SPD-Shadows among the Rangers

[AndromedaAbyss]

Hello!
I'm a new poster here and this is the first PR story I've made. I hope people like it! I also make banners and place them chapter by chapter.
Rating: pg-13
spoilers: None
Summary: After a meeting with Mora, Bridge is changed for the worst. Meanwhile, Sky contemplates leaving the SPD.
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers




Chapter one



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/chapter1.jpg




"Woah!" Red Ranger shouted as he was thrown backwards against the wall. "This guy is tough!"

"Blue Ranger, look out!" Yellow Ranger warned, delivering a flying kick to one of the many Krybots that were surrounding them. At the center of the battle was a monster that stood a foot taller then any of the Rangers, carrying of all things, a pizza box in one hand.

"I got it, Z, no problem!" Blue Ranger replied.

"You ever notice how these things just seem to wait for us to attack them?" Green Ranger asked as he and Blue Ranger stood back-to-back.

"Makes our job all the more easier!" Blue Ranger agreed, taking down three with his fists.

"Rangers, I need you now!" Red Ranger called out. Instantly all of them joined him as the Krybots regrouped behind the monster. "So what are you up to this time, Shiran?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Shrian asked, clutching the pizza box in his hands.

"Out of the way-he's mine!" Pink Ranger said, running forwards.

"Syd-wait!" Red Ranger ordered.

"Pizza to go!" the monster laughed, and smacked Pink Ranger across the face. She went flying backwards into Green Ranger's arms. For a second Bridge had a real fear of what would happen if she touched his bare skin, but he also had more pressing concerns.

"Jack, she's unconscious!" Green Ranger warned. And not only that, covered in pizza sauce.

"Keep her out of harm's way, Bridge!" Red Ranger said. "Let's wrap this up!"

"Good idea!" Blue Ranger said, and held out his morpher. "Judgement time!"

Instantly the monster was enveloped in darkness, a kind of temporary stasis while the morpher did its work. "You are charged with causing mischievous conduct," Blue Ranger said. "How do you answer the charge?"

The morpher lit up with a green light, signaling innocence.

"What?" Blue Ranger demanded. He stared at the morpher as though it was faulty.

Bellowing laughter cut through him as the field dissipated. "You bumbling fools!" the monster croaked. "We really were just delivering pizza! We have a shop just down the corner!"

"But...you have Krybots..." Yellow Ranger said weakly.

"And you think they don't deserve a chance at employment opportunity? I picked them up at the last battle you faced!" The monster's laughter turned into a gasp of horror when he looked at the pizza. "Look at what you did to my pizza! I hope one of you has twenty-five bucks on them!"

&&&&&&&&&&

(Delta Base, 2 hours later)

"Okay, so what happened exactly?" Jack snapped as they entered the conference room.

"We saw the Krybots, and immediately assumed they were up to no good," Sky returned.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Bridge added with a small groan. Beside him Syd was silent, moping her face with a towel.

"Who knew that Krybots would be looking for work?" Z said, sitting down.

"We should have known," Jack said. "Maybe once in a while we should use our heads. They didn't attack us-we attacked them! And speaking of things we could have improved on, our fighting today sucked! How many moves did they get on us, anyway?"

"Now what just a minute-"

"Let's begin with you, Syd! I ordered you to stay where you were. It was obvious you couldn't tackle him on your own! We have to work together as a group, not as individuals!"

Completely forgotten, Bridge scratched RIC's forehead, who had silently entered the room. It seemed like the safest thing for him to do. Sky said nothing, but Bridge could feel his anger mounting on Syd's behalf. But Jack was the most angry at all. Bridge was more then a little concerned. Had they forgotten his birthday?

"Tonight I want a report from all of you on how you could have improved in today's battle," Jack decided.

Sky folded his hands. "Will that include a report on our esteemed commander?" he asked.

There was more, but Bridge closed his eyes, trying to block it out. The angry emotions and out loud bickering was like an endless tornado around the room. And, it was getting too much for Bridge. He hadn't gotten enough sleep last night and his reserves were almost depleted. He stood and headed for the door.

Jack immediately got in his way. "Where are you going? The meeting's not over yet, cadet!"

"Sorry, but it is for me," Bridge snapped, for once losing his temper. He moved around Jack and out of the room.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Thirty minutes later found Sky leaning against the wall by himself. The humming blue light matched his uniform completely. Z saw him looking deeply in thought as she approached. "Sky, we haven't heard word from Bridge yet. Jack wants us to go find him."

Sky said nothing, which was usual. But the expression on his face was deeply troubled.

"Jack's just having a bad day, you know."

"We seem to be having a lot of bad days," Sky said. "I'd like to see one good day we've had in a while, Z."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What do we do here?" Sky said. "We defeat the same monsters day in and day out, half the time not even sure if they're up to no good or not! What's happened to SPD nowadays?"

"What are you saying?" Z demanded.

"I'm saying...maybe it's time for a change," Sky whispered. "I can't keep going on like this. No plan. No real reason to fight. I dunno, Z. Maybe it's time I tried doing this on my own terms." He stared at her for the first time. "Quit SPD." He straightened and walked down the hall.

Z followed him. "I can't believe you just said that. The SPD has been your whole entire life! Your one ambition-"

"My one ambition was to be a Red Ranger. That obviously didn't happen."

"Is this what this is all about?"

Sky stopped. "No," he said. He sighed. "Listen-"

Jack suddenly appeared. "What are you two still doing here?" he demanded. "I told you to look for Bridge. Let's move it!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Thirty minutes later Bridge had left the base without interruption and was walking on the sidewalk. It was a peaceful, sunny day in June and people were laughing around him in the park. Their happy emotions soon provided a peaceful bubble around Bridge which he could safely harness from. With a sigh his gloved hand touched his head. He had such a pounding headache. Some time off would clear his head, after which he could apologize to Jack-

Deep laugter behind him, followed by screams. Bridge immediately turned around and saw dozens of people running from the park. A second later he saw Krybots chasing them away. In the center of the confusion was a monster, whom Bridge immediately dubbed as 'Lizard Man.' He turned to face Bridge. With a green hand he stopped the running Krybots. "So. The green Ranger. I've been waiting a long time for a chance to take one of you out."

Krybots moved behind Bridge. No way did Bridge belive this to be a coincidence. This was a trap, and he had blundered right into it. But if there was one thing Bridge was good at, was getting out of an ambush. He held up his morpher. "SPD-emergency!"

ZZZwhzt!

Bridge stared at his morpher in horror as it made that noise and did nothing. He shook it and tried again. "SPD-emergency!"

The monster laughed. "Take him!"

Immediately Bridge was surrounded by the Krybots. Bridge forgot about the morpher and threw it to the ground. Even without being the Green Ranger he still had his own martial skills he could rely on. As one Krybot lunged at him he ducked and kicked him in the chest when he landed. He punched another in the face and the flat of his hand connected with another Krybots' throat. He flipped backwards, avoiding three other blows.

Suddenly two leaped behind him and briefly grabbed his arms. He dealt them a sweeping kick which took both of them down.

And found that he couldn't move his arms.

He looked down in horror. From that exchange two Krybots were able to throw handcuffs on his wrists. He was defenseless. Looking up, he saw a Krybots making a flying kick towards his head. He dodged to the right, and the blow connected with his shoulder instead. Bridge fell to the ground.

The next second two Krybots lifted him up. Bridge was too dazed to do anything.

Lizard-man laughed. "So this is what the mighty rangers are capable of!"

"We're capable of a lot more!" a sudden voice shouted.

"Huh?" The lizard turned to see Jack, Sky, Z and Syd round the corner.

Jack didn't waste words and lifted his morpher. "SPD-emergency!"

"Jack it doesn't-" Bridge warned.

With a glow of light and a backwards flip the four cadets turned into the four power Rangers. Bridge stared in confused astonishment.

"Let's take them out!" Red Ranger snapped. There were about thirty Krybots between them and Bridge.

"Nothing we can't handle on a bad day!" Blue Ranger agreed. "Hiya!" He launched himself at two Krybots, who fell to the ground.

"I'd give you a great 'A' for effort from all of you!" Lizard-man said with a laugh. "But it's a little too late!" He grabbed Bridge's shoulder. "Teleportation!"

"No!" Red Ranger called.

With a flash of green light both Bridge and Lizard-man disappeared. Only the Krybots were left.

"We've gotta get him back!" Blue Ranger said. The fight they had only half an hour ago was already gone from his mind.

The Pink Ranger noticed the fallen morpher on the ground and picked it up.

"We will, Sky, but not at the moment!" Red Ranger replied. He held up his morpher. "SPD-emergency transport!"

With a flash all of them disappeared.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Bridge opened his eyes to complete darkness, save for a dim blue light around his body. He was lying stretched out on a platform. To either side was a dark abyss to which he couldn't see the bottom. As he looked up, he saw on one side of the platform a little girl sitting on a small throne. She was holding a small teddy bear. Hello," she greeted pleasantly with an English accent. "Did you have a good sleep?"

Bridge raised his eyebrow. "A good forced sleep, yes." As soon as he stood the blue shield around him disappeared.

"It was only to keep you from going over the edge," she said defensively, even though Bridge said nothing.

"Who are you?"

"I am Mora."

"Mora. That's a pretty name," Bridge said, stepping closer. He scanned for any chains, and didn't see any. "Are they keeping you a prisoner here too, Mora?"

The girl giggled. All of a sudden Bridge heard footsteps behind him and turned around. He saw a massive monster holding an axe. Bridge could feel the aurora of evil seeping in his mind, threatening to destroy his soul if he got too close.

"You've got it all wrong, Green Ranger," the monster said. "She has been organizing this operation for months. Every single opponent, every single enemy you have ever faced has come out of her imagination. She is your worst enemy, and you treat her as though she was nothing more then a child!"

Bridge backed away, trying to think. "And what does that make you, exactly?"

"I am the one about to snuff out your puny life!" the monster croaked, gripping his throat. With a strangled gasp Bridge tried to fight back and couldn't.

A shrill voice. "Don't hurt him, Gruumm!"

With a snarl the monster released him.

"Now really," Mora continued with a roll of her eyes. "Go and get some rest. I will deal with this interesting problem that has arisen on my own."

With a snarl the monster moved away into darkness.

"Sorry about him," Mora said. "He sometimes is not the most pleasant of people to be around."

