SneakPeek: Ennead: For Those We Love: Chapter 4

THIS CHAPTER IS WITH THE BETA READER, I FINISHED THE CHAPTER LAST NIGHT, HENCE WHY THERE WAS NO UPDATE YESTERDAY.  

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“Yuge?” Jou asked, worried, as Oneesan stalked into the room, pieces of cardboard in one hand, dueling glove in the other, golden box poking out of her jacket pocket. He didn’t think he had ever seen the spirit of the Puzzle stay this angry after a Challenge. There were times that had come close, but Oneesan’s rage normally burned out pretty quickly, taking the magic with it. At the moment, however, he could just glimpse the darkness still swirling around her frame and from the looks on the faces of the others, they could too, “You alright?”

“Yes, but he won’t be.” Oneesan snapped, slumping onto the mat and shoving the duelling glove at him. “Here. That insect won’t be needing it anymore.”

“Insect?” Jou examined the glove, noting that there was already a star chip inserted in it as Anzu quietly asked, “You don’t mean Haga?”

“Someone’s going to notice if you’ve driven Haga nuts.” Honda hissed at Oneesan, glancing around and glad that almost everyone had gone back to sleep even as he wished Bakura’s Challenge had not opened his eyes to the magic loose in the world around him. Seeing the Shadows cling to ‘Yugi’s’ frame was creepy, “Can you fix him?”

“He cheated.” Oneesan shrugged, causing the Anzu and Honda to wince, while Bakura let out a resigned sigh. They knew the dangers of cheating during a Challenge. Haga wouldn’t be getting up any time soon. “Besides,” Yugi’s other self continued, “He deserved everything he got.”

“What did he do?” Anzu asked, frowning.

Oneesan’s response was to reveal the pieces of cardboard. Jou swore loudly enough to wake some of the other duelists as he realised what they were.

“He ripped up Exodia?!” Anzu yelped.

“Now you see why I’m quite so ticked?” The ancient ex-Pharaoh asked as she put the pieces away in the box her spares.

What I was working on yesterday...

Red Ranger

Name: Josephine Taylor (Jo)

Age: 19 (physically) 25 (on paper)

Gender: Female

Hair: Mousey brown, reaches halfway down her back, more often than not in a ponytail

Eyes: Brown

History: Was eighteen when she got caught up in the start of the Elfame Realm invasion of Earth and became the Red Power Ranger, their leader, in order to protect people. She hadn’t felt ready to be the leader of the Rangers but had tried her best until the night of the her nineteen birthday, when during a Team Building exercise/her Birthday party the Rangers got a call out and were tricked by the bad guys into entering Elfame.

Though it only felt like an hour or two to the Rangers, who were all entertaining thoughts of continuing the party when they escaped, when they emerged from Elfame they found to their horror that they returned not the same night but the day of Jo’s 25^th birthday and that in their absence the Fae folk had overrun the world and the humans are living in zones warded by cold iron and salt.

The Rangers make their reappearance by defending the nearest Zone, which is under attack when they get there, looking for information.

Jo’s one of the lucky ones. Her family made it to one of the Zones, but trying to explain her six year absence wasn’t easy and she ended up having to show her parents and brother what she was in order to have them stop thinking she had run off on them.

Zord: Red Gryphon

Pink Ranger

Name: Stacy Prisby

Age: 21 (mentally/physically), 27 (on paper)

Gender: Female

Hair: Dark brown, almost black hair that’s curly and reaches just past shoulder length.

Eyes: Brown.

History: Was 21 when she was caught up in the invasion from the Elfame Realms and became the Pink Power Ranger in order to help her friends fight against the intruders. She was the one who helped Jo decide where to go for her birthday when they remembered that Brian was a year under the drinking age.

Worked with Phones in the call centre before they were trapped in Elfame, but started working for Jo’s family who own a couple of apartments as a repair man and in exchange lives rent free in one of the apartments and is a welcome guest anytime in the Taylor family home (Yes, they know she’s a Ranger too).

None of Stacy’s family made it into a Zone, but Jo’s family go out of their way to make her feel like part of the family. They did take in Stacy’s cat though, who had been at the vets with Jo’s when the Rangers vanished.

