Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers in any way, shape or form.
Author's note: I sincerely apologize. I've let this story fall by the wayside when that was never my intention. I started this back in '04 (can't believe it's been that long) and I've had a few rough patches in life that got in the way. And I was thinking about this story and all of the wonderful people who read it, reviewed it, added me and the story to their favorites, etc.
I'm aiming to finish this because this has been nagging at me for quite some time. In the process, I've been going back and editing the chapters to give them a little more substance, spelling/punctuation errors, etc, especially this chapter because at the time, it was a rush job and I uploaded it just to get it out of the way and that was doing a disservice not only to myself, but the readers as well. With the pity party out of the way, enjoy. :)
There was no time like the present. Dustin, however, wished that this moment was over and done with. He wasn't a fan of confrontation. He didn't like the way his heart would beat erratically in chest, the words that stuttered out of his mouth, or the uneasy feeling that would was over him when he felt himself whenever he found himself in the middle of some conflict. Especially with people he considered his friends and family. His friendship was at stake. And he knew that this was a necessary step in saving it.
He made his way down to the skate park after finishing a short shift at Storm Chargers. Business was unusually slow that day which rarely happened, so Kelly gave him the option of finishing out the rest of his shift or taking the rest of the day off. Actually, she had insisted on the latter after witnessing Dustin moping around the shop. and hearing his situation with Shane. She'd known the inseparable duo for a few years and it crushed her to know that they weren't on speaking terms.
It was easy to spot Shane who was decked out in his red checkered shirt, khaki cargos and his white high tops. He was never seen without it when he was skating. Dustin laughed when Shane told him that his closet was filled with seven of each item. It was his lucky outfit - he performed his first 360 while wearing it. Even one of the younger guys that Shane taught took to wearing the same outfit. It was his form of looking up to his hero as he so kindly put it.
Dustin watched from a few feet away as the boy in question tried to nail a 360. He successfully completed a 180, but a groan of disgust was all that was heard as he slid down the half-pipe on his padded knees. He picked up his board, and ripped off his helmet in anger.
"Man, I'm never going to be able to pull it off," the youngster said as he approached. He was fifteen, his pitch black hair was matted to his scalp from wearing his helmet, and he had a visible scar on his shin. Whenever he saw it, Dustin would grimace. It reminded him of his first major scar when he started racing. The feelings he had were ones that Dustin was quite familiar with.
"Alex, remember what I told you?" Shane playfully patted the top of his head. "You're not going to be able to pull it off on your first try. Tony didn't pull off his 720 on his first try, did he? He's got the bumps, bruises and broken bones to prove it."
"I'm still trying to nail a kick flip," Dustin said, taking it upon himself to chime in. He was deathly afraid of boarding, and he nearly crapped his pants when Shane convinced him to try the half-pipe. Being that high up in the air with very little protection scared the hell out of him.
"What's up, Dustin?"
"Not much, bro." The two exchanged a handshake, a simple one he and Shane had come up with; a high five followed by a double fist pound and a chest bump. Tori wasn't too thrilled with learning it when the guys offered to teach it to her.
Shane was surprised to see Dustin, but that feeling lasted briefly. A flash of anger set in his eyes, but he tossed that aside when he remembered they were in the presence of Alex. "And he hasn't been back on a board since." He caught Dustin's wide grin out of the corner of his eye, and he returned the same grin although not as wide.
"I think that's enough for today, Alex. I'll meet up with you same time tomorrow." Shane sent Alex off with a high five and packed his board. Once he was out of viewing distance, he fully acknowledged Dustin's presence. "So, what brings you here?"
Dustin frowned at the tone in which his friend asked his question. It wasn't entirely unexpected but it hurt nonetheless. He was nervous about where to start, a knot of tension building up in his stomach. So, he just came out with it; now or never.
"Look, I just came to talk. I haven't seen much of you lately and I miss hanging out with you. I know you're mad at me, but I want to apologize. I want things to be how there where before this mess got in the way." The words came at a hundred miles per minute, but he was somewhat relieved that he had broken the ice. Lately, he was getting quite used to it. "Look, I know I messed up. I admit that, but how we were supposed to know that Blake and Hunter were out to get us."
Shane scoffed as the words came out of Dustin's mouth, but he gave in and turned to face him. "We've been friends for as long as I can remember, and we've always been there for each other, but your biggest problem is trusting everyone, Dustin! You always want to see the good in everyone, and that's fine, but time and time again people end up walking all over you. And who ends up bailing you out? Me. Or Tori.
Shane stopped the instant he saw friend's mood change. He thought maybe he went to far, but he was adamant that Dustin heard what he had to say.
