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

43. Chapter 43

Magi Ranger

By: Tenstar12

AN: Shout out to TM11 who was the only one who caught the Dragonball Z reference in the last chapter and also mentioned it.

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

Chapter 43, in which The Rangers Show Zedd the Next Level of Power!

"Heart of Mischief! Soul of a Marauder! Power of the Cloak of Invisibility! I call you forth: Black Grim Zord! PADFOOT!"

For a moment, Harry's words echoed around the area, resounding off the rocky ground as tension seemed to build in the air.

But nothing happened.

"HA!" Pirantishead taunted after another few moments, shifting its stance and pressing down on Harry harder with its foot. "And here I was getting worried that you may pull something out of your- GAH!"

The monster's words were cut off when a very large something smashed into it from the side and sent it tumbling, losing its grip on its chain weapon as it went. The only problem was, whatever had hit Pirantishead, Harry couldn't see it.

He could sense it though. A distinct feeling as if there was something nearby. Something big.

That something seemed to shift downward briefly before a section of the chain around Harry lifted as if on its own before it contorted, flattening briefly in a few spots before a piece that was several links long was separated from the rest. This gave Harry enough slack to struggle out of the rest of the chain and regain his feet as the removed section dropped to the ground.

By this time, Pirantishead had regained its feet and its bravado. "I don't know how you did that, Magi Ranger, but it won't make any difference in the end. I'm still gonna destroy you, I'll just have to do it with my bare fins!"

For his part, Harry wasn't too terribly sure what he had done either. He supposed, based on what Zordon, Hedwig, and even the Grid had said, that he had summoned another Zord. But where was it? Had it truly been his Zord that freed him from the monster's chains after knocking the overgrown fish aside? Or was it some new manifestation of the other Rangers' Power. The one that Zordon was working toward this whole time?

Then Harry heard a growling sound before the massive presence he felt moved again. He watched as several clouds of dust erupted one after another in a line toward Pirantishead, each cloud accompanied by the ground shaking as if from giant footsteps.

Pirantishead had noticed the clouds as well, but was completely unable to stop the unseen figure before it knocked the monster off of its feet once again, this time apparently pinning it to the ground. "What!" the monster cried, struggling to rise, but seemingly unable to lift its left shoulder or any of its torso. "What's going on here?!"

Harry was just as confused as the monster, but then the air seemed to ripple and it all made sense as a massive robotic dog faded into view. At first glance, the dog would have been huge even if it had been human sized as opposed to Zord sized, its head easily reaching halfway up Harry/Hedwig's body. The overall build of the dog was rather slender, though based on how easily it was holding down the monster, it didn't lack for strength despite not quite looking like it.

The Zord's head was currently lowered down toward Pirantishead, staring into the monster's eyes as it let out a slightly mechanical sounding growl. The monster was panicking at this point, thrashing around wildly as much as it could before landing a glancing blow with one of its legs, shifting the dog just enough to let it squirm itself partially free.

As soon as the monster took a swipe at it, the Zord jumped back, avoiding the more solid blow with ease. Once it landed, it's demeanor switched from threatening to almost playful, wagging its tail frantically as it practically bounced over to Harry's side before plopping its back end down onto the ground, causing another minor quake in the process.

Harry couldn't take his eyes off of the new Zord. Taking in the familiar, although very much mechanical, head of his godfather's Animagus form. "Padfoot…" Harry near whispered, idly raising one hand and placing it on the Zord's head. Padfoot bowed his head, leaning into Harry's contact slightly before the moment was interrupted by Pirantishead once again.

"If you think that flea bitten metal mutt is gonna make any difference in this battle then you've got another thing coming!" The monster had yet again regained its feet and had its clawed fin/hands held up before it.

Harry shook himself slightly. He would have time to ponder on Padfoot later. Right now, they had a fish to fry. "Alright, Padfoot, let's take this guy down!"

With an echoing bark, Padfoot vanished again as Harry brandished his blades and charged toward Pirantishead. The monster met him partway, bringing up its clawed fins and blocking Harry's downward strike with his swords.

