"So what do you want to do this afternoon?" Tommy asked. He was laying on his back, in the grass beside the lake. His head was resting in the lap of a girl clad in a pink floral, short sleeve sun dress. Her sandals were resting beside her, her back leaned up against the tree that provided them both with shade from the sun, and her legs were stretched out and crossed at the ankles. She was running her fingers through his long hair, her eyes closed, humming quietly.

"I'm almost too scared to plan anything," Kimberly told him, looking down at his face and cracking a smile. Tommy grinned back. "Zedd and Rita haven't attacked in a while, so the moment we do plan something they'll just ruin it."

"I know what you mean," Tommy replied. He was dressed simply in a white t-shirt and jeans, black gym shoes still on his feet. He'd had his hair tied back, but the moment they sat down, Kim had taken his hair out of the pony tail and spread it around his head like a halo. Tommy liked the attention and touch of her fingers, so he never argued. "But this is nice," he added. "We can plan to stay here."

"Mmmhmm," Kimberly replied, leaning her head back against the tree once more. Tommy closed his eyes as well, listening to the birds chirping. There was a frog somewhere nearby in the pond, and a few crickets he could hear in the grass not far from where he lay. This was how a weekend was supposed to go. No weird aliens showing up, not odd situations to face. Just him and his girlfriend.

"Tommy?"

"Hmm?" he answered, not fully stirring. He was falling asleep in her lap.

"Tommy?"

"Yeah?" he replied to her voice which had sounded further away the second time. Maybe he was sleepier than he'd thought.

"Tommy?"

"I said what" he muttered, though he didn't open his eyes. There was a bit of a grumble in his voice.

"Dr. O?" Kira called again, giving her science teacher's shoulder another shake. He was laying on his stomach in bed, his arms wrapped tightly underneath the pillow supporting his head, his mouth slightly open, and the pillow was a bit moist. He cracked an eye open and could just make out the blurry shape of a girl wearing a knee length short sleeve pink shirt. He frowned.

"Kimberly?"

"Uh… no" Kira said, slightly hesitant. After seeing who Kimberly was yesterday, the thought that her science teacher had confused her with the former pink ranger made her feel queasy, and she definitely didn't want to spend any more time retching over a toilet bowl. "Dr. O, it's me Kira."

Tommy slowly came back to the world of consciousness, letting her words sink in. He rolled over and sat up in the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and fumbling around on the night stand beside the bed for his glasses. Kira reached over and grabbed them, handing them to him.

"Thanks," he muttered. "Time is it?"

"Nine thirty," Kira replied. Tommy nodded. He very rarely slept that late anymore. But after the events of the previous day, he wasn't all that surprised that he'd given in to exhaustion. "Dr. O? Where are our clothes?"

"Oh, um… dryer. Closet beneath the stairs," he told her. After the teens had gone to bed, Tommy had tossed all their clothing from the day before into the wash since it was some of the only stuff they had. Kira nodded, and disappeared back out of the bedroom, leaving Tommy alone with his thoughts, still trying to shake himself from the dream. He hadn't dreamed of being with Kimberly in a long time. But watching himself with her yesterday had brought back memories he'd thought were long since buried deep in his subconscious. This adventure was proving to be a very strong shovel and he wasn't sure if he should be pleased or distressed by that fact.

Tommy pushed the blankets off his legs and swung them off the edge of the bed. Stretching, he glanced at himself in the mirror. He was clad only in a pair of white gym shorts, and his glasses. Now that his vision had cleared from sleep, and he could see relatively clearly without them, he pulled them back off, and ran his hand through his short hair. Hair shorter, a few more laugh and worry wrinkles in his face, and he was definitely a bit more muscular, but otherwise he looked nearly the same as he had when he was seventeen. Take away the black, and he almost didn't recognize his current self. He sighed and put his glasses back on, before walking out into the living area of the cabin. He nodded to Connor, Ethan, and Trent, sitting at the dining table, bent over bowls of dry cereal whispering, as he went into the kitchen to fix himself something to eat.

Connor was talking in a hushed voice with his fellow male teenage teammates. "Guys, I swear it. She looked exactly like her."

"Are you sure?" Ethan whispered back.

Connor nodded. "Yeah, but there's no way she was Dr. O's age," he stated. "I told you Friday. She couldn't have been more than her very early twenties. You know, college age."

