Last Revised: October 23, 2005

Summary: Sky and Syd have been sworn enemies ever since they could remember. Bridge, Z and Jack are tired of their constant arguments and hatch a plan to get them to at least be civilized to each other. However, along the way, Sky and Syd discover for themselves the true sides and good qualities of each other.

Disclaimer: We don’t own Power Rangers. This story was written for entertainment purposes only.

Note: We are totally and complete sorry for the lack of updates! PGW4E and I have been extremely busy with other projects and school. But since we are almost done with the Ars Amatoria's theme challenge, hopefully we’ll have more time to work on this particular piece. Anyway, we hope you enjoy this chapter! -BV

-x-x-x-

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Sydney glanced up at the ceiling and sighed. It had been raining all day and water was beginning to leak through the cracks. It was getting worse by the day. The school for disabled children had been crumbling for years now and was in desperate need of repairs. Sydney herself, had donated tons of money, but it was no use, the school needed complete renovating.

The pink ranger returned her attention to the little boy sitting next to her. She smiled to herself. Kyle was such a sweet little boy and he loved learning.

“Is thith right, Siddy?” Kyle looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

“Let’s see,” Syd bent over to inspect the child’s work, quickly calculating the simple math problem in her mind. “Yes, it is! Good job, Kyle!”

The little boy glowed, pleased with Sydney’s praise. “Can I go play now?”

“Okay, Kyle. I’ll come get you when your break is over, alright?”

The little boy nodded and scampered off to join the other children in the playroom. Sydney grinned and turned back to the table, cleaning up the various papers and pencils lying about.

“You are so good with the children.”

Sydney turned toward the doorway as Caitlynn Roberts made her way into the room. The older woman had a beaming wide smile on her face as she approached the pink ranger. “Thank goodness for you Sydney. I wish more of my volunteers have as big of a heart as you do. Goodness knows that we need more people like you on Earth.”

The pink ranger blushed. “That means a lot, Caitlynn,” she replied. “I’m just glad I’m able to volunteer here at all.”

“Oh posh,” Caitlynn dismissed her comment with a wave of her hand. “Honey, you’re just about the best thing that’s ever happened to this school. The children simply adore you. No one else in this school has as much patience working with disabled children as you do.”

The pink ranger grinned radiantly. “Thanks Caitlynn.”

“Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something,” the old woman began.

Sydney raised an eyebrow in interest.

“Have you noticed how rundown and broken our school is becoming?”

She nodded. “Yes. Is there anything that I can do to help?”

“As a matter of fact,” Caitlynn paused. “You can. I have a friend that works in the Habitat for Humanity and I’ve asked him to help us out with our situation. Bob Conrad agreed and called me today telling me that he’s gathered up a bunch of his volunteers and that they were going to head over here on Friday to begin the repairs that this school desperately needs. In fact, Bob said that he and his team are willing to build us a brand new school!”

“That’s wonderful!” Sydney exclaimed, before pausing. “But what can I do to help? I know absolutely nothing about building stuff.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, dear,” Caitlynn smiled. “You won’t have to touch any tools or anything of that sort. But I was wondering if you would be willing to prepare snacks and meals for the workers? Since they are doing this for us without any cost, I have this need to find someway to repay them.”

The pink ranger nodded without giving it a second thought. “Of course I’ll do it.”

“Wonderful,” the older woman nodded. “I knew I could count on you, thank you Sydney.”

“Anytime!”

-x-x-x-

‘Stupid! Idiot! DUMBASS!’ he cursed to himself as he let all of his pent up frustration out on the punching bag in his and Bridge’s room. “Of all the things I could have done, I had to go and KISS SYDNEY!” he howled to no one in particular, landing a fierce left cross to the blue bag.

He’d been working out for nearly an hour since Commander Cruger had dismissed him, Jack, Z and Bridge from the Command Center. Sydney, of course, had not been present. Commander Cruger had given some lame excuse as to why the little Pink SPD Princess had once again been allowed to skip out on an important session for the team. Briefly, he wondered where the Pink Ranger was before letting his anger take over once more.

“DAMN HER!”

Jack’s eyebrow went up as he listened to Sky from the hallway, the Red Ranger having stopped in front of the door to the Blue and Green Rangers’ room. He debated knocking but the ‘Damn Her’ comment had him intrigued. Grinning as a plan formed quickly, Jack stepped over the threshold and knocked on the door.

