"Get up!" ordered Cruger as he stood above Sky, hovering his sword over the young man. "The moment you let down your guard, is the moment your enemy will strike." He knew if the information was true and Mirloc was out, he needed to prepare Sky for what could be the battle of his life. Sky might be one of the best fighters the academy had, but with Mirloc you can never be too careful. He was both deadly and crafty, who would throw everything he had at Sky.

Sky pushed himself up to his feet from only moments ago being struck down by Cruger. The two had been training for the last couple of hours; every bone in his body ached, but he wasn't going to let that slow him down or stop him from proving to Cruger that he hadn't made a mistake appointing him red Ranger and that he deserved to gain the rank of Commander. He narrowed his eyes on Cruger, tightening his fingers around his sword. He started towards him, sword in hand ready to strike, but he faked Cruger out and jumped over the old SPD Commander. Once he was on his feet Sky flashed his sword towards Cruger's neck. He was more than satisfied with himself, feeling that he had finally gotten him. "Got you!"

"No. It is I that's got you!" Before Sky could even react Cruger swung his sword around full force, nailing Sky right in the chest, sending the young lieutenant to the ground and then in a quickly moment the old commander struck his sword down towards the ground, nearly brushing it against Sky's ear. Cruger hung over him, staring down at Sky; he sighed heavily as he shook his head. "Too much pride can be a bad thing, Sky. If you let it get in the way you will lose." He held out his hand to help him up.

Time and time again, Cruger had struck him down. No matter what angle he came at the old dog, every time he was upper-handed and sent crashing to the ground. Sky sighed heavily frustrated with himself as he took in a deep breath and clutched at his chest, still feeling the painful blows from Cruger's sword. He watched as Cruger bent down to pick up his sword. "We are done for today."

He wanted to say that he wasn't finished, that he could go on just a little longer, but he knew his attempts would be useless. When Cruger had made up his mind there was little anyone could do or say to change it. He was just going to have to wait until the next time they trained together, hoping that next time he finally would have the upper hand. "Yes sir." He saluted.

Cruger could tell that Sky was frustrated with himself and even at him. They had been having these training sessions together for a while now and every time he had been the victor. "You are a good fighter, Sky." He gripped his shoulder. "But there will always be someone better. You need to stay focused and alert at all times, never be over confident of what is in front of you." He didn't know if his words would mean anything to Sky; he had been saying them to him for years and it seemed he hadn't gotten totally through to him. Sky, though respectful, always had his own way of seeing things and didn't always like to agree with others. He was the kind of man that hated to be proven wrong. "You should go have yourself checked out by Dr. Manx…"

"I'm fine, sir," Sky responded firmly. He could take Cruger's lectures about fighting tactics, but anything having to deal with his health and wellbeing he didn't want to hear. He could take care of himself just fine, always had. "I can take it."

"That wasn't a request, Lt. Tate," Cruger announced firmly. "That was an order."

"…Yes sir." Sky once again saluted Cruger, before turning away and heading back inside the Academy.

Cruger knew this process was going to take a lot longer than he had wanted it to and he had a feeling that time might not be on their side. All he could hope for was that, when the time did come, Sky will be ready, because he knew he would never be able to forgive himself if what happened to Wes, happened to Sky.

Syd, Z and Bridge were in the common room, just hanging out from a long day at work. Syd and Z had taken the ten members of those that were in the Ranger program through a training course; while Bridge had hung back monitoring their performance from the satellite video feed. His leg was recovering well, but Kat said he still needed to stay off it for a couple more weeks, so he would have to refrain from any actual training. Not that he minded it much, he preferred to work with machines; he felt that his skills were better used there, but then again he would be happy to get back out there with his friends and train.

"So Bridge, how do you think the cadets did today?" asked Z, knowing very well that Bridge had used his ability to get a sense of the cadets' emotions, to see which ones had what it took to be a Ranger.

"I felt that all the cadets did very well." He hadn't picked up on anything disturbing that alarmed him in any way. "It's going to be a hard decision to choose which ones will become the new B Squad rangers when it comes down to it." He was just grateful it wouldn't be his decision, but Sky's and Chase's; he never was one that liked to pick sides. If it were up to him, he'd let every one of the ten members become Rangers, but he knew that wouldn't be practical.

