Any Moment Reprise Chapter 2: Getta Loada Toad, a power rangers fanfic

Chapter 2

Getta Loada Toad

This chapter takes place between the Thunders leaving and the very beginning of episode 8, "Nowhere to Grow".

-:-:-:-:-:-

That, Dustin thought, that entire business was a mess.

The whole Thunder brothers kidnapping/revenge/continuous jerkface-ness business. The whole, let's fight each other, no let's fight together, no, let's go back to fighting each other confusing… thing where everything kept changing so fast that it made his head spin. That business.

And why had it happened?

The thunder rangers (somehow) had thought Sensei had killed their parents, which was whack because anyone who had spent more than five seconds with sensei would know that he would never do that. Seriously, five seconds, that was all it would take. Obviously, Hunter and Blake had spent much more than five seconds with him (remember, the whole kidnapping thing) but their minds had already been made up so that hadn't counted. Obviously.

It was a shame though; they could've saved themselves a lot of trouble.

They had said that Lothor had been convincing. Dustin hoped that was the case. It wouldn't be cool if they just enjoyed beating people up.

And by people, he meant him.

But what was done was done, and the two other rangers had skipped town. They didn't really give a reason why (it wasn't their fault they were tricked, so it wasn't like that could be counted), but they would probably be back. They were Power Rangers after all; they always came back in the comics.

That didn't stop Tori from being bummed. Not that she would say anything about it. She must've seriously had a thing for Blake. It was probably because he was little. Girls loved little things, like puppies, and purses, and those tiny cupcakes…that had to be it. He had charmed her with his midget ways.

With everything that had been happening Dustin had almost forgotten that he was going to get something for Cam. The tech had done an awesome job, he had earned it. The problem was what to get him. It was a tricky thing. Dustin knew he couldn't get Cam any kind of technical gadget (because he didn't know anything about that stuff and knowing himself he would probably get Cam something he already had, or something that was completely useless, or something he didn't want) and there weren't any costume shops in town, and Dustin couldn't sew, so he couldn't get Cam a cape like he originally planned.

It would've been so cool to see Cam in one of those.

Dustin had been walking home from Storm Chargers the day after they had cleared everything up with Blake and Hunter when inspiration had finally struck.

Or rather, was finally heard.

Ribbits that usually blended in with the white noise of the suburbs brought the brunette back to the frog monster they had fought after Cam had fixed their morphers.

It was genius, it really was.

Dustin would get Cam a frog. That way the dude would have company when they weren't there, and frogs were totally green which was Cam's favorite color. Well, that was more of a guess, but there had to be a reason he wore it all the time.

It was perfect. Dustin wasn't sure if pet stores sold frogs, but even if they did he still wanted to catch one. Sooo much more fun.

Which led to today, Thursday, the almost-greatest day of the week (the greatest being Friday).

Side-by-side, he and Shane walked to the creek that was near Dustin's house. Frog catching was made infinitely better by the presence of his best friend. Probably. Dustin didn't really know from experience but being with Shane made most things better. Dustin would've invited Tori but she had mentioned something about catching up on homework, and he didn't want to bother her (even if it was her loss).

"Why a Frog?"

Until now their trek had been silent, grass and dirt moist from the rain earlier, squishing beneath their worn out sneakers as they neared their destination.

Dustin smiled as he revealed his reasoning. "Dude, it's so perfect. He gets a present and a friend."

Not that Cam didn't have friends (they were totally Cam's friends), Dustin just wanted him to have company for when they weren't there.

"And a fish can't do that?"

Dustin's smile widened as his excitement began to return. "Fish are boring, and frogs are green man," he shared a knowing look with Shane. Obviously he wasn't the only one who noticed the one-shade wardrobe. "And like, every time it ribbits he'll totally think about how much we appreciate him. It's perfect."

Ribbits of love. It sounded like a cheesy kid's song.

"Whatever you say man," Shane replied, smiling easily. "Let's just hope it isn't too loud; don't want your plan to backfire and give Cam a headache."

Dustin hadn't thought of that. A surge of panic coursed through him and caused his hands to tighten around his frog-capturing jar. He whipped his head back around to face Shane, one question after the other jumbling in his mind and attempting to pour out his mouth at the same time.

