Disclaimer: I don't own PRNS.
Author's Notes: Wow...so many people are asking me for a Hunter/Cam chapter... I seriously thank you guys for all the support you're giving me. Really in the past I've only done slash with anime stuff...so this is my first time doing it in a different section that's not anime, and I'm just excited that you guys are liking this so much! So all you reviewers out there are just awesome! Gives everyone who's reviewed so far a big hug. I had a bit of a writer's block on this chapter, but now I think I've got everything figured out, so it should all go pretty smoothly after this! And I'm sorry for what I had to do to Dustin! Hides once more behind Blake and Hunter and receives a glare from Dustin...my protectors...they've got no choice but to protect me! (Since I'm the one in charge of what happens to them in this story! :P receives glares from the three boys, and then smiles sweetly at them in return...but of course, if you three are good, then you'll have nothing to worry about...sees looks of relief from all three- especially Dustin) Hehe, don't mind me, I'm just having a sugar rush...so, let's get on with this chapter already...
Rating: PG13
Warning: Contains slash/yaoi so if you don't like the thought of male/male pairings, then I suggest that you leave now or forever hold your peace- you've been for warned. :P
Pairings: Blake/Tori, Hunter/Cam, Shane/Dustin
Replies to Reviewers:
Prinzessin- Ask and ye shall receive! I have the feeling you'll like this chapter. Hehe...well, it seems as though you've found a way to communicate with me! Just leave me notes (uh...or should I say demands maybe -) like the one you left me in Searching and Finding...(along with that cliffhanger and evil short chapter...:P) - I'm in such a Hunter/Dustin mood at the moment though that this was actually a hard chapter for me to write!!! Sighs...what am I going to do with myself? (Can I PLEASE have more Searching and Finding now? Whimpers pathetically I updated...gives author infamous puppy dog eyed look ) Oh, and can I make a request, please, please? Can you by any chance do anything to start 'Waiting For You?' Gotta love those Dustin centered fics, and that one sounds so plot worthy!!! Okay, I'm done now. -
Gundam Nymph- Your review was so incredibly sweet! Thank you! Hugs Gundam Nymph There's some Hunter/Cam moments in here. Not a whole lot, but as the fic goes on there will be more, have no fear! 'I thought, and was kind of hoping, that Dustin really wasn't getting sick again and they might use 'other' means to get warm. yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a hentai. LOL The SlashWorld corrupted me. :P :P' Trust me...the part I really wanted to put there, I don't think that ff.net would've allowed me to in a heart beat...see, my original thought was for Dustin to get sick, and get the fever...and the chills...and well, I'll let you go on with your own imagination on THAT one. But being the good author that I am, I stayed within ff.net boundaries...heh, and you're not the only one who the SlashWorld corrupted! But once you're in, I swear to you you'll stay for a very LONG while...possibly a lifetime...-
Tsukino Akume- So here is the next chapter of Shipwrecked as I promised for you. And can I say again that I totally loved your update on Fight To Keep You? And I'm also working on Different Journey's too...no worries! I FINALLY have somewhere to go on that and aren't stuck on it anymore! Yippee! I don't honestly know how I do the Shane/Dustin fluffy angst either...shrugs...I guess it might just come naturally to me? - Hehe...oh what a devious mind can do. If you think that you liked the last chapter, wait until the next couple come up...and yes, I completely do agree with you on Dustin's family background...it seems like something Dustin would almost want to hide sometimes, know what I mean?
Angelic Agony- Well...at least you no longer want to kill me! I feel safer now! steps out from behind Blake and Hunter's Thunder Shield Hugs author. I don't know how I could do that to Dustin...there's just something appealing about seeing your favorite character tortured...well, at least for me anyway- (because then there's always really big fluffy moments afterward...-) no worries though, Shane's going to take really good care of him, I promise. And here's the update for ya-enjoy!
Bjvision- Everyone requested the same thing...sighs. I guess I had no choice but to comply or face a mob of mad reviewers...heh...--;; actually though, with what everyone wanted for this chapter was what I was already planning on doing, so...it's all good! And no worries, as I told Angelic Agony above...Dustin will be well taken care of. (You don't really think I'd kill of my favorite character, right? -)
CamFan4Ever- Can't...BREATHE! gasps for air as CamFan finally let's go...just...this time hug a little LESS tightly, kay' dude? As Hunter says in Return of Thunder part 3-I kind of need to breathe a little bit here! - But no worries! Here's some Hunter and Camness for you...and I can't really help it sometimes on the cliffhangers-they're my specialty! (What can I say, I learned from the best...-) Oh...before I forget...Hands CamFan key to the Cam/Hunter gate...enjoy! And do feel free to pass it around...
Blake-Tori88- Bows deeply thank you, thank you very much! Just keep on scrolling down and you'll see who I've got up next...although by now I suppose I've made it a dead giveaway...sighs-it's so hard to keep a good secret on ff.net these days. Ah, well...that just means that you can look forward to what's coming next chapter! -
Shipwrecked
Author: Angel Spirit
Chapter IV: Stranded-Hunter...and Cam
"Hunter. Hunter, wake up."
Someone was calling out his name. And he did not want to obey their command. He felt someone touching his shoulder, shaking him as gently as possible-as though hoping that the small motion would cause him to open his eyes.
Fat chance of that happening. Hunter Bradley thought to himself, as he groaned inwardly. His whole body hurt. He felt like he couldn't move...as though a bunch of Kelzacks were holding him down-or worse, by one of Lothor's electric hits that wouldn't let go.
"Hunter, come on...Hunter, you're scaring me, I need you to wake up! Please?!?" The voice was sounding desperate now. It didn't sound like Blake's however, unless if Hunter had water in his ears. That caused him to frown as he clearly remembered...
Though, as he was remembering what happened, his eyes immediately shot open, and he groaned as he moved a hand to quickly cover his eyes as the sun nearly blinded him. He heard a sigh of relief off to his left side, and when he felt like he was able too, he moved his head a little in that direction, completely taken aback at whom it was that had been calling out to him. It really wasn't Blake...so that meant that he'd broken his promise to his little brother about not letting go of him when Blake couldn't hold onto the railing of the ship anymore.
