Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Power Rangers.

Chapter 23, In which, Zack (Sorta) Tries to Teach Harry to Dance…

"Harry, come up here for a moment."

Forcing down a groan, Harry moved once more to the front of the group of students to stand before their teacher. This was only his fourth Karate class since Hedwig's return and in that week-and-a-bit he had been called up three times to demonstrate whatever they had been working on only to be corrected on some perceived flaw by the Red Ranger before the class was dismissed.

Normally Harry would be alright with this, Jason was the teacher and voice of experience after all, and at first he was, but after the second class in a row Harry was admonished to watch his footwork after having spent the previous day's practice with the other Rangers ironing out just that he was starting to get frustrated.

He wasn't the only one either. A few of the other students had started to shoot both Harry and Jason slightly uneasy looks. One of his classmates who had been in Jason's class for months had even told him that he couldn't see anything wrong with his form at all. This lead to an awkward sort of commiseration as he seemed convinced that Jason was just putting a little extra pressure on the new guy, as it were. He had assured Harry that Jason would lay off eventually, at the very least whenever they got another new student into the class.

For his part, Harry wasn't really so sure any more.

Internally bracing himself, Harry bowed to Jason before following his instructions to run through the day's kata by himself while Jason called out the moves, slowly walking around him as he did.

"Ready one. Punch two. Block three. Punch four. Back five."

"Kiai!"

By now, Harry had run through this kata enough he could probably do it without thinking about it. His Grid enhances learning curve had already placed him as one of the early stand outs in his class as he was able to take the various movements from new and uncertain to pure muscle memory with comparatively little practice. This ability, combined with the instruction from the other Rangers, had made most of Jason's nitpicking rather questionable, yet still it continued.

All the same, perhaps he was being too hard on the Red Ranger.

"Alright Harry, I see you've done some practicing. Your footwork was much better this time, but pay a bit more attention to your blocks and tighten up your ready stance a bit. Class dismissed."

Then again, maybe he was just bringing his grudge over to a new field now that he had an acknowledged position of authority over the wizard…

Bowing, Harry made his way to the locker room, filing his musings away again as he showered and changed before taking his place behind the Juice Bar counter. For the next thirty minutes or so, Harry went about his job, taking and filling orders for the various patrons of the Youth Center Juice Bar and pondering over the situation with Jason at the same time.

His musings were interrupted, however, by Zack as he approached the counter with an easy gait, but an uneasy look in his eyes. Harry studied the Black Ranger as he ordered smoothies for himself and the other Rangers, sans Tommy, who had taken spots at a nearby table. Zack really did look more than a bit off, though Harry couldn't exactly place why.

Finally, after sliding a tray with the Rangers' drinks to him across the counter, Harry decided to simply ask. "What's bugging you, Zack?"

The Ranger shuddered theatrically. "Don't say that word, man. Ugh… I can't stand bugs!"

Harry raised an eyebrow quizzically and held the look until Zack started speaking again. "Let's just say I had a close encounter of the creepy crawly kind earlier today and I can't shake the feeling off."

"Ah," Harry nodded sympathetically, briefly thinking of Ron's arachnophobia. "I didn't know you were afraid of bugs, Zack."

He nodded dramatically before groaning slightly. "Yeah, bugs and snakes aren't really my thing." He shot a quick look to either side before leaning in closer and speaking in a whisper. "Some of Rita's monsters have been a pretty close thing for me, let me tell you…"

Harry chuckled a bit. "Based on the stories I've heard about some of the one's I missed, I can only imagine."

Zack gave him a half-hearted glare before perking up slightly. "So, Harry… I noticed you're still having some trouble with Jason's class…"

It was Harry's turn to groan now. "And there's a topic I really don't want to think about. It seems like no matter what I do, I'm always doing something wrong."

