Chapter 1: Over the Edge
2 Weeks Earlier
Dustin was sleeping peacefully in his dorm room, half buried in all the sheets. The room was half dark, and complete silence. The door slowly opened and Tori, the devious blonde snuck in and crept towards his bed. Leaning over and smiling at the innocent boy in front of her, she took a deep breath and screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Good Morning!"
The screamed shattered the peace, causing Dustin to snap awake in fright and fall out of the bed with the sheets crashing down on top of him. Tori laughed as she backed away a bit and helped the brunette up.
"I'm so sorry." She said through each burst of laughter, "I couldn't help it."
Dustin groaned, standing up, revealing nothing but his boxers on. He yawned a bit and stretched, rubbing his eyes.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" He yawned a bit more.
She crossed her arms and nodded, "It's quarter past 11 Dustin."
He grinned a bit, "Oh in that case."
She smacked him in the chest and walked towards the door, "Put some clothes on. Were suppose to meet Shane in the campus field. Dustin slowly walked over to grab some clothes he had laying on top of his dresser. He then headed into the bathroom and turned the light on, closing the door. Looking into the mirror, he ran his hands through his messy brown hair to try to neaten them. Sighing, he clasped his hand together and just smiled. 3 straight months of no drugs, no real problems and for once, a normal life. Everything was looking up, he and Tori were together. He finally moved on from his father's death and was doing excellent in school. He was loving every minute of his life and there was no reason he shouldn't be.
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Tori opened the door, the sun was high up in the sky. She stuck her hands in her back pockets and idly walked onto the grass and towards where Shane was sitting. The red ranger grinned and turned to her, placing his hands on the back of the bench.
"Is he up yet?"
She nodded, "Yeah. He'll be done in a minute."
"Finally." He turned to face the front again, "He is one lazy bastard." He smirked.
Tori laughed and sat down next to him, "Next week we have a vacation. We going back into the city?"
He shrugged and twirled his skateboard in his hands, "Yeah, Cam invited us to help back at the academy for a bit. Mind as well."
"Excellent." She turned back to the entrance of the dorm and noticed Dustin walking out, she smiled and stood up, "And here's the dork now."
Dustin strode through the campus and towards them. The wind scowled across his skin, sending shiver down his body. He shook the feeling off and wrapped his hands around his two friends.
"Dude, let's get going." He smiled, "Let's hit the skate park!"
The three of them raced to Tori's van and jumped in. Minutes past and they finally arrived at the park. Dustin leaned out the window and looked at all the skaters. The place was somewhat busy, he turned to see Shane and Tori hopping out. Climbing out himself, the three of them headed deeper into the skate park to a clear area. Shane jumped on his board and began riding around as Tori took sat on a bench.
"Come on Shane!" She cheered, "Show us your move!"
"I've been practicing this one. Maybe I can land it." He responded.
Dustin moved and sat down next to Tori, she moved closer and leaned her head on his shoulder, smiling and watching Shane pull off moves on the ramp. She clapped occasionally and looked up to see Dustin rooting also.
"You wanna get something to eat after?" She turned his face towards her.
He reached out and pulled her hand away, clasping it with his, "Sure. First though, I want to go see my father."
"Okay." She nodded, "I'll take you there after this."
"You sure?" He let go of her hand, "I do have my own car ya know."
"I want to." She leaned in and kissed him, "No problem here."
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Hunter walked out of his apartment in Blue Bay Harbor and sighed a bit as he stuck his hands in his pocket. He decided he had nothing much to do but to go for a walk around the city. Hopefully spot someone he knows or something. Lately, their hadn't been much to do, and he missed hanging out with everyone. He turned and went towards his mail box, sticking his hand in and pulling out a few letters. One was from his brother Blake, a few bills and letter from an address he never heard of. He opened it up quickly and scanned through it, looking up for a second.
"No way." He whispered to himself.
He folded the letter in his pocket and dashed inside and back into his apartment. Nearly tripping, he jumped over the couch and towards a phone, quickly dialing a few numbers.
"Bradly's room, Blake speaking." A subtle voice responded on the other end.
"Hey Blake! It's your bro." He pulled out the letter, "I got a question for ya."
"Oh hey Hunter." He sounded sketchy for some odd reason, "What's up? I'm about to leave for my next race."
"Did you get your mail yet?"
"Yeah a few hours ago, I didn't check it though." He grew curious.
"Did you get a letter from this Mr. Swan guy?"
"Hold on." The sound of him searching through the things echoed in the phone, "Oh here it is. Yeah, what's it about?"
