The rangers were lined up along a rooftop, still demorphed.
Rain and Squee stood side-by-side on the other end. Rain held a finger to her cheek. "All right, remember! If you fall off the building, you will fail automatically, if you demorph and are unconsious, then you automatically fail, if you fail to complete the task, well, you'll automatically fail. Any questions?" she asked, ignoring Bridge's raised hand. "Let's get going!"
"Ready?" Jack asked, his morpher raised.
"Ready!" his team responded.
"SPD! Emergency!" Five cadets transformed into five rangers.
Squee and Rain nodded to each other. Squee held up a morpher similar to theirs, only the SPD was navy blue and the usual lettering that looked like cat scratches was missing. "Ready?"
"Ready!" Raind said happily.
"SPD! Protocol!" Instead of whipping it out to the left and to the right, they brought it straight out infront of them upside-down and swished it right-side up. They began to glow, as if they were angels, their uniforms tightening against their skin and on Squee, a ribbon of Titanium wove around her, on Rain it was a copper ribbon. Their lips shimmered for a breif moment as they made a soft kiss on their finger tips, creating a white ribbon that wound around their hair and held it up. The helment appeared the moment the ribbon was tied and with a swish of their hands, the visor came down.
"Space Patrol Delta Omega Titanium Ranger!" Squee's voice echoed as a teenage boy's voice.
"Space Patrol Delta Omega Copper Ranger!" Rain's voice resounded off the walls as a teenage girl's voice.
"Deltamax Sabers!" SPD Green and Blue Rangers said in unison and attacked the two. Squee did backflips so that she dodged Green's attack, whilst Rain went left, diving as if she were doing it off a spring-board. Blue and Green regrouped, acting as one as they were attacked repeatedly by Copper's swiftest blade and Titanium's blasters.
"Deltamax Strikers!" SPD Yellow and Pink Rangers said, blasting Copper back, which missed by a mile and sent Copper bounding back towards them. "Syd! Get down!" Yellow shoved Pink down to the right and jumped to the left, where it was clear. Yellow almost fell over the edge of the roof if Pink hadn't snatched her back up.
Titanium kicked both of them in the butts and they fell off the building. "Failed because you let your guard down."
"Squee! DT time!" Copper said, a reaassuring glance at her friend.
"Gotcha back! Sniper gun!" Titanium lifted up the gun she'd been holding and it became narrower and lighter. She got down on one knee and blew out SPD Red's ankle with a stun shock. Copper's sword slashed at his chest and he went flying off the edge. "Time!"
The simulation came to a halt. Z, Syd, and Jack were against the wall, Green and Blue stood, still back-to-back.
"Power-down, you two," Rain said. She had just powered back down and was happily giggling.
Omega Titanium also powered down. Unlike Rain, Squee wasn't laughing, she looked quite angry. "What was that? What kind of teamwork was that? Only two of you found the center, where you were safest! If you plan on becoming A-squad rangers, you have to first become aware of your surroundings and what could be used to your advantage. Teamwork is like a chair. In order for the weight to be distributed evenly, all allies must come to one agreement that won't harm the mission or whatever it is. You five don't seem to have that down just yet." Squee shook her head. "Me and Rain have been friends and allies since she was four and I was six. In order to be a good duo, we had to rely on one another in order to suceed this far in so little time. Now, off to bed. We have to report to Crugger."
The Ranger's saluted and filed out, Jack in the lead and Syd bringing up the rear. Rain turned on her heel to look at her friend.
"What?" Squee asked.
Rain shrugged. "It just seemed so easy back then, before Grumm tore our parents away from us." Rain gave a faint smile. "My mom and dad were part of A-squad before they were destroyed, and your foster fatheris a General and rarely comes to see you because of the inter-galactic war raging all around us. It just dawned on me how pleasing it was back when there wasn't much to worry about, just the occassional creepy monster roaming around, and then Grumm comes along and everythings different."
"Rain-" Squee stopped herself to think of the right words. "Rain, think of it this way; We protect what you're parents couldn't. We don't always want to be in the heart of the action, but somehow, the heart finds us. Ack!"
Rain had lunged at Squee and was embracing her like a sister. Tears splashed everywhere on Rain's face and Squee's uniform. "I just don't want to be alone anymore, Squee! I'm holding back to much! I feel like everything inside me is going to explode out any minute! I don't want any one to get hurt! Not even him!"
