Author's Note: A short story about how a nine year old misfit Dustin first got interested in motocross after he meets a nice older kid. Picture cute little chibi versions of the Ninja Storm crew before they become Power Rangers. This is a story referenced in chapters 10-12 and 22 of my story Parallel Realities Ninja Storm. If you are re-reading this, I have added episode and other references at the bottom of the story as well as made a few minor changes here and there to create more episode tie-ins. Another update: I improved the ending.
-~ All Ninja's But One Grow Up ~-
-~**o**~-
All boys but one grow up. Such was the case of Peter Pan, but the same could be also be said of one young future ninja (and future yellow Power Ranger).
Waldo Brooks hated his first name and, after a kindergarten full of "Where's Waldo?" jokes, he named himself "Dustin." Over time, that's who he became, a boy named Dustin. But, inside, he never stopped being that little kid named Waldo.
Dustin had medium colored skin, dark brown hair and golden brown eyes. His favorite color was yellow and his clothes always reflected that. It gave a warm glow to him, like he was a ray of sunshine.
His two best friends were Shane, a boy with dark skin and black hair who always wore red and Tori, a girl with fair skin and blonde hair who always wore blue. Because of their choice of clothing, Tori had dubbed them the "Primary Colors," but Dustin preferred the "Power Colors" and that had stuck. It was the 90's and they had all heard of the term "PC" as something besides a computer, but they didn't really grasp the whole "Politically Correct" concept.
By the time the three reached fourth grade, their very exclusive club had become tiresome to Shane and Tori, but not to Dustin. Shane had taken up skateboarding while Tori had taken up surfing. Gone were the days of watching cartoons with his friends. They still hung out, but things were changing and Dustin didn't want them to.
-~**o**~-
Moments like this, sitting here in his fourth grade class joking with his best friends, were something Dustin wanted to hold onto.
"It wasn't a dream!" Shane insisted.
"So, you like normally see big glowing balls of light caught in spider webs that you set free?" Dustin replied with a smirk.
"Tor, tell Dustin he's being an airhead again!" Shane demanded.
"Huh?" Tori mumbled.
The two boys gave each other knowing smiles. "You have a crush on the new kid," Shane accused her.
"No I don't!" Tori defended.
"Tori likes a boy!" Dustin joked, making a kissy face.
She hit him playfully. "Just because I said he was cute and like looking at him doesn't mean I like him. Besides, his name isn't 'the new kid'."
"Really?" Dustin asked.
"Then what is it?" Shane chimed in.
"How would I know?" she asked defensively.
"Ask him!" Dustin encouraged.
"Fine!" She stuck her tongue out at them and then marched over to the boy in question. He had medium colored skin, black hair and was kind of short. Like Tori, he wore a lot of blue. She tapped him on the shoulder and announced, "Hey, new kid, what's your name?"
The boy turned to look at her before looking down at his shoulder in horror. "Ewwwww!" he cried. "Girl cooties!"
Tori rolled her eyes and marched back to her friends, muttering, "boys." Never again would she be so bold when it came to the opposite gender.
Meanwhile, her two friends were laughing so hard that Dustin fell right out of his desk. Ah, good times.
-~**o**~-
Later, on the playground during lunch, Dustin asked his friends if they wanted to come over and watch tv and play video games, but Shane said he was going to the new skate park that had just opened and Tori wanted to visit the beach before Fall officially kicked in and made the surf too cold.
Dustin pouted at his friends.
"Come on, Dustin," Tori encouraged. "You can't just sit around watching Animaniacs and reading Power Rangers comics. Don't you want to do something?"
"Those aren't doing things?" Dustin asked, confused.
"She means like come skate with me," Shane explained.
"Or come surfing with me," Tori offered.
"Yeah, maybe," Dustin agreed, still looking depressed.
At that moment, a volleyball hit him in the face.
"Owwww!" he screamed. Immediately, he started to cry, but he wasn't a little kid anymore, so he tried to stop himself.
Tori put her hand on his shoulder to comfort him.
A tall, blonde kid wearing a red and black shirt ran over and retrieved the ball. "Look, I'm really sorry. Are you okay?" he asked.
Dustin covered his face, embarrassed at his uncontrolled emotion.
"Hey, watch where you're throwing that thing!" Shane complained.
"I didn't mean to!" the boy replied defensively.
"You sixth graders think you own the playground," Shane continued.
"I said I was sorry!" the boy shouted.
"Dudes," Dustin said, lowering his hands, "I'm okay."
As Dustin's watery brown eyes met the older blonde's clear blue ones, there was a moment where everything seemed to slow down.
