 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disclaimer: The basic concept belongs to whoever Disney assigned it to but the characters belong to us. Like our previous fic series Viva La Resistance this series requires a lot of work due to differences in Time Zone and Hemispheres.
A/N from Robert: I didn't realize until just now how the first names of Adria and Athea's respective husbands are both spelled with the same letters.
A/N from Mistri: I've borrowed and reworked a sequence of speech from LOTR for Lady Radha. It's obvious.
June 21st 4124 A village near Nigeria City South Nigeriala.
Adria and her twin sister Athea were just waking up for the day.
"What do you think Athea one last time for old times sake?" She hinted toward their still snoozing sister.
"Tempting as it is I don't think so," her sister protested. "We have more important things to worry about Adria like our weddings."
"Athea, today is our last chance to do it. After all tomorrow you'll be sleeping with Terebo and I'll be with Bereto. We won't get a chance to set her adrift again."
"When are your friends supposed to arrive?"
"Sunrise so they are probably waiting for me," Adria indicated.
They then walked outside where sure enough the other rangers were waiting.
"When do the festivities actually start?" Xelia wondered her blond hair worn up in a very fancy style.
"The ceremonial bonding takes place when the sun is at it's highest point. There is a lot of other stuff to be done first though. After the bonding is a huge feast. Why is your hair so fancy Xelia?"
"I told my stylist I was attending a wedding and she thought I was a bridesmaid so she did my hair up in what she felt was a appropriate style."
"Adria will need a spiritual attendant so I doubt you wasted your time with the style," Athea pointed out. "My friend Bazera is handling it for me."
"I have no idea what a spiritual attendant does."
"Your main task will be to assist the Village Elder and the Medicine Man with the stuff that proceeds the bonding. Senjo and Tiako will explain everything to you."
"Just so you know Articula was figuring on being here for the actual wedding part. Also your wedding will almost look like a State Affair."
"In what way Xelia?"
"Well my dad is figuring on attending and he scheduled a state dinner in celebration for tomorrow night."
"Suppose Bereto and I don't want a state dinner."
"Adria, factor in who my dad is," Xelia reminded her.
"Why who is your dad?" Athea wondered.
"Marticulus Silvino," Xelia said. During the conversation the other rangers had spread out a bit to try and protect the village. After all the village was a known target for the Nameless One.
"I've heard of him. Isn't he some politician from some far off country?"
"My family is originally from Itastria but I was born in Unakan City. My dad is the planetary president."
"Xelia, is there any chance you can talk your dad out of the state dinner?" Adria wondered.
Shortly after that Xelia met up with Senjo the village elder and Tiako the Village Medicine Man along with Bazera to do the blessing of the village square along with blessings over the two couples which included ceremonial and spiritual cleansing of the souls. Finally the sun was at the high spot. The two couples were kneeling on the stones in front of the Presiders over the ceremony. Adria and Bereto on the left and Athea and Terebo on the right. The women to the left of their intended looking from behind such that the order was Adria, Bereto, Athea, Terebo with Taiko on the left facing them, Xelia standing behind Adria and Bazera behind Athea.
"Goddess of the land, Goddess of the air, Goddess of the Light, Goddess of the Hearth and Protectress of the Village please join with us as we bond Adriana Tenwa with Bereto Ninjao and Atheanina Tenwa with Terebo Sintona," Tiako called forth.
"These Ribbons serve a ceremonial purpose for they embody the qualities our village strives for of harmony with the land and environment but also within ourselves," Senjo said as he placed a ribbon around the necks of Adria and Bereto that was of a goldish color though there was a hint of silver within it due to Adria's status as a Silver Ranger. The Ribbon was then looped around Adria's right wrist and Bereto's left wrist. A similar process was handled with Athea and Terebo but without the silver color incorporated in. Soon after that the ceremony was over and everyone headed over towards two large tents provided by the Unakan Government where A huge feast was laid out. After a bit Xelia's dad walked over.
"Adria, I enjoyed watching your wedding and I'd like to offer my congratulations."
"Thank you Mr. President. Xelia did tell me how you were planning to attend."
"My wife along with my younger daughter Melalia are also in attendance. I assume Xelia informed you about the State Dinner tomorrow night."
"Yes She did Mr. President though I'd rather you hadn't scheduled it since even though I went through with it I'm still not real comfortable with the whole thing."
"I have a feeling given time you will grow comfortable with everything," President Silvino said as Dani walked up to Sita.
"Afternoon Sita," Dani said.
"Afternoon Mother," Sita said spitting out the last word.
"What manners. I'd think you would treat me with some respect."
"What have you done to earn my respect mother?" Sita said as she went into a fighting stance.
"Besides give birth to you?"
"It takes more then genetics to earn someone's respect mother."
Sita spat everytime she addressed Dani as mother.
A company of Tylai then arrived and started to cause problems Xelia's family quickly porting out.
"Ranger Astro Morph." Valdi crowed. "Power of the Red Dwarf."
"Power of the Gold Galaxy," Will barked.
"Power of the White Giant."
"Power of the Purple Nebula."
"Power of the Green Nova."
"Power of the Yellow Sun."
