Title: It Isn't Easy
Disclaimer: We own nothing….Except for Dorianna, and a few lil folks here and there. The song "Cry" is owned by Mandy Moore and all her posse. The rangers and all that belong to Disney.
Note from Becky: Hey, to the person who reviewed saying the ages of the rangers were revealed, saw em, showed them to teal, and we both agreed we like the ages we came up with better, lol.
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Morganna walked into her quarters on the ship, incredibly unhappy. Ever since Grumm had turned her back into her adult self, she had been trying to find ways to get him to turn her into a child again, but it seemed like it was hopeless. She had almost come close to achieving her goal—Grumm telling her that if she defeated the rangers, he'd return her to her child state, but of course, those rangers just had to find a way to beat Shorty and Devastation, resulting in the world being out of Grumm's rule for yet another day. She leaned against the wall and frowned.
"Now, now, Morganna, you shouldn't frown like that." An accented voice filled the air. Morganna stood up straight, startled. She looked over to her chair/bed that was suspended in the air. From the angle it was at, she hadn't noticed anything strange about it at first glance, but now, she could see a figure drapped on the comfortable furniture, their shadow being cast on the wall. "You might get premature wrinkles." The voice continued.
"Who's there?" Morganna asked. The person laughed and slowly turned. Morganna's frown/pout quickly turned into a face of anger and hatred. "You." She said lowly. "What are you doing here?" She asked. The person laughed and casually hopped off of the bed.
"A little birdie told me that you were living as a child—your dreams of eternal youth achieved—I just had to see it for myself." The person frowned a bit. "Too bad they were wrong." Morganna remained silent, not about to give her intruder the satisfaction of knowing the truth—that she had been living as a child, but it was stripped away from her. The person looked at the bed and picked up one of the toys on it. Morganna saw that it was Cindy Sunshine-her favorite doll. The person scoffed, looking at the object.
"How hideous." They said. Morganna shot over to the intruder and snatched the doll from their hands.
"Don't touch my things." She snarled. She quickly examined the doll, making sure her dress wasn't ruffled, or she was in any other way damaged. She sighed, relieved and smoothed her hand over the dolls head, holding it close. She then placed it back on the bed.
"'Don't touch my things'." The intruder mocked. "God, didn't you ever get a new line?" Morganna turned, her eyes ablaze.
"Well, I would've, if it hadn't been for the fact that someone was always messing with my things." Morganna said. "You always wrinkled up my dresses, broke my things, broke the heads off my dollies!"
"Oh will you get off that!"
"I will not. You always ruined my things, but no, mummy and daddy always said 'oh, Morganna, isn't she so cute, she wants to play with you'." Morganna made a gagging sound as she remembered. The girl in the room rolled her eyes, sweeping her long raven colored hair off her shoulder.
"Whatever." She said. She plastered on a fake smile. "Goodness, I've been here for nearly ten minutes, and my dear older sister hasn't given me a hug? I do feel unloved." She said. Morganna flinched at the word "older", but then again, the other girl knew that word would get under Morganna's skin, which was why she chose to use it. Morganna glared at the girl and swung her hand, slapping the girl with the back of her hand hard, making her stumble back a bit. The girl chuckled a little, lightly touching her lip with her finger tips to see if there was any blood like the most times she and Morganna came to blows, but saw nothing. "Ah, violence, now it feels like old times." She said. She smirked as she launched herself on the tip of her tones on one foot, while sweeping her other leg high, catching Morganna in the face and making her stumble backwards, falling against her dresser. Morganna gave out a feral cry as she shoved off the dresser and tackled the girl to the ground. Her fingers latched onto the girl's hair and she tugged mercilessly. The girl screamed and kicked her legs up, knocking Morganna forward and making her fall on the floor on her back. Morganna got up just as the other girl was scrambling to her feet. Morganna went to go for another attack before the girl ducked and went to the bed, snatching up Cindy Sunshine.
"Take another step, and I'll rip her head off." The girl snarled. Morganna quickly stopped. The girl gripped the head of the doll, threateningly.
"Put it down." Morganna commanded. The other girl tightened her hold on the head, making Morganna focus her attention on that hand. The girl laughed.
"Fetch, doggie." She said, throwing the doll across the room. Morganna shrieked as she dove to catch the doll. She fell on her side just as she reached the object and rolled onto her back from the momentum. She panted, clutching the doll to her chest as if it were a child. She looked up to see that her sister was gone. Her eyes narrowed into thin slits.
