Koalugirl -- of course I'm not sick of reading your reviews, I'm happy you're enjoying the story. Yeah, the big thing about Ian is he knows exactly what he's getting himself into, whereas the rest of the team just jumped right in head-first. And yes, once everybody goes home at the end of the week (at the end of the story, heh), Ian will be in a different town to everybody. But... I plan to sort that out in the seventh story in the series, so stick around :).

Chapter Five

An earsplitting screech burst through my subconscious, shattering any illusion of sleep and forcing my eyes open. Briefly wondering where the heck I was and what on Earth was making that noise, my sleep-fogged mind soon put the pieces together - camp, morning, beach run, whistle. Right. Lying on my side, I could see out the front windows of the cabin to where Mr Chamberlain stood on the grass, whistle in mouth with kids already gathering around him. Groaning, I rolled onto my back and stared up at the bunk above me.

"You know," I said, "before the end of this week I am going to steal that whistle and ram it someplace very unpleasant."

Eyes closed but long since awake, Scott couldn't help but smile and laugh. "Hey, I'd pay good money to see that."

"Don't encourage me, I might actually do it," I replied, peeling back my sleeping bag and hopping out of the bunk.

Everyone else in the cabin was wide awake by now too, and with much yawning, were slowly climbing out of their bunks, putting their running clothes on and heading outside. By the time I finally forced Scott out of his sleeping bag, however, the two of us were the only people left inside.

I pulled on a pair of tracksuit pants and a jumper, and reached for my jogging shoes. The thought of emptying sand from my shoes for the rest of the day wasn't encouraging, but I'd certainly prefer that to the icy-cold sand.

"Ah, early morning fun in the sun," grinned Scott, as we finished pulling our shoes on.

I stood up and headed for the door. "Why Scott, you almost sound less than ecstatic," I grinned. "I think we need an infusion of fun as soon as possible."

Scott laughed, and we went outside to find Teresa, Sarah and Brendan patiently waiting for us with Ian standing nearby. The two of us had taken longer to get ready than we'd thought - everyone else had already left for the beach, and the tail end of the group was just passing by.

"Finally," said Sarah. "Take your time guys."

Teresa grinned. "We had to leave the two sleepaholics together, didn't we?"

"Leave us alone," said Scott good-naturedly, as we all joined the group heading down to the beach. "It's too early to get picked on by my own sister."

Brendan looked up and around. "I'll do it then," he offered. "Free of charge."

We all laughed. "So Ian," Scott said, "how you holding up?"

"Pretty good," Ian replied, then added with a smile, "I'm still expecting to wake up any minute now, though, and I really had to think up some good excuses when the guys asked me about yesterday afternoon."

"You'll get used to it," nodded Sarah. "Heck, it took us a month to get over the shock."

"Yeah," agreed Teresa. "It's going to feel bad having to lie to your friends and family, but it's just the downside of having a secret identity that nobody ever mentions. Don't worry - it gets easier in time."

Ian nodded. "I hope so," he replied.

Brendan slung his arm around Ian's shoulders. "So don't worry about it. You're in good company."

By now, we'd made it onto the beach and had begun to jog. It was low-tide, and the beach was wide, flat and empty. The blue-green seawater was gently lapping onto the sand, and the smell of salt was strong in the air.

"Besides," continued Brendan, "if that whistle didn't wake you up this morning, then nothing will."

High above Tallebudgera Beach in the Lunar Palace, Rita Repulsa sat back on her throne, deep in thought. Despite the botched surveillance mission she'd sent the putty patrol on yesterday afternoon, she still had no idea why five of her most hated enemies were in the company of the blond youth. Finster had earlier told her that he was detecting a powerful energy field around the boy, almost as if he was carrying his own Power Coin. But the more Rita thought about it, the more it made no sense. After all, the only coin still in existence that wasn't already in use was...

Oh no...

The witch was already reaching for her wand. "Finster!"

Once on the open beach, the huge group of students began to stretch out. The faster, more athletic students took the lead, while the less athletically-minded people, who really weren't worried by a race along the beach, fell to the back. The six of us found ourselves more or less in the middle, talking and jogging at a comfortable pace, when it happened.

Without warning, about fifty metres ahead of the leading kids came a sudden, massive explosion, which sent a huge cloud of dust and smoke high into the air and froze everyone on the spot. A second later, we all caught sight of a tall dark figure emerging from the cloud, and everyone on the beach gasped and took a fearful step back. Approaching us with slow deliberate steps, we immediately recognised it as one of Rita's creatures.

