Gold and Red... (Charles)

Jack woke from a deep... dreamless sleep, to his darkened dorm room. He stared at the ceiling for a moment. It was a rather... boring ceiling... not much to it. Just basic white with nothing going on beyond that. Man, this ceiling needed more ambition. Where ya gunna do with your life ceiling? What are your goals where are ya headen? Is this he year you finally settle down and marry Cindy, or are you going to fight getting that desk job your dad always wanted for you some more?... It's time to face facts ceiling... your life is average!...

Dear god what was Jack smoking... He looked over to his alarm clock and saw the time.... 12:30 am... he had gone to sleep only two hours ago and already he felt wide awake. He tossed and turned trying to find a spot where he could feel comfortable enough to fall back asleep, however it just didn't come to him... no matter how he oriented himself there was no way he could fall back into his slumber...

"Aaaaaaah... Why can't I sleep..." Jack asked the darkness... he half expected Golem to answer him but to his surprise all was silent... maybe Golem was sleeping? Do Persona do that?.. eh... At least one of him was getting sleep. Maybe Golem could cover for him tomorrow... that would be nice.

...

With a sigh of frustration Jack got out of bed and put on a shirt and coat... if he was gunna be awake he might as well do some work in the Featherman base while he was up. A vile monster had infiltrated the base a few nights ago and had been coming back every night sense. This was the perfect opportunity to chase it out with his MegaZord... (Chase the possum that had been living in the shed out with a broom)

As Jack left the dorms and approached his shed... He noticed someone sitting in front of the door... Was that... Charles?... What was he?... Oh... Probably here to talk down to Jack again. Figures. Whelp! Might as well get this over with. Jack would approach Charles, quietly... once in front of him Jack would say,"If you stay out here all night you'll catch a cold... Wait... do Robots catch colds?"

Charles waited and waited. Hours flew by as he sat on his own, in the cool breeze of the night, rewinding everything that went on that day on and on... The identity of the girl was still a mystery, as well as his own true identity. That's right, he didn't even know who he was anymore. He never would've even bothered with such an 'irrelevant' question before, so why did it mean so much all of a sudden?

----------------

It was around 12:30 am that he heard footsteps coming his way. It was Jack. At that time though? He wasn't aware of Jack's daily routine... Perhaps this guy used to do something like this each day, who knew. Anyhow, the important thing was to apologise to him. He really acted rude towards Jack, and all because of an impulse that somehow manifested through or into that chilling apparition he faced during his awakening.

"Jack..." Charles remained seated. Looking at Jack from above wasn't going to solve the problem, so, even though it pained him a teeny tiny bit, he had to remain down. His jacket was unbuttoned and his cap and scarf were both missing, probably somewhere around the Academy. Heh, what a mess he must've looked like. "I just wanted to apologize." He would stop at that statement and wait for Jack's reply. That was the smartest, no, the only thing he figured would've been right to do at that time.

Huh... Apologize? To be honest Jack hadn't seen this coming, and he honestly didn't expect Charles to apologize at all. The way he had been treating Jack was.... disconcerting to say the least. Jack had begun to think Charles didn't want to associate with him any longer. Yet here he was, waiting outside his shack in the middle of the night. Jack sighed... People claimed he was weird, yet in his opinion Charles took the weird cake. Without another word Jack sat down next to Charles, leaning his back against the shed.

"Well... not to sound like a jerk but you do have a bit to apologize for. To be fair you have been treating me like shit, just for wanting to help you." Jack would keep his eyes on the stares. Charles would have to set the pace of the conversation.

Charles was confused when he heard Jack's response. He expected him to say it was all right, yet the only thing Jack did was kind of make it even worse. Humans were odd, but compassionate; cruel yet  forgiving... There was no way for certain to know what exactly they are thinking at times.

This was one of those times. Although Jack said what he said, the tone of his voice indicated he wasn't angry, which just further messed with Charles's mind.

"..."

Oh, that's right, he has a Persona now... Somehow, it didn't feel as Charles expected it. He finally got what he wanted, but he wasn't happy... Instead, he felt heavy and mopish. Maybe it was because of Jack, or perhaps because of what happened earlier... This sorry state he found himself in made it difficult to find the right answer to Jack's statement, but he had to say something...

