The surfing practice wasn't due to start for another hour. But Tori had insisted on getting there early. She said they didn't know the city well, or how traffic would be.
But an hour early?
To watch practice?
And no coffee?
Hunter hadn't been happy that morning when Tori called their motel room to wake Blake up. But Hunter had been in a foul mood since they'd left Blue Bay Harbor the day before. So what else was new?
He just hoped his brother's mood improved by the time Cam and Dustin got there later in the day. If they got there. Knowing the timing of those two, it could be next week before they arrived.
Blake shook his head, trying to wake up, as Tori found them a space on the sand. He was just glad he wasn't Shane. Could you imagine sharing a room with Tori? Who knows how early she woke Shane up while she was getting ready. Shane had still been complaining when they left.
The swells were picking up, and some of the surfers were starting to paddle out.
Why was he up this early again?
Beside him on the blanket, Tori clapped excitedly. Then she put her hands down on the blanket, one of them conveniently over one of his. He looked up to see her smiling.
Oh yeah. This was why.
He smiled back. Her smile had gone a long way toward waking him up.
He still wouldn't turn down an extra-large espresso though.
Dustin walked through the waterfall, headed toward the Storm Chargers van. It was a distance away at the end of the service road, but he didn’t care. He didn’t have any place to be in a hurry.
Oh, wait, he did. They were supposed to be leaving for the X-Games soon. Like now. Or was it a few hours ago? He shrugged. He had promised Tori they would be there this afternoon. And “after noon” could mean any time after 12, right?
But Cam said he wasn’t ready to leave yet. And if Cam said he wasn’t ready, then they weren’t going anywhere.
Something about the Zords and repairs. Dustin opened up the van’s cargo door, reached in for his toolbox, and shut the door behind him. The Zords were supposed to repair themselves. That was one of the amazingly cool things about them. But Cam apparently wanted to make sure everything was okay himself.
It depended on how you looked at it, Dustin figured. He couldn’t fault Cam for his attention to detail. But this was more like an obsessive desire to do everything himself ‘cause he didn’t trust anyone, even his own repair systems.
Okay, Dustin wouldn’t fault him for that either ‘cause Cam was Cam, and he wouldn’t be Cam if he wasn’t, well, Cam. But Dustin could be bored to tears with waiting around though. And he had whined as much to Cam more than once during the last few hours.
So Cam had finally agreed to let Dustin help, sending him off to work on the Tsunami Cycles. Some of them had sustained heavy damage in the last battle. Dustin gladly jumped at the chance. It would at least keep his hands busy until Cam finally decided he’d quadrupled-checked things enough to be ready to go.
With a little concentration he walked across the water, back to the holographic falls, lugging his heavy toolbox at his side. He hadn’t asked to borrow Cam’s tools, and Cam hadn’t offered them. They were working in different areas, and it would have just been too inconvenient. Dustin would rather use his own anyway.
He knew which ones he had, what compartment he stored them in, what condition they were in, and just how he had to treat them to get what he needed. Dustin liked being a mechanic, and he knew it was something he was good at. He also knew that a mechanic was as good as his tools. So he treated them well.
He made a quick visual assessment of the Tsunami Cycles’ condition as he approached. The damaged Cycles were housed in the garage with the truck, awaiting repairs. A garage that was conveniently separate from the hangar where Cam was working on the Zords, he noted. Not that he minded. Tori had been right that Cam might actually get more work done with no one bothering him. And so would he, he thought, as he put his toolbox down next to the nearly demolished Red Cycle.
Shane’s Cycle didn’t look well at all. This could take awhile. Not that he had any place to be any time soon.
Oh yeah, he did. Nevermind.
He was dismantling Shane’s Cycle when his cellphone beeped, disturbing the silence of the garage. He blinked and wondered who it could be. If the Rangers were wondering where Cam and he were, somehow he thought they would have called Cam. He glanced around him, at the parts strewn here and there, the grease splattered around on Cam’s formerly spotless floor. Yeah, Cam so wasn’t going to be happy.
He pulled out his phone and saw he had received a picture message. He opened the inbox to view the message.
A picture popped up, one clearly taken with Marah’s PAM. It showed Waldo chasing a terrified Choobo across the throne room on Lothor’s ship. Apparently being returned to his original size had not made the general any less afraid of Marah’s puppy.
Dustin laughed, and texted her back a comment, thinking that he just had to show the picture to Shane. He’d get such a kick out of it. Then he remembered that well, he couldn’t. Talking with Marah, hanging out with her, it just felt so natural now. And it always made him pause when he remembered that he couldn’t exactly share their friendship with the others.
Maybe she’d call later. There was an unspoken understanding between them that she would do the calling. ‘Cause her situation was a might more dangerous than his. And he didn’t want to get her in any kind of trouble by causing her PAM to chime at the totally wrong time.
Maybe she’d call later, he hoped. Maybe they could meet up that night. He didn’t have anywhere he had to be any time soon.
Oh yeah, he did. Nevermind.