"Dorianna." She said lowly. "The next time I see you, you're the one who's going to get their head ripped off." She swore to the empty room.
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Syd stood in the girls' bathroom finishing her hairstyle for the day. After the phone call from Stacey, both girls had fallen back to sleep for a few hours before waking again. Syd had already showered and was changed. She was wearing a pink mini skirt and a sleeveless black top. She pulled the straightener down the last piece of hair and unplugged it. She wrapped the cord around the handle and exited the bathroom. She walked back down the hallway to the room and the door swished open. Standing in her room, were Z and Bridge, idly chatting. Syd raised an eyebrow at the two before putting her things on her dresser and grabbing her purse. Smiling at the couple she exited. Syd walked down the hallway past the rec room and towards the vehicle holding bay. She grabbed the keys to the jeep and wandered over to it. She opened the door and climbed in. Before Syd had a chance to start the car, the passenger seat had become occupied. Syd looked to her right and came face to face with Jack.
"Hey Jack." She smiled as she turned the engine over. Jack smiled back.
"Where are you going?" He asked. Syd shifted gears and pulled the jeep out of the parking spot.
"I need to go to the studio." She replied.
"Ah. Well, I guess I'll come along, don't have anything else to do." He said, although now that the jeep was in motion, it wasn't like he could say otherwise. Syd laughed and continued driving. As they drove, Jack seemed a little uneasy. Syd picked up on it.
"Something wrong?" She asked. Jack looked at his friend.
"No, not really." He said. Syd gave him a look that said 'spill it.' Jack sighed.
"Have you noticed something going on between Bridge and Z?" He asked. Syd bit back a chuckle. Z hadn't exactly told her "big brother" that she had a thing for Bridge, even though to the pink ranger, it was pretty obvious on the very first day the two of them joined the academy. After Z had settled into the room with Syd and the girls got past the desire to despise one another, Syd had asked her about it.
Syd sat on her bed, watching the yellow ranger organize her side of the room.
"So, you like Bridge." Syd stated. Z stopped in the middle of folding a yellow shirt, almost frozen in place. She looked over at her roommate, putting on a careless smile.
"Uh sure, I mean, he's all right—So's Sky, Doggie, Kat, Bo-" Z said. Syd shook her head, sending her blonde curls swishing around her head.
"No, no, you like Bridge." Syd giggled. Z nervously went back to folding her shirt.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
After the two girls got closer, Z did finally admit that she liked the dark haired boy in green, but made Syd swear not to tell anyone, especially Jack. At first, Syd didn't understand that part, she even wondered if maybe Jack had a thing for Z which was why Z didn't want him to know, but she soon saw that the red and yellow rangers were like family, with Jack sometimes treating Z like his little sister, much to Z's annoyance.
"Uh…….What makes you ask that?" Syd asked.
"Well, I've kind of been noticing them hanging out a lot—and, I don't know about Bridge, but it seemed to me like Z's doing some flirting." Jack replied. Syd shrugged.
"Well, they could be hanging out a lot for the same reason the rest of us hang out…We're friends. Plus, Z's a girl, girls do tend to flirt without meaning to." Syd said, even she kind of cringed inwardly at the boldface lie. Z was not like other girls. Jack looked at her.
"Right…Z, flirting unconsciously. No offense, Syd, but that's bullsh-"
"Jack!" Syd admonished. Jack sighed and slumped back in his seat.
"So……..Z likes Bridge." Jack said. He sighed.
"What would be so bad about that?….If it were true, mind you." Syd said, sticking to her lie.
"Well, I mean, Bridge is a nice guy…I guess if Z was going to like a guy I'm glad it's him and not some creep, but…" Jack trailed off. Syd couldn't help giggle a bit at that. She knew that because Z basically grew up on the streets with Jack, she wasn't really able to make other friends, let alone meet boys and have crushes. In one of their late night talks, Syd remembered Z had actually shamefully admitted that she had never even kissed a boy. Syd understood Jack's uneasiness as being the fact that he had never had to deal with his "little sister" and boys.
