Author's Note: A review! Someone read my story and (gasp) likes it! Thanks ken627 (or, just Ken/Kenneth?)!
Previously in Parallel Realities Ninja Storm:
Tori discovers she has a twin brother from another dimension who has a crush on her best friend, Dustin. The others don't trust him, but he wins her over. Meanwhile, he plots to discover if Dustin has a certain secret attraction...
Parallel Realities Ninja Storm: Chapter 4 (Where To Stay?)
"Dude, hold still or I won't be able to get it in," Dustin ordered.
"My butt's sore already and we haven't even started!" Tobi protested.
"It's just the position you're in," Dustin explained. "This'll be totally fun!"
"I don't see why I couldn't start off riding y—"
"The first time just takes some getting used to," Dustin interrupted. "I remember my first time," he mused before saying, "Here goes..."
"Ow!" Tobi screamed. "Put it out! Pull it out!"
"Dude, I so thought this would work," Dustin whined, sounding defeated. "There, is that better?"
"I hope I can still walk," Tobi complained.
"I don't understand," Dustin pouted. "Cam didn't complain about it being too tight and we started out slow just like this."
"Well, either he's smaller than me or that safety belt shrank," Tobi replied, climbing off the minibike and rubbing his leg. He had a bruise under his shorts were the belt had been snapped in.
Tobi was near a dirt track with Dustin and Hunter. Shane was off skateboarding and Cam had decided to remain at Ninja Ops and monitor things (spy on everyone) from his computer.
The entire time Dustin tried to start Tobi out on the small bike, Hunter watched them with contempt in his eyes. It was like his blue eyes had turned red. Obviously Tobi hadn't won over Hunter's trust yet, but this parallel dimension Dustin was so trusting that it melted Tobi's heart like... like melted chocolate fudge over chocolate ice cream on top of chocolate cake. "I'm starving!" he suddenly realized.
"I could so go for some pizza myself," Dustin agreed, turning to Hunter.
"He just watched us go around the track and sat down," Hunter complained, "and he's hungry? Plus, there is no way the midget is bigger than Cam."
"I'm hungry too, dude," Dustin said. "Don't tell me there's not something you're craving." He poked Hunter playfully in the stomach.
Hunter's eyes softened for a moment until he noticed Tobi watching him. He shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, bro."
The three found some pizza joint and Dustin was first to the counter. "Two extra large pizzas with the works," Dustin told the human girl behind the counter. "What do you guys want?" he asked, tuning back to Tobi and Hunter.
"That's all for you?" Hunter asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah," Dustin replied with what was becoming a familiar sheepishly confused pout.
Tobi was starting to forget about his stomach already, but Dustin was doing more than reaching into his shorts to readjust his "earthworm." He seemed to be looking for something.
"Dude, I forgot my wallet," Dustin whined.
Normally, Tobi would have thought tough luck, but he'd do anything for Dustin, so he reached into his shorts and pulled out a plastic bag full of money (he used a plastic bag because, besides surfing, his sister back in the other reality loved to soak him). He began counting bills until Dustin grabbed one from him.
"Check this out," Dustin said, holding up the bill. On it was a picture of a former president.
"That's one ugly dude," Hunter commented.
"They only put President Zedd on the ten because his wife had that famous line, 'Finally, after ten thousand years, I'm free!'"" Tobi explained, making a convincing Rita Repulsa voice.
They both looked at him as if he was crazy for a moment until Dustin said, "Yeah! Rita Repulsa! Funniest bag guy ever!" He held his head and mocked, "Oh, I have such a headache!"
Tobi couldn't help but laugh at Dustin's behavior. "I'm guessing your money looks different in this weird dimension," he concluded, holding up a bill with President Mondo on it.
"You said you still didn't believe him," Dustin offered. "There's your proof." He picked up a coin and read the inscription, "In Dark Specter we trust."
Hunter just grunted and paid the girl for three pizzas with money that had nothing but old funny-haired humans on the bills.
At first, Hunter didn't want to share the pizzas he paid for with Tobi, but Dustin convinced him otherwise and he caved pretty quickly.
As they ate, Tobi couldn't help but study this new Dustin. He ate pizza with two hands like it was going to run away at any moment. He definitely wasn't the neat eater the other Dustin was. Tobi was torn between finding it cute and finding it disgusting. It was such a fine line.
