Ended up with a couple of days dissertation-free (handed in draft to supervisor and can't do anything else until I have the rest of my results) so got to finish this chapter. One and a half weeks to go before freedom!
Anyway, before we begin just a couple of quick Author's Notes:
1) This chapter is something completely different... For me at least. I've never attempted to write Dustin before so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
2) Huge thank yous to RebelPaisley as always for being a super-awesome beta and for being the authority on all things Dustin ;-)
3) Finally just realised I've never said anything about the musical lyrics you might have noticed at the start of chapters. While they all relate either to what happens in the chapter or because they remind me of the character speaking, they all come from music I listen to on a regular basis. My favourite songs. If you want to check any of them out, chapter titles are the title of the song :-) For Dustin I can only apologise but this song makes me giggle, and so does he!
Until next time
~the real vampire~
10. Dustin
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle yeah
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wig-yeah, yeah
Do the wiggle man
I do the wiggle man
I'm sexy and I know it…
Ayyy, yeah
~LMFAO
I'm tired.
Like, way freakin' tired.
Like I've just done the Dakar Rally on a bicycle. Or tried to cross the Pacific on a paddle boat. Or an evil alien has zapped all my energy.
Oh, wait. That last one's not a joke.
This was totally not how my Saturday was meant to go.
We were meant to do the boring homework-y stuff and then do the super-cool ninja stuff – and be awesome at it – and then I was going to go to the track and try doing the sickest backflip, which I also would have rocked. And try to get my lap times down too I guess. But the backflip would've come first.
Instead we did the homework-y stuff (and it was boring) but the super-cool ninja stuff that we were meant to be awesome at turned out to be a lot harder than it looked and we were… less than awesome.
But then Cam did it which was wow but he got mad when we were mean and Tori had to go speak to him and Sensei spoke to us about the stupid promise he'd made Cam's mom, which is totally whack because Cam would be amazing as a ranger and it isn't fair. Like, even Shane and Hunter agreed about that and they never agree on anything so yeah, we're right and Cam should be a ranger.
I was feeling kinda bummed out for Cam but there was still the track to look forward to and maybe, just maybe, we'd have been able to drag Cam along. And then we could have bought him an ice cream to say sorry. Everyone loves ice cream.
But Mr. "I'm-an-evil-space-ninja-who-loves-ruining-your-fun" Lothor had other ideas and sent a stupid alien which of course we had to go and fight but the jerk-face stole our ranger energy and then continued attacking the city. Which is cheating. Definitely cheating.
And then Shane said he was going to fight anyway, which of course meant we 'cos there's no way in hell we'd leave some stupid alien loose in Blue Bay. Cam did something to our morphers – I vote magic but then I don't get half of what he does normally anyway – so we felt better but then we ended up in a bizzaro dimension thingy and just attacked each other. Or rather, Tori and me attacked Shane and Hunter which worked out oh-so-well. I actually feel sorry for any kelzaks that gets hit by Hunter now because his thunder staff hurts.
Long story short, Shane figured it out, the alien got big (no surprise there; Lothor really needs some new tricks), we got zords but that failed and we were just about to be crushed into ranger jelly when poof! we're back at Ninja Ops.
And now… now Cam's gone on some secret mission which involves time travel and danger by himself and he didn't even say goodbye and we're all stuck here 'cos the whole world's sorta frozen which would be cool 'cept it's creepy and I'm worried about Cam and also so, so, so tired.
I just don't want to move.
Lemme sleep.
We all want to sleep. Shane is asleep.
Hey if the red dude can sleep so I can right? Aren't those the rules?
Blake's asleep too. Maybe Tori. Or maybe she just likes snuggling Blake.
Ugh I am sleeeeeepy.
Only Hunter's awake. Don't know how he's doing it. He's in Cam's chair. I think I saw him press a button on the computer. Cam's going to be so mad when he returns. M-A-D. If he returns.
