To KevinBoy and Koulagirl -- thanks so much for the compliments. I'm glad you're enjoying the story :). Yeah, a big part of this story is that these kids are all really starting to work together. There are still two teams of 6, separate, but you can see the broader team of 12 taking shape. Anyway, enjoy chapter 2 :)

Chapter Two

The city's main gates had been shattered to rubble, and Azhron's walls were already tumbling down as Callan stormed through the cloud of debris into the city's major square, legions of soldiers spreading out around him on either side. Looking ahead, Callan could see the palace rising above them. Like all tyrants, the city's king believed himself to be eternal and immortal, and stood waiting in his palace unconcerned.

Callan smiled beneath his helmet. Now was the time to make Azhron's king very concerned.

But as he continued forward, Callan caught sight of a banner flapping in the billowing clouds of smoke, black with a stylised green 'v' design wreathed in flame. Callan froze on the spot, the frenzied sounds of battle on all sides fading away, and through a clenched jaw, he muttered a single word that sounded like the most ancient of curses.

"Varian..."

A rush of painful memories flooded back through Callan's mind, of helplessness and screams in the night. His grip around the two blasters tightened, and he cracked the handles of the twin blasters without even realising it. He'd been lied to, and the expression behind his visor was one of absolute fury.

"Zordon, why didn't you tell me?"

The twelve of us materialised back in the Command Centre and immediately all looked up to Zordon. It wasn't that the warrior had come close to beating us, although he'd easily held his own against just about everybody here. It was that he had been gunning specifically for our newest member, and I guess it was a matter of how much Ian meant to us that this was the reason everybody was freaked out.

"Zordon," began Scott, "who was that guy? What was that about?"

"He wasn't with Rita," I said. "He was just as surprised to see her as we were."

"And why was he after me?" Ian asked. "He was after me and me alone, and I've never seen this guy before in my life. So why?"

"If it even is a guy," added Tommy, glancing around the room. "You guys saw the power he was packing. And man, could he fight."

"His name is Callan," said Zordon suddenly, his booming voice echoing through the building. "I recognised him instantly by the symbol on his armour. And he is an incredibly skilled warrior because I taught him to be." There was a minute of silence as we all took this in, and Zordon continued. "Callan was the last Grey Ranger, the last person to use the Iguanodon Power Coin before it passed to you, Ian."

Silence fell. I glanced around to the other Rangers in disbelief. "Zordon, are you serious?" I asked. "This guy Callan, he used to be a Ranger?"

"Yes, he did," Zordon replied. "But I... he is more than six hundred years old. His appearance today has me at a complete loss."

"Ayeyiyi," said Alpha. "Zordon, we scanned every inch of that city. Could we have been wrong?"

Standing beside me, I felt Jason suddenly tense, as words he'd heard earlier came back into his mind. His expression hardened, and I turned to him to find an unreadable look in his eyes. "Zordon," Jason said, his voice strangely calm, "tell us everything, everything you know about this guy. His powers, what he can do, where he's from, his shoe size. Everything."

Zordon nodded. "If you could turn to the viewing screen Rangers. This is not an easy story to tell," and he paused while we all turned to face the back of the room.

As we watched, the screen flashed to life, a picture of a man who looked to be in his early thirties. He was tall, well-built, with warm grey eyes, an easy smile and short blond hair. Beside him, her arms draped around his shoulder, was a woman who I guessed correctly was Callan's wife. She looked graceful and beautiful, with long red hair and an expression of contented love as she gazed up to her husband. In Callan's arms was the third family member, a young boy, and although he had pale skin and red hair, it was easy to see he'd inherited his father's eyes and smile.

"Wow," said Kim. "He looks like a nice guy."

"He was," Zordon replied. "Six hundred years ago, Callan was a warrior king on a distant planet, where he lived with his wife and son, ruling justly over a small kingdom. However, then as now, evil forces existed to conquer and destroy, and one horrible day Callan lost everything to a man named Varian."

