Tommy sat up on the examining table, glancing around the room. Next to the table were several machines, all of which were connected to him in some way via tubes and wires. They seemed to give off a certain humming sound as numbers on the screen fluxuated slightly.

After discovering that being exposed to several types of ranger energy had left him with serious cell damage, he wanted to be absolutely sure before he accepted a full fledge assignment from Time Force. The last thing he needed was to have his cell break down on him on a molecular level. Although he'd only morpher with the Chrono morpher once, and it only lasted a brief time, he could feel the radiation going through his body. If he was going to be exposed to energy levels like that full time, he wanted to know if there would be any side effects.

Finally, his thoughts were broken as the doctor walked over to him with a clipboard in hand.

"What's the word doc?" he inquired.

"My initial testing indicates that you're as healthy as an ox, though I'm sure where that cliché originated from," he put the clipboard down. "The treatments worked Tommy, you're fine now. From what I can tell, the Chrono morpher had no lasting effects on you at all, and you're the healthiest 1,030 year old I know," he told him.

"1,028," he corrected.

The doctor chuckled. "I see no reason why you can't stay in constant contact with the Chrono morpher. You're in no danger," he said, removing the tubes and wires from Tommy.

"Thanks doc,"

"Is there something bothering you Tommy? I get the impression that you wanted me to find something wrong with you," the doctor mentioned.

"It isn't that, it's just……." He paused. "I don't know if I'm ready to dedicate my life to being a ranger again. After I stepped down as red turbo ranger, I promised Kim I wouldn't go back. It's a promise I've kept for years, and even though I did help the other red rangers against the machine empire, I'm not so sure I want to break my promise and go back to being a ranger full time," he explained.

"I understand, I do, but that was a long time ago. I think that if Kim were here, she'd understand."

"I'm not so sure," Tommy sighed.

"Well, you could always go ask her,"

(*)

"I can't believe you're going back to Time Force after the way they treated you last time. They practically threw you out the front door, and now you're jumping at the chance to go back? I swear I don't understand you Camille," she said.

Camille turned her back to her, continuing change her clothes. "I don't expect you to understand mother, just accept my decision. Quantum theories have always been my forte, and now I can be recognized as one of the foremost authorities in the field. It's a chance of a lifetime. Can't you just be happy for me?" she asked her.

"I don't know if I approve of this. I think……"

"I don't need you to approve mother, I'm old enough to make these decisions for myself. Time Force offered me my job back with level 4 clearance and with a hefty promotion. I'm going mother, and that's all there is to it," she said.

"I just want what's best for you," she sighed.

Camille zipped up her uniform, and then turned to her mother. "Believe me when I say this is what's best for me. All that time I spent in the lab following up daddy's work after he died will finally pay off. I'll be able to save people's lives momma, and I need you to be happy for me," she said, walking over to her.

The two of them wrapped their arms around one another. "After I lost your father you were all I had, and now you're leaving me too," she mentioned.

"Oh mom, I'm not leaving you. I'm still only a phone call away, I promise," she told her.

"I guess you're right dear."

"Trust me on this mom, it'll all work out," Camille sighed as she tossed her jacket over her shoulder, kissed her mother on the cheek and walked out the room.

(*)

He'd gained almost ten pounds over the last few weeks, just sitting around the house. And he didn't care. After almost being killed, Lucas was more than content simply staying home. He hadn't even been to work since it happened, and couldn't have contacted them if they hadn't called him and offered him a new position.

His desire to be a Time Force officer had been fading for years, and this was just the excuse he needed. Part of him always felt as though Time Force was unfair for refusing to let Jen go back to the 21st century to be with Wes. 'We can't allow it, its against protocol,' was the excuse they gave, but he knew the counsel was full of it. He and Nadira approached the counsel about allowing her to apply to the academy, but they were quick to throw another protocol at him.

'The rules forbid mutants from joining the academy. After the situation with Steelix, the counsel feels as though mutants in Time Force would be a liability,' they told him.

After he was stabbed, Time Force gave him some time off to allow him to heal. His wounds had long since healed, but his resentment for Time Force had grown. He no longer had the desire to be a part of an organization that enforced the rules at the leisure, and changed the rules when it suited their needs.

His thoughts were interrupted when someone knocked on his door. Judging by the pattern of the knock, he knew exactly who it was. "Come on in Trip, it's open," he called out, not even bothering to get off the couch.

Trip and Nadira walked in the door, closing it behind themselves and headed into the livingroom.

Trip quickly noticed that Lucas had left himself go over the past few weeks. He'd gained some weight, and his hair looked as though he hadn't done anything with it in days. Lucas had on his housecoat and a pair of pajamas, which looked like he'd had them on since he left Time Force.