The boy from their class that had accused Tori of having kooties ran up to the blonde. "Come on, we can't play without the ball!" he insisted.
"Yeah," the older blond replied. "I'll be right there, little bro." He smiled at Dustin before looking at his friends. "Sorry again. See you guys around." He then ran off to continue his game.
"I could smell his penis breath!" Shane accused dramatically.
"Grow up, Shane," Tori insisted. "Come on, let's see some of those moves that you're always bragging about."
-~**o**~-
After school, Dustin decided to join Tori at the beach. He wasn't any better at surfing than he was at skateboarding, but Tori was always right and she said the warm days were running out but the skate park wasn't going anywhere.
"You two are so adorable together," Tori's mother told her daughter.
"Mom! We're just friends," Tori insisted.
"Maybe now, but one day..." she suggested.
Dustin, who had been listening gagged dramatically.
"What's wrong with me?" Tori asked him.
"You're more like a boy girl, not a girl girl," Dustin explained.
"But girl girls have cooties," she pointed out.
"Yeah, but boys are supposed to like girls, not boy girls," he continued.
"So, you can't like girl girls or boy girls? You can only like boys?" she accused.
"Yeah," Dustin agreed, completely missing her insinuation.
She rolled her eyes in exhaustion, but short attention span Dustin was already distracted by something. "What?" she asked.
"Look!" he insisted. "Isn't that cool?"
Off in the distance, a series of bikes were racing along the sand dunes.
"Yeah, it's alright, I guess," Tori agreed.
""My dad used to ride a bike like those," he continued.
"Your dad?" she asked skeptically.
"Yeah, my dad," Dustin defended. "It's not with a board, like skating and surfing," he added.
"Yeah, I noticed that too," she said, confused.
"Let's go check it out!" he said, beginning to run for the dunes.
"We'll be right back, mom!" Tori called, following her friend.
"But Dustin's mom told me to never take my eyes off him because he's a trouble magnet," her mother insisted, hastily gathering her belongs.
"Don't over react, mom," Tori called back to her.
-~**o**~-
After a while, the bikes stopped and the riders took a break. Immediately, Dustin went over to join them.
"Hey," a familiar voice called. Dustin looked around to see the blonde sixth grader he had met before.
"Hey," Dustin greeted back. "Cool bikes."
"Yeah, they're okay on the sand," the older boy replied with a grin, "but you should check us out on the track. Ever heard of motocross?"
"No, what's that?" Dustin asked.
"I'll show you," the blonde replied. "We're going there next."
"We?" Dustin asked.
"My little brother and my parents," he answered.
Two adult riders dismounted their larger full-sized bikes and approached the two. At the same time, Tori and her mother caught up with them.
"And now I get sand in my shoes!" Tori's mother complained.
"Mom, it's the beach!" Tori reminded her. Sometimes she felt like she was the adult. After all, she definitely was with her friends.
"Hi there," one of the two adult riders greeted them.
"Hello," Tori's mother offered.
The two removed their helmets, revealing a middle aged couple.
"Are you sure this is... safe for the kids?" Tori's mother asked, gesturing toward the bikes.
"Well, our youngest is only starting out," the woman replied.
"But this big guy's eleven," the man replied, placing his gloved hands on the blonde boy's shoulders.
"I'm practically a man," the boy bragged.
"Besides," the father continued, "it leaves them with something that they can enjoy after we're out of the game."
"Out of the game?" Tori's mother asked.
"We can't do this much longer," the woman answered, "not at our age."
"Ah," Tori's mother agreed. "I know what that's like!"
The three adults exchanged a laugh.
"They're going to a track to race now," Dustin interrupted. "Can we go?"
Tori's mother looked skeptical. "To watch, right?"
"Unless you guys brought your own gear," the man joked.
"Ah, right," Tori's mother realized, relieved.
"Can we?" Dustin pleased. "Please!"
"Sure, but let's not mention this to your mom," Tori's mother advised.
-~**o**~-
A half an hour later, they were all at a dirt track watching the family traverse the track.
When the blonde boy stopped for a drink, Dustin went up to him.
"That's so cool!" Dustin cheered. "Can you like fly over those jumps?"
The boy followed Dustin's gaze. "Oh, those jumps?" he asked. "That's for the bigger bikes."
"But it would be so cool!" Dustin insisted. "It would be liked in the Power Rangers comics and there would be lasers going Zap! Zap! Boom! Boom! Kaboom!"
The older boy giggled. "I don't know about that part, but okay." He popped back on his helmet and returned to the track.
Dustin watched intensely as the older boy's bike rounded the track and headed for the high jumps. Dustin's heart about leapt out of his chest as he watched the bike fly through the air before...
