"No guys, hang on, I got you!" Wes held on tightly to the large pole, while using his other hand to hold onto Jen's, who had formed a human chain with the others, in hope of preventing them from being sucked into the powerful and deadly time hole, that had been created by the darkening storm caused by the Trizirium crystals.

"This isn't working!" cried out Trip. The force of the time hole was just too powerful for him to hold on. Already he could feel his hand slipping right out of Lucas's grip. "I can't hang on for much-"

"NO! TRIP!" Lucas cried; he was vaguely aware of the others calling out his name. All of them watched in horror, as their young green-haired friend was swept right into the time hole, disappearing into the darkness. Never to be seen again…

One by one, the others soon followed, Lucas was the next to go. Katie tried with all her might to hold onto Lucas, almost crushing his bones, but the force of the time hole proved to be stronger and overpowered her. She, Wes and Jen watched helplessly as Lucas was sucked away. No doubt to end up wherever Trip had gone….to his death.

"We lost Lucas…" cried Katie. "And Trip!" It was heart wrenching, two of her best friends, were gone forever.

"There's nothing we can do for them now," announced Jen; she didn't mean to sound harsh, but there was nothing they could do. All that mattered now was that they managed to stay alive; it was up to them now to save the future and avenge their friends' deaths. "It's up to us now, we're the ones who are going to need to save the future."

Katie felt a few tears trickle down her face. She looked up at the raging time hole that had eaten her friends whole; as hard as it was, she knew Jen was right. There was nothing they could do.

"Hang tight, it's getting worse!" Wes looked up to the sky, it was getting darker and growing more powerful. The monstrous time hole was growing, into an even more deadly storm. He had already lost two teammates; he was about to lose two more.

But to his dismay, Katie's hand was ripped right from Jen's, and he watched powerless as she drifted away, crying out their names, but there was nothing they could do. She was gone, just like the others…

"Katie, noo!" cried Jen, her friends, her teammates, were gone… "Noo! This can't be happening!"

The storm raged on around them. Wes could feel his heart racing with fear, he couldn't lose Jen. He wouldn't. He would do all he had to, to keep her with him and not end up like the others. It was up to him to save her. "Jen, you've got to come closer to me and hang onto the pole." Jen nodded her head, and let him pull her closer, but then out of nowhere a gust of wind ripped right through them, causing their hands to break apart. "NO! JEN!"

"WES!" Jen screamed, holding out her hand for him to reach while she was being sucked up by the wind, but she was too far gone for him to reach her. "Wes….."

"JEN!" Wes cried her name, and watched as she disappeared, as the others had. Into the darkness, until she was no more. "NO! JEN!"

"Jen!" Wes jumped up out of his sleep. His heart was pounding against his chest. His body was damp with sweat. "Oh Jen…" He ran his hand over his face, hoping to calm himself down and let himself know it was just a dream. Jen and the others were safe and sound in their beds. "Dream… It was just a dream," he told himself, but deep down, something inside of him told him, it had to be more than just a dream. It felt so.

Earlier in the evening they had gotten a call from Alex, saying things were going to get worse. So much worse that none of them would survive, but at the present moment his mind wasn't on his own life. He would gladly sacrifice himself to save the future, his home, but he didn't want the others, Jen, especially Jen, to share in that fate. Apparently Alex and the rest of Time Force thought so too. Alex said he was sending a time ship and that the four must return to the future, having to leave him behind to defend the city. He wasn't sure what scared him more, fighting alone or having to say goodbye to Jen.

He wasn't sure how, but somehow he had fallen for her, more than he wanted to admit. But she was engaged to Alex. She already belonged to someone else, no matter how much he loved her. He could never be with her, no matter how much he wanted to.

Wes started to hear a low pitched static sound coming from his wrist. He raised his arm up and stared at his morpher; everything appeared to be fine, but the low pitched sound continued. And then an all too familiar voice came through…

"If you can hear me please respond…I don't have much time…"

His heart skipped a beat and his face turned white as a ghost. That voice. He knew that voice all too well, and it wasn't who he thought it was, in fact never in his wildest dreams did he ever think this to be possible. "It can't be…."

