April. Two months had passed since the incident with Evan, and I found myself living in a different world. Things had changed, or rather I had changed. Training with Peter was easier, more fluid as I would dance about the mat. There were days when I was in the zone, and he couldn't even touch me. I'd block a punch, and then a kick, and then respond faster, putting him on his back. I was training with a cause now, a new determination. It was time to stop him, time to bring Evan down. I had been playing myself before, thinking that maybe the problem would go away, but instead it became worse behind the scenes. He begun to extend tendrils of evil into the people around him, and who knew how many people he could bring under his control. Now that he discovered through his powers or torture he could sway the minds of others, there's no telling what his next plan was. The check of exposure was gone, exposed to the government, but still invisible to everyone else. Things felt more tense, and suddenly I was back under the gun, but this time, like I said before, it was different.

"Again," cried Peter, as he attacked me. His weaves came through brightly, and I blocked every blow, diving under a punch, and then sweeping his legs out from under him. He flipped up to a standing position with a great deal of zest, and zeal. I think he just wanted to get one blow in. "Again."

Training had been like this for weeks, and on top of my stamina, my mental powers had increased as well. I could lift larger objects, throw things, and people further, having sent Peter literally across the room, and knocking him out by accident. More importantly though I found mental clarity, my mind was at peace, and clear. I didn't fight angry, I just fought, my movements graceful, my focus solely on defeating my opponent.

I came for training one day to find Peter with a guess. He was an older gentleman of Asian descent, and he was wearing a very professional business suit, and stood graciously in the kitchen area sipping a drink with Peter. I closed the door behind me, and both of them turned towards me. The older gentlemen studied me for several moments, looking for something particular it seemed, while Peter just smiled.

"Here he is now," said Peter. He waved me over, saying, "Keith come over here, I would like you to meet someone." I approached them slowly, and as I approached the older gentleman, I offered my hand. He took it slowly, and the strangest thing happened. I was hit with this sense of urgency, and immediately, I could feel something happening. I saw his weaves, and in a heartbeat, I pushed backwards, putting distance between the two of us. His weaves were fast, much faster than Peter's, and as he came in with several blows, I did my best to block and dodge as many of them as I could. I had enough luck to parry all of them, but at the same time, as I tried to disable my opponent, I realized I wasn't getting any hits in, so as he came in with a strike, I blocked it, and then forced him backwards with my mind, throwing him back onto the mats, having him land on his back. I was about to come in for another attack when he put his hand up to halt. Peter came up behind me. "This is Master Shen."

"He's very good," replied the fallen Master Shen, as he stood up, and dusted himself off. "You were actually quite conservative in views." There was no trace of accent in his voice, and if I had to guess, I would imagine that he grew up in America. "I'm sorry to greet you in such away, but based on some of Peter's observations, I wanted to see if everything he said was true."

"Keith, Master Shen was the one who first taught me how to see weaves," said Peter, explaining what Master Shen had said. "When you began to advance in training, I began to speak with Master Shen about you, wondering what forms of teaching would be best for you."

"And he's done quite a good job," he said. "He's taught you everything I possibly could."

"How did you come to learn this style?" I asked Master Shen. Suddenly it was like someone flipped on a light switch in the room, and this previously dim light, had suddenly sprung to light. Master Shen looked at me deeply, and a white flash went through his eyes.

"Because it is the style that they have taught for a millennium on Mobius," he replied. It was an energy that I hadn't felt since the death of my mother. It was the presence of another Mobium, a very strong, and powerful mental presence, like standing before a great man, a president, or a king.

"Who are you?" I asked him.

"I am Shen, of the Royal Guard, I accompanied your family here when they went into exile, along with several others," he said, then kneeled down on his knee. "Your highness."

I was speechless, I had never been adorned with such respect before. I knew I was an alien, and alien royalty at that, but mostly I just thought of myself as this human with advanced powers. Faced now with someone from my mother's origin, and faced really with my birthright I was taken aback. I had almost expected never to lay eyes on another Mobium ever, and out of the blue, without any warning, here was another one. "Please don't kneel."

