Author's Note: This one is totally off the wall and random, no real plot to it. It's probably just a way for me to mess with Cam, because usually I don't. Anyway, I got the idea for this story while making a PowerPoint presentation called "How to Defeat Lothor." Soon my brain started coming up with these "What if..." scenes, and the plot bunnies just wouldn't leave me alone, so here ya go. Enjoy the funny Cam angst. Heh-heh. BTW, this fic takes place somewhere in the middle of the season, heck if I actually know where. I know it's past "Sensei Switcheroo," "Brothers in Arms," and "Shane's Karma," so that gives you a general timeline. It's probably not too far off from "Gem of a Day," which is actually later in the season. Hmm...
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the slide show. The characters belong to Disney, which ultimately sucks. But Mickey Mouse is cool. And thinking of Mickey Mouse brings about the eternal question...What the heck is Goofy! If he's a dog, then why doesn't he sleep in a doghouse like Pluto! -sigh- Ah, the questions that will never be answered...
Cam's Slide Show
by Froggie Lover
Five of the Ninja Storm Rangers were surprised to find their headquarters dark, especially since they'd been expecting a training order the second the walked down the stairs. Rather, though, Ninja Ops was deathly quiet and dark. Not even the supercomputer at the far end was on, or at least the monitor wasn't. This raised some eyebrows. The monitor was never turned off, for any reason at all.
"What's going on here?" Shane Clarke asked.
Dustin Brooks shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe Sensei forgot to pay his electric bill?"
"Somehow I doubt a secret ninja school would even have an electric bill," Hunter Bradley commented.
"The power can't be out," Tori Hanson pointed out. "Cam called us down here, remember? There's more to it than that."
Blake Bradley tried seeing in the almost nonexistent light. "There's something weird about this. Where's the table?"
"Ack!" Dustin exclaimed. "We've been robbed! I bet it was that Vexacus creep! Or maybe it was Choobo. He did steal our beach gear last time. But, why would they jack our table? That doesn't make sense."
"That's because we haven't been robbed, Dustin," a voice said from somewhere near the supercomputer. "I lowered the table so I could put out some chairs. Sit."
Everyone recognized the voice of Cam Watanabe. They followed his instructions and sat down in the metal chairs that were placed where their familiar table usually was.
"You mind telling us what you called us here for, if not for training?" Hunter asked.
Cam reached up to the ceiling and pulled down a white screen. He fished a remote from out of his pocket and pressed a button, and then turned to the other Rangers. "I've had a brainstorming session, and I've brought you guys here to see the results."
"You're still not making any sense," Tori said.
The Green Ranger sighed. "Just be patient; you'll find out soon enough."
There was a rumbling from one of the side corridors, and everyone turned around to vaguely see Cyber Cam pushing a cart into the main area. On the cart was a little black object, which they couldn't make out in the darkness.
"What the…?" Shane wondered, before a bright light was flashed in his eyes.
Everyone shielded their eyes, taking a moment to adjust to the change in lighting. Soon after they realized the black object was a projector, and they had a bad feeling that they were in for a long lecture about tardiness or something. Slowly the Rangers turned back around to see the title to a slide show presentation, and every eyebrow besides the two Cams' shot up.
"'How to Defeat Lothor'?" Blake asked.
An extendable pointer somehow appeared in Cam's hand, and he directed it at Blake. "Yes, this was what I was brainstorming about," he answered. "I've already ran it by Dad, so you guys have no right to call any of the ideas stupid."
"Cameron," Sensei reprimanded gently from some corner of the room.
Cam rolled his eyes. "All right, you can call it stupid but I probably won't hear you." He glanced at the general direction he guessed his father was in, and then continued. He pressed another button on the remote, and the slide changed. This time it was an image of Lothor, with a big red circle with a slash going through it covering him.
Many cheers and laughs erupted throughout Ninja Ops. Even Sensei gave a chuckle.
"Thank you, thank you." Cam bowed to his audience, a grin on his face. When he stood up straight again, he pressed the button again.
