A/N: Spoilers for 'Pork Chopped' in this chapter.
I took the liberty of resurrecting Trayf, the pig monster from Pork Chopped. He just seemed to fit into the story. Plus, it gave me an excuse to metaphor…

Cmar, CamFan, AngelMouse, Vampire, Weesta, Garnetred, and all my other reviewers, thanks so much for reading and commenting on the story. I greatly appreciate all your feedback!

"She what?" Dustin exclaimed, turning from the shelf where he was stacking containers of motor oil and across the room, Tori's head rose from the magazine she was reading behind Storm Chargers' check-out counter. Shane rolled his eyes at his brunet friend's arched eyebrows.

"She stayed at my house last night. So what?"

"And with your parents gone on their cruise," Dustin grinned mischievously. "How convenient."

"Yeah, no wonder you've looked so tired at school all day," Tori's face mirrored Dustin's as she approached them. Shane wagged a finger at his fellow ninjas.

"I know what you two are getting at, and no! She slept on the couch, ok? And the reason why I'm tired is because we were up until almost two in the morning." He shot them both a pointed look. "TALKING!"

"Must have been a lot to talk about," Dustin remarked with a wry look on his face which Shane decided to purposely overlook.

"Yeah, well, she's pretty…unique," he replied vaguely, and his eyes went to the clock on the wall behind the cash register. "Matter of fact, she should be here any minute now. We're catching a movie at the Cinedome."

There was another pointed exchange of glances between Dustin and Tori, and Shane shook his head in mock exasperation. "Oh please, it's just a movie, guys."

"I didn't say nothing," Dustin smirked. Tori brought up her hands, palms up.

"Me neither," she said, trying hard to keep a straight face.

Shane rolled his eyes. "I'm out. Catch ya'll later." He rapped knuckles with Dustin, enveloped Tori in a quick hug, then grabbed his jacket and headed out the door, leaving his two friends grinning after him.

Meanwhile…

A few miles above Storm Chargers, Lothor peered at his viewing screen and cackled. "A movie date, huh? Well, what kind of evil space ninja would I be if I let those Rangers have too much fun?" He thought for a minute. "Now who should I send down there to spoil it for them…Ah, yes, Footzilla!"

"Uhm, Uncle, Footzilla came down with athlete's foot a few days ago," came a high-pitched voice from the back of the spaceship's bridge.

Lothor's head whipped around until his eyes came to rest on his two nieces who were busy painting each other's nails. "He did? Darn! Well, how about Shimatsu?"

Mara looked up from examining her sister's bright pink nail. "He went to the Japanese cherry blossom festival. It's that time of the year, you know."

"Curses!" Lothor balled his fist. "All right…Chooboo then."

Kapri shook her head. "Don't you remember? He put in his annual vacation request and you granted him a weeks' leave."

Lothor looked genuinely puzzled. "I let him go on vacation?"

Both sisters nodded. "It's in the Evil Army Employee Handbook. Generals get one week a year."

"Remind me to make some changes to the Handbook when I get a chance," the masked ninja growled and threw up his hands in frustration. "For crying out loud! Do I have anybody left to fight those blasted Power Rangers?"

"Well, there's one…" Kapri said. "But we just finished stitching him back together from the last time the Rangers thrashed him, so he might not be at full capacity yet."

"That's fine," Lothor waved aside his niece's concern. "I just need him to divert the Rangers' attention so I can put my real plan into action."

Mara and Kapri looked at each other with renewed curiosity and came to their uncle's side. "What's the real plan?"

A slow, evil smile spread across what was visible of Lothor's face behind the leather mask. "Well, what I'm planning on doing is…"

His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, and after a moment, the smiles on both sister's faces matched that of their uncle.

The date…

"What is that?" Shane gasped as Molly pulled up in front of Storm Chargers a few minutes later in an ancient and beat-up silver Honda Accord.

Molly leaned across the passenger seat and grinned out the open window. "My pride and joy. And the biggest lemon in Blue Bay Harbor."

