Chapter One

"Hey, there goes another one!" cried Scott, pressing his face against the window and watching as a large truck turned, crossed over the medium strip and drove away in the opposite direction.

"Move over," I said, leaning out of my seat and cursing the fact that I'd gotten stuck with the aisle-seat, "give me a look."

"Wow," said Scott quietly, as the truck disappeared into the distance. "That's like the fifth one in the last ten minutes."

I nodded. "Don't you envy them?"

"Totally."

I laughed and sat back into my seat, glancing down the aisle to the bus's front windscreen to see if the traffic had given way yet. It hadn't - the cars on our side of the road were still all trapped in gridlock. With the other side free of traffic, more and more impatient drivers were deciding to forget about wherever they were going, drive over the grassy traffic island separating the north and south-bound lanes of the highway, and go home.

With a dejected sigh, I collapsed back into my seat.

Scott turned to me. "Don't worry, we'll get there soon."

I held up my watch, checking the time. "You said that two hours ago."

His brow lowered. "I did?"

"Yep. And we were only about a hundred metres back down the road."

"We were? Oh. Then never mind," he said with a grin, and turned back to his vigilant watch.

I smiled, shut my eyes and leaned back in my seat. Here we were, the entire sixth grade of Currimundi State School, squeezed into two buses and on the way to Tallebudgera Camp on the Gold Coast for a week of fun in the sun... and we were hopelessly stuck in traffic. And had been for the last three hours. Leaving home about noon, we'd been travelling through Brisbane by one o'clock, had hit the outskirts of the Gold Coast by two, and it was now fifteen minutes shy of five. School students are naturally equipped to deal with the boredom of sitting in one place for hours on end without moving, but a traffic jam like this was almost criminal.

The day had started out so full of promise, at that. It had been a bright, cloudless Sunday morning, and all one hundred or so sixth grade students had gathered at the school just before noon, with our luggage and sleeping bags piled on the grass behind us, everybody looking forward to the week ahead. After all, we were heading down to the Gold Coast, the massive supercity on the border between Queensland and New South Wales renowned for its theme parks and famous surfing beaches, to spend a week at Tallebudgera Camp.

The buses had arrived, and we'd begun loading our luggage into them. All our parents were there as well as Jason, Kimberly and Zac, who'd wanted to come down and see us off. Their class had been to Tallebudgera last year when the three of them had been in the ninth grade, and they were all sure we'd enjoy ourselves.

"You'll have a blast," Jason told me, as he helped me stow my large black duffel bag onto the bus. "But just a couple of things - in the mornings, it gets cold, and I'm talking really cold, so be prepared. Also, if they take you canoeing, don't pick Canoe 13. The camp staff never say anything, but there's a reason it's sitting in the back of the shed covered in cobwebs."

I thanked him. "Anything else we should know?"

Jason shook his head. "No, that's about all," he said. "Trust me, if you let your guard down, you'll surprise yourself." And with that, he'd given me a big bear-hug, I'd said goodbye to my parents, and hopped up onto the bus where Scott had already saved me a seat. Five long hours later, and here we were. The fifty kids onboard had sung just about every bus song that you can sing (even some you really shouldn't, particularly when two of your teachers are sitting down the front listening to every word), and had taken to watching the traffic to pass the time.

The bus continued to crawl along the highway, making headway every few minutes when the traffic would allow it. Up ahead, Mt Burleigh came into view and steadily inched closer, a forested peak resting in a small environmental park that overlooked the crashing surf, a seaside mountain amid a sprawling metropolis. Once past the peak, the bus crawled across the bridge spanning Tallebudgera Creek and changed lanes. I noticed a sign reading 'Tallebudgera Camp School' beside a small road leading off the highway and couldn't help but smile, while beside me, Scott was bouncing up and down in his seat.

I turned to him. "Excited much?"

He laughed. "I just can't wait to get there!"

"Evidently," I grinned. The bus pulled off the highway and onto the side road, while behind it the second bus did the same. The road followed the creek side-by-side but then turned into a gravel driveway. Following this, the bus passed through a metal gate and finally came to a stop - we'd arrived.

Looking out the window, I saw we were parked next to a small grassy area beside a row of about ten small single-storey buildings, most certainly the cabins. A small path leading towards the sand dunes ran between the last cabin and a long, low building that I guessed correctly was the shower block. Beside this were two large open buildings, one containing numerous tables and chairs and the other with a carpeted hall beneath a second storey. The buildings were all linked by a concrete path and sat around a large grassy field, with a single flagpole and tall, leafy trees dotted around the edges.

