Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos are property of Saban/Disney Entertainment. I stand to make no money from this, but if I do, Disney is welcome to all of it. Camille Summers appears courtesy of Cmar (thank you for all your support throughout this entire series), Sierra Crane appears courtesy of well… Sierra Crane (I love you more than you know). Amanda Scotts, Sasha, Khalil Taylor and all the other faces you don't recognize belong to me. Use them without permission and I'll sue your ass!!
A/N: This chapter contains portions of "Endgame pt III" and makes reference to "Energy Troopers", which were introduced in a chapter called "Reality TV". This is the last chapter in this series. Thanks to all of you who stuck with me over the last two years!! I never would have made it this far without you.
Open your eyes…
Open your eyes Kathryn…
There was a sense of peace, a sense of tranquility that seemed to wash over her. Suddenly, there was no pain, no anger, no sorrow, nothing. All that remained was a feeling of joy, a feeling of an inner-peace she'd never experienced before.
Open your eyes Kathryn…
Finally, she followed the instructions of the mystery voice. She opened her eyes slowly, only to discover she was in her quarters. There was no thought of what led her to that point, it didn't matter. She was in happy, truly happy. She stood up, walking into the main room, where he was standing, waiting for her.
"Welcome," he said.
She'd clearly never seen this man before, but there was something about him, something familiar. He had a dark complexion, a bald head, and an all white beard that seemed to hang down over his chest. There were streaks in his beard, dark streaks, and he wore an all black robe of some kind.
"Who are you?"
"I am Odek, and I am here to take you home," he told her.
"Home? I am home. This is my place."
"No, your true home Kathryn. I am here to take you back to Ethros, back to your own people. Back to your family," he told her.
"My family is here, with the others."
"In your heart, you know that isn't true."
"Is it, they have become my family, all of them. I love them, and I would give my life for any of the."
"You are our last hope Kathryn, we need you," he said.
"Need me? For what?"
"You are the first of many of our species that have evolved into a single being. It was our intent that your mother would procreate with a human, producing a single being with all the inherent strength and abilities of an Ethros, but without the symbiotic being. You have achieved that, and you will usher in a new era for the Ethros race," he explained.
"But you said I was the first of many, why can't any of the others do what you need them to do?"
"Because that was not our arrangement."
"Arrangement?"
"In exchange for the technology needed to save Earth, you were to come to us willingly, and remain with us for the rest of your natural life," he said.
"I never made that…" she paused, gathering her thoughts. Suddenly, memories began to wash over her. There was a battle, a huge battle… with the renegades. The universe was in danger, but they were able to stop them… "You... you're from the Fikus sector, aren't you?" she inquired.
He nodded. "Yes. It was I who sent you the visions to come to me, and I gave your friend the technology needed to defeat your enemies. Now, you must return with me so that our people will continue to survive," he told her.
"But… I have a life, here, on Earth. I have friends, a family," her thoughts shifted to Adam. "I have a boyfriend."
"This must be done Kathryn. In your heart, you know that to be true. You alone will lead our people to greater things, marching us forward into a new generation, a new era for the Ethros," he pointed out.
"Wait," she began to remember even more. The device… the renegades… Alex… "Are my friends okay?"
He nodded again. "Yes. When the green ranger killed his mother, it caused a paradox that wiped through the entire universe. By taking his own life before he was even born, all of his actions ceased to exist. Time has reverted back to a point before any of it ever happened," he explained.
"Then there's still a chance that it will happen again?"
"It has happened again, maybe times before. The choices we make dictate how history will unravel. In the previous attempts, you and your friends were unable to prevent the destruction of your universe. However, because of the technology I supplied your friends with, they were able to make minor changes. This will happen again Kathryn, and you have less than 24 hours to prevent it, or the cycle will begin again, and the human race will be put in harms way once more," he told her.
"What do I do? How do I stop it?"
"I will tell you, but you must return with me when you have succeeded,"
She knew that it was only a matter of time before the cycle would reset itself, and all of her friends would be put in danger again. Together, they'd been through invasions, saved countless parallel universes, discovered new worlds and traveled through time, and all of those accomplishments would mean nothing if she didn't do whatever she could to prevent this attack.
