Zoey was excited to be a Ranger. When she had been cut from the team it had hurt her, but it seemed fate had stepped in. While she wasn't happy about what happened to Blaze and Roxy, and she would fight eternally to save them, she was glad at the opportunity that had come from it.

She finished training with her Ranger teammates and went to the change rooms to freshen up. The upside to being the only girl on the team was that she had complete privacy as she showered and changed out of her training clothes. The downside was that she was isolated from Devin and Ravi. While she wasn't sure what the boys did ont he change room, whether they talked the whole time or spent it avoiding eye contact and unnecessary conversation, Zoey usually saw them coming out together and feeling a little closer as friends.

She had friends... though not many. Most of her friends from high school had moved on, either going to college or starting their careers. Their lives had gone down different paths and Zoey didn't know how to reconnect.

When she started at Grid Battleforce, she hoped work would be an opportunity to foster new friendships; this time lifelong. She didn't realize how difficult it would be to do so. All the new hires seemed to quickly bond with each other and Zoey was left feeling on the outside.

Conversations were hard to start. Once she was in them, Zoey could thrive. It was always easier when someone approached her, wanting to share something. The furthest Zoey had gotten starting a conversation on her own was asking the person about their day. Usually, they would respond with the generic "good" and Zoey didn't know how to follow through.

Her mom, the social butterfly promised Zoey it would get better, easier, and feel more natural the longer she worked with people. But Zoey was starting to feel the opposite effect. Zoey felt more and more alone. As other friendships deepened, Zoey felt less and less like trying, and more and more like she was being a bother.

She stepped out of the change room and didn't see the boys anywhere in sight. She wasn't sure if they had already finished changing and left without her or if they were still inside. She didn't want to wait around, in case they were gone and someone saw and thought she was an idiot waiting on no one, but she also didn't want to leave, worried that if they were still getting changed, they would think she had ditched them. She decided to take out her phone and keep busy, that way anyone who saw her wouldn't think she was waiting, just working on something or talking to someone.

Finally, the boys stepped out of the change room, already in mid-conversation.

"I can think of a million benefits to being the mayor's kid," Ravi told Devon.

"I can think of a million benefits to being the Commander's kid," Devon responded. Ravi shook his head.

"Are you kidding? My mom, giving me any advantage? I'm her only kid and sometimes I don't even feel like her favourite."

"You're on the team like you wanted."

"My mother didn't choose me for it. She had Sarah do that she could be impartial."

"Your mom lets you do what you want, though. My dad set up an interview for me cleaning carpets. I don't know the first thing about carpets."

"They're on the floor," Zoey stated but her comment seemed to go unnoticed by the boys. That was stupid, Zo.

"Sometimes it feels like my dad doesn't even care about me. Trust me, there's no advantage to being the son of the Mayor."

"Or the commander's son."

"Zoey, what do your parents do?" Devon asked. Zoey was still beating herself up over her comment and snapped herself back to reality when she heard her name.

"Me? My mom's a reporter. Channel 10."

"Any perks?"

"Uh... my school wanted healthier lunches one year. Mom pulled some strings, got our voices on TV and when one of the senators heard our story, they made sure all schools in the district had healthy lunches. That's the same year my acne cleared up. Call it a coincidence if you want, but there's totally a link there."

"Nice," Devon nodded. "We're hanging out at your place."

"Are you kidding?" Zoey frowned. "Mom is always itching for a scoop and with the Power Rangers being new to town, she's going to want to find out as much as she can. And she's not clueless."

"My dad was like that," Kelly announced as she made her way over, having just arrived from the elevator. "He was a journalist but any time there was even a whisper of trouble, dad had his ear to the ground."

"Perks to being the daughter of a journalist?" Ravi asked.

"Uh... when he found out Sarah and I were dating, he announced it to the whole world."

"That's sweet," Zoey said.

"Yeah, not so much. He announced how Sarah had poisoned me and all but threatened violence towards the LGBTQ. He kicked me out and mom kidnapped and tortured Sarah. But they're dead now so we're even, I guess."

Kelly looked to the Rangers and saw their stunned faces. She winced. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget people don't all grow up in homophobic homes and are aren't desensitized to my story."

"I'm gonna loosen up on my dad a little bit," Devon commented.

"I won't complain about mom's cooking tonight," Ravi said.

"I think I'll hug my mom when I see her," Zoey said.

"I have a good father now," Kelly smiled reassuringly, then looked around. "Any if you see Sarah recently?"

"She's in the lab with Nate," Ravi answered.

"You don't know if she's had coffee at all, do you?"

"We don't," Devon said.

"You haven't seen her straining or squinting a lot or anything right? She's not like zoned out for a bit or anything?"

"We haven't seen her," Devon insisted. "But we're headed to the lab if you want to..."

"Please? I'm so lost."