"Jack, Bridge is a nice guy. I mean, if they do get together, he would so treat her with total respect." She said, not admitting that he was right, and plus, Bridge being his ambiguous self, Syd wasn't sure how he felt about the yellow ranger. She had her suspicious, mainly from how Bridge stared at Z when Cruger first brought her out to them during training and how he seemed to be near Z the majority of the time, but even in all the years that Syd had known the guy, he was still pretty hard to read at times. Which was kind of ironic, seeing as he could read anyone like an open book with just a wave of his ungloved hand. They pulled up to the studio and Syd parked the jeep. The two of them walked in and Jack followed Syd to where she was meeting with Stacey. They walked into a room and saw Stacey in the middle of a conversation with a tall thin man with dark hair and black rimmed glasses. Stacey looked up to Syd as the two entered.
"Sydney, hi." She smiled brightly to her client.
"Hi, Stacey. Oh, this is my friend Jack, is it all right if he's here?" Syd asked.
"Sure." Stacey said. She stood up and shook Jack's hand.
"He's perfect!" The other man said, causing Syd and Jack to stare at him like he was crazy. The man walked over to Jack and examined him, holding up his hands like the hole in a camera and looking through it. Syd looked at Stacey.
"Oh, I'm sorry, this is Ivan Travers, he's going to be directing your video." Stacey explained.
"Mind explaining why he's fascinated by me?" Jack asked as Ivan slowly walked around him. Ivan looked at Stacey.
"He would be perfect in her video." He said. Jack scrunched his eyebrows, still in the dark about what was going on, but Syd understood.
"What?" She asked. Stacey seemed to consider what Ivan said.
"Hmm, Syd, he is right. He would be good to play your love interest." She commented. Jack's eyebrows went up. Syd looked at her manager.
"Stacey, Jack and I are just friends, seriously." Syd said.
"He is perfect." Ivan stated. Jack looked at him.
"Will you please stop saying that? You're freaking me out." Jack said, stepping away from the man. Ivan ignored Jack and turned to the two females.
"It could work. The whole contrast thing will really catch people's eyes." He walked over to Syd. "You-the small curly blonde haired girl, him-the big, dark, handsome man of your dreams. I can just see it being number one on TRL already." Syd and Jack looked at each other. About an hour later, Syd and Jack left the building and made their way back to the jeep.
"Jack, I'm really sorry Ivan and Stacey were like that." She said, climbing in the drivers side, Jack got in as well.
"I'll admit, it was overwhelming." He said.
"If you don't want to do it, I'll totally understand." Syd said. Jack sighed as Syd pulled out and began driving back to the SPD base.
"I'll do it." He said after a while. Syd looked at him.
"Really? I mean, I don't want you to feel like you're forced-"
"I'll do it." He repeated. "Look, you need someone for your video, the director seems to have some obsession with me, so, I'll do it."
"Are you sure? I don't want to push you into it. I mean, yeah, I do need someone, but-"
"If not me, then who? I mean, if you asked Sky, wouldn't it be a little weird for you…him playing your love interest."
"Yeah, but I could ask Bridge……..Or maybe one of the guys in C-Squad….." Syd offered, telling him he didn't have to do it if he didn't want to.
"Syd, I'll do it. It's not a big deal." Jack said. Syd smiled.
"Thanks." They soon arrived back at Delta base and Syd parked the car. They climbed out and made their way onto the main floor of the base via the escalator. Syd looked at Jack and grinned.
"Ya know, I think Ivan's got a little crush on you." She teased. Jack gave her a glare.
"Syd." He warned.
"What? I think you two would make a lovely couple." Syd giggled.
"Knock it off." Jack said. Syd gave one last giggle before sobering.
"All right, all right, I'm sorry." She said. They stepped off the escalator and then made their way towards the rec room. "So, would you be Jack Landers-Travers, Jack Travers-Landers, Jack Travers or will you be modern and keep your last name?" She said.
"You're so dead!" Jack bellowed. Syd laughed as she ran with Jack chasing after her. She turned her head back to see him gaining on her and she picked up her speed. Unfortunately, she wasn't watching where she was going, but Jack was. "Syd, look out!" He said, but it was too late. Just as Syd turned her head forward to see what was wrong, she plowed into someone.
"AHH!" She heard the person cry out in surprise as the force of impact caused him to lose his balance. Reflexively the guy grabbed Syd around the waist as they fell, Syd falling on top of him.
