Episode 2

Lies and Deceit

The next day arrived rather quickly and it was mid morning at Storm Chargers. Hunter and Blake got there old job back at Storm Chargers and have been working hard in the shops, stocking and everything. Customers were coming in and out of the store as usual and things were going smoothly. Alyssa was hanging out there also, talking to Hunter and Blake. Dustin and Tori both walked into Storm Chargers were they were greeted by Kelly and Alyssa.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Kelly asked them.

"Oh Alyssa!" Dustin pointed to Tori, "This is Tori. She's a good friend of mine."  Alyssa bit her lips and stared at her for a few seconds before she began to say something.

"Hi, Dustin told me so much about you. You sound like a nice person." She shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you to." She smiled back and returns the shake.

"I have to go so catch you guys later." She said to Dustin and then looked at Tori again with a grin and ran out.

"So what are you doing here Tori?" Kelly asked. 

"Just waiting for Blake to get off of work. Do you know where he is?" Tori asked, looking around the shop.

"I think he's in the back." She pointed into the backroom, "Go on back if you want."

"Thanks." Tori responded and walked off.

"Well Boss, I'm ready for work. What do you want me to do?" Dustin scratched his head..

"Well, hmm." Kelly took a look around the store, "I have to write some sale slips up, if you could organize the moto parts that be great." She patted him on the shoulder and started walking towards the counter. She quickly turned around and ran back to Dustin as he started walking towards the boxes of parts near the front, "Oh Dustin. I signed you up for that Free Styling Tournament that's being held Friday. You will show right?" She said, emphasizing on the whole showing up part.

"Oh cool! You did? Heck yeah! I haven't done a tournament for a while!" Dustin responded excitedly, hugging Kelly.

"Great!" She said, after they broke off the hug. Dustin nodded and ran over to the boxes happily. As he picked up the boxes, he saw Blake and Tori walking off. He tries to hold the boxes in one hand and wave with the other. They waved back but then Dustin dropped all the boxes sending all the pieces everywhere. He quickly scrambled about, trying to pick up the pieces. Kelly glared at him, shaking her head.  Tori and Blake were laughing. .

"Need help man?" Blake tries to say in between the laughs.

"No-no! Got it!" Dustin quickly said, picking up a few parts and putting it in the box, "Where's Hunter?"

"He's in the back still." Blake replied. Tori and Blake waved again and walked out of the store.

"All right, Let's hit the park and watch Shane skate." Tori told him and climbed into her van.

"Yeah, He wanted to show us some moves right?" Blake climbed into the passenger seat. Tori started the van and they drove off to the skate park. When they arrived, they noticed Shane skating around on the ramps. They both got out of the car and walked over to him.

"Hey you guys made it!" Shane kicked up his board and Blake and him shook hands.


"Yeah of course." Tori cleared her hair out of her face, "Let's see what you got." She pointed to the ramp. Shane nodded and climbed up on the ramp and skated down. He was doing moves and everything and getting as much air as possible so he can do his 5/40 in midair again. Blake and Tori were clapping and a crowd started to gather, watching the whole thing. He went down on the ramp one last time and went really high in the air. Right when he was about to pull off the move a blast came flying at him hitting his board knocking it away from him. Shane came crashing down onto the ramp. The crowd started to scream and ran for their lives.

"Shane!" Tori yelled, as they both ran to him. They looked up and saw Vex.

"Rangers, Rangers, Rangers,." He began to laugh, "Must take care of you before you get in my way."

"And how do you know were rangers." Shane struggle to get up.

"I saw you transformed when the green and yellow ranger came. I didn't think there would be rangers here but I guess I was wrong." He shot another blast from his sword. They jumped out of the way in time and stood back up again.

"I guess I have to do my plans a bit early." He shot again, as he continues walking forward.

"What plans?" Tori asked after rolling out of the way.

"Enough, let's do it guys." Shane looked at the both of them.

"Ninja Storm, Thunder Storm, Ranger Storm! Ha! Power of Air, Power of Water, Power of Thunder." They all yelled. Back at Storm Chargers, Vadinai appeared out in the back entrance.

"If Vex is correct, the gem of soul should give me a major power boost. Enough to destroy the rangers." She grinned, "But the Rangers have the shards, I must get it." She grinned turned into a more serious look. She took out her wand and took a peek inside. Hunter was in the back working hard on repairing a motocross bike.

"He's that Thunder Ranger. He's also friends with.." She began to trail off. She hesitated for a sec and then shook her head and got back on task. She closed the door closely and paced around outside thinking of a plan to get the gem. She then snapped her finger when she thought of a brilliant idea. She waved her wand around and chanted a few words and a giant mirror appeared in front of her showing her reflection.

"Mirror of time, show me this man's past. Show me his greatest pain." She commanded. The mirror glowed bright yellow and a vision of Hunter's adoptive parents appeared. She watched as it played, like a movie. Lothor appeared as they were struggling to fight and defend the Thunder Academy. Then the mirror changed to where Hunter and Blake was in the Cave of lost ninjas, where they learned the truth of how they were destroyed.

