Earthquake
Summary: An earthquake shakes up Newtech City, and the S.P.D. rangers are left without their powers to save it
Rating: K+
Timeline: Occurs whenever
Disclaimer: Not mine, but I'd marry RIC if I could
Thank-you to Viola Coye, my wonderful beta reader – yay Viola :)
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Jack angrily yanked a sneaker on as he hopped towards his bedroom door. 'I can't believe… how dare he…' he fumed, unable to keep his thoughts straight. He wanted nothing more than to punch a hole in the wall. Instead, he counted to ten and took a deep breath. It wouldn't do for his teammates to see their leader in such an irate state.
"Open," he growled, grabbing a towel off the floor. He cursed the door for not moving fast enough, sliding in between its halves before it was all the way open. He was half an hour late for combat training.
As he ran, he envisioned each slap of his sneaker against the metal floor as a slap against a certain blue dog's face. Cruger had pulled him into a meeting when Jack should have been training with the rest of the B-squad. Said meeting had been a mere ruse to yell at the red ranger for his apparent lack of leadership. Rules were meant to be followed, not broken, and evidently Jack had yet to grasp this fact. He was also lazy, didn't relate to his teammates well, or a multitude of other things that every other red ranger achieved without trying.
Jack was, needless to say, pissed off. Cruger had ignored his defending case, and the meeting had ended in a yelling match. The red ranger was half tempted to turn in his morpher on the spot, but hadn't because he thought it would annoy the dog more. He ground his teeth and stomped at the ground all the harder, now set in a dead sprint for the field.
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Syd was annoyed. She didn't like to sweat, and since their warm-up had been extended to wait for Jack, their training session would last all the longer. "Where is he?" she whined, stretching her hands towards her sneakers.
"For the fiftieth time," Z sighed, "He'll be here, soon." The pink ranger glared at her, unconvinced. The yellow ranger hated it when Jack put her in such a position. As his best friend, she felt obligated to defend his case. Unfortunately, at the moment, she had run out of good excuses. "He probably just slept in or something."
Bridge smirked. "…or he's eating breakfast… or he's lost in the academy… or he's being a lazy bum…" he recapped her earlier reasons. Z glared at him.
"Not helpful, Bridge" Sky interrupted. The yellow ranger grinned and stuck her tongue out at the green ranger. "Not helpful either, Z" he continued, throwing a few punches at the air.
"…I know! He's probably just avoiding us!" Bridge announced proudly, but withered under the glares of his teammates. He cleared his throat and toed the ground. "So, uh, how about we start some drills? 'Cause we shouldn't just waste our time doing nothing. Not that stretching is nothing, you know. It is something after all…"
"How about swap drill?" Sky interrupted again.
"What's swap?" asked Z. The three S.P.D. veterans smiled and dropped into ready stances. The yellow ranger groaned inwardly and settled into her own. She hated it when the others took advantage of their seniority. Though she didn't enjoy their spontaneity, she had to admit that the unfamiliar drills kept her on her toes. She waited, barely breathing, lest she miss the cue. Someone screamed to start at the top of his or her lungs. Z briefly wondered why she bothered sometimes.
"Blue!" Bridge called, and ran at Sky, leaping. The blue ranger countered by ducking under the attack and spinning.
"Yellow!" yelled Syd, swinging her fist at Z full force. The younger woman ducked and countered with a roundhouse that sent her friend flipping backwards. As they traded blows and near misses, Syd attempted to explain the rules. "So…" Z ducked under her roommate's flying fist. "The rules…" she countered "Of swap are…" Syd tried to take out her legs. "When…" a front flip nearly landed her in a face plant "You want to…" she leapt up "Change partners you either…" she swung wildly "Yell swap or…"
"Yellow!" yelled Bridge, and suddenly Z was forced to contend with the taller and less predictable green ranger. "Other…" he swung "Rules…" he hit her side "Are that when…" she dodged his next blow "You want…" she scissor kicked at his head "A break…" suddenly, Bridge paused mid-swing and appeared to think. Z stood in a defensive stance, unsure what the green ranger was going to do. He might attack her, or call another color, or perhaps introduce another rule no one had bothered to tell her. "So, like, if you want a break because you're really tired or something…" Z's face fell as Bridge started to babble instead. "…Or if you just want to get revenge on someone 'cause you're really pissed at them… or you want to embarrass them or something, which probably won't happen with this crew…"
"Blue!" yelled Z, interrupting and sprinting away. Bridge was quickly toppled over by Syd. He really needed to learn when to be quiet.