"I don't know Connor," Trent told him, shaking his head. "It seems like an awfully strange coincidence. Morning Dr. O," he added, as the older man joined them at the table, his own bowl of dry fruit loops in his hand.

"Morning. Where'd Kira go?"

"Changing. Said something about avoiding wearing pink as much as possible," Ethan told him. Tommy winced, realizing his mistake from a few minutes before. He didn't share, just nodded his understanding to the kid wearing green gym shorts.

"Dr. O," Connor began, "does Kimberly have a sister?"

Tommy frowned at him. The question was sudden and out of left field, even for Connor. "No, why?" he answered, the inflection in his voice conveying all the suspicion the white clad black ranger had for current red ranger. Connor shrugged.

"No reason," he stated, shoveling a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. Tommy opened his mouth to press the issue, but Kira emerged from her room at that moment wearing the exact same outfit she'd been wearing the day before. She slipped into a fifth chair at the table as Trent pushed his half eaten bowl towards her. She smiled a thanks, taking a spoonful.

"Dr. O, we're going to need to figure out the clothing situation," she told him. "We've got no idea how long we'll be here, but we can't go around wearing the same thing every day. Someone is bound to notice."

Tommy nodded his agreement and stood up, disappearing into the room Kira had slept in again. He came back with a wooden box sealed with a combination lock. "I've been thinking about that," he told the teenagers sitting at the table, as he rejoined them. He studied the lock for a few moments and then began trying a random assortment of numbers. He tried his birthdate, then the day he'd become a ranger, the day he'd become the white ranger. Next he entered his family members' birthdays. Finally, when nothing else worked, he'd tried his anniversary with Kim. The lock sprung open, and Tommy sighed. He should have guessed that earlier. Inside the box was cash. Not an amazing amount, but it would be enough to survive on for a while, as long as they were careful.

"Whose money is that?" Connor asked, staring into the box in shock.

"It's mine," Tommy told him. "Or it was, or is it that it will be?" He blinked a few times, trying to think. "I'm not exactly sure what verb to use right now." The teens nodded, sort of understanding.

"Won't you notice it's gone?" Trent asked him. Tommy shook his head.

"I was never really saving it for anything specific. And I don't remember it being missing, so that's got to mean something."

"If you say so," Ethan said, watching Tommy count the bills. Tommy took a few and tucked them into his pocket, putting the rest back in the lock box and securing the lock. He put the box up in the cabinet about the refrigerator.

"Alright, let's go get dressed. Then we'll hit the thrift store for clothing, and the grocery store for some more food," he told the teenagers. "We'll decide what to do after that." The teenagers nodded, the boys going off to do what they were told while Kira gathered up the bowls from breakfast and took them to the sink for washing. Tommy gave her a smile of thanks before ducking back into his room. He'd taken his own clothing out of the dryer the night before and folded them on top of the triple dresser. He shut the door and began to change, feeling a bit more like himself and further from the youth he'd seen yesterday once he was again wearing black. He'd have to instruct Kira to grab him a few things from the thrift shop as well.

"Much better," Trent replied from his spot on the couch when Tommy rejoined them in the living room a few minutes later. Tommy shot him a glare, but Trent just laughed, knowing his teammate understood he wasn't happy sharing a color with him.

"You all ready to go?" Tommy asked. Ethan and Connor were coming back down the stairs from the loft, and Kira was finishing fixing her hair in the bathroom mirror with the brush she'd managed to find, after she sanitized it with a bit of alcohol Tommy had found in the cabins liquor cabinet. He was rather glad his uncle never kept track of how much of that stuff he had in the cabin. All four teens nodded. "Alright then. You can follow me as far as the park, but once we get there, I'm going to have to go invisible. If anyone I knew sees me, I'll be recognized. Rangers or not," he explained. "I'll whisper directions to Connor from that point, so just follow him and look like you know where you're going."

"But what if someone from yesterday sees us? How do we explain wearing the same clothing, two days in a row?" Connor asked him.

"We'll say the fossil digging is dirty work and we didn't want to ruin more than one outfit. We'll say we spent the morning at the dig site," Kira told him. Trent had filled her in on the cover story that the boys had come up with the day before.

