we're all stars who have people names

A lot had changed in the span of two years. After the people of Briarwood discovered that they had Power Rangers and magic in their city, the people of Reefside were introduced to Tommy Oliver, a living legend, and the Ninja Academies were now open for business - starting outside of Blue Bay Harbor - with several students flooding in from all places, the ‘secret’ of the Power Rangers stopped being a secret, at least in California.

And as for Gwen? Well she graduated high school and started on her little across California roadtrip, trying to avoid the various cities that the rangers had stopped off in, to little avail. Hearing the stories of heroics had slowly started to change her tune, but even then the little bit of jealousy she got for her father’s obsession with the team still bubbled beneath her skin. However, even on her roadtrip, not only could she escape the Power Rangers, she couldn’t escape news about her father.

THE CORONA AURORA DISCOVERED BY RECLUSIVE ADVENTURER the headlines read, describing a crown lost only to myth, its gems now scattered the world as San Angeles became a target for monster attacks. And to top it all off, a new team of Power Rangers appeared, working out of San Angeles, with their main goals being to find the jewels. Saving people was more optional.

Two and two put together in Gwen’s head as she realized -- her father had taken his Power Rangers obsession to the next level. She was surprised that someone else was the leader of the team aside from him. She hadn’t seen the team with their helmets off, but she knew most of them in passing -- Dax Lo, stuntman, Ronnie Robertson, race car champion, Rose Ortiz, child prodigy turned teen genius and Will Aston, gentlemen thief and superspy. The leader however? A mystery.

She had no rhyme or reason to come back to San Angeles. It was more like something was pulling her there. Slowly. And besides, she had to meet this mysterious ‘twin brother’ that her dad talked about -- the false memories and the fact that his and her DNA were a perfect match (well, sans an x chromosome) was so weird, she had to see if it was legit or her dad was lying to her. There was no reason for him to lie to her, however.

Unless there definitely was. She knew her father. He’d been lying to the ‘thing’ he called her brother for 2 years now. He’d emailed Gwen the entire history of him just in case she came back and even with all that weighing on her… She still didn’t know why she wanted to come back. Maybe it was guilt? Even though Mack wasn’t her real twin, he had memories of them being together as kids… Maybe she should come back.

No. No. She decided long ago that she wasn’t coming back to San Angeles.

xxx

After a long, long ride in her green tinted SUV, Gwen was back in San Angeles. Specifically, right in front of her old stomping grounds; the Hartford mansion. The good news was, she knew how to get in without disturbing the residents inside -- she had heard rumblings that sounded like voices, with different tones and slightly different accents. There was a basement lab that her dad often would run to, and that she knew off because when he was off treasure hunting, she would sneak in and watch the schematics on the large TV screen above a control panel.

She smiled as she ducked behind a wall, not noticing a young man notice her doing that, as she crept around the corner and found a small hatch on the greens. She opened the hatch and slid through, now grabbing onto a pole in order to enter the room.

Thud!

Gwen looked up and rubbed her lower back, standing up as she shook out her hair and saw more schematics, this time for a drill like machine. Standing in front of those schematics was her father, who turned to face her in shock.

“How did you get in here?” He asked, eyes wide.

“Is that any way to greet your daughter?” Gwen asked back, a smile on her face, “And after two years away!” She giggled.

Andrew Hartford paused for a second, eyes shifting as he walked towards her. “I… I was expecting a call?”

“And I wasn’t expecting you to make a kid using my DNA, but hey,” She shrugged, “Sometimes people are unpredictable.”

Hartford let out an exasperated sigh, now going back to the schematics on the screen, as Gwen too looked in awe. The orange outlines of the tank with the drill apparatus on top of it, notes scribbled on as the machines hummed around her. Then, Hartford moved to another section of the room, looking over a collection of more notes. Back to the original schematics. Gwen, for her part, had taken a seat on one of the plush couches behind her.

“Spencer?” Hartford called. Gwen craned her head to face the stairwell to see an image that would be seared into her mind for all eternity;

The butler who served her throughout most of her childhood… Walking down the stairs dressed in vacation gear and a rastafarian style wig/hat combo. She chuckled, although it was more shocked than elated. She covered her mouth with a single hand, seeing him strut over to Hartford.

“You called sir?” He asked in a somewhat sing-songy tone, causing Hartford to turn his head once more to face him.

“Spencer I--” He paused, “What’s with the getup?”

“In case I’m needed on this mission.” Spencer said, matter of factly, “I wanted to show you that I’m able to blend in as an islander, before you send me undercover as a parrot.”

Hartford sighed. “Hopefully that won’t be necessary.”

Gwen chuckled once more, now standing up and joining her father. “Oh, that would be a sight to see.”