The aquatic-looking monster stalking towards us was covered from head to toe in black scales, with orange stomach plates, gauntlets and boots. Both muscled, scaly arms ended in webbed hands with shining white claws, and on its head the monster had two large black fins where its ears should have been, as well as a small orange fin atop its skull. Two fierce red eyes peered down over a mouth lined with jagged, white teeth.

"Good morning," the monster announced, in a gravelly, throaty voice, the kind of sound you'd hear 20,000 leagues into your nightmares. "I'm Pisces, and you're breakfast!"

Screams of terror immediately rang out, and teachers and students alike turned and ran for their lives back towards the campsite and away from the monster.

Amid the chaos, I glanced around desperately, looking for a place to morph. The Seniors wouldn't have hesitated, not when something like this was happening, and neither would we.

"Guys," I said quickly, "follow me."

Leading the Rangers, I dashed across the beach up towards the sand dunes, and dived over into a small gully on the other side, the others doing the same behind me. On one side of us was a tall wooden fence, while on the other side the high dunes shielded us from view.

"All right, this should do," I said, and turned to Ian. "This is it man. You ready?"

The Grey Ranger nodded uncertainly. "Ready as I can be," he replied.

"Awesome," I nodded, and we all reached for our back pockets. "It's morphin' time!"

"Iguanodon!"

"Dilophosaurus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

The monster grinned a wicked smile as he watched the people on the beach fleeing to safety. 'Nothing like a bit of mayhem and death to start the morning,' he thought, laughing to himself as he quickened his pace along the sand.

"Hold it right there," came a sudden, angry voice. Pisces looked up, scanned the abandoned beach for the interruption and saw six Power Rangers standing side-by-side across the sand ahead of him. Regarding us, the monster's brow lowered, and he stepped back with a frown.

"Six?" he began. "Interesting. I was not told of a sixth."

I smiled, standing beside Ian. "Oh you like surprises? Well then you're in luck."

"Yeah," agreed Sarah, pointing her Power Mace at the beast. "You better back off right now if you don't want to have a really lousy start to the day."

Pisces sneered. "Please," he growled. "Five, six or a hundred, you mean nothing." With that, he raised his arms, and as lightning began to crackle around him, bolts arched from his fingertips down to the sand. Instantly, six shapes began rising out of the ground. "Sand demons, attack and destroy!"

The six sand demons were soon fully formed, standing tall on the beach with red eyes and sneering grimaces, their muscled frames streaked with white and dark sand. Growling menacingly, the sand beasts advanced towards us.

I turned to the Rangers. "Let's take these freaks!"

"Right!" And we all turned and raced across the sand towards our opponents.

Scott immediately leaped into the air, holding out his arms and summoning his Power Staff with a thought. Plowing his boots into the sand demon's chest, he knocked the beast off its feet and took it to the ground, and without missing a beat, the Blue Ranger spun his staff and rammed it down through the demon's chest - the sand creature instantly dissipated, and Scott dropped to the ground, triumphant.

Taking confidence from Scott's effortless victory, Ian charged forward to meet his opponent, ducking under a vicious swipe before spinning around and sending the demon stumbling with a kick to the chest, surprised at the distance the demon covered from what felt like a light kick. Springing forward, he blocked a punch and ended the battle with a powerful judo chop that sent the beast's head flying across the beach and landing in the surf with a satisfying 'splash'.

Behind him, Teresa had wordlessly summoned her Power Whip, and with nothing more than a flick of her wrist, she decapitated her sandy opponent, before wrapping the trailing end of the whip around the beast's torso and flinging him to the ground, the force reducing the rest of him to dust in seconds.

A few metres away, Brendan raced towards one of the demons with a battle-hardened grin. As he approached, the creature lashed out with a roundhouse punch - Brendan dived under the blow, and without slowing down rolled to his feet and rammed his foot back through the demon's stomach. Despite the gaping hole in its torso, the sand demon spun around angrily, but never even saw the lightning-fast heel which smashed into its jaw and immediately reduced the creature to a harmless pile of sand at Brendan's feet.

As one of the beasts lumbered towards Sarah, the Purple Ranger leaped into the air, lightly somersaulting over the confused sand demon. Landing and catching her balance, Sarah spun around and sent her opponent stumbling with a blow to the shoulder, before taking her mace right through the creature's chest. The sand demon froze for a brief second, before a high jump kick sent both halves to the ground where they immediately disintegrated.