He stood up, "As you wish." He put both his hands into the pockets of his suit. "I was a young when I came with your family here to this planet, my entire family wiped out by the civil war. I can tell you are of noble birth, are you Princess Terisan's son?"

"Yes," I replied softly. "She's no longer with us."

"So Peter tells me," he said. "I am very sorry to hear that. You should also know that your Grandfather, and Grandmother have passed on as well, I was in their service for the rest of their life."

"I see," I replied. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"May I ask your given name?" he asked me. "So what I may know how to properly address you."

"Uh," I said. "Please feel free to call me Keith, but my given name as you put it is, Sonicus Maximus Arterus Legali, son of Terisan Arterian Legali, grandson of Maximus Arterus Legali, King of Mobius."

"This feels very regal all of a sudden," said Peter.

"Prince Soncius," said Shen, ignoring Peter's outburst, and bowing before me. "Now, with the formalities out of the way, we have to engage you in the last bit of your training, before in a sense it's complete."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You've retained the lessons of the technique, the rest is in practice, and application," explained Shen. "The only last thing is the quest."

"What quest?" I asked.

"It's a Vision Quest," explained Peter. "Like the Native Americans used to have, it's a vision you have that may help bring more peace to your mind, and thus more clarity which is important for the form."

"It is linked directly with the Helian," said Shen. "The Helian is a layer of existence intermingled with our own reality that we can on occasion draw power from to aid us. You, as I understand use it to draw armor, and weapons, which is what the military use it for on Mobius."

"We refer to it as the Grid," I replied.

"Yes in away I suppose it can be seen as a Grid," said Shen. "But I must caution you on the use of the Helian."

"How so?" I replied.

"It is a closely monitored thing, and while normal disturbances and fluctuations are part of it, sometimes using too much of it at once can be noticed by others who use it,," he explained. "It may bring, undesired attention."

I nodded, not fully understand what he meant. "I'll keep that in mind." He walked over to the kitchen counter, and from his briefcase he produced what seemed to be a large crystal.

He came over to the mats, and laid it in the center. Unbuttoning his blazer he placed gently on the chair, then sat before the crystal. "Please, sit opposite me." I did as I was asked, and slowly sat down opposite him, the crystal between us. "What your about to experience may seem strange, but despite what you may think, it is more than a vision, consider it as real as you do me. Now close eyes, and clear your mind, when you are ready, I need you to focus solely on the crystal, and the quest will begin."

I took a deep breath, and relaxed, my mind began to clear of all thoughts, and extended my awareness out with my mind, until I could feel the powerful presence of Shen, and the lesser presence of Peter. Suddenly though, I began to feel something else building, and I knew it had to be the crystal, so I turned my entire focus to it. I could feel energy radiating from it, and then suddenly a beam of energy tore from it, and surrounded my body, there was a surge of energy, and suddenly, I found myself, somewhere else.

It was hazy at first, and I could tell I was in a dim corridor. There was a loud banging sound, like metal on metal, and the as haze cleared, I could slowly began to feel the presence of another. Around me I saw the inner workings of machines, and flashing lights reporting readouts in a strange language I didn't understand, and as I watched everything come into focus, there was a figure standing, pounding against what looked like a solid door. His form was mostly black, with symmetrical green lines that ran up and down his body, almost like they represented a wire frame. His eyes were red, and at certain places about his body looked charred, like something had been done to him. His sword was jagged in many places, its design having similar to features to himself, and with all his might he brought it down on the sealed door.

"Open this door Red Ranger!" it cried, and behind him, many different forms began to emerge. They were very different shades, but all possessed the same design, and suddenly I realized where I was, and who I was with.

"Ecliptor?" I posed the question to the air about me, but it was aloud, and foolishly, it brought attention with it.

