Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Disney and Haim Saban

Set after Thunder Strangers Part 1

Tori couldn't sleep. She'd been tossing and turning in what was usually her very comfortable bed for more than two hours now but she still couldn't sleep. She told herself it was because of the cuts and bruises she'd gained from the day's fights – except there weren't any, thanks to her enhanced Ranger healing abilities. With a sigh, she saw up and switched on her night light. Admit it; she told herself, you can't sleep because of those Thunder Rangers.

Sighing again, she pushed off the now stifling covers and sat up, running her hands through her tangled hair. And thought about the Thunder Rangers. She really didn't get it. Or them. Or anything to do with them.

She was rubbing her eyes when the first stone hit her window. The resulting thunk had her straightening and looking at the curtains covering her windows. Another thunk had her getting out of bed. She drew back the curtains and wasn't surprised to see Dustin in her backyard, one hand drawn back, the other clutching more stones. She opened the window before he had a chance to throw it. "Hey Dustin."

"Tori!" His grin was wide. "Hey, can I come up?"

"When have I ever said no?" She replied in a dry voice, pulling back so he could shimmy up the gutter. He scrambled over the window lip and nearly beaned his head on the surfboard she'd forgotten to set against the wall.

"Jeez, Tor," he glared at it. "What happened to Miss Neat and Tidy?"

"I'm sorry if I was a little distracted today," she replied in a voice dripping with sarcasm while she bent and picked up the surfboard, setting it against the wall.

Dustin sighed. "It's about me blowing off you guys 'cause of Hunter and Blake right? I'm sorry about that, you know. Really sorry."

"Dustin." She turned and, because he needed it, because she loved him, she gave him a warm, sisterly hug. "I know. You just got a bit carried away, that's all. You're always there for us when we need you, we know that." She stroked his hair once before they both stepped back. "Besides, it's not about that. It's about the Thunder Rangers."

"Thunder punks more like." He frowned and plunked his butt on the floor. "I was thinking of them too – ow!" He lifted his hand to rub the spot where the stone had bumped off his head.

Through the window, they heard a loud hiss of air, then Shane's voice called out; "oh, man, Tor! I'm so sorry, I didn't realise the window was open!"

Because it was so Shane, she bit back a chuckle as she moved to the said open window and stuck her head out. "It's okay, Shane. You only hit Dustin's hard head. Come on up."

When Shane was scrambling through the window, Dustin let the errant stone fly. It bounced off Shane's head, off the window lip and back outside. Shane fell head first into the room and Tori stepped over his sprawled body to close the window, keeping the night's chill out. "Let me guess," bracing her hands on her knees, she leant over him. "Couldn't sleep?"

He grinned, that huge friendly smile of his and wriggled until he was sitting upright. "Yeah. You could say that. Actually, I was thinking of the Thunder jerks."

"Can't you boys ever say Thunder Rangers?" Tori asked in a dry voice, sitting between them on the floor, cross-legged.

"Yes, but we don't wanna," Dustin said. "Besides, they're not Power Rangers. Not real ones. Power Rangers are meant to be good."

"Yeah." Shane nodded his agreement. "It's just so wrong that they're on Lothor's side. Evil Power Rangers? Man, it doesn't even sound right."

"What I want to know is who they are," Tori said. "And how they got their powers."

"Sensei never said anything about any Thunder Ranger morphers," Dustin said.

"Maybe that's because he didn't know about them." Shane suggested. "But it doesn't make any sense…how could Sensei not know about them?"

"I don't know," Tori said. "If you ask me, nothing about the Thunder Rangers makes any sense. Why they're fighting with Lothor. Why they seem to hate us."

"You know what bugs me?" Dustin asked. "It's like there's something familiar about them. But I can't place it."

"Yeah. I know what you mean," Shane agreed. "Sometimes, I think I know them then…" he shook his head and wriggled his hands. "Nothing."

They sat a while in silence, absorbing what the others had said. And thinking. Finally, Tori broke the silence. "Do you think we'll do it?"

Shane looked at her and, because she sounded small and scared and so much younger, he slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. Dustin secured an arm around her waist to keep them all in contact. "Do what?" Shane asked.

"Beat them. Lothor. Evil."

Dustin considered this. "Power Rangers have always beaten back evil." He said finally.

"Yeah, but what if…" she bit her bottom lip. "What if we break that, Dustin? You know, what if we're the weak link in the chain? What if we fail everyone? Sensei? Cam? Blue Bay harbor?"

"Tori…" unsure of what to say, Shane didn't say anything at all. Because he thought the same thing. Was plagued by the same fears.

They sat in silence again, a trio of scared teenagers lit by the tiny night lamp. "You know," Dustin said, "we've been doing pretty good so far. For a weak link." He added, and, absentmindedly, rubbed his nose on Tori's shoulder. "I mean, we've beaten everything Lothor's tossed at us so far, and then some."

"But we haven't beaten the Thunder punks yet," Shane reminded him.

"We will," he said in his eternally optimistic way. "'Cause good always wins over evil."

"Seems it does, doesn't it," Tori said after a moment's consideration. She eased back and stood up. "We'd better get to sleep. We've got school tomorrow," she reminded them. "Not to mention ninja training."

"Man Tor!" Dustin groaned, flopping onto his back.

"Hey, can we sleep here tonight?" Shane asked. "You've still got some of our clothes here, right?"

"Yeah sure." She dug through her cupboard and tossed them each an inflatable mattress. She didn't need to say her parents wouldn't mind. After all, how many times had she slept over at their houses? How many times had they snuck into each others' houses and ended up on the bedroom floor, conked out? Too many times over too many years to bother counting. So she just got them the blankets and the pillows they preferred and tossed them at the boys before getting into bed. Switching off the light, she listened to them wage a small war over space before finally settling down. And, with the comfort that her two best friends were with her, she finally drifted off to sleep.

And outside, looking through the window because Tori had forgotten to draw the curtains, two figures mulled over their decisions. "We could just go in there," suggested the shorter one. "Make them show us where it is."

The taller one, the leader, was sorely tempted. "No," he decided. "They're ninjas. They'd withstand anything we throw at them. And besides, torture is just...wrong.We stick to the plan."

The other, clad in navy blue, nodded at his companion's wisdom. "Let's get back then. Lothor," he sneered the name, "wants to know the next step of our plan."

With that, they ninja streaked - crimson and navy - up to the ship lurking above the Earth's atmosphere. Lothor, after all, was waiting.