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

34. Chapter 34

Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

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

Chapter 34, or Return of the Twin Man… in 3D!

Harry woke a few hours after his return to the Command Center with his stomach growling at him. Luckily enough, he had recovered enough to stumble his way into his attached room to reach his food stores and fix himself a bowl of cereal (he had long since upgraded from mere peanut butter sandwiches) and flop down on his own cot in the corner where he drifted back to sleep again.

His next awakening was much less peaceful, brought about as it was by the Command Center's alarms sounding off.

With a groggy sense of urgency, Harry stumbled his way into the Command Center proper, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. "Wha'z goin' on?"

"Ai yai yai yai yai! Harry! You're awake!" Alpha was almost immediately at the Magi Ranger's side, once more waving a strange device at him.

"Harry," Zordon intoned, his voice more solemn than usual. "It seems we have a situation in Angel Grove…" Zordon trailed off, his floating face showing a great deal of distress while Harry did his best to clear the fog of interrupted sleep away from his mind.

"Zordon, I keep telling you that it simply can't be!" Alpha nearly shouted, sounding just as distressed as Zordon did even as he kept up with whatever he was doing with the device still being waved around Harry.

"But if it is, Alpha, we must take precautions… The fate of the world could depend on it."

By this point, Harry was just incredibly confused. "Err… How about we fill in the human in the room, yeah?"

Zordon blinked quickly before nodding. "I apologize, Harry, please observe the Viewing Globe."

Harry, mindful of Alpha still hovering nearby, made his way over to the Viewing Globe with the robot following closely behind, mumbling quietly as he went. When Harry reached the Rangers' typical 'observing' position, directly between Zordon and the Globe and at the far end of the ring of computers from the trapped wizard, the globe lit up from within…

…And started playing a news broadcast…

"And we're coming to you live from our News Copter with the latest on this most distressing of situations." The man's voice coming from the Viewing Globe sounded tense, which did nothing to settle Harry from the already negative atmosphere in the Command Center. The picture shown was somewhat hazy, as was typical of the Viewing Globe, but did appear to be from high above Angel Grove.

"We are trying to get a good view to confirm the unbelievable reports that we've been receiving for the last half hour in this, the latest catastrophic event to befall our city. If these reports turn out to be true…" The man trailed off again as the camera panned to the left, showing a column of smoke billowing up in the distance through the helicopter's front window. The reporter seemed unable to comment further as the machine flew closer and closer to the source of the smoke.

Finally, the helicopter started flying lower, passing between a few buildings and affording a closer view of the street below and the people running frantically in the opposite direction.

As the camera got close enough to see the source of the smoke, a large fire billowing from several cars that had been set ablaze, the reporter spoke again. "This is the location we were told is the epicenter of this tragedy, and the destruction is quite self-explanatory… I don't know- wait… John, swing around left! Left! Mike, turn the camera over there! I don't believe it!" The reporter's voice took on a tone of strained disbelief as the helicopter pivoted around in the intersection…

…and the five core Mighty Morphin Power Rangers came into view as they used their Blade Blasters to set yet another car aflame.

"This truly is a day out of our worst nightmares, my fellow citizens." The reporter was saying, horror in his voice. "I didn't want to believe it, heck I still don't, but the evidence before me doesn't lie. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers have turned against us and against our fair city."

At that moment, the Red Ranger seemed to take notice of the helicopter flying nearby and pointed it out, prompting the other four to turn and face it, raising their blasters as they did.

"Shit! John! Get us out of here!" The pilot didn't have to be told twice as the camera's view immediately began rising rapidly, barely avoiding the lances of light sent from the Rangers' blasters.

Once they were out of immediate danger, once more well above the rooftops of the city, the reporter spoke again. "I have to be honest here folks, I don't really know what to say to this. The Power Rangers have protected us for so long, why would they turn on Angel Grove now? And what of the Green and Magi Rangers? I didn't see them there with the others… Could they have turned on us too, or is there still hope?" The man fell silent as Harry watched the Viewing Globe, surprise written all over his face even as the Globe went dark.

After several more seconds, Harry turned to face Zordon again. "I… I don't believe it…"

Zordon merely nodded. "I know what you mean, Harry. Alpha intercepted the first reports from the city, but we were unable to get any further confirmation, even with the Viewing Globe, until now. But now we must take the appropriate steps. Until we learn otherwise, we must assume that the Power Rangers have turned on the side of good. Alpha, what is your assessment of Harry's condition?"

Alpha, strangely subdued, tilted his device up toward the front of his saucer shaped head for a moment before commenting. "Other than a bit of physical fatigue from his captivity, Harry is operating at sufficient levels."

"Good," Zordon replied, closing his eyes briefly before nodding firmly. "Then Harry, there is only one thing that can be done. We-"

Zordon was interrupted by a series of loud beeps from one bank of computers that Alpha quickly scurried over to, setting his scanning device atop the computer before he began manipulating the controls. After a few moments and multiple button presses, Alpha suddenly let out a cry of happiness. "HA! I knew it Zordon! I knew that the Power Rangers wouldn't turn on us like that!"

Zordon just looked surprised and Harry felt a slight bit of hope fight its way through the disbelief. "What do you mean, Alpha?"

"The computer has located the Power Rangers' communicators, and they aren't in the middle of the city. They're all still at school!"

