A/N: Hey everyone. (I wrote this a looong time ago, but never decided to post it up till now) I'm back to writing serious stuff. lol. This story is much like the series, but it centers mainly on Tori and is based on a very personal experience a friend of my endured in the past. Most of it will be totally made up, including Hunter's role in the story, which focuses more on him in the first part. I hope you all enjoy and please, don't forget to review.
"Silent Memory"
Gazing from the hills and overseeing the beauty of the beach is one of Tori's favorite place to be. No one else around, but her and the distant blue skies and the sound of clashing waves unfolding on top of one another. Surrounded by nature gives her a moment to reflect on the things that happened in the past year. From being power rangers and defending the galaxy to defeating Lothor and sending his army of aliens back into the abyss of evil. Then, as a result, graduating from the Wind Ninja Academy and becoming a teacher after nearly two years of experience. But it was a shame their powers were gone. Although being a ranger took a high level on risk and courage with the world's safety under their hands, Tori enjoyed having really cool powers and being one of those superheroes to save the day. She may no longer be a power ranger, but still have the gift of water that helped defeated Lothor. It was the only power they needed all along; their inner ninja power and strength.
The day nears towards its end as the swell slowly dies down and the sun begins to set over the horizon. Tori's thoughts suddenly trails back on the guys and how their careers were a success compared to hers. Dustin won first place in a motorcross freestyling competition at the U.S. Action Games, Shane received a sponsoring offer by a popular skateboarding company, Hunter was given a chance to factor ride but turned it down to become head teacher of the Thunder Ninja Academy, and then there's Blake, who's career is sky rockin' as a Factor Blue motorcross champ. And what does that leave with Tori as a surfer freak? Nothing. Indeed, she won a few competitions in a junior level when she was about 13 years of age, but never competed in Nationals nor in the U.S. Action Games. It wasn't enough. Tori wanted to be part of the big boys, receiving offers, sponsorship, and to be given an opportunity of a lifetime. But then again, Tori never really had the time to pursue her dream when she was a power ranger, and now a teacher. She could never buy the time to do what she loves to do more than anything, unlike the guys who seem to have their priorities in schedule. But that wasn't the only reason why Tori suddenly have an emotional break down. There's a deep dark secret that has been haunting her for many years, and till today she hasn't spoken one word about it to anyone. It was a secret that changed Tori's life forever.
"If you ever tell anyone about this, I swear I'll kill myself." A young gentleman, around the age of 20, confirms to Tori as he begins to unbutton the little girl's shirt. The blonde shuts her eyes as tears begin to stream down her cheeks.
"Please, don't hurt me." She whimpers.
He smiles as he begins to lift her blue skirt up. "Don't worry. I just want to touch you."
As her mind was fixed on the issue, a faint shadow cast on the ground next to her go unnoticed. Once Tori heard the sound of rocks being pressed down against the hard ground by the soles of someone's shoes, she turns around and finds her good old friend Dustin standing before her. Tori smiles a little as he takes a sit next to her, and lets his feet dangle over the cliff; the same thing she was doing. There was a sudden moment of awkward silence as Tori remains focused on what's in front of her other than Dustin who kept staring at her from the corner of his eyes--curiously wondering what's in that mysterious mind of hers. "We've been trying to look for you." He says for the sake of breaking the silence. But they were seriously looking for her. It was dark and the guys couldn't help but worry for the blonde.
"I already told you I was going to be at the beach." She gives a heavy sigh in return. Tori didn't like it whenever Dustin, Shane, or even Cam become extremely overprotected. At times, Tori wished she wasn't treated like a 'girl' all the time. It gets annoying after awhile, and they don't even know it.
"Oh." Was all that came out from Dustin's mouth. The tone of her voice was a sign to never push and shove it down her throat or else the moody side of Tori unleashes and Dustin didn't want it to come to that. He knows her all too well and something was definitely wrong. "Okay. Um...do you want me leave you alone?" Dustin asks politely.
Tori looks down and pursed her lips. "No, you can stay." She whispers as the two silently watch the sunset fade away over the distant horizon...until darkness falls.
A few days later...
"So how did it go?" Dustin asks curiously as soon as Shane entered Storm Chargers after having a private conversation with Tori outside. He noticed the blonde didn't even dare to go back inside with Shane, which gave him a weird vibe that perhaps getting her to speak her mind wasn't a clever idea. "Not good huh?" Dustin assumes once Shane kneeled against the counter in silent mode, fiddling with a mini skateboard keychain. He sighs deeply before looking up at his concern friend.
