"Wakey, Wakey," Tori giggled, sitting on Kelly's bed as she waved her hand in front of Kelly's sleeping face. Kelly stirred slightly, rolling over so she was facing away from Tori. The Blue Ranger pouted as she hopped off the bed and ran over to the other side, dropping down.

"Kelly," she called, "Kelly…. Kelly…"

Kelly grabbed her pillow, lifting it up so she could stuff her head underneath.

"Go away," she muttered. Tori shook her head.

"You need to wake up," she said. "I'm hungry."

"Go make something," Kelly grumbled. Again, Tori shook her head, even if she knew Kelly couldn't see.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because, birthday girls don't cook."

"No, apparently they don't," Kelly mumbled as she threw off the pillow and sat up. "And, apparently, they don't sleep in either."

"Not when I know Kelly's going to make blueberry pancakes!"

"Who says I'm going to make blueberry pancakes?" Kelly smirked. Tori's smile fell off her face as she heard this.

"Please?" she asked. "With icing sugar on top?"

"On top of the sweet request?" Kelly asked, "Or the pancakes?"

"Both?" Tori grinned. Kelly rolled her eyes.

"Fine."

As she crawled out of bed, limping to the closet, Tori snuggled in, getting comfortable in the bed she had just kicked Kelly out of.

"Can you put fruit on top?"

"Why not?" Kelly nodded.

"And whipped cream?"

"Sure…"

"And…"

"Anymore and you're going to be the Blue-berry Ranger," Kelly chuckled, "Round and plump". Tori frowned, crossing her arms as Kelly reached for the top shelf of her closet. She pulled down a small box, wrapped in blue and tossed it to Tori.

Tori caught it while Kelly sat back down on the bed with her. Before Tori could start ripping the paper off the box, Kelly grabbed her arm.

"Okay, now I want to warn you, this isn't a regular gift," Kelly had to explain so Tori would understand the reasoning behind this gift. "You're eighteen now. You have no more uses for silly little birthday gifts or money."

"So, what is this?" Tori asked.

"The first day of the rest of your life," Kelly smiled. "I always need another hand to help me out around the shop, and you don't have a job…"

Tori groaned loudly before Kelly could finish.

"Not you too…"

Kelly shook her head, "I'm not telling you to look for a job. I'm giving you the chance to try something out. You've told me, time and time again, you have no idea what you want to do after high school."

"Yeah," Tori nodded.

"There's nothing like business to fall back on. I figure I could give you a manager position here so you can try your hand at running a shop. Maybe you'll find you like it and want to start your own, or maybe not. Either way, it will give you a little bit of money in the meantime."

Tori looked down at the box and opened it, tearing off the paper. Inside the box sat a key. She lifted it up and looked at Kelly.

"Kinda… the key to your future," Kelly chuckled, "Directly, or indirectly."

Tori had to think about the present for a moment. It wasn't really what she was expecting. Ever since she met Kelly, they exchanged silly gifts for birthdays and Christmas. But when she looked back up at Kelly, she understood what the real gift was. It wasn't the job, or the key. It was help and support from one of her best friends.

Tori had never really known what she wanted to do in life. Nothing interested her like her training at the Wind Ninja Academy and surfing. Compared to that, everything else was boring. The reason she didn't have a job through her teenage years like Dustin was because she couldn't find something she could really stick with. A job at a fast food restaurant was boring and smelly. A job at a regular restaurant involved a lot of running around aimlessly while other people sat on their asses eating food. Working as a cashier was out of the question for the girl who loved to move around in the water and take in the view of the ocean.

And there was no career that interested her. Aside from finding a sponsor and surfing professionally, Tori could think of nothing she wanted to do with her life. Kelly's idea, however, about getting some experience in business could work out. If the professional surfing career didn't work out, Tori could maybe open up her own shop, offer surfing lessons and sell good quality surfboards.

Kelly tapped Tori's leg as she got up.

"Hurry up," she told the blonde, "We've got to pick up Cam in an hour for your party."

"But my pancakes!" Tori called, running after Kelly into the kitchen.

-Storm-Chargers-

When Kelly, Tori and Cam pulled arrive at the beach, they noticed Blake, Hunter and Dustin were already waiting for them with almost everything they needed to have fun at the beach. Tori hopped out of the van while Cam and Kelly unloaded the rest of the supplies from the back of the truck.

