Mrs Thompson was in her living room, on the phone around the middle of the day. She stepped over a cleaning drone as it zipped around the floor, vacuuming up.

"Your delivery promise said allow ten days for delivery...it's now been almost a month." Mrs Thompson said as she paced the room, instinctively stepping to avoid the vacuum drone. "You've already removed the delivery charge, I just want to know when I'm going to get my..."

She was interrupted as she heard a crash coming from the garage. At this time of the day, she should have been on her own in the house. She looked around; trying to remember if she had left it open by mistake once Al had gone to work.

"What?" She asked as the person on the other end asked something. "No, I DON'T want you to cancel the order...I just want to know when I'm going to get...alright, fine but can I get the number for your corporate office? If it isn't here by next week, you'll be hearing about this...yes...thank you."

She hung up the phone and started to head towards the garage. She could hear a power saw, and started to get a little concerned.

"Hello?" She called out, but there was no answer. Whoever was in the garage clearly couldn't hear her over the saw. She started to make her way cautiously towards the garage, grabbing the nearest thing to hand, which happened to be a staple-gun, and headed through. She kept the phone in her back pocket as precaution and headed through. There was indeed a man in the garage, operating a power saw, and he had his back to her, but seeing their car in the driveway, she surmised it was her husband. She put the staple-gun down and headed around where he could see her. He was wearing ear-defenders, and between that and the saw he couldn't hear her.

"Al?" She asked, waving a hand in front of him. "AL!"

Al looked up, seeing his wife, before shutting off the saw. He pulled off his ear-defenders.

"Ellie, hi." He said, seeing her.

"Hi?" She asked him. "Al...what are you doing here? Other than giving me a heart attack thinking someone was breaking in of course."

"Ellie, we have a monster stroll down the street at least once a week. I think burglary is the least of anyone's worries." He commented. Ellie just stood with her hands on her hips, clearly not amused by his flippant remark. "I just thought it was about time I got started on turning the garage into the workshop I promised you and Sarah since we got here."

"Al, I mean...what are you doing here NOW?" She asked. "Aren't you meant to be at work?"

"Not according to Mr Tien." He responded. He could see the slightly worried look on her face. "No, I'm not fired or anything...he's still intent on trying to pressure me to see things his way. He told me to go home for the rest of the day and take tomorrow off. He wants me to work on Saturday instead."

"Saturday?" She asked him. "But...but you only work..."

"I work whenever the hell he wants me to." Al grumbled. "I'm contracted for 40 hours a week. As long as he gives me at least eight hours between shifts, he can ask me to work any time he wants."

"But...but we were going to..."

"Sadly my plans don't mean much to him." Al interrupted her. Ellie just looked to him.

"Well...can you at least change out of your suit so you don't get it messed up?" She asked him. She knew better than to try and reason with him while he was still angry. He just nodded in understanding.

"You're right...you're always right." He answered as he went inside. Ellie just looked to the wood and sighed.

"Well, it will be nice to be able to hook the smoke-detectors back up." She commented. "Sarah might get some of her bedroom space back."

Meanwhile, over at the school, at lunch time, Sarah was looking for Preston. Lately, she had some ideas on how to help him with some effects for his shows. While Preston had no problem buying gimmicks and props, she was sure she could create some special effects with a little more...pizzazz.

As she was walking through the corridor, she bumped into Tom as he was leaving. He had some contracts and things with him, and he wasn't concentrating on where he was going. He steadied Sarah as he almost knocked her over.

"Whoa, sorry about that." He told her, turning his attention to the phone. "I'll call you back...sorry about that. I guess I shouldn't walk-and-talk."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Sarah answered. "So did you and Levi get your stuff finished?"

"For now." He commented. "Believe me, a lot of people are NOT happy to hear 'hey, we want to put the world tour on hold and we don't know yet when we're going'."

"I guess that is a little awkward." Sarah said a little uncomfortably. While it was good that Levi had accepted his responsibility as the Gold Ranger was his priority, without being able to explain things it did mean that to a lot of people he had to look a little bit of a flake. It wasn't so long ago he had disappeared for months without telling anyone where he was going or when he'd be back...and now he was putting his career on hold indefinitely once again. "Sorry, our um...extra-curricular activities rarely have much respect for our lives."

