To Koulagirl and Sky's Girl Forever, thanks for the reviews. Never fear, the whole story is written, I'm just putting it up chapter-by-chapter, you'll get the whole story I promise :). And with that, onto chapter three...

Chapter Three

Sitting on the eastern side of Battery Hill, the Kwan's house pretty much overlooks all of Currimundi, and their backyard is renowned for its views of the sunrise. Inside, as the day's first light began chasing away the night's shadows, Brendan opened his eyes and blinked away the night's sleep, soon finding that Ian's sleeping bag beside him was empty. But looking around, he saw that the door to the backyard was open, and so rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he climbed to his feet, grabbed a coat and tiptoed outside, stepping on Zac and Tommy along the way and finding the Grey Ranger sitting on the garden bench by the door.

"Hey," Brendan said quietly, pulling the door shut behind him.

Ian turned to him and smiled. "Morning," he nodded, as Brendan sat down beside him. "I didn't wake anybody up, did I?"

"Nah," Brendan replied. "Everybody's getting up anyway. I heard Tommy and Zac before."

Ian nodded, and looked back over Currimundi to the horizon in the distance. "I always wanted to see the sun rise over the ocean," he said softly. "I figure, I can cross it off my 'things to do' list."

There was a moment of silence, and recognising the tone in his friend's voice, Brendan looked back to Ian. "We are gonna beat this guy, I want you to know that," he said. "I mean it might seem impossible or too much to deal with, but you'd be surprised how many things seem impossible until you start spending time with the people inside."

Ian smiled. "Yeah, I kinda picked up that vibe," he replied.

"Heck, you should have seen what I had to do on my first day," Brendan said.

"They were telling me about it last night," Ian nodded. "You actually fought a mountain and stopped him from levelling the city? No way."

The Aqua Ranger beamed. "Yep," he replied, then paused. "Well, Zac and I didn't really fight him so much as manage to change his mind, you know, talk him out of it. Still not quite sure how, actually, but a victory's a victory. Tibrogargan was a good guy, anyway. He just didn't know it."

"Can't you just ask him to take out Rita and Callan for us?" Ian asked.

Brendan shook his head. "It doesn't work like that," he replied. "Peter and Zac explained the legend to me. Tibrogargan has to sleep. When he wakes up, bad things start happening, and I'm talking 'end of the world' kind of stuff. Which I actually saw happening, so I trust them." He paused. "So yeah, compared to that, Callan should be a piece of cake."

Ian smiled. "Thanks," he said, then shook his head. "I just don't get it. Callan was a hero. I just can't believe a Ranger could do something like this, you know?"

Brendan nodded, but hearing voices inside, stood up. "C'mon," he said, "everything makes more sense after breakfast," and the two friends turned and headed back inside.

By now, everybody was awake. The night had done everyone some good, and I could feel the change in the air, everybody refreshed and upbeat. After we'd all had showers and gotten changed, we sat down to breakfast, and once Trini's family had left for the day, we all gathered around in the rec room.

"We had a peaceful night," said Jason, "but I think we can bet on Callan making a return appearance today."

Tommy nodded. "Which is why we have to be ready for him," he said. "We're two Rangers down, after all."

"Affirmative," said Billy. "I was considering this last night, actually. Callan might be human, but he's certainly not from this planet, and he's at least six hundred years old. If nothing else, there's a chance that may give us some kind of energy signature to track."

"That's a great idea," I said. "Maybe we can go back through the archives, learn more about him. I mean he started as a Ranger, there's gotta be some good left in him, some way of reaching him, right?"

Teresa nodded. "I think that's definitely worth a shot."

Glancing around the room, Ian smiled. "Thanks guys," he said. "I feel bad about this. You shouldn't be in the line of fire here. It's me he's after."

"Don't even think about it," replied Kim. "We're in this together, no matter what."

Ian nodded, about to reply when everyone's communicators suddenly chimed. Jason glanced around to make sure the twelve of us were alone, and I couldn't help but notice he was almost hesitant in responding. "Zordon, we're here," he said. "What is it?"

"Trouble in the city, I'm afraid," crackled Zordon's voice.

"Is Callan back?" asked Ian.

"Yes, and he's not alone this time," Zordon replied. "Two of Rita's monsters and a troop of Shadow Knights are accompanying him, and they're attacking the markets in the park."

Trini frowned. "There's a lot of people there on a Sunday morning," she said. "We need to move."

"We can't waste any time," said Jason, turning to the group. "Tommy, Billy, you guys need to stay here, or better yet teleport to the Command Centre."

