It wasn't that he'd expected Cam to show up at the track that morning. But Cam had been there all day yesterday, and it wasn't like he didn't know where Hunter was going to be today. If Hunter had been good enough to skip work for yesterday, then what was he doing now that was so important?

Blake had just rolled his eyes when Hunter told him he was going to stop by Ninja Ops on his way home. His bro had had plenty to say about his secrecy in general, his sudden fixation on everything wolf, and his choice of dates in particular. But once he'd gotten it off his chest, Blake didn't dwell, so he figured they were okay.

He and Cam, on the other hand. Hunter strolled confidently into Ninja Ops, ready to bluff his way through this totally unnecessary visit until he figured out exactly where they stood. He came to an abrupt halt two steps away from Cam's chair, caught short and unreasonably horrified by the fact that Cam was snacking.

Little round salty things that came in a bag. Brown. Crunchy. Soy nuts. Cam had a bag of soy nuts sitting next to his computer, and he was popping them into his mouth like they were candy. Or like they were the completely normal snack that they were--okay, weird health geek snack that they were, but normal for Cam.

Not normal for the wolf.

"Come look at this," Cam said without turning around. "I think I've found a way to rescue the ninja students."

The words barely registered. "What are you eating?" Hunter demanded, approaching warily only because Cam had told him to. Cam hadn't been able to eat regular food for days, and Lothor had just been here the day before, turning Cam's dad human again--or whatever--like it was the easiest thing in the world. Cam could've reverse engineered a transmutation blast like that, no problem.

The chair swiveled around to face him, and Cam gave him the weirdest look. "I've just solved the biggest problem we have in a little under three hours, and you want to know what I'm eating?"

His eyes were still yellow. That was something, anyway. But he wasn't acting very wolf-like, and what if the eyes were just some kind of lingering side effect? Something left over from the wolf that hadn't quite faded yet? Or hey, what did he know: they could have been changed permanently by the transformation, so that even now when he was human again the yellow color stayed.

Cam was studying him. "Were you at the..." He trailed off, Hunter's dirty motocross gear probably answering the question for him. "The Youth Exhibition," he realized aloud. "I didn't realize that was so early."

Hunter shrugged, worried and uncertain and way less ready to bluff than he'd expected. He hadn't thought he'd walk in here and find Cam back to normal. He should have... Cam had been totally freaked out by the hunting thing, and whatever he liked about being a wolf it couldn't possibly be enough to balance that. But somehow he hadn't seen this coming.

He hadn't wanted to see it coming. That was the real truth. Non-wolf Cam wouldn't want anything to do with him, and he didn't know how this was going to go but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.

Cam frowned up at him. "Are you all right?"

Hunter folded his arms defensively. "I just want to know why you're eating--" He decided it sounded stupid even as he said it, but he glanced at the bag anyway and the question had to be obvious.

"Oh." Cam seemed to get it then, and he smiled.

Yeah. Human again. That was what Hunter was afraid of.

"It turns out Kathy wasn't kidding about the raw meat thing," Cam was saying, oblivious to his worry. "I'm barely hungry, and stuff that isn't meat actually tastes like something again. I guess I went a little overboard with the snacks," he admitted.

Hunter just stared at him, still not caught up.

"What?" Cam asked at last. "You really don't have to be my keeper, you know. I'm not going to ignore the cravings again. Especially if it means I can eat regular food in between."

"I thought--" Hunter started speaking when he realized Cam wanted an answer, and he stopped when he realized he was actually going to tell him.

He tried again. "I just thought it was weird, that's all."

"Great," Cam said, grimacing. "Now my life is so strange that the one normal thing I do becomes weird."

Hunter cracked a smile at that, and Cam waved him at the monitor again. "Seriously, look at this. My cousins volunteered their gem shards for study, and I'm pretty sure they're right about the pieces disrupting energy fields."

"They volunteered?" Hunter repeated, bracing his arm against the back of Cam's chair and pretending to study the screen. Like he had any idea what it meant.

"Volunteered, were bribed, whatever." Cam dismissed the distinction with another wave of his hand. "They needed a gem shard at either end of their teleportation route in order to get through Lothor's shield. But it looks like that was a power issue--one we can solve by exposing the pieces to a sufficiently strong mobile power source. Like the ones we carry with us everywhere we go."

He might not know how to read the screen, but he could read Cam better than anything. "Our morphers," he said, without even thinking about it.

"Exactly." Cam sounded satisfied. "With a gem shard, I think we can teleport directly onto the ship, free the ninjas, and teleport off again."

Hunter didn't miss the qualification. "You think?"