"Power of the Black Hole."
"Power of the Pink Comet."
"Power of the Blue Planet."
"Power of the Silver Star."
Dani then departed figuring the Tylai would finish off the rangers. After a bit Sita got a little overwhelmed with nine Tylai attacking her at once.
Sita ducked a Tylai's sweep. "I so need help!" she yelled.
"We all do!!" yelled Adria. Valdi cursed as he looked around. The wedding reception was ruined, and each Ranger was severely outnumbered.
"Articula!!! Help us!!!" roared Landre.
"Don't you have anything, Sita??!!!" yelled Kylara.
"Ahh... " came a chilling voice. The Rangers froze. A man, eight feet tall, in robes of black was approaching. "Such a scene I've never seen."
Each Ranger was petrified. The fear this man commanded ws incredible. The Rangers collapsed, as the Tylai had continued fighting them, and each had reached their limits.
"Who are you?" spat Wildrik weakly.
"Me? I am known by many names." He kicked Valdi viciously. "The Nameless One." A foot slammed into Kylara's back. "The One Of Fear." A punch hit Charda, knocking him into Sita at great velocity. "T'Aldr Yl'oka." Landre, Radha, Adria and Xelia got flattened into the ground with the hammer at his side. "And Conqueror of All." Wildrik and Isidore fell unconscious as he slammed their heads together.
"You won't conquer us," muttered Valdi, trying to get up.
"No?" A chilling laugh was heard. "I think you are wrong, little Ranger."
"We're Rangers," hissed Kylara weakly, from where she struggled to get up. "We never, ever, lose."
"You have lost, Ranger." The voice was cool and precise. Slowly, each conscious Ranger struggled to stand up. Sita revived Isidore and Wildrik, and as healing set in, they faced T'Aldr.
"We have not lost, until we die or surrender," spat Sita.
"And... " Adria felt power stir beneath her feet, beckoning to her. She knelt down, wincing and gatherered the soil up. "I have four words."
"And what are they?" asked T'Aldr lazily, observing her.
"Earth of Meruda... ACTIVATE!!!!!" In blinding arcs of light each Ranger felt power growing within them. The white triangle on their chest, (black in Isidore's case) began glowing. Their helmet's black diamond visor also began to shine with inner light. Lastly, their white gloves and boots began to radiate heat. This left the rest of the uniform, styled in their primary color with a heightened hue from the glow.
Suddenly, each of their weapons appeared. Each had an ancient symbol for lava, earth and volcano now imprinted on it. Their spandex bulked up and formed armor.
They pressed the lava symbol, slammed their swords together, formed a rather frightening sphere of energy, and slammed it at T'Aldr. He decided to leave, and it slammed heavily into the wooden beams, sending the tent down.
"I Adria Ninjao hereby consider the actions of T'Aldr Yl'oka upon my village to be an act of war."
The Rangers then ported to Articia.
"I am so pissed right now. That fiend can't even let a simple wedding go by without having to ruin it." Adria screamed.
"What I would like to know is two things. A why is T'Aldr always attacking Adria's village and B how did our uniforms suddenly bulk up and turn into Armor."
"I have a feeling that the answers to your questions Kylara are related," Articula informed them. "Just as your uniforms tuned into armor we started to detect a power source within Mount Meruda. It wouldn't surprise me if T'Aldr is after that power source for his own purposes."
"Articula, if were are able to tap into some power source then what purpose did it serve us to make that long trek to Phaedos."
"For one thing Wildrik prior to Adria calling for the power within Mount Meruda the power source was undetectable even to the sensors within Fortress Articia and they are some of the most advanced sensors on Unaka."
The meeting soon broke up with Adria porting back to her village She walked toward the area of the Village where Bereto's family lived and where she basically lived now with her wedding being official. Bereto was standing before a flattened structure.
"This was to be our home but apparently it was destroyed in the battle," Bereto told his bride.
"We'll figure something out. For tonight we can probably stay with your family and tomorrow see about salvaging what we can."
"Or you two can accompany me somewhere," Xelia hinted as she ported in.
"Where are we going Xelia?" Bereto inquired.
"To the coordinates that were downloaded to Adria's port belt."
Bereto held on to his bride as they ported out. They were soon on a street in front of a very nice two story house with light blue shingled walls and a roof that pitched down towards the back of the house. The mailbox in front said Ninjao.
"Where are we?" Bereto wondered as he looked at the house.
"We are on Windausen Lane in the Thermosian Park section of Unakan City. My dad arranged for the purchase of the house as a wedding present for the two of you."
"Furnished?" asked Adria, practically. Xelia smiled rather wearingly.
"Don't worry, everything was taken from the house before it was flattened, so my dad says." Adria and Bereto nodded and asked them to pass on their thanks.
~*~
Sita looked into empty space.
"Does anyone want the fourth part of The Lady Radha and Sita?" asked Radha from where they were all staying in Articia. General assent was heard, and so Radha spoke quickly of the first three parts, before going to the fourth part.
Part IV.
They began their trek once more. And at long last, Lady Radha spoke.
"Sita. I suspect that you have not spoken truly of what plagued our village. Will you now not speak and tell me?"