“COME IN!”

“Hey, I need a piece of advice,” Jack grinned, stepping in. “You’ve been here at the Academy for a long time, right?”

Sky stopped punching the bag and turned to look at Jack like the Red Ranger had lost his marbles, which wasn’t far off. Jack was taking his life into his own hands with what he was about to say, and he knew it.

“Yes. Why?” Sky asked impatiently, his voice and stance in perfect harmony with his annoyance at Jack’s interruption.

“Well, you see, I’m having a hard time figuring out who’s prettier and more worthy of me bestowing my attentions on, C Squad’s Trisha Evans or our very own Sydney?” Jack could only grin as Sky’s eyes narrowed in on his face. “You see, I’m finding it impossible to decide between them, as they’re both gorgeous. I mean, Trisha’s a beautiful brunette with smoke grey eyes and a dynamite figure but then, there’s the lovely, blonde bombshell that is our Pink Ranger. Any suggestions?”

Jack decided if looks could kill, he’d have been dead a thousand times over. Sky looked PISSED. “You want Sydney?” Sky choked out the three word sentence, making Jack bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

“Yeah, why not? It’s not like she’s attached to anyone, or is she and I don’t know it? And besides, it’s not like Bridge, or even, let’s say, YOU, have feelings for her, right? She’s like an annoying little bug to YOU and she’s Bridge’s best friend, and from what I know, Bridge has a thing for Z, so it’s perfectly alright for me to see if there’s anything between me and Syd.” Jack had to smile widely, metaphorically patting himself on the back for channeling the famous Green Ranger babbling as he talked to Sky.

“What?” Sky growled, looking fierce, confused, and downright jealous.

“I’m sorry Sky, I didn’t know you had feelings for Syd,” Jack apologized, laughing internally.

“I DO NOT HAVE FEELINGS FOR SYDNEY!”

“OH!” Jack quipped, raising his hands up in front of him in defense. “I’m sorry then, I didn’t know you had feelings for Trisha. Dang Sky, you really should tell me these things. I’m sorry. You don’t mind if I go for Syd right? I think she and I have a lot of chemistry.”

“JACK! SHUT UP!”

“RANGERS! MONSTER ATTACKING THE HARBOR!”

The Blue and Red Rangers looked at each other, morphed and then ran to their vehicles.

-x-x-x-

The battle was already in full swing when Sydney arrived on the scene. Bridge and Z were back to back taking out the Krybots left and right while both Jack and Sky were isolated from them, each fighting in their own space. Syd rolled her eyes and saw Jack was doing fine while Sky was being overwhelmed. ‘Guess I have to go help him,’ she sighed and sprinted toward the Blue Ranger.

“It’s about frickin’ time you showed up!” Sky grunted, tossing two Krybots away from him. “What took so long? Wait, let me guess, you were getting your nails done and they needed to dry first?”

“Gee, Sky, I didn’t know you worried about my manicure!” Syd tossed back at him, spinning to catch a Krybot with a vicious roundhouse kick.

“Would you guys stop arguing and fight?” Z bellowed at them, tired of their snipping at each other. Once the Krybots disappeared, the team regrouped.

“Awww, come here Syd,” Jack beckoned. The Pink Ranger moved toward him, and was pulled close to his side, his arm draped around her shoulders. “No matter what Sky says, I still love you, Pinkie.”

Jack smiled under his helmet, loving the way Sky’s shoulders suddenly went all tense.

“What the heck is Jack doing?” Z grunted as she stood next to Bridge.

“I have no clue.”

The rangers were barely able to take a breather before they were hit with blasts from all sides. A Blue Head appeared, with more Krybots at its side.

“Great,” Z sighed as they all got into their fighting stances.

“Can we do this quickly? I have somewhere I need to be,” Syd shouted as she tackled a Krybot.

“Oh, of course,” Sky stated sarcastically. “We wouldn’t want you to be late for a salon appointment now, would we?”

“Don’t talk about what you don’t know, Tate,” the pink ranger hissed.

“Do you guys have to do this now?” Z cut in, getting more irritated by the moment. “Focus, please!”

