Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters mentioned in this non-profit Non-copyright infringement..-ing fic. If I did...Hunter and Dustin would be in my closet.
Author's Note: You know the insp. So I don't have to repeat. So! Happy holidays! Your guys' gift it this fic, two parts, I added that for the celebratory-ness. and one other fic. Bah! I actually wasn't to thrilled with this though. I liked the begining....and the end. That was it. so yeah. R&R. enjoi

Part 1 & 2

Hunter sat in his bed and sighed as he looked over at the small bear that sat on his pillow for the millionth time then he pulled his pant leg up with drawn together brows as he inspected his ankle. He ran a finger over his tan skin and the grey ring, the skin didn't feel different, the color was just gone. The springs snapping and stretching in the door knob caught his attention and he quickly pulled the leg of his crimson sweats down. His little brother stood in the door way with cast down eyes, the older ninja was going to tell him to leave but his voice stopped him. "Are you okay Hunter?"

"..." That was a stupid question. It really was. Some people say 'There's no such thing as a stupid question'... well that was one. He knew Blake meant well, he was just worried because he knew how this situation was affecting his brother. "I'm fine"

"You're not gonna..."

"Do anything stupid?" He asked as he looked up to his brother, the glance they exchanged seemed to hold a conversation of its own. Blake gave a faint nod then he left the room.

***

"What's he doing?" Shane came behind Cam to look over his shoulder at the computer monitor. Tori was right at his side with a worried look. Blake was standing by the wooden table with arms crossed and a distant gaze. The red ninja turned to the navy thunder, "Why didn't you tell us he was going onto Lothor's ship?"

"I didn't know okay dude. He just went" Blake defended.

"We have to get up there, we have to help him" Tori said desperately.

"Shane, Tori, do not worry. I believe Hunter will succeed in saving Dustin" Their sensei said from is place near his son's hand as he watched the monitor.

"But sensei, how do we know he won't get captured?" Shane asked.

"He's not going to, he'll bring Dustin back" Blake knew it, he knew Hunter would bring the earth ninja back because it was personal and he had passionate reason for making it there and back intact.

Shane sent him a questioning look, Tori placed a hand on his shoulder and she smiled at the wind ninja, "He's right, Hunter will be fine" She and Blake knew this because they knew how Hunter felt, Sensei and Cam just knew he was a driven and skilled fighter, Shane was just plain confused and worried, for them both.

***

It was moments like these that the crimson ninja was glad that he and Blake had certain skills that the wind ninja's didn't. He knew if Shane was able to get on Lothor's ship he would, the help would be nice but this was something he had to do on his own. The ship was barren and he wondered if they were expecting him or they just lacked decent security. He walked down the halls thinking of a place they would keep the wind ninja just as he was about to turn the corner a group of kelzacks came walking gown the hall. He wanted to fight, he wanted to hurt them for talking Dustin in the first place but there was no need to draw unnecessary attention to himself, he pressed his body against the wall. Thank goodness the kelzacks weren't too smart otherwise he might have a problem. The once sturdy wall gave way and he fell back onto the floor with a grunt, he slowly sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"Ow..." He gritted his teeth as he continued to rub the sore spot before getting to his feet and looking around. From the looks of things, he was in Marah or Kapri's room, and judging from the earth ninja slumped in the corner, this was Marah's room. He quickly ran over to his side, holing two fingers to his neck, he was alive still. "Time to go bro" He hoisted him off the floor and disappeared in a flash.

***

"How'd you guys know I was on Lothor's ship?" Hunter asked with drawn brows.

"I installed cameras on your morphers," Cam explained as he worked on manually powering down the earth ninja, "It was intended for Dustin because he had a tendency to get lost and show up late so I needed to know where he was...I figured I'd put one on everyone's....to be safe." The colorless suit shattered, leaving a black and white Dustin. The earth ninja's skin was ash grey, Hunter reached out and touched his hand but instantly pulled back, looking down at his own hand. His skin was so warm, like he was going to open his eyes and make a ridiculous comment that would make them all laugh but that wasn't the case.

"So what happened?" Shane asked as he put a hand over his friend's forehead. Tori bit her lip and looked at Hunter, he was a bit reluctant to explain, she was just about to tell him he didn't have to but he spoke up.

"One of Lothor's goons his name's Kohlohtron," He clenched his fist, "Dustin..." He shook his head, "Dustin touched him and he took his color..." Blonde brows knitted and he bit his lip, "And he took his power…this is my fault"

"No it's not Hunter—" Tori cut herself off, she didn't know what to say to help.

"This is my fault," Shane corrected, five pairs of eyes landed on him, confused, "I shouldn't have let him go in the first place"

"I was supposed to protect him though" Hunter re-corrected as he brushed the tips of his fingers against the earth ninja's.

"It's no one's fault. We just need to get this guy, okay?" Blake asked.

"Blake's right" The crimson ranger looked from them to their grey friend.

"Lothor's got good timing" Cam called as he looked over his shoulder at the computer screen, "Kohlohtron, he's at Blue Bay Point"

"Right, let's go" Hunter got to his feet but his Brother pushed him back down to the blue pillow he had been sitting on.

"No way bro, I think you should stay here" His brother said with a small smile.

"But I can help you guys—"

"No one's saying you can't Hunter but Dustin would want you here" Tori and Blake knew it was true, so did Hunter, Shane on the other hand was just confused.

"We should hurry" The green ninja said as he joined at the end of their morphing line.

***

It had been almost an hour; the colorless hand he was gripping was becoming clammy and heavy in his hold. The thunder ninja was watching the battle and he was itching to get out there and help but he stayed put, know had to be here instead. At one pint in the battle where Blake nearly came in contact with the goon he actually moved to leave but the green samurai tackled him out of the way in the nick of time. Shane hadn't been so lucky, his right arm had lost color and therefore function, it was clear he wasn't a lefty with the way he was fighting but he was managing. The now faded orange goon was sending its strings toward Tori but Blake used his thunder shield, that was too close.