No, when. It's Cam. Cam is clever. He'll be back. He has to be.
He didn't say goodbye.
How is Hunter still awake? Dude must have energiser batteries. Heh, Hunter's an energiser bunny.
I am so tired.
Did I mention that?
Eyes drooping now, head nodding forward, fuzzy… Wait, movement!
Tori's awake. I see her watching Hunter with a weird look on her face, glancing between the blond and Blake, who's sleeping on her shoulder. She seems indecisive, which is totally not like Tori at all. What's going on?
Biting her lip, she moves Blake's head off her and lets him slump onto the table. She's being super-careful not to wake him, getting up so quietly I doubt even Sensei could have heard her. And he has guinea-pig hearing now which I reckon must be pretty good. He always manages to hear my awesomely-funny-and-clever comments anyway (though he never seems as impressed by them as I am and he totally should be).
She rests a hand on Hunter's shoulder and he totally tenses up. Dude seriously has a thing about touching. As in, don't touch him. I'm waiting for him to shake her off, glare at her, but I'm surprised when he doesn't. He looks up and actually smiles when he sees it's her, relaxing, like actually relaxing. Her hand is still on him and he's letting it stay there. This is new.
And I'm not sure I should be watching.
Should sleep.
But Tori's like a sister to me. Maybe even closer than my real sisters. They don't know about ninjas. And they don't let me talk about comic books. Tori is way cooler.
We've known each other since kindergarten, when two mean older kids tried to kick me out of the sandpit and this tiny little blonde girl came storming up, hands on hips and started yelling at them. So they tried to hit her which was a big mistake as it turns out her dad was already giving her ninja lessons. Result? One kid on the ground holding his… well… his boys' bits and the other kid running to the teacher with a nosebleed. And Tori blinking large blue innocent eyes at everyone got away with it all. Because really, who would believe a small four-year old girl could kick that much butt?
I offered her a shovel and we've been pretty much joined at the hip ever since. We've done everything together; all the important stuff, like moving up grades and starting high school and dealing with first crushes and break-ups and all the teenage-y stuff. Oh, and joining the Wind Academy together. The ninja stuff is kinda important too. And meeting Shane. That was definitely important. 'S when our two became three.
And now we're a five.
Mostly a five. Well, sometimes a five.
Actually, we're more of a four-and-a-half. Four and a "if-I'm-not-being-a-grumpy-pants-we'll-be-a-five". And yeah, I'm talking about Hunter.
Speaking of Mr-Dark-and-Broody (Shane's nickname, not mine) I kinda feel like I'm prying just by watching him with Tori, which is silly. Just, seeing the two of them together, it looks like a really private moment, even though there's no reason for it to be. I think it's the strange expression he got when he saw it was her. I say strange; I mean not angry. Normal. Friendly.
Like, I thought Hunter and Cam suddenly hanging out was weird, but Hunter and Tori?
I can't hear what she's saying to him, but he shakes his head at her.
O-oh, I get it now. Like when she made him put ice on his eye after Shane hit him (which surprised everyone, 'specially Shane). She's doing her mom thing again. Probably trying to make him sleep as well.
Sleep.
She worries about everyone; I've been on the receiving end of her mom-ness many times. I kinda feel sorry for Hunter. Once Tori's got her mind set on something there's no stopping her.
Don't change the fact that Hunter's still letting her hand rest on him.
As Hunter's attention is drawn back to the screen, Tori gives him another one of those weird looks. It's not an expression I've ever seen on her face before and it confuses me. Yeah I know I'm meant to be the dumb yellow guy but I'm not that stupid. I have a short attention span and tend to get distracted easily. Kinda like the dog from 'Up'; you know, "hi there my name is Doug. My master made me this collar so I can talk-SQUIRREL!"
That dog is awesome. I want a dog that can talk. Ooh, ooh, I wonder if Cam could make a talking-dog-collar. He's super-smart. I bet he could. I'll have to ask him when he gets back.