Undeterred, Harry struck again, this time using one sword to knock the monster's arms aside, allowing his second blade to strike true, drawing a line of sparks from Pirantishead's torso/face. Unfortunately, it had little effect beyond that, the monster's increased defenses more than able to resist Harry's attack just as before.

"HA! You still can't hurt me Magi Ranger!" The monster taunted, completely lowering its arms and letting Harry deliver a ferocious series of strikes, each one drawing sparks, but leaving only the barest of scorch marks behind. The instant Harry paused in his assault, Pirantishead made its move, leaping forward and delivering a right cross to Harry's face, sending him stumbling backwards and once more divesting him of his blades.

Pirantishead continued its assault, chasing after the stumbling Zord and taking its own strikes. Any time Harry would start to recover, the fish monster would deliver another crushing blow, knocking him back off balance even as the monster kept up its mocking laughter.

"It's no use, little Power Ranger!" it taunted, delivering a kick to Harry's chest and knocking him off his feet in a daze. Without your little friends, there's no way you can defeat me!" It paused for a moment as it stepped up to loom over Harry once again. "Actually, even if they were here, you still couldn't beat me! HA HA!"

The monster reached down and grabbed Harry around his right arm, lifting the still dazed Ranger off the ground while it drew back its other arm. "Say goodbye, Magi Ranger!"

And then, before the monster could take his finishing blow, Padfoot reappeared in mid leap, latching onto the monster's arm with his jaws. The added weight, not to mention the wrenching motion that Padfoot applied when it jerked the monster backward, threw Pirantishead off balance and caused it to drop Harry. The Magi Ranger stumbled slightly before regaining his balance and channeled Power to his hands.

Once his clawed fingers had taken on a sufficient glow, he crouched slightly and lined himself up with Pirantishead, who was frantically trying to shake off Padfoot's grip. "Alright Pirantishead," Harry said, mostly to himself, as his wings flared and Hedwig's consciousness rose up to assist him yet again. "Let's see how you really handle this one." As Power flared out from them, forming the image of a crescent moon behind them, Harry/Hedwig narrowed their eyes. They would only get one shot at this, and that was only because Padfoot was doing such a good job of distracting the monster. If things went like they had the first time they tried this attack… well, they just wouldn't think of that.

Throwing caution to the wind, Harry/Hedwig dashed forward in a burst of Power. "Silver Owl: Moonlit Claw Slash!"

At the last moment, Pirantishead turned just enough to see them coming and its already bulbous eyes widened further. Padfoot, noticing them coming as well, gave the monster one last jerk before releasing his grip and backing away. This last jerk was enough to throw the monster off balance to the point that it had no time to react before Harry/Hedwig was upon it, delivering multiple strikes from their Power enhanced claws as they passed and obscuring the monster in a billowing cloud of smoke and sparks.

However, as Harry slid to a stop behind Pirantishead's previous location, he noticed that there was a distinct lack of an explosion.

As Padfoot trotted over to his side, Harry turned once more to face the cloud of dust obscuring Pirantishead. After a few moments, the wind picked up enough to clear the air, revealing the monster still standing where it had been, now facing away from Harry. Slowly, as if intentionally building the suspense, Pirantishead turned to face him again, revealing a latticework of thin scorch marks where Harry's clawed hands had raked across its flesh, but little else.

"Well, Magi Ranger," The monster began again. "It appears we are at an impasse. You are unable to damage me, but without my weapon, I have to get ahold of you to finish you off, and any time I do, I suspect that disappearing dog of yours will interfere."

Harry just grit his teeth… or whatever it was that replaced his teeth in his current form. Pirantishead had a point. He already knew that nothing he could do while fused with Hedwig was strong enough to destroy the monster, and Padfoot had already proven his worth in helping him out, but showed no real initiative or methods for destroying Pirantishead himself.

Harry certainly had no clue as to what the new Zord was capable of.

And then, as Harry's mind continued to race, an explosively loud peal of thunder echoed across the area. Both massive figures, and presumably the now invisible again Padfoot, were caught off guard, flinching before turning to face the origin of the sound.