Zordon now looked perplexed. "That doesn't even make any sense, Alpha… The Rangers should have been out of school an hour ago… why would they still be there?"

The three, wizard, mentor, and robot, stood (floated) silently for a minute, their minds racing to try and figure out why the Rangers were still at school, especially after school hours and with the city being attacked. At the very least, one would think that Jason or Tommy would have been rushing to face this new threat as soon as they found out, and with the news broadcast going on, there was little chance they hadn't heard somehow.

"Do you think they might be in trouble?" Harry asked slowly. "I mean, maybe something that kept them from contacting you already… Maybe Rita got to them in school before they could morph or something…"

Zordon hummed in thought before focusing his attention on Harry. "You make a good point, Harry. I want you to go to Angel Grove High and attempt to discover what has happened to the Rangers. We shall make further plans to deal with the imposters attacking the city once you have done so."

Harry nodded, though internally he let out a sigh of frustration. A guy just couldn't catch a break around this town, could he?

-MR-

A beam of purple light temporarily lit up a very familiar alleyway near Angel Grove High. When the light faded, revealing Harry Potter, the Magi Ranger took a few moments to look around, reminiscing on his brief mission into the disappearance of one Tommy Oliver that had brought him to this same place. It seemed like it was so long ago, but in reality it had only been a few short months.

Bringing himself back onto point, Harry tapped his wand on top of his head and cast a disillusionment charm. Once the oh so familiar feeling of egg running down his body had faded and he was sure the spell was in place, he made his way out of the alley and turned toward the front doors of the school.

The first thing he noticed was that the streets were mostly deserted, only a few cars here and there compared to what should have been much heavier traffic on a normal day. Of course, it was quite likely that Emergency Services had ordered people to stay in their homes while the "Power Rangers" were causing havoc in the streets. Harry repressed a growl, he had a theory as to what was going on. He just needed to meet with the other Rangers to prove it.

Upon reaching the glass doors into the building, Harry found them to be locked. Shrugging to himself, Harry peered through the glass to see if there was anyone around before silently apparating himself past the doors and into the school. Once inside he tried to figure out how exactly he was going to find the Rangers.

The obvious solution was the Point Me spell, but seeing as he was currently disillusioned, he would have to drop the spell in order to effectively see the results. Not necessarily something he wanted to do at the moment. Another option would be to just wander around and hope he caught sight of them, again not ideal since it would take so long.

While he was pondering his options, his Potter luck kicked in again as he heard a voice echoing down the main hallway from where he stood mere moments before two figures, a man and a woman, turned a corner and started towards him. "I can't believe it Ms. Applebee, I just can't believe that those kids would do such a thing, or honestly anything that would land them in detention."

"I know what you mean, but several other students reported seeing them in action. They pried open the water fountain and sabotaged it. I just can't believe that they tried to help up Mr. Caplan when he slipped in the mess afterwards."

"Well, maybe they just felt bad. Perhaps someone else pushed them into trying that prank to get even and Mr. Caplan fell into it by mistake. I know they've all been rather upset since that Potter fellow went missing."

"Oh yes, the poor dears… Especially Trini. She hasn't looked so out of sorts as long as I've known her… Do you really think that they could all just be acting out because of that?"

"Well, I'm no Psychology teacher, but…"

Harry just stared ahead blankly as the two, who he assumed were teachers, entered a doorway a few feet away from him labeled "office," preventing him from hearing any more of the conversation when the door closed behind them. Mentally, he added another reason for him to not drop the disillusionment charm: apparently he was missing and there was no telling what kind of trouble it would cause if he suddenly turned up and was recognized in the middle of the High School building.

Still, the overheard conversation did give him some useful information. With their mentioning Trini, Harry could assume that the two had been talking about the other Rangers and the guy had mentioned that they were in detention…

Seriously?

That's why the Rangers hadn't been able to battle against the phonies attacking the city? That's why they hadn't been able to contact Zordon? No attack from Rita, they were just all in detention? Seriously!?

Harry shook his head slowly. There had better be an amazing explanation for this whole thing…

-MR-

Harry ended up tracking down the Power Rangers by the simple process of checking the signs hanging above the doorways. Most of them merely indicated which teacher taught in the indicated classroom, but it didn't take him too long to find the one labeled "Detention Hall."

There was a narrow, vertical window in the door and Harry was able to see enough of the room to learn a few things. First, the other six Rangers were indeed in there. Second, the only other occupants in the room were Bulk, Skull, and someone who must be the teacher supervising their detention.

Nodding to himself, Harry glanced down the hallway in each direction before twisting on the spot, once more silently apparating the few feet necessary to bring him inside the classroom. Upon appearing, Harry immediately waved his wand in a wide sweep, mentally excluding his fellow Rangers from the spell, and cast. "Somnus."

The effects of the sleeping spell took hold almost right away and the two bullies and supervising teacher dropped their heads to their respective desks, snoring loudly as they fell into an enchanted slumber.

Jason practically leapt up from his seat and took a fighting stance with the other Rangers following suit soon after. "What's going on here!?" he demanded, glancing around furiously.

Harry just rolled his eyes. "Calm down, guys. It's just me."

"Harry?!" Trini squeaked, her eyes going wide as they all relaxed again, some quicker than others. "Where are you?"