There was an explosion and both Sky and Syd flew back, hitting the side of a building. Seeing another opportunity, Jack quickly ran over to the pink ranger’s side.

“Syd! Are you alright?” Jack placed his hands on Syd’s shoulders, helping the pink ranger to her feet.

“I’m fine Jack.”

“Are you sure? If you’re really hurt, I can carry you back to the Academy after the battle is over!” Turning slightly, the red ranger could see Sky tense up. He grinned behind his visor, pissing Sky off was always fun. Making him realize that he was jealous was just an added bonus. For added effect, he wrapped an arm around Syd’s waist, pulling at her slightly, so that she stumbled against him. He heard Sky growled quietly. Perfect.

"Jeez, I think Jack wants to die early," Z muttered to Bridge as they watched Jack openly flirt with Sydney. From what she could tell behind her visor, Sky was hopping mad. "Sky looks like he's ready to kill."

Bridge only shrugged. "Jack brought it upon himself. Guess we have to start planning his funeral. "

“If you two are quite finished being lovey-dovey, could we please finish this!” Sky huffed at Syd and Jack, who looked startled.

“Yes, let’s finish this, Rangers!” Broodwing’s horrible laughter filled the air.

The team turned just in time to see the nasty fishbowl-headed bat fire several shots out, which connected with Jack, Sky and Syd.

“GUYS!” Z and Bridge cried out, only to be silenced seconds later as they were fired upon as well, disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

“Perfect. I have them separated from each other, time to close in for the kill!” That said, Broodwing disappeared.

-x-x-x-

“Oof!”

“Ouch!” She landed hard and instantly demorphed upon hitting the cold ground. Syd sat up, clutching her forehead as she looked around. She was surrounded in complete darkness and instinctively shuddered. She hated the dark. “What happened?” she muttered to herself.

“What do you think happened? Broodwing transported us somewhere, that’s what happened!” came the sarcastic reply.

Syd froze and squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh no… no, no, no, no… please no… the fates cannot possibly be that cruel… anyone but him…”

“Quit talking like I’m not even here,” Sky sounded annoyed. “You think this is a picnic for me?”

The pink ranger scowled. “Wonderful,” she continued to mutter. “Of all people, I managed to get stuck with you. The fates must be out to get me.”

“Quit being so dramatic,” Sky retorted. “Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your position right now?”

“Those girls must’ve lost their minds, if they wanted to be with you,” she shot back.

“You weren’t complaining the other day.”

That effectively shut her up. She hated when he was right, and this time he was right. Sky assumed she was pouting until he heard her speak up. “At least we know you have good taste about some things.”

This time, Sky’s mouth snapped shut and he counted down from ten so he wouldn’t throttle her. He glared into the darkness. “Let’s get out of here,” he mumbled, moving forward, his hands running along the wall until he saw a bright light come from behind him. “What is that?”

Syd smirked at him and shook the light into his eyes, watching his hands come up to block the brightness of the light. “Our morphers are equipped with emergency flashlights, remember?” she sarcastically asked, then moved the light so that he could get the flashlight out of his morpher.

The Blue Ranger grumbled something under his breath about infuriating Pink Rangers and switched on his light, before shining it on the rock around them. “We’re in a cave.”

“No shit Sherlock, you think?”

The two shared annoyed looks before going their separate ways in the cave in an unspoken truce to find a way out of their current predicament. They worked in silence, neither wishing to speak to the other. It wasn’t until a few moments later that the silence was broken.

“AHHHH!” Syd screamed, causing Sky to jump and then run toward her as she back pedaled on the sand covered floor, her flashlight forgotten.

“SYDNEY!”

“KILL IT! KILL IT! KILL IT!”

Sky gasped loudly, in both surprise and pain, when Sydney jumped to her feet and threw herself into his arms, shaking and sobbing. It took the Blue Ranger exactly two seconds to realize that she wasn’t just being a girlie girl about what she saw, but that she was actually crying. Not sure what do to, Sky wrapped one arm around her back and brought the other up to hold her head to his chest.

“Sydney, come on, what’s wrong? What did you see?”

In a quiet, child-like voice, she replied, “It’s a spider.”

Sky almost wondered if he’d heard her correctly until he saw the spider handing from the ceiling near her flashlight. He had to admit, it was a good sized spider, but it wasn’t anything to be scared of. “You screamed and started crying because of a SPIDER?”

