“I hate this life!”

Jenny jumped in surprise on the park's picnic table. She intended to have a peaceful evening by herself, but a female something at the other side of several thick bushes disturbed and surprised her.

“I hate this life, too,” said another female voice, deeper than the first one. Jenny tried to look through the bushes, but it was proven impossible since her clothes could easily tear at the bushes’ thorns. “If I had this life to live,” said a third female voice, higher than the first, “I’d hate it.” Jenny knew that all 3 voices were unfamiliar. After removing herself from the bushes, Jenny went around the them and stood behind a tree. There was a girl of about her own age, the top of her head was covered with something red, sitting with a bald eagle and a tortoise with an “E” naturally on its shell. The girl's long hair, partially covered by the red object, was flowing softly in the wind.

“I want to run off to outer space, like my parents did, once. My father was the son of a distant cousin of Neil Armstrong, and we were famous for it,” said the girl, who was apparently the first voice Jenny heard. Jenny couldn't believe her eyes and ears when she realized that she was talking and talked to the two animals with her. The turtle, in her deep voice, asked, “Run off to outer space and just leave everybody?” “Who's everybody,” asked the girl. “I'm an orphan, remember? I've got no family,” she stated. “Hey, you've got us,” said the turtle. “Yeah, we're family,” said the high-pitch voiced eagle.

The girl turned to the eagle in confusion. “Some family we are. Be serious, Feather. We don't even look alike,” she exclaimed. “Okay,” said the eagle; apparently her name is Feather, Jenny thought to herself. “So I'm a bird, and you're a mammal, and Shelly's an amphibian...” The turtle interrupted, “Actually, I'm a reptile!” “Sorry, Shelly,” said Feather, who turned to the girl, and said, “We're still family!”

“Yeah, but, I just wish my life were more like one of the adventures of the Power Rangers or even the Spice Club,” said the girl. “Soaring by the stars and searching for the greatest of friends, Zordon...” Shelly continued, “...Discovering lost planets and weird civilizations...” Then the girl finished by removing something small and black, and using their usual statement, “Navigating with my father's own computer, or where ever the stars may lead us!” Then, Shelly got excited, and continued their usual statement. “Yeah, off to the planet Canzabar, to meet the Canza Barbarians!”

But instead of continuing, Feather finished off the conversation the usual way it was done, by saying, “Oh, brother, there they go again...” Then, there was dead silence. Feather pondered for a few more seconds, then said to the girl, “Hey, Ruth! You're always interested in astronomy. Is that why you're parents called you Esther?” The girl, whose name was now known to Jenny as Ruth, was angry at Feather. “Feather, be quiet! That murderer might still be around here!”

“Oh,” said Feather. “I remember. There was a person who wanted to know about the names and locations of all magicians in Angel Grove, and said ‘I will not rest until the magicians rest in peace.’ I still think the guy didn't mean it.” Ruth gave Feather a weird look. “What does the name Esther have to do with this,” Shelly asked. “In the Hebrew language,” Ruth said, “Esther means ‘Star’. But when that murderer came creeping around my family's place, I ran away to escape death, and called myself ‘Ruth’, which in the Hebrew language means ‘Friendship’. I sure live up to that name.”

“I'm going to turn in,” said Shelly. Thus saying it, Ruth watched Shelly crawl into her shell. “Don't you mean, ‘I'm going to crawl in,’ Shelly,” Ruth asked, laughing. From inside her shell, the turtle said, “Very funny, Ruth.” Then she went to sleep. Feather flew onto a branch of the tree Jenny was hiding behind, tucked her head under one of her wings, and went to sleep. But Ruth was too haunted by her memories to sleep. She got up, thinking that she heard something. When Ruth sat down again, Jenny only got close enough to watch and listen her. Ruth began speaking to herself. “‘The Lamentation Poem’ written for my parents, Andrew and Karen McCon, God rest their souls.” She paused before beginning.

“I look around here and I want to cry.
I know that flows of life I can't defy.
But I just can't help but wonder. Is my life just rolling by?
And is it a cursed life that I’ll live until I die?

When I could be with the Spices,
Soaring off to distant lands,
‘Cause I'm spending every afternoon
With magic in my hands.
My future looks like nothing that I want to be.
There's got to be something better, something better.
There's got to be something better than this for me.

If adventure's weird and wild, I’ll find it.
‘The crazier, the better’ is what I’d say.
To tell the truth, I really would not mind it
If I found someplace with dangers every day!