"If only I could," replied Sita. "But I know that when I was cursed, the blackness seeped into me and when I had reached your village, there it decided to leave me. It was that, I believe, which plagued you, and therefore, it is somewhat my fault."
"Your fault?" said Lady Radha. "I think not. You were just an unwitting pawn."
"Then why does guilt not understand, and even now envelopes me in its cold?" asked Sita. "I should be dead for what I have brought upon those people!"
"Many that live, deserve death. Some that die, deserve life." Sita looked over at Lady Radha. "I can not give it to them. I can not see all ends. I am not eager to deal out death and judgement."
"I wish I had never been cursed!" Sita said.
"But you were," replied Lady Radha. "And we go now to perhaps remove it from you. But it is also perhaps a blessing, Sita. And if that is so, then you should use it for the good of yourself and those you can help. But only you can decide what is to be done, before you have gone past the point of no return."
The others listened rapturously. "Oh my god," said Wildrik. "Where do you get this from?"
Radha smiled, but a solemn look was in her eyes. "If only I knew, Wildrik. If only I knew." And so they went to bed.
~*~
Adria and Bereto had examined the house thoroughly, and were well pleased by what they had found. They now retired to the bedroom, where a bottle of champagne was waiting. Bereto studied it.
"I think it's allowable for the bride and groom to toast each other," spoke Adria. "After all, it is a small bottle. President Silvino must have decided we could have it."
Bereto nodded. He picked it up, Adria holding the glasses, marked A and B in fancy script, and poured each a glass. They toasted each other, and drank down. After a while, they felt tired and decided to go to sleep.
The next morning Adria was a little disoriented at first when she woke up due to her not being quite used to her new home at first. Bereto propped himself up. "I have a feeling it will take time to get used to living here."
"Our living here in the capital now makes me especially glad for the existence of port belts. After all Unaka City isn't exactly close by in relationship to South Nigeriala. If it wasn't for port belts I'd never see my family."
"I bet Athea and Terebo will be as jealous as anything when they see the house."
"They probably will be. Any other rangers live close by?"
"Xelia naturally but I'm not sure where Thermosian Park is in relation to the Palace. I have a feeling everything will take time to get used to. This house has a lot of things that back home would be luxuries."
Half an hour later Adria was just getting out of the shower when her wrist phone went off.
"This is Adria," she responded.
"Adria, it's Xelia. You require any help getting used to your house and figuring out how things work?"
"I have a feeling we will Xelia since everything in here is new to us. It took me ten minutes to figure out how the shower worked. I don't want to even think about what it will take to make breakfast."
"OK I'll bring something with me. Give me half an hour."
"See you then."
"Who was that?"
"Xelia, she will be here in half an hour with breakfast."
Twenty five minutes later there was a knock on the door. Bereto opened it to find Xelia, Melalia, and Dek on the other side.
"Welcome to our very humble abode," Bereto joked.
"Sure beats your old village huh Bereto?" Melalia commented.
"That it does Mel. Even if we have no idea how anything works around here."
"I know your wife told me it took her ten minutes to figure out how the shower worked," Xelia commented.
Xelia spent most of the day showing them how everything worked. Before they knew it though it was time to prepare for the State Dinner which Adria still wasn't really sure she wanted to attend. Before too long though she was seated at her usual table at the dinner with the rest of the team and their escorts.
"How is married life treating you Adria?" Thala inquired.
"It's taking some getting used to especially since we are trying to get used to a new house at the same time. I might consider looking for some kind of a job and so forth so we have some money. Which brings up the issue of transportation since my port belt is government issue basically and well before I got married I was the only person in my village to even own a port belt."
"Why would Transportation be that big an issue?" Cynthea wondered.
"Adria and I live in Unaka City now and well I'd need some way to get around. Maybe someday we will own a small hover car," Bereto explained.
"How did your wedding end up?" Ericon inquired.
"About typical of things around the village. We try and have any kind of real gathering and The Nameless One attacks. Luckily he waited until after the ceremony to attack. It left the village in a real shambles though at least one house was destroyed."
"If anything at some point we need to have everyone over to the house for a small party. How to pull it off such that it doesn't get attacked?"
"That Adria is the challenging part," Articula mentioned from his seat. Their mentor having a habit of appearing at state dinners.
"I'm sure we will get something figured out before then."
Shortly after that the dinner ended and a carefully planned Dance Period began.
"You know I think there is only one way to open up the Dance portion of tonight's affair. That being for our Extra Special Guests of Honor Mr. And Mrs. Bereto Ninjao to undergo their first real dance as Husband and Wife despite the fact that they are already a day into their marriage," Silvino suggested.
Though reluctant they headed out onto the Dance floor and danced especially slowly before too long the rest of the Rangers and their escorts were on the floor as well suitably surrounding the newlyweds. It was extremely late when Adria and Bereto finally ported back into their house.
"My legs are big time tired from all the dancing. They don't get that tired kicking Dani's butt and sending Jolix and the Tylai packing and yet I spend three long hours on the dance floor and they fall asleep before the rest of me does." Adria commented as they were climbing into bed.