Author's Note- Someone asked about when this took place and where Jack went- I started writing this before the last episode of SPD, when Jack was still around, so that why he was in the first few chapters. After seeing that last episode, I wondered whether or not to have one of the chapters dealing with him leaving and decided that it would be too far away from the Sky/Z theme or be too cliché. So I just sorta jumped ahead about a month from where the show left off. It's my fault that I forget to mention the span of time, so I apologize.
Couple- Sky/Z friendship and eventually Sky/Z romance
Disclaimer- I do not own Power Rangers and do not profit from the use of its content.
40 Moments to Where We Are
Pride
With a loud thud Bridge's back smacked onto the padded floor, where he laid breathing heavily. He groaned and wiped away the sweat that had accumulated on his brow over the past 45 minutes. The blue ranger was beginning to get accustomed to this position and wondered if it was even worth standing up again just to be knocked back down. "A little help, please," he murmured, and Z leaned over and offered her hand in assistance.
The four B-squad cadets had been sparring in the indoor gym due to the abnormally strong downpour of rain outside. At the beginning of the training session, Z had immediately volunteered to spar with Sydney in a pointed effort not to have to interact with Sky. She had avoided him the last three days since their 'blow up' as Z liked to think about it. What he had said was unforgivable in her eyes, and she couldn't help being in a crappy mood whenever he was around.
Unfortunately for Sydney, Z let loose her pent up anger during training. After twenty-five minutes of brutal hand-to-hand combat, the pink ranger had switched over to being Sky's partner for the katana portion. That was twenty minutes ago.
"Man, Z, looks like someone had their buttery toast this morning," said Bridge while accepting her hand and getting to his feet. "You're really on today."
Z shrugged, her chest heaving from the exertion of pushing herself. "I guess I feel a little uptight."
He raised his eyebrows. "A little? I feel like I've been hit by a blue pickup truck with an Indiana license plate driven by an over enthused grandma going 25 miles an hour down a dirt road."
Despite her sour mood, Z couldn't help a small smile at her friend's words. "And how would you know what that feels like?"
"It happened to me when I was seven. Good thing I recovered without any long-term damages. Though I did have this nasty bruise for a while. It was green, yellow, blue, purple, red, and if you looked at it from a certain angle it looked like a turtle. In fact it almost looked exactly like my pet turtle named Herman, but I wasn't really sure how…" Bridge trailed off when he noticed his partner was suppressing laughter. "What?"
Z shook her head ruefully, "I wouldn't be too sure about that long term damage."
Sky's authoritative voice broke in, "Hey, you're supposed to be training, not standing around holding a conversation."
Z's demeanor did a complete 360, and she turned narrowed eyes in Sky's direction. "We were just taking a minute to cool down." The word came out as a warning not to push her, but Sky went on at it.
"Well you can take all the minutes you want after we're done training. Until then, get back at it." He didn't say it cruelly, but as a command. It just so happened that Z was in no mood to be told what to do by him at that moment. She marched over and planned to give him a piece of her mind, when Sydney intervened.
"Why don't we rotate again, so that everyone has a chance to fight everyone else?" she offered. It was obvious to her that Sky and Z had something to workout. Bridge happily agreed, leaving Z and Sky to glare at each other.
"Hand-to-hand or katana?" Sky asked stoically.
Z threw her wooden sword to the side. "Hand-to-hand."
The two fell into position and began exchanging blows. Z quickly found her rhythm from earlier and gained the upper hand, sending Sky into one of the padded walls. He shook it off and fell into position once again. "What's got you so pissed off?" he questioned before sending a right hook that she blocked.
"Oh please, you know exactly what's wrong."
Sky ducked under her roundhouse kick and said, "If you're talking about what happened after we defeated Wastetar, then you're right, I shouldn't have said that, and I'm sorry. And I'd appreciate it if you apologized as well." The surprise of his comment and the force of a well placed kick to her side left Z stumbling backwards.
"I need to apologize to you?" she asked incredulously.
"I trusted you when I told you about my father! I told you things that I've never talked about to anyone before. And what did you do? You threw it in my face the first chance you got!"
Z frowned. "Threw it your face? I just told you the truth, something you didn't seem capable of doing that night."
Sky crossed his arms, "You lied to them too."
Z took up her fighting position again and resumed dealing blows. "Yeah, but when asked, at least I admitted to it!" Sky was silent, and she took that as opportunity to continue her raving. "And then you were a complete ass and made me feel like dirt because of my parents!" Her resentment climaxed and with an impressive series of punches she sent him to the ground. She stood over him, body heaving with emotion and exertion.
Sydney and Bridge had stopped their sparing moments ago and were openly staring at the two. Z, unable to take the tension and confused looks, angrily stalked from the gym.
Sydney put her hands on her hips and glared at Sky as he got to his feet. He saw her look and said, "What? She was completely out of line. There's no reason for-"
"Damn your pride, Sky!" Sydney said in frustration, causing both of her remaining teammates' eyes to widen. "Obviously you said something that really hurt her, and all you can do is make excuses. Apologize for heaven's sake! It doesn't make you any less of a man."
Sky waved a hand in the direction Z had left in. "I did apologize! You're only taking her side because you're a girl."
She rolled her eyes. "You are so clueless," she murmured before leaving the room as well.
Sky noticed that Bridge was still standing there starring at him oddly. "Don't tell me you agree with them," the red ranger pleaded.
Bridge frowned, "You never talked to me about your father. Even after I opened up to you about my unrequited love for Shiloh and my buttery toast addiction, you remained silent. I am truly aghast."
It was Sky's turn to role his eyes heavenward. Now was so not the time. "With Z it was this whole…thing. It's complicated."
Bridge crossed his arms and looked at Sky skeptically. "So you and Z had a thing. And not just part of a thing, but a whole thing."
Sky made a face. "Not that kind of a thing. It was just that she came into my room and we got to talking, and I had this album out on my bed…"
"Oh, so you and Z had a thing in your room on your bed," Bridge said matter-of-factly.
Sky stumbled over his words, "No! Well…yes, but not that kind of thing,"
Bridge looked at him quizzically. "Not what kind of thing?"
"The thing you're thinking about."
"Okay, so you didn't have a thing with Z where you sat on your bed with a an album telling her about your father?"
"Yes!"
"Yes you didn't, or yes you did?"
"Yes, I did."
"Well then what kind of thing did you think I was thinking about? I think the thing I was thinking about was definitely not the thing you think I was thinking about, which in fact was more of a "thinging" than a thing. Wait, I said that wrong…no I was right. Oh my God, did you and Z have a thing!"
Sky stared at Bridge for several moments trying to decipher what he said or what thing he was talking about. Finally the red ranger managed, "Yes, we had a thing…I think. But not that kind of thing-"
"Then you definitely need to apologize." Bridge crossed his arms knowingly.
Sky sighed and ran a hand across his face. "I guess I was being a bit of a jerk."
"Try 'biggest jerk wad that ever walked the Earth.'," Bridge added.
Sky gave him an unimpressed look. "You don't even know what we were arguing about."
"No, but you two did have a thing, and that's all that matters. Once you have a thing with a girl, you're whipped for life," Bridged explained and patted his friend on the back sympathetically.
The blue ranger left the room with Sky yelling after him down the hall, "It wasn't that kind of a thing!"
To be continued