Disclaimer: Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos are property of Saban and/or Disney Entertainment. I am using them without permission, but I do not intend to make a profit from this. If I do happen to make a few bucks, I promise to share with Mickey Mouse.
A/N: Don't attempt to place this fic anywhere in the known PR universe; doing so would only give you a headache. Strangely enough, this is not AU and I believe in very consistent with the PR universe as we know it.
Café Rio
As soon as Trip stepped through the door of the café, the smell of eggs and pancakes overwhelmed him. There were a few people scattered through out the café, all of them sitting at a booth, or at the counter itself, having conversations amongst themselves. No sooner than he walked in did a young lady in a waitress uniform walk over to him with a cheerful smile on her face.
"Welcome to Café' Rio, are you dining alone?" she asked with a warm, sunny disposition.
"No," he unzipped his jacket, glancing around the café slightly. "I'm meeting some friends here," he told her.
"Okay," she handed him a menu. "Well, whenever you're ready to order, let me know. My name is Sheryl," she said happily, then walked away.
Trip looked around again, finally finding his friends sitting at a booth in front of the picture window of the café. He tossed his jacket over his shoulder and headed over to them.
"Hey guys," he said.
It was Tommy Oliver who slid over, allowing Trip to sit down next to him. Across from them were Cameron Watanabe and Adam Park, each of them with a cup of coffee in hand.
"Actually, I'm glad you're here. We're having a disagreement about something and hopefully you can clear it up," Adam said, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Sure, what is it?"
"All of is us here at one point or another have traveled back in time, but Tommy is saying that the timeline cant be changed once it happens," Cam brought up.
"He's right," Trip quickly chimed in.
"I told you."
"How can you say that? Going back in time has an effect on the timeline. People you meet and interact with alter the natural flow of history," Adam mentioned.
"Yes and no. Everything happens for a reason, even if the reason isn't clear to you at the moment," Trip said.
"What are you talking about?"
"Take Cam's experience as an example. He went back in time and got the samurai amulet from his mother, returned to his own time and became the green samurai ranger, but it was obviously meant to happen," he said.
"How?"
"The Scroll of Destiny foretold that Lothor's generals would be killed off one by one in order to open the Abyss of Evil. The battle was foretold years before the wind rangers even joined the ninja academy, yet it states that six rangers would be there," he brought up.
"That's not true. In the final battle, there were only three rangers who defeated Lothor. There was nothing in the prophecy about Cam being there," Tommy said.
"How do you know so much about the prophecy?" Cam asked.
"Your father and I had a chance to talk, exchange information. I read the scrolls, I've seen the sacred text," he said.
"Then you know Cam going back in time and getting the amulet did alter the timeline. He wasn't meant to be there, so it effected history," Adam retorted.
"That's not true," Trip quickly signaled for the waitress. Sheryl hurried over to him. "Let me have some eggs, bacon, ham, some sausage links, French toast, hash browns and the biggest glass of milk you got… with a straw!"
"You got it," she said cheerfully, walking away.
With her gone, Trip continued. "Cam's father didn't want him to become a ranger because he knew that Cam was meant to go back in time and get the amulet. By making sure Cam didn't get one of the original morphers, it left him available for the amulet's powers," he turned to Cam. "Do you remember the incident where the rangers powers were taken away and locked in a sphere?"
"Yes."
"The only way to release the power was to open it with a greater power. In this case, a 6th ranger was needed. Without Cam going back in time, Lothor would have defeated the rangers that day, which in turn ruins the prophecy. From that aspect, Cam going back in time actually helping the prophecy come to pass, thus not changing the timeline at all," Trip explained.
"Okay, I'll buy that one, but what about Tommy's time travel experience?" Adam asked.
"Which one, he's had quite a few."
"The one where Tommy sends a message to himself in the past that the green ranger powers would be taken from him,"
"It didn't alter the timeline at all. Even with the warning, Tommy still lost his powers because he was destined to eventually become the white ranger, the red zeo ranger, then turbo, and eventually the black dino thunder ranger. If the warning had been successful and he prevented himself from losing the green ranger powers, that would have altered the timeline, but it failed and history was allowed to proceed naturally," Trip explained.
