Magi Ranger

by Tenstar12

Betrayed by the world he had given his all to save, Harry finds himself cast into the void. With some help Harry ends up in another dimension, but in classic Harry Potter fashion gets himself into trouble almost immediately. Can he make his way in this strange world he finds himself in where giant monster attacks are a daily occurrence and hardly anything is familiar? AU Harry, MOD

33. Chapter 33

Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

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

Chapter 33, or Harry's Escape

Harry managed to turn far enough in Goldar's iron grip to catch sight of his girlfriend, her clothing dirty and slightly torn and her face bearing a few bruises showing that she hadn't gone down without a fight, being dragged up to the front of the room by a pair of putty patrollers. "Harry!" she shouted when her view was no longer blocked by Goldar's position behind him. "Harry, are you alright?"

"Trini!" Harry responded reflexively, only for Goldar to knock him on the side of the head, cutting of anything else he might have said as stars danced across his vision accompanied by Trini's pleading voice.

"Now don't pass out on us, Mageling." Rita simpered, stepping closer and grabbing his chin to force him to meet her gaze. "You still have some information for me, don't you?"

"Don't tell her anything, Harry!" Trini shouted again, still struggling with two putties holding her arms. "Whatever she wants, don't tell her!" She was silenced when one putty shifted its hand into a large sphere and slammed it into her stomach, dropping her to the ground and leaving her gasping and coughing.

"I had anticipated that bit of nobility on your part, Power Ranger, but you're only here as incentive."

Harry was confused now. Incentive? Trini was supposed to be incentive to make him talk? What?

"I see you're confused, Mageling." Rita smirked before reaching into her robes and pulling something out. "Perhaps you recognize this then?" It was a metal band, perhaps two inches thick, with a buckle on each end that, when they met, would form a ring. He had never seen the one he wore, but he was more than able to take a guess as to what the object was.

Another subservience collar…

Seeing the recognition in his eyes, Rita moved swiftly over and buckled it around Trini's neck before stepping back just as the girl lashed out in yet another attempt to break free from the putties. "What is this thing, Rita!?"

Rita just cackled before turning back to Harry. "Now, Mageling, you will tell me what I want to know or I will torture your girlfriend here… What magics were you thinking of?"

"Harry! Don't!"

Harry found himself completely unsure of what to do. He couldn't tell Rita of the Unforgivable curses, but he couldn't let Trini get tortured by the collar she now wore either.

Rita didn't give him more than a few seconds before she spoke again. "So, still refusing, eh? Admirable, I suppose, but ultimately futile. Yellow Ranger, Trini is it? Stop breathing."

Trini's face twisted in confusion before her eyes widened a mere fraction of a second before she let out the most heart rending, soul-piercing scream of pain Harry had ever heard. The two putties holding her released their hold, allowing Trini to fall to the ground where she spent the next several seconds writhing in pain.

Harry almost immediately tried to stand from the desk seat, but Goldar's grip firmed up to the point of being painful. As the armored fingers dug into his shoulders and the attached monster laughed all the louder, Harry could only shout out his denial. "No! Stop this!"

"Then tell me what I want to know, Mageling!"

"Stop the collar and I will!"

"Tell me first!"

Harry was panicked now. His entire existence focused on Trini, his teammate, his girlfriend, contorting in pain as the magic of the subservience collar raced through her body. And with an order like Rita gave, for her to stop breathing, the pain would only compound each time she took another breath to scream. It was a situation Harry had experienced before.

Finally, he couldn't watch anymore. "Alright, they're called the Unforgivables, and-"

Harry was cut off by a loud explosion from somewhere else in the palace and was thrown to the floor when the entire room shook violently around him, upending the desk he sat at. From what Harry had been able to gather, they were currently in the heart of the place so the explosion was either close by or quite powerful indeed.

It was then that Harry realized that all noise had stopped, including Trini's screaming. He chanced a glance up, expecting the worst, only to find Trini standing once more, gazing toward the doorway into the classroom with an uncharacteristically intense look on her face. It took a few more seconds before Harry noticed that Rita shared that look.

"Goldar, you and the Twin Man go and see what that blast was."

"Yes, Empress," Goldar responded immediately.

Harry's eyes went wide when Trini reached up and ripped the metal collar off of her neck as if it were nothing before responding. "Were you able to get the information you needed, Empress?"