If he gets back.
How long's he been gone now? It's hard to tell. Can you even tell the time when time's frozen? Like, do we all live shorter now than everyone else 'cos we're unfrozen and they're not? Or does, like, everyone lose this time but only we know about it? I'd ask Cam but… Yeah, back on the Cam's-not-here thoughts.
Oh, other thoughts! Easily distracted. Oops.
Right, that might be true, but I'm not stupid. I think my mind just works slightly differently to other people's. My thoughts move from A to B to C to D but what comes out of my mouthtends to skip the middle bits and people only hear me go from A to D with none of the in-between. Makes sense to me though.
I'm not very good at reading people. Like, I always give people the benefit of the doubt; gave Hunter and Blake the benefit of the doubt. Look what happened there. But it's all cool now. I mean, Blake is friends with everyone now; he even let me ride his 250 which was awesome, and scary, but mostly awesome. And Hunter… is cool… with everyone. Cool as in the not-hot sense. It's kinda like he tolerates us, but hasn't warmed up to us. Not yet.
So this is why I'm confused by Hunter and Tori. When did they become friends? I hadn't even noticed them hanging out. Not that it's a bad thing.
Hunter acts all tough and scary but I reckon he's just pretending. He's probably all smooshy underneath.
Well… perhaps not. But I don't think he's happy. No one can be alone all the time and be happy. Tori is good with people. She can be sneaky and clever, but she can also be tough and scary; just like Hunter. It would do him good to have her as a friend.
Yawn.
I make up my mind to speak to her about this. Not now though. When I'm more awake. When I'm not worried about Cam. When-
Sleep…
XxX
Dude there is a green ranger. There is a green ranger staring right at me. One minute we were just about to be crushed (again; lazy-ass Scroll of Time just had to return us to certain death didn't it?) and the next there's an actual helicopter zord zooming in to save the day, all 'Black Hawk Down' style, and there's this new ranger-
Since when did we have a green ranger?
I'd have thought I was seeing things, 'cept the others can see it too. Group hallucination seems a little far-fetched, even for us, but I mention it anyway. Just in case.
Everyone looks confused. Everyone but Tori, who has an annoying knowing smile on her face, like she's in on the secret and we're not.
Did I say there was a freaking green ranger standing in front of us?
Oh gods, I hope it's not another evil ranger. Hunter and Blake were bad enough. If it's evil I'll-
"You're not hallucinating Dustin."
I know that voice. And it knows me.
"Cam!"
The suit vanishes to reveal our tech grinning at us, black hair mussed from the helmet, glasses slightly askew, but almost glowing with happiness.
Cam's a ranger.
This is so awesome.
I don't get a chance to let everyone know just how awesome this is because suddenly Lothor is here – yeah, freaking Lothor himself, along with those two annoying dumb-but-kinda-scary girls that call him 'Uncle' – and they're firing at us and we can't morph and since when could Lothor fly?
Run.
Through a freakin' river so now I'm all wet too. This is Tori's element; there's a very good reason I'm not a Water ninja. Water is cold. And wet. And I'm still super-tired.
Tori…
She didn't sleep earlier. She must be suffering more than me. I find myself turning to see if she's ok, need to make sure she's keeping up.
Panic, when I don't see her at first and then I see Hunter. The crimson ranger has his arm around the shorter blonde, half supporting her, half dragging her along, using his body to shield her as best he can from the explosions around us. Explosions that keep sending dirty water splashing over us. Yuck. We're so going to get sick from this. And I am not going to be happy.
Being sick sucks.
But the bad guys are closing in on us and Shane's trying to support Blake but they're both so tired – all so tired – and they're suddenly falling and I can't grab them but then Hunter's there pulling Shane up and Tori… is next to me… and we're surrounded which is so not good…
Nephew?
Wait… rewind…
Lothor is Cam's uncle? Sensei's brother?
What.
