Disclaimer: The Power Rangers belong to Saban (unfortunately). They are being used without permission, but I'm not getting paid for this story. Amber belongs to me don't use her without asking first.
Preface
I've taken a separate course after the first half of Zeo. Mondo was overthrown by Zotok. An evil general from Uberlise (Moon of Eltar) they are now the Warrior Rangers (yes it sounds corny), Zordon isn't there and Ioah has taken over. She has her assistant android, Nom, who looks a heackuva lot like a teenager. She is a telepathic scientist from Uberlise.
When Ioah came she brought the Warrior Powers, she forgot to tell Zordon that there were nine instead of six or five (which is the norm), and that only certain people with certain biological and psychological characteristics could take the powers. The ones that could accept the power were as follows:
Tommy- Green- Dragon
Billy- Blue- Wolf
Justin- Red- Fox
Tanya- Yellow- Cougar
Kat- Pink- Phoenix
Adam- Black- Panther
? - Silver- Tiger
? - Orange- Pegasus
? - Purple- Unicorn
So, the rangers are left with an incomplete team. And they are at risk for Zotok's attacks.
*******
Part One: Its a Crazy Mixed Up Town
A new school, how many times had Amber done *that*? It was getting redundant. She could almost predict what was going to happen before it happened. She could predict which people she'd get attached to and which she'd be bullied by. However, she got hers back tenfold because with pain came stoicism. It used to hurt when she made friends, and when she fell in love and when she became attached to people, but now she was afraid to fall in love or love at all.
"Your locker is number 417, the combination is 20-4-30." Mrs. Appleby told the auburn haired girl as she handed her a schedule. "Mr. Rowe's class is right across the hall." She directed her. Amber flashed her a toothpaste ad, suck up, brown-noser smile. Her pearly white teeth showed and her lips curved neatly. Underneath the burgundy-coloured lipstick, her lips split slightly. She had moved from Alaska so she was used to the chapped lips due to the chilly weather. She headed out to her locker to put her stuff in it and she run over by a boy who was racing frantically down the hall. She fell flat onto her butt and turned a furious crimson.
"SORRY!" He called down the hall, continuing his flight of fancy. She growled inaudibly, and her anger swelled within her. However, she crushed it within her because she couldn't start out in a new school with a fight. She gathered her things, which were very few and she raced into Mr. Rowe's class as though she were racing for her life. She did this for two reasons: 1) Tardiness on the first day was a no-no, and 2) She who gets to class first gets her choice of seats.
"Morning class." Mr. Rowe greeted them gathering his papers. He was vaguely handsome, but he was teacher so he was way off limits. She twitched her nose and thought, she decided that she'd like this guy. "So we have a new girl. If you'll come on down I'll get your schedule straightened up." Mr. Rowe was energetic, one could say that. After a brief discussion she sat back down in the third row, in the desk that was so horribly abused and vandalized. She took out her notebook and her pen and tried to look studious. Teachers in general called on those who looked off task. He began to talk about the Revolutionary War. "Amber, trivia, who was the father of the American Navy?" He asked her as she scrawled more notes on her pad.
"John Paul Jones." She answered absently.
"And what boat did he sail?" Mr. Rowe wasn't letting her off that easy.
"The Bonhomme Richard." She replied lackadaisically.
"Which means?" Now he was getting nitpicky.
"Poor Richard."
"What boat did he capture?"
"The Serapis."
"All right, and now to history." Mr. Rowe backed off; his ego was bruised enough for one day.
"Nobody's ever done that." Tanya Sloan said in a barely audible whisper behind her. She nodded and resumed her notes. This school wasn't permanent. Moving fourteen times in seventeen years taught her that. Her only function at the school was to learn as much as she could so she could make it in the next school.
********
Angel Grove Park
Amber wasn't one to quickly put down judgement, but her last town had an awesome city park and she had to compare. So she went to the park to observe and admire. She was fairly impressed by the park, it was clean, it was beautiful, and it was well loved.
"Hey, Tommy, wait up!" She heard a feminine Australian voice from behind her. She ignored for the most part until a boy with long brown hair and vaguely Native American features knocked her flat down. The same guy who ran over her in the hall. She was definitely not going to like this guy. She didn't bother to say anything since she'd be gone before they knew her name. Easy come, easy go, that was Amber's life.
"SORRY!" He apologized and continued his flurry to meet his compatriot. "Tommy, you aren't even going to say sorry to her face?" Kat chided him for his rude manners. Before he could turn around Amber had disappeared into thin air. He'd probably run over her tomorrow and he'd say sorry to her face then.
"I can't find her." Tommy was being truthful.
"Wonder where she went to..." Kat scanned the area and she wasn't to be found.
"Anyways, what's up."
"Nom detected a suitable Orange Ranger in the Angel Grove area. At the high school."
"This is great. Anything on the others?"
"Still unfound."
"Tommy, hey, did you hear about the Orange Ranger?" Tanya asked joining her friends.
"Yeah, I did." Tommy replied.