"Well, that's what he has me for." Tom told her. "I've had Levi's back since he was twelve, this is nothing new. You guys just concentrate on making sure I get him back in one piece."

"Hey, he's pretty good at saving our butts." Sarah commented. "He saved us from Cosmo's game. Good thing he hates board games so much or he'd have been trapped in there with us."

"Levi hates board games?" Tom asked her. Sarah noted an element of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah, he told us he hates board games. That's why he didn't want to play." Sarah answered. "You didn't know?"

"I...guess I never noticed." Tom answered with a shrug. "We never had any board games at the farm. There wasn't much time for it after chores. I guess he never liked them before he came to us?"

"Yeah...I guess." She answered. "Say, have you seen Preston?"

"The blue one?" He asked. "Yeah, he was headed in the direction of the Home Ec. Department last time I saw him."

"Home Ec.?" Sarah asked. "He doesn't do Home Ec."

"Well that's where he was heading." Tom told her.

"Right...thanks Tom." She answered as he headed off. Sarah followed the corridor towards the Home Economics department, and she could hear a sewing machine running. She smiled as she saw that Preston was inside, working on a sewing machine. She opened the door quietly, making her way up behind him as he seemed to finish up.

He looked to his project and smiled.

"Nice!" He said, holding up what looked like a length of ribbon, admiring his work.

"Whatcha working on there magic boy?" Sarah asked him. Preston saw her and hurriedly shoved it into his pocket. "Is it a prop for your shows?"

"Uh...yeah, it's something like that." Preston said, looking about as convincing as a puppy standing next to a fresh present on the carpet with its cutest look on its face.

"Oh, can I see it?" She asked him.

"Well..."

"Oh come on, just a peek?" She asked him. "I am your glamorous assistant remember?"

"Yeah...there are some things I need to keep secret..."

"Oh, just a peek?" She begged. "I am promising to let you put me in a guillotine."

"Yeah...you'll see it soon enough." He told her. Sarah looked a little disappointed, but Preston wanted to keep this a surprise for now. He had been working on it at lunch time all week, and this weekend he was planning to give a surprise to the whole team. He wanted them all to find out together. He started to stroke her shoulder. "I promise."

"Well...OK then." She answered, before pulling something out of her pocket. "Oh, I've been working on something for you. "They're new smoke bombs! They're WAY stronger than the ones you buy at the store..."

"How much stronger?" Preston asked, throwing down one of them.

"PRESTON NO!" She called out, but it was too late. It hit the ground and exploded, filling the whole room with thick, white smoke in seconds. As the school's fire-alarm went off, Sarah just sighed.

"Sorry." He said, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Just as well the smoke isn't harmful." She commented as they headed for the fire-exit, preparing to put on the acting job of their lives to convince Principal Hastings that they weren't responsible.

Up on the Warrior Dome, Ripcon came into Cosmo's office to pitch his latest find to him.

"Trapsaw?" Cosmo asked. "I've never heard of him."

"Well...he's a real find, believe me!" Ripcon assured him. "He's come from pretty good stock...his brother Ripperat was already on the show."

"Ripperat? The same Ripperat that's been defeated twice already?" Cosmo asked him.

"Yes, and you know what that means...a vendetta! Grudge Match!" Ripperat told him, trying to speak to Cosmo's sensibilities as a showman. He had his own agenda, and really didn't care for the show at all, but in order to enact his own plan, he needed Cosmo to get on board. "Not to mention Trapsaw is a lot smarter than his brother. He's devious; he's a master of creating traps."

"Traps you say?" Cosmo asked him, looking a little sceptical.

"Yes, traps! Deadly, ingenious traps!" Ripcon said, trying to dress up the situation as much as possible. It didn't matter to Ripcon that he was in fact a moron. His intention was that Trapsaw would fail so spectacularly that he would be justified in going down to help him. "The Rangers will see Ripperat, go straight for him, using the same strategy as before and BOOM! Out of nowhere, they'll be crushed by a wrecking ball they didn't even know was there!"

"Hm...this DOES sound promising." Cosmo mused. "But I'd need a demonstration..."

