Bright Skies (Multi - Season Crossover/Power Rangers, prompt #61: What cool toys you have!, T)
I'm not sure if I like this prompt. The first part, yes. The second ... not really. I was losing my inspiration, and I think it shows. -Makes a face-
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force moving into S.P.D., multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: Wes (Time Force), multiple Rangers from other teams (Literally too many to list)
Pairings/: Post - Wes/Eric, Rocky/Adam, Shane/Dustin, Hunter/Cam, Carter/Dana, Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, Carlos/Ronny, Jason/Taylor, Conner/Ethan, Justin/Rose, Tommy/Kimberly, Tyzonn/Mack, Cassie/OC, Nick/Maddison, Zack/Aisha, Trent/Kira, Post - Billy/Cestria. Future Ryan/Carter and Billy/Hayley. More couples will most likely be mentioned, but not shown.
prompt/: #61: What cool toys you have!
Rating/: T (For non - graphic mentions of people having babies and being violent with one another)
Disclaimer/: I don't own the Power Rangers, but if Disney's hiring any new writers I volunteer.
Summary/: When Wes' life starts to fall apart, an accident gives him a chance at a fresh start in New Tech City, with Space Patrol Delta. But even a new life has its ups and downs - and weird friends. Meanwhile, Eric tries to move on.
Warnings/: A mentally handicapped person living in a medical facility, angst, male and female slash, non-cemented couples (In otherwords, pairings that will be separated), children created by scientific means, character death
Author's Notes/: -Sighs- Another short one that wasn't quite what I had expected it to be. Wes is being difficult again, but he's off being disciplined now, so hopefully that will help. Love to
purplestripe66, who gave me Boom's name.
Purple Haze is the name of an actual drink that contains Opium. That's not exactly what Wes is drinking, but it's something similar.
And most importantly, BlackCrimsonLight made me another trailer! Go look at it! It's all spiffiness and stuff! -Beams happily-
"Battle drills?" Wes blinked. "Why do we need to have a meeting about developing battle drills?"
Dustin bounced in place - literally. "Well, see, me an' Taylor have been working on building new Zords for B Squad, right? Well, we happened to hear from Nerina that she found this like, way old project for defending the base that got scrapped, like, a really, really long time ago. So, we sorta kidnapped Nerina for awhile so we could work on it."
"But why do we need *battle* drills for a base defense project?"
To his surprise, Taylor chuckled. "Because this isn't just a base defense program."
"It was Ethan's idea," Dustin explained, his enthusiasm fading along with his bounce. "He said something once about not wanting to go through the Dino Cave again." He fell silent for a moment, and Wes found himself thinking longingly of the Clock Tower, as well as the memory of feeling it shatter around him.
"Anyway," Taylor said loudly, recapturing both of their attentions. "Ethan came up with a few ideas for making sure that if something happened, S.P.D. Newtech would be able to protect itself and anyone inside."
"But after ... well, after, the Techs scrapped the project. Too many issues and too many bad memories, I guess. But Nerina found it and brought it to us." Dustin paused. "We really need to just kidnap her already, you know? I mean, she like, spends half her time here anyway."
"And she spends the other half in Tech," Taylor reminded him. "Face it, Dustin; she's her father's daughter. She's practically Morpher Project already."
Wes coughed pointedly. "So what exactly *is* the base defense program?"
Dustin and Taylor exchanged mischievous looks.
****
"You turned the *base* into a Zord?" Shane demanded incredulously.
"Actually dude, we turned it into a mobile command center," Dustin corrected. "*Then* we turned it into a Megazord."
"But why a Megazord?" Adam asked, looking at him oddly. "I thought you guys were supposed to be working on the B Squad Zords."
"We are." Taylor shot him an annoyed glare. "But they're taking longer than we'd expected. The designs we finally went with are more complicated than anybody expected, and we didn't want to leave B Squad without backup in the meantime."
"The designs are complicated?" Kimberly frowned. "What made you decide on them, then?"
Dustin and Taylor exchanged glances again. "It was uh, a very special process," Dustin said evasively. "DVD secret, and all."
"But ... didn't you just cover the eyes of that boy and have him throw a dart at the board you made?" Nerina asked, sounding puzzled. "Boom?"
"Boom? What went boom?" Aisha asked sharply.