Sitting on the grass, however, were about sixty or so kids, three teachers, and a rather massive pile of luggage, all of whom were staring unimpressed at everyone in the two buses. Well, everyone except the pile of luggage, of course, but given the looks on everybody else, that may have been a possibility.

"I guess they're the kids we're sharing the camp with for the week," I said.

Scott nodded. "Where are they from again?"

"Goondiwindi, I think."

Scott smiled. "Talk about a great first impression. We must be at least three hours late."

"That's probably why they look so happy to see us," I said.

At that point, Mr Di Certo and Mrs Larson, the two Currimundi teachers on the bus with us, got out of their seats and quickly ushered us all out of the bus to begin unloading our suitcases and sleeping bags. Very soon, we had our luggage piled on the grass, everyone sitting beside their own duffel bags. This accomplished, the Currimundi teachers all wandered over to mingle with the Goondiwindi teachers, and as the two buses started up and roared off out of sight, I turned back to the Goondiwindi students, and found that none of them had moved - they were all still staring the assembled Currimundi kids down.

I would've loved to have known what they were thinking, actually. Certainly they'd seen the news reports and read the articles about Caloundra - I'd be surprised if anybody on Earth hadn't - but what would it be like meeting people who'd actually witnessed some of those events first-hand? How do you spend time with people who's idea of normality was living on a minefield?

Across the field from us, sitting cross-legged on the grass behind an impressive pile of luggage, one of the Goondiwindi students leaned forward and elbowed the boy beside him.

"Hey Lochie, it's them!"

The second boy turned to look. "Oh yeah. Guess we missed rush hour. You know, I heard some of the guys talking before, and back up north, their school is like right on the beach, a couple of metres away from the surf."

"Wow." There was a mutual, impressed silence. "Do you reckon they're in there?"

"Who?"

"The Power Rangers. I mean, the Junior Team are from Currimundi State School, after all. They could be in the sixth grade. Just imagine it, man. A team of superheroes wandering around camp, off duty for the week."

The second boy nodded. "It's definitely possible," he replied. "Although it's not like they'll be wearing name badges or anything." The speaker paused, thinking. "Which wouldn't be the reason you were so excited about coming to school camp, would it?"

"Uh..."

"And I'm suddenly remembering the start of the year when you dragged me to karate lessons every day after school for a month."

The first boy shook his head. "No, see, that was good for you. Think how much exercise you got."

"Like beating the stuffing out of those seventh grade jerks who were stealing other kids' lunch money?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Well, okay, that was kind of fun."

There was another pause. "But just think about it Lochie. We could be sharing a cabin for the week with the Justice League, and we wouldn't even know it."

"That is a pretty... interesting thought," the second boy replied. He'd been going to use the word 'scary', but in the face of his friend's enthusiasm, couldn't bring himself to do it. "It's going to be a week to remember, all right. Just promise me that if you do see them, you won't ask them for their autographs or anything?"

"Oh come on, I'm not that bad."

"Well that's something." He turned back to face the crowd of students, and grinned. "Notebook's already in your pocket, isn't it?"

The first boy reached into his shirt pocket and obediently handed it over.

"Good afternoon everybody," came a sudden voice, and everyone on the field turned to look. Approaching the students from the larger of the two halls was a tall, powerfully-built man who looked to be in his early thirties. He had blond hair and wore a slick pair of sunglasses, and was balancing a clipboard under his arm.

"Welcome to Tallebudgera Camp School," the man announced, once he'd reached us all. "My name is Mr Burgess, and I'm the headmaster here." There were a few groans from the crowd, and Mr Burgess grinned and continued. "Seriously, play by the rules, and you won't even notice me. First and foremost, since we're running late, we need to get the cabins sorted out. In the main hall," and he stopped and pointed back to the carpeted building, "there are nine dorms around the back. Four upstairs, and five on the ground. We've put the girls in the dorms, while all the guys will be sharing the cabins," and he indicated the line of cabins beside us. "We've mixed the two schools up, so we really don't want to hear that every room has been split in half."

With that, he reached for his clipboard and began reading names, assigning students to rooms. It'd be a while before he got to the guys and I knew that Scott would be listening for our names anyway. I leaned back, and began glancing around the crowd, thinking back to the events of last night, the emergency trip to the Command Centre and what Zordon had told us all. All around me were beaming grins and sparkling eyes, people all happily chatting amongst themselves.

We'd been told to look for a 'someone', although Zordon had said we wouldn't know who it was until we'd found them, whatever that meant. Still, we were surrounded by dozens of potential someones. Far from hindering us, as we'd assumed the week at camp would do, this could work to our advantage.

