To all my readers, if you don't like the way I write SPD, then you don't have to read it and this goes for all of my Power Ranger fanfics, both current and future ones. I'm not gonna force you to read them.
A word of warning, to those of you who like to announce the next chapter (i.e. episode) title of the fanfic, don't ever do that. It's extremely annoying to me and I don't like it. If you continue to do it again for all of my Power Rangers fanfics, you will be blocked until I have posted more than enough Power Rangers stories in order for me to trust you again. You know who you are because it's not a joke and I'm not playing around. As always, no negativity and Happy Reading!
I DO NOT OWN CHARACTERS OF POWER RANGERS SPD! I ONLY OWN THE OC!
Shoutouts:
In Kat's Lab, Leah was sitting in a quiet space, working on a new project of hers when Cruger walked in. "I hope that isn't for one of the lower cadets." he said to her. Leah looked up at him and shook her head. "No, sir. I swear it's not. I've moved on from pulling personal vendetta pranks and now working on building traps." she replied.
"Good. Now I was wondering about that flea shampoo that you use." said Cruger as he started to scratch his arm. Leah smiled and replied, "I have some in my room. I've always get them in a couple cases every year since I was little so that I never run out. I'll go grab a couple of bottles for you."
"Thank you, Leah." said the commander, scratching his arm.
"You're welcome."
In the rec room, Z was reading a book while Bridge was munching on a piece of toast, watching her read. Bridge started asking her about her book. "What are you doing?" Z asked him as she turned to him.
"Watching you read." replied Bridge.
"I don't think I would want to ask why you are watching me read but could you do it without chomping on your food?" asked Z, trying to read her book.
"It's just toast." he said with a bright smile as if it solved anything.
"Want some? It's buttery." he wiggled his fingers by his mouth.
"Buttery?" Z questions, mimicking him.
"Buttery." said Bridge, doing it again.
"Alright," Syd said, storming inside as the doors opened. "Where is he, Z?" she demanded, her arms folded.
"Jack?" Z asked and Syd's frown grew.
"Sky? Cruger? Boom? Leah?" Z suggested as Syd glared at her.
"Gruumm? Am I getting close?" she asked as Syd just looked more and more irritated with each suggestion.
"Peanuts!" Syd finally exclaims.
"I'm all out of peanuts, but I've got some toast. Want some? It's buttery." Bridge asked.
"No, Peanuts!" Syd exclaims, sounding more and more upset. "You know, the stuffed animal I've had since I was 5." she demanded her roommate. Z gave a laugh.
"You've only had that thing for a year?" she asked with a smirk. Bridge tried to hide and failed miserably his smile.
"Very funny." Syd said sarcastically, not impressed with Z. "Now what did you do with him?"
"I didn't take your Peanuts. End of conversation." Z told her firmly, going back to her book.
"But he's gone…" Syd's hostility faded, leaving her worried. "Who could have taken him?" she wondered as the doors opened behind her.
Leah walks in with R.I.C. following her, making a rooster noise he made caught their attention. "Uh…Syd?" Bridge pointed behind her and Syd gasps.
"I hate to ask but is anyone missing a stuffed animal? I know that it's not mine because I have my own." Leah asked, looking down at R.I.C.
"No!" the pink ranger ran over to the robotic dog, who was carrying a toy elephant in his mouth. Z laughed in amusement as Syd fought to get her elephant back. "Good dog." the yellow ranger muttered with a smug smile.
Syd looked at Leah like she was the one who gave her stuffed animal to R.I.C. "Hey, I didn't give him that. I've already learned my lesson about stealing things from people. Besides, I found him with it in his mouth." she tells Syd, hands raised before going to her room.
"What are you doing in here, Leah?" asked Bridge.
"Getting something for Cruger." replied Leah. "He's starting to make that look I get when I'm itchy." Once found what she was looking for, she left in search of the commander.
In space on Gruumm's ship, Mora is in her room, having a tea party with her dolls. "Is it hot enough? Good." she said. Just then Gruumm walks into her room.
"There you are, Mora." he said.
"Did you come to play with me?" she asked, hopeful.
"I need your mind." he said.
"Fat chance. I need my mind and you're not getting it." she tells him.
"I meant, I need you to think of a plan of action." he said, rephrasing his earlier statement.
"Ok…got one. But I'm not telling unless you have tea with Cindy and me." Mora said with a grin.
"I am the emperor of the Troobian…" he started to say.
"Empire. Blah, blah, blah." she finishes for him.
"Mora, this gift I gave you…this deal I made….it can be taken away…at my command." he tells her.
"Okay, okay. Sorry. But who's going to have a tea party with me?" Mora said, backing down from making him angry. Then Broodwing walks in to speak with Gruumm. "Good day, mien emperor." he said, greeting Gruumm.