Everyone nodded and followed Tommy out the door of the cabin, who locked the door and slipped the key into his pocket. They reached the edge of the woods in a slightly longer amount of time than it had taken them the day before due to the fact that they weren't in any specific rush. Judging from the position of the sun, it was nearly, or possibly just after eleven in the morning. Tommy signaled the teenagers to stop, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out five, twenty dollar bills. He handed one to Connor, one to Ethan, one to Trent, and two to Kira. "Use that to buy yourselves some clothing in the thrift shop," he told them. "Stretch it as far as you can. That's all we can spare for this," Tommy added, looking pointedly at Connor who nodded. "Kira," he began.

"I got it Dr. O. Black," she added. Tommy nodded and handed her a note he'd written back at the cabin with his sizes on it. She accepted it with a nod.

"Alright," Tommy said. "Connor, I'll be on your left as soon as you reach the other end of the park."

"Right Dr. O," Connor replied, and the four teens watched their teacher go invisible. Connor sighed and took up the lead, his friends following him out of the woods and into the sunshine. Now that they knew where and when they were, the oddities of the day before were clearer, although no less disturbing. In fact the four teens were even more uncomfortable, feeling very out of place in a mid-1990s society, especially now that they were around people again.

With Tommy's directions, the teenagers were able to reach the thrift store without incident. There was a bench outside where he told the teens he'd wait for them. The shopping center had a metal clock in the middle, so he added that they had an hour. It was eleven thirty at that point, so if they weren't back by twelve thirty, he was coming in after them, and he was pretty sure they wouldn't like that. The teens had expressed their understanding, promising not to be late, and walked into the store.

The clerk greeted them, but otherwise left the four teenagers alone. The teens split up, the boys toward one side of the store, Kira toward the other. Like most thrift stores, the racks of clothing were sorted by color, which made this shopping much more simple.

Thirty minutes later, Kira and Trent browsed the racks side by side. They'd both picked out, tried on and paid for plenty of items for themselves, and were currently completing Kira's assignment of outfitting their black ranger, not that he'd be seen all that much. Still, he had to have something else to wear, as they couldn't constantly wash his clothing, and eventually he'd start to stink. Connor and Ethan had finished their shopping as well, all their clothing paid for and bagged, and were checking out the vintage video games while they waited on their teammates to finish up. Satisfied that they had enough for Tommy, Kira led the way toward the counter.

Trent wasn't looking at Kira, and didn't notice that she'd begun to head to the register. Instead he had cast his eyes over toward the home goods section of the store where two teenagers were harassing an old woman. The larger of the two was rather plump. He wore his hair pulled tightly against his scalp and into a short pony tail behind his head. Blue jeans and black leather motorcycle style boots adorned his lower body, while he wore a purple t-shirt under a black leather jacket on top. His companion wore grey cargo pants, army surplus style boots, and a thick black leather belt around his middle. His top was a button down camouflage colored shirt with the sleeves ripped off and the arm holes fraying. He wore a leather spiked collar around his neck and a bright red beret on his head. Trent took a few more steps back into the clothing racks, trying to get closer to the teenagers to see if he could stop them. The old woman between them was clearly frightened.

"What do you think of these?" She asked, as they passed a display adorned with digital watches, being advertised at a dollar each. Each of the watches had a black face and rubber wrist bands. They were definitely cheaply made.

"Yeah sure," Trent replied, glancing back at her when she heard him speak. "I'll meet you outside," he added. Kira followed his gaze, then shrugged, leaving him to do what he'd like. She grabbed five of the watches, each with a different colored band, and took her stuff to the register. The clerk seemed preoccupied with the same teens as Trent, so as soon as Kira had finished paying, the woman picked up the phone and began to dial.

Kira smiled a goodbye and went to round up Connor and Ethan. It didn't take her too long to find them. Reaching the red and blue rangers, Kira came to a stop. "You two ready to go?" she asked. "Dr. O will be in here in about twenty minutes."

"We've got plenty of time," Ethan responded, although he wasn't fully listening. He was itching to purchase some of the games he saw. A few of them would be worth big bucks if he could get them back to their present.

"Don't both Kira," Connor told her with a laugh. "I've been trying to get him to leave for the last ten minutes."

"Speaking of minutes," Kira reached into the smallest bag in her hand and pulled out three watches. One with a red band, one with blue, and one with yellow. "I got us these. Since our phones don't work, and we broke our watches in the blast, I figured it'd be useful to know what time it is."

"Thanks," Connor replied, taking the red and blue ones from her. He extended the blue one to Ethan, who paused briefly in his pursuit of video games to fix it to his wrist while Connor and Kira did the same. "No more telling time by sunlight," Connor laughed as the bell at the front of the store tinkled letting the store know someone had just entered.

