Bridge's Datafiles

[BloodAngel]

Well, this is the first entry in what I have decided to call "Bridge's Datafiles". Basically, this is where everything (Except probably the digital recordings) that was in the Witch's "suicide package" mentioned in "After the Burials". This stuff will eventually become the rather extensive datafiles Bridge was going through in "SPD Archives". Thus, "Bridge's Datafiles"

This one is the journal entry for the first episode of PRL. Enjoy.
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With everything that has happened in the past few months, I feel that it is important to keep this journal, just in case something should happen to us.

First, I should introduce myself. I am Amanda Violette. I am twenty-one years old and live in a town named Scenic City. I currently work at what I consider the best source of anime and manga in town, Highway 2. I am also fortunate enough to work with those who have been my friends for almost four years, one of whom happens to be my dearest, beloved fiancé.

But the hearts and sparkles in my eyes are not why I have taken pen to paper. Oh, no. There is a much more important reason behind why I am using this notebook.

I am the Yellow Literati Witch Ranger. Really, I am. My fiancé is the Blue Literati Demon Ranger. Ah, yes, now I see the gears in your head begin to turn, piecing together the strange instances between those two Rangers. Well, we’ve been together far longer than we had the Power, but our engagement is relatively recent.

Who are the other members of the team, you ask? Well, I’d say pull up a chair and settle in, but I suppose you’ve already done just that, or you wouldn’t still be reading this.

As I said, my name is Amanda Violette. My fiancé is Daniel Curtindolph. We are, however, far from the only pair in our team. The Green Literati Phoenix Ranger and the Black Literati Dragon Ranger are also dating. The only ones not dating in our group are the Pink Literati Siren, the Red Literati Knight, and the White Literati Dino Rangers.

Our enemy is a former friend of ours, whom I knew as a child. He was always slightly off, but it really wasn’t anything to cause alarm… with the exception of the time I tried to date him and found out he already had three other girlfriends. However, that’s just being a damned sleaze ball, not an evil villain bent on killing me and my friends. But, the evil villain is exactly what he has become.

It all started one day as the seven of us went for a walk in the woods. The one who would become the Red Literati Ranger, Justin Patrick Gibb, had found a strange stone circle out there. Thinking both that he had found something strange and that the two wiccans in our group might be able to identify it, he dragged the lot of us away from… my Goddess, I don’t even remember what I was doing before all that. At any rate, he drug us away from whatever it was and out into the forest.

Hmm? What? Oh, yes. Yes, there is a pair of wiccans in the group. Myself and Yolanda Phillips, or Yo-Yo, as we sometimes called her, was the one who would become the Pink Literati Siren Ranger. I’m a different brand of Wiccan than she is, she’s more of what they call a Chirstopagan, or a witch that buys into Christian mythology, (Yes, I’m fully aware God hates it when it’s called a “mythology”. I saw *Dogma*, thank you. In fact, it‘s my favorite live action not *Lord of the Rings* movie.) and tends to use Jesus and Mary Magdalene as the God and Goddess. I’m more of an eclectic witch with strong Greek and Japanese leanings. I also use a great deal of *Lord of the Rings* Valar and principle characters where appropriate. The Valar are the “Gods” of Middle-Earth, under the head god Eru, for those of you who are unaware. Anyway, away from such matters and back to the main story.

It was a part of the forest I was familiar with, as my sacred space was nearby. Knowing where I was kept me calm for a great deal of the strangeness that followed.

Yolanda had apparently seen it before the rest of us, since she referenced a previous conversation about the object. It really was nothing more than a large, stone circle that was divided up into sevenths, and each slice of the pie, so to speak, had a strange figure carved into it at the widest point. It was certainly nothing I had ever seen before, and I said as much, wanting to get away from the freakish thing and get back home so I could take a nap before work.

John Thomas Magnus, or just J.T., the one who would become the Black Literati Dragon Ranger, being the boy that he is, knelt down and extolled the “coolness” of the formation, which of course annoyed me. You have to understand, dear reader, the way J.T. and I express our… well, I wouldn’t want to say *fondness* for each other, but that is it in a way.

Our friendship is based on MAD: Mutual Assured Destruction. I’ve drawn a knife on him and him look at it as though I pulled out a stick of chewing gum. We exchange death threats on a semi-hourly basis. It’s almost a case of sibling rivalry, which is fitting, I suppose, since we share an ancestor. I made a snide “Is that your professional opinion, Captain Kirk?” comment, which led him to say “Nope… Professionally, my opinion is ‘I don’t have a clue what it is either’.”

Jonathan Paul Maxwell, or just Jon to everyone else, then asked what we should do. J.T.’s bright idea? “We could try touching it…” What?! We could try touching it?! What kind of idea is that?! How many bad movies have started out with one of the heroes touching something that they have no business knowing even exists?!

By the Murakumo no Tsurugi and Susanoo, why didn’t his girlfriend stop him? What does he do but touch the stupid thing, even though Jessica was there and should have stopped him?!

I blame this whole thing on them, by the way. If Jessica Kella Parker, the one who would become the Green Literati Phoenix Ranger, had grabbed his hand like she should have as his girlfriend, NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!

So, anyway, he touches the damned thing, she doesn’t stop him, and what happens? Well, the circle caves in, I see the white light (Hee. “White light! White light! I thought I’d never see again.” -- Orlando Bloom, *The Two Towers* bonus material.), and I pass out.

We wake up hours later (One way to get that nap, I suppose.), kinda dazed and very confused over what happened. My dearest Daniel made the comment about “Nightmares in the middle of the day?” and J.T. asked, very memorably, “What in the name of Stan Lee happened.” Really must talk to him about the comic book references…

To this day, I often wonder if Jon knew what happened, and was just playing with us when he said “I think some kind of gases or something knocked us out when that thing caved in.”

