"….Kat, alert the Rangers," exclaimed Cruger, knowing that he needed to inform them of the situation. It wouldn't be long before someone would notice both Sky and Chase were missing, literally. Not to mention the fact that it would be a little easier informing them than getting in contact with Eric and letting him know what was going on, a call he was not going to be looking forward to, especially in the light of the situation with Chase being Eric's wife's son.
Kat nodded her head and spoke into the intercom. "Rangers, report to the command base…"
Not even a minute later, Z and Syd followed by Bridge, who was moving steadily on his crutches, entered into the Command Center, all looking alert and ready ….or for the most part. Sydney appeared upset, but did her best to keep her emotions under control knowing that the Command Center was no place for her to break down crying over Sky.
Z stepped forward, not seeing either of the squad leaders present. "You wanted to see us, Commander Cruger…."
"Yes…" He clasped his hands behind his back and glanced at Kat briefly before turning back to his Rangers. "I am afraid I must inform you that both Sky and Chase have gone missing…."
A trace of concern crossed Syd's face, but she remained quiet, not saying a word, just staring blankly like she wasn't sure how to react to this information. She had just seen Sky a short time ago when he had been an ass to her.
"When you say missing, you mean that we just have to go out and find them, right?" asked Bridge. "Like we just have to use their morphers to track them…"
"…It's a little more complicated than that Bridge," Kat announced, stepping in, knowing that situations like these involving the lives of his Rangers were not easy for Cruger to explain.
"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Z, looking to both Kat and Cruger. "You said that you were sending Chase on a mission. How do you not know where he is?" She watched as the two shared another glance with each other, which was something that was starting to get on their nerves. They were not children, if something was wrong they needed to know and they needed to know now. "…Sorry if I'm out of line here, but I don't really care. Something is going on here; Bridge and I saw the news report, we know about Mirloc…"
"…Doggie," started Kat.
"Yes, Z, Mirloc does have something to do with it…." He knew she had every right to say what she did, he couldn't protect them, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't. They were all adults, they were fellow officers who had a right to be informed on what's going on. "Mirloc traveled somewhere in time… I was sending Chase to go get him, but Sky showed up and complicated things before Kat could put the last finishing touches to the tracker of the time device…."
"Are you trying to tell us they're…." Bridge eyes widened, wanting to make sure he was understanding this perfectly clearly. "…lost somewhere in time?"
"Yes…" Cruger answered, knowing there was no easier or lighter way he could have said it.
"….But we can get them back, right? You know where to find them, right?" asked Z.
"...It's not that easy…" Kat started, but only to be interrupted by Z, very close to losing it.
"Can't we just go after them…" replied Z.
"Time travel is very complicated and none of you were ever really trained for it. You were the first to ever use our time travel technology, but I don't even know where or when they are…." Kat took a deep breath. "…For all I know they could have landed on another planet in another time."
"So what are we going to do then?" asked Bridge. "…You're not just going to leave them there….are you?"
"I will be contacting Eric Myers who is more familiar with time travel than I am. Once I know more, you will be the first to know," announced Cruger.
"What are we supposed to do in the meantime?" asked Z.
"We wait…." Kat answered, knowing very well that wasn't the answer Z was looking for, but it was the only one she could provide at the moment. There was little the Rangers could do.
Somewhere in the past….
A bright light flashed in the darkened sky, as Chase and Sky dropped to the ground hard. Both of them were dazed and confused at their surroundings, not to mention the fact they each had a splitting headache from their little trip.
"Where are we?" Sky looked around, trying to get a sense of his surroundings, but all he saw was destructions, darkness and off in the distance he could hear the faint sound of blaster fire and explosions. There was not one standing building as far as he could see, the sky was dark, lightning flashed brightly as thunder rolled on. It was a horrifying sight indeed. "What happened here…."
Chase pushed himself up and dusted his uniform pants off and glared at Sky angrily. "Well, if you weren't being such a stubborn ass about Cruger's orders, we wouldn't be here."
"Excuse me?" Sky glared at his teammate angrily. "You're saying this is my fault?" he snapped, getting into Chase's face, getting ready to beat the snot out of him.