“YES!” she cried harder. “I HATE SPIDERS! I ALWAYS HAVE! KILL IT PLEASE!”

The Blue Ranger managed to wiggle out of her embrace, and made her sit on the ground before he went over and killed the spider just so he didn’t have to listen to her cry about it. When he turned back to her, ready with a sarcastic remark, he saw the most vulnerable look on her face that he’d seen in years. In fact, the look he saw there shot him back in time, making him think of another time when he’d seen her face scrunched up like that. His dad had just unlocked the simulator… but he couldn’t remember what had made her look like that.

Sighing, Sky grabbed her flashlight and moved over to sit with her. She was still crying, her shoulders shaking as she rocked back and forth. He sat down next to her, and then did something completely unexpected – he pulled her into his lap, held her head to his chest, and rocked her gently until her crying calmed down some. “Sydney, it’s okay, I killed it. It can’t hurt you, not now.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, her voice still sounding very much like it had when she was a little girl. Tears were still streaming down her face.

“You’re welcome,” his voice was unnaturally soft. “Now, come on, let’s try and find our way out of here.”

Syd nodded and they both stood. Sky moved forward, fully expecting the pink ranger to let go of him and was surprised when Sydney still clung to his arm. Not knowing what else to do, Sky just let her cling to his arm and together, they moved forward.

As they walked, he glanced down at the blonde next to him. Sydney was usually so cheerful (when she wasn’t yelling at him, that is) and he was confused at the fact that she, one-fifth of the B-squad Power Rangers, would be so frightened of a spider. It just didn’t make sense at all; Sydney had been through worse things.

“Where do you think we are?” Sydney asked as they moved back the way Sky had come from.

“Your guess is as good as mine, but judging from the temperature in here, we’re either under ground or we’re in the mountains.”

“Think our communicators will work in here?” Syd asked, reaching for her morpher. She opened it and hit the communication button, but all she got was static. “Guess not.”

“The walls of this cave are probably blocking all outside signals, and trapping our own in,” Sky told her, shining his flashlight on a part of the walls the he noticed turned into another tunnel. He debated them splitting up, but with Syd still clinging to his arm, he didn’t think that was going to happen or that it was such a great idea. Besides, he admitted to himself, he liked her needing him in an odd sorta way.

Syd saw the look on his face and knew he was debating whether or not they should split up. Realizing they’d cover more ground, let alone the fact that she was still acting like an eight year old, Syd slowly let her hands slip from his arm. “We should split up,” she started, seeing the two tunnels. “And meet back here in say, two hours?”

Sky saw the fear, not on her face, but in her eyes, and sighed. He wasn’t too game with splitting up either, now that he really thought about it, but she was right. “Ok, two hours. Let’s see if our communicators work between the two of us. I’m gonna go down the tunnel a bit, and I’ll contact you.”

Nodding, Sydney took out her communicator once again and watched him jog carefully down the tunnel. “Do you read?” Sky’s voice came, clear as day over her communicator.

“We’re good to go. I’m gonna head down the other tunnel, see you in two hours.”

“Copy that.”

-x-x-x-

“Any word yet, Kat?” Jack asked as he, Bridge and Z stood together in front of Dr. Manx.

Z and Bridge had been transported to the beach, not far from the base, while Jack had ended up in the center of New Tech City at the Founder’s Fountain. They’d all been picked up pretty quickly once contacting Kat and Commander Cruger, but in the last six hours, there had been no word on Sky or Syd.

“I’m getting worried, seriously worried,” Z muttered, leaning into Bridge’s side as the Green Ranger wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“We’ll keep trying, why don’t the three of you go get some rest,” Kat suggested.

“Have you contacted their families yet?” Bridge remembered to asked.

“As of right now, they’re merely on a mission. When it gets to the point that they’re missing in action, Commander Cruger will call the Graysons and Collins’, I promise. Now go rest, Rangers, you’ll need it.”

Begrudgingly the trio moved out of the Command Center and toward the Common Room.

-x-x-x-

Syd blinked several times as her eyes adjusted to the light coming from the far end of the tunnel she’d gone down. Switching off the flashlight, she stepped out of the mouth and gasped. Snow covered mountains, pine trees, and the setting sun greeted her. She’d long since given up trying to get in touch with Sky, the farther they got away from each other, the less their signals were able to get through, until Syd had found all she got was static.