Yes, he’s our villain. This asshole is the one who dated three women at the same time I tried to date him (Thank Zeus I came to my senses on that one) and who now wants to kill all of us. Who is he? Gods, yer a slow one, aren’t ya? He became Dark Ranger. He’s not the Purple Ranger, there has never been, nor will there ever be a Purple Ranger. So, if we die and the news people get this, even if Jon dies a villain, I want people to know his proper name. Not because of any lingering feelings or a feeling of respect, an ass should be named an ass. Asses are not horses, and Dark Ranger is not the Purple Ranger. Simple as that.

With that, we all walked off, turning our backs for the last time on Jon.

It probably was the stupidest thing we ever did.

Later that night, after saying good night to Alexander Daniel Curtindolph, he who would become the Blue Literati Demon Ranger, I went to bed. And when I fell asleep, I dreamed a strange dream.

Now, I’m used to weird dreams. You should hear about my dream where I psychoanalyzed Dustin Diamond. Very, very strange, especially since I can’t stand the ignorant ass. Or you should hear about Yolanda’s weird Knights of the Round Table dream. It involved me, so I count it. But this one, this even beat out the Dustin Diamond dream.

In this dream, I stood surrounded by different colored people and creatures. A black dragon, a green phoenix, a pink siren, a red knight, and a blue demon. Looked a lot like Hellboy, actually. The black dragon looked like something straight outta *Harry Potter*.

And, for the record, the spells in *Harry Potter*? I’ve tried them. They don’t work. Sorry, fundamental Christian idiots who think this is a “How-To” book for witches in training. Oh, and before anyone cares to ask, I have not been a fan of *Harry Potter* since the death of Dumbledore. Snape’s cool in the movies (I like Alan Rickman. He was the Metatron in *Dogma* and Marvin the Depressed Android in *Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy*.), but I can’t stand him in the books. I don’t care if Dumbledore’s not dead, I don’t even care if Sirius Black isn’t dead (I don’t think he is, BTW.), I’m not reading the seventh book beyond finding out who the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is. I don’t really care about the whole “It’s not accurate witchcraft” shit going down in the wiccan community, it’s FICTION! Like *The Da Vinci Code*! FICTION! NOVELS! Ahem.

Anyway, the phoenix… looked like a phoenix that had been dipped in green paint, what can I say? The siren… well, think half-woman, half pink bird, and you’ve got it. The knight looked like Lancelet (Yes, I know this is not the accepted spelling, but I take all Arthurian spellings out of *The Mists of Avalon*.), although I’ve always pictured him in blue. I don’t know why, he’s always seemed more blue to me. King Arthur was the red one to me.

I looked down at myself after taking all this strangeness in, and I found I was dressed as the stereotypical witch, only yellow and no pointy hat. Thank God, I was afraid I’d have to kill someone who bought into that ignorant crap. Still odd to me, though. I’ve always worn dark blue, purple, or green robes. Sometimes I’ve worn a rainbow one, but never ever a yellow. I didn’t even own yellow clothing. And going by the magickal meanings of yellow, I certainly didn’t fit that. Yellow means, among other things, self-esteem, beauty, attraction, (Although I do a damned good job of attracting nerds), goodness, and humility. Sorry, don’t possess any of those qualities, although Daniel’s trying his damnedest to convince me I’m a beautiful person and build up my self-esteem. It is built up, thank you. It’s now in the, wait for it… double digits! Hey, that’s impressive for me! It used to be in the triple negatives!

You have to understand the family situation I grew up in, of course. I’ll get to that later.

The other strange thing was, I felt as though I knew these people/mythical creatures. Which is ridiculous, since I’ve never worked with dragon energy (Too dangerous), the rebirth properties of the phoenix (Never needed to), the Arthurian legends (Not a fan of Gwenhwyfar), the attraction properties of the siren (I have a fiancé, and have had him since before becoming a witch), nor demons (I don’t touch those, and it had been a while since Daniel made me watch *Hellboy*). It was certainly strange enough to freak me out for the rest of the night and the morning of the next day.

I made my way to work that morning. It was inventory day, so everyone had to be present. Jon, however… well, no one likes inventory days, so I really can’t blame him for being… twenty minutes late; I’d do it myself if I wasn’t assistant manager.

But two hours? Too much. Anyway, I was helping J.T. restock after we finished the music section. I would rather have been with Daniel, but Jessica was busy counting in the back and none of us thought it would be a good idea if J.T. was back there with her, or if Daniel and I were there, so Yolanda was working with him instead. We were almost done with what we had up front (I hate it when people put CDs back willy-nilly.) when J.T. let out this massive roar. Needless to say, I was freaked out. He’s known for some weird things that boy, but that was uncalled for!

I asked him what that was for, and he began to recount a dream that was eerily similar to mine. I asked him if his included a witch dressed in yellow, before he could answer, Daniel and Yolanda poked their heads over the racks and asked if he saw a blue demon or a pink siren which made both of us nervous. A moment later, Jessica said she had the same dream, only she was a green phoenix. That was when Justin walked up, probably to tell us to be careful with the merch; J.T. and I have a bad habit of throwing the less-fragile things to each other when we get bored. He said his dream had a red knight.

That was when our resident jerkwad swaggered into the store like he had just gotten out of a fight with one of his girlfriends (I think he was down to juggling two by that point) and made some snide remark about it. J.T., being head manager since Z Taylor, our boss, was having a meeting with a distributor, pretty much told him off. Jon claimed to have something better to do, and was informed quite well that he wouldn’t have *anything* to do here before long if he kept that up.

