The plot bunny decided to be multi-chaptered. Or rather a two-parter, I hope. Same as last time: I own nada.

"You missed it more than the other four, didn't you?" Mack asked. It had been hardly a few weeks and already the pain of being a Ranger, of being with his team, was almost more than he could bear. Adam sighed, sipping his can of root beer. They were now alone in the rec room of the Hartford mansion, the other retro Rangers having gone to bed.

"Part of it was that longevity Xander mentioned. It's harder to adjust to being "normal" after being "abnormal" for a longer period of time. I was a Ranger from mid-sophomore year to late in the summer after graduation. And you get a better chance to bond with your teammates."

Mack half-laughed. "I can't imagine knowing Will, Dax, Ronny, Rose, and Tyzonn any better than I already do."

Adam disagreed.

"The longer you're together, the closer you get. I think that's why it hurt so much to read 'the' letter to Tommy. He had been my leader for as long as I had been a Ranger, first as the White to my Black and then the Red to my Green. Of course, Rocky and Aisha had become Rangers the same time as me so we were extra close too. And Kimberly and Billy… they had memories that even pre-dated Tommy."

Mack murmured, "And Tommy was just the sixth Ranger."

"Affirmative," Adam said, something of an inside joke reflected in his voice. For the first time Mack fully understood the impact of the man in front of him. A Ranger who had ties to the very beginning of the Power Ranger legacy, even more so than Kira because where Kira had 'just' Dr. O. Adam was in fact one of the users of the original Power Coins. Such thoughts made Mack feel small, and even embarrassed.

"Sometimes I have to wonder," Adam mused more to himself than to Mack, "are the ten of us really just human? Or mortal would be a better way to put it with all the aliens out there. Or is it like Xander was saying… just hubris? But there's no doubt that Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, Master Vile, the Machine Empire, and Divatox were all terribly powerful. And let's not forget Dark Spector, even though I never fought against him he was very powerful. Powerful enough to compel Zordon to make the ultimate sacrifice in the end. Even Thrax pales somewhat against the evil his parents once were. The Master Org, the Underworld and this Emperor Gruumm Bridge mentions alone sound like they could almost match those evils. Trakeena and her lot; Queen Bansheera and her demons; Ransik and his mutants; Lothor and his space ninjas; Mesogog and his plots to turn back the clock to the dinosaur days; and these squabbling Flurious, Moltor, Miratrix, Kamdor, and Fearcats all would tremble before them. No offense, Mack."

"None taken," a surprised Mack replied. For a while there he had thought Adam had forgotten he was there. Looking him in the eyes Adam continued seriously, "We ten were called to duty so young… especially the first six, to be honest. Of course, there's also Justin. He was just eleven going on twelve when he first morphed. But him being the Blue Turbo Ranger was a choice, and one I'm grateful he made. The first five had no choice at all. So often at least one Ranger early on attempts to break out of being a Ranger, to break with their destiny."

Mack had to look away, remembering Will's reluctance to be part of the group and Dax's attempt to rejoin the movie life. And of course their miserable return to their 'real' lives when their connection the morphing grid had been broken.

"See?" Adam whispered. "But from what I've heard you were one of the smart ones. You went after your destiny despite what your father said; you knew it at once and didn't stop until you got it."

"I just wanted an adventure," Mack mumbled, more embarrassed than ever. Adam laughed. "We all do, Mack. But you wanted to make a difference. And deep down all Rangers do. And don't fret over your teammates. A lot of Rangers go through similar things early on."

"Really?" Mack asked dubiously.

Adam chuckled, sipping his root beer. "Oh yes. Carlos and Jason and Tommy all tell me stories about the earlier Rangers plus Tommy knows a bit about Ninja Storm and Dino Thunder while Nick has told Kim all about Mystic Force. And then Kim tells people, including me. SPD is a bit of a mystery to all."

"So?"

"Not any problems, really, in the Angel Grove days. We were the first, and well we never questioned our destinies as Power Rangers. We knew the enemy and knew that we had to fight them. That spell they put on Rocky doesn't count. Leo, in Lost Galaxy, was the first one to have real issues about being a Ranger. After his brother's apparent death he had self-doubts for a long time over his abilities to lead the team. Joel in Lightspeed Rescue wasn't too keen on being a team player; rather like your Will in that regard."

Mack half-smiled. "Same confidence?"

"Oh, yes," Adam laughed. "Oh, yes. Then in Time Force Wes and Jen were at odds for a time because after some initial denial over the whole thing Wes came to his senses while Jen mistrusted a teammate. That's a fatal mistake."

Mack flinched, remembering the time where he and the others had almost no other choice beyond mistrusting Will. Correctly interpreting the flinch Adam shook his head almost sadly.

"I still say your father made a misjudgment with that action."

"He did what he thought was best."

"His idea of best is more than a little different from Zordon's idea of best," Adam replied cryptically. "But whatever. Taylor tried to stay leader when Cole came, even though he was better-suited to the role (which was why he was Red) and they all knew it- including Taylor. Merrick simply refused to be part of the team, at the cost of his own happiness in the end. I hear Shane had issues being Red at the start, as did Conner. Dustin had issues when he got famous for a bit while Trent, again, made the issue of not trusting his teammates once he became good with the end result of nearly losing their trust in him."

"The whole Mesogog's alter ego being his adoptive father?" Mack hazarded, finally remembering his own nearly untouched can of root beer. Adam nodded.

