Sky was sixteen years old and had been at the Academy for nearly two years now. He and his roommate Dru had become fast friends, they were nearly inseparable. The two were rarely seen apart as they spent a lot of time training together in hopes of one day training to be Rangers. In a way they were almost like brothers; Dru had filled a void Sky thought he would never fill. He could talk to him about anything, but neither liked to talk about their families, Dru never said much about his family and the last time Sky said anything about his family was when he first arrived at the Academy.

During those two years, Dru had become one of the top cadets in target practice, being able to take out all the targets with one shot. Sky had yet to accomplish that skill, but Dru had been teaching him, so perhaps one day he would accomplish that skill. Most days Dru and him spent at the academy going to their classes and training in the simulator. And every once in a while getting in trouble for goofing off and staying up way past curfew. These last two years have been the best days of Sky's life, and he hoped that he and Dru would always be the best of friends. He hoped that the two would become Rangers together, go on missions and protect the city.

He still kept in contact with Eric. He would say he was just calling to check on how Trip, his dog, but the truth was he did miss them, more then he would ever care to admit. Some days he did feel a little homesick. He found it strange to be homesick for a place he never even been to, but he would never admit it to Eric and Eric would never ask.

Sky was lying on his bed looking at his father's picture for the thousandth time. Everyday he felt it was one day closer until he would become a ranger. He had already moved up to C squad. He had shown great determination and dedication that got him moved up in rank along with Dru. Every day that passed was one step closer to his dream of becoming a Ranger, He had wanted to join the Ranger Program when he first arrived but wasn't allowed to, due to his age. He was of course disappointed and sometime next year new Rangers would be chosen. It seemed hard to believe the Rangers his father had trained would be stepping down as Rangers. It would be at least another ten years until A squad would be looking for new Rangers, something Sky knew he wouldn't be able to wait that long for. Ten years was a long time to wait around for something you've worked your whole life for. There was a glimmer of hope though. There were rumors going around that Dr. Manx was working on a second set of morphers that would be used for the B squad, but nothing official had been posted.

"Just give me time, Dad, and some day I promise I'll make you proud."

The dorm door slid opened and Dru stepped in looking directly at his roommate. "Come on, Tate, get off your ass and play some lightball with me," he exclaimed.

"All right." Sky got up and set the picture back on his nightstand, fully ready to take Dru on. "But I'm going to win." He grinned.

"We'll just see about that, rookie," said Dru as he patted Sky on the back as the two left their dorm. Dru had taken Sky under his wing ever since he had arrived at the academy, showed him the ropes, and even learned a few new tricks of his own. "Loser gets clean up duty."

"You're on."

"Have you been able to get a hold of them?" asked Cruger. He was going over this year's new enrollments and one of their primary enrollments was missing. Correction, had been missing. He had been informed years earlier about the situation concerning the Landers boy, but had tried his best to remain in contact with the parents, but had always come up empty handed.

"No, it seems the Landers have disappeared off the face of the earth," answered Kat knowing that wasn't the answer Cruger was hoping for. "I couldn't even find a place of last known address. For all we know they could be dead." She knew it was very difficult for the Landers when their son ran away from home. Not knowing where he was, if he was alright or if he was still alive. It was a big world out there and anything could have happened.

Cruger sighed. This wasn't good. It had been years since they had heard from the Landers. They didn't even hear from them when Jack, their son, had gone missing. They had learned about his disappearance on the news. He had even assigned some of his own officers to look for Jack, they had tried for years, but had gotten no closer to finding him. "And still no trace of the boy, Jack."

Kat shook her head. "No. No one has seen or heard from Jack ever since he ran away from home. My guess he's on the streets, somewhere," answered Kat with a heavy sigh. "But he could be anywhere now; it's been two years." He could be dead for all they knew. Anything could have happened to him while he was alone on the streets. It seemed unlikely that a thirteen year old boy could have survived this long all on his own, especially with all the dangers that were out there. But then again, Jack was not just any ordinary boy; he was special just like the rest of the children. He may not so easily have fallen prey to the dangers that lurked in the shadows.