"If it doesn't work, we won't go anywhere," Cam said bluntly. "And if it does work, we're all set. But if it only works halfway, we're going to want one of the pieces here in Ninja Ops to get us out again afterwards. Which means only one of us can go."

Hunter frowned, but Cam was already going on. "It has to be me, of course. My morpher is the strongest; it has the best chance of powering the gem shard through the shield. Plus I can figure out alien technology a lot faster than any of you."

"Plus nothing," Hunter said firmly. "There's no way you're going up there alone."

"It has to be me," Cam repeated. "I've already talked to Marah and Kapri. They gave me a complete layout of the ship and everything they know about the containment system. There's no reason to send anyone else."

Hunter moved his hand to Cam's shoulder, figuring he might as well enjoy it before the shouting started. This, at least, he'd seen coming. And if Blake's reaction yesterday had been any indication, Cam wasn't going to be pleased.

Cam turned his head, glancing at his hand and then up at his face when Hunter let him turn around. "There are only two shards," he reminded Hunter. "And one of them has to stay here. I don't want anyone getting stuck up there."

"Something I should have told you," Hunter muttered, not listening anymore. "A while ago. Come on."

Cam just looked at him. "What?"

"Better show you." Hunter jerked his head toward the stairs and repeated, "Come on."

Cam's mouth quirked upward. He didn't look worried. "Promise you're not going to turn into an animal."

Hunter gaped at him for a long moment before he remembered Tori's way of sharing information. "Oh," he said, closing his mouth. "No."

Cam was teasing him. Cam was smiling at him, getting up out of his chair and ready to leave for no reason except that Hunter said so. Damn. He really didn't want to do this, and every second that he waited made him realize just how much he had to lose.

"Yeah, no," he muttered, shaking his head. "It's not that."

Cam started walking and Hunter grabbed his arm, stepping in close, crowding him, staring down at him and begging silently for understanding. He'd lied to Cam. Deliberately, maliciously, a long time ago and yeah, he'd had his reasons, but he hadn't exactly gone out of his way to fix it since then.

He kissed Cam hard, maybe a little desperate for welcome, and for the first time Cam pushed him away. Holding him, fingers clamped down on his arms, glowing eyes pinning him in place. "What?" Cam demanded.

Hunter swallowed. "What d'you mean," he said sullenly, "'what?'" He knew mimicking Cam wasn't going to get him anywhere, but since when did Cam not want to kiss? He'd only wanted one, just one, before Cam started yelling at him.

"I don't like not knowing," Cam said, very clearly.

Hunter winced. "There were five pieces of the Gem of Souls," he blurted out. "I gave you three. I kept two."

Cam blinked, his grip loosening.

"I didn't tell anyone," Hunter added. "Not even Blake. When he heard Marah say 'three' yesterday, he was pretty pissed."

"He knew there were five," Cam said slowly. "He just didn't know how many you gave me?"

"The others too," Hunter admitted. "They all saw it break. Except maybe Sensei, I don't know. He went with you when you got rid of it, right?"

Cam just nodded, still quiet.

"Yeah, so." He was babbling and he knew it. "He knew how many you had. He must not have known how many there were originally."

Cam was frowning. "Why?" he said at last.

Yeah, great. Like Hunter hadn't asked himself that question a hundred times since then. "I thought maybe... I don't know," he muttered. "It showed us our parents once. I thought maybe it could do it again."

Cam stayed silent, considering this. Hunter risked a glance at his face. Yup. Eyes still glowing. Handy mood sensor, that. Too bad it was telling him exactly what he didn't want to know right now.

He was about to say something--sorry, maybe, some kind of apology, for whatever good it did--when Cam asked, "Where are they?"

"I, uh..." Hunter shifted uncomfortably. "I buried them? In the hills behind the track. Out where I go to ride."

Weirdly, this made Cam smile, and he just nodded once. "Let's go get them," he said simply.

He didn't let go of Hunter, though, and Hunter stared at him, waiting.

"Looks like you'll be coming with me after all," Cam added.

Hunter didn't get that, and Cam must have seen it on his face.

"To rescue the ninjas," Cam prompted. "Two more gem shards means I don't have to go alone. You know the ship... you're the logical choice."

"Are you--" Hunter stumbled over the words. "You're not mad?"

It was a kid question if he'd ever heard one. At least Cam didn't make him repeat it. "Everyone has secrets," he said simply. And this time he kissed Hunter, hard and hot and not at all apologetic.