Tommy nodded, and glanced across to Ian before looking back to the rest of us. "Take care," he said, and Jason nodded, hearing the unspoken plea. Take care of Ian.

"You got it," Jason said, and glanced around the group. "Okay guys, let's suit up," and everybody reached for their back pockets. "It's morphin' time!"

"Iguanodon!"

"Dilophosaurus!"

"Rhamphorynchus!"

"Brontosaurus!"

"Velociraptor!"

"Stegosaurus!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Sabre-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

The markets were a traditional sight in the park every Sunday morning, sellers arriving early to set up stalls selling plants, old books, toys, wooden crafts, baked goods, and pretty much anything else. What wasn't a traditional sight were the panicked crowds of screaming people, fleeing for their lives away from the stalls and out of the park as the ten of us arrived on the scene. As the last of the crowds raced past us, a line of figures emerged from the aisles of stalls, moving forward quickly to confront us.

"Whoa," breathed Brendan. "Guess there's no kill like overkill."

"You got that right," nodded Kim.

On one side, two of what had to have been Rita's monsters were steadily closing in towards us. On the left was Bambi's evil twin brother after a few hours in the radiation chamber - the beast was covered in matted brown hair and wore green gauntlets and body armour, walking on hoofed feet and peering down at us through glowing red eyes under a savage-looking pair of antlers. Beside him, the second monster looked like the cyborg offspring of a computer and a goat, with mechanical joints above snowy white fur. The beast had blue eyes, wielded a long silver blade, and looked to have a robotic right leg and left arm.

Beside the two monsters was Callan, his armour repaired from the battle yesterday, while behind him stood a troop of Shadow Knights. The picture in the Command Centre hadn't done them justice - without exception, the soldiers were all giants of men, each one at least six feet tall and wearing fearsome black body armour. Their faces were all hidden behind their helmets, but their eyes were hard and emotionless, and there was something unsettling in their cool gazes.

"Rangers," Zordon's voice crackled through our communicators. "The two monsters are Staghorn and Robogoat, and behind Callan we can count at least thirty Shadow Knights. It would seem that Rita and Callan have forged something of an alliance."

"Great," said Zac. "Because that's what we wanted to hear."

Across from us, the grey warrior stepped forward. "Rangers!" he called, "I promised we would meet again, and here I am." He paused, glancing to Ian. "Whenever you're ready."

Jason glanced from the two monsters to the troop of Shadow Knights, his mind clear. Everything else aside, at least this was something he knew how to do, something he knew how to deal with. Something he didn't have to think about. "Okay, there's a church and houses on either side," he said, looking back to the group. "No matter what, we stop these guys here. Nobody leaves the park."

"We're closest to the Shadow Knights, we'll take them down," Teresa said.

Jason nodded. "Kim, Zac and Trini, you guys get Robogoat," he said. "Peter and I will take on Staghorn."

"Works for us," nodded Kim.

Ian glanced to Jason. "But what about...?"

Across from us, the grey warrior summoned his sword, and without another word, suddenly dashed away, leaving the knights and vanishing into the aisles of stalls and tents. Ian reacted instantly, summoning his blasters and racing off after the warrior. With a glance to Jason, Brendan turned and followed.

"Ian! Brendan!" called Trini. "Come back!"

Jason shook his head. "They can do it, let them go," he said. "We can take care of the rest. Let's break!"

With that the group split up, the White, Blue and Purple Rangers sprinting across the grass towards the troop of Shadow Knights. The soldiers turned towards them unsheathing their weapons as the Rangers approached - Teresa dived over a sword, rolled to her feet and kicked forward, wiping out several opponents before spinning around, ducking under a sword and dropping the knight with a blow to the stomach. Behind her, Scott blocked a staff and struck the soldier away with a palm strike, sending another crashing with a blow to the chest before taking to the air and dropping three more adversaries with a spinning roundhouse kick. A few metres away, a knight swung his blade for Sarah - the Purple Ranger caught the blade and snapped it in two with a judo chop before sending the knight to the ground with a right hook. More knights closed in around her, but reaching back for a table that had been knocked over in the earlier stampede, Sarah launched the bench into the air in a wide underarm arc and flattened an entire line of the grim soldiers.

A short distance away, Kimberly, Zac and Trini had all raced towards Robogoat, Zac charging towards the monster and swinging a high punch. Ducking under the blow, Robogoat blocked Zac's other fist and slashed his blade across the Black Ranger's chest, sending Zac crashing in a shower of sparks. The monster spun around to face the Pink Ranger as Kimberly attacked, striking away a low kick and slicing his blade towards her - Kim lightly dodged the blow, stepped around a second swing and somersaulted back over a third, catching the beast on the chin with her boot. The monster grunted angrily as she found her footing, lowering its head and sending her crashing back with a sonic blast. But even as Kimberly fell, Trini leaped forward, blocking the beast's blade and landing a powerful chop to his stomach before a rapid palm-strike to the chest knocked the monster away. Now with the advantage, the three Rangers raced forward to continue the battle.

