The Grid Gives, and We Recieve

Posted on Sun Jun 16th, 2024 @ 6:32pm by Valdana 'Dan' Raadax & Spencer Gustaffson

1,524 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Secret of Corvus
Location: Astro Megaship Mk. III, Lounge
Timeline: After “Battle of Corvus”

Spencer wasn’t someone who came into the recreation areas of the Megaship very often. His free time was spent training, mostly, and everything else was spent in uniform and stiff. It was only recently that he’d been able to really feel that he had control over the morph, rather than letting it control him. The Lupus Blue Solar Crystal unleashed both the best and worst parts of him, turning him from a soldier into just a berserk warrior, when he let it. His heart was often in the right place and his fight was for justice and freedom, but the problem was that his head didn’t always have control. He’d rushed into danger and needed to be saved before. At the same time, he’d also been able to harness that emotion and hold off the Phoenix Ranger (who did, honestly, overpower him), and protect his friends. Recently. he'd encountered this new ability which was nearly as overwhelming.

Rather than what he’d have hoped for (just some augmented physical ability) his newfound ability to ‘sense’ the Morphin Grid and the Rangers was frustrating. It would eventually be valuable, sure, but again, he didn’t have control yet. He just ‘knew’ things, without reason. It didn’t add up to him, it didn’t make sense. But it was his power now, and he would either have to learn how to best use it for the team, or just have it go to waste. There was no way he would let the latter happen.

His senses told him that Valdana, the Orange Ranger, was in the lounge. She had been a Ranger longer than him. Maybe even longer than Damien & Kilena. She knew more about how their powers worked. Right now, that understanding was something he desperately needed. And so, out of uniform, dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt, Spencer walked into the lounge and poured himself a cup of coffee in the quiet room, he walked over to Valdana, “Hey. Got a minute?”

Valadana sat looking at the alliance news network as Melody stood silently looking out the window far across the room. She looked relaxed with shorts and a vest top on and slightly damp like she had just come out of the shower apart from she wore the thick leather gloves that she always seemed to be.

“Hey Spencer.” She called over moving several of the pillows so he would have somewhere to sit if he chose to. She did not want to seem rude by not offering space if he chose to join her. “I am just watching the news so someone is tracking stuff as Kilena was planning to stay awake to do it but she …” She pointed over to the other huge sofa where the pink ranger was out for the count. "She is exhausted."

Spencer nodded as he sat down in the spot she'd opened up for him. As he focused his mind, he could tell two things without his eyes about the Pink Ranger, which confirmed what he knew. That Kilena was here, and she was safe. His voice went quieter as he tried to let her sleep. "None of us are at our best. Sleep is important - wish I could manage to get any." He looked up at the TV, and leaned back.

Valdana smiled just a little as she looked the pink ranger over and saw that she was very much out for the count. Nothing other than a claxon was likely to wake her now. "She has an ability that will drain if over used much like yourself." The orange ranger commented on stretching out her fingers under the gloves.

He looked over to the Orange Ranger and nodded, more out of acknowledgement than understanding. It didn't seem like his ability drained him. After a moment he spoke again. "How did you find out about these abilities we have when we're not morphed?"

Valanda looked over at him and sighed softly. Someone was going to ask those questions eventually. She sat up a little straighter and sighed. "I nearly killed a man. My abilities are venomous touch. It is why I wear gloves." She admitted. "I have control but I do not want to risk it."

Spencer nodded, not surprised by her revelation. She carried the air of someone with tragedy in their past; trauma knew its own. "That makes sense. Why take a risk when all it takes to avoid it is a fashion statement, right?"

He tried to smile at the slight joke, he wasn't good at making them, and this wasn't exactly the best time for humor - except maybe gallows humor, one step off the grave. He remembered that there were two other Rangers he'd felt, but they were no longer there, and he didn't know who they were. Yet he had known Damien was out there. Alive. Somewhere or somewhen - and that momentary knowledge bothered him, because he didn't understand how or why it worked. He sighed. "I wish I'd gotten something like your ability. Something tangible, that I could control. Instead, I just know where Rangers are. I knew Damien was alive, during that fight. I'm aware of him, because he's still the Red Ranger. And there's that other Red Ranger, the Kaldor one. Luna was right, he's a Ranger like us, a proper one; but he's working for them. I can feel his presence. I know, roughly, where he is. Imagine if someone was poking a finger through gauze, in a vague direction. He's out there, somewhere. The problem is, I don't know what I can do with that information."

"Nothing yet." Valdana commented. She did not have a proper answer as of yet to abilities but she had the motto 'fake it till you make it'.

He looked down. "I've always seen knowledge and information as being mostly important for the things we can do with it. I feel like we should be able to do something with the location of the Kaldor right now. I don't know what that is. More importantly, something about it is nagging me. It's telling me that we're not ready to handle it yet."

The expression on the Blue Ranger's face was bitter and self-reprimanding as he expressed his confusion. He was used to being determined, to having a single goal and being able to accomplish it - or having a clear set of orders and knowing how to follow them. He knew that when the others left the planet before (wait, when had a group of them left the planet?), he'd been a leader, briefly (who had he led? He couldn't recall), but he didn't know for sure how to relate that to the situation at hand.

"We aren't," A sleepy voice said from the bundle of blankets. Valdana looked over and smiled as she watched the pink ranger glance up before passing back out.

"She is very much awake," Valdana commented laughing.

Spencer nodded, looking over to Kilena. "No kidding. But we'll be even less ready if the most effective people on our team don't get the rest they need." He tried to present some kind of amusement, but the fact that Kilena's prediction ran along the same line as his own was concerning. "There are more crystals than ours - I know they exist, but they're not meant for me to know, yet. Do you know where we will find one?"

"I do not think she would answer you even if she was awake. She does not have much control over her abilities. You guys are only just starting to understand." Valdana said sadly.

Spencer nodded, looking at her with an unhappy expression. "Yeah... that's the issue. Like I've said, if it was something like yours, something physical, I could probably control it easier. But as it stands, I just keep getting weird feelings that don't seem to amount to much in the way of use, sadly."

Valdana held her tongue. It did not matter if it was physical or mental they all took patience and time to control. "I would suggest that maybe relaxing and doing things that you like would be a good place to start with controlling something. Kilena is finding it helps."

Spencer nodded quietly, thinking about the situation and trying to figure out how to take her advice. He wasn't the most introspective person, and he knew it. "Yeah. I could go work out or something, I guess."

"You guess. You go." The orange ranger laughed and leant over tossing him the old-fashioned remote. "But until then find something to watch." She was not going to sleep so he could hang more if he wanted to.

Spencer nodded with a smile and caught the remote, surfing channels until he found something they could both watch, and was quiet enough to let Kilena sleep. It was certainly obvious that he was calmer than when he'd walked in. After an hour or so, he handed the remote back to Valdana, smiling. "Thanks. I'm headed off to the gym. You should get some rest."

 

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