Chapter 11: Rise Of The
By: Pink-Green-White-4ever
Last Revised: March 11, 2006
Summary: Spoilers for Endings Pt. 2 - 5 yrs. post Endings Pt. 2, and the infamous B Squad Rangers are invited to celebrate Cruger’s reassignment to General and head of SPD HQ and Sky’s promotion to Commander, but something goes awry, and they have to race against the clock to save one of their friends before it’s too late.
Ships: Syd/Sky, Bridge/Z, Jack/Ally, Cruger/Isinia, Kat/Boom
Rating: M – changed for Adult Themed Situation.
AN:
Thanks to EK for consenting to help me with a few things the last few chapters!
Dedication:
To BV – you will not be disappointed with the epilogue, I promise. It may not be a fairy tale ending, but I
think you’ll love it when it comes.
--
“Excuse
me?” Nick demanded.
Kat
and Boom shared a look, the blonde nodding as Kat took a deep breath. “Commander Tate’s morpher signal has
disappeared, just like General Cruger, Lt. Carson, and Mr. Landors’ did.”
While
the actual A Squad looked confused and distraught, Sam and Nova shared a look
that only Boom and Kat caught. Sam
nodded to Nova, who moved to whisper something in Boom’s ear. “Dr. Manx, we need to have a small
conference,” Boom spoke just loud enough for Kat’s ultra-sensitive ears to
catch it. The feline nodded her head
ever so subtly before turning her attention back to the Rangers.
“I
want the five of you to go rest. You’re
going to need every last bit of energy you can get your hands on when we find
the Commander and the others.”
“But…!”
Claudia attempted to argue, only to be silenced with a deadly glare from Kat.
“Now.” The Rangers quickly
saluted and hurried from the room, leaving Kat and Boom staring at Nova and
Sam. “Alright you two, start
explaining.”
“Well,
you see…” Sam started, looking sheepish as Nova stood next to him, her head
bent, eyes on the floor.
--
Bridge’s
eyes snapped open, his brain registering the familiar sensation of his best
friend’s presence. Doggie, Jack and Z
were all still sleeping, trying to conserve their energy. Bridge had been too, but feeling his friend’s
arrival left him wondering and worrying.
Would
The
others were awake the second they heard the footsteps coming down the hall. They waited tensely as the cell doors were
opened and a familiar figured was tossed in, looking bloody and bruised.
“SKY!”
“Master
Vile had a little fun with the pathetic one,” Klank laughed, slamming the cell
door. “Rest, Rangers, tonight will be
your last alive if my master has anything to say about it.”
Once
the robotic Scotsman was gone, the rangers and Doggie grouped around Sky. Z sat on the ground with him, his head in her
lap. “Sky?”
Doggie asked, kneeling next to his young friend.
“Syd…” The quartet shared looks, not knowing how to
respond.
“Sky,
she...” Jack started, watching his friend’s eyes open, revealing blue eyes that
looked a little hazy.
“She
has to come for us, Nova said...plan...save Bridge,” Sky managed before his
body gave out on him and his head lulled to the side.
The
others were left looking at each other, wondering about what Sky had been
saying. “Ok, what does that mean?” Z
asked, stroking a hand down Sky’s cheek.
Her other honorary older brother, besides Jack, was looking like death
warmed over.
Jack
shook his, not quite sure, while Bridge and Doggie shared looks. The two of them knew Syd and Sky well enough
to know exactly what it meant. “It means
“Look!”
Bridge gasped, pointing to the small square box at Sky’s side. Leaning forward, Bridge unclipped it and
smiled. Apparently, Master Vile and his
minions hadn’t checked Sky very well; he was still carrying his morpher.
“Big
mistake on their parts,” Z grinned, watching smiles spread across the faces of
each of her teammates.
“Now
we formulate our own plan, and wait for Syd and the others.”
--
The
first place she went after Nova and Sam gave her back her morpher was the park,
where so long ago she’d been able to be carefree and have fun with her friends
and the man she loved. She saw it now as
the best place for peace and quiet, and some time to think about her plan.
It
wasn’t sound by any means, with too many holes in it, but she hadn’t had the
luxury of having time to think it out properly before. Now she did.
If what she could remember from her brief stay with Vile, the other
members of her team would be housed together in one cell, just so Vile could
visit whenever he wanted and gloat, just like he’d done to her and Nova.
