A Different Side of You
By
BloomingViolets
and
Pink-Green-White-4ever

Summary: Sky and Syd have been sworn enemies ever since they could remember. Bridge, Z and Jack are tired of their constant arguments and hatch a plan to get them to at least be civilized to each other. However, along the way, Sky and Syd discover for themselves the true sides and good qualities of each other.

Disclaimer: We don’t own Power Rangers. This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

AN: (PGW4E peeks in and smiles) Well, well, hello dear readers. As you can see, BloomingViolets has graciously opened her writing universe up, and on the suggestion of her sister, asked me to co-write this story with her.

We figured, since we both like Syd and Sky, and since we both managed to write a couple popular stories about them, why not join forces? So here we are. This fic is obviously AU -enjoy the story, leave us lots of reviews, constructive comments only cause flames will get laughed at all the way to the trash can. Catch ya on the flipside!

-x-x-x-

“JERK!”

“SNOB!”

“YOU’RE SUCH AN EGOTISTICAL MORON!”

“LIKE YOU’RE ANY BETTER? YOU’RE VAIN, PRISSY, CONCEITED AND SO SELF-CENTERED!”

“I’M CONCEITED? LOOK WHO’S TALKING!”

“I’M SURPRISED YOU EVEN LASTED AT SPD THIS LONG!”

“WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?”

“IT’S EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS!”

“OH, THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING, DO YOU?”

“I KNOW MORE THAN YOU, WHICH SAYS A LOT!”

The three Rangers cringed as they heard the argument from where they were sitting in the rec room. Sky and Syd were at it yet again, this time their loud arguing hit decibels that could be heard from two hallways over. Bridge Carson sighed as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. He could feel a giant headache coming in full force thanks to his friends’ near constant bickering. “This has got to stop.”

“Tell me about it,” Z Delgado complained from her spot on the couch. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“Have they always been this way?” Jack Landors asked with a pained expression on his face. “Ever since Z and I arrived at SPD, not once, did I ever hear Sky and Syd say something nice to each other.”

“I know what you mean,” Z spoke up. “I mean, at first I thought it was intolerable differences, but it seems they really hate each other, don’t they?”

Bridge nodded wearily. “You guys have no idea. Their arguments have gone way back to when they first started at SPD. I guess they have just never been able to get along with each other.”

“You have no idea what started the fights?” Z asked, more curious now as to the nature of the long term dispute than she’d previously been. It took a lot to frustrate Bridge, and the Yellow Ranger could see he was already at his breaking point as far as Sky and Syd were concerned.

“Not a clue. They were already sworn enemies when I arrived at the Academy. Things only became worse when we were promoted to B-Squad.”

“Well, this is going to have to stop,” Jack declared. “We can’t have their feud getting in the way on the battlefield. We need to come up with a plan to get them to be at least civilized to each other. I think it’s too much to hope that they’ll ever be friends.”

“And how are we going to do that?” Z questioned.

“Uhh…” The Red and Green Rangers looked at each other, unsure of how to respond. Jack shrugged. The three Rangers let out a sigh simultaneously and fell silent, each trying to come up with a plan.

The doors to the rec room slid open and Syd came storming through, clearly looking livid. “Oh, I can’t stand that man!” She complained in a loud, annoyed voice. “He’s so infuriating, and he’s the biggest jerk ever! Interfering with my training, saying how I’m incompetent… of all the nerve!”

Bridge, Z and Jack looked at one another. “Should we say something?” Jack whispered. The Red Ranger looked a bit apprehensive, as if he thought that Syd would turn and yell at them if they so much as uttered a greeting toward her.

“Hi Syd,” Bridge finally ventured, tentatively.

However, the Pink Ranger showed no sign or notice of their presence. She just continued on with her tirade, not paying any attention to the people around her. “How dare he? Thinks he knows everything… I was running the simulator just fine; what does he know? What an arrogant jerk… says I’m running the simulator all wrong… As if! What is he – the boss of SPD? Jerk…”

They watched as the Pink Ranger continued to mutter incoherently to herself as she disappeared into the room she shared with Z. The Yellow Ranger exchanged a glance with Jack. “I guess it’s safe to say that she’s really angry.”

“You think?” Bridge and Jack retorted, receiving a look from Z that shut them both up instantly.

“I guess this means it’s up to me to go calm her down and find out exactly what happened, huh?”

The Yellow Ranger rolled her eyes at the boys, who grinned, nodded, and watched her walk toward her and Syd’s room.

-x-x-x-

Z barely managed to dodge the flying projectiles when she entered through the door to the room she shared with the Pink Ranger. “Um, Syd?”

“WHAT?”

“What’s wrong?” Z questioned, cautiously moving toward her bed.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong? SKY IS WHAT’S WRONG! He’s annoying, arrogant, chauvinistic…”

“I get the picture,” Z interrupted. “But what’s wrong? What did Sky do?” Sydney stared at her for a moment before sighing.

“I was using the simulator when Sky stopped by and all of a sudden is trying to tell me how to use it. Z, I’ve been at SPD for two years, I think I know how to use our equipment by now. He’s such a jerk! He always thinks he’s right, he thinks he’s better, smarter, and faster than everyone else. Well guess what, he isn’t! And what’s worse, if his parents and my parents weren’t friends, I’d have never had to deal with his snobbish attitude in the first place!”

Z nodded, finally beginning to understand where this had all started. “So you guys were childhood friends?”

Syd shot the Yellow Ranger a glare. “That is the biggest understatement of the year. Sky and I were not childhood friends, we were mortal enemies.”

“And you still are, from the looks of it,” Z said. “Can’t you guys make an effort to at least be nice to each other?”

The Pink Ranger snorted. “Don’t hold your breath.”

-x-x-x-

Minutes after Z had left the rec room, Sky entered, looking extremely irritated.

The Red and Green Rangers looked at one another briefly as Sky sat down on one of the couches with a huff.

“Bad day?” Jack asked mildly.

“Bad doesn’t even begin to describe it,” Sky stated heatedly. “That woman is the most difficult person I’ve ever had the displeasure of knowing!”

“What did you and Syd fight about now?” Bridge asked, almost looking afraid of Sky’s answer. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Sky to get into the details. No one could make Sky as mad as Syd could, and when Sky was angry, he tended to go on for hours.

“I was walking along the hallway when I saw her in the simulation room,” Sky began, “she had the switch on the wrong dial, so I went into the room and tried to correct it. She just snapped at me and told me to mind my own business.” The Blue Ranger scowled. “I was just trying to help, and she goes and throws her blaster at my head –which I narrowly avoided, by the way- and starts yelling at me. That woman is impossible, I tell you!”

“I don’t think she’s that bad,” Bridge offered.

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “She’s always perfectly sweet to me.”

Sky scowled and shot them a glare. “You guys are delusional. She’s always so moody, shouts and yells at you for no reason, and she’s nuts!”

“Well, she’s only like that to you,” Jack pointed out. “The rest of us know that she’s perfectly sane.”

“Still,” Bridge spoke, looking a little pained. “Can’t you at least try to treat her a little nicer?”

The Blue Ranger rolled his eyes. “Don’t count on it.”

-x-x-x-

Both Jack and Bridge cringed when they heard a door open and close. Sky had just left them only a few minutes before, still muttering on and on about Sydney. The pair was afraid to see who was going to come in next.

“ALRIGHT! THAT’S IT!” Z hollered, marching forward to stand in front of the two of them. “We have to find a way to get them to be nice to one another, LIKE NOW!” She paused, “Or at least die trying!”

Bridge cringed as the waves of emotion rolled off of Z, and Jack looked slightly disturbed. “Got a plan?” Jack asked.

Z nodded. “Let’s go talk to Kat, I think she’s got some vital information we’ll need.”

Bridge and Jack reluctantly followed the Yellow Ranger out of the rec room and toward Kat’s office.

-x-x-x-

Dr. Katherine Manx was just sitting down at her computer console to go over some data for one of the many new weapons she had been developing for the B Squad Rangers when three figures rushed through the door.

“KAT!” Jack called out in greeting.

One thin eyebrow arched in question as two very cat-green eyes narrowed in on the three Rangers huffing and puffing right before her desk. “Cadets, what can I do for you?”

Z was the first to step forward, having finally regained her breathing. “You’ve been here a long time, haven’t you Kat?”

“Yes, Z. I’ve been here since my home planet of Alsciaukat, was destroyed by Troobian forces.” Rising from her desk, Kat moved toward them. “Why do you ask?”

Bridge looked sheepish as he stepped forward. “Well, you see, Kat...uh...Ms. Manx...I mean Dr. Manx...”

Jack shook his head and silenced Bridge with a wave of his hand. “Kat, what Bridge wants to know is, do you know how we can get in touch with Sky and Syd’s parents?”

The Feline doctor frowned at them. “That depends. What exactly are you three planning to do with the information when, or better yet, IF I give you it?”

“We’re going to use it to get Syd and Sky to be civil to one another,” Z shot back, her voice leaning toward sarcastic and fed up.

Kat chuckled. “Trying to accomplish that will be like knocking your heads against a brick wall. Commander Cruger and I have tried everything, including putting them on B Squad with Cadet Carson in hopes that they’d be able to work out their differences. It hasn’t worked so far.”

The three Rangers nodded in understanding. “You’ve tried, but we haven’t. Can you at least give us some help?” Jack asked.

“I suppose I could get the information for you, but not a word to anyone where you got it, do I make myself clear?” Kat smirked when the three Rangers nodded innocently and smiled. “Give me an hour; I have something to finish first. I’ll call you down here when I have it.”

-x-x-x-

“I wonder what caused them to hate each other so much,” Jack mused as they headed back toward the lounge.

“Syd told me that she and Sky have been enemies most of their lives,” Z spoke up, remembering what the Pink Ranger had mentioned that morning.

The Red and Green Rangers exchanged incredulous looks. “You mean they were childhood friends?” Bridge asked.

“Well,” the Yellow Ranger shrugged. “Syd used the term ‘mortal enemies’. But I think their parents knew each other.”

As they neared the lounge, the three Rangers paused outside the door as they heard shouting come from inside. Bridge sighed. “It hasn’t even been an hour since their last argument. I can’t believe they’re already arguing again.”

“I wonder if we can lock them in a closet somewhere,” Jack mused, thoughtfully. “It might solve their problems if they talk… err… scream it out.”

“Or,” Z interjected, “they might end up killing each other.”

“True,” Jack nodded. “Yeah, it’s probably a bad idea.”

The doors slid open with a whoosh and they entered the room cautiously. The sight before them was somewhat of a surprise. The top half of Syd’s uniform was covered with pink stuff. A quick glance at the floor showed a broken glass. Clearly, Syd had been drinking a strawberry smoothie when she and Sky had collided.

“You did that on purpose!” Syd accused, glaring daggers at the Blue Ranger.

Sky returned the glare with the same intensity and snorted. “Hardly. If you recall, you tripped and fell!”

“I wouldn’t have tripped if it hadn’t been for your foot being in the way!” The Pink Ranger shouted.

Sky was about to retort when Jack intervened. “That’s enough! Break it up, you two!”

