A/N: Hey friends! Decided to post another chapter today! The updates won't be as regular anymore since I start classes Thursday, but I will keep editing and posting with not more than a week in between. Should be fun.

Also, this chapter is one I wrote myself to make up for not writing in years. I decided to make Tommy Dani's brother instead of father, just because of the space between Turbo and Ninja Storm. But yeah! Hope you love this story!

And as always, review! Tell me how I can make this better!

XOXO

-Paige

DISCLAIMER: I own Dani alone. I don't own Power Rangers.

Ch. 4: And The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Dani ran at her normal speed away from her pursuer. She flipped over tables, jumped across buildings, did handsprings on the beach and slid down railings, but he was hot on her trail. She ran almost faster than she could ever run without streaking. She kept up that pace until she was cornered between two skyscrapers and realized there was no way out. Not without a fight, at least. He wouldn't allow it.

She threw several punches at him, all of which he either blocked or dodged. She had barely escaped all of his hits, but they wouldn't stop coming. She slid tackled him once, but he sprung back up and drove a kick to her stomach. She got up and threw two more punches, but he caught both of them, and turned her back to the ground. Before she knew it, he stood over her. She was done for.

He offered her his hand. "You're getting stronger, Dan."

Dani accepted his hand, rubbing her shoulder after she got up. "And you are still as strong as ever, Tom."

Thomas "Tommy" Oliver looked at his baby sister with a smile. "Bet you'll get to be better than me."

The ninja scoffed. "I doubt it. I just got my black belt last year, and you got yours when you were thirteen."

Tommy chuckled. "That's because I've been fighting since I could walk. You only started a little after.."

"After Dave died," Dani sighed, leaning her head on her brother's shoulder. "It'll take me ten years to be that good."

"Aw, don't be so hard on yourself, kid," he said, pulling her in for a hug."You're a great fighter."

She smiled and returned the embrace. "You have no idea how much it means for you to say that." Dani sighed. "I miss him."

"Me too, Dan," Her brother hugged her tighter. "Every day. But I see his stubbornness and compassion rubbed off on you"

"Like you're one to talk," Dani muttered, a tear escaping from her eye.

Tommy grinned. "That may be true. And hey, at least you're smiling now." She chuckled at this. After they stepped apart, he asked, "You wanna grab lunch?"

Dani was about to say yes when her watch beeped. She frowned, realizing she had to go for her class. "I'll have to rain check. I forgot I have a mandatory volleyball practice in 20 mins. How long will you be home?"

"I'll be home today and tomorrow," He sighed. "Then back to school."

"You had to get that degree, didn't ya?" his sister teased. "You'll do great, Tommy. I'll be home in a few hours." She gave him one last hug before running to her army green Jeep.

Later, by the waterfall near the portal of the academy, the air, water, earth, and hurricane ninjas were sparring against each other. Shane and Tori were going at it while Dani was dodging all of Dustin's moves and throwing her own punches and kicks into the mix. He had almost dodged them all until she flipped over him and delivered a kick to his rear end, throwing him to the ground. He tried to get up only to be pushed to the ground by her hand. "Got you, Brooks," she smirked."

He sighed. "I can't believe you completely kicked my butt," Dustin shook his head. "Even literally."

Dani chuckled. "I gotta go find the other two."

As she streaked away, he yelled behind her. "You got lucky, Oliver!"

A hop, skip, and a jump away, Blue and Red fought relentlessly. Tori's fluid fighting was almost a dead match for Shane's ferocity. Almost.

Tori delivered several kicks and punches to Shane, but he was better at dodging than she was.

After a few lucky blows to her side, Shane managed to flip over Tori and pin her to the ground.

He grinned. "Nice try, Hanson."

She smiled right back. "You did good, Clarke," she admitted, "but Dani's going to kick your butt."

"Bet me."

"Ten dollars." She held out her hand.

He shook it firmly. "In her dreams."

