Chapter Twenty-Four
RJ lead the group upstairs to the loft where the others were waiting.
"Wow!" Tori exclaimed, looking around the area, "This place looks amazing!"
"Goody," Rekino quipped, "there's even more Power Rangers!"
"Tori Hanson," Kira walked over to her good friend, "it's been awhile!"
The two young ladies shared a hug.
"It's Tori Bradley now," Tori said as she broke the hug, "since we last saw each other when we helped the Overdrive team, I married Blake."
"Two years strong now," Blake nodded in agreement.
"Good to see you guys again," Ethan greeted the Ninja Storm team. The Ninja Storm team proceeded to meet the rest of the Power Rangers as well as Twyla, James, the Ronin Warriors and Lady Ronin Guardians.
"I'm sorry to hear about Shane and Sensei Watanabe," Tommy told the Ninja Storm team.
"Thanks," Cam replied, "Sensei died peacefully."
"And Shane knew the risks when he became a ranger," Blake added.
"As did Trini," Billy nodded in agreement.
"As did Master Phant," Lily added sadly.
"And Kelsey," Blake glanced around.
"Kelsey?" Kira looked confused.
"She was the Lightspeed Rescue Yellow Ranger," Cam explained, "and she was killed in action a few weeks ago, and my girlfriend Leanne Omino is now the new Lightspeed Rescue Yellow Ranger."
"Guys, we shouldn't be sad at this time," Eric chimed in.
"At this time?" Billy glanced at the Red Ninja Storm Ranger.
"It's Christmas time!" Eric exclaimed with excitement.
Everyone looked around in surprise.
"You know?" Dustin glanced at his younger brother, "For once, you actually used your head."
"You guys will get to meet little JJ," Kat told the others, "we brought him here to Ocean Bluff as well."
"JJ is..." Sage started to ask.
"Our son," Jason answered, "Mine and Kat's."
"Wow," Josephine quipped, "More generations of Retro Power Rangers."
"Yep," James replied, "Jillian Oliver is Tommy and Kimberly's daughter."
"Right," Jillian, Tommy and Kimberly all replied in unison.
"Minh Kwan is the daughter of Trini," Rowen chimed in.
"That's right," Minh nodded.
"And JJ is the son of Kat and Jason," Ryo added on.
"That's right," Kat nodded.
"With Christmas being a week away," Twyla revealed, "some of us won't be at Ocean Bluff."
"What do you mean?" Casey asked.
"Josephine and I will be returning to our family home," Kento answered, "we'll be visiting our relatives."
"I'll be visiting my mother and sister for the holidays myself," Cye added.
"Me too," Amaya stood up, "I'll be going to France to visit my relatives for the holidays."
"And I'll be back in Japan visiting my family for the holidays," Sage added.
"What about the rest of the Ronins and Guardians?" Theo asked.
"As far as I know," Rekino answered, "we'll be sticking around. Myself, Ryo, Mia, and Rowen. What about you, Hana?"
"Daddy and Brandon are currently deployed," Hana replied, "I spoke to them before we came here to Ocean Bluff, and they're okay."
"Most of us will have to return to Angel Grove for the holidays," Billy said.
"What?!" Minh exclaimed.
"Come on, Minh," Zack replied, "We'll need to be home for the holidays. You know that."
"Adam and I will also be at Angel Grove with Rocky and Tanya," Aisha announced.
"Can we return to Ocean Bluff after Christmas?" Minh asked.
Billy sighed, "I guess, Minh."
"Yes!"
"I think Conner should stay in Ocean Bluff as this would be his first Christmas with this biological father and his brothers," Kira suggested.
"Kira, Trent and I will also stay in Ocean Bluff," Ethan added.
"The Oliver Family's going to be staying here in Ocean Bluff for Christmas," Tommy announced.
"Are you sure?" Jillian asked.
"Yeah," Tommy nodded.
"We contacted our families earlier," Kimberly added, "they're doing fine."
"Besides you guys will need us in case the Dark Elite decides to attack during the holidays."
"Aren't the Ronins and Guardians enough protection?" Rekino asked.
