A power ranger, him a power ranger, this had got to be some sort of joke, if he thought that his father had a sense of humor, which he knew he didn't he would accuse him of setting this whole thing up. Magical realms, secret sanctuaries, this whole thing sounded like one of his Aunt Star's wild stories.

"That's it," he announced, "I'm out of here," he went to head to the door, but the girl around his age that was wearing an old fashion dress stopped him.

"Udonna told you to stay here," she insisted.

Nick rolled his eyes, yeah right, as if she could tell him what to do. Who did she even think she was anyways.

The girl was panicking noticing that they were all planning on leaving and tried to do a freezing spell on them but it didn't work, instead, she turned herself into a sheep. With her out of the way, he leads the way out of the cave.

They hadn't gotten far when they stumbled across a village that had been absolutely destroyed, people, or more accurately creatures, were picking through the rubble.

"I should have known that you wouldn't stay at Rootcore," Udonna announced, walking up behind them.

"What happened here," Maddy asked.

"Woodland Village was destroyed," Udonna announced, "Tomorrow it will be another village, the darkness destroys everything within their path until they find what they want."

"What are they looking for," Chip asked as the five of them looked around the village.

"Me," Udonna announced simply, looking at everyone one at a time before adding, "Then they will go after you."

Vidia's eyes grew round as she looked at her sister and friends, what exactly had they gotten themselves into?

"Hold on just a sec," Nick snapped, "Aren't you suppose to ask us if we're willing to do this or something. I didn't agree to be a part of this?"

Nick grimaced as they were spotted and the villagers pretty much started worshiping them, no wonder Dad and Mom bribe certain people to keep their identities secret, they get this type of attention whenever they walked into a room full of power rangers.

Suddenly there was a noise behind them causing them to turn around, a giant creature that was as black as night was standing there, his eyes a bright red.

So maybe leaving the wands behind in the tree cave was a bad idea, Nick thought, as Udonna stepped forward, pulling out a wand.

Nick had to agree with the others that watching Udonna transform into a power ranger was pretty impressive, and her fighting skills were impressive as well, obviously, she was trained as a warrior as well as a sorceress.

There was a noise behind him causing him to turn around in surprise, "Guys we have company," he announced as he noticed the footsoldiers headed their way. If he remembered his father right they shouldn't be that much of a problem, they relied more on overwhelming numbers than on strength or strategy.

"Well I see two options," Chip announced, "We can surrender and be destroyed or..."

"We fight?" Maddy suggested.

"We fight," Nick agreed, it looked like all those listens in martial arts his father forced on him were finally going to pay off.

"Or there's a third option," Xander suggested, pulling Nick back, "I'll just reason with them."

Nick glanced at the others, he was joking right, there was no way in the world reasoning with them would work. Which was proven rather fast as Xander was kicked back into the group.

Nick was getting creamed, he really wished that he had paid more attention to his father's lessons on self-defense, at least he wasn't any worst off than the rest of the teens.

Udonna glanced over at them at some point because she suddenly called out, "Just remember, all you need to do to use magic is believe in magic." Strange Aunt Star used to say the same thing, yet it never worked before.

Chip was pinned against a tree when he repeated this, "Well I do," he shouted, "I believe in Magic." there was a flash of yellow as yellow lightning struck the creatures that were attacking him, "It works. Guys, the magic really works."

Nick watched as Maddy, Xander, and V all discovered their magic, so what had he been doing wrong all these years to not be able to do magic beforehand.

He tried, he tried to believe, how could he not believe in magic, his father, mother, his aunts and uncles, heck even his sister all had magic, why shouldn't he believe that he had magic as well. They had magic, magic was real, he knew that, but he didn't.

He was pinned to the ground and was surrounded when all of a sudden there was a shout and the creatures disappeared from sight.

"Well, well, very nice," Udonna said, facing the others, "You truly are the ones. Are you up to the task? Are you now ready to accept your legacy?"

"Oh yeah," Chip shouted, pumping his fist in the air, "Bring it on."

"I'm in," V stated, "I kicked some serious evil back there."

"This is so unlike me," Maddy announced, "But, I'm sticking with my sister."

"Someone has to look out for these guys right?" Xander asked, smirking.

Everyone turned to look at Nick, who rolled his eyes, there was no way he could do this, besides he didn't have any magic, others had magic, not him, "Me," he asked, "No way, I"m out of here."

"Are you sure this is what you choose?" Udonna asked turning to face Nick with the others behind her, ganging upon him.

"Look the I believe in magic thing," he pointed out, "It didn't work, I know magic exists, I grew up around it, but I don't have any."