A moment later, Daniel caught a glimpse at the clock and realized he was about to be late for classes at Appalachian State if he didn’t get a move on. So he grabbed his pack and took off, of course forgetting to give me a kiss goodbye. He paid for it later, I assure you. J.T. compounded the insult by asking “And you say I’m not all there?”, to which I had only one answer: “Shut. Up. Magnus.”

Jon only made it worse by making it all about himself. J.T. gave him a glare that would have made smarter people back down. Sadly, Jon is not one of those smarter people. He essentially said it wasn’t his business if Daniel was late to his classes, it was Daniel’s problem alone and had no affect on the store, while Jon’s tardiness affected store operations. Given the store all seven of us came from before that, where I tolerated no lateness without a call warning of such an event, Jon really should have known better. Jon’s smart mouth (Too bad his brain didn’t get some of that) went off again, and I basically told him “Get you ass outta here, go home, we’re tired of looking at you, we don’t f*cking need you.”

Thankfully he had better people to hang out with than us, because I certainly didn’t want to deal with his shit that day, it was strange enough as it was. He called us guys, which immediately brought to mind Frank Burns of *M*A*S*H*, so I responded in typical Hawkeye fashion “We are not!”, which got a laugh out of everyone still present.

I’m not sure what happened at class that day, but Daniel came back annoyed. It must have had something to do with that Marius Orbensky fellow. Apparently, Marius’s sole goal in life is to show up Daniel. Needless to say, I’m not a fan. I’m not a fan of someone who calls my dearest a lair, ya know? But, since I’m a good fiancée, I gave him a twelve hour pass on punishment for forgetting me earlier and we decided to go out that evening. Heh. The date that never happened.

[BloodAngel]

That was the night the first attack happened. We’re not California or Japan in Godzilla movies. With all the monster attack Cali got in the early to mid-90s, they added monster evac to earthquake and hurricane evac to their list of drills. Us on the East Coast? Tornado and hurricanes, thank you. And certainly no monster evac drills. So, what did Daniel and I do? We headed for Yolanda’s house to hide out. No way was I taking Daniel home to be berated with my parents’ racist tirades. Hmm? Oh, I’m white. Painfully Irish white, actually. I blend in with snow, I’m that white. Daniel? He’s black. Yeah, I know. Not really that big a deal to me and other reasonable people, but hey, my parents were born in the early Sixties. They didn’t care to learn any better, so I just go on with my life, ignore their bigotry, and love whom my heart choose for me to love.

Why Justin was at Yolanda’s house, I’m not quite certain. All I knew was, some inconsiderate fool had interrupted my date with Daniel, and I wasn’t happy. The fact that the monster was a sixty foot tall spider didn’t help matters. Me and spiders? Not a good mix, but less likely to scare me out of my mind than snakes or lightening.

Let it be known, I entered this thing pissed as all hell. Daniel forgetting to say goodbye to me before leaving for class, date night interrupted, stuck at Yolanda’s, I was watching the news, for Gods’ sake! The thing that seems to think all we care about in America is whether or not Lindsey Lohan is wearing underwear under her too-short skirts, that bitch Nancy Grace (Get over it already! You have a new man, for God’s sake! Either kill yourself or quit bitching! You’re giving the South a bad name, and it doesn’t need your help! History and the president’s doing enough as it is!) and the latest time Paris Hilton committed a DUI!

And, while I shouldn’t give a damn, since the other four of us were there, I had to (Stupidly, mind you) ask “Where the hell are J.T. and Jessica?”.

I was not happy when they walked in.

They had discovered a fact that would change, and likely ruin my life. Well, all of our lives, but at that point, all I was thinking “It better be four others that get this, ‘cause there’s no way in HELL I’m going to be running around in pink or a miniskirt!” They were the Black and Green Rangers. At that point, the team didn’t have a name.

Ignoring the snide comment J.T. felt obliged to make at that moment, the two of them informed us they had just fought the guy in the robotic scorpion that accompanied the giant spider, and that they were Power Rangers, and that it was highly likely we were the rest of the team.

My reaction? “No. I am not running around in pink spandex with a miniskirt.”

That was when, for some reason, J.T. and I entered a discussion about whether or not the material he was wearing was spandex or Lycra. Apparently, Jessica must have heard this conversation before, since she smacked him on the head (No helmet to protect him, ha ha! He was dumb enough to take it off!)

Daniel then made a point that I hoped would get us out of this mess once and for all. “Okay, if we’re Power Rangers, where are our morphers?” Oh, I loved him in that moment.

And oh, I hated J.T. in the very next moment. Apparently, this team doesn’t *have* morphers! Thank you, supreme idiot being who made that decision! Did ya catch the sarcasm? Good, cause I’m not putting the [/sarcasm] tag after that.

J.T.’s description of our morph? “You know all those barriers you’ve put up over your life? The ones to hide your real self, the ones to keep from doing things you might regret? Forget ‘em.”

Oh, you mean the barrier I’m putting up right now to keep from showing you that even Power Rangers can’t survived a pissed off twenty year old female having a bad day that you’ve just made worse?

We stood our ground long enough for them to get a good head start on us.

What made us change our minds? Chock that one up to being surrounded by people with the sad ability to feel guilt about something they shouldn’t feel guilty about. Daniel just glared at me, Yolanda just looked at Justin, and Justin had a look of “Well? Are we going or not?” on his face.

I hate guilt. I really do. Especially when people look at me with a “How could you?” thing going on. Finally, I sighed and said “Fine! Fine!” and then glared at Daniel. “But if I’m pink,” I started, “Don’t you dare chicken out on me. I’ll have to wear the damn color and you might as well get used to it now.” He just shrugged and all four of us sighed.

“So,” Yolanda began, “How do we do this dropping of barriers thing?”