"Dude, thanks to you, I got her mad." Shane frowns with a pout. "She told me that nothing is wrong and that we should stop being nosy and being up on her case for no apparent reason." He vaguely responds. "I don't know about you, dude but I think she's in denial. No one gets all uptight when they know nothing is wrong, but she totally blew up and I knew from that moment, something is not right."
Dustin nods weakly. "Yeah. I agree with you, dude. It's not like her. Tori is usually honest and open about things." Shane agrees. "You think maybe it's a girl thing?" He thought.
The former Red Wind Ranger shrugs. "I don't know, man. But too bad Cam is on vacation. They seem to understand each other on a personal level." And it was true. Although, Dustin and Shane knew Tori more than anyone else in town, they could be insensitive and oblivious to the fact that she was a girl and not just one of the boys. Tori barely had any girl friends, which explains why many thought she was a tomboy. Nonetheless, Tori would never speak to any of the guys about what's secretly killing her inside. No one, and as the days go by...Dustin and Shane couldn't help, but wonder and question her odd behavior.
"I'm worried about her, dude." Dustin confirms with the concern look in his light brown eyes. "She's obviously depressed about something."
Shane nods. "Yeah, but how are we gonna get her to talk, or get some help? We can't just force her too."
The goofball releases a disappointed sigh. "You're right. We'll just have to wait till she comes to us." Shane bobs his head when momentarily Hunter enters the store. The duo looks up as he approaches them on the counter.
"Hey." The dirty blonde greets with a smile. "What's up, dudes?" Dustin and Shane exchange looks as malice grins appeared on their faces.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Dustin whispers to Shane as Hunter stares at them suspiciously.
Grinning, the skaterboy nods. "Oh yah."
"You guys want me to what?" Hunter questions them surprisingly as Shane and Dustin nodded their heads. He chuckles in disbelief once he figured they were being serious. "You got to be kidding me."
The goofball sighs. "Oh come on. You're our only hope."
"Only hope?" He arches his brow. "You do realize that Tori and I don't exactly have a strong connection, right?"
Shane groans resentfully. "Yeah, we get that. But we both tried talking to her and we got nothing. Zip!" He adds while folding his arms. Hunter nodded his head weakly at the thought of speaking with Tori in an actual conversation since they rarely do. Getting personal with the blonde beauty never crossed his mind and he was worried about getting too involved with her problems, and making matters worst.
"Look, I know you and Tori don't exactly see eye to eye." Dustin reinforces the statement as Hunter listens with all ears. "But she knows the both of us too well and I think it's about time she listens to someone that isn't always around her."
Hunter pursed his lips; unsure if it was a clever idea. "Guys, I don't know if I should be the one talking to her..."
Shane grunts impatiently. "Oh come on, dude! It's not like we're asking you to take her out on a date." He retorts. "It's for a good cause."
Dustin agrees with a slight nod. "Yeah, man. Just give a shot and we'll see how it goes from there. Who knows? Maybe she'll confide in you."
Hunter laughs. "Yeah right."
"So will you do it?" Shane asks in a pleading tone.
Defeated, the dirty blonde looks at him for a brief moment and sighs. He hated it when Dustin and Shane plaster their puppy dog looks. It usually doesn't work on him, but when it comes to a friend they truly care about, it made him feel bad about the whole situation. Maybe helping Tori would do him a little good. "Alright." Hunter groans reluctantly as he threw his hands up in the air. "But if she suddenly hates me for interfering with her personal life, I'm taking both of you down with me."
Dustin and Shane released a gasp of excitement. "Oh yah!" They chorused in unison, exchanging high and low fives. Hunter looks on and nods in dismay. 'I can't believe I'm letting them talk me into this.' Hunter thought.
"So." He interrupted their greeting card moment as they look up at him. The dirty blonde is anxious to get this over with that he didn't want to waist any more time. "Where could I find her?"
The tides begin to slowly die down as the water reaches its calming point. Tori sits on her surfboard, in the middle of the deserted ocean--waiting for a single wave to ride as the sun gradually fades away in the far horizon. Sighing, the blonde turns her board around and begins paddling faced down towards shore. 'Ugh. Forget this.' She thought angrily. "Oh come on, sweetie!" She heard surfer guys yell out in the distance. "Don't give up now!" Tori avoids them as they began laughing hysterically and looking like complete idiots she always knew they were. Once the blonde reached shore, the water rose up to her ankles as she picks up her board and walks towards her blue van. Meanwhile, as soon as she steps foot on sand, the guys began to taunt her from behind. "Aww, what's wrong, babe?" One male surfer chuckles. "Can't get a single wave?" The guys joined him in laughter as they surrounded the blonde.
