Tyler and Kole sat inside the smoothie bar drinking smoothies as they waited on Marina to arrive. Neither boy has spoken to the other about what happened yet but assumed the other had a similar experience to his own.

Marina walks in and orders a smoothie at the counter before sitting down next to Kole. The three teens look at each other without speaking.

"So…" Kole starts. "Anything weird happen to you two lately?"

Tyler stares at Kole. "Define weird."

"Like with the rocks? Anything not normal going on with them."

"Like flashing? Mines been flashing."

"More than that."

"You mean like uh…"

Marina rolls her eyes. "Getting attacked by some octopus looking monsters or aliens and suddenly having magic powers. Because none of us are close friends, if that didn't happen to all three of us, we wouldn't all be sitting here together right now."

"Yeah." Kole says. "That."

Tyler sighs. "It's crazy. What were those things?"

"I have no idea."

Marina nods. "Me either."

"So…" Tyler says. "What powers did y'all get?"

Kole whispers. "I shot electricity out of my hands."

Marina looks at Kole. "I sprayed water out of my hands and froze it."

Tyler nods. "I shot fireballs out of my hands."

"This is crazy."

"We have powers. We're like human Pokémon."

"This is about as realistic as Pokémon."

"Pikachu is real, and you can't change my mind."

"Whatever. He's only real in Pokémon Go."

Kole sighs. "We gotta do something."

"What can we do?"

"I don't know. But maybe we can return the rocks."

Marina and Tyler both look at Kole. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?"

"The rocks gave us powers, Kole." Tyler says. "We can't just put them back."

"And what if the rocks would give powers to those octopus things?" Marina adds. "That would be bad."

"We can't just deal with this all the time." Kole says.

"We do until we figure out what we're supposed to do."

"Who taught your Geology class?"

"Our study hall teacher, Mr. Short. Why?"

"We should talk to him."

"He'll think we're crazy. Then he won't believe us. Maybe he'll have us psychologically evaluated. Or taken into custody because we'll sound absolutely crazy. We can't do that."

"Why not?" Tyler asks. "He would know about rocks."

"This is about rocks giving people magical powers. Mr. Short would think we're absolutely crazy."

"What if we show him our powers?"

"We can't do that either."

"What's your reason this time?"

"He'll think we're aliens or monsters, and we'll end up in a science laboratory or something."

"It's Mr. Short. He wouldn't do that to us."

"But he will still think we're absolutely crazy."

"I doubt it. We'll just show him our powers, Marina. He's the most trustworthy person we can go to."

"And when we tell him we have magical powers from rocks and had to fight off giant silver bipedal octopuses, he won't be so trustworthy anymore."

"I doubt he'll tell anyone."

"But we don't have a full understanding of our situation. It would be best to keep this between us three right now."

"It would be best to see if anyone has answers. Mr. Short is our best bet, Marina."

Kole nods. "I actually agree with Tyler. Marina, we need answers, and he is our best option."

Marina sighs. "This could go bad quick."

"We have no better option." Tyler comments.

Marina stands up. "You know what? You two can go talk to Mr. Short all you want. Just leave my name out of it because I refuse to talk to him about this. Don't come running to me when you two freak him out."

Marina leaves the smoothie bar, leaving Tyler and Kole just with each other.

"You want to go talk to him?" Tyler asks Kole.

"Yeah." Kole replies.

"Me too. Let's go."

Kole and Tyler knew their idea was crazy, but they managed to get into the school late at night to see if Mr. Short was still there. Luckily for both of them, Mr. Short was indeed still at the school.

Tyler stood in the doorway and knocked. "Hey, Mr. Short, you got a minute?"

Mr. Short looked up from his work at Tyler and Kole. "Tyler, Kole…yes come in. Shut the door behind you."

Tyler and Kole walk in and shut the door. Both stand nervously.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything." Tyler says.

"You're fine. Sit down, boys."

Tyler and Kole both sit down.

Mr. Short, sensing their nervousness, looks at Tyler and Kole in concern. "What's going on, boys?"

"You studied rocks for years. Right?" Kole asks.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Um…" Tyler starts nervously. "Have you ever heard about rocks giving people magical powers?"

"Hmm…" Mr. Short thinks for a moment. "Tell me about these rocks."

"Well we know this sounds crazy, but we found these rocks covered in crystals and found out we have magical powers."

"What do these rocks look like?"

"Well…they're covered in crystals. Mine is covered in red crystals. Kole's is covered in yellow crystals."

"Okay. What magical powers do you have?"

Tyler conjured up a fireball in his hand. "I can create fire and throw it."

Kole lets electricity form around his hand. "I can generate and control electricity."

"Did either of you bring your rock? I'd like to see them."

Both Tyler and Kole get out their rocks.

Mr. Short looks at the rocks. "Okay. So it's safe to assume Marina has a blue one I assume."

Tyler and Kole exchange a look.

"Um…" Kole says. "She didn't want her name involved in this conversation. She isn't necessarily accepting of what's going on right now. I think the bipedal octopi that we had to fight off freaked her out."

