Disclaimer: I own nothing anyone recognises.

Feedback: Much appreciated.

AN: RIP Donald Sutherland, whose career included making President Snow the man we all loved to hate but respect at the same time (obviously Sutherland had several other roles; Snow is just the one most relevant to this fic)

Twice Chosen

Teleportation was one aspect of being a Ranger that I wasn't sure I'd ever properly understand. Liv and Alpha had explained some of the details to us, but all that stuff about matter being converted to energy and transmitted as though it was a message was very much over my head. I just hoped that I understood enough of what was happening to be sure that it was safe to rely on this system to send us all the way to another planet. Alpha had assured us that the whole experience would be relatively quick, so we should apparently only need to be away from Earth for a few hours depending on how long it took us to deal with things at this end, but the prospect of visiting another planet…

I was privately glad that we had to be morphed to travel this particular distance. If I was going to another planet, I didn't want to seem like I didn't trust anyone, but I also wanted to be ready for anything as soon as possible if something came up. After the strange sense of teleportation ceased- following a more drawn-out version of the strange sensation I had felt in the past- I found myself standing in a large forest with reddish trees (the leaves and wood were a reddish tint even if they still seemed to be mainly green), under a sky in a strange shade of purple.

"Wow," Liv said from behind me, prompting me to look back to see how the other two had coped. The Blue Ranger was staring around us with a clear sense of awe even with the helmet over her face, while Thresh had his arms folded and was in a more defensive stance.

"Is… everything OK?" I asked, looking cautiously at the former District Five resident.

"Huh?" Liv looked at me before she gave me a reassuring smile. "Oh yeah, there's nothing to worry about; I checked with Alpha and this planet's well within a range where we can live here. I'd be cautious if we're offered anything to eat or drink, and there's a few things in the atmosphere that might be difficult if we were here for a longer while without the suits, but right now we're good."

"How long is-?" Thresh began.

"We'll worry about that if we have to worry about it," I cut Thresh off, deciding to keep our focus on the matter at hand. "Where do we find the Sword of Light?"

"Uh…" Liv raised her arms and slid her fingers over something on her left wrist, which created some kind of holographic display. "That way."

"Hey, where did-?" Thresh began.

"One benefit of being the smart Ranger is that I get some of the gadgets," Liv explained as she turned the map off and gave us an apologetic shrug. "Alpha's been giving me a few pointers, but I just never had a reason to use some of the extras until now."

"But you would have mentioned them if we needed them before now, right?" I gave her a pointed look.

"Of course," Liv nodded at me, before she waved her hand forward. "Anyway, if we go this way for a bit, we should see some form of civilisation soon enough."

With nothing better to say right now, I followed Liv's direction and walked along in the direction indicated, Thresh and Liv falling into position behind me. I was still amazed that I had fallen into this kind of leadership position so easily, even when there was no actual reason for the rest of the team to have any kind of 'respect' for my authority, but I was just as surprised to find that I was coming to like it. I'd struggled to cope with the responsibility of holding our home together after the mining accident, but right now…

Maybe it was because I was now in charge of a team of capable people who could handle themselves if things went wrong, but I didn't actually mind being the leader in this situation. I'd had to take responsibility back home so that I wouldn't be separated from my sister, but right now I was just coordinating our next course of action. I understood that they were facing a serious situation, but we had time to deal with it and we could afford to enjoy the experience. Taking in a new planet was an unconventional experience, but at least it all seemed safe, and we didn't have to face anything dangerous right away.

When we stepped out of the forest and found ourselves looking down on a large circular structure, I was amazed to see what had to be the city we had come here to visit. There was something in the design that made me think of the concept of the Capitol and the Districts, with the Capitol in the centre and the Districts around it, except that this city did it literally, with one large circle in the centre and six smaller circles around the edges linked by larger paths. The buildings themselves made me think of the Capitol itself, with several tall structures at the centre of the circle and becoming smaller as they reached the edge, but in this case the buildings were made of metal rather than stone.

"Very impressive," Liv nodded as she stood beside me.

