As promised, here is the next chapter...


Wes lay on the couch with his stomach in knots. He had tried to force down the tomato soup Philips had made him, but in the end he had gone to bed hungry and sick. He lay in bed for hours staring up at the ceiling and watching the moonlight dance across the walls, but his bed had become hot and uncomfortable so he had moved to the couch downstairs, but it was just as miserable there. Cursing and shaking, he threw the blanket onto the floor and rolled off the couch to join it.

What's wrong with me? This has never happened before!

He curled up into a tight ball as a sharp, white hot pain shot through his head. Squeezing his eyes shut as tightly as humanly possible he called out for his father.

"Dad!"

There was no answer. That man could sleep through a tornado, he thought miserably.

"Philips!"

The good natured butler appeared in the doorway in no time with his bathrobe hanging limply over a pair of plaid pajamas, and his disheveled hair sticking out in all directions.

"Sorry to wake you" mumbled Wes from the floor. "But I need a doctor."

Philips stared at his young charged curled up in the fetal position and clinging desperately to the couch, covered in sweat and shaking slightly.

"Don't move Master Wes, I'll go get the car ready and wake your father." The butler disappeared around the corner and Wes pitched over sideways. He lay there moaning until he heard his father on the stairs, talking hurriedly on the phone to the doctor.

"No, I don't know what it is, "he heard his father say. "I'm not sure if it's a side effect. If it is it's not one that we've dealt with before….No, you're the doctor, not me! We'll be there in twenty minuets!" Wes heard his father slam the phone back into its cradle by the door and seconds later he felt an arm around his waist.

"Come on, Wesley," said Mr. Collins as he grabbed Wes's arm and helped him to his feet.

"The car is around front Master Wes," said Philips, reappearing in the doorway. "And your father…" He spotted Alan Collins helping his son put on his jacket and broke off.

"This way," he said, rushing forward to help. He grabbing Wes other arm and made a bee line for the front door.

Wes felt his father snap the seat belt around him and the door slam as he climbed in next to him.

"Don't worry," he heard Philips call from the driver's seat, "we'll be there before you know it."

Wes nodded, the motion causing him to feel nauseous.

"Dad," he said urgently grabbing his stomach and leaning forward to empty its contents on the floor of the car.

He heard his father bite back a curse as he passed him a plastic bag, "use that next time," he said flatly.

Wes leaned back and closed his eyes. It was a short ride to the hospital, but it turned out to be the longest fifteen minuets of his life.

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"Are you sure," asked Tommy as he wearily rubbed his face with his hands.

Hayley nodded but remained silent.

"So what exactly does it all mean?"

"It means someone is tampering with the morphing grid."

"How is that even possible?" Tommy moved forward to stare at Hayley's figures on the computer screen, but they all blurred together into a meaningless jumble of numbers.

"I don't know" she said quietly. "It's happened before remember? When we were in college."

Tommy shook his head as he racked his brain trying to remember what his friend was talking about but he came up empty."

"No, I don't remember."

Hayley sighed, "It was when the Time Force Rangers first came to this century. There was a surge in the grid as their advanced technology merged with the technology of our time. It wasn't really tampering because once they morphed the first time everything settled in like it had always been part of our time."

Tommy nodded, not fully comprehending.

"So…someone from the future is tampering with the morphing grid?"

"No, it's not actually a tangible grid you can tamper with…without the right technology of course. I'm not sure what's going on…but I do think that someone from the future may be involved because it's more like an energy spike than anything else."

Tommy clicked the mouse and the screen changed from the baffling table of numbers to a comprehensible chart. "Yeah, and a powerful one from the looks of it."

------

Silver City 5021

Danica perched on the balcony, staring out over the moonlit city. She was so lost in thought that she failed to hear the approaching footsteps until it was too late.

"Aaaahh!"

A hand closed over her mouth and another grabbed her throat.

"Listen up," said a steely voice. "Tell your people to back off. You saw what we did to your friend Gavin?"

Danica nodded as the man gave her a violent shake.

"Good. If you don't tell the Guardians to lay off, your friend Asher will be next!"

