Somewhere outside Angel Grove, California, 6:48 p.m.
The earth began to quake, and Zordon knew it only meant one thing.
"Oh no, this is it; the big one. Rita's returned!" declared the large disk-shaped robot that was hovering around the relatively dark room.
"Be calm, Alpha," Zordon calmly told his robotic ally as he made his holographic hand touch where Alpha's shoulder might be if he was humanoid, "We've planned for this. Teleport the five to the Command Center."
"But, they're just teenagers!" Alpha proclaimed as he looked toward the white light that was Zordon, "They're too young!"
"It matters not their age; only that they are compatible with the coins. Unfortunately, we all have to grow up sometime. It's part of what makes life worth living."
"Okay, initiating transport now."
Angel Grove High School, 15 hours earlier
Bart McKay felt a bit strange walking the halls of a public school, almost as if he was an outsider. Everything around him was a novelty, though he expected a sense of overwhelming nervousness given that he was home schooled for the past 8 years. Taking a deep breath, he walked into the sea of teenaged bodies to find his first class, English with a Mrs. Appelton. As he walked, he pulled out his iPhone to check for any messages. The night before, he'd performed a remote hack of the FBI database, and he had a friend sorting though the information, but so far, nothing. He was finding it a bit tiring, the constant hacks in his endless search for his dad, always seeking, never finding anything.
It was at that moment that Bart bumped into a new 'friend', the Jock. "What'd you do that for?!" the Jock yelled as everyone stopped in their tracks.
"I didn't mean to, honestly," Bart replied as the Jock formed a fist.
"Yeah, we'll see about that," he threw a right hook at Bart, and rather clumsily, as Bart easily dodged it, leaving the Jock to punch in a locker door. The Jock grunted in pain as he held his now bleeding hand.
"Now what's going on?" the principal asked as he finally arrived.
"Jace tried to punch the new kid when he dodged…" a voice from the edge of the crowd told the principal as he checked out the Jock's, Jace's, wound.
"That'll be enough out of you, Ms. Hart," the principal interrupted her with a calm, yet threatening voice. "Come along, both of you," Bart knew this wasn't going to end well.
"So, what happened?" Bart's grandfather asked as he arrived.
"It's all just a big…" Bart began before his grandfather put his right hand up to stop him.
"'Speak swiftly…'" Bart's grandfather started, pausing for Bart to finish.
"'Before truth leaves you lips'," Bart replied, taking a deep breath to calm himself before beginning his story, "Jace attacked me for bumping into him, I dodged, and now his wrist is broken and his knuckle is cut."
Bart's grandfather nodded, "I will inform the principal so you can return to class."
"Be careful, Grandpa, the principal seems dangerous," Bart told him as he took a step.
He stopped and smiled, "I've faced the gods of history; a school official's nothing to worry about."
In expected fashion, Bart arrived at his English class half way through a lecture on the works of the Greek poet, Homer, and didn't have a book to reference.
"Here," a nearby student muttered as he shared his textbook with Bart.
"Thanks," Bart replied as he noticed his features. He was wearing a large, blue hoodie that looked like it had room for seven. Wire-framed glasses adorned his face, making his eyes seem larger, and light brown, messy hair sat atop his head. He also wore brown cargo pants and slip-on shoes, his entire appearance made him look extremely small and unimposing, which Bart guessed was the general idea.
"Will! Glad to see you being social," a voice from behind Bart and the sharing student whispered with excitement. Bart looked behind him to see an Asian girl wearing a black vest and a yellow blouse. Her raven black hair flowed past her shoulders and her eyes lit up as she smiled, "Hi, I'm Trini, and the socially acquired boy you're sharing a textbook with is Will, my boyfriend."
Bart spent the next couple of hours getting to know the two. Trini, who was the most open, had a passion for art, particularly comic book and Japanese manga styles. She was apparently of mixed heritage, having a Chinese-American father and a Japanese-American mother. Will was the harder of the two to figure out, mostly since he kept quiet, but from what Bart found out from Trini, he was a tech whiz, capable of fixing most computers. Trini even boasted that she saw Will fix a computer tower with a paper clip.
By the time lunch rolled around, Bart was feeling pretty good about the day. That was, however, when he met the official welcoming committee, a large man and a thin one, both garbed in punk attire. The large one had a round face and wore a leather aviator cap that covered his brown hair, while the thin one had a pair of goggles hanging from his neck and his black hair spiked up. Despite their supposed aggressive appearance, they weren't very intimidating in Bart's eyes. In fact, they looked like they had just walked out of an old silent film comedy similar to Charlie Chapman films or from a Three Stooges episode set in a post-apocalyptic future.
"Give me your money," the fat one demanded as he cracked his knuckles.
"Yeah, give me your money," the thin one repeated, holding out his right hand.
"Are you sure this tactic will really work?" Bart asked, hoping to confuse the two bullies by speaking intelligibly.
"W… What do you mean?" the fat one asked as he eased out of his attack stance.
"Well, there's the fact that, even if you do take my money, there's still the banking fee, the holding fee…" Bart launched into a truly nonsensical discussion that even he did not understand about the apparent taxation that was involved with taking lunch money, "and the actual lunch fee itself. Adding all that up, that leaves you in a serious amount of debt for simply taking my 'lunch money'."
The two bullies looked at each other, clearly confused by Bart's discussion. "Okay… well… we'll leave you to it, then," the fat one proclaimed as the two walked away.
"Never thought I'd see the day where those two would back off from their bullying tactics," Will muttered under his breath as he stuffed some fake, yet realistic bills back into his backpack and sat down with his lunch.
"You just had the pleasure of meeting the scum of the universe, Bulk and Skull," Trini stated with obvious disgust.
"Which one's which?" Bart asked with a smile on his face as he sat down next to Will and across from Trini. At that moment, however, another student sat down next to Trini.
"Trini, Will, hi," the brown haired boy stated as his gaze shifted between the two, "I need your help with the math."
"Mike," Trini was obviously a bit surprised by this request, "Hi… what happened to that eidetic memory of yours?"
"Anti-psychotics," he stated bluntly, clearly frustrated by this, "I just can't focus like I used to. You two are the only people who'll talk to me anymore and can help me out. Please, help me, William Cranston, Trini Kwan, you're my only hope."
"Ehhh… okay," Trini relented, "Meet us after school at Ernie's."
"Hi, there," Bart declared his presence as Mike just now seemed to notice him.
"Oh," he stated with genuine surprise, "Sorry about that," Mike held his hand out across the table to Bart, "Mike La Crosse."
"Bart McKay," Bart shook his hand as they continued eating.
