Hello lovelies! I know I've had a long time between updates, but I'm trying to get into more frequent updates. I am happy getting through the main plot points I have mapped out for the whole Ninja Storm season. The thing that I am most excited about is the Christmas vacation that the Rangers, Belle, her family, and her home friends that is going to start in the next chapter. I've had this planned for a while, but I had to go through this chapter to get to the next one. Well, that was all I had to say for this Author's Note and will get on with the quote and the story.
"It is easy to make promises — it is hard work to keep them."
– Boris Johnson
ooo0 Ninja of the Stars 0ooo
The next morning, Belle woke as per her usual routine to work out with the Thunder brothers then flashed through a shower before she started to breakfast. When the brothers entered Ninja Ops, they were surprised to see that the place was decorated. In the computer room, there was silver tinsel that lined around the supercomputer while little trees with a sled in between them with little presents on it sat in the middle of the table that was low to the floor. When they passed through the hallway to the kitchen, they saw that the room had an even more warm atmosphere with greenery lined along the walls and a bowl of berries and leaves sitting in the middle of the kitchen table with white candles on either side. The air even smelt of gingerbread when they settled themselves down for breakfast.
"You did great decorating the place," Hunter commented while Belle went about making breakfast.
"Thanks. I didn't want to go overboard, but I also thought I did too little."
"It's not too little," Blake told her with a roll of his eyes.
While they were talking in the kitchen, Cam had wandered out of his room with bleary eyes. He was content to just walk to the kitchen to get his coffee, but light managed to catch his eye. When he turned to see what it was coming from, he saw a tall Christmass tree decked out in silver and gold tinsel, white lights, ornaments, and some small red bows thrown in. His brows furrowed in confusion only for him to see the rest of the Christmas decorations in the living room. On the back of the couch were red throw blankets while greenery hung along the walls with a wreath hanging above the doorway leading out towards the kitchen. When did Anna have enough time to do this, Cam thought to himself while the scent of pine filled his nose. While Cam was curious as to when Belle set this up, he was more concerned with getting his coffee. He then continued shuffling into the kitchen to accept the ready made cup of coffee that Belle offered him. He raised the cup to show his gratitude before sinking into his seat to take a sip. The sight of the brothers and Cam sitting down together for breakfast was enough to warm Belle's heart while she plated up their breakfast.
"Good morning," Sensei Watanabe greeted the rangers and Cam, walking from the direction of the command room and dojo.
Unlike the last couple of days where he had regained his human appearance, Sensei Watanabe was now back in his guinea pig form. Cam felt a little sad at seeing his father back to that form, but he was grateful for the time he had over the weekend. A chorus of good mornings met his ears before his breakfast was placed in front of him courtesy of Belle.
"Thank you Anna."
Everyone then settled in to eat their breakfast when Sensei Watanabe spoke up again.
"We will have training at the beach today," he announced to the rangers.
They gave acknowledgement to his announcement, but the rangers were still curious as to why they were training at the beach. Maybe it's because of the extra space, Belle mused to herself. The dojo really only fits four, so they would need the extra space for the Thunder brothers. I could potentially put an extension charm on the dojo. I'll have to talk with Sensei later. For the rest of breakfast, there was easy conversation as they ate. Once everyone was finished, Blake and Hunter took the dirty dishes and started on dish duty. While Belle had wanted to say that she would take care of the dishes, but she was also grateful for the help. When the dishes were washed and dried, the Thunder Brothers headed for the doorway to the computer room.
"See you at training," Hunter threw over his shoulder with a small wave to Belle.
Belle simply rolled her eyes with a small smile on her lips as she returned his wave. Cam could only watch with slight happiness that Belle and Hunter were becoming friendly again, but also with a little jealousy. He had hoped that they would have stayed distant. What is wrong with me, Cam chastised himself. Even if I want Anna to spend most of her time with me, I should still want her to be happy.
"Today we will partner up for sparing," Sensei Watanabe told his students who were patiently kneeled in the sand before him.
"Each pairing will have a chance to spar while the others watch."
All of the rangers gave a nod to show that they understood.
"First, we will have Blake and Tori."
Both blue rangers rose from their spots and stood between Sensei Watanabe and the other rangers. Their fight wasn't nothing special about Blake and Tori's sparring session. They mostly traded blow for parry. Both had wanted to flirt with each other as they sparred, but they seemed to remember they had an audience. When they were finished with their sparing, Belle and Dustin were the next pair.