"I am... sorry."

... To be fair that was probably the best Jack was going to get out of him... and Jack would take what he could get. He let out a light chuckle and sighed contentedly. Charles was a robot... and Jack was human, that's just how things were. There was a fundamental difference in how the two thought and viewed the world. Jack saw the world ad a web of interlocking people that all had personalities and quirks. Gray areas that made them human. He assumed Charles saw his world as a collection of ones and zeros... On and off... Yes and No... Black and White. So it would stand to reason that he would have a bit of trouble with complicated gray areas like Humans. Jack smiled at that thought and turned his head to face Charles.

"And I forgive you. I feel as if I should apologize to... I know I can be really head strong and but my nose in where it doesn't belong... So for that, I'm sorry Ranger Gold." Jack sighed and rested his head against the shack once more and looked back up at the stars."What... what made you so mad about me awakening?" Jack honestly just wanted to know what offended Charles so much. His awakening was a good thing... right?

So Jack forgave him, huh... "Thank you." Charles added on to Jack's response, closing his eyes. Although, no matter how hard he tried, he still could not completely grasp his own feelings that took over him earlier that day. The girl said it was somehow connected to that shady thing that appeared in his hall and, honestly, he felt like a huge burden had been weighed off his heart after they defeated the thing. Then there came his Persona, which made him grievous once again instead of accomplished as he thought it would... It was all too much, he just couldn't answer.

"My apologies..." He whispered, refering to Jack's question. "But I am not sure of that myself... Anger, fear, weakness... I cannot yet even comprehend such emotions the same as you can." He noticed the clear light of the stars above reflecting in Jack's eyes as he turned to him. "..." It reminded him of something, but he wasn't sure what. It was beautiful though... "The sky is clear tonight." He turned his eyes towards the stars, streching out his body up instead of resting it against the wall. "That is unusual above such a populated city..." Closing his eyes once again, Charles bent over.

"I... have awakened too."

Jack would listen to Charles's explanation. Yeah... Guess Jack was right. Emotions must be hard on Charles... Jack had dabbled in computer programming and robotics in his studies so he knew the pitfalls of trying to create a true AI. Most even thought it was impossible to do, at least for the next few decades. The technology needed to truly create a  thinking feeling artificial mind was just beginning to take shape. To create something now that would even begin to approach what Charles was would take a team of the worlds greatest computer programmers years to complete, and even then, the most advanced AI currently in existence have minds similar to that of infants. To have one that could emulate a high school age adolescent so perfectly was... baffling. There were bound to be glitches.. hick ups... Jack couldn't and wouldn't hold that against him. He would chuckle as Charles brought up the stars.,"Yeah... Breath taking aren't they?"

Wait... What?

"You what? When? How? I... That's amazing!" Jack could't help but pat Charles on the shoulder and laugh a little to loudly,"Well don't just sit there give me the details? What's he like?"

"My Persona?" Charles wondered what he meant. Personas were tools to be used, the psyche of the user taken shape, nothing more. "It has an affinity for the element of fire, but is weak against electricity. Its power is limited to attacking and debilitating the enemies." He said with a indifferent voice, turning once again to Jack.

"It happened just now." Charles added. "But not even I am sure what exactly happened."

Jack couldn't help but laugh slightly at Charles. His description of his persona was almost exactly what Jack expected from him calculated, scientific, and very formal. Jack's slight laugh would slowly grow when Charles mentioned how recently he had gotten his persona, talk about convenient eh? Ether way that took one mystery off the growing pile of enigmas that seemed to be fallowing Jack around, but only truly served to add three or four more to the mix. Where had he gotten his persona and why now of all times?

"Well fair is fair... I guess I should tell you about mine. His name is Golem and he can be a pain sometimes. Like to run his mouth all the time and-.... Why yes I am talking about you and no I'm not going to mention how much you help me train..." Jack would appear to be answering a second voice... Golem's. Jack had these conversations with himself quite often... He just assumed it came with the whole Persona Package."Ether way, do you remember anything about your past now?"

Hmm. "So you can speak to your Persona?" It was something Charles was not aware of, even so that he didn't believe it when Jack did the same thing earlier. Then... could he have a conversation with his Persona as well? Perhaps it held some answers... He closed his eyes and focused on it.

