OK, big A/N.

Thank you PernDragonrider, RedRangerBelt, griffen blackwood, Seren Maris, and Psycho Tangerine for your reviews.

I've changed my story setup and Ryan's Destiny is now in four parts. Happy Returns
and Prologued Memories are finished. Coming soon is Cursed, which is about 10 chapters long.

RedRangerBelt pretty much named all of my little hints and crossovers! There are a few more in this chapter. Some less obvious ones: Angela's brother Clark shows up on the show with some upgrades, and Earl is the old man that Dana escorted to the base whom she thought was only an old friend of her father.

The hint at the other fandom? Superman. Planet destroyed in a red sun system? Had myself a good laugh when I reread that.

Answering a few questions asked in reviews. Gen McKnight will not show up anymore in this story. He made an appearance in the show with the Robo Rangers but the possibilities with his name were too good not to write him in just once. Ms. Fairweather's hostility and feelings about him all came from the show.
Yeah, I know Ryan not eating for 14 years is a pretty outlandish concept and the demons could have easily magiced him some food, but they didn't. He lived off the demonic energy trapped in the tomb by the spell, same as the demons. And there are reasons and explanations for that and it will be brought up later in the story. Probably not in Cursed though.


Angel Grove - 1999

Capt. Mitchell met him at the youth center. The same one, according to Ms. Fairweather, where the ranger's identities were first discovered. The way things were, William let the former ranger pick where they would meet. He wanted him to feel comfortable and unthreatened. Meeting away from the base and prying eyes would be best for now.

He had told Capt. Mitchell to call him Red. Whether to give him a hint or try and mislead him, he wasn't sure. Red was most likely meeting with William to see if he could be trusted before he gave the all clear to the others. William approved. The young man would protect his teammates. William didn't tell him, but the pretense wasn't necessary. He knew who Red was. After only a few minutes they had left the youth center and headed into a local park. Apparently it 'wasn't the same without Ernie'.

They had walked around and talked. Well, William had done most of the talking; telling Red about Lightspeed Rescue, nothing he wouldn't already know by talking to the Astro Rangers, but they had to start somewhere.

They met twice more, over a few months time, before William asked Red to look over the candidate files with him. They had been discussing group dynamics and different situations Red's team had been in, all without revealing anything he didn't want to, which William was impressed with, when William offered to bring the files to their next meeting.

Red seemed surprised. "You trust me with that information?"

William had smiled. "Zordon trusted you, didn't he?"

He blinked. "Yes."

"Then how can I argue with that?"

Something had shifted in Red's eyes and William realized he had just taken a giant leap forward in gaining his trust. Which brought them to where they were now, sitting at a table in the corner of a library, going through folders.

"These are your candidates?" Red asked.

"What's left of them, we've already gone through several rounds of eliminations. Gotten rid of some obvious ones. All of these have specific skill sets and higher compatibility to the morphin grid. We're also still getting files in, more could be added. We don't want to overlook anyone."

Red looked down at the folders; each one had a color marked across the side. There were only four colors. "You're not going to have a Red ranger?"

William smiled. "Oh, we are. He's already been chosen."

"I would have thought that the Red ranger would be the hardest one to pick."

"I wouldn't say it was easy; more like, obvious."

"He's military?"

"No, actually. He's a civilian like the others. I...We've just had an eye on him for a while. I can bring his file next time if you'd like to have a look."

Red shrugged, "I wouldn't mind having a look but you seem pretty confident in your choice."


Angel Grove- Next meeting

"Find out why he crashed." Red said, handing William a file.

He opened it. "Joel?" He remembered this file. High compatibility, had the necessary skills, but William had put him on the bottom of the pile. He didn't work well with others; a one man show. All reports said his attitude wouldn't work with the program. His record was spotless, save one crash. "The report said pilot error."

"It says that's what he told the investigators. And then willingly paid for the damages to the plane. I think it says that he offered to pay. Now I don't know a lot about planes but the way he crashed, faulty equipment would be more likely than pilot error; at least with a pilot of his ability."

William frowned. "You're saying he lied?"

"I'm saying from what I've read, he doesn't seem like the kind of person to admit he made a mistake or not make a big deal about paying for damages."

He was right, William knew. It didn't fit Joel at all. He quickly made a note to look into it further.

Red held up another folder with a green tab on it. "What about this Taylor Earlheart? She seems perfect for this ranger. Spotless record; she's even in the military."

"We just got her file a few days ago and you're right, she is first choice. However," He picked up the folder and clicked out his pen. "She isnt military anymore and she's off grid."

Red gave him a confused look. "Off grid? What does that mean?"

"We can't find her. No job, home, bills. She could be on an island in the sky for all we know. We're keeping an eye out for her but until she shows up, there's nothing we can do."

