Z tried to shake off the feeling of Jack passing through her body. Pulling back into one Z helped a little bit, but she expended large amounts of energy to stay in charge of all her replicates. She leaned against the gray wall of the hallway and replicated three Zs. They immediately crept in three different directions: the simudeck, the command center, and back to the recreation room.

The farther each Z got, the harder they were to maintain and control. SimuZ, she always named them relative to position, was sticking close to what little shadow was available. The hallways were always lit fairly well. She could hear the footsteps of someone who was going slow and methodically. A whip around of braids as the figure's head turned identified him as Jack.

"Come on, Z, you should know better than that. No tag-backs." He chided as he waved around a finger.

"And purple doesn't go with your eyes." SimuZ pouted before she disappeared. Jack let out a sigh of relief before rubbing off the makeup on his sleeve.

Damn, I forgot about that rule, the original Z thought before she went to concentrating on CommandZ. CommandZ took a different strategy, confidently striding down the hallway. The Z's, to a degree, always took on different aspect of the original's identity, in the short time they appeared this was not always apparent. Z didn't want to appear out of control of her replicates and her emotions. CommandZ peeked into the command center seeing that Sky was there. He's probably not taking the game seriously.Sky was watching the sensors like a good cadet, but once in awhile he would glance out the door looking for a stray ranger. CommandZ moved closer to the door but felt the familiar numbness of too much distance. She looked down at her hand and saw fingers disappearing. Eventually, all of her body disappeared but not until Sky saw her waving with half a body in the doorway.

Another one down, at least I know where he is. The main yellow ranger then started following in the direction of RecZ so as not to lose distance between them. RecZ was the more cheerful spunky Z, she was practically bouncing down the halls with the thought of playing tag with her friends. Z caught up with her replicate, exasperated with her behavior.

"Please Z, don't pull me back in! I'm having so much fun. You'll see I'm gonna catch someone." RecZ begged.

"Shhhh. You'll give us away. I won't get rid of you, if you'll just be quiet." Z concentrated and sent another Z inside of the recreation room. The one inside the room could see Bridge hiding behind one of the couches. She crept up beside him.

"What's up, Bridge?" Z whispered.

"Shhh. I'm hiding from whoever's it. Do you know who's it Z?" Bridge didn't question who Z snuck up behind him.

"Well, technically I'm it." She whispered into his ear. He immediately jumped up from his hiding spot and ran for the door. Unfortunately RecZ was there to block him.

"Yay! I found you! Hand over the morpher!" She demanded cutely. Bridge turned around again only to see another Z. He found himself in a similar situation that Jack was in earlier, too many Z's and not enough exits. RecZ was feeling mischevious and looked over to the real Z who was standing in the doorway.

"Can we have some fun before we tag him?"

"Sure, knock myselves out."

Bridge looked like a deer caught in headlights as the Z's moved in for the kill. "Now Z, or is it Zs? There's no need for any kind of torture." His hand moved to his morpher as he lifted it up. "See here's my morpher."

"Not yet, we have to get you back for that mustard and banana toast we had to eat." RecZ smiled devilishly as she watched the green ranger get restrained by two other Z's. "Tickle time!" Fingers dived for armpits and stomach sides.

"No, ha ha ha, anything but that, he he he he, I can't stand it! Z make them stop!"

"No more experimental toast flavors? You'll find another guinea pig?"

"Ha ha ha, but you're the perfect test subject, ha ha ha, I thought you liked my toast, it's buttery!" The sheer determination of his fingers to do their trademark buttery waggle allowed Bridge to break free of the Z's grasp. He said buttery again and freed his other hand.

"Do not underestimate the power of toast!" He grabbed the nearest Z and threw her against the gaggle of Zs to his right side. RecZ dived and tried to grab him around the middle but missed by a mile as he moved out of the way. Bridge closed the distance to the doorway. The real Z swore and started to pull her replicates back together. It was only her and Bridge in the room now. She could see his fingers aching either to waggle butteringly or to tickle her as she tickled him.

His right hand went for her left side but Z was able to catch it and twist it behind his back. He broke free and once again tried to reach her side. She reached for it but he pulled away too fast. As she went forward, Bridge used her momentum to throw her at the couch. She planted her hands on the seat and flipped over the back. The green ranger followed and jumped up on the couch only to get a face full of cushion. They raced around the couch laughing and throwing the cushions at each other.

When they ran out of cushions, Z approached Bridge and tried to grab the morpher he had placed back on his belt. Their hands blurred as they parried and blocked back and forth. Z was starting to get tired until Bridge stopped completely and stared at her.

"Uh, Bridge? We were in the middle of a fight?"

"…," He could not get an intelligible word out of his mouth.

"Bridge?"

"…..goldenrod…"

"What? What do you mean by goldenrod? Hey doesn't it feel drafty in here?" Z felt a chill and looked down. During the fight, the jacket zipper that she had neglected to fix earlier that week had come all the way down, revealing the yellow bra that she had underneath. She blushed as she hastily pulled the two halves of her jacket together.

"….goldenrod…"

"Oh well, Yoink!" She pulled the morpher from his belt while avoiding any contact; it looked like Bridge's head might explode if she did that. She opened it up and contacted the others, "Bridge is it." She clipped it back on and slapped Bridge's face lightly.

"Hey perv, you're it." Z immediately left and headed straight for her room to find another jacket.

"….goldenrod…"