Zack looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment and Harry realized that he was essentially complaining to him about one of his best friends. Before he could comment on it though, Zack seemed to have an idea. "Well hey, maybe Karate just isn't your thing? How about you come with me later when I go to the park to meet some prospective students for my martial arts class?"

Harry was rather surprised by this. "You're going to be teaching a class too?" It wasn't that Harry doubted Zack's ability, far from it as Zack was easily one of the best fighters amongst the Rangers after Jason and, more recently, Tommy. Harry had always just seen Zack as being a bit more easy-going than what a teacher typically was in his experience.

The Black Ranger, luckily enough, was apparently unaffected by Harry's show of doubt. "Yeah man, I'm going to start teaching some of my Hip Hop Kido and I'm meeting a bunch of kids in the park to give a demo. You should come along. Maybe it will be more your style."

Harry raised an eyebrow. That had sounded scarily like Zack wanted to teach Harry how to dance and fight at the same time like he tended to do. Harry had only really danced once in his life and that was during the Yule Ball in his fourth year. He somehow doubted that it would have any relation to what Zack intended to teach.

However, just as Harry was about to decline, he noticed a bit of movement out of the corner of his eye and glanced over to see Ernie standing conspicuously close. When he noticed Harry's gaze upon him, Ernie gave him a meaningful look and nodded toward Zack. Harry groaned internally. It seemed as if Ernie had heard Zack's offer and was once more going to tell/force Harry to go hang out with others and have a social life if he didn't take the leap himself.

Turning his attention back to Zack, Harry noticed a glimmer in the Ranger's eyes that told him he noticed the byplay from the slightly pushy but still overly friendly owner/operator of the Youth Center. "Alright, Zack," Harry sighed, idly rubbing at his eyes in irritation before fixing his glasses while Zack chuckled. "I'll come along to your demo. I don't know that it will work out for me, but it could be interesting to see anyway. Are any of the others coming along?"

Smiling now, Zack shook his head. "Naw, man. They have something else to take care of. So I'll come get you when I'm ready to leave, yeah?"

Harry felt a smile stretch across his own face as Zack's infectious good humor caught hold. "Sure, I get the feeling that Ernie will let me go as soon as you're ready."

Ernie just snorted and moved further from the two, apparently satisfied that Harry would be hanging out with his friends later.

Smiling still, Zack took the tray of drinks back to his table and passed them out to the other Rangers. Harry watched for a moment, nodding when Kimberly and Trini, the only two facing him, looked up and waved as Zack took his seat also facing toward the counter. Jason and Billy pivoted slightly and waved as well before they all got back into their conversation and Harry went back to work, taking another order and getting started on it.

He continued in the monotony for another twenty minutes or so until Trini walked up to him as he was wiping down a section of the countertop. "Hey, Harry…" She said, somewhat hesitantly as he stopped his cleaning and smiled at her.

"Hey, Trini. What's up?" When she didn't immediately respond, actually didn't even meet his eyes right away, Harry shot a quick glance over to the Rangers' table. Jason and Billy were still facing away, though they seemed focused on Kimberly who was talking to them with an eager smile on her face. Zack looked slightly unhappy though, perhaps even a tiny bit guilty if he was reading the look on his face right.

Before he could ponder it anymore, Trini finally spoke. "So… I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me out a bit later on… You see… We're studying entomology in my science class and I had to bring in a bunch of insects for the class to study. It was kind of an extra credit thing… Anyway, while I was researching for it, I learned about a statue in the park, the Forest Spirit Statue. According to the legend behind it, the statue provides protection against bad insects, and the city council wants to tear it down and put in a barbecue pit!"

At this point, it was rather obvious even to Harry that Trini was rambling a bit, but he couldn't bring himself to interrupt her, so he just smiled as she continued talking. "So anyway, I used the bugs that I had collected in a display at school to help tell people what was going on so they would sign a petition to protect the statue, but Bulk and Skull came along and let them all out. My teacher, Mr. Bartz, gave me a chance to collect some more and still get the credit and I was hoping you might be able to come along to help… please?"