Slightly worried that Tommy had gotten bored a bit early and had decided to come in and drag them all out of there, the three teenagers looked up towards the sound. They all sighed in relief when they noticed that it hadn't been a door opening on its own, but rather two officers entering. The store clerk went up to them, talking very fast but in a low voice. Connor and Ethan turned their attention back to the video games, but Kira continued to watch.

The clerk disappeared into the back room of the store, while the two officers made a bee line straight for the teenagers Trent had been preoccupied with earlier.

"What day of the week is it?" Kira hissed at Conner and Ethan. She sensed something was wrong. Something not according to plan was going to happen. Her eyes darted back and forth from the officers to the teenagers and to the racks of clothing trying to spot Trent. She didn't see him.

"Sunday," Ethan replied. "At least I think," he added, looking up and following Kira's line of sight.

"Those don't look like regular police officers," Kira told the boys. Connor frowned, while Ethan shook his head. The officers were saying something to the teenage boys, and an old woman was hurrying away from them. Kira and her friends didn't look away as the door tinkled again indicating that the woman had left the store.

"They're not," Ethan confirmed. "I think they're truant officers. I'm beginning to think it's not Sunday"

"Truant?" Connor asked, not really liking the sound of that.

"As in skipping school. They're responsible for rounding up students who aren't in school when they're supposed to be," Ethan whispered hurriedly to his friends. "We need to get out of here now."

"Too late," Kira told him. One of the officers looked over his shoulder and spotted the teenagers. He said something to his partner and pointed at Kira, Connor, and Ethan. Now, the second officer was walking straight towards them. Kira frantically searched for Trent. She saw him step out of the clothing racks behind the officer. Using as much of her eyes and facial expressions as she dared, Kira made eye contact and willed him to understand that he needed to stay there. Trent frowned, but just as the first officer turned to start walking the two bullies out of the store, she watched Trent blend in with his surroundings. Kira sighed in relief as Trent went nearly as invisible as Tommy had the day before.

"How can we help you officers," Connor's voice brought back Kira's attention. She could tell he was trying to keep the panic out of it.

"Don't give me that kid," the officer replied. "You know why I'm here."

"I'm afraid I can't say I do. We're not from around here," Ethan added in.

"Likely story," the officer answered, clearly not believing the three teenagers.

"It's true officer. We're visiting on a field trip from Reefside, honest. Our teacher gave us a break," Kira explained.

"You'll have to come with me to precinct to confirm that story," the officer told them, gesturing to the teenagers to lead the way out. Shoulders drooping, Connor took the lead, searching his brain for a way out of this. They couldn't just run from a cop. He might be able to get away, but Kira and Ethan weren't a guarantee. He couldn't leave them alone. And even if they did escape, they'd have to stay out of sight for the rest of the time they were there like Tommy, but they didn't have the power of invisibility or camouflage to help. It'd be easier said than done. So for the time being, Connor led his team out of the thrift shop and to the truant officers vehicle. The other office was no longer there. The officer unlocked the car and held the back door open. Ethan and Kira slid into the back seat. Connor hesitated for a moment, scanning the area where Tommy was supposed to be waiting for them. He didn't see his teacher, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Quickly, he mouthed the word "help", before ducking down in the back seat of the car. The officer shut the door, circled around the car, climbed in the front, and drove off.

As soon as the car was gone, Trent emerged from inside the thrift shop and ran over to the bench where they'd left Tommy. "Dr. O, Conn-".

"I saw," Tommy replied quietly. Trent couldn't see him, but he was shaking his head, clearly feeling hopeless. "They were truant officers. Guess it's not the weekend." Trent shrugged in response, worry clearly written all over his face. "Come on, we'll have to go down to the precinct. That's where they'll take them. And we'll both have to keep out of sight."

"You have a plan?" Trent asked him.

"No," Tommy replied, and then proceeded to give the teenager directions, as he couldn't very well follow an invisible man.

Connor, Ethan, and Kira sat on hard plastic chairs across from a giant wooden desk of the truant officer who'd brought them into the precinct. The desk chair on the opposite side was empty at the moment, the officer having stepped out of his office to help his partner with something for a moment.

