Note: Hi everybody, I’m back with a new fic! I guess you can say this is sort of a companion piece to ‘Pink Surprise’ –it’s not exactly a sequel, though this story will have some references to that story.

This story takes place a couple of months after the ending of ‘Pink Surprise’.

Disclaimer: This story is written purely for entertainment purposes only. I do not and will never own Power Rangers.

-x-x-x-

It had been four years.

Four long, agonizing years.

He had everything. He had been powerful. Strong. He controlled his own life. Took orders from no one.

And it had been all ripped away by some measly brats.

The man felt his blood boil at the thought of his reason for being in jail in the first place and he slammed a fist against the side of his bed. He then turned and looked out of the window of his jail cell. The moon shone brightly and beautifully, but he took no notice. His mind flashed back to four years earlier, to a time where he had been on top of the world. A time before he had lost everything.

The man stood up from his bed, and moved to stare out of the window. This time, he noted the smell of the waves as the ocean slapped against the side of the building. The peacefulness of the night seemed to calm the rage within him and brought him to a calm state of mind once more.

‘Soon,’ he thought, ‘soon, I’ll get out of here, and when I do, I’ll get my revenge.’

-x-x-x-

She walked along the dark corridors, smells of tobacco and ecstasy hanging in the air. Sounds of people moaning –in terror, it sounded like- were all around her and she swallowed nervously as her eyes darted from side to side. She headed toward her destination, fear gripping at her heart each step she took. She neared the big heavy door and pushing the door open, cautiously peeked inside. Inside, were two men, exchanging a deal of some sort.

One of the men noticed her and stood up from his chair, gesturing an arm toward her. “Ah, there you are!” he greeted as he moved toward her.

She suppressed a shudder as the man led her to his companion. This was to be her first assignment, and she was becoming more frightened with each passing moment. The other man grinned maliciously as he eyed her up and down. She didn’t want to do this, but she knew she had no choice, she-

“Z? Z! Wake up!”

A pair of hands shook her shoulders and Elizabeth Delgado sat up straight with a gasp, panic setting in, her heart pounding a mile a minute. She looked around wildly before registering that she was in her room at SPD Academy. Her roommate, Syd, was staring at her with an expression of concern.

Immediately, she calmed down and let out a sigh of relief. She was safe.

“Are you okay?” Syd demanded to know. The pink ranger was sitting at the edge of her bed, waiting for her answer as she handed her a glass of water.

Z took a few sips, instantly feeling a lot better. The yellow ranger lowered the glass. “Yeah,” she replied. “I’m fine.”

“Nightmare?” Syd asked knowingly. “You were thrashing in your bed and yelling out.”

Z shook her head. “Sort of. More like a bad memory.”

“Want to talk about it?”

There was a short pause. “Maybe some other time, if you don’t mind,” Z finally said. The yellow ranger glanced at the digital alarm clock on her nightstand. 2:37am. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Syd shook her head. “Nah. I was already up anyway, couldn’t sleep.”

Z frowned. “How come?”

Her roommate shrugged. “I was going to head to the boys’ room. It’s kind of hard to sleep without Sky next to me, nowadays.”

Z let out a soft laugh and shook her head.

Syd shrugged again. “Ever since that Jake incident, I still haven’t totally let down my guard, you know? Even though I know Jake is dead, sleeping in Sky’s arms makes me feel safer.”

Despite her nightmare only moments earlier, Z felt a shudder run through her. A few months ago, Sydney had been stalked by a man named Jordan Drover. Jordan had killed a man named Jake Hemmington and had taken over his identity. Coincidently Syd had resembled Jordan’s late wife, Susan. The man had mistakenly confused Sydney with Susan and thus began the stalking. Herself, Bridge and Jack, along with Kat Manx had worked painstakingly to bring the guy down. Ultimately they had succeeded, but at a heavy price –Jack had suffered a blow to the head and other injuries and Sky had been shot twice, for protecting Syd. Z still felt uneasy every time she remembered just what ‘Jake’ had done.

“Think you’re going to be okay?” Syd asked softly. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

The yellow ranger felt a smile come to her face. She wasn’t as close to Syd as she was with Jack, but they were getting there. Being the only girls on the ranger team had definitely brought them closer than she could’ve imagined. “I’m fine Syd. Trust me, all this stuff in my nightmare happened a long time ago.”

The pink ranger didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

Z waved off her concern. “Yes, I’m sure. I’m over it. Now go to Sky. I’m sure your boyfriend would be delighted that you want to get into his bed.”

