Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to Disney. The Longton Family may be my creation, but I think that they should be in the show anyhow, and I contribute them to Disney, and Saban, and whoever else.

Summary: Jack takes on Morgana.

Rewritten Chapter Five:

Protector

Jack reported to the Command Room at the time specified. Commander Cruger looked up and grunted. "Ah, yes Jack." He turned to the cadet standing next to him. "Bring young Schuylar Tate to me." "Yes, sir." The cadet left. "Are you ready for this, Jack? This may well be the toughest battle even you have ever faced." "As ready as I'll ever be, sir." "Remember, once you have engaged, our rangers are of no use to you, they are to Morgana, as normal humans are to aliens. Therefore it is up to you."

"Right. No pressure." "What do you mean no pressure? I just said…" "Sir, as you will learn during your years here, sarcasm is a dry humor, used by humans to state the opposite of what we mean. 'No pressure' is a common statement that means something like, "Wow, what more pressure could you place on me, since you've already placed all the pressure in the world on me?" "Oh."

Jack's thoughts drifted while he waited, and soon they turned to Matt. He wondered what life Matt would have in this timeline. "Dr. Manx, Commander Cruger?" Both looked up and growled, resenting being talked to at the same time; before the planets of Sirius and Leo were destroyed, they were great rivals. Though in time Commander Cruger and Dr. Manx would become close friends, almost like brother and sister, now they merely continued their age-old battle.

"I was wondering; Matthew Longton. In my timeline, you accepted him in Sky's place. What will happen to him now?" Dr. Manx glanced at Commander Cruger and then looked at Jack. "Matt scored high on his acceptance test, only one point below Sky's. We recommended that he be accepted to the Nebula Academy that just started."

"In my time, that is the finest academy of all SPD academies! That's awesome! Was he accepted?" Jack was ecstatic for Matt. "Yes, and we are sending the message with Sky, that with his parents' permission, he is to leave immediately." The realization struck Jack like a pile of bricks. He put his hand to the mouthpiece of his helmet in shock. "No." He whispered. If he had been able to cry, he would have. "Jack, is there a problem?" Dr. Manx asked, looking worried. Jack looked up at her, then down again, sighing.

"I met Matt when we were ten, he an SPD cadet, and I a homeless street kid. In time, we became good friends. When he came into his final years of training, we stopped seeing each other for a long time. When we finally saw each other again I was playing modern day Robin Hood with Elizabeth Delgado, whom we now call Z. She was also a street kid at the time and like a sister to me. He was newly promoted to B-Squad Active Status, along with Syd, or Sydney Drew and Bridge Carson. You yourself, Sir, had, as their first orders, ordered them to bring in the Parkington Square Thieves – namely Z and me.

"They were going to use force, if need be, to bring us in, as SPD Regulations require. When Matt saw me use my power, he knew me, and refused to fight telling Bridge and Syd not to fight either, for just a moment. Then, for the sake of our friendship, he asked me to come quietly. And for the sake of our friendship, I did. In time, we become closer than brothers. He helped me to be a better leader. I taught him Martial Arts. He may not have had a civilian power, but his hard word made up for it. I was not given this mission by Commander Quentez, but by your spirit that was within the Morphing Grid. That is how I learned everything I do know, but at the time I didn't know of the need to Time Travel, to restore time. I told Matt what I knew that referred to him. I did not tell him how I knew."

Jack slowly clenched his shaking fist. "It was that conversation that prompted his soul-searching. If … if… if I … hadn't spoke to him, he would not died … and the explosion that killed Dr. Bootoo … would not have occurred. I … I … k-k-killed them. My best friend and I betrayed him. Until now, I thought that friendship knew no greater betrayal, but there is. I'm about to make sure that our friendship never existed in the first place!"

Up until now, Commander Cruger, and Dr. Manx, had been quiet, when he told them the truth of his orders they glared at him, when he told of Matt's death, they stared in shock. Now, Commander Cruger silently placed a paw on Jack shoulder. "You may be indirectly responsible for their deaths, Jack," Dr. Manx said, quietly. "But that wasn't your intent. You wished only to help Matt and fix what was broken."

Then the cadet returned the young Schyular Tate. "Ah, young Schuylar," Commander Cruger said. "Reporting for Duty, Sir." Commander Cruger chuckled. "You don't have say that, yet. You're not moved in yet, nor have you gotten the uniform."

"You've already chosen someone to replace my father?" Sky blurted out, looking at Jack. Jack knelt in front of him and placed his hand on Sky's shoulder. In a lighter tone voice, he said, "Young Sky, I am not your father's replacement. I am of a totally different team. I have traveled a long way to protect you – twelve years. I have traveled from the future, to protect you, for you have a great destiny."

"Wow! But uh won't people notice an SPD member walking with me? I mean that will draw more attention, right?" "Well, I have a little trick up my sleeve." Jack stood up and took a step back. "Power Down!" He shouted. To a ball of light, he returned. "Whoa!"

"Schyular, I need you to deliver this to Matthew Longton's parents." "You got it, Sir."

