Disclaimers: I do not own Power Rangers, especially Lost Galaxy, or anything affiliated with it though Johnny Marshak, the White Galaxy Ranger powers and Galactabeast/Galactazord, and Alpha Squadron as it exists here (think I read a fanfic with a vaguely similar idea back in the day though I don't remember when, where it was, or even the name and it's probably long since lost to the ages anyway) are my ideas.
At the heart of the ancient warrior
By Lucas Harrell
Johnny was going out for a quick jog when something caught his attention at the edge of his field of vision. 'What the Hell was that?' he thought then shook his head and shrugged it off.
It was pretty early, only a little after 7:00, so Zuri was of course still asleep as was Brynne the last he knew and he figured he'd have a good hour to get a workout, so he'd briefed Vicrow about where he'd be, just in case he misjudged when they'd wake up.
Mark had recently proposed to Yoli and they were looking to have a quick wedding in Commander Stanton's office in a few days, so Johnny had to scramble to get a suit as he officially accepted being Best Man. The Bride to be had didn't have many close female friends on Terra Venture so she'd asked Maya to be her Maid of Honor.
Johnny had been very apprehensive about Vicrow coming to stay but the mercenary was turning out to be a blessing in disguise, even helping out against a monster that had broken up a date Kai had been on with a young woman he'd met named Hannah. He could now say he trusted the mercenary somewhat though only to a degree.
Suddenly, a blast came out of nowhere, narrowly missing Johnny. He spun in the direction the blast came from and narrowed his eyes when Furio came walking out of the woods. "Do you know what you cost me by destroying Mutantrum?" he demanded.
"I could care less and about damn time you came out of the woodwork again, you coward," Johnny replied, quickly punching the communications button on his morpher. "Alpha, Furio's in the Forest Dome. Get hold of the others as soon as you can, especially Leo as he'll want to be here."
"On it, Johnny," Alpha replied.
"Go Galactic!" Johnny said and was suited up in seconds. He assembled the Omega Scythe and propped it up on his shoulders. "Glad you finally got your head out of your ass, Furio. I hope you're ready to meet Whypnos and don't worry, you'll never have to worry about getting cold there."
Furio growled as he swung his sword at Johnny, who easily batted it aside with a sweep of the Omega Scythe before kicking him, them slashed the monster with his weapon.
Unbeknownst to Furio, Johnny had started training with a bo staff about the same weight as the Omega Scythe to make himself as good with it as he was at hand-to-hand fighting. He wasn't quite at that level with it yet, but he'd been working hard at it.
"You're not going to get the better of me this time, White Galaxy Ranger," Furio growled, getting frustrated as he kept trying to hit Johnny and failing epically.
"Yeah yeah, 'I'll get you next time Gadget! Next time!'" Johnny taunted, blocking Furio's attacks with ease. "Man, Mom and Dad always did tell me you idiots love to go for the cheesiest one-liners but man, all of you goons of Scorpi-ass' really like to lay it on thick."
Furio roared and shot laser like beams out of his eyes, forgetting about Johnny's absorption power for a moment in anger. His suit glowed for a moment as the power kicked in. He charged the Omega Scythe with the borrowed energy and gave it back to him the hard way.
Suddenly, Leo teleported into the scene, morphed and ready to rock. "I told Alpha to hold off on calling the others to see if he had company with him," he told Johnny, who nodded. They'd agreed to do this in case they got a chance to confront Furio, even explaining it to the others, who respected the decision.
"It's good to have you both here so I don't have to go to the bother of tracking you down, Red Galaxy Ranger," Furio growled.
Leo and Johnny didn't bother replying, instead striking almost as one and Furio had to really work to block their attacks, but it was no use. The 2 had been putting in an extensive amount of time together on the Simudeck, getting the timing of their teamwork down pat since their agreement after the Whypnos incident.
Furio was getting not only frustrated but downright scared as he couldn't lay a finger on either of his opponents. When Johnny hit a massive slash on him after a fiery supercharge from Leo, he roared. "You really think I'll allow you to get the best of me?! he demanded and suddenly.