Syd wrinkled her nose. “When you say it like that, you make it sound like I want to get into his pants or something.”

The yellow ranger wiggled her eyebrows. “Don’t you?”

She watched with amusement as her roommate blushed and began sputtering excuses. Finally, Z decided to go easy on her and laughed. “I was just kidding Syd. Go to Sky.”

The pink ranger hesitated before getting off the bed. The doors of their room slid open and she faced Z once more. “Are you really sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Z made a gestured that clearly said ‘get out of here.’ Moments later, the doors closed behind Syd as the pink ranger made her way to Sky’s room and she was left alone.

Letting out a sigh, Z settled under the covers once again, her nightmare still fresh in her mind. She turned on her side and shut her eyes tightly. ‘It was a long time ago,’ she told herself, ‘It’s all over now. You’re safe here at SPD. And besides, you know that Jack and all the other rangers would be around to protect you and keep you safe. And you know that you’re not helpless.’

With that thought in mind, Z fell back into an uneasy, restless sleep.

-x-x-x-

The sun shone brightly the next morning as the SPD Academy came to life with activity. Kat Manx and her assistant Boom were seen working on more gadgets and other things. In another area, Commander Cruger could be seen out on the training field, working with the C-squad cadets, with the D-squad watching close by waiting for their turn to be trained.

Bridge Carson groaned as he flopped down on the grass, ignoring the strange looks being sent his way from the cadets around him. Sweat was dripping all over his forehead but he could’ve cared less. He was that tired. He heard two more groans and someone flopping onto the ground next to him. He turned his head slightly and saw a mop of blonde hair on his left. Syd was lying flat on her back, breathing heavily from their training.

“I’m gross and dirty but I’m too tired and sore to move,” the pink ranger whined.

“Tell me about it,” Bridge agreed.

“At least this time Jack joined us,” Sky grumbled from Syd’s left. He looked just as exhausted as the others, but he made no move to lie on the ground like his friends. Instead, he sat down with an arm resting on his knee and one leg tucked under the other.

“Why did we have to do the 5-mile run through the mud swamp again?” Syd asked as she slowly moved toward the blue ranger and laid her head on his leg.

“’Cause Jack thought we needed to get in better shape,” Sky replied sarcastically, trying his best to wipe the mud off his hands. “You know I’m covered in mud right, Syd?”

“So am I,” the pink ranger retorted from his lap. “It’s not going to make much of a difference if I lay on you now, is it?”

The green ranger let out another sigh of exhaustion as his friends became absorbed in each other. Sky was playing with Syd’s muddy blonde hair and the pink ranger wasn’t objecting to more mud in her hair, being that she was too exhausted to complain. Bridge closed his eyes and laid there for a few minutes listening to the sound of other cadets training. Soon he heard more grunts and groans and he opened his eyes, lifting his head slightly as Z and Jack came out from under the obstacle. The yellow ranger pulled herself up and dragged herself over to Bridge’s right side before flopping onto the ground as well.

“I’m dead,” she groaned.

Bridge grinned tiredly in response and even though she was covered in mud from head to toe, he couldn’t help thinking that the yellow ranger was extremely pretty.

Jack made no attempt to stand up and instead crawled over to where his teammates were. “How did you three get ahead of us so fast?”

“You think we haven’t trained in there before?” Sky asked, giving the red ranger a look, “we’ve been on the squad for two years.”

“It’s stupid how it still makes us so tired,” Syd moaned, “we’ve been training for two years, the mud swamp should be a breeze by now.”

“It was a breeze,” Bridge cut in, “until the Commander decided to make it bigger.”

“At least now we have the rest of the day off,” Z said.

“Come on guys, let’s go get cleaned up,” Sky waited until Syd pulled herself into a sitting position before standing up. The blue ranger reached out to Syd and the pink ranger accepted his hand and slowly pulled herself up into a standing position, sighing tiredly as she did so. Bridge let out a groan before sitting up as well. He was not looking forward to getting all the mud out of his gloves!

“The next time I think we need to do the mud swamp course, beat me up,” Jack muttered as he sat up.

Both Sky and Syd looked happy at that comment. “Don’t worry, we will!”

The other three rangers stood up and together they all headed back towards the Academy.