“Kill J.T. and Jessica?” I put forth hopefully. I’m a murderous person. The only reason my parents are still alive is because they aren’t worth screwing up a sword, the karma, or the jail time I’d have to serve in the pretty good case I’d get caught.

“I wish,” Daniel agreed with me.

“Let’s just do this thing,” Justin said, anxious to get it over with. “Besides, we can look at it this way: If it doesn’t work, we’re off the hook, and it won’t matter who has to wear pink.”

Oh, that hope was soon dashed. Thankfully, I was able to hold off on the breakdown until the next day before work. I’ll talk about that later. Next thing I knew after “letting down my barriers” was I was looking out from a helmet. Catching a look at Yolanda was enough to tell me I, thank The Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, was *not* Pink. I also was not Red (Damn. I would have liked to be the first female Red.) or Blue. That left only two common colors.

“Daniel? Please tell me I’m not White.” That team back in 2002 had the whiniest White I’d ever seen.

“Nope. You’re Yellow.”

“Oh, that’s good.” As long as it wasn’t White or Pink, I was happy. Yellows seemed to be the female version of the Reds, so it was a good second choice. Well, except for that Yellow in 2003. Something seemed off about that one. And they had a Blue girl, so that team was just plain weird. I would have loved to be the first Purple, but that’s just because I love that color so much.

“Shall we go?” Justin asked. He just had to get to be leader, didn’t he? J.T. will assume command quick as a flash with Justin as the Red, I knew.

“As long as you don’t say something incredibly campy when we get there,” I retorted. He just glared (I think. It’s hard to do a decent glare when the person you’re glaring at can’t see your face.) at me and took off out the door. I sighed, shrugged at Daniel and Yolanda, and the three of us followed him out.

So, we ran clear across town to catch up with J.T. and Jessica, who were discussing how to fight the things.

Justin’s response? “With a little bit of help!”

WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT SAYING SOMETHING INCREDIBLY CAMPY? NOT TO, RIGHT?! WE’RE NOT THE FIRST DAMNED ANGEL GROVE, “WE’RE IN A TIME CAPSULE FROM THE FIFTIES” TEAM! God! The people I’m stuck on a team with.

Well, it was nice to see that, for once, the females got a little protection from the torso shots. I always hated how only one guy got the extra protection when he really didn’t need extra protection in that area. Girls need the chest protection, not guys.

J.T.’s response to Justin telling him we waited all of five seconds (Liar! I gave in after a full minute, thank you!) to decide we weren’t going to let the two of them do it alone and my “I’m not gonna let anyone else kill you before I can.” line?

“You’re wearing… yellow.”

I glared at him. He was smart enough to realize that, too. It may have been the crossed arms that tipped him off.

“Hey, at least you got out of the miniskirt…” Yeah, that’s great. (You caught the sarcasm there too, right?) Yolanda’s the only girl stuck with one.” That was when I noticed Jessica didn’t have one either. Huh. Odd. I’ve only seen female rangers without miniskirts a few times, and it was always the yellow.

Yolanda? “I like it, it’s Pink.”

All Daniel had to say was “You would.”

Yolanda’s very girly, you have to understand. I can act like I’m a girl sometimes (I’m more girly than Jessica, certainly. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her in a skirt, honestly…), but Yolanda… she’s so bouncy, it worries me sometimes. Almost Brady Bunch sometimes.

Justin then decided we were all in need of a reminder that there was a huge robot and a monster attacking the city. Trust me dude, I remember the big giant things. They made my bad day worse, remember? I won’t be forgetting them soon, trust me.

I was thankful that I was with J.T. and Jessica after Dark Ranger. I couldn’t have dealt with a huge-ass spider with the day I’ve had. Sadly, that put Daniel on the “Squash the Spider” detail with Yolanda and Justin. Not a good thing.

A good thing, though? I got katana! Yay! Not some dumb European broadsword! Oh, no! A proper, fit for samurais katana. Such a lovely thing, my Spell Edge. Just the weight of her in my hands, the way she fits… oh, it’s a supreme joy!

The battle banter’s really not important enough for me to recount (Except that Jessica decided to rub it into my face that they were on a date at the time they were attacked the first go-around.) until Justin realized that we were tiny, they were huge, and tiny us weren’t going to do any good against big them. (God, I can’t believe it took us so long to reach that conclusion!)

J.T. agreed with him, saying we needed “Bigger guns”, and at that moment, Daniel got knocked through the air by one of the spider’s legs, leaving me in terror for his life.

Thankfully, a huge blue robot caught Daniel at the same time the stupid arachnids decided “Ya know what? We’ve already knocked over the Blue guy; let’s knock over the other ones for good measure.”.

Our zords had arrived.

“You know what I just said about bigger guns?” J.T. asked.

“There they are?” I asked in return.

“Exactly, Yellow.”

“Don't call me ‘Yellow’.” Please. Don’t remind me I’m stuck wearing this damned color, as far and away better than Pink this is.

“That doesn't sound right.”

Jessica shook her head. “I swear, sometimes you two fight like brother and sister.”

“Hey, no need to be insulting!” Don’t remind me I’m related to this idiot, either.

“What *is* it with you guys? We've got a robot scorpion and a giant spider attacking the town and you're busy arguing with each other!”

J.T. and I both shrugged, then I answered, “It's what we do.” Can’t help it, really. It’s instinctive. There’s always time for a death threat with us. Because, after all, what’s a death threat between friends?

After that, we entered our zords for the first time. First thing I thought of? How would anyone stupid know she was the witch? There’s no pointy hat like people expect. I expected it, actually. Who cares about facts when they’re making something like this, ya know? Second thing I thought was, give me enough time and the right tools, and I could add a half-decent stereo system to this thing. Daniel’s thought? Looked like Hellboy. Yolanda? “I’ve got a pink robot.” Yes, dear. Your color is Pink. Jessica? “She scares me.” Heh. Isn’t that the truth.