“And Miss Gwen! Returned from your cross country trip I see.”

Gwen nodded, “Figured I needed to come back for a… You know, change of scenery.”

“Okay, back onto what I called Spencer down here for,” Hartford said, “Why isn’t the drill driver operational?”

“Oh! So that’s what its called!” Gwen interrupted, forcing a glare from Hartford, and a slight sigh from Spencer.

“Uh it is running a little behind schedule, sir.” Spencer explained.

“I could fix it--” Gwen started, but was interrupted by Hartford clearing his throat.

“Gwen… How about you go upstairs and… Get acquainted with your brother. Alright?”

Gwen frowned. “Okay then… Thanks for the warm welcome Dad…” And she did as she was told, walking up the stairs and disappearing into the Hartford mansion’s expansive living room area.

xxx

The living room was just as large as Gwen remembered it from her childhood. Beanbags were strung everywhere, gym equipment was left stray around the room, various items were placed in various odd positions.

“Hello?” Gwen called, “Anybody there?”

“Gwen!” She heard a voice call out, young, almost like a male version of her voice, and felt a force tackle her into the floor. Half a second of darkness later, and she was staring into a pair of blue eyes… The eyes of her twin brother.

“Mack!” She giggled in response, “You kind of just… Bowled me over there.”

“Oh yeah… Sorry!” Mack grinned and stood up, lifting her by the arm. The rest of the group filed in to see the stranger who had entered the room. Gwen took note of all the different people that now surrounded her -- she recognised Ronnie Robertson, who looked just as competition ready as she did on TV. Rose Ortiz was next, arms folded but eyes wide with curiosity. She’d never seen Dax Lo, but she was sure the young man who was energetically bouncing on his toes while holding a bag of what she assumed was marbles was him. Likewise, she assumed the smug, cocky young man beside Rose was Will Aston, hands behind his back.

“Guys… This is my twin sister, Gwen.”

Gwen waved, somewhat awkwardly. She didn’t realize there would be so many people having seen her return. However, the one thing that she noticed was the outfits -- they were black jackets with matching black slacks, almost uniform in a way, a logo on the left breast. The main difference between them all? The lining of the jackets were different colors -- Will’s blended in with the jacket, a cool steely grey, Rose’s was a bright pink that seemed out of place for her personality, Ronnie’s a sunny yellow that did the opposite for what Rose’s did for her, and Dax’s a bright blue. As for Mack’s… His was red. A bright, crimson red that lined the suit like the blood in everyone else in the room - sans his - veins. Gwen’s eyes widened. She knew that the others were Power Rangers, but she didn’t think the leader would be her brother.

“Dad’s gotten sloppy.” She smiled, “Didn’t let me out of the house at all, and yet you’re saving the world as--”

“The Red Ranger?” Both twins said in unison. They paused for a minute. “Hey!” Still in unison. “Quit it. No you quit it. You started it-”

“Alright, alright…” Rose interrupted their mini argument, “Andrew didn’t tell us you had a twin sister?”

“Andrew?” Gwen rolled her eyes, “Jeez, dropped the formalities with all of you.”

Mack gently nudged Gwen in response to that comment. Gwen’s immediate response was to close herself off, pull her arms closer to her chest, standing awkwardly.

“Well… She left home to study out of town about… 2 years ago?”

Gwen nodded.

“And then she just started travelling I guess.” Mack smiled, “But she’s back!”

Will raised a brow. “Okay then, is she going with us to St Lucia?”

“You’re going to St Lucia?” Gwen giggled slightly on the realization, “Explained why Spencer was wearing that embarrassing getup when I saw him.” She looked at the group with a pause. “Don’t ask.”

Dax chuckled in response as well. “You should’ve taken a picture.”

Gwen nodded, before shrugging. “And to answer your question… I don’t know, to be honest.”

After a few minutes of awkward silence between the group, Ronnie gasped and spoke up, “Maybe she should come with us?”

“Yeah! Mack, just ask your Dad to bring her along!”

Mack was about to say something in agreement, when Rose interrupted by clearing her throat, “Technically speaking, Gwen counts as a civilian. I don’t think she’s allowed to get involved in Operation Overdrive.”

“Plus… It’s Dad.” Gwen followed up, “He barely let me out of the house before I went to school. I doubt he’s gonna let me go.”

Mack frowned, folding his arms. “That sucks. But hey! Maybe we could get a souvenir for you!”

As Mack and the rest of the team walked off, Gwen called after him;

“Just don’t do what Dad sometimes did, I don’t think a cool looking rock counts as a souvenir!”

