Andrew Hartford stared across the street at the grand structure before him.

This can't be right. He thought to himself. There has to be some mistake. Maybe that bakery owner is messing with me…

A simple Google search of the word 'dragon' had led him to the website of the weakly populated mini city of Briarwood, where there had been several reports of a dragon flying around the city. At first he was apprehensive, thinking it may just be conspiracy theorists, but the witness accounts of out-of-towners that clashed with the "witness" (notice the mental air quotes) accounts of the citizens of Briarwood had him convinced. This is where he would find a dragon scale.

Well, maybe not this particular building.

When he had gotten into town, he went into the first shop off the highway, a bakery, and started asking questions as subtly as he could. All he could get out of the baker and his wife was that the place he wanted to go if he was really and truly serious about saving the world with the power rangers was The Rock Porium.

What is a porium anyway? He thought as he scrutinized the building. He was able to pick up that it was something to do with music, and maybe art judging by the roughly painted wall on the side of the building.

Maybe this isn't the place. He thought. Damn. All of the strange, dishonest, and evil beings I've dealt with in my life, and I get screwed over by a freaking baker. Well, I guess it can't hurt to try.

Checking that there was no traffic, though he was sure his was the only car that had gone by all day, he crossed the street, walked up to the door, pushed it open, and walked inside.

The first thing he noticed was the toilet plunger that was slowly soaring across the room.

"I am not cleaning the bathroom!" a voice yelled out from straight down the aisle in front of Andrew. He observed a boy who had to be in his late years of high school who's bright yellow shirt clashed nicely with the light purple work shirt he was wearing over it. He angrily pointed at a boy behind the counter who was wearing a green shirt under his own purple work shirt. "You made me do it all weekend! I still smell like poop!"

"Will you two keep it down? I'm trying to work here!" In the back corner of the store was a girl at a DJ station wearing plain black under her purple shirt, her hair dyed a brilliant color of cotton candy pink.

"Chip, I have one word for you," the boy in green said with a strong Australian accent.

"What's that?"

"Duck."

Unfortunately for Andrew, the one named Chip had remarkable reflexes, and he crouched down as something came soaring at him. Andrew himself had barely moved aside before he felt something whizzing past the side of his head.

"Xander!" The pink haired girl at the DJ station screamed at the boy behind the counter, pulling off her oversized headphones. "Stop trying to kill the only customer we've had today!"

"I wasn't trying to kill him!" the one named Xander shouted back at her, a hint of amusement in his accented voice as he retreated back into a room that had 'Office' written on the door. "I was trying to kill him!"

Andrew side stepped behind another display of CD's as Chip hurled something in the direction of the office, and he almost fell over someone else who was sitting on the floor organizing piles of CDs.

"Oh, sorry!" the person said.

"No, I'm sorry! Are you okay? I didn't see you there," Andrew said apologetically, helping her to her feet.

"I'm good. Fine," she said, sounding more surprised than flustered. She had shoulder length brown hair and was wearing blue under her purple shirt, which had the name 'Madison' stitched on the front. He noticed that she had almost the exact same eyes as the pink haired girl, the difference being that hers were softer, less intense. "This probably isn't the best place to sit, but we weren't really expecting a crowd this early in the day."

"Well, sorry I startled you," Andrew said kindly.

"No problemo. So, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Yes, I'm here about a dragon that-"

"You're Andrew Hartford," the girl-Madison he corrected himself-interrupted suddenly.

"You've heard of me?" Andrew said, pleasantly surprised. Over the years he had been recognized, but usually only at benefits where he was known for his money, or friendly club gatherings where he was well liked, but still known for being a borderline psychotic explorer who wasn't willing to pass up a challenge, no matter the risks involved.

"Well, yeah," she said, sounding surprised that he was surprised. "You work with the Operation Overdrive team."

"Yeah, that's right," he confirmed, thinking how foolish he was to presume that some teenager who works in a record store would know anything about some middle-aged explorer who's colleagues take bets on about whether he's going to come home from his next adventure in a wooden casket. "Huh," he added as an afterthought. He slightly tilted his head to look at her. "Interesting."

