So turns out that early shifts are not exactly helpful for my writing. I was completely exhausted all week, and then was in Dublin for the weekend for D&D at a friend's house. It's so much fun!

This chapter was done a little differently than the usual, so I hope you like it. Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Pizza Slice of Life

"Just a little more time and,
Just a little less thinking,
Just a little more time is all that I need.

Just a little believing,
Just a little more breathing.

Let's give it time..." Ari sang as she covered dough in pizza sauce.

"I didn't know you were a Kira Ford fan," she looked up as Fran lifted a pizza from the oven.

"Huh?" Ari blinked several times, before seeming to zone back in. "Oh, yeah," she laughed, tossing cheese over the pizza. "Kira's a friend of mine from when I was in Reefside High finishing up school," Ari nodded. "You're a fan?" she asked, seeing Fran's shocked look.

"Oh you know," the ditzy waitress tried to play it cool. "I've listened to her songs..." she shrugged. Ari giggled. As she finished the pizza she had been making and slid it into the large oven, RJ appeared at the top of the stairs.

"See ya, adios, au revoir, ciao, see you in a few days," he called to them as Theo and Lily walked in and frowned at his outfit.

"What? You're going fly-fishing?" Theo laughed.

"No..." RJ frowned, turning to them. "Why would you..." he realised what he was wearing. "Oh this getup!" he grinned. "I'm just going to a fly-fishing contest!" he explained brightly.

"So much for your animal rights beliefs," Ari snorted.

"Oh, I'm not going to fish!" RJ looked alarmed at the thought. "I'm going to disturb the fish, so the fishermen don't catch the fish!" he explained, as if it was the most ingenious idea ever.

"Hold on there, you can't just go without leaving someone in charge," Theo smirked, seeing his chance. "Someone bright, resourceful and very responsible," Theo listed as Fran, Lily and Ari grinned at each other in exasperation. "Me," he smirked.

"If you don't say so yourself," Lily giggled.

"Theo's right," RJ nodded. "We need someone in charge..." he pondered over it, before the door opened. Casey walked in, holding several order sheets. "Casey, you're in charge!" RJ decided, making the Red Ranger look up in surprise. Theo's smile instantly fell as the three behind him fell into giggles.

"Me?" Casey stared at him.

"Good, it's settled! Ta-ta!" RJ rushed off before Casey could protest.

"Alright! What's the plan Stan?" Lily smiled at him.

"Beats me, I didn't even agree to being in charge!" he explained.

"I'll do it!" Theo volunteered.

"No!" Fran, Lily and Ari exclaimed before they could stop themselves.

"Tell you what. I don't want the responsibility," Casey decided. "So why don't we split it? Ari can run the kitchen, I'll handle meeting, seating and greeting," he told them.

"What about me? What am I gonna be in charge of?" Theo asked with a frown.

"You my friend, can be the waiter," Casey smirked at him.

"Oh, so I'm just a waiter? What if I don't wanna be the waiter?" he whined. Ari rolled her eyes.

"Then you can handle the kitchen and Lily can do the waiting," she told them as she pulled off her apron.

"Why? What are you gonna do?" they frowned at Ari as she tossed her cap aside.

"I've got a demo in town. Mr. Hartford will skin me alive if I don't show," she laughed. "RJ already okayed it, so don't worry," Ari waved Theo off as he opened his mouth. "Just try to make sure there's still a restaurant for both me and RJ to come back to," she laughed again. "Laters!" she disappeared out the door, leaving them in charge.

Camille glared at Minos as his whistling echoed through the stone corridors of the temple they resided in.

"Enough, or I'll use your hide for a new pair of boots," she growled at him. Minos stopped, but smirked in amusement. He loved winding his sister up, and since the Power Rangers had shown up in Ocean Bluff, she had been more irritable than ever. They stopped when Naja suddenly appeared behind them, catching Camille by the shoulder.

"I need to talk to someone," he hissed to them.

"So you've been waiting there for us? For how long?" Minos raised an eyebrow.

"Make it snappy Naja, I have things to do for Dai Shi," Camille told him, leaning against the wall where he had been hiding.

"All the more important that we talk now," Naja told them quietly as Minos folded his arms. He didn't like the Cobra Rinshi, and he had a feeling that if he was wanting to talk to them, it wasn't going to be good. "You two might be the only ones not blinded by the illusion that we are making progress with our goals," he said. Camille's eyes widened, and Minos' arms dropped to his sides.

"I know you're a snake, but you're going to have to hold your tongue if you know what's good for you," Camille warned him quietly.

"No! If Dai Shi was going to be successful, he would have done so by now," Naja shook his head furiously.

"Watch your mouth snake, those are treasonous words," Minos warned him coldly.

