The days settled into a nice pattern, especially once Maggie found a job. She and Adam spent a lot of early evenings together in the park, just walking and enjoying the company. It was on one of those walks that she pulled him to a stop and turned to face him. "What happened... about a year after you told me you'd retired?" she asked. "There was this burst of power that knocked me - and a few others that I know of - completely out for about a day. I know it wasn't you guys, but it was your power. I could feel that."
He laughed. "What brought that up?"
"I was reading in my journal. I'd almost forgotten it. It was a long time ago," she added defensively.
He took her arm, and started walking again. "I felt it, too. I don't know the details, really - the only connection I had to that team hasn't talked to me in a while...." He drifted off as they broke through the trees. "But we can ask him now; we're about to crash their picnic," he added, gesturing to the blankets spread out under one of the trees, people sprawled and sitting on them.
"Hey, Adam!" The voice was accented Hispanic, and the man who ran over certainly matched the voice.
"Hey, Carlos. How are you?"
"Great. Want to join us?" He extended his hand to Maggie, who took it. "Carlos," he said.
"Maggie," she smiled, barely able to hide her surprise at the surge of black power she felt in him. She glanced at Adam, then strengthened her shields. There was no way he would have known.
"Sure, for a while," Adam answered, and they walked over to the rest of the group.
"Whoa. Can I scare him, please?" she whispered. "Please?" Adam laughed, shaking his head. The group was fairly large, with a blonde woman who was obviously with the young man with striped hair, an oriental woman, and a black man. Before anyone could say anything, two more joined them; a tall blonde man, with a petit woman on his arm. Maggie started at one point in the circle, and introduced herself.
"I'm Ashley," the blonde woman smiled, and shook her hand. Maggie grinned at the feel of yellow power; this was going to be fun.
"Andros." It was almost like the first time she'd shaken hands with Billy; luckily her contact with Carlos had prepared her a little bit. She didn't faint, but just barely, and pulled her hand from his grip hastily. He felt a little odd to her shields, which she strengthened a little more, but she figured it was more to do with his red power tasting just a little off. The taste reminded her vaguely of Jason, and his short tenure as the gold Ranger.
"Cassie," said the Asian woman with a shock of pink.
"TJ." The black man gave her a wide grin that looked a little stressed; he was blue.
"Zhane," the blonde man said as he and the woman sat down. She couldn't quite tell his color, but the power was there, for sure. White, or maybe silver? Just as strong as Andros, and the aberration in the power was there, as well. She pulled her hand from his grip as fast as she had from Andros'.
"Karone," the woman with him said, and Maggie snatched her hand away even faster. She felt so weird, and there was no power in her at all. At least, not of the same flavor as the others. On the other hand, her shields were so strong right now she probably wouldn't even feel the power residue in Adam.
"Sorry," she said, and Looked at her. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and she turned to Look at everyone else. "Adam," she said faintly.
"I know," he responded, and had her sit down. He sat next to her and she huddled close, frightened. His touch comforted her, especially the tinge of power she'd been half sure she wouldn't feel.
"What is it?" Cassie asked.
"Go ahead," Adam smiled at her. "It'll make you feel better."
"Where are you three from?" she demanded, pointing at Zhane, Andros and Karone. "And you," she continued, still pointing at the woman, "have got all sorts of weird things...." She knew she was coming on a little strong, but what she had Seen really disturbed her.
"What?" Andros asked, looking confused and a little worried.
Maggie took a deep breath, closing her eyes to center herself. "Let me see if I got the time line right." She glanced at Adam and he nodded. "Ashley took Tanya's power, Cassie took Kat's. TJ took Justin's? And Carlos, of course, inherited from Adam, although why black and not green, I don't understand." All four of them looked stunned. "But Andros did not get his from Tommy, and I don't know where Zhane got his... Silver or white?" He nodded, just as stunned. "Although," she added musingly, "technically it could have come from Tommy. But no, it didn't. Both of you have held your power longer than he did, longer even than Billy. And Karone, you are REALLY confusing. I mean, you're not from Earth, and you have held power...." She paused, then looked at Adam in alarm. "She reminds me a little of Zedd's magic," she told him, then sucked in her breath in fear. "And even more of Jason, after Muranthias."
