"Keep practicing and going through the courses," announced Chase as he and Sky stood before the B Squad cadets, five of whom would have the potential of being the B Squad second rank Rangers. In just a manner of months they would be selecting a group of ten, just as it had been done before, from those that had come before them. Then another couple of months would go by to train the ten cadets. Hopefully by then Kat would have created the Blue Ranger morpher to replace the one which had been destroyed beyond repair when Sky had fought against Omni.
"All of you have improved since the last time," added Sky, who was in his glory; never in his life had he felt so proud. He was doing the work of his father, he was a Red Ranger, training cadets to become Power Rangers and officers. Soon would be hand-selecting a team alongside Chase. "You should all be proud of yourselves."
Sky eyed them all; though they all had improved immensely already he could see the ones who showed promise to become Rangers. It wasn't just the best fighters, but the ones who showed dedication, teamwork, and honor, all important characteristics needed to become a Power Ranger, to one day be part of the best of the best.
"Thank you, sirs!" exclaimed the B Squad, as they saluted their commanding officers before exiting the training room.
"Sky Tate, giving a compliment." Chase turned to Sky as he reached for his water bottle, taking a sip. "I thought I was the only one allowed to give the compliments." Recalling the previous times that they had these training sessions, that Sky usually was the one yelling, making sure that everyone was giving one hundred percent. "Syd must be making you soft," grinned Chase
"Very funny." Sky just rolled his eyes. He knew being a Commander wasn't just always barking orders at someone, it was also encouraging everyone to do their very best, and he knew if he ever wanted to reach the rank of Commander he would have to start showing everyone he had great potential for being a leader overall, of more than just a Ranger squad.
"Yeah. I thought so." Chase jokingly shoved Sky in the shoulder. These past two months the two had become good friends, which was probably a hard thing to do since they did live and work together, something that didn't always play well for some guys, but that didn't seem to be a problem for these two. "So you got any big plans this week for ditching out on your last few dates?"
"What exactly does a guy do for his girl when he's skipped out on dates?" asked Sky, knowing he had to make things up with Syd. He had been a little less attentive to her as of late and he owed her big time.
Chase shrugged his shoulders. "You're asking the wrong guy, Tate. I never missed out on a date to be with my girl." Chase walked past him, patting him on the shoulder before heading towards the locker room to hit the showers, before he would head back onto his daily routines at the Academy.
"Great…." He sighed. Syd could be a fairly forgiving person, but he knew how she was about them spending time alone together.
Drake sat on the back porch with Eric, watching as their daughters played on the swing set with Wesley and Rex the dog.
"He hates me….."
"He doesn't hate you," replied Eric. "He doesn't know you well enough to hate you."
"And that's usually when people start to hate me," pointed out Drake, recalling that he never was the most popular person with people over the years. A good deal of people had at least once hated him or not agreed with some of his decisions. He could even recall back in his days in Time Force that a number of the officers weren't always thrilled to be paired off with him.
"Well…think of it this way, once he gets to know you, maybe he'll really like you."
That got a smile out of Drake; he couldn't believe how mellow Eric had gotten over the years, but every so often he would see a spark of the old Eric. "Yeah. He'll have to start answering my phone calls first." He had tried calling Sky several times, but the young man who once called him dad has been avoid him. He couldn't really blame him. He did drop a bomb shell on him when reveling the truth about where he had come from. It would be a lot for anyone to take in and accept.
"Just give him some more time, he'll come around." Although a part of Eric was wondering if Sky would ever come around. It did seem as if lately, ever since he learned the truth, that once again Sky had been distancing himself from them, not as bad as it was before, but things definitely were changing. And not for the better, lately most of his information about how Sky was doing was coming from Megan.
"Yeah," Drake sighed. He had known it would be difficult for Sky to hear the truth, but he had never imagined it would be this bad. A part of him truly believed that the little boy who had loved him all those years ago would still be somewhere inside of him. But that had been a long time ago, too long ago, apparently, as Sky no longer remembered him. That part had been his fault; he had been the one who had altered Sky's memories and blocked any memories from his life in the 'future'. Back then he had thought he had done the right thing back then, but these days he was wondering if that had been a mistake. He scratched his head, wanting to shift to something else. "So how's Tommy been doing? I haven't really had much of a chance to talk with him since he got back into town."
