So we knew this was the turning point people would really decide if you liked the story or not so if you're still with us, thank you! if not well then so long best wishes. We have a little bit more to go before things start coming to a head but don't worry it's getting closer. :) For those of you who are getting the idea we are trying to make one side of the rangers the hero of this story, sorry we're not. Everyone has a different opinion and idea just like real life, and like in real life no one is perfect... We are going off of the everyone is getting to stuck on their own point of view, and no one is thinking clearly with all the personal connections. :) (and yes stubbornness runs in the family) Thanks for reading everyone till next time.
It was turning into a lazy day at the Rock Porium. Since it was slow, the rangers had found themselves getting slightly distracted from their normal duties. Xander was lounging in his favorite chair, supervising the rest of them. Vida was at the DJ tables dancing around and enjoying herself. Chip, who had stopped any semblance of actual cleaning some time before, was dancing around with the broom while the others laughed. Madison was sitting at the counter, bobbing her head to the music as she worked on editing some video on her laptop. Even Leelee and Phineas were just curled up in a chair together, giggling as they talked quietly and watched Chip. So busy with what they were doing, none of them noticed the door open.
"So is this what happens when I'm not here?" a familiar voice asked. "Shouldn't you guys be training? Or, at the very least, working? Cause this doesn't look like work."
Everyone stopped what they were doing, looking around in surprise. Nick was standing just inside the door, arms crossed as he looked around the room.
"Nick!" Madison cried, nearly knocking her computer off the counter as she leapt off her stool and ran to greet him. "You're home!"
He laughed, catching her in a hug as she threw herself at him. And then everyone else was running to greet him in excitement, too. Vida dropped her head phones, leaving the music playing. Xander, Leelee, and Phineas abandoned their chairs and Chip turned to join them. But Chip, in his excitement, tripped over the broom he'd been dancing with and went sprawling on the ground. Everyone started laughing.
"You alright?" Nick grinned, watching Chip.
"Oh, I'm fine," Chip said sheepishly, quickly getting up. "You're back!"
He joined the rest of the group and soon they were all talking and laughing, everyone asking questions at once and barely letting Nick get a word in edgewise. Hearing the commotion, Toby finally came out of his office to see what was going on.
"Well, well," he said, hands on his hips. "If it isn't my wayward employee. Finally decided to come home?"
"Had to," Nick smiled, glancing at Madison. "Promised someone I would."
She blushed, ducking her head as Vida elbowed her and her teammates grinned. The door opened again, admitting Udonna and Leanbow. The rangers greeted them excitedly, happy to have their mentors back, too.
"It is good to see you, rangers," Udonna smiled. "Have you been studying and training while we've been gone?"
"Of course," Xander said. "Nearly every day. We do take time off once in a while, though."
"Or a lot of the while," Vida muttered, elbowing him as she smirked.
Xander shot a glare back at her, but Udonna didn't comment.
"Anyways," Nick said, his arm around Madison's shoulders now. "We're heading back to Rootcore to get settled back in. You guys coming?"
"You bet," Chip grinned.
"Yeah, of course," Vida agreed.
"Why wouldn't we?" Xander asked. "Leelee, can you and Phineas close tonight? We probably won't be back."
"We want to catch up," Madison added, giving their friends a pleading look.
"Go ahead," Leelee smiled. "Have fun. Phineas and I can handle the shop."
Phineas nodded in agreement.
"We got this," he said.
Thanking the pair profusely, the rangers headed out the door with their newly returned teammates. When the all reached Rootcore, Daggeron and Clare were just as excited to see Udonna, Leanbow, and Nick. After all of the initial greetings were over, the entire team settled down to catch up. Nick went first, telling them about the trip to visit his adopted parents with Udonna and Leanbow's help. The trip had gone well and his parents had been happy to learn that he'd found his birth family.
"So what about you guys?" Nick asked when he was finished, looking around at his friends. "What have you been up to?"
"I've been working on my music," Vida said, pretending to be listening to headphones for a moment as she grinned.
"Working at the shop," Madison added. "And I've taken a lot of new video. We didn't want you to miss too much while you were gone."
Nick smiled gratefully at her and she blushed.
"And don't forget training," Xander said. "Daggeron was determined to keep us on our toes while you were gone. Something about not needing any lazy wizards lounging around."
Daggeron raised an eyebrow at him as the others giggled, but then gave in with a smile. They had all been working hard because it was important to them. The teasing was all in good fun.
"I am proud of all of you for working so hard while we were gone," Leanbow said. "Daggeron has kept us informed as best he could. It is an honorable thing you are doing, continuing your duties as rangers thought the fight is over. All of you will be great wizards and knights someday."
"Thanks, Leanbow," Vida said. "I don't think any of us could imagine a different life anymore. This is who we are now and we don't want to change that."