"It says here she was tested only a few weeks ago. Didn't you say military personnel were tested before?"

"She was out of the country. This was part of her exit physical. The doctors performing the tests don't know why they are, so by the time the results were sent to us she was gone."

Red looked thoughtful. He seemed like he wanted to say something, and William thought he heard him mumble 'high compatability' but then he pursed his lips and turned back to folders.


Angel Grove- Local park- 2 month later

"You were right about Joel." William said as he sat down next to Red and took out the folders.

Red gave a small smile. "Really?"

"The crash wasn't his fault. A kid got in the way of his landing, he was protecting the family from getting sued."

Red nodded, thoughtfully.

"You don't seem surprised, Red."

"I don't know, there just seemed to be something about him, something other than the obvious. Zordon must have been a good influence on me." Red looked over, "So, is he off the bottom?"

"Top of the stack now."

Red nodded again and there was a lull in the conversation as they both picked up different folders. William paused before opening his. He had been looking for an opportunity to ask something and this finally gave him an opening. "Did Zordon ever tell you why you were chosen?" He was going to add 'besides the obvious', but he wanted to hear that as well.

William saw something flicker through Red's eye's but quickly reasoned that he had seen wrong, because the haunted look didn't fit with what he had asked.

"No, not why I was chosen, but," Red smiled, looking reminicent, "when I lost my powers he said I was honorable. A great warrior and an honorable man."

William started. "You lost your powers? Was this when the Astro Rangers showed up?"

"In the end, it was time for us to move on with our lives, so a new team was chosen. No, I..." Red stopped and contemplated what he was going to say; studying William for a second. "I lost my original powers a few months before I became the white ranger."

William frowned. He was on the first team? He tried to make sense of what Red had said, to find the solution.

Red smiled again, this time it was sad. "Capt. Mitchell, Zordon would tell me why I was a good ranger and why I would be missed, but he never told me why I was chosen because he didn't choose me, Rita Repulsa did."

William stiffened and looked Red up and down, who nodded like this was what he was expecting.

William spoke carefully. "It was assumed the Green ranger was destroyed. The power rangers never said anything about his disappearance."

"Letting everyone believe he was dead was for the best. He may have switched sides, but he still did a lot of damage before that."

Yes, he had. Citywide destruction, injury and loss of life. Warring emotions fought in his mind as he looked at the young man. He had been the Evil Green Ranger, as the world had come to call him. Even when he had joined the rangers the name had stuck. William shook his head, there had to be a reason behind it. "What changed your mind?"

"Nothing. Rita never gave me a choice to begin with."

William remained silent and let Red talk.

"I don't know if you believe that Rita was a witch, that her powers came from magic, so I'll just say that she brainwashed me into serving her."

William noticed Red flexing his hand.

"My friends broke the spell, or broke through the conditioning, if you want to see it that way. I became a pretty big target to Rita, and then Zedd. They messed with my powers, with me...but then I became the White ranger and they didn't have any claim to those powers," Red smiled wistfully, "Zordon made the coin himself."

William studied Red. He had been a child. Forced to fight before he was given a choice. Andros was right, Earth didn't understand. Real responsibility was rarely given to the young, especially about things so important. They couldn't vote until they were eighteen, weren't seen fit to even take care of themselves until then. But who were the best candidates they had found? All younger than thirty. Dana would be 18, the youngest, but the most prepared. Was this just how the Morphin Grid worked? Was it fate or destiny at play?

William recalled his own words at one of their earlier meetings. 'Zordon trusted you, didn't he?'... He had given the power to children. But look at the outcome. 'Then how can I argue with that?'

How could he argue with this young man who had saved the Earth. Who still continued the fight. William could see it is his eyes. Zordon had given him the chance to move on with his life, and maybe the other rangers would; but Red would always be a part of the fight.


Mariner Bay- 1999- 1 months later

"We need trainers."

Red gave him a questioning look.

"For our staff now, but when we call in the rangers we'll need trainers for hand to hand combat. We could bring you and some of the other former rangers in, if any of you still want or feel the need to have some part of this."

"Wouldn't that look a little suspicious? Bringing in some unknown trainers right after meeting with a former ranger?"

"Not as much as you would think. We haven't hired on any trainers yet and," there was a slight pause, "your name has been on the list since the beginning...Tommy."

Tommy's eyebrows lifted in surprise. He leaned back in his chair. "Really?"

"Just for training, nothing else."

He mulled this over. "Who else knows?"

"At Lightspeed? Only Ms. Fairweather. She was part of a research team sent to Angel Grove years ago."

"What about the other members of the team?"