"You are a non-believer," Udonna announced, "You do not believe that there is magic within you," she seemed sad with that remark, "Clare will see you out of the woods safely."

…

Nick stood his bike up, he should be almost done fixing it, there was no way he was going to stick around a town with power rangers in it, doesn't matter what the team is called, or who's on it, his father would hear about it eventually and investigate, he always does. He claimed that it was because he needed to know all the teams and what threats that they faced, but he knew better, Tommy Oliver would always check to see if there were any threats to his reputation as the best power ranger ever, especially now that he was getting up there in years.

"Hey there," a soft voice called out as Maddy walked across the street to him.

"Hey," he said back, focusing even more on his bike to hopefully convey the fact that he wasn't interested in a conversation.

"Sure could have used your help back there," Maddy insisted, nodding towards the woods.

Don't listen, Nick, Nick scolded himself, you want nothing to do with power rangers or the Keeper family. "I don't think there was anything I could have done," Nick insisted, it was true after all, he was the normal one in the family.

"So," Maddy asked, sticking her hands in her pockets, "While we're out in the world fighting evil, what are you going to do?"

Nick sighed, there was no way he could tell her anything, if his dad did so up, well then she might accidentally tell him where he was going, "Well first I'm going to fix my bike..." he had to come up with something to say, something that was almost the truth, but not quite, she couldn't know that he was a runaway, "Then I'm going as far from this place as possible."

"What about your parents?" Maddy asked.

Nick shrugged, "They travel a lot," he insisted, that was true, "So I get passed around the family a bit," that part wasn't true.

"Must be hard, moving all the time, making friends only to have to leave them," Maddy offered.

"Not really," Nick insisted, "I don't stay long enough to make friends."

"You know you could," Maddy suggested, "I mean," she trailed off, trying to think of the right thing to say, "You can stay somewhere longer, you know like here, maybe?"

"I'd like to hang here and talk all day, but I still have a lot to do on my bike," Nick insisted, trying to cut the conversation short before Maddy asked him what relative he was staying with, "and..."

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry," Maddy insisted, flashing a dazzling white smile, "I just, I was trying, I umm… I'm going leave you to it."

Great Maddy had a crush on him and didn't want him to leave, come on, he had to, there was no way he was hanging around in a town with power rangers, but he couldn't just hurt Maddy's feelings, "Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I guess I'm just not cut out for this magic stuff, not everyone is you know? Not like you guys, but good luck."

Maddy smiled, nodding her head, "Yeah, you too," she said, pointing at the bike before heading back across the street. Nick watched her go, maybe he should stay, maybe he should join the team, maybe that would show his parents that he could be responsible, maybe then they would be proud of him and stop comparing him to his older sisters. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, after all, he didn't have magic, others did, but he didn't.

…

Nick had just about got his bike up and running again, he smiled softly as he set down his wrench.

"It still won't run," a voice called out, causing him to turn around, Udonna was standing there, wearing a white shawl.

"You might know about Magic, but I know bikes, I just fixed it," he announced starting it up, only for it to sputter and die, "Did you mess with my bike?" he asked, glaring at her, great get rid of Ronny and meet someone else who doesn't understand that you don't mess with a man's bike, "Trying to get me to stay?"

Several people were staring at him as if he was crazy, "What are you looking at?" he snapped.

"Only you can see me," Udonna explained.

"Just my luck," Nick groaned, "What are you my guardian spirit or something?"

Udonna just gave him a look, "How is it that someone with such a large knowledge of magic, and someone who bears the Keeper's family crest, not believe in magic?" she questioned.

"As I was saying, you can undo whatever you did to my bike," he snapped.

"I have done nothing to your bike," Udonna insisted, "Nick there's a reason why you're here, at this place, at this time, don't run away from it."

"Okay," Nick insisted, "I know that you think you need me, but you don't. You saw me back there, I can't do the magic thing, the only reason I have this," he lifted up the chain around his neck with the ring on it, "Is because I was adopted into the Keeper Family, I'm not magical. I'm not your guy."

"Then why did you speak up first to help the old man who lost his brother?" Udonna asked.

Nick frowned, was this woman related to Grandfather Sam? "How'd you know about that?" he demanded. Udonna quickly shifted into the old man and then back into herself, much to Nick's alarm.

"It let me know," Udonna continued, "That you were the one to lead the rangers."

"Come on," Vidia called out loudly, as she and the others raced out of one of the stores and raced across the street.

"Where are they going," Nick asked before he could even stop himself.

"There is trouble in the woods," Udonna explained, "They're going to help. Nick, they need you."

Nick scooped down to pick up his tools, need him, yeah right, they had magic, he didn't, "I'm not a leader," he confessed, "Apparently I can't even fix my bike," he pointed out.