Harry felt his spirits rise when he realized what he was looking at.

The first thing he saw was a black shape, partially hidden by the rocky crags and such as it was, it was rather hard to identify. Then he heard the familiar trumpeting noise of Zack's Dinozord and made the connection mere moments before the Mastodon Dinozord came into full view, charging toward the battleground as fast as it could go.

Shortly after that, the other four Dinozords came into view, splitting off from where they had been mostly hidden behind the Mastodon.

"Good job holding out, Harry." Jason's voice came through loud and clear, bringing no small amount of relief with it. "But I think it's time to finish this guy off once and for all!"

"I really can't tell you guys how happy I am to see you all again." Harry responded, relief in his voice.

"Not a problem, Harry." Zack said with a chuckle. "Happy to be of assistance."

"Yeah, just step aside and we'll take it from here." Kimberly continued.

Pirantishead, hearing none of this, started back into its taunting. "Oh look, the other Rangers! And they brought their Zords for me to take control of again! HA HA! This day couldn't get any better!"

With a slight grunt of effort followed by a demented laugh, Pirantishead brought its hands across its face before throwing them aside again, releasing the same off-white beam that had hijacked the Zords when it had first appeared. The beam raced toward the approaching Dinozords as Harry watched helplessly. There was no way to know if Billy's device had remained intact during Harry's fight with the monster, or even if it would work again in the first place. What would happen if they lost the Dinozords again, presumably after Zordon had already empowered them?

His worries were baseless however, as a bolt of lightning jolted out of the sky from one of several clumps of ever-darkening storm clouds, intercepting the beam and dispersing it harmlessly. Then, as Harry watched, the clouds began growing. Larger and larger they became at a pace far too rapid to be anything totally natural until the entire sky was blanketed by them. And as they grew, they dropped more and more bolts of lightning.

At first, Harry was worried, but then he realized that the bolts were only striking around the approaching Dinozords all while never actually hitting them. Then he noticed that there was an actual, visible disturbance in the air caused by each bolt, sending a rippling effect that washed over the Dinozords as they charged. These ripples of Power, for what else could they be, were gaining in strength as the Dinozords drew closer to Harry and the monster until finally, with dozens of lightning bolts arcing down all at once and releasing a positively deafening burst of thunder, the Zords changed.

The Mastodon shifted mostly down and out, losing some of its height and gaining more width, looking less like an organic animal and more like the machine it was, though with more curves than sharp corners. The elephantine head changed to be more feline looking and its front legs widened and settled into a more tread-like form while its back legs disappeared entirely, leaving the Zord resting and rolling along the ground. It was largely black with gold trim, though there was a large green orb mounted at the center of its back.

"Mastodon, Lion Thunderzord Power!" Zack shouted triumphantly from within the cockpit of his new Zord.

The Pterodactyl's change wasn't quite so dramatic as the waves of Power washed over it. Opposite the Black Ranger's Zord, it lost a great deal of its inorganic look, taking on a more natural one. Its fixed wings gaining joints so they could move and flap and the body, once the chest piece of the Megazord, slimming down a great deal while the head grew in size slightly to match the new body shape. This new Zord was a light red color with, again, gold trim on its head crest and tail.

"Pterodactyl, Firebird Thunderzord Power!" Kimberly shouted next in the grid-guided roll call.

Billy's Triceratops basically remained the same, save for the head of his Zord stretching up and back slightly and taking on a somewhat equine appearance with a smoothly curved crest on its head and the tiniest nub of a horn pointing straight forward from between its eyes. The body lost a great deal of its blue color, shifting to black largely, with some yellow and blue mixed in as emphasis while the overall shape effectively became that of a rectangle with an angle on one end below the head. The treads of the triceratops were completely hidden as the body shifted downward, taking on a similar design to the Black Lion Thunderzord with the ground hugging, hidden tread design.

"Triceratops, Unicorn Thunderzord Power!" Billy announced once his Zord finished its metamorphosis, letting out a whinnying noise.

