RJ walked downstairs, itching a scratch in his scalp as he slowly made his way down to the incense rack. As he stepped off the last step of the last flight of stairs, his foot connected with something other than the floor, and he tripped and fell.

Fran pulled her feet back and sat up as RJ got up, a sour demeanor enveloping him. He gave her a look as he spotted her. "What are you doing here?" He barked as he got to his feet. The trio woke up at the sound of his yelling.

"We tried to get her to leave, but she insisted that she stayed the night." Casey jumped in, quickly assessing the situation.

"Well why didn't you just toss her out?" RJ asked, setting his hands on his hips.

"She was really worried about you, and brought a ton of medicine for you." Lily added. "And anyways, both her parents are out of town on business trips, and I didn't wanna just send her home alone."

"I wanted to send her home, but they didn't agree with me." Theo chirped, trying to save himself.

"Please don't be mad at them," Fran asked, grabbing her glasses and putting them on. "I insisted that I should stay. I wanted to give you the medicine myself." She crawled out from under the blanket and grabbed the medicine bag. "Here, take it."

RJ opened the bag and shuffled through it, giving a mildly annoyed look. "Thanks, but no thanks, Fran." He gave her the bag back. "I don't take pills, because I don't like not knowing what's in the things that go into my body. No offense to your mom and her profession, but I don't trust anybody in the medical industry." He paused for a moment while she took the bag back. "You mom's a good dessert maker, though. I enjoyed the parfait she made for my birthday last year."

"I'll drop the hint to her then." Fran winked. "Well…is there anything I can do for you?"

RJ thought for what seemed like an eternity, but then answered. "You could run the shop for me today."

"Right on it, RJ!" She saluted him and scurried downstairs.

"And you three, get to work. I'm taking the day off." He grabbed a handful of yellow-sticked incense and sauntered back upstairs with a light limp.

Elsewhere…

"Master Dai Shi, may I present to you a dear old friend of mine, Spindarella!" Camille bowed and sidestepped as the rather imposing monster marched in behind her.

Eight long black belts branching out from her back wrapped around her torso, held in place by strategically placed silver webbing. Long silver dreadlocks comprised of silk-like webbing made up the arachnid Rinshi's decorative hair, and sharp yet chitinous plating lined what wasn't covered by the belts or the webbing. As Camille began to speak, Spindarella began giving a quick demonstration of her moves.

"Spindarella has returned from a long self-exile on a remote island. She was one of the best warriors we had against Pai Zhuq, if you recall."

"Yes, I remember you. It's about time you've returned. These children have been a problem for me for long enough."

"Forgive my lateness, Master. My web of informants reaches far and wide, but that sometimes means that I'm not exactly the first person to hear about such unfortunate things." She bowed quickly in an effort to appease Dai Shi. "I would be more than happy to destroy these little color-coded children of Pai Zhuq for you immediately."

"Then go, and take Camille and a few Rinshi with you." Dai Shi waved them out.

As Spindarella and Camille left Dai Shi's temple, Spindarella couldn't help herself. "Have you killed any Pai Zhuq in the Throne Room recently?" She asked excitedly.

"No, why?" Camille asked, feeling quite surprised that her trusted ally would ask such a question.

"I sensed the presence of Pai Zhuq in the Throne Room. You should check to find spies, or I could set a trap in there for you. I would be more than happy to destroy the threat for you."

"I…shall have Dai Shi notified of this." Camille replied.

"He doesn't know? You didn't either? This confuses me. Perhaps Dai Shi just got a little speck of their energy in his mane; my senses would've been able to pick that sort of thing easily. I shall drop the subject." Spindarella bowed slightly out of respect. "So, General Camille, tell me of these children. My informants only gave a vague description of them…"

Back at Jungle Karma Pizza…

Fran sighed as the last customer left for the hour. The rain began to come down in buckets. "Ugh, this weather's brutal today." Casey moped.

"You're telling me. Customer rate drops almost 58 percent during storms like these." Fran replied in a gloomy voice.

"I guess that's a good thing. We can just sit around and have a group meeting." Casey replied as he pulled a small pizza out of the oven. "One Jungle Team Pizza, for here." Everyone set a dollar and a quarter on the table in front of them as Casey brought the pizza over to the table, aligning the topping divisions perfectly with the people they matched.

"Sausage and onions?" Lily asked Fran.

"It's one of the only combinations I haven't tried yet." Fran replied.

"What other ones haven't you had yet?" Lily asked.

"Um, well…" Fran blushed. "Don't tell RJ but I…I haven't tried any of his favorites yet."

"Well, I wouldn't eat the Mocha Chile Lava Floe Special either." Theo replied. Lily kicked his shin underneath the table. "Ow, what was that for?"

"In truth I've been saving them for last. I mean, they must be delicious if they're his favorites."

"Or maybe he just has a…peculiar taste." Theo replied. Lily kicked his shin again. "Ow! Casey, switch with me." Theo grabbed his slices of mushroom pizza and switched with Casey, who was carrying his slices of pepperoni with him.

"I don't know. That Dragon Breath Red Curry Special sounds pretty good to me." Casey replied.

"It sounds like a night-long visit to the bathroom." Theo mumbled as he sunk his teeth into one of his slices.

