Chapter 2—The Truth Leaks

The B-Squad Rangers—Jack, Sky, Bridge, Z, and Syd—were dressed in their uniforms of designated colors as they walked as a group down one of the upper corridors of the headquarters on the way to the command center.

Syd rubbed her eyes. "Geez, I would have gotten a lot more sleep last night if I hadn't had heard someone snoring in the next room!" She gave Sky a stern look.

"Hey, Syd, don't look at me. I never snore. It was Bridge; he's the one I have to share a room with."

"Let me guess, he kept you up, too?"

"Good guess."

Both Syd and Sky looked towards Bridge, who was completely impervious to their conversation. He noticed their glare and looked their way.

"…………….What?"

"What do you mean, 'What'?" Sky replied irritably. "You kept Syd and me up practically half the night last night with your awful snoring!"

"…………….I was snoring?"

"Yes you were!" Syd added.

The three rangers continued to argue as the neared the doors of the command center. Jack looked at Z.

"You think we ought to intervene?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm getting a good laugh out of it."

The rangers waited as the double doors slowly slid open. Commander Cruger was nowhere to be found, but Dr. Manx stood just behind the entrance. She had a worried look on her face, as if something had gone wrong. Syd, Sky, and Bridge stopped arguing when they saw her. Jack stepped forward.

"What's wrong, Dr. Manx? Where's the commander?"

"I wish I knew. It's almost 8 o'clock; he's usually here by now."

"He could have fleas; I mean he's a dog after all."

Sky rolled his eyes at Bridge's statement. "Is he still at his quarters?"

"That's the only place I can figure. He had a pretty bad night last night."

"A bad night? How so?" Z asked.

Kat looked down. "He's had horrible nightmares all week."

"Shouldn't someone check on him and see if he's all right?" asked Syd.

"If anyone's going to check on the commander, it would have to be me. Rangers, wait here in the command center for our return." With that, Kat left.

Syd looked at the other rangers. "I really hope he's okay."

Jack sighed. "I wonder what kind of nightmares he was having."

In his private quarters, Anubis was still asleep, and the same nightmare from last night began to haunt him yet again. He was back in the dark alley on Sirius, before the gang arrived. At this point, Kat had arrived at the entrance of his room. She tried to get the commander's attention via the speakerphone by the door, but to no avail. Sensing there was trouble, she typed in a password on the door console in order to override the lock, and the doors swiftly slid open.

Once inside, she saw Anubis still asleep on the bed and rushed to wake him. She knew he was having another nightmare.

"Doggie! Wake up!"

No response. Anubis continued to unconsciously squirm.

"DOGGIE!"

It was no use. Kat reached into her pocket for her communicator, punched a few buttons, and contacted the rangers who were back in the command center.

"Rangers, this is Dr. Manx. I need you to report to Commander Cruger's quarters immediately! We have a situation!"

Jack's voice was heard in response. "We're on our way!"

Within minutes, the B-Squad Rangers had arrived on the scene.

Back in the nightmare, as the rangers arrived in reality, a gang of six appeared from the shadows. Reality and the dreamscape were beginning to merge, but Anubis was not aware of it at all. He bolted out of bed and faced the rangers, still in his dream. He saw them as the gang that was going to attack him.

"Commander, are you ok?" asked Syd.

"Yeah, you're acting weird," Bridge added.

In his nightmare, everything the rangers spoke in reality was translated in the dreamscape to the mockery and ridicule from the gang members. At this, Anubis took offense.

"Leave me ALONE!" he yelled as he backed into a corner of the room.

Sky approached the frightened commander. "Sir, we're trying to help you."

He had gotten too close. Anubis let out a scream and charged at Sky, throwing a massive punch at his face. Sky flew backwards across the room and slammed into the opposite wall. The other rangers were struck with shock. Kat became upset with Anubis.
"Stop this madness, NOW!" she screamed. "Get over this! It's just a dream, it isn't real!"

"You're next…" the commander growled as he grabbed Kat by the neck and lifted her off the floor and above his head. She began to choke from the loss of air. Sky, who had gotten up from his collision with the wall, saw this and took action, despite the black eye he had received. He took out his morpher.

"S.P.D.! EMERGENCY!"

