AN: Sorry about the long wait, I was trying to get chapter five done before posting this one, but it's taking longer than I'd like. Enjoy!
SSJZBSAK
Bridge glanced down at his freshly bandaged arm. It was a makeshift bandage using the shirt he always wore under his jacket, but it was good enough. He used his jacked to wrap around his side to try and stop the bleeding there. It had been a toss up between bleeding to death or freezing to death. He determined that he would bleed to death first and decided to brave the cold in order to give himself a little more time. It wouldn't be much. Unless he found a safe place to build a fire and warm himself up he was only going to last maybe another hour if he could push himself that hard.
But that was the question that he didn't know the answer to. Did he have the conviction to push himself that hard? Or did he even have the strength? He knew if stuck in his position Sky would never give up. He would keep going-soldier on and in spite of injuries and the cold. Sky was infinitely stronger and more capable of surviving something like this. Bridge didn't have a real problem with self-confidence and usually would never have given it thought that he couldn't make it, but his argument with Sky had created doubts in his mind that hadn't been there since he joined SPD. He wondered if Sky would even feel guilty for taking away some bit of his confidence in himself. He had thought Sky was his friend-best friend-but would a best friend say such nasty, undermining things even in anger? And why hadn't anyone defended him? Syd in the least could have spoken in his behalf, but she had only looked on with the same indifference as Jack and Z.
God how that had hurt to have the only people he could call friends totally betray his faith in them. Some small spiteful part of his mind hoped they were regretting everything now, but he squashed the thought. He wasn't going to sink to their level and wish bad things on them. Not to mention, he had said a few nasty things back at Sky, but nothing as confidence stealing as what Sky had said. Then again, he probably could have insulted his teammate until he was blue in the face and not put a dent in the Blue Ranger's confidence. If there was one thing he knew for sure about Sky it was that the Blue Ranger had no doubts about his own abilities.
Bridge snapped his mind out of the dark rut it had started to head into. Thoughts about his dwindling self-confidence were not going to be of any help now. Any other time he would have just let his mind wander and ramble on like it usually did. On a regular basis his mind was in several different places at once. A small portion of his mind was always working on trying to solve the mystery of Gruumms ultimate plan. The rest of it was usually split between things going on at the moment and other less important things. But when he focussed solely on one thing his mind had an amazing ability to find important, helpful details and discard the rest to solve problems.
His mind easily came up with the solution to his current problem. He needed to get a higher vantage point and figure out where exactly he was compared to where he had been. He needed to find out which side of the river he was on and which way he needed to head to get back to the mountain. All of that was easier said than done. The moment he tried to use his bad arm to climb agony flared through his shoulder and he fell to his knees as struggled to fight off the blackness swimming at the corners of his vision. There was no way he could climb up a tree high enough to see the landscape if he couldn't even get onto the first branch.
That idea was flung out the window and instead he started moving again. He was past the point of being able to keep up a steady jog, so he walked quickly between bursts of speed. He was sure he had put some distance between himself in the Krybot, but how much he couldn't exactly be sure. He was comforted by the fact that through his makeshift bandaging he was no longer leaving a blood trail, but he didn't know what kind of capabilities the Krybot had. Besides having stealth technology there was no telling what else it had. One thing for sure was that it had something that blocked it completely from his psychic abilities. He hadn't seen it in his psychic scans are sensed it in any way he normally would have sensed danger. That didn't sit well with him, but it was a problem to be dealt with later when he had the luxury of time and safety.
What he needed to focus on was getting back to the river. He stopped beside a fallen tree trunk and tore off one of his gloves. With a wave in the air he was immediately able to see his own residual energy and saw with disappointment that he had been doing circles for several minutes. However, his energy was still strong enough that he could follow the path, though he feared it might take him too close to the Krybot. He had no choice though, his only hope in finding his teammates was to head back the way he had come and go from there.
SSJZBSAK
They finally felt like they were on the right track. RIC's advanced tracking systems allowed him to follow the faintest of scents and also hear things that no one else could. The robotic dog could move a lot faster than his Ranger companions, especially with Jack carrying Sky in his arms, but RIC seemed to pace himself so that the humans could keep up.
"Man, Sky needs to lose a few pounds." Jack grunted, though it was more of a playful tone. As the morphed Red Ranger he could carry things heavier than Sky with no problem.
"Then he'll start cutting into that wonderful muscle." Syd argued. Both girls glanced at each other, but their twin smirks were hidden behind their helmets.