All at once a few things became obvious to Harry. First, Zack's unease and his recent bug-based encounter. If Trini had been running something like that at school, it was an easy guess that the other Rangers were nearby. And knowing Bulk and Skull, they probably made sure to release the bugs on or around others as a matter of general principle. Second, the activity that the other Rangers were doing that prevented them from watching Zack's demo. They had probably already volunteered to help out Trini. And Third, the reason for Zack's slightly unhappy look, though the reason for the guilt escaped him.

Harry gave Trini an apologetic half smile at the hopeful look in her eyes. "I'm sorry Trini, but I already agreed to go with Zack to his martial arts demo he's doing later. He seems to think that I might find myself having less trouble with his dancing style than with Jason's Karate."

Trini's face fell rather dramatically before she took a deep breath and rallied herself, giving him a rather forced smile. "Oh… ok… It's alright. Billy, Jason, and Kim are coming along too so we should be ok to find enough…"

When she continued standing there awkwardly Harry couldn't help but speak again. "Hey, how about after Zack's demo is over I'll contact you and see if you still need any help. I should be able to round up a few more bugs for you with a quick spell or two. Would that work?"

Trini's eyes brightened a bit and her smile became slightly more natural. "Sure. Thanks, Harry."

Harry nodded and tapped his communicator. "I'll talk to you later then, yeah?"

"Definitely." And with that she walked back over to the table with the others, perhaps not with a spring in her step, but at least not sad anymore.

Harry watched her go for a moment, noting idly that the first thing Zack did when she sat down next to him was put a hand on her arm and apologize, if his lip reading was any good anyway. He spent a few moments pondering the action before any further thought on it was pushed aside when more customers came up to the counter and he was forced to get back to work.

-MR-

Harry spent the next half hour or so working until the Rangers all stood from their table and started making their way out around 5:30, waving to him as they went. Seeing this, Ernie all but chased Harry out from behind the counter, barely giving him time to wash his hands and remove his apron before he left.

Leaving the Youth Center himself, Harry was more than a bit shocked to find Zack behind the wheel of an older car, black of course, with the other Rangers nowhere in sight. After climbing into what was apparently Zack's car (he didn't even know Zack had a car!), Harry was told that the others had set out in the Rad Bug and were heading for the opposite side of the park from where he and Zack were going. That side of the park bordered on some untended fields and Billy was confident they would be able to locate Trini's replacement insects there fairly easily.

For his part, Zack expressed his general relief to not be going on the bug hunt with the others before he started expressing the virtues of Hip Hop Kido. It was apparently a fighting style he had invented himself, based heavily off of his own Karate expertise alongside his dancing skills. It was something that the Ranger was imminently proud of, and he was both incredibly "jazzed" and very nervous at the possibility of having students of his own in his own style of martial arts.

The drive to the park took around ten minutes and they were unable to find a nearby parking spot so it was nearly 6:00 by the time Zack and Harry arrived to meet with the assembled children with their parents standing nearby. Zack wasted no time at all gathering everyone around and thanking them for coming before jumping right into his demo.

As Zack began to move, Harry noticed a few moves he had seem Zack use in both spars with Jason and against the putties they tended to fight regularly. With his limited expertise, Harry judged that the style was very heavily based on dancing, but Zack tended to lash out suddenly with various quick strikes and spinning kicks before moving right back into a dance move. It came across as very unpredictable and seemed to have a lot of jumps and flips, though Harry was more than a bit convinced that Zack was just showing off now to try and generate some interest in the watching kids.

When he finished with a bow, everyone seemed excited, and Zack was immediately surrounded by several children of various ages, though none of them were older than Zack himself, all of whom were raving about how "cool" the style was. Harry just shook his head, chuckling to himself as the Black Ranger soaked it up, running over the basic rules of martial arts being for self-defense and such, interjecting a bit of reality into the awe the children seemed to hold him in at the moment.

