Epilogue

The final bell rang, the most celebrated sound of the school day, but we'd received an early mark and I'd already left the classroom, gotten my backpack and slung it over my shoulder when I saw Teresa and Aaron walking towards me.

"Hey," Teresa smiled. "How are you?"

I nodded. "Fine, I guess. Still trying to convince myself that today actually happened, and definitely still a little shocked."

Aaron turned to me. "A little shocked? Man, my heart almost stopped twice in science just thinking about it." By now, we'd wandered away from the classroom and down the small hill towards the carpark. Across from us, the school's groundsmen and gardeners were all busy tending to the giant footprints across the oval.

"No, you know what, you're right," I said. "This is more than that. For the first time in my entire life, I'm somebody. Not just some dumb kid on the street, you know?"

"Definitely," Aaron nodded.

Teresa grinned. "But don't worry Pete, to us you'll always be the guy who wore Thomas the Tank Engine pyjamas until he was six." I laughed, and Teresa continued. "Anyway, we were going to ask whether you wanted to come with us over to the Youth Centre. Kimberly and Zac invited us there after school, I think for some training but also in case we needed to talk to anybody. Jason said he'd be there too."

I nodded. "I'm there."

Aaron smiled. "Who'd have thought our karate teacher and his friends would actually be the Power Rangers?"

"I know," I said. "It's a strange world, and it just got a whole lot stranger." But while I was talking to Aaron, I wasn't paying attention where I was walking, and I bumped into Joshua sitting on the ground unlocking his bike from the bike racks.

"Hey," he called angrily, "who the hell are you?"

I kept walking until we were far enough away to answer truthfully. "Who am I?" I asked, turning to Aaron and Teresa. "I'm a Power Ranger, of course." I paused, and couldn't help but grin. "Now let's go save the world."

The End.