The picture changed, and we were now looking at another man, maybe a few years older than Callan, this one standing before a field of warriors, dressed in black and red with a curious 'v' emblem on his robes. He had a cruel smile, and in his dark eyes there was something scary, something unsettling.

"That's Varian?" asked Tommy.

"Yes," Zordon replied. "The only enemy more dangerous than a smart man corrupted by power is an idiot corrupted by power. Varian was a fool and a tyrant, and I still wonder how he managed to amass such dark power."

"And he killed Callan's family?" Trini asked.

"Not alone," Zordon said. "Varian had at his command an army of warriors, the Shadow Knights, mercenaries and thieves and who shared Varian's lust for conquest," and the screen flashed to a troop of soldiers, all wearing black, full-body armour, with spiked gauntlets and a variety of weapons hanging by their belts. Their helmets vaguely resembled those of Roman centurions, and several in the group had red markings on their suits and helmets. I guessed they were the generals.

"Varian also had three monsters as his muscle. There was General Taltos," and the screen showed a tall monster with two large insect-eyes and two pointed antenna on his head, dressed in black and blue carrying a pair of serrated daggers, "and General Xerxes." Another picture flashed before us, a green reptilian beast with two predatory red eyes, a forked serpentine tongue and oddly-spiked armour, the beast's gauntlets, shoulders and helmet all covered in hooked spikes.

"Whoa," said Brendan. "Who's that guy's tailor?"

"Varian's third general was General Wolfbane," Zordon continued, the picture now showing the third of Varian's generals. While the other two monsters were menacing, Wolfbane looked downright frightening - he wore thick black leather over his blue fur, but his left leg and right arm were wrapped in green, thorny vines, and hungry yellow eyes peered down over a long canine snout filled with jagged yellow teeth. "Half-wolf and half-plant, Wolfbane was the strongest of the three. His cruelty and evil were legendary."

"What about Callan?" asked Ian, as we all turned back to Zordon. "What happened to him?"

"Callan survived, a broken man," Zordon replied. "He would not speak of what happened, nor did he ever mention Varian or his family. I suspected the trauma of that night was simply too much for him to remember. At any rate, I took him in, healed and trained him, and gave him the Grey Power Coin. He was a powerful warrior, but I could see a hardness to him, a love of battle and victory. The same flaw we all saw in Ultramarine. So I kept my eye on him, but it wasn't enough."

"Why?" I asked. "What happened?"

"A few years after recruiting Callan, I sent him on a mission to the planet Horath," Zordon said. "The king of Azhron was growing too powerful, amassing too much dark power, and Callan was to fight his way into the city and bring the king back so as to help undo some of the things he'd done." Zordon paused, lowering his voice. "That king was King Varian."

Jason leaned forward. "And you didn't tell him, did you?"

Zordon sighed, and glanced down to Jason. "No, I did not."

Kim's jaw dropped. "How could you not have?" she asked. "Once he got to Varian he would've figured it out anyway."

"It was a mistake, I will not claim otherwise," Zordon said. "But I told him what I thought he needed to know."

Jason nodded. "Because you didn't trust him," he said flatly.

Zordon looked away, and couldn't respond. "Because of the planet's sheer distance from Earth, as well as the orbits of several nearby stars, the planet Horath is impossible to monitor for long periods of time," he continued, as if Jason hadn't spoken. "Teleporting to the planet is tricky, and teleporting once on the planet is impossible, although I don't know why. Now by this time Varian had gained a great many enemies, and they gathered together to form the army that Callan led. Alpha and I watched as he stormed through the city and confronted the king. He must've realised the truth then, as he threw away his Power Coin and continued unmorphed. And although I did not see the killing blow, I watched Callan's sword fall for the king's head."

