Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Rangers, nor do I own the actors who play them.
Comment: I'd like to thank Ghostwriter, Mistress of Phoenix and the real vampire for reviewing so far. You three have made writing so much easier. Sorry for the long wait. As a side note, this chapter is my little tribute to what I think is the best Bridge-centric oneshot ever. I drew a lot of ideas from it, and this chapter begins to build on them. Now, enough of my comments! On with the story!
The next morning was hectic for Bridge. He woke up at 6:30 and took a long shower. He then quickly shaved, brushed his teeth, then wandered to his near-barren closet. Most of the clothes inside didn't fit him anymore; he had grown three inches since he last went on a civilian clothes shopping spree. He did, however, have a lime green tee shirt with an old cereal mascot emblazoned on it, a plain black jean jacket and a faded pair of blue jeans. A pair of green shoes sat buried at the bottom of the closet, begging to be worn.
"Well, this reminds me about how badly I need to shop for some new clothes." He muttered to himself as he got dressed.
As he was fixing up his hair in the bathroom, Sky walked in.
"Hey, you're up early and all dressed up. What's the occasion?" Sky asked.
"I'm not dressed up, trust me. These're the only non-SPD clothes I own."
"Well, I have some stuff that doesn't fit me if you'd like it."
"I don't have the time to change anyways. I'm going out this morning."
"And does Cruger know this?" Sky asked as he began to undress to get in the shower. Bridge, like Sky, was not prone to sneaking out and doing things off the book like Jack.
"Yeah. He said it was okay, just as long as I came back right after." Lying to Sky was harder than it looked. But then again, being able to psychically monitor any sort of suspicion put Bridge at an advantage.
"Well, have fun. I have yet another day of discipline training. What fun." Sky sounded as sarcastic as he could get.
"Well, that happens." Bridge replied, trying to avoid a conflict so early in the morning.
"I'll live, but my sanity might not last much longer." Sky said as he stepped into the shower. "Enjoy your breakfast, buddy."
"I will." Bridge said as he finally settled with the messy mop on his head. He looked at the clock over the mirror. 7:15. He was going to be late. Bridge quickly left for the parking area.
Bridge was making good time until Cruger stopped him as he passed by the Command Center.
"Where do you think you're going, Carson?"
"I'm doing the job you assigned me to, sir. Miss Tantalus and I are having breakfast together. I thought that if she was sitting down for a while-"
"I get your point. Get going. She shouldn't be left waiting in the open for you."
"Yes, sir."
Bridge then continued on his way to breakfast.
It was eight a.m. exactly as Bridge arrived at Sonoma's. Outside waiting was Corona; she was in a pair of loose fitting jeans and a crimson and navy blue striped shirt. The stripes were set at an angle, the point of focus sitting on her left shoulder and the colors burst outward as if chasing an invisible ending point. Her pixie cut hair was roughly the length of Bridge's hair, much to his surprise, perhaps an eighth of an inch longer, and her ears with adorned with silver dragon earrings that seemed to be spitting out green flames. Her shoes were a worn pair of black basketball shoes with a circle and star logo on the insides
I am so horridly underdressed, Bridge mentally sighed.
"You look nice, Bridge!" Corona complimented as he walked up to her.
"This is, by far, the worst outfit I've worn in years."
"Oh, it's okay. I overdressed, but it's all I got. Besides, it's been a while since I got to walk around the world outside of SPD."
"You and me both." Bridge nervously chuckled.
"Alright, ready to eat?"
"I'm starved if you are."
"Then I'm famished." Bridge smiled and opened the door for her.
"Good morning. Table for two?" A cashier lady asked as they walked in.
"Yeah." The cashier girl signaled for a waitress to seat Corona and Bridge at a booth.
For both of them, this was something unique. Neither of them had been outside in the real world in years. Corona had left the outside world when she was eight to begin a life of confined exploration and regulated crime, and Bridge had been sheltered and home schooled all his life before entering SPD. Being in public spaces was not either of their forte's. However, Corona had the upper hand in this situation, as she learned very well how to interact with strangers. She picked up her menu and began to look at the breakfast specials. Bridge seemed confused.
"Open up the menu and look what they sell for breakfast." She said softly. Bridge saw the menu, made a facial expression suggesting that he just understood the concept, and opened it.
"First time in a restaurant, eh?"
"How could you tell?" Bridge realized that he was quickly starting to look more asinine for every second that ticked away.
"You didn't know what a menu was for. That's usually the first thing you learn in theses establishments."
"Oh." Bridge blushed as he began to search for the breakfast menu.
"You don't look like the city type anyways. Don't worry. I won't tell anybody that you didn't know the purpose of a menu." Corona smiled as she playfully joked.
