The Hellhound's Return

Fireheart

"All righty," Xander called as he swivelled down the aisle on his 'supervisor's chair watching as the others unloaded several boxes of records and placed them into display cases over the shop. "Work the beat. Work the beat. Stocking doesn't have to be boring."

Kali nudged a box at her feet out into the aisle and smirked at Xander as he run into it, and then glared at her. "Oops. Sorry," she said.

"I guess a course in Health and Safety is on the cards for you, Briar," said Xander.

"Whatever you say, string bean," said Kali returning to assigned job.

Xander rolled his eyes and spun around on his chair, letting out a yelp of surprise as a cardboard cut-out of a strange-looking man appeared behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief as Toby popped up from behind the board, looking impressed.

"Nice work, Xander," said Toby. "I like the way you've got everyone working."

"Everyone except himself," Kali muttered.

"You are a born leader," Toby said, patting Xander on the shoulder.

Xander grinned and looked back at his friends. "You hear that, guys? A born leader," he said.

"Ooh," Vida mocked as Maddie laughed.

"Who's the old guy, boss?" Xander asked, turning back to Toby and nodding at the cardboard cut-out.

"Who's the old guy?" Toby repeated. "Guys, Jake Bonebreaker. The man who put the 'metal' in 'metal head'. Lead guitar and vocal on metal mega classic 'Harry Hatchet.'"

"Mnh-mnh," said Xander, shaking his head.

Toby sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, your lesson - play it. Like it," he said, assigning them another job. "Class dismissed."

"What if we play it and don't like it?" Kali asked.

"Only if your reason is valid," said Toby.

"So, just out of curiosity, if one of us listens to it and says we don't like it because it's not our genre, would that be a valid reason?" Kali asked.

Toby cocked his head to the side. "You like metal music, right?" he asked.

Kali shrugged. "Sometimes," she said, nodding.

"Then you shouldn't have any issues with Jake."

Kali huffed as Toby disappeared into his office.

"Guys, who wants to take care of the king of metal?" Xander asked.

"Not me," Nick called from the back of the line.

"Me either. He's older than my dad," said Maddie causing Vida to laugh.

"I got things to do," Vida added.

"Sorry. Heavy metal makes my nose bleed," said Chip.

Kali met Xander's gaze. "Don't look at me," she said. "I need to prepare for this so-called 'Health and Safety' class I have to take. But, here's a crazy idea, how about you do it?"

"You're not funny, Briar," said Xander. "Fine. I will do it. I do everything else around here." He turned back to Jake and took out his Morpher. "Vivacim Erectu."

"Hello, Cincinnati!"

Kali's eyes widened as the cardboard cut-out suddenly became alive.

"Oops. There's a slight magical malfunction," said Xander.

The morphers chimed and the team gathered around Xander.

"Rangers, there's a very strong dark-magic presence in your area," said Udonna.