"Someone has to! To be triumphant in defeating the humans, Dai Shi must be destroyed!" Naja snarled, grabbing Camille's arm.

"Not gonna happen," Minos grabbed his wrist and yanked him away from Camille, before slamming his shoulder into the Rinshi. The three began to fight in the corridor, and as Camille was slammed into a wall, she called on her armour. Minos did the same, and with a powerful tackle, he slammed Naja through a wall. Camille's tongue then struck Naja, making him shriek and stagger.

"You're not the only one with poison! Feel the burning pain of my venom as you waste away!" Camille snarled at him as Naja fell to his knees, his entire body turning black. "It won't be soon enough," she laughed.

"Camille watch it!" Minos saw Naja strike himself with something. His body turned grey and he collapsed completely, before returning to normal and leaping up. He laughed as he changed forms, and the two loyal to Dai Shi stood together.

"Oh, so you want some more!"

"Indeed!" Naja laughed, and the three continued to fight, only this time Naja seemed to gain the upper hand. He tossed Camille to the ground, and she rolled along with a groan.

"I offered you a chance at victory, instead, you rejected me!" Naja approached. "You've cost me a life talon! A high price to pay! But you'll repay me before I'm done," he snarled. "Unless you join forces with me," he offered.

"Never!" he looked around as Minos caught him low, rushing him with his head bowed and his shoulders firm. Naja leapt away, landing on the roof nearby.

"Fine then! For you two, it will be over sooner than you can imagine!" Naja warned, and leapt away.

"We'll see!" Camille yelled, running after him.

Strapping on her helmet and pulling on her gloves, Ari waited to be called by the announcer of the demo.

"So you left them to work it out?" Xander laughed as he sat with her.

"Duh. Casey needs to realise that whether he likes it or not, he's our leader. And the other too haven't paid enough after leaving me and Fran to deal with that birthday party," Ari smirked.

"Hey Ari, you all set?" she looked around and smiled as Andrew Hartford walked over.

"Mr. Hartford! I didn't know you'd be here! I thought you'd be halfway around the world finding more undiscovered relics," she smiled, shaking his hand.

"Hopefully not more that have the potential to destroy the world," Xander grinned, and Andrew laughed.

"I've learned my lesson on that," he nodded. "It's your first demo since you had to take a break due to health reasons, I decided to come and see how you're getting on," he smiled, and Ari grinned back. When she had joined the Pai Zhuq temple, and later moved to Ocean Bluff, she and Andrew had agreed on the cover story that she had become ill and had to take some time off.

"I guess I'll show you what your money has been paying for," Ari winked as her name was called, and she skated away from the two.

"Traitor!" Camille snarled as she and Minos pursued Naja through the forest. Eventually he stopped and turned to the pair. "Coward!" the Chameleon called as she leapt at him, swinging her Sai. He dodged her moves, too fast, and as he knocked her away, he dodged Minos' hammer.

"Too slow!" he laughed, striking Minos in the stomach and kicking him back. Camille leapt at Naja again, but he dropped down and struck her as she went overhead. She shrieked and crashed to the ground, and Naja easily dodged Minos' hammer again. He hooked one of his curved blades around the long handle of the hammer, and twisted it from his grasp. "You think a cow could defeat the mighty cobra?" he mocked, and as Minos' eyes narrowed in anger, Naja punched him hard and Minos crashed to the ground beside his sister. "I'll give you this; you're both mighty warriors. With some training, you could have been great! You gave me a better fight than I expected," Naja told them.

"You're more traitorous than I expected," Camille countered as she pushed herself up.

"What do you expect from a bloody snake?" Minos muttered, getting to his feet as well. He'd been against releasing the Five Fingers of Poison from the start.

"You have a wicked tongue! Let me share this with you!" he blasted them and Camille blocked it with her Sai. She was thrown off the cliff, landing in the beach as the blast tossed Minos into the sea.

"Come on you lazy fool, do you really want to miss a battle with the Rangers?" Minos groaned as he was shaken awake. With his consciousness, the injuries received in the fight against Naja made themselves known.

"If you don't stop shaking me, I will shove your Sai so far up-wait, the Rangers?" Minos opened his bright blue eyes to stare at his sister.

"Yes, the Rangers," Camille rolled her eyes.

"We just got our asses handed to us by Naja, and now you want the same to happen against the Rangers?" he ran a hand through his damp fair hair, making it fall into his eyes.

"I have an idea. It'll help us defeat Naja," Camille told him with a confident look.

"Whatever you say, dear sister," Minos got to his feet and summoned his armour, stretching and groaning slightly.

"Ok you two!" they looked around as Casey, Theo and Lily leapt onto the scene.

"What kind of trouble are you up to?" Theo asked.

"Oh? Only three of you? Where's the little bird?" Minos asked, noticing that Ari was still missing.