Bridge looked over the menu quickly, then quickly did a visual scan of the area. It was his job to make sure Corona was safe in public places, and so far, all he had managed to do was look like a complete jackass. Within a few seconds, he took note of the trippy character in the corner. He took his glove off and scanned the man's aura. Nothing but an average Joe, most likely one with a drug problem, Bridge found out.
"What did you do?" Corona asked.
"Huh?" Bridge asked.
"What did you do with your hand…the green thing…"
"Oh. I just read that guy's aura." Bridge replied without looking at her.
After a brief pause, Corona decided to make conversation while she waited for the waitress to come back.
"Is that why you wear those gloves all the time?"
Bridge looked up at her, then decided that he was going to answer. "Yeah." He sighed, then decided to give a little explanation. "I'd get a surge of psychic energy every time somebody around me had an emotional fluctuation if I didn't wear them constantly. It'd give me a headache if it was a weak flux, and it could knock me out if it were a severe enough emotional flux. It was pretty rough for me until my family found out what was wrong."
Corona nodded, then sighed. She watched as he scanned a waitress walking by, then quickly put his glove back on.
"So what happens when people touch your skin?" She couldn't stop herself from asking the question she had a feeling he hated being asked.
Bridge looked up, shocked that she'd ask. Most people didn't care to ask. He looked up for a moment, trying to think of a way to respond. After about a minute or so, he began to answer her question.
"Honestly, people try to avoid touching me altogether. Apparently, people are scared to know what it would be like. But it happened a few times with my parents when I was little. When I was about six years old, I ended up knocking my mom unconscious while she was trying to clean up the scrapes I got on my bike. She just…suddenly passed out…when she was trying to pull the gravel out of my shin…" Bridge looked a bit hurt. The conversation was taking a wrong turn in Corona's mind. She decided to counter.
"Well, I can't be touched even if I wanted to be."
"Oh?" Bridge was confused.
"Go ahead. Try and grab my arm."
Bridge reached out to grab her arm, but once his hand got within a quarter inch of her arm, a crimson plate of light formed underneath his hand. He likened the feeling to grabbing a hold of a cold glass vase.
"It's a natural shield. I can't turn it off. I can't make it go away. I can expand and contract it, but it is always there."
"I could use one of those." Bridge joked. Corona didn't find it funny, though.
"You don't want this. You really don't. I can't hug anybody, I can't kiss anybody, and I've never known the feeling of human contact, not even a slip. At least you can feel it when somebody grabs your shoulder, or kisses you on the cheek as you get ready for school."
"That…I can't think of anything to say to that." Bridge replied. Corona looked as if she was gonna cry. "Hey, well, we should have no problems hanging out then, eh?"
Corona suppressed a laugh. "Hey, the waitress is coming. Do you know what you want to eat?"
"Yeah…but what're 'hash browns'?"
"They're a pile of sliced potatoes that are fried up and crisped to a brownish color. They're kinda like chunky latkes, but a bit greasier."
"Sounds good to me." Bridge said as the waitress walked up.
"Good morning, you two. Can I get you anything to eat?"
"Of course. I'll have two slices of toast, one egg, over easy, an order of home fries and gravy, and a cup of tea." Corona said.
"And anything for you, sir?"
Bridge wasn't aware that he was being called on, so Corona kicked him in the shin.
"Ow!" Bridge shouted softly as he grabbed his shin. He then noticed the waitress. "Oh, I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry about it. Would you like anything to eat?"
"Ugh, yeah. I'll have four slices of toast, an order of hash browns and a glass of orange juice. Thanks."
"Is that all?"
"Yeah, could you divide the bill?" Corona asked.
"Of course." The waitress walked away, and Bridge quickly scanned her.
After a minute or so, the waitress brought them glasses of water. Corona quickly took out a small bottle and shuffled a red pill into her palm, then quickly washed it down.
"What's that?" Bridge asked.
"It's a digestion aid. They use milk in the gravy, and I'd get sick from it if I didn't take the pill."
"Oh. Okay." Bridge replied. He looked up at the clock, and let it tick by a few minutes, then looked over at Corona.
"Corona?"
"Yes?" She replied, smiling politely.
"Would you mind if I read your aura?"
"Oh, no, of course not. Go right ahead." Corona sat up straight in her chair.
Bridge read her aura. It was brighter than most auras he read, and it was a shade of aquamarine.
"Wow, how bright." Bridge commented.
"I have a bright aura?" Corona asked.
"It's so beautiful…it's like the shade of ocean water."
"Really? I'd expect red, maroon or maybe even pink. Something in the red spectrum."
"Well, aquamarine is interesting. I've never seen that color in an aura before."
"So I'm special?"
"I guess you could say so." Bridge replied with a chuckle.