What?

Harry's mind was still spinning as Rita spoke. "It was enough for a starting point. Perhaps once I have an explanation for the explosion we'll try for more, but this will do for now." Rita crouched down next to Harry and patted his cheek condescendingly. "Thank you for your help, Mageling."

Harry's eyes shot back and forth between Trini and Rita, confused. "But… I… I don't… what?"

Trini's face twisted into an evil looking smirk before she was overtaken by a flash of light, revealing the Twin Man beneath the illusion. Then the monster spoke, still using Trini's voice. "You have been tricked once again by the illusions of the Twin Man, Magi Ranger."

Harry's last vision before he blacked out was of the monster running out of the room, assumedly to catch up with Goldar, while Rita slowly stood and walked out as if on a casual stroll.

-MR-

"-he is, Tommy!"

"Come on, Harry, wake up."

"Wake up, Harry."

Harry found himself drifting on the edge of full consciousness, roused slightly by a slight smacking sensation on his cheek.

"We don't have a lot of time, Kim. There's no telling when they'll figure out what happened."

"I think he's coming around now, Tommy. Come on Harry, we need to get moving."

Harry groaned as the room swam into focus. The first thing he registered was that he was lying on his back in the stone classroom he had spent most of his time in during his captivity. The second thing he noticed was the pink helmet gazing down at him impassively while a white gloved hand tried to lightly slap consciousness into him.

"Harry?" Kimberly asked, urgency in her voice. "Harry, can you hear me?"

Harry let out another soft groan and raised a hand to the side of his head where a throbbing pain reminded him of Goldar's blow when… "Trini! Is Trini alright?"

Kimberly tilted her head slightly before glancing up. Harry followed the tilt of her visor and caught sight of Tommy, also in morph, standing near the doorway to the room. "I'm pretty sure that Trini's fine, Harry." she said slowly. "At least I know she was before we came to rescue you."

"But… she was here…" Harry stammered briefly before his eyes went wide as his memory snapped back into place. "Oh Merlin… What have I done…?"

"Harry?" Kimberly asked, concerned.

Harry let his arm fall back down to his side as he stared blankly up at the ceiling. Sure he hadn't told her anything about the Unforgivables beyond their collective classification, but something about the satisfaction in Rita's voice told him that that was more than enough to spell trouble for the Earth.

"We really don't have time for this now, guys," Tommy interjected. "It won't be long before Rita and her goons figure out what happened."

Kimberly nodded firmly, as the Rangers were wont to do during tense situations (Harry blamed the grid for the otherwise out of character actions from his teammates). "Tommy's right, Harry. Can you stand?"

Harry closed his eyes tightly for a second, doing his best to force his concerns and fears aside, before shrugging. "I don't know… I got clocked upside the head pretty hard before I passed out… however long ago that was… I suppose we'll have to find out though…" with a slight grunt of effort and no small amount of help from Kimberly, Harry heaved himself up into a sitting position. After pausing briefly for his head to stop swimming, Harry clambered to his feet, once more with the Pink Ranger's assistance.

Harry's vision blurred out of focus for several moments once he regained his vertical base. It was only because of Kimberly's firm grip on his left arm that he was even able to remain standing. Finally steadying himself, he turned his head toward Kimberly and spoke. "So how did you guys get here?"

Tommy left his post by the doorway to the classroom and came over to stand next to Kimberly. "We'll have to give you the full explanation later, or rather have Billy or Alpha do it because I certainly didn't understand half of what they said, but we teleported in. We actually landed on the surface of the moon and had to make our way here on foot. Anyway, are you ready to morph?"

Harry blinked at the info dump, limited though it was, before shaking his head slowly. "I can't… Morph that is… heck, I can't even leave this freaking room with this damn collar on…"

Kimberly tilted her head in confusion while Tommy turned to anxiously look towards the doorway again. "What do you mean, Harry?"

Harry sighed. "This collar I have on causes me incredible, crippling pain if I break one of Rita's commands. Of course, two of those commands were to not morph and to not leave this room without her say so. Though even without the collar, Rita still has my Power Coin, so I couldn't morph anyway."

Kimberly and Tommy both flinched, Harry's words apparently poking holes in their rescue plan. "Was that all she ordered?" Kimberly asked hesitantly.