"What do we do now?" Kira hissed at Connor. Their leader just shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm working on it," he whispered back. Kira just frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, sinking back into her chair since she'd had to lean forward around Ethan between them to speak to Connor. As she did, the officer who'd taken them in walked back into the office. He took a seat in his chair and wheeled it closer to the desk. The officer typed a few things on the keyboard of the computer in front of him, and then looked up at the teenagers.

"Now, do you want to tell me the truth?"

"We did," Connor sighed, casting a look at Ethan and Kira. He was the leader. Getting them out of this was his responsibility. But at the moment, there was only one thing he could think of to do. He met the officer's gaze with a steady one of his own. "We're visiting from Reefside High school with our teacher." It was practically the truth.

The officer typed on the keyboard again, frowning at the computer. "And what is this teacher's name?"

"Dr. O," Ethan blurted out. The officer frowned at him.

"That's not a name," but he began typing none the less. "The only doctor at Reefside high is a Dr. Margret O'dell who teaches science," the officer muttered.

"O'dell, that's what I was going to say, but you cut me off," Ethan lied.

"We're looking for fossils out in the desert," Kira provided. They'd gotten lucky with the name, but she wasn't sure how much longer their luck would hold out. The officer didn't look completely convinced.

"Names?" the officer asked them. "Last, then first please."

Connor sighed. There was no avoiding this. He shifted in his seat slightly so he could see officer's computer monitor. "McKnight, Connor"

"James, Ethan."

"Ford, Kira."

After each of their names, the office had resumed typing on the computer. His face showed surprise at each one. "Well, you do exist in the Reefside school system database, but," the officer stated as he moved the mouse cursor so that it was hovering over Kira's name. One click and the file would reveal that Kira was currently an eight year old third grader.

"Officer Carmichael," another officer knocked on the open office door and stuck his head in. "Sorry to disturb you, but we're having some trouble with Farkas and Eugene. We could use your help."

The officer at his desk, nodded. "I'll be right there Stewart," he replied. The second officer nodded and walked off. Officer Carmichael sighed and looked up at the teens. "Alright, your story checks out. But don't get into any trouble while you're here," he told the teens. "You're free to go." He clicked the close button the computer screen, and stood up to indicate the kids could leave.

"Just like that?" Connor asked. Ethan hit him.

"Thank you," Ethan said as he and his teammates stood up, Connor rubbing the sore spot on his arm from where Ethan had hit him. Kira whispered a quiet thanks as well, and the three bolted from the office, and out of the precinct as fast as they could.

Hitting the pavement outside, Kira glanced down at the watch she now wore, glad that she had thought to make that purchase. The display read 12:43. She and her teammates searched the area trying to find something familiar from the last two days. Unfortunately, they had no idea where they were, and they were beginning to get strange looks again.

"What now?" Ethan asked Connor. The teen in red glared at him.

"We've got to find Dr. O and Trent," he replied, rubbing his arm. "That hurt you know," he added. Ethan just smirked.

"Over there," Kira interrupted them, pointing a bit away in the distance. About a block away from the precinct, a teenager in white was jogging towards them.

"Guys! You're ok!" Trent called out, waving to them. Kira waved back, large smile on her face. It was such a relief.

"For now at least," Kira told him, when he'd finally reached them. He instantly hugged Kira around the shoulders. "Unless Officer Carmichael decides to investigate a bit further, we should be ok."

"How'd you get out of there? I thought for sure we were done for."

"We told the truth. Luckily there was a Doctor with a last name of O teaching at Reefside high school in 1995," Ethan laughed.

"And," Connor stated, "that our names showed up in the school system. One more click and we were done for. If he'd opened one of our files, it would have shown third graders."

"I really don't know how we could have explained that," Kira laughed, handing her bag to Trent who had his hand outstretched.

"Dr. O with you?" Ethan asked Trent. The teen nodded.

"Right here," came a voice just behind them. All four teens jumped slightly. "Good job you three. Now what do you say we get off the street?"

"Agreed," all four teens stated at the same time laughing.

"Dr. O, I'm hungry. Can we get lunch?" Connor asked. Kira burst out laughing, while Ethan and Trent just shook their heads. Kira was sure she heard the sound of Tommy's hand smacking his own forehead.

"Yes Connor, we can get lunch."

I'm enjoying how this is turning out. I hope you all are too. Not sure how long I'll be able to keep up a steady stream of chapters. But I am happy I got bit by the writing bug again.

Reviews appreciated.