PRESENT HOPE (as I'm sure you know)

The best way to describe the building that Ray found himself standing in front of now was LARGE and WHITE.

"Home sweet home," Trinity muttered, grinning as she walked up to the front door and kicked it open in an, "I don't care" fashion.

"So, this is what we would have accomplished if you hadn't rescued us..." Ray muttered softly, glancing up at the building. "Not too bad."

"You should be thankful that we rescued you guys. Otherwise you would have been in some seriously deep shit," Trinity commented.

"Umm, will Kirra and Marth be here?" Mariah questioned, attempting to salvage the tattered shreds of what was left of her wedding dress from the mud.

"I sent them out on missions before I left, but Marth should be back by now; I gave him the bludge job. If Kiz isn't back yet she will be soon."

"I see... why do you give Marth the easy jobs?" Ray asked, noticing that his son looked rather discouraged.

"Because Mum would never speak to me again if anything happened to 'her little cherub'," Trinity replied, and Ray didn't miss the slight hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"... I think I need to release him from my apron strings. I mean, he must into his twenties now..." Mariah began, but Trinity interrupted.

"He's twenty-four. And Kiz it twenty-five. I'm twenty-seven. Me and Kiz have no proof to this, but we reckon Mum sews 'LEAVE HIM ALONE, YOU WHORE' into the front of Marth's boxers, just in case."

"Aa." Ray's response was short, sharp and by his tone, he sounded slightly embarrassed.

Trinity eyed her mother, who looked like she'd been dragged through an extremely thorny bush backwards, closed her eyes in slight thought.

"You five should all get changed. Those clothes must be Hell annoying to wear for such a long time."

"You're right there," Marth snarled, yanking his pants back up around his waist indignantly.

"I'll get you the training clothes than the Senshi wear..." Trinity mumbled absently wandering away, and around a corner. Eight other pairs of eyes followed her as she rounded the corner. Suddenly, Ray and Mariah felt rather awkward with this whole situation. After careful consideration, they both decided that they had ended up better of in their own timeline. If they had been in their own shoes, so to speak, they would be living in constant fear that their children would be killed, or targeted by various people or organizations for tests because of their 'abnormalities'. Barely anyone in their own village knew about their children's true prowess, and they knew they would regret it if the secret ever got out and was widely spread. The Elders would probably be proud of them... fathering and mothering the legendary golden counterpart of Driger...

But it wouldn't be worth the price the kids would have to pay for it...

The heavy clicking of Trinity's thick combat boots on the tiled floor brought them both back to their senses. When she re-entered the room, she tossed all five members of the present timeline Kon family what looked more like the clothing Ray and Mariah had grown up wearing that anything else, except they were black, and trimmed with gold and red. Ray held his up, surveying the clothing with a reproving look on his face. Mariah tucked hers under her arm, ready to go and put them on, or perhaps she was just unwilling to look at them. The kids gave the clothes sideways glances; heck, clothes were clothes and all clothes could be ruined! And that was all that mattered when you were kids, right?

Trinity eyed the five people, she could tell they were discontent but she didn't really care; that's all they had so it was all they were going to get.

"I'll show you to some spare rooms where you can get changed," Trinity supposed.

"That'd be good," Kirra snapped sarcastically, pressing the Mandarin style top over her scrawny little chest to check for size.

'Jeez, she didn't change much with age," Trinity commented, "Except for maybe getting slightly better at smart-ass comebacks."

Trinity started walking away, and made no signal for anyone to follow her, but Kirra assumed that she was showing them all to where there could get changed, so she tailed her, and the rest of her family followed.

After walking for about five minutes, Trinity stopped so suddenly that Kirra almost crashed straight into her.

"These four rooms should be empty. I'm assuming that you two..." she looked at Ray and Mariah, "... would rather share a room than make your children do so? After all, you just got married." Trinity's eyes flickered across her parents, who stood uncomfortably, eying each other but breaking the eye contact when their gazes locked. Trinity's lips curled into a smile.

