Title: Weight Off My Heart
Written By: Emerald Padparadscha
Author's Note: Ok, I'm not an Aisynia hater, but part of me really, REALLY wanted Doggie Cruger and Kat Manx to get together. Seeing her appear in the final episode was bittersweet.
When Supreme Commander Birdy paid New Tech City a surprise visit, Commander Cruger instantly knew something was going on. When Cruger and Dr. Manx disappeared with Birdy for nearly 48 hours straight, everyone at the Delta Base knew something big was going down.
Even after the Supreme Commander left and the Commander and science officer reappeared, Kat all but locked herself away in her lab. Not even Boom could find out what was going on. The most he ever caught glimpses of were complex equations beyond anything he had ever seen her work before! Even Cruger started spending most of his time in the lab, bu the was always requesting that the B Squad keep running constant scans of the natural energy readings in and around the city.
A week later, that's when the natural disasters began. With earthquakes and fires, the Power Rangers had their hands full keeping the people of the city safe. Cruger directed the operations from the Command Center, devoting nearly all of his time to the Rangers. Kat was feeling stretched, her time in the lab and her time keeping the Zords up limited at best. Boom did his best to pick up the slack on the Zord end, but there was little else that he could do.
The next one to go into secrecy was the Omega Ranger. He disappeared into Kat's lab and didn't come out for nearly 24 hours...
Finally, only a week after the disasters began, the Commander and Kat went into the Science Lab...and both disappeared altogether...
"The big dog had a message for you, Jack." The Omega Ranger said as Jack, Bridge, and Boom looked around the Science Lab. "He said you were in command until he gets back."
"Hold up." Jack looked at Sam. "You're telling me Commander Cruger's gone?" Sam nodded. "What about Kat?"
"I can't explain right now," He answered. "but yeah. Her, too."
"Aw man!" Boom paced back and forth. "This isn't good..."
Bridge, however, was taking a more pragmatic approach. For the past few days, even when Kat was outside the lab, she'd been jotting things down on paper. One thing he knew about her was that Kat didn't like to use paper and often didn't. She found it crude and uncomfortable. The best thing about paper, though, was that it wasn't easily traceable. Someone could just wod it up and throw it away.
Bridge instantly picked up the small trashcan nearby, the only one in the room, and began rummaging through it.
"Bridge?" Jack asked, trying to get his teammate's attention. "Bridge!"
Bridge nearly dropped the can, looking up. "Huh?"
"Are you digging through the trash?"
"Oh..." He put the can down, pocketing a crumpled note in the process. "Did you know that Kat actually eats many things that are bad for Earth felines? Her species isn't really that close to Earth cats, but I've been thinking-"
"You should ask her about it sometime." Jack gave Sam a hard look. "That is, if we ever find her."
"Hey!" Sam raised his hands. "I told you guys I couldn't say a word! I promised them!"
"Sam!"
"It's not something I can say, Jack." The Omega Ranger replied. "But believe me. They'll be back soon."
40 years ago...
Sirius...
Anubis "Doggie" Cruger stood staring at the sky. The clouds made of smoke and ash covered every last inch of it. As far as the eye could see, darkness and destruction loomed over the once beautiful city. Even though the buildings around he and Kat were still somewhat intact, most of the taller structures had been demolished.
The sounds of battle raged in the distance.
"Ok, Doggie, we have twenty-four hours until the portal reopens." Kat looked over at Cruger, already morphed into the Shadow Ranger. They had decided before they had left that he had to stay that way in order to not be recognized by anyone here. "Doggie? Are you alright?"
He looked away, first to the ground then to her. "Yeah. I'm fine. How long did you say we have?"
Kat wasn't quite so sure about how fine he was. Either way, it was too late now. "Twenty-four hours."
"It'll take at least two to get to the Delta Base with the city in this state." He said. Only a second's hesitation followed. "Let's head out."
Kat knew what he was doing. He was removing himself. For Cruger, it was the only way he felt that he could do this.
2025...
New Tech City...
Bridge unrumpled the notepad paper he'd retrieved from the lab's waste can. Smoothing it out so he could see the pencil marks on it more clearly, he started his examination. That meant he sat in one place and stared at it. Beside him, Boom sat so close that Bridge could smell the onions the man had for lunch!
