War of the Hidden
Disclaimer: Nothing that you can google belongs to me.
A/N: Please give me some kind of comment so I won't keep posting if no one likes it.
Ch. 3
"You are needed in Briarwood," came a kiddie voice Maxi recognized immediately. "Prepare for teleportation."
And then a flash began to glow around her.
"Don't worry, we'll cover for you," Edward promised. She nodded and was gone…
"And then I landed outside by that tree we walked through," Maxi said, concluding her tale. After arriving in Rootcore, the five teens introduced Maxi to Nick's mom, their mentor and sorceress, Udonna, her niece, former-apprentice and now full sorceress, Clare, their teacher and sixth Ranger, Daggeron, and his teacher, Nick's dad, and former-enemy, Leanbow. The ten of them sat around the big round table in the middle of the base and talked. She told them about her past and her relationship with the Rangers of the past and had just finished telling them about how she had got to Briarwood.
"He said you were needed here?" Udonna asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That's what I heard," Maxi shrugged.
"And then you just poofed here?" Xander asked.
"I kinda zapped, but yeah, basically."
"Why do you think we need help?" Maddie asked. "The Master's already been defeated. Even the people of the forest and the people of the city are co-existing peacefully. What could possibly be wrong?"
"And so wrong that we need outside help?" Vida added.
"Do you know who that voice belonged to?" Daggeron asked Maxi. "Maybe it's a trap."
Maxi shook her head. "I'd recognize that voice in my sleep. There's no way it could be a mistake, unless he thought I was…" she gasped.
"What? What is it?" Nick asked.
"Dad!" Maxi exclaimed. "He was trying to send my dad here, because this communicator used to belong to him. And if he needed my dad, then something is definitely up."
"What do you think it is?" Leanbow asked.
"I don't know, but there's one thing I should've tried the moment I drop-landed here," Maxi replied. She brought up the communicator and pressed one of the buttons, not knowing the combinations that specified to each Ranger. After a while, a controlled voice came through.
"This is Jason, I read you."
"Uncle Jase!" Maxi cried in relief.
"Lori? What are you doing?" Jason replied in confusion. "You know you're not supposed to be playing with the communicators."
"I'm not playing, Uncle Jase," Maxi told him. "I need your help."
Jason's tone changed immediately. "Where are you? I'll be right there."
"I'm in Briarwood, with the Mystic Force Rangers. Something weird is going on and I think we should round up the rainbow," the little girl answered, using the term she had made up for getting all the past Power Rangers together.
"All of them?"
Maxi took a moment to think about it. If this had caused them to send her to this city with such haste, it had got to be something big. She nodded, though Jason had no chance of seeing that. "All of them," she confirmed. "You start with Zordon's team, and I'll try to get a hold of the rest."
"Okay," came Jason's reply. "Should we drive up to Briarwood then?"
"I dunno, can you still teleport?"
"I was just wondering if we should come morphed."
Maxi looked at the Mystics, who were all watching her. "No," she decided. "I don't think you need to morph yet. I'm not even sure what the problem is, but I just wanted everyone to be here, just in case."
"Good thinking, Lori. I'll be there as soon as I get in contact with the others."
"Hope to see you soon, Uncle Jase," Maxi replied before signing off. She looked back at the Mystics. "I have a really bad feeling about this," she informed them.
Jason had been teaching a karate class at the Youth Center which he now owns. When his communicator sounded, he froze and ended up flat on his back, which knocked him back to reality. He quickly dismissed his students, hurried to the back room and answered the call. Surprised was not enough to describe his feeling when he heard Maxi's voice. But the leader in him helped him to remain calm and listen to what his goddaughter had to say. Immediately after they disconnected, he hurried home.
"Trini!" he called, slamming the front door close behind him. "Trini!"
"Mom's in the basement, Dad!" his 14-year-old adoptive son, Tristan, shouted from his room.
"Thanks!" Jason shouted back to him and headed downstairs. The basement was a lab for Trini, a place for her to make her inventions. There was also a hidden vault where they kept all their Ranger stuff. Sometimes, they would go in there to reminisce on the old days. However, when he found his wife, she was bent over her new machine.
"Trini!" Jason had to yell to be heard of its whirring.
"What?" the original Yellow Ranger asked him, turning her new invention off.
"It's time to take out the old phonebook," he replied simply. Trini understood immediately.
"Are you sure?" she asked, gripping his arm nervously. Jason only nodded.
"I need a ride, and I need it fast," Maxi said to the Mystics.
"Where are you going?" Vida asked.
"Unfortunately, I don't have the phone numbers of all the other Rangers," Maxi explained, "but I do know where they're stationed. I need to get around to them as soon as possible."
"I'll take you," Nick volunteered. "The two of us could use my motorcycle; it'll be the quickest way. And then the others could be here to contact us if anything happens."
"That's a good idea," Leanbow agreed nodding. And having the most experience of them all (not to mention being the oldest), no one was going to argue with him. Nick nodded back and beckoned for Maxi to follow him. She got up and immediately fell on the floor with a cry of pain.
"Ah! My ankle!" she winced, forgetting about her injury after the hours of talking.
"Clare, can't you do something to help her?" Madison asked.
"I think so," Clare nodded. She thought for a moment, then waved her hands and said some words Maxi couldn't identify. At once the pain was gone. The little girl sighed in relief and got up.
"Thanks Clare," she nodded at the sorceress. Clare smiled back. Maxi turned to Nick. "Let's go, we don't have time to lose."
