Variations Of SPD
Chapter 4: Little Green Monster
By: Pink-Green-White-4ever
Last Revised: September 18, 2005
Summary: The title alone says it all.
Rating: M, for adult-themed situations and language.
Disclaimer: I don't own PR, Disney does
AN: I know a lot of you want to see more of Brian, and you will, in this chapter. He and Sky actually go at it a bit, so enjoy.
"On the path to the greatest nemesis, two enemies will walk together." -- Slade Whitfield --
"For peace, we must prepare for war." -- Bobby Jagdev --
"Again!"
Brian moved forward, swinging his Bo Staff with expertise, straight at his sister's head. Sydney countered, blocking his attack, and then using her staff, she kicked his feet out from under him.
"You ok?" Syd called as they faced each other and bowed before taking up fighting stances again.
"Lovely. You're pretty good with that for a beginner," Brian teased.
"Beginner? I was taking Martial Arts lessons before you were born, little boy," Sydney shot back.
"Yeah? Couldn't tell by the form you're using!" Brian taunted, ducking her staff and using his own to nail her thigh.
"Excuse me. I didn't train with a master ninja for nearly fifteen years, and I've got tons more training then you'll ever hope to have!" Sydney growled, snapping her wrist so that her staff smacked Brian's shoulder. "I've got Police and SWAT training you'll never hope to have, plus gymnastics, ballet, karate, and swimming and diving under my belt, not to mention the singing and modeling lessons I had before I came to SPD."
Brian's lips were set in a thin line. His sister had him there. He'd only been trained in the use of martial arts, and in the ways of the Ninjetti. She had tons more life experience then he had, not to mention, she'd already spent over a year as an active Ranger, and not just any Ranger, a Pink Ranger, like their mother.
"Brian, I didn't mean it like that," Sydney called out, somersaulting over his staff, only to come to a halt when she saw the look on his face. She'd hurt his feelings, she didn't need powers to figure that out.
"No, it's ok. It's not like either of us chose for this to happen to me," he mumbled.
"Free shot," Sydney told him, tossing her staff to the ground and standing before him, panting.
"No."
"Yes."
"Sydney, I could hurt you."
"Let's put it this way, I think your Ninja training and all of mine put together even it out. Go for it, you won't get another chance to hit me without me defending myself."
Brian gulped, and knew he shouldn't, but the offer was too tempting. "KI-YAH!" he cried out, swinging his Bo so fast and so hard, he nearly lost control of it.
"SYDNEY!"
The former Pink Ranger wasn't sure what hurt worse, the bump on her head, the look in her brother's eyes, or the look on Sky's face as he leaned over her prone body. He looked utterly terrified. "I'm okay, I think."
Sky helped her sit up and then turned on Brian. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING? SHE WAS UNARMED! YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER!"
"If you hadn't yelled, I would have only gotten her shoulder!" Brian argued back.
Sky grabbed Brian by the lapels of his Gi and hauled him up off the ground. "I don't care what your excuse is, you don't hit unarmed opponents, you don't hit your family, and you damn sure don't hit girls. You want someone to hit, let's see you take a swing at me!"
The former Blue Ranger released Brian, causing the younger male to fall back a few steps, and right into a fighting stance. Sydney managed to get up and get between them, putting a hand on each of their chests. "Sky, knock it off."
"HE HIT YOU!"
"Because I told him to, and he's right, he'd have only hit my shoulder if you hadn't startled him," Sydney told him, still pushing both of them back. "KNOCK IT OFF!"
Sky flew back toward one wall while Brian went crashing toward the opposite as pink power ripped through Sydney's body, shooting out her hands, her eyes, her mouth, and down out of her feet.
"SYD!"
Both Brian and Sky pushed up to their knees and crawled over to Sydney's prone body when it suddenly dropped to the mats. Sky uttered a strangled cry and pulled her head into his lap. Brian grabbed her hand then looked up at Sky. "Go get Kat and Commander Cruger. NOW!" Brian nodded and ran from the room to find help.
"Come on, Sweetheart, wake up," Sky murmured, rocking back and forth while holding her. "Sydney, don't you dare leave me."
Sky sat in a chair next to her bed, holding her small hand between both of his. Brian stood on the other side, with Bridge and Z, holding her other hand while Z had her arm wrapped around his shoulders and Bridge's hand was on his shoulder. Jack stood back near the door, speaking quietly with Commander Cruger and Kat.
"Whatever that power was, it disintegrated the last traces of the implant. I won't have to operate now, like we were planning. It also knocked her unconscious. I can't tell if it's a coma or she's just sleeping it off."
"Jack, I want Brian taken to a holding cell until I have a chance to speak with him."
"Yes Sir," Jack nodded to Cruger and then moved to Brian's side. "Brian, you need to come with me."
"I'm not leaving Sydney," the young man protested.
"You don't have a choice, man. You're being sent down to a holding cell until Commander Cruger can speak with you about what happened."
Bridge and Z looked shocked while Sky didn't even respond. Nodding, Brian stepped away from the former Green and Yellow Rangers and let Jack escort him out of the infirmary.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Z demanded to know from Sky, who looked like he was enjoying watching Jack take Brian away.