"Yes…Broodwing." Mora said evilly.
"Silence child. I have business with Gruumm." he snapped at the girl.
"And I have a plan for Gruumm, and if you don't have tea with me, I'm not telling him." she rudely said.
"Fine with me."
"But not with me. Sit, Broodwing." Gruumm instructed.
"I will not."
"Oh you will sit!" he said angrily, his eyes glowed red.
"Okay! I'm sitting." said Broodwing and sits in the chair.
"Good Broodwing. Okay…I'll be the mommy. Gruumm is the daddy and Broodwing is a little baby…bat." she said as Broodwing growls at her before she continues.
"Now, here's my idea. Broodwing gets all the monsters he knows and brings them…" She started to explain but looks over at Broodwing and glares. "You're not drinking your tea, Broodwing."
"I'm not thirsty." he said grumpily.
"Drink it!" shouted Gruumm as he slams his hand on the table.
"Ok, I'm drinking. Look! See, see?" he said nervously.
Pressed up against the wall, an alien by the name of Rhinix was hassling Piggy. "You smelly little runt, I know you have that formula. Now hand it over!" he said to Piggy.
"Settle down. I'll give it to you." said Piggy.
"That's better." said Rhinix as Piggy gets the formula that he wants.
"Here. Take it." Piggy said as soon as he handed it over. "Now…a little, uh, payment would be appreciated."
"Of course. Here's your payment." he said as he loads the formula into his arm and aims it at Piggy, turning him into a pile of green goop. As Rhinix laughs, the green goop transforms back into Piggy.
"Huh?" he said in confusion. "You weren't supposed to turn back! You tricked me!"
"Well, you turned me into slime." said Piggy, pointing the finger back at him. "I'm not saying that I didn't like it, but we had a deal."
"Rotten eggs?" he asked, holding up a dozen egg carton full of rotting eggs and Piggy was in heaven.
"Oh…they smell absolutely putrid." said Piggy, looking at the eggs. "They'll make a great omelet."
"Then give me the right formula." demanded Rhinix as Piggy takes the eggs from him.
"But you can't use it on me." Piggy said as he hands it over.
"Deal."
Suddenly a guard turns the corner and shouted, "Hey! Who's out there?" Piggy goes into his dumpster and Rhinix shoots the guard with the formula that he was given, turning the innocent man into slime. Happy with what he did, Rhinix collects what was left of the man in a canister.
Later on in the day, Syd was searching for Bridge. Leah was sitting on the couch, reading when Syd passed her. "Bridge?" Syd calls out. She walked into his room, looked over and heard his computer counting down. "Why's it counting down?" asked the pink ranger with a frown.
"Hey Syd." Bridge greeted her as he walked in with Leah behind him, just as the computer began a high-pitching beeping. "Look out!" she shouted, tackling both purple and green rangers to the ground. Just then, toast popped up from the machine. "Toast done." the computer announced.
"What was that for?" asked Bridge as Leah dusts herself off from the floor.
"I don't think I've ever been tackled like that before." said Leah, looking up at the pink ranger.
"Toast?! I thought the computer was going to explode." Syd said angrily.
"Who in the galaxy would want a computer that explodes?" asked Leah, crossing her arms.
"Why would it do that? I just amped it up to make toast. Want a piece?" offered Bridge with a bright smile.
"No, I just came by to give you this." said Syd as she handed Bridge the magazine in her hands and helped Leah from the floor. Hearing a rooster crowing, they glanced down to see R.I.C. nuzzling Syd's leg. "Leave me alone!" she said as he made chimp noises. Leah bent down and petted the robotic dog. She was sympathetic for R.I.C.
When he didn't respond, Syd sighed in frustration. "It was delivered to my room, I figured it might be yours." she tells him, Bridge flicks through it and his smile grew.
"Finally! My new issue of extreme upgrade. Boom and I are gonna upgrade his computer with a super processor…and maybe a waffle iron." Bridge considered, his eyes lighting up.
"Dude, you gotta let me help with the upgrade." said an excited Leah, swiping the magazine from his hands.
"So there's a whole magazine about customizing your computer?" Syd gasped. "How can I get a subscription?" she asked eagerly.
"I've been meaning to ask about that…" said Leah, looking through the magazine.
"Oh you can just borrow mine when I'm done with it." Bridge offered and Syd just rolled her eyes. "Wait, that was sarcasm, wasn't it?"
"Yes." Syd grinned playfully at him, before glancing at the young girl. "Looks like you have an assistant. Don't tell me you like doing that kind of stuff?" she complained.
