Disclaimer: Once again, I dont own anything.
A/N I hope you pick up on the hints throughout this chapter.
"Took you guys long enough," Nick said to the group that just entered Rootcore.
For the first time in a long time Xander was speechless. He pointed to Nick, and opened his mouth to say something, but nothing was coming out except for a bunch of ummms and uhhhhs. All that was resulting from it was a staring contest between Nick and Xander with Chip, Madison, and Vida looking between the two.
"Xander!" Vida said, punching him in the arm, resulting in him returning to normal, well normal for Xander, "knock it off!"
"Sorry, V," Xander replied, "its just right now, I'm very confused. How did he (he gestured over to Nick) get here and where exactly is here?"
Nick got up from his chair and walked over to them, causing Madison to take an involuntary step back as he passed her. He's cute in a way, thought Madison to herself.
"I have a confession to make. Your probably not going to like me after this but I am really sorry. My name isn't Nick, and I lied to you."
"Huh?" Chip said.
"What?" Vida said angrily.
"Your kidding, right?" Madison said.
Xander said nothing, as he reverted back to his previous state of being not really there, as he thought he had fallen asleep on the chair in the Rock Porium and was in a really vivid dream.
"No, I'm not kidding. You wouldn't have come otherwise," Nick began. "My name is Bowen, and I live here with my mom and my cousin, Clare…"
"Wait, isn't Clare your sister?" Chip interrupted, clearly confused by the whole situation.
"Yea, that's what you said to us before," said Vida, clearly getting angry with this whole situation.
"If you would have listened to me, I said that I lied to you!" Bowen yelled back at them.
"That's no excuse!" Vida yelled back.
"I said that I was sorry!" Bowen screamed back.
"Stop!" a voice yelled from behind them.
A red haired, green eyed woman dressed in white came out of a hallway that Madison didn't see before. She seemed to be the authority in this place, but wait, her eyes. She glanced at the woman's eyes, and then looked back at Nick, Bowen, whatever his name was. The eyes were exactly the same. This woman must be his mother.
"Bowen," the woman began walking over to where the group was, "what have I told you about starting fights?" she asked, referring to Bowen's tendency to start random arguments about the most useless stuff with the mystical creatures that lived in the woods.
"Mom!" Bowen said using the same tone he used in the argument with Vida just a few minutes ago.
"Bowen! Stop this nonsense right now, we have guests." his mother replied.
"Fine, I'll leave!" Bowen said getting up and going down the same hallway his mother had come out from, and slamming a door behind him.
The woman looked at the quartet that her son had brought with him. "I'm sorry about that. Bowen sometimes acts before he thinks, so much like his father, yet so different."
Vida, Xander, Chip, and Madison exchanged a look. "I'm sorry, but did I miss something here?" Madison asked. Her sister nodded in agreement.
"Oh, pardon me. I am the sorceress, Udonna. I live here at Rootcore with my son, who you just met, and my niece and apprentice, Clare."
"Well, that answers that," Xander muttered. Chip nudged him quiet.
"Why did your son lie to us?" Vida said, cutting to the chase.
Udonna sighed. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning. I'm sure you felt the earthquake earlier?"
All four nodded their heads in agreement. "That was no ordinary earthquake. That was the forces of darkness reemerging, and now both your world and this world are in grave danger."
"I'm sorry, did you say worlds?" Madison questioned.
"Yes, I did, let me see, your name is Madison?"
Madison looked at Udonna like she was crazy. "I didn't tell you my name."
"I know, child. Your sister over there is Vida. Your red-haired friend is Charlie but he likes Chip, and your other friend is Xander," Udonna said looking behind her towards Xander who went back to his frozen position.
Just then the sound of pots falling came from the hallway, and a girl came out from it. A girl around our age, thought Chip. She had long blonde curly hair, and blue eyes. She didn't look like Udonna or Bowen, but the family resemblance was there.
"Clare!" Udonna said, trying to hold back her laughter.
"I'm sorry Udonna, its just. Oh my goodness!" Clare said noticing the foursome for the first time.
"This is Clare everyone," Udonna said, "This is Xander," he smiled at Clare. "And Chip," Chip waved. "And Vida," she rolled her eyes and smiled, " and her sister Madison," who winked.
"Hey," said Clare.
"I was about to tell them about the great battle, Clare," said Udonna.
"Oh," Clare said with a smile, "should I go get Bowen?" she asked.
Udonna thought for a second, her son never wanted to hear the whole story, but now he has to, for all of our sakes, she thought. Udonna nodded towards Clare who ran back into the hallway.
