Brankel - if you liked the Rangers rescuing Arvis, you're gonna love this one :). Yes, the scenes here with Billy and Teresa were as fun to write as they are to read :). Thanks for reading, everyone. I hope you enjoyed the story! Until next time...

Chapter Three

With slow, deliberate footsteps, the Wizard of Deception stepped out of the forest towards the college, the six shadow demons murmuring malevolently behind him. Teachers and students walking along the lawn or standing on one of the balconies immediately spotted him. Screams of terror filled the air, and everyone began racing inside to safety. Behind his cloak, the wizard smiled. Truthfully, while deception was his stock and trade, there was something about being actively feared that he'd missed. All he had to do was reach the rose, and his glorious power would return.

Approaching the building, he turned back to the shadow demons behind him. "There will be heroes," the wizard said. "There always are. One of you, come with me. The rest? Keep the college occupied. Stop them from interfering. Tear the whole place down if you have to. Go!"

Looking down over the lawn from one of the front windows, Arvis, Brucklehurst, Billy, Teresa and I watched as the group parted. The wizard and a single demon stepped around towards the back of the building, while the other five demons leapt towards the building, clambering up the stone walls and smashing their way inside. All around, we could hear screams and shouts as people fought to escape.

"Brucklehurst," Teresa began, and turned to the professor. "You need to help evacuate the college. Get everyone away from the wizard. Billy and I will take care of the shadow demons."

"But you won't have your powers," Brucklehurst said.

"We'll improvise," Billy said. "We're actually very good at it."

"Meanwhile, Ian and Professor Arvis, get down to the archives," Teresa continued. "We need to get to that rose before the wizard."

I nodded. "You got it," I said. "Good luck guys."

Climbing into the building through one of the windows, two of the demons made their way down the third floor corridor, destroying everything in their path and leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. They were about to continue when a lone figure suddenly stepped into the corridor before them, blocking the way forward.

"Uh, gents?" Billy called. "I don't believe that's acceptable behaviour."

The creatures glared at him, and with inhuman screeches, charged towards him. Billy raced away, back down the corridor to the door he'd seen earlier with Alchemy Lab printed on the wall above. Racing into the lab and throwing the door shut, he turned to the students hiding under the tables.

"Go!" he shouted, pointing to a supplies cupboard in the corner. "Into the store-room! No matter what you hear, keep your eyes shut!"

The students obeyed, scrambling over to the store-room as Billy reached for his bottle of water and emptied the contents onto the floor. Going to the shelves at the front of the room, he scanned the bottles. None of the labels were printed in English, but he knew what he was looking for. Grabbing two bottles, he pulled the stoppers off and poured the contents into the same bottle.

Behind him, the door was ripped off its hinges as the two demons stepped into the lab. Turning to face them, shaking the mixture in one hand, Billy casually pulled his glasses off with the other, folding them and placing them on the bench-top. The demons closed in.

"Creatures of magic," Billy said, and flipped the stopper off the bottle, "meet basic chemistry." And he threw the mixture at the puddle of water, while clamping his other hand firmly over his eyes.

Even with his eyes shut, the world went white. Opening his eyes, he took a minute to blink away the spots, and glanced down to the puddle of water. There, small and fractured pieces of the demons were now lying on the floor. And even as he watched, they dissolved into nothing.

Brucklehurst had just finished directing a crowd of students down to the cellars when he heard ominous footsteps behind him. Turning on the spot, the professor's face fell as one of the shadow demons stalked towards him. Reaching up with trembling fingers, Brucklehurst fumbled his glasses off and slid them into his pocket. Only a few steps away, the demon raised its arms to attack.

"Demon shadow," Brucklehurst murmured, so quietly the demon could barely hear him, "would you care to see my thesis project?" He whispered a quick chant under his breath and held out his hand, where a ball of radiant sunlight took shape in his palm. The creature froze, visibly uncomfortable, and shrank back.

"It's quite extraordinary," Brucklehurst continued absent-mindedly. "All the heat magically converts to light, so I can hold it in my hand. Would you like a closer look?"

With that, the professor shoved the ball of sunlight straight through the demon's torso. The shadow demon threw its head back, but the scream never came. Shuddering and twisting on the spot, the creature soon disintegrated before the professor's eyes and collapsed into dust. Brucklehurst stepped back, pleased with himself, until he caught a whiff of smoke and glanced down. The edge of his robe had caught fire.

"Damn it," the professor swore, stamping on the fabric until the fire was out. "Every time."

