A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy the next chapter.
"Hazel"
It was close to midday as Dustin arrives at the Blue Bay Harbor public library to return a few things he borrowed from the sports and entertainment section. Once he dropped a few videos and magazines through the return slots, the goofball immediately spotted Hunter in the computer lab. 'What is he doing here?' Dustin thought in curiosity as he decides to walk over there and see for himself. Hunter just completed college at the university with a degree in engineering. After school, he planned to resume his teachings at the Thunder Ninja Academy and run it one day. "Hey." Hunter was greeted from behind as he turns his body around on the chair and gave Dustin a quick nod before facing the computer once again.
"Hey." He weakly responds.
Dustin wrinkles his forehead as he looks on to the computer screen. "Children's Adoption Center." He reads the page title of the website, which seemed a bit unusual to him. The former Yellow Wind Ranger gazes down on Hunter while taking an open seat next to him. "What are you doing, man?" He asks curiously. "You're not planning to adopt a child of your own are you?"
The dirty blonde takes his eyes off from the computer and faces Dustin. "My biological parents handed me over to the Children's Adoption Center when I was just a baby. Lately, I've been visiting the website to see if I could crack down information to find my parents. And no, I'm not planning to have any children." He adds with a chuckle. "Not yet at least."
Dustin arches his brow in surprise. "Your parents? But I remember you saying that you wouldn't ever want to see your parents again after all these years?"
Hunter sighs at the thought. "I know, but ever since my foster parents died, I just had to find them. The longer I waited, the harder it gets and I want to know whether they are alive or not."
Dustin bobs his head. "Well, I hope you find them."
"Thanks." Hunter smiles. "That means a lot, dude."
"Yeah. So, um...how did last night go?" He changes the subject with a small scratch to the head.
"Last night?" Hunter wasn't sure what he was talking about.
"Yeah, with Tori?"
"Oh." He raises a brow before rolling his eyes. "That girl wouldn't even talk to me, man. I've tried, but she just complained about you and Shane interfering with her life for no reason at all." Dustin grunted half-heartedly. He was hoping for good news out of this, but unfortunately the plan backfired on him. "You know what I think, dude?" The goofball lifts his head up to show he was all ears.
"What?"
"I think you guys should leave the girl alone. She's practically a grown woman now. Give her a break."
Dustin smirks to his response. "Seems like you know more about women than I do."
Hunter laughs. "Honestly, I grew up being around guys most of the time and playing tricks on the girls for fun. Chicks intimidate me at times nowadays, especially beautiful women. I'm not exactly a ladies man. Kind of makes you wonder why I don't have a girlfriend after all these years eh?
"So you're saying Tori intimidates you?" He questions.
"No way." Hunter scoffs. "To me she's like one of the guys, so it's different."
"You know, if Tori heard you say that she'd be totally kicking your butt right now." Dustin warns him.
He shrugs in return. "It's not like it never happened before. Remember the time when I called Tori a little girl?" Dustin nods with a grin. "Dude, she's like the fastest girl I know! She runs twice as fast than I ever could."
"Well, with Tori you'll have to keep up."
"No kidding." Hunter murmurs. "Listen, I'm sure Tori is fine. I mean, what could she possibly be hiding? She's got nothing to hide right?"
Meanwhile, Tori was at the beach surfing with the guys as they continue to mock her every move. She lies face down on the surfboard and pedals her heart out. Waves came clashing towards her direction as she takes a deep breath and plunge into the water with her board and comes back up to the surface in a desperate need of air. The weather was quite lovely out. It was a good day for surfing with waves reaching to about 40-50 feet. Once Tori reached to her designated spot, she turns her board around, sits up on it, and waits patiently for the next wave. "Who does she think she is?" The blonde heard one male surfer asks another as they resume their trash talking nearby. With every word that came out from their filthy mouths, Tori was able to avoid them without showing any sign of intimidation. She knew she was better than them despite everything they say. Nevertheless, Tori was much tougher than the guys and could take them down on her own.
After a few moments of sparing in the middle of the ocean, Tori was able to catch a wave as she paddled hard towards shore, jumps up on her board, and rides a beautiful wave. "Wahoo! Yeah!" She giggled excitedly while exiting through the barrel role with no complications. The guys watched on from afar, utterly amazed with her surfing abilities that no other girl in town have other than Tori. Once she completed the turn, she lifts the board up and carries it to shore under her arms. The people at the beach cheered her on as she flashes them her infamous smile. "Thanks everyone." Tori waves to them timidly; enjoying the attention she was getting. "Thank you. Thank you."
"Hey." One little girl with dirty blonde hair wearing a cute pink bathing suit gently tugs on her shorts as Tori looks down and sits on one knee next to her.
"Hey, there. What's your name?" She asks kindly.
"Hazel." The girl responds in a shy tone.
"Hazel. What a lovely name you have. I'm Tori."
She smiles. "Do you think you can teach me how to surf and be as good as you?"
"Surf? You want to learn how to surf?" She questions in surprise.
"Uh huh. It looks so much fun!"
Tori chuckles. "I'll tell you what. If you can convinced your parents about allowing you to take surfing lessons, then it's a deal."
The little girl looks down and sighs. "I don't have parents." Tori wrinkles her forehead as she takes the girl's hand and brings her towards the blue van.
"What do you mean you don't have parents?" Tori asks sincerely while stuffing her surfboard on the back and grabbing a towel nearby. "Are you alone?
"No. My aunt and uncle takes care of me now. My mommy died when I was born and my daddy is a very bad man."
"How is your dad a very bad man?" She asks curiously.
"Hazel!" Someone shouted from afar. "Where are you, little brat?!"
