The chapter is for all the S.P.D. fans out there who are as annoyed by the shape of the academy as I am (especially one wonderful beta reader!)
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When the earthquake finally rumbled to an end, everyone in the academy breathed a sigh of relief. "Damage report," ordered Commander Cruger.
"We're already on it, sir." Kat responded, her hunched form facing him. She was looking over the shoulder of a male cadet, trying to decipher exactly what had gone wrong. "I'll tell you as soon as I know anything, but right now, the equipment's shot."
Anubis nodded grimly and turned towards the two rangers crouched on the floor. "How are you doing, Elizabeth?" he asked. She sat with her back pressed to the wall as Jack cleaned out a small cut on her head.
"Sir, please call me Z." The yellow ranger flinched as Jack placed iodine on it. The dog nodded. If she was well enough to protest, she was probably just fine. "I have a bit of a headache, sir," she continued, "but an aspirin or two should take care of it."
"I'll be the judge of that," Jack said. "Follow my fingers." He placed his two index fingers side by side and slowly moved them in front of Z. She followed them easily with her eyes. Cruger was mildly impressed. He hadn't realized that his chosen red ranger had any medicinal capabilities. Perhaps he shouldn't have been so harsh with him earlier. Without warning, Jack's two fingers split in opposite directions. Cruger sighed and mentally retracted his previous statement.
Z shrieked. "I hate it when you do that!"
"Yet you still fall for it every time." Jack grinned, shaking two aspirin into his hand. He quickly sobered when he felt a certain pair of Doggie-eyes boring into the back of his head. He cleared his throat "You can have your aspirin now," he said, placing the white tablets in his friend's palm. Z looked at him strangely, but said nothing.
At that moment the other three rangers arrived in a cloud of dust and debris, coughing and sputtering. They glanced around quickly and visibly relaxed at the sight of their teammates. Bridge and Syd quickly regained their composure and saluted Commander Cruger properly. Jack joined them. "Sir, what's going on?" Syd asked blatantly.
"Hopefully we'll find that out soon," he responded.
Sky joined Z by the med kit where was taking her pills without water. "Got any more of those?" he asked.
She looked at him quizzically, swallowing. "What happened to you?"
"A metal pipe fell on me," he explained, rummaging through the first-aid kit on his own.
"Are you ok? Do you need me to check your back?" Z asked.
"I'm fine. I'm just a little achy," he said, swallowing four aspirin. The yellow ranger stared at him in surprise. "What? I'm a big boy. Big boys need to take more."
"Sure they do." She didn't sound as if he believed him. "Are you sure you don't want me to take a look?" she smiled sweetly.
Sky cocked his eyebrow at her. "Are you trying to check me out?"
"No!" she exclaimed a bit too quickly. Inwardly, she wondered what his back did look like. She hoped it was as nice as it was clothed. "So… are you offering?" she continued. He simply rolled his eyes and stood, taking his place in line with their teammates. She sighed. She must have hit her head harder than she thought. Everyone else took her flirtations well, but she had briefly ignored Sky's colder side.
"Miss Delgado? Are you going to join us?" Cruger asked.
"Erm, yeah… I mean, yes sir!" she jumped up and joined the others.
Kat was standing with their Commander, having partially deciphered the damage report. She cleared her throat. "We're not completely positive on the details, but it appears as though Gruumm's latest plan was to fly a zord into our current position. Fortunately for us, his driver missed, and…"
"Wait," Bridge interrupted "Did you say 'our current position,'" Kat nodded patiently. She was used to the green ranger's interruptions. Bridge's eyes widened "As in 'into this building that we're in right now'?" he continued. She nodded again. "So that quake that we felt wasn't a quake, but… whoa…"
"No, it wasn't," she agreed, walking over to their virtual map. Tapping a few buttons, she brought up an image of Newtech city. "The zord was meant to just hit us," she pointed to the S.P.D. building "But instead it crashed through the upper part of the academy and into the north end of the city, here." She indicated an area that was easily thirty blocks square. "We don't know yet the extent of the damages to the city, but as for our building, well…" She took a deep breath. "The dog is gone."
