One morning shortly after the Rangers learned about Marsha’s past Greg was waking up on a warm summer morning and looked out upon the Colony outside his window. HE then took the time to think about his teammates, Michelle Connorson the teams leader, Bobby Zhang the teams Strategist, Marsha White the teams Yellow Ranger. Most of his time was spent thinking about Amelia Cummings the teams resident expert on the powers and 2nd in Command.
Man Amelia is one beautiful woman but she probably has no feelings for me a guy she hardly knows.
"Oh Greg, you’re awake," his father addressed. He was a dark haired male.
"Yes I am. I hope Professor Damon goes easy on us today. My rear is still sore from that one landing I did when Bobby floored me yesterday," he reported, sulking in remembrance of yesterday's activities.
"Maybe he will," Mr. Simmons said trying to lift his son's spirits.
"I hope so," he answered back.
"Greg, what time do you have to be at the Bunker today?" his mother inquired as she was cooking breakfast.
"Thankfully not until this afternoon. Bobby and I are going to play chess at the Youth Center this morning," telling them of his plans for the day.
"How much use is chess in rangering?" his dad asked, wondering about the effectiveness of the game for their duties.
"Bobby says a lot since it allows a person to work on strategy which is useful during battles when you have to look ahead to what Lord Xenon and Galactex might do," he explainned the merits of using it for training to combating the forces of evil.
Shortly after breakfast he left for the Youth Center. When he arrived Bobby wasn’t there so he signaled to Matt behind the bar and then sat down at the table where he and Bobby sat to play chess. At one point he saw Marsha walk in with a couple of seven year olds.
Wonder who Marsha’s companions are?
Bobby arrived soon after that and they started playing. At one point Greg was getting ready to move his rook a couple spaces so he could perform the castling move when he saw the other two rangers walk in and sit down at the bar.
"Greg, you with me. Capsilon IX to Greg," his friend called trying to get his focus back to the game.
"Sorry pal I got distracted for a minute," responding to the question. as he finished his move.
"Man Greg, you are in rough shape. Something on your mind?" Bobby surmounted.
"Sort of. How beautiful would you say Amelia is?" he confirmed Bobby's assumption, that he was preoccupied about something.
"One thing I do know is Amelia isn’t my type," he pointed out. "You have feelings for her or something?"
"Yeah but I don’t know much about her and I doubt she knows much about me," Greg commented with a downcast look.
"She probably knows a fair amount about you. Heck she didn’t let having just met you keep her from making you a ranger," Bobby positively stated.
"Yeah that surprised me," he admitted with bit of amazement showing in what he said.
"Heck I was surprised and I was on the expedition that found the crystals," Bobby said. "No one except Amelia knew who would be chosen for the team."
"Yet most of you were surprised that Ty guy wasn’t chosen," wondering why he was chosen instead of him. "You think I should ask her out?"
"Greg, it’s up to you pal," Bobby advised. He thought if Greg didn't ask Amelia for a date he would kicking himself in the head. "Come on we have to finish our game before the meeting this afternoon.
Greg spent more time thinking about Amelia and not much on the game and within ten moves Bobby had him in checkmate. After the game they headed for the Bunker. Their first stop was the Snack Bar. Michelle was there when they arrived. They guessed she had nothing else to do at that time.
"Michelle, any clue as to what this particular meeting is about?" Bobby queried his leader.
"None, Professor Damon doesn’t show me the agenda ahead of time. I don’t think even Amelia knows," she informed the Blue Ranger. "Who won the chess game?"
"He did," Greg unhappily told her. "I’ll beat him next time though."
Bobby made a low level snorting sound.
Yeah right.
Amelia walked in soon after that along with Marsha. I/Oca was the last to arrive.
"Guess what gang?" I/Oca quizzed to open the conversation.
"Meeting was canceled," Greg hopefully tried.
"You wish," I/Oca said. "Actually Alpha and I finished something for you five."
"What I/Oca?" Amelia pressed wanting to know what was the great news.
