"Clare, slow down," Nick said, motioning his hands calmly. "Now, tell me again what happened, and in English this time."

A very frazzled Clare, twigs in her hair and stickleberry stains on her dress, took in a few loud breaths before she tried telling Nick again.

"I was g-getting some stuff for a protection potion when this giant underground worm thing came up a-and almost got me, but then this smelly, ugly thing pushed me out of the way and ran off, so then I ran back here and now here I am."

Nick sighed. A few minutes ago, he had been the only person in Root Core. Trying to study a few spells before he had to go to work at the Rock Porium, a job which Maddie had gotten him without him really wanting it, he'd been startled to see Clare barge in, wild-eyed and babbling incoherently. He had tried to calm her down, and had finally succeeded after several minutes. But even after a week of magic and Ranger duties, he found himself feeling apprehensive about her story.

"Are you sure that's what happened, and you didn't just imagine it? Maybe you just tripped and thought you saw a giant worm." She shook her head frantically. "No? Okay, you know what? If it'll make you feel better, I'll go check it out. Is that okay?" She nodded slowly. "Okay, I'm going. You stay here." He sat her down, somewhat forcefully, in his chair and turned to leave, checking on her once before walking out the dragon's mouth and into the forest.

He stopped a few feet from the already closing entrance, unsure of what to do now. If this thing really was underground, how was he supposed to find it? Xander would've had an easier time with this. There was nothing Nick could do unless this thing attacked him, so he opted to wander the forest, waiting and thinking.

He hadn't been able to talk to Maddie since she ran out a week ago. Yeah, he'd seen her at work and even at Root Core, but they hadn't really talked. It was always mindless chatter, never really discussing what had happened. He was kind of afraid to though, seeing as Vida gave him a strange, threatening glare every time she saw him. That girl could be downright scary if she wanted to. Not to mention the fact that Xander, Vida and even Chip all made him swear under penalty of death that his intentions with Maddie were nothing but honorable and that they'd do unspeakable things to him if her hurt her.

But no Maddie yet. He'd tried to talk to her, but somehow he always got dragged off by Leelee or called away by Ranger duties. It was becoming downright annoying.

So where's the courageous phoenix now? he thought to himself. Wrapped up in so many thoughts, he didn't notice where his feet were carrying him, or the distant rumbling beneath his feet.

He wanted to say he was sorry for being so forward, for making things so weird between them. Even if she did like him back, maybe she hadn't wanted to admit it and he'd just forced her to. But how was he supposed to apologize to her when he couldn't even get the guts to talk to her?

Unfortunately, that train of thought was stopped in the station when something burst out of the ground in front of Nick, howling and spewing dirt everywhere. He caught a fleeting glimpse of the beast as he started to pull out his wand, but before he could use a spell, his body slammed into the ground hard. For a moment, he thought the thing - a massive worm, his mind finally registered - had gotten to him first, but then he realized that there was something heavy and disgusting smelling on top of him. Before he could get a good look at it, the weight was gone, a rough yell echoing behind it.

Nick looked up in time to see something hairy disappear into the worm's fanged mouth. Great. The worm had killed whatever it was that saved him. At least he'd found what had attacked Clare.

He stood up and paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. There hadn't been any spells to get rid of gigantic worms so far in any of the books he read, but he had to make it go away somehow. In his moment of indecision, the worm swung it's exposed half at the young wizard, throwing him nearly fifty feet. As he hit the ground forcefully, a flash of red and white exploded in his vision and he became momentarily lightheaded. He struggled to his feet, dizzy and breathing hard, mind racing on how to get rid of this thing once and for all.

'Expello Hydras,' a voice whispered in the back of his mind. He whipped his head around, trying to find the speaker. No one. There was absolutely no one in his general vicinity, unless you counted the giant worm, but he was pretty sure it couldn't talk, let alone whisper spells.

The creature lunged at him, howling fiercely and spewing thick saliva everywhere. Nick, figuring it was worth a try, held up his wand and shouted "Expello Hydras!"

Instantaneously, the worm stopped, all movement completely stopped. A spell seal, shimmering both gold and violet, flared up around the part of its body protruding from the ground. It began to suck the worm downward as the beast unfroze, now writhing madly. Nick covered his ears as the thing wailed in an unearthly tone, being taken down unwillingly. Just before its head disappeared underground, something flew out of its mouth, yelling barbarically.

The thing - it looked vaguely human - landed a few feet from the Red Ranger and coughed.

