to switch them in his hands.
A few more sprays and one more can later, he was done. He dumped the can to the ground and stepped back, admiring his—if he said so himself—amazing piece of graffiti. He stuffed his hands into the pocket of his red hoodie.
He stared, the graffitied mural of one of the world's lost heroes stared back at him. Half spider mask, half blonde, human face. Above the explosion of colours that formed the miniature bobbles of people and skyscrapers in the background, sprayed boldly with the only white present was a short sentence that read: 'WE WILL NEVER FORGET, SPIDERMAN'.
"Yo Miles! You want any?"
The braided haired boy swerved his head, seeing one of the people sat in the circle wiggling the chicken bucket at him.
"Nah, I'm good. I gotta bounce anyway." Miles answered, turning around to reveal the spider web design on the front of his hoodie.
"Man, that boujee ass college got you fucked up." another one said as he took the offered joint in-front of him.
"You ain't gon hit this? " said one that Miles walked up to, flicking the board beside her into his hands.
Miles shook his head with a soft smile. "Y'all enjoy the Mary Jane, I got homework."
One of his friends mimicked shooting himself in the head at Miles' statement, eliciting a laugh from everyone including Miles himself. He gave out handshakes and fist bumps accordingly before hopping on his board and rolling towards the exit.
He moved on his board as the music thumping from the skatepark faded the further he got away, enjoying the way the world around him was whizzing by.
It'd been a tough two years, he never thought it would actually happen. It's not as though him and Peter hadn't gotten into perilous, near-death situations for years, on an almost daily basis, but they always came out on the other side.
Always.
They always got up, that was one of the first things Peter taught him. And he proved it on every mission.
In Miles' early years when he was still frightened, anxious to make a mistake, pressurized with the responsibility of living up to the mantle. Peter had always been there to set him straight, to calm him down, to remind him he was a partner, not a sidekick.
And now he was gone.
It was an unprecedented invasion by the Exonites, Miles had witnessed how powerful they were first hand, he'd never seen anything like it.
But he still didn't think they'd take Peter, he was just too... strong, too resilient. Maybe it was selling himself a little short, but Miles never thought that if there would ever be just one of them left, that it'd be him.
He skated past a hotdog stand and picked one off, waving amicably as the vendor yelled a thanks, picking off the money Miles had dropped in the air.
They say time heals all wounds, but Miles called bullshit on that one. No amount of time would heal seeing Peter's head blown off with his own eyes.
The city still mourned his passing, his statue still stood at Madison Sqaure Garden, a customary honour for all the heroes who'd been lost two years ago.
But they would never feel what he felt, they hadn't felt the impact of the loss like he had. Miles would argue not even MJ, Peter's lover, felt what he did when Peter died.
It was a connection nobody but him could understand.
He slowed to a stop at a pedestrian walking where a couple of people were gathered, digging the tail of his board into the ground as he halted. He picked the board up into his hands and waited for the light like the people around him.
He noticed something in his peripheral and turned to a little kid besides him. He was holding the hand of who looked to be his father, his face hidden from view, by the Spiderman mask he wore.
The black, red eye-outlined mask.
The little boy returned Miles' gaze, noticing the design on the former's hoodie. He excitedly folded his hand in the signature web-slinging gesture and made 'swish' sounds at Miles.
Miles smiled, looking up to the dad to see him smiling at his son's actions as well, Miles looked back down and returned the gesture, playfully making sounds as well, smiling even wider when he got a cute titter in return.
The light passed them, and everyone pushed forward. Miles hopped back on his board and rolled ahead of them, waving back to the kid as he wheeled away.
He saw more of it now, random posters of a black-red themed Spiderman. Littered everywhere from the glass front of grocery stores to the lamppost stems lined up on the sidewalks.
People revered this Spiderman, he'd grown into his own even before Peter died. Many of the kids thought he was the cooler one even, with the cooler powers. So while there was genuine grievance for Peter's death, it was subdued, because well, they had another one anyway.