"You…..you didn't pick up anything else, did you?" asked Syd, a little concerned, as she turned to Bridge. Ever since Z and she had gotten back she had been pretty quiet, just staying to herself, and really had only spoken if someone said something to her.

"No." Bridge shook his head, not too sure what she was referring to. "Should I have?"

"No." Syd shook her head. "I was just curious if anything else was going on out there while we were on the course." She did appear somewhat relieved by what Bridge had said, but uncertainty was still on her face, as if she wasn't so sure his words were enough to bring some ease to her wondering mind.

Z just glared at Syd, questioning her, she was about to say something to her when they saw Sky walk past the room. "Syd…"

"….Oh, I'm going to go see Sky. See you guys later." Syd got up in a hurry from her seat and started for Sky, before Z could even finish what she was going to say.

"What do you think that was all about?"

"She said she was going to go catch up with Sky. I mean the two are a couple and it's only natural that she'd want to go see him, especially after a long exhausting day…."

"No, not that." Z turned to Bridge. For a pychic he could be totally lost sometimes, even with what was going on right in front of him. "I mean with what Syd asked you, if you picked up on anything else other than the cadets today."

"Oh. I don't know." Bridge shrugged his shoulders. "I really didn't know what she was referring to when she asked. I didn't sense anything out of the ordinary, everything seemed normal to me."

Z knew Bridge's ability could pick up on a lot of things, but even he missed a few things. He had missed sensing that Dru Harrington had betrayed them and even when Sky's body had been taken over by Wootox. So perhaps he wasn't picking up on what Syd was talking about. "…..You don't think…"

"Think what…" Not knowing at first what she was talking about, but the more he looked into her eyes, the more he understood what she was saying. "Oh…. If she was….I would think I would pick up on something like that, ….but it probably would be easier to ask her."

"Don't even think about it." She glared at him. "If she wants to talk about it, she'll come to us, until then we just butt out of it."

"If you want us to butt out of it, then why were you just asking me all these questions….because that sort of reiterates what you said before and what you are saying now."

"Forget everything I just said." Z, frustrated, threw up her hands and let out a heavy sigh. "You're impossible, you know that."

"You know, I've had a lot of people tell me that."

"Oh my god!" Syd rushed over to Sky as Kat wrapped up his bruised chest. "Are you okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine, Syd," He assured her as Kat finished up bandaging his ribs. "It's not a big deal." The last thing he needed today was Sydney going all motherly over him, hovering over him like he was made of glass and could break at any second.

"Kat…" Syd looked to her for reassurance, knowing that her boyfriend was one of the most stubborn men on this planet and would say he was okay if he had taken a bullet to the shoulder and was bleeding profusely.

"He's going to be just fine," Kat answered her. "Nothing a good night's sleep won't cure." She then went to tighten the bandage, wanting to make sure it was secure and wouldn't allow future damage. "Which means, Sky, no late night workouts tonight!"

"I can assure you that won't happen tonight," exclaimed Syd firmly, fully determined to make sure Sky did exactly what Kat told him to, even if she had to strap him down in bed.

"I am not a baby!" Sky exclaimed, getting up from his seat and grabbing his shirt and jacket. "I don't need someone to baby-sit me." Without another word Sky stormed out of the room.

"Guess he's having another bad day," sighed Sydney watching him go.

"He seems to be having a lot of them lately." Kat smiled faintly, knowing that this must be very difficult on Syd, maintaining a relationship with Sky with all the ups and downs and mood changes in his behavior. It would be a difficult task for anyone to deal with.

"Yeah…." answered Syd, who truly did want to be there for Sky, but at times he acted as though he would rather not have her around at all. Some days he would be fine and be the perfect boyfriend and then the next day, he was totally different. She sighed heavily; she wasn't sure what she was going to do.

"Are you okay, Sydney?" asked Kat, gripping her shoulder. "Things with you and Sky going okay?"

"Other than the fact that we're not the typical everyday couple?" A fact she was learning to be more true as more time passed by, they hadn't even been together a year and they'd already they've had a rollercoaster of a relationship. "….Things are great." But she didn't feel like things were great and from the way Kat looked at her, she knew Kat knew it too.

