Tristen fastened her trainers and tiptoed out of Ninja Ops, it was six thirty in the morning. She jogged across the rubble representing the academy and out of the waterfall entrance. She broke into a run.
Cam was up when she got back. She pulled off her jacket and tossed it onto her bed before going into the main room.
'Been out for a run?'
'Yeah, still not one for sleeping in.' she replied flopping down on the cushions.
'Want some breakfast?'
'Please, oh wait...your not making pancakes again are you?' Tristen joked.
'No, it's just toast,' replied Cam with a groan.
'I remember when you tried to make them,' she laughed, 'how many did you get stuck to the ceiling before you gave up?'
'Seven, and one on the window,' replied Cam grimacing as he handed her a plate of buttered toast.
'Thanks,' she said taking the plate from him, 'When are the rangers getting here?'
'They should be here at ten but Dustin will probably be late,' said Cam rolling his eyes.
'Yeah, I did get the air head vibe,' agreed Tristen with a grin.
'When Dad chose those three I thought he was kidding but they aren't that bad really, just that all the dudes and cools get on my nerves after a while, it's nice to talk to someone who doesn't use a slang word in each sentence,' he said smiling at her then looking away quickly.
Tristen smiled to herself and finished her toast.
'Want to do a bit of sparring before the rangers get here?' she asked after she'd changed into her canvas training trousers again.
'Why not,' said Cam leaving the computer.
They circled each other for a few moments, and then Cam attacked. Tristen blocked his punch easily and tried to flip him over but Cam was too fast, as he spun in the air he landed a kick on her back and sent her flying across the room. She managed to stop and lower herself effortlessly to the floor before she hit the wall.
'Impressive,' said Cam raising his eyebrow.
'That's nothing,' she replied sending a cushion Cam's way without touching it.
Cam didn't see it coming and it him across the head.
'That's it now,' he said with a grin grabbing a sword off the wall.
Tristen raised her hand and another sword flew to her. She caught it and pulled off the sheath.
Cam came at her, his sword raised. The clash of metal echoed round the room as they fought, neither one managed to get a blow to touch the other.
They stopped suddenly when they heard a round of applause. Cam's face flushed with colour as he bent down to retrieve the covering of his sword.
'Nice one dude, I had no idea that you could do that!' said Dustin excitedly clapping Cam on the back.
'Yeah, well they aren't just for decoration,' he answered replacing both swords back on the wall.
Sensei came out of his house, 'Ah, good morning rangers,'
'Morning Sensei,' they chorused.
'I remember that you still had questions from yesterday, we shall start with those before training,' said Sensei once again bouncing off Dustin to get to the table.
'I'm going to go,' said Tristen uncomfortably.
'Don't go too far,' said Cam giving her a knowing look. She nodded in understanding as she disappeared up the steps.
'Why is she going?' asked Tori looking puzzled.
Cam took a deep breath,
'Her mother was killed three nights ago,' he said flatly.
'What happened?' questioned Blake leaning forward slightly.
'Her powers are highly coveted; a bounty hunter attacked her home trying to steal the amulet. More will come after her now this one has failed. She won't tell me exactly what happened and I haven't asked,' said Cam
'Why do these guys want the amulet anyway?' asked Tori.
'The amulet is the source of the Life-force powers, if it falls into the wrong hands and they figure out how to activate it they could destroy the world.'
'They, whose they?' said Hunter.
'The bounty hunters work for an alien named Pyralis. Even Lothor is afraid of him.'
'So, this guy wants the amulet to destroy the world?' checked Dustin.
'More than likely.' Replied Cam.
The rangers finished asking their questions and barely had time to process the new knowledge before Sensei was ordering press ups and sparring matches.
By the time they had finished Tristen still hadn't come back and it was obvious that Cam was worried.
'Dude, stop pacing, your making me dizzy,' complained Dustin rubbing his eyes.
'She should be back by now,' retorted Cam.
'Then go and look for her but please stand still,'
Cam started to go outside but stopped when Tristen walked into the room carrying a few bags.
'Where have you been?' he asked tetchily.
'Okay, calm down, I just did a bit of shopping,'
'Oh right,' replied Cam feeling like a complete fool.
'So how do you guys know each other then?' said Tori breaking the silence that was brewing.
Tristen looked at Cam, 'I trained here for a while when I was a kid, Sensei taught me how to use the amulet.'
'Has Cam changed since he was a kid?' asked Shane inquisitively.
Tristen laughed as Cam winced slightly, 'Not really, and he still can't flip pancakes.'
The rangers looked at her confused.
'Oh, he decided to make pancakes one morning but they kind of didn't get on the plates, more like everywhere else.'
Dustin and Shane burst out laughing and once again Cam turned beetroot.
'Thank you very much Tristen,' said Cam in a mock serious tone.
Tristen grinned cheekily and then dodged behind Dustin as Cam threw a cushion at her.
'Hey, I almost forgot,' said Hunter pulling out a flyer from his pocket, 'there's a new band on tonight at The Rock,'
'What's The Rock?' asked Tristen coming out from behind Dustin.
'It's a club, does anyone want to go?'
'I'm in,' said Shane.
'Me too,' answered Tori and Dustin
'Sounds good,' said Tristen putting on a mock sad face and looking to Cam for him to say yes.
'Okay, I'll go,' Tristen smiled again.
'Great, Blake and I'll meet you there at 8,' said Hunter stuffing the flyer back into his pocket.