Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. Only my OCs.

Chapter 3: Practice Makes Perfect

After arriving at the cabin, the teens piled out of their vehicles to look around.

"This is the cabin?" Shane looked over in shock.

"Nice!" Tia, standing next to the Red Ranger, laughed in excitement, "This is great!"

What used to be a single one-story cabin, has now grown to five two-story cabins, a giant boat house, a ten-car garage and a shaded picnic area. There were three tree-houses with rope ladders and zip-lines, an outdoor barbecue kitchen, and a state-of-the art training area.

"Yeah." Zoey nodded, looking over, "It started with just the one," she pointed to the middle cabin, "and when our uncle gave it to Tommy, he decided to make it into a fun getaway."

"He's been talking about adding more," Jenna pulled out her bag from the Jeep, "but his work has kept him busy."

"What more could you possibly add to this place?" Dustin asked, incredulous, "It's huge. I mean, what could possibly make it better?"

"Oh, well, he didn't do it on his own." Raina said, coming up behind him, "Everyone pitched in. They all had different ideas, so they decided to mesh them into one."

Andy nodded, "We've been here a couple of times, but now that we're Rangers and know they were Rangers, makes all the work they put into more special."

"This is insane." Hunter stared, "How often do they come here?"

"Usually during Ranger Week." Jenna smirked, "But they'll come on weekends, just for fun, if their schedules allow. They can't all come every time, but they all have keys and an open invitation to come whenever they want. They just have to clean up after themselves."

"And we need to do the same when we leave Friday." Zoey held up a bag, "These are the keys to the four cabins in the back. Tommy and Hayley will be here tomorrow with Jason and his family. We'll save the big cabin for them." She handed over a key to Jenna, "Us girls will share the one on the right. Whose rooming with who?"

"Andy and I will room together." Justin held out his hand for the cabin on the left, "Cam? Would you like to join us?"

"Sure." The Samurai wandered over, "It'd be nice to have a conversation with guys outside of skateboards and motorcycles."

"Well, um, I also ride motorcycles." Everyone laughed, "But, I know what you mean. The only ones I can talk to, academically, are Zoey and Jenna. It'll be a nice change."

He gestured for Cam and Andy to follow him, "We'll see you in the morning."

"Get some sleep!" Zoey looked at the others, "That means Shane, Dustin, Hunter and Blake will share cabin four. Like that'll be an issue."

"Well, as long as Shane and Hunter doesn't start their 'follow the leader' war again." Jenna smiled, looking at her boyfriend.

"I know, right." Zoey held out the key for him, "Get some sleep guys. We'll see you in the morning. Bright and early."

She turned to the girls, "Come on. I'm tired and I need some sleep."

"I am so with you." Raina said, grabbing her own bag, "Hey Tori. This was the day at the beach we should have had if Lothor hadn't interfered."

"Tell me about it." The Water Ninja grumbled, "I'm so glad we did this. It completely makes up for it." She threw her arm around Jenna, "Officially the best birthday ever."

"Better late than never."

Zoey grinned, "Especially after this week when we win the team competition."

They cheered as they headed into their cabin, excited for their practice tomorrow.

1-2-3-4-5

Walking into the Youth Center the next morning, the teens were surprised when they noticed only Tommy and Hayley sitting at the bar.

"Hey kids." He gestured them over, "You beat the others here."

"How did that happen?"

"Having trouble getting the kids motivated." Hayley pointed to some protein shakes and snacks on the table, "I don't know if you've eaten, but you need to get your energy up. Since you'll be training for most of the day, we don't need you getting dehydrated."

They nodded in agreement as Tommy drank his own shake, "They were carpooling so we wouldn't have every vehicle sitting in the parking lot, so the ones without kids had to hang back until everything was settled."

After they had sat down, Tommy and Hayley turned to the teens, curious, "So, you heard us talking about some of our bad guys and the monsters that we fought yesterday. How about you tell us about some of yours. I know you faced Lothor."

"Yeah, turns out, Lothor was Sensei's twin brother." Dustin said, eating a banana.

"Wait, what?"

"Yep. And because of Ninja law, once banished, they cease to exist." Raina nodded.

"That's insane." Tommy finished off his shake and looked around the table, "We had some pretty big villains come at us, but we weren't related to any of them."

"Related to who?" Jason asked, as the remaining Rangers filed into the Youth Center.