"These are basic area equations. Height, weight, width..." Bridge explained after a bit. "Whatever Kat was working on was big. I mean really big." He looked at Boom. "I mean, bigger than Zord big."
Boom swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat. "That's big!"
"Not really big as in Delta Base big or planetary big." Bridge continued. "But big in a way-"
Boom tried to hurry him up. "Well? What's the other stuff?"
Bridge returned to looking at the paper. "I'm not sure. I definitely feel like I've seen it before At least, I think I've seen it before."
Without warning, he stood up and walked over to the wall. Inverted he went, standing on his hands while upside-down. Those equations were too complex for him to figure out, but he knew he had seen them somewhere before. At least, he was pretty sure...
40 years before...
Sirius...
Another stray krybot slid off of Cruger's Shadow Saber, hitting the debris covered ground. Only halfway to the old Delta Base, this was easily the 150+ krybot he and Kat had dispatched. Of course, it wasn't any different than Cruger remembered it. Someone couldn't breathe without smelling krybot!
"We'll be seeing more the closer we get to the base." Cruger warned. "Keep close, Kat. We'll get there soon enough."
Kat brushed herself off, adjusting the pack she was carrying before she stepped up to the Shadow Ranger's side. Thankfully, the krybots they had run into hadn't been hard to dispose of. Cruger had done over half of the fighting, but he had jumped into it so readily, as if he had something to prove...
2025...
New Tech City...
Bridge opened his eyes. "I've got it!"
Flipping back to his feet, he walked back over to the table the paper was sitting on. Boom wasn't far away, his head resting on his hand. Bridge's sudden exclamation brought him back around from his half asleep state.
"Remember back when Kat was trying to figure out how to get the Omega Ranger back home? Eventually she just gave up, but this was the kind of stuff she was working with!"
"Ok..." A half alseep Boom asked. "What does that mean?"
"It's not where the Commander and Kat went. It's when!" Bridge sat down.
"When? When would they go? Unless...!"
Bridge grinned and nodded. "Unless it had something to do with these natural disasters. You have to admit, they aren't that natural. Their natural, as in nature's causing them, but something has to be causing nature to cause these disasters!"
The Delta Base's alarm sounded, and Bridge took off for the Command Center.
40 years before...
Sirius...
The Delta Base was a wreck. Cruger led the way as he and Kat moved through the rubble. Hardly technologically advanced, the SPD base on Sirius had only boasted the bare basics compared to other SPD bases of the same time. Although Cruger did enjoy the advanced nature of the SPD base in New Tech City, Sirians weren't exactly keen on working with or on that same technology.
However, the spartan nature of the base just allowed him to lead Kat where they needed to go that much more easily. He brought her to once point where a staircase led to a floor just below the bottom level of the SPD base. Beyond that, Cruger knew they would have to go down quite a ways longer before reaching their destination. For now, they'd have to settle with figuring out how to get down to the next floor. The stairs they needed right then was completely destroyed...
As the Shadow Ranger, he could land without injury easily. If was only thirty feet down, he estimated. He couldn't jump with Kat, though. If he miscalculated and the floor was unstable, then that would be a risk he couldn't take. She could possibly be hurt. She was tough, he knew, but he wasn't going to take that chance. However...
"Any ideas-" Kat didn't get a full sentence out before Cruger leapt down to the floor below.
He landed it easily. Another good thing was that the floor didn't give under his weight! It appeared stable enough. He held out his arms as he looked back up to her. "Jump!"
Kat's eyes grew wide. Sure, she couldn't deny that she trusted Cruger enough, but heights just weren't her thing! And he knew it! "If you don't catch me, Doggie Cruger, I'll-"
"I'll catch you, Kat." He insisted. "Now jump!"
Kat closed her eyes and jumped down. In moments, she felt herself gently caught in his arms. She opened her eyes when she heard him chuckling. She smacked him in the chest before he put her down to stand on her own.
"I've seen you work on some of the tallest Zords, yet simple heights scare you?"
"Yes." She said as she straightened her uniform. "Yes, they do. Can we go?"
"If it helps any, from here on should be easier." He looked down the corridor they were now in. Long, cold, and made completely of stone and metal. "Just keep an ear open."