The bike came crashing down, sliding across the dirt and tumbling over.
The boy's parents were the first on the scene, but Dustin was close behind.
"Stay still," the boy's father advised his son, moving the bike.
"What did we tell you about those jumps?" his mother scolded.
Dustin looked at the scene with both excitement and horror.
The boy noticed this and gave him a quick thumbs up.
Dustin took this as a sign that the blonde was okay and he rushed to his side. "That was so cool!" he shouted. "What did it feel like?"
"A lot better than it does now—Oww!" the boy replied.
"I think you broke your arm this time," his father concluded.
"Were you trying to impress your friend?" his mother asked.
Their son gave her a shrug and Dustin couldn't help but feel guilty, but he also felt excited. Not only was it cool to watch, but a cool sixth grader was his friend.
-~**o**~-
After that day, Dustin didn't feel as bad about his two best friends having their own thing because he had his—sort of.
The older blonde decided to start Dustin out with a dirt buggy on level terrain. Both his parents supervised and the boy's younger brother jointed Dustin, but the blonde was forced to sit it out because of his broken arm.
After some practice, Dustin took a break and signed the blonde's cast.
"So, what got you into this kind of thing?" the older boy asked while Dustin drew a dragon around his name.
"I thought it looked cool, like something from Power Rangers," he explained.
"Oh, right, you mentioned that," the blonde recalled. "how old are you again?"
"I'm nine!' Dustin replied defensively.
"That's cool," the older boy said calmly.
"And it gives me my own thing," Dustin added. "My own thing that's cool and not..." He trailed off.
"And not what?" the boy asked.
"Not like little kid stuff or weird I guess," Dustin replied with a pout. "Shane likes skateboarding and Tori likes surfing and I like..."
"Power Rangers?" the blonde finished.
"Yeah, and cartoons still and like video games and comics and geeky stuff," he added.
"If they're your friends, they'll like you no matter what you like," the older boy replied.
Dustin gave him a funny look. "How'd you get to be so wise?"
"I'm eleven, remember?" the blonde replied with a grin. "You know, if you didn't already have a family, I'd want my parents to adopt you."
"I thought you already had a brother," Dustin pointed out.
"Yeah, but I can have another," the older boy suggested. "Plus he's kind of a brat sometimes. It'd be great if you were my little brother."
"That'd defiantly be totally cool!" Dustin agreed before realizing something. "Hey, I never found out your—"
"Boys!" a voice interrupted from behind them. "A woman's here looking for a 'Waldo'."
Dustin buried his face in embarrassment before running off quickly. "Mom!" he cried as eh ran up to her. "What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that question, Waldo," she replied with a serious face.
"Mom! How many times do I have to tell you my name's Dustin!" he insisted.
"Waldo is a very noble name," she explained. "Don't you remember how much you used to love Where's Waldo books?"
Dustin was torn between frustration and embarrassment. "Why are you here?" he asked again.
"Your girlfriend told me you were here," she replied. "Why haven't you told your father and I?"
"Tori is not my girlfriend!" Dustin declared. "And why would Dad care?"
"Your father cares very much", she assured him. "You might be surprised."
-~**o**~-
That night, Dustin's mother told his father of Dustin's new "hobby."
"It seems Waldo has a renewed interest in dirt," his mother told his father.
"What else is new?" Dustin's father grumbled as he channel surfed. "The boy refuses to grow up."
Dustin sat on the couch and pouted.
"I think he's growing up too fast," Dustin's mother insisted. "After all, riding around on those dangerous vehicles..."
Dustin's father looked up, suddenly interested. "Dangerous vehicles?"
"That wasn't dangerous!" Dustin insisted. "It's not like I was riding the big motocross bikes."
"So, you've taken an interest in motorcycles?" his father asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Sort of," Dustin admitted.
A grin spread across his father's face. "It's about time you took up a sport and gave up on your cartoons and comic books."
Dustin frowned. "I didn't give up on that stuff."
His father studied him for a moment. "Then what is it that you're into?" he asked.
"It's just something I like," Dustin explained. "Why did you ride a motorcycle?"
"The thrill," his father answered. "You wouldn't understand."
"Why'd you stop?" he asked.
His father looked away for a moment. "I didn't want you to follow my footsteps," he reluctantly admitted.
"Huh?" Dustin asked, confused. "I thought you wanted me to do dangerous stuff.
His father furrowed his brow. "Yes and no. I have to admit that I wanted you to be into more... masculine things."
"Power Rangers comic are for boys," Dustin pointed out.
"I mean rough and tumble stuff," his father clarified.
