In the hotel gym, Levi was working hard. He had his concert coming up, and he was so dedicated to his fans he always felt like he owed it to them to be on top form at all times. He certainly allowed himself a few treats every now and again, in particular he loved cheeseburgers and would joyfully eat them morning noon and night if they were better for him, but he always did what he could to keep himself on top form for his fans. He ate well, he didn't smoke, he did extensive vocal exercises several times a day, and most of all, he worked to ensure his body was always in top shape.

He had always gotten plenty of exercise on the farm back home anyway, riding, working the fields, rounding up the livestock and suchlike, but once his music career started to take off and he was able to outfit a good gym, he worked out every day.

The hotel was more than happy to accommodate him and had set aside some time where they closed off the gym to other guests to let him work out in peace. The fact was that usually when people saw him in the gym, everyone, himself included, would get distracted from their workout. He was just in the middle of his set on the bench press while Tom went over his schedule.

Tom had checked himself out of the hospital despite their assertion he should stay. It wasn't a huge issue as Levi was more than capable of making sure there was a doctor on staff in case he needed anything, but it was only a couple of days since Ripcon had tortured him. Levi still felt badly about that, Tom had taken the hit to protect him.

"So the night before the concert we've got you an interview on Good Morning Summer Cove, we have a photo op. At the local kid's ward at one, and then back to the concert venue for three." Tom told him. "We'll have sound checks, and of course you have your backstage pass winners to meet and greet."

"Jeez Tom, you've been working overtime on that schedule." Levi said as he racked his weights, sitting up and mopping sweat from the back of his neck. "I'd have thought with a couple of days in the hospital you'd have taken some time off work."

"I took my tablet with me." Tom assured him. Levi just sighed.

"Of course you did." He muttered. "You do have to admit though; my dance card is pretty full this week. What about time to see the guys?"

"Guys?" Tom asked him. "Levi, we're around you most of the time..."

"No, the...the GUYS." Levi said to clarify, pointing to his hat in the corner, which had his Power Star in it. Tom took a deep breath and looked to him.

"Levi, you have people counting on you." Tom reminded him. "You were gone for a couple of months; the label's been pretty patient with you."

"I know they have, they've been great." Levi told him. "But I kind of feel like..."

"You have a whole world of fans out there that have been waiting for this tour for close to a year." Tom reminded him. Levi just looked to him.

"I don't know Tom; I'm going to be gone quite a bit soon." Levi told him. "I thought maybe I should at least get a heads' up from them on what they expect of me."

"Levi, they've been doing this before you got here, they'll be doing this once you're gone." Tom reminded him. Just then, there was a tremor, and the whole room shook. Tom steadied himself on some equipment. "Personally, I'd be a whole lot happier if you'd skip this stop. Between the monsters and the earthquakes, the sooner we put this town to our rudder the better."

"I don't know Tom, I kind of like it here." Levi said with a smile. "Besides, you said it yourself, people have been waiting. I've promised those fans a concert and I plan to keep my word."

"You know using my own words against me is playing dirty right." Tom chuckled. "Next time, I'll just give up your name and let you take your own torture."

"No you won't Tom." Levi replied. "That's what I love about you. You're always thinking of others first."

"I'm always thinking of YOU first." Tom corrected him as another tremor hit. "Yeah, I can see why you like this place."

As he left, Levi went to the mats to start stretching off to finish up his workout. He did feel badly about the fact he hadn't made the time for the other Rangers he wanted to. If nothing else, he still didn't know as much as they did about what being a Ranger entailed. So far he hadn't even called his Zord yet. Of course, he also knew that he did have other commitments, and for at least three months, the others would have to do without him for the most part. He was sure he could come back of he was needed, and he'd more than happily leave them his Zord. Maybe once his world tour was over he could dedicate more time to them, but until then, other people needed him too.

Cosmo didn't come down to Earth often. In fact, he had only come down to Earth once before, when he came to pick up Wrench for his new job, so to say he wasn't best pleased that Ripcon insisted he come to Earth to show off his new warrior was more than a little bit of an understatement.

On the Warrior Dome, everything was set exactly to his liking. The temperature was always exactly what he was comfortable with, the lighting was always exactly the level he liked it. There was never a place on the ship where he couldn't get a hold of a servant within seconds to fulfil any and every request he could ever think to make, and fully expect it to be carried out within minutes. He didn't leave the ship for much, and when he did, he had to be sure it was worth his time.

He found himself in a tunnel that ran deep beneath the city. It was dark, it smelled musty and damp, and he was far from amused when he stepped in something, soaking his boots in foulness he didn't even want to begin to think of.

"This better be good Ripcon." Cosmo warned him as he followed the monster into the tunnels.

"Believe me, it is." Ripcon assured him. "I was in the gym recently when I saw this guy. He has some of the strongest..."

