Disclaimer: Everything you recognise belongs to Disney/Haim Saban

Six monsters were rampaging through Blue Bay Harbour. Its citizens – law abiding and not – were in a panic as they ran from the site of attack. The police had been able to do nothing to repel these black clad alien invaders. And the Power Rangers, those multi-coloured super heroes, were nowhere to be seen.

In a sprawling house at the outskirts of the city were six individuals, all staring with grim intent at the TV screen where a half frightened, half jubilant reporter stood feet from tattered yellow police lines, speaking on the attack everyone already knew about.

"I say it's been going on for long enough," Hunter said, hands in his pockets in a faux relaxed position. His muscles were nearly trembling with unspoken tension. "I say we call Dr O to round everyone up, half to kick those bastards' asses, half to find our children."

"Most of them don't have the Power anymore," Tori reminded him in an even voice, even though part of her agreed with him. "And most of them have children as well, family to take care of. To protect."

"What about ours?" Hunter nearly roared it, nearly unleashed the anger building inside. "Don't ours count? Damnit, Jeanie's out there somewhere, probably hurt, unable to call for help. My little baby girl."

"My girl is out there as well," Dustin said in a surprisingly mild voice. Years of teaching had taught him how to be patient. Though, more often than not, that lesson escaped him, in times of need, he remembered it and held on tight to it. He was holding it with a white knuckled grip. "Cam's boy. Tori and Blake's son. And Shane's only child." He waited for Hunter to look at him, to focus on him. "Don't you think we feel what you feel? Don't you think we want to do what you want to do?"

"We have to think of the others as well, Hunter," Shane said in a low intense voice he rarely adopted outside of the academy. "We have to think of how us calling them out to fight a battle that isn't even ours to fight might affect them. Might affect their families. Some of them don't even know."

"What about the families of those citizens out there?" Blake asked, speaking up for the first time since the attack had begun. "What about those innocents out there who we swore to protect? We might not be rangers anymore, but we're still ninjas. We're still supposed to protect them." He got up, walked to stand by his brother. "We're still supposed to help them."

Tori realised, with a sudden jolt, how they were ranged. Hunter beside Blake, facing them, the three wind ninjas. And Cam a little apart from them, simply observing the argument. They'd once been like this, she thought, almost twenty summers back. Standing almost exactly like this, except that time, there had been a low table in front of them. And at that time, they'd been in Ninja ops. And five of them had been rangers.

Shane, however, didn't notice any parallels. He frowned at Blake's words. "You're right. We're supposed to help them. But not at the risk of exposing ourselves. We keep the secret of the ninja secret first and foremost. That's the code of honour I swore by when I became a teacher." His dark eyes, passionate in a way they hadn't been since he'd been the red ranger, swept over the two Bradley brothers. "We only release that secret in times of dire need."

"And this isn't dire?" Hunter exploded, arms swinging wide as if the scene of attack was encompassed within his embrace.

Finally, Cam spoke, his clam reasoned voice garnering attention where heated voices couldn't. "There are those meant to fight these…things." He said, waiting until everyone had turned to him to continue. "Our children. Eva – who we might as well call ours, she spends enough time at our houses, with our families. It's their turn to fight, to stand for good."

"But we have no idea where they are," Hunter said through gritted teeth, taking a step towards Cam. "They could be hurt. Dying, for all we know while we stand here and argue about bull!"

"Or they could be stuck in another dimension with a plan to get back to this one," Cam said in a cool voice. "Whatever it is, we shouldn't go bumbling into a fight that's not ours to fight. Yes, we have power. We have our inner ninjas. But we're not Power Rangers, they are. We're not meant to fight these things, they are. It's their turn now and we should have faith in them. Like my father had faith in us." At that, a sober smile flashed. "Though God knows why. We were MIA more often than not."

Tori couldn't help but let out a baffled laugh while Dustin just blinked in amazement. "Wow." He said. "Is it my imagination or did Cam say something optimistic?"

"No. It's not your imagination," Shane said. "I heard him too."

"I feel like I'm the one in a different dimension," Hunter joked and finally broke the tension in the room.

"Hey," Cam said slightly defensively. "When you've raised as many kids as I have, you learn to be a little optimistic."

"How many was it again," Blake teased. "Six last count, right?"

"Five," Cam corrected, but didn't take offence. It was better, he thought, for them to be ribbing him about how many kids he had instead of thinking about what trouble their kids could be in. "I have just five kids damnit."

"I thought I heard Leanne say she might be pregnant. Again."

When Cam's eyes widened, blurred with shock, Hunter let out a bark of laughter. "That one gets you every time."

At that Cam scowled, shoved his hands deep in the pockets of his casual slacks. "That wasn't funny Hunter."

"Oh yeah?" The tall man glanced around the room, took in all the smiling faces then directed those bright blue eyes at Cam. "Really?"

Cam could only roll his eyes at them – as he had countless times before – while the others laughed. When the laughter died, Tori was left again with sick worry. Seeing the expression on his wife of nearly nineteen years – wow, sometimes he still couldn't believe he'd managed to hold on to her for this long – Blake stepped up, anchored an arm around her waist and turned his head when she put hers on his shoulder, kissed the top of her head through her hair. "They'll be fine," he reassured her in a quiet voice. "They've got each other. They'll be more than fine."

"I know," she replied, eyes drifting unerringly back to the news on the TV screen. "But I just wish I could be sure."

"They're our kids," Shane pointed out. "They take after us – and their mothers, thank God. Blake's right. They'll be more than fine. They're Power Rangers," he added.

"And may the Power protect them," Dustin murmured as silence descended and their eyes locked once more on the war unfolding before them.

A/N: So here's the second installment of the two-part episode. Hope you like it and sorry (again) for the late update. Man, have things been crazy around here. I'll be posting a short one-shot shortly to make up for it (hope you like that one too [that is if the internet in my school doesn't break down. Again. Grrr). :)