"Right," Nick agreed. "We'll be back as soon as we can. If anything comes up--"
"We'll call you," Daggeron finished for him. Nick nodded and left Rootcore with Maxi.
"So, where to first?" the Red Wizard asked the little girl after walking through the first tree they saw and reappearing across the street from Rock Porium.
"The closest from here is Mariner Bay. The Lightspeed team is public, so it'll be easiest to find them."
"If you say so," Nick nodded, tossing her a spare helmet.
Maxi didn't know how long it took for them to get to Mariner Bay. For one thing, her watch didn't tell time—it wasn't even a watch. And secondly, she had fallen asleep on the back of Nick's motorcycle. Even though all this had happened in one afternoon, it felt more like a week. She found herself being gently shaken awake by Nick as they were parked under a tree. It was dark out, probably around the middle of the night by now.
"How did you stay awake?" Maxi asked him as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"A spell," he answered as she stiffly got of the bike. "Where are we headed?"
"Give me a sec," Maxi told him, holding up a finger. She looked around, it was dark, but she could still make out her surroundings thanks to the street lights. "I don't know where the Rangers live, but Carter's a firefighter, so our best bet is the check the station."
"All right," Nick nodded. "Is that the fire station, over there?" he asked, pointing.
"Good eye, Nick," Maxi replied. "Let's go."
The two of them walked to the fire station, leaving the motorcycle there. No one would dare steal anything with Power Rangers policing the city. It took them a minute or two to decide how to approach the station, anyone who would be inside was probably sleeping, that is, if they hadn't gone home already.
"How 'bout we just knock?" Nick asked, looking up at the big red garage doors.
"We can't do that! It'll wake up the whole city!" Maxi exclaimed.
"Then what? Set off the smoke alarms?"
"That doesn't seem very nice. We should only do that in emergencies."
"I thought this was an emergency."
"Good point. But still, let's not scare the poor people. You have magic, right? Why don't you just open those doors for us to sneak in?"
"I guess I can do that," Nick said, pulling out his cell-phone-shaped-wand Mystic Morpher and punched in a code. The red garage door inched upwards enough for the two of them (with Nick ducking his head) to enter, and then drop gently back down again.
"Can you believe I actually don't know a light spell?" Nick asked as they tried to maneuver around the bulky fire truck in the dark. "Maybe I should've studied up like Maddie."
"No worries, I got this one," Maxi replied. She dug into her pocket and pulled out one of those key-chains with a flashlight. "It may be old fashion, but it still gets the job done." Nick stifled a chuckle.
They made it around the truck with only a thin stream of white LED light to guide them. They came to a fireman's pole and stared up at it.
"After you," Maxi said.
"Ladies first," Nick replied. "I'll even give you a boost. Stand on my shoulders, and you're already halfway up."
"But I won't be able to pull you up."
"I'm a Ranger remember, we've been through all those physical tests."
"If you say so," Maxi replied and allowed Nick to pick her up. Like he said, standing on his shoulders, she did end up halfway up the pole. With an extra push off of his solid stance, she grabbed the pole and heaved herself up. Luckily, Tommy and Jason had kept her physically in shape, and plus her light weight, she easily made it up. Nick followed soon afterwards and they continued through the station.
"Hey Maxi, I think this is it," Nick called in a whisper. Maxi trotted over to where he was pointing. She brought up the light so she could read the sign: Chief's Quarters. A little under it, thinner letters: Carter Grayson.
"Yep, that's him," Maxi nodded. "I hope he and Dana aren't…" she trailed off, rapping her knuckles three times on the door. Then she stepped back and waited next to Nick, glancing up at him. When they were about to give up, they heard a scuffle of footsteps and then the door opened. A tall Caucasian man stood there, squinting at them through tired, droopy eyes, his blonde hair disarrayed from sleeping. He was wearing red—unsurprisingly.
"Carter?" Maxi asked. The sound seemed to wake him up.
"How did you two get in here?!" he demanded non-too-softly.
"Carter? What's going on?" Maxi heard a woman's voice say in the room.
"Dana?" she asked. "I need to talk to you and Carter."
A young Caucasian woman appeared behind Carter. She had short, ear-length, pale blonde hair and wore pink. She too seemed sleepy, but was attentive and curious. "Lian?" she asked with uncertainty.
Maxi nodded. "Good to see I'm not interrupting anything," she said. "This is Nick Russell, Red Mystic. I'll get into the details once everyone is together, but long story short, I suspect something's going on, something big. I'm trying to gather everyone and have them join up in Briarwood."
"That's the most recent place with its team of active Rangers, right?" Dana asked.
"Right," Maxi nodded. "I'm sorry for showing up in the middle of the night, but this is important. I can feel it."
Carter nodded. "Tommy's told us about your uncanny instincts. We're ready to do whatever it is you need us to do."
"I just want to round up the rainbow. Can you contact the rest of your team and bring them to Briarwood?" Maxi asked.
"We can be there by noon," Dana said.
"That would be awesome," Maxi said. "Now, the population of Briarwood is…well, let's just say it's a very diverse city. If you can, go to Rock Porium, it's a record store where the Rangers work. They should be able to identify you, but if not, just say you're Lightspeed. If you can't find the place, then uh…go ask one of the more, um…different citizens to bring you to Rootcore. There, you'll meet a couple of sorceresses and some knights, they'll explain everything."
"Okay," Carter nodded. "We'll be right on it."
Maxi nodded back. "I just hope this reunion is unnecessary," she replied.
"Good luck," Dana said as Maxi's tiny fist touched Carter's big one.
"And may the Power protect you."
