Little bright dots of white light illuminated the night sky, unmolested by buildings and trees which was something Tommy had come to appreciate after discovering the secluded area in the woods. Like his spot down by the creek, this one had been another place he had frequently visited to get away from things and just relax. It was quite a hike, nearly four miles from his house but for him, it was worth every step.

If one was to follow the path of creek deep into the woods, they would find that it never really ended but instead turned into something that was much larger. Deeper into the woods the creek got wider and wider, expanding almost to the size of a small river until it met the edge of a cliff and suddenly plummeted downward into the lake below. Where trees should have been someone had cut them back leaving a little over half an acre of nothing but green grass on either side of the creek.

In just over five years of living in Reefside, Tommy had never seen anyone ever do anything to take care of the area. He had never seen anyone fertilize, water, or mow the grass. It just seemed to stay one length, never brown or blemished, always soft and luscious green grass. The lack of trees also gave a clear view to the night sky and even the most untrained set of eyes could see thousands of stars and dozens of constellations that weren't normally visible for someone in the city, where buildings seemed to always block everything.

It was the last night before Tommy, Kim, Kira and Conner were going to Los Angeles and there were three blankets laid out on the grass: one occupied by Tommy and Kimberly, another by Conner and Kira and the last one by Adam and Haley. The group of six had come out in the late afternoon with a barbecue, some food and drinks, a radio, a Frisbee, and a football. Conner had objected firmly to the odd shaped ball, citing the need for something a little rounder and more kickable, but no one else aside from him played soccer.

Kira and Kim had also brought their acoustic guitars which came in handy when the guys and Haley decided to play a game of football, neither one of them in the mood to play. They had spent the better part of an hour together, pen and paper in hand, writing lyrics for their song and working out the kinks in it. Tommy would look over from time to time at the pair and smile, happy that they were getting along so well together.

They had just finished a meal of hamburgers, grilled sweet corn, and macaroni salad courtesy of Tommy, and were laying out under the stars in silence when Kim noticed something moving in the sky. It was a dim light, in stillness appearing to be nothing more than a distant star but staying motionless was something this light was not familiar with. Too slow to be a shooting star and too fast to be a satellite, Kim's curiosity ended up getting the better of her.

"Hey, look up there. Does anyone else see that thing?" she asked, pointing towards the moving light in the sky. "It looks like that star is moving but it's not really going very fast."

Adam tried to adjust his eyes in the direction Kim was pointing but found that he was having trouble seeing much of anything. He had his eyes fixed on the constellation Orion, specifically on a star called Betelgeuse when he saw what Kim had been talking about. Slowly creeping from behind Betelgeuse was a soft light, barely visible, continuing at an upward slant towards Sirius.

"I think I see it too," Adam replied finally, Kim breathing a sigh of relief that she wasn't seeing things. "That's really weird. I wonder what that could be. It's too slow to be a shooting star but too fast to just be a satellite."

Tommy found it next and nodded in silent agreement with Adam and Kim, being extra careful sure not to say anything about it. Something was definitely moving up there but only three of the six really had any idea as to what it could possibly be. Conner, Kira and Haley all saw it a few seconds later and agreed with the others that it was definitely an odd sight.

"Too bad there's no way to find out what it is," Kira muttered softly as Conner gently placed his arm around her shoulder. "Dr. O, Haley, do either of you guys have any idea what that could be?"

Tommy turned his head towards Haley just for a split-second, giving her a look that quickly prevented her from saying anything about the moving light. He gave the same look to Conner and shook his head softly saying that he didn't know, which Haley immediately seconded.

Conner remained locked in a silence of feigned ignorance, something that he had actually become rather good at.

He played the part of the dumb jock to perfection but he wasn't as ignorant as most of those around him perceived him to be. Aside from Tommy, who graded his papers and knew what he was really capable of, Kira was the only other person he had ever shown that side of him to which is what had initially endeared him to her. She liked that he had shown her the real Conner McKnight, a Conner McKnight she could easily see herself being with and falling in love with.

Looking back at the sky, Tommy found the light again and watched it with great concern. Adam had no idea how right he had been when he mentioned the depth of the rabbit hole Tommy had found himself in. The five-time Ranger, along with Haley and Conner, knew something, something he obviously didn't want anyone else outside of them to know about.

They weren't the only ones that had seen the moving light, either. All over the state of California, reaching into the depths of space and even across time, people Tommy knew were seeing the same thing he, along with Conner, Haley, Adam, Kim, and Kira had just seen moments earlier. Silently, Tommy prayed that it wasn't what he had been thinking knowing fully that hoping for something else wasn't going to do him any good.

