My Hero Part One
It was a crisp, November morning, and a start of a new weekend. After a week of hard training at Karate Operations, Donnie was too exhausted to head out. However, being the energetic individual she was, Bonnie decided to burn off more energy by going off for yet another run to start this gorgeous weekend.
After putting on her white tennis shoes, black shorts, and white tank top, she tied up her hair in a tight ponytail and darted down the stairs.
Before she walked out the door, she called out to her aunt. "Okay, Aunt Patty, I'm off for a run."
Her aunt's voice called out from the kitchen. "Okay, hon'. Be safe!"
"I will," Bonnie replied as she walked out of her house and began her jog across the neighborhood. After running for a mile, she paused to catch her breath near the entrance of the town's Cemetary. She frowned as she examined the hundreds of gravestones.
Poor souls. She thought before shrugging her shoulders. Well, at least they probably lived long and happy lives. She was about to continue her jog when she noticed a familiar car parked at the adjacent side of the cemetery. It was of course Maya's 2004 Jeep Wagoneer. Bonnie decided to investigate further as she walked further into the cemetery.
She stopped when she noticed Maya walking from a distance towards something, but Bonnie couldn't figure out why her friend was there.
She decided to follow her friend from a safe distance, but then stopped when Maya knelt in front of a certain gravestone.
Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she walked up to her friend. Once she reached her, her shadow caught the attention of Maya.
Maya turned and was shocked to see Bonnie standing behind her with a worried look on her face. She quickly stood up. "Bonnie!" She scratched the back of her neck. "What are you doing here?"
Bonnie shrugged. "I saw your car outside this cemetery and decided to see what you were up to."
Maya crossed her arms and her gaze fell. She sighed. "Today is just a sad day for me."
"How so?" Her friend asked. Maya then motioned over towards the gravestone. Bonnie looked over at it and narrowed her eyes.
Diego Menendez Garcia. 1979-2015. "He was a great man and his daughter's hero."
Bonnie gasped softly as she glanced over at her friend. "Is this...your dad?"
Maya nodded her head as her expression reverted to that of pure sadness. "He passed away when I was 10."
"How..." Bonnie asked, her voice was a soft as it could be as she was stunned to be standing in front of the grave of her friend's father.
Maya sighed as she spoke. "On this day in 2015, my father, who was a United States Marine, was deployed in Iraq. He was sent on a mission to defuse a bomb that posed a threat to his base. The robot that he controlled was over to take out the bomb, but the remote control failed and..."
Maya felt tears form in her eyes. She took a deep breath and glanced over at Bonnie when she felt her rub her back to comfort her. Maya continued her story, her eyes narrowed as she thought about her father's old lieutenant, who was just hailed as a hero at the expense of her father's death. "His lieutenant, Gary, ordered him to go out there and help defuse the bomb, but when my dad obliged, the bomb exploded once he was just a few feet away. He was blown to smithereens and it took so long for my mother and I to...hear about what happened. I lost my daddy..."
Maya fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Her emotions have hardly subsided from the moment she found out about her father's passing. She began weeping as Bonnie knelt next to her and wrapped her arms around Maya in a desperate attempt to comfort her friend.
Maya buried her face into Bonnie's shoulder and her weeps shifted into sobs. Bonnie rubbed her hand up and down Maya's back as she spoke soothingly. "Shh, it's okay, Maya. I'm sorry that this had happened to you, and I feel your pain."
Maya pulled back from Bonnie's embrace and sniffled. "How could you and Donnie deal with losing your parents?"
Bonnie shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it was hard. But we managed to handle the grief by seeking comfort from our aunt and other family members, which helped us immensely. You can't deal with grief alone. You got your mom, DJ, Max, and now you have me and Donnie. You are not alone, Maya. We are here for you."
Maya wiped the tears from her face and gave Bonnie and weak smile before embracing her. "Thank you."
"No problem. United we stand..."
"Divided we fall." Maya finished.
