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Earth
"She's not a Millennium Ranger, there is no such thing as that. Not yet, anyway. But don't give them any ideas," Kimi replied. She was dressed in blue spandex with gold and white decorations forming a 'V' on the front and back. The helmet under her arm was solid blue with a black triangle on the front. "'Tomi-san is one of the S.P.D., just like Usami-hime and you."
Sarah rolled her eyes and glanced down at her pink and black outfit. "Well, excuse me, I'm not the one that watches that silly show. How am I supposed to know the difference?"
"Because I explained them all to you? And because we're all split into groups, well mostly." Kimi sighed, placing her own blue helmet on the nearest table and began listing the different groups. "The Uminos are almost all from the Turbo series. The older aliens and you are all Space Patrol Deltas. The younger aliens are the original Rangers. 'Shirou-san, Juzo-san and the other 'not quite adults' are from the In Space series. The Fleet members are the Time Force. The triplets and the Shitennou are the Ninjas, by their own request and the fact that miniature ninjas are just so cute. Me, Deja-chan, Ishi-chan, Zara-san and Noi-san are Zeos, while Lily-chan, Hermi-chan, Calaeno-chan and the Jones twins are Lightspeed. And when the French girls get here, they'll be joining Diana-chan and Kara-oba-chan's son as Lost Galaxy Rangers."
Sarah raised an eyebrow, then sighed. "You definitely watch way too much TV. Or at least too much Power Rangers."
"Hey, that isn't even all of the series, you know. I still have five series that I could get outfits from ... I just ran out of people to put in them."
"How does one 'run out' of people in this family?" Kai asked, hooking one arm with Sarah. Her own outfit was different from the other members of the S.P.D., as the white was accented with blue instead of black. "We need to borrow Pinky here, if you're through with her."
"I ran out of people, cause they wouldn't let me use the little ones. They said minimum age was five, and even then, they wouldn't let me use Yo-Ichi-chan or Rsin-chan." Kimi frowned slightly and crossed her arms over her chest.
Kai smiled a little at the younger girl. "Yo-Ichi had his heart set on being a pirate. Jinia-mama didn't have the heart to deny him that. This IS a whole new concept to him. Last year, he didn't really understand it and was a little scared by some of the decorations. Poor little Rsin is just terrified by practically all of it, so she's staying home with Kakyuu-hime," she replied, shrugging. "We'll just have to say Ichi's a space pirate that we captured or something."
Sarah nodded. "Sounds like a good idea to me. Space Pirate Yo-Ichi has come to Earth to take all the candy."
"Someone had better call a Power Ranger to take care of him." Makoto giggled as she walked over to the group and grinned. "I remember seeing that show. My friend, Shinozaki-kun, had a set of the dubbed tapes from the original series. He threw me out of his parent's apartment when I laughed at how silly it was."
"They're not silly. They're noble heroes out to save the world, just like the Senshi. Only they don't have to wear short skirts," Kimi replied.
"And here I thought Naru-chan was the only one that had a problem with the length of the skirts. You girls had better get to your tables, they're about to start with the karaoke." Makoto laughed at the look on all three teenager's faces and motioned them back to their seats. She glanced over the rented hall and noticed that most of the kids had abandoned their helmets on various tables and were staging mock battles, instead of playing the games Ami had come up with.
The few adults that had been roped into joining the 'Rangers' were mostly former crewmembers of the Av'Nai, with Pan and Van being the exceptions. They, along with a doctor from the ship, Xan, had quickly become favorites of the children because of their rhyming names. After Van was discovered to be an assassin working for the Orion government, an ally to the Hrrrr, he was assigned to Earth, mainly so that the Senshi could keep a close eye on him. Pan and Xan, both having medical backgrounds, quickly found an almost steady supply of patients, dealing solely with the Senshi and the kids.
The other crewmembers that had been 'forced' to take part, were: Kageshirou, Tavek, Noi (who would have taken part, even if Kakyuu hadn't insisted on the extra protection), Cyril, Truli (who was staying as far from Van as possible) and a woman Makoto didn't know named Gayve. The only adults from Earth that were joining in the 'fun' were Juzo and Zoë, both having been 'convinced' by Kimi; and the three male Shitennou. It would seem that Titania was also a fan of the show and more than capable of convincing her newest 'uncles' of almost anything. Kunzite and some of the other adults would have their hands full Trick-or-Treating with the younger kids.
"You seem lost in thought."
Makoto jumped and spun to face the woman that had spoken. She blushed slightly when Luna started laughing. "You silly cat, don't sneak up on me like that."
Luna grinned. "Gomen, I wasn't trying to. You just looked as though you were a million miles away."
"Just thinking that things would certainly be interesting if Haru-chan and the others could see this." Makoto felt the black-haired woman lean her head on her shoulder and smiled slightly. "Careful, Artemis may think I'm trying to steal you away or something."
Luna chuckled, wrapping one arm around the taller woman's waist. "Let him think what he wants, silly cat. I heard what you and the girls are planning for the holidays. I think it'll be good for Usagi."
"Do you think we'll be able to get her to go?"
"If you can't, I can always order her to go. Or knock her out and put her on the plane for you."