"I take it you had a good trip, Lt. Ryder?" announced Commander Cruger, as he greeted Chase in the docking garage. "Even with your little mishap." He glanced sharply over to Megan and Sam who were getting out of the back seat. Though he couldn't say much to Megan, he could say a handful of things to Sam, who was supposed to be staying at the academy and not on the road, but that would come later.

"Yes sir, it was a very good trip." It was better than he had hoped it would be. He has set out to find who his birth family was and that's just what he had found, though it had been staring him in the face the entire journey there.

"I take it you found what you were looking for?"

Chase nodded his head and glanced over at Megan, smiling back at her. "Yes sir."

"Good. I hope that this will help you through dealing with your personal issues."

Even though he had found his birth family, Chase still had one more thing that he needed to take care of and that was his personal issue from several months ago. He still couldn't shake off his nightmares from that day and though talking to Megan about it helped, it just wasn't enough. But he wasn't ready to bring that part of his life up, not even to his birth parents, not just yet.

Cruger sighed heavily, knowing that it would take time for Chase to totally open up to that part of his life, it has taken him many years to share that dreadful day when his planet had fallen and so many lives were lost. So he knew he had no right to push Chase into talking about it. "Well, if you have a minute there is something very important that I have to discuss with you." He glanced over at Sam and Megan. "Alone, if you would."

"Sure." Just by the way he had spoken it, Chase knew that this was very important, a life and death type situation. He turned to Megan. "Megan, why don't you help Sam back into the academy and I'll come and get you when we're done here."

"Okay."

A few minutes later Chase and Cruger were in the Command Base. Cruger had been very quiet from the walk from the docking garage to the Command Base. Truthfully there wasn't a whole lot he could say about the present situation, at least not until he had done his own investigation, and the fact was that he wanted to keep this just between them.

"Is everything okay, sir?" asked Chase, searching his Commander's face for answers.

The old dog sighed heavily; he wanted to say yes, that everything was okay and would stay that way, but even he wasn't sure. "I'm afraid we may have a problem on the rise."

"What sort of problem?"

"You have heard of Mirloc?"

"Yes." Chase nodded his head. Anyone throughout the galaxy, whether they had crossed paths with him or not, had heard of Mirloc at least once. He was one of the most crafty and devious criminals anyone could ever come up against. "He's the one that killed Sky's father."

Cruger nodded his head, putting his hands behind his back as he walked around the room. "Kat believes it may have been him that attacked you and the other Rangers at the warehouse."

Chase was stunned to say the least. "But I though Sky captured Mirloc months ago, sent him back to prison."

"That is what happened, yes." Sky had been the one to bring Mirloc in, feeling that it was his responsibility, since he felt responsible for Mirloc escaping as well as feeling it was his duty to bring in the one who murdered his father all those years ago. "I will be heading to Varanox 12 in a couple of days, to make sure nothing is amiss."

"Okay, but I don't understand how-"

"There's something else…." He turned to face Chase, knowing that this would come as a shock to him, as it had to anyone who would have heard it. "Kat has discovered that Mirloc and Omni are related."

Chase could feel his heart stop dead. Though he had never faced Omni before, he knew that Omni had been one of the most powerful beings that SPD had ever come up against. "Related…." If they are really related, then Mirloc is even more powerful then they had ever realized. "….Have you told Sky?"

"No. And I don't intend to," he exclaimed. "Not until I know more." He eyed Chase sharply. "And until further notice I expect this to stay between us, is that understood?" He knew he was asking a lot of Chase right now, keeping something from his teammates, but at the moment he felt like it was the right thing to do, at least until he knew more information.

"I understand your orders, sir. But-" He didn't like keeping something like this from Sky, things were bad as it was between him and Sky. And this would only make things worse, if Sky ever found out.

"No buts, Lt. Ryder, those are my orders." He wasn't going to back down, not from this. Given Sky's history with Mirloc, he was afraid that Sky might take things into his own hands and forget all he had learned from SPD. He couldn't have one of his best officers out on a rampage. "As a precaution I have given Sky his morpher back." He reached into his pocket and handed Chase his morpher. "I need you to stay alert, be ready for anything."

