Legal: I do not own the rights to Power Rangers, or the associated names, places, characters etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be considered purely the creation of the author.

Rating: T-May be some mild adult themes and language

A/N: Consider this a replacement of the Halloween special, Raising Spirits. I have to point out here, I actually enjoyed the episode as not being just a pointless clip show...but I had this plot on the back burner and wanted to use it here to bridge the gap between Gosei Ultimate and Metal Alice. Don't worry, I WILL resume the main arc after this is done. In the meantime, hope you enjoy this.

The following couple of weeks for the Rangers were amazingly quiet. They were ridiculously quiet. In fact, it was almost pre-Ranger days quiet. In some ways, it was a blessing. It gave them some time to relax and recuperate after finishing off the Mutant threat once and for all.

That said, the lack of activity also had them a little concerned. After becoming used to an attack every couple of days, they were starting to wonder why all of a sudden nothing had happened. They hadn't even been in uniform aside from training in over a fortnight. They had wondered, briefly, if their destruction of the mutants and the Aurora Box had gotten Malkor to reconsider and seek other, less troublesome worlds to conquer, but the fact his ship had not left orbit quickly dispelled that optimistic option. No, by now they were confident that whatever Malkor was doing, he was preparing for something big. Perhaps even a final, apocalyptic push, throwing everything he had at them. They weren't keen on that theory, but it certainly seemed a lot more credible than Malkor suddenly deciding to give up.

Eric pulled his car up to the front of the school, opting to give the girls a lift to the school instead of letting them ride. Although they had only had the task a couple of weeks, Emma and Jake had already come up with their first major idea. Since it was Halloween, they had the idea of raising money for the local homeless shelter by allowing students to turn up to school in costume if they made a donation. They had chosen the homeless shelter because, sadly, it had seen something of a rise in business. Megazord battles, no matter how careful they tried to be, caused a lot of damage, and more than a few people had ended up needing temporary accommodation while homes were repaired or rebuilt. The only ones who weren't complaining about this turn of events were those in the construction industry, who were suddenly getting a lot of work.

He turned to the girls in the back and sighed.

"Alright, I'm not going to be at the office most of the day, so if you need me, call on my cell." He reminded them. "I'm heading to see Wayne, and then I've got a lot of clients who want to talk to me."

"Is he alright?" Emma asked sympathetically. It had now been a couple of weeks since Spider had reappeared in the Juvenile Detention Centre, but his condition wasn't changing. He was still crippled with terror, and wouldn't speak of what happened to him. He had since been moved to the psychiatric wing of the detention centre. It was a difficult time for Wayne, and Spider's sister Julie. Eric was being very understanding, putting him on light duties any time Wayne was able to come to work, and giving him plenty of time off to be with his family.

"He's holding it together for Julie's sake." He told Emma. "You're going to the Brainfreeze after school right?"

"Yeah, Ernie's letting us use the place for a private party." Emma answered with a smile. "He said he's usually pretty quiet on Halloween. It's the drawback of kids getting all the free candy they want from strangers."

"And Emma promised to make some of Mrs Goodall's legendary pumpkin pie." Gia chipped in cheerfully. Eric just smiled. It was one of Emma's many little traditions to keep the memory of her mother alive. Eleanor had indeed been an amazing cook, with a lot of recipes she had picked up across the years. She always used to make that pie on all special occasions. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween...no holiday was complete without it for the Goodalls. She had given the recipe to Emma, who had perfected it long ago.

"Well, have fun." He told them. "Oh, and remember, Louise and I have something we want to talk to you about, so try not to be too late."

"We won't." Gia replied as they got out. Emma was wearing an long, old-fashioned, frilly gown that just looked totally out of place on her. She helped Gia out of the car, before handing her a hat. Gia was wearing white, and with the hat, it became clear she was meant to be a White Witch. She got a few wolf-whistles about the costume, which annoyed her slightly, but she just ignored it. Eric just frowned.

"I get the White Witch costume, but I still think you could have worn a longer dress." He said to Gia. She just rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, DAD!" She replied sarcastically with a little chuckle. As he pulled away, Emma walked with her into the school.

