Fic: An Unexpected Mission: Chapter 4 (Power Rangers)

[rivulet027]

Title: An Unexpected Mission
Authors: rivulet027 and moonlite_n_rose
Fandom: Power Rangers with an AU ending for the Operation Overdrive Team-up.
Pairings: Billy/Trini, eventual slash and het.
Rating: Pg-15
Summery: The Once A Ranger vets team continue in Angel Grove with a new set of villains. Wherein Adam gains a team, gets a girl, a couple of tattoos and might just lose his sanity in the process.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers, neither does MnR. We’re just playing in their toy box and we promise to put everyone away when we’re finished.
A/N: This story is originally being written in role playing format. All updates will first be posted here http://pr-stories.escape-from-reality.net/ and then added elsewhere.



Deason looked down at the Earth, the planet his wife Ruxandra would soon rule. He turned to look at his dark goddess, his eyes taking in her beauty. He smiled; just as soon as they defeated the Power Rangers, she would become the ruler of Earth and from there they’d spread their evil across the universe.

“They’re not even a proper band of rangers,” he mused, “All different costumes and powers; it should be easy to run them ragged. Shall we send the putties my queen? Startle them, and give them a hint of who one of our minions is.”

Ruxandra turned to him. "No! No putties yet!" she exclaimed, then sighed, if she said it once, she said it a million times. "Finster hasn't made enough yet! Rita's problem was she'd make a batch, send them down, than they'd get beaten. We’ll make enough to overwhelm them, soften them up, then send a monster down for the finishing touch. How many times do I have to explain that to you? We're here to fix Rita and Zedd's mistakes, not repeat them!" she ended in a shriek, followed by the sigh of the put upon.

“My love,” he attempted to sooth as he approached her, “It was merely a suggestion. I’m just excited at the thought of this world being yours.” He pulled her into an embrace, staring up at her in devotion, her brilliance left him in awe, “What other mistakes did they make? How will we correct them?”

"She didn't go after them individually enough," she said, letting herself be held. "She never worked hard enough to split them apart and pick them off one by one. It's easier to defeat one than it to defeat an entire team."

She pulled away from him and walked to the balcony, looking out over the planet in the distance. "We have an advantage she never did, which is they are thrown together," she said looking back at Deason, "Only two of them have ever worked together consistently before, Tori and that fluke of a ranger Dustin. It will be easy to pick them apart; they haven't developed that bond that the original rangers had."

He joined her on the balcony, watched her bathed in the Earth light, “So we find their weaknesses one by one and take them down, but who do we start with my love? Which Ranger is just crying to be separated from the others and ripped apart as the weakling they are? Shall we start with the fluke, or perhaps the leader? Maybe the empath or one of the females? I had a thought for the green, my younger sister hasn’t had an opportunity to play on anyone’s emotions recently and she’d so enjoy reeling him in and then spiting him back out. It’ll take her some time to get here, but just say the word and she’ll join us.”

"Send for her at once. When she gets here, we can use her to infiltrate the rangers, she will be of great use to us," Ruxandra said firmly. "As for who to take on first, I should think it would be obvious," she said with an eye roll for her companion. "That Adam, the leader, he doesn't even want to be the leader. It will be so easy to convince him he will be the downfall of their team. He will fail and lead to the destruction of the others. I remember reading the reports Zedd had been sending to Dark Specter, this one is particularly susceptible to blows to his confidence. Zedd used the Mirror of Regret, which sadly was destroyed due to a brat who, by some freak act of nature, managed to win his bully friends over. What we need is a way to destroy his confidence that is fool-proof." She began pacing as she thought about ways to destroy the veteran ranger's confidence.

“At once my queen, I’ll send for her. Perhaps for Adam a monster that would give him the illusion that the other rangers fighting around him were failing and blaming him, or perhaps we could invade his dreams and show him them falling due to the orders he gave. Or other illusions, I know your thinking is far more sinister when compared to mine.”

"You're damn right it is," she said firmly with a glare to match her 'sinister thinking', "I think a combination attack is perfect, but we must plan it out to perfection, we cannot, like our predecessors did, one night of dreams and then bam! An attack. No, we must spring this attack on Adam when he is truly at his weakest."

Deason nodded his agreement.