"What? Do you think that could happen? He could just- well, if it got that bad he could-"

Shane sighed and brought his right hand up to comfortingly pat Dustin's back before wrapping the appendage around his shoulders. "I was just joking, Cam will like it."

"Of course," Dustin boasted, puffing his chest out. "It'll be from us, he has to like it."

They were forced words but hey, when worst came to worst, fake it. It usually worked.

They reached their destination, a creek, perfect for frog hunting, and Dustin pushed those unpleasant thoughts aside and got down to business.

"Alright, let's do this ninja style." He shared one last grin with his partner-in-crime before he turned and slowly crept down to the creek water. It was dark and murky, but near the middle he could just make out things moving around underneath the surface.

Jackpot.

The brunette twisted the lid (that he had so thoughtfully poked holes into) of the jar off and placed it on the ground silently, all the while keeping his movements as slow and smooth as he could. Shane eyed him with amusement and then looked back at the water, studying the shadows. Slowly, the red ranger leaned over the creek (so as to not startle the frogs) and moved his hands out, spread apart over the water. Dustin copied him.

Frog catching position assumed.

Both held still, waiting calmly for the moment one of the blobs swam close enough to be snatched up.

And…there. Dustin quickly plunged his hands into the water to catch his froggy prey. But just as he got his hands under it, it attempted to swim out of his reach. Sooo not happening. This guy was perfect; he was big, and definitely a frog, and… perfect. He had some nerve attempting to challenge the yellow ranger; didn't he know yellow ranger didn't lose?

Except for sometimes, but that wasn't now.

Dustin followed along with the frog, pushing himself forward and successfully trapping it between his hands. For a moment, all was right with the world.

And then in the following moment, everything was wet with the world. Sputtering, Dustin pulled himself out of the water, spitting out whatever creek germs had gotten into his mouth. Shane gave up ninja stealth for laughing, clutching his left hand to his side.

He somewhat redeemed himself by offering Dustin the jar in his right hand.

Dustin glanced down to see that he had managed to keep a hold of his frog in the spill and gladly shoved the thing into the jar, willing it far away and Shane twisted the lid back on it to seal off its escape.

The brunette wondered what Cam would name it. Probably a smart-ish sounding name like Phillip or Fergusson or…Leonard.

Leonard actually wasn't that bad.

Shane's laughter died down as he set the jar on the ground. He turned and offered his hand to Dustin.

"Ninja style, huh?" He smirked, face incredibly smug.

He stopped smirking when Dustin grabbed his hand and yanked the other teen into the creek with him, making sure they were both thoroughly drenched.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Mission accomplished, they made a quick stop at Dustin's house to change out of their soaking clothes before they got ready to deliver Cam's present. During the proceedings, Dustin didn't even try to hide his smirk. Shane grumbled at the lack of red in his borrowed wardrobe, but he would get no pity from this guy.

He shouldn't have laughed.

Originally Dustin had planned to give Cam his present at training the next day, but Shane's comment (even if it was just a joke) had made him rethink that idea. He decided to ease Cam into owning the frog-gift. And by ease into, Dustin meant leave it in Ninja Ops when Cam was out so that the tech could find it later, when they weren't there. That way, if Cam didn't like it he could get rid of it before training and they could all act like it never happened. Or the frog would be so awesome that Cam would grow to love it before training.

Either way, win-win.

It had taken some convincing, a little yelling (on Tori's part, not theirs), and a promise not to leave the aqua ranger out of any future plans (she should at least be given the option to turn them down, 'thank you very much') before the third musketeer was on board for plan "Sneak-Cam-the-frog". Dustin hadn't thought Tori would be that upset for missing out on the dirty part, and she probably wasn't but…well, he should probably be nice to her just in case.

He didn't want to mess anything up.

It wasn't until they were halfway to Ninja Ops before Tori noted a rather big flaw in Dustin's plan.

"So, how are you going to distract Cam?"

"What?" Dustin asked, snapping out of his daydream (he'd been at the track, with Shane of course). He looked up from his seat in the back to see Tori looking at him through the rear view mirror.

"You said you're going to sneak it in, right? That means Cam can't be in the room, so how are you going to getting him out?"

Shane watched them silently from the passenger seat with a small smile. He must have known what was coming next.

"Well…" the yellow ranger started, slowly scratching his head. "I hadn't actually thought of that yet."

"Seriously?" Tori sounded less than pleased.