She paused, and Andrew had the impression she was trying desperately to not run a hand through her hair to see if a piece was out of place. "What is?"

"You said The Operation Overdrive team whereas most people just call us The Power Rangers."

"Oh," was her reply. "Yeah. Well."

"Well…?" he prompted, and then the pink-haired DJ girl appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

"You'll have to excuse my sister's lack of coherent speech, she's distracted because her boyfriend recently came home from being away for a few months. He's left her tongue tied."

"Not my boyfriend," Andrew distinctly heard Madison mutter.

"Mads, you've been on twelve dates in less than three weeks," pink-haired girl's face crumpled. "And you've made out on our couch at least twice. He's your boyfriend," she stated matter-of-factly before turning back to her customer (and ignoring Madison's accusation of "You're keeping track?"). "So, how can we help you today? Other than advising you to stay away from those two, I mean." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder towards the office, where it sounded like the two boys were now wrestling. "You'll have to excuse them."

"Xander went camping with Chip and his cousins this past weekend."

"They got back yesterday and apparently couldn't stand living together."

"Which is good to know since they were planning on being roommates next year at college." Madison said. "Can we get you anything? You said something about dragons?"

"DragonForce?" Pink- haired DJ girl asked. Andrew felt like he was watching a tennis match as the two employees easily switched the talk back and forth between them. Sister, he remembered the pink-haired DJ sister say. Probably twins. One of those ranger videos said something about twins…actually I think several of them said something about twins… "Their debut album is on sale today! I recommend the track Heroes of Our Time. It's one of my favorites by them."

"Actually, I was here about…a real dragon?" he asked tentatively, silently praying that the baker wasn't as cruel as Andrew supposed he was. He could tell by the glance the sisters exchanged that this was indeed the place to be. "So there is a dragon?" he asked excitedly.

"Well…" Madison started saying, but at that moment, screaming erupted from the office again.

"-I don't care how many times he kicked you in the night!" a man with wild hair stepped out, holding Chip's arm with one hand and Xander's with the other. "Cut it out, or you're cut off the schedule! Forever! Ah," he said pleasantly, seeing Andrew talking to the two girls. "A customer. Vida, you can return to your tables now." Pink hair DJ sister-Vida-rolled her eyes at the two boys standing sheepishly in front of the man with wild hair, before returning to the DJ station. "Chip, go organize the stockroom so Madison," he politely nodded at her before returning his glare back to Chip. "Can finish stocking the shelves. I also need inventory. And Xander," he added after Madison pointed at Andrew, indicating she was helping him. "Work your magic on this guy. Try to get rid of those DragonForce CDs. They're on sale today!"

The four teenagers started making their way to where they were directed by their boss, when suddenly, a cell phone chimed.

"Speaking of magic," Xander said, cheerfully clapping his hands together. "Looks like some left over hidiacs have decided to tour downtown this fine afternoon. You got this one Tobes?" he called over his shoulder as he rushed out of the store, the other three hurrying behind him, each pulling off their own work shirts as they went. "Hey Maddie, make sure your boyfriend's coming," he teased, again with that bit of amusement in his voice.

The door slammed shut behind them before Andrew could hear her response. Judging by what he could see through the window of her face as they raced down the street, it wasn't a particularly pleasant retort.

"Teenagers," the man with wild hair-Tobes?-chuckled, glancing nervously at Andrew. "Always something going on in downtown Briarwood for them. We like to think it keeps them off the streets. You know, safe from after school gangs and stuff like that."

"And you just let them run off like that whenever they get a call?" Andrew asked.

He hesitated. "We have a complex relationship. I'm Toby by the way, owner of this fine establishment! With even finer workers," he added, changing the subject, and reached over to hold up one of the CDs. "So, DragonForce album?"

"No thank you," Andrew said slowly. "Actually, I came here looking for something…else."

