disclaimer! i really wished i owned power rangers ninja storm. i could have done so much with dustin. loving him. letting him love me. hurting him. seeing him writhe in pain because, for some reason (which i have found to be not so odd) turns me on. but really, on that note, if you think seeing your favorite, most attractive characters getting hurt is sexy, you're soo not alone. every sane girl in the world does.

right. so i don't own anything power rangers.

author's note! so here's my new obsession. prns. it's a little out of my element (try a lot). i usually ONLY do sirius black from harry potter stories. so i'm not so sure how well this is going to work out. but seriously, i haven't stopped watching this show for like two days straight now. or reading fanfiction for it. i used to love it way back in the day when it first came out, forgot about it, and now my love for dustin has resurfaced. seriously. he's hot.

anyway, there will be no slash in this story. if i can help it. it may sound like there's some shane/dustin in it and some hunter/dustin in it, but really, slash is just inescapable for me. i can't help it. it's ALWAYS there. anyway, i'll try my best to keep it out, or bring it in - whatever you want. there's gonna be some dustin/marah. and i haven't decided if i want to keep that "new kids in town" thing true or not. if i do, there will be some dustin/oc. but it all depends on what YOU, the reader, wants. so, to let me know what that is, you must REVIEW.

i also want to give a couple of shoutouts. the first to glenn mcmillan, for being so damn hot. had it not been for you, this story would have never come up. then i want to send you towards exclamation's page to read dark ninja. that was the fanfiction i stayed up until four in the morning reading last night, continued on when i woke up this afternoon, and finished it then. it is AWESOME. and i really don't want dustin to be gay 'cause i want him. lol. anyway, you can find that story under my favorites. and finally to brezo-1816 and her fic earth legacy for it was the first prns fanfic i've read and i got inspiration for this fic from it. if anything sounds too familiar between this and that one, let me know. but that should only happen in the beginning if it does at all (which i hope not 'cause that would be sucky) since she's only got three chapters up on that fic.

anyway, i'm done with this freakishly long author's note. expect another author's note at the end reminding you to review. (: ENJOY!

The Kelzacks were normally no problem whatsoever. Sure, they were a nuisance and a pain the butt, but they were usually taken down in a matter of minutes. They were no match for the Rangers. Even the Furies weren't so bad – and they were like high-tech Kelzacks. But it was what came after the nasty little buggers that managed to take even the slightest of tolls on the Rangers.

Spinning and kicking at a last Kelzack, Shane steadied himself and took a look around. Still in his civilian clothes, he dusted off the left knee of his jeans as he saw his team finishing off the rest of the Kelzacks. Not even a scratch on Hunter and Blake as the two brothers chuckled to themselves. Tori groaned as she kicked at a scrambling straggler. Dustin had his trademark goofy grin on his face, although it didn't reach his eyes. Shane sighed. Ever since that Beevil and Marah thing, the yellow ranger hadn't been the same. Shane knew it was more of the boy being ashamed of himself than being heartbroken. Although the others thought differently, making that clear through their teasing, Shane could tell that there was something deeper bugging Dustin than just having been hurt by one of their enemies.

"So where's the big ugly guy?" Said Ranger's voice called out, noticeably missing out on a great deal of the humor that his voice would usually hold. Or, at least it was noticeable to Shane.

Dustin held a point, though. Kelzacks weren't usually followed by nothing, not for this long anyway. The fight against Lothor came in routine: Kelzacks, ugly alien thing, then enlarged ugly alien thing after the Rangers defeated the normal sized version. Again and again, the same thing.

There wasn't time for anyone to answer, however, when a large explosion from behind blew the five off of their feet. Shane heard various disgruntled groans and shouts as he and his team flew through the air, landing harshly on their backs or stomachs. "What the hell was that?" Shane asked as they scrambled to their feet and looked around, seeing nothing. "Everyone alright?" He called out, almost as an afterthought. He never really imagined his team getting seriously hurt, even in their civilian clothes, during a fight.

He got various answers, all of them confirming that the two other Wind Rangers and the two Thunder Rangers were all alright. Looking around one more time and not seeing anything, Shane was getting more and more confused by the second. Huge explosions didn't just come out of nowhere. Nodding at his fellow Rangers, the five friends shouted in unison:

"Ninja Storm, Ranger form!"

"Thunder Storm, Ranger form!"

All suited up in their different colors, ranging from yellow to crimson, they separated into pairs – Blake with Tori, Hunter with Dustin, and Shane by himself. Soon enough, Cam would appear and the six would be full. But as of yet, there didn't seem to be a big enough problem. Just some silly Kelzaks and random explosions.