With those words, he transformed into the B-Squad Blue Ranger. Jack looked back at him with surprise.

"What! What the heck are you doing!"

The Blue Ranger stepped forward. "Saving Dr. Manx is what I'm doing."

He ran to Anubis' position and pulled a roundhouse kick to his head, causing him to release his grip on Kat and fall to the floor from the unexpected blow. Kat hit the floor and crawled away in pain. Anubis rose to his feet within seconds. Sky stood guard between them in Kat's defense.

"If you're going to hurt Dr. Manx, you're going to have to go through me, first."

"Then that is what I'm going to do."

Anubis threw another, more forceful punch. Sky ducked out of the way and countered with a punch to the commander's gut. It connected, but had no effect. He shoved the Blue Ranger against another wall and cornered him, throwing multiple punches. Sky rolled parallel to the wall back and forth to evade the attacks, each of which making contact with the wall and leaving a large and deep dent. In some places, the wall had even cracked.

On the other side of the room, the rest of the squad was stunned at what they were witnessing.

"I never thought Cruger was that strong!" Z exclaimed.

Kat was weakly leaning on the wall by the entrance of the room massaging her aching neck. "Those walls. They're made of solid titanium, yet he's ripping through them like tissue paper! This is unbelievable…"

"Well, we can't stand here doing nothing!" said Bridge. "Sky needs our help!"

"Bridge is right," Jack replied. "Syd, Z, stay here and take care of Dr. Manx. Bridge, you and I are going to counter. Ready?"

"Ready!"

Jack and Bridge stood in the center of the room and activated their morphers.

"S.P.D.! EMERGENCY!"

They transformed into the B-Squad Red and Green Rangers and attacked Anubis from behind with simultaneous kicks to his back. Taking little, if any, damage from the rangers' counterattack, he diverted his attention to those behind him, allowing Sky to escape from the corner he had gotten caught in. Sky took the opportunity to throw another volley of punches and kicks to Anubis' backside. As he took hits, Anubis turned around again to launch an attack at sky, but Jack and Bridge attacked again from behind. Anubis was surrounded.

"I think we did it!" Syd exclaimed. "Cruger is unable to attack!"

"Don't be so sure," Kat replied. "All of those attacks he's receiving, yet he doesn't even have a scratch. If this keeps up, Sky, Jack, and Bridge will become too tired out to continue the assault. You're going to have to help them."

Z became concerned about Kat's condition. "But what about you?"

Meanwhile, Anubis was facing the Red and Green rangers, and it was Sky's turn to attack. However, before Sky's volley could connect, Anubis did a back-flip over his head and landed with a quake that shook the floor. He then lifted Sky off the ground and threw him at Jack and Bridge, knocking them all to the floor. He then quickly approached their position.

"THIS ENDS NOW!"

With that, he lifted his bed off the floor and held it over the downed rangers, preparing to crush them with about 300 pounds of weight.

"Don't worry about me! Go, now!" yelled Kat as she saw what was happening. Syd and Z stood up and activated their morphers.

"S.P.D.! EMERGENCY!"

In an instant, they became the B-Squad Pink and Yellow Rangers and took action. They both pummeled Anubis from the side with another volley of kicks and punches, catching him off guard and making him lose his grip on the bed. It fell and landed with a crash beside the other rangers.

"That was close," said Jack as he, Bridge, and Sky stood back up.

"It's not over yet," Z replied as they turned to Cruger, who was rising back to his feet.

"How the heck can we beat this guy?" Bridge asked.

Kat responded. "The only way we can snap him out of his dreamscape is to knock him unconscious!"

"We're going to have to hit him in the head," said Sky. "And hard."

"That's using your head, Sky," chuckled Jack. "Everyone ready?"

"Ready!"

Anubis stood before the line of B-Squad Power Rangers filled with rage, though he was still in his nightmare with the gang. With a horrific scream of anger, he charged ferociously at the center ranger, Jack.

"Now!" Jack yelled. "Everyone attack!"

At the red rangers command, all five rangers performed roundhouse kicks that connected with the commander's forehead, sending him flying into the wall and onto the floor. Blood oozed from the wound and streamed down his face and muzzle. The combined attack had worked; Anubis was out cold.