Harry couldn't help but let a smile stretch across his face as his eyes fell on his girlfriend, the last bit of subconscious worry brought on by Rita's trick finally subsiding. "I'm over by the door, Trini, I'm just disillusioned."

"You're just what now?" Zack asked as he slid back into his desk, relief visible on his face as well.

"Logic would suggest that it is a spell that facilitates invisibility of some kind." Billy inferred, settling down before the multiple open books he had on his desk. Apparently, the genius wasn't letting detention get in the way of his studies.

"Right in one, Billy." Harry responded before shaking himself and setting his mind back on track even as the rest of his teammates sat again. "But that's not important right now. What the hell happened to you guys? Why are you here in detention when there's a bunch of fake Power Rangers attacking the city and ruining your image with the public?"

"Say what?" Zack nearly shouted, half jumping out of his seat again before being shushed by his teammates and drawing back into himself.

Harry shrugged before breaking into a brief explanation. "I woke up a while ago because of the Command Center alarms. The Viewing Globe showed the Power Rangers attacking the city, and Alpha determined that you guys were still here, so Zordon sent me to find out what was going on."

Jason let out an audible growl before speaking. "Someone set us up. All we know is that we came around a corner in the hallway and saw a bunch of student laughing while Mr. Caplan flailed around in a huge puddle of soap suds. We tried to help him up and he gave us all detention for causing the mess in the first place."

"Yeah, we were totally framed." Kimberly pouted, still looking a bit sleepy to Harry's eyes. Not surprising since she hadn't been able to sleep for more than ten hours like he had.

"And I really hope this doesn't end up on our permanent records…" Trini said next, her anxiety over her schooling warring with her relief at the confirmation of Harry's safety.

Jason continued, undeterred by the girls' interruptions. "And when we got here, Caplan confiscated our communicators when they wouldn't stop going off. He said we'd get them back when detention was over, so we couldn't get in touch with Zordon even when we knew something had to be wrong."

Harry just rolled his eyes. "Alright, well that certainly supports my theory as to what's going on. Rita has a monster called the Twin Man. That's how she was able to capture me, the monster disguised itself and caught me off guard. It did the same thing up in Rita's palace during Tommy and Kimberly's rescue mission. I'm willing to bet that that monster is responsible for the imposter Rangers out there right now."

Tommy nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that would certainly explain that extra copy of you that showed up when Kim and I were trapped…"

"My thoughts exactly." Harry agreed, disregarding the others' looks of confusion for the moment. "So let's get the heck out of here and take these fakes down, yeah?"

Before any of the Rangers could respond, Harry's communicator went off. Confused, Harry raised his communicator and responded. "I read you Zordon, what's up?"

"Harry, Alpha and I have been tracking your progress on the Viewing Globe. I'm afraid that the others will be unable to help in the battle right away."

"Say what now?" Harry asked, more than a bit surprised at Zordon's pronouncement, though no more than the other Rangers who had also let out their own sounds of disbelief.

Zordon continued unabated. "If the other Rangers were to come with you to battle against the Twin Man, then it is more than likely that their absence would be discovered. Even if you kept your sleeping spell on the others in the room, it is highly probable that someone else would stumble upon the room and wake them. If that happens, the Rangers would undoubtedly be in even greater trouble, not only at school, but with their parents as well. Such a situation would only be detrimental in the fight against Rita's evil forces."

Harry blinked slowly. "So you're telling me that I'm gonna have to fight by myself for now so that the other Rangers don't get into trouble with their parents… What about the Grid's protections? Wouldn't they help smooth over that sort of thing?"

"Unfortunately not, Harry. The protection provided by the Morphing Grid merely prevents people from connecting the civilian identities of those who use the Grid's Power with their morphed alter egos. Allowing the Rangers to battle in spite of limitations put on their civilian identities is not within the Grid's purview. In any case, despite the apparent odds, I am confident that you will be able to prevail in this battle. While its illusion powers are formidable on their own, the Twin Man's combat capabilities are somewhat less than most of Rita's monsters. In addition, according to our sensors, the other false Power Rangers with the Twin Man are nothing more than putty patrollers beneath the illusions. You should be able to deal with such threats relatively easily, even on your own."

Harry found himself unable to respond at first. He was still processing the fact that he was going to have to fight this next battle alone, or more specifically the reason why he would have to fight alone.

Seriously, you couldn't make up stuff this ridiculous…

Finally, Harry took a deep breath before letting it out slowly. He could do this. Like Zordon said, it was just a weaker-than-average monster and a bunch of costumed putties. No big deal, right.

"One final thing, Harry."

Crap.

"I'm afraid that, should Rita grow the Twin Man, you will be without a Zord for the time being."

Harry instantly felt his worry increase and nearly snapped at his teacher. "What happened to Hedwig!?"

"She is alright, Harry. When you disappeared, Hedwig was rather inconsolable. It certainly didn't help that none of us could communicate with her as easily as you can. When we confirmed that you were being held in Rita's Palace three days ago, Hedwig attempted to rescue you herself. The problem was, without you to help facilitate her transformation into her Zord Form, she quickly exhausted her own energy attempting the same and is now recharging and recovering in the Zord hangar with the other Zords."

