Fanfic / Twice Chosen

Twice Chosen is a fanfic by Marcus S Lazarus between The Hunger Games and Power Rangers (2017).

In the midst of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss, Peeta, Glimmer, "Foxface", Thresh and Rue find themselves in a hidden cavern where they uncover a set of coins. Discovering Alpha 5 and Zordon, the Tributes must now become the Power Rangers... provided they don't kill each other first.

The fic can be found here and here.

Tropes

• Abusive Parents: More emotional abuse as Peeta notes his mother's reaction to his being Reaped was that District Twelve had a shot at someone winning... and she wasn't talking about him.
• Actor Allusion: Averted. The author has stated at no point will anyone comment on Rita looking like Effie despite both characters being played on film by Elizabeth Banks.
• Adaptation Deviation: It's Yellow Ranger Peeta who's the first to morph and in different circumstances than the film.
• Adaptational Explanation: Alpha explains the existence of the Sabretooth Tiger and Mastadon Zords by how the original dinosaur-themed ones were damaged and he had to reconfigure them for new creatures.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: The movie Zordon had a sharper temper and was also planning to use the Rangers morphing to regain his physical body. So far, this Zordon, while still somewhat overbearing, seems more open to aiding the Tributes and closer to the TV show version (although he still hopes to regain his body when the team manage to morph for the first time).
• And Then What?: Invoked by Clove who, like other victors of the Games, is struck by how she was so focused on simply surviving that she never considered what the aftermath of winning would be.
• Ascended Extra:
  • "Foxface" (whose real name has never been identified in the books or movies), Thresh, and Glimmer avoid their canon deaths and become Power Rangers.
  • Likewise, Rue gets more focus due to accompanying the Tributes who would become the Power Rangers, saving her from her death in the source material.
• Behemoth Battle:
  • The Battle of District Eleven pits Goldar against the Zords and then the Megazord.
  • Later on, Katniss and Glimmer use their zords to confront the Green Dragonzord.
• Bitch Slap: As in canon, Rita is literally slapped into space by the Megazord after Goldar's defeat.
• Brutish Character, Brutish Weapon: Thresh wields the Power Axe, which can transform into a gun.
• Captain Ethnic: In-Universe as Thresh openly complains on why he's the Black Ranger, with Katniss assuring him it's just a coincidence.
• Canon Welding: Chapter 31 looks at how Lord Zedd and the Morphin Masters fit in with the continuity of the film.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: As in the film, the Rangers are woefully outmatched in their first go-around against Rita.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Despite Glimmer being the most skilled fighter of the Rangers, at one point during training she attempts to strike the holographic Putties' pressure points (which they don't have). Katniss notes that she did something similar by reaching for her bow when practicing hand-to-hand combat.
• Death Faked for You: Done by accident. Alpha simply disabled the trackers, not realizing that this means the Games managers would assume the Tributes died somehow. They realize if they try to go back to the Games, it would only be a matter of time before the Capital finds the ship, and none of them want that tech falling into Snow's hands.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: After a few days, Glimmer starts to open up to the other Rangers, offering Katniss some training tips and talking to the rest about the Career pack dynamics. When Rue is seemingly killed, Glimmer admits that, while she was basically just tolerating some of the other Tributes, she liked the young girl.
• Eye Scream: During the recap, the Rangers see Cato take a burning branch to his eye while killing the girl from District Eight.
• Fallen Hero: Lord Zedd is revealed to have once been a Morphin Master, essentially chosen to represent all the Green Rangers in existence, but he was corrupted by the influence of Master Vile and Dark Specter and turned against the other Masters.