Then, in a sad moment for sci-fi fans the world over, Yolanda asked, “What does this button do?” That’s never a good thing to hear. Then she pressed it, firing a beam of super sonic sound at the spider. I followed it up (Without the Dee-Dee impersonation) with a beam of ice, which Daniel then crushed.

Yay! No more creepy spider! All we had left was a gigantic scorpion zord… whose pilot had promised would not be as easy as his lackey.

Apparently he got one of those zords that could form a megazord on its own, since he transformed into a more human-like mode, then fired on us.

J.T. screamed for some random reason, later stating “It fit in”.

Dark Ranger, who clearly needs help writing villainous dialogue, said “And my claw will fit around your neck,” before trying to choke the zord. Well, I wasn’t going to stand for that, no sirree.

So, I smacked it on the head and declared “Hey, no one kills him but me!” And he hit me with his tail. Yeah, that’s what I get for *that* well thought out battle plan. Heh. At least I got to pay Daniel back for scaring me half to death with his trip on “Evil Villain Airlines” when the impact sent me flying backwards. I decided that would be his punishment for forgetting me earlier.

Hey, I may not have the breast size to support the claim, but I *am* a girl. We do the whole “passive-aggressive” thing very well, and I hold grudges longer than a kitsune scorned. They hold them for a thousand years, if that gives you any hints.

Once Daniel caught up with me, he asked “Are you okay? You’re not hurt? Nothing broken or anything?”

Aw. It’s so touching. You see, this is why I love him. He gives a damn about me not because he has to, but he wants to. Isn’t he a gem?

“No, I’m fine. A little winded, and my pride could use a band-aid, but I’m good.”

“Promise?”

“Yes,” I laughed as he helped me up. “I promise.” That was when we discovered that dear Dark Ranger was dear Jon. Really, we should have seen it coming. You don’t know a guy for twenty yeas, live next door to a guy for twelve years and go to school with him for thirteen years to not see something like this coming, seriously.

Needless to say, Daniel was *pissed*. I still remember his speech when he raced back over to beat the ever lovin’ shit outta him.

“Jon… I get really annoyed when people try to hurt my girlfriend… No, I mean REALLY annoyed… Put one of J.T.‘s moods to shame annoyed…”

I agreed with J.T., probably blowing up an impoverished third-world country at the same time. The boy was dead if Daniel managed to land a punch. Well, he didn’t.

Jon took off, revealing that he got a zord that had *three* forms, not just two. It was J.T.’s turn to be pissed then.

I was just pissed that he got the purple color scheme, even if it wasn’t the Purple designation.

Then, Yolanda asked a highly pertinent question: “Does anyone know what we’re supposed to do with these when we’re done with them?”

So, we managed to find a hangar where the zords went, and then we all went home. What did I do when I finally got home after the worst day of my life thus far? Oh, I waited until my parents went to bed, and then had a nice, cleansing breakdown.

I didn’t want this! I don’t want this kind of responsibility! I just want to be a normal humanoid creature who married my high school sweetheart, have a family where emotional abuse was unheard of, and be a writer! I was even enrolling into Appalachian State next term! I wanted to be a psychologist and figure out the knots in someone’s mind! I didn’t want to save the world on a daily basis, risk losing the best job I’d ever had, and never have a normal life! It wasn’t like the Lightspeed Rescue team in Mariner Bay where being Rangers was their job! We weren’t the Astro Rangers with saving the universe under their belts! We’re just some newbie team still learning the ropes! We didn’t even have a name that first day!

I cried the rest of the night until I fell asleep. I just… I couldn’t take it that day. It was too much, it really was. I didn’t really get used to it until we battled Dark Ranger, Dreamweaver, and Mars. I still resent it, months later. Hmm? Who are Dreamweaver and Mars? I’ll explain when I get to their first appearances, don’t worry. Suffice to say, they’re our villains too.

The next day, after digging up a yellow scrunchie I forgot I had, the six of us confronted Jon at work before any customers came in.

We had a stereotypical heroes/villain showdown, after which Jon took off. We were happy enough to see him go and were at this point just waiting for a reason to fire him without it raising questions. I, for one, wanted to morph and beat the shit out of him, but J.T. vetoed it, saying it wouldn’t be cricket (?). I said it’d still make me feel better.

We then discussed if we were going to keep the Ranger thing up. I didn’t want to, beyond the whole unwanted responsibility thing, half the time in that battle I was in danger of suffocating in my helmet since I kept breathing in my hair. I’m not sure it came across, though. I sounded awfully… Pink when I said it. What can I say? My hair’s important to me. It’s the only thing about my appearance I can control without costly surgery, so I damned well am going to be protective about it. I’ll say this, never again will I attempt to shut up my mother by cutting it.

Jessica was the one who said we really didn’t have a choice in the matter, since Jon was still loose. Personally, I think if we morphed and took him out now, we wouldn’t have to worry about him any more and we could go back to normal, non mecha show inspired lives.

Such a fate was not to be, of course.

Ya know, looking back, I never formally agreed to this. J.T. said he was in, Jessica did, Daniel, Yolanda, and Justin did, all I said was spandex was funnier than Lycra. Wonder if I can still get out of this…

*Sigh* Probably not.

And that’s the story of us becoming the yet to be named Literati Rangers.

I cannot leave here, I cannot stay,
Forever haunted, more than afraid.
Asphyxiate on words I would say,
I'm drawn to a blackened sky as I turn blue.

There are no flowers, no not this time,
There'll be no angels gracing the lines,
Just these stark words, I find.
I'd show a smile, but I'm too weak,
I'd share with you could I only speak,
Just how much this, hurts me.