He suddenly felt a slight pain in his chest, and he knew what caused it, as it had happened plenty of times before whenever he had felt like he had let Blake down-guilt.
"Are you alright? Come on Hunter, say something to me...please?" Hunter could only shake his head as he attempted to sit up. Strong arms wrapped around him, arms stronger then Hunter had thought that they would be as those arms helped him to sit so that he was leaning up against that person. When he finally felt as though he had his thoughts and emotions under control enough, he licked his dry lips.
"Cam? What in the hell are you doing here?" He rasped out, surprised at how strange his voice sounded-like he'd been yelling at a concert or something. Cam sighed and shook his head...and Hunter realized quickly that he was missing his glasses.
"I blame this all on Tori." The dark haired teen murmured as he continued to check Hunter over.
"Feel anything broken? You look a little wiped out." He asked, as Hunter only shrugged, and winced wishing that he hadn't done that. It reminded him just how much he was hurting.
"Well, if you fell overboard a ship during a storm like the one we had the other night, then you'd look and feel wiped out too." Hunter muttered, suddenly feeling a bit irritated. Maybe it was because he was really wishing that the person who had woken him up had been Blake, and not Cam. Cam was supposed to have been evacuated-safe and sound. And Blake...now he wouldn't know...
"Blake...have you seen him anywhere?" Cam only shook his head looking straight into Hunter's dark blue orbs with a deep look of regret.
"No-I haven't seen him at all...and trust me, I've scoped out this place as much as I could. Can you move? We need to get you out of the water-you're lucky I found you at all." It was only after Cam said this, that Hunter realized that he was still very much in the water-well, half of his body was anyway.
His body was stuck in between what looked like two rock boulders, but as Cam helped him to stand he noticed that the area surrounding them was nothing but rock.
He stood shakily, not quite sure if he could actually stand on his own and grateful that Cam had a tight grip on him, and wasn't looking like he was going to let Hunter fall over anytime soon-because that's what Hunter felt like doing. He felt really, really tired. Like the way one did after spending the whole day in the sun at the beach-or most of the time in his case, after he'd spent all day long training at the track. He felt like he'd gotten run over by a bunch of dirt bikes.
He held a hand to his forehead, and started to gently rub it with his fingers, causing Cam to send him a look of concern.
"Have a headache or something?" Hunter nodded as slowly as he could without actually nodding as he groaned while he straightened up, as he had been bending over slightly.
"I hurt all over." He admitted, and Cam flashed him a small smile.
"You've probably been lying in that position I found you in too long. I didn't want to move you until you woke up because I wasn't sure if you were hurt at all." Cam said softly, and Hunter only sighed.
"So where are we?" He asked timidly, as Cam only shook his head, still not letting go of Hunter-and Hunter didn't mind once so ever.
"I've got no idea...no answer for once. All I know is that we're on some kind of very big-actually huge from what I've seen so far-island. And also from what I've seen so far-no civilization." Hunter groaned.
"So...you're saying that we're stranded, right dude?" Cam nodded.
"Right. As much as I hate to admit that, I think you're definitely right." Hunter paused for a moment as they had started to trek away from where Cam had found him before he glanced around the area.
"How...how long did it take you to find me Cam? From the way you're sounding like, it sounded like you didn't arrive on this island anywhere near where I was." He said, and Cam admitted that he was right.
"I was about a day away from you. So really it's been a night and a day for you since...well...you know." Now Hunter really felt like he wanted to hurt someone. Not Cam, but someone-at the moment he actually wanted Kelzacks to arrive...they always made good punching bags when there weren't any around to use. But somehow Hunter knew that no Kelzacks were going to arrive anytime soon. If Cam didn't know where they were-then the chances of Lothor might not knowing where they were, were probably high...very high. And as he glanced down at his morpher, he realized that he was right-it was busted-beyond repair it looked like.
Cam caught him looking at his morpher and he also showed him his own- strapped to his wrist, looking very much like Hunter's did.
"I can try to repair them...but I doubt I'll be successful. I'm not even sure with as far away as we are, if they'll go into self repair mode." He said, as though reading Hunter's mind.
Well Hunter thought as he looked down to the ground for a moment, feeling completely lost. There goes any hope in the Power Ranger department-or Cyber Cam finding us...we're officially screwed.
He must've said part of that out loud, because Cam sighed heavily-and agreed with him.
"You're absolutely right. But at least it's not raining anymore-I'll be very surprised if you don't come down with the pneumonia or something with as long as you were in the water and the rain and all. Here's hoping you don't." Hunter nodded, agreeing with him. That was something he didn't want to experience here.
"So what do we do now?" He asked, glancing around him-nothing but rock, rock...and more rock lay ahead of them.
"We continue to walk until we find some form of shelter. And then when we do that, we...I don't know." For once, Hunter was shocked. Cam was admitting that he didn't know what to do for once-and normally; Cam always had an idea as to how to get out of trouble.
"Looks like we're going to be stuck here." Hunter murmured, not really liking the idea as he eventually got his strength back and started walking on his own-even though his body still ached, feeling like he'd been slammed into something. He didn't want to tell Cam that. Both of them had enough to worry about now and Hunter didn't want Cam to worry about how his body was feeling at the moment when there was nothing they could do about it.
"I...I just wish that there was someway that I could find out about Blake..." Hunter managed to admit, as Cam put a reassuring arm on his shoulder.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Blake's somehow okay. Who knows, maybe we'll find him somewhere on this blasted island-it's huge. He's strong Hunter." The blonde nodded and pushed away bangs that were starting to get into his eyes.
"I know he is...but...I...I let go of him Cam. I promised him I wouldn't-no offense but I was kind of hoping that it was him calling my name out instead of you. All I want to know is if he's okay." He said softly, still filled with guilt-and when Cam glanced at him, he saw that guilt in his eyes.
He wanted to reassure him, but he wasn't sure how. He didn't really know what it felt like to worry about someone so much, because he was an only child himself. The only person who he could worry about was his father really, but his father was miles away at home in Blue Bay Harbor. Safe and sound. So he couldn't really tell Hunter that he understood how he was feeling, because he couldn't.