"No, Marion Williamson. Boom?" Zack reminded her.
Wes smiled faintly at the thought of the young man Zack was referring to. While his dream had been to join the Ranger program, a heart condition discovered only days after he'd arrived at S.P.D. had crushed that dream in an instant. For some reason, Kat of all people had taken pity on him, and convinced him to join the Tech Department. To everyone's surprise, he had turned out to actually be quite smart - but *extremely* accident prone. Hence his nickname, 'Boom'.
"Wait, wait. Are you saying you threw a *dart* to decide what Zords to design?" Justin sounded like he was still trying to decide whether or not to laugh.
"Well, we couldn't agree on anything, so ... " Dustin shrugged. "And technically dude, Boom's the one who threw the dart. We just made the board for him to throw at."
"Everyone's always harping on us to find solutions without fighting," Taylor pointed out rather smugly.
Kimberly sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm finally starting to understand why Tommy's always complaining about headaches," she muttered. After a moment, she lifted her head again. "Is the Megazord safe for non-Ranger personnel?"
Taylor nodded. "There are designated safety zones already in place for the transformation. We just need to plan out the drills to organize everyone into the right areas."
"It's actually pretty simple," Dustin put in. He held up a closed fist. "See, this is like the safety area with all the people inside, right?" He clasped his other hand around the fist, but still allowing the fist to rotate inside the other. "When the transformation sequence turns on, the safety areas turn into like, free-floating rooms. So no matter which way the Delta Command Megazord moves, nobody gets hurt."
"That was Dustin's design," Taylor added idly, shrugging a shoulder as Dustin blushed hotly in response. "Even Cam was impressed with it."
Dustin fidgeted, obviously flustered now. "It's not like no one's ever done it before," he protested weakly. "I mean, it's a basic Zord design. I just figured out how it worked."
"After taking apart half of the Overdrive Zords," Taylor returned dryly, but she sounded amused.
Dustin shrugged as everyone stared. "I understand it better that way," he said sheepishly. "All those blueprints like, seriously make my head hurt."
"You did ... put them back together afterwards. ... Right?" Carter asked cautiously.
"Dude! Of course I did!" Dustin protested, offended.
"So we need to design battle drills for all our cadets and staff members," Eric spoke up, and from the tone of his voice he was frowning at the table. "That's ... "
"Fifteen hundred thirty-two," Karone answered him absently, watching in fascination as she tried to balance her pencil on her finger. "Not including B Squad."
"Joy," Eric grumbled.
Wes kept his eyes on the table, silently thankful he'd decided to wear sunglasses today. He didn't always, since he really didn't need to and they occasionally interfered with his SightMap, but he'd woken up that morning with the mother of all migraines and Jen whining in his face. The sunglasses were helping for more than just keeping his eyes slightly more shadowed; they hid the redness, and kept anyone from seeing how much it hurt to hear Eric's voice from across the table.
For the first time in three years, Eric hadn't sat at his side during the meeting to offer silent warnings when someone had an expression he couldn't read, or poke him - literally - if he started to doze off, or just ... be there. It was strange to sit between Vanessa and Justin, and it hurt.
Because not only was Eric sitting away from him, but Vanessa had been the one to take the seat in between them, and had mostly ignored him for most of the meeting.
The strange seating arrangement hadn't exactly gone unnoticed, but no one had brought it up. Mostly because they all knew that his relationship with Eric had always been ... unusual. Although that could also have something to do with Justin sitting abruptly beside him before anyone could say anything and striking up a conversation as though nothing was wrong.
He was grateful for Justin's decision to stay in Newtech City while Rose was gone, subtly hoping to get to know his long-lost daughter better. And he was grateful to have a teammate with him when the others were elsewhere. But even so, he felt isolated. He hadn't realized how much he'd come to depend on having Eric to sign information into his hand, or Vanessa to pointedly interrupt someone who hadn't given information about something he couldn't see for himself. Without the two of them beside him, he felt alone.
For the first time in almost eighteen years, Wes wanted a good, stiff drink.
****
"You want to *what*?" Justin demanded incredulously.
"I want to go out for a drink," Wes repeated firmly. "Are you coming or not?"
Justin stared at him. "You can't be serious."
Wes crossed his arms, giving him an irritated look.