The room fell silent. Cruger blinked, stunned. "The what?"
"The dog." Kat repeated "The thing that sits, or rather sat, on top of this academy? It's gone."
"Oh." He didn't seem to know how to respond to that.
"There's more," she continued, placing her hands on the console and stretching her back. She took a deep breath, composing herself and looked up, meeting every ranger's eyes briefly. "Your powers will not work any further than three quarters of a mile away from this building. The zord took out almost all of the power source when it hit us."
The room fell silent as each person processed that information and what it meant.
"Sir," Sky finally broke the silence "What about the civilians?" he asked "There are probably a lot of them who need help."
"You're completely right, Cadet Tate." Doggie agreed. "You five will have to aid them, powers or not. I'm going to have to split you up to cover more ground." He briefly glanced over the map, considering where to place the rangers. After a minute, he nodded, seeming to agree with his own plan. "Cadets Carson and Drew are team one. You two will set up a safe point in Widget Park, here." He indicated a spot one block east of the known destruction. "Cadets Landors, Tate, and Delgado are team two. Form a search and rescue squad. I will have you begin at the south end of the city, at the point of the heaviest damage."
"Team one," Bridge and Syd saluted, "You will each take an ambulance full of medical supplies to the park in order to aide the injured. I will instruct all search parties to send survivors your way and will send as many medical personnel as possible with you. Carson, your powers will be needed by the doctors for diagnosis. Bring RIC with you, as well. I believe his carrier mode may be of use. I'll contact you as soon as another location is found for the survivors. You have half an hour to get ready. Dismissed!" The pair saluted and jogged towards their rooms to change.
"Team two," Cruger addressed the remaining cadets. "Search and rescue bags will be prepared for you and left in your vehicles. Between Landors' and Delgado's knowledge of the city and Tate's experience in search and rescue tactics, you should be prepared. I expect you to leave in no more than twenty minutes." The three cadets saluted left in similar fashion as their teammates.
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Sky arrived at his room to find it in disarray, the monster-caused earthquake having made a mess of its contents. That wasn't the only thing in chaos. Bridge had only changed his pants, and was currently kneeling on his bed, trying desperately to place his shelf back on the wall. His efforts were proving somewhat futile as he had nothing to attach it with.
"Bridge, stop messing around!" Sky ordered, stepping carefully over his fallen punching bag. "You need to get ready to go. You're wasting your time." He pushed his closet door open and picked his uniform up from where it had fallen on the floor. Turning back, he realized that his roommate had ignored him completely. "Bridge?" he called out.
"What!" the green ranger snapped.
"I said…"
"I heard what you said!" Bridge angrily threw the shelf onto his bed. It bounced as it hit the mattress. He placed his hands on the green stripe on the wall and let his head rest against it. "I just wanted it to look normal for when we came back," he whispered softly.
Sky was momentarily alarmed. He tossed his uniform on his bed and carefully placed his hand on Bridge's shoulder. The green ranger's muscles were taut. "How's your head?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
The room was silent for a moment. "Everyone's so confused and hurt." Bridge bit his lip, still not looking at his roommate. "How am I supposed to help if I can't even focus enough to put up a shelf?"
Sky sighed through his nose and opened the top drawer to Bridge's bureau, pulling out a small orange bottle. It was hard enough to deal with the stress of the situation, but Bridge felt everyone else's emotions on top of that. It was no wonder that his roommate was having trouble. He shook the bottle in Bridge's vision. "Take one," he ordered.
"But Sky…" Bridge protested, glancing at from the corner of his eye.
"You know it's barely more than aspirin," Sky interrupted. The green ranger nodded and turned around, slouching heavily on his bed. Sky uncapped the bottle and tapped a small white pill into his roommate's gloved palm. Instead of swallowing, the green ranger crunched down onto it and chewed. Sky grimaced "I'll never understand why you do that."