"Well, I guess you're not wearing it for him are you?" Emma asked. "So...how many pictures did you send her?"

"Only a couple of dozen." Gia replied with a smile, pulling out her own cell phone and showing it to Emma. "It looks like Cat's getting into the spirit too."

As Emma checked out the picture, she just grinned brightly.

"Wow...that's um...different." She commented. "What...what exactly is she meant to be?"

"I'm not sure." Gia answered honestly. "I'm not entirely sure she does either. But that doesn't stop it being cute. Is it weird that I find that cute?"

"Gia, as of a fortnight ago, we have a pet sasquatch." Emma reminded her in a chuckle. "I think we left weird in the rear view mirror months ago."

"Howdy there ladies." Troy greeted them in an accent. They saw him coming towards them, dressed as a cowboy. He seemed to be taking the costume a little seriously, doing his best John Wayne walk and accent. Gia just started laughing.

"He loves Westerns." Emma replied, hooking her arm with his. "Trust me, if you think this is bad, you should see the DVD collection in his bedroom. He was unbearable after that Clint Eastwood marathon he inflicted on me.

"And since WHEN were you in his bedroom?" Gia asked, catching the detail Emma had slipped up on. She just turned away quickly.

"So, what do you think of my costume Troy?" She asked.

"Well, little lady, I'd say it's definitely the finest..."

"Please tell me you're not going to do that all day." Gia begged him. Troy just sighed and took the hint.

"It's great Emma." He replied, kissing her softly. "So...who are you again?"

"I'm Emily Pankhurst!" She told him. Tory just looked at her a little confused. "She started the Suffragette movement?"

"Right...um...well it's great." Troy answered. "Your costume's nice too Gia."

"Hey guys, how's it going?" Noah asked as he and Quinn arrived. Both of them were dressed appropriately for the beginning of the twentieth century. Quinn's long dress was covered by an apron, and her hair was styled up, while Noah had a fake moustache and beard, with a tweed suit.

"Wow Noah, um...I was expecting Einstein or something." Troy stated. Noah just gave him a withering look.

"There are other scientists in the world." Noah reminded him. "And being the first year I actually have a girlfriend, Quinn convinced me it would be nice to do a joint costume."

"We're Pierre and Marie Curie." She told them with a smile. "Isn't it romantic?"

"Yeah, real romantic how they managed to give themselves radiation poisoning." Jordan said as he arrived, wearing an aloha shirt and cargo shorts. He had henna tattoos along his arms, and his hair was styled into a Mohawk at the top. Gia just looked at him.

"And...you are...?"

"Logan!" Noah told her. "He's a character from the video game Dead Island."

"Personally I prefer Sam B, but that would have taken a little too much makeup." Jordan told them. "And I have a feeling the guidance counsellor wouldn't have liked it too much."

"So, where's our President then?" Troy asked. "He's not missing his own day is he?"

"I think he wishes he was." Jordan sniggered, pointing as he arrived. Jake arrived, looking somewhat less than amused. He was wearing a cow outfit.

"Mom wanted help with the groceries so I got to the costume shop late alright?" He demanded as they all started laughing at him. All of them except Troy that was. He just started looking a little awkward.

"Great, no one's going to make smart ass remarks about this at all." Troy complained.

"Oh come on Troy, people will just think you got matching costumes." Gia teased him. As he saw a kid walking past in a George Washington outfit, he gestured him over.

"Here, lend me your axe." He begged the kid, hurriedly taking off his waistcoat and hat.

"But..."

"People will still know you're George Washington without it!" Troy protested as he pulled his gun out of his holster, shoving the excess stuff into his locker. "He's on the freaking one dollar bill! I have a dozen of them in my wallet right now, please!"

"Let me look at your French homework and we have a deal." The kid replied. Troy just sighed and handed it over. When the kid gave him the axe, he shoved it into the holster.

"I'm a lumberjack!" He told them. "Plaid shirt, axe...lumberjack."