"Plus you still have that garter on. And you know who's supposed to take that off for you."

Trinity pointed at Ray and Mariah, and they suddenly felt rigid. Ray attempted to move but couldn't.

"So, in you go!" Trinity smirked, and she flicked her hand towards the open door at the same time. Ray and Mariah's feet left the ground and they were 'flicked' unwillingly into the room.

Trin watched on with fascination. Once her parents were in the room and the door was closed and locked, she looked down at her own hands and then stared up at the older version of herself.

"I can do that?"

"It takes a little bit of practice, but I'm sure you can manage it, kid," Trinity commented, grinning very slightly. Trin nodded, and quickly pointed at her brother, who froze on the spot. Trin then flicked her hand a little too hard and sent her little brother slamming into the wall.

"Ow! TRIN!" Marth whined, and Trin shrugged in return.

"Hey, I wanted to try it out and you were closest."

"Okay, now you try that on me," Trinity said, and it sounded more like an order than a request. Trin pointed to Trinity, who merely flinched. Trin flicked her arm towards the opposite wall that she'd thrown Marth into, but Trinity didn't move. In fact, she held up her hand and wriggled her fingers, just to prove Trin had no control over her.

"It works best when the person is at a lower level of strength to yourself."

Marth pouted, and Trin stuck out her chest proudly.

"But now, you three get dressed."

Trinity pointed to Marth, and then to the nearest empty room, and he flew in. She then moved to Kirra, who followed suit and flew into the nearest empty room like her brother. Trinity then moved to the younger version of herself. She pointed to Trin, but Trin fended in the nick of time.

Trinity folded her arms across her chest and smirked.

"Good fend."

Trin nodded and wriggled her fingers much in the same way that Trinity had done before, to show that she was under her own control.

Trinity continued to smirk, and she suddenly and violently pointed to Trin who froze.

"But why did you let your guard down?"

Trinity then sent the last of the Kon family into the rooms to get changed out of their ruined formalwear.

Ray and Mariah, after detangling their various limbs and staring at each other for a while out of embarrassment of being dismissed so quickly after going through years of training in days gone by.

"This is so strange... this is nothing like we're living through," Mariah said, finally trying to make conversation with her husband.

"At least our wedding finally turned out to plan... up to the end at least," Ray laughed very slightly at their reasonably good fortune.

"Speaking of which, are you alright? Those creepy... things hurt you," Mariah said, pausing mid-sentence to try and determine what to call the beings they had seen but she was unable to imagine what they could have been.

Ray smiled, but as he noticed the look on Mariah's face it slowly faded to be replaced with a rather mischievous grin.

"I see where you're coming from, Mari..."

Mariah crawled closer and matched the smirk that Ray had on his face.

"Do you, now?"

"Yes indeed I do. And I think you have a very dirty mind."

Mariah laughed as she finally reached Ray and flopped down so that her head rested on his lap.

"Well, young man, back when I was twenty..." she started in a sarcastic voice, but Ray hushed her with a gentle placing of his index finger to her lips.

"Don't talk about the past, Mari. Focus on what is ahead of us."

"If this is what lies ahead of us, I can't really say that I'm looking forward to it," Mariah made a displeased face and surveyed her surroundings... not very comforting...

"Trinity has already told us that it's different back home," Ray reassured, taking the opportunity to pull her closer and kiss the top of her head, "We have barely seen any violent activity at home for seven years."

"Aside from the whole post-apocalyptic revolution thing we did in this timeline, I really can't see any great difference," Mariah stated pointedly.

"And for that I am truly grateful," Ray said with strong finality.

"Why are you so happy about that?"

"Because I'm glad I don't have to live every day in and out, worrying for my children's lives because of what they do and what they are."

Mariah nodded, and sudden shivers shook her body and she pressed closer to Ray, suddenly feeling her blood run cold.