The.
Hell?
I try to focus on what's being said but my brain just can't take this in. Is Lothor actually trying to offer Cam a job? Clearly he does not know him. Like, at all. Of course Cam refuses and then they aim at us and we're so going to die. This is it. This is… not how I imagined I would die. If anything I thought it would be a blaze of glory, doing something stupid and reckless, not in a stinking river surrounded by goons.
I don't want to die.
I can see their fingers on the triggers.
At least I'm with my friends. I close my eyes, feeling Cam and Tori's presence strangely reassuring on either side of me. At least-
Bang.
Solid floor. I've just landed on my ass on a solid floor. A solid, very hard floor. A floor that isn't the muddy bottom of the river.
I'm alive! We're alive, and back in Ninja Ops. Yay! And also…
"Owch."
Because we might be alive but that hurt. Better than being dead I guess. Considerably better.
Of course, I'm still freaking exhausted because all our ranger-energy-stuff is still trapped inside the stupid ball and apparently we need something greater than the power of five rangers to open it…
Wait…
More than five.
More than five is…
"How about six rangers?"
Hah, I knew math would come in useful for something one day. Cam telling me he thinks I'm right is like, one of the best things ever.
Beaten by it actually, you know, working.
Woo, I rock!
Dude, I can't believe it actually worked. I am a genius! Okay, maybe not a Cam-level genius but hey, I can be pretty smart too sometimes. Plus I feel so much better. I have a happy little warm-glowy feeling inside. I think this is called pride. Or maybe it's just our ranger whatevers, but still. It feels good.
Also… six rangers? Our little family has grown again. Not like Cam wasn't family before, but like, he's a proper part of it now. He's a ranger.
Speaking of family… I can't believe Lothor is Sensei's brother. Or, used to be. Dude, whatever they say I think they're still brothers. You can't just wave your hand and pretend you're not related anymore. Like, no matter how much my sisters annoy me sometimes they're still my family. I might not get along with them sometimes but I still love them.
And sure, being an evil space ninja is very different. I mean, my sisters just laugh about my comic books and giggle whenever Shane's around for some reason – girls – and tease me about my hair; they've never tried to take over the world, or turn me into a guinea-pig (well, Gabriela might have tried to turn me into a frog once, when she got a Harry Potter wand for Christmas) so yeah, Sensei probably really doesn't like his brother very much.
But I think, deep down, he probably still loves him. At least, he probably still loves Kia. Like, the guy his brother used to be before he went all evil-dark-ninja-crazy on everyone.
I reckon Lothor's ears must've been burning 'cos no sooner has Sensei finished telling us his story than all the alarms go off again and there's many aliens for us to fight which is just mean. Gah!
Here we go again.
XxX
Finally, finally we're on our way home. Today has been too long. We had to split up to beat the many aliens and Cam got all buggy which was gross but luckily it's all cool now. Plus he saved us, for like the second time today. We really need to say thank you. Not sure how… Ooh hey, maybe we could, like, get him a uniform. 'Cos he's one of us now so we should totally let him know that.
Huh, I'll ask Sensei about it tomorrow. He'll know all about the uniforms. Like, what on earth does a Samurai uniform look like? Something green – duh.
But first… Home time.
We've all squeezed into Tori's van but 'cos I live closest to her I get dropped off last, which means I get to ride shotgun instead of squishing in the back. Hah.
"Man, seriously, can't you keep your elbows to yourself?" Shane grumbles at Blake, who's been forced into the middle as he's the smallest. I can hear the red guy shifting in discomfort.
Normally there're only two people in the back which is fine. Three… three is cosy. 'Specially when it's filled with three large guys. Well, two large guys and one not-so-large. Shane and Hunter would probably be just about comfortable if it was just the two of them. Well, physically comfortable at least. They'd probably be doing the angry faces at each other. Blake might be little, but he pushes them into the realm of closer-than-I-ever-wanted-to-be-to-my-teammates.