Harry shook his head ruefully. "No, I also can't use wandless magic and can't use my wand on anyone in the palace. Beyond that, she ordered me to teach her my magic. Any time we weren't in 'lessons' she kept my Power Coin herself and only gave it back at the start of each new lesson. I managed to avoid teaching her too much of any real use, but right before you guys showed up…" Harry's eyes reflected his own inner dread as he looked into the visors of his fellow Rangers one after the other. "I messed up guys… big time…"

Neither Kimberly nor Tommy said anything immediately. Harry could guess that they probably wanted to ask for more clarification, but held themselves back in light of the previously stated tight schedule. Finally, Kimberly crouched down a few inches, putting her visor on level with Harry's neck and the subservience collar. "Well then, looks like we'll just have to get this collar off you before we can get out of here, get your coin back, and get back to Earth."

Harry snorted despite himself. "There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear outside of a bad joke."

Tommy chuckled weakly while Kimberly continued to study the collar for several seconds. Finally, she nodded and stood straight again. "Alright, I should be able to get this thing off of you with my blade blaster. The lock doesn't look too sturdy as best I can tell, so it shouldn't be too much trouble."

Harry flinched back almost reflexively as his pink clad teammate drew her blaster and swiftly twisted it into its bladed configuration. Then, her words registered. "Hang on a second! Did you say this thing has a lock on it?"

Kimberly looked at him for a moment before responding. "Yeah… There's a little buckle right under your chin with a keyhole on it. It looks like that's all that's holding it in place. Are you saying you didn't know about that?"

"And more specifically, does it even matter?" Tommy interjected, sounding as if he'd like nothing more than to get moving.

Not that Harry could blame him of course.

Taking a deep breath and running his plan over in his head quickly to make sure he couldn't think of any issues with it, Harry spoke. "Alright, so instead of having you swinging your weapon around my throat, why don't I try to unlock the collar with a spell?"

Kimberly immediately saw an issue with his plan. "But Harry, you said that the collar would react if you used wandless magic."

Harry nodded. "Yes, but I'm betting that if the collar is unlocked that it won't activate or else one of you two will be able to pull it off of me before it hits me too hard. If the spell doesn't work at all, then you can take your shot at cutting it off. I'd just prefer to try other options before running the risk of having my throat slashed… no offense…"

Kimberly glanced down at her blade blaster self-consciously before flinching slightly. "Ah… yeah, I see your point…" She glanced helplessly over at Tommy who shrugged and moved to stand closer again.

"How about this then," Tommy said, pulling his Dragon Dagger from wherever it went when he wasn't wielding it. "You try your magic and Kim stands ready to try and yank it off if necessary. If the collar gets triggered, I'll take the slice."

Harry nodded, feeling his nerves settle a bit at the thought of the more experienced martial artist and weapons user being the one making the cut. "That works for me, let's give it a shot. If the collar does kick in, I'll try to stay as still as I can, but you might have to help hold me in place, Kim. Fair warning."

Kimberly's stance communicated her uncertainty, but she still nodded firmly and holstered her blade blaster as she moved to stand behind him, opposite Tommy.

Seeing that Kimberly was in place and Tommy had his weapon ready to lash out, Harry took a deep breath and reached for his magic. He was embarrassed to admit, even if only to himself, that he had fallen out of practice with wandless spells since he got his Power Coin. Admittedly, he had had a whole new type of magic to learn, not to mention everything else on his plate as of late, but that didn't excuse him falling out of condition for such a useful skill that he had prided himself on in the past.

Mad-eye would have been quite angry with him.

Luckily though, it only took a moment for Harry to get back into the swing of getting in touch with his magic. As he drew it up from his core and into his right hand, he internally decided to add wandless magic exercises to his daily routine, if only to stay in form. He just wondered if he would have enough time in the day for everything he was finding to do…

Harry shook himself lightly and refocused. He needed to get out of Rita's palace first, and that meant getting rid of this collar.

Without giving himself any more time to reconsider, Harry reached up with his magically charged hand and tapped the collar directly below his chin where Kimberly had indicated the lock was and cast his spell. "Alohomora."

There was a brief build-up of Power in the collar before, with a soft click, it came loose and fell off of him and to the ground with a clatter.