"Your Zords," he excitably announced.
"I thought we were recycling the old Demona Zords," Bobby puzzled about the news.
"We did but we were also building a few new zords. The Jetzords. This meeting is to brief you on the Jetzords," the inventor explainned.
A picture went up Captioned Jetzord 1 Sir Lance-A-Lot
"Michelle, Sir Lance-A-Lot is yours. IT’s based on an B-1 Lancer Bomber once fielded by the United States Air Force," I/Oca said.
Next picture was captioned Jetzord 2 Athena.
"This one is Yours Amelia. It’s basis is an AV-8 Harrier once flown by both the US Marines as well as the British."
Jetzord 3 Thor.
"Bobby here is your Zord. It’s official designation back when it was flown by the US Air Force was the A-10 Thunderbolt but the troops tended to call it the Warthog."
Jetzord 4 Rayden
"Greg meet Rayden. Back when it flew of an US Navy Air Craft Carrier it was known as an E-2 Hawkeye."
Marsha watched as Jetzord 5 Lylith was projected.
"I take it Lylith is mine," Marsha said.
"You are correct Marsha. The Airframe used for Lylith the F-4 Phantom is the oldest Air Frame we used," I/Oca said.
"I hope we have a Megazord with these," Amelia remarked. remembering the conversation they had the last time covering Zords.
"Yes you do. Each zord has a Warrior Mode and while in Warrior Mode they can form the Zordonian Megazord. In Jet Mode They can Combine with the Demona Jet Zord and Strike Eagle Zord to form the Zordonian Ultrazord. The Demona MegaBattleZord and the Zordonian Ultrazord can also combine to form the SuperZord," I/Oca explainned and also told them about the extra features. .
"Neato," Amelia was impress with the capabilities of the Jetzords.
"To come up with everything I had to bring in a Zord Maintenance and Design Expert," I/Oca said.
At that moment Janet Hammond the former Purple Demona Ranger walked in.
"Sorry I’m late my car was stuck in Traffic trying to leave the vehicle teleportation station in Settlement 14," she apologized and explainned why she was late to arrive.
"I was just getting ready to introduce them to the AI aspect of the Zords," I/Oca briefed her.
"I don’t know if you all noticed how each zord had a name?" she asked, taking over the meeting.
"I did notice that and I was wondering why," Marsha answered her question.
"Easy the Jetzords have Artificial Intelligence built in. What it will allow you to do is actually converse with your zord. Also the zord can take over some of the piloting during heavy battles so you have time to fire your weapons. I/Oca did brief you on how they also have access to the old Demona Zords right," she wanted to confirm that they knew about the extra function.
"Yes I briefed them on that in a previous meeting," I/Oca provided her with an answer. "I covered the weapons and Demona Zords in the same meeting."
"Well guys in looking at my class lists I have a few of you on at some point during the day," Janet said. "I’ll see you when school starts."
A chorus of groans was heard as the door closed behind Janet.
"Hey look on the bright side if we have to leave during her class she at least would know why," Amelia commented positively.
After the meeting ended shortly after that I/Oca noticed how Greg hadn’t gotten up at all.
"Something bugging you Greg?" I/Oca asked, wanting to know if everything was okay.
"Oh did you say something I/Oca?" he replied with a faraway look.
"I can tell you have something on your mind," I/Oca said.
"Just thinking about women," he told him what he was pondering.
"The Zord specialist I brought in is married just for your information," he promptly added.
"She wasn’t the particular one I was thinking of," he assured, not wanting I/Oca to get the wrong ingression. "I don’t suppose you know much about women."
"Just bits and pieces primarily. In my long life I’ve helped a couple kids make it through life’s more interesting moments. Being an Android I’ll never father a child but I’ve acted as a father figure for a couple kids. One was a Great Aunt of the original Red Demona Ranger also I was the closest thing the Blue Demona Ranger had to a father figure," he told Greg some of his most interesting experiences.