"My dad's twin brother was Lothor." Cam commented, casually, smiling at the shocked looks on everyone's faces, "Don't worry. It shocked me too. I had to find out the hard way."

"Yeah, the hard way." Zoey looked over sarcastically, "Having everyone's energy drained..."

"You and I being the exception." Jenna grinned, "Because we're awesome."

The Fire Ninja continue, smirking in acknowledgement, "Except for us. Cam going back in time, meeting his mother, fighting his Uncle Kia, saving the entire Academy, witnessing the birth of Lothor, and being gifted the Samurai Amulet as a thank you."

"All before coming back to the present time to help save us against the big uglies." Jenna stretched before continuing, "Then getting infested with some sort of puss-looking sucker things all over his body." She shuddered, "Very unpleasant. But it all worked out."

"That's a very disturbing image I did not need in my head." Andy complained, closing his eyes, "I'm just glad that happened before I got there. Wouldn't have wanted to see that."

"Why weren't you there for it?" Tia asked, having been glaring at him and Justin since they got there, "I mean, if I had been given a morpher, I wouldn't have hesitated."

"Remind me again, why you two didn't show up until after all of that?" Jenna sauntered over, "Because, for some reason, I'm drawing a blank." She eyed him, making him nervous.

"Um, you know we didn't have any control over that, right?" He looked at Raina.

"You on your own." She flipped her hair, "Serves you right for what you and Justin did this morning." Snagging a piece of fruit, she high-fived Tori, "You asked for it."

Seeing Andy looking uncomfortable, Rocky looked around, "What did you do?"

"We... well, you see... um..." Andy stuttered, looking at Justin, scared.

The Blue Turbo Ranger just slunk down in his chair, looking down.

"I'll tell you what they did. These two, idiots, set off multiple alarms in our cabin. They were set to go off ten minutes apart. We found ten this morning. There's at least five more." Zoey smiled sweetly as she finished off her yogurt, "They also, set off some crazy disco light show, motion censored, in every room."

Seeing the shocked looks on everyone's faces, Tori pipped in, "Let's not forget, that they taped blow-horns to the back of every door."

"And somehow set all the doors to randomly lock, without notice." Raina smiled.

"Why would you do all of that," Adam asked, curious, "I mean, was there a purpose?"

"We..." Seeing all the guys shaking their heads, he just sighed, "We were dared."

"What?!" The yelled, looking at the boys.

"Not me!" Cam raised his hand, "I opted out. I don't have a death wish."

"Y'all are so lucky we have a competition tomorrow, and that we need you." Zoey glared, "But you better believe, when it's over, we will get payback."

"Oh, yes," Jenna stared, hard, at her boyfriend, "we will."

Jason, after a moment of silence, cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, "Ok. So, we were already supposed to leave in order to make your practice time, but we're running behind." He held up some black tote bags, "Take the bag with your name and go change."

"What are these?" Blake questioned, grabbing his.

"You are being sponsored by the dojo." Emily smiled, "And we wanted you to look the part."

Inside the bags were sleeveless black workout shirts with their names in red on the front, a Red Dragon on the back and red lines running down the sides. The black shorts had the same dragon on bottom right side. "You will wear these today for practice, and we have a red set for the games tomorrow." Jason held up Zoey's bag, "Everything has your names on them. They're yours to keep."

"Nice work, big bro." Jenna held up her own bag, "Or should I say, Emily?" He put her in a headlock, ignoring all the laughter.

"Question." Tia held up her bag, "I just joined this team yesterday. How do you already have a bag and clothes made, with my name on them?"

"Okay." Rocky walked over and pointed to his right, "Have you met Kim?" Everyone chuckled at the glare the former Pink Ranger sent him, "She contacted the sports apparel shop before we even left the fair yesterday. They had this thing made, at her demand, when she picked it up this morning." He smiled, "The Queen of Shopping strikes again."

"Remind me to drown you at the lake." Kim threatened as she handed Kayla to her husband.

"All right, guys. I just talked to the coordinators for the competition. I had to make something up for why we're running behind, so you'll be the last ones to run today." Trini spoke up, looking at the teens, "Go ahead and get changed. We'll be packing a picnic and provisions for lunch and snacks." She looked at Rocky, "And don't think Kim won't have help in drowning you, Ape Boy."

