A/N: Thank you very much for your reviews! I totally agree that the characters need to establish and mold into some roles but it'll take a little time to figure out their place. I don't want to rush it but their personalities will eventually shine and separate themselves in certain situations as each chapter progresses but I hopefully have establish some ideas of a few more characters this chapter.
As always, I don't own Power Rangers, or any themes of any shows that I may have stolen elements from.
Chapter 04 The Little Lion Man
(Day 5)
Dustin woke up completely dazed and sore. His entire head was pounding beyond belief. Letting his eyes wonder, he found himself inside one of the tarp tents created by the survivors. It was a rather large tent built with bamboo and branches from the jungle. Coughing a bit, the flap of the tent opened up and Tori came crawling in. She sat next to Dustin and took a bottle of water and poured it into a partially broken cup. She lifted his head and allowed him to take a sip of water.
"Thanks." He whispered.
Tori smiled, placing the cup on the blanket. "How are you feeling?"
He used his hands to sit himself up and look at her. He rubbed his temple, "Like I've been hit with a 255cc motorbike." Dustin groaned, "How long have I been out?"
"You've been out for awhile. All of last night and half the day today." She cleared her bangs, "RJ said you were found washed ashore."
"Were still on the island, aren't we?"
She looked at him. He was dirty. His plaid yellow button shirt was fade and the grey t shirt underneath wasn't any better. Dustin tried cleaning the dirt off his legs; his short had a giant hole in the side where his boxers were shown through. "Yeah. It's been-"
"Six days." He interrupted slowly, starring into the blanket. He moved his eyes to a necklace that was hanging off one of the branches. It was a silver pendent with a small yellow crystal in the middle. It swayed slowly with the movement of the tarp.
Start Flashback
The sound of water was running in the bathroom of Dustin's apartment. He stood in the shower, letting the water run down his body as he rested his head against the tile wall lost in thought. He didn't know how long he was standing but after while, he slowly reached out and turned the knob, feeling the last drops fall off his skin.
Reaching out, he grabbed a towel and started to dry off. Wrapping it around himself, he made his way out and into the bedroom. Passing the dresser, where the pendant laid, he stood in front of his night stand and checked the clock.
"Are you ever going to get dress?" A woman startled him.
He fumbled with the clock that he had grabbed and dropped it. "Don't do that!" He turned to see Marah standing there with her arms crossed. Dustin bent down and picked it up, placing it back on the stand before looking at her with a smirk.
The brunette woman had long curly hair that stopped at her shoulders. She had cut it awhile back. The gleeful and once evil space villain watched as Dustin walked past her and to his dresser to look for clothes. "You're going to be late. You really should hurry."
"I know." He pulled out a shirt, "I'm hurrying as fast as I can. I wasn't expecting you to drop by."
She walked towards him and looked at the frames that were on his dresser. It was of Dustin and her in several settings. She picked up a frame and looked at specific one. It was of the two of them on a cruise. "This one is my favorite." Marah showed it to Dustin.
He grabbed it and placed it back on the dresser, "We had a little too much fun that vacation." He smiled as he fully got dress.
The door bell rang and it caught the motocross rider's attention. He made his way out of the room and into the living room where Marah followed. She leaned against the door of the bedroom, and watched as he opened the door.
"Hey." Shane smiled as he came in. Tori followed in soon after. Dustin smiled brightly as he closed the door.
"What's up, dude?" He glanced at Shane before diving into a hug with Tori, "Hey Tor."
"Hey Dust, you ready to go?" The red ranger grinned, "My demo is in 30."
"It should be really exciting." Tori added, "I hear there are going to be a lot of good scouts that will be watching."
Dustin nodded, "Yeah!" He exclaimed, exhaling and trailing an awkward sighed after, "I was thinking of meeting you guys there."
"Are you alright?" The blonde arched her brow.
"Yeah, yeah totally." Dustin ran his hand down his face, "I'm just running a little behind."
Shane made his way to his door, "Alright man, try to make it." He turned to him, "You missed it last time. You got to get out of this apartment."
Dustin just smiled as he opened the door and walked out. Tori made her way to the exit as well, turning back to him before leaving.
