Dane hung around the café, keeping an eye on things as the day progressed. He still had no idea what they knew about Mariko, but he could tell from the reaction when he mentioned her name that Benny and his associates were at least familiar with the name. Sixteen years was a long time, and while it was possible that they only knew her as someone that once lived in the block above the café, it was the first solid lead he'd heard since he left Blue Bay Harbour.

The one thing he noticed was that for a café in the Castro neighbourhood of San Francisco, it really wasn't that busy. Given the quality of the food and the coffee, whose aftertaste was still distracting him now almost an hour later, he wasn't especially surprised it wasn't popular, but as he watched it seemed to be even more than that. People didn't just walk past; they actively avoided the place! Some crossed the street when they were about to get to it, one guy almost got hit by a car apparently giving priority to avoiding the place over ending up as a road traffic statistic. It was something of an extreme reaction for a place with cherry pie that tasted like it was garnished with battery acid.

As time went on, he saw more people going in wearing suits. Whenever they did, they got served from the back, not the stock at the front, and all of them paid way above the odds for anywhere! The sheer volumes of cash being handed over the counter explained how a place that seemed to be actively trying to drive customers away stayed open in an area with rates as high as Castro. He wasn't looking at a café, it was a front, a cash house. It was pretty clear these guys were mobsters, and having a legitimate business to launder the money through was always going to be a good thing. Looking at the comings and goings it seemed a lot like this place was some kind of central reserve for whatever operation they were running. He doubted Porter knew what was going on, somehow, he doubted that the Wind Ninja Academy would willingly have set Mariko up on top of a gang hideout.

He was trying to think of his next move, how he would get to know whatever they did about Mariko. Somehow, he doubted that they'd be open to the prospect of just telling him what he wanted to know. Bargaining was also a thought, but considering the fact he didn't really have much in the way of money, he wondered what, if anything, he would have to trade with. He owned the farm back in Summer Cove, so he didn't have a mortgage to pay, other than that he only took on odd jobs to pay for groceries and the like. He didn't have much need of anything else. The life of a hermit had suited him, though it didn't leave him exactly much to bargain with.

He saw a crew coming back in a van, and recognised the guy that threatened him earlier jumping out the side, before gesturing them to take it around the side. His suit was a lot less dapper now than it had been, and even from here he could spot traces of blood on it. Whatever had happened, it wasn't anything good. At least, not for him. For Dane though, what he saw was one of them going into the café alone!

In Summer Cove, the school bus pulled up to the edge of a hiking trail and let the kids out. True to their word, the bus driver took the bags off, and then drove off, heading back for the town. The kids had wondered if Principal Hastings was only telling them that the bus would be leaving to get them to do as she asked, but as it disappeared, more than a few kids turned off their phones to preserve their battery life just as they had been asked to do back at the school.

"Alright, we're here. Who can tell us where we are on the map?" Principal Hastings asked.

"Crayfish point." Calvin stated.

"That was fast Calvin, I'm impressed." She told him. "How did you figure that out?"

"The uh…sign is right over there." Calvin said, pointing to the sign. Principal Hastings just groaned loudly.

"Just for that Mr Maxwell, you can be the one to give us our first heading." She told him. "The first checkpoint is precisely half a mile on a heading of North North West."

"Alright, well, according to the compass, that way is north." He said, lining up the needle with the north point on the compass. "So, north north west is…that way."

"Very good." She told them. "Now, who can tell me what landmark we're looking for to tell us we've ended up in the right place?"

"OK, you said half a mile." Monty said as he lined his map up to north. "This is crayfish point, so if I look north north west and go half a mile…we should find…a stone circle."

"Very good Monty." Principal Hastings congratulated him. "Alright class, we have a long way to go, so let's head out."

"Come on guys, it's only half a mile." Levi added. As they started heading out, pairing up for safety reasons. Brody was just about to look around for a partner as everyone started getting paired up, when he felt someone grip his arm tightly. He looked down, seeing Emma clutching onto him.

