Any Moment
Chapter 1
Prologue
Disclaimer: I don't own power rangers, or anything remotely resembling power rangers, though my roommate does own the movie.
NOTE: For those of you who are first timers, first of all welcome, glad to have you. And second of all I am in the process of posting up a shorter, cleaner, but most importantly better version of this story titled "Any Moment Reprise". It will get you all your Cam/Dustin and Shane/Hunter needs in a faster and most likely more enjoyable fashion. I would suggest starting there. And then of course if you really want more you can come back and visit this lady, she'd be more than happy to entertain you.
This is a slow moving piece (kinda), so if you're looking for them to jump at each other in the first chapter it's not happening, I like to take things slow. It's an experiment for me, a way of deconstructing all the aspects of their relationship to see what makes it tick. It isn't going to be very action heavy. I mean, there may be some action, but it won't be intentional.
UPDATE: If you're really impatient, people start making out in chapter 30, though you might be a little confused about what's going on. But hey, if you like it, go back and catch up.
SECOND UPDATE: This is officially a Dustin/Cam, Shane/Hunter story. Ignore all author notes that say otherwise.
This chapter bounces between Dustin's and Cam's p.o.v.
Takes place during Thunder Strangers, Part 2-3
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Though Dustin was not sure of many things in his life, he couldn't deny the fact that their zord battle against the Thunder punks had not gone well.
Actually, that was an understatement of how it had gone if the sparking wires that had so nicely not been sparking(or even visible) before the battle were any indication. His cockpit looked like a tornado had hit it, and he felt like he had gotten caught in it with all the thrashing that had been going on. Having the biggest zord wasn't looking like such a good thing now. Biggest zord equaled majority of the damage. That hadn't been much of a problem until now; but then again, they hadn't really gotten schooled until now.
No…that wasn't quite the right way to put it, they got owned. And not like kinda owned, but completely and totally owned, which is something he would've more worried about if his back wasn't throbbing so much.
He slowly craned his head to see the cause of his discomfort, which appeared to be a giant piece of metal that used to be a support beam… or something…it was probably important, and was probably something else he should be entirely more worried about not being in its proper supporting place, but again, back in major pain…
The only bright side about this whole mess was at least that (with their super hero healing-ness) would be fixed tomorrow.
His zord however, would probably not be so lucky.
So…Cam was gonna be mad. And not funny Cam mad, like after he switched Ninja Ops screensaver to these sick motocross pictures (he was just trying to share, you know, boost team morale) and he ranted/lectured for a little bit but it was still kinda funny, but like, super, red, face-might-explode mad.
And that was not cool.
It wasn't even entirely their fault either.
Well… the part where they got beat up, that might have been their fault, but the power disk interception thing…not cool man. That had to be like a foul or something. Sadly he didn't think that would really stop Cam from ranting at them, at least for a little bit. Cam did like his ranting. Sometimes Dustin thought he made up rules just so he can say they broke them so he could yell some more.
Okay… Cam probably didn't, but…maybe he should talk to him more…just in case.
That would be a really sad if that was the highlight of his day.
Another wire sparking to life near his face drew him out of his mental side trip and back into the battle zone. How had nothing worked against those guys? The serpent sword hadn't worked, and the megazord's lightning mode had done diddly against them and lighting mode was awesome. Doesn't lightning trump thunder? Thunder's just noise.
And there were only two of them. Granted, they were two super angry-dudes with a chip on their shoulder, but having one more person should've counted for something.
They weren't that bad.
He briefly wondered if they had seriously offended the Thunders by saving the world without inviting them, and maybe that's why they were mad, but if that had been the case wouldn't they have stopped fighting them after the first round of butt-kicking? Had the repeat performance really been necessary?
Timidly, he tried to shimmy his way out from under the beam to avoid being shocked by the mess that used to be his cockpit, but the thing wouldn't budge. His chair was stuck underneath it which had given him a little space, but it prevented him from backing up so he awkwardly kicked his right foot back to shove it out of the way. He was rewarded with a toppled over chair and the ability to move backwards, and then he was immediately punished by gravity pushing the beam down, securely trapping him against the console.