"Who says we need your permission?" Johnny asked coldly, "For all your victims, be it Mike, the near genocide of the people or Mirinoi, sending Whypnos to torture and kill Maya in front of my eyes, or who knows how many other people you've victimized, you deserve nothing less than to be put down like the rabid dog you are."
"IF I'M GOING DOWN, I'M TAKING ONE OF YOU WITH ME!" Furio screamed suddenly and rushed the 2, his body taking on a strange glow. Leo jumped in front of Johnny and the monster grabbed him.
Suddenly, Furio's body just exploded, sending Leo flying back a few feet into Johnny, who was knocked down hard when the Red Galaxy Ranger slammed into him.
"Damn it!" Johnny exclaimed when he hit the ground with Leo on top of him, "Did you get the number off that truck, bro?" He was more than a little worried when his buddy didn't answer and even more so when he involuntarily powered down.
"Shit!" Johnny said, "Hang on, Leo." He activated the communications part of his morpher. "Alpha, Leo's been badly hurt. Teleport us directly to the Medbay and call the others in, especially Kendrix. I know she'll kill me if I don't make sure she knows right away."
"I can't get a lock," Alpha replied, "There's something interfering with the teleporter."
"Must be the energy from Furio's kamikaze attack," Johnny muttered, "All right, keep a lock on my signal and I'll try to get as far away as I can. It might take a while as I might have to drag Leo, but…"
Suddenly, Johnny felt a presence behind him and he half-turned to see a large, armored person in black armor. "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you, White Galaxy Ranger," came a gravelly voice from them as they stepped over to them.
"Who are you and how do you know what I am?" Johnny asked.
"I'm known as the Magna Defender," the armored person replied. Johnny's eyes went wide. Maya had told him all about Hyuuga, the 7th original champion of Mirinoi, who had left the group after an argument following his son Zika died and he went looking for revenge.
Magna Defender carefully picked up Leo after he'd helped Johnny up. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm fine, just a little banged up, but I'm worried about my buddy there," Johnny answered.
"Don't worry, we'll get him to safety soon," Magna Defender replied, "Don't power down just yet as he might still have backup around here somewhere. I'm sorry I didn't interfere with your battle with Furio, but I'm still recovering my strength."
"It's all right, I understand," Johnny replied. He led the way after asking Alpha where the nearest spot not covered by the energy interfering with the Megaship's teleportation sensors.
Johnny was very relieved to run into the rest of the team halfway to the spot Alpha directed him to. "Oh my God, Leo," Kendrix murmured as she ran up to Magna Defender, "What have you done to him?"
"Kendrix, stop," Johnny said, knowing Kendrix was probably jumping to the wrong conclusion. "Hyuuga had nothing to do with Leo getting hurt." He knew that Maya had to be shocked under her visor.
"Furio made himself explode as a last resort when it became obvious that he couldn't beat us, so we won't ever have to worry about him again," Johnny continued, "I don't know why Leo jumped between us. He knew I could just absorb the worst of it."
"Never mind that now though," Johnny added, "Let's see if we can strap him onto your Jet Jammer as you need to get him to where Alpha can teleport him to the Megaship ASAP."
Kendrix, Damon, and Kai all nodded and started trying to make room for Leo in one of the Jet Jammers, but Maya seemed hesitant. "What about you?" she asked.
"I'll be right behind you ASAP," Johnny pointed out, "I want to check the area to see if Furio really was the only one that was sent. We don't want any nasty surprises he brought with him to come up again later, do we?"
Maya nodded. "I'm staying with you then," she said. With that decided, they strapped Leo into her Jet Jammer so that Alpha could remote control it back to the Megaship.
Johnny couldn't help but smile as he nodded. "Between the 3 of us…" he began, looking at Magna Defender, who nodded. "We should be able to make a sweep of the area pretty easy."
They were quick to get Leo settled in with Kendrix on her Jet Jammer and the 3 fly off and Maya hit the recall on hers, having it fly back on autopilot, planning on teleporting back with Johnny. "Are you really Hyuuga?" she asked the Magna Defender.
Magna Defender nodded. "Once, many centuries ago, but do not refer to me as that but instead Magna Defender as my true name has many bad memories of troubling times that I'd rather put behind me," he requested. Maya and Johnny nodded.