"Not geeky stuff," Dustin concluded.
"Exactly," his father agreed, "but I'm also your father and I... I worry about your safety."
Dustin gave him a confused look. "So, you're like okay or not okay with me being into motocross?"
His father thought about that.
"Give your father some time," his mother chimed in. "We'll discuss it. Now, your sister says she's become a vegetarian, so we're going to start having more vegetables. Go upstairs and get her so you two can help me set up for dinner please, Waldo."
"My name's Dustin!" he shouted before realizing. "Vegetables!"
-~**o**~-
A few days later, Shane and Tori decided to join Dustin at the track. They watched with the older blonde boy and his parents as Dustin made his way around a dirt track for the first time on a miniature version of a motocross style bike.
After a few laps against the blonde's younger brother, Dustin stopped near his friends.
"What's a girl doing here?" the younger boy accused when he saw Tori.
"Go get us some drinks, little bro," the older blonde ordered.
"You're not my boss!" the younger boy declared.
"Calm down you two," their mother warned as her husband whispered something into her ear. "Oh," she said.
"We'll be back shortly," their father said as his wife stood up to join him. "No riding while we're gone." They then walked off toward the forest quickly.
Dustin and his friends looked at each other, but the blonde and his brother just looked annoyed.
"So, are you going to get us drinks?" the older blonde asked. "I only have one hand."
"I'll help," Dustin offered, removing his riding helmet.
"Sure," the blonde replied with a smile.
"When do you think I'll be able to do jumps?" Dustin asked excitedly as he helped the older boy retrieve some sodas from a portable cooler.
"Once you go up one size, you can do the small jumps," the boy explained.
"But I want to really go flying like the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers do on their Thunder Bikes," Dustin insisted.
"Thunder Bikes?" the blonde asked. "Thos sound cool."
"They are!" Dustin agreed. "So, you don't like think I'm too much of a geek or like a little kid or something?"
"No," the older boy replied, genuinely confused. "Why would I? Everyone's into something different."
"Yeah," Dustin agreed, handing his friends and the boy's younger brother sodas.
"So, dude, where did your parents go?" Shane asked.
The older boy shrugged. "I really don't know," he replied. "They do that a lot."
"I think they're secret agents," his younger brother chimed in.
"That would be so cool!" Dustin said.
The older boy laughed. "I wish. But it is kind of a mystery where they disappear to. It's almost like they have some big secret..."
Dustin and his friends exchanged suspicious looks.
-~**o**~-
To weeks later, Dustin was supposed to meet with the older blonde after school, but it was raining so he decided to wait under the overhand. As he squinted out into the downpour, he spotted his new friend standing alone in the rain.
"Hey!" Dustin called out, running up to him.
"Oh, hey!" the blonde replied with a wide smile the moment he saw Dustin.
"Dude, what are you doing in the rain?" Dustin asked.
"I..." he began, his voice trailing off as he watched the rain.
"What's wrong?" Dustin asked, placing a hand on the boys' shoulder to turn his gaze toward him.
"We're moving," the wet blonde said flatly.
"Moving?" Dustin repeated. "When?"
"Now, I guess," the boy replied. It was hard to tell because rain was running down his face, but Dustin thought he might be crying.
"But we were gonna hang out and stuff," Dustin complained.
"Yeah," was all the boy said.
"Take me with you!" Dustin insisted. "We could be brothers, like you said."
The older boy looked away. "I wish I could. Really, I wish..." He looked back at Dustin's pouting face, their eyes once again colliding. "You've got your friends."
"Yeah," Dustin admitted. "But I still want you to stay."
The boy watched the rain run through Dustin's dark curls. "My dad always says if you are destined to be with someone, you'll see them again."
"What does that mean?" Dustin asked.
The boy shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe we'll see each other again."
"I hope so," Dustin said sincerely. "I'll miss you so much."
"I'll miss you too," the older blonde admitted.
Suddenly Dustin grabbed the older boy by the waist and embraced him in a hug. The taller blonde couldn't help but startled at first, but then he gave into the hug. In the cold rain, the younger boy's body felt so warm.
When they pulled away from each other, Dustin declared, "I won't stop with the bike stuff and one day I'll get a bike of my own and do motocross as a pro."
"I know you will," the blonde replied.
"Maybe I'll also become a Power Ranger," Dustin added.
The older blonde laughed. "I don't know about that," he said.
A honk came from the nearby street and both turned to look.
"I have to go," the blonde said solemnly.
"Am I gonna see you again?" Dustin asked.