He didn't have to tell her twice! The corridor was dark, lit only dimly by a few independant emergency lights along one wall. It was just spooky enough to send the creeps running up and down her spine.
"Anything in particular we should be expecting?" She asked.
"I'm down here somewhere." He replied. "Should I say, myself from the past is, and a couple of others, if I remember right."
Kat gazed down at her watch. Fifteen hours and forty-five minutes to go.
It wasn't too long before they came to a large room at the end of the corridor. Knowing a little about Sirian nature, Kat was more than just surprised to see the technology that lined the walls! Much of it looked inoperable, granted, but the ones still getting power closer to the middle of the room were totally operational! What stood out the most decorated the dead center of the room.
Four wide glass tubes, each easily five feet wide and fifteen feet tall, only a couple of inches off of the ceiling itself. They glowed blue wiht power, electricity crackling through them nonstop. The room was devoid of all of other life.
"It's empty. Good." Cruger walked up to one of the smaller consoles next to the tubes. Kat walked up next to him, watching as he inputted something in. The information he had wanted flashed onto a nearby screen. "Damn."
Kat could read the info clearly. In all the years of knowing Cruger, she'd learned to be versed in enough Sirian to get by. "The door are already sealed?"
Cruger growled in annoyance. "We have to find the two keycards. The head scientist of this facility has one. The other belonged to my Commander."
"Well then, I guess there's only one question left." Kat said. "Where are they?"
"Heading this way." He answered her. "Unfortunately, they'll be here within the hour. But something does go our way. In order to keep everyone out of this room, the keycards were left inside, everyone left, and the room was resealed."
Kat smiled. "We just wait somewhere until they leave then retrieve the keycards, and use them to get out."
Cruger nodded. It was actually the only plan they had at the time. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something nagged him incessently. He was forgetting something, he felt, but he didn't know what...
2025...
New Tech City...
Boom fought to keep himself awake as he surfed through the files on Kat's laptop computer. The unencrypted ones at least. As long as he had known Katherine Manx as her assistant, he knew that anything really important and secretive would be there! She would always upload it to the SPD mainframe later.
His head slipped off his hand, its current prop, and he all but head-butted the keyboard when he hit! The sudden shock woke him up, and as his eyes focused on the screen in front of him he saw he had accidentally opened a file. A file he hadn't exactly seen earlier...
As per usual Boom style, he had bumbled right into the answer!
ANUBIS
"The Commander?" He scrolled through the file, now at least more curious than before. If anything, he could find out a little more about the big blue dog!
The final battle of Sirius took place near to the underground facility housing the Sirian Power Crystal. Anubis Doggie Cruger's squad had the sole responsibility of protecting the Power Crystal from the Troobians during Sirius's last days. While only Anubis survived the battle, the Power Crystal remained untouched.
The Power Crystal research facility was located 1 1/2 kilometers directly under the SPD Base in Delta City. The chamber the Crystal is contained in is completely sealed and airtight. The only way to gain entry was by two keycards which had to be used simultaneously.
Power Crystals? Since everyone had time to rest right now, he had plenty of time to do some research. Ok, so it was more like snooping, but he liked to consider it something a little more workable than that!
40 years before...
Sirius...
In the past, Cruger had very rarely been inside the Power Crystal's laboratory. Even when he had, he had been standing still in one place. After only a short search, he and Kat realized something.
There really wasn't anywhere they could hide.
Cruger had, as a last resort, been eyeing the ductwork along the corners where the walls and ceiling met. Reinforced, it'd hold their weight, but that wasn't the problem. The duct was segmented, each segment only just large enough for someone of his size to fit with a little extra room to spare. Plus, there seemed to only be one actual place he could cut into it without the cut being noticed.
It was then Cruger picked up on something. Voices...!
"I'm going to have to apologize for the inconvenience, Kat." He drew his Shadow Saber and sliced cleanly into the duct overhead.
Kat soon knew what he was apologizing for!
In only a matter of moments, the double-doored entrance opened, three Sirians walking into the room. By that time, Cruger and Kat were positioned in the vent, lying down lengthwise to have more room. The lack of space left Kat pressed with her back up against the Commander's front, which had to have his arm draped up and over her waist. Personal space was a nonexistent item! Then again, it wasn't like they had much of a choice!