A peaceful silence fell on the group as they traveled quickly through the forest. Each of them had their own thoughts and worries about Bridge. The Purplehead had revealed that Bridge had indeed survived the fall off the mountain, but how long could he stay alive? The river was rough and if he had been demorphed he could have drowned. But RIC was leading them away from the river, so the Green Ranger had to have survived long enough to make his way away from the water. They all held hope that he was alive, but there were doubts and some doubted more than others.
A groan from Sky drew the group to a stop. Jack laid his teammate on the ground and they all stood around as the Blue Ranger woke up. His eyes slid open slowly and another groan escaped him before he could bite it back. He blinked a few times before his eyes focussed on his teammates standing around him. For a moment he tried to remember why he was on the ground and figure out why his stomach burned, but it all came back to him very quickly. The last thing he remembered was feeling something pressing into his stomach and then a bright flash and then darkness. What happened?
"RIC arrived just in time for me to call the battlizer and catch you." Jack explained, seeing the question on his friend's face. "How are you feeling?"
"Like a Krybot shot me point blank with a super powered cannon." Sky replied with a roll of his eyes.
"And this would be the point where Bridge would point out that a Krybot did shoot you at point blank before realizing that you are being a smartass." Z said as she and Jack helped the Blue Ranger to his feet.
Jack and Syd laughed softly and agreed, but Sky was silent. What Z said was true enough and it was kind of funny. What Sky couldn't help but think is what his reaction to Bridge's slow uptake would be. Sky would have graced his teammate with either an annoyed look or condescending smirk. Oh how he regretted how terrible he had been to Bridge. His younger teammate definitely hadn't deserved it. For the life of him Sky couldn't even figure out why he'd been so nasty. It didn't matter though. What mattered was that he had been so malicious to someone who he had considered a little brother on many occasions. What kind of friend was he?
"Sky?" Z's voice cut through the Blue Ranger's self-hatred.
"Let's go." Sky muttered and began to follow RIC. His three teammates shared a look before they followed him.
SSJZBSAK
Bridge felt his heart sink. His residual energy from earlier had faded and he was no longer sure which way to go. His only option was to try to keep going in the same direction he had been headed, but there was no guarantee that it would be the right way. Lost, injured, and alone Bridge felt worse than he ever had before. Being kidnapped by Bork had been scary and the shrinking room had almost taken his life, but this was worse. He was so cold his body was shivering violently in an attempt to keep him warm, but it wasn't working. His thoughts were muddled and more confusing than usual. Above all he felt the strong urge to lay down and go to sleep.
"Can't sleep. Gotta keep going. Gotta make it." Bridge told himself, not even realizing he was verbalizing his thoughts.
Suddenly something hard struck him in the back. Normally he would have tried to tuck into a roll and get right back to his feet, but his body didn't respond how it should have. Instead, Bridge hit the ground with a dull thump and couldn't breathe for several agonizing seconds. He was yanked to his feet and thrown roughly into a tree trunk. His ribs screamed from the abuse and he once again found he couldn't breathe properly. As he lay on his back looking up the Greenhead Krybot shimmered into view.
"You didn't think that tree was enough to take me out, did you?" The Greenhead sneered. "Because it's going to take a lot more than that."
Bridge knew he needed to move, to get away, but his body wouldn't listen. All his body wanted to do was rest and recuperate, which in his current state would probably mean he would go to sleep and not wake up. Bridge was ready to give up. He had done everything he could to survive, but in the end he just couldn't give enough.
"Maybe if we didn't spend so much time rescuing you we'd have beaten Gruumm by now."
Bridge knew deep in his heart that Sky hadn't meant it. In anger they had both said some pretty nasty things, but Sky's words came back to him in a critical moment. Just when he was about to give up those words sparked a new fire inside him. This time he was not going to require rescuing. He was going to save himself. No more running.
The Greenhead extended its dangerous blades and its visor flashed. With a malicious laugh the Krybot lunged. Bridge rolled to the side and the blades dug deep into the bark. The Green Ranger twisted around and gave the Krybot a powerful kick to the side. The Krybot growled in its weird mechanized way and jerked the blades free. The Greenhead pounced at Bridge, but Bridge planted his feet in the Krybot's chest and launched it into a tree. He then quickly got to his feet and for once he did the lunging. The Greenhead spun around and its blades sliced across Bridge's chest before it kicked him with enough force to send him flying back. Bridge hit the ground and rolled into the base of a tree. That was all his body could take. He didn't have the strength to get back up and continue the fight.
