The Reluctant Ranger

Nicole looked across the rolling fields of green and gold, a handful of butterflies flitting about in the afternoon light.  A nap had indeed been obtained, granted it was barely an hour, but she felt better than she had at the diner.  Grace once again picked her up, opting to carpool rather than take their own vehicles to the same place.  When Grace messaged Jeff it turned out he was off campus visiting his family, but would be on time.

They ate light, grabbing up some burgers on the way to the park.  They were the first to arrive, though the others filtered in not long after and soon they set off down the Monarch long trail until they found an appropriate field for their testing.  

“We’re gonna get covered in ticks,” Jeff said, eyeing the grass with a wary eye. 

Kayla laughed, the sound almost melodic as she pranced into the field.  “You really don’t get out much, do you?  This is great!” 

“Says the Druid,” Grace said, smiling as she shook her head.  “If you’re that worried, just morph first.” 

Jeff paused mid breath, clearly preparing for another rant that was abruptly cut off at its knees.  “Fair point.”  He looked over the watch on his wrist before pressing both buttons.  “So, I just say roll the dice?” 

A flash of purple followed and in his place stood the Purple Ranger with his Dragoon themed helm that was covered in horns.  He looked at his gloves briefly and the sharp barbs protruding from them, almost in awe, then he stepped into the field without hesitation. 

“Pussy,” Kayla said with a smirk, then fell back into the grass with arms outstretched as if it were water.  “Great choice of location, I didn’t even know this existed.  I think I’m gonna start coming here more often.” 

“I’m glad you like it,” Devon said.  “I loved this place growing up and remembered the fields and thought it might work.” 

Nicole nodded along, looking across the stretch of grass as it rippled in the breeze.  It really was perfect for their needs, and the odds of someone spotting them depended on how occupied the trails were.  Still, as low as the likelihood of someone seeing them might be, it still wasn’t zero. 

“Roll the Dice,” Nicole said, throwing a holographic D20 forward as a flash of inverted light enveloped her and brought with it a surge of power.  “Shall we begin?” 

Grace grinned, pressing her own morpher before speaking the words, flicking her own die, and flashed red.  Her helm held the tricorne design of her old outfit and the waist flaps kept an impression of her old tailcoat rather well.  “Let’s get to it!” 

Nicole grinned, stepping off to the side of the others, facing Grace the whole way as she adopted the karate stance she vaguely remembered.  Nicole hadn’t practiced in nearly a decade, and barely advanced to green belt before dropping out.  She couldn’t remember if that was anything impressive, but she didn’t think since she at least remembered that brown and black were the highest. 

On the other hand, Grace had said she didn’t have any real fighting experience prior to becoming a Ranger, just that she knew how to swing an axe.  Nicole had a theory about Rangers, one she was about to test.  The others had morphed, and settled in to watch, all that was left was to kick it off. 

A wasp flitted past Nicole’s helmet, and she was surprised at just what she could perceive of its flight.  Each wingbeat was in slow motion, her perception far beyond even her phone’s best slow motion function.  It was strange how the helmet was so unintrusive, she could tell it was there, yet it didn’t intrude upon anything in her normal field of vision.  Taking a deep breath, Nicole pushed off, her foot digging deep into the soft earth then she was halfway to Grace in the time it took the wasp to flap its wings.  

Grace wasn’t sitting idle, her arm coming up to block Nicole’s punch, which she allowed, flowing into a roundhouse that caught Grace right in her side and sent her tumbling.  Something sparked on impact, and Nicole realized that it was some sort of kinetic barrier projected around their suits. 

Shaking that realization off, she fell back into her stance, letting Grace try her hand at a distance closer.  It was strange how their enhanced strength and speed worked, something about it felt weird, like she was missing something.  She didn’t have time to dwell upon it as Grace crashed into her shoulder first, opting to use overwhelming brute force rather than finesse. 

Nicole found herself tumbling from the impact, each bounce carving through the dirt and rock of the field, each impact throwing sparks.   Her journey came to an abrupt stop as her back became well acquainted with an ancient tree trunk as wide as she was tall.  Nicole couldn’t help but laugh as she regained her bearings.  She hadn’t felt a thing, just a dullness to each hit.  After taking a moment to savor the rush of what just happened, Nicole pulled herself free, fingers splintering the bark and wood under her enhanced grip. 

“You alright?” Grace yelled, her voice slightly distorted by the helmet. 

She decided to be cheeky, forming her energy blades in hand and flicked them towards her newest friend.  Grace yelped, dodging with a bit of a flail as she stumbled and fell on her ass.  Kayla cackled, she was morphed but had set her helmet aside and kept her hood down as she watched.  She definitely fit the definition of a druid for as much as she seemed to enjoy nature. 

“Bitch!” Grace exclaimed, hopping back to her feet, then her axe was in hand and Nicole smiled for a moment, right up until Grace reared back and threw the damn thing right for her.  