I turned back to Mr Burgess just in time to hear, "...Peter Smith and Scott Tiaron, in cabin twelve."

"I take it we have a home?" I said.

Scott nodded excitedly. "That we do."

Mr Burgess finished the list and looked around the group. "Okay, that's everyone," he said. "If your name wasn't mentioned, come and see me. You all have twenty minutes to unpack and settle in, and then we'll meet back in the main hall."

With that, everyone quickly got to their feet, picked up their luggage and began drifting off to find their dorms. Scott and I managed to gather up all our bags and we walked over to the concrete path, turning and following it down past the cabins until we reached number 12.

"Hey Peter?" began Scott, as we approached the cabin.

"Yeah?"

"Well, it's the ninth cabin, and including the girl's dorms, it's the seventeenth dormitory," he said. "So why is it number twelve?"

I stopped on the path, confused. Checking the cabins behind us, I compared them with the door we were now facing, and realised Scott was right. "I, uh, have no idea. Let's not ask questions."

He nodded. "Agreed," he said, and opened the door.

The interior of the cabin was small but airy, with large windows on either side of the room. We immediately saw that there were six double-bunks in the room - one on either side of the door along the wall, two end-to-end along the back wall, and one more on each side wall, twelve beds in total. Scott pointed to the bunk in the back left-hand corner of the room, and we headed over.

"You sure you don't want the top bunk?" he asked. "I know we talked about it in the bus, but..."

I shook my head. "It's all yours. I'm always terrified I'll fall out during the night."

"Cool," he replied, "thanks," and he climbed up. I sat down on the bunk, put my duffel bag on the floor beside the bed and unfolded my sleeping bag, spreading it out over the only-slightly-smelly mattress. By now the kids we'd be sharing cabin twelve with for the week had arrived, and were bringing their luggage into the room and choosing bunks. There were ten students including Scott and I, five from Currimundi and five from Goondiwindi. Once everybody had arrived, Scott jumped down and we all began introducing ourselves.

The three other Currimundi students were Jarred Lusk, a short freckled red-head who was a nice and mostly quiet guy, Tom Smith, an athlete with brown hair and soft eyes who'd inherited incredible diplomatic skills from his father, a high-ranking member of the city council, and Matthew McConnell, a kid of average height and dark hair who I normally avoided like the plague because, well, he was just that kind of guy.

The five Goondiwindi students all seemed to be pretty decent guys. There was Grant McKenzie, a short soft-spoken student who I didn't hear a word out of the entire week, as well as Petey Jones and Luke Graves. In every sense imaginable, the two boys came as a set - I just couldn't imagine one without the other. Petey had short dark hair while Luke was a tall blonde with rather prominent ears, but differences aside, they both occupied the same mental wavelength, with the same light-hearted cynicism and wicked senses of humour.

The last two to arrive were Lochlan Everett, who was tall, had wavy brown hair, and was armed with a razor wit, and Ian Thompson, who was average-height with sandy-blonde hair, sparking blue eyes and a warm smile, and many freckles from long hours spent in the outback sun. I saw the two were also close friends, in the way of two people who balanced each other out and met in the middle.

After we all shook hands and returned to our unpacking, I wandered outside to take a look around. A thin path ran down the side of the cabin, and at the back was a small grassy area, enclosed by a line of trees and a gardener's shed. A metal clothesline jutted out from the wall, and pieces of an older, broken clothesline sat rusting in the grass beneath it.

I walked back around and found Scott standing outside the cabin, and we headed across the grass towards the main hall. The hall was massive, a colourful mural covering the concrete wall and looking down over the carpeted area. It was an ocean scene, with a smiling yellow sun above frothy blue waves, all sorts of grinning sea creatures underneath (although any shark that happy was planning something), completed by the ocean floor at ground level.

"Cool," I murmured.

"You like the picture?" asked Scott.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's, uh, cheerful," I grinned.

As the two of us entered the building, Mr Burgess came in from the other side, and crossing the room, stood in front of the mural. Outside, the sun had by now slipped beneath the horizon and night was quickly descending. Despite this, the man's sunglasses remained glued to his face.

Everyone had arrived in the hall, so he quickly organised us into the seating pattern we'd be in for the rest of the week. The girls were all on the left side of the hall, while the boys were on the right, everyone sitting in straight lines in their cabin groups one behind the other. Each row of guys sat next to a row of girls - I guessed that this would be how they'd team up all the cabin groups for the week's activities. Glancing forward, I saw that Brendan was sitting a few rows down from us, and Teresa and Sarah were in the line beside his.