Let danger call my name.
If it does, I won't go hide.
I’ll put my courage to the test,
But who'll be by my side?

There's got to be
Something better than this.
I know there's so much
Out there to see.
And I know this life I'm living can't be my destiny.
There's got to be something better, something better,
there's got to be something better than this for me.”

“And me,” Shelly woke up and said. “Wait a minute,” Feather said, flying to Ruth's arm. “What about me,” she asked. “Rest assured, my friends,” Ruth said. “There's something better than this for you and me.”

The next morning, Jenny woke up in her bed. She arrived at the bridge, several minutes later, thinking that what she saw and heard was nothing more than a dream. But when entered the room, Earl, Spinal and C.C. turned to her and asked, “Where have you been last night?”

Then, Jenny knew that it was not a dream. She explained everything, and the others couldn't believe it as much as she could. Then, Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie entered the bridge, just as Deca was about to speak and sound off an alarm. “There's a disturbance detected on Earth,” she said. C.C. went to one of the controls and said, “We've got trouble on Angel Grove.” “Let's go,” Spinal said. Carlos, Ashley, and Cassie morphed and went with Earl, Spinal and C.C. to help, but Jenny decided to stay on the bridge for a while.

Soon, they were attacking a monster, too weird to describe. There was also someone wearing a plain red winter hat over his/her face. Ashley took one look at the Masked Fighter, as she would call him/her, and knew that the hat was stretched thin, in order for the person to see properly. But she didn't have long to think, for the monster was approaching her. It was about to pick up Ashley, throw her to a tree, and stomp her to death. But the Masked Fighter jumped on its back, forcing the monster to back away from Ashley, and play “Piggy Back”, so to speak.

By the time the monster stopped long enough to ignore them, the winter hat was pulled off the person's head. Now, long, bright brown hair was over the person's face and touched her kneeling knees. Carlos, filled with sympathy, walked to the girl and said, “Are you all right, miss?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. I just wanted to hold that thing off until someone of authority arrived.” The girl fixed her hair and turned her face to Carlos’. She gasped when she saw him. “And there is no one of better authority around here than the Power Rangers,” she continued. Then she looked behind the Rangers and saw Earl, Spinal and C.C. “Except, of course, the Spices,” she finished. The monster started to attack again. “Watch this,” the girl said. She leaped over Carlos’ crouched body, landed in front of the monster, and stopped for a second. Then she started doing martial arts against the monster, without actually touching it! It was enough to startle the monster a little, and when she was done using her martial arts, the girl looked at the monster.

The monster shook his head, as if in confusion. Then, it looked at the girl, who covered her face with her hands, and instantly revealed her face, saying, “Boo!” Immediately after that, she thrusted her arms to the monster, causing some explosions and it looked like that monster was destroyed. But the girl turned around and said, “Looks like the adventures have sky rocketed!” In saying that, the others laughed, knowing that what she did was actually blew him upward like a rocket.

After Carlos handed the winter hat back to her, the girl left the scene. Carlos chased after her a little, shouting, “Wait! I don't even know your name!” The girl stopped, turned around, and said, “Before I tell you my name, answer me this question: Would I say the same thing to you and expect an answer?”

“No.”

“Then, please, don't ask me what my name is.” Then, she left with great speed and without another word. Carlos couldn't help but stare at the direction that she exited, until the others were able to get through to him. “Carlos? Buddy, you awake,” Cassie asked, waving her hand in front of him. “Yeah, I was just ... thinking.” “Don't worry about it Carlos,” Cassie said. “I fell in love before.”

“Wait a second! Who said that I was in love?”

“Isn't it obvious? The way that you stare off, the tone of your voice, and you being “over nice” makes the conclusion that you are in love with this mysterious girl.” Carlos said nothing. “Let's go back to the ship,” Ashley said, not allowing a fight to start. When they arrived, Carlos went straight to his quarters, lay down in his bed, and thought. He couldn't take his mind off the girl.

He thought about her fighting abilities. How in the world would she be able to fight the way she did? She uses her innocent as a side effect instead of the main idea. She uses martial arts when she's actually not hitting anyone. He thought about her explosions after she used her martial arts. How would that be possible, unless she has something special, or she's demon possessed like the Spices were? Then, he thought about her beauty.

After that, a weird thought suddenly struck him. He was in love with things about the Mystery Girl, but not with the girl herself. He felt so sorry for her. He got up and went to the bridge. When he entered, the Rangers and several of the Spices that were there looked at him and began to congratulate him. “Wait, what did I do to deserve this applause,” Carlos asked, confused. Hallie went to him and said, “You know how you feel about your girl.”