"Because he's gonna get what he deserves. I don't care what the circumstances were, he's been in the presence of a Master Martial Artist for years, you can't tell me he didn't learn the etiquette rules about fighting an unarmed opponent."
Bridge and Z shook their heads at Sky. While they could both see Sky's point, the both thought he was being too hard on Brian for a mere accident.
Sydney felt like she was swimming through a pool of Jell-O, her arms and legs that heavy to move. "It's time to go back, Sydney."
Turning, the former Pink Ranger saw a man standing in blue armor, helmet in hand. "Who are you?"
"A friend. Tell the Dragon I said we will meet soon."
"Sydney?"
Blue eyes opened, taking in Kat looming over her. Syd tried to move but discovered Sky's head laying in her lap, the rest of his body resting in a chair next to the bed.
"What happened?"
"I was hoping you could tell me."
"Brian and Sky were arguing. And then there was pink, a lot of pink. Then I saw a man in blue armor."
Kat nodded. "The implant's gone. Whatever the power was, it cured all your ails. I won't have to go in and remove the implant."
"Where's Brian?" Syd asked, running her fingers through Sky's hair as the former Blue Ranger slept on in ignorance to her presence.
"A hold cell, on Cruger's orders. Despite that you told him to attack, Cruger's not happy. And neither was Sky."
Sydney frowned. "He's so jealous of Brian, I just don't get it Kat."
Kat smiled. "Syd, look at this from his point of view. All your time and energy has been focused on S.P.D. and by extension, him. Now he has to share you. It's hard for him. Try to include him in things you do with Brian."
Syd smiled. "Thanks Kat."
"You're welcome."
As Kat left the room, Sky started to wake up. "Hi," Syd whispered.
"You're awake!" Sky spoke, surprised and happy.
"Yeah. Can we talk?" Syd asked, mentally trying to figure out how to approach the subject.
"What's wrong?"
Sighing, Sydney tried to choose her words carefully. "Sky, this whole thing with Brian is ridiculous," she started, touching a hand to his cheek when his eyes went dark with anger.
"Sydney…"
"No, listen to me. I love you, both of you. He's my brother; you're the man I love. I'm not saying what happened earlier wasn't his fault, cause it was just as much his as it was mine, but you've got to chill out. Please, for me, I'm asking you to at least be civil to him." Sydney turned pleading eyes on him.
Sky looked furious. Syd held her breath when he jerked away and headed for the door.
"I see you chose between us. That's fine, just fine!"
Quickly, Sky ran out the door.
"SKY!"
"Sydney," Brian greeted when Commander Cruger escorted Sydney to the holding cell where the younger Oliver child was being held.
"Brian, Commander Cruger's releasing you, on the promise that what happened this morning doesn't happen again. I've already told him we'll be more careful."
Brian nodded. "S.P.D. Handbook – standard procedure for me to be locked up, right?"
"Yes. Now come on, you're late for class and I have duty in ten minutes."
Brian hugged his sister and then saluted her and Cruger before dashing off to change for class. "So, tell me why Sky seems so upset?"
Sydney rolled her eyes as the two headed for the command center. "Because I asked him to be civil toward Brian. He seems to think I chose Brian over him. It's ludicrous, Commander. I didn't choose one or the other, I chose both of them!"
Sydney stopped suddenly when she entered the command center main room. Commander Cruger looked startled until he saw what she was staring so intently at.
Sky was laughing and swinging a pretty brunette around in circles while the others watched on. "ANNA!" the former Blue Ranger laughed, hugging her tightly.
Sydney gasped when the girl kissed Sky on the lips. "Syd!" Z called when the former Pink Ranger ran from the room in tears.
The man in blue was startled by Z's cry. "Sydney!" he yelled, moving to chase her.
"Leave her be, Cadet Tate. You've done enough for today," Commander Cruger growled. Sky frowned and looked from Cruger to the door, debating whether he should go after her anyway, but one look at Anubis' face told him not to even try it. "Cadet Maxwell, welcome back to Earth."
"Commander," Anna Maxwell greeted. "Was that Sydney Drew from D Squad?"
Commander Cruger shook his head. "Cadet Drew was promoted to B squad last year, and has since become A Squad, along with Cadets Carson and Tate. She is our former Pink Ranger, having been retired from active Ranger duty."
Cruger had never really liked Cadet Maxwell, she'd always seemed to have ulterior motives to being at S.P.D., which didn't sit well with Anubis.
"I see. I guess congratulations are in order, but who replaced Syd as Pink Ranger on your team?" Anna asked Sky.
Bridge winced, Sky remained quiet and pensive, and both Jack and Z glared. "No one has or ever will replace Sydney on our team," Jack growled. "The whole team was retired from active states a month ago."
Z sneered angrily at Anna as she followed Jack toward the door. "Watch what you say about my best friend, Short Stuff."
Anna looked shocked by their anger but kept quiet, not wanting to start a fight she didn't think she could finish.