Yep, things had really changed in 2 years. Especially with the new addition of Mack.

xxx

Hartford had left her old room exactly how Gwen left it, a comfortable mostly unmade bed, messy floor, discarded clothes on the rug beneath her feet and the remaining wardrobe open and almost completely empty. Gwen placed her duffle bag on her bed and gave a quick sigh. Maybe she should stay, after all, Mack really seemed to… Miss her. And was kind of disappointed he and the rest of the group had to go to St Lucia so he couldn’t get any time with his sister.

She shook her head. He wasn’t her real brother, and Hartford didn’t say anything about what the false memories were. Even with the scrapbook that had been kindly provided by him, the pictures didn’t replace the idea of a relationship. She couldn’t but… She didn’t want to leave him. After all, in his eyes, he just got her back. Mack would be devastated if she left, and once again, Hartford didn’t explain what exactly would happen if he found his origins out.

She put her hands to her face and groaned. Why was it so hard? Maybe it was because she hadn’t had a sibling prior to returning home today. But she had been around siblings before -- there was a 9 year age gap between Angela and her younger sister -- but… She couldn’t mirror that relationship without the whole “actually hanging around her brother and getting to know him well” thing.

She sighed and stood up. Maybe she could watch them go to St Lucia? After all, it was a tropical island paradise?

xxx

“What do you mean you aren’t taking them to St Lucia?”

“Change of plans, one of the guys that they’re fighting is in Australia.” Andrew kept an eye on the screen.

“Wait… Wait… One?”

Andrew huffed from his position and turned to face Gwen, a look of very hidden aggression on his face, “Maybe if you responded to my calls you would know what’s going on.”

“Well excuse me for wanting to have a life outside of you!” Gwen folded her arms and pouted. She knew it was childish, but she didn’t care. “Is this about the crown thingy you found or whatever?”

“Corona Aurora.”

“Yeah, I know what it’s called, I read the news.” Gwen looked up at the screen again, to see the group fighting a bunch of red, lizard-looking humanoids, led by a guy who looked like Satan incarnate. Gwen raised a brow. “He doesn’t look friendly.”

“That’s Moltor,” Andrew explained, “He and his brother Flurious are two of the people after the Corona Aurora.” He then paused, “I accidentally freed them.”

Gwen groaned. Of course he did. That was just like her Dad. To not think of the consequences of everything he did. To just follow his gut and do whatever the hell he wanted. She paused for a second, still mid-thought. She did that as well. She rolled her eyes. But when she did it, it was funny and didn’t essentially doom the world to a lifetime of fighting fire demons and whatever-the-heck a Flurious was. Plus, she had only just turned 18, while her dad had years of the adventuring business behind him. So with her it was kind of excusable.

Kind of.

As she continued to watch the screen, she saw the rangers showing off their unique ways of fighting. Ronnie - now in the full yellow suit that she’d seen on TV - zipped around with almost lightning speed, attempting to confuse and distract the lizard people. Rose - in pink - was more calculating, carefully planning as she summoned an arm cannon that looked like a water gun and blasted the monsters with cool water. Dax - in blue - sprung around like his legs were made of bungee cord, showing off impressive stunts while also blasting the enemies with an arm cannon, although unlike Rose, his cannon shot blasts of air.

Will - dressed in the black suit - swung a large hammer around that made the ground around the opponents shake. The Earth seemed to explode around him as he watched the monsters leap up into mid air. He caught one mid jump and punched it, and it flew back like it was made of tissue paper. Gwen couldn’t exactly hear much from where she was sitting, but she quickly saw that Mack - in red - was attempting to save the civilian from more attacks from the lizard creatures.

He summoned his weapon -- a long staff with what appeared to be a blade on it -- and also swung it, pushing the lizard people back. Although unlike the rest of the group, he appeared clumsy, almost inexperienced. Which made sense, he was the least experienced member of the team. However, his showboating distracted him from the fact that a few of the creatures had gone behind him, grabbed the man and pushed him out of the way. The man cried out as Mack stopped, now looking behind him in shock.

Will appeared to make the save, summoning a strange looking bike like thing from out of nowhere and catching the man mid descent. With a jolt, the man landed on the back of the bike, as the group altogether could only stare in horror as the monsters and their leader -- Moltor -- stole a machine from the back of the man’s truck.

There was a pause. Ronnie with her speed tried to catch up, but Moltor and the other monsters vanished. Gwen stood, eyes wide at the screen.

“I’ll call them back.”

“The hell was that?”

“I said, I’ll call them back.”

Gwen shook her head. She didn’t know what to say. Her heart was pounding in her chest. That civilian could have died, her brother could have died, and even though he wasn’t her biological brother, he was in danger.

