Chapter 7

Things had been going pretty well for Preston over the next few weeks. He talked everything out with his friends, went on a few dates with his girlfriend, and spent time bonding and training with his dad more. Everything had been going great, but all good things will come to an end eventually.

The day that things really came crashing down started out normally enough. Preston went to school where he got to pretend that he didn't have magic powers growing inside him for a while. Yes, he acted like a magician, but nobody knew that he was an actual wizard except for his ranger team.

After school was over for the day, all six rangers went to the base for training. Again, pretty normal. After training, Mick scanned Preston to get an update on how his powers were progressing. Mick has been making a habit of doing this at least once a week. Mick knew a little about magic. He's not an expert, but he has met a few people in the past who can do magic. He has also been in contact with Preston's father who has been surprisingly helpful in giving Mick more knowledge about magic. For someone who doesn't have magic himself and has never been to space, he is very knowledgeable. Looks like his wife did teach him a lot. Mick has been using his scans to give Marcus a weekly update on how his son's powers have been progressing. Marcus has actually been surprised at how quickly Preston's powers have been growing. The powers of most witches and wizards doesn't grow that fast. They have thought that it's possible Preston's powers are growing so quickly because his magic developed late, but they're not sure that's the reason.

Preston's mom is powerful. His brother is powerful. How powerful could Preston potentially be?

Mick looked at the results of his latest scan and noticed that Preston's powers were at the level that it would stop at for most witches and wizards, but Preston's powers were still growing at a steady rate. He supposes that's good for when Asher shows up again, but he fears that Madame Odius could become interested in Preston eventually. She has shown her interest in the blue ranger already and it could only get worse if she finds out how powerful Preston is becoming.

Mick was still looking at his computer when he picked up a weird magic signature. The rangers noticed immediately.

"Mick, what's wrong?" Brody asked.

"There's some kind of weird magic signature," Mick answered.

"We'll check it out."

"I'm not sure about this. Something doesn't feel right."

"Maybe, but we still need to check it out." The others nodded and the rangers left the base.

Mick couldn't help but be worried. He didn't like this, and he decided to make a phone call. He dialed the number and placed his phone to his ear. "Hello, Marcus. I'm worried Asher might be back."

Meanwhile, the rangers found the location where the weird magic signal was coming from, but they didn't see anything there. Preston realized that this was the same place he had fought Asher previously. He looked around for anything that looked out of place and saw a big rock that he believed didn't look quite right. He sent a magical energy blast in that direction, and, sure enough, the rock disappears, and Asher is knocked back. Preston is actually a little impressed with himself that he caught how Asher shape shifted into the rock.

Asher quickly got back up and looked over to the rangers who all took fighting stances. "You have good instincts, brother," Asher said. "You also look more confident with your powers than the last time I saw you."

"I've been training hard to improve my powers," Preston said back. "Turns out dad knows a lot about magic."

Asher scoffed. "He has seriously been training you. He wasn't even the person who tried to find me when I ran away! That was mom!"

"You think he didn't care?!"

"He didn't! You think I don't know how he treated you after mom died. How he was distant and was never there when you needed him."

"He made some mistakes, yes, but people can change. It's not too late, Asher. We can all be a family again. Just because mom saw a vision of you being evil doesn't mean it has to be true. You can change it."

"It's my destiny to be evil. I'm sure you know about the magical creatures. Well, mine is a serpent. Powerful, but also untrustworthy. This is just who I am." Asher unexpectedly sent a magical soundwave like blast at the rangers which sent them all flying back. "You can't change me!"

"Asher?" Asher turned around at that voice. He recognized it and it had been so long since he heard it. "It's been a long time."

"Dad?" Asher asked. It looked like Asher was actually getting a little emotional. Preston wasn't sure why his dad was here, but he had a bad feeling about this.

Marcus started slowly moving to stand in front of the rangers (a bit of a distance away though) and Asher started walking also so it looked like they were circling each other. "You don't need to be evil," Marcus said once he got in front of the rangers. "You can come home. With me. With Preston."

"You mean with your golden child," Asher spat.

"I never wanted you to run away. I told your mom that we would figure out a way to change her vision together."

Asher scoffed again. "Guess what, I actually had a vision too that night. I saw mom's death. I saw that vision come true when she dies right in front of me. She found me and the person who took over my training killed her. She said I should not have any attachments, and she was right. Attachments make me weak." Asher started glowing red and Preston knew that was very bad.

The rangers got up as Asher looked like he was getting ready to fire a magical energy blast. "NO!" Preston yelled as he and the other rangers started running towards Preston's father.

Asher fired the magical energy blast at Marcus. Marcus was in pain, but he turned back to Preston to attempt to give him a warm smile before he was disintegrated by Asher's blast. The rangers all stopped where Marcus had just stood and looked at Asher in disbelief. Asher smiled evilly at them before he disappeared.

Once Asher was gone, Preston collapsed to his knees and broke down. Sarah was next to him immediately hugging him. The others just stood behind them, not sure of what to do. What could they do? One of their teammates just lost his father and there was no bringing him back.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed!