Syd tore out of SPD like a tornado. She teleported into the forest near the cliffs so she could come up with a plan to rescue her sister. 'I hope she's alright.' She thought worried. Then angry as she realized her sister had been alive the last four years and she
had never known.
"Hurry now, here she comes." The villaness hissed as the pink ranger came into view. Broodwing stood poised behind Taylor as he waited to put his plan into action.
"TAYLOR!" Syd shouted as she searched frantically for her missing sister. "Syd!" Taylor shouted back hysterically. "Hold on." Syd declared desperately as she came into the clearing and fearing the worst. 'I can't believe she's alive.' Syd thought in total amazement.
"I thought you were dead." Syd uttered quietly as she saw her twin for the first time in four years.
"You thought wrong." Broodwing taunted his enemy.
"Let her go!" Sydney cried fiercely as she stared down the rangers arch nemesis.
"Gladly." Broodwing agreed easily. "It's you I want Sydney." He announced with a smirk as he pushed Taylor away. Syd ran to her twin's side to protect her as she reached for her morpher.
"You won't be needing that." Sneered her twin grabbing the pink communicator out of Sydney's grasp even as she kicked her sister away. Syd grabbed her stomach, grimacing as she felt the shooting pain in her ribs.
"She's on my side now." Broodwing announced coldly.
The pink ranger looked up with tears in her eyes. "You set me up." Syd whispered in disbelief through her agony. The disbelief only increased as she saw the bitterness that was in the cornflower blue eyes staring back at her. "Why?" She managed to choke out as the damage to her ribs made it harder to breathe as she pulled herself up onto her knees to stare down the sister she had once loved and lost.
"You want the long version or the short one?" Taylor asked rhetorically as she paced the ground in front of Sydney. "For the sake of my evil plan, we'll go with the short version." She decided arrogantly. "You owe me Syd. You should have died in that accident not me." She shouted shocking the pink ranger.
"It was an accident Taylor." Syd pleaded with her sister, trying to get through to the part of her that must still be good, even as she struggled against Broodwing.
"Nonetheless, you will pay for the hell I've gone through. And when I'm done with you, you'll wish you had died in that accident." Taylor continued her ranting, her eyes flashing with an anger that scared Sydney.
"What evil plan?" Syd said trying to stall her sister from whatever trouble she was going to get herself into.
"Oh, you know the one where I destroy SPD and then I destroy you." Taylor remarked with a cold non-chalance that made Syd's blood run cold.
"You're not my sister." Spat the younger twin. "Taylor wouldn't hurt anyone, she's…" Syd was cut off by the emotional response of staring at the person who resembled her and her twin but was nowhere close to being the person she had once shared her life with.
" She was the kindest person I knew." Syd amended with tears in her eyes.
It was true as even after her death Taylor Drew had been voted 'Most likely to succeed' and 'Most Friendly" according to the yearbook. Syd hadn't been without honors as well as she was voted 'Most school spirit' and 'Best Dressed'. Not that she had cared at that point. She would gladly give up everything just to have her sister back.
"It's time princess." Broodwing interrupted to remind her with an evil smirk.
Taylor nodded as she slowly approached the struggling pink ranger. "Goodbye Syd." She whispered with an eerie quietness as she closed her eyes to channel her energy sending it out of her hands and surging through a helpless Syd.
Dark pink waves of energy buzzed through the air as they came into contact with the pink ranger's body. The intensity of it was so that it took her breath away as she felt her feet leave the ground and in slow motion found herself flying backwards.
"AHHHH!" Syd's screams echoed through the cave as she flew into the cave and landed unconscious on a pile of rocks. Broodwing and Taylor waited for the inevitable silence of a successful plan.
"Now to destroy SPD." Taylor said easily and without remorse much to her master's delight as she set off for New Tech City leaving Broodwing behind to keep guard over her sister.
The evil villain tied the unconscious ranger up using some old chains and left her in the back of the cave guarded by Krybots. "If she moves, you shoot her." He commanded as he left to keep watch over Taylor's progress from Grumm's fortress.
Meanwhile back at SPD headquarters, the rest of the ranger team as well as Dr. Manx and Commander Cruger were meeting to discuss new training techniques, unaware of the turmoil that was swirling about them.
"Where's Cadet Drew?" wondered Commander Cruger curiously. The other rangers were just as puzzled until Dr. Manx enlightened them. "Tom at the front desk said she logged out at O 2 hundred hours."
"2 am?" Sky said in disbelief. No one liked their sleep more than their pink ranger. He was flooded with guilt as he wondered if she had left because of his cruel words.
"Why would Syd need to leave at that hour?" Z said aloud, wondering how she could have missed the fact that she hadn't been in bed that morning when she left for her shift.
"Where would she go?" Jack added, struggling with the fact that Syd had just gotten up and left without a word to anyone.
"She'll be back soon." Bridge declared hopefully, not knowing that Syd was in serious danger or the wicked plan Broodwing was about to unleash on SPD.
In Syd's condition, she was not likely to return to SPD anytime soon. Besides the severe burns on her chest, abdomen, and arms; bruises covered her body and more than one bone was probably broken. In addition she was still unconscious from being blasted from her sister's energy beam.