The Blue and Pink Rangers shot each other murderous stares and simultaneously pointed at each other. “He/she started it!”

“What are you?” Z inquired. “A bunch of three-year-olds?”

“Only Syd is,” Sky muttered under his breath.

Syd looked beyond angry. “Sky’s being a pompous ass!”

“Wow, Sydney said the word pompous,” Sky mocked. “That’s a big word for you, have you been studying the dictionary in your spare time?”

“Shut up, Tate,” the Pink Ranger hissed venomously.

“Okay,” Jack yelled loudly. “That’s enough! Syd, I think you should go change, we’ll clean up the mess for you and get you a new smoothie, okay?”

Instantly, the Pink Ranger’s attitude changed. “Thanks Jack,” she cooed. “You’re such a sweetie!”

Sky rolled his eyes as Syd turned and headed toward her room. Z crossed the room and headed toward the closet and pulled out a broom and dust pan. Jack headed toward the sink, grabbing a glass and filling it with water. He handed the glass to the Green Ranger. “You okay Bridge?”

“Thanks Jack,” Bridge accepted the glass. “I’m fine, all the negative residue is starting to fade now.”

“Good, go rest for a bit,” Jack smiled reassuringly to Bridge before turning towards Sky. “Sky, you need to treat Syd a little nicer.”

The Blue Ranger looked offended. “Me? She’s the one that drives me up the walls!”

“Maybe so, but all this arguing has got to stop,” Jack gave Sky a hard look. “It’s starting to affect the team.”

The expression on the Blue Ranger’s face hardened. “Why are you giving me the third degree? This is partly her fault too!”

“I know that,” Jack said. “And I’m planning on talking to Syd too. But if you guys can’t try to get along, can you at least ignore each other?”

“Gladly,” Sky nodded. “But if she says one thing that pisses me off, I’m not going to just sit there and take it. Something about her just makes me so angry that I just lose it.”

The Red Ranger shrugged. “Just keep the fighting down to a minimum, okay? Save your energy for Gruumm.”

The Blue Ranger nodded and turned to sit on the couch. Jack slowly let out a relieved sigh. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Sydney coming back into the room. Quickly, before Sky could spot her, Jack grabbed her by the arm and hauled her out of the room and back into the Pink Ranger’s quarters.

“Jack!” Syd gasped in surprise. “What on earth are you doing?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, this thing between you and Sky has got to stop. We’re all sick and tired of hearing you guys argue all the time.”

Sydney looked indignant. “He always starts it!”

“That’s bull, and you know it Syd,” Jack replied. The Red Ranger held up a hand when he saw the Pink Ranger begin to open her mouth to protest. “Don’t deny it. You provoke Sky and Sky provokes you. That’s what always starts the arguments. You say one thing, he retaliates. He says one thing, you retaliate.”

Syd closed her mouth and sighed.

“All I’m asking is that you guys try to treat each other a little nicer. And if you can’t do that, can you at least ignore him?”

Sydney sighed again. “Fine, I’ll try. But that’s the best I can do.”

The Red Ranger held up his hands. “That’s all I can ask.”

“CADETS LANDORS, CARSON AND DELGADO, PLEASE REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTRE!”

The Pink Ranger looked at Jack with curiosity. “I wonder what Kat wants you guys for.”

Jack shrugged, feigning innocence. “No idea. Catch you later Syd.”

“Bye.”

-x-x-x-

Kat was quietly sitting behind her desk, a data pad sitting in front of her, when Jack, Bridge and Z came in. She looked up at them and smiled. “I’ve talked this over with Commander Cruger. He agrees that something needs to be done about the problem between Cadets Tate and Drew. He gave me the go ahead to get you the classified information you asked for.”

“Thanks Kat,” Jack told her, taking the data pad when she handed it to him.

“You’ve also got the rest of this afternoon off, starting now. You may want to go visit Sky’s parents first; they live not too far from here, in a small town called Silver Hills.”

The three nodded, and turned to leave. “And Cadets?”

“Yes Kat?” Z responded.

“Tell Wes and Jen, Commander Cruger and I said hello.”

Again, the Rangers nodded, though this time they were confused by Kat’s request. Turning, the three of them headed into the hallway and down to the garage.

-x-x-x-

When Z stopped the jeep, three jaws dropped at the sight of the house before them. It was large, with a well kept lawn and a huge driveway not to mention it sat on a large piece of property.

“Mother of... this place is huge!” Jack muttered.

“Sky did say his dad was a wealthy businessman once,” Bridge commented as Z moved the vehicle to the gate, and pressed the button on the speaker box.

“Can I help you?” a man’s voice sounded, with a formal tone.

“Um, yes, I’m Cadet Delgado, with Space Patrol Delta. We’re here to see Mr. and Mrs. Tate.”

“I’m afraid there is no one here by that name.”

Bridge chuckled softly. “Sky’s last name is Collins,” he told her, looking up from the data pad.

“My apologies, I meant Mr. and Mrs. Collins. It’s about their son, Schuyler.”

There was silence for a moment before the gate swung open with a creak and Z pulled the jeep forward toward the door. “Next time, Bridge, tell me the important information before I make an idiot out of myself, please?” Z sarcastically told the Green Ranger, who grinned and nodded.

Cautiously the trio climbed out of their vehicle and proceeded up the steps to the door, which swung open before they could knock. An elderly gentleman in a butler’s uniform was standing there to welcome them in.

“Will you come?” Phillips asked, gesturing for the Cadets to enter. “Wait here one moment, Mrs. Collins will be with you momentarily.”

Jack nodded, finally having recovered himself enough to take the lead. Phillips disappeared down a hallway, leaving the Rangers to look around in shock.

“Who knew Sky was so loaded?” Z commented in awe of her surroundings. There were antique tables lining the foyer, paintings hanging on the walls by artists Z had never heard of, and there were vases of pink, white, and red roses on most every available surface.

“Well, this is a pleasant surprise,” a voice called out, causing the Rangers to look up at the staircase. A beautiful brunette in her late thirties, dressed in a pair of tight jeans, a light pink t-shirt, and sandals, was walking down the stairs, a smile on her face. “You must be Sky’s teammates, am I right?”

“Yes Ma’am,” Jack answered, stepping forward. “I’m Cadet Jack Landors, and these are Cadets Elizabeth Delgado and Bridge Carson.”

The woman nodded her head. “I’m Jennifer Collins, Sky’s mother. Follow me. We’ll go sit on the terrace by the pool and you can tell me why you’re here. Phillips?” Jen called as she led the trio toward the pool.

“Yes, Mistress Jennifer?”

Jen rolled her eyes playfully at him. “Would you bring four glasses and a pitcher of lemonade, and maybe some of those chocolate chip cookies you made this morning? I’m sure the Rangers are thirsty after their trip.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Once they were seated in chairs near the pool, Jen started. “So, what brings you three out here? I’m assuming nothing’s wrong with Sky, or Cruger would have come himself.”

“You see, Mrs. Collins...” Z started.

“Please, Elizabeth, just call me Jen.”

“Okay, and you can call me Z, everyone does.” Jen nodded. “You see, Jen, we wanted to talk to you about Sky and Sydney Drew?”

Jen’s laughter rang out softly, startling the three Rangers. “Oh boy, the stories I could tell about those two. I’m guessing they’re still at each other’s throats?”

The group nodded in unison. “We’re trying to find out what started it, and how we can get them to be civil to one another,” Bridge spoke up.

Jen shook her head. She smiled up at Phillips as he sat the lemonade and cookies down on the table. Taking a sip from her glass, Jen sighed. “Kids, I’m not even sure what started the whole thing, to be honest with you. Sky’s dad and I have known Sydney’s parents for a long time...”

“How long?” Jack asked.

A serious expression crossed Jen’s face. “Since we were Rangers.” When Jen saw their startled looks, she chuckled. “Sky’s father and I were Rangers before Wes was ever at SPD, and Sydney’s parents were Rangers before we were. We met them when they came to Silver Hills to assist us in a fight against the demons they were battling and the mutants we were trying to capture.”

“Wow!” Bridge gasped.

Jen smiled. “Ever since then, we’ve been really good friends with them. Wes actually worked with Carter, whose Sydney’s dad, on another Ranger mission not long after they worked with us the first time. It was a gathering of ten of the eleven Red Rangers of the time.”

Jack grinned, thinking how cool that must have been. “That was about three years before Sky was born, and about five before Sydney came along.”

Jen nodded. “Right.”

“Jen, where they ever friends?” Z blurted out.

The former Pink Ranger giggled. “Actually, when they were younger they were sort of friends, at least they would talk nicely to one another, but then it changed, and they started sniping at each other and traded insults... now that I think about it, I think it might have had to do with a visit to the Academy when they were little, but the best person other than Sydney or Sky to ask would be Sydney’s mother, Dana.”

“Do you think Mrs. Drew would be available to talk to us today?” Z asked.

Bridge elbowed the Yellow Ranger. “Syd’s middle name is Druscilla. Her real last name is Grayson.”

Z blushed. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she hissed.

“I just did,” Bridge grinned cheekily.

The former Pink Ranger laughed. “As a matter of fact, Dana is home today. You’re lucky, Dana’s a doctor and is usually very busy but you caught her on a rare day off.”

They all stood up. “Thank you for the lemonade and cookies Ma’am,” Jack said politely.

Jen smiled. “It’s no problem. Make sure you all come by again soon! And please, let us know your progress, Wes and I want to see Sky and Sydney get along more than anyone. Good luck!”

-x-x-x-

They all stood on the Grayson’s doorstep and rang the doorbell.

“Bridge?”

“Yeah, Z?”

“Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about Syd’s family before we go in? I don’t want to make a fool of myself again.”

Bridge thought for a moment. “Nope, I don’t think so.”

“Good.”

The door opened and a woman with shoulder length blonde hair appeared in the doorway. Surprise was clearly evident on her face. “Can I help you?”

Bridge stepped forward. “Mrs. Grayson?”

“Yes?”

“Hi, I’m Bridge Carson and these are my friends, Elizabeth Delgado and Jack Landors. We serve at SPD with your daughter Sydney.”

Dana’s expression changed and a warm smile appeared on her lips. “I knew those uniforms looked a bit familiar,” she pushed open the door wider, “Please, come in!”

The Rangers stepped inside and immediately felt at home. Sydney’s house was… cozy. There was just no other word to describe it. As Dana led them along the hallway, they briefly took a few moments to observe the photographs that were hanging on the walls. Most of them were Sydney as a little girl, but there were a few family photos here and there. At the end of the hallway, hung a large picture featuring six figures, all wearing bright matching jackets. A closer look at the photo showed a younger version of Syd’s mother. Jack, Bridge and Z stopped and stared.

“Wow,” Jack stated softly.

“That was my Ranger team.”

The three of them jumped, momentarily forgetting where they were. Dana grinned and moved to stand next to them. She began pointing out the various figures. “This right here, is my brother Ryan. He was the Titanium Ranger,” her finger moved to the next person. “Here you have Joel, he was our Green Ranger, and Chad, Blue Ranger, and Kelsey, my best friend and the Yellow Ranger.” Dana’s figure moved to the final person, “And this is my husband, Carter.”