Zordon broke off, his tone softening. "In that one second, he fell. Callan's need for revenge conquered him, and he executed Varian," he sighed. "We lost Callan's signal soon after, and teleported the Grey Power Coin to safety lest it fall into the wrong hands. I'd always thought he'd been overwhelmed fighting his way out of the city, but he must've survived, waiting all this time for the chance to return and make me pay for my lie."

"But I don't get it," said Sarah. "Why now? Why come back now?"

"To get his Power Coin back," said Trini. "While it was locked in a vault under the Command Centre it was out of his reach, but now there's a new Grey Ranger..."

"Callan's come back for something he thinks is rightfully his," I finished.

Billy nodded. "It would grant him access to the Command Centre and allow him the Iguanodon zord, among other things," he said. "And that's a frightening thought."

Jason shook his head, and looked up to Zordon. "And when exactly were you going to tell us that the Iguanodon Power Coin came with a psychotic ex-Ranger with a grudge?"

Ian turned to the Red Ranger. "Jason calm down, it's okay," he said. "It's nobody's fault, there's no way we could've expected this. He's just one guy, after all. I mean if worse comes to worse, we can beat one guy, right?"

"Don't bet on it," said Zac, glancing across the room to Tommy. "Last time we took on an evil Ranger we barely came out in one piece."

Tommy grit his teeth, and dropped his morpher onto the control panel beside him. "What about my powers?" he asked. "What happened?"

"We knew this would happen eventually," Zordon replied, evidently grateful for the subject change, "we just never knew what kind of time frame we were dealing with. The forcefield that recharged your powers was only temporary. Alpha and I will look, but at the moment I'm sorry. There's nothing we can do."

Tommy's expression fell, and he collapsed back against the console. "So what now?" he asked, deflated.

Ian glanced around. "Yeah, I mean, do we all just go home now, or what?"

"No," said Teresa. "Now that Callan and Rita are up to who knows what on the moon right now, we're not letting you out of our sight," and she looked up to Zordon. "Ian stays with us tonight."

Brendan nodded. "Definitely," he said. "You said your parents are out of town anyway, right?"

Ian nodded. "Well, yeah. But where can we...?"

"My place," said Trini. "We can spend the night in the rec room under my house. We can watch some movies, order pizza, and stay together. Just think of it as a big extended training session."

"Sounds good," Ian replied. "My house is already locked up, I just need to pick some things up."

"We'll come with you," I said. "Teleporting, short trip," and I turned to Jason beside me. "Let's roll."

Jason shook his head. "No, you guys go," he replied. "I want to talk to Zordon, we'll meet you at Trini's place later. We won't be long."

I picked up the tone in Jason's voice and nodded. "Okay, see you soon," and stepping back to join the others, we all tapped our communicators and vanished from the room in six bright flashes of light. Watching us go, aware that everyone in the room was now looking at him, Jason slowly turned back to Zordon.

Zordon knew what was coming. He'd been alive for far too long, and could read people too well, to have any kinds of doubts about what Jason was thinking. Indeed, he was mildly surprised it hadn't come earlier.

"There's a problem Jason?" he asked.

Jason nodded, and stepped forward. "Yes," he said. "You don't trust us, and at the moment the feeling is almost mutual. So yeah, that's the problem."

Trini turned to him. "Jason..."

The Red Ranger shook his head. "Let me finish," he said, turning from Trini back up to Zordon. "I've been listening to things people have been saying the last couple of days, even people I shouldn't be listening to. But some things are starting to add up, and that's really starting to bother me. Zordon, you don't trust us. You didn't tell us about the Junior Team's coins, you didn't tell us about Brendan's powers, you didn't tell us about the Grey Power Coin and you sure as heck didn't tell us that when we gave Ian the Iguanodon Power Coin, the guy who had it last would want it back." Jason shook his head. "You didn't trust Callan, either, and look how that turned out."

Zordon looked away, unable to respond, and the Rangers all turned to each other, everyone torn between siding with their mentor, and siding with their friend.

Trini glanced from Zordon to Jason and broke the heavy silence. "Jason, you don't think you're being a little unfair?" she asked.