"Right," began Mr Burgess with a smile. "Glad to see you all again. This is probably going to get very boring, but it's standard house-keeping, so bear with me. First up, showers and toilets are in the block over there, I'm sure you've already found them. The other hall is the food hall and kitchen, and you'll be eating all your meals there. This is the major meeting hall - after breakfast every morning we'll meet in here to assign activities. At the back," and we all turned to see what he was referring to, "the teachers quarters and accommodation are through that door. They're strictly out of bounds, by the way. The staircase leads up to the second floor, which has offices, the camp nurse and a library."

I smiled at that. This was the first ever camp I'd been on which had a library. Cool.

Mr Burgess continued. "As for the groups which you'll be in for the week, each boy dorm will combine with the corresponding girl dorm, the line your line is sitting next to, and that's your group. You'll be in those groups all week, so you'd better get used to them." There was a quiet murmuring throughout the room, as everyone turned to see who they'd gotten lumped with. Mr Burgess continued, going through each group, telling them which members of camp staff would be their leaders for the week and assigning that group a mascot. There were dolphins and sharks, seagulls and turtles.

When he got to us, he introduced our camp guide Mrs Manderson, a tall rugged-looking woman with long brown hair tied in a ponytail who looked like the kind of person that saw a mountain not as a 20 kilometre uphill hike, but a challenge, before giving us our animal.

"Your mascot," he began with a slight smile, "is the mud-crab. You guys are the Muddies."

At this, Scott and I turned to each other and mouthed, 'muddies?' with raised brows.

This had suddenly gotten a whole lot scarier.

The meeting went on for a while, and everybody got steadily hungrier. Mr Burgess explained the basic format of the camp - each day, a different group would be on chore duty, which involved getting up early, sweeping, wiping down tables and other fun duties, and a list of the groups was hanging by the entryway to the food hall. Every day, we'd be woken up at six for a run on the beach followed by breakfast. We'd then all meet back here for the day's activities.

In the afternoons, we'd have about two hours of free time, and Mr Burgess pointed out the sports field bordering the campsite to the south (with the gravel driveway and Tallebudgera Creek to the north, the beach on the east and the highway to the west) if we wanted to play football, soccer or cricket. Finally, dinner would be in the evenings, followed by games and activities, supper (and with the promise of hot chocolate and biscuits, I know that I started paying attention) and then bedtime and lights out at ten thirty exactly.

Finally, he added with a small grin, several security guards patrolled the grounds from late until early in the morning, so we were advised against any late night strolls or pranks.

"And that," he finished, "is all. Enjoy your time here on camp. As I'm sure you're all starving, dinner is being served in the dining hall. You're free to go."

He needn't have told us twice.

Everyone got to their feet and jogged over to the dining hall. Three rows of wooden benches filled the hall, and at the front was a counter that everyone automatically lined up behind, with plates, bowls and cutlery. Further along were trays holding roast pork, chicken, vegetables and bread rolls. Several camp staff stood behind the counter, and behind them we could see into the kitchen.

I made sure to grab about four bread rolls, passing over everything else, followed Scott to a table and sat down beside him. Just as the two of us began eating, we looked up to see Brendan, Sarah and Teresa walking quickly towards us, their plates all piled high with food.

"Hey guys," said Sarah, as the three of them slid onto the benches. "Mind if we join you?"

Scott shook his head. "Not at all," he said with a smile. "Sit down, sit down."

"Someone's happy," said Brendan, as Scott began eating in earnest.

I grinned. "Put it this way - I'm sharing a cabin with the energizer bunny." At this, Scott tried to pout, but with a mouth full of food, it didn't look convincing.

Teresa giggled at the sight. "So you two settle in okay?"

"No problems," I nodded. "Our cabin's not bad, actually. We're sharing with some really cool Goondiwindi kids. How have you guys been?"

Brendan groaned dramatically. "Between the bus ride and that speech, I'm ready to nuke something just for the heck of it."

Sarah shook her head, buttering a bread roll. "Our bus ride was actually pretty fun. We all started singing old songs, and didn't stop until we arrived."

Teresa nodded. "I didn't even realise I knew all the words to American Pie."

Sarah shrugged. "It's a classic."

I laughed at the image, and turned to Brendan. "Well, with any luck we'll have the week to ourselves and won't have to kill anything until we get back." I paused. "Besides, we know our jobs for the week."

Brendan nodded, halfway through a sizable piece of chicken, and Teresa glanced quickly around the hall. "You know," she began, turning back to us, "with all these people here..."

"Exactly," I said. "We might not have much time, but at least we got one break."

"Can we really do this on our own, though?" asked Sarah.