“Wow,” Jack said again.

“Now, sit down and make yourself at home,” Dana gestured toward the living room, “I’ll be right back with some drinks.”

“Oh that’s not necessary, Mrs. Grayson!” Z piped up. “We just came from Mrs. Collin’s house and she fed us. You don’t need to go to all the trouble.”

Dana looked startled for a moment, before letting out a soft chuckle. “So you came from Jen’s house hmm? I think I know what this is about. Tell me kids, just how badly have things gotten between Sky and Sydney?”

“Pretty bad,” Bridge answered truthfully.

Dana laughed again. “Are you kids sure you don’t want anything to eat or drink?”

“No Ma’am, we’re fine,” Jack answered.

“Alright, let’s sit down and you kids can ask me anything you want.”

Within minutes the four of them were seated comfortably.

“We’ve gotten most of the story from Mrs. Collins,” Jack began, “But we want to know why Syd and Sky hate each other so much.”

“We just want them to get along,” Bridge added. “They don’t have to be friends, but we need a little peace and quiet.”

Dana nodded. “Understandable. Now let’s see… I believe Syd and Sky began arguing around the time Syd had her first visit to SPD.”

“First visit?” Z asked, intrigued.

Sydney’s mother nodded. “Yes. Carter and I are very good friends with Wes and Jen. As you know, Wes was SPD’s first Red Ranger. It was because of Wes that Carter became involved with SPD,” Dana leaned back on the couch, thinking thoughtfully. “Goodness, now that I think about it… it was shortly after Sydney’s first time at the Academy, that she began having nightmares.”

“Nightmares?” Bridge asked.

“Yes,” Dana nodded. “There were times when she would wake up screaming in the middle of the night about a spider-monster. Sydney never told us why she was so frightened.”

Bridge frowned and exchanged glances with Z and Jack.

“Carter mentioned that Sydney had accidentally gotten locked into one of the simulation rooms, but Wes had rescued her minutes later. Ever since then, Syd has always been afraid of very dark places,” Dana continued.

“But what does that have to do with Sky?” Jack asked, looking a bit confused.

“That’s the thing, none of us know,” Dana shrugged. “The door was stuck and he couldn’t get it open, so he ran to get Wes. Sydney didn’t want to tell us.”

“I think we’ve gotten pretty much all the information we need,” Z spoke up. The Yellow Ranger stood and grinned. “Thank you for your time Mrs. Grayson!”

“Oh, call me Dana,” the blonde woman replied. “Good luck kids, I have a feeling you’re going to need it.”

“Thanks Dana!” They chorused before heading out the door.

They piled into the SPD jeep, discussing what they had learned as they headed back toward the Academy.

“Syd was locked into the simulation room, during her first visit to the Academy?” Bridge mused. “Something must’ve happened.”

“You think Sky locked her in there?” Jack asked.

Z shook her head. “I don’t know guys; Sky doesn’t seem like the type of person that would do something like that.”

“Yeah, but you’re forgetting something. Sky and Syd were kids when then happened,” Jack reminded her. “Kids don’t know any better at that age.”

“Yeah,” Bridge agreed. “Sky wasn’t always uptight. Remember Dru? Didn’t he ask if Sky was wild and wacky once?”

“Yeah, he did,” Z shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out.”

-x-x-x-

“Did you get your answers?” a voice called out as the three Rangers slowly made their way through the base toward their rooms. Turning, they saw Kat just coming out of one of the conference rooms.

Bridge shrugged, Jack made a face, and Z shook her head. “We got some answers, but not many. Kat, were you here when Mr. Collins was the Red Ranger?”

Kat nodded. “Yes, why?”

Bridge and Jack immediately saw where Z’s train of thought was headed. “When did you first meet Syd and Sky?”

The feline looked slightly taken aback by the question but pondered her answer just the same. “I met Sky shortly after Wes joined us. I believe I met Sydney during her first visit to the Academy. She got locked in one of the simulation rooms and Wes brought her to me, because at the time I was in charge of the infirmary, to have her checked out,” Kat told them.

“Other than being a little shaken up, she seemed fine...that is until Sky came in with Sydney’s father. She had a fit when Sky walked in; wouldn’t talk to him, she wouldn’t even look at him.”

Once again, the Rangers exchanged glances. Now they knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, something had happened in that simulation room that had scarred Syd, and it had to do with Sky.

-x-x-x-

He was a complete jerk. ‘I’m surprised we haven’t killed each other yet,’ Syd thought as she shuffled back and forth between her bed and the closet. She stood on her tiptoes and reached into the closet, retrieving a worn notebook that had been sitting on one of the shelves. Moving back toward her bed, she tossed the notebook into her satchel. ‘He’s impossible to deal with. I can’t believe I lasted this long dealing with him everyday.’

She straightened and surveyed her room with a critical eye. Was there anything else she needed? ‘Always trying to boss the rest of us around, expecting us to train 24/7, snapping at us whenever he’s pissed off- no wait- not snapping at us, snapping at ME! Always trying to find a way to make my life miserable. He’s always bragging about the fact that his father was a Red Ranger, what an arrogant imbecile; his father wasn’t the only Red Ranger around, my father had been a Red Ranger too!’

The Pink Ranger moved over to her night stand and opened the top drawer, pulling out a pencil case. She added the pencil case to the bag. ‘Sometimes I don’t know who is worse –Sky or Gruumm. On one hand, Gruumm is an evil alien, bent on taking over Earth and causing destruction everywhere. On the other hand, Sky is annoying, arrogant and is just a jerk in general. But I suppose if it all came down to it, I’d pick Sky over Gruumm any day.’

Syd stopped in mid thought as a wry smile came to her lips. ‘Huh, I never thought I’d be thinking that.’

Heading back towards her closet, Syd pulled out a light pink sweater and after folding it neatly, stuffed it into her bag for use later on in the evening. ‘I wonder what Commander Cruger was thinking anyway. Putting us together on the same squad wasn’t the greatest idea he ever had. All we did most of the time was arguing.’

‘I guess Jack’s right, we DO provoke each other,’ the Pink Ranger mentally shrugged. ‘But I can’t help it; I always have to fight back. There’s just something about that man that just sets me off. Just one look at the smirk on his face is enough to make me lose it.’

Seeing that she had everything she needed, Syd proceeded to quickly tie her hair up in a ponytail. The Yellow Ranger entered the room just as Syd was finishing up.

“Going somewhere?” Z asked as she watched Syd shoulder her bag.

“Just out,” the Pink Ranger replied nonchalantly, as she checked her bag to make sure she had her morpher. Syd gave Z a small smile. “I’ll be back later okay? Call me on my morpher if anything happens.”

“Okay, bye Syd.”

Sydney gave a small wave as she left the room, leaving the Yellow Ranger to wonder where her friend was heading. As the Pink Ranger walked along, she spotted Sky down at the end of the hallway. For a brief moment, she considered making some sarcastic remark, but then she remembered the promise she made to Jack. So she held her tongue and continued on as if she hadn’t seen him.

If she had turned around, she would’ve seen the curious glance Sky had given her.

-x-x-x-

She pulled up in front of the large white building, and parked the jeep in the driveway. Pulling her bag to her shoulder, Syd got out of the vehicle and headed toward the front door. She rang the doorbell and waited. Moments later, a woman in her early forties with grayish-brown hair answered.

The woman smiled upon seeing her. “Sydney!” she greeted, flinging the door wide open. “Come on in!”

Syd chuckled as she stepped inside. “Thanks Caitlynn.”

Caitlynn Roberts had been in charge with running the school for disabled children for over twenty years now. Sydney had begun volunteering a few years back –she helped tutore mentally challenged children. The Pink Ranger loved her job, and she was good at it too. The feeling of triumph whenever those children learned something new was the best feeling in the world –she loved seeing the looks of joy on the children’s faces when they discovered something exciting.

Sydney followed Caitlynn into a small room where a child with dirty blonde hair was already seated at the table. “You’ll be teaching Kyle today, Sydney,” Caitlynn smiled.

“Okay!” Syd responded cheerfully, heading over to where the little boy sat. Caitlynn left, as Syd sat down in the chair next to Kyle.

“Hi, Kyle. Are you ready to learn?”

The little boy nodded vigorously, his eyes dancing with excitement. “Yesth, Siddy!”

Syd grinned and pulled her notebook and other various materials out of her satchel. She spread them out all over the table and the two set to work. Kyle was a six-year-old little boy with cerebral palsy, though he physically appeared different, he was not mentally retarded –he loved learning about birds and airplanes, his dream one day was to fly.

The Pink Ranger pulled out a book on airplanes and grinned at the delighted look on Kyle’s face. With happy, loving children like Kyle around, the world didn’t seem half bad.

-x-x-x-

Syd sighed as she pulled into the parking lot of the Academy. Stepping out of the vehicle, she pulled her pink sweater tighter around herself, the evening air had cooled down and it had gotten a bit chilly. Glancing at her wristwatch as she headed inside, the Pink Ranger slightly groaned when she saw what time it was and shook her head slightly. It was five minutes past curfew.

She quietly trudged along the hallways, careful not to make a sound. Heading towards the common room, she waited till the doors slid open before walking in. Immediately, she headed over to the vending machine, retrieving a bottle of water. Just as she took a sip, a voice spoke up, startling her.

“Cutting it a bit close, don’t you think?”

Sydney whirled around in surprise only to see Sky standing in front of her with his arms crossed. She rolled her eyes and resumed to what she had been doing. “Mind your own business.”

“Actually, it is my business. I should report you. The handbook clearly states that every Cadet must be inside the Academy by-“

“Spare me your lecture, would you? I’ve only heard it about a million times.”

“It’s against regulations-“

“I know what’s against regulations!” Syd snapped, her patience rapidly wearing thin. “And like I said, mind your own business!”

Before Sky could retort, a new voice rang out. “Just what is going on here?”

Instantly, Sky and Syd were standing next to each other, saluting as Commander Cruger came into the common room.

“Sir,” Sky began, casting a slight smirk in the Pink Ranger’s direction. “Sydney came in past curfew.”

Syd stood up straighter as Cruger fixed his gaze on her, his eyebrow raised. “Cadet?”

“It was just five minutes sir, things piled up a bit while I was out,” Syd emphasized the word ‘out’ hoping that the Commander would understood what she meant. Cruger was the only one at SPD that knew about her secret projects. She gave a soft sigh of relief as Cruger nodded.

“Try not to let it happen again, Cadet.”

Syd nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“But, sir!” Sky sputtered. Clearly, the Blue Ranger had been expecting Syd to get punished.

Cruger fixed Sky with a serious stare. “Time for you to get to bed, Cadets. You have an early training session tomorrow morning.” With those last words, the Commander turned and left.

As soon as the doors slid closed, the Blue Ranger whirled around and glared at Syd accusingly. “Getting the special treatment, I see. What are you? The Commander’s favorite?”

The Pink Ranger glared right back at Sky. “Don’t assume things, Tate,” she hissed. “You don’t know anything.”