"Please respond, this is urgent, you have to listen to me…"

Shaken up, Wes took a deep breath and shakily responded. "I'm here, go ahead…" Wes waited, but the voice didn't respond. Had it just been his imagination? But to his fear the voice returned, but now it sounded more urgent, as if the person on the other end feared for their life.

"Are the others all right still? Are they still with you?"

"What? Who?" But somehow, deep down, he knew. He knew who the voice was referring to. He just didn't want to believe it.

"The other rangers, they're still with you? God, please don't let me be too late."

Wes for a moment thought he could hear the sounds of blasters and explosions, but he shook the thought away. "Yes, they're in bed sleeping…"

"…Thank God, I'm not too late…"

"Not too late?" If he was confused before, this just doubled his confusion. "What are you talking about? What's going on?"

"You have to listen to me, Wes. The others are in danger. They have to go back to the future…"

"But they're going back tomorrow, Alex already ordered them to return."

"They're not going to follow his orders. They are planning on staying behind. That cannot happen. They must return to their own time, or--"

"Or what?"

"…Or…Or they'll die, killed by Ransik and an army of Cyclobots,"

This couldn't be happening. This had to be some kind of nightmare. Wes lay in his bed staring at his morpher, not knowing what to say or do next.

"I know it will be difficult, but you must use the time ship to send them back. It's the only way they'll be safe. …It's the only way she'll survive…"

"Who are you…" He wasn't sure why he even asked. He already knew the answer. Maybe he just needed some reassurance, that the person on the other end was who he thought it was, and not his mind playing tricks on him.

"You already know the answer… I'm sorry I have to go now. I don't have much time left… It's up to you now… But do me a favor, tell Jen that------"

Wes heard a loud noise and then nothing, complete silence. "Hello? Are you there?" But no one answered on the other end. What had happened, or more importantly, what would happen? A sickening feeling came over him, and as hard as it was, it was time for him to take matters into his own hands. He wasn't about to let his nightmare come true, even at the cost of losing them, losing her forever, all that mattered was them being safe in the future.

Wes turned at the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, and one by one he watched as his friends came back up. They had been downstairs this whole time, no doubt deciding they were going to stay and fight by his side, just as the messenger had said. He lay back down quickly, closing his eyes, pretending to be asleep. He sighed heavily, as he constructed a plan to send them back home. He hated the thought of the idea, but he couldn't bear to watch them all die. He couldn't watch Jen die, even at the cost of betraying their trust. It was the only way.

He had waked up early. The earliest he had ever waked up in a long time. The others were still sound asleep. He only had a few hours to prepare, to learn everything he could about the timeship, so that when the others arrived to pack up their equipment he would be ready to take action.

It felt strange going into the ship, so unlike the one Alex had come in a couple of months ago. And he couldn't help but feel guilty, but it was the right thing to do. They had been away from home for so long, they missed their time. Katie missed her family, her mother, father and brother. She deserved to be able to go back to them, so did the others to their own families. Jen….as hard as it was for him to accept, she deserved to go back to Alex. No matter how he felt about her, Alex held her heart.

Wes scanned the controls and then his eyes landed onto a compartment that read auto-pilot. "Auto pilot," Could it really be that easy? He opened up the compartment and pulled out the large book and opened and began to read it carefully, memorizing each and every word.

"Has anyone seen Wes?" asked Jen, as she and the other loaded up the last few pieces of equipment. The mutants had already been stored safely away into their compartments, so that they would be able to send them back with the time ship.

"No." Trip shook his head and even half looked around the clock tower, but saw no sign of his young friend anywhere.

"Neither have I," added Lucas who stacked other containers on top of the two he had already stacked.

"Maybe he went to see his father or Eric, let them know what's going on," announced Katie, knowing that Wes was probably still pretty shaken up. He had hardly talked to them after their conversation with Alex. They hadn't even been able to tell him that they were going to disobey Alex's order and stay with him to help protect the city.