If the kids registered it, they didn't seem to show it.

"Excuse me…" Harry turned to face a woman who had to be one of the parents who were watching their children. "Are you teaching the class too?"

Harry flinched in surprise at her question before smiling. "Oh, no ma'am. I'm just a friend of Zack's. He asked me to come along to see if I wanted to learn too, but I don't think that it's really my style…"

The woman smiled back at him as she turned to look back toward where Zack was now showing the kids a few "simple" moves. Apparently the demo was turning into an impromptu lesson of sorts. "I see. It's just, I've never heard of anything like this before… My son has wanted to learn some kind of martial arts and I was about to enroll him in one of the karate classes at the Youth Center when we heard about this, and he seems so excited now. Has this young man taught anyone before?"

Harry shook his head as he responded. "Not that I know of…" Then, realizing what he had just said, he quickly backpedaled. "But Zack has been practicing martial arts for years and is a very skilled fighter. He created Hip Hop Kido himself from the ground up and tested it against Jason Scott, the teacher of the Youth Center Karate classes. I've spent enough time around him to know that he'll be a great teacher."

The woman seemed satisfied with his answer and thanked him before moving back toward a cluster of other parents nearby. When they all started talking Harry was more than glad he had corrected himself during their conversation. He just hoped that it was enough to prevent him from having sabotaged Zack's chance at getting some of these kids as students.

"Harry," Zack called, snapping him out of his thoughts as he jogged up. "Hey, let's run back to my car real quick. I forgot the music cassette and the kids want to try out a few more moves so we need some tunes."

Harry blinked in confusion, glancing over at the kids to see one trying to imitate some of Zack's moves (badly) in front of the rest only for them to copy him shortly after. "Uh… alright…"

Zack smiled before setting off at a steady jog, his infectious energy causing Harry to start off after him. Even still, Zack's head start and better conditioning meant he reached the car first and was digging through a few things in the trunk when Harry arrived, breathing a bit heavily.

"Ah ha!" Zack shouted suddenly, standing upright with a cassette tape held in his hand. "I've got it. Can't believe I forgot it, man!" Zack laughed as he closed the trunk and turned to face Harry. "So what did you think? I saw you were talking to one of the moms, what did she have to say? Do you think you'd like to give it a try?" Even while Zack was speaking he was already quick walking back toward the kids. It almost looked like he was forcing himself not to start running in his eagerness.

Harry rolled his eyes as he started after him. "Hey, slow down a second Zack. I'm not in bad shape, but I still can't take all this running back and forth without a bit of a break."

Zack froze for a second before offering an apology through his easygoing laughter. "Sorry, man. I'm just so pumped. The kids really seemed into it. This is exciting!"

Harry smiled as he patted Zack's shoulder. "Wait, you're excited? I really couldn't tell." Harry just rolled his eyes again when Zack laughed. "Seriously though, you're doing great. The kids really seemed into it and I'm sure most of them will be singing your praises for some time to come. The parent I was talking to expressed some concern that you might not be an experienced teacher, but I did what I could to calm her fears. And no, I really don't think Hip Hop Kido is for me, Zack. I'm having enough trouble with regular Karate. I feel like a more energetic fighting style would just set me back even further than I already am. And besides, the only other time I've ever really danced, it was an unmitigated disaster."

Zack shot Harry a mysterious smile and shook his head. "You know, that may have to change at some point… but anyway, I kinda thought that might be the case. I just figured I'd offer anyway. Since it seems you're having a bit of… trouble in Jason's class and all that…"

When Zack trailed off they both settled into a bit of an uneasy silence. Harry didn't say anything further because he was once more pondering over his difficulties in Jason's class. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that Jason was just picking on him because he could…

He was snapped out of his thoughts when they rounded a bend and came within sight of Zack's potential students. Zack was the first to react. "What the heck…?" The two Rangers exchanged a glance as they looked upon the scene before running up to the group of children and parents who were all lying on the ground.

