Eric had found the location where Ransik and the creatures, along with an army of cyclobots, were hiding. It was a large warehouse that had been abandoned due to the evacuation.
He peered out, closer to the window, wanting to get a better look. Almost everyone that should be there was there, but someone was missing. Nadira…. Where was she? Had she been killed during one of the attacks? All he knew for sure was that Wes had killed Frax, while sacrificing his life to destroy the deadly robot that Frax had controlled, but not a word about Nadira. Some of the Silver Guardians had recalled seeing her; some even had mentioned that she seemed somewhat distressed. All he could do was wonder…
Eric couldn't hear what they were saying, but could only guess that none of it was good. They were preparing for a battle, a war. And he knew good and well their plans were to take mankind out and control the world for themselves. He clenched his fists together, he swore on his life that it wasn't going to happen. Not if he could help it.
He wanted to attack now, but he knew the odds were against him. The only weapon he had on him was his Silver Guardian blaster, which was only good for taking out cyclobots. The blaster wouldn't have much effect on Ransik or the creatures and though he had extreme fighting skills, there were just too many for him to handle. That was why Wes had died, there had been too many, too many for him to defeat on his own. Right now Eric knew the best thing for him would be to get in touch with Merrick and then the other Wild Force Rangers.
His fingers gripped round the two-way radio on his belt. Eric snatched it up and just as he was about to speak into it, it was yanked right out of his hands by a cyclobot. In a rage Eric went at his attacker, getting ready to punch him, but only to be held back by another cyclobot and then two more. This wasn't good, not one bit.
The four cyclobots had dragged Eric into the warehouse; though Eric tried he couldn't break free from their hold. It was as if over all these months they had grown stronger somehow. Ransik sneered when he locked eyes with the man who had in the past caused him a number of problems. "Well, what do we have here?"
Already he could feel the rage and anger flow through his body. He hated Ransik with a passion; this was the man, the mutant, responsible for destroying Silver Hills, for the deaths of thousands of people. He wanted nothing more than to tear Ransik apart. And if it weren't for the cyclobots holding him back, he would do it right there and now, even if he had to go down with him.
One of the cyclobots stepped aside. It walked up to Ransik and handed him the two-way radio. Ransik gave a nod and the cyclobot went back to his post. Ransik glared at the radio device in his hand and then back to Eric. He snickered under his breath, as he dropped the device and slammed his foot down on it
"We should kill him now, Ransik" announced Takach. "Before he causes any more trouble."
"Let me do it! I'll rip him into pieces!" exclaimed Rofang.
Ransik pulled out his sword and walked towards Eric with it, and pressed it against his neck. He wanted to see the fear in Eric's eyes, wanted to see just what it took to send fear through him, just how much it would take to break him. "Who else knows you're here?"
It was going to take more than an ugly face and a sword to send him quivering. Eric darted his eyes and gave Ransik one powerful mocking stare. "Like I'm going to tell you."
With the handle of the bone sword Ransik whacked Eric hard over the head, causing a large cut to emerge; blood trickled down Eric's face. "Fool. Look around, I could kill you on the spot."
"Then why don't you do it?" Eric knew well enough that if Ransik had wanted him dead, he would be dead already. Ransik must need something from him, and right now that was his only leverage to stay alive long enough for the Wild Force Rangers to come to his aid. He knew it would only be a matter of time until Merrick would contact them, after not hearing from him.
"Don't tempt me!" Ransik slowly traced the blade of his sword against Eric's neck. He leered closer. "Just give it time; you'll be dead soon." His face was now right in front of Eric's, his hot breath breathing right on him. "After all, I did kill your one-time friend, the red ranger." Ransik watched as the rage and fury burned in Eric's eyes; it pleased him as he laughed under his breath and raised his sword to Eric's eye level. "Even now his blood still stains my sword……"
The explosion had been massive, nothing could have survived; both the Q-Rex and Doomtron were in pieces all over the city, burning continuously. Not even Frax had survived. The once human-turned robot had died in this attack, unlike the last one. Ransik searched the ground, needing to make sure that no survivors remained. He was alone; Nadira had taken off after she learned of Frax's doom.
He continued to look through the rubble and that was when he saw him. The red ranger, unmorphed, covered in blood, his clothes a mess, trying desperately to make a run for it, but his legs kept giving way and every time he fell to the ground. But Wes kept on trying, he couldn't let Ransik get to him, not when he was Silver Hills' only hope.
