Fractured Fates, by TsukinoAkume (Zhane/Sky Tate)
Title: Fractured Fates
Author: Tsukino Akume
Relationship: Zhane/Sky Tate, Jack Landors/Syd Drew
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Character with depression/health issues
Summary: When Andros put Zhane into cryogenic stasis, he didn't wake up until he was completely healed - twenty-four years later. Zhane finds a new team, and S.P.D. tries to deal with the aftermath.
List of 22: 17 ~ public dining
Author's Notes: Rangers being able to do things for free is blatantly borrowed from starandrea, and has probably been mentioned by other people I can't remember at the moment. It makes far too much sense that Earth is just backward.
Love to BlackCrimsonLight and phantom_blue for help with Kerovian currency and Bridge's arguments for a temporary morpher.
Zhane glanced up from his book at the knock on his door. His eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. "Yeah?"
The door slid open, and Bridge peeked around the frame. "Um, hi. The others sent me to find out if you were still mad. Apparently they assumed that I'm the least likely to be attacked if you are. Which I tried to tell them technically isn't true, since you're mad at everybody, but they kept saying you wouldn't hurt me. So um, if you are planning to do something, I'd like to know so I can run away really fast and hopefully avoid getting injured. 'Cause you know, pain is bad and all." He fidgeted slightly.
Zhane tried not to smile. "Yes, I'm still mad, but no, I'm not going to hurt you, Bridge. You can come in."
Bridge blinked. "Oh. Okay." He came to sit at the end of Zhane's bed, folding his hands in his lap and nervously twiddling his thumbs. "So um, see, we were all thinking that we'd like to go out and get something to eat, but not from Piggy's because we've already learned better than that, but we were sort of kind of maybe wondering if you'd sort of like to come with us." He paused. "I told the others that Sky should be the one to ask you, since you're like, you know, together? But Sky said he wanted to keep his head, and then Jack said he wanted to know if he at least has a place to sleep tonight even though I told him he could sleep in my bed, but then he sort of looked at me funny, and I think he may have gotten the wrong idea."
He waited patiently for Bridge to finish, and smiled at him. "Sure. I'll go."
Bridge brightened immediately. "Really? I'll go tell the others, and we can wait for you to get ready." He paused. "Oh, and um, what should I tell Jack? 'Cause I'd still be willing to share my bed with him, but I don't think he's okay with that." He tilted his head in thought. "Which is sort of funny, when you think about it."
He shook his head, amused. "Jack can stay here. I'm not going to take him out in his sleep." He paused, and grinned. "That's too obvious. If I was going to do something, I'd make sure no one would be able to link it back to me."
Bridge paused, giving him a measuring look. "That's ... kind of creepy," he remarked.
Zhane just grinned at him and said nothing.
"Yeah ... I'm ... gonna go now," Bridge said slowly, moving to stand and inching toward the door. "We'll uh, meet you by the Cruiser?"
"Sure," he answered, still grinning. He held in his laughter until Bridge was gone.
He *was* mad at them all, but he wasn't going to track people down and start causing damage. For one, that wasn't his style. But S.P.D. hadn't really seen much of him angry before, and most of them didn't even know he had a mood beyond 'happy-go-lucky'. He supposed he could see why that might make them nervous.
He found B Squad waiting at the Delta Cruiser fifteen minutes later, talking amongst themselves. He raised a hand in greeting. "So, where are we going?" he asked.
"My bangles!" Syd squawked. "I thought Z stole those weeks ago!"
He lifted his eyebrows, glancing at the silver bracelets on his raised hand. "I needed something silver when I was trying to go undercover," he explained. "They're shiny and they make lots of noise."
"Just like you," Z commented, looking amused.
Sky was squinting at him. " ... Are you wearing my clothes?" he asked warily.
Zhane shrugged. "You were the closest to me in size. I figured you wouldn't mind, since it was for a good cause." He glanced down at his black jeans and button-up shirt. "I'm still trying to figure out why you have a silver shirt, though."
Sky frowned. "Syd got it for me. I never wear it." He paused. "You can keep it."
"Thanks. So where are we going?" he repeated. "Or are we just going to stand around talking about food, 'cause if we are, I'd rather get some food first."