"It keeps me from wanting to take them ever again," Bridge responded, swallowing the chalky mass. He took off his right glove and held his uncovered hand out, palm up. Sky grasped it in his larger hand and closed his eyes, focusing on relaxing. Bit by bit, he felt Bridge's hand go slack, until finally his roommate withdrew it and pulled his glove back on.
"Thanks," Bridge said, taking a deep breath and smiling slightly.
"Any time," Sky said seriously. "If you need to do that today and you can't reach me, ask Syd. She knows how."
Bridge nodded and stood, pulling his sweatshirt over his head. Sky returned to his own task, and the room fell silent. During their two years as roommates, they had discovered that living in such an intense environment could wreak havoc on Bridge's empathic mind. Through trial and error, they had discovered that prescription headache medicine plus grounding through Sky's stoic psyche was the fastest way towards relief. They had let Syd in on the remedy in the event that Sky was not there to help.
The blue ranger glanced at his watch. He had just enough time to take a quick shower before heading out. He grimaced. The notion of finding his shower kit among the rubble was unlikely.
"Sky?" the green ranger turned to him, now fully dressed. His roommate grunted in response. "I really mean it. Thank you." Sky looked up at Bridge's sincere tone. "Thanks for everything. If one of us doesn't make it back…"
"We'll make it back." The blue ranger didn't want to hear the alternative.
"How can you say that? We're trained to fight monsters, not save people. This kind of work is a whole different situation. Not that we don't save people every day by defeating monsters, but still…" Bridge cut his prattle off and took a deep breath. "Just be careful out there, okay? Make sure you come back."
"I will." Sky nodded firmly.
"Promise?"
"I'll promise as long as you will." The blue ranger held out his hand.
"It's a deal." Bridge gripped the outstretched hand and shook it firmly.
"Good luck, my friend." Sky whispered. Bridge ran a hand through his hair and left, striding over the fallen punching bag on the way. Sky glanced around the now quiet room and sighed. It really was a mess. He looked back towards Bridge's bed, then picked up his uniform and got ready to change.
When Cadet Schuyler Tate left the bedroom less than ten minutes later, his shower kit still lay lost among the debris. However, the room was neater. A plastic dinosaur, some books, and other nick-knacks rested on Cadet Bridge Carson's recently replaced shelf.
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"Peanuts?" Z heard as she shimmied into the room she shared with Syd. The yellow ranger noted the handprints imprinted in its metal casing. Evidently when the door had been broken in the quake the pink ranger had been forced to use her fist of iron to shove it open.
"Missing your elephant, Princess?"
"No, I'm missing actual peanuts. Of course I'm missing my stuffed animal!" Syd said in a huff.
"Okay," Z drew the word out "What crawled up your butt and died?"
Syd threw a pillow at her roommate. "Nothing. I just want to make sure he's okay!"
"Sure you do, Princess" Z didn't believe her. Whenever the pink ranger needed attention, she tended to whine about trivial things. This was one of those times. "What's eating you? Don't give me the runaround today. We have less than fifteen minutes until we leave."
"I'm tired, I'm dirty, I'm cranky…" Syd huffed and threw herself on her bed dramatically. Z rolled her eyes. The pink ranger had really missed her calling as a soap opera actress.
"Get to the point."
Syd glared at the younger woman "I have no purpose in this mission!"
Z groaned inwardly. Now was not the time for Syd to worry about herself. "Yes you do. You and Bridge are going to the park to help the medical personnel. Didn't you hear the Commander?"
"Of course I did," Syd sat up and pouted, "But Bridge has his special abilities that can actually help the doctors. Me? Cruger just sent me with him because I'm rotten at search and rescue tactics." She toed the ground, somewhat deflated.