"But how are you still alive?" Maya inquired, "You're Mirinoian, so there's no way you could be 3,000 years old."
"I ran the Djinn Trials and used the wish to elongate my life indefinitely until I can obtain justice for my son Zika," Magna Defender answered, "I've been watching your team for a little while now and am glad to see my friends' legacies live on through such honorable warriors."
"Thank you," Maya said, "To hear that from one of the original champions is an honor and I…"
"We appreciate it," Johnny interjected.
The Magna Defender tilted his head as he regarded the pair for a moment and if he didn't know any better, Johnny would swear he was probably smiling under that helmet and him and Maya couldn't help but wonder what he looked like under it.
"So, it appears that not only do Trasquell's and Rowaz's professional legacies live on, but it would also seem that their personal ones do as well," Magna Defender remarked.
"Wait, Rowaz and Trasquell were together?" Maya asked, too surprised to point out that her and Johnny weren't together. That'd never been in the history books on Mirinoi.
Magna Defender nodded. "They had to hide it but yes, they were lovers as well as teammates," he replied. The 2 were floored at the strange coincidence.
"Wait, why would they hide it?" Johnny asked.
"My counterpart, Rowaz, was a man too and in those days, it wasn't allowed," Maya said, "At the very least, they would've been banished and shunned and if they weren't champions, it most likely would've been worse, possibly even put to death."
"Holy shit," Johnny muttered.
"Indeed," Magna Defender said.
It didn't take them long to search the area and found that Furio had indeed made this apparent suicide mission solo. Johnny noticed Maya crying and gently patted her shoulder. "I can never thank you and Leo enough for avenging my people," she murmured, turning and hugging him.
"Anything for you, Maya," Johnny said. Their heart to heart the week before had helped start bringing them back to being close friends and he was glad as he'd hated having to be so emotionally distant from Maya, who'd been his rock and vice versa almost from the moment they met.
"I hate to interrupt but since we seem to be done here, I must continue my search," Magna Defender interjected. He'd mentioned being on the prowl for something Scorpius had stolen from him back in the day.
"Thank you for helping us make sure and with getting Leo out of here," Johnny said, "Hey look, we need to get to the Megaship to check on Leo, so why don't you come back with us so he can personally thank you when he hopefully wakes up soon?"
Magna Defender shook his head. "I'm not ready to be among civilization right now, though I appreciate the offer," he said, "I hope your people don't mind if I reside here for now. I put out the call to my partner, Torozord, who usually serves as my base, but it'll be a while before he can make it here."
"I'll run it by Commander Stanton, who's in charge of the colony, but I don't see it being a problem," Johnny said, "But you might want to head over to the forest dome. It'll help you be a little more inconspicuous. I'd also like to come talk to you sometime and find out about my predecessor if you don't mind."
"As would I and I'm sure Leo would want to come thank you when he regains consciousness," Maya added.
"If it doesn't interfere with my search… we shall see," Magna Defender replied before walking off. Johnny and Maya hurried off for the nearest place they could teleport from.
PRLG
Though he was still unconscious, Leo seemed to be all right enough. Kendrix decided to stay with him while the others went their separate ways. Johnny got back to his quarters to find everyone up and about. "Where have you been?" Brynne asked.
"Sorry about taking so long getting back but I've already had the craziest day so far," Johnny said before giving them a quick summary of what'd happened. Brynne nodded.
It wasn't long before Johnny went to grab some lunch for them as they were supposed to be keeping their heads low. He was just entering the mall and heading to the Comet Cafe when a high-pitched voice plaintively cried out "Ja-ee!"
Johnny turned as he heard the voice calling out what sounded like his name and smiled when he saw Yoli walking up with Michelle, though he was a little confused as the voice definitely hadn't been his ex's as it'd been far too high pitched.
"What's wrong?" Johnny asked when he saw Yoli in tears but with a broad smile, "Did something happen to Ezmeralda or Mark?" He figured she might be looking for a dress for Michelle.
