 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 #5 is the fifth issue of the Boom! Studios comic book series, Ranger Academy.
Synopsis[]
Sage finally gets what she wants and successfully morphs, but the results are unexpected, and she harbors a taboo secret from her friends and the rest of the Academy!
Meanwhile, Sage is feeling low with Parent Weekend approaching, and in a sparring session with Tula, makes a shocking confession that Tula never saw coming...[1]
Plot[]
Continuing the story a few hours later that same day, the cadets are back at the Academy as Kartyr is hauled away in a stretcher by paramedics to the infirmary. Sage believes that she not only failed the Morphin Trial, she is uncomfortable with the fact she has a “cursed” Spectracite and brought it to the Academy. She worries how she can fix this, walking away from Theo who is talking to his fellow cadets about the Trial while Lindy is still sulking about not being able to morph. Sage cries and runs off just as Mathis and Tula come to greet her and ask how the Trial went. Nika notices her reaction as she runs off, Sage thinks that maybe she failed because the problem is herself.
She goes to hide in the lake caverns underneath the school and has a good cry, saying maybe she should just hide here forever. Nika surprises her by knowing exactly where she would be, saying she is so much like her father. He reveals that he and his classmates were the first to discover the caves and regularly swam in the lake. Rhianth was not always a stick in the mud, he had good friends who cared about him and supported him.
Sage remembers seeing Nika’s signature next to her father’s on the ceiling of her dorm and asks him if he passed the first Morphin Trial, to which Nika says he passed on the first try but Rhianth and Zilan failed because they got to the Zeo Chamber too late as the door closed on them but they passed on the second try. Zilan was responsible for them arriving late as he found a nest of lizard eggs and insisted on fighting a pair of fire hawks. As for Rihanth, Nika thinks that story should be told to Sage directly from him when he’s ready. Sage realizes that if Nika passed his Trial then he should be a Power Ranger, asking why he is not a Ranger.
Nika says that he made his choice and she always has a choice, but Sage feels that she doesn’t have a choice, she isn’t meant to be a Power Ranger. Nika asks what would make her think that way, with her believing that there is nothing special about her and she keeps messing up. Nika says it can be hard for anyone to see what is special about themselves, but Tula and Mathis would not have let her stow away on their shuttle if they didn’t see something special in her. Sage asks if what makes her special is evil, which Nika finds unlikely and asks what she really thinks. Sage doesn’t know what to think, Nika says all that she can do now is make her next choice, just go one step at a time. Sage asks if that is advice her father gave him, but Nika doesn’t know what Rhianth would say as he didn’t trust his instincts or see the choices in front of him. Sage asks how that worked out for him and Nika says she already knows the answer to that: he shut himself off from everyone and is on his sad little moon, hating Ranger Academy. Nika encourages her to get up and check on Kartyr instead of feeling sorry for herself. Sage takes his hand and goes with him.
At the Infirmary, Maev is showing Kartyr her Power Coin and describing what it was like to morph for the first time. She describes it as having sparks under her skin, but in a good way. Kartyr is happy for her and congratulates her, Maev then hugs Kartyr, just relieved that he is alright, with Kartyr feeling a bit uncomfortable as he isn’t alright about lying how he received his injuries to Maev. but thanks his friend for her concern. Sage enters and Kartyr is glad she is fine and not acting weird when she goes to Trial Remediation Classes. Sage pauses upon that remark, as she didn’t know anything about that.
In her dorm later that evening, Sage is annoyed that she has to take special classes just to be eligible to morph when she had already done it, albeit “incorrectly”. Theo pulls out his phone to take a selfie with his Power Coin, eager to show his mom he is now a Black Ranger. Sage thinks to herself that she is glad she doesn’t have to speak to her father to tell him how bad she screwed up while telling Theo that his mom will love the photo. She asks if he is going to leave them now and go to Black Campus now that he can morph, but he reassures Sage that they are sticking together as the school year is not over yet, he is still a First Year.
Lindy exits the shower and says that is only for now Theo will be with them, but Theo refuses to believe that they will be separated, the girls have time to catch up and he will not leave them behind. Kartyr and Meav enter the dorm with a large bowl of cookies that they snuck out of the cafeteria as “cookies fix everything”. They all have fun doing a sleepover, with Maev telling a story about a cadet who brought a lizard home in their bag, this freaks Theo out as he does not want to hear about lizards. Sage thinks that she could never have made it without her friends, but later she feels so tired and cannot sleep as she looks at the two shards of Spectracite she has: one clear, one from her Power Coin shining green. She thinks that the worst part about morphing is that it felt right, she felt complete, wondering what is wrong with her. She speculates that either it was from sneaking around after Tula or maybe she is just broken inside.
