Poison

Chapter Nine

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Power Rangers, Ninja Storm, and I'm not making any money from this fic

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter has taken me so long to write. I've been quite busy lately

Replies to reviews:

CamFan4Ever: Don't worry, it's not that bad . Once again, I'm sorry that I didn't have the time to check your updated stories before. Thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked the last chapter - I hope you like this one

Jorgitosbabe: Well, if you had been expecting it, it wouldn't have been good . Thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked it - here's the next chapter, finally

garnetred: You mean the lizard creatures? Otherwise, I'm kind of confused about what you mean by chameleon. Anyways, thanks for reviewing, and I hope you like this chapter.

Cam's eyes flew open, and he sat up straight in the chair he was sitting on. He glanced around at the inside of NinjaOps in confusion. What was he doing there? The last thing he remembered was being shot in the strange dream world.

"Cameron?"

Cam blinked several times, and glanced at the desk, next to the computer. His dad was sitting there, watching the green samurai ranger with what could only have been concern in his eyes. Of course, it was difficult to tell what he was thinking – guinea pigs didn't exactly have faces that could show expressions or emotions.

"Hi dad," Cam said with a tired smile. I guess that settles it, he thought. Everything with Lia and Riana's world had to be a dream. After all, he was back in NinjaOps, and was fine, as far as he knew. Of course, there was that thing he had heard about how, if someone died in a dream, they actually died in real life… But he didn't know if that was true or not.

"You went extremely pale a little while before you woke up," Sensei commented. "I was rather worried."

"Well, I'm all right," Cam responded. He hesitated a moment, and then added, "It was just a… bad dream." He wasn't sure why, but he was reluctant to give any more details than that. Lia might have only been a dream, but he still wanted to keep her almost private… Besides, saying that he considered a dream creation a friend would just make him sound strange.

"I was just about to wake you up," Sensei continued after a brief flare of worry in his eyes. "Blake has succumbed to the strange illness as well."

Cam blinked. "Another power ranger?" He frowned. "That's three of us now… This isn't good." There's got to be a way of curing them, he thought. They're not dead yet, at least as far as I know…

For some reason, Cam couldn't shake what Lia's father had said to him about a great power. He knew that it had to have been a dream, but he couldn't stop wondering if it had perhaps meant something.

"That would be an understatement," Sensei replied, his tone serious, perhaps even stern. "Cam, you need to do as much research on this as possible. If Lothor was to attack while we are this weakened…" The guinea pig slowly shook his head.

Cam nodded, realising the seriousness of what was going on. In some ways, this was even worse than the vampires. Sure, they had had the threat of Peter and Lila to deal with as well at that point, but they were losing members of the team extremely fast, as well as having a black ranger turn up who had put one of the other power rangers out of action by destroying her morpher.

Thinking of that, Cam glanced briefly towards the violet light ranger's morpher lying on the desk. He had been having trouble fixing it – whatever the black ranger had done to it had seriously damaged it, and Cam didn't know if he would be able to get it working again.

With a sigh, Cam turned his attention back to his computer to start doing research once again. He wasn't entirely sure where to start, but he thought that it might be a good idea to check records to see if there had been any other similar epidemics which had broken out in or around Blue Bay Harbour.

Cam heard someone enter NinjaOps behind him. He didn't turn round to see who it might be – they would be able to see that he was working, and hopefully realise that they were not to disturb him.

Not that that's ever likely to happen, the green samurai ranger thought with a faint feeling of amusement.

Behind Cam, Hunter turned round to Lila, who was walking into NinjaOps after him. He closed his eyes for a brief moment, and then said with quite a strange tone, "I feel like a useless idiot."

Lila bit her lip slightly. She didn't know what to say. What could she say? How could she possibly make Hunter feel better? She knew how bad she would feel if anything happened to Peter, but she really didn't know what to say to Hunter. Did he even want her to respond?

Lila remained silent, at least for the moment. She could see that Cam was working on the computer, but he didn't seem to be listening to them, and, besides, Hunter didn't seem to have noticed him.

Hunter slammed his fist onto the table, just managing to avoid splintering the wood. He let out a growl of frustration.

