Disclaimer: I don't own any recognizable characters mentioned in this non-profit Non-copyright infringement..-ing fic. If I did...Hunter and Dustin would be in my closet.

"Wow, you guys are totally soaked" The blue ranger laughed as she glanced over at the two drenched thunder rangers that walked in.

"Yeah" Blake muttered as he ran a hand through his dripping hair.

Tori and Shane were sitting across from each other on the table playing Uno with white towels around their necks and a bag of chips off to the side of the card deck. They had shown up about an hour ago and it was raining then and from the look of Hunter and Blake it was still raining.

"Here, you guys better dry off before you catch something" Cam said, walking over and handing the brothers a towel each before going back to his spot at the computer, where music was playing, Hunter couldn't really hear it because: one, he was on the other side of the room and two, the thunder and lightning outside was pretty loud.

"Thanks Cam"

"Yeah, thanks" Hunter said before drying his face then running the towel over his hair. Blake rubbed the towel over his head like he was shinning shoes as he walked over and sat next to Tori.

"Room for one more?"

"Yeah, we were about to start another game because Shane lost"

"No, you cheated," he protested, not looking at them but at the deck he was shuffling and though he tried not to look it, it was obvious that he lost. Tori rolled her eyes and Blake laughed as he wrapped an arm around the blue ranger and his crimson brother only wore a small smirk. "You in Hunter?"

"Nah, I'll pass. Hey, has anyone seen Dustin?"

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him since we got back" Tori announced instantly wearing a worried look. Blake looked at Hunter and the crimson ranger crossed his arms, he hadn't see Dustin since he got here or anywhere on their way here so he didn't know where he could be.

"He's probably still here guys, relax. I'm dealing, c'mon." Shane cut in as he did a shuffling motion with the cards that resulted in a loud noise.

"I do not believe Dustin is in trouble but I sense that something maybe wrong. Hunter would you look for him?"

"Yeah, sure" Hunter nodded at the Wind Academy sensei who turned back to the computer to look at blue prints for a new zord model with Cam. The crimson ranger walked through the halls of Ninja Ops in silence, save for the occasional lightning strike and continuous thunder. He looked up at a light as he walked past it figuring back up generator or emergency power because with a storm like this power should be out, portal or not. "Dustin?" The room he came to was relatively empty with only a table and a bookshelf rooming there, no yellow ranger so he slid the door closed and walked somewhere else. The next door he came to was a storage room that had lots of shelves, wires and junk, "Dustin?" He sighed and closed the door then went to the neighboring room, walking in Hunter narrowed his eyes to see in the darkness and a flash of lightning went off causing the ranger to close his eyes. "Dustin?" There was no response but he sensed a presence even though he didn't see anyone and if there was someone here they were really quiet. Just like the first room he looked at, this one had a low table and a bookshelf that was full of books. "Dustin, are you in here bro?" The crimson ranger tucked his hands in his pocket and walked around the room till he tripped on something fixed. He caught himself in a push-up position and looked to his left and noticed Dustin under the table with his hands tight over his ears, trembling and he flinched every now and then. Hunter's brows came together, instantly worried, "Dustin?" Under the table, the earth ninja didn't make a move, sign, or noise hinting that he had heard his friend and Hunter grew even more concern. The thunder ninja crawled over to the side of the table and scooted underneath next to his teammate, there was just enough space for him to lay on his stomach and prop his elbows up under his chest. He sat in silence for a while then he shook Dustin's shoulder and the wind ranger slowly raised his sparkling chocolate eyes to Hunter, he was crying. "Dustin?" He asked slowly and said teen lowered his hands from his ears, resting them flat on the ground.

"How'd you find me?" He asked, there was no evidence in his voice that he was crying because he sounded just like he would if they we talking about the latest bike parts at the motocross track but it was written clearly all over his face.

"Well, I tripped over your big foot" he tried but Dustin didn't even smile, not even a little. "What's wrong bro?"

"N-nothing dude, I'm fi-" A loud thunder boom cut the ranger off and he instantly gripped Hunter's wrist and dug his head in the wet crimson shoulder. Blue eyes traveled to the younger man finally understanding.

"You're afraid of thunder?" When he didn't get a response he reached over with his left hand and ran it through Dustin's damp hair. "Hey...c'mon, it's fine" he cooed as he continued running his hands through the thick hair and the other pulled away, looking up at him.

"P-pretty dumb huh?"

"No, just weird."

"Weird?"

"Well...I mean, because my brother and I are thunder rangers and your fine with us"

"You're not like this though, dude. You guys are a little bit of thunder" he explained as the rumbling sounded again and he went back to crimson shoulder.

"...Relax, it's fine" Hunter said though Dustin continued to visibly shake and his body remained tense. They were going to be here for a while, especially since the storm didn't look like it'd be letting up for a while so the crimson ranger carefully rolled onto his side, pulling the younger ranger against his chest and closing his eyes.

"W-what are you doing man?"

"If we're going to ride this thunderstorm out under a table I want to be comfortable" He started and after a few seconds he felt the tense body in his arms relax just a bit before tensing again with the wave of rumbling thunder. Lightning filled the room and Dustin's arms went from Hunter's chest to around his neck tightly and he whimpered softly against the crimson ranger's throat causing thehim to open his eyes. "Shh...It's okay" he soothed as he ran his hand up and down the smaller back, pressing his lips to the mop of hair under his nose.

"Sorry Hunter" Dustin muttered against his Adam's apple.

"Don't worry. It's just a little thunder." He reminded as he smiled into the yellow wind rangers hair.