"So Hunter misses his parents. How sad." She began to laugh, "I could use this." She waved her wand and she changed into a tall women with brown curly hairs, wearing a long white cloak.

"Mother has returned.." She gave another evil laugh.  She opened the door and levitated herself in as if she was a spirit. As she entered she saw Hunter was still working on the Bike.

"Hunter..." Her voice echoed. Hunter froze for a sec and then turned around slowly.

"Mo-mom.." He whispered, dropping his wrench.

"Hunter.." Her voice echoed again. Hunter took a step back and by accident hit the moto bike, knocking it off the table creating a huge crash. Kelly and Dustin quickly ran into the back to see what was going on.

"Hunter?" Kelly yelled as she ran in. Hunter turned towards them and then back at the open door. She was gone.

"What's going on." Dustin looked around to see what he was looking at but didn't see anything but the bike on the floor.  Hunter quickly ran out the door, not saying a word. Dustin and Kelly exchanged looks.


"Stay here Kelly, I'll find out what's up." Dustin ran out behind him. By the time he ran out there though, Hunter was already out of sight. Dustin scratched his head and gave a big sigh. Hunter was running as fast as he could through the woods, following the voice. He ran as fast as he could, afraid that he might lose her voice. Hunter stopped to take a breather and she reappeared again.  "Hunter.." She kept saying his name.

"What do you want?" Hunter took a step forward, "Is it really you!?" He asked.

"Yes Hunter. I have come to you with good news." She smiled, levitating herself back onto the ground.

"What?" He looked right into her eyes.

"You can still save us Hunter." She took a step forward.

"How!?" Hunter quickly asked, "I will do anything to have you guys back."

"We need a powerful force to free us. To return to this world. The Gem Of Souls is the only thing powerful enough." She reached her hand out and touched his cheek. Her hand was warm and comforting to Hunter.

"You feel so real." He whispered. He hesitated and looked down at the ground. She lifted Hunter's chin up and stared in his eyes.

"Please Hunter." She pleaded.

"But the Gem of Soul has been shatter. I only have a few shards.." He frowned, looking away from her face.

"That's all we need." She smiled, "I don't have much time. I will depart forever if we can not do this."

"Alright. I promise I wont let you down. Blake and I wont let you down." He nodded his head. She smiled and took a step back and vanished. Hunter quickly Ninja Streaked to Ninja Ops where Tori, Shane and Blake were laying on the ground and Cam was on the terminal. Hunter came running down the stairs and looked at everyone.

"What happen to you guys?" He looked down at everyone.

"A little run in with Vex. He got us good." Shane groaned. Hunter carefully walked through the room, trying not to step on any of them and went to Cam.

"Cam?" He patted him on the back. He turned around and looked up at him.

"What's up Hunter?" He asked.

"The Gem of souls. The one that helped you get up to Lothor's ship. You still have those right?"

"Yeah, I locked them away." He told him, pointing to a box on the shelf, "Why?"

"I really, really need them." Hunter pleaded.

"Why what's going on bro?" Blake sat up and stared at him. Hunter turned towards Blake and ran to him and knelt down in front of him.

"I saw her!" He said excitedly

"Who!?" Blake leaned forward, curious.

"Mom, I saw our mother." He patted his back, "Isn't that awesome. She said-she said that if we get the Gem of souls we can save her." He stood back up. Shane and Tori both stood up also and listened. Blake was still sitting there, thinking for a sec. Then he stood back up.

Blake was a bit skeptic about the whole thing. "I don't know bro." He shook his head, "There seams to be something odd about this."

"What's so odd about it!?" He try to convince him, "Don't you want to help them? There not gone completely! I saw her. I saw HER!" He spoke with such happiness.. He then ran to Cam and grabbed him.

"Please. Let me use them." He pleaded again.

"I'm going to have to go with your brother on this man." Shane put his hand on Hunter's shoulder, pulling him off of Cam.

 "It's not something we can easily risk."  Hunter got angry and jolted his shoulder away from Shane's hand and glared at everyone.


"What's the matter with you all? Is it that big of a deal to use the gem of souls?" Hunter hissed at everyone.

Tori placed her hands on her hips and shook her head, "It's not that Hunter. The gem of souls is a dangerous thing remember." She told him. He shrugs her off and shakes his head.

"Fine." He looked at Blake and walked off. Dustin was walking through the courtyard when he notices Hunter. Dustin waved to him but Hunter just ignored him and walked right past him. Dustin slowly brought his hand down, scratching his head and then turned back around where he saw Blake running right past him.

"What in the world is going on?" Dustin said to himself. Shane and Tori came up the stairs next along with Cam.

"Hey." Dustin ran to them.

"Hey, how was work?" Tori asked.

"Um interesting. Except the fact that Hunter ran off." Dustin replied.

"Yeah, we know." Shane looked off into the courtyard, "Where's your sister. I haven't seen her for a while." He looked back at Dustin.

"Yeah I know man. I don't know. I mean we hang out but she seams busy a lot. And she keeps running off out of the blue, which is sometimes good because that's when Vex and Vadinai appear and I don't have to make an excuse to ditch her."