"Hey! Hey, come on you guys…" Zack said uneasily, kneeling down and shaking some of the kids while Harry checked on a few of the parents. "Hey come on. This isn't nap time, wake up."

Glancing around briefly, Harry checked for any observers before pulling his coin from his back pocket and shifting it into his wand. With a quick swish and a mumbled incantation, he performed a diagnostic charm on the prone people. When he got the results, he frowned. "They're all asleep…"

"Yeah, and they aren't waking up…" Zack mumbled. "Oh man, what's going on here?"

"I don't know, but it's a fair bet that Rita has something to do with it…" Harry scowled, standing once more as he looked around.

"No kidding…" Zack trailed off before activating his communicator. "Zordon, this is Zack, come in."

"Yes, Zackary," Zordon's voice came through clearly.

"Harry and I have a big problem down here at the park. All these kids and their parents are asleep and we can't wake them."

"It seems that Rita has unleashed a horde of moths that shed sleeping powder as they fly. You both must leave the area. You are surely the next targets."

Zack and Harry exchanged another look before Harry once more resumed his lookout, this time directing his gaze a bit higher as he watched for any flying insects. Zack turned back to his communicator. "But we can't leave them here, Zordon."

"Do not worry, Zackary. I will watch over them as best I can from here. If something goes wrong I will take the necessary steps."

Zack shot Harry another uneasy look before nodding needlessly. "Alright, Zordon. If you say so…" Zack trailed off for a moment before letting out a short cry of shock. "Over there!"

Harry quickly spun in the direction Zack was pointing and immediately caught sight of a cloud of dozens of moths with pure white wings flying steadily toward them. As they flew, they were leaving behind a trail of white powder that dusted the ground behind them, most likely the sleeping powder that Zordon warned them of.

Zack ran up to Harry's side and began pulling him away from them. "Come on Harry, if they catch us it's gonna be Rip Van Winkle time!"

Confused momentarily by the reference, Harry nodded and started running after the Black Ranger. "Right, but where are we gonna go?"

Zack just kept running for several seconds with the wizard right behind him. As they ran, Harry noticed two things, one that the moths were keeping pace with them easily, and two, there were a few more people lying around them asleep. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if the moths had circled the park to knock out everyone before coming after the two of them, but what was Rita's plot here?

"Hey!" Zack suddenly shouted, slowing down to grab Harry's arm as they ran. "I have an idea! What about the Forest Spirit Statue! Trini was saying earlier that it's supposed to protect people from bad bugs, right? Well, these bugs are about as bad as it gets! Let's go!"

Harry was a bit skeptical that an old statue and a legend would prove to protect them from Rita's attack, but the Black Ranger was already well ahead of him, running much faster than before now that he had a clear goal in mind. His fear of insects was probably driving him more than a bit if Harry was any judge. Panting a bit as he ran, Harry picked up his pace as best he could, idly glancing back to see the moths were still pacing him, almost as if they were herding them…

-MR-

By the time they reached the statue, Harry was breathing quite heavily. He almost didn't register Zack's words when he spoke again. "Oh man! This can't be right. The statue is covered with these things!"

Harry forced himself into a standing position, holding his wand tightly in hand as he looked at the statue himself. It was a statue of a woman wearing robes of some kind and was sculpted in mid leap. Many of the finer details had been eroded after so long being outdoors, but it was still a rather nice piece of art, aside from the fact that it was indeed covered in moths.

Then Harry noticed a small part of the statue to seem to flake away before it suddenly started moving and became another white moth. "And that's not all Zack." Harry grabbed his arm and pointed out another moth forming from the statue. "These things are coming from it! I'm getting the feeling that Rita did something to the statue…"

Zack pointed up at the statue's head. "Yeah! You're right. Those snakes in its hair are supposed to be flowers. I saw it on a picture of the statue at Trini's display this morning!"

