As much as they were missing a member the Power Rangers were still needed and given that there had been a slip up from the C-squads patrols this morning Commander Cruger really didn't have any choice but to put the remaining rangers back on active duty, maybe putting them back on to their patrols would help keep their mind off Sydney for a few hours. Leaning himself back in the large silver chair the commander shook his head with slight amusement in his movement as he knew that it wasn't likely that anyone would take their minds off the pink ranger. Even he was having a hard time staying focused on the pile of task that was currently building up upon him. Bringing his eyes back to the paper in front of him, the commander sighed softly to himself as he read over the words of today's report of C-Squads ordeal.
It was only a slip but it was something that still needed to be addressed, they were in no way ready to move up a class and today had more then been proof of that. It seemed the 5 rangers he currently had in his team and more then been exceptional in their ways. Lightning didn't strike twice when it came to Power Rangers and he knew that even without their powers, when they worked together as a team they could be the best of the best. Given they had not been like this of late but there was still hope for them and that was important. Hope was the one thing that could pull them back together as a team, he just had to get them to see it.
Placing his paw down onto the file the large dog felt a pin of anger scratch at his skin. "Grumm you have more than a lot to answer for and I will see that you get everything that's coming for you"
"Mind your blood pressure" The sound of heels on the floor echoed from the doorway as doctor Manx easily slid herself up to the side of the tall desk that was the commanders post. A brow raised towards her friend as she placed her clip board down onto the desk with more paper work that needed to be signed.
There was a small but clear growl from the dog as he lifted his head from the paperwork and towards the cat like doctor that stood before him at the foot base of his desk before his eyes went back to the paper work. "Things with the crystal going well?"
"It should be just about ready to test by tomorrow morning, we just have to be very careful with it. We don't wanna get out hopes up only to have them slashed again of it doesn't work" Kat was trying to remain as hopeful as she could but even she herself didn't know if the crystal was stable enough to be placed in a CDD or if it would work anyway.
Nodding his head as he took in her words, Commander Cruger sighed as he then put his pen down against the papers and lent back into his seat a little, he knew that keeping secrets from his team was a bad move, remember how he had kept the truth about their parents and powers to himself, it had just about blown up in his face. What if the crystal couldn't help Sydney and he told that rangers that it would, then the team would more than implode in on itself and that would mean disaster for everyone involved. "Then we don't tell them that we're going to try the crystal in the morning"
Little did the commander and the doctor know that on the other side of the open doorway Boom had heard just about everything, what he had missed was the fact that this was going to be kept quiet. Hearing only about how the crystal was going to be tested in the morning Boom stumbled back slightly as he turned himself around and started heading down towards the rangers that were currently occupying the training fields. Quickly walking past cadets as he searched for the four rangers he was after.
Holding up a training sword Bridge stepped back from Z's quick and sharp advances, a little surprised to see that the yellow ranger had vastly improved since the last time they had tried this training exercise. Stepping back until his foot hit the very edge of the blue training mats that had been laid out on the grassy area Bridge quickly glanced down at the position of his foot as he could feel the softness of the mat end and the slight gap between his foot and grass became clear. If he didn't made an advance on Z soon he would be easily taken off the mats and would be knocked out of the round. And that would make Z the best fencer of the day.
"When did you get so good at this?" Shifting his weight onto the tips of his toes the green ranger lunged forward, thrusting his sword forward towards Z onto to have her step aside, causing him to trip forward and to tuck and roll in order to recover himself.
A smile on her lips as she blew a few strands of dark brown hair away from her eyes and slowly took three small steps forward and braced herself for the possible next move she would make. "Syd's been giving me lessons, it's easy to see why she was world champion three years running, that girls got serious game when it comes to fencing" Retreating as there was a quick jab from Bridge that only just missed her Z laughed a little as it seemed that Bridge was starting to pick up on some of the moves she had been making.
As the sparing continued Sky and Jack stood on opposites sides of the training mats, watching with intent and some amusement as their friends spared, sending both physical and verbal jabs back and forth between them. Jack with his arms folded over his chest as his eyes followed the action and stepping back when Bridge of Z came a little closer to him the red ranger started to see things from the commanders point of view, it seemed the idea of being idea had gone to his head just a little bit too much, taking the moment to step back and get a wider view of things Jack could see that they were all equal, they were a team, each member just as important as the next. In fact he could just about see Sydney standing at the edge of the mats telling the others how to improve on their skills, listing his head up slightly and adjusting his feet Jack's eyes looked past the two bantering rangers and towards the blue ranger. Nodding his head slightly as an indication that he was admitting that what he had done was wrong and this was way of acknowledging that.
