Chapter 116

Along Came a Spider

"Blake Blake BLAKE!"

Kira and Blake looked up to see a frantic Hunter bearing down on them. "Oh, hey, bro," Blake called cheerfully. "Kira and I were just gonna—"

"You've got to help me," Hunter interrupted, his eyes wide and his hair wild, as if he'd been running his hands through it over and over again. "I lost her. I lost her and I can't find her."

"Who? Tori?"

"No. Vi."

"Who's Vi?"

"The girl I'm in love with."

Kira and Blake stared at him. "Huh?" Blake said blankly.

"The girl I'm in love with," Hunter repeated. He held up a hand to indicate her height. "She's about this tall, thin, teenager but she's old enough to drive. She's got short dark hair with red streaks in it and she dresses like Kira."

"Hey," Kira complained.

"Hey, Kira," Hunter said, barely sparing her a glance and completely missing the indignation in her tone. He turned back to Blake. "You have to help me find her. She's got two friends named Madison and Xander that I haven't met and one named Chip who's about this tall with red hair and he's wearing a cape."

"A cape?" Blake repeated faintly, lost.

"Yeah, a cape. It's yellow with one of those symbols from that comic book Dustin likes on it. They're just friends, but I'm not sure about this Xander guy. Although you'd think if she was seeing someone she would have told me. Madison's not really a boy's name, is it?"

"Hunter," Blake said in the slow, careful tone one uses with the mentally unbalanced, "what are you talking about?"

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Would you pay attention? I'm in love with Vi and I can't find her in this stupid crowd."

"I just saw you like an hour ago," Blake pointed out. "How can you be in love?"

"Trust me, if you saw her, you'd get it." Hunter glanced around in frustration, adding as an afterthought, "Although be careful if you see her. She's really quick to anger."

Blake decided that if he ignored the situation, it just might go away. "Um… Kira and I are going to go get something to eat. Why don't you come with us?"

Hunter looked halfway to offended. "I can't eat at a time like this! Neither can you. You have to help me find her."

"Hunter, at this point I'm willing to bet she's a hallucination," Blake replied dryly. "You're talking crazy, bro. You gotta just calm down and come have a slice of pizza with me and—"

"I need to find her!" Hunter snarled so furiously that Blake and Kira jumped. "Quit looking at me like I'm crazy. I'm telling you, I found my soul mate. She's perfect for me. There was lightning in her eyes, Blake. Lightning in her eyes and thunder in her soul and I'm going to marry her. I'm going to find her, I'm going to get her to tell me her full name, and then I'm going to marry her. She's my future, Blake. She's The One. The one girl in all of creation that's meant for me and I am going to find her no matter what it takes. Now are you going to abandon your big brother the one time he asks you for something, or are you going to help me track down your future sister-in-law?"

Blake swallowed, fearful for his brother's sanity but resigned to support him. "I'll help you, Hunter, don't worry. I just…" He sighed and looked at Kira. "Get out while you can."

Kira gave him a look of mixed relief and reluctance. "Are you sure you don't want me to help?"

"No, that's okay," Blake said before Hunter could reply. "Hunter's big on the single-minded focus and from what you've told me about the week you've been having you deserve some normal. I'll catch you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. And thanks." Kira smiled at Hunter. "Good luck falling in love and all."

"You too," Hunter muttered distractedly, already scanning the crowd. "Come on, Blake." Hunter grabbed Blake's arm and hauled him away, Blake waving over his shoulder at Kira.

"He's moving again," Justin whispered to Trent and Cam. They had been following Ethan and Cassidy through the woods for quite a while until Conner and Kat, who'd been sitting together under a tree, had spotted Ethan and Cassidy and called out to them. The three boys had taken cover behind a tree to avoid being caught, and were now at a loss for ways to keep Ethan in their sights without getting spotted by Conner.

"Any ideas?" Trent asked.

"I'm a ninja, and I still don't have a clue," Cam replied.

"Won't Conner just say hi and let us go on by?" Justin asked. "Or be curious about Ethan too?"

"Conner sees us, the first thing he's gonna do is shout our names at the top of his lungs," Trent told him. "Just like he did when he saw Ethan. Once Conner does that, Ethan will hear and know we're following him."

"If we don't go now, we're gonna lose Ethan anyway," Justin argued.

Suddenly a scream rang out from somewhere behind them, and all three boys turned towards the sound. "Elsa!" Trent exclaimed, bolting through the trees. Cam and Justin followed.

"Elsa, evil minion of Mesogog, Elsa?" Cam asked.

