Disclaimer: I own nothing here you recognise (and depending on what fandom drew your interest to this fic, I may not own some things you don't recognise); you know how it goes.

Feedback: Always appreciated

AN: In advance, this and the next chapter will introduce the members of the titular team; I'll provide a quick 'cast list' at the end of the chapter so you know a few details about who's who and where they all came from.

The Guardians of Magic

Merlin wondered if he'd ever have a completely relaxing week in Camelot. He was prepared to acknowledge that there was the occasional quiet day when all that he had to worry about was his official duties as Arthur's servant and Gaius's assistant, but it seemed as though he couldn't go more than a full week without having to face some kind of threat, and significant magical problems were generally separated by a month or so. With everything that had happened over the last couple of days, trying to cure Arthur of the venom of the Questing Beast and making his various deals with Nimueh to save his loved ones before finally destroying Nimueh herself, frankly Merlin was ready to just have a good, uninterrupted sleep after the most stressful few days he'd had for some time. With Gaius off to the throne room to give Uther his excuse for his latest absence, Merlin was left to walk up the stairs leading to his bedroom, opening the door-

Merlin's half-asleep mind was practically jolted back to full alertness when he suddenly felt as though something had picked him up and shaken him,

Even Merlin's half-asleep mind was jolted back to full awareness when he walked through the door and found himself standing in an open street rather than his room. His first reaction was to turn around to try and go back through the door he'd just walked through, only to find that the door had vanished, leaving him looking around an unfamiliar city.

It didn't take long for Merlin to confirm that not only did he not recognise this place, but he didn't even know what this city was even made of. The walls and buildings around him were all a smooth white surface that looked like no brickwork he'd ever seen, and the streets were a smooth black surface with only the occasional small rock visible here and there. Looking at the few people around him, Merlin was initially just idly curious at their bland clothing, each of them in grey clothes made of some fabric he couldn't identify, before he realised that they were all looking at him in turn… and something about the expressions of those closest to him made him think he was dealing with something more than surprise at his own clothes…

Just Merlin was about to walk up to one of the nearby people and hope that they could at least understand him, he heard a loud shrieking sound coming towards him. Turning towards the source of the sound, Merlin's eyes widened when he saw what he could only think of as a flying horseless carriage hurtling through the air, before it came to a halt in front of him. Looking around, Merlin realised for the first time that he was essentially standing on his own in the middle of the street, but didn't have time to consider the implications of his solitude properly before a group of people came out of the flying carriage. Each of them was wearing a strange white armour that completely covered their bodies and was pointing something at him that Merlin could only compare to a thick white branch.

There was something about the way these men were holding the 'branches' that suggested to Merlin they were a kind of weapon, most likely a variation on the crossbows he'd often seen the knights using. He couldn't see the arrow or string anywhere on these, but judging by the way they were pointing those things at him, Merlin had a feeling he was about to find out what they fired soon enough.

"Wait!" he held up his hands, hoping that he could still talk his way out of this if he was right about those things being some kind of weapon, even if he didn't know what he'd done to merit this kind of response to his arrival. "I'm not-!"

One of the weapons fired what he could only describe as a Sidhe attack at him, forcing Merlin to channel his own magic and deflect the attack before it could strike. He could 'sense' something in the attack that confirmed for him that it only looked like a Sidhe attack, but he couldn't get any sense of what the energy actually was, save for the fact that it was clearly trying to force its way through his defences. As he held the energy blast back, Merlin glanced around at the street and was surprised to see that the people who had been here earlier had left; it was as though the people here had left as soon as they realised who had come to attack him…

Deciding to worry about the implications of that detail later, Merlin let his instincts take control as he stopped fighting the attack and flicked his hands to redirect it, sending the blast back towards the soldiers who had just attempted to attack him. As soon as it made contact with one of the group, the man was sent flying backwards, strange sparks erupting from his armour as he hit the ground.

When the rest of the men seemed about to aim their weapons at him, Merlin decided now was as good a time as any to abandon restraint, waving his hands to unleash a powerful wave of magic that sent them all flying backwards. With his immediate attackers gone and the surrounding streets empty, Merlin turned and ran off down a side-alley, no clearer goal in his mind beyond getting away and figuring out what was going on and what had just happened to send him here in the first place.