The food arrived ten minutes later, and Bridge was surorised. He hadn't realized how much food he had ordered until it came on two plates. They began to eat quietly, not noticing that a little boy and girl who couldn't have been any older than seven or eight years old were staring at them until Bridge caught them out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and smiled. They were sitting alone, eating silver dollar pancakes smothered in syrup.
The little girl was in a dress too fancy to be worn while at a diner; the lace on her dress was also the same lace holding her hair in little buns. The little boy was dressed in an old European school uniform.
"Hi there." He said, waving gently.
"You should take off your mittens while eating." The little girl said.
"It's bad manners." The boy added.
"His hands are cold. He has to wear his mittens or else he'll have fingercicles." Corona replied in a soft, cooing tone, speaking to the kids like a mother would.
"Oh. We're sorry, mister." The girl said, sounding sad. "I hope your hands get better."
"…Thanks." Bridge smiled.
After another minute, the little boy walked over to Corona and started poking at her shield. He had apparently been watching beforehand.
"Cool." He said. Corona pulled away. "You have cool powers. Are you a Power Ranger?"
"No, I'm not a Power Ranger."
"Then how come you got cool powers?"
"I don't know. I was born with them, I guess."
"That's cool," The girl said. "but how do we get cool powers?"
"Well, if you wanna be cool, you should do well in school, and go to the SPD Academy and train really hard. Then one day, you'll both be Power Rangers and you won't need cool powers."
"I wanna be the blue ranger!" The girl said.
"No, I wanna be the blue ranger!" The boy retorted.
"You can be the green ranger!"
"I don't wanna be a stupid green ranger!"
Bridge frowned. "Hey, the green ranger's not a bad ranger to be…"
"But blue is the bestest color!" The girl shouted.
"And the green ranger isn't as important as the blue ranger." The boy added.
Bridge sighed; the little boy was crashing his self-esteem.
"Hey now. Not nice. All rangers are important." Corona said in a soft, aggressive tone.
The kids looked at each other.
"You're right, mister. If there wasn't five rangers, then New Tech City would be toast."
"Exactly." Bridge smiled.
"But I still wanna be the blue ranger." The girl said. There was a stinted silence, then suddenly the little boy turned to face Corona.
"Will you take us to get some ice cream?" The boy suddenly asked.
"I'm sorry, I'm still having breakfast with my friend."
Bridge death-gripped Corona's arm, forgetting the shield that encased her.
"That's okay, he can come too!" The boy chirped.
Corona was beginning to get freaked out by the children. A moment later, a woman walked over, dressed in a nun's outfit.
"Mora! Dustin! I'm very disappointed in you two! Running off like that!" The woman said. She noticed Bridge and Corona and sighed. "I'm sorry if these two hooligans have been causing you trouble."
"Oh, they were no trouble. They were just curious little kids, is all." Corona felt strange with the nun next to her; she felt like the woman was trying to mentally drag her along with her. She wrapped her leg around Bridge's until the woman left. Bridge scanned their auras. Everything was black and inky; their intentions were impure and they were indeed impure of heart. The woman reflected back noting but a giant shell; she was not only lacking any human qualities, but she was literally empty on the inside as well.
"Well, that explains it." Bridge said, putting his glove back on.
"What was it?"
"Black auras. One was a shell. They were probably trying to get us arguing or separated. I could just feel it when the two kids came over…something just wasn't right…"
"Well then, thanks for being here. I would've gone with them if you weren't here."
"I see. Well, I am glad to be here then."
"I'm glad you asked me to breakfast." Corona said with a smile, leaning in closer to him.
"Huh?" Bridge was confused. "You asked me to have breakfast with you, remember? You were busy, so you had your assistant send me the message…?"
"Dammit!" She shouted, slamming her fists on the table.
"What's wrong?"
"ACTER set us up!" Corona said as she stood up. Several patrons looked up at her.
"Your personal assistant?"
"It's an AI program. It's programmed to act like a real human. It's been concerned with me lately…it thinks we should…hang out more…"
"Well, that's fine with me. I don't mind."
"It's not your job to hang out with me!"
"Well…" Bridge stood up and blushed. "it kinda is now."
"What?"
"Cruger assigned me to be your escort outside of SPD."
"…Why?"
"Well, there's this alien guy who wants to take you to see Grumm…"
Corona's eyes widened. "Mordom's here on Earth?"
"Yeah! That's the name!"
"Then we should leave."
"Let's just finish breakfast."
Corona looked at her half-eaten meal and sighed. "Okay…" She sat back down and began to eat.
The rest of the meal was a silent one, with tension thick enough to cut with a steak knife. Corona insisted that they leave immediately after the meal, which they did. As they drove back, they passed the D Squad Discipline Training Field. Corona couldn't help but laugh as she spotted Sky amongst the crowd, and Sky couldn't help but notice that Bridge was riding into SPD with an extra passenger.