"Maybe," answered Jen softly, as she took another scan around the main floor of the clock tower. It didn't look much like a home, but somehow over the last few months it had become a home, mainly because of Wes, mostly because of him. She wasn't sure where they would be, if he hadn't come into their lives.

"I'm sure he's okay, Jen." Lucas squeezed her shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile.

Jen was slightly caught off guard, and answered shakily. "I wasn't worried…"

Does she really think I'm that stupid? Both she and Wes have to be deaf and blind if they can't see how they really feel about each other. The others and I can see it, why can't she? Lucas just shook his head and smiled. "Okay Jen." He turned and shot a look over to Katie and Trip, who both just shrugged their shoulders.

Together the three had watched as the affection between Wes and Jen grew each day. The eye contact, playful grins and flirting around. Every so often one taking a quick glance while the other wasn't looking. Anyone had to be blind not to see Wes and Jen were crazy about each other. Even Alex seemed to be aware of it, though he never said anything.

"Hey Circuit, why don't you go and see if you can find Wes while we finish up here," asked Trip, as he packed away his tools.

"Sure thing Trip, I'd be glad to help."

Wes worked hard at the control panel, making sure to get everything correct. The directions were fairly easy to follow; it was just a matter of making sure he put the right coordinates. He wanted to be fully sure he wasn't going to send them to the wrong time period, especially because of the fact when they first arrived here their original time ship had been destroyed.

"There you are, Wes, everyone was wondering where you were," announced Circuit as he flew in. "Hey, how do you know how that works?" Circuit might be a lot of things, but he wasn't stupid. The robotic owl turned his head and saw the book on the auto-pilot open. "Wes, wha-what's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Circuit." Wes sighed heavily.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

"For this," Wes quickly turned around and picked Circuit up and jabbed a screwdriver into the owl's main controls, causing Circuit to shut down. He didn't want to do it, but he couldn't risk Circuit flying away and warning the others of his plans. Besides, he knew Trip would be able to fix their owl friend. Wes gently set Circuit down on one of the chairs, so he would be out of sight from the others, at least until his plan was in action.

He turned back to the controls, double checking that everything was set correctly. The current date read November 3rd, 2001, while the destination date read November 3rd, 3000. Wes looked at his watch; the others should be here any minute from now and then it would be time… He felt the sickening feeling inside of him starting up again. The kind of feeling that just wouldn't go away. He didn't want to send them back, but he didn't want them to die either. This was the only way, there was no other choice. It had to be done. "I hope I know what I'm doing…."

"There you are!" announced Katie as she walked in, with her hands full.

"We wondered what happened to you this morning," added Lucas as he walked from behind Katie. He grinned and looked over at Jen. "Jen was worried something happened to you."

Jen's face turned a light shade of red. And she quickly looked at Wes. "No, I wasn't… I mean, I knew you probably just got an early start." Embarrassed, Jen moved ahead of Lucas and Katie to stack away the containers she had carried into their rightful compartment, but not before giving Lucas one of her looks that could kill.

"Ah yeah…" Wes ran his hand through his hair. He could already feel his heart beat against his chest. "So where's Trip?"

"I'm here," Trip stumbled in, his arms full of the remaining containers.

"Lucas! You were supposed to help Trip carry them in." Katie rushed to Trip's aid. "You know Trip can't handle all those boxes on his own!" Katie grabbed them from Trip's arms.

"Well, you know how he is always complaining that we don't let him do anything. I thought this would be a good time to start."

"Uh huh, or you just didn't want to do any more work than you had to," announced Jen.

"Hey Wes, have you seen Circuit? He left the clock tower to go look for you," asked Trip. It wasn't like Circuit to stay gone this long.

Wes was leaning against the control panel, as he slowly moved his hand down towards the card slot to start the time ship up. "Um no, I haven't. Sorry Trip…" He moved the card carefully out, never had he felt so tense in all his life. But there was no turning back now.

"You alright, Wes?" asked Katie, noticing that Wes didn't look quite like himself.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, you look tense or something," added Lucas.