"Whatever dude." Jordan replied as they all headed inside.

Elsewhere, on a coach heading down the freeway, Dax was making his way through to the back. He found Xavier doing some push-ups in the aisle.

Xavier was an actor, a rising star in action films. He was a little taller than Dax, with an athletic build earned through years of dedicated Martial Arts training. He had been a huge name in the tournament circuit for a couple of years, before a director picked him up. He had been in movies ever since he was 18. Aside from his incredible physique, natural athleticism and skill in Martial Arts, he was also very photogenic. As he got up, he swept some of his blonde hair out of his face, and flashed the million-dollar smile that had already netted him several awards from magazines. He just needed something to put him over the edge and propel him to superstardom.

"Hey Xavier." Dax greeted him. "We should be getting into Harwood in the next hour or so."

"It'll be so weird to be back in a High School." He commented. "It's been years. Thank God I talked you into that re-write."

"Come on, I told you, it's not that hard to believe teenagers can be superheroes." Dax stated. Xavier just glared at him.

"Yeah, but I'm 25." He reminded him. "As flattering as it is you think I look young, no one's going to believe I'm a High School student."

"Xavier..."

"Seriously, what is it with directors and casting people in their mid twenties as teenagers?" He asked. "It makes me wonder how many of them have even seen a teenager."

"You got the re-write alright? Your character's not a teenager anymore." Dax answered. "I just wanted to warn you so you could shower and get dressed."

"Do we really need to dress up like mannequins?" Xavier asked.

"Xavier...it's a crew jacket." Dax reminded him. "We're just going to hit the school, get the kids signing up as extras all excited...maybe sign some autographs and then we're done. You'll go straight to the hotel to rest up. I promise."

"Just make sure that's all it is." Xavier told him. "I told you, I want to get in all the gym time I can. I want to leave all those hacks that call me a fake eating their words with this movie."

"Trust me, you'll be serving the critics their words with a side of fries and onion rings." Dax told him confidently. "I need to call the others."

As he went to make some calls to the other coaches, Xavier picked up another magazine with his picture on it, and the word "fraud" printed across it in large, red letters. One of the things he hated about the press was their assault on his abilities. Since he had left the tournament circuit for movies, many of the Martial Arts purists and MMA magazines constantly bombarded him with allegations that his action sequences were faked, and his abilities were nothing but Hollywood trickery. He always did as many of his own action scenes and stunts as the studio's insurance would allow him to do, but he hated that because he wasn't taking part in competitions like a "true" fighter anymore, a decision that wasn't even his, because his studios wouldn't risk him being injured or disfigured in such competitions, that he was a phony. He was determined to make sure this was his chance to show everyone he was as real as it got.

Back at the school, Jordan, Troy, Noah, Quinn and Allison were having lunch. Noah was reading a newspaper, while Jake was eating a burger as Gia and Emma got there. Emma just gestured to the burger.

"Isn't that kind of like cannibalism?" She asked him. He just shrugged.

"I can't help it if my own kind are so tasty." He answered with a chuckle. As they sat down, Emma made a point of sitting next to Allison. In previous years, she and Allison hadn't gotten along, largely because they were so different. Emma had, by her own admission, said a lot of stuff about her that wasn't fair when she got back. Not knowing about Allison's accident, she had assumed a lot of her behaviour was just down to arrogance or superiority, and didn't know about her disability. Since she had found out, she had made a point of telling her and apologising for jumping to conclusions. She had also made a point of trying to include her in the group. Not least of which was because she was friends with Jake, and she suspected that they were dancing around the possibility of it being more.

"Another one?" Noah asked as he read through the paper, throwing it down in disgust.

"What?" Gia asked.

"Another construction firm's been robbed." Noah told her. "It's the third one this week."

"That's just low." Emma commented. "I mean, so many people are waiting on their homes being rebuilt, and some scumbag's making money by stealing building supplies?"

"It really makes you question humanity." Jordan agreed. "As much as you see people doing good stuff, you see some guys that see a crisis and all they see are dollar signs."

