Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers.

Authors Note: This is my first challenge fic, so I'm hoping that it will be good.

Chapter 1: Marah is What?

It had been a couple days since the whole Marah thing. Dustin was sitting on the grass by his bike just thinking. Tori came up and sat next to him. "Hey."

Dustin didn't look up, "Hey."

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just thinking."

"About Marah?"

"No." Okay that was a lie. That was all he could think about. Hopefully Tori wouldn't say anything.

"You are aren't you?"

Dustin looked up at Tori. He could tell that she was very worried. "Tori, I…"

"Dustin, you're not going to keep thinking about her are you?"

"Come on Tori, why would I?" Tori didn't say anything, she just sat there watching him. Dustin finally looked up. "Look, maybe I do…a little." Tori raised her eyebrow. "But you weren't there. Marah…well…she was different."

Tori sighed. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Dustin, look, trust me—she's not going to change."

"You don't know that."

"I know. I just…I don't want to see you get hurt."

Dustin looked at Tori. She had a very concerned look on her face. "It's not like I'm seeing her."

"What if you could?"

"See Marah?"

"Yeah."

Dustin considered this. Seeing Marah, that would be great. Well…seeing just Marah. Him, her, no one else. Maybe…no, this was a useless thought. "Not happening."

"That took a bit longer to answer." Dustin shot her a look. She gave a quick smile before becoming serious. "Let's see if I can try to explain what you liking Marah is like." Tori pursed her lips together before continuing. "Marah is like…a poison." Dustin looked quizzical. How was Marah a poison—she was sweet. Well except when she's stabbing your heart. "There are certain kinds of poisons that you need more of to stabilize you—but it's still not good to have. You need to purge your system." Tori paused waiting to see if Dustin got what she said. He really didn't understand, but he was going to let her finish, so he remained quiet and tried not to show to much emotion on his face. Tori slowly finished. "Marah is that poison."

Tori didn't speak again except to tell him good-bye after sitting with him in silence for about half an hour. Marah, poison? Was that possible?