Miles continued to shred in and round corners of the city as his thoughts flooded in, he kept seeing the posters. He spotted some graffiti work done on the back of grocery stores and the like, glorifying the living Spiderman.
Sometimes, Miles almost resented them for this, how could they move on so easily? Peter had disappeared from almost all the commercials, most of the toys were no longer modelled after him.
Slowly, year by year, he was phased out for the 'new' Spiderman in all facets of their society.
Miles understood the people, he understood that moving on from something was one of the realities of life, especially when a replacement was conveniently available instantly.
Maybe Miles should have been proud, Peter would be proud. Miles kept the city standing, he protected the people, he was their beacon of hope, their hero.
Miles was Spiderman.
Would it ever feel the same with Peter gone? Would he ever truly live up to Peter's status? He didn't know, he doubted it.
Many disagreed with him, civilians and loved ones alike, but they just didn't understand the manner of man Peter was, they didn't.
But he owed it to himself, to his family, to Peter, and to the city of New York to wear the mask, so he did.
He was getting closer to school now and decided to walk the rest of the ten or so minutes left to get there. Seconds later he held his board under one arm and his phone in the other, entering a chat headed with the name 'Ganke'.
[You in? I'm gon be back soon. Hope you came through with some new web fluid for your boy?] Miles texted, postfacing with a googly eyed emoji as he chuckled to himself.
He pocketed his phone right as he stalked past an alleyway, before stopping dead in his tracks.
He looked back to see there was nobody behind him, he swerved his head and still saw nobody around him, only hearing chatter in the distance around the corner he was headed.
But his spidey-sense never lied, even when extremely faint. He pivoted and walked into the alleyway, keeping his eyes peeled as he scanned up and down the walls at his sides.
It suddenly felt very quiet, Miles felt the hairs on his hand stand slightly, then suddenly, something dove down from the top of the building to his right with frightening speed.
The thing was though, Miles was pretty fast himself, he easily followed the object's movement as it dove straight in-front of him and roared in his face.
Miles stared perfunctorily until it was done.
"I can't remember a single time you've tried to do this that you ain't end up taking a L." he said.
The dragon-like creature stood from its hunched position to tower over Miles, it was red-scaled with a yellow underbelly and green spikes running along its back. It also strangely seemed to sport hair atop its head. Its menacing yellow slit-pupiled eyes looked down at Miles, who blinked back at it with a jaded visage.
The creature burst into laughter, and Miles smiled at that, watching as a blueish smoke enveloped the creature before wisping away to replace the seven-foot figure with a human that fell two inches under Miles' five-ten stature.
"What up fool." Jake greeted with a big grin.
"What's up man." Miles chuckled back, meeting Jake in their middle with a handshake and shoulder bump. "What you doing here?"
"Unfortunately, I got some bad news man." Jake said as his smile dropped a bit.
Miles' expression got a bit more serious himself. "What's going on?"
"It's gotta do with this," Jake lifted the crystal on the necklace around his neck. "I'll tell you on the way, we have to contact the Plumbers, asap."
"The Plumbers? You mean Ben Tennyson?" Miles inquired with an arched brow, Jake nodded. "Hold up, what could be so serious we need to tell him about it?"
"Summary is some alien tyrant wants this crystal, and he's got goons looking for it right now."
"You fought 'em?" Miles asked.
"Nah, my cousin did. She's the one who filled me in, they're probably looking for me right now, they can track it so I'm like a walking beacon."
Miles hummed, digesting the information speedily. "Okay, that means we need to get away from civilians, I know where we can contact the Plumbers, come on."
"You're always so reckless!" Blossom reprimanded as Buttercup shut the door to the simulation room behind her.
John Utonium was a man who'd gone through many trials, he had five projects rejected by the AAAS before he turned thirty, he had his work on being the first man to produce a self-generating bio-chemical stolen by the FAS, he was raised by extremely conservative religious parents, too.