"You are," Justin breathed, sounding stunned. "But Wes, you *hate* alcohol. You always said you'd never drink again after the last time."
He shrugged. "I can change my mind, can't I? So are you coming or not?"
Justin sighed. "Of course I'm coming. I'm not letting you go off alone when you're depressed like this."
"Can you blame me?" he muttered, his voice sounding hollow even to his own ears.
Justin looked at him for a moment. "You really want me to answer that?"
"Shut up and get your stupid car."
****
"You know, there's no point in going out driving when you don't drink," Wes informed his friend. "And you don't have to worry about drinking, 'cause your car c'n do it for you."
Justin eyed him over his coke. "Yeah, and listen to the lecture for it the whole way home? No thanks."
"Is that car your mother or somethin'?"
"Practically," Justin snorted. "He likes to think he's 'taking care of me'."
"Being taken care of stinks," Wes agreed solemnly. He pointed a wobbly finger at Justin. "Which is why you should n'ver care. 'Bout anyone. Hurts less that way." He took a long swig of whatever vile stuff he'd been given - he hadn't cared much when he ordered it, and he definitely didn't now.
Justin was watching him again, and he scowled, taking another swig to avoid the stare. He didn't need to see Justin's face to know what the look on it was. And quite frankly, pity was the last thing he needed right now.
"What is this stuff 'nyway?" he asked abruptly, frowning down at his drink.
"Purple Haze," the bartender informed him. "It's specially made for Rangers - the effects last a bit longer than most before the Power burns it away."
His expression darkened. "M' not a Ranger," he muttered. "Not anymore." He took a swift drink, setting the now empty glass on the counter before pointing once again at Justin with a glare. "An' don' give me that 'once an' always' junk. S' not the same thing."
He winced suddenly as his head throbbed, reaching up to snatch away his SightMap without warning.
The world did *not* plunge into immediate darkness as he'd expected it would. It was dark, yes. But there were glimmers of light, flickers and flashes of color. Sort of like a darker version of Bridge's aura empathy.
He smiled, turning to look at the bartender. "This is some *good* stuff," he informed him carefully, pointing at the empty glass.
"You stupid, arrogant, piece of - "
Hands grabbed him, spinning him around faster than he could follow, and the world went black.
Author/: Tsukino Akume
Fandom/: Power Rangers Time Force moving into S.P.D., multiple Rangers from each season
Characters/: Wes (Time Force), multiple Rangers from other teams (Literally too many to list)
Pairings/: Post - Wes/Eric, Rocky/Adam, Shane/Dustin, Hunter/Cam, Carter/Dana, Andros/Ashley, Zhane/Karone, Carlos/Ronny, Jason/Taylor, Conner/Ethan, Justin/Rose, Tommy/Kimberly, Tyzonn/Mack, Cassie/OC, Nick/Maddison, Zack/Aisha, Trent/Kira, Post - Billy/Cestria. Future Ryan/Carter and Billy/Hayley. More couples will most likely be mentioned, but not shown.
prompt/: #61: What cool toys you have!
Rating/: T (For non - graphic mentions of people having babies and being violent with one another)
Disclaimer/: I don't own the Power Rangers, but if Disney's hiring any new writers I volunteer.
Summary/: When Wes' life starts to fall apart, an accident gives him a chance at a fresh start in New Tech City, with Space Patrol Delta. But even a new life has its ups and downs - and weird friends. Meanwhile, Eric tries to move on.
Warnings/: A mentally handicapped person living in a medical facility, angst, male and female slash, non-cemented couples (In otherwords, pairings that will be separated), children created by scientific means, character death
Author's Notes/: -Sighs- Another short one that wasn't quite what I had expected it to be. Wes is being difficult again, but he's off being disciplined now, so hopefully that will help. Love to
purplestripe66, who gave me Boom's name.
Purple Haze is the name of an actual drink that contains Opium. That's not exactly what Wes is drinking, but it's something similar.
And most importantly, BlackCrimsonLight made me another trailer! Go look at it! It's all spiffiness and stuff! -Beams happily-
"Battle drills?" Wes blinked. "Why do we need to have a meeting about developing battle drills?"
Dustin bounced in place - literally. "Well, see, me an' Taylor have been working on building new Zords for B Squad, right? Well, we happened to hear from Nerina that she found this like, way old project for defending the base that got scrapped, like, a really, really long time ago. So, we sorta kidnapped Nerina for awhile so we could work on it."