"Don't you dare go easy on me Géant," Belle smirked, falling into a fighting stance.
"I wouldn't dream of it Shorty," Dustin returned as he too readied for the fight.
At first, the two attacked and parried. Dustin's attacks were launched with strength and a very sturdy stance. Belle's attacks moved with grace, but gained force before they hit. As they traded hits, Belle started to get a little bored. Let's mix things up, Belle thought to herself with a smirk. When Dustin next sent a punch Belle's way, she dodged just slightly then caught his wrist only to wrap her legs around his shoulders to flip them that ended with Dustin on the ground.
"Where did that come from?" Dustin asked in a dazed voice.
"I've been wanting to try out that move," Belle grinned, letting Dustin go to get back to her feet.
Once she was standing, she reached a hand down to help Dustin to his feet.
"Good, now we'll have Shane and Hunter."
When the two took Dustin and Belle's spot, they both got into fighting stances and faced off. They started out with normal attacks, blocks, and dodges that seemed to get more heated as the sparring went on. What the fuck are these two doing, Belle asked herself while watching them. It wasn't long before the two ninja streaked away that prompted everyone else to follow them.
"What the heck is going on?" Tori questioned when the rest of the rangers touched down.
"They're essentially having a dick measuring contest," Belle told her bluntly.
"Anna," Dustin scolded her.
"In other words they're being stupid. Is that better?"
"Much better."
They then watched the sparring turn into the two red rangers trip each other up until a hit from Shane had Hunter rubbing his wrist. Hunter protested the force of the hit that had Shane essentially call Hunter a baby. The two went to try sparring again when Sensei Watanabe said it was enough followed closely by him kicking both of them in the chest. When Sensei tried to talk with them over it, Belle could see that the two weren't going to settle their fight until they were forced to.
"Everyone else is free to go," Sensei Watanabe announced to the other rangers.
"Hunter, Shane, you two stay."
The others didn't have to be told twice and left as soon as they got permission from Sensei. Belle went back to Ninja Ops to look over the dojo for how to envision the extension charm. Currently the dojo was big enough for four people, but it might be better to double the capacity for eight people. As she was envisioning what needed to be done, Cam was watching her with glances while he worked at the computer.
"What are you doing?" he finally asked the petite kunoichi.
"I'm planning out the expansion of the dojo," Belle told him without taking her eyes off the dojo.
"I don't think-," Cam started to say only to catch himself.
"Magic right. I'm sure everyone would appreciate the extra space."
With his curiosity sated, Cam went back to his computer while Belle went to her room to map out the new dojo.
ooo0ooo
Later that day found Belle at Storm Chargers, admiring the new stock.
"The banner looks great," Tori told Kelly, smoothing a wrinkle out of it.
"It sounds fun," Belle commented, taking in the words on the banner.
When she had heard about the Total Trekk, Belle had thought about entering. However, she knew how competitive she could be and decided that she wouldn't enter.
"If you had surfing, I'd be all over this," Tori lamented after looking at the activities in the race.
At the mention of Tori blowing everyone out of the water in surfing, Belle couldn't help but smile. She would definitely kick butt. Kelly then told the rangers about the course that the participants would have to get through to reach the finish line. Kelly had asked if Dustin would participate, but he had declined. He had said that he had bruises from last year.
"How bad of a skater are you?" Belle questioned with an amused look on her face.
"Trust me," Tori smiled. "It's bad."
Belle's good mood seemed to leave her when Shane and Hunter walked through the doors.
"Hey Kelly, do you have an entry form for my kick-flipped challenged friend here?" Shane asked.
Belle's smile turned into a frown at Shane's attitude while Kelly asked if he wanted a solo or team form.
"Us?" Hunter laughed that bordered on a scoff.
"You have a better chance of seeing me on blade skates," Shane chimed in.
"You guys don't have to be rude," Belle scolded the two only for them to ignore her in favor of trash talking the other.
"I swear, if they don't knock this off, I'm bashing their heads together," Belle threatened while watching the duo leave.
"Why do I know that isn't an exaggeration?" Dustin said while eyeing the irritated girl.
"Because it's not," Belle told him.
The earth and water ninjas could only watch her walk out of the store and worry about the safety of the air and thunder ninjas in question.