"Don't you remember who he is!?" He exclaimed, "Thunder Ninja, Class of '94. The only guy who was able to beat Sensei Omino."
"What does he want with us?"
"I don't know, but he wants us to meet him at the Saran Towers at the edge of Blue Bay tonight."
"Alright. I'll meet you there around 5."
"Don't be late bro." He hung up and turned on the couch, "Okay Mr. Swan. I did my part." He got up and grabbed his keys before leaving once more."
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"Bye Shane!" Tori waved as she climbed into the van with Dustin, "Alright, let's hit the road."
They had out with Shane long enough, but he wanted to stay a bit longer so the two of them decided to head towards the grave so Dustin can sit and reflect like had been doing for the last few weeks. Tori pulled out of the parking lot and began driving down the road, she turned on the radio and smiled over to Dustin. They remain silent till they got to the graveyard. Stopping where the road ends, Dustin climbs out and close the door, looking in the window.
"I'll be right back." He spoke, "Try not to go anywhere."
"I'll try not to." She smirked, leaning back on the seat, "Take your time!"
Dustin took a few steps forward, passing stone graves after stone graves before stopping in front of his fathers. Small white and red flowers laid against the stone, the wind blowing gently. He shoved his hands in his pocket and looked down at the grave. He sighed deeply, exhaling loudly.
"Well Dad." He whispered, "It's been how many weeks now?" He bent down and sat in the grass, "This must be really annoying huh?"
He smirked a bit trying not to laugh. He grabbed a piece of grass and began toying it, even when his father can't reply, he still couldn't seam to find the right things to say. He looked down at the dirt in front of him.
"Yeah I'm getting an A in History." He began to smile again, "I know. An A. It's pretty crazy." He tried to hold back the tears, "Oh by the way! I'm a top class Earth Ninja and once a power ranger. I saved the world! Got to pilot giant zords and even fight a bunch of bad guys!" He got all excited, "I just wish.." His voice began to crack, "I just wish I could have told you... so you could be so proud of me..."
Tori leaned forward, watching Dustin front of the window. She leaned against the steering wheel and sighed, she could see the pain in his eyes. She forced a smile and turned to see two men walking past her van. They wearing suites and trench coats, each with one of those detective kinds of hats. She remained in the van as they walked up to Dustin.
"Mr Brooks?" The one with the tan hat spoke, "Can we have a word with you?"
He looked up, the sun was in his eyes. Squinting, he pushed himself up and shook their hands, "Yeah what do you want?"
"My name is Kalvin." He responded and flipped up his wallet revealing a badge, "I'm a Detective, and I just wanted to ask you a few questions."
"About what?"
"We just want to see if your father have any enemies that you might know of?" The one in the grey finally spoke up, "You know? So we can get a lead on his murder?"
Dustin arched his brows, "Murder? I thought he died in an car accident!"
The two of the glanced at each other, "I can assure you, that is not the cause of his death. Did you not get access to his report?"
"My mother took care of it." He grumbled, "I don't know."
"Alright." He spoke, "Thank you for you're time. We'll go talk to your mother."
The two of them turned and walked away. Tori wasn't sure what was going on. She climbed out of the van and watched them pass by. Tori turned and ran towards Dustin who fell to his knees. She bent down and lifted up his face.
"What's the matter?" She asked, "Come on Dustin."
He grabbed her, trying to fight back the rage and pain of the news he just heard. Tori felt his fingers digging in her arms, she tried to block the pain and hug him tightly.
"He was murdered." He screamed in her chest, "My mother lied!"
She looked away, holding him tightly. He bursted into tears, he didn't know what was going on. The news was such shocker, it really snapped his state of mind at the thought. The one person he could count on, the one person in his family that he cared wasn't taken away by fate? But by some murderer, some guy who took away an innocent man's life? When Tori realized that, she knew that's probably how she would react. The blonde did her best to try to calm him, hugging him tightly.
"It's okay." She reassured him, "Come on Dustin. Let me take you back."
He pushed her away and stood up, clenching his fist. Anger kicked him, he began to walk forward. Tori stood up and cleared her bangs out of the way.
"Where are you going?" She shouted out.
"I'm going to find this killer." He turned, "And I will make him pay."
"You're going into this blindly!" She ran up to him, "Please don't do this!"
He turned, "I have to."
She grabbed his arm, trying to stop him. He turned and smacked her across the face and turning to run. Tori fell to the ground hard, tears streamed down her face. She looked up to see him ninja streak off.
"Dustin!" She screamed, "Dustin!!!"
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End Chapter! Read and Review! Also note: I may be changing the title of this Story, so look out for a new name soon.