"Syd, you okay?" Jack asked as he caught up to Syd. Jack took her arm and gently helped her up. Syd looked down and saw that it had been Sky who she collided with.
"Sky, I'm so sorr-" Syd began, her cheeks reddening with embarrassment. Sky got up.
"What the heck are you two doing?" He chastised, his voice firm and hard as if he were speaking to children. Syd looked down. Jack looked at him.
"Chill out, man. It was an accident." He said.
"Whatever. This isn't a playground." Sky said. He cast a look at Syd. "So why don't you both just grow up." And with that, he turned on his heel and walked away. Jack looked at Syd.
"God, he's such a-" Syd cut him off by pulling her arm out of his grasp. "Syd?" He asked.
"I've got to……..go." She said, her voice wavering.
"Syd, don't.." Jack began.
"I'll see you." Syd said as she quickly turned around and ran in the direction of the room she shared with Z, ducking her head so as no one would see the tears cascading down her cheeks. Jack sighed as he watched her leave. Syd burst into her room as the doors slid open and found Bridge and Z sitting on Z's bed facing each other and laughing about something. As soon as they heard her come in, they turned to her. Syd sighed and leaned against the wall.
"Syd, you okay?" Bridge asked. He went over to her.
"I'm fine, Bridge." She said. Bridge put a hand on her shoulder. "I said I'm fine!" She yelled. Bridge stepped back. He didn't need his powers to tell she was severely upset about something. Z went over and put her hands on Bridge's shoulders, ushering him to the door. She gently pushed him out the door.
"I'll talk to you later." She said, basically telling him she was planning on tending to her roommate. Bridge nodded and left as the doors slid shut behind him. Z sighed and turned back to her friend who had now slid to the floor in a sitting position with her knees up against her chest. Z went over and sat next to her. She remained silent and just let Syd calm down. Syd wiped at her cheeks.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell at him." Syd said softly. "I didn't know you two were in here-"
"Don't worry about it." Z said. She put an arm around her friend's shoulders. "Do you want me to go and get Peanut?" She asked, which made Syd give a bit of a chuckle through her tears. Z smiled to herself, proud that she was able to get a smile out of Syd. Syd looked up as she swiped her fingertips across her bottom eyelid, wiping away some tears. "So, what happened?" Z asked. Syd sighed and slumped back, her head falling against Z's shoulder.
"Sky yelled at me. I don't know………It just made me feel……..Stupid and like I was a little kid." Syd said. Z looked at the girl next to her.
"What did he say?" She asked. Syd sighed.
"I was teasing Jack and then I was running and he was chasing me. I wasn't looking where I was going and I sort of knocked Sky down." Syd said. She looked down. "He told us that the academy wasn't a playground, and to grow up." She murmured. Z frowned.
"I'm seriously getting the urge to pull that stick out of his ass and beat him over the head with it." Z said. Syd smiled at her attempt to make her feel better. "Seriously, I mean, it's just harmless fun, what's up with him?"
"I don't know." Syd said. She looked down. "Do you think I'm immature?" Syd asked.
"What?" Z asked, shocked.
"I mean…….I'm 19, I still sleep with a stuffed animal…….I'm self centered, vapid……Maybe Sky's right, I do need to grow up." Syd said softly. That was it for Z, she jumped up to her feet.
"That's it; Sky's going to become the black and blue ranger when I get my hands on him." Z said. She was mad that Sky had upset Syd, and when she was upset, well, that was when her street survival, don't want to meet her in a dark alley side popped up. Syd got up to her feet.
"No, Z, don't." Syd pleaded. Z ignored her and stalked out of the room. Syd sighed and followed. Z went into the rec room where she saw Jack, Bridge and some other cadets. Jack and Bridge both looked up as she walked in.
"Uh oh." Jack said, recognizing the fire in Z's eyes. Bridge was about to ask what was wrong when Z spoke.
"Where's Sky?" She asked.
"No clue." Jack said. Without another word, Z turned and left the room. Syd sighed and followed.
"We should probably go after them." Jack suggested.
"Why? What's wrong?" Bridge asked.
"Well, the last time Z had that angry look in her eyes—she nearly broke some guy's arm because he was trying to rob an old lady that we knew….She's looking for Sky, you do the math." Jack said.
"Uh oh." Bridge said as he and Jack quickly got up and went to look for Syd and Z. They were just out of the rec room when they heard a grunt.