"How do you know I won't be able to prevent it without your help? The rangers and I have been through a lot together, and we'll make it through this one," she said.
"You are probably correct. Without the information I have for you, you surely would be able to prevent all of this from happening again, and you will no doubt save the human race again. However, it doing so, and not returning with me, you will doom the Ethros race. All that we have worked for over the last 20 years will be gone, and within the next century, we will be gone. Only the handful of you who were sent out into the universe will be left, scattered, lost, alone. I offer you the chance to unite your people, to bring them together in a way our elders never thought possible. Come with me Kathryn, it is your destiny," he explained.
She sighed. It was an impossible choice. Rather, it was a choice she didn't want to make. She had a chance to save not only the human race, but her race as well. All she had to do is leave behind everyone she'd ever known and loved… 'Adam,' she sighed inwardly.
"How long do I have?"
"You have twenty four hours to do what you must, and then you must accompany me to our world," he said.
She sighed. "I'll be ready."
"Very well," Odek said.
There was a flash of light, and when it subsided, Katie found herself in her quarters. 'Was it all a dream?' she thought, hoping she could justify it by saying it was. But, in her heart, she knew it wasn't.
Now, memories began to come back to her even more quickly. Details of the final battle, how it was all prevented, everything. She wondered if there was anyone else who have knowledge of the events, anyone who would somehow remember any of it.
Then it occurred to her…
"Computer, locate Lt. Nadira," she said.
'Nadira is in her quarters,' the computer answered.
Without a second thought, Katie rushed out of her room, making her way through the halls on her way to Nadira's quarters.
"Doc, why is Alex so cold?" she inquired.
The doctor stepped towards Alex, grabbing the white sheet he was laying under, and pulled it over his face. "I'm sorry, but there was nothing I could do for him," he sighed.
Sierra dropped to her knees. "No, it can't be," she cried.
"He lost a lot of blood, and there were serious internal injuries," he told her.
At that point, Sierra wasn't listening. She got to back to her feet, snatching the sheet away from and began to shake him. "You can't be dead, get up. You have to get up!" she screamed.
Dr. Young grabbed her, pulling her away. "I'm sorry," he sighed.
"There has to be something you can do, something that can bring him back. What about that sphere thing? The sphere of Omara? Can't we use that to bring him back?" she cried.
"No, it was simply his time to go. I'm sorry," he repeated.
"There was so much I wanted to tell you," she cried, laying on the examining table next to him, wrapping her arms around him as she rocked back and forth. "I love you so much Xander," she cried.
She sat up in a cold sweat, her sheets clung to her, and she was breathing heavily. After taking a moment to calm down, she chalked all of it up to simply being a bad dream. 'It all seemed so vivid, so real,' she recalled.
The attack, the renegade rangers, Xander being killed, her becoming a ranger, it all seemed real. There were sounds, smells, emotions, all of it. She'd experienced it all, but it couldn't be true?
Could it?
She slid out of bed, and as soon as she stepped in front of the mirror, she noticed two slender pieces of metal strapped to each of her wrists. "The Omega Morpher," she sighed. "It did happen," she mumbled out loud.
"But why do I remember it all?"
She was convinced that when the device was activated, the radiation in her morpher would be blocked, and when the time line was altered, she would be altered along with it. 'The Omega Morpher must not have been affected,' she thought. It was the only logical explanation.
"Oh God, Xander," she screamed, racing out her quarters on her way to check on Alex.
She arrived in the infirmary a few minutes later, but there was no sign of him. In fact, the infirmary was pretty much empty. There were a few lab techs, but no patients to be seen. She turned to walk away, which is when she saw Dr. Young.
"Doc, where is Xander?"
"Commander Collins should be in his office, I believe," he said.
"You mean, he hasn't been in here?"
"Not for weeks. That man is as healthy as an ox," he pointed out.
Again, without a word, she rushed out the room, bolting towards Xander's office.