As the battle raged around me, I thundered towards the sole sand demon remaining. Without slowing down, I sprang into the air and hurtled towards the beast, smashing my boot into the demon's chest. The sand demon instantly exploded in a cloud of sand and dust, and I dropped to the ground in front of Pisces with a grunt of primal satisfaction. Their own opponents defeated, the other five Rangers quickly joined me.

"Well," said Brendan. "That was almost hard."

I nodded. "You'll have to try harder than that, fishface."

"Be careful what you wish for," Pisces sneered, "because you just might get it!" With that, he raised his arms and sent a massive energy barrage spiralling towards us. The first time he'd ever been shot at, Ian reacted the only way he could, immediately diving forward out of harm's way, but was pleased to see out of the sides of his visor that the rest of the team had done the same.

Rolling to a stop and leaping to our feet, the team immediately went on the offensive, charging forward and moving together without speaking, without even thinking. Scott and Teresa reached the creature first, and struck him back with two side-by-side tornado kicks. Pisces stumbled backwards but recovered quickly, charging back towards the Blue and White Rangers and lashing out with both clawed hands. Teresa caught the beast's arms and brushed them aside, before dazing him with a spinning roundhouse kick. Pisces regained his footing and lashed out at the approaching Blue Ranger - Scott ducked under the swipe, spun low and took Pisces' legs out from under him, sending the monster crashing to the ground.

Pisces had soon rolled back to his feet, but Brendan and Sarah charged forward to take up the attack, Sarah launching a high kick and Brendan throwing a powerful right backhand, both attacks finding their mark. Pisces shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears and launched himself at Sarah, the closest target. The Purple Ranger easily sidestepped the monster, blocking his fists as he followed after her, and an elbow to the jaw sent Pisces stumbling back towards Brendan, who ducked an attack, blocked a second blow and sent the creature crashing with a high spin kick.

"Good work guys!" I said, and motioned to Ian, standing beside me, "let's get in there!"

Even as Pisces was regaining his footing, the two of us were racing forward. Pisces roared and aimed both claws for the Grey Ranger, but Ian ducked under the beast's fists before pummeling the monster's scaly underbelly. Staggering back from the assault, Pisces had no chance to defend himself as I leaped towards him with a roundhouse right punch, before spinning on the spot and sending him back with a spin kick to the chest. I turned back to Ian and nodded - he paused for a second, looking at the monster, and racing forward, he leaped into the air and smashed the monster back with a powerful scissor-kick that launched him right off his feet. Pisces hit the ground in a cloud of sand, rolling to a stop and moving no further.

Ian dropped to the ground and found his footing, as the rest of us joined him.

"Wow man," said Brendan, racing up to Ian and slapping the Grey Ranger on the back, "that was awesome!"

"Yeah, you're a natural," nodded Teresa.

"Thanks," he replied, out of breath from the fight.

"We've never defeated one that easily before," I said. "That was incredible. Good work, everybody."

Ian laughed, happy that his first battle had been a success. "What a rush," he smiled.

Thousands of kilometres above us, watching the battle from a unique vantage point, a certain evil witch in a certain lunar palace was not happy at the sudden turn of events. Not at all.

"Pisces shall not be defeated that easily Rangers!" cried Rita, and she stood to her full height and raised her wand.

Behind her, Baboo cringed and turned away. "Here we go again," the henchman muttered, shaking his head.

"Grow, Pisces, grow!"

Ignoring the impressive lightning display that followed, Baboo turned to Squatt. "Are you hungry? I don't know about you, but I could really go for some seafood right about now..."

We stood congratulating Ian for fighting so well only a few seconds longer before lightning bolts struck down from a suddenly-cloudy sky, dancing off waves, dunes and nearby beach houses and throwing up huge clouds of sand and dust. Several bolts from the supernatural light show forked through the air towards the fallen body of Pisces, and with a sudden explosion, the rejuvenated monster was standing fifteen storeys tall, towering over us on the beach and laughing.

We all immediately jumped back. "Whoa," said Sarah. "Guys, big problem."

Staring up at the giant monster, Ian finally found his voice. "I, uh, take it this is a common occurrence...?"

Brendan nodded. "This is a pretty typical day at the office." He turned to me. "You up for it?"

"You had to ask?" I replied with a smile, then lifted my right arm to the sky and raised by my voice. "I call upon the Stegosaurus Dinozord, now!"