He could think of better ways to spend his evening.
He started to bring his morpher to his mouth to call for the others but noticed that it, like his zord, was trashed…so, it was waiting time…how was he still morphed?
It wasn't long though (Which was awesome because breathing was becoming a bit of an issue) before he heard the door open up behind him. He really hoped it was his team and not the other guys because right now he was a sitting duck…and really dumb looking, but the duck thing was the bigger issue…really. But seeing (or feeling, really) as the person (whoever it was) was attempting to pull the beam off instead of incinerate him; they were probably from his team, unless the Thunders liked to look you in the eye while they destroyed you, which given their track record, would be fitting. But they'd probably be taunting him too; it was like, in the rules.
"How well did you wedge this thing?"
It was Shane. Well, that was a relief, he'd just do the taunting and not the killing…and he was rather fond of the not killing…or destroying.
Tori was kind of touchy about wording.
"I didn't do anything!" he grumbled, gesturing vaguely in the red ranger's direction. "It was the guys shooting at us, it's not like I enjoy not breathing."
In fact he hated it, but Shane got what he meant, he was good with these kinds of things. That was one of his favorite things about Shane; he didn't really have to explain himself because the other could fill in the blanks, like he was supreme master of Dustin connect-the-dots.
Except thinking about it, actual connect-the-dots puzzles were really easy.
…So…he was easy?
Not cool.
"Your talking says you breathe just fine," the leader teased in return, and he heard Shane shift to get his shoulder underneath the beam. Pulling on it must not be effective. Maybe he'd have more luck then Dustin had. Sure, being oddly hunched over didn't really help with…leverage but he'd really been trying.
"That's because I'm awesome…and…morphed."
Which was only possible because of a higher power…i.e., Cam. He hoped they didn't power down soon, that would probably lower the chances of Shane getting the support off…and, you know, breathing.
Shane seemed to get the message though and tried jerking the thing to the side to give him some more space, "If you're so awesome, why don't you get yourself out?"
The bar stubbornly stayed in place. It must be working for the Thunders.
Hah… thunder beam.
"And miss spending quality time with you? No way, dude."
Also, awesome people have other people do things. Rules.
"Right," Shane grunted, oh, right, they were still talking, "perish the thought."
There was some shuffling outside the door and then a soft call, "Guys?"
It was Tori… so did that mean the bad guys had left the building? Good riddance. He had read about evil rangers in his comic books, but they were so much worse in real life.
There was some more shuffling, she was probably trying to avoid wires, something he wished he could do better right now, "Are you in there?"
"Yeah," Shane called back, "Dustin's trapped."
"And not by choice," He added, just so no one would be confused. Because confusion was their greatest worry right now, and not beam death.
Most certainly not beam death.
"Help me get him out," The red ranger ordered, giving another push.
It was a good thing Shane was the red guy, because even though Tori was going to help anyway Shane telling her to was encouraging, because then there was a plan, and plans were awesome.
If he had said that it would've sounded ridiculous.
With Shane pushing and Tori pulling it wasn't long before there was a little give. He hurriedly pulled himself down to duck under it…and got his helmet stuck…which was not an improvement…it was worse.
At least now he could see Shane, who was staring at him with a look of disbelief.
"You're kidding me," He smacked the side of his helmet, "You've got to be kidding me."
"I wish dude."
His face was only turning red because of the added pressure of the beam…that was it…it had nothing to do with him not thinking things through.
Nothing at all.
He gently started tugging his head down as far down as he could go, which wasn't much, and he and Shane start pushing up on the stupid hunk of metal. Powering down now would not equal happiness; in fact, it would probably equal unhappiness…for his head…and the team, and they'd have to get another ninja to replace him but since Lothor took them all that would be an issue. Unless Cam did it…could Cam fight?