"Elsa, from the party last night, Elsa?" Justin asked.

"Yes on both counts," Trent replied. "…It also looks like she's Elsa, my future stepmom, Elsa."

"Nothing is ever simple," Justin remarked.

Trent raced in the direction of Elsa's voice, Justin and Cam on his heels, and soon the three of them were bursting into the clearing where the Rangers had been hanging out earlier. The three boys stopped dead. Taylor and Dustin were staring in horrified fascination at Marah, Kapri and Elsa, who were piled together on the grass. Kapri was lying facedown, Marah sprawled across her, Elsa sitting on both of them to pin them down.

"Say it!" Elsa roared.

"No! Get off!" Marah wailed.

"I told you we shouldn't have agreed to no powers," Kapri growled at Marah.

"Say it!" Elsa ordered.

Justin snorted. "Your future stepmom is kinda awesome, Trent."

Trent sighed, wearily rubbing a hand over his face. "I should have known it would be something like this."

"We're not gonna—ow!" Kapri shrieked. "Okay, okay. You're the greatest former villainess in the universe and we bow before your strength, agility and skill."

"And?" Elsa snarled.

"And we—ow, ow!—we would not be fit to be slaves to the evil empire you would have if you hadn't joined the path of righteousness!" Kapri whined.

"Good," Elsa said smugly. She made a quick jab at Marah's shoulder blade. "Now you."

"Aw, why? Kapri already said it! Why should I have to OW!"

Trent turned away, rolling his eyes. "I can't watch this. I'm going to get out of here before anything weirder happens. You guys coming?"

Cam, who was watching the display with nothing short of glee on his face, shook his head. "No thanks."

"I'm staying too," Justin said. "We already lost Ethan, and besides, it's three hot chicks wrestling around in the dirt."

"Ew," Cam and Trent groaned in unison. Trent hurried off with a shudder.

"So those are your cousins, right?" Justin asked Cam.

"Yep. Kapri is the blond one. Marah's the brunette."

"Either of them single?"

Cam made a face. "Kapri is."

"Ah." Justin scrutinized Cam's reluctant expression carefully. "You're not one of those guys who's going to tell me to stay away from his female family members, are you?"

"No," Cam said emphatically, thinking how nice it would be to marry both of his cousins off to people who lived far, far away from him. Still… Justin was a fellow Ranger, after all. Cam sighed. "Look, you don't want to go there, man. Whatever you're hoping for, it isn't worth it. Trust me on this."

Justin shrugged. "Fair enough. So they go to your ninja school, right?"

Cam grimaced, realizing that Marah and Kapri weren't really a testament to the success of the Wind Ninja Academy's program, especially at the moment. "They're not exactly model students."

"Some of the others talked about what it was like to have Ninja powers," Justin said. "Bet a bunch of us would like to check out your school sometimes, particularly the Ninja Rangers."

"I'd like that," Cam said, intrigued by the idea. "Most of our students are just average students. A few have prior martial arts experience, and some are descended from long lines of families that have attended the academy, but… actual Rangers… that would be a first. I wonder if you'd all have trouble blending your ninja training with what you already know or if you'd pick it up faster than the others."

Justin shrugged. "No idea. But it's something I'd love to check out. I've got the summer off—when does your semester start?"

"We don't have actual semesters," Cam replied. "We have tiers. Once you've mastered one tier, you move on to the next. Hunter's school—the Thunder Ninja Academy—works the same way."

"What's the difference between your school and his?"

"The curriculum, methods of instruction and routines are a little different, but it's still the same path, that of the ninja. Although our school teaches Wind, Water and Earth, while Hunter's school covers Thunder, Metal and Fire. There's another academy, too—the Rain Ninja Academy—but I don't know much about it. The three schools used to be kept separate, under the assumption that if one were infiltrated or attacked the other two would be safe; if it weren't for the Ranger team I wouldn't know that much about the Thunder Ninja Academy, either."

"How many different elements are there? Is Metal even its own element? Isn't it just a part of Earth?"

"Sort of. Earth powers are based on the actual earth itself, though. Metal is like a division of Earth that focuses on a different connection to the same power. Bonding with an element isn't simple—some people resonate with only one aspect of an element. There are students in Tori's class who can only bond with saltwater, and some in Shane's that work better with smoke or can only function in strong winds rather than still air."

"What element do you teach?"

"I don't teach one. Mostly I fill in if one of the others is busy or sick and oversee the academy as a whole. I wasn't trained as a ninja from childhood, though I did grow up in the academy and I picked up a few things along the way. I'm still discovering my own element. Hunter's convinced I'm actually a Thunder Ninja—which isn't going to make my father thrilled—he's the head of the Wind Ninja Academy."

