Note - Until I get the next chapter up, I will take some ideas for Truth or Dare suggestions. I wasn't sure before, but I am going to use it.

Setting - Blake and Hunter's apartment with everyone but Sensei.

Remember, Rating - no swearing or descriptive nudity and such.

Also, keep in mind the pairings, and that Dustin/Taelin, Hunter/Angie are not officially together, yet.

I want to keep them mostly in character.

So please, no having Hunter acting like a hyper little girl, or singing girly songs or anything. LOL. No Blake smooching Taelin or Angie. No Dustin smooching Hunter (sorry :( )

Otherwise, I'm open to ideas for embarrassing them all and such.

Thank you to all who sent in ideas and comments. It's greatly appreciated.

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(Tori's POV)

The others were nearby, but things really weren't looking good. I was almost numb from the cold, Angie and Blake had already transformed and Hunter was close to it, I could tell.

And it didn't look like the others would be getting to us any time soon. They were fighting the frosty freak Lothor'd sent down, and were taking a beating on their own.

Even after Cam arrived to help.

"We have to get outta here." I said quietly, looking around the ice box. No matter how bad it might seem, there's just gotta be a way. I looked to the so called 'ceiling' and realized it was really unsteady, but since it was ice... "Hunter!"

Turning to the Crimson Thunder Ninja, I frowned to find his eyes closed, and he was leaning on me heavier than he needed to. Nudging him, I shook my shoulder ,watching as his body shook and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Hunter!"

His body jerked and he lifted his head off my shoulder with obvious difficulty, turning to look at me with glowing crimson eyes.

"I have an idea on how to get outta here, but I'm gonna need your help!" I told him hurriedly. "The roof of this box is unsteady, but using my water powers, I should be able to freeze it to the walls better, making it safer for you to melt a hole in one of the walls."

His head slowly turned and he looked at the walls with a frown, unconsciously raising Angie higher and nodding as his eyes settled on the ceiling. "We've got..." He shivered violently and his wings jerked a little before folding against his back. "We've got nothing to lose."

I stood up quickly, reluctantly placing Blake in Hunter's lap, watching as he carefully picked up his little brother and held him along with Angie. Turning back to the wall, I looked up and focused on my inner water powers, seeing as there was no unfrozen water nearby. Ok, here goes... Raising my hands, I focused intently and my eyes flew open as I felt the power in me surge forward. "Power of Water!"

A large stream of water erupted from my hands and flew towards the edges of the ice roof, freezing immediately upon contact and creating a seal that would, hopefully, hold it up better. It took a good portion of my powers, and I felt dizzy by the time I was done, but I turned back to Hunter, nodding a little and kneeling down to carefully take Blake and Angie from him. Then I had to hold still as he braced himself on me and we stood up together.

"My turn, huh?" he asked with a wince, taking a shaky step forward. Frowning a little, he raised his hand to the wall in front of us, searching it with his eyes for a moment before aiming a little to the left. "Power of Fire!" he called, tapping into his dragon powers.

An inferno surrounded him, focusing in his hand and releasing as a stream of fire, hitting th wall and melting through it in seconds. Still, he needed to widen the hole so we could climb out, and I could easily tell he was close to passing out.

"Just a little bit longer, Hunter!" I called, adjusting my hold on the two unconscious dragons in my arms. You can do it!

His eyes narrowed as he broke out in a sweat, and he moved his arm a bit higher, making the hole big enough for us to escape through. Once he was done, he staggered back and I quickly moved forward as the crimson mist appeared, causing him to transform.

I felt four sets of claws landing lightly on my shoulder before a heavy weight collapsed, and quickly ran through the opening, moving a safe distance away and placing Blake and Angie down, carefully picking up Hunter and placing him next to them as I turned back to the snowman monster.

"Ok, it's time for him to pay." I all but growled as I stalked over to the others. No one picks on my friends! Especially Blake! Raising my hand to the sky, I focused on a nearby fountain and concentrated on the monster. "Power of Water!" I called again, streaming the warm water at the monster and watching in satisfaction as it began to melt.