Trini's Saber-Tooth Tiger dropped down to ground level as well, losing its legs and shifting to a design very similar to Billy's, save that it was Yellow where his was blue, had a pointed crest sticking out of the back of its head which also had a more pointed look as opposed to a horse's muzzle.

"Saber-Tooth Tiger, Griffin Thunderzord Power!" Trini called out, her Zord almost growling as she did.

The Rex had the most drastic change of all. Far from losing size as the others seemed to overall, the Rex almost immediately began to grow, not in width, but in length. As its tail and neck stretched out, its body thinned down, its legs shrinking while its tiny arms grew to compensate. In the end, the Rex had an almost completely red, serpentine body with a few green and yellow highlights and an elongated head with a pair of golden horns coming from the back of it.

"Tyrannosaurus, Red Dragon Thunderzord Power!" Jason boomed, his dragon roaring along with him, undulating through the air next to the Firebird while the Unicorn, Griffin, and Lion rumbled on underneath.

"What!?" Pirantishead shouted, stumbling back a few steps even as Harry stood too stunned to move. "What is this!?"

"This is the end of you, fish face!" Jason shouted aloud as the new Thunderzords came to a stop, the fliers merely hovering in place. "Alright, guys, let's show this guy the Power of Thunder!" With Jason's words came another crack of thunder that nearly drowned out the simultaneous chant of "right" from the other four Rangers. "Initiating Thunder Megazord transformation sequence!"

And then the Zords began changing again, although this time it was easily recognizable as a purely mechanical change into a Megazord.

First, and again the most drastic, came the Red Dragon. Its front and back legs joined together as the head completely detached from its neck. Then, the neck and tail both began pivoting upward around the widest point of its body while the joined legs pivoted downward. The entire thing then flipped over so the neck and tail, now with black feet having folded into view, were pointing down while the dragon legs were now in place of arms on what now resembled a headless, humanoid figure. Then the dragon head came back around, folding down to reveal a humanoid face behind it, and slotted into place betwixt the machine's shoulders, the top of the dragon's head visible on the chest.

Next, the Griffin and Unicorn's heads and necks folded back and downward, coming to lie flat along their backs as, much like with the Triceratops and Saber-Tooth Tiger, they folded upwards to form the feet of the Thunder Megazord that the transformed Red Dragon then dropped into, its feet and legs slotting into place seamlessly.

The Firebird came in from behind the colossus, folding and contorting its wings to wrap around the Megazord's waist to form something like a belt. The Lion then separated into three parts, the main body contorted and somehow hollowed out before latching onto the transformed Red Dragon's chest like armor, the green orb now in the center of its chest and the head folding upward to rest sort of like a belt buckle around the Zord's waist. Each of the Lion's "arms" then transformed themselves, a humanoid arm folding out of each of them and slipping on over the Red Dragon's humanoid arms before the bulk of the Lion's tread-legs came to rest like oversized shoulder pads.

Finally, a helmet resembling that of a samurai appeared, from somewhere within the Lion Zord based on the coloration of it, and settled into place over the Red Dragon's head. After a few more moments, and with another echoing peal of thunder, the Zord's eyes and green chest orb flashed with internal light before a sword and scabbard manifested at its side and the entire thing began moving.

"Thunder Megazord, Power up!" The Ranger's chanted from their cockpit, that once again seemed to be in the Megazord's chest if Harry was seeing correctly.

Pirantishead was trying to act unimpressed, but it was rather obvious that it was worried now. "You… you think that you're new toy frightens me?" The monster near shouted in its panic, frantically looking around. After a few seconds of searching, it took a few steps to one side and ducked down, standing again with one of the fish from the ends of its chain weapon held in one hand. "Just to show you how little I care, I'll play you a tune!" The monster brought the fish up to its mouth and began… humming? It started humming a song of some kind while its free hand kept time.

Despite his bafflement, Harry felt the Grid step in to guide him again, leaping into the air and beating his wings (with no small amount of help from Hedwig on that part), allowing him to turn in midair and land a short distance away from the clash that was about to happen. Next to him, Padfoot faded back into view, sitting with his mechanical tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth as he too looked on.

