Nick blinked at Maddy in disbelief, "You do realize that it isn't April Fool's Day, right?" he asked slowly, "This is a prank, there is no way in the Thirteen Realms that I'm Udonna's son."
"Udonna recognized your baby blanket," Maddy insisted, "The story you, Phineas, and Udonna tell matches up. You're Bowen."
"Great, so now I wasn't just raised by the leader of the power rangers, but I'm our mentor's long lost son as well. Why in the world am I living Ronny's favorite daydream! This is ridiculous, insane, bizarre, this has to be a prank!"
"I really don't think Udonna, Daggeron, and Phineas are the pranking type. Especially Udonna and Daggeron, and there was no way that Phineas had the information needed for this type of prank."
Nick slumped down on the couch, shaking his head, "I just… Don't understand, what exactly happened, how can I be her son?"
"You know there is only one person who can really answer your questions, right?"
"Yeah," Nick confessed, "I know. I will have to talk to Udonna," Nick sighed, "Might as well have the others come as well, Bright Pen of Power, Chip's going to ask a million questions as it is."
…
Udonna sighed as the rangers all sat down around the table, "I guess it's time for you to hear the whole story," she announced, "Especially you Bowen."
"Look, I'm not convinced that I'm your son, I'm sure that that baby blanket was massed produced and there are hundreds of them out in the world," Nick insisted, "Even if it does turn out that you are my birth mother, that doesn't change anything. I'm Nick, not Bowen, I've been Nick for as long as I can remember."
"I understand, but perhaps if I tell you what happened you would understand," Udonna said, smiling softly, "You see, before the war, I lived peacefully with my husband, Leonbow, and our baby son, Bowen," she paused long enough to flash Nick a bright smile.
"Ah," V exclaimed, "I bet you were an adorable baby," she said, reaching over to pinch Nick's cheek. Nick slapped her hand away and gave her a dirty look.
"Leanbow was my mentor, the one who taught me everything I know," Daggeron spoke up over Vida, "When the forces of evil attacked, we fought them on all fronts. Leanbow fought bravely, but Morticon and his troops were too strong. We needed a plan," Daggeron sighed heavily shaking his head, "So Leanbow met with Niella and myself. He had a plan," he shook his head, "I tried to talk him out of it, but…"
"Leanbow always did things his way," Udonna insisted.
"The honorable way," Daggeron agreed.
"Wow," a new, young voice called out, "Just like Koragg!"
Everyone turned to look at the young red headed girl standing next to them.
"What, I heard Nick talking to Mom and Dad about how Koragg would just walk away from a battle because it would be unhonorable to defeat a downed enemy," she said proudly.
"Ruby Kenisha Oliver," Nick said slowly, "What in the world are you doing at Rootcore?"
"Listening to the story, duh," Ruby said, rolling doe colored eyes, "What does it look like I'm doing."
Nick arched an eyebrow, "Ruby, you can't go teleporting into random power ranger headquarters, especially active ranger headquarters. Go home now, or I will have to call Mom and Dad," he paused for a second, before adding, "And take Grace and Troy with you."
Two more kids appeared, one red head girl and a brunette boy, both looking sheepish.
"How you know that we were there?" the boy asked.
"A magician never reveals his tricks," Nick insisted, "Home now, or I will call. You don't want to be grounded for the rest of summer do you?"
The three kids looked at each other for a brief second before Ruby held out her hands, allowing her siblings to grab them and disappeared into thin air.
Nick groaned, "Siblings," he announced with a wry smile.
Udonna nodded her head in sympathy, as Daggeron continued the story, "We were joined by one that we believed was a friend."
"Callendar," Chip guessed, "Right? I'm right, Right?"
"Yes," Udonna confessed, "But before he betrayed us, he was a dear friend. Which just made the betrayal cut all the deeper."
"And made it harder for the Keeper's protection to protect you," Nick added, "When the Protection tried to protect, you assumed that it was outside force. Especially during a war."
"Exactly, when the battle was brought to the surface world, I knew that the forces of darkness would go after our child. Bowen, a member of the Keeper family, born with magical powers, he had to be protected. So I gave him to Daggeron to protect. He was not a member of the Keeper family, and therefore the curse could not affect him."
"Even without the curse, I was caught unprepared when Callendar attacked," Daggeron confessed, "I did everything in my power to protect myself and Bowen, but…" Daggeron sighed, "I ended up cursed and trapped in that cave instead. I had no idea what happened to Bowen. I feared it might have been my fault. Until Phineas informed us just earlier today that he rescued Bowen and took him to the human world beyond our sanctuary."