"Z!" Came Syd's startled cry.
"Training room." Both Bridge and Jack said as they took off in the direction of the room. They found Syd standing there and Sky lying on the blue mat covered floor on his stomach with Z sitting on him, her knee firmly planted in the small of his back to keep him from moving. She also had one of his arms twisted behind his back. Sky was straining to get her off of him but to no avail.
"Will someone get this lunatic off me?" Sky asked.
"I'm not budging until you apologize." Z said.
"For what!" Sky asked. Z, angered that he had no idea what he had done, dug her knee into his back a bit more. Sky let out a pained groan.
"Z, knock it off." Syd requested. Jack sighed and purposefully walked over to Z and Sky. He bent down and grabbed Z under her arms. In one swift motion, he picked her up off of Sky. The moment the weight of the girl was off of him, Sky quickly scrambled to his feet.
"What's going on here?" Bellowed a voice. They all turned to see Cruger standing in the doorway. He had heard the commotion and didn't look at all pleased. He scanned the room and saw Syd standing off to the side with Bridge, Jack holding an enraged Z around the waist and Sky standing a foot away from them, panting. Sky looked at their commander.
"Nothing sir, just doing some training." He said. Cruger narrowed his eyes, not believing the blue ranger, but figuring that was all the response he was going to get.
"Very well, keep it down." He said as he walked off. Sky looked at Z as she shook out of Jack's hold. She walked towards the door, slamming her shoulder against Sky's as she passed him and left the room. Bridge followed the yellow ranger. Syd looked at Sky and he looked back at her. Syd bit her lip before quickly leaving. Sky sighed and turned to Jack.
"Care to tell me why I now have an imprint of Z's knee on my back?" Sky said. Jack looked at the blue ranger. He shrugged.
"Must've been something you did…….or said." Jack hinted. He then left the room. Sky watched the red ranger leave, at a total lost what that meant. Syd slowly dragged her feet down the hallway, watching Z storm towards the rec room. Syd stopped at the doorway just as Z angrily flung herself down onto one of the couches.
"You didn't have to be so mea-."
"Mean? Jesus Sydney, I should have kicked his ass from here to Kyoto!" Z snapped. Syd sighed.
"Look, I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt me." She murmured. Z looked at the pink ranger.
"Look, none of this crazy you getting upset which makes me want to kill him would be weird if you just told Sky the truth. So tell Sky than-"
"Tell me what exactly?" The man in question asked as he entered the room. Sydney jumped, her cheeks blazing red.
"No-nothing!" Sydney stammered before quickly ducking out of the room. Sky looked over at Z.
"So mind telling me what that was about earlier?" Sky asked, his arms crossed. Z just looked at him.
"I'd tell you what, or pardon me, who it was for, but it wouldn't make a difference. You'd still be blind." She snarled before grabbing her headphones and jamming them on her ears. Sky just rolled his eyes and left the room. He walked down the corridor and saw Syd walking ahead of him. He jogged up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, making her stop and face him.
"Okay, seeing as Z isn't going to tell me why she nearly put her knee though my spine, mind telling me what's going on?"
"What makes me think I have any idea?" Syd asked softly.
"Well, she's your best friend." Sky reasoned. Syd shrugged.
"I don't know." She said. She bit her lip. Sky peered at her.
"Are you okay?" Sky asked. Syd nodded silently. "Are you sure? You seem upset." Syd stared at him, a little surprised he was talking to her as if nothing happened earlier. Syd shook her head.
"I'm fine." She said. "I'll see you around." She said, shrugging his hand off her shoulder. She turned and walked away. Sky watched her leave. Later that night, Syd was lying awake in bed, staring up at the ceiling. She looked over across the room and saw Z sleeping soundly. Syd carefully pulled the covers off of her and climbed out of bed. She went to the closet and pulled out a box filled with some things---After she had left Sky she had gone to her room and put some things—more specifically some trinkets that didn't totally reflect her age—into a box. She carefully went to her bed and grabbed Peanuts and put it in the box as well. She then lifted the box and left the room. Syd blew a stray hair out of her face as she patted down the darkened corridors to the main lobby of the floor before climbing on the escalator and waiting as it descended. Syd wiggled her toes, a little surprised at how the cold steel of the escalator step felt on her bare feet. As soon as the escalator made it to the bottom, Syd stepped off. She was now where the jeeps and cars were parked, which was also where the dumpsters were. She hoisted the box up a bit in her arms as she walked to the dumpster. She set the box down and opened the lid of the dumpster. She stepped back and took a deep breath. She bent down and picked up the box again. She lifted the box up and threw it in. She looked in, seeing the box of her things just sitting on top of garbage bags in the dumpster and for a moment, almost reached in to get it out.
