A/N: This is a story using my Rainbow Brotherhood as Tommy's backstory. Things that seem different from canon are deliberate. As I said, this is a look at the world where the Orb never appeared. A world where Jason and the others did not know that there were other Rangers who could come help them and fought and lived accordingly. Tommy, Billy, Kat, Aisha, Rocky, and Adam were a part of that world until they failed to stop the Orb of Doom and forced changes to the timeline that changed their friends, families, and history.

This is a darker world than the Brotherhood 'verse that Tommy came from. There are a lot of relationships that get talked about but not shown, but in general there are slash, femslash, het and multi relationships. I'll give some warnings to pairings before they show up in most cases. There's one triad that I kind of want to keep back just because I can that is m/m/f. Other than that, some basic ones are Billy/Kat, Tommy/Kim, and Rocky/Adam. I will reference the different 'ships from the Rainbow Brotherhood, so if you want to check that list, I'll be more than happy to provide you with the most detailed (non-spoiler) list I have. Also, some Ranger teams didn't form here or formed differently because of the Orb, but at the moment, I've opted to not explain which.

It was the dream again… Rito had called the Tengas to attack the carnival and we had to split up. I needed my best with me, but the Tengas were tough. For a moment, I wished that I still had Kim, or even Jason and the others behind me. I wouldn't have doubted that we could handle a two-prong attack with them. For a long moment, I hesitated. "Let's split up," Aisha said.

"Wait," I said, I hadn't said anything that day, what was going on? "Billy, Kat, can you handle the Tengas?"

"No problem, Tom," Billy replied.

"Good," I said. "Rocky, Adam, Aisha, cover me. I'll get the Orb." This isn't what happened.

Tommy gasped as he woke up, the choked, almost sob tearing out of him as the reminder of the day his world had been remade. He was lying down on something, he twitched his hand to confirm it was metal. Tommy sighed and thought hard about what could have happened to him. He'd been, he'd been on his way to Jungle Karma Pizza to meet the twins and Tori when there'd been that god-awful laugh that so many monsters seemed to possess. It was close, too close, and he didn't have his zeonizers because after Reefside, he didn't want to run the risk of another Ranger hunt. Then, the crackle of lightning, too close and too hot, before something slammed into his back, shoving him into what had appeared to be one of those Swirling Vortexes of Doom, then blackness and the dream had happened. Again.

There was the scuff of a shoe against the floor. Tommy stiffed for a moment, and then he forced himself to relax. There was a very good way to tell if he was in friendly hands. "I am not opening my eyes," he announced clearly, quietly please he wasn't slurring his words. "I am not opening my eyes because if I open my eyes, I will have to admit that I fell through a portal while walking down the streets and have ended up Zordon knows where. Damn my life sucks."

"You might want to open your eyes, Tom," a familiar voice said, there was an undercurrent of dark amusement.

Tommy opened his eyes and found Jason leaning over him with a decided smirk. "Scott," Tommy said.

"Lee Scott," Jason said.

Tommy sat up, rubbing his head, "Where am I?"

"Where do you think?" Jason asked.

Tommy looked around, "The," he stopped, twisting to take in the entire room. "The Command Center, but," he turned to Jason, "I don't understand, the Command Center was destroyed."

Jason's smirk disappeared, "Maybe where ever you came from it was, but not here. Not for lacking of trying though."

Tommy just stared, because it had been years since he'd seen the Power Chamber, much less the Command Center. Finally, he turned back to Jason, "Things have changed," he said. "A lot of things. It is 2012, right?"

"Actually no, it's 2008," Jason said. He glanced around, "The others are on their way, Tom. I let them know after the scans came back. By the way, when did you wear Black?"

"It was in 2004, in Reefside," Tommy replied, distracted. When Jason gave him a long look, Tommy glared back at him. "I didn't exactly have a choice, ok? It was let the damn thing fall into the hands of fucking Mesogog or use it myself and I would take it as a favor if you didn't ride my ass for it Jason. I got twice the amount of shit from everybody the first time around."

Tommy winced, because Jason didn't really like it when he swore, and it would probably go double in the Power Chamber. And wasn't that a head-trip he wasn't quite over yet.

Jason through his head back and laughed as half-forgotten beams of light filled the room. Tommy scanned the colors coming in, one red, green and black, and two blues, yellows, and pinks. After a moment, the light faded along with Jason's laughter. "What's so funny?"

Tommy sucked air between his teeth, because it was Kim. Not the pale imitation of Kim he'd admired from a far for so many years, but his Kim. The Kim who had fought and laughed with joyous abandoned, going hard so that they could go home. The girl, now woman, he'd called beautiful because she was, her spirit a glorious flame fanned by the winds of the war they had fought.

"I'm sorry, and you know, I get that you're me from another dimension, but do you mind not staring at my wife."

Tommy wrenched his eyes away to see himself. "Sorry," he said, his voice scratchy.

"You ok there?" Jason asked, "You look a little pale."

Tommy coughed, "I'm fine." He risked a second glance at the petite brunette, "You remind me of a girl a once knew."

"Did something happen to me?" Kim asked, glancing at her Tommy, "Is that why you look like you've seen a ghost."

Tommy laughed, the cynical, bitter laugh that had been born twelve years ago. "Trust me, somewhere in Canada, I'm fairly positive Kimberly Johansson nee Hart is either chasing bad guys or helping her kids with their homework. You, on the other hand, remind me of Kim, the girl I called beautiful and was going to marry as soon as we were out of high school."

"What's the difference?" Jason asked.

Tommy stared at his friends, seeing all the differences and all the similarities. "Have you ever heard of the Orb of Doom?" He asked finally.

"That is an excellent question, Tommy."

As a grief and fear tinged astonishment filled him, Tommy watched as a familiar and beloved face filled the half-noticed energy tube. At the same time, only one thought filled his mind. I am going to kill Andros. "Zordon," he whispered.