At least this way they could both watch without being seen.
Two of the three Sirian shad taken up positions around the electrical tubes in the center of the room. The third still stood by the door at attention. By how they were clothed, it was obvious the two closest to the tubes were officers of high rank. One was a science officer of some type. The third couldn't be made out clearly, but Kat could have sworn she recognized him.
"Commander Wolffe," The science officer said. "Everything should be ready."
"Good." The Commander nodded. "We can't let Grumm get his hands on the Power Crystal. No matter what."
"Detonation sequence is set to go off in thirty cycles."
"We'll be out of here in ten." Wolffe turned to look at the Sirian at the door. "Anubis!"
"Sir!" Anubis Cruger, 40 years younger, saluted.
"You and your squad know what to do." Wolffe said. "I'll join you shortly."
Anubis saluted strongly. "Yes, Sir."
Just before Anubis strode out, he was halted by his Commander's words. "Anubis...I'm sorry."
Anubis turned to look at Wolffe. "For what, Sir?"
Wolffe explained. "I should have listened to you and not waited so long. You saw Gruumm's final invasionary force coming and told me, but-"
"Commander." Anubis cut him off. "What's done is done. Everyone knows this is our final battle, so let's just do our jobs."
Anubis walked out, the door closing behind him. Wolffe looked back to the tubes. The unidentified science officer looked at him.
"Wolffe?" He asked. "What was that about?"
Wolffe sighed. "Remember when he had been adbucted aboard Grumm's battleship? He had seen what Grumm had been planning and wanted to act on it then. I wanted to wait it out and see."
"As he said, there's nothing that can be done about it now, but we can prevent Grumm from gaining any more power. Hand me your keycard, Commander."
The keycards were taken and placed on the table nearby. The consoles were worked with momentarily before the two of them turned around to leave. As they left, a few words of a conversation were able to be heard.
"Do you remember Aisynia?" Wolffe asked his companion.
"The Princess? Of course."
"Anubis married her three years ago. They've been trying forever to have a child. Another thing I'll regret about my delay. The death of the Royal Family."
Kat was stunned and had to be prodded by Cruger behind her before she finally made to climb out of the duct. Not once had he ever said anything about Aisynia being Sirian royalty! Of course, he must've had his reasons for never bringing it up, but if he had been married to a princess then that would have made him...
Only seconds after they were out of their hideout, before she could say anything, Cruger spoke up. "I'd prefer it if you kept everything you heard here to yourself. Is that clear?"
For once, she actually didn't have anything to say. Instead, she grabbed the keycards.
Once the Crystal was located and Kat was able to remove a sizeable piece, but still small enough to be carried in her sack, they keycards were conveniently dropped just inside the door as they left. Since they weren't any good outside of this area anyway, there was no reason to chance history any more than they had to.
Cruger offered Kat a helping hand up to the first floor of the base, both having moved as fast as they had been able to get out in time! Just as he pulled her up to him, the underground network of tunnels exploded, quaking the ground they were standing on...
"That's that." He said. "How much time do we have?"
Kat checked. "Fourteen hours."
A low growl emanated from him, and Kat knew what he wanted to do. "There's one last thing I need to do."
"I know." She acknowledged. "But I'm not leaving your side."
Somehow, he didn't expect it to be any other way.
His entire body was shaking. She could see the rage in his taunt muscles, Cruger's internal quake caused by the control he exerted over himself. Ever since Banaag had been revealed to be innocent of Aisynia's disappearance, Cruger had been plagued by his sudden doubt of the truth. What he had once known for certain didn't seem so clear anymore.
Kat kept her kneel only a foot or so away, both kneeling at a safe distance to keep hidden from the onslaught occurring in the distance. A squad of fifteen Sirian SPD soldiers fought on what was the remains of a building, hundreds of krybots advancing on the relatively small group. Still, despite their size, the Sirians fought harder than Kat had ever witnessed before! Weakened incredibly after nearly an hour long battle, their sheer strength of will knew no boundaries!
And then, leading the pack, was Commander Wolffe and Anubis Cruger fighting side by side. Over 300 krybots had fallen by their hands alone. When there seemed to be a small break in the action, from it a distance it looked like Wolffe had turned toward Anubis and said something. Anubis said something back, but then broke away, motioning to four other Sirians, who followed him in a wedge formation straight into the heart of their attackers. Successful in pushing back the flow of android enemies, they broke up and disappeared into the destruction of the demolished buildings around them.