Shane streaked around the forest, unable to find the white ninja. He knew that he couldn't use powers, but he wished he could so he could scout out the area. He stood defensively, constantly moving around to not have his back turned.

All of a sudden, a loud "Hi-yah!" descended from a tree and was getting closer and closer until Dani's foot landed on Shane's back. He landed with a thud, quickly getting up to fight. However, the kick left Shane out of it, and Dani won the spar with ease by sweeping her foot to his ankles.

Dani grinned. "Boosh."

"Yeah yeah, Shane retorted, wishing he hadn't bet Tori.

"You looked good, Shane," she said honestly, helping him up. "Just keep your eyes open and your reflexes sharp."

The red ninja smiled as they walked back to Ops. "Thanks, Dan," he said. "You're an insanely talented fighter."

White smiled as they stepped through the trapdoor. "Thanks. Tons and tons of practice went into it."

"I can tell," Sensei said. The two were greeted by him, Dustin, Tori, and Cam. "You did well, Danielle. However, I recommend you take a break from training. I do not want you to overexert yourself."

"Thank you, Sensei,," Dani smiled, "but I'll be fine."

"How long have you been training?" Tori asked, concerned about her friend, but not before getting the $10 she won from Shane.

The brunette thought about it. "What time is it?"

"Two thirty," Shane replied, checking his own watch.

"Then four hours. Five if you count an hour of meditation."

"Straight?!" Dustin's eyes widened. "You haven't taken a break?"

"I've got sleep for that," Dani explained, not seeing what the big deal is. "Besides, I wanna be ready for Lothor's goons."

"Yeah, but you won't be any good if you pass out from exhaustion," Cam told her.

She looked at him and sighed. "Cam.."

"At least take a ten minute snack and water break," he begged. "I want my friend to be alive, and she has to drink water and eat to do that."

Dani groaned. "Fine." She grabbed her water bottle and sandwich from her bag and sprawled out on the floor.

Cam looked to his father. "Think she's gonna be okay?"

"I think," Sensei replied, "that you need to be there for her. She needs to slow down and feel what she's feeling."

Cam nodded as he watched her fall asleep after finishing her sandwich.

An hour went by before Dani realized she had fallen asleep on the floor. She saw Cam typing away at his computer, and taking her water bottle with her, she went and placed her head on Cam's shoulder.

He snickered. "Morning, sleepy." The brunette groaned as she sipped on her half-empty water bottle. "You know sleep is good for you, right?" He asked her.

"But I could've missed something," Dani pouted. "Did I?"

"Just a call from your dad. And you just missed it too."

"Crap," she muttered as she went to get her phone. As she did, however, Cam's computer started beeping. "What was that?"

"New walls downtown," Cam crinkled his nose. "But I'm detecting life signatures from them."

"I'll go check it out!" Dani piped as she ran towards the exit.

Cam sighed, knowing he couldn't stop her. "You're in your ninja suit still, genius!" He yelled as she left.

After putting her clothes over her suit again, Dani parked her Jeep and investigated the new walls. The location Dani got from Cam was right downtown, where a lot of people should be out and about at. When she arrived, however, the only other beings in sight were Kelzaks and an alien who looked like a giant concrete block. The monster viewed her out of the corner of his eye. "Welcome, ranger. You like what I've done with the place?"

"What do you want, blockhead?" Dani shouted back.

The monster snickered. "That's easy. I want you to be out stone cold!" As this happened, Kelzaks rushed over to where Dani was standing. She fought several Kelzaks off with her combat skills, flipping, kicking, and punching many. After awhile, she grew tired. "Cam?" She spoke into her morpher. "Needing backup!

"Backing up? Okay!" The monster screamed, slamming itself into Dani, knocking her down.

"Come on," she muttered. After she picked herself up, she knew she had no choice.

"NINJA STORM! RANGER FORM! HA! POWER OF THE HURRICANE!"

"Bring it!"