"But is what he said true?" Bridge asked.

Mora grinned. "You're curious, aren't you? Yes, I am the most powerful of enemies. Everything you have faced is because of my doing."

Bridge looked down, trying to accept that and being unable to. She was just...well, a child.

"Don't believe me, do you? Well go on, then. Read my mind."

Bridge stared at her doubtfully.

"Oh, come now. It's not like I'm not going to hurt you, you know. You can see if what I'm telling you is the truth. And if it is, then wouldn't you like this opportunity to fully study my plans?"

Bridge hesitated. He could hear Jack's voice in his head, telling him not to do this. It could be another trap. But another side of him won out, his curious side. His drive to understand. Very slowly he removed his leather gloves and put them in his pocket. He stepped closer. "This isn't going to hurt," he told her. "Actually, come to think of it, I wouldn't really known because I've never been on the receiving end of a psychic probe, but no one that I ever touched seemed to be any pain so you should be fine. Human or otherwise. Mostly otherwise. Sorry, I'm nattering. I'll focus now." His skin brushed against the side of her head. He closed his eyes and expelled a deep breath.

And had about two seconds to realize what a terrible mistake he made before he saw infinity within her mind. There was no cause, no structure. Just an endless whirlpool of chaos that was pulling him within. And no matter what he did, he couldn't break away. His last coherent thought was that this wasn't a series of coincidences-this was all a carefully organized trap, meant entirely for him alone.

The only thing that cut through his screams was a high-pitched, girlish laughter.

TBC

[masterranger3]

I seen your fic on FF.net. Its interesting.

[AndromedaAbyss]

Thanks! :)

[AndromedaAbyss]

Here's all my other chapters. :)

Chapter 2-A call for help

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/chapter2copy.jpg




It was eerily quiet in the conference room, and not just because Bridge's constant chatter was missing. Z looked down and sighed. They had lost a member of the team, a part of themselves. Before they were one group. Now they were just four individuals.

Maybe going on three.

Z looked up slowly. Sky was sitting at his chair, looking down at the empty table. Z couldn't believe that he would leave the SPD. Not for a second.

But still...

Crugar turned around, breaking her out of her thoughts. "There is no equipment malfunction on Bridge's morpher. It was functioning perfectly up until the time he disappeared."

"So what happened?" Jack asked. "Why didn't he morph?"

"Perhaps there are other forces at work here. We did detect an electrical disturbance in the park. It has long since dissipated, but it could have interfered with the morpher's ability to function."

"Well, we can argue about the hows and why another time," Sky said, straightening. "The point is that Bridge is still missing and-"

Bridge's morpher, still on the table, began to beep. Jack started visibly from the noise. Sky immediately reached for it. "Emergency communication." He flicked it on and stood. "Bridge? Bridge, can you hear me?"

Static for a moment. Then..

"Sky..."

Sky allowed himself a brief sigh of relief, followed by a laugh. "It's him. He's okay!'

A second later Sky wanted to take back his words.

"Help...me..."

The desperation in his voice soon wiped the smiles off everyone in the room.

Sky struggled to regain his focus. "There's a lot of interference. The signal must be coming from a far distance away. Kat, trace the signal!"

"Already on it," Kat said.

Sky flicked on the morpher. "Hang on, Bridge. We'll all be there in no time at all!"

"No."

Everyone paused.

"Syd...alone..."

Jack nodded. "Sky."

Sky slid the morpher across the table. Jack caught it. "What's going on, Bridge? Why Syd?"

"Alone...before...too..late..."

"Where are you, Bridge?"

A long pause of static, then...

"Rooftop...Pilliton Bank..."

Kat nodded once to confirm this.

Jack looked at her. "Syd-"

"I'm already on it," Syd replied, running towards the exit.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

It was past midnight when Syd arrived on the rooftop of the bank. At the very edge she saw Bridge. His back was turned, so Syd couldn't get a good look at him. "Bridge?" she called out. There was a sense of uneasiness in the air, and she moved forwards cautiously.

"Syd." Bridge's leather fingers were rubbing against each other. He turned, his arms folded. As Syd approached she saw that the very tips of his spikey brown hair had been dyed a dark green. Aside from that he looked exactly the same. "I'm glad you came."

Thirty Krybots suddenly rose between them. Syd automatically stepped back. Bridge's face was calm, as though he had been expecting this.

A second later, she knew he had.

"Kill the pink ranger."

Syd blinked. A second later she morphed into the pink ranger. She dodged a Krybot's clumsy attempt to hit her. She pointed at Bridge. "First I'll deal with them. Then I want an explanation!" she shouted.

Bridge looked away, as though suddenly distracted.

"Hold it, Syd! We're right behind you!" Sky shouted. Z was beside him. Instantly the two cadets morphed into rangers and joined the fight. Sky took down more Krybots then either of them.

Syd saw an opening at Bridge, who hadn't made any move to attack them and still looked distracted. Syd ran right at him, wanting to take him down hard and fast.

Except it didn't happen that way.

As soon as she approached a field of dark green rose up from Bridge's feet and hit her. The Pink Ranger flew backwards against the concrete, temporarily stunned.

Bridge stared at her for the first time. He walked over to her. At first Syd assumed he was going to help. Instead he bent down and snatched his morpher from her belt. He walked away, still leaving her on the ground.

The other two Rangers finished with the rest of the Krybots. "Hold it, Bridge!" Sky called. "There's nowhere left to go!"

Bridge continued walking, as though he didn't hear them. He didn't stop until he reached the very edge of the rooftop. He glanced at them briefly, then he plummeted.

Blue Ranger raced towards the rooftop. It was a fifty-story building they were on. "Wait here. I'll catch him in my delta runner!"

Yellow Ranger grabbed his arm. "Sky-look! He's going to be okay!"

Sky followed her pointed finger. A bubble of dark green surrounded Bridge as they watched his descent slow to a crawl.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Bridge's bubble of green energy dissipated as he landed on the concrete with a small grunt. He stood and looked around. He ran down the alley, trying to make good his escape.

Which, simply put, Jack wasn't going to allow to happen. He grabbed Bridge by the shoulders nad hurled him against the wall. He instantly took extra care when he noticed that Bridge's gloves were off. He fell into a defensive stance.

With a snarl etched on his lips Bridge raised his hands. Green light danced in front of them. Jack raised his eyebrow. He leapt onto a trash can and back-flipped into the air. The blast missed him and exploded into the wall behind him. The entire wall melted. Jack gave it a backwards glance as he grabbed his morpher. "SPD-emergency!"

A split second later he was the Red Ranger. "Let's talk about this, Bridge!"

He was considerably startled to see Bridge raise his own morpher. "SPD-emergency!"

With a back-flip of his own Bridge turned into another ranger-all black with the faintest color of green stripes along his arms and legs. His helmet was black as well.

Holy crap, Red Ranger thought. "I don't want to hurt you, Bridge!"

"Not a problem!" Black Ranger returned, throwing at flying kick at his head. Red Ranger ducked. Black Ranger rebounded smoothly against the wall and back-flipped to land in front of Red Ranger. Red Ranger threw a punch which Black Ranger evaded. The same for a second blow. Red Ranger flipped to the right, his feet kicking at Black Ranger's head. It was a popular move in the training room which Bridge could never successfully avoid despite hours of trying to do to the contrary.

Until now.

Black Ranger back-flipped into the air and landed on the railing of a small stairwell. Red Ranger landed back on his feet. He looked up to see Black Ranger holding perfect balance. With a snarl invisible to anyone else Red Ranger felt for his SPD delta cuffs. This time he wasn't going to hold back his punches. "Delta Blasters!" He took two blasters and fired at the railing, which broke. As he expected, Black Ranger flew forwards and to the left, right where he needed Bridge to be. He fired upwards at the wall to the left of Black Ranger. Immediately it started to rain down concrete. Red Ranger had aimed so that it would completely miss Black Ranger...so long as he didn't move back. He was banking on Bridge knowing that. If he stayed still, or worse, moved forwards, Red Ranger could catch him in the delta cuffs.

To his credit, it almost worked. Bridge was spooked enough to move forwards. But at the last second he twisted away and Red Ranger couldn't snap the second cuff on him.

With a flash of green light the one cuff snapped off his hand. "Ha! Nice try!" Black Ranger said. "Now it's my turn!" Green light exploded from his hands.

Red Ranger reacted instantly. He grabbed the Black Ranger by the shoulders and they both twisted. Black Ranger hadn't expected the move. The fireball flew upwards, rebounded against a metal pole, and hit the ground around them. Both Rangers had a split second to look at each other before the ground caved in around them and they both fell.

They landed through an underground parking lot and fell heavily to the ground. Both had morphed back into their previous selves.

Jack stood, dust falling from his SPD uniform. "This foolishness is going to end!"

"You're right!" Bridge agreed. He spread his arms. "Apocalypse power, now!"

Jack watched as a circle of green light burned around Bridge. The lights began to flicker on and off. Oh, this can't be good, Jack thought. "Bridge, listen to me! Don't do this, man. Remember who you are! You're a member of my team. You're the Green Ranger!"

"I was never one of your puny Rangers!" Bridge returned angrily. It was growing increasingly hard to see him.

Nevertheless, Jack kept his voice steady. "Yes, you were."

All of a sudden, Bridge's face was calm. "It's impossible. To do so I would have to have the velocity of speed times four not to mention the diameter of pi in equal radius. Sorry, just isn't going to happen." He finished with a smug smile.

What? Jack wondered. He stepped forwards. "Bridge...we have to get you help. Please-"

Bridge threw his arm off. His face turned ugly. "I was never the Green Ranger! You're lying to me, and I will destroy the Rangers once and for all!" The green Light intensified, and the ground started to shudder.

"Bridge, scan my mind!" Jack shouted over the noise.

"What?" Either it was disbelief or Bridge simply couldn't hear him over the noise.

Greatly daring, Jack stepped through the field of green light. "You'll know what I'm telling you is the truth!" And with no further warning, he slammed his bare hands against the sides of his head.

A psychic bond was formed. Time slowed around them. Instantly Bridge learned the first thought that ran through Jack's mind. His terror of having his mind read by a psionic, of having his deepest thoughts revealed. It was his greatest fear. But the fact that he was willing to do this for the sake of friendship.