But he'd never faced anything as daunting and arduous as raising three superpowered teenage girls.
"I saved all the people in the sim, didn't I? Excuse me for not keeping every building within a five fucking mile radius standing." came a retort from the raven-haired Buttercup, blowing out some of her dyed-green tips out of her face as she walked past Blossom to stand behind John.
"This is worth millions in property damage if it was the real thing, besides the people we have to take care of the actual city itself." Blossom frowned, continuing to chide her as she gestured past the pseudo-glass screen where their simulation training occurred.
"Forgive me oh fearless leader! I'll make sure to watch out for the Chipotle next time, after fighting giant homicidal monsters we gotta make sure we can still get Mexican after, am I right?" Buttercup replied with audibly unapologetic sarcasm. Blossom only frowned deeper and opened her mouth for another retort but was interjected by a figure springing up in-between her and Buttercup.
The female, curly blonde-haired figure held both girl's faces close to hers as she shut her eyes and melodically began to whistle.
"Fuck's sake, are you serio—" Buttercup started but was cut off with more whistling.
Blossom sighed in the third party's grip as she kept producing the melody from her lips. "Bubbles, you can't think this will possibly—"
"Shhh" Bubbles hushed the redhead, diving back into her whistling performance as the other two girls groaned in unison.
In-front of them, John had turned in his revolving chair and was smiling fondly at the sight.
"Feel that?" said Bubbles clement voice as she breathed in, still holding her sisters firmly in her grip. "Destress and detoxify, so calming, isn't it?"
"Are you going to let us go?" came Buttercup's peeved voice.
"Are you going to stop fighting?" Bubbles said.
Blossom looked to Buttercup, the latter looked back, both glared, then begrudgingly grumbled their compliance.
"Yay!" Bubbles beamed and freed them, skipping over to the sim door as her sisters threw their last glares at each other before turning away with huffs.
"Okay sweetie, you have the train sim, setting to level ten." John said as he imputed some things into the simulator's interface once Bubbles was stood in the middle of the empty space.
Bubbles made a show of exaggeratedly stretching her arms out before turning to face her family with a winsome simper, before one of her golden eyes winked at them.
Her sisters pouted callowly while her dad chuckled, before pushing one final button.
The blonde Exonite primed herself for the virtual change in environment, a couple seconds and a wide pixelated display later, she was floating above a large network railway.
Silence pervaded the luscious savannah beneath the protracted railway under her, until it didn't. She heard the faint clickety-clack of the train in the distance, using her telescopic vision to confirm that it was heading her way.
Another sound mixed in with the incoming locomotive, and she looked back under to refocus her hearing, and now it was clear. The rumbling from underneath the ground.
It came from four directions over the horizon, all heading towards the railway. Bubbles hated dealing with the subterranean ones, but... this should be easy enough.
She arced down towards the elevated train track, stopping to hover above it just as the train became visible in the distance, coming at speed. She opened her palms in-front of each other as a soft golden glow shone to life in between them.
The rumblings became louder, and the ground began to crack and uproot with concussive force as they drew nearer, rushing towards the railway resemblant of giant moles, but Bubbles remained undeterred.
It happened in the space of about three seconds, four massive earthworm-like creatures sprouted from the ground simultaneously, the glow in Bubbles hands exploded into four energy sculpted beams that spread into flat spheres at their tips, blocking the creatures whose heads rammed into said spheres just as the train began to rush past them.
They tried to slither around the golden barricades but found their heads clamped as the spheres had swelled into orbs around them. The train whizzed by safely as the creatures writhed while being dragged out of the ground.
Bubbles crossed her arms with her palms still open and the beams leading to the orbs thinned before Bubbles folded her fists and drew them all in. The worms were tugged towards her before she shot up in the air, holding onto the tip of the beams like ropes before swinging, and swinging, and swinging.
