Levi was standing at the front of his class, forcing a smile as his students performed for him. It still hadn't been long since he had taken the job at the school, but he was already starting to find it surprisingly rewarding, if sometimes a little frustrating.
He had loved music for as long as he could remember, and he was always happy whenever fans would tell him that he inspired them to get into music too. As far as he was concerned, he had something of a duty as a musician to not only get his own work heard, but to inspire and help others on the path. While there were some acts, especially on the professional music scene that were worried that others would come and take the limelight from them, to Levi it was more important to get the next generation ready or eventually there would be no more music.
And listening to his class…oh BOY did the next generation need help!
He managed to keep smiling, although the din was almost painful as Victor performed what he was sure could be classed as an international war crime with an accordion. The rest of the class was varied in their reaction to the din. Monty, as usual, was beaming with pride, his rose-tinted glasses firmly in place. Some kids were politely listening, looking less than impressed, while some were not hiding in any way the pain they were in, clamping their hands over their ears and looking to be in genuine agony as he played. As he finished up, he beamed with glee and looked to Levi.
"Well teach? What do you think?" Victor asked him. Levi just blinked as he tried to think of a way to say something constructive. There weren't many nice ways to say that Victor was as likely to become an accordion player as he was to become an Astronaut! Still, a part of his job was a way to try and bring the best out in his students.
"Well…it was…interesting." Levi said, taking his time over it. "OK, um…how long have you been playing the accordion?"
"Two weeks! I know, it's hard to believe right?" Victor asked with no hint of irony. Levi was almost relieved when Victor said this. If it was something he had been doing for a while, then it could be a hopeless case, but since he had only just started, he could always suggest exercises he could try, or maybe convince him to try a less challenging instrument.
"Well Victor…" He began, but he was interrupted as Tom came into the class. Everyone just looked around at him.
"Should we evacuate?" Tom asked him. "I thought I heard the fire alarm, but I don't see anyone leaving."
The class all started to laugh at Victor's expense. Even the Rangers found it hard not to snigger a little as his face turned bright-red and he threw the instrument down in a huff.
"What do I care what you all think? Music is stupid anyway!" Victor snapped angrily. He was a fortunate person, one with many gifts, but it was becoming clear that music was simply not one of them. His legendarily awful dancing was indicative of the fact he had real problems with rhythm, and as far as Levi could tell, he was also having some difficulty with tone as well. Victor did not like being the butt of jokes in the slightest. He was the kind of person that was used to picking things up quickly. He was only on the basketball team a month before he was the lead scorer, his records in everything from cross-country running to archery had sat comfortably now for a couple of years, and his academic scores, as Sarah now knew, were respectably high, and all well-earned. He didn't like to struggle, and he didn't know how to handle it when he was mocked for something he wasn't good at. "Who ever made any real money playing music anyway?"
"Settle down class, settle down." Levi said, trying to calm the situation as other class members started to bombard him with names of famous musicians that had earned vast fortunes from their craft.
"Yeah, well…I don't care! You're all just jealous because I'm going to be somebody in this town!" Victor whined petulantly at them. "Monty and I have just been taken on by Mr Tien as interns!"
"Dude, you do know an intern is just an unpaid gopher right?" One of them laughed. "You'll be a glorified errand boy and not even get paid!"
"You'll all see!" Victor said as he flailed his arms and stormed out of the room. "You'll all be sorry you made fun of me!"
Monty went with him, but Levi didn't try to stop them. He figured the damage was done and trying to get them to stay where the kids were mocking them would only lead to more trouble. He sighed and looked to Tom.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"Um…there was just some stuff I wanted to give you from corporate…"
"I'm in class." Levi told him, taking the documents from his brother.
"Sorry." Tom answered, before leaving. The class laughed, but Levi just tried to settle them down.
"Now, that's not real nice now is it?" Levi asked them. "How would you feel if people laughed while you were trying something new?"
"Who cares, it's just Victor." One of the students scoffed. "He lords it over the rest of us all the time, he's an asshole!"
"Now hang on a minute…"
"No, seriously he is!" One of the others chimed in. "He's always so smug about all his trophies and all his awards…he's always calling everyone else losers."
"Yeah, he would never let anyone live it down if they stunk like he did!" One of the girls said. "Hayley, remember when he beat you at tennis? He wore that stupid t-shirt of his for a fortnight!"
"Don't remind me." Hayley said, clearly seething. As this went on though, with Levi trying to control the class, Sarah was a little surprised by something. Victor always was a bit much, and was always pretty full of himself, but listening to this, she was quickly realising something she hadn't before. Victor wasn't the popular guy he thought he was. In fact, listening to some of the creative suggestions as to what people would like to see happen to him, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say…he was hated. It felt odd, considering on her first day she had wondered how any kid could be fooled by his act, and now…now she was wondering what anyone could do short of mass murder to earn this kind of ire.