"Why? You only want to take her on?" Casey frowned.

"You three newbies are boring. The bird has powers that make a battle much more fun," Minos told them.

"Good to know," Ari's voice echoed on the beach, before she streaked over and landed beside her team-mates. "Little creepy, but alright. Let's make this fast, Mr. Hartford can only stall at the demo for so long," she told them.

"Glad you could make it," Casey grinned to her.

"Always," Ari grinned back, grabbing her Morpher from her pocket and slipped them on over her eyes. "JUNGLE BEAST, SPIRIT UNLEASHED!" she Morphed, and fell into a fighting stance. "So what brings you two losers to the beach today? The swell ain't good enough for surfing," she commented.

"We need to borrow something from you," Camille spun her Sai in her hands. "Your power!" she suddenly ran at them.

"Good chance of that," Lily scoffed, and they ran to meet her. Minos joined in shortly after, and they battled it out on the beach until the Rangers summoned the Claw Cannon.

"CLAW CANNON, CHARGE!" Theo and Lily began to charge the cannon.

"Get ready," Camille hissed to Minos.

"Wait, what?" Minos stared at her.

"POWERED BY ANIMAL SPIRITS! FIRE!" the Rangers fired a powerful blast at the two. They attempted to block it, only to be knocked to the ground. Instantly they pushed themselves back up.

"Is that all you got?" Camille goaded.

"What?!"

"Try again!" Casey called. They fired another blast at the two, and they blocked for slightly longer before being tossed backwards.

"I get what you're trying to do, but this could kill us," Minos warned.

"You can stand aside then if you're scared," Camille snapped at him. Minos smirked.

"Never," he spun his hammer as he got back to his feet. "Is that it? I've been tickled harder!" he taunted them.

"I don't like this guys, they're up to something," Ari warned.

"I don't get it," Casey shook his head.

"Focus!" Theo growled at the pair, and they fired another blast. This time, Camille and Minos easily blocked it and deflected it so it slammed into a rock and exploded. "How did they do that?!" Theo gasped.

"Thanks Rangers, we've got what we wanted!" Camille taunted, and leapt away. With a snort, Minos stomped his foot and disappeared as well.

"Well that is so not good, but I do not have time to deal with it right now. You guys get back to the restaurant, and make sure you don't burn the place to the ground," Ari warned, running off and not seeing the three left exchange worried looks.

Landing on her hands at the top of the ramp, Ari balanced easily with her board on her feet, before pushing off and flipping twice before her board touched down on the ramp and she slid down, as it reached flat ground, Ari flipped her board before backflipping, pushing her board into the air with her. The crowd applauded loudly as she landed on one foot, and leapt again, spinning before landing and pushing her board along.

When she finally ended her performance, she skated off and high-fived the next skater; another from Truth Trucks who Ari had met several months ago.

"Nice work Ari, I'm glad I convinced the CEO to sponsor you," Andrew grinned as Ari returned to where he and Xander were waiting.

"Yeah that must have been a hard debate," Ari grinned back.

"Not at all, you did save his life a few times," Andrew chuckled.

"And helped fix his mistake of releasing the Corona Aurora," Ari's smile turned devious, and Xander hid his laugh as a cough as Andrew sighed.

"You'll never let me live that down, will you?" he asked her.

"Probably not no," Ari smirked back. It faded slightly when she spotted a familiar figure standing nearby, watching with a look of awe. "Fran?" she called to the young woman, and skated over to her.

"Ari?" Fran fixed her glasses as Ari approached. "That was you before, wasn't it?" she asked, and Ari nodded with a proud smile. "Wow, you're so good. I wish I good be as good at something," she sighed wistfully.

"It took years of practice. Plus I have training in martial arts so that's always helped," Ari chuckled. "What are you doing here? I thought you were still working," she commented, and Fran scowled, taking Ari by surprise.

"I quit," she announced.

"They got that bad there, huh?" Ari couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah...really bad. The place is a mess," Fran nodded, before her phone rang and she ignored it. "And now they keep calling me," she muttered.

"Hopefully that means they've realised they're being idiots," Ari chuckled. "I could always go back there and kick their butts?" she offered. Fran stared at her in alarm.

"No, it's fine! I mean, I guess I kind of overreacted..." Fran mumbled.

"I doubt that," Ari's words made her look up in surprise. "Those three mean well, but at times they get carried away and that could hurt people. And if they made you quit, then they did hurt you and you didn't overreact," she said firmly. "But if they're calling you, I think they've realised that they've hurt you. Maybe call back over, hear them out?" she suggested.

"I guess..." she muttered. "I mean they have left..." she checked her phone. "Five voicemails," Ari laughed as Fran shook her head in disbelief.

"Go hear them out. You don't have to accept apologies or go back if you don't want to, just hear what they have to say," Ari advised.