The following Monday, Maya drove at an accelerated speed with Bonnie in the passenger seat. DJ and Donnie are currently out of town as their martial arts team have taken a trip towards a tournament in the neighboring town, and Max had just woken up with a bad throat and his parents didn't want anybody catching it, leaving the two girls to attend schools by themselves.
Bonnie was scrolling through the school blog until an online announcement caught her attention. She gasp in excitement as she spoke. "A United States General is visiting our school today!"
Maya's eyes widened. "Really? Who is he?"
Bonnie scroll through the page until she finally caught the guy's name, but then her smile faded as she realized who it was. It was the soldier who just so happened to be Diego Garcia's old lieutenant back when he died. She gulped before speaking up. "His name is...Gary Brooks."
It sounded as if Bonnie as just said a very cursed sentence as she noticed her friend's expression shifted from excitement straight to pure fierceness and anger.
Maya began breathing in and out as she tried to get her anger in check. Bonnie had pursed her lips awkwardly as she put her phone away. She just wished this person would not run into them, let alone Maya. She knew there would be a chance that Maya would cause a scene, and who would blame the Yellow Ranger? This man is practically the reason Maya lost her father, and he had also gained fame for surviving a mission, as well as a higher ranking.
Bonnie quickly got out of the car as soon as it parked by the school. She and Maya stood side by side as they approached the school's entrance, the former trying to ignore the latter's current fierce expression.
As the two girls entered the school, they immediately walked over to their first-period class, where they knew they would be the first ones there, as the class would not start for another 15 minutes. The girls entered to be greeted by their elderly English teacher. Mrs. Parker looked quite swell for someone who was 62 years of age, and she adored the girls. She was quite a cubby with blue eyes and a wrinkly face, but she sure would brighten anybody's day with a smile.
The girls, once they reached the entrance and looked inside the room, stopped in their tracks as they found Mrs. Parker speaking to a guy wearing a camouflage military uniform. He had short blond hair was green eyes. It took Bonnie a while to realize who this guy was, no one else other than Lieutenant Gary Brooks himself.
Mrs. Parker noticed the girls and spoke. "Hello, ladies. Maya, this hero would like to speak to you in the hallway, if you don't mind."
Bonnie cursed underneath her breath as she noticed Maya's face was turning into a bright shade of ready. She looked as if she was about to explode, but Maya simply took a deep breath and oblige, walking out of the classroom with the soldier following close behind her.
Bonnie approached Mrs. Parker and spoke. "Mrs. Parker, you do realize-"
Mrs. Parker interrupted her. "Yes, Bonnie, and might I add that I too believe this may not go as well as I wish, but she cannot avoid adversity, you know?"
Bonnie sighed as she hoped this won't go as bad as it could most likely be.
Maya and Gary stood by the lockers as the former stopped to face the latter. She crossed her eyes and if looks could kill, Gary would have been decomposed by now.
"What the hell are you doing here, Gary?" She spoke coldly as if his name was a forbidden curse.
Gary sighed and gave Maya a sympathetic look. "Maya, it has been a while, and I came to town just to check up on you."
Maya chuckled sarcastically. "What? Are you expecting some sort of media coverage out of this? 'Brave General and Hero comfort girl who has just lost her father.' Oh, what a hero you are." She mocked, before blowing raspberries in the General's face.
Gary wiped the saliva from his face before he spoke. "I understand you blame me for the loss of your father. But you have to understand what I have gone through after your father passed away. I was stranded for 3 years after we were attacked by a militia. I was rescued and for a while, I have tried to contact you to say that I deeply apologize."
Maya took a deep breath and spoke sternly, balling her fists, with tears of frustration forming in her eyes "Your son and daughter were both lucky to have their father back, but do you think that I have gone through a better scenario than you have? You honestly believe that I would fall for this. That I would fall with the lie that you even cared. My mother and I had to bury an empty casket because my dad's body was blown to bits. There was NOTHING to bury. Do you have any idea how that feels?"