Several kilometres inland, in an out-of-the-way place, the ground immediately began to shake, soon crumbling and splitting apart as the mighty Stegozord exploded forth with a roar. Sheathed in orange and silver armour, the zord's body angled downwards from its longer back legs to shorter forelimbs, and its tail and silver spikes swung through the air behind it as the zord thundered towards the coast. The head of the zord was triangular, glowing yellow eyes above a pointed, orange beak.

Brendan grinned beneath his visor. "Dilophosaurus Dinozord power!"

The awesome Dilophozord immediately rose from the earth behind the Stegozord. Standing easily as tall as a fifteen storey building on its powerful hind legs and three-clawed feet, the zord looked no worse for wear from Brendan's recent power conversion, its aqua and silver armour shining in the early morning sunshine and red eyes glowing under the thin double-crest that adorned the zord's head.

Scott immediately followed suit. "Brontosaurus Dinozord power!"

Following the Dilophozord, the Brontozord surfaced from the depths, its small head and long, thick neck rising into view first, followed by the sturdy, massive body, long tapering tail, four thick legs and clawed feet. The blue zord's armour fairly sparkled as the mammoth Brontozord roared and began its faithful trek inland.

Teresa raised her right arm to the sky. "Velociraptor Dinozord power!"

With that, the fierce Velociraptor zord sprang out of the ground with a powerful leap, every bit as sure-footed and nimble as its namesake. With a low, thick body, long thin tail, powerful hind legs with their trademark giant claw on either foot, thin clawed hands and jaws of triangular teeth, the Raptor was an amazing and, just occasionally, terrifying sight.

Sarah stepped forward. "Rhamphorynchus Dinozord power!"

With an ear-splitting screech, the Rhamphorynchus shot straight up from the ground like a rocket, leveling out and gliding through the air towards us. Two yellow eyes sat on either side of a long purple beak, and the zord's angular wings, silver claws, aerodynamic body and long thin tail cast a wide shadow over the ground as the zord coasted towards the city.

"Whoa," murmured Ian, staring at the five mechanised beasts charging towards us and feeling like he was witnessing at least five of the seven wonders of the world. Standing beside him, Brendan grinned and subtly elbowed Ian in the ribs.

"Huh? Oh, erm, r-right," he stuttered, blushing beneath his helmet. "Iguanodon Dinozord power!"

The earth the five dinozords had risen from began trembling even more violently, and in a blaze of fire and smoke, the massive Iguanodon slowly rose from the depths of the Earth to greet the new age. Its red eyes flickered and flashed to life, while inside the zord, interior systems automatically switched on and computer systems began warming up. Finally awake after centuries of sleep, the Iguanodon threw back its head and bellowed, before taking its first steps towards us, the ground shaking with every step from the zord's massive three-toed feet.

"Wow," the Grey Ranger muttered.

As tall as our giant opponent on thick, sturdy legs, the zord was covered in silver and black armour plating, with a long thick tail hanging close to the ground and two powerful forearms, each one ending in four clawed fingers as well as the zord's famed thumb-claw. The mechanised beast's red eyes sat above a rounded snout, and the Iguanodon's chestplate was black and t-shaped, a golden sphere in the centre showing the zord's stylised hand-print symbol.

"All right guys, let's go!" I cried, and the six of us teleported into our approaching zords. "Rangers, log on!"

"Brendan here, ready to rock!"

"Scott here, all systems go."

"Teresa here, let's fry this fish!"

"Anyone brought the tartare sauce?"

I laughed, and typed a command into the computer. "Ian, you with us?"

"Yep," Ian replied. Situated in the zord's head, the Iguanodon's cockpit was identical to ours except for the grey colour scheme, roomy and air-conditioned with a large viewscreen set at the front. "I guess I can work out what everything does," he continued, glancing over the bevy of controls, blinking lights and buttons on the panel before him. "As strange as it sounds, I think I already know."

"You know what they say," said Scott. "Nothing beats on the job experience."

Pisces had dismissed the approaching zords and turned his attention to the row of houses and shops that bordered Tallebudgera Beach. Using his massive power upgrade, he'd begun blasting away to his heart's content, but had only made it through two buildings before the ground began shaking, and the monster looked up to see the six zords powering through the city towards him.

"Well," the monster rumbled, turning as the zords made it onto the wide abandoned beach, the Rhamphorynchus circling high above. "Power Rangers. I was wondering when you'd show up."