"Nothing's wrong, but something amazing just happened when Michelle spotted you," Yoli managed to say, "Didn't you hear her?" Johnny just gave her a confused look. She looked to Michelle and pointed to him. "Sweetie, who is that?"
"Ja-ee!" Michelle cried out happily, clapping her hands and giggling.
Johnny was struck mute as his jaw dropped. "Did she really just say…" he began.
"Your name or at least as close to it as she could manage, yep," Yoli said, "Maya was right. You were her first word, Uncle Ja-ee."
"Ja-ee!" Michelle confirmed, reaching out for her "Uncle Ja-ee", who couldn't help but gently take the girl and hugged her close as she kept repeating his name and giggling.
Just then, 3 police officers came walking up. "Are you Johnathan Marshak?" one of them asked.
"That's me," Johnny replied, "Why, what's going on?"
"You're under arrest for the assault of Christopher Marshak," the cop replied.
The officers started to reach for Johnny, but he held his hand up. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, I have no plan to resist or anything, but no need force or handcuffs in front of the little one please," he said.
"Please just let me hand her over to her Mom and I'd be happy to come clear this up with no trouble," Johnny pleaded, "If you want to put cuffs on me, I'll happily let you put them on out of her line of sight, just let's not do this here please." The cops nodded.
Johnny handed Michelle back to Yoli. "Call my Mom and Dads as well as Brynne so she doesn't get worried when I don't get back with lunch for them," he told her.
Yoli nodded. "Don't worry, we'll get you out ASAP," she replied.
With that, Johnny walked out with the cops. Once they were out of sight of Yoli and especially Michelle, he put his hands behind him and let them put the handcuffs on his wrist.
"It's all right," Johnny assured when they seemed reluctant to put them on since he was cooperating, "While I promise you that I'm not a threat, I understand you need to use those to make sure of that." Once they were securely fastened, they escorted him out.
PRLG
Johnny sighed as they finished booking him and put him a cell. "Hey, can you tell me when the attack happened?" he asked the officer that took the handcuffs off him, "Because I haven't seen Chris in weeks and if it's about that day, I can prove it was self-defense."
"Sorry, but all I know is that a warrant was put out for your arrest earlier," the officer replied, shaking his head. "But don't worry, if this is about then, I'm sure you'll be out on bail in no time at the very least, if not cleared of the charges."
Johnny nodded thanks. 'At least there isn't anyone else in here to potentially cause trouble,' he mused as he sat down on a bench. He knew his extended family would get him out of here as soon as bail was set. He didn't know what it was, but something felt off about the cell.
It didn't take long for most of the crew to come see Johnny. "I'm going to go talk to Ryan to get the footage from his cameras to show you acted in self-defense if Chris is trying to say the day you took Aaron and Jodie there was when you assaulted him," Yoli said.
"Thanks," Johnny replied. It was then that he noticed Maya was being oddly quiet, her brow furrowed. "What's wrong, beautiful?"
"I keep hearing a weird noise from in there, like a ticking," Maya said.
"A ticking?" Johnny asked, "That's weird. There isn't anything like a clock in here that I can see."
"It's coming from the bench I think," Maya said, "Wait, the ticking's getting more rapid, almost like…"
Johnny's eyes went wide as he hurried over to the bench, squatted down to look at the underside of it, and found a bomb. "Shit… everyone needs to get out of here and evacuate the building now!" he said.
"Johnny, what's going on?" Tommy asked.
"I think there's a bomb attached to the underside of the bench," Johnny explained, "I don't think there's anywhere near enough time to deactivate it but hopefully there's enough to get everyone out." He subtly tapped his wrist to remind them he could teleport out.
Suddenly, a PA on the wall crackled to life. "That's right, my dear 'cousin'," a cold voice Johnny and Maya recognized immediately sneered, "And don't bother running. It's not only timed but I've also got a remote trigger, so if I see even one person fleeing the building, KABOOM!"
"You're insane if you really think you're going to get away with this, Chris," Johnny growled.
"Oh, don't worry, I've got it all planned out," Chris replied, "I'm working on doctoring footage of 'you' bringing a bomb in with you that you somehow smuggled in right now. It's going to be such a sad story."