I lowered my voice. "Of course we can. We're the Power Rangers, we can do anything."

"Even if we're off-duty for the week," said Teresa.

I nodded. "So we'll just have to put our heads together and really focus... oh hey Scott, are you gonna eat that?"

Dinner continued on for a while, and after everyone had gotten back up for dessert, Mr Burgess (sunglasses still fixed in place) stood up from the teacher's table and told everyone that we had a half hour to clean up, and then to meet back in the main hall for some games and activities, or alternatively, an outdoor game of spotlight run through the darkened campsite.

Brendan glanced to Scott. "That sounds like fun. You in?"

Scott nodded. "You have to ask?" he laughed. "I noticed all these really good hiding spots on my way in," he said, then turned to me. "Want to join us?"

I shook my head. "I'll probably sit this one out."

"No way!" exclaimed Sarah. "You who could probably beat us all at spotlight with a blindfold on, and you're going to sit it out?"

I laughed. "I don't think I've got the energy for it, to be honest. I'll just hang out here with you and Teresa."

"Actually," said Teresa with a smile, "we were gonna grab our torches and join the guys."

"Yeah," nodded Sarah. "It's a good night for it, and besides, we get to meet all the Goondiwindi students."

I clutched at my chest, mortally wounded. "I'm crushed!"

Sarah smiled, as we gathered up our plates and cutlery and stood to our feet. "We're all sure you'll be able to survive without us for a few hours," she said.

We all split up and went back to our cabins to get ready. As Scott and I changed into warmer clothes, I noticed Ian and Lochlan putting on camouflage gear, and with wide grins, they grabbed huge flashlights and hurried outside. I had to admit that my sleeping bag was looking pretty tempting, but I wanted to get to know everyone, so turning in for the night wasn't an option. Plus, at that moment Scott physically hauled me out the door.

We met up with the others amid the large group of kids under the flagpole, and wishing them luck, I wandered back into the main hall. The camp staff had set up board games and things throughout the room, and a lot of kids were just sitting down and hanging out. Petey and Luke, two of the Goondiwindi kids in our cabin, were already there, and they invited me over. I walked over and sat down, and almost immediately began blushing at the jokes they began telling me. In all honesty, though, I did laugh. Quite a lot.

That was pretty much how the night progressed. Outside, Scott, Brendan, Sarah and Teresa did surprisingly well in the stealth and hunting aspects of the game, a slight misunderstanding between the two groups resulting in an impromptu karate match halfway through the night. Occasionally joined by Ian and Lochlan, the four of them came into the hall and sat with us every so often to catch their breaths, before charging back outside with renewed enthusiasm.

It was about ten o'clock when Scott came into the hall carrying two mugs of steaming hot chocolate, and walked over to where the three of us were sitting.

"Hey," I said, then smiled as he sat down and handed me a mug. "A present?"

Scott smiled. "They started serving supper on the landing of the dining hall a little while ago. Thought I'd bring you some."

"Thanks," I replied, and lifting the mug to my mouth, I took a sip. My eyes went wide - my first thought was that I was in chocolate heaven. The chocolate milk was creamy, thick and warm, sending a comfortable warmth right down to my toes.

We both lowered our mugs and exchanged glances.

"Not so good?" ventured Luke.

I shook my head. "Take a sip," and I offered him my mug. He took one short drink, his expression remaining neutral, before lowering the mug and handing it back to me. Turning, he grabbed Petey's arm.

"We are getting some of that right now," he said, and began dragging Petey over to the food hall without another word. We watched them disappear into the ever-growing crowd of kids queuing beside the landing. Apparently word was getting round.

Scott took another sip. "Man, this stuff is awesome."

I nodded. "No arguments there. How was the game of spotlight?"

"Pretty fun," he replied. "The girls retired a little while ago, they said to say goodnight, and I think Brendan went to have a shower before heading in for the night."

I yawned and glanced at my watch. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea. The lights all go out in about twenty minutes anyway."

Scott nodded, and we stood up. "Sounds like a plan," he said, and raised his mug. "Do you want to get some more?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

The two of us quickly lined up for two more mugs of hot chocolate, before heading back towards cabin twelve. Once inside, we changed into our pyjamas and slid into our sleeping bags. I was suddenly glad my sleeping bag was so thick - the cold night air descending on the camp was the kind that chilled right to the bone, passing through you and leaving icicles in its wake. The rest of our roommates eventually made it back to the cabin, and the lights around the camp visible through the windows switched off at exactly ten thirty. I think everyone had hopes of sitting up late and talking until well after midnight, but it didn't come to pass.

We were all asleep within minutes.