"You know, humans have a stupid superstition that if you dream something multiple times, it will come true. I think a week of particularly heinous attacks on his subconscious would prove to be beneficial, then when he's truly wondering if he can do this, we spring that monster on him. A two pronged attack will truly work to perfection," she turned to him. "We shall destroy the rangers… this world will be ours, we will succeed where Rita and Zedd failed."

With that said, she began to laugh sinisterly. Oh this will be fun, she thought to herself.
The sound of her joy was music to Deason’s ears. He smiled as he waited for her to meet his gaze again, "When we have succeeded in picking him off, who shall we destroy next?"

"Patience my idiotic love… patience, plans seldom survive the first engagement with the enemy, remember that," she chided.

“Yes, my love,” he stated his agreement. It was something he knew already and though he saw no faults in planning ahead, if she didn’t want to hear it he wasn’t going to push the issue.

"We worry about the others, once Adam is taken care of," she said firmly. "Now let us go check on Finster, I wish to see how he is coming with our modern day putties," she commanded, holding out her hand for his, which Deason readily took. Wherever she would lead, he would follow.

Kat paid the driver and slipped out of the taxi with her duffle bag, it was all she had with her as the rest of her things were being shipped. Throwing it over her shoulder, she headed towards Adam's ground floor apartment, knocking firmly on the door. She'd gotten the first flight out of London after departing from her dance company. She didn't think she would be returning anytime soon, it would stir too many bad memories of the fight she had with her dance partner over her departure.

Dustin stretched as the sound of a knocking door woke him. "Oh man," he complained. "The girls were right, this couch is lumpy." He shook himself, annoyed that he'd fallen asleep while trying to mediate yet again. He ran a hand through his sleep tussled hair. Then he padded towards the door and opened it with a smile, "Hi. Adam's like not here, but if you like want to leave a message I'm sure I can find some paper or like something."

Kat laughed. That’s when he took in the young woman standing there. Wait, she looked really vaguely familiar...she was the second pink ranger. Dustin brightened, "Hi!"

"I didn't know Adam had a human answering machine," she teased and then took another look at him, noticing he was in yellow. "You must be Dustin," she hazarded a guess.

"Yep, dude, how'd you know?" Dustin asked before he launched into an explanation, "Well it's kinda distracting with everyone around and I need to practice meditation so Adam said I could come over here, but I like keep falling asleep. And I was like so determined to get it right this time."

"Lucky guess," she replied with a laugh, and then nodded at Dustin's explanation.

He stepped back in case she wanted to enter, "Oh, Adam's at his dojo doing some like work stuff."

"Right then… do you mind if I wait here for him? I wanted to surprise him, I came for moral support," she said stepping into the apartment. She could see it was half empty. "So you guys are already moving into your new place?" She asked, having been kept appraised of the situation by Rocky and Aisha.

"Yep! It's like so cool. It's like huge dude. Everyone's got their respective colors; Bridge even has his first color. I even managed to get a yellow room, though I said I'd take whatever was left. Oh and we like so totally made sure that Adam got the master bedroom. It was like weird, he like tried to protest but we all shot him down," Dustin bounced excitedly.

"That's Adam, thinks of everyone else before himself, its part of what makes him a good leader, even if he doesn't think so," she said watching Dustin bounce around the room excitedly. "I can see why you have issues with meditation," she said shaking her head.

Dustin attempted to still, "Yeah I like tend to fall asleep when I try. Sensei even said I was like a lost cause, well actually he said I would learn when the time was right. Oh, and like Adam’s totally a cool leader cause he doesn’t like try to lead, he just does it, like he just knows how, but like doesn’t like realize he know how.” Dustin paused to scratch his nose, “Dude, did that even make sense? Oh and you’re um Kat right?”

Kat laughed, the boy was a trip! "Yes, I'm Kat… and yes it actually made sense," she said with a smile. She decided maybe he could use a bit of advice on his meditation issues, "Meditation isn't about sitting still, it's about focusing your mind, so why don't you do something while you meditate?"

"Yeah?" Dustin said, cocking his head to the side, "That like makes sense. The like only time I can stand being still is when I'm in the earth and riding usually calms me, but that's not very like meditative."

"I dance while I meditate, I could sit still alright, but I could never focus," she suggested with a shrug.

He shrugged in return, "Tori's got some idea or something, but we've been so busy trying to settle in, we really haven't like had time."