"Hey! Hey! Stop that!" he cried as he writhed under the water. "No! I'm melting!"

That's what you get... I tapped my morpher. "Ninja Storm! Ranger Form! HA!" Once I was morphed, I joined the others in fighting this thing. I streamed more warm water at it as Dustin and Shane ran forward, slicing at it with their ninja swords. Cam stood a safe distance away and kept an eye on the battle, racing forward to keep the monster distracted as Shane and Dustin backed off to regroup.

With the four of us, it didn't take long to beat him. We watched as he collapsed to the ground, repeatedly groaning about melting, and exploded into nothing. Once he was gone, I spun and ran back to where I'd left the Dragons, stopping and staring in awe at the sight that met me.

Dragon Blake was curled up close to Hunter's back, on one side of him, his little sapphire snout buried against a ruby back. And Angie was curled against Hunter's front, her snout buried against his throat. Hunter was curled around Angie, but his tail was wrapped with Blake's and his head was tilted down over the little white dragon, his little fore claws resting over hers.

Biting my lip, I felt bad as I lifted Blake in my arms, hearing him giving a weak, protesting squeak before he settled against me.

"Dude, they're so cute!" Dustin cooed with a chuckle, carefully lifting Angie as Shane picked up Hunter.

"We should get them back to Ops, to make sure they're ok." Cam stated sternly, his voice wavering and showing his amusement. "They were in that box for a long time."

I nodded quietly, absently stroking the top of Blake's head and feeling him curl in against me more. "Cam's right." I stated lightly, blushing when the others pointedly stared at my hand. I adjusted my hold on Blake and turned away, heading towards Ops.

I could hear Dustin snickering, but there was almost a slight roar, like the roar you would hear from a pile of falling snow, or maybe a roaring fire, and he suddenly yelped, making me spin around.

Hunter had one eye half open and was staring at Dustin pointedly from Shane's arms, his nostrils steaming a bit. It only took me a second to figure out what happened and I couldn't help but laugh.

The said Earth Ninja was shaking his hand, Angie laying on his shoulder. "Dude, that hurt!"

Shane chuckled. "I think it was supposed to." he stated pointedly, turning and joining me.

Cam laughed a little as he joined us as well, leaving Dustin to race after us, carefully, so as to not drop Angie.

I guess the age old myth is true, then. I thought with a giggle, shaking my head. Dragons do breathe fire.

(Ops, Taelin's POV)

I was so relieved when the others came back from the battle only a little bruised. The Dragons were really cold, but Cam set them in a room together, where they immediately curled up together, and told us they'd be fine. They just needed to warm up and rest.

This time, Angie was between the brothers, and Hunter curled up against her back, his neck stretching across hers and one of his fore claws reaching over to Blake, on her other side. Blake curled into her front, his face buried under her neck and Hunter's head, and his claws folded tightly against his little body, his tail curling around Angie and Hunter.

Luckily, other than Dustin suffering mild burns to hand, the others were fine.

"Dude, what'd I do?" he asked with a clueless look while Cam bandaged his hand and held an ice pack to it, making him wince. "I was laughing about how Tori was petting Blake on the head, and the next thing I know, my hand was in the middle of a ball of fire!"

"That's probably why." I said quietly, ducking my head a little as everyone turned in my direction. "I mean, you were laughing at Tori and Blake. Blake's Hunter's little brother, and Tori's his, Blake's, girlfriend..."

Tori bit her lip and looked down with a blush, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"And Hunter's really protective of his brother..." I continued. "That was probably his way of giving you a warning."

"Yeah." Shane snickered. "Don't mess with my family or your butt is toast!"

I couldn't help but giggle at that, but on the inside, I was just glad they were all ok.

"Hey, Shane..." Tori gave him an evil look. "Since Cam's probably glued to his computer chair..."

She ignored the pointed glare she got from him for that comment.

"Why don't you come with me and keep an eye on the dragons?" she finished with a raised eyebrow.