For
a moment, she knew what she was thinking was ludicrous, but it just might
work. Nova had been in the care of Vile
and his goons for months, maybe even years, before she’d been tossed in with
her. If anyone knew how Vile thought, it
would be Nova; for a ten year old, the girl was smarter then most people twice
her age. If she could somehow sneak Nova
with her, she might have a chance, but she knew it was also not the smartest of
ideas. Nova was a child, an innocent;
Syd didn’t want to risk taking her and having something happen to her.
“
Looking
up from where she sat on the small bridge over the pond, Syd saw Nova and Sam
running toward her, RIC in tow. “What?”
“Sky’s
gone.”
Surging
to her feet,
“We
sorta told Dr. Manx about your plan,” Nova told her, looking up at the Pink
Ranger through her eyelashes.
“What?”
“She
thinks it’s a good plan, Syd,” Sam defended their decision. “She wants you to come back to SPD, she and
Boom are going to help. And we’re going
with.”
“Oh,
no, you’re not. We’ll go back to base,
but you two are not going with me, it’s too dangerous,”
Nova’s
tiny hand closed over
The
little girl smiled up at her. “Dr. Manx
gave it to me, it’s the Nova Ranger Morpher
prototype. Sam has Omega’s. We’re going with you.”
Shaken,
Nodding,
Nova smiled. “Dr. Manx already did. My real name is Melody McKnight, the daughter
of Conner McKnight and Kira Ford McKnight, the red and yellow Dino Thunder
Rangers.”
--
Isinia
sighed, walking at a steady pace toward the
She
entered the
Boom
stood tall, his head resting on top of the head of the woman he so obviously
loved. Kat’s face was turned into his
neck, her arms around his waist, her eyes closed. One of Boom’s hands was slowly rubbing Kat’s
back while the other cradled the back of her neck. Isinia could see their lips moving, and knew
they were speaking to one another.
“Mrs.
Cruger,” Boom acknowledged, letting his arms slid away from Kat as she stood
straight to welcome Doggie’s wife.
“Isinia.”
“Any word on the others?” Isinia asked, smiling mischievously.
“No. Sam and Nova have gone to retrieve
“Then
we shall wait for
Boom
cleared his throat, catching both their attentions, and then nodded to the door
behind Isinia. Standing in the door way,
looking unusually fierce and determined, were
The
blonde Ranger looked up at her friend and mentor, a sad smile playing across
her features. “I’m sorry for not telling
you sooner, but they...”
“I
know,” Kat told her, reaching up to clasp her shoulder. “Nova and Sam already told us. Are you ready?”
“Of
course; why don’t you brief us, and then we’ll get started.”
--
Four
hours later found
Thinking
back, she tried to recall now when the signs had started. It wasn’t until...Murlock. It wasn’t until Sky had faced down his
father’s killer that there had been a change in their relationship. They’d been like brother and sister for most
of their acquaintance, a lot more than ever before, especially in the first
year they were rangers because he’d had a crush on Z. But after the business with Murlock and after
Z and Bridge had started spending more and more time together, something had
changed with the two of them.
‘God
Sky, are we ever going to be able to get it right?’ she thought sadly, her eyes
taking in the formal picture of the team shortly after Jack had left. Bridge and Sky were standing together, with Z
next to Bridge and her next to Sky. The
four of them looked so serious, and yet, so young and hopeful. ‘I am going to get you back, safe and sound,
I promise. Even if I
have to die trying.’
--
Boom
was utterly exhausted even as he stared at the computer screens. Several times, he’d locked onto the signal
from Sky’s morpher before it had disappeared.
Each time he’d set about finding the signal again, and each time he lost
it, he lost a little more hope.
“You’re
still up?” Kat’s soft voice asked.
Turning,
Boom locked weary eyes on his best friend, the woman he was just now realizing
he loved. “Every time I find him, the
signal disappears. I’m not going to bed
until I find him, permanently.”
Kat
closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had never known Boom could be so stubborn,
but conceded that it was just one of the many things that endured him to her,
and if she ever decided to admit it, it was one of the reasons she’d fallen in
love with him. He was fiercely loyal,
optimistic, and intelligent. Of course,
he also had minor moments of self-doubt, but who didn’t.