"Has anyone seen Shane?" Tori asked, looking around for the red Ranger. She was hoping he wouldn't be late for her birthday. Unlike Tori, Shane was still having nightmares, and they were keeping him up at night.

"We can't leave without him," Dustin smiled, holding up an inflatable surfboard while wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and an inflatable ring around his waist, "he's bringing the cake!"

"Guys!" Shane called, running towards the large group with a box in his hands. He handed the box to Tori. "Happy birthday."

Hunter and Blake stepped beside Tori to welcome their friend. Hunter noticed Shane was wearing a sweater and shorts, instead of his bathing suit (which was required at the beach party).

"Um, that doesn't look like beachwear, bro."

Shane scratched the back of his neck, "Yeah, about that…"

"Don't tell me you're bailing!" Tori frowned.

Hunter took the cake from her and quickly took off with his brother. He didn't want to stick around if Tori was going to get angry and slap someone.

"I had that same dream again last night," Shane tried to explain, "I think it's trying to tell me something."

"Like, how to ruin your friend's birthday?"

Shane sighed, feeling terrible. The last thing he wanted to do was ditch Tori's birthday party because of a dream. But he knew he had to figure out why this dream kept happening and what it was about.

"I just know something's not right," he said, "I'm going to go check out the woods."

Cam and Kelly approached the blue and red Rangers, hoping to offer some help.

"Shane, I'm the first person to say duty before pleasure," Cam started, "But I left Cyber Cam online at Ninja ops. If anything weird shows up, he'll let us know."

"I'll catch up, okay," Shane said as he began to take a few steps back, "I promise."

Tori's shoulders dropped as she gave in, "Alright, but you better!" she shouted to him as he took off. She let out a loud sigh of disappointment before Dustin tossed a beach ball at her head. Obviously he still wasn't aware Kelly had just hired her as Storm Chargers manager, and his boss. Tori froze up for a second before turning around slowly.

"I'll count to three," she warned him, picking up the ball.

"Dude," Dustin shouted, pushing past Blake and Hunter.

"Three!" Tori called out, skipping one and two completely as she kicked the beach ball and ran after Dustin. Cam and brothers followed her farther down the beach while Kelly locked up the truck. She turned to Tori, then back to the forest on the other side of the parking lot, where Shane had just run off to. She groaned loudly, deciding to follow him and maybe help him out.

Her knee injury from the week before slowed her down, but eventually she caught up to Shane just as a bright light began dancing around his body. Shane flailed, trying to avoid it, before it flew off into the sky.

"What the hell was that?" Kelly asked, approaching Shane. He turned to her, surprised by her sudden appearance.

"What are you doing here?" he frowned.

"Well, you just ditched Tori's birthday," Kelly said. "I'm here if you want to talk."

Shane shrugged, "I don't really know what to say," he told her.

His ear picked up on something before he could continue. Being a ninja, he had been trained to pick up on the slightest of sounds. He paused, grabbing Kelly's arm and pulling her closer to him as he looked around the forest.

Just in time, his eyes caught sight of a large, dark orb that was speeding his way. He placed himself protectively in front of Kelly before jumping up and kicking the orb off its path.

It materialized a few feet away in a creature that looked a lot like a shark.

"Whoa, now there's a face only a mother could love," Shane chuckled. Kelly looked over his shoulder at the monster and shrugged.

"Eh… I don't know. If my kid came out like that, I might consider putting it up for adoption."

"I could say the same about you," the monster said. "Now step aside."

"Lothor's goons don't scare me," Shane smirked, fixing up his jacket.

"I'm Vexacus, and I work for no one."

Again, Kelly poked her head over Shane's shoulder, "He kinda sounds like Darth Vader… in a creepy fish kinda way."

"Give me the Karmanian," Vexacus growled, extending his hand as he waited for Shane to give into his demand.

Shane exchanged a look with Kelly. She frowned, crossing her arms.

"I am not a Canadian!"

"Karmanian!" Vexacus corrected her. "I know she is here somewhere."

Shane turned back to Vexacus.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he told the alien.

Vexacus dropped into a fighting stance and Shane quickly did the same.

"Have it your way," the alien breathed before suddenly launching himself at Shane. Shane pushed Kelly aside before charging the alien, quickly finding himself outmatched as Vexacus threw him to the ground. Shane got to his feet, ready to pull out his morpher when Vexacus, from nowhere, shot him with a beam of energy, something Kelly had never seen before.

She winced as Shane flew into the trees, landing on the ground in a heap. The lack of sleep was now taking its toll on Shane as he powered down and rolled on the ground, in too much pain to get up.