The others all laughed nervously, like they weren't sure if they were supposed to or not. Sky just rolled his eyes. "We're trying to figure out where we're going," he informed him. "Syd's throwing a fit."
Syd glared at him and stomped her foot. "I'm just *saying*, if we're all going out to eat together, I want some place where I can eat, too!"
"Syd doesn't eat red meat," Bridge explained. "So going to a place that just serves burgers, she won't be able to eat anything."
Zhane frowned in thought. "Well, where can we find both?"
"No where we can all afford on an S.P.D. salary," Jack muttered bitterly.
"And I *told* you, I'll pay!" Syd argued.
"I don't need charity," Z snapped at her. "I can pay for my own food."
"I can't," Zhane spoke up.
Everyone looked at him.
He shrugged. "Kat said something about setting up a ... 'bank' account? Something to do with depositing money ... " He shook his head and shrugged again. "I don't have any euquel or gems, and I don't know anything about Earth currency. But they accept morphers here, right?"
Jack frowned and shook his head slightly. "Um ... what?"
Zhane stared at him. "Earth doesn't accept morphers as Ranger status?"
"Of course they do," Syd said quickly. "But what does that have to going out to eat?"
He had the feeling he was missing something. "Having your morpher shows that you're a Power Ranger, and they accept that as currency," he said slowly. "Doesn't Earth do that?"
There was a long silence.
"You know what? Syd always picks good restaurants," Z said abruptly. "Why don't you chose, just this once?"
"Yeah, you've got great taste!" Jack agreed brightly, wrapping an arm around Syd's shoulders.
She smiled smugly and sniffed. "Of course I do. Now are we going, or not?"
Sky's voice came from just behind Zhane's ear, soft and almost shy. "You wanna ride with me?"
He was irritated, but he forced himself to smile a little. "I told you before I prefer my own rides," he pointed out.
He could feel Sky's indifferent shrug. "If that's what you want," he muttered.
Zhane caught his hand as he turned, giving it a light squeeze. "You can explain to me why everyone just changed the subject," he informed him brightly.
Sky winced a little, but nodded reluctantly as they turned towards his patrol bike.
Behind them, Zhane could hear Bridge asking "You mean Power Rangers don't normally have to pay for stuff?"
****
From what Zhane could tell, Syd had managed to find them all a restaurant that could make everyone happy. She picked daintily at some sort of bird she called 'grilled chicken breast' - which had left him struggling not to ask questions - while arguing with Jack over his hamburger that oozed over the sides of the bun it was supposed to be contained in. Z was backing up Jack, but strangely Syd was still holding her own.
Zhane shook his head, looking down at his own hamburger. Which was made of beef, not ham. Earth had weird food. Not bad ... just *weird*.
"So how long do you plan to stay mad?" Sky asked him suddenly.
He glanced over at him. "At least for the rest of the week, if not longer," he answered after a moment. He frowned thoughtfully. "I'm still furious, so it's hard to say."
An awkward silence fell over the table.
"You don't ... *seem* mad," Z said warily.
He smiled at her. "That's because there's no point walking around glaring at everyone, no matter how mad I am. It's not going to change anything, and it's not me. So I'm mad, but I'm not going to start screaming at anyone or try and do something to someone in their sleep." He looked directly at Jack as he finished, his smile widening as he batted his eyelashes innocently.
"That, is *really* creepy," Jack informed him.
"Told you," Bridge piped up immediately, seeming pleased with himself.
"So ... why *are* you mad?" Syd asked finally.
He stopped smiling.
He set down his hamburger, reaching for his drink and slowly stirring it with his straw. "What do you guys think of me?" he asked abruptly.
More than one person blinked.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Do you think I'm stupid, or that I don't know anything? That I just got handed a morpher because I was there or something? That I'm as new to this as you guys are? Or maybe I lost some memories while I was in cryo sleep when my brain got all scrambled." He had started off speaking introspectively, but his tone had grown quieter and angrier the more he went on. "Because I'm really trying to figure out exactly why no one will listen to me when I say something, or just blow me off like I don't know what I'm talking about," he bit out.
