Disclaimer: Still don't own it…
Grumm has started his decent on the Rangers' demise… can they beat him? What is this new weapon Kat and Trip developed? All will be revealed! This is it, the final battle. Will it be enough to put Grumm in his place? Or have we seen the end of the SPD and Time Force Rangers?
Unable to Stay, Unwilling to Leave, part 1
"My Lord, Doomtron is ready and awaiting your orders." Excavious said and bowed humbly as a sly smile crept across his face.
A red glow illuminated his eyes as Grumm looked down on planet Earth from the bridge. "Excellent. Now is the time to strike SPD, and destroy the Rangers once and for all." He turned away from his view of the planet and looked towards Broodwing's direction. "Broodwing, ready the Krybots. Now, we attack!"
"Yes, my Lord. It will be done." Broodwing said and disappeared from the room.
"Excavious, ready Doomtron! Attack on my signal." Grumm said and turned back to planet Earth. "Today, Cruger, you will fall."
A small smile crept across his face as he held her close to him, his lips danced slowly over hers. She laughed as his hands ran over her ticklish spots and she squirmed against him and the wall. Her hands went around his shoulders as she felt his muscles beneath his shirt.
"You know, if the others caught us, they'd find this very funny," she said lightly.
"Or embarrassing on my part." He kissed her again. This was the only golden opportunity they had alone. The others were off at lunch and they decided to stay behind and get some quality time.
"Oh please, Sky," Syd rolled her eyes. "That's all you ever care about."
He grinned. "At the moment, all I care about is this," he whispered and kissed her deeply again. Sky moved his lips down to her neck as he kissed her lower neck, sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. Syd ran her fingers through his thick hair and kissed his cheek.
"Sky, what's wrong? I know when something's wrong." She asked.
He lifted his head from her shoulder and bit his lip. "It's Grumm. I mean, he's always been out of our reach. But for days now, he's been quiet. What I'm worried about is if he attacks, full force. I mean, I-" he hesitated. "I could loose you, Syd. I mean I don't know what I would do without you."
'Leave it to him to think of this like this,' she thought as she shook her head. "Hey, Mr. Optimistic, we'll be fine. We're Power Rangers, remember? Together, we can do anything."
Sky smiled. "I know. C'mon. We better be heading back. The others might get some thoughts into their heads, you know?"
Syd laughed as she took her hand in his. "That's all we need."
With a hop in their step, the Blue and Pink Rangers headed back to Command, with nothing but happy thoughts in their minds.
The wind blew quietly through the old tower. Spider webs flowed freely through the rafters as her eyes scanned the city tops, trying to find a fault, but none came to her findings.
Voiced echoed through her mind as she glanced at the old dusty couch and the coffee table, and memories of all those years ago began to replay.
"Hey! Look at this antique camera I found!" Trip exclaimed excitedly as he held a Polaroid camera in his hand.
Wes laughed as he walked over to the Green Ranger. "Trip, that is not an antique," he chuckled. "Here, watch."
Katie grabbed the camera out of Wes's hand and smiled. "Oh! Take a picture of me!"
Laughter echoed through the room as Wes nonchalantly walked over to where Jen sat the computer and kissed her cheek ever so lightly, and earned a smile from the Pink Ranger.
The sun began to set slowly over the horizon as she sat there, admiring the city. Ever since the mission back here, she had always found a fond liking for the city of Silver Hills, a place that always held a spot in her heart. She grew up in this city, and found herself in it. She fell in love here.
Jen's lip curled into a small grin as she glanced around the stone window she sat in, as another fond memory flooded her mind.
"I know I'm not Alex," his voice came from behind her. She turned her head to see Wes smiling at her. He reached his hand out to hers and give her a lift back inside.
"But I don't want you to be like him," she said slowly and hopped down to meet him face-to-face. "In fact," she said and bit her lip, finally admitting it. "I-I like you just the way you are."
His eyes lit up. "You do?" he asked amazed. Jen nodded.
"Yea, I do." He shouted happily and pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her. Jen relaxed into his arms and closed her eyes, finally feeling safer than she felt in weeks.
"I figured I'd find you here," said his voice. The Pink Ranger turned her head to see Wes standing by the stairs. "Never fails." He smiled.