She sighted the large body of water beyond the large field and launched the creatures in that direction, releasing her energy binds as they helplessly soared away.
"Sorry for taking you out of your natural habitat but its 'cause I know you're not real!" she yelled after them in typical Bubbles fashion.
Outside the simulator, her family watched with impressed visages.
"Man, sometimes I forget how much she's levelled up ever since she awakened." Buttercup breathed.
"I would like you girls to explain that to me again sometime... fascinating." John said with lit up eyes.
Blossom couldn't stop smiling softly at her blonde sister, Buttercup was right, she really had become stronger, maybe stronger than them both.
The simulation pixelated back into the regular blank room and Bubbles turned to face them with a Rock gang-sign and a signature glowing simper.
Blossom missed that simper, she thought as she flew into American skies, unable to keep from frowning.
It shouldn't have been her, out of the three of them she deserved that fate the least, she had so much to give this world.
Blossom wasn't a woman of vengeance, that was more Buttercup's forte, but she would make an exemption this time.
Baragan would pay.
She whizzed over the country speedily, recognizing Bellwood once she zeroed in on it, reflexively arcing towards the tallest structure in the middle of the city, the Plumber Tower.
This one was less impressive than the HQ but honestly, what structure on the planet wasn't? This one looked like almost any high-tech, high-rise building—those were prominent all over the world now. This one was only distinct in that the top of the building expanded into a spherical shape, and viewing it from above—which Blossom currently was—would reveal four beams that met at a middle point to form the shape of the globally recognized Plumber symbol, or omnitrix symbol depending on who you asked.
Blossom's pink streak arced towards said middle point, which was actually a Carrier pad, ergo where the Plumbers parked a few of what she was sure was multiple hellicarriers in their possession.
There were two suited, human Plumber guards at the entrance, Blossom landed in-front of them and nodded, they nodded back as the door slid open once she neared it.
She stalked past what looked like a miniature communications room and entered the elevator, minutes later she was stepping out of it into a custom lit-green hallway, before reaching another door that slid open for her before she walked into the most popular chamber in the tower.
She was met with a vast open space that was horizontally demarcated by a lower indention with human-sized tubes, with some energy source that was unrecognizable to even Blossom swirling within them. In the middle of the tubes was a tech pillar similar to the one she'd seen in the Plumber's space HQ.
This one looked slightly less advanced, in that the mechanization still looked like something within human comprehension. The pillar was structured into different sizes the further it went up, widening into something resemblant of a flashlight head that two screens shot out at either side of, with the rest of the pillar continuing up into the wall in curved edges, ending in another tube that housed the same swirling energy she'd seen earlier.
Stood at the foot of the pillar were five figures, Ben was one of them, and one of the only two humans present.
The omnitrix wielder turned at the sound of the sliding door, throwing Blossom a welcoming smile.
Blossom took to the air again and floated over to the group, returning Ben's gesture as she landed in-front of them.
"Any luck?" Blossom asked.
"Nope," Ben shook his head. "I got tossed into a wall, you?"
"Something like a yes, I got the promise of reinforcements." she answered.
"That's a start." Ben said, right before Helen slowly slid into Blossom's line of vision and blocked him out of sight.
"Hi! I'm Helen! Helen Wheels. I don't know if you remember but we met when your people attacked two years ago. Not that I'm lumping you in with them! Obviously you're not like that, you're so inspirational, I've watched like all your fights, and all your interviews, literally all of them. Wait, I hope that didn't come off as creepy? 'Cause you know you've been doing them since you were five or something, you were always my favourite by the way, even before you had to go solo. Is that a touchy subject? Oh my God, I'm so insensitive I'm sorry. Am I talking a lot? I feel like I'm talking a lot, my name's Helen by the way did I already say that? I'm part of Ben's squad."