When Belle left Storm Chargers, she discreetly watched the progress of Shane and Hunter trying to dabble in the other's sport. The first one she observed was Shane who had managed to drive right into a stack of hay bales. How in the hell did he manage that, Belle asked herself in slight shock. I have never seen anyone who was this bad at motocross. Let's hope he actually listens to Géant, Belle thought to herself before she ventured to watch Hunter in his attempt to skateboard. While Belle had thought that Hunter couldn't possibly be as bad as Shane, she was wrong. He had barely skated down a small ramp before he fell off his skateboard. These boys are idiots, Belle thought to herself in disbelief. I knew beforehand that some boys just weren't the brightest in the box, but this was ridiculous. Belle shook her head and passively watched Hunter try skateboarding and then followed him when he started on his run. Would this be considered stalking, Belle mused to herself. As she followed him, she saw Hunter run into Shane and the two continued to run with each other. She wasn't surprised when the trash-talking started between the two on their run. It wasn't until the two ran into a monster who had two red boxing gloves instead of hands and whose face looked like an armadillo that the two stopped their run. They should be fine, Belle thought to herself while the two ninjas fell into fighting stances. If they need help, I'll step in. The new monster spouted off big words that Belle only managed to catch some of before blasting the red and maroon rangers off their feet. I shouldn't be enjoying this as much as I am, Belle thought to herself with a small smirk. The bickering that came next between the two rangers for something as simple as morphing was enough to further irritate Belle. You know what, these two want to fight so badly, I'll let them fight on their own. Her irritation only grew as the two continued to squabble with each other despite being hit with attacks again and again and again. Hunter managed to land a considerable blow against the new monster, but the monster still fled. When the arguing picked back up once the two had demorphed, Belle had had enough.
"Enough!" she shouted, finally making herself visible before she smacked both Hunter's and Shane's heads together.
There was an audible thunk at the collision and the two held their heads in their hands.
"I have had enough of you two arguing! You two need to learn how to be a follower instead of giving orders!"
Both rangers looked at her in surprise at her outburst after the pain had subsided a bit. While they had known her to lose her temper, they had not heard her yell like this before.
"Now the both of you need to sit down and talk this out, or so help me I will bang your heads together again."
All the boys could do was nod their heads in response to her orders.
"Good."
Satisfied that she had gotten her point across, Belle went back to Ninja Ops to ask Sensei Watanabe about the extension for the dojo.
About an hour later, Belle got the approval from her adoptive sensei for the extension so she wasted no time putting the charm on the dojo.
"Wow," Dustin breathed in amazement while admiring the change.
"I didn't think you could add so much more room."
"It is definitely going to make training here a lot easier," Blake commented, folding his arms and looking around the improved dojo.
"That's the idea dear Blake," Belle smiled.
Now that the marvel of the new dojo was over, the other rangers pulled up a satellite screening so that they could watch Shane and Hunter's progress.
"Do you want to watch with us?" Dustin asked when he saw that Belle was heading off towards the house part of Ninja Ops.
"No," Belle said with an irritated smile. "I've had enough of their arguing for today."
None of the others said a thing as Belle left, but to be honest, she didn't go very far. While she did have enough of Hunter and Shane's antics, she also knew that they might need help taking down the new monster.
"Anna, Hunter and Shane need back up," Cam told her via her morpher that brought her out of her thoughts.
Hmm, she thought to herself as she readied herself to morph. Hopefully the two of them have gotten over themselves after our little talk.
ooo0ooo
It didn't take long for the rangers to meet up with Hunter and Shane to face off against the new and improved Box-a-Roo.
"I'm a maniacally mad marsupial," Box-a-Roo laughed while he squared off with the rangers.
"What did he say?" Tori questioned in confusion.
"He's violent and he's crazy," Belle answered for her, herself getting irritated at the marsupial's speech.
Next thing the rangers knew, a wave of fire was launched at them that Belle managed to shield herself against while the other rangers were thrown into a wall. When the attack was over, Belle ran over to her fellow rangers to regroup.
"I've had enough of this!" Shane growled in irritation as he jumped to his feet with his hawk blaster drawn.
The other two Wind Rangers brought out their weapons so that they could be combined into the Storm Striker while the Thunder Brothers combined their weapons into the Thunder Blaster. Belle herself brought out her Wolf Fans. The Wind and Thunder Rangers launched their attacks against Bop-a-Roo, but Belle felt a sudden chill go up her back that had her spinning to see Zurgane and Lothor's nieces. She launched her own attack against the others only for a force field to bounce it back. Belle bit back a curse as she made her magic absorb the attack then paired off with Shane when the rangers split up to take on the enemy. They all fought hard, but it was obvious that they were starting to lose. As Belle was trying to come up with a plan herself, Shane and Hunter started talking with Cam about a possible way to counter attack. And they are finally working together, Belle smiled underneath her helmet. She watched as Shane attacked Bop-a-Roo with Hunter's power siphoned into Shane's ninja sword. That was enough to knock Bop-a-Roo off his feet. The Wind Rangers and the Thunder Brothers didn't hesitate to combine their weapons again to take the enemy on.