Sky's hand settled lightly on his arm, and he forced himself to take a slow breath. Control, he reminded himself silently. Never lose your control in public. No civilian needs to see discord among their Rangers.
"Is that what you think we think?" Bridge asked quietly. "Because it's not what I think. I *think* it's not what everyone else thinks." He frowned. "I think."
His temper calmed again, he looked up at Bridge. "I said Kat can't go. I didn't say I didn't want her to. I didn't say she shouldn't, or that I wanted her to stay. I said she *can't*. I told you guys, I told her, I even told Cruger. And no one listened to me. Not *one* person."
Sky was frowning. "Wait, you told *Cruger*?"
He just looked at him. "I told you. She *couldn't* leave." He looked down at his drink again. "And I was right. We were lucky she came back as soon as she did."
"But ... it was a great opportunity for her," Syd protested. "We couldn't hold her back."
His fist clenched slightly around the glass, and he forced another slow breath. Control. They don't understand. Control.
"Syd," Bridge cut in. Zhane thought he saw him shake his head slightly.
"So why *couldn't* she go?" Jack asked carefully.
Zhane sighed, looking up at last. "Because she's Ranger Tech," he said simply. "Kat is the one who monitors our morphers, our Zords, even our battles. She can't give up her place on the team, even if she wants to. It throws everything out of balance. If she hadn't come back, we probably would have - " He cut himself off, shaking his head once. "We need her here," he said instead.
Everyone was frowning in confusion, but only Sky seemed to be catching on. "You mean her place?" he asked.
Zhane smiled at him. "Yes," he sighed in relief. "That's it *exactly*."
The others were giving them weird looks, but Sky just seemed puzzled. "But she isn't a Ranger."
He chuckled, amused. "Holding a morpher doesn't make you part of a team," he informed him. "Kat is as much one of us as Cruger is, morpher or no morpher. If she left, we'd be off balance. Because as much as I like Boom ... he's not Ranger Tech."
"You say that like it's a title," Bridge observed.
"That's because it is. Zordon's Rangers had Alpha 5, the Kerovian Rangers had G.I.R.A., Andros and I had D.E.C.A. ... There is always someone who has a place with the Rangers as their support, making sure that they have everything they need. For us, that's Kat," he explained. He glanced at Sky again, the only one who still seemed to be following him other than Bridge. "That's why she can't hold a morpher, either."
"But Bridge said that she had a disposable morpher," Z argued.
Zhane snorted inelegantly, then shot Bridge an apologetic look. "Uh, no. Sorry Bridge, but that's not how it works."
Bridge frowned. "But Kat said that the Kat Ranger morpher was created specifically to work for only one hour. A temporary morpher would make sense in an emergency."
"Make sense *how*?" Zhane demanded. "As opposed to an actual morpher that *didn't* lose Power?"
"Well, if you only need - " Bridge paused, blinking. "Um, the element of surprise?" he tried.
Zhane shook his head, folding his arms. "Now you're just trying to make excuses."
For several moments Bridge stared at the table cloth, deep in thought. He'd made as if to get up, but Z had caught his arm and flatly informed him "Not here."
"Wouldn't it upset the balance of Power between the team as it is, to add another morpher?" he asked finally.
Zhane smiled, but he shook his head again. "Good argument, but then Cruger would have completely thrown your team out of whack when he became Shadow Ranger. Or me, after I showed up."
"But you use a different Power Source," Bridge pointed out.
"True. But I'm your Sixth Ranger. Cruger is the Mentor for this team."
Bridge tilted his head. "Places?" he guessed.
He nodded. "Cruger is the Mentor, I'm the Sixth. Jack is Leader, Sky is Strength, Z is Attitude, Syd is Heart, and you're something between Team Tech and Strategist. It happens with Greens, sometimes," he added. "Kat, on the other hand, is our Ranger Tech."
"Attitude?" Z repeated, looking amused.
Zhane shrugged. "It's more important than you'd think," he promised. He turned back to Bridge. "Kat's morpher would have worked perfectly fine if she wasn't already Ranger Tech. Because she is, she can't hold a morpher."
"Why's that?" Jack wanted to know, frowning.