Chase took back his Morpher. Though he didn't agree with Crugers orders, he had to respect them. "Yes sir." He saluted. He was about to head out to go meet up with Megan and take her back to the apartment.

"Lt. Ryder, I understand that you will be accompanying Miss Myers this week to her home in Reefside."

"Yes, I will." He turned to face Cruger. "Turns out she's my sister."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that. Her father told Dr. Manx, who then told me. I am truly happy for you."

"Thank you, sir."

Cruger nodded his head. "Please see to it that Sky goes along with you two, it will give Eric an opportunity to speak with Sky." He paused a for a moment, eyeing Chase. "…And for you to keep an eye on him."

Chase didn't like the way that last statement sounded, it was grim and worrisome. He knew then that the reason why Cruger wanted to leave Sky out of the loop for the moment was because the young leader's life could be in danger. "….I'll do my best, sir." He knew that once he and Megan broke the news to Sky, things could go either way from there, not knowing how he would react to the news of them being brother and sister.

Once Chase left the command center, Kat walked in and glued her eyes right on Cruger and crossed her arms against her chest.

"Don't even start, Kat."

"Can you at least tell me why you insist on using him as your own personal punching bag?"

"I am preparing him for his future."

"His future?" Kat just shook her head. "If you keep pushing him the way you are, he won't have a future."

"And if his attitude keeps up the way it is, it will get him killed. I need Sky to be ready. I need to know that when I leave here SPD will be in good hands."

"So that's what all this training and him teaching that special class has been about?"

"Sky still has a lot to learn; he's still under the impression that he deserves the spot of commander more than anyone else. I need him to show me that he's earned it."

"I understand what you are doing, but we both know that Sky can only take so much. He may be strong on the outside, but on the inside he is hurting a lot more than you and I can understand."

"Believe me, I know, a lot more than you think I do…."

Chase and Megan entered the apartment to find Sky doing a series of push-ups and appearing a little sore each time he went down. Chase walked past him and headed towards his room to put his bags away. Megan went over to greet Sky.

"Hey Sky." She then noticed that he was wearing his morpher on his belt. "Commander Cruger gave you your morpher back?"

"I didn't steal it, if that's what you think."

"Never said you did."

A second later Chase emerged from his bedroom and back to the main room of the apartment. He gripped Megan's shoulder, figuring that it would be better if they just came out and told him, rather than wait it out until he was in a better mood, considering in two days they were planning on heading to Reefside to spend a few days there. "Sky…. We've got something we have to tell you."

"Okay." He jumped to his feet and brushed his hands off. "What is it?" He eyed the two.

"…..I'm adopted."

"So…." Sky wasn't seeing what that had to do with him or why it would even be important. "Your point is?"

He definitely wasn't going to make this easy, but then Sky never made anything easy on anyone. "Twenty-two years ago I was born on Earth. Not too long after that, my adoptive parents, the Ryder's, left with me for Terra Venture."

"Again, why would this be important to me?" He didn't have time to go down memory lane with Chase. He had more pressing things he needed to deal with than to hear all of this. Why would he care that Chase was adopted? What would it matter to him?

"Just tell him…." exclaimed Megan, knowing that Sky didn't care to hear every little detail.

Chase took a deep breath. "I went on my road trip to find out who my birth mother was." He licked his lips and stared into Sky's face. "I found out that my mother is Hayley…" He stopped searching Sky's face for a reaction.

Little emotion was shown on Sky's face; he put up that stone cold look. "….As in Megan's mom, Hayley?"

"Yeah." Chase nodded his head. Sky appeared to be taking it well, but he hadn't been expecting him to take it this well. Then again trying to read what Sky was thinking and feeling wasn't an easy task.

"That's great. I'm really happy for you guys…..Really. You two deserve each other..." Sky started towards the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go for a run…" Before anyone could say a word Sky was out the door. Chase and Megan shared a concerned glance. While Sky had acted happy at the news, they weren't so sure that was how he really felt about it.

Sky was out cruising on his bike, totally ignoring what Kat had told him about taking it easy for the rest of the night, but after everything that had happened there last few months and then getting the big blow about Megan and Chase, he just wanted to get away from everything and drive his bike as fast as he could go, just feeling the wind brush against his body and letting time pass him by, blocking everything else out. He wouldn't have to deal with anything, not his up and down relationship with Sye, not his issues with Cruger or anything else, nothing mattered. It was just him and the open road. But today was much different, he felt an overload of unresolved issues going through his mind that he has carried on his shoulders that he had never really dealt with.

