Ah yes, I'm doing what all authors eventually do. I'm rewriting an already finished fic. Why? Because I was wanting to do another Power Rangers Ninja Storm fanfic, reread the one I'd already written and couldn't help but notice how I could improve it. It's been five years since I started this one, and two since I've finished it…so it will be fun.
I don't own Power Rangers of any kind. I probably never will…unless I take to collecting action figures, which isn't really my thing. Usually.
If you've read this before, you know the premise. If not, you're in for a treat. This fic contains family issues (more so than the original now!), wolf politics (which I'm actually addressing this time), Lothor (duh) and some suspense. Yay. Enjoy!
Chapter One: The Wolves Will Die
Hunter Bradley gave a small smile as he watched his younger adopted brother help a customer at the extreme sports store that they both worked at. He would be the first to admit that he was an overprotective bastard at times, but there was no way he was letting Blake leave him. He'd lost far too much in his life already, and he just wasn't willing to take chances with what he had left.
Of course, considering both brothers were ninjas, as well as being Power Rangers kind of made his job as an overprotective bastard a little more difficult.
"Yo! Blake!" Hunter called across the store, giving him an amused smirk. "Have a moment?" he asked. Blake shrugged and walked over, helping Hunter put up the display in the front window.
"Why'd you need help with that?" Blake asked in confusion, once they were done. The display hadn't been at all difficult to set up.
Hunter gave a rare grin, placing his brother in a head lock."I didn't," he replied, ruffling his brother's hair. Blake squirmed out of his grasp and glared evilly at the crimson ranger aiming a half-serious punch in his direction. Hunter only smirked in reply, shaking his head in amusement. Turning, he frowned when a women walked into the store, even if that wasn't necessarily an odd thing.
It wasn't exactly the fact that the lady had walked in; it was the fact that she hadn't opened the door to do so. She had walked through it. Her dress style was odd as well, almost looking as though it were from an ancient Japanese warrior. Whoever, or whatever, she was, she obviously wasn't normal, and no one else had even seemed to notice her. Hunter closed his eyes, rubbing at them with the heels of his hands.
"Hey…Hunter? Are you alright?" Blake asked, having glance over. Hunter opened his eyes, noticing that the lady was gone and that his brother was looking at him worriedly. He took a deep breath and forced a smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he muttered. "Just need a little more sleep I guess." For a moment Blake just continued to stare at him and then with a shrug, he turned away, heading for the counter. Hunter did, actually, need more sleep, as did all the Rangers. Lothor had been sending monsters out at night, and they were all suffering because of it. Blake let his worry slide for a moment, caught up in his work, although it was still there, in the back of his mind.
Hunter turned back to the display, startled to find his ghost-lady standing in front of him. She smiled at him, little more than a smirk and then her mouth was by his ear. "The wolves will die." It was little more than a breath of a whisper and Hunter took a step back, both confused and startled by the woman and her words. But suddenly the lady disappeared, a whisper of air accompanying her, and a sharp pain was ripping through Hunter's side, driving him to his knees with a cry.
Blake was at his side in an instant, hands on Hunter's shoulders as he worriedly look him over. "Hunter! What the heck is wrong with you?" the navy ranger demanded of his brother, his voice tinged with panic. He, when the times called for it, could be just as overprotective as his older brother.
Hunter looked up at him, giving him a tightlipped smile and ignoring the fact that the blood from his injured side, although unseen against his crimson shirt, was threatening to leak from beneath his hand."I'm fine…just an injury I got in a motocross accident…" The worried look didn't leave Blake's face. In fact, it was obvious that Blake didn't believe that lie. He may be the little brother, but he was a brother, and he knew when he was being lied to by Hunter. "Fine. Listen, I'll go and have Cam look at it, if that will make you happy. I have to talk to him anyway," he muttered. Blake sighed and nodded, helping Hunter to his feet and frowning darkly when his older brother stumbled.
"What's going on?" Kelly asked, having come out of the back room at the sound of Hunter's pain. "Are you alright Hunter?"