"It is," Rocky answered, "but some of you will be out of town for the holidays as you all explained."
"He has a point, Rekino," Mia glanced at her leader.
"Yeah," Rekino sighed, "point taken."
"I'm staying with you guys for Christmas too!" Fran announced.
"Don't you have your parents to come home to?" RJ asked.
"Not this time," Fran answered, "my parents are hardly around, even on Christmas."
"She did have a hard time with her parents last Christmas," Dominic pointed out.
There was a pause of silence as everyone looked around the room.
"That she did," RJ spoke up, "Fran, you can stay with us for Christmas this year."
"Thank you!" Fran replied happily, "I'm getting tired of my parents being controlling."
"Come to think of it," Lily spoke up suddenly, "Fran's well adjusted and her usual self when she's with us, and she always acts as if she dreads coming home after JKP closes."
"Exactly," Fran muttered.
"Maybe we should get to the bottom of her situation," Dustin suggested.
"Good idea," Master Finn nodded in agreement, "but I think we should wait until the holidays are over."
"Exactly what I had in mind," RJ replied.
"Then it's settled," Casey declared.
"In the meantime," Fran stated happily, "let's get into the holiday season!"
"I can agree to that!" Twyla nodded in agreement.
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
"Seriously?" Conner complained about his table, "I'm sitting here and RJ isn't?!"
The group of heroes were having lunch/Christmas dinner at a local buffet and they were all assigned five separate booths, the first four booths had ten people while the last one featured Conner, Eric, Dustin, Master Finn, Master Swoop and Cam. RJ was amazed that Tommy was able to get a reservation at this location.
"First off," Master Finn answered, "I want to know you, Eric and Dustin a bit better. Second, I know RJ well enough."
"He's the one who suggested we sit here to get to know us," Eric crossed his arms.
"RJ is also on a little date with Jillian," Master Finn glanced over at his youngest son, who was sitting next to Jillian, who were also sitting with Jarrod, Camille, Minh, Flit, Fran, Dominic, Hana and Casey.
"I should be having a little date with Kira as well," Conner muttered as he saw his girlfriend sitting with Ethan, Zack, Billy, Aisha, Rocky, Tanya, Adam, Lily and Theo.
"You shouldn't make a big deal out of this," Master Swoop advised, "I think you should make the most of this and let your biological father know you three a little more."
"I think that's not a bad idea personally," Dustin replied, "you'd be surprised to know about me."
The yellow ranger started a conversation with the shark master as he was hoping the twins would follow his example.
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
"I don't get why I have to sit here and not with some of the Power Rangers like most of the others are," Kento complained.
"Hello!" Trent waved his hands around, "I'm right here! Hi, I'm a Power Ranger!"
"You know very well I was wanting to sit with Mia today as she's my close friend," Amaya told her boyfriend.
"You really shouldn't complain about sitting with us, Kento," James added, "it's not that much of a big deal."
"Look on the bright side," Josephine told her cousin, "not only are you sitting with me, but we'll be eating some real good food here shortly."
"Yeah," Kento sighed, "I guess you guys are right. I'll be looking forward to eating some sea food real soon!"
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
The heroes all got their food and were eating and enjoying themselves.
"I'm up for some dessert," Tommy got up from his seat, "anyone else want to get some dessert?"
"I want dessert!" JJ stood up happily, "Me! Me!"
"Hey, hold it!" Jason held his son back to his seat, "No dessert right now."
He looked at the waiter, "Thank you, Tommy."
Then, the original red ranger looked at his son, "When you finish eating your food, you can get some dessert."
"I want dessert!" JJ chanted as he banged his fork on the table, "I want dessert! I want dessert!"
"Jason Scott Junior," Kat exclaimed sternly, "behave yourself!"
"I want dessert!" JJ continued his chant as he got out of the booth, "I want dessert! I want dessert!"
Tommy rolled his eyes, witnessing the child throw his little tantrum on the floor.
"I want dessert!" JJ chanted, throwing a tantrum, "I want dessert!"
Everyone at the area noticed everyone else in the restaurant staring at them because of JJ's actions.
"Oh jeez," Rowen groaned.