In turn, Jack got a taste of the insanity going through Bridge's mind. Mentally, the former Green Ranger was twisted inside out, and whatever that was left torn to pieces in an endless voice. Everything that was left of Bridge was being directed by a darker, powerful force.

Bridge saw in Jack's mind memories of being the Green Ranger. He saw himself laughing with the other Rangers, fighting with them and not against them, reflections of his teammates, reflections of himself. There used to be a stability and calmness to his life. Now no longer. He sensed a strong stability and structured mind within Jack's, and he clung onto both desperately. Jack let him, as the bond grew deeper the Red Ranger silently cheered as more memories of Bridge washed into Bridge's mind, memories he could use to build upon. It was by no means a total fix, but it would do the trick until they could get him into the SPD. Still, if he could actually reach him...he took a chance in the void. Bridge! Bridge, can you hear me?

In the distance Jack could hear his voice, a stray thought among the Chaos. Oh God, I shouldn't have touched her face HER FACE JACK WE'RE ALL DOOMED!

Jack mentally gave him a shake. Snap out of it! I need you to focus on who you are!

Silence, then his despairing voice. Too much noises in my head...

I know, Bridge. Hang on. We'll get through this! We'll-oof!

Jack's mind snapped back to reality as he was physically hurled backwards. Startled, he looked up and saw Lizard-man gripping Bridge, who was on his knees and only semi-conscious. "Not interrupting anything, I hope!" Lizard-man laughed. He and Bridge disappeared.

Jack stood as the other Rangers approached. "Dammit! I almost had him!"

"You did it once. We'll do it again," Syd said, lending support. "Emergency Transport-now! Let's get out of here!"

[AndromedaAbyss]

Chapter 3-Confrontation, part 1

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/chapter3copy.jpg

An hour later after debriefing Jack walked down the hall and pushed the elevator button, wanting noting more then a decent night's sleep. As the doors opened, he saw Sky leaning against the wall with his arms folded. Apparently he was trying to get to his quarters. Jack stepped in and nodded, silently.

Sky returned the nod. The elevator rose again as Jack pushed the button for his designated crew quarters.

Silence for a moment.

Sky began to whistle.

Jack cleared his throat and did nothing.

After a moment Sky looked up at him. "So how did you lose Bridge again, Jack?"

Jack sighed. "I didn't lose him, Sky. You know what happened."

"Yeah, well, I keep thinking about it over in my head. I wonder if there was anything I could have done if I was there. I mean, Bridge is fast and can hold his own, but against one of us..." Sky shrugged. "I just don't see him winning. Not against a Ranger."

"Whatever happened to him, when he morphed he wasn't fighting like Bridge." Jack pushed the button to his level again, wanting this conversation to be over.

"You know, now that I think about it, Bridge was pretty eager to leave this afternoon's meeting. Almost as though he was sensing something wrong from one of us."

Jack looked down. "Halt life." The elevator shuddered to a stop. Jack leaned against the wall. "All right, Sky. What would you have done differently?"

"Even before everything that happened today, we sucked in the last battle. I know that's what drove Bridge out of here. A Ranger doesn't like your leadership. And it was a Ranger who beat you today. Our weakest one. It's certainly something to think about." The elevator started up again.

Jack folded his hands behind his back and looked up at Sky. "Are you questioning my ability to lead, Sky? Is that what this is all about? Because we've both through this already, you and I?"

Sky straightened. "Yes we have. Any my opinion hasn't changed."

"Which is?"

"That three Rangers who have been said Rangers all their lives are being led by two misfit losers. Sir," Sky added.

"You're so far out of line, cadet, that you probably couldn't see the line if you looked behind you. It's been a long day for all of us, so I won't mention this to Commander Crugar." Jack paused. "But speak to me like that again and I'll bash your head through the wall. Just so you're clear on my fighting skills." The elevator doors opened. Jack looked at it briefly. "Your level, cadet."

Sky hesitated, and held out his hand before the doors closed. "One final thing, sir, you should be aware of. I'm going to be leaving the SPD permanently. I'll stay on for however long it takes to find Bridge. After that, I'm cutting loose."

The doors closed in Jack's startled face.

&&&&&&&&&&

Sky went to his quarters, wanting nothing more then a drink and to lie down. As he walked down the hall he heard the sound of glass shattering, followed by angry shouting. Both Z and Syd were having a fight, he guessed. He arrived at his quarters. What's happening to us? He wondered. 'What the hell is happening to all of us?'

&&&&&&&&&&&&

From far, far away Mora clapped her hands and giggled. "Oh, I am so clever!" she said.

Emperor Gruumm sighed.

"Oh, come on, Gruumm. It's just a little bit of fun. It's not like they can even detect me." She looked at him and her crystal ball flickered off. "Oh, all right. I've given the Rangers plenty enough to think about anyway. Maybe I'll visit them tomorrow." She giggled. "I'll destroy them long before I destroy this world."

"Just as you said you were going to destroy them today!" Gruumm bellowed at Mora.

Mora sucked in her cheeks. "It was more of a test then anything else! Besides, we got Black Ranger's morpher, which is what we wanted!"

Grruumm stared at her angrily.

"Relax. The Rangers won't be a problem. Especially not after our plans reach completion!"

Emperor Gruumm seethed. "How...long?"

Mora hesitated. "Three months. It will take that long for the machine to be built and for his Apocalypse power to reach full potential! If you can think of a better way to do this then I would like to hear it!"

"Every second you delay, Mora, tries my patience!"

Mora suddenly held up her hand, looking alarmed. Her eyes narrowed. "Someone's trying to keep naughty things away from my mind." Her eyes looked to the right.

Gruumm fell silent.

Bridge was sitting on the floor, starring at nothing.

"Bridge? You're being awfully quiet over there," Mora said.

Bridge stood hastily. "I'm just trying to think of a way to destroy the Rangers, M-Mora." Nothing could be further from the truth. Thanks to Jack, he remembered who he was, but he could barely see through the storm in his mind. It was a struggle to hang onto his sanity, or the truth essence of who he was. He had been trying so for the last half hour.

"That's not what I think," Mora said softly. "I think someone's keeping secrets from me. Are you sure you told us everything that happened?"

Bridge folded his gloved hands, mentally battling her mental intrusions. He would not lose himself. He would not lost the others. "Of course, Mora."

Mora smiled. "Well, there's an easy way to make sure, isn't there? Scan my mind again."

Gods, he wouldn't go through that again. He wouldn't survive another look, and he wasn't sure that anyone could pull him b ack again. His body tensed, ready to fight if he had too. "No, I don't think that will be necessary-"

Mora stood. "Why?" she challenged. "Don't you like my mind?"

The time for talking out of this was past. In response, Bridge took out his morpher and put it in front of her. "SPD, emer-"

With a snarl Gruumm's fist connected with his arm from behind, and the morpher flew out of his grip. Startled, Bridge looked behind him. For a guy his size, how had Gruumm snuck up on him? Gruumm had one thick arm around his chest, and Bridge knew the fight was over before it had even began. He kept his arms rigidly at his side.

"Remember a little of who you are, do you? Well, we can fix that in two seconds. His hand, Gruumm!"

With a snarl Gruumm griped Bridge's left hand, and yanked off his glove, which skidded across the floor. With the same hand Gruumm snatch his arm and lifted it up.

Smiling her innocent, child-like smile, Mora took his hand and pressed it against her face.

Bridge gritted his teeth. Jack. Z. Sky. Syd. He repeated it like a mantra. He would not lost them. He would not lose himself again.

But in the end, he did lose.

----------------

Sky sat in his quarters, starring at a picture of his father when the doors chimed. He looked up and gently placed the picture on the table next to the couch. "Come in."

The doors opened, and Syd walked in, holding a large blanket and pillow. She looked as though she was trying very hard not to cry. "Mind if I come in?"

Sky raised his eyebrow. "I'm guessing you're wanting to do more then that. Come in."

Syd dropped her stuff on the ground and sat on the couch next to Sky.

"Let me guess-things aren't going so well with you either," Sky said.

"Z's sprouting the bruises, not me," Syd said.

"Well, you can take Bridge's bunk. For now. Same rule applies that I had with him-any snoring and you're going to get a pillow hurled at you."

Syd noticed his fingers were still touching the picture. "Your father?"

Sky said nothing as he placed the picture inside a drawer. "Yeah. The best of the best among the Rangers. Kind of hard to live up to his reputation. Therefore I'm not going to try."

"Sky, don't-Jack told me what you are going to do-"

"I've already spoken to Crugar. Bridge is going to have my blue morpher while they try Boom out for the Green Ranger. See if both work for them." Sky smiled a little despite himself. "But don't tell Boom that yet."

"I don't see Bridge as a Blue Ranger. I don't see anyone as a Blue Ranger except for you!"

Sky gestured to the corner of the room. "See? My bags are already packed. Ready to go." He sat down heavily in the couch.

"But what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to battle these monsters my own way. As a one-person team. I'm not sure what I can be now, but it's not going to be a Ranger."

Syd thought of something to say, and couldn't. She could only look down, resisting the temptation to cry. Sky looked at her, and looked away. He sighed heavily.

(3 months later)

Early in the afternoon the Rangers assembled in the conference room. The day had started like any other, with each of the Rangers searching an assigned area of the city for Bridge. It was practically routine now. It wasn't like the Rangers had given up hope-far from it. However, every lead they had dried up almost instantly from the start. Simply put, it was as though Bridge had disappeared from the face of the planet.

"Nothing to report from north section," Jack said. "Z?"

Z shook her head. "Nothing."

"Ditto for the East section," Sky said, looking down. He and Jack were no longer on speaking terms. Not since last week when an argument had erupted into demolishing the conference room, on Kat's birthday no less. A birthday that felt already horribly empty. The fight had ended with Sky mistakenly throwing the birthday cake into Kat's face. Even though both Rangers had apologized endlessly to Kat separately, they hadn't spoken a word to each other since, besides the occasional glare at each other. At the moment maintenance workers were still fixing the conference room and keeping their distance well-away from either Sky or Jack.

Jack had expected a serious reprimand from Commander Crugar, and would have eagerly welcomed it. But surprisingly, Crugar made no mention of it, and had for the most part acted like the tension between the Rangers didn't exist.