"I love this kind of stuff. I don't mind getting my hands dirty, plus it helps me show off my creative side." said Leah, smiling at the magazine. Syd sighed and R.I.C. made some dolphin noises. "Stop it!" Syd scolded and looked up.
"Doesn't this thing ever run out of batteries? It's always following me." she complained.
"I don't think he does, Syd." said Leah as she petted the robotic dog, who then made sheep noises in response.
"What's the matter? I thought you liked dogs?" Bridge asked, confused.
"Of course I do!" Syd said, looked offended by his words. "My family raises pedigree Pomeranians." Bridge's eyebrows rose as Leah blinked at the pink ranger. "This is worse than trying to do my family tree project last year. So, what's wrong with R.I.C.?" asked Leah.
"This however, is not a dog. It's a glorified appliance." she told them firmly.
"Power rangers, report to the command center immediately." Kat's voice echoed over the intercom, not giving Bridge a chance to question Syd's icy behavior towards the robotic dog who had taken a liking to her. The rangers all stood together, waiting for the commander to explain why he had called them there. "There has been several missing person reports in the industrial district." the commander explained.
As he walked by, R.I.C. and a sound of a horse to get his attention. "Not now, R.I.C." he told the dog firmly before turning back to the rangers. "I want you to investigate."
"I can check out the area. Ask some questions." Syd volunteered.
"Good." said Cruger, nodding his approval.
"And we'll monitor for any signs of alien activity." said Sky as R.I.C. walks over and nudged Syd's leg. The pink ranger let out a frustrated as he made an elephant noise. "What is your problem, rust bucket?" she demanded, pushing him away with her leg.
"He just likes you, Syd." said Z as she crouched beside the dog.
"Go away!" Syd shouted at R.I.C., who then responded by making a chimp noise and sprayed her pants leg with blue liquid from his nose. She let out a cry of horror. "Stupid robot! Look what he did to my uniform!" complained Syd as the others tried to hide their laughter.
"Out of the way R.I.C." Cruger told the dog, who back away from Syd. Braying like a donkey as he backed up to the commander and lifted his leg. Leah's eyes widen as she saw what R.I.C. had just did. "Oh my god…" said Leah, trying to hide her laughter.
"Don't worry, it's only coolant." said Bridge as Jack and Sky struggled to hide their laughter.
"He uh…must really like you commander." Jack managed to say as Cruger shook his foot. Sky snorted as Leah stifled down a giggle.
"I wasn't expecting to see that happen." said Leah.
"Why do we keep that malfunctioning beast around?" Syd demanded as R.I.C walks over to Leah, who patted his head. "He's useless! Not to mention totally annoying." she complained. The commander walked over to them to speak quietly.
"Unfortunately, R.I.C.'s technology is practically obsolete." he whispered and Leah looks up with a sad look on her face.
"It will not be long until he will have to be deactivated." said Cruger.
"What?" all but Syd reacted to the idea of R.I.C. being deactivated.
"Commander, are you kidding me?" asked Jack.
"Sir, you can't." said Bridge.
"But…." said Leah.
"Well, if you ask me, he's been ready for the scrap heap for a while now." said Syd, not bothered by the news.
"Syd!" Z said, staring at her. "That's cold, even for you."
"You heard the commander, he's outdated." said Syd, shrugging her shoulders.
"R.I.C. may not be perfect but he's still part of the S.P.D family." Bridge argued, trying to get her to understand.
"It's a machine. Not a pet." she said harshly, rolling her eyes.
"It's broke, so we replace it. If it's a matter of money, I'm sure my father would be happy to write a check." she told the commander and the older rangers scoffed in disbelief.
"I'll be right back. I need some air." muttered Leah. She felt the tears that were threatening to come out of her eyes when she heard the word 'father', so she teleported somewhere in the base to hide. Z and Jack glared at Syd, for what she had just said.
"I see that Leah is very sensitive about this particular subject." said Cruger and Z nodded.
"Whatever people, I have work to do." she said and walked off, not realizing that R.I.C. was following her out.
Syd was driving the S.P.D jeep when she came to a stop. She turns around to see that R.I.C. was in the jeep with her. "What are you doing here?" she asked the robotic dog. "I don't need you messing up my investigation. Stay in here, got it?"
About an hour or so later, Kat found Leah in her lab, under a table with her ears flat against her head. Leah looked up at her with a solemn face. "You don't have to tell me unless you want to but what happened in the command center?" she asked.
"I think Syd is nothing more than a spoiled brat who doesn't care about nobody but herself. You wouldn't understand." said Leah, coming out from underneath the table. Kat gave her a 'try me' look.
"It's just so frustrating for me…not knowing who my family is." said Leah. "Not knowing who my parents are."
"Oh really?" asked Kat.
