Thank you Pitapafrita and Catgox for reviewing!
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Bridge was sitting next to Z's bed. She had woken up on and off, but he had not gotten a chance to talk to her yet. Bridge worried what she would say to him, but Jack told him she was the one that convinced him he was wrong. When Z did wake up, her smile reassured Bridge.
"Hey, you."
Bridge smiled back. "Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Better. Did Jack talk to you?"
Bridge nodded. "Yeah, but not before I went out by myself and tried to fight the monster."
"Bridge…"
"I know, it was stupid. Believe me when I say I know. He did something to me, and now we are linked. I can feel what he feels, and I'm not liking this."
Z looked at him with sad eyes. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. He's found a way to get completely inside my head."
"Bridge, we'll find a way around this. You should be with the others trying to figure something out."
Bridge shook his head. "If this link is as strong as I think, then there's no telling when he can see what I can see. Being in the Command Center could give Gruumm the advantage."
"Can it work both ways?" Z sat up a little.
"Yeah, I think so. I mean maybe, I haven't really seen much on his end. A few flashes here and there, but nothing major. He's stronger than me."
Z gave him a stern look. "No, he can't be. You're one of the strongest people I know."
Bridge smiled. "Thanks."
"So maybe you can attack him from your end."
Bridge's smile dropped a little. "If he knows I'm there then he'll dig deeper, which could end badly. He was designed for this. I don't know if I can handle what he can."
"You need to have more faith in yourself Bridge. Stand on your head or something, that always helps."
"I don't think even that will help me right now, Z."
"I know you can beat this guy."
"I can try."
Bridge went back to his room to think about what he could do to stop the monster. So far he was not coming up with any good options. He also knew that anything he was thinking might not matter because the monster could probably get in his thoughts if it wanted. Bridge had no idea what the extent of its power was. All he knew was that the monster had not said anything to him since he got back to S.P.D., but Bridge could feel its presence as if he were standing behind him all the time. Bridge was so lost in thought he did not notice Sky was sitting in front of him now.
"Did you hear me?"
Bridge looked up. "Oh, Sky…no I didn't."
"I asked how it was coming, but I'm guessing not good."
Bridge nodded.
"I just don't understand why you didn't say anything before, and why you thought these would help." He sat Bridge's medicine on the side table.
Bridge stared at the pills and wondered what would happen to the monster if he took them, it could help block the connection, but he was still able to get through before.
Bridge snapped back. "I couldn't, not after what happened. I couldn't trust myself anymore, why should any of you have?"
Sky sighed. "I guess we never really gave you a chance for you to think we trusted you. I knew something was going on, I should have pushed it."
"It's not your fault. It's just my entire life I've only been able to trust my abilities, my instincts. When no one else would listen to me, or believe me, or just tell me I was crazy, I knew that I could trust myself, but that monster took that away. I don't know what to believe anymore. I had dreams that didn't come true all the way, some that did. Feelings that were wrong. My head is just filled with what it put there and I don't know what to think anymore."
"I think you need to figure out how deep this connection is. If that monster can make you feel and think things it wants you too, then…well it could get bad for everyone really quick."
Bridge let those words sink in. It was what he had been thinking all along. "I know I need to find out how this connection works, I'm just terrified at what might happen."
Sky got up and walked over to Bridge. "I don't pretend to understand how you work in the slightest, but if there's anything I can do to help."
Bridge smiled a little. "Could you just stay? If something goes wrong, I don't want to be alone." He was also thinking if something went wrong he might need someone there to stop him if the monster made him try to attack someone or something.
"I can do that." Sky smiled back.
Bridge nodded and scooted back on his bed. He crossed his legs and took a big breath. He needed to concentrate. Bridge tugged on the line he felt in his mind, connecting him to the monster.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Bridge thought a little harder. "Hello?"
Silence.
Bridge huffed in frustration. "I know you can hear me. I feel you in there."
Bridge heard a stifled laugh. "What do you want Green Ranger?"
"I want to see what you see." Bridge concentrated on the monster, and for the briefest moment he got a flash of where the monster was.
"No, no. Bad ranger. You don't get too have the same privilege as me. You aren't as strong as I am."
Bridge opened his eyes.
"What happened?" Sky could tell Bridge was distressed.
"He's blocking me. He can see what's in my head, but I can't get in his." Bridge stood up and walked over to his desk.
"What are you doing?" Sky watched.
"I need to test something else." He gave Sky a worried look before picking up an exact-o-knife and cutting his arm with it.
That prompted Sky to jump off the bed and rush over to him. "Bridge, what the hell are you doing?"
Bridge just held up his hand. "Shh." Bridge heard the monsters growl in pain. It worked both ways.
"You'll pay for that!"
Bridge dropped the knife and screamed out in pain. Sky stared at him with wide eyes, not sure where the pain was coming from. Bridge grabbed his arm and leaned over his desk.
