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Cam walked down the street with a crumpled sheet of paper in his hands. It was a list, a long list of names and addresses. He glanced over his shoulders at house numbers and street signs as he walked until he came to the next address on the list. Stuffing the paper back into his back pocket he walked up to the door. Reluctantly he knocked. The third such door today and the twelfth this week. He stood silently waiting for an answer. It came shortly. The door swung open to reveal a stern looking man in a suit, incredibly well dressed for a man sitting at home in the middle of the afternoon. He looked over Cam but said nothing. Minutes passed as they just sort of stared at one another in silence.
“Mister Shioya, I am Cameron Watanabe from the Wind Ninja Academy.” Cam finally said, it was obviously a script. Something he had rehearsed even before he began reciting it several times a day. “I am afraid to tell you there was an incident at the Academy and your daughter Nanami Shioya has been captured by Lothor, along with most of the other students and faculty. We believe she is alive and are doing everything we can to rescue her.”
Mister Shioya smiled as he began to speak. Not a happy smile that would be wildly inappropriate but the resigned angry smile of someone who had come to accept the inevitable. “Those are the risks in our line of work aren't they? Come in Cameron. We have a lot to talk about.”
Cam hesitated, he had two more families to notify in this neighbourhood and the Hawkzord needed it's gyros realigned. He didn't really have time to stop and discuss the situation with every bereaved family. “I'm sorry but I really have to go...”
“Oh no you misunderstand me Cameron. It was not a request.” Mister Shioya said as a stray gust of wind opening his suit jacket to reveal a sheathed dagger under his arm. Probably not a coincidence. “I may have retired many years ago but I believe I can subdue you and extract my answers in less pleasant ways.”
Of course he was a former ninja, and an armed one at that. How was Cam to refuse? “Alright then let's talk.”
The old ninja stepped away from the door and let Cam into the house. Without a sound he followed closely behind Cam. The house's furnishing couldn't possibly be more generic and representative of middle class America. Bookshelves filled with innocuous classical fiction and assorted non fiction lined the hallway walls. None of the ninja themed flourishes Cam was used to from the academy. This was a man who did not want his past to be known. He lead Cam to a couch and beckoned him to sit down. “I'm surprised your father didn't come to inform me personally.”
“He is no condition to be out right now.” Cam said as he took a seat on the couch. Explaining that the last remaining full fledged ninja was a guinea pig was not something he wanted to tell the grieving and well armed father.
Mister Shioya sat down on a recliner across from Cam and smirked. “So Lothor didn't kill him or capture him with my daughter? Strange.”
“Um...no he's alive.” Cam replied shifting uneasily in his seat.
“Good, now I've seen the Ninja Storm Power Rangers on the news. I trust that he's guiding them from behind the scenes. Planning an attack on Lothar's base, not just playing the defensive.” Shioya continued.
“I...I can't talk about that.” Cam replied uneasily, he wasn't here to be interrogated by former ninja. He just wanted to be a decent person and let them know about the fate of their loved ones. They were being rather defensive but could you really blame them? Considering the lackluster ninja that inherited the morphers. An outright assault would be suicide. They had to bide their time and wait for Lothor to make a mistake. Not that it was any of Shioya's business.
Shioya nodded. “Of course. I wouldn't want to get in your way after all.”
“Listen, I really should get going...” Cam started to say but Shioya cut him off.
“I knew your family back at the Academy. Your father was clearly meant to be a leader from the moment he stepped into the Academy and your mother, Miko, she was one of the finest warriors I have ever seen. I'm sorry about what happened to her.”
“Thank you.” Cam replied, growing more interested. This was the first time he'd ever really heard anyone talking about his mother. Whenever he asked his father or any of the other staff about it they would change the subject or only give the vaguest of non-answers.
“Of course I'm surprised it took Lothor this long to come for you, after what happened.” Shioya said.
“What do you mean?” Cam asked. He knew that Lothar had some history with his father but for it to be such common knowledge? What was being kept from him?
“Oh, you don't know yet do you?” Shioya asked rising from his chair and snatching Cam's wrist.
“Hey!” Cam called as he struggled against the older man's grip but it was no use. Shioya's eyes seemed to drift over Cam's wrist as though they were searching for something.
“Hrm, well it seems you've got a lot to learn yet Cameron.” Shioya said relinquishing Cam's arm. “You'd best be on your way. I'm sure you have many more pressing matters to attend to.”
Shioya stepped back and allowed Cam to leave. Cam swallowed as he walked past, This whole incident had been quite unnerving.“...Right...”
The door shut behind him and Cam dug a piece of paper out from his pocket. A long list of addresses and names, hundreds of them and here he'd just completed a dozen. He walked down the street checking street signs and addresses as he walked, the thirteenth house, the fourth today was just down the road. Another house with another parent who didn't know the fate of their child.