Sanctuary of the Elusive Captain

“Scoundrel! Cheater!” Roxie still couldn’t believe the betrayal she just faced.

“Sorry for holding you up with my stuff.” Mia apologized.

Not a moment later, Roxie wrapped Mia in her arms. “Nooo, don’t you worry your ponytailed little head!” Her voice deepened. “Rookie is the one who must pay.”

“See you later then.” Mia strained to speak. “I hope you win the race.”

 “Thank you for your well wishes.” Roxie stopped squeezing the life out of her. “I am off!” 

With a wave, she used her air jets to flee to the door. If only she had a cape like the captain, then she could make the dramatic exit she truly deserved. Still, Mia supported her either way. It was nice to know that.

Thus began Roxie’s valiant journey for truth and justice! She flew around the cylindrical airlock, making sure not to collide with mini patterns or the winding staircase in the center. A green LED display in the center read July 7th, 10:47 A.M. But now was not the time to check the time! Where could Leon be? The last she saw his rosy face, haha-ing at her misfortune, he headed toward the gym. So, she entered.

“Yo, Rox.” The much beloved Jun Kim sat atop the chest machine. Normally, that would be extremely dangerous, but without gravity to pull them down, it was harmless. “Whatcha up to?” 

“I’m on a hunt for the captain.” Roxie explained. “The sands of time slip from my hands as we speak.”

They got down from the machine. “What’s the rush?”

“Waaaah!” Roxie dropped her pride and hugged Jun, mock crying. “I thought Leon was squishy and loveable, but--but he tricked me and left me to fend for myself! I can’t let him win, I just can’t!”

“Oh no. Super uncool of him.” Jun patted her back.

“I know, right??”

“But,” they let go, “sadly, I have no choice.”

“You have no choice?”

They put on their pair of glasses. “Leon’s just a rookie, he needs all the help he can get. He wouldn’t stand a chance against someone as cool and resourceful as you.”

“Teeheehee~ Thank you, Junzie!” Roxie pressed her hands against her cheeks. “Wait.” She stopped. “Does that mean you’re trying to stop me?”

“Yep.”

“Gasp!” She said the word instead of gasping. “Why would you, my best friend, betray me after my heart has already been wounded?”

“I have to. For justice.” Jun closed at least one of their eyes. The other was obscured by bangs. “Plus, I need someone to test out my patterns.”

“I see.” Roxie nodded solemnly. “Then we must do batte.”

“...Yeah.”

A duel between keepers of justice began. Jun used their jets to float upward and spread their arms out, summoning a row of blue orbs in front of and behind Roxie. They began to move quickly back and forth, hypnotically, like waves.

“Look out, it’s high tide.” warned Jun. This pattern was in fact named ‘High Tide.’ 

It was a little difficult to keep up with how fast and far the shots were moving, especially with all of the gym equipment around. After backing into the treadmill, she moved over to the weights, but her foot got caught on one.

“Oops, let me help you with that.” Jun lended Roxie a hand just in time for her to avoid the next wave. They moved her over to a spot where she could move around more freely.

“Thanks, Junzie!” She finally got more into the swing of things.

“No prob. Did I ever tell you I nearly became a lifeguard?”

Roxie got into the rhythm of the waves. “No, you have not!”

“Yeah, I heard it was like, way gnarly as a job. So I chose dog walking instead.” Jun searched through their phone, expanded it to tablet size, and flipped it around to show Roxie. It showed a picture of a teenage Jun, with slightly longer hair and slightly shorter bangs. They were surrounded by adorable dogs.

“Cute puppies! Babies!!” Roxie lost awareness of anything else.

Jun pointed at their own dog, a black labrador retriever. “That’s Cupid. I figured I’d take her along.”

“Cupiiie!”

Something caught their attention. “Hey, Rox?”

“Uh-huh?” The cute dogs still consumed her attention.

“Surf’s up.”

“Okay~ Wait, huh?”

As Roxie registered what had been said, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a surfboard shape speeding toward her! She bolted out of the way just in time, but not without screaming.

“Jun, you know cute things are my weakness! How could you??”

“I didn’t know it would change so fast--I mean,” their tone became dryer, “it was part of my plan. Haha.”

A friend was a fearsome foe to have! Roxie would dwell on that, but she was too busy dodging surfboards.

“Not to, like, toot my own horn, but I like this pattern because it’s practical.” Jun watched as Roxie scrambled. “In space, you never know when somebody’s gonna try to do hot stunts and crash into your shoulder, forcing you to reveal a secret that lands you a lotta unwanted attention, some potential jail time, and your mom blowing up your phone.”

“I don’t have a mom.”

“Oh yeah…” A twinge of regret flashed across their face. “Sorry, I--”

“But my dad would!” Roxie wanted to keep the mood light. Friends don’t let friends worry! That lighthearted joke, however, brought up some not-so-lighthearted regrets. Maybe she should tell her dad--

Bzzzt.

Lost in thought, she’d been struck from behind by an unseen surfboard.

“Rox, what happened?”

“Ah, I just zoned out.” Roxie lightly knocked on her forehead, hoping Jun’s supernatural perception didn’t pick up on the lie.

“It happens.” Jun shrugged. “It looks like it’d be easier to stay in one spot and dodge things as they come instead of going all over the place.” 

“Good idea!” Roxie took the advice to heart, and had a much easier time dodging. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because you’re my friend.”