Cam would probably be an awesome ranger. He shared this thought with his friends.
Clearly, Shane was not impressed with his observation, "Right. Great. Can we focus?"
Well, at least they cared.
So it was back to saving Dustin's head time. The brace finally shifted again and Dustin scrambled back, Tori pulling him along, over his discarded chair. It landed with a thud just as their morphers ran out of juice, powering them down. That was cutting it close.
He wondered if the morphers where broken if they still got enhanced healing (did that kinda thing stick with you?) he could feel the bruises pulsing from that stupid beam, and his head was really starting to hurt. It was ridiculous; he got his worst injury after the battle? That was so lame.
Curse you Thunder beam.
"Hey man, are you alright?" Shane asked, pulling the two of them up from the floor…and then making sure they stayed off the floor.
It was a process that took longer then it probably should have due to the small space and the mess they had to avoid.
"If I say no will you carry me?" Dustin asked, silently begging him. That would be sweet; the effects of being thrown around like a ragdoll were really starting to get to him. Not-walking sounded excellent.
Tori smacked him on the arm as they exited the lion zord, "You almost got your head smashed in, take it seriously," She looked upset but he doubted it was because of his comment. Or at least, entirely due to his comment.
It was probably a girl thing.
"Take it easy Tori, it's been a long day for all of us."
Yeah, score point to the hawk dude. It was nice to always have someone have your back.
Shane looked at him pointedly, as though he could hear his thoughts. "And no, you're going to have to walk."
So…not entirely having your back. But the thought counted.
"Bummer."
He would live, but not walking would've been really nice. Shane, despite his earlier complaint, helped him along anyway, pulling his right arm over his shoulder as Tori led them away from their trashed zords.
"So," Shane started, readjusting his grip on Dustin's arm, "how mad do you think Cam's going to be?"
"Face explode," Dustin replied softly, ignoring the looks his two friends threw him as they made their way up the hill.
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The good news was that Cam actually hadn't been that mad. Frustrated, maybe, but not super mad, so there was only limited ranting. Dustin was pretty sure his head wouldn't have been able to take any more then limited. He didn't really understand Cam's techno speak, but it all boiled down to the morphers and zords fixing themselves.
He wished his bike could do that; it would give him a lot more free time.
Now, all they had to do was wait and hope the Thunder jerkfaces (or Lothor) didn't feel like attacking them in the mean time.
Unfortunately for Dustin no morpher equaled no healing so he was stuck sporting the bruises from yesterday, but it could be worse, he could've like, broken something.
Nothing that serious had happened to them yet but they hadn't been rangers long, maybe that was just around the corner.
Right now he was working on changing the oil of a bike in the back Storm Chargers. Shane was laid out on a work bench watching him, as per usual. It was an unspoken rule that when he wasn't busy doing his thing at the track and Shane wasn't busy at the skate park they would spend time together. It wasn't like they had a lot to talk about, and they couldn't exactly chat about ranger business in public, but it was their ritual, not that watching him work on bikes was exactly interesting. It was just…calming. Either they talked, or they didn't, but they usually enjoyed each others company.
Today however, Dustin's mind was occupied.
Something just didn't add up. They had them right there, on the ground, sparking and unable to get up, and the Thunder…dunders just left them there. Why? He might not have been the smartest guy around but he knew if you wanted to beat someone you actually had to…like, beat them. That was the goal right? Well, they had them in right in the palm of their hand and they didn't do anything. Did they chicken out? Were they allowed to chicken out? It made his head hurt. He rubbed his face in confusion and was snapped out of his thoughts by a snicker across the room.
"What?" He grumbled, glaring at the source.
The red ranger smiled like a cat, pointing to the spot on his face he'd just rubbed, "You got a little something here."
His hands reached up before he could really think about it, but seeing Shane smile wider made him remember the whole oil changing thing. He quickly dropped his hands to stop from spreading more oil as the other burst out laughing.