"People are staring at us," Rekino glanced over, "just get him some dessert!"
"And what lesson will he learn from that?" Jason asked.
"You embarrass your family, you get dessert," Rekino answered.
"Oh no, no, no," the original red ranger replied as he stood up from his spot, "we're not doing that. As a matter of fact, I'm taking care of this right now."
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
Camille looked annoyed with the young child's tantrum and watched as Jason escorted his son away from the others and then she looked over at Jarrod, "Is this a part of holiday tradition?"
"No," Jarrod shook his head, "not all families have to deal with this type of embarrassment."
"I assume there's more to the holidays than this?" Camille asked.
"There is,"
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
Jason brought his son to the men's restroom to keep the embarrassment that was going on back at the dining room from having everyone kicked out of the restaurant.
"Okay," Jason told his son, "now if you want to scream, kick, throw tantrums, go ahead, go nuts."
"In here?" JJ asked.
"Yeah," Jason answered, "you can't do it back there, that's the dining room."
"I wanna go back in there," JJ pointed at the door.
"All right," Jason sighed, "but you have a choice: you can stay here and have your tantrum, or you can go back to the dining room and act like a big boy, eat your dinner and then dessert and everything will be cool."
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
"Would anyone who's not shrieking care for dessert?" Tommy asked, slightly annoyed.
Most of the heroes decided on having dessert. RJ and Jillian shared some of their dessert, something in which Dominic and Fran done as well as Jarrod and Camille.
Minutes later, Jason returned to the dining room with JJ in tow.
"Well," Kat quipped, "looks who's back."
"I'm sorry, mom," JJ apologized, "I'll be good."
"Jason, where's our son?" Kat asked.
"Well, we came to an understanding," Jason answered, "when he is at a restaurant, he is to behave like a big boy. When he's at the grocery store, he's with his mom."
Kat scoffed and rolled her eyes at Jason.
"So, enjoying your precious date?" Casey scoffed, annoyed.
Jillian perked up as she faced the red ranger.
"Are you mad about something?" Jillian asked.
"Oh, no, no," Casey shook his head, "I just asked if you was enjoying your date."
"It kind of sounded hateful, Casey," RJ spoke up.
"So, you're taking her side now?" Casey asked.
"What's this about?" Jillian asked, annoyed, "I come into RJ's life, and all of a sudden, you're acting insecure."
"Well, you nearly got RJ killed," Casey answered.
"I was under a spell, hello!? Remember?!"
Casey and Jillian continued to argue, causing everyone at the buffet to stare at them again.
"They're staring again!" Minh exclaimed.
"Okay, all right!" Tommy yelled walking over to the booth, "that is quite enough out of both of you! One more outburst and I will take you both to the Screaming Room like Jason did to his son!"
"He started it!" Jillian exclaimed, pointing at Casey.
"Whatever," Casey scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Yeah," RJ spoke up, "Casey did start it and accused me of taking sides when I'm not."
Tommy took a deep breath before facing his daughter, "Okay, Jillian, calm down and try not to butt heads with Casey, okay? He is the leader of your team after all."
"You're right, Dad," Jillian nodded in agreement.
"And you," Tommy faced the red ranger, "you have no reason to be insecure. You think my daughter is stealing your thunder because she's my daughter? I think that's what it is."
"I think so too," RJ nodded in agreement before facing his best friend, "Seriously, Casey. You need to chill out. Just because Jillian is now on the team, and dating me, and the daughter to Tommy and Kimberly, that doesn't mean she's stealing your thunder, dude."
"I have no intention of doing that," Jillian insisted.
"Exactly," Tommy glanced at Casey.
"I feel like RJ is starting to spend more time with Jillian now that they are dating," Casey stated, "I feel she's stealing my best friend."
"She's not stealing anyone," RJ insisted, "we'll talk more about this later and hopefully, we'll resolve it."
The heroes then proceeded to eat their dinner without any further incident.
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
At the Ronin Household, Mia looked on as the heroes were taking part of a really fun Christmas themed game that they were about to start. There was enough for 50 prizes, actually 49 prizes and one punishment as would later be revealed. Master Swoop and Master Finn chose not to play as they preferred to watch.