I cannot stay here, I cannot leave,
Just like all I loved, I make believe.
Imagine heart, I disappear, seems,
No one will appear, here and make me real. -- AFI, “This Time I’m Perfect“, part of the track “…And Home is Nowhere” on their album *Sing the Sorrow*.

[BloodAngel]

Since it looks like no one has an opininon on the first datafile, on to the second one!

I wish I could get this thing to format like I have it in the word processor, but it won't do it.
___________________________________________________

It was another day in the life of the now dubbed Literati Rangers (Daniel’s idea. I knew what it meant and well, it was quite accurate. J.T. liked the sound of it, and Jessica agreed with him. Trust me, there was no way this group was going by a name like “Spirit Rangers” or something else that would make us sound like pansies. The personalities were too strong for that.) when we experienced our second battle.

Well, strike that. It really was Yolanda and Justin’s second battle. J.T. and Jessica had the afternoon off, and Daniel and I were, ahem, stocking, at work.

Remember that Marius fool? Well, I’ll point out that not only does he not like Daniel; he has a grudge against me, for some unknown reason. Maybe I’m just another thing Daniel’s outdone him in, since I’ve never seen him with a girlfriend (Or he could be gay, I really don’t know. I doubt it, I’m pretty good at feeling out the gay guys.), or he’s just got some religious intolerance thing going. I don’t know, I don’t care unless he starts burning a cross on my lawn or calling me a Satanist. First time he does that, he’s not going to have a chance to even scream when I come down on him.

Anyway, why am I talking about this brain dead lout? Well, I knew today was a bad day for Daniel, since he had Mr. Phillips (No relation to Yolanda. We checked.) today -- Computer Graphic Design class -- so I decided to drop by and see how he was doing before we headed off for work.

I got there just as they were filing out. It was like a bunch of zombies out of the *Doom* movie, they were moving so slow and looked like they had given up on life. Oh, and for the record? *Doom* was a really good movie, I don’t care what anyone says. Karl Urban beating the shit outta The Rock always makes for interesting viewing. (Karl Urban: Éomer in *Lord of the Rings*, Eros (Credited as Cupid, I think) and Caesar on *Xena*. Hottest portrayal of Eros I‘ve ever seen, BTW.)

Things like that are why it took me so long to decide to go back to school. I just didn’t want to deal with stupid teachers. Even worse was this one was a Power Rangers nut! He could list every zord every team had ever used, all the colors, the whole bit. I’m shocked he doesn’t have autographs from the Astro Rangers.

Wonder what would happen if he knew he had the current Blue Ranger in his class…

So, I took pity on the poor dear, wrapped my arms around his waist, and whispered “All your dreams are about to come true…” I swear, if he was a cat, his ears would have pricked up faster than a hummingbird’s wings. He turned around, smiled brightly, and took me into his arms.

Ah, my dearest demon. I always felt safe in his arms. And so small, he’s a whole foot taller than me. This was what I had been looking for my whole life. Someone who cared and would understand if I needed to rant or cry at strange times, someone who would treat me with respect and not talk down to me, someone who realized that for all my strangeness, I was a worthwhile person to know. I still think my name is a cruel twist of fate, but Daniel goes a long way to trying to fix it.

You see, my home situation wasn’t the best. It wasn’t the worst, by any means, but it still wasn’t what it should have been.

Despite my being eldest child, I felt like I was the middle child. My mother had a cat that she loved more than me. Wanna know what my first word was? “Hey!” Wanna know why? Because I wanted some damn attention! Wanna know what my second word was? “Amy”. The name of said stupid cat.

And then, five years later, my younger brother came along. *Sigh* The birth of the Golden Child. He did everything right, while I apparently was the stupidest child my parents had the dubious honor of knowing. He loved school; I didn’t want to go back after the first day of kindergarten. I refused to do things without an explanation of why, he used to follow along quietly. I had no problem pointing out when there was a problem; he was the quietest baby they’d ever known. He got better as he got older; he learned it was better to think for himself, like I did. They don’t really like either of us much now, but they like Tyler better because his girlfriends have always been white. I’ve had one boyfriend my whole life, and that’s Daniel. Jon… one date a boyfriend does not make.

Not to mention the emotional abuse. I was constantly torn down. A C on a report card was cause for two hour long lectures, while an A meant nothing. Not even a “Good job!”. My mother was valedictorian of her high school class and never let us forget it. Oh, how special! Your reward for getting high grades was to be required to make a speech that everyone in the audience and most of your classmates will sleep through. How wonderful for you. (See the sarcasm here?) Every time I expressed my dislike for Paris Hilton or Lindsey Lohan, my mother accused me of being jealous of them. Hey, if you can figure out how someone like me is jealous of PARIS HILTON, please explain it to me. She’s an ugly, insipid whore. She’s uglier than I am, and that’s a feat! I just feel bad for Lohan. She’s trying to take the Drew Barrymore path to stardom, and it’s not working out so well for her.

I was continually made to feel inferior to everyone around me, utterly worthless, and as though I would never, ever, find someone who would love me as I deserved. And they wondered why I was an unhappy child.

Then they decided I had “behavioral problems” and needed to be drugged beyond senses. The real issue? I found out I had the capacity to form my own opinions and think my own thoughts and they didn’t like that. They found some pill pushing quack to prescribe nearly every anti-depressant under the sun -- including ones that were still in FDA trials and never were approved for use by people under eighteen -- when I was eight. I wasn’t depressed, I was told I was a worthless person by people who are supposed to raise me to be a good, well adjusted adult and be my examples of what decent people are. If that’s what “well-adjusted” and “decent people” are, I want no part of it.

