Adrion and I walked back to root core slowly, and I summoned my backpack away in case someone came outside and knew that I was trying to run away, and told Junky to go ahead and go somewhere else. I really didn't feel like answering questions right now.

We walked into root core, and I headed back to the room everyone was sleeping in earlier to check up on them. Before I could get to it though, I heard a thump and someone running into a wall.

"HOLY CHEEZITS!" I heard none other than Chip yell, and realized he must've gotten up and realized I was gone. Suddenly, the door swung open, and a blur of orange ran flat out into me.

With a loud thump, Chip and I fell to the floor, him on top of me.

After a shocked moment of looking at each other, Chip started yelling.

"Intruder! Help! Intruder!"

"Chip, what the hell, it's me!" I yelled back, and Chip eyed me skeptically.

"It is not! Emma doesn't wear that necklace! Intruder!" Chip continued yelling, and soon more shuffles were heard coming from the room nearby. A blur of black and dark brown sped out of the door way, only to trip over Chip and I as we lay right in the middle of the hallway, and in a very uncomfortable position might I add.

"What? Intruder? Where?" Nick asked sleepily, as he looked around the hallway from the floor.

"INTRUDER!" Chip yelled bloody murder again, and this time, Madi and Xander Sprinted out of the room, but tripped over everyone else scrawled out onto the floor.

"Where is he?" Xander asked, getting out his morpher from his position on the ground.

Next, a blur of pink and black shot out of the doorway, and like everyone else, tripped over the out-of-place bodies lying on the floor.

"Yeah, I'll get him!" Vida said, as she too flopped around for her morpher.

"CHIP, GET OFF OF ME!" I yelled at him, and everyone looked at me surprised.

"Emma!" Madi yelled with glee, and flung herself on top of Chip in a dog pile type attempt.

"Ems, your back to normal!" Xander yelled, and laid partially over Madi to join the dog-pile-hug thing. Soon, Nick jumped on Xander, and Vida on Nick, and they all laughed and smiled, saying how happy they were to see me again.

"She's back!" Vida yelled with glee.

"She's an intruder!" Chip yelled from on top of me.

"SHE'S LOSING AIR!" Adrion yelled over him, as I began to suffocate under the weight of the power rangers.

Everyone shuffled off of me, except for Chip, who just glared at me.

"It's not Emma!" Chip declared, and I rolled my eyes at him.

"Chip, just let me up!" I said, struggling to get up. Chip quickly pinned down my arms, and used his legs to pin down mine.

"No, you're not Emma," Chip declared, and everyone looked at him skeptically.

I sighed.

"Chip, just get the hell off me," I said in a threatening voice, and Chip just glared at me.

"No," He stated haughtily, and in a way that very much reminded me of Necrolai.

I sighed, and pushed magic into my muscles, gaining enough extra strength needed to push Chip off me. I stood up, and brushed myself off.

"Emma, you're ok!" Madi said excitedly, and I just smiled, still not too sure if I wanted to be here or not.

Madi quickly engulfed me in a hug, and was soon followed by her sister, then Xander, then Chip, and finally Nick.

"Don't ever do that again! You scared the crap out of me! I'm so sorry about everything!"

"I'm sorry, Shorty, I shouldn't have thought you were the bad guy. I was so wrong,"

"Yes! I can't believe you're finally back! See? I told you I would get you out of this!"

"Emma, I'm really sorry! Oh yeah, and you fight like a demon! You should be a vampire more often!"

"Only if she's on our side! But Emma, I'm really sorry too. I shouldn't have acted the way I did,"

Their comments and smiles made me think that it might not be so bad here after all, but then again, I was human now.

I'll just take Adrion's advice, and stay. If I need to, I'll leave, but in the meantime…

"Thanks, guys," I said happily, smiling at hem all as I took a step back from them, "But I have someone I want you to meet,"

Adrion stepped forward on cue, smiling, though I could tell he was a little uncomfortable.

"Guys, this is Adrion, and Adrion, this is Madi, Xander, Vida, Chip, and Nick," I introduced him to everyone, who just smiled and waved, or in Chip's case, jumped forward and shook hands with my poor friend furiously.

"It's nice to meet ya!" Chip said with a goofy smile, and Adrion just smiled back, and gave me a sideways glance of nervousness.

"If you don't mind me asking," Madi started, somewhat timidly, "Where exactly are you from?"

"Yes, I was beginning to wonder that also," Udonna's voice rang out through root core, and I turned towards her and smiled as she came to stand with us, "Why don't you tell us your whole story,"

Adrion let out a small sigh, and began his story.

