A Different Path

Chapter 4: Body Swap, Part 2

They were losing. Not just a little bit, but spectacularly. Jack thought it was almost worth being thrown around to watch Sky lose his first battle as team leader.

Almost.

After all, the pavement didn't feel any softer just because it was a hologram.

He heard a thump nearby and turned his head to watch as Sky hit the ground and demorph. Pinning Sky from behind, the monster snatched the red morpher – his morpher! – and gave a sharp, high pitched laugh before dashing away.

"Hey," Jack shouted. He stumbled to his feet. "Give that back!"

"I don't think he's going to listen to you," Sky said. Jack rolled his eyes and the team set off in pursuit, but the monster was too fast and soon they were lagging behind.

"This is your fault," Jack said. "Just because you couldn't handle the red morpher—"

"Get over yourself," Sky snapped back, stopping in his tracks. "You're nothing special, just some criminal Cruger picked up off the streets."

"Tough talk from someone who just transferred from D-squad. You're only a ranger because everyone better than you died in battle!" The two rangers glared at each other, locked in a battle of wills.

"Look, we really don't have time for this," Z said. She pointed at the monster, who by now was only a tiny figure in the distance. "While you two fight over who's in charge, he's getting away!"

At some point, they had lost sight of the monster.

'If I were still red ranger,' Jack thought as he ran, 'I would leave Sky behind.' The blue ranger was unlikeable, egotistical, self-centered and he couldn't even morph, which was slowing them down. And Sky had his body, which he wanted back in the same condition that he had left it –

Jack nearly collided with Sky as the other cadet came to a sudden stop. Jack looked up and noticed that they were at an intersection, and the road they had been on came to a sudden end in a few hundred feet. They had to turn – but which way?

"I think we should split up," Jack said, taking a step to the left.

"No," Sky said. "We don't know anything about this alien's capabilities. We should stay together."

"You know," Jack retorted, "sometimes real Rangers have to take risks. Do what you want, but I'm going this way to get my morpher."

"Fine," Sky said. "I would order you to follow me, but you don't listen to anyone but yourself!"

"Maybe," Jack said, already leaving down the other road. He waited to see if Z would follow him but she shook her head and looked away. "That still doesn't explain why I'm Red Ranger, not you."

Sky scowled darkly and continued down his chosen path, the two girls trailing a short distance behind. Syd and Z looked at each other and shrugged. What was it with those two? They usually fought, but it was never as bad as this!

'I hope they find a way to switch us back soon,' Syd thought and sighed. 'I don't know how much more of this I can take.'

There were few things Jack hated more than being wrong.

Yes, he occasionally made mistakes. In even rarer moments, he actually admitted it. This was shaping up to be one of those times.

He had already run for quite a while, and so far there was no sign of the monster. Was he really that far behind? He should have caught up by now. Jack paused for a moment, and considered his next move.

'Why does this always happen?' Jack though. Sky just had to be right – and the blue ranger would definitely rub it in. Jack kicked a stray stone and it skipped across the ground before falling down the grate of a storm drain. How did Cruger expect them to work together when they couldn't have a conversation without shouting at each other?

'I can't wait here,' Jack realized. 'If they're fighting that monster, they probably need my help.'

Jack heard the battle before he saw it. The sound of laser fire echoed off the glass facades of the buildings. He arrived just in time to watch Sky tackle the monster and made a grab for the morpher, only to be kicked aside by a clawed foot.

"Looks like you needed some help," Jack said. Rushing towards the monster with the stolen morpher, he drew his striker and attacked.

Sky backed away and watched the battle, searching for any opportunity to grab the morpher. Jack was stronger and more powerful, but the monster was faster and easily blocked most of his blows. And then the alien began to take the offensive, forcing Jack to retreat between two cars.

'I guess that's my cue.' Sky thought, and jumped into the fray. He attacked from behind, forcing the monster to fight on two fronts.

"I have it," Jack said. "I don't need your help."

"What's your problem?" Sky hissed. He was so angry that he lost concentration for an instant, long enough for the alien to strike and send him reeling off-balance.

Later, Jack wouldn't exactly know what made him take such a huge risk. Drawing his blaster, he fired – the alien, however, was faster. Leaping high into the air, the beam flew beneath it the very instant Sky got to his feet.