"He didn't seem to notice," Squee said on a side note. "Rain, I have feelings that need to be held back, too, but I honestly don't think your crush noticed you were out of it today, since this is the first time he's seen you." Squee gently pushed Rain back so they could stare at each other. In contrast to hights, the top of Rain's head reached Squee's nose, but she was still really relieved her best friend understood. "I have an idea, let's go ask Crugger if we can snag some ice cream for the freezer downstairs!" Squee said, a sudden stroke of brilliance making Rain giggle uncontrolably. "Hey! Let's hurry!"
---
"Day two on alien world," Syd said as she shuffled out of her room. Z and Jack were crashing on the couch, Jack snoring and Z ready to fall over.
On the other hand, Sky and Bridge were playing chess in the corner, looking very awake. Sky suddenly made a move and Bridge took it over with a booming "CHECK MATE!" which startled Jack and Z. Syd shook her head and furiously tried to get the tangles out of her hair with her fingers.
Squee and Rain came out of one of the rooms which was decked with black magnets on the outside, each of which had small bats or black bunnies with purple eyes. Rain skipped over to Syd and tugged her arm. "Let's go! Breakfast and then off to training! Crugger has a general idea already on who's goin' up and who's goin' down! Chop, chop! Hop to it, cadets!"
---
Rain and Squee stood side-by-side watching the Rangers run the mudd track through. Rain kept making funny noises every time one of them fell down or almost fell. Squee was wearing a loose-fitting uniform and her cap and heavy, steel-toed boots. Rain was wearing her Ranger uniform with matching shoes and hair that was flowing free of a ribbon today.
"Time!" Squee looked down at the stopwatch with dissappointment. "Tsk, tsk, tsk." She shook her head. "Jack! In over fourty-five minutes you did fifty push-ups, ten crunches, seventy jumping-jacks, and ran the mudd run twice. You must get it under fourty minutes in order to pass. Z, your time was fourty-seven. Syd, fifty-three. Sky, fourty-two. Bridge managed to do twice as much in fourty-five minutes. If you want to be A-squad, you must first pass the enterance exams and then you may shave off classes and time. So far, only two of you are giving your all for each exam. But so far, only one of you is making the cut."
Ran stepped forward. "Rangers. Go clean up and meet us in the mess hall in twenty. There, you will take the next exam and then you may eat lunch." She saluted them.
Five salutes, five people jogging away, five cadets in a very grumpy mood.
---
"-don't get it, Crugger!" Z and Syd were saying.
Rain and Squee had just stepped in and stopped. The Rangers were making a complaint.
"They're working us way to hard," Jack said in agreement.
Crugger stood there with his head bowed. Kat and Boom were watching him, consern in their eyes.
"They're just like two working robots. Don't seem to know the meaning of 'enough' when it comes to training." Sky suprised everyone by agreeing with Jack. "I don't know why they are in charge of these exams. All they do is work you into the ground."
Crugger's head raised up and he looked right across the console at Bridge. "And you have nothing to say, Carson?"
"Nope." Bridge shook his head. "I think they're just trying to warm us up for something greater."
Kat's face grew more conserned. "Do you even know what the final exam today was for?"
"Final exam?" Syd repeated. "As in the pass-or-fail moment?"
"Yes. Unfourtunately, since Bridge was the only one who showed up, he's the only one who moves up to A-squad active duty. Welcom, Red Ranger of A-squad. SWAT gear, weapons, and the room you sleep in now are yours. Congradulations, Bridge T. Carson in becoming the next Ranger of A-squad." Kat smiled and saluted Bridge.
Bridge looked like his brithday had come early. Shock spread like fire across his face and was quickly replaced by happiness. The silence that spaned was long enough for him to build up to a scream. "YES! YES! YES!" He punched the air. "YEAH!" He stopped when he saw Squee and Rain. "Hey... Um, how long were you, uh, standing there?"
"Long enough to know who our new leader will be." Rain smirked. "Congradulations." She stood at attention, Squee following suit. "Awaiting the next command, sir!"
Bridge looked over his shoulder at Kat. "Dose that mean that they have to follow my orders?" He was refering to the duo.
"You are higher than them. You have every right to order your old friends as well. They will go through the training again and again and again, or until they get it right. You have the power to order the attack or someone's death now," Kat said with a smirk. "And they are to obey the order, weather they like it or not."
"Uh..." Bridge smiled. "My birthday is in a few days, so this is like an early birthday present." He gave Kat a quick hug and then saluted Rain and Squee. "I'll be in the common room if anyone needs me." He happily left, making sure not to make a lot of noise as he happily darted down the hall. Sky and Jack looked baffled.