Rather than dodge, Nicole stood firm and drew her own curved blades.  The axe was moving swiftly, but not so fast that she couldn’t follow it.  Nicole’s dagger caught the axe broadside, defecting it just enough to soar past her.  The impact sounded like a meteor impact behind her, but she didn’t flinch. 

Rangers didn’t look at explosions after all. 

Grace’s head tilted to the side while Jeff and Kayla cheered.  Nicole started to stalk forward, picking up speed with each step forward until she had fallen into a sprint.  Grace hadn’t moved from her spot and Nicole was just starting to wonder what she had planned when her hand snapped up, held open as if... 

Nicole’s eyes widened as she dove into a roll, the massive axe sailing just past where she had been and smacking firmly into Grace’s waiting hand.  Nicole got back to her feet easily enough, and she couldn’t help but clap for the display. 

“Didn’t know it could do that,” Grace said, looking over her weapon.  “Think we should all try it?” 

“Sure,” Nicole said, hurling her daggers into the distance.  She focused on where they stuck themselves into the distant tree.  Rather than dislodging themselves, they vanished into motes of light and reappeared in her hands.  “That’s different.” 

“Oh, let me try,” Kayla said, her staff appearing in hand in a swirl of multicolored petals.  

It was quite a beautiful display. 

Kayla hurled the staff skyward, and it quickly turned into a speck on the horizon, though Nicole could still see it in perfect clarity as if it was right in front of her.  That was probably the most disconcerting part of the whole becoming a Ranger thing, the enhanced senses.  She could hear the ants crawling at her feet, each flap of a butterfly’s wing, everything was sharp as hell when she morphed and it was proving to be quite disconcerting even if she was able to tune them out with a bit of focus.  

Nicole was forced to admit that she was now a walking kungfu movie stereotype.  

Soon, Jeff was throwing and recalling his spear while Devon was trying to figure out his own method of ranged attack.  Kayla then proceeded to summon her vines, shrug, and wove them into a hammock and took a seat on it with a gentle hum.

After several minutes of just tossing and recalling their weapons, and Nicole trying and failing to properly juggle her blades, Devon yelled in frustration as he stomped off to pick up his blade again. 

“Why won’t this work?” He yelled, lifting up the sword and waving it about.  “It works for all of you.” 

“Maybe you’re looking at it from the wrong angle,” Nicole said, stepping beside him.  “We seem to operate off of some weird fantasy logic, so perhaps you could try a blade beam?” 

Devon scoffed.  “Like that would work.” 

“Maybe give it a try before dismissing what she says?” Grace snapped back before forcing herself to relax with visible effort.  “Seriously, just chill.  We’re all learning here, no need to lash out at your fellow Ranger for trying to help.” 

Rather than glare at Grace, he looked to his sword, his expression was hidden by his helmet just like they all were.  Even Kayla had put hers back on while they practiced with hurled projectiles, though it had taken a near miss to get the point across.  After a few minutes of nothing happening, Jeff and Kayla went back to playing with the recall ability of their weapons. 

Nicole was leaning against a tree, watching Devon closely when Grace stepped beside her. 

“You sure you aren’t just having him on right now?” Grace asked. 

Nicole shook her head.  “No.  I figure it’s something like my throwing knives, he just has to figure out the best way to channel it.” 

The area was peaceful, aside from the occasional flash of a thrown weapon, it was a stark contrast to the chaos that they had survived just a day ago.  They’d come out changed, with a power no person should reasonably have, but allowed them to protect and save others.  Nicole knew she wasn’t worthy of it, few people would be. 

They were all the city had, the only line of defense that would be able to protect the civilians from the Sylan invaders.  It was a bit of a joke, even if she was having fun trying out the new abilities she possessed as the Black Ranger. 

“We’re so far out of our element here,” Grace said, almost echoing her thoughts.  “Even if we train non-stop, will we be ready for the next attack?” 

“Probably not,” Nicole said softly.  “Worse, I expect the casualties to be higher next time.” 

Grace’s red helmet turned.  “How do you figure?” 

“Reading over past attacks,” Nicole said.  “Typically, places attacked without a Ranger presence use weaker machines and withhold the mutants.  When Rangers are selected and mount a defense, those weaker machines aren’t sent in anymore.  We’ll start seeing the upgraded models, but in smaller numbers, along with more things like that mutant scorpion.” 

Grace made a gagging sound.  “That thing looked horrific, with the oozing flesh and metal aesthetic.  You would think they looked at some horror films and ran with it just to unnerve us.” 

“They might have,” Nicole agreed.  “What do we actually know about the invaders?  We know we’re not the first, someone had to create these powers and point them at the Sylan.” 

The vision she’d had of their losing battle against the invaders had been sobering.  It showed what they could bring to the field if push came to shove, and it made her wonder why they didn’t just flood the planet and take over.  There had to be a reason beyond not wanting the human race to retaliate with nukes and irradiate the planet. 

“Little to nothing,” Grace agreed.  “Our military did decently enough for the technology gap, but they held air supremacy before the first day was done.” 

“Then the Rangers came and the tactics changed with them,” Nicole mused. 