"Want to be buddies?" She asked him. "You know…the sensei guiding the student and all that?"

"Uh…yeah, sure why not?" Brody asked. He did like Emma's enthusiasm for her lessons, even if as a student she was a lot of work. He could fault a lot of things about her, such as her lack of balance, co-ordination, timing, but the one thing she had in spades was enthusiasm. No matter how many times she ended up on the ground trying to do even the most basic things, she always got back up with a smile on her face ready to try again. Still, she was starting to get more than a little clingy, like she wanted to spend every waking second with him. He looked around, but everyone else had indeed paired up, leaving him without much of a choice in the matter.

"So, do you think they'll have us doing all this orienteering the whole trip or do you think we might get a chance to go and do some practice?" She asked him.

"Uh…yeah, I'm sure we'll get some time." Brody replied. "So, have you been practicing that stuff I taught you last time?"

"Oh…oh yes, I've been practicing every night! I've just about got it!" She rushed out. "I stubbed my toe on the dresser but I think I figured out what I was doing!"

"That's…good." She replied. "So, looking forward to the trip?"

"Yeah, sure. I used to love camping as a kid." Brody answered. "How about you?"

"Don't know, I've never been." She replied with a shrug. "I'm more of a stay at home on the computer kind of girl than into all those flowers and plants and animals."

She saw Brody looking at her and seemed to start stammering.

"But…but I'm willing to learn!" She rushed out. "I mean, it must all be kind of cool right?"

"Right." He said, trying to hide the exasperation in his tone. "We're falling a little behind, want to pick up the pace a little?"

"Sure!" She answered, quickening her pace.

Dane waited a little before he made his way across the street, following the mobster into the café. He knew he had to wait long enough for him to be inside but if he didn't move quickly there was a chance the others would return from wherever they had taken the van, making the whole thing a lot more difficult than it needed to be. When he got there, the guy was talking to Benny, and it didn't take much to see it wasn't friendly.

"What the hell was that Bob?" Benny yelled at him from his booth. "I asked you to do one simple thing…"

"Hey, it was a collection! Sometimes they get a little rough!" Bob said with a little sneer. Dane didn't know what kind of collection it was, whether they lent this person money or if it was a protection payment, either way it seemed like the unfortunate person wasn't able to pay up.

"So, what did you get?" He asked.

"The guy only had about forty bucks on him." Bob told him. "So, I took some collateral."

Just then a couple of other guys came in from the back. One of them appeared to be carrying a pineapple.

"There wasn't much in the van, only some fruit." One of them said. Bob looked back to Benny, who was shaking his head.

"You stole his delivery?" Benny asked.

"Hey, he was short, so I took…"

"He's a GREENGROCER you moron!" Benny snapped at him. "How exactly do you expect him to get the rest if he has nothing to sell?"

"He's got a point." Dane said, making his presence known. They all just stared at him. "I mean, you could do with better ingredients for your pies for sure but there are better ways to go about it."

"You again?" Bob asked. "I warned you…"

"Yeah, your pie and coffee did that too." Dane said with a little chuckle, palming a salt shaker into his hand. "But I don't take warnings well. I'm the kind of guy that sees a wet paint sign and thinks it says 'touch here to see if we're lying'. You know?"

"The only wet paint around here is going to be your brains on…"

Bob didn't get to finish; Dane saw his hand going for the gun long before he could get to it. He tossed a handful of salt into his face dropping the shaker on the floor. He was over to Bob like a shot and whipped the gun from his holster. He jammed a couple of fingers into Bob's leg, at which he let out a scream and the leg collapsed under him.

The others were starting to move, but Dane threw the gun into one of their faces. In a flurry so fast that none of them could see, he ran through them all, and they were all quickly on the floor, screaming out but unable to move.