"No, he isn't," said Tommy, suddenly angry. "Jason's right," and he looked up to Zordon. "It would've been nice to know all these things beforehand. Are there any more insane warriors coming for the rest of us? Will anybody else's powers drop out mid-battle?" he yelled. "How much have you not told us?"

"Tommy!" Kimberly said sharply, glaring at him.

Tommy turned to her, saw the expression on her face and immediately backed down. "I'm sorry," he said wearily, "it's just..." but his voice trailed off.

"Guys," said Billy, turning back to the group. "Losing our patience is not going to accomplish anything, but Zordon, surely you see Jason has a valid argument. We need to be as effective as possible at what we do, and if you're keeping things from us we simply can't do our jobs properly."

Zordon nodded slowly, turning from Ranger to Ranger. The look on Jason's face hurt him the most.

"Rangers," he began, his voice lacking its usual booming quality. "It was never my intention to hurt any of you. There were reasons for everything that I did and did not tell you, but I'm growing increasingly aware of my own mistakes this day, and for those I'm sorry."

A heavy silence fell then, but after a few seconds, Tommy looked up, his eyes serious.

"Tell us why," he said simply. "Why you kept everything from us."

Beside him, Kimberly nodded. "No more secrets," she agreed.

Zordon allowed himself a slight smile, glad for a chance to redeem himself. "Where should I start?" he asked.

"At the beginning," said Zac quickly. "The second set of power coins."

"Yes," agreed Zordon, "a good place to start. The reason I waited until there was no other choice than to use them was because I was worried. Rangers, the power you have at your disposal is without parallel. A team of six Power Rangers is a force to be reckoned with, but twelve Power Rangers working together are something else entirely. There have been reports in the past of rogue teams of Power Rangers..."

Zac realised what Zordon was saying. "You didn't want to take the chance that we'd turn bad?" he asked.

"It wasn't that I thought you ever would," Zordon replied. "I was just being careful. As I'm sure you're all aware, particularly after today, power can be a dangerous thing."

Tommy looked up to the sage. "What about Ian's power coin?"

"As I said previously, the grey power coin cannot be used by any existing Power Ranger," explained Zordon. "Mentioning it would have been redundant."

Tommy nodded, accepting that, and Trini stepped forward. "And Callan?"

Zordon sighed before responding. "Callan was as mortal as all of you," he replied. "Even had he defeated every opponent in that city and left safely, old age and failing health should have caught up to him eventually. If I'd suspected for a second that he was still alive and determined to take back the Iguanodon Power Coin, I would never have endangered Ian like that."

"While we're on the topic, what about my powers?" began Tommy. "You saw what happened in the city. Is this going to be permanent?"

"I'm afraid so," Zordon replied. "That forcefield was only a temporary solution. The vast majority of the power you gained that day has already been expended."

The Green Ranger's heart fell. "And there's nothing you can do?"

Alpha stepped forward. "I've been thinking about that, actually," he said. "And I think there might be a solution, or at least another temporary one."

"At the moment I'll take what you can give me," Tommy said.

Alpha nodded. "The Green Candle that Rita used severed the Dragonzord Power Coin's connection to the Morphin' Grid, but all the other coins still have that connection. Ayeyiyi, it's a longshot, but keeping your coin in another Ranger's morpher may be enough to charge it sufficiently with some excess power." Alpha paused. "Or it might do nothing. We're in unfamiliar territory here."

Billy looked over to them. "You can use mine," he said, reaching for his back pocket and summoning his morpher. "I'm likely to be least effective in fighting Callan, and if it will enable Tommy the chance to morph again..." Crossing the room, Billy gave Tommy his morpher, Tommy swapping the coins over and giving Billy back both the Triceratops Power Coin and his morpher.

"Thanks," said Tommy, and Billy smiled a small smile.

At the front of the room, Jason lowered his gaze. He had to admit, he felt no better. "What do you say we all call it a day?" he asked, looking around to the group.

