Author's notes - welcome to chapter four :). For the record, the two characters I introduce in this chapter are all mine, two original heroes I wrote into this series (although I did have help in their creation). Oh, and enjoy Trini's moment of pure badassedness later on in the chapter :).

Chapter Four

"Hey guys, check it out," said Kimberly, staring up at the side of an office block and beckoning the other two Rangers over. "Here's another one!"

Trini and Billy quickly jogged over to join Kimberly, reaching her side and turning to find another picture of the same two figures, one with a skateboard and the other wearing green with long red hair.

"Wow," said Trini. "That's, what, four over the last couple of blocks?"

Billy nodded. "Five," he replied, and the three Rangers turned to continue along the alley. "In fact I'm beginning to suspect they're more than just graffiti. Particularly given the regularity and concentration of them."

Kimberly turned to him. "What, like a street sign or something?" she asked.

Billy nodded. "Affirmative," he said. "From the looks of it, these particular alleys fall under the territorial limits of these two characters, and thusly they serve to warn trespassers."

"That sounds ominous," said Trini.

Ahead of them, the alley met another side-street at right-angles, but as they approached, Kimberly began to hear a voice, soft but distinct, muttering words at a rapid pace. Raising her hand and signalling the others to stop, she carefully peeked around the corner.

Down the side-street, halfway between the Rangers and the city beyond, a young man with bleached blond hair and wearing tattered clothes and a dark jacket was leaning against the wall, half-hidden in shadow and casually thumbing through an expensive leather wallet, muttering gleefully to himself as he flipped through the contents.

With a smile, Kim turned back to Billy and Trini. "Never fear guys," she said. "We just found some help."

The 'help' in question was currently enjoying the fruits of what had been a particularly lucrative morning. Seventeen-year-old Danny 'Car Crash' Blackwell knew the block was definitely off-limits, but the risk had been pretty worth it, and his smile grew steadily wider as he continued to explore the contents of the wallet. But he was so engrossed in his new-found wealth that the first clue that he was no longer alone was the sound of several people suddenly dropping down before him.

He immediately looked up, his smile vanishing in a heartbeat, and seeing two imposing figures emerging from the shadows, one on either side, he shrank back against the wall, still clutching the wallet tightly.

"Grind! Tanith!" he said quickly, glancing between the two dark shapes. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean... I was in this part of the city looking for somebody... I didn't... I wasn't..." but his voice trailed off as a third figure emerged from the shadows, and his brow lowered. "Who are you?"

Kim grinned beneath her visor. "The Pink Power Ranger," she replied, stepping into the light. "Nice to meet you."

Danny froze, repeating the words under his breath. But then, glancing back to the first two shapes and slowly recognising the costume shared by all three, his eyes went wide and he shrank back even further. "Oh crap..."

"There's nothing to be afraid of," said Trini. "In fact, we need your help. Those two names you just mentioned, Grind and...?"

"Tanith?"

"Tanith," Trini nodded. "Tell us, the pictures we've seen on the buildings around here, is that them?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah," he replied. "This is their turf. I'm not supposed to..."

"So they're like the local heroes around here?" Kim asked. Danny nodded, and the Pink Ranger continued. "Well, we need to find them. Do you know where they are?"

Danny glanced from one Ranger to the other, and shook his head.

"It's really important," Kim continued, and then realised what the deal needed. "I totally give you my word, we won't tell them we saw you."

The thief lowered his gaze, contemplating his options, but after a few seconds, looked back up to them. "Three blocks that way," he said, pointing down the alley. "Underground parking lot that leads to a big abandoned warehouse. Can't miss it."

The three Rangers all looked to each other and nodded. "Thanks," said Kimberly, stepping forward to lightly pat the street-thief on the shoulder. "You've been a big help," and the Rangers turned away.

"Wait..." said Danny, stepping forward, "that was it? You're not gonna kung-fu me or summon a zord or something...?"

Trini smiled beneath her helmet. "Of course not," she said. "We're the good guys, remember? In fact you may have just been crucial in helping us save the planet. As for that," and she nodded to the leather wallet, "we know for a fact that you're going to take that straight to the nearest police station and hand it in as lost property, because you're a kind-hearted and responsible young man, concerned about his fellow citizens." She paused. "And that includes those notes you tucked into your back pocket while we were talking."

Danny nodded dumbly, and hesitating only a second longer, turned and bolted, disappearing from sight a few seconds later.

"C'mon," said Billy, "I believe we have a lead," and the Rangers turned and ran back in the direction Danny had indicated. "I must say Trini, I'm impressed."

Kimberly glanced over to the Yellow Ranger. "Me too. That was totally cool."