Frowning, Harry waved his wand and sent a diagnostic spell at the statue, only for it to hit a shield of some kind and fizzle out. "Yeah, that's definitely not right." Harry mumbled.

"I bet Rita sent it!" Zack near shouted, anger overtaking his former fear as he glared at the bugs. "You think we should morph?"

Harry looked back, seeing the moths were spreading out to surround them now. "Probably wouldn't hurt."

Zack, seeing the moths behind them as well, nodded firmly. "Alright then, Its Morphin' time!"

"MASTODON!" "MAGI RANGER, POWER UP!"

When Harry was once more able to move out of his morphing pose he saw Zack had already manifested his Power Axe. "Alright," Zack said, gripping a part of his axe below the blade and sliding it down the handle until it clicked into place at the butt of the shaft. "I'm gonna see what this is all about!"

Gripping the axe near the blade end, Zack held it at his hip with the bottom of the handle pointing toward the statue. Before Harry could ask what he was doing, the weapon let out a blast of energy from the bottom end that flew forward and blasted the statue, blowing it to pieces and engulfing them in a cloud of dust.

"Bloody Hell…" Harry mumbled, staring at Zack blankly. "I don't think I've ever seen your axe do that outside of the Power Blaster…"

Zack chuckled, patting his weapon affectionately as he switched it back to its axe configuration. "Yeah, it's pretty awesome."

When the dust cleared, Zack and Harry both recoiled at the sight of a large spider-like monster. "Aw man, I knew it!" Zack groaned as the monster hopped down from the remains of the pedestal the statue had been on.

It had a rather large round body, much larger than the statue it came from strangely enough, and stood on its back most legs while waving the other three sets around threateningly while staring at the two Rangers through its many eyes.

"It had to be a spider," Zack continued as the monster just stood there making growling noises. "I hate spiders…"

A roar of fury from the right caught Harry's attention and he turned in time to see Goldar landing nearby, brandishing his sword. "And a Goldar!" Harry quipped. "I hate Goldars!"

"So, we meet again, Mageling!" Goldar growled, stepping up next to the spider monster. "I hope you don't expect your fancy suit to make any difference in our battle!"

Harry sighed and summoned the Magi Staff with a gesture. "Goldar, you weren't able to beat me before I became a full-fledged Ranger and there's no way you can do it now."

Before Harry could charge to meet the golden plated monkey, Zack grabbed his arm. "Hey, Harry," he said uneasily, eyeing the monsters before them. "I don't suppose you could let me take on Goldar, could you?"

Harry rolled his eyes behind his helmet. "Alright, but don't take too long. And I hope Zordon is calling in the cavalry already…"

With a nod, Zack dismissed his axe, the weapon merely glowing briefly before it vanished, and pulled out his blade blaster and converting it to blade form. With a cry, the two Rangers charged the two, swapping positions mid charge to line them up with their chosen opponents.

Goldar braced himself with his weapon held in front of him and met Zack's faster charge with a block before pushing him backward.

Harry led with a spell. "Arania Exumai!" Harry cast the spell with his own magic, not wanting to take the time just now to fuel it with Grid Power, but it still had the pleasant effect of knocking the spider back several yards and onto its round back.

The sheer size of its torso let it easily roll back to its feet, but by the time it did, Harry was right on top of it and made a quick pair of strikes with the Magi Staff, guided by the Grid, and once more knocked it off its feet in a shower of sparks.

The monster merely continued growling as it rolled back to its feet. "You know," Harry mused aloud as he took a stance. "I already like you more than Rita's other monsters. For one, you don't talk much."

With an inarticulate roar, the spider's top two arms jerked towards him, emitting a continuous stream of white webbing that stuck fast to his suit and glued his arms to his sides. "Well, that's not good…" Harry was almost immediately knocked off his feet as the spider charged him, using its bulk to bowl him over easily, making him drop his staff as he fell.