“My girl?”

“The Mystery Girl,” Spinal said, as if he wanted to remind Carlos. “Brown hair. Uses ‘Ka-boom’s. Remember?” “Boy, I do,” Earl said. “Way to go, lover boy,” Earl shouted. The others applauded. “Lover boy,” Carlos asked, almost laughing. “Oh, no, not me!” “Oh, don't be so modest,” said Demona. “I really don't think I'm her type,” Carlos said, sitting down by himself (Finally!).

Carlos walked around by himself after a few days after the event. However, after a few minutes, Jenny caught up with him. “Carlos,” she said, “you've been acting weird lately. What's wrong?”

“Oh, Jenny, did you ever look into the eyes of a guy and know that he's the right one for you?”

Jenny pondered before answering. “No. But there are sometimes that I get creepy feelings about this love business. Sometimes I wonder what love really is, you know?” Then, out of nowhere, monster that attacked Carlos before, reappeared again. Carlos morphed, and Jenny was attacking with him against the monster. Jenny went to work on some of the Quantrons that came with the monster. It was proven fatal and futile, and eventually, Carlos and Jenny got a little tied up, literally.

The monster looked at his opponents. First fighting like actors in a movie scene, then pulled around like marionettes. The idea chuckled him. That was a mistake. For Ruth happened to be strolling by, and she took one look at the situation and thought quickly. The monster fired lasers from his eyes, just as Ruth darted in front of them. After that, she landed on the ground and didn't move...

“No,” Carlos shouted. With that, he grabbed a Quantron, the best he could do being tied up, kicked it, and used its blade to cut off the ropes. With a righteous anger in his heart, he attacked the monster by himself. He was able to defeat it, and Jenny was surprised. Carlos, after the monster was destroyed, turned his mind to Ruth. So did Jenny, who rolled Ruth onto her back. They looked at her face, and Carlos said, “That's the Mystery Girl,” at the same time that Jenny said, “That's Ruth!” Also at the same time, they asked, “You mean you know this girl?” After a few brief seconds of silence, they couldn't help but laugh.

But the merriment didn't last long. Carlos took another look at Ruth, and fell into grief. “Is she..., I mean, Did she...?” He couldn't bring himself to saying the word “dead” or any word related to it. Jenny laid her head against her chest, and heard a rhythm. “No, she's alive.”

Then Ruth woke up. She sat up in fear, but when she saw the Carlos (still morphed), she was relieved. They spent a few more minutes discussing things. She whispered into Carlos’ ear, “It looks like we found a special present for the others.” He whispered back, “Yeah? What's your idea?” Jenny started to whisper again...

A few hours later, everyone was on the bridge of the ship. Carlos and Jenny were standing at the doors, while everyone else stood in front of them.

“We have some news,” Jenny started.

“We found a person,” Carlos said.

“A person of extraordinary traits.”

“I knew that from the beginning.” Everyone chuckled. “We discovered her true self.”

“We were attacked this afternoon.”

“Just the two of us.”

“Isn't that romantic?” Everyone chuckled again. “We were almost destroyed.”

“That's when we discovered her true self.”

“Not her capabilities.”

“Not even her beauty.”

“But her true self.”

“As a member of the Power Rangers...”

“And as leader of the Spice Club...”

“We are very pleased to present our newest team member.”

“Joining the Spices...”

“Please welcome, Magic Spice...”

“Otherwise, known as Ruth.”

The doors opened, and in stepped a beautiful figure. Her face was finally revealed, and everyone was very surprised at her beauty, except for C.C., Spinal, Jenny, Carlos, and Earl. Earl was very confused by Ruth's nickname. “Why are you called Magic Spice?” In response, Ruth raised her hand, snapped her fingers, and instantly, a bouquet of flowers appeared in her hand. She handed the flowers to the girls, but she saved 4. One for herself, which was a white rose she placed in her hair, one for Carlos, a red rose, one for Jenny, a bluish-purple iris, and one for Earl, a red carnation. He couldn't help blushing, even though he knew that Carlos was her type.

“Where to, Magic Spice,” Jenny asked. Everyone noticed that there was a turtle and an eagle behind her.

“To where ever the stars may lead us...” Ruth said, sitting down at one of the seats. Her pets followed her. Shelly shouted, “Or off to the planet Canzabar, to meet the Canza Barbarians!” Feather merely landed on Andros’ shoulder, and said, “Oh, brother, there they go again.”

The End ... for now