Udonna pulled out her wand and waved it at the bike, "It's fix," she announced as the bike roared to life. Nick stared at it in bewilderment before mounting, but Udonna wasn't done yet, "Isn't it about time you own up to who you really are?" Udonna asked, "The son of Tommy and Kimberly Oliver, two of the greatest power rangers that ever graced this planet? A member of the Keeper Household?"

Nick froze, "How do you know who my parents are?" he asked, glancing up at her, only to discover that she was gone, "Why does Dad have all these weird relatives," he muttered to himself, as he pulled on his helmet and took off down the street, he had to get as far away from here as possible, maybe head to San Angeles, at least they didn't have a monster problem.

…

Nick had only been on the road for ten minutes when suddenly he saw something open up in front of him. The others, on their knees about to be destroyed. Just as quickly the vision disappeared, he just had a vision, how in the world did he just have a vision, unless. "Oh no," he groaned pulling over and taking his helmet off as Udonna's words echoed in his mind, "You are the one to lead the rangers."

Ni ck glanced behind him, back towards Brairwood, everything happens for a reason, his mother had told him that many times, maybe the reason he broke down in Briarwood was to become a power ranger, he certainly didn't want to be one but, didn't his father once say that once the morphin' grid picked someone they never let go?

He was probably going to regret this, he thought as he turned around and headed back to the woods.

…

Xander and the others were on their backs, with Koragg about to deliver the death blow when Nick arrived, jumping off his bike midair and delivering a kick to Koragg.

"Nick!" they all called out in surprise.

"And now there are five," Koragg exclaimed.

"I guess there are," Nick agreed as Koragg rose his sword up high into the air and swung down at Nick, only for it to bounce off a red force field with a symbol in the middle.

"What!" he exclaimed, backing up a little.

"I am of the house of Keeper," Nick announced, "I have the Keeper's protection on me, and I will fulfill my family obligation to protect this planet from creatures like you, because not only do I know Magic exist, I also believe that I have Magic."

There was a large flash and Nick looked down, he was dressed in a tunic, vest, and cape, a cellphone in his hand. He didn't even pause to know what to do, he just let the morphin' grid to lead him, just like his father had told him many times. Gah, he was starting to sound like his father.

…

Nick picked up a magazine as he walked into the music store that the others worked at, at least now that he was a power ranger his father couldn't force him to come home, he figured. The battle with Koragg had been easy, some part of him had an uneasy feeling that he was just testing the waters, seeing how powerful they really were.

"Nick," Xander asked, "Now that we're a team, feel like helping?"

"I fight soulless mutants," Nick explained, "I don't clean."

"Then move out of the way Bucko," V insisted, nudging past Nick who rolled his eyes at her, before grinning.

"Okay, but as a wise old woman once asked, 'Do you believe in magic?"

"You think?" V asked to which Nick nodded, everything he knew about magic that it was either very narrow and only allowed the person to do certain things, or it was really wide and allowed anything to happen. Considering their latest battle he was certain that they fell into the second category.

"I believe," Maddy announced, flipping open her cellphone/wand and pointing it to a bunch of CDs on the floor, which immediately jumped up onto the shelves they had originally been on.

The others pulled out their wands as well and started using magic to sweep the floor, take out the trash, and put other things away.

"Hurry," Nick cried out, "Someone's coming."

The others hurried to finish up and put their wands away before Toby walked into the store, "Okay I know you wouldn't..." whatever he was going to say died on his lips as he looked around, "Oh, you would, it's clean… very clean. Clean as it ever been."

Suddenly a girl with curly blonde hair walked in, "Hello," she called out, "I'm new in town, can somebody help me?"

Nick glanced down at the magazine he was looking at, finding an article about power rangers that was somewhat entertaining, it was always a hoot finding out what civilians thought power rangers do in their free time.

He heard Xander and Chip fighting over who would help the girl, when suddenly he heard her walk up to him, oh, this was interesting, a new kid in town picking the leader of the power rangers out of the group, this could mean bad news, at least if he was to believe his father, "I'm sorry," he said, "I don't work here."

"You know Toby," Maddy said, leaning closer to her boss, "You really have to hire this guy because he was instrumental with cleaning the store."

Nick gave Maddy a cut-it-out look, but she ignored him, well it looked like he was going to get a summer job after all, just not in Reefside like his parents would have preferred.

"I'm not looking for a job," he growled.

"Who's the greatest guitarist ever?" Toby asked.

"Well, it's got to be Jimmy… but..."

"You're hired," Toby announced, reaching out to shake his hand, "Now help the customer."