"He's got a point," Adam said.
"Sounds right to me," Cam added.
"Are you trying to say that some universal law already predetermines everything we do? That we have no say so in the matter at all? That takes away from free will," Tommy said.
"That's not what I'm saying at all. Whether or not you picked this café or another one, what flavor coffee Adam is drinking, if Cam picked a glazed donut or a crème filled donut makes no difference in the grand scheme of things. Little decisions have no impact on the future, but the major decisions, like who will be rangers, are determined by destiny. That can't be changed," Trip told them.
"I don't think that's right. Look at your situation for a second…" he paused as the waitress returning, bringing Trip his food.
"Here ya go. If you need anything else, let me know," Sheryl said cheerfully. "Does anyone else need a refill on their coffee?"
"We're good, thanks," Adam said.
"Okay," she said with a smile, walking away.
Tommy continued. "Are you telling me that you and the other rangers were meant to go back in time and fight mutants?"
"Yes."
"How is that possible?"
"You're saying that Ransik was suppose to escape through time, to nearly kill one of your officers, to try to take over the past and almost succeed, only to turn himself in at the end?" Adam asked.
"Yes," Trip repeated.
"How?"
Trip took a swallow of his milk. "Ask yourself this question: Why were Eric and Wes able to keep their morphers once me and the other rangers returned to our own time? If Time Force was so concerned about the preservation of the timeline, why leave equipment from the future 100 decades in the past?" he asked them.
"I always considered it an oversight of some kind," Cam said.
"If Jen wasn't able to stay in the past with Wes in 2001, why was she allowed to stay in 2002 after we defeated the mutorgs?" he asked.
"I didn't know she stayed," Adam said.
"She did, and she and Wes went on to have three children. One of those children eventually joined SPD and did great things for humanity," he said.
"Okay, so why was she able to stay? Why did Wes keep his morpher?"
"It was necessary. Tommy of all people who be aware of the forever red mission, and if Wes and Eric hadn't had their morphers, it would have made the difference between victory and defeat in that battle. Jen was allowed to stay in the past after the mutorg mission because she'd done what she was required to do in her own time. She was meant to track the mutorgs through time, eventually following them to the year 2002. More to the point, Jen and Wes were meant to have kids, and their daughter was meant to join SPD. If she'd stayed in the past originally, the timeline would have been altered and future history would have been destroyed," he explained.
"But that doesn't explain why Ransik was meant to do to the past," Tommy said.
"Actually, it does," Trip took a moment to finish chewing his food. "Ransik going to the year 2001 was necessary for him to grow as a person, to realize what he was doing was wrong. If not for that moment, when the Wild Force rangers faced the mutorgs, even with help from Time Force, they would have lost, and thus changing history. Ransik destroyed their mutant halves, allowing us to defeat them. Without him, things would have been different."
"But whos to say that the mutorgs wouldn't have been defeated? Shortly after the Wild Force rangers gave up their powers, Cam and the wind ninjas got their powers. Maybe they would have defeated them," Tommy pointed out.
"Maybe, but to have to battle the mutorgs, Master Org and Lothor would have been too much for them. Assuming for a minute that the murtorgs did win the war and Master Org took over the planet, I doubt Lothor would have come back to Earth looking for revenge. Even if he did, it goes back to the prophecy in the Scroll of Destiny, and there is no mention of Master Org there because he was already defeated. He wouldn't have been defeated without Ransik's help, which again, makes his trip to 2001 a necessary one," he explained.
"If that's true, who sat down and decided how the timeline was suppose to go? What gives Time Force the right to dictate how things are suppose to be?" Adam asked.
"We didn't decide how it was suppose to be, we simply go by the history logs and ensure that nothing disturbs it," he said.
"But it seems to me that Time Force caused a lot of its own problems with time travel. If you didn't have time vehicles, Ransik wouldn't have been able to go back in time, and there wouldn't have been a need to stop him," Tommy said.