"Dude, I was thinking," Dustin said, spraying pepperoni, pineapple, mushrooms and olives everywhere, "where will Twilight Zone Tobi stay?"
"Twilight Zone Tobi?" both Tobi and Hunter asked in unison while also picking food out of their clothes.
"You know," Dustin explained, "like the fifth dimension from the Twilight Zone. That's where Tobi is from."
"You're such a nerd," Hunter said with a grin before he stopped himself and became serious again. "But what do you mean where will he stay?"
"I can stay with Dustin," Tobi offered hopefully. "I mean, until Cam figures a way to send me back," he added quickly, though he was starting to hope he could stay a while longer at least.
Dustin looked up from his messy eating. "Dude, I thought you wanted to stay."
Tobi stared at him, blinking until flying mushrooms distracted him. "I do," he answered.
"He could still be one of Lothor's goons," Hunter protested. "He should be kept as far away from your bed as possible. Ninja Ops seems like the safest place."
"What was that about my bed?" Dustin asked as he discovered some peperoni in his hair, shrugged and ate it.
"Nothing," Hunter said quickly. "Just try a little harder to keep the pizza on your side of the table." No sooner had he picked a green pepper from his shirt sleeve then a pepperoni piece got him right in the eye. Removing it, he added, "And maybe we should tie him up..."
Later, back at Ninja Ops, Tori returned with Blake. They both had big smiles on their faces.
"You two did it, didn't you?" Tobi whispered to his sister.
"Of course not!" she defended. "He just admitted he likes me and then I tried to teach him how to surf."
"Did you blast his clothes off at least?" Tobi asked.
"What? Did the other me really do that?"
"Yeah. It was pretty funny. The guy's speedo hit me in the face."
Tori couldn't help but giggle, even though she replied, "That's mean."
"What's mean?" Blake asked, trying to look casual but obviously wanting to ravage Tori sexually.
"Uh, nothing," she replied lamely.
"We were just talking about where I will stay now that I'm in this dimension," Tobi said in an attempt to rescue his sister from "Blaking out."
"Oh, yeah," Tori said with a grin. "I think my parents would be a little suspicious if I show up with a twin brother they didn't know they had—especially my mom. That's not the kind of thing you forget."
"I guess he can stay with me and Hunter," Blake offered. It wasn't that he liked or even trusted Tobi, but he'd do anything for Tori.
Hunter coughed loudly and signaled for his brother. Blake excused himself with a sheepish smile and went over to him.
"Hey, Dustin," Tobi interrupted the yellow ranger while he was chatting in an animated manner with Shane. "Thanks for trying to teach me about motocross."
"No problem, dude," Dustin replied with a hypnotizing smile.
"Yeah," Tobi said blankly. "Uh, anyway, yeah. I'm sorry I was such a pain in the butt, but maybe we could give it another try. After I spend the night at your place, in the morning we could—"
A horrible gagging sound filled Ninja Ops.
"You okay, bro?" Blake asked as Hunter looked like he was going to die.
"You are not" choke "staying" hack "with" cough "Dustin!" Hunter insisted.
"You sound bad, man," Dustin told Hunter, patting him on his back. "Did you want TZT to stay with you or something?"
Hunter shook his head furiously.
"Tori, get him some water," Shane suggested.
"Tobi will remain here in Ninja Ops until a more permanent solution can be reached," came the voice of Sensei. "Tobi, Cameron will see to the arrangements. He will also see if it may be possible to return you to your rightful dimension."
There were words and nods of agreement all around, but Tobi couldn't help but feeling disappointed. After all, he couldn't stay with Dustin or his sister.
That night, everyone exchanged awkward goodbyes before Cam set up a cot for Tobi in a training room.
"I don't think this is any kind of a permanent arrangement," Cam told Tobi as he brought him a pillow. "Tomorrow I plan to search the area of the last battle for remains of Goldwinger. It may hold the key to identifying your specific dimensional origin. There are infinite possible realities—or so the theory goes."
Tobi couldn't help but smile.
"What?" Cam asked.
"It's just that you remind me a lot of Dustin," Tobi explained. When Cam gave him a confused look, he continued. "I mean, obviously not the looks, but you're all techno-nerdy like the other Dustin." Tobi thought for a moment. "It's weird how I can still like someone even when he's so different. I hope that doesn't mean I'm just superficial."