"…I'm fine, just a….little bit of a cold." He pretended to cough. "It's nothing really." He watched as they all looked at him oddly. He needed to act now, before they caught on to him. "Hey, I'll go grab the other boxes of equipment for you…"

"But Wes, we already…." started Jen, but it was too late, Wes had already gone out. She just shrugged her shoulders and continued to pack things away, figuring he would figure it out sooner of later.

While the others made sure everything was packed away and in its rightful place, Trip checked out the ship. He wanted to make sure everything was intact and would be good to go, when they sent the ship back home. "Everything seems in order…" But then his eyes caught onto something blue hidden in one of the seats. He pulled the chair out and his eyes widened. "Circuit?"

Katie walked up behind Trip, her eyes widening with concern. "What happened to him?"

Trip looked his owl friend over. "It looks like someone jabbed him with something, causing his circuits to malfunction."

"But who would do..."

Lucas was putting the last mutant away, when a swishing noise caught his ear. He turned his head and watched, puzzled, as the door closed. "Hey guys, was the door supposed to close?"

"What?" Jen turned around. And indeed the door was closed. "It's probably just automatic, we just need to walk up to it and it'll open back up." But even as she stood in front of it the door would not move.

Katie rushed up to Jen, her heart racing. "Why isn't it opening?"

Jen shook her head. "I don't know!"

All eyes turned to Trip, knowing he was the only one who could tell them what was going on. Trip turned around and to his fear, he found the very reason why the door had closed behind them and wouldn't allow them to exit. He turned to them, heavy hearted, and answered. "Someone set the time ship up," he bit his lip. "We're going home…"

"Launch will begin in sixty seconds."

"What! But none of us set it….." And then it hit Jen, none of them had set it. She quickly rushed to the dome window of the time ship and found their young friend looking back at them. "Wes! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jen yelled. "Let us out this instant, that's an order!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't do that." He sighed heavily. "You have to go back to your time. You'll be safe there."

"But I feel like this is my home," cried Trip.

"No, that's not possible," answered Wes, as harsh as it may have seemed. It was the truth, this wasn't their home. They didn't belong here.

"Why?" yelled Trip.

"Because this is my time, not yours." Wes gulped in heavily, knowing any second from now, they would be gone forever. "Your lives are waiting for you in the future."

"But Wes…." An instant thought came to Lucas: without them here to back up Wes their young friend would be greatly outnumbered. "You could be killed."

Until then he hadn't really thought about his own life. It had crossed his mind, but now this made it all the more clear that he really would be on his own. He eyed them all, heavy hearted, and then for some reason his eyes fell on Jen, as if he were drawn to her. "Maybe, but I won't stop fighting until I take my last breath… I promise I'll do whatever it takes to stop Ransik."

"No. I'm not leaving!" Katie pounded with all her might on the dome window, but her inhuman strength couldn't get as much as a dent. "Let me out of here!"

It felt like a knife to his heart to watch them in their agony, but not as much as the agony he felt. He looked up to the sky and watched as the vortex opened. The time hole that would send them all back home. "The vortex is opening!"

Jen ran towards the control, to attempt to cancel or override what Wes had done. "Please stop!" she cried. But it was too late, what was done was done. All her focus was gone; her mind was only focused on one thing right now. She ran back towards the others. "Wes I need to tell you something!"

"Jen, don't worry. Everything you always wanted is waiting for you in the future."

"No, Wes… I want you to know that I….." Jen's last few words were cut off as the engines started up and began to send the ship high into the sky, heading straight towards the vortex. All she could do now was watch helplessly, as she got further and further away from the man she had fallen madly in love with.

All Wes could do was watch as they disappeared into the time hole, knowing he probably never would see them again. Jen would never know how he really felt about her. Over the months of spending time together, he had fallen in love with her. He wanted to tell her the truth, but he just couldn't get the words out, partly from being afraid and the other from knowing her heart belonged to Alex.

"Wes, where the hell are you guys! The city's being attacked. Get your lazy asses over here!"

Wes raised his morpher up to his mouth. "I'm on my way Eric, just hang on."