"Classical?" Toby asked, eyeing the man in front of him. "Jazz, maybe…? No, you look more outdoorsy…maybe soft rock? No, classic rock. That's the one!"

"Well, yeah," Andrew said, before shaking his head. "I mean, no. I'm here about a dragon scale. Not The Force."

"DragonForce," Toby corrected idly. "We don't sell Star Wars merchandise here. Other than the soundtrack to the first five films. The sixth one is on backorder. A dragon scale, huh?"

"Yes. Through my research I found that there was a dragon around this area. And when I got here they told me to come, well, here."

Toby nodded. "You're in the right place my friend! Um…well, here! Come sit in my office!" he said, and led Andrew in. "I'll have to go out a minute, but I'm sure I can find one fairly quickly!"

"Really? Just like that?"

"Well, I may have…connections…although they may be a bit busy at the moment," he said to himself. "No wait, Phineas! He'll know! Right, I'll go find him, back in a jiffy!"

He left the office and hurried out of the store, flipping the open sign around as he went, though without locking the door.

"What a strange little establishment," Andrew mused to the empty room.

After almost five minutes of spinning around in the desk chair in silence, save for the faint music still coming from the abandoned DJ station-is that even what it's called?-he stood and walked around the room, looking at various newspaper clippings that were scattered across the walls. Most were about music, album releases and reviews and such, but several were about the store itself. One in particular caught his attention. The headline read:

LOCAL TEENS PULL DOUBLE DUTY: Rock Porium Workers Saving For College Made Time To Also Save The World!

Underneath was a picture of five teenagers, four of which he had the interesting experience of meeting earlier. He moved closer, leaning in to read the article.

'When the Master appeared last year, threatening our small, peaceful community of Briarwood, along with him came a new group of superheroes to our humble abode-The Mystic Force Power Rangers!'

Andrew mentally hit and kicked himself. "Of course!" he said aloud. "Pink hair, green, yellow, and blue clothing! When she was so specific about naming the ranger team! A chime that rings out and they all run off! And magic! And hidiacs! I thought I heard that word before! Those are their version of putties! And when they were throwing stuff they weren't really throwing it, they were using magic to levitate it! They were the Mystic Force Power Rangers!"

"Who the heck are you?"

Andrew spun around, startled by the sudden voice at the door. A boy was standing there wearing, what else, a red shirt with a black bird on the front. Andrew recognized him as the fifth teenager in the picture from the article behind him.

"Hi! I'm Andrew Hartford!" he said, stepping forward and extending a hand. The boy didn't take it, but stood staring at him.

"Okay, but who are you? You're not from here."

"No, I'm…oh!" he said, realizing what the boy meant. "No, it's okay! I won't tell!"

The boy continued to stare.

"I mean, about you. About all of you," he gestured to the now empty store, and then turned to point to the newspaper article. "About the ranger thing. Let me start over," he said. "I'm with the Operation Overdrive team of Power Rangers."

The boy relaxed slightly.

"I'm here because I'm in need of a dragon scale and my research of them has led me here, where there have been sightings by tourists of a dragon flying over the forest. Emphasis on tourists, because no one who lives here will tell me anything, other than to come here," he gestured to the store in general. "Though now I know why…You've got a good town here. Good at keeping secrets, protecting their own. My rangers are public defenders. Literally."

"Yeah," the boy said. He stepped forward and extended a hand. "I've seen your interviews, even in Africa. I'm Nick."

"Red," Andrew said. "Your shirt," he explained when Nick gave him a confused look.

"Oh. Right. I should probably get a new wardrobe now…"

"No," Andrew said, and Nick looked confused again. "I mean, it's something to be proud of. Even if no one outside of this town knows what it symbolizes. My son is our red," he added.

"Really?" Nick asked, looking interested as he seemingly totally relaxed for the first time since hearing Andrew figure out their identities (honestly, he-and the other rangers-were mystified that no one else outside of Briarwood had figured it out yet). "So you're like their Zordon, right?"

"I guess you could say that."