Jack realized that he had mostly missed Syd's report, but judging from the long faces around the table he doubted it was steller news. Jack stood. "Okay, team, if that's all-"

"It isn't," Commander Crugar said. "Boon has been studying your last encounter with the Black Ranger and has made some interesting conclusions." He gestured with his hand.

Boom stepped forwards. Like everyone else, he had noticed the growing tension between the Rangers. "Hi, um, everyone. First of all, um, the Black Ranger is extremely powerful, but nothing you can't handle. I mean, nothing you need the Orange Ranger for." He frowned. "That's-ahem, a little joke of mine."

Jack smiled faintly. The rest of the other Rangers didn't even try.

"Okay, well, what can the Black Ranger do." The screen lit up to a very crude doodle of a Black Ranger with green light hastily drawn around him. "Well, in his unmorphed form aka Bridge, he can handle not one but three natural abilities, which is very unusual in itself since most Rangers only have one. He can create a shielding around himself similar to the Blue Ranger, except it's way, way more powerful...um, no offense Sky. As you saw from the bank it can also be used to protect himself during long distances." Boom replaced the picture of the Black Ranger with two pictures, one of a stick figure jumping over a rooftop, shouting, 'Goodbye, cruel world!'. The other showed him safely landed.

"The second part is obviously his psionic abilities. No need to go into those. The third is his apocalypse power. Obviously, during the fight with Jack we didn't see the end result. Yesterday, though, I went to the bank and still detected some residual energies, even after all this time. Which means that it was a factor of ten, initially."

"Which means, what, exactly?" Jack asked.

"Which means that if you hadn't stopped him he would have leveled the building into a fine ash."

"Your final analysis?" Crugar asked.

"If he could store his powers long enough, and had enough control, he could easily wipe out an entire city. But no more then that. I mean, unless they built this giant machine to expand his powers. But like that will ever happen!" Boom added with a laugh.

"Anything else?" Sky asked.

"Oh, right! If Bridge can focus hard enough, he could center his energies into what I call an 'Apocalyptic Deathbolt'."

"Catchy," Sky said dryly.

"He would be able to instantly kill a person in two seconds or less. I propose repelling such an attack the following ways." Boom switched over the drawings. The picture showed an Orange Ranger and a yellow Ranger holding hands with a large pink heart between them.

Z straightened, her eyes widening in alarm.

Boom snatched the paper away. "Sorry. I had no idea how that got there." He cleared his throat. "Sky's energy shield should do the trick and in conclusion I'm done with this briefing." Quickly he left the room, still red-faced.

"Rangers, I don't like the implications of this," Crugar said to them. "Even the fact that the Green Ranger could demolish an entire city doubles our priority in finding him."

"With all due respect sir, we don't even know where to begin," Sky said.

Crugar said nothing for a moment. "Do you not sense it, any of you? The strange lack of criminal activity? The sudden quiet? It is the calm before the storm. This fight will not take years to reach our doorstep. My senses tell me that it will take hours. And when it does, each and every one of you will have to be ready. Dismissed for now."

The other Rangers left. Jack hurried out of the room to catch up with Sky. "Sky, we need to talk," he said.

Sky, Z, and Syd stopped. Sky folded his arms. "I think we've said all that's needed to be said."

Jack held up his hands. "Look, I didn't come to fight, okay? I mean, Crugar is right, man. We're off-balanced. Unfocused. Unless we start working as a team we're going to be easy pickings."

Syd and Z looked as though they agreed. "So what exactly do we do then?" Sky asked. "To become a team?"

"Well, what do you suggest?"

"How about cutting us 'real' Rangers some slack?"

Jack stiffened angrily. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've been grinding us into the ground since day one. And does anyone notice that it seems to be only Rangers lately that have gone missing or are almost getting killed? As if there was a general conspiracy to make this a no-Rangers allowed team."

"Sky, that's ridiculous!" Z exploded.

Jack stared at the pink Ranger. "Syd? Do you agree with that?"

Syd said nothing, but kept looking down.

"Syd?"

"Well, it does seem to happen a lot lately!" Syd snapped. "Jack, it was Sky's idea to help me during the bank stakeout!"

Jack shook his head. "I don't believe this! I'm not having this conversation!"

"Yes, you are," Sky replied. "And it's time to decide exactly who leads this group once and for all."

Jack gestured at him. "Why do you care, Sky? You're leaving! You've already given up on this team!" Angrily he walked away.

&&&&&&&&&&&

In the lower levels of the academy Jack sat leaning against the wall with his hand to his head. He felt sick. It felt like the room was spinning around him and he had no way to control it.

"Cadet?"

Jack looked up to see Commander Crugar looking down at him. Instantly he started to rise. "Sorry sir, I didn't see you-"

Crugar waved that away. "That is obvious. May I join you?'

Jack nodded, and Crugar sat down next to him. "Can I ask you something, sir?"

"Of course."

"Are you sure you made the right choice by giving me the Red Morpher?"

"A Ranger should never doubt himself, cadet. Especially in a time like this."

"But that's just it, sir-I'm not a Ranger. Sky, Bridge, Syd-they've had years of SPD training! I'm losing the team, sir. Sky was right. I'm not cut out to lead! You've picked the wrong guy."

"A Ranger is not determined by years of training, cadet. Over a lifetime men and woman your age have been chosen with no training, no idea who or what they are and how to deal with the power they were given. I personally think it is people like that, people who can rise above to the call of duty that creates more of a Ranger, unlike years of preparation can bestow."

"Then why do I feel this way? Sir?" Jack asked.

Crugar said nothing for a moment. "I want to show you something, cadet." He handed Jack a data sheet.

Jack looked at it without much interest. "Power Readings?"

"Not just any. We've detected them for the past two hours, but they've been here for the past three months. They're psionic readings. For the longest time I've noticed all four of you Rangers acting oddly towards each other. I wasn't sure why, until now."

Jack stared at the sheet again. "Bridge!" he whispered in astonishment, standing. "He's doing this to us!"

"Maybe the reason why we couldn't find him all this time is because he's been here, right under our very noses," Crugar said.

"Do the others know?"

"Yes, and at the moment they're awaiting our signal. We've pinpointed a heat signature in the maintenance tunnels below the ground floor."

Jack nodded. "I'll go get him, sir."

"Not just yet," Crugar said. "First, there's something I want to show you."

Crugar and Jack walked down the hall. "Throughout the ages, the dangers of a Ranger falling under corruption was just too great. Therefore, precautions were taken to prevent that from happening." He entered a keycode, and the massive doors opened to a room that all the Rangers had wondered about, but never had access too. Arching an eyebrow, Crugar motioned him inside.

Jack looked around in astonishment. Within it were glass displays holding instruments and in some cases, uniforms he didn't even remotely recognize. "What is this place?"

"Consider it a museum. An achieve of all the Rangers before you. Back in the day." Crugar paused a moment in reflection, before opening a glass case. Within it was a morpher, much larger then Jack's. Nevertheless, it still had the glowing SPD logo. Crugar gave it to him. "This is what you need. It is a Red Ranger morpher, designed to hunt down and trap other Rangers. It carries all your basic functions. It has the power to boost your energy even further. It can also restrain a Ranger within a field, force him or her to morph back into their previous form, and in extreme cases, use a judgement call on him."

Jack stared at it. "Wow...thanks, Commander."

Crugar nodded. "Tell no one else, cadet, not even your fellow Rangers. Consider it a secret weapon."

Jack stared at the morpher, feeling a surge of hope travel through him for the first time.

[AndromedaAbyss]

Chapter 4-Rangers Renewed


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/chapter5copy.jpg


Crugar and Jack returned to the conference room, where the others were gathered. "Rangers, apologies for keeping you waiting," Crugar began. "As you have undoubtably heard, we have a situation in the tunnels underneath the Academy. A psionic, possibly Cadet Carson, has been sending psionic waves to your four alone. These signals toy with your emotions and cloud your judgement. This explains your erratic behavior over the past few months."

Jack thought of all the drawings he had hung up in his room of the Red Ranger beating up the Blue Ranger, and wisely decided that Crugar must be right.

"This also explains your inability to locate Cadet Carson."

Sky looked up and folded his arms. "Looks like we found him now."

"Possibly, but we cannot leapt to conclusions. The Academy has been on high alert since the day he left. It is highly unlikely that he, or anyone else could have entered undetected. This could be a trap. The heat signature might be coming from a fake signal and the psionic energy from a planted conduit."

Jack nodded. "Whatever it is, we'll take care of it, sir."

"I expect no less. Rangers, move out."
--------------------
Jack opened the small hatch, and he and the other Rangers climbed into the lower tunnels. It was pitch-black and they could barely see anything. They were armed with flashlights and SPD morphers. As Jack climbed down the ladder to where the source was he was anticipating a fight.

But as it turns out, he was in for a big surprise. Standing in front was not Bridge, but an eight- year-old girl. She was standing alone, by herself.

"Can you help me?" she asked. "I think I'm lost."

Sky automatically stepped forwards. They still had no idea where Bride was, and the girl could be in danger.

Jack stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. He didn't buy it for one minute. "Sky, don't touch her."

The girl smiled thinly. "Figured me out, did you? Well, you're smarter then you look. Which is saying a lot."

"Who are you?" Jack demanded.

"I am Mora. And you are the power Rangers. Honestly, I did expect a little better."

"You're a psionic," Sky said.

Mora fixed him with a cold glare. "Among other more powerful things. Much more. Shall I give you a demonstration of my power?" She lifted her hand, and her eyes turned yellow. Green light danced between her fingers. "It only takes a single thought for me to kill you all. But I have found you amusing. You are my playthings, to do with as I want. Don't try my patience."

"You've been doing this to us the entire time!" Jack said.

Mora rolled her eyes. "Please. All I really did was enhance your natural feelings for each other. Your petty bickering." Mora eyed Sky and Syd. "Or your mutual attractions."

"Come on," Z said. "We can get her if we all take her at once!"

Mora laughed. "Would you now! To think that you stand any chance against me! But there's a problem. You see, I'm not really here." With another laugh Mora disappeared.

Jack touched the air where she disappeared. "A hologram."

Sky shrugged. "Great! So now what do we do?"

Z didn't reply. She bent down and picked up something from the shadows. Silently she handed it to Jack.

It was a glass ball.

Jack stared at it for a long moment. He glanced at the other Rangers. "Crugar said that there had to be a conduit, and I bet this is it." Angrily he smashed the globe against the railing. Instantly power shot through his body and his vision exploded with red light. Certainty replaced doubt in his mind as strength surged through his body. He felt, for the first time, his mind begin to clear. He felt like a Ranger.