"Not so fast," Kapri cut in while coming to stand in front of Bop-a-Roo with Marah and Zurgane.
"You thought hers was good? Try mine."
With that she cast another shield that had the rangers thinking about their next move until Hunter made a suggestion.
"What if we combine all of our weapons?"
"That might work," Shane agreed.
It took only seconds for the Storm Striker and the Thunder Blaster to combine into the Thunderstorm Cannon with Belle to the side with her Wolf Fans. Just the sight of the combined weapon was enough to send everyone but Bop-a-Roo running, which left the monster by himself. The rangers fired their weapons that easily broke through the force field and destroyed Bop-a-Roo in a large explosion. The rangers only had a few moments to revel in their victory before Bop-a-Roo grew in size. Like they always do, Belle sighed in her head. The zords were called and formed their own respective zords that left the Storm Megazord, the Thunder Megazord, and the Cosmic Megazord. They all called on the serpent sword and stood at the ready to attack. The Storm and Thunder Megazords went in for an attack that Bop-a-Roo caught with his improved boxing gloves. The Cosmic Megazord went in for a slash at the back that did little to no damage. Bop-a-Roo pushed the other two zords away then turned to swipe at the Cosmic Megazord that danced out of the way.
"We might need the Minizord," Belle spoke over comms as she moved her zord closer to the others.
"I couldn't agree more," Cam seconded before sending the power disks to the three different zords.
There was no hesitation as the three parts of Minizord combined to initiate the Cosmic ThunderStorm Megazord formation. With one attack from the Lion Lazer, Bop-a-Roo went down in another explosion.
After the battle was over, Shane and Hunter decided that they were going to sign up as a team for the Trek competition.
"That's great," Belle had drawled.
"Now you two don't have to worry about me giving you a concussion."
Shane and Hunter gave her a look that said they did not find it funny.
"You know, I was kind of hoping it was only a threat," Dustin winced in sympathy for the red and maroon ranger.
"Me too," Hunter grumbled, even though he had to admire the strength that the small kunichi had.
"Yeah, she's scarier than Tori," Shane chimed in.
Belle could only grin in satisfaction.
"I will take that as a compliment."
An hour or two found the rangers at the event watching Shane and Hunter take first place working as a team.
When the rangers made it back to Ninja Ops, Belle had a sudden realization when she glanced at a calendar.
"What plans does everyone have from the eighteenth to the twenty-fourth?" she voiced to everyone.
The rangers plus Cam all looked at each other in confusion with Cam being the first to answer.
"I'll probably still be here."
The others simply voiced that they didn't really have anything planned.
"Great," Belle beamed.
"Because you are all coming with my home friends, my family, and I on our annual winter vacation."
"What do you guys do?" Blake asked.
"Well, we book a suite at a lodge, go skiing, ice skating, and zip lining. We do smores, movies, and other stuff. There's also a little village down the mountain that we can go for other things to do."
While Belle was listing things off to do, the others could only widen their eyes.
"That's a lot," Dustin finally spoke up.
"Yeah, but at least you know you'll have fun," Belle pointed out.
"So who wants to go? Before anyone worries, I can teleport us back should we need to return for a battle."
Almost unanimously everyone either said that they wanted to go or raised their hand. Sensei Watanabe only inclined his head a little to show that he would come as well.
"Don't worry Sensei, I can cast that spell again to last throughout the week."
While Sensei Watanabe did not mind his guinea pig form, he was thankful that he was able to have his original body even if it was only for a few days.
"Ok. I'll let my mom know."
Belle started humming to herself as she walked into the house part of Ninja Ops while the others watched her go with a smile. After talking with Mama Luna, the okay was given for the rangers plus Sensei Watanabe to come on the winter trip.
The next day, Belle woke at her regular time and had breakfast ready for Cam, Sensei, and the Thunder brothers. Once they had eaten, Hunter ventured into town while Blake stayed behind when the other rangers came to Ninja Ops. Belle was content to sit and work on her school work while she watched Shane and Dustin army crawl on the floor. There has to be an easier way to connect the wires, she thought to herself before she went back to her work. While the red and yellow ranger did that, Blake and Tori sparred in the background.