Tori stops and glares at him. "No, but by the time I get one tomorrow, we'll see who gets the last laugh and I'll finally prove to all of you that a girl can ride like the big boys."
"Yeah?" The guys exchange mixed glances in silence before bursting out in laughter once again. "Whatever you say, princess. Whatever you say. Just don't go on crying when you find out you can't do jack!"
She rolls her eyes and walks away from them; refusing to put up with their immaturity. "Jerks." She mumbled while walking over to her van. This wasn't the first time she was confronted by male surfers. In fact, Tori was used to getting wrapped up with their bull and their patriarchy act. She disliked being labeled in a way that separates her from doing risky and dangerous things that 'only men' can do, and it was time to prove them wrong. However, Tori did missed out a lot in training and hasn't been doing any surfing in daily bases, which gives them the advantage to say things in a way to put her down. But with ranger duty out of the way and a well deserved break from the Wind Ninja Academy, she resumed back on her surfing and continues to work extremely hard to reach her ultimate goal; to do what she dreamed of doing her entire life, and that is to pursue life as a professional female surfer.
While gazing down at the sand and fantasizing, Tori looks up and noticed a figure standing next to her van. Not knowing whom it could be, she walks closer, and to her surprise, recognized it was Hunter. 'What is he doing here?' She thought while slowly walking towards his direction. Hunter hooks his thumbs on the pockets of his jeans and smiles her way. "Well, hello there." He greets Tori with just a wink of the eye.
"Um...hi." She stares at him weirdly. "What are you doing here?"
He pursed his lips and shrugs. "Well...just umm walking around." He responds faintly as soon as he realize Tori's odd expression, that tells him right off the bat that she wasn't exactly convinced. Hunter averts from her gaze--trying to figure out what to say for the time being. "Beautiful night, isn't it?" He mentions while looking out in the darkened skies. Tori stares at him from the corner of her eye and laughs.
"Riiiight. Who are you and what did you do to the real Hunter?"
He chuckles at the comment. "He's right here making sure you're alright." The smooth dirty blonde adds kindly with a smile.
She arches her brow. "Uh huh. Since when did you care?" She questions. Hunter scoffs as he places a hand over his heart, offended by her harsh tone.
"I happen to really care about you, Tori." He gushed as she folds her arms and gives him puzzled looks. "Listen, if you want to talk to me about anything, I want you to know that I will always be here for you no matter what." Hunter adds sincerely. "Okay?" Amazed with his speech, Tori searches his eyes carefully before bursting out in frenzied laughter. Hunter looks at the beauty, hurt by her reaction. "What? What so funny?"
Tori chuckles. "You. Seriously now. Why are you here?" She asks once again.
Hunter bit his lip. "Okay, honestly? I came here to talk."
"To talk?"
He nods. "Yeah."
"About what?" Tori questions inquisitively as she dries herself with a towel and stuff her surfboard into the back seat of the van.
Hunter shrugs. "Well umm…about anything that's bothering you…that kind of stuff. Maybe about Blake?"
Tori opens her eyes wide. "Blake?! What does this got to do with him?"
"Err…I don't know." He stammers nervously. "I thought perhaps the real reason why you've been out of it lately was because of—"
"Oh my God…" Tori trails off as she stares at him in disbelief. "Dustin and Shane sent you, didn't they?"
Hunter gulps. "Well umm, no?" She folds her arms and gives him the evil eye, which begins to intimidate him. Defeated, he sighs. "Okay…maybe?"
Tori groans. "UGH! What will it take for you guys to realize that nothing is wrong?! And for your FIY, I'm completely over Blake." She confirms as she opens the door to the passenger seat and rolls down her window. 'Whoa.' He thought as Tori turns on the ignition. "Do me a favor, Hunter." She breathes heavily. "Tell Dustin and Shane to stop questioning me for no apparent reason. That goes for you too." Once she made her final plea, Tori steps on the gas and drives away in a heartbeat. Hunter watches on as she sped off to the distance and sighs. 'That went well.' He thought before turning around to head on home.
A/N: Let me know what you think! I'll post the next chapter once I feel satisfied with the number of reviews, so don't forget to leave one before you leave! ;) Later!