"Nothing gets by you, does it?' remarked Chase, as he looked at the time wrist watch Kat had given him. "Yes, this is your fault! Thanks to you the calibration of the time device is off, so I don't have a damn idea where we are or how we're going to get home."
"Don't be putting the blame on me." Sky gave him a hard stern look. "….If Cruger had just assigned me to the mission I would already be back now, with Mirloc."
Chase just shook his head, not believing how Sky was trying to pin all of this on him while totally oblivious to the fact of his own part into this whole predicament. "You're so full of yourself, Tate…"
"You better watch what you say, I'm your superior officer." Sky crossed his arms against his chest.
"You're really going to use that shit on me? When you basically hijacked your way onto this mission." He wasn't about to take any of Sky's crap, not when he knew for a fact that Sky was the one who had messed up here, not him.
"That does it! I've had it up to here with you," exclaimed Sky, raising his hand. He was about to strike Chase when two figures came running towards them through the dark smoke.
"Get down!" shouted a voice, as he tackled both of them to the ground. The moment they all dropped to the ground a loud explosion blew over their heads. Slowly he lifted his head up and looked over his shoulder, seeing a dust of dark black smoke. "Are you two okay?" And that's when he got a better look at them, he was more than a little surprised, as if he hadn't expected to run into them, of all people. He was about to say something when…
"…Carlos, we have to hurry, they're right behind me!" exclaimed Cassie, the pink Ranger, who came running towards them and then noticed the two young men who were lying near her teammate, the black Ranger.
Carlos pushed himself up from the ground, both Sky and Chase would soon follow, both of them shocked as well. They each shared a concerned glance with each other, not because of what time they were in, but just where they were. "…Ah shit!" muttered Chase, knowing that this was not a good thing. This was the last place they wanted to be. "…We're on Sirius."
"And not at the best time to be on it," added Sky, knowing very well how this day would end. It would end with the defeat of Sirius, along with the deaths of the very two Rangers who were now before them.
"Who are you two?" asked Carlos, staring at both of them. "…My teammates and I are the only humans on this planet." And as far as he knew, no one had sent for any reinforcements. He needed to be sure that the two were on their side; they were in the middle of a war right now and now was not the time to have new guys showing up out of nowhere.
"Carlos…" Cassie's voice was full of shock as she stared the two young men down, seeing that Chase was wearing an SPD uniform, far different than the uniform she had seen, and Sky was wearing a red SPD t-shirt and a pair of dark grey pants. "…Look, they're SPD," she pointed out, only being able to assume that they were on their side and were here to help them.
"But that's impossible, no one else came with us." He glanced at her and then looked back at them. "I don't even recognize them." He quickly drew his blaster and pointed it at the two. "So again, who the hell are you two?" Both Sky and Chase glanced at each other, knowing that anything they said about themselves could do more harm than good, especially if it was the truth. While neither of the two had ever really met them, they did know people who had worked closely with them, Sky's father being one of them. Sky knew that both Carlos and Cassie knew just who Sky Tate was, but they wouldn't be expecting to see a grown man, but a young boy. "I'm waiting…" ordered Carlos.
"We are with SPD," exclaimed Sky. "….You can trust us."
"What branch are you part of?" asked Cassie. As far as she could tell they were indeed human and there were only about four or so other planets besides earth that she knew of that humans inhabited, each with its own SPD base. "….Are you part of the KO-35 Delta Base?"
"Do you want to know what branch of SPD we belong to or do you want to get our asses kicked by those krybots that are heading our way?" announced Chase, knowing that at any moment Gruumm's army would attack them. Now was not the time to be asking twenty-questions, especially when they were questions he did not want to be answering.
"We'll settle this later," exclaimed Carlos as he turned to meet the oncoming army, knowing that the newcomer was right; they needed to deal with the krybots first. He and Cassie stood side by side, getting into their fighting positions, preparing for yet another battle since the attacks had first began. There was no denying they were tired, they were hurting and they knew they wouldn't be able to last for much longer, but they couldn't let their aches and pains stop them, not when the enemy was on the attack.
