Variations Of SPD
Chapter 20: Drastic Changes
By: Pink-Green-White-4ever
Last Revised: September 8, 2006
Summary: Sometimes change is good, sometimes it isn't, as the Rangers clearly find out.
Rating: M, for adult-themed situations.
Disclaimer: I don't own PR, Disney does
Dedication: --winks-- To all the fans out there – LONG LIVE SYD AND SKY!
An: And yes, I know what you're gonna say – You all hate Anna with a passion! I know, I know!
"Just when you think things can't get any worse, they do. I've learned that life is like hour glass sand. Sooner or later, everything hits rock bottom, but all you have to do is be patient and wait for something to turn everything back around."
--Unknown --
"Love is the greatest feeling you will ever have, yet it is also one of the greatest sorrows. There is so much suffering, but then there are times when the crying, pain, and heartache is worth it. Those moments are perfect, they are right. Those moments make all the suffering worth while. It's those moments we should live for." -- Unknown --
"Don't dwell on the past, don't dream of tomorrow, live the moment like it's all you have, because really, that's all any of us have." -- Pink-Green-White-4ever --
--
The Command Center was abuzz with activity. Three members of the Senior A Squad sat around the holo-computer being briefed by Dr. Manx while the five members of Junior A Squad stood around the room at various consoles, each monitoring the security of the city, planet, etc. Anubis sat at his desk, quietly overseeing the activity. He noted grimly that neither the Pink nor White Ninja Rangers were present. He knew Brian was still recovering from the backlash of power from the previous day. The White Ranger had taken the brunt of the storm of power his sister had unknowingly released.
Sydney was a different matter. Since Sky had been taken, she'd been walking around in an emotional daze. "IF you knew it was possible, why didn't you warn us?"
Jack's raised voice brought Anubis' attention back to the four people in the center of the room. The three Rangers – Jack, Bridge and Z – looked upset while Kat looked guilty.
"Because I didn't have enough proof to officially bring it up. Boom had just overheard her, without solid evidence, I could have lost my job over such an accusation," Kat argued her point.
"Instead, we lost Sky," Z shot back. "Syd's walking around like a fucking zombie and Brian's in the infirmary; which means we're now down three Rangers instead of one. Thanks."
"That's enough!"
The room went deadly silent at the shouted command. All eyes went to the entrance to the Command Center. Standing there, dressed for duty and looking decidedly tough, was Sydney. The Senior Pink Ranger strode in, took her place at the computer next to Z, and turned her attention to Kat.
"Syd?"
"Look, Kat's right. We all knew something was up, and still, we ignored it. No matter whose fault it is, Sky's still gone. Our main objective is to get him back. Kat, do we have any idea where he is?"
Anubis watched with quiet pride as everyone else went back to what they'd been doing and the Rangers reigned in their emotions and got back to business. He knew as long as his Rangers had something to focus on, they'd be able to get through yet another difficult period in their lives. After all, it was all part of being a Ranger.
--
"Feeling better?" her sultry voice floated across the room to the waking occupant of her bed.
Blue eyes blinked away sleep while hands came up and fingers combed sleep tousled brown hair. "I think so. What happened?"
"You were hurt. We fixed you up."
Confusion crossed his features. "How?"
She smiled, a devious glint to her eyes. "The A Squad Rangers. They were trying to convict you of war crimes that were made up. We just barely managed to save you."
His eyes narrowed. His dream came back to him full force. The little blonde whore begging and pleading for him to believe her had him choking back the vile taste betrayal. "When do we get back to Earth?"
Anna smiled a purely feminine smile. "We're almost there, why?"
"Because I have a score to settle."
"Of course, Lover, of course."
--
Wes walked off the back patio and found Jen sitting on the steps of the gazebo, staring at the roses she'd planted nearly twenty-three years earlier. He could fee the vibrations of emotion coming off his wife. Ever since her duel encounters at the kids' house, she'd alternated between sad, happy, worried, and utterly determined.
"Want to talk about it?" Wes asked, sinking down on the step next to her.
"There's nothing to talk about. You know how I feel, because you feel it too," Jen murmured, leaning against his shoulder. "You know, it was so much easier when we were Rangers. We didn't have to feel so helpless, we could do something about the situation," she sniffled slightly. "Our son is missing and I feel lost and helpless and I hate feeling like this."
"Honey, you use to worry the hell out of me when we were Rangers. This situation is nothing new for me. I'm just as worried about our son as I was about you," he told her, slipping an arm around her shoulders and holding her close.
They sat in silence for a long time, watching the sun begin to set. "We should invite Sydney over, try to cheer her up," Jen suggested finally.
"That might be a good idea, as long as it doesn't back fire on us," he told her.