Sky cried out and tried to duck, but it was too late. The blast hit him straight on and the simulation melted away, leaving them standing in the training room.

"Look," Jack said. "I'm sorry –"

"Don't bother," Sky interrupted icily. "You did that on purpose."

"You think I planned for it to happen that way? You're the one who lost the morpher," Jack said. "What kind of ranger are you, anyhow?"

"A better one than you!"

"I get it. You think that just because you had a cushy life, and your father was red ranger –"

"Don't ever talk about my father again!" Sky shouted. All Jack could think about was how strange it was to see himself looking so wounded. "This – this is all your fault. Everything was fine until you showed up!"

"Oh," Jack said with a heavy dose of sarcasm in his voice. "I get it. Because you're jealous of me, suddenly everything – the alien invaders, the giant robots, everything – is my fault?"

"Yes! I mean – no." Sky bit his lip and flushed.

"That's enough," Kat interrupted, eyeing them both sternly. Jack had almost forgotten she was there, watching their every move. "Sky, calm down. Jack, you've proved your point."

"No, I don't think I have," Jack said. He shoved Sky hard enough to make him stumble backwards. "You know what, Sky? I think that the real problem here is you."

The rangers had left only minutes ago when Cruger arrived at the simulation rooms. "Are they fit for duty?"

Kat shook her head. "Doggie, I think that C-squad should take over all non-essential duties. I know that we mustn't alert Mirloc to B-squad's situation, but to send them on mission now could be very dangerous. It's risky, but I don't think we have a choice."

During his long and illustrious career as galactic conqueror, Mirloc had learned that the fastest way to win a war was to know his enemies. Even before he announced his presence and gave the world his ultimatum, Mirloc always installed sensors that allowed him to observe the surface of the soon-to-be-vanquished planets.

It provided him with a tactical advantage: he always knew the battlefield and, most importantly, he knew his opponents. He watched the power rangers and learned their habits. He knew their fighting styles. He knew their patrol times. And today he knew, without a doubt, that something was wrong.

Mirloc cursed the scientist who had discovered a way to shield the insides of SPD headquarters from his sensors. He had reserved a particularly nasty fate for that particular resident of Earth, who right not was safely shielded inside her own invention.

'No matter,' Mirloc considered. Like all of his enemies, she would eventually surrender or meet an unfortunate end. Besides, he had more immediate concerns. Something was wrong with the rangers, and he was going to find out what. "Bridge!"

The empath appeared from the shadows and stood beside his mentor.

"I have a mission for you."

'I can't believe I have to do this,' Syd thought. When she had told the bus driver to let her off in the neighborhood, he had given her an odd look, but Syd had brushed it off. Now Syd was alone in the shabbiest, most run-down neighborhood she had ever seen. The beautiful sunset did nothing to improve this area of town. The street looked like a war-zone, and the long shadows stretching from the dilapidated buildings made her nervous.

Until today, she hadn't even known places like this existed within Newtech City. How did people live like this? She had the strange feeling that she was being watched. Syd spun around and carefully studied her surroundings. She didn't see anyone – but that didn't mean much. There were plenty of places someone could be hiding. Syd shrugged it off. She was probably just paranoid and besides, anyone who messed with her would regret it.

Unfolding a piece of paper, she looked at the directions and began to walk. Syd counted down the street numbers until she arrived a tall building on the corner. 'This is it,' she thought, looking at a faded sign that said "Southdale Community Center". Who would have thought that Z would hang around in a place like this? White paint was peeling off the front of the building and a window at the front was cracked. But someone had taken the time to carefully tend the garden and Syd could see a few flowers peeking up at the edges of the walkway.

Gingerly opening the door, she walked up the creaky steps, and was immediately greeted by at a few dozen women of varying ages and species, all of whom were waiting for her.

"Sorry I'm late," Syd said. "The bus was running behind. Are we ready to begin?"

"Yes," they chorused and spread out across uneven the floor.