It was silent at the power plant. Obviously something was coming – and something bad. Shane was getting nervous. Clearly Lothor was up to something and he wasn't exactly looking forward to it. At least he didn't hear anything from the rest of the group, which meant that they weren't in any immediate danger.

"Anything Cam?" Shane spoke into his morpher.

Cam's response came back quickly – "No, it's like there's nothing there. I'm not getting any signal from anything."

"Then what was that huge explosion?" Shane asked back, confusion etching his voice.

He could practically hear Cam shrug as the confusion was echoed back in the other boy's voice. "I'm not sure. But I really don't think anything's there."

Shane nodded. "Alright, we'll take one more look around, see if we spot anything, then we'll head back."

The message was soon passed on to the rest of the team, all of them ready to give in and call it a day.

In their ninja clothes, the five rangers stood around Ninja Ops, arms crossed and staring at Cam as if he was the reason everything was so out of whack.

"So are you telling me that that explosion really just came out of nowhere? That's impossible, Cam," Hunter was saying.

The green Samurai ninja sighed and took his glasses off, as he often did to exaggerate a point (or more for dramatic affect if you asked the rangers). "No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that there was no sign of anything at the power plant before or after the explosion, other than the Kelzacks."

"And I'm pretty sure that Kelzacks aren't the ones who caused it," Shane commented.

Cam shook his head. "They were gone long before the explosion," he sighed again.

"Maybe it was just a coincidence?" Tori put out. "A natural reaction from the plant?"

With that, the conversation ended and the group dispersed, Hunter and Blake going in a corner to talk. As Tori chatted it up with Cam, Shane and Dustin were left standing on opposite sides of the room. Sensei was off meditating, hoping to find more answers to the mysterious incident just minutes before.

Dustin sighed and ran a hand through his hair before announcing he was going to hit the track. "Call me if anything comes up, alright?" Shane nodded and stared after the yellow ranger with a hint of worry on his face as he left.

"Dustin will be alright, Shane," Sensei's voice broke into the red ranger's thoughts after a moment of staring at the blank space that Dustin had just evacuated.

Turning his head to face the guinea pig, Shane sighed. "I know, it's just not the same when he's not his full annoying self," he said, forcing a smile onto his face.

"He shall come around in time," Sensei said, with a slight inclination of his tiny head.

He'd just finished a few rounds on the track, his time getting quicker each time, and was walking his bike off the track. He had to admit, he'd been getting better at motocross ever since the incident with Marah. But Dustin was always fiercer when he was angry – he may not have a whole lot of control, but at least he could be stronger and faster. Taking his helmet off, he shook his hair out of his eyes and took a look around. There were only a few other riders, and they were all packing up as well. But it was getting late and, of course, it wasn't safe to ride past nightfall. Besides, it was dinnertime and dinner is a meal that most do not wish to miss.

Even still, it was eerily quiet and Dustin didn't like it. Although there was a bit of music playing and friends were high-fiving each other and laughing loudly, it was a distant kind of silence and it freaked the yellow ranger out. Sighing, he gathered his things together and headed out.

He was on his way home when his morpher buzzed in and Cam's voice rang out. "Dustin, head back to the skate park. We've got a Kelzack infestation."

"Roger that," Dustin replied, changing his direction towards the skate park.

He hadn't gotten as far as turning around when he was suddenly knocked off of his feet. "What the –" he trailed off. Scrambling to get onto his feet, he was pushed back down as a foot collided with his chest. Looking up at the thing that was pinning him to the ground, the yellow ranger, still clad in the civilian clothes he'd changed into after he finished on the track, was surprised to see that it was human-looking. Usually the goons Lothor sent down were obviously aliens. But this man was clearly as human as Dustin or Shane or Hunter or Blake. He had jet black hair that was cut short and cold, icy blue eyes that were so filled with malice that Dustin was sure he'd get lost in them and then would never be able to find his way out. His skin was pale, as white as a sheet almost and he was dressed in normal clothes.

Grabbing the other man's ankle and flipping him off of him, Dustin jumped to his feet quickly and immediately got into his fighting stance. "Who are you?" He demanded as his opponent slowly gathered himself to his feet.

A smirk was all Dustin got in reply as the other man struck at him again. The yellow ranger was barely able to block the punch and he could feel the bones in his arm shake as the force collided with his left wrist. "What the hell is wrong with you, dude?" Dustin asked, his brow furrowing as the man struck at him hit after hit, kick after kick, punch after punch. With every new move, it was getting harder and harder to block the next one. Clearly this man knew that Dustin was no match for him. He must have trained his entire life the way he could move from one stance to another within less than a second.

Sure enough, Dustin was soon on his back again as the stranger sneered down at him. Reaching his right arm down and grabbing the front of Dustin's shirt, he used his left fist to deliver a powerful punch to the side of the younger boy's head. He was out before his head could fully snap to the side from the extensity of the force.