"There is a girl that I really like but I’m not sure she has feelings for me," Greg said.
"Have you tried talking to her?" he advised.
"No I haven’t," Greg said. "For all I know she might have a boyfriend."
"Have you seen her with a guy?" I/Oca interjected.
"No I haven’t but still she could have one," Greg said.
"It’s Amelia isn’t it?" he guessed, but it was more a statement of fact.
"What would make you think that?" Greg noncommittally asked.
"I saw you spending more time looking at her then paying attention to the meeting," I/Oca reported his observation during the meeting.
"Well the meeting was kind of boring after all," Greg gave his opinion.
"Which Jetzord is yours?" I/Oca asked.
"Decided to test me. Hawkeye," he firmly responded.
"Close Rayden. Your zord was based on an E-2 Hawkeye. For the record Janet and I had to add weaponry to your zord since it’s original purpose was as an Airborne Warning and Control Systems plane," he provided Greg with some additional information of his Zord. "If you ask me it’s probably good that Prof. Damon went easy on you today and only had the zord meeting on the schedule."
"I agree. I doubt I could have done well if we had training today," Greg said.
"Your chess matches with Bobby even though they are on your own time would count as training since you are training the mind. Chess teaches you how to focus and look ahead. That could prove critical in a battle," I/Oca commented about the matter.
"I’m sure Rayden would help me out," Greg said.
"True but he might decide to remain quiet so you would be able to concentrate on the battle," I/Oca pointed out.
"I guess concentration is important," he got the point which I/Oca was making.
"That it is," I/Oca said.
I/Oca then grabbed a pack of cards from a drawer and shuffled them. HE then laid them out in a grid.
"What do you have up your sleeve?" perturbed about what I/Oca did.
"WE are going to work on your concentration. Pick any two cards and turn them over but don’t pick them up. Make sure you look at them though," explaining what he wanted Greg to do.
Greg turned over the Queen of Hearts and the ten of spades. After a few seconds I/Oca turned them over and turned two different cards over. Greg on his next turn turned the Queen of Diamonds over and he then headed for where the Queen of Hearts was and turned it over.
"OK take those two cards and place them aside," I/Oca instructed.
"What use is this?" he was still confused about the reason they were doing this.
"Easy by concentrating you remember where cards are then when you need a card for a match you hopefully can remember where it is," explaining the idea of the game and how it was to help Greg. "Now try to find two more matches since your turn isn’t over yet.
Greg did and turned over a joker. By luck the next card he turned over was also a joker so he removed those two cards. He wasn’t as lucky on his next turn though. By the time the game ended Greg has twenty pairs to seven for I/Oca.
"Man I creamed you and yet you should have creamed me," he didn't understand how he won over I/Oca.
"True and I was also concentrating but I made sure not to make it look like I was fully concentrating since I had an advantage being an Android. In other words by choosing not to pick the matches all the time I could make it look like we were evenly matched," I/Oca revealed how he had been beaten. "Part of the reason you managed to cream me as you put it is because you were concentrating on the game and not Amelia."
"So you think my feelings for Amelia could cause problems during a battle," Greg said.
"It’s possible. During your chess match with Bobby this morning were you focused mainly on the match or on Amelia?"
"At first on the game then Amelia walked in and I was staring at her and not really watching the game. In fact I was mid move when she walked in," answering the question.
"Any particular move?" I/Oca asked.
"I was castling," Greg said.
"I see," I/Oca said. "Moving your rook close in and then switching it and the king such that the king was between the rook and the outside corner but hidden behind a few pawns. That move seems symbolic of your situation."
"Oh because I’m keeping my feelings for Amelia close in to myself instead of releasing them such that Amelia would know I have them," Greg assessing the point I/Oca was trying to make.
"Exactly. Between now and tomorrow try to let Amelia know how you feel towards her," I/Oca advised.
"I think I will," agreeing with his friend's advice.
"See you tomorrow," I/Oca intoned.