• Friend of Masked Self: After Rita's defeat, the Rangers make plans to stage a broadcast that suggests the lost Tributes were rescued by the Rangers rather than reveal that they are the Rangers, such as showing the six Tributes in front of the moving Zords (actually being controlled remotely by Alpha).
• Fusion Fic: Katniss, Peeta, Glimmer, "Foxface", and Thresh discover the Power Coins and are chosen to become the Power Rangers.
• Hidden Depths: The Tributes are all surprised when the arrogant Clove, having just bragged about her victory, is subdued when admitting she wants to spend her victory building a garden in memory of her fallen partner.
• Hold the Line: As in canon, at one point the Rangers gather the five Zords in a line to try and protect the Zeo Crystal from Goldar.
• Humanoid Aliens: Discussed with the Rangers, particularly Liv, finding it odd the ship is designed for people like them. Alpha explains that the Zeo Crystal influences the evolution of specific worlds to ensure various species basically share a humanoid appearance.
• Inevitable Mutual Betrayal: Glimmer and Clove both openly acknowledge this is always what the Careers know will happen after they take out the "weaker" Tributes.
• Internal Reveal: The true identity of the new Green Ranger is only revealed to the other Rangers in Chapter 30.
• It's All About Me: Gale increasingly defines the Games and the Capitol by how they have hurt him by apparently killing Katniss, even though at this point her death would have just been part of the Games with no deeply personal motivation behind it. When he discovers Katniss is the Red Ranger, he accuses her of "betraying" him for opposing his attacks on the Capitol, which have threatened the lives of innocent people.
• It's All My Fault: Prim blames herself for Katniss' apparent death even if she isn't responsible for her name being Reaped.
• Jack of All Trades: Liv notes that she didn't really fit in back in District Five because, while she was smart, she didn't have a specific interest, learning enough to expand her knowledge on a certain topic and then moving on to the next hobby rather than picking anything specific.
• Morality Pet: Rue loosely fits into this as the youngest of the group and the only non-Ranger; Glimmer explicitly notes that Rue was the first one she genuinely liked.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Glimmer basically has this when she finally confesses to the rest of the team that she feels guilty over the three tributes she killed in the opening bloodbath, as she spent so many years training for the Games and yet only killed kids who never wanted to be there and couldn't have put up a real fight against her if they'd tried.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Katniss goes outside the ship to hunt, Zordon gives her a red hood and mask to protect her identity which Zordon identifies as the garb of the Ninjetti.
  • Gale is shocked to discover that Katniss is the Red Ranger in a manner similar to Trent finding out Kira is the Yellow Dino Ranger in "Truth and Consequences". Unlike Trent though, Gale doubles down by accusing Katniss of betraying him.
• Named by the Adaptation: "Foxface" is finally identified as Olivia, but she observes that she prefers to be known as Liv (as in "Livewire").
• Near-Villain Victory: As in the original film, Rita has a chance to kill all of the Rangers after killing Rue, but whereas she just left them in the belief that she had already won here she did intend to kill them and was only stopped because Thresh managed to throw off her concentration by shooting her.
• Point of Divergence: With Katniss and Peeta out of the running, the winner of the 74th Hunger Games is Clove.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Invoked by Snow as, rather than dismiss what seem to be minor reports of gold thefts, he wants them investigated quickly as even the slightest affront to his "order" can lead to larger resistance down the road.
  • Likewise, President Coin's dislike of the Capitol doesn't extend so far that she's comfortable letting the new Green Ranger mount his own campaign of destruction, as that would make it harder for her people to rebuild society afterwards.
• Raised by Grandparents: Thresh notes that he and his sister were raised by their grandmother, leaving him concerned about how she will react to his apparent death.
• Reality Warper: As in the original film, the team initially coming together creates a "rift" into the Morphing Grid which is used to bring someone back to life, in this case used to resurrect Rue.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: After Rita's defeat, Zordon agrees that the former Tributes can act against Panem's current government despite Rangers typically not getting involved in local politics as he recognizes that the current society is too corrupt to continue. However, he insists that the Rangers should not use the Zords to attack regular Peacekeepers, and the Rangers are also forbidden to take power themselves if they succeed.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Glimmer tries this after the group's first conversation with Zordon, but Katniss points out that going back is only going to make things worse.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: Since Zedd became evil, he has been trapped in another dimension, but Zordon muses that while Zedd's body is almost certainly dead by now, his power as a former Morphin Master could have allowed some part of him to survive, particularly with his influence over Rita's corrupted Green coin as a tether to this universe.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Katniss confronts Rita directly after morphing, Rita starts asking why Katniss is defending a culture that would condone something like the Hunger Games, but Katniss counters that a corrupt government doesn't mean that the common people deserve what Rita intends to do to them.
• Skewed Priorities: When Alpha mentions he's disabled the trackers, Glimmer is annoyed people will assume the Tributes died "off-screen" which "Foxface" and Katniss find astounding considering they're in an alien starship.
• Spanner in the Works: When the Rangers are preparing to declare their opposition to Panem's current government, District Thirteen begins its own campaign against the Capitol by detonating bombs in various other Districts. Before the Rangers can properly respond to that, they face another threat in the form of the new Green Ranger, even before they learn that the new Ranger is Gale having received a power boost from Lord Zedd.
• Spared by the Adaptation: The Tributes coming across the Power Coins and the ship containing Alpha and Zordon leads to Glimmer, Thresh, "Foxface", Rue and Clove avoiding the events that killed them in the source material.
• Survivor Guilt: Prim blames herself for Katniss' apparent death in the Games after her sister volunteered in her place.
• Tagalong Kid: Alpha openly calls Rue this as there are only five Power Coins.
• Teen Genius: Liv establishes herself as this, asking various insightful questions regarding alien technology and the nature of the Zeo Crystal. It's noted that she was the smartest in the group home where she lived in District Five.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Considering that before they found the coins, the Tributes were in a competition to kill each other, this should go without saying. Peeta in particular points out to Katniss early on that the Tributes are too used to fighting alone for their Games training and thus having to trust others for teamwork goes against all they've been taught.
  • On a wider scale, Katniss is uncomfortable when President Coin of District Thirteen contacts her in her Zord to offer an alliance after Thirteen's opening attacks caused significant collateral damage. Ultimately, Katniss recognizes that the Rangers will need allies and offers to coordinate with Thirteen in the future so long as more care is taken to avoid civilian casualties.
• Wham Episode: Chapter 26 has Gale finding the green coin, and when he picks it up, he hears the voice of Zedd making him an offer...
• You Can't Go Home Again: Explicitly comes up for the first time when Glimmer asks for Katniss's help in sneaking into District One to steal a few personal items from her room in her parents' house, as Glimmer recognizes that she can't just go back home even after Rita is defeated.

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