"Are you even going or were you just lying?" Marah's voice echoed in the background.
Dustin turned, seeing her sitting on the couch. He walked over and sat down, pulling a pillow over his lap, "No I will, but I thought I spend some time with you before I do. After all, you did stop by unexpectedly." He looked at her.
She rested her head on her hand, using her elbow and the back of the couch as support. "You spend anymore time with me you're just going to get sick of me."
The boy grinned, starring right back into her eyes. Marah could not help but smile back, gazing and feeling lost in his.
End Flashback
The old ninja brunette stood in the sand looking out into the ocean. Hunter glanced every so often at him from a distant while carving a round fruit with a knife he had found in the sand.
Taking a break, he twirled it in his hand. "Whoa." Kira made her way over to him, "Where did you learn how to do that?"
Hunter stopped the knife twirling in mid-motion and stuck it in the fruit, "You learn to pick things up when you're traveling." He responded.
She just smiled. Connor joined them as well; his leg was feeling a bit better. He sat down next to Kira. "Oh man, Connor." She placed her hand on her nose, "You smell. Take a dip in the ocean or something."
Connor just rolled his eyes, looking at her, "Thanks Babe." He winked, "I got this way all for you."
She punched him in the arm and turned away from him, "Keep talking Connor, by the time we get rescued, you won't have any teeth left." Hunter had tuned out from the entire conversation. He continued to carve into the fruit not caring about it. He was tired of being around all these people. He finally got up and started to walk away. "Good going." Kira turned back to Connor, "You just weirded the guy out."
Sky sighed, crossing his arms and standing next to Bridge. "We need to do something. It's been five days." He turned to his comrade.
"Like what?" He turned to him.
"If there are other people on this island, maybe they would know how to get off the island."
Bridge stood there a bit confused. He scratched his head, "Didn't they like kidnap Jane? Is it really a good idea to be hunting down people with guns?"
Sky just shrugged, "Well how did they get on this island? It's a good place to start."
Bridge pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "I've been trying to draw a map of the island." He showed Sky, "I mean I'm not an artist but I think I got the outline... sort of." Sky leaned in and looked at it. It was of scribbles and mess that Sky couldn't even understand. Bridge wasn't kidding when he said he was no artist. The blue S.P.D officer rolled his eyes and just walked off. "What!" Bridge yelled out to him. The wind blew the paper right out of his hand and down the beach. Bridge chased after it, "Damnit." He said to himself.
Sky only made it a few feet, passing Eric who was sitting in the sand, "I hope you were kidding." He spoke up to him.
Sky stopped in his tracks and turned at the heel of his feet to look at him, "About what?"
Eric stood up slowly, "Trying to have a conversation with those 'others'." He stated, "That guy pointed a gun at me."
"So." Sky fully faced him, "Maybe he thought we were a threat. If we prove we aren't they might help us."
"Don't be so naïve." Eric scoffed, "I know there is a light somewhere in that head of yours."
Sky narrowed his eyes. He hated arrogant people. He did his best to remain calm. "I don't think the shoot first; ask a question later is such a good idea either." He looked down at his holster, "They shouldn't be giving a monkey a gun anyway."
Sky turned to walk off before Eric had the last say. The silver guardian mumbled under his breath before turning in a different direction.
Dustin had wondered away from everyone. His feet continue to move across the wet sand where the waves ended. Sighing a bit, he ran his hands through the matted hair. He looked over at the island cliffs that were off in the distant.
"Dustin, right?" The brunette turned around to see Adam sitting there. The original black ranger stood up and made his way over to him, "Adam."
The brunette shook his hand, "You're the guy that doesn't talk too much."
Adam looked down at the sand, "Thought that was Eric's reputation."
Dustin smirked as Adam stood beside him. The both of them looked out into the ocean, "Sorry, Tori has a habit of making assumption about people. She's good at heart about it though."
"So are you feeling, alright man?" Dustin just nodded, "Hopefully we'll get off this Island." Adam continued.
The brunette shoved his hands in his pocket, "Yeah." He looked at him, "Not sure how much of a rush I am about that."
Adam gave a quizzed look, "That's the first I heard out of someone's mouth." He spoke honestly, "What you have nothing to go back too?"