“Let’s see if this works,” she crossed her fingers and hit her communicator button. “Cadet Drew to Base, come in Base.”

“We read you Cadet,” Kat’s happy voice filtered out of the device, causing Sydney to smile. “Where are you?”

“Sky and I got stuck in a cave, Kat, in the mountains.”

“Give me five minutes to lock on your location and we’ll dispatch a helicopter to pick you up.”

“Negative. I need to go back into the cave and find Sky. We split up an hour ago, I need to get him and get back here.”

“I have your coordinates. When you’re ready, just contact us again, and we’ll send help.”

“Copy that. Cadet Drew out.”

Sighing, Syd turned around, switched on her flashlight, and headed back into the cave, hoping to find Sky quickly.

-x-x-x-

“Jeez, it’s really cold,” Syd muttered as she continued walking along the pathway. She shuddered, and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to keep warm. Her morpher was clipped to her waist, the light shining down at the ground in front of her. She continued walking until she found the place where she and Sky had first split up. Turning, she started down the path that Sky had followed.

Besides her flashlight, it was completely dark. Syd shuddered, but this time not from the chilly temperature. She wasn’t very fond of the dark and she hope that she’d find Sky as quickly as possible, she didn’t want to be alone more than she had too. She was so preoccupied with her thoughts, that she didn’t notice her path had become slippery and until she almost slipped and fell.

Grabbing onto the rocks that were handing at the side, the Pink Ranger steadied herself, and paused for a moment. Using one hand to keep her balance, the other hand grabbed her morpher and she shined along the path.

The path in front of her looked to be icy, the snow from the mountains must’ve melted and frozen. Carefully and slowly, she began walking again, trying not to slip. She walked along for a few more minutes, using the wall to help keep her balance. Syd was so focused on maintaining her balance, that she didn’t notice a person lying on the floor in front of her until she tripped over him. Sitting up, all thoughts were gone as she saw what was in front of her.

“Oh my god, Sky!”

Quickly, she got to her knees and moved over to him. She shined the light onto Sky’s face, and quickly pressed two fingers to his neck. When she felt a faint pulse, she sighed with relief. She and Sky might have not gotten along very well, but she certainly didn’t want him dead. She shined the light up to his forehead and gasped when she saw the trail of blood down the side of his face. “Oh god, Sky, what the heck happened to you?”

Glancing around, she concluded that Sky must’ve slipped and hit his head, knocking himself unconscious. ‘Okay, Syd, think!’ she told herself. Carefully leaning forward, Syd pulled him into a sitting position and managed to scoot him back so that he lay against the cave wall. Once that was done, she moved closer to him and began to examine the wound on the side of his head. It wasn’t very deep, and it didn’t seem to be bleeding much, but the Pink Ranger knew it was bound to start hurting when Sky started to wake up, not to mention start bleeding again.

An idea popped into her head suddenly, and she didn’t second guess it. Quickly, Syd unzipped her uniform jacket and stripped it off, thankful she’d remembered to wear something more substantial under her uniform than her usual camisole. She worked methodically, wrapping the jacket around Sky’s head so that he looked like he was wearing a turban; she didn’t want him to bleed more than he already had, and hoped her jacket would do the trick.

“How am I supposed to get you to the mouth of this dang cave?” Sydney’s frustration was evident as she stared at Sky by the light of the flashlight in her hand. An idea came to her, but Sydney wondered if she had the strength to pull it off. “Whether I do or not, we’ve got to get you back to base. I hope you don’t wake up during this.”

Standing up, Syd bent over and turned Sky so that his back was to her chest. She grabbed him under the arms and began pulling him back to the crossroads in the tunnels.

Every so often, Sky would moan or gasp as Sydney dragged him, or when she stopped to catch her breath. Syd was so determined to get him to safety that when she finally stopped to rest, she discovered just how cold she was getting. Shivering, Syd made sure Sky was resting comfortably against the wall before she sat next to him, her knees drawn to her chest, her arms wrapped around herself, attempting to create enough friction to get warm.