"Hey come on, I came up with the whole frog idea, can't one of you guys think of a Cam-distraction?" Dustin wasn't even that good at planning, he was honestly surprised he had gotten this far.

"What would make Cam leave the main room?" Shane interrupted, leader-face fully engaged (this time for actual leadering).

Cue brainstorming time.

"Bathroom?" Dustin suggested, momentarily forgetting his earlier complaint. The other two stared at him.

"Are you suggesting we just wait around until Cam needs to use the bathroom? That could take hours." Tori said, clearly displeased with idea. And she was supposed to be the patient one.

"We could give him water." That ought to cheer her up; water was her thing.

"I think Cam would notice if we tried to force feed him water."

"Wouldn't it be like, force-drink?"

"Not the point."

"What about the Tsunami cycles?" Shane broke in, squeezing Tori's shoulder briefly. For…comfort? This conversation wasn't that stressful.

"They don't need water dude."

Shane looked at Dustin with an unreadable expression before he continued. "I meant that we," he pointed at himself and Tori, taking his hand off of her shoulder. "Could tell Cam we were having issues with the Tsunami cycles."

"Oh, I see," Tori chirped, smile reappearing. "Then he takes us to the bikes to see what's wrong and Dustin sneaks the tank in."

"Dude, that's awesome!" Dustin exclaimed, bouncing in his seat.

Being a part of a team was the best; he never would have thought of something like that on his own.

He tried to look at that positively.

But…

"There's nothing wrong with the bikes."

Shane waved it off like it was a minor detail. "Well you know that, and I know that-"

"I bet Cam knows that too." Tori goaded, a knowing look on her face.

"Look, we just have to get him out of the room. We'll play dumb when everything works, and we'll be fine." Shane looked back and forth between the two of them. "Are we good?"

Dustin nodded with Tori.

They were good.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Dustin waited quietly, fingers crossed for Shane and Tori. Hopefully Cam would buy Shane's idea. The yellow ranger felt a little bad for lying (well, encouraging lying) to Cam. He knew that they didn't talk that often - well, he did try, but Cam never seemed to want him (or Shane) around - but the tech was still part of the team. A super important, Lothor-would-have-probably-taken-over-the-world-if -not-for-him, part of the team and he didn't deserve to be lied to.

Dustin had a sudden thought. What if Cam thought they were making fun of him? Like they had run out of things to do and decided to pull a fast one on him to pass the time? Dustin knew from experience that never left you with a good feeling.

No, Cam was smart enough to know they would never do that. Or like, Tori would never do that. (The guy had a soft spot for Tori, even if he wouldn't admit it.) And then he'd see Dustin's frog-with-frog-tank gift and everything would be happy.

The silence was broken as the door to Ninja Ops slid open, Cam's voice carrying into the forest.

"What are you suggesting, that I'm incapable of repairing your bikes?"

Cam sounded annoyed, climbing the stairs at a rapid pace. At least they managed to get him outside.

"That's not it at all Cam, we just want to see if the bugs…" Dustin could practically hear Cam glare at Tori, "…if the issues we were having were really gone, that way if they were still there you could see for yourself."

"We're just trying to be responsible," Shane added, patting Cam's shoulder as they headed towards the mobile command center.

When they were far enough away Dustin streaked into Ninja Ops, coming to a halt in the main room.

Now, where to put it… he probably should have thought of that beforehand…Cam's lab!

It was a quick trip, and Dustin found a table near the center of the lab and left the tank there, stepping back to admire his handiwork, but only for a little bit. Cam wouldn't be distracted for long.

Dustin really hoped he liked it. The brunette knew it wasn't…well, a normal thing to get someone, but he hoped the thought and effort that went into it would make up for that.

Pff, what was he worried about? Cam was a smart guy, he'd figure it out.

Mind made up, Dustin streaked out of Ninja Ops, racing back towards Tori's van.

Cam would like it. Dustin could just feel it.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Cam stared.

Then (just to be sure) he took off his glasses and carefully cleaned the lenses with the edge of his shirt, taking expert care to get rid of any smudges (as if a smudge could do this).

Process complete, he replaced his glasses.

The tank was still there.

He had thought- no, he had known something was amiss when Shane and Tori had made that pointless visit, dragging him away from his work. And what did they want him to check up on? Nothing. A whole load of nothing. That was what it turned out to be, because absolutely nothing had been wrong with the Tsunami cycles.