Maybe she didn’t want her father to allow her to go out of the house.

xxx

Outside the window, rain started to pitter patter on the windows. Gwen did a double take, no one said there was gonna be a storm? But the question fell on deaf ears as she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

“That was brutal.” Will groaned.

Ronnie gave him a slight head nod of agreement, “I feel like all four of my tires have blown out.”

Gwen chuckled from her seat as she looked at the group, quickly noticing a disheartened Mack enter the room. She raised a brow.

Before she could say anything, Rose spoke up; “You okay, Mack?”

Mack sighed in response, “No, I’m not okay. I blew it.” He looked at the floor, “If it weren’t for Will…”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Will reassured Mack, “That’s why there’s five of us.”

After a brief second of awkward silence, Dax spoke up. “What did Moltor want with that guy?”

“He didn’t want the guy.” Rose stated, “He wanted a subatomic energy generator!”

“That’s exactly right, Rose.” Hartford said, “But why?”

“Yeah, what would a literal fire demon want with a subatomic energy generator?” Gwen asked, now inserting herself into the conversation. She looked at the group, “I saw the fight by the way, you guys were amazing.”

The remaining five either gave sheepish ‘fines’ or enthusiastic ‘it was nothing’s. Mack, instead, groaned. “Great… I double blew it. My sister saw me make that big mistake--”

“Hey! You didn’t make a mistake!” Gwen spoke up, “You just had a small lapse in judgement.” She sighed. “Honestly, if that’s what you consider blowing it, than it's a good thing the guy didn’t get hurt--”

“But if he did--”

“Sir!” Spencer interrupted the conversation, racing down the stairs. He was drenched, holding some wet turnips in his right hand. “This weather is relentless. First the sun cooked my daisies, then this sudden downpour washed away my favourite melons!”

“You have favourite melons?” Gwen chuckled.

“Something is terribly wrong!” Spencer continued, taking a moment to give a quick glare at Gwen, who raised her hands in defeat.

In response to that, Hartford turned to face the computer and turned on the news. With a flick, the reporter began to speak --

“Stifling heat and rainfall seemingly out of nowhere have washed out roads and knocked out power around the globe. The national guard has been called in to regulate the chaos.”

Hartford then turned the news off. “Whatever he’s doing, it’s connected to the inclement weather.” He let out a sigh, leaning back on his desk. “I’m putting the jewel quest on hold.”

“What?” Will whispered in shock, as Gwen herself let out a disappointed groan. She wasn’t even involved with it but she was upset. But she was pretty sure it was for a one time only thing.

“I have a new zord to help you battle.” He continued, as the group continued to stare stunned in regards to his decision. “Mack. It’s got your name on it.”

Mack looked up in surprise. He shook his head. “No. Maybe you should give it to someone else.”

Gwen sighed. “The guy was fine! I saw it on the clip, he seemed okay--” She quickly placed a hand over her mouth when she noticed that Hartford glared at her in response.

“Look.” Hartford stood up now, “I know you had some trouble out there. But it’s times like these that define a hero!”

The group was silent as Mack awkwardly stared at the floor. He seemed hesitant, and Gwen knew it. She saw him stuff his hands in his pockets, take a brief look at the ceiling and at the floor, his mind was racing. And then, after a few seconds of silent peer pressuring from everyone else, he spoke up.

“Fine.” He agreed. Gwen cheered slightly.

“That’s the brother I know.” She said with a smile, “And hey! I can help you out!”

The group looked at her in confusion. She took a deep breath in.

“I took like a… 3? 4? week engineering course when I was at school.” She clarified, “I don’t know much about… Zords or whatever you call them, but I think I can learn.”

Andrew smiled and petted her on the shoulder. “Good. Mack and Gwen, you work on the zord, the rest of you, I think we’ll have some downtime until I can figure out where Moltor’s heading.”

xxx

Beneath the surface of the Hartford family mansion was an underground garage. This must’ve been a fairly new extension, Gwen thought, as she turned the lights on to reveal various, giant machines. Zords, Andrew called them, and she recognised the name. As much as she hated it, you couldn’t escape the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Although, instead of being based on prehistoric animals, these zords appeared to be based on vehicles of all types;

A bright red dump truck stood proudly in the centre, beside it, a black race car. Next to the race car was a blue machine that looked like an odd combination of two helicopters and a car. A gyro, she was pretty sure it was called. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a yellow bulldozer-like vehicle. Then, she saw a pink and chrome submarine, resting in a dock. However, something else caught her eye and she looked up, eyes wide.

“Wow…” She sighed, before looking at Mack pulling out the strange cellphone like object off the side of his uniform.