"It's like... well with me, dancing is something I can do in my sleep, I don't need to think about it… so I start dancing, and then when I'm in my zone… I can focus my thoughts, and pulling everything inside my skin," she said with a smile. "Tori might be trying to work something like that into something you do well, sparring maybe. You're from the Ninja Storm team right?"

“Yeah I’m Ninja Storm,” Dustin grinned, "Oh they like have monster alarms here, and they were like broke, but now there like fixed. How cool is that?"

"I remember them… the only time I ever heard them going off was during tests… we were always already fighting the monster when the alarms when off," she told him.

“Yeah, they’ve just been like testing them I think…It’s like weird we like haven’t had a battle yet. I think the bad guys are still trying to get their barring, which is like so good cause like so are we.”

"That's good for you… from what Jase and Kim told me, they just got thrown into it… zord battle their first time out," she told him. "I got to see it from the other side first; I was turned evil before I became a ranger."

“Dude!” Dustin gave her a quick hug, “Being evil like sucks, cause you like hurt people you shouldn’t and you feel like so guilty afterward, but there was no way you could’ve like stopped yourself.” Dustin deflated, “The whole being evil thing was like bad. Are you like okay now? Dude, cause I like had these horrible like nightmares afterward.”

"At first I had nightmares, but Tommy had been through it too… he helped me, now I rarely think about it," she said with a smile. "I very rarely get nightmares now, at least about that time," she added. Then it dawned on her, "Oooh… you were on the team that fought against Tommy's kids… right?"

Dustin nodded staring at his feet, “Yeah, we like totally worked them. It was like not cool, but then the other three on our team Hunter, Cam and Blake went into the Abyss of Evil and got our real morphers with our real power disks and not the evil power disks that Lothor had given us and then we were good again. It was like why I always wore my morpher so I could know I had the good one on and wouldn’t be tricked again. We didn’t remember what’d happen right away when they turned us good, but then it like all came back.” He paused to scratch his head, “You know it’s kinda weird to hear Doctor O. being called Tommy. He’s like tried to convince me to call him that and I’m all ‘no dude’ that’d be I don’t know just weird.”

Kat laughed. "Do you know how weird it is to here people call him Dr. O? The Tommy I knew, he was a motorhead and the most forgetful man I've ever known. How he got his bloody doctorates is still a cause of a good-natured discussion amongst us of the older generation," she giggled at that thought. They always teased Tommy about how he managed to get his education so quickly, mostly by insinuating that Hayley forged his documents. They loved riling him up.

"Dude," Dustin smiled, then he shrugged, "He like so had Hayley. I like had Cam and I like so wouldn't have my associates if it weren't for him cause I'd be all dude I don't get it and he'd actually explain. Some teachers suck at explaining. What about you what do you do?"

"I am…" she paused when she realized her mistake, "I was a dancer for the Royal Ballet company in London, I was accepted by their school straight out of high school, I only attended for a year before being offered a position as a principal dancer," she smiled at the memory of that long ago accomplishment.

Dustin blinked confused, "Um was?"

Kat smiled, "I decided that I wanted to pursue other interests besides being a full-time dancer, so I resigned from the company." She shrugged, "I was getting tired of all the backstage drama, and realized that as much as I love dancing, I love kids just as much, so I'm thinking about opening up a dance studio here in good ol' Angel Grove."

Dustin grinned at her happily, “That’s like so cool, so you’ll like be here? That’d be good. Adam can use all the friends here he can get, I think the rest of us kinda weird him out, but then like I guess we are kinda a rag tag team. I mean me and Tori are like trained ninjas and Sensei’s. Xander’s got magic, and like watch out cause he flirts with like everyone. Kira’s a musician and she’s yellow, so like we’re still trying to convince Xander she’s not to be messed with, but he so like doesn’t get it. Then we’ve got Bridge, who like babbles worse than me, is from the future, and oh he’s an empath and like stuff so you can’t like touch him unless he says it’s okay. I like found that out the hard way.”

Kat took everything he was saying in, nodding to herself, she'd have to watch out for this Xander, but Bridge she’d be able to handle since she herself had empathic abilities. She took a moment to wonder if his powers were passed down through the family, like hers were, before she responded to Dustin. "You guys are kind of a rag tag bunch of rangers, I mean… I can't remember a team ever having two yellows, not to mention only two of you have fought together before," she reasoned. "But when it comes to rangering I believe in fate, so the 'powers that be' had a reason to put you all together to fight these new villains." She finished firmly and took a seat on the couch.