So they headed out there without a word to anyone, and Hunter unearthed the gem fragments while Cam turned into a wolf and raced in wide, lopsided circles around the hill. It was amazing to watch, really. Not just because wolves were fast--he might be able to keep up on his bike, if Cam stayed on terrain the tires could handle--but also because it was so pointless. Cam was running for the fun of it.

He burned off some steam, Hunter figured, though he did worry about the food thing. He asked Cam on the way back if he wanted anything to eat, but Cam just rolled his eyes and he backed off. Not his keeper. Right.

"Hey," Hunter said suddenly, remembering. "Why did you tell Lothor you didn't need anyone telling you what to do?"

If he'd thought the eye roll was exasperated before, now Cam was giving him a look like he might be mentally damaged. "Because I didn't want him to know that controlling you would mean he controls me," he said. "He's already messed with your head enough. He doesn't need any more motivation."

"Oh." Hunter felt a little awkward, a little foolish, and maybe a little flattered by the idea that Cam had been trying to protect him.

"I'll have the others meet us at Ninja Ops," Cam added.

"The others" took a little more convincing than Hunter had, but eventually they all agreed that Cam's crazy plan was the best shot they'd had. Blake wasn't happy about being left behind, but they would need Rangers on the ground if--when--Lothor retaliated. His bro got revenge by backing Dustin's suggestion that they take one of Cam's cousins with them instead. After all, Marah and Kapri knew the ship, its systems, and its personnel better than anyone.

At least, that was Dustin's argument. Hunter had gotten the unspoken message behind Blake's unexpected agreement: if something went wrong, taking one of the cousins meant they would have a hostage. He didn't say anything aloud, of course, and it was impossible to tell whether anyone else had followed that train of thought.

"Kapri," Cam said, glancing at Hunter.

Hunter blinked. He got a say in who went? And why Kapri?

He agreed, though, since he didn't really care one way or the other. Kapri didn't exclaim gleefully, which should have clued him in, but he just watched her response in confusion. She nodded solemnly when Cam told her to wait until he and Hunter were on board, so that the link between space and the surface was as strong as possible for someone traveling without a morpher-boosted gem shard, and Marah anxiously wished her luck.

They had a couple of seconds alone, after the teleport worked and before they reported back. "Why Kapri?" Hunter asked under his breath.

"Testing her loyalty," Cam said simply.

Ah. "She knows," Hunter guessed.

Cam just nodded.

She was with them a moment later. She didn't seem at all surprised that the teleport had worked, but then, she and Marah went back and forth all the time. How the shield knew to let them through, Hunter had no idea, and he wondered suddenly if it could be changed so quickly. Maybe Kapri didn't even need her gem shard. Maybe she couldn't be blocked yet. Of course, if she and Marah had believed that, they wouldn't have used the shards to begin with.

Hunter didn't know if that made them more trustworthy or less.

They didn't talk as they made their way through the corridors of Lothor's ship. Even Kapri was silent, which was weird. Their arrival had apparently gone undetected, but it couldn't last, and they might as well put off discovery as long as possible. Hunter tried to ignore the familiarity of his surroundings and concentrate on the mission at hand.

The teleport had set them down relatively close to the containment pods. As close as they dared, Kapri had said back in Ninja Ops, because "Uncle Lothor" wasn't stupid and he definitely would have posted guards. Probably the second he realized those two gem shards were in the hands of the Rangers--or near enough, with Marah and Kapri staying with them. So they traveled the rest of the way on foot, and it wasn't until they turned into the last corridor that they ran into trouble.

He and Kapri stopped when Cam did, no other warning necessary. Cam was listening in the apparently deserted hallway, and after a moment he gestured them back. "There's four of them," he whispered as they gathered around the corner. "Including at least one general, and however many kelzaks they can summon the second they see us coming."

"About two dozen," Kapri volunteered. "Anymore and they won't be able to move down there."

Cam nodded, apparently accepting that information. "Do you think you can just walk in?" he asked her. "Confuse them long enough that you can get to the controls?"

Hunter looked at him in surprise, and Kapri didn't look any better. This hadn't been part of the plan they'd discussed in Ninja Ops. Cam was the computer expert, Cam was the one who disabled the system. Kapri was their guide, Hunter was their guard, and that was the end of it.

It looked like maybe that was just the beginning, in Cam's mind.

"Yeah," Kapri said after a startled pause. "Totally. I got first in my class in drama."

Hunter couldn't resist. "Why doesn't that surprise me?" he muttered.

Kapri shot him a look, but she didn't say anything while she waited for Cam to decide. That was new, Hunter thought. Since when was she ever quiet?

"You'll go in first," Cam said. "You have sixty seconds to get to the controls and free the students before I kill the lights. If you scream, the lights go out early. Got it?"