He was in the zord bay when his morpher chimed. He was in the zord bay, upside down, with his amulet hanging over his head. And he was pretty sure that it was Dustin, whom he had no reason to talk to right now and even less desire. So he ignored it.
It was less than thirty seconds later when his morpher chimed again. It was an unusually random interval, considering both Dustin's impatience and his distractability. If he thought Cam hadn't heard him, he would have called again immediately. And if he had forgotten what he was calling for in the first place, Cam wouldn't have heard from him for several more minutes.
With a sigh, Cam flipped his goggles up and fumbled for his amulet. "What?" he demanded. His morpher wasn't an easy thing to hold onto under ideal circumstances, and his current situation was anything but ideal.
"You gonna blow us off or what?" Hunter's voice retorted. "If you don't want to be here, you coulda said something before."
Startled, Cam went to sit up and promptly banged his head against the underside of his zord. He bit his tongue as he let go of the panel above and slid down instead of trying to climb back up. Some of his exclamation must have reached Hunter anyway--or maybe it was the crashing that did it--because the Crimson Ranger's voice went from irritated to gruffly concerned in the space of a second.
"You okay?" Hunter wanted to know. "What are you doing? Is anyone else there?"
"Yes, Hunter, I have an audience," Cam snapped. "Because so many Rangers hang out in the zord bay in the middle of the night trying to repair damage their teammates did during a battle just so they can go to a sporting event they don't care about the next day!"
Hunter was apparently unperturbed by his tirade. "Good," he said, sounding genuinely satisfied. "I'm alone too, and you sound like you need a break. Let's play twenty questions."
"That will definitely help me get this done faster," Cam agreed, rolling his eyes. "Why didn't I think of it myself?"
"Because you're a workaholic who doesn't remember how to have fun," Hunter replied immediately. "Next question."
"What happens if Lothor attacks and the zords haven't been repaired?" Cam said sharply. He wasn't really mad at Hunter, just frustrated and willing to take it out on the first person who got in his way. More and more often lately, that person had been Hunter... and oddly, he didn't seem to mind. Cam hadn't quite figured out how to deal with that yet.
"That's what the auto-reconstruct function is for," Hunter was telling him. "You don't have to check every single repair yourself, you know. You might be better company if you took some time off once in a while."
"You didn't seem to mind my company when you were bullying me into attending the X Games," Cam retorted.
"Sorry, that wasn't a question," Hunter said lightly. "Try again."
Fine. If he wanted a question, he'd get a question. "Why are you so determined to get me to the X Games?"
"Cause I wanna take a vacation with you," Hunter answered. "I get to see what you do every day, and I want you to see what I do. And also because I think you might like it."
Cam blinked. His head twinged, and he lifted one hand to check for a bump, wondering if maybe he had hit it harder than he thought. "Did you just get all... solicitous on me?" he wondered.
"I told you I was alone," Hunter's voice replied. "You better be too, or someone's going to have way too much information."
"Now you care?" Cam inquired, leaning back against one of the diagnostic units. "You weren't too worried yesterday, out behind Storm Chargers."
"Hey, I was leaving my boyfriend for an unspecified amount of time before starting on a week-long vacation with four or five other people. We're not gonna have a lot of alone time. That's assuming you actually get here," Hunter added.
Cam felt his lips twitch, and he did his best to keep any hint of a smile out of his tone. "First off, we weren't alone then either, and second, I'd already be there if it wasn't for Lothor and his minions."
"Sorry," Hunter informed him unexpectedly. "Not a question."
Hunter really had the most aggravating habit of being serious about everything he did. Including silly games that Cam had forgotten they were playing. "What question am I on?" he wanted to know.
"That was question number six."
Leave it to Hunter to actually be keeping track. Or maybe he had just made it up, Cam didn't know. "Fine," he said blandly. "What are you wearing?"
There was absolute silence for a moment. When Hunter replied, there was an audible grin to go along with his words. "Sweats and an old motocross jersey. Ask me what I'm doing."
"What are you doing?" Cam asked with a sigh. He knew he had set himself up for this one, whatever it was. But Hunter sounded so amused that he couldn't help going along with it.
The answer was not the snarky response Cam had expected. Instead, Hunter's voice was slightly quieter and disconcertingly sincere. "Missing you," he replied. There was a brief pause, and then, "Next question."
He wanted to stop and be surprised, to take a moment to contemplate the sheer unexpectedness of that response. But he was sure one of them would ruin the moment if he dragged it out, so he asked, "Are you and Blake sharing a room?"
"Yeah." Hunter's tone was just as casual as it had been before, as though he hadn't had an earnest moment that would probably keep Cam awake tonight. Assuming he ever got to bed, of course. At this rate, it was looking less and less likely.
He couldn't find it in him to complain right now.
"We got two rooms," Hunter was saying. "Dustin's going to be in with Tori and Shane, so lucky you, you get to stay with us. And don't you dare use that as an excuse to find even more work to do."