The Rangers were too lost in the Grid guidance to react to the fish monster's ridiculousness and merely guided their Zord into drawing its sword. "Thunder Saber, Battle Action!"

With a quick yet fluid pull, the long, slightly curved, sword was drawn from it sheath. The Megazord then shifted its grip, rotating the blade in its hand and causing a bright green orb mounted at the guard to light up while more lightning cracked overhead.

Harry had a feeling that, with this new set of Zords, thunder and lightning would become commonplace during Ranger battles.

While Pirantishead continued to… hum? Sing? Whatever it was doing, while it continued doing it, the Thunder Saber began to glow. "Thunder Saber, Thunder Strike!" The Rangers chanted as one as the Thunder Megazord moved the few steps needed to bring it into range before bringing the glowing blade down across Pirantishead, sending the fish monster flying as arcs of electricity danced over its skin.

"Noooo!" Pirantishead roared in defiance. "I cannot be beaten like this! I… I cannot! AHHHH!" With one final explosion, the fishy fiend was destroyed and Harry felt his metaphysical jaw drop. After all the trouble that monster had caused them, the Rangers' new Zords just finished it off in a single blow. That was one heck of a power up!

At the same time, it made him feel rather impotent. He had been completely unable to do anything more than stall Pirantishead. Even the addition of Padfoot to the battle had only meant that he wasn't going to be destroyed himself so easily. Now, with the Thunder Megazord, would his participation in the battles even be necessary? Would they even really want him there if all he could do was act as a distraction or a stall tactic?

Shaking aside his suddenly depressing thoughts, Harry focused on the Thunder Megazord as it sheathed its sword before standing stoically as the smoke cleared and the sun finally broke through the storm clouds that had gathered earlier. None of Harry's worries mattered at this moment. He could take time to figure things out later, but for now they could relax again, at least for a while.

-MR-

After the traditional post-battle review in the Command Center, Harry and the other Rangers were once more arranged before Zordon while Alpha puttered about with the computers.

"Rangers," Zordon said, pride on his face. "Well done on yet another successful battle. With the aid of the new Thunderzords and the teamwork that has brought you so far already, I know that you will be up for any challenge that Lord Zedd may place in your path."

"Yeah, man!" Zack said exuberantly. "The new Zords are totally kickin!"

"Way cool," Kimberly agreed, smiling at Trini who nodded.

"Definitely morphinominal," Billy added.

"They are pretty cool," Harry started, smirking as he turned to face the Black Ranger. "But I have to say, Zack, you're kinda the weak link there."

Zack turned to face Harry, confusion on his face that was mirrored on the other Rangers as well. "What do you mean, Harry?"

Harry's smirk grew slightly as he shrugged. "Well, your Zord is just a lion. Now, I like lions well enough, they were the animal representing my house back at Hogwarts after all, but when compared to a Unicorn, a Griffin, a Firebird, and a Dragon, it can't really compete."

After a few moments, Zack blinked and scowled at the Magi Ranger good naturedly, recognizing the teasing for what it was. Kimberly giggled while Billy let out a brief chuckle. Jason merely huffed slightly, though there was a slight smile on his face. Trini rolled her eyes before playfully slapping Harry's arm which prompted an overly dramatic reaction from the wizard.

Zordon brought them all back into focus however with his next words. "Yes, the new Zords are indeed powerful, but you must all be aware of the drawbacks that came with them. In order to change the Dinozords into the Thunder Zords, they were exposed to a great deal of Power. This Power in turn carried over into your Power Coins and then into each of you. It will have enhanced the strength and capabilities of each of you while in morph as well as out of it. You will all have to be careful that you don't accidentally injure someone with your new, increased abilities due to this excess of Power."

"So we're all stronger now?" Jason asked, one eyebrow quirked in curiosity.

"Among other potential effects, yes," the wizard responded vaguely. "I want all of you to be vigilant, especially in the next few days to come, so you don't accidentally do something to draw attention to yourselves and your secret identities."