Sky met Z halfway and stood beside her, apparently not interested in sparring. She didn't mind, pleased that someone was finally going to explain the game. "So, as Bridge was trying to say," he crossed his arms, watching the others duel. The pink and green rangers knew each other's tactics extraordinarily well, so it was always fascinating to watch them. Z cleared her throat impatiently. Sky smirked. The yellow ranger had no idea what she was in for. "If you want revenge on someone, you can always call out something like, I don't know… Double yellow!"
Suddenly the sparring duo turned on her, which wasn't much fun since they seemed almost intuitively coordinated. 'Stupid Bridge and his psychic powers' Z cursed. "Sky!" she yelled, dodging two pairs of feet and fists at the same time "I'm gonna' kill you when this is done!"
The taller ranger just cocked an eyebrow and smirked. Swap actually bored him, much like most of the games they played. However, he was interested in seeing what the yellow ranger could do when placed in an unpredictable situation. He had to admit that she was faring rather well. Out of all of the S.P.D. cadets, Bridge and Syd were the most energetic fighters. What both sometimes lacked in strategy, they made up for in swift endurance. He had always found it especially challenging but enjoyable to spar against them simultaneously.
After a few minutes of watching Z defend against the duo, he became impatient. "Triple blue!" he yelled over the match. As one, pink, green, and yellow turned on their most experienced fighter.
Now this was fun. Though he countered perfectly, Sky was unable to get any blows of his own in. He thrived on challenges like this one. It was excellent preparation for battle. It took a while, but he was finally able to flip Bridge over his head a few minutes later. When the green ranger didn't rise quickly, the ranger ceased fighting, gasping for air. "You ok?" Sky asked his younger teammate. Bridge couldn't respond, having had the wind knocked out of him. Sky pulled him to his feet and checked him over. Nothing appeared to be broken.
"Double red!" two female voices screamed, breaking the brief silence. The yellow and pink rangers flew at their leader, who was just then sprinting onto the field. Jack ducked as Z sailed over his head, but was met with Syd's foot in his side when he stood.
Bridge stared. "Where do girls get their energy?" he groaned, watching the speedy flurry of activity. He was still bent over, trying to regain his breath.
"Pure sugar" Sky shrugged. He considered joining in, but it looked as though Jack had his hands full with the other two already.
"Wait," Bridge paused, rising "Did you just make a joke?" he stared at his roommate in disbelief.
"Don't get too used to it" Sky coughed to cover his smirk. "Come on, let's go root the girls on." The two loped towards their teammates, Bridge hooting and hollering the entire way.
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The week had been rather peaceful for Newtech city and Commander Anubis Cruger. Unfortunately, that didn't provide a reason to relax. If anything, it gave the blue dog a feeling of unease. Gruumm was rarely quiet for such a long period of time, which meant that he was planning something big.
He hoped that the B-squad rangers could withstand whatever it was. Although they had proven themselves time and time again on the battlefield, he still held his reservations. Syd was a bit too unfocused, Z inexperienced, Bridge sporadic, and Sky uptight. They were good, but they were no A-squad.
The red ranger, especially, had shown himself to be in a rank of his own. Though Jack had made significant improvements in his time at S.P.D., he still had much to learn. While reading an occasional comic book was acceptable, lounging at every open opportunity was not. His indolence was even beginning to affect his teammates. Z, of course, followed in her best friend's footsteps, and Bridge had been caught sleeping in random places more than once.