"The only sad story's going to be yours soon enough," Johnny said, "You see, even though your stupid little insane sounds foolproof, there's just one little bit of info you don't know that foils your plan."
"And what's that?" Chris asked.
"Oh just 2 little words, Go Galactic!" Johnny said. He punched down then brought it back up with the middle finger extended, also using the middle finger of his right hand to hit the activation button.
Once he was morphed, Johnny reached under the bench, grabbed the bomb from underneath it, and used the tape holding it to the bench to strap it to his chest. "Get out of here as I'm not sure I can absorb it all!" he called over his shoulder to the others.
"NO, I'M NOT LEAVING YOU, JOHNNY!" Maya shouted. However, Leo and the rest dragged her out of the holding area and just in time, as they heard a strange, muffled sound as well as a loud clang just as the door closed behind them before they heard him groaning.
They cautiously went back through to find Johnny in one piece with nothing destroyed though except for the bars, which were bent slightly where he hit them after getting thrown back by the kinetic force of the explosion.
"Did someone get the number off that truck?" Johnny joked weakly. He rubbed his chest, where there were scorch marks, but he didn't seem to be too badly hurt and even those disappeared with a glow in no time.
The cop that had come back with them opened the cell door and they helped a groaning Johnny to his feet as he powered down with a bright flash of light that had them covering their eyes before Maya shot into his arms, gently hugging him as he looked pretty bruised up.
"I don't care if you can absorb it, don't you ever pull a stunt like that again, you hear me?!" Maya exclaimed frantically as she pulled away to make sure Johnny didn't have any injuries. He nodded. "Are you alright?!"
"It kind of feels like a horse kicked me first in the chest and then the back but yeah, I'm alright enough as I think the suit took the brunt of it," Johnny answered, "I forgot my powers don't absorb kinetic force but at least it absorbed all of the energy from the explosion and I was the only one hurt."
"What happened?" the cop asked after shaking off the shock that their prisoner was a Power Ranger and she guessed most of the group was as well.
"Someone just tried to kill me and probably everyone in the building with a bomb and even gloated about it over your PA," Johnny said, "It was the so-called plaintiff in the case I was arrested for, my cousin Chris Marshak." The others nodded.
"Can you prove it?" the officer asked. Her name tag read Roseworth. She was very pretty with shoulder length dark red hair and Johnny could've sworn he'd seen her before but couldn't place it but shrugged it off as there was no telling how many times that he might've passed her up.
"Oh, I definitely can," Yoli said, "I'm Yolanda Vasquez of Vasquez Cybersecurity so if you give me a few minutes at your Security terminal, I should have all the proof you need and more in no time. What about the so-called case against Johnny?"
"I'm sorry, but even with what happened, you still need to stay here before you go before a judge to set bail, but I don't see it going further than that," the officer replied.
Johnny nodded. "I understand and I don't mind waiting as long as there isn't going to be any more attempts to kill me," he couldn't resist adding, "By the way, don't take this as me trying to hit on you or anything, but have we met before, Officer Roseworth? I'm trying to rack my brain, but I can't come up with anything though I feel like I know you."
"Please call me Phoebe and no, I don't think so as I'd remember meeting a big handsome guy like you, but I know what you mean," the officer replied. She shook her head. "Eh, who knows how many times we might've passed each other up on the streets or the mall, right?"
"True," Johnny admitted.
Johnny noticed Maya giving Phoebe a glare at her light flirting before she noticed him looking at her. "Sorry," she mouthed. He shook his head. He knew she'd been working on her jealousy recently, so he wasn't going to say anything.
Leaving Johnny to talk to his family, Phoebe led Yoli to one of the Security consoles she herself had installed months ago. "Wouldn't he have blocked anything from being shown and recorded?" she asked as the Hispanic woman began typing away.
"Oh no, don't worry about that as we have all kinds of backup systems in place to make sure that can't happen and from what they've told me about the jackass, he's nowhere smart enough to… all right, here we go," Yoli said as she brought the video up.
Phoebe's eyes went wide as the scene unfolded on the screen just as Yoli and the others had said. She also had her go back to find out just why Chris was no longer there and how he was able to get a bomb in.