"Yeah, it sucks alright." Jake agreed. "Still, on the bright side we have drama class this afternoon. We finally meet Dax Lo!"

"I still can't believe our extra credit work will have us in a real movie!" Allison answered with a huge smile. "Or that we'll actually be getting PAID!"

"Is there a better kind of easy A?" Jordan asked.

"So do you think we'll finally get to know who's in this movie?" Gia asked. "They still haven't released that to the press."

"Yeah, I can really see them bringing A-list celebrities to Harwood High School." Noah said sarcastically. "They're keeping the cast under wraps. If they bring them to school...the pictures will be up on Twitter by home time."

"You always have to find a way to ruin everyone's fun." Emma told them. "Personally, I think it would be cool if Felicity Reigns was in the movie."

"Well, if we're going to be on set, no doubt we'll find out soon enough." Troy reminded them. "Jordan, want to help me clear this up?"

"Sure." Jordan replied. "I'll see you in class."

As they started to clear up, allowing the others to leave, none of them saw a Zombat in the corner of the room, relaying it's broadcast back to the Warstar ship.

Vrak was in his lab, monitoring the broadcast. He mashed a fist into the console.

"This is going too slowly." He complained loudly as some Loogies came into the lab. "Well?"

One of them handed him a note. It was a list of construction materials, which had been scored off. It was a checklist of items he wanted them to acquire. He sighed as he realised that while they had most of the items he wanted, some of them weren't on the list. A downside of trying to prepare his latest project under the radar was that he had to send in the Loogies blind, instead of being able to make sure that a site had all the stuff he needed. He had already had to send them to loot several building sites and was still short of some of the things he needed.

"The Rangers were talking about the robberies." He stated as he waved off the Loogies, indicating that they could leave. "It won't be long until they make a link between them and me. That can't happen."

He pulled out five data cards, the ones he had repaired with the Aurora Box, and sighed.

"I need to buy time." He stated. "I guess now's as good a time as any to use these." He stated. "All I need is to find the right..."

As he watched the feed from the school, he just smiled as he saw something that piqued his interest.

"Jackpot."

Back at the school, the kids were assembled in their drama class. The teacher, Mr Sykes, was trying to keep them calm as they waited for what was, without doubt, the most exciting extra credit project in history. Normally, the drama department put on a couple of plays in the year, but this time, the teacher had actually managed to get in on the ground floor of producing a movie. He knew Dax from a sitcom they had worked on early in Dax's writing and directing days.

"Alright kids, as you all know, I've brought a very special guest with me today." He stated, gesturing to the former Ranger. For the occasion, Dax had even brought his old Overdrive uniform out of mothballs. He hadn't morphed in years, part of his deal with the Government was that the morphers remained in secure storage, but he still kept the uniform as a souvenir. "This is former Power Ranger, and director extraordinaire...Dax Lo."

Dax accepted applause from the students as he stood up. He smiled and waved to show his gratitude.

"Alright, as you all know, this is going to be kind of a new experience for all of us." Dax told them. "I've been directing sitcoms and television series for a few years now, but this will be my first feature film, welcome to the cast of Power Rangers: The Movie."

"Alright, yeah!" Jake called out, high-fiving Jordan hearing this. Everyone was excited about it.

"OK, so a few things first. You're all getting taken on as extras. You'll not be getting major screen time, and it's possible your scenes won't even be in the movie depending on time." Dax warned them. "The good news is, you get the credit and get paid either way."

"Now that's the kind of deal I like." Jordan said with a smile. "Pay or Play baby!"

"Now, as a special treat...I have to ask all of you to put away any recording devices, because all of you kids are about to receive a worldwide exclusive. This hasn't even been released to the press yet." He warned them. Mr Sykes went around the room, gathering in all the cameras and phones so that no one would be tempted to put anything up on the internet. "Alright, without further ado...here are the Power Rangers!"

As five people walked into the room, the students erupted in excitement. All except Troy, who just buried his face in his hands.

"Xavier." He grumbled. "Why did it have to be Xavier?"