"Well Tor and I are from a team that sorta had two reds and two blues so I guess the two yellow thing isn't too weird for me. Except that we're both calling ourselves yellow," Dustin explained then shrugged good-naturedly.

"I hope Adam is getting rid of this thing, it's so bloody lumpy," she said with a sigh as she shifted trying to get comfortable.

"Yeah," Dustin agreed, "He hasn't even decided what to do with his apartment yet, now that we're moving into the house, so the couch is probably the last thing on his mind. Hopefully Mr. Hartford will just let him keep the house when we're finished, then he wouldn't have to worry about the couch...unless he makes us moved it. I really hope he doesn't."

"It's the least that Hartford guy can do, letting Adam keep the house. I mean chances are he's going to get called back to action again after this, with the way things go. I don't know what it is, but between Adam and Tommy, they are going to be rangers into their eighties," she laughed, then turned serious, "As for this couch, mutiny against moving it, it's how we got Tommy to leave his craptastic chair behind when he moved to Reefside."

"Oh!" Dusin's eyes lit up as he dropped into a nearby chair, "Adam mentioned that some dude named Rocky was the only one who liked it...we should like send it to him while Adam's not looking and then hey it's gone and has been given to someone who wants it. And if he gets upset we'll just like give him one from the house. Actually that sounds sorta evil," Dustin frowned then groaned, "Obviously I've been spending too much time around Cam's cousins. They were evil and worked for Lothor, but decided to be good and have been training at the school. I'm one of their teachers. They helped rescue Sensei when Lothor made me, Tori, and Shane all evil. These new guys tried to recruit them, were going to hit them with something that would make them evil...luckily they got away, but Tor and I are still fuming. It was like so not cool of them, going after family of one of our friends, after they've tried to hard to stay good."

Kat had giggled at Dustin's idea of sending the couch to Rocky, the idea had merit. Her laughter faulted as Dustin explained about his friend's cousins. "That sounds like something Rita and Zedd would have tried, they had a machine back in our time, Finster created it, it would suck all the good out of you and replace it with pure evil, and it was irreversible.” Her face darkened a bit, "I had to fake wanting to be evil again so that Tommy could get the Zeo Crystal that was hidden under the Moon Palace. He saved me just in time." She shook her head to clear her mind, "You just have to remember that no matter how angry you get at what the villains do, you have to keep your cool in the heat of battle, passion will lead you straight into a battle without thinking, and that leads to trouble."

Dustin nodded in agreement, “And Sensei would like so not be happy with me if I forgot that. And then Cam would get upset because we like disappointed his dad…and oh man Cam upset is not like of the good.” He shrugged, “But we had two reds, well Hunter was crimson which well was kinda darker so we learned that lesson kinda fast. Hey are you hungry? I think we still have some things for sandwiches. Thankfully when we got here Trini had already come over and cleaned his fridge out for him. She’s like so cool.” Dustin grinned, he loved his fellow yellows, they were all so cool. Actually so far every ranger or former ranger he’d met had been really cool. Even Xander, if he ever learned to keep his flirting to a minimal.

"Starving actually," Kat said with a laugh. It didn't surprise her that Trini had already cleaned out the fridge, if there was a way to help out her fellow rangers, Trini would find a way to do it. "Airplane food is so awful," she said making a face. "Do you know if Adam still buys that really tasty Cajun roast beef?" She stood up and headed for the kitchen.

“Yeah, I think there might be some in there,” Dustin said as he thought about it, “Yeah there should be. I’ve been doing most of the cooking…yeah there is.”

"So… how do you feel about being thrown together for another ranger mission?" She asked as she opened the fridge and bent down inside it to look for something to eat.

Dustin blinked as she bent over. He was most definitely not going to check her out, even though it was next to impossible and she was gorgeous. He shook his head and grinned at the question, “It’s so cool! I mean I was like the only one on my team that wasn’t jealous that T got called back into action, but hey I’m not gonna complain that I’ve got my powers back. It’s hard sitting on the sidelines and watching someone you care about be the one saving the world, so I’d rather like be helping.”