"Do you?"
He smiled, "I do." He nodded, "She's bit of a handful but god I miss her." He sighed, "The way she smells, her cooking, hell even the way she scolds me when I'm busier with practicing my martial arts than mowing the grass. What about you? You got someone?"
Dustin scratched the back of his head, "Dude, I'm just trying to stay sane."
"Friendly advice," Adam paused, "Love isn't supposed to make you sane."
He just sighed, "This Island." He looked at him, "Dude, we both know that there's more here, right?" He said quickly and firmly, "There's just something about this place. Something strange."
Adam smirked, "Besides the black smoke?" The two remained quiet, "It's just an Island, man and hopefully any minute now a plane will fly over head and we will be rescued."
Start Flashback
The field of grass was blowing from the wind. Waldo 'Dustin' Brooks was lying down in the middle of it and starring up into the sky with a smile on his face. He lifted his right hand and pointed to the sky, tracing the clouds.
"This one kind of looks like the Lion Zord." He leaned his head to the side.
Marah was lying next to him, facing her body in the opposite direction. She turned her head towards him, looking into his eyes and started to laugh, "Oh come on that isn't even close." The woman looked back up again, "Your imagination is way to big for me."
Dustin sat up and continued to point, "Look! There is the outline of the head, and the round mane. How do you not see it!"
She sat up as well and rolled her eyes with a smile, "Do you remember our first date?"
The brunette laughed, running his hands through his clean hair, "How could I forget?" He looked at her, "I was so nervous." He felt the wind started to pick up again.
"It took me awhile to even convince you to even come out with me. You were still pretty ticked about that incident with Lothor and myself trying to prove I was evil to him."
The young boy didn't say anything. He starred at her and than away, before looking back at her again, "And every time you looked at me with those eyes, it got harder and harder to say no." He said softly, "That was almost 4 years ago and it still like that today."
"You missed Shane's demo." Her smile slowly faded a bit, "He's going to be upset."
"He'll understand." Dustin fell back into the grass, "They're all pretty much the same, anyway."
"Dustin." Marah looked down at him. He smiled back at her but she kept a grim look, "How long are you going to keep this act up?"
He pulled himself back up into a sitting position again and sighed, "What act?" He grinned, "I think you worry too much about me. That's what I love about you."
"You need to talk about it." She cleared her bangs, "They need to know."
He shook his head and started to stand up, "There is nothing to tell." He scoffed. He jumped up and down, spinning to look at her, "See. I'm still my crazy fun loving self." He exclaimed.
She laughed, but this time it was because she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "It wasn't your fault." She pushed herself up and moved closer to him, "You don't have to bury yourself in it all." Dustin took a step back and started to walk away. "Dustin, we need to talk about this." She yelled out to him, "Dustin! We can't keep doing this forever!"
He ignored her and continued to walk away.
End Flashback
Tommy was starring deep into the fire. Night had fallen. He had lost himself pretty much in thought. The trance was broken when his old comrade sat beside him. Adam placed his hand out to collect the heat, "You look lost." Adam smirked.
"I've been a ranger for so long." Tommy turned to him, "And when it comes to being a leader, it's natural." He starred back at the fire, "But for some reason I seem lost here. It's like I don't know how to control this situation."
"It's uncontrollable." Adam put his hands down, "You said so yourself. The best thing to do is stick together. Live together, die alone, right?"
"How are you so calm about this?" Connor was listening on the other side of the fire. Adam and Tommy averted to his voice.
The pause left the two in anticipation to hear what Adam had to say, "I don't know." He finally spoke, "Faith."
Connor just grinned, "What are we on a religious road now?"
"What would you suggest?" Adam eyed Connor.
Mcknight just shrugged and stayed silent, letting his eyes stare into the fire.
The night was getting pretty late. RJ and Karone were near the ocean enjoying the water on their toes. Adam, Tommy and Connor continued to chat by the fire while Summer and Tori sat outside their respected tents trading stories. Kira stood at the edge of the jungle, looking at everyone in the small community. She rolled her eyes when she noticed Bridge using a stick to draw designs in the sand.