Hands clasped behind his back in a tall pose, Sky's eyes watched each move but even as his eyes followed Bridge and Z, his mind wasn't on the training session, not even close. But his mind wasn't on Syd as a person; it was on how she affected the team as a whole. It was like missing a limb, you can still manage but it is a lot harder to do so. It wasn't about the individual as a single in was about the individual as a whole and how they changed everything and everyone around them just by being there. Bridge and more the cool and calm, Z was more feisty and full of sass, he and Jack were sometimes egotistic and big headed and normally four people of those mind sets had trouble being in close quarters never mind being in a team that had the responsibility of keeping earth safe upon their shoulder. Somehow Syd seemed to be able to keep them together, making everything work out the way it should. He didn't know how she did it every day but it was clear that she was needed in their lives and in the team. Sky just hoped that she would awaken sooner rather than later, they seemed to be getting along alright for now but god only knew how long that would last. He and Jack seemed to have put aside their differences for now but it would only take a single grain to tip the scale. It was just the way the two men were, two alpha males butting heads trying to be number 1 but for ego was put away to try and recover the team. Nodding his head back towards Jack to show that he was acknowledged his gesture and its meaning, Sky finally brought his mind back to the present moment. Watching with slight diversion as the tables suddenly were turned on the mats, all along Sky had known that Syd had shared her fencing secrets with himself and Bridge a long time ago, so watching Z have the upper hand and become cocky played right into the trick that Bridge was clearly playing.
Bringing the sword up in line with the yellow rangers, Bridge smiled as with the simplest flick and twist of his wrist Z's sword was flung easily from her hand and landed out of her reach on the edge of the mat. Having disarmed his opponent the green ranger had a boyish grin on his face as he held his hand with the training sword above his head as he jumped up and down with joy making the sound a crowd would make if there had been one.
"Alright Zorro, calm down it was only a training exercise" Z still smiled as she pushed herself up to her feet, taking the few steps over to her fallen item and retrieving it. Seeing the look that only just broke though Sky's expression, Z's mouth dropped open as she suddenly saw that this had been planned from the be beginning of the training session.
"Syd hasn't just been giving me tips has she?" Looking over to a still over excited Bridge as he shook his head answer her question as he finally stopped from jumping up and down on the spot the green ranger spotted someone somewhat running towards them.
"Boom seems to be in a hurry to tell us something" Coming over to join the rest of the team, Bridge winced slightly as he watched Boom trip slightly over a small ditch in the field, the man almost ended up face first in the grass but had just recovered himself as the last second.
Stepping up to the rangers a little puffed and red in the face Boom lent over holding up a finger as he asked them to give him a minute before he would tell them what news he had to share. Huffing a few times before he stood himself upright and recovered himself from his run. "I overheard the commander and Kat, uh Doctor Manx in the commander center, I was going to show them the new updates that RIC has and they were talking about Syd" Having to pause for a moment as he was a little out of breath still, he drew in some air, giving the chance for someone else to speak.
"I'd think that's a very hot topic around the base right now Boom" Still with his arms over his chest, Jack frowned a little as he wondered why Boom seemed to be so fascinated by the topic, it was all everyone had been talking about around the base, of course as soon as they saw one of the power rangers the subject was dropped but everyone knew.
"No, no talking about her and using the crystal on her in the morning to try and wake her up" Hearing the shorter man's words the rangers all suddenly looked up, as is a lightning bolt has stuck each of them. It only took a short glance between all of them before all four of the rangers were off and running towards the large base that loomed high above them. Leaving Boom behind and a little bewildered as a part of him had been expecting the rangers to know about this, Commander hardly ever kept them out of the loop like this, even he had known about the crystals completion in the early hours of the morning, why hadn't they been told about the progress that had been made. Question zoomed around in his mind as he watched the rangers grow smaller and smaller as they became distant from him and the training mats. "They didn't know" Only saying the words to himself Boom started to wonder if telling the rangers had been a massive mistake.
Entering the doors of the base the rangers were met with strange looks as they ran past cadets and workers, no one had ever seen the rangers just suddenly burst into the building like this, it made them all wonder if they should be bracing themselves for something to happen. Making their way up to the commander center, pushing past people as the four of them scrambled to reach the doors, Jack was the first of them reach and activate the door. Almost being pushed into the room and the others came up behind him Jack placed his hands on his knees as it was now the rangers turn to be out of breath, even though being a power ranger required them to be incredibly fit, running up 14 flights of stairs as they didn't want to wait for the elevator took a lot out of them given they had just been training.
Tripping over each other to get to the commanders desk first, the large dog seemed a little puzzled at the state of his rangers that now stood in the commander center, puffing and panting to catch their breath.
Sky was the first to recover himself enough to be able to get a sentence together without having to gasp for air. "Why didn't you tell us about the crystal?"