Sometime later, they made it to Matt's house, unchallenged. Sky knocked and it was Matt who answered. This was a Matt younger than Jack had ever known. Jack, hating himself, hung back and watched. Sky handed the mail from the Nebula Academy to Matt's parents and then took Matt aside to apologize to Matt, who by this time had recovered. Soon they were laughing and joking like old friends again. Jack watched sadly, knowing that in another timeline, this kid and he would have been good friends. Time passed quickly, and Sky looked at the sky and said, "Matt, I have to go home, now okay?" "Okay, see you later."

Sky came out of the house, and said "I'm ready, let's go home." Jack didn't say anything at first. Something was very wrong. He sensed something. "Jack?" Sky asked. Mr. and Mrs. Longton came out of the house with Matt. "Who ya talkin' to, Sky?" Matt asked. The breeze picked up severely. "Get back into house," Jack said, fear creeping up into his voice. "Who said that?" Mr. Longton asked. "Jack, what is it?" Young Sky asked looking up him.

Jack didn't have time to answer, for suddenly Morgana appeared. "Well, young Sky, you've led me on quite a chase. Tell, which one of the rangers has returned to change your path. "That'll be me." Jack retorted floating in front of Sky, Matt, and Matt's parents. Morgana sneered and said, "Well, if isn't you, Sam!" "Sam? Who is Sam? I don't anybody named Sam." Jack said confused. "SPD Emergency!" He transformed.

Jack had only known one Sam in his life, Sam the boy with the civilian powers that had joined the academy a few weeks back, but that couldn't be who she was talking about. Unless he went on to become the Omega Ranger and came back in time to save us, but only became Omega Ranger because, in which case I would never meet him, and that does make sense, Jack thought.

"What? They sent you? Jack? But why?" "Because the Shadow Ranger was killed before he got the chance to become the Shadow Ranger. The Cat Ranger left before she became the Cat Ranger, the Omega Ranger will never exist. The original one chosen as Blue Ranger was evil, the one that replaced he had no civilian powers, and died just recently, the one that replaced him is a rookie. The Green Ranger would just confuse everyone, and the Pink Ranger is too spoiled. That leaves the Yellow Ranger and me. While she is a good fighter and has a caring heart, things that might help in her battle, I am the only one left that wouldn't be powerless against you. With my new Battilizer mode and my strenuous training, I at least have a chance against you."

"Wait a minute, you are from the timeline I created by coming back! That means that I shall be victorious!" "Don't be so sure. It's time to AMP IT UP! RIC NOW! BATTILIZER MODE! AQUA MORPHER!" Jack received his Aqua Morpher from RIC; he pressed the code buttons and yelled. "Cyber Mode! AMP IT UP!" He pressed the other code buttons and yelled, "Lightspeed Mode!" Jack knew that he would need everything he had to defeat her, and so had skipped SWAT Mode as well as Cyber mode.

She lunged; he stepped aside and used the strength of her lunge to throw her back. The battle had begun, and Jack, as he always did now, he let his mind go and let his training, instinct and experience combine. The battle filled his reality; it was as if he had always been fighting and he always would; all he knew was the next move. He fought gracefully, his entire body flowing.

At Cadet Command, Commander Cruger and Kat watched in amazement, never had a ranger fought like this; without thought. Like he and his body were one, perfect coordination. Sky and Matt too were amazed; 360 flips, and tripping. Morgana began to be afraid of the fluid movement of Jack. Jack was good, powerful, but not perfect. Every so often, Morgana would get a blow in, a powerful at that.

The battle stretched on for 10 min, 15, and 20. Finally, Jack brought Morgana's energy low enough to contain her. He judged her for her many crimes. She was found guilty. But just the containment was starting; she threw one last blow and gave it all she had. One moment Jack was standing there, the next he was on the ground, listening to someone screaming in agony, not knowing that it was himself. Pain, unbearable pain left his body convulsing, wreaking havoc on his internal organs.

He watched as if from afar, blanking out every few seconds. He heard his erratic heartbeat pounding away. BOOM! Breath. BOOM! BOOM! The pain, the sounds the sights were all distant. SPD paramedics arrived. They put him on a stretcher, and brought him to the SPD Hospital. Commander Cruger was there. The doctor talked to him loudly, but Jack could not hear them. They were so far away, four, no five feet, but it seemed so much further.

Commander Cruger, came to him and spoke. Jack barely heard him. "Jack, everything is taken care of here. Your father is not dead, but he is out of the picture. Your mission to protect Sky is complete. Morgana's card is in your pouch. Everything is done. You though, are badly injured. Our Doctors can do nothing, at least while you are in your suit. If you don't get help soon, you will die. I will take of the MED, the memory erase-ment device. Kat has successfully prepared a Time Vortex to return you to your own time, and it will reconstruct your human form natural, there will be no merging, but your injuries will remain."

Jack blacked out at that point and began to dream of the Morphing Grid, wanting to join the GOOD, but Jonathan Tate was barring the way. Then Jack knew no more.

The End