"Vision statement?" Tori muttered with slight distaste, having quickly read it before Cam had gotten a chance to read it aloud and elaborate.
The samurai's careful ears picked up the remark, but he chose to ignore it. "Our vision statement is simple: to eventually have a world free of evil forces, where people can live without fear of a new menace rising out of the dregs of the galaxies. Basically, it's to make everything safe. I know that defeating Lothor may not be the end of evil attacking Earth, but it's a start."
The two Thunder Rangers coughed in unison; this for some reason sounded like they were actually saying, "Dream on." This didn't please the Green Ranger either, but still he continued without commenting.
The slide faded away to reveal another one, and this one was obviously more important than the previous ones, because Cam hit the main bullet with his pointer. "Our goal and objective is to defeat Lothor. If I'm sounding redundant, I'm happy. It means you're listening."
Most of the team blinked. They were expecting something lengthy and inspirational.
"Just keepin' it simple, dudes," Cyber Cam laughed, noticing their expressions.
Cam smirked. He loved surprising his teammates. He pressed the button on the remote, and waited for the slide to fully show up. "I knew I shouldn't have gone into the custom animation." Once it was finished he hit the screen with his pointer again and directed his voice back towards his friends. "Today's situation: Lothor's generals are falling; dissention is forming among his ranks; and every day we go stronger in our abilities and our affinities with the ninja elements grow stronger as well."
"Thanks for noticing," Blake said, barely stifling a yawn. "We do work hard, ya know."
Cam was too happy that everyone was paying attention to notice. "You're welcome." He changed the slide again, preparing a slightly longer story. "I think we all know just how we got here. You heard the story of what happened in my little adventure in the past to get the Samurai Amulet, but let me go over it again. Lothor was originally an Earth Ninja at the Wind Academy, and was my father's twin brother…"
Dustin started nodding off as Cam went through the finer points of the story. He figured he could sleep through this part, since he'd heard it already.
Oblivious, Cam finished his story and went on to the next part of the slide. Since he considered this rather important, he hit the bullet for emphasis. "If we want to defeat Lothor we can't use simple brute force. That's what he's using remember? And if I recall correctly, he's currently failing. So, we must have a set strategy."
"Which, let me guess, is where the next few slides come in," Tori said.
"Yes! Very good!" Cam exclaimed. He was almost giddy now. He was actually being listened to inside Ninja Ops! And if that wasn't a rare thing, he didn't know what was. Happily he pressed the next button and waited.
"Strategy number one!" he started, hitting the screen again. "We allow Lothor's generals to destroy themselves, until all that's left is one guy plus Lothor. Then, we strike when he's at his weakest point. Pros: there's minimal effort. Cons: this may take a long time and give Lothor an opportunity to get more generals."
Shane raised his hand meekly. After the Green Ranger had pointed the, well, pointer at him, he spoke. "Uh, I think that by the time we get that to work, Lothor would've already conquered the world…dude."
Cam's giddiness faded a bit, and he glared at the Red Ranger. He changed the slide, still glowering at the Air Ninja. "All right, then, on to strategy number two." He looked around the room for a moment, and caught Dustin with his arms folded and his chin resting on his chest. The Yellow Ranger was also emitting a light snore, which was probably the biggest tip-off of all. He shook his head and hit the Earth Ninja on the top of his head with the pointer.
Dustin awoke with a start, snorting a bit. "I didn't eat Sensei's guinea pig food, I swear." He glanced around wildly, and then spotted Cam standing with both arms akimbo. "Oh, uh, sorry dude. Must've drifted off by accident."
"Anyway, moving on," Cam continued. He hit the screen with the pointer again to direct everyone's attention back to the presentation. "Strategy number two is your basic formula. We take out Lothor's generals one by one, until he's all by himself, and then we move in for the kill. Pros: it's powerful, proven, thorough, and we all get a nice sense of self-satisfaction. Cons: it may also take a long time."