It was just a question, but even I could tell, from her expression, that there was more to it than that. It made my face heat up as he quickly nodded and followed her into the back room, leaving me and Dustin alone in the main room, but for Cam.

Even Sensei had gone out to meditate in the forest, earlier.

"Dustin, if your hand's feeling better, do you mind finishing Taelin's training?" Cam asked without turning away from the computer.

He made a face at the bandage before shrugging and nodding, the low light hiding a lot of his expression. "Sure."

Looking to the ground, I turned and headed up the stairs, not really sure what to make of his answer. I stopped a moment, sure I heard someone calling my name, very quietly, and turned to find Tori standing at the edge of the hallway, alone.

Glancing quickly to Dustin, I saw him slowly walking towards me, poking at his bandages, and looked back to see Tori mouthing 'now's your chance'.

That made me blink a moment as I stared at her blankly. Now's my chance? Now's my chance for what? Realizing what she was talking about, I felt my eyes widen and stared at her incredulously. Shaking my head quickly, I turned and headed up the stairs, waiting at the entrance to Ops, for Dustin.

'Now's my chance'?! Is she crazy?! I can't just tell Dustin how I feel!

"Tae, you in there?"

I felt a light tapping on my head and spun to find Dustin staring at me.

"I was saying we should, like, probably head over to the woods, or Cam'll like, probably throw a fit if we make too much noise." he said lightly with a shrug, gesturing to the edge of the woods.

"Right." I stated with a cheery grin, trying to push Tori's words out of my head. "Lead the way!"

He raised an eyebrow a moment before nodding and leading the way.

Besides, exactly how am I supposed to tell him?? I can't just walk up to him and say 'Yeah, hi. I'm totally head over heels in love with you.'! I could always just walk up to him and kiss him. But I'd never kissed anyone before, and I felt all kinds of questions bubble up.

"Uh, Dustin...?" What am I doing?! I grinned weakly when he turned to face me and looked into his eyes.

Big mistake.

Immediately I felt like I was getting lost in them and forced myself to look away. Opening my mouth to say something, I felt like my throat closed up and sighed. "Never mind." I muttered quietly.

"You ok, Tae?" he asked, a worried frown coming over his face.

I nodded and forced a smile. "Yeah." I wish. "I'm fine."

(Two Days Later)

"I still can't believe you didn't tell him." Tori stated in disappointment.

Angie raised an eyebrow and giggled with a shake of her head. "You do realize that Hunter would have your head for encouraging her like this, and Blake would be torn between protecting you and cheering for his brother, right?"

Blinking a moment, Tori's one eyebrow slowly rose and she nodded with her lips pursed. "Yeah, you know, I didn't even think of that." She stated with a blush. "But they have to realize she's an adult."

"She's their 'little sister'." Angie stated pointedly.

"And Hunter's way too over-protective of me." I said with a nod, thankful the topic was currently off me and Dustin.

Ever since that day, when I'd failed to tell him, Tori's been going on about the different ways to broach the subject and such. When I mentioned never having kissed a guy before, she told me to just 'go with the flow', whatever that meant.

"Besides, look at you and Blake." Angie stated with a grin, pointing in Tori's face. "How long did it take you guys to finally kiss?? And he had to kiss you."

"Yeah!" Jumping in quickly, before Tori could retaliate, I added my own two cents. "So maybe, if I'm patient, Dustin will be the one to kiss me first." I blushed at having said all that out loud, even if it was just to the two of them.

"Blake knew I liked him." she said, pointing back into Angie's face, after having swatted her hand out of the way. "And Dustin doesn't know about Tae's feelings." Then she raised an eyebrow. "And you shouldn't be one to give advice. You and Hunter still have a long-"

"Don't!" Angie frowned deeply. "That's not what we're talking about."

I knew there was more to it than that. She never wanted to talk about her and Hunter, even though everyone knew there was...something there. Especially since the thing with the ice box. Hunter's been a lot nicer to her since then.

By no way was he on his knees, proposing, but he was at least treating her more like an equal, like the rest of the group.

"What's going on with you two?" I finally asked, after a couple minutes of silence. "I mean, it's obvious there's something there, but you always shoot the topic down right before we can even start it. Why? What's wrong?"

