Flashback to a year before Marissa witnessed the Aquatic Power Rangers.
The gym had blue rubbery floors, hoops for playing basketball on the north and south walls and the east wall had bleachers.
It was the day of the disabled warriors tournament, it was a melting pot of sports, in My case was martial arts and archery.
Space Ruby was suspiciously silent that day, but I still had my personal group of spectators which consisted of my friends from Friday school, Paige and Wanda and my first ever friends, Talia, Toru, Bridget and Rien.
"Wow, would I like to spar with him?" Talia asked, watching another martial artist practice.
This martial artist was male, around the same age as me with silky jetblack hair with a purple streak, a sculpted frame draped in a grey t-shirt and black shorts and skin that rocked a barely-there tan.
"If I ever do, the match will end in a draw with my luck." I breathlessly answered also watching the martial artist. "Or any luck for that matter."
"Wow, what kind of martial art is that?" Wanda asked, I shrugged. "Moves like that are nothing like any I've ever seen."
"I think that's Krav-maga, Marissa, I hope they don't pit you against him." Bridget said with concern.
Toru wrapped an arm around my shoulder.
"That aside, I just need to focus every fiber of my being." I breathed deeply and shrugged off Toru's arm.
"Not to worsen matters, but that is some hot stuff, right there." Paige sighed, earning a scoff from Toru.
"HA, Toru is the hot stuff." Wanda said, plastering a smirk on Toru's face. "But it's surprising that nothing has spontaneously combusted with this guy."
"Yeah, thanks, guys." I spoke sarcastically. "Wish me luck, it feels like I'll need it."
"And now, a martial arts competition; TaeKwonDo as represented by contestant #1234 vs Krav-maga as represented by contestant #2319." An announcer proclaimed, with that, the young male martial artist nervously stepped into the square.
What was he so nervous about? I was one he'd wipe the floor with.
"Oh… wow…" The tone of my voice sounded nervous. "Definitely wish me luck." I also stepped into the square taking deep breaths, can you blame me? He was towering over me.
As the referee explained the match to the audience, I took the opportunity to look my opponent in the eye.
His eyes were each a different shade of hazel, like my late grandpa, one was a bluey-hazel, but unlike my great grandpa, the other a greeny-hazel; they were lined with an inky black liquid eyelining substance, every feature attached to his face was chiseled and his clothes seemed tighter than his actual skin due to how big and muscular he was.
Something didn't feel right, my chest felt tight, I felt short of breath and my head spun.
Just when I thought I'd have to power through and spar with this guy, an alarm split my ears in half, Uncle Tommy and/or Auntie Katherine must have bought one and set it while I was fast asleep.
It awoke me with a start and just as quickly as I sat sat up in bed, the alarm stopped, without a doubt because Space Ruby temporarily granted me telekinetic abilities, my head turned and I saw my alarm clock reading six o'clock A.M. (for anyone wondering what a.m. stands for, it's ante mouradian), it was time... well almost time.
It was time for me to shower, eat breakfast and find my way to campus or figure out the route via the lightrail, what? I'm not in Oregon anymore and the lightrail here is not called a max train.
A red long sleeve T-shirt and rustic red denim jeans were my choice of outerwear while a red padded Cami and Matching hipster panties and red scale print socks were my choice of underwear, with my clothes and a blue scale print towel in hand, I sauntered from my bedroom to the bathroom and for a moment, I could swear this place could pull the rug out from under me on a whim.
The moment I set my towel and clothes down on the countertop, the water turned itself on and switched from the bathtub Fossett to the showerhead and in my shower got warm almost instantly, I stripped down to what I was born with and stepped in to the shower.
As I shampooed my hair before allowing the water in the shower to rinse the soap and shampoo out of my hair and off of my body, I thought back to the dream I had last night, it wasn't the recurring nightmare of a boy seizing up in a hospital with nurses trying to revive him, it was a flashback to my disabled warriors tournament and yes it was the same boy, but alive and healthy, muscles threatening to tear his clothes off of his body and all, it freaked me out for some reason so I tried to repress that memory.
I couldn't stay in there long enough for the water to get cold like my bony butt used to be able to so as soon as my personal hygiene was well taken care of, the water turned itself off and as soon as I carefully stepped out of the shower, I towel-dried myself, got dressed and found a blow drying hair brush to dry my hair with, it was my own, a blue circular hairbrush and according to the cashier at the store I purchased it at, it was top of the line, but it was on sale to clear off shelves for a newer model.
"Wow, Maris, you look ready." Tommy said when I came out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, probably looking fresh as a daisy, I feel like I'm off to a good start. "Hopefully a full stomach is missing because Kat made a delicious breakfast." He shoveled another bite of what looked like oatmeal into his mouth.
In spite of all the modernish food prep technology, the kitchen gave me weird castle scullery vibes, A minor flaw in the overall design of my new house is far as it concerned me, that much won't go unsaid, but at least I had a kitchen, word of mouth from those who live in the dorms is that they're lucky to have a working microwave.
The minute I sat down on the island in the kitchen, Kat presented me with a plate of chocolate chip pancakes, The pancakes themselves smelled of caramel and the chocolate chips looked like they were milk and dark chocolate mixed together, it's like she knew my superstition, caramel pancakes with both milk and dark chocolate chips for good luck, I cut a piece off with my fork and took a bite, how Auntie Katherine makes such pancakes makes how anyone else including me prepares them feel like a letdown.
As soon as everyone was finished with breakfast as well as getting ready, I stuffed my feet into a pair of calf length boots that matched my jeans and grabbed a coat from the rack, it was my mothers royal blue wool pea-coat that I stole from her just before I came here, I stepped outside and immediately put the coat on due to how cold it was, it was sunny as summer, but nippy as autumn transitioning to winter.
We all walked to the parking lot that overlooked the marina, piled into the Plymouth Voyager and drove.