"I'll call over there tomorrow. I know Z said something yesterday about her going back to active duty this week." Wes just continued to hold her, hoping to ease both their pain, even if just a little.
--
He stared out the window down at the blue, green and brown marble that was Earth. They'd arrived a few hours before and were planning their attack strategy. "Why don't both of you just shut up!" Sky roared, spinning away from the window to face them.
Anna and Viper stared at him in quiet shock. Sky had been moody but silent most of the trip. He'd said very little to even Anna after he'd woken up. To have him snarling at them was new. "Sky?"
"You both underestimate this team," he calmly told them. "They've already been through much together, an outright attack isn't going to work."
Viper looked irritated but knew Sky probably had a point. "What do you suggest, since you know them so well?"
"Undermine their trust and loyalty in each other. Make them see the Pink and Red Rangers for what they really are – a whore and a thief."
Anna smirked while Viper debated. Both knew Sky had part of a good point, but they also both knew that the Green, Yellow and White Rangers knew something Sky didn't – Sydney and Jack hadn't ever betrayed him. The trio of Rangers would never lose faith in their two friends.
"Sounds like you have a plan," Viper started.
"I have the start of one. I'm going to go work out the rest of it," Sky muttered, striding from the room while the other two stared at his back.
--
"You betray your heart and your soul's twin," a familiar voice announced as Sky performed a kata he'd been working on for weeks.
"You know nothing," he angrily replied, eyes closed.
"We know you better than you think, young one," another voice told him.
Sky opened his eyes and found himself face to face with a blue wolf, a pink phoenix and a blue sphinx. The Blue Ranger's eyes narrowed in on the Pink bird. "You're not welcome here."
"You have no say in the matter of me being here," she pointedly told him. Her body grew a little brighter as her anger flared. "I go where my soul's twin goes. It is you, who doesn't belong here."
Sky glared, crossing his arms over his bare and sweaty chest. "And just where do you think I belong?"
Phoenix perched on Sphinx's shoulder, stared straight into Sky's eyes and spoke. "You belong with she who is your other half."
"I have no other half; the one I thought was my equal is a whore and a liar."
"You'd best watch yourself, young one," Wolf finally spoke. Anger was evident in his voice. "Anna has fed you lies. In your heart, you know the truth." Sky stood silent, staring at him. "She still wears your ring. If she wanted Pegasus' bearer, don't you think she'd have taken it off by now?"
Sky's eyes were a little less hard and his jaw dropped a little. "You lie."
Wolf narrowed his gaze at Sky. "The next time you see her, check for yourself."
The Blue Ranger had no time to react before the Wolf and Phoenix disappeared, leaving Sphinx staring at him. "What?"
Sphinx just stared before he closed his eyes and glowed with power. "I have something for you, use it wisely." When the mysterious spirit was gone, Sky found a weapon – a gone of some sort – lying on the ground. It was blue and silver in color and bore the insignia of a Sphinx.
"Very nice," he grinned to himself.
--
Her first instinct when she got home was to just curl up in his bed and sleep until she could forget the world around her, to forget the pain and sorrow, to leave the empty, hollow feeling in her heart behind while she remembered happier times. Instead, she decided to do something constructive – she was going to clean. She had the house to herself – Jack had taken Ally out for dinner and a movie and Bridge and Z had gone down to the ice rink to skate for a while. It was hard to believe that in three weeks, Thanksgiving would be upon them. It would be her first in almost 5 years that Sky wouldn't be there to celebrate with her.
As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted to have her family around her this year, both old and new, to remind her that all was not lost, that there was something still there to keep fighting for. What's more, with her family near her, it would give her the strength she had stolen from her in his absence; the strength she so desperately needed to continue the hard fight to get him back. How either set of her parents had ever managed to get through the numbing grief was beyond her.
Shaking her head, she quickly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and began dusting her room. In the week since Sky had been taken, she'd closed everything and everyone out, refusing to accept that he was gone. Her cadets had suffered from her lack of acceptance, her friends were hurting from watching her wallow in her hurt, hell even Sky's parents were feeling it. It had to stop. It wasn't a hopeless situation. She knew that, accepted that. So they had a hurdle to get over, what couple didn't?
The one thing that had really pissed her off, and was the thing that had snapped her back to her old self was that he spoke of her betrayal and yet, he was the one betraying everything they'd stood for, everything they'd worked hard to preserve, to create. He must have seriously kept his fears and insecurities from her if Anna was able to play on them well enough to turn him against everything he believed in.
Her eyes stung with tears as she looked down at her right hand and stared at the ring that rested there. The promise ring he'd gotten her a few months ago. She hadn't taken it off, not once, since he'd slipped it onto her finger after they'd made love for nearly four hours straight one night. It was her only tangible link to him now, and to the promise they'd made each other. She promised herself one thing – if nothing else, she'd make him see that she hadn't betrayed him the way he seemed to think she had.