Trini nodded. "You just have to talk to people in their own language," she replied.

Jason and I slowly made our way through a park north of the city, in the suburbs known collectively as Kawana, the highway in the distance and one of the area's many canals on our left, both of us armed with our Power Swords.

"If this was a trap," I began, "I have to say, I think it needs work."

Jason smiled. "Maybe Ultramarine's trying to weaken us through boredom."

"Ah. The slow burn approach to supervillainy?"

"Yeah."

I turned back to the Red Ranger beside me. "Hey, about yesterday afternoon," I said. "Can I ask, I mean I know you explained about our blade blasters, but was that all? I got the feeling there was more to it than that, and Ultramarine being the jerk that he is interrupted us anyway..."

Jason nodded, and turning to me, lowered his voice. "You're right, there was more to it than that," he said. "It was my way of saying that I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Well, for what you said yesterday morning," Jason replied. "I mean, it's hardly your fault for not knowing something if the guy who's supposed to be teaching you hasn't actually told you a damn thing." He paused, shaking his head. "You know I was the same when I first started teaching Billy karate, I just charged ahead and left him behind me. I picked up this 'cryptic teacher' thing somewhere, and it tends to show up at the worst times. Forgive me?"

I nodded. "Well of course."

"Thanks," Jason replied. "I'll do better next time, I promise."

I turned to him. "It's all we can do," I said with a nod. Behind his helmet, Jason smiled, and we continued on through the park.

The three Rangers soon saw that Danny's directions had been trustworthy - following the alley past three more blocks, the street sloped down into an underground parking hangar that seemed to lead straight into the lower levels of an enormous dark warehouse, both long since abandoned and in total disrepair. Daylight vanished as the Rangers stepped down into the deserted garage, the three barely visible even to each other in the darkness, and in the silence of the place, they began to hear an odd rhythmic noise rolling out from the building facing them.

"Dark and creepy," nodded Kimberly. "Bad real estate deal, I guess. So what now?"

"This has to be the place," said Trini. "I wonder what that noise is."

"Unless I'm mistaken, it sounds very much like skateboards," said Billy slowly. "Dozens of them, on a concrete floor."

The three Rangers came to a stop a few metres out from where the parking garage ran into the warehouse. "Anyone see a door?" asked Kimberly.

"I can barely see you guys," Trini smiled. "There has to be an entrance somewhere, though. C'mon..."

But before they'd taken two steps forward, a voice suddenly rang out, short and sharp.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing, don't."

Glancing around for the speaker, the Rangers looked up to see two dark figures standing on a ledge overlooking the hangar, silhouetted against the shadows behind them, the voice seeming to belong to the figure on the left.

Trini stepped forward. "We're sorry to intrude," she began, "but..."

"You're trespassing on our territory," the voice interrupted, young and male from the tone. "Leave. Now."

"Look, we mean no harm," said Kimberly. "We're the..."

"This is your last warning," came a second voice, the figure on the right this time, young but definitely female. "You will not get another."

Kimberly raised her hands in frustration. "Well if you'd turn the lights on..."

"And you just ran out of chances," the first voice said. "Go!"

With that, the empty carpark suddenly came alive with sound and motion - the two figures leaped down towards the Rangers, the speaker on the left attacking Billy while the figure on the right somersaulted towards Kimberly. Standing between them, Trini glanced quickly from one to the other, about to help when she too came under attack, as somewhere in the dark, doors crashed open and skateboarders - dozens of them, all young men - raced towards her.

Reaching Billy, the shadowy figure immediately swung a roundhouse punch, and wary of his own superstrength, the Blue Ranger quickly ducked back out of range. "This is ridicu..." he began, cut off as his shadowy opponent swung again - Billy blocked the blow, struck away a low kick and caught his opponent's fist. "Look, we're here to..." but the Blue Ranger ducked as the figure aimed high with a spin kick. Spinning around, the figure unhooked something strapped to his back - Billy recognised it as a skateboard, even in the low light - and swung it for Billy's helmet. The Blue Ranger spun around the blow, ducking another blow and forcing his opponent back with the lightest blow he could manage. "If you could just listen..."

Across the battlefield, the other dark figure leaped towards Kimberly, raising its hands and sending bolts of light spiralling towards the Pink Ranger. Kimberly leaped to the side as the bolts smashed harmlessly into the ground behind her - spinning back around, she summoned her Power Bow and aimed a volley of arrows at the ground a step ahead of her opponent. But raising their hand, the figure froze the arrows in midair, before leaping over them and attacking, Kimberly ducking under a blow and striking back.

