In the Paint Room, coming up towards lunch time, Mick was looking at some computers while Redbot cleared away some tools. He noticed that Mick was surprisingly quiet. Both of them had been taken as slaves at the same time, and had known each other before the Warrior Dome, so more than anyone, Redbot knew that Mick was rarely quiet about anything. His constant chatter was kind of a personal tick. Even when he was working he would normally be speaking or singing or otherwise making noise, kind of a way to occupy his overactive mind. Even sleeping he had a habit of chattering. The only times he was ever quiet was when he had something he was concentrating on with every fibre of his being.

"I believe the phrase the humans use is 'penny for your thoughts'." Redbot stated.

"Hmm?" Mick asked.

"You've not said anything in over 45 minutes." Redbot answered. "As someone who has known you since you were a child and has infallible memory banks, I can say with authority that's a record."

"Oh, it's nothing." Mick told him, stroking his chin. "At least...I hope it's nothing."

"So it might not be nothing." Redbot surmised. Mick looked to him, before taking a deep breath.

"I always knew that the Ninja Steel had mystical properties. Even before I started looking into legends surrounding it, I heard amazing things about weapons and armour forged from it." Mick told him. "Brody told me that his father forged a ninjato out of the Ninja Steel. That was the sword he used against Galvanax, and it was the sword he used to split the Ninja Nexus Star."

"Yes, that's what he told me too." Redbot stated.

"Well, since the Ninja Steel was only shards, the only way he'd be able to get a large enough piece to make a sword would be to melt it down and forge it in a mould." Mick told him.

"So?" Redbot asked.

*"Melting and casting is a terrible way to make a sword!" Mick informed him. "The metal ends up far too brittle to make tools. Making a sword out of steel that way would make a sword that would almost certainly break the first time it was used in battle. Ordinarily what the smith would have to do is heat the metal until it's malleable, and then hammer it into shape while it's hot, before cooling it down to harden it."

"Perhaps the chemical makeup of Ninja Steel is unusually strong." Redbot suggested.

"Well, that's pretty much what I presumed, but I didn't stop to think about any other properties it might have." Mick told him. "But...I noticed something odd, something that got me thinking that maybe the Ninja Steel doesn't only have physical properties."

"What kind of properties do you think it had?" Redbot asked him. Mick started to pace.

"Dane Romero was a ninja, right? He was already trained in how to forge weapons right?" He asked. Redbot just nodded. "So why would someone who has trained for years in how to forge weapons all of a sudden forge weapons in a way that is completely counter to everything he's been taught? Why would someone with the experience and know-how of Dane Romero suddenly think making a sword in a way that is literally the entirely wrong way to do so a good idea?"

"I...don't know." Redbot replied.

"Maybe someone told him to do it." Mick stated. "Or, more accurately...some THING."

"I'm not sure I follow." Redbot stated.

"There are some legends of the Ninja Steel enhancing the passions of people that handle it, allowing them to perform great feats." Mick told him. "I was starting to think, what if it's not just a legend?"

"What kind of effects do you think it's had?" Redbot asked him. Mick held up a finger, before going to Brody's notes.

"Well, I was just thinking, we know that Brody is great at ninjitsu, he was so good that he managed to get us off the ship." Mick told him. "He's even managed to teach the others in ninjitsu."

"He's definitely great." Redbot agreed.

"Yes, he is...maybe too great." Mick answered. "Brody was only eight when he was kidnapped. His father only trained him for about three years."

Mick pulled up a display on the computer.

"I checked a rough projection. After three years of intensive training, a martial artist should have improved to about this level." He said, showing the progression on a chart. "Even taking into account the fact Brody would have trained full-time as opposed to only a few hours a week, the average projection would put him about here."

"But he trained on the ship." Redbot reminded him. Mick smiled.

"Yes, but he trained without any kind of supervision or direction." Mick reminded him. "I plotted a progression for where I'd expect a martial artist to be training in such a way from the level Brody was at when he was kidnapped. Given his development in physical strength, endurance, speed not to mention his practice of the techniques he already knew and adapting them to new situations, I'd expect him to be about here."

"Brody is a remarkable person though." Redbot told him. Mick then just brought his attention back to the computer.

"I'd expect him to be here." Mick told him. "I entered details of his training notes and ideas...and it puts him about here."

Mick showed the progression on the chart. Redbot took a step back.

"That is..."