"So I could come check out the school over the summer?"

"Sure," Cam agreed. "Let me know when you've got time to swing by Blue Bay Harbor and I'll get you in—the Wind Ninja Academy isn't the sort of place you can just drive up to and knock on the door. Who knows—maybe you'll like it enough to join the training program and stay on as an instructor. Become a Ninja Guardian someday."

"Maybe," Justin said noncommittally. "I took a year off after high school so I've still got one more year 'til I get my bachelor's degree, and I'm not sure what I'm doing after that. Wes and Eric are always begging me to come be chief tech advisor to the Silver Guardians, but then, they beg all of us to join up. And now that Jen's back with this huge important mission, that all may have changed."

"What huge important mission?" Cam asked. "Should I be worried?"

"Mm, that depends on how you look at it," Justin said. "From what I hear, your name's on the list."

"What list?"

"Jen and the other Time Force Rangers came back to our year to basically found something called Space Patrol Delta, which becomes Time Force," Justin explained. "They're gathering up a group of Rangers and I heard Jen still has to recruit a few people, you included. She wants Ethan in on it, too."

"Didn't she invite you in?" Cam asked.

"Nah." Justin shrugged. "I asked her about it—thought it sounded cool, of course—but she said I have a different destiny. Trip said he really wanted to tell me cuz it was going to be awesome, but he wasn't allowed to spoil it."

"Hmm. Well, the Wind Ninja Academy is already more than a fulltime job," Cam said. He jerked his head at his cousins. "Especially with those two around."

"Lots of the people Jen's recruiting have jobs," Justin said. "Hayley owns a café, Dr. Mercer has an entire corporation, Elsa's a high school principal. Still… I would take it, if I were you. Developing new technologies, having access to the things the Time Force Rangers know—besides, from what I understand? It's already history where she comes from, and the timeline is tricky business."

Cam grimaced, thinking of how he'd gotten the Samurai Amulet. "You're telling me."

Thanks to a lengthy conversation with Chad about Lightspeed Rescue's Aquabase, Tori was the last of the secret-identity Rangers to leave the autograph line. Everyone else had paired off and wandered away, so Tori decided to indulge herself with a little alone time—something that was rare for her, given her schedule at the academy—and went to investigate the vendor's stalls. She found one that peddled only merchandise related to the Ninja Storm team, and shortly after she left it behind she spotted a booth called "Something Blue" that catered exclusively to Blue Ranger fans. Not only did it sell all sorts of Blue Ranger merchandizing, but it also had things that were blue in general—blue clothes, blue Power Rangers Day commemorative items, blue Angel Grove souvenirs.

Tori spent quite a while browsing among the collection, lost in a sea of blue and trying to refrain from buying too much. After all, she had more than enough blue dolphin memorabilia, and she didn't really need yet another blue article of clothing. Finally she managed to confine her purchases down to two tiny figurines—a Blue Wind Ninja Ranger and a Navy Thunder Ninja Ranger—both of which would fit in her pocket and weren't terribly expensive.

As she turned away from the vendor, Tori's gaze was drawn once again to something blue—this time, a powder-blue tank top worn by a dark-haired teenage girl. "Excuse me," the girl said, and Tori nodded at her, pressing back against the wall of the booth to let the girl pass. The girl was followed by a brunette guy approximately the same age, who caught Tori's eye. Tori smiled politely at him, then groaned when she realized that he was apparently the sort to think a smile of acknowledgment meant "take me now." He stopped dead in front of her, uncomfortably close thanks to the small gap of space between Tori and the crowd.

"Hello," he practically purred in an Australian accent. If Tori hadn't been completely uninterested in flirting with anyone who wasn't Blake, it might have been charming. He grinned at her and stuck out his hand. "I'm Xander."

Tori forced another smile, wishing she hadn't been raised to respect social niceties. "Tori," she admitted. She extended her hand to shake his, but he gripped her fingers in an old-fashioned gesture instead. Tori stiffened, hoping he wasn't going to actually kiss her hand; she might just have to hit him for that, and she had a feeling that beating up an athletic teenage guy in the middle of a few thousand Power Ranger fans might be dangerous to her identity.

Thankfully, Xander must have felt that would be overdoing it. "Tori, eh? What a lovely name," he said, giving her a wink.

"Thanks," she drawled, forcibly removing her fingers from his grip. "Nice meeting you," she added, heading purposefully away from the direction his friend had disappeared in.