"We're going to meet Adam and Billy at the juice bar, are you coming or not. Billy's got some new invention to show us." Tanya invited her two best friends.
*******
Juice Bar
Rocky and Justin had just finished their lesson and Billy was organizing the great new invention that he wanted to show the rangers. Tommy, Kat, and Tanya appeared and joined the others.
"So, Billy, what is this amazing invention of yours?" Tanya asked the scientist who had long ago abandoned his nerdy ways and become far more appealing, although he still couldn't ask girls out.
"It's a device that will allow us to cut down on how much work Nom has to do to find the others." Billy answered Tanya's question and presented the tiny little devices that could fit anywhere on someone. "You attach somewhere like on your communicator and when it senses a suitable candidate is buzzes slightly. Not enough to disrupt anything, but enough for you to know that it's going off." Billy elaborated, minding his tongue for long words that they might not understand unless they were well versed in a thesaurus or dictionary.
"Cool, that means wherever we go we can search for them." Kat was amazed at Billy's genius, even though he had been stripped of his powers long ago, he never once acted bitter, although it could clearly be read on his face. Now he was back in blue, where he truly belonged. They were all handed one and they attached it to some article of clothing or accessories. Kat put hers on a pendant, Adam put his on his communicator as did Tommy, Tanya, and Billy. Justin placed his on his gigapet knowing that he might one day forget his communicator, but he would never neglect his Gigapet.
"This is neat, but how does it work?" Justin asked the question that all geniuses asked. 'How does the darned thing function?' "Simple, a device inside measures certain physical attributes of nearby entities and when one matches the classifications it trigger the alarm."
Billy had to tone that one down as well avoiding the technical explanation. Since Trini was no longer around to translate for him, he had to be extra careful when he spoke or big intellectual words might slip out.
******
Angel Grove High, Locker 417
Amber's second day at Angel Grove was just like the first. Go to class, then go to lunch, then go to more classes, then go home, eat dinner, go to bed, get up do it again, pretty basic routine. Her life was simple, live and learn. No cheerleading practice till 4'0 clock. No club meetings, no sports, no societies, no hangouts. Just your basic life. And Amber preferred for it to be simple. She gathered her things and then was again run over by Tommy Oliver.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Tommy apologized to her face.
"It's okay. I'm beginning to time you, it's okay." Amber said and Tommy realized that his little doohickey that signified a new ranger was going off wildly.
"What's your name?" Tommy asked, appearing as if he was making small talk, but really being tactical.
"Amber." She replied and left abruptly for Mr. Rowe's class. Tommy was a bit miffed at getting blown off, but he couldn't really blame her. He'd run over her three times in two days, he was shocked she didn't slap him.
Mr. Rowe's Class
Amber took her seat, that she had claimed. Nobody was going to mess with her. All the students knew was her name.
"All right, since Amber here is an expert on history I've prepared a little quiz for her, if she gets ninety or above, you have no homework for the rest of the semester, if she makes below that you all have tripled homework for the rest of the semester." Mr. Rowe was getting his back for his humiliation yesterday. These were tough odds. He brewed up the hardest test he could think of that a student would be able to pass. He handed Amber the quiz that held the students' fate in the balance. Behind her the students prayed that she was smart enough to pass the test. Amber was assured that she'd pass. Time went by very quickly for Amber and very slowly for everyone else.
"What do you want me to do with it when I'm done?" Amber asked, indicating that she was done with the task. A small gasp went up around the room and Mr. Rowe took it. He looked it over and had his pen in hand and was making marks all over her paper and the students' faces fell and some began to brace themselves for the homework they'd get. "I'm sorry Amber," He began and Amber looked at him unflinching "But you made 110." He said ruefully and the great uniformed exhale came from the students. The great Historian himself had been taken down. She'd humbled the bull and made him behave himself. "All right class, seeing as how we will have no homework, will only study the lesson. Open your books to page 134." He began and Amber sighed, she had sat in the chair, without movement and the circulation was being cut off in her body. She was seriously considering which parts of her body she'd have to amputate.
"Thank you." Tanya Sloan said from behind her, neglecting the frantic buzz of the do-hickey that Billy had developed to find the new ranger. Tanya distractedly put the thing in her backpack. She didn't realize until much later that she'd met the new ranger.
Juice Bar
Tanya and Tommy both came racing in bursting with excitement. Tanya entered from the left side door and Tommy from the right.
"I know who the new ranger is!" They said simultaneously. "Amber!" They both exclaimed. They stared at each other for a moment awestruck.
"Whaat?" Adam replied, drawing out the 'a' in confusion.
"We found the new ranger, Amber." Tommy replied, excited.
"Well, where is she?" Billy asked, taking care of the next order of business, telling the poor girl what she was destined to be.
"I don't know. I just know her name. What about you Tanya?" Tommy asked, suspecting she'd yield more info on this mystery girl.
"That's about all I know, and she's really smart." Tanya replied and Billy's interest piqued.
"I'll run into her tomorrow probably, so we'll meet up again. I'll invite her to the park and we tell her there." Tommy planned.