Her eyes were still very wide, and she looked worried. "What happens after the lights go out?"

"Hunter and I arrive," Cam told her. "We'll make sure you get out."

"Right." She nodded sharply, but she didn't really look reassured. "Sixty seconds, or until I scream."

"Hey," Hunter said when she turned away, not even waiting for them to push her or anything. She looked back like she might have forgotten something, and he just shook his head. She was here, after all. "Good luck."

She didn't smile.

"Start counting," Cam advised, when she'd disappeared around the corner. "If she can't free the students, we're going to have to destroy the containment system."

Hunter gave him a quick look. "I guess that's not as deadly as it sounds?"

"There's a failsafe that will release everyone inside to their place of origin," Cam said quietly. "Lothor doesn't want anything that can be used against him, so he made sure that he could destroy his own prison from the inside if necessary and not be any worse for the experience."

Huh. That did sound like Lothor.

"You should morph," Cam told him. "If Kapri can't do it, you're going to need a weapon to take out the controls. And if she can do it, you'll probably need a weapon to get her out."

"What are you gonna be doing?" Hunter demanded suspiciously.

"I'm going to be watching your back," Cam told him. "I'll kill as many of the intruder protocols as I can along with the lights, but everyone on this ship is going to know we're here. And I can see a lot better than you in the dark."

"Not when I'm morphed," Hunter objected. "You'd be safer as the Samurai Ranger."

"And you'll be safer with me as a wolf," Cam retorted. "You get your turn playing bodyguard right now, so stop complaining and let me see how far I can get with this."

Hunter counted ten more seconds before Cam's impromptu hack was interrupted by Kapri's scream. He didn't even get to eleven before Cam slammed his hand down on the panel he was working on and all the lights went out. That zord habit must be hard to break, Hunter thought, amused by his vehemence.

"Come on," Cam's voice hissed, and then glowing eyes glared up at him from somewhere much closer to the floor. Hunter spun his power disc, morphed, and took off after him.

At least, he was pretty sure he was following Cam. The guy hadn't been kidding when he'd said "the lights will go out." It looked like he'd meant everything from functional lighting to lit control panels to flashing alert systems. It was ridiculously dark, and Hunter couldn't tell whether it was ninja senses or Ranger Power that kept him going in the direction he wanted to be going. And no matter how attuned he was to electricity, or how good his visor was, there was no way he could keep track of one shadowy shape in the blackness.

Luckily, it did a damn good job keeping track of him. The first thing he knew of kelzaks was when one of them flew out of his way at the other end of the corridor, and from there on he went in swinging. He found Kapri almost immediately--she made a lot of noise--and the generals showed up on his visor as tinted energy signatures.

Kapri had already gotten one, he decided, scanning the area after he took a minion by surprise. It looked like there was another one, somewhere at or under two dozen kelzaks, and a containment system more important than any of them. He assumed the controls were wherever Kapri was, since she didn't seem to be going anywhere, so he yelled to her to get out of the way and waited for an opening.

Then a strange voice yelled, "Look out!" Kapri screamed back at him, another weird voice chimed in, and he heard a terrifying snarl come from someone he assumed was Cam. The lights came back on. And all hell broke loose.

Kapri was still shouting something about the ninja students, but he was staring at Lothor, who had appeared with two more generals in the hallway they'd just come from. He seemed to suck the light out of the room, the black kelzaks looking bizarrely bright by comparison. His shadowed eyes and crazy grin were fixed on Hunter.

"Welcome back," Lothor declared proudly, and Hunter almost couldn't hear him over the noise. "I do hope you're enjoying the party... I'm afraid this was the best I could do on short notice."

That was when two things registered simultaneously. One, the "noise" was a dozen or more voices screaming at Lothor, at him, at Kapri, at everyone in the vicinity and where were they all coming from? And two, a low keening moan had started and was escalating rapidly full-bodied howl of rage.

Hunter looked for the source of the second sound instinctively, and it led him to the first. The wolf was crouched in a cleared space not six feet away, muzzle lifted as he howled, until even the kelzaks were cowering from the sound. The wailing competed with the voices--

When he looked where Cam was looking, he took a step back without even realizing it. Force bubbles, ninja containment pods, hovering high above their heads, clustered together and shifting around each other as though jostling for a better view. Twenty or more, thirty, they actually seemed to be multiplying as he watched, and they were...

They were moving. They were talking. There were people inside those bubbles, and they were watching and shouting and every last one of them was wearing a ninja student uniform. Cursing Lothor. Shouting at Kapri, at Hunter, at the wolf. Crying.