"Where I was supposedly found in the nearby park and adopted," Nick said, "Okay, I admit, I have a bit in common with your story of Bowen, but…" Nick threw his hands in the air, "This is just some sort of elebrite prank. This is Uncle Zack's doing, I just know it," he swung his arms wide, "Ruby, Grace, Troy, I know you're still there," He announced.
Three small figures popped into view, "How did you know?" one of the red heads asked.
"I just did," Nick insisted, "If you aren't going to go home like I told you to, I'm going to have to escort you home and Mom and Dad are going to hear about this."
"But Nick," Troy cried out, sticking out his lips, "We're nine years old, we aren't babies, we can help."
"Sorry bud, Dad says the cut off is Fourteen for joining teams."
"Justin was twelve," Ruby pointed out, "We aren't that much younger than that."
"Three years is a big difference, but you have to understand, he was in highschool at the time, not Elementary School," Nick insisted.
…
Kimberly Oliver couldn't find her nine year old triplets, which was concerning, but not that surprising. Those three were as thick as thieves, had been since the day they were born, and had a perchance for trouble. Especially Ruby. The problem was they were only children and were still exploring the world around them, and the powers that they had been born with. Add in the Keeper's Curse and it was a recipe for disaster.
"Mom, you home?" a voice called out, not one of the triplets, but still one of her child's, she'd could recognize any of them from anywhere.
"Nick?" she called out, confused, Nick shouldn't be there. He really shouldn't. Despite only being sixteen, he really shouldn't be here. He was needed as the red ranger of the Mystic Force in Briarwood. They were still active. Kim would have known if his mission was completed.
"Hi mom," her oldest son said with a sigh, nodding to the three missing children with a knowing look, "Guess who thought it would be fun to spy on me at Rootcore?"
Kim gave Nick a look before shooting the three younger children the look, as her teammates had dubbed it. They shifted uncomfortably, even Sky, the two year old knew that that look meant trouble.
"You can't just go teleporting wherever you want Ruby!" she exclaimed, rubbing her head, "Just wait until your father gets home from that meeting with Uncle Jason."
Nick rolled his eyes, Uncle Jason, his mother's adoptive brother and his father's biological cousin was technically his father's second in command, and so at least twice a year he insisted that he head down to Angel Grove and discuss power ranger problems with him. It was honestly just an excuse to hang out with him and relive his glory days. Uncle Jason, like every other power ranger out there, was kept up to date with all power ranger activity. All you had to do was log onto Ranger Time.
Nick looked up to see his mother looking at him with a knowing look, "All right Nick, what's bothering you?"
"What makes you think that something is bothering me?"
"I've been your mother for the past nine years, trust me, I know when something is bothering you. Besides that my internal Heart of the Power Rangers sensor is going off. Yes, I know your Uncle Zack teases about it, but I really do have a radar that lets me know when a fellow ranger just needs to talk."
"Nick found out what happened to his birth parents," Grace offered, hoping to turn the attention to her older brother and away from her and her siblings.
"Look just because Udonna and my teammates seem to think that I'm Udonna's long lost son, doesn't mean I am. So what our stories short of match, but so can a hundred other stories."
"How many babies do you believe was abandoned under a tree in Briarwood Central Park, wrapped in a red blanket, sixteen years ago?"
"What? Don't tell me that you believe this nonsense too!"
Doe colored eyes met brown, "I don't believe, I know," Kim announced, "I've known for a very long time. The moment I heard about Udonna and the Mystic Forest, I knew that was where you were course when Koragg started attacking you, and it became clear that he is a blood relative, and a Keeper, well, that's when we realized that you were Udonna's son. How Koragg fits in is still a mystery."
"You knew?" Nick asked.
Kim nodded, "Yes, before I met you, Tommy and I, we had a dream from the morphin grid, it showed us how you ended up in the human world. When you first showed up, holding your blanket, we knew that you were the baby from the dream. Of course, as with lot's of those prophetic dreams, we didn't understand it until much, much later, as in at the beginning of summer…" she trailed off, noticing the shocked look on Nick's face.
"Your father suggested that we wait to tell you until after your mission was completed, he was worried it might distract you. We were planning on telling you, but either the morphin grid, or Keeper's curse wanted you to know now. We'll just have to wait and see how this turns out. Just remember, we will always be your family, no matter what."