"Ripcon, I've heard all this before." Cosmo said impatiently. "I want to see something..."

Just then, the whole tunnel shook, and Cosmo fell to his knees, soaking his outfit in the foulness that was pooling up around him. He glared up to Ripcon.

"What was that?" He screamed.

"That would be my latest discovery." Ripcon said with pride as he held up a lamp, lighting up the tunnel ahead. "Meet, Stonedozer!"

Cosmo got to his feet as he saw the creature before him. It was a huge, ugly creature that looked like it was made completely from rock, with the exception of a couple of large scoops which replaced his hands. It definitely looked powerful...even if he wasn't sure it had the kind of face anyone would want to put on a poster. The creature came over, standing before Cosmo.

"Another bruiser Ripcon?" He asked.

"Stonedozer has some of the strongest attacks I've ever seen. His scoops can take apart rock like crepe paper!" He bragged. "But since you like 'sneaky' things so much, I got to thinking. What can we do with a monster that can tear up rock that will cause untold devastation?"

Comso just shrugged. Ripcon just smiled.

"This is California, home to some of the most active fault lines on the face of the Earth." Ripcon told him. "With a few well-placed swings, Stonedozer can turn the whole city into a weapon! He could bring everything crashing down on the Ranger's heads!"

"That...that is surprisingly clever Ripcon." Cosmo said in a half-compliment as he considered this plan. "Stonedozer isn't it?"

"Yes sir." Stonedozer answered.

"Come with me, I want to discuss a few things with you." Cosmo stated. "Somewhere a little more...suitable."

"Hey! That's MY warrior!" Ripcon screamed.

"Oh, don't worry; you'll get your finders' fee." Cosmo answered as he put his arm around Stonedozer. "Now, let's get out of here, we don't want to tip our had too early. No point risking the Rangers figuring out my plan until we're ready to broadcast."

"YOUR plan?" Ripcon shrieked as they disappeared in a flash of light. He had seen his position on the ship diminishing lately. He already knew that Madame Odious was spreading dissent, trying to throw doubts on Ripcon's loyalty and suggesting he was the traitor who let the Gold Ranger onto the ship. Cosmo had never respected him as anything other than a fighter, and regularly mocked his picks for the contests. Now, it looked like he had so little respect for Ripcon he was blatantly poaching his promising picks right in front of him.

Ripcon's fists tightened in anger as he hit the teleport function to return to the Warrior Dome. The day would come when those that laughed at him would be laughing on the other side of their faces. He would make sure of that.

At the school, the Rangers had once again opted to take lunch in the Ranger Base to get some peace and quiet. It did make things a little more crowded and make working on anything a little more difficult for Mick and Redbot, but given all the demands on their time, between commitments at home, their school work and, of course, their Ranger duties, it was sometimes good for the team to have somewhere they could go where no one would look for them and they could just relax and unwind for a little while.

Brody and Calvin were busy sparring, while Preston and Hayley were working on one of Preston's new tricks. Preston had been trying to figure out a trick that involved his rabbit, Aloha Mora, but most of the tricks involving rabbits relied on the fact that their natural instinct in most scenarios was to remain still. Doves shared a similar instinct which was why magicians tended to use rabbits and doves in their tricks since they were simple to work with. Unfortunately that made it a little more difficult of the magician wanted to do a trick that required them to actually do anything. Of course most magicians didn't have the trump card of a friend that could actually talk to animals to explain what they wanted them to do.

Sarah, meanwhile, was at the computer, working on something. Mick noticed that she was very quiet for her. He smirked as he came over, nudging her gently.

"Working on your business studies project?" He asked her. "I know a lot of kids are looking at internet start-ups."

"Hmm? Oh...um...no." She said a little nervously. Mick took a look at the screen, seeing that it was a Google search on the screen. He was wondering if she was checking up any more details on Levi. Everyone had seen how she was reacting to the thought of being on a team with him. However, he noticed it was a different name that was on the screen.

"Sergeant Vernon Vincent?" He asked. "Who's he?"

"Oh...it's just...a name I heard." She said, trying to dismiss it. Mick scratched his head.

"I'm still getting my head around how this whole surname thing works." Mick mused as he considered the name. He had been given the surname 'Kanik' on his false documentation when Kendall had created an identity for his teaching credentials, but in reality he didn't have a surname. It wasn't the way in his home in the Lion Galaxy. However, he was spending some of his free time trying to figure out the cultural mores of Earth so that he wouldn't stand out quite so much whenever he went out and one of the Rangers wasn't around to help bail him out if he didn't understand something. "Vincent, isn't that Victor's surname? Does that mean this guy's related to Victor?"

"He's Victor's dad." Sarah answered. She still felt badly about bringing the subject up with Victor given how much it seemed to upset him. However, that hadn't quelled her curiosity any. "I heard his name today."