Holding Ginny as she shook with tears while they walked carefully through the tunnel leading away from the Chamber, Harry wished that he was better with people. He wanted to believe that Ginny's concerns that she would be expelled would turn out to be wrong, but he barely knew how to console Hermione after spending almost two years in her company, and Ginny…

He didn't dislike her, but with her early embarrassment at the Burrow and the way Riddle had been using her for most of this year he hadn't really had the chance to get to know her well enough to feel like he could really help her on his own. He had remembered to grab her wand from where it had fallen to her side after she got up after recovering from the 'death' of the diary, and it was currently in his pocket along with his own, but that was just a small thing compared to everything else Ginny was dealing with right now. Why was it that Harry could dive in and face a basilisk and some kind of 'ghost' of Voldemort's teenage self, but had no clue how to help a perfectly friendly girl whose only problem was that she got embarrassed too easily-?

He was suddenly struck by the strange sense that something had reached down from above and grabbed him in a way that reminded him of the headaches he'd felt the year before when his scar had been reacting to Voldemort's presence in Quirrell. He knew that this wasn't the same kind of event, as his head felt fuzzy rather than in pain, but there was definitely something-

He only just felt Ginny tighten her grip on his arm as something pressed down on his other side before he let out a scream as the disorientation suddenly increased to painful levels, before the darkness of the surrounding tunnel vanished and Harry found himself kneeling in the middle of a bright street. Looking up as the sense of confusion faded form his head, Harry could see tall white buildings that put him in mind of buildings he'd seen on the rare occasions when he was taken into the city- either because the Dursleys couldn't leave him with someone or because it was a school trip they couldn't justifiably stop him taking part in- but these buildings was clearly far larger and more elaborate than anything he'd seen back then… even if the streets seemed emptier…

"Wh… what… what happened?" Ginny asked, helping Harry to his feet as the pain in his head cleared. Looking from Ginny to his other side, Harry was surprised to see Fawkes sitting on his shoulder, the phoenix looking around with a new sense of…

Harry wasn't sure how he knew this, but he had the sudden sensation that Fawkes was just as confused about what had just happened as he was, which didn't help him feel any better about this bizarre turn of events. Seized with a new sense of anxiety, Harry quickly checked himself over and was soon relieved to confirm that he still had his and Ginny's wands in his pocket and the hat and sword in each hand, but was stopped from doing anything more when four figures suddenly appeared in front of him, each brandishing what looked like some kind of gun.

"On the ground, freaks!" one of the figures said, aiming the weapon at Harry's head.

"Wait a-" Harry began, mind racing as he tried to move between Ginny and whoever these people were, only to be surprised when Fawkes suddenly tipped back his head and let out a loud, trilling song. For a moment, Harry felt a greater sense of confidence, and even Ginny seemed to calm down beside him, but the four guards in front of him suddenly winced as though struck with some sense of fear and panic.

Harry was just about to move in and try to take advantage of the opportunity when a figure in red leather and blue denim charged in and knocked down the soldier on the far right, subsequently grabbing its weapon and firing at the next guard along. Deciding to take advantage of the distraction, Harry pulled out his wand and fired a spell at the guard on the left of the group, knocking the man down before he turned his attention to the new arrival as they took down the last guard. To Harry's surprise, the figure was a woman dressed in distinctly muggle clothing, with long blonde hair and a youthful face, looking at them in concern.

"You two OK?" she asked.

"Y-yeah…" Harry said, before he realised what he was dealing with and raised his wand and the sword defensively. "Who are you? Where is this place?"

"No idea as to the second, but for the first, my name's Emma Swan," the woman replied with a brief smile. "I'm… well, simplest explanation is that I'm the sheriff of Storeybrooke, but I'm pretty sure this isn't anywhere near there…"

"Storeybrooke?" Ginny asked, her recent confidence boost further reinforced as she looked at their unexpected saviour. "Where's that?"

"It's… well, can I assume that's a wand of some sort?" Emma indicated Harry's wand. "Which would make you both… magical?"