Well, that was far easier than he had expected it to be…

He was sure that Kimberly and Tommy would have shared his exasperated and relieved expression if he had been able to see their faces, but Tommy put that thought to rest when he sprang back into action. "Alright, so you're good to get out of here now, right? No more surprise magic stuff from Rita?"

Harry shook his head. "No. Other than getting my coin back, which means we'll have to face off against Rita at some point, we should be good to go."

Nodding in response, Tommy moved to stand by the doorway again and peeked out for a moment. Then, he leaned back in and waved to them. "Let's go, the coast is still clear. The sooner we get outta here the better I'll feel."

Harry and Kimberly, not inclined to stick around any longer than they had to either, shared a glance and a nod before following the Green Ranger out of the classroom and into the hallway beyond.

-MR-

As the three Rangers, two morphed and one not, snuck through the halls, each felt their nerves resting on edge. Harry, with the memory of his lessons from Moody at the edge of his thoughts, thought to cast silencing charms on their feet, quieting their footsteps. He had initially considered disillusioning them as well, but thought better of it from a tactical standpoint. While Harry might not be too bothered by not being able to see his teammates if they were all casting spells at their opponents, Tommy and Kimberly were much more likely to get physical with any opposition. It could cause problems if none of them could see each other clearly.

They had left Harry's classroom/prison a few minutes before and, other than a quick pause for Harry to silence their footsteps, they had been moving constantly.

Harry was more than a little concerned with the lack of resistance, but he knew that he couldn't do anything but stay on guard and hope for the best.

Kimberly was apparently having similar concerns, though she decided to voice hers as they crept down the dimly lit hallways of Rita's palace. "I don't like this guys…" she whispered. "We came down this way before and had to hide from putties more than once, but now…"

"Yeah…" Tommy agreed grimly. "I know it's kind of cliché, but it really is too quiet around here…"

Harry only hummed his agreement before casting a detection spell. The spell reported no one else nearby, which only increased his paranoia even further.

Finally, after a few more halls and corners had passed, Harry spoke up. "So, where are we headed exactly?"

Tommy glanced back at Harry over his shoulder before responding. "The plan called for us to blast a hole in the side of Rita's palace with a rather strong explosive Billy cooked up and then teleport up to the balcony to get in. After that, we were planning to head for the hole we made on our way out. The idea was that it wouldn't take them long to decide that we had gotten in another way and try and figure out where, which would leave the actual hole less defended than otherwise, so we would be able to get out easier."

Harry ran that plan through his mind quickly and immediately pinged on an issue. "Even if things were to work out that way, it still doesn't address Rita having my Power Coin."

Tommy nodded as he continued leading the three through the palace. "I know, which is why we're heading right for the balcony. I figure Rita will be there still and, let's be honest, I doubt any of them would expect us charging into the heart of Rita's fortress in an attempt to make our escape. Kimberly and I will have to do our best to hold back Goldar and any putties that may also be there… maybe Scorpina too… but that will leave Rita and getting your Power Coin back up to you, Harry."

While Kimberly was behind him, Harry could still almost feel her initial surprise and unease followed by a grim determination to do what needed to be done. Harry himself was feeling more than a bit uncomfortable with the plan, not in the least because he was once more without his Ranger suit for protection. He hadn't missed his overall vulnerability from before attaining his Power Coin, but with the proper planning and no small amount of luck they might just be able to escape unscathed.

-MR-

After another ten minutes or so of travel through hallways that never seemed to go anywhere, though Tommy assured them that they were moving upward and were growing ever closer to their goal, they finally arrived. According to the Green Ranger, the next hallway led directly to Rita's balcony observatory where she did most of her evil plotting. It was also one of the only places within the palace where the magical protections were weak enough to allow for Alpha to teleport the Rangers out.

The only trick here was that said weakness in the protections were only present at the very edge of the balcony. This meant that Harry would have to watch where he stood until he was able to recover his Power Coin lest Alpha evacuate him without it.

"Alright," Tommy said softly, his entire form tense. "Are you two ready for this?"

"Don't worry about us so much, Tommy." Kimberly said, worry for her boyfriend clear in her speech. "I'm more worried about you! There's no telling what Rita might do if this plan doesn't work out…"

Harry put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, none of that. It's going to work."