Makoto arched an eyebrow and glanced down at the other woman. "You've been into the candy, haven't you? You never get this devious unless you're on a sugar high." She chuckled when the other woman just grinned, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I think it would be better all around if we convince her to go. I just don't know how to do that yet."
"Whose idea was the karaoke machine again?"
Hikari chuckled. "That would have been kaa-chan's. What's the matter, oji-san? Not a big fan of American music?"
Kazuo glanced at his niece and shook his head. "Not really, no. Tell me again why okaa-san and I were invited to this party for your ... cousins?"
"Close enough. You were invited because you're still here, mostly. And because Usami-chan wanted to try and talk you into wearing one of these costumes." Hikari laughed at the face he made at the suggestion. "Can't blame us for trying. Does this mean you're going to go home with kaa-chan or are you going to help Mako-oba-chan take her little ones Trick-or-Treating?"
Kazuo held up the fox mask beside him. "I have been asked to escort the younger children of Urawa-san and Kumada-san. Jinia and okaa-san are returning home with the twins and Kakyuu-san and some of the other mothers." Shortly after being reunited with Jinia and her daughter, both Kazuo and his mother had realized there was a lot more to Jinia's new 'family' than they had been told. Over the last three months, they had learned Yaten was really an alien, as were the other Lights & Kakyuu, and that their friends on Earth were the mysterious 'Angels'. Neither had yet to realize that the aliens and Hikari were also Senshi. "Which one are you supposed to be?"
"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. I think they chose these outfits for the older girls because they were more like the Guard uniforms." Hikari grinned as she saw Kageshirou walk by, tugging at the sleeves of his own costume. "And because they had the least amount of spandex in them."
"Why couldn't we have gone with the ones with the black? There is no room in this stupid thing to hide any kind of weapon and the holster is barely big enough to hold the communicator."
Tavek chuckled at the redhead and grinned. "You were the one that left the decisions up to Usami-chan and Sarah-chan. Just be glad they didn't put us in the ones like Noi is wearing. He's been pulling at his collar all night."
Kageshirou sighed, glancing over toward the green-haired man. "That's because he's wearing his hair tucked down the back of his shirt. No wonder his collar is too tight." He walked over to the table where Noi sat watching his two half-sisters looking through a song list for the karaoke machine. Chuckling slightly, he placed his hands on the older man's shoulders. "I hope you girls are going to let Noi join you. He's quite a good singer."
Tanetomi chuckled as the green-haired man turned bright red. "Nii-chan, stop embarassing him. Of course we're going to let him sing with us. Him and Urani as well," Tanetomi replied, grabbing the blue-suited warrior's arm and pulling him back into his chair.
Urani sighed. "But 'Tomi, I don't want to-"
"You agreed to do this for my birthday, remember?" Usami grinned when the younger man nodded, then turned to Kageshirou, who was pulling Noi's hair out of his collar. "What are you doing, Nii-chan?"
"What does it look like I'm doing? The poor man's being choked by his own hair," Kageshirou replied. He finally pulled his hair free, then grinned. "'Tis better to be a Ranger with a ponytail, than a Ranger who can't breathe."
"Thank you, Commander." Noi buried his face in his arms, trying to ignore the rest of the people at the table. He felt someone tap his arm and raised his head slightly to see a white gloved hand holding out a hair tie. He glanced up to see Tavek smiling at him. "Thank you, Commander."
"You have seriously got to stop calling us that." Tavek grinned slightly and leaned down to whisper, "And stop being so shy. You completely missed Usami-chan smiling at you."
Tanetomi started laughing as the green-haired man blushed even redder and excused himself. "If I didn't know better, I'd say he was acting less like a soldier and more like a teenager in love."
"And why shouldn't he? He didn't really have a chance to be a teenager, you know." Kageshirou sighed slightly, then sat down in the vacated seat. "Just don't give him a hard time, okay? He's still learning how to act 'normal' around you guys."
Usami frowned. "We don't do it intentionally, it just happens. We're not used to interacting with a soldier, either."
"You don't have a problem talking to us," Kageshirou replied.
Tavek chuckled. "That's probably because we both grew up around them, whereas the first time Noi ever met them was when you came home on leave."
"True. And we were supposed to be on our best behaviour that day," Tanetomi replied. She grinned slightly at the memory. "Although, I do remember Tsuki bouncing some kind of toy off of your forehead."
It was Kageshirou's turn to blush. "Yes ... and what an impression it made on my crew." He glared lightly at Tavek as he laughed. "You had better be glad I'm not your commander anymore."
"If you want to get technical, I officially outranked you," Tavek replied, grinning. "But Noi had more experience in space than either one of us."
"And would gladly have left anything to do with Command to the two of you," Noi replied as he walked back up to the table, his hair pulled back in a low ponytail. "Especially since it took both of you to keep a crew full of loyalists in line."
"Yeah, well, it didn't help that our third in Command was also behind a lot of the things that happened on that ship." Kageshirou grinned slightly and looked at the green-haired man. "Or that he was really good at convincing the fourth in Command to go along with it."