"Stop! Please, stop!"
Bridge gasped for air when the pain in his arm dropped off.
"You don't get control of this ranger, so don't even try."
Sky stared at Bridge. "Are you okay?"
Bridge caught his breath and nodded. "I can hurt him too."
"A lot of good that did."
"Okay, I didn't exactly think that one through, but now we know." Bridge straightened up.
Sky did not understand. "What good does knowing that do?"
Bridge looked his roommate in the eye. "Because if this gets out of hand, we have a way to stop the monster."
Sky shook his head. "No. Bridge I don't care how bad this gets, we aren't killing you to get rid of that guy."
Bridge felt new thoughts swirling around his head. Terrible ones caused by the monster. "We may not get a choice."
"We'll find a way to beat him without you getting hurt." Sky would not accept what Bridge was thinking.
"If he gets hit, I get hurt. If I get hurt then you may stand a chance. If you all are too scared to hit him, then he'll terrorize the city until it's destroyed. What lengths will you go to just see I don't get hurt?"
Sky shook his head. "We aren't talking about this. We'll find another way."
Bridge huffed out an irritated sigh. He knew it was not the best scenario, but this monster had all the power right now, and if they were too afraid to fight him, he would win.
"I can't go anywhere that may give Gruumm secret information. I have to figure something out on my own." Bridge sat down on his bed again.
"Look, we should talk this out with the team. We can do it in the Common Room, or outside, but you have to know you aren't alone on this." Sky realized his words fell on deaf ears. Bridge had that look he sometimes got right before he said things that made no sense.
"I think I need to sit down."
Sky stared at him. "Umm, you are sitting down."
"Oh…this room is really spinny." Bridge was looking around.
Sky came over. "Okay, you're thinking too much. You need to get some rest." Sky pushed Bridge into a lying position.
"But what about the monster?"
"You rest; I'll go talk with the team and see what we can come up with, okay?"
Bridge shut his eyes. "Yeah, okay."
Sky waited around a few more minutes to make sure Bridge was just overworked and not getting attacked by the monster. He hated knowing that thing had a grip on his best friend. He met up with the others in Z's room, where she was still recovering.
"There has to be a way to stop this monster." Z was sitting up in the bed trying to think of ways to help the others.
Sky shook his head. "He thinks the only way we will beat it is if we kill him."
Syd shot a look at Sky. "What? He can't be serious."
"He thinks that might be the only option. This thing has him terrified at what could happen." Sky shrugged.
Jack rubbed his face. "If this monster has similar psychic abilities, then shouldn't there be a way for Bridge to stop it without killing himself?"
"He said he's stronger." Sky was running out ideas.
Z shook her head. "No way. I don't care if this thing was created to hurt Bridge. He is one of the strongest people I know. His powers are developing like crazy. He afraid to try because of what happened, but I know he's strong enough to do something about this."
"Yeah, but how do we convince him of that?" Syd looked at the others.
Bridge was not asleep long before the nightmares crept in. A lot was running through his mind, but he noticed there were things he had never seen before. Bridge was seeing into the monster's head. While he was sleeping, his mind was free to wander with no strain. Bridge shot up and realized his dream was real. He had seen into the monster's mind. He sprang out of bed. He knew if he could relax his mind enough and focus his thoughts, he may be able to see more. He could find out plans; something that could help them. Bridge went over to the corner and flipped onto his head. He was still a little dizzy, but he did not care if it meant saving himself and beating the monster. Bridge had also dreamed about other things that could come to pass, but he did not want to think about them yet.
Sky was going back to his room to check on Bridge. As he entered the room he saw the Green Ranger flip over from his upside down position and run straight towards him. Sky held out his hands to stop Bridge from crashing into him.
"Oh, good Sky! I was sleeping, and then I was dreaming, and then I was awake and thinking…and the thoughts were that I think I may have a plan!"
"Whoa, okay calm down Bridge, what are you talking about?" Sky was trying to slow Bridge down.
Bridge took a breath. "I think I have a plan on how to end this."
Sky was shocked. "That's great, what is it?"
"Oh, I can't tell you. Well at least not yet."
Sky gave him a weird look.
"The monster could hear, I think I have the ideas where he can't find, but I can't talk about it yet, which is actually another part of my plan." Bridge started to stare off a little.
"Bridge, how can we help you if you can't tell us?"
"I'm working on that, I just need some time, but we don't' have much time, because I saw a little into the monsters head and he's going to attack the city soon."
"Why didn't you start with that?" Sky huffed a little.
Before Bridge could say anything the alarms went off. Bridge put a hand on Sky's shoulder before he could grab his morpher. "Remember what I said before. We can't let it think we are afraid to hurt it. We can't let it think it's invincible."
Sky said nothing to that, but grabbed his morpher and changed. The two rangers then caught up with Jack and Syd as they headed for downtown.
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AN: Thanks for reading!