Sydney jumped when she felt Sky’s arm move, its destination her shoulders. She was surprised when she was pulled against his side, his warmth seeping through her chilled skin. It came as another small shock when she heard him mumbling, but only managed to make out her name on his lips. Fighting off sleep, Syd refused to settle against him. She had to get him to safety, but it was strangely comfortable to be lying against him like this. ‘Five minutes. I just need five minutes to get warm and then I’ll get moving again’ she thought, closing her eyes and snuggling against him.

Five minutes turned into almost an hour, and suddenly Syd found herself being pulled tight against Sky’s chest. Dazed, she opened her eyes and saw his eyes opened slightly, looking down at her, pain and confusion glazing his eyes. “Sky! You’re awake!” she chirped, and then toned her voice down when he winced. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on?” he asked softly, his fingers coming up to the wrap on his head.

“You fell and knocked yourself unconscious. I’ve been dragging you back toward the tunnel I went down for the better part of two hours. I found the exit, and I already contacted the others. Kat’s waiting for us to contact her again before she sends help.”

“You’re shivering,” he whispered, unconsciously pulling her closer to his chest. “Where’s your jacket?”

“Covering your wound. I wasn’t sure how bad it was or how bad it was gonna get, so I wrapped it around your head. I’m okay, really,” Syd spoke softly, but didn’t move. She was really cold, and for some reason, really sleepy.

“Look what we have here, two injured Rangers.”

Syd snapped her head around and pointed her flashlight at Broodwing. ‘Damn’ she thought, struggling to her feet. Sky tried to get up as well, but he moaned and slid back down. “What do you want, Broodwing?”

“Your destruction, bothersome Ranger.”

“Yeah, well, take a number and get in line, because lots of people want that but they haven’t been able to accomplish it yet,” Syd growled, dropping into a defensive stance.

“Once you’re out of the way, Pink Ranger, taking out blue boy there won’t be so hard.”

“You stay away from him!” Syd hissed, her hand going to her side. She was unmorphed, her morpher was on one side of her belt and her iron pellets were on the other side, but she wasn’t sure if she had enough time, or enough room, to morph.

Broodwing didn’t wait, he struck out at her, causing her to counter his attack by tossing him over her shoulder and past where Sky lay, watching the fight and trying to get up. “FIST OF IRON!” Syd called out, taking a pellet into her hand and calling on her genetic power. Broodwing rushed at her again, only this time she socked him in the face with her fist, shattering the glass around his face.

“DAMN YOU!” he screeched and then fled, knowing he was way in over his head with the Pink Ranger; she may be petite, cutesy, and a lover of pink, but the girl could move when she had to.

“Syd?”

“Right here,” she breathed out, kneeling next to Sky. “Come on, the sooner we get out of here, the sooner we get home.” She drew his arm over her shoulders and hoisted him up, the pair making their way a little faster to the mouth of the cave.

-x-x-x-

The first sensation Sky felt was warmth; the second was that he wasn’t alone. Slowly opening his eyes, the Blue Ranger looked down and blinked. A mass of blonde curls was at his side, near his hand, which was being held by a soft, delicate hand. It took him a few seconds to realize it was Sydney with her head on his bed, sitting next to him, sound asleep.

Reaching over with his free hand, Sky brushed the curls back from her face, and simply watched her sleep. She may be his worst enemy, next to Gruumm, but he was pretty damn proud of her. His respect for her had definitely shot up a hundred notches. He remembered the way she’d fought against Broodwing in the cave, the way she’d dragged him from the cave to safety, heck, she’d even argued with the doctors about leaving his side until she knew he was okay, even if it meant not getting checked out herself. In fact, it had taken an order from the Commander to get her to leave him. The only problem was, he didn’t understand why.

“Hmmm, Sky, no!” Sydney’s soft voice called out, her head thrashing slightly. Sky was about to wake her when she bolted awake, her eyes wild and seeking his. “Sky! You’re awake!”

“Not so loud!” Sky hissed, wincing.

Sydney bit her lip and looked sheepish. “Sorry. How do you feel?”

“Like I split my head open,” he sarcastically replied, watching the light die in her eyes, only to be replaced by something else, something he couldn’t name.

“Yeah, well, if you’d been more careful, you wouldn’t have cracked your head open! How stupid could you be? Didn’t you see the ice? Didn’t you know it meant that you were going the wrong way?”