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Space…

Two Hours Earlier

A thin man with long hair, streaked blonde and pulled into a tight ponytail sat at the command console of the Astro Megaship Mark III, the replacement for the Mark II which a man named Zhane had crashed, and stared blankly into the depths of space. No view from Earth or from any other planet for that matter could match the one he got to see everyday. Alas, the spectacular lighting of stars, the rotation of moons and planets, they were all just consolation prizes to the utter chaos that space truly was.

Earthlings, so primitive in their technology and their centrist views of the universe, had no idea about the horrors happening around them. Most residents of Earth did not believe in what was popularly described on the planet as "extra-terrestrial life." Some even believed their planet to only be 6,000 years old, something he knew to be the farthest thing from the truth.

Having been to Earth, defending it and even marrying an Earthling, he found it hard to believe that so many people could believe they were the center of everything when there was much more that was going on. Edenoi had been all but wiped out, Inquiris was at its' breaking point and Kalderon had been on its' last leg for months.

The man caught the shadow of a figure in the hallway and spun around in his chair, calling out for the person to join him. A woman, shorter than he with long, auburn brown hair came into the room and took a seat next to the man who had called for her.

"What's going on out there, Andros?" the woman asked after sitting down and taking his hands in her own. "It looks like things are just getting crazier and crazier by the minute. Is it ever going to stop?"

"I don't know, Ash," he answered solemnly and honestly. "But something needs to be done before more innocent blood is spilled. We can't let there be another Bookala."

Ashley thought about the snowy, peaceful, defenseless planet that had been brutally destroyed without hesitation and nodded. She had seen it happen right in front of her face from the Megaship, like Alderan being blown up in Star Wars. There was nothing there but emptiness and debris left to float along in space after the Destroyers had left their mark.

For the last few years Andros and Ashley had been tracking the movements of the Destroyers, a term coined by Ashley because neither of them knew who it was that was doing it. Together with Andros she had seen half a dozen planets completely wiped out along with countless others that had been annexed and occupied, forcing the inhabitants into a world of near slavery.

The Destroyers moved stealthily too until they had chosen their next target. After they had settled on a planet, they orbited it for a few weeks, studying its' people and devising a way to take it as quickly as possible. Planets with fighters like were simply occupied while defenseless ones like Bookala were destroyed without a second though.

Even planets like Gamma Vile and Onyx, systems known for the evil inhabitants that occupied them were being taken over. Andros had been sure that Gamma Vile, Master Vile's home planet would have been left unscathed but it had fallen even faster than Alandria.

Only planets with incredibly strong defenses like Mirinoi, Aquitar and Triforia were passed by, apparently in fear of the Galaxy Rangers, Alien Rangers and Trey who had defended his planet from the most evil of creatures for centuries by himself.

As the Megaship entered the orbit of the KO System, quietly drifting by KO-1, Andros looked out the window and noticed a dim light slowly traveling through space. Without hesitation he jumped up from his seat and sprinted out of the room, Ashley right on his tail.

"Let's Rocket!" they yelled together, each jumping down a chute that launched them into space. "Galaxy Gliders, hang ten!"

The Red and Yellow Space Rangers were met by matching colored hover boards that they rode into the depths of space. They flew in silence for over forty-five minutes until Andros had found what he was looking for.

"Come on," he said to Ashley, spinning around on his glider "We need to get back to the Megaship now. Something bad is going to happen soon."

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Silver Hills, CA

Present Time…

Fifty men, all in blue jumpsuits, marched in unison along the grass that had just been watered especially for them twenty minutes earlier. At the front of the line were two men, both wearing matching uniforms and sunglasses even though it was pitch black outside, yelling at the men behind them. In the dark, the only distinguishing factor between the pair was the red beret that one of the men was wearing.

"You clowns want to be Silver Guardians!?" the bereted man yelled "Give me a break. How are you supposed to defend people when you're whining about a little exercise!?"

"It's freaking midnight," a man at the front muttered, causing the two leaders to stare at each other "Did you really expect us to be happy about this?"

"I beg your pardon? What's your name, son?" the hatless man asked, removing his sunglasses and looking at his name tag "Williams, is it? Well, Mr. Williams, consider yourself free from marching duty," he continued with a smug grin on his face. "And consider yourself unfit to be a Silver Guardian. Pack your things and vacate the premises immediately. Captain Collins and I do not have time for whiners and quitters. Anyone else care to join Mr. Williams?" he asked, not at all surprised when he was met with silence. "That's what I thought. Keep moving men!"

The group of fifty quickly turned to forty-nine as the first recruit was weeded out and dismissed. Two hours later, after a run through the woods and a shooting simulation, three more of the recruits had been dismissed, the others returning to their quarters, leaving the two leaders alone outside sitting on a picnic table.

"You think we were a little hard on them, Captain Collins?" the darker haired man asked, making sure the word "captain" received plenty of sarcastic emphasis "Four recruits in under six hours is a new record for us, buddy."

