AN: If you really need a disclaimer on here, there's one on my profile. Slow-ish start to introduce things and then…things get ugly.

Chapter One: Mystery of the Coins

He nervously tugged on his collar as he stared at the building in front of him.

Against all odds, he had narrowly scraped through the two months of interviews and been accepted at the William Blue Hotel School. It was odd having to lie through his teeth about wanting to work at a hotel to the Principal, but he guessed he had more than enough experience at lying to teachers and family members about the odd inconsistencies in his work over the years. The induction and orientation procedure the day before had gone over quite well. The people in the group he had been placed into were friendly and there was one person who matched the descriptions of AJ's sister Bree…but she had been swept up into the crowd before he had the change to talk to her. However, the feeling of foreboding never left him no matter where he walked. It was almost as if…

"Hey, Ah know you! Weihan, right?"

Blinking at the strangely familiar voice, the Orange Ranger looked behind him to see the person he had been thinking about walking up behind him. As she came closer, he fought against the wistful thoughts that started to rise as he looked at her. She was about the same height as AJ but with red hair that, in some areas, bordered on pink. It was done up in the same style but with a small pink bow…which made him do a double take before he realised where he had seen that hairstyle before. Applejack's little sister, Applebloom, had the same style and that thought made him want to scream in frustration. Apart from a transfer of data from the Battle with Xonix, there had been pretty much nil contact with Equestria. The last time had been a quick communication that had formally introduced him to Shining Armour, Princess Cadence and Queen Chrysalis. Quickly moulding his features into a look of stunned surprise, he looked bemused as she ran up to him.

"Ah knew it was you! Mah sister always said to look out for the Asian with the hard and kind eyes…"

She dropped her voice to a low whisper.

"And the power of Fire."

Weihan swallowed hard and wondered what AJ had told her sister. Looking around for a place away from prying eyes, he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to a secluded alley near the building where they couldn't be readily seen. Closing his eyes, he muttered ancient and arcane words under his breath and enclosed the both of them in a bubble of silence. Training with Ninjor and Dulcea had ensured that his magic would continue to grow stronger throughout the years until he reached adulthood. At that point, he would be trained under the guidance of Edward or Rita to refine his spells and magic. Slowly exhaling, he opened his eyes to see Bree roll her eyes and mutter something under her breath. Attempting to push past the overwhelming feeling of anger and betrayal coursing through his body, he gathered his thoughts and opened his mouth…only to be interrupted by her soft voice.

"Ah found out when Ah was concerned about her spendin' so much time in such a dangerous place. She accidentally let slip that she had a personal protector and Ah kinda pressured her to reveal the full truth. But I won't tell anyone! Sensei Adam and Sensei Rocky said that if anyone beside me found out, you would have to kill them!"

Coughing back laughter, Weihan released his anger at his former girlfriend. While it was true that she had blatantly betrayed the trust he had placed in her, it was good to know that both Adam and Rocky had put the younger girl in her place. Releasing the spell of silence, he began to chuckle as he saw much of Applebloom in the girl in front of her. Of course, starting a relationship with her was off the table as he was still with Rachelle…but it was nice to dream every once in a while. Shaking his head once more, he turned to leave when his Ultra Crystal rose out of his chest without him summoning it. Frantically checking around for onlookers, Bree stood in front of him to conceal the floating crystal from anyone on the street; raising his esteem of her by a few notches. Eyes narrowing, Weihan looked at the Ultra Crystal and saw that there were a few objects that were seemingly trapped behind the crystalline exterior.

The more he watched, the closer they seemed to come to the surface until, finally, the first of the objects emerged edge first and fell to the ground below. Snatching it out of the air, Weihan brought the object up to his eyes and gasped. It was a flat disc made of transparent crystal and shaped uncannily like one of the Power Coins. Etched on one surface was the image of a Tiger and faint sparks of white danced inside. Seeing more and more discs come out of his Ultra Crystal, he watched Bree pluck them out of the air with no apparent effects. A few moments later, his Ultra Crystal flashed seven times in different gem-like colours before slipping seamlessly into his chest. Handing over the few coins she had caught, Bree looked at them strangely.

"Ah've never seen anything like that…what do you think they are?"

He shook his head and stuffed the coins in the inner pocket of his blazer. He had a feeling that the images he had seen were quickly coming true…and that meant only one thing. The return of Xonix from his long absence. Fighting hard to control his breathing, his mind raced as he struggled to figure out what to do now. On one hand, the eventual return of Xonix was top priority and a plan needed to be placed together to find the Bearers of the strange coins that had come out of the Orange Crystal…as well as finding out where the other strange Morphers he had seen were. If he could teleport out of the alley…

"Hey, are you two coming or what?"

Looking up at the sudden voice, he spied the tall form of one of his class mates at the end of the alley. Rebecca Wheeler was her name, if he remembered correctly, and she was gesticulating pretty wildly. Chuckling under his breath at the Australian girl's enthusiasm, he reconsidered his decision. It wouldn't do much good for his reputation to be seen skipping out on the first full day of classes…even if Accounting was the first cab off the ranks. Lifting his hand in response, he began walking towards her when an image flashed through his mind's eye of a Mammoth made of a strange opaque material. Belatedly recognising it as Onyx – the stone, not the planet – he continued walking forward until her face was in view. As he had feared, looking at her brought about the image of a Black Ranger helmet over her face. From what he could see of it, it looked like a mix between Alex and Zack's helmet with a full face visor with two triangles of silver where the mouth-plate would be.

Things had just become a whole lot more complicated.

TBC…