Kat looked to Cruger, for a moment knowing that she was likely not going to understand. He was remembering everything all at once, seeing it from a 3rd person's point of view. Before she realized it, he jumped up. "We've got to move quickly, Kat!"
"Right behind you." She didn't ask questions. If she watched long enough, her questions would probably be answered.
Where he led her was sheer destruction. Sometimes, they couldn't run through the surroundings and had to walk. This was one of those areas...unfortunately.
The streets were littered with bodies, the streets overwhelming. The Troobians had come through here, slaying every man, woman, and child they found. A former residential area, the buildigns were singed black. The carnage was so overwhelming...
Kat almost wretched. In fact, after the first initial leap of her stomach, she did, doubling over right in the middle of the street. Doggie was there in bare moments, his hand lightly on her back. He understood. In the past, when he had to go through here for the first time... Come to think of it, his own pile of vomit likely lay somewhere on the street. The stinging smell of blood on already highly sensitive senses of smell, the odor of decay and death... The only thing that kept him safe from it now was the power of the Shadow Ranger flowing through him, otherwise he would be in the same state as she was.
On the inside, he was already.
After she couldn't dry heave any longer, he put his hands on her shoulders, holding her to him as he led her away from the scene. They couldn't really escape from it. The entire city was in just this such of a state, but everything she was going through for him...it made him stronger. It helped him be able to take this horridness once again. Before, when he had to deal with this, he had to deal with it alone. He wasn't sure if he could do that again.
Undeniably, Kat felt better the farther away from the scene they were. Until he was sure she could stand solid on her own two feet, Cruger had refused to let her go. Her curiosity overwhelmed her sickness just enough for her to regain that standing as she realized where he had taken her.
There was a castle...or what used to be left of one. Half of the structure had been toppled already. The rest reminded her of pictures she had seen of Buckingham Palace in London, England. The only thing that broke the picture was what was occurring right outside the palace gates...
Troobians, as they were defeated, became a pile, five solitary Sirians with swords and guns blazing standing at the only blockade between the enemy and the structure. Leading the pack was Anubis. To Kat, clearly he was the backbone of the group, keeping everyone fighting the best that they could! As close as they were now, her sensitive hearing came into play, and she could hear everything that was shouted. Nothing came out of Anubis's mouth but words of encouragement. As the battle grew in ferocity, no words were heard at all...
Kat watched before her as two of the other Sirians fell. She happened to give a glance over to Cruger at that very moment...
His chest was rising and falling quickly with deep breaths, his hand on the hilt of the Shadow Saber. His suit fit him closely, and she could see very muscle taunt and ready for action. She knew what he wanted. He wanted to leap in there and save his comrades, to save himself. Only sheer willpower was keeping him where he was. She took a chance, placing her hand over his that was on his sword.
With a quick, unexpected jerk, he looked at her, the touch breaking him out of the state he had been. Until she had touched him, Cruger hadn't even realized what he had been doing. Mentally, he thanked Kat, and bade himself to remember later to thank her personally. Once again, if she hadn't been there at his side, he knew for a fact he would have jumped into the fray and fought with every ounce of his being. A futile battle, he understood now, but back then, even right now, he felt like he could win it!
It all happened like a moment out of a movie. Aisynia called out Doggie's name. Anubis himself was almost overwhelmed, held now on all sides by Krybots. He wretched free just long enough to lay his furious eyes on Banaag, who raised his gun arm with a dead-on aim...
Cruger had played this scene over in his head so many times before that he didn't even wince as he watched himself fall. His icy cold stare penetrated the smoke of the fray to rest upon the General himself, who was laughing it up. Aisynia wasn't anywhere to be seen, which didn't seem right. Not near Banaag, anyway, as he had once thought. He recalled that moment when he'd defeated Banaag, and the familiar sense of doubt reappeared in his very core. If Banaag hadn't been the one to cause his wife's disappearance then he could only guess at any of the other reasons! One thing was for sure. He couldn't hear her calling for him anymore.
"Doggie, is that her?" Kat caught his attention by squeezing his arm, pointing.