"Would I do that?" Cam asked rhetorically. To tell the truth, he wasn't sure whether that should scare him off or lure him in. You could learn a lot about someone by sharing living quarters with them--both good and bad.
"Yes," Hunter declared. "You do that, all the time. I think you make up excuses to avoid hanging out with us."
"I do have stuff to do," Cam reminded him. "I'm not always avoiding you."
"But you are sometimes avoiding us."
Cam frowned. "Hey, who's asking the questions here?"
"You, when you remember," Hunter said grudgingly. "You have nine left."
Cam considered that for a moment. Hunter did take his games seriously, so... "Have you told Blake about us?" he asked.
Hunter's reply was slow in coming. "No," he said at last, but the uncertainty was obvious in his tone. "At least... not exactly."
Cam refused to ask another question just to get Hunter to clarify something he should have already answered.
Hunter took the hint. "I mean, I didn't come right out and tell him we were dating. But, you know. He knows we've been hanging out a lot. It's not like I've been sneaking around or anything."
"You tell him everything else," Cam pointed out. Almost everything. "Why not this?"
"Because I didn't think you wanted me to," Hunter said simply.
He couldn't think of anything to say to that.
"Hey, Blake," Hunter remarked, voice a little more distant now as though he had turned his head. Cam had the sudden irrational urge to call him back. He stayed quiet, not about to betray the open comm link between their morphers with his own words.
He could just barely hear Blake's question in the background. "You okay, bro?"
"Sure." Hunter's voice, by contrast, sounded as though he was sitting right next to Cam. "Just catching some alone time, you know?"
"Sure, bro." There was a pause, and the hint of rustling. "I'll just be next door. Come on over if you feel like socializing."
Cam didn't know whether Hunter's reply or Blake's casual acceptance of it surprised him more. Hunter had never struck him as someone who needed "alone time"... but then, he wasn't really alone, was he? He was talking to Cam, after all.
"Will do," Hunter answered. There was a longer pause, and then he remarked, "He's gone."
"Since when do you need alone time?" Cam wanted to know. He hadn't even come close to being able to not ask that question.
"Since I met you?" Hunter countered. He immediately contradicted himself by adding, "You're not the only one who occasionally thinks he's better conversation than anyone else around, you know."
"Do you talk to yourself?" The words were out before he could think about them, but the more he thought about it the more he wanted to know.
Hunter's voice was amused when he responded, "Do you?"
"My question," Cam reminded him.
Hunter actually chuckled. "Yes, I do. Mostly when I'm working, almost never when Blake's around. Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night."
"What wakes you up in the middle of the night?" Cam wondered.
There was a pause. "Lots of things, I guess. Blake coming in late, or the neighbors having a party. Sometimes bad dreams... sometimes my morpher," he added.
"Lothor doesn't attack at night much," Cam mused, trying to imagine the Thunders' apartment late at night.
"Good thing, too," Hunter agreed. "You and I would have shown up together a lot lately. Sensei would start to wonder."
"Not to mention the other Rangers," Cam commented. It finally occurred to him to ask, "Would you care if they knew?"
Hunter's answer was gratifyingly quick. "No. Three more questions."
Cam smiled to himself. "If you could have any superpower, what would it be?"
"Truth." He had obviously thought about it, but the answer didn't make any sense. "I want to be able to make anyone tell me the truth," he explained. "Not all the time. Just whenever I want them to."
Cam thought about that for a moment, playing with his amulet while he thought about how he would use such a power himself. "That's a good power," he admitted at last. Even if he wasn't sure it was one he wanted Hunter to have.
"I know." Hunter sounded pleased with himself. "You're gonna owe me for these questions, by the way. I'm gonna make you a list or something."
"You're the one who suggested it," Cam reminded him.
"And I'm also the one keeping track," Hunter's voice replied. "Two more questions."
"What would you have done if I hadn't agreed to go to the X Games?" Cam wanted to know.
"I'm not sure you ever actually agreed," Hunter said dryly. "But I would have kidnapped you, of course. Last question."
"Of course," Cam muttered. And he might have, too. He wouldn't put much past Hunter. "What's your favorite color?"
He could hear Hunter scoff all the way from LA. "Waste of a good question," the Crimson Ranger informed him. "Get some sleep and let the auto-repair systems do their job."
Cam rolled his eyes even though he knew Hunter couldn't see it. "Yes, Mother," he said with a token sigh. As he pushed himself to his feet, though, he couldn't help adding, "You didn't technically answer my question."
He could hear Hunter smirking. "Night, Cam. See you tomorrow."
"See you," Cam echoed, stretching his arms over his head and shaking his legs out as he headed across the bay. "Just don't expect me to attend every single motocross event there is."
"I only expect you to go to the ones I go to," Hunter replied. It was impossible to tell whether he was joking or not. "And my favorite color's green."
Cam stopped in his tracks, glancing down automatically. The APD on his morpher turned the comm link off as soon as it was terminated from the other side. Nonetheless, he found himself staring at the silent device for a long moment before he resumed his thoughtful course toward the door.