The three Rangers shared a few looks before nodding almost as one. "Alright, let's do this." With a wave of his hand, Tommy led the charge of the three Rangers, he and Kimberly easily outpacing Harry with the enhancements given by their suits. It took only a handful of seconds for the two suited Rangers to cross the threshold into the balcony area…

And come to an immediate stop as if frozen a few feet in.

Harry skidded to a stop several feet from the doorway and quickly stepped into another nearby opening, recognizing the empty lab he had seen Finster in on his last visit to Rita's palace. Thinking quickly, Harry disillusioned himself before peaking around the doorway and back toward his still frozen teammates only to nearly head-butt Baboo as he scuttled through the balcony doorway and turned to peer into the room Harry was in.

Backpedaling quickly, Harry was able to keep from bumping into the monster, though he was sure that he had been detected when the monster stared in his direction for several long moments. When the blue creature continued sweeping his gaze around the room before shrugging and turning to leave again, Harry allowed himself to breathe once more. If it had been anyone but Baboo (or Squatt, Harry admitted) the slight optical distortions of his disillusionment charm would probably have been noticed.

Counting himself lucky this time, Harry moved to the doorway once more in time to see Baboo entering the balcony area again and calling out. "The Mageling doesn't appear to be with them, Empress Rita."

Rita's vicious cackle echoed out of the room moments later as Harry approached the balcony doorway and slipped in, careful to avoid contact with the spell field he could now feel just a few feet away from the doorway. Once he had slid along the wall around the trap spell to the left and past his frozen teammates, he took a moment to look around.

Rita, Goldar, Squatt, Baboo, and four putties stood across the room from him, seemingly unaware of his presence, laughing and jeering at the two caught Rangers. The balcony itself was unchanged from his last visit. Thirty or forty feet of railing and curved walls coming from either end of said railing forming a semi-circular room about twenty to thirty feet deep with a single doorway at the apex of the curve. Rita's telescope was still sitting at the center of the balcony, pointed out toward the star-scape Harry could see beyond.

"So Rangers," Rita said once she had recovered from her cackling fit. "You thought it would be so easy to escape my palace after coming here uninvited? We managed to figure out your pathetic plan within minutes of the explosion you caused. I am so pleased that you came here though. It will be much more satisfying to defeat you in person rather than hear a report from Scorpina of how you fell before a legion of putty patrollers."

"You can't hold us here forever, Rita!" Kimberly shouted angrily, her accompanying grunts indicating she was struggling against the spell holding her in place.

"Yeah!" Tommy continued. "And as soon as we get out of this, we'll find a way to free Harry and we'll all get out of here."

Rita's face twisted into a look of satisfaction. "Ah… So you weren't able to free the Mageling from his prison, were you?"

"As if you didn't know that already," Tommy spat. Kimberly remained silent, even her struggles going quiet now as she, and Harry from his vantage, wondered what Tommy was going on about.

Rita herself looked thoughtful for several moments before walking forward and pacing in front of the two trapped Rangers as she spoke. "Do you know what your friend has been doing in his time here in my palace?"

"He said you were forcing him to teach you his kind of magic." Kimberly responded slowly.

Rita nodded before turning to face the two Rangers. "And doing so required the use of his wand. Did he mention this?"

There was a brief pause before Tommy replied in the affirmative. Meanwhile, Harry worked his way further up the curved wall and into the room, keeping an eye on Rita and her minions, who still hadn't moved from their original places, Goldar looking especially smug as he did so. Making sure to keep away from the railing and thus from Alpha's sensors for now, Harry tried to move around behind Rita so as to better take her off guard.

Rita's next comment made him pause though. "And do you think that a mage as powerful as him would remain in my captivity while his focus was in his possession? Have you not asked yourself why he didn't just morph and escape on his own?"

For the life of him, Harry couldn't figure out what Rita was getting at.

Kimberly nearly shouted her next words, seemingly angry at whatever Rita was implying. "What does that have to do with anything, Rita! I'm sure Harry would have escaped if he could!"

The space witch just ignored her. "I'm sure he might have told you some crazy story about a magical object that prevented his escape… a collar of some kind, perhaps?" Rita paused at this, looking back and forth between the two Rangers. Though Harry couldn't see it at the moment, he felt sure Rita was smirking at them. "I never really thought you would have fallen for so simple a diversion, but the mageling was right, you really are that clueless about magic."