Sure enough...
Aisynia stood alone, back away from the rest of the fight. She didn't look like she minded or that she was being watched. In fact, she was smiling! Cruger was sure of it! She continued to smile even as she turned to walk down a nearby alley. In her hand she held what appeared to be a large bag, one he hadn't remembered her carrying before. Come to think of it, he hadn't really noticed much back then. His mind had been occupied at the time. This new turn of events brought his mind into a more curious state, one to where he could actually think.
"Kat," He said. "What I'm about to do is probably against at least a dozen SPD regulations."
His Science Officer didn't even let him finish. "Just remember, Doggie. Earth is literally at stake here. Whatever has happened here has happened already. You don't know what harm you could cause."
No. He didn't.
The alleys were as known to him now as though he'd revisited them only yesterday. Cruger would have honestly believed that he had forgotten how the city had looked. Considering how he went from alley to alley with ease, he was the victim of complete surprise, and soon he turned a corner and came out directly in Aisynia's chosen path. Only twenty feet from her now. She stopped, and he could see the confusion in her eyes.
Cruger hesitated for only a second, thinking up an act on the fly. He regretted not planning this out further! "Stop! SPD!"
"SPD? I've never seen you before, but you look like a Ranger." She said.
"Whether you believe me or not, Princess, it's SPD's job to secure your safety." Confusion gave away in him this time, and he wondered briefly why she hadn't recognized his voice yet. She had just left him on the battlefield, though. It didn't make too much sense as to why she would think that the Shadow Ranger and Anubis "Doggie" Cruger was the same person. "Why are you so far away from your designated zone?"
"I..." She looked like she had to think about that one. It looked to him as though she was attempting to come up with an excuse. This mannerism didn't escape Doggie at all.
Aisynia was not one to lie. One of the main reasons was that she simply was not good at it! Her best trick was to omit the information entirely and not mention anything altogether. Of course, this only worked when she had time to think. This time, she'd been caught off guard almost as much as he had been earlier. Only, he had his act worked out by now. He'd just be the mysterious new SPD Ranger. She, however, was still the Princess of Sirius and had no alibi.
Unfortunately for Doggie, and yet somehow fortunately for her, she didn't get the chance to try an answer. There was movement in the shadows, and a skeletal figure leapt out at Cruger on his left side. Cruger barely had time to avoid the blow that came next! If he thought about it, he would only come to realize that he should've been hit by it. He'd reason it as to his senses had all been on overdrive being here as he was now...
The next shot, however, was an upward swing by the figure's weapon. A sword. Cruger didn't avoid that, and it forced him to stumble back.
"Get to the ship, Aisynia." The Troobian Emperor ordered, his red eyes flashing wildly in the dark atmosphere. "We will conclude our business there."
Cruger would have sworn he'd seen Aisynia smirk as he spoke. "Of course, my Emperor."
His wife disappeared down an adjacent alleyway, leaving him alone to contend with Grumm. Any other time and that's exactly how he would have preferred it. Right now, he just wanted answers.
The broken horn on the Emperor's head was still rough around the edges, not smooth like the one's of the future was. Cruger actually felt good to know it was his doing, and a recent doing at that. The wound, more to the pride than anything else, was only a few days old.
He had been able to take Grumm before, and he could take him now! "Grumm! Get out of my way!"
"Not so fast, Power Ranger." Grumm motioned to Cruger with his hand as he spoke. "Or have you forgotten who is winning this war?"
Cruger couldn't deny him that. "What do you want with Aisynia?"
Grumm actually laughed! "You stupid SPD fools! You still don't know?"
First that new SPD Power Ranger and now this? Aisynia growled in annoyance. Her day should be this hard...
"And you are?" She asked.
"None of your business." Kat answered. "My question is, why are you carrying a piece of the Power Crystal?"
Originally designed to locate and analyze the Power Crystal underground, Kat couldn't help but notice when her machine went off on her hip. A quick check proved her suspicions. It was reading the energy signature of a Power Crystal on her person somewhere. An odd thing for someone to run around with, especially at a time like this.
Aisynia wasn't going to be intimidated by the smaller woman. Barely shorter, but still smaller, and a Felenian at that! "That's not really something you should know about."
