Heroes are born

Lisa Tarsen sat in the middle of Millin Park, resting her back against a tree, furiously typing away on yet
another Power Rangers fanfic. She was deep in a scene in which Tommy Oliver was battling Lord Zedd
for his very life.

She was constantly muttering under her breath. If one listened closely it sounded something like, "Now
let's see Jump kick or roundhouse. Come on Tommy you can beat him."

She paused leaving the character in his precarious circumstance to glance around at the group gathered
in the park.

Jean-Luc Pierre, his blue hair sticking up in all directions, was sitting next to his girlfriend Zanny Mitchell,
whispering in her ear. Zanny for her part looked absolutely enthralled.

Nearby, Jean-Luc's cousin, Mandy Vine, had her nose buried in a Stephen King novel. No one would have
suspected she had a hundred and sixty I.Q. She very rarely volunteered information and was actually
flunking several classes. Sitting against a tree dressed in cut off jeans and a T-shirt that read "Don't mess
with me I am a bitch."

The last member of the group, Christopher Collins, was in the center of the field running through a
series of katas.

Lisa reflected that theirs was an unusual group. Mandy acted tough, but was more likely to run like a
scared rabbit if pressed. Chris was always in trouble. Jean-Luc looked like a rebel but wasn't of course.
Zanny was never serious . Lastly, the unspoken leader was Lisa,the one who recorded everything in her
notebooks.

"Yo! Harriet the spy," Jean-Luc called. He had given her that nickname years ago when Lisa had shared
her notebook with the group. She still kept her journal and wrote in it, but no longer wrote about her
friends.

"Kinda got to get this fanfic fin-" That was as far as she got. The ground abruptly started shaking.

For a moment the entire group stared at one another. Lisa staggered to her feet and jumped back as a
huge branch crashed down where she'd been sitting.

With one last surge the tremor subsided. "What was that?" Jean-Luc asked pulling Zanny to her feet. He
was wide-eyed and extremely frightened.
"If we were in California," Zanny's voice was low and scared, "I'd say an earthquake. But Florida doesn't
have them."

Mandy was brushing dirt off Chris's back. She glanced around, "Well, no one seems to be hurt, and no
one's dead. I'd say its just some anomaly."

"Almost none." Lisa corrected her friend as she pulled her smashed laptop out from under the branch.
"Dad's gonna kill me."

"Not if your Mom does first," Zanny joked. A laugh rippled through the group.

Lisa grinned, whipping a disk out of her pocket. "At least my fanfics are backed up. I'll have to rework the
last fight scene though."

In a cavern deep underground, a small Siamese cat shot up into the air with a snarl when the ground
underneath him began to shake. Alarms tore through the room he was in. The cat growled "Oh, shut
those off! And show me what's going on."

It was quite clear what was going on. Darkness had arrived on earth. The cat, Stauche, was utterly put
out.

Stauche had thought the evil demon would take a few more centuries to arrive on earth, or at least one
more.

"What are we going to do?" The computer Dynisis spoke up. "How are you going to fight him?"

Stauche regarded her screen momentarily. "Teleport the ones we've picked here."

"I knew I should never work for a cat!" Dynisis muttered even as she obeyed.

In a place where realities intersect, an evil being watched the earth in a dark pool. The first wave had
been a success; his army had met with absolutely no resistance -you'd think they'd have some kind of
defense-

Upon first sight, the creature appeared to be conceled by shadow, upon a second glance it became
apparent he was the shadow.

His name was Darkness, and his ultimate goal was no less than the destruction of the entire multiverse.
He sat considering his options. If this was the earth, Earth number 515, which he believed Stauche had
fled to it could be intriguing .

"Sire, the attack goes well," A humanoid cat-like creature, Milken, stated as it strode into the throne
room.
Darkness regarded his Lieutenant with a frown, as the underling continued his report "Soon we will have
them at our mercy, they have absolutely no mystical defenses."

"None at all?" Darkness's red eyes glinted with an untold amount of evil.

"None, your Evilness" Milken said with a soft hiss He was excited at the prospect of destroying yet
another realm.

Milken liked to destroy things and would do whatever necessary to meet his goal. That was the main
reason Darkness had hired him. The other was the Cat creatures own viciousness almost matched that
of Darkness'. Indeed, he was a being of almost pure evil.

Continue the attack," Darkness ordered leaning back in his throne. This was going to be almost too easy.

The five teens were a little shocked, to say the least at suddenly finding themselves someplace else. One
minute they were in the park and the next they were in a large cavern.