Kimberly seemed at a loss for words at this point, meaning it was Tommy's turn to shout. "What are you talking about!? Harry wouldn't lie to us about something like that! There's no way he would stay here willingly!"

"Why not?" Rita asked, resuming her pacing and proving Harry's suspicion about the smirk on her face when she turned in his direction. "After all, Green Ranger, you spent some time with us willingly yourself, didn't you? In fact, I would wager that you still remember it based on your admirable ability to find your way here from the center of my palace."

Tommy remained silent, though Harry could almost feel the glare he was leveling at Rita from behind his helmet. Finally, he growled out a response. "So you brainwashed him, just like you did me. Is that it?"

Rita let out a brief bark of laughter before answering. "I didn't need to. He was eager to spend time around those like himself. Those who could use magic… He may have taught me some of his spells, but it was a mutual exchange of information. He learned just as much from me as I did from him. He was free to leave at any time, but chose not to. I do believe he was contemplating joining my forces in the last few days to be honest with you."

Rita stepped closer to the too Rangers and patted Tommy condescendingly on his armored cheek. "I'm afraid that your rescue mission was doomed from the start, Rangers."

When Rita started cackling again, Harry felt it click. Rita was trying to make Tommy and Kimberly believe that he had turned on them, on the Earth, in favor of their magic using enemy. She didn't know they had managed to get the collar off and was trying to make it sound like Harry was now working for her to demoralize them. If they really hadn't been able to facilitate his escape from the classroom/prison, it was a ploy that could well have worked. If it had done so, the two might well have lost a good bit of their defiance in light of his supposed betrayal, at least for a while. And even if they escaped, the rest of the team would then have been demoralized as well, leaving an opportunity for Rita to hit them while they were down. Now that he thought about it, Rita might even let one or both of them escape in order to create such an opening for herself.

But in reality, what Rita didn't know may well end up hurting her if Harry got the right opportunity.

"I don't believe you! Harry would never do that to us!" Kimberly shouted out. Harry sincerely hoped the outrage in her voice was false and that she hadn't fallen for Rita's ruse, though the lack of body language from the two due to their magical paralysis made it difficult to tell for sure.

"Oh no?" Rita asked before walking back toward her minions. "Why don't you ask Harry yourself?"

Harry barely caught the flash of light out of the corner of his eye before a figure stepped through the doorway behind the two trapped Rangers. The figure was a very familiar one to the Magi Ranger. In fact, it was a face he saw every time he looked into the mirror.

After spending as much time as he had in Rita's palace, coupled with how he was kidnapped and how he had been tricked earlier that very day, he knew that the Harry Potter lookalike could only be the Twin Man. The thing was, he hadn't told Tommy and Kimberly about the monster yet, so they couldn't really know that.

Things had the potential to get very bad now.

"Ah, Harry. I see you managed to find your way here well enough." Rita simpered as the Twin Man walked around into Tommy and Kimberly's view, prompting a gasp of surprise from each of them.

The monster bowed to Rita before responding. "I did, Empress. I apologize if I'm a bit late, but finding one's way around here does take some getting used to."

Harry had to admit, he was impressed. The Twin Man had his mannerisms down fairly well, from his accent to how he held himself, though the bowing and brownnosing was quite out of character.

"…Harry?" Kimberly asked, uncertainly.

The Twin Man turned to face Kimberly with a sneer on his face. "Kimberly, sorry about all this, but I have a good thing going here, and I didn't want you two to mess it up. I get to learn all kinds of magic here, magic that Zordon could never teach me. If that means that I have to give up a few friendships on Earth, then so be it."

When neither Ranger seemed willing or able to respond, the monster turned back to Rita, who was looking toward him eagerly. When the monster then stepped forward and knelt before the witch, Rita smiled. "You have done well here, Mageling, and it is time your helpfulness was rewarded, as promised."

Harry watched as Rita reached into her robes with her free hand and pulled out his Power coin. He tensed up slightly and reached for his magic again, though didn't draw on it for fear of alerting Rita to his presence too soon.

The monster playing the part of Harry Potter, glanced up slightly to see what she had before immediately dipping his head down again as Rita spoke. "You have proven your loyalty to me this day, so I feel that I can trust you with your Power Coin. I only hope you see clear to swear fealty to me as well and join in my conquest of Earth."

