44Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers.
A/N: Well, personally, I thought the Wild Force series was too 'children friendly' and it became quite stupid compared to the Time Force series (my favorite! Beside the space series, of course.)
So, I've decided to write an AU version of Wild Force. With more romance in the air!
Differences
In this series, Cole Evans was never brought to the research in the Amazon. After his parents are missing, he was sent to an orphanage. Because he's an orphan, people always look down at him and he has no friends when he was little. So he often talked to the animals and somehow began to understand what they said.
He studies at Turtle Cove University using the scholarship he got. (Well, his parents are both scientists, he got to be quite smart isn't it?) He has a crush on Alyssa though they aren't in the same class.
(Actually, I never intended to change Cole but I just can't stand the Red Ranger being such a. . .well, idiot. No offence Cole fans!)
Another major changes in this series is that Justin was chosen as the blue ranger instead. (I never like Max. sorry if you're a fan of him.)
According to the data I got from .com (a great site! Not mine, though), he was 11 when he's the blue Turbo ranger so he must be 16 in 2002 (Turbo series is in 1997). He finished college before he was chosen. (I know it's unbelievable but well, since he's in high school at 11. . . besides, he's a near genius!)
Pairings
Cole/Alyssa, Merrick/Princess Shayla, Justin/Taylor (Eww. . .for a while only.), Taylor/Eric
P.S. Since there's an ex-ranger in the team, you can expect crossover soon.
* * *
Power Rangers Wild Force - AU
Chapter 1
Guardians of the Earth 1
"So this is why it's called Turtle Cove!" Sixteen years old Justin Stewart exclaimed excitedly. Looking out from the Turtle Cove Airport, there's a prefect view of the turtle-shaped lake in the middle of the town.
"Justin hurry up!" said Justin's dad, Mr. Stewart. He totally ignored his son's comment and quickly walked to the gate, dragging his suitcase with him. Justin sighed and followed him to where a taxi was waiting for them.
Ever since Justin finished college a few months ago, he has been following his dad around on business trips. To see the world, he told his dad. Actually, he felt he needed to take a break from the I-am-near-genius thingy.
"So," he said as they slipped on the passenger's seat. "How long are we going to stay here?"
"It depends." Mr. Stewart said absent-mindedly and took a notebook from his pocket, double checking the schedules.
Justin looked out the window, disappointed.
True, his dad loved him and he knew it but sometimes. . . his dad's just too busy with his work and he felt left out.
He missed his friends. When he just started college, no one wants to be friends with him, as usual. Cause he's a kid. Even now, he doesn't have a true friend to talk to.
He missed hanging around the Surf Spot after school, he missed Tommy, Adam, Kat and Tanya, who are like the elder brothers and sisters he never have, he missed joking around with T.J., Cassie, Carlos and Ashley, the closest friends he ever have. He even missed Dimitria's never-ending questions and Alpha 6.
And of course, he missed speeding in Storm Blaster, shouting 'Mountain Blaster Turbo Power!' when he morphed, controlling the Turbo Megazord or the Rescue Zords and most of all, he missed kicking the bad guys' butts.
He stayed in touch with some of them though. Like T.J.. the space rangers have been traveling around galaxies these days, to help whoever that's in trouble. They do come back occasionally, but not much though.
Especially since people knew who they are now. when they stayed on Earth after the Countdown, they've got reporters knocking on their front doors everyday, and creepy fans who appeared out of nowhere, asking for autographs.
After the first week, they had enough and took off to KO-35. It was a month before Justin heard from them, let alone other ordinary people. To them, the space rangers just disappeared.
T.J. often e-mailed Justin about their latest adventure, though. Like the time they helped they Galaxy Rangers to defeat the Psycho Rangers.
Sometimes, Justin regrets. He wondered what'll happen to him if he aboard the NASADA shuttle on that fateful day and took off to deep space. Yet when his dad isn't busy, they had a great time together. And he knew he made the right choice.
"Justin?" Justin jumped out of his thoughts as he heard his father said his name. From his dad's tone, he has been trying to get his son's attention for a while already.
"Sorry, I was thinking." Justin apologized. "What's up?"
