The two days the thunders spent at the Academy went by fast. The rangers spent their time hanging out, catching up on old news, and of course their usual training, whenever they could manage, in-between classes. Nobody ever mentioned motocross, and Dustin and Hunter firmly stayed away from their bikes. The rangers all picked very safe topics to talk on, and Blake got an idea of what it was like to hang out with the good Marah and Kapri, and finally got to meet the much talked about Skyla. Apart from that the other good thing that happened was Cam and Hunter coming up with a brilliant plan to start a sparring tournament between the wind and thunder academy. On their last day there as the others were busy discussing how they were going to pull this one off, Blake sat back and observed the slight changes in his friends.

Shane Clark, was still the leader of the group, that much was obvious and it seemed like it was something that was not going to change any time soon. But now, with Sklya by his side, Shane had learnt to put more trust and faith in people, and from her he had also learnt the power of sacrifice. He was less intense these days, but otherwise still the same.

Dustin Brooks, former yellow earth ninja, was still as goofy as ever, and having Marah by his side didn't really help that part of him. But being a sensei now he knew the responsibility that lay on his shoulders to guide other students and was a little more down to earth than he used to be. Marah, had however brought out a more considerate side of him, one they had all suspected Dustin possessed, but he had never shown.

Cam, ah, Cam, Blake thought, was hiding a secret, a really good one. He looked much happier these days, but his level of seriousness that he possessed had yet to diminish, but Blake didn't mind that.

Blake laughed when he thought about Hunter. His dirty blonde haired brother always had a strawberry blonde companion around him, whether he liked it or not. It was quite clear to Blake that Kapri was a little more than smitten by Hunter and followed him around wherever he went, which was a pity on Kapri's part as Hunter kept brushing her aside. He made a mental note to tell Hunter to be careful or he'd hurt Kapri's feelings. 'You're a one to talk thought,' Blake though resignedly to himself as he finally focused on Tori who was sitting in-between Dustin and Cam.

He had to give the blue eyed surfer lots of credit for not bailing on all the occasions they had gone out as a group. She didn't speak much though, to him or to the others, and there was a definite look of sadness in her eyes. He had also gave her points for not telling the others what had happened between them. He knew for a fact they didn't know or neither Shane, Dustin nor Cam would be freely joking with him if they knew he'd broken the former blue ranger's heart. And they wouldn't even wait to listen to his very valid explanation of why.

His thoughts were broken into by Hunter voice, "Hey bro, time to bail."

"You're going already?" Kapri asked sounding disappointed. Hunter ignored her and stood.

Blake followed his brother's action. "Ah, well, I'll see you guys around I guess. It was great hanging around here."

"You guys should visit more often." Dustin said, and Blake took a quick look at Tori before he answered sounding vague,

"Yeah."

"Hey Tor where you off to?" Dustin asked as he saw Tori exit Storm Chargers with her surfboard.

"Beach, to surf." Tori said. Her tone sounded a little flat.

"Hey," Dustin said now approaching her, "You alright?" When Tori didn't answer, but simple finished shoving her surfboard into her blue van, and began walking towards the driver's seat, Dustin caught her hand and repeated the question. "Are you alright?" His voice was more gentle this time.

Tori gave up avoiding him questions as a bad job, and looked him in the eye, "I don't know yet." With that she gently released herself from Dustin's grasp and got into her van, putting it into gear and pulling out of the parking lot. She saw Dustin shake his head as she exited.

Tori sat on her surfboard out in the ocean waiting to catch her big wave. So she'd promised Blake not to surf alone again, so what? She was done waiting for or listening to Blake. And to think she'd been ecstatic when he returned, thinking that things were finally going to take off between them, only to be told something that hadn't even started was over. But it was funny really, Blake had told her he liked her that day at the beach when she had finished telling him of her experience in the alternate dimension, though even that had been a slip. And it had been quite clear that Tori was interested in Blake too after the whole ugly head of jealousy rearing it's head when Tori had seen Lee Ann for the first time. And stranger still was when Tori had hugged Blake, she had felt him respond. It was minutes after that that Blake was telling her they were over, finished, kaput. It was like he'd come with a plan, but had forgotten it for that moment when they saw each other for the first time. 'Serves me right for building castles in the air.' Tori though, as a few angry tears splashed down her cheeks. She turned around on her board to see a huge wave approaching. 'That one's calling my name,' she though and began paddling like mad to catch the monster wave.

"So bro, no plans at all to go back?" Hunter asked his brother carefully as they drove back to the Thunder Academy.

"Dude, I just got back here and you're already trying to get rid of me. Nice brother you are!" Blake complained.

"Nice way of deflecting the question, but it's not going to happen." Hunter smirked.

Blake sighed. "Always on my case," He muttered before saying, "I don't know. Like I said, give me some time to think about it okay."

Hunter shrugged, "Hey that's cool with me bro. I sort of missed not having to drag you out of bed everyday."

Blake retaliated, "You wouldn't have to drag me out of bed everyday if you didn't keep me up the whole night with your constant elephant trumpeting!" Hunter grinned and looked over at Blake. The latter caught the look and said warily, "You're not going to give me one of your traditional hugs followed by messing up my hair are you?"

Hunter laughed out loud at this, "Always were worried about your hair, even when you were a little tyke! Speaking of hugs, what's going on between you and the love-of-your-life, Tori?" Hunter had possibly never seen his brother's face shut down so quickly and so firmly before, and Blake's action of turning on the radio and turning the knob up to a considerable volume was more than a clear signal that the topic was not one open for conversation.