Well, he could understand a little of it-Tori, Dustin, and Shane...he wasn't sure what happened with those three and they were close enough like family to him. And even Blake...he'd even been starting to let his shields down around the Thunder Brother's as well. He just prayed to god that they were all somehow okay.
"Worrying about everyone isn't going to solve our problem at the moment Hunter," he said finally, trying to choose his words carefully. The last thing he needed, was an angry Hunter not wanting to talk to him or cooperate, as he knew that sometimes, Hunter could be that way. He didn't want that now. Hunter was the only other person on this damned island that he had found. As much as he knew he'd hate it, Hunter was the only company he'd have for awhile.
But that might not be so bad a sly voice inside his mind told him as playfully as it could. You've always had a crush on him...since you met him that day...you've always thought he was cute, and wanted to spend some 'alone' time with him. So now's your chance...you just might get to spend the rest of your days with him!
Cam inwardly groaned at the voice that teased him, and shook his head to clear it. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that maybe when he opened them, this would all go away and it would be a dream. He'd wake up in the cabin on the ship, listening to Hunter's soft snores or Blake's gentle murmuring as he'd roll over in his sleep...or maybe he'd even wake up back at Ninja Ops, safe and sound-the whole cruise ordeal being nothing but one horrible, awful nightmare. He knew he shouldn't have accepted that invitation of Tori's-it had all been too good to be true.
And if he ever saw his blonde friend again, he'd hurt her. Well, not really hurt her, but maybe he'd just give her the silent treatment-like for the rest of his life.
If he ever saw Tori again.
The thought made him go numb inside and his mind phased out as he and Hunter continued to stumble along the rocky terrain. They needed to find some sort of shelter. Preferably before nightfall...
Shane opened his eyes a little to see that the storm had stopped, and that the sun was actually shining-it looked like morning had come at last.
And he sighed in relief. The past two nights had been really rough on him- but more so on Dustin then on him. Now Shane was hungry-no, scratch that starving, and he wanted something to eat-now. But the problem was, was that there was nothing to eat.
He hadn't wanted to leave Dustin's side, as he'd pretty much been coming and going in and out of unconsciousness. His breathing was still a bit ragged, and when he coughed it made Shane wince at the raspy hardened sound. He knew that as much as he didn't want to leave Dustin at the moment it was necessary-if they were to survive, he was going to have to go out and explore a little bit more of the area.
It meant that he'd have to wake Dustin to tell him he was leaving-and he was positive that Dustin probably didn't want him to leave. He knew that he wouldn't want to be left alone if he had been the one in Dustin's situation. And a part of him wanted to be in Dustin's situation. Lately, it seemed like all the bad things had been happening to the light brunette he now fully considered his boyfriend.
When Dustin suddenly groaned and shifted, Shane seized the opportunity and gently stopped the other from rolling onto his side.
"Hang on there Dustin...can you wake up for a few minutes?" He asked, whispering softly as Dustin coughed a few times before opening his eyes a little and managing to find Shane's face and looked him straight in the eyes. Shane held in a breath when he saw how bright and feverish Dustin's dark brown eyes really looked.
"What?" Dustin managed to breath out, and another round of coughing followed as Shane helped him sit up enough so that he could get more air into his chest.
"I need to go for just a little while okay? I've got to see what's around this area and maybe collect some firewood and anything that looks edible...will you be okay alone?" He hated asking that question, but he also knew that what he had to do had to be done. Dustin managed to nod his head, as he licked his lips.
"Yeah dude...I think I'll be alright-I'm probably just going to sleep-my body feels like lead. Can you...can you maybe find some water or something drinkable?" Dustin knew that it would probably be an impossible task, but he saw Shane nod his head anyway as he gently swept away the hair that had fallen into Dustin's eyes, lightly dampened with sweat from the fever and chills that probably racked Dustin's lean frame.
"I'll try, I'll do my best. I should hopefully be back around mid day." All Dustin could manage was a nod as he felt his eyes slowly droop shut and he tried to get comfortable as Shane slowly headed out of the cave, only looking back once before he continued on.
Though as Shane left, before Dustin fell completely back into a dark oblivion, he thought of what a dismal situation they really were in...
"Ugh...how much further?" Hunter grumbled, wincing as he took another step. Normally he wasn't that much of a whiner when it came to hiking and extreme sports-but they'd been hiking through tough terrain for most of the day, and it wasn't getting any easier.
"I don't know Hunter-the same as what I replied with the last...oh five minutes or so ago that you asked me?" Cam said back feeling a bit irritated himself. The bugs had taken a liking to him, and he'd already felt like he'd been bit a million times over now...and probably had bites over bites from the mosquitoes that swarmed around them. Hunter wasn't doing much better then Cam either.
"Where's bug repellent when you need it?" They both sighed; knowing the answer to that question-they had nothing. And they wouldn't have anything either for a while, not until they knew this island as well as they needed to.
Hunter inwardly groaned. Cam was usually into the map finding and other finding of stuff department-but now they had no computers to help them, no scrolls...and now they also had no Ranger Powers either.
"Well, if I had a spirit to guide me that went with my power, I know I'd sure use it now." Cam murmured, but as he was just the Samurai Ranger, he couldn't really contact the elements that Tori, Shane, and Dustin could. Hunter only shrugged when Cam looked at him with the questioning glance that he was able to read.
"I'm a Thunder Ninja Cam...we can't do that kind of stuff either. So I guess we're both in the dark, and...wait a minute..." Hunter felt a shiver running through him and he looked up at the sky to see dark clouds in the horizon. Suddenly, he found if he concentrated on the clouds hard enough, he could actually see the lightning coursing through them, and actually hear the Thunder as though he were right in the thick of it all.
He suddenly felt dizzy, and saw the world start to spin around him as black dots started to haze through his vision. Hunter thought he briefly heard someone calling out to him...and then dismissed it as the world started to tip and turn. Feeling strong arms catch him, Hunter allowed himself to slowly come back to reality as he blinked several times, realizing that Cam had been the one calling his name over and over again, stopping when he saw that Hunter was actually back to normal-well, as normal as normal was for him anyway.
"God, don't scare me like that Hunter!" Cam scolded, as Hunter reached a shaky hand up and brushed back fallen bangs.