Alex sat behind his desk, going through the files on his computer. 'Hmmmmm,' he murmured, glancing over the files again. Strangely enough, he had the feeling he'd read the personnel file before, but couldn't remember when. He quickly dismissed the thought, and returned to his work.
'Tommy to Alex, come in,' a voice said.
Alex reached for his morpher. "What is it Tommy?"
"We were all going to get together in about an hour in my quarters to watch a movie. Are you interested?" he inquired.
"A movie? Surely you don't mean on a viewing unit of some kind," he said.
"That's the same thing Jen said. I know it would be much better if I uploaded it to one of the holographic simulation rooms, but there's nothing like getting together with your friends and watching TV," he mentioned.
The very sound of it seemed primitive. 'People sitting around a small, box shaped screen and watching events unfold, rather than be able to participate in them in one of the simulation rooms,' he thought to himself.
"What is it we're supposed to be watching?"
"We went on a mission a few months back to that world where Power Rangers was a television show. Well, Katie downloaded all the files for that world, so tonight, we're watchin' Mighty Transforming Energy Troopers," he told him.
"You can't be serious."
"Very serious. Tonight we're going to watch an episode from Energy Troopers: Time Squad," he brought up.
"Sorry Tommy, thanks for the invitation, but I think I'll pass," he said.
"Well, if you change your mind, we're going to start at 2100 hours. You're more than welcome to stop by," he said.
"Thanks. Alex out," he said, turning back to his work.
Before he could get anything done, the door to his office flew open, and Sierra rushed in. "Oh Xander," she cried, rushing over to him and wrapping her arms around him. Her momentum was enough to knock the chair he was sitting in backwards, and the two of them fell to the floor.
"Sierra, what are…"
She cut him short, leaning in and kissing him warmly on the lips. "We've wasted a lot of time Xander, missed out on a lot, but we've been given a second chance. Lets not waste this one," she told him.
"But what…"
She cut him off again, kissing him gently on the lips. "Just say it, say we won't let our chance pass up by again," she said.
"I promise."
"You remember it all, don't you?" Katie asked her.
She nodded. "Its like a different set of memories. I remember how it all happened, but I remember it happening another way, too," Nadira told her.
"We have to stop it before it can happen again. Think, where did the first signs of the Final Battle start?" she inquired.
"I don't know for sure," she paused. "Computer, what is today's date?" she asked.
'Today is Tuesday, March 17th, 3002,' the computer responded.
"March? That was almost three months ago," Katie said.
"The time shift must have brought us back three months. All we have to do is stop whatever it is that triggered the Final Battle," she said.
"I think we already have. We're already doing things differently, and each of these little changes will prevent what ultimately led up to the renegades coming here," she mentioned.
"So that's it? We're done?"
"I think so. But, to be on the safe side, if there's a distress call from the Leorians again, we won't answer it," she said.
"So do you think anyone else knows?"
"Trip and his sister might, but I doubt it. The only other person who may remember any of it is Sierra. We'll have to talk to her to be sure, make sure that she does things a little differently too," she brought up.
"So are you coming?" Nadira asked, changing the subject.
"Where?"
"We're all going to Tommy's quarters to watch an episode of that reality show we downloaded a few months ago," she said.
"Energy Troopers? No thank you,"
"Come on, it'll be fun. Besides, when was the last time we were all together and there wasn't any imminent doom to worry about?" she asked.
Katie knew she was right. Besides, she also knew that this may be the last time she ever got a chance to be with all of her friends again. She knew that in less that 24 hours, she'd be leaving… and she wouldn't be able to come back.
"You know, you're right, sounds like fun," she said.
"I have run internal and external sensor sweeps of the entire lab, including the entire deck. I have also checked all security logs, surveillance and questions personnel that were assigned to the lab in the last 36 hours. There is no indication that anyone was in here without authorization," KJ told her.
"There has to be something we're overlooking," Camille groaned, pacing back and forth. "The Omega Morpher is gone, and we have to find it before it falls into the wrong hands."
"When we the last time you saw it?"