The others nodded in agreement. They had all begun planning their lives around being knights and wizards and living in the magical realm on a more permanent basis—even Madison, who was the only one of them currently still attending regular college classes, too.
"They have all improved wonderfully," Clare beamed. "You should see some of the potions Chip has helped me make. He has a talent for them."
They all looked at Chip who was fiddling with something in his lap. Realizing everyone was looking at him, his head shot up.
"And is there something going on with you, Chip?" Udonna asked, looking at the yellow ranger. "You have been strangely silent since we got to Rootcore. Is something wrong?"
"No, I'm fine," Chip said quickly.
"Then what have you been doing?" Leanbow asked. "We haven't heard from you at all."
"That's because whatever he's been doing is a secret," Xander said. "He won't tell any of us."
"Xander is right," Madison agreed, glancing at Chip. "He's been up to something since shortly after you left, but we haven't been able to figure out what."
Nick frowned as he looked at Chip, but the other ranger's face turned red and he looked down at his lap.
"We could if we could just get that notebook away from him," Vida grumbled. "But he catches us every time we try…"
Daggeron sighed, shaking his head. He'd been witness to several of their attempts—and the results. As had Clare, who smiled as she glanced at the young rangers. But Udonna, Leanbow, and Nick exchanged confused glances.
"What notebook?" Nick asked.
"The one he's been scribbling in for the past month or so," Vida said. "It started about a week after you left and he hasn't let up."
"We thought he might be planning something for Christmas," Madison said. "But Christmas passed and he's still at it…"
Nick looked back at Chip who now had small yellow notebook in his lap.
"Come on, Chip?" he said. "What's going on?"
"Well," Chip said hesitantly, glancing around at his teammates. "I kind of have an idea, but I don't know if I want to tell you cause you might think it's stupid…"
Vida, who was sitting next to him, leaned over and bumped her shoulder against his.
"Chip, your ideas might be crazy sometimes," she said. "But they're never stupid."
He smiled gratefully at her.
"Alright," he said, a little brighter now. "But you can't laugh at me."
"We won't," Nick assured him. "We swear. Now what are you planning?"
Chip didn't say anything for a moment and then he took a deep breath.
"I want to meet other power rangers," he burst out. "So I've been writing letters to the different teams about if they'll meet us."
There was a brief silence and Chip looked around anxiously. But no one laughed. The rest of his team actually looked genuinely intrigued by the idea, especially the other three who had grown up in Angel Grove.
"I mean, we're rangers, too, now," he persisted, getting excited now. "Why can't we meet them?"
"I think it's a wonderful idea, Chip," Udonna said approvingly.
Leanbow and Daggeron nodded in agreement. Clare smiled.
"It really is," she said. "Think of what you could learn from them."
"The rangers do have a long history," Leanbow said. "It would be good for all of you to learn more about your legacy from those who came before you. Much of their history is separate from ours here in the magical realm, though they do intersect at points."
Chip, who was extremely relieved that no one had immediately shot down his idea, looked at his friends to see what they had to say. So far, none of them had said a word about his idea. But when he looked at them they were all grinning.
"It's a great idea, Chip," Vida smiled.
"And maybe we can even meet the originals," Madison added. "And finally thank them for everything they did when we were little. Like saving us from the gree—"
She cut off, momentarily reminded about Tommy and their discovery of his powers. Vida flinched, too. That he of all people had been the guilty one still hurt. Both girls had been very close to him for a long time and it was still difficult to think of him as responsible for hurting so many people. And the growing rift between them and their brother was just making it worse, as evidenced by their visit home just the week before.
"So how many have you written?" Nick asked, quickly changing the subject. "And who have you sent them to?"
Chip sighed, his smile slipping.
"Well," he said slowly. "I've written letters to every team on earth—but I haven't sent any…"
"Why not?" Xander frowned. "It is because of us?"
Chip shook his head.
"No," he said quickly. "Nothing like that. I just don't know where to send them. It's not like I know who they are…"
He trailed off and the room fell silent. None of them had thought about that. Chip sighed again.
"I know I can send one to the Space Rangers," Chip said, explaining further. "But I was afraid of it getting lost in all of their fan mail—or them not thinking it was real. And I might know where to send letters for Lightspeed Rescue and Time Force, too, but…"
"But where do you send the rest?" Madison finished quietly when he trailed off again.
Now all of the younger rangers just looked disappointed. They had all been really excited for a few minutes. Their mentors, however, were exchanging looks.
"Do you think the Space Rangers would pass on the rest?" Vida asked.
The others shrugged. But Udonna was watching them thoughtfully.
"There may be a way," she said after a moment. "With the help of a little magic."
"A way to find out who they are?" Nick asked doubtfully.
Udonna shook her head.
"No," she said firmly. "To steal a ranger's identity in such a way would be an abuse of our power. But we can ask the letters to find them."