"Yeah, what happened to getting soft in your old age? Man, Eric, it seems like forever since my dad put us in charge of the Silver Guardians," Wesley Collins reminisced with a smile. "Can you believe there was actually a time when we didn't get along? We used to always be at each other's throats about everything. Now look at us."

"Yep," Eric replied, stretching out and laying down on the table top. "You're about to get married to Jen. I'm about to get married to Taylor. The last six years have just flown by, man."

Wes nodded his head in agreement at Eric who kept his eyes firmly focused on the night sky hovering over his head. Initially, the brightness of the star Sagittarius prevented him from seeing the dimmer light behind it but his eyes opened wide when it came into view. Eric reached over and slapped Wes on the shoulder, pointing towards the sky. Wes found what Eric was pointing to almost instantly, his eyes training on the floating speck of light.

"Do you think Andros was right?" Wes asked with concern, Eric shrugging his shoulders "If he was right this could be it. They could be coming for Earth."

"But why would they want anything to do with Earth?" Eric questioned in reply, getting the same reaction he had given moments earlier "Andros said they went after planets that didn't have Rangers. Earth has more Rangers than any other planet in the universe. It'd be suicidal."

"You wanna take the TF Eagle up there and have a look?" Wes asked with a grin, both of them jumping into standing positions without a second thought "Time for, Time Force!"

Wes was instantly covered in the armor provided to him as a Time Force Ranger, his helmet latching shut as the final step in his transformation.

"Quantum Power!" Eric yelled, feeling the same rush of energy as Wes when the red suit and helmet enveloped him. "TF Eagle!"

The small ship came flying through the sky almost immediately, landing next to Eric and Wes after just a few seconds. The pair climbed into the ship with Eric at the controls as the engine started rumbling and they tore off into the sky.

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Angel Grove, CA

Same time

A red Corvette flew down the empty streets of Angel Grove, loud hip-hop music blaring from the speakers as the driver tapped his thumb against the wheel. He was in a hurry, late for a date with his newest girlfriend but still sat there calmly, clearly a man who had dealt with things far worse than being late for a date.

He was barely a mile from her apartment when he saw a set of flashing blue and red lights in his rearview mirror. Rolling his eyes, he punched the steering wheel angrily and pulled the sports car over, the police cruiser pulling up behind him.

Looking in his mirror, he saw a police officer step out of the car with his radio at his mouth, probably running the plates on the car. He came up to the side of the car a few minutes later, tapping on the window as the driver immediately rolled it down.

"License and registra…" the officer began but stopped when he recognized the driver "Oh, Mr. Johnson. I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know it was you."

From behind the wheel Theodore Jay Jarvis Johnson, also known as TJ, tried his best to hide the smile that always came onto his face when he got pulled over. Having his identity known had saved him on numerous occasions from things like speeding and parking tickets.

In a way, he felt bad about it. Zordon's rules had never been things he had taken lightly but he didn't do it willingly. The police officers just simply chose not to write him tickets when he was in violation of something. He would have paid the tickets if they had actually given them to him but he wasn't going to argue with them when they didn't either.

"It's fine. Can I go now?" TJ asked, the officer nodding and stepping away from the vehicle as TJ saluted him "Thanks, chief."

TJ was just about to turn around and start his car again when his eyes caught something floating amongst the stars. The police car passed him on his left, temporarily blocking his view of the sky. He rolled his eyes angrily when he lost the light, stepping out of the car and staring up into space.

He scanned the sky for close to five minutes until the light came back into his line of vision. There was a vibration against his leg and he immediately reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and looking at the caller identification. It was his girlfriend and, letting out an exasperated sigh, he flipped the phone open and answered it.

"TJ, where the hell are you?" the female voice asked, TJ rolling his eyes again "You were supposed to pick me up thirty minutes ago. If you're with another woman I swear to God I'll castrate you and feed your parts to my dog."

TJ was about to reply when the moving light caught his eye once more. He brought the phone away from his ear, muffling the yelling of his girlfriend on the other end as he stared at the sky again. Keeping his eyes fixed on the light this time, he brought the phone back to his ear.

"Something came up. I'm going to have to call you back," he muttered nonchalantly, hanging up the phone without waiting for a reply. "Shit. Andros was right. I wonder if Tommy knows."

Flipping his phone open again, he found Tommy's number and dialed it, bringing the phone back up to his ear and waiting as it rang. On the fourth ring, he heard the line click as Tommy answered his phone.

"TJ, now's not a good time," Tommy said in a whisper "I saw it, too. So did Conner. I need you to contact Andros as soon as possible. Find out if he knows anything and get back to me as soon as possible but don't call. Send me a text message or something. Gotta go."