"Sorry Cam...um...I think there's a storm heading our way or something." He murmured, so quietly that Cam almost didn't hear it, so he tilted his head and looked at him as though he had just spoken gibberish to him.
"Wait a minute...back up and say that again Hunter." Hunter sighed.
"I said I think there's a storm coming-another one...one just as bad as the last one that made the boat we were on do what it did." Cam bit his lower lip.
"How did you know this Hunter?" The blonde he still held in his arms shrugged and sighed irritably.
"I don't know! Okay, I don't know! One minute I was here and the next minute I felt like I was surrounded by a mass of very dark clouds, and lightning was splitting the air, and..." But before he could continue any further, Cam held up a hand to stop his rambling as he held a light smile on his face. Hunter never quite realized before how cute Cam actually looked without his glasses-wait scratch that-handsome was more like it.
"Hunter...you and Blake are Thunder Rangers...so maybe instead of being able to use the elements like Dustin and the other's can, you can feel them! Which we can actually use to our advantage now!"
Hunter groaned as Cam looked overly excited about the whole feeling elements thing. For him, it gave him nothing but a really bad headache.
"Do I have to have it?" He grumbled, massaging his temples as Cam grinned.
"Well, at least we know when it's going to storm...which could be very helpful-too bad dad's not here to help you figure out how to actually focus and get it so that it doesn't slam you every time it happens to fall upon you." Hunter groaned.
"Isn't that what you're supposed to be here for?" Cam chuckled as he helped Hunter up.
"No-remember, I'm a Ranger now just like the rest of you. Come on, if it's going to storm soon, we'd better find some kind of shelter." Again with the shelter bit. But Hunter knew that Cam was right-they needed somewhere they could stay dry-Hunter wasn't too concerned with the warmth part of it- they had each other after all.
Suddenly, finding shelter and cuddling up next to Cam for the rest of the night sounded rather...pleasant.
And that was the only thought that managed to keep him going for the rest of the day.
Kelly was not a happy person at the moment.
But of course you wouldn't be happy if someone came to tell you that your employees were gone...drowned maybe, stranded somewhere...who knew...?
And it was all because of that really weird storm that they'd had a little while ago.
She sighed...why did she have to be everybody's emergency contact person? Whatever happened to just putting down a family member, even though the forms didn't say to put down a family member? They just didn't want you to put down a family member so that way the family member wouldn't flip out on the phone or at the door depending on how desperate the situation was.
And this, could be counted as desperate.
Because now she was in charge of calling Tori's, Dustin's, and Shane's parents. She wasn't too sure about Cam or Hunter or Blake...from the sounds of it, it seemed as though Hunter and Blake didn't have parents-or so that was what she got from the very strong hint that Dustin had dropped at her when she'd hired Blake and Hunter onto Storm Chargers.
So now she was sitting in her office, staring at the slightly cloudy, breezy day outside trying to muster up the courage needed to call everyone's families and tell them what happened.
It was then that she got the idea to call Dustin's dad...she'd met him before when Dustin had brought him by the shop because he'd been curious as to where Dustin had spent most of his time during the day and early evening, and he'd seemed like a fairly reasonable man.
It was only the part of having to tell him that the six teens could only be just missing and that they were still trying to look for them on any island where the boat had gone down, that was going to be the hard part. She fingered the business card that Dustin's father had given her that day...it had been one of those 'just because' reasons.
"Workaholic." Kelly muttered under her breath. Only serious workaholics handed out their business cards to anyone and everyone-no wonder why Dustin had told her once that he really didn't know his dad all that well. So whenever Dustin would come into work and say that his dad finally had a day off from work-which was very rare and hadn't happened since somewhere around the Christmas season last year-Kelly would give him that day off. Actually, scratch that...she'd given him that day off, for he'd come into the store so excited the previous night when he had found out that his father had taken the day off from work just to 'hang out' with his son.
"At least he has good intentions...let's see how badly he flips out on me when I call him with this newest information...god...you guys why do you constantly do this to me?" She whispered as she picked up the phone and dialed the work number on the business card.
She didn't know how to explain it, but deep down she knew that they weren't dead...she had the feeling that they were alive and well-somewhere. Where though, was something no one knew...and she knew that the coast guard would only search for so long before giving up on them. And she was never a quitter-she wasn't going to give up on her friends that easily. She'd only met Cam a few different times, but she'd always liked him and thought he was just as easy going as the rest of them.
Finally someone picked up on the other end and Kelly almost groaned when she got a receptionist. But at this point in time, she'd be patient-and indeed when she asked for Mr. Brooks, she was put on hold...for quite some time. She drummed her fingers on her desk as she waited...and waited...and waited some more, glancing at her watch and was surprised to see that nearly a half an hour had gone by since she'd called for Dustin's father. She had business to deal with out in the store, as she had Jesse and Samantha covering shifts for Blake and Hunter now...but they weren't as experienced as those two were.
And she hadn't told them that Blake, Hunter, and the other's were missing yet either.
Finally when she was about to hang up, he actually answered the phone, and Kelly braced herself for the explosion of anger that was bound to happen.
"Mr. Brooks, hi, this is Kelly calling from Storm Chargers-Dustin's boss?" She said, hoping that with that much information the man would remember who she was.
"Oh, yes...Kelly, hi...is...something wrong with my son, is that why you're calling me?" He asked, sounding very concerned and serious at the same time-at least the man cared for his son, that much Kelly knew as she sucked in a small breath and then slowly let it out.
"Um...well...Mr. Brooks, there's really no easy way for me to tell you this-but you know the trip your son went on with Tori and the other's?" She could vision him nodding on the other side of the phone.
"Yes, I do. Dustin sounded quite excited when he was telling me and his mother about it. Why?"
"Well, I just got a call-a call...because I guess they all put me down as an emergency contact...god...Mr. Brooks, I'm so sorry to tell you this but the cruise ship they were on went down in the storm the other night-they're calling it a 'freak accident' or something of the likes-everyone made it off safely-everyone except Tori, Shane, Hunter, Blake, Cam, and...and Dustin. Mr. Brooks, I'm sorry-your son has been reported as missing..."
From Mr. Brooks end of the line, Kelly heard nothing but an eerie silence.