"What about Harry?" Trini asked, leaning into her boyfriend's side as she spoke and getting a brief squeeze from his arm around her waist in response. "Was his strength increased the same way?"

Zordon shook his head. "No, Trini. Harry's new Zord was not created from a massive influx of Power in the same way as yours were. The Black Grim Zord, Padfoot, is merely the next step in his branch's development."

Zack smiled suddenly before rounding on Harry. "Hey, you were giving me such a hard time about having a plain old lion as my new Zord. Yours is just a dog, so there!"

Harry smirked even as he felt his emotions start to rise again at the thought of his new Zord now that the danger was over. "Actually, Zack, Padfoot isn't just a dog. As Zordon said, he's a Grim. It's a magical breed of dog that are believed to be omens of death to any who catch sight of one. Legend says that if one sees a Grim, then they are likely to die fairly soon afterward…"

"Indeed, Harry. Padfoot is a very powerful ally for us to have in the battles to come. According to the sensor readings, this Zord draws its Power from the Invisibility Cloak, as I'm sure your surmised based on it becoming invisible during your battle with Pirantishead. In addition, much like Pirantishead, much of Padfoot's Power is focused into his defensive capabilities. While he is quite capable when it comes to the offensive side of battle, he is much more suited as a distraction and ambush or attrition battler while you and Hedwig take the forefront."

Harry swallowed heavily before speaking up again. "Zordon… about Padfoot… is he really… I mean… is it possible that…" He found himself unable to continue, his voice breaking up any time he tried to speak as his emotions began to overwhelm him.

Luckily, his mentor seemed to understand what he wanted to know. "Unfortunately, Harry, while your Godfather was indeed the inspiration behind the Grid's design of the Zord as well as its name, Padfoot is not animated by the soul of Sirius Black in the same way as Hedwig. Indeed, Hedwig's condition was only made possible by the Resurrection Stone and your close bond with her, so it wouldn't be possible for such a thing to happen anyway."

Harry forced down a shudder of emotion and nodded, feeling relief and disappointment at the same time as he processed Zordon's words. Disappointment that he wouldn't see his Godfather again in any form and relief that he wouldn't be trapped in such an unusual form (for Sirius anyway). Hedwig was naturally an owl, so being in the cybernetic form she now occupied wasn't too much of a difficulty for her. Still, Padfoot was a fitting tribute to the memory of Harry's godfather. One that the Magi Ranger was sure the man would have appreciated.

While Trini returned Harry's slight hug in an attempt to comfort him, Kimberly stepped forward. "I just have one question left, I guess. What ever happened to Rita?"

Zordon hummed for a moment before nodding. "That is a very good question Kimberly. Alpha, initiate a sensor sweep and search for Rita's energy signature."

"Right away, Zordon." Alpha responded as he worked the controls on one of the consoles. A few moments later, he perked up. "I've located her, Zordon. Quadrant 3, subsection 37. She appears to be once more trapped in the space dumpster prison and hurtling through space."

"No doubt cast into space by Lord Zedd for her failure, Alpha." Zordon said with another nod. "Rangers, observe the viewing globe."

As a now mostly recovered Harry and the other Rangers turned to face the viewing globe, a most unusual scene was taking place. Rita was sitting in a largely black space with a slight amount of fog drifting around the ground. Her robes appeared to be bunched around her and she was waving her hands back and forth rhythmically as she… sang…

"Ninety-nine bottles of slime on the wall! Ninety-nine bottles of slime! You take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of slime on the wall!"

Almost simultaneously, the Rangers, Zordon, and Alpha began laughing uproariously at their former foe. The shear ridiculousness of the scene combined with the relief from winning their first battle with Zedd bringing out no small amount of deliriousness.

All of the Rangers but Harry that is. The Magi Ranger found his eyes darting around, taking in every detail of the image in the viewing globe that he could. Even as Rita broke into her second verse, he could find no sign of her scepter in the image. Indeed, after a few more moments he had to conclude that the space witch's primary focus was not in the space dumpster with her.

Rita seemed to be well and truly out of their hair now, but what had happened to the Elder Wand?