"Hey Lucas," he said.

"Trip, it's good to see you," he pushed some empty pizza boxes off the couch, making room for him. "Have a seat man, tell me what's going on," he said.

"He's been like that ever since……." Nadira tried to tell him, but Trip raised his hand slightly.

"It's okay Nadira," he sat down next to Lucas. "Logan gave me funding for my slipstream dimensional portal, I finished it about a week ago," he said.

"Congratulations man, you'd talked about that damn portal for weeks. I'm glad they let you build it,"

"They offered you a spot in the project Lucas, why didn't you accept it?" he asked.

"You know why. Time Force is full of shit!" he told him.

"That's not true,"

"It isn't?" he stood up. "Nadira, what did Logan tell you when you applied to the academy?" he asked.

"That it was against protocol," she said.

"But a few weeks later when Time Force found a use for Ransik, they let him travel back to the 21st century with us, didn't they? It's okay for a former criminal to help out, but when his daughter wants to make a sincere effort, they turn her away. It's bullshit Trip and you know it," Lucas snapped.

"The counsel only did what they felt was best," he said in their defense.

"Yeah, best for them. Let Ransik solve their mutorg problem for them, but not let Nadira join the academy because it doesn't benefit them?! It's always been like that Trip; Time Force uses people to serve their purpose, and if they refuse, they get their mind wiped," he walked over to the refrigeration, grabbing a beer. "I bet you they offered Tommy a spot in the project too, didn't they?" he asked.

"Yeah, they did."

"I bet if he said no, they'd order memory adaptation for him. They wanted to do it to him last time, and once his purpose has been served, they'll come up with a protocol that drains his brain too. I'm not giving them the chance to squeeze me for everything I'm worth, I quit," Lucas told him, opening his beer.

"But Lucas, Time Force helps people. They protect us……"

"From what? The mutants? If it weren't for Time Force experimenting with human DNA in the first place, there wouldn't be any mutants. If they hadn't tampered with time travel in the first place, there wouldn't be a need for us to go back in time and clean up their mistakes. Now you're opening the door for them to not only screw with time, but screw with other dimensions to. I don't want anything else to do with them, and if your reason for coming here was to convince me I should come back to work, you can leave," he said, sitting back down on the couch.

Trip stood up. "Come on Nadira, let's go," he sighed.

Without another word, the two of them walked out the room, closing the door behind them.

(*)

It wasn't the same Angel Grove that he remembered. Ernie's Juice Bar was gone, the youth center was gone, even the park that he and the others use to go to had been replaced by a building. The only thing that was the same was the sky.

He remembered staring into the sky and watching the sunset, counting the stars and trying to envision what the future would be like….

… his future with her…

The future he'd planned with Kimberly was long gone, the promises he'd made to her was all he had left. He couldn't help but think that if he accepted this assignment, the last part of Kimberly Hart he had left would be gone as well.

The sun was beginning to set as he walked into the graveyard. Somehow, he found it comforting that the cemetery had gone untouched over the years. Granted, there were more tombstones than he remembered, but not that it mattered; he knew exactly where she was.

He stood in front of her tombstone, wiping the dirt and leaves away from it. "Hey beautiful, it's been a while," he sighed, bending down on one knee. "A lot of things have changed since the last time I came to see you, so much that I don't know where to start really. I have a chance to be a ranger again, a chance to save lives in ways we never imagined possible with Zordon. I know I promised you I'd never go back, but you understood when I told you I had to stop the machine empire. I'm asking you to understand now. This is something I have to do Kim," he cried, placing a single white rose in front of her tombstone.

The wind blew slightly as he wiped the tears away from his face, heading back to the car. As soon as he closed the car door, Jen started the car.

"How did it go?"

"I think she understood," he sighed as they pulled away.

(*)

"Do you think the others are coming?" Captain Logan asked as he stood in the science lab, staring up at the clock over the entrance.

It was already 0746 hours, and the only people to show up were Trip and Katie. He was beginning to think that giving them 24 hours to think about it was a bad idea.

"They'll be here," she assured him.

"What did Ransik have to say when you told him about the project?" he asked.

"He understood that this was something I wanted to do. He supported my decision," she said.

"That's good."

They were interrupted when Jen walked into the room wearing her uniform. "You didn't start the fun without me, did you?" she asked.

"Naw, we'd never dream of it," Trip said, walking over to her and wrapping her arms around her.

"Where is everyone else?"

"I talked to Camille this morning, and she seemed excited about coming. I tried to call Tommy, but he didn't answer the phone," Katie mentioned.

"And what about Lucas?"