Lila took a slight step back, worried. "Hunter, everyone's doing the best that they can," she said in a low voice. "The doctors, or even Cam, will be able to find a way to cure Blake and the others. There's nothing else we can do at the moment."

Hunter's eyes darkened, and he seemed to be about to say something else. However, he then whirled round and stalked over to Cam, appearing unsurprised at seeing the green samurai ranger there. "Have you found out anything yet?" he demanded.

"Not yet," Cam answered, refraining from mentioning the fact that he'd been asleep for some time. He was pretty certain that Hunter wouldn't be impressed by that.

"You haven't found out anything?" Hunter's expression showed disbelief.

"I'm currently searching through the records for anything similar that might have happened here," Cam responded. "And I can't work with you standing over my shoulder and brooding," the green samurai ranger added. "I understand your feelings, but I really can't concentrate with you continually looking over my shoulder."

Hunter looked just about ready to explode at someone, anyone. However, he simply turned on his heel, and stalked over to Lila. "I want to spar," he told her in a short tone. "Are you coming?"

Lila hesitated, but Cam had already made his opinion on having people in NinjaOps disturbing him known. She slowly nodded, and gave a bleak smile. "Sure, I'll come," she responded.

"Good." Hunter brushed past Lila, leaving NinjaOps.

The silver silk ranger glanced back over her shoulder at Cam a moment, before following the crimson thunder ranger outside and into the forest area. She had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, almost like there was a hand clamping her insides. Her throat felt dry, and her palms were clammy.

To her surprise, Lila realised that she was almost scared, as she followed Hunter to a small clearing where sparring matches were often held. Hunter was acting extremely dark and brooding, and she was almost certain that he wanted to spar to get rid of some of his frustrations, which wouldn't bode too well for his sparring partner – Lila, in this case.

Hunter stopped in the middle of the clearing, and turned to Lila, his back to a rather large evergreen tree. "Are you ready?" he asked, slipping into a fighting stance.

Lila pushed away the feeling of almost-fear, and nodded. She slipped into a fighting stance herself, and waited for Hunter to attack first.

The crimson thunder ranger did so, lashing out at Lila with a savage kick aimed at her ribs, and letting out a piercing yell.

Lila twisted to the side, nearly falling over her own feet, and aimed a punch at Hunter's chest.

Hunter dodged the punch, and caught Lila in the side with his foot. She stumbled back a few paces, and then hit Hunter in the shoulder. She followed it up with a kick aimed at his stomach, but the crimson thunder ranger caught her foot, and flipped her over.

Lila just managed to land on her feet, and had to duck to avoid a blow aimed at the side of her head. She was all for Hunter using a sparring match to get rid of his frustrations, but not if he was going to hurt her badly by doing so.

Hunter gave an angry shout, and grabbed Lila by the upper arms. He then gave her a violent shove backwards, causing her to slam into a tree.

Lila gasped at the pain in her back, but she knew that the accelerated healing that she had as a power ranger would ensure that she didn't receive any lasting damage. That wouldn't stop it hurting, though.

As Hunter came at Lila again, the silver silk ranger could see the darkness in his eyes. She rolled to the side to avoid a punch aimed at her shoulder, and hooked her foot behind Hunter's legs. Yanking forward, she managed to cause the crimson thunder ranger to fall, and she rolled out of the way so that he wouldn't land on top of her.

Hunter was quickly on his feet again, though. He made a grab for Lila's arm, and twisted it round slightly. Lila brought her foot up to kick him in the stomach, causing him to release her with a slight gasp.

However, Hunter recovered fast, and flipped over Lila's head. Before the silver silk ranger could turn around, he had her by the shoulders. Instead of fighting her further, however, he reached out to run his fingers lightly down her cheek.

Lila blinked in surprise, but found herself leaning into the caress, almost despite herself. Hunter slipped his other arm around her shoulders to pull her closer to him, and moved his hand down to tip Lila's head up by her chin, forcing the silver silk ranger to meet his gaze.

Then, Hunter's lips met Lila's in a hard, desperate kiss as he held her tightly against him in an almost crushing embrace.

Cally stared at the black ranger standing in front of her. Her brain refused to believe what her eyes were telling it. It simply wasn't possible. How could Dustin be standing in front of her? He was in hospital.