"Why would you be interested in Victor's dad?" Mick asked her. "He had a purple heart? I thought humans only had red hearts."

"A Purple Heart is a medal awarded for wounds suffered in battle." Sarah told him.

"Oh...right." Mick said, looking confused. He just shrugged, before heading back to his work. Sarah read up the reports on the sergeant, which made for pretty grim reading.

"I'm sorry Victor." She whispered. Victor's dad had been deployed when Victor was only a kid. He had been killed in action before Victor was even in middle school. Since then, Victor seemed to have gone out of his way to win award after award. There were trophies dating back to only a few months after his dad had died in everything from spelling bees to athletics. In many of the pictures of little Victor standing on many podiums, when she looked closely, she could see him wearing the dog tags.

She was about to log off though, when another article caught her notice. This one wasn't about Victor though, this one seemed to relate instead to Monty, but it dated back to when they both had to have been in middle school. This one was only flagged because Victor's name was in the article, but the article was about Monty. The title was something of a surprise in and of itself.

"Local student Montgomery Williams involved in...school bombing?" She gasped, clicking the link to the article. "Holy SHIT!"

Up on the Warrior Dome, Cosmo returned to his office after a long day. He had already spent some time discussing the details of the week's show with Stonedozer. It was a surprisingly clever plan on Ripcon's part to utilise the natural weakness in the area, its fault lines, in order to turn the city itself into a weapon. The Rangers would have a hard enough time facing a monster like Stonedozer, but when they also had to worry about the whole city falling down on their heads at the same time, he imagined they would find it virtually impossible to win.

He could see it now, the carnage, the drama, people screaming, random acts of heroism, people clawing and clambering all over each other to escape...it would be ratings GOLD! Sure, it would mean afterwards they might have to dig the Power Stars out of what was left of Summer Cove, but that was something for the kudabots to worry about. For him, all he had to worry about was watching his viewing figures balloon.

He heard a rustling behind him as he got to his desk. He thought nothing of it, but as he picked up a bottle to pour himself a brandy, he caught a glint of a reflection and threw himself aside just as a dagger flew past, barely missing him and lodging into the wall. He threw turned around, finding a black, shadowy figure behind him, a row of throwing daggers adorning his belt, and another in his hand.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Cosmo asked him. The monster didn't answer though. Three more just like him emerged from the shadows. One of them produced a long, curved sword, another a double-ended spear. The last produced a chain, before a heavy metal ball fell to the floor, clanging as it landed. Cosmo just looked to the new arrivals.

"Now, I appreciate the showmanship, but if you want on the show you might want to consider a gimmick that's a little more...colourful." Cosmo suggested. "Perhaps some brighter colours...like some reds or some blues..."

He ducked out the way as the one with the ball and chain swung his weapon for him, the weapon smashing his desk into firewood. Cosmo just looked to his ruined desk, before his face turned into a mask of rage. He tossed his top-hat aside, before shrugging off his long coat onto the floor.

"I really liked that desk!" Cosmo told them as he reached for his cane. He twisted the top, before pulling out a cane-sword and rushing towards them.

Outside the office, Wrench was just coming to discuss something with Cosmo when he heard a crash from inside. He tried to open the door, but found it was locked.

"Cosmo?" He called out. "COSMO!"

He struggled but couldn't get the door open. He grabbed his axe, powering it up, before swinging it, smashing in the door. By the time he got inside, he found Cosmo standing in the middle of the room, catching his breath. Four dark figures lay on the ground, their warm blood draining out onto the floor, still as the grave. Cosmo replaced his sword into its housing in his cane.

"Cosmo, what...what happened here?" Wrench asked, looking around. "Are you alright?"

"It was nothing I couldn't handle." Cosmo said, grabbing his top hat and twirling it onto his head. "Call some slaves; I want this mess cleaned up!"

"But Cosmo..."

"Someone tried to assassinate me in my OWN OFFICE!" Cosmo snapped at him. "If people around here think I got where I did by signing checks and making calls, they are going to find out they are VERY much mistaken! Now, get this cleaned up! I expect my office to be back exactly as it was within the hour!" Cosmo told him. "This is MY show, and if someone wants to take it from me, they are going to have to do much better than that!"

As he left, Wrench looked around the scene of devastation in Cosmo's office. He activated his communicator.

"Housekeeping to Cosmo's office." He stated. "Deep clean required."

A/N: Well, there's a couple of cliffhangers to tide you over into the new year. I wanted to get one last chapter out before the end of the year (in my time zone at least) so that I could wish all my readers a Happy New Year, and promise to pick up again in 2018. There's still plenty more to come from the Ninja Steel crew, don't worry about that! Happy New Year, and here's wishing you all the joy and happiness a fandom can bring.