Chase and Sky stood next to each other, glancing briefly at each other, knowing they were in a bad situation. "…We can't morph," whispered Sky, keeping his voice down, knowing that if they morphed that would raise too many questions. "That would more than definitely blow our cover."
"We shouldn't even be here," answered Chase. "You do know what's supposed to happen here." He kept his eyes locked on the pink and black Rangers in front of them who stood ready and willing for the threat heading their way. "…To them."
"Of course I know, everyone does," answered Sky harshly. "….But what the hell are we supposed to do, just leave them?"
"Anything we do here could have a huge impact on the future." Which was something that Cruger had very well warned him about, though he didn't like the idea of just leaving the two just to fend for themselves. He knew that something even worse could happen if they joined this fight, but as the army of Krybots jumped over the pink and black Rangers to face both him and Sky, they would have no choice but to join in on the fight; keeping history in order would have to come later.
"Let's do this." Sky tightened his fists together as he threw a punch right at one of the Krybots.
Z entered into the bathroom, where she heard the soft sound of whimpering and muffling cries. "Hello?" She tried to pinpoint which stall the sounds were coming from. "….Is everything okay?"
"…I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
"Sydney?" Z had found the stall and pushed open the door, to find Syd huddled in a corner, her eyes red from crying, her face a mess because all the crying she had done messed up her makeup. "Sydney, what's wrong?" asked Z as she knelt down in front of her friend, who was a really pitiful sight, far worse then she had been last night.
"Nothing…." She turned her head away shamefully. "…Just please go…"
"I'm not leaving you." Z pulled off a piece of toilet paper and used to clean Syd's face the best she could. "Not until you tell me what's wrong." Several minutes passed with no answer, but Z had a pretty good idea what the problem was. "…Does it have to do with Sky?"
Syd turned to face her friend, her face sad and brokenhearted just at the mention of his name. "I tried talking to him, to tell him that…." She turned away, ashamed. "…but he blew me off." Heartbreak was in her voice and she was on the verge of crying all over again. "…He's never been so cold like that ….not to me." Sure he's overreacted and yelled at her before, but this time was different from all the other times. This time the sound of Sky's voice, the look on his face, made her feel like she didn't matter to him at all. And though she figured Sky's attitude had a lot to do with Mirloc, that still didn't take away the pain and heartache she was feeling now.
Z wrapped her arm around Syd, pulling her into a hug, knowing that right now the best thing she could do is be there for her. Beating up Sky for being an foolish idiot would come later. "I'm here, Sydney; I won't blow you off or get mad. You can tell me what's wrong."
Syd took a deep breath and bit her lip, before she uttered these two words: "…I'm late." She bowed her head down, not being able to look Z in the face. Afraid of what she might see.
"Do you know for sure?" asked Z, knowing there was always the possibility that she wasn't pregnant. Sydney shook her head, never in her whole life had she ever been so afraid and the one person she wanted the most to help her through it wouldn't even give her the time of day. "Come on." Z stood up, taking Syd's hand. "….We'll go see Kat." She gave a reassuring smile. "It'll be okay Syd, no matter what…"
The two slowly walked into Kat's lab. She was working, trying to see if she could get a lock on Sky and Chase's whereabouts, but was getting nowhere fast. She sighed heavily and looked up to see both Z and Syd standing not far from the door. Z was holding onto Syd's hand as she urged her friend over to Kat. Syd was more than just terrified, she looked petrified. She didn't know what was worse, the not knowing or the knowing.
"Is there something wrong, girls?" asked Kat, though now wasn't the best time for more problems to be on the rise. She could clearly see that something was bothering Sydney, even when she had seen her in the Command Center. She could tell that something was bothering the young pink Ranger, at first she thought it had to do with Sky's disappearance, but now she was sure it had to do with a lot more than just that.
Syd made no attempt to even say it. She turned her head away, as if she were ashamed of what Kat would think of her. Z smiled faintly back at Kat, knowing she didn't need to say anything; Kat would understand and know what was going on. She was just here as a friendly hand and moral support for Sydney. "…It'll be okay, Syd. You'll see…."