Gary was silent, which gave Maya an answer. She wiped her eyes and spoke coldly. "I bet you are happy because if it wasn't for my father's death, you would not have been promoted to a freaking US Military General. I personally believe that you're trying so hard to cover up how relieved and happy you are about the fact that my dad is gone."
Gary narrowed his eyes. "Maya, if that was true, I wouldn't even bother coming here just so that I could speak to you, don't you think."
Maya's eyes widened before she shot Gary with a cold, hard glare before laying out her final statement. "To be quite frank, I wish you'd burn in hell much longer than 3 years." She began walking past the now silenced general. There was nothing else she could say to this person. This person's idiocy cost her father his life, and Maya had no sympathy for that excuse of a man.
As Po sat at his throne, his sister approached him with another Humanitor following close behind her. His face resembled that of an angry emoji you would find in the messaging app on your iPhone that had a black mustache underneath his rather large nose while his entire body was just covered in a sickening red robe, and he was armed with a black ray gun that was in a shape of a desert eagle.
Sky spoke up, her hands behind her back. "Brother, I would like you to meet Angorio. I ran into him while I was out searching for valuable artifacts." She glanced over at the monster. "Explain to my brother what you can do."
Po grunted. "Yes, impress me."
Angorio spoke in a distinctly Mexican accent. "Con mucho gusto! I can shoot a fantastic beam from my ray that will enhance a person's angry feelings. They won't be able to control their anger once it kicks in, and it was driving them LOCO or better yet, destroy anyone that crosses them, even their amigos." He chuckled. "Escucho que el guardabosques amarillo está de mal humor. I might as well make it much better for her." He cackled, which got Po to smirk.
"I like your style," he then frowned. "Don't just stand there and be all talk. Move!"
Angorio bowed in solidarity. "Si, mi Rey!"
After school, Bonnie and Maya decided to meet up at the park after that long day. Maya just needed someone to speak to after that whole dispute with the General.
They sat down at the bench and Maya took a few minutes to gather her thoughts before turning towards her friend and began spilling the beans of what she had said and how she had felt. She felt much better expressing these feelings towards someone she viewed as her friend, especially since Bonnie gave her the time and patience she needed.
"I just feel as if I can't forgive him, y'know. I mean, if I do, that's not going to bring me back my father, right?" Maya finished.
Bonnie crossed her legs before sighing. "Maya, these grudges are not going to do you any favors."
"But he-" Maya began but was interrupted.
"I know, but he never intended to get your father killed! He just wanted to finish the mission."
Maya crossed her arms and glared. "Listen, how am I going to forgive him? I mean, would you forgive the person who took away your parents?"
Bonnie sighed and spoke. "Po is an evil monster who shows no remorse for what he had done. At least Gary has some decency to come to town just to apologize for what he had done to your family. There were many times where my brother hurt me, and forgiving him made the situation feel so insignificant. I promise you, you will continue to miss your father no matter what, but this grudge will not make your situation better, but forgiving a person who feels sorry will make you feel better, which should matter, first of all.'
Maya wanted to say something but she couldn't. She wanted so badly to argue. She wanted to be offended, She wanted to tell Bonnie that she was wrong and Maya was right, but she couldn't. She let out a defeated sigh. As much as she hated to admit it, her friend just made a fair point.
"I know, but I don't think I could do it right now..."
Bonnie put a hand on her shoulder. "I know, but you will gain the courage eventually, but if not now, then that's alright. Now come on, I'm starving and I want Culvers'."
Maya laughed as both girls stood up, but then was stunned to hear the sounds of people screaming from a distance.
Both girls looked at one another in awe as to what was going on. "What was that?" Bonnie asked hysterically.
"I don't know, but let's find out," Maya spoke as both girls ran towards the source of the screaming. They reached the soccer field nearby and found a red monster terrorizing several citizens with Karadracs.