Her shattered body still lay unmoving on the rocks where she had landed hours earlier, her blonde curls tinged slightly pink from the blood that had occurred from her collision with the ground, yet a troop of Krybots guarded the pink ranger's prison ready for when or if she woke up.
Copying Syd's look with a quick flick of her wrist and the magic Broodwing had given her, Taylor waited for the right moment to enter into the SPD academy. Once she entered, there would be no going back, no second chances at the destruction and revenge she desperately craved.
Since she had woken up in Grumm's fortress four years ago, she had been filled with anger and bitterness toward her sister. The first few months were filled with physical therapy to repair her lethal injuries. She had watched countless hours of video from the surveillance tape that Grumm had provided, not knowing how badly Syd had been hurt in the accident herself, only seeing her twin as the one who got to walk away. Broodwing and Grumm played on Taylor's insecurities as the lesser twin to get her to play the main character in their scheme against SPD. After that Broodwing had spent hours a day training Taylor for this moment of revenge. Fours year of work went into the next 36 hours.
Bridge was starting to lose his optimism about Syd, worry etching into his thoughts, when a weary pink ranger stumbled into the dining hall. "Syd." He shouted gladly, getting the other's attention at her return.
"Where have you been?" He demanded sternly yet losing none of his cheerfulness as he embraced the missing ranger.
"I just needed some time to think." She muttered into his chest as she tried to pull herself away from his enthusiasistic embrace. 'Green ranger, must be Bridge.' Taylor reminded herself as she forced herself into Sydney mode and offering a small smile to her teammates.
"Is everything ok?" Z Delgado asked with concern. 'Soon it will be once revenge is served.' Taylor thought even as she nodded at Z's question. "I'm going to rest." She informed them as she left as quickly as she had come.
Z cast a confused look at her male teammates as soon as Syd had departed. "I hope she's ok." She admitted slowly, not sure what to make of Syd's behavior.
"She's just tired." Bridge defended his oldest friend on the team. "She'll be back to cheery, bubbly Syd in no time." He decided confidently.
"Yeah…" Z agreed slowly, still thinking something was off, she just didn't know what. She had to take Bridge's word for it that Syd would be fine. Besides, none of the guys seemed too concerned, so she assumed she was just over reacting.
As the remaining four rangers relaxed in the common room, Taylor used her free time to get acquainted with the layout of the Academy. She had seen the floor plans but it was different when you were actually walking it. She had to be able to convince everyone that she was Sydney long enough for her plan to work. In less than 36 hours, SPD would cease to exist.
She was hoping to play off her exhaustion to avoid any conversations with the other rangers. As she walked past the workout room, she didn't see the person who just happened to be exiting at the same time.
"Huh." Syd moaned as she fell back after running into a hard chest. A strong arm reached out to steady her before she hit the ground. "Sorry Syd." The blue ranger apologized startling the pink ranger as she gazed up at the unexpected presence in the otherwise quiet halls.
"No problem." Sydney shrugged off the apology as she composed herself and pulled away from Sky, not noticing the hurt flash across his face at her quick dismissal of him.
Sky wasn't sure how to approach the usually friendly and open pink ranger. "Umm…" he started with a quiet mumble, afraid he had hurt her more than he had thought possible. "About the other night, I'm sorry for what I said. I was still upset with Dru and I took out my anger on you." He pleaded with her to forgive him. It was a rare occasion when Syd was angry, and he had never seen her angry with him. It was a disconcerting feeling to have the one person you actually could care for and are close to want nothing to do with you.
"I'm over it Sky." Taylor lied, hoping for a chance to escape. She didn't want to get involved in Syd's melodramatic life. 'Some things never change.' She thought bitterly. "And you should get over it too." She chided him a bit abruptly as she turned to leave the stunned blue ranger behind.
'Maybe Z was right, Syd is acting a bit strange…" Sky thought in bewilderment as he watched her walk away.
"God, why does everyone have to talk to me?" Taylor wondered irritably. Granted she had been the more introverted of the twins, but she had really had no idea how extroverted Sydney truly was. She headed to the bedroom hoping to find some solitude as she gathered her thoughts for the busy day ahead.
As one twin went to bed comfortable and easily, the other twin was coming out of a long, painful sleep.
One blue eye fluttered open and panic rose up within the pink ranger as she tried to recognize her surroundings. Her brain was foggy as she tried to force herself to acclimate herself to the strange situation. Sydney was aware enough to know that the situation was a dangerous one, as she felt her arms restricted from movement. Cold, hard metal weighed down her weary arms. 'So sore.' She whispered as her body protested every move she made. Both eyes open now she recognized the figures in the distance, despite the darkness. A chill went through her as she realized what was going on.
She was alone. Defenseless. Left for dead. And by her own sister nonetheless. Despite reasons for the contrary, Sydney was not about to give up. She remembered the vile plan Taylor and Broodwing were about to unleash on SPD and knew she must get her wits together and try to stop them, even though the odds were slim of her escaping past the Krybots in her condition to save SPD. But for her teammates and the citizens of Space Patrol Delta, she would try. Or die trying.