Maybe Cruger was right, maybe he had let his pride and stubbornness get in the way of doing his job, but he had been like this for such a long time that he didn't know any other way to be. Then there was his relationship with Syd, which was a whole other thing going on between them. He liked being with her, but at times she just drove him so crazy that he just didn't want to deal with her. He knew sooner or later he was going to have to, especially after how he had brushed her off today after she had been showing concern for him. He didn't know why he let that bother him so much, but for so long he had been taking care of himself, that perhaps he had forgotten what it meant for someone to show concern for him.

And now the lingering fact that Chase and Megan were brother and sister, he wasn't sure why he was letting that bother him so much. It wasn't like he cared if they were related or not. ….But then why was it bugging him so much?

"Why so gloomy, Ranger….."

"What?" Sky could have sworn he heard a voice, a voice that nearly sent a shiver down his spine, a voice that he never wanted to hear again for as long as he lived. Maybe he was just hearing things; he ignored it and pretended that it never happened, keeping his eyes solely focused on the road. And that's when he noticed the ugly purple face in the left side mirror. "What the…."

"You are truly a pathetic worm, it's no wonder Cruger doesn't think you're worthy of being a commander…" he sneered. "It won't be long until he thinks you are no longer worthy of being the red Ranger."

"Shut up! Get out of my head. You aren't really there." Sky turned his head, but only saw a truck driving behind him and no sign of the purplish threat.

"Oh, but I am…." The yellow eyes shined brightly as they flashed against Sky's helmet visor, blinding him. "And just like your father, you will fail…."

Blinded by the bright light, Sky swerved his bike all over the road, but not before hitting the railing. Sky flew off his bike and hit the ground hard as he rolled down the hill. His body only stopped rolling when he hit a fence head first; luckily he was still wearing his helmet. He took a few deep breaths and felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, his arm was hanging loosely. "Shit!" He yanked his helmet off with his right arm and tossed it to the ground, that's when he noticed his bike to his right side, all busted up from the fall.

On the top of the hill, he could see a few cars had stopped and people were looking down at him. He could just barely hear them call out to him, that help was on the way. Not exactly how he was planning to finish off the night, crashing his bike and then being rushed to the hospital. If he could help it that would be the very last place he would end up tonight. He turned towards his left shoulder and attempted to put it back in place. He screamed out loudly from the intense and sharp pain, as he popped his shoulder back in place.

A moment later he saw two paramedics rushing over to him, as he pushed himself up, leaning against a tree and holding his left arm tightly. "Are you all right, sir?" one of them asked, as he attempted to check Sky over.

"I'm fine!" Sky shoved him away. "It was just a little fall. I've had worse."

"You should at least let us take you to get the hospital, to have you checked out by a doctor."

"Thanks. No thanks." Sky then limped over to his bike to see if he could at least salvage what was left of it.

"Sir, you really should come with us, a report is going to be filed with the police and if we don't-"

"If you're worrying about the police report, don't." Sky turned to them. "I'm Lt. Tate of SPD, so I'll take care of writing the report and anything else you need in writing, so you don't get into any trouble." Sky just glared at them hard. What else did he have to say to get them to leave him alone? His physical training had prepared him to withstand falls such as these, he could handle it. "Got it?"

"Just sign here saying you refused treatment."

"Gladly..."

"….What the hell happened to you?" exclaimed Z. Just seconds ago she had heard a knock at the door, went to answer it, and found Sky half leaning against the wall and clutching his left shoulder. He looked like crape.

"Are you going to just stand there or you going to let me in?"

Z stepped to the side so he could step inside; she watched as he limped towards the couch. "Do you need some…." All it took was one hard look from Sky. She put on a sarcastic smile. "Right, I forgot. I'm Sky, big and strong. I don't need help…" she mocked.

"Will you just stop it." He leaned against the couch, resting his head back, and he ran his hand over it. "I have a major headache and don't need to hear you yellimg at me."