"It's incredible, his progression is WAY beyond what it should be!" Mick told him. "Even with full-time professional guidance, I'd still only expect him to be about here...frankly his skill level is completely unprecedented. These ideas he's coming up with aren't just highly advanced, they're entirely new concepts that should never have occurred to him! So where is he coming up with this?"

"You think the Ninja Steel is somehow giving him these ideas?" Redbot asked.

"I ran an analysis on it. Something I never realised before is that the Ninja Steel is giving off a low-level radiation." He told Redbot.

"Radiation?" Redbot asked, sounding worried. "You've all been handling it..."

"Believe me, I had the same concern, but it's not normal radiation. It's really strange, more of a mystical nature than anything else." Mick told him. "If I'm correct, I think it's what's had this effect on Brody."

"But Brody only handled it for a short time as a child." Redbot told him. "It was his dad that worked with it the most. If it's had this much of an effect on him..."

"Exactly." Mick told him. "And the others have been handling it pretty extensively for weeks. I think we need to keep an eye on them in case we see any other effects."

Just then, one of the entrances opened and Calvin and Hayley arrived.

"Hey, Mick, I had a few ideas I wanted to run by you for how to fix Brody's truck." Calvin told him. He started to pull notes out of his pocket and lay them out. "Now, I've seen a lot of this stuff lying around the shop class, I just wanted your opinion on it."

Mick took one look at the plans, and then to Redbot. There was a bit of a knowing glance between them as Mick took in Calvin's plans.

"This...this looks really promising." Mick told him. "So, why don't you take me through your thought processes?"

Meanwhile, in the canteen, Preston was sitting with some of his books and tricks arrayed beside him. His rabbit was in its cage, with a blanket covering it. Brody and Sarah were sitting across from him, staring at him. They both could see how disappointed he was that his biggest show so far had gone so badly. It wasn't even like it had just gone badly; it hadn't gotten beyond the first trick before Victor managed to wreck it. He just sighed and turned over a card.

"That one?" He asked. Sarah wanted to give him some kind of win, but she could see that he already could tell from her reaction it wasn't her card. She just shook her head sadly.

"Sorry Preston." She answered sympathetically. "Mine was the three of diamonds."

Preston just put the deck back together and started shuffling the cards. Brody looked to him sympathetically.

"Don't worry Preston, just keep practicing. One day your tricks WILL get better." Brody assured him. "I didn't always get my ninja skills right. One time when I was ten, I tried to pick Ripcon's pocket and get some change for a vending machine. He caught me red-handed and broke my arm in three places."

"When I was about five, my parents took me to a magic show." Preston told them both, looking a little down about the whole thing. He pulled up his sleeve, showing them a bracelet that he always wore. "He made this dragon bracelet appear on my wrist. Ever since then, all I've ever wanted to be is a magician."

"And you will." Sarah said, taking his hand in hers gently. "We all see how hard you work. I've never seen anyone dedicate themselves to anything as much as you do with your magic."

"My mom used to love seeing me practice my tricks. She would sit and watch me no matter how many times she had seen the exact same trick, no matter how many times I got it wrong or I managed to make it super obvious how I had done it." Preston said as he reminisced about his mother. "I keep trying and trying, but...half of my tricks never fool anyone, and the other half...the other half they've seen so many times they never impress anyone."

"I trained to be a ninja since I could walk. I made more mistakes than I can remember." Brody told him.

"Yeah, and you don't think I made this hoverboard overnight did you?" Sarah asked him. "One of my first attempts left me without eyebrows weeks!"

"You just have to keep practicing." Brody told him. "It was a struggle, and Ripcon definitely made sure I knew all about it when I messed up, but one day, it all just started to click."

"Yeah, same with me." Sarah agreed. "You'll get there."

Just then, they all heard some rattling, and started looking around. As it got louder, they noticed Preston's hat, which was on the table next to him starting to shake. Preston grabbed the hat, and looked inside, before pulling out a white rabbit.

"See, there you go!" Brody said with a huge smile. "That was absolutely flawless!"

"Yeah, that was amazing!" Sarah agreed. "I swear, I never saw you move a muscle! I have no idea how you put the rabbit in there!"

They both looked to Preston, expecting him to be delighted that his trick had worked out so well, but as they stared at him, his expression was one of surprise instead. He handed the rabbit to Sarah, who started to cuddle it and stroke it as he just put his hat on his head in confusion.