The monster looked up and noticed the two Rangers. "Ah, you two chicas must be the Rangers I have been hearing about!" He cackled
Bonnie and Maya looked at one another and gave each other approving nods. They pulled up their right wrists and pressed the center button on their newly obtained morphing bracelets. "Karate Force!" They yelled as their morphers lit up before the two pointed their fists forward. "Call into combat!" They shouted out. Their morphers activated and morphed the two into the Yellow and White Rangers.
Bonnie pulled out her Bear Lance and changed at Angorio, who skit to the right to dodge her piercing weapon. Before Bonnie could revert her attention towards the monster, she was ambushed by a squad of Kararacs, which she began to strike one by one with her lance.
Meanwhile, Angorio cackled as he walked his Karadracs battle with the White Rangers but then felt something strike him. Like a beam of energy that made his inside flare up for a few seconds.
He turned to see Maya from a distance, armed with her Bow Gun.
She charged at the monster. "No, tu no!" He yelled angrily before cocking his ray at Maya, which got her off guard. Before she could react, Angorio shot a long beam at her, which got her to scream. It didn't feel like any other sort of pain, but it was causing her mind to revert its cells, causing her to become more aggressive for as long as Angorio kept his beam aiming straight into her body.
She demorphed by the time Angorio had finished casting his spell on her. "Well, adios. Que tengas un buen dia!" He spoke as he and the Karadracs Bonnie was battling against all teleported away.
The White Ranger demorphed and walked over to where Maya was staring off into space, still feeling the effects of the beam!"
Bonnie rubbed her shoulder. "Maya, are you okay?"
Maya thought for a moment before looking into her friend's shocking green eyes that were filled with worry. Maya then narrowed her eyes and slapped her friend's hand away from her shoulder. "I'm fine!" She spoke coldly. "No thanks to you."
Bonnie raised an eyebrow as she spoke. "Okay...what's wrong with you?"
Maya scoffed. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? Today is just not a good day for me! I'm out of here! You can walk yourself home."
Bonnie was left in a state of shock as Maya stormed out of the area. That did not sound like Maya at all. For the past two and a half months that Bonnie had known here, Maya proved to be the calmest and trustworthy person who hardly ever gave anybody the bad attitude unless they truly deserved it. What did Bonnie do to deserve the type of attitude Maya just gave her? The girl that was storming away was behaving nothing like Bonnie's friend.
She pulled up her wrist, where her communicator was located. Shortly after the twins joined the team, Ellie had made it much easier to keep the Gems away from the hands of the evil Humanitors by transforming them into bracelets, which the Rangers could use to morph, and also communicate with each other and Karate Operations.
"Ellie, come in," Bonnie spoke.
After a few seconds, her tech genius friend answered. "Yes, Bonnie."
"You saw what had just occurred through your monitor, right?" Bonnie asked, scratching the back of her neck.
Ellie sighed. "Yes, report to Karate Operations so I can discuss with you regarding Maya."
"Right..." Bonnie spoke before using her inner Karate powers to open a portal leading towards the dojo.
To be continued...
A few things I wanted to point out. If you are a Spanish speaker and felt a little offended by this, then I deeply apologize. I have taken some Spanish courses through high school and wanted it to be as less offensive as it could be. So take this villain as a pinch of salt. He is not supposed to be some sort of Matador-type monster or a stereotypical Mexican-themed villain. He is just a regular villain who just so happens to have become a Humanitor at some point in his life. Humanitors, in my story, were all once humans before turning over to the evil side. So this monster was most likely born as a Spanish-speaking human who unfortunately and willingly turned evil. I hope you guys understand, and I hope the Spanish sentences did not sound too cringy or turn you off from the story.
If you felt a little offended by this, let me know and we can have a private message regarding this chapter.
Also, I have decided to revert the Gems into bracelets to make for much more suitable morphers, so I hope that makes the change understandable.
Thank you and I will see you guys next time.