The younger rangers exchanged confused glances as Leanbow and Daggeron nodded in understanding. Clare also looked a little confused, but she just waited for Udonna to explain.
"Alright, you lost me," Xander said, shaking his head. "We can't send a letter to someone if we don't know who they are or where to find them—can we?"
"There is a spell," Udonna said slowly. "One that was originally created to call for aid of unknown origins, but it should do for the task you have."
The five young rangers exchanged looks again.
"How does it work?" Chip asked.
Udonna smiled. Daggeron and Leanbow both stood.
"We will leave you to the lesson," Leanbow said.
As both men turned to leave, Clare stood also.
"And I have potions to make," she said. "And people to visit. So I shall leave you to your letters."
Smiling, she drifted off across Rootcore. Leanbow and Daggeron disappeared from the room, already discussing what Daggeron had covered in their training over Leanbow's absence. Udonna turned to Chip.
"Do you have the letters?" Udonna asked.
Nodding, Chip hopped up.
"Just a minute," he said, bolting across the room to where his flyer was resting.
Reaching into the storage cubby underneath, he returned a moment later with a bundle of letters tied together with a string. He untied them and set the letters down on the center of the table. Each of them was sealed with the Mystic Force seal, but all that was written on the fronts was the name of a ranger team.
"Chose one of them and place it in front of you," Udonna instructed. "And then take out your wand."
Chip did so, picking up the envelope addressed to the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers and setting it down in front of him. Everyone else took out their wands, too, as all of them wanted to learn the spell. With everyone ready, Udonna went over the spell and explained how it worked. After she was sure they all had the words correctly, she made sure to double check that the contents of the letters wouldn't reveal anything too important should they fall in to the wrong hands. Then she told Chip he could give it a try.
"Now remember, Chip," Udonna said. "You must keep the person to whom you want the letter to go fixed firmly in your mind as you repeat the spell or it may not reach its intended destination."
"Right," Chip nodded. "I want it to go to the original Might Morphin' red ranger. It needs to go to him."
Concentrating hard, Chip didn't take his eyes off of the letter as he said the spell and pointed his wand at the letter. As he finished speaking, there was a small flash of light and the letter vanished from sight.
"It worked!" he exclaimed. "Well, it disappeared…"
"It is on its way," Udonna smiled. "As to the destination, you will have to wait for a response as there is no way to determine where the letter actually arrived."
"Which is why you made sure it didn't say anything that might endanger our identities," Madison said.
Udonna nodded.
"So should we send the rest of them?" Xander asked.
"Yes!" Chip exclaimed, reaching for the rest of the letters. "We'll send them to the reds of each of the team. That way we know we're all thinking the same thing when we do the spell."
He passed out a couple to each of his teammates and kept the last one for himself. It wasn't long before eight of the nine remaining letters had been sent on their way. The last one, however, was causing Xander some grief. He'd sent one, but the one he was trying to send now just wouldn't go. Every time he cast the spell the letter would flicker but stayed where it was.
"I don't understand," he muttered, trying again. "Why isn't this working? The other one went just fine."
"Maybe you're not concentrating hard enough?" Chip suggested as they all watched the letter flicker in place again.
"But I am!" Xander protested, glaring at the letter. "Would you just go somewhere?"
He jabbed his wand at the letter as he snapped the spell again and it suddenly disappeared. For a brief moment they all started to celebrate, and then it reappeared on the floor a few feet away. Xander threw his hands up in the air.
"I give up," he muttered. "Someone else take a shot."
"You're probably just frustrated and saying it wrong," Vida said, rolling her eyes as she picked the letter up off of the floor. "Let me try."
Setting the letter back on the table, she gave the spell a try. But she got the same result.
"Ha!" Xander said. "See, it wasn't just me. Something is wrong."
"That is odd," Udonna frowned as they all studied the letter on the table.
"Who's that one for, Chip?" Nick asked.
Chip picked it up to examine it.
"Ninja Storm," he said, frowning at the envelope. "I don't get it. Why won't this one go? It's the same as all of the others…"
They all looked at Udonna, but she was just as confused.
"I am not certain," she said slowly. "Though there is a chance they have some sort of protection cast around them that prevents magic from affecting them in certain ways—therefore blocking the letters. The world of the ninja is one I am unfamiliar with. I think, for now, that you should just leave the letter be and wait for the others to gain a response. Perhaps one of them can explain it to you after you meet."
"Yeah… I guess," Chip said.
"Don't be too disappointed, Chip," Nick said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We sent the rest of the letters. So let's wait for a response and go from there."
Chip smiled.
"And in the meantime, let's show Udonna what we've learned," Vida said.
With everyone in agreement, the rangers all headed to find Daggeron and Leanbow leaving the last letter on the table.