"Glad to oblige," I said. "Scott, Teresa, fire!"

Inside the Brontozord and the Velociraptor, the Blue and White Rangers nodded, and the two zords charged forward. On the Brontozord, two massive cannons rolled out of the zord's sides and began blasting, while beside it, the Velociraptor aimed high and fired its arsenal of laser bolts and guided rockets. Both zords found their target, and Pisces roared in anger as the blasts forced him backwards in a cloud of sparks and fire. Recovering from the assault, the monster thundered back out of the smoke cloud towards us, each footstep causing small tremors and throwing up huge clouds of sand.

"Peter, cover me," said Teresa. "I'm going in."

I nodded and steered the Stegozord into position beside the Brontozord, fireballs launching from the zord's mouth as a similar set of side cannons folded out from the zord's flanks. Avoiding our fire, the Raptor darted across the beach towards Pisces, leaping lightly into the air and flying towards the monster. Latching onto Pisces' chest armour with its claws, the zord began slashing away at the monster's stomach armour with its hind legs.

Pisces roared and smashed his fists against the zord, throwing the Velociraptor to the ground and wiping out several buildings as the zord rolled to a stop in a cloud of dust and debris. Turning to Scott and I, the monster raised his arm and sent a massive energy blast spiralling towards the Brontozord and Stegozord, and we quickly pulled our zords back.

Sparks rained down on me in the cockpit as I reached for the radio. "Brendan!"

"On it," came the reply. With a roar of battle, the Dilophozord cleared the streets and houses below and lightly touched down on the beach, immediately lashing out for the monster. Pisces stepped around the move and struck the zord a glancing blow to the side of the head. The Dilophozord roared and sent the fish monster stumbling back with a low kick, before stepping forward and raking its claws across Pisces' stomach armour. The monster staggered backwards across the sand in a cloud of smoke, but regaining his footing, Pisces charged forward, leaped into the air and smashed both armoured boots into the zord's chestplate, the force of the blow sending the Dilophozord crashing back over the rocks at the end of the beach and down into Tallebudgera Creek with a huge splash.

Grinning with triumph, Pisces turned back to face any remaining opponents, and literally found himself face-to-face with a giant silver Iguanodon.

"Those are my friends," said Ian.

The Iguanodon's right heel suddenly smashed into Pisces' jaw with continent-shattering force, launching the monster backwards, before spinning around and cracking its tail across the back of Pisces' skull. Dazed but still standing, the monster roared angrily and lashed out at the approaching zord with outstretched arms. Ian was ready - the zord blocked the beast's arms, brushing them aside and slamming Pisces back with a blow to his chest, before a low kick and powerful left backhand sent the beast to the ground with an almighty crash.

Pisces rolled to a stop and slowly climbed to his feet, but while he'd been fighting the Iguanodon the rest of us had recovered, and the zords now stood lined up on the beach.

Brendan moved first. "I'll have my fish deep-fried," he said, and a huge jet of orange flame roared from the Dilophozord's mouth, forcing the monster back in a shower of sparks and smoke. Before Pisces had the chance to retaliate, Scott, Teresa and I opened fire, and the monster's chest armour erupted in sparks and flame as he crashed to the ground in a cloud of sand and smoke.

"Sarah," I called, looking up to the purple Rhamphorynchus that had been busy extinguishing the fires from Pisces' earlier destruction but was now circling high above, "he's all yours. Take him out."

In the Rhamphorynchus cockpit, Sarah smiled. "About time. You're seafood pal!" And aiming for the downed monster, she pulled the zord into a downward plunge, cruising straight towards Pisces like a guided missile. As the zord fell, a shining energy field began forming around the zord's body and wings. Only two hundred feet above the ground, the zord suddenly pulled back into an ascent - the energy field continued travelling, and smashed into the monster with earth-shaking force, instantly obliterating Pisces in a massive explosion that lit up the beach and sent an orange and red fireball roaring skyward.

"Nice shot," said Ian, sitting back in his seat. "Wow. My first zord fight."

Sarah smiled. "Thanks. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

"Yeah, you did really well," I said, turning the Stegozord to face the Iguanodon.

"I'm not worried about that," Ian replied. "I just don't know whether to think, 'that could've gone so badly and Pisces could've destroyed the city,' or think 'sweet mercy that was awesome'."

Brendan laughed. "Go with the second one. It helps."

"Good work anyway, everyone," I said. "Now let's demorph and head back. I think we've definitely earned our breakfast this morning..."