Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.

When the Grim Reaper Knocks

Chapter IV

An elderly man in a lab coat entered the infirmary. He had grey hair and was wearing glasses. He didn't say anything at first. He just looked at the patient in the stretcher while standing in the doorway. Kat noticed the man.

"Dr. Roberts, I'm so glad you came. I need you to analyze a blood sample for me. I could really use your help since you are one of the world's leading geneticists. You and I go a long way back. We're not only colleagues, but good friends so I know I can count on you," Kat said.

Dr. Roberts gave Kat a warm smile thanking her for all the compliments. His gaze then shifted over to Sky once again. Kat had a cadet call Dr. Roberts a little while ago. This was after Sky had his seizure while Kat was on her way to the lab to analyze Sky's blood sample. She could use a second opinion and maybe Dr. Roberts would be able to tell them what exactly was happening to Sky.

"Does the blood sample belong to the young man over there?" Dr. Roberts asked while pointing to the blue ranger in the stretcher.

Kat looked to see where Dr. Roberts was pointing then nodded her head yes. She let out a sigh. She hoped that Dr. Roberts would help them get to the bottom of this mess. Nobody deserved to miss their birthday. After all the work, planning, and preparation everyone in the Academy had done for today, it would be a shame if it all went to waste.

"Come on Dr. Roberts. I'll show you to the lab," Kat said. The two left the infirmary. Cruger went over to Sky. He repositioned his chair next to Sky and sat down. Cruger still couldn't believe this was happening. They had been able to defeat Gruumm. Sky survived what used to be referred to as the worst of it, and now to think Sky wouldn't survive his illness was something Cruger, and for that matter everyone else, didn't want to believe.

"Sky, please get better. You can't die on us. You just can't. You're still so young. You have your whole life ahead of you. We need you to survive. I need you to survive," Cruger said as tears started to stream down Cruger's face. Cruger didn't even bother to try to hold back his tears. Instead, he just let them fall. Nobody had ever seen Cruger cry before and Cruger intended on keeping it that way. Since there was nobody else in the room besides an unconscious Sky, he saw no reason to hold his tears back. After all, it's not like Sky would be able to tell that Cruger was crying. Cruger was very protective of the rangers. As he told Wootox once, "Nobody messes with my rangers!" Too bad there was no way Cruger could protect Sky now.

4-4-4

The other rangers were in the recreation room. Besides the four of them, the room was empty. The room was silent. All four were too deep in thought to communicate with each other. They couldn't help but think about Sky. They all wondered how this day could turn out so badly. They allwondered what caused this illness in the first place. Sky was perfectly healthy yesterday. He showed no signs of an upcoming illness. Whatever happened, it just seemed to happen out of the blue.

"Should we just start taking the decorations down? I mean it doesn't look like Sky will be okay anytime soon," Z commented.

Jack, Syd, and Bridge looked at Z like she had just insulted them or something. Their eyes widened. Their mouths were in the shape of a circle. Their jaws dropped. Z wondered what she had said that made them react in such a fashion.

"Don't you dare say that! Sky is going to get better. He has to!" Syd shouted. Tears started forming in her eyes. Her nose started to run. Her tears started to ruin the makeup that Syd had on her face.

Z's comment had rendered Bridge speechless. Bridge didn't have any comeback. He had nothing to ramble on about. All he did was keep the same shocked look on his face. It seemed to him at leastthat Z didn't care about Sky's condition. Not that that surprised Bridge though. Aside from Jack, Sky didn't get along with Z much either. The two of them always seemed to be fighting and arguing about something. Z had even mentioned once how she didn't think Sky had any emotions. Bridge knew that wasn't true though. After all, Sky was Bridge's roommate. Bridge knew things about Sky that nobody else did. Sure Sky was a bit of a loner, but he was still human. He still cared deeply about his teammates, his friends. Sky was kind of like a big brother to the other core rangers and perhaps to nobody more than Bridge. Sky was Bridge's best friend.

"Yeah Z, how can you be so heartless?" Jack asked.

It was Z's turn to be shocked. She expected this sort of a comment from Bridge or Syd since they had been through so much more with Sky than she or Jack had, but she never expected Jack to be the one to say such a comment. Jack was like a big brother to her. This big brother just called her heartless. That comment might as well have been a knife in the back. It would have felt the same to Z.

"I'm not being heartless! I'm just being realistic!" Z retorted.