The yellow ranger felt bad for her roommate. For a moment, she could understand Syd's wish to feel important. However, that moment ended rather quickly. "Do you want him to create a special assignment just for you?" she snapped. Syd's mouth fell open. Her roommate was supposed to comfort her, not berate her! "Look," Z ran a hand through her hair, "So what if you stink at search and rescue? That's why he's having you do something else! Obviously the Commander thinks you can be useful, or he wouldn't have given you that assignment." She raised her eyebrow at her roommate. "Capeesh?"
Syd sighed and shrugged. "I guess." She smirked. "There's no such thing as sympathy with you, is there?"
"Nope," Z shook her head. "Not when there's no reason for it. Suck it up. You'll do great."
"Am I interrupting anything?" the green ranger's voice came from the other side of the broken door. "Everyone's decent, right?"
"Yeah, come on in." Syd said.
"I don't think I want to." He poked his head in the door and looked around. "It looks like a bomb went off in here. Besides, I just came to pick you up." A robotic yip came from the other side. "Oh yeah," Bridge grinned sheepishly "RIC wanted to give you something, as well." The brunette disappeared outside for a moment, only to return bearing fluffy gifts. "He had your elephant. Sorry about that."
"Peanuts!" Syd squealed. Z groaned and rolled her eyes. At least one problem was solved.
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Jack was still wondering why he had bothered to change for sparring. It was barely an hour since he had intended to train, and here he was, putting his uniform on once more. The thought made him pause mid-shoelace. Just over an hour ago, he had stormed away from Cruger. Those problems now seemed trivial in view of Gruumm's recent destruction, and yet he still couldn't let the Commander's words go.
It hadn't been his choice to become the red ranger. Once, he would have gladly traded with Sky for the blue powers in order to make life easier. Now, however, his time was consumed with being the best leader he could be, and Cruger had dismissed all of his efforts in one serious tongue lashing.
Should he take what the big blue dog said to heart? It was true that he didn't always follow S.P.D. regulations, but that was because they were wrong sometimes. And did he really ignore his teammates and go with his own instincts as often as Cruger made it sound? He scrubbed his hands into his face in frustration.
"Boo." a voice whispered next to his ear. Jack startled and scooted across his bed, rolling off and crouching in a defensive posture. He scowled when he realized it was Z, and that she was chuckling at him. Was he the butt of everyone's jokes today?
"Very funny, Z." he said, annoyed.
"I thought so." she said. "Bridge and Syd are ready to head out, so I thought I'd come get you."
"What, you didn't think I'd be on time?" Jack snapped. Z raised her eyebrow. "Sorry," he muttered, "I've got a lot on my mind."
"It's okay. I saw the looks the Commander was giving you. I figured as much." she shrugged. "We do have to go, though, and we will be late if you don't get your butt in gear."
"Yeah, yeah." Jack muttered, "Everyone's a critic. Let's go."
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The red and yellow rangers arrived at the holding bay to find the rest of their team waiting for them. Cruger was handing Bridge and Syd keys for their ambulances, while RIC sat quietly at the pink ranger's feet.
"I have already called for as many EMT's as the city can spare. More will be sent to your location later in the day. You'll have a number of cadets under your command, as well."
"Team two," the Commander turned to the rest of the rangers. "Take one S.P.D. Jeep and the blue ranger's bike. Your search and rescue bags are waiting for you in your vehicles. Cadets Landors and Delgado, make yourselves familiar with them. Cadet Landors," Doggie glanced meaningfully at the red ranger "I'm counting on you to follow proper protocol." Jack glared at their superior. The Commander stepped back and addressed all of them. "Work quickly but carefully, rangers. Newtech's civilians need you." The rangers saluted.
"There's just one more problem--" Kat jogged in and took the nearest cadet's morpher, which happened to be Z's, in her hand. She pushed a few buttons, her forehead creasing in concentration. "It's just as I thought" she mumbled regrettably. "Just like your powers, your communications will be down, as well. You should be able to contact each other among your teams, but beyond that…" she trailed off.
The Commander nodded grimly. "Good luck, team." he muttered. "You're going to need it."
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To be continued