"From what Bridge has said, it sounds like Jack and Sky clashed a lot, more than any two Rangers on a team ever should in my opinion. It wouldn't surprise me if Jack had problems adjusting to being Red and Sky had problems adjusting to being Blue. Kim says Nick tried to deny first his fate as the Red Mystic Ranger and then his fate as the Light on top of the by now usual issues- Xander's pride causing him to turn into a tree-thing, Vida's curiousity turning her into a vampire, Madison and Nick's emotional tension causing issues, Nick having general trust issues, and Chip's loss of control having almost very serious consequences. Not in that exact order, of course."

"Of course," Mack sighed. "Adam, but why didn't you and the other early Rangers try to fight it? Being Rangers, being a team?"

For a long time there was silence. Mack had all but finished his root beer by the time Adam spoke again.

"We just knew. It helped that a lot of us already were friends before being Rangers. I mean, I hear the first five hung out together almost nonstop even before they were Rangers. Tommy was new to town when Rita opted to make him her Green Ranger, so it was easy for him to adjust to being part of the team. I was fairly new to Angel Grove as well when I first became a Ranger, but I had made good friends with Rocky and Aisha by the time we learned about the Rangers' identities, let alone become Rangers ourselves."

Adam sighed, leaning back against the couch.

"Again, Kat was new when she became involved with us, so she also had few problems getting into the fold. Same for Tanya. Justin didn't really have friends before being a Power Ranger, so again. TJ and Cassie had met and were already becoming friends when they arrived in Angel Grove. Ashley and Carlos kind of knew each other, but clearly didn't know TJ and Cassie. But the four quickly bonded, especially as they all viewed Justin as a baby brother… which is weird considering how he was actually the most senior Ranger of the five."

Both laughed.

"Andros's home planet had been all but destroyed when he teamed up the quartet- Justin had stayed on Earth. So he knew the risks. Was it hard for him to settle into the group, especially as he had to be their leader? Sure. It helped that all of them knew that Andros and Ashley had galaxy-sized crushes on each other."

"Ah," Mack blushed faintly, suddenly finding himself thinking of Rose.

"Zhane was Andros's best friend and the other Rangers liked Andros so they welcomed Zhane. And Zhane was a friendly guy so it didn't take long for everyone to be a cohesive unit. But I guess most importantly we didn't have real lives before being Rangers. I mean, other goals we were working on at the time. We could focus on being Power Rangers. Maybe the Power intended it that way, to ease the way for you all."

Mack vaguely grasped by 'you all' Adam was including from Leo of Lost Galaxy to the new Mercury Ranger Tyzonn. He joked, "Thanks."

"Yes, well," Adam smiled ruefully. "Despite what Kira says Tommy said at the end of Dino Thunder, I think he would leap at the chance to be back in the spandex. Don't tell any of the geniuses that I called our suits that though."

"Right," Mack nodded.

"We all would. Actually, Zack is mad at me because I've gotten to be the Black Power Ranger twice since Mighty Morphin ended. He says he should get a turn to use the Black Power Coin again. I told him once there are 11 Black Rangers including me he can rally them all up and lead them on a "Blacks Forever" mission."

"Blacks Forever?"

"You'd be jealous if I explained," Adam waved it off. "So we all miss it as much as you do now. Well, that's not true. We all got closure. You didn't. The closest I can get is when the six of us were turned into kids and Zordon had to call in the Aquitar Rangers… that was annoying. But they kept the world safe while we got the Zeo Crystal shards to get everything back to normal and to get new morphers. Poor Billy."

"Oh?"

"It's a series of embarrassing stories about him," Adam half-smiled. "Since he's part Wolf I won't get into them. He doesn't like to talk about those misadventures, let allow let others talk about them."

Something had happened which led to Billy not being a Zeo Ranger, Mack theorized. But he wouldn't pry. He wouldn't like it if a Ranger from another team tried to get one of his teammates to tell embarrassing stories about him.

"But was it worth it? Was all of it worth all of it?" Mack asked, hoping his slightly sleep-deprived question would make sense. Apparently Adam could understand it because after a moment he nodded seriously.

"Yeah… it was all worth it. Embarrassing moments and all. I wouldn't trade a single minute of it for anything."

"Not even for more time in the spandex?" Mack pressed. Adam chuckled, drinking the last of his root beer before replying.

"It's because of every minute I spent as a teenager as a Power Ranger that I want to do it again. But I think we all figure you younger Rangers deserve your fun. Well, all of us except Tommy anyway."

Mack had to grin. "At least he has a multicolored wardrobe. Literally two-thirds of my wardrobe is red now."

Adam looked down at his black tee, black sports jacket, and dark jeans. "I have a lot of green in my closet. I just didn't pack any. Why wear green when I'm going to be wearing black?"

"That makes sense."

Adam stood up and stretched his back. "Well, probably another long day tomorrow. Night, Mack."

As Adam started to head for the door Mack suddenly confessed, "So far my most embarrassing moment as a Ranger was when I was under a bad luck spell and had to use all my friends' lucky items to try to break it."

At the door Adam turned back to face the young Ranger, and smiled at him.

"I hope that stays your most embarrassing moment."

"Me too. Night, Adam."

For a long time Mack still sat there, recalling all his Ranger adventures and wondering if he would ever have another one. He hoped so. To go out like this would be, well, embarrassing.