Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Disney/Haim Saban

"I can't believe this!"

"Ris, will you calm down?" Jeanie watched as her cousin bounced up and down on her bed. It should have jarred the scratches in her side, as she was lying in it, but Jeanie had woken up that morning to find her wounds almost completely healed. She still wasn't sure how she was going to explain it to her parents.

"I can't," Ris sang out, still bouncing. Damn, but the girl was like a walking sugar rush. "I can't stop! And I can't believe this!"

"I can hardly believe it – and I was there. We all were," David added from his perch on Jeanie's desk.

They were all there, her honorary cousins and Eva, their new friend and teammate. The Spirit Riders, as Dayton – their mentor – had informed them. It was the day after they'd faced their first monster – and blown him to bits, for your information.

They were now in Jeanie's room, buzzed up about last night's events – or rather this morning, depending on which way you swung it. And they didn't have to worry about being overheard – her parents had left with Declan earlier that day, just as they'd arrived.

"What I can't believe is that David is the red ranger," Jay complained. He was sitting on her armchair, having dumped her clothes on the floor. "The leader!"

"I think it makes sense," Trev said, from where he sat at the foot of her bed. He bounced slightly with Ris's every jump. "David is a pretty good leader, and he's always has been. I mean, you, Jay, you're too headstrong, and you always act before you think. Not qualities you look for in a leader. And me," he shrugged. "I don't care about much about being a leader."

"I think it's cool, no matter what color we are," Eva said. She was the only one sitting on the floor, even though there was a free chair. But then, Jay was using it for a footstool. "I mean, we're Power Rangers."

"Speak for yourself," Jeanie said. "I'm pink. I can't believe that I'm pink. I hate pink. Do I look like a pink person to you?"

To her chagrin, all her cousins – Ris included – snickered. "Don't forget you're also the unicorn," Jay teased.

"Urgh. Don't remind me. Pink and a unicorn. How much more humiliating could it be?" She muttered. "I hate pink."

"I think you've already pointed that out," Trev said in a dry voice.

She glared at him. "Shut up Trev."

"I'm glad I'm yellow," Ris said, still bouncing slightly. "Yellow's always been my favorite color." She attempted to do a back flip off the bed, but only ended up hitting the floor with her butt.

"It would be," Jay said. "What with you being a – " An eraser flew from David's hand, hitting him square on the table. He jumped, cleared his throat. "A sunny person," he ended lamely.

An awkward silence filled the room, in which most of its occupants were looking at the girl sitting on the floor, her legs drawn up so she could put her chin on her knees. She studied them as well. "You know," she said finally. "It's kinda disappointing, that you feel you can't tell me whatever this big secret you're hiding is, after all we did together last night. But hey," she shrugged, and straightened out her legs. "I trust you. I've got to, now that we're teammates, and if you really feel that you can't tell me, then I'm okay with it. Doesn't mean I'm gonna bug you like hell to tell me though," she added.

The tension in the room lifted dramatically and Jeanie managed a smirk. "You won't get anything out of us," she declared.

"We'll see," Eva said with her own smirk.

"We're good at not telling people what they want to hear," Ris commented from her place on the floor.

Jeanie leant over the bed to look at her. "It's a wonder," she said in a dry voice. "With your big mouth."

"I so do not have a big mouth!" Looking insulted, Ris sat up to glare at her.

"Jeanie, should you be doing that?' David asked.

"Doing what?" She broke her staring match with Ris to glance at him.

"Leaning over the bed like that," he said. "I mean, with those cuts and all."

"And you don't ask me that when Ris is jumping on my bed?" She asked him with a roll of her eyes. But when he – heck, when all of them continued to look worried, she sighed. "No, it doesn't hurt. They're nearly healed anyway." When they looked disbelieving, she frowned. "I'm serious. Look," and with that, she pushed down her covers and lifted up her sleeping top to reveal the now almost healed scars. "See?"

She was about to drop the top when Trev leaned forward, and poked them. "Hey!" She slapped his hand away.

He immediately held them up. "I'm sorry!"

"No, it didn't hurt. It was just ticklish."

"Do Uncle Hunter and Aunt Carla know they're almost healed?" Jay questioned.

"Of course not," she snapped at him. "I mean, how am I gonna explain it? 'Oh, it's all right mum, no need to fuss over me, they're almost healed even though, last night, they nearly cut right through to the bone!'" Finishing up, she glared at her cousin for his stupidity. "I'm good at passing things off, but I'm not that good."