Minutes later Kohlohtron exploded in a burst of reds. He noticed the air ninja's arm regained color; he lifted his uniform pant leg, the grey ring faded. Blue eyes rose to Dustin, expecting him to be smiling but he wasn't.

"Hunter, how's Dustin?"

"He's the same Cam..." His voice was flat and he let his wrist fall back into his lap.

"Do not give up hope Hunter" Sensei flipped and landed on the table near Dustin's head and put a paw to his grey cheek. The crimson ninja nodded, gripping the hand tighter before looking back to the screen. By now the rangers had formed the zord, even though Kohlohtron had lost the little thunder and air power he got from him and Shane, he still had all of Dustin's powers, that alone would be tough to beat.

The large goon split into two, one held a ninja sword and the other, a lion hammer. It was evident throughout the battle that Kohlohtron had not only absorbed the earth ninja's powers, but also his knowledge of the weapons and how the others would attack. "This doesn't look to good" Hunter pointed out. The zord was taking heavy damage and Hunter looked from sensei to the computer. He got up and wiggled his fingers before pressing a few buttons, "Hey Shane"

"I'm a little busy!" He grunted as the zord took a hit.

"I'm sending you a power disk" He said as he was still pressing buttons to figure out how to do that.

"It better be good"

"Yeah yeah..." He muttered, a small stick came and pressed a few buttons as well, the crimson ninja looked over to the nodding guinea pig. "Here goes" He hit the large red and black button.

"Got it!" He picked up the crimson disk from the console and pushed in on his right, "Locked aaand dropped." The sphere opened and a huge crimson blaster landed in the zord's hands.

"Tori, combine the turtle mace with the blaster" Sensei instructed.

"I can do that?" She put the disk in the space and turned the handle, "Locked and dropped" The mace attached at the end of the blaster and the zord fired. The spiked blue ball spun, the blast propelling it forward with insane speed and it lodged itself in Kohlohtron chest then exploded.

"Yes!" Hunter watched the smoke clear but more explosions in yellow went off and he turned in the chair, "Dustin..." his voice made no sound, but his lips moved as he saw the ash grey skin get over taken by a sun kissed glow and the earth ninja's chest rose for a second then fell. "He's-" he turned back to where the guinea pig was but he wasn't there any more. The thunder ninja smirked and shook his head before going to the table and kneeling on the yellow pillow at his friend's side. "Dustin?" He took the yellow ninja's tanned hand and leaned over him, "Dust-"

"Five more minutes dude" The earth ninja turned his head away from the thunder and sighed. Hunter's face split into a grin he couldn't keep back even if he tried and the corners of his eyes glistened in the soft lights from Ops, an unintentional sniff sounded and he rubbed his nose. "Hmm?" The earth ninja turned his head back to Hunter and when he opened his eyes he squinted, "What's the matter?" His mouth fell opened and he closed it, he had never seen the crimson ranger so close to tears so he was nearly panicking. "H-Hunter—dude, what's wrong?" he asked as he sat up with crossed legs and put a hand on his shoulder.

"I-I..." his grin hadn't wavered and he shook his head and looked down.

"Dude..." Dustin looked down to his hand that Hunter was holding and his brows pulled together, "Your hand it totally sweaty" He commented, hoping to get the thunder to not cry.

"Sorry bro" He laughed but didn't take his hand back, "I'm just glad you're okay"

"Me to...that was totally weird" he commented as he rubbed his head, "My bell has been rung before but that was: wow"

"Dustin...I need to tell you something" One of those now or never moments. Sensei had left the room to give them time, Blake, Cam, Shane and Tori hadn't returned so he knew they were doing the same.

"Sure, what's up dude?" He asked as he picked at his nail on his right hand.

"I didn't see it before dude, but after a while of hanging out with you, Shane and Tori, I just. And you guys were pretty cool. Shane's kinda," he paused and made a face, "Tori has a thing for Blake and he totally has the hots for her. Then Cam's always at Ops so you and me I just. It just happened." He looked down to his shoes then back up to Dustin. He wasn't afraid of rejection; he could deal with it, what's the worst that could happen? He knew they would remain friends no matter what.

"Did you just like totally—and I just," he ran his hand over the top of his head and whistled, "missed it"

"Yeah" He smirked shook his head, "… I like you bro" The clarification was short simple and to the point.

"I like you to, look, we should totally hang out at the track tomorrow though, I need to," He rolled his shoulder and chuckled, "Get back into it, y'know."

"No, Dustin I like you" Blue eyes locked with brown and Dustin had to actually think about what he meant. His face was void of anything, it may have looked like he was brain dead but he was actually firing on all cylinders trying to decode his words. Like....like? Like the way he liked him, Blake, Cam, Shane, Tori and Sensei. Or the way he liked chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Everything started coming into place. The saving him from the lockdown at Ops, the walk around the carnival at the park, the cotton candy, the ferris wheel, the hand holding. Dustin snapped his fingers and Hunter saw the light bulb over his head come on. "Do you still have that little bear—thing I gave you?" he inquired with a tilted head.

"Yeah...why? What does that-"

"You like me—you totally do!" he concluded, like Hunter hadn't been trying to explain that very idea for the past five minutes.

"Yeah"

"I..." his genius smile faltered and his mouth hung open "N-no way...y-you're kidding, right dude?" he asked with narrowed eyes and thick pulled brows.

The thunder ninja slipped his hand from Dustin's and he forced a small smile; "Yeah, I'm just kidding bro" What's the worst that could happen?