"Bipedal octopi? Well, good news, boys. I have the answers you're looking for, but it's going to be a lot to take in and it might take awhile. Are you ready to hear it?"

"I'm ready." Tyler answers before looking at Kole. "Are you?"

"Yeah." Kole replies. "I'm ready."

Mr. Short smiles. "Those rocks are the elemental stones. The elemental stones give certain people, people chosen by the powers that be, the ability to control one of the elements of nature to fight off evil forces. Those bipedal octopi that you two and Marina fought are called Octopeds. Octopeds are the minions of an evil monster called Eratacus. Eratacus is the leader of the type of monsters called Destructogons. The Destructogons want to destroy Earth and create a new one using the elemental stones. Over twenty years ago, there were six heroes, who each used the power of one of the elemental stones, that went to war with the Destructogons and sealed Eratacus away. However, the seal was broken five years ago, and Eratacus was tracked down to Coaltown. However, it seems that Eratacus has taken human form to hide. However, with the Octopeds reemerging, it seems that it's time to fight off the Destructogons once again."

"What does that mean for us?" Tyler asks. "And how do you know so much?"

Mr. Short laughs. "I know so much because I am the current Guardian. The Guardian helps the heroes learn what to do against Eratacus. Here you are. You two and Marina are the heroes. You three are Power Rangers."

"Power Rangers?" Kole asks. "Isn't that a TV show?"

"That TV show is based on real events."

"Wait…" Tyler says. "There's only three of us, including Marina. You said there were six heroes with elemental stones."

"I did. There was a prophecy of Eratacus's second coming. The beginning only shows three of you, just like the original heroes started. Later on there's more of you, but there is no way that I can identify who will become the other three."

"Okay. So what now?" Kole asks.

"I need you two to come with me. I've got something to show you."

"Okay."

Kole and Tyler follow Mr. Short down the stairs that he made appear after typing a code into his keypad. Both boys were very confused, but liked the idea of getting the answers about the elemental stones. All three make it all the way to the bottom of the stairs into an underground bunker, and Mr. Short types in a code to seal up the entrance.

Mr. Short turns on the lights inside the bunker. "Boys, welcome to the Home Base."

Both Kole and Tyler look around at the bunker in awe. They had assumed that it was going to be old-fashioned. However, the "Home Base" was full of very complicated technology. There were numerous monitors, a high tech security system, and devices that neither Kole nor Tyler had seen anything like in their lives.

"There's more rooms here, but for now, let's start here." Mr. Short says as he types in another code into the keypad in the wall.

A metal box appears and Mr. Short unlocks it with a key. He puts on a pair of orange gloves and pulls out two glowing orbs.

"Pass your elemental stones for a few seconds." Mr. Short says.

Tyler and Kole, very confused, do as told. Mr. Short pulls out one of the red crystals from Tyler's elemental stone and places it in one of the orbs. The orb turns red. Mr. Short does the same with one of the yellow crystals from Kole's elemental stone for the other orb. The orb turns yellow.

Mr. Short then gets on the computer next to him. "What's a common piece of technology for teenagers these days?"

"Um…" Tyler says. "Apple watches."

Mr. Short types in a few things on the computer before the orbs turn into Apple watches. "That works."

Tyler and Kole exchange a look of confusion.

Mr. Short grabs the watches and hands the red one to Tyler and the yellow one to Kole. "Boys, these are your Power Ranger Morphers. Destiny has chosen you to be Power Rangers. Learn how to use these as soon as possible. Because with the appearance of the Octopeds, a Destructogon attack will be coming soon. Anyway, this is the main part of the home base, The Lab. I have been developing technology as best as I could here for you to learn how to use. Also, this monitor here looks for Destructogon signals and the one next to it looks for the elemental stone energy."

"Wait," Kole says. "If it looks for the energy, did you know we had them?"

"I wasn't certain. Especially because they don't radiate energy all the time, only when they're glowing. Plus, the stones, before being claimed by their rightful owners, will move around a lot unless contained. When I saw that the red, blue, and yellow ones were all with each other near the schools, I knew they were all bound to be claimed soon. I'm mainly looking for the other three. Anyway, let's continue on."

Mr. Short presses a button. Six cases come out of the wall. "These are the containment cases for the elemental stones. I was hoping to keep them all here so there's no chance of any Destructogons getting a crystal off to even use a small bit of the elemental power, as long as that's okay with you two."

Tyler and Kole both put their stones in containment cases.

Mr. Short smiles and takes them to the next room. "This is the lounge. I figured the rangers would be here often so there's video games, a pool table, air hockey, a TV, refreshments, and more to keep you entertained. There's also a kitchen and bathroom." He gestures to another room in the back. "That's the training room and the garage is on the other side of there. That's the tour. I'm going to go. Use the code 2220 when you decide to leave to open and seal up the bunker."

Kole sits down on a couch in the lounge. "This is crazy."

Tyler sits next to him. "Yeah, but it's destiny. I've already decided I'm doing this. It's what it was meant to be."

Kole sighs. "But is it what's best for us and Marina?"

"If it wasn't, we wouldn't have been chosen. Are you in?"

"Yeah…I'm in."