"Yeah, all I know is that I was dumped at a hospital when I was a baby, then forced out of there when I was old enough to take care of myself. They didn't even tell me when my birthday is when or who my parents were while I was there." replied Leah. Kat gave her a sad smile, seeing how much this really means to her. Before she could say anything to the young Felisan, a beeping sound was coming from her computer.
With the other rangers, they were worried about R.I.C. "Can't he just be upgraded, instead of deactivated?" asked Jack. His smile faded when he glanced at Bridge.
"R.I.C. would need to be completely dismantled and all of his programs redone. A lot of his systems just wouldn't be compatible with what we have now." said Bridge. "And we wouldn't even be able to guarantee that they'd work." He added.
"I know a girl whose very tech savvy and writes her own computer programming." said Z. Just then, Leah poofs in with her bag on her shoulder. "Just the girl I was talking about." she said, walking up to her and placing an arm around her shoulder. Leah gives her a 'did you go through my things' look.
"I swear, I didn't go through anything." said Z, as she recognized the look.
"What do you mean by that? 'Just the girl I was talking about'?" she asked.
"Nothing." said Sky.
Bridge looks over at Z, then says, "We'll figure it out later. After we figure out what's going on here."
She nodded, joining him at the computer to search for any kind of strange activity. Leah stares out into space and before long, she walks over to Z and asks, "See anything interesting, Z?"
"Nothing." she said quickly, jumping at how quiet she is. She turned back to the computer and muttered, "I'm not picking up any kind of activity in the city. It's quiet…"
"You don't like having that gut feeling, do you?" asked Leah. Before Z could answer, the alarms suddenly blared. "Never a dull moment." she said and lines up with the others.
"Ready?"
"Ready!"
"S.P.D. EMERGENCY!" they said as they morphed and took off.
"The disturbance is right ahead of you." said Kat through the communication system.
"Right." said Jack before they slowed down to stop, spotting a few fleeing civilians.
Nearby, Rhinix was walking around laughing as he was causing trouble. "You are not going anywhere!" he said to the screaming people as they ran.
"Looks like trouble. Come on!" he commented when he climbed off his bike.
"Hold it right there!" the Rangers called together.
"Who's gonna make me?" asked Rhinix.
"One! S.P.D. Red!"
"Two! S.P.D. Blue!"
"Three! S.P.D. Green!"
"Four! S.P.D. Yellow!"
"Six! S.P.D. Purple!"
"Meet my friends!" said Rhinix as he tossed a ball into the air and Krybots bursts from it.
"Gear up rangers!" said Jack, grabbing his delta blasters. The others grabbed their own weapons as well and ran towards the robots. As they were fighting the robots, Rhinix was trying to sneak away. But before he could get away, Z called out to the rangers, "There he is!" They ran towards him.
"Not so fast!" he said and hurled his weapons at them. Before they could react, they clattered to the ground. "Is it too late for me to say that I'm in pain?" asked Leah.
"Yes!" everyone yelled at her. Rhinix rushed towards them and attacks them again.
"Ok. I'll work through it." she groaned.
"Whoa!" said Jack as he went down and the next thing that happened, all six went down to the ground.
"You'll never stop me!" Rhinix mocked them and ran off before they could stop him.
Syd walks up to a dumpster and kicks the bottom. "Piggy, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked. Piggy slides open the door, wearing sunglasses. "Oh, well…if it isn't little miss S.P.D. princess. I thought I smell something…clean." he said.
"It's called soap. You might want to try it some time." said Syd and Piggy gave her a disgusted look. "People have been reported missing in this area. I need to know if you saw anything unusual last night."
"Let's see…a three headed saurian eating a car, Verma the worm woman out walking her snail…no nothing unusual." he tells her and Syd holds up a bottle, handing it to him.
"Ahh…what's that?" Piggy asks, shrinking further back into the dumpster.
"Deodorant."
"Put that away. Maybe I do remember something a little skirmish last night. Check out over there." he tells her and points Syd in the direction. She walks over and sees something on the ground. "Hmm…green slime. Kat should have a look at this." she said to herself as she had something to pick up the slime. Unknowing to her, Broodwing was hiding behind something.
"I don't think so." He said and throws a ball up into the air. Syd then looks to see that Krybots had surrounded her. She fought them until R.I.C. came out of nowhere and blocked the Krybots attack. Turning to the unused bricks, she yelled out, "Fist of stone!" Closing her fist, she hits an empty bin and punches it towards the Krybots. Syd rushes over to R.I.C. as sparks come out of him. "Oh no! What did they do to you?"
In the lab, Kat was analyzing what Syd brought in. "Hmm…interesting." said Kat as Cruger walks over to her.