"How'd they heal up so quick?" Trev asked, fiddling with his glasses. It was a habit he'd picked up from his dad.

"Could it be to do with those spirit things?" Eva asked. "I mean, Ris has the power to resurrect, it makes sense for all of them to have their own special power."

"Yeah. Point." Trev agreed.

"Don't remind me of the resurrection thing," Ris groaned, dragging an arm across her eye. "Anyway, I don't think it's that. I think it's more to do with being a ranger."

Leaning forward, Eva pulled her up arm so she could look into her eyes. "Oh?"

"My dad's into the Power Rangers. He's got a whole comic collection on them, even the ones that protected the city from those alien freaks all those years ago. They all reckon that Rangers have this like sped up healing process that allows them to go after monsters day after day without like dying or anything."

"That would certainly explain Jeanie's condition," Trev said.

"Can you stop talking about me like I'm not here?" Jeanie complained. "I mean, this is my room."

"Sorry Jeanie," David apologized.

"I wonder what other powers we have now that we're rangers?" Trev wondered aloud.

"Apart from super strength, super speed and kick ass weapons?" Jay asked in a dry voice.

Jeanie grinned. "Gotta admit, those are cool."

"Mine's the best," Ris said. "Daggers always are."

"What're we, seven?" David asked, raising his brows. "Jeez. Grow up Ris."

"Mine's the best," Jay shot back at Ris. "I don't have to be afraid I'm gonna cut myself on one of the blades or anything."

"It's official. We are seven," he said, as Ris and Jay began arguing over who had the most 'kick ass' weapons.

"Not us," Jeanie said in a dry voice, gesturing to the couple. "Them."

The door swung open and they all shut up. Hunter had to blink at the sudden silence. "Whoa. Is there a secret I want to know about?"

"No," Jeanie said in an airy voice, waving her hand. "Just Jay and Ris acting like a couple of seven year olds."

"I wouldn't say that," Trev said. When she glared at him for being a traitor, he grinned. "I would have said more like five year olds."

"Hey!" Ris launched herself at him. Taken by surprise he fell off the bed. They all laughed at the sight of them rolling about on the floor. Hunter stepped over them while crossing to his daughter's bed.

"Hey." Carefully, he sat beside her. "How're you feeling?"

"Okay."

"How're the scratches?"

"They sting a bit." The lie slipped easily from her lips, even as a heavy pit settled in her belly. This, she knew, was just the first of many lies.

"Let me see them."

As he reached for the cover, Trev quickly sat up, dislodging Ris, who'd been on him. "Dad said not to," he quickly blurted out. "It might aggravate them."

Easily buying it, Hunter dropped his hand. "All right then. If that's what Cam says…" he ruffled her hair and grinned when she glared at him. "Call us if you need anything," he said as he left the room.

Everyone waited until he'd closed the door behind him and heard the quick tap of his feet on the stairs before they spoke. "That," David said. "Was too close."

"Yeah." Jeanie smiled sarcastically. "Wouldn't do to be outed only a day after we become rangers."

"We should have a code name!" Ris said cheerfully. Everyone turned their heads to look at her. "What? It's a good idea. A code name for each of us. I could be…firebird, or something like that. That way, no one will know what we're talking about when we're talking about Ranger stuff."

There was silence. Then Jay spoke up; "no way am I going about talking in code. I'm not in fifth grade."

Ris looked sulky. Trev opened his mouth to say something when he was interrupted by a wired beeping tune. They looked around. "What is that?" David asked.

"It's coming from your bracelet," Eva informed him.

He quickly raised it up, then paused. "Okay. Now what?"

"In my dad's comics, they always press the morphers and speak into them," Ris chirped up. "Like communicators except cooler."

"Okay." He pressed the tip of two fingers to the bracelet and raised it to his mouth. "Um…David here."

"David," Dayton's voice came through the bracelet, making him blink in surprise. Ris smirked and everyone leaned in to listen. "There is a disturbance downtown, near the old warehouses. Please inform the other rangers."

"We're on our way Dayton," David said before letting his wrist dropped.

"Well," Jay said with a reckless smile. He was already opening Jeanie's window. "Here we go again."

"Why're we going through the window?" Ris asked; head cocked to one side.

They all stared at her in disbelief. "Hello," Jeanie said at length. "Pretend invalid here. I can't really just walk out of the house."

"Oh right." Ris scrambled up and to the window. "Let's hope our ranger powers mean we won't break our legs doing this." And with that, she launched herself out the window.

Everyone paused. Finally, Trev said; "didn't she see the ivy growing on the side of the house?"