Nick looked up at the broomsticks zooming around back and forth overhead. All he had to do was use his magic staff to catch the broomstick. A simple exercise that taught them how to catch a spell on a moving object, just like his mom practices archery with moving targets to help her aim.
At Daggeron's, who had been training them, command, he flicked his wand, remembering what his mother had taught him, don't aim at where the targets are at, but where it is going to be at. He smiled softly as the broom flew into his hand, a ribbon tied around the handle.
"Excellent," Daggeron exclaimed, "Good work."
NIck looked around and saw that Chip, Maddy, and V had all managed to catch their broomsticks, but Xander was still running around shooting his wand randomly in the hopes of catching his. He obviously hadn't been listening at all to what Daggeron had told him.
"You need to practice more," Daggeron insisted, "I expect better from you."
Xander pulled a face before turning around and leaving.
"I expect to see everyone bright and early tomorrow morning," Daggeron announced, "We need to see just how much you have improved. So practice."
…
Nick yawned slightly, as he watched the sun rise up a little, sunrise, just like Daggeron had instructed him.
"What is up with him?" Xander complained, "Who does he think he is, just waltzing into our lives and telling us what to do?"
"Udonna asked him to train us," Nick pointed out, "We should listen to him."
"It's easy for you to say that, you're his little pet, teacher pet."
"It's only easy for me because a lot of what he's trying to teach us is very similar to what my parents tried to teach me as a child. Similar to what I hear them tell my younger siblings all the time."
"Seriously, Chip, you agree with me, right?"
Chip shook his head, "Well, I…" he trailed off as someone appeared.
"Good morning," Daggeron announced brightly, "Today I've set up an obstacle course. Use your magic to gather five flags."
…
The obstacle course was rather easy, or at least Nick thought it was. They had found Maddy's flag first, out in the ocean beyond the beach. It had taken Maddy a half of a minute to retrieve it. Vida's was next, and she was able to get her's from where it was floating in the air in a blink of an eye. Chip was able to get his flag from underneath a pile of boulders, and he had been able to free his flag from a block of ice.
Xander's flag was the problem, it was hovering over a swampy part of the forest. It was obvious that the way to get it was by swinging on a vine. Xander created a vine, which Daggeron took, looking at it. Nick didn't know much about vines, but that one didn't look like it could hold much weight. Daggeron gave it an experimental tug before jumping up and swinging forward, reaching up towards the flag. The vine broke mid air sending him plummeting into the swamp.
"Opps," Xander said as the others helped Daggeron out of the swamp.
"Your lack of practice is dangerous."
"It's just training," Xander potested, "It's no big deal."
"Next time it could be for real," Daggeron insisted, "Without practice your magic will go weak," he pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Xander, "Stay here and grow this acorn into a tree without your wand."
"But that will take all night," Xander insisted.
"Then I suggest that you get started."
Nick smirked as he saw Xander, passed out in the arm chair at work, "Xander learned a new spell code last night," V announced with a smirk, "Sonic disruption."
Nick snickered as V lifted up a box of cleaning supplies before dropping it, causing Xander to leap out of his chair.
"Guys, surely by now you have to agree that Daggeron has to go?"
Nick shook his head, "His methods are different from my dad's but he has a point. If we don't practice, we won't get stronger."
"Daggeron has to go," Xander insisted, "He's singled me out because of my good looks."
Nick groaned, not only was Xander sounding just like Zack Taylor, but Daggeron had just walked in behind Xander.
"He's probably jealous because he can't get a date of his own," Xander insisted.
Nick rubbed his face, had his dad ever walked in on teammates talking bad of him before. Probably not, Uncle Jason and his friends knew better than to get on Tommy Oliver's bad side, and if it had happened with Kira and her team then, well, he would have heard about it.
Maddy cleared her throat, gesturing over to behind XAnder.
"He's standing right behind me isn't he?" Xander asked.
"You're all coming with me on a very special assignment, we're going on a field trip."
Nick groaned, that was not something any power ranger wanted to hear. Nothing good ever came from a field trip.
Daggeron punched a ticket with his morpher and a train appeared out of nowhere.
"Whoa," Maddy exclaimed with a laugh as she rushed to board the train, "I wonder where we're going."
"Wherever we're going I'm sure it's going to be terrible," Xander murmured.
The train lurched forward. Chip squealed, "Here we go."
"I think this is going to be a blast," V exclaimed.
"I think that I will rather be back at work."
"Stop being such a spoilsport," Nick snapped, "Trust me, we are going to learn a lot on this trip."
"Look," Chip called out, "We're headed to a magical portal."