The teens wearily nodded. "I think that's a good idea," agreed Zac.

Everyone stepped back, but looked up at Zordon one final time.

"I hope you can forgive me my mistakes," said Zordon softly. "And please, take care of Ian. He's going to need you."

"We will," said Kimberly, and with that, the six of them reached for their communicators and teleported away, leaving Zordon and Alpha alone in the Command Centre once again.

"Why did you interfere?" asked the warrior, approaching Rita as she stood on the observatory balcony. "I was holding my own and required no assistance."

Rita turned to him. "I have some experience in these matters," she said. "So you might want to trust me that your chances of victory this afternoon were slim."

"I could've beaten them with ease," the warrior replied indignantly.

"Yes, and I've been underestimating them for the better part of six months," Rita said sharply. "Look at where it's gotten me."

"So what do you suggest?"

The faintest trace of a smile flashed across Rita's face, but was gone just as quickly. "You need my help, Callan," she began. "You and I want the same thing, our goals are practically the same. You don't have the power to take on the entire team to get to the Grey Power Coin, but I do. And I can help you, Callan, if you wish."

The warrior hesitated a second, then nodded. "For?"

"For the book, Varian's legacy and the source of his power," Rita replied. "You know which volume I refer to. I just wish to inspect it, and you can even have it back when I'm finished."

"And you'll really aid my quest?" the warrior asked.

Rita nodded. "Absolutely."

The warrior turned out to look at Earth in the distance, taking a few seconds to decide before turning back to Rita. "In that case," he replied, with a nod and a malicious smile beneath his visor, "the deal is done."

Leaving the Command Centre and very curious about what was being said in our absence, the six of us shot through the sky towards Goondiwindi, fields, farms and dusty plains flashing beneath us before everyone materialised in Ian's house. Ian quickly introduced us to the family dog, a friendly and somewhat enormous golden retriever named Fenris, before dashing upstairs to get his backpack. After leaving some food for Fenris, he was ready to go, and we teleported back towards Caloundra. For the most part we remained in good spirits, although it was impossible not to feel the shift in everybody's behaviour, or notice Ian paying a lot more attention to his surroundings than usual.

It was sunset by the time we reached Trini's house, and we found the teens already there. I knew they weren't likely to tell us what had happened back in the Command Centre, but nobody looked particularly happy about whatever had gone on. At any rate, pizzas were soon ordered, the video committee (Kimberly, Teresa and Scott) left for the video store, and everybody began regaling Ian with past adventures while we unpacked, the collective mood slowly but surely beginning to lift. Even Ian was soon smiling and laughing along with the rest of us.

Sitting at the back of the room and keeping a patiently observant eye on the Dragonzord Power Coin in his morpher, Billy glanced up and around only to see that Tommy wasn't in the room with everybody else. Climbing to his feet, the blond youth walked across to the door to the backyard, soon seeing that he'd guessed right - Tommy was sitting outside on a garden bench in the Kwan's backyard, alone in the cool night air.

Stepping outside, Billy pulled the door shut and turned to the Green Ranger. "I noticed you weren't inside with everybody else," he said quietly, sitting on the other side of the bench. Tommy made no reply, so he continued. "For whatever it's worth, it appears to be working," he said hopefully, raising the morpher. "You coin does in fact appear to be absorbing some of the excess power within my morpher, charging, if you will. So we should have you back to normal soon."

"Until the next time it happens," Tommy said suddenly. "Let's face it Billy, there's only so many temporary fixes we can use before we run out."

"Possibly, but there must be a permanent solution somewhere, and Alpha and Zordon are more than likely to find it," he said, trying to sound comforting. "And until then..."

The Green Ranger sighed, and looked to Billy. "You don't get it Billy," he said. "There is no permanent solution here. You've never lost your powers, you wouldn't understand. It was bad enough being the badguy." Tommy got to his feet and stepped away, pausing at the door. "If I'm not a Ranger, then what am I?" he asked quietly, before stepping back inside.

