At Rock Porium:

"Aw man," Vida whined as she put away another case of records, "I hate working on Saturdays. It's such a waste of a good day."

"I know what you mean," added Xander, who sitting in his favourite chair supervising. "Like, we spend all week long working at school. Then when we don't have school work, we have work work. It's just an unending cycle of work."

"Right, because you do so much work around here," Nick commented with a smirk.

"Hey! Management can be a very tiresome job," Xander rebuked. "Just because I'm not lifting boxes doesn't mean I'm not working."

Nick and Vida exchanged knowing looks. "Sure Xander," Vida replied. "You keep telling yourself that."

Xander just shrugged in response and returned to reading his magazine. Nick and Vida returned to taking inventory as well.

Somewhere in down town Briarwood:

"Welcome to small town USA," Sky muttered under his breath. He had been walking through town for the past half hour and had yet to manage to find a vid-phone anywhere. He would have just used a pay phone but he didn't have any change on him and he couldn't just charge it like he could with a vid-phone. Not to mention he didn't think SPD would appreciate him calling them collect. Not when his excuse was, he was lost and needed a ride.

He tried asking for directions to one at a gas station but they just pointed him in the direction of down town. That is, if you could call it down town. Somehow, he had managed to end up in some town he'd never heard of called Briarwood. He probably just came out of the wrong end of the forest which was understandable. What didn't make sense though was this town in general. He had only been in town for an hour and he had yet to see a single alien. And while, yes it was a small town, they were still right next to New Tech city. You would think there would be at least one or two living in the area. Maybe he just hadn't run into any yet. He'd already met one in the forest so at least he knew wasn't completely lost.

Still, there was something else about the town that was bugging him. It was so… quaint. Not just some of the stores but the whole town. Everything just screamed old fashioned small town. Even the cars around here looked like the ones his dad would have driven when he was Sky's age. It might just be nothing though. He had never exactly been a big fan of the suburban lifestyle. Some people are just made for big cities and Sky was one of them.

"Oh, I give up," Sky relented. He'd just have to use a phone in one of the stores around here and call in for a pick up. He was too sick of walking to keep wandering around trying to find his own way. Who needs pride anyways? He looked around the street for the nearest store and spotted a vintage looking music store across the street. "That'll have to do."

Back at Rock Porium:

"Sigh,"

"Bored much?" asked a cheerful looking Chip.

Madison, who was usually more enthusiastic about working at the cash, just shrugged. "Slow morning."

"I know what you mean. Do you want me to take over and you can help Nick and Vida with inventory?"

"Thanks," Madison replied, smiling appreciatively. "I'm pretty sure if I had to stand there any longer I probably would have fallen asleep standing up."

Chip chuckled, "No problem. I could use the break anyways."

As Madison headed to the back of the store the front door chimed and tall, sandy haired man walked in. He was wearing a plain red t-shirt and a pair of black track pants. He had a fairly muscular build (he obviously worked out) and looked to be in his early twenties. Were it not for the annoyed looking frown he wore on his face, he would actually be fairly attractive to most girls.

"Hmm, vintage," he commented as he looked around the store. He immediately walked over to the store counter and was greeted by Chip.

"Hi and welcome to Rock Porium. Is there something I can help you with?" Chip asked politely.

"Can I use your phone?"

"Um, sure," Chip replied placing the phone on the counter top, "But only local calls, okay?"

"Right, thanks," Sky replied as he began to dial the number for SPD headquarters.

While this was happening the door chimed again, and devious looking LeeLee sauntered in. As usual, she was wearing one of the most expensive things she owned in an attempt to win over Nick. And as usual, Nick was attempting to turn invisible… or at least hide behind a rack of CDs. Luckily for Nick and not so luckily for Sky, LeeLee noticed the fresh meet standing at the counter, and went over for a closer look.

Sky though, was completely oblivious to the new presence as he was to busy trying to figure out why he couldn't get a hold of SPD. Every time he dialed the number he just got an automated message saying that number does not exist and try again. He tried the operator and even 411 and neither service could find the number for SPD, unless you counted Seattle Police Department. He even tried calling Jack and the shelter where he worked but Jack's number was disconnect and the number of the shelter connect him with a local pizza place.

"What is going on here?" Sky muttered as he put down the phone. Where on earth was he that every number he knew didn't work? And how could SPD not be listed? Something strange was going on here and Sky was going to get to the bottom of it.

Sky turned to leave but was cornered by a smirking blond girl who was standing directly in his way.

"Hi there," the girl chirped devilishly, "You new in town?"

"Just passing through," Sky replied, trying to figure out how to get around the insistent young girl.

"Oh? Where are you from? Maybe I could show you around town," she said, stepping towards Sky in a seductive manner.

"Thanks," Sky replied awkwardly as the girl drew closer, "But I think I can find my own way around. And I really need to get going so… if you'll excuse me…" Sky said trying to step around the petit form.

Lee side stepped blocking his path once more. "I'm LeeLee by the way," she said holding out her hand.

Putting on a fake smile Sky shook her hand, "Nice to meet you, but I really do need to get going…" Sky attempted to remove his hand from hers and escape but the girl had a surprisingly vice like grip. "I'm going to need that hand back."

"Sure," LeeLee replied, still not letting go of Sky. "But you never told me your name?"

"It's Sky," Sky said with a grunt as he finally freed his hand. "So, bye." With that Sky dashed out the door.

LeeLee only pouted as her prey got away from her and then went off to look at some CD's.

Chip, who had been watching the whole event walked over to a still hiding Nick. "Hey Nick, looks like you may be off the hook if that new guy sticks around."

Nick shuddered. "I hope so. Leelee can be down right scary at times."

"What did that guy want anyways?" Vida asked.

Chip shrugged. "He just asked to use the phone. Although, by the way things were going he seemed to be having some trouble getting through. He made like 5 calls."

"Well that's weird," Madison commented, "I hope they were local.

Before the rangers had a chance to discuss the stranger further though, their communicators went off. Nick was the first to answer.

"Udonna, what's going on?"

"There is strange creature attacking in the park. You must get there right away. But be careful Rangers. He is more powerful than he appears."

"We're on it," Nick replied putting his phone away. He turned to the other rangers, "Let's go."

"Right," they responded in unison, heading out the door. They quickly crossed the road heading to the tree across the street. Checking to make sure no one was watching. They each reached forward and disappeared in a flash of light.

To be continued…