Across the park, Jason and I had sprinted away from the others after Staghorn.

The monster grinned as we approached. "Catch me if you can," he sneered, and raced off into an aisle of market stalls, soon disappearing from view. Not wanting to lose him, Jason and I rounded the corner at full speed, and although the path ahead of us forked, I knew that both paths led around to meet at the basketball courts.

"You go left, I'll go right," I said quickly. Jason nodded, and we dashed away from each other. But as he raced down the path, Jason's communicator suddenly chimed, and the Red Ranger came to a stop.

"Jason, go back!" crackled Zordon's voice. "Stop! You have to get to Ian and Brendan!"

"But... Staghorn," said Jason, suddenly frozen. He didn't know what to do, couldn't make the call, and in a terrible split-second, realised that he just couldn't trust what Zordon was telling him.

"No, Rita's here! You have to find them!" Zordon replied.

Without warning, Staghorn stepped out from behind an ice-cream stand, grinning with malice, and before Jason could react, the monster lowered his head and fired a huge blast of energy from his antlers - the blast spiralled across the grass and smashed into Jason, lifting the Red Ranger off his feet and slamming him to the ground in a blaze of fire and sparks.

"A Red Ranger caught off his guard?" the monster sneered, slowly closing in. "I'm going to enjoy this..."

The ground in front of Staghorn suddenly erupted in sparks and smoke. The beast immediately ducked back, raising his arms to protect his face then turning back as the smoke cloud cleared - I stood before him, a few feet in front of Jason, blaster in my left hand and sword held high in my right.

"You will not hurt him again," I said.

Staghorn sneered. "I'd like to see you try and stop me," he said.

"Wish granted," I replied, and reholstering my blaster, I leaped towards him, slashing forward with my sword. Staghorn dodged around the blade, ducking under a second slash and stepping back around a third. I raised the sword high and swung again, but the monster blocked my arm and struck me back with a rapid blow to the chest. I stumbled back and Staghorn continued forward - I ducked under a right punch and struck his left fist away, but even as I swung my blade towards him, Staghorn stepped around the move and knocked me back with a low kick.

But as he advanced, Jason suddenly leaped down in front of me, striking away a punch and swinging high. The monster dodged the blow but before he could retaliate Jason forced him back with a kick to the stomach. Staghorn stumbled away, and now recovered I charged past Jason and slashed with my sword, Staghorn quickly retreating back out of harm's way. Beside me, Jason took to the air, kicking forward, Staghorn countering the blows as Jason landed but backing away even further. Finally, ducking under a wide slice from my sword, the monster spun away from us, stepping back out of range as we approached.

The monster looked up and around as we closed in. "Another day Rangers," he said. "I'm needed elsewhere," and with that, Staghorn vanished in a flash of light.

I turned to Jason. "Are you okay?"

The Red Ranger nodded. "C'mon," he said. "We have to find the others."

On the other side of the park, Ian and Brendan were racing through the market after the grey warrior, following him on a seemingly random course through the aisles of tents. Only a few steps ahead of them but somehow managing to maintain the distance, their quarry dashed left past a book stall before ducking right through a tent filled with leafy plants. The two Rangers followed, briefly losing sight of the warrior but never slowing down.

"Callan, will you just listen to reason?" called Ian as they chased him. "You're not evil, we don't have to do this! I'm sure Zordon never meant to lie to you, it's just..."

Ian's voice trailed off as he and Brendan reached an intersection between the aisles, and the two Rangers glanced back and forth to see which way the warrior had gone.

"Trying to bargain for your coin?" came a mocking voice, from somewhere in the distance.

Brendan glanced down the path on the right. "This way," he nodded, and the two Rangers turned and raced down the aisle.

"You used to own this coin," Ian continued, looking up and around. "Remember what that means? Remember the good you used to do? You were a hero once Callan, and you can be again."

Turning a corner, the two Rangers came to a sudden halt - a few metres ahead of them, the grey warrior and Rita herself were standing side-by-side between the stalls. Brendan instinctively raised his arms defensively, while Ian immediately aimed both blasters.

"Just keep talking," Rita sneered. "It's really working." She paused, and turned to the warrior beside her. "All yours Callan, as promised."

The warrior nodded. "You kept your word," he said. "I'm impressed."