"Yeah…" Harry nodded cautiously, unsure how he kept ending up having to take charge in unusual situations.

"But… you're not from the Enchanted Forest?"

"The Enchanted what?" Ginny asked.

"That answers that, anyway," Emma nodded before she looked back at the downed soldiers. "Actually, maybe we should continue this talk somewhere that isn't a public street?"

A part of Harry wondered if going off with a stranger would be a good idea, but then he reminded himself that this woman probably wouldn't have saved him and Ginny from being arrested if she just wanted them captured. It probably wasn't a perfect plan, but when he didn't know what was going on here right now, he would have to work with what he knew and hope for the best.

Besides, when he looked at where Fawkes was still perched on his shoulder, he had a feeling that Fawkes would have made some kind of sign if this woman wasn't trustworthy, considering how the phoenix had reacted to the guards. He'd keep his wand available just in case, but if Emma Swan tried anything…

Not that there's much else Ginny and I can do right now; wherever we are, I have a feeling we aren't exactly where we started out this morning…

The thing that really disturbed Tommy Oliver about the memory of the time he had spent under Rita's spell was how… natural it had seemed at the time. He had obviously heard of the Power Rangers before his family moved to Angel Grove, but he hadn't been expecting himself to become part of his life on this scale, and getting put under Rita's spell like that…

He couldn't even really remember how he had justified his loyalty to Rita when that spell had been cast; he had just woken up on that table and suddenly felt an overriding 'devotion' to the alien queen, driving him to go to any lengths to fulfil her demands, ignoring everything that might have once told him that was wrong.

It had been disturbing to come back to himself after Jason destroyed the Sword of Darkness, but he'd certainly appreciated having the other Rangers standing around to offer him support. Part of him was still unsure if he was ready for everything that would come from being a full-time part of the Ranger team, but he also knew that he wasn't ready to just abandon the fight after the way Rita had twisted his mind like that; if he could do anything to stop someone else going through that, he would do it.

During a recent talk with Zordon and Alpha, the two had speculated that some of the abilities he had possessed due to the Coin may have been provided by Rita's magic, but had agreed that it would be best for him to test that out now rather than try something in the field and get caught out when it didn't work. With that in mind, Tommy had morphed and gone out to a remote area of the desert to practice, Zordon assuring him that this wouldn't count as abuse of the rule against misusing their powers on the understanding that he wouldn't summon the Dragonzord.

It didn't take Tommy long to get a feel for fighting as the Green Ranger, testing himself against the surrounding rocks to get a better feel for his physical abilities. The enhanced strength meant that he had to adjust his fighting style for a few moves, as putting too much power into a kick or punch could put him in a dangerous position against an active opponent, but scaling down wasn't exactly a challenge. He had to be careful when picking 'targets' when he blew into the Dragon Dagger, but like Jason and the others had described, he almost seemed to 'know' what to do with the weapon on an instinctive level.

Satisfied that he'd done what he came here to do, he was just about to power down when he felt something surround him. For a moment he wondered if he was being teleported back to the Command Centre, but it soon became clear this wasn't the same; in a way he couldn't quite define, where Zordon's teleportation felt as though he was being enveloped by energy, this felt as though he was being pulled by something…

The sensation faded and Tommy found himself standing in the middle of a futuristic-looking city, the surrounding street relatively empty apart from a few people around the edges. Tommy's hand instinctively moved to his morpher, but stopped himself doing anything too fast; he wasn't sure what was going on here, but it would be best to be ready for a fight if something happened…

"FREEZE!" an unfamiliar voice yelled. Turning around, Tommy decided not to be too surprised when he found himself facing a group of four soldiers dressed in some kind of white armour, pointing some kind of weapon at him.

"I don't suppose-?" he began.

"On the ground, you sicko!" the apparent lead soldier said as he pointed his weapon at them. "You think you get a loophole because you can say this is all tech? Magic is magic, and this is-!"

"Loophole?" Tommy tried to interrupt. "What are you talking-?"

"Stand down and turn yourself in for trial and execution-!"