"Don't worry about it, Anna; they're very overprotective of Sydney. Come on, let's go get you something to eat and I'll show you what's changed since your last visit."
Bridge was shocked by Sky's dismissal of Syd, Jack and Z. The former Green Ranger knew that Sky had dated Anna briefly before she'd left the Academy for Aquitar, but he didn't think Sky would choose her, ever, over Syd.
"What a time for this," Kat muttered, having caught the tail end of the incident when she walked into the room.
"Ms. Manx?"
"Commander, we have a new threat to Earth on our hands."
Z and Jack found her in the simulator an hour later, beating the stuffing out of a group of Krybots. "I thought Kat told you to rest?" Jack asked, ending the simulation.
"So?"
"Syd, you're gonna make yourself sick if you keep this up. You had a concussion this morning, or have you forgotten all about it?" Z demanded.
Sydney merely glared and then stiffened when the alarms began blaring. "Let's go!"
The trip met up with Bridge, Brian, and A Squad outside the Command Center and the ten entered together. "Commander?" Aaron asked as he and Jack led their teams in.
"We have a new threat to Earth to deal with. We have an escapee from the outpost prison near Phadoes that's been spotted the last two weeks amassing an army. Now he's here on Earth."
"What does he want, world domination?" Z sarcastically asked.
"If he is, tell him S.P.D. already kicked both Grumm and Visvajita's butts into prison. But if he really wants his ass kicked, we'll be happy to oblige," Syd grinned sadistically.
"No, Cadets, he's already made his demands. He wants the Dragon, and the Phoenix."
"The what?" Sky finally spoke up.
"He wants the Dragon and the Phoenix," Kat repeated.
"What is the Dragon and the Phoenix?" Alana, A Squad's Yellow Ranger, asked.
Brian cleared his throat. "Not what, who," he told them. "I'm the Dragon."
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Sky muttered crossly, only to shut up when Cruger and Sydney both glared at him.
"Who's the Phoenix?" Brett, the Blue Ranger, quietly asked.
"Sydney."
Syd squeaked when all eyes landed on her. "ME?"
Brian nodded. "The pink uniform you told me you were wearing during the final fight with Visvajita, and the power you displayed this morning was the result of the Phoenix."
"What is it?" Z growled.
"Syd's Ninjetti Animal Spirit is the Pink Phoenix, mine is the White Dragon."
"Rangers, we've got a squad of weird foot soldiers near the warehouse district and a giant monster downtown," Kat told them.
Cruger nodded. "A Squad, take the Delta Runners and destroy the monster. Jack, Sky, Bridge, Z, Syd, Anna and Brian, take care of those foot soldiers."
"How come she has to go with us?" Z grumbled.
"Because, Little Girl, I was supposed to be the Yellow Ranger before you. Let's go."
Jack glared. "Bridge, go with Sky and Anna. Brian, Syd and Z, you're with me."
The Rangers morphed and went to take care of the monster while the others went to take care of the other menace.
"What the heck?" Jack gasped when they arrived on the scene, seeing big, ugly, black crows cawing and trashing the street.
"Tengu Warriors!" Brian called. "They're tough, and deadly!"
"No? Really?" Z sarcastically yelled at him, ducking a wing.
"We're not making any head way!" Anna grumbled ten minutes later.
Sky threw up a shield to give them a small breather. "Time to break out the special weapons?" Syd asked Jack, who nodded.
"Yes! Use your powers!" Jack ordered.
Brian and Anna blinked in shock when Z multiplied herself and Syd reached down and extracted two small pieces of metal from her belt. "FISTS OF IRON!" Syd called, turning her hands to metal.
"Sky! Help Syd! Bridge, you're with Brian! Anna, stay with me and Z!"
They split up, taking on the Tenga Warriors. "This is stupid!" Brian yelled, getting knocked off his feet. He made a strangled sounding noise, pushed to his feet, and began a move that surprised them all. "NINJETTI! WHITE DRAGON!"
The team and Anna looked on in shock a Brian's body was enveloped in white light before a ninja suit appeared, covering his S.P.D. uniform. "Let's rumble!" Brian commanded, jumping into the fight again. "DRAGON'S ICE!"
Suddenly, a blast of ice and air and snow flew from Brian's fingertips, freezing the Tengas attacking the others. Once most of the Tengas were taken care of, the team regrouped.
Sky turned to say something to Anna about her fighting, leaving Sydney by herself behind him, when the unthinkable happened.
"SYDNEY! WATCH OUT!"
Sky whirled around just in time to see a Tenga slash it's beak through Syd's chest.
"SYD!" he screamed, tears springing to his eyes as she was throw off her feet and flew past him into a nearby building.
"FOUL MONSTER YOU DARE ATTACK AN INNOCENT!" a voice echoed in the alleyway. "I WILL NOT STAND FOR SUCH INJUSTICE!"
The team looked confused, all except for Brian, who stood grinning under his hood. "Who is that?" Anna asked when a large, blue armored figure appeared.
"I AM NINJOR! I WILL NOT LET EVIL WIN! FACE ME!" the Ninjetti Master Warrior threatened the remaining Tengas.