“Boom,
go get some rest. I’ll stay here and
continue looking,” Kat told him, moving toward him.
“NO! I’ll find him!” Boom snapped, causing Kat’s
eyes to widen and her mouth to drop open in shock.
“Don’t
make me pull rank,” Kat retorted, her eyes narrowing at him.
Boom’s
mouth dropped open at the suggestion of her pulling rank. “Kat...”
“Don’t
Kat me,” she told him, letting a smile slip back onto her face. She walked over to him and lifted one slim
hand up to cup his cheek. “You need
rest. You’re going to be of no use to
the Rangers, or me, if you’re asleep on your feet when Sydney and the kids go
after the others. Please, go get some
sleep.”
He
looked too tired to argue. “Kat, when
this is all over...”
She
smiled up at him. Maybe admitting she
was in love with him wasn’t going to be as hard as she thought, especially
since she could see his love for her shining in his eyes. “We’ll talk about that when the others are
back here, safe and sound.”
Boom
nodded. Leaning down, he gently kissed
Kat’s cheek. “Don’t stay up to late, and
come get me when you find something.”
“I
will,” Kat murmured, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him, hugging
him, before letting him leave the room.
Once Boom was out of the room, Kat turned her attention back to the
computer where Boom was running the search for Sky’s morpher signal. “Ok, let’s see if I can find you, Sky.”
--
The
first thing Sky registered was that he wasn’t in his room at the base. The second thing was that he was surrounded
by four figures. Carefully opening his
eyes, he more relieved then he’d ever say to see Jack, Z, Bridge and Doggie
staring down at him.
“Sky?”
“Got
any aspirin?”
The
others chuckled and shook their heads.
Jack and Bridge grabbed each of his hands and helped pull him up while Z
pushed up on his back. Once he was
sitting upright, Sky found they were locked in a rather small cell in some sort
of prison.
“You
ok?” Z asked softly.
“I’ve
got a massive headache,” Sky muttered.
“Where the hell are we?”
Z
shrugged, Bridge looked thoughtful, Doggie remained silent, and Jack looked
sorta pissed off. “We’re in a cell, in
the hands of Master Vile, thanks to our illustrious former Pink Ranger.”
Jack
reeled when he saw the look on Sky’s face.
Obviously, Doggie had been correct, Jack assumed, just from the
expression Sky was sporting. “
“How
do you know that, Sky?”
Sky’s
eyes turned to Doggie, who was staring at him intently. “Nova told me.”
“Did
she say anything other than that?” Z asked.
Sky
shook his head. “Only that my being
taken had to be believable. I thought
she was joking, until I went into the gym and was lifting weights, trying to
clear my head. Next think I know,
there’s the tin can with the Scottish accent and he’s firing a laser at me
while he’s going on and on about Syd’s plan.
They know, don’t they?”
“Yeah,
but they’ve already goofed up,” Bridge grinned, extending his arm toward
Sky. When the former Blue and Red Ranger
held out his hand, Bridge dropped the device he held into it’s
owner’s hand.
“My morpher.”
“They’re
in for a rude awakening,” Bridge laughed.
“Yes,
they are.”
--
Her
chin was resting in an upturned palm while her eyes stared at the computer
screen in front of her, her free hand clicking a button every now and
then. She was so bored she was almost
asleep, until the computer started chirping at her, startling her. Sitting up quickly, Kat stared at the
computer and almost wept joyful tears; she’d found Sky’s morpher.
“RANGERS REPORT TO THE
“Dr.
Manx?” Nova asked.
Kat
smiled. “Found ‘em.”
What
looked like a physical wave of relief washed over those gathered. “Well?”
“The
morpher signal is coming from a ship hovering over Earth,” Kat told them. “That’s why it took so long, with the planet
moving, we couldn’t get a definite lock on it.”
“Alright. Kat and Boom, stay here,
monitor the signal. Sam, Nova, you’re
with me,”
“What
about us?” the Rangers asked.
The
Rangers looked upset by that. “I don’t
think the SPD traitor should be trusted, not with two prototype morphers or
with saving the General and Commander,” Nick argued.
Isinia
raised an eyebrow, Boom rolled his eyes, both Sam and Nova smirked, knowing
what was coming, and Kat simply glared at the Red Ranger.
The
Red Ranger,
“No.”