"That's right," it called out to the space where the worm had been in a raspy voice, "no troblin for you tonight! No eatin' me!" It stood up shakily and brushed itself off, not that it made any difference. The troblin - that's what it called itself - was hairy, dirty, covered in the worm's mucus-like saliva and, above all, smelled disgusting.

"Who are you?" Nick asked warily. He wasn't sure whether or not he should be talking to this thing. The troblin looked at him as if he'd just noticed Nick was there.

"Well, hello, hello!" it said, stepping toward Nick and putting his right hand forward. "I'm Phineas. Just Phineas. Pleased to meet you." Nick took the troblin's hand, carrying a long trail of goo along with his own when they stopped.

"Umm ... Hi. I'm Nick," the Red responded slowly. "Hey, um, thanks for saving me back there." He looked grateful and a tad confused. "That was you, wasn't it?"

Phineas nodded vigorously. "Yessir, it was. Saved your sorceress friend earlier, too."

"You mean Clare? That was you, too?" Phineas nodded, smiling broadly. Nick grinned back. "Well, thanks. If that worm had gotten her, Udonna would've freaked out."

"Don't mention it," Phineas said proudly, looking over Nick. "So where are you from? You're not from around here, to be sure, to be sure. But we could feel your magic in the Hydras' gut, couldn't we?" He asked the last question to the air next to him, as if there was someone there. This schizophrenic behaviour was freaking Nick out a bit.

"I'm, uh, from California. Name's Nick."

"California, eh? Never heard of it. Have you?" he asked his apparently invisible, imaginary friend. "Nuh-uh. Didn't think so. Uh-huh. An ugly one, to be sure, to be sure." He looked at Nick again. "So, Nick, if you aren't from here, then why are you here? And why are you all dressed up like a wizard?"

"I am a wizard," he replied quickly. Saying it still sounded weird to him. Wizard. He was a wizard. "See, Udonna made me and my friends Power Rangers and I was out here to find the thing that attacked our friend Clare. I guess I did," he added sheepishly.

"Right you did. And you found me, too. But howabout that banishing spell you used on the worm? Did a real number on it, didn't he?" he asked into the empty space next to him yet again. "Where'd you learn that magic?"

This question made Nick feel slightly awkward. He didn't know if it was weird in the magical world to have spells just come to you.

"Well ... I just ... It kinda ... It just kinda came to me."

Phineas seemed unfazed. "It was nice," he laughed. "And that was one strong spell. But what kind of magic was it?"

"What do you mean?" Nick asked, cocking his head slightly to the left in a confused gesture.

"I mean, why was your spell circle gold and purple?" Nick still seemed perplexed. "You know, good and evil?" He said the last word with a discreet edge of sharpness in his voice.

"What? No way." Nick replied incredulously, shaking his head firmly. "Why would my circle be good and evil? How is that even possible?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just pointing it out." Phineas threw his hands up innocently, as if Nick was accusing him of something. Nick tried to remember back only a few minutes, but everything had flown by so quickly. Faintly, the image of the worm being pulled down floated to the top of his mind.

"Oh, god," he whispered, trying to cast the picture from his head. The circle had been golden-purple. "But what does that mean? How in the hell can a circle be good and evil?" Through his confusion, something occurred to him. "What if Udonna finds out? What'll she think?" Phineas' interest was piqued.

"Udonna, huh? We know her. Powerful sorceress in her own right. What's that?" he asked his nonexistent friend. "Oh, right. Way back in the day during the Great War she used to take kids from the dark and even the light and put them in the surface world so they wouldn't grow up evil and the darkness couldn't get 'um. Used to take kids from under their parents' noses before they could blink. Sometimes she did it with permission of the parents, though, because they knew it was what was best for everyone. But man, did she make some powerful people angry. Koragg's still got it out for her, don't think he knows it's her, though ... " The way he talked, it was like he knew something special, like there was a huge secret that he wasn't telling Nick or anyone else.

The troblin kept rambling on, though Nick's attention had trickled away to more meaningful thoughts. He'd done dark magic ... Or had it been good magic? He wasn't quite sure. None of their magical studies had talked about golden-purple circles that were good and evil. Did this make him evil? Could good wizards do dark magic?

Nick was fairly sure he wasn't evil. He didn't feel evil. Sometimes bad things happened when he was angry, but he couldn't control that. He was a Power Ranger, one of the good guys. There was no way he was evil. But then what had he done? It wasn't good magic and it wasn't dark.

He groaned and shook his head. Once again, he'd followed his damned instinct, and now he had no idea what he'd done.

At least no one got hurt this time, he thought reassuringly.