“Overdrive Accelerate!” He called, and in a flash of light and circuits, he reappeared in the same suit he wore during the fight earlier. The suit was red, with a white torso, lining and the silver and red compass logo that was on the uniforms in the centre. The boots and gloves that matched the suit in color had silver cuffs. The helmet appeared to have similar inspirations from the front of the dump truck, its slick black visor keeping Mack’s eyes away from her.

Gwen chuckled. “You look like a dweeb.” She grinned, before Mack calmly, robotically -- don’t say that, oh please don’t say that -- walked towards a ladder leading up to the bright orange, drill vehicle. Gwen watched in confusion and in awe, grabbing a green garage creeper to sit down and take a piece of the action.

She heard the engine rumble from beneath the surface where she sat. She also saw the drills whirl in rotation, making the somewhat grating sound of metal scraping on metal. Even though she was in awe, she heard Mack groan in frustration and immediately stood up, kicking the creeper to the side as she walked towards the machine.

“It’s too powerful!” She heard him yell, “I can’t get this thing to work!”

And then a shockwave blasted through the floor as he screamed in agony.

“Mack!” Gwen gasped, grabbing onto the ladder Mack set up as the machine slowed to a stop. She climbed to the top and cracked open the door, seeing smoke ripple off Mack’s suit, the red color barely moved. Mack, however, was panting heavily. Gwen’s eyes widened.

He must’ve been more human than she thought.

xxx

As the elevator doors opened after what felt like dozens and dozens of times trying the zord, Mack stormed through them.

“I told you I couldn’t do it.” He said. Gwen followed after him on quick feet.

“And you’ll try again!” Hartford claimed, Gwen rolled her eyes.

“Dad, that machine is incredibly powerful.” She stated, “I don’t even think an experienced driver could get a hold on it.” She folded her arms.

“Maybe you were right when we started this…” Mack began, “I shouldn’t be a ranger.”

Gwen’s eyes widened. “What? No! No! A thousand times no--”

“How would you know? You only got back here today!” Mack sighed, “I failed. That driver almost got hurt because of me. It was too close.”

“Now’s not the time for second guessing, Mack.”

“You didn’t want me to do this in the first place!”

“But you wanted it. And you got it. The world needs you.”

Mack sighed. Gwen shoved her hands in her pockets.

“You know,” She said, “I’m pretty sure millions of people wouldn’t have even cared about that driver. He’s probably thankful you saved his life.” She sighed, “I know people who wouldn’t have given him a second glance but you did! Come on, man! Ranger up!”

Mack gave her a slightly half hearted grin, as the alarm began to blare behind them. Gwen noticed a warning light flashing, and the screen showed a silver plated “ALERT”.

Mack paused. “Fine.” He stated, before he walked off, leaving Gwen and Hartford in the room alone.

“Why is he so…”

“Immature?” Gwen answered, “I don’t know, because he’s technically only two?”

“That doesn’t explain you.”

“Look, I was trying to help--”

Hartford sighed and went back to his computer, “Gwen… I know I ignored you--”

“That isn’t an excuse!” Gwen said, “Dad, I tried. I tried my hardest to figure out what was wrong with the machine and nothing came up! I even tried to convince Mack to do one more try and he gave up!” She folded her arms.

“Must be your DNA.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “That you used without my permission, my express consent! But that’s not what I’m mad about.” She huffed, “I only just met Mack today, but he seems like a good kid, he cares about people, about more than just your prized possessions. If you wanna make him a soldier, then that’s what you’re gonna get.”

She then walked off in the same direction that Mack did, leaving Hartford alone in the control room.

xxx

The weather had gotten worse since Mack left. Gwen sat on a couch in the living room and watched as the sudden downpour gave way to an intense heatwave, and the heatwave gave way to max gale winds, and the max gale winds disappeared and returned to a downpour, thunder and lightning included.

Then when the lightning subsided, in came bright intense sunlight. It was like someone switching channels on a TV set. Fast and unpredictable. Gwen for her part, had found herself stewing. She stood up and walked over to the pool table, wrapping her fingers around the edge and feeling them touch the soft green fabric. Green, green, green, nothing but green. She was trying to think… For some reason green was jogging her memory of something but she didn’t know what.

She did a double take and suddenly heard something pounding on the roof, not rain, not hail, but snow. As she looked out the window a full blizzard unravelled, her eyes wide. She muttered a brief expletive and raced from where she was standing, she bolted to the elevator, and took it down to the lower floors.

xxx

“Anything on the emergency channel?” Hartford asked, as Gwen entered the room.

“Nothing sir.” Spencer stated, “Just static.”

“Keep trying, I’m searching with the infrared satellites.”