The blonde stared back at him then smiled. "Some day, maybe yeah." He reached up and ran a hand through Dustin's wet hair, blinking heavily as he did so. "Well... see ya..."
He then ran off through the rain toward the car. "Bye!" Dustin called out.
-~**o**~-
Inside the car, the blonde's mother commented, "You boys are quiet. Missing your friends already?"
"Yeah," the older blonde mumbled as he stared out the car window and watched the rain run down the glass.
"Mom!" the younger boy yelled. "Hunter's crowding my side."
"Shut up, Blake," the older blonde... Hunter said.
"I think we should tell them, the boys' father said from the front seat.
Their mother took a breath. "Hunter, Blake, we're... ninjas."
"And," their father continued before his sons had a chance to reply, "it's come time for you two to begin your training to take over for us."
The two brothers exchanged looks. At that moment, whatever ties they had to their short life in Blue Bay Harbor were gone... until they too became Power Rangers.
-~**o**~-
"Hey, Dustin!" Shane called out, running up to Dustin, who was still standing in the rain.
"Why are you out here?" Tori asked, joining her friends.
"He moved," Dustin said blankly.
"Who?" Tori asked, dragging Dustin by the arm back to the school.
"That sixth grader who did all the cool motocross stuff," he explained.
"He seemed really nice," Tori commented, still pulling him along.
"Yeah," Dustin agreed. "He was cool and fun and... cute."
"You're joking right?" she asked.
"Yeah, totally!" Dustin laughed, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"Did you ever find out his name?" Shane asked.
Dustin smacked his forehead with his hand. "So stupid!"
"It's okay, dude," Shane offered.
"Since surfing's no longer an option, what are you guys dong this weekend?" Tori asked.
"I'm going to the skate park," Shane replied. "What's a little rain?"
"What about you, Dustin?" she asked.
"Shane's right," he answered. "What's a little rain?"
"Of course, because you're inside with your comic books," Tori accused.
"No," Dustin said with a grin. "I'm going to... the track."
"The track?" Tori repeated. "But that kid's gone."
"I know," Dustin replied, glancing back at the road.
"Is it because it involves dirt?" she asked.
"I thought Dustin stopped playing with dirt," Shane chimed in.
"That was eating dirt," Tori reminded him.
"No," Dustin said, turning back to his friends. "I want to do it because... I like it and it's cool." He smiled and put an arm around each of his friends' shoulders. "Now, why are we like getting soaked out here?"
They both gave him a strange look before smiling back at Dustin, their friend. Just then, they heard a noisy engine approaching the street. They turned toward the road to see a motorcycle. And, as the driver dismounted and removed his helmet, Dustin recognized... his father.
-~**o**~-
Although it took him many years to really grow into motocross, with some help from his father, Dustin had found his own thing and it was cool. Even when he and his friends became ninjas, they never stopped being into their own sports.
But, for Dustin, there was more. Sure, he was into motocross, but that didn't mean he stopped being into anything else. No, he never stopped being into comic books and cartoons and cheesy action movies and video games (and playing with dirt). He just kept those things a little more to himself. He was still the same weird, geeky kid he always was and, even when he became the yellow Power Ranger, he never really grew up. He stayed a kid named Waldo and a friend named Dustin. He stayed true to who he was.
-~**o**~-
-~ The End ~-
References: The opening is obviously a reference to the book Peter Pan. Shane freeing a glowing ball of light from a spider web is a reference to the flashback in the episode "Shane's karma, Part 1." Cooties is a reference to… I don't know who came up with that, but there's a game by the same name. Shane accusing Hunter of having "penis breath" is a reference to the movie ET. It's still the only time I've heard that insult, but it stuck! Dustin saying Tori isn't a girl girl is a reference to the episode "Beauty and the Beach" where Dustin and Shane try to tell her she's more of a "guy girl." The whole thing about Dustin's dad is a reference to the episode "Sensei Switcharoo" in which Dustin's father makes his one and only appearance and says he taught Dustin everything he knows about Motocross. Dustin's obsession with Power Rangers comics is a reference to the first episode "Prelude to a Storm" in which it is revealed that the Power Rangers were only comics and urban legends to the population of Blue Bay Harbor before Ninja Storm came along. And the original Mighty Morphin Power Rangers really did have "Thunder Bikes." Hunter and Blake's parents being ninjas comes from the episode "Thunder Strangers, Part 3" in which the two discover their parents in the form of spirits at the Mountain of Lost Ninjas. The reference to Hunter and Blake starting their ninja training at ages 11 and 9 comes from the episode "Return of Thunder, Part 3" though the ages they appear to be in the flashback is only a guess. Still, it all worked for the story. Hope you liked it!