Quick note: it has been brought to my attention that I enjoy delving into deep things more than most people. (mostly I've learned this due to a few reviews and my brother running around screaming "my brain, my brain! I don't GET IT!!")

So I figured it wouldn't hurt to go through the whole time thing one more time before I got this show on the road. Ready? Okay!

1): Ryo dies, yes? everyone got that? Okay, on to step two:

2): Ryo disappears from the past after the moment he left for the future.

3): The future is changed.

4): Because the future is changed, the Legion never went to get Ryo from the past.

5): Because the Legion never got Ryo from the past, he never disappears from the past.

6): Because he never disappeared in the past, Ryo never dies.

7): Because he never died, he is in the past.

8): Because he is in the past, the future is the same as it was before step 1. Return to step one and repeat exponentially.

Kind of like a big circle!!

Okay, I'll let you read now.

Chapter 9: A Proven Hypothesis

Brainy immediately realized something was wrong. For one thing, he still remembered everything that had ever happened in his life. No, that wasn't what was wrong, he remembered that Ryo had invented robot failsafes.

Impossible. He shouldn't remember it, because it couldn't have happened. Brainy threw open the door and dashed for the nearest computer terminal. It was the one Ryo had taken apart. Brainy shook his head, wondering what was going on. "COMPUTO, access files on the organization Exo-Force in the twenty-first century. I want to know what happened to the Engineer and pilot known as Ryo," he said.

Files popped onto the screen. Ryo, Exo-Force Pilot and Engineer. 'Ryo, Unsung Hero of the Robot War'. Technical Engineers of the Twenty-First Century. Battle Pilots of the Robot War. 'Influential Inventors of the Twenty-First Century'. The list went on and on. Not a single file lamented an early death. Many declared that he lived to the age of one hundred and six.

Brainy shook his head in amazement. It hadn't been Ryo's hypothesis that had been flawed-- it had been his own. The Engineer wouldn't remember ever coming to the future, but maybe, somewhere in his subconscious, something had stuck. Brainy considered this because he discovered an essay written by Professor 'Masaya Tanaka', a known pseudonym of Ryo. The title? 'Practical Hypotheses Regarding Temporal Displacement and Travel'.

Brainy knew that it hadn't been publicized before Ryo had come to the future.

"Hey Brainy, what are you doing?" Lightning Lad asked, walking forward and glancing over the Coluan's shoulder.

"He was right," Brainy said simply. "About temporal theory. He was right, and I was wrong."

Lightning Lad frowned. "I'm not following you," he said.

Brainy's mouth twitched slightly, and if anyone had seen it, they would have sworn it was a smile. "Never mind," he said. "It's just…Ryo really didn't have anything to worry about, after all."

"Speaking of Ryo, where is he?" Superman asked, walking in the room.

Brainy glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the Legionnaires who looked to him expectantly. "Back in the past," Brainy answered. He had been wrong about his time theory.

Right now, he didn't really care.

Nearly a thousand years earlier, Ryo was marching around a hangar, fuming.

"No! Not again! That's the third Stealth Hunter today! What's wrong you guys?!" he shouted angrily, wishing the electromagnetic influx systems could answer him.

"Ryo, take a break," Kenji urged, trying not to snicker as the Engineer continued to have a stare-down with the offending equipment.

After a moment, Ryo glanced up, as if the suggestion had finally hit home among all the calculations running around in his mind. "I'll one-up that idea," Ryo fumed. "I'll take this whole influx thing back to the drawing board!" he shouted, snatching up a pile of miscellaneous equipment and retreating to one of his labs. Once inside, the Engineer tossed the bits and pieces of technology on the floor, alongside another conspicuous pile of ruined equipment. "Now, if I could just figure out why this internal combustion chamber isn't quite up to specs, I should have it all figured out," he murmured to himself, flicking on a computer monitor and dropping into his chair before jumping up again, glaring at the chair and brushing a few wires and sharp, tiny bits of now-crushed equipment off of the seat. He really had to clean up his desk.

"You might want to watch where you sit next time," someone said from behind him.

"Yeah, yeah. So what's wrong with your Stealth Hunter, Hikaru? If it's the electromagnetic influx system, I'm already working on it, and you can go practice with a Grand Titan or something," Ryo growled.

"Actually, um, I'm not Hikaru," the person said, shuffling around a bit.

Ryo took down a few notes on how to better control the influx within the internal combustion chamber before realizing the guy hadn't left. "Well?" He finally asked, spinning around. He gasped, and spun back around, squeezing his eyes shut and counting to ten before turning around again, gaping and closing his eyes a second time. "I really didn't get enough sleep last night," he said to himself, "Now I'm seeing things!"

