A lazy Sunday wasn’t really in the cards, not with classes resuming the following day. Students were clamoring to finish the assignments given to them for the week, procrastinators suffering the worst of it. Nicole was not one of those people, she’d finished her assignments days ago.

Nicole woke up bright and early to get a start on the things she had planned the night before. If she was going to devote herself to the whole Ranger thing, then she was going to make damn sure that she was doing it right, even if that meant digging into parts of her past that still hurt.

The school’s gymnastics team held their practice on Saturdays, which meant their usual grounds were free and clear for her to take a spin on the mat. She knew that the Ranger powers enhanced her in strange ways, and her old routines would be a good way to figure out just how far she could take it without the transformation empowering her. Moreso, those movements and techniques were still useful for combat.

She’d dug out an old pair of sweats for the occasion, not knowing if the potentially extreme activity might damage her old tights. It’s also why she was wearing a fairly simple white tank top, not that she’d been brave enough to walk across campus in something so form fitting. A simple sweatshirt with the college logo was thrown over it to cover her modesty. She’d braided her hair to keep it manageable and it would be easy to put it into a bun if it was still too unruly. She also found a pair of old wrist bands to hopefully keep some of the sweat off her hands.

Her suspicions about the gymnastics hall were proven correct, either nobody thought to use it, or it was too damn early for most people to consider being awake on a Sunday. Everything was still set up too, which made things easier for her. She wouldn’t have to waste time dragging everything into place.

There was a strip of the wall with a full mirror for practicing where one could observe themselves in motion. She looked at herself, taking it all in. It was the first time she’d actually stood in front of one and actually looked. The muscles that had begun to fade were once again as prominent as ever. Hesitantly, she lifted her shirt up and ran her fingers over the firm abdominals on her stomach. Becca had once said that her abs were capable of grinding meat, and looking at them in the mirror, she could see it.

Shaking her head, she let the shirt drop and walked over to the balance beam only to freeze the moment she touched it. She’d never quite gotten over the hesitation after her first accident, that moment where her mind reminded her that the thing in front of her was a source of pain. She’d suffered many injuries over the years on such beams, yet it was also the source of her failure.

Heavy breaths came unbidden, flashes of the seats that should have held her parents flashed through her mind, followed by a hard fall that ended her last aspirations for the national stage and any potential career. Nicole took a step back and forced her breathing into a pattern. It helped, though it didn’t stop the hammering in her chest, or calm her racing mind. The only thing that would manage that was biting the bullet and putting action to her thoughts.

Rolling her shoulders and forcing a shuddering breath, Nicole hopped up, muscle memory still firmly established from her years of practice. Her body felt light as a feather, as if she might just float away. Given how fast she had been able to run, that might very well have been the case.

An almost manic giggle came unbidden, then just as quickly Nicole took another breath and pushed herself into a handstand. Again, she didn’t feel the slightest hint of a strain, something she couldn’t say even at the peak of her attempts at the nationals. She switched to one arm, and again felt no difficulty in the act, the weight of her frame comfortable as she held the pose.

“This is so weird,” she muttered.

Then, she sprung into motion, falling into the routine that was meant to carry her into the national stage, but she had fumbled during the one attempt that mattered. Every action came effortlessly, the movements controlled and exact. She was water in motion, flowing perfection, everything she had needed to be that day.

It sickened her.

For all the hard work Nicole had put in for years, then the neglect of the past six months, she was in better form than she ever had been. It wasn’t fair, and there was no way she could ever compete when she had some alien power fine tuning her entire build to superhuman perfection. Oddly enough, none of her other Rangers were bulking out, and even then, her muscles just looked as they did at her peak.

Grace was built too, but her muscles were very much more in line with someone who worked a forge, or swung an axe. She hadn’t gotten a good enough look at Kayla, but she hadn’t seen any significant muscle on her. Jeff and Devon were certainly fit as well, but Nicole was fairly sure she had more definition than either of them.

Nicole stuck the landing, ending her routine without even a hint of a mistake or near miss. The entire thing had been insultingly easy, she hadn’t even needed to think about things, her focus drifting elsewhere as she went through it. Grace’s muscles were certainly distracting, but she should have struggled to avoid a mistake.

A wandering mind had cost her a future, now it didn’t even slow her down.

Growling in frustration, Nicole vaulted from the beam, flipping through the air as she did, and landed on the floor mat with a heavy impact that she barely felt. She didn’t stop there, her momentum carrying her into a looping series of flips that pulled the blood to her head and feet yet no lightheadedness or dizziness followed. That part was a familiar rush and only as she finished the series did she realize she had done so far beyond human norms.