TBC
Author's Notes: Wow...so many people are asking me for a Hunter/Cam chapter... I seriously thank you guys for all the support you're giving me. Really in the past I've only done slash with anime stuff...so this is my first time doing it in a different section that's not anime, and I'm just excited that you guys are liking this so much! So all you reviewers out there are just awesome! Gives everyone who's reviewed so far a big hug. I had a bit of a writer's block on this chapter, but now I think I've got everything figured out, so it should all go pretty smoothly after this! And I'm sorry for what I had to do to Dustin! Hides once more behind Blake and Hunter and receives a glare from Dustin...my protectors...they've got no choice but to protect me! (Since I'm the one in charge of what happens to them in this story! :P receives glares from the three boys, and then smiles sweetly at them in return...but of course, if you three are good, then you'll have nothing to worry about...sees looks of relief from all three- especially Dustin) Hehe, don't mind me, I'm just having a sugar rush...so, let's get on with this chapter already...
Rating: PG13
Warning: Contains slash/yaoi so if you don't like the thought of male/male pairings, then I suggest that you leave now or forever hold your peace- you've been for warned. :P
Pairings: Blake/Tori, Hunter/Cam, Shane/Dustin
Replies to Reviewers:
Prinzessin- Ask and ye shall receive! I have the feeling you'll like this chapter. Hehe...well, it seems as though you've found a way to communicate with me! Just leave me notes (uh...or should I say demands maybe -) like the one you left me in Searching and Finding...(along with that cliffhanger and evil short chapter...:P) - I'm in such a Hunter/Dustin mood at the moment though that this was actually a hard chapter for me to write!!! Sighs...what am I going to do with myself? (Can I PLEASE have more Searching and Finding now? Whimpers pathetically I updated...gives author infamous puppy dog eyed look ) Oh, and can I make a request, please, please? Can you by any chance do anything to start 'Waiting For You?' Gotta love those Dustin centered fics, and that one sounds so plot worthy!!! Okay, I'm done now. -
Gundam Nymph- Your review was so incredibly sweet! Thank you! Hugs Gundam Nymph There's some Hunter/Cam moments in here. Not a whole lot, but as the fic goes on there will be more, have no fear! 'I thought, and was kind of hoping, that Dustin really wasn't getting sick again and they might use 'other' means to get warm. yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a hentai. LOL The SlashWorld corrupted me. :P :P' Trust me...the part I really wanted to put there, I don't think that ff.net would've allowed me to in a heart beat...see, my original thought was for Dustin to get sick, and get the fever...and the chills...and well, I'll let you go on with your own imagination on THAT one. But being the good author that I am, I stayed within ff.net boundaries...heh, and you're not the only one who the SlashWorld corrupted! But once you're in, I swear to you you'll stay for a very LONG while...possibly a lifetime...-
Tsukino Akume- So here is the next chapter of Shipwrecked as I promised for you. And can I say again that I totally loved your update on Fight To Keep You? And I'm also working on Different Journey's too...no worries! I FINALLY have somewhere to go on that and aren't stuck on it anymore! Yippee! I don't honestly know how I do the Shane/Dustin fluffy angst either...shrugs...I guess it might just come naturally to me? - Hehe...oh what a devious mind can do. If you think that you liked the last chapter, wait until the next couple come up...and yes, I completely do agree with you on Dustin's family background...it seems like something Dustin would almost want to hide sometimes, know what I mean?
Angelic Agony- Well...at least you no longer want to kill me! I feel safer now! steps out from behind Blake and Hunter's Thunder Shield Hugs author. I don't know how I could do that to Dustin...there's just something appealing about seeing your favorite character tortured...well, at least for me anyway- (because then there's always really big fluffy moments afterward...-) no worries though, Shane's going to take really good care of him, I promise. And here's the update for ya-enjoy!
Bjvision- Everyone requested the same thing...sighs. I guess I had no choice but to comply or face a mob of mad reviewers...heh...--;; actually though, with what everyone wanted for this chapter was what I was already planning on doing, so...it's all good! And no worries, as I told Angelic Agony above...Dustin will be well taken care of. (You don't really think I'd kill of my favorite character, right? -)
CamFan4Ever- Can't...BREATHE! gasps for air as CamFan finally let's go...just...this time hug a little LESS tightly, kay' dude? As Hunter says in Return of Thunder part 3-I kind of need to breathe a little bit here! - But no worries! Here's some Hunter and Camness for you...and I can't really help it sometimes on the cliffhangers-they're my specialty! (What can I say, I learned from the best...-) Oh...before I forget...Hands CamFan key to the Cam/Hunter gate...enjoy! And do feel free to pass it around...
Blake-Tori88- Bows deeply thank you, thank you very much! Just keep on scrolling down and you'll see who I've got up next...although by now I suppose I've made it a dead giveaway...sighs-it's so hard to keep a good secret on ff.net these days. Ah, well...that just means that you can look forward to what's coming next chapter! -
Shipwrecked
Author: Angel Spirit
Chapter IV: Stranded-Hunter...and Cam
"Hunter. Hunter, wake up."
Someone was calling out his name. And he did not want to obey their command. He felt someone touching his shoulder, shaking him as gently as possible-as though hoping that the small motion would cause him to open his eyes.
Fat chance of that happening. Hunter Bradley thought to himself, as he groaned inwardly. His whole body hurt. He felt like he couldn't move...as though a bunch of Kelzacks were holding him down-or worse, by one of Lothor's electric hits that wouldn't let go.
"Hunter, come on...Hunter, you're scaring me, I need you to wake up! Please?!?" The voice was sounding desperate now. It didn't sound like Blake's however, unless if Hunter had water in his ears. That caused him to frown as he clearly remembered...
Though, as he was remembering what happened, his eyes immediately shot open, and he groaned as he moved a hand to quickly cover his eyes as the sun nearly blinded him. He heard a sigh of relief off to his left side, and when he felt like he was able too, he moved his head a little in that direction, completely taken aback at whom it was that had been calling out to him. It really wasn't Blake...so that meant that he'd broken his promise to his little brother about not letting go of him when Blake couldn't hold onto the railing of the ship anymore.