TJ heard the line click before he could even get a word in to Tommy. Opening the door of his car, he lowered himself into it, started it up and made a U-turn in the direction of his house. Something was going on and Andros was the only person who could tell him what that something was.

Pushing harder on the gas, he watched as the speedometer hit 110 miles per hour and smiled. His time driving Red Lightning had paid off. The ten mile drive to his house would have taken a lot longer than ten minutes if not for his experience behind the wheel of the race car that doubled as his Zord.

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Location unknown

Year 2027

Standing on your head, your body leaned against a wall while trying to eat a stack of toast is probably not the best of ideas, especially considering the effects gravity has on trying to swallow. To the brunette woman watching in the shadows, it came as no surprise when the blonde male toppled over onto his back, choking on the toast.

She tried not to laugh at the actions of her friend who had put himself into this same position numerous times in the past. The first few times she actually got scared and tried to help him until she realized he was fully trained in diffusing the situation on his own. Now when he did it, she usually just sat back and laughed until he managed to dislodge the bread from his throat.

"What is it with you and toast, Bridge?" the brunette laughed, offering her hand to him and pulling him to his feet.

"It's buttery, Z," he replied with a smile, wiggling his fingers near his lips. "I don't see how you can't share the same loving relationship with toast that I do. It's amazing how great bread can become with a little heat and some butter."

Elizabeth "Z" Delgado shook her head and laughed at the downright quirkiness that seemed to follow Bridge like a shadow. Besides eating toast, standing on his head was a favorite pastime of Space Patrol Delta's Red Ranger which came along with the random babbling the other Rangers were so used to hearing from him.

After Jack left S.P.D. and Bridge had become the Blue Ranger, he and Z had been on the verge of a blossoming romance until Sky had become Commander with Bridge becoming the Red Ranger. There had been some rocky times between them after that, Z secretly questioning her eccentric friend's ability to lead a team of Rangers. Bridge, accidentally reading Z's mind, had picked up on her doubts and confronted her on them, causing the two close friends to drift apart.

It wasn't until Bridge was summoned by the Sentinel Knight to help the Overdrive Rangers that Z became convinced of his abilities. She apologized to him upon his return and the pair reconciled, slowly moving back in the direction they had been heading before their fight.

Standing on the observation deck on the fifteenth floor of the Delta Base, Bridge quietly slipped his arm around Z's waist, the Yellow Ranger resting her head on his shoulder as they stared at the stars. Z was the first to notice the dim light gliding across the sky.

"Look. It's a shooting star," she said with a smile, pointing towards the light. "How romantic is that? We should make a wish."

Bridge found what she was pointing to a few seconds later and had to struggle to keep his mouth from falling open in surprise. Shaking his head, he looked down at Z with a solemn expression on his face, the brunette woman wondering what was wrong.

"That's no shooting star," he muttered, surprise littering Z's face. "Do you still have the contact information for the Megaship inside the base?"

"Yeah," Z answered. "Why?"

"I need it," Bridge replied, turning away from the sky and facing the base. "Get a hold of Andros. I need to talk to him as soon as possible."

Without another word Bridge sprinted through the open door and back into the Delta Base, stopping in the hallway and looking in both directions. He heard Z come in behind him and grabbed her hand, taking off through the hallways once again.

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Angel Grove, CA

Present time…

Jason sat in the hot tub in his backyard with his arm around Trini, each of them holding a glass of champagne in their hands. He had his arm around her shoulders and she was leaning her head back, resting it in between his neck and shoulder as he ran his fingers up and down her arm gently.

It had been three years to the date since the pair of old high school friends had begun dating, a step both of them had wanted to take for a while but neither had been willing to admit for fear of ruining their friendship.

They teetered on the line of dating for almost a year, both of them constantly flirting with the other but never taking it any further until Trini had grown tired of playing games.

They had just gotten back from seeing a movie and Jason was walking her to her apartment door when, out of nowhere, she pushed him up against a wall and kissed him passionately. Jason reciprocated immediately and neither of them ever thought about it again. The kiss was all the confirmation they needed to know they belonged together.

Sipping her champagne, Trini looked up at her boyfriend and smiled, kissing him softly on the lips. He ran his fingers up the small of her back, returning the kiss with great satisfaction.

"Have you talked to Tommy or Kim?" Trini asked with concern after they broke the kiss, Jason shaking his head. "You really should call one of them. You guys are best friends. They'll listen to you whether you think they will or not."

"I left them a note apologizing and asking Kim to call me," Jason replied, not liking the topic of conversation, especially on their anniversary. "There's not much I can do besides that. Now let's drop it. I don't really want to worry about them on our special day."

Jason planted a firm kiss on Trini's lips, closing his eyes as their lips met in a passionate embrace. Their mouths opened wide, enveloping each other as they tried to keep the same pace. As they pulled apart, his eyes opened and he saw something behind Trini's head. Not wanting to startle her, he slowly shifted positions like he was teasing her, trying to get her to follow him.