"I was in here last night working on it. Lt. Emery was here, but we locked it up before we left. We have to find it, you have no idea what could happen if…" she was cut short as Alex walked into the room.
"Ms. Summers, cadet," he said cheerfully.
"Commander Collins, you appear to be in a… pleasant mood today," KJ pointed out.
"As a matter of fact, I am. KJ, could you excuse Camille and I for a moment, we need to talk," he said.
"Of course," she turned to Camille. "I will run another sensor sweep from the main lab and report my findings to you," she said, then made her way out the lab.
"Alex, before you say anything, you need to know that the Omega Morpher is…" she was cut short.
"I have the morpher," he told her.
"What? How?"
"There was a time shift, a big one, and the time line has been altered. The only person that I know of that retained any memory of the event is Sierra, and that's because she was wearing the Omega Morpher," he said.
"But… how did she get it?"
"According to her report, you gave it to her. I'll let you read the report, but afterwards, it will be destroyed. Whatever happened in the previous time line, it was bad, very bad, and we have to ensure that it doesn't happen again," he said.
"The morpher is on line?" she asked.
"Yes, apparently you found a power source for it. Like I said, it's all in the report. I'm allowing the senior staff to take a look at it in the morning, but tonight, we have other things to deal with," he said.
"Like what?"
"I believe we all have a movie to watch," Alex said.
"Do you think this is enough popcorn honey?" Tommy asked he as carried two giant bowls full of popcorn into the living room, sitting them down on the table.
"That's enough popcorn to last us a month," she pointed out, sitting down on the couch slowly.
"Too much?"
"A little."
Just then, the doors to their quarters slid open as Trip and Camille walked into the room.
"Hey guys, I brought popcorn," Trip said eagerly.
"Just set it over there with the other 20 pounds of popcorn," Jen laughed.
"We're not too late, are we?" Camille asked.
"Nope, you're right on time. Have a seat, we'll be starting in a minute," Tommy said.
Trip say on the couch, but Camille couldn't help but admire the television Tommy had. "What is it? Early 21st century technology? 25, maybe 27 inch color screen, remote control, bunny rabbit antenna. Wow Tommy, even a videocassette recorder. I knew you were a history buff, but this is going a little too far," she said.
"The TV we had in the clock tower was more up to date," Jen added.
"It's a replica of the TV I had when I stayed in my Uncle's cabin outside Angel Grove," Tommy commented.
The doors slid open again, and this time, Katie and Adam walked in hand in hand.
"Hey everyone," Katie said, glancing around the room at them.
"See honey, I told you we didn't need to bring popcorn," Adam mentioned, sitting down in the chair next to the couch. Katie quickly positioned herself in his lap.
"Jen, is your sister and her friends coming?" Trip asked.
"No, they're all studying for their exam I'm giving them tomorrow. Besides, I kinda wanted it to be just us," she said.
Finally, the doors slid open again, and this time, Alex and Sierra walked in. "I'm still invited, right?" Alex asked.
"Of course, both of you are. Have a seat," Tommy said.
The two of them quickly found a seat. "Lights dim," Jen called out, and the lights responded by getting dimmer.
Tommy sat down next to Jen, wrapping his arm around her, then reaching for the remote control. The room quieted as they watched the opening credits; a series of scenes featuring rangers in outfits very similar to theirs. There were major differences, though.
"Whats up with that theme song?" Sierra asked.
(((Enengy Troopers (long humming sound)
Rushing to another time, energy converters are online
Fearing soldiers, on a mission
Who vowed to save the world…
Time time time for Energy Troopers
Time time time for Energy Troopers
Time time time for Energy Troopers
Energy Troopers… GOOOOOOO!)))
"Oh my God that was corny!" Adam blurted out.
"It's not too far off the truth. I mean, the uniforms kinda look like ours," Trip muttered softly, grabbing a hand of popcorn.
However, he changed his mind when the image of a huge, humanoid, robot-like thing came on.
"What the hell is that?" Tommy exclaimed.
"It's supposed to be a zord, I guess."
"A zord? That? But it's so obviously a guy in a cardboard robot costume…!"
"Shhhh. Lets just watch."