As if on cue, the car promptly stalled and died with one last, dignified backfiring.

"Think it would help if I pushed?" Shane asked with a smirk, and Molly rolled his eyes at him while she worked the ignition key and pumped the gas petal.

"Just get in!"

"You think we're gonna make it to the movies in this?" Shane laughed as he dropped into the passenger seat, and the corners of Molly's mouth rose.

"Well, it's gotten me around so far, off and on." She shot him an amused look. "Needless to say, I got it for real cheap."

"I should hope so."

Molly wagged a finger into Shane's direction, the bemused glint in her eyes still very much visible. "Hey, no car bashing! I worked two jobs during the summer to pay for my half of this."

"And it seems you will need two more soon, with all the repairs this bucket still needs," Shane remarked as he studied the virtually non-existent door handle on his side of the car.

"Or I could just charge you for the rides," Molly deadpanned, receiving a grin from her passenger in return.

The car finally turned over and Molly pulled away from the curb, easing into traffic.

"Do you know how to get to the theatre?" Shane asked, and Molly took her eyes off the street for a moment to smirk at him. "Sure. I double-checked the coordinates with my GPS system just before I got here. Matter of fact, you're sitting on my GPS right now."

Frowning, Shane shifted in his seat, then pulled a dog-eared copy of a Blue Bay Harbor city map out from under him. He gave her a wry look and Molly's grin grew wider.

"Only the best for my passengers."

"I feel so privileged."

They kept up their good-natured bantering throughout the entire ride, and once they arrived at the movie theatre, Shane stayed true to his word and selected the largest size popcorn from the concession stand. A few minutes later they were settled into their seats with their snacks and drinks, and Shane stole a side-glance at Molly, who had just shoved a handful of popcorn into her mouth and was chuckling at a silly commercial on the screen at the same time. She looked like a chipmunk, and Shane grinned at the sight.

'I think this is gonna be a nice afternoon,' the Red Ranger thought and settled deeper into his seat as the lights dimmed in the theatre.

At Ops…

In Ninja Ops' control room, the sparring session of the remaining five Rangers was interrupted by the sudden bleep of the alarm. Cam disentangled himself from Hunter's headlock, rushed towards his terminal and called up the source of trouble. The ritzy Oceanview Mall came up on the screen – and a way too familiar figure wreaking havoc among the crowd of weekend shoppers.

"Oh man, it's that pig. Trayf!" Cam exclaimed.

Hunter was peering over his shoulder an instant later. "What? I thought we roasted that porker a few weeks ago!" the Crimson Ranger cried.

Cam shot him a quick side-glance. "Well, Lothor must have either resurrected or cloned him, 'cause the swine is quite obviously fine."

"Cam, please, dude, we got enough metaphors from that guy when we battled him the first time." Dustin groaned.

"I hope he at least doesn't smell as bad as last time," Hunter grumbled before he turned and stood beside his brother, ready for morphing.

"Man, this brings back painful memories of artificial popcorn flavoring," Blake mumbled to no one in particular.

"I better call Shane," Cam said. Tori made a face and groaned.

"Oh no, and he's out with Molly."

Cam shot her an apologetic look and opened the communications channel.

Interruptions…

Shane's morpher went off just as Neo and Morpheus were chasing the artificially created army of holographic Mr. Smiths through the fantastic virtual reality of The Matrix.

Shane closed his eyes, and for an entire half a second he contemplated ignoring the hail.

Molly threw him an enquiring glance. "Weird alarm on your weird watch" she remarked with an implacable expression, and Shane's mind raced.

"Uhm, that's my alarm for…my pills," he muttered and heaved himself out of his seat, a half-panicked, half apologetic look in his eyes. "I'm taking these vitamins…"

But Molly was already shaking her head. "Ah, Shane…freakish psychic, remember?" She tapped her finger to her temple and Shane's face fell.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." How do you lie to someone who has a built-in polygraph in her head?

"I…I'll be right back," he mumbled and fled towards the exit, leaving a frowning Molly behind in her seat.