"Harry!" Zack shouted as he caught sight of the Magi Ranger's predicament. "Hang on, Harry! I'll AAH!"

Zack was cut off as Goldar knocked him to the ground with a single swipe of his sword. "So little 'Magi Ranger,'" Goldar said Harry's new title mockingly as he approached. "You haven't even been a Ranger for a month yet and already you have fallen to my Empress's might!"

Harry grimaced. "I wouldn't count me out just yet, Goldar. You know how well that's worked out for you in the past."

"Hmmm…" Goldar stroked his chin in thought for a moment before nodding. "You make a good point, Mageling… Perhaps I should just kill you now then!"

Harry paused for a moment. "You know what, on second thought, count away! You won't find me complaining."

Goldar laughed sadistically as he stood over the trapped wizard, holding his sword overhead. "Farewell, Mageling!"

Goldar's apparent triumph was cut off by an avian screech as Hedwig came at him in a stoop, the force of her blow making Goldar stumble to the side and leaving Harry an opening to roll the opposite way. "Thanks for the save Hedwig," Harry panted as he struggled to his feet, his arms still stuck to his sides. "I don't suppose you have an idea to get me free, do you?"

-I do not believe so, Harry/Wizard, but the Yellow-Plated Monkey is coming back already!-

Harry looked up just in time to see Goldar was indeed charging him again with the spider monster right behind him. Just before Harry was once more struck down, the charging monsters were hit by multiple bursts of color and sent to the ground in a shower of sparks. Harry turned to see Zack back on his feet again with the other four core Rangers all running over, each of them brandishing their blade blasters.

"Good timing… again…" Harry nodded to them as Zack made his way over and helped pull one of Harry's arms free. Once he had that mobility, he was able to summon his staff back to his hand and vanish the rest of the webbing from himself just as the monsters regained their feet.

Goldar growled seeing the new arrivals. "You may have beaten me, Rangers, but I don't think you will have the same luck with the spider!"

Goldar vanished in a flash of light just as Harry felt a familiar pulse of magical energy from above. He glanced up to see a speck of red light that he realized was Rita's staff coming down to grow the spider.

Harry's mind started racing. If the staff managed to touch down, Rita's spell would grow the spider monster. But they were in the middle of Angel Grove Park and there were a number of unconscious civilians around here from the moth's sleeping powder. With the way the giant monster/robot battles moved around, there was a better than even chance that the immobilized people could end up squished.

Harry's eyes narrowed under his helmet. Not on his watch.

With determination, Harry stepped free of the cluster of Rangers and spun his staff once, gathering just enough Power for the most basic of Kinetic Magic Spells: the Forcewave. The spell did exactly what it sounded like, merely created a directed wave of force that emanated from the caster and spread out until it ran out of power. In this case, Harry sent it flying on an intercept course with Rita's staff.

The visible wave of kinetic Power hit the falling staff and flashed brightly as the two magical energies conflicted. Unfortunately for Rita, with her staff so far from her palace there was nothing she could do to prevent Harry's spell from throwing off her own and her staff flipped wildly through the air, finally landing on its side between the Rangers and the spider monster that was now growling in a somehow confused sounding manner as Rita's spell fizzled out.

"Woah…" Billy said with a small amount of awe. "Good idea, Harry…"

"Yeah, now we need to capitalize on it!" Jason shouted, but Harry was already moving, sprinting as fast as he could toward the staff. It was his hope that he could recover it, and the Elder Wand by consequence before Rita could do anything to stop him. This was, after all, the first time he had it without Goldar, a bunch of putties, or Rita herself nearby, and with the other Rangers in the area, they should be able to hold off the one monster that was there, right?

Just as he dove to grab the scepter, it flashed bright red and vanished before his fingers could close around it. Rita's cackling voice immediately started echoing from above as thunder boomed across the sky. "A very valiant effort, Mageling, but you'll have to do better than that."

