Rated PG-13: language, sexual references in the last section, including slash elements.
A/N: For those not familiar with my 'Year of Time' series, it's a science-fiction AU of Time Force. In it, Trip is a mutant, not an alien; there were no zords or megazords besides the Q-Rex (which was simply a large robot); the mutants didn't grow; and there were only a few of them. Also there are no other Ranger teams, therefore the teamups with Lightspeed and Wild Force and 'Forever Red' never happened.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Wes chewed morosely on a mouthful of toast and glanced around at his breakfast companions. Eric looked tired and unhappy, and Wes knew he did too after a night spent on the floor of the lifeguards' cabin. He could only be grateful that it had been a reasonably warm night and that the others had come up with a few old pieces of carpeting for them to sleep on. Jen looked like her night had been just as restless as theirs, her shadowed eyes and silence wounding his heart, especially since he knew he was the main cause yet could do nothing about it.
Between them, he and Eric had come up with over a hundred dollars in cash that they could spend in this time, everything except the newest style of twenty dollar bills. Not much, but enough to let them eat for a few days, and to repay their hosts with breakfast at the cheapest local diner Eric could remember. Briefly he wondered what they were going to do if they were trapped there for any length of time, and then firmly put it out of his mind.
He could be grateful for some things, anyway. The cabin was small and unappealing, but it had a bathroom and water, and they had been able to shower. Wes and Eric had even managed to make their uniforms a little less conspicuous by removing the equipment harnesses and commander's braids, and leaving the berets behind. Eric had insisted on carrying the blasters, but they were hidden in their jacket pockets.
And there was a bright spot, a thought that struck him as he looked around again at Jen picking at a plate of eggs, Lucas eating steadily, Katie and Trip whispering something to each other, and Eric sipping his coffee. He smiled.
"What?" Eric asked, looking up to catch his expression.
"Nothing. Just wondering what I would have said three years ago if someone told me the six of us would be having breakfast together like this someday."
"Huh." A corner of Eric's mouth lifted. "I can imagine what I would have said. But I won't repeat it in mixed company."
"Why? What's so strange about it?" Trip asked.
"Never mind, you'll probably find out soon enough," Wes said with another smile at Eric. "So - what's the plan for today?"
He was greeted by stares from the four Time Force officers. "The same as every day," Lucas finally said. "We monitor for signs of mutant activity. If Circuit picks anything up, we go into action."
"You mean you just wait around for something to happen?"
"What else are we going to do?" Katie asked.
"Well - you could try to find some kind of jobs, for one thing. Your money's not going to last forever."
"Look for work wearing these?" She pulled at the collar of her uniform. "Besides, what kind of jobs could we get, with no ID and no experience?"
"You could buy some clothes. And you could do something like - odd jobs, maybe."
"Odd jobs?" Lucas snorted. "Us?"
"Yeah, why not? And Jen, why don't you give me - the other me - another try? Maybe you'll find out he's not so bad. And he can help you get a place to live, and clothes, and a way to earn money. Not to mention you could use a red Ranger."
Her expression was stubborn. "I don't want to involve anyone from this time period."
"But you need him. I know you do."
"Wes..." Eric frowned at him.
"Just trying to help."
"We can take care of ourselves just fine," Jen said flatly. "Are we all done? Let's go."
"Wes, we talked about this. We shouldn't interfere," Eric muttered as they paid the cashier with the others waiting outside.
"Eric..." Wes stopped him with a hand on his arm before they turned to the door. "Have you thought - maybe we're here for a purpose. Maybe we're supposed to fix things here, put things back on track, the way they're supposed to be. Maybe we can't leave until we do it."
"Yeah, and maybe you've been watching too much TV. I think it's safer to just leave things alone. This reality has its own future; we should stay out of it."
Wes glanced through the glass of the door, at the four Time Force officers standing a few feet away. "Look at them. No money, no decent place to live, no one to help. They won't even have that cabin when summer starts and the lifeguards come back. How are they going to survive long enough to defeat Ransik? They need me."
"It's Jen, isn't it? You want her to get together with you, or the other you. Wes, you just don't think straight when it comes to her. You can't let your personal feeling get in the way."
"It's not just Jen! It's all of them. I can't walk away and leave them like this, in trouble."
"Hey, you guys coming or not?" The door had swung open, and Lucas was staring at them impatiently.
"Yeah, we're coming. Give us a second," Eric said as Wes looked away, getting his expression under control. They faced each other as the door closed again. "Look, I know you mean well. But at least try to be logical about it."