Harry let his tension drain again, though certainly slower as he was still quite worried for his familiar. At least this explained why he hadn't received the expected telling off from Hedwig the moment he awoke in the Command Center. He had to admit, Hedwig doing something like that wasn't terribly unexpected now that he really thought about it. She was incredibly protective of him, especially since her reincarnation as his Silver Owl Zord.

"Alright, Zordon. I guess I'll just have to hope for the best and try to take these guys down as fast as I can." Deactivating his communicator, Harry turned his attention to the other Rangers who were all looking at him with varying degrees of worry. "And as for you guys, as soon as you get out of here, I would really appreciate it if you would hightail it to the battlefield, alright?"

Six nodding heads were his response before Jason spoke. "We'll be there as soon as we can, Harry. Just try and stay out of trouble until then."

"Well, I'll be off then. I'll cancel the sleeping spell before I leave, so try not to act out of the ordinary if you can." Harry said, raising his wand to put actions to words when he was interrupted once more.

"Please, Harry… be careful."

Harry glanced up at Trini when she spoke, her concern clear on her face though her gaze wasn't focused on him due to his near invisibility. Making up his mind, Harry walked over to where she sat and put a hand on her shoulder that she immediately covered with one of her own, a weak smile on her face. "Hey, no worries. Zordon is right, I can take care of these guys, and I have a score to settle with the Twin Man. This'll all be over before you know it and we'll be laughing about how you guys got stuck in detention while enjoying smoothies at the Youth Center."

Trini's smile grew slightly before nodding. "I really wish I could see you right now…"

Harry gave his own, unseen, smile back. "Can't take the risk of someone else seeing me here. Apparently, I'm missing."

"Oh yeah…" Zack chuckled awkwardly. "I guess we'll have to figure out how you're going to be found again, huh?"

Harry snorted briefly before giving Trini's shoulder a final squeeze and pulling away. "Yes, Zack, we will, but that's for later." Harry quickly walked back to the corner of the room by the door before raising his wand again. "Catch you guys later…" And he waved his wand, canceling the sleeping spell on the Non-Ranger occupants of the room before vanishing with a soft pop of apparition.

-MR-

Reappearing atop the school building, Harry took a moment to look out over what he could see of Angel Grove. While the school building wasn't the tallest building in Angel Grove, and honestly not even in the area, he could still easily see the trail of smoke billowing up into the sky where the Twin Man and his False Rangers were attacking the city.

"It's time for a bit of payback, Twin Man." Harry growled, clenching his fist tight. "You've managed to catch me off guard and trick me twice now, but I'm ready for you this time, and I won't be holding back… It's Morphin' Time."

-MR-

In a column of purple light, the Magi Ranger teleported to the top of a skyscraper a mere two blocks from the leading edge of the Faux Rangers' trail of destruction. Almost immediately, he noticed the rhythmic thumping sounds of a helicopter relatively close.

Glancing around, Harry spotted a white helicopter with a stylized "Channel 4 News" written on it in red and windows all down the sides. Thinking quickly, he decided to try and fix the Power Rangers' PR problem before getting on with the main event. After all, the battle had waited this long, and taking care of things before he was caught on the news apparently curb stomping his teammates would prevent all kinds of confusion and grief.

Focusing both his magic and a hint of Grid Power, Harry tapped the Magi Staff on the concrete rooftop below him and transfigured a portion of the building directly below him into a thin metal slab that then lifted up into the air with him still standing atop it. Secured by a sticking charm and a mild shield charm to protect from the winds and downdraft from the helicopter itself, Harry guided his temporary transportation toward the mostly stationary aircraft and around to float in front of it.

The face of the pilot was almost laughable when he first caught sight of the floating Power Ranger, though Harry found he couldn't really blame the man. If he had been in his place and suspected that the Power Rangers had turned on them all and then found one of the missing ones staring straight at him he would have probably panicked too.

Deciding to cut to the chase as quickly as possible, Harry waved his free hand, conjuring up a simple sign that read "Permission to come aboard?"

This seemed to take the pilot off guard for a moment before he turned his head slightly and said something, presumably to the individuals in the back of the helicopter. Mere moments later, another man stuck his head up into the cockpit area and caught sight of the floating Power Ranger. The two men exchanged words briefly, the pilot seeming to grow slightly more panicked for a moment before calming again and turning to face Harry again, giving him a thumbs up and a nod.

Nodding in return, Harry watched as the Helicopter turned sideways and a door opened in the side facing him with the man who had come up to the cockpit standing there, a harness helping keep him in the aircraft as he waved the Magi Ranger closer. Harry did indeed bring his floating platform closer to the Helicopter until the downdraft from the propeller blades threatened to overcome even his stabilization charms. At that point, he banished the platform and apparated the short distance left, appearing just behind the man still standing in the open door.

The man appeared confused for a moment, but when he turned to find the Magi Ranger behind him he nearly jumped out of the helicopter in shock. In the cabin of the aircraft itself, a relatively small space all considered, there was only one other person, this one with a camera resting on his shoulder and pointing right towards the newly arrived Ranger.

Once he had recovered from his shock, the man at the door quickly pulled the doorway closed, cutting off a good deal of the sound coming into the cabin, and opened his mouth to say something. The problem was, Harry still couldn't hear any of it. The problem persisted when the man, Harry assumed a reporter seeing as he had already identified the cameraman and pilot, attempted to hand Harry an extra headset, which wouldn't really work as intended through his helmet.