As he turned he saw the others surrounded by auroras of their respected colors-blue, yellow, and pink. His teammate's faces were serene, and became more certain. Gradually the light faded to nothing.

Jack released a held breath. "Mora's held us back with her tricks for far too long. It's time to finish this, once and for all."

"We still don't know where they are," Syd said, her voice steady.

Jack smiled a little. "Yes, we do. We've just got to use our heads. Everything that has happened to us has been planned from day one, and something has been bothering me. They needed Bridge because of his psionic power. I get that. But immediately after that they went after his morpher. Why?"

"So he could become a Ranger," Sky said, as though that should be obvious.

"Uh-huh. Remember what Boom said, though-Bridge could use his powers without his morpher. Hardly a stellar reason for them to open up their plans to us."

Syd thought about it. "We can't turn into a megazord without it," she said.

"Well we could. We'd just be legless," Sky offered.

"So far, so good. What can a megazord do that we can't?"

Z thought about it. "Destroy large monsters, destroy buildings, destroy large machines..." Z paused. "You don't really think they're building a large machine to amplify Bridge's power, do you?'

"Know it? I'm banking on it," Jack said.

Sky shook his head. "That still leaves us at square one. We don't know where they are."

"Even easier," Z said. "Remember, all of this was planned carefully." Her boot brushed against the broken glass. "I'm betting this device was here, up to the time Bridge left. After Jack exploded-"

"Hey, I did not explode," Jack said.

"Which means..." Z raised her eyebrow.

Sky suddenly smiled as he leaned back against the railing. "Which means we're going to be ordering pizza tonight."

Jack nodded. "Let's go." He glanced briefly at Sky. Sky nodded once.

It was all that was needed.
--------------------
The doors to the kitchen flew open, breaking as they did so, and the cadets entered. "Hello, Shrian," Jack greeted.

The monster looked up from the stove, startled.. "Rangers! What are you doing here?"

"Well, strange you should mention it. We're looking for someone. About yea big, wearing green and black, able to destroy the whole world?" Sky asked. "We just figured you might have seen him."

"Why...why would you think such a thing?"

"Because you set up the fight earlier that morning that led to his capture," Syd replied. She held up a fighting stance.

"And look what I found!" Z said, plucking something up from the counter. She lifted it. It was an SPD badge. "Where did this come from, Shrian?"

"A charity fund-raiser. They were giving them out in boxes."

Sky rolled his eyes. "Can we beat him up now?"

Shrian pointed. "Krybots, get them!"

"Yeah, I think he's guilty," Jack said as the Krybots rushed them. Jack caught one in his arms and hurled him backwards. The Krybot slammed against a glass case. The Krybots rushed at them as one. Trouble was, they were in a very narrow and confined kitchen. Sky grabbed one and threw it out of the broken doors. It hurled onto the table of a very surprised customer. Raising his eyebrow, Sky went back into the kitchen.

As the other Rangers dealt with the Krybots, Jack moved forwards and gripped Shrian by his shirt. "I've been having a really bad day, Shrian, and I'm itching to kick some monster butt! So you've got two seconds to tell me what I want to know before I break your arm!" Jack said.

"Ha! You don't scare me! Torture me, kill me! I'll never tell you anything!"

Meanwhile, Sky dodged a blow from a Krybot, and from the stove he grabbed a pot and slammed it against the Krybot's head. Pasta fell to the ground.

"No!" Shrian shouted. "Careful, you clumsy oaf!"

Sky didn't hear him. He slammed another pot at another Krybot. Flour flew onto the floor.

"No!" Shrian shouted.

Jack noticed this. "Sky-hold up! Call off your Krybots, Shrian, or else we'll start to create a real mess!"

"Okay, okay! Krybots, cease and desist!"

The Krybots ran out.

"Fond of your food, are you?" Z asked. "Every monster has one weakness!"

"I can't! Don't you understand me? I can't!"

Sky leaned against the stove. "Better start blabbing, Shiran. Jack and I are renowned for our food fighting at the academy, aren't we?"

"And they can get really ugly. So if I were you, I'd give you," Jack said, starring at Shrian.

"What-what do you want to know!?"

"For starters, who is this Mora?" Jack demanded.

"Mora is...well, Mora! She is the creator of all! Everyone single battle you've faced, every single monster, has been because of her will alone!"

"So if we take down this Mora-" Z began.

"Ha, good luck! She is protected by none other then Emperor Gruumm, champion of planets. He hardly has to worry about a bunch of snot-nosed brats!"

Jack's grip tightened on his shirt. "Where is Bridge?" he demanded. "And you better not lie to me."

"I'll never tell! You ask too much, Ranger!"

Sky, get the vinegar out of the fridge and pour it over that pizza on the table-"

Shrian held up his hands. "Okay, okay! I did see something like that yesterday! Seemed a little out of his head. Of course if I knew he was one of you Rangers, I would have of course alerted the SPD!"

"Oh, give us a break, Shrian," Z snapped. "Just tell us where they are and you can keep your lousy restaurant!"

"They've got an operation out of town. About sixty-five miles north in the mountains."

"They're trying to annihilate everyone in the world, and you're just letting them!?" Syd demanded.

"Not everyone! Just those they choose to annihilate! Namely, you! Shiran said.

"When is this supposed to happen?"

"I don't know! Today...I think."

Jack said nothing for a moment, starring at Shrian closely. "Come on." He touched the oven. "By the way, your spaghetti sauce is burning."

As Shrian hurried to the stove Jack turned around. "All right, team, let's go. Who know's what they're doing even as we speak?"
------------------------
Bridge was leaning against the rock wall. "I'm hungry," he declared.

"I'm bored," Lizard-man replied.

"I'm hungry and bored."

"So am I!"

Silence for a moment.

"I'm more bored then you."

"Oh, shut up, human! I have it worse then you! This blasted sunlight is giving me a headache beyond your comprehension!"

"I saw infinity in Mora's mind once. That caused quite a headache, believe me. Did I ever tell you about infinity? It goes something like this. Three times four-"

"Human, if you don't stop jabbering, I'll pull out your vocal cords and leave them dangling in front of your eyes!"

Silence for another moment.

"Wanna play truth or dare?" Bridge asked.

A sudden scream interrupted Lizard man's reply. "Oh no."

Bridge rolled his eyes, and they both straightened and moved over to where Emperor Gruumm was.

The Emperor was shouting at the Krybots. "You, get that crane up! You, finish that section! Where's my coffee I ordered!?"

Smirking a little, Bridge took a sip from the coffee cup he was holding.

Emperor Gruumm turned and pointed at him. "You! You took it! You took my coffee!'

"Well, I didn't see your name on it?" Bridge said. He held it up. "Or is there? Emperor Gruumm, hm-"

"That was my only one! I hope you're happy with yourself!"

"Actually, not really. Who does drink decaf anyway?"

With a roar Gruumm snatched the cup away. Bridge jumped backwards to avoid a large coffee stain, and only just in time. "You try my patience, Ranger! I'm sick of you and your constant babble ending in words that make no sense!"

"Oh yeah? Well I'm sick of your constant temper tantrums and banana grapevine offspring!"

"I could kill you in an instant!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Bridge challenged, holding a fighting stance. Green light spread from his hands.

Throughout this time Mora had remained motionless, her hands poised over her crystal ball. Suddenly she cried out. "Youch!"

Gruumm and Bridge glanced at Mora, their fight temporary forgotten. "Mora, what is it?" Gruumm demanded, falling to his knees.

"It's just a little sliver. In my mind! No thanks to the Rangers!"

Gruumm took her hands. "You should take care of yourself more on this world, Mora! If I could, I would present myself on my knees to the Power Rangers to keep you safe!"

"That really wouldn't take much presenting," Bridge said.

With a roar Gruumm stood. "That's it! This time, no mercy!" He punched a few times at Bridge, who dodged each blow neatly.

"OH, STOP IT!" Mora shouted. Immediately Gruumm and Bridge were hurled backwards.

Mora stood. "Honestly, you two! The Power Rangers know about our plans! Now is not the time for us to bicker!"

With a glare Gruumm stood, as did Bridge. "I don't see why we need him! All of his powers stem from you, Mora! Why can't you operate the machine!?"

"Because, idiot, the machine will probably kill anyone who does operate it after a long period of time!" Mora snapped.

"What? Why are you saying it out loud? In front of him!?"

"Because, I have destroyed his puny brain so one way or another he...won't...care," Mora said, emphasizing the words slowly.

Bridge's eyes widened when he saw a Krybot walking by with a tray of coffee cups. "Yes! Finally!"

Mora said nothing for a moment. "The Rangers will be here soon. I'll leave nothing to chance. We must begin now. Bridge! Coffee break over!" She paused. "I heard what you just said!"
---------------------------
A few minutes later they had climbed up the rock face and stared upwards at the massive machine. "It's almost built," Emperor Gruumm said in satisfaction.

"Give it some power, Bridge!" Mora encouraged.

Bridge raised his eyebrows and with a smile took off his glove. "Easiest thing in the world," he said. Green light shot up from his hands into the machine above. Immediately it started up and shot a beam of grey light into the sky. The sky, once cloudless, began to darken. A sharp wind began to rise up around them.

"There's not much more we can do until it is fully completed," Mora said. "But now that it's started up it can never be stopped. Come. We have work to do."

Still with a smile, Bridge placed his glove back on and hurried to join Mora and Gruumm.
-----------------------
As soon as they approached the area they immediately noticed the sky darkening, even though there wasn't a cloud in the sky. "It's starting," Sky said.

Jack broke into a run. "Let's go, Rangers!"

A few minutes later they arrived at the machine's construction site. Their opponents were waiting for the Rangers, standing on top of the cliff. Lizard-man was to the far left, Bridge in the middle with his green arms folded, and to the right a massive creature whom Jack could only assume was Emperor Gruumm. There was no sign of Mora. "I'll stop Bridge," Jack said.

"Syd and I will take Lizard-man," Z said.

Sky shrugged. "Big ugly brute is just fine with me," he said.

The one called Emperor Gruumm shouted. "Rangers, listen to me! We'll give you this one chance to surrender! We promise to kill you mercifully." Even as he spoke, he crossed his fingers behind his back.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me!" Syd said.