"Fool!" Ransik grabbed his sword and launched it towards Wes. It was a direct hit, stabbing Wes right in the shoulder. The mighty mutant watched as Wes dropped to the ground and this time didn't get up, barely moving. Pleased, Ransik walked over to him and pulled his sword out of Wes. Wes's painful screams were music to his ears. He kicked Wes over on his back and pressed his foot against the wound. "Where are the other rangers?" He pressed his foot harder into the wound.
The pain was all over his body and his breathing was starting to lessen, blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth. There was a large gash on the side of his head. He knew he was in bad shape and probably didn't have much time left. He had done just what he said he would. He had kept fighting down to his last breath. "You'll never find them."
Not what he wanted to hear. Ransik lifted Wes up from the ground and threw him like a rag doll into a pile of rubble. He waited a moment for movement, but saw none. It was done.
"You bastard!" Eric wanted to lash out at Ransik, at all of them. "I swear to God if I ever get free I will kill you myself with my own bare hands!"
Ransik laughed. "Hah, you would have to, wouldn't you? Since you no longer hold the quantum morpher."
"Believe me, I wouldn't need it," exclaimed Eric.
"Hey, maybe he knows who has the quantum morpher," announced Kinrid.
"Yes…" Ransik hissed. "Perhaps he does know."
And that's when Eric realized the only reason he was still alive was because they wanted to know who had the quantum morpher. But he was just as clueless as they were as to who now was the keeper of the quantum morpher, which was both a good and bad thing, depending on how you looked at it.
"So let me get this straight, you're some kind of descendant of a distant cousin of Wes's?" asked Taylor. She already understood where they had come from and why they were here. But she wanted to know why Alex so strikingly resembled the late Wesley Collins.
"Yes. Which is why I can exist, even though he is gone," announced Alex. He had known ever since he had gotten into the time ship that these questions would arise. Anyone could easily mistaken him for Wes or even assume he and Wes were twins.
"I see." It was all so overwhelming for her, and she had run across many bizarre things in her life. But someone from a thousand years in the future having an identical face to Wesley Collins' and somehow having similar DNA, had to be the biggest thing yet. "Wow, and I thought an island in the sky was strange."
"Well, now that we have that covered, do you know where we can find Eric Myers?" asked Lucas. Though he wasn't sure exactly how much time they had left until the major battle would begin, he knew time was very vital for them. They needed to find Eric as soon as they possibly could.
"He and Merrick went looking for your friend Jen, but that was a couple of days ago."
"Have you heard from them since?" asked Alex.
Taylor shook her head. "No. I've tried contacting Merrick, but he hasn't answered, but that's normal. And I've tried Eric's cell phone, but haven't been able to get through."
"Do you think they're still in Turtle Cove?" asked Katie.
Alex bit his lip, after hearing from Taylor how Eric had blown up at Jen there was only one place he could think of where Jen would have gone. "I think I may know."
"Where?" asked Taylor.
Alex eyed them all, and let out a sigh. He knew if that was where they all had gone to, they really needed to get moving. Silver Hills was no longer a safe place to be in, not even for a ranger. "Silver Hills."
"Why would she go there; that place is full of danger!" exclaimed Taylor. Not even she would set foot there, not after everything that had happened.
"Because it's home to her." Alex bowed his head down, sighing, knowing that coming here must have been difficult for Jen, knowing what she knew. "And where do you go when you feel it's the end of the world?"
"You go home," answered Trip. He couldn't begin to imagine how it must have been for Jen, for Eric to have put the blame for Wes's death onto her. How hard and painful it must have been for her to hear someone blame her for the death of a man she had fallen madly in love with. She probably just had kept on running and running, until she could run no more.
"Taylor, I need you to get in contact with the rest of your team, we're all going to Silver Hills," announced Alex.
"I'll contact them, but I can tell you right here and now that we will not abandon Turtle Cove." She knew if she and the others left their home, it would be defenseless from all sorts of attacks without anyone to protect it. "Silver Hills is gone; nothing you can do will bring it back."
"Perhaps, but if we don't all work together there may no longer be a Turtle Cove."
"Alex, what are you talking about?" asked Katie.
"The three orgs, they're working with Ransik now-"
Lucas cut him right off. "Wait, how do you know that?"