“Oh really?” he shot back, “Why don’t you enlighten me. Tell me why you were able to get the afternoon and evening off, while the rest of us had to train?”

“I don’t have to answer to you,” Syd picked up her water bottle and her bag and began making her way towards her room, leaving Sky to glare at her retreating back.

-x-x-x-

“I hope the Commander let’s us off early, I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” Bridge grumbled to Z, who looked worried about him.

“Somebody broadcasting again?” the Yellow Ranger asked, nodding her head toward Sky.

“That and I heard the argument they had before he came to bed,” Bridge sighed, leaning against the wall.

The Yellow Ranger shook her head, disbelieving the two couldn’t even follow Jack’s simple request that they ignore each other.

“Listen up, Cadets,” Commander Cruger very nearly barked upon reaching the five Rangers. “Cadets Delgado, Carson and Landors, I want you three to spar together. Cadet Landors, please help Delgado and Carson on their martial arts training.”

Z and Bridge blushed. The two of them knew that while they were fairly well versed in the marital arts, Jack was the master fighter of the three of them.

“Cadets Tate and Drew, you’re with me.”

Five sets of eyes widened, taking in the Commander’s dominating presence. “Yippy yay,” Syd muttered, and then went quiet when Cruger glared at her.

Moving to their groups, the five Rangers prepared themselves for their training session. Jack, Z, and Bridge stretched and then began a somewhat complicated kata before they began to spar, Jack versus the other two.

Meanwhile, Sky and Sydney moved to face Commander Cruger. The trio began to spar, the two Rangers attacking Cruger with all the pent up frustration and anger they felt toward one another.

“Commander Cruger, your presence is requested in Dr. Manx’s office!” someone called over the intercom.

Cruger stopped and allowed Sky and Sydney a moment to breath. “You two, continue to work together. Delgado, Carson, Landors! Continue your sparing. I’ll be back shortly.”

Once the Commander walked away, Sky and Sydney eyed one another warily. “Guess we’d better get back to it,” Syd mumbled.

Sky sneered at her. “Does the Princess not want to spar like the rest of us peasants?”

Syd’s jaw dropped, and then her eyes narrowed in on him. “The only peasant I see around here, Schuyler Tate, is you!” she hissed.

“How about the best fighter in the Academy show you what missing one afternoon of training does to a lazy, snobbish, childish brat like you?”

Syd smirked. “Too bad Jack’s busy at the moment, but you’re welcome to try in his place.”

The Blue Ranger didn’t respond verbally, he lashed out with his arms instead, hoping to catch Sydney off guard. Unfortunately for him, the Pink Ranger was ready for him. Sydney grabbed his right arm and spun herself to his chest, her left hand grasping his right wrist while her right elbow connected with his ribs, hard.

Sky gave a muffled cry and then shouted when Sydney tossed him over her shoulder, causing him to land on his back and skid a few feet away. “Gee, Sky, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” Syd asked in a sickeningly sweet voice as she fluttered her eyelashes at the downed Blue Ranger.

Pushing himself to his feet, Sky growled at Sydney, and forgetting that thinking out a plan of attack was better than rushing in, he sped toward the Pink Ranger, who dropped to a lower position and sweep kicked his feet out from under him, causing him to land hard.

Meanwhile, the trio of other Rangers stood watching the sparring match, wincing every time Sky hit the ground. “She’s good,” Jack muttered.

“Real good,” Z dead-panned in response.

Bridge stood next to them, shaking his head and grinning. “Sky had it coming this time, what he said was uncalled for.”

“He’s not using his head, he’s just rushing at her,” Jack commented. “And she’s going to kick his butt if he doesn’t start using his brain.”

“You’re suggesting guys actually have brains? I thought you all thought with another part of your anatomy?” Z smirked, causing both Bridge and Jack to glare at her, before the three of them turned their attention back to Sydney and Sky.

“Give up yet, Tate?” Syd taunted.

“Not to sniveling brat like you!” he hollered, rushing forward.

Sydney ducked and rolled, causing him to trip over her before he turned and came at her before she could get up. Noticing she was in a bad position, Sydney brought her foot up, catching Sky in the stomach and barely missing a vital part of his anatomy, while causing him to fly backwards.

Sky hit the mat with a thud, and didn’t get up once he was done. Crawling over, Syd smirked at him and then threw one leg over him, so that she was straddling his stomach. “You give up now?” she asked, glaring at him. She leaned her palms against his chest, pinning him to the mat.

“Get off!” he growled, but didn’t move. His back, among other areas of his body, was killing him, and even though Sydney barely weighed anything, it hurt to try and push her off.

“Not until you yield, otherwise we’ll be sitting here until the Commander comes back.”

“Fine! I yield!”

“Thank you.” Syd flung her self off him and then tried to help him up, only to have Sky brush her hand away.

“I loved her technique,” Z giggled, watching Jack and Bridge grin. All three of them blinked in surprise when they noticed the slight bulge in the front of Sky’s sweats. “NO WAY!”

Jack laughed. “Looks like someone is attracted to our very pretty Pink Ranger.”

Bridge nodded and discreetly slipped his glove off, waving it in front of him.

“Well?” Z asked.

“I see blue, which means he’s concerned about something, or someone and also because that’s his Ranger color, and our Ranger colors make up a good part of our auras now. Red-violet, which means that’s he’s very driven, which is obviously a given, cause it’s Sky we’re talking about. But it’s the last two that surprises me.”

“What?” Jack questioned.

“Well, I see more Pink than the others, and that could mean a few things. First, it’s there cause he’s standing so close to Syd. Two, he’s got some romantic feelings toward someone that we don’t know about. And then there’s the Violet.”

Z’s brow creased in confusion. “What’s violet stand for?”

“Considering it’s mixing with the pink and those two are practically drowning out every other color I see on him, it means…um…well…”

“Bridge, spit it out.”

“He’s sexually frustrated and I believe Syd’s the cause.”

Jack and Z’s jaws dropped as Bridge’s cheeks turned bright red.

-x-x-x-

“I can’t believe this,” Z complained as they made their way inside the Academy. “The entire time they’ve been fighting, they were secretly attracted to one another? Can this get anymore weirder?”

“I know,” Bridge shrugged.

Jack began to snicker. “It does explain a few things though. Maybe that’s why Sky is always moody. He can’t get laid.”

“Jack!” Z slapped the Red Ranger’s arm, but found herself grinning also. It had been an interesting turn of events.

“Well, whatever it is,” Bridge said, “It’s bothering the heck out of Sky.”

“Has Syd realized it yet?” Jack asked.

“I don’t think so,” Bridge shrugged again. “But it’s only a matter of time.”

-x-x-x-

The cold water ran over his body, cooling it down to its normal temperature. Sky stood under the spray, his thoughts running wild over what had happened during their morning training session. Luckily, the training hadn’t lasted much longer after Sydney had pinned him; thankfully Cruger had gotten back and they had sparred for another fifteen minutes before they were dismissed.

It had been the most uncomfortable fifteen minutes of his life. Sydney had been assigned to be his sparring partner, while Cruger stood by and observed. For the entire fifteen minutes they had sparred, for some reason, Sky had kept picturing her in a bikini.

What he didn’t understand was why his body had reacted this way. It was Sydney. There was just no other way to put it. He didn’t understand why he was suddenly imagining her in a bikini. He had seen her in one before, a few years ago when their families had gone on vacation at the beach. It had done nothing for him then. She was the skinny little brat that annoyed him constantly. She was the spoiled blonde that was too snobby for her own good. She was pretty sexy when she was angry…

“Damn!” Sky cursed under his breath. What the hell was wrong with him today? Had there been something wrong with the food when he ate breakfast earlier?

Sighing, the Blue Ranger turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Drying himself off, Sky wrapped the towel tightly around his waist. Stepping out of the bathroom and into his room, he was in for a bit of a surprise.

-x-x-x-

Syd walked along the hallway, carrying her radio, looking for Bridge. The Green Ranger had seemingly disappeared and was no where to be found. She blew a lock of hair out of her face. Heading toward the Green Ranger’s room, she paused just outside the door and knocked. There was no answer.

Syd frowned slightly. ‘Where in the world is he? I need my radio to be fixed!’ Briefly wondering if Bridge was asleep, she entered the room, not expecting to see Sky.

Her eyes landed on the soft blue towel first, before slowly traveling up. Her eyes widened as they landed on his chest. Smooth skin over rippled chest muscles, nice strong muscular arms…

“Can I help you?”

Sky’s voice brought her back to reality and she took a step back. She felt the heat rushing up to her cheeks when she realized that Sky had caught her staring. She blinked and shook her head. ‘Get a grip Syd. This is SKY we’re talking about.’

“Where’s Bridge?” she asked, shifting her gaze to the radio she held in her hands.

“He’s not here.”

All previous thoughts were gone and Syd felt her temper flare up. “I know that!” she snapped. “I wanted to know where he is!”

Sky shot her an annoyed stare. “Well I can’t help you there; I haven’t seen him since training ended. Now can you please leave so I can get dressed?”

“Gladly.” Syd whirled around and stomped out, heading back to her own room. Once she was safely in her quarters, she heaved a sigh of relief. ‘Who knew that Sky, of all people, would have the body of a sex god?’

-x-x-x-

“You ok?” Z asked as Syd entered the rec room, the Pink Ranger looking flushed and embarrassed still from her earlier encounter with Sky.

“I’m fine!” Syd snapped.

Z raised an eyebrow at her roommate and watched as Syd sighed. “Have you seen Bridge? I need him to take a look at my radio.”

“He’s with Jack; I have no clue where they are. Syd, you sure you’re okay?”

The Pink Ranger looked like she was debating what to tell her yellow teammate and roommate. “It’s nothing, I promise. If you see Bridge before I do, tell him I need him, please?”

Z nodded, and then frowned when she saw Sky walk in the door behind Sydney. ‘Oh boy, here we go’ Z thought, wincing. Much to her amazement though, when Sydney turned around, she said not one word to Sky and fled the room, heading for their bedroom.

“What gives?” Z asked Sky when he sat down on the couch opposite her.

“I haven’t a clue,” Sky mumbled, looking down at the floor.

‘Something happened’ Z thought, wondering if she should go find Jack and Bridge and see if they could help her figure out what.

-x-x-x-

Sydney tossed and turned. She’d been in a grumpy mood all afternoon, and though she wouldn’t admit it, it had to do with seeing Sky scantily clad in a towel. ‘Darn him!’ she thought angrily, sitting up and pounding her fist into her pillow.

“The pillow’s innocent, you know.”

The Pink Ranger jumped at Z’s voice, looking over to see her roommate sitting up, dark hair flying everywhere. “Well, I promised Jack I’d leave Sky alone, otherwise I’d be pounding on him. It is his fault, after all.”

“What’s his fault?”

Busted. Syd recovered quickly. “What ISN’T his fault? He’s egotistical, self-centered, a know it all who thinks he’s God’s gift to women! I HATE HIM!”

Z leaned back against the wall by her bed, arms crossing over her chest. “What brought this on? I thought you two were ignoring each other?”

“WE ARE!” Sydney roared, flopping back on her bed.