What was even more troubling was that Chris had been smuggled out by a fellow cop that seemed to be his girlfriend as they kissed. "Here, keep the hood up and no one will think twice about you leaving here," she told him, handing him a TVPD hoodie. Said cop came back later smuggling in the bomb.
"All right, I'll see the judge about getting a warrant out for him and Officer Brashier," Phoebe said. "Johnny still needs to go before a judge here shortly, but this will work in his favor.
"I think there's a good chance a PR bond and maybe an ankle monitor will be the most likely outcome given the circumstances for a few days until this can be cleared up," Phoebe finished.
"Johnny will be relieved, thanks," Yoli said.
"Tell me about Johnny," Phoebe requested, "As he said in there, I feel like I should know him but I'm drawing a blank."
"Be glad you asked me as there's only a few people that knows him better on Terra Venture," Yoli said, "I'll have to tell you some other time though as it could take a while." Phoebe nodded. "By the way, he's supposed to be Mark's Best Man come Sunday, so will that be a problem?"
"I'm not sure, but I'll ask the judge," Phoebe replied, "Where's it taking place?"
"We're just going to be holding a relatively small ceremony in Commander Stanton's office," Yoli replied.
"Well, I'd say it probably definitely won't be a problem temporarily modifying the parameters of his ankle monitor Sunday if the judge even goes down that route, but again, we'll have to wait for what the judge says," Phoebe replied. Yoli nodded. "If you don't me asking, how'd you rate getting the Commander to officiate?"
"Well, while he does officiate weddings fairly often and his schedule for doing stuff like that is usually busy, in my case, it doesn't hurt he's Johnny's biological Dad and Mark has known Johnny most of their lives and I've known them both about 4 and a half years now," Yoli said.
Phoebe laughed as she nodded. "Yeah, that definitely helps," she agreed.
PRLG
As promised, it didn't take long for a judge to release Johnny on his own personal recognizance as well as sign an arrest warrant for the Chris and the officer that had helped him both escape and plant the bomb. He didn't even require him to wear an ankle monitor.
Officer Brashier was caught fairly quickly as it had been kept hush about the arrest warrant in the hopes that she'd do exactly what she did, walk in like nothing was wrong. To lighten the sentence of many crimes, she quickly threw Chris under the bus but revealed he'd gone into hiding.
The next day, Ryan didn't hesitate to bring the footage from the day Johnny had brought Aaron and Jodie to the stables, clearing his name of the charges altogether. "I'm sorry it took so long, cuz, but Dad and I also had to make a thorough sweep of our ranch to make sure Chris wasn't hiding out there and that took a while," he said.
"It's cool, Ryan," Johnny said, "I appreciate you doing this for me."
"Anything for family," Ryan replied then sighed.
PRLG
A couple of days after that, Chris still hadn't been caught but against the advice of his extended family, Johnny wasn't going to let that stop him from going about his everyday life.
A new part of Johnny's everyday life quickly became a burgeoning friendship with the Magna Defender. He was quick to go find the ancient warrior once his name was clear. Maya often with him as she was fascinated by him as well, but he asked to limit it to just the 2 of them for now.
Johnny especially loved as he spent the time sparring with Magna Defender as it gave him the opportunity to learn an ancient style of Mirinoian martial arts that even Maya had no clue about while impressing the ancient warrior with his own style. She also joined him in learning it.
Johnny has been showing Maya his own style off and on since they'd met and she seemed to be picking it up. It had especially helped recently in bridging the gap to being close friends again. She got frustrated sometimes but came to understand that it took him the better part of 13 years to get as good as he was at it, so it'd be slow going for her.
They also learned a lot about Mirinoi from 3,000 years ago from Magna Defender, which they both found fascinating. Maya was shocked to find they'd once been fairly technologically advanced, though not to the extent of the Earth-born. It made her curious why they stopped.
Magna Defender also revealed that the portal that sent Maya to Earth's moon had been part of a network of them that the Sting Wingers that had been chasing her had accidentally opened with their blasts. It wasn't their technology though, but something left behind.
