I was watching Wormhole this morning and this came to me. Slightly AU I guess. What if only Jack, Z and Bridge had gone back and the others hadn't gone to help them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, nothing I tell you!
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Goodbye means Goodbye
The command centre was quiet. The only noise being Kat working on her computer and Sky's pacing.
"Sky will you stop that!" said Syd, "You're making me dizzy. The others will be fine". This offhand comment made Cruger think back to Bridge's last words to him,
"Do you mean goodbye as in 'See you later' or goodbye as in 'Goodbye'".
The Commander certainly hoped it would be the first of those options.
A commotion in the hallway drew the attention of the occupants of the command centre.
"I'm sorry sir, but you can't go in there"!
"Let me through, I have to see Cruger"!
A man burst into the command centre, closely followed by two SPD cadets.
"I'm sorry Sirs, but he wouldn't listen".
"That's alright cadet. Dismissed".
The cadets saluted and left the room. Sky and Syd turned to the stranger who was now standing silently in the middle of the command centre. He was about forty or so, but he had a haunted look to his eyes, which made him seem a lot older.
He was dressed in dark blue jeans, with a kaki green jacket over a dark red t-shirt. He wore battered black boots and had three wristbands on each wrist. Red, yellow and green on his right and pink, blue and sliver on his left. His hair was light brown, shot through with silver in places, and shaggy enough to fall into his eyes. Over his shoulder was a worn, black leather, messenger bag, with a red and yellow ribbon tied to the strap. He noticed the stares of the rangers and smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry about that, didn't mean to cause a fuss. I would have done this officially, but I don't have much time".
"Who are you?" enquired Sky. The man was strangely familiar to him, and when he glanced as Syd, he noticed that she felt it too.
"Come on Sky, don't you recognise me? What about you Syd, surely I haven't changed that much in twenty years"!
"Twenty years ago, we were children sir", replied Syd.
The man smiled ruefully. "Sorry, it's been twenty years for me, but only a couple of hours for you. I'm sort of a time traveller. A bit like Sam".
The man looked straight at Sky who gasped as his eyes met the stranger's.
"Bridge"? The man nodded.
"Can you prove it?" said Sam, suspicion tingeing his words. The man pulled out three SPD morphers and set them down on the command console. Kat hurriedly scanned them.
"They belong to Jack, Bridge and Z, but they're over twenty years old"!
"But … but how?" asked Sky.
"That's what I'm here about," Bridge paused. "God it's good to see you guys again, I mean, the Dinos are great and all, but I missed you guys". Syd took Bridge's arm and gently steered him towards one of the chairs surrounding the central console.
"Bridge, what happened"?
"The Wormhole closed, will close … whatever. It closed about five hours after we left. We didn't make it back to the shuttle in time and we got stuck in 2004".
Kat checked her monitors, "That means they have just over three hours left".
Bridge nodded. "We were fighting alongside the Dino rangers. Grumm had teamed up with one of their enemies, a guy called Zeltrax. Together they had a huge army of krybots and drones. We were about halfway through them when we saw Grumm's ship leaving. We just figured that he was fed up of being beat, so we stayed with the Dinos to help them finish the drones. We went back to the shuttle straight afterwards, just in time to see the Wormhole closing".
"Oh, Bridge"! Syd wrapped her arms around her best friend and Sky put a hand on his shoulder.
"Bridge," said Cruger, "What happened to you after that, and where are Jack and Z"?
Bridge bowed his head. "We hung around Reefside for a bit after we realised we were stuck. Doctor Oliver and the other rangers helped us out with fitting into 2004, and Tommy found us jobs in a place called Angel Grove. We never revealed any information about the future, avoided some jobs because of our future knowledge. Jack seemed to … acclimatise the best, but we never stopped looking for a way back".
"And where are Jack and Z now, Bridge." Asked Kat gently. A tear found its way down his face.
"They died … in a car crash, about three years ago".
"And you've been alone since". Sky's hand gripped Bridge's shoulder more tightly as he nodded.
"Sir, we have to go back to 2004. With four more rangers, we could defeat the Troobians more quickly, and be back before the Wormhole closes".
"I know that, but I cannot leave the planet undefended".
"With all due respect Sir, if we don't go, then we're down three rangers. Bridge, Jack and Z don't come back, but Grumm does. Sir, we can't leave them there".
Cruger nodded slowly. "Alright, rangers prepare to move out".
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A few minutes later, Kat, Bridge and the other rangers were assembled outside another shuttle, ready for the rangers to go through the Wormhole.
Syd turned to Bridge to say goodbye and gasped. She could see right through him.
"Bridge? What's going on"?
Bridge looked down at himself and grinned at Syd. "I thought this might happen. You're changing history Syd, my history. In a few moments, this me won't exist because you guys bring us home". He turned to Cruger, "Thank you Commander, for making this a 'See you later'. Say hello to the past me!" Bridge grinned and waved as he faded completely.
The rangers stared at the spot where he had stood a moment before. Sky grinned.
"Wait until Bridge hears about this"!
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Love it? Hate it? Review!
I posted this on livejournal and comments there have got me thinking of a prequel sort of thing, to show what Bridge, Jack and Z were doing for the twenty years, what do you think?