"I've to go to a meeting after we checked in. You can hang around somewhere. Just don't get into trouble." He said the last part firmly.
"I won't dad. I'm not a kid anymore." Justin replied, rather annoyed.
"So when are you going to University? I'm sure you'll get accepted right away." He said, changing the subject.
"Dad! I told you I need a break!" Justin said quickly, before his dad read a list of University for him to chose from.
"Then at least find a job or something. Don't just hanging around everyday doing nothing." He said sternly.
"I'll try." Justin said and turned away. A movement that clearly said, 'end of conversation'. Somewhere beside him, he heard his dad sighed. His dad has been nagging him about this for a while now.
So much of a break, he thought.
* * *
Everyone in the world, or everyone and everything in the universe must undergo unavoidable changes. Even for rangers.
Justin has changed a lot. He was taller (of course! *punches author in the head*), his hair shorter and somehow manages to have perfect eyesight even he plays video games and computers everyday.
Though he's still the inquisitive, energetic Justin, his mind has matured a lot. Mostly due to the fact that he's once a ranger. He's more responsible and knows the importance of certain things.
Though one thing's for sure. He hates people called him a 'kid'.
After all, you won't want people calling you a 'kid' while you saved their precious world at the age of 11, right?
He felt the need to prove himself to his dad that he's not a kid anymore. He needed a purpose. A purpose which he lost after he decided to stay on Earth. If only. . .
If only he has another chance.
This is what Justin has been thinking as he sat on a park bench, holding his Turbo key tightly. Storm Blaster has recharged it for him when he went to save the space rangers once. He kept the key, along with his old communicator. The familiar weigh on his wrist was somewhat a comfort to him. Though he was forced to come up with stupid excuses every time people asked him why he was wearing a watch that couldn't tell time.
Suddenly, a loud explosion could be heard.
Justin stood abruptly and saw people were running everywhere. Smoke was rising somewhere near a building. He instinctively ran to the direction of the smoke and what he saw made his heart skipped a beat.
Smokes are everywhere. The buildings surrounded the area were damaged seriously. But that wasn't what that made Justin stood there, frozen in shock. He was almost familiar to this kind of scenes.
Right in the middle of the area, four figures in red, white, yellow and black costumes struggled to stand up while two ugly looking creatures were laughing evilly. Then in a split second, the monsters were gone.
What? Justin rubbed his eyes, not sure of what he just saw.
Are they new rangers?
Just then the four rangers demorphed and went to the opposite direction.
I thought all evil were erased by Zordon's wave. He thought.
How could it be?
* * *
"Power Down!" the four of them said as they demorphed.
"Boy, they're tough." The red ranger, Cole said while rubbing his sore arm.
"What's the matter? Are they too tough for you? Leader?" Taylor said. Taylor had been the leader of the team before Cole was chosen and she's not pleased with the way Cole handled things.
"We'll definitely need the fifth ranger the next time." Alyssa quickly changed the subject before Taylor can say anything else to make the situation worse.
"But the Shark hasn't chose anyone yet." Said Danny.
Each of them was chosen by the wild zords. Cole was chosen by the red lion, the eagle chosen Taylor, the white tiger chosen Alyssa and the iron bison chosen Danny. The only animal left that hasn't chose anyone was Shark. It was supposed to choose the blue ranger.
"It said the blue ranger isn't here yet." Cole said. Growing up in an orphanage with no friends to talk to, he often talked to the animals and somehow managed to understand what they said.
"Then he or she must be from out of town." Alyssa said matter-of-factly.
"Whoever he or she is, I just hope he comes quickly." Taylor said grimly. "We're just lucky they didn't finish us off just now."
"C'mon, don't be so pessimistic. I'm sure we'll beat them." Danny said, trying to be cheerful.
"I was being realistic." Taylor argued.
"Let's head back to the Animarium." Cole said, referring to their floating headquarter, to prevent further argument. All of them obeyed silently, too exhausted to say anything else.
It was late morning on the Animarium when a loud roar could be heard. The four sleepy rangers at the breakfast table became alert.
"What does it say, Cole?" Alyssa asked nervously. The others looked at Cole expectantly.
"It said. . ." Cole replied in an excited tone.
"The chosen one is here."