Kelly ran to his side as Vexacus stepped closer slowly, chuckling wildly.

"Where is the Karmanian?" he asked.

Shane struggled to get to his feet, finding any energy he could to fight back, when suddenly the small light from before appeared again, this time surrounding both Shane as Kelly, before pulling them away from the alien.

The two were suddenly dropped back on the ground, in a new section of the forest. Shane helped Kelly to her feet.

"What's going on?" he asked her, hoping she would have an answer. She shrugged before hearing another voice.

"Hey."

Shane let go of Kelly, letting her drop back to the ground as he turned around, coming face to face with a woman.

The woman approached Shane and Kelly with a huge smile on her face, "Are you okay?"

Kelly got to her feet before poking Shane in the arm. He and the woman were staring at each other and Kelly couldn't help but recognise the goofy grin on Shane's face.

"Shane, Shane," she whispered, hoping to get his attention. "Shane!"

Shane tried to shrug Kelly off, but she was persistent.

"SHANE!" she screamed in his ear. He turned to her.

"What?"

"Maybe she's the Canadian," Kelly suggested.

"Karmanian?" the woman asked, turning to Kelly for a moment.

"Whatever," Kelly nodded. She looked over at Shane, "Maybe she's the person that alien freak was looking for."

Shane frowned, realising Kelly had a point. He gazed over at the woman who nodded sadly.

"He's been chasing me for a while."

"We better get you back home, then," Shane told her. He scanned the forest quickly before taking the lead, pulling the two girls in his chosen direction. "It's not safe for you here."

"How do you know I live this way?" the woman asked. Shane stopped, turning to her.

"Maybe you can help me out?"

The woman chuckled before pointing to the sky.

"Up there."

Shane and Kelly both looked up.

"Right," Shane nodded. "So, you're some alien life form or something?"

The woman chuckled, beginning to walk away. Kelly rolled her eyes. It was a bad idea coming into this forest with her knees.

Shane chased after the woman, "Wait, are you serious?"

"You asked," the woman smiled, noticing Shane's look of utter disbelief.

Shane shook his head, "So, why is that guy after you?" he asked. The woman smiled and pointed to Kelly.

"It's not safe for your friend," she said.

The woman opened her hand, pointing her palm at Kelly before a light surrounded her. Suddenly, Kelly found herself back at the beach, landing right at the shore as Hunter came running down. He didn't have time to she realise she appeared from nowhere and tripped over her, landing face first in the salt water.

Tori chuckled as she caught up while Hunter quickly got to his feet, wiping the water from his eyes.

"Kelly, I am sooo sorry!" he told her, offering his hand to help her up. She glared at it, swatting it away with her hand as she made sure her knee didn't get wet. She still had the stitches and had been told specifically not to get them wet. Thankfully, she landed just out of the water's reach, and her knee was fine.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Tori asked her.

Kelly got herself to her feet and shrugged, "I have no idea. One second Shane and I were in the forest with this Karmanian Canadian and running away from some alien. The next, Free Willy here is tripping over me!"

"Sorry about that, Kel," Hunter winced, apologizing again. He was already on Kelly's bad side. He didn't need to add this to her list of reasons to hate him (yes she had a list. Hunter had found it in the cash register a few days before).

By now, Hunter, Dustin, Cam and Blake and joined, hearing Kelly's explanation. Cam grabbed his amulet.

"Cyber Cam, can you try to reach Shane?" Cam asked. "There's something going on in the forest."

"Already on it. Unfortunately there's something that's interfering with his morpher."

"Keep trying," Cam told his twin. "I'm on my way."

"Wait, you're bailing too now?" Tori groaned.

"Only until I figure out what's going on," Cam nodded. "I would just feel better checking things out myself."

"We'll come with you," Hunter offered, but Cam shook his head, quickly refusing the offer.

"No, stay. There's nothing we can do until we know what we're dealing with."

Cam took off, leaving only Tori, Kelly, the Bradleys and Dustin. Dustin exchanged looks with the others.

"You know, maybe it's a good alien," he suggested. "No one's ever considered that."

Blake stepped in front of Tori, smiling in hopes to cheer her up.

"Don't let this get you down, okay?" he told her. "We can still have fun."

He grabbed the plastic duck (A/N: DUCKY!) and placed it around her head, upside down. Tori let out a deep breath.

"You're right," she said. "I guess the day's not completely ruined…"