Trini grinned at him, not knowing the true nature of his plan as she pushed herself towards him and locked him in another kiss. This one was shorter, just enough for Jason to appease Trini so he could get a better look when they broke the kiss.

He nearly bit his tongue trying to keep his mouth shut when he found the dull light once again. Silently, he said a few curse words, keeping his eyes on the moving dot that was slowly creeping across the sky. Trini had been talking the whole time but his focus on the light was drowning out the majority of what she had been saying.

"Jason," she said, pushing him on the shoulder and bringing him back from his daze. "You weren't even listening were you?"

"Yeah, of course I was," Jason answered in a mumble, quickly lifting his arm away from her shoulder. "I, uh…I think I'm gonna do what you said and go call Tommy. I'll be right back."

Jason hopped out of the hot tub, grabbing his towel and drying himself off as quickly as possible, Trini staring at his back with a shocked expression on her face. He turned around and smiled at her before disappearing into the house in search of his cell phone. It was lying on his bed, the screen glowing blue as he grabbed it just in time to see that he had four missed calls before the light turned off.

Flipping his phone open, Jason scrolled through the list of miss calls, two coming from Tommy, one coming from Rocky, and another from a number that he thought looked vaguely familiar but didn't recognize right away. He looked at the number momentarily, thinking about dialing it but opted to call Tommy like he had told Trini he was going to.

"Jason," Tommy answered after just one ring "I'm glad you called. I've been trying to get a hold of you for almost an hour. Did you see it?"

"Yeah, I did, but that's only part of the reason why I called," Jason answered somberly. "Look, man. I really am sorry for the whole Florida thing. I feel awful about it and having you and Kim mad at me just makes it worse. I really don't want you guys mad at me anymore."

"Hold on one sec, bro," Tommy replied, Jason waiting patiently for nearly three minutes until Tommy came back on the line. "Okay, I'm over it. So is Kim. You're forgiven."

Jason rolled his eyes and chuckled at the sound of Tommy laughing on the other end, Kim laughing even louder in the background.

"So is this what we think it is?" Jason asked seriously. "Has anyone else seen it? Have you contacted any of the others? Why are you talking to me when you should be calling people?"

"Slow down a second there and shift down a gear or two, pal. I have everything under control," Tommy answered reassuringly then lowering his voice. "Kim's in the other room so I can't say much. I'll call you tomorrow when I've gotten a chance to talk to Andros, okay?"

Jason said okay and hung up his phone, spinning around to see Trini standing in the doorway wrapped in a towel with her arms folded across her chest. He took a deep breath and prepared for the worst, knowing that Trini was going to question him until she was satisfied which meant it could be minutes, hours, or even days before she decided to let him off the hook.

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Stone Canyon, CA

Same time….

Rocky didn't know why he was awake or what he was doing outside dribbling a basketball up and down in the middle of his apartment complex at midnight. All he knew was that he hadn't been able to sleep and going outside seemed like the right thing to do, so he followed his intuition and went outside.

He was using the complex's basketball hoop, shooting every now and then but mostly standing on the concrete floor with no shoes or socks on, thinking about whatever happened to pop into his head. Things had been tough on Rocky in the past year, losing his mom to cancer and his dad in a car crash within three months of each other, but he had pulled through, maybe losing a step or two but standing nonetheless, a feat he was proud of.

Being in the hospital room when his mom died had been excruciatingly painful for him but seeing his father's mutilated body after the horrific fourteen car crash had been the thing that made Rocky damn near lose his mind. If it hadn't been for Aisha, who had stayed firmly by his side the whole time, he probably would have.

Like Jason and Trini, Rocky and Aisha had danced around a romantic relationship for years, probably longer than Jason and Trini themselves had. The many nights Rocky stayed up late, crying into Aisha's shoulders had drawn the pair closer together than they could have ever imagined. They were going on eight months strong, the longest relationship either one of them had ever had.

He tossed the ball at the hoop and missed badly, cursing quietly as the ball bounced down the path and into the shadows. He was just about to go after it when the ball came flying out of the shadows right at his head and he got his hands up just in time to catch it. Stepping into the light came Aisha, a smile on her face as Rocky flung the ball back at her.

Aisha caught the ball and then effortlessly flicked her wrist at the goal, not even looking at the ball as it sailed perfectly through the net. She had her eyes fixated on Rocky, trying not to laugh at him standing there in nothing but boxer shorts and a wife beater.

"Sorry, babe. I didn't mean to wake you," Rocky muttered, tossing the ball and sinking his shot "I just needed to get some fresh air and think."

