Chapter One

"Hey guys," called Kimberly, as she and Trini crossed the bustling hallway to where Jason and Billy stood at their lockers, unloading their textbooks ready for the day's classes.

The two guys turned and waved as Kim and Trini approached. "Morning," said Jason. "Ready for another fun day of education?"

Trini smiled. "Well naturally."

Beside her, Kim stopped in front of her locker and focussed on a single dent on the locker door slightly to the left of the lock. "Magic spot," she nodded, and tapped the dent - something inside went 'clunk', and the door obediently swung open.

The Pink Ranger shoved her backpack into the locker and went straight for a pink hairbrush. Standing beside her, Billy turned to Kim and smiled - while his locker was filled to bursting with cables, electronic circuitry and blinking lights, Kim's hinted at pink and smelled of roses.

"A fraction flustered this morning Kimberly?" he asked.

Kim nodded. "I was totally having the best hair day," she said, "until the second I stepped outside and got hit by like a hurricane. The weather we've been having lately is crazy."

Jason shut his locker with a clang and considered the books in his arms. "So what's first up?"

"Double history with Mr Rumsfield," replied Trini. "We're getting our assignment topics today, so that should be good."

Jason shook his head. "You've got to teach me how to be enthusiastic about this stuff," he said. "I mean seriously, I can't manage it, not at eight thirty in the morning."

"I heard that," came a voice, and everyone looked up as Zac and Tommy approached. "Double history first up" continued Zac, stopping beside his locker, "it's enough to make even trigonometry sound good."

"How come?" asked Kimberly.

Jason nodded. "Yeah man. So Rumsfield drones on a bit sometimes, but I mean, what's so bad about history?"

Zac looked up from his locker, an unreadable expression on his face. "What subject are we looking at, right now?"

Jason replied so quickly even Rumsfield would've been impressed. "Early European settlement of Australia," he said.

"And?"

"Uh... the settlers' first encounters with..." The Red Ranger realised what he was about to say, and his face fell. "...the local Aborigines." He looked away. "Oh."

The teens glanced around to each other, as Zac turned back to freeing his history book. The Black Ranger had never really talked about his family's history, in fact it hadn't been a topic of any conversation they'd ever had. Everyone felt the confines of decidedly unfamiliar territory closing in. Around them, the hallway was steadily emptying as everybody jogged off to class, and the sudden silence was deafening.

"But," began Billy, "why should such a topic...?"

"It's just weird," said Zac. "Sitting in class listening to everyone talk about it. It's like Rumsfield expects me to get up and launch into a speech about how the school was built on my tribal grounds or something. And I can just feel everyone looking at me, you know?"

Tommy offered a half-smile. "Like being the ex-evil Ranger who tried to kill everybody and destroy the city?"

"I'm serious," Zac replied, and looked back to the group. "I was never taken from my parents, my family grew up in Brisbane and my dad makes a good living." He paused, sighing. "I just wish I could get up and leave my skin behind sometimes, that's all. You guys wouldn't understand."

Silence fell. Kimberly bit her bottom lip and glanced to Jason, but the Red Ranger shrugged helplessly. For the first time ever, nobody could think of anything to say.

Just then, the Rangers' communicators all beeped, and nobody could recall an occasion when they were less happy to hear that familiar six-note chime. Jason glanced around but the hallway had by now emptied, and the Rangers formed a circle around him as he raised his communicator and spoke.

"Zordon, Jason here. We read you."

"Rangers," came Zordon's voice. "I don't wish to alarm you, but there's something you should know."

"What's happening?" asked Tommy.

"To be honest, nothing," Zordon replied. "Yet. The computers here detected an unusual energy signature across the city that wasn't there yesterday. A very minor shift in the Grid, but that made it all the more noticeable. There's just something in the air, some unusual force we can't identify. And until we do, if you could just keep your eyes open Rangers, and be careful."

"Thanks for the heads-up Zordon," said Jason. "We'll let you know if we see anything," and the communicator fell silent.

Billy glanced around the group. "Well that was ominous."

"Should we call the Junior Team?" asked Trini.

Tommy shook his head. "Nah, we shouldn't worry them," he said. "We can call them later if we need them."

"We don't even know what we're looking for," said Kim.

"Well, we probably shouldn't worry about it right now though," said Trini.

"Why not?" asked Jason.