Yet, there it was. And, unless there was someone who looked exactly like Dustin and who was also a power ranger, it appeared that it was Dustin standing in front of her.

However, the black ranger's eyes were filled with hatred, and Cally had no idea why. Dustin didn't hate her, did he? Then again, unless there was a different black ranger, it had apparently been Dustin who had destroyed her morpher and broken her arm, leaving her virtually powerless.

"Dustin?" Cally repeated, unable to say anything else.

The black ranger continued to stare at her. Finally, he spoke up: "I wish to destroy you." His voice sounded very strange. He definitely didn't sound like himself. His tone was flat.

Cally stared at Dustin, and then gestured towards her bandaged arm. "I am hardly in any position to fight you," she commented. "I'm already injured. If you have any honour at all, you won't try fighting me until I've fully recovered." She was actually trying to buy herself time. She didn't have any real hope of her argument succeeding, and the black ranger had been able to defeat her the last time they had fought.

Dustin's eyes darkened, and a cruel smile played around his lips. "I didn't say I wanted to fight you," he replied. "I said that I wanted to destroy you."

It's the same thing, surely, Cally thought. She was kind of worried that she could be going into shock. She was beginning to feel quite calm and almost detached. She wondered if her skin felt cold or clammy.

As though hearing her thoughts, Dustin continued, "I don't want to fight you. I want to make you suffer… Like you hurt me."

"But… you forgave me for that," Cally protested. He had, hadn't he? At least, he had been able to eventually, or so she had thought.

Dustin stepped forward to lightly touch Cally's hand, but there was no kindness in his touch or his eyes. Cally had the feeling that he was perfectly willing to seriously harm her. There seemed to be no trace of the Dustin that she knew and loved left.

Dustin smiled even wider, but he still looked cruel. "I'm going to make you suffer," he said in an almost sing-song voice. He raised a hand to run it almost gently through Cally's hair, his nails catching slightly on the strands.

Cally glanced around at the people passing by, but no one seemed to be paying any attention to her and Dustin. She blinked slightly, suddenly put in mind of the idea of a hologram she had read about once, a hologram which presented a perfectly normal image to people passing by.

Cally turned back to Dustin, and realised that the black ranger must have guessed something of what she was thinking. That was confirmed when he gave an almost gentle smile, and commented, "No one can see what's up. I could kill you, and no one would be any the wiser."

"Why don't you, then?" Cally asked, trying to sound brave. However, her voice shook slightly, which kind of ruined the effect.

Dustin just smiled again. "I told you," he responded. "I want you to suffer… Killing you would kind of defeat that object, wouldn't it?" After a moment, the black ranger leaned closer to Cally, and whispered in the violet light ranger's ear, "And I wouldn't tell anyone else about this if I was you. They won't be able to help you, and it would just end up hurting them as well."

With those words, Dustin stepped away from Cally, and walked off. A woman stopped and stared at Cally in surprise, but then shook her head slightly and continued walking on.

Cally watched Dustin leave, trembling slightly, with anger as well as fear.

Lia stood over Cam's still body, looking down at him, her eyes dark. She started to reach out to touch him, but then hesitated, glancing towards her father. "Is he going to be all right?" she asked.

Lia's father had been tending to Cam's wound, and he now looked up at his daughter, his expression grave. "I don't know," he replied. "By rights, with a wound as severe as that, he should be dead… But, for some reason, he is still alive. He just seems to be… somewhere else."

Lia didn't understand what her father was talking about, but she was extremely worried about Cam. Her village had managed to drive the lizard creatures away after he had been shot, and the Elder Woman was very concerned about what was going on.

Riana had walked off not long ago, apparently not very interested in staying and keeping an eye on Cam. She never was. She always lost interest in things very easily.

Lia's father stood up with a soft sigh, and then turned to Lia. "Can you keep an eye on him?" he asked. "I really should go and talk with the Elder Woman."

Lia nodded slowly, and then pulled a stool over to the bed Cam was lying on. She carefully sat down, reaching to take the other's hand in hers.

Lia's father patted his daughter gently on the shoulder, before quietly leaving the hut.