A rustle in the jungle and the sound of voice caught her attention. "Kira." Her name was called again. She noticed Hunter standing there in the dark.
"Wow, you're seriously creeping me out." She took a step forward, "What are you doing?"
"I found something." He waved her to come.
She hesitated but decided to go. Entering the woods, Hunter, the ninja storm ranger, picked up a large branch and wrapped an extra cloth he had around it. Lighting it on fire with a zippo that came out of nowhere, the two proceeded to follow into the woods. "Where are we going?" She pushed some plants aside.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He continued to move. After awhile, the two walked out into a large opening with a giant cliff wall straight in front of them. Hunter raised his torch and Kira looked up to see an old private plane on the edge of the cliff.
"Whoa." She took a step forward, "Is this for real?" Kira looked at Hunter, "Do you think it works?"
Hunter shrugged, "I don't know." He responded.
"How did you find his?"
"Well while everyone else is busy playing vacation, I was wondering around looking for clues. I think it may have been left by those people. I'm going to go up and look."
He handed the torch to Kira and started to walk towards it. "Wait." Kira yelled, "Hunter, are you sure it's a good idea?"
Hunter turned around, "Got a better one?"
"Let's just get Tommy or something." She cried out, "He'll know what to do." Hunter darted to the wall and grabbed hold of the vines. He made his way up, like with the other plane, and swiftly got to the top. He went to the plane, prying the side door open and heading in.
Kira stood there. She looked around, feeling the awkward tension of being alone in the jungle. She hummed a tune, starring up at the plane. "Anything!" She finally yelled out.
Hunter didn't hear her from inside. He looked around, noticing boxes and crates. Cargo plane? He thought to himself. He made his way to the front where he found a dead pilot. The corpse was beyond rotten with bones as its only remains. Leaning forward, he hit a few switches seeing if he could get the radio to work. Leaning forward, the plane was slowly shifting and rocking.
"Hunter!" Kira called out again, "You should get out of there!"
The crimson ranger jumped out of the plane finally and looked down at Kira who sighed in relief. He climbed down and made his way to Kira, "Nothing works in there." He grabbed the torch from her hand, "But I bet we can see if we can get some wires to get the radio to work."
"Great." Kira started to turn, "Let's go tell the others."
Hunter turned to look at the plane, "You can tell them. I'm going to see which way that leads." He pointed at a path.
Kira stopped and shifted her head, "Come on, Hunter. You shouldn't be wondering alone. With Jane kidnapped, you could be next."
Hunter took out his knife and twirled it, flipping it in the air and grabbing the handle, "I got this." He winked before disappearing.
Dustin walked past Dana's tent. She was outside on a log starring at the white envelope with her brother's handwriting on it. She half opened it before closing it up again. Dustin smiled as she looked up at him before he continued down to find Tori by the rocks.
"What are you doing out here?" He greeted her, "It's really late."
"Well Hunter went off somewhere." She turned to him, "Since the Kevin incident, he's not been wasting time in trying to get us off this island."
Dustin laughed a little, "Everyone has their own ideas how to get off this place." He looked over at Sky and Eric who were glaring at each other from across the beach, "Everyone is trying to be a hero."
Tori couldn't help but chuckle. She cleared her hair out of her face, "Like they're all rangers or something." She paused, letting her smile eventually fade, "Well you know how Hunter is. The brooding loner type." Tori remained silent a bit. "What happened to you, Dustin? You were missing for like 2 days?"
"I don't remember." He quickly responded.
She paused, looking at him with hesitant eyes from the response. Tori walked closer to him and placed her hand on his chest, and looked up into his eyes, "I know you're lying." She whispered, "Just tell me the truth."
He pulled away and turned his back towards her. "There is nothing to tell."
"I know you're still hurting." She responded, "I know you try to pretend to be happy for everyone's sake but I'm your best friend, Dustin. Please, it's been 2 years."
"We should find Hunter." He started to walk, "Can't let him brood by himself."
Start flashback
Dustin was back in his apartment sitting at the dinning room table. He looked out the window at the traffic that was passing by while eating a sandwich. Marah giggled a bit, walking past him and around the table "You always had a big appetite."