"It was a nice try, little Ranger, but not nearly enough." The Krybot taunted.
Bridge felt like his whole world was shattering around him. Here he was trying to prove that he didn't need rescuing and it was all backfiring in his face. There was nothing he could do. His resolve was crushed, his conviction to fight shot to pieces. Even if he had wanted to go on he just simply couldn't. There was no strength left in him.
"And now we end this little game."
SSJZBSAK
Sky was following RIC as quickly as he could. He was a determined to find Bridge and bring his friend back safe and sound. He owed his green teammate that much. He knew it wasn't his fault that Bridge was missing, but he was not going to let the last words Bridge ever heard from him be ones said in anger. Their friendship meant more than that.
"Man, how far away is he?" Jack piped up from just behind Sky.
"Doesn't matter." Sky replied, his voice colored with determination to find his friend.
Before anyone could say more RIC gave a mechanical bark and then shot off quicker than the Rangers could hope to keep up with. Within seconds he was out of sight. The four teammates shared a look. RIC taking off like that could only mean one thing. Bridge was in danger. The thought instantly spurred the Rangers to run faster, but they had no hope of keeping up with RIC. They could only hope that he got there in time to help their wayward teammate.
SSJZBSAK
Bridge had never felt so helpless in his life. The Greenhead had one hand wrapped around his throat and was pinning him to a tree. The blades of its other hand were being slowly pushed into his stomach. It hurt worse than anything ever had. It was a cruel way for the Krybot to kill him when it could have just stabbed his heart or slit his throat. No, obviously it had been programmed to torture Bridge first. Bridge wished he could just throw his body forward enough to end the pain, but he didn't have the strength for it.
"What's the matter little Ranger, does this hurt?" The Krybot taunted.
Bridge couldn't reply with words, but he shot the Greenhead the fiercest glare he could. The robot simply laughed in its malicious mechanical way. Bridge gasped softly as the blade slid just a little bit deeper as he breathed in and out. Why couldn't the Krybot just kill him and get it over with?
What happened next was nothing but a blur. One moment he was being slowly impaled and the next he was on the ground. He looked around, completely dumbfounded and felt his heart suddenly soar when he saw RIC grappling with the Greenhead. The Krybot viciously threw RIC off him, but the canine robot pounced on him again before the Greenhead could get up. Bridge felt his hopes rise a little. RIC probably couldn't beat the super Greenhead Krybot, but the robotic canine could distract it while Bridge got away.
"You can run little Ranger, but I'm not the only thing hunting you out here!" Bridge heard the Krybot call as he made a quick retreat.
SSJZBSAK
Things were just bound and determined not to go smoothly. Sky knew that Gruumm was out to get them, but this was just ridiculous. One moment they had been running full tilt in the direction RIC had gone. The next Z had been jerked to a painful stop with a cry of agony that caught her teammates' attention. Some kind of trap had snapped closed on the Yellow Ranger's leg. Long, sharp metal teeth had easily pierced the suit and were holding Z's leg captive. Had she not been morphed her leg probably would have been snapped in two, but as it was the teeth were grinding against the bone. The Yellow Ranger was trying to be strong, but every little jar tore a whimper from her.
Jack and Sky both tried to grab the teeth to try and pull it apart, but they couldn't get a hold of it. When that didn't work Jack came up with a different plan. He demorphed and had Z do the same. He then phased her through the metal and pulled her away from it. The Red Ranger tore off his uniform jacket and wrapped it tightly around his injured teammate's leg to help stop the bleeding. He tried to be as gentle as he could, hearing her hiss and whimper in pain hurt him almost as much, but he knew it needed to be tight if it was going to do any good.
"Booby traps? Could this get any worse? OW!" Sky glared at the Pink Ranger, who glared back at him from behind her helmet. "What was that for?"
"Things can always get worse Sky, and by saying that you're asking for trouble." Syd retorted.
"I didn't know you were superstitious Syd." Sky replied.
"It's not superstition Sky. It's true."
"Whatever." Sky said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Sky had only taken two steps when his foot caught on something. He pulled his foot and felt whatever it was give way. Sky heard something rustle above his head and looked up just in time to see a steel cage come slamming down around him. Surprise quickly gave way to outrage and he shot a warning glare at the snickering Pink Ranger. She was so used to being on the receiving end of his glares, but Syd wasn't fazed and didn't take the hint.
"Well Sky--."
"Syd." The Blue Ranger growled, the warning in his voice as clear as the glare.
"I hate to say it."
"No you don't." Jack piped up.
"But I told you so."