 This article is about a/an comic book issue in the Power Rangers comic sub-franchise by Boom! Studios.
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Ranger Academy #3 is the third issue of the Boom! Studios comic book series, Ranger Academy.
Synopsis[]
Though exciting, Ranger Academy is challenging for Sage. Having trouble fitting in, Sage seeks answers in the Academy's library, discovering a connection to her adoptive father's past in the library's archives...
In an effort to learn more about the school and her place in it, Sage's curiosity takes her to an abandoned part of the campus... only to discover something even more shocking than she ever realized...[1]
Plot[]
Late after midnight, Sage is in the Library researching her father’s past, learning he was part of the Class of 2498 along with Nika and some other cadets through the holographic yearbook archives. She is able to learn he was a happier person when he was younger, part of the robotics club and he even passed the first of the Morphin Trials to become a Red Ranger. However, one of the classmates is concealed by a censor pixelation and the yearbook locks down twice to deny access to Sage from investigating further.
Sage is upset that the yearbook denies her access to the truth and the fact that her father was lying to her, her flustered shouts wakes Mathis and they suggest that they both unwind from the study session by going to the gym in Red Campus for a late night workout. Sage struggles with the weights as Mathis encourages/teases her about her anxiety for the first Morphin Trial. She thinks she needs to find Nika to get advice on her “studies” and Mathis suggests that she look in the teacher’s lounge, though cadets are not allowed in there.
The next day, Sage peers into the lounge and overhears Anubis Cruger talking to Nika about increasing security around the Academy, enacting a curfew and canceling offsite missions for some reason. She sees a large cat on the sofa sleeping next to Nika and then asks him to come help her with a “Library Emergency” and the matter is time sensitive. Nika agrees to come but to speak elsewhere in private, though he also insists that she not call Professor Yale a pet within his range of hearing after she asks if pets are allowed at the school.
Once at the Library, Nika casually drinks his coffee while Sage demands answers about her father. Nika insists she does so much more quietly and that maybe the redacted information she is looking for was done so she could be safe. Sage says she doesn’t need protection and wants the truth, which reminds Nika of a friend he knew and how much she is like him.
He insists that Sage focus on the first trial and to stop digging around for information about her father, as he would want her to succeed. Sage angrily says that her father didn’t even want her going to the Academy and lied about his past. Nika says it isn’t his place to get too involved but he insists that Rhianth is only looking out for Sage’s safety and he is upset that his old colleague is watching her grow up while he “sulks on his moon”. Sage wonders why Rhianth quit the Academy, but Nika wonders about that himself all the time and doesn’t have an answer. The bell rings and Sage races to get to Blue Campus for class.
Professor Billy Cranston is giving students a lesson on Spectracite that will be important for the upcoming Morphin Trial, how the Crystals act as conduits to attract and focus energy from the Grid. He notices that Sage is distracted, thinking about her father, and sternly addresses her by asking if his lessons are too dull for her. Sage panics but Lindy covers for her by stating that she spent all night studying and didn’t get much sleep. Billy insists that Sage study more responsibly as it could result in her failing the Trial and be forced to redo it by being held back a year. A Xybrian student named Kartyr bullies Sage, whispering that she could also be seen as deadweight and shipped back home. His classmate Maev next to him then punches him in the elbow for that cruel remark.
As the trio leave the campus classroom, Theo wonders what color the Spectracite will make them, thinking that Lindy would make a great Yellow Ranger. Sage had not even considered that idea, with Kartyr overhearing and mocking her, saying that she should not even be in the Academy if she doesn’t know and if she even cares about being a Power Ranger. This conversation begins to upset Lindy and Sage answers that she hoped for adventure as she thinks about The Knights of Stardust but also thinks to herself that protecting others for real is important too. Kartyr is stunned at what a foolish answer that is and Maev says that what they signed up for is not a game and Sage needs to take it seriously or someone will get hurt. This causes Lindy to run off and Theo feels he needs to explain something to Sage about Lindy when she wonders what upset her.
After hearing the story, Sage goes to their dorm and comforts Lindy, apologizing for not taking her role seriously enough and gives Lindy back her brother’s stuffed toy. Sage was told that Lindy’s entire family was slain in an attack on the lunar colony where she grew up, she was away at a camp after winning an engineering scholarship when it happened. Lindy has survivor’s guilt every day and she misses her family. Sage hugs Lindy, apologizes again and encourages her to keep going. She promises Lindy she will try harder for her sake as well as herself.
Sage leaves the dorm and decides to do a cram session on the observation deck, eating snacks to keep her energy up and learning that monsters do exist and that there are Power Ranger teams across the universe, wondering if any of those Rangers grew up alone like her. She has doubts that she can protect the universe if she doesn’t know anything. She then witnesses Tula in a cloak sneaking around, remembering that Mathis said she seemed distracted lately for some reason.
Tired of people keeping secrets from her, Sage decides to investigate by tailing Tula, finding her breaking open an air vent and using it as an access point to an unseen area of the Academy. Sage almost gets caught, but manages to hide behind a pillar before she is spotted and witnesses Tula trying to hack open a door panel to a closed Campus. The lock does not open and Tula frustratingly wants to know what is inside but decides to leave. Sage tries the lock after Tula leaves and it responds to her, opening the door. She enters the abandoned Campus and pulls a tarp off to reveal a tube that contains what appears to be her head floating in it. This scares Sage and she flees in terror as a shadowy figure next to the doorway observes her departure.