There was only the briefest pause before the Twin Man responded eagerly. "I would be honored to swear myself to you, Empress Rita."

Harry had to repress a snort. The monster was hamming things up now, but the Magi Ranger knew his opportunity was coming as Rita held out his Power Coin flat on her palm toward the copy kneeling before her. "Then take back your Power Coin, and become my Magi Ranger in truth!"

Seeing the monster reaching up to take the coin, Harry closed his eyes tightly, pulled on his magic, and gave it an internal twang, starting up his Battle Rhythm technique and using the initial surge of power to cast a spell from each hand. "Lumos Solem! Accio Power Coin!"

The initial burst of light from his Sunlight Charm shot forth, completely masking the visible aura that sprang from his disillusioned form due to his Battle Rhythm. It also had the wonderful side effect of blinding everyone in the room save the Twin Man who was facing fully away from him and completely unprepared for much of anything but the performance he was putting on, and his teammates (he hoped) who had their visors to help shield their eyes. And so it was that none of the individuals in the room were in position to catch the Power Coin before it flew from Rita's hand and across the room into Harry's.

The wizard wasted no time in shifting the coin into wand form and grasping it tightly in his right hand. While he would have liked to morph in this situation, he knew that morphing took too much time, especially for him, and he didn't have that kind of time in his current situation. Already, Rita and Goldar were staring furiously across the room at him, having shaken off most of the momentary blindness caused by his light spell. Wanded spells in one hand and wandless shields and annoyance spells from the other boosted by Battle Rhythm would have to do for now.

Trying to capitalize on the last bit of surprise caused by his spellwork and sudden appearance, Harry cast a wave banisher with his off hand while casting the best canceling spell he could with his wand, pointed toward his two teammates. The banisher caught Squatt, Baboo, and the putties completely off guard, knocking them backwards into the wall behind them. Goldar braced himself upon seeing the magical wave approaching. Though he only had a moment to do so, he was still able to prevent himself from falling, merely sliding back several feet. The Twin Man was caught in mid-rise, still disguised as Harry as he was turning to face the original, and was thrown into Rita. The Sorceress herself shielded almost instinctively fast against Harry's spell, but was unable to prevent being knocked off her feet by her tumbling monster and ended up beneath the Twin Man on the floor.

The general mess made of Rita and her forces gave Harry's canceling spell enough time to break through Rita's trap, freeing Tommy and Kimberly who quickly dashed over to stand on either side of him. "Glad you're still with us, Harry." Tommy quipped, a touch of humor in his voice as Harry canceled his disillusionment charm as well.

"Yeah," Kimberly agreed with a nod. "I almost bought into Rita's story until she started going on about the collar. Too bad she didn't have all the details, huh?"

Harry just shrugged. "What can you expect from an egomaniac like Rita? She got so into her performance that she over played the part and ruined her entire scheme."

Goldar's roar of rage cut off any further discussion between the Rangers as he brought a hand up to his now glowing eyes and then flung it to his side, releasing a lance of energy toward the Rangers, specifically Harry. The Mage mere flicked his wand and conjured up a block of cement in midair to intercept the attack, followed by a shield to protect his teammates and himself from the resulting shrapnel. Then, in a fluid motion, Harry flicked his wand, floating the cement shards into the air, before transfiguring them into dozens of needles with a wave off his free hand, the sizes of the shards preventing anything more dangerous, and sent them back toward Goldar with another wandless banisher.

Goldar, seeing his attack countered so easily and the follow-up cloud of pointy things, shielded his exposed face with his crossed arms, letting the needles bounce harmlessly off his armor. Once the flurry of sharp tings ceased, he lowered his arms only to come face-to-spell with a bright red stunner courtesy of the Magi Ranger.

As Goldar dropped to the ground, magically unconscious, Rita climbed back to her feet while dozens of putties came rushing in from the adjacent hallway and gathered around her. "I don't know how you got rid of the subservience collar, Mageling, but I promise you that you will live to regret defying me again!"

Harry smirked at Rita before stepping to his left with Kimberly and Tommy, closer to the balcony edge. "That's your problem, Rita, you always make promises that you can't keep."

While Kimberly and Tommy continued leading him towards the balcony edge, Harry kept his wand trained on Rita and the encroaching putty horde, the tip of his wand and his off-hand both glowing with collected magical power.