"Yeah, I guess." But Wes was unconvinced as they went through the door.
Wes and Eric were silent on the walk back to the beach, and Jen's mood seemed to have spread to her teammates. They were a quiet group as they reached the cabin door and filed inside. But Circuit ended that; the mechanical owl computer blinked its eyes, flapped its wings, and greeted them in a high-pitched voice.
"Rangers! I've picked up a report of a robbery in the city!"
"What happened?" Jen asked.
"An armored car was stopped on the highway and robbed by a gang of cyclobots. Nadira was with them. And she had another mutant helping her. From the description, I think it's Mantamobile."
"Who?" Eric asked with a glance at Wes.
"Beats me. I guess Ransik brought more mutants with him in this reality than ours."
"Mantamobile. He's a car thief," Lucas said. "He can control any vehicle. We're going to need some serious wheels to catch him."
"And we've got them!" Trip exclaimed. They watched him as he dashed to the back of the cabin, where several cases and pieces of equipment were piled.
"What's he doing?" Eric asked.
"That's the stuff they salvaged from the time ship when it crashed," Wes answered.
"I've got it!" Trip cried triumphantly. He came back with a yellow case in his hand, glanced around the room, and then headed outside.
They all followed, watching Trip kneel, put down the case, and open it. Inside were what appeared to be five toy motorcycles. Wes smiled reminiscently as Trip stood up, said, "Okay, step back and watch this!" held out his arm and pressed a few buttons on his morpher. Beams of light sprang from it to the tiny vehicles, playing over them as they began to glow and slowly rose into the air. With a motion, Trip lowered them to the sand again as they abruptly expanded, growing to life-size. "These are the vectorcycles!" he announced.
"Wow, cool!" Katie said, giving him a quick hug before stepping up to the yellow 'cycle.
"Yeah, this is great," Jen said more quietly, claiming the pink one.
"Incredible!" came from Lucas.
"With these, we'll be hot on Nadira's tail!" Katie exclaimed.
"So, what do you think?" Trip asked, looking at Wes and Eric with a grin.
"They're great," Wes said, adding in a low voice for only Eric to hear, "At least this time we don't have to get them down the clock tower stairs."
"Rangers!" The call came from behind them. Wes turned to find the still-startling sight of Circuit hovering in the air in the cabin doorway. "Now I'm getting reports of a robbery at the Silver National Bank! It's Nadira and Mantamobile again!"
"Let's go!" Jen cried. The four Time Force officers took a few steps and fell into a line with Jen slightly in front of the others. "Ready?" she asked, and raised her left arm. They all copied her movements: a quick swing of the arms in and back out, a twist of the upper body, finishing with all of them bringing their hands together and pressing the buttons on their morphers at the same moment while shouting in unison:
"Time for Time Force!"
Wes blinked as a flash and sparkle surrounded each of his former teammates, leaving them in their pink, blue, green, and yellow Ranger suits.
"What the hell was that song and dance for?" Eric muttered.
"Dunno," Wes said. "We just used to press the buttons and go. Something else that's different in this world." Speaking of which... He moved away a step, raised his wrist, touched his morpher, and an instant later was standing in his own red Ranger suit. "I'm coming with you!" he cried, hurrying to mount the red vectorcycle as the others started theirs up.
"Wes, I don't think you should help them," Eric called after him.
"I'm going, Eric. They need a red Ranger. They need to see I can do a good job. Are you coming?"
Eric crossed his arms, his face grim. "No."
"Suit yourself." Wes stepped hard on the accelerator and took off after the others.
"There they are!" Jen said, raising a hand to point as they sped along the almost empty highway just outside of town.
Wes saw them in the distance. Two cars, coming fast in their direction, the well-remembered glint of light on silver and gold cyclobot bodies, a flash of bright pink from Nadira's hair. It felt almost - nostalgic. "Come on!" he said. "Time to make her give that money back!"
"Lay down fire across the road!" Jen commanded. Obediently, Lucas, Katie, and Trip fired the blasters Wes realized were built into this version of the vectorcycles, sending three energy beams to hit the pavement ahead. Three fireballs erupted; the cars sped through them and slowed, smoking from the attack. A moment later they sped up again, closing the distance quickly, as the Rangers could see Nadira pointing at them. In the other car was a gray, tentacled, vaguely manta-ray-like creature Wes could only assume was Mantamobile.
"They're playing chicken!" Lucas shouted as the two cars accelerated straight at them.
"Fire!" Trip shouted. He suited action to words, energy beams lashing from his 'cycle to hit Mantamobile's car, sending a cascade of sparks and smoke from it.