Cruger let out a heavy sigh. He was counting on Jack being here this year, getting him and Sky paired up and beginning the special training that had been set up years ago. It would be at least another year until the others would arrive, minded that things with them stayed on track. But until then Sky would be paired up with Dru, and Cruger was beginning to feel that might have been a mistake on his part. Although Sky had made it to C squad, he knew that Sky could have advanced to B squad easily. He felt that Dru was a big impact on that, that in a way he maybe holding Sky back.

"I'm sorry, sir." Kat knew how important this was to Cruger. He had promised both Alec Collins and Andros that he would see this through, and now it seemed the plan could be falling apart. All she could hope was that the others would arrive on schedule and there would be no more problems.

"It's not your fault," he told her as he got up and started to make his way out of the command base.

Kat was going to go after him, but stopped herself, knowing that he needed some time alone to think. A few moments passed and a loud explosion rang through the air. RIC came dashing into the command base. "Boom!" Kat groaned, as she quickly made her way to the lab. She found Boom in the lab, that looked at if a tornado had run right through it, taking out everything in sight; a tornado called Boom, anyway. It had only been about a year since Boom had been appointed as her lab assistant after he had failed out of the Academy's basic training for cadets, after only a few days. He was getting ready to pack his things and head on home, when Cruger had suggested that he work in the science program and from there she had somehow gotten stuck with him.

"Sorry Kat, guess there's still a few more bugs to work out."

Although she tried she could never be mad at Boom, he just had that puppy dog innocent look on his face. He was trying and he did show some promise, his only problem was that he tended to be accident prone. "It's all right, just clean the mess up."

He nodded his head and smiled briefly. "Yes, Ma'am."

RIC returned back into the lab. "Make sure he does a good job, RIC." RIC barked and stood watch over Boom as he cleaned up the mess. Kat made her way out of the lab hoping that when she returned it would be spotless.

Dash and the other rangers were in the briefing room. In the next few months they would be choosing those who would take their places within the next year. At times it did feel sad that the days were drawing near when their time as Rangers would be up, but in truth they were all actually relieved, especially Dash. With him stepping down as a Ranger, that would mean he would have more time to spend with his family, his boys were four years old and would be starting school within the next couple of years. He wanted to spend as much time with them as he could.

"So we are all in agreement, Charlie and her teammates would make the best choice?" asked Dash eyeing his team wanting to hear their thought.

"Yes, they're all on top and have passed every course with flying colors," stated Heather, knowing that their great teamwork and quick thinking would make them all excellent rangers.

"I have to agree. They're the best cadets I've seen in all my years here." Gina looked at each one of her teammates. "They could even be better than us."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far…" laughed Tanner, gripping her shoulder. "But yes, I agree they should take our place."

"Okay." Dash nodded his head and his eyes fell onto Culby. "Culby?"

He hated being put on the spot, but he was grateful they respected his input. "Okay, I'll admit it. Charlie, and her team are good, they passed more of the courses than Luke's team did, but…"

"But…" Tanner flung his arms in the air. It was fine at first, but two years of this was starting to get on his nerves. He couldn't understand what Culby's problem was. Ho could he not see that Charlie and her team were the best choice, the best ones to take their place. "Culby, what do you have against them?"

"I don't have anything against them!" he exclaimed defensively. "I…I just don't know if I trust them." He couldn't explain, it was just a gut feeling he had. He knew it didn't make sense. It didn't make sense to him, but he couldn't help how he felt.

"So you think we should choose Luke and his team?" asked Dash eyeing Culby.

"I didn't say that."

The girls were starting to get frustrated just as much as Tanner was. "Culby!" yelled Heather. "You need to make a decision, we can't make it for you."

"And I thought my husband was bad," announced Gina rolling her eyes.

"Culby." Tanner got right into his face. "Choose, Luke or Charlie."

"I..I…" he put his head down. "I don't know."

Tanner looked like he was about to blow until Dash pulled him away. "All right, I think that's enough for tonight." The last thing he wanted was them fighting each other. That wasn't how a team worked. "We'll discuss this later." Perhaps a full nights rest would give them all a new perspective.