"Wait, does that mean Mirinoians have been to Earth?" Johnny asked. He was pretty sure they had since at the very least, it sounded weirdly like Stargate, one of his favorite movies and tv series.
"In all likelihood but I'm not sure as they didn't before I… disappeared," Magna Defender answered, quite adamant in his silence about what happened and where he's been. "Before that, we generally kept our travel to within our solar system."
When asked what he was searching for, Magna Defender also told Johnny and Maya about an ancient power source called the Lights of Orion that he'd been told about during his journey of seeking justice and had been in a race against Scorpius for them.
"Wait, Wise Wizard mentioned something about that when we fought him a few weeks back," Johnny realized. He quickly gave Magna Defender an overview of what had happened.
Magna Defender nodded. "I'm not surprised as I'd say they're after them," he said, "I don't understand why he would've thought the Lights of Orion are here though. I have a sense of when they're nearby and they are nowhere near here."
"Why don't you come to the Megaship with us?" Maya asked, "We could use its sensors to at least try and locate the Lights of Orion and Leo's also been wanting to thank you."
"Maybe soon, but not today," Magna Defender replied. Johnny and Maya both sighed but knew they shouldn't push it.
When they had to head back, Johnny thought of something. "Please keep an eye out as my cousin's hiding somewhere," he said then gave Magna Defender a brief description on what Chris looks like.
"I doubt he'd be anywhere around here or the Galactabeasts would've found him, but just the same, keep an eye out, would you?" Johnny requested, "Don't hurt him if you can help it, just keep track of him and contact us." They'd given Magna Defender a communicator for emergencies.
Magna Defender nodded. "I'd appreciate the same if any of Scorpius' goons come or you find out something about the Lights," he requested. He gave them the energy signature of the Lights of Orion so they could have DECA look for them.
"Of course, though if you don't mind a suggestion, call him Scorpi-ass," Johnny replied, "The goons he sends get pissed off when we do, so we've taken to calling him that every chance we need to."
Magna Defender chuckled at that. "Scorpi-ass, huh?" he asked, "I like that." With that, Johnny and Maya teleported away.
PRLG
Come Sunday, Johnny was standing next to Mark as they waited for Yoli and Maya to come to the office. All of their friends were here as well as Ezmeralda who was holding Michelle, and the Groom's parents as well as Bulk. Tommy and Kim were also there as friends of both.
"Are you all right, bro?" Johnny asked his visibly nervous old buddy softly.
"Other than trying not to throw up from nervousness, yeah, I'm peachy," Mark answered, "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap."
Johnny knew not to take that personally though Mark had snapped at him. "It's cool and that's just a normal thing to feel your wedding day," he said.
Just then, Yoli came in with Maya following closely. She was in full wedding attire and was very beautiful. However, Johnny had eyes only for the Yellow Galaxy Ranger, who looked absolutely beautiful, though a little uncomfortable as she didn't like wearing dresses that much but wanted to respect that it was the norm among Earthborn.
Yoli and Maya quickly joined Mark and Johnny in front of Commander Stanton and when he was assured that they were all ready, started the ceremony. Both Galaxy Rangers hoped this was what it'd be like when they got married.
Commander Stanton proclaimed Mark and Yoli man and wife and they kissed. She tossed the bouquet and Kendrix was quick to catch it. "You're in trouble now, bro," Johnny teased Leo as he softly groaned. They both knew she wasn't superstitious but probably would use this to lightly push him towards marriage.
Yoli and Mark couldn't just take off on their honeymoon due to work and Michelle of course but didn't need to right away. All they felt they needed was each other.
After the ceremony, Johnny was the first to go up and hug the newly married couple. "I'm so glad that you 2 have each other," he said.
"Thanks, Johnny," Yoli replied.
"Thanks, buddy, and sorry again for snapping earlier," Mark said.
"It's all good, bro," Johnny reassured Mark with a grin, "I know when I get married, I'll most likely be the same."
"Gee, wonder who that will be to," Yoli teased softly. Luckily, Maya didn't seem to notice.
"Ja-ee!" Michelle said as Ezmeralda brought her to her Mom and new stepdad. In all the craziness of the last few days, they'd forgotten to tell the others about her first word. Maya looked triumphant as they all laughed.
