Chapter 3: Confession of a Teenage Crimson Thunder Ranger

Dustin dropped his head, he couldn't believe it. His mother was actually holding something from him, and something important. He tried to hold back his anger, waiting patiently for an explanation. His blood boiled through his veins, he tried to take slow breaths, glaring at his mother for an answer.

"Well." His tone deepened, "You going to tell me?"

She leaned forward and touched his hand. The warm feeling reminded him of how much he missed the old mother he use to know. She was so different now, many years can do that to a person yet you don't notice when it happens in small dosages.

"Look." She spoke softly, "I never meant to keep this from you, but we wanted to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" He pulled his hand away and stuck them on his lap, "I don't understand. Why would you keep something like this from me? Don't I deserve to know!?"

She sighed and looked down, "I just thought I could protect you by doing so. Keep you focus on your school work, then running around figuring out who the murderer was."

Dustin bolted up, knocking the chair backwards, "You were more worried about my school work then telling me the truth!?" He roared.

She remained quiet as he turned and grabbed his hair. Yelling at the top of his lungs, he slammed a fist into a nearby mirror, he caused the glass to shatter. He winced a bit, as blood begin to flow from the cuts in his fist. His mother stood up quickly.

"Dustin.." She grabbed some towels, "I know your mad but you have to understand.."

Dustin pushed her away and began walking to the door, "Goodbye Mother."

"Wait." She forced her hands on his shoulder, "You're sister is coming to visit in a few days. You can't go running around like a mad man."

He yanked himself away from her, "Actually I can do whatever I want. Since when do care anway?"

"Because I love you." She grabbed him again, holding his face, "I really do Dustin. And I'm sorry for what I have done in the past, the way I have acted and I don't expect forgiveness, but I do love you."

He pulled away from her and turned around, "Well don't expect love back." He muttered, "Cause you're an evil women with intentions that only help you with disregard of my feelings."

He stormed out, leaving the hurt mother standing alone. Those words pierced her heart, she felt broken because of it.

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Tori was waiting patiently in the van. She hummed to the beat of the radio, glancing at the Brook's house every so often. She was a bit bored, but she knew that this was important and had to be patient about it. She just hoped that everything was going well in there. Her cell phone began to ring, to a tropical beat. Pulling it out, she noticed Hunter was calling her and answered it.

"Hello."

"Tori." Hunter's voice sounded serious on the other end, "You busy?"

She glanced back at the house, "Uh kind of."

"I need to talk to you. It's important."

"Okay, can I see you in an hour or something?"

"No I need to see you now." He demanded, "It's extremely important."

"Okay." She felt a bit lost, "Let me get Dustin first then."

"No. Come alone. Please?"

She remain silent for a few seconds. She turned to see Dustin exiting out of his house and making his way towards her, "Alright. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Dustin made it to the van. He opened the door and climbed in, sighing with relief. Tori hung up the phone and stuff it in her pocket, turning to see his fist wrapped in a clothe.

"What happened?" She looked a bit worried, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine." He lied, he was really angry, "I need to go see this detective. I need answers."

Tori nodded and turned the engine of the van on, "Alright. I'll drop you off. I have to go take care of something important."

Dustin arched his brows, "What's that?"

"I just have to check on something, I promise I wont be gone to long."

He just looked out the window, not really responding. Tori bit her lips as she shifted into drive and began to head into the busier part of the city. Heading near the police station, Tori turned off the radio and drove into the parking lot. The two of them remain silent, both lost in thoughts and both with many questions on different things.

"Alright. I'll be back as soon as your done." She smiled, "Cheer up Dustin, you're a lot cuter with a smile then a frown."

He opened the door and hoped out turner to her, "Yeah I'll give you a call."

Tori watched with a weak smile, as he headed into the building. Rubbing her head, she was getting annoyed, she shifted her van in reverse and began heading towards Hunter's apartment. Turning on a few streets, 10 min later, she finally arrived. Parking the van across the street, she jumped out and felt the cool breeze blowing by. Looking both ways, she dashed across the street and into the building. Walking up the narrow stairs, she walked to room 117 and knocked on the door. It slowly opened and Hunter appeared.

"You made it."

She nodded, entering inside, "What was so important? I was in the middle of something."

He closed the door, "Sorry to pull you away from your busy schedule." he sarcastically responded.

"Care to explain?"