"Execution?" Tommy yelled incredulously. "I literally just arrived-"

"Magic is an abomination that must be destroyed; you dare to come here using that and-?"

Tommy still wasn't sure what this man was going on about, but he was suddenly reminded of a few occasions when he'd found himself dealing with a few racists back in his old school, forced to balance using his training responsibly with his own hatred of that kind of attitude. With the guns still pointing at him, Tommy finally decided that he'd had enough, drawing the Dragon Dagger and slashing out at the guns aimed at him, severing the front end of each gun. His enemies temporarily distracted by the shock of the attack, Tommy dived into action, hitting and kicking each soldier with enough force to break the armour and send them all flying back. Hurrying over to each fallen soldier, Tommy took a quick check and confirmed that they were just unconscious rather than dead; whatever these people thought about magic, he didn't want to kill anyone because of what seemed to essentially be a misunderstanding.

Looking at the fallen bodies of his would-be attackers, Tommy quickly came to a decision; until he knew what was going on here, or even where he was, he couldn't stay on the street in his Ranger suit. Hurrying into a nearby alley, he placed his hands on his morpher and powered down, leaving him to run deeper into the city's apparent back streets in his civilian clothes. If he could evade whoever had sent those soldiers, maybe he could find somewhere to think about what had happened and then plan his next move…

With the initial chaos of Aife's attack having died down now that she was out of the picture, Bo had to admit that a part of her was looking forward to what was coming up. There would probably be a rough few weeks as everyone tried to adjust to whatever was up with the Ash right now, and she was prepared for there to be some other issues her mother had been too warped to think about when she was putting her plan into action, but she could deal with those later.

On a personal level, with the secrets of Dyson and Trick's initial interest in her resolved, she was looking forward to moving on to a new stage of their relationship. Now that everyone could be satisfied she'd never been an intentional part of her mother's plans, maybe she and Dyson could focus on-

Her thoughts were interrupted when something in the centre of the house seemed to… the only term Bo could find for it was 'shimmer', putting her in mind of some kind of distorted ripple effect.

"Uh… BoBo?" Kenzi said, the succubus's younger friend now standing hesitantly behind her. "What the Fae is that?"

"I… don't know," Bo replied, even as she reached over to grab a couple of suitable swords from the table where they'd been laid out in preparation of the day's activities. "But I think we need to-"

Bo's words were cut short when the ripple effect suddenly seemed to expand outwards, leaving her with the strange sensation that the air around her had suddenly become water as it enveloped her and Kenzi. When the sensation had faded, Bo found herself and Kenzi standing in the middle of an open street, elaborate white buildings on either side of it, putting Bo in mind of some sci-fi shows she'd found while idly browsing television one night when she didn't have any better plans in mind.

"…OK," Kenzi looked around herself before she turned back to Bo. "This isn't some fae thing Trick didn't tell the human, right?"

"If it is, he didn't tell me about it either," Bo said, looking uncertainly at the few people on the streets around them. She wasn't sure if this city was empty or if this was just a quiet street, but there was definitely something about this place…

Looking up as she heard something in the air, Bo looked curiously at the sight of what seemed to be a flying wheelless car coming down towards them. Exchanging glances with Kenzi, Bo and her friend quickly hid their swords behind their backs; it was a fragile hope, but if whoever they were dealing with didn't see their weapons maybe they could talk their way out of it…

That already-weak plan was pushed further back once the car landed and the people in the car emerged, revealing that they were all wearing some strange white armour and carrying odd white guns of some sort.

"Right then," the apparent leader of the group said, aiming his weapon at Bo, "step away from the human and put your hands on your head."

"Me?" Bo asked, cautiously raising one hand as the other finished tucking her blade under her jacket and trousers. "Why would I-?"

"We know that you've been using magic, lady," one of the other men said with a bitter edge to his voice as he looked at the succubus. "You know the cost of doing that-"

"Actually, I don't," Bo said, walking cautiously towards the lead guard, reaching out with one hand as she gave the figure the seductive smile that she had used to get men to do anything she wanted even before she started learning how to properly control her abilities. "As hard as this might be to believe, I literally only just got here, and I've never known what I'm doing; couldn't we just-?"

