Saffron Oliver Grace-Drake



Saffron Oliver Grace-Drake, or the Akra Queen, was the first Akra to bond with an unwilling human Host, and the leader of the Akra. She had the powers of fire manipulation, lightning manipulation, self-duplication, telepathy, time travel, energy claws, collapsible feathered wings, eternal youth, a hawk and Hawk Zord form, magic, Samurai symbol power over metal, and eyes that changed color according to her mood.

Character History
Saffron's host was born Arianna Wilson of Earth. She was a scientist, one of the first humans to enter the field of xenobiology and alien hybridization at age 44. She was the creator of the first symbiotic high-energy creature, nicknamed Vicki, and began expanding her idea. Eventually, she created what would later become the Akra: symbiotic creatures that attached to a Host's back and healed wounds, recycled excess body fat and calories into energy, and could even provide bursts of superpowers or enhanced skills. However, they were also sentient.

Upon the realization that they would have to serve others instead of being allowed to use their powers as they wished, the Akra turned on their creators, one latching on to Arianna Wilson and the other scientists in the room, draining their life forces to turn the dumpy forty-eight-year-old woman into a willowy eighteen-year-old girl. The others followed suit, and they all escaped the facility, taking a spaceship with time-traveling capabilities. Once the Akra were safely hidden, kidnapping new Hosts and training new Akra to take them over, the now-Queen decided to have her own adventure.

A String of Morpher
Now calling herself Saffron, the Akra entered the timestream in 1995, becoming a restored Green Ranger with the help of Ninjor. The others accepted her readily, even after the revelation that she, Tommy and David Trueheart were long-lost triplets. She lost her powers along with the rest by the end of the year, and watched them move on to Zeo. Shortly thereafter, Saffron found a crashed Triforian ship, and its lone occupant, Ari, handed over the Silver Ranger powers before dying. Unfortunately, a side effect of the new abilities was that Saffron begins developing a three-way-split personality: Saffron of Fury (Fire), Saffron of Love (Saffia), and Saffron of Wisdom (Rona), accompanied by eye color changes depending on her mood or persona. This lasted even after she gave up her powers.

Later, she was in the boat while Jason and Kimberly were scuba diving, and witnessed their kidnapping. Following them to Muiranthias, she was captured by the defeated Divatox and turned into the evil Sapphire, given the Aureolin morpher, and sent to attack her teammates. Her brother and friends managed to snap her out of it.

Later, she joined the new Turbo Rangers on the trip to space, gaining the Gold morpher from Andros. On special assignment on Onyx, she was captured and tortured (unsuccessfully) for information before Ecliptor arrived. He took her to the Alliance of Evil, and Rita Repulsa cursed her to be thrown randomly through time.

Quantum Leaps
Saffron arrived outside one of the Ninja Academies during Lothor's attack, and intervened to help a young Purple Fire Ranger against the space ninja. Impressed, Lothor gave her the morpher and turned her back into Sapphire, training her to use ninja fire powers as well. However, Sensei Watanabe had known this would happen thanks to a prophecy, and he tricked her into taking a jewel from the mysterious Omni Ranger that blasted her with good energy. She glimpsed a man in a black Time Force uniform shortly before being yanked away through time again.

The spell dumped Saffron in the middle of Mariner Bay, where the demons, sensing her power and potential for evil, attacked her. She was able to fend them off, and Lightspeed took her in. They happened to be testing a new morpher, the Electrum morpher, and thanks to a prophetic dream involving the Omni Ranger, Saffron was able to give them the coding sequence they needed to complete it. Naturally, she was given it. She again noticed the Time Force officer, realizing that he was following her.

Afterwards, Saffron was sucked into the Lost Galaxy, where she encountered an ancient warrioress known as the Scarlet Sentinel. She trained Saffron to suppress Sapphire fully, along with various other fighting skills. Then she was murdered by Captain Mutiny, living just long enough to grant Saffron her telepathic powers, which she later used to send visions and warnings back to herself.

It turned out that the jewel from Sensei Watanabe was a fragment of the same asteroid the Dino Rangers got their powers from, as Dr. O discovered when Saffron was thrown literally onto his doorstep by Rita's spell. She became the Pink Velociraptor Ranger, gaining the ability to use her fingers like claws, powerful enough to rip through metal. Now she was able to catch the Time Force officer, Alex Drake, and befriended him. The stay lasted right up until the middle of the final battle against Mesogog.

This time, Saffron ended up 3000 years in the past, where she became an emergency warrior in the battle for the Animarium after the Solar Hawk Zord chose her. Thanks to her telepathy, she was able to communicate with all of the Wild Zords. She was mortally wounded fighting Zen-Aku, but her Hawk Zord merged with her to save her, giving her the ability to transform into a hawk, real or a Zord. Thanks to an experiment by Alex, her next jump took her to Forever Red, where she helped fight on Earth while the Reds were on the Moon. She began to help the former Red Time Force Ranger to get over his broken relationship with Jen.

Saffron went to the Samurai, where Mentor Ji had a scroll written and signed by the Omni Ranger, prophesying her arrival and giving instructions for a Bronze morpher, giving her the element of Metal. Later, though, the other Samurai were about to be destroyed when Saffron intervened, taking out the Nighlok with a blast that also killed her instantly.

Resurrection
Saffron found herself in the Spirit World, where the three fallen Jungle Masters came upon her. They trained her in both their own spirits and her inner Cougar, then sent her back to fight Dai Shi. The process turned streaks of her hair silver-white, and stopped her aging at approximately nineteen. It took a little while for Alex to re-find her, and he was so relieved and glad to see her that he kissed her, prompting blushing and embarrassment for both.