Thankfully, the theatre lobby was deserted, and Shane brought his morpher to his mouth the moment he stepped into the entrance hall. "Go for Shane, and this better be good!"

"Sorry for the interruption, Shane, but we have a situation at the Oceanview Mall. It's Trayf," came Cam's disembodied voice.

Shane frowned. "Didn't we slice him into pork chops just the other week?"

"Apparently not thoroughly enough," Cam replied. "The others are already there, but I'm afraid they might be getting their butts handed to them without you."

At that, Shane's Ranger instinct immediately took precedence over his irritation. "I'll be right there, Cam."

Shane lowered his wrist. Damn, how am I gonna explain that to her?

"So you have a watch with a built-in vitamin alarm and a communicator," a sarcastic voice suddenly sounded from behind him. "Where'd you get it, anyway? The ninja surplus store?"

Shane spun around to see Molly standing a few feet behind him, arms crossed, narrowed eyes firmly fixed on him. "Molly, uhm…" Shane fumbled, but the girl waved him off.

"Never mind. From what I heard, it sounds like you've got to go."

He heaved a deep breath. "Yeah. That was Cam. My friends are in trouble." The look he gave her was sorrowful. "I have to help them out. I'm sorry."

Molly nodded, looking neither angry nor pouty as he had expected. She simply looked resigned as she stared at his morpher. Shane took a step closer to her, resisting the urge to reach out and take her hand. "Look, I know this must look weird to you, but I'll explain everything later, I promise."

Molly watched his face with a dubious expression on her own, but then she nodded again. "All right, but I'm staying until the movie's over and I'm finishing all the popcorn; I paid for it, after all.
"And I'll hold you to that explanation," she added before she turned and slowly walked back down the hallway towards the movie room.

Shane sighed and headed for the front door.

Pork fight…

The Red Ranger arrived in the parking lot of the Oceanview Mall just in time to catch up with his four team mates who were about to converge on the hideous pig monster who was staring down a hot dog vendor by the front entrance of the shopping center. All around him, a dozen kelzaks were happily terrorizing the remaining shoppers.

"All-beef hot dogs? I hate beef! How dare you sell this junk anywhere near me!" Trayf squeaked, lifted the man off his feet and shook him thoroughly.

"You're just a real attention hog, you know that?" Shane called out, and Trayf spun around, dropping the frightened vendor in the process.

"Ah, just whom I've been waiting for!" the pig monster squealed, facing them. "I have a bone to pick with you guys!"

"Oh yeah?" Blake said. "Well, we've got a whole rack of ribs to pick with you."

Hunter drew his Thunder staff and took a step forward. "I don't know who let you out of the slaughterhouse, but we've got every intention of sending you back there."

Several metallic sliding noises told the Crimson Ranger that the others had drawn their weapons as well.

Trayf snorted an evil laugh. "Bring it on, then!" The pig drew his weapon, an oversized meat cleaver. "I'm Pork with a Purpose now. To destroy you!"

Dustin shook his helmeted head. "Man, his lines are even worse than last time."

At that very moment, the double glass doors of the mall were flung open and Mara and Kapri walked out, holding shopping bags. The two kelzaks trailing behind them were so loaded up with packages and parcels, one couldn't even see their helmets.

"Oh, look who's here," Mara exclaimed, pointing at Tori. "You know, I saw this pink outfit back at JC Penney's that would be perfect for you, Miss Ranger-thing. Blue is just so not your color."

"Did you pay for all this stuff?" Tori called back, deliberately ignoring the color taunt.

Kapri let out a loud cackle. "Didn't you know? They had a sale that started right when we walked in the door. Everything for free!"

Mara joined her sister in her laughter, and they seated themselves on a stone bench behind Trayf.

"This is so great," Kapri exclaimed. "Really cute new outfits and after-shopping entertainment."

That was apparently Trayf's cue, for he let out an earsplitting squeal and launched himself at the nearest Ranger, which happened to be Hunter. The Crimson Ranger blocked the monster's attack and immediately went into the offensive.