Zord: Pink Pegasus

Blue Ranger

Name: Scott Dee

Age: 19 (mentally/physically), 25 (on paper)

Gender: Male

Hair: Shoulder length, straight dark blonde hair.

Eyes:  Grey.

History: Scott was nineteen when he got caught up in the invasion from the Elfame Realms and became the Blue Power Ranger. Though at the time he was concerned with saving people he had been a long term follower of the Power Rangers teams that had emerged over the centuries and the ‘this is so cool’ factor was often a thing when he was presented with new weapons or Zords.

When he emerged from Elfame, Scott found it difficult to get a job, but he had always been a film buff and had been planning to take a Film Studies course. He managed to get an intern position at the TV station and was often sent out with the news crew, allowing him to get close to the action before morphing without anyone thinking that he was out of place.

Scotty’s brother, his brother’s wife and his nephew all made it to the Zone the Rangers find when they’re looking for signs of people when they leave Elfame, but his parents ended up in a different Zone while looking for Scott.

Zord: Blue Wolf

Green Ranger

Name: Brian Higgs

Age: 17 (mentally/physically), 23 (on paper)

Gender: Male

Hair: Short, always messy, brown hair.

Eyes: Green.

History: Brian had been 17 and on his way home from work when the invasion from the Elfame Realm happened and he became the Green Power Ranger purely because he could and it would be cool to be able to kick the fae folk’s rear end. It was because Brian wouldn’t have been able to join them at a pub or the like that the Rangers decided to go ten-pin bowling for Jo’s nineteenth birthday where they were trapped by the Fae Folk for six years.

Upon emerging from Elfame, Brian went back to doing exactly what he had been doing before, minus the job since it hadn’t stayed open for him, which was playing games and getting pushed around by his little brother who had safely made it to the Zones with their mother.

His good friend, Phones, made it to the Zones too and the two often hang out whenever Stacy isn’t working at the call centre for emergencies where she often gives the Rangers a heads up on trouble before it gets too far, by phoning Brian or Jo, who Brian introduced her to.

Zord: Green Stag

Black Ranger

Name: Louise Post

Age: 20 (physically/mentally), 26 (on paper)

Gender: Female

Hair: Shoulder length unruly dirty blonde hair

Eyes: Grey-blue

History: Louise was twenty and somewhat of a bookworm when she was caught up in the invasion from the Elfame Realms and became the Black Power Ranger, though she chose to do so in order to try and eventually find out if a peaceful solution could be reached. She hadn’t originally been planning to attend Jo’s birthday party but had gone along after it had been arranged for them to go do something interesting instead of all meet up at a pub and get very drunk.

When she re-emerged from Elfame after their six year captivity, despite the absence, Louise was the only Ranger able to find a job easily, as she had been training to be an accountant before she had been captured by the Fae folk. She went into politics when she saw how badly the humans were organised and how much help they needed to regain a more stable society but hid her Ranger identity so no one knew that she was a Ranger. When it finally did come out to the public she said something along the lines of “I didn’t want people voting for me because they were afraid of my power or because I saved their lives or because of the Team’s popularity. I wanted people to vote for me because I’m the best choice.”

Louise’s parents didn’t make it to the Zones, but her siblings did and Martin (now 24) does what he can to look after the twins, Gary (14) and Tamsin (14), while Louise helps, supplementing the income where she can and being there for her siblings.

Zord: Black Bear

Shadows of Friendship: Beginning Ideas 2

Twilight watched him go, amused by her hatchling’s excitement over the new technology. She was interested too, it always fascinated her how they managed to combine runes to create something that allowed non-unicorns to summon a copy of the monsters on their cards to reality, just like the unicorns who used the game as a training tool could. Of course the area needed for such a runic grid was huge and she didn’t doubt that the latest ‘tech’ was just a smaller, more compact but no less impossible to transport version of that grid.