"He's doing better than what he was," answered Eric. "He got a full time job back at the school. He keeps pretty busy over there, teaching his class along with the Karate Club he started up."
"Has he talked to Kimberly?"
Eric shook his head. "No. She hasn't returned any of his phone calls. He has talked to Junior a couple of times; just to see how's she's doing."
"That's too bad. I know he and Kim go way back."
"Yeah." Eric leaned back in his chair, watching as his children and Jenny ran around in the backyard with the dog, all of them laughing and enjoying each others' company. It was something he knew Tommy had always wanted, a family, and though they considered him part of their family he knew that deep down Tommy wanted one to call his own.
"An old friend of theirs is coming into town this week, from college, right?"
"Ah yeah…" Eric turned to Drake. "Lilly. She and Hayley haven't seen each other in years. All I really know about her is she's thinking about moving here with her two kids; she divorced her husband a year ago."
"Thinking about hooking her up with Tommy?" Drake's eyes widened with a grin on his face.
That got a laugh out of Eric. "No. Hayley actually has someone else in mind, to play match up with."
Drake was seeing where this was going and he wasn't too sure if he liked where that was. "Hold on a second!" His eyes widened. "You're not thinking about setting me up with her, are you?"
Eric just grinned and turned back to watching the kids, just enjoying the moment of watching Drake squirm, something that you saw very rarely if ever.
"Eric, come on. I can't….."
"Can't what?" He turned back to his friend. "You haven't been out with a girl since Jenny's mother."
"Yes Jill, my wife, the mother of my child….."
"Who has been dead for five years," Eric reminded him. "It's time to move on, she'd want you to move on."
"Have you forgotten where I came from? I didn't exactly follow precautions when getting involved with Jill." He had known he was taking a big risk getting involved with her, marrying her and having a child, but it had happened and he was glad that it had. He didn't regret what had happened, but he knew he needed to be careful, both for the sake of himself and his daughter and Sky. "Anything I do here could have a drastic effects on the future. If they find out that I'm here that will lead to them learning the truth about Sky and everything. All hell will break loose," he exclaimed.
"That's the same bullshit you've been feeding everyone for years," announced Eric, who was starting to get tired of hearing that over and over. "It's not like if you go out on one date with Lilly, that we're going to get a message from Time Force saying the whole world's going to end."
"Maybe…." Drake sighed. It wasn't that he wasn't afraid to fall in love again. He was ready to start dating, move on and fall in love again. He wanted Jenny to have a mother again, but at the same time he knew his getting involved with someone else again could endanger the time stream, more than it already had been since he had arrived. Plus he wasn't sure if he could bring someone else into his world and he didn't like the idea of having to lie to someone about who he really was. "I'll meet her and we'll see how things go, but the moment I feel that the time stream could be endangered…."
"Yeah. I know, it's a done deal." Eric got up from his seat. "I'll go let Hayley know you're cool with it." He patted Drake on the shoulder and headed inside to go in search of his wife.
"Hey Uncle Drake!" Little Wesley came running up to him. Over the years he had come to think of Drake as being his uncle, since neither of her parents had any siblings, to him both Tommy and Drake were his uncles. "Can we play rocket-ship?" His eyes widened. "Please….."
How can I say no to that face? Drake chuckled under his breath. "Sure, kiddo." Drake got up and lifted Wes into the air. "Here we go…."
Chase was in the Academy's Memorial Chamber, a place dedicated to fallen Rangers and officers. All of them were names he recognized, Andros Hammond…..Theodore Johnson…. Carlos Vallerte..., Cassie Chan…..Dashel Jackson the 3rd…Wesley Collins. All of them were names he had heard about over and over during his training days at the Academy. They were the best of the best of the Rangers, ones the cadets were taught to look up to, to learn from.
But today Chase wasn't here to remember them or even to see their pictures or their honors on the walls. He was here to see the likeness of five others, five he had come to hate. His fist clenched together as he stared at the photo of the former A Squad Rangers, the team that had betrayed everything that SPD stood for; honor and what it means to be a Ranger, but yet the Academy still remembered them. He didn't care that in their last moments that the A Squad had turned away from Gruumm and assisted the Rangers in stopping him, he didn't care about the tragedy each one had faced in their young lives. None of that mattered to him.
He wanted nothing more than to take their memorial off the wall and toss it out of the room, but he knew better than that. He would show no disrespect, not in this room; this room was supposed to be a room of peace and honor, a place you could go to and feel that you are in the presence of greatness and just hope that one day you do half of the work that they had done.