Hunter glanced at her over his shoulder and gave her the same tightlipped smile he had given his brother. "Yeah, I'm fine." The words, however, lacked conviction, and did nothing to comfort Blake and Kelly. Shane walked through the door and gave the four of them a curious glance, his greeting dying at the sight of Hunter's obvious pain. "Hey, I'm leaving now. If you need anything, just ask Shane to do it." And then Hunter was walking out the door, giving his brother a short look. Blake gave a frustrated sigh, but let him leave on his own.
For a moment, there was no sound, a complete silence filling the room, the tension practically palpable in the air. And then Shane muttered, "Hey…I don't work here…"
"Aren't you supposed to be at Storm Chargers?" Cam asked as Hunter entered the room, instinctively knowing who it was that had entered. Whether that was something about being a samurai or a Ranger, or maybe even something else, he didn't know, and frankly, he didn't really care. He turned from his computer and gave the crimson ranger a curious glance, noticing the way one hand covered his side, and the fact that he was leaning heavily against the wall, faint traces of pain on his face. "Are you okay?"
"Hey, Cam?" Hunter asked, his voice sounding oddly reflective. "When you see something that no one else can see, that's hallucinating, right?"
Cam paused, eyeing Hunter in concern. That wasn't a usual question for the Crimson Thunder Ranger to ask. In fact, it was downright strange. "Yes. Why?" Hunter just nodded to himself, seemingly lost in thought. "You've been hallucinating?" Cam asked.
"Maybe," Hunter answered, that odd tone still present in his voice, but now laced with pain. "But hallucinations usually don't hurt…" He let his bloodstained hand drop to his side, the injury showing beneath a torn and bloody shirt. Cam was on his feet and at the ranger's side almost instantaneously, his own face going completely slack with shocked worry. He honestly hadn't been expecting something like this. The samurai probed at the wound gently, and then caught Hunter's hands as the said Thunder Ranger swiped at him.
"That hurt," Hunter gasped, letting his head fall back against the wall with a faint thud. Cam kept his hold on his comrade's wrists, forcing them against Hunter's chest in an effort to keep them out of the way and from having Hunter try to hit him again. With his free hand, Cam quickly unbuttoned Hunter's crimson shirt to get it also out of the way, and frowned darkly at the revealed injury.
"Whatever this hallucination of yours stabbed you with, is still in you and I've really got to get it out." Hunter didn't comment, but Cam felt his breathing hitch as his fingers probed deeper into the injury. "Did it say anything to you?" Cam asked, trying to keep Hunter's mind off the pain, his fingers brushing metal. Hunter gave a short nod, his face twisting again. "Found it," the samurai murmured, grasping the metal between two fingers. Hunter gave a sharp moan, his eyes closing against the pain, more of his weight being supported by the wall.
"Okay…I know you two are friends and all…but this is taking friendship to a whole new level," Dustin's voice said from behind the two of them, sounding both amused and shocked at the same time.
"Shut up," Cam said without missing a beat and pulling the star shaped metal from the Crimson Ranger's side. "What'd it say?" Cam whispered to Hunter, glancing at him, his eyes tight with concern.
"The wolves will die," Hunter muttered before his knees buckled and he fell to the ground, doubling over with a groan as the impact caused pain to flare up from his side again.
Cam started, not having expected him to collapse just then, but it seemed that the pain plus the lack of sleep was causing havoc on Hunter's energy levels. "If you're just going to stand there then at least make yourself useful and hand me the first-aid kit." There was a confused pause and then Dustin did as he was told, obviously concerned for his fellow Ranger. The Yellow Earth Ranger crouched next to the two of them as Cam bound the wound and handed Hunter some pain killers, which he swallowed without the aid of any water.
Eyeing the bandages, Dustin tilted his head to one side. "Dude, what happened to you?" he asked, helping Hunter to his feet as Cam put the kit away.