“Dad!” Gwen called running into the room, “Dad I need your--” She paused as she saw the staticed screen, her eyes wide. “Help with something.”

Hartford sighed. “Not now Gwen, I’m busy.”

“When are you not?”

“When the rangers are found.”

“It was a rhetorical question--” But she stopped when she heard the elevator doors open and Mack arrive downstairs. “Mack!” She ran towards him. “Where’s everyone else?”

Mack gently shoved her aside. “I told you not to send me out there!” He yelled at Hartford. “Look what happened. I lost the team!”

“It’s not over yet.” Hartford tried to calm him down, but at this point Mack was about ready to explode. “The Drill Driver can dig them out.”

“I can’t drive that thing! I’m not cut out for being a hero.” He then took his tracker off and gave it to Gwen. Gwen’s eyes widened.

“Hey-”

“She could do it. You do it. You wanted to.” And then he left.

Gwen huffed and handed the morpher back to Hartford.

“What was that thing you wanted to tell me about?” He asked.

Gwen sighed, “Just the thing I saw in the hangar -- you’ve got a jet?”

“Yeah, the Jet Driver, why are you asking?”

“Look…” She sighed, “I don’t understand why Mack gave me the… Tracker, I think it’s called, but I had an idea. I could fly over in that Jet Driver thingy, just to give him moral support in the Drill one.”

Hartford looked dejected. “Why do all my kids wanna kill themselves?”

“Look, I just wanna help, okay?” Gwen said, “If helping my brother means becoming a Power Ranger, then so be it.”

A brief pause. There was silence amongst the three, cut out by the droning of machinery. Hartford sighed.

“Sir,” Spencer cut into the silence, “I think Miss Gwen has a point. You do have a spare tracker, afterall.”

It took Hartford a second, but he sighed. “Fine. Go upstairs and bring Mack down, I’ll have your tracker ready by then. Good luck.”

xxx

By the time Gwen returned with Mack, the once staticy screen had sprung to life, now showing images of the rangers.

“No audio communication, just video.” Spencer stated as the pair walked in. Gwen saw Will jamming out to some music over a pair of headphones, Dax playing with his bag of marbles, Rose reading a book and Ronny fiddling with a deck of cards.

“They’re not scared.” Mack commented, “Why aren’t they scared?”

“‘Cause they know that you’re gonna save them.” Hartford said, “They believe in you. So do we.”

Mack was still hesitant, as Gwen rocked back on her heels with a cheeky grin.

“I never doubted you for a second, Red Ranger.” Spencer smiled.

Mack turned his head from Spencer and back to the screen, to the rangers just… Patiently waiting for him.

“They really believe in me.”

“And he finally gets it through his thick skull!” Gwen cheered. Mack playfully punched her shoulder. Gwen chuckled in response. “Of course they believe in you, Mack. You’re their leader!”

“Are you gonna prove them wrong?”

After a brief pause, Mack held out his hand. “Give me back my tracker. I’ve got a hole to dig.”

“And also,” Gwen held out her hand, as Hartford smiled and placed a similar looking tracker in hers, “I’ve got a sky to scope out.”

xxx

“And you said I looked like a dweeb?”

“Hey! I for one think it looks cool!”

“Of course you would.”

Gwen had fitted into her suit quite comfortably. It was similar in style to Rose and Ronnie’s variants, a skirt over longer tights with the same thick white lining as the other suits but her’s was an emerald green shade. Her helmet was also where things changed -- above its visor (which was just as black as the rest of the groups) was a little silver bump that appeared like the end of a jet plane. There were lights peeking out of the top of the visor, and a bump that looked like the ‘fin’ of that type of plane. Small bumps with turbine like designs sat close to her ears.

As Mack climbed into the Drill Driver, she found the hangar and climbed into the Jet Driver -- a sleek looking green and silver jet plane machine -- over the top of him.

“Logging on!” They both said, sliding in a panel with a wheel on it as both zords sprung to life. The panel sprung up revealing the wheel and sliding open a dock to put their trackers on. They did so.

“Okay, Mack,” Mack whispered to himself, “You can do this. Focus.”

“You know I can hear you, right?”

“I’m having a moment!”

Gwen giggled, as she activated her zord. At the same time, Mack activated his. Gwen soared out of the hangar and into the skies above, flying high above the crowds and the buildings. She looked down through the veil of snow and spotted the zords of the remaining rangers, trapped in the snowy field. She recognised all of the vehicles from the hangar and gave a quick smile to herself.

“Rangers spotted!” She announced, “Where are you, Mack?”

She heard Mack struggle. “It’s fighting me!”

“Again?”

She heard Mack scream in agony, and looked behind her, to see the zord sitting stock still in the middle of the bushes.

