A/N: Hey, everyone. I know it's been a long time but I'm finally finished with school and I'll be working more on my stories whenever I'm not doing anything on the summer, so expect more to come...hopefully. lol. Enjoy the latest chapter.

Chapter 9

"Distant"

A few days have gone by as they near towards the end of the week. Z has not yet made her returned to the academy and Commander Cruger reassured his B-Squad cadets that she will eventually come back. But for the time being, they had to continue their daily lives without their teammate till she does make her return. Although the rangers were asked not to go after Z, at times, Sky would take his breaks looking for her with Jack's permission and come back unsuccessful. Ever since she left, everyone begins to notice a different side of Sky; a more depressing and heart wrenching side. It is as though a part of him was missing, and that part was Z. "I can't take it anymore." Jack looks up from his comic book and watches on as Sky continues throwing a few hard punches on the punching bag to release his frustration.

"Take it easy, Sky." He stops and breathes heavily. "You'll wear yourself out." Cadet Tate looks back at his male companion while removing the boxing gloves from his hands. He then takes a seat next to Jack on the couch.

"I miss her." He frowns while leaning back.

Jack rolls his eyes irritably and groans. "Look, I can't just let you go and find her."

"Why not?" He questioned. "You did it before."

"But I can't always let you do it." Sky looks down and sighs. "I know you miss her. Heck, we all do. But I know Z, and she will come back."

"It's just not the same without her."

Jack grunted out of annoyance. "Alright." He thought about it briefly. "Get out of here."

"Really?" He smiles.

"Yeah. I'm already sick of you complaining about Z and looking so depress. But I'm telling ya, you're only wasting your time."

"Not when it comes to Z." Jack looks up as he watches Sky promptly leave the room. Just when Jack was about to resume on his comic reading, Syd enters and fell on the couch next to him.

"Hey." She flashes him her one hundred watt smile.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows. "You look happy today."

"When am I ever not?"

"Right." Cadet Landors places his reading material down. "So...what can I do for you?"

"I'm bored."

He rolls his eyes. "Then go shopping."

She scoffs offensively. "You think I'm all about shopping do you?"

"Yep!"

"I can have fun once in awhile." Syd retorts as she places her hands on her hips. "Come on. Let me prove it to you."

Jack turns to his female friend oddly. "Now?" He questioned. "Aren't you on duty or something?"

"Nah, Bridge is. Come on." She grabs his hand as she abruptly drags him out the door.

He chuckles along the way, struggling to keep up. "Where are we going?"

Meanwhile, the former ninja rangers all hung out in Tori's room as they wait patiently for Dr. Manx for their progress of opening up the portal that would lead them back to the year 2004. It's been almost a month now and excitement filled their eyes at the thought of finally going home. As they wait a bit longer and continued playing porker, Bridge suddenly enters the room. Shane, Tori, Hunter, and Dustin all look up.

"Hey. There's a really fine, famous woman at the front looking for you." He says, facing Hunter.

"Me?" The dirty blonde questioned quizzically.

"Yeah. She says you're her husband. Kira Ford."

Hunter's eyes widens. "What! How is that even possible!"

"Well, let's see. You're in the year 2020, and officially married to her." Bridge looks up in thought and nods his head. "Yeah...I think that's about it."

In disbelief, Hunter turns to his friends for answers. "Go see her." Tori, surprisingly, urges him to as he wrinkles his forehead due to her response.

"What?" A faint whisper escaped from his lips as though he expected her to refuse. "But--"

"She's your wife, Hunter. Go."

He moves in closer and searches her sea blue eyes carefully. He wanted her to stop him, but nothing came out. "This doesn't change the way I feel about you. You know that right?"

Tori turns away from his gaze and deeply sighs. "Look, Hunter." She started off uneasily. "I thought long and hard about us...and you know...it's just not gonna work."

Puzzled like the rest of them, he furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"Don't keep her waiting."

Bridge looks at his watch. "Yeah, you better go down there. She's been waiting for like 15 minutes now."

Hunter turns back to Tori. "I'm gonna come back and we'll talk about this." She said nothing as he watches him leave the room followed by Bridge. Just then, Dustin places a hand on her shoulder as a way to comfort her.

"You know...Hunter is crazy about you." He says sincerely.

Tori pathetically shrugged her shoulders. "I can't feel the same way about him when he fell in love with someone else. Don't you get it? We cheated life by knowing the future ahead of time, and I don't want to go back with the power to change things."

"What are you saying, Tor?"

She brushes her hair back frustratingly and sighs. "I'm saying that he's meant to be with Kira. Not me."

In the streets of New Tech City, Sky wandered through the busy town, increasing his speed as though his loneliness of not having Z around was following him behind. Anxiously looking at every direction and corner, glancing over people's head, Sky felt a gentle tap on his shoulder which startled him as he quickly turns around.

"Whoa." Z stood back and chuckled. "You alright?"

Sky, surprised and overwhelmed at the same time, struggled to speak as he formed a smile due to her appearance that he was longing to see for quite some time now. "Z..." He breathed heavily, noticing she was in her SPD uniform.

She smirks. "I didn't mean to freak you out there."

"Oh." Sky felt nervous at the moment. "Well...you just startled me that's all."

"Right. So what's with the hurry?"

He scratches the back of his neck uneasily. "Nothing. Just running a few errands."

"Uh huh. We're you coming after me?" She asks.

Sky bit his lip. "No." Z tilted her head to the side, assuming he was lying. Defeated, he sighs. "Okay, I missed you." She looks down in pleased embarrassment. "Why did you leave, Z?"

"I didn't."

He gives his female companion a bewildered look. "I'm confused."

"I just took a break, Sky. Commander Cruger didn't want me to leave the academy, and I didn't either, so he thought giving me a break would help soothe my nerves. But I'm fine now and I'll be returning."

"Oh." He smiles in relief. "I thought you wanted to quit because of what happened."

"Don't worry about it." She reassures him. "I'm glad I left for awhile."

"Why is that?"

"Because being away made me realize what I was missing, what I need most in this world." Sky follows her gaze. "Now that you're here, there's something I want to tell you."

He could feel his heart pounding rapidly as though the moment he's been waiting for is finally happening. "There's something I want to tell you too..."

"Really?" Excitement filled her deep, tender voice. "Well go first."

"Nah. You go ahead."

"You sure?"

"Ladies go first." He responds politely.

She grins. "Okay. I thought I should tell you this because you're one of my closest friends and you deserve to know." They sat down on a nearby park bench. "I found someone."

Sky smiles. "Yeah? Who?"

"You don't know him." He felt his heart dropped instantly. "We go way back."

"Oh." Sky forces a weak smile.

She continued on. "When we bumped into each other a few days ago, we hung out constantly like we used to in the old days...and I never felt this way about him before. He's an amazing guy. You two should meet sometime. I'm sure you guys will get along."

He looks down sadly. "Yeah. I bet."

Z frowns due to his odd behavior. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Sky tries real hard to keep a straight face.

"Okay..." She smiles. "Now it's your turn. What are you gonna tell me?"

He looks back at her. "Oh. Umm..." Sky slightly hesitated to answer. "Nothing important. Dr. Manx and Boom is putting the finishing touches on the time portal. Our ninja friends will be going back home soon as we speak."

Z nods her head. "That's great news. Although I sure will be missing them." She sighs.

"Yeah. Me too."

A/N: Don't forget to review, dudes!