They were begging for help, Hunter realized with a distant sort of horror. Some of them were, some of them weren't, just railing against their captors--they couldn't seem to decide whether these were good guys or bad guys below. He understood with a sick sort of reluctance that as far as any of the students knew, he and Kapri were still evil and the wolf they had with them wasn't necessarily fighting the good fight.

Because these students had been aware for the last year. They were awake and alert and knew exactly what was going on around them. They would have seen Kapri and Marah countless times. They would have seen him and Blake, fighting for Lothor again and again. They hadn't been in stasis at all, the way all the Rangers had assumed--had hoped--they had been.

They had been conscious prisoners of war on Lothor's ship for an entire year.

He was on his knees and that was wrong, this was a battle, this was a fight not just for their lives but for the lives of everyone trapped on this ship and he had a general on his back. He shoved the offending creature off, his mind escaping gladly into the physical struggle, anger and guilt making his counterattack vicious. He felt a horrible sense of pleasure in the general's destruction, something he hadn't felt since he'd been freed from Lothor's influence, and he tried to push it away.

Turning to look for Cam, he found Kapri first. She was holding her own against the kelzaks with disturbing ease, but he supposed she hadn't lived with her uncle this long without picking up a trick or two here and there. He was more worried about the way she was flinging energy blasts in Lothor's direction; there was nothing more likely to get his attention and he might decide to kill her just to keep her from distracting him.

Hunter decided he'd better go for Lothor himself and that was when he saw Cam. The wolf had the evil ninja pinned to the ground, teeth at his throat, and Kapri wasn't trying to hit her uncle at all--she was trying to keep the other two generals off of Cam. One of them went down even as Hunter realized what was happening, and if they were busy watching each other's backs then suddenly all those trapped ninjas had become Hunter's responsibility.

He barely noticed the kelzaks anymore. He shoved Kapri out of the way. Blowing the console took two seconds and caused a concussive blast that knocked everyone except him and Lothor off their feet. Hunter had his Ranger uniform. And Lothor hadn't been on his feet to begin with.

The good news was that the last general beating on the wolf didn't get back up after the blast. The better news was the the ninja students started disappearing immediately. Even Kapri was okay, when he pulled her up out of the mess of disoriented kelzaks.

The bad news was that the structural integrity of the room had suffered a serious blow. Hunter had spent enough time in space to know what you didn't want to have happen, and he was pretty damn sure they were venting atmosphere right now. His uniform would protect him for a while, but Cam and Kapri didn't have that advantage.

They needed off this ship. Fast.

"Get out of here," he told Kapri, glancing up at the ninja student pods. Almost gone. He couldn't think about what they'd been through, or what they had yet to go through once they were free. He could only count, watch them disappear, count again, and make sure that everyone who came for them disappeared too.

"But Cousin," Kapri began, startling him. He hadn't expected any argument.

"I got him," Hunter said roughly. "Go."

She didn't need any more convincing than that. She was gone, along with the last of the ninja students, and he was still fighting his way through kelzaks just to reach Cam and Lothor and that was just wrong. Not as wrong as the fact that Cam had blood on his paws and his muzzle and Lothor wasn't moving and Hunter stopped and stared at them in shock.

"Cam!" He didn't get any further before the wolf swung around, hunched over the light-sucking darkness the same way he'd crouched over his bloody prey the night before. His eyes were glowing bright gold and if Hunter hadn't known better he would have sworn the animal was feral.

Then the wolf leapt at him. He had less than a second. His Ranger uniform disappeared in a flash and he held up his hands in surrender. "Cam, it's me! Just calm the fuck--"

A mass of snarling fur powered into him and his head slammed back and that was the last thing he knew.

When he woke up, he had no idea where he was. There were lots of lights. He wasn't in his own bed. In fact, he wasn't really in any bed. He also wasn't on the floor. He didn't know what time it was or what had happened and it was starting to freak him out until he caught sight of a ninja uniform.

Shit. He and Blake were in trouble this time. If one of their pranks had landed him in the medical ward, the lectures were never going to end. Sensei Omino...

Was on Lothor's ship. This was a Wind Academy treatment room, not the medical ward. He looked around, and the sudden sharp ache in his head made him groan. Geez, he'd felt fine until he tried to move. But his gaze landed on Cam, whispering to his amulet a few feet away, and it was almost worth it.

Cam looked up at the sound. "He's awake," he said, dropping the amulet and taking a step toward Hunter before he caught himself. He looked horribly awkward and anxious at the same time. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like I forgot my helmet," Hunter muttered, staring up at him and trying to remember. He and Cam had been practicing together... had they screwed up somehow?