However she wanted to get this sorted before she even thought about the game. She had been reading up on the history of Equestria earlier and something about the story of the two Alicorn sisters had bothered her. It was why she was here, reading up on the Summer Sun Celebration rather than following the baby dragon who had just exited the building at speed. She was pretty sure she could avoid White Lightning if she stuck to the back of the crowds, but she needed to find out what had been bothering her first or she would be distracted the entire time she was there.

She skimmed through the book Spike had pushed at her, pausing when she hit the section she wanted. The book spoke of the legend of the Mare in the Moon, which said that Nightmare Moon had once been Celestia’s sister, Princess Luna and she had refused to lower the moon so the sun could be raised. After a long and harsh battle she had been defeated and imprisoned on the moon. However she had, according to legend, sworn to have her revenge when she returned in a thousand years.

It was the last that made Twilight pause. She had known there was something special about this year’s celebration. It was the thousandth Summer Sun since her mentor and personal teacher, the Princess who ruled over all of Equestria, Celestia, had defeated Nightmare Moon and brought back the sun.

“I need to warn Celestia.” Twilight gasped, “Spike, take a...” She trailed off as she remembered that Spike had gone to the demonstration. “Oh...”

She gathered up her books and put them away as best she could using her magic, hesitating to leave the safety of her library. She needed to get the letter sent as soon as possible but she really, really didn’t want to run into White Lightning. They hadn’t parted ways on good terms and he had never really liked her before that. He had always been competing with her for the top spot in the classroom and though he had given her a run for her money, he had never managed it, much to his irritation.

Still this couldn’t wait. No matter how much she didn’t want to go, she had to get her letter to Celestia. The Summer Sun Celebration was less than three days away, there wasn’t much time to prepare for Nightmare Moon’s return.

“Okay Twilight, you can do this.” She told herself as she packed up her notes and her deck into her saddlebags and levitated them onto her back with her magic, “You can avoid him and get Spike to send the letter. It’ll be easy.” She tried to convince herself as she exited the library and shut the door behind her. “Let’s go.”

Shadows of Friendship: beginning idea

“But Twiliiight...”

“No Spike.” Twilight shook her head as she scoured through her textbooks, glancing over at the little purple dragon, frowning slightly when she noticed he had polished the green spines that ran down his back and tail, “We don’t have time.”

“But it’s White Lightning!” Spike protested, hoping to tempt the purple unicorn filly that had hatched him almost seven years ago, “And he’s showing off his new DuelTech. Don’t you want to see what he’s come up with this time?”

Twilight flinched at the mention of White Lightning’s name, remembering the last time they had met. “I haven’t spoken to him since we got interrupted mid-match and he got into that row with his Sire...”

She trailed off but she didn’t need to say anymore. Spike knew which argument she was talking about. White Lightning had once been a student at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns alongside Twilight, but after that devastating fight he had been withdrawn from the school with a broken horn. It hadn’t been long after that that the first version of DuelTech had come out, opening up the only game Twilight willingly took time out of her busy research schedule to play, to non-unicorns.

“You can go if you want, Spike, but I’ve got important research to do.” Twilight shook her head, taking a deep breath as he did so, not wanting to think about what she had seen that day, “I have to compile this report for Celestia before the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“But you’re supposed to be on holiday.” Spike complained, “You should do something fun.”

“This is fun for me.” Twilight reassured him, chuckling slightly. She was well aware that he was only concerned about her, everyone kept trying to tell her all work and no play made her boring after all. The problem that no one seemed to understand, not even Spike, was that this was fun for her. She enjoyed a good game of Duel Monsters, who didn’t? However researching and reading were her favourite pastimes. Writing an essay like this wasn’t work for her, more a hobby. Especially when it was on such a fascinating subject. “And the Summer Sun Celebration is what I’m looking into, I’m certain there’s something important about this year...”

Spike let out a frustrated sigh as Twilight turned back to her books. “You’re sure it’s okay for me to go?” He asked, waiting a few moments and getting no response before asking, “Twilight?”

“Go. Have fun.” Twilight waved him off, only glancing away for a moment, “If I need you, I’ll come looking.”

“Thanks Twilight.” Spike grinned, pushing the book he thought she was looking for in her direction before racing off to the Grand Plaza where White Lightning was holding his exhibition.