Finally, Harry merely tapped his staff onto the floor of the cabin, casting a localized silencing charm to help cut down on ambient noise while, hopefully, not frying the aircraft's systems. Luckily enough, the magical field was weak enough that he was able to make out the reporter's next words. "-gotta figure out a way to talk with him, Mike. We've got the freaking Magi Ranger here with us! Maybe he can explain what's going on with the others."

"That is, in fact, exactly why I'm here, sir." Harry interjected, catching the man off guard as he realized he both heard the Ranger's words and that it was generally quieter in the helicopter than normal.

"How did…" the reporter sputtered for a moment as he tried to come up with an explanation.

Harry just smirked under his helmet. "Magic."

The reporter blinked a few times before nodding. "Works for me I suppose." The man seemed to draw himself up before gesturing to his cameraman who gave him an "OK" signal followed by counting down from 3 with his fingers. Then the reporter began speaking again. "I have a breaking news update on the Power Ranger situation. Here with me in the News Copter is, believe it or not, the Magi Ranger himself." At this, the cameraman panned the device over to bring Harry into the frame, or so he assumed. It seemed that Harry's intention to straighten things out had turned into an impromptu interview.

"Please, Magi Ranger, can you tell us what is going on with the other Rangers? Was there a fight between you all that led to the destruction they've caused today? And what about the Green Ranger?"

Harry took a moment to try and force himself to relax before speaking. "Alright, first off, the Rangers down there destroying the city aren't the real Rangers. The real ones, including the Green Ranger, have been… delayed by the same monster of Rita's that is now leading the group of imposters right now. I just wanted to get the word out so that the people of Angel Grove would know that their heroes have not turned on them, it's just another of Rita's plots."

The reporter's face lit up in relief as Harry spoke. "So can we assume that you are planning on engaging these imposter Rangers now?"

Harry nodded firmly. "I am. As I said, I just wanted to clear the air, so to speak, beforehand."

The reporter seemed to hesitate a moment before asking another question. "I don't suppose I could ask you about yourself while you're here, could I? Or perhaps a bit about the other Rangers? Like how you all got involved in this battle in the first place? Where did Rita come from and why is she attacking Angel Grove?"

Harry shook his head slowly, though his mind was racing. "As much as I would like to answer your questions, I think we can both agree that there are much more pressing problems at hand than satisfying your curiosity, despite the fact that most people in the city probably share the same curiosity."

The man flinched slightly before shaking his head. "No, no you're right. Thank you Magi Ranger, for the information. I suppose we'd best let you get on with it then."

Harry nodded again before tapping his staff once more to remove the silencing charm and twisting in place, apparating back to the rooftop he had been on before with a pop.

Reorienting himself, Harry saw the helicopter bank slightly, flying closer to his new position. If he wasn't mistaken, the cameraman was pointing his camera out one of the side windows at him while the reporter looked on, most likely speaking the entire time.

Harry just shrugged internally, putting the news crew out of his thoughts before apparating once more to another rooftop, this one bordering the street where the Twin Man's Rangers were.

Moving to the edge of the building, Harry looked down and was barely able to make out the dots of color walking down the middle of the street ten stories below him. Of course, the random lances of destructive energy coming from their blade blasters certainly helped point them out.

Harry narrowed his eyes behind his visor. They may just be putties and a single monster, but that didn't mean he could afford to play around. He just had to keep one thing in mind: Rita was most likely watching him in the hopes of picking up more incantations, so silent casting was the order of the day.

Hearing the helicopter once more drawing closer to him, Harry backed up several steps from the edge before sprinting forward and leaping out into open air. He almost seemed to float there for a moment before gravity took hold of him and he began falling, carefully angling himself toward the clustered villains below. When he had traveled about half of the distance, Harry jabbed the Magi Staff forward, letting fly with several blasting charms that rained down upon the unsuspecting monsters before a massive force wave both sent them flying and cancelled enough of Harry's momentum to allow him to flip into a crouched landing safely.

Harry stood slowly, looking around himself to take in the battlefield. They were standing on a typical city street in Angel Grove. In this case, Harry found himself fairly close to the center of a double lane, two-way street, giving him fifteen to twenty feet on either side with another ten or so feet of sidewalk before reaching the buildings. Along either side of the road, trees sprouted from strategically spaced planters in the pavement that stood between ten and fifteen feet tall, bringing a bit of life to the otherwise boring cityscape. Mostly by chance, Harry was facing the slowly recovering Faux Red Ranger, who he suspected to be the Twin Man in disguise, with the other four spread out around him, the Yellow and Black behind him and Pink and Blue to his left and right respectively.

Faux Red almost immediately started in on the act upon climbing to his feet, speaking with Jason's voice. "What are you doing here, Harry? We already decided we were taking over the city and that's final!"

Harry just shook his head. "It's no use trying anymore, Twin Man. I've already spread the word that you guys aren't the real Rangers. Now, I'm here to finish things between us."

"What are you talking about?" Faux Red continued while the other four glanced around uneasily. If one didn't know better, one might actually buy into their act. It must have been the Twin Man's magic boosting the acting ability of the putties because there's no way that they were usually this capable. "Of course we're the real Power Rangers. Who else would we be?