A dark flash of anger spiked deep within and she launched into a flowing dance, one of her favorites that didn’t require extraordinary skill to pull off, but she had always found relaxing, and more importantly, grounded her each time she performed it. She looped through the routine over and over, letting the motions center her until she lost track of time.

A gentle clapping pulled her out of an almost meditative trance. Her head snapped to the source even as she froze mid motion, a leg extended almost vertically while she balanced on a single toe. The dark-skinned woman whistled, her clapping coming to an abrupt end. Nicole quickly got both feet back under her and wondered to herself how she had missed someone slipping inside.

The newcomer was older, at least forty if the gray in her short cut black hair was anything to go off of. There was something vaguely familiar about her that Nicole couldn’t quite place. The woman’s steps were light, almost gliding across the mat as she approached. She wore tight black leggings and a tank top that bore the school logo, as well as a potential identifier. The word coach gave her a clearer idea as to who had just gotten the drop on her.

“Sorry if I startled you,” the woman said, her voice light and airy. “Normally the building is vacant on Sundays so I can fit in a bit of my own practice, so imagine my surprise when I found someone performing a routine that would make the last five gold medalists green with envy.”

“Oddly specific numbers,” Nicole said cautiously.

“Well, considering I was two of those, it stands to reason that I’m speaking from experience,” she said with a grin then extended her hand. “Tanya Bording, Gold medalist for twelve and sixteen at your service.”

Nicole’s eyes widened. She’d watched all of the gold and silver medal showings for each event for the last dozen Olympics probably fifty plus times each, all to see what worked and what hadn’t for each of them. That was why the woman seemed familiar, she’d watched her perform more than she’d watched her favorite movie as a kid!

“Heard of me have you?” Tanya said with a smirk. “With moves like yours, I’m surprised I don’t recognize you. Did you try out for the course here?”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Nicole blinked, then rubbed the back of her head. “Ah, no, I didn’t. I tried for the nationals in high school, but botched my routine. I sort of stopped trying after that.”

“That had to be a one in a million mistake with moves like yours,” Tanya answered. “Like, I would kill to have you on our team. You said you failed in high school, how long ago was that if you don’t mind me prying?”

“Six months,” Nicole said hesitantly.

She really needed to get off the subject, especially if the woman began to push. Three years back it came out that a Ranger was playing professional sports and using their own enhancements to manage to dominate the world class athletes that they were competing against. Nicole couldn’t recall what sport it had been, but it was decided that if Rangers had that level of advantage, they couldn’t compete.

“You’ve obviously been keeping up the practice though,” she said, frowning. “You should sign up, I bet you would easily make the nationals this coming round.”

“I wouldn’t,” Nicole said, her eyes burning with tears forming. “I gave up on that dream. I’m just here to keep the rust off.”

More to shake the rust off, but Tanya didn’t need to know that.

“Damn,” Tanya muttered. “I’ll admit, you soundly put every prospective girl I’ve got to shame. All of the guys too for that matter. Still, even if you don’t plan to compete, you could always join, maybe light a fire under some of their asses.”

Shaking her head, Nicole smiled to hide the pain. How she would have loved to hear something like that following her disastrous showing, but no, everyone dropped her like spoiled milk. She had no interest in trying to recapture any former glory with her Ranger granted abilities.

“I have other obligations,” Nicole said dismissively. “I’m afraid that between those and my studies, I’m pretty well booked.”

Tanya sighed, her shoulders drooping. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“I get it,” Nicole said, shaking her head with a soft smile. “If you’d asked me two weeks ago, I’d have jumped on it.”

“Fuck,” Tanya said. “That’s what I get for getting all excited for the Renaissance Faire instead of paying attention to prospective recruits.”

Nicole’s heart skipped a beat as Tanya trailed off, her head slowly turning to look back at the rather busted Ranger. Looking at the wide eyes of the gold medalist, she knew right then that she had put together the truth.

“I am so sorry,” Tanya said, concern lacing each word. “You lost someone important there, didn’t you?”

“What?” Nicole said, brain lurching as she realized that her cover wasn’t blown! “Yeah, that whole tragedy… I’d rather not talk about it.”

Tanya waved her off. “Say no more. I understand. I’d be dead too if it wasn’t for the Rangers. The green one with the crazy vines saved my husband and I. I just wish we could thank her.”

Well, Nicole knew who she was texting at the first opportunity.

“Yeah, the Red Ranger saved me as well,” Nicole said, not lying by technicality.