"Don't apologize, Rocky. There's nothing to apologize for," Aisha replied, quietly wrapping her arms around his waist. "Just make sure you put on some clothes next time you decide to spontaneously play basketball at midnight. I don't want the neighbors getting to see my man like that. That's for my eyes only, monkey boy."

Rocky chuckled, Aisha shooting him a playful wink as he lifted his head and placed a tender kiss in the center of her forehead. The loving moment was quickly put on the backburner of his mind when he briefly looked at the sky, blinking in surprise at what he had seen then silently cursing as it disappeared out of sight. He pulled Aisha into a tight hug which allowed him to scan the sky without raising any suspicions about what he was doing.

He looked in the same spot he had seen the faint light the first time, allowing his eyes to trace its' path across the sky. His eyes followed the path of the light until he found it once again, coming out of the hiding place it had found in Betelgeuse. Watching it intently, Rocky tried to not make any sudden moves, keeping Aisha close and unable to interrupt him.

"You wanna go back inside?" Rocky asked quietly, not breaking his line of vision. "Come on. Let's go back inside."

Without another word from either of them, Rocky put his arm around Aisha's waist, picked up the ball and headed down the concrete path towards their apartment. When they were halfway down the path the sprinklers clicked on, spraying water all over the,

"Shit!" Aisha yelled as she let go of Rocky's hand. "Run!"

Aisha started sprinting towards their apartment and Rocky followed suit, quickly gaining ground until one of his bare feet slipped on the wet concrete, launching him into the air. The thud of his body meeting the cement was enough to make Aisha spin around, staring at him in a combination of shock and fear. Ignoring the liquid onslaught she was about to receive, Aisha ran back into wet territory, skidding to a stop at Rocky's side.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern, water spraying her in the face. "Come on. We need to get out of the water. Can you walk?"

Rocky groaned and nodded his head, accepting a helping hand to his feet from Aisha as she threw his arm around her shoulder and tried to support him. She knew that, at the worst, he may have broken a rib but she liked it when Rocky needed her help. Unlike past relationships for Aisha, she and Rocky were on equal grounds, something she liked very much and quickly grew accustomed to.

She dragged him a few hundred feet until they reached their first floor apartment, stopping only long enough to unlock the door and get Rocky inside. As soon as she had the door open she helped him inside and tossed him on the couch before shutting and locking the door behind them. Rocky stretched out on the couch, groaning in pain as he grabbed his side.

"Ahh. I think it's broken," Rocky moaned "It hurts like a son of a bitch."

"Here, let me have a look," Aisha replied, moving to the couch and pushing against his ribs, Rocky groaning every time she pushed "It doesn't feel broken. It's probably just bruised. You're gonna have a nasty bruise for a while though. Just be glad you're not a Ranger anymore and don't have to fight with that thing."

Rocky groaned again but it was from Aisha's comment this time instead of the pain. He asked her to bring him his cell phone and muttered a few choice curse words under his breath when he saw two missed calls and one voicemail from Tommy. Struggling with the pain in his side, he dialed his voicemail number and listened to the message from Tommy.

Rocky, it's Tommy. I don't know if you saw it or not but I think something's going on. I need you to send me a text message as soon as you get this. Just say "yes" if you saw it or "no" if you didn't. Talk to you later, bro.

Pushing the 3 on his keypad, Rocky deleted the message and pushed a few more buttons until he had opened his text messaging screen. He quickly typed the word "yes" and sent it to Tommy just as Aisha came back into the room with the bag of ice and the Ace bandage he had requested. Aisha lifted up his tank top, softly kissing the injured area a few times before pressing the bag against his side and wrapping the bandage around it tightly.

Sighing, Rocky thanked her and then stared blankly up at the ceiling, a whirlwind of thoughts swirling around inside his head. Thinking, he would admit without hesitation, had never been something he enjoyed or was really good at. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, preferring to follow his heart instead of his head for the most part. Many a time it had gotten him in trouble but it had also been the reason for his relationship with Aisha.

Under his own strength, Rocky swung his legs around into a sitting position then slowly pushed himself onto his feet. Aisha offered him a hand but Rocky wouldn't take it, preferring to get to his feet without any help. It took him a minute or two but eventually he managed to get up and quietly follow Aisha into their bedroom.

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Reefside, CA

Two hours later…

Conner and Kira, along with Hayley and Adam, had gone home an hour earlier and Kim had fallen asleep just twenty minutes before Tommy opened the secret door that led to the basement lair and descended down the staircase into the darkness. Moving his hand against the wall, Tommy found the light switch and flipped it on, bright light immediately illuminating the room.

Sitting at the computer, Tommy brought up an extensive program he and Hayley had created that allowed him to track every former and current Ranger regardless of where they resided. He could find the Ninja Storm Rangers at the Wind Ninja Academy, the Galaxy Rangers on Mirinoi or the Alien Rangers on Aquitar. He even had the capability to go into space to contact Andros, Ashley and Zhane or across time to keep tabs on S.P.D. in 2025 and Time Force in the year 3000 if he wanted to.