Syd had heard enough. The whole party, everything was Syd's idea. If anybody was going to start taking decorations down, they'd have to notify her first. Syd had her issues with Z as well. Mostly it was because they were roommates, but it also had to do with the fact that they were the only two females on the team. Syd and Z weren't exactly the same type of girls. Syd was basically your stereotypical girly girl while Z was a street smart girl who shouldn't be messed with.

"How would you feel if situations were reversed? Would you want people to take down your decorations? Who's to say Sky won't wake up before the day ends?" Syd asked firing one question after another.

Z was surprised at Syd's response. With five teenagers being forced to live in such close quarters for an extended period of time, there was bound to be fights, arguments, and drama. This wasn't the first time though by any means. The five of them got into plenty of fights since they were placed on the same team. At least it didn't happen when they were in their final encounter with Gruumm.

"To answer your first two questions, I'm not a 'what if' type of girl. I deal with what is not what might be or could have been. To answer your last question, I don't know if you've noticed or not, but Sky is under the weather. It's better not to get your hopes up that waywhen things don't go your way, you won't be so disappointed," Z replied.

4-4-4

In the lab, Dr. Roberts and Kat were examining Sky's blood sample.

"That's weird," Kat said.

Dr. Roberts looked at her confused. He looked into the eyepiece to see what Kat was referring to. He didn't see anything unusual or out of the ordinary.

"I don't see anything strange," Dr. Roberts commented.

Kat sighed. She forgot that Dr. Roberts hadn't seen the blood sample when she first observed it under the microscope.

"That's exactly my point. Before, there were force fields surrounding the blood cells and now they are perfectly normal," Kat said.

Dr. Roberts raised an eyebrow upon hearing Kat's statement. Force fields surrounding blood cells seemed like something from a science fiction novel, but nothing that is applicable in real life. Then again, Dr. Roberts didn't know about Sky's civilian powers.

"That's absurd!" Dr. Roberts exclaimed.

Kat was struggling with the decision of whether or not to tell Dr. Roberts about Sky's civilian powers. On the one hand, it could help in finding out what's wrong with Sky, but on the other hand, if word gets out about Sky's or the other ranger's civilian powers, they might not be accepted by society any longer. The rangers had used their powers out on the field and in simulations, but their powers remained a secret to the society. People might label the rangers as freaks and ostracize them from society. This was something Kat wasn't sure she wanted to risk.

"I have an idea. Why don't we take blood samples from the other rangers and compare them to Sky's and see if we find anything different?" Kat suggested.

Dr. Roberts didn't answer. He just walked out of the lab. He thought Kat and her ideas were unrealistic. Human blood cells didn't have force fields surrounding them. As far as Dr. Roberts was concerned, Kat could keep her wacky ideas to herself.

XXXXXXXXXX

In the infirmary, Cruger noticed a development in Sky's condition. He had started to sweat profusely. This didn't make sense to Cruger. After all, Sky was cold earlier in the morning. Cruger grabbed a cadet passing by the infirmary and instructed him to get Kat.

"Sky come on. Don't give up on us! We need you to pull through!" Cruger said out loud.

Moments later, Kat was in the infirmary. By this time, Sky's clothing was sopping wet with perspiration. Beads of sweat formed on Sky's forehead but evaporated almost immediately after they had formed.

"Doggie, get Sky a glass of water. He's probably dehydrated. Also bring a washcloth dampened with cold water," Kat commanded.

Kat could hear Sky moaning. Whatever this illness was, it was taking its toll on Sky. It was one ailment right after another. Sky's body had to be exhausted. There was no telling how much more until Sky had reached his threshold. Kat was surprised Sky hadn't reached it by now. She put gloves on her hand and opened Sky's mouth and inserted a thermometer. She closed his mouth. Realization had dawned on Kat. Whatever this illness was it appeared to combine various illnesses into one and inflict them in sequence one right after another. Also, Kat suspected that when a mishap occurred back in 2001 that altered the DNA of the ranger's parents, it was Sky's altered DNA that caused him to be affected by his current ailment whatever it was. It was nothing like Kat had ever seen before. She's witnessed each of these things on their own with the exception of someone having as cold of a temperatureas Sky had, but never in sequence.

"Here you go Kat," Cruger said handing Kat the washcloth and the glass of water. Kat placed the washcloth on Sky's forehead. The thermometer beeped signaling that it had finished taking its reading. Kat removed the thermometer and looked at the reading.