This reminded Cam of something…what was it? Oh, that was right, it reminded him of earlier, when he had checked on the Tsunami cycles after the fight and found out that there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. Exactly how bored had they been that they felt the need to bother him? And if they were going to waste his time they could at least think of a decent excuse. They owed him that much.

It wasn't until after they had left, disgustingly pleased with themselves (for no good reason) that Cam realized that there was something bigger going on.

He should have figured it out when Shane showed up without Dustin, because that never happened. In fact, if they were having legitimate issues with the bikes at all (not that they were, but hypothetically) it would make infinitely more sense for them to go to Dustin first.

But back to the matter at hand.

There was a tank. A tank with a bulky red bow that had at the very least 12 pieces of tape haphazardly holding it in place. Cam didn't even have to read the note that had been strategically stuffed into the bow to realize whose handiwork this was. It had Dustin written all over it.

So Shane and Tori had been decoys.

Seeing as it wasn't going to go away anytime soon (he could only hope), Cam decided to take a closer look at this…thing that was taking up prime space on his favorite table. It was an old fish tank with what appeared to be a make-shift lid of cardboard taped on top. It didn't quite cover the entire tank, but left two small slits on its sides for…air?

Cam bent over and studied the contents of the tank. It had been divided down the middle, one side packed with dirt and the other with pond water and there, perched on the edge of the water, was a frog.

A frog.

Through this, Cam managed to discern one thing.

Dustin had a convoluted thought process.

As he straightened back up he grabbed the note out of the bow and steeled himself for whatever its contents might express. Carefully, he unfolded the wrinkled sheet of notebook paper. The bold chicken scratch read as such:

TO: CAM

FROM: NOT LOTHOR

(SHANE, DUSTIN, AND TORI)

THANKS FOR THE HARD WORK. WE APRECEATE IT.

PS. YOU SHOULD NAME HIM LEONARD

Truly, a stimulating read.

Cam tried not to cringe at the blatant spelling errors, but couldn't help but note how good it was that Dustin lived in the age of spell check. The brunette probably wouldn't go far otherwise.

A quick patter of feather light footsteps carrying into the room was the only warning Cam had before his father landed on the lab table next to his…gift. His father made a cursory trip across the front of the tank to consider its insides before he chose to speak.

"Ah, so that is what Dustin snuck in here."

"You saw this happen?" And he didn't stop him? Or at least ask the earth ninja what it meant?

"Yes, but I didn't want to interrupt. It seems he put a lot of work into this."

"It's a frog." Cam grunted, glaring at the subject of their conversation with distaste.

It stared back at him blankly.

"It is a gift." His father reminded Cam, small arms folding behind his back.

A moment of quiet drifted over them as they contemplated the frog. Or at least, as Cam contemplated the frog. There had to be some significance.

His father broke the silence.

"What is its name?"

Cam glanced back down at his note, squinting at the bottom line.

"Leonard, apparently." Cam frowned. "It's a stupid name."

He forced his eyes away when his father looked up at him, knowing full well he disapproved of his comment, but Cam wouldn't take it back. It was a stupid name. It was a stupid gift. Why a frog? He had given no indication, no hint no…nothing that he even had a predilection towards that specific kind of amphibian, let alone a desire to own one.

But somehow, he wasn't sure how (this was Dustin after all), somehow it fit.

And somehow it made Cam feel a little more a part of a team.

Not that he would ever tell them.

He carefully folded the note back up and placed it on the table before he turned and went over to his computer, settling himself in for some light research.

If he was going to keep this thing, he should probably learn what it ate.

-:-:-:-:-:-

Endnotes:

On Improving:

Muse: "Have you already gone back and edited this once with what you know now?"

Me: "In regards to the story, or in regards to the grammar?"

Muse: "Yes."

Me: "…I gave you two options."

*pause* "Which one?"

Muse: "The grammar."

Me: "Oh, then yeah."

Muse: "Yeah, it's much better. I remember this being worse."

Me: "Heh, I thought you were going to say something along the lines of 'then why is this still awful?'"

Muse: "Nope, much better."

Muse Misread:

Dustin: "Fish are boarding, and frogs are like green man."

*frowns* "…I don't know where the 'like' came from."

Tracking:

"The other" count (chapter): 0

"The other" count (cumulative): 3

Until next time.