Seeing the monster was determined to stick to its role, Harry began drawing up Power as he spoke. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, Twin Man. I'm not going to let you drag the reputation of my friends through the mud for whatever plan Rita has cooked up this time. Especially not with our personal history. I'm gonna take you down!"

Harry lifted the Magi Staff up a few inches before bringing it down with a slight grunt, releasing a wave of kinetic magic that washed over his multicolored opponents before they could react. Almost immediately, their feet lifted off the blacktop, leaving them stuck hovering in midair. "Unfortunately for you all…" Harry drawled, smirking as he watched the monster and putties in disguise flail around helplessly. "I am in no mood to play around today!"

Focusing his will upon the Power within him, Harry molded it into the form of a hand and grasped the Faux Yellow Ranger with it before creating another and grabbing the Black. With a mental command, his two invisible "hands" of kinetic force swung forward on either side of him, catching the Blue and Pink Faux Rangers as they went before slamming into the Twin Man from either side.

The five imposters ended up in a pile of limbs on the ground, each of them struggling to stand again while Harry gathered his magic and jabbed his staff forward. His silent Bombarda Maxima lanced out, flashing over the distance between him and his target in mere moments before engulfing them in an explosion that rattled the windows around them.

Harry waited.

After a few moments, the smoke began to clear, slowly revealing a crater in the blacktop before Harry's attention was caught by rapid movement from his right. Acting quickly, Harry spun, casting a wandless shield with his off hand while the Magi Staff lit up with Power once more.

Only to stop himself just before releasing the built up Power into the chest of the Green Ranger.

"Woah," he said, raising his arms in a gesture of surrender. "Uh… I come in peace?"

Harry let out a sigh as he relaxed slightly and dropped his shield before glancing back toward the crater and seeing several grey figures lying there motionless. "Sorry about that Tommy, I suppose I'm a bit on edge."

Tommy merely chuckled uneasily before waving his arm in the general direction of the crater in the street. "Yeah, I can see that. It look like you got them all thought."

"So it does…" Harry hummed thoughtfully. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, don't worry, they decided to check around for more putties and sent me on ahead to see if you needed any help."

Harry nodded before releasing a deep sigh. "Well, in that case…" Harry gestured with his staff toward the Green Ranger and released a burst of magic, causing the pavement below him to leap up, encasing his arms from his elbow down and his legs up to his knees in blacktop, effectively holding him in place. "You won't mind if I check on your story."

"What the hell, Harry?" Tommy said, struggling against his stone-like bindings.

"This'll only take a second." Harry replied calmly before raising up his left wrist to his mouth. "Alpha, this is Harry, come in."

"I read you Harry, and I think I know what you want to ask. The Green Ranger you caught can't possibly be our Green Ranger because he and the others are still at Angel Grove High."

Harry smirked under his helmet before leveling a hidden glare at the suddenly motionless Faux Ranger. "Thanks Alpha, you read my mind."

Harry took one last glance into the still smoking crater and counted five unmoving putty patrollers where there had previously been five fake Power Rangers. Nodding in satisfaction, he turned to fully face the trapped the trapped Green Ranger. "You know, I have to say that it was rather tricky of you to wait in the wings like you did. I honestly thought you would have taken the form of the Red Ranger. Oh well, my bad. I guess it's just good that it worked out in the end, eh Twin Man?"

"What are you talking about!?"

Harry just scoffed. "Even now you're sticking with your little ploy, hoping that I'll buy into it. Well, I know one way to know for sure." Reaching within himself once more, Harry used his own magic to guide the Power into a canceling spell, casting it silently at the trapped Ranger.

The Green Ranger's form seemed to flicker for a moment as the Twin Man's illusion fought against the Grid powered cancellation spell. Finally, after a few more moments, the Faux Ranger was engulfed in a flash of light that quickly faded to reveal the shiny metallic form of the Twin Man.

"Tell me truly," the monster growled, renewing its struggles against the blacktop restraints with equally ineffective results. "How did you know it was me?"

Harry rolled his eyes as he spun the Magi Staff around himself, gathering Power into it once more, and took several steps back. "Do you really think that after falling for your tricks and getting captured, falling for it again just before my escape started, and then seeing you in action one final time just before we all left that I would fall for anything as outlandish and ridiculous as the other Power Rangers attacking the city without questioning it? How stupid do you think I am?"

"Stupid enough to get caught in the first place!" The monster shot back, grunting every so often as it pulled at its trapped limbs. "By the way, how did it feel to destroy your girlfriend's lookalike? Should she be warned that you're the violent type?"

Harry growled under his breath before silencing the monster and smiling slightly as it seemed to panic all over again. "Is it really smart to keep on egging on someone who is already about to destroy you because they're ticked off at you?" When the monster failed to respond, Harry just shrugged and released the built up Power within his staff with a thrust and a kiai, launching the purple orb of the incomplete form of his finisher at the trapped monster.

He really should have expected what happened next.

The monster all but absorbed the blast, the reflective surfaces that made up most of its body glowing with a purple tint as it began laughing manically. "Thanks for the power boost, Power Brat!" With another grunt of effort, the Twin Man broke its limbs free from their restraints (and apparently the silencing charm) and flung its arms out wide to either side. "Now that I'm done with it, why don't you take it back! HA!"