“You have to do this…” Mack groaned out, “For the team… You know they’re counting on you.”

“Yeah! Do it for them! Come on Mack, let’s go!” Gwen shouted. Mack seemed to agree with her;

“Powering up the Drill Driver! Go!”

From behind her, Gwen heard the whirring of drills as the driver descended below the earth, digging a massive cavern into the forest area that it had been placed in. The dirt kicked up, reaching the sky that Gwen was situated in, as she sped over to the opposing side, where the Zords were.

Suddenly bursting through the wall was the Drill Driver, piloted by Mack. Gwen let out a giggle from her situation and saw as Mack stopped in front of the other Zords.

“Rangers!” He called.

Quiet for a hot second, before the screens suddenly lit into action. Will removed his earphones, “What took you so long?”

“I had Zord trouble.”

“Man, I hate it when that happens,” Ronny joked, before she heard Gwen’s chuckle over the intercom. “Is that your sister?”

“Hey guys!”

The Jet Driver landed beside Ronny’s Zord, kicking up snow around them. “Sorry we’re late.” Gwen said, sheepishly.

“Yeah, I hope you forgive me for bailing you out.”

Ronny grinned, “We knew you’d come back!” Before she turned to the rest of the group, “Ranger up, guys!”

“I won’t let you down again!” Mack promised, “Let’s roll!”

As her brother said this, Gwen took to the skies once more.

xxx

The group made it back up in no time, with Mack piloting his own zord from the inside of the Drill Driver. As they began to pass the field, Gwen saw the machine head of her.

“Hey, guys?” She asked, “Is that what you’re looking for?”

“That’s the weather thing!” Ronnie shouted, as Gwen quickly saw the machine start to mutate, its body transforming from machine to humanoid.

Will helpfully pointed out, “It’s turning into a monster! Look!”

The weather beast roared at them, as Gwen flinched.

“Gwen!” Mack called, “You stay up there and distract it. Rangers, combine!”

“You got it, Mack!”

Gwen flew around the monster like she was a fly at a picnic table. The monster attempted to swat at her, but she was too fast for that. It was almost like she was cutting through the air. In between her flying, she noticed the zords combine into a giant, humanoid machine. And then the fight began.

In between swatting from the monster and the rangers combined Zord (Megazord, she’d heard) attacking, the monster appeared to be winning. After all it had them on the ropes. Mack was still beating it in with the Drill Driver, when both twins noticed something;

“The blowhole!” Gwen called.

“That’s where it gets its strength!” Mack followed up. Followed by that, he said something. “Gwen, get behind the zord! Let’s see if we can combine these puppies!”

Gwen, although hesitant, did as she was told, pressing two buttons on the tracker that she assumed meant ‘combine’. Eventually she felt her zord sliding into the back of the humanoid figure, becoming large wings that spread out from the back. She landed in the conjoined cockpit, in the seat next to where Mack would’ve sat marked with the number ‘6’. As for Mack, he returned to his own seat, now with the Drill Driver attached to the right hand of the Megazord.

“Now it’s our turn rangers!”

The group as a whole cheered. However, controlling the drill proved to be tricky. It was just that powerful. Will was shocked by it first.

“This thing is powerful!” He groaned.

“We can handle it!” Rose cheered, “Come on Rangers!”

“Just follow my lead! I know what to do!” Mack stated, and Gwen let out a cry of “Yeah!” in response.

“Drill Driver! Go!”

As Mack said this, they rushed the monster, striking it straight in the blowhole. It was destroyed in a flash of color and movement, and as quickly as the weather was messed up, it was back to normal.

xxx

“Are you sure you don’t want your genes resequenced?”

“No, Dad, I don’t.” Gwen reassured, “I’m perfectly fine, trust me. Plus, if I’m ever in danger, I have these guys to help me out.” She gestured to the closed door, looking at Spencer as he carried all the group's bags (sans Gwen’s, quite possibly because she grabbed her bag from the guest room).

Mack, who was standing in front of them both, grinned as he flung open the doors. “Are we gonna get this jewel or what?”

The group cheered, as Gwen joined in on the fun.

“Yeah! Hey, about what happened earlier,” Dax said, sitting on the top of the couch, “My father said, ‘it’s not whether you fall down’-” As he said that he slipped and fell from the couch, causing both Gwen and Mack to flinch. He got up just as quickly however, “-It’s whether you get back up!”

The group laughed, but it was cut short when the group heard a rattling. They turned to face the doorway to see Will, holding a telltale blue bag.

Dax chuckled, “Aha! So now you believe in the curse!”

“I’m not superstitious,” Will shrugged, “But we need all the help we can get.”

