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"It was too a fair pass!" Blake exclaimed as he and Hunter thundered into Ninja Ops, ignoring everything but his brother and not tripping down the stairs.
"It was not," Hunter told him, equally ignoring everything but Blake. "You sent me spinning into the dirt."
Cam winced. This didn't sound good. Blake and Hunter pretty much never argued, but their arguments had been more frequent recently. He wondered what *this* argument was about. "Have either of you heard of the concept of inside voices?"
Both of the Thunders just glared at him momentarily, before Blake turned back to his brother. "We both had enough room there. If you spun, it's all your fault."
Cam wondered if he should hit both Thunders over the head, at least until they came to their senses. Or took it outside.
"I never spin, Blake," Hunter growled, leaning in so that he was breathing on Blake's face.
"Before today I'd have agreed, dude, but you spun!" Blake started to turn away.
Cam stepped between the two of them. "What is going on here?"
"I won the race and Hunter's jealous." Blake rolled his eyes, as if the entire situation was ridiculous.
Hunter leaned around Cam, glaring at his little brother. "Blake cheated."
Blake frowned. "Did not."
"Did too!" Hunter exclaimed, moving around Cam to confront Blake once more.
Cam winced, hoping that he had enough pain reliever when the Thunders finally calmed down. He stepped between them again. "Hunter, do you really believe Blake would cheat?"
"He did!" Hunter exclaimed, crossing his arms and glaring at Cam as if daring him to say otherwise.
"No, I didn't!" Blake declared. He glared once more at Hunter and moved off, as if to say his part of the argument was over.
"Great, what I need right now is for the two of you to be acting like you're six," Cam said, throwing up his hands. "You went through all this and you're upset because of one race?"
Hunter glared at Cam as if he were insane. "It wasn't just a race, it was the qualifying race for nationals!" Hunter exclaimed.
"And he thinks I cheated to get there," Blake sat at the Ninja Ops table in frustration. "Like I would!"
"You want to explain how else I ended up eating dirt?" Hunter leaned across the table and got in Blake's face again.
"What happened?" Cam crossed his arms, trying to look authoritative. Maybe the brothers just needed an objective opinion.
"Blake pushed me into the ditch." Hunter stood, gesturing in Blake's general direction.
"I passed him, and he overcorrected, ended up taking a spill." Blake shrugged. "I was going to ask if he was OK after the race, but he blew up at me, so I figured he was."
"That's because I didn't overcorrect. I do know how to ride!" Hunter exclaimed. "I don't make mistake!"
"You messed up, bro, admit it," Blake snapped. "You just can't admit it."
Cam threw up his hands again. Clearly, this was getting him nowhere. "I'm going to work on the Zords. Let me know when you two figure it out."
But before he could do that, an alarm blared, and Cam flew to the terminal to determine the latest threat. The Thunders, argument momentarily forgotten, rushed to the terminal as well.
- - -
"Don't even try to make the two of them make sense," Cam grumbled, looking up the stairs. He could hear Blake and Hunter were arguing above ground.
"I don't blame you, man," Dustin agreed, dusting the Ops table with a rag.
"Yeah, they were totally trying to get us to take sides at Storm Chargers earlier." Tori sighed, glancing at the stairs and shaking her head.
"Like it's so bad when those two argue," Dustin agreed. "Dude, there's like no one to go to the track with--I can't ask both of them, and if I only ask one, I'm taking sides."
"You idiot!" Blake shouted.
"Not to mention the noise factor." Dustin rubbed his ears. "If it was that loud down here, how loud was it up there?"
"Can we lock them up in a room until they can behave like adults?" Shane drummed a hand on the table in frustration.
"I've thought about it," Cam confessed. "I probably should lock them in their room until they make up their minds."
"Um," Dustin said, shifting uncomfortably, "would we, like, have to worry about them killing each other?"
"I don't think it's that bad," Cam said, glancing up the stairs.
"I don't know," Shane said, "Hunter really wanted to go to nationals. He *was* pretty psyched up about it."
"I get why he's disappointed, it's the why he's acting like a three year old I don't get," Tori said, shaking her head at the remaining members of their team.
"Well, like, Hunter's kinda passionate about things," Dustin contributed, rubbing at a spot single-mindedly.
"Yeah, but Blake said he kicked a trash can," Tori said, glancing upwards. "That's not like Hunter."
"Blake probably shouldn't have egged Hunter on, though," Shane shrugged. "Hunter might've calmed down faster if Blake hadn't risen to the bait. They gotta work this out for themselves."
"Agreed," Cam said, with a sigh.
There was another shout from above.
"Do any of you think your parents would mind if I crashed on your couch?" Cam asked.
"Dude, you so didn't say that!" Blake shouted as he and Hunter came down the steps to Ninja Ops.
The Thunders' steps echoed off the walls like gunshots.
Cam turned, glaring at his little brothers. "Will you two chill out?" Cam snapped irritably.
"Yeah, if you're going to act like six year olds, why don't you call a do-over?" Dustin added, as if it was the most sensible thing in the world.
The Thunders just stared at Dustin. Stared at the others. Stared at each other. Then stared at Dustin again.
"What? It's a good idea!" Dustin exclaimed, forgetting the dust rag.
"We are not acting like six year olds," Hunter said, clearly trying to keep his voice even.
"Yes, you are," Cam pointed out, getting up. "Normally, we can't separate the two of you. Right now, however, I can't believe that you are the same two people who managed to hide where you lived from me."
Now it was Cam's turn to be stared at.
Cam shifted to cross his arms, and assumed what he hoped was a leaderly tone. "Look, take Dustin's suggestion or not, but get out of here and leave the rest of us alone until you work this out, our ears can't take it."
"Fine!" Hunter went upstairs, ignoring his younger brother.
Blake stared at Cam for a moment, his face pleading.
"He's your brother, Blake," Cam said gently. "You can work this out."
"I'm not the one with the problem." Blake shook his head, glaring at the other as if they'd abandoned him.
Cam took Blake's shoulders wordlessly and started pushing him up the stairs.
Blake sighed heavily, catching the hint. "I'm going, I'm going." He sounded miserable.
"It'll be fine, Blake, I promise," Cam said reassuringly. "It's just hard to think straight when you're upset. Trust me."
"Right," Blake said, clearly unconvinced but perhaps realizing he wouldn't get anywhere in Ops.
He headed upstairs, after his brother.
Once he got up the stairs, Hunter was waiting, arms crossed. "Track, half an hour."
"You've got it," Blake said, nodding sharply at Hunter before heading off towards the lake. He needed some time to think.
The End