"Man." He grumbled as they started to clean up and gather everything to take with them, "Ape Man."

"How many picnics did we pack in high school?" Kim looked at Zack in confusion.

"We? I don't remember you ever packing a picnic, Zack. It was me and Trini."

"Yeah, Zack," Trini smirked, "you spent more time eating than helping."

"I was a growing boy." He threw up his hands, "Who, by the way, spent most of his high school life fighting freaky aliens. I needed the energy."

"You're so full of yourself, man." Tommy chuckled, "Jason told me about Ernie's Special."

Laughing at the look Zack sent him, Jason held up his hands, "What? That thing was massive, and I just knew you wouldn't be able to finish it."

"I got one bit out of that thing." Zack crossed his arms, "Stupid Rita."

"I'm confused." Richie asked, scratching his head, "I worked for Ernie. I don't remember ever seeing an Ernie's Special."

Zack smiled, "It wasn't ordered very often..."

"For good reason." Jason threw out, stacking some boxes, "I don't know how he came up with that monster, but I never saw anyone finish it."

Ignoring his friend, Zack turned back to Richie, "He never had it on the menu. Ever. He made it up for some kid's birthday party one day, called it Ernie's Special, and decided to make it upon request. We've ordered it before, as a group, and couldn't finish it."

"What was it?"

"Think banana split, Hulk sized. It was in a giant bowl with multiple scoops of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream. Add in the bananas, the chocolate syrup, the fresh strawberries and the whipped cream; it was an ice cream lover's dream come true."

"Holy crap!" Rocky exclaimed, looking around, "How did I not know about this?"

"You didn't need to know about it, Rocko." Tommy patted him on the shoulder, "You ate enough as it was. We really didn't want to have to roll you into battle."

"Hey!"

"Not to mention the Zord fights. I mean, you needed to be able to fit into the cockpit."

"This is wrong on so many levels." Rocky grumbled, grabbing a banana chip. Aisha rubbed his back in sympathy, smiling at the room.

"But, oh so true." Adam taunted, throwing chunk of pineapple at his friend, "Seriously, you could give Rita's Ravenator a run for it money."

"Can we not?" Tommy glared, ignoring the laughter, "I had all but erased that big mouth from my memory."

"Which isn't hard, considering your memory." Kim smiled, "Now, what's Ravenator?"

"Rita sent this freaky looking mouth monster, who shrunk himself and ended up inside of Tommy's stomach." Kat explained, rocking Willa.

"Ew, gross."

"Tell me about it." Zoey remarked as the teens came out of the locker rooms, "That thing was literally eating Tommy from the inside out. It caused him to crave anything, and everything, in sight."

"It was... disturbing." Jenna shuddered, putting her bag down, "Tommy is one of the most health conscious people I've ever met in my life. To see him downing that much junk food at one time was very unpleasant."

"How did you get rid of it?" Tori asked, curious.

"Aisha and Rocky had ordered the largest sundae the ice cream truck could make, really put the Ernie Special to shame... " Zoey laughed, looking at Zack.

"Never going to live that down."

"...and the others ended up holding Tommy back to keep him from eating it. It worked. That freak got really angry, and out he came."

"Poor Danny, though." Jenna looked over, "He was really disappointed in you. It's one of the downfalls of being a Ranger. Couldn't explain what happened."

Tommy nodded, "No, I couldn't. But I did apologize and had to re-earn his respect. It took some time, but he forgave me."

"Alright, let's get going." Jason clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention, "You'll have to be the last ones on the practice run. Everyone needs to file out. Let's go!"

1-2-3-4-5

After arriving at the tournament field and speaking with the coordinators, the teens stood at the start of the course reading the obstacles they'll be facing.

"Free runner's dream course." Tori smiled at Zoey, "No wonder you always won."

"I've competed against Zoey three times." Tia leaned over to look at the map, "I've come in second to her every time. Trust... she knows what she's doing."

"I thought this was supposed to be hard?" Dustin asked, looking at his paper, "We were doing this stuff in our firsts month of Ninja training."

"Key words, 'Ninja training'." Raina said, smiling, "Normal people don't do this stuff. Which is why it's a challenge."

"Yeah, and since it's a teen competition, this is Zoey's last year to compete." Andy smirked, "That's going to make a lot of people extremely happy."