"Syd?" Came a voice. Sydney jumped and turned around to see Sky standing there in a blue sleeveless shirt and a pair of gray gym shorts. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"Sky, hey….I was just throwing some things out." She said, tucking some blonde hair behind her ear. Sky quirked an eyebrow.
"At two in the morning?" Sydney shrugged.
"Well, what are you doing up so late?" She countered.
"Couldn't sleep, thought I'd jog for a little bit." Sky replied. Syd nodded. Sky looked over her shoulder and saw the box in the dumpster. His eyebrows went up and he walked over reaching in. He pulled out Peanuts. "Syd, you do realize you're throwing out your favorite stuffed animal, right?" He asked, figuring it ended up in the box by accident. Syd reached over and took the toy and tossed it back in the box.
"Yeah." She said. Sky looked at her. Syd shrugged. "I just realized I'm too old for that stuff." She said. Sky blinked.
"Oh.." He said. Syd nodded.
"Yeah, I mean, I don't need it anymore. I'm not a six year old little girl anymore." She said, almost trying to convince herself. Sky nodded.
"Right." He said.
"Well, I guess I should go to bed. Good night." Syd said. She walked over to the escalators and rode back up to the main floor. Sky watched her leave, transfixed by the way her pink cotton cami left the small of her back exposed and the way her white and pink pinstripe cotton pajama pants flowed against her legs. Sky sighed and turned back to the dumpster, seeing all the things Syd threw out. Sky pulled himself up to the top of the dumpster and grabbed the box and hauled it out. Inside were things that he'd seen in Sydney's room before. A small stuffed moose that Syd had gotten while on vacation in Canada, picture frames, books, bracelets, even adorable little earrings that Sky knew she loved to wear. Sky set the box down and removed the items and slowed as he reached the bottom. There, starring him in the face was a small panda bear that Bridge and Sky had given the pink ranger for her 17th birthday. Sky remembered how Syd's face had lit up with excitement and how she had thanked them immensely. It was then that Sky knew he was falling for the vision in pink. He had had a crush on her since they met all those years before, but always figured it was because at the time it was just him, Syd and Bridge in their squad so he just was attracted to the only girl he knew, but at the moment her eyes lit up for the bear, he realized even if there had been a thousand girls in their squad, Syd would've been the only one in the world in his eyes. Sighing, the blue ranger quickly gathered the items and placed them back in the box. He picked the box up.
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The next morning, the five rangers all stood outside for training. They all stood in a line and Cruger stood before them.
"All right, cadets. Well, today we're going to focus more on battle training. So, I want you to break off into sets of two and spar." He said. He paused, remembering that Omega wasn't in corporal form and he himself was going back to the lab to help Kat, Boom and Omega in their search to return Omega to his human form. "One set of three and one set of two." He amended. The rangers saluted their commander and watched as he left. The five of them got out of the line and got ready to pick their partner or partners. Z gave an evil smirk to Sky and went to go over to him. Jack, seeing this would be a repeat of yesterday, quickly got in front of her and grabbed her shoulders.
"Z, how about you and me spar?" He asked as he pushed her off to the side. Z looked at Jack then back at Sky. Suddenly someone smacked the back of Sky's head.
"Hey!" He exclaimed, startled, he turned around to see one of Z's duplicates standing there before it disappeared. Sky turned around and glared at Z who simply smirked as she and Jack began to spar. Bridge, Syd and Sky became the group of three. The group of three looked at each other before each getting into a fighting stance. Bridge and Syd looked at each other before launching themselves at Sky. Sky stepped into a defensive stance and blocked Bridge's attack, pushing him off. He then waved his hand making a force field which stopped Syd in her tracks. With Syd held back, Sky turned his full attention to sparring with Bridge. Syd stumbled back and dodged around the fading force field. As Sky knocked Bridge down Syd jumped onto Sky's back and put her hands over his eyes and clung to him for dear life. Bridge chuckled as Sky stumbled around, trying to get the pink ranger off his back. Bridge took this opportunity to jump up and punched Sky. Sky stumbled backwards, causing Syd's hands to falter from his eyes and land around his neck. Now being able to see Sky lunged forward at Bridge. Bridge grabbed Sky's arm and spun him around. The green ranger got the upper hand and kicked Sky in the stomach. Stumbling backwards again, Sky couldn't regain his balance with Syd on his back and the two went crashing to the ground. Syd's head smacked off the mats and when Sky's body landed on hers, he knocked the wind out of her body. Her eyes closed from the pain and inability to breath. She felt Sky's weight quickly leave her.