Cam figured he knew who Tobi was referring to. "I've never really thought of myself being much like Dustin. I mean, I wish, but now that I think about it, I do see some similarities."
"Like you're both geeks," Tobi pointed out. "Just different kinds of geeks."
"I was going to say that we're both misfits," Cam replied, "but everyone likes Dustin better."
"True," Tobi admitted, which caused Cam to look depressed. "Thanks for the pillow. It was really... nice of you to take care of me like this."
"You aren't used to that, are you?" Cam asked.
"Nope," Tobi admitted, testing out the cot and pillow. "But I think I could get used to it."
Cam sighed for a moment.
"What?" Tobi asked, instinctively sounding defensive.
"For a moment, you really looked like..." Cam began. "Nevermind. Goodnight." He turned to go.
"I remind you of Tori?" Tobi guessed.
Cam paused, but didn't turn around. "Only because you're twins."
That made sense, but so did something else. "You have a crush on Tori, don't you?" Tobi figured out.
Cam finally turned around and adjusted his glasses nervously.
"Well, as nice as you seem, I don't think I want to be a substitute for my sister," Tobi said. "I mean, I want to get off as much as any guy, but—since you like a girl—you'd probably want me to be the bottom and I'm still a virgin. I've always wanted my first time to be with someone I really loved, like... Dustin." He realized he had finally said out loud that he loved Dustin. And to tell it to Cam of all people!
Cam had a petrified look on his face and his cheeks were bright red. "I, uh... Who told you I like... I mean... Just because you're blonde and... I mean, I don't want to have sex with you."
"Oh," Tobi replied somberly. "Join the club I guess."
"I just thought that..." Cam began. "Nevermind."
"Cut that out!" Tobi insisted. "Just spit it out."
"You and Tori seem to have hit it off fairly quickly and I..." Cam trailed off.
"You want me to hook you up with my sister," Tobi realized. He also realized that (if her alternative self was any sign) she was going to fall for Blake (if she hadn't already). But Tobi could easily lead Cam on in exchange for a reward... "Tell you what," Tobi said with an evil grin. "I'll do my best to hook you up with Tori if you do a little something for me."
"I don't think I can get Dustin to fall in love with you," Cam replied. "He likes girls."
"We'll see about that," Tobi muttered. "Maybe he just hasn't met the right guy. But, I have something else in mind."
"What's that?" Cam asked hesitantly. He could sense Tobi was up to something.
"I want my own personal Dustin plaything," Tobi said, "just like you have Cyber Cam and you can touch him and everything."
Cam thought about the request for a moment. "I probably don't want to know what you plan to do with a duplicate Dustin, but I might be able to modify the sparing program."
"What's that?" Tobi asked.
"It's designed to improve fighting skills," Cam explained. "The rangers fight against exact copies of themselves, complete with their own moves."
Tobi's eyes widened. "Cyber Cam said he was the only virtual person."
"That's probably because I created the other program before I created Cyber Cam," Cam theorized. "Also, they don't have independent thought processes, so they are not technically virtual replicants."
"So that means you already have a Dustin that can interact physically!" Tobi said excitedly, jumping up and down on the cot. "You could have it modified in no time! I could have my very own Dustin to sleep with tonight!" Thoughts of snuggling Dustins swirled around Tobi's head. He tucked his hair behind his ears and leaned forward, kissing Cam briefly on his forehead.
Cam looked flustered for a moment before he regained his composure. "Actually, I was going to call it a night. Reprogramming is delicate work. If it's rushed, he might end up like Cyber Tori."
"What?" Tobi shouted, getting off the cot.
"I had to take her offline because..." He looked embarrassed. "She had a penis. I thought I fixed everything after her personality went haywire, but there are so many variables."
"Uh," Tobi considered this carefully, "then I guess you should take your time." He knew Cam would expect results with his sister in exchange for progress on Cyber Dustin but the thought of Dustin having... girl parts totally grossed him out. Besides, he might have a chance with the real thing...
"We'll talk about this later," Cam said, opening the door to leave. "Goodnight."
Once Cam was gone, Tobi couldn't help but feel optimistic. It was a new feeling, like the feeling he got when people were nice to him. This parallel dimension wasn't too bad, he thought to himself as he looked around for a switch to turn off the light.
Something flashed out of the corner of his eyes when he tried a button on a panel that he thought might control the lights. Instead he turned around to see something that both shocked him and filled him with lust...
To be continued...