Bo fought down the urge to yell in pain as the man grabbed her wrist and squeezed it as he glared at her, his gaze making it clear that he knew what she'd been trying to do and wouldn't allow her to do it.

"Not happening, bitch," the soldier said with the kind of cold disdain that put Bo in mind of the way some people had treated the more twisted underfae she'd encountered. "You can't play with us like that-"

"Get off her!" Kenzi yelled, charging towards Bo's current captor, only for one of the others to spin around and slam his gun into the side of her head, sending Kenzi to the ground.

"Kenzi!" Bo screamed as the guard stood over her friend, his gun pointing at the young Goth. Desperate to help her, Bo was able to grab the man's arm with her other hand and flip him over her shoulder, but then she turned around and found herself facing the remaining three soldiers, each of them pointing their weapons at her.

"Nice try, bitch," another of the soldiers said with a mocking edge to his voice. "Guess now we can say that you were resisting arrest-"

"Back off!" another voice yelled, this one putting Bo in mind of someone suffering from some kind of cold before some kind of white energy ball blasted all three of the strange guards away. As their former attackers hit the ground, Bo and Kenzi turned to look at the new arrival, each surprised to find themselves looking at a lanky boy who looked as though he was in his early twenties at best. He was wearing a brown hoodie over a checked shirt and dark trousers, and was holding a glowing orb of some kind of energy in his hands before he hurled it at the guards' fallen weapons, leaving them reduced to twisted lumps of burnt metal.

"You two OK?" the young man looked inquiringly between the two women.

"Uh… think so?" Kenzi said as she carefully stood up, clutching her head and wincing as she checked herself over for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Same here," Bo said, glad that she didn't have to worry about 'feeding' yet before she looked at the new arrival curiously. "So why were you helping us?"

"Because I just got away from more of those guys who were doing the same thing to me and figured anyone they're treating like that might need some help?" the young man replied, a cautious edge to his voice that at least suggested he was just as confused about this situation as they were.

"So you don't know where you are either?" Bo asked, deciding to get the obvious questions out of the way first.

"Did your house turn all weird and pull you somewhere you weren't earlier too?" Kenzi asked with a polite grin.

"…More like the mirror changed and pulled me through it while I was practising a spell or two, but yeah, that probably works," the young man nodded.

"OK, so different methods of getting here, but we all agree we're somewhere new… and judging by the energy ball trick, I take it you're not exactly normal?" Bo asked, trying to smile encouragingly at him. When she didn't know what was going on, she didn't want to try and 'whammy' the kid when he'd already shown that he was willing to help them, but she would like to know who she was dealing with.

"…You could say that," their saviour replied with a nod. "Dave Stutler; you?"

"Bo," Bo replied.

"And I'm Kenzi," Kenzi grinned at him.

"…Interesting names, but when I hang out with Balthazar Blake, I'm not one to judge."

"Balthazar Blake?" Bo repeated with a smile, glad to have something more amusing to think about in the middle of this confusing situation. "Who's that?"

"Kind of my teacher, and we should probably focus on getting somewhere private to talk about that in more depth," Dave observed as he indicated the open street around them.

"Good call," Bo nodded in agreement as she looked around them for a moment before turning down a side street. "Come on; if we stay off the main roads, maybe we can find somewhere to hide."

It wasn't much of a plan, but at least Dave seemed like he'd have a few tricks up his sleeve to help them fight off whatever might come after them if they were attacked again…

AN 2: As promised, the 'cast list' so far;

Merlin is from the titular BBC series, just at the end of the first season.
Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley were taken as they were trying to leave the Chamber of Secrets after their confrontation with the basilisk and Riddle's diary.
Emma Swan is from the series Once Upon a Time, basically at the very end of the first season.
Tommy Oliver is basically from very early in his career as a Power Ranger, so that he's still learning what he can do as the Green Ranger.
Bo and Kenzi are from the series Lost Girl, once again basically at the end of the show's first season.
Dave Sutler is from the film The Sorcerer's Apprentice, starring Nicholas Cage; basically he comes from a point shortly after the events of the film.

The rest of the team will be introduced in the next chapter.