The stranger shoved Danica away, the force of the movement sent her careening wildly into the balcony. She tried to grab the railing to keep her balance but the slick stone slid away under her fingertips and she found herself going over the wall. A hand grabbed her arm just in time as the ground disappeared from beneath her. She looked down at the deadly drop to the sharp rocks below then up into the face of her rescuer.

"Asher!"

"Hold on, I got you!"

Grunting with effort, he grabbed the thick material on the back of her jacket and pulled her back over the railing to safety.

"What happened?" He asked as they collapsed onto the cold stone floor in a heap.

His female companion through her arms around his neck and clung to his chest. "There was a man!" She looked around for a sign that would betray the man had been there only seconds before, but the small hallway was devoid of all life except for her and Asher.

Bewildered at his miraculous escape she nearly gave herself whiplash looking back and forth. "He was there…"

Asher looked around to where Danica was pointing but saw nothing to indicate that there had been anyone in the room with her. He slowly turned his piercing golden gaze back to her icy blue one, disentangled himself from her and moved to the balcony and peered cautiously over the edge.

"Asher…" she said with a small hint of worry in her voice.

He turned around and, gracing her with a small smile, tucked a stray strand of Danica's chestnut hair behind her ear before taking a deep breath and began, in what he hoped, was a soothing voice. But no matter how hard he tried he couldn't keep all the skepticism out of his voice.

"You must have been imagining him…" he began, a slight frown creeping onto his features no matter how hard he tried to keep it away.

"No! He pushed me over the railing and he…" she broke off at the look on her friend's face. "You don't believe me, do you?" She asked incredulously, hating his tone of voice. He can't let got of his work for one second, and he's using that damn dog trainer voice on me! He's treating me like a child, she thought. He thinks I'm going crazy.

"Well…you have seen people that weren't there before…it's a side effect of your odd genetic code…kind of like those feelings you get sometimes."

"Yeah," she spat as she stood and walked away from Asher in disgust, "except they're never wrong."

"I didn't say they were…"

Danica swatted at her nose, "well you know what? I've got another bad feeling." She turned to glare at Asher, and had he been anyone else he would have withered under that stare. "I think something terrible has happened to Tristan too."

Asher smiled and shook his head, "no, he's just late checking in, that's all. Besides, Jedediah said that he was going to do a search to see where Tristan turned up at, I'm sure he's fine."

At that moment the small stone bracelet that Asher wore on his left wrist began to beep. He held it up to his mouth and spoke into it, never taking his eyes off of Danica.

"Go ahead Jedediah."

The voice on the other line hesitated, "I--I've found Tristan…"

A chill went down Danica spine as she caught the slight tremor in Jedediah's voice, something was obviously wrong.

"Where," asked Asher, completely oblivious to sound of horror in their friend's voice.

"He's traveled back in time to the twenty-first century, 2005 to be exact, but….I can only get a lock on his morpher. Tristan is…he's dead."

The smirk vanished from Asher's face and his mouth dropped open in horror, "what?" he said into the stone, not quite believing his own ears.

"There's more," said Jedediah, panic evident in his voice. "The Stone has fallen into the hands of a native…and the Watchers are already on their way to retrieve it."

"NO! We have to stop them," said Danica, fear taking hold of her heart. She reached out and grabbed Asher's arm. "Asher, we have to go after them!"

He merely nodded. "Jedediah, inform the others of the situation and meet us at the ruins."

"Right."

Jedediah cut the connection and Asher turned his attention back to Danica. The look in his eyes sent shivers of fear down Danica's spine once more. Asher was the strong silent type, preferring to let his actions speak louder than his words, and he never let his emotions get the best of him. He wasn't the type of man to wear his heart on his sleeve, but standing there, staring into his warm golden gaze as Jedediah's words sank in she saw something she had never seen before. She knew the look in his eyes, she made it a point to memorize his emotional patterns, and that uncharacteristic flicker of fear, though just for an instant, was enough to make her blood turn to ice. If Asher was afraid, something horrible was wrong.

"Let's go!" He grabbed her hand and broke into a run towards the nearest exit.

"You know what will happen if the Watcher's get their hands on the Stone don't you?"

"They'll have the power to destroy us and everything else, "said Asher not even bothering to slow down as they rounded the corner. "It'll be another Armageddon!"