"Sit, all of you," she said, taking note of where each of them sat. Vida sat in front of the pink fairy. Xander in front of the green minotaur. Chip sat in front of the yellow garuda, and Madison sat in front of the blue mermaid. Udonna sat in front of the book on the table.
Interesting, thought Udonna, as Bowen came into the room and sat in front of the red phoenix symbol. Yes! It's about time, she thought.
Bowen didn't say anything just crossed his arms. Madison noticed that he changed his clothes, to some strange form of dress, leather pants, a white t-shirt, a black vest with a design of a red flame on it, and black arm bands with the same design. He also had a long cape on, which made Chip jealous. A cape, no fair! he thought.
"The story begins almost twenty years ago," Udonna began pushing the book in front of her towards the middle of the table. "There were five mystical warriors who were protecting this world from the forces of the darkness, the underworld. The leader of them, the red mystic warrior was my husband, Bowen's father."
Bowen leaned in a little. He had heard the story, but never in this much detail.
"The forces of darkness were from the Underworld, led by the Master. I can't tell you much about the Master. The Underworld is separated from this world and your world by gates that can only be opened by the Gatekeeper, who was my sister, Niella."
No one noticed Clare, who was standing against a wall by the hallway, slide down in sadness.
"My husband, being the leader, was also training an apprentice to take his place, for he was going to stop being the leader of the warriors and stay with me and Bowen. As you can see, that never happened. Once day I was walking with Bowen, and found my sister and Clare her daughter sitting watching my husband and his apprentice, Daggeron train. There was a noise, and Niella handed Clare to me and told me to run. I ran back to Rootcore grabbed a few things, Bowen and Clare and I ran to the human world, your world for a few days. When I came back there was so much devastation. My husband Leanbow, Daggeron, and Niella were no where to be found. I never saw any of them again. I found out from an old friend, that Daggeron fought a traitor and was destroyed, and Leanbow and Niella were killed trying to seal the gates of the Underworld. And now those gates have been weakened again, although I don't know why or how."
"That's pretty sad and all, but what's that have to do with us?" Madison asked.
"Why did you make me find them?" Bowen asked.
Vida looked at him angrily. Udonna continued, "You were attacked by Hidiacs, weren't you?"
"Huh?" asked Vida.
"Hidiacs, big black ugly things?" Bowen replied sarcastically. "They love to attack those who they consider to be enemies. From the Underworld."
Vida clinched her fist under the table. That boy was going to get it, and it wasn't going to be pretty. Udonna got up and reached for the book. "This is the Xenotome," she said. "it is also known as the Book of the Prophecy. It opened for the first time today on its own after the earthquake. It foretold that there would be five successors to the mystic warriors who can save the two worlds. I knew that Bowen was destined for something great from the day he was born, although I couldn't see what. Now I know. I knew the other four were somewhere in the human realm, your world. I sent Bowen to find them, and find them he did." Udonna finished with a smile.
"Wait, a second here!" Xander said. "How can we be mentioned in the prophecy? I mean were just employees at a record store!"
"I'm sure you guys have been doing things your whole life. Things that made no sense," Udonna said.
All of them fell into silent reminiscing. Madison remembered a time when she and Vida were by the beach, and the ocean was very calm no waves. She wanted some waves to splash in. She looked to the water, and the waves started to come. The blue mermaid symbol lit up. Chip thought of a time when he and his family were trapped at a campsite during a thunderstorm, far away from their car and the closest shelter. The whole family huddled in the tent and lighting and thunder wizzed by them. He wished that the lightning would end or at least keep far away from them, and the lightning didn't come near them. The yellow garuda began to light up. For Xander, he was always the adventurer. He loved to climb up walls and fences. He remembered a time in Australia, where he wanted to climb up the fence in the back yard to get the Frisbee that perched ontop of it. There were no footholes or armholes, but a vine grew suddenly, giving Xander the necessary aid to climb the fence and get the Frisbee. The green minotaur symbol began to glow. Vida had a little more trouble thinking of something. The one thing that stood out in her mind was a time when her and Maddie were raking the leaves. They just wanted to get it done so they could go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, when their dog got loose and destroyed their leaf pile. Vida got really angry, but something happened when a gust of wind came and blew the leaves back into a pile. The pink sprite symbol glowed a brilliant shade of pink.
"See you are the ones in the prophecy!" Udonna said, as a mysterious light fell on them, and changed their clothes to echo Bowen's except in their respective colors.
Madison, Vida, Chip, and Xander stood up to admire their new uniforms. "I hate pink!" Vida yelled, as she was wearing a vest with a pink design on it.