Arcs of purple lightning traveled from all over the monster's body toward the single mirror-like panel in its chest. As the arcs moved, the purple glow faded from its extremities and concentrated in the mirror before lancing out toward Harry in a destructive energy blast fueled by Harry's own absorbed attack.

Harry barely managed to snap a shield into place before the blast hit it. He knew that his attack was designed to destroy monsters, so he really didn't want to get hit with his own reflected Power.

After a few moments, the purple color faded from the attack into white and Harry once more heard the laughter of the twin man while his shield took the punishment. "Just give in now, Magi Ranger, by absorbing sunlight, I can keep this beam up all day! You cannot hope to defeat the Twin Man!"

Harry rolled his eyes, both at the monster revealing how he was keeping the attack up and at Zordon's earlier insistence that the Twin Man was weaker than most of Rita's monsters.

The light from the monster's attack was blindingly bright, which made sense if it was, in fact, fueled by sunlight, so Harry was forced to keep his gaze downward lest he get blinded. It was not a handicap he wanted to get in the middle of a fight. All the same, that didn't mean he couldn't fight back, he just had to be a bit more circumspect about it.

With his staff casting and reinforcing the shield protecting him from the Twin Man's attack, Harry was forced to use his off hand to wandlessly cast a transfiguration spell at one of the trees lining the road. The spell took longer to take effect without the benefit of a focus, but the monster was too busy with his mocking laughter to notice the wooden lion with a mane of leaves until it roared and tackled the Twin Man to the ground.

No longer pinned in place by the beam, Harry cast another pair of transfiguration spells with the Magi Staff at another pair of trees and soon the one lion attempting to maul the monster became three.

Harry began building Power again. If the Twin Man could absorb and redirect energy, which he felt was safe to assume since it took in his magical attack and admitted to absorbing sunlight, then he would have to hit it with something decidedly solid if he wanted to win.

By the time the Twin Man managed to rip one wooden cat's head off, the top of the Magi Staff was glowing. When the other two were caught in a single blast of the monster's solar powered laser attack, the Twin Man turned to see Harry's entire form bathed in a purple aura of Power.

The monster merely laughed. "Go ahead and fire another attack at me, Magi Ranger. I'll just absorb it again and turn it back on you. Once you're defeated, I can resume the destruction of Angel Grove as my empress commands! All will bow before Rita or die!"

Harry just grunted. "Don't count your diriclaws before they hatch…" And Harry released his gathered Grid Power and Magic in a single, massive conjuration. In the blink of an eye, he created a solid metal cube, twenty feet on a side, ten feet over the Twin Man's head and let it fall.

The monster never stood a chance, and the weight atop it even managed to muffle the inevitable explosion signifying the Twin Man's destruction.

-MR-

As soon as he was sure the Twin Man had been destroyed, Harry set about vanishing the cube and the remains of his opponents. Once that was done, he did what he could to fix the damage done to the street by his spellwork. The metal cube in particular had sank several feet into the road, not to mention the damage done by the contained explosion, but it was nothing that a gratuitous application of magic couldn't fix.

He was just about to start his way back up the street, following the previous path of destruction caused by the Faux Rangers to fix what he could when six streaks of light touched down in front of him, quickly fading away to reveal another set of Power Rangers.

Deciding to play it safe, Harry activated his communicator. "Alpha?"

"Yes, Harry," the robot responded immediately. "Those are the real Rangers this time. No need to crush them under anything… Ai yai yai…"

Harry chuckled uneasily as his teammates ran up to him, looking around wearily for anyone to fight. "Aw man," Zack whined when it became apparent that no such opponents were around. "Looks like we missed the whole thing!"

Harry shrugged even as he ran his eyes over the damage before him. "Well, better late than never, right?"

"I suppose…" Zack mumbled, watching as Harry waved his staff to extinguish a burning tree before continuing on past the other Rangers. "Uh… where are you going?"

When the other Rangers expressed similar thoughts, Harry turned to face them again. "I figured it would be fairly obvious. I'm gonna do what I can to repair some of the damage done by the fake Rangers before I head back to the Command Center. Unless there's something pressing that demands we get there right away that I don't know about that is. You're all welcome to join me."

When nobody immediately responded, Harry gave another shrug and turned to keep walking down the street, waving his staff every so often when he saw something that he could fix. Most of it was the occasional burning car or tree, and sometimes a broken window or two. Most of the cars had been left alone after the initial intersection, which was good since there was fairly little he could do for the machines beyond extinguishing them.

He didn't make it more than twenty feet though before he found Trini walking on his right. "I'm not letting you out of my sight for a while. At least not until we get back to the Command Center anyway."

Harry shot her an unseen smile. "Happy to have you, and at least you can see me this time, yeah?"

She gave a small snort of laughter even as she nodded. Mere moments later, the other Rangers came up behind him as well.

"I don't know how much we'll be able to do to help out, but we're here too." Tommy said from his left side, clapping a hand onto Harry's shoulder as he did.