Sky glared at her. “No, I didn’t, because my flashlight went out before I could tell if there was any!”

Sydney grumbled and stood up. “You know what; I don’t need to take your attitude. Here I was, worried that you were gonna be hurt, but you know what, nothing could hurt that rock hard head of yours! Not even Broodwing!”

The Pink Ranger stomped toward the door, Sky glaring at her before he relented and called out to her. “Sydney!”

“What?” Syd hissed, spinning around to face him.

“Thank you.”

Her anger just about evaporated completely at his words, and then she remembered who she was talking to. “Yeah, well, it’s not like I didn’t owe you one, because of the spider and all. Good night, Sky, I’m glad you’re feeling better.”

Sky watched her rush from the room, his face a mixture of confusion and, strangely enough, calmness.

-x-x-x-

“What a jerk,” Syd muttered to herself as she made her way back to her room. “I totally save his ass, and he becomes sarcastic with me! Jerk…”

“Syd!”

The pink ranger stopped muttering to herself and turned upon hearing her name being called. Bridge, Z and Jack rushed up to her.

“You’re awake!”

“What happened out there, Pinkie?”

“How are you feeling?”

Questions were fired at her and suddenly Syd found herself feeling extremely tired. She smiled at her friends. “Sky and I ended up in the mountains and Broodwing attacked us.”

Z looked concerned. “Are you okay? Have you been checked out by Kat?”

The pink ranger nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine after I get a couple more hours of sleep.”

“Get to bed then,” Bridge said. “We’ll catch up with you later.”

“Okay,” Syd nodded once more and turned, disappearing inside her room.

Jack frowned. “I hope she’ll be okay.”

-x-x-x-

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask,” Z spoke up as she, Jack and Bridge headed toward the Common Room. “What was with all the flirting you did with Syd during the battle?”

Jack chuckled as the three of them entered the room and he settled down on a bean bag chair. The red ranger rested his hands behind his head, his elbows sticking in the air and continued to grin as Bridge and Z settled on the couch across from him. “I am a genius.”

“That’s funny, I can’t decide whether he’s crazy or stupid,” the yellow ranger muttered to Bridge.

The green ranger nodded in agreement. “I don’t see how you can be a genius. Even though his face was covered by his helmet, even I could tell that Sky looked ready to kill you.”

“And that is precisely why I am a genius,” Jack continued to grin.

Bridge and Z looked at one another, and Z shrugged. “Okay, I give. Why are you a genius?”

“Sky’s angry at me right?”

Bridge and Z nodded.

“Don’t you see what that means?”

They shook their heads.

“It means Sky’s jealous,” Jack snorted.

Bridge and Z stared. A smile formed on their faces as realization struck and they burst out laughing.

“I have to admit, that is a good idea,” Bridge chuckled. “But I’m glad it’s you and not me.”

Jack gave them a smug smile. “By acting all jealous, hopefully Sky will realize he has at least some hidden feelings for Syd.”

“Hey Z, maybe you should flirt with Sky,” Bridge spoke up looking thoughtful.

The yellow ranger looked revolted. “You’re kidding right? Gross!”

“Not like that!” Bridge hurried to explain. “I meant, act like you like Sky in front of Syd. Since the jealousy factor works for Sky, it might work for Syd too.”

Z had a pained expression on her face. “Do I have too? It’s Sky we’re talking about here. The last thing I want to do is flirt with him.”

“It’s for the greater good, Z,” Jack urged.

“I thought the point of our schemes was to make them stop fighting,” Z grumbled. “Why are we suddenly trying to get them together again?”

Jack shrugged. “Because Sky needs to get laid. He’s too uptight.”

She threw a pillow at him.

“Because,” Bridge said, effectively ignoring Jack’s yelp as the pillow landed hard on the red ranger’s face. “Sky needs someone to challenge him in life. And Syd can definitely challenge him. We already know they’re secretly attracted to one another.”

“Why do I have to flirt with him again?”

“So we can see if Syd gets jealous.”

Z stared at Bridge and then at Jack. Both boys were giving her puppy dog expressions. “Come on Z, it’s for the greater good,” Jack repeated.

The yellow ranger rolled her eyes. “Fine,” she sighed. She shook her head as Bridge and Jack gave each other high-fives. “What have I gotten myself into?”

-x-x-x-