No, the intruder alert, that had been yesterday. He'd been on his bike this morning, but he remembered putting it away. He hadn't crashed. He'd come to see Cam--

The ship. His eyes widened. They'd gone up to Lothor's ship to rescue the--

He turned his head too quickly, remembering the other flash of black, and he flinched as the pain in the back of his head throbbed. He was right that there was another ninja in the room. His head hurt too much to really care now, though.

"How are you doing?" The voice that came from the strange ninja was calm and just quiet enough that he didn't bother to snap at her.

"Can I have some aspirin?" he asked instead.

"Don't have any," she said apologetically. "Do you have any problems with acetaminophen? There's plenty of tylenol. It sounds like you took a pretty bad blow up there."

He frowned as he tried to remember. They'd gone up to the ship. He and Cam had teleported onto Lothor's ship to rescue the trapped ninja students. They'd gone to rescue the students...

"What happened?" he asked at last, giving up.

"Tylenol's fine," Cam told the ninja. "He takes a half-dose. Fast metabolism."

Unfortunately, the ninja wasn't listening to both of them. She'd focused on Hunter's question instead of Cam's answer, and while Hunter appreciated that, he also kind of wanted the tylenol. So when she asked, "Do you remember how you got knocked out?" he rolled his eyes at Cam in silent appeal, and he got a quirk of the lips in response.

"We went up to the ship," he said, when Cam turned away to get the stuff for him. "Cam rigged a thing so we could teleport on." He didn't totally remember that part, actually, but it was a safe bet. Most of what they did was because of Cam, after all.

"We rescued the ninjas," he added, which was obvious since here she was. "And as usual, I got hit on the head. Just another day in the life."

That made her smile. He was careful not to move his head as he smiled back, because he knew how to be charming, but wincing in pain would probably ruin the effect. He heard the rattle of the tylenol bottle they kept in here, followed by the sound of running water. Just lying here wasn't so bad after all.

"How did you hit your head?" the woman persisted, and okay, lying here wasn't so great if she was going to keep asking him questions. He wasn't even totally convinced he had hit his head, let alone how it had happened, but apparently she wasn't going to leave him alone until he answered.

"Stuff happens," he told her. "Sucks to be a Ranger."

"Here." Cam's voice was a welcome interruption, even if it did mean he was gonna have to sit up. "This should help."

Yeah. He squeezed his eyes shut and pushed himself up on his elbows, hesitating as the throbbing increased. It didn't kill him, though, so he sat up the rest of the way and reached for the water. He managed to swallow the tylenol, and by the time he looked around again the other ninja had gone away.

"I'm sorry," Cam was saying quietly. Hunter squinted at him, taking a long moment to register his miserable look. "I wasn't--I didn't... they were so upset. I guess I just... stopped thinking."

"Hey," Hunter said, setting the cup down beside him and fumbling for Cam's arm. "It's okay." His fingers closed around Cam's elbow, and he added, "Don't worry about it."

Cam finally came close enough to hug. He put his arms around Hunter, and Hunter felt his shoulders and his neck relax and his head was still killing him but at least the rest of him didn't feel so bad. Cam was still whispering "I'm sorry," which made no sense, but if there was one thing he'd learned around Cam it was that sometimes it was better not to ask.

Then the others were there. Blake looked seriously pissed off, and Hunter would have figured maybe it was because he was stuck in here except that his bro was glaring at Cam every chance he got. And that was just great, he'd thought they were over each other, but there was obviously something he'd missed.

"What happened?" he asked, frowning back and forth from Blake to Cam.

"Bro, I think that's our line," Blake informed him. "Kapri says it was all going great until Lothor showed up, and Cam says it's his fault you ended up with blunt head trauma, and that's all anyone knows. So start talking."

"We went up to the ship," he said. "Cam rigged a thing so we could teleport on. We rescued the ninjas. And as usual, I got hit on the head. Just another day in the life."

He thought Cam gave him an odd look for that, but Blake's was worse. "Hit on the head how?" he demanded. "Are you okay? Is he okay?" he added, turning his glare on someone behind Hunter.

"Stuff happens," Hunter reminded him. "Sucks to be a Ranger."

"Hunter?" Cam sounded weirdly cautious. "Do you remember how you got hit on the head?"

He shrugged, and the movement felt like bright lights in his eyes, making him wince. He lifted his hands to his head automatically, muttering, "I feel like I forgot my helmet."

"Yeah." Cam didn't sound nearly sympathetic enough. "You mentioned that." He might not sound sympathetic, but he did sound worried, Hunter decided. He figured that was okay.