Z grabbed Jack's arm. "Jack-look."

Jack did, and saw green light pulsing along the machine. It had already started up.

"Oh, and did we mention that there is a hundred Krybots between us and you?" Gruumm asked. They appeared from the sides and lined up in formation in between them.

Jack released a deep breath. "Whatever happens, we have got to bring that machine down," he said.

"Kill them!" Gruumm shouted.

"Rangers?" Jack called.

"Ready!"

TBC.

[AndromedaAbyss]

Here's the next chapter, if people are interested. :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/chapter6.jpg



Like a rolling avalanche the Krybots attacked them. Jack and the others wasted no time. "SPD-emergency!"

With a flash of light the cadets morphed into Rangers. Jack still retained his original morpher and used it. He didn't want Bridge to see that he had the upper hand, not yet. "Blue Ranger, tactical strategy c-five, now!"

Red and Blue Rangers stood back-to-back and took out their delta blasters, spinning in a constant circle as they fired. Twenty Krybots went down within minutes, but more were regrouping. Jack knew that he had to take Bridge down right away. He had to trust that the other Rangers could handle the Krybots. "Sky! If something happens to me, take care of the others!" he shouted.

Blue Ranger barely had time to nod before a Krybot came rushing at his face.

Red Ranger didn't look back. He morphed back into Jack and broke into a run. He jumped off the rock and launched into the air. He landed on the narrow cliff side next to Bridge and looked down below, stunned by his sudden agility. He looked up quickly and held out his hands. They were on a very narrow edge of the cliff. Not a lot of room to maneuver."Bridge, if you can hear me-"

Bridge threw a punch at Jack's side. Jack blocked it and shoved him away. He launched off the rock face, kicking Bridge in the back. Bridge was propelled forwards and whirled around, assuming a defensive stance as Jack landed. Bridge was still Bridge, and as long as he stayed unmorphed, he still fought like Bridge. And when it came to fighting, no one could beat Jack. As Bridge lunged at him Jack flipped effortlessly to the right. As he landed he aimed a high-kick at Bridge, who ducked it as he maneuvered around Jack. Bridge kicked Jack in the side, who backed up a few steps and held a defenseless stance. As Bridge landed a punch Jack caught his wrist. Bridge aimed another blow at Jack's head. Jack ducked it and twisted. Bridge flew to the ground and Bridge kicked upwards. As Jack struggled to regain his balance Bridge flipped backwards onto his feet.

Jack backed away, starring at Bridge carefully as the two Rangers circled easy other. Most of Jack's mind didn't even recognize Bridge anymore. He was an opponent, one that needed to be brought down hard and fast. He didn't want to morph though, not yet. If he did there would be no way he could establish a telepathic connection again. So long as he kept Bridge busy, and expending his powers, he was doing more then enough. Now if he could just get his hands on him...

In the next attack Jack managed to get Bridge to lose his balance for two seconds. He was able to twist Bridge's arm behind his back. Bridge instantly tried to elbow him with his other arm but Jack blocked that and held both arms in place. "All right, listen to me! You are one of the power Rangers! You're our friend Bridge, and we want you back!"

Bridge stamped down on his foot. The SPD regulation boots didn't just look comfy-they were steel-toed. Jack immediately released Bridge in an attempt to find balance as he hoped on one foot. Grabbing onto Jack, Bridge hurled him to the left against the rock face wall and grabbed his morpher. "SPD, emergen-"

At the last second Jack launched himself off the cliff face and kicked the morpher away from Bridge. It skidded across the ground.

Both Rangers assumed battle stances, ready to begin another round.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Blue Ranger was suddenly hurled backwards from a kick to his chest by a Krybot. The back of his shoulder connected with a rock as he suddenly demorphed. With a hiss the Krybot ran right at the fallen Ranger.

Pink Ranger slammed her wrist against the Krybot's neck, and he flipped over backwards. "Sky, what happened?" Pink Ranger demanded, running over to him.

"I demorphed," Sky said, looking at his hands. "I'm not sure why..."

Booming laughter above them. Sky looked up and saw Emperor Gruumm pointing at them. "Is this all the rangers can accomplish on their own? I can't believe I wasted months to take you out!"

His face set in a sneer, Sky slowly stood, wiping blood from his lip. "He's mine."

Pink Ranger nodded. "We'll hold the fort down here. You do what you have to do!"

Sky barely gave her another glance as he ran straight towards the cliffs.

One of the Krybots launched a flying kick in her direction. Pink Ranger stepped back and blocked. As the Krybot landed she kicked it on the back. The yellow Ranger wasn't too far from her position.

Suddenly, both Rangers demorphered and fell to the ground from the unexpected shock. Immediately both looked up as the Krybots rushed towards them. They weren't SPD cadets for nothing. Both landed on their feet in an instant and rushed to meet the forces attacking them.

"Time to even up the situation again!" Syd shouted. She held up her morpher. "SPD, emergency!"

Zwhhat!

Syd stared at her morpher. "What? Why isn't this working?"

Laughter answered her. Lizard-Man was moving fast towards them. "Too bad, Rangers! Now you have no power!"

"That happened to Bridge last time too!" Z said. "Five bucks says that it's because of him! We need to put some distance between us!"

Lizard Man continued laughing at them.

"No good!" Syd said. "Come on, we can still win if we work together! We don't need our morphers!"

Syd and Z acted as one. They both grabbed a Krybot's fist and both kicked him away. They fought together, never stopping, each one protecting the other, until they made it to Lizard-man.

"Great. Me against a couple of girls," Lizard-man hissed. "I sure got the short end of the stick there."

Syd assumed an attack stance. "Don't be so sure, tough guy."

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sky climbed up the narrow path to the cliff where Emperor Gruumm was waiting for him. The Emperor lifted his axe. "So, they send the Blue Ranger after me. Disappointing. I was kind of banking on the leader."

"Well, I'll guess you'll have to settle with me," Sky countered.

Gruumm was still chuckling. "You're scrawny. I'll be done with you in five minutes." He swung his massive axe. Sky dodged and rolled through the air. Gruumm swung again, and Sky leapt backwards. This time it missed him by half a whisper.

"Stand still for a moment, will you?" Gruumm shouted.

Sky dodged the next hit. Breathing hard, he took out his morpher. He should have given it enough time to recharge. "SPD, emergency!" A split-second later he turned into the blue ranger. He nimbly leapt through the air and held onto the rock face wall. He leapt down, about to kick Gruumm in the head. Gruumm grabbed Blue Ranger by the waist and threw him to the ground. Blue Ranger flipped backwards, avoiding yet another attempt to be sliced in two. "Is that the best you can do, Gruumm? I thought you were supposed to be tough!"

"Oh, you want some more power? All right, little one, if that's the way you want it!" Gruumm lifted his hand and a bolt of lightning hit the rocks overhead the Blue Ranger. There was nowhere to run. The ledge was too narrow. Blue Ranger could only protect his head with his hands as his body was pushed into the ground.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

As Jack kicked Bridge away he sighed inwardly. Bridge clearly wasn't going to stop and listen to reason. He took out his special morpher. "SPD, Hunter's-" He said that just as Bridge ran up the rock face to give him momentum to do a flying kick.

A split second too late, Jack knew what was going to happen. Bridge's boot crashed against his chest. Jack flipped through the air and collapsed against the ground. The morpher skidded out of his hand.

Bridge landed in a somersault roll and was on his feet in a second.

Gritting his teeth, Jack reached forwards to grab the morpher. All of a sudden it flew out of his hand by its own power. Jack looked up, and judging by the slight widening in Bridge's eyes he hadn't caused it either.

The two Rangers watched, stunned, as the morpher levitated high above to where Mora was perched on the edge of a cliff. "What a strange contraption this is! It's certainly not very fair, now is it? We should do away with it at once!" She flicked it with her tiny fingers, and it went sailing past them into the fighting below.

"No!" Jack groaned, but it was too late.

Mora stared at Bridge. "What are you doing? Finish him off so you can get back to the machine!"

"I'm trying! But you know it's not as easy to do as it looks!" Bridge paused. "Plus, you know, if other people are watching me then-"

Mora sucked in her cheeks and disappeared. But not before Bridge heard her last words. "I'm not very happy with you!"

Jack struggled to get up. His chest hurt, but he was sure nothing was broken. He hurled himself at Bridge, wanting nothing more to end this-now! Before he could even get close, however, a flash of green light blinded him, and Jack was hurled backwards.

His shield, Jack thought. Oh right, his shield.

Jack was thrown backwards with such intensity that he fell of the edge where nothing but a sure death awaited. But suddenly, a sure hand gripped his arm and pulled him back.

Bridge? He's...he's saving me?

Gritting his teeth Bridge pulled him back. Jack swayed on his feet, held only by Bridge's hands supporting him. "Bridge...you.." Jack began.

With a roll of his eyes Bridge flipped him onto the ground, and one kick later the Red Ranger was out cold.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Fool!"

Startled, Bridge turned around and looked up to see Mora with her arms crossed and pouting.

"Why did you save his life? Why?"

Bridge shook his head, confused. "I don't really know." There was a reason why when he had glimpsed into Jack's terror-stricken face, but it escaped him now.

"Well, push him over the side, then. We've got work to do!" Mora snapped.

Bridge crossed his arms and stared at the fallen leader. He sighed and shook his head.

"Are you insane?"

"Well, actually, yes," Bridge said. "Thanks to you."

Mora rolled her eyes. "All right, fine. Leave him alone. Just get up there and get things started!" Angrily she pointed at the machine towering above them.

Bridge nodded, and grabbed his fallen morpher. Behind him Mora disappeared again. As he climbed up the narrow path he paused a moment to rub his temples with his gloved hands. He had such a headache incoming. What was happening to him?

"Hello, cadet," Crugar said, standing in front of him when Bridge next looked up.

"Commander?" Bridge asked. "Not that I'm not happy to see you-a dog, that's always been my favorite animal when I was a kid and you're quite the decent commander, but this is a really bad time right now!"

"You're sounding more and more like yourself. It is as I expected."

"Expected?"

"I never told anyone this, Cadet. Each of you is bound and protected by a powerful force, as is all rangers in history. It is a force so powerful that foes like Mora and Gruumm hold no chance against it. We call it the Call of the Rangers. Your mind will heal, Bridge, but you have to give it more time. You have to stop what you're doing. Now. Or else the world will end."