-MR-

"It's those Power Rangers' faults!"

"Yeah, their fault, not ours!"

"We could've been famous!"

"Famous!"

"We could've saved the city twice as fast as they did."

"Yeah, twice as fast!"

"And we would've won the marathon if it wasn't for that stupid purple Ranger!"

"Yeah, stupid purple guy!"

After departing the Command Center, the Rangers had made their way to the Youth Center. The day wasn't too terribly late, so they had decided to check in with Ernie to make sure he, and the Youth Center, were alright only to walk into a party celebrating the latest victory of the Power Rangers. Apparently, since they were facing a new foe and had to get new Zords to win, Ernie felt this warranted a celebration.

And so it was.

Although how he managed to get the word out and do all the prep work to make it feasible was beyond all of the Rangers.

In any case, the Power Rangers were eager to jump right in, letting the last bit of the stress they had been feeling slip off of their shoulders as best they could while enjoying the food, drinks, and company on offer. Harry, after Ernie rebuffed any attempts he made to help man the snack bar and firmly ordering him to enjoy himself, managed to find a quiet corner to himself while he digested everything that had happened. He was soon joined by Tommy, who had been drawn to the Youth Center because of the party and because he knew it was the most likely place to run into his former teammates.

He was quite eager to hear more of the hidden details behind the Rangers' latest win, but before any storytelling could commence, Bulk and Skull had started with their own announcement, drawing the attention of everyone in the room.

"I'm telling you all this, we'll get those Rangers for what they've done to us!"

"Yeah, we'll get them!"

"As if it wasn't bad enough that they stole our praise during the festival…"

"The Incredible Bulkster and Super Skull!"

"…that stupid purple wannabe destroyed our quad bikes so we couldn't finish the race earlier today!"

By this time, the two bullies' shouting had drawn a crowd, including Harry and Tommy who had stepped forward to get a better view of the spectacle the two were making of themselves. Bulk and Skull were still wearing the same clothing they had been in when Harry had rescued them from Pirantishead, dirt, dust and all, and were holding their helmets under their arms. Bulk was tossing a fist sized stone up and down in one hand, which Harry assumed was the stone he had used to Portkey them away after the rescue.

"So what exactly do you two think you're going to be able to do to the Power Rangers?" Jason asked from another part of the crowd as he and the other core Rangers stepped into view.

Bulk rounded on Jason before stomping up to him and getting right in his face. "Well, that is quite simple, Jason. Skull and I are going to find out who they really are!"

"Yeah, we're gonna reveal their secret identities!"

"And once we do," Bulk said, tossing the stone up into the air again and snatching it again as it dropped. "Then we'll be famous and their lives will be ruined."

"Uh huh…" Jason drawled, fighting down a smirk as he glanced at the other four who were having similar troubles hiding their mirth. Not that the rest of the crowd was doing too much better. "Well, good luck with that then, guys."

Bulk scoffed. "We don't need luck. We have talent."

"Talent!" Skull parroted.

"Brains!"

"All of the brains!"

"And skill!" Bulk tossed the stone up again, but when he went to snatch it this time, he mistimed his grab, instead smacking the stone in midair and sending it over toward Skull. Luckily for the skinnier bully, the stone hit the motorcycle helmet he was still carrying under one arm and ricocheted back toward Bulk. Unfortunately for the larger bully, the stone then smacked him squarely in the forehead.

Bulk staggered for a moment, eventually running into Skull and sending him stumbling as well. After that, the two took a very predictable fall into one of the nearby tables, upturning it and dumping large quantities of punch and dip all over them, much to the amusement of the watching Youth Center patrons.

Once the laughter died down, Ernie arrived to kick the two out of the Youth Center for causing a scene and wasting so much food, and Harry suppressed the tick developing over one eye at the bumbling duo somehow ending up covered in food yet again, he and Tommy returned to Harry's semi private corner and, after the application of a wandless Muffliato charm, Harry gave the former Green Ranger the story.