"Only you would forget something like that man," Shane exclaimed, tossing him a towel.
His chuckles died off as Dustin attempted to remove the oil from his face, frowning as his hands left a trail of stains on the well-worn cloth, "Hey, are you okay? You're kinda spacing man."
Dustin glared at him as he attempted to find a clean spot of towel, "More then usual?" he asked, having difficulty cleaning off the oil he couldn't see.
"You're hopeless," Shane laughed, sitting up and jumping down from the bench. He strode across the room and grabbed the towel from him. "But don't change the subject. What's bugging you?" He continued, grabbing Dustin's arm and dragging him over to the sink.
Instead of ignoring him, which Dustin kind've wanted to, he decided to answer the red clad teen as he turned the sink on and wetted the towel.
"Don't you think it's weird they didn't finish us off? I've been thinking about it and it makes like, no sense."
Shane scrunched his face in concentration, grabbing his shoulder with his left hand and carefully trying to remove the oil stains with his right, "I thought about it too, and seeing as all it did was leave me confused, I decided just to be grateful they didn't bro."
If sandpaper was fabric, it would be this towel, rough and wet and a little scratchy.
"Yeah, but what if it's some great plan, you know, to lure us into a false sense of security?" Dustin questioned, involuntarily turning his head away when Shane got to close to his eye. Sandpaper in the eye was never fun, and neither was oil. Actually, all oil that wasn't in a bike seemed to be like that. Even car oil.
"Stop moving around," The other teen grunted, moving his left hand to grab Dustin's face. His hands weren't sweaty, which was good because sweaty hands were gross.
They were warm.
Dustin tried to remember the last time someone had grabbed his face that wasn't trying to pinch his cheek or something along those lines, but all he could come up with was that time in 3rd grade Shannon Everett had tried to kiss him during recess. Somehow he was the one who had gotten in trouble. He wondered if he flagged Kelly down right now if he could get Shane in trouble.
How funny would that be, to have the red ranger, the guy who saved the world on a daily basis, be put in time out.
Maybe attempted kisses only got punished in middle school. Not that this was an attempted kiss...that would be weird.
He had known Shane for little over a year, and any issues they might have had with boundaries were quickly taken care of by spending ridiculous amounts of time together. It felt natural, like they had known each other since like…kindergarten or something but didn't have to go through the bonding process of eating paste or throwing rocks at girls or…whatever kindergartners do.
Maybe he was the only one who had thrown rocks.
He was broken out his stroll down memory lane by Shane whipping the towel away, "There, good as new."
Dustin gently rubbed the spot the others hand had been as Shane strolled back to the work bench, "And how could we get a false sense of security," he called over his shoulder, "They already proved they can beat us, what more could they want?"
As uneasy as the situation had left him, he couldn't really argue with that logic.
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While the morphers were more then capable of repairing themselves, Cam felt that a helping hand might speed the process forward just a bit more. Whatever he was speeding it up for he wasn't sure, but he was sure that there would probably be another attack as soon as they were finished. So his goal was "just in the knick of time".
That seemed to be his goal around here a lot.
For once he had Ninja Ops to himself, which gave him plenty of time to contemplate the happenings of the past few days.
The extensive damage the Thunder Rangers had inflicted upon the Wind's zords was an issue, but not the biggest one. Comparatively, the two sets of morphers (the wind morphers and the Thunder morphers) were evenly matched, seeing as they had come from the same place, the difference then had to be how they were used. The Thunders had a motive, and whatever it was, it was relentless. There was no other way they could so soundly defeat the Wind Rangers every time. It was almost frightening to imagine what could cause such outright fury towards another team of Power Rangers. The wearers themselves weren't naturally evil, they couldn't be, otherwise the power would never work for them. They were just choosing an evil course of action, and something detrimental to their state of being had to happen to make them so easily discard their morals.
Or perhaps Cam was completely wrong, and they were just evil. He did only have one set of morphers to study after all.