"It says his temperature is 102 degrees Fahrenheit!" Kat exclaimed shocked that his temperature rose that much so quickly.

"Sky, we need you to wake up. Can you hear us? We need you to drink this water," Cruger said.

Sky didn't even stir. He still remained unconscious.

"Doggie, contact the other rangers. Let them know what's happened," Kat ordered.

Kat had a look of concern on her face. Sky had been through so much in one day, and she hated that he wasn't out of the woods yet. It wasn't long before Cruger returned with the other four rangers.

"How could he have a fever now? His temperature was so cold just a little while ago!" Syd exclaimed.

Kat had no idea to answer that. She was wondering herself what the explanation was. Bridge had removed the glove on his right hand. He walked over to where Sky lay. He laid his ungloved hand on Sky's forehead and cringed when he felt how hot his forehead was. Bridge had closed his eyes and was trying to establish a psychic connection with Sky through skin contact. The room was silent. Everyone was hoping that Bridge would be able to establish a link with Sky.

In Sky's mind

Bridge tried to examine his surroundings, but all he could see was pitch black darkness. He couldn't even see his own hands in front of him. Bridge was bothered how he was in total darkness. Realizing how he couldn't rely on his sense of sight, Bridge decided to call out to Sky hoping Sky could hear him.

"Sky? It's me Bridge! You can beat this! I'll help you beat this!" Bridge shouted. His voice seemed to echo. The echoing was almost haunting. There was no response. Bridge was about to try again when he heard a weak response.

"Bridge help me! I'm so weak. I'm so tired. I can't take much more. I just want to give up!" Sky answered.

Those last two words seemed to hang in the air forever. They had Bridge frozen in terror. In all the years that Bridge had known Sky, never had Sky ever given up. Bridge was starting to get a headache which was making it hard to keep his psychic connection. He wasn't about to give up though. He was going to get Sky through this. He might be the only one who can. Somehow Bridge had to get Sky to not give up. The biggest threat was no longer what was happening to Sky's body, but what was going on in Sky's mind. Sky wanted to give up. The Grim Reaper was knocking and Sky was about to answer the door. Bridge was not about to let that happen though.

Tears started to roll down Bridge's cheeks. He was scared to death. He was scared he wouldn't be able to help Sky. He was scared Sky was going to just give up fighting. "Sky, everyone is pulling for you. Everyone is waiting for you to wake up and be ok. You survived the final battle with Gruumm and you can survive this too! I can't picture my life without you in it. I don't want to picture my life without you in it! You're a fighter! You're the best! Don't you dare give up! Don't you even think about giving up!" Bridge shouted.

A light started to break through the darkness. It slowly replaced the darkness in Sky's mind. Bridge could make out a figure lying on the ground. There was no doubt that was Sky. Bridge found him.

Exit Sky's mind

Bridge opened his eyes and removed his hand. He was concerned because Sky's eyes weren't opened yet. Then, he saw his eyelashes shift the slightest bit. Soon, Bridge was looking into Sky's eyes.

"Thanks," Sky whispered.

"Anytime," Bridge replied.

Everyone else in the room was practically jumping for joy. Everyone was hugging everyone else. This was the first time Sky woke up all day. Maybe they'd be able to celebrate his birthday after all.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Sorry the update took so long. I'm learning that having more than onefanfic going at the same time isn't the best idea. I am absolutely blown away by the review turnout thus far. I have received half as many reviews as my first fic which is 13 chapters longer (currently 17 chapters). Jessie13, Jillie chan, Mystic Smallville Rain, skyblue266, and SPD Yellow thank you so much for listing my story as one of your favorites. Beautiful-Me89, Jessie13, Mystic Smallville Rain, sky's girl forever, and skyblue266, I really appreciate you listing me as one of your favorite authors. Beautiful-Me89, Synalm Halomyn-Faerie Queen, BLUERANGER1983, Psycho Tangerine, Mandee1, Mystic Smallville Rain, Jessie13, lgbabyblu, Blake-Tori88, sky's girl forever, dixie15, and Jillie chan, thanks so much for reviewing. I may be new to writing fanfics, but you all have made this enjoyable. I hope you continue to R&R and for everyone else, please R&R. No flames please. I have a midterm this Friday and two other fanfics started, but I'll try to update soon.