Jack also liked to use his authority to his advantage. He used his position as a reason to follow what rules he liked, and ignore those he didn't. He seemed to believe that as red ranger, it was in his contract to show off in lieu of regulations.
He often ignored his teammates and instead went with his own instincts. Although that had proven beneficial with Sky's former friend, Dru, it had almost wreaked havoc when Bridge suspected the fernovian beauty. A true leader needed to lead by listening, not commanding. Of course, when Cruger mentioned all of this and more to the red ranger, Jack reacted poorly. This was yet one more thorn in the Lieutenant's side. A ranger, leader or not, needed to take criticism and improve from it, not whine.
"Commander Cruger" Kat interrupted his thoughts. Her superior wandered over to the surveillance map of Newtech city. "We have a big problem. Look!"Anubis' eyes widened as he took in the situation. "Sound the alarm!"
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Jack glared up in annoyance at his two female teammates. They were becoming quite the pair to reckon with, hence the reason he was flat on his back not ten minutes after his arrival. Their high-fives to one another and Bridge's failed attempt to hide a smile weren't helping his already sour mood. When even Sky began to snicker, he jumped up and shoved him. "Oh, you think you can do so much better, don't you?"
Sky barely budged and his previous good humor shattered. "As a matter of fact," he folded his muscular arms across his chest "I do."
"Well then, Almighty blue ranger. Please, enlighten us." Jack crouched into a ready stance.
"Fine!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Syd interrupted, shoving herself in between the incensed duo. "Hello?" she waved her hands in front of Jack's face "Shouldn't you be pissed at us for taking you down?"
Before Jack could think of a retort, the S.P.D. alarm blared. "Something's up," he said, dusting himself off. "Let's go!" The pair's fight forgotten, the five S.P.D. rangers took off towards the command room. Jack idly wondered why he'd bothered to leave the building in the first place.
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B-squad had just reached the hall to the command room when the tremor hit. It shook the building as if it were a mere dollhouse, sending equipment and cadets flying in all directions. Syd toppled into Bridge, and both fell into the wall as the others ran on ahead. "What's going on!" she yelled over the din.
"Earthquake" he screamed back. "We have to get into a doorway!" The pink ranger nodded. Not only did objects tend to be placed away from doors, but the lowered area would protect them from what fell from the ceiling. She attempted to get up, only to be shaken over again. "I can't get my balance!"
"Just crawl for the command room!" Bridge said, getting to his hands and knees. At that moment, the electrical wires above ripped out of the ceiling and tore apart. A shower of sparks rained down on them. Syd screamed. The green ranger finally regained his footing and helped his friend to her feet. They covered their heads against the burning embers and half-ran, half-stumbled down the hall.
As they neared their destination, they found Sky sprawled out on the ground, a metal pipe having caught him across the back. "A little help!" he yelled, protecting his own head from the falling sparks. Syd and Bridge quickly grabbed each end of the pipe, heaving it off of their teammate.
Suddenly, the ceiling above them moaned. The rest of the metal pipe that had trapped Sky was being forcefully shaken out of its ceiling supports. "Go, go, go!" the blue ranger yelled as he was hauled off of the floor. The trio sprinted down the hall. The pipe seemed to chase them, crashing down as by one its supports gave way. "Get down!" Sky yelled and shoved his teammates to the floor. He crouched and spun his arm in an arc, deflecting the metal from crushing them, and the pipe continued its descent down the hallway past them. He grabbed the pair's elbows and hauled them up once more, yanking them into the nearest doorway. Using his larger body to shield his teammates, he pressed them all into casing and prayed that the sparks would miss them.
Syd's eyes widened as she watched the destruction unfold from between her two teammates. "Where's Z and Jack!" she yelled, concerned for her teammate turned roommate turned friend.
"Z hit her head when the pipe fell on me!" the oldest ranger yelled back. "Jack dragged her down to the command room! I'm not sure if they made it."
"Let's hope so," Bridge muttered as he watched the sparks, shaking, and destruction continue. "Let's hope so."
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To be continued