"Big," Thresh conceded, even if he sounded more casual about it all. "So that's where this Sword is?"

"Probably," Liv confirmed as she held up the display on her forearm. "It's somewhere in there according to this thing, anyway."

"OK then," I nodded at my two teammates. "Keep alert but keep your helmets up; if Zordon was right about the reputation Rangers have on other worlds, we want to make it clear we're here on…"

"Just say 'business'," Liv finished for me with an approving nod as she indicated the city before us. "Let's go."

Just as we started to walk towards the city, there was a strange crackle of green energy and we were suddenly surrounded by strange grey creatures with limbs that seemed to be somehow segmented, long sharp blades extended over their hands, and some kind of segmented face with multiple eyes.

Liv, Thresh and I immediately shifted into a defensive stance, but our attention was soon drawn to a more distinctive figure who seemed to be the leader of this group. The creature's torso was shaped in a manner that made me think of a human woman, but the body was covered in what I could only describe as armoured scales, like it was some larger reptilian Mutt that the Capitol had created for the Games. The head seemed to have large 'eyes' that made me think of a fly, even if its mouth still seemed human, and thick strands hanging down its back that made me think of hair even if they were clearly something more solid.

"Greetings," the green thing said, with a surprisingly female voice despite a gargling edge to its voice that made me think of someone talking through water. "I take it you have just come to Mirinoi?"

"You… could say that," I said, looking carefully at the grey creatures around us while also keeping my attention on the green female.

"Excellent," the creature said, its face twisting in what could be a grin if it was just human. "Then you can assist me in dealing with the Rangers of this planet."

"And why should we do that?" Thresh glared at the creature.

"Because you are far from your home planet and cannot hope to defeat my own forces," the creature said, indicating the bladed grey creatures around us. "You cannot hope to defeat us-"

Pulling out my sword, I slashed out at the nearest creature before any of them could react to my movement, sending it flying backwards as Thresh and Liv drew their own weapons.

"I get that I'm new, but I'm fairly sure that if you want to destroy the local Rangers you're not the good guy here," I said, the three of us raising our weapons as we glared around at our new enemies. "So back off, or this gets ugly."

The green creature let out a loud screech and charged towards me, leaving me to deflect its attack with my sword while Liv and Thresh dived into the group of bladed creatures around us. Even with my own limited experience at fighting, it was clear that this thing was a very experienced fighter, but I was able to hold my own anyway, deflecting its rapid attacks with my sword and forcing it back. I was suddenly reminded of something Glimmer had told me about how inexperienced foes could be unpredictable, as this monster never managed to actually touch me, but I wasn't sure if I was keeping this opponent at bay or if this thing was just toying with me-

A kick to my stomach sent me staggering back, desperately trying to parry the next blow before I found myself with a large green hand on my throat, the creature's human/insect-like face practically pressed against my helmet.

"You had a chance to help me," the creature said as it tightened its grip on my hand. "And now you will-"

"Back off, Trakeena!" another voice called out, followed by a large blast of golden energy striking my attacker on the side and sending it flying away from me with such force that I was almost pulled along myself before it released its grip.

Turning around, I couldn't stop myself from staring in shock at the sight of six new Rangers standing before me, weapons raised as they took in the fight before them. Their own armour seemed similar to the armour of my own team, but I soon noticed a slightly different animal motif to the helmets, and their chests had a strange white-and-black pattern where we had a large blue glow on our own suits. Five of the Rangers were in similar armour to my own team, in red, yellow, blue, pink and green armours with black-and-white patterns on their chests, but the sixth figure had black armour and a large gold design on the chest, as well as gold bands around his arms (I would assume the figure was male just to keep things simple until I knew otherwise).

"You?" the creature who was apparently named Trakeena yelled indignantly. "How did you-?"