The female Kineceleran shyly blurted all that in one breath as she looked up at Blossom, somehow looking even more nervous than she sounded.
Blossom couldn't help but laugh at her enthusiastic fangirling. "Well, it's nice to meet you Helen, if you're a Plumber then you're pretty inspirational yourself."
Helen couldn't stop giggling, really, she would probably be giggling for the rest of the day.
"How long you think 'till Blossom has to get a restraining order against her?" Alan said to Manny from behind their teammate.
"I give it like a week, wait 'till Blossom finds out about her poster collec—"
"Can the both of you shut it?!" Helen growled after she sped to both of them, who were now laughing together.
Blossom chuckled at the sight before returning her focus to Ben, who himself had turned back to the last presence in the room. Blossom made her way towards them, her eyes passing over the Plumber suit clad alien who looked like a walking aquatic variant, with grey scaly skin, fins sprouting out his elbows and an antenna. Those features just made the glasses placed on his eyes even weirder.
"This is Magister Patelliday, he helps with energy containment and experimentation whenever he's here." Ben introduced.
"Hey there Blossom, Ben's told me a lot of good things." the Magsiter greeted in a nasally tone.
"Has he now?" Blossom smirked at Ben.
"He's exaggerating, anyway," Ben deflected, Blossom smirked wider. "I think I found one of the crystals."
Blossom's lips thinned. "Where?"
"Within this ancient magical artifact called the Alpha Rune, it's said to hold some of the secrets of magic," Ben paused to look at the only screen on the surface of the pillar, where the results of what Patelliday was typing in were starting to emerge.
"None of our readings are able to identify the energy source emanating off the coffin Ben, it likely is entirely magical." Patelliday informed.
"Coffin?" Blossom arched a brow.
"Gwen made me promise to bury her with the Rune, I brought it back here for protection, and to cross off the possibility that the Rune was something science could identify. A couple sorcerers helped me lock off Gwen's coffin with one of the most powerful sealing spells known to magic, so nobody could ever access it." Ben confirmed.
"But someone tried to?"
Ben nodded before swerving to meet her eyes again. "Yeah, some of Zavgath's underlings wanted to dig up her grave."
Blossoms eyes widened.
"Yeah, they're here, I don't know how many. Helen saw the ones I fought escape in a relatively small ship."
"Hm, I wonder if he sent them because he can't come himself yet, or if he's just being cautious." Blossom reasoned.
"He sounds a bit too arrogant to proceed with caution, but I guess we have to consider all possibilities."
"We should," Blossom nodded. "Do you know where those escapees are? It'd help if we could interrogate them."
"No, but we're on the lookout, they're good at hiding." Ben answered, and the instant those words left his lips there was a beeping alarm of some sorts from the two higher screens on the pillar.
"What's that?" Blossom asked.
"A message." Ben answered, stepping back in unison with Blossom to look up and view the screen on their side, right as the integrated AI's voice for the base said...
["INCOMING MESSAGE FROM QUEENS, NEW YORK. COURIER: SPIDERMAN."]
Her house was dead silent now, her mom had gone to bed immediately they'd had dinner, and her dad was likely having a late night at the hospital.
Trini stared at the ceiling of her dimly lit room, TV off and closet shut, just herself and her thoughts, because they'd made it clear they weren't going to leave her alone.
She couldn't stop thinking about this afternoon, Ben just had to do it, he had to become this paragon of responsibility and uncover everything she'd been trying push under.
The world was in danger...
But what could she really do? Arizona was left unscathed after the Exonite attack, something she was thankful for, she didn't know what she'd have done.
If Ben was talking a similar level of threat, then of what use would she be? Though, he wouldn't ask her to do something he knew she couldn't handle, or maybe he just wanted an excuse to talk to her.
She let herself grin slyly at that thought for a moment... she was torn on what to feel about his request, she tried to push everyone out, including him, she needed to.
