The Hellhound's Return

The Hunter

Given the current state of the world, I have decided to update every two days.

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On with the story...

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Kali laughed as she toppled backwards over the stuffed chair, her legs dangling over the back and her head resting on the edge of the seat. She smirked at Xander as he stood over her, casting a shadow from the store's light.

"You'll get headrush," Xander said, cocking his head to the side.

"Well, until you're a fair distance away, I'm not getting up," said Kali.

"That's my chair, you know," said Xander. "I use it to -"

"Supervise," Kali finished for him. "Yeah. I'm aware. But, how about you try and supervise whilst on your feet for a change? You may help then."

Xander looked around the store. "There's nothing to do," he said, spreading his arms wide. "I was hoping to use this time to practice my guitar skills."

Kali rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to be tuning the guitars ready for purchase," she said. "Besides, my shift doesn't start for another half hour."

"And that concerns my chair, how?"

"I need somewhere to relax while I wait," said Kali. She turned her attention towards the door as Nick walked in, carrying two boxes of supplies. "Why don't you help Nick?"

Xander glanced at the red ranger and hesitated. It had been three days since the Rangers had faced Magma, and the hostility between the Red, Green, and Black Rangers hadn't settled completely. They were being civil towards one another, for the sake of the team, but everyone knew that there was still animosity between the trio.

"Don't bother," Nick said, dropping the last of his boxes onto the floor. "I don't need any help."

Kali looked guilty and avoided Xander's gaze as he looked back at her. She couldn't help but feel the hostility was all her fault, and in a way, it was. She had been the one who had gone to Xander about her worries, she had wanted to kiss him, and she had been the one to tell Nick about it.

But, she still didn't understand why Nick was taking it so hard. Nick had never shown any interest in her before now, he'd never acted jealousy around her other boyfriends, and there had been a few over the years. What made Xander different to the others?

"Uh, hey, Nick, Toby wants to see you in his office," said Vida, stepping out of the back room. "He seems mad. His eye was doing that twitchy thing again."

"Oh, man," Nick sighed. He glanced at Kali and Xander, but they weren't paying any attention to him or Vida, and the others were too busy at the cash register to care about his boss' problem. He set down his box opening tools and headed for the door.

Kali grinned as she flipped back up off the chair and followed behind Vida to the back office.

Nick steeled himself and crept inside, pushing the door open slowly and gasping as Toby stood behind his desk with a huge guitar trophy; it was so big that Nick could barely see his boss from behind it.

"The winner of the first-ever rockployee award goes to, Mr Nick Russell!" Toby announced.

Nick laughed as the others cheered and LeeLee complained that she couldn't see while trying to shove Vida and Kali aside.