A/N: And again, Justin comes out sounding like my high school history teacher, but this is the last time, I swear! Go me, I wrote this all in one day! I hope to have a bit more out tomorrow, but I've got other things to do. POV wanders a bit, I'm trying to get into Cam's mind, but I'm not analytical like him, but I can do sarcastic when I need to.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Cam had often wondered what life had been like for the Rangers from Dr Oliver's teenage years, having heard stories and seen pictures, he sometimes wondered if they had actually operated on barely controlled chaos often. Seeing Justin Stewart and his calm acceptance of an out of control robot twin told him that the truth behind Dr Oliver's stories wasn't far from his private theory. Clearly, Justin had been through more than enough trouble before coming into adulthood. His mind was deep, flexible and filled with ideas gained from journeying beyond the solar system, his body was highly toned, flexible and graceful, he had a spirit that burned out of him that spoke of joy and pain, love and hate, as if he'd been through a war. In fact, Cam knew that he had.
Just now, however, Justin looked like an ordinary kid, he was lounging back, having put away more waffles than Danny and Dustin combined. He was laughing at some story that Cole was telling, as if there wasn't a care in the world. Finally, Dustin and Shane cleared out the food and people became serious. Justin stood, "I said I visited Eltare," he said, "the truth is, I was summoned there. Zordon left explicit instructions and on Eltare, Zordon's wishes are as law. Zordon knew that we would be in danger from the Star Master should he ever die, because Zordon's presence kept the balance from being tipped so far that the Star Master's prophecy could come to pass. He's given you the prophecy, so I won't have to tell you that. We'll move into who the Star Master is."
Justin took a sip of water and glanced around, "The Star Master is the heart of every nightmare, the dark of every star. He is the greatest force of evil ever fought by Rangers, and he can only be restrained by great sacrifice. When Rita sealed Zordon into his Time Warp, it was such a sacrifice, and drove back the Star Master from helping his minions in the UAE. Zordon's Wave has kept the Star Master back, but he's used that time to study and select six Rangers to serve him. The Star Master chose Earth Humans for a reason, the same one Zordon had. Earth Humans have the Earth-Luck; we don't know anything, so we can do the impossible. No other species, no matter how undeveloped, can summon up our ability to do the impossible. By all accounts, ten thousand Quantrons attacked Earth, and six Rangers held them off. Impossible odds and the Rangers won. They were holding the Quantrons off, and even if Andros hadn't broken the Time Warp, we others were close enough; we would have been able to help. No other planet in the Universe was attacked by so many numbers, and they all fell to Dark Specter.
"Earth Rangers squared off against a creature so virile, its early defeat came only through the turning of its own dark power. They did so without the Power beyond what is a part of all of us, and they not only won, but the Morphin' Grid recreated its link to them. No other people have been able to pull that off." Justin gave Cole and the Wild Force Rangers a look. "Earth has had more Rangers in the past decade than most worlds have in a century. Earth is home to the Universe's strongest ranger, Tommy Oliver, and its strongest team, the Ninja Storm team."
"What?" Shane interrupted.
"Two Reds," Justin replied, "Two Blues, a Yellow and a Green. A triad, a pair and a solo, it's never been done. You all saw Lothor through the monsters he sent against you. On the Galactic level, Lothor was seen as the greatest chance for the UAE to revive in full. Believe me, the evil we all fought? Especially the ones that came from outer space are a lot more dangerous than we knew. We saw them as stupid, the truth? Earth has fought the strongest Evil in the Universe outside the Star Master, and we're still here, still free. That's because we know we can win. Rangers from Earth can't even die properly. I mean, look at the Galaxy Rangers. Mike falls into a crack in the earth, isn't seen for at least a month, if not longer, then returns unharmed. Kendrix gets blasted by an overload of Morphin' Energy, but comes back when they put the swords in the stone on Mirinoi. Hell, not even Alex really died." A look at Wes, who nodded in understanding; Cam wondered what the story was there, he'd not heard it.
"Zordon's Rangers proved themselves against the worst the galaxy had to offer," Justin said, "it's time now for you to take your chance. I'll help you in any way I can, but I won't lead you. I'll tell you what you need, but I won't give it to you. You became Earth's protectors for a reason, now you need to show the Galaxy that reason."
"So," Carter, Cole, Wes, Shane and Hunter said in unison.
Everyone laughed as the five Red Rangers looked at each other in horror. Justin shook his head, "Let me tell you about the Star Master. He's dangerous, powerful, and evil. Not the best combination, especially when you add in smart. He's been around for a long time, but when there are mentors like Zordon, his access to the Dark is severely weakened. Right now, the strongest mentor on Earth is the Princess Shayla, but she doesn't make as strong a ripple as even the Alpha robots made. Eltare is training a few, and there are rumors of others, but Dark Specter left us his legacy of next to no powerful mentors. He captured them, drained them and left them to die every chance he got. Now the Star Master is rising into ascension and he's chosen his Children. Those are Carlos, TJ, Ryan, Eric, Tori and Alyssa. Now, here's something odd," Justin said, "I've seen two versions of the lines after listing the Rangers. 'A meeting of Rangers, Written in the Stars' could either be the Star Children, or it could be us."
"Time's ending, life's beginning," quoted Wes. "If you're looking at it being us, I'm going to die."
"Not necessarily," Justin countered, "Endings don't always mean death. Life's beginning could very well mean that you retire from being an active Ranger, and have kids." He sighed, "We'll figure it out as we come to it, that's how prophecy works. The Book of Stars, however, is our concern. Blake, Mara and Kapri had a lock on it when they took the Free Spirit into the Dahl Territories. I don't know what they dared the Dark Triangle at all, but if they thought the Book, or a clue was there, they wouldn't have stopped for anything. That Book is a powerful force, and it could be our saving."
"How are we going to do this?" Cole asked, "What are we going to do?"
Justin watched them and sat down; it would be their choice on where to go. He couldn't decide their plan of action; then it would be Zordon's Ranger leading the newbies by the hand. They would fall on their own, or reach for the stars. Suddenly, in perfect timing, his cell began to ring with the ever popular, ultimately annoying 'Mission Impossible' theme. Justin jerked out of his seat as it vibrated and he hurried into the hall as he checked his id screen. It was Tommy.