He faced off against the last one, who pulled out a pistol. This one however, Dane felt more than a little badly about confronting. He was a kid, a scrawny kid that looked like he'd fall over in a stiff wind. Dane just slapped the pistol out of his hand across the room. The kid then picked up a baseball bat, only for Dane to send it spinning across the room. He finally pulled out a pocket knife that looked more like it was appropriate for use picking his teeth than anything else. Dane just sighed.

"Really?" He asked. The kid dropped the knife and held up his hands. "What are you kid, like…sixteen?"

"F…f…f…ifteen." He stammered out. Dane gabbed him by the scruff of the neck and literally dragged him to the door, before kicking him up the ass.

"Go back to school kid!" He yelled, before turning to Benny. "Really? That kid?"

"I like the Grover kid." Benny responded in a sigh. "Sure, he's scrawny but he's got…something."

"He's going to get a pine box if he stays in…whatever the hell business this is." Dane replied.

"Is there something you want?" He asked. "You know, before I have you killed for crippling one of my crews?"

"They'll be fine. I just manipulated a few nerve points." Dane replied. "They'll all be up and about in a couple of hours."

"What do you want?" Benny asked him.

"The woman I was asking about before, Mariko." He replied. "Where is she?"

"What makes you think I know?" Benny asked.

"Because we're having this nice little chat." Dane answered. "Instead of…you know…you calling on all your goons with a description and putting a price on my head. You wanted to know what I wanted to see if there was a way to get rid of me without any more of…well…this."

"Anyone that can do this to six of my guys without breaking a sweat warrants at least hearing out." Benny told him. "Yeah, I know that name. She used to live above the café."

"I figured that much out already." Dane answered. "I need something I don't know."

"So, is this the part where you threaten me that I'm going to end up like the rest of these guys if I don't tell you?" Benny asked.

"Since I'd actually like to live the rest of my life without a price on my head from…what outfit is this?"

"We call ourselves the Scorpion Cartel." Benny answered. "Alright, I think you've proven you've got some skills we can use. Bob, get your ass over here!"

Bob dragged himself across the floor and hoisted himself up onto a chair, his leg still completely crippled from Dane's attack.

"Bob here thinks we should get into real-estate, he has some idea of getting ourselves a new front business." Benny snorted. "I don't know what's wrong with the café…"

"The café is small potatoes!" Bob protested. "The owners of the race track got into a bit of a bind and are having to sell. If we had that, we could rinse millions though it!"

"You want me to steal a race track?" Dane asked him.

"Not exactly." Benny answered. "We tracked down where the auctioneer lives. We need him to know…which bid to call time on."

"Right, so you want me to shake down the auctioneer." Dane replied. Benny tossed him an address.

"That's where he lives." He responded. "Make sure he knows when the auction is over."

"I only have two rules." Dane responded.

"You have conditions?" Benny asked him. "Alright, I'm curious. Go ahead."

"No one dies." Dane told him. "I'll scare him, but no one gets killed."

"And the other?" Benny asked.

"No innocents. If he has a wife, kids, servants…none of them get harmed." Dane replied.

"I don't care how you do it. As long as he knows that when he brings the hammer down, we walk out with that race track for less than five hundred mil." He stated.

"I'll be back when it's done." Dane answered as he walked out the door.

After a couple of hours of hiking, the class had finally gotten to the camping site. It was a lot more nature than the vast majority of them really cared for. There were more than a few sighs of relief as they all started dumping their bags on the ground.

"Alright class, alright, I know you're all excited to be here but it's not time to rest just yet." Principal Hastings told them. "There's still a lot of work to do to set up the camp. Now, who can tell me why this is a good camping spot?"

"It's the one recommended by the ranger?" Victor asked with a shrug. There was a laugh, but Principal Hastings glared at him.

"Alright, that's true but WHY did he recommend this spot?" She asked. "Come on people, at least pretend for a minute that one day your lives may depend on knowing these things. Why is this a good spot?"