"If all of us show up, won't it look like we're ganging up on her?" Justin asked, insightfully.
"Well, it will. Justin's right. If we all show up she'll think we're trying to jump her or something." Rocky agreed. "Slowly hand over the trigonometry and nobody gets hurt." Rocky was merely speculating, but there was laughter among the group of teenagers.
"So who's going?" Adam asked, which was the next order of business. The laughter died a quick death and everyone stared at each other for a second.
"I'll go." Billy volunteered.
"So will I." Kat spoke up in the conversation for the first time, which was highly unusual since she was quite a conversationalist. However Tommy and Tanya didn't leave a lot of room for discussion. "I guess that it's settled."
- Hallway Near Locker 417
Amber looked down the hall and made sure that Tommy Oliver wasn't coming at her like a maddened bull going at a bullfighter. When she did she him she made sure that she dodged him.
"Amber," He said, striking up a conversation. "Would you be willing to meet two of my friends at the park for me?" This was weird.
"Wait a minute, I don't even know your name." Amber halted the progress of events.
"Tommy Oliver, I'm the one who keeps running over you, remember?" He told her.
"How could I forget?" Amber replied, almost frowning at remembering being run over.
"Well I need you to meet some friends of mine at the park."
"What for?"
"I need you to give them a message." He pulled out a note from his pocket. Amber was very keen on the idea of being party to something secret without fiercely being affected by it. "But don't look at it." And he dampened her elation.
"Wait a minute, why can't you just give it to them here?" Amber's logic shot down Tommy's plan.
"Because I don't have any classes with them and I won't see them today. I have a karate meet." Tommy lied through his teeth. Amber mulled over it in her mind for a moment.
"All right, who are your friends?" She'd taken the bait, but Tommy was still sweating from that one.
"Just sit near the East Side of the park. They'll find you there." Tommy replied. Amber was beginning to suspect that there was something fishy going on.
"What am I getting into? I'm not going to be an accomplice or anything." Amber asked, suspiciously. It was like Amber to be extremely wary, if not paranoid about her surroundings, companions, and their actions.
"Billy and Katherine will explain."
"Wait a moment, if I'm going to be the deliverer of whatever this is I want to know what I'm getting into." Amber had Tommy cornered but as fate would have it the bell rang. Tommy now truly knew what it meant to be saved by the bell. Amber raced into class as if she would be hung, drawn and quartered for treason if she didn't get there.
-Angel Grove City Park
Amber looked warily to her surroundings. Even the tree seemed to be staring at her, and it knew what she'd been doing. All eyes were on her. She was panicking. She fiddled with the note in her hands, and she strained not to look at it. It had been a chore to sit there all day with that tempting note in her position.
"Are you Amber?" A soft Australian voice said from behind her. She turned to see Katherine. Her hair was a whitish blonde; her eyes were bright blue. She was wearing a pink baby tee with white jeans.
"Who are you?" Amber replied, cautious not to tick her off and not to make herself look too willing.
"Katherine Hillard." The girl replied.
Amber held out the note. "Tommy Oliver said to give this to you." Amber replied and then began to leave.
"Stay, we'd like to talk to you." Billy told her and she stood for a moment frozen almost petrified. She didn't know what to do. She sat back down and Billy noted that his beeping thingy was going off like crazy. They had definitely hit the jackpot, however next problem was getting her to accept it.
"About what?" Amber wasn't stupid and she knew when she'd been set up.
"Oh just to talk." Kat made the next move as subtly as possible.
"About what?" Amber still didn't buy it, and she knew enough to know when somebody was about to tell her something major.
"This will be hard to hear, but you must accept it." Katherine was losing her nerve and she hadn't even told her yet. "See a while back Zotok overthrew Mondo in an attempt to conquer Earth. When he did our Zeo powers were rendered useless. However Ioah gave us the Warrior Powers. The catch was there were nine and only a specific person could accept the power. Until yesterday, we had no way to find that person. Then Billy invented a little device that would alerted us to the presence of another Ranger, and you're it." Katherine had pulled it off as well as one could. Billy stood behind her with expectant eyes.
"Please, you must believe us. You must, if you don't Zotok will win." Billy pleaded. Amber hadn't gotten the chance to speak yet.
"Well, I don't know what to say. I'd like to believe you, but me, a Power Ranger, no. No, not me. I'm just Amber, not a Ranger. It was probably somebody else..."
"No, It's you Amber. This device is going nuts. It's you, no doubt."
Billy held up the blinking beeping gadget and she could clearly see that it was her.
"Can I have some time to think about it?"
"Sure. Meet us here Saturday with your decision."
"I only get three days?"
"Zotok probably won't give us that long. If we don't have enough to make at least a reasonable team then there won't be a Saturday to enjoy." Billy could have had if he had pressed the matter further, but he wouldn't. He was afraid of disheartening her from the job.
"Are you serious?"
"I don't think I could be anymore serious."
"All right. Saturday. Until then I do not want to see or hear from you. I don't want anything to sway my decision." Amber rose from the bench and set off for home to do the gravest sort of thinking.