There had to be some significance to that, why the invaders were spooked by the appearance of the Rangers.  A flash of silver light drew her attention and Nicole found herself smiling.  Devon held the glowing sword high, then swung, an arc of energy shooting off across the field before felling several trees. 

“Nice,” Grace said, kicking off the tree and walking towards their fellow Ranger.  “Looks like we’ve all got a ranged option now.  That’s a good start.” 

“It sure is,” Devon agreed, swinging his sword again.  Another flash of silver shot off into the sky, disrupting a low cloud as it disappeared into the distance.  “I’d say this was a rather successful training session.” 

Kayla snorted, then summoned her staff back as she hopped off her vines.  “Think we’ve got other tricks related to our forms?” 

“What, like Black over there going invisible?” Jeff asked, leaning on his spear. 

“Huh,” Nicole said softly, focusing on the power flowing through her.  Could she do something like that?  Invisibility stirred nothing within her mind, but the thought of shadows...  She stepped over to the woodline and into the shade of a large tree.  Immediately she felt different, almost comforted by the cover of darkness, weak as it was.  “Can everyone still see me?” 

“Duh?” Devon scoffed.  “Please don’t tell me that was a racist joke.” 

“Fuck no,” Nicole said, genuinely offended by the implication.  “It’s just, being in the shadows feels different to me, almost as if it’s where I belong.” 

“Oh, that’s how I felt when we stepped into the woods!” Kayla exclaimed.  “Maybe you’re onto something with that.” 

Kayla almost skipped out into the field, her staff in hand as she slammed it down, letting the vines flow freely.  Nothing seemed all that different from the first fight, at least at first, then she saw that the staff seemed to be taking root in the ground itself.  Nicole watched in fascination as the entire thing seemed to blossom in the setting sunlight. 

“Okay, as beautiful as this looks,” Jeff started to say, then those roots erupted from the earth and ensnared all four of them in a blink. 

Nicole yelped, falling back, and through the vines, her vision turning monochrome as she landed in the dirt.  Shit, what did she just do?  How did she even do it?  She’d been trapped, needed to get away, to fade back into the background where she would be ignored.  Was that it? 

Nicole hopped to her feet and skipped back, her movements still just as physical as ever despite being out of sync with the greater world.  The ground somehow didn’t count as something she could phase through, or maybe it was something else preventing her from falling into the earth itself. 

“Shit, where did Black go?” Devon asked. 

The others were free of the vines and looking around, Grace especially seemed a bit frantic.  Chuckling, Nicole started walking over to them, still out of sync with the rest of the world.  She felt a bit sluggish when the light touched her, as if she wasn’t even morphed, which was a fair trade off for being outside the tangible spectrum when shrouded in darkness. 

“Nicole!” her friend yelled, hands cupped around the mouth guard of her helmet.  “Shit, everyone, fan out.  She can’t be far.” 

Nicole chose that moment to unclench her hold on that power, and the world came back to color around her as she stepped into the clearing with them.  “Why’s everyone yelling?  I’m right here.” 

Grace spun quickly, jumping back as she did.  The others visibly relaxed, Devon’s shield dropping from a defensive stance, and Kayla’s vines calming in their agitation.  It was almost sad that they couldn’t see her cheeky smile, it was a really good trick and she was going to experiment with it as much as she could.  Something about that feeling told her she could vary the effect and she was eager to test it.  

“Woah, how did you, you know?” Jeff asked, gesturing at the open field as he did. 

“Stealth field,” Nicole answered.  “When the vines grabbed me I felt a need to get away and it clicked.  I slipped right through as if they weren’t even there.” 

“That’s way more than just a stealth field, girl,” Grace said as she stepped forward, holding up an open hand.  Nicole high fived her, then Grace punched her shoulder.  “Don’t scare us like that again.” 

“No promises,” Nicole answered coyly. 

“Hey!”  As one, all five of the Rangers turned to the source of the voice.  The man was wearing a tan cowboy hat and matching uniform.  He didn’t appear armed, but that didn’t mean much.  “You’re destroying protected forests, I’m going to have to...  Oh shit, you’re the new Rangers.” 

Looking around, they’d made a mess of the field, and some of the forest besides.  The sun was setting, the sky beginning to fall into the oranges of the late evening.  It was a good start, but she knew they would need to do more if they wanted to be ready.  Unfortunately, they had indeed made quite the mess of the area.

Kayla took the initiative, stepping forward.  “Sorry about that.  We needed somewhere away from people that wouldn’t be easily seen.”  She then slammed her staff back into the earth, and her vines spread out.  Flowers blossomed across the field.  “It’s not perfect, but I can at least ease the mark we leave behind us.” 

“Oh,” the man said.  “That...  I suppose that works, but you’re still out of line.” 

“Won’t happen again,” Jeff said, saluting.  “Keep up the work, officer!”

Grace nodded.  “Yup.  We’ll just be on our way now.” 

With that, the five of them took off into a sprint, leaving the bewildered park officer in their wake. 

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