"Can I have some aspirin?" he wanted to know, squeezing his eyes shut to see if it helped. It didn't.

"Ava," Cam said sharply.

"He's concussed," an unfamiliar voice reported, and Hunter turned in surprise. Craning his neck around didn't do anything for his head, but the shock of seeing a ninja he didn't know was worth it.

Damn. They'd actually rescued the ninja students.

"Confusion is common," Ava was saying. "Some degree of amnesia isn't unusual. I've checked for any other injuries, but there's nothing. Obviously we need to keep him under observation, but the disorientation should be temporary."

"Amnesia?" That was Tori's voice, and Hunter was more careful about turning his head this time. "What do you mean?"

"Should be?" Cam repeated. He sounded dangerous.

"He's a Ranger," Ava reminded him. Like Hunter wasn't even in the room. That was nice. "He hit his head. There's no reason to think this is anything more serious than a grade III concussion, from which he'll recover perfectly normally on his own."

"Are you sure he's got a concussion?" Dustin wanted to know. "I mean, he looks okay to me. He's..." He waved a hand vaguely. "You know, sitting up, and talking and everything."

"The talking is the problem," Cam snapped. "He just repeated, word for word, exactly what he said before you guys got here."

Hunter gave him a skeptical look. "No offense, Cam, but no I didn't."

Cam gave the ninja on the other side of him a look.

"Anterograde amnesia," she said calmly. "I told you, it's not unusual and it's probably not serious. His short-term memory will come back as the swelling goes down."

"I don't have amnesia," Hunter insisted. "I'm fine."

"Tell me how you hit your head," Cam demanded.

"We were on Lothor's ship," Hunter said impatiently. "You were there. It was chaos. Someone got in a lucky shot, that's all."

"A lucky shot?" Shane sounded disbelieving. "Through your Ranger uniform?"

"He wasn't wearing his Ranger uniform," Cam said, not taking his eyes off of him.

Hunter snorted. "Of course I was. I morphed as soon as--" Hey, he remembered morphing. That was good. "As soon as we got there."

"You morphed after we got to the containment area and sent Kapri on ahead," Cam told him.

Oh. Right. "Yeah," he said, "which was like two minutes after we got there. Just because I didn't give you an exact timeline doesn't mean I don't remember it."

"So why did you demorph?" Blake wanted to know.

"I didn't," Hunter retorted. "Cam's just testing my memory or something."

"He demorphed because the wolf didn't recognize him in his Ranger uniform," Cam said quietly. "I couldn't stop in time. I knocked him down and he banged his head on the deck."

Cam sounded bad. Hunter reached out and rubbed his shoulder instinctively, trying to soothe some of the twisted sound out of his voice. "Hey," he said, when Cam gave him a miserable look. "It's okay," he promised. "Don't worry about it."

It didn't have the desired effect, unfortunately. Cam just closed his eyes and whispered, "You've said that before."

He frowned. "No offense, Cam, but no I didn't."

Cam didn't answer, but he didn't pull away either.

"So you remember going to the ship," Tori put in, "but you don't remember anything after that?"

Hunter sighed. "I don't have amnesia," he told them. "I'm fine."

"Except that you don't remember demorphing," Shane said.

"We were on Lothor's ship," Hunter reminded him. "You were there," he added, glancing at Cam. "It was chaos. Someone got in a lucky shot, that's all."

There was utter silence in the room.

"Uh, bro." Blake sounded more worried than pissed all of a sudden. "You already said that."

He needed an ice pack for his head. Maybe two or three. He could wrap them around his head until he didn't feel anything at all. "I feel like I forgot my helmet," he muttered, pressing his hand against the side of his head like it might help.

"The tylenol should kick in soon," Cam said softly.

Hunter squeezed his eyes shut. "Can I have some aspirin?"

"You just took some tylenol," Cam told him, and he sounded really miserable.

"Hey." Hunter pried his eyes open and patted Cam's shoulder reassuringly. "It's okay. "Don't worry about it."

"Okay," Dustin interjected. "That's, uh... kind of creepy."

"Why does he keep repeating himself?" Blake demanded.

"Is that the amnesia you were talking about?" Tori asked, looking in Hunter's direction. "What did you call it?"

"Anterograde amnesia." The answer came from an unfamiliar voice right behind him, and Hunter jerked around in surprise. Ninja uniform. Strange face. Never seen her before, then, but here she was and no one else seemed confused. He'd definitely missed something.

"What happened?" he blurted out.