Kat personally believed she had it figured out. From what she had seen, it made too much sense. "I know you've been working for Grumm, Isinia. I just haven't figured out for how long."
"You won't, either." Aisynia replied. "You're just as clueless as the rest of them."
Kat frowned. "Including Cruger?"
"Doggie, you mean?" Aisynia asked, as though there were other Crugers. "He was temporary. I needed an inside connection in SPD and he was perfect. An up-and-coming Red Ranger, naive and idealistic..."
Now Aisynia was beginning to rate on Kat's nerves. "He was your husband!"
The next statement given almost sickened her. "Unfortunately. But Banaag took care of that."
After what she had seen, she could almost believe it, even if she didn't want to. "Do you even realize how much Doggie loved you?"
"Is it really that important now?"
"At least now I don't feel so bad about having to fight you." Kat took on a fighting stance. "Give me the Power Crystal, Aisynia."
Aisynia stood defiantly before her. "You're going to have to take them from me."
"My pleasure." She didn't know what damage she would cause to history by fighting Aisynia now, considering that Isinia hadn't really died in this time after all, but she knew she couldn't allow something as powerful as a Power Crystal get into Grumm's hands, no matter what it did to the future.
Cruger knew he couldn't finish off the evil Emperor. If he did, the future as he knew it would be erased, never having happened. Only thoughts of Kat and the Rangers allowed him to still his hand. He owed them all so much, and yet so much more than he could ever give.
And, so, his sword hand was unmoving, the act of the final blow belayed. Grumm had been knocked to his back, belly-up on the charred ground. Cruger held the Shadow Saber at the Troobian's skeletal face and neck. Belly up... A term of submission for almost every canine and canine-like species known, including Sirians... Cruger found it perfectly suitable for the situation.
"I'm going to ask you again, and I expect to be answered, Grumm." He demanded. "What do you want with Aisynia?"
"You really don't know, do you?" Grumm grinned, a frightening image to behold. It always had been. "I've been plotting with the princess for years to overthrow this miserable excuse of a planet. If it wasn't for the Power Crystals, I would have destroyed this planet long ago!"
A loud crash came from not far away, taking away Doggie's attention for a brief moment. It was long enough. Grumm swatted the blade of the Shadow Saber away with his hand, delivering an upward kick into Cruger's middle. It wouldn't have been so bad, only destabilizing him for a second...had Grumm not picked up his fallen sword and delivered a devastating slice across Cruger's chest! Sparks flew as the weapon hit the dekametal of the Ranger suit, and he landed on his back. Grumm, however, was gone in the time it took for him to regain his footing.
Kat sank to one knee, her right arm clutched around her ribs. Aisynia didn't look like it, but she could fight! And she hit hard! Most of the blows ahd been avoided, and Kat was distinctly worried. After all, Aisynia only landed two actual hits and Kat had landed several more. And yet Aisynia wasn't even winded...
The fighting style was familiar...
Kat rose to her feet. Aisynia looked smug. She had a right to be. She was winning! "Still want more?"
Kat smirked. "Of course."
"I'll admit you're tough. But you're too stubborn for your own good!"
Doggie! Doggie fought like that when he actually ventured into a hand-to-hand martial arts style! Kat knew there was a very good chacne that Aisynia had learned from him. While this didn't give her an advantage over her, this still allowed her to pick the style apart to the point of finding a weakness.
Aisynia was quick to see that Kat used her analytical skills! She was nearly on top of the Felenian before she kenw it, coming up and around with a crescent kick. Kat started to duck...
[ Don't just duck. Duck and move to the side." A younger Cruger, hardly more than a year in Command fo the SPD Delta Base, helped Kat to her feet. He'd placed her there unceremoniously just moments before.
"I thought I did." Kat replied. She straightened her uniform, brushing herself off. "Didn't I?"
Doggie looked like an idea had suddenly come to him. "It's probably the style. I only know one way to fight without a sword. You're going to have a hard time picking it up. It was made with Sirians in mind." ]
Thanks to her slighter size, the two of them had come up with a way for her to use her agility and speed against someone of Sirian size. Technically, a way for her to defeat the Sirian martial art.
Kat lunged forward, shouldering Aisynia's thigh. With the added leverage, Aisynia was pushed off balance and slung back into a wall. The Power Crystal shard that the Sirian Princess had been carrying dislodged and skidded across the ground. It only stopped when a black and blue gloved hand reached down and picked it up.