“Something happened, didn’t it?”

“No, nothing happened. He’s just being Sky. Goodnight.”

Z lay back down, staring at the ceiling, knowing there was so much more to Sydney’s story than the Pink Ranger was letting on. ‘But what?’

-x-x-x-

Sky sighed softly, enjoying the warmth and peacefulness he felt. The body pressed against him was soft and definitely feminine, though the arms around his waist and the legs intertwining with his were firm and toned from regular exercise. Slowly, he opened his eyes, taking in the mass of blonde hair lying on his shoulder. Smiling, he burrowed his face into the vanilla scented hair of his sleeping companion.

“I see someone’s ready for another go at it,” a soft voice whispered.

“Morning,” Sky whispered, watching her slowly rise above him, her hair like a halo and her eyes a bright blue, brighter than he’d ever seen them.

“I love you, Sky,” she whispered as they began to rock together.

“I love you, Sydney,” he whispered back.

“SKY!”

xxx

“SKY!”

Sitting straight up, Sky felt his heart racing and someone’s hand on his leg.

“Bridge?” he asked, clearly confused. He could have sworn a second ago…

“You were calling out in your sleep,” Bridge told him, trying to hide the smile on his face. Sky had done more than merely call out in his sleep, the Blue Ranger had been moaning and sighing and thrashing about, having a wet dream about a certain Pink Ranger, whose name had accompanied the words I' love you', from Sky’s lips.

“Really?” Sky shakily asked, suddenly self-conscious. “I didn’t say anything incriminating, did I?” Sky was well aware, now that he was more awake, of what his dream had been of.

Bridge simply grinned. “Nothing I’ll mention if you don’t want to talk about it. However, if I was you, I’d go take a shower, get some clean clothes, and change my bed sheets.”

Sky looked mortified as he glanced down and noticed the proof of Bridge’s words. “Bridge?”

“I promise, I won’t tell Syd.”

Sky nodded stiffly and then hurried to the bathroom.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t tell Jack, or Z,” Bridge muttered as an after thought when the door slammed shut.

xxx

Sky groaned as he leaned against the bathroom door. His pajama bottoms were soaked through with sweat and other bodily fluids he didn’t want to think too closely about. “Damn!”

Taking a deep breath, Sky stripped and got into the shower. “Stupid body! Stupid reactions! WHY HER?”

What a horrible way to start off the day.

xxx

Three hours later, Bridge found himself walking into his and Sky’s room. The Green Ranger stopped dead in his tracks after entering. The Blue Ranger was packing a light blue backpack with what looked like water bottles and a sack lunch.

What also surprised Bridge was Sky’s clothing. The Blue Ranger was wearing a snug pair of jeans, something Bridge had never seen him do before. He also had on a white ribbed tank top and a blue flannel work shirt, not to mention that there was a fairly worn tool belt sitting next to Sky’s bag.

“Do I want to ask what that’s for?” Bridge started, causing Sky to whirl around to face him.

“I’m going out. I’ll be back later.”

Bridge just shrugged when Sky thundered past him and out the door. Turning, the Green Ranger grabbed his clothes from his dresser and went to rinse off the sweat from his workout in the gym, all the while pondering the Blue Ranger’s strange behavior.

xxx

Sky rolled his eyes and sighed when he saw Z and Sydney coming toward him down the hallway just outside his room.

“Well lookie here,” Z teased, hands on her hips as she and Syd stopped in front of Sky. The Yellow Ranger grinned. “What’s with the get-up?”

“I’ve got somewhere to be. Excuse me.”

Sydney glared at him. Z nodded and stepped aside, allowing him room to pass. Syd, however, wasn’t going to let him off so easily. Reaching out, the Pink Ranger grabbed his forearm and halted his movement. “You’re getting out of training with us, aren’t you?”

“That’s none of your business, Sydney.”

Syd lowered her voice so only he could hear her. “The next time I go and do something like this, you damn well better leave me alone, Tate. Especially, if I catch you coming in late tonight.”

That said, Sydney let her nails scratch down his arm before she strode away, leaving him and Z starring after her.

“What was that all about?”

Sky shrugged. “How the hell should I know? Nothing with her ever makes sense. I told you, she’s nuts!” Shaking his head, the Blue Ranger turned and left Z standing in the hallway, wondering about the minor confrontation.

xxx

He let out a sigh of relief as he went outside toward his motorcycle. Seeing Sydney had been the last thing he needed at the moment. Strapping his backpack tightly to his back, Sky put on his motorcycle helmet and started the ignition. Getting onto the bike, he started on his way.

He didn’t understand why he was having dreams of Syd all of a sudden. That dream had been bothering him to no end since this morning. He couldn’t be attracted to her, could he? ‘That is so absurd! Me attracted to Sydney Druscilla Grayson? When pigs fly!’ he thought as he drove along the empty streets. ‘She has got to be the bossiest woman on Earth! She’s annoying, whiny, and completely bossy. I would rather be stuck with Piggy and Boom, than with her!’

He rode along for a few more minutes before pulling up to a construction site. Getting off his bike and pulling off his helmet, Sky ran a hand through his hair before grabbing his backpack and heading towards the various people milling about.

“Sky, you made it!” a man in his later forties called out. He was dressed much like Sky was, though he favored green and black to anything else. He was Mr. Conrad, the director of the project Sky was working on. Mr. Conrad was also a friend of his dad’s who had helped him get into doing volunteer work for the Habitat for Humanity projects in New Tech City.

“Mr. Conrad, I told you I’d make it,” Sky grinned, shaking the older man’s hand. “How much more work do we have to do to it?”

“Dry wall got put up two days ago, plumbing’s getting worked on right now, but the paneling is ready to go up, as well as some painting. You ready to get messy?”

“Always when it’s for a good cause, let’s get to it.”

xxx

He felt satisfied. It had been drilled into his head at an early age that while he was privileged, it didn’t mean he couldn’t help people. In fact, he had two of the best examples of people who helped others living down the hall from him – his parents. Despite years as Power Rangers, and the wealth from the Collins Family Fortune, both Wesley and Jennifer Collins helped out in their community whenever and wherever possible. And Sky had too.

But of all the things he’d done volunteering over the years, it was working with Habitat for Humanity that brought him the most joy. To know he was putting skills he’d learned to put a roof over someone’s head made all the sweat and aches and pains acquired on the job was worth it.

“Gather round everyone!” Mr. Conrad called out as the end of the team’s lunch came around. The group of volunteers gathered round to hear what he had to say. “I’ve been talking to a friend of mine. It seems that the walls of the local school for disabled children are literally falling down around the kids, and we’ve been asked if we can gather volunteers and head over after this project is done to start work there. If you’d like to sign up, see me before you leave.”

Sky grinned. He loved working with the kids, and this would be one way to do that. He made up his mind then and there to talk to Mr. Conrad before he went back to the Academy.

xxx

Sky sighed as he walked into the common room. He was hoping to grab something quick to eat before he went in and took a shower and headed to bed. It seemed quiet enough. He was late by a few moments for the evening curfew, but he figured since no one was around, he was safe. He was almost over to the replicator when a voice seethed at him.

“Gee, aren’t we cutting it close?”

Sky sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the ensuing headache and then turned. Syd was sitting on the couch, arms crossed over her chest and her eyes set on him, the blue of them icy fire.

“I believe we’ve been through this already, don’t you Sky?” Syd hissed as she pushed up to her feet and advanced on him. “Give me one good reason, after what you did to me, why I shouldn’t head up to the command center and report you for being out past curfew?”

The Blue Ranger begrudgingly admitted she had a point, but he wasn’t going to let her know it. “Because me being out past curfew is none of your business.”

Sydney’s anger hit breaking point. “You remember that the next time you yell at me!” Syd yelled at him before moving to walk past him to her and Z’s room.

For one split second, Sky seemed to have lost his mind. Unfortunately, one second was all it took. His feelings and confusion toward Sydney had been brewing all day, and they’d finally overloaded his already sketchy control. Reaching out, Sky grabbed Syd’s arm and hauled her to his chest, his lips slamming down on hers before either of them knew what was happening.

At first, Sydney was startled. Heck, startled didn’t even begin to describe how she was feeling. Sky was kissing her. Sky Tate, correction, Schuyler Tate Collins, her sworn enemy for the last decade, was kissing her senseless in the middle of the common room like his life depended on it. Control over her own body was gone, and Sydney soon found herself responding to his kiss, her arms coming up to wrap around his neck and her body straining against his as he took the kiss deeper.

Someone cleared their throat, causing the pair of Rangers to rip their mouths from one another and look at the intruder in a daze. Commander Cruger stood there, hands clasped behind his back, an eyebrow arched as he stared at them. Sky and Syd looked at Cruger, then at each other, before they moved to stand next to one another, managing to salute their commanding officer even though their brains were pretty much devoid of rational thought.

“Do I want to ask what’s going on here?” Cruger asked.

“Just discussing training, Sir,” Sky managed to mumble out, his cheeks burning. One quick glance to his side and he saw Sydney’s eyes were wide and her face was as beat red as his. ‘Good, at least I wasn’t the only one affected!’ he thought, almost smirking.

“It’s late, Cadets, and you have early morning training and classes. Get to bed.”

“Yes Sir!” they responded as Cruger turned and walked out, neither of them seeing the smirk on his face as he left.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Sydney screeched once the doors were shut. “HOW DARE YOU MAN HANDLE ME! LET ALONE KISS ME!”

Sky just shook his head and moved past her toward his and Bridge’s room. “Sydney, get over yourself, you’re delusional. What makes you think I liked you kissing me?”

“I DON’T KNOW! MAYBE BECAUSE YOU GRABBED ME?”

“In YOUR dreams!”

The Pink Ranger’s jaw dropped as he disappeared into his room. “ARGH!”

xxx

‘Of all the ridiculous things to ever happen, this has got to be the worst!’ Syd fumed as she stomped toward her room. ‘How dare he? And to make things worse, the Commander saw! Oh, I shudder to think what he thinks of us now!’

The Pink Ranger entered her room with a flourish, making a lot of racket as she did so. Hearing the noise, the Yellow Ranger poked her head out of the bathroom. Z stared at her roommate curiously, deciding that something major had just happened. Sydney’s clothes were rumpled and her cheeks were flushed red. Her long blonde hair, which was usually kept nice and neat, was ruffled and all over the place.

“What happened to you?”

Syd growled. “I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!”

“Ah,” Z nodded. “Sky, again?”

“When is it not him? That guy drives me BANANAS!”

The Yellow Ranger nodded once more. Privately, she wondered if Bridge was getting any reaction from Sky. Exiting the bathroom in her pajamas, she decided to go find out. “Hey, I’ll be back in a bit, okay? I’m just gonna go hang out with Bridge for like a half an hour or so.”

“Fine, whatever!” Syd slammed her dresser drawer, making the contents on the top shelf rattle. The Pink Ranger let out a sigh of frustration as the doors slid shut behind the Yellow Ranger. She threw her pajamas onto the corner of her bed and grabbed her pillow. She imagined her pillow to be Sky’s face as she pounded it mercilessly. “Jerk, jerk, jerk!”