"Well, Emma and I became friends in Forks through work," He began, looking around uncomfortably, "Then one day, Necrolai cornered me in an alley, and tried to take me into the Underworld with her as some sort of ransom so Emma would come, too. Necrolai had been watching Emma, realized she was the Storm, and decided to try to lure her while she didn't know how to use her powers. But then some huge guy dressed in purple interrupted the seal she was making, saying something about her ways having no honor, and instead of getting sucked into the Underworld, I was sealed away where Necrolai couldn't find me for the next two years, which leads up to now,"

Adrion took a deep breath, and looked around at everyone. They all wore expressions of shock on their faces, while Nick's was sort of incredulous.

"Where were you sealed away to?" Udonna ventured, and Adrion smiled slightly at the memory.

"Emma's iPod," Adrion answered, and my mouth hung open.

"So that's why that bitch stole my iPod!" I exclaimed, and Adrion nodded, though he looked slightly worried about my anger on the subject.

"To get to your friend, and hold him for ransom," Udonna finished, then looked at Adrion curiously, "How did you escape?"

Adrion chuckled nervously, and scratched the back of his neck.

"Heh, well, you see… when Emma was in the Underworld, Necrolai took away her memory and put me in charge of her. When Necrolai needed Emma to come up, I snuck out of the gates, too," Adrion explained a little nervously, and I smiled.

"Yes, then you took her to me when the rangers could not," Udonna said, and gave him a smile, which he returned, "Thank you….. but now that the introductions are over, you must all get to work!"

I groaned lowly, and summoned my work shirt to throw on over top of my regular one.

"Work?" Adrion questioned, "Where do you guys work?"

"The Rock Porium," Vida answered, sliding her shirt on over her tank top. Adrion grinned at me.

"Sounds like your kind of place," He said, and I nodded, picking up my back pack (while discreetly summoning away all my clothes, money, teddy bear, etc. and leaving only my drawing pad and a vitamin water). Next, I summoned my iPod, and couldn't help but laugh.

I can't believe Adrion was stuck in here for two years! WOW that must've been uncomfortable!...

"Bye Udonna!" Vida called out, as we walked out of root core. Adrion and I fell into the back of the group slightly.

"So where do you plan on working?" I asked Adrion, and he shrugged.

"I don't know. Know any good coffee shops?" He asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, Cameron's Coffee, it's right down the street from the Porium," I answered, and Adrion smiled in remembrance.

"It'll be good to work at a coffee shop again," He said, and I nodded, then giggled.

"What?" He asked curiously, and I reached up to flick his kitty ear lightly.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

"You can't go into public with those, much less work," I pointed out to him, and he scoffed.

"C'mon, I was in the Underworld for what, a week? Two weeks? I picked up some crap in that time," Adrion said, and snapped his fingers. In a fizzle of light blue magic, they were gone.

"Nice trick," I complimented, and noticed that in front of us, the rangers had started walking through the trees to get to work, and I smirked.

"Can you do that?" I asked Adrion, and he stared at everyone, wide eyed.

I laughed, and grabbed his hand, walking through a tree. As we went through the tree, though, Adrion twisted slightly, and my backpack went flying out the tree before myself. When Adrion and I came out along with my backpack, I lost my balance because Adrion twisted, and fell, dragging him along with me.

With an unattractive 'oof!' on my part, and a loud thump on Adrion's, we fell into a heap on the ground. I leaned up and looked at the boy scrawled out on top of me, and laughed. Soon enough, Adrion began laughing with me also.

"Wow, that was fun!" Adrion said, and stood up, grabbing my hand and pulling me up, too.

I smiled widely at him.

"Let's do it again!" I said, and we began to walk through the tree.

"Emma!" A voice called from across the street, and I looked to see Chip waving at me to come on already.

I sighed, and stopped before we could get into the tree.

"Sorry, I gotta go to work," I told Adrion, and he smiled.

"I walk you over there!" He said, and linked arms with me, dragging me across the street and in and out of cars.

"Holy shit, Adrion!" I said, once we were safely on the opposite sidewalk, "Don't do that!"

Adrion smiled, and ruffled my hair.

"Easy, Cricket, it was just a little fun," He said, as I smoothed my hair down.

"Well, this little Cricket was almost a bug on the windshield," I answered, taking his hand and leading him into the Porium, "C'mon,"

As we entered the Porium, I noticed Toby in his office working on something, then throwing his hands up in the air triumphantly.

"Who's-" Adrion started, but didn't get to finish as Toby came rushing out of his office with something in his hands.

"I DID IT!" Toby exclaimed, and Adrion and I looked at each other with wide eyes.

Did Toby mean that he just-

"I finished this entire cryptomagnetic puzzle in just under forty minutes!" Toby exclaimed.

"I should work for the FBI!" Toby continued, "Or even better, the Power Rangers!"

Adrion and I choked back our laughs, and Chip, Vida, and Xander all started at him wide eyed.