"They all got offered other jobs. I'm the only one they told and I didn't even know your names until Ms. Fairweather suggested offering you jobs. At first she didn't want to bring any of you into this, but her curiosity finally got the better of her." At Tommy's confusion, he continued. "She really wants to meet Billy."

Tommy looked even more surprised, then smiled. "You know, we were so preoccupied with Bulk and Skull trying to learn our identities that I don't think we ever stopped to wonder why the government wasn't doing the same thing. But we just didn't see you, did we?"

"Ms. Fairweather's team was very careful."

"Well, if Billy ever comes back, I'm sure he'd love to meet her."

"Back?"

"He left Earth; a few years ago."

"Oh," he hide his surprise and disappointment. "We'll have to break it to her gently."


Mariner Bay - Aqua Base- 2000

"Father, he can't be your final choice. He's so arrogant."

William looked up, surprised, as Dana entered his new office. "Who?" he asked, but he had a pretty good idea who she was talking about.

"You told me to become familiar with the future rangers," she began, "Hanging around fires would look suspicious and I don't do extreme sports. The easiest ones to observe are Blue and Green." She paused. "The Sky Cowboy. Really? He spends half his time signing autographs and flirting with women."

William raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Dana shook her head, "I didn't dare get close enough for him to notice me. Please tell me you're still narrowing it down?"

William shook his head.

"Father..."

"He really is our best option."

"That isn't comforting." She insisted.

"You've read his file, Dana. He has all the skills needed for the green ranger."

"And twice the ego."

"We're hoping some of that is part of his act."

Dana looked doubtful.

"And anything that isn't, we'll just have to work on."

Dana stood quietly for a moment, realizing she wouldn't be able to change anything, and trying to turn her mind to their green ranger's positive traits.

"What about the rest?" William asked. "What is your opinion of them?"

Dana smiled, this was much easier to talk about. "Chad Lee seems to be an ideal choice for the Blue Ranger. From what I've observed, he's quiet but gets along easily with others. His background in martial arts is impressive and will add well to the team.

"Kelsey Winslow is... enthusiastic, to say the least. She seems to to take crazy risks, except they don't turn out to actually be risks for her. I've confirmed a few stories about how she helped or saved people on canyoneering trips or while mountain biking.

"Carter Grayson. He's practical, hard working, he has a good heart..."

"But," William prompted.

"Don't you think he's little young to lead the team?"

"He's older than you are."

"But younger than Joel, by a few years."

"I think he'll be alright."

Dana sent him a questioning look but nodded her head. It wasn't until later that he realized she was voicing a concern about how well the team would function not how Carter would be able to handle it.

"I think that will be good for now. I'll need you to keep tabs on them. You'll need to know where they are so you can bring them in as quickly as possible when the time comes."

Dana nodded again. "Of course...wait, what?"

William smiled widely at his daughter's surprise. "I'm putting you in charge of bringing them in."


Mariner Bay - 2000

Capt. Mitchell gauged their reactions. Chad and Kelsey seemed unsure, but their journey here had been extreme enough to make them curious. Carter sat quietly, taking everything in, he wouldn't make a decision until he heard more. Joel rolled his eyes, ready to make another sarcastic remark. He was going to be a problem. He was eldest of the group but seemed to be the least mature among them. William had been wary of having Joel as first choice for the green ranger but he still had hope.

"Just a few hours ago our fears were confirmed when our sensors picked up an energy release in the canyonlands of southern Utah." A map appeared on a large screen in front of them. "We weren't able to pinpoint the exact location but three hikers in the area have been reported missing, they never met up with their group." The screen changed, showing a picture of the three men. "We believe they accidentally found the tomb and released the demons."

There was a gasp and everyone turned to Kelsey as she stared at the screen. "Paul?" She looked at William. "That's Paul Whitcomb. He's missing?"

"You know him?"

"Yeah, I mean, we're friends. He invited me to go on the canyoneering trip with him."

William nodded, his features softening, "I'm sorry."

Kelsey shook her head. "You said he was missing. He could still be out there or those demons you're talking about could have him. Just because he's missing doesn't mean he's..." She couldn't seem to bring herself to say it.

"Of course."

"I'm still a little lost." Chad interrupted. "If this is all true, the demons and everything, then why are we here?" He motioned to himself and others sitting down. "This all sounds pretty top secret."

Capt. Mitchell motioned to Dana, who set group of folders on the table and slid them over to the four. Their folders. He told them why they were there, what they could become. Opened the case that held the morphers.

And then he waited.

Years of preparation. Uncertainty. Endless nights reliving the moment he had lost his son to a demon. The demon that was now free, leading an attack on the city.

Years. And the next crucial step was out of his ability to control.

He waited. Waited for their answer and prayed that the people they had chosen to fight would not only step up to the challenge but also be able to win.