The other three shook their heads. Bowen meanwhile just sat in his chair. He was no warrior. He never knew that his father was the leader of the original Mystic Warriors. He never knew that Daggeron was his apprentice. He was always told that Daggeron was his adopted uncle, who died trying to protect him. His mom had lied to him, and in his anger he didn't realize his cousin was holding a case behind him. He began to feel really hot, and lifted up his arm and hit Clare's hair which proceeded to be set on fire. "Bowen!" she yelled.
"Oh, my!" Udonna said, as the red phoenix symbol began to glow as well.
Madison, wearing a blue vest, somehow knew what to do. She held out her arm and water came out of no where and extinguished the fire. "Great job, sis!" Vida exclaimed.
Bowen paid no attention to that, as his concern was rooted to his cousin. "Clare, I'm sorry, I didn't mean."
Clare held out her hand to stop him, as she opened up the case she was holding that held five cell phones in it. Bowen took the one with the red phoenix on top, Madison the one with the blue mermaid, Vida, much to her dismay, the pink fairy. Chip the yellow garuda, and Xander took the green minotaur.
"These are your mystic morphers. These will transform you into the rangers of the Mystic Force," said Udonna. "Only morph when all else fails. In time, you will receive spell codes that will increase your power. But you have to know where and when to use them." She raised her voice at the last part, as that was for her son more than the others, and Bowen knew it.
"Way cool!" said Vida.
"This is great," said Xander with a smile.
"I'm liking this cape," Chip said.
All of the sudden the crystal ball began to show blackness in it. Bowen ran over to it. "Mom!" he cried.
The four newcomers looked at each other. "This is cool!" said Chip, "a real crystal ball!"
Udonna walked over to the ball, "Hidiacs! Rangers, go now! Bowen you know the way."
He nodded at his mother, "Let's go. I want to see what exactly attacked you," he said running out the way the others came in.
Vida and Madison looked at each other, and followed Bowen; closely behind them were Xander and Chip. They ran through the forest till they found the party of hidiacs. And in the center of them was a ugly creature, who quickly noticed them.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He noticed Bowen at the front. "The son of the white sorceress and Leanbow, and four of his friends. A great gift to give the master."
Bowen got real mad. "They aren't my friends, I don't have any. And you leave my mother alone!"
At that, Madison looked down, she thought that she could befriend Bowen. She thought wrong.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Morticon! Leader of the Underworld."
Xander pushed his way to the front, "Let me handle this, I am Xander, this is…"
"I don't care who you are!" Morticon said, "I only want the white sorceress! Attack!" he bellowed and the hidiacs began to head towards them to attack.
"If it's a fight they want, it's a fight they get!" Bowen exclaimed.
He received four nods from the others. "Let's do it!" he yelled and ran to do battle.
It quickly became apparent that the five of them were outnumbered and were losing badly. Bowen quickly found himself on the ground out of the battle. Xander was thrown near him two seconds later. Vida somersaulted over a trio of hidiacs, and landed by them. Madison was tossed. Chip held out an additional two minutes, before suffering defeat at the hands of the hidiacs and finding himself by the others.
"You know, Bowen, if there ever was a time to use your mother's morphers or whatever their called, I think this is it," Xander said.
"Your right," he said standing up, "let's ranger up!"
The four others joined him and made sort of a 'v' shape with Bowen at the front. "Ready?" he yelled, opening up his morpher and removing his cape.
"Ready!" the other four repeated, following suit.
They entered in 1-2-3 into the keypad.
"Magical source, Mystic Force!" the five replied as one.
A light came from the antennae of each morpher aiming to the sky. A mystical voice came out of no where and yelled, Galwit Mysto Ranger! The ghosts of the original warriors descended and went behind their respective heirs, and they raised their arms. They all jumped with a "Hyah," to a circle of some sorts, which gave them each a different colored spandex uniform of some sort, complete with a cape. Then a helmet came on their heads decorated with their respective symbols. Each one of them turned around, reveling for the first time the morphed Mystic Rangers.
"What?!" yelled Morticon.
"Let's introduce ourselves, shall we team?" Bowen said, now in the red uniform with the phoenix symbol on his helmet.
Xander made a little dance, "Strong as a tree, green mystic ranger!"
Vida made her own dance, "Ever changing as the wind, pink mystic ranger!"
Madison did her own, "Fluid as the sea, blue mystic ranger!"
Chip followed with his own, "Fast as lightning, yellow mystic ranger!"
Bowen did something a little different, "Fearsome as fire, red mystic ranger!"
Morticon looked at them, "Should I be afraid?"
"Yes!" all of them said together, as they poised ready to go back into battle.