"But why do we need *battle* drills for a base defense project?"
To his surprise, Taylor chuckled. "Because this isn't just a base defense program."
"It was Ethan's idea," Dustin explained, his enthusiasm fading along with his bounce. "He said something once about not wanting to go through the Dino Cave again." He fell silent for a moment, and Wes found himself thinking longingly of the Clock Tower, as well as the memory of feeling it shatter around him.
"Anyway," Taylor said loudly, recapturing both of their attentions. "Ethan came up with a few ideas for making sure that if something happened, S.P.D. Newtech would be able to protect itself and anyone inside."
"But after ... well, after, the Techs scrapped the project. Too many issues and too many bad memories, I guess. But Nerina found it and brought it to us." Dustin paused. "We really need to just kidnap her already, you know? I mean, she like, spends half her time here anyway."
"And she spends the other half in Tech," Taylor reminded him. "Face it, Dustin; she's her father's daughter. She's practically Morpher Project already."
Wes coughed pointedly. "So what exactly *is* the base defense program?"
Dustin and Taylor exchanged mischievous looks.
****
"You turned the *base* into a Zord?" Shane demanded incredulously.
"Actually dude, we turned it into a mobile command center," Dustin corrected. "*Then* we turned it into a Megazord."
"But why a Megazord?" Adam asked, looking at him oddly. "I thought you guys were supposed to be working on the B Squad Zords."
"We are." Taylor shot him an annoyed glare. "But they're taking longer than we'd expected. The designs we finally went with are more complicated than anybody expected, and we didn't want to leave B Squad without backup in the meantime."
"The designs are complicated?" Kimberly frowned. "What made you decide on them, then?"
Dustin and Taylor exchanged glances again. "It was uh, a very special process," Dustin said evasively. "DVD secret, and all."
"But ... didn't you just cover the eyes of that boy and have him throw a dart at the board you made?" Nerina asked, sounding puzzled. "Boom?"
"Boom? What went boom?" Aisha asked sharply.
"No, Marion Williamson. Boom?" Zack reminded her.
Wes smiled faintly at the thought of the young man Zack was referring to. While his dream had been to join the Ranger program, a heart condition discovered only days after he'd arrived at S.P.D. had crushed that dream in an instant. For some reason, Kat of all people had taken pity on him, and convinced him to join the Tech Department. To everyone's surprise, he had turned out to actually be quite smart - but *extremely* accident prone. Hence his nickname, 'Boom'.
"Wait, wait. Are you saying you threw a *dart* to decide what Zords to design?" Justin sounded like he was still trying to decide whether or not to laugh.
"Well, we couldn't agree on anything, so ... " Dustin shrugged. "And technically dude, Boom's the one who threw the dart. We just made the board for him to throw at."
"Everyone's always harping on us to find solutions without fighting," Taylor pointed out rather smugly.
Kimberly sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'm finally starting to understand why Tommy's always complaining about headaches," she muttered. After a moment, she lifted her head again. "Is the Megazord safe for non-Ranger personnel?"
Taylor nodded. "There are designated safety zones already in place for the transformation. We just need to plan out the drills to organize everyone into the right areas."
"It's actually pretty simple," Dustin put in. He held up a closed fist. "See, this is like the safety area with all the people inside, right?" He clasped his other hand around the fist, but still allowing the fist to rotate inside the other. "When the transformation sequence turns on, the safety areas turn into like, free-floating rooms. So no matter which way the Delta Command Megazord moves, nobody gets hurt."
"That was Dustin's design," Taylor added idly, shrugging a shoulder as Dustin blushed hotly in response. "Even Cam was impressed with it."
Dustin fidgeted, obviously flustered now. "It's not like no one's ever done it before," he protested weakly. "I mean, it's a basic Zord design. I just figured out how it worked."
"After taking apart half of the Overdrive Zords," Taylor returned dryly, but she sounded amused.
Dustin shrugged as everyone stared. "I understand it better that way," he said sheepishly. "All those blueprints like, seriously make my head hurt."
"You did ... put them back together afterwards. ... Right?" Carter asked cautiously.
"Dude! Of course I did!" Dustin protested, offended.