"You're right. Thanks Ari," Fran smiled, and nodding.

"I usually am," Ari smirked.

"Don't listen to, she's never right," Xander caught her in a headlock, making her yelp and Fran laugh.

Dai Shi was in a deep meditation when the large doors slowly opened and Naja peeked in. He darted to a pillar, hiding behind it, before indicating to Gakko and Rantipede as they looked in. The three crept slowly towards Dai Shi, silently moving to strike. However, before they could, something invisible slammed Gakko and Rantipede and tossed them aside. Naja was then struck from behind as Minos appeared from his own hiding place, and Camille reappeared.

"Camille...Minos..." Naja snarled.

"Naja," Dai Shi stood with a smirk. "I see you've enlisted the help of some old friends to do me in," he stood and walked over to the two still loyal to him as Naja stood.

"Dai Shi...you've failed the cause! It's time for a new leader!" he told their leader, pointing a curved sword at him.

"Perhaps, but you'll have to do so by combat," Dai Shi removed his cape and tossed it aside, calling on his Lion armour. "You wish to take over the cause? Go ahead! You think you can handle the power? You think you have what it takes? I have much to do, so let's get on with this!" Dai Shi goaded.

"Yes, let's get on with this!" Naja agreed, but as he leapt at Dai Shi and swung his swords. Camille intercepted with her Sai. Smirking and spinning his hammer, Minos slammed it into Gakko as the Rinshi rushed at Dai Shi, leaving him to battle Rantipede. Within seconds, Rantipede was destroyed, and Gakko was slammed into the wall.

"They're too strong, I must get more power!" he cried out, running away as Dai Shi laughed. Camille and Naja were evenly matched.

"Looks like you're on your own Naja," Dai Shi taunted as Camille slammed him into a pillar.

"Let me have him," Camille pleaded.

"Yes, there's no greater pleasure than destroying a traitor," Dai Shi agreed. Spinning his hammer again, Minos let it drop to the ground with a heavy thud, allowing Camille to face Naja.

"The pleasure will be mine," Camille hissed, and Naja shoved her backwards before escaping. Camille quickly gave chase, and Minos smirked. So much for the mighty cobra.

After hearing that there was another attack in town, Ari rushed away from the demo once again, running into her team on the way.

"Rangers!" they stopped and stared at a familiar figure.

"But that's...no! You can't unblow up!" Ari complained as she pointed at Gakko.

"You won't destroy me again!" Gakko vowed.

"Let's give him something to talk about," Casey smirked. The other three nodded, and they grabbed their Morphers.

"JUNGLE BEAST, SPIRIT UNLEASHED!" they Morphed and began to attack Gakko, who leapt against a wall to dodge their attacks. The battle quickly turned in the Rangers' favour as they worked together to kick Gakko back.

"Casey, you're the leader. It's your call," Theo told him. Ari sighed. So they had learned their lesson.

"Thanks Theo! Claw Cannon!" Casey called on their cannon, and they destroyed Gakko easily. "Yeah! One leader, one direction, one less bad guy!" Casey laughed.

With Casey leading them in a much more effective manner, the four Rangers, plus Fran, worked much more efficiently in JKP. As they handed each other the pizza that Theo was to deliver, RJ walked through the door.

"I'm back, and proud to report, not a fish was caught," he announced happily.

"Bet you made a lot of friends there," Ari snorted.

"Looking good here too," RJ ignored Ari's comment and looked around the busy restaurant. "I'm impressed. I didn't think you had it in you. I guess I was wrong," RJ smiled as he walked over to the group.

"Don't be too hard on yourself RJ, now you know you can always leave me in charge," Casey told him.

"Excellent," RJ smirked. "Cause it'll take a long time to pay off the raise you gave Fran," Casey's smile fell and he looked to Fran.

"Kaching," she teased with a giggle, and Casey groaned as she, Ari and Lily laughed loudly. With a grin, RJ disappeared into the back.

"RJ, one other thing," he looked around as Ari followed him into the kitchen. "Camille and Minos were acting weird, so I checked it out. Camille destroyed Naja," the Master's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really? That's odd," he mused.

"Yeah. I've seen it before when there was dissension in Lothor's army. I guess Naja mustn't have appreciated losing all his team. Or losing at all," Ari shrugged. "But it shows that Camille and Minos are only getting stronger," she commented.

"We'll worry about that tomorrow. For now, be happy that the Five Fingers of Poison are gone," RJ told her.

"I would, but that generally only can mean one thing. Something more dangerous is going to show," RJ's small smile faded and he nodded. Ari was right. While the Five Fingers were now gone, Dai Shi was still around, and they couldn't relax.

Now we're on to the Masters Arc! Yay!

Hope you liked it!

Please review!