A few metres away, Trini found herself surrounded by a steadily-closing circle of skateboarders. They waited only a second longer, and attacked - Trini blocked a high punch from the left and lightly struck the youth away, turning to kick a board out from under an attacker on the right and sending him crashing before catching a blow from behind and spinning a third attacker away.

Trini glanced from the skateboarders around her to Billy and Kimberly, and shook her head.

"Enough," she said, and summoning her Power Daggers, she threw one for Billy's opponent on the left, the dagger taking the skateboard clean out of the figure's hands and pinning it to the wall behind him, before aiming the other straight towards Kimberly's opponent. Oblivious to the incoming weapon, the shadowy figure raised their arm to attack again, the dagger embedding in the warehouse wall an inch between thumb and forefinger.

Everybody suddenly froze, and silence fell. The two figures turned to look at the daggers that had suddenly materialised beside them, the Pink and Blue Rangers stepped back over to Trini, and the circle of skateboarders immediately began widening.

Trini stepped forward. "If you could just listen," she said, breaking the silence. "We are not your enemies and have no wish to fight. My friends and I are the Blue, Pink and Yellow Power Rangers - surely you've heard of us. We're here looking for Grind and Tanith, as we need their help and we don't have much time."

Another moment of silence followed. The shadowy figures glanced back to each other, and prying his skateboard free, the figure who'd fought Billy nodded and raised his voice. "Yo, Vinnie - hit the lights, will ya?"

The sound of footsteps echoed down from somewhere above, and without warning, spotlights along the roof flashed to life, bathing the entire area in bright light and finally showing the Rangers who they were facing.

The figure opposite Billy looked to be a young man in his late teens, maybe a year or two older than the Rangers. He wore a red and black shirt and black pants, his clothes more streetwise than superhero, and his head was covered by a full-face black bandanna that left his mouth and chin free and gave the hint of spiky blond hair at the back. His expression was cool, his posture suggesting somebody used to movement and action, battle-scars evident on his arms and legs.

Opposite him, the figure who'd confronted Kimberly stood in stark contrast. She was a young woman, the same age as the skateboarder, tall with long red hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a green robe, with a green skirt over similarly-coloured boots. Her expression was one of amazement and growing joy, and her smile was bright and gave the unmistakable hint of magic.

Around them, the skateboarders who'd fought Trini were staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed at the three Rangers, several running straight into each other and tumbling to the ground.

The faintest hint of a smile crossed the blond skateboarder. "Everybody, inside," he said. The skateboarders immediately obeyed the order, picking themselves up and vanishing into the warehouse through several doorways now visible in the light. "Sorry about all that," he continued, looking back to the Rangers. "I'm Grind."

"And I'm Tanith!" said the girl. "It's an honour to meet you!" Approaching Kim, she looked down to the Pink Ranger's glove for a second, but rallied and shook it anyway. "I apologise for our misunderstanding," she said, and glanced to Grind. "I believe I may have said that they did not look particularly threatening."

Grind raised his hands in defeat. "Okay, you got this one."

"I seem to recall getting the last few as well," Tanith replied with an innocent smile.

Grind shook his head but smiled, and strapping the board to his back, walked over. "We don't have a lot of friends," he explained. "When we saw you approach..."

"Don't worry about it," Kimberly replied. "We're heroes who've never met before, I think it'd be a record if we didn't fight."

Grind laughed. "Damn union rules," he said. "No hard feelings then?"

"Negative," Billy replied. "I didn't harm you before, did I?"

Grind shook his head. "I've taken worse falls grinding off a kick flip to frontside railslide."

The Blue Ranger nodded, but quickly glanced to Kimberly. "That's a no," she whispered.

"So how can we help you?" asked Tanith.

"I think we should get inside first," said Grind. "We can't stand out here all day."

"Of course," nodded Tanith. "Rangers, please, follow us."

The pair stepped over to the side of the warehouse, and while Grind held one of the doors open, Tanith led the Rangers inside. Although it took their eyes a few seconds to adjust to the dark, they soon saw Billy had been right - aside from a wall of smaller rooms in one corner of the building, the warehouse's interior seemed to be filled with concrete ramps, platforms and arches, an indoor skatepark for what looked to be dozens of black-clad skateboarders, most of them boys but with a few girls visible in the crowd. The Rangers instantly caught the attention of several nearby board-riders, and from there, a rising murmur spread quickly through the building.

"Wow," said Kim. "Cosy."

Tanith nodded. "It is dark," she began, as Grind joined her, "but surprisingly hygienic."

"This way," Grind said, and they led the Rangers across the warehouse towards the smaller rooms in the corner. As they walked, the Rangers couldn't help but notice another picture of Grind spraypainted onto the far wall, but underneath were hundreds of skateboards, every board either broken or missing wheels, all piled up together in what was unmistakably a shrine.

