I knSPD: Burning Bright
Chapter One: Everything You Want
Note: I do not own the characters or the little poem thing; I got it out of a profile. As midnight passes me by and sleep burns my eyes, I sit at my laptop thinking of what I've seen of SPD and reflecting on one of the best novels that I have ever read. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is its title and I will forever thank my Novels teacher for making us read it. My tale is going to be long and dark, and now my Mechanical Hound, will be born, to hunt and to kill without mercy, not living, not dead, just machinery.
Genre: Supernatural, Science Fiction and Horror
Timeline: SPD
Dedication: To the Jack and Z Shippers and to those who enjoy my fiction, I hope this does justice to what has come before.
Night fell, the stars shone above and the shadows stalked those on the streets. She walked in a dark alley, the clothes on her back unable to keep her warm, shivering she pulled her arms closer to herself. As the darkness whispered in her ears she wished she had a home to call her own, to be safe from the streets and the evil that possessed the night around her. A dark voice called to her and footsteps began to chase her. Without turning around to see what or who was after her, she ran as fast as she could. She felt the thing grow closer to her heels, and felt a needle pierce her back, sending fire through her veins. An explosion shrouded her vision and she fell knowing no more.
Elizabeth "Z" Delargo bolted awake, her yellow clad form was drenched in sweat and the darkness of her room frightened her as the vision of her nightmare still chased her within her mind. There was a small knock on the door and then Jack Landers walked through her door.
"Z? Are you ok? What's the matter?" he asked, concern in his deep brown eyes as he studied her rigid form. She panted for air until the sweet oxygen finally began to fill her lungs and then relaxed.
"Its nothing Jack, just as nightmare," she murmured to him, he walked over to her and sat at her side, he took her hand in his and kissed it softly.
"This is the fifth one this week and its only Tuesday," he told her, she felt dread sink into her stomach as his worried eyes met her exhausted ones.
"I know Jack, please, it's ok. I'm just stressed, I usually have nightmares when I'm stressed out, don't worry," she insisted, he looked to her and reached out to cup her cheek.
"I do worry Z, when something's wrong with you I will," she smiled, and hated that the only time they could be like this was the hidden hours of the early morning.
It was frowned upon when teammates took romantic interest in each other but theirs had begun long ago. When they had first met it started, long ago on the streets Jack had confessed that as soon as he had seen her he knew that once they became friends, he would never want to be anywhere without her.
Jack gently shifted their bodies until she was in his arms and he could spoon beside her body. Wrapping his arms around her waist he buried his face in her neck and his lips touched her shoulder.
"Jack?" Z whispered in the darkness, feeling better with his body beside hers.
"Hmmm?" he asked, his mouth still on the skin of her shoulder.
"Say something, I just need to hear your voice," she whispered, empathy and concern washed through Jack and he snuggled closer.
"Once upon a time a girl asked a boy if she was pretty. He said no. She asked if he wanted to be with her forever. He said no. She asked if he would cry if she left. He said no. She couldn't handle it so she walked away. He grabbed her arm and said to stay. "You're not pretty, you're BEAUTIFUL. I don't want to be with you forever, I NEED to be with you forever, and I wouldn't cry if you left, I would DIE," he said, Z felt herself melt with the reciting of the poem and rolled over so she could see into his face.
"Jack, I don't even know how I managed to live without you," she whispered, he smiled gently at her and kissed her forehead.
"Me neither Z, me neither. Now close your eyes and sleep," he whispered and she didn't fight as sleep burned in her eyes.
"Good night Jack," she whispered, he smiled and cuddled her to him.
"Good night Z," he whispered.
Bridge yawned as his alarm clocked beeped, he sat up in bed and began to look for his shoes. For some reason he felt the urge to go for a run around New Tech City. He blamed it on the coffee he had consumed before bed and also blamed that on the sudden urge to go to the bathroom. After sprinting to the bathroom, he returned to his room and changed into a jogging suit and headed out. As he walked down the hall just as Jack walked through Z's door.
He smiled to Jack who returned the smile but he seemed flustered and uneasy. Approaching Bridge, Jack leaned close to him and whispered.
"Don't say anything, I don't need Z getting in trouble," he said, Bridge nodded, he liked Jack and Z and wouldn't want them narcing on him both so he nodded and whispered back.
"Your secret is safe with me," Jack smiled and nodded then headed off to his room, leaving Bridge to resume his way.
Heading out of the SPD Command Center he began jogging down the street. The city was dark and quiet, which was rare. Enjoying the peace, he increased his pace and crossed the street to the park.
When he left the park twenty minutes later, and walked down the street that was dimly lit by twilight. As he rounded a corner he was taken back when he saw a girl his age standing, staring up at the dark sky. Puzzled by this Bridge approached her cautiously she looked to him then back at the sky.
"What are you doing?" he asked softly, though the city was awakening and the noises of the morning began to fill the air, he could only raise his voice to a whisper.
"Watching the sky, it looks so calm this morning, you'd never realize that the evil comes from above. We think of things so differently at points, from above the rainfalls and some believe the Heavens wait there," the girl paused to sigh, "Too bad it's all wrong,"
Bridge couldn't find anything to say at first so he simply stared, he had never seen this girl before in his life. He had to admit he knew almost the whole population in New Tech City but she was new to him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Clarisse," she said and began to walk away from him.