"Great," groaned Tanner as he stormed out of the room. "More of my time to be wasted."

"Hey, wait up, Tanner," yelled Heather, running after him. When she caught up with him she wrapped her arm around him and gently kissed him on the cheek as they headed down the hall.

Culby sighed and turned to Gina who was getting up; she smiled at him faintly. "Gina, not you too."

"Sorry, Culb. I just don't see anything wrong with them." Without another word Gina made her way out of the room towards home.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Dash gripped Culby's shoulder. "It happens to the best of us."

"So you agree with me?"

Dash smiled faintly. "I'll take it into consideration." He saw Culby's face fall. "Look, if you can come up with a good enough reason as to why Charlie and her team shouldn't be chosen, then we'll go with Luke's." He gripped Culby. "Okay?"

It was better than nothing. "Okay," he answered nodding his head.

"Good," answered Dash with a smile. "Well, I should be heading home, make sure my little terrors didn't destroy the house. Say hi to Rose and Junior for me."

"I'll do that."

"See yah tomorrow, partner."

Dash was about to head out the door when he heard Culby call his name. "Dash?"

"Yeah?" He looked over his shoulder.

"Thanks for listening to me."

Dash smiled. "Hey, that's what good friends are for. And don't forget what I said, as long as I'm in charge, I'll make sure the right team is chosen."

The lights were out in Dru and Sky's dorm room and the room was in complete silence. Dru's eyes slowly opened; he turned over in his bed and looked over to where Sky was fast asleep in his bed. He watched him for a few moments, checking, making sure Sky was in fact asleep. Silently Dru pulled his covers off of him and got out of bed, trying not to make a single sound, as if he had done this a hundred times before. He headed towards the door, but before he stepped out he eyed Sky once more, before leaving the dorm.

He had become a natural at this, sneaking off in the middle of the night. Dodging security guards and surveillance cameras. Dru made his way as quickly as he possibly could, to the lower level of the academy. Once he reached his destination, he leaned up against the wall and pulled out a small radio. He opened it and started up the communication link.

"It's about time. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever call."

"Sorry, but I had to wait until my roommate was asleep."

"Yes, I suppose you had to. Do you have it, then?"

"Yes, of course, I wouldn't let you down, Broodwing." Dru pulled out a small chip from his pocket and put it in the slot of the radio computer, watching as the information was transmitted over to Broodwing. "And my payment?"

"You'll get it in due time, boy."

"We had a deal!" exclaimed Dru firmly. "You said once I transmitted the data from SPD Security over to you I'd get my money."

"And you will. Have patience, you'll get your reward."

"I'd better." Dru ended the transmission and started to make his way back to the dorm.

He silently made his way back to his bed, pulling the covers over his body. He looked over at Sky, who was just the same as he had left him. He turned over on his side and closed his eyes, falling into a deep sleep.

Some months later…

It was late when Dash had made it down to the parking garage to head on home to his family for the night. The lights started flickering on and off, as if they were getting ready to burn out. Some had burnt out already, making the whole garage darker than normal. "Great," he sighed in annoyance. "Maintenance is late as usual with fixing the lights." He unlocked his car and was about to get into it when he started to hear voices, and they sounded rather familiar to him. By the manner of the sound of the voices, he decided he should check it out. He slowly started to ease his ways towards them.

Dru was talking to a young woman hidden in the dark shadows along with four others. "I assure you, no one suspects, least of all Cruger," he arrogantly exclaimed. "I'm at the top of the class. He has no reason to suspect me of anything." He had covered all his bases and had been extremely careful. They weren't even aware that he was doing some side work for Broodwing.

"Don't be so cocky, Harrington, we could easily rip you apart limb by limb," exclaimed Tusk the brute of the team.

"Go ahead and try!" he eyed Tusk, challenging him to even try. "You'll be expelled out of the academy and then what would that do to Gruumms plans?" He crossed his arms against his chest. "Who would be in trouble then?" he snickered. "Remember I'm just paid for being the messenger."