"No, you don't get it." Preston stated, whipping the cloth off the cage. They both looked to the cage, seeing Preston's rabbit, Aloha Mora, sleeping soundly on the floor. It started to stir as the light started to bother him. "This is my rabbit, I only have one!"

"So...where did this one come from?" Sarah asked. Just then, they heard the rattling again. Preston's hat started to rattle on his head, and he looked up nervously. He removed his hat carefully, finding yet another rabbit on top of his head. He removed it carefully, handing it to Brody.

"I have no idea where they're coming from!" Preston told them honestly, feeling a combination of panic and confusion. He had heard the expression about breeding like rabbits, but that generally required at least two rabbits, and even then it took some time. He didn't have any idea where the rabbits were coming from, and more importantly, he had no idea how to make them stop! "It isn't a trick!"

"It's...it's not?" Sarah asked.

"Magic must be starting to click for me." Preston gasped as he thought about it. "I...I think I can do...real magic!"

"Real magic?" Brody asked him.

"Um...maybe this is something we should talk to Mick about?" Sarah suggested. She remembered her friends in Amber Beach talking about some of the remarkable things they suddenly found themselves able to do. Among her friends, one was over 800 years old, and another was over 100,000 years old, and yet the oldest any of them looked was Dr Navarro, who had been in his thirties when he bonded to the Aqua Energem!

"Yeah, how about I take your furry little friends here to a pet store, and you can talk to Mick." Brody suggested, reaching for the rabbit in Sarah's hands. The Pink Ranger just pulled it away.

"Do...do I have to?" She asked. Brody just gave her a withering look.

"I think your parents might like a bit of a say in it if you want to bring home a pet." He reminded her. Sarah felt the crushing disappointment as she realised he was right. She hadn't even discussed a pet with them, and she was considering just turning up from school with a rabbit. She kissed the rabbit, before handing it over with a little pout.

"Spoilsport." She muttered, getting her bag and helping Preston to gather up his tricks. Brody decided to head off to find a pet store that would take the rabbits before Sarah changed her mind about letting him leave with the rabbits. "Come on Presto, let's talk to Mick."

As he pulled on his jacket and picked up his bag and his cage, he looked to his hands and smiled.

"I always knew magic was real!" He whispered to himself.

In the yard behind the Shop Class, Mick was watching Calvin expertly put together an engine almost completely from scratch for Dane's truck. While it wasn't necessarily in a bad way, the fact that it had sat in a barn for ten years without anyone taking care of it meant that many of the components were rusty and aging, and while most of them would work, it was for the best that most of them be replaced since it likely wouldn't be long before they were needing replaced anyway.

Preston and Sarah walked into the yard, Preston still staring at his hands with a huge smile on his face as he came into the yard. Hayley noticed them arriving, and rushed to meet them.

"Guys, I have to show you something!" Preston rushed out. Hayley blocked his path, looking around.

"Brody isn't coming is he?" She asked, looking around for signs of the Red Ranger. They intended to give him the newly repaired truck as a surprise when they had it up and running. She was worried he'd come into the yard and ruin the surprise.

"No, he's off to the pet store." Sarah grumbled, still thinking about the rabbit she had desperately wanted to keep.

"Great, great! Calvin is almost done fixing up his dad's truck!" Hayley said, showing him the truck. Redbot was working on the exterior, which had also needed a little TLC. Mostly it just needed a good clean, something that Redbot was more than happy to do, while Calvin was working on the engine.

"You've...almost finished?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, I don't know what it is, it's like I'm possessed or something!" Calvin said with a smile. "I just started putting parts together and it's like...everything just fell into place just right!"

"Well don't get cocky, we still haven't turned her over yet." Hayley reminded him.

"Brody will burst his batteries when he sees this." Redbot added. "I'm going to wax it this afternoon. By the time we give it to him, it'll be as good as new!"

"He'll love it, I'm sure." Preston said, only half-listening to what they were saying. It wasn't that he didn't care about the truck, he knew how much it would mean to Brody to have something of his dad's for himself, but considering the fact that only a few minutes ago he had learned he could perform real life magic, his thoughts were more than a little distracted. "Now, listen to what I HAVE to tell you! This is incredible! The strangest thing just happened!"

"Start her up Hayls." Calvin told his girlfriend. Hayley put her drink on the hood of the truck before getting into the cab of the truck.

"Guys, you're not listening." Sarah stated. "Trust me, you want to hear this!"

"We are listening, trust me." Calvin said as Hayley turned the key. The engine just spluttered and struggled a little.