Sighing heavily, Chase turned away from those that had displeased him and turned to another, the father of the man who he had been working side by side with. Chase could understand why Sky worked so hard, putting all he had into everything he did; he wanted to be great, just as his father before him had been. Chase stepped towards the door and saluted to those that had fallen, before existing the room and making his way down the hall.
Outside in the hall, hidden behind a platform, Megan emerged and stepped inside the Memorial Chamber. She had been spying on Chase, going back to her old ways, just knowing that there was something more about Chase that he was keeping a secret, and she was determined to find out what that secret was.
"Wow…." Megan was not foreign to what this room stood for, unlike many of her classmates when they first joined the Academy. She had known ever since she was a little girl that this room existed, since she was a baby her father had fed her with knowledge about the Power Rangers, about how he and her uncle had fought countless battles, one of which was her uncle's last and final battle. He had even told her a little about Andros's team and even the young cadet Dash, who he had personally trained to be a Ranger.
Now getting back into her curious mode, Megan found the spot where Chase had been looking the moment he clenched his fist so tightly. It was the late A Squad. It wasn't uncommon for anyone at the Academy to have sour feelings towards the late A Squad team, but Sky and the others had made a point to remember them for their sacrifice, knowing that if it hadn't been for the A Squad that none of them would be here today, which seemed to tone everything down a little. So then why would Chase have a bone to pick with them? It almost felt personal to her.
"There you are!" announced Sam, as he teleported behind Megan.
Megan jumped about two feet in the air; she turned around and swatted at her young friend. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry," answered Sam, as he glanced around the room. This was his second time in the room, a place of greatness; it had been here that he had sworn that one day he would be a Power Ranger. He didn't care how hard or how long he would have to train; he just knew this was what he wanted to be part of. "So you came to see your uncle?"
"No." She glared at him. "I was spying on Chase…."
"Again?" Sam crossed his arms against his chest, not that he was surprised. When Megan had an idea in her head she wouldn't stop until she sought it out, which tended to get the both of them in trouble. "I thought we promised we wouldn't be doing that anymore."
"Oh chill out, Sam." she grabbed his hand. "Now teleport us to the computer lab, we have some information to find out."
"Why don't I like where this is going…." All it took was one hard look from her and Sam was more than willing to cooperate with her. "Okay…Okay…I'll take you there now." In a quick flash both Sam and Megan were out of sight.
In the lounge room, Sky was sitting on the couch reading the Commander Handbook guide, everything that needed to be known and done to become an SPD Commander, while some of the other cadets were either watching TV or playing video games.
Bridge and Z were playing a card game with one of the younger D Squad cadets. The young, now eighteen year old, Green Ranger kept on looking over at Sky who hadn't seemed to notice his green friend staring at him so diligently. "Earth to Bridge." Z waved her hand in front of her friend's face. "It's your turn."
"Huh." Bridge shook his head and snapped back to paying attention to the game. "Oh, sorry." He put his card down.
"You okay?" asked Grant, the young fifteen year old cadet. "You looked like you were someplace else for a while." He looked over at Sky. "And I really don't think Lt. Tate would be pleased with you looking at him with that weird look on your face."
"Bridge." Z reached over and swatted Bridge in the head. "Were you using your powers on Sky? I told you that it's rude!" She kept her voice down, not wanting Sky to hear; not that it mattered, whenever Sky had a book to his face he seemed to be closed off from reality.
"I tried to, but…..I don't know….It's like…."
"Oh no," sighed Z, and she tossed her cards onto the table knowing where this was headed.
Grant followed her lead, seeing where this was going. "Not again…."
"I almost had it, but then I lost it…" Bridge started waving his hands in the air. "And then I had it again and then I didn't." He moved his head back and forth. "It was like boom and bang.'
"BRIDGE!" both of them yelled annoyed.
"What?" He looked at them. Everything he had said had made perfect sense to him, and he couldn't understand why it made no sense to anyone else.
"You mind elaborating that in terms that we can understand?" Z asked.
Bridge sighed heavily; he hated it when no one could really understand him. The only one that seemed to be able to was Sophie, but she was on another planet and wouldn't be back for several months, until after her work with the computer mainframe was set up. "It's like he somehow is blocking me from seeing what he's feeling. I can't read him at all."