"I went to see him, he had some colorful things to say about Time Force. I doubt he's coming," Trip sighed.

"It won't be the same without him," Jen sighed.

Next to walk in the room was Camille, getting a look at the portal for the first time. "This is amazing," she rushed over to it, observing the configuration. "Does it have a polotronic electron core for it's energy source?" she asked.

"Actually, it's a duel polotronic electron core amplified with regenerating algorithm sequencers for addition power," Trip said.

"But how did you account for the random EM flux in the phase converter?"

"Easy, I bi passed the secondary power distribution unit and used it for a back up system in the case the three others failed. That eliminated the EM flux altogether," he said.

"Excellent work."

"Yeah, I think Camille is excited to be here," Jen said with a smile.

Captain Logan glanced up at the clock. "It's 0907 hours, I don't think Tommy is coming," he mentioned.

"But when I saw him yesterday, he seemed like he was okay with taking the assignment. When he got out the car he even said 'I'll see you tomorrow'. I was sure he'd be here," she said.

"Well, I guess we're on our own," Katie said.

"Look at you guys, a few minutes late and you're ready to count me out. Jeez," Tommy said as he walked in the room wearing an official Time Force uniform.

"Wow, you look good," she said.

"Yeah, real good," Jen mumbled.

"I was having some problems putting this thing on, sorry I'm late," he said.

"Not a problem. Alright everyone, gather around," the five of them stood in a straight line next to one another in front of Captain Logan, who had a small metal box in his hand. "This will go down in history as one of the most significant moments in Time Force's history, and I am honored to stand before the five of you now. The dawns a new era for our organization, and I know that each of you will do your best to uphold the principles and protocols that Time Force stands for," he opened the box, revealing the Chrono morphers. "As you know, I took your morphers from you to be upgraded. Now, in addition to your ranger powers and the communications equipment inside, you will be given a sight to sight transportation unit, allowing you to transport limited distances. Also, the morphers have been given deflector technology. Normally, prolonged exposure to the portal would break down your molecules, but with the deflector technology, that won't be a problem," Captain Logan explained.

"That's a relief," Tommy sighed.

"Jen, you will of course have the pink Chrono morpher. Trip, the green Chrono morpher belongs to you. Katie, as always, the yellow Chrono morpher is yours. Camille, you will receive the blue Chrono morpher, and Tommy, you will wield the power of the red Chrono morpher. Together, you are the power rangers," he said proudly.

Each of them picked up their morphers, sliding them on their wrists. "I can feel the power surging through me," Camille said, feeling the power for the first time.

"I thought the morphers were encoded to our DNA?" Katie brought up.

"Yes and no. For you, Jen and Trip, the morphers are connected to your DNA. No one else will be able to use them. Camille's morpher had to be deactivated, then reset to work for her, but Tommy's case was unusual; because of the shifts in the time line a few months ago, the morpher seemed to reactivate itself. When the other Captain Logan gave him the morpher, Alex had been erased from history, so the morpher had never taken a sample of his DNA. It was like….."

"…. The morpher was brand new," Trip said.

"Exactly,"

"If you're ready, let's get to work," the captain said as he walked over to the portal. "I will personally remain in the science lab while you're on your missions. You will be able to communicate with me here, and that will come in handy. When you arrive to – where ever you're going – I'll be able to pull up the history of that world, just to give you an idea of what you're working with," he told them.

"Understood."

"Preliminary tests with surveillance cameras through the portal have been able to record and bring back images of other worlds, and live tests subjects have successfully come through the portal as well, but this….."

"….. you mean people have never used this thing?" Katie asked.

"There's nothing to worry about Katie. The physical make up of animals are remarkably similar to ours. I've gone over the specs a few times, and I don't foresee anything harmful," Camille pointed out.

"Yeah, that makes me feel better," she sighed.

"I'm going to send the five of you through the portal on your first test run. Explore as much as you can, but return to the transfer point in exactly one hour. That's the only real catch; you have to be in the same spot where you originally arrived in that world in order for me to open the portal and bring you back," he stressed.

"Understood."

"Okay guys, here we go," Tommy said.

Captain Logan activated the portal, which shined with a brilliant blue light. Each of them tried to get a good look at the portal, but was forced to cover their eyes to shield them from the light. It was Trip and Camille who were able to get a good look.

"Beautiful," they sighed in unison.

"Alright guys, let's go," Jen said as she walked over to the portal, stepping inside.

Trip and Camille were next to step through, followed by Tommy. Katie simply glanced at the portal, slowly inches towards it. Just then, an arm reached through the other side of the portal, grabbing Katie and pulling her in.

"Good luck you guys," Captain Logan sighed.