Tusk clenched his together growling, he wanted nothing more but the rip that smirk off Dru's face. One of the other shadows started to step forward placing their hand on Tush broad solders. "Easy, Tusk, we wouldn't want to risk tampering with our master's plan." Cliff eyed him coldly. "Even to a worm like him."

Hidden behind one of the walls, Dash had been listening to the whole conversation, but was able to see very little. Most of the lights in this area had been burnt out, but he recognized the names. Names he knew all too well. "Tusk?... It can't be." He felt his heart racing as he continued to listen, and hoped that this all was just a dream, a misunderstanding.

Dru smiled an evil grin, as he watched Tusk step back. "Good little alien Tusk," he mocked.

"I'll tear him apart!" growled Tusk, pounding his hands together.

"Not now, Tusk! That's an order!" Charlie barked into her counterpart's face, as much as she despised Dru, she knew they couldn't kill him. At least not right now. "What about your little friend, your roommate Sky Tate, does he know of your true intentions?" She looked him directly in the eyes. It was no secret to anyone at the academy that the two were the best of friends, that they acted like brothers.

"He's not a part of this," exclaimed Dru eyeing Charlie cautiously.

"Perhaps he should be," she announced boldly. She had seen Sky Tate training, knew about his ability to generate shield. He would make a great addition for their plans to take done SPD. Gruumm would be very pleased if they were able to turn him. "He's on the wrong team."

Dru laughed. "Forget it." Dru found the whole idea amusing. "Tate's dad was a red Ranger. He won't turn, he's too loyal."

"What a shame, we'll just have to take him out to the trash with the rest of SPD." They would have no choice but to kill him, he could prove to be too much of a threat to Gruumms plans if left alive.

Dru got right up to her face. "Let me make this clear, Tate is mine."

"Very well," she smirked. She would allow Dru to handle things with Sky. "But if you fail, I want hesitate to end him."

Dru clutched his fist together. He wanted to hit her, wanted to prove her wrong that he was far more valuable then she believed him to be, but thought better of it. He would get his chance one day, for now he just needed to play his part. He looked at his watch. "Got to run, don't want to miss bed check."

"We'll be in touch."

"I'm sure we will." Dru then walked past the wall where Dash had been hiding behind, he didn't even notice he was there.

"Let's go," Charlie announced to her teammates.

"Hold it right there." Dash came out with his blaster pointed right at the five figures hiding in the dark shadows. If he hadn't seen and heard it with his own eyes and ears he probably would not have believed it. All this time Culby had been right about the five. They can't be trusted, they were working with Gruumm with plans to take down SPD. "Culby was right about you guys. You're all under arrest, for conspiracy to take down SPD!" he exclaimed keeping his eyes locked on the five.

"Commander Jackson," announced Charlie as she locked her eyes on him. "It's such a shame you had to find out this way. Now we're going to have to kill you."

"Not on my watch." He raised his radio towards his mouth. "Rangers, the…" BANG. Fear struck over his face. As the radio dropped to the ground, blood trickled down from his chest. He tried to say something but no words came out. He didn't even know he had fallen to the ground. He had felt nothing, only the coldness and the darkness caving in. He could see the blurry figures of Charlie and the other standing over him, their words muffled as he felt himself go away.

"Get rid of this." Charlie handed the gun to Tusk, who smashed it into small grains leaving no trace of the gun.

"What about the surveillance camera?" Cliff asked knowing that could become a problem.

"Yes. They could discover our secret," announced Kim concerned. "Gruumm wouldn't be pleased."

"Yes. My sister is right." Kane looked down at the dead body of Commander Jackson lying before them. "You shouldn't have killed him," he exclaimed eyeing Charlie.

"I had no choice. He would have ruined everything." She looked the twins hard in the eyes. "Besides, we're too far in the shadows for them to see anything. Let's go!" she ordered. The five then backed away further into the shadows, leaving their former Commander lying dead in a pool of blood.

"Dash, did you contact us, this is Tanner, come in... Dash are you there, pick up?"