In the main hallway, students and teachers alike ran as two of the demons charged towards them. The satyr who'd helped us earlier was fleeing at the back of the crowd when he tripped over a smashed bookcase, and crashed heavily to the floor. He turned back in fear as one of the demons towered over him, when Teresa suddenly charged towards them, kicking a chair into the demon's face and taking it to the ground. Reaching down, she offered the young satyr her hand and helped him to his hooves.

"Go!" she said tersely. "Run! I've got this!"

As the satyr raced away, Teresa looked back to the two demons who had regained their footing and were steadily closing in.

"No," she said simply.

The closest demon attacked, raking its claws towards her. Teresa ducked the blow, dodging a second swipe and stepping around a third before grabbing the creature while it was off-balance and smashing it into a wall. The second demon raced forward but Teresa took to the air, kicking high and forcing the creature back. It lashed out as she landed, and Teresa leaped to the side, bounced off the opposite wall and kicked the demon in the head, sending it crashing. By now, the first demon had recovered, but as Teresa dropped to the ground, she spun around, felling her opponent with a spinning high kick.

Picking themselves up, the two beasts hung back warily. The demon on the left suddenly attacked, lurching forward and swinging high, but Teresa dodged the move and struck away its arm, aiming a rapid blow to the beast's face. The demon stumbled back as the second creature attacked. Teresa aimed high but the demon expected the move, catching her foot and spinning her off her feet. Teresa crashed against the wall, and fought to recover as the demon continued to attack. Teresa ducked one punch but couldn't avoid the second, and the beast launched her backwards through a doorway into the dining room where she crashed into a chair and smashed it to pieces, rolling to a stop next to the fireplace.

Catching her breath as the beasts approached, Teresa was about to climb to her feet when she heard the crackling of the fire nearby. With a smile, she grabbed one of the broken chair legs, rolled to her feet and held the chair leg in the fire just long enough for it to catch alight. The first demon charged forward, but she struck him in the head with the burning torch, instantly setting the beast alight. With a scream, it toppled backwards away from her. The second beast attacked, swinging high, but Teresa batted away its arm with the torch before stabbing the weapon through its chest. The two beasts shuddered as the fire took hold, roaring through them in an instant and soon reducing them to nothing more than ashes on the tiled floor.

Teresa threw the torch into the fire, and reached for a jug of water to douse the remaining flames as Brucklehurst stepped into the room behind her. "Wow," he murmured. "You just beat two shadows by setting fire to them. That's… I mean, that's not even… well done."

Teresa smiled. "We have to go find Ian and Arvis. C'mon."

Outside the college walls, the wizard approached the door to the cellar that housed the school's archives. But just as he pulled Arvis's keys from his cloak, I caught up to him, leaping out of the stables onto the grass and turning to face him.

"You're not getting past me," I said. "You may as well give up."

The wizard froze. I couldn't see his face, but heard the sudden rage in his voice. "You're a Ranger," he growled, spitting the word out like a curse. "I'm going to enjoy watching this," and the shadow demon behind him closed in.

"Fair enough," I said. "But I warn you. I brought back-up."

I reached back to the stable door and pulled it open. A dozen glowing eyes shone out of the darkness, and the demon froze as six baby dragons bounced out of the shadows towards it, all of them spitting white-hot balls of fire. The demon raised its arm to shield itself, but a fireball slammed into him and destroyed his arm in a puff of smoke. The beast roared, but didn't get the chance to retaliate before another dragon leaped up and sank its teeth into the demon's other arm. The rest of the babies arrived, snapping and biting at the beast's legs and body. The demon tried in vain to swat the creatures free, but the weight of the dragons pulled it to the ground, and we lost sight of it under the pile.

I turned to the wizard. "I don't think that's gonna go well for him," I said.

The wizard's disbelief gave way to rage. "You won't stop me," he growled.

"I know what you want," I said, and held up a glass case. Inside the case was the blue rose. Its petals and leaves were made out of blue crystal, and it sparkled in the sunlight. The wizard leaned forward, then suddenly sneered.

"I'm insulted," he spat. "This is a school for magic. Did you think I wouldn't spot a deception if I saw one?" The wizard waved his hand, and the blue crystal dissolved into nothing. Before I had time to react, the wizard closed the distance between us and struck me in the chest, launching me back to the stairwell. "You are wasting my time."

I climbed to my feet. "Yeah," I said. "I am."

With that, Arvis stepped out of the building behind me, holding the real crystal rose. It was even more beautiful than the illusion, and was faintly humming. I saw the wizard freeze. Behind us, Billy, Teresa and Professor Brucklehurst emerged from the college to join us.

"Leave this place," Teresa said. "You've lost today. We don't want to hurt you."