"... And that's why I'll never touch a mandalor again," Phineas said with a tone of finality, bringing Nick back to reality. The Red Ranger briefly wondered exactly how Phineas' story had gotten from his original point to mandalors before his thoughts drifted to other things, like heading back to Root Core. He might be able to find some answers there.

"I'm sorry, man, but I've got to go," he said absently. Without another word, he stalked off, engulfed by his thoughts once again. Phineas only watched the young wizard walk away, both frowning and grinning internally. It was the boy. Everything was about to get interesting in the woods.

"Fine," the troblin said with mock hurt in his voice. "You're welcome!"

His eyes raced over the books lining the shelves in Root Core. He thought he'd seen a book earlier, one that would shed light on his situation. Now it seemed to be gone.

"Dammit!" Nick shouted, slamming his fist on a shelf in anger. A tiny spark jumped from his hand onto a book, with lit up instantly. Thousand-year-old parchment wasn't quite fire-retardant. "Oh, shit!" he yelled, not bothering to restrain his language. He jumped back from the already spreading flames, wand in hand. Racking his mind for useful spells, he found none, but a thread of one was working its way into his head.

'Unda profusum.' Two simple words, but Nick was hesitant to use them. The last spell that he had received in the same way had only confused him more. Albeit, it had worked, and it had worked well, but that wasn't the point. He didn't even know what this spell did. For all he knew, it would blow the place up. Clare and Udonna were both gone, looking for ingredients for a protection potion.

But ... the last spell had done any harm, had it? It had helped both Phineas and himself, not to mention anyone else the beast would've terrorized. There was no other way Nick saw to stop it. As much as he just wanted to use his pyrokinesis, he didn't have a great control over it yet. He'd probably end up burning down the place even quicker. And it was already spreading fast.

"Unda profusum!" he shouted before he could change his mind. For a moment, he cringed, fully expecting Root Core to be blown to smithereens, but when he didn't feel an explosion, he opened one eye and peeked out. A small stream of water was issuing from his wand tip, dousing most of the fire instantly. He quickly moved to cover the remaining flames, breathing a sigh of relief when all that was left was a little steam and some burnt, soggy tomes.

He breathed a sigh of relief until he realized that it was going to be awkward explain to Udonna just why there were several burnt, soggy tomes. For a frantic minute, he panicked, before a spell ran through his mind. He grabbed it hastily and put it to use.

"Restituo libri!" A jet of red light enveloped the damaged books, which mended and dried themselves with astounding speed. After only a few seconds, the light was gone and you'd never guessed that just minutes before those books had been on fire.

Inwardly, Nick smiled. This gut instinct spell thing wasn't that bad. It had saved him from a couple very awkward explanations. Sure, it had given him a spell that had caused a lot of confusion, but it had saved him from a giant worm. Without it, he could've been dead. Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but he knew Phineas would probably have died. Was that a bad thing? Yes, yes it was. He had the feeling that Phineas was more important than he seemed and could even help them later on, even if it was in his own weird way. Nick decided just to accept it for now. If it caused any real problems, then he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

Now, though, he felt exhausted. Not many people could say they took down a giant Hydra Worm, met a troblin and set a bunch of books on fire, only to put them out with magic, in one day. In fact, he was probably the only one who could say that.

Today alone had been strenuous, but when you factored in the past few days, he thought he might just collapse. Go to work, go to Root Core, fight monsters (it had been some thing named Mucor yesterday - Nick still felt sick when he thought about what he'd been covered in when it spit him out), go home, start over. Even his weekends were full now. When he wasn't working, he was studying. Being a Ranger was a lot tougher than news reports made it seem. Did other teams have to deal with this kind of load?

Nick fell ungracefully into a chair and threw his head back, trying to work out the tension in his neck. Helmets may keep the devastating blows from killing you, but they sure weren't designed for a comfortable neck. Rolling his head around, a shimmer caught his eye. Something on the bookshelf, something he hadn't noticed before.

He closed his eyes, decidedly ignoring it, and began to roll his head around again. As much as he threw himself at other thoughts, his mind kept drifting back to the shimmer. Something about it was fascinating and frightening to him. Nonchalantly, he peeked out of the corner of an eye. Still there. The damn shimmer was still there.

He couldn't stand it anymore. Jumping up and crossed the room in three easy strides, he touched the sparkle. Instantly, it shifted into a book. The Ranger, with all the weird things he'd caused in his lifetime, was still startled by such a comparatively regular thing. He took a moment to recover from the shock before touching the book. When it stayed in a regular book form, he assumed that nothing else would happen, and wrapped his fingers around the spine. Quickly returning to his chair, he read the cover with some enthusiasm.