‘It wasn’t as if it was a great kiss anyway,’ Syd continued to fume as she pounded her pillow. ‘I know I’ve had MUCH better!’

She stopped pounding her pillow and stared as herself in the mirror on her dresser. ‘You’re a liar’, her mind argued. ‘In actual honesty, you enjoyed that kiss probably more than you should have.’

She regarded her reflection with a wide horrified look. “Oh my god,” she muttered to herself. “I can’t believe I’m attracted to Sky Tate.”

Never before had she been kissed with such intensity and care. Sky’s kiss had been powerful and forceful, but at the same time, very gentle. It was almost as if he meant it. And she… she had enjoyed it! Syd shook her head. “I must be going insane.”

xxx

“Stupid, stupid, stupid,” Sky muttered to himself as he entered his room. He slapped his forehead repeatedly. “Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!”

“What did you do that was so stupid?”

The Blue Ranger jumped and whirled around to face his roommate. “I don’t want to talk about it!”

Bridge cocked an eyebrow at his friend and teammate. “Right. So why don’t you tell me what this is all about?” the Green Ranger asked from his spot on his bed.

“It’s nothing. I’m just stupid.”

The Green Ranger couldn’t help but laugh. “Let me guess, has to do with Sydney?”

“WHAT ELSE IS NEW?” Sky growled, turning and hitting the punching bag in the corner. “Yes, it’s about Sydney, but it’s my problem.”

“Does it have something to do with this morning?”

Sky whirled around for the second time, this time glaring menacingly at Bridge. “Do not mention this morning EVER again!”

The Green Ranger grinned. “Come on, Sky. Tell me what just happened with Sydney.”

“DON’T EVEN MENTION THAT WOMAN TO ME RIGHT NOW!”

Before Bridge could respond, there was a knock on the door. “Come in!”

“Hey Bridge!” Z called then stopped when she saw Sky pacing like a caged tiger. “What happened to you Sky?”

The Blue Ranger mumbled something incoherent, looking murderous. The Yellow Ranger shrugged and looked at Bridge. “Can I talk to you, in the hallway, NOW?”

Bridge nodded and grinned, hoping out of bed and walking out the door, the pair of them leaving Sky hitting the punching bag.

xxx

“What’s wrong, Z?”

“Well, at least now I know it wasn’t only Syd pacing like a madwoman. Something happened between them.”

Bridge rolled his eyes. “Why does that not surprise me? Sky’s giving off an array of emotions, so many that I’m even having a problem separating them. How’s Syd?”

“Raving like the lunatic that she is, how do you think she’s doing? She’s in our room right now, beating the stuffing out of her pillow. Should we go tell Jack?”

The Green Ranger’s eyes began to twinkle with mirth. “Let’s go talk to Jack; besides, I have to fill you in on what happened this morning.”

Z’s eyes narrowed as she nodded. “Do I want to know?”

“Yes, but I’m not telling until we talk to Jack. Come on.”

xxx

“What does a man have to do to get some rest around here?” Jack hollered as the knocking on his door became so insistent that it woke him from a sound sleep. “WHAT?”

“It’s important!” Z called.

“Come in then!” Jack grumbled, turning the light on and sitting up against the headboard of his bed. “What is so important?”

“They had another fight, but we think something else happened to intensify it,” Z started.

“They can kill each other for all I care at this point! I’m sick of my sleep getting interrupted!”

“There’s more,” Bridge assured him, moving to stand next to the bed that Jack was laying in. Z had taken a seat on the foot of said bed, and was intently staring at the Green Ranger. Jack looked semi interested now.

“Go ahead.”

“Sky had a dream this morning,” Bridge started. “It must have been a pretty good one, especially from the look on his face. He woke me up out of a sound sleep, which isn’t all that hard to do, but it was way intense and…”

“BRIDGE!” Z and Jack yelled in unison, making the Green Ranger blush.

“Sorry,” Bridge sheepishly replied. “Anyway, it was one of THOSE kind of dreams.”

The Yellow and Red Ranger’s looked surprised by Bridge’s emphasis on those. “Really now?” Z asked.

“I don’t want to hear about Sky’s wet dreams, please,” Jack shuddered.

“Even when they cause him to call out Syd’s name and end up needing to change his bed clothes and pajamas?”

Both Z and Jack looked shocked, their mouths falling wide open before they started laughing. “You’re kidding right?”

Bridge shook his head. “Nope. I told him I wouldn’t tell Syd, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell you two.”

“You know,” Z looked thoughtful. “Syd came into our room with her clothes all wrinkled and her hair all over the place.”

Jack stared. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Syd here? That girl can’t stand to look messy!”

The Yellow Ranger nodded. “Yeah, her face was all red and she was breathing pretty deeply.”

“Unbelievable. What are we gonna do?”

Jack question had a devilish grin spreading across Z’s face. “We find out if Sydney feels the same way about him and go from there.”

The two boys nodded and smiled, their plan of action set.

-x-x-x-

Sydney glanced up at the ceiling and sighed. It had been raining all day and water was beginning to leak through the cracks. It was getting worse by the day. The school for disabled children had been crumbling for years now and was in desperate need of repairs. Sydney herself, had donated tons of money, but it was no use, the school needed complete renovating.

The Pink Ranger returned her attention to the little boy sitting next to her. She smiled to herself. Kyle was such a sweet little boy and he loved learning.

“Is thith right, Siddy?” Kyle looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

“Let’s see,” Syd bent over to inspect the child’s work, quickly calculating the simple math problem in her mind. “Yes, it is! Good job, Kyle!”

The little boy glowed, pleased with Sydney’s praise. “Can I go play now?”

“Okay, Kyle. I’ll come get you when your break is over, alright?”

The little boy nodded and scampered off to join the other children in the playroom. Sydney grinned and turned back to the table, cleaning up the various papers and pencils lying about.

“You are so good with the children.”

Sydney turned toward the doorway as Caitlynn Roberts made her way into the room. The older woman had a beaming wide smile on her face as she approached the Pink Ranger. “Thank goodness for you Sydney. I wish more of my volunteers had as big of a heart as you do. Goodness knows that we need more people like you on Earth.”

The Pink Ranger blushed. “That means a lot, Caitlynn,” she replied. “I’m just glad I’m able to volunteer here at all.”

“Oh posh,” Caitlynn dismissed her comment with a wave of her hand. “Honey, you’re just about the best thing that’s ever happened to this school. The children simply adore you. No one else in this school has as much patience working with disabled children as you do.”

The Pink Ranger grinned radiantly. “Thanks Caitlynn.”

“Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something,” the old woman began.

Sydney raised an eyebrow in interest.

“Have you noticed how rundown and broken our school is becoming?”

She nodded. “Yes. Is there anything that I can do to help?”

“As a matter of fact,” Caitlynn paused. “You can. I have a friend that works in the Habitat for Humanity and I’ve asked him to help us out with our situation. Bob Conrad agreed and called me today telling me that he’s gathered up a bunch of his volunteers and that they were going to head over here on Friday to begin the repairs that this school desperately needs. In fact, Bob said that he and his team are willing to build us a brand new school!”

“That’s wonderful!” Sydney exclaimed, before pausing. “But what can I do to help? I know absolutely nothing about building stuff.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, dear,” Caitlynn smiled. “You won’t have to touch any tools or anything of that sort. But I was wondering if you would be willing to prepare snacks and meals for the workers? Since they are doing this for us without any cost, I have this need to find someway to repay them.”

The Pink Ranger nodded without giving it a second thought. “Of course I’ll do it.”

“Wonderful,” the older woman nodded. “I knew I could count on you, thank you Sydney.”

“Anytime!”

xxx

‘Stupid! Idiot! DUMBASS!’ he cursed to himself as he let all of his pent up frustration out on the punching bag in his and Bridge’s room. “Of all the things I could have done, I had to go and KISS SYDNEY!” he howled to no one in particular, landing a fierce left cross to the blue bag.

He’d been working out for nearly an hour since Commander Cruger had dismissed him, Jack, Z and Bridge from the Command Center. Sydney, of course, had not been present. Commander Cruger had given some lame excuse as to why the little Pink SPD Princess had once again been allowed to skip out on an important session for the team. Briefly, he wondered where the Pink Ranger was before letting his anger take over once more.

“DAMN HER!”

Jack’s eyebrow went up as he listened to Sky from the hallway, the Red Ranger having stopped in front of the door to the Blue and Green Rangers’ room. He debated knocking but the ‘Damn Her’ comment had him intrigued. Grinning as a plan formed quickly, Jack stepped over the threshold and knocked on the door.

“COME IN!”

“Hey, I need a piece of advice,” Jack grinned, stepping in. “You’ve been here at the Academy for a long time, right?”

Sky stopped punching the bag and turned to look at Jack like the Red Ranger had lost his marbles, which wasn’t far off. Jack was taking his life into his own hands with what he was about to say, and he knew it.

“Yes. Why?” Sky asked impatiently, his voice and stance in perfect harmony with his annoyance at Jack’s interruption.

“Well, you see, I’m having a hard time figuring out who’s prettier and more worthy of me bestowing my attentions on, C Squad’s Trisha Evans or our very own Sydney?” Jack could only grin as Sky’s eyes narrowed in on his face. “You see, I’m finding it impossible to decide between them, as they’re both gorgeous. I mean, Trisha’s a beautiful brunette with smoke grey eyes and a dynamite figure but then, there’s the lovely, blonde bombshell that is our Pink Ranger. Any suggestions?”

Jack decided if looks could kill, he’d have been dead a thousand times over. Sky looked PISSED. “You want Sydney?” Sky choked out the three word sentence, making Jack bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

“Yeah, why not? It’s not like she’s attached to anyone, or is she and I don’t know it? And besides, it’s not like Bridge, or even, let’s say, YOU, have feelings for her, right? She’s like an annoying little bug to YOU and she’s Bridge’s best friend, and from what I know, Bridge has a thing for Z, so it’s perfectly alright for me to see if there’s anything between me and Syd.” Jack had to smile widely, metaphorically patting himself on the back for channeling the famous Green Ranger babbling as he talked to Sky.

“What?” Sky growled, looking fierce, confused, and downright jealous.

“I’m sorry Sky, I didn’t know you had feelings for Syd,” Jack apologized, laughing internally.

“I DO NOT HAVE FEELINGS FOR SYDNEY!”

“OH!” Jack quipped, raising his hands up in front of him in defense. “I’m sorry then, I didn’t know you had feelings for Trisha. Dang Sky, you really should tell me these things. I’m sorry. You don’t mind if I go for Syd right? I think she and I have a lot of chemistry.”

“JACK! SHUT UP!”

“RANGERS! MONSTER ATTACKING THE HARBOR!”

The Blue and Red Rangers looked at each other, morphed and then ran to their vehicles.

xxx

The battle was already in full swing when Sydney arrived on the scene. Bridge and Z were back to back taking out the Krybots left and right while both Jack and Sky were isolated from them, each fighting in their own space. Syd rolled her eyes and saw Jack was doing fine while Sky was being overwhelmed. ‘Guess I have to go help him,’ she sighed and sprinted toward the Blue Ranger.