“You were there?” Tanya asked. “Shit, I’m doubly sorry for bringing it up then. I mean, you probably know exactly what it was like to have someon— Right, shutting up before I shove my foot in my mouth. Did that once on a dare, don’t recommend.”

A nervous laugh bubbled forth, and she was glad that Tanya was just enough of a scatter-brain to not manage the basic math to figure out that Nicole was a Ranger. She’d really lucked out there and was quite keen on not pushing that tenuous luck any further.

“If it’s all the same, I think I’m gonna duck out,” Nicole said. “I’ve got afternoon plans and need a shower after all that.”

She’d worked up a sweat, which from her experience on that late night run meant that she was pushing herself far beyond human limits during that routine. Tanya must not have stayed silent for long after her arrival, because even thirty seconds of observation would have clued her in that something superhuman was absolutely afoot.

Her stuff was still sitting by the mirror so she hurried over and started to collect it when she saw she had a message from Grace waiting for her. With a smile, she quickly opened it only for all rational thought to flee her mind.

There were several pictures of Grace in a skin tight red tank top, and she was flexing in a way that Nicole could not look away from. Her arms were toned, demonstrating how fucking built the woman was, but didn’t show nearly as heavily as Nicole’s own. Grace’s back though, holy hell what was with that definition… Was she drooling? Honestly, she wouldn’t have been surprised.

Then there was that message after…

Grace: Bet my muscles are bigger.

Such a clear challenge, and a request for pictures to be returned. Could she do that? It would be bold as hell, but clearly Grace was looking for something bold. It hadn’t even been a day since they both had their arms twisted by a devil in green and admitted to being interested in one another! It didn’t feel real yet, and Nicole was constantly second guessing herself, yet it was hard to argue with the pictures in her inbox. They weren’t dating, at least not in the technical sense. That night on the sofa certainly felt like a date in retrospect…

“Okay, you can do this Nicole, no pressure or anything…”

She looked into the wall length mirror, her red hair braided loosely over her shoulder, then down at her own abs, trying to not grimace at the sight of them even through her shirt. She’d left her baggy sweatpants on, but her sweatshirt was firmly discarded. She had on a tight white tank top under it, and it was drenched enough that her sports bra was showing through. She almost considered taking the shirt off, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, even in the mostly empty gym.

Instead, she pulled the shirt up, exposing the glistening skin beneath. She still didn’t like the sight of her abs, but apparently Grace did. Nicole could do it for her. She held up her phone, partially blocking her face to get an angle that she didn’t outright hate, then snapped the picture. She hurriedly typed a message to her friend while biting her lip, then attached the picture before she could get cold feet.

And, sent…

Nicole: Here’s me after my workout.

Nicole: Pic

Grace: Kasjnrviagvidunbfv

Nicole: Did you just keysmash?

Grace: Yes…

Grace: Brain short circuited.

Nicole couldn’t help the squeal that tore it’s way through her as she did a little tap dance in place. Fucking score! Sure, it shouldn’t have been a competition, but if there was one thing Nicole was confident in, it was her muscles. It was weird having something that had been mocked relentlessly for years suddenly be a positive in her life. Given all the hateful comments that would continue to intrude upon her thoughts, that would take some time to adjust to. She was tempted to take a few more pictures, but this time she hadn’t missed the gentle footsteps approaching.

“Posing for a boyfriend?” Tanya asked with a knowing smirk. “Most guys are intimidated by a gymnast’s build, but there’s the rare few that can appreciate it.”

“I was mocked enough for it in highschool,” Nicole said, some of her old bitterness leaking through. “Someone special has been trying to help me see the beauty in it though.”

“He must be something special then,” Tanya said.

Another ding sounded and Nicole looked down to find another picture from Grace, her face practically glowing with a heavy blush as she bit her lip.

Grace: Pic

Grace: Holy hell, you’re fucking hot!

Grace: Sorry, but goddamn girl!

Now she was blushing too, shit, she had it so damn bad and apparently Grace did too. Nicole still didn’t understand that, but as Kayla had said shortly before they all went home, people rarely find themselves attractive. She just had to trust that Grace wasn’t lying, that she had seen some beauty in Nicole that she herself couldn’t see.

Turning to regard Tanya, she didn’t even try to hide how happy she was at that thought, that Grace Evans, the amazing woman that she was, saw something in Nicole that she couldn’t see herself.

“Yeah,” Nicole said once she felt able to speak again, a dopey grin splitting her face. “She certainly is amazing.”

Tanya blinked for a moment as it clicked, then she offered out a fist.

Nicole wasted no time returning the gesture.