Jive Turkey

Recipient: www . fanfiction .net/u/367168/SilverCaladan (I still can't believe this site cuts off its own URL's)

Rating: K+

Synopsis: Sometimes secrets are too much to deal with when you have turkeys on the brain.

Disclaimer: Now owned by Saban, and not Disney. And certainly not me.

Timeline: Sometime during the Thunder Strangers arc.

Pairings: None

Word Count: 954

Note: Happy... Magical Christmas Day? Anyways, I had intended on writing the first three of Callie's four prompts, but didn't have the time to finish any but #3 for the fic exchange. I do still intend on writing the other two later on though. The monster used in this story as the setup is made up; imagine my surprise when I went researching to find a Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger monster unused by Ninja Storm only to find out there wasn't one. That's pretty rare for a PR season these days, so A+ to Doug Sloan and Ann Austen for that one.

"C'mon, we gotta be quick."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Well I'm not trying to get caught on top of all this!"

"Dude, I could care less; I'm trying to be quick to find the fir-OW!"

"Stop knocking everything over!"

"You're the one who didn't want the lights on!"

"And you've been working here how long that you couldn't find your way in the dark?"

"I can't concentrate when I'm injured; you know that!"

One click of the light switch later and Shane and Dustin were finally in the reassuringly visible comfort of the stock room in the back of Storm Chargers. Dustin stumbled over to the first aid kit while Shane went back into the dark front area to clean up as best he could.

"I'm still trying to figure out how you got blindsided by a turkey," Shane continued amidst the sound of stands being set back up.

Dustin grunted as he started pulling supplies out. "I totally knew he was coming. I was trying to catch him in a quake, but he was faster than I thought, and he tagged me in the shoulder."

Shane winced as he walked back in. "The same shoulder you got hit by in that lightning attack two days ago?"

"Yeah. Stupid Thunder Rangers."

Shane fell quiet for a minute as he got to work with the gauze and rubbing alcohol, concentrating on cleaning the lacerations around the rather large bruise. Dustin spent his time concentrating on grumbling at how unfair it all was, causing Shane to spend the whole time smirking. The smirk fell off his face seconds later when he heard a car pull up outside.

Dustin frowned as well. "I thought Tori said she wasn't gonna be here for another 20 minutes?"

Shane winced. "It's probably Kelly then."

"...well crap. Too late to streak out of here. What now, fearless leader?"

"Plan B."

Dustin snorted. That probably just meant 'wing it' or 'follow my lead' or something.

Seconds later, Kelly walked into the stock room and halted in surprise before rushing over. "Shane? Dustin? What happened here?"

Dustin shrugged, and naturally winced at the pain that caused from pulling on his injured shoulder. "I was running the track one more time and took a spill. Didn't turn out too bad."

Shane and Kelly both shot him reproving looks. Kelly obviously did it because of the whole 'out riding dirtbikes at 10pm on a schoolnight' thing, while Shane was probably doing it because Dustin wasn't following his lead. He resisted the urge to grin.

Kelly sighed and started helping shane bandage the wound. "Well, it's a pretty straight-forward injury, but that bruise is gonna take some time to go away. How does it feel?"

"Nothing broken or pulled if that's what you're asking."

"Alright. If it starts bothering you, you go to the hospital immediately. Either way, you'll just have to put up with it for a while. I guess we'll just let that be your punishment."

"Mmph."

"Where's your bike anyways?"

Shane spoke up. "It's in the back of Tori's van. She'll be back in a minute to give us a ride home."

"She was with you guys too?" Kelly asked with a raised eyebrow. Though in retrospect, that shouldn't have been surprising, but she still thought Tori wouldn't get herself roped into that.

"Somebody had to try to convince me to go home," Dustin replied as he flexed his arm.

Kelly looked suspicious for a minute, but just rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'll be back in the front; I need to check through a few things."

After she left, Dustin stretched and stood. "I hope she doesn't call my parents or anything; that'll blow our fake cover."

Shane shrugged. "Well, I'd rather we broke a fake cover that we came up with at the last minute than our real one. We can put up with our parents yelling at us if it comes to it."

Tori arrived a few minutes later and endured her own reproving look from Kelly. She smiled and shrugged. "Um, sorry?"

Kelly smiled back and shook her head. "I'd say try a little harder next time, but that's not fair to you, and it's probably not gonna change the outcome anyways."

"Aww, c'mon man!" Dustin and Shane came in from the stock room, heading for the front door.

"It's a valid point; don't complain. You can be brave without being foolish, Dustin" Kelly replied.

"Don't worry, we've learned our lesson. We'll see you tomorrow," Shane said as they fell in line and walked out the door.

Minutes later, they were safe from interrogations for the minute and driving down the street. "And she seemed to believe it, so we're good for the moment," Shane explained.

"Well thank goodness I didn't blow it when I came in having no idea what she knew," Tori replied. Shane grinned in response.

"Hey, speaking of having no idea, what does being brave have to do with running the track for my next race?" Dustin asked.

There was a collective silence as they all turned that one over. Their eyebrows all shot up as they came to the same conclusion.

"Dude, does she know?" Dustin said, voicing their concern.

"Would she tell anyone?" Tori asked, though she felt guilty about the thought.

Shane shook his head. "If she does know, she's being pretty sly about it. I think we're safe. We still should be careful though."

"Right, well if we're safe, then I'm not gonna worry about it. I'm much more concerned with getting some shut-eye and sleeping this bruise off," Dustin said.

"And how in the world did you get blindsided by a turkey to begin with?" Tori asked.

"Dude!"