-x-x-x-

Z sighed and leaned back into the passenger seat of the SPD jeep as she and Jack drove off, the SPD Academy disappearing behind them. Now that they had the rest of the day off, she and Jack had decided to visit some of their old friends, ones that they had known before joining SPD.

“Think they’ll be excited to see us?” Z asked, absently twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “I mean, we are dropping by without telling them.”

Jack shrugged. “We used to drop in to see them all the time without telling them.”

“But that was before we joined SPD.”

“So?”

“So… what if they… you know, don’t want to talk to us?”

“Z, you grew up with these people. You guys were close before I ever came along, why wouldn’t they want to talk to you?”

Z shrugged, leaning back into her seat as they continued driving further into the city. Pretty soon, familiar places were in her line of vision. Cracked roads and run-down houses that were practically falling apart, broken windows, smelly yards and flea infested trash littering the streets. The yellow ranger gave a tiny shudder. This had been her home for most of her life.

They pulled into the parking lot of a run-down looking factory and got out of their vehicle. A young man with dirty blonde hair looked up from his work as they approached. Instantly his face lit up in recognition. “Z!” he exclaimed. “Jack!”

Z felt a true smile come to her face as all her anxiety faded. “Hi Caleb!” She hugged him warmly as she approached.

Caleb Welling had been one of the many people that Z had encountered when she had been younger and she had been the one that she had turned to while growing up on the streets. Besides Jack, Caleb had acted like a surrogate older brother throughout the many years and Z had never forgotten his kindness.

Caleb released her and turned to greet Jack warmly. “It’s so great to see you guys!” Pulling back he smiled, “what brings you guys here?”

“We’re visiting,” Jack answered cheerfully.

“Come on in,” Caleb motioned them toward the factory. “It’s not as fancy as your SPD Academy, but it’s probably just as lively. The others will be so happy to see you!”

The three of them headed inside, ignoring the grunts of other workers that gave them glances as they passed. Caleb led them down a dimly lit corridor, toward a small room and gestured them inside. As soon as Z entered the room, followed by Jack, there was a loud shriek.

“ELIZABETH! Is that you?”

Rosanna Thompson bounced up to them, an excited expression on her face. “Oh it’s so good to see you! And Jack! You’re here too.”

Once all the hellos had been exchanged and they were joined by a few more people they all sat down on the ratty couches that the room provided.

“So tell us what SPD is like,” Larissa Lee asked eagerly. “We’ve seen some of your battles on T.V. and some those monsters look pretty dangerous! I hope you guys weren’t hurt too badly.”

“Nah,” Jack assured them, “the most we ever get is bruises. We’ve been lucky so far. It’s not that bad of a place really, sometimes certain people get on your nerves though.”

“So tell us about the other rangers,” Rosanna prodded, and then she grinned mischievously. “Think you can introduce me to that hot blue ranger?”

“Sky?” Jack stared at Rosanna. “Sky? You think Sky is hot? Are you feeling okay? What’s wrong with you? Sky is about the most uptight person you’ll ever meet.”

The yellow ranger shot Jack a disapproving look. “Sky’s not that bad anymore; he’s loosened up a lot.”

Rosanna grinned. “So does that mean he’s available?”

Z laughed. “Sorry Rosie, but Sky has a girlfriend. He’s dating our pink ranger. And you don’t want to mess with Syd, she has a mean iron fist.”

Rosanna gave an exaggerated sigh. “All the good looking guys are always taken.”

Jack snorted. “I don’t have a girlfriend.”

“Who said you were good looking?” Rosanna retorted.

Caleb grinned at Z as Rosanna and Jack got into a friendly argument. “It’s never dull around here,” Caleb spoke of his friends fondly. “So, how are you really?”

“I’m doing okay,” Z shifted.

Caleb eyed her. “Don’t lie to me Elizabeth Delgado. Something’s bothering you.”

Damn. Z bit her lip. How could Caleb read her like that? She was silent for a few moments, but finally sighed. There was no getting past Caleb after all. “I had a nightmare last night.”

“About what?” Larissa looked concerned as she moved closer to the two.

“I just relived a moment of the past,” Z mumbled, not really wanting to get into the story. “I’m okay though.”

“And that’s just what it is,” Caleb declared softly. “The past. Those days are over for all of us. We’re living happy lives now.”

“Yeah,” Z nodded and prepared to get comfortable. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up with old friends.

-x-x-x-

Note: Just so you guys know, I’ll be going by the canon ages that the writers of SPD gave us. Next chapter should be coming soon! Don’t forget to review!