Yet, he was confident in his assessment. He vaguely wondered if there would ever come a time when Lothor escalated his actions to such a degree that the Wind Rangers felt those same emotions. If they become just as unstoppable, he wondered what the cost would be.
It wasn't a pleasant train of thought.
Thankfully he was interrupted from his musings by the sounds of someone descending the staircase; a glance up confirmed it to be Tori. Outwardly he didn't show it, but inside he couldn't help but smile because of the three of the chosen rangers Tori was the one he actually liked talking to. It was disappointing that she had been dragged down in training by her two teammates (before this mess began); he had always felt she had so much more potential.
However this wasn't a leisure call, (they never were) apparently one of the new guys in town had injured himself attempting to rescue Tori, and seeing as it was a Lothor-related attack she decided to bring him here instead of a hospital.
Even if her actions were out of guilt it was probably for the best, it wasn't like the hospitals were equipped to deal with this sort of thing.
Grumbling, he followed her to the outskirts of the water fall were her fallen companion lay.
What was his name? It was one of the guys he had heard Dustin and Shane speaking about earlier, of that he was positive. It was irrelevant though, this guy obviously wasn't that bright. Tori had told him she was at the beach when the newest of Lothor's army had assaulted her and that Blake (that was his name) had rode up on his bike and "saved" her. What had he been doing out there? According to what he had gleaned from Dustin's riding habits (a conversation that had more or less been thrust on him) one usually rode at the track, or through forest trails, so what had this cretin been doing at the beach?
Based on the doting looks Tori had been throwing the ever unconscious Blake while he removed the cybernetic leeches that had rendered him in that state, he would say the boy was sweet on her. That might explain it. Or he was a stalker. Either way Cam decided he was not a fan of this guy. Tori was more then capable of handling the situation on her own, and he had probably just gotten in the way. So really his injury was well deserved.
He just wanted to play hero for his pretty damsel.
He couldn't really argue with that. Tori was pretty. She was smart, and not obnoxious, unlike others from her age group. And to her credit she was also persuasive, convincing him not to inform his father about this transgression, if his father didn't already know about it.
But he got a kiss in return so that was nice. Chaste, on the cheek, but still nice.
Cam would never dare speak it aloud but he often felt lonely. Being the sensei's son had never helped his predicament, and the whole never-leaving-the-school thing proved disobliging as well. Now the only people he had constant contact with were the rangers and they treated him like an outsider, depending on him only for things like…well, like this. To say it was frustrating would be an understatement. He couldn't say they were bad company; he really couldn't, because he had never been given the opportunity to spend time with them outside their "working" environment.
As he kept vigil over Blake's inert body, he briefly wondered how much of that was his fault.
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There was nothing like a rush of adrenaline to take away all your worries. It was something about soaring through the air, dirt flying in all directions that made the day so much better. Whoever thought of combining high speeds with getting dirty was a genius. At least in Dustin's humble opinion. Just about everyone else thought it was crazy, and that made it even more fun. This sport was made for him.
Shane was the one that had suggested it, and he had to give it to his friend, when he was right, he was right. He had been a little afraid that he might be too distracted for riding (after the fiasco at work), but once he got his bike beneath him all that stuff just melted away. It was just him and the sky…and Shane, watching him be awesome with the sky. You would think his friend's presence might have added extra pressure for his tricks but for Dustin it was the exact opposite. He loved having an audience, especially when it was Shane because he could appreciate the distinct intricacies of what he was doing, as where Tori just lectured him for taking to many risks. Hey, you had to "go hard, or go home", and Dustin wasn't going home.
It was lonely there.
But in order to get the applause he knew was coming (that was something he could always count on Shane for) he would need to tear himself away from the world in the air he loved so much. It wasn't toy terribly hard though; basking in praise was a pretty strong motivation.