Harry climbed quickly back to his feet, dusting himself off idly as he went, and glared at the spider monster that was still standing in front of him. He had just lost a very good chance at recovering the Elder Wand and he felt his irritation growing because of it. With this surge of emotions, came a surge of Power and he felt the Grid take over once more. "Let me show you what you are now capable of with a little help from your owl friend, Harry…"

Harry took a wide stance, spreading his feet around shoulder width apart as he began spinning his staff around himself, passing it from one hand to the other as he brought it behind his back and back around. This time, instead of internalizing the gathered Power for a spell, Harry felt the Power gathering at the tip of the Magi Staff as it had did when he used his "incomplete" finisher under the Grid's guidance before. After a few moments of charging, Harry shifted his stance, thrusting the weapon into the air just as Hedwig flew down, flaring her wings to land on this newly presented perch with her talons fitting easily over the top bar jutting out from the top of the staff.

-This should be interesting, Harry/wizard. Let us destroy this spider-thing.-

With Hedwig now perched on the top of the Staff, Harry began moving again, this time though, He brought the staff back down to his side with his arm drawn back to thrust it forward. As he did, Hedwig began taking in the gathered Power, glowing with a bright purple aura that was especially bright around the Resurrection Stone at the top of her head.

With a final smirk at the now doomed monster, Harry thrust his staff forward in a lunge. "Take this!" Hedwig shot off the staff like a rocket, the boosters coming from her sides leaving a bright trail behind her as she covered the admittedly short distance between Harry and the spider in less than a second before tearing through the monster with a bright flash of light and beating her wings to gain altitude to bleed off the excess speed and Power with a screech of victory.

Harry stood from his extended crouch slowly as the spider began to teeter back and forth, purple electricity sparking from the hole in its center ever few seconds. Still moving slowly, almost dramatically, Harry turned away from the monster to face the other Rangers who stood watching, rather dumbfounded. With a swift jerk of his arm, Harry swung the Magi Staff out to his right side, the last of the built up power vanishing in a burst at the same instant that Hedwig landed on his left shoulder and the spider finally fell to the ground and exploded, making his vest/cloak flutter in the resulting shockwave.

When he once more felt in control of himself, Harry sighed. "Alright, I'll admit that I felt cool doing that, but that still doesn't mean I like all the random hand waving I have to do all the time…"

-MR-

Once they had demorphed and Zordon confirmed that the sleeping powder moths were gone with the destruction of the spider monster, Zack rushed back to his students, leaving Harry standing awkwardly with Trini, Jason, Billy, and Kimberly.

"So…" Harry started after Zack had left, Hedwig in her organic looking form perched on his shoulder and preening his hair. "How'd the bug hunt go?"

Trini groaned. "We had all that we needed, but we had to leave them behind when we morphed to come help you and Zack. We'll have to go back and get them. I hope none of the bugs got out…"

Jason winced slightly before looking toward the clearly setting sun. "I can't, Trini. It's getting late and I need to get going. My parents weren't expecting me to be out too much later than I already have been…"

"Yeah, and I need to get started on my homework." Kimberly sighed, looking less than thrilled with the idea. "I may not be bringing in bugs, but Mr. Bartz still gave the rest of us some bug work to do before class tomorrow."

Trini turned to Billy, but he too shook his head. "I have a few experiments going in my garage that I need to get back to check on."

Looking dejected, but slightly hopeful, Trini turned to Harry. The wizard smiled. "Well, I did promise that I'd help you out after Zack's demo, didn't I? Since he seems to have left me here…" Harry walked up to Trini and held out his arm as Hedwig took wing. "May I escort you, milady?"

Laughing lightly and with a blush on her face, Trini took Harry's arm and straightened her back. "Of course, good sir. I would be most appreciative."

Harry did his best to tone out Kimberly's stifled giggles as he and Trini made their way away from the Rangers and across the park under the setting sun with Hedwig flying circles overhead.

-MR-

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