"Huh? Who are you?" said the great villain that but a character on a television show to me moments before. Now he seemed much larger than I remember, and his gaze had narrowed upon me. The robots, the Quantrons rallied around him, several of them with long wedge shape weapons that I'm sure were plenty sharp, and deadly. The situation seemed fantastic, and realizing that they were waiting for answer for me, I gulped slowly, and gave one.

"Me?" I asked again, my courage faltering for a moment. Confidence slowly came back as I realized I was a Power Ranger, and in seemingly fit vision I was having now, I was matched up with this villain. "I'm the Red Ranger."

"Impossible!" he cried, slicing his sword through the air in an imposing gesture. "He is beyond this door."

Shen had said this vision was going to be as real as the reality I was used to, and hoping that with everything considered my powers still worked, I mentally issued the command to energize my grid, but I found that the lens refused the order. Sneaking a glance down to my wrist I noticed that the jewel on the lens was already glowing, and then I realized that the reason the command was refused, was because the grid in this reality was something that was always one. My confidence returned in full force, and spooling up my mental powers, as well as my courage, I dropped both of my arms to my side, my fists clenched. "Then there must be two of us. Ranger Form!" I brought arms out to either side, my hands extended out to their full length, and then bring them back together so that my left hand pointed to the sky with the thumb, index and middle finger, my right hand crossed over my lens, and activated the armor sequence. "Energize!"

Track Insert – Hoobastank "Crawling in the Dark"

"What?" cried Ecliptor as my armor surrounded my body leaving me in a similar costume to the Red Ranger he was familiar with. "How can this be?"

"It's your lucky day," I said taking a defensive position. "Two for the price of one."

"No matter," he said, making another gesture through the air with his sword. "Quantrons, attack!" And they did. They came straight at me, and immediately I defaulted to my training, trying to ascertain their weaves, and it was only then that I realized one important thing. These were robots, and they didn't put out weaves. Drawing my Psy Saber from its side, I decided that the only way I was going to win this was to resort to some old fashion Ranger tactics. I rushed forward, slicing the first one horizontally across the chest, and then spinning I brought the mental blade down diagonally across another. I was rewarded with a shower of sparks, as the robot dropped to the ground. Spinning around as the rest surrounded me, I locked weapons with one of the robots with the wedge weapons, then came with another slice only to have it parried. Behind me Ecliptor continued to chomp away at the door, dedicated to forcing it open.

I parried another blow, before I caught the upper end of his head open, and sliced it across the visual processors, taking the head off in the process. I felt a sharp pain in my back, and flew forward as one of them kicked me in the back, sending me to the ground. Rolling to the ground, I recovered, and grabbed my Enea. Balancing it on my sword, I fired two shots, both of which were received by the robot who had attacked. His arms flayed about wildly as he was forced back, and landed on the deck of the corridor, sparks shooting from his chest. The remaining ones charged forward, and I did the same, bring my Saber to bare, blocking several blows from the arms of several of the Quantrons. I forced them all back as a circle of mental energy exploded from me, sending them to the floor and various bulkheads. I took several shots as some of the fallen ones, putting them out of my misery. One of the Quantrons came up behind me, and wrapped his arm around me, trying to pull me backwards, just as Ecliptor managed to open the door, and force his way into the next room. I elbowed the robot in the chest, forcing him to release me, and then dropped down to leg sweep him. Having on the ground, I raised my saber over my head, and brought it down on the chest of the Quantron. Pulling it from the robot's torso I spun around and sliced it across another Quantron behind me, who was about to attempt the same thing. Suddenly more piled down the hall, and rushed me at once, using themselves as kinetic force, they piled into me forcing me backwards, and down onto the ground. I felt trapped as the great weight of all of them combined kept me pinned to the ground until suddenly, there was this great rush, and this bright orange flash filled everything. The Quantrons above me, turned to stone, and slowly all of them crumbled about me. I stood up finding myself demorphed, and in the original state I had arrived in. My lens was still glowing but for a second it blinked a solid orange color before resuming its normal red glow. My vision became foggy, and just like I had arrived, the room around me began to disappear slowly.