Frowning, Angie looked at the bed we all sat on, and I was glad for the day to relax. It was obvious there was something really bothering her, but what it was... Was it Hunter's attitude? Because I know he could be confusing at times.

"Come on, Ang. Talk to us." Tori stated quietly.

She didn't look up from the bed, but frowned deeper. "Well, I don't really know. I don't know how to feel or what to think. Ever since I came here, so much has happened. I made so many wonderful friends, and I think..." Her eyes watered, but no tears leaked out as she closed them tightly. "I found more people like me."

I know that wasn't what she wanted to say. She changed her statement, last minute.

"When it comes to Hunter..." Her face turned a deep red and she sighed deeply, opening her eyes to allow a single tear to fall, though she quickly wiped it away. "I understand so much of what he feels, and I bet I could understand what he thinks, but I just dunno where I stand with him."

"Where you stand...?" Tori echoed in confusion.

"Does he hate me? Like me? Put up with me for everyone else's sake?" she clarified. "When I first came here, I was convinced he hated me. Now, I dunno what to think."

"You like him, but you don't know if it's mutual." I stated knowingly, understanding her pain. It was the same with me. I liked Dustin, but didn't know if it was mutual, and I was afraid to find out. With Hunter, the results could be more devastating, just because he can be a lot harsher than he really means to, at times.

"Yeah." she said simply, with a small nod. "That's exactly it. I like him, but for all I know, he might just be putting up with me for the sake of everyone else."

"You know he doesn't do too well with making new friends and letting people into his heart." Tori stated knowingly. "He's really afraid of losing them, and once you know the majority of what he's been through, you'll be able to see it. He's also terrified of things between him and Blake changing."

"There's a lot of fear there." I stated, thinking of the two Thunders who'd raised me since I was a baby. "They depend so much on each other. Blake is like stability and sanity to Hunter, and Hunter is like strength to Blake. He's everything to Blake. They're both terrified of losing each other, or their way of life changing."

"Blake's most important to Hunter." Angie stated with a nod. "Family first, always. I know. Taelin is a really close second."

"And Hunter doesn't ever want that to change." Tori finished.

"Does he think I do?" she asked quietly. "I understand, completely, his devotion to his family. I'd never ask him to change."

"No." I frowned and looked at the bed, myself. "I think he's more afraid of things changing on their own. Someone else worming their way up, in his heart, and replacing Blake. He doesn't want that, and I think he's afraid of it happening anyway, even by accident."

"I know that I'll never be number one in Blake's heart." Tori stated with a smile. "And it's ok. I know that I almost tie with Hunter, in importance. He's shown me that. And I don't want to replace his big brother."

I nodded at Tori. "Hunter will see that in time."

"You know, we totally went right off topic." Angie reminded us with a bit of a grin. "We started out talking about Taelin and Dustin."

"Ahh, that's easy enough. We just lock them in a room together and refuse to let them out until they've kissed." Tori stated dismissively.

I think my jaw hit the ground at that moment.

"Or we could always play truth or dare or something and dare Dustin to kiss Taelin." Angie stated thoughtfully.

"He might refuse."

She nodded. "Well, if he refuses, we just ask him if he likes her as more than a friend. He can either kiss her or admit his feelings for her."

If it was even possible, I think my jaw fell even further. "GUYS!!" I yelled, grabbing a pillow and swatting them both with it. "Not fair! Leave me alone!"

Angie and Tori broke out laughing before launching themselves at me and knocking all of us right off the other end of the bed, to land on the floor in one big heap.

With friends like these, who needs enemies?!

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Ok, another chapter done. Hmm...me thinks this fic is going to be much longer than I thought, but I hope to keep it under 50 chapters. LOL!!

I hopefully, plan to have a fairly cute chapter after this. Ever watch sheep or other four-legged animals play? If not, check it out on youtube so you can get a better idea of what I'll be going for.

Hope you liked it.

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"They're playing."

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R+R please.

Thank you.

Tenshi