"My parents were like our Zordon, too. Mostly my mom though. I wonder if it's a red thing… We have a video somewhere explaining it all but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet."

"Been busy with your new girlfriend? Sorry," Andrew said quickly, seeing the look on his face. "It's not my place to comment, but gossip gets around in a room full of teenagers. Namely your coworkers."

"Yeah, them," Nick muttered darkly.

"But if you want to hear some interesting stuff, watch the videos by Tommy Oliver first," Andrew suggested.

"There's more than one video?"

"Oh sure, every ranger makes a little memoir. Most are pretty short, and then the group gets together to talk about their whole journey as rangers. Those are the best ones because you can actually see the team dynamic. But anyway, this Tommy guy…well, it's entertaining. Especially the most recent video of his. He's a teacher and some of his students were rangers with him."

Nick looked amused and was about to say something when the phone chime sounded out again. He grabbed a funky looking cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Nick here," he said into the receiver. "Hey Claire…Yeah I took care of it, it was easy this time, only a few hidiacs…Nope, they hadn't gotten there by the time I left…Calm down, they're probably on their way back to the store, and there was a guy selling ice cream on the corner, so Chip probably got distracted…Wait, slow down, what does Phineas want?...So then what does Toby want?"

Andrew shifted uncomfortably.

"…Yeah, sure, I guess, you'd have to ask him though…" Nick sighed after Claire said something. "…Let me talk to him…No, don't give it to him! He has claws, not fingers!...Fireheart? Okay, listen up, there's a guy here who needs one of your scales for the new team of Power Rangers. He's not lying," he said matter-of-factly. "You have plenty that you've shed, give one up…Claire?...Okay, tell him thanks. And I'll bring him a turkey or something when my shift's over…No we're not going ou-don't you guys ever talk about anything other than our love life?"

Andrew turned his head back to the wall of articles to hide his smirk.

"…I'm hanging up on you…Good bye Claire!" He angrily shut his phone shut, then proceeded to toss it in an open file cabinet and slam the door shut. "Honestly, that girl," he muttered before addressing Andrew. "Toby should be back in a minute. Can I help you with anything else while we're waiting for him?"

"While I'm here, where's your classic rock section?"

He had barely gotten through the first two artists when Toby returned, holding a dragon scale gingerly in both hands. "That was quick," Andrew commented.

"We travel by way of tree," Nick said from where he was pulling on a purple uniform shirt behind the counter the cash register was resting on.

"Really?" Andrew said as Toby carefully placed the scale in the pack Andrew was holding open. "Fascinating…"

"Not the first couple of times," Toby grunted.

"You totally did it on purpose!" someone exclaimed from the doorway. The three of them in the store turned to see the rest of the team returning. Chip was biting an empty ice cream cone, Xander was wiping a yellow ice cream off his shirt, and Vida was happily licking a green ice cream off a cone.

"Hey Nick!" Vida said cheerfully. "Want some green mint chip? It's on Xander," she stated as Xander made his way to the bathroom and Chip tried to sneak off to the back room to start his inventory.

"Don't even think abou-Vida! That was mine!"

"You gave it to me. Duh."

"I gave it to you to hold while I-! Oh never mind. Hey, get back here, Chip! I'm not done with you!"

"Where's Maddie?" Nick asked Vida as she bit down on the cone.

"Aww, miss your girlfriend?"

Nick glared for a moment. "Bite me, vampire girl."

Vida stuck a tinted green tongue out at him.

"Um, rangers?" Toby asked tentatively. They all stopped whatever they were doing, surprised that Toby addressed them this way.

"…Music store owner?" Xander asked in reply when Toby paused.

"This is Andrew Hartford," Toby said. "He's…he's…"

"He's Operation Overdrive's Udonna," Nick said when Toby stumbled on what to say.

"Really?" Chip asked, the excitement evident. "Awesome! You know, I've been kind of distracted lately and I've been meaning to find out…what's your yellow?"

"I beg your pardon?" Andrew asked politely.

