Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Jungle Fury.
A/N: Takes place shortly after "Friends Don't Fade Away."
Wolf Master
Casey had just returned from cleaning the bathroom. After Nicky, the wolf Fran and the rangers thought was RJ, had ransacked the loft, the place looked like a hurricane had hit it. No room was untouched. The three primary colored rangers had drawn straws to see who had the unenviable task of cleaning the place. As luck would have it, the red ranger had drawn the shortest straw.
The tiger ranger saw a wolf sitting in RJ's recliner. The living room area of the loft was a mess, but that was only because Casey hadn't gotten around to cleaning it yet, or was it? He wondered why RJ would allow Nicky to sit in his beloved recliner when he doesn't allow anyone else. Unless the wolf wasn't Nicky, and it was RJ. Casey recalled Fran mentioning something about RJ being stuck in his animal form back when they thought Nicky was RJ. Was that even possible?
"Uh, Nicky…come here, boy," the red ranger called out in a meek voice.
Casey began to get worried when the wolf in the recliner wasn't budging. In his mind, that meant one of two things. Either a) the wolf's name wasn't really Nicky; RJ had merely lied to them or b) the wolf in the recliner actually was RJ.
Casey dropped to one knee and patted the ground beneath his feet, motioning for the wolf to come to him.
"RJ?"
The wolf jumped down from the recliner, and ran over to the red ranger. He pounced on Casey, knocking him over. Next, the wolf started licking the tiger's face.
The red ranger struggled to sit up, a task made more difficult by an adult wolf sitting on his chest. He took his hand and firmly, but gently shoved the wolf off of him.
"RJ cut it out!"
The wolf sat on the hardwood floor a few feet from Casey. It hung its head, and let out a whimper.
Casey was now sitting Indian style on the floor. Hearing the wolf whimper made the red ranger feel guilty about how he had acted. He patted his lap with his hand.
"RJ, come here."
The wolf eagerly trotted over to the red ranger and climbed into his lap. Its tail wagged and Casey got a mouth full of fur as its head was practically shoved in his face.
The tiger started coughing and put a hand to his tongue checking it for any signs of fur, but there was none.
Casey reluctantly started stroking the wolf's back. He couldn't get over how weird it was that he was petting his master. The wolf nuzzled its head against Casey's neck. Now that was definitely no way for a master to behave around his student!
The red ranger separated his legs, and the wolf fell through the new hole, its rump colliding with the hardwood floor. Casey bolted upright and proceeded to clean the living room area of the loft.
As Casey was working, the wolf pawed him in the back of the leg and started to whimper once again.
"RJ, knock it off! Can't you see I'm busy?"
The wolf didn't listen though, much to Casey's dismay. Only now, instead of pawing the red ranger in the back of the leg, he had latched onto the tiger's pant leg with its teeth and was tugging and growling.
"RJ, stop it!"
After several moments had passed, and the wolf hadn't ceased pulling on Casey's pant leg, the red ranger gave a defeated sigh. He sat down on the floor, and the wolf immediately jumped into his lap. Its tail wagged, dusting the teenager's face in the process.
Casey thought back to when he, Fran, Lily, and Theo thought Nicky was RJ. Fran had promised "RJ" all the pizza he wanted. Theo had promised "RJ" a flea bath once a month. Casey, on the other hand, had told "RJ" he would brush him everyday.
The red ranger wanted to slap himself on the forehead for promising "RJ" something like that. He saw that conveniently enough, on top of one of the many television monitors was a brush.
"You don't want me to brush you, do you?"
The wolf replied by wagging its tail even more excitedly and barking several times in succession.
Rather reluctantly, Casey grabbed the brush off the top of the television monitor. He held it up to his face and looked at it. The red ranger took a deep breath.
"I can do this. I can do this. I've done weird things for you before. This is nothing new. I've massaged your shoulders, fixed your recliner, washed your reeking yoga mat, scrubbed the floor, and ironed your clothes. Sure brushing you is quite weird, but you're my master, and if I can do all those other things, I can do this too."
Casey started running the brush through the wolf's fur. If the look on his face was any indication, the red ranger was very uncomfortable doing this.
"Let's just hope that Fran, Theo, and Lily don't walk in on this."
"What about RJ?" came a voice from the upper level of the loft.
Casey looked up and saw his master with his arms folded over his chest and a dorky grin plastered on his face.
"RJ? What are you—how did you—I thought you—how much did you see?" the red ranger asked his face matching his ranger color.
"Oh, I saw everything," the purple wolf ranger replied.
"Why didn't you say something sooner?"
"It was much funnier this way. I must say, my young cub, I had no idea you cared."
"Ha-ha! Very funny, RJ!"
"Come on, Nicky. Let's get you home."
The wolf jumped off of Casey's lap and hurriedly ran over to the real RJ. Casey's mouth was in a 'o' shape.
"So its name is Nicky. How come when I called him by his name, he didn't come to me?" the red ranger asked.
"Beats me." RJ answered.
"Yet he came when I called him RJ. You didn't have anything to do with that, did you?"
"Just what are you accusing me of?"
"I thought you already took him home?"
"That's what I wanted you to think," RJ muttered under his breath.
"What?"
"Don't forget to clean over by the sink."
Casey eyed his Pai Zhuq master suspiciously. He had a hunch that wasn't what RJ had originally said.
"Whatever," the red ranger responded before resuming cleaning.
The purple wolf ranger couldn't help but snicker. Wait until Fran and the other rangers hear about this!
The End