"Well, the thing is his traps take some time to set up. I've already sent him to Earth to begin preparations." Ripcon told him. "Also...we'll need to do it Saturday."

"SATURDAY?" Ripcon screamed. "But the show is on FRIDAY!"

"Well...how about we do a special?" Ripcon asked. "We tell everyone there's technical difficulties or something and do a special broadcast on Saturday!"

"Do you have ANY idea..."

"I promise, he WON'T let you down!" Ripcon told him. Cosmo wasn't convinced. He knew that changing the schedule, especially with little to no advertising that the schedule was changing, could cause immense damage to a show's viewing figures. Nothing pissed fans off more than never knowing when their favourite show was on and finding it difficult to track when they could see it on the schedule.

That said, Cosmo also had to admit that after the previous week, he had neglected somewhat to come up with a follow-up show. He was thinking of sending one of Odious' creatures, some monster she had pitched that created poisons or some other nonsense, but he had no desire to speak to her and listen to her taunts how his game had failed to defeat the Rangers. He was running short of options.

"Fine, we'll do it your way, but the results are all on YOUR head!" Cosmo warned him.

"I'll take full responsibility." Ripcon assured him with a smile.

"Then tell your monster he's on." Cosmo answered. "You better deliver Ripcon!"

"Don't worry." Ripcon said confidently. "This is going to be a show no one will forget!"

The following day, the kids at school weren't talking about the fire-alarm the day before, and were more interested in discussing their plans for the weekend. Fortunately, Sarah's new smoke bombs were designed specifically not to leave behind any traces that would give away how the trick was done, so no one really knew how an entire room had filled with smoke with seemingly no explanation at all. All things considered, in a city that regularly saw magic, aliens and giant monsters, a fire alarm was really not considered the biggest mystery in the city.

Friday was a day that somewhat separated out the Rangers from the other kids in Summer Cove High. While for all the other kids, Friday was the day they all looked forward to, the day when they were more concerned about what they were going to do with their weekend than school, for the Rangers, it was a day spent mostly on tenterhooks. The advantage of Cosmo's show was that they could predict his schedule and know roughly when he would be broadcasting, but the worst part was that his show went out on a Friday.

"Hey guys." Brody said as he sat with Sarah and Preston, causing them both to jump as they were going over some plans for one of his tricks. "So, you guys been up to anything interesting?"

"Us? Up to something?" Sarah asked.

"We're not up to anything." Preston said in his usual, unconvincing tone. He and Sarah exchanged a glance, reminding each other wordlessly of their pact not to rat each other out for inadvertently causing an evacuation of the school. Hayley and Calvin arrived shortly afterwards.

"So...Friday...again." Hayley said as they sat with their friends. "Any of you seen anything suspicious?"

"Not yet." Preston muttered.

"Man, I don't know what's worse, the attacks or waiting on them coming." Calvin grumbled. "Does anyone remember when the worst thing we had to worry about on a Friday was what we were going to do on Saturday?"

"Well, I've got an idea about that actually." Preston told them. They all looked to him. "I have a bit of a surprise for you all."

"What is it Preston?" Hayley asked. "Have you finally figured out that fire trick?"

"It's not a magic trick, I promise you." Preston assured them, smiling. He had been a bit of a loner for most of his time at school. Thanks to the fact that more than half the kids in school's parents worked for his dad in some capacity, meant that between either resentment of his wealth and influence or genuine fear of the negative effects on their lives, most kids gave Preston a wide berth. Very few approached him at all until the Rangers became his friends. It was the reason he wanted to show them all how much they meant to him, and he had finally figured out a way he could. "I was thinking, maybe we could spend the day together."

"That sounds like a great idea." Hayley answered. "Do we need to bring anything?"

"Well, if you want to bring some food for a picnic, that would be good." Preston answered with a smile, knowing that she was likely fishing for clues what he was planning. "Other than that, just...meet me here tomorrow morning!"

"That sounds great!" Sarah commented as the bell rang. "Alright, computer science!"

"Sarah, I think you are possibly the only person I know that could be excited by computer science first period on a Friday." Brody answered.

"I know." She chirped cheerfully. "I guess its part of what makes me unique."

"That's one way to describe it." Preston teased her as they all headed off to class.