"I'd be more concerned if you saw nothing, personally," said another voice.

"I must be going crazy! No!! What will Sensei Keiken say?!" Ryo screeched. "He'll be so disappointed in me! He'll look at me and say, 'I'm sorry Ryo, no more Engineering for you' -- and then they'll lock me in the funny farm!!" He buried his head in his hands and peeked at Superman and the green dude, who were both still standing in front of him.

"No one's going to lock you in the funny farm," said the first voice, aka Superman.

Ryo dropped his hands and opened one eye and squeezed it shut again before sighing and opening his eyes. "Hello, figment of my imagination, how do you do?" He said jauntily, tilting his head to the side and grinning. "You're Superman," he said, glancing at the aforementioned, "but I'm afraid I don't recognize you. Love the hair, by the way," he said to Brainy.

"Um, actually, I am Superman, and I'm here from the future, but I was originally in the past-- your past," Superman said.

"Am I the only one confused here? Of course I'm the only one confused here, because my subconscious knows what it's doing, even if my conscious isn't quite up to speed," Ryo answered himself, muttering.

"We're from the Legion of Superheroes, and we need your help," Superman added, feeling he was ruining the whole thing.

"Oh, that's nice. Am I supposed to stop a giant worm from attacking city of Atlantis, or do you want my help taking on the Klingons?" Ryo asked amiably.

"Klingons?" Brainy wondered aloud.

"All right then, what do you want?" Ryo demanded. "For me to tell you my deepest darkest fears and why I wear mismatched socks? What?!"

"You wear mismatched socks?" Superman asked.

"Just goes to figure my subconscious wouldn't know a thing like that," Ryo muttered.

"We aren't part of your subconscious, we're visitors from the future, and we need your help! People in the future are destroying all the robots because they think it's not worth the risk, even though there are failsafes in those robots that make it impossible to revolt like they are now. We don't have much time, so please come with us," Superman quickly explained, trying to convince the Engineer he was telling the truth.

Ryo sighed. "I guess, if you're my subconscious, I can't really argue, can I?"

Brainy sighed and, without a word stepped forward, smacked Ryo across the face and typed a command on his computer.

"There," He said, "Your internal flux conundrum has been solved, and my obvious physical contact should convince you that I am not a figment of your subconscious."

"I dunno," Ryo said, frowning, "I'm pretty good at imagining things. Sometimes I dream I'm falling off a cliff, and I wake up right after I break my back at the bottom. I'm telling you, that hurts. Sometimes I get a cramp." he grimaced at the thought.

"Would you have to explain this to your subconscious?" Superman demanded irritably.

"Probably not," Ryo chuckled, "and you know, I haven't had this much fun in years. You guys can't be serious. Come on, Ha-Ya-To, you got me."

"If we flew would you believe us?" Superman asked.

"No, flying is easy," Ryo retorted. "Now come off it, Takeshi."

"If I used one of my super powers, would you believe?" Superman demanded.

"Um, you could try lifting uplink," Ryo said generously, standing and waving a hand towards the battle machine. "Just be nice, and try not to drop him."

Superman walked over and hoisted the battle machine, holding it aloft for a moment before setting it back down.

Ryo's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "Oh…um… so, what was this about the future being in danger?" He finally managed, dropping back into his chair.

Brainiac 5 and Superman carefully explained the issue. Ryo agreed to go, and they departed. Ryo reappeared in the same instant, glancing around in confusion. He carefully scanned the room, glaring suspiciously at Uplink. "Superman and a… green alien," Ryo said, touching his head and frowning. Laughing, he shook his head. "I knew I shouldn't have eaten that slop this morning!" Then he dropped down into his chair and stared at the schematic-- the internal combustion chamber's influx aeromastic complex had been altered. What a brilliant solution! He'd never…he thought… No, he hadn't. He'd never thought of that.

Ryo frowned. The green alien solved it for me. He shook his head, and turned back to the schematics. A second later, he stood and paced around the room. He couldn't seem to shake these strange images from his head… Maybe I need a nap, Ryo thought, walking from the room. I can't seem to get my mind off that time theory… Maybe I should write it down…

A/N: Well, nothing left but the Epilogue now... how was it? Good, I hope? Happy ending? Yes? (I loooove happy endings! And EXPLAINED endings. I hate ends that leave you hanging, like 'The Giver'. Someone tell me who gave that book a Newberry award, I wanna smack 'em! Well, not quite...)