"Why does it seem like something is going to happen?" Cam asked Belle, resting his side against the wall next to her.
"I am fairly confident that something is," Belle commented without a pause.
Cam could only give a little chuckle at her answer while the slightly controlled chaos continued on behind him. Since Belle was still working on her homework with no sign of needing help, Cam turned towards Shane and Dustin as they suggested using the satellite for Sensei Watanabe's cable.
"How many times do we have to go over this," Cam began.
"The satellite is not a home theater."
In what seemed like slow motion, Tori sent Blake flying who managed to pull the chords out of their sockets. While Blake wanted to fix it, Cam held his hands out to stop him. Before he could say that he had it, white gold sparkles circled the chords and their sockets and the little tv for Sensei was restored.
"This is why I extended the dojo," Belle said without looking up from her work.
"Thank you Anna," Cam smiled in relief.
"Not a problem."
Just as Belle was finishing up her work, she heard Tori say that she was taking Blake to meet Hunter.
"Hey Tori, do you mind if I catch a ride?" Belle asked as she closed her work book.
"I don't mind," Tori assured the younger ranger.
"Great."
Belle quickly rushed her things into her room and returned to the computer room with her purse around her torso.
"Ready when you are Tori."
Before anyone could leave, Shane stopped Tori to ask her something.
"Are you still coming tomorrow, right? Three o'clock?"
"Yeah," Tori agreed with a large smile. "I wouldn't miss it."
The two kunoichi plus Blake then filed out of Ninja Ops and into Tori's large light blue van. As soon as the van started, Tori turned on the radio so that there was background noise. During the ride, Blake turned in his seat to look at Belle who was sitting in the middle in the front seat.
"So, Anna," he began that made Belle hum to show she heard him.
"What exactly can you do with your magic?"
"A lot of things," Belle told him, her words drawn out a little as she thought.
"I can lift things five times my size, I can fly with my broom, and I can also do other things with potions."
Blake gave his own hum as he thought about Belle's answer.
"Why do you ask?"
"I was only curious," Blake insisted.
"But I can't let myself become too dependent on magic," Belle explained.
"Why's that? Isn't it something that you use just like ninja training?"
"In a way, yes. However, if we turn to magic for every problem, then we become lazy and see ourselves as incompetent without our magic."
Blake gave another hum as he thought over Belle's answer.
"I would never have thought of that," Tori admitted, flicking her eyes to her right quickly before settling back in front of her.
"We've seen so many wizards and sorceresses fall prey to this, so my mom and Aunt Udonna decided to make this really important while training me and my cousin Claire."
Neither Blake nor Tori had anything else to say, so the rest of the ride was spent in relative silence with some music playing in the background.
Before long, the trio had reached Storm Chargers. They all filed out of the van and headed inside. Blake made a beeline for Kelly so that he could talk with her while waiting for Hunter. Tori on the other hand went to look at the different bike that were in the store. Belle gravitated towards the accessory section to see if there was anything that she could get for Christmas presents. While looking, Belle was able to see a bunch of gifts for Shane, Tori, Dustin, Hunter, and Blake. Just in case the others were looking, Belle grabbed a big bag so that nothing could be seen from inside. For Shane, she saw a pack of hawk stickers for skateboards that she had to get for him. He would be annoyed and it would be glorious. For Tori, Belle decided to get a black and light blue surfers leash as well as pineapple surfboard wax. For Dustin, Belle grabbed a pit mat and dirt bike rim tape. Hopefully, he would like these gifts. For Hunter, Belle grabbed some motocross gloves that she would customize later. She had just put them in the bag when Hunter himself came to talk with her.
"Hey, Lil Firecracker."
Belle's heart gave a painful throb in surprise and she made sure with a quick glance that no one could see into her bag.
"You gave me a heart attack," Belle scowled.
Hunter could only laugh at her reaction.
"Hey, I was wondering if you would like to see a movie with me."
"What's the movie?"
"Fists of Fire II at the Martial Arts Film festival. Blake already asked Tori, so I was hoping you would come so that I'm not a third wheel."
"What time?"
"Tomorrow around three."
"I assume Tori said she couldn't make it," Belle said, remembering Tori's promise to Shane.
"No, she said yes."
Belle gave a hum in thought before giving her answer.
"I'll be there."
"Great," Hunter grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow."
When Hunter left, Belle grabbed Blake's gifts of a digital tire pressure gauge and a dirt bike washing and detailing kit. She made sure no one was left in the store before walking to the register to pay.