She had lost her team and two of her friends to something much more personal than invading aliens, perhaps she'd still be more inclined to play hero if it was the latter, but it wasn't.
Trini was once the yellow Power Ranger because she'd found a community, a random group of teenagers who ended up meaning everything to her, understanding and supporting her in ways her family sometimes unfortunately didn't.
Now that community had been destroyed, two of them were dead and she hadn't spoken to the other two in years.
So, what was the point anymore?
Trini didn't have a problem admitting that she was never a leader, she joined the rangers because she felt seen, the coin had chosen her, and because of it she'd made her first real friends.
The weight of the responsibility of being a ranger subsequently made itself prominent, no doubt, but she'd always had her team. As long as they worked together, they could overcome any obstacles they faced, and they did.
Except for one.
And that was enough, that one time was enough to make the Power Rangers no more, and it happened at the hand of one of their own.
So what was the point? Why her? Why was she stuck trying to balance on the wall of ambivalence. Being a ranger had brought her the most joy she'd ever felt, but it'd also done the same with showing her unbearable pain.
She didn't know if she could handle reopening that wound, but how... how could she sit back when she knew there was danger looming? That people's lives were at stake.
What would they think? Jason, Zack... Billy... Kimberly.
What would they do if they were ones Ben came to meet?
Well, that's all theoretical, she was the one Ben was most... acquainted to, and neither Jason nor Zack would've been able to help him, they didn't have their coins, but she...
Trini sat up in her bed and stared right at the closed walk-in closet, she blinked, then cast her eyes down, before huffing and sliding out of bed. She was ransacking said closet just moments later, until she found it.
One of the time-capsules she had since she was a kid, she lifted the small box up to her face as she knelt in the closet, putting in the combination once she remembered it.
The box clicked open and now Trini was having second thoughts, she knew if she kept going, if her next course of action followed what she currently thought in her head then there was no going back.
She stared, the box stared back.
Trini looked at it a moment longer, before furrowing her brow. "Fuck you, Ben," she muttered to herself, before opening the box.
She was met by a very familiar light show, coming from the two glowing coins from within the box,
Yeah, two.
Trini ran her fingers over the red and yellow power coins, the feeling almost foreign on her skin.
With another look of struggled determination and mutter of "What am I doing?", she picked both of them out of the box, with intent to take them somewhere she would make her final decision.
She hoped everything was still there.
"Am I seeing this right, or are we going to a yard?" Jake asked in Wyvern form as he flew down to the suburban neighbourhood, led by his web-slinging friend in his famous black-red themed costume.
Miles swung off one last branch and soared gracefully onto a greeny yard behind one of the smaller houses on the street, sticking a perfect landing right in-front of the shed.
Jake landed behind him, his face bespeaking the confusion he felt. "This is where we're gonna contact 'em bro?"
"This is Peter's aunt's place, and that's the Spider cave." Miles said, pointing at the shed.
"... A shed?" Jake said tentatively, hoping he didn't sound offensive.
The red outlined eyes on Miles' mask slimmed in a motion that signified smugness. "Watch this."
Miles walked up to the shed that was locked upon closer inspection, rose his hand in-front of said lock, and Jake's eyes widened at the way the padlock lit up and unlocked itself, before the door to the shed lit up itself and slid open like an elevator.
Miles chuckled at Jake's shock as they both stepped in, facing the spider symbol on the doors before they began to descend into a room that made Jake's jaw drop even further.
"Woah." he gasped.
"That was my first reaction too." Miles said as Jake's head rolled around to continue scanning the grand, underground cave. Suspended platforms carrying multiple prototypes, a Spider-bike, a Spider-car, was that a plane?
The elevator base reached its stop point, giving Jake's inclined head a full view of the massive network of metal that formed a web at the top of the cave.
"Bruh," Jake breathed. "Did Peter Parker have coin like this?"
"More like he knew the right people, being one of the smartest people in the world helps too." Miles answered when he stepped off the base, Jake followed.