"Are you okay?" Ray questioned.

"I just feel a little cold..." Mariah murmured, but it came out sounding more seductive than pitiable.

"Aww..." Ray purred, bending his head to kiss the nape of her neck. "My poor baby..."

Mariah felt like laughing out loud at Ray's choice of words, but she her brain went compliantly blank as his warm embrace encased her body and soul.

Her body went passively limp to match her empty mind as he kissed her and pulled her close. So close, that his heartbeat could be felt shuddering against her arm.

Her hands became loosely entangled in his hair and she shuddered as he felt his hand going lower... lower... lower...

Enter the flurried thumps on the door.

"MUM!" resounded through the otherwise quiet atmosphere, as well as the snarl of, "Come here, you little runt!"

Mariah sighed inwardly and broke away from Ray.

"I wish our children wouldn't try to kill each other."

"Maybe they'll grow out of it," Ray suggested hopefully.

"From what I've seen, I don't think they do."

"True," Ray sighed.

"We'd better hurry up, so we can prevent the impending carnage."

When Ray and Mariah finally found their ways back to where their children were, they found them sitting completely still, on one of the couches, with Trinity standing directly in front of them in what looked like some sort of fighting stance. Trinity turned her head to look at them, and relaxed. Immediately after that, the three kids groaned and began loosening out their limbs. Kai sat on the couch opposite to the one the Kon children were sitting on and looked down at his own children, who were sitting either side of him, obediently, although Lita was fidgeting rather violently.

"Sorry about that, but I was driving me insane," Trinity smirked.

"Well, you three are a bit of a handful at times..." Ray murmured.

"A bit of a handful? I would give one of my kidneys to be able to do that!" Mariah stated, her face adorned by wide-eyed wonderment.

Trinity smiled, but suddenly snapped around to face the window.

"Down."

"Pardon?" Ray questioned.

"I advise you get down," Trinity stated, her voice low and void of emotion.

Mariah nodded, and followed Kai, who was ducking behind the couch with Lita and Kurai. Trinity and Marth followed her, but Kirra didn't. Instead, she stood transfixed on the large window in front of her, not blinking or moving at all. Ray's eyes widened as he rushed out from undercover to grab her. Once he touched her she snapped out of her trance and followed his lead of hiding behind the couch.

Trinity remained in the middle of the room, glaring out the window, obviously concentrating on whatever was coming their way.

"What is it? An attack?" Ray whispered to Kai, who slowly shook his head.

"Not really, but I suppose you could call it that."

"Well, then what is it?" Mariah hissed.

"She's making her triumphant entrance," Kai stated simply.

"Who...?" Ray began, but never finished. The glass of the window at the front of the room shattered under the speeding force of what appeared to be a large black motorcycle. Glass particles shattered around the room and glistened like diamonds in the neon lights on the roof.

The person that got off the bike dumped it haphazardly in the middle of the rug that adorned the centre of the room with a resounding noise of things clunking and breaking. He or she was tall- very tall, just a little under six foot, probably. But who cared who it was? This maniac could have killed everyone!

"What the Hell? Are you crazy?" Ray yelled, standing up and snarling at the offender.

The helmeted head tipped backwards and, although the words were severely muffled by the headgear, Ray was sure the person had replied, "Of course, I thought you knew that."

Mariah's eyes widened and began to stand up. Once she was back on her feet, she looked at the person and smirked.

"I know your voice."

"So you should," came the muffled reply, and the person reached up to take off the helmet.

Pink hair, dashed with blue.

Golden eyes.

Smirking mouth, seemingly made more prominent by the pointed fangs that adorned the corners of her lips.

"AUNTY KIZ!" Lita screamed, and in a violent blur of slate coloured hair, she had attached herself to Kirralee's leg. Kirra yelped jokingly and began to shake her leg violently.

"Argh! Someone help me! I'm being attacked by the spawn of Hiwatari!"

