RJ looked as his watch late one night, walking back to his loft from a long day outside the dojo. He hoped that the Rangers were doing alright without him; unfortunately, the world couldn't revolve around his need to mentor the Rangers during their battles against Dai Shi's minions.

"Ten pm, and they're still fighting?" RJ muttered to himself while continuing down the empty street. "Well, at least their stamina's improving." He smiled and did a little celebration dance on the empty sidewalk. "All my tutoring has paid off..." He muttered to himself, then breaking into a cheery hum as he approached the shop.

A wave of uneasiness fell over him. The shop was closed, but his sixth sense felt something still lingering, which drew his attention to a faint glow coming from inside.

His monitors were on. He had distinctly turned them off before leaving urgently.

Instinct took over and began to process the situation. He silently slipped over to the front door and checked the door handle with the tips of his fingers, then checked the other locks.

Locked, in Fran's method from the looks of it. She had a habit of locking the top lock and the door handle lock, but none of the others.

He unlocked all of them slowly, then crept in. He arched up on his toes and crouched slightly as he examined his surroundings. He softly set the keys in his coat pocket and continued into the kitchen as he held his arms up in preparation to strike.

He kicked the kitchen doors open and charged in, stopping and taking a defensive pose. Empty, and incredibly clean to boot. His eyes darted around to all the small alcoves, his ears locking in to assure him that nothing was moving or breathing in any of them. Again, nothing.

He swooped up the stairs and checked the front door weakly. Locked. The faint sound of the fight a hundred miles away could be heard inside. Besides that, there was no sound of footsteps or general movement. He looked around, and the thought hit him.

He bent at the knees, then jumped up and grabbed hold if the canopy roof's bar, swinging himself around to the top of the canopy in one quick movement. Without losing momentum, he leaped up against the wall and briefly climbed up it with the help of perfectly misaligned bricks and reached the seemingly out of place escape ladder he had installed himself.

He dashed up the ladder to the roof, and to the hidden alcove that led from the vine-covered hole in the wall to the roof. He checked the bolt lock, and saw that it was secure. "Well, at least they remembered this time." He muttered. He then dashed to the back end of the loft on tiptoes, making sure to be as silent as possible.

He gently slid down the back wall and approached the back door. He checked it, and the door gave too much under his soft turn. It was unlocked. "I know this door's always locked, because I don't use it, I've told the others not to use it, and I've always had it locked…hm…" A growl tried to rise in his throat, but he held it back for the moment.

He checked the door handle again, turning it completely open this time. He pushed it forwards, but it felt like something was blocking the door. He took a step back, then kicked at the handle, knocking it out and slamming the door forwards, knocking the chair across the back room. He ran in, his defensive stance prepared and ready. He looked around, finding nothing once more. He was beginning to get impatient…or at least part of him was.

He ran into the main room on the balls of his feet, maintaining stealth as he charged in to reclaim his home, his den. Whoever dared to try and take anything out of his home had better have written their last will, because he was prepared to strike and tear them to pieces.

He charged out to the balcony and took his striking pose, finally letting out an intimidating yell. The room was empty, save for the small area around the monitors. His eyes widened as his instincts dropped off at the sight before him.

Fran sat there in his chair, legs crossed at the knee, her arms lying flat in her lap, wrists crossed. She watched the monitors and looked almost…unnerved. The shout had dislodged her interest in the show and she focused on him, giving a wide, closed mouth smile as his body relaxed from its riled state.

He leaped from the balcony onto the main floor, charging over to his chair with his arms out wide. Fran flinched as he grabbed her and picked her up with ease, moving her outside the circular carpet and sitting her down on the hard gym floor.

"I know you've not been up here before…but stay out of my chair." He scolded.

"…Sorry. I didn't think that was your chair." She got up and brushed herself off.

"It's in my house. It's mine." He snipped, feeling mildly agitated. His sense of self-balance kicked in and he took a deep, calming breath. "Okay…" He panicked internally, but focused on maintaining his cool. "Okay, why are you here?" He asked, pointing at her.

Fran's face contorted in the way it got when she was about to give a long speech. "Well, I closed up shop for the night, and when I left, I saw the lights on inside, so I thought you were finally home, so I rushed up here, but your front door was locked. So I decided to leave, and then I noticed that the back door was wide open, so I came in. I mean, with all the monsters around, maybe somebody decided to do a little breaking and entering, right? So I walked in, and found that it was empty and the TV system there was on. I think it's so cool that you can watch the Power Rangers in their fights."