As he pulled off the track, he spotted Tori with Blake by her van…that actually made a lot of sense. Hunter had asked if he and Shane knew where Blake was earlier, and it figured he'd be with Tori. Or like, Tori would be with him. There was something going on there, he knew it… he just didn't know what it was. But he bet anything Shane did.
Normally Cam was the guy who knew it all, but when it came to stuff outside Ninja Ops it was all Shane. Good thing he was his best friend. Speaking of which…
"Dude you were sick out there!" The dark skinned teen exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder as he pushed his bike off the track towards the equipment van. "Much faster than last time."
Inside Dustin cheered, reveling in the compliments. This was his favorite part of practice when he brought the other along. He doesn't usually fish for flattery, but it felt so…nice. Like, warm and fuzzy nice. Better than hot chocolate. And it's not like he's going to get a big head about it, so no harm done.
"I know man, I was in the zone," He replied, his face breaking out into a giant smile. It was good to be appreciated.
"And so humble." The other joked, jabbing him lightly in the side.
"Hey, when you got it, you got it right?" He grinned, pulling off his helmet as they reached their destination.
Major downside to riding was helmet hair. It's not like he cared about his hair normally but with all the sweat and stuff the helmet always made it stick out in funky directions that kinda made him look like a Kelzak. But it wasn't like there were any girls to impress here.
"Now I wish you'd lose it," Shane tossed out as he leaned against the side of the van, firmly folding his arms across his chest.
"Hey!" He had been doing awesome out there, so some bragging was expected. He was due.
"Joke man, that was a joke," Shane reassured, reaching forward to tousle Dustin's hair, then pulled back with quickly, crinkling his nose as he wiped his now sweat covered hand on the front of his sweatshirt.
What had he been expecting, Fabreeze?
"Oh…right," Dustin mumbled.
Joke…people do that. All the time. He rubbed his hand through his curls to get rid of the rest of his helmet head. You couldn't really get rid of it without showering, but it didn't hurt to at least try.
Further conversation was disturbed by a set of light footsteps coming up from behind them. Three guesses said it was Tori, finally done with Blake. Girls can talk for forever, like, hours and hours, about just one thing. The most he could talk about one thing (besides rangering and motocross) was maybe 10 minutes. But he ever commented on that to Tori though, no way, he liked his head just where it was thank you. Having girls mad at you was the worst. They were mean.
Shane grinned at Tori's approach, settling back in against the open back door of the van. "So, how's lover-boy?" he started, "Do I need to beat him up? Defend your honor?"
"Didn't we already do this before?" Dustin questioned, pausing before he chucked his helmet into the vehicle, "with the surfer guy? Moral of the story was to keep our mouths shut?"
They didn't even scare that guy off either; he and Shane just didn't know he was interested in Tori. That led to them getting majorly chewed out by their friend and that was a day he did not want to repeat again.
Wait…lover-boy? "Dude, are you guys dating?"
She would've said something. Girls and the whole much-talking thing right? Or is that something you didn't talk about? He could never really tell.
"No, we're not dating, and no," she continued, turning to Shane who had a rather impressive smirk on his face. Shane had a great smirk, it was all "in your face, I just powned you" kinda thing that really helped when they got in arguments…with other people, not each other.
"You may not beat him up. He actually saved me from one of Lothor's goons." That got their attention, Dustin paused in his loading and Shane pushed off the van to lean closer, "I'll tell you later. Look," she changed the subject, "Cam fixed our morphers." She opened her bag to reveal them in there not-destroyed glory. Cam must have been working double time because those things had been thrashed. He was like, super tech.
We should totally get him a cape to like, thank him for being awesome.
Like she could read his mind (and it wouldn't surprise him if she could) Tori carried on, "And remember to tell him thank you next time you see him, I think he's feeling a little under appreciated."
Well… that was freaky. Strapping his morpher back on made him feel whole again, like a part of him had been missing.
Thoughts of capes and missing pieces came to a halt as their morphers chimed. It was Cam saying something about a frog by a river? Was that a monster, or was Cam suddenly interested in amphibians?