"I can't get enough of it." He took another bite. She glanced at the trophies that were on a stand. There were several of free style motocross trophies. "I haven't touched a bike in so long." He spoke up after the brief silent. He placed his half eaten sandwich down and pushed the plate away.
She looked back at him, "Sometimes I would get jealous." Marah smirked, "You were always on that damn bike or talking about it." She let her hand run down one of the trophies, "I always wondered if you were going to leave me for your hobbies."
"I did get pretty into it. I was good at it." He stood up from the table, "I love it when I'm good at something."
"Like being a ranger?" She grinned. Dustin looked at her, she wasn't looking back but he could tell she was smirking, "You ever going to ride again?" He didn't answer her. He walked into the living room where Marah quickly followed. "Dustin." She called out to him. He turned around and she smile, "Play that song that we love."
"I'm not playing that song." He said, half laughing, "I can't."
She made her way to the ipod and speakers. "Come on. For old time sake." He slowly walked over looking at the small device. He flipped through the music and stopped at one of the song. "Come." She whispered, "When I say ready…" She trailed.
"I'll say go." He followed after. He slowly moved his thumb and pressed play. 'Dance So Good' by Wakey Wakey started to play.
"This came on our first date." She smiled, "You wouldn't shut up you were so nervous." Marah started to laugh.
"You were upset because you didn't think anyone could take you seriously." He looked back at her, "So I tried distracting you with my endless rants."
"We were just young goofy teenagers." She responded, "But this song came on and I just felt.." He walked away, sitting on the couch. She moved slowly to him and just kept smiling as his eyes watered a little.
She swayed her hips as she danced to the music. Dustin leaned on his hands, using his elbow and knees as support as he watched her. Her eyes were closed, her hair bouncing with every movement. "God, I love this song." She whispered. A knock on the door caught their attention and the music continued to play. "Answer it." Marah said, stopping in mid motion, "Go to Sydney."
He shook his head, "Were not done." He looked at her before standing up, "The only time I get to see you is when I'm not busy doing all these other things."
"There is plenty of time to be alone." She whispered, "Open the door." He walked over to it. Marah watched intently by the couch, "When I say ready.."
He placed his hand on the knob and rested it there for a few seconds, "I'll say go." He quickly opened it.
"Hi." Tori smiled, standing at the door step, "I thought I would see what you are up too."
Dustin looked back to see Marah no longer standing there. He turned to the blonde, "I'm in the middle of cleaning."
"Oh." She looked around a bit, "Well you missed Shane's demo so I figure you could get out of the apartment now or something."
"Yeah today's just not a good day."
"Oh." Tori said again, "Well are you coming to Sydney with us next week?"
Dustin hesitated before finally nodding, "Yeah." He reluctantly spoke.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
She took a step back and turned as Dustin closed the door. The brunette leaned against it, listening as the music just ended. He stood there alone in silence.
End Flashback
Kira came back to the camp with a torch in her hand. She was sweaty, the humidity was powerful that night. She stumbled forward. Sky was by the edge, he turned making his way to her as she caught her balance, "Where did you go?" He asked.
"Hunter found a plane." She answered, pointing into the woods with the torch, "It might be something to check out."
Eric overheard the conversation. "Where is it?" He ignored Sky's presence and looked at the dirty blonde. Sky rolled his eyes, annoyed that Eric kept coming around and interrupting his conversations.
"It's on route 304." She sarcastically responded, "I don't know. It's in the jungle; I can take you to it if you want."
"Show me."
"I'm coming too." Sky responded as they entered the jungle again.
"There she goes again." Connor watched from his tent as Kira left. He was sitting outside of it with Summer.
She smirked, "You jealous? Why don't you just go with them?"
"I can't with this leg."
"Don't be a baby." She rolled her eyes, "This Island is going to eat you alive if act like that."
"It's healing a lot faster than I thought." He looked down at it, "I'll be running in no time."
"Good." She said, "Cause when the others come to attempt to kidnap us, we're going to have to be ready to fight."
"Do you think they'll it'll come to that? I'm not sure what a fist is going to do verse a gun."
She slowly stood up, "They have no idea who they are messing with."
Summer turned and left with haste. Connor gave a bewildered look, glancing to see RJ walk by, "Did you hear what she just said?"