The room appeared to be made entirely of crystal and large columns ran from the ceiling to the floor
sparkling in an Ethereal light. They stood looking around the room in awe.

"Where are we?" Lisa asked brushing herself off and helping Mandy to her feet.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Chris's voice came out as a low growl. He was angry, perhaps too
angry, and when that happened people tended to get hurt.

"Easy Chris." Zanny put a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm her friend.

Jean-luc was wandering around the room. He peered at the various consoles that lined one wall and a
small monitor in the center.

"These guys have watched far too much Power Rangers." He muttered under his breath before raising it
to ask a question. "Hey Lisa, what does this remind you of more the Power Chamber or the Command
Center?"

"This is the Central Access Command." The voice caused them all to spin around. The only thing in sight
was a small Siamese cat. As they watched, it spoke again. "Relax I’m not going to harm you."

"The cat talks," Mandy grumbled. "Now I know I'm dreaming." As the cat glared up at her with its shiny
green eyes, Mandy took a step back away from the cat. Tossing a confused look at her friends. The cat
spoke softly. "My name is Stauche and I require your assistance, young humans. "
Chris snorted. "Our help?"

Stauche nodded with a characteristically human movement, noting the teen’s skepticism and leapt
easily onto a platform quickly slapping a button with his paw.

A holographic image appeared in the center of the room. An image of Darkness. Chris asked, "Who's the
loser?"

"That 'loser' is called Darkness, his goal is destruction of the multiverse. I want you to help me stop him."
Stauche went on. Five Crystals materialized in front of them. One Green, One red, one blue, one black
and one purple. "These are the Element Crystals. You will use them to transform into the Crystal
Warriors.

Each Crystal will allow the wearer to control an element. Earth, fire, wind, water, and heart.

"Lisa you will be green, the Earth warrior."

"Chris you will be red, the fire warrior"

"Jean-luc you will be blue, the water warrior"<

."Zanny you will be black, the wind warrior"

"Mandy You will be purple, the heart warrior"

The kids stood gaping at him as the time seemed to stretch out. Dynisis let out a curse that caused them
to jump. They whirled around, looking for the speaker.

Mandy figured it out first and chuckled, "Guys, its the computer." It took them a moment to calm down.

This wasn't the most perfect way to meet someone or something.

"If we don't stop this guy, he'll destroy all of reality." Lisa insisted. "I for one say lets do it." She grinned
at her friends.

"I'm in." Zanny said her eyes shinning eagerly.

"Me too." Mandy was bent over the computer studying it carefully as if trying to see how it worked.
"Give me a chance to figure this computer out." One had to wonder if she was even listening to the
conversation.

"I'll help save the world." Jean-luc smiled and added a French phrase that essentially translated into
"coolquot;, but not exactly

Chris frowned, staring at the ground. "I don't know, saving the world and all. I do know my sister needs
me. Grandfather tries but he's old. Kelsey and I only have each other. Dad would have gone for this, and
I guess I want to make him proud of me. Sure, I'll do it."
The others heaved a sigh of relief. ,

>"I'm afraid," Stauche began "Your going to get introduced to your powers by a trial of fire." The cat
gestured with one paw towards a hologram indicating Milken's attack on the city had begun.

"Let's go!" Lisa called and the five friends transformed into the Crystal Warriors. Each costume was
made of skintight Spandex with a headband around their heads and their chests were covered with a
symbol indicating the element they controlled. The powers would protect their identities.

The Crystal Warriors flipped into action in the center of the park driving Milken back from the small
children he was terrorizing.

Red Warrior went one on one with him as the others herded the group of youngsters to safety.

Milken knocked him into a nearby tree and as he slid down it he landed with an "oof"

Blue Warrior delivered a blow to Milken's head. The Cat-Man roared in anger and lashed.

Blue Warrior danced back, grinning as he went. He appeared to pull a Trident out of thin air and lunged
with it again, effectively blocking the sword Milken had swung at him.

He leaped back pulling his Trident up and shouted. "Blast of the ocean." Water flew from the Trident
slamming Milken back into a tree with a, "yowl!" The cat-man vanished.

"Taught him a lesson," Blue Warrior muttered.

An hour later the kids were in Central Command congratulating Jean-Luc on his defeat of Milken. "This is
only the beginning," Stauche reminded them. "but you are now and forever the Crystal Warriors!"

The end.

Next Time. A new kid moves to town, Mandy finds him irresistible but Darkness takes him to be his new
Dark Light Warrior can the Crystal Warriors stop him?