"Because a Ranger Tech works with the Power itself, sometimes in its rawest forms, to make and repair morphers and Zords," he explained patiently. "They channel the Power just as much as an actual Power Ranger does, just in a different way. If they tried to use a morpher at the same time, it would destroy them. So the morphers work as a failsafe: if someone has too much of the Power inside their body, they can only hold use it for a limited amount of time."
Stunned silence followed.
Bridge studied Zhane for several moments. "You're a lot smarter than you want people to know, aren't you?" he asked at last.
Zhane laughed. He laughed so hard he had to put a hand to his stomach as his ribs began to ache. When he was finally able to breathe again, he shot Bridge an amused grin. "I don't know about that. I'm a Ranger kid, remember? I grew up around the Power."
Bridge smiled a little. "Sky and I are Ranger kids too," he countered. "You still know more than we do."
Zhane chuckled, ducking his head. "Well, I did go through the collegiate already," he pointed out. "You guys are still cadets, and I've finished Ranger school. They don't just hand morphers to any old student, you know."
"That's funny. S.P.D. does," Sky murmured, smirking faintly. There was an audible thump from under the table, and Sky winced. Z looked smug.
"Hey, I'm the only one that gets to beat up Sky!" Zhane protested, wrapping an arm around the other teen's shoulders. "It leads to the best make-out sessions afterwards, and sorry Z, but I'm just not the sharing type."
Sky choked. Z, Jack, and Syd busted up laughing while Zhane smirked at them and pretended to fuss over Sky. He was pushed away when he started to coo and try to 'check for injuries'.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see Bridge watching him thoughtfully.
Sorry Bridge, but you guys just really don't need to know, he thought regretfully. I know enough to protect myself and my team. I know what I learned through Andros. And my strengths have never been in books.
He pouted at Sky for brushing him off, turning away to sulk and sniffle. Sky sighed irritably and tried to argue and apologize at the same time, while Jack, Z, and Syd laughed at how much Zhane was hamming it up.
He was still mad, and hurt. He hadn't forgiven them yet. But he'd get there ... eventually.
Author: Tsukino Akume
Relationship: Zhane/Sky Tate, Jack Landors/Syd Drew
Rating: PG-13
Warning: Character with depression/health issues
Summary: When Andros put Zhane into cryogenic stasis, he didn't wake up until he was completely healed - twenty-four years later. Zhane finds a new team, and S.P.D. tries to deal with the aftermath.
List of 22: 17 ~ public dining
Author's Notes: Rangers being able to do things for free is blatantly borrowed from starandrea, and has probably been mentioned by other people I can't remember at the moment. It makes far too much sense that Earth is just backward.
Love to BlackCrimsonLight and phantom_blue for help with Kerovian currency and Bridge's arguments for a temporary morpher.
Zhane glanced up from his book at the knock on his door. His eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion. "Yeah?"
The door slid open, and Bridge peeked around the frame. "Um, hi. The others sent me to find out if you were still mad. Apparently they assumed that I'm the least likely to be attacked if you are. Which I tried to tell them technically isn't true, since you're mad at everybody, but they kept saying you wouldn't hurt me. So um, if you are planning to do something, I'd like to know so I can run away really fast and hopefully avoid getting injured. 'Cause you know, pain is bad and all." He fidgeted slightly.
Zhane tried not to smile. "Yes, I'm still mad, but no, I'm not going to hurt you, Bridge. You can come in."
Bridge blinked. "Oh. Okay." He came to sit at the end of Zhane's bed, folding his hands in his lap and nervously twiddling his thumbs. "So um, see, we were all thinking that we'd like to go out and get something to eat, but not from Piggy's because we've already learned better than that, but we were sort of kind of maybe wondering if you'd sort of like to come with us." He paused. "I told the others that Sky should be the one to ask you, since you're like, you know, together? But Sky said he wanted to keep his head, and then Jack said he wanted to know if he at least has a place to sleep tonight even though I told him he could sleep in my bed, but then he sort of looked at me funny, and I think he may have gotten the wrong idea."
He waited patiently for Bridge to finish, and smiled at him. "Sure. I'll go."
