Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers, so nobody sue me ok?

When the Grim Reaper Knocks

Chapter IX

Sky was rushed to the New Tech City hospital as soon as the EMTs had shown up. Kat panicked once Bridge had asked for a medical team to be sent. She had already messed up once concerning Sky's well being, and she didn't want to mess up a second time, which is why she decided to call 911 instead. It had been a couple hours since Sky had arrived at the hospital and Cruger, Kat, Sophie, Boom, and the other rangers were in the waiting room anxiously anticipating receiving some word on Sky's condition. Cruger was currently involved in a heated argument with Sky's main doctor.

"What do you mean we can't see him?" Cruger yelled.

The doctor had to admit that he was intimidated by the big, blue alien dog, but he was not about to disregard doctor/patient confidentiality.

"Are you his family? Are any of you his family?" the doctor asked looking at Cruger and the others.

Kat, Cruger, Boom, Sophie, and the other B Squad rangers were silent.

"I didn't think so. Since you aren't his family, I'm afraid I can't disclose any information about Sky's condition," the doctor said.

Syd was worried out of her mind about Sky. She wasn't going to stay in the dark as far as Sky's condition was concerned.

"Damn it! Sky doesn't even have any family! Need I remind you that we are S.P.D.? Even though all of Sky's family is dead, he still has us. As far as I'm concerned, we are his family! I demand to see him right this very instant!" Syd screamed.

Just then, a news story came on the channel that the waiting room television was on. The story was about what had happened to Sky at the City Plaza courtesy of Xyrthias.

"Our top story this evening is the blue power ranger was brutally attacked earlier today in the City Plaza by a bull looking monster with only one eye. This is very unexpected news considering that the being known as Gruumm had been destroyed by the power rangers. We thought that New Tech City was safe from any monsters, but apparently that is not the case. We realize that this is very grave news. New Tech City hospital is currently taking blood donations, so if you'd like to help the blue power ranger, please go and donate blood. The blue ranger's doctor won't tell us what the blue ranger's blood type is, so we hear the hospital is accepting all blood types. We hope you will do your part and we will keep you posted as more information becomes available to us," the news anchor said before going on to another story.

9-9-9

Sky lay motionless in his hospital bed. He was in desperate need of a blood transfusion. If Sky didn't get more blood soon, there was a good chance that he would not survive as he had already lost so much blood.

Sky's Dream

Sky found himself outside at some sort of gathering. There were a bunch of people there dressed in black. It was silent save for the sounds of people crying.

"He can't be gone!" Syd said before completely losing it and crying hysterically.

Sky hated to see Syd cry, so he went over and put a hand on her shoulder only to find that his hand went right through her. Syd kept crying. Sky was frightened when his hand passed right through Syd. Was he a ghost?

"God, if only I had known he was going to die that day, I wouldn't have yelled at him! I should've told someone that he took off as soon as I found out!" Sophie said while tears streamed down her eyes.

Bridge went over and put an arm around Sophie and rubbed her shoulders. Sophie buried her head in Bridge's chest and cried her heart out.

"Sophie, don't say that. It wasn't your fault. There was way you could've known this would happen, so please don't blame yourself," Bridge softly spoke to Sophie.

Sky noticed that Jack and Z were standing in front of a coffin looking at its occupant. Z was crying and Sky could've sworn he saw Jack shedding some tears as well. Sky wondered who exactly was in the coffin. As he approached the coffin, he could hear the conversation between Jack and Z.

"We'll miss you man. Nobody could ever replace you. Man, why did you have to die? You were so young! You had your entire life ahead of you!" Jack said before completely breaking down.

Z hugged Jack and they both held each other as they cried their eyes out. Sky arrived at the coffin and looked into it and saw that the dead person in it was…himself.

End Dream

9-9-9

Back in the waiting room of the hospital, quite a line had formed at the counter. It extended out into the parking lot of the hospital. All of the people in this line had come to donate blood for the blue ranger.

"Oh my goodness! Look at how many people came here to donate blood for Sky!" Z exclaimed.

There was no other explanation for it. All of these people must've seen the story about the incident at City Plaza on the news just as they had. They were extremely touched at how many people had shown up to donate blood. They knew that if Sky could see this, he too would be really touched. Crises always seem to bring people together, and this was no exception.

"This is incredible!" Jack commented.

All kinds of people had shown up to donate blood. There were people of all ages, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, religions, and occupations that had come to the hospital after hearing about what had happened. Even people who didn't live in New Tech City had heard about what happened to Sky and came to donate blood. The line had practically doubled in length in a matter of mere minutes.

"Thank you all for coming here and donating blood. On behalf of all of us at S.P.D., we'd like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts," Cruger announced.

News reporters and their camera crew from various stations had showed up now and were taking shots of the length of the line at the hospital. Other reporters were interviewing Cruger, Kat, Boom, Sophie, and the other rangers to try to find out more about what had happened as well as to possibly get an update on the condition of the blue ranger.