"Nothing…just a bike accident," Hunter replied stoically. He looked pointedly at Cam who paused before nodding, giving a small sigh, but not debating the issue. Hunter rubbed wearily at his eyes, gingerly sitting down on the couch before giving in and lying himself down. He was asleep in minutes.
Dustin eyed him for a moment before turning to Cam."Dude, what did you give him?" he asked.
Cam smirked and sat down at his computer, absently checking the cameras."Some aspirin…and some sleeping pills…" Dustin said nothing, only shook his head slightly and left with a roll of his eyes. That was just like Cam… "Finally…some time to try and figure out what the heck he meant," Cam muttered to himself.
"What who meant?" Blake asked, giving his brother a curious look as he walked into the room.
Cam sighed, glancing at the younger Bradley and noticing the poorly hidden worry."Oh, nobody," he answered. Blake sat down on the couch, Hunter stretched out behind him. The navy ranger leaned back, resting his arm on his brother's shoulder, gazing down at his brother with a sigh. "He'll be fine," Cam reassured him, addressing the worried look on Blake's face. "It was just an injury from an old bike accident. Nothing to worry about."
Blake gave him a blank look, and then rolled his eyes. "Right. Bike accident." He returned his gaze to his brother, shaking his head. 'What aren't you telling me, bro?' he wondered. He would do anything for his brother, as he knew Hunter would do for him, and he hated it when Hunter kept things from him. Oh, he knew that Hunter had his secrets; he always had. Blake had been adopted by the Bradleys at the age of four, after his biological father had been arrested and sentenced to many years in prison for child abuse. Hunter had showed up two years later, at the age of nine, after having been taken away from a brother almost two decades older than him. The older Bradley had never actually talked about what had happened during those first nine years, and Blake didn't press him. But that didn't stop him from worrying.
Hunter wasn't one to share his feelings. He blocked everything, making sure to remain strong for Blake, until he would eventually just crumble. It didn't happen often, in fact, it hardly ever happened at all, but it had happened before. And Blake would do anything to never see it happen again. He didn't know what he would do if he lost Hunter. He gave another sigh, letting his eyes slide shut and pushing such thoughts from his mind.
"Whatcha lookin' for?" Tori asked as she too came into the room, giving Cam a curious look as he typed away at his computer.
The samurai gave a small sigh of his own, shaking his head. "I don't know… Something I guess…"
"You're always looking for something," she replied in good humor. She glanced at Blake, her lips tightening in concern. "You want to spar?" she asked, hoping to distract him from his brother's condition, which she had overhead about. Blake gazed at her for a long moment before shrugging and getting to his feet. Cam watched as they left for the back rooms of Ops, shaking his head.
He, once again, turned back to his computer, hoping to find something that would shed some light on Hunter's random attack. There had to be something about wolves right? Because why else would a so-called hallucination say that they—meaning the wolves—would all die? And why would it then attack Hunter? With a shuriken for that matter? He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. None of this was making any sense.
The next day the entire group of rangers met in front of Ninja Ops for their usual amount of training. Cam was there waiting for them, relaying the message that they were supposed to train against each other outside, using their elements when needed.
The Rangers gave nods of assent, but Shane gave Cam an odd look. "Dude, what's with that cut on your cheek?" he asked, motioning to the thin red line that traced Cam's cheek from temple to jaw.
Cam gave a shrug, his face not revealing anything. "Bad time with some kelzaks…" The others just nodded and shrugged, knowing exactly how that felt, and walked past him, but he held out his arm when Hunter neared him, stopping the crimson ranger from continuing.
"The wolves will die," Cam whispered, touching his cheek softly.
Hunter inhaled deeply, shaking his head in confusion and just a little fear. He knew he'd be in a lot more pain today if not for his ninja and Ranger healing abilities, and it was all because of the 'people' that had attacked him and Cam. "It doesn't make any sense," the Thunder Ranger muttered.
Cam nodded, dropping into a fighting stance and motioning for Hunter to do so the same. "It will eventually, I'm sure."
"That's what I'm afraid of…"
End Chapter One