Following the other two usually worked when he was confused, so, why change a good thing? With a grin, he followed the others to the mystery of the frog. Hopefully this fight wouldn't go as bad as the last one. Especially when it got to the zords.
I've got my eye on you thunder beam.
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The complete one eighty the Thunder rangers had taken was, to understate it in a fantastical way, mildly disconcerting. The only way that Cam could even slightly comprehend why they had done what they did was that they wanted the glory of taking the Wind rangers down themselves.
Except then they left halfway through the fight. So they weren't willing to commit entirely to that thought.
…So their assistance made zero sense.
Cam leaned back in his chair, taking a moment from monitoring the battle to rub the side of his head, a poor attempt to quell a growing migraine.
It was completely sporadic, and altogether against their apparent goal. Was the attack merely a ploy? An attempt to confuse the Winds in order to weaken them for a future attack? If that were the case the plan was only partially thought out, which didn't fit the Thunders method of operation, they always seemed to be prepared for any situation, which was but one of the many attributes that made them so deadly. Also, exasperating.
So when Cam heard what sounded like two individuals descending the stairs into Ninja Ops he should have been a little less surprised. Should have. Seeing as the only other people who knew where Ninja Ops was were currently engaged in zord combat, it made sense. Turning away from his monitor, surprise turned to anger when the two revealed themselves to be none other then the Thunder Rangers, confidently waltzing in as though they had every right to be there. That would explain why they didn't want to finish the fight. They had another goal in mind. He ignored the muffled cheers that rang out from behind him, victory was theirs.
At least for one battle.
The multiple questions of how they got in or even knew where in was would have to wait, time wasn't exactly a commodity he had in a bountiful supply right now, and he needed to make decisions, fast. While he wasn't entirely helpless, Cam knew he had to be realistic. If three morphed wind rangers with full bells in whistles couldn't take care of these hooligans odds were significantly low he could do anything to them. What he could do then, was buy enough time for his better equipped friends to take care of the issue. And he had just the thing to do it, that is, if he could outrun them.
Without waiting for an explanation (if there was going to be one, he seriously doubted they came to chat, and he wasn't sticking around to find out) Cam shot out of his chair and bolted to his right, down a hallway that led to his lab. The sounds of laughter were his only confirmation the two had paid him any heed. He blocked that out and continued his sprint.
He had been tinkering in the brief moments of his spare time on a new kind of blaster. He had never intended it to actually make the battle field but it had been a good side project to work on whenever he hit a brick wall with his other duties.
He didn't bother glancing behind him to check his distance; they had let him get a head start. He hoped their cockiness would be their undoing.
The weapon wasn't anything fancy, really it was just a glorified stun gun, but in theory it would have a nasty kick. Hopefully, it would be nasty enough. Actually he was more hopeful it would fire; he hadn't gotten around to testing it yet.
To his credit he made it to the door of his lab before he heard them give in to the chase. He made it about halfway to the table his project was sitting on before they made it into the room. The navy one attacked first, but if he thought Cam was going down without a fight he was sadly mistaken. His first retaliation, a kick to the stomach, had the advantage of surprise, an advantage that was completely nullified by its utter inefficiency. It was like kicking a rock. It was like kicking a smarmy rock that simply laughed at you in your not-rock glory. He hoped that someone kicked this guy in the head. Hard.
The crimson one had taken to watching the "fight", if it could be called that from his position in the doorway. He lounged against it, making no attempt to help his partner. As much as Cam was starting to despise the navy one, he was becoming to hate the Crimson one more, simply on principal. Smug incarnate.
He now had the option of turning his back on his opponent in an attempt to grab at something that might be able to do some kind of damage, or continue to entertain the two and buy time. How long would they stay interested? How long until they fought back?
A laugh from Crimson made up his mind. It was time to really fight. He pushed himself in reverse until his back hit the table and reached out blindly with his left hand, all the while keeping his eyes on Navy.