I was taking eight different pills at once, including three difernent anti-depressants, one pill to put me to sleep at night and one to wake me up in the morning. Ever think I might not have needed the one to wake me up if I didn’t have the one to put me to sleep? Like I said, pill pushing quack. I’m still not sure what the other three were for.

They deny it now, but they lied to me. I clearly remember asking when I could stop taking them and they said “Sixteen”. Well, sixteen rolled around and they said “We never said that” when I reminded them. Heh. They’re lucky I remember anything from that time. I have three whole years that are just a huge blank for me. All of middle school is one big blur.

And when I told them I was a witch… by Tsukiyomi, that was a horrible day. The question “Do you even believe in God?” figured prominently. “Uh, yeah, just not the same one you do and a female one as well. Much more balanced anyway.” My mother now never misses an opportunity to call me a “witch” in the same tone I would say “whore”. My father wouldn’t allow me to have any of my books (I pulled a fast one on them for that one, heh.). They think “Oh, my white male woman-hating Christian God, what will the family think of *me*? How will this reflect on *me*? How can this have happened to *me*?”

Um… if there’s a problem, it’s mine, I was seventeen after all. And I would like to point out, that the Christian God they’re talking about must be a very different God than the one I’ve read about in the Bible (Yes, I have read the Bible. Revelations was the most boring thing I have ever read in my life, actually. And I’ve read *Ordinary People*. People who read Revelations and have horrific nightmares about it either have a serious guilt complex, are easily excitable, or just read far more into it than I did.), because I was under the impression that no matter what someone did, no matter what kind of person you were, God still loved you.

Apparently that’s only true if you’re Christian, male, white, and straight. Or, that’s’ how the Christian Right wants to sell it at least. I don’t want a God like that, thanks. You can keep him.

And I would also like to point out I have Christian friends. I don’t want people thinking I’m anti-Christian. Just anti-Church. I’m against what it has *become*, rather than the core of it. Yolanda, as I said earlier, is a Christopagan. Jessica is a Catholic (My apologies, but at least she’s an intelligent one, unlike Pope Benedict whatever number he is.), and J.T. is what he calls a Pattonite Christian. Daniel claims Buddhist as his faith and I’m fairly certain Justin’s a Christian too.

Should we die, and I have this terrible feeling we might, I want the people who get a hold of this to not believe a word my parents say. Anything that comes out of their mouths will be a patent lie. They have no knowledge of my activities as a Ranger, and in fact I have moved out of the house and share an apartment with Yolanda. Daniel drops by too, sleeps there more than at his, actually. If they say they loved me and miss me, believe me when I say that’s just them lying and pretending to feel bad while the moment the cameras turn off they’ll be contesting my will, claiming that they deserve any and everything I leave to people like Daniel and the other Literati Rangers and their families. Or even to charities I deem fit. They’re a bitch and a bastard and I want nothing more to do with them.

Anyway, back to my dearest Daniel.

The wonderful warm cocoon of safety was, sadly destroyed by Marius. “If it isn’t the little yellow witch and her familiar.”

I’m sorry? I didn’t quite hear you. Did you just make a religious slur against me? I think you did. Oh, you’re gonna pay for that one, Mister.

I turned around and felt the Power rise up around us. I felt the earth tremble in fear as I fixed my eyes on Marius, perfectly prepared to levy a lovely hex on him. “You Have No Idea,” were the only words to make it out of my mouth. I took a deep breath and prepared to recite the words of the hex (I planned on going home after work and backing it up with a banishing charm.), when Daniel interrupted.

“Amanda, we’ve got *stocking* to do at work,” he said, with a particular emphasis on the word “stocking”.

Stocking? I like stocking. “Okay!” I agreed with more enthusiasm than I’m sure Daniel’s friend Ethan, who had also come out of the class, cared to hear. He still looks at me strangely every time he sees me. Was I that obvious with the earth-trembling thing?

I’ll spare you the details of our “stocking”. Suffice it to say, I love being Assistant Manager of an empty store when the boss is out to lunch…

Until the actual manager comes in, changes the music that was playing, says hi, and walks back out.

Daniel pulled back and looked at the door. I groaned in frustration and placed my head against Daniel’s arm. “We’ll have to go out there.”

He nodded. “Fix your shirt.”

I straightened my shirt and swept back my hair, wishing I had worn a collared shirt instead of one of my old blue tees as my hand brushed a fresh bruise. Either J.T. noticed the bruise or he noticed my wince of pain when he shook his head, groaned, and asked if we needed shock collars.

“I hate you.”

“We know,” responded Jessica, heading off a fight by tossing Daniel and me a pair of… huh? They looked like watches. Nice accent colors, though. The blue one was a lovely shade of midnight. And the yellow was an actually decent shade of lemon yellow.

“What are these?” Daniel asked as I examined them. Oh, no. No. I think I know what these are. The doofus and the doofus’s girlfriend found something out there in the woods, didn’t they?

“Short version? Communicators and teleporters.”

I was right. They found us a huge command center full of lights and buttons that we had no clue how they worked and two people unafraid of pushing buttons at random. This Ranger thing isn’t all beer and Skittles at first when you’re figuring all this kind of stuff out. I’ve gotten used to it and don’t hate it as much as I used to, but it was still a major pain.

“Couldn’t we get cell phones or something instead?” I grumbled, not expecting anyone to hear me. Hey, I was still against this whole thing. Trust me, it was not what I wanted.

J.T. did, though, and said that we probably wouldn’t, and it was unlikely that Justin would be able to make something up. Then… “You forgot to put out a coat hanger.”

Oh, just shut the fuck up, will you, ya dumbass? Why in hell do you have to do this crap to us? Are we here for your fucking amusement? Do we look like a fucking pair of clowns? Why the hell am I on a rant like one from the *Goodfellas*?!