And I get the front seat.
I am not smug about this at all. No sir, not me. Not at- Heh, What am I saying? I am totally loving this.
"I'm trying," Blake replies sleepily. "But my bro is taking up a lot of space. Hey Hunter, can't you budge over a bit? …Hunter?"
There's no response from our crimson ranger and I hear barely stifled laughter from the two guys in the back. Muscles protesting (dude, I am so going ache in the morning) I twist round to see what's so funny. And then join in the laughter. Because Hunter has given in to the tiredness we've all felt, batteries ran out at last, and is now sleeping soundly, head resting on the window, whole body relaxed in a way I've never seen when he's awake. He looks… much less scary when asleep. Younger.
I see Tori glance in the rear-view mirror and a smile softens her face. She gets that expression again, the one I can't place.
We drop Shane off first, then the Bradleys; Blake having to shake his brother awake. He comes to much faster than I would have. Right now, I could sleep for days. Dude… still so tired. Even getting my ranger mojo back (well, energy; Cam didn't like me calling it mojo but I reckon I can call it whatever I want seeing it was my idea that unlocked the ball-thing. Score one for the yellow dude!) has only made me slightly less sleepy. I can't believe it's still, like, only afternoon. It should totally be bedtime already.
Tori waits until the guys get into their apartment (and I'm with her on this one; this area is not nice. Their apartment is not nice. Like, I'd never say it to their faces but it was major sucky. Makes me glad dad left my mom our house, 'cos it could have easily have been us living in a place like that after their divorce) then drives off, heading for my house. With just the two of us in her van I figure now is as good a time as any to bring up the whole Hunter-needs-a-friend thing.
Ok, how to start this? Shane's been giving me lectures on actually starting conversations, not just jumping into the middle of one and expecting everyone to be on the same wavelength. 'Kay, here it goes…
"So you and Hunter-"
"Not you too." Tori slams on the brakes, bringing the van to a halt, two pink spots appearing on her cheeks.
Huh. So not the way to begin.
Tori never yells at me. Like, ever. She knows it too because her expression is already softening.
"Dustin, I'm sorry." She rubs a hand over her face, "It's been a long day."
I grimace in sympathy. "Yeah, I'm way tired."
She makes no move to pull off again, just sits there looking at me. What's she waiting for? Oh, yeah, I was talking. About her and Hunter.
Not you too…
So I'm not the only one to notice. Who? Not Shane; we'd have all heard the fight if it had been Shane. Sensei? But Tori's angry. Not Sensei then; no one gets mad at him. Then it strikes me. Cam.
Dude is really perceptive (hah, take that 'Word of the Day' calendar!). He can also be frustratingly logical and impossibly right, like, all the time. He could probably make a seal angry. Which I think'd be real hard to do as they always look so happy.
Tori takes a breath and starts speaking quickly, "Look, I know me and Hunter have been hanging out a lot recently, but we're just friends." – I know that, but she sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than me – "I just want us all to be friends. There's no harm in that. I'm being friendly. It's not wrong."
What did Cam say to her to get this response? She's so… defensive.
"Hunter's a good guy," I venture.
She blinks at me, confused. Wow, I confused Tori. I think she was waiting for me to disagree. Argue. But I like Hunter. I don't hang with him as much as Blake and I guess I should fix that, but Hunter doesn't ever seem to want to be around us. Maybe he still feels bad about kidnapping Sensei.
Wait!
Lightbulb moment!
Of course he does. He's Hunter. Honour and loyalty and all that. He's old-school comic-book hero. Like Batman. He's got the suit and the twisted backstory and everything. Hah, he's even got a sidekick.
Hmm, how much would Blake kill me if I started calling him Robin?
Probably, like, a lot.
Speaking of Blake, Hunter has less to feel bad about than he does. Sure he used us to get to Sensei, and almost killed us a couple of times, but he didn't really try to be our friends. Blake did. Blake pretended. Blake lied.