But the mutant struck back, a blaster visible from the side of his car before a beam lanced towards Jen's head. She ducked, avoiding it and another shot. Katie took action, firing her own weapons. She and Trip swerved together in front of Jen, then separated as she headed right for the oncoming car. Before Wes could call out a warning, Jen shifted her weight and gripped a control. Amazingly, her 'cycle leaped into the air, clearing the car as she summoned her blaster and fired downwards.
Wes could spare no more attention for them; he and Lucas avoided a collision with Nadira's car, screeched into a tight turn, and roared in pursuit. The 'cycles were as fast as he remembered; in less than a minute they were pulling alongside.
"I'll stop them!" Lucas said, swerving closer. Before Wes could react, Lucas had jumped from his vectorcycle into the back seat, briefly wrestling with a cyclobot before kicking it from the car. But Nadira took her opportunity and lunged at him, shoving him out to fall heavily to the street.
"Lucas!" Wes shouted, slowing to a stop.
"I'm okay!" The blue Ranger was already climbing to his feet. "Go after them!"
Wes did, quickly catching up again. He pulled a distance ahead, braked, and spun to a stop. Carefully, he took aim with the unfamiliar vectorcycle blaster, and fired. The car still sped at him. He fired again. This time there was a screech of tires before it flew off the side of the road and came to a crashing stop in a stand of bushes.
The sound of an engine alerted Wes. He looked up in time to see the other car, with Mantamobile still inside, meet a similar fate only a few yards away as the pink, yellow, and green Rangers chased it off the road into a ditch. He also saw Lucas approaching, back on his 'cycle, behind them. When he glanced back to his own target, it was only to see the twinkle of light that told him Nadira had teleported away, along with her cyclobots.
"She got away!" he yelled in frustration.
"Never mind her! Come on!" Trip called.
They all abandoned their 'cycles and ran to pursue Mantamobile, who had fled into the field beside the highway. Apparently realizing he couldn't escape, he turned to face them.
"Make it easy on yourself and give up!" Wes shouted, summoning his blaster.
In answer, the mutant raised two tentacles at him, somehow elongating them, so that they shot in his direction too fast to dodge. They wrapped around his upper arms and yanked him into the air. He fell back to the ground with a jarring impact, tried to get to his feet and pull free, only to feel a searing jolt of what seemed to be electricity. He cried out in pain, only dimly aware of Lucas leaping in front of him, swinging a long bladed weapon, while the others fired some sort of blaster cannons at Mantamobile. In another instant he was free, realizing that Lucas had cut through the tentacles. As he looked for his attacker, an explosive fireball made him shield his eyes.
"What happened?" he gasped. Mantamobile - he had been caught in that explosion. "Is he dead?"
"Of course not!" Mantamobile himself answered the question, his body smoking but otherwise apparently unharmed. "You're all asking for big trouble!"
What happened next had Wes seriously doubting his own sanity. The mutant pulled something off his shoulder. And - grew. He shot up in size, expanding like a mutated balloon, in a couple of seconds towering over them, as big as a respectable-sized building. As Wes stared up, jaw dropping in amazed disbelief, he raised his fists and gave a booming and maniacal laugh, remaining tentacles coiling into the air.
"What the fuck is that?!" a familiar voice shouted over the communicator in Wes's helmet.
"I don't - I don't know! Eric?" Wes dragged his eyes away from Mantamobile, who at least seemed to have stopped getting bigger, and saw a small aircraft whiz overhead and circle the giant mutant. He recognized Eric's TF Eagle.
"Yeah! Figured you'd just get yourself killed without me, and take the other guys with you. Looks like I was right!"
"Mantamobile's exposed his mutant DNA!" Trip said, bringing his morpher up to his face. "Circuit, we need help!"
"You got it!"
"Help?" Wes asked, apprehensively watching Eric send a few blasts at the mutant and barely dodge as it swatted at his flyer. "What kind of help are we going to get against that?"
And the answer came with unbelievable swiftness, as he looked around frantically at another astonished curse from Eric. A second monstrosity swooped down seemingly from nowhere to land with a deep thud in front of the giant mutant. A robot, as best he could make out, blocky, thick-bodied, multicolored and studded with strange devices, as big as Mantamobile was now, as big as Frax's giant robot and the Q-Rex had been in his own world. It stalked stiff-legged toward the mutant, who had retreated several huge steps towards the city.
"Come on!" Jen cried. She and her three teammates seemed to jump into the air, and disappeared in four multicolored twinkles of light.