Kat nodded, she knew exactly how he felt. It took all she had not to pack up and head back to California when she found out Tommy was back in action. "I can totally relate," she said standing up with the roast beef in hand. "When Tommy became a Dino Ranger, I wanted to be here so badly," she said finding the bread and making herself a sandwich.

“Yeah, I mean I knew to expect it when she got called, cause I’d seen how Cam handled sitting on the sidelines until he got his powers, but it was still like not easy,” Dustin nodded before he joked, “Do you think if Dr. O. becomes a ranger again he’ll change colors again?”

Kat laughed, "I think if he becomes a ranger again, he should wear pink, he's been Red, Black, White, and Green, he's running out of colors." She leaned against the counter and watched Dustin unobtrusively, he was more outgoing than the other yellows she knew, more hyper. He reminded her of Rocky, and a sudden thought hit her, those two should never meet, nobody would understand them.

Dustin laughed, “Dude that’d be great! You know I think Hayley threatened him with that once…she’s like as good at making moprhers as Cam is when it comes to Zords. Do people change colors a lot? I mean I know Bridge has been three colors, but that cause of a ranking system. I don’t think I’d want to lose yellow, I like being yellow.”

Kat shook her head. "I don't really know, since the Turbo/Space team, there hasn't been a team that's been active for more than one mission," she said heading over to the table and taking a seat. "Rocky went from being Red to being Blue when we switched to the Zeo powers… and Tommy, well…" she shrugged. "He lost his green ranger powers, gained white ranger powers, then went from White to Red when he became Zeo Five."

“And then black for Dino Thunder,” Dustin nodded, “And like was Adam black then green? I think that’d it’d just be confusing for me. One color is enough.”

"I agree… but I didn't have a choice," Adam said from the doorway of the kitchen. He looked from Dustin to Kat and blinked. "I…wha… Holy shit," he gasped as she got up and smiled.

"Surprise."

Adam wrapped his arms tightly around her, "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Moral support, didn't want you to go through this without someone who wouldn't rile you up," she said hugging him back just as tightly.

Dustin watched them with a smile on his face before he shook his head with a laugh, “Dude you so thought I was talking to myself, didn’t you?”

"Well when I left you were home alone… and I couldn't see Kat, but you could have been talking to one of the others," Adam pointed out. "But yeah… I did think you were thinking aloud," he said with a smile, still hugging Kat.

Kat laughed and smacked Adam's arm, "Lemme up… I need to finish eating your food," she said slipping out from his arms.

"I see how it is you get here and start eating, you're worse than Rocky," he said ducking the punch he knew was coming.

"Stuff it, arse," she said making a face at him. She turned to Dustin, "See… I come all the way across the pond for moral support, and he's being mean to me."

Dustin laughed, this was probably the most relaxed he’d seen Adam since this whole mess had started. It was nice to finally see a genuine smile on his face.

“Not too mean though, he hasn’t like taken your food away and like if he did…I can so totally cook,” Dustin smiled, preening slightly. No one ever believed right away that he could cook until they let him.

Adam laughed again, he felt relaxed for the first time since he found out they were going to be working together for an actual mission, "I wouldn't dare take food away from her, her claws come out when you do that."

Kat smacked him in the shoulder, "Humph…" she crossed her arms. She looked over at Dustin, he said he could cook, she had no real reason not to believe him. "You cook? Now I know we're definitely keeping Rocky away from you, he'd keep you locked up in the kitchen."

"Dude couldn't be worse than after a mission. Our team was all guys ‘cept for Tor and well she can eat when she sets her mind to it," Dustin shrugged as he got himself something to drink, "Someone had to keep Hunter from poisoning us all, he so can't cook." Dustin frowned, "Oh dude, I so don't want to think what'll happen when it's time to teach Bridge to cook. He's like gonna be so lost. I think the toaster kinda even intimidates him."

Adam looked pained for a moment as he thought about the disaster waiting to happen.

Kat shrugged, "Start small… get him familiar with the basics, don't throw a full meal at him or he'll freak out, baby steps," she suggested.