Bridge brightened immediately. "Really? I'll go tell the others, and we can wait for you to get ready." He paused. "Oh, and um, what should I tell Jack? 'Cause I'd still be willing to share my bed with him, but I don't think he's okay with that." He tilted his head in thought. "Which is sort of funny, when you think about it."
He shook his head, amused. "Jack can stay here. I'm not going to take him out in his sleep." He paused, and grinned. "That's too obvious. If I was going to do something, I'd make sure no one would be able to link it back to me."
Bridge paused, giving him a measuring look. "That's ... kind of creepy," he remarked.
Zhane just grinned at him and said nothing.
"Yeah ... I'm ... gonna go now," Bridge said slowly, moving to stand and inching toward the door. "We'll uh, meet you by the Cruiser?"
"Sure," he answered, still grinning. He held in his laughter until Bridge was gone.
He *was* mad at them all, but he wasn't going to track people down and start causing damage. For one, that wasn't his style. But S.P.D. hadn't really seen much of him angry before, and most of them didn't even know he had a mood beyond 'happy-go-lucky'. He supposed he could see why that might make them nervous.
He found B Squad waiting at the Delta Cruiser fifteen minutes later, talking amongst themselves. He raised a hand in greeting. "So, where are we going?" he asked.
"My bangles!" Syd squawked. "I thought Z stole those weeks ago!"
He lifted his eyebrows, glancing at the silver bracelets on his raised hand. "I needed something silver when I was trying to go undercover," he explained. "They're shiny and they make lots of noise."
"Just like you," Z commented, looking amused.
Sky was squinting at him. " ... Are you wearing my clothes?" he asked warily.
Zhane shrugged. "You were the closest to me in size. I figured you wouldn't mind, since it was for a good cause." He glanced down at his black jeans and button-up shirt. "I'm still trying to figure out why you have a silver shirt, though."
Sky frowned. "Syd got it for me. I never wear it." He paused. "You can keep it."
"Thanks. So where are we going?" he repeated. "Or are we just going to stand around talking about food, 'cause if we are, I'd rather get some food first."
The others all laughed nervously, like they weren't sure if they were supposed to or not. Sky just rolled his eyes. "We're trying to figure out where we're going," he informed him. "Syd's throwing a fit."
Syd glared at him and stomped her foot. "I'm just *saying*, if we're all going out to eat together, I want some place where I can eat, too!"
"Syd doesn't eat red meat," Bridge explained. "So going to a place that just serves burgers, she won't be able to eat anything."
Zhane frowned in thought. "Well, where can we find both?"
"No where we can all afford on an S.P.D. salary," Jack muttered bitterly.
"And I *told* you, I'll pay!" Syd argued.
"I don't need charity," Z snapped at her. "I can pay for my own food."
"I can't," Zhane spoke up.
Everyone looked at him.
He shrugged. "Kat said something about setting up a ... 'bank' account? Something to do with depositing money ... " He shook his head and shrugged again. "I don't have any euquel or gems, and I don't know anything about Earth currency. But they accept morphers here, right?"
Jack frowned and shook his head slightly. "Um ... what?"
Zhane stared at him. "Earth doesn't accept morphers as Ranger status?"
"Of course they do," Syd said quickly. "But what does that have to going out to eat?"
He had the feeling he was missing something. "Having your morpher shows that you're a Power Ranger, and they accept that as currency," he said slowly. "Doesn't Earth do that?"
There was a long silence.
"You know what? Syd always picks good restaurants," Z said abruptly. "Why don't you chose, just this once?"
"Yeah, you've got great taste!" Jack agreed brightly, wrapping an arm around Syd's shoulders.
She smiled smugly and sniffed. "Of course I do. Now are we going, or not?"
Sky's voice came from just behind Zhane's ear, soft and almost shy. "You wanna ride with me?"
He was irritated, but he forced himself to smile a little. "I told you before I prefer my own rides," he pointed out.
He could feel Sky's indifferent shrug. "If that's what you want," he muttered.
Zhane caught his hand as he turned, giving it a light squeeze. "You can explain to me why everyone just changed the subject," he informed him brightly.