"Wow," Tommy replied, shaking his head slowly in awe. "That's almost enough to make me wish I was still in on everything. New Zords, new power, a new enemy to fight…"

"And all sorts of new dangers to go along with it." Harry replied with a snort. "Zedd is something completely different from Rita. I'm just really worried that we might run into a bit more than we can handle, especially coming straight off of this high. It wouldn't be a good idea to get overconfident."

Tommy patted Harry's shoulder sympathetically. "Hey, you aren't the only one who knows how to fight a war anymore. Sure, Jason and the others don't have the same experience you do, but by now, they've all learned not to let their guard down. You guys just have to stick together and there's nothing you won't be able to face down."

Harry offered a thankful smile to his Martial Arts instructor. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Tommy. Maybe it is just my paranoia talking…"

After that their conversation devolved to less dire subject, mostly revolving around where and when they would meet to continue Harry's martial arts education and training. Eventually, they were joined by Kimberly and Trini only for the two to coax their boyfriends out to the impromptu dance floor.

The battle was over, for now, and it was time for the weary warriors to recuperate, for there was no telling what threats Lord Zedd would send at them next, or when they would arrive…

-MR-

AN: So yeah, I had been hoping to get this chapter out sooner than the last weekend of the month again, but things got in the way as always. This time, it wasn't entirely life and work though. I've actually had an idea for another fic bouncing around my head. This one is both a crossover and a self-insert of a sort, but it has been dominating my thoughts during much of my down time that is used for plotting and planning my writing. Though this is at least partially because I knew where I wanted to go with this chapter and just needed to take the time to write it.

I have no doubt that, should I write this story, it won't get a lot of traffic, but I wouldn't really be writing it for the reviews, though those are nice to have. : )

And also, don't worry. If I do end up writing the other story alongside Magi Ranger, this one will still get priority.

Anyway, now we see the form of Padfoot and get a bit of info about him. Padfoot is totally a tank. Also, THUNDER ZORDS! I remember seeing these Zords for the first time back in the 90's and finding the Unicorn and Gryphon to be ridiculous, but the Red Dragon to be rather awesome. Can't wait till I get to the White Ranger and the Tigerzord though. : )

The transformation sequence for the Thunder Megazord required me to go scrounging through Youtube videos of the toy and see how it went together. You really don't get enough detail in the show. For example, I had no idea where the helmet came from, or how the larger arms came about in the Megazord form. I mean, it makes sense in retrospect, but it was never obvious in the show's transformation sequences. They were too busy showing off the Red Dragon's transformation to show much detail with the Megazord I guess…

And I really had to look to find the Unicorn Thunderzord's horn. I searched through several Google pics before I found one with the right angle to show it. After that, I could make it out in all of the pics, but it never struck me as much of a unicorn to be honest.

And I already know I'm gonna have trouble writing "Griffin Thunderzord" as opposed to "Gryphon Thunderzord."

Also, the deal with Zack's new Zord is a bit of a running gag I came up with a while ago. One that will definitely continue on into the Ninja Zords. Beyond that… well, we'll have to see what I can come up with.

When I was writing the line about Harry noticing the lack of an explosion after hitting the monster with a finisher, I was tempted to write "He noticed a distinct lack on an earth-shattering kaboom." I blame Loony Toons. : )

Also, I hope everyone liked how I changed the Zords' transformations. Instead of the Dinozords showing up and changing each time, I figured a permanent change would be easier and make more sense (fair warning). Also, I tried to find a way to literally have the Zords be changed by the "Power of Thunder." What did you think?

Also again, WHAT THE HECK SABAN! I have to say, as cringe worth as the opening act of Season 2 was, and it was rather cringe worthy at times, by far the worst bit of it was when Pirantishead started "playing a tune" for the Rangers while they finished their transformation and power up sequence. We get several scenes of the monster playing its fish-flute while waving its other hand around and making vaguely musical noises while the Rangers shout and have lightning and thunder echoing all around them. I know that it was most likely bad writing caused by Saban's need to use as much Zyu 2 footage as possible and to fill the time, but I just… I don't even.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review,

Tenstar12