The Yellow Ranger glanced to her communicator. "Because we're at least five minutes late for class."

As everyone dashed off towards the history room, Zac finished pulling his books free. "Great. Something's on its way to eat the city," he said, slamming his locker shut. "What else is new?" And books in hand, he hurried off after the other Rangers.

"... and in other news, the steadily increasing number of sharks sighted in coast waters has seen beach after beach along the Sunshine Coast closed until further notice. Anyone caught swimming at a closed beach will face heavy penalties from local councils..."

The newsreader's voice faded as the car came to a stop in the school parking lot, and Brendan Watts glanced across to his mother in the driver's seat. "Well, we certainly picked a great time to move to Caloundra."

Beth Watts smiled and reached for her handbag. "Find me anywhere in the state where the housing rates are so low."

Brendan nodded. "Mostly because there's usually something about to step on them," he replied, before glancing up to where Currimundi State School stood facing them. "I guess this is it," he continued softly.

"Hey, at least the school's still here," Beth said, and looked into the rear-view mirror to where Brendan's younger sister sat in the backseat staring glumly out the window. "You've got all your books Rebecca?"

Her daughter nodded, and reached for her backpack beside her. "Everything right here Mum."

Beth nodded, and looked back to Brendan. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked. "I have to take Beck down to the fourth grade classroom, but I can come back if you want."

"No," Brendan replied, "that's okay. This Mr Di... uh..."

"Certo."

"Yeah, he sounds pretty cool. And besides, it's only a room full of complete strangers, I mean, that should be a piece of cake right?"

"Hey," Beth replied, "look at me," and Brendan turned to her, his eyes betraying his cheerful words. "You never know. There might be somebody in there just waiting for a friend. Be yourself."

Brendan looked away. "But what if they don't like that version?"

Beth shrugged. "I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't," she said. "Besides, I've got a lot more to worry about than you. Teaching music isn't exactly up there with maths and English." She paused. "But c'mon, new job and new school. I can do this if you can, but I'm pretty sure I can't do it without you."

Brendan nodded, before looking back to her and grinning. "Well then, let's go kick some butt."

It was only ten o'clock in the morning, and I was already down one ruler, two pencils and an entire workbook. Looking around the noisy classroom, I glanced down to the corner where Joel and Joshua sat laughing to themselves about something. Looking back to me briefly, Joshua waved cheerily and turned back, and the two continued sniggering. I shook my head, more angry at myself than them, and reached into the tray under the desk for my emergency supplies.

I should've known better than to leave all my stuff on top of the desk when I stepped away for a minute to talk to Mr Di Certo. There are plenty of people at the school who I can trust, but I don't share this classroom with a single one.

I rested my head in my hands and glanced out the windows at the side of the room. I'd heard that a new sixth grade student would be starting today, most likely in Mr Di Certo's class. I just hope they knew what they were in for.

And that's when I first caught sight of him, a boy making his way past the classroom. Stopping outside the door, he knocked lightly, and everyone looked up from their desks as Mr Di Certo quickly crossed the room.

"Excellent," he said, "Everybody, our new class member is here." And reaching the door, he pulled it open.

Framed in the doorway, the new student took a hesitant few steps into the classroom. Dressed in the typical Currimundi uniform, a green shirt with grey shorts, he was shorter than average, with a mess of dark curly hair, dancing brown eyes and a mouth that seemed to naturally curve into a warm grin. But glancing hopefully around the room, his smile fell and he lowered his gaze. Even from across the room I could see the conflict taking place behind those eyes - he wanted to be the grinning enthusiastic new student, but looked to be settling for the quiet and reserved new student.

"Brendan Watts," said Mr Di Certo, ushering him into the room, "welcome to 6D." Scanning for a spare desk, Mr Di Certo spotted the vacant seats on either side of me, and nodded. "You'll have to take the spare desk next to Peter there." Almost immediately, a low murmur rose from the guys in the front row, but Brendan didn't seem to hear them as he made his way towards me. "Peter, why don't you show Brendan around at morning tea?"

"Sure thing Mr Di Certo," I replied, as Brendan slid into the seat beside me. "Hey," I said.

He smiled and extended his hand. "Hi, uh, Brendan Watts."

I nodded, and shook his head. "Yeah, I heard before," I said. "Peter Smith."

