26. pride [thunder strangers pt 2

Yeah, okay, so she'd saved his butt.

He'd meant to do the hero thing, take out a wimpy monster Zurgane had summoned down, show her that she could truly trust him, further the plan, stay on schedule, all of that stuff. Plus he'd sort of hoped he'd get a date out of it. So he'd arrived unmorphed to find the pretty petite blonde not quite holding her own against the ugly frog monster that'd turned out to be the alien-of-the-week. Usually Blake had a general disdain for most of the aliens summoned down, but this one was one of the worst.

It was purple.

Blake rolled his eyes and slammed on the gas, his hands shifting gears almost automatically - the thrum of the machine below him comforting almost as much as the thought of Tori thanking him for saving her. What would she say? Where would they go? Perhaps the café, he was pretty sure he'd seen her walking out of it one - his thoughts caught up to him right about the time he realized that maybe this plan wasn't so foolproof after all.

He slid past the purple frog thing, almost falling right off his bike. Tori battled the alien in the distance and Blake growled under his breath. Now it had become a pride thing. He hadn't been expecting the monster to give him any trouble and now the damsel in distress was fighting her own battle - he would have to finish him, if only on principle.

Unfortunately, he hadn't really considered the fact that the frog might actually finish him.

The first time he woke, it was only for a second, but he got a glimpse of blonde hair and pretty blue eyes and a worried frown. He was so tired though, so moments later, he fell back into blissful unconsciousness. The next time he woke up, he was lying on green grass and it took him about three milliseconds to realize what must've happened. Tori had taken him back to Ninja Ops - he almost crowed with excitement before realizing that might give away the whole 'evil-ranger-thing'.

He was feeling a hell of a lot better though, even with nerd-boy by his side. Whatever whammy the frog had hit him with had worn off, though he was pretty damn tired. He sent out a silent, invisible bit of energy to mark the location and then decided that a nap would do him good. He bet the next time he woke up he'd see Hunter, and his brother would know what to do about his aching pride and the ugly-ass purple frog still running around.

And maybe he still had a chance with Tori. He hoped they'd manage at least one date before he had to destroy the Wind Rangers.