"On the Nature of Magicks Goode, Evile and Intertwined," he whispered quietly, interest piqued. The title seemed uncannily catered to his situation. It couldn't be a coincidence, as Udonna was always telling them that there were no such things as coincidences, that everything happened for a reason. Somehow, Nick knew that this book had found its way to Root Core for the sole purpose of being found in this exact moment, to be in his hands right now.

Both afraid of and excited to see what lay inside, he flipped to the third and final section on the book, entitled 'On the Intertwined Magick of Balance', skipping over the sections on 'Goode' and 'Evile' magic. He eagerly read the first paragraph aloud.

"'Magick, while neither goode nor evile inherently, is influenced by the user's persuasion in either direction. Those of a goode heart will generally wield goode magick, and for those of a dark soul, dark magick. In a rare occasion, though, those who possess both a goode heart and a dark soul, or vice versa, may wield both magicks in a style known as balanced magick, in addition to having tremendous magickal skill.

"'Most occurrences have been found in those who were taken from their native land and placed in the opposite before they were raised in their native ways, therefore occurring most often in children who are not yet old enough to embrace their heritage. Though such an act of kidnapping is rare, it results in a child with magick more powerful than would be the norm. Their magick is neither goode nor evile in cases when the spell is not intended as such, but rather in an act of complete spontaneity. These random, powerful spells are considered a rare act of magick intertwined.'"

Nick paused, mulling the passage over. There was no way he was one of those children, taken from their land. If he was, that would mean that he was from the darkness, seeing as he lived in what was considered the light. Sure, it could explain his dark side, and the uncontrollable bouts of magic, but it wasn't possible. Sure, he was adopted, but that didn't mean anything. His parents had adopted him from an adoption agency near Reefside. He read on, hoping to find other answers.

"'The most infamous instance of removing children from their lands happened during the Great War, when infants were taken from prominent dark and light leaders alike. The only connection between these abductions was the sudden arrival of a young woman who promised to care for the children during the war before sneaking off with them, never to be seen again. Many theorize that this was none other than the sorceress Udonna, acting on ancient prophesies. Indeed, many claim to have seen a young Udonna studying books of prophesy during her pregnancy, as her husband Leanbow and friends refused to allow her to fight. Others believe to have seen a young woman, cloaked and adorned with dark purple. Udonna was known to have favored purple in her youth, being a color of -'"

"What are you reading, child?" asked a powerful voice from behind Nick, startling him for the second time in fifteen minutes. "Studying magical history, I assume?" The Red Ranger turned quickly to see his mentor hovering nearby, having just returned from collecting the potion ingredients.

"Back already?" he asked back, hoping to delay further questioning.

"Yes," she replied, gaze unwavering as she approached him. "What were you reading?"

Nick glanced quickly at his book and quelled the urge to lie. "Well ... It's a book that just kind of ... appeared. I couldn't help myself, so I just started reading it."

"And aloud, I see."

Nick blushed a little bit. "Yeah, I was kind of anxious to see what was inside."

"And why would that be?" Wow, when the woman knew you were hiding something, she didn't let up.

"Because I've had a strange day. This book seemed to have the answers. Although," he added as an afterthought, "it's kind of raised more questions than it answered." Udonna raised a curious eyebrow and took a step toward him.

"May I see the book?" she asked, though it was more of a command. Nick leaned back in his chair obligingly, leaving the book open for her to read. The mentor approached silently and picked up the tome. Her eyes scanned the page rapidly, taking in everything Nick had read.

"I see," she said, putting the book back on the table. "So what drew you to this book, if I may ask?" Something in the tone of her voice made Nick feel compelled to spill his guts. She seemed deadly serious.

Hesitantly at first, he began to lay out the events on his day, picking up speed as he spoke, more and more words spilling from his mouth every second. After several minutes, he took a sharp breath and looked to his mentor expectantly.

Contrary to his expectations, Udonna's reaction was of acceptance. He'd put her more along the lines of freaking out and stripping him of his Ranger powers. Instead, she merely nodded and sat gracefully in the chair next to him. He waited for a few seconds to see if she would speak first, but she seemed to be silently willing him to do so.

"So ... " he said slowly, trying to pick a question from the many swirls in his mind. "Is it true? I mean, what they said in the book, about how you took kids from the light and dark?" She grinned.

