Disclaimer: the usual….

CHAPTER 5

Flashbacks and Mumbles

"Explain to me again why we have to go to this thing?" Sky asked of Jack and Bridge. The green and red rangers groaned again.

"We're the only active rangers on Earth. It will look good for headquarters if we're at the ball," Jack explained.

"Besides, Michaela's dad is coming back for it and he asked that we be there as his guests," Bridge said. Sky sucked his teeth. Commander Cruger had briefed them that morning about a ball the coming weekend that would be hosted by SPD. It was a really fancy, up scale way of distracting people from Grumm's reign of terror, aside from anything else that had been printed on the invitations.

"It's such a waste of time. We could use it to bring Grumm down sooner rather than later," Sky babbled, getting up to jab at his punching bag.

"As much as the ranger in me wants to agree with you on that, the Jack in me says it's just as unhealthy and dangerous to be so focused on work and forget to take some time to relax," said the leader.

"I gotta go with Jack on this one," Bridge said. Sky was about to give a rebuttle when Syd and Z came in.

"Hey guys, we're going shopping for dresses for the ball and wondered if you wanted to come and get fitted for tuxes?" Syd asked.

"We can grab some lunch while we're at, Cruger gave us the afternoon," Z suggested.

"Sweet, I'm in," Jack said. Sky rolled his eyes.

"Why can't we just wear our uniforms?" he whined. Michaela walked in with her purse strapped around her shoulder.

"Hey guys, you ready to go? Can't wait to see you in your tuxes," she said, giving Jack and Bridge a smile, but winking at Sky. He perked up when she came in.

"And I can't wait to try mine on," he said walking up to her and ushering her out of the room, leaving his stunned teammates gawking at his un-Sky behavior.

"It looked like Sky, sounded like Sky, but it didn't talk like Sky," Z observed. Syd snorted and covered her nose and mouth with her hand to try and stifle her laughter. She wasn't doing a very good job as the others joined her and followed Sky and Michaela out for a day of shopping.

A FEW HOURS LATER…………………….

"You guys looked awesome in your tuxes," Z told her fellow male rangers.

"Yea, but how come we didn't get to see you girls in your dresses?" Bridge complained.

"You mean aside from the fact that you didn't even want to come in the store?" Syd questioned with a smirk. Bridge blushed a little.

"Oh yeah," he said.

"Besides, we have to give you something to look forward to seeing at the party," Michaela joked. Suddenly, the grouped was stopped by a swarm of Krybots. They immediately got into defensive stances.

"Aw man, and I thought this was going to be a good day," Jack said. Michaela carefully dispensed of the clothes in a pile away from the fight, then followed the rangers into battle. Flips, kicks, and punches were thrown about, mostly by the rangers at the Krybots. The few hits the Krybots managed to land on the rangers were easily retaliated against. Sky kept fighting but managed to notice Michaela engaging in some fierce battling and suddenly kick into a new power. Much like Conner from Dino Thunder, she was so fast; she was in one place one second and about twenty feet away the next second. Sky was in disbelief.

"How does she have so many powers?" he asked himself before fighting off more Krybots. Michaela was fairing extremely well against the minions but stopped short when she came face to face with a horror from her past. Emperor Grumm had come down personally to take her hostage in exchange for the white ranger powers that he assumed SPD was in possession of. Unlike Michaela, he did not remember her.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" he asked rhetorically. Michaela was frozen in fear as painful memories plagued her mind. She didn't even notice the tears in her eyes. She wondered how she mustered up the strength to even back away from Grumm. He backed her into a wall and she crumbled in fear, succumbing to tears.

"NO! MOM! NO! GET AWAY, HELP!" she screamed, grabbing her head and screaming with all her might, unsure if she was screaming at Grumm or the images in her head. Sky got enough time away from fighting to notice the situation Michaela was in.

"KAY!" he cried, breaking into what had to be the fasted run he had ever been able to succumb to.

"SPD EMERGENCY!" he cried as he jumped into the air and flipped into the pathway between Grumm and Michaela.

"Back off ugly!" he growled, blocking him from Michaela, who was now shivering in fear. Grumm just laughed evilly.

"No matter, I'll get her some other time," he declared with confidence before disappearing, the other rangers running up to the scene just as he did so. Sky, confused by Grumm's lack of pursuing battle, turned his attention to Michaela. He knelt down and gently tried to calm her by placing his hands on her trembling shoulders.

"NO! STOP! GO AWAY!" she screamed, starting to hit at Sky or the air, as the others noticed she was being very accurate in her tantrum.

"MICHAELA, MICHAELA, STOP! It's me!" Sky screamed, breaking out of his morph to show her that it wasn't Grumm and that he wasn't trying to hurt her. Michaela seemed to come out of her trance long enough to notice that it was Sky in front of her, the others nearby, and Grumm was no where in sight. Once this registered in her mind, she broke down into tears and threw her arms around Sky neck, burying her face in his shoulder. Sky, again confused, tightened his arms around the trembling girl to try and comfort her. He glanced at his teammates, his expression asking them what he should do. The others weren't sure themselves. A few hours later found Syd, Z, Bridge, and Jack in the main conference room with Cruger and Kat. They had agreed to brief Sky and what Cruger said later, as Michaela had begged him to stay with her.

"Commander, I'm really worried about Michaela. What's wrong with her?" Syd pleaded, concern for her new friend overcoming her.

"I wish I knew Sydney, I really do. For now, it seems that Sky is able to calm her down. Maybe he will be able to find out the truth of why she reacted that way," Cruger suggested. Jack snickered.

"Wonder if he can do it without ticking her off," he said under his breath.

"What was that Cadet Landers?" Cruger asked. Jack snapped to attention.

"Nothing sir!" he responded.

Meanwhile, Sky was in Michaela's room. He was sitting with his back against her propped up pillows and was cradling the sleeping form of Michaela to him. He hadn't moved for some time and was finding himself in a mix of exhaustion and pain from his leg falling asleep. He carefully wiggled around to try and get feeling back in his leg. His breath caught in his throat when Michaela began to move around too.

"Mom," she mumbled, snuggling back up to Sky. He frowned, wondering if she was talking in her sleep and if she was waking up. He gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"What about your mom, Kay?" he asked softly. She again started mumbling, still making Sky question if she was even aware she was talking to him.

"Grumm killed her… when I was four… I saw him…," she mumbled before drifting back into deep sleep. Sky was stunned. No wonder she had reacted that way. But the question was, what now?