“It’s about frickin’ time you showed up!” Sky grunted, tossing two Krybots away from him. “What took so long? Wait, let me guess, you were getting your nails done and they needed to dry first?”

“Gee, Sky, I didn’t know you worried about my manicure!” Syd tossed back at him, spinning to catch a Krybot with a vicious roundhouse kick.

“Would you guys stop arguing and fight?” Z bellowed at them, tired of their snipping at each other. Once the Krybots disappeared, the team regrouped.

“Awww, come here Syd,” Jack beckoned. The Pink Ranger moved toward him, and was pulled close to his side, his arm draped around her shoulders. “No matter what Sky says, I still love you, Pinkie.”

Jack smiled under his helmet, loving the way Sky’s shoulders suddenly went all tense.

“What the heck is Jack doing?” Z grunted as she stood next to Bridge.

“I have no clue.”

The Rangers were barely able to take a breather before they were hit with blasts from all sides. A Blue Head appeared, with more Krybots at its side.

“Great,” Z sighed as they all got into their fighting stances.

“Can we do this quickly? I have somewhere I need to be,” Syd shouted as she tackled a Krybot.

“Oh, of course,” Sky stated sarcastically. “We wouldn’t want you to be late for a salon appointment now, would we?”

“Don’t talk about what you don’t know, Tate,” the Pink Ranger hissed.

“Do you guys have to do this now?” Z cut in, getting more irritated by the moment. “Focus, please!”

There was an explosion and both Sky and Syd flew back, hitting the side of a building. Seeing another opportunity, Jack quickly ran over to the Pink Ranger’s side.

“Syd! Are you alright?” Jack placed his hands on Syd’s shoulders, helping the Pink Ranger to her feet.

“I’m fine Jack.”

“Are you sure? If you’re really hurt, I can carry you back to the Academy after the battle is over!” Turning slightly, the Red Ranger could see Sky tense up. He grinned behind his visor, pissing Sky off was always fun. Making him realize that he was jealous was just an added bonus. For added effect, he wrapped an arm around Syd’s waist, pulling at her slightly, so that she stumbled against him. He heard Sky growl quietly. Perfect.

"Jeez, I think Jack wants to die early," Z muttered to Bridge as they watched Jack openly flirt with Sydney. From what she could tell behind her visor, Sky was hopping mad. "Sky looks like he's ready to kill."

Bridge only shrugged. "Jack brought it upon himself. Guess we have to start planning his funeral. "

“If you two are quite finished being lovey-dovey, could we please finish this!” Sky huffed at Syd and Jack, who looked startled.

“Yes, let’s finish this, Rangers!” Broodwing’s horrible laughter filled the air.

The team turned just in time to see the nasty fishbowl-headed bat fire several shots out, which connected with Jack, Sky and Syd.

“GUYS!” Z and Bridge cried out, only to be silenced seconds later as they were fired upon as well, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

“Perfect. I have them separated from each other, time to close in for the kill!” That said, Broodwing disappeared.

xxx

“Oof!”

“Ouch!” She landed hard and instantly demorphed upon hitting the cold ground. Syd sat up, clutching her forehead as she looked around. She was surrounded in complete darkness and instinctively shuddered. She hated the dark. “What happened?” she muttered to herself.

“What do you think happened? Broodwing transported us somewhere, that’s what happened!” came the sarcastic reply.

Syd froze and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh no… no, no, no, no… please no… the fates cannot possibly be that cruel… anyone but him…”

“Quit talking like I’m not even here,” Sky sounded annoyed. “You think this is a picnic for me?”

The Pink Ranger scowled. “Wonderful,” she continued to mutter. “Of all people, I managed to get stuck with you. The fates must be out to get me.”

“Quit being so dramatic,” Sky retorted. “Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your position right now?”

“Those girls must’ve lost their minds, if they wanted to be with you,” she shot back.

“You weren’t complaining the other day.”

That effectively shut her up. She hated when he was right, and this time he was right. Sky assumed she was pouting until he heard her speak up. “At least we know you have good taste about some things.”

This time, Sky’s mouth snapped shut and he counted down from ten so he wouldn’t throttle her. He glared into the darkness. “Let’s get out of here,” he mumbled, moving forward, his hands running along the wall until he saw a bright light come from behind him. “What is that?”

Syd smirked at him and shook the light into his eyes, watching his hands come up to block the brightness of the light. “Our morphers are equipped with emergency flashlights, remember?” she sarcastically asked, then moved the light so that he could get the flashlight out of his morpher.

The Blue Ranger grumbled something under his breath about infuriating Pink Rangers and switched on his light, before shining it on the rock around them. “We’re in a cave.”

“No shit Sherlock, you think?”

The two shared annoyed looks before going their separate ways in the cave in an unspoken truce to find a way out of their current predicament. They worked in silence, neither wishing to speak to the other. It wasn’t until a few moments later that the silence was broken.

“AHHHH!” Syd screamed, causing Sky to jump and then run toward her as she back pedaled on the sand covered floor, her flashlight forgotten.

“SYDNEY!”

“KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!”

Sky gasped loudly, in both surprise and pain, when Sydney jumped to her feet and threw herself into his arms, shaking and sobbing. It took the Blue Ranger exactly two seconds to realize that she wasn’t just being a girlie girl about what she saw, but that she was actually crying. Not sure what do to, Sky wrapped one arm around her back and brought the other up to hold her head to his chest.

“Sydney, come on, what’s wrong? What did you see?”

In a quiet, child-like voice, she replied, “It’s a spider.”

Sky almost wondered if he’d heard her correctly until he saw the spider handing from the ceiling near her flashlight. He had to admit, it was a good sized spider, but it wasn’t anything to be scared of. “You screamed and started crying because of a SPIDER?”

“YES!” she cried harder. “I HATE SPIDERS! I ALWAYS HAVE! KILL IT PLEASE!”

The Blue Ranger managed to wiggle out of her embrace, and made her sit on the ground before he went over and killed the spider just so he didn’t have to listen to her cry about it. When he turned back to her, ready with a sarcastic remark, he saw the most vulnerable look on her face that he’d seen in years. In fact, the look he saw there shot him back in time, making him think of another time when he’d seen her face scrunched up like that. His dad had just unlocked the simulator… but he couldn’t remember what had made her look like that.

Sighing, Sky grabbed her flashlight and moved over to sit with her. She was still crying, her shoulders shaking as she rocked back and forth. He sat down next to her, and then did something completely unexpected – he pulled her into his lap, held her head to his chest, and rocked her gently until her crying calmed down some. “Sydney, it’s okay, I killed it. It can’t hurt you, not now.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice still sounding very much like it had when she was a little girl. Tears were still streaming down her face.

“You’re welcome,” his voice was unnaturally soft. “Now, come on, let’s try and find our way out of here.”

Syd nodded and they both stood. Sky moved forward, fully expecting the Pink Ranger to let go of him and was surprised when Sydney still clung to his arm. Not knowing what else to do, Sky just let her cling to his arm and together, they moved forward.

As they walked, he glanced down at the blonde next to him. Sydney was usually so cheerful (when she wasn’t yelling at him, that is) and he was confused at the fact that she, one-fifth of the B-squad Power Rangers, would be so frightened of a spider. It just didn’t make sense at all; Sydney had been through worse things.

“Where do you think we are?” Sydney asked as they moved back the way Sky had come from.

“Your guess is as good as mine, but judging from the temperature in here, we’re either under ground or we’re in the mountains.”

“Think our communicators will work in here?” Syd asked, reaching for her morpher. She opened it and hit the communication button, but all she got was static. “Guess not.”

“The walls of this cave are probably blocking all outside signals, and trapping our own in,” Sky told her, shining his flashlight on a part of the walls that he noticed turned into another tunnel. He debated them splitting up, but with Syd still clinging to his arm, he didn’t think that was going to happen or that it was such a great idea. Besides, he admitted to himself, he liked her needing him in an odd sorta way.

Syd saw the look on his face and knew he was debating whether or not they should split up. Realizing they’d cover more ground, let alone the fact that she was still acting like an eight year old, Syd slowly let her hands slip from his arm. “We should split up,” she started, seeing the two tunnels. “And meet back here in say, two hours?”

Sky saw the fear, not on her face, but in her eyes, and sighed. He wasn’t too game with splitting up either, now that he really thought about it, but she was right. “Ok, two hours. Let’s see if our communicators work between the two of us. I’m gonna go down the tunnel a bit, and I’ll contact you.”

Nodding, Sydney took out her communicator once again and watched him jog carefully down the tunnel. “Do you read?” Sky’s voice came, clear as day over her communicator.

“We’re good to go. I’m gonna head down the other tunnel, see you in two hours.”

“Copy that.”

xxx

“Any word yet, Kat?” Jack asked as he, Bridge and Z stood together in front of Dr. Manx.

Z and Bridge had been transported to the beach, not far from the base, while Jack had ended up in the center of New Tech City at the Founder’s Fountain. They’d all been picked up pretty quickly once contacting Kat and Commander Cruger, but in the last six hours, there had been no word on Sky or Syd.

“I’m getting worried, seriously worried,” Z muttered, leaning into Bridge’s side as the Green Ranger wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“We’ll keep trying, why don’t the three of you go get some rest,” Kat suggested.

“Have you contacted their families yet?” Bridge remembered to asked.

“As of right now, they’re merely on a mission. When it gets to the point that they’re missing in action, Commander Cruger will call the Grayson's and Collins’, I promise. Now go rest, Rangers, you’ll need it.”

Begrudgingly the trio moved out of the Command Center and toward the Common Room.

xxx

Syd blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the light coming from the far end of the tunnel she’d gone down. Switching off the flashlight, she stepped out of the mouth and gasped. Snow covered mountains, pine trees, and the setting sun greeted her. She’d long since given up trying to get in touch with Sky, the farther they got away from each other, the less their signals were able to get through, until Syd had found all she got was static.

“Let’s see if this works,” she crossed her fingers and hit her communicator button. “Cadet Drew to Base, come in Base.”

“We read you Cadet,” Kat’s happy voice filtered out of the device, causing Sydney to smile. “Where are you?”

“Sky and I got stuck in a cave, Kat, in the mountains.”

“Give me five minutes to lock on your location and we’ll dispatch a helicopter to pick you up.”

“Negative. I need to go back into the cave and find Sky. We split up an hour ago, I need to get him and get back here.”

“I have your coordinates. When you’re ready, just contact us again, and we’ll send help.”

“Copy that. Cadet Drew out.”

Sighing, Syd turned around, switched on her flashlight, and headed back into the cave, hoping to find Sky quickly.

xxx

“Jeez, it’s really cold,” Syd muttered as she continued walking along the pathway. She shuddered, and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to keep warm. Her morpher was clipped to her waist, the light shining down at the ground in front of her. She continued walking until she found the place where she and Sky had first split up. Turning, she started down the path that Sky had followed.

