Graduation Parties P1

Posted on Sat Aug 30th, 2025 @ 8:35am by Kilena Keithron & Damien McGinnis & Spencer Gustaffson & Remeren Sunoto

1,083 words; about a 5 minute read

The auditorium was packed out. Damien grimaced as he looked out at the crowd. The dress uniform suddenly felt tighter than his ranger suit. Like he couldn't breath.

"Thanks for coming." He finally cleared his throat "You know, a lot of people never thought I'd graduate, much less be giving the commencement address for graduation. I'm a bit of a goofball. Okay, a lot of one. No idea how I ended up as a team leader."

He laughed awkwardly at his own joke as he looked out at the silent auditorium. No laughs. No applause. Just silence. But there was something else. A noise. Like a dull thrum of...

An engine.

He realized it too late as the roof of the auditorium was ripped away, a Kaldore carrier floating above them. A number of drones came down along with a few other creatures he didn't recognize.

"Everyone stay calm!" He yelled into the microphone "C team, let's get to work!"

He dashed from the stage, disappearing into the crowd, finding himself in an exchange with a pair of drones. He side stepped the first ones strike before sweeping a leg under the second, coming back up with an uppercut to the jaw of the first. He narrowed his eyes as he looked around. People were running around screaming. Panicked. No one was paying any attention.

"Okay, let's dance." He said, twisting his left wrist and his right hand, nothing happening "What? This is meant to be the part where crystals and Morphers happen..."

He narrowly dodged another strike, finding himself stumbling back into Kilena and Spencer.

"Anyone else finding themselves morphinominally challenged?" He asked.

As soon as the engine sounds started, Spencer's eyes were darting around. The drones dropped quickly, and seemingly with a goal - specifically to him, it seemed like they were going after the Rangers. As he darted toward the attackers, he wasn't sure how the broom handle got into his hand, but he was holding it like a staff. As Damien stumbled back, Spencer swung the stick around him into the drone, trying to clear space. At the question about his morphing, he shrugged and drew into a ready stance with the improvised weapon. "Haven't tried yet, but something definitely does feel 'off'."

Aboard the ship, Rocketron watched the initial wave of the assault with a smirk. The cooperation between the Empire and the Cult was going well. The fact that the Rangers had not yet appeared was a sign that everything was going according to plan. But for now, he would wait patiently, and let the waves of grunts go to soften up his enemies before he came in to deal the final blow and seize the Solar Crystals.

Kilena frowned a little as she took in the scene. This was so familiar but she had not seen drones in a stadium before. She grabbed Damien up as a drone kicked him. “I do not feel like you are so lucky right now.” She whispered softly as for once she was not one step ahead.

"I don't know what you mean." Damien replied sarcastically "Getting knocked on my ass feels totally lucky."

“Let’s start evacuation procedures. Get people to the safety zones.” Kilena pointed out as people panicking were causing people to trip over and get stampeded.

"Agreed," Damien nodded to her "You work with the other GPF cadets to co-ordinate the evac. Spencer, you and me will be keeping the heat off them."

“Are you sure?” Kilena asked quietly as she looked at him steadily. Kilena might not be able to feel outcomes or anything but she also knew Damien.

Spencer glanced at Kilena, bracing the broom and getting ready to charge forward. "We both know he's sure, K. We'll cover you. If you happen to see the case with my deerhorns, grab 'em for me. I was going to be part of one of the demos later, and they'd be better than a broomstick."

"No, he isn't." Kilena looked at the group but nodded. She glanced around at the other officers helping with the evacuation process. She was sure her husband was somewhere in the midst, but she had no idea where.

"She's right." Damien admitted "It's a terrible idea in this scenario but regulations are clear. In the event of a hostile action, priority one is minimizing civilian casualties. All other concerns are secondary. We need to make sure everyone is safe and then try to get a signal outside to call in reinforcements and also tell Valdana to keep her distance. We have to assume whatever is blocking our powers would block hers too. So we need her investigating outside to confirm where any interference might be coming from."

“Delivek can coordinate and I can try and find a way to signal.” Kilena mumbled as glanced around and sighed as she saw the woman who had stabbed her and left her for dead. “We need to be carefully Lunandria is here and her staff can practically melt through our armour.” She reminded wishing she had read more of her father’s notes on why he was researching her.

Spencer snorted, tightening his grip on the broomstick that was feeling weaker by the moment. "Well, that's me done trying to be supportive for once. We have to fight. We have to win."

He looked at the other two Rangers, his expression grim as Kilena pointed out Lunandria - the evil woman was still owed some pain. "Of course she's here. It's a party and they're all crashing - but there's still nowhere to go but forward. We need to get better weapons, get the rest of the cadet squads to calm down, and get to work. All of that is out there. It's no good sitting back and hiding."

He stepped forward, glaring at the invasion force. "We need guns, or at least some kind of decent weapons. The only decent weapons I have here are in the staging area for the combat demos. I'm sure somebody has a gun. So you two may not be sure - but I am. We're Rangers. We've been through hell. We don't lose."

With that, Spencer took another firm step forward, the improvised weapon at the ready as he glared down the drones, daring them to attack.

"He's going to get himself killed." Damien said, shaking his head "But he's right. We're meant to be the heroes. We need to be the heroes."

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