"Well, there's a lake just over there." Monty answered. "With some filters and a fire to boil it that means we have plenty of water."

"Very good Monty! Water is extremely important! While if you're pressed you can live for days without food, without water you'll succumb within only a couple of days." She responded. "What else?"

"The ground looks pretty even." Calvin said with a shrug. "So, we should be able to pitch the tents easily enough."

"That's part of it." Principal Hastings responded. "What else about the ground makes it ideal?"

"The ground is on a slight slope." Sandy offered, holding up her hand. "If there is rain or something, the water will run straight through instead of gathering."

"Excellent!" Principal Hastings congratulated her. Preston just smiled as he saw how happy Sandy was to get complimented by her teacher. "Alright class, start pitching your tents. When you're done, Mr Weston and I will teach you how to make a fire pit."

"Um…question!" Victor said, holding up his hand. "What do we do if the rhino shows up?"

There was a derisive laugh from everyone at the camp. Principal Hastings just face-palmed.

"Victor, for the last time, there is no rhino!" She told him.

"But…but my aunt once said…"

"Victor, for the love of God, I've been on safari! I watched my father hunt a rhino when I was six!" She told him. "If there was a rhino anywhere around here, we'd hear it long before we saw it! They are not exactly quiet creatures."

"But Principal Hastings…"

"That is ENOUGH Victor! There is no rhino!" She barked. "Now, will you please just go pitch your tent?"

As he went to start working on putting up his tent, Rygore crept around the edges of the camp. He had now been trailing the class for some time, at least a couple of hours. It turned out that rhinos could be very quiet, especially if they had ninjutsu training. He had been trailing the Rangers trying to find a good time to launch his attack. The other students really didn't bother him. Not only were they really no threat to him whatsoever, he had no received any specific orders regarding them so at worst he had no particular problem going through them as well. However, there was a greater power at work than him regarding this.

He pulled out his die, the one that had told him to trail the Rangers instead of just attacking as soon as they arrived. He took a deep breath and looked to the die.

"1-2, I attack now. 3-4 I wait until the Rangers go to do something. 5-6 I attack after dark." He said to himself, before tossing it aside. He waited with baited breath for it to stop. It came up a 3. "Well, it looks like I'm waiting for now."

"Oh, good job Sarah!" He heard the one he had identified to be the leader of this camping expedition say. "It's a vast improvement from your performance in camping club."

"Thanks!" Sarah replied, feeling somewhat vindicated. People still told tales of how Sarah couldn't get her tent to stay up for more than a few moments in camping club, and it was nice to finally show what she could do. The clones she had made in order to participate in more extra-curricular activities, it turned out, all drained on her mental energies and just split focus meaning that their performance was incredibly lacking. It was good for her now not to be known as the girl who couldn't pitch a tent. Rygore recognised her from the battle with Speedwing as the Pink Ranger. "Anyone need any help? I'm all done!"

"Hey, Sarah…it looks like you managed to pitch your tent this time." Calvin teased her. Sarah just shoved him over playfully.

"Just for that, you and Hayley can do it yourselves." Sarah answered. "Hey, Mr Weston, want a hand preparing a fire pit?"

"Sure, come with me, we'll see if we can find some wood!" Levi answered back as he and Sarah left the camp.

"Hey, Brody I'm done too." Emma told him.

"Really?" He asked. "I thought you'd never camped before!"

"Yeah, but…technical stuff I'm really great at! You should see what I can do with a Lego set!" She replied. "So…want to go see what I've been practicing?"

"Uh…yeah, sure!" Brody answered. "Come on, it'll be a while before everyone's finished."

As Rygore watched them go, he picked up his die.

"Looks like another choice needs to be made." He stated. "1-3 I go after the Pink and Gold Rangers. 4-6 I go after the Red Ranger."

He tossed the die, waiting until it came to rest. He smiled as he saw the result.

"This is going to be fun!" He stated as he collected it, before picking up the trail. The hunt was on!