"Yeah, guess that's good." Cam replied, "Come on, you gotta class to teach." Cam patted him on the back and they both walked to the Academy.

"What should we do?" Tori turned to Shane.

"Wanna see how Dustin teaches?" Shane grins.

She bit her lips and thought for a second. "Okay." They both turned to follow Cam and Shane. Tori and Shane sat around as they watched Dustin teach a few students some Ninja Earth tricks like the ground attack. Everyone clapped at his good performance and each person made an attempt. After class was over Tori and Shane walked over to Dustin.

"Not bad Dustin. Not bad." Shane spoke up, crossing his arms.

"Better then Shane." Tori smirked.

Shane rolled his eyes, "I don't think so."

"Oh really?" Dustin chuckled.

Shane pouted his lips and then smiled after remembering something, "You were the one who fell down the flight of stairs at your first class." Shane began to laugh hysterically. Dustin just shrugged him off not saying anything. Sensei and Cam walked out and joined them.

"So any word on Blake or Hunter?" Dustin asked, taking a sip of water from his water bottle.

"I have spoken with Blake." Sensei responded, "The Gem of Soul has no power to bring back anyone. And the spirits of the Lost Ninja's cannot leave the mountain. Whatever Hunter saw, was in fact, not real." Sensei replied

"He's not going to take that well." Dustin exclaimed.

"Blake went to search for him but he's no where to be found." Cam added.

"Should we look for him?" Tori asked.

"I don't think we should. I mean this is a family thing. I think we should let them handle it and interfere when they need our help." Dustin pointed out.


"Dustin makes a point for once. We should wait for now." Cam agreed. Dustin was all happy that he was right and Tori and Shane nodded in agreement. The afternoon passed quickly and night dawned on the city of Blue Bay Harbor. It was around 11 and the academy was quite and all the students went home except for one. Hunter ran through the dark courtyard secretly being very cautious. The only light that was providing any vision for him was the full moon. Hunter quickly jumped back up and made it to the entrance of the Ninja Ops. He opened the latch and went down the stairs slowly. The room was dark and quite. He crept slowly to the shelf where the Gem of Soul was. He swiped it and ran out into the woods.

"Mom!" He yelled out, walking through the woods.

"I'm here." She said, appearing from a white light. She removed her hood and revealed her face.

"I have it. I found the gem." He said with joy.

"Good, give it to me son." She took a step forward. Hunter pulled it back and hesitated for a second.

"What's the matter?" She asked him.

"I don't understand why Blake didn't want to see you." he said worriedly

"Your in pain Hunter but its not your fault we ended like this. We love you and Blake. Blake will come around. I promise." She said holding out her hand, "The box Hunter."

"No don't!" Blake yelled out behind him. Hunter turned around, still holding the box. She snatched the box away from him and took a step back. He glanced back at her and then again at Blake when he got closer.

"Blake, what are you doing here?" Hunter turned to him.

"I talked to Sensei earlier, he said that the Gem Of Soul never had the power to bring back someone." He told him. Hunter was confused and he turned to look at his mother.

"Then-" He started to say.

"Haha! She started to laugh. She waved her hand and transformed into Vadinai.

"Thank you Hunter, for the gem shards. You played right into this one." She summoned her wand.

"No. How dare you play with my emotions like that. Your going to pay Vadinai!" He glared at her.

"Why would you do something like that? That was just low. Even for you." Blake took a step forward.  She looked down at the gems and hesitated for a sec. She then gripped the gems in her hands.

"It's been fun, but I have things to do." She snapped her finger and the mirror appeared and she vanished.

"Damn, she got away!" Hunter said, "And she has the gems." Blake knelt down and picked up the mirror. Hunter looked over his shoulder at it, staring at his reflection.

"Why did she leave this?" Blake stared at it. The mirror changed and showed a glimps of the past of Blake and Hunter with their parents.

"This is-This is when we were growing up at the Thunder Academy." Hunter took a look closer, "But why would she leave this?" he looked at Blake.

"Maybe she felt bad." Blake responded, "Come on, let's go." Blake got up. Hunter quickly knelt down and picked up the mirror.

"I'm not leaving this." he said, and they both walked off. As they were walking, they didn't know Vadinai was off watching them. Vex appeared behind her and stared at them also.

"Why did you do that. Why did you leave them the mirror." Vex asked her, "And I might add that you really played the role of their mother well. To well, as if you meant every word." He eyed her. She turned around and held out the Gem.

"Shut up Vex. I got what I came for. I have the Gem Of Souls. With this, I will be unstoppable." and they both vanished. Blake and Hunter were walking down the street, Hunter still holding tightly on the mirror.

"I'm sorry bro, I should of listing to you." Hunter stopped and spoke up.

Blake nodded in dismay, "No, don't be man. I was hoping I was wrong just as much as you were.' Blake responded. They did there handshake and hugged each other.

"Can we go home now. It's late." Blake pleaded. Hunter chuckled and they walked off.