This time something different happened though, I was standing. Everything around me was white, incredibly white. White fog rolled across the ground, and as I turned around to observe my surroundings, I observed that everything was completely the same. I don't how much I actually rotated, but suddenly I realized there was someone else standing there. His features were strange, very alien, the skin being very whitish, and the being possessed now hair. He wore a robe with many different styles on it, each movement of the robe seemed to pick up a different color of the spectrum. His facial features looked soft, and it seemed he had a gentle feeling about him. He produced a small smile from his lips, as he regarded me coolly.

"Greetings," he said softly. "Do you recognize me?"

"No," I told him softly. "You seem familiar but I do not know your name."

"I am a being who is been around since the beginning of time, and until the end of time," he said slowly. "I am inter-dimensional being, and as such I can transverse realities, as well as time." Slowly he began to walk in a circle around me, and I stood still as he talked. "I've seen much, many different worlds, in many different realities, and have guarded many different planets from the forces of evil, a constant of every reality, as are the forces of good. I've mentored many different champions, and many groups of heroes, and now I come before you, in this void between realities, between the one you just experienced, the one where my final demise takes place. Perhaps, now you know who I am?"

"You're Zordon," I said.

"…of Eltar," he finished. "This may all seem very strange to you, for having just been witness to my death, having me stand here before you must be something of a shock."

"Somewhat," I said. "But why have you brought me here?"

"Because you have sought my teachings," he said softly. "You are here, because you have taken it upon yourself to bring my teachings, my ways to a universe I have yet to ever touched, and I am very honored by such an act."

"I don't know how honored you should be," I replied. "I haven't upheld many of the actual beliefs of your Rangers."

"Your still fighting aren't you?" he asked.

"I do what I can," I replied.

"And you have done the best you could of done," he added. "No Ranger is perfect Keith, no ranger is flawless. Everyone makes mistakes, but as long as you try to atone for them, and continue to make attempts at improving yourself, as well as others you walk the path that you have wanted to since the beginning. That is the core Ranger belief."

"My lens blinked for a moment after your energy wave touched it," I said, phrasing it more as a question.

"You were there at my end," he said. And though I hesitate to think about the time, I can only surmised that what it means is that as a member of the side of light, part of me will always be with you."

"What now?" I asked slowly. "What does all this mean?" He smiled at me, and stood in front of me, and slowly he raised his hand up, and there was a bright flash of white.

I flew backwards, and landed on something soft. Breathing heavily, I opened my eyes, and slowly attempted to gather my bearings.

"Are you alright?" came Peter's voice, as well as a rush of movement. As my senses returned I could tell I was laying flat on the mats in Peter's apartment, and slowly I pushed my self back upright.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You were in a trance for a time, and then suddenly, you flew across the room, and away from the crystal," reported Shen. "Did everything go alright?"

"I have no idea," I replied, standing up. "Did anything strange happen?"

"No you were very calm," he replied. "Then you just flew across the room."

I flipped on the com with my line, and said aloud, "Sean, did anything strange happen in the last several moments?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," he replied from the other end. "Something weird just happened?"

"What?" I asked confused by the meaning of everything.

"Its like the grid's power capacity suddenly became larger, but just by a small amount, its like it can hold just a little bit more juice than normal," he replied. "Like it just received a kind of….tune up."

I looked forward, away from Shen, and Peter, trying to make heads or tails of it all. I thought back to what I remembered of the episode, and my brief conversation with the legendary Zordon. For several moments I remained quiet, but there was only one thing I was thinking about. It was one quote that I kept just repeating itself in my head. "But his spirit will forever live on, in all that is good." I turned my attention to my lens, which rested comfortably on my wrist.

"What?" asked Sean.

"Nothing," I replied shaking my head. "Nothing at all. Just figure out what you can, and let me know something when you do."

"Sure," he replied, and I switched the com off again with a mental command.

"What happened in there?" asked Peter.

"I found someone, I didn't expect too," I replied cryptically.

"Who?" asked Shen.

"Someone, every Ranger should meet at least once," I said, a small smirk spreading across my face.