The expected response from Kai echoed through the room ("Humph") but by then no one was really paying any attention to him.

Kirra's eyes fell upon the younger versions of her siblings, as well as her chibi self.

"I didn't expect to see you here."

She frowned as her eyes travelled upwards (only slightly mind you) to skim over her younger parents.

"I definitely didn't expect to see you two here."

Mariah raised her eyebrows and smiled.

"I never thought I'd see myself looking up to you, but it seems it's turned out that way, hasn't it?"

Mariah was indeed right; her second-eldest daughter beat her in height by at least five inches. She also beat out her father, but by only about an inch and a half.

"You've grown," Ray commented matter-of-factly and Kirra smirked.

"Don't ask me how I got so tall. To be totally honest with you, you two are both pretty short so don't ask how I ended up being the bloody giant."

"You got my height as well," Trinity muttered, and she was probably right, seeing that she was only slightly taller than Mariah was.

"Is Marth taller than you as well?" Ray grinned at Trinity, who snarled.

"Yes, and I don't want to talk about it. I'm eldest, and I'm like a midget compared to my siblings..."

"Speaking of Marth," Kai suddenly cut in, "Wasn't he planning to kill you if you stole his bike again, Kirra?"

"I'd like to see him try," Kirra tossed her hair back over her shoulder and surveyed the ruined bike like an obsessive compulsive surveying a fingerprint on an otherwise clean window.

"And Mum and Dad will kill you for busting that window for the..." Trinity started, but Kirra finished for her.

"For the seventh time, I know. Jeez, you're all acting like I did something stupid or life-threatening or something..."

Kai opened his mouth, but shut it again when Trinity gave him a look. Kirra shrugged (shrugging appeared to be her resolution to every problem) and flopped down on the nearest couch, closed her eyes and put her feet up on the armrest at the end. Caked dirt and grime flew from her boots and onto the spotless couch, making Trinity winced. Lita had finally let go of Kirra's leg and was now sitting on the floor near her aunt's head.

"So..." Ray began, after a minute of silence, "That thing is Marth's?" He gestured to the black bike that was lying wrecked on the floor and Kirra opened one eye to survey him, before nodding.

"Yes, the little vroom-vroom bike is Marthie's. He saved up so, so hard to get it, only..."

"To have it wrecked by you every time you get a mission," Trinity hissed.

Kirra shrugged and re-closed her one open eye.

"It was there, so I made full use of the fact. I could have gotten there quicker without it, but you wouldn't want me to get all run down from lack of power, would you?"

Trinity sighed, it was hopeless to try and make her sister feel guilty about anything.

"You and I both know that Marth will be back here any moment and that he is going to THRASH you when he finds out you've betrayed his trust again."

Kirra yawned. Trinity rolled her eyes and extended her arm at her sister.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Kirralee Kon."

"Don't call me by first and last name," Kirra hissed, obviously figuring that this was worth opening her eyes for. She then crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out.

"Kirralee Kon... that sounds so stupid!"

"Sounds kind of like a brand of car..." Trinity mused lightly, and received a glare from her pink haired sibling.

Trinity smirked, and her eyes flickered towards the door.

"Well, you'd better get ready to explain to Marth again..."

Kirra let out a long, world-weary sigh, and opened both her eyes, obviously waiting for her brother to come in and see the destruction that had befallen to his bike.

But her not-so baby brother entered the room and she immediately shut them again; Ray doubted that she was scared; perhaps she was just playing innocent for the time being.

Okay, the first thing Mariah noticed about the man who was more or less her son was that he was also tall; as Trinity had suggested, he was not as tall as Kirra but he came damn close. She could also tell that he'd grown more muscular (AN: XD Smecksay!) and his eyes were a slightly darker shade of gold than they had been, but otherwise he was still the person she remembered him to be.