"What's with all this?" Kelly asked as Belle sat her bag down.
"Christmas presents," she said. "At least some Christmas presents."
The two then fell into a few moments of silence as Kelly began ringing up Belle's purchases.
"I can tell which are Tori's and Shane's gifts," Kelly commented while looking at everything.
"But I'm not sure whose is whose between Dustin, Hunter, and Blake. You really do spoil our friends."
"Ah, it's nothing," Belle dismissed with a wave of her hand.
"Whatever you say," Kelly smirked. "I know they're gonna love these gifts."
Once everything was paid for, Belle gathered everything back in her bag and headed back for Ninja Ops.
ooo0ooo
The next day Belle made sure that she completed her schoolwork and her coding work with Cam finished before noon. For the extra time between noon and two, she went online to buy the rest of her Christmas presents. She ordered massage gel insoles for the rest of Shane's gift. A gold bracelet with a star charm for the rest of Hunter's gifts. For Cam she got a couple green celluloid guitar picks and a green and black gaming chair with a neck pad and lumbar support. For Sensei Watanabe she ordered wagashi sweets and a daruma doll. For her mother she ordered a tamagoyaki pan and blank blue oven mitts so that she could customize them. For her Aunt Udonna, she bought a package of thirty different loose leaf tea along with a complete tea set with sparkling snowflakes. For her cousin Claire, she ordered a variety of face masks as well as a 3D moon lamp. She ordered custom DJ controllers and music mixers for Vida. Chip got three marvel comics as well as a Marvel encyclopedia. Maddie got selectable sharpness lenses and a custom camera strap that was black and light blue with a mermaid stitched into it. And lastly, Xander got a Harry Potter wizard chess set and a custom wizard illustration that was of Belle and him if they were Hogwarts students. Ordering those gifts only took about an hour, so Belle decided to go over her outfit. For pants, she wore white skinny jeans with an oversized cream colored sweater that was tucked into the pants and a pair of white slip on shoes. For her hair, it was half up and half down with a small bun over the hair that ran down her back. She didn't try to do any makeup except for some clear lip gloss. The only thing that she needed to do was spritz on some perfume and she deemed herself ready. When she walked out through the computer room, Cam spared her a glance.
"Have fun."
"Thanks Ron."
The first thing that Belle did when she reached the forest was to drop by Shane's demo in the park. When she got there, she could see that Shane was sweating a little bit.
"Are you going to go for the 180 fakie to backside rail slide?" Dustin asked Shane.
"I might," Sahne said while looking at the other competition.
"I've never landed one."
"Then I wouldn't suggest it," Belle piped up while walking up the Wind Rangers.
"You can try to land it in practice."
Shane only hummed to show he heard her.
"Well, I just wanted to stop by before meeting Blake and Hunter at the movies," Belle told the group, giving Tori a knowing look.
"Good luck Shane. You got this."
Belle didn't stay after sharing her words with Shane and hastened to find a secluded spot to teleport near the movie theater. She glanced to make sure the coast was clear before she left the alley she appeared in so that she could walk up to the Thunder brothers who were waiting at the entrance.
"You made it," Hunter instantly brightened up when he saw her.
"Careful CB," Belle teased as she walked up to him.
"People might mistake you for a puppy."
There was not even a second of hesitation before Blake started laughing at Belle's comment. Hunter frowned slightly at her words, but he didn't mind it so much. Right when Blake had managed to get his laughter under control, a streak of light blue brought Tori to the group.
"Hi guys," Tori greeted everyone, sounding slightly out of breath.
Belle gave her a look, but didn't say anything out loud.
"You made it!" Blake exclaimed with joy.
Blake slightly paired off with Tori towards the concession stand while Belle fell into step beside Hunter. Blake talked animatedly with Tori while Hunter and Belle fell into a comfortable silence. That was until someone in a chicken suit bumped into the group. Belle immediately felt like something was wrong with the situation and yet she didn't want to ruin the event Blake and Hunter were looking forward to. Tori insisted on getting the popcorn since the brothers got the tickets, but Belle denied needing popcorn. She didn't have a good feeling about that either. The way the girl at the counter was trying to sell the popcorn was off putting. As soon as Tori got the popcorn, she thrust it into Blake's chest.
"You guys grab us a seat, I'll be right back."
Blake was a little taken aback at the action and was a little disappointed. Hunter wanted to tease his brother, but he figured that it wouldn't be a good time. Instead he turned his attention to Belle to his other side.
