Deep in the mountains not far away from the town of Angel Grove, a spaceship of huge magnitude was hovering just above the ground. With hydraulic hisses a ramp lowered to the dusty terrain and a man emerged. He stood at the opening, a strange look on his face-relief, wistfulness, maybe even joy. As if unsure he slowly walked down the ramp until he stood on solid ground, each step deliberate yet wary. Without a word, he raised a hand in farewell to the other inhabitants in the ship. Understanding his unspoken command the vessel closed up and glowed with power, its massive engines roaring. Then just as quickly as it had come, it disappeared-a lonely streak of odd light across the afternoon sky. The man sighed and looked out to the horizon at the pretty, bustling town he had grown up in. Billy Cranston whispered,

"I'm home."

……

Katherine Hillard paced the confines of the command center, stopping to stare at the viewing globe very two minutes. She read reports of numerous diagnostics and equations of travel velocities used in teleporting, numbers and letters flying through her head in dizzying clumps. They were all starting to blur together in her exhaustion. She hadn't slept in three days, spending each waking hour pouring over computer readouts and maps. These last three days were a waking hell for her, one that had started when in mid-teleportation, Tommy Oliver had disappeared. Following that the remaining rangers had been driving themselves crazy trying to find him. There had been no breakthroughs though. There was still no sign of the red ranger and Kat was convinced something horrible had happened. Whereas everyone else had at least gone home for some needed rest, Kat had stayed, working tirelessly. Until last night, that is. In the middle of searching the center's databanks, she had drifted to sleep, her head falling into a pile of books in front of her.

She had seen mountains and mountains, endless horizons of peaks, drenched in darkness. Falcons cried, wolves howled and she had frightened out of her mind. From the high pinnacle where she stood, she kept seeing glimpses of red appearing and dissipating in the valleys below her. On the wind she heard a voice that kept calling to her. She knew without question that it was Tommy. As she tried to scramble down the mountain, a figure appeared before her in the form of a ghostly Native American man. He never spoke a word; just threw a helmet at her. In horror she watched as it rolled to her feet and she recognized it to be Tommy's.

She had awakened then, dripping in a cold sweat. There was no way she could decipher all this by herself; she needed help if they were ever going to get Tommy back again. In a half asleep frenzy, she had put out a call to all ex-Rangers. And now all there was to do was do her best and wait to see if they would answer the call. The slide of the main door jerked her from her reverie. She called out without looking,

"Tanya, I don't care what you say I'm not go-"

At the tall, broad-shouldered figure that strolled in, her mouth dropped open and she gasped,

"Billy?!"

In an instant she had wrapped her arms around her old friend and was weeping into his chest. He shushed her gently, smoothing her hair and mumbling comfort. He asked quietly,

"Where's everyone else?"

Pulling back and stepping away, her nose red, she sniffed,

"Oh I sent them all home a while ago. They'll be back any minute. But Billy, I didn't expect you to come. I just sent the call out to everyone. I never expected you to leave Aquitar."

"You didn't think come back to help one of my oldest friends?" he replied, looking a little shocked. "Katherine, nothing is more important than the bonds we formed as Power Rangers. It's imperative we find Tommy-nothing else matter right now." He took a step back to survey the wilting Pink Ranger and he smiled gently, "You look like you haven't slept in days and I deduce that that's because you haven't. Correct?"

"Possibly," she shrugged but couldn't make it believable. She nodded tiredly, "Okay, you're right. I haven't slept at all since…you know."

She swallowed hard and looked like she was going to burst into tears again but Billy took her by the arm. Leading her to the door, he ordered,

"Go home and get some sleep. Please. I'll start working on this and I'll be here when you come back, I promise." He gave her a wide grin and teased, "A shower would be okay too."

Laughing weakly but genuinely, she took Billy's hand and said honestly,

"You're a good friend, Billy."