"Like I said, never bet against Maya," Damon said.
PRLG
A few days later, Kendrix was back to working on the cover stone they'd found a couple of weeks ago when she finally realized a symbol on several parts was that of fire. She carefully heated the spots where the symbol was and words appeared, but they weren't like anything she'd ever seen.
Kendrix groaned at solving one puzzle just to uncover another. She looked up at a soft knock at her office door and Maya walked in. "Sorry to bother you, Kendrix, but I needed to talk to you about something," she said.
"It's all right, as I think I need a break from this damn cover stone before it makes my headache worse anyway," Kendrix said, "What's up?"
"There's this guy I met at the gym the other day named Brayden," Maya said, "He asked me out and I didn't know what to say. He seems like a really nice guy, but…"
"You don't know what Johnny will think," Kendrix finished for Maya, who nodded. "Maya, he's been nothing but encouraging when it comes to you dating guys and I doubt he'll be any different with this one."
"Yeah, but I have a feeling this guy might be different," Maya said.
"As long as he makes you happy, I know that's all that will matter to Johnny," Kendrix said.
Maya nodded. "Thanks, Kendrix," she said. She noticed the cover stone. "Oh, you finally got something from it."
Kendrix sighed. "Yeah, I finally figured out one of the symbols was one of the universal symbols of fire, so I figured heating up the portions that had the symbol on it and it did, only for it to show this… gobbledegook," she said.
"Gobbledegook?" Maya said. She took a closer look at the portion Kendrix pointed to and her eyes went wide. "That's ancient Mirinoian!"
"It is?" Kendrix asked, even more confused. "But how could that be?"
"Well, the Magna Defender told Johnny and I the other day that the portal I went through the first time we met are one of many ancient ones my people used to use to visit other worlds, potentially including Earth, so maybe my people left this on that planet," Maya suggested.
"Good a theory as any," Kendrix admitted, "Can you read it?"
"Most of it, but some parts are scratched through and illegible," Maya explained, "I think it says 'Beware the allure of the Lights, for many have fallen in its pursuit. Only those chosen by fate have hope of wielding them'. That's all the words I can read, but there are numbers."
With that, Maya rattled off a series of numbers. Kendrix quickly found something to write them down on. She looked at them for several minutes with a furrowed brow before her eyes widened.
"I think they're spatial coordinates," Kendrix said, "We need to get to the Megaship. Alpha and DECA should be able to help us figure it out." Maya nodded and they hurried out after she took some pictures of the cover stone and grabbing the sheet with the numbers.
PRLG
Magna Defender was visiting his old friends the Galactabeasts when his head snapped up. 'The Lights are near, I can feel it,' he mused.
PRLG
Somewhere outside of known space and time, a young man in a Ranger suit was sitting in his Megazord went hurtling through a strange grey tunnel, heartbroken that he'd been forced to leave his home dimension by the piece of shit monster riding piggyback.
Time had lost all meaning to the young man as it felt like they'd been falling forever but just when he was about to give in to despair, he heard a loud crackling of energy that sounded like thunder and a flash of pain ripples through him as suddenly…
The end
Notes: Are you hating me for leaving this on such a weird cliffhanger? Who was the mysterious young man, you might ask? Well, some readers that have read my works on other sites may know the answer. And yes, i know I'm portraying Hyuuga as being too nice but hey, without the Lights of Orion being close and him obsessing about them yer, who's to say he might not have been friendlier early on.
Anyway, I have good news and bad news. For the next 4 weeks, I won't be putting out any stories for the White Galaxy Ranger series, though Galactic Justice will keep going. I'll explain why when the time's ready but let's just say the wait should be worth it. I also plan to repost at least some of my old stories from Paladar's world of fanfics, partly to make up for not putting any WGR stories as well as one or 2 new ones that I'm working on, including a possible sequel to Unexpected reunion, though no promises on that anytime soon as I've barely started.
I don't know if I have any PRLG on Paladar's that I don't have here, but I do have plenty of ones set anywhere from MMPR to around the first half of Turbo and some set in completely alternate universes. Anyway, until next time, Catch ya on the flipside.