"Did we look like that?" he asked her after a short pause, surveying the shocked and slightly scared faces of the people in front of him.
"Not really. You knew me, at least a little bit. These poor people have no idea who I am." But it was close, she thought. There had been only a little less fear in their faces than in the ones she looked at now.
"But how did you know?" Carlos demanded, looking as if he'd burst. "I didn't tell anyone about Karone," he growled to Andros, who'd turned to scowl at him. His features fell far too easily into that expression, but came back out of it as just as easily. "Adam? Did you tell her?"
"He didn't have to." She did feel better, oddly enough, and finally chuckled. He knew her WAY too well. "I read Auras. I'm Wiccan. You all are screaming with power."
"Actually," Adam interrupted, looking around at the faces around him, "TJ received the power from Tommy. And Carlos inherited the green from me."
Maggie stared at him. "I never would have guessed that TJ had started with red or that Carlos had started with green. I can tell the color - although I am out of practice - but when Adam changed from black to green, I couldn't feel any of the black in him. It's there now, though. And that bit of information, Adam, helped clear up one mystery, at least. Everyone else just has the faintest tinge of it in their auras." She looked to Andros. "But you, and Zhane, and Karone... That's really confusing."
Andros sighed and looked at TJ. The handsome black man started an amazing tale about receiving the Turbo powers from the team she'd known, and then Andros quickly filled her in on the story of how he'd met the other Rangers, and the story of Zhane. She nodded, little pieces falling into place. "So you left Justin behind?" Turbo powers? The power had a name? Did all of them have names? Wait, hadn't Kat said something about the frog powers, or whatever, that Adam had held when she first met him?
"Too young," TJ said, jolting her out of her thoughts.
"And his father had just returned. He didn't want to go," Cassie said.
"Well, at least not very much," Ashley added.
"Okay. Now, the reason we are here." Maggie repeated the question she'd asked Adam, and everyone turned to look at Andros, who actually blushed a little.
"It was my fault. A whole day?" he asked. She nodded, then listened, captivated, as he told the story of the end of the Power Rangers.
"You destroyed your ... old friend?" She looked at Adam.
"It was a weird feeling. As soon as I heard the Rangers had returned, I hunted Carlos down and asked him what had happened. He couldn't really say, things were really hectic for him then with the press, and then other things just came up..." Carlos nodded. Maggie got the idea that it had been Tanya, or something to do with her.
"But Astronema didn't... fade into dust like everyone else?" she asked.
"No," Karone said faintly. "She didn't. She reverted back to her true form, like Zedd, and Rita, and Divatox. It just... took her a little longer."
"She was my sister," Andros said.
"I still am, thank you very much," Karone shot back, grinning at him. He smiled.
"Oh," Maggie said. "That makes a lot of sense, then." She nodded slowly. "A lot more sense." She leaned back, taking them all in. "Heck of a picture. I've met you all, except for two of the original Rangers...." She shook her head. "We could probably go head to head on story telling."
"She's met a vampire, Carlos," Adam told him, and the Hispanic man frowned.
"Don't remind me about that, please. It was hard enough then. I still have nightmares about it."
Maggie laughed. "Yeah, I could probably match you nightmare for nightmare, too. Try having a werewolf wanting to bite your face off."
"A werewolf?" Andros asked. Ashley paled.
"Ooh, no thanks," she said.
"What's a werewolf?" Zhane asked.
"A werewolf is a supposedly mythological creature that is half man, half wolf, and changes only at the full moon. But my poor kitten would tell you, if she weren't buried in Eden, that the full moon thing is bull; that's only when they can't control it."
"What do you mean, supposedly mythological?" TJ asked, skeptical.
"Well...." She pulled her sleeve up to bare her arm, and showed off a set of teeth marks. "He bit me here instead of my face, thanks in part to my cat, and a lot to the Goddess." She rubbed tenderly at the scars, then pulled her sleeve down. "But I'm done with that." She leaned against Adam and sighed. "I'm done with that."
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