"Syd!" She heard someone yell. Her head was spinning as she tried to sit up. She felt hands on her shoulders, holding her down. "Don't move." Said a voice, which, as her head began to clear she recognized it as Sky. "Just lay still." Syd heard footsteps rushing towards them.
"What happened!" Syd heard Z exclaim. She heard some shifting and moving and voices around her before she felt a hand under her hair, lifting her head up gently.
"All right, well she's not bleeding, thankfully." She heard Jack say. "Syd, can you get up?" Jack asked. Syd slowly opened her eyes.
"I…….I don't know." She said softly. Jack sighed and got up, crouching on the balls of his feet.
"I'm taking you to the infirmary." He said. He put his other hand under her legs and scooped her up in his arms. Syd held onto his shoulders as he walked off. Sky frowned and walked off in the opposite direction. Bridge and Z just looked at each other.
"Guess training's cut short today." Bridge said. "Wanna grab a snack?" He asked. Z nodded and the two walked off. Sky walked to the edge of the academy and sighed, leaning against a tree. He looked down, kicking the dirt of the ground with the toe of his shoe. He didn't want to hurt Syd……….Which was the whole reason why he held her back with his force field and attacked Bridge. But Syd, not one to be left out of the fun, just had to jump on him and he just had to fall on her. Sky sighed and sat on the ground.
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The doors swished open and Jack, carrying Syd walked into the infirmary. Kat and Boom watched as he placed the pink ranger on one of the small beds that was set up. Jack turned to one of the cadets who ran the infirmary and told him what happened before his eyes went to Kat and Boom. He walked over. Kat inwardly cringed. She and Boom were there getting some supplies to work with Omega. They hadn't told the other rangers about their work just because none of them were sure if it would work or not and they didn't want to get the rangers' hopes up.
"Hey." Jack said to Kat and Boom.
"Hey, what happened to Syd?" Boom asked.
"She fell and hit her head during training." He looked at them both, not used to seeing them in the infirmary. "What are you guys doing here?" Kat looked at Boom. She quickly grabbed one of his hands behind her back and pricked it with her nail. Boom jumped and snatched his hand away. He saw a trickle of blood coming from his finger.
"Boom got a paper cut." Kat said. Jack furrowed his eyebrows.
"And he needed your assistance to get here?" Jack asked.
"Oh yeah, well, loss of blood makes me dizzy, I needed help." Boom offered. Jack gave them both a confused look.
"Riiiight." He said. He turned around and went over to Syd. Boom looked at Kat.
"That really hurt." He complained.
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A few hours later, Jack entered the rec room where he saw Bridge and Z playing a game of cards. They both looked up at him as he approached them.
"Hey, how's Syd doing?" Z asked as Jack sat down beside the two.
"She's going to have a bump on her head, but other then that, she's fine." Jack answered. "The med crew wanted her to rest for a while so she can get her bearings." The door swished opened as Sky entered the room. The three rangers looked up at him as he went to the far corner of the room and sat down.
"What's up with him?" Jack asked.
"He's probably feeling bad about what happened. I mean after you and Syd left, Sky just took off." Bridge replied.
"Oh." Jack said. He decided to just let the blue ranger alone and looked at his two friends. "Deal me in the next hand." He requested. Sitting on the other side of the room, Sky picked up a book and slowly flipped through it, not bothering to read the writing. His mind was too focused on Sydney. The blue ranger tried to focus on the words written on the page, but it was useless. He finally gave up and chucked the book aside and left the room. He slowly sauntered down the hallway towards his room and paused as the doors swooshed open into his room. He unzipped his SPD jacket and tossed it onto his chair and fell onto his bed and starred at the ceiling. The picture of him and Syd falling kept playing through his mind.