"Yeah," Jason was quick to agree, surprising Harry a tiny bit if he were honest. "Our powers are more for fighting and destroying monsters, but if we can help out, we will." He paused for a moment before continuing in a slightly uneasy voice. "Besides, it would probably do our reputation some good for the people of Angel Grove to see us doing something to help this damage after those fakes thrashed our image. We heard what you did with the news crew in the helicopter, Harry, but I think every little bit will help at this point."

Harry just nodded as he continued walking. While the other Rangers were at his side, there really was relatively little for them to do other than righting a few trash cans and, in one case, rescuing a cat from a (luckily non-burning) tree. It took the team a bit over thirty minutes to backtrack along the path of destruction until they reached the intersection where it began and where several fire trucks were already mostly done with the burning cars Harry had seen earlier.

With the job appearing to be done and with the cheers and adulation of the adoring citizens of Angel Grove (many of whom insisted that they just KNEW that those other guys weren't the real Power Rangers) ringing in their ears, the Rangers teleported back to the Command Center.

-MR-

As soon as the seven materialized within the ring of computers they all, almost as one, reached up and unbuckled their helmets removing them and tucking them under an arm.

This turned out to be a mistake for Harry as he was almost immediately assaulted by a feathered cruise missile.

-Harry/Wizard!- Hedwig's mental voice was demanding and scolding all at once even as she flapped around his head, buffeting him with her wings on every down-stroke. –I warned you to be careful, but you still let that Mirror Man trick you! Let him take you where I could not protect you! You need me to protect you Harry/Wizard, I told you that!-

Harry tried in vain to shield his head from Hedwig's well-meaning attack, dropping his helmet in the process. Despite her appearance as a normal snowy owl, she still had a core that revealed her mechanical nature, which meant her metal weighted wings hit a lot harder than they once had when she was purely organic. "Gah! Hedwig! Bloody- I'm sorry Hedwig! Ow!"

The other Rangers were of little help, mostly just chuckling and enjoying his suffering under the wings of his familiar until Zordon's voice broke through. "She woke a short time ago and I felt it prudent to teleport her here for your arrival, Harry. I felt that it might be better to get this encounter out of the way sooner rather than later."

By this point, Hedwig had finally calmed down enough to perch on Harry's shoulder (with her talons digging in perhaps a tiny bit more than usual, though he couldn't really tell through his protective suit) and began preening his hair. "Yeah, you're probably right, Zordon, though I can't say I really appreciate not having any forewarning."

Zordon and the other let out a brief bout of laughter before the floating head responded. "Be that as it may, I imagine that your familiar is reminding you of the benefits of situational awareness. Even when you believe that you are in a safe place, with Rita around, you must always be wary Power Rangers. This time, the crisis was averted with relatively little damage done, but we cannot always be assured of that in the future."

Harry and the other Rangers nodded, but it was only the wizard who spoke. "I understand, Zordon, and I'm sorry for letting things happen like they did. I'll try to keep that in mind in the future."

"Then the lesson has been learned." Zordon spoke solemnly, nodding in return.

Harry then felt a tap on his arm and turned to find Trini next to him, though she was focusing her gaze on Hedwig. "Are you done with him now, Hedwig? I have a few things I'd like to say."

Harry felt his heart drop slightly when the owl spun her head to look at Trini, then at Harry, then back at Trini before bobbing slightly and taking flight. She flapped her way over to one of the computer consoles before landing and turning once more to watch the encounter to come.

Harry smiled nervously as Trini stepped up closer to him, glaring straight into his eyes. "Uh… Trini?"

Then she full on punched him in the shoulder. Harry stumbled back a step even as Trini started ranting, punctuating every few words by beating on his chest with a fist. "You idiot! Do you have any idea how worried we all were? How worried I was? Kim and I had to find out from Ernie where you went, but we couldn't find any sign of you. It took more than two weeks before Zordon and Alpha were able to find out that you were in Rita's Palace and that certainly didn't make things better! You! Stupid! Idiot! Gah!"

Any reaction Harry might have made, any response he could have given to any of the points she brought up, were rendered completely moot when she grabbed him by the front of the vest/cloak on his Ranger suit and jerked him forward, pulling him into a spontaneous kiss.

Harry's eyes went wide for a moment, briefly taking in equally shocked looks from the other Rangers behind Trini, before he let them slide closed as he began to respond to his girlfriend's rather frantic kiss. He brought his hands up to her waist as the kiss stretched on, but the moment he made contact, Trini drew back suddenly. Harry opened his own eyes to see her staring wide eyed at him, her cheeks turning red, before she turned to the now knowing and smirking faces of her friends before spinning again and burying her face in his chest.

"I cannot believe I just did that in front of everyone…"

Harry struggled to fight down his laughter and his own blush as he wrapped her in a hug, idly rubbing her back soothingly. "Hey, if it's any consolation, I'm not complaining, but I could Obliviate them all if you'd like."

Trini met his eyes again, a contemplative look on her face before her thought process was interrupted by Kimberly's shout. "Heck no! I've been waiting ages for you two to finally kiss! No way am I going to let you erase that memory!"

Then Hedwig had to ruin the moment.

-Harry/Wizard, if you and Pretty-Yellow are only going to practice courtship behavior then she needs to step aside. I have not yet finished scolding you.-

Harry refused to explain his exasperated groan no matter how much the others questioned him. He also refused to get more than a few feet away from Trini, though at this point, neither of them were complaining.

-MR-

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