Kat sighed heavily, knowing very well what was going on here. This had been the one thing that had concerned her since Sky and Sydney had gotten together, but now wasn't the time for lecturing. What Sydney needed now was answers and to know that no matter what, everything was going to be okay. "…Come on, we can do the test here."
"They're where?!" Eric raised his voice, which drew several glances from his family and two friends who were sitting in the living room with them, while they all watched a movie.
It had been a good few hours since Chase had left after getting a call from Cruger to return to the academy, after which Eric, Tommy and Drake had gone out in search of Sky, but came back empty handed. "….What do you mean you don't know?" He ran his hand over his face, feeling an enormous amount of frustration come over him. "….Yeah, I did." He got up from the couch and started to walk restlessly throughout the living room, which only caused concern to grow from the occupants. "But that was a long time ago. ….Look what I went through was an open portal and that's how I got back home." He ran his hand over the back of his neck. "I don't have the knowledge to deal with this problem, but…" He licked his lips as he turned back to face everyone who was now staring at him questioningly, all wondering what the commotion was all about. He locked his eyes right onto Drake. "I know someone who does… Yeah, we can be there right away."
"Eric, what's the problem?" asked Hayley, seeing the deep concern in his eyes. "….Is Chase okay?"
"Something happened to Chase?" asked Wesley as he jumped to his feet, his voice full of worry for his new found big brother.
"I'm sure everything's fine, buddy," coaxed Megan to her brother and then eyed Erin and Jenny. "Girls, why don't you take the squirt out back to play on the swing?" She could tell just by the sound of her father's voice when he was on the phone that something was very wrong, and it would probably be easier dealt with if her little brother wasn't in the room.
"….Okay." Though Erin didn't want to, she knew that it probably would be best to keep her kid brother out of the so called adult business that needed to be taken care of. Both she and Jenny took Wesley by a hand and took him out back to play.
With the kids gone, Tommy stepped forward, recognizing the serious and troubled look in Eric's eyes. "What's the verdict, Eric?"
There would be no easy way of saying it; he couldn't downplay it even if he wanted to. "….Chase's mission was to go back in time to catch Mirloc, but before he left Sky showed up; there was a struggle and before Kat could set the correct alignments, they traveled through time."
Hayley felt like her heart had stopped dead right where she stood; she didn't know a lot about time travel, but she knew enough to guess where Eric was going with this. "They don't know where they went, do they?"
"No." Eric shook his head. "….And they don't have the technology or the knowledge to find them."
"I thought there wasn't supposed to be any type of experiments or even the technology to do it for hundreds of years…" announced Tommy, recalling both Jen and Drake talking about it years earlier.
"There isn't supposed to be." Drake finally spoke up, entering into the conversation and being the only person who had the most knowledge and training for time travel. "..But there was evidence that time travel had taken place even before Time Force started experimenting with it."
"…So will you be able to help them?" asked Eric.
Both Hayley and Tommy turned to Drake, knowing he might be their last hope of getting Chase and Sky back home in one piece. Drake sighed heavily, knowing they all were counting on him. This was what he knew best, this is what he had trained for all those years ago. But… "….It won't be that simple." He licked his lips. "I still have my time watch device, which is very much like the one that Chase is wearing, but I won't be able to use it to find them…"
"So what are you saying?" announced Megan, jumping in; she wanted to know what was the fate of the two young men she thought of as her older brothers. She wasn't about to lose either one of them.
"I need to go to the academy, talk with the Commander and his head scientist." Drake looked them all hard in the eyes, knowing the situation was very grave for more than one reason. For now he would have to keep that to himself, at least until he had a better handle on what was going on here. "…You all better keep your fingers crossed."
Sirius- mid 2007
Carlos, the black Ranger, wasn't sure how much time had gone by. A few minutes? A couple of hours? He couldn't tell by the blackened sky - due to the heavy, smoke filled surroundings which made it almost impossible to breathe. The once beautiful grass-filled meadow had been completely destroyed; most of the grass and flowers had been burnt to a crisp, covered now in blood and dead bodies. The trees that once stood tall were no longer standing. The few small buildings around them had broken-in walls and now were burning, filling the sky with smoke.