"Well, as a fellow hater of evil, I can't help but…marvel at their talents." He sheepishly grinned and took a rather proud pose in an effort to shrug off his nervousness. "I do thank you for your concern, but you didn't have to barricade the back door."

"Well, I couldn't lock it, but I wanted to make sure if there were any robbers still around, that they couldn't get in. I guess that kinda backfired, didn't it?" Fran laughed.

"Yeah, quite." RJ replied, scratching the back of his head.

He watched as Fran confidently walked around, surveying the layout of the room. "I never woulda thought you liked to work out." She commented. "I mean, is this how you think up all those…creative pizzas?"

"Well, I…" He slowly came up with a sly answer. "Well, between shooting some hoops and doing a little cleaning, I've thought of quite a few pizzas…not all of them have been successful, though."

"What a shame." She replied.

RJ's mind raced. Was Fran covering her shock with weak conversation like he was? Was she not surprised? She was surprisingly unreadable in this case; he normally could intuitively pick up on her mood or general thoughts, but not this time. Perhaps it was the shock getting to him. "Well, thank you for playing guard, but I'm home and now you can go home!" He began pushing her towards the front door stairway.

"Can I ask you something else?" Fran asked.

"You just did." He replied.

"I mean, about the way you charged in here. It was all…like you were gonna beat me up."

RJ stopped to think. "Well, I didn't have any weapons on me, and if I had to fight someone in my house, I was gonna. Now, go."

"You kinda posed like one of the Rangers."

RJ gave her a quick look of condescension. "You've been watching too much TV. You should probably stick to your books." He stood her in front of the door, unlocked it, then gently pushed her out. "Thank you and goodnight. Have a great day off tomorrow." He smiled, then shut the door in her face.

He turned around and laid against the door, trying to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. Fran grinned and ran off.

Twenty minutes later, the Rangers returned to find the front door of the shop unlocked, the back door kicked in, RJ's area surrounded by incense sticks that were apparently the cause of the horrid smell now pervading the entire loft, and RJ sitting in the middle of the carpet, looking quite perturbed with his tea mug in hand.

Lily was the first to speak up as Casey buried his face in his jacket while Theo looked around to see if anything was missing. "What happened here?"

"…She was in…my chair…" RJ said between sips of his chai. "I need…to purge her energies…from my personal space…"

"She?" Theo asked.

"Fran."

The trio stopped dead in their movements and looked over at RJ.

"Fran was in here?" Theo shouted. "How did she get in here?"

"The back door. She said she found it open, but I always keep it locked, and she was in here watching the monitors even though I had them off when I left. I feel like something is…amiss."

"Doesn't sound right to me either." Theo replied as he sat down outside the rug and stared at the accumulating incense ash.

"Well then she knows we're the Power Rangers now?" Lily asked.

"I think she knows now," RJ replied, finishing off his chai in one long swig. "or maybe she doesn't. It was really spacey talking to her; I couldn't tell what she was thinking."

"Maybe she wa-" Casey started coughing mid-sentence, quickly recovering from the smoke and smell. "Ugh, that incense is rank."

"It's a cleansing incense, for clearing out the energies in an area. I'm purging Fran's aura from the loft as we speak, and focusing my good vibes to step in and settle once more. Please feel free to join in in spreading the aura around when you're done chatting." RJ grabbed his mat that sat outside the ring and sat it down in front of him. "So, as you were saying?"

"I was saying that maybe she was too shocked with the sight." Casey stated.

"I thought that too, but she seemed way calmer than I was, and I'm pretty good with the calm thing."

"A bit too well, sometimes." Theo chided. RJ gave him a look which made him drop the smile he was starting to form.

"Well, she's got tomorrow off, right? We don't have to worry about this until Sunday!" Lily commented.

"But she might come in for a slice or two." Casey replied.

"I shall handle this. All of you are to prepare yourselves for guided meditation. If you don't brighten the loft with your auras, it'll feel weird having you all here." RJ commented. "Oh, and Casey? Get me more of the 'rank smelling' incense, as you put it. These sticks are almost out." He smiled. "Purple ribboned ones, right on your right."