"Yes, it is true. I was acting on the several different prophesies that seemed to intertwine. They all foretold the birth and ascension of several children that could help bring the downfall of the darkness once and for all, if they were placed in a realm where magic did not exist, not as freely as it does here." She looked up into her charge's eyes and saw the biggest question of all lying within the green depths. "Ah, I see," she said knowingly. "Given your penchant for the rare style of sorcery and your powerful good magic, you wish to know if you were one of the children I took. Is that it?"

He gave a tiny nod, eyes pleading her to say no, to tell him that he was just an ordinary person with a strange gift. At the same time, though, he hoped it would be true - it would explain all the strange things he'd caused even before he'd discovered magic. Udonna sighed heavily and turned her eyes to the floor.

"I will not lie, child, but I'm afraid you will not like the truth." And there he had it. She didn't need to say it; he could tell by the tone of her voice that it was true. The depth of such simple words was astounding.

"Oh, god," he whispered, dropping his head into his hands. The knowledge felt strange, like he was simultaneously losing and gaining a part of himself. "So it is true. And I'm ... evil?" He said the last word with a particular hate, as if it was some sort of verbal disease. He always knew he had a dark side, but who didn't? His was just a little more intense than some others.

Udonna leaned forward and looked at her despondent charge. "No, Nick, you are not evil. I saved you from that fate many years ago. If I hadn't taken you, you would've been evil, and the kingdom of light would not exist. Now, though, you are good, and that cannot be changed."

"But what about all the weird things I've done that have hurt people? That can't be too good."

"You were young, and your powers were uncontrollable. You had no power over what happened. They were not your fault."

"I wish they weren't," he said, harsh but quiet. "But they were. A part of me liked doing it, liked the power. Somewhere inside me, I still have some darkness. Even Koragg recognized it." Udonna's brow knitted together.

"Koragg?" she asked, seeming worried. The worry was quickly wiped away by the solidarity most mentors possessed. "Never mind that. What matters is that you control yourself. Even if you have some darkness in you, it is your decision to embrace it or not. If we could not trust you to be good, the Red Ranger powers would not work properly for you."

Nick looked up hopefully. "Really?"

"Yes. The powers work only for those worthy of them, and only a person with a good heart may wield the Mystic powers. It was ensured by their magical binding when they came into existence years ago so that no evil could properly possess them."

"But what about evil Rangers in the past? And Koragg now?"

"In some cases, the powers were created to be evil. Other Rangers were tricked by evil, still good by their nature. Koragg was a Knight before he received his powers, and the Knight Wolf powers were created as powers for a Dark Knight. He was chosen by them and they are bound to him and his heirs until his death."

Nick shook his head wearily. "I'm just not so sure of myself right now. I mean, this is huge. My parents aren't my biological parents, my sister isn't my sister. I'd always accepted it, it's not like I didn't know. It never really mattered until now. But now it just seems huge. Everything is just ... I don't know. I just don't know. Who were my parents? How am I supposed to just accept this?" He buried his face in his palms again. Then something hit him - if he could barely take this, how would the team? How would Madison?

Udonna placed her hand on his drooping shoulder, smiling at him with a knowing look in her eye, a sad look that would've made him suspicious if he had been looking at her.

"Nick, I cannot tell you how or when you will accept it, but I can tell you that you will. This by no means changes who you are." He looked up at her strangely.

"How can you be so sure? How do you know that I won't go crazy and just kill everyone now that I know magic? I just - I can't handle this right now." He stood up quickly and began to tear out of the room when Chip, Vida and Xander rushed in, blocking his escape and carrying something large and grey.

"Udonna, we need your help over here!" Vida shouted, eyes full of fear and rage. The sorceress stood up and crossed the room hastily, looking up and down the grey thing.

"Oh, dear," she whispered, placing her hands on it. "How did this happen?"

Xander stepped forward, consummate leader as he was, and giving Nick a good view of the thing. His heart leapt into his throat.

Maddie.

A/N - Okay, so I'm getting a bit lax on updating. What can I say? School started again since I put up the first three parts. But I can say that it's getting fairly long (I'm on a second notebook) and I'm trying to write as much as I can every day.

I'm loving the response to the story. It's been a major push through my writer's block to know that there are actually people out there waiting to read another chapter.

I have to say, the plot keeps changing, ever so slightly. I'm not the kind of person to lay it all out before I write, but mentally I've been writing backstories and future chapters and my hands just can't write fast enough.

Oh, and on a sidenote, if I don't mention it, assume it went the same way as it did in the episode. Some parts will be different if only because Nick and/or Madison isn't there, and some will be explained.

Got to go now, NCIS is starting.