Disclaimer: Characters and situations are the property of BVE and Village Roadshow Pictures (KP).

Spoilers: "Gem of a Day"

After Cam had left, Hunter was still sitting on the rock, brooding. He'd so wanted to be in touch with someone who wasn't a Wind that it hurt. Not that he didn't like Shane, or Dustin, or Tori, and Cam made a respectable older brother, but they weren't Thunders and sometimes, they didn't understand. Especially Cam, who thought he understood because they were both sons of Senseis. And now that chance was gone. He couldn't contact his parents, and the ninja students still weren't free.

Blake... would understand his fears, but couldn't allay them any more than Hunter or Sensei Watanabe could. He didn't know if he and Blake would be accepted back at the Thunder Ninja Academy. He wasn't sure if Sensei Omino would accept them back into his life.

And Hunter wanted that. He knew the Winds, Cam, and even Sensei Watanabe would always be a part of his life, but Sensei Omino had raised he and Blake from the time he was ten. Hunter simply needed his acceptance.

"Bro?" Blake asked. He had a Cutie in his hand, an unwrapped one.

"Cam send you?" Hunter asked, eyeing the Cutie suspiciously.

"You saying I don't know when my big bro needs to talk on my own?" Blake asked. He extended his other hand--which also contained a Cutie.

Hunter accepted it, studying the wrapper as if he'd never seen one before. "Cam just tends to be nosy. I guess it was because of when we were hiding from the rest of the team."

"Nearly killing ourselves probably had something to do with it." Blake laid his free hand on Hunter's shoulder, applying gentle, sideways pressure. "Scoot over."

Hunter obliged, making room for Blake to perch next to him on the rock.

Blake took a bite of his Cutie. "So, want to tell me what's wrong?"

"I'm worried about the reaction of the rest of the Thunder Academy." Hunter unwrapped his carefully, as if it were important to save the wrapper. "And Sensei in particular."

"LeAnne didn't have a problem with Tori," Blake pointed out, frowning at his brother's progress. "That's going to melt on you."

"LeAnne likes to shake things up," Hunter replied, ignoring Blake's fussing. "And she's probably a sucker for that big, dopey grin you get on your face whenever Tori's around."

"I do *not* have a big, dopey grin when I'm around Tori," Blake said, pouting.

Hunter chuckled, and shook his head. He didn't feel like picking a fight. "Whatever you say, bro."

"Anyway, I really don't think Sensei will have a problem--especially when we didn't have a choice in the matter," Blake reminded him. He took another bite, gazing in the direction of his adopted Academy.

Hunter nodded, remembering the circumstances that had brought them there. "Slowly starve or move in with Cam and Sensei Watanabe. Yeah, good point."

"I just hope he's cool when I want to keep seeing Tori," Blake said, voicing his own worry. With good reason. Sensei Omino was sometimes... a little slow at adapting to new ideas.

Hunter squeezed Blake's shoulder, trying to lighten the mood. "I think one look at the two of you together should melt any reservations he might have."

Blake grinned momentarily at that, then his face creased into a frown. "I just hope we can bring them home soon."

"Me too," Hunter said. He looked at the horizon for a moment, lost in thought. Then he turned to Blake, his brow creasing in worry. "That said, we can't let Cam spend every waking moment working on that zord, dude."

Blake nodded in agreement. "You'd think he'd leave that to CyberCam."

"Not when it's important to him," Hunter said with a sigh.

"Sensei's going to force-teleport him out of ops and lock the door, and where will we be?" Blake asked. "It's not like he can leave directions for CyberCam if Sensei has to do that."

"We'll just have to make him leave directions for CyberCam and drag him somewhere fun," Hunter said confidently. He took the final bite of his Cutie.

"Right," Blake said, crinkling his own wrapper. "We all could use a break. Including you, bro." He nudged Hunter meaningfully. "After all, you were sneaking around with the gem fragments to talk to our dead parents."

"Not that often," Hunter said, blushing and deciding to just not go there. "Just... yeah."

"Still," Blake insisted, "you should have told me."

Hunter sighed. Blake had to go to the heart of the matter. "I didn't tell you because I didn't want to get your hopes up, OK? If I'd got it to work, believe me, I'd have let you know."

Blake shook his head at his older brother's stubbornness. "Bro, you've got to learn not to try to protect me. We're both Rangers, remember?"

"Isn't that the very definition of teammate?" Hunter asked innocently.

"No, your idea of protect when it comes to me is far beyond 'teammate' and goes into 'annoying big brother'," Blake insisted

"No, that's Cam," Hunter argued, trying to turn Blake's focus onto their adoptive 'older brother'.

"Let's not even get into Cam," Blake said. "He's not even in this discussion."

"Why not?" Hunter stood up and stretched. "You want overprotective, his picture's next to the word in the dictionary."

Blake got up and clapped his older brother on the shoulder. "I think that's your picture, bro."

Hunter put an arm around Blake's neck, giving him a noogie. "You ever had Cam take care of you when you're sick?"

"You should've seen yourself, Hunter, it wasn't pretty." Blake stepped closer to Hunter and lightly tickled his ribs. "And let's not get into how scared I was."

Hunter let go, pulling away. "You little sneak." Hunter let out a deep breath. "Anyway, I just hope we get them out soon. Lothor's going to lose patience sooner or later."

"No kidding." Blake stretched too, his brow wrinkling in concern. "Now there's a thought that scares me. What would happen if he tried multiple monsters at once."

"Yeah," Hunter agreed, remembering the sword that he'd retrieved. He ran his thumb against his palm absently, remembering the feel of the gem fragments in his hands. "Zurgane's no longer around--something's happening up there, and I don't like it."

Blake shuddered, remembering how Zurgane had been when the two of them had been on Lothor's ship. If he was gone, then things were really unstable. "Me either. We need to make another play for the ninja students, and soon."

"Think it can wait until after the big race?" Hunter asked, taking a deep breath and hoping that it could. They needed the down time, and needed it badly.

Blake nodded, gazing out at the mountains. "Hope so."

Hunter looked up to the sky. Somewhere above them were their classmates. Teachers. Father. "Soon," he whispered in prayer. "Soon."

The End

Previous story or Next story.
Return to the Main page.
Feedback