The girl gasps. "I have to go now. My Aunt Cruela doesn't like it whenever I talk to strangers. Bye." Hazel gives Tori a quick hug before running off to her aunt. She gazes towards her direction and sighs deeply for the little girl's loss. 'Poor kid. God, help her.' Tori was now off to her own world when suddenly a group of guys came strutting her way. She turns around and rolls her eyes at their appearance.
"Don't you guys have something else better to do? Like perhaps get a new life." Tori blurts out. "Oh wait. That's right. None of you guys have girlfriends. What a shame."
"Who the hell do you think you are?" One steps up to Tori with an evil eye. "Just because you rode one good wave doesn't make you exactly the queen of the beach."
"Yeah. You think you're all bad now? Nah uh, sweetie. You aint got what it takes to make it big in this world."
"No doubt." The guys began surrounding the blonde as she watches their every move with caution. "What do you say we show this poser how it's done?"
"I would love that." Another grins. "Quick! Get her!" Two of the guys captured Tori's arms from behind as the others stood in front of her, waiting to take the first hit. "Come on, man. Right on the face!" Tori struggles to loosen their grip. She stares at each and every one of them coldy, knowing they'll regret this. The fued lasted nearly a year, and although it's still going, she never thought the guys would ever go this far. However, Tori did see it coming one way or the other.
"Aren't you gonna cry for help before I broke your nose?"
Tori glares intently at their leader. "Didn't your mom ever teach you to never hit women?"
He thought about it for a moment before nodding his head in dismay. "No. I hit her all the time." The guys laughed on his behalf. "Why shouldn't I?"
"Because you never know when you'll get your butt kicked. Hiya!" Tori flipped over the guys to release their hold as she did a flying kick in the air, and hitting the group's very own leading man right on the face. She landed on the ground in a fighting stance as the guys all faced her in surprise. "What? Never seen a girl do that before in a bikini?" Tori smirks.
All they could do was exchange the blonde cold, intense glares. "Forget this, man. She's not worth it. Come on."
"This aint over, blondie." He pointed at her as a warning while wiping the blood off his lip. "Not by a long shot." Tori watches on as the guys walk off in the far distance. Once they were gone, she sighed in relief and kneeled against her blue van. She felt thankful that it was finally over...for now at least.
"Dude, I'm worked!" Dustin arrived late that night to his apartment as he slumps on the couch next to Shane. He was reading an article about Tony Hawk till he was interrupted by Dustin's loud groan.
"So how did class go?" The skaterboy asks while placing his reading material down on the coffee table.
"The new kids are driving me nuts, dude! I can't wait to take that break."
Shane smirks. "That's how Sensei felt about us remember?"
"Yeah. Yeah. So where's Hunter?"
"He's in his room. He can't seem to get himself off the computer."
Dustin sighs. "He's looking for his parents, that's what."
"You serious?"
The goofball nods his head. "Yup." There was a sudden knock on the door that caught their attention. Dustin exchange looks with Shane as he rises up from the couch to answer it. "I wonder who it could be." He walks down the hallway and opens the door without looking through the peephole first. There stood Tori on the other side with a ticked off look on her face that brought chills to his bones. Despite the look she was giving him, Dustin smiled anyway. "Hey, Tor! What's up?" She forced a fake smile while brushing past him towards the livingroom. He gulps nervously as he shuts the door behind and follows. "So how's surfing?" Dustin asks to avoid the tension between them.
"Great." Tori vaguely responds as she picks up her blue duffel back that she left the other day. She quickly made eye contract with Shane who felt equally as bad Dustin was feeling. "Well, I should get going."
"Tori, wait." The brunette stops her with a deep, hopeless sigh. "Look, we're sorry for pushing your buttons when we shouldn't. Shane and I are just worried, that's all." She looks down and pursed her lips.
"Yeah. What he said." Shane adds. "You can't blame us for worrying. You've been acting real weird lately. Not to mention, you being in the water most of the time now."
Tori smiles. "Yeah, I know. I'm thinking about taking surfing seriously actually, which explains why I've been acting a bit anle these last couple of days. The stressed has been getting to me, but I'm dealing."
Dustin and Shane both dropped a jaw. "You're kidding?! That's great, Tor!"
"Yeah." She chuckles. "And I'm sorry for avoiding you guys. You two have been always there for me, but I need to do this on my own."
They nodded in unison. "We understand. Just don't forget you're never alone."
Tori smiles. "Thanks, guys. By the way, who's idea was it to send Hunter in to do the talking?" She asks curiously with a smirk as Shane pointed a finger towards Dustin.
"Did not!" He gasps. "It was your idea too!"
"Well, you made me talk to her!"
Tori stares back and forth between the two as a smile gradually reappeared on her face. "Hunter? Of all people?"
"That's how desperate we were."
She snorted. "I bet."
"Hey, I heard my name." The dirty blonde steps in the livingroom as all eyes turn to him. "So what's happening?"
"Nothing much, dude. Any luck in finding your parents?"
Tori wrinkles her forehead as she turns her gaze over to him. "Your parents? Hunter?"
He rubs the back of his neck and sighs. "Yeah. Um...I called the Children's Adoption Center and surprsingly they found out that my biological father lives in Blue Bay Harbor."
Tori, Shane, and Dustin exchange surprising looks. They felt anxious and excited for him at the same time. However, he wasn't feeling it as much as they were. "Well? And?"
"He just got out of jail."
A/N: Don't forget to review!!! I promise it will get interesting. (I hope) And bare with me. I'm very busy nowadays with school and such, so it will take me about a week to update. I'll try my best to update ASAP, but it all depends on your reviews.