A few more steps back and Harry felt the stone of the balcony railing behind him and saw Kimberly and Tommy in his peripherals standing against it as well. Rita let out a satisfied chuckle. "You're trapped now, Rangers. Though your rescue attempt went perhaps better than anticipated, it's all over now…"

Tommy shook his head slowly, his own soft chuckle barely audible over the mumbling cacophony of the putties' typical noises. "I seem to remember a similar situation to this once before, Rita… Don't you remember how it ended then?"

Any response Rita would have made was interrupted by Kimberly activating her communicator. "Alpha, three to teleport out of here, now."

"Affirmative, Kimberly. Teleporting now."

Rita's screech of fury accompanied the three streaks of light, Pink, Green, and Purple, as they flew from Rita's palace at high speed back toward the Earth.

-MR-

Just like the last time Harry had returned to the Earth from Rita's Moon Palace, his knees buckled almost as soon as he rematerialized in the Command Center. Unlike the last time, there was nobody there to catch him before he fell. So it was that Harry found himself on the ground, his knees and face hurting from their recent contact with the Command Center floor. Meanwhile, the morphed Tommy and Kimberly merely stumbled slightly, their suits having protected them enough to avoid most of Harry's results.

Upon seeing Harry's plight, the two Rangers were quick to move to his side and help him stand once more, moving with him to the cot Alpha had once more placed in the middle of the circle of computer consoles.

"Welcome back, Harry." Zordon said, his deep voice resonating around the Command Center and causing the last of Harry's tension to leave his body. If Zordon was here, he knew he was safe.

"It's good to be back, Zordon…" Harry said with a sigh of relief. Then, glancing around the Command Center and seeing only Tommy, Kimberly, and Alpha, he voiced a question. "Where's everyone else?"

Kimberly snorted softly as she and Tommy demorphed in a flash of light. "At home in bed I'd imagine. I would say they were asleep, but I sincerely doubt that Trini is. She's been incredibly worried about you since you disappeared."

Harry groaned slightly before closing his eyes. "Here's hoping that being kidnapped against my will can get me a little slack from her. I have no doubt that her worry will shift into irritation as soon as she sees that I'm alright."

Kimberly and Tommy both shared a laugh at Harry's expense while the Pink Ranger leaned into her boyfriend's shoulder. "Don't worry, Harry," she said, reassuringly. "I'll be calling her on my communicator before I hit the sack myself to let her know you're alright. Then she'll have all day at school to get over her irritation before seeing you again."

"To be honest, Harry," Tommy said as Alpha toddled over and began waving a strange device over the Magi Ranger. "If it weren't for the fact that she didn't think she could get out of her house tonight without being noticed, she would have been on the rescue mission too."

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, what's with that anyway? Why would everyone else be asleep now? Its morning isn't it?"

Tommy chuckled a bit weakly before responding. "Technically, I suppose…" He glanced at his communicator before continuing. "It's about two in the morning, but that's still morning, strictly speaking."

Harry blinked in surprise before understanding came to him. He had already noted that it was difficult to keep track of night and day cycles from within the moon base. Most of his "mornings" had come whenever Rita was ready to learn more magic, and there was no telling how long each of his "nights" had been. The obvious conclusion was that his sleep cycles had been thrown off during his captivity.

"In any case, Harry," Tommy spoke again, oblivious to the Magi Ranger's musings. "Kim and I need to head home before we're missed. School is gonna be hard enough tomorrow with only a few hours of sleep to run on. Thank goodness it's a Friday, eh Kim?"

Kimberly nodded her agreement before stifling a yawn. "We'll see you after school tomorrow, alright Harry?"

Harry nodded back and waved as the two Rangers teleported out. Turning his head the other way and letting his arm fall weakly back to his side, Harry focused on Zordon as the floating head spoke. "For now, Harry, rest yourself. Your body is weary from the teleportation from Rita's palace combined with your undoubtedly insufficient care while you were her captive. The new day will come soon enough and we will deal with the associated problems then."

Harry nodded, stifling a yawn of his own as Alpha finished with whatever scans his device was taking and rested a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder. "It's good to have you back with us, Harry."

Harry smiled his thanks to the robot before taking Zordon's advice and allowing Morpheus to claim him.

-MR-

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