Then he decided to make fun of our shirts. I’m sorry, but how does Daniel wearing a yellow button up that he’s owned for three years and me wearing a blue tee that I’ve owned for six (I didn’t grow much after I bought the shirt. I hate my life…) warrant a joke?

“Quildë, hecilo!” I spat. “Autalya nengwë ets!” Quiet, bastard! Keep your nose out of it, was what I said, but for all of J.T.’s Elvish knowledge, I could have just cursed him.

Jessica only sighed, grabbed him, and tried to drag him out of the building, saying that he needed to leave before he annoyed me beyond my limits and I decided to hurt him. That was when Yolanda and Justin ran in, talking about how they had to fight giant ants while they were at the mall. Great. *Ants* this time. I just hope they weren’t fire ants. Well, at least I wasn’t involved and it was just a standard smash em up. Now that I think about it, it was probably some test run for the baddies, to see what would happen if it was only two of us instead of all six. It really wasn’t worth noting if I hadn’t sworn to put down everything important to our careers as Rangers, and the first appearance of what Justin would eventually term Pinchers *is* important.

Well, that’s the second battle and my family background. I’m sorry if I upset anyone. What can I say? I have strong opinions and I’m not afraid to voice them.

Well, she laid her heart and soul right in your hands
And you stole her every dream and you crushed her plans
Yes, ya did
She never even knew she had a choice and that’s what happens
When the only voice she hears is telling her she can't
You stupid boy, oh, I’m the same old
Same old stupid boy

It took awhile for her to figure out she could run
But when she did, she was long gone
Long gone, long gone
Ah, she's gone

Nobody's ever gonna love me like she loved me
And she loved me, she loved me
God please, just let her know
I’m sorry, I’m sorry
I’m sorry, I’m sorry
Baby, yeah, I'm down on my knees
She’s never coming back to me -- Keith Urban, “Stupid Boy”, *Love, Pain, & The Whole Crazy Thing*

[Enigma!]

Hee.
~~~~~

FROM THE JOURNAL OF DANIEL CURTINDOLPH:

If anyone asks about Marius. I just tell them the truth. He's a prick. An anarchistic, antisocial prick. Always has been, always will be.

It started back in Junior high, when we first met. He was playing Dungeons and Dragons with another boy named Truman. I had never heard of D&D, except in reports on the news that say it makes children worship the Devil. Personally, I think if a game makes your kid worship an evil entity, then there was something wrong with your kid long before he started playing the game.

Maybe there was always something wrong with Marius. Anyhow...

He and Truman were playing D&D, and I sat down to see how the game was played. Marius was bossy and constantly changed the rules as the game progressed. He was trying to get Truman to kill a monster, but he just kept paralyzing them and running away. At some point Marius just gave up, awarded Truman some experience points and ended the session. Then they turned to me, and asked if I knew how to play a card game called Magic: the Gathering.

That's how it began. My life until I turned nineteen became a tug of war between Truman - kind and sweet, someone I grew to love like a brother - and Marius, who I think was jealous of all the time we spent together. He made it his purpose in life to prove to truman that he was better than me - more worthy of his friendship, I guess.
When I chose Buddhism, he chose anarchy. When I went to a good high school, he went to an excellent one. I was one of the tops students in my class. He was valedictorian. Then Truman passed on.

I remember the funeral. I didn't take my girlfriend, Amanda, because she doesn't like graveyards of funerals. Neither do I, but I had to pay my respects. Marius was there, the proverbial "lady in red." Everyone else wore black. He came wearing all white! He even brought white roses to lay on Truman's grave. I don't think anyone cried more for Truman than Marius did.

When I entered college that fall, he pulled me to the side, and told me, in no uncertain terms, that he blamed me for Truman's death; that he would spend the rest of his life making mine miserable. I didn't care. I figured as long as he's only going after me...

Then I became a Power Ranger, along with Amanda, and several other friends. And he became a pawn for some great dark force. And any respect I had for him was thrown out the window.

I'm glad I'm a ranger now. I have the power to help my friends from trouble. Unlike when Truman died, and I couldn't do anything.

And I must protect them from Marius. No matter what...

[BloodAngel]

I might have been able to suck it up for one trip. The freak out would still happen, but I'd go.

[Enigma!]

What do you think of it?

[BloodAngel]

Good. Nice to have someone who knows more about Mars than I do adding to this.

[Enigma!]

Eh. I figure he can't just be evil for evil's sake.

That's Jon's job.

[BloodAngel]

Wait til you see how I tell off Jon in entry four. That's good times right there.

[J. T./Jessica]

I think I told Amanda this once, but the villian reasons (typically) breakdown as follows;

Malleus Maleficarum; Wants to drain the Rangers of the Power to revive Ivan Ooze so he can drain him of his energies, making Malleus the most powerful being in the universe.

Mars; rather... short-sighted, he doesn't really care about anything else, just being better than Daniel. Beyond that, he's clueless.

Dreamweaver; wants to rule the world and be worshipped like a goddess.

Jon; Probably the most complex of the villians, his first goal is to prove himself better than the Literati Rangers, beyond that no one knows. Is probably the most unpredictible of the 'villians' because he has no problems with working alongside the Literati when it suits his mysterious goals.

[Enigma!]

Yes. Well, now you know WHY he wants to be better than Dan. To show Truman, from beyond the grave, that he was the better friend.

Or more than a friend...

[J. T./Jessica]

...

If you're implying what I THINK you're implying, if that ever gets touched on in the series, we're gonna have the ACLU knocking at our doors....


LET'S DO IT!

[Enigma!]

YES!

[J. T./Jessica]

Well, if nothing else, the flames will prove that people are reading it...

[BloodAngel]

Hey, might as well have a gay character in Rangers, right?

I just want co-credit, since I did mentioned it and Daniel seconded.