Cam didn't even get his hand near his project before the shorter of two evils decided that enough was enough. He grabbed Cam's right shoulder and yanked him forward, twisting his arm behind his back as Cam stumbled past him. The Crimson one glided to his left side, placing his hand on his shoulder and steering him out the door.
There, minor inconvenience over, as though it was entirely part of the plan. Externally Cam schooled his face to be calm as they twisted his other arm behind his back, but inside he seethed.
So they had him caught. What worst could they do?
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The tension inside the mobile command center was thick, with Cam monitoring their progress in the front and Shane quietly talking to Tori in the back, Dustin had taken to hovering behind Cam.
It had been Blake and Hunter the whole time. He wondered how hard they must've laughed at his attempts to be friends with them. How far beneath them they must think he is. He felt so…used. Like there was this empty feeling inside that hurt. If he avoided thinking about it it went away. If only for a little bit.
Tori probably felt worse then he did. It wasn't like one of them tried to woo him.
For what felt like the hundredth time that day Dustin sighed and continued his pacing behind Cam. He wasn't good at the whole talking thing but he could at least like, physically be there for him. Even if Cam didn't acknowledge him.
Dustin glanced back at Shane and Tori once more. He wouldn't lie, when he started being friends with those two he was afraid they would do exactly what Blake and Hunter did and think of him as more of a joke then a friend, especially Shane. Girls didn't "scare" him as much. Somehow he just wasn't good at the whole friendship thing, like, people he thought were his friends were really just using him for something, so when he found his fellow ninjas it felt too good to be true. Only time made him more sure of himself. But now the whole process had started over again.
They had taken sensei. They, in their evil-rangerness stole sensei for unknown purposes, but they were probably going to try and destroy him, because they were evil like that and that's just how they rolled.
Jerks.
Turning, he decided to take his thoughts elsewhere.
"Are we almost there Cam? I'm freaking out over here," he blurted, leaning over Cam's left shoulder to get a better view of the screen. He didn't really understand it, but it was distracting.
"You're freaking out? It's my father they took." Cam groused, frowning at the yellow ranger.
"I'm sorry, it's just…" he trailed off, rocking back on his heels as he subconsciously adjusted his gauntlets, "shouldn't I have noticed? I know I'm not that observant but…"
"Hey," he was cut off by Shane's shout from the back, "enough of that. This isn't anyone's fault but Blake and Hunter's," Briefly, he held Shane's gaze as a wave of relief wash over him.
He could tell himself that as much as he wanted but it never really made a difference until Shane said something about it, it was a part of their friendship he never took for granted. The other probably didn't even know how much it meant to him.
Out of the corner of him eye he saw Cam relax, not much, but it still counted. See, red guy power in action.
It had probably been an awful day for him. Work, work, work on the morphers, then get sneak attacked by the Thunder goons, and then have them kidnap his father.
Totally bad day. He wished there was something more he could do.
Dustin turned to face him as the others got in position on their bikes, "We'll get him back Cam." he promised, crossing his heart. That earned him a tight frown from the tech. Frowns were bad, so Dustin went with his next logical choice to making someone feel better and tackle hugged him, which was a little awkward because he was standing and the other was sitting, but a hug was a hug.
Cam pushed him off and turned back to the console, but couldn't hide a small smile that was on his face. Mission partially accomplished, Dustin grinned and got on his bike, completely missing a look of surprise from Shane.
Alright, time to get the bad guys.
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End Notes:
The title of this story (for those of you who wonder) is actually from a musical I'm rather fond of called Into the Woods, I feel it corresponds with this tale well. On the cd it's actually a combination of two songs, "Any Moment/Moments in the Woods", and both are awesome.
I don't own Into the Woods
I was originally going to start when the whole team got together but when I was re-watching the series I was inspired by the aftermath of the zord battle with the Thunders, so I started writing there.
Until next time.