Surprisingly, there were no objections to this one. Cam's giddiness returned to its full strength and pressed the next button on the remote a little too hard, so the presentation went two slides ahead instead of one. He freaked out, hoping no one would notice, and quickly pressed the back button. "Well, yes, anyway, everyone pay attention because this one is really important." The pointer did a sweep of the room, focusing on Dustin.
A few extra blinks were the only signs of recognition he received. So, with a sigh, he continued with his spiel. "Strategy number three is risky, but it has worked in the past. We go into a full-on battle with Lothor and his goons, and I mean no holds barred. We go all the way - Battlizer Armor, the Ninja Glider Cycle, Ninja Swords in Gold Mode, and even the Hurricane Megazord if it comes to it. But there's a catch. We have the most powerful Ranger we can find, whether that is one of us or someone outside the team, sacrifice themselves, and their Good energy should be enough to eliminate Lothor. Pros: it's quick and easy. Cons: we'd be out a Ranger if Lothor found a loophole that allowed him to either come back or continue to live." He hit the screen really hard with the pointer, and he was afraid that he broke it for a moment. "But, this is something we'll only do in case nothing else works. Call it a back up plan."
Hunter, following Shane's action earlier, raised his hand before speaking. Once Cam had taken notice, he said, "Hey, uh, dude, not to rain on your parade or anything, but where are we supposed to find a Ranger that powerful? I mean I know that none of us could be it, and not many others actually have their powers. So, like, where we would find someone like that?"
At this, Cam's mood darkened again. "You know what, I didn't ask you, Hunter." He went to move on but Hunter interrupted him.
"Actually, you did."
The Green Ranger was getting a little frustrated at this point. If one more thing went wrong with his presentation, he was going to hit somebody. His ears suddenly picked up the sound of snoring. At first he thought it was Dustin again, but he realized it was coming from the end of the row, not in the middle where the Yellow Ranger sat. He raised an eyebrow and slowly turned, only to see that it was Blake who was snoring. It was Blake who was asleep in the middle of his presentation.
Cam gripped the pointer firmly and bopped Blake hard on the head with it, giving a smack on his shoulder as well for good measure.
Blake jumped up. "Ow! Who did that?" He glanced at Shane, who was sitting right next to him, but his gaze was soon drawn to the samurai up front, and he knew immediately what had happened. He quieted instantly and sank in his seat, trying to hide himself from view.
Even in the dim light of the projector, most could see the vein popping out on Cam's forehead. He tried to regain his composure, but it took a few minutes before he could continue with his slide show without turning on the next person who so much as made the smallest wrong move. "All right, now to my recommendation. We will take a vote. Don't worry. This is still a democracy." He took in a deep breath before pressing the next button. "I suggest we take on the second strategy. That way, we know that Lothor will be destroyed, and there won't be any loose ends. And, after all is said and done, we can unite all the ninja schools so no one else will be able to attack us separately again."
The Navy Ranger was almost tempted to cough, "Hippie!" in reply to that last statement, but he decided he didn't want to push his luck.
Cyber Cam beat him to the punch. Cam turned on his virtual replicate, remote held high. With a click of a button, his alter ego faded out.
"Anyone else have any bright ideas, suggestions, questions, or comments?" Cam asked, a menacing grin on his face.
Dustin raised his hand. "Um, what exactly was the second strategy, 'cause I was still half asleep when you went over it."
Cam was half-tempted to break the pointer in half, but just barely managed to restrain himself. "Okay, you missed that? Did anyone else miss anything?"
"Well, since you're asking," Blake started sheepishly. "I missed, like, all the strategies. So, if you could just quickly review them that'd be cool."
The samurai nodded, his face returned to its normal placid configuration, though this time with a smirk. "All right. How about I just go over the whole thing again, just so you guys won't miss out on anything important?"
Blake and Dustin nodded, while the other three groaned. Cam grinned. He would make them listen to this until they could answer a pop quiz on it in three different languages. Certainly Lothor could wait that long.
THE END