"So where do we—"
The sparking to life of numerous lights around the cave interjected Jake, who could now see the rectangular pods lined up around the room space they entered, each containing multiple variations of the Spiderman suit.
A massive Spiderman insignia spread on the smooth crimson floor beneath them, the front legs almost serving as directory arrows to the long, wall-imbued cluster of randomly shaped computer screens.
There was a chair in-front of what looked like a widespread holographic keyboard, sat in the chair was a simple cardigan-clad elderly woman, smiling at the two before her.
Has she been sitting there the whole time? Jake thought as Miles walked towards her.
"May," Miles greeted.
May stood and welcomed his hug. "Oh Miles, I haven't seen you in too long."
"I know, I'm sorry, it's just been..."
"I know." May said when they separated, cupping his masked cheek in her hand as she smiled up at him, then looked over his shoulder. "Who's your friend?"
Jake suddenly came to, eyes looking towards the pair as they both looked at him.
"This is the Scarlet Wyvern, he's one of the magical creatures from Manhattan, met him on a mission a year ago." Miles enunciated.
"Magical creature, eh?" May grinned. "I hope you don't get my godson into too much trouble."
"Hey, you gotta be telling him that." Jake joked, earning a wider grin from May.
"What do you boys need?"
"We need to talk to the Plumbers."
May rose her brows at Miles' answer. "Well, that's official, what's going on?"
Miles went on to tell her everything Jake had told him on the way here, with Jake himself pitching in where necessary.
"Never seems to be a break is there." May said in a somber tone, looking to the ground as she did so. "Alright, let me set you up."
And set up she did, in less than two minutes the three stood in-front of the largest screen, the blip in the middle of said screen only pulsated in their faces for about five seconds.
When the blip was gone, and a different picture popped up, the picture of two heroes that needed no introduction.
"May," Ben smiled. "Not often you give us a ring."
"Well, I'm hoping your grandfather's the one who picks up some time." May jived.
"What happened to professionalism? Yuck." Ben joked back and May chuckled.
"Nice to meet you." Blossom smiled from beside Ben, May smiled and returned the greeting.
Now Ben turned to the real messenger.
"Spiderman," Ben called, Miles nodded. "I... my condolences, two years too late but, I never got the chance to tell you that."
"I appreciate it, same to you." Miles answered curtly and Ben nodded back, looking to...
"And... um?"
"Scarlet Wyvern, we don't really ride the same wave." Jake voiced.
"Okay," Ben nodded again, trying to ignore that a dragon had just casually talked to him, he turned back to the masked presence. "Why'd you contact us?"
"The Wyvern would explain it better." Miles answered and let Jake relay the whole ordeal one last time.
"This is the crystal the Te Xuan Ze sent to me." Jake finished, raising the necklace in his hands to show the heroes on the screen.
"Does that look anything like the Alpha Rune's crystal?" Blossom asked as she inspected the gem in Jake's hand.
"It's like an exact replica, just a different colour." Ben confirmed. "Okay, do you have a means to get to us? We could—"
Ben was suddenly cut off as his image glitched in the screen.
"What's going on?" Miles asked, instantly prudent.
"What? Can you... us?" Blossom said as her words also got jumbled with the glitches.
"Does this happen often?" Jake inquired.
"This has never happened." May said, confused at the situation.
The screens went blank then, settling the mini pandemonium, then they just as quickly came back to life. Except now it wasn't Ben and Blossom looking at them.
"What is this?" May blurted in shock.
"It's an electro-magnetic interference," Miles deducted, looking right at the scowling face that now occupied all the screens. "Who are you?"
The face on the screen let out a soft growl in response.
Jake remembered the detailed explanation Juniper had given him of the aliens that attacked her, and when he looked at the face on the screen, the green skin, the red tattoos, he couldn't stop himself from uttering an...
"Aw, shit."
END.