Then Saffron was sucked into the Underworld, in the middle of an attempt to raise the Master. The monsters, recognizing that she could make a good host herself, captured her, but thanks to the Scarlet Sentinel's training, Saffron fought him off from within and fled, collapsing in the forest to be found by the wandering Udonna. Recognizing her potential, Udonna taught her magic, which Saffron took up instantly. She was able to create her own Black Lightning morpher this time, and using her new powers granted by the former Rita Repulsa, cast a counterspell just as she was being snapped through time. She blacked out.

When Saffron woke up, she was in Time Force HQ with Alex. He explained that the counterspell had worked, in a way; she could still jump through time, but now of her own free will. Then he presented her with two things: a blue Fermion morpher and a marriage proposal, both of which Saffron accepted on the spot. Another experiment based on a dream created the first template for what would be the Omni Morpher, which would allow her to multiply herself and use all of her morphers at once.

Moving back to the year 2007, Saffron's house was attacked by monsters searching for an artifact, leading her to join Overdrive as the green Sulfur Ranger as one "final hurrah." She was given the genetic power of collapsible wings, and around the time Mack found out he was an android, Saffron discovered she was pregnant.

<p class="MsoNormal">Almost nine months later, Saffron came home to discover the place ransacked and Emperor Gruumm's minions waiting for her. She fought, triggering labor, and the monsters took her to Gruumm's ship. As she gave birth, they took her twins, a boy and a girl, and then threw her out the airlock. Fortunately, she was found by a band of passing aliens very new to the quadrant, but with whom she was able to communicate thanks to her telepathy. Since Emperor Gruumm was after these aliens, SPD appointed her their protector and ambassador, and gave her the Cyan morpher. She was soon confronted by her children, magically aged and brainwashed by Gruumm, and found out the villain's plan. The twins, Joshua and Tiffany, were supposed to be born back in 2008 and join SPD as young recruits, being a major thorn in Gruumm's side, but he'd altered the past. Saffron was able to convince them to join her, and they undid everything, sending her home in time to have the twins again in a real hospital, with Alex arriving only just in time.

<p class="MsoNormal">A few years later, Saffron began having dreams again, this time of the plight of the RPM Rangers. She began working on using her powers for cross-dimensional travel, despite Alex's warnings of the dangers. Finally, she did it, though the trip knocked her unconscious. Upon awakening, she found herself in one of Venjix's factories, which she promptly destroyed, taking the prisoners back to Corinth City and earning herself the Copper morpher. Dr. K also helped her turn the Omni Morpher template into a reality, and she set up every dream and prophecy that had led her to this point - including rescuing a young Zordon and making him promise to recruit her younger self for the Green Ranger powers without telling her why.

Back on the Throne
<p class="MsoNormal">At this point, the Akra interrupted Saffron's life. Hourglass Facility was growing too effective, and they were losing Akra right and left. Angry, Saffron recruited her adult children and returned, soon launching an attack on the Hourglass Facility that utterly destroyed it. She personally hunted down the Hourglass Rangers one by one, sending recruits from time (such as Vella and Itassis) back to their own times and killing the others. She took a different track with the two escaped prisoners-turned-Rangers, though. She made Garfield several genuinely good offers, although he turned them down, and played multiple mind games on Xanthe. Eventually, she took the latter over several times, even using her to communicate with Akra trapped in Northside.

<p class="MsoNormal">However, this control proved to be the Queen's undoing. Xanthe took over all of the links connecting the Akra to their Queen, and then let them all blast directly into Saffron's mind, unprotected. The telepathic blast killed her (though the quickly-thrown axe to the chest courtesy of Kev didn't help).

Personality
<p class="MsoNormal">Saffron's personality was rarely stable, but always a facade of goodness overlaying ultimate, intense self-absorption. She was heroic, generous, kind, clever, intense and sweet, but she never let anyone else take the spotlight if she could help it.

Arsenal

 * Green Dragon Coin


 * Dragon Dagger


 * Dragonzord


 * Silver Zeo Power Staff


 * Power Bow


 * Obelisk Zord


 * Aureolin Turbo Morpher


 * Backburn Axe


 * Tank Zord


 * Gold Morpher


 * Comet Cue


 * Saucer Zord


 * Sentinel Sword


 * Sentinel Flyer


 * Rescue Morpher


 * Electrum Katana


 * Ultra Stellarzord


 * Fermion Morpher


 * Fermion Rifle


 * Growl Phone


 * Hawk Fans


 * Hawk Zord


 * Flame Ninja Morpher


 * Flame Thrower


 * Salamander Zord


 * Dino Morpher


 * Velociro Claws


 * Velociraptor Zord


 * Cyan Delta Morpher


 * Rocket Launcher


 * Delta Runner 8


 * Mystic Morpher


 * Lightning Magistaff (Lance Mode)


 * Thunderbird Zord


 * Overdrive Tracker


 * Meteor Hammer


 * Submarine Zord


 * Cougar Morpher


 * Jungle Morning Star


 * Cougar Zord


 * Aero Morpher


 * Crossbow


 * Rocket Zord


 * Omni Morpher


 * Omni Sword

Appearance
<p class="MsoNormal">As Arianna Wilson, she was a plain, rather dumpy brunette with pale skin and watery blue eyes. As Saffron, she was fair-skinned, with silky brown hair later streaked with silver, ageless color-changing eyes and yes, curves in all the right places.

Trivia

 * The Queen was based off a certain kind of Sue who occasionally crops up in Power Rangers, the Adaptible Sue with more Photoshopped suits than stories, three of which the author knew about at the time.