To start off the game which was a ring toss from three cupcake baking pans, Tori got 16 and won five dollars. Then, Blake got number eight and got a stocking that contained a 50 dollar Amazon gift card. Then, Dustin got number nine.
"My favorite number!" Dustin exclaimed happily. The prize was revealed to be a small bag of Milk Chocolate balls from Lindor, "Cool! I love chocolate, dude!"
"I need to mention," Mia told the group, "one of the cups has a bad punishment that you do not want."
The heroes all groaned, not looking forward to that punishment, whatever it might have been.
Casey got the number 11 and won ground cinnamon, Lily got number 16 and won ten dollars, Theo got 34 and won a dollar.
"What's a dollar going to buy?" Theo groaned, "Not much."
"It could be worse," Lily assured her lover, "it could have been the punishment."
"Good point,"
"Don't miss the rings on purpose, guys!" Mia told the group playing the game.
After a second try, Rowen got the number 12 and won four packs of Oreos.
Then, RJ got the number 32 and won 20 bucks. Jillian got the number 48 and won a hundred bucks. Dominic got the number 13 and won a lump of coal.
"You've been naughty this year," Kento chuckled.
"Are you kidding me?!" Dominic yelled, "I've been good this year!"
He tossed the coal across the room, "What a rip off!"
"There will be no throwing things in this house!" Amaya exclaimed, "Is that understood?!"
"Maybe Fran will have better luck," Dominic muttered.
Fran got the number 14 and won the other 50 dollar Amazon gift card.
"Awesome!" Fran exclaimed with delight, happy with her gift.
"Merry Christmas, Fran!" RJ told his friend.
Ryo got number one and got a bunch of Kit Kat bars. Sage got 10 and won a dollar as well. Josephine got 38 and won a Snickers candy bar. Cam got the number 21 and won a lemon.
"Oh well," Cam rolled his eyes, "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade."
"And you don't get the punishment," Dustin added. It kept going down the list as the rest of the rangers each got their own prizes, JJ got a Lego gift card, Flit got Christmas socks which he liked, and now it was down to Kento and Casey and four rings remaining.
"Well," Casey stated, "good luck to you."
The red ranger tossed to where he got the number 40.
"This could be the punishment," Mia told the Tiger Master.
"I'm not looking forward to it," Casey groaned. Luckily, he ended up with a bag of chocolate gold coins.
"You're safe, Casey!" RJ declared.
Kento sighed as he tossed the ring again and this time it landed on 30.
"I don't even know if I wanna do this," Kento stated as he was face to face with his cup.
"You gotta lift it, dude," Josephine told his cousin as the Hardrock Guardian won jingle bells as part of her prize as well as Hershey bars. Kento lifted the cup.
"It is the punishment!" Mia exclaimed.
"What?!" Kento looked at the card, not happy at all.
"Santa Beard!" Dominic exclaimed.
"I don't want to do it!" Kento crossed his arms.
"Well, you have to do it," Amaya told her boyfriend, as the Torrent Guardian won a thing of peppermint sticks.
Kento groaned as Ryo used shaving cream to make the Santa Beard on Kento's face. Then, Dominic laughed as Rowen took a picture of it.
"What do you have to say now, Santa?" Dominic chuckled.
"That wasn't a part of the deal!" Kento exclaimed, angry about the picture.
"Well, that's too bad, isn't it?" Casey quipped.
That did it. Kento threw a bit of the shaving cream at the Tiger Master, and then another at the Rhino Ranger.
"Kento, are you serious?!" Amaya exclaimed.
The Hardrock armor bearer tossed the two pans off the table and flipped the table as well.
"Cuz!" Josephine exclaimed in shock, "Seriously?! It's just a game!"
"I'm so done with this!" Kento exclaimed in anger as he was about to storm off upstairs, "And Rowen, I hope you got your embarrassing Christmas picture you wanted! What a game that was! Piece of shit!"
"Kento, watch your language!" Amaya shouted as Kento stormed off upstairs.
"Oh, piss off!"
"Look at this mess!" Mia cried out, "It was supposed to be a fun game!"
