Twisted Hearts

PC Palace was of course packed, it was a sale and the new Bluebird 4000 was out – it was, as the jocks called it, geek central. But one "Geek" had a drop on the others. "Excuse me" Cassidy said. "Can I slip past?" she'd worn the tight jeans and off the shoulder see-through lace blouse over her scarlet halter top for this very reason...

The teenage boy's acne practically jumped off his face in awe. She snatched up a box from the hands of a snotty prep. The girl looked outraged – and also like a blueberry, apparently she'd accessorized to shop for the clothing.

"Excuse me!" shrilled the girl.

"Oh, go bang the varsity team" snapped Cassidy as she walked away. The clerk laughed. "What?" Cassidy muttered.

"I like your style" he smiled, he was a surfer, tanned with wavy blonde hair that was adorably dishevelled, he was dressed in the white shirt and red waistcoat of the PC Palace uniform. "Cash or charge?"

Cassidy brandished the silver card. "I've gone triple platinum, charge of course" she smiled. He smiled back and Cassidy refroze her face.

"There you go" he said as he packed it for her and scanned her card. She took the card back. "Hope to see you again - Cassidy". He gave a small smile and Cassidy found herself almost blushing.

She nodded and walked out…she almost dislocated something important fighting not to turn around, but as she walked along the pavement she took a sly peek in…he caught her eye and smiled broadly.

"Grins like an idiot" she murmured.

Despite herself she wished she'd gotten his name.

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"Zi-Ta" Cassidy mused. "There's a name I haven't heard spoken in a while…my Mother and Father told her story – she existed for even longer then Shimazu" she nodded slowly. "Zi-Ta was a kunoichi, very powerful and very brutal. She turned to dark magic much like Lothor – except she did it far "better" she conjured up demons"

"Like Diabolique?" Tori asked.

Cassidy nodded, she sat back into the high-backed chair and tapped her mouth with a finger. "She terrorized the world for centuries until she was destroyed by the past ninjas from the Wind, Thunder and Astral academies. But not completely, she left behind her essence of evil in the Urn the ninjas trapped the power with. From what I remember it unleashes incredibly powerful and evil monsters at her bidding".

Sensei shook his head and strated to pace. "That story was known to all Sensei – it has been passed down for generations – I always hoped it was an exaggeration"

"No such luck" sighed Blake. Cassidy stood up.

"I'm going to check around some archives in the town, I'll be back soon, you guys do your thing" she nodded. "This could be bad…"

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Diabolique teleported onto the ship and walked towards Choobo. "I need you, you over sized fashion accident" she snapped. "I have a locator spell to cast and you'll have to do as an assisstant"

"Oh! Okay! Great" Choobo exclaimed. "I won't let you down"

Diabolique grabbed him by the side of his head. "You'd better not" she hissed. "The map is crucial to the success of my plan!" She swung away and dragged him out as she teleported to earth

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Theo entered the Control centre and looked at the glum faces. He put his bag of training gear down. "What's happened?" he asked.

"Well, Diabolique is after a scary urn and needs a map to find it and whens he does there'll be the usual near apocalypse for us all" Tori sighed. "Diabolique's really putting me on a downer". The water ninja felt her boyfriend tense under his clothing and her arms as Teho walked past.

"Zi-Ta…" Theo read…Dustin stood nearby, the yellow ranger licked his lips and debated on trying to talk to Theo alone. "There's a copy of that in my old academy."

Hunter scratched his head and walked past Cam, subtly grabbing the green samurai's backside in a way no one noticed. "Didn't we toast that place when you…" there was an awkward silence

"Kidnapped Cam? Yes but that was only a half-conjuration, my academy exists in a place beyond the physical plane, the academy you saw destroyed was just a shell, one of the gatehouses that were used to enter the dimension it is actually in"

"And I thought our waterfall was impressive" mused Shane.

Blake looked scornfully at Theo. "You can take us there then"

Theo swung around and for a moment pure terror flitted across his face. "No" he said. Then in a blur of Ninja Speed he was gone, moving right through Blake and up the steps.

"Astral ninja phase speed…quite powerful" said Sensei with a nod. "He has baggage…we must broach this carefully, lest we scare him"

"GOD! What is it with you guys? He's playing the martyr to the bitter end and you're giving him the attention he's after!" Blake exclaimed. Everyone was shocked but Hunter and Tori reacted together.

"Bro, slow down"

"Blake, you're being stupid"

"No I'm Not! He tried to kill us! Lothor couldn't manipulate what wasn't always there! He's a danger and if he's not with us how do we know he's not against us? For all we know he could be a bad guy by nature!"

"You are crossing the line Bro! You'd better cool off!" his voice was strangled with rage. "He's my Brother and I can trust him"

"Yeah, he's your brother you can trust him" snorted Blake. "You only just met him!"

Tori grabbed Blake's arm and dragged him out of the room and towards the sparring room. "You're being a total jerk" she snapped. Blake sighed. "Theo's been through hell, you've not given him a break! It's mean and not like you at ALL. You keep that up…and I'll never talk to you again"

"Yeah, he'd ruin even us for me"

"No, you'd ruin us!" snapped Tori. "What is it you hate about him?"

Blake closed his eyes and let out a pent up breath. "I don't want him to replace me in Hunter's life"

Tori's hardened expression softened and she hugged Blake. "Talk to them both…" she whispered. Blake just held her.

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Dustin moved quickly, he wasn't sure why…but it made sense to him that Theo would come to the Motocross track. The black and white bike sped past…latest model…very nice…Theo straddled his bike and set off, he gained on Theo – the boy noticed Dustin and veered off into the woods and up a slope.

They came to a stop on a cliff. Dustin removed his helmet, Theo ran his fingers through his platinum blonde hair, he only looked identical to Hunter from certain angles – confusing the two could happen if they weren't so different in colouring.

"You okay?" Dustin asked. "I mean…you seemed upset…I'm sorry -"

"No. It's not your fault" Theo smiled wanly. "I guess not everyone knows…take a seat I'm going to tell a story". He sat down on a large rock and Dustin joined him. "I was abused in the Academy" he said. "The Sensei thought I was "pretty" so him and his three favourite students would come into my room…hold me down…and…"

Dustin shivered, the sentence finished itself. "I am so sorry…"

"No don't pity me" laughed Theo. "I don't want pity…I just want to live my life – find love and stuff…I mean I have a brother…" he licked his lips. "Can you keep a secret?"

"Yeah, sure, well, okay…if it's good and not bad as in something horrible…y'know?"

"Hunter and I…our family…well our father and sister at least, are still alive, in LA I'd say…" he sighed. "If they find Hunter they'll destroy him…you can't tell him, not until I can track down a relative that's not a bastard"

Dustin blinked. Then nodded dumbly.

Theo hugged Dustin. "Thanks dude" he laughed. Dustin slowly closed his hands around the lithe frame…it felt nice against him…

Then Theo pulled away, laughed and shouted a challenge as he ran back to his bike.

TBC

Heheheh… well? What do you think? Review me I crave it!