"Has that ever happened before?" asked Z.
Bridge shook his head. "No. The only thing I can think of is that somehow he's figured out a way to use his power to block me from using my power on him."
"Well, maybe he has; we all have lately been developing our powers more. I mean I can replicate myself five times more than I used to, and now I'm trying to replicate myself to be someplace else than I am."
"Like being at two places at once?" asked Grant.
"Interesting." Bridge rested his head on his hand. "So you could be like at the movies, fighting battles and sleeping at the same time?"
"Your parents dropped you as a baby, right?"
"No, unfortunately I think it's just Bridge being Bridge," replied Z.
"Hey guys," exclaimed Syd as she walked up to the three, looking cheerful as ever.
"Hey Syd."
Z looked Syd over, who was dressed nicely, earrings and everything, a little too nice to be wearing at the Academy. "Going somewhere?" She grinned.
"Yes actually, Sky and I are going out, even if I have to drag him out myself."
"Good luck." Z looked over at Sky, who was still with his head in the book and didn't appear to even know that Syd was here. "He hasn't moved an inch for the last two hours."
"I don't need luck." Syd started to dance her way over to her workaholic boyfriend.
"You could say that again," exclaimed Grant, watching Syd, all wide-eyed and grinning, until Z elbowed him in the gut. "….hey!"
"Hey sweetie…" Syd plopped herself down next to Sky. "What're you reading?" She leaned over.
"The Commander Guide Handbook."
"Still? You aren't still sleeping with it are you?" she asked, knowing very well he was. She couldn't count the times she had caught him reading it in bed. "Haven't you read it like a hundred times? You should have it memorized by now."
"Can never be too prepared, Syd," answered Sky as he flipped to the next page.
"Okay, Mr. Hotshot, prepare for this." Syd yanked the book out of Sky's hand.
"Hey! Give that back!" Sky attempted to reach for the book and take it from Syd, but Syd quickly dodged and jumped off the couch, running around the room with his book. "This isn't funny, Syd. Give me back my book."
"You'll have to catch me first…." Syd grinned, laughing as the two then began to play a game of cat and mouse, nearly running into everybody in the room, but after a few minutes Sky finally caught up to Syd.
"Gotcha." He picked her up and pinned her to the couch. He took his book back from her and put it in his jacket pocket. "Payback time."
"And just what are you going to do?" she challenged him looking him in the eyes.
Sky smiled, though he was annoyed with her at the moment. He just couldn't be angry with her, looking into her bright blue eyes. It was a sort of peace; maybe he needed a little distraction - after all she was right, he did know the book by heart. "This…." He leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips as she wrapped her arms around him pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.
"Hey guys, don't you think that's a little inappropriate to do here?" announced Z.
"No, it's fine." Grant jumped up, getting a better look at watching as the two made out. It wasn't every day he saw this side to Sky, just goofing off and acting like any other guy. Z turned her head and looked Grant right in the eyes with her hard stern icy glare. "What?"
"She's right…" Sky pulled away and helped Syd up, knowing they probably had gotten a little carried away. The lounge room was not meant to be used as a making-out room, in fact it was forbidden for any cadet and officers to act in this way while on the Academy premises. "Commander Cruger could show up at any moment." Though it wasn't against regulations for cadets and officers to date each other, it was frowned upon and the last thing he needed was for anything to prevent him from getting the rank of Commander.
"Well then, we'll just have to start where we left off on our date tonight." She grinned, looking him in the eyes. "We still are going out tonight, aren't we?"
"Yeah. Of course we are….." answered Sky, as he stood up from the couch.
"Sky….." Syd started, seeing where this was going. She had seen that look before. "You promised."
"Don't worry. We're going to go out, I'm just going to run through the simulator a few rounds and afterwards, I'm all yours." He kissed her quickly on the cheek, before making his way out of the lounge, passing by Chase.
Syd pouted and sat down next to Z and Bridge, sighing heavily, disappointed that yet again Sky had put his training before her. Z patted her friend on the back and all it took was one look from her to Grant.
"Yeah. Yeah. I know…I'm out of here," he grumbled, as he got up from his chair to go and mingle with the other cadets.
"Did I miss something?" asked Chase as he sat down to join his teammates.
"Oh not really, nothing more than the usual," answered Z.
"Sky blew her off again?" exclaimed Chase, kind of surprised since early in the day Sky was talking about making things up with Syd for his lack of devotion towards her.