"Have you seen Fists of Fire before?" Hunter asked as the trio walked to the screening room.
"No," Belle said. "But I-,"
Her sentence was cut short when she had to stop a little abruptly to avoid running into the person in the chicken suit.
"Watch where you're going," Hunter snapped at the person while navigating Belle around the obstacle.
"Thanks Hunter."
"No problem. Now what were you saying?"
Blake sulked a little as he followed behind his brother and started to feel like a third wheel. When they reached the theater, Hunter led them to the first row of the back section of seats with an empty seat to the isle for Tori, then Blake, him, and finally Belle. The movie started and both of the Thunder Brothers looked so excited to see the movie, although Blake's wasn't as enthusiastic as Hunter's. Belle herself couldn't find it in her to like the movie, but she did appreciate Hunter's enthusiasm of sharing one of his favorite things with her. Belle was listening so intently to Hunter and watching the movie that the silence that followed made her snap her head over to see what had happened. Out of her field of vision, when the brothers had both reached for some popcorn, they had been sucked into the bucket and were now trapped.
"Hunter," Belle called softly.
She heard faint yelling, but didn't get a chance to get up and investigate before Tori came back calling out for the group.
"Over here Tori," Belle called back to her fellow kunoichi.
"But the brothers disappeared."
Tori was going to ask where they had gone when the two heard the faint yelling again. They both walked forward to glance down into the lone popcorn bucket. To their surprise, the Thunder Brothers were now shrunken in size and trapped in the bucket.
"How in the hell did this happen?" Belle asked herself while spells ran through her mind.
While Belle was trying to wrack her brain for a solution, Tori turned to talk to the person in the chicken suit who had shushed her. Belle had just turned to try to talk with Tori about some solutions when she saw the person in the chicken suit rip it off to reveal a new monster who had a pig face and a large metal hat on his head.
"Kelzaks! Showtime!" the new monster shouted that had everyone else in the cinema throwing off their disguises to show that they were all Kelzaks.
"I knew something was off," Belle grumbled to herself while she hugged the popcorn bucket to her chest.
The two kunoichi then launched themselves into fighting. Tori was able to fight unhindered while Belle pretty much stuck to kicking since she had her hands full. They flew about the theater fighting the Kelzaks, but that also separated the two from each other. Tori had Kelzaks surrounding her in a circle while the Kelzaks that surrounded Belle were slowly overpowering her enough to snatch the popcorn bucket from her. Belle readied a blast of magic to hit the Kelzak that held the bucket, but one other Kelzak roundhouse kicked her in the face. Instead of letting her magic dissipate, Belle aimed the blast at the face of the Kelzak that kicked her.
"Take that bitch," Belle hissed as she regained her balance from the hit.
All the Kelzaks and the pig monster then disappeared leaving Tori and Belle alone. Tori called after the brothers while Belle gingerly rubbed her face where she was struck.
"That's going to leave a bruise," Belle groaned at the pain that was only growing worse.
After hearing Belle's words, Tori turned to see the large red mark on the side of Belle's face.
"Anna, what happened?" Tori fussed, hands hovering by Belle's face.
"One of the Kelzaks kicked me in the face. I'll be alright, I just need to get some bruise paste from Ninja Ops."
As soon as the two returned to Ninja Ops, Cam hastened over to Belle when he saw the red bruise that was beginning to darken.
"What happened?" he demanded as he carefully held Belle's jaw so that he could move her face.
"I'm fine Ron," Belle insisted. "A Kelzak kicked me in the face. I just need some bruise paste."
Cam still looked mad and a little worried at the sight of the bruise, but he let her go. Belle then left for her room while Tori was stepping in front of Sensei Watanabe to receive her lecture.
"Tori, using your ninja powers for personal gain is a serious infraction of the ninja code. Not to mention that you let your friend down."
While Tori was apologizing to Shane, Belle came breezing back in with her bruise now a dark purple. Cam eyed the bruise with a wince and Sensei Watanabe was telling Tori about rules governing the present. When he had mentioned not knowing the future, Belle averted her eyes. While she could see the future, she hadn't quite mastered the art yet. The location of the monster was given that gave the rangers a destination.
"Will your bruise be alright?" Cam asked Belle before she moved to join the rangers.
"It will be gone within the hour," Belle said. "I will be fine Ron."
She gave his shoulder a squeeze then walked over to morph with the others. Once they were morphed, they used their gliders to get to the top of the building Cam had directed them to. The Wind Rangers made pig calls as they circled the building while Belle kept quiet and followed behind them when they dropped down to the rooftop.