"Hmm…what is it, Miss Manx?" asked Cruger.
"I'm not sure." said Kat. "Some sort of petroleum-based energy fluid, but there are definite traces of human DNA."
"Hmm…Leah should be out of the infirmary now." said Cruger.
"I know what you're going to say and the answer is no." Kat tells him.
"She has to be told sooner or later." Cruger said. "I prefer that she knows sooner rather than later."
"I will tell her when I think she's ready. She's not ready to hear the truth. Especially from me." said Kat, as Cruger places a hand on her shoulder when Syd walks in.
"Who's not ready to hear the truth?" she asked them.
"It's nothing to worry about. Well done, Cadet Drew." said Cruger. "This could help us find those missing people."
"I would've been able to bring it back if it weren't for R.I.C. how is he?"
"I'm afraid the damage was extensive." Kat tells her.
"And most of his parts aren't even made anymore." said Cruger.
"What are you saying?"
"It was a difficult decision, but we had to deactivate him." the sirian told her. "I'm sorry."
Sad at what she heard; Syd walked through the corridor with her head down as a cadet was pushing a cart with parts of R.I.C. in it. She looked up and stopped the cadet. "Hold it, cadet."
"Yes, sir. Uh, ma'am." the cadet said to her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Taking some cyber junk, old computer parts, stuff like that, to the recycling center." the cadet replied.
""Recycling" as in crushing, melting and turning into something else?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Stand back, Cadet." said Syd as she walks around the cart. "Cadet, did you sort the earth metals the galactic metals?"
"No…"
"The earth plastics from the protein-inhibited plastics? The glass from the ultra-glass?"
"I didn't know." said the cadet.
"I'll take over from here, cadet." said Syd. "You can go back to the S.P.D. manual's chapter on recycling. Carry on."
"But I…" the cadet started to say but Syd cuts him off.
"What part of "Carry on" do you not understand?"
"Yes, ma'am." he said and leaves her with R.I.C. still in the cart.
"He's packs a serious punch. I can still feel it in my back." said Leah as she was walking in from the infirmary. Bridge and Boom were standing on their heads against the wall.
"Remind me again, why this is the best way to solve a problem?" asked Boom, trying not to fall over.
"Gravity causes ideas downward to your head, that way your brain could soak them up better." said Bridge, not affected by the handstand.
"I have my own way of getting ideas but that is one way I will never use." said Leah, laughing a little.
"You sure he'll show up again?" asked Boom, his voice strained. Leah looks over at the lab assistant before cracking her back. "The way he acted; he'll definitely be back." Bridge agreed. "I'm thinking of ways to try and stop him."
"Bridge, get off your butt!" a voice called out. The doors opened and Syd walks in. she stops abruptly when she sees both Bridge and Boom doing handstands. "Uh…your head." she corrected. "I have a project for you guys."
"What's up, Syd?" Bridge asked as he rolled over to stand up-right and Boom fell over.
"How would you guys like to do the ultimate extreme upgrade?" Syd offered. Bridge's eyes lit up and glanced at Leah who seemed interested. He then asked, "What's the project?" Syd led them out quickly to one of the labs. Leah looked sad at the dismantled R.I.C laying on the table.
"What did you do?" asked Leah.
"What happened to him?" asked Bridge, walking over to the robotic dog. Scorch marks lined his damaged chassis and some of the wiring was showing, badly damaged. "He saved my life." Syd said to them shortly.
"The commander said that most of his parts aren't even available anymore, so he had to be deactivated. Please can you do it?" she pleaded.
"His systems are so old; I don't know if we can." Bridge admitted and Syd's face fell.
"But I think we know someone who has spare parts." he tells her. Syd's face lite up and looks over at Leah. Leah looks up to them. "I'll see what I have in my collection. Some of the parts might be a good use for R.I.C. I'll even put in an update software for him." said Leah. Syd gave her a huge smile and they went straight to work.
In space on Gruumm's ship, he yelled, "Next!" An alien walks up to them. "My plan is to make people into parsnips and plant them into the ground." said the alien. Gruumm turns to Mora who then shakes her head. The next alien that was in line suggested puppets but gets vaporized by Gruumm. The following alien said, "Emperor."
"This one better be good." He tells him and then turns to Mora. "This is your plan, remember."
"For you." he said, handing him a jar of green goo.
"Slime? You bring me slime?" he asked the alien.
"Why Emperor, this is energy fluid from an interesting source…. humans." he said.
"Nice." replied Mora.
The rangers were in the command center when the commander called them. "Many more people have disappeared. This has become a city-wide crisis." the commander said gravely. Then, just as he stops by Sky, Cruger notices that a couple of members of B-Squad were missing.