Hunter rolled his eyes and headed towards the living room in front of him, sitting on the couch. Tori walked past a table, glancing down to see a folder. Thinking nothing of it, she headed towards the couch also and sat down next to him.

"I know who killed Dustins' father." He began.

She raised her eyebrows, "Really? Who?"

"There's this guy name Victor Swan, a really great Thunder graduate." He explained, "He was the one involved in the cause of the accident."

"How do you know? Is their evidence?"

"No not yet." He scratched his head, "I haven't gotten that far. I've known this for a while but.."

"Wait." She interuptted him, "This whole time? This whole time, you knew about this and didn't tell us?" Her tone grew skeptic and angry at the same time/

"I couldn't!" He responded quickly, "Dustin was jumping off the walls over all this and I felt like giving him this news would send him over the edge. And the fact that I have no proof didn't help either."

"Okay." She trailed off, "Say if he was the murderer. Why would he do it? Or better yet, how did you tangle with a guy like him?"

"I was contacted a few months ago by him and he informed me of information of my real parents, but I had to do something for him first. When I was picking something up, Dustin's father's car accident happened. I saw Van do it. I saw him there. He left quickly and I chased after him."

"Why didn't you take him down!?"

"He's a top elite thunder ninja Tori." He pointed out, "And the fact that he holds evidence against me to frame me, if I do, he will try to pin it all on me. And I'm not in the mood to go to jail anytime soon. Never actually."

Tori sighed, looking away. The whole thing sounded a bit skeptic, she wanted to believe him as a friend, but something didn't feel right. There were some flaws in the story, and things didn't make sense. She didn't know what to do.

"Okay." She just responded, "Look, let's find Cam and Shane and even Blake and discuss about this. Maybe we can clear your name and avoid any possibility of framing."

"As long as you leave Dustin out." He added, "If he knows, he'll just jump to conclusion."

"Deal." She stood up, "Let's get going."

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Dustin exited out of the building, the detective he was looking for wasn't event here. It angered him that he couldn't get any answers, he looked at his watch and checked to see if Tori was around. Figuring she was off doing whatever she needed to do, he decided not to bother her and go visit Hunter who was the closet from where he was. Dashing down the street, he past a few blocks, stopping occasionally to look at things and get his mind off everything that has been happening. Finally arriving at the apartment, he looked up and headed in and up the stairs. Knocking on the door, he waited for it to answer. Seconds past and noone answered the door. Turning the knob, he noticed it was unlock and peaked his head in.

"Hello!?" He shouted.

Widening the door, he entered the room and took a look at the empty apartment. Hunter must had taken a step out, Dustin walked a bit and looked down at the folder on the table. Curious of what it was, he opened it and pulled out the pictures. He squinted his eyes, recognizing the car and noticing Hunter in it.

"What.." He whispered.

He shuffled through each one, faster and faster, not believing that Hunter never told him he was there. He jumped as the ringing of the phone began, putting the pictures down, he walked over and waited in front of the answer machine.

Hey it's Hunter, I'm not here right now but leave a message and I'll get back to ya.

Hello Hunter, it's Van. Just congratulating you on your second murder. I do say you're getting the hang of it all. I hear Mrs Brooks didn't even put up a fight. Hope to hear from you soon. Later.

Dustin froze, he repeated the whole message in his mind. His breathing began to get heavier. He grabbed the message machine and pulled it out of the wall, throwing it across the room. It smashed into a nearby lamp, as Dustin screamed at the top of his lungs. He grabbed his hair and slide down against the wall, his mother now gone too made things a whole lot worst. Ending things on bad terms, pushing her away was the wrong thing to do. He closed his eyes and buried his face in his knees, trying to keep himself from screaming some more. His own anger was too much even for him. He stood up, breathing heavily, breathing loudly. He looked around, wiping his watery eyes as he began to throw things around the room. Knocking things off the counter.

"Goddamn you Hunter!" He screamed, "I'll get you for this!!"

He kicked over the chair, grabbing a lamp and smashing it against the wall. He tripped and fell, rolling over and continuing to scream. He ran his hands over his face, fighting back the tears but they were to hard. It seamed harder and harder to stop the tears everytime, everything was too much for the carefree happy personality to counter. Mother Gone. Father Gone. Hunter's betryal. It's enough to send anyman over the edge.

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End chapter. Hope you're enjoing this! I know I'm making Dustin cry alot, but I feel in these kind of situation that's what anyone would do! Well normal people anyway. Hope this is getting good..