He stopped, "Parts of it." He looked down at him, "All you have to remember is that the hand." He swiftly waved it, "Is quicker than the eye." He let a quarter appear. He then proceeded to walk down the beach.
Connor just sat there, shaking his head. "I'm not sure if the Island is crazy or the people on it." He said to himself.
Kira finally lead the two to the clearing where the plane was. Sky inspected the area before the bushes began to move again. Everyone turned and saw Tommy coming out with a torch of his own.
"Dr. O." Kira moved to him, "What are you doing here?"
"I saw you leaving the beach again." He darted his eyes to the two, "I thought maybe you could use some help."
Eric walked to the wall of the cliff and began climbing. "Hey." Sky called out chasing after him. He proceeded to make his way up as well as they got closer to the plane.
"And I figure you didn't want to be alone with these two." He trailed off, shaking his head.
Kira sighed, "These two make Connor and Ethan's dumb antics look good."
Eric finally made it to the top. He entered the plane with Sky following in right after. Sky checked the boxes, "What are these?" He looked at them.
"Don't bother with that." Eric moved to the front and looked at the panel. He hit a few more switches.
Sky finally pried open the box and looked inside. He noticed a bunch of statues inside. "What is this?"
"Really?" Eric turned back, "What are we shopping?"
Sky bolted a look at him, "We might find something useful instead of trying to get a plane that doesn't even work."
"Hey, if we can get this going than maybe we can get some people off this Island."
"Or maybe we can just talk to those people on the Island and find a working plane already."
"Really? How many times are you going to suggest that? You sound more ridiculous every time you do."
Sky scoffed, "Well, it doesn't matter what you think. You can go get yourself killed if you want."
Eric made his way forward as the plane started to shift even more, "Did you feel that?"
Sky ignored him, trying to look through the crate, "Just go wait down there. I'll handle everything."
The movement of the plane was more noticeable this time. Sky looked around and than back at Eric. "Don't move."
"Are you crazy? We need to get out of this." Eric shot back.
"Just listen to me." Sky frustratingly said
Eric shook his head and moved forward from the front of the plane. Before he knew it, the plane started to tip, pushing the crate towards the front. Sky grabbed onto something as he felt his body heading towards the front as well.
Tommy moved Kira out of the way, as the two dashed away from the cliff wall. The plane fell onto its tip, before falling on its back. Dust and dirt flew into the air, with a large crashing sound, spreading and consuming past Kira and Tommy as they covered themselves.
Coughing, Tommy looked up, covered in dirt. He moved his arm out, hearing Kira cough as well. His hand slid through the dirt feeling something cold. Crawling a bit on his elbow, he brushed away the dirt a bit revealing a metal panel. "What the?" He whispered, getting onto his knees and using both hands to brush some more dirt.
Kira pushed herself back up onto her knees and looked as well as the two starred at the metal hatch.
Dustin was sitting in Tori's tent. He sat there, resting his arms on his knees as he listened to the wave's crash into the ocean. Starring at the pendent that was hanging in the tent he reached out and grabbed it.
"Still keeping that around, huh?"
Dustin moved, startled a bit, "Marah." He looked over to see her sitting next to him, "I told you not to do that."
"Sorry." She whispered.
"I thought you were gone.
"Well." Marah trailed off, "I am."
He rolled his eyes, "No I mean." He tried to find the right words, "You haven't shown up in the last few weeks. I thought I was-"
"Sane?" She giggled. He bit his lips and stayed silent, "This Island." He looked at her as she spoke, "It has much more secrets than you think."
"Secrets?" He arched his brows.
"Everyone is in danger."
He just looked at her, "You told me not to find them." He said, "That the Island will put them in danger if they continue to roam around it. What danger, Marah?"
The flap quickly broke open and Tori peaked inside, "There you are." She said. Dustin sat there alone, still holding the pendant. "I was going to get some food. Do you want some?"
Dustin just nodded. Tori let go of the flap and the sound of footsteps trailed away. He looked back to where Marah was sitting. She still wasn't there. He gulped, as he looked back at the exit, remaining silent.
To Be Continue. Please Please Read & Review