Xander, however, followed after her—and something about his body language and tone told her that he knew damned well she was trying to escape and didn't care. "So," he said, "what brings you to Power Rangers Day?"

Tori frowned at him, feeling it should be obvious. "Power Rangers brought me to Power Rangers Day."

"Ah. For me, it was my good friend Chip. Bit of a geek, really, madly in love with elves and goblins and magic and all that nonsense, but he's alright. We're from Briarwood. Where are you from?"

Tori racked her brains for a way to get rid of him even as she continued exchanging small talk. "Blue Bay Harbor."

"Oh, that's home of the Ninja Storm Rangers, right? Chip ranted about it in the car for a while. Til our friend Vida threatened to pull over, throw him under the wheels and run over him until he stopped talking about Power Rangers."

Tori giggled. "She sounds nice."

"Yeah. In a violent way." Xander winked again, seeming pleased by her reaction. "Madison got him to play 'I, Spy' to shut him up."

Tori smiled. It reminded her of the ride to Angel Grove, when Hunter had threatened Dustin with bodily harm if Dustin didn't contain his excitement and stop rambling long enough for the others to sleep. Tori had been the one to keep the peace by suggesting Dustin try listening her MP3 player, but the peace had only lasted until Dustin had started singing along. Between Dustin's eagerness, Blake's zany questions, and Marah and Kapri's lack of boundaries, Hunter had been ready to fry the entire car by the end of the trip, himself included. Tori struggled not to laugh at the memory; Xander would probably take it as encouragement. She stopped walking, figuring a distraction would be more useful than trying to outrun him, and glanced around for someone she knew.

"Looking for someone?" Xander asked.

"My boyfriend," Tori replied, though anyone she knew, from Blake to a Wild Force Ranger, would be helpful at this point.

Xander looked momentarily disappointed, but apparently he wasn't the sort to give up without a fight. "I'll help you look," he offered, with a hint of challenge that implied he didn't believe she had a boyfriend at all. "What does he look like?"

Tori's eyes narrowed, but she didn't see a way to tell him to get lost without feeling like she was being rude; Xander was being so polite and friendly that "get lost, creep" seemed uncalled for. "He's about this tall, dark hair, dark eyes… handsome… wearing blue."

"Short, dark and handsome, right," Xander said cheerfully. Sure enough, he scanned the crowd and frowned when he spotted something behind her and to the left. Then he turned and started to speak, gesturing at something to the right. Tori spun around, facing the direction Xander had frowned in and praying she'd see Blake, or Trent, or anyone who vaguely matched Blake's description and would be willing to help Tori chase Xander off, but Xander had apparently been looking at a trio of Chinese teenagers wearing strange-looking swords strapped to their waists.

"You all right?" Xander asked, confused by her abrupt spin.

"I thought I heard his voice," she lied.

"Well, don't worry. I have no idea where my friends have got to and I might as well help you look for your boyfriend."

Tori warred with herself for a moment. She wanted to cut Xander loose, but she couldn't see a way to do it nicely. "…Thanks," she said finally.

Tori and Xander began wandering through the crowd together, Tori at a loss for a way out of this mess. Even if she found Blake, he wasn't the type to scare an unwanted guy off of her—Shane would, though. Shane. She needed Shane. He'd get rid of Xander whether Tori wanted him to or not.

She didn't see Shane, but after a few minutes of searching her eyes caught on one of the older Rangers—what was his name? Aaron? Austin? It didn't matter; he looked enough like Tori's description to serve her purposes. Hoping he wouldn't blow her cover, Tori flung herself at him and shouted, "Blake! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

The Ranger—Alan? Aidan? Adam! That was it!—looked down at her in shock, but he caught her and put his arms around her uncertainly. She shot him a look that silently begged him not to blow her cover. Thankfully, he was smart enough to glance around for some sort of explanation and, when he spotted Xander, realization dawned on his face. "Hey… um…" he floundered for a minute, obviously unable to remember her name either. "…baby. I'm sorry; I must have lost you in the crowd." His regarded Xander in a vaguely menacing way. "Who's your friend?"

Tori decided to feign ignorance in the hopes of reinforcing the fact that Xander had no chance with her. "Oh, um… Xander, right?" Xander nodded, doing a good job of masking his disappointment, but it was still there. "He was helping me look for you, is all." She smiled up at Adam. "No need to get jealous." Adam's eyes narrowed at the comment, managing to pull off a decent impression of an envious and possibly dangerous boyfriend.

Xander smiled at them both. "It was nice meeting you, Tori," Xander called, with a flourishing little bow, "but I've got to get back to Madison."