"Guys?" Wes shouted. "What happened? Where are you?"
"We're in the megazord, of course! Just stay out of our way! That goes for you, too, Eric!"
"You're in the what? Oh, I give up..."
The battle was hard to follow as Wes ran after the two towering figures, trying to keep up as they exchanged several bolts of energy; as the megazord, as Jen had called it, pulled a variety of strange weapons out of the air and used them, slashing sparking wounds across the mutant. Unfortunately it seemed to have little effect. Eric was doing what he could, darting in to sting the enemy with the weapons in his Eagle but providing little more than a distraction. Still, perhaps it helped. As Wes panted to a stop, he looked up to see the megazord lift a huge sword high in the air, sweep it in a circle leaving a trail of glowing energy, and then across Mantamobile. The huge mutant staggered back, writhed briefly, and finally collapsed and disappeared in another explosive fireball.
With its opponent defeated, the robot stepped back, straightening in what appeared to be a triumphant pose. As it lifted into the sky, the familiar black and purple swirl of a timehole appeared above it just long enough for it to fly inside and vanish.
Wes stared in disbelief. Jen, Lucas, Trip, and Katie had somehow reappeared a few yards away, and were obviously congratulating each other as Jen collected what he recognized as the cryogenically shrunken form of Mantamobile from the wreckage of their battle and stored him in a Time Force prison container.
Eric's flyer swept down to a landing nearby, and he quickly climbed out and jumped to the street, running up to him. "What kind of shit is this?" he demanded, waving a hand at the destruction. "Growing mutants? Giant robots coming out of nowhere, stomping all over the city and zooming off into timeholes? Is everything in this friggin' dimension totally screwed?"
"Eric!" Jen and the others had joined them. "Watch your mouth! Rangers don't use that kind of language!"
"What!" His posture stiffened with indignation. "I'll say whatever I fu-"
"Look!" Wes interrupted. He pointed at the small crowd of bystanders that had collected on the street they were now on. At one person in particular, a young man with dark blond hair, who was staring at his suited and helmeted form with an expression of resentment and envy before turning away.
"It's you, Wes. The other you."
"Yeah. Poor guy. I bet he wishes it was him in this suit."
"Maybe." Jen was at his side, also watching.
"You know, he was pretty good the time he morphed with us to fight Ransik," Lucas said.
"And he's really a nice guy," Trip added.
"If he's anything like this Wes, he could be a big help," Katie said hopefully.
Jen sighed. "I guess you're right. I'll give him another chance, if he still wants it."
"He'll want it," Wes said confidently.
"Wes..." Eric's voice pulled his attention away. He followed his partner's pointing arm up, to the sky. A bank of clouds seemed to be blowing in, dark clouds, moving faster than the light breeze would account for. As they blocked the sun, a shadow fell over the street, and he saw an arc of lightning. It all looked very familiar.
"It's the same storm," he said slowly.
"Yeah. It's like it followed us here."
"Maybe it'll take us home!"
"Maybe. I'm willing to take the chance. Anything's better than staying here."
There was a sharp crack as lightening stabbed through the gathering darkness again. "We may not have a choice anyway!" Wes said. "Come on, let's fly up in the Eagle. If it's after us... Don't want lightning hitting anyone in the street!"
"Wes!" Jen's voice stopped him as he and Eric turned to the small flyer. "I - good luck!"
"Thanks! And good luck here, with everything!" He grinned and waved to the others. "If your Wes takes you to a dusty old clock tower, don't be too disappointed! It'll work out!"
"And if you meet someone who looks like me a couple of months from now," Eric called from beside him, "try cutting him some slack! Might make things easier for all of you!"
"What happened to not telling them anything? Not interfering?" Wes asked quietly as they jumped up onto the Eagle.
"This reality is so messed up I don't see how we can possibly make it any worse. Come on!"
A moment later they were airborne, Wes hanging onto his perch on the wing as they climbed up to the clouds. In a few seconds the storm swept over them, light fading to almost complete darkness, a wash of rain, thunder deafening him as whiteness burst around them, a patch of grayness as fog and mist swallowed them... and then...
The sky was blue and clear, marked only with a few distant clouds. Sun glinted on the metal of the Eagle as it banked and slowed, then began a gradual descent. Wes looked down. They were over lush, green countryside, no sign of the sandy coastline that should have been visible in the distance. A small and unfamiliar city was nestled in the midst of the forest not far away. Eric turned them in that direction. As they flew overhead, what he was fearing became even more obvious.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"Beats me," Eric answered. "But something tells me we're still not in Kansas anymore."
TBC...