Upon exiting, she processes that she just found a Green Campus that doesn’t exist anywhere on the school tours or maps and wonders what is going on. She is then startled by Tula, who wonders why she is out so late. Sage says that she was studying, to which Tula insists that she do so in the Library as there is a curfew in place and next time she will have to report her. Sage fires back that Tula should report herself as she is out late as well, to which she responds that the young shepherd doesn’t know everything about the ins and outs of the Academy and to stop pretending that she does. Sage yells that she would know more if people would stop lying to her and keeping secrets. Tula gaslights Sage by stating she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, that Sage must be delusional from lack of sleep, insisting that she returns to her dorm room and rest.
Sage lies awake in her bunk bed stressing about all that has happened: the lies and secrets including her own about her fake backstory, her father, feelings of homesickness, Tula “being weird”, her “space magic” episodes when dreaming and the strange hidden Campus. She cries because she cannot speak of any of that with anyone and that makes her feel more alone than ever. She also is upset that she didn’t study at all after her little investigation.
Sage sleeps in and almost misses breakfast until Lindy wakes her up. Lindy and Theo are concerned since Sage fell asleep in the showers and ask if she has been sleeping well since the first Trial is in two days. Sage freaks out but Lindy decides an intervention is needed, taking her to the library after breakfast for tutoring. She gives Sage the rundown of what to expect in the first trial, which is an exercise in navigating and survival. Cadets are dropped off on a moon and must head towards the location of the Bandorian Monks, where they will locate their Spectracite which will “call” to them and once it is found, the crystal will choose a color they will become. Theo jokes that it basically is a midterm exam with life or death stakes attached.
Sage asks “Professor Lindy” what to expect from the crystal, how does it know what color they should be and what happens if she is not worthy, to which Lindy answers that Sage will not know her worthiness until she tries, the crystals link the cadets to the wondrous power of the Morphin Grid, a force of life that binds everyone and if a Spectracite Crystal does not react, then Cadets can retake the Trial next year.
Nika arrives with snacks for the study group and Sage tells him she has learned about Dark Specter, the Morphin Masters and why the Library that he works in is named after Professor Jen Scotts. She also sarcastically remarks that she “could die of humiliation on a remote moon”. Nika asks what her “Aunt Nugget” would think about what she has learned, with Sage thinking that (her father) would be more concerned about her getting into trouble. She thanks him for the “snacks”, when she is actually thanking Nika for keeping the truth about her and her father a secret from everyone. Her thoughts consider questions of why her father didn’t tell her about why he quit the Academy but she dispels those thoughts and decides to move forward by focusing on her future, asking Lindy to review the lesson on the Bandorian Monks.
The next day, Lindy exits the Flight Simulator with Sage and both managed to do great working as a team. Sage notices Tula walking by and is a little unnerved that she seems to be ignoring her and worries for a second that she found out she followed her to the Green Campus. She is snapped back to reality from spacing out by Lindy and reassures her that she is fine. Theo exits the Simulator and asks the girls if they are ready for the big day tomorrow, with Lindy saying she still has to run calculations and simulations beforehand and is not ready. Sage reminds her “professor” what she said last night, that they will not know for sure until they try. Theo is pumped for tomorrow as they get to go camping, live outside in the rough and do rock climbing, believing it will be awesome.
The kids head to the Nexus Hall, where Professor Scotts gives a lecture about the coming Trial, stressing to the cadets that this is their first real mission with real world consequences and there are no safety nets. Theo’s earlier hype for the big day is completely extinguished and believes this could be a terrible day.
Jen continues by stating today is the culmination of the training that the cadets have done throughout the first year, their first bold step towards becoming Power Rangers. Kartyr bullies Lindy during the lecture, hoping that there’s no height requirement to be able to do the Trial. Sage defends Lindy by calling Kartyr a plasma worm, which Maev makes fun of because the worms are not even real, only for herself to be bullied by him. Lindy isn’t even phased by his attempts to make her feel bad because he is probably salty about her, Theo and Sage getting the highest scores in the flight simulator. Sage thinks about how her father once told her that she could do anything even if it scared her and hopes he was right. Jen finishes her lecture by encouraging the cadets to use teamwork, as each individual student has skills that should be brought to the mission and to remember that when they face the challenges of the Trial.
As the night before the first Trial falls, the cadets begin packing up for the trip in their dorms. Theo climbs above the bunk beds with a marker in hand to participate in a tradition of all cadets who came before them: writing their names on the ceiling for good luck. Sage sees her father’s name along with those of his dorm classmates and climbs up to sign her name next to his, knowing that even if he doesn’t approve of her decision to be at Ranger Academy, she hopes to make him proud of her anyway.
Appearing[]
Students:
| Red Junior Ranger | Tula |
| Yellow Junior Ranger | Mathis |
Faculty:
Locations:
Covers[]
Reprints[]
- Ranger Academy Volume One
Errors[]
- To be added
Notes[]
- Aside from Rhianth and Nika, the cadet names shown on the ceiling are: Thanth, Eleen, Afiaya, Alyn, Zilan and Yikiki.
References[]
Footnotes[]