Sky winced a little, but nodded reluctantly as they turned towards his patrol bike.
Behind them, Zhane could hear Bridge asking "You mean Power Rangers don't normally have to pay for stuff?"
****
From what Zhane could tell, Syd had managed to find them all a restaurant that could make everyone happy. She picked daintily at some sort of bird she called 'grilled chicken breast' - which had left him struggling not to ask questions - while arguing with Jack over his hamburger that oozed over the sides of the bun it was supposed to be contained in. Z was backing up Jack, but strangely Syd was still holding her own.
Zhane shook his head, looking down at his own hamburger. Which was made of beef, not ham. Earth had weird food. Not bad ... just *weird*.
"So how long do you plan to stay mad?" Sky asked him suddenly.
He glanced over at him. "At least for the rest of the week, if not longer," he answered after a moment. He frowned thoughtfully. "I'm still furious, so it's hard to say."
An awkward silence fell over the table.
"You don't ... *seem* mad," Z said warily.
He smiled at her. "That's because there's no point walking around glaring at everyone, no matter how mad I am. It's not going to change anything, and it's not me. So I'm mad, but I'm not going to start screaming at anyone or try and do something to someone in their sleep." He looked directly at Jack as he finished, his smile widening as he batted his eyelashes innocently.
"That, is *really* creepy," Jack informed him.
"Told you," Bridge piped up immediately, seeming pleased with himself.
"So ... why *are* you mad?" Syd asked finally.
He stopped smiling.
He set down his hamburger, reaching for his drink and slowly stirring it with his straw. "What do you guys think of me?" he asked abruptly.
More than one person blinked.
"What do you mean?" Jack asked suspiciously.
"Do you think I'm stupid, or that I don't know anything? That I just got handed a morpher because I was there or something? That I'm as new to this as you guys are? Or maybe I lost some memories while I was in cryo sleep when my brain got all scrambled." He had started off speaking introspectively, but his tone had grown quieter and angrier the more he went on. "Because I'm really trying to figure out exactly why no one will listen to me when I say something, or just blow me off like I don't know what I'm talking about," he bit out.
Sky's hand settled lightly on his arm, and he forced himself to take a slow breath. Control, he reminded himself silently. Never lose your control in public. No civilian needs to see discord among their Rangers.
"Is that what you think we think?" Bridge asked quietly. "Because it's not what I think. I *think* it's not what everyone else thinks." He frowned. "I think."
His temper calmed again, he looked up at Bridge. "I said Kat can't go. I didn't say I didn't want her to. I didn't say she shouldn't, or that I wanted her to stay. I said she *can't*. I told you guys, I told her, I even told Cruger. And no one listened to me. Not *one* person."
Sky was frowning. "Wait, you told *Cruger*?"
He just looked at him. "I told you. She *couldn't* leave." He looked down at his drink again. "And I was right. We were lucky she came back as soon as she did."
"But ... it was a great opportunity for her," Syd protested. "We couldn't hold her back."
His fist clenched slightly around the glass, and he forced another slow breath. Control. They don't understand. Control.
"Syd," Bridge cut in. Zhane thought he saw him shake his head slightly.
"So why *couldn't* she go?" Jack asked carefully.
Zhane sighed, looking up at last. "Because she's Ranger Tech," he said simply. "Kat is the one who monitors our morphers, our Zords, even our battles. She can't give up her place on the team, even if she wants to. It throws everything out of balance. If she hadn't come back, we probably would have - " He cut himself off, shaking his head once. "We need her here," he said instead.
Everyone was frowning in confusion, but only Sky seemed to be catching on. "You mean her place?" he asked.
Zhane smiled at him. "Yes," he sighed in relief. "That's it *exactly*."
The others were giving them weird looks, but Sky just seemed puzzled. "But she isn't a Ranger."
He chuckled, amused. "Holding a morpher doesn't make you part of a team," he informed him. "Kat is as much one of us as Cruger is, morpher or no morpher. If she left, we'd be off balance. Because as much as I like Boom ... he's not Ranger Tech."
"You say that like it's a title," Bridge observed.