"Wanna trade a slice with me?" Lily asked Fran to break the awkward silence, offering up one of her pineapple and garlic butter slices.

"Sure! I like pineapples. They're my fourth favorite pizza topping, just slightly under pepperoni, but right above red onions." She handed Lily a slice of her pizza and took Lily's offered slice. Lily took a bite of Fran's pizza and gave a pleased look.

"You've ranked your pizza topping preferences?" Theo asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"Yeah! I've also ranked my preferences in cheese, in the sauces used, and even the crust texture. The original cheese pizza with the classic tomato sauce is my all-time favorite, but I think this sausage and white onion pizza with tomato sauce is in the top three."

"Intriguing." Theo replied, his genuine tone continuing. Lily gave him a look. "What? I really think it's interesting that she's completely set up a mental ranking list of her favorite pizza combinations! In fact, it's impressive!"

"Figures you'd like something associating with rank." Casey softly chided, masking his true intentions under his neutral vocal tone.

"How do you do it? Sometimes I forget simple math problems in my head, and it just frustrates me. Do you use a specific method or what?"

"Well, I've got a near photographic memory when it comes to things like lists and formulas. Stuff like memorizing dictionaries, diagrams, statistics, charts, it just comes really easy. RJ's got me doing all the bookkeeping, he thinks I'm so good at it!" Fran laughed. "At least I'm doing more for my pay!" She winked at Casey, who gave her a look she couldn't decipher.

After a bit of chatter, Fran finally dropped her slice, drawing attention. "Oh goodness…maybe that's it…" She grabbed the towel on her shoulder and wiped her hands on it, then stood up.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

She sighed deeply. "I was just thinking back to-"

Suddenly, the alarm on the trio's morphers went off. Fran sighed, knowing full well that her explanation was cut short. "I'll tell you when you come back." She sighed. "I think I might just go upstairs and talk to RJ about it. Maybe I'll feel better about it if I talk to him."

"You do that." Lily replied, setting a hand on Fran's shoulder. "We'll try to make this fight a quick one."

"You don't have to for me. Be careful, okay?"

"We'll be fine." The trio then left Fran to her own devices. She ran upstairs, feeling a bit upset over her bad luck.

She got up into the loft, expecting to see RJ in his chair, old radio microphone in hand, directing the trio to their battle, and she expected to just sit down next to the chair and talk to him, occasionally eating some of his chips or popcorn while he was entranced by the TV.

It was probably one of the few times they had together to just sit and talk these days, and the sudden and strange routine felt great to have.

So to find that RJ wasn't in his seat, and his bowl of snack food was nowhere in sight, she nearly had a panic attack.

"RJ?" She called out, looking around. Still no sign of him. She dashed up the stairs to his room. She noted that the purple sign with an Asian dialect she couldn't understand written on it with the stylized symbol inside a circle stamped on the bottom; what Theo called the 'Quarantine Sign', was still on his door. "What a horrible time to be sick." She mumbled to herself.

She knocked on the door. "RJ! There's a monster in the city!" She cried out, thinking that he may not have heard the alarm go off. "RJ! C'mon!" She knocked again. She sighed, then went to open the door, only to find it was locked. "Ugh." She groaned and ran back downstairs.

"RJ! Where are we going?" She could hear Casey's voice cry out from the TV station. She shuffled over and grabbed the radio microphone and stood in front of the chair. "Fran?" Casey called out as she appeared in his glasses' video screen.

"…You can see me?" She asked. She then noticed the camera wedged between two TV screens. "Oh. Sorry, but RJ's not responding. I'll try as hard as I can to fill in for him." She then looked around for any sign of monsters, and spotted them down in front of the strip mall about a mile away. "There! In the south strip mall, in front of the Java Juice! Those…bouncing things…" She softly bounced and held her hands out a bit, imitating the Rinshi she saw.

"We're right on it!" Casey cut the connection as they dashed off.

As Spindarella and Camille walked through the plaza, the arachnid warrior stopped and gasped.

Camille looked back at her comrade. "What is it?"

"I feel a strong Pai Zhuq influence here. A mighty aura…it can't belong to the young trio of students alone…" She seemed to panic as she felt it draw nearer. "What is this…? Rinshi, march to the east!"

As the Rangers approached the square, Fran's voice screeched. "Guys, stop!"

"Huh? Why?" Casey asked, stopping the others.

"I just saw something very terrifying. I'm afraid for you guys."

"What did you see?" Lily asked.

"What is it, Spindarella?" Camille asked. She got her answer, as a blaze of bright white fire shot through the Rinshi, incinerating them instantly.

"That energy…" Spindarella spoke. "It is that…burning light…"

Smoke spewed off of the tall white light as the rain poured down, diminishing the furious entity until it fell down and changed hue to an almost plasma-like violet. The Rangers ran into the scene and stared in awe.

"Another one?" Theo whined.

"I don't know…but judging by what it did to those Rinshi, I think we should take cover until we know for certain."

"What is this thing?" Camille asked Spindarella as she summoned up her sais.

"Prepare yourself, dear friend." She replied. "It is Pai Zhuq, and therefore must be exterminated."

The entity crouched and howled a twisted, haunting cry before charging full force on all fours at Camille and Spindarella.