A large warehouse stood in the heart of the city, surrounded by tall towers, reaching for the sky. A few flying cars buzzed around it, more zoomed up from the streets on the ground. Vehicles and troops in white uniforms, in what appeared to be some sort of siege, surrounded the warehouse. An improbably pink sky hung above.
Inside the warehouse, a man stood at the window, chuckling to himself fiendishly. For a few moments all that was visible was his tall, broad back, and long black hair. Then he turned around and began laughing even more fiendishly.
"I don't see what you have to laugh about, Kansik!" a voice cried. A red-suited figure stepped out into the open and struck a proudly heroic pose.
"Why am I laughing? Why am I laughing??" Kansik stopped, looking puzzled, scratching his head slightly. "Why am I laughing? Oh, well. Come to stop me, have you? Well, you have no idea what you're up against!" He reached a hand over his shoulder, and began to pull on a spike apparently growing out of his skin. Disgustingly, it came out, attached to a sword.
"Holy-" the Red Trooper exclaimed. "Doesn't that hurt?"
"Well, now that you mention it, yeah... thanks for asking..." Kansik then swung the sword around his head and charged forward with a roar at the Red Trooper, who leaped into the air and went into a midair spin over his head.
"And what the heck was that?" Tommy asked again. "What is he, on strings or something?"
"Looks like it," Trip said, chuckling.
"What's with the swords, anyway? Do they really think we still use stuff like that, when we can just blast the hell out of..."
"Hey, look! Now they're using blasters!"
The Red Trooper was indeed using a blaster, as he leaped an impossibly long distance. The shot hit a pile of boxes, resulting in a massive explosion. The view switched to outside the building, the windows bursting out in a very impressive display of flame and smoke.
"Well, so much for the Red Trooper and Kansik," Tommy commented, grinning at Alex.
"I have a feeling he survived. I did, after all." Alex brought up.
"Survived that explosion? Not a chance."
"You should have seen the real thing. Much worse."
"You're so full of..."
But the screen was proving Alex right…
The Red Trooper staggered out of the building, shoving a defeated Kansik ahead of him. Moments later he was demorphed, a happily smiling Jan throwing herself into his arms. As they watched she hugged him tightly, her hands straying down...
"What? That's me!" Jen exclaimed.
"Actually, the characters name is Jan Scottly," Tommy mentioned.
"What am she doing? I would never grope Alex like that in public!" The others had dissolved in laughter, as the Alex on screen firmly disengaged himself, swiftly dodging another grab.
"So you'd grope him like that in private?" Katie asked.
"Shut up!"
"Oh come on Jen, have a sense of humor," she insisted.
"I guess your double is a little hard up!" Lucas gasped.
"Not to mention horny!" Trip added.
"Well... you'd think they'd edit stuff like that out! This is supposed to be a kid's show!"
"It had a very small budget. I think they couldn't afford to reshoot things. Just figured the kids wouldn't understand..."
"Hmmph. I think we can just skip this part..." Jen waved the remote control, letting a considerable portion of the show go by. "Let's get to the part where the rest of us become Rangers."
"She just wants to see Wes," Tommy said in a stage whisper.
"Shut up, sweetheart."
When the picture returned to normal speed, four people -- Jan, Kitty, Luke, and a very overweight Skip -- were standing in the middle of a city street, facing Kansik, Shadira, and Frex, along with a gang of cyclokons. As the camera panned, another person, a blond version of Alex, came into view.
"Is that suppose to be Wes?" Katie asked.
"It's the same guy who played the red Energy Trooper. Geez, this guys couldn't even afford to hire two different actors," Alex groaned.
"Is it too late to help?" Les asked, grimly staring at the mutants.
Jan took his hand and slapped the red morpher into it. "It's yours," she said, meanwhile grabbing at his crotch. He avoided her expertly and placed the morpher on his wrist.
"Oh, my God..." Jen said, hiding her eyes. "I can't believe this..."
"Oh, my God!" Trip yelled. "Just look at me!"
"You to lay off the chocolate fungus rolls!" Lucas said between howls of laughter.