"One second Preston." She said to him as she tried the key again. "Cal, that sounded better, right?"

"No." Calvin just sighed, looking to Preston. "Presto, do you mind passing me the wrench?"

"Mmmhmm." Preston said, picking up the adjustable spanner and making his way over. As Hayley closed the door to the truck, she only just noticed her drink starting to slide and reached for it, but she couldn't quite get to it in time, and it started to fall straight towards Calvin's face.

"Cal, watch out!" She called out. The Yellow Ranger shut his eyes, expecting a cold, wet splat, but it never came. He slowly opened his eyes, at which he found everyone staring as the cup, and the drink, were just hanging, suspended in the air. Preston was holding the adjustable spanner, which was glowing in his hand, wielding it like a magic wand. They all just stared open-mouthed at this complete mockery of the laws of physics. Even Sarah, who had already seen one of Preston's new tricks was astounded by seeing him completely defy the universal truth of gravity.

"Uh...how did THAT happen?" Calvin asked nervously.

"I did it! That's what I've been TRYING to tell you!" Preston stated. "I stopped the drink! I can do REAL magic!"

"Real magic?" Hayley asked. A couple of weeks ago, this would have been a ridiculous notion to her. The world had seen enough outlandish things with the Power Rangers to know that a lot of things people would otherwise deem impossible were entirely possible. Of course, they had all seen Preston's simple tricks and illusions go completely awry, including one illusion that had ended up setting fire to a rose-bush outside the main entrance to the school.

"I...seriously doubt that." Calvin said. He wasn't able to fully comprehend what he was seeing, but at the same time at a loss to think of an explanation for what he was seeing. A wicked smile crossed Preston's face.

"Oh, you doubt it do you?" He asked, taking away the wrench. The cup fell and the drink splattered all over Calvin. The Yellow Ranger just spluttered and started to wipe his face as he pulled himself out from under the truck. "Now do you doubt it?"

"Definitely not?" Calvin spluttered. "Preston, did I do something terrible to you in a past life?"

"That's amazing!" Hayley gasped as she helped Calvin up and handed him a rag to start cleaning himself. Mick though was more than a little concerned. He had his theories about Brody's sudden progression in his ninjitsu training, but that was largely untested. It was still possible he was just gifted, he had heard of martial artists who were able to attain a Black Belt in a matter of months, though they were rare. However, seeing Preston defying the laws of physics was something that couldn't really be ignored as simply being gifted. There had to be other forces at work. He grabbed Preston and started to inspect him, making the Blue Ranger feel a little uncomfortable.

"Preston, tell me. Did these abilities begin...recently?" He asked.

"Uh...well...no. I've been practicing since I was a little kid." Preston told him. "But now, it's REAL!"

"NOW it's real?" Mick asked, emphasising the recent nature of his abilities. "It's the Ninja Steel!"

"Uh...what?" Sarah asked.

"The Ninja Steel, I found out recently it gives off a kind of radiation, it alters people who handle it regularly." He told them.

"Radiation?" Calvin asked.

"Alters?" Hayley asked. "We're...not going to start sprouting tentacles or anything are we?"

"No, it's more of a mystical energy than true radiation." Mick explained.

"Oh." Preston said, sounding disappointed again. "I guess that makes sense. I knew it couldn't just be me."

"No Preston, it IS you!" Mick told him. "You have a great love of magic, and legend has it that the Ninja Steel can magnify the truest desires of anyone that wields it, allowing you to perform these great feats!"

Preston cheered up a little, and started to swish around the adjustable spanner, wielding it like a wand and imagining himself performing great feats. Mick took his wrist to stop him.

"Preston, you need to be VERY careful using this new power." Mick told him.

"Yeah, we...still don't know exactly what you can do." Sarah reminded him. "You can already break the laws of physics. You don't want to accidentally turn one of us into a giant lump of jello or something do you?"

"Oh...yeah, of course!" Preston said, looking away and smiling.

"Anyway, I need to go and get cleaned up before next period." Calvin said, glaring at Preston a little.

"Yeah, there's still some of the lunch period to go." Hayley answered. "If we get to the canteen soon, maybe not ALL of the decent food will be gone."

As they all left, Mick just sighed and shook his head, placing his face in his hands.

"You don't think Preston's going to be careful do you?" Redbot asked. Mick just shook his head. "Why not?"

"Because he's a teenager." He answered.