Bridge tried to listen, but then a girl's voice sang softly in his head. "I can't do that, sir."

"Bridge-"

"No!" Bridge shouted, and green light hurled from his fingertips. The image of Crugar shattered into a thousand pieces.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

At the SPD base Kat shook her head. "We've lost the signal," she said. "Unable to triangulate again."

Crugar sighed. "It doesn't matter. We did what we set out to do. I've given the others enough time."

"For what?" Kat asked, honestly asked.

"For the hunter morpher to fall into the hands of another. As I knew it would."

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sky had taken the hit hard. He had unmorphed back into his previous form and was covered by rubble. Blood ran down his head. And, he had lost his own morpher somewhere too. He could hear Emperor Gruumm laughing. "So this is all the mighty Power Rangers can hope to accomplish by themselves!" he said. His back was turned to Sky in contempt.

Sky gritted his teeth as his hand finally latched onto his morpher. He held it up. And stared in astonishment. It wasn't his, but...could this possibly be what he thought it was? He had heard stories about it from his dad's journals. He stood up, oblivious to Emperor Gruumm's presence. He looked up and saw Bridge's retreating form up the cliff side.

Sky knew what he had to do.

He lifted up the morpher. "SPD, Hunter's emergency!"

"Huh?" Emperor Gruumm demanded, whirling around.

Instantly Sky morphed with a flash of light. Much to his disappointment, he was still a blue ranger, but power surged through him, power he had never even felt before. For a moment he was overwhelmed. He was sure he could do anything. At the moment, he needed to do only one thing. "Don't go anywhere, Emperor!" Blue Hunter leapt up onto the rock and jumped impossibly high into the air. He landed right in front of Bridge, who looked more then a little understandably startled to see him.

Blue Hunter lifted his hand. "One way or another, Bridge, this ends right now with you going down!"

Bridge narrowed his eyes, and lifted his own morpher. "SPD, emergency!"

A split second later he morphed into Black Ranger.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Syd smiled as she deposited Lizard-man to the ground, all tied up and ready for SPD. "Still think we're not a match for you?" she taunted him.

A half-muffled groan was their reply.

Z stepped forwards. Syd followed her gaze and saw Blue Hunter and Black Ranger high above. Each of them rushed forwards and attacked each other, both of them more powerful and faster then they had ever been, even as Rangers. To the human eye, they moved as a blur. "Think we should try to help Sky?"

Syd shook her head. "I think we would only get in his way!"

At first it seemed as though both were evenly matched. From the edge both caught each other's intended punch for each other and were held in place. "Give up while you still can, Sky!" Black Ranger demanded.

"Me, surrender? I think you've got that backwards, Bridge," Blue Hunter returned. "And here I was going easy on you. But you're messing with powers you can't even comprehend!" With that, he punched Black Ranger. From his perspective, it was like being hit with a battering ram. He crashed against the rock face and slid to the ground.

From the ground Syd jumped and cheered. "Ha-ha! Yes!"

&&&&&&&&&&&&

High above Emperor Gruumm watched this and took out his gun. He aimed at the Blue Hunter. "This will take him out!"

On the ground right beside him Jack stirred and opened his eyes. He took the situation in at a glance and delivered a crippling blow to the back of Emperor Gruumm's knee. Emperor Gruumm fell forwards and the shot missed Blue Hunter.

Not even noticing his near-miss, Blue Hunter fought as the Black Ranger continued his attack. But it was clear that Black Ranger was tiring. Blue Hunter delivered another blow that sent Black Ranger sprawling to the ground.

Blue Hunter lifted the morpher. "SPD, emergency morph-back!"

A ball of blue energy hit Black Ranger. Much to Sky's relief, he had morphed back into Bridge and he would have to stay that way for a few minutes at least. Blue Hunter stole a glance to see how everyone else was doing and saw the Krybots scattering away from Syd and Z. "Looks like your pals are on the run!"

"Not all of them," a girl's voice sang above him. Blue Hunter turned just a searing green fireball hit him and threw him backwards. Coughing, Blue Hunter was too weak to maintain the morph and turned back into Sky.

Mora fixed Bridge with an ugly glare. "Get up there, Bridge! We don't have a lot of time!" She disappeared.

Bridge looked up at the machine and ran up the narrow path.

Out of nowhere Sky dived on top of them and both cadets fell to the ground. Sky stood. He felt so incredibly drained, but he had to finish this."SPD, emergency restraints!"

A chain of blue light shot out of the morpher and wrapped around Bridge's arms, who looked at it with only a vague surprise. Green light extended from his body and broke the chains. He stood, shaking them off.

Sky swallowed. Bridge still might be too strong for a judgement call to work. Still, he had to try. "SPD, emergency judgement call!" he shouted.

"Apocalypse focus, now!" Bridge shouted. Green energy shot from his hand, aimed at Sky.

At the last second Sky panicked. He dropped the morpher and created a shield around himself which protected his body. Green light clashed to burn against the blue. Sky gritted his teeth. Bridge did not relent on his power. Neither did Sky. The light between them grew brighter, burning against Sky's irises. Sweat from the exertion poured against Sky's forehead. He wondered how long he could keep this up.

In the end, neither side won. The energies between them exploded. Bridge skidded backwards, already unconscious. Sky's end wasn't so merciful and he smashed the back of his head against the face wall before he fell heavily to the ground.

It was only a question of who would wake up first.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Jack couldn't afford to see how Sky was doing. He had his own problems.

"So. The high-and-mighty leader. Funny. Somehow I'd imagine you a little taller," Emperor Gruumm said.

Jack didn't bother to dignify that with a reply. He took out his morpher. "SPD, emergency!" A split-second later he morphed into the Red Ranger, ready for action.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sky's eyes opened as life returned to his body.

But by then, Bridge was already up and headed towards him to finish Sky off. Bridge blocked his flimsy attempt to hit him and wrapped his hands around Sky's throat.

Sky gasped. The world was rapidly greying around his eyes. He looked down and stared at Bridge's gloved hands. Sky didn't hesitate and moved his bare hands under Bridge's sleeves. As his thumbs touched Bridge's bare skin Sky's vision exploded with light.

The plan worked, but not as Sky wanted. The pressure on his throat eased, but Sky was only partially aware. He only saw a massive void in front of him. A void with no sign of Bridge and worse, was threatening to draw Sky in as well. Try as he might, Sky couldn't break free. He couldn't fight back. He could only watch helplessly as he was only seconds away from being devoured.

And when that happened, there would be two Rangers the SPD would have to worry about, not one.

TBC.

[TBF]

I just read the entire thing so far, and it's REALLY good.

[AndromedaAbyss]

Thanks! Sorry this took so long to update. Here's the end of the story.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/sacrificecopy.jpg


A second later Sky's eyes blazed angrily as he fought Bridge's grip. No. He wasn't going to lose this way. He was inside Bridge's mind. He could use his telepathic power!

And use it he did.

Syd, help! Break us apart! Syd!

For a moment Sky heard nothing. Then...

I'm already on it, Sky!

"Hiya!"

The flying kick connected with Sky's jaw, the only good hit she could have done at that angle. As she landed Syd gave Bridge another kick for good measure. Both Rangers flew apart, and Sky felt the connection between them break with a jolt. Bridge slid backwards against the ground and didn't get up.

Syd ran over and helped Sky to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Sky said, massaging his jaw. "I'll be fine. Go, help Z. I'll finish this up!"

As she left Sky turned his head. Bridge was stirring and struggling to stand up.

"Don't do this, Bridge," Sky said, taking out his morpher. He didn't want to use a judgement call, but he would if he had too. "Don't get up!"

Bridge glanced at him briefly, his eyes burning with hate. He took off his glove and green light burned through the air.

Sky didn't hesitate. "SPD, emergency judgement call!"

Instantly a black void enveloped them both, but this was one Sky was used too. "You are charged with attempting to destroy the world, being in league with Mora, and a whole host of other grievances one of which is trying to kill me! How do you answer the charges?"

The meter flashed red, signaling guilty. A split second later it changed to green.

Then red.

Then green.

Then red.

Back and forth this went on for a minute, far longer then it should have. Suddenly the morpher built up in power, so much so that Sky's hand began to shake. Blue light blossomed out of the morpher, burning with so much intensity that Sky couldn't directly see anything. "Woah, hey! Stop!"

The blue light surrounded both of them. Sky squeezed his eyes shut.

The morpher flashed guilt and innocence at the same time.

Then it exploded into a dozen pieces in Sky's hand.

The void disappeared and Sky fell to the ground. He looked up and for a moment Sky panicked. Bridge was still free! Something fluttered in his hand. Sky automatically looked down. There was a card in his hand. On it was a picture of the black Ranger. Sky looked up, confused. There couldn't be two people. The plan was to contain Bridge and sort out what was him and what Mora had created later at the SPD base.

Unless...could the morpher have already done that?

Sky ran over to Bridge after carefully making sure the card was tucked away in his belt. Bridge's eyes were squeezed shut and a bruise was forming on his forehead. "Bridge? Bridge, can you hear me? Say something!"

Bridge sat up, rubbing his head. "Yeow! What hit me?"

"How do I know you're really you? Say something only Bridge could possibly say!" Sky ordered.

Bridge was still massaging his head. "I haven't felt this bad since I scanned Mora's mind! Hey, wanna know the secret of infinity? It involves mathematics and a dog's tail and-"

"Okay, you're Bridge." Sky put away the morpher. He helped Bridge stand.

"What happened, anyway?" Bridge asked.

"I don't have a lot of time to explain! Suffice to say, you went insane and helped Mora, Emperor Gruumm and some guy who can interfere with our morphing ability to build a machine that can wipe out everyone on earth! Any questions?"

"No, I think that summed things up pretty nicely," Bridge said.

&&&&&&&&&

Bridge and Sky ran down the narrow path to join Syd, Jack and Z at the bottom. Sky looked at the dozens of bodies of Krybots. "What happened?"

"We kicked Krybot butt, that's what happened," Z said smugly.

"You all right?" Jack asked Sky.

Sky nodded. "Not a problem."

Jack looked away, his mind elsewhere. One moment he had been fighting Emperor Gruumm, the next he suddenly disappeared with a laugh. And why did the Krybots flee for their lives? He looked up and noticed that Bridge definitely stood apart from the others. Their eyes met. Jack crossed his arms and stared at him with a look of deep intensity.