Jen shrugged and turned her eyes back towards the city and sighed heavily, which set off an alarm in Wes's head. Something was on her mind. "Jen, what's wrong?" He asked and walked over to where she sat.
"My mission's almost over, Wes," she spoke softly. "We both know what that means. I'll have to return to the future, again." Jen turned to him and threw her legs back over the side. "The first time leaving, I could deal with. Hell, I didn't even expect to be coming back here, until those damn Mutorgs escaped. The second time, I knew how to approach it." She paused. "The third time I left here, I thought I had lost you, Wes." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "But you're here," she touched his face gently. "I don't know if I could leave you again. I don't think I can do it again, Wes. I don't want to."
"I know. I felt the same way. We'll find a way, I promise." Wes said. But Jen shook her head.
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Wes. We both know that can't happen." Jen said. He looked down to the ground with no response. "It's not fair. When people fall in love, they expect to have kids and grow old together."
"I guess time is the one thing we can't control." He said. "Don't worry, we'll think of something." Wes held her close as she rested her head on her shoulder.
The sun began to set over Silver Hills as the two Time Force Rangers stood in the Clocktower overlooking the city and talking quietly.
From down below, a gray figure stood on the stairs. His mind flooded with curiosity as he listened to their conversation. He bit his tongue lightly as he too tried to think of a solution to their situation, but none came to mind.
He would hate to see Jen go through this again. The pain for her would be all too much this time, and he knew she would never be able to go through with it again, no matter how strong-willed she was. There must have been a solution, and he was determined to find it.
Night settled quickly over Newtech City as the light cloud cover began to slowly dissipate. Moonlight flooded the halls of Space Patrol Delta Headquarters, illuminating the many portraits of past Commanders that lay silently on the wall.
The Rec Room was too filled with moonlight. Two figures lay curled together on the couch, a few wedding magazines rested on the floor and the table besides them. Sky and Syd had been up the past few hours looking over things they wanted for their wedding day. Brides' maids' gowns, table setting, flower arrangements, the whole routine. But they had grown tired of looking through magazines and slowly fell asleep in each other's arms.
Down the hall, Z, Bridge and Jack also slept soundly. Z's headphones had quickly put her to sleep while Bridge and Jack fell asleep as normal, and snores filled the room.
Across from them, Lucas and Trip were also soundly asleep, as well as Katie in the adjoining room. More light filled their rooms as they tossed around in the sheets, and pleasant dreams filled their minds. Eric, too, was sleeping in the living room. The couch was his favorite place to sleep nowadays.
Without warning, the entire building shook, sending the Rangers flying out of their beds and their rooms painted in a dark red light.
"What the hell's going on?" shouted Eric as the stood up and was thrown against Trip and Lucas who had come scrambling out of their room as the building rocked. Katie tripped against the lamp cord and landed on the three men.
The building gave another shrieking lurch and sent the four Rangers flying against the door. By this time, sirens and alarms were blaring in the hallways. As soon as the floor stopped shaking they all walked out into the hall, all still in their pajamas. Bridge and Jack immerged as well as Z. Bridge had a small gash on his forehead as a result from the corner of his desk.
"What shook the building?" Jack shouted over the alarms.
Sky and Syd were seen running down the hall in their pajamas as well. "Any idea as to what's going-" the Blue Ranger was silenced as the building rocked again, sending all nine rangers flying into one another.
"Attention all personnel! This is an emergency! All personnel report to Emergency Stations at once! Power Rangers report to Command!" came Kat's voice over the PA system.
"Let's get moving, then," Jack said as the Rangers followed him down to command. But this task proved harder than expected. The elevators were locked, and that forced the Rangers to use the stairs. Hearts pounding, they began the five-floor decent to Command.
"Be careful, guys. These things could go at any second," Katie warned.
"That's very comforting, Katie. Thanks." Said Sky as he grinned. Without warning, the building shook again, more violently than before, sending Jack and Trip tumbling down 2 flights of stairs and onto the platform below.
"Jack! Trip! You two okay?" hollered Z. Before they could get an answer, the stairs beneath their feet shuttered and Katie, Lucas, Eric, Sky, Syd and Z watched in horror as the top of the stairs connecting the upper platform broke out from underneath them.