After a few seconds of silence, the other Overdrive rangers bolted towards Will, as they started playing a game of keepaway with the bag of marbles. Spencer sighed and dropped the bags he was carrying, walking away, leaving Gwen to smile and shake her head.

She was really gonna like it here.

People jogged on the concrete that separated the large park from the sea, taking their dogs for walks, chatting about the day that had passed. It was mid-afternoon on an average Wednesday, and just outside of the biggest private school in Coral Harbour walked a surprisingly out of place teenage girl. She had dirty blonde hair tied back into a ponytail with a green scrunchie, olive skin and blue-green eyes, wearing the Coral Harbour Prep School uniform, top button undone slightly and tie awkwardly placed.

16 year old Gwen Hartford had just finished up an average day at high school, and was walking past various people who greeted her with cheerful waves and smiles, one even giving her a happy birthday. She’d just turned 16, and that was already normal enough, before she sat down on a bench in the local park. Suddenly, running up to her was another girl in a similar uniform, but with dark skin and curly dark hair tied up in a bun.

Gwen looked up with a grin, “Angela!” She greeted.

“Just… Wanted to say Happy Birthday.” Angela grinned in response, sitting beside her. “How’re you?”

Gwen shrugged, looking down at her toes and pulling a green flip phone out of her satchel bag. On the flip phone were multiple reminders of missed texts and calls, from a ‘Dad’. Angela looked at Gwen’s phone with a slight frown, before she shrugged.

“Oh... Hey! I’ve got a birthday gift for you.” She said, “Meet me at Palm Pizza?”

Gwen smiled. “I’ll catch up.” She said, before Angela walked off towards the restaurant. Gwen had only lived in Coral Harbor for about 6 months, but Angela Montgomery had quickly befriended her for some reason. Gwen was pretty sure that most of her classmates thought she was a weird homeschooled kid, but Angela made it all okay all things considered. She frowned and looked at her phone again.

Maybe she should… Yeah, she should. She sighed and called the voicemail service, putting the phone to her ear;

“Gwen! Happy birthday!” Her father, Andrew Hartford’s voice, echoed over the system, “I’m sorry I haven’t called you back. I’ve just been busy.”

“Of course.” Gwen muttered. When wasn’t he busy?

“But, I have an exciting present for you! Have you ever wanted a brother?”

Gwen’s eyebrow raised. Did he… Finally get out of the house and find a ‘replacement’ for her mother? No, that wasn’t in her dad’s style--

“Well… I did some research and I used some of your DNA to make… A working android.”

Gwen’s eyes widened now, putting a hand over her mouth.

“He has fake memories of you, and he appears the same age as you do. He’s a twin. I’m thinking of calling him Mack.”

And Gwen quickly hung up, putting the phone back in her pocket. This was the worst birthday present she could’ve ever received. Her dad? Messing with her DNA? Creating an android brother? Fake memories? Was he really that desperate? She tutted. Of course he was. This was her Dad, who was more proficient in robotics than people, and since her late mother’s passing, hadn’t left his little basement. She rolled her eyes and stood up now, deciding to distract herself by going to Palm Pizza.

xxx

The greasy, hot and sticky smell of the pepperoni pizza filled Gwen’s nose as she took small, mouse-like bites out of it. She looked up at Angela, who was drinking a soda and looking at Gwen in anticipation. Gwen nodded.

“It’s good.”

Angela sighed. “I know you don’t have a good relationship with your dad--”

“Yeah, no duh.”

“So I figured I’d do this as like… A distraction.” She huffed, as Gwen continued to take small bites out of her pizza. “So uh… What are you thinking of doing after graduation?”

Gwen looked up. That was a weird question to ask. She took another bite out of her pizza, and a sip of her own soda. She took a breath and said;

“Maybe travel? I’d like to see the rest of the West Coast; Reefside, Blue Bay Harbor, Ocean Bluff, Summer Cove…” She sighed.

“San Angeles?”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Never again.”

“As much as you don’t like your dad, you don’t feel a little homesick?”

“I was literally a prisoner in my own home, why do you think I’d feel homesick?”

Angela chuckled. “Well… I’ve already got my plans. I’ve gotten started on the Grid Battleforce cadet program.” She smiled, “Even if I don’t get in, I think I’ve done good enough in my exams to be in tech.”

Gwen huffed. “You’re gonna ‘save the world’?”

“Yeah, like those kids from Angel Grove.” Angela looked Gwen dead in the eyes when she didn’t respond. “The Power Rangers?”

Gwen frowned and continued to swirl her soda with the straw. She still didn’t respond, and the situation went quiet. She didn’t have the heart to tell Angela that she thought her Dad cared more about the Power Rangers than he did about her.