He suddenly felt a slight pain in his chest, and he knew what caused it, as it had happened plenty of times before whenever he had felt like he had let Blake down-guilt.
"Are you alright? Come on Hunter, say something to me...please?" Hunter could only shake his head as he attempted to sit up. Strong arms wrapped around him, arms stronger then Hunter had thought that they would be as those arms helped him to sit so that he was leaning up against that person. When he finally felt as though he had his thoughts and emotions under control enough, he licked his dry lips.
"Cam? What in the hell are you doing here?" He rasped out, surprised at how strange his voice sounded-like he'd been yelling at a concert or something. Cam sighed and shook his head...and Hunter realized quickly that he was missing his glasses.
"I blame this all on Tori." The dark haired teen murmured as he continued to check Hunter over.
"Feel anything broken? You look a little wiped out." He asked, as Hunter only shrugged, and winced wishing that he hadn't done that. It reminded him just how much he was hurting.
"Well, if you fell overboard a ship during a storm like the one we had the other night, then you'd look and feel wiped out too." Hunter muttered, suddenly feeling a bit irritated. Maybe it was because he was really wishing that the person who had woken him up had been Blake, and not Cam. Cam was supposed to have been evacuated-safe and sound. And Blake...now he wouldn't know...
"Blake...have you seen him anywhere?" Cam only shook his head looking straight into Hunter's dark blue orbs with a deep look of regret.
"No-I haven't seen him at all...and trust me, I've scoped out this place as much as I could. Can you move? We need to get you out of the water-you're lucky I found you at all." It was only after Cam said this, that Hunter realized that he was still very much in the water-well, half of his body was anyway.
His body was stuck in between what looked like two rock boulders, but as Cam helped him to stand he noticed that the area surrounding them was nothing but rock.
He stood shakily, not quite sure if he could actually stand on his own and grateful that Cam had a tight grip on him, and wasn't looking like he was going to let Hunter fall over anytime soon-because that's what Hunter felt like doing. He felt really, really tired. Like the way one did after spending the whole day in the sun at the beach-or most of the time in his case, after he'd spent all day long training at the track. He felt like he'd gotten run over by a bunch of dirt bikes.
He held a hand to his forehead, and started to gently rub it with his fingers, causing Cam to send him a look of concern.
"Have a headache or something?" Hunter nodded as slowly as he could without actually nodding as he groaned while he straightened up, as he had been bending over slightly.
"I hurt all over." He admitted, and Cam flashed him a small smile.
"You've probably been lying in that position I found you in too long. I didn't want to move you until you woke up because I wasn't sure if you were hurt at all." Cam said softly, and Hunter only sighed.
"So where are we?" He asked timidly, as Cam only shook his head, still not letting go of Hunter-and Hunter didn't mind once so ever.
"I've got no idea...no answer for once. All I know is that we're on some kind of very big-actually huge from what I've seen so far-island. And also from what I've seen so far-no civilization." Hunter groaned.
"So...you're saying that we're stranded, right dude?" Cam nodded.
"Right. As much as I hate to admit that, I think you're definitely right." Hunter paused for a moment as they had started to trek away from where Cam had found him before he glanced around the area.
"How...how long did it take you to find me Cam? From the way you're sounding like, it sounded like you didn't arrive on this island anywhere near where I was." He said, and Cam admitted that he was right.
"I was about a day away from you. So really it's been a night and a day for you since...well...you know." Now Hunter really felt like he wanted to hurt someone. Not Cam, but someone-at the moment he actually wanted Kelzacks to arrive...they always made good punching bags when there weren't any around to use. But somehow Hunter knew that no Kelzacks were going to arrive anytime soon. If Cam didn't know where they were-then the chances of Lothor might not knowing where they were, were probably high...very high. And as he glanced down at his morpher, he realized that he was right-it was busted-beyond repair it looked like.
Cam caught him looking at his morpher and he also showed him his own- strapped to his wrist, looking very much like Hunter's did.
"I can try to repair them...but I doubt I'll be successful. I'm not even sure with as far away as we are, if they'll go into self repair mode." He said, as though reading Hunter's mind.
Well Hunter thought as he looked down to the ground for a moment, feeling completely lost. There goes any hope in the Power Ranger department-or Cyber Cam finding us...we're officially screwed.
He must've said part of that out loud, because Cam sighed heavily-and agreed with him.
"You're absolutely right. But at least it's not raining anymore-I'll be very surprised if you don't come down with the pneumonia or something with as long as you were in the water and the rain and all. Here's hoping you don't." Hunter nodded, agreeing with him. That was something he didn't want to experience here.
"So what do we do now?" He asked, glancing around him-nothing but rock, rock...and more rock lay ahead of them.
"We continue to walk until we find some form of shelter. And then when we do that, we...I don't know." For once, Hunter was shocked. Cam was admitting that he didn't know what to do for once-and normally; Cam always had an idea as to how to get out of trouble.
"Looks like we're going to be stuck here." Hunter murmured, not really liking the idea as he eventually got his strength back and started walking on his own-even though his body still ached, feeling like he'd been slammed into something. He didn't want to tell Cam that. Both of them had enough to worry about now and Hunter didn't want Cam to worry about how his body was feeling at the moment when there was nothing they could do about it.
"I...I just wish that there was someway that I could find out about Blake..." Hunter managed to admit, as Cam put a reassuring arm on his shoulder.
"I wouldn't be surprised if Blake's somehow okay. Who knows, maybe we'll find him somewhere on this blasted island-it's huge. He's strong Hunter." The blonde nodded and pushed away bangs that were starting to get into his eyes.
"I know he is...but...I...I let go of him Cam. I promised him I wouldn't-no offense but I was kind of hoping that it was him calling my name out instead of you. All I want to know is if he's okay." He said softly, still filled with guilt-and when Cam glanced at him, he saw that guilt in his eyes.
He wanted to reassure him, but he wasn't sure how. He didn't really know what it felt like to worry about someone so much, because he was an only child himself. The only person who he could worry about was his father really, but his father was miles away at home in Blue Bay Harbor. Safe and sound. So he couldn't really tell Hunter that he understood how he was feeling, because he couldn't.