"Ok, enough moping. Time to get busy."
--
The call came early in the morning, at that time where day and night meet, when all of them were just drifting off to sleep. The Junior members of the squad had been called first, and then Anubis issued orders for the senior members to be called in.
When the group of five arrived, they found a battalion of Tengas running around, trashing buildings and being a general nuisance while three figures fought the advances of the junior Rangers.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Z hissed when the five hopped out of the two vehicles and caught sight of their teammates getting their butts handed to them on silver platters.
"Fight now, ask questions later," Jack ordered as they joined the melee.
"Welcome to the party!" a familiar voice had them sliding to a stop. Five pairs of eyes shifted to the three figures standing tall before the younger, more inexperienced Rangers, who were lying at their feet.
"Oh God!" Sydney gasped, eyes widening as she took the oh-so recognizable stance and uniform of the man standing in the middle of the trio. "Sky?"
"Well, well, Lover, look, it's your former whore," Anna laughed, leaning against Sky's shoulder, one arm wrapped around his back while the other was curled against his.
Z, Bridge, Brian and Jack looked at Sydney, briefly, to judge her reaction. The Pink Ranger stood there, her eyes filled with tears, but those eyes no longer held the same sad expression they had the entire week before. No, this time, they held a look of annoyance and determination.
"Whoa, Sky, man, what the hell's gotten into you?" Jack asked, turning back to his friend and second in command. "Syd's not a whore, that's a really nasty thing to say."
Blue eyes that usually held a look of amused annoyance now held nothing but contempt and murder when they locked onto the Red Ranger. "You dare speak to me? You thief! You're nothing but a street rat, one who took what was mine by right! You don't deserve being Red Ranger! And she never deserved me! Now the two of you can rot in hell together for all I care!"
That said, Sky brought up his hand and muttered, "Sphinx Flares!" Blue flames shot out of his fingertips. Z multiplied herself, darting out of the way while her clone was fried to a crisp. Jack allowed the flames to faze through him while Brian threw up a wall of ice, protecting himself and Bridge. And then there was Sydney, who didn't move as the flames licked at her uniform. She's got more spine than I gave her credit for, he thought as she let the fire swirl around her. And that's when he had a moment of shock. Sydney had all but absorbed his power, added some of her own, and stood before them all a column of fire.
"How is that possible?" Viper hissed in alarm.
Sydney smirked at his words. "Lesson number one, fight fire with fire," the Pink Ranger replied, her voice coming out less than sane sounding. Before the others had time to blink, Sydney's hands had come up and she was shooting pink fire at the trio before them.
Viper and Anna rolled away from the Blue Ranger, who barely managed to brace himself and absorb the pink power being thrown at him. "How dare you try to burn me, you little wench!" Anna hissed, extending her hand to let her own powers slam their way toward Sydney. They never made it.
"DRAGON'S ICE!" Brian called while he and Bridge rushed forward toward Sydney. The wall of ice shot up between Anna's powers and Syd, protecting the Pink Ranger by absorbing the impact and shattering into thousands of tiny shards. "Bad form, Anna, bad form," Brian muttered at her.
Sydney and Sky continued to pit their power against each other, but they both realized that it was futile. Their power, the source it came from, was evenly matched to the other. Neither one of them could win the way they were going. "Time to play with my new toy!" Sky called out, grinning as he mentally called his new weapon to him even as his ninja uniform morphed into his Ranger suit.
Jack, Z and Bridge shot each other looks when the nifty looking blue and silver gun appeared in Sky's hands. What the hell is that? Z's startled question floated out between them.
This can't be good! Jack responded seconds before blue flames shot out of the gun. "SPHINX FLAME THROWER!"
"SCATTER!" Jack commanded. The four senior members dove off in different directions while the junior Rangers, who had finally gotten to their feet, back pedaled as fast as they could. Sydney was standing entirely too close to Sky to do much of anything but thrown up as much of her own power between her and his new toy.
"SYDNEY!" Brian yelled out to his sister, watching in horror as the blue power from Sky's weapon encased the Pink Ranger in a column of blue tinged light that all but blotted out her form. "NO!"
"Awww, look, the little whore's brother is worried about her!" Anna laughed, moving to stand next to Sky while Viper looked on in shock that the Blue Ranger would actually do that to his former love.
The trio was startled back several steps when Sky's flame thrower ran out of power and the blue column exploded outward, away from Sydney. The Pink Ranger stood with her arms raised to the night sky and the hazy outline of a giant pink Phoenix surrounding her. If none of them knew better, they'd say that she looked ready to fly like the bird that was her animal spirit.
