"Come on guys!" Ani called from the top of the mud course. Sky stood beside her as they watched the others scramble up the rope ladder. Ani had been back for nearly two weeks now and Sky was pleased to have her back with them. They had had their share of aliens to contend with, and Ani had proven herself worthy of B-Squad with the new weapons she made for them.

"This is brutal," Z muttered.

"Tell me about it," Jack said. "She's like a female Sky."

"Technically that's true Jack," Bridge began. "They are twins, even though they're not identical, so AJ's-"

"We get it Bridge," Syd said. She knew all too well what AJ was like. Before she had left they had been close friends much to everyone's surprise… the pop princess and the military science girl.

Sky grinned as he took off over the other side of the course with Ani right behind him. It felt good to be exercising on real turf again. For the past four years she had been in simulations… she actually missed the feeling of mud!

"Come on guys, we're almost there," Sky said.

Moments later they all crossed the finish line and collapsed. They had never done it that fast before.

"Wow," Bridge said. "You haven't lost a step AJ."

Ani grinned and wiped the mud from her face with a towel. She glanced over to Z and couldn't help the stab of jealousy she felt when she saw her yellow SPD t-shirt. Sky could feel the vibes coming from his twin and handed her a water bottle, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, Bridge," she said. "Did you say something?"

"Just that you haven't lost any since you went to KO-35," the green ranger replied.

Ani grinned. "We had to keep up our physical and mental training," she said.

"Mental training?" Jack asked.

"Kerovan's are masters of telekinesis. They figured it would work well with my powers, so-"

"Powers? You have powers too?" Z asked. Ani rolled her eyes.

"Of course I have powers… Sky does," she replied rudely. Z was about to say something, but Sky interrupted.

"Right," he said quickly. 'Ani, come on… knock it off,' he said in his head to her.

Ani sighed and raised her hand towards a water bottle. The others watched as it floated over to her. "I can attract things to myself… anything really. Like if something was flying at Syd," she said as she threw a glob of mud at the pink ranger, "I can pull it back away from her." As she said this she pulled the wet dirt through the air, making it land next to her feet.

"They taught me on KO-35 how to channel my powers so I can deflect things."

"Cool," Bridge said. "It all makes sense… Sky deflects, you attract… the whole twin thing."

"I guess you could look at it that way," Sky said.

Ani brushed herself off and made her way back to the academy, leaving the others to catch their breaths.

"What is your sister's problem?" Z asked Sky angrily. "Ever since she's been here she's done nothing but treat Jack, and me in particular, like shit! She may be our commanding officer, but she's a major-"

"Don't go there Z," Syd said as she saw Sky's face twist.

Sky took a deep breath and wiped his face. "If you have a problem with my sister, then I suggest you talk to her… you may be surprised that she's not a total bitch like you all seem to think." He turned and began to walk back to the academy.

Syd saw the look on his face and knew she had to talk to him. "Sky wait!" she cried as she ran after him.

Z wiped her face and groaned. "Seriously Bridge- was she always like this?"

Bridge scratched his head. "Not really. I mean she was always hard working, like Sky was… I'm not really sure what they were like before we met them, but I heard their parents-" Bridge stopped. He wasn't usually the one to retell rumors he had heard…

Jack's ears perked up. "What about their parents?" the red ranger asked.

"Um…" he began. "I'm not really sure… but you guys know their dad was the first red ranger right?" Z and Jack nodded their heads. "Well I heard that their mom was a ranger too…"

It was then that Z was hit with a thought. "You think that their mom was yellow?" she asked. Bridge shrugged his shoulders and took off after Sky and Syd.

Jack placed his arm around Z as they began walking back. "I guess she's having the same issues Sky was having when I got the Red morpher," he said.

"But that still doesn't give her the right to look down on me," Z retorted. "I haven't done anything to make her think that I'm not good enough for it."

"You have to see where she's coming from though."

"Why are you constantly defending her? She's treated you like dirt from the moment she caught you in the vehicle bay."

Jack sighed. He knew why he was defending her… AJ was the first girl he was interested in that seemingly had no interest in him… he knew he's have to work at this and he was more than willing to accept the challenge.

"Wait," Z said suddenly. "You like her don't you?" she said grinning.

"No," he said quickly. "What would make you think that?" He had hoped no one would be able to figure it out, but then again he knew Z could read him like a book.

"Oh… my… God," she said laughing a little. "Sky is going to KILL you!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth she burst out laughing. "Oh man, you need to tell me when you're going to ask her out. I want to be there to see you're last few moments of life."

Jack withdrew his arm from around his best friend. "Just keep your mouth shut Z, please?"

Z wiped the tears from her eyes. "Sure thing. I don't want you being killed just yet… plus I think I need to have a little talk with our good Lieutenant."

The walked back to the academy and were surprised to see Cruger standing with the others waiting.

"Cadets, we have a special guest arriving within the hour. I need you all to change into your dress uniforms and meet me in Command ASAP," he said. They all saluted him and followed orders.

About half an hour later, the rangers and Ani were waiting in Command along with Kat and Cruger.

"Sir? Who's this guest?" Jack inquired.

"A very old friend of mine. She's responsible for helping get SPD off the ground here on Earth," Cruger said.

Ani and Sky gave each other a strange, questioning look, but they were called back to attention when the doors slid open.

"Cadets, I would like to introduce Lieutenant Taylor Meyers," he said.

Ani and Sky fought the urge to address their mother, but they knew they had to keep it low key. Cruger and Kat were the only ones who knew about their family.

"Lieutenant Meyers is a former Air Force Pilot, Silver Guardian, as well as an SPD officer. She'll be here for a few days to observe the training techniques we've been implementing here," Cruger explained.

Taylor held back a gasp when she entered the room. She saw her children in front of her, and saw how much they had changed since she last saw them. She saw their father in both of them, and her decision to come here had not been an easy one.

Lucas had had a vision regarding his two oldest siblings, and it wasn't a good one. She had to warn them…

She surveyed the others as Cruger spoke. Sydney had grown into the beautiful young woman she knew she would, and Bridge had grown about three feet from the last time she saw him.

The other two figures in the room were new faces to her though. The boy in red seemed overly confident in himself by his stance and general demeanor. When she looked at the girl however… something in her mind went off. She looked familiar to her somehow… like they had met before.

"This is Jack Landors," Cruger said, bringing Taylor out of her thoughts. Taylor shook hands with the boy in red and moved on to the girl in yellow.

"Z Delgado." Taylor's mind literally stopped then.

"I'm sorry, did you say you're name was Delgado?" she questioned almost nervously.

"Yes ma'am," Z replied. "Elizabeth Delgado." Taylor shook her hand and was in a bit of a daze as she turned to look at Cruger. He gave her 'a look' and she knew to talk to him later.

She was then introduced to Bridge, Syd, and finally Sky and Ani. She kept a neutral face as she shook her children's hands, and she could tell that they were fighting the same feeling she was.

"Thank you Commander," Taylor said to Cruger. "It's a very fine squad you have here… I would however like to speak to your criminal profiler and science specialist. I had a few questions on the new containment technology."

Cruger knew where Taylor was going with this and nodded his head. "Sky, AJ, please show the Lieutenant to her quarters. You can discuss everything there. Dismissed!"

Everyone saluted and went off…