"And the book of Hades?" Rita asked.

"Yours. As promised."

Rita smiled triumphantly. "Excellent," she replied, and looking back to an increasingly-confused Brendan and Ian, the witch stood to her full height and raised her wand. "Have fun boys," she said, and before either of them could react, there was a sudden pulse of bright light, and they vanished from the scene.

Back across the park, Zac, Trini and Kimberly were still trading blows with Robogoat. Ducking the monster's sword, Trini struck the beast's hand away when he swung again and landed a rapid strike to his shoulder before aiming a blow for his ribs. The beast blocked and batted away her hand, carving his blade back towards her - Trini stepped back around the move as Kimberly somersaulted forward, and they sent the monster stumbling with side-by-side high kicks. Robogoat staggered backwards but recovered quickly, and as the two Rangers raced towards him, he lowered his head and fired another sonic blast from his horns, the ground and nearby trees shaking as the two Rangers were blasted away. But as the monster turned to find his remaining opponent, Zac sprang forward into the air, landing a powerful kick to the beast's snout and sending him flying backwards.

The monster found his footing and snarled. "You'll pay for that," he growled, and raised his sword to attack - the trailing end of a whip suddenly wrapped around his wrist, yanking him back, and the beast turned to see the White Ranger standing behind him. He roared and spun towards her, but Scott leaped into the monster's path, blocking his blade with his staff before smashing the weapon back into the monster's snout. Dazed from the assault, the monster slashed wildly for Scott just as Sarah dropped down before him, and striking away his fist, she smashed her mace into the beast's stomach before swinging her weapon straight for the monster's jaw, the blow throwing the monster back.

The six Rangers all regrouped as Robogoat regained his footing.

"Run out of badguys?" asked Zac.

Scott nodded. "Figured you could use a hand," he said, indicating the unconscious soldiers littering the ground a few metres away - even as they watched, the soldiers began teleporting away, disappearing in flashes of light.

"Awesome," nodded Kimberly. "We could definitely use some help taking down Robocreep here."

"Then we got here just in time," came a voice, and everybody looked back to see Jason and I jogging over towards them. "Our badguy took off," I continued, as we joined the group, "so I guess it's open season on Robogoat."

"You hear that?" asked Zac, looking back to the monster. "You're history."

"We'll see about that," the monster growled, and lowering his head, the beast charged towards us.

"Let's take this guy out fast," said Trini.

"Right!"

The Senior Rangers all summoned their Power Weapons with a thought, Kimberly immediately taking aim at the monster and firing, Robogoat coming to a halt as the entire area went up in fire and smoke. Diving forward through the smoke cloud, Zac rolled to his feet and swung his Power Axe all in one smooth motion, carving the weapon across the beast's chest in a shower of sparks. Robogoat staggered back but retaliated, aiming his sword for the Black Ranger - Jason suddenly dropped down before him, halting Robogoat's sword with his own, striking it away and forcing the monster back with a left hook. Even as Robogoat found his footing, Trini leapt forward, daggers raised, blocking the beast's sword, ducking under a left high punch and landing a kick to the monster's chest.

Shaking his head to clear the ringing in his ears, the monster turned to see the White and Blue Rangers approaching. The monster growled and raised his sword, but Teresa cracked her whip for the beast's wrist and forced him to drop the blade onto the grass. He charged forward regardless, swinging blindly at the two Rangers, but swinging his staff, Scott blocked the beast's fists, landed a solid blow to the monster's stomach before smashing the other end of the staff into the beast's jaw. Stumbling away, the monster forced them back with another blast from his curling horns - that ended abruptly when Sarah landed a powerful blow with her mace. Even as Robogoat stumbled to the side, I took to the air, leaping past the Purple Ranger and forcing the monster back with a high kick.

Robogoat recovered and turned back to us. "You will never defeat me!" he cried.

"Challenge accepted," I replied, and the Junior Team stepped aside to reveal the Red Ranger holding the Megablaster aimed squarely at Robogoat.

"Good night," Jason nodded, and pulled the trigger - a massive blast of energy exploded from the cannon, spiralling across the battlefield, slamming into Robogoat and instantly destroying him in a fiery explosion that lit up the park and echoed throughout the deserted markets.

Jason lowered the Megablaster and glanced around the group as we all took a minute to catch our breath.

"Well," began Scott brightly. "That was..."

"Guys," I interrupted, looking around, "where are Ian and Brendan? I can't see them anywhere. Where...?"

"Gone," crackled Zordon's voice, and we all looked down to our communicators. "We've got no trace of either them or Callan. I'm sorry Rangers, they're just... gone."