"No!" Trip and Jack screamed and stood up as fear pulsated through them.
Without thinking, Katie jumped onto the upper platform and grabbed the falling stairs and felt the full weight bearing down on her shoulders. "Go, get down there!" she commanded, but watched in fear as the stood there, staring at her. "What the hell are you waiting for, get moving!"
"Go, go!" Lucas said and carefully stepped down the stairs. "Hold on, Katie!" he said as they continued down the stairs and onto the floor they needed. Once all eight of them were there, Katie let go and the stairs fell quickly, taking out the flights below them. Fatigued, Katie cautiously jumped from the platform down to the staircase above the Rangers' heads.
"Fist of iron!" Syd called and grabbed the stairs above them, and pulled them wide enough apart for Katie to crawl through.
Breathing heavily, Katie slowly slid down against the wall and swallowed hard. "Is everyone okay?" she panted.
Trip bent down and hugged his friend. "You did good, Katie. You saved them."
Lucas smiled. "It's not the first time, either." Katie grinned at the Blue Ranger and stood up slowly.
"Thanks, Syd, for," Katie motioned to the opening in the stairs, "You know." The Pink Ranger nodded in response.
"Come on, guys. Lets get going." Jack suggested. "Before this entire place goes."
With a look back at the destruction in the stairs the Rangers' left the platform and headed down the hall to Command with the blaring sirens and lights behind them.
"Command to Officer Steelix, come in Steelix,"
Steelix had been sitting in the stairwell of the Clock tower for a few hours now just thinking and pondering about the conversation he heard only hours ago. He didn't even hear the call over his radio.
"Command to Officer Steelix, come in Steelix," said a persistent voice. "Damn it, Steelix! Come in!"
Instantly he snapped out of his trance and grabbed his radio. "Steelix here, go ahead Commander."
"Steelix, it's happening."
Confused, he responded, "What? What's happening?"
He heard Cruger sigh. "Doomtron and Grumm, they're attacking the city. They already hit Headquarters hard. We need Jen, Wes and you back here pronto to fight. He's a lot stronger than we anticipated."
Steelix cursed lowly. "We're on our way." He sighed and made his way upstairs to see Jen and Wes talking lowly by the window. He drew in a deep breath and spoke. "Excuse me, Captain," he watched Jen turn to him. "I hate to interrupt you, but it's happening. Doontron and Grumm have started the attack. Cruger just contacted me, and he said Headquarters has been hit, and hit hard."
Jen stiffened. "Then lets get moving." She looked towards Wes who nodded in agreement. With a hop in their step, the three Time Force officers ran down the stairs and outside to the SUV, jumped in and sped towards the city of Newtech.
"Rangers," Cruger said and walked in front of them. "Grumm has started his attack on the city. Already we have reports of civilian casualties. Doomtron and Excavious are stronger than we thought. This is it, Rangers. I want you to give two-hundred percent on this one, and bring him down now."
"Yes, Sir!" the SPD Rangers grabbed for their morphers. "SPD, Emergency!"
Lucas, Katie and Trip raised their wrists as well. "Time for Time Force!"
Eric, too, morphed. "Quantum Power!"
"Be careful, Rangers," Kat said after them. "And good luck."
Explosions rocked around them and sent the Rangers flying in all directions. Fifty feet above them, Excavious laughed evily. "Come now, Rangers. I would have thought you would be able to put up more of a fight than that!"
Already sore and bloody, the Rangers stood up slowly. "You want a fight," Lucas grunted. "We'll show you a fight." He clenched his fist tight. "V3!" He jumped in the air alongside Katie and Trip. "Fire!"
Lasers of blue, yellow and green fired upon Doomtron, but had no effect. "Oh, that tickled." Excavious said. "Now it's my turn! Rockets online!"
"Run!" Sky called as his eyes widened in fear. But running would not get them far enough away. The ground rocked beneath them as the rockets hit and again they went flying. Krybots surrounded them and grabbed at them.
An eruption of sparks surrounded the Krybots as they fell back and fell to pieces. "Sorry we're late," Wes said, helping Eric to his feet.