The next day, Sage, Lindy and Kartyr are in Pink Campus at the Guidance Office to speak with the counselor, a female Sirian. Sage thinks that the remediation classes would be fine if she didn’t pretend to be what she is perceived as. The counselor encourages the cadets to speak, asking who wants to talk first. Sage feels she doesn’t need counseling, she is just new and needs to work harder in school. The counselor says that while the guidance sessions are optional, the faculty insists that cadets who need extra help give it a try as they can speak with peers who have had similar insecurities and doubts. Lindy asks how will they know if they have the same problems, to which the counselor says they simply open their hearts to the Grid and it will give them what they need, with Sage whispering to Lindy that what the counselor says sounds fake.
Unfortunately, since Sirians have exceptional hearing, the counselor decides if Sage doesn’t believe her, then she will volunteer first. She will enter the room and then the Spectra-Tube will connect to the Grid and find a Power Ranger from any point in time and space who might understand her problems and be able to help.
Sage has doubts that this will work, thinking that the Power Ranger will just tell her to go back home or she is cursed. She tells the Grid to do its worst and show someone who will prove she’s a failure, only to be met by her father. Rhianth is unable to communicate with her despite Sage’s pleas as he says that Nika was right and something is interfering with Ranger Academy’s communications as the feed cuts out. Sage shouts out for her father to come back and is distraught not knowing what happened to him, with the counselor coming in to see what happened. Sage says nothing happened and she told her she can’t do anything right here. The counselor comforts her and says it is alright, they can try again at another time and decides to end the sessions for the day.
The next day at the cafeteria, Sage wondered where her father was, as he clearly wasn’t home on Vaela, which she found odd because he never left the moon for anything. She even wondered if what she saw was either a hallucination or she is slowly going mad. Tula slams down her lunch tray and startles Sage, telling her that she needs to stop acting like this, Sage obviously needs help. Sage says if it is that obvious then why is she even trying, Tula says she helped her get to the Academy and she intends to help her stay. Sage thinks that Tula would not want to help if she knew what she was hiding. Tula says she has a guest pass to the Battle Matrix and expects Sage to meet her tomorrow at dawn..if she’s not scared. Sage angrily says she’s not scared, but then asks what a Battle Matrix even is.
After lunch, Sage continues her remediation classes at Red Campus with her friends, all of them except Kartyr (who is on a crutch) doing the rock climbing wall in P.E. Class in a competitive race to the top. Sage spaces out wondering why the Grid chose her father given he is not a Power Ranger, thinking her “cursed Spectracite” had something to do with it. Kartyr throws a dirty towel at her to snap her out of it, reminding her that being part of a team means paying attention to each other and to keep her head in the game. Sage climbs up dead last as the others beat her to the top, with a bummed Theo thanking her for letting them win and Maev encouraging her to beat Theo next time. Sage sees Lindy still depressed and realizes that Kartyr was right, she spent so much time inside her head that she neglected her friends when they needed her.
She asks Lindy if she is alright, with Lindy saying that she’s going to drop out of the Academy. Sage is shocked and tells her she can’t, now knowing that she really should have paid closer attention to her friends. Lindy thinks that the remedial classes will not help, wondering if she is wasting everyone’s time and might fail a second time. Sage thinks that if Lindy found out the truth that she can morph, she would never forgive her. Sage gives Lindy a pep talk about how she is the smartest person she knows and she will be great, then apologizes for not noticing how down she was. Lindy hugs her and decides to make a pact, both of them will tell each other the truth about when they are feeling bad. Sage awkwardly says that she would like that but knows that a promise is no good if one of the people making it is constantly lying to you.
At Dawn, a sleepy Sage walks over to the Battle Matrix entrance with Tula waiting for her. Sage says that this had better be good because she is out of the habit of getting up before sunrise. A laser scanner goes over the two of them, which freaks Sage out as she thinks the device is reading her mind and knows she is a liar, but Tula says it is just an identification scan, wondering what it would find that has her on edge. Tula then admits she was just teasing and introduces Sage to the Battle Matrix, a sophisticated multi dimensional simulator that operates on an A.I. engine identical to the one used in Alpha-67’s A.I.. Sage doesn’t understand anything that Tula just said, so she decides to show Sage what she means.
Tula tells the Battle Matrix computer to activate the “Goldar Simulation” and then morphs into her Red Junior Ranger suit. The environment changes into the football and track stadium of Angel Grove High with Goldar roaring in front of Tula. She readies her sword as Goldar lunges at her, but Sage runs towards her out of concern and throws her off as she was about to do a diving slash. She terminates the simulation and angrily asks why she was distracting her, only to be hugged by Sage who was worried that the “shiny monster” almost killed Tula. She reminds Sage that was just a simulation, but decides to go for something “more chill”, activating the Emotional Regulation subgroup of simulations with the “Calming Bubbles” program. Sage apologizes for messing up her battle, but says she looked cool before the Shiny Monster killed her. Tula encourages Sage to trust in herself so she can trust others when it matters.