Xander and Vida exchanged exasperated glances. "Can I please?" Xander asked. Both Nick and Vida nodded. The semi-retired green ranger ran a finger over the ice cream on his shirt and wiped it across the side of Chip's face.

"Hey! I didn't mean, like, what is your yellow! I mean, like, who is your yellow?"

"Ronny Robinson."

"Ronny's a boy's name," Chip said hopefully, his eyes lighting up as he momentarily forgot the smudge that was now spread further across his face after he had attempted to rub it out.

"Yeah, but it's so she'll fit in."

"She…" Chip repeated, his face dropping.

"It's short for Veronica."

"Fit in to what?" Xander asked.

"NASCAR," Nick spoke up.

"You're a fan?" Andrew asked. "She'll be honored to hear that a veteran ranger knows of her."

"Why is she trying to fit into NASCAR?" Vida asked.

"What is NASCAR?" Xander asked blankly.

"Racecar driving," Chip replied, still rubbing at his face. Xander smeared more ice cream on his hand and this time ran it through Chip's hair.

"Ignore our resident Australian," Vida said, finishing off the cone.

"Ignore our ice cream thief," Xander retaliated.

"Hey, you gave it to me, buddy."

"I'm not your buddy."

"Buddy!" Chip suddenly interjected. "My cousin's dog Buddy loves ice cream! Just bring your shirt to him, Xander, and it'll be clean in no time! But you might want to take it off first. And you might get it back in several pieces. Or in one piece, but shredded."

"Great," Xander said sarcastically. "So I can be covered in dog slobber as well. Again!" he added. "That thing was drooling on me all weekend!"

"Here we go," Vida said to Nick as she grabbed her work shirt from the counter she had tossed it on earlier.

"An interesting group you have here, Toby," Andrew said so none of the teenagers could hear him.

"Yeah. They keep me young," Toby sighed contentedly. "Can't wait to have my own someday…me and Nikki should get on that…"

That simple, vague, random, musing comment silenced the whole room. It was broken by the chime over the door dinging as Madison walked in. She stopped right inside the door, surprised by the awkward silence. The first pair of eyes she met was Nick's. After sharing a lovesick smile, he shook his head at her, indicating that she really shouldn't ask.

"I got lunch!" she said brightly instead, holding up a few take out bags with the logo Andrew recognized as belonging to the sandwich shop next door. "Anything important happen while I was gone?"

"Toby and Nikki are having sex," Xander muttered enigmatically. "To make babies. Let's eat outside today, I need the fresh air."

"Care to join us, Andrew?" Chip asked, who was rather delighted at the idea of Xander getting sick.

"No," he said cautiously. "I really should be getting back to San Angeles. It was nice meeting all of you. I'm sure we'll meet up again soon."

"DinoThunder is hosting Christmas this year," Madison commented as she handed sandwiches to her friends as they walked out the door she was holding open with her foot. "Have you ever been to Reefside?"

"No. Hopefully we'll see you there."

"Yeah. Bye then!" Madison said as Nick took the bag she was holding and laced his fingers with her now free hand, pulling her out the door with him.

"Ah young love," Toby said airily as they observed the former team leaving. "Is your boy dating?"

"No," Andrew commented. "He had this short thing in the ninth grade…" he suddenly broke off. "Well, not really, but…yeah. I have to go," he said, holding out a hand. "It was great meeting you guys."

"Likewise," Toby said. "Until next time!"

With a wave, Andrew left the store, hoping that by Christmas they will have defeated their bad guys and could sip some celebratory eggnog in Reefside. He was so busy with his early celebrating that he almost didn't notice the car speeding by until it honked at him and he hopped back onto the curb.

So much for no traffic on the street.

He didn't know what, but something made him look at the car as it drove furthur down the street.

Strange. I could have sworn that guy had horns... Sheesh. All the mental stress I've had to go through today, just to get a dragon scale.

That was the entire story and it is complete. Do not ask for another chapter or I will mentally dump Green Mint Chip ice cream on you :)