"Good to meet you," he said, then began loading his books into the tray beneath his desktop. "So, what's everyone in the middle of?"

"Oh," I said, and moved my English textbook over between our desks. "Just reading this passage and answering these questions here. Skip ten and eleven, they're about something we haven't looked at yet, and seven's damn near impossible."

"Cool," he nodded. "Thanks. Hey, can I ask, what was up with those guys in the front row before?"

"Oh, well, you should probably know I don't have too many fans in here."

"Really?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I wouldn't have picked it."

I smiled. "Brendan Watts, I like you already," I said, and he beamed that shining grin again. I was beginning to like seeing that smile. "So where are you from?"

"One of the smaller schools in the middle of Brisbane," Brendan replied. "It was okay, I guess, but all concrete and traffic. You guys are sitting like right on the beach here."

"Improvement?"

He smiled. "You could say that."

I nodded. "Forgive me for asking, but your mother is the school's new music teacher, right?" He nodded, and I continued. "Is it weird, you know, your mother teaching you?"

Brendan shrugged. "Not really. I mean, my mother's always been there at the schools I've been to, so I just got used to it."

"Coolness. And hey, at least you'd always get good grades in music?"

Brendan shook his head sadly. "Not a chance."

The next half hour passed pretty quickly, and pretty soon the bell rang. We all put our books away and filed outside.

"So," I said, "how about the ten cent tour? It's Wednesday, so half price."

"Not such a great idea Pete," growled a voice, and we both turned to Joel and Joshua standing behind us. Joshua immediately stepped forward, grabbed Brendan's shoulder, and dragged him over towards them. "I'm sure the poor guy's sick of you by now. We can show Brendan around."

Brendan glanced from me to Joel. "Well, actually, I'm..." but he caught me shaking my head and fell silent. I liked Brendan too much to let him become an outcast on his very first day, and avoiding the situation would've been better for everyone.

"Go ahead," I said, raising my hands in defeat.

Joel grinned victoriously - and believe me, I would've given anything to wipe that smirk off his face - and steered Brendan away. Brendan looked back to me quickly, but I shrugged helplessly. He nodded, and the three continued to walk away.

"It helps if you learn to identify your losers by sight," Joshua said, "that way you won't run the risk of actually hanging out with any of them."

I shook my head, watching them go, before grabbing some food from my backpack. Heading out into the courtyard between the sixth and seventh grade classrooms, I sat down in the sun to enjoy my morning tea and wait for the three of them to return. Sure enough, in a few minutes they wandered back into view, Brendan fenced in on either side between Joel and Joshua and glancing around for an escape with every step. Seeing me, Brendan tried to step away towards me, but blissfully clueless, Joshua and Joel stepped forward and cut off his escape path.

"So," Joel said, "where else you wanna go? Maybe head down onto the oval, and play some footy?"

Joshua nodded. "Yeah, you don't want to stick around here. I mean," and he nodded back to where I was sitting, "c'mon."

Brendan lowered his gaze, and glanced over to me before looking back up to the two guys. "You know, thank you for the offer," he said, and I could hear the tone in his voice that wasn't there a minute ago. "But I think I can spot the losers around here by myself. So thanks, but no thanks."

Silence fell. There were about a dozen students in the courtyard around me, and we were all now watching the scene with increasing interest. For their part, Joel and Joshua turned to each other with blank stares, aware of the joke but only realising after a few seconds who the punchline was.

Joel stepped forward, and everybody watching suddenly realised how tall he looked beside Brendan. "What?"

"I'm sorry Joel, but if you had one original thought in your head it would probably die of boredom," Brendan replied. "Can I get back to my one actual friend now?"

Joel sneered, and pulled his fist back. "You little runt," he grunted - then suddenly there was a blur of motion from Brendan, and Joel instantly dropped to the ground, curling up into a ball and panting heavily, blinking tears from his eyes.

Brendan leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You know, dude, there are a couple of lessons in life that everybody should know, and at the very top of that list? Never threaten somebody at just the right height for delivering a swift kick to particularly vulnerable areas." Joshua turned to him, and Brendan grinned. "Do you really want to be limping for a month?" he asked, then walked over to me without a glance backwards.

I stood up to meet him. "You know, I'm impressed," I said, "and trust me, I don't impress easily. But wasn't that technically cheating?"