Dustin blinked at Kat. She really hadn't met Bridge yet. "Um he like took the toast from the toaster and was expecting it to already be buttery. I had to teach him how to butter toast." As he listened to his own words Dustin's eyes widened, no wonder Adam had thought he was going to go crazy. How was it normal to have to teach a twenty-three year old that if you want buttery toast it actually involved buttering the bread and waiting until the bread is out of the toaster, that you can't do it beforehand? He sat down eyes wide, "Dude. Small yeah, like sandwiches and work our way up. There's like not a whole lot of ways you can like mess up a PB and J is there?" Suddenly he was quite sure Bridge would find a way. Dude, if it wasn't like quite so scary it'd be kinda fun!

"We need to make sure there are fire extinguishers in the kitchen," Adam said with a small groan.

"Dude I like already took care of that," Dustin reassured as he finished his drink, "There were a few already in the house and I like went and got some more, cause well Xander and the whole magic thing kinda still freaks me like out. If it was me I would like so accidentally set something on fire.”

"Relax Adam," Kat said stepping behind him and rubbing his shoulders. "It could be worse…"

"Wanna tell me how?" Adam retorted, though his body was starting to relax under Kat's ministrations.

"You could be the leader of a group of newbie rangers," Kat pointed out. "AND, Cole could be here instead of Bridge."

Adam shivered at the thought, "God forbid," he muttered. Out of all the rangers he'd met, Cole just rubbed him the wrong way. He had a cockiness that didn't fade with experience.

"Nah, we want Bridge, he's smart enough to let Adam led, every other red I've met would've insisted on taking over," Dustin paused to frown, "I think. Even Hunter might have and he's not even red...hey like who's Cole?"

"The red ranger of the Wild Force team," Adam replied, "Wild Force was already established when they found him, and he became their red, their 'leader'…"

Kat was quick to cut off what would become a ranting session, "Suffice to say that he's a cocky lil' bastard, lets leave it at that."

"Jason doesn't even like him," Adam felt the need to add. "Jason likes all the rangers."

"No, Jason respects all the rangers," Kat corrected. "He has very little respect for Cole since the 'lets all be reds together' mission."

Dustin blinked, obviously they were in need to a subject change, “Dude there was like a reds only mission? Must of like happened before our time cause we didn’t team up with anyone until Lothor tricked us.”

Kat eagerly jumped on the subject change. "I believe it happened the year before you're team was activated," she said still rubbing Adam's shoulders. "Every red from Jason up through Cole joined together to stop the remnants of the Machine Empire from reactivating a big ol' zord that could have destroyed earth with one shot."

"Every red except Rocky," Adam pointed out helpfully.

"Well yeah, except Rocky. Tommy couldn't get a hold of him in time, Rocky's probably the busiest with his job," she explained to Dustin.

"What does he do?" Dustin asked.

"He's a social worker," Adam replied.

"He has a large case load because he's good," Kat explained. "He realized when he worked with Justin that he had a knack with pre-teens, and Justin's situation really got to him, so that's what he decided to do. He also runs a couple of martial arts camps for teens."

Dustin nodded at their answer. That made sense. Then he tilted his head and asked, "Hey would Hunter have been considered a red? Cause he's like crimson and he mostly wears dark red, but sometimes red and then these other time I swear he's wearing maroon."

Kat and Adam both laughed but it was Adam who responded. "Tommy and Jason and I talked about that the last time we got together, they both think that Hunter would be a red, because crimson is a type of red, and he has that red mentality from what I've been told, brooding leader type," he said with a smile. "Not that I'd ever call Tommy or Jason the brooding type," he said innocently.

"Bollocks," Kat muttered under her breath, laughing at the 'look' he shot her.

Dustin fell silent. They’d talked about his team? Hopefully it was good things because his team had won eventually even if he, Tori and Shane had sorta been the only ones left to inherit the morphers. He grinned abruptly as another thought occurred to him, “Dude that would mean Cam and I were the only ones not repeating colors.”

Adam nodded, "Yeah… and also, you were the first male yellow," Adam pointed out.

"That put a fox among the hens, let me tell you," Kat said with a laugh. "But I think you do the color proud," she added with a smile.

Fox among the hens? Huh? Dustin blinked confused. Oh wait, cause he was the first guy, okay. He grinned, "Thanks! It's kinda cool being first, but I'm glad I'm not the only one and Chip's cool. It's nice to know someone I can talk with about comic books, even if it's only been online. And all the other yellows I've met have been really cool."

"It's nice to know that the male yellows aren't like the female yellows," Adam said with a smile. "I mean, you and Chip are laid back, cool, relaxed… where as Trini and Aisha are likely to rip limbs off first and ask questions later," he joked.