"That's because it is. Zordon's Rangers had Alpha 5, the Kerovian Rangers had G.I.R.A., Andros and I had D.E.C.A. ... There is always someone who has a place with the Rangers as their support, making sure that they have everything they need. For us, that's Kat," he explained. He glanced at Sky again, the only one who still seemed to be following him other than Bridge. "That's why she can't hold a morpher, either."
"But Bridge said that she had a disposable morpher," Z argued.
Zhane snorted inelegantly, then shot Bridge an apologetic look. "Uh, no. Sorry Bridge, but that's not how it works."
Bridge frowned. "But Kat said that the Kat Ranger morpher was created specifically to work for only one hour. A temporary morpher would make sense in an emergency."
"Make sense *how*?" Zhane demanded. "As opposed to an actual morpher that *didn't* lose Power?"
"Well, if you only need - " Bridge paused, blinking. "Um, the element of surprise?" he tried.
Zhane shook his head, folding his arms. "Now you're just trying to make excuses."
For several moments Bridge stared at the table cloth, deep in thought. He'd made as if to get up, but Z had caught his arm and flatly informed him "Not here."
"Wouldn't it upset the balance of Power between the team as it is, to add another morpher?" he asked finally.
Zhane smiled, but he shook his head again. "Good argument, but then Cruger would have completely thrown your team out of whack when he became Shadow Ranger. Or me, after I showed up."
"But you use a different Power Source," Bridge pointed out.
"True. But I'm your Sixth Ranger. Cruger is the Mentor for this team."
Bridge tilted his head. "Places?" he guessed.
He nodded. "Cruger is the Mentor, I'm the Sixth. Jack is Leader, Sky is Strength, Z is Attitude, Syd is Heart, and you're something between Team Tech and Strategist. It happens with Greens, sometimes," he added. "Kat, on the other hand, is our Ranger Tech."
"Attitude?" Z repeated, looking amused.
Zhane shrugged. "It's more important than you'd think," he promised. He turned back to Bridge. "Kat's morpher would have worked perfectly fine if she wasn't already Ranger Tech. Because she is, she can't hold a morpher."
"Why's that?" Jack wanted to know, frowning.
"Because a Ranger Tech works with the Power itself, sometimes in its rawest forms, to make and repair morphers and Zords," he explained patiently. "They channel the Power just as much as an actual Power Ranger does, just in a different way. If they tried to use a morpher at the same time, it would destroy them. So the morphers work as a failsafe: if someone has too much of the Power inside their body, they can only hold use it for a limited amount of time."
Stunned silence followed.
Bridge studied Zhane for several moments. "You're a lot smarter than you want people to know, aren't you?" he asked at last.
Zhane laughed. He laughed so hard he had to put a hand to his stomach as his ribs began to ache. When he was finally able to breathe again, he shot Bridge an amused grin. "I don't know about that. I'm a Ranger kid, remember? I grew up around the Power."
Bridge smiled a little. "Sky and I are Ranger kids too," he countered. "You still know more than we do."
Zhane chuckled, ducking his head. "Well, I did go through the collegiate already," he pointed out. "You guys are still cadets, and I've finished Ranger school. They don't just hand morphers to any old student, you know."
"That's funny. S.P.D. does," Sky murmured, smirking faintly. There was an audible thump from under the table, and Sky winced. Z looked smug.
"Hey, I'm the only one that gets to beat up Sky!" Zhane protested, wrapping an arm around the other teen's shoulders. "It leads to the best make-out sessions afterwards, and sorry Z, but I'm just not the sharing type."
Sky choked. Z, Jack, and Syd busted up laughing while Zhane smirked at them and pretended to fuss over Sky. He was pushed away when he started to coo and try to 'check for injuries'.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see Bridge watching him thoughtfully.
Sorry Bridge, but you guys just really don't need to know, he thought regretfully. I know enough to protect myself and my team. I know what I learned through Andros. And my strengths have never been in books.
He pouted at Sky for brushing him off, turning away to sulk and sniffle. Sky sighed irritably and tried to argue and apologize at the same time, while Jack, Z, and Syd laughed at how much Zhane was hamming it up.
He was still mad, and hurt. He hadn't forgiven them yet. But he'd get there ... eventually.