He really was smooth, Tori had to give him that; backing away very politely and mentioning a girl's name without precluding it with "friend," implying that he was absolutely no threat to "Blake" when he had just spent the last few minutes cozying up to Tori. Tori watched him go in mild disbelief, not letting go of Adam until Xander was swallowed by the crowd.

"Sorry about that," Tori said as she and Adam dropped their embrace and took a step back from each other. "I needed to ditch him and I couldn't find my actual boyfriend, so…"

"That's okay," Adam said. "Tori, right?"

Tori nodded, aware that he only recalled her name because Xander had mentioned it, but she decided not to call him on it. She hadn't remembered Adam's either at first, and besides, she kind of owed him one. "Yeah. You're Adam?"

"Mm-hmm." He gestured at an ornate glass mastodon figurine and called to the vendor, "I'll take that one," handing over a couple of twenty-dollar bills. The vendor took the cash and began wrapping the figurine in bubble wrap for him while Adam turned back to Tori. "Want me to hang out for a while? Just in case he comes back?"

"Could you?"

"Sure." Adam took the figurine from the vendor and placed it carefully in a backpack, gently slinging the strap over his shoulder. Tori smiled gratefully at him as they began moving through the crowd. "I gotta admit, I'm pretty curious about your, uh… school."

"You were… like us, weren't you?" she asked, unable to think of a discreet way to say "Ninja Ranger."

He nodded. "Yeah. Probably can't go into detail until we hit the beach tonight…"

"I'll be there," Tori said. "I never miss a chance to go to the beach." They lapsed into silence, which Tori felt compelled to break. "So, um… how come you're wandering around alone?"

"I lost Rocky in the crowd, and Tanya got waylaid by a news crew."

"Waylaid by a news crew?" Tori repeated, confused.

"She's Tanya Sloan."

"Oh, right—the pop star." Tori had recognized Tanya—most people who had walked past a magazine rack in the last five years tended to recognize Tanya—but she wasn't a huge fan. "Sorry. Not really into pop music."

"That's okay. Sometimes I wish a lot less people were into pop music," he joked. "Anyway, I figured it might be nice to have some peace and quiet, browsing the vendors' stalls. It's been a pretty weird couple of days."

"How so?"

"Well, on Wednesday I got banned from a carnival in Stone Canyon, on Thursday I got my butt set on fire in a crowded theater and then had to help Billy return a stolen and somewhat orange chimpanzee to the Angel Grove Zoo, and yesterday I spent the morning hunting Kimberly, the afternoon hunting Skull, and the evening fighting off an alien space pirate attack that totally destroyed my lawn, my swimming pool and most of the patio."

Tori stared at him. "I guess it doesn't get much weirder than that."

Adam laughed. "Unfortunately there's always something weirder." He stopped in his tracks, looking suddenly alarmed. "Very unfortunately."

"What?" Tori asked. He just shook his head and didn't reply. Tori followed his gaze to see a girl with long dark hair standing alone near the edge of the meadow, glancing around as though searching for someone. "You mean that girl over there?" Tori asked Adam. He nodded mutely. "Old girlfriend?" Tori guessed. "Bad breakup?"

Adam snorted, his expression darkening. "Something like that." He pulled out his cell phone with his left hand and held it up to his ear without turning it on. Tori was about to ask what he was doing when he jabbed a finger at the watch on his left wrist. No, not watch—it didn't have a clock face. Tori was about to ask if it was a communicator when a series of tuneful beeps came from the stage, amplified by the park's loudspeaker system.

Tori turned to look at the stage as the Pink Ranger faltered in the middle of answering someone's question. The Red Ranger passed his microphone to the Yellow and lifted his wrist to the silver mouth plate in his helmet, whispering. Tori couldn't hear anything through the loudspeakers, but Jason's voice came quietly through Adam's communicator. Tori glanced around, worried, before realizing that everyone else would assume Adam just had a loud caller on his cell phone, if they bothered to notice him at all.

"Yeah?" Jason asked tersely.

"Mild emergency," Adam said. "I'll let you know if it gets any worse, but keep an eye out."

"Got it," Jason said, and the communicator went dead. Up on the stage, the Red Ranger dropped his wrist and took his microphone back; the Pink Ranger resumed speaking so abruptly that half the park jumped.

Adam's communicator came back on. "Hello? Hello?" asked a worried voice, male by the sound of it.

"Aisha here," whispered another voice.

"Meet me twenty feet east of the entrance, now," Adam said grimly. "Scorpina's in the park."