"I don't know what's gotten into my cousin," Josephine sighed sadly as she got the table back to where it was, "We're very sorry."
"It proves that he's worst than Dominic," Casey stated.
"Casey," RJ held his best friend, "don't need to stir the pot!"
"We should help you guys clean," Kat suggested as she was comforting her distressed son.
"That was real immature," Jason shook his head, "JJ acted more mature than Kento did."
The rangers, Ronins, Guardians, Masters, Fran, Flit, Jarrod and Camille helped out and cleaned the kitchen from that blow out.
-Through-Dangerous-Times-
Dustin walked over to where Fran's belongings were, curious about what was going on in Fran's household. He saw a piece of paper sticking out from an orange backpack. The yellow ranger picked up the paper, and what he read surprised him.
Dear Debbie and Jeremy Angel,
I will no longer call you Mom or Dad from this point forward because of everything that has happened lately. I think you might have already known why that's the case and why I'm leaving you for good.
I felt betrayed by you. Parents are supposed to be loving and caring. They are supposed to be there for their children regardless of their flaws. You know I have flaws, yet for the smallest mistakes, I would always get hit and beaten.
You always paid favoritism towards my autistic cousin Devon and let him get away with everything. He would always break my toys as a kid, and anything else valuable that I owned. Do I need to bring up the times I didn't have a birthday party growing up because I didn't want Devon blowing my candles or opening my presents like he did to other kids' birthday parties, which was why he was no longer invited to them.
This had been going on since I was a child, and I would tell you what was going on and you would brush it under the rug. I told you how I felt before and you beaten me for that, which I will never understand and you expect me to stay here with you any longer and you tell me I should respect Devon.
The last straw was when you let Devon kill my pet cat Rascal. You let Devon release Rascal from the outside and he got hit by a car because of that brat. I hate Devon. I was beaten after I called the police and got him arrested. Then you bailed him out and let him have that ugly looking dog named Otis. I will never come home to you ever again.
Don't you dare say my aunt never wanted me. She cared more about me than you ever did. She loved me more than you ever did, and made me understand the difference between discipline and abuse before she passed away from cancer a few years ago.
You say the relationship between us is all but destroyed? No, we never really had a relationship.
I now have friends who love me and treat me more like a family than the pair of you ever did. Since you consider Devon more of a child than me, I will emancipate from you and remain with my friends from this point forward and we'll never have to worry about seeing each other anymore.
Your Former Daughter,
Fran
"Oh my goodness," Dustin muttered.
"What are you doing?"
The yellow ranger turned around and saw Dominic.
"Um," Dustin glanced at the Rhino Ranger, "were you aware of this?"
"Aware of what?" RJ asked as he walked into the room.
"Fran written something and it's kind of...shocking," Dustin answered.
"What the hell are you doing snooping into Fran's stuff?" RJ demanded.
"I was just curious on what the situation Fran was going through with her family."
"By snooping around?"
"Yeah," Master Finn added, "that's not very nice, Dustin."
"Let's just look at this letter," Dominic suggested. RJ sighed before taking the letter from his oldest brother. Both the Wolf Master, Shark Master, and Rhino Ranger read the letter. They paled in shock after reading the letter.
"It's worst than we thought," Dominic muttered.
"What do you mean?" Dustin asked.
"Fran did say her parents were never around," RJ answered, "I had no idea this was going on."
"Not cool," Dominic shook his head, "no wonder Fran has resentment towards her parents."
There was a pause of silence as RJ carefully placed the note back under Fran's bag where it was as they were thinking of what to do next.
"RJ," Master Finn finally spoke up, "as soon as the holidays are over, you are getting Fran out of that despicable family and into your custody, even though she's essentially an adult."
"Exactly what I had in mind," RJ nodded in agreement.
Author's Note: It's apparent I watch too much shorts from YouTube as well as videos on Facebook. I got the idea for the holiday game from a Facebook video. I also saw some videos on the YouTube shorts based on Fran's situation. Maybe I should stay away from YouTube shorts and Facebook. I dunno. The second half of the Christmas arc will be coming soon, hopefully before Christmas.