The five of them fell into position, Jan in front. "Ready?" she asked.
"Ready!" they all said. "Its transformin' time... Energy Troopers Go!"
Several very flashy and bizarre visuals followed, showing each Ranger transforming in a whirl of light and what appeared to be DNA strands. When they were over, the five stood in full Ranger suits, staring down at themselves. Trip had suddenly and miraculously lost at least fifty pounds. Katie had suddenly become a few inches taller, and that wasn't the only thing about her that had changed.
"Look!" Camille said. "They're not even on the same street as before! What's up with that?"
"That's their morphin' call? God, I see why no one had any respect for this show," Nadira said.
"Actually, the show survived for almost twenty years before it was finally canceled. Most of the actors didn't get much work after their season was canceled though," Tommy mentioned.
"Glad to see you went on that diet, Trip!" Lucas choked.
"Shut up," Trip advised him. "And what do you have stuffed down your pants? Socks?"
"Hey, that's all me!"
"Speaking of which... Oh my God... look at Katie... isn't that... and where's her chest...?" The rest was drowned out by more laughter.
"Shut up," Katie blushed.
"Come on Katie, have a sense of humor," Jen mocked.
When they were able to focus on the screen again, the fight was over. The Troopers had demorphed, Trip had regained his extra weight, and they were having an argument.
"I don't know about you guys, but I could sure go for a pizza," Skip said, rubbing his stomach.
"Me too," Luke said, scratching his crotch.
"Let the creatures in this time beware, the Energy Troopers are here to arrest then and take them back to our own time, to take them back to the future," Jan proclaimed.
"If Michael J. Fox pulls up in a Dolarian, I quit," Adam commented.
"Hey Katie, suddenly Trip has bigger boobs than you now," Lucas pointed out, getting a round of laughs from the group.
"Yeah, and suddenly you look a lot smaller," she mentioned.
Lucas blushed.
"Wow, that was so great!" Les was shouting enthusiastically. "I can't wait to do it again!"
"You won't get the chance to," Jan said grimly. She grabbed Les's arm and twisted it, yanking the morpher off. Wes neatly sidestepped as she grabbed at his ass at the same time.
"Oh, I can't watch this anymore..." Jen jumped up, turned off the screen with the remote, ejected the recording, tossed it on the floor, and stomped on it.
"Come on Jen, it wasn't that bad," her husband pointed out.
"Yeah, I wanted to see if Skip would defeat Kansik if just sat on him," Lucas laughed.
"The acting was bad, the special effects were cheesy, and ranger uniforms was just spandex, and the zords were just guys in big robot suits. And don't even get me started on the mutants," she snapped. "God, no wonder people on that world didn't take Power Rangers seriously,"
"It wasn't Power Rangers, it was Energy Troopers. There's a difference,"
"This is just as bad as the time Japan did a spoof series of the Dino Thunder rangers in the 21st century. They're purposely making a mockery of what we do," Jen snapped.
"Its just all in good fun Jen," Alex said. "Lighten up."
Tommy leaned over, inspecting the damage to the tape. "Looks like this one is ruined. I have more though. Who wants to watch Mighty Transformin' Geo: The movie?" he asked.
"I'd love to, but I need to be going," Katie said as she stood up.
"Okay, maybe another time," he said.
"Yeah, maybe…" she sighed, walking out the room.
Adam, realizing there was something wrong, followed out after her.
He managed to catch up with her in the hallway before she could get onto one of the turbolifts.
"Katie, what's wrong?" he asked.
She paused. "Adam, do you love me?" she inquired.
"Of course I do."
"I have something I have to go, somewhere I have to go. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I swear to you that I'll be back… someday," she said with a tear in her eye.
"Wait a minute, what's going on?" he asked.
"I can't go into detail, this is just something I have to do," she removed her morpher, handing it to him. "Take care of this until I get back," she said.
"Why can't I just come with you?"
She shook her head. "I have to do this alone," she stepped into the turbolift. "I'm sorry," she sighed just as the doors were closing.
"Goodbye," he sighed.
The end?