------

Reefside 2005

Tommy sat upright in the bed, the nightmare fading slowly from his memory. He threw the covers off and got up, heading for the bathroom. Clicking on the light he reached out and turned the shower on.

It's only 3 am, he thought as he glanced back into the bedroom at the clock on the nightstand.

Stripping off his black boxers he stepped into the icy cold water and shivered as it hit his warm skin. He put his face under the water and closed his eyes.

He could still see the dream vividly, almost as if he were still sleeping.

Kimberly, her cold unseeing eyes glaring up at the ceiling, her head smashed into the ground…

He called out to her, ran towards her, but got no closer.

"Kimberly!" His voiced echoed emptily around him in the darkness as he struggled vainly against his captors.

Then he saw Kira, his student and yellow ranger, falling to the ground, struck down by another of the Watchers, joining Kimberly and so many others in death…

He watched as another Watcher lashed out with venomous force and felled Conner. Ethan, in a valiant attempt to avenge his fallen comrades was taken down in an instant…

Tommy felt himself screamed, as he watched others falling all around him. One by one they were all claimed by the deadly accurate swords of the Watchers. One by one they left him alone. One by one they killed him a little more….

"Kimberly!!"

Tommy's eyes flew open as the image of Kimberly came unbidden once more to his mind.

"Damn," he said as he turned off the water and reached for a towel. He hadn't thought about Kimberly in days. It was a conscious effort that he made, there were too many bad memories associated with that particular part of his past, too many memories that he didn't want to drag to the surface.

He slowly wiped the condensation off of the mirror until he was staring at his reflection. For a moment he didn't recognize the man that stared back at him, it wasn't someone he knew.

Is that really me? He asked himself in shock. He didn't look like the handsome young man he had once been, in fact he looked old, much older that his twenty seven years. There were wrinkles on his forehead and bags under his eyes.

That's not me. It can't be…he looks so…old and worn out.

Tommy sighed as he finally looked away and cut off the light. Get some rest Oliver, you'll feel better in the morning, he told himself.

He lay down on the bed again and pulled the cover up to his chin, but he didn't close his eyes for fear of what he might see. He turned over to stare out the window when the phone started ringing.

Who in their right mind calls at this time of night? He was going to let the answering machine pick up but the incessant ringing hurt his head.

"Hello," he said irritably as he snatched the cordless phone off of the table.

For a moment the line was silent then timidly, almost as if the person on the other line knew how he felt, replied.

"Tommy…"

The phone almost dropped from his hand as recognition flooded his senses. It can't be! Not after all of this time!

"Kimberly?"

"Tommy I-I had a nightmare. You died. I just…it seemed so real…I just had to hear your voice, I'm sorry for calling so late."

Kim had a nightmare too? What the hells going on? No…cool it Oliver, It's just a coincidence.

"It's okay Kim…I'm okay…and so are you…." For now anyway, he added quietly to himself.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have called…"

"No," said Tommy, feeling completely sincere. "I'm glad you did…we need to talk anyway."

------

Silver Hills 2005

Alan Collins sat in the waiting room at the hospital staring blankly out into space with his phone up to his ear. He held his son's jacket on his lap and absently fingered the stone in its left pocket. He could feel the heat emanating from it and it sent a sense of unease through him.

"Zaskin," he said to the man on the other end of the phone line, "I want you to run some more tests on this thing. Try and figure out what it really is."

"Of course. I'll be there shortly to get it."

"Right and bring something to carry it in…it's still kind of warm to the touch."

He ended the conversation as a nurse appeared around the corner from where they had taken Wesley.

"Excuse me." He said, motioning to her. "Can you tell me anything about my son?"

"I'm sorry, but I haven't been in with the doctors. You'll have to wait until one of them gets through and comes out." She gave him a reassuring smile and walked away.

Alan sat back and rubbed the stone through the fabric of the jacket.

"Ah!" He said jerking his hand back as the jacket feel away and his hand came into full contact with the stone.

He recovered it with the jacket and placed it in the empty chair next to him. Casting a glance back at it, he stood and walked away in search of coffee.

With his back turned he never saw the Watcher sneak around the corner and grab the jacket and steal away with the stone.


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