"..."

No response, instead, he even felt some hostility from it... What was up with that? Anyhow, Jack continued with his talk, flicking Charles back to reality. "Excuse me, I dozed off for a moment. My Persona... it remains silent..." He would reply, frowning at the question posed at him, but not from anger. "Unforunately, I do not..." The image of the girl popped up in his mind. She definitely knew something. From what she said, she had been keeping his Persona away from him on his order... She probably never would've given it to him if that situation hadn't happened.

"Well I knew I was boring but that's taken it a bit far don't ya think? Ya didn't have to fall asleep on me," Jack chuckled slightly and listened to what Charles had to say about his persona...His is silent? Huh... Jack didn't know if he should be envious of Charles or grateful that Golem had a voice. Yeah Golem could get on his nerves every now and then but he still agreed with everything Golem said and greatly valued his input. You truly are your own best company after all. Though... that didn't stop him from worrying about what that meant for Charles relationship with his persona...

"Nothing huh? Well that figures. Would have been to easy if you just remembered everything once you awakened," Jack sighed and add the "Charles past" mystery back on to the pile.,"Well, at least you got step one done... Hey Charles, I gatta ask... Now that... that you got your persona... You wont be needing the Featherman Rangers huh... G-Guess you'll be turning in that gold suit I G-gave you huh?" Jack had carried this worry... He knew that once Charles got his persona back he wouldn't need the rangers or Jack. This hurt... Jack had honestly wanted to be Charles' friend... Charles could break things off with Jack now if he wished.

Charles closely followed what Jack was saying. It was curious, as the great and unshakeable red ranger was actually stuttering. But he had no real reason to worry. Charles wasn't gonna go anywhere.

"No, that won't do." He said, leaning his right elbow against his leg and resting his head upon the opened fist., gazing in the distance. "I have realized my own weaknesses through these past few days. Furthermore, the frailty of my own body worries me." His eyes glanced over his left arm and right leg as he turned his head over to look at Jack. He also remembered all the times he sucumbed to the static. "So I will be staying."

Jack smiled gently at Charles' words, heh... That's right, why would he leave? This was just the start. If things progressed from here they way he thought they would they would need to stick together as much as they could to survive. There wasn't much Charles could do on his own with that bum arm and leg, and Jack needed every friend he could get for the up coming battles. Jack smiled at his good fortune, he was lucky to have found such loyal friends.

"In light of new information... I've been thinking of renaming the Rangers... Now that we all have our powers... I was thinking... True Self Sentai Personanger... What do you think, Ranger Gold?"

"You are the leader." Charles whispered. The new name sounded overly flashy and weird, but he didn't really care. They were merely a team which Jack put together and gave them spandex suits for whatever reason. It wasn't like they were gonna use that name ever in public, right?

Charles would shrug afterwards, getting up on his feet. He remembered he had left his scarf and cap somewhere around here. It would've been bad news if anyone sees him like this. "Jack," He turned down towards Jack. "I require my daily attire, which I seem to have lost earlier. I should go find it now." Charles looked up towards the sky and closed his eyes. He had done what he had to, which was making up with Jack. Besides, it was getting late, so it wouldn't be good if they were spotted out of their beds. Even worse for Charles, as he shouldn't have even been at the school after hours.

"It was nice talking to you." He would add, turning away, if Jack chose not to help and perhaps strike up another conversation. Charles would leave the scene in that case.

Otherwise, he would accept Jack's help and remain at the scene.

OH! Yeah that reminded Jack that he had come out here to take care of that possum! Maybe he could help Charles find his scarf and other while he was here. Jack stood and dusted off his pants before turning to his shack,"Oh do you think you could have left them in here?" Jack asked before he slowly opened the door to his shack... huh... that's funny... he didn't remember leaving a broken, shattered, and utterly decimated table where he normally kept his prized card table-OH MY GOD! NOOOOOO! That table had been a gift from the very morphing grid once he finally became a ranger! (He found it next to a dumpster and he thought it looked nice...)

"Wh-WHo... Who did... Who did this!? Wait..." Jack's eyes narrowed slightly as he grabbed his boken from the wall and brandished it heroicly,"The Possum.... Stand back Ranger Gold! We have been invaded...."