Kimberly turned to Grind. "So you know our story," she said. "But what's yours?"

Grind shrugged. "Nothin' to tell," he replied, then turned to Kim and lowered his gaze. "No family, at least that I know of. I grew up on the streets. Learned how to fight, learned how to take care of myself and learned how to skate, in that order." He paused, and glanced to the growing crowd watching the procession. "The groupies all came on their own, and I never got rid of them," he added with a smile.

Trini turned to Tanith. "You're a team?" she asked, and when Tanith nodded, she continued. "Your powers are very impressive. Where are you from?"

Tanith nodded. "An age ago," she began, "my clan of faeries lost our home in a great battle. The Queen of our people, my mother, led us to a red world across the stars, what you know as Mars. Eventually we made the decision to return, but during the trip I fell forward through time and landed here." Tanith looked across to Grind and smiled. "Grind found me and protected me, and when I grew well, I joined him."

Kim stopped, her brow lowered, and glanced from Grind to Tanith. "So, wait a second, lemme see if I've got this right - you're a skateboarding cult-hero with nothing left to lose," and she turned to Tanith, "and you're a time-travelling Martian fairy princess?"

"And you fight crime?" asked Trini.

Grind nodded. "Somebody has to," he replied. "There's two sides to every city, but people only ever see the shiny side. They never look too closely at the shadows, and there's kids in those shadows who need help, every day."

"Wow," breathed Kim. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to sound elitist or anything, it's just, you guys are an unlikely pair, you know?"

Grind smiled. "Don't worry, we get that a lot," he said. "It's hard for us, and hell, even the cops don't like us much. But this is important, so why play the game by somebody's else rules, right?"

Kimberly was silent for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah," she said softly. "You're right."

"Anyway, we're here," he said, and reaching the far wall, Grind pulled open one of the doors and ushered everybody inside, shutting the door behind them. The room looked surprisingly homely, well-lit with a sink against one wall, some chairs and a large table in the centre.

"So now that we're all friends," Grind began, "what can we do for you?"

Trini nodded. "Two weeks ago we fought a powerful warrior named Ultramarine," she said. "We destroyed him, or at least we thought we did, but as of yesterday he's back."

"And somewhat angry about it," continued Billy. "This morning Ultramarine attacked an island in the south Pacific. Now, we followed him there but we were too late to prevent him from stealing an artifact kept on the island. It was a glass cube, a prism, with some kind of light or powerful energy inside it."

Grind and Tanith immediately looked to each other. "This Ultramarine, he stole the light?" asked Tanith.

"Affirmative," Billy replied. "He fought off the island's security force and killed the island's owner to reach it."

"The collector," said Grind with a nod. "Nice guy."

Kimberly nodded. "Well that's what brings us here," she said. "The files he had referred to you guys, and we need to know everything we can about whatever it was Ultramarine stole. Ultramarine isn't the kind of guy who takes losing well, and we're pretty sure he's going to use it to give himself a power-up, so he'll be able to beat us."

Grind shook his head. "No," he replied. "That wasn't it. The light in the prism can't be used like that."

"Why not?" asked Trini.

"Because," Tanith began, "I realise how this is going to sound, but the light inside that prism is alive."

There was a stunned silence in the room, as the three Rangers all turned to each other in disbelief. "It's... what?" said Kim finally.

"Alive," Grind repeated. "Not alive as in 'likes old movies and long walks on the beach', but still. Alive."

Billy leaned back against the wall. "You know," he began thoughtfully, "while the idea of sentient light is, at first, quite baffling, the more you consider it the less extraordinary it sounds. Light on its own exhibits a number of properties which defy physical explanation, and coupled with various degrees of magical manipulation, it's theoretically possible, to say the least."

Billy stopped and looked back to the group, Grind turning to the other two Rangers with a raised brow, and Tanith smiled and took up the story. "We came across the light perhaps eighteen months ago, deep in the night," she said. "It seemed to like us, so we took care of it, and protected it."

"But the collector came after it?" said Trini.

Grind nodded. "We fought him, tried to keep it safe," he said, then sighed. "But we lost big-time. I mean, that's what he designed the glass cube for, to capture and keep the light."

"We never thought we'd hear word of the light again," said Tanith, turning to Kimberly. "We were devastated."

"Trust us," said Kim. "We'll get the light back and keep it safe."

"You have our word," nodded Trini.

"We both wish you the best of luck," replied Tanith. "But I fear that for all our help, we've only exchanged one dilemma for another."

Billy nodded. "Namely, if Ultramarine was never after the light," he began, turning to Trini and Kimberly, "then what did he want the prism for?"