No one moved until Sydney's head dropped to her chest and her body collapsed to the pavement below. "SYD!" Jack called out to her, pushing up from his position on the ground and racing toward her.
"I think it's time to go, Lover," Anna muttered, still astonished by Sydney's display of power.
"I think Anna's right," Viper spoke, shaky that the Pink Ranger had been able to take that much power.
"Very well," Sky growled. "Take care of your whore, Red Ranger, for next time we meet, I will not hesitate to destroy either of you!"
The Rangers watched the trio and the Tengas disappear in a hazy of black power before their attention turned to Sydney, who was curled in Jack's arms, unconscious. "We need to get her back to base, so Dr. Felix and Kat can take a look at her," Bridge broke the silence.
"Let's move!" Aaron called out, the Rangers scattering at the younger Red Ranger's command.
--
Brian stood back by the door, watching Dr. Felix and Kat get Sydney situated into a room in the infirmary. Z, Bridge and Jack were in the Command Center with Commander Cruger debriefing their commanding officer about the night's events. The junior members of the squad were in their various rooms, trying to get some rest. Dark brown eyes were focused on the pale, beloved face of his sister. She did a fucking number on him, Brian thought of Anna and Sky. There was no way in hell, he knew with certainty, that Sky would ever voluntarily do that to his sister. He knew that to be true the same way he knew that he needed air to breath and food to eat to continue living. If there was anything he'd learned over the last couple of months, it was how much Sky loved Sydney.
"Are you alright?" Kat asked, moving to stand with him.
The White Ranger remained silent. There was something, just out of his reach, that told him he needed to do something, seek some answers, to help get the Blue Ranger back. "I'm fine. Tell the others I'm going to be gone for a few hours, but I'll be back."
Kat looked confused until she watched, with wide eyes, as he disappeared in a column of white light. "Oh boy."
--
The temple grounds were shrouded in darkness. The crickets could be heard in the bushes, and the occasional night bird chirped. The stillness, the peace that he'd lived with for so long was startling to him now. Shaking his head, Brian set off for the inner sanctum of Ninjor's temple.
Barely lit torches hung in sconces on the walls and flared as he walked into the center of the room. Ninjor was no where to be seen, nor did the White Ninja hear his mentor. The large bottle like object that was Ninjor's personal quarters sat on the table at the far end of the room.
Taking a deep breath, Brian pooled his power inside of himself and announced his arrival. "What brings you, young Dragon?" Ninjor's sing song voice echoed through the room seconds before the Master Ninja appeared.
"I come seeking your help, Master Warrior."
Ninjor cocked his head to the right and stared through his visor at his young apprentice. "Go ahead."
"I need to know all you can tell me about Vampra, and I need to know how to undo whatever Anna's done to Sky. Please, I need your help."
The blue ninja considered the request. There was nothing he could do to help his young charge free the Blue Sphinx, but he could tell him everything he knew about Vampra. "Brian, I know nothing of how to help you help Sky. That has to be done by your sister, and your sister alone. Vampra, however, I can tell you. The best people to talk to about him are the Priests of the Morphin' Master Council. When Dulcea and I encased him in the form he is now, we did so with little knowledge of him. All help we had was from the council. I can tell you, he's a mad man, and if he is allowed to touch the great power, he could very well destroy the balance between good and evil."
"How do I find the council?"
"They live, in silence and secret, on Eltar, home of Zordon, mentor your parents. There is a man on KO-35, a man named Debo, he's the only one other than Lerigot of Liaria that I know can access the dimensional gateway between our system and Eltar."
"Thank you."
Ninjor nodded. "Be careful, be very careful. Debo is a hard man to find, and harder still to convince to get involved unless he sees fit. Good luck."
Brian bowed before the Master Ninja before disappearing in a column of white light. Ninjor shook his head and turned to the two figures standing in the dark corner of the room. "I had thought I'd see you this night."
"We wouldn't want to disappoint," the female laughed, lunging forward to throw her arms around Ninjor in a hug. "Hello old friend."
"Old friend?" Ninjor sputtered, pulling back to arms length and staring down at the pink clad figure. "I am not old, my Crane, merely a seasoned veteran like yourself."
"Of course. He's hurting."
"And so is Syd," the third figure spoke, his arm snaking around the pink dressed woman beside him.
"Yes, my Falcon, both of your chicks are hurting, but they will find their way. They always do," Ninjor told them. "I have faith in their abilities, but more importantly, I have faith in their hearts. They will pass this challenge, just as they've passed others."
"With you guiding them, I worry less," the man in white spoke, smiling. "Until later."
Ninjor nodded and bowed in formal goodbye as the pair vanished. "They will succeed; they are far too much like the two of you not to."