Bridge couldn't meet his gaze. At the moment, he felt lower then the lowest rock. "Guys...I can't tell you how sorry I am. If you don't want me to...I mean, if you don't trust me enough-"

Jack slowly smiled. "Welcome back to the group, Bridge. Now do you mind stop feeling sorry for yourself for a momentso that we can figure out why everyone left?"

Z and Syd both smiled and clapped Bridge on the shoulder. Bridge gave them all a grateful look. "Thanks guys. I'm-"

"Dead, that's what you are!"

All the rangers turned around to see Mora standing in front of them. She was seething with rage. "Think you've won, have you? Well, think again." She pointed up at the machine, which was humming with power. "Soon that will be active, and while it won't have enough power to take out the world as I wanted, it can still blow up the western hemisphere." She smiled. "Unless one of you Rangers care to kill yourself by throwing yourselves into that machine. That really is the one way to stop it."

"No, Jack, there's another-" Bridge began.

Mora pointed at him. "Bite your tongue!"

Bridge suddenly winced and said no more.

"So it's really up to you," Mora concluded. "Well, it was fun playing with you all. Cheerio." She disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

"Bridge, are you okay?" Z demanded.

Bridge nodded, but it was clear he wouldn't be able to speak for a while.

"We're wasting time," Jack said. "We need to come up with a way too-"

Sky knew what would happen if he told the others, so he didn't. He just ran straight at the machine. Jack tried to grab him but only just missed.

"Sky, no!" All the Rangers shouted.

Sky reached it within a minute. There was a flash of green light, and-

[AndromedaAbyss]

EPILOGUE

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v474/Andromedaabyss/epiloguecopy.jpg


Bridge saw what had happened, and just couldn't believe it. If anything, it should be him in the machine! He caused all this! But Sky had been too quick, too fast for any of them. As Sky moved between the pillars a beam of green light struck him. And held onto him. On some level Bridge knew what was happening-the machine was sucking the life out of him. There was a glimmer of blue light. Bridge saw that Sky was using his shield against the energies, but it wouldn't hold out, not for long. All the Rangers stood still, too shocked to move.

Except for Jack. He ran forwards, faster then anyone had ever seen him move. Within seconds he reached Sky, grabbed him and pulled him away in his arms. They managed to get a few stumbled paces before the machine exploded. They were both thrown to the ground.

Bridge, Syd, and Z ran forwards. Jack was unhurt as he dragged Sky away, who was in bad shape. His SPD uniform was smoldering and his head hung limply.

"Sky? SKY?" Jack shook him and felt for a pulse. "He's not breathing."

Bridge turned away and called for an emergency ambulance on his morpher.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sky opened his blue eyes to the sound of a heartbeat monitor. He was laying in a hospital bed with a blue cast around one of his arms. Immediately he spotted Bridge sitting in the corner of the room, heavily engrossed in a book because he hadn't noticed Sky awakening. Evidently some time must have passed, because Bridge's brown hair was back to full-length brown. "I hope that's not the bath book."

Bridge was so startled that the book tumbled from his gloved fingers into his lap. He stood. "Hey! How are you feeling?"

Sky closed his eyes and resisted an urge to roll them. "Terrible, Bridge. How long has it been?"


"About a week. More or less. Jack barely pulled you out in time," Bridge said. "But Kat said that you should make a full recovery." He looked down. "I can't imagine how it must have felt like. I mean, I looked at your x-rays, but it was a miracle that anyone could survive that."

Sky opened his eyes and glanced at him. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing about what you went through. I remember looking for you when I was connected to your mind, but I couldn't find you anywhere. I'm half tempted to go back in there again to make sure that you are still...you."

Bridge shrugged, still not comfortable on that subject. "It wasn't all bad. Some parts that I remember were good. Facing off with Emperor Gruumm everyday, talking to Krybots everyday-"


"Krybots talk?"

"Talking to Mora about the universe, brushing her hair for her everyday-"

"No please, stop. On second thought, Bridge, I never want to go into your mind again. You can keep that all to yourself."

"Well, look who it is. The man himself," Jack said. He was entering the room with a massive grin pasted on his face. "I was wondering when you were going to get up and do some actual work."

"Really?" Sky asked.

"Definitely," Bridge replied. "For starters, the numbers are a little uneven in dodge ball. It's guys against girls right now. We need your help to even the odds," Bridge said. "Speaking of which, I'd better let them know that you're awake!"

Jack waited until Bridge left, before turning back to Sky. His face was serious. "So."

"So," Sky returned.

Jack tried to maintain a serious pose, and found that he couldn't. He burst out laughing and clapped Sky on the shoulder. "Good to have you back, man. Don't ever do that again."

"Oh, don't worry. My days of jumping into Apocalypse-creating machines are far behind me," Sky replied.

"So. We're cool, right? I mean, you're not seriously still thinking of leaving, are you?" Jack said.

"In the two minutes I've been awake...most seriously, definitely not," Sky said. "I was looking for a purpose, and I found it. It's stopping Emperor Gruumm and this Mora. Stopping them cold."

Jack nodded. "Good." Before he could add anything further, the door opened, and Sky was embraced by a blur of pink and yellow.

&&&&&&&&&&

It was late in the night of the SPD academy that Kat's comlink buzzed. Opening her eyes groggily, she reached for the night table and flicked it on. "Hello?" she asked.

Boom's voice came on frantically. "Kat, you've gotta help me. The base is under attack! They came out of nowhere! Krybots, hundreds of them!"

Kat straightened. "Where are you?"

"In the conference room! I'm surrounded. I'm-"

A new voice came on calmly. "Kat, this is Sky. We've taken a final stand in the conference room. We think that this might be some last minute work of Emperor Gruumm. We've got a lot of wounded down here. We need you. Now."

Bridge's voice came on. "Most of...Academy...in flames...Need help.."

"Hold on!" Kat activated a another channel. "Commander Crugar, respond." No answer. "Doggie, respond!"

"Yeah, he would be one of the wounded," Sky said.

"Ugh..." Crugar groaned.

"Hurry, Kat!" Sky said.

"Sky, to your left!" Syd warned over the channel.

"Argh!"

The communications channel clicked off. Kat tried to turn it on again without any success. She shoved away the covers and got up, grabbing a gun from the night table. When she exited the room she saw that the walls were blackened, as though scorched.

"This is the Red Ranger to all personal and cadets," Jack said over the intercom."We are under heavy attack. All available personal report to the conference room on C deck."

Kat's animal instincts took over and she hissed deeply in her throat. She could smell the Rangers-and Krybots! She was close to the conference room now. She was poised to strike as she touched open the doors. If these things thought they could attack her on her base-

The lights were dimmed, and all the Rangers were gathered around the table. The only illumination came from the candles of a cake in front of them. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they shouted. Behind them all the other cadets clapped and whistled.

Kat blinked, too startled to say anything. "Wha-?"

"Well, finally, I thought you were never going to get here," Sky said over the noise. "These candles aren't going to last forever, you know!"

"Especially since we had the brilliant idea to do them in cat years," Bridge added.

Kat understood, especially when she eyed the cans of black paint used on her walls. "This was a trick. But, I smelled Krybots-"

"Oh, you mean this one?" Bridge asked, holding up an unconscious Krybot that was gift-wrapped. "We knew that not even the best of us could fool your scent, so we had this one prancing outside your room for half an hour!"

"But...my birthday was days ago..."

Crugar stepped forwards. "In honor of your many hours of service, both to the base and to the cadets here, we wanted to give you a special gift." He gently placed a medal around her neck. "The SPD award of valor, our highest award."

"And seeing as how we made such a mess of your last birthday, we figure why not do it again?" Jack added.

"I don't know what to say..."

Bridge held up the cake. "Well, you can start by blowing out the candles while we still have a cake left!"

The other cadets laughed. Smiling, Kat did so.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

A few minutes later all the cadets were celebrating.

Except for two.

Sky sat on a shelf against the wall, a drink in his hand. He was starring at nothing.

"Oh, I do like birthday parties."

Sky sighed. "Hello, Mora."

Mora was smiling. "All the presents and chocolate and pretty lights in the whole world for one special person. Isn't she lucky."

"You realize that all I have to do is call the Rangers over and we can take you out. So what do you want?"


Mora grinned shyly. "You won't do that, Sky. Not to a little girl like me. Especially since all you want is a day of peace for all your friends."

"And I ask again, what do you want?"

"To deliver a message. Don't think that today means any kind of special victory for you. I've got so many surprises waiting for you all, so many plans, that I'm sure you're just dying to see them."

"Yeah, dying. That's certainly the word I would use," Sky said. "Now are you going to get out of here or am I going to have to grab you by your scrawny neck and drag you out?"

Mora smiled again. "You know, Sky, I'm actually glad you're okay. You're my favorite out of the bunch. So many conflicting thoughts. So many vulnerabilities. Do try and take care of yourself."

And with that, she disappeared.

"You haven't said much."

Bridge turned to glance at Z, who joined him on the other side of the room. "And that scares me," she finished. "Care for a refill?"

Bridge shrugged. "Maybe I just don't feel like I deserve to be here. I tried to kill you, Z. I tried to kill you all!"

Z shook her head. "That wasn't you, Bridge. The Bridge I know would never hurt his friends. And...I think you know that too." She stood, flashing her amazing smile. "So, speaking as your fellow cadet and yellow Ranger, I wanted to officially say welcome back to the club and get your butt over to the table. And don't ever think of leaving us again." With the smile still on her face she kissed him on the cheek and rejoined Jack.

Bridge stared at her in astonishment. "Did that just happen?" He quickly hurried after her.

A few minutes later, all the cadets were gathered around the conference table, laughing and talking. For the first time in three months, they were whole again. At some point Bridge looked up, a smile on his face, to glance briefly at Crugar.

Crugar gave him a knowing look before returning to his conversation with Kat.

'Call of the Rangers,' Bridge thought to himself. 'I believe that.'

THE END.

[PHAETON]

Great Saga AndromedaAbyss, I am really pleased on how it came up. Out of all the Rangers...I would never have guessed it to be Bridge(I was thinking Sky at first). Could you give us an clearer description of his Apocalypse Ranger suit? And I look forward to more fan fics from you