A/N: Hey, everyone. Hope you all are having a lovely Christmas. I'll be out of town for the time being. Just want to let yall know that I'm on break so I'm doing my best to update as much as I can especially before going back to school. Next few chapters including this one will give you hints of possible pairings. Thanks again for reviewing and enjoy the latest chapter.


Chapter 4

"Something Bigger"

Sky and Z parted ways late that afternoon, and during his walk back to the academy, Sky heard his name from the distance. He stops on the middle of the sidewalk and looks over his shoulder where he finds Syd appearing from the back exit of a shopping mall, waving her hand up in the air and lifting shopping bags with the other.

"Shouldn't you be at the academy working?" Sky questions strictly as he helped her with the shopping bags.

"Not today." She grins. "It's my day off." Sky raises an eyebrow as the two begin walking towards the direction of the academy. There was a moment of awkward silence as Syd peered nervously at him from the corner of her eyes. Sky remained keeping a serious expression with his gaze fixed forward. It was around midday as the sun begins to close in behind the distant mountains. The sky is painted with different shades of orange, yellow, and red perfectly blended to create an amazing view of the sunset. Syd begins to feel uncomfortable as the long silence continues. "So how did it go today?" She asked for the sake of saying something and because she was somewhat interested in his undercover work.

"It actually went pretty well." He responds straightforwardly.

Syd nods her head. "That's good." There was a small pause as she drew in a few relaxing breaths. "Listen, my parents got me two tickets to see a car show tomorrow and I was wondering if you would like to go with me."

They stopped at an intersection as Sky slowly follows her gaze. "You're inviting me to a car show?" He asks with a smirk on his face.

Syd furrowed her eyebrows. "Well…yeah."

"Since when are you into car shows?" Sky questions in disbelief.

"Since my parents got me these tickets." She responds, placing a hand on one side of her hip to show that she was being serious about going. "Come on, we got great seats." Syd reveals her tempting smile to persuade him.

"Uh…" He looks down and uneasily chuckles. "I love to, Syd but I can't. I'm still undercover."

"Can't you take a break?" She frowns. It saddens her that Sky isn't often in the academy working as she hoped. Ever since he started doing outside work, mainly undercover missions, Syd feels as though she is growing apart from Sky. She always hated it whenever Sky looks forward to more work. 'He just never gives up' She thought irritably.

"Nope. I gotta get this done, Syd." The blonde looks away and deeply sighs in disappointment. "Being a ranger is all I ever wanted to be." He explains to her. "And I have to prove Cruger that I'm ready. You can understand that right?"

She looks at him sadly and nods. "Yeah, you've been talking about it for the last two years." Syd responds in a rather irritated tone.

"Maybe some other time okay?"

She reluctantly nods her head at the thought. "Sure, next time. I guess I forgot how much this means to you."

He smiles genuinely in response. "Thanks, Syd. Thanks for understanding."

"Yeah," she forces a weak smile, "no problem." And as he started walking across the street, Syd trails behind as she looks down and sighs, feeling deeply disappointed for she was looking forward to spend some quality time with Sky. "No problem at all..."


The sun disappeared out in the horizon, darkening the city as the moon took its place. Jack Landors sat on the dry grass in front of the fire he built, waiting patiently in New Tech City's central park while at the same time making smores. Just then, a dark figure stood before him but couldn't exactly comprehend who it is under the shadow as he squints his eyes and wait for its image to appear from the light of the fire. Once its face revealed, Jack sighs in relief.

"I thought I'd find you here." It was his friend Z as she took a seat right next to him in front of the fire. Jack handed her a stick nearby and places the marshmallow on the point of it. "Thanks." She grabs the stick from the other end and began roasting the marshmallow over the fire. There was a moment of silence as Jack peered at her from the corner of his eye.

"Where have you been?" He asked curiously while taking the marshmallow and placing it between two squared graham crackers with a piece of Hershey's chocolate inside.

Z just shrugged her shoulders. "Out," she responds as Jack turns away from her gaze. "Listen, I got some clothes. I left them over at the van." Silence filled the air again. "I almost got caught by the same guy." She slightly chuckled and stopped for he didn't seem to care as his glance remain fixated on the fire. Z stares at him uncomfortably from the corner of her eye and sighs. "Jack, I've been thinking." He finally looks up as Z timidly bits her bottom lip. "Maybe we should give the city life a chance…" Jack suddenly stops chewing as he turns to the side, furrowing his eyebrows at Z. "I mean…all we do is resent it, but we can't isolate ourselves from the city life forever without trying it right?"

Silence filled the air as Jack looks away and chuckles. "Whatever," he muttered in a rather upset tone. "I don't even want to hear this."

Z tosses the stick into the fire and looks crossly at her male companion. "Jack, what is your problem?" She grunted. "I did what you asked. What else do you want from me?"

He turns to her with a glare. "Shouldn't you be out searching for something bigger than wasting your time here with me?"

"You're still upset about that?" Z nods her head in disbelief as he kept quiet after that, avoiding her gaze. "Jack, what's wrong with changing careers?"

"Nothing," he retorts back, "it just bothers me that you want to be part of the city life when you and I both know it's not going to do us any good."

"No, we don't." Z looks at him intently. "What makes you think it won't do us any good when we haven't experienced it ourselves? You may think it's not any good for you, but you can't say that about me." There was no response. "Do you actually want to steal for the rest of your life?"

He scoffs. "It's not stealing, Z. We're helping people."

"Stealing is a crime, Jack!" She argues back. "There are other ways to help--"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this!" Jack abruptly cuts her off. "I thought we were a team, Z. You're the only person I understand and now you want to throw all that away." He looks at her in utter disbelief. "When we started this whole thing, it was you that said sometimes we just have to break the rules. Now here you are contradicting yourself."

"That is not fair, Jack!" She snaps. "People change. I don't want to do this forever."

"Forget it." He nods his head in disappointment, followed by a weak chuckle. "You want to go off to the city? Fine, but leave me out of it."

Z places a hand on his arm. "Jack, if you just give it a chance."

"Just go!"

Z, who is taken aback by Jack's strange and contemptuous behavior, slowly rises up from the ground and walks off towards where she came from. It was there second argument of that day and Z just had about enough with him. Jack looks up from the blazing fire, watching Z get smaller and smaller from the distance until she disappeared behind the trees.


A/N: Again, please review. I like to know what you guys think so far! Thanks and I'll update ASAP!