"Then let's get started," the pink ranger said. "For all the new girls here, this is a women's self-defense class—"

He followed his target until she entered the building, and then resigned himself to waiting outside. As he waited, shivering in the cold, it began to rain, first in tiny, scattered droplets which gradually grew into a roaring downpour. Bridge wiped the rain from his face and crouched in the shadows, hiding in the dark.

Finally escaping her admiring students, Syd left the building an hour and a half later. Unfolding her umbrella, she began to walk back to the bus stop.

She would never admit it to Z, but she had actually had fun. Her students were so grateful and Syd realized that she was making a real difference in their lives. 'I guess SPD isn't the only place to do that,' Syd concluded. It was a possibility she had never really considered.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the dark figure who slipped out from behind a broken wall and began to follow her. Bridge took off his glove and prepared to scan her, only to draw back into the shadows, sensing someone's approach.

"Z, wait!" a tiny teenager exclaimed, running to catch up.

It took Syd a moment to remember the girl's name. "Brianna?" This student was a newcomer to the class, but Syd could already tell that she had potential, and determination to succeed. If only she could get over her shyness –

"I just wanted to say," Brianna began in a rush, "that I really admire what you're doing here."

"Thank you," Syd replied, touched. The other girl smiled and left, and Syd continued walking to the bus stop, carefully navigating between the puddles on the slippery street. If she had looked back at the moment, she would have seen her stalker sweep his hand in her direction and then pause before replacing his gloves.

But she didn't. A strange sensation passed over her, and she spun around, but it was too late. He was already gone.

Sky didn't appear of have any activities, or any sort of hobbies at all, outside of SPD. When Jack had confronted him, and asked what he was expected to do with his time, the blue ranger had suggested that he research their enemy. If not, he could always read the handbook.

This was probably Sky's idea of punishment. Jack had tried to muster up a half-hearted apology but the blue ranger was in no mood to listen. That was how he found himself staring at a datapad, under the pretense of doing research. Oh, he had tried to pay attention, but after ten minutes of studying the layout of Mirloc's ship, Jack was bored out of his mind. Even reading the list of Mirloc's crimes generated little interest, and so Jack turned to idly flipping through SPD personnel files.

Names and ranks of cadets scrolled by, along with a whole slew of personal information which, as Red Ranger, he had free access to. Seeing his own name, he studied the file. There was a long list of criminals who he had captured, and the occasional crime which he had committed – not all of which he had been detained for. How did Cruger find out all of this? Jack decided that he didn't really want to know. Might as well let sleeping dogs lie.

Leaving his file, he continued scrolling through the personnel files, only to glimpse a familiar name: Tate, Schuyler. Still feeling a little vindictive, he scanned the first paragraph of the file.

Name: Schuyler "Sky" Tate

Rank: B-Squad Blue Ranger

Status: Current

Born: October 3rd, 2005

Mother: Tate, Sarah A.

Father: Tate, Ryan L.

Remembering the photo in Sky's room, he clicked on the name and waited for the new record to appear.

Name: Ryan Tate

Rank: A-Squad Red Ranger.

He already knew that. It was the next line that caught his attention.

Status: Deceased. Incident Report is Classified (Level 3)

For a moment, he just stared at the screen, puzzled. Sky's father was dead? And the record was classified? Why?

Using a trick Z had taught him, Jack accessed the classified file. Morbid curiosity inspired him to read further.

Incident Report: December 24th, 2010.

The report detailed a battle between the A-squad Ranger team and a notorious criminal that they had been send to apprehend.

As far as Jack could tell, the battle had been furious and the damage to Newtech City extensive. The file was filled with pictures of rubble and destruction and the written report described the stages of the battle in great detail.

However, it was a single line, two paragraphs from the bottom, which caught his attention.

The A-squad red ranger, Ryan Tate, died in combat during an attempt to apprehend the target. Three of his teammates also died after the collapse of a support beam within the building.

The criminal was identified as Mirloc, who had escaped from Prison 1304-A on May 16th 2008.

Jack paused, horrified, and wished he had never found out. Did Sky know? He didn't know the blue ranger very well, but his teammate had never mentioned something like that.

Should he mention it? No. Sky was a very private individual and he would be furious to find out that Jack had been snooping around his files. Besides, he probably already knew about Mirloc.

Someone would have told him… right?

A/N: Please review!