They were looking at the SPD Shadow Ranger.
If Doggie Cruger had been reluctant to believe that his wife, Aisynia, the princess of all Sirius, had actually betrayed them, the Power Crystal in his hand was proof enough to give him other thoughts. He grew sick to his stomach when the realization came to him. He had been her way into the inside, the key to Sirius's great lock. And there wasn't any telling how long it had been going on.
"You used-" He'd almost said "me". "You used SPD and everyone around you for what? You betrayed Sirius!"
Aisynia appeared mildly insulted that a member of SPD, her supposed protectors, had ignored the fact that she had just been thrown on her backside! When she came to the conclusion that nobody cared, she picked herself up and brushed off her clothes. She hadn't expected to have been thrown into the dirt like this.
"There are two sides to every war." She answered firmly, her gaze telling all she believed what she was saying. "We were losing from the beginning. SPD was just a joke to make people feel better!"
Cruger's legs weren't going to hold him up much longer. His heart had slowed to the point he did not know if he was living or dead. Aisynia was wrong! "I want you to leave, Aisynia, and never come back. Go to your Troobian Emperor if you think he'll take you."
Isinia looked Cruger over for a few seconds. "Who do you think you are, ordering me about like this?" Then her gaze came to rest on the unusual yet familiar shape at his side. "Why do you have Doggie Cruger's sword? He doesn't let anyone touch it!"
Kat's chronometer beeped, grabbing her attention away. "We've only got one hour left." When Cruger didn't reply... "Commander! One hour!"
Cruger now turned to look at Kat. When he looked back around to Aisynia, she was gone...
2025
Monday in SPD Delta Base.
No alarms. NO emergencies. Just the simple delight of sleeping in and relaxing. Considering they hadn't had the chance to do too much of it lately...or any of it at all...
Boom walked into Kat's lab, holding his head in his hands. He'd been up all night trying to figure out the connection between SPD and those Power Crystals he'd been reading about in Kat's laptop. He hadn't been able to get hold of Bridge yet, and what with all the repairs he'd been working on with the Zords...
"Boom?" Asked a curious but stern voice. "Have you been on my computer?"
Boom's eyes became wide as saucers! "Kat!"
Kat didn't get her question answered. What she did receive was one of the most crushing hugs she'd ever had in her entire life!
Down the hall, Jack looked over the latest reports on the electronic clipboard he was carrying. Since Cruger had left him in charge, it felt like all Hell had broken loose on Newtech City! Now, while everything was quiet, he'd finish out this paperwork before something else decided to happen!
"Anything happen while I was gone, Cadet Landers?"
Jack snapped around, watching as Commander Cruger walked up the hall toward him. He had to blink twice just to make sure it was him! "Commander?"
Cruger walked up to Jack and took the clipboard. He began to scroll through the reports. "It's not that bad. You and the other Rangers did a fine job. Good work."
Jack wasn't able to get a single word out. He couldn't! Cruger was back again and acting like nothing had happened...
Later that night...
Katherine Manx walked into the Command Center, this part of the base all but deserted at this time of night. Occasionally someone on nightshift would walk by, and half the time they would be half asleep. Not much sleep had been happening within the past few days.
Commander Cruger was the only one present in the Command Center, sitting at his console desk and going over the happenings of the time they had been gone. Much of Newtech City would be busy for a while cleaning up the mess the failing Power Crystals here had caused. SPD would be busy, too, with sending out teams to assist in rebuilding. He glanced up, his attention brought around by the opening doors.
"You should be asleep." He stated.
"I could say the same for you." She came up to him, leaning on his desk. "Hey. I'm sure you can arrange for some time off."
"I'll be fine, Kat." He leaned back in his seat; he could understand where she was coming from with this. "Even if I wasn't, it doesn't matter. I'm still the Commander. Earth needs me more than any one memory does."
Kat gave a weak smile, laying her hand down lightly on his arm. That was Anubis "Doggie" Cruger. He was strength. He would make this, even if it meant bearing yet another mental burden to spare others the pain. Kat knew it wouldn't last. And he didn't know that she planned on being his strength when he didn't have any left.
FIN