"You asked for it!" The monster growled, running at her. White punched and kicked, but hurt herself each time. The blockhead pushed, hit, and threw her to the ground until she could barely stand.

Dani whimpered in pain while the monster cornered her. "Now for you to join the wall of pain!" He laughed maniacally, pulling his laser gun out of its holster.

Before he could do that, three laser beams hit him on the back. He turned around to find the red, blue and yellow rangers facing him. "Yo Blocky!"

"Ah, there are the other rangers!" The monster grinned. "Ready to join the other people in that wall?"

"Let them go!" Tori cried.

"Gotta catch me first!" He snapped, summoning an army of Kelzaks and slipping through a portal. Dani got up and fought with them, but afterward, she fell weak and demorphed.

"Power down!" The rangers commanded and rushed to the white ranger's side.

"Dani, you okay?" Shane asked?

"Fine," she grumbled, wincing in pain.

"No you're not," Tori corrected her, as Dustin and Dani helped her up and carried her back to Ops.

Cam provided ice packs and pain killers for the white ranger when she returned. Dani hated being babied, but the rangers weren't having it any other way. Dani hadn't rested for so long in months. And she hated it.

While the rangers were training their ninja powers in the quarry, Dani groaned. "I should be out there, not buried under ice packs."

Sensei sighed. "I know you love training, Danielle," he said, walking over to where she lay. "But you have not given yourself enough time to rest up. Even power rangers need sleep."

Dani shrugged. "I'm used to working off of little sleep. I do it all the time."

"I am aware," Sensei nodded. "You are working so hard so you have no time to process what is going on in your mind, and that is an essential skill to have when you are a ninja. And what you are doing to yourself with rest cannot be healthy."

"Maybe I don't want to process what's going on," Dani muttered.

"Dani, Dad's right," Cam said calmly. "You're not resting, which doesn't leave you sufficient strength to fight when Lothor's goons today-"

Dani rolled her eyes. "Yeah I know I got my butt handed to me today, Cam."

"I wasn't finished," He told her. "You're not letting yourself feel because you're constantly practicing fighting so much. That amount of activity is inhumane. You need to breathe."

"I fight because it's what I've been doing my whole life," she snapped, getting up. "From the moment I could read I've fought loss, bullying, loneliness, and a lot of pain. I've fought to keep the smile on my face even when I'm hurting. That's part of why I keep being a goof, so you won't see how broken I am! No one wants to see that!"

"Dani, that's not true-"

"And now I can't fight, so what am I supposed to do?!"

"Try to let me in for once!"

Dani couldn't speak. She was shaking and tearing up. She was hurting, angry, and sad. She was vulnerable. "I need to go," she quipped before running out of Ops.

"Dani!" Cam called, starting to go after her.

"Wait, Cam," Sensei said, flipping in front of his son. "Give her time."

"But Dad-"

"She will learn to let us in," the guinea pig said kindly. "She will come back when she is ready."

Dani parked the beach where she played volleyball and trained so often. She watched the waves as she did when she had a lot on her mind. Next to her, her brother's black Jeep pulled in and parked. "Hey," he said softly.

"Hey yourself," she replied, her mind still elsewhere.

"What's wrong?" he asked, exiting his car to jump into his sister's passenger seat.

"I'm fine, Tom," she told him, eyes still on the waves.

"Danielle Grace," Tommy said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "You can pull that with a lot of other people, but you aren't fooling me. We're related, remember?"

The ninja let out a smirk. "Oh yeah, I forgot." Dani sighed. "Why is trusting people so hard now?"

He smiled sadly and put an arm around her. "Because you went through a lot of things a sixteen year-old shouldn't. You grew up pretty fast."

"That wasn't entirely my fault," Dani said defensively.

"Never said it was, Dan." He sighed. "Sis, ever since David passed away, you've made it tougher and tougher for people to get in. You need to let the walls come down."