"We're Power Rangers now, Dustin." His voice went low and sharp while Dustin glanced to the right then to the left to make sure there weren't any eavesdroppers hovering around. "Power Rangers" was pretty much a taboo word out in public. "We can't afford those kind of mistakes right now, not when the safety of the city is on our shoulders."
Dustin fell silent, taking in every word Shane had relayed to him. He knew of the things he had to work on: wearing his heart of his sleeve, showing up to class late, his hysterical fear of clowns. Although those problems had not affected his life in a dramatic way, he really didn't give it much thought since becoming a Power Ranger. It was actually his being tardy that lead them to their current predicament and had even saved him from capture as funny as that might have been.
"Look, I'll give you a call later or something and we can talk about it some more. Just not right now." Shane hoisted his board underneath his arm before turning away to leave.
Dustin reached for his shoulder so he wouldn't move any further. "I do. I'm not leaving until we settle this for good." He was surprised at what he had done. His body reacted on his own while he head was still a jumbled mess of emotions and words. His heartbeat quickened as he thought about what could happen next. Surely Shane wouldn't hit him? They've had their share of scuffles when they were younger, but both of them grew out of that phase once they hit their teens. However, he mentally prepared himself to anticipate anything.
As he thought of what was going to happen next, flashes of black and traces of red register in the corner of his eye. He knew what it was before it even registered in his brain. The hair raised on the back of his neck and on instinct, his body entered in a defensive stance. A quick look over to Shane and he saw that he had done the same.
"Did you - ?"
"Yeah. Kelzaks." As soon as he mentioned the name, an army of Kelzaks scattered out from the trees, waving their blades. They skittered around the area, civilians screaming and falling over each other as they attempted to leave the park. There were too many eyes for them to morph. "What are we going to do?"
Shane furrowed his brow as he tried to come up with a solution. In times like these, he hated the added pressure. When they became rangers, the role of leader was dumped upon him. He didn't ask for it, yet he didn't fight against it. Usually when he made decisions for the group, it was deciding what movie to see or where to eat. Now that he was placed in the role of saving the world, he had to be careful with his choices and he had to make them count.
"We should call Cam." Dustin was in the process of lifting his morpher up to speak, but Cam was already on the situation.
"Don't bother. I've already picked up some readings at your location. There's about a few dozen Kelzaks that are waiting for you to make their acquaintance. And in even more wonderful news, there's more down at the quarry. Tori and the guys are already occupied with that situation. The safety of the civilians is our main concern, but try not to draw attention to yourselves, alright?"
"What do we do?"
"I honestly don't have any ideas. Try to hold them off as best as you can. I wish I could do more to help. I'll keep you updated on the others.".
A lot of good that was going to do them. Shane was already on the move.
"You're not going to take them on by yourself, are you?" Dustin called out to his friend as he made a dash for the Kelzaks. He was starting to wonder if Shane had learned anything from the Scroll of Three lesson. At this point, it was hard to tell.
"No, you're going to help me," Shane replied as he stopped short of his destination. "We're gonna try to kill two birds with one stone: cause a distraction and get the civvies out of here. You think you can summon up a few dirt clouds like you did at training?"
A bulb went off in Dustin's head as it dawned on him what Shane was up to. "I'm not sure if I can do a whole lot, but I can try."
"Good. Some is better than none. I'll take a few of them down and I'll give you the signal." Shane took off in the oncoming path of their enemies while Dustin tried to round up as many people as he could.
During Dustin's running around to rush the remaining stragglers from the skate park, he took a few glances at Shane's battle and was happy to see that he was holding his own. He watched as he took down a Kelzak with a roundhouse kick and flowed smoothly into a sweep kick to take out two more. An attempted rush from behind was halted when Shane flipped backwards and delivered a kick to the lower back, sending his enemy crashing into another.
"Dustin! Now!"
He didn't think twice as he turned his attention to the scene and the area around it. It was easier for him to manipulate his own element due to him being tuned to the Earth itself. He felt a rush of vibrations move through his body as he noticed the ground start to come alive, pockets of dirt shooting to the sky. Clumps of dirt and rock exploded in the air as if being assaulted by a round of grenades. As the cloud grew larger with each second, Shane and the gang of Lothor's goons disappeared and the only things noticeable from Dustin's view were streaks of red moving from one point to the next at a rapid pace. Once the cloud began to disperse, Kelzaks fell one by one. As the final one fell and vanished, Shane was the only one left standing.
Dustin threw a fist in the air as Shane ran back, but the victory was short-lived when an unfamiliar figure appeared. The weird figure danced wildly in one spot. His head was adorned with what seemed to be miniature skyscrapers.
"I wouldn't celebrate so soon, Power Punks! Madtropolis at your service. Well, Lothor's service, but who's keeping tabs?"
"So much for working things out." Dustin's thoughts of the day getting better were washed away as he realized that things were shifting from bad to worse.