"Where are Cadets Carson and Manx?" He asked.
"Ladies and Gentlemen." The doors slid open to reveal Boom and Bridge, both looking like they hadn't slept all night. "And assorted extra-terrestrials." said Bridge.
"We'd like to introduce you to someone." Boom grinned.
"R.I.C. version 2.0!" They said together. They heard a bark and R.I.C comes in wagging his tail. "Yay!" said Syd and she bounced over to them. "I knew you could do it."
"Well, we did have some help." said Bridge. The doors slide open again and heard some shuffling. Leah walks in slowly, yawning widely, with a tired look on her face and a thermos of hot liquid in her hand. "I don't think I'll be pulling an all-nighter any time soon." she said, sitting on the floor next to Jack and sipping her drink. "Last night was too much for someone like me."
"What in the world are you drinking?" asked Jack. Z takes the thermos out of Leah's hand, takes a small sip and gives her a look. "This is coffee. You're too young to be drinking this. Why are you even drinking coffee?" asked Z. Leah looks up at Z, yanks the thermos of coffee out of her hands and said, "I'm tired, I'm crabby and I need something to keep me awake right now so that I can fully function today. So…don't touch my coffee."
Cruger looks down at the girl and chuckles at her. "You remind me so much of your mother." he said.
"I must've driven her mad if I'm drinking this stuff at an early age." said Leah, taking another sip. "Maybe even insane."
"We gave R.I.C some pretty sweet upgrades." said Boom.
"Yup! We got the basic CD/DVD player, projector and refrigerator." grinned Bridge and he popped opened the back and pulled out a can.
"Amusing new additions." said Commander Cruger. "I'm sure he'd be great at a party, but he isn't an asset to S.P.D."
"That's where Leah comes in." said Boom.
"We've boosted his weapon systems and gave him a couple extra features. He'll be more of an asset to S.P.D than ever before, especially with the brand-new hardware and software we've given him. I also put into his programming when his software needs to be updated too." she said, letting out another yawn.
"Cadet, thank you for your hard work. Now I think you should go get some rest." said Cruger, seeing that she was nodding off a bit and could barely sit up.
"You don't have to tell me twice, Commander. Let me know if you guys need me for something." said Leah and teleports away to her room. Cruger then turns to the remaining five rangers. "I upgraded his surveillance systems and gave him new tracking software. His sensing capabilities should be off the chain." Bridge said to the commander.
"Then he can help us find more of this stuff." said Syd, pulling a container off her belt.
"Oh, uh…" Bridge said, hesitated. "Uh yeah…We haven't actually had time to test yet. We spent all night trying to put him back together and making sure that he functioned." he tells her but Syd held out the slime to the dog anyway.
"Come on R.I.C.," she said. "Find it." He beeped multiple times before barking loudly and taking off before the doors could open, leaving a hole in the doors. "Oops…" said Bridge, as Cruger let out an irritated growl. "We should…probably go after him." he spoke slowly and the team hurried to catch up to R.I.C.
R.I.C. finally came to a stop in the middle of a field that have been left attended for a long time. He put his nose to the ground, sniffing as the rangers pulled up in their vehicles.
"There! He found something!" Syd grinned.
"Good job boy!" she cheered, running back as R.I.C. barked.
"Come on!" she said to the others as she ran past with a shovel.
"Talk about a 180 in attitude." said Jack.
"Well, it's definitely the place, at least according to his tracking software. But Syd, you can't bank on it being right yet." said Bridge, glancing at her.
"I trust you guys and I trust him." Syd insisted, continuing to dig as R.I.C. watched her.
Half an hour passed and the mound of dirt beside Syd was almost the same height as her as she continued to dig. "Come on Syd, give it up." said Jack as the others approached behind him.
"Just a few more minutes." she said, wiping the sweat from her face.
"I hate to say it, but he obviously wasn't able to trace the scent." said Z, shaking her head.
"We're not sure of that yet." said Syd, not looking up.
"We told you, Syd," said Bridge, crouching beside her. "We didn't have time to test the program. He must still be bugging." He warned and R.I.C. barked. Syd finally hesitated. "But he seemed so sure." she said, looking up at R.I.C. sadly.
"Well there's no use in all of us wasting our time out here." said Sky. "Come on."
He walked off and Jack shook his head. Jack and Z then followed Sky back to their vehicles. Just then with a soft 'poof', Leah appeared. "Hey guys. Cruger filled me in on what's going on." she said, still sounding a little tired. Jack looks at Leah and asks, "Do you mind staying here with Syd?"
"Not at all." she replied, then grabbed a shovel to help Syd with the digging.
"Come on, R.I.C." Bridge called and R.I.C whimpered, walking away with his head down and his tail between his legs.