"I would," she started. "Except that every time I try, someone uses my vulnerability against me and I'm just as hurt." Dani buried her head in Tommy's shoulder. "I don't want to hurt anymore."

"But your teammates seem different from the kids that messed with you."

"My what?"

He laughed. "Dani, I've told you I was a ranger. I know a morpher when I see one. And you've been wearing white a lot."

She laughed as she looked at her white tank top. "Touche."

"But seriously. You won't know how they'll treat you unless you try." He looked into her brown eyes. "And, if they do end up being jerks, I can always teach them a lesson.

Dani smiled. "Thanks, Tommy."

Meanwhile at Storm Chargers, Dustin was working while Tori was watching Shane nail a new trick outside. After the fifteenth time, he landed on his rear end.

"Nice one," Tori chuckled.

Shane glared at her. "Thanks for the support, teammate."

She smiled. "You know, maybe you should take a break? You don't wanna be too sore when that cement monster comes back."

He sighed. "Like Dani?"

She nodded. "I wonder what's gotten into her, anyway? I've never seen her this bad. She was doing awesome in training."

Shane shrugged. "I don't know, but sounds like she needs time to work through it." He laughed. "I know I did."

"You needed something alright."

"Hey!"

Tori laughed as the two walked inside to meet their teammate. "Anything from Dani?" Dustin asked, and frowned when the two shook their heads.

"Relax," Kelly smiled as she walked in from the back. "If I know anything about our young friend, she won't rest until she finds an answer."

Ironically, Dani fell asleep in her car on Tommy's shoulder. She had been out an hour and a half. Tommy didn't mind. He didn't get to spend much time with her, so he better make the most out of it.

Suddenly, her morpher beeped, but Dani didn't wake. Her brother shook her until she almost jumped. She frowned. "Tommy, what the-" She recognized the beeping. "Cam?"

"Hey all star, you heal yet?" Cam's voice came through the communicator.

Her face sank. She had treated him badly. "Yeah. Look Cam-"

"Thank God. The others are fighting that blockhead downtown. They could use some Hurricane power."

She nodded. "I'm good. I'm on my way." She hopped out of her Jeep and looked to her brother and hugged him again. "Thank you."

Tommy smiled. "Go get 'em, tiger."

"NINJA STORM! RANGER FORM! HA! POWER OF THE HURRICANE!"

She streaked to where the other rangers were standing. "What did I miss?"

"Dani!" Dustin smiled.

"You good?" Shane asked, still concerned for her.

Dani nodded, looking at her teammates, her friends. "Yeah, I'm good. Promise."

"You won't be for long!" The monster screamed as he shot lasers at the rangers.

"That's what you think!" Tori shouted.

"I got an idea," Shane said. He looked to his teammates. "You trust me?"

"Yeah!" Tori nodded.

"You bet!" Dustin agreed.

Dani smiled. "Absolutely."

The four streaked to four different corners of the city. They attacked the monster from each side, causing him to fall. With a few kicks and punches, a Storm Striker blast, and a megazord battle, the Wind Rangers brought the cement monster down, restoring the people back to normal.

While the other rangers returned to Storm Chargers, Dani raced back to Ops, and the white ninja flew into her best friend's arms, devouring him in a hug. This is a hug he embraced easily, happy to see she was okay. After the two stepped apart, Cam smiled. "Well hey there."

"Hi," Dani returned his smile. "Listen, I'm sorry I kept you out of my walls. It's just been hard to trust a lot of people in my life. Even you."

"I get that," Cam nodded, "but I'm not those people. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you." He took her hands into his and looked her in the eyes. "I promise."

"I promise too. And I promise I'll get into a better sleeping schedule soon." Dani turned to her teacher. "Thank you for caring for me, Sensei. Thanks for letting me come back to my senses."

"Thank you for coming back," Sensei replied. "The team would not function as well without you."

"Even as goofy as you are," Cam smirked. Dani stuck her tongue out at the Sensei's son, just proving his point further.