Moving forward

When Rancrew opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling. The white lights were slightly blinding him. As he looked around, he noticed it was a hospital room, although there was something odd about it. Despite its spacious size he was the only person in it. Looking through the window it seemed to be quite high up too. Much too prestigious for someone like him.

He tried moving around, but his body was still stiff. Even turning his head was painful, though he was able to turn over to look over the door, from behind which a conversation seemed to happen.

“Thank you for organizing it all so fast. It’s great help”

“No worries, please call us if you need anything else.”

“That will be all for now, if you could please leave us alone for now…”

As the two people outside ended their conversation, the door to the room opened and an older man entered, making sure to close and lock it behind himself.

He began speaking with a friendly tone as he moved towards the chair near the bed Rancrew was laying in.

“I can’t believe none of us detected anything. But I guess with you being there there was no need for any other security, you are better than any detection system either way. But still, for you to get beat up like this… From the reports there was only a single enemy. What happened, Arcland?”

Rancrew tried remembering who the person talking to him was, but nothing ringed in his mind. He tried his best to shift up to a sitting position, and as he did so, he noticed the suit was still on him.

“We’ll have to write an official report anyway, so I guess we can leave that talk for later. More importantly, how did the meeting with your son go? If I remember correctly, his name was Rancrew wasn’t it?”

Rancrew was still too stunned about what happened to fully process what the older man was speaking about. Nevertheless, he instinctively knew the right thing to do was to clear up the misunderstanding. His hand slowly reached his face and ripped off the mask with ease, revealing Rancrew’s beat up face underneath it.

The older man’s eyes grew wider. He instantly rose from his chair and grabbed wounded Rancrew by his shoulders.

“You’re not Arcland! How do you have the suit!” - He realised just how tightly he held him when Rancrew flinched from pain, which caused him to calm down a little and let go.

“Just as we were about to get crushed he transferred the suit to me. His body was crushed by rubble. I tried to get him out, but couldn’t”

“I see… You were the only person we managed to rescue from underneath the rubble. With the suit recovered I thought the operation was a success.”

“So my father…” Rancrew did not finish the question

“I fear that’s the case…”

Rancrew stayed silent, not sure if there was anything else he was supposed to add.

“I never introduced myself, did I? I’m Giovanni, the chairman for the Ranger Association. You could say I was your father’s friend.“

“I’m surprised, he didn't strike me as the type to have friends.”

“Haha! That’s true, perhaps it’d be more fitting to call me his only friend then.”

“You guys don’t seem like the type to go have fun together. Though I think it’s because I’m not sure what people like your age would even do either way, maybe bingo…”

“How old do you think we are?... But you’re right, neither of us had that much free time. Especially your father, he always kept himself busy with extra operations.”

As they talked, it seemed like Rancrew’s mood got better, with a small smile appearing on his face, however the mood became more intense after Giovanni noticed it.

“Look, Rancrew… I know it’s a hard time, but…”

“I know… You can have the suit, I don’t need it.”

“I fear that won’t be possible. Once the suit is transferred, it won’t move from its new host for some time. The only way to remove it would be to kill you.”

“Hahah…” - He laughed nervously - “Nevermind, maybe I’ll keep it, it’s a nice fit after all.”

“In truth, we might just manage to get away with it”

“Hey!” - Rancrew pushed back towards the wall “Look i know association is influential and all, but surely You wouldn’t murder an innocent man, right? Right?!”

“Even if we took it by force, it would still take some time for it to prepare for a new host. So it’s out of the question”

Rancrew did not like that the chairman didn’t deny the possibility. He was looking at the chairman, who clearly looked like the cogs in his brain were turning to come up with a way out of the situation.

“However, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Arcland was a… Strange man to say the least.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“It was not unusual for him to attempt mission after mission, ignoring his teammates in the process. Because of this, he established himself as the pillar of the association. In a sense, he was the ranger everyone was trying to be. And yet, as for the person under the mask…”

“Hey, old man, you can’t be thinking…”

"As far as most people were concerned, there was no-one under the mask, Arcland did not exist. There was only the Red Ranger, hope of the Ranger Association… No, of the whole world. If he was to disappear now, all our efforts would have been for nothing.”

‘It’d be crazy, there’s no way that will work!”

The chairman got up and moved back slightly. With earnestness he bowed his head deeply. - “Please, pretend to be your father!"

“Are you insane? You want me to tarnish my father’s legacy just like that!?” - It was for the first time talking to the chairman that Rancrew’s outburst actually felt genuine.

“Rancrew, I know I’m in no position, but I beg you…”

“It’s not possible either way! He didn’t tell you, did he! That his son’s compatibility is 0?!”

The chairman didn’t say anything, but Rancrew could feel that slightly shocked him, so he continued pushing on.

“That’s right! I even checked it this morning, and it’s 0! It always was 0, despite being his son I didn’t inherit anything! I’m just a normal human!”

“And yet, the suit still chose you”

This time, it was Rancrew who fell silent

“Listen, Rancrew. It’s true that all of the rangers have high compatibility scores.Your father has been the ranger since the beginning, he is the only person to wear the red suit. No matter how many candidates we presented to him, no matter how skilled they were or how high their score. We couldn’t pass on his suit. It was you who changed it.”

Rancrew was a bit stunned by the reveal. He knew his father had been the ranger all this time, but did not know that he was in a constant attempt to pass on the suit.

“It's true that the suit’s full potential only reveals itself when the compatibility score is high. If it was up to us it might’ve been the best choice, but the suit itself has to will to be transferred too. You are now the Red Ranger, out of thousands of people, it chose you.”

“Get your head up, old man.”

“So, you will-- “

“Look, I’m not sadistic enough to get off to seeing you beg, if anything it’s a bit creepy… I’m not agreeing with anything, just give me some time to think it all over.”

The chairman finally lifted his head, and started making his way towards the door.

“Very well then, Mr Rancrew, I’ll be back in a couple of days to hear your answer”

As he said he closed the door, leaving Rancrew to stare at the ceiling for quite some time.

“It’s not like I have any choice.” - He muttered as he turned to his side and fell asleep