But before he even acknowledged the existence of his visitors, he noticed that his young niece has affectively locked his legs together with her arms. Once he had managed to release himself, he noticed his dearly beloved vehicle literally falling to pieces on the floor. Not only that, but it was leaking fuel all over the carpet- it was more than just damage to the framework and paint this time.

"KIZ!" he snapped, snarling at the very deepest note his voice could reach to. Mariah blinked and rubber her eyes- was this the same person?

"Aa, I see- you're surprised that he doesn't talk like a girl anymore," Trinity nodded understandingly. Marth turned his attention to his eldest sister and gave her a dark-golden glare.

"I did not talk like a girl," he murmured.

"Yes you did. Your voice had a higher pitch than mine," Kirra accused.

"Yeah, but your voice sounds like one that'd suit a phone sex operator," Marth snapped back.

"And how would you know what one of those sounded like, Marthie?" Kirra questioned innocently. Marth glared at Kirra, but she didn't seem to really give a damn.

"So anyway... where was I? Oh yes, KIZ HOW DARE YOU!" Marth thought for a moment before once again exploding at his pink-haired sibling, who sighed.

"I didn't do it. Why would I want to steal that heap of crap?"

"Now, now Kiz, what did Mum and Dad always say to you?"

"Be good. For the love of God, please be good?" Kirra said innocently. "Or is it, 'Curiosity didn't kill the cat- it made the kittens', this time?"

Trinity face-palmed and sighed. "Let me rephrase that. What did they always TEACH you?"

"That talk is cheap but lies can cost you, right?" Kirra questioned. Trinity nodded, and Kirra sighed. She knew that if she didn't owe up, Marth would go and whinge to her parents who would then come down and yell at her like she was a three year old...

'You are a three year old. Personality-wise at least.'

'Shut up,' Kirra snarled back to her sister.

"Marthie, I ruined the bike, purely for the reasons of pissing you off. Happy now Trin?" Kirra started off sounding sincere to the core but her faux act of gentility soon ended as she turned back to face her older sibling who nodded. Marth looked angry for a moment before he hung his head and sighed in an act of submission.

"I'll never win."

"That's right!" Kirra grinned proudly.

"Speaking of winning Marthie, guess what you get to do for three weeks starting tomorrow!" Trinity chimed in, while their three young counterparts, Kurai, Lita, Kai, Mariah and Ray watched on. Watching the three nitpick and henpeck seemed to be entertainment in its own right.

"What?" Marth asked without the slightest bit of interest.

"Train the new recruits!"

"Son of a..." Marth began, before he regained his composure and slumped down on the couch. "Half of those losers couldn't open a can of soft drink, judging by the amount of strength they possess."

"Don't you think I would know that better than you? I'm the one who has to dig through their stupid application forms to find more likely pupils for the ranks," Trinity sighed.

"At least you're paid to be the Boss," Kirra murmured, "We're volunteers."

All three fell silent, before they gave three synchronised sighs and slumped in their seats.

"It's very late," Trinity finally sighed. "I'll take you to those spare rooms I let you get changed in earlier."

Trinity led the guests away, with Kai, Kurai and Lita trailing almost obediently behind, and Marth and Kirra gladly claimed the two soft couches. They both collapsed and stretched and yawned in very feline ways, and then they finally rolled over for a well-deserved rest.

A silence filled the room, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Seeing that is was in the very early hours of the morning, everyone generally wanted peace and quiet. Kirralee snuggled into the generously soft couch and yawned. It was too late to be climbing all those stairs to her room... no one would mind if she just dozed off for a little while...

"Miss Kirralee!"

The voice that rang out, and probably would have surprised any normal person, but Kirra and Marth barely flinched. Perhaps they were expecting it, or were accustomed to the sound of the voice. Kirra sighed and reopened her eyes, looking even more tired than she had before.

"How does he always know when we get back...?"

Marth yawned and rolled over, but not before murmuring, "He hasn't got anything better to do with his life..."