"Well, well, nice entrance," the pig monster said to the rangers.
"But if you ever want to find your Thunder Buddies, you better follow my curly tail through the Porky Portal."
"We gotta go after him!" Tori said to the others.
"Through that thing?!" was Dustin's only response.
"We don't have much of a choice," Belle pointed out.
"Lupa's right," Shane agreed, only to be cut off by Cam.
"Slow down you guys. I've got a lock on the portal door and it will hold for about ten minutes max."
"If we go through there," Belle thought out loud. "It will possibly be like the snail island and Bushi won't be able to help us."
"Lupa is right," Cam agreed. "I won't have any way to contact you once you're inside."
"Then we'll have to work fast," Shane said.
And like that the four rangers jumped through the portal only to be transported to another rock quarry. In the fall inside the different dimension, the rangers fell but quickly got to their feet. Rather than wait for the pig villain to start speaking, Belle rushed forward with her tanto blade at the ready. She was able to get in a couple hits before she was blasted back by flying pig snouts of all things. The rest of them hit the other three rangers.
"If I didn't know any better," Belle groaned as she sat up.
"I would say that we were on an acid trip."
If the flying snouts weren't enough of a problem, the pig villain sent a teapot lid flying at them.
"My turn," Shane told the others.
They locked their arms together so that they could launch Shane into the air and land on the top. With a little bit of maneuvering his feet, Shane managed to send the top sailing back at the villain. Right before the lid hit the villain, Shane hopped off to the side. The lid was then able to crash into the pig monster that caused a big burst of sparks to erupt from his torso. Now that he was down, the rangers rushed to form Storm Striker while Belle stood at the ready with her Wolf Fans.
"Fire!" Shane ordered.
There was no hesitation in the pulling of the trigger and for an arc of stars to come from Belle's fans. The pig villain then exploded into dust that caused the same portal to open above the Rangers. They wasted no time in jumping towards the sky only to be deposited back on the rooftop from before. When Belle regained her sense of balance, her eyes darted around to try to find the Thunder Brothers. Before she could open her mouth to ask about them, they fell at the Rangers feet covered in fake butter and popcorn. A sense of relief washed over Belle when she saw that they were both unharmed albeit a little messy.
"You seem to be quite the damsel," Belle teased Hunter, banding down to be at his level.
"You're real funny," Hunter said dryly.
Although, he had to admit, he couldn't argue with her. Tori reached out to help Blake to his feet while Belle did the same for Hunter. The Thunder Brothers had just managed to get to their feet when the pig villain came back bigger than before.
"Ya didn't think ya could destroy me in my own dimension, did ya?!"
"It was worth a shot," Belle quipped with a shrug.
Without missing a beat, the Thunder Brothers split to take on the Kelzaks while the Wind Rangers plus Belle called their zords. The Thunder Brothers were using the artificial butter to their advantage with tripping the Kelzaks up while the zords launched individual attacks before forming the megazords. Cam called for the Wind Rangers to combine the turtle mace and ram hammer while Belle dashed forward to keep the pig villain busy until the rangers sent the mace forward like a paddle ball that easily destroyed the villain in an explosion of sparks.
When the Rangers left the battle, the Thunder Brothers and Belle went back to the movie festival. Shane and Dustin went back to Shane's showcase to see how he did. Tori, on the other hand, was stuck with cleaning Ninja Ops. However, once Belle made it back to Ninja Ops, she devoted herself to enhancing a necklace for Sensei Watanabe to wear during their vacation since it was going to be a week that the spell would need to last. And that is how Belle spent the next week or so, enchanting the necklace and wrapping up all of the Christmas gifts that she had bought for everyone.
ooo0 Ninja of the Stars 0ooo
So there we have it lovelies. The last part of the chapter, I admit, felt a little rushed. Hopefully I'll have the inspiration to get through the Christmas chapter(s). I want to hear your thoughts on what has happened in this chapter and what you think is going to happen in the next few chapters. I do plan on having Belle's home friends come back to Blue Bay and visit, but I want to hear when you think they are going to come back. That's all I had for this, so I wanted to tell everyone that I rewrote my Marvel/Avengers fanfic if anyone is interested. It is now called Infinity Child instead of Yin and Yang. I had a bit more structure for this rewrite and I hope you like it.
This was all I had so I'll sign off. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review or shoot me a PM. Remember, reviews are magic!
-White Wolf