Jun’s words touched Roxie’s heart, almost enough to make her forget about the surfboard speeding toward her. A friend really was a fearsome foe to have!

The pattern known as ‘Surf’s Up’ came to an end. Jun spread their arms out once more, summoning many rows of blue dots. This began a pattern called ‘Low Tide,’ which was much like ‘High Tide,’ but the shots moved much slower, much shorter distances. Roxie got into the swing of it more easily, but it felt more tense.

“Hey, you’re getting the hang of it.” Jun cheered on.

“I am!” Roxie beamed pridefully. As ‘Low Tide’ continued, she remembered something she wanted to ask. “Jun, you know how to fix stuff, right?”

“Depends on the stuff. Why?”

“Did you fix the TV?” She didn’t actually know for sure if it was the mysterious Lorie or not.

“Didn’t even know it was fixed.” 

“It was on when I woke up.” Roxie recounted. “Someone even left the toolbox in the kitchen.”

“Weird.” was all Jun had to say. 

Roxie took a breather as ‘Low Tide’ stopped. Suddenly, targets appeared around the gym, and the title changed to ‘Target Practice.’ 

“Let’s see if this one works.” 

Jun got back on top of the chest machine. They cocked a finger gun and fired a shot at a target clear across the room. The target shattered into pieces that scattered around the gym. Roxie had to dodge a few.

They fired at more targets. It didn’t matter where they were. Above the treadmill? Bang. Through the handles of the exercise bike? Bang. Between the weights? Bang. Bang. Bang.

“Cooool!” She was more impressed than anything. “How do you do that?”

“This?” Jun shot another target. They shrugged.

“Your skills are admirable!”

They winced. “I wouldn’t say that. It makes for bogus laser tag matches.”

“Would they not be legendary?”

“Legendarily short.”

When Jun shot down all of the targets, another set appeared out of thin air.

They hesitated making the first shot. “You wanna know what I find weird?”

“What?”

“This ship doesn’t have an engine room.” The elder ranger took the shot. “Not that I can see.”

Roxie dodged the debris from it. “But I thought we had the generator room.”

“That’s just for electricity.” Jun took another shot. “It doesn’t make the ship fly or anything. I’ve worked as a technician on many ships and I’ve never seen one without an engine room. It’s like, totes messing me up. What if something goes wrong with the engine and we can’t fix it?” 

Just the idea made Roxie’s stomach turn. “Maybe I should ask the captain… Wait!” She realized she hadn’t asked the most important question yet. “Junziiie, do you know where the captain is?”

“I don’t know any more than you guys do.”

“Darn it!” Roxie puffed up her cheeks. “How does a whole captain and a whole engine room just vanish?”

Jun shrugged, then shuddered, signalling the end of ‘Target Practice.’ Once again, they climbed down from the chest machine.

“Wanna see something way cool?” They beckoned Roxie over.

Roxie propelled herself next to Jun, not sure what to expect, but trusting them. As an opponent, this would be a great opportunity to lead her into a trap, but if she knew Jun, she knew she could trust them.

“You ever been inside a wave?”

“Tides are a fantasy in Kansas.”

 Jun chuckled. “Check this.”

With the lift of an arm, A tide of large, white circles followed by glowing blue orbs arced over them and crashed into the ground. Jun and Roxie stood safely inside of the wave, taking in the surroundings.

Roxie gasped. “You commanded the tides? Just for me??”

“Yep.” They gave a nod. “You’ve never really lived until you’ve seen the inside of a barrel.”

Roxie looked around for wooden barrels, but she couldn’t see any.

“A wave.” clarified Jun, noticing Roxie’s confusion.

“Ohhhh. So that’s why it’s called ‘Fish in a Barrel!’” The pattern’s name made more sense to her, but not completely. “But where’s the fish?”

“They’re coming right now. Watch out!”

“Ah!” A green fish darted past Roxie.

More showed up, leaping from one part of the wave to another.

Jun gave Roxie more room to move around. “It’ll never be the real deal, but I wanted to show people what the inside of a wave looked like. Like a prize for making it this far. Then I figured I shouldn’t make it too easy, y’know?”

“What a beautiful challenge!” Roxie found it hard to concentrate on the fish with all of the magic around her.

“Glad to deliver.” With that, Jun disappeared into the wave.

The curly redhead continued dodging fish, and could have done so forever. All things came to an end, though. Even holographic fish weren’t safe from the clutches of the reaper, a fact that rarely left her mind. Knowing that made it harder to smile. She still tried. People depended on it, and so did she.

“Oh no, you’ve defeated me.” The dark-haired ranger held up their hands. “You’re too cool for me!”

“That’s not true at all! You were holding back!”

“Only ‘cause you made such a sad face earlier.” They laughed. If a fake sad face could have that much of an effect, Roxie didn’t want to know what a real one could do. “Anyway, I was mostly trying to keep you from Aiden. He might not be as kind right now.”

This piqued the younger ranger’s interest. “Ah, so you were training me for the real battle!”

“...Wait. This is bad.”

“I see, I see. So you were betraying me to betray Aiden!” She lifted a finger to the sky. “What a gambit!”

“That’s not what I--”

“Thank you for your tutelage! I am off!”

Roxie made yet another exit with another mission: Find Aiden. He may know the captain’s whereabouts, and maybe, just maybe, she could also make a certain cheater pay his dues. Only one thing she knew for sure:

...She still wished she had a cape.