"Uh, yeah toby," Chip said awkwardly, "You should….. do that,"

"I'll call them right now!" Toby exclaimed, and turned around to rush back into his office, then turned around again to look at Adrion.

"Who are you?" Toby asked, and Adrion looked at me for help.

"Toby, this is my friend Adrion, Adrion, this is-" I began, but was cut off.

"Who's you favorite rock singer of all time?" Toby questioned Adrion, and I was about to tell Toby that Adrion didn't want a job here, but didn't get the chance to.

"Zeppelin, duh," Adrion answered upon instinct, and Toby reached into his office and tossed Adrion a shirt.

"Welcome to the Porium," Toby said with a bright smile, "You may start immediately,"

Without another word, Toby entered back into his office, and Adrion looked at me.

"Welcome to work!" I exclaimed, throwing my arms up. Adrion smiled at me.

"It's not a coffee shop, but it'll work," He said, slipping on his shirt, then looking back up at me, "You gonna tell me what to do or what?"

I shrugged and smiled.

"We aren't usually very productive around here," I said, and Xander poked his head up from behind the counter.

"I heard that!" Xander exclaimed, and I laughed nervously.

"So, over here is where we keep the 60's," I said loud enough for Xander to hear, and dragged Adrion across the store to the 60's rack and away from Xander.

After walking around for a moment more and pretending to show him the many different genres of music and where they were placed, we returned back to the counter, and pulled up two of the stools to sit next to it.

"HA!" Vida called out suddenly, putting something down on the counter roughly, "I beat you by 12 dollars and 60 cents! I win the bet, and you owe me lunch,"

"Not so fast," Xander called over to Vida as he sorted some records, "Xander the great still has 12 minutes to go,"

Adrion gave me a confused look, and I rolled my eyes at them.

"Competition," I answered, and Adrion nodded.

Suddenly, the annoying click of heels and the closing of the store door alerted me of the one person I really didn't want to see right now entering the store.

"Can some one help me?" Leelee's annoying voice reached my ears, and as I looked at Adrion, his face scrunched up in disgust, too.

"She's annoying already," He whispered to me, and I nodded.

"Ah, Leelee!" Xander exclaimed, pushing Vida out of the way to strike his best sexy pose while leaning on the counter, "Can I interest you in something?"

I cringed in anticipation of what would happen next. Oh no, not the…

Xander winked, and I shuddered.

"Gives me goose bumps every time," I said under my breath, and Adrion heard me and began to snicker.

Leelee scoffed.

"Nice zit," She said, flipping her hair over her shoulder in a way that reminded me of Necrolai, "Rudolph,"

A small spark of anger welled up inside me, and a devious smile spread across my face.

"Leelee," I called to her sweetly, "Don't forget what happened last time you decided to pick on one of my friends,"

The hidden venom in my voice didn't go unnoticed, and Leelee's eyes went wide for a moment, before she flounced away.

"What was that about?" Xander asked me as I turned around.

I rolled my eyes.

"The bitch started picking on Mads, and I ripped her a new one. Enough said," I explained, with an innocent smile, but slight bitterness dripping from my every word.

Xander nodded, then rushed over to a mirror to examine his face.

Vida held back a laugh.

"Xander, the great big pimple!" she exclaimed, and Xander winced at his reflection.

"Come on guys, it's not…. That… bad….." I offered, but faltered as Xander gave me an unbelieving look.

"Guys, I have it!" Chip exclaimed suddenly, rushing over to us with the Fire Heart in his hands. Immediately, I held my hand up to his mouth.

"Lower you voice. We don't want you-know-who to find out somehow," I explained, and removed my hand when Chip nodded.

"You mean Voldemort?" Adrion questioned, and I looked at him disbelievingly.

"No, Necrolai," I answered in a hushed tone, and nodded for Chip to continue.

"It came to me when Xander looked in the mirror! It might be like two halves of the same face! Minus the zit, of course," Chip added when he noticed Xander still fussing in front of the mirror.

We all looked at each other excitedly, and smiled widely.

"Let's get to root core," Vida said with a smile, and I nodded.

"But we need Madi and Nick, too," Chip pointed out, "I'll grab Mads, Emma, you grab Nick. Meet at root core,"

"Break!" I said, and walked off to find Nick.

I looked around the store, and finally found him sitting on the steps in the back of the store.

"Nick, Chip thinks he found out the secret to you-know-what, and we're going to root core," I said with a smile, and he looked at me over the top of his magazine.

Without a word, he stood and put the magazine down, and briskly walked out the store.

I watched him with a confused expression, but none the less walked after him.

"Toby, lunch break!" I called, and ran across the street just in time to see Nick walk through it. I soon followed after him.