"Again, Ransik had to go back. That was destiny playing itself out. Also, Jen tracking the mutorgs was meant to happen," Trip said.
"But how do you know? Maybe you had a detailed record about the past because it already happened, but how do you know what's suppose to happen in the future? Do you know how things are supposed to play out tomorrow? Or the next day? It seems to me that not just Time Force, but the entire concept of time travel in general falls back on the weak excuse that it was meant to be, but there's no real way to be sure," Tommy said.
"But its in the history logs, I've seen it. I know."
"The logs could be wrong," Adam said.
"Or worse, the logs could be changed," Cam added.
"What do you mean?"
"Assume for a minute that someone goes back in time and Time Force has no knowledge of it, I…" he was cut short.
"Impossible, we'd know the moment it happened," Trip said.
"Hear me out," he paused, then continued. "Lets say Adam here goes back in time to the year 1993 and sees Tommy standing in an ally being attacked by putties, so he helps him out. They defeat the putties, Tommy is never turned into the evil green ranger, the prophecy of the 6th ranger is never fulfilled and history is thrown completely out of whack. Doing that would alter history, past and future, and as a result change the history logs," Cam explained.
"The history logs are constant, if they were changed we'd know."
"That isn't true. In theory, once the timeline was changed, the ripple effect would wipe any knowledge of any other timeline away," he said.
"I don't get it," Adam said.
"Think of it this way; you go back in time and stop Tommy from meeting Kim, so they never get together. Doe he miss her?" he asked.
"Of course I do," Tommy said.
"No, because you never met you. Any memories you have of her would be gone because you never met her," he pointed to the waitress. "Do you miss Sheryl?" he asked.
"I don't even know Sheryl,"
"Exactly, and if something prevented you from meeting Kim, you wouldn't know her either. It that happened, a ripple effect would wash over the entire timeline, and you would have no memory of any previous timeline. If that were to happen, your history logs would be based on the new timeline, not the original one, so even if something were changed, it wouldn't be documented," Cam explained.
"Wow, I hadn't thought of it," Trip sighed.
"So you're both wrong," Adam said.
"No, we're both right," he said.
"How?"
"There is no proof that the timeline has been altered in any way, meaning that the original concept of the timeline not being changed is intact. But, there is no evidence to support that the timeline hasn't been changed, seeing as how if it were changed no one would know about it," Cam rationalized.
"But you're forgetting one thing," Trip brought up. "When me and the other rangers went back time and returned, Alex told us that Wes had been killed while defending the city, thus we had knowledge of it happening. If we hadn't gone back a second time to help him, the future would still be there, and the only person who knowledge of things being different would have been us."
"Not true. When you returned to your own time, were you punished for disobeying a direct order?" Cam asked.
"No, we weren't."
"That's because you were given that order in a different timeline. When you returned to your time, Alex more than likely made no mention of it to you, did he?"
"No."
"Because he had no knowledge of it. The timeline where he explained to you that Wes was killed never happened, so you came home to an alternate future, or, in your case, present," Cam told him.
"So history can be changed," Tommy sighed.
"It's a theory at least. With all our knowledge of our world and other worlds, of time travel and the intricacies of destiny, of parallel realities, there are still things we don't know. There are some things we just aren't meant to know," Trip said.
"Wait, there are parallel realities too?" Adam asked.
"Sure is. It's actually quite fascinating. Its based on the theory that…" he was interrupted as his communicator went off. Trip reached for his morpher, and a holographic image of Captain Logan appeared. "Yes sir?"
"Report to the science lab, your duty shifted started ten minutes ago."
Trip glanced over at the clock on the wall. "Sorry sir, I stopped for breakfast. I'm on my way," Trip took one final bite of his sausage. "I have to go guys, but this has been fun."
"Same time next week?" Cam asked.
"You know it," he paused. "Computer, save and discontinue program," Trip instructed.
"Working," a voice replied.
There was a humming sound as the entire café disappeared, being replaced by an empty room with orange grids along the walls, ceiling and floor. The doors on the opposite side of the room, and Trip zipped up his jacket, making his way out the room.