"Hey wait!" Bridge called, finding his voice able to rise again, she turned in a smooth motion, sending her dark, dirty blonde hair flying around her.
"What?" she called to him, laughter in her voice, in his eyes she was radiant when she smiled at him, like she was now.
"Will I see you again?" he asked, she nodded and continued to smile.
"Sooner than you think," then in a blink of an eye she was gone.
Bridge was left standing alone, staring at where she had been, confusion mingled his thoughts along with the flutter of a crush in the works, then began to head back to the Command Center.
Sydney Drew walked from her room and instantly ran into Sky Tate who was walking past her door.
"Sorry Sky!" she instantly apologized as she smacked into him, she had been leaving her room in a rush so she could catch breakfast and not realizing he'd be there, practically ran out of her room. She had ran into him hard enough to make him stumble over a few paces, he stared down at her mildly shocked,
"It's alright Syd, are you ok? What's the rush?" he asked, she smiled, giving him one of her charming smiles.
"Breakfast," she stated and began to walk towards the cafeteria to her surprise, Sky met with her upbeat, fast pace and walked at her side.
"I'll join you, this morning I must admit I'm running late, my alarm clock malfunctioned," Syd smiled.
"Give it to Bridge, he'll fix it and make it better! He did it for my hair dryer," Syd said, Sky gave her a sideways glance.
"I'll consider it, maybe it was a fluke," he muttered as they got into the cafeteria, which was packed with the crew of the Command Center. Together they headed into line and began to get food, not needing to pay since they were Cadets. They sat at a table where Z and Jack were sitting, neither one were saying anything, they were both staring at their empty trays of what had once been their breakfasts.
"Good morning guys," Syd chirped as she began to eat a small stack of pancakes, Z jumped, jerking the table slightly. Sky arched his eyebrow and in between bites of his scrambled eggs with bacon spoke.
"Z? Are you ok?" he asked, Z glanced over at him, under her eyes were lined with dark bags.
"Yeah, she startled me, it's a natural human emotion," she stated flatly and picked up her glass and drank what was left of her orange juice.
Bridge then sat down beside Sydney, who smiled.
"Hey Bridge, where have you been?" she asked, noting that he wasn't in uniform.
"I was out for a run, just got back, I'm starving," he said as he began to stuff his face with toast. A few minutes later he shook his head, seemingly fighting with himself then opened his mouth and spoke.
"It was the oddest thing, when I was out and on my way back, I found this girl staring at the sky and she said something that's bothering me. I've never seen her before at all and I've been here my whole life and I know most of the population," he said, this peeked Jack's curiosity, since it was odd to Bridge it had to be interesting.
"What'd she say?" he asked, as he idly entwined his leg with Z's under the table, no one could see and she gave him a small smile.
"She was looking up at the sky and I asked her what she was doing and she said: "Watching the sky, it looks so calm this morning, you'd never realize that the evil comes from above. We think of things so differently at points, from above the rainfalls and some believe the Heavens wait there. Too bad it's all wrong," Bridge said, Sky's eyebrows knitted together.
"What was her name?" he asked, still involved with eating his breakfast while staring at Bridge, which was unsettling to Bridge.
"Clarisse."
Z sat up immediately, scaring Jack so much that he nearly fell backwards out of his chair.
"What was her last name? What did she look like?" she asked immediately, this time it was Bridge's eyebrows that knitted together.
"No last name that she said, she was like 5'6 with dirty blonde/brown hair and brown eyes," Z stood up immediately.
"Excuse me, I have to go," she said and hurried from the cafeteria.
"What's that about?" Syd asked, Jack shrugged and for the first time in a long time where Z was concerned replied.
"I'm not sure,"
Above Gruumm monitored the city, as his new machine hummed, not dead or alive at his side.
"Mechanical Hound," he said, addressing the beast. It's red lazer eyes focused on him. "The hunt is beginning, go," he stated. The eight-legged dog like robot was then released on New Tech City.
Creeping through the shadows that lingered in the city, it scanned the people around it, searching for an identity that had been programmed into its memory bank.
Locating the young woman with the description that read 5'6, Caucasian, dark blonde, brown eyes. Subject named Clarisse, it began to follow her and as she bent down to pick up a dropped book, it leapt to attack.
A six inch hollow needle was plunged into the back of her neck and it injected her body with a mix of poisons that instantly shut down her immune system, killing her instantly. As the robot surveyed the corpse it beeped, and behind its red eyes, across the screen which Gruumm could see and read, the words: Target Identified then it flashed to Target Eliminated.
Gruumm chuckled from his throne as his own red eyes began to glow.
"Perfect," he said aloud to the empty room, "Now to add to the list," as the Mechanical Hound made its way back to Gruumm he input more names. Jack Landers, Elizabeth "Z" Delargo, Schuler Tate, Sydney Drew, Bridge Carson, Kat Manx, Anubus Cruger.
Gruumm shut down the Hound, letting it recharge and refill its poisons and smiled.
"The hunt is on," he whispered, knowing that with his new weapon, nothing would stop him from defeating the Power Rangers.
Up Next:
Chapter Two: The Secret of Eternity
Note: I hope I did justice to the hype of this story, I had it written out and wasn't finished and after reading the eleven pages I wasn't pleased so I rewrote it and now I have finally finished.