Greg checked the pool which Amelia tended to utilize a little more then the other rangers and didn’t see her. He also checked her quarters but they were empty. His next stop was the Youth center only she wasn’t there but Marsha was.
"Marsha, have you seen Amelia at all?" Greg asked.
"She was going to go home and do a few things. I’m trying to think if you ever met my little sisters," she had a thoughtful look on her face.
"I thought you were an only child," he said puzzled about what she was pondering.
"SO did I but remember when I went to Settlement 4 a couple weeks ago on a day off from training. Well that was after my mom told me how I was adopted and I went there to meet my birth mother. My sisters are her daughters not my adopted mother’s daughters," Marsha said.
"Were your little sisters with you this morning before the meeting at the bunker?" he asked, remembering the younger girls with her earlier.
"Two of them were Hillary and Randi. Jasmine stayed home," Marsha said.
"I hope you don’t mind if I cut the conversation short but I mainly want to talk to Amelia about something," he gently announced.
"Not a problem," she said allowing him to be excused.
Greg then teleported over to Amelia and Michelle’s neighborhood and casually walked down noticing Amelia heading toward him.
"Greg, fancy seeing you here," she smiled at his unexpected visit.
"I was on my way to your house," he informed her.
"Mind walking with me while I check the mail?" Amelia asked, wishing to continue their conversation. "My mom is waiting for some new instruments that were developed on Earth."
"Not a problem," Greg said. "Amelia, during the meeting did I seem zoned out to you?"
"You did seem to be paying more attention to me then I/Oca and Janet," Amelia said. "Not that I blame you. I saw how cute you were that first time we met."
"You did," he was amazed at her complement.
"Of course. I’m just better at hiding it," she explainned the reason it didn't seem like it. "I think that’s why I chose you to become part of my team."
"What’s wrong with that Coughlin guy that everyone talks about?" neutrally he asked, not knowing the person.
"Nothing. In fact Ty was my original pick for your spot. When I decided to make you the fifth ranger I had to push Ty aside. Also Marsha is real close to him. They aren’t boyfriend girlfriend yet just real close friends," Amelia said. "I wouldn’t be surprised if they do end up boyfriend girlfriend.
"Amelia, sometime would you possibly be able to find time for a date?" shyly he proposed.
"Sure," Amelia said. "Meet me at the Youth Center at 730 tonight."
Greg then headed home and slipped into the Shower. After his shower He placed a Light Green Button down shirt on and a Navy Blue Sport Coast with a striped tie over Dark Navy Blue pants and loafers.
"Whoa, you look stunning," Mr. Simmons said. "Anyone special."
"Amelia and I have a date tonight."
"Whoa, this morning you were half zoned and yet you have a date tonight," Mr. Simmons amazed and happy for his son.
"She happens to be a very special girl," he excitably responded.
"One of your teammates?" Mr. Simmons guessed.
"Yeah Amelia Cummings," Greg said.
When Greg arrived he saw how Amelia had a Long Ankle length Pink Dress on. A table had been decorated up with candles and fancy china.
"Who set this up?" being pleasantly surprised at what he was seeing.
"Matt he noticed this morning how you were watching me and not the chess board," she supplied the source of the decorated table.
"I/Oca and I after the meeting worked on my concentration a little," he told her what he had done that day.
"That must have been interesting," she remarked.
"It was. Enjoyable though," he responded. "I creamed him in the end."
"What were you playing?" she curious about which game.
"Cards. Some type of Matching game," he answered, describing the game since he didn't know what the name of the game was.
"I know which game you are thinking of. It’s called Concentration. Maybe we should work it into the training rotation. After all the physical aspects are starting to look good so maybe we should start to work on the mental aspects," she pondered.
The dinner went well and afterwards Greg walked Amelia home.
"Let’s face it this evening was enjoyable," Amelia stated. "We must do this again some night."
"I’ll see if I can find a good night and let you know."
Closing Notes. Light on Action but for this fanfic it wasn’t needed.