Besides her flashlight, it was completely dark. Syd shuddered, but this time not from the chilly temperature. She wasn’t very fond of the dark and she hope that she’d find Sky as quickly as possible, she didn’t want to be alone more than she had too. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts, that she didn’t notice her path had become slippery until she almost slipped and fell.

Grabbing onto the rocks that were handing at the side, the Pink Ranger steadied herself, and paused for a moment. Using one hand to keep her balance, the other hand grabbed her morpher and she shined along the path.

The path in front of her looked to be icy, the snow from the mountains must’ve melted and frozen. Carefully and slowly, she began walking again, trying not to slip. She walked along for a few more minutes, using the wall to help keep her balance. Syd was so focused on maintaining her balance, that she didn’t notice a person lying on the floor in front of her until she tripped over him. Sitting up, all thoughts were gone as she saw what was in front of her.

“Oh my god, Sky!”

Quickly, she got to her knees and moved over to him. She shined the light onto Sky’s face, and quickly pressed two fingers to his neck. When she felt a faint pulse, she sighed with relief. She and Sky might have not gotten along very well, but she certainly didn’t want him dead. She shined the light up to his forehead and gasped when she saw the trail of blood down the side of his face. “Oh god, Sky, what the heck happened to you?”

Glancing around, she concluded that Sky must’ve slipped and hit his head, knocking himself unconscious. ‘Okay, Syd, think!’ she told herself. Carefully leaning forward, Syd pulled him into a sitting position and managed to scoot him back so that he lay against the cave wall. Once that was done, she moved closer to him and began to examine the wound on the side of his head. It wasn’t very deep, and it didn’t seem to be bleeding much, but the Pink Ranger knew it was bound to start hurting when Sky started to wake up, not to mention start bleeding again.

An idea popped into her head suddenly, and she didn’t second guess it. Quickly, Syd unzipped her uniform jacket and stripped it off, thankful she’d remembered to wear something more substantial under her uniform than her usual camisole. She worked methodically, wrapping the jacket around Sky’s head so that he looked like he was wearing a turban; she didn’t want him to bleed more than he already had, and hoped her jacket would do the trick.

“How am I supposed to get you to the mouth of this dang cave?” Sydney’s frustration was evident as she stared at Sky by the light of the flashlight in her hand. An idea came to her, but Sydney wondered if she had the strength to pull it off. “Whether I do or not, we’ve got to get you back to base. I hope you don’t wake up during this.”

Standing up, Syd bent over and turned Sky so that his back was to her chest. She grabbed him under the arms and began pulling him back to the crossroads in the tunnels.

Every so often, Sky would moan or gasp as Sydney dragged him, or when she stopped to catch her breath. Syd was so determined to get him to safety that when she finally stopped to rest, she discovered just how cold she was getting. Shivering, Syd made sure Sky was resting comfortably against the wall before she sat next to him, her knees drawn to her chest, her arms wrapped around herself, attempting to create enough friction to get warm.

Sydney jumped when she felt Sky’s arm move, its destination her shoulders. She was surprised when she was pulled against his side, his warmth seeping through her chilled skin. It came as another small shock when she heard him mumbling, but only managed to make out her name on his lips. Fighting off sleep, Syd refused to settle against him. She had to get him to safety, but it was strangely comfortable to be lying against him like this. ‘Five minutes. I just need five minutes to get warm and then I’ll get moving again’ she thought, closing her eyes and snuggling against him.

Five minutes turned into almost an hour, and suddenly Syd found herself being pulled tight against Sky’s chest. Dazed, she opened her eyes and saw his eyes opened slightly, looking down at her, pain and confusion glazing his eyes. “Sky! You’re awake!” she chirped, and then toned her voice down when he winced. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on?” he asked softly, his fingers coming up to the wrap on his head.

“You fell and knocked yourself unconscious. I’ve been dragging you back toward the tunnel I went down for the better part of two hours. I found the exit, and I already contacted the others. Kat’s waiting for us to contact her again before she sends help.”

“You’re shivering,” he whispered, unconsciously pulling her closer to his chest. “Where’s your jacket?”

“Covering your wound. I wasn’t sure how bad it was or how bad it was gonna get, so I wrapped it around your head. I’m okay, really,” Syd spoke softly, but didn’t move. She was really cold, and for some reason, really sleepy.

“Look what we have here, two injured Rangers.”

Syd snapped her head around and pointed her flashlight at Broodwing. ‘Damn’ she thought, struggling to her feet. Sky tried to get up as well, but he moaned and slid back down. “What do you want, Broodwing?”

“Your destruction, bothersome Ranger.”

“Yeah, well, take a number and get in line, because lots of people want that but they haven’t been able to accomplish it yet,” Syd growled, dropping into a defensive stance.

“Once you’re out of the way, Pink Ranger, taking out blue boy there won’t be so hard.”

“You stay away from him!” Syd hissed, her hand going to her side. She was unmorphed, her morpher was on one side of her belt and her iron pellets were on the other side, but she wasn’t sure if she had enough time, or enough room, to morph.

Broodwing didn’t wait, he struck out at her, causing her to counter his attack by tossing him over her shoulder and past where Sky lay, watching the fight and trying to get up. “FIST OF IRON!” Syd called out, taking a pellet into her hand and calling on her genetic power. Broodwing rushed at her again, only this time she socked him in the face with her fist, shattering the glass around his face.

“DAMN YOU!” he screeched and then fled, knowing he was way in over his head with the Pink Ranger; she may be petite, cutesy, and a lover of pink, but the girl could move when she had to.

“Syd?”

“Right here,” she breathed out, kneeling next to Sky. “Come on, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we get home.” She drew his arm over her shoulders and hoisted him up, the pair making their way a little faster to the mouth of the cave.

xxx

The first sensation Sky felt was warmth; the second was that he wasn’t alone. Slowly opening his eyes, the Blue Ranger looked down and blinked. A mass of blonde curls was at his side, near his hand, which was being held by a soft, delicate hand. It took him a few seconds to realize it was Sydney with her head on his bed, sitting next to him, sound asleep.

Reaching over with his free hand, Sky brushed the curls back from her face, and simply watched her sleep. She may be his worst enemy, next to Gruumm, but he was pretty damn proud of her. His respect for her had definitely shot up a hundred notches. He remembered the way she’d fought against Broodwing in the cave, the way she’d dragged him from the cave to safety, heck, she’d even argued with the doctors about leaving his side until she knew he was okay, even if it meant not getting checked out herself. In fact, it had taken an order from the Commander to get her to leave him. The only problem was, he didn’t understand why.

“Hmmm, Sky, no!” Sydney’s soft voice called out, her head thrashing slightly. Sky was about to wake her when she bolted awake, her eyes wild and seeking his. “Sky! You’re awake!”

“Not so loud!” Sky hissed, wincing.

Sydney bit her lip and looked sheepish. “Sorry. How do you feel?”

“Like I split my head open,” he sarcastically replied, watching the light die in her eyes, only to be replaced by something else, something he couldn’t name.

“Yeah, well, if you’d been more careful, you wouldn’t have cracked your head open! How stupid could you be? Didn’t you see the ice? Didn’t you know it meant that you were going the wrong way?”

Sky glared at her. “No, I didn’t, because my flashlight went out before I could tell if there was any!”

Sydney grumbled and stood up. “You know what; I don’t need to take your attitude. Here I was, worried that you were gonna be hurt, but you know what, nothing could hurt that rock hard head of yours! Not even Broodwing!”

The Pink Ranger stomped toward the door, Sky glaring at her before he relented and called out to her. “Sydney!”

“What?” Syd hissed, spinning around to face him.

“Thank you.”

Her anger just about evaporated completely at his words, and then she remembered who she was talking to. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I didn’t owe you one, because of the spider and all. Good night, Sky, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

Sky watched her rush from the room, his face a mixture of confusion and, strangely enough, calmness.

xxx

“What a jerk,” Syd muttered to herself as she made her way back to her room. “I totally save his ass, and he becomes sarcastic with me! Jerk…”

“Syd!”

The Pink Ranger stopped muttering to herself and turned upon hearing her name being called. Bridge, Z and Jack rushed up to her.

“You’re awake!”

“What happened out there, Pinkie?”

“How are you feeling?”

Questions were fired at her and suddenly Syd found herself feeling extremely tired. She smiled at her friends. “Sky and I ended up in the mountains and Broodwing attacked us.”

Z looked concerned. “Are you okay? Have you been checked out by Kat?”

The Pink Ranger nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine after I get a couple more hours of sleep.”

“Get to bed then,” Bridge said. “We’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay,” Syd nodded once more and turned, disappearing inside her room.

Jack frowned. “I hope she’ll be okay.”

xxx

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Z spoke up as she, Jack and Bridge headed toward the Common Room. “What was with all the flirting you did with Syd during the battle?”

Jack chuckled as the three of them entered the room and he settled down on a bean bag chair. The Red Ranger rested his hands behind his head, his elbows sticking in the air and continued to grin as Bridge and Z settled on the couch across from him. “I am a genius.”

“That’s funny, I can’t decide whether he’s crazy or stupid,” the Yellow Ranger muttered to Bridge.

The Green Ranger nodded in agreement. “I don’t see how you can be a genius. Even though his face was covered by his helmet, even I could tell that Sky looked ready to kill you.”

“And that is precisely why I am a genius,” Jack continued to grin.

Bridge and Z looked at one another, and Z shrugged. “Okay, I give. Why are you a genius?”

“Sky’s angry at me right?”

Bridge and Z nodded.

“Don’t you see what that means?”

They shook their heads.

“It means Sky’s jealous,” Jack snorted.

Bridge and Z stared. A smile formed on their faces as realization struck and they burst out laughing.

“I have to admit, that is a good idea,” Bridge chuckled. “But I’m glad it’s you and not me.”

Jack gave them a smug smile. “By acting all jealous, hopefully Sky will realize he has at least some hidden feelings for Syd.”

“Hey Z, maybe you should flirt with Sky,” Bridge spoke up looking thoughtful.

The Yellow Ranger looked revolted. “You’re kidding right? Gross!”

“Not like that!” Bridge hurried to explain. “I meant, act like you like Sky in front of Syd. Since the jealousy factor works for Sky, it might work for Syd too.”

Z had a pained expression on her face. “Do I have too? It’s Sky we’re talking about here. The last thing I want to do is flirt with him.”

“It’s for the greater good, Z,” Jack urged.

“I thought the point of our schemes was to make them stop fighting,” Z grumbled. “Why are we suddenly trying to get them together again?”

Jack shrugged. “Because Sky needs to get laid. He’s too uptight.”

She threw a pillow at him.

“Because,” Bridge said, effectively ignoring Jack’s yelp as the pillow landed hard on the Red Ranger’s face. “Sky needs someone to challenge him in life. And Syd can definitely challenge him. We already know they’re secretly attracted to one another.”

“Why do I have to flirt with him again?”

“So we can see if Syd gets jealous.”

Z stared at Bridge and then at Jack. Both boys were giving her puppy dog expressions. “Come on Z, it’s for the greater good,” Jack repeated.

The Yellow Ranger rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she sighed. She shook her head as Bridge and Jack gave each other high-fives. “What have I gotten myself into?”

On to Part Two

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