Brucklehurst raised his hand. A ball of sunlight there glowed radiantly.

The wizard laughed contemptuously. "You're going to beat me with artificial sunlight?" he sneered. "You don't have the power to do that."

"No," Brucklehurst announced cheerfully. "But you do." Reaching across, he took the rose from Arvis, and it started shining so brightly none of us could look at it. "This is your last warning wizard. Stand down."

"That is my power!" the wizard roared, raising his hands and charging towards us as lightning began crackling around him. "Give that to me!"

"Get down!" Brucklehurst yelled. We dived to safety as he reached back and threw the ball of sunlight straight for the wizard, the ball exploding into a giant fireball as it left his hand and slamming into the wizard. He was instantly lost from view in the firestorm, and as the blast dissipated, we turned back to see the tattered remains of the wizard's cloak float gently to the grass.

"Good work guys," I said, as Teresa helped me to my feet. "We did it."

While Teresa and Billy helped Professor Arvis and the other teachers clean up after the fight, I stepped over towards Brucklehurst, standing in the grass and watching the baby dragons play in the sun. Resting on a nearby table was the crystal rose.

"I'm sorry about all the damage," I said, and nodded back to the school.

Brucklehurst grinned broadly. "But the school is safe, and nobody was hurt," he said. "Zordon does have a habit of choosing well, doesn't he? Do you think the wizard is gone for good?"

I looked back to the charred cloak lying on the grass, and shrugged. "Probably not," I admitted. "But I don't think he'll be back any time soon. We'll take the rose with us just in case."

"A good idea, I think."

My eyes grew wide, and I reached for my back pocket. "I'm so sorry," I said quickly. "I just remembered, the reason Zordon sent us here in the first place," and I handed the small box over to the professor. "It got a little crushed in the fight."

Brucklehurst's eyes lit up, and he undid the ribbon and opened the box. Inside was a little sun, carved out of a bright orange jewel. Behind his beard, I saw the corners of his mouth curl into a grin. "He never forgets, you know," the professor said softly. "Every year he remembers. Tell Zordon thank you for my birthday present." I laughed, and the professor gestured over to Teresa and Billy. "Now, won't you stay for lunch?"

We returned to the Command Centre late that night, spending such a great afternoon in Germany that we forgot all about the time difference. The college celebrated surviving the morning with a magnificent feast, and the three of us ate so much that I felt sure we wouldn't need to eat for days. As Alpha and Zordon listened, we told them everything that had happened at the college, and explained the origins of the glowing crystal rose lying on the console before us.

Zordon shrank bank in his dimensional tube. Was he embarrassed? "I'm so sorry Rangers," he began. "I thought I was giving you a pleasant excursion into the Black Forest. I had no idea the Wizard of Deception was still a threat."

"It's fortunate we were there, though," Billy said. "Without us, the wizard would've easily found the rose and regained his power."

"I'm glad we brought it home," Teresa said, admiring the perfect blue crystal. "It's so beautiful."

"That it is. Teresa and Billy, if you could help Alpha take the rose down to the vaults," Zordon began. "We'll store it in an insulated container to keep it safe, as well as prevent it from absorbing any more magic. Thank you."

Before long, Zordon and I were alone in the central chamber.

"So you enjoyed the trip?" Zordon asked.

I heard the tone in his voice, and smiled to myself. "You picked me specifically today, didn't you?" I asked.

"I confess to having an ulterior motive," Zordon replied. "I've noticed, Ian, that lately you've been sounding less confident. I thought that a trip to the college would reignite your sense of adventure, something I've always admired about you." Zordon paused, and chuckled. "My plan worked a little too well, didn't it?"

"I guess it did," I replied. "Still, I had fun today. I saw some things that I hadn't seen before, and met some pretty incredible people. And I have a place to stay if I'm ever in that part of Germany again."

Zordon beamed. "And if I have another mission for you in the morning?"

I tapped my communicator. "You know where to find me."

"Good to know," Zordon replied. "Good night Ian."

"Good night Zordon," I said. With a final smile, I reached for my communicator and disappeared in a flash of silver light.

It's a funny thing, confidence. I always looked at the other Rangers and how they never looked overwhelmed. But maybe they were just better at hiding it? With all the wild places we go and crazy things we do, sometimes maybe it's just best to roll with the punches? But the thing about all those missions is that just about every one of them has something amazing to appreciate and enjoy. I get that, more than ever, and I hope I never lose it.

My name is Ian Thompson. I'm the Grey Power Ranger.

And every morning, I wake up ready for the next adventure.

The End.