He decided to check on a few select Rangers tracking Aurico, TJ Johnson, Andros, Wesley Collins, Eric Myers and a young man he had only met twice in person named Bridge Carson. Clicking on Bridge's name he watched the monitor as a satellite in space slowly shifted positions, focusing itself away from Earth and into space. The screen started glowing a blinding white, a side effect of using the satellite to cross time and dimensions.

He waited patiently for the light to dim, keeping his eyes towards the floor and ignoring the faint beeping the computer was making. When the light had finally calmed down he brought his eyes back to the screen and waited for the connection to finish. A few minutes later an image of Bridge appeared on the screen, a worried look on his face.

Tommy, what's up? There was this light moving across the sky but it was weird. It was way too fast to be a satellite but too slow to be a shooting star. Do you think we need to be concerned?

"I don't know, Bridge," Tommy answered calmly. "Everyone in the RRC that I've talked to as seen it including you which means it's not only traveling through our dimension. It's crossing over into yours as well, apparently. In any case, it'd probably be months before they even made it into the galaxy. Just keep an eye out and make sure to contact me if you notice anything else that seems strange, okay?"

Will do, Tommy. Bridge out.

The image of Bridge disappeared and Tommy clicked on the Silver Guardians, the blinding light reappearing as the satellite crossed time once again. Waiting for his connection with Wes and Eric to establish itself, he thought back to the first official meeting of the RRC.

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Flashback, eighteen months earlier...

Rangers from different cities, planets and eras of time gathered together in the living room of Tommy's house, all of them different but all of them sharing one thing in common. They were all Red Rangers. The idea for the Red Ranger Council came to Tommy a few months after the moon mission as a way for all the teams to keep tabs on each other.

Information was shared amongst all the Rangers under the pretense that it could be shared with their teams but the knowledge of where they had received the information had to be kept a secret. They all agreed and the first meeting had been fairly successful.

Starting with Jason, Rocky and Tommy the council included the Red Rangers from every team to date including Eric Myers who, as the Quantum Ranger, was given special admission to the meeting with Time Force's Red Ranger, Wesley Collins. TJ, Andros, Leo Corbett of the Galaxy Rangers, Carter Grayson of Lightspeed Rescue, Cole Evans of Wild Force, Shane Clarke of Ninja Storm, Conner of Dino Thunder, and Bridge Carson of S.P.D. were all in attendance, the only absent Red Ranger being Aurico who was present in the form of a holographic transmission from Aquitar.

It was a different experience from the one the first ten Red Rangers had shared on their mission to the moon to fight the remains of the Machine Empire. The majority of their time together had been focused on the mission, not leaving much time for any of the Rangers to really get to know each other, which was where the Red Ranger Council came into play.

Tommy knew everyone in the room either from his original tenure as a Power Ranger, the moon mission, or his return as the Black Ranger, but this meeting wasn't really for him. It was more for the others, not just as a way to share information but as a way for them to establish personal relationships with all the other Ranger teams.

At the meeting, the group of Red Rangers all agreed that any Red Ranger to come after them would automatically be granted admission to the council with special considerations for Rangers like Eric who wore red but wasn't technically a Red Ranger. Tommy, deciding crimson wasn't quite red enough opted not to invite Hunter Bradley, something that had initially caused a riff with Shane but, aside from that, there were no problems within the council. Even that one had been quickly squashed by a vote that was almost unanimous in not bringing in Hunter, silencing Shane who chose to adapt rather than segregate himself from the others.

It was at the first meeting where Andros first gave word to them of a potential, and very possible, threat. Detailing the path of the group Ashley had dubbed the Destroyers, most of the Rangers listened in complete shock to what Andros was telling them. Aside from Aurico, Andros and Leo, the rest of the Rangers were Earth based and had no prior knowledge of the attacks across space.

After hearing Andros' report the fourteen Red Rangers all agreed that, should a time come when they were needed, they would once again take up the mantle. Most of them didn't seriously think the Destroyers would attack Earth but some of the older Rangers knew it was a definite possibility and that they needed to be prepared just in case something actually did happen.

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Reefside, CA

Present time…

Ending his transmission with the Silver Guardians, Tommy slowly spun around in his chair finding himself face to face with Kim who happened to be the last person he had wanted to see at the time. Kim kept a look of confusion and anger on him, shocked at the conversation she had just watched take place between Tommy, Wes and Eric.

"What the hell was that about?" Kim asked loudly, trying to control her anger but not really succeeding. "What did you mean by 'we might be needing another meeting?' And what the hell is the RRC?"