"So we need to design battle drills for all our cadets and staff members," Eric spoke up, and from the tone of his voice he was frowning at the table. "That's ... "
"Fifteen hundred thirty-two," Karone answered him absently, watching in fascination as she tried to balance her pencil on her finger. "Not including B Squad."
"Joy," Eric grumbled.
Wes kept his eyes on the table, silently thankful he'd decided to wear sunglasses today. He didn't always, since he really didn't need to and they occasionally interfered with his SightMap, but he'd woken up that morning with the mother of all migraines and Jen whining in his face. The sunglasses were helping for more than just keeping his eyes slightly more shadowed; they hid the redness, and kept anyone from seeing how much it hurt to hear Eric's voice from across the table.
For the first time in three years, Eric hadn't sat at his side during the meeting to offer silent warnings when someone had an expression he couldn't read, or poke him - literally - if he started to doze off, or just ... be there. It was strange to sit between Vanessa and Justin, and it hurt.
Because not only was Eric sitting away from him, but Vanessa had been the one to take the seat in between them, and had mostly ignored him for most of the meeting.
The strange seating arrangement hadn't exactly gone unnoticed, but no one had brought it up. Mostly because they all knew that his relationship with Eric had always been ... unusual. Although that could also have something to do with Justin sitting abruptly beside him before anyone could say anything and striking up a conversation as though nothing was wrong.
He was grateful for Justin's decision to stay in Newtech City while Rose was gone, subtly hoping to get to know his long-lost daughter better. And he was grateful to have a teammate with him when the others were elsewhere. But even so, he felt isolated. He hadn't realized how much he'd come to depend on having Eric to sign information into his hand, or Vanessa to pointedly interrupt someone who hadn't given information about something he couldn't see for himself. Without the two of them beside him, he felt alone.
For the first time in almost eighteen years, Wes wanted a good, stiff drink.
****
"You want to *what*?" Justin demanded incredulously.
"I want to go out for a drink," Wes repeated firmly. "Are you coming or not?"
Justin stared at him. "You can't be serious."
Wes crossed his arms, giving him an irritated look.
"You are," Justin breathed, sounding stunned. "But Wes, you *hate* alcohol. You always said you'd never drink again after the last time."
He shrugged. "I can change my mind, can't I? So are you coming or not?"
Justin sighed. "Of course I'm coming. I'm not letting you go off alone when you're depressed like this."
"Can you blame me?" he muttered, his voice sounding hollow even to his own ears.
Justin looked at him for a moment. "You really want me to answer that?"
"Shut up and get your stupid car."
****
"You know, there's no point in going out driving when you don't drink," Wes informed his friend. "And you don't have to worry about drinking, 'cause your car c'n do it for you."
Justin eyed him over his coke. "Yeah, and listen to the lecture for it the whole way home? No thanks."
"Is that car your mother or somethin'?"
"Practically," Justin snorted. "He likes to think he's 'taking care of me'."
"Being taken care of stinks," Wes agreed solemnly. He pointed a wobbly finger at Justin. "Which is why you should n'ver care. 'Bout anyone. Hurts less that way." He took a long swig of whatever vile stuff he'd been given - he hadn't cared much when he ordered it, and he definitely didn't now.
Justin was watching him again, and he scowled, taking another swig to avoid the stare. He didn't need to see Justin's face to know what the look on it was. And quite frankly, pity was the last thing he needed right now.
"What is this stuff 'nyway?" he asked abruptly, frowning down at his drink.
"Purple Haze," the bartender informed him. "It's specially made for Rangers - the effects last a bit longer than most before the Power burns it away."
His expression darkened. "M' not a Ranger," he muttered. "Not anymore." He took a swift drink, setting the now empty glass on the counter before pointing once again at Justin with a glare. "An' don' give me that 'once an' always' junk. S' not the same thing."
He winced suddenly as his head throbbed, reaching up to snatch away his SightMap without warning.
The world did *not* plunge into immediate darkness as he'd expected it would. It was dark, yes. But there were glimmers of light, flickers and flashes of color. Sort of like a darker version of Bridge's aura empathy.
He smiled, turning to look at the bartender. "This is some *good* stuff," he informed him carefully, pointing at the empty glass.
"You stupid, arrogant, piece of - "
Hands grabbed him, spinning him around faster than he could follow, and the world went black.