"Which means we need to win, as this will be the only year we can enter." Hunter put his arm around Jenna, looking at his brother.

"For sure. But we've got this."

"Let's remember that it's a friendly competition. Don't get too cocky or overconfident. You're Ninjas and Power Rangers. Set an example." Zoey warned, pointing at everyone.

"You're right." Shane stuck his hand out, "We're a team. Let's not think about the other competitors. It's just us, back at Ninja Ops, training under Sensei's watchful eyes."

Smiling, they put their hands on top his, "Dragons, on three." Dustin nodded.

"1... 2... 3... DRAGONS!"

Breaking apart, they spread out, getting on their starting marks. At the sounds of the bell, they took off, focused on the goal.

The spectators and other competitors watching looked on in awe. They charged, head on, through one obstacle after another. No hesitation, no stumbling, and never once getting in each other's way. They ran the course like professionals. Jumping hurdles, ducking the swinging bags, climbing ropes and walls. It didn't matter what it was, they went through them like pros.

When they crossed the finish line, they were only seconds apart. When Zoey finished first, due to her having completed the course multiple times over the years, she stretch her arms up, barely out of breath.

"That was so cool!" As a group of teenage girls ran over to gush over the boys, one girl got a little braver than was smart. Walking over to Dustin, she rubbed his shoulder in admiration and smiled flirtatiously, "I'm Darla. What's your name, cutie?"

"To you?" Raina snapped, pulling her hand off of him, "The name is 'Taken'. Remember it well. Touch him again, and I'll rip your arm off. Got it?" She leaned in close, glaring, making the other girls back away in fear.

"Yeah, sure. No problem." She ran away, shooting a scared look over her shoulder.

"Hey, Raina," Andy sauntered over, "you didn't scare her enough. She's still standing in the crowd looking over here. Normally, you'd freak them out so much, you wouldn't see them for a couple of days."

"I think it's Dustin's influence." Jenna said, leaning against Hunter, "She's mellowing."

Blushing, Raina crossed her arms in agitation, "Shut up." Dustin just grinned and hugged her from behind.

"I don't mind." He whispered, making her blush in a different way.

"Ok! TMI!" Andy held up a hand and walked away, ignoring the laughter. They went over to where their older friends were standing and got drinks of water.

"You think they'd let us go again?" Hunter asked, handing Jenna a bottle, "It feels like everyone else has practiced on this thing multiple times. I feel like we should run it a few more times, just to get a feel for it."

"I'm sure they won't mind." Jason said, looking over at them, "Do you all feel like that." At their nods of agreement, he looked over at the coordinators on the other side of the obstacle, "Let me go ask, make sure nobody else wants to run it."

When he left, Zoey looked up at her brother, "Andy got the approval from his parents to finish school at Reefside. Then he's going to spend the following year at the Academy."

"Does he want to get his stripes?"

"He wants to, but right now, he wants to just get his basics in." She took a drink from her bottom and shrugged, "I don't blame him. I want my stripes as well, but I'm not ready. Not yet. I want to go to school and work. He's the same way. He wants to train, but he wants the normal. I think he's afraid he won't get that if he dedicates everything to Pai Zhuq."

He nodded and point to across the field, "Jason's coming back. Before you guys go again, I need you to know that there have been morphers built for the remaining gems. They're in the lab. I know that Andy knows about us and, being a former Ranger and he's been in the lab, but I don't want him to know yet. Too many changes have been made down there. For right now, there's things that need to be figured out before anyone else goes down there."

"Who all's seen it since the upgrades and changes?"

"All the past Rangers." He paused, "Mighty Morphin, Zeo and Turbo I. Should really be specific on that."

"No spouses?"

"Not so far. I mean, they know about it, but we haven't brought any of them down yet."

"Okay. No problem." She saw Jason nodding as walked over, "We good to go?"

"Yeah. They said no one else wants to run it until the comp tomorrow. So you have free reign to run it as much as possible."

At their cheers, the Ninjas took off for the start of the obstacle to redo the course.

"They make me feel old." Jason sighed, clapping his friend on the back.

"Don't I know it." Tommy shook his head, "As much as I'm looking forward to teaching, I don't have the energy I used to."

Laughing, they turned to watch the teens conquer the course.

1-2-3-4-5

After practice, they headed back to the Youth Center to eat and let the teens get cleaned up before they decide to do anything else.