"There are two types of amnesia commonly associated with concussions," she told him. "Anterograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories formed directly after a concussion--that's why you're repeating yourself--and retrograde amnesia is the inability to recall memories from directly before the concussion. That's why you can't remember how you hit your head."

"We went up to the ship," he said, partly to prove her wrong, and partly because it was coming back to him. "Cam rigged a thing so we could teleport on. We rescued the ninjas." That explained where she had come from.

"And as usual," he realized, glancing around the room, "I got hit on the head." Geez, couldn't he go anywhere without getting injured lately? "Just another day in the life."

"How long is this going to last?" Shane wanted to know.

"Hard to say." The unfamiliar ninja sounded kind of apologetic. "It could be a few minutes or a few hours. We'll need to keep an eye on his recovery to make sure his symptoms don't worsen."

"Stuff happens," Hunter commented. "Sucks to be a Ranger."

"But it won't be more than a few hours?" Cam sounded really upset, and Hunter figured it was probably his fault. Cam didn't get like this for just anyone anymore.

"Rangers heal quickly," the other ninja was saying. "Or so I'm told. I'd be surprised if it takes that long."

"Sorry to worry you," Hunter said, trying to tease but maybe a little more serious than he'd wanted the rest of the room to hear. He really was sorry to see Cam look like that. "You don't have to stay, you know.

"Actually," he said, frowning at the strange ninja. "Do I have to stay? I feel okay. The painkillers must be kicking in," he added. He moved his head carefully, but the dull ache didn't intensify.

"Does that mean you're going to stop asking for aspirin?" Cam asked neutrally.

Hunter gave him a look, because thanks a lot for making him sound stupid. "You just told me I took some tylenol. I'll be fine."

"Oh, hey, that's a good sign," Dustin declared. "He's like, remembering stuff."

"Stuff that happened afterward, not stuff that happened before," Tori pointed out. "Do you remember how you hit your head yet?"

What was this, quiz Hunter day? "We were on Lothor's ship," he told her. "Me and Cam. It was chaos."

"Someone got in a lucky shot," Cam said, echoing the words as they came out of his mouth, and that was kind of weird. How did Cam know what he was going to say?

"It was me," Cam added fiercely. "I got in a lucky shot. I didn't recognize you, I knocked you down, you hit your head. You need to remember this time, because it's not an experience I want to keep reliving."

"Hey." Hunter gripped both his shoulders and stared into his yellow eyes. "It's okay. You're allowed to screw up sometimes. None of us are perfect."

Cam blinked, staring silently back at him. Way to go, he congratulated himself. He'd actually rendered Cam speechless. He was feeling better already.

"Can I go?" he added, letting go of Cam and glancing back at the woman in the ninja uniform. "I need to walk my dog."

Cam sputtered, and Hunter grinned. Yeah. He was on a roll.

The ninja woman was hesitating, but unexpectedly, Cam intervened. "I'll stay with him," he offered. "I can make sure he doesn't get worse."

"You really shouldn't be doing anything stressful while you're still experiencing symptoms." The woman seemed to be addressing him now, so Hunter tried to look like he was listening. "Even walking a dog."

Hunter smiled pleasantly at her. "Oh, my dog's very calm," he promised. "As calm as Cam. He won't be any trouble."

"Maybe you could take the dog for him," the woman told Cam. "At least for today. And come find me if he seems to be getting more confused or forgetful, or if he complains of any problems with his vision, or if he loses consciousness for any reason."

Cam was nodding, apparently ignoring the dog comment, which Hunter thought was too bad. "If he still has a headache later, should we let you know, or can he just take more tylenol?"

"If he still has a headache by tomorrow, I want to know about it," she told him. "And whatever you do, don't let him hit his head again for at least three days. Or until his symptoms clear up. Whichever happens later."

"Hey," Blake interrupted. "How are we going to find you if we need you?"

She paused, apparently as stumped by this as he was. "Well..."

"Dad can find you," Cam said. "We're going to see him now anyway. Ranger conference," he added, maybe for Hunter's benefit.

"All right," she agreed, but she still gave Hunter a warning look. "Don't go anywhere alone for a while. Even to walk your dog. I want you under observation at all times."

"He will be," Cam said, cutting Hunter off before he could answer. "Thanks for coming down here, Ava. I know you have a lot to do right now."

"We owe you our lives," she said simply. "Nothing you ask could be too much."

Cam bowed to her. Hunter saw the rest of the team follow his example, but he was sitting down and he was still a little behind, so he just sat there staring at them. Ava bowed in return before turning to put some stuff away, and Hunter watched with what he thought was entirely justified amazement.

They'd rescued the ninja students.