9-9-9

Over in an unknown location, Xyrthias was watching the latest news concerning the blue power ranger and the hospital's blood drive. Xyrthias was seething with anger as he watched his television.

"Damn those people! Damn them to Hell!" Xyrthias yelled clenching his fists.

Xyrthias was sick of watching all the people donating blood in order to help the blue ranger. Xyrthias pounded his fist into the wall punching right through it. He remembered the satisfaction he had felt when he first injected Sky with the shot way back when. It was the same satisfaction that Xyrthias felt as he stood over the fallen ranger earlier at City Plaza in New Tech City. He loved the way it felt to him. It had felt so good to feel the same satisfaction today after being deprived of that satisfaction for so long.

"Curse those people for coming to Sky's rescue and not just letting him die. I was so close too that I could taste it! Their efforts will be for naught though as they may be able to save him now, but by the time I'm through with him, there won't be anything anyone can do to save him!" Xyrthias screamed.

Xyrthias rammed his horns into a poster of the blue ranger leaving two holes in the wall behind the poster. Xyrthias tore what was left of the poster off the wall and blasted it with a laser from his eye leaving nothing but a pile of ashes.

9-9-9

Back at the hospital, Sky's doctor was busy giving Sky blood transfusions using the blood from some of the people who had shown up to donate blood. Fortunately, people had shown up to donate blood, because the hospital didn't have any blood on hand that was Sky's blood type. Once the doctor had finished with the blood transfusions, he went out to tell his teammates that they could go in and see him.

"You're welcome to go in and see him now, but I'm going to tell you ahead of time that he isn't awake," the doctor said.

Cruger and company didn't need to be told twice as they headed in as soon as they found out they could go in and see Sky. They couldn't help but wonder what caused the sudden change of heart in the doctor. It wasn't too long ago that Sky's doctor wouldn't let them see Sky because they weren't family.

"Sky!" Syd shouted before running over to Sky and resting her head on his chest and holding his hand in hers. Tears rolled down her cheek messing up her makeup in the process.

Sophie grabbed Bridge's arm and pulled him outside to have a word with him. Bridge wondered why Sophie couldn't tell him whatever she was going to tell him in front of the others.

9-9-9

"This is all my fault. If I hadn't let Sky take off like that, then none of this would've happened," Sophie said while looking down at the ground.

Bridge walked over and put a hand on each of Sophie's shoulders.

"Sophie, look at me. None of this was your fault. You had no way of knowing that Sky would get attacked like he did," Bridge said.

Sophie wrapped her arms around Bridge in a hug and cried into his chest. Bridge wrapped his arms around Sophie and rubbed her back in a circular motion. Bridge thought that Sophie only saw him as her best friend, but after the kiss that the two of them shared, maybe she saw him as more than just a friend.

"Bridge, about that kiss earlier, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come onto you like that. I just…" Sophie said before Bridge put two fingers to Sophie's lips to stop her from continuing.

Bridge bent his head down and looked as though he was going to kiss Sophie. Sophie saw this and turned away from Bridge.

"Bridge, we can't. What about your powers?" Sophie said.

Bridge was disappointed that Sophie turned away before he had a chance to kiss her. He never felt this way before about a girl.

"I won't hurt you. I could never hurt you. I didn't hurt you when we kissed before right?" Bridge said while trying again to lean in and kiss Sophie.

Sophie allowed him this time as she met him halfway and touched her lips to his. The kiss started off gentle at first, but soon became passionate. The lips weren't the only things that were touching as the kiss turned into a French kiss. They could've gone on longer, but they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. That caused the two of them to separate immediately and avoid eye contact with each other as they were clearly blushing.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? I never saw this one coming. I guess congratulations are in order," Jack said while leaning his weight against the doorway to Sky's hospital room.

Sophie brushed past Jack as she headed back into Sky's hospital room. Jack noticed that she was looking down at the ground the whole time. That left just the red and green ranger standing outside.

"So when did this start?" Jack asked wondering if his teammate had been keeping a secret from him.

Bridge was wondering the exact same thing. It's not like he woke up this morning interested in dating Sophie. Everything just happened so fast, and the next thing Bridge knew Sophie kissed him.

"I guess it started earlier today. She was upset after getting into a fight with Sky. That was just before he took off on his motorcycle. I comforted her and then out of nowhere she kissed me. Well, actually she threw herself into my arms first and then she kissed me. Actually that's not true either. I remember after she threw herself into my arms, I had noticed that she was crying, so I wiped away her tears and then she kissed me. Yeah, that's how it happened," Bridge answered.

Jack rolled his eyes. "That's great man! I'm happy for you. I'm glad you found someone special. Now what do you say we go back in and see Sky?"

To Be Continued…

A/N: There! This is more like my usual chapter length. I wanted to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Thanks for sticking with me. I'll end with the usual, don't forget to read & review and remember no flames.