"Look, whatever your feelings, this is my class and in it, you'll be respectful when others are trying their best. If that's too much to handle, the door's just over there." Levi told them, putting his foot down, pointing to the door. "Do we understand each other?"
The class fell silent. Satisfied that he had made his point, Levi decided to carry on with his lessons.
"Brody, I see you brought a guitar. You wouldn't be trying to suck up to the teacher now would you?" Levi teased him. Brody just shook his head.
"No, my dad used to play when I was a kid." Brody told him. "He showed me a few things."
"Great, then let's hear it." Levi told him. "And just everyone remember what I said about respect, alright? No one is good at something the first time out. I can tell you there was more than one club I was thrown out of in the early days. Alright Brody, let's hear what you've got."
Brody went over to a chair next to Levi and sat down, before starting to tune his guitar.
Up on the Warrior Dome, Ripcon was trawling through the streets, looking for a monster. Cosmo's latest show had been a ratings success, pulling in almost half as many viewers over and above his usual broadcasts as normal, despite his overall failure. That Cosmo had sought to sully his hands himself and actually get involved in the show was unprecedented. Odious, Ripcon and Galvanax had all taunted him about the fact that his plan was ultimately unsuccessful, and although he had maintained his chipper demeanour and outlook, constantly touting the fact that by using a spell that resurrected dead monsters his plan had brought in those impressive figures while effectively costing the show virtually nothing, he was still showing signs of temper tantrums any time someone pointed out he lost a game he literally made the rules of.
Ripcon wasn't thinking about that though, all he was thinking about was his next move. He was still feeling the pressure and feeling the burning gaze on him all the time. Although he so far hadn't seen or noticed anything, his instinct and senses pricked up at times, and he was convinced he was being watched. While the thought of him being a traitor, the very idea of him being the one that had brought the Gold Ranger was utterly ridiculous, he was well aware of how strongly Odious was pushing the rumours and suggestion that he was the traitor and that was why his investigation bore no fruit. By now, paranoia was setting in, and he was very mindful of the fact that Odious could be devious and convincing. It was not outside the realms of possibility that someone believed her and he was being watched.
He was looking for a win, something big, a gesture that he could bring to prove once and for all that he was only concerned with proving his worth. He didn't have it in him to be devious, such games and deception were the realm of cowards, lawyers and politicians.
He already had the will and the motivation for his chosen targets. He had always wanted to destroy the Red Ranger. He had wanted to put the little brat out of his misery on the day Galvanax had him kidnapped, but for some reason the Champion wanted him kept as a pet, a slave. The fact that now the Red Ranger stood against them and had handed them some humiliating defeats, including the loss of his own horn was more than reason enough for him to want to go to Earth and dismember him in front of an audience.
The Gold Ranger too had handed him an embarrassing defeat. In the Gold Ranger's instance, he still maintained it didn't count because Cosmo had pulled him out of the battle before it was over, but that didn't mean it didn't still remain as a stain on his win/loss record. He also held the key to his investigation. So far, other than the traitor, the Gold Ranger was the only one who knew who the traitor was. Nothing would satisfy him more than dragging him, beaten and bloody onto the stage, only for him to point his finger straight at Odious for all to see. Perhaps Galvanax would even allow Ripcon to perform the execution himself.
Right now, he was looking for a monster, but instead of his usual haunts, the gyms and the dojos, he was trudging ankle-deep in waste and foulness that disgusted him in The Sump. Cosmo constantly kept him off the show, 'preserving' him for a more profitable end as he put it, but Cosmo wasn't the only one that could come up with clever plans. Ripcon had been allowed to help on some occasions when their latest monster proved not up to the task. No, this time he wasn't looking for a warrior. This time, he was looking for someone that would fail so spectacularly, they would be forced to send him to help. He was looking for a joke, and to Ripcon, there was nowhere better to find a pathetic joke of a being than in the very cesspool of the ship. He just needed to find a creature pathetic enough.
He was heading down what could loosely be described as the "main street", when something caught his eye a little way down an alley. It was a creature that was spraying graffiti. Nothing unusual in and of itself, virtually every surface that was unguarded for more than a few minutes ended up with someone's name or personal emblem spray-painted all over it. However, this creature wasn't spraying a tag; this one was spraying a message, one that burned Ripcon through to his core. It was spraying the word 'traitor' under a crude drawing of Ripcon.
"HEY!" Ripcon screamed, at which the creature turned around. "If you have an accusation to make, make it to my face you coward!"
The creature ran off, at which Ripcon gave chase. He ran into an alley, finding the creature had run right into a dead-end. He slowed up, drawing one of his swords and starting to scrape it menacingly along the wall, sparking as it went.