…
Nick glanced at his new clothes that appeared when he stepped out of the train, "Hmm, this is going to be interesting," he muttered to himself as Xander complained about his clothes.
"I'm glad you like your new clothes, you need to be dressed appropriately because you are going to be staying here for awhile," Daggeron announced, holding up a ticket, "Here is your ticket home, find it and the train will pick you up."
With that he flicked his wrist and the ticket flew off into the trees.
"Nice throw," Jenji commented.
"Find the ticket and return home," Daggeron announced, should be easy enough.
"Nothing's that easy," Nick muttered, "just saying, you forgot to factor in the fact that I am a Keeper. Keeper's curse anyone."
"I haven't actually seen the curse in action," Chip insisted, "Sure there was that time Imperious almost got Udonna and Clare, but that could have happened to any of us."
Nick clapped Chip on the back, "Don't worry when I get eaten alive, I'll be sure to explain to you that that was the Keeper's Curse at its finest."
"You can't leave them here," Jenji insisted, "What will they eat, and more importantly, what will eat them?"
"They'll be fine, Jenji," Daggeron insisted, brushing past the cat genie before turning to the power rangers. One more thing. I'll be taking your morphers."
"What!" Xander exclaimed, "You can't do that!"
Nick, however, just shrugged, handing his morpher over, "You'll be surprised on how many times Mom and Dad ended up in enemy territory without their morphers. If you ever get captured, the morpher is the first thing they take from you. It's an important tool, but it can't be the only tool in your arsenal."
"What are you even talking about?" Xander demanded.
"My father, when captured, could usually escape within five minutes."
"What if he couldn't escape that quickly?" Vida asked.
"Then Mom would appear and they would wish that they hadn't captured Dad."
"Your family is the weirdest family I know," Xander insisted.
"You will be surprised at how often I've been told that."
…
It was Vida who had found the seed pods, shaking them like maracas, both Chip and Maddy joining in with a laugh. Nick accepted one from Maddy and started goofing off with them as well. They hadn't found the ticket yet, but they hadn't found anything dangerous yet either. It was nice to relax and goof around, enjoying the different dimension that they were in.
Xander didn't join in, throwing the maraca he was handed off the cliff all while grumbling about how they were stuck there for no good reason.
"Daggeron is just punishing us," Xander insisted.
Suddenly there was an angry scream that knocked Xander to the ground.
Nick grimaced, helping Xander up, "My ring just lit up, the Keeper's Curse just activated."
"Cool," Chip exclaimed.
"Not cool," Nick explained, "Trust me, I know, let's find that ticket and get out of here before something eats us."
…
Nick wasn't really surprised when he felt the giant hand wrap around him and lift him up. It was high time the Keeper Curse got to him.
"What is he doing?" Maddy hissed, glancing at her teammates.
"Carving a roasting stick," Nick explained, "He's probably going to roast us over that fire. This my friends is the Keeper's Curse at its finest."
"That's weird," Chip insisted, "Because all of the books I've read about giants say that they boil their dinner."
"What are we going to do?" Vida hissed.
"I can't do anything," Nick insisted, "The Keeper's Curse is acting up, has been all day, if I try to do anything it will only make things worse."
"Great," Maddy muttered, "Not only are we about to become a giant's dinner but the one with the most knowledge of mythical creatures can't do anything because of an ancient curse placed on his family because his ancestor couldn't play nice."
"More like the person who cursed my family couldn't play nice, but yeah."
Suddenly there was a clattering of rocks as Xander appeared.
"Xander can help," Nick pointed out, "He's not a Keeper, so the Keeper Curse shouldn't affect him." Xander, however, didn't stay long, as soon as the giant threw down a giant fruit. He grabbed one of the seeds and ran off again.
"Please tell me he has a plan." Vida demanded.
The giant grabbed hold of the rope tying them up, tugging them towards the fire when Xander appeared again, a large piece of fruit in his hands, "You don't want to eat them, think about the cholesterol," XAnder insisted, "how about this nice, big piece of fruit."
The giant reached down and grabbed the fruit, splitting it open and taking a large bite.
"Where'd you get this, I haven't had fruit this good in years?" the giant asked.
Xander smiled, "There's more where it came from, follow me."
Nick grimaced as he was tugged along behind the giant as Xander led him to an empty meadow, where Xander threw a large cup of seeds out into the field and grew them into trees.
The Giant dropped the rope, "I'm sorry about everything, I've been starving for months, I'm actually a Vegetarian," he announced, "Your friends can go. Oh!" he held something up, "Is this what you were looking for?"
Nick pulled the rope off of himself, "Xander you better grab the ticket, The Keeper's Curse is still acting up."