"It isn't my fault that Cyril can be talked into almost anything," Noi replied. He grinned slightly as he glanced over at the blonde man, who was busy trying to keep his plastic swords out of the hands of three miniature ninja.
"He can? Well, we'll have to keep that in mind, won't we, 'Sami-chan?" Tanetomi grinned and grabbed the princess' arm. "Come on, it's our turn to sing."
Kageshirou chuckled at the look on Urani's and Noi's faces, until Tavek grabbed his arm and pulled him out of his chair. "'Vek, what are you doing?"
"The girls need more backup singers. Don't argue, or I'll just ask Urani-chan to 'convince' you."
"You are evil."
"I know, but you still love me."
"Stay with the Guards, don't wander off and for Kami's sake, don't talk to strangers."
Ishtar rolled her eyes and sighed. "We'll be fine, mom, I promise. That was the whole reason we all got similar costumes, so we could go as one big group. And don't worry, I have the homing chips in both twins' costumes programmed into mine. It'll go off if they get more than five feet away from me, plus I think Noi said there was something programmed in the suits themselves that wouldn't let them get very far."
Beside her, Truli nodded. "There's a tether built in to the little one's costumes to keep them from getting lost, as well as Hrrrrunai dampeners to keep them from using their powers. Should there be a problem, a Fleet ship will be tracking our progress and can teleport any five of us out immediately, and all 49 of us within two minutes, with priority on the younger members. Three other Fleet ships are still in orbit over North America and can be brought in as backup in minutes." She grinned slightly at the stunned look on the blonde woman's face. "I've picked up English pretty well in the last nine months, yes?"
Minako nodded. "Yes. Very well. You've spent most of those months watching TV, haven't you?"
Truli blushed and picked at imaginary dust on her pink outfit. "After the Empress made us take leave from the ship, there was little else for me to do. I did try to help Olivia-san in the kitchen, but she told me to stay away until I learned better, so I watch and learn."
"She's still pretty bad at Japanese, though," Ishtar replied, smiling. She grinned at the older woman, then hugged her mother. "We'll be fine mom, don't worry. If you get nervous without us, just throw on one of the extra costumes Kimi had made and join us."
"It's not that I don't trust you and the other kids, I'm just-"
"You're just overprotective. You've been this way since January." Ishtar smiled at her mother, then grabbed Truli's arm. "Hurry up, before she comes up with an excuse for us not to go!"
Minako watched the group of multi-colored Rangers leave and had to grab on to the nearest chair to stop herself running after them. She stood there for several minutes before forcing herself to relax and start cleaning up.
"I see I'm not the only one who has a hard time letting them go."
Minako smiled slightly and shook her head. "No, you're not." She turned to face the woman in the wheelchair and saw that she didn't look much better than she had when they had fought, but neither did she look any worse. "You decided not to go with them?"
"I would only slow them down," Usagi replied, smiling sadly. She gathered the paper plates she could reach and placed them into the plastic bag beside her. "I ... Jinia-san has invited me and the twins over to watch a movie with her and her mother. She asked me to invite you and Aphrodite-chan as well."
"Sounds like fun. Are the others coming?"
"Michi-chan, Rei and Mako-chan are taking their babies Trick-or-Treating, but Ami-chan is coming. Her twins are tired from the trip and the time difference," Usagi replied. She reached over to the centerpiece and picked up the two little cat figures. "I'm surprised Luna didn't take these home with her."
"They already left? I didn't see them go."
"You were being briefed on the security precautions." Kakyuu smiled at the two blondes as she helped them finish clearing the last few items from their tables. "Now then, Kou has said for us to get the others and leave and he'll take care of the rest of the cleaning."
Minako chuckled slightly. "In other words, he'll make the Shitennou do it before he lets them leave to join the others."
"Who told you my dastardly plans?" Taiki grinned at the three women as he leaned back in one of the chairs, watching the Shitennou pick up the pieces of one of the games. The three men had gotten out of hand with one of their mock fights and had knocked over several games and decorations. As punishment, they were having to clean the mess they made, as well as the rest of the decorations. The redhead smirked as an inflatable vampire suddenly re-inflated and seemed to try and attack Jadeite. "Those three are worse than we ever were."
"I find that hard to believe," Usagi replied, smiling as she wheeled herself over to the redhead. "Just don't make them miss out on the whole night. This is their first Halloween on Earth."
Taiki nodded. "Don't worry. It won't take long to clean this up. They won't miss out on much." He stood, grabbed the blonde's chair by the handles and started pushing her toward the door. "But for them to do a proper job, you ladies have to leave. Can't have the cleaning secrets of the Dark Kingdom becoming common knowledge, now can we?"
Kakyuu rolled her eyes as she followed the other redhead. She placed a hand on his arm as Naru took Usagi's chair to help her into the van. "Just no fires, please, Kou. Last thing we need is the four of you burning this place to the ground."
"Trust me, love, everything will be just fine." Taiki kissed her cheek, then walked her over to one of the cars. He made sure all the others were gone before turning and walking back into the hall. The three Shitennou had already finished cleaning and were standing in the middle of the room, waiting for him. "Okay boys ... what was that you were telling me about a door?"