Well, he could understand a little of it-Tori, Dustin, and Shane...he wasn't sure what happened with those three and they were close enough like family to him. And even Blake...he'd even been starting to let his shields down around the Thunder Brother's as well. He just prayed to god that they were all somehow okay.
"Worrying about everyone isn't going to solve our problem at the moment Hunter," he said finally, trying to choose his words carefully. The last thing he needed, was an angry Hunter not wanting to talk to him or cooperate, as he knew that sometimes, Hunter could be that way. He didn't want that now. Hunter was the only other person on this damned island that he had found. As much as he knew he'd hate it, Hunter was the only company he'd have for awhile.
But that might not be so bad a sly voice inside his mind told him as playfully as it could. You've always had a crush on him...since you met him that day...you've always thought he was cute, and wanted to spend some 'alone' time with him. So now's your chance...you just might get to spend the rest of your days with him!
Cam inwardly groaned at the voice that teased him, and shook his head to clear it. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that maybe when he opened them, this would all go away and it would be a dream. He'd wake up in the cabin on the ship, listening to Hunter's soft snores or Blake's gentle murmuring as he'd roll over in his sleep...or maybe he'd even wake up back at Ninja Ops, safe and sound-the whole cruise ordeal being nothing but one horrible, awful nightmare. He knew he shouldn't have accepted that invitation of Tori's-it had all been too good to be true.
And if he ever saw his blonde friend again, he'd hurt her. Well, not really hurt her, but maybe he'd just give her the silent treatment-like for the rest of his life.
If he ever saw Tori again.
The thought made him go numb inside and his mind phased out as he and Hunter continued to stumble along the rocky terrain. They needed to find some sort of shelter. Preferably before nightfall...
Shane opened his eyes a little to see that the storm had stopped, and that the sun was actually shining-it looked like morning had come at last.
And he sighed in relief. The past two nights had been really rough on him- but more so on Dustin then on him. Now Shane was hungry-no, scratch that starving, and he wanted something to eat-now. But the problem was, was that there was nothing to eat.
He hadn't wanted to leave Dustin's side, as he'd pretty much been coming and going in and out of unconsciousness. His breathing was still a bit ragged, and when he coughed it made Shane wince at the raspy hardened sound. He knew that as much as he didn't want to leave Dustin at the moment it was necessary-if they were to survive, he was going to have to go out and explore a little bit more of the area.
It meant that he'd have to wake Dustin to tell him he was leaving-and he was positive that Dustin probably didn't want him to leave. He knew that he wouldn't want to be left alone if he had been the one in Dustin's situation. And a part of him wanted to be in Dustin's situation. Lately, it seemed like all the bad things had been happening to the light brunette he now fully considered his boyfriend.
When Dustin suddenly groaned and shifted, Shane seized the opportunity and gently stopped the other from rolling onto his side.
"Hang on there Dustin...can you wake up for a few minutes?" He asked, whispering softly as Dustin coughed a few times before opening his eyes a little and managing to find Shane's face and looked him straight in the eyes. Shane held in a breath when he saw how bright and feverish Dustin's dark brown eyes really looked.
"What?" Dustin managed to breath out, and another round of coughing followed as Shane helped him sit up enough so that he could get more air into his chest.
"I need to go for just a little while okay? I've got to see what's around this area and maybe collect some firewood and anything that looks edible...will you be okay alone?" He hated asking that question, but he also knew that what he had to do had to be done. Dustin managed to nod his head, as he licked his lips.
"Yeah dude...I think I'll be alright-I'm probably just going to sleep-my body feels like lead. Can you...can you maybe find some water or something drinkable?" Dustin knew that it would probably be an impossible task, but he saw Shane nod his head anyway as he gently swept away the hair that had fallen into Dustin's eyes, lightly dampened with sweat from the fever and chills that probably racked Dustin's lean frame.
"I'll try, I'll do my best. I should hopefully be back around mid day." All Dustin could manage was a nod as he felt his eyes slowly droop shut and he tried to get comfortable as Shane slowly headed out of the cave, only looking back once before he continued on.
Though as Shane left, before Dustin fell completely back into a dark oblivion, he thought of what a dismal situation they really were in...
"Ugh...how much further?" Hunter grumbled, wincing as he took another step. Normally he wasn't that much of a whiner when it came to hiking and extreme sports-but they'd been hiking through tough terrain for most of the day, and it wasn't getting any easier.
"I don't know Hunter-the same as what I replied with the last...oh five minutes or so ago that you asked me?" Cam said back feeling a bit irritated himself. The bugs had taken a liking to him, and he'd already felt like he'd been bit a million times over now...and probably had bites over bites from the mosquitoes that swarmed around them. Hunter wasn't doing much better then Cam either.
"Where's bug repellent when you need it?" They both sighed; knowing the answer to that question-they had nothing. And they wouldn't have anything either for a while, not until they knew this island as well as they needed to.
Hunter inwardly groaned. Cam was usually into the map finding and other finding of stuff department-but now they had no computers to help them, no scrolls...and now they also had no Ranger Powers either.
"Well, if I had a spirit to guide me that went with my power, I know I'd sure use it now." Cam murmured, but as he was just the Samurai Ranger, he couldn't really contact the elements that Tori, Shane, and Dustin could. Hunter only shrugged when Cam looked at him with the questioning glance that he was able to read.
"I'm a Thunder Ninja Cam...we can't do that kind of stuff either. So I guess we're both in the dark, and...wait a minute..." Hunter felt a shiver running through him and he looked up at the sky to see dark clouds in the horizon. Suddenly, he found if he concentrated on the clouds hard enough, he could actually see the lightning coursing through them, and actually hear the Thunder as though he were right in the thick of it all.
He suddenly felt dizzy, and saw the world start to spin around him as black dots started to haze through his vision. Hunter thought he briefly heard someone calling out to him...and then dismissed it as the world started to tip and turn. Feeling strong arms catch him, Hunter allowed himself to slowly come back to reality as he blinked several times, realizing that Cam had been the one calling his name over and over again, stopping when he saw that Hunter was actually back to normal-well, as normal as normal was for him anyway.
"God, don't scare me like that Hunter!" Cam scolded, as Hunter reached a shaky hand up and brushed back fallen bangs.