With that she pressed her communicator and in a flash of iridescent pink she was gone, leaving Billy alone with his memories. Slowly, soaking it all in, he walked around, trailing his fingers along the blinking switchboards he knew so well. It was like greeting an old friend, being in this place. He remembered all he had experienced here and distantly could hear the booming of Zordon's voice and the nervous chatter of Alpha 5. He had never admitted to himself how much he had missed the Command Center. It was essentially where he had grown up and learned his greatest lessons, made forever friends and had even fallen in love. At that particular thought, he cringed and pushed it far away. He settled himself into a chair in front of one of the many computers and set to work, his fingers flying over the keys. He saw immediately that Kat had done enormous amounts of calculations and theories; he had always known she had the potential to be incredibly intelligent. He racked his brains as he searched through the mainframe, trying to track Tommy's biorhythms down through the massive grid. He remembered one of the last times he had been here, when the aging disease was slowly pulling apart his cells and gradually killing him. All his friends had gathered around him but none as much as Katherine. She had spent many hours keeping him company, making him smile, forcing him to laugh. Although the Aquitians healed him, Kat had kept him alive.

He let loose a long breath and fought the guilt that washed over him. Even though Tommy had been his friend for years, he knew it wasn't for Tommy that he had come back. Deep inside him the truth was ice-cold. He had come back to help Kat.

……

After sleeping at least eight hours and taking two showers, Kat returned to the Command Center with a renewed sense of hope. With Billy aiding in the search, they were sure to find Tommy. She couldn't count how many times Billy's irreplaceable brains and wisdom had saved them. He would come through for them again; she just knew it. Inside the main console of the center, it was crowded with Rangers. Her heart sprang up her throat in joy. Everyone had answered the call; everyone was one here. She saw Aisha who had traveled all the way from Africa. She saw Rocky and Jason and mostly unfamiliar faces she knew to be the original Rangers. She saw…her previously buoyant heart dropped…Kimberly. She shook her head and scolded herself inwardly. Of course Kim would come; she had loved Tommy much longer than anyone else had. No matter how badly their relationship had ended.

From amongst the chattering masses Billy waved to her over the heads of the crowd. Smiling brightly she made her way over to him and exclaimed,

"My god, this is amazing! I should have known everyone would come but it's still shocking! This is great, isn't it?"

Billy nodded; his eyes misty like some of the reunions he had just encountered had struck a chord. He said simply,

"I think I've got a plan."

"You do?! Well let's hear it! Does everyone else know?"

Billy shook his head.

"Negative. I waited for you. I thought you should be the one to give the orders. I mean, you are the one that got us all here."

"Alright," she agreed reluctantly and began to clap her hands for attention. "Everybody! Hey, listen up! We have to find Tommy as soon as possible. If the Machine Empire gets word that Tommy's missing, they'll strike hard and fast."

"That's assuming they weren't the ones that took him," Jason Scott shouted out.

"Correct," she nodded. "Now as you all obviously know, Billy left Aquitar to help find Tommy and in typical Billy Cranston style, he has a plan of action. Billy, go ahead."

Clearing his throat, he began.

"Well I've studied the biorhythms and charted their weight and capacity in the typical time-space continuum and I've think I've pin-pointed a general area where he must have landed or…jumped."

"Jumped?" Rocky DeSantos frowned. "What do you mean jumped?"

"Well without the old morphing grid, the way Rangers teleport was a little altered. It is possible that a person in mid-teleportation can divert and change their course with a certain code on the communicators, making it impossible for the viewing globe to find them."

"But why would Tommy do that?" Kimberly Hart spoke everyone's thoughts.

"I'm not saying he did," Billy replied. "I'm just saying it's a possibility. Anyway, the area is a part of the Santa Ana Mountain Range-a very wide area but with as many people as we have, it's possible."

No one noticed the color disappear from Kat's cheeks. Bits and pieces of her dreams haunted her. Could they be true? How could she have seen where Tommy was? And if the dream was real, then who was the mysterious old man? Her head clouded up with questions, she nearly missed Billy's instructions.

"Rocky, Kimberly and Justin, you'll be the Air Task Force. You'll fly over the mountain range with scanners. If you find him first, be prepared to skydive to his coordinates. Jason, Zack, and Aisha, you are A-team and you will start the search party in the north at Mount Clemens. Trini and Tanya, you will stay here and offer directions and keep our communications operational. Kat and I will head in from the south. The vehicles are charged to full power but the terrain will soon get too rough to handle. You'll have to do most of the journey on foot. All of you carry hand blasters and be ready for anything. Who knows what's out there."

Jason clapped Billy on the back and congratulated,

"Dude, way too sound like a leader. Why weren't you ever a Red Rangers?"

"Ah, trust me, not my style, "Billy chuckled. "They did always get the girl though, didn't they?"

Kat, already suited up with a determined look on her face, burst in between them.

"Enough chitchat, boys. Time to go."