"We got caught up in traffic," Jen assisted Syd up, but immediately the Pink Ranger grabbed her stomach which sent a red flag up in Jen's head. "Whoa, Syd, you okay?" she asked.
Syd swallowed hard and nodded. "Yea, I," she paused. "Just pulled a muscle." Jen eyed her then shook it off.
Excavious laughed even harder as a yellow light began to surround Doomtron. "This is it, Rangers! The beginning of your end! Weapons to full power!"
Fear lit up in each Rangers' eyes as Excavious powered up Doomtron's primary weapons. The world seemed to be moving in slow motion as they began a run for their lives.
Excavious laughed as he fired the weapon into the ground. Seconds later it exploded sending concrete, cars and pieces of buildings hurdling through the air like arrows.
Sky watched in horror as his fellow Rangers were struck with the flying debris and were knocked unconscious. Were they alive? He did not know. The last thing he saw was a car zooming in front of him, and after that… darkness.
"I think we should tell him, Doctor. He has the right to know."
The voice seemed strange to him. In fact, everything seemed strange to him. Slowly, Sky opened his eyes to see a blinding white light and hear a feint beep next to where he lay.
"Alright. Once he is up, I will tell him."
Sky grunted. "Tell me what?" He looked up to where two doctors were talking at the foot of his bed. "Where am I?" he held his head to feel a bandage wrapped around it.
"Ah, glad to have you back with us, Mr. Tate. I am Doctor Marcus. You have been out for quite some time now. In fact, all of you have been." Said Dr. Marcus.
"Where is everyone else?" he asked and closed his eyes again.
"Outside in the recovering lounge. When you are ready, you can go out and see your parents." The Doctor told him. Sky nodded in thanks and slowly sat up. Instantly he felt his chest burst in pain. He looked down to see a few wrappings of tape. A few broken ribs, maybe. That must have been it.
Outside in the room, he saw his team as well as the Time Force Rangers. Everyone had bandages and other sorts of dressings all around them. Jack's arm was in a cast, and Z had a brace around her right ankle and knee. "That must have been a massive attack." He stated.
"It was." Trip said solemnly. His left eye was swollen as well as his cheek. Sky guessed no one wanted to talk about it. That was perfectly fine with him. Slowly, everyone began to sit down again. Grunts and curses of pain were slightly audible as they all relaxed again and whispered to each other.
Sky sat down by the window. According to the doctor, it had been twenty-four hours since the last attack. Had he really been hit that hard to be out for all that time? It was dark out again, probably around two in the morning, Sky guessed. He looked around the room to see that everyone had fallen asleep again. Good, considering that Doomtron and Excavious could attack at any second. They would need their rest.
But something else was troubling him. Where was Syd?
"Mr. Tate," whispered a voice. He turned his head to see Doctor Marcus making his way over towards him. "If you could please follow me, I have something I must tell you."
Confused, Sky slowly stood up and winced at his chest. He followed the Doctor down the all in front of Syd's room. Inside, he saw her still asleep, or unconscious, he didn't know. He suddenly felt a pain in his heart that outweighed the pain in his chest. "Will she be okay, Doctor?" he muttered and felt a tear come to his eye.
The Doctor sighed. "There's more to it, Sky. There's…" the Doctor paused. "There's something you must know, about Syd. We've made a discovery and we thought you should be the first to know."
Sky watched in on an unconscious Syd as the Doctor told him of their findings, and was something Sky had not seen coming. His heart became even heavier and tears filled his eyes as the Doctor nodded. "I'll leave you then. I think you may need some time alone."
Sky closed his eyes and walked back over towards the window, where a small fog had began to form. He pressed his warm forehead against the glass and sobbed.
"Sky?"
The Blue Ranger turned around to see Jen standing behind him, a concerned look on her face. "Sky, honey," she walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders. "What did the Doctor tell you about Syd, Sky?" she asked.
Instantly he began to cry again and hugged his mother gingerly. Jen too, had tears in her eyes. "Oh no, Sky, I'm so sorry. The Doctors, they've done all they-"
Sky chuckled lightly. "It's not that, Mom. Syd's…" he sniffed. "Syd's pregnant…"