"Sorry Cam...um...I think there's a storm heading our way or something." He murmured, so quietly that Cam almost didn't hear it, so he tilted his head and looked at him as though he had just spoken gibberish to him.
"Wait a minute...back up and say that again Hunter." Hunter sighed.
"I said I think there's a storm coming-another one...one just as bad as the last one that made the boat we were on do what it did." Cam bit his lower lip.
"How did you know this Hunter?" The blonde he still held in his arms shrugged and sighed irritably.
"I don't know! Okay, I don't know! One minute I was here and the next minute I felt like I was surrounded by a mass of very dark clouds, and lightning was splitting the air, and..." But before he could continue any further, Cam held up a hand to stop his rambling as he held a light smile on his face. Hunter never quite realized before how cute Cam actually looked without his glasses-wait scratch that-handsome was more like it.
"Hunter...you and Blake are Thunder Rangers...so maybe instead of being able to use the elements like Dustin and the other's can, you can feel them! Which we can actually use to our advantage now!"
Hunter groaned as Cam looked overly excited about the whole feeling elements thing. For him, it gave him nothing but a really bad headache.
"Do I have to have it?" He grumbled, massaging his temples as Cam grinned.
"Well, at least we know when it's going to storm...which could be very helpful-too bad dad's not here to help you figure out how to actually focus and get it so that it doesn't slam you every time it happens to fall upon you." Hunter groaned.
"Isn't that what you're supposed to be here for?" Cam chuckled as he helped Hunter up.
"No-remember, I'm a Ranger now just like the rest of you. Come on, if it's going to storm soon, we'd better find some kind of shelter." Again with the shelter bit. But Hunter knew that Cam was right-they needed somewhere they could stay dry-Hunter wasn't too concerned with the warmth part of it- they had each other after all.
Suddenly, finding shelter and cuddling up next to Cam for the rest of the night sounded rather...pleasant.
And that was the only thought that managed to keep him going for the rest of the day.
Kelly was not a happy person at the moment.
But of course you wouldn't be happy if someone came to tell you that your employees were gone...drowned maybe, stranded somewhere...who knew...?
And it was all because of that really weird storm that they'd had a little while ago.
She sighed...why did she have to be everybody's emergency contact person? Whatever happened to just putting down a family member, even though the forms didn't say to put down a family member? They just didn't want you to put down a family member so that way the family member wouldn't flip out on the phone or at the door depending on how desperate the situation was.
And this, could be counted as desperate.
Because now she was in charge of calling Tori's, Dustin's, and Shane's parents. She wasn't too sure about Cam or Hunter or Blake...from the sounds of it, it seemed as though Hunter and Blake didn't have parents-or so that was what she got from the very strong hint that Dustin had dropped at her when she'd hired Blake and Hunter onto Storm Chargers.
So now she was sitting in her office, staring at the slightly cloudy, breezy day outside trying to muster up the courage needed to call everyone's families and tell them what happened.
It was then that she got the idea to call Dustin's dad...she'd met him before when Dustin had brought him by the shop because he'd been curious as to where Dustin had spent most of his time during the day and early evening, and he'd seemed like a fairly reasonable man.
It was only the part of having to tell him that the six teens could only be just missing and that they were still trying to look for them on any island where the boat had gone down, that was going to be the hard part. She fingered the business card that Dustin's father had given her that day...it had been one of those 'just because' reasons.
"Workaholic." Kelly muttered under her breath. Only serious workaholics handed out their business cards to anyone and everyone-no wonder why Dustin had told her once that he really didn't know his dad all that well. So whenever Dustin would come into work and say that his dad finally had a day off from work-which was very rare and hadn't happened since somewhere around the Christmas season last year-Kelly would give him that day off. Actually, scratch that...she'd given him that day off, for he'd come into the store so excited the previous night when he had found out that his father had taken the day off from work just to 'hang out' with his son.
"At least he has good intentions...let's see how badly he flips out on me when I call him with this newest information...god...you guys why do you constantly do this to me?" She whispered as she picked up the phone and dialed the work number on the business card.
She didn't know how to explain it, but deep down she knew that they weren't dead...she had the feeling that they were alive and well-somewhere. Where though, was something no one knew...and she knew that the coast guard would only search for so long before giving up on them. And she was never a quitter-she wasn't going to give up on her friends that easily. She'd only met Cam a few different times, but she'd always liked him and thought he was just as easy going as the rest of them.
Finally someone picked up on the other end and Kelly almost groaned when she got a receptionist. But at this point in time, she'd be patient-and indeed when she asked for Mr. Brooks, she was put on hold...for quite some time. She drummed her fingers on her desk as she waited...and waited...and waited some more, glancing at her watch and was surprised to see that nearly a half an hour had gone by since she'd called for Dustin's father. She had business to deal with out in the store, as she had Jesse and Samantha covering shifts for Blake and Hunter now...but they weren't as experienced as those two were.
And she hadn't told them that Blake, Hunter, and the other's were missing yet either.
Finally when she was about to hang up, he actually answered the phone, and Kelly braced herself for the explosion of anger that was bound to happen.
"Mr. Brooks, hi, this is Kelly calling from Storm Chargers-Dustin's boss?" She said, hoping that with that much information the man would remember who she was.
"Oh, yes...Kelly, hi...is...something wrong with my son, is that why you're calling me?" He asked, sounding very concerned and serious at the same time-at least the man cared for his son, that much Kelly knew as she sucked in a small breath and then slowly let it out.
"Um...well...Mr. Brooks, there's really no easy way for me to tell you this-but you know the trip your son went on with Tori and the other's?" She could vision him nodding on the other side of the phone.
"Yes, I do. Dustin sounded quite excited when he was telling me and his mother about it. Why?"
"Well, I just got a call-a call...because I guess they all put me down as an emergency contact...god...Mr. Brooks, I'm so sorry to tell you this but the cruise ship they were on went down in the storm the other night-they're calling it a 'freak accident' or something of the likes-everyone made it off safely-everyone except Tori, Shane, Hunter, Blake, Cam, and...and Dustin. Mr. Brooks, I'm sorry-your son has been reported as missing..."
From Mr. Brooks end of the line, Kelly heard nothing but an eerie silence.
TBC