A man entered the room, and he was possibly the only person taller than Kirralee in the whole Senshi ranks. The two gold hoops that adorned his right ear showed his Senshi rank, but were partly covered by his dark brown hair. But perhaps the most striking thing about this man's appearance were his eyes... alive, and of the deepest blue that you would probably ever see. And when he saw Marth and Kirra, his eyes lit up so they danced in the foxfire.

"Kirralee! Marth! I found you!"

"Oh joy..." Kirra snarled under her breath.

"I've kind of been giving something a lot of thought, would you mind if I ran it past you?"

'Of course not, after all, it's only past midnight and we've both been away for a week...' Kirra thought, but she nodded. It would be semi-decent of her to humour the poor kid.

"I want to apply to move up to The Elite."

"Look, Kamali..." Kirra sighed as she finally opened her eyes and stared at him, "For one thing, you need at least three of these..." she reached up and gave a quick tug on one of the three gold hoops that was hanging off her right ear, and then a quick tug to the single one that adorned her left ear.

"Then there's two weeks of trials, and after that you get assigned to a particular group of Elites, I know," Kamali finished for her. "I'm only a mission or two from moving up a rank anyway."

'God help us if we get stuck with him,' Kirra heard Marth's voice echo in the back of her mind, and she jerked her head in agreement.

"Are you guys going to train tomorrow?" Kamali persisted.

Kirra sighed, "I don't know yet."

"Well, if you do, can you tell me? I love watching you guys train, your strength is just incredible and..."

"Alright, alright!" Kirra snapped. Marth was still facing away and doing his best to block out Kamali and Kirra's voices.

"Okay, thanks!"

"Don't mention it... c'mon Marth. We'd better get to bed," Kirra yawned.

Marth nodded in agreement without opening his eyes and swung his legs back around so that they rested on the ground.

"Do you want me to help you, Kirra?" Kamali questioned. Kirra grinned and walked over to the ruined motorcycle, and hoicked it off the ground with little effort.

"You could always carry this for me."

"Of course!"

Kirra smirked and dumped the bike into his outstretched arms, and Kamali was immediately stumbling under its weight.

"Well, come on! We haven't got all night..." Kirra said sarcastically. Marth simply put an expression on his face somewhere between exhaustion and boredom and began scaling the nearby set of stairs, with Kirra trailing behind him.

Kamali dragged the bike up the stairs after Kirra and Marth with obvious effort, but after a bit of strain he managed to catch up to them.

"You two aren't normal, are you?"

'Smart boy,' Kirra echoed in Marth's head.

"Of course we are, what makes you think there's something abnormal about us?" Marth asked, and Kirra wasn't surprised to hear the hint or sarcasm in his voice.

'I've been hanging around you for way too long, Kiz,' Marth sighed, and the corners of Kirra's lips twitched into a smile.

"Because you bleed silver? And because you have no trouble completing tasks that have anything to do with strength or wit?"

"Well maybe we're just gifted," Kirra snapped sarcastically.

"That still doesn't explain why your blood is silver," Kamali stated bluntly.

"You're quite right."

"And...?"

"Is it any of your business?"

Kamali shut his mouth, not really knowing how to respond to that. Marth nodded contentedly as he reached his room.

"Goodnight, Kiz. You owe me."

"See you in the morning, kid," Kirra replied.

Kirra walked the few metres down to her own room and stretched before turning the handle on the door.

"Kirralee?"

"What?" she snapped at Kamali, who looked rather hurt.

"Do you think I'll get accepted into the Elite?"

"If you're lucky..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"In case you forgot, the Elite are only chosen once every month. You'll have to be the very best to get in because you'll have some tough competition."

"Okay, thank you, Kirralee."

Kirra nodded slightly, and retreated into her room. Kamali sighed blissfully and looked down at the bike in his hand.

"Okay... what am I supposed to do with this?"

Kamali likes Kiz... but you shall have to wait to see if she wizens up