It was one of the main reasons why he didn't want Jen going after the three in the first place. "Because - it's all in their file, they have mutant DNA in them." He turned to his three teammates. "Ransik's DNA. And I would assume some of their DNA would be found in Ransik as well."
Now things were serious; no wonder Ransik was so powerful. Alex turned around to face Taylor, his eyes closing in on hers. He knew it was a lot to ask, to leave the city they had sworn to protect. He understood better than anyone, but this was too big of a threat for him and his team to handle on their own. "I know it's a lot to ask, and if there was any other way - but there isn't. We need another team of rangers, Taylor, and right now you're the only ones we've got."
"Please, we can't do this without you," said Lucas, knowing it was very rare for Alex, who had always worked alone, to ever ask for help.
"We need you," said Katie.
"The world needs you," added Trip.
As much as she hated it, she knew they were right. If Ransik and the three mutorgs succeeded in creating an army, Turtle Cove would be one of their destinations and by then, they might be too powerful for anyone to stop. "Alright, looks like you got yourself five more rangers."
"That's great. So with us, that makes nine rangers. Plus we have Jen, Eric and Merrick. Twelve rangers, that should be enough, right?" asked Lucas, staring right at Alex, needing that extra boost of confidence that this could work, that they could save the future.
"Try eleven rangers," exclaimed Taylor.
"Eleven?" said Trip, confused, he knew Lucas had counted right. He himself even counted, they had twelve rangers, or would have once they all joined up together.
"Eric no longer has the quantum morpher," announced Taylor.
Lucas, Katie and Trip all shared concerned and shocked looks with one another. This was why they had been trying to track down Eric, because they were going to need him as the quantum ranger to put an end to this threat.
"Are you sure?" asked Katie.
"Yes. He told me himself, he doesn't have it. It was lost months ago during the attacks in Silver Hills."
Alex looked closer, he didn't appear surprised by the news, but he didn't seem like he knew it either. "Did he say anything else?"
"Only that he deactivated his voice control and gave it to Wes, and that was the last anyone saw of the morpher."
"What if Ransik has it?" announced Katie, growing slightly fearful, if Ransik had the morpher and learned how to use it they all would be history, goners. There would be no point in even trying to save the future. They wouldn't stand a chance with that kind of power in Ransik's grasp.
"Ransik doesn't have it!" announced Alex, slightly angry. The last thing he needed was his team getting worked up. With a situation like this, he needed his team to stay focused and alert, ready for anything.
"How do you know that for sure? For all we know, one of the mutorgs could have it," exclaimed Lucas.
"Because I think I know who has it." Alex let out a sigh. He had known there was a slight chance. So much had gotten lost over the years. Numbers and dates had been changed, which would make the job all the harder in the long run. "I do know who has the morpher right now, even as we speak."
"Who?" Trip asked.
Jen opened her eyes slowly. It took her a few moments to realize where she was and how she had gotten there. She was back in the room where she had seen Nadira and a small child. And then everything came back to her. She had taken off after the quantum ranger and a group of Silver Guardians, but had gotten separated from them and found herself at the clock tower. She had stayed there for a while, until the mutorgs, the three she had been after for weeks, had shown up.
She probably wouldn't be here if the quantum ranger and later Nadira hadn't shown up. It all seemed so confusing and she had more questions than she had started with. Why had Nadira helped her? And who was the quantum ranger; if it wasn't Eric who else could it be?
A few seconds later Nadira walked into the room, carrying little James with her. She looked over at Jen and smiled. "Good, you're finally up."
Jen moved quickly out of the bed, and got into what appeared to be some defensive type of stance. She wasn't sure why Nadira had come to her aid, but she wasn't ready to trust Nadira. For all she knew this was some kind of trick and at any moment Nadira would turn on her, or Ransik would walk into the room. But then why did that young baby boy seemed so taken with her?
"Please don't run off again, it's not safe out there. I can explain everything." Nadira set James down in his crib and started to approach Jen.
"Yeah. I bet it's one hell of a story." Jen's eyes didn't dare move off of Nadira. "Give me one good reason why I should trust you, of all people."
"Because she saved my life," announced another voice.
A chill went down Jen's spine, as she turned around to face the owner of that voice. A look of shock, grief, and joy overcame her, it just didn't seem possible. How had this happened? This had to be some kind of dream, but at the same moment she wished it wasn't. Her heart skipped a beat, as tears ran down her cheeks. "Wes…."