Z went over to one of the kitchen cabinets and grabbed a container of aspirin along with a glass of water. She sat down next to Sky to hand him the glass of water and pills. "Mind telling me why you look like you ran into a wall?" Sky ignored her question and started to reach for the container of pills, but only to have them be pulled out of his reach. Z batted her eyes, letting him know she wasn't going to be nice until he told her what had happened. "I could do this all night if I have to."

Sky grumbled under his breath. He had known this would happen, but he'd rather run into Z than go back to his apartment and have to explain things to Chase and Megan, who probably would be far worse. Megan would immediately call her father about his little accident and he would never hear the end of it. "Fine! I got into a little accident with my bike." He snatched the container out of her hand and popped a few pills into his mouth and washed them down with some water.

"An accident?" She just looked at him, shaking her head. "Do I even want to ask how you got over here?"

"I got a ride with the towing company…."

"Towing company? Shouldn't you have gone to the hospital?"

"The paramedics let me go, I'm fine."

"Yeah. I bet." She reached over to tap on his left shoulder. "And I bet it doesn't hurt if I do this."

Sky's eyes just lit up as his face clenched and he stared her in the eyes. "….Don't do that…" He gritted his teeth.

That's when she noticed a small cut behind his ear, which probably had gotten cut by the helmet. "You're bleeding," she exclaimed as she stood up to go grab a cloth and some peroxide to clean it up. A few seconds later she was back and pressed the cloth to his cut. "Hold this to your ear…" she told him, as she then went about cleaning up the other scrapes and scratches he had received. "You know you're unbelievable, you know that right."

"Look, I didn't come here to get your criticism."

Too bad…. That's when Z realized why he had come to see her: he knew that Syd would still be on duty for another hour and that she just so happened to know a thing or two about cleaning up wounds. "Oh I see, you thought you'd come here so I would show you a few tricks of the trade I learned about cleaning up cuts from being the streets."

"….They weren't that bad. There was no point in me going to the hospital and spending a bunch of money on pointless tests."

"It's not like you can't afford it."

"Look, could you just finish up, I prefer to be all cleaned up before Syd gets home. Otherwise she'll be pissed…"

"Damn right she will be." In her anger she pressed a little hard on one of the scrapes on his knee and could feel as his body tensed up. "…Sorry." She smiled faintly as she gently cleaned it up.

"…It's okay." He paused for a moment. "….Thanks."

"You're welcome…." She was a little taken back by his gratitude, maybe there was a soft soul under all that stubborn arrmor. After she was finished cleaning him up and putting away the cloths, she sat back down next to him on the couch. There was one thing she was curious about, about the accident. "…Sky, don't get mad." She watched as he turned to meet her. "But I've seen you drive a hundred times on your bike, you've never lost control." She bit her lip. "….Did something else happen?"

"…..No. Something probably was just wrong with the bike."

Though it was a reasonable explanation, Z wasn't so sure it was the right one. His eyes told a different story, something else had happened out there when he was driving, something worse, but she knew he wasn't about to let her in on what really had happened. A moment later the apartment door opened.

"Hey Z, I'm home." Syd set her keys and coat on the counter and turned around and found Z and Sky sitting on the couch. "Oh hi…" she said when her eyes met with Sky's. She hadn't been expecting him to be here.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone and go order some dinner." Z got up from the couch and Syd sat down next so Sky.

"Hey. I didn't know you were here, your bike wasn't out in the parking lot."

"It's in the shop getting some things done to it. I took a cab," he answered.

"Oh." She smiled as she looked into his eyes. "Look, I want to apologize about earlier. I know you can handle yourself and that I shouldn't always worry about you the way I do."

"It's okay." He wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer to him. "I'm sorry too." He kissed her lightly on the forehead. "I shouldn't have overreacted the way I did."

Syd ran her hand down his arm, then placed her hand on his knee and that's when she noticed that his pants had been torn. "What happened here?"

"That?" Sky watched as Z walked by, phone in hand, as she ordered pizza for the three of them. "I just tripped coming up the stairs to your floor, guess I should be more careful next time."

"Guess so." Syd smiled, as she caressed his face. "That will teach you for running up the stairs in a hurry."

Z just shook her head, as she turned away from the two. "…Yeah, two pepperoni and sausage pizzas."