The rest of the Rangers fanned out, taking on the advancing kelzaks, and the battle began.

Hunter was duking it out with Trayf while the rest of the team took on the kelzaks two and three at the time.

After some back-and-forth parrying, the alien managed to get off a lucky swing with the meat cleaver that sent Hunter flying backwards several feet. The pig monster's evil laugh rang across the plaza. "Ha! This little piggy's chopping down some Rangers!"

Shane was right there to take up his fallen team mate's place. "Oh, put a truffle in it, boarhead," the Red Ranger exclaimed as he started towards the monster, slashing at him with his sword.

"Who're you calling boarhead?!" Trayf squealed indignantly and swung his weapon. But the klutzy cleaver was no match for a sleek ninja sword handled by a lightening-quick Power Ranger.

Now the battle quickly took a turn, for despite his abiding taunts and jeers, the alien hog seemed to weaken rapidly under the onslaught of Shane's thrusts and parries.

Back on the bench, Mara and Kapri, who had been watching while stuffing themselves with hot dogs from the abandoned vendor cart, were getting nervous.

"I don't think he'll last much longer," Mara cried as Trayf stumbled backwards, then fell to one knee, the Red Ranger hovering over him.

Kapri waved her hand dismissively. "It's okay. This should have been long enough for Zurgane to snatch the ninja chick." She tossed the remains of her hot dog and turned to pick up her shopping bags. "Time to get back to the ship and try on our new clothes."

Mara clapped her hands with a delighted cry. "Oh yes, let's!"

A few feet away from them, Shane, who had been getting ready to finish off the monster, suddenly paused in mid-swing and turned towards Lothor's nieces.

"What are you talking about, freaks?"

The two girls giggled, and a dark sense of foreboding settled over him as something clicked in his head. "This was a trick!"

Kapri rolled her eyes at him. "If ya have to know…duh, yes!"

"And thanks to you, little red riding hood, Uncle's ninja collection should be complete by now," Mara chimed in, and both girls giggled again. "Ta!"

They disappeared in a flash of light just as the Red Ranger was sprinting towards them.

Molly! A clump of fear was quickly taking up residence in Shane's stomach as Lothor's plan dawned on him, and he turned towards his team, the porker crouched a few feet behind him all but forgotten.

"They're out to get Molly," he cried. "I've got to find her!"

Blake and Hunter's helmeted heads turned towards him, and suddenly Hunter pointed sharply, whipping out his blaster in the same motion. "Shane, watch out!"

Instinctively, the Red Ranger ducked, and the pig monster's cleaver swooshed past his helmet with an inch to spare.

"One extra-large serving of fried pork rind, extra crispy, coming up!" Hunter cried from across the plaza as he fired the Crimson Blaster.

With a last squeal, Trayf disintegrated into a fireball or orange, yellow and red, and a moment later, all that was left of the alien was the faint smell of hog roast.

The rest of the Ranger team was crowded around Shane in an instant. Blake helped him back to his feet, and the Red Ranger clasped Hunter's shoulder. "Thanks, man."

The Crimson Ranger waved him off. "No sweat."

Shane sheathed his ninja sword and raised his wrist. An instant later he was powered down, standing before his team mates in his leather training uniform. "Guys, this was all just a diversion from Lothor," he said, urgency written all over his face. "I've got to find Molly before they do!"

Tori and Dustin stepped forth. "We're going with you," they chorused.

Shane gave his two friends a grateful nod, and while they powered down, he turned to Blake and Hunter. "Can you guys handle the rest of the mop-up job here by yourselves?"

He looked around the parking lot where only a handful of scattered kelzaks remained.

"Dude, who do you think you're talking to? Of course!" Blake exclaimed, and Hunter waived his hands impatiently.

"Get going. Find your girlfriend."

"She's not my…" But Shane never got to finish his sentence before Tori grabbed him and streaked away with him in a flash of blue and red.

TBC…