Tommy took a deep breath, a pain jabbing at his heart because he knew he couldn't tell her what he was doing with thirteen other Red Rangers. He kept his eyes trained to the floor, silently praying that she would give up and drop it but he knew better than that. She kept staring at him in quiet protest, refusing to back down.

"Kim, I…I can't talk about it," Tommy muttered reluctantly. "All I can tell you is things, possibly bad things, are happening. That light we saw earlier wasn't a star or a satellite. We don't know what it is but we're pretty sure it's heading for us. I can't tell you any more than that. I'm sorry, sweetheart. I want to, but I just can't."

Kim thought back to the image of the two men she had seen on the computer, familiar faces that she was trying to place somewhere. She had seen them before but she couldn't remember where. Looking around the room, she noticed a picture on Tommy's desk of them with the other Dino Thunder Rangers as she realized where she had seen them.

In the living room, hanging on the wall over the television, were a handful of pictures that Tommy had actually liked enough to frame and display. She remembered the faces, placing them Tommy, Jason, and five other people she had never met before. They were standing in a circle fists extended out and touching, the sun set glowing eerily around them as they stared down at Alpha 7, who was taking the picture. All but one of the men in the picture, the same one who had been in the transmission earlier, all had had red on in some capacity.

"No. No way. Not gonna happen, Tommy," Kim said sternly, pointing a strict finger at him. "There is no way in hell you're doing the Red Ranger thing again. If there's a need to fight then you need to look outside that stupid Red ego you all have and realize that there are other people that are more than willing to help."

"It's not that simple, Kim. I wish it was but it's not, unfortunately," Tommy replied honestly, giving Kim a sad smile which only got him a frown in return. "Look, there are things about being a Red Ranger that you just don't understand but I don't expect you to. I love you and I would rather fight by your side than any of them, including Jason and Rocky but it doesn't work that way. The bond between Red Rangers, between leaders, runs deeper than with any other color. To them, I'm not the greatest Ranger of all time. Hell, I'm not even a leader. I'm just another Red Ranger in a group of many. Any stroke I have with Rangers ends the moment we're all together."

"Special bond, my ass. You do your little Red Ranger thingy and you have fun," Kim snapped angrily, her cheeks burning red. "I cannot believe you're just going to not include me because I didn't wear a stupid color like red. You are unbelievable, Tommy! Unfreakingbelievable!"

"What do you want me to do, Kim!?" Tommy yelled back as he began to fume. "You tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it! You want me to tell them I can't help them because my girlfriend won't let me!? Just say the word and I'll do it!"

Kim opened her mouth to yell back at him but immediately fell silent at the sight of Tommy sitting in the chair with tears filling his eyes. Without hesitation Kim moved to the seat next to him, holding his large hands in her much smaller ones. She reached out slowly, gently wiping away the single tear that had streaked down his face.

"I'm sorry, Tommy. I just…" Kim began, pausing briefly as Tommy looked up at her. "I'm afraid of you going out there and fighting without me. I hate thinking about you in harm's way and the possibility of something terrible happening to you."

The idea of Tommy fighting without her really did frighten her and it had since the day she had given her Power Coin to Katherine. Just like Tommy felt the need to constantly be looking over her shoulder she had felt the same way. Unlike Tommy, however, Kim chose to do it in a less conspicuous fashion.

Wiping at his eyes, Tommy nodded softly, accepting Kim's apology without saying a word. He knew she didn't like the idea of him fighting without her but there was something else going on with her that he didn't know about. The way she had reacted to the Florida card during the game, slapping Tommy when he tried to explain what happened to her and now snapping at him for something that was completely out of his control were all actions that weren't typical behavior for Kim and, deep down, it worried him.

Tommy kept his eyes on Kim and smiled at her softly, leaning in briefly for a quick kiss. Standing up in unison the pair reached out and held onto each other tightly, Kim burying her face against Tommy's sweatshirt but refusing to cry no matter how bad she wanted to.

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Whew. That was a long one there, huh? LOL. Since this thing started as a oneshot, I sit down to write each chapter with no plan as to where it's going aside from maintaining continuity with things that have already happened in previous chapters. I thought I could make it through this whole chapter without actually saying who the others were but it was too damn hard. HAHA. The other Red Rangers that I targeted in depth (Jason, Rocky, Tommy, TJ, Andros, Wes, Eric, Conner and Bridge) are all Rangers that I actually know things about. I don't really know much about LG, LR, NS or WF so I kind of just mentioned them in passing. Hopefully I didn't miss any but please correct me if I did. I intentionally left out Nick and Mack, though. Anyways, hope you liked the chapter. I think it gives an obvious taste of what's coming without revealing too much. Don't forget to review. Like I've said, reviews make writers happy and happy writers write faster. LOL. Talk to you all soon.

Cheers,

WK