I cut Trakeena off by using her distraction to kick her in the chest myself, forcing her further back just as an energy blast skimmed past her head. I glanced to the side to confirm that Thresh had been the one who fired that shot as he drove back his own attackers, but he soon fired another shot that managed to hit its target and send Trakeena flying towards the new arrivals. The red and black Rangers slashed out at Trakeena with their own swords as she flew forwards, sending her flying backwards again in time for Liv to turn around and bat their monster away with her own weapon. As the green creature hit the ground, the six new arrivals ran up to force the grey creatures back while Liv and Thresh joined me in standing over Trakeena, our weapons all pointing at her.

"Do you want to push this?" I said, unsure why I was making that kind of threat even as I enjoyed the sense of power for a change. "We're not going to help you-"

Trakeena let out a frustrated roar and lashed out at us both with a desperate swipe of her claws, knocking the weapons out of our hands. The three of us leapt to retrieve our lost weapons, but by the time that we had grabbed them and turned around again, the insect-woman had vanished, leaving only a few of the grey creatures that were easily put down by the other Rangers before we even got there.

"That was… quick," Liv glanced over at Thresh and I. "She didn't really stick around, did she?"

"Probably didn't have that much of a plan to use us for anything," Thresh shrugged. "It's not like we told anyone we were coming earlier; she probably just took a chance and bailed when she could see it wouldn't work."

There was a sudden sound from behind us that made me think of some kind of howling noise. I turned around to see the other Ranger team looking at us with a sense of curiosity about their manner, the Yellow Ranger standing in front of the others as she (her armour was designed in a manner that suggested a female body) said something in a language I couldn't understand.

"Uh… what was that?" I said uncertainly. The other Rangers looked at each other for a moment before the Red Ranger stepped forward and said something else, even if it was still incomprehensible to me.

"Sorry, but we… don't speak that," Liv said as she stepped forward, waving her hands and gesturing apologetically at the faceplate around our mouths. "This is… we're new here…"

After the other Rangers exchanged glances with each other, the Green Ranger stepped forward and held up his hands to press a couple of his fingers against his forehead. I exchanged glances with Liv and Thresh, but then there was what I could only describe as a strange pulse of energy from his helmet.

"Sorry about that," the Green Ranger said, his words now suddenly understandable. "We didn't realise how far you'd come from."

"Huh?" Thresh looked at him in surprise. "How did you do that?"

"It's part of my telepathic abilities," the Green Ranger explained. "I'm essentially projecting our words into our minds so that we can all understand each other."

"Telepathic?" Thresh repeated.

"It means he can read the minds and thoughts of others without anyone needing to speak to him directly," Liv explained, looking at the Green Ranger with an approving nod. "Neat."

"Thanks."

"So," I said, now that we could understand what everyone was saying, "I take it you know what that green thing was?"

"Trakeena," the Red Ranger explained. "She's committed to destroying our city because we were responsible for the death of her father."

"How?" Liv asked. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking-"

"He was trying to claim our city's main power core as part of a collection of powerful artefacts and potential weapons he's assembled, and we killed him in self-defence," the Blue Ranger shrugged. "Trakeena's been trying to continue his mission of collecting artefacts and using them as weapons, but her focus is on destroying us in revenge for his death."

"I see," I nodded at the other Rangers in acknowledgement. "Sorry we didn't do anything to her."

"We'll deal with her eventually," the Black Ranger said with a cool shrug. "Trakeena's main weakness is that she sometimes acts on impulse rather than any kind of plan; she'll keep making mistakes and we'll find her eventually."

"OK…" Liv said. Her tone was uncertain, but I chose not to worry about the situation that much; as much as I sympathised with the plight of this new team of Rangers, we had our own problems to deal with already.

"Anyway," I said, hoping that I wasn't about to do something accidentally insulting as I stepped forward and held out my hand, "I'm the Red Ranger of the planet Earth; my name is Katniss, and these are my teammates, Liv and Thresh."

"Andros," the Red Ranger stepped forward to shake my hand, before he stepped back to indicate the others. "This is my sister Karone, and these are our teammates, Maya, Tyzonn, Trip and Trey."

"Good to meet you all," I nodded at them.

"If we're going to talk, can we do this out of armour?" the Yellow Ranger (Maya, if I remembered the Red Ranger's introduction correctly) said.

"That might not be-" I began.