Lia didn't watch him leave. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on Cam's face. She was worried about him. He had been acting strangely for a while. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn that he couldn't actually remember her. Certainly, he hadn't been acting like they were promised to each other. He had kissed Riana, after all. Or, maybe she had kissed him… But he had definitely responded.

Lia sighed, and ran a hand through her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. To make things even worse, she had the feeling that her father and the Elder Woman were keeping things from her. Ordinarily, she wouldn't question either of them, trusting them to know what was best, but this was different.

Lia smoothed Cam's dark hair away from his face. His glasses had fallen off when he had collapsed, and those had been placed carefully some distance away. After all, there was no point in him having them on if he was unconscious.

Lia's fingertips brushed lightly over Cam's skin. She stared at his closed eyes, willing them to open. She wanted Cam to be all right. He had to live.

But what if that means that he has to leave?

Lia's head jerked up at the strange thought that had just entered her mind. She didn't know where it had come from, but something told her that it wasn't just the wonderings of an idle mind. There was probably a lot of truth to it.

Lia stared hard at Cam's still form, feeling a sudden calmness descend upon her. She felt serene, her mind suddenly clear.

If that is what it takes for him to be all right, Lia thought. If he has to leave me… then so be it.

And Cam's hand flexed slightly in Lia's, almost as though he had somehow heard her thoughts.

Faye sat curled up in one of the armchairs in the house she shared with Cally and David. She had the television on, but it couldn't be said that she was watching it – she was just flicking through the channels.

The orange light ranger was extremely worried. Someone, or something, was picking off the power rangers one by one, and it would be so easy for them to be defeated without the full teams. Lothor had been ominously quiet lately, and Faye had to wonder just what it meant. What with the other rangers falling ill, and the strange black ranger that was around, everything was getting harder.

Faye brushed her fingertips lightly against the morpher strapped to her wrist. She was almost amazed at the technology that had to be contained in something so small, to allow them to change to their ranger forms. Not that she really knew anything about technology. When she and Cam had been observing what was going on with Cally when the violet light ranger had been in a coma, the green samurai ranger had done most of the computer work.

Faye closed her eyes, rolling her shoulders slightly for a moment. She felt almost tense, and was certainly stressed out. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept for a whole night. She was actually considering taking sleeping pills so that she would be able to stay asleep, and not feel so tired the next day.

Faye leaned back against the chair as she began to space out. Her mind started to drift as she felt sleep begin to overtake her.

Suddenly, there was a ringing sound.

Faye jerked, and sat bolt upright. For a moment, she felt kind of disorientated. Then, she realised that the ringing sound was the phone. She gave a soft sigh, and reached out to pick the phone up and place it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, Faye. It's me." It was Cally's voice on the phone.

Faye closed her eyes for a moment, fighting the urge to tell Cally to ring back later. Sometimes, it was kind of hard to be sensitive towards her friends' needs, and to just be there for them to talk to when they needed someone to listen.

"Hi, Cally," Faye responded. "Is anything wrong?" She curled up in the armchair again, and stifled a yawn.

There was a moment's hesitation, and then Cally answered, "No, there isn't anything wrong."

Faye wasn't sure what, but something in Cally's voice alerted her to the fact that there was something wrong. Their friendship was too strong for Cally to try and hide it when there was a problem.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Faye asked, deciding to ignore the reply Cally had given her.

Cally said nothing for a few seconds, and then said slowly, "There isn't anything wrong, Faye."

"Uh-uh, sure," Faye responded. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine… But please don't lie to me."

"It's just to do with Dustin." Cally sounded reluctant, and she didn't give any more details than that.

Faye thought that she knew what was wrong, though. "Cally, I'm sure that Dustin's going to be all right," she said. "The doctors are doing all that they can, and Cam's looking as well. He's going to be fine. Please don't worry."

"Yeah…" Cally said slowly. "I'll… Well, I'll go now." She didn't sound very happy, though.

"All right," Faye replied. "Cal? If you need to talk, you know that I'm always here for you, right?"

"Yeah, I know…" Cally responded slowly. "Thank you." Then, she hung up.

Faye stared at the phone a moment, and then blinked as she heard a thump come from upstairs. Was David in?

Faye went to look.

Read and review, please!

Not sure how the scene with Hunter and Lila turned out, so can people please tell me what they think?