"Not exactly….." said Bridge. "He did promise to go out with her tonight; he just would be a little late."
"Well, if he promised." Chase grinned over to Syd. "Then I'm sure he'll be there. A guy would have to be crazy to miss out on a date with you."
That got a smile out of Syd; Chase definitely had become the charmer of the group, always trying to make everyone feel better. "Yeah. You're probably right."
In the SPD library Megan sat in front of a computer with Sam standing behind her, keeping his eyes watchful, making sure no one was paying much attention to them. "Hurry up, will yah…" whispered Sam.
"Chill. It's not like we're doing anything wrong, we are allowed to be on the computers."
"Yeah. Until you start doing your hacking tricks…."
Megan just rolled her eyes and continued on with her work. She typed in the name Lt. Chase Ryder, and a profile about him came up, giving his age, date of birth, home planet and where he was stationed now. It also gave a list of his records and skills and a few honors he had received. Megan scrolled to the bottom, and saw something about previous Ranger ranking. "Previous Ranger ranking, he was a Ranger before he came here?" She clicked onto it, but a message reading CONFIDENTIAL appeared on the screen. "Now why would that be confidential?"
"Because they don't want you to read that…."
"Yeah. We'll just see about that, Sammy-boy." Megan began typing on the keyboard, now more determined than ever to unlock what Chase had been keeping. "Yes…." she whispered, as she found a way around the security blockers, but what she found was what she wasn't expecting to find. The screen showed a listing and profile of both the Mirinoi A and B Squads; most of the photos shown had been faded out. A Squad Rangers: Dougy Banes, age 19, Blue Ranger; Link Marx, age 21, Green Ranger; Val Locke, age 19, Pink Ranger; and Callie Corbett, age 20, Yellow Ranger. Under all their names it read inactive, the same with the whole B Squad as well. The only one that wasn't faded out was the Red Ranger for the A Squad, Chase Ryder, age 22, Red Ranger with 'reassigned' under his name.
"Inactive? Doesn't that mean…."
"Yeah," answered Megan as she looked over it again, her eyes falling onto Callie Corbett's profile. Her face saddened and now she felt sick to her stomach, she knew now what Chase was hiding, but she never expected it would be anything like this.
Sky took a deep breath as he leaned his back against the wall, carefully looking over his shoulder, blaster in hand. He waited to make his move, watching as the shadow closed in. "Come out wherever you are, Sky. You know you can't win," he heard it taunt.
"Yeah. We'll just see about that!" Sky jumped out of hiding. "You're under arrest, Mirloc!" BANG! Sky fired shots at Mirloc and carefully approached the alien, not taking his eyes off of him, knowing he was a crafty one with plenty of tricks up his sleeve.
A hand crept over Sky's shoulder, reaching to grab it. "Sky…"
"Ahhh…." Sky jumped, firing shots up in the air, giving time for Mirloc to shoot him in the chest, a full blast. He dropped to the ground, clutching his shoulder.
"End simulation," announced Cruger. Mirloc and the surroundings around them shimmered away. The old dog held out a hand to Sky. "You all right, Sky?"
Sky brushed the commander's hand away. "I'm fine," he replied sharply.
"I didn't mean to startle you, but I noticed that you had the simulator set at a dangerous level. Many cadets and officers have been badly injured and some have even died during the simulation." The last thing Commander Cruger wanted was to lose anyone else during a training exercise, especially when it is preventable.
"I said I was fine, sir. I can handle it," announced Sky firmly. The last thing he wanted was for Cruger to be getting on his case.
"The shields you're able to create don't make you bulletproof, Sky." Cruger gripped the young man's shoulder. "I can't afford to lose you; you are an important member to this department."
Sky took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, not wanting to start an argument with Cruger that would most likely result in disciplinary action being taken against him. "Don't worry, sir; I don't plan on going anywhere for a long time. This is where I belong."
"Good." Cruger eyed him. "Now, don't you have a date you should be getting ready for?" Sky looked at the commander, a little surprised. "Don't think that just because I'm old I don't know what goes on beyond these walls." He knew very well that Sky and Syd were involved with each other. He wasn't stupid.
"Of course, sir," answered Sky, smiling faintly. "I'll see you tomorrow." Sky headed out of the simulator room to go head out for his date with Syd, but not until after he had a quick shower.