Sage confides that she feels overwhelmed by all the new things she has experienced. Tula asks her how were things like when she was still on her moon with her father, she admits that they were great and didn’t realize how important they were until she left. Tula says that Parent Weekend is coming soon, maybe her father can visit her. Sage knows that would never happen, Tula already knows how Rhianth feels about her being at the Academy. Tula finds it weird that he hates Ranger Academy so much, but Sage chalks that up to her being his only child, but Tula wonders if she even is his biological daughter. Sage says of course she is his daughter and it doesn’t matter how a family is made, though she thinks to herself that she never asked how Rhianth became her father. Tula apologizes for the bad question, which has Sage suspicious, wondering why Tula seems so interested in her father, pondering if she knows something that she doesn’t.
Later at Black Campus, the professor says that tomorrow’s assignment is to draw up battle formations for a Goldar simulation that avoids long range fireball attacks. He insists that teamwork communication is crucial to winning this scenario and dismisses the class. Sage decides to raise Lindy’s spirits by asking to be her buddy at the Parents Weekend event, since she doesn’t have her parents and Sage’s father is unlikely to attend. She agrees and smiles while the others discuss the upcoming event, Kartyr says that his whole family is going to show up and anyone is free to borrow them as it is a stifling experience. As they continue discussing, Kartyr adds that some kids at the school have legendary Rangers as parents, with Lindy saying that some of them are those that they learned about in class. This makes Sage extremely nervous, wondering if they can sense something wrong with her. Lindy sees Sage is stressing and reassures her that everyone will be nice, but that isn’t what Sage is worried about.
At Dinner, Theo asks if anyone heard about the time he once won a free diving competition , which Maev annoyingly says yes. Theo brags that he is great at holding his breath, which Kartyr mumbles that he could have fooled him since he can’t shut up. Sage spends the entire time in a facade of fake smiling and feeling sick inside from lying so much, she is scared, as she doesn’t want to be kicked out of the Academy or lose her friends.
The next dawn, Sage comes across Mathis and Tula arguing, Mathis saying that Tula should know better and Sage “doesn’t deserve this”. Sage interrupts, asking what is going on, with Mathis saying they were just telling Tula how much they admire her as a moral compass and wishes Sage good luck with her training. Before they leave, Mathis barbs that considering the circumstances currently, Tula might want to make sure that she is allowed to bring a First Year into the Battle Matrix. Tula tells them that she has everything under control as they walk away. Sage asks what they were arguing about, with Tula trying to dismiss it as nothing, but Sage picked up the comment about not deserving something. Tula says it isn’t what she thinks, but this escalates Sage into an argument and she tries to cancel the “Putty Patrol” simulation demanding to know what is going on, only for Tula to fire back by asking what is wrong with her as she has acted weird since the First Trial ended.
Sage collapses to her knees and thinks how exhausting it is to keep hiding the truth and she is tired of being afraid, while Tula calms down and says she just wants to help. Sage opens up the palm of her hand to reveal her Green Power Coin to Tula, saying something is wrong with her and she doesn’t know what to do, begging Tula to help her as she breaks down in tears.
To be continued..…
Appearing[]
Students:
| Green Junior Ranger | Sage |
| Red Junior Ranger | Tula |
| Yellow Junior Ranger | Mathis, Maev |
| Black Junior Ranger | Theo |
Faculty:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Goldar (simulation)
Locations:
Covers[]
Reprints[]
- Ranger Academy Volume Two
Errors[]
- To be added
Notes[]
- When she reveals the Battle Matrix to Sage, Tula describes it as being “bigger on the inside”, this description is often used by people in the Doctor Who series for the TARDIS upon entering it.
- This issue continues the slow, lurking unknown danger that is going on at the Academy, as communications are being disrupted by something. This comes long after Doggie Cruger’s warning in the teacher’s lounge to Nika that the school needs to beef up security and keep the students safe by enacting a curfew and canceling offsite missions.
- The Junior Ranger suit has an unusual feature in its design, the mouthpiece moves as if the helmet bonds to a user’s actual mouth. This could be an artistic choice by the staff as a means to make the characters more expressive while in uniform.
- Tula mentioned the existence of an Alpha-67, meaning that the technology of wherever Ranger Academy takes place in is long after Hyperforce as they had the 55th generation model.
References[]
Footnotes[]