Brendan's grin seemed to have permanently settled into place, and he laughed. "I prefer to think of it as winning. So how about that tour now?" he asked. I nodded, and we turned and walked away. "Ten cents, eh?" He paused, and frowned. "Got change for a twenty?"

"Hey!" called Scott, waving a sheet of paper in one hand as he jogged down to the school gate where Teresa stood waiting. "I forgot to pick up one of the camp permission forms," he said, coming to a stop beside the fence, "and I had to head back up to the office to get one."

"Cool," said Teresa, as they turned and left the school grounds. "I was worried you'd forgotten about me. Can I have a look?"

Scott nodded, handing her the forms. "We've got a week to get Mum and Dad to sign them and hand them back in." He paused, and frowned. "I think only one of us has to actually hand a form in, they weren't too clear on that."

Teresa smiled. "What if you hand in one that says 'yes', while I had in one that says 'no'?" Scott laughed, and Teresa gave him back the forms. "So did you see Peter today? I totally missed him."

"Yeah," Scott replied, brushing a stray lock of wavy hair out of his eyes. "He was showing around a new kid all day, I think someone said his name was Brendan. He's the son of the new music teacher."

"Oh, okay. I hope we get to meet him."

Turning a corner, they glanced down the street to see Zac, Kimberly and Billy walking towards them. Seeing the kids, the three teens waved and jogged up to meet them, Billy with a newspaper under one arm.

"Afternoon guys," said Teresa, as the three Senior Rangers reached them.

"Hey," smiled Kim. "You heading up to the Youth Centre as well?"

Teresa nodded. "Mind if we tag along?"

The Pink Ranger grinned. "Like of course not," and the group turned and continued.

Beside her, Billy glanced quickly through the newspaper before tucking it into his backpack. "Hmm. How peculiar..." he said thoughtfully.

"Billy, what's up?" asked Teresa.

"An article I was perusing in today's newspaper," the blond youth replied. "Apparently the entire crop of three fresh produce farms west of the city turned bad overnight. The farmers woke this morning and their produce was completely ruined. None could identify why."

"That is pretty weird," said Kim. "Maybe it's something to do with what Zordon said this morning."

"My thoughts exactly," Billy nodded.

Scott turned to them. "You guys... uh, talked to Zordon today?"

Kim nodded. "Nothing major, he just said that they'd picked up some kind of weird signal and we should all like keep our eyes open."

"Yeah," said Zac. "We didn't call, we didn't want to worry you guys."

"That's cool," replied Teresa. "Thanks."

Billy turned to Zac. "I was meaning to ask, actually," he began. "I have my advanced physics while you're engaged in historical studies. How did your lesson go?"

Zac shook his head. "Don't even ask man. We got our big assignment today, and after he'd handed it out Rumsfield stood up and said how he expected some unique and original insights into the material. I could feel the entire class lookin' at me."

"Zac, you know I love you," said Kimberly, "but don't you think you might be totally over-reacting?"

Billy nodded. "Kimberly's right Zac. It's not as if the Education Board set down this particular curriculum for the sole purpose of causing you psychological anxiety about your studies."

Zac kicked a stone as he walked, and watched it skitter away. "Yeah," he said softly, "I guess so," before turning to Billy, flashing a grin and clapping a hand against Billy's shoulder. "Even if I have no idea what you just said, man. Not a clue."

The teens laughed, and Kimberly stopped and glanced up to the sky. "Oh hey," she began. "Guys, check that out."

The four other Rangers all looked up and noticed what Kimberly had seen. It was hard to miss - high above them in the upper reaches of the atmosphere, a thin stream of grey cloud was being driven across the sky on a direct course west by a single current of wind. The spear of cloud seemingly tore the already-turbulent skies in half, leaving a sea of rolling black clouds in its wake and soon disappearing over the western horizon.

"Now that's weird," nodded Zac. "Billy...?"

The Blue Ranger shook his head. "It doesn't correspond with any weather pattern I'm familiar with," Billy replied softly. "I couldn't even estimate what type of cloud we were observing."

Teresa gazed back across the darkening skies. "Do you think we should...?" she began, but her voice was drowned out by a sudden crack of thunder. The five Rangers glanced around in alarm, and without another word they turned and ran the rest of the way to the Youth Centre, followed all the way by angry, pelting drops of rain.