Blake used Tori.
I'm still grrr about that. Just a little. Do what you like to me, but hurt my friends and beware the wrath of the yellow dude; his Earth powers are immense!
Um… yeah.
Anyway, Hunter was definitely the leader, but I'm pretty sure he didn't order Blake to do that. Hunter's many things but he's not mean. Not really. Not that sort of mean at least.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I'm sure Hunter had nothing to do with the 'flirt with Tori' plan. That was all Blake.
Blake was worse than Hunter. But we're better friends with Blake now.
Huh. I wonder what Shane would say if I pointed that out to him.
Also, Hunter said he was sorry to us. Not in like, words. He likes speaking as much as he does touching – not at all. Which is sad because everyone can use a hug. Everyone should like hugs. Hugs are awesome.
But he has said sorry, by his actions; by always having our backs in a fight; by helping out during shifts at Storm Chargers when he doesn't have to; by not treading on toes and pushing boundaries. Well, he still pushes Shane's boundaries I guess. But that's more they keep rubbing each other up the wrong way than him being deliberately anti-Shane. I hope he's not anti-Shane anyway. Maybe they just need to… I don't know… I'd say kiss and make up but that'd just be wrong.
"Dustin?"
Aw dude, I'd forgotten Tori sitting next to me. She's got that look on her face; half amusement, half worry. I've spaced out, again. Oops.
I'm blaming the many thoughts.
At least these ones are important. I can space out if I'm thinking about important stuff.
"Hunter's lonely," I blurt out and she's staring at me again.
I grin and blush, running a hand through my hair. Ok Dustin, explain yourself.
So I try.
"Like, we're all friends with Blake now but we're not really with Hunter. And Blake has all of us and Hunter doesn't have anyone. He must be lonely. He needs a friend. You're, like, perfect 'cos you can get him to do stuff. Like you got Cam to do stuff." Because he seriously didn't want to hang with us when we first became rangers. "Plus, Hunter likes you."
She's still staring at me and I feel awkward. Have I said something wrong?
"…Hunter likes me?" Tori sounds unsure.
I pull a face. "Well duh!"
It's obvious. Doesn't she see it?
No, she's got her confused look on.
"He lets you touch him," I explain.
She's quiet for a while and I'd be worried 'cept there's a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She finally grins at me and reaches over to squeeze my arm. "Thank you, Dustin." As we pull back on to the road she adds, "You know, you can be friends with him too."
I grin. "Dude, I am friends with him. You just need to, like, ease him into the idea that he is friends with me."
Tori laughs at that. I like her laugh. It always makes me laugh too.
She's still smiling when she drops me off at home, as if she's relieved about something. I'm glad that something I've said has made her happy, got rid of some of her worry, though I have no idea what I'm meant to have said to make things good. Girls, right? I'm not sure we guys are meant to understand them. The world might end if we do.
Like, it's not as if I was suggesting she date Hunteroh.
Big oh.
Another lightbulb.
That's what Cam must've thought. And told her not to. But that's silly, 'cos Tori's with Blake.
Then I remember, back in Ninja Ops, before Cam returned with his shiny new Samurai powers, the look on Tori's face as she was watching Hunter and… Uh oh.
I'm not sure she even realises it.
But still… uh oh.
Not that I'd mind if she dated Hunter. As long as he treated her right and she was happy I'd be happy. Plus if anyone could deal with his issues it'd be Tori. Rather her than me.
But there's Blake.
Blake likes Tori.
And Tori likes Blake.
A cloud passes across the sun and I shiver. What's that word Cam uses when he senses trouble? Oh, yeah, foreboding.
Now I know what he means.
I'm sure it'll be fine. Tori is clever. She must know she can't have both boys. That'd be greedy. She'd have to choose between them. And everyone knows Blake'd win hands down.
Because… well… because it's Tori-and-Blake…
Right?