"It's time you learned the cost of libel." Ripcon stated, advancing on him. "And I do NOT mean lawyers' fees!"
"Please, please don't hurt me!" The creature begged. "He paid me to do it!"
Ripcon stopped in his tracks, his face screwing up in disgust.
"Who paid you?" He stated. "WHO?"
"Sorry, did I say 'paid'?" It asked. "I meant, WILL pay me traitor! Take THIS!"
He saw the creature hit a button on a device, at which something fell and hit him. Ripcon barely flinched as numerous small weights fell on him, bouncing off with hardly any effect at all. He looked down to the tiny little metal weights, and then up to the creature.
"What? That trader told me those were heavy!" The creature screamed. "Stupid metric system!"
Ripcon went for the creature, who ducked aside as another device fired off, launching a series of razor-sharp pieces of metal, all of which missed Ripcon completely, hitting the device's owner.
"OW!" He screamed as he started to dance in pain. Ripcon grabbed the creature and rammed him against the wall, at which his cloak fell away. He saw the creature, who looked startlingly familiar.
"YOU?" Ripcon yelled. "How? You've been destroyed already!"
"That was my brother, Ripperat!" The creature whined. "YOU sent him to get destroyed by the Rangers...then I got to watch him get destroyed all over again last week!"
"THAT WAS COSMO YOU IDIOT!" Ripcon snapped in response. "So, what name should I give the crematorium for your urn?"
"Trapsaw!" The creature wailed as it quivered in fear before him. "Please, don't hurt me! I just...I just heard you were a traitor and thought I could impress Galvanax by taking you out!"
"Trapsaw?" Cosmo said as he looked around at the devices that had been used against him. "Is...is that what these are? These are TRAPS?"
"Um...yeah, I love traps!" Trapsaw told him. Ripcon was almost more annoyed that he sought to destroy him with such pathetic devices, but then a thought came to him. An evil smirk crossed his face.
"You want to impress Galvanax right?" He asked. "Move out of this...toilet?"
"Yes!" Trapsaw told him. Ripcon put his sword away.
"How would you like to be on the show?" Ripcon asked him. "I'm something of a manager. I can put you on the next broadcast."
"You...you'd do that for me?" Trapsaw asked him. "After I tried to kill you?"
"Trust me, for what I've got in mind, you're perfect!" Ripcon said with a smirk as he grabbed him, tossing him down the alley, kicking him up the backside for good measure. "Come on! Let's get you ready for television!"
Down on Earth, in his office, Al closed over a folder and put it aside, before taking a look at his clock, seeing that it was lunch time. He went into his drawer pulling out his lunch box to head to the canteen, but before he could go anywhere, the elevator arrived on his floor. There was a murmur around the office as Marcus Tien stepped off the elevator, flanked by security guards.
He started to make his way over, at which Al just rolled his eyes and waited for him to arrive. He doubted that Mr Tien had ever been on this floor before now, but in the last few weeks, his attempts to lure Al into investments had become increasingly aggressive.
Al had made his position very clear on the subject. There was a reason he had left that life behind him. While he was highly successful as an investment broker, he had become a person he hated, a person that had left more than one life in ruins. Mr Tien arrived at his desk, smiling as he straightened out his suit.
"Mr Thompson, how are you this fine day?" Mr Tien greeted him.
"I'm fine." Al answered. "Mr Tien, I only get half an hour for lunch, I don't meant to be rude but can you make this quick?"
"This is your family?" Mr Tien asked, picking up a picture frame and looking at the picture on Al's desk. It was a picture that they had taken outside their new house when they moved into Summer Cove. "And this must be Sarah. She's a pretty young girl, bright too from what my Preston tells me..."
"Yes, she is a wonderful young woman." Al said in an exasperated tone, snatching the picture frame from him. "What can I do for you Mr Tien?"
"You can go." Mr Tien answered. Al just looked confused.
"Are you...are you firing me?" Al asked him.
"No, no, far from it! I'm giving you the rest of the day off! Tomorrow too!" Mr Tien answered with a smile. "I need you to come into work this Saturday, so I was going to have to give you a day back."
"Saturday?" Al asked. "I...I was planning on spending some time with my family..."
"Which is why I also wanted to give you the rest of today as well." Mr Tien assured him. "Free of charge of course."
"Mr Tien...I really don't..."
"I think you'll find by contract that I can alter your working hours to suit business needs." Mr Tien interrupted him. "Believe me, I need you on Saturday."
Al knew this wasn't a fight he was likely to win. He just picked up his lunch and grabbed his jacket.
"I'll see you on Saturday then." He answered.
"My office, 9AM." Mr Tien told him. Al just nodded in understanding as he left. Mr Tien picked up the picture and looked at it again, smiling.
"Such a lovely family." He commented, before looking to Sarah's picture. "I just hope you do the right thing by them Mr Thompson."