“Then
you’ll be staying, Cadet.”
“I
still don’t think...”
“I DIDN’T
ASK WHAT YOU THOUGHT!”
“You’re
nothing but a traitor.”
“Cadet,
one day, you may understand my reasoning. I don’t expect that day to be
today. Sam, Nova, let’s go,”
Sam
and Nova grinned at each other, before all three raised their arms.
“SPD OMEGA RANGER!”
“SPD NOVA RANGER!”
“PINK
RANGER,
The
A squad stumbled back in surprise while Boom, Kat, and Isinia watched in awe as
the transformations took place, power surrounding the three. Once the light of their morphs died down, the
three Rangers looked at each other and nodded.
Sam
and Nova were in awe of their uniforms, and then they both turned to stare at
“Wow.”
“Gawk
at me later, save the others now. Kat,
you’re in charge.”
Even
as the trio was racing out of the command center, a distraught looking cadet
came rushing in, nearly getting trampled in the process.
“Dr.
Manx!”
“Yes
Cadet?”
“Mr.
and Mrs. McKnight are here.”
Kat’s
eyes widened; she’d forgotten she’d called Conner and Kira to inform them of
their daughter’s whereabouts and that Nova was with SPD. “Bring them to me, Cadet.”
“Yes
ma’am.”
Sighing,
Kat turned to Isinia. “Can you handle
them?”
“Isinia
nodded.”
“Rangers…”
Kat
didn’t get to say anymore because the alarms suddenly started going off and the
computers switched to battle mode, displaying the problem for all to see. “You’ve got an attack to stop, get
going. Boom, monitor them while I look
after the others.”
“SPD EMERGENCY!”
Kat’s
head snapped up, just as the Rangers departed through the jump tubes to their
zords, and two figures rushed into the room.
The
feline was shocked to see the more adult looking Red and Yellow Dino
Rangers. When she’d briefly met them
during their trip to New Tech thanks to Broodwing, they had struck her as
mature teenagers, but teenagers none the less.
Here they were now, twenty five years later, and they were both
approaching fifty. It was a mild shock
for her.
“Conner,
Kira,” Kat greeted before even Isinia could respond.
“Dr.
Manx,” Conner responded.
“Where
is she?” Kira demanded.
Kat
took a deep breath and shook her head as Isinia moved to speak with the
McKnights. Melody was Conner and Kira’s
youngest; they had three other children that ranged from twenty down. When she’d been kidnapped during a trip to
Angel Grove when she’d been only three, Kira and Conner had been
distraught. That had only worsened when
no sign of her had been found. Kat could
only imagine how they were feeling at this moment, knowing that someone who
hated all Rangers had taken their daughter from them.
“She’s
gone with Sam and Sydney.”
“Where to?” Kira growled.
“To
save General Cruger, Commander Tate, Lt. Commander and Lt. Carson from Master
Vile,” Kat all but whispered, her eyes locked on the two former Rangers.
“WHAT?”
--
“Doesn’t
look like much,” Sam grumbled. The trio
were surveying the area where the signal from Sky’s morpher had led them,
noticing that it was sparsely guarded and didn’t look like a place an evil
henchman or war lord would hide out in.
“Looks
can be deceiving,” Syd reminded them. “I
want you two to stick together, find the others, and then get out. Understood?”
“What
about you?” Nova sputtered in protest.
“I’m
going after Vile. Sam, you do have what
Boom gave you, right?”
“All but Sky’s, yeah.”
“Good.”
Sam
swallowed hard and pulled the bag into view.
“Syd, do you want yours?” he asked, gesturing to the velvet pouch.
“No. Give it to Sky, tell
him I’m coming back for it, and for Peanuts.
He’ll understand what that means.”
The
two younger Rangers nodded. “Be
careful,” Nova whispered, embracing Syd.
The Pink Ranger rested her helmet covered cheek on the top of Nova’s
head for a moment, and then pulled Sam into her arms when Nova pulled away.
“Stay
out of trouble, watch out for each other, and get out of here as soon as you
can. Don’t stop and wait for me, just
go,” she whispered to Sam, so Nova couldn’t hear.
The
young man nodded, squeezed both of Syd’s hands, and then pulled away. Carefully,
“I
CALL UPON THE POWER OF THE
“Pink
Ranger...”
“