"I am sooooooo telling them you said that," Kat teased. "You are gonna be in soooo much trouble."

"You wouldn't," Adam gasped.

"Oooh, I so would," she retorted.

"And she says 'I'm' mean," Adam scoffed.

“I refuse to take sides,” Dustin laughed, “Oh dude, I’d hate to think what would happen if Kira and I had the same personality, we’d like have hurt each other our first night.”

"One feisty yellow is enough," Adam said with a nod. He looked over at Kat, "Kira's just like Aisha, you wake her up before noon and she's ready to take somebody's head off."

Kat laughed. "Typical yellow trait, Tanya's the same way, you know that all too well," she teased, watching Adam's cheeks turn red. "How many times did you get smacked trying to wake her up to get off you?"

"Kaaaaaat," Adam nearly whined, his cheeks still red. "You're mean."

Dustin laughed as he watched their leader finally relaxed enough to joke around, and even blush. "Not me, I tend to get up early and generally go for a run or something," Dustin nodded before he sighed, "And I did try meditating again, but it like so didn't work."

"We'll figure something out for you Dustin, don't worry too much about it," Adam told him.

"I gave him a suggestion, using movement meditation," Kat threw in.

Adam nodded. "Tori ran that by me too," he looked over at Dustin. "I think it would work, I'd have to teach it to you though, Tori doesn't know how to do it."

"Yeah? I'll give anything a try, I don't want to accidentally hurt Bridge," he frowned, "Tori knows how to meditate, even Hunter." He put his head in his hands, he'd tried numerous times and if there was another way to learn then that would be good because some of his students had difficulty with meditation and if he learned another way, maybe it'd to more than help Bridge, maybe it'd help them too.

"Personally, I think it's more difficult than sit down and focus meditation, but I learned that way first, which might be why. I think considering you're experience with martial arts, you should adapt rather quickly," Adam told him. "After we get all moved into the house, we'll put aside some time so I can explain it to you and give you the basics."

As Adam talked, Dustin gathered up his glass and Kat’s dishes intent on cleaning them. He didn’t want to leave a mess in Adam’s place. He finished taking in the words as he added soap to his water. He turned with a grin, “Yeah? You really think I could learn? Cause that would be like so cool.”

"I really do man, I think you'll be good at it too," Adam replied firmly to reassure him.

Kat nodded and walked over to the sink, rinsing the dishes and putting them away once she dried them. "So when will you guys be completely moved in?"

Adam looked around the apartment. "Well, hopefully by tomorrow. I don't think I have room for my couch though," he said with a sigh. "Where am I gonna put it?"

"In Rocky's living room," she whispered to Dustin, smothering a giggle.

Dustin nodded in agreement before he said, "Um dude, why don't you like leave it here for now...let us get the rest of the stuff and then figure it out." That should give them enough time to get it sent away.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to," he said looking over at it. He didn't really like it all that much, but it he didn't want to get rid of it, a couch was a couch. "So are the girls still out shopping?" He asked Dustin.

"Yeah, Bridge really needed more clothes. I can't imagine not having access to my stuff, that'd just be like I don't know, weird."

Adam nodded, "Definitely."

"It's probably down right horrible for him too," Kat added. "When I moved to London, the moving company lost the boxes with most of my clothes in them, I had literally a suitcase left of my clothes. I was devastated."

"She cried on the phone for like a week," Adam felt the need to add, a little payback of his own.

"Stuff it," Kat said waving a hand at him. "That's besides the point."

“That’s awful,” Dustin agreed, giving Kat a hug, “I’m sorry, that was just like mean of them. Hopefully they compensated you or like something.”

"Oh they definitely did, the wrath of a pink can trump even the wrath of a yellow if they are scorned," she said smiling at the hug. "Adam… can I keep him?" She asked playfully, hugging Dustin back.

Adam laughed. "No, you can't have my yellow… well, one of my yellows," he said shaking his head. "He's one of my best fighters, plus he can cook. He's invaluable."

Dustin blushed, suddenly no longer feeling bad about not getting his meditation right.

Kat gave Adam a look that said, 'see you do make a good leader', and chuckled at Dustin's blushes. "Well I can't argue with that," she said with a sigh. "I guess you can keep him.”