Billy watched him go. "Everything I wish to be," he said softly, before turning back to the stars.

Back inside, I'd just come downstairs from saying hello to Trini's parents when, stepping into the rec room, I picked up the sounds of combat coming from the garage next door, somebody obviously taking out some stress on the punching bag kept within. But looking around, I noticed that Jason was missing, and after a second of hesitation, I crossed towards Zac sitting at the back of the room.

"Hey Zac," I said.

Zac turned to me as I sat down beside him. "Yo Pete, what's up?"

"You're close to Jason, right?" I asked.

Zac nodded. "As close as he lets me. Why do you ask?"

"Something's bothering him," I said. "I want to, you know, talk to him. I'm just not sure how."

"Yeah, in the Command Centre he said a few things to Zordon," Zac replied quietly. "Nobody's real happy about what went on, to be honest. Jason shuts down when he's upset about something. We usually just let him go and he comes good after a while on his own."

I smiled. "That's what Teresa and Sarah say about me."

Zac nodded. "I'll bet they do," he said with a smile, then nodded to the garage. "Why don't you go talk to him? It can't hurt."

"Yeah, yeah I will, thanks," I said. Zac wished me luck as I stood up, and leaving the rec room, I walked down the hall and stepped out into the garage just as Jason turned away from the punching bag, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Jason?" I said.

He looked back to me. "Oh, Peter," he said. "Sorry, I didn't see you there. You startled me." Hanging the towel back up on the wall, he dropped to the ground, sitting back against the wall and holding his head in his hands, and I walked over and sat down beside him.

"You okay?" I asked, hoping the direct approach would work.

Jason shook his head. "No," he replied, "not really. It was just a big day, I guess. Where are the heroes when you really need them?"

This sounded like a really odd thing to say, but I nodded and didn't reply for a minute. "Well, I just want you to know that I'm here," I said eventually.

Jason turned to me, and offered a small but honest smile. "Thanks," he replied softly, about to continue when Teresa suddenly poked her head around the corner.

"Guys, the movies and pizzas are here," she said. "We're trying to hold off Zac and Brendan, but we can't keep them back for long."

"On our way," said Jason, and we both climbed to our feet and jogged back into the rec room to rejoin the group. "Zac, if there's no Hawaiian left, you're in big trouble..."

And as we sat down, Trini fired up the Kwan's giant widescreen television and put the first movie in, which I happily soon saw was 'Godzilla vs King Kong', my favourite giant monster movie of all time and the best out of the entire Godzilla series. Just briefly, I forgot about the people standing on the moon plotting our imminent destruction, and enjoyed the moment for what it was. And looking around, I could see that everyone in the room was doing the same.

I smiled and turned to Jason. "Eating pizzas and watching badly-dubbed old movies with best friends. Does it get any better than this?"

And even in spite of himself, Jason shook his head. "No," he replied honestly, "I don't think it ever does."

The palace rose above them, dark and foreboding in the moonlight, its high windows reflecting the flames taking hold in the city below. Approaching the enormous castle gates, Callan raised his arm and brought the troop of soldiers behind him to a stop.

"The Shadow Knights' barracks are around to the left," he said tersely, nodding to a low stone building beside the palace. "Once you take their stronghold, they should fall. The castle is mine alone."

One of the soldiers stepped forward. "With due respect, sir," the man began, "we don't know what lies within..."

"I do."

At the tone in Callan's voice, the soldier frowned. "Sir, remember our orders. The king needs to be captured alive."

"I will do what I have to," Callan replied quickly, turning to the soldier, his voice like the sword the soldier was holding. "But understand me - nobody follows me inside. Is that clear?"

The soldier lowered his gaze. "Yes sir."

Callan nodded, and as the troops moved away, he stepped forward, raised his weapons and blasted the gates clean off their hinges.