"We can do it for a little while," Liv cut me off, before she reached up and turned off her armour, looking at the other Rangers with a careful smile. "I'm not sure we're a good fit for your atmosphere, but we can manage without the armour for a bit, anyway."

Following her cue, and hoping I'd understood Liv's explanation correctly, I powered down myself, with Thresh doing the same at basically the same time as the other Rangers.

As the Rangers demorphed, I fought down to the urge to jump as I took in their respective appearances. Where Rita had looked somewhat human apart from those ridges around her face, this group of Rangers was far more obviously non-human, with a greater variety of alien features compared to the rest of us.

Of the six, Andros and Karone looked basically human, apart from Andros having hair that seemed to be a natural two-tone mix of dark and light, although they also had very pronounced ridges along their foreheads just above their purple eyes, and I noticed an extra finger on each hand under their dark leathers. Maya put me in mind of a dog-mutt, with a short snout instead of a mouth and fur all over her exposed skin, although her body proportions seemed to be otherwise human in a manner that I noticed drew Thresh's attention under her tight yellow dress. Tyzonn's features were silver in colour and seemed to be constantly shifting slightly as I watched, as though his face couldn't settle on one form, and even his size seemed to shift slightly under the dark blue jacket he wore. Trip actually seemed to have a massive diamond on most of his head, and I even thought I could see his brain through it, although most of his skin was a light green that seemed to be made up of small scales even if he also wore an orange jacket and black trousers over a green shirt. The really weird one was Trey, whose head seemed to have three faces on it, each face getting the chance to turn so that it was facing me and the others at some point as though each face had its own personal awareness, although his outfit was a simple black with gold trim that made me think of Cinna.

Their armour might share a similar pattern to ours, but not only were these people very clearly not humans, aside from Andros and Karone they didn't even seem to be the same species as each other.

"Whoa," Thresh said, voicing my own thoughts. "And I thought we had a diverse group…"

"To be fair, we're very diverse even by Ranger standards," Andros said with a friendly smile before he looked curiously at us. "We can cover that later; the important thing right now is why are you all here?"

"Trip doesn't know that already?" Liv asked.

"I try not to read the minds of known allies unless it's an emergency," Trip explained. "I'm just translating right now; I don't want to go deeper without your permission."

"We're 'known allies'?" Thresh said in surprise. "You just met us-"

"You're Rangers," Maya smiled, which somehow managed to seem friendly even with her sharp teeth. "That's all we need to know."

"…Thanks," I nodded at her before I turned to Andros. "We came here for the Sword of Light."

"The Sword of Light?" Andros repeated. "Why?"

"Long story short?" Liv took up the explanation. "The Green Power Coin for our team has fallen into the hands of a guy with serious issues against our planet's government and innocent people are getting hurt. We were told that we could use the Sword of Light to purify the Green Coin so that we can pass it on to someone more suitable and make sure the current wielder can't keep trying to hurt people with it."

"I see," Andros nodded, before he looked at me with a curious smile. "And will you be keeping custody of the Sword after you've used it?"

"No," I shook my head, having already discussed this with Zordon and Alpha. "Our world is… going through a difficult period right now; we can't be sure that the Sword would be safe there long-term."

"What kind of difficulties?" Karone asked.

"It's a whole thing involving our planet's leaders being arrogant dicks who think they have the right to control everything and have been forcing our people's kids to fight to the death for decades," Thresh gave a grim shrug. "We're dealing with it, but we'd rather not have responsibility for an artefact like that when we're basically staging a revolution at the same time."

"Revolution?" Trey repeated.

"We're all in agreement that we won't take power once it's over, but when our planet's been like this for the last few decades it was decided that we needed to take more affirmative action than usual," Liv explained. "We discussed it with our mentor and we all agreed what we could and couldn't do in this situation."

"Huh," Tyzonn nodded in acknowledgement, glancing over at the other Rangers before the others exchanged a nod and looked back at us. "All right then; I'll be coming back with you to take the Sword back once you're done with it."

"That works," I smiled at him, before I looked back at the city. "So shall we get on with this?"