"Is Dustin here?" Hunter's irritated voice asked as the four ninjas made their way back into Ninja Ops after their fight with the Kelzacks. Dustin had never showed and while Shane and Tori were worried, Hunter was frustrated. He and the yellow ranger had been getting into fights ever before the whole Beevil episode and Dustin's lack of responsibility in trusting Marah, the enemy, had really put Hunter over the edge. Blake, on the other hand, tried to remain the peacemaker, while doing so as subtly as possible to keep from looking like he was taking sides.

Cam looked up from the laptop he was working on with a look of confusion etched on his brow. "No," he said slowly, drawing the word out. "I sent him to join you guys. I take it he didn't show?"

Hunter snorted.

"Do you think we should be worried about him?" Tori asked, looking at Sensei now.

Sensei turned to his son. "Cam, see if you can locate his morpher," he instructed calmly. "Tori, I'm sure he's just fine and there's nothing to worry about."

Cam was already set to work locating Dustin's morpher. He was typing furiously on the keyboard, pressing the big red button in the center as he finished. "Got him," he stated simply and with only word on where the yellow ranger was, the team was off.

"Dustin!" Tori cried out as she saw her friend laying on his back, unmoving, on the ground. Fear struck her heart as she realized that he could be… She couldn't even think it. Rushing over to his body, Tori and Shane knelt down beside their fellow wind ranger while Hunter and Blake stood to the side. While they were close friends with Dustin, they hadn't been for anywhere near as long as Tori and Shane – not to mention the fact that Hunter felt entirely guilty for thinking his friend had ditched them to fight the Kelzacks (not that that would have been a problem, the bastards were down in minutes, as usual – it was just the fact that Dustin would do something so backstabbing to them).

Shane was checking for a pulse and he breathed a sigh of relief when he found one. If something had happened to his team member, he would have never forgiven himself. He was supposed to keep an eye out on Dustin, especially as of late. He was so vulnerable when he was in a mood like this. Shane couldn't believe that he had allowed his friend to get hurt. "Let's get him back to Ninja Ops," he said quietly, but loud enough for the rest to hear. Blake stepped forward and helped Shane lift the yellow ranger up. His limp form was surprisingly light, lighter than Shane remember it ever being and he wondered if Dustin hadn't eaten a whole lot lately.

They streaked back to Ninja Ops, there within a matter of seconds. Cam jumped to his feet the moment they stumbled inside.

"What happened?" He asked worriedly. The others shook their heads as Blake and Shane, with help from Cam and Hunter, lowered Dustin's unmoving body onto the low table in the middle of the room.

"We don't know," Blake answered. "We got there and he was just out."

Cam inspected Dustin's head, the huge bruise on the right side being the main point of focus. "Well I can bet that we can't rule out an attack as our best guess," he said cynically, a poor attempt at a joke. He looked up at the gang. "Tori, get me some water, would you?" The girl nodded and headed off to get a glass of water. "Blake, grab the medical kit," Cam continued to the other blue ninja, this time the navy. He also took off, following in the direction Tori ran off towards. "Shane, help me get his shirt off – see how much more damage there's been done."

The red ninja hesitated a moment, more out of lack of attention than anything else. He could barely process what was going on. He was so consumed with worry for Dustin, more so than he had ever been before, that he couldn't help but zone out. All his focus was on the yellow ranger.

"Shane," Cam called again, looking up from Dustin to the red ranger, who cleared his throat and hurried to help, the command finally sinking into his mind. As he and Cam gently pulled Dustin's shirt off, the boy squirmed in his sleep but didn't wake.

Luckily, there weren't very many bruises on Dustin's torso. Granted, there were obviously several of them, all recent, but nothing too bad. Clearly, either he'd managed to fight off whoever his opponent was easily enough, allowing just that one shot to his head due him in, or it had been a short fight, one Dustin hadn't been able to put up much of a fight in. Whatever the case was, they wouldn't know what had happened or who had attacked him until he woke up.

And the other rangers, as Tori and Blake returned with the water and first aid kid, could only hope that that would be soon.

author's note! take two. see, i told you there'd be one. so review. duh. and i promise to update merry-go-round soon. i've already got probably about half of the chapter finished, depending on how long i end up making it. then i've also got a BUNCH more fics waiting to be written. a couple of them i've already started, but i don't want to post them until i get MGR or still here a little more off the ground. which i'll probably post them as soon as i finish the first chapter anyway. don't let me.

anyway, i'll probably have an update for this one tomorrow, depending on my mood. seing as it's almost four thirty am, i don't know if i'll be waking up tomorrow while the sun's still up.

so review and motivate me. let me know what you think!

peace.