* * *
Justin was wondering around the area where he saw the fight the next morning, observing the scene closely. He sent an e-mail to T.J. last night, but he's not sure whether he received it or not.
Suddenly, he saw four persons were approaching him.
"Justin Stewart?" A young man in his early twenties asked. He was wearing a red shirt and a pair of jeans, he was also wearing a red sleeveless jacket with the words 'Blazing Lion' on it over his red shirt. He also wore a red band on his head, which made him to have a somewhat wild look. He has black hair and warm grey eyes.
He noticed the other three were also wearing a similar jacket, only different colors with different words. The white one has the words 'Noble Tiger' on it, the black one with the words 'Iron Bison', and the yellow one with the words 'Soaring Eagle'.
"How do you know my name and who are you?" Justin asked, eyeing the four closely. Once a ranger himself, he could easily tell that these four were the rangers he saw yesterday.
And with the same jackets? How obvious can they be? He thought. He couldn't find their communicators and morpher though.
"We need to talk, in private." Said the yellow ranger, ignoring his questions. She has long blond hair and beautiful blue eyes. She was wearing long black pants and a yellow shirt beneath her jacket.
"What do you want with me?" Justin asked, confused and surprised at the same time. "And how can I trust you? I don't even know you!" it was getting fun, he thought.
Though he knew he can trust the rangers, he couldn't help but asked, to see how they're going to handle it. After all, being an ex-ranger and supposedly their 'senior', it won't hurt to test them for a while, just for fun.
"It's important." The white ranger said. She has short black hair and rather tanned skin. She was wearing a white shirt and a black skirt.
"We really need your help." Said the black ranger with short black hair, who was wearing a pair of glasses and a black shirt with long white pants. He looked muscular but has a kind face.
"You haven't answer my questions. What do you want with me and how can I trust you?"
"You just need to trust us. We won't hurt you." The yellow ranger replied desperately. Somehow, Justin found himself rather attracted to her beautiful blue eyes.
"Fine." Justin said, still couldn't take his eyes off her.
"Follow me." The red ranger said.
Moments later, Justin found himself in a more private spot of the park.
"I'm Cole Evans." The red ranger said with a warm smile as he held out his hand and Justin shook it. "This is Taylor." He said motioning the yellow ranger. She gave a slight nod.
"I'm Alyssa." Said the white ranger.
"I'm Danny." The black ranger introduced himself.
"I'm Justin, as you know." Justin said, "So what do you want with me?" he asked curiously. Why are there only four rangers? He thought.
"Actually," Cole said, getting serious. "We're all chosen to become the Wild Force rangers."
Wild Force, Justin thought. That explains the Lion, Tiger thing.
"And you're chosen to become the blue ranger." Taylor finished it for Cole. She was watching Justin closely, as if trying to judge him.
Justin was speechless.
Blue ranger? Excitement flowed through him. What news could be better?
He almost jump in happiness. Looks like I'm back on the job!
"When can I start?" Justin said excitedly. He could almost see the stupid grin on his face.
The others were stunned. Clearly, they're expecting him to tell them they're crazy or nuts, but not this.
"How old are you?" Taylor asked suspiciously.
"I'm 16."
"What?!" she almost shouted. Is the Shark crazy or what? How can a kid be a ranger?
"Taylor!" Cole said urgently.
"What?" she asked her friends who were giving her death glares. "How can a kid be a ranger?" she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Taylor!" Alyssa hissed.
"I'm not a KID!" Justin said angrily. He stopped himself just as he's about to tell them that he's once a ranger.
I'm going to prove it myself. He thought.
"Sorry about that. She doesn't mean it." Danny apologized for her.
"Yeah. Besides, Shark has chosen him." Cole said.
"Are you sure Cole? How-"
"I'm not a KID OK? Besides, I finished college already!"
"What?" Alyssa was shock.
"You're kidding right?" Cole said with a smile that clearly said, 'I don't believe it.'
"No-"
"But you're only 16!"
"But I-" before Justin could finish, a ringing voice could be heard. The others looked alert.
Cole took out a gold-colored cell phone and after a moment he said, "We'll be right there." He hung up the phone and turned to the others.
"They're back."