"I'm not giving up." said Syd as she and Leah continued to dig while the others went back to base.
Thunder boomed overhead and rain poured throughout the city as Bridge stood beside R.I.C. "I don't know what happened. Something in his mainframe must have had a glitch." sighed Bridge and started pacing a little.
"It's ok, Bridge. He'll still make a good pet." said Z, smiling at him sympathetically. Jack walks over and grabs a can from his back. "I just hope that Syd doesn't start a fight with Leah. She can be pretty vengeful when she wants to be." said Jack.
"I've been meaning to ask you about that. How vengeful can she be?" asked Sky.
"Cross her the wrong way, she becomes very vengeful." said Z.
Back at the abandoned field, Syd and Leah were still digging. "Who knew that digging could be a great way to build character." said Leah. "I should do this more often."
"You know, you didn't have to stay here to help me with this." said Syd.
"I know. I would have stayed here anyways even if Jack didn't ask me to." said Leah. Syd finally paused; her face flushed from overexertion. "Why?" she asked.
"Because you never gave up on R.I.C. You're so sure that something is out here, so let's see if there is." said Leah. Syd stared at the young teleporter for a moment, before the ground began to shake. Syd cried out as the ground beneath her suddenly gave away and she fell right in.
"Syd!" Leah yelled out as she peered into the hole.
"I'm ok." she called up. "But I can't see anything."
"Careful, I'm coming down there." said Leah. Syd steps aside to make room for her to jump down. Once down in the hole, Leah pulls out a flashlight and shines it. "What is this place?" asked Leah as she and Syd looked around.
"Look!" she gasped, walking past her to the shelves full of green slime. "Oh my goodness…wow!" Syd lifted one of the containers as Leah continues to look around. There were shelves full of the stuff. "I knew it! R.I.C. was right!" Syd exclaims.
"Definitely. Come on, let's get out of here." said Leah and walks over to her. Syd nodded and sets down the container. Leah grabs a hold of Syd and teleports her out from underground. Syd gives her a look that said 'why?'
"Yeah…. that's the downside of my powers. I can't teleport into places that I can't see well enough, like dark caves or anything underground. As long as I can see where I'm going in my mind, I'm there in a second." said Leah. She nods at her answer. "I'm so going to the spa when this is all over." Syd tells her.
"I'm going to take a long shower after this but hey, at least it stopped raining." replied Leah, then looks over at Syd. "I'll even let you use my shampoo."
"You're so not going anywhere." said a voice behind them. Both girls looked up to the green skinned alien from before approach. Syd gave a quiet laugh. "Okay. I'm filthy, cranky and my new shoes are trashed. Do you really want to mess with me?" she challenged. Instead of replying back, the alien charged at them. "S.P.D. EMERGENCY!" they both quickly morphed.
"S.P.D. PINK!"
"S.P.D. PURPLE!" they attacked but Rhinix easily stumped them.
"You want more of the same?" he mocked them with a laugh.
"I do. I'll keep him distracted Syd." said Leah but was thrown to the ground and her morpher thrown a few feet away, teetering on the edge of one nearby puddle.
"Time for some backup." growled Syd, but just as she was about to call the rest of the team, the alien slammed into her again. The pink ranger cried out as she was thrown into a wall and her morpher landed in a puddle several feet away. "Looks like you're on your own." he mocked again then fired a blast. Leah ran towards Syd and pushed her out of the way.
"That was close." Leah said as she helped Syd up.
Back in the command center, Bridge started questioning himself about what went wrong with R.I.C. "Maybe there was a glitch in the tracking software, it was completely new to him." Boom said, standing next to R.I.C.
"It could be." Bridge agreed with a nod.
"Maybe if I could rewrite it, it could work." Bridge considered, before R.I.C's head suddenly lifted up and beeped several times.
"Whoa, what's going on?" Z frowned.
"His sensors are probably all messed up." sighed Bridge.
"It looks like something must have triggered his surveillance systems." said Sky. No sooner as he had said that, the alarms blared. They turned around to see that Syd and Leah were being thrown to the ground. "They need help!" Jack said. With a bark, R.I.C. shot off, breaking through the doors again. Cruger growled as the rangers took off. "I just had that fixed." he complained.
"You rangers are useless." mocked Rhinix as the two rangers crashed into the ground. "Why don't you give up?"
"Everyone thought R.I.C. was useless too, but he came back strong." Syd said, getting onto her feet.
"If he can do it, so can I!" she yelled, grabbing her sword and rushing at him. She dodged his blast and struck him, but he knocked her back. "Time to finish this game." Rhinix declared.
"Hope that you didn't forget about me." Leah said as she rushed towards him and hopped on his back. Leah tried to get a good hold on him but was thrown off of him and she rolled towards Syd. There was a loud howl and both girls looked around just in time for R.I.C. to attack the alien who cried out.
"Didn't see that coming." he groaned. R.I.C. landed in front of both Syd and Leah, standing protectively. "Who invited you?" Rhinix growled, pushing himself onto his feet. R.I.C. barked and leapt at him again, latching onto his arm. "Delta Max Blaster!" the two rangers shot at Rhinix as R.I.C. jumped out of the way.
Rhinix staggered back and fired one of his horns at them but leapt out of the way and blasted him again. Syd then slashed him, cutting off his horn. "My horn! My beautiful horn!" he wailed.
"Oh get over it." Leah and Syd said, rolling their eyes as R.I.C. ran up to them.
"Great teamwork boy." Syd said, patted his head and he wagged his tail happily. The other rangers pulled up nearby and stopped when they saw the criminal on the ground. "Looks like R.I.C. sensed they needed help." said Z.
"You're right. They weren't able to call us." said Sky, finding both Leah's and Syd's morphers lying nearby. He walked over and pressed them into their hands. "Thanks." Syd said to him.
"Thank you." said Leah, glad to have her morpher back.
"I'm not finished yet!" they turned around as the alien got to his feet.
"I've got this one." said Syd, about to go blast him again but Leah stopped her.
"How about we let R.I.C. get this one?" she asked her, holding up a bone like device.
"What?" asked Syd, confused at what she had said to her.
"Watch this. Fetch it, boy!" said Leah, tossing the bone into the air. R.I.C. barked, leaping up to catch it. When he did, he transformed into a large blaster that the six of them caught together.
"How cool is that?" Bridge asked.
"A canine cannon." said Syd. "I love it."
"You'll pay for destroying my horn!" yelled Rhinix furiously and Syd walks towards him with Leah behind her.
"It's you who's going to pay." declared Syd, holding up her morpher.
"Let's see what the Judgement scanner has to say about you. Judgement Mode!" she said and it began to flash between the green circle and the Red Cross. It then flashed and remained on the cross. "Guilty!"
"Let's do this!"
"Canine Cannon!"
"Fire!" they blasted and it slammed into the alien, confining him inside the card. As Syd went to pick up the card, they heard shouts coming from the nearby hole. "It's the missing people." said Syd, then looks over at Leah. Leah then sighs and heads over to the hole.
"Power down. I'm hoping that I'm getting overtime for this!" she calls over her shoulder before she jumps into the hole.
"Another case solved by the brilliant B-Squad." Jack declared as Syd returned from her shower.
"I knew R.I.C. would come through for us." said Syd with a smile on her face, throwing her arms out. One collided with Bridge's stomach and he winced, rubbing it.
"But don't forget, you came through for R.I.C. too." said Z. the others nodded and Syd flushed.
"And it looks like all his systems work perfectly too." said Leah yawning, holding another cup in her hands and wearing a pair of headphones around her neck.
Z looks over at Leah and before she could say something, they heard Kat's voice echoing through the intercom. "Power Rangers, report to the command center immediately." said Kat.
"What did we do now?" sighed Jack.
"For extraordinary service in the line of duty," Cruger spoke loudly as everyone gathered in the command center. "A special commendation to our Robotic Interactive Canine: R.I.C. A most valuable member of the S.P.D. team!" The commander announced. Everyone applauded as R.I.C. looked up, the medal attached to his head.
"R.I.C. 2.0 is great, but you know…I kinda miss the old R.I.C." Syd admitted as she gave a sad smile.
"Well, we didn't change all of his programming." said Bridge, grinning.
"We left in the things that made him R.I.C." said Boom.
"I can verify that to be true." said Cruger, shaking out his foot from the puddle of coolant left by R.I.C. Everyone then starts laughing until Syd notices that Leah wasn't with them
"Hey, has anyone seen Leah?" she asked.
"She was here a minute ago." said Cruger. Just then, they heard a small snore coming from behind the commander and looked to see that Leah was laying on top of the computer console, still holding the cup in her hand with her headphones on. Her leg twitches a bit as she sleeps.
Z walks up to her, eases the cup from the hand and smells the cup. "Figures. Milk gets her every time." said Z, smiling as they heard a small part of music coming out of the headphones.
"Let's finally get her to bed before she falls off and breaks a bone." said Kat, taking Leah off the console and carried her out of the command center.
"Math…so much math." muttered Leah as she snuggled into Kat's arms. "No more math. Math evil."
"Math will still be there tomorrow." said Cruger, chuckling with her fellow rangers.
"You can capture math tomorrow in a containment card." Kat whispered into her ear as Leah reaches for an imaginary morpher.