It didn't seem to matter how many they had taken down, it was relentless, more just kept on, coming in a killing spree, destroying everything in sight.
The last time he remembered they were under this kind of pressure was back when the command center had been destroyed, when he and his friends nearly lost their lives. For a moment Carlos thanked God that Justin wasn't with them this time, as he looked around the dead bodies that lay around him. All brave Sirius warriors who had fought bravely right to the very end. Carlos' only hope was that he could do the same. He made a promise to himself that he would fight to his very last breath, until the life was pulled right from him. He would not stop fighting.
"Carlos, I need your help!" cried out Cassie.
"Hang on, Cass, I'm coming!" Carlos used his blaster and blasted at the enemies around him, taking only a few down and slowing down the others. He moved faster than he ever had before and joined Cassie, side-kicking and punching the surrounding Bluehead Krybots away from her, but they weren't about to go down so easily.
"Thanks. I thought they almost had me."
"You okay?" His voice was full of concern, knowing they had been fighting for so long, nonstop, without even getting a chance to take a quick breather.
"Yeah." She took a moment to gather her breath.
"What about you two?" asked Carlos, taking a quick glance at Chase and Sky, who had stuck by them the whole time, even when the Sirius warriors that had joined up with them in the fight had all been struck down one after another.
"…I'm good," announced Chase, as he took a deep breath. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest; this battle reminded him all too much of a battle in which he had watched his whole team perish before his eyes.
Sky took a deep breath and wiped the blood off the side of his mouth where he had taken a hard punch. This had to be one of the toughest and most dangerous battles he had ever faced. And the more time that went by, the closer he knew it was coming. The final strike. "…You guys just worry about yourselves."
"Let's finish this once and for all!" announced Carlos, as he and Cassie geared up, but they were a second too late as an Orangehead Krybot joined the scene and blasted right at them before they could move to avoid the blast. Carlos and Cassie had heard their friends calling their names, Chase had managed to jump out of the way, taking Sky with him, but Carlos and Cassie weren't so lucky. They had taken the blast straight on.
Cassie and Carlos hit the ground hard, harder than they ever had before, both of them could hear their teammates crying out their names, trying to get to them, but couldn't. Both of their powers began to fade in and out. They could feel their hearts racing, knowing that if they stayed demorphed they wouldn't stand a chance. It would be the end of them, for both of them.
"No, not now! I'm not ready!" Carlos cried, trying to stay in control, but he was failing. The battle had worn him down. He was losing control and soon started to feel the painful effects of a forced demorph. A quick look towards Cassie showed she was in the same state. The blast had been too much for them to handle, and not a minute later the two were back in their SPD uniforms, now torn into pieces and bloody.
Both of them attempted to push themselves to their feet, but fell right back down. They couldn't move. They couldn't fight. It was over, it really was over. They would die in battle; die as heroes, as Power Rangers. It would be an honorable death, but that still didn't take away the pain and the fear they both felt, for those they would be leaving behind.
Chase and Sky both looked up and watched as the orange-head was getting ready to strike again, this time for the kill. This was it, the moment when both the pink and black Rangers would die, the first of the Rangers. Chase heard a noise from his wrist, he looked at his watch, a series of numbers were counting down, starting with 30. "…Oh no, the fall must have activated the time travel."
But Sky didn't even bother to listen, he locked his eyes on the orange-head and then to the fallen Rangers before him. Not even thinking, Sky jumped in front of Cassie and used his force shield to protect her from the blast. He had tried to spread it out to protect Carlos, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The young leader of the future of SPD struggled with all his might to keep the powerful blast at bay until it simmered away into nothing. …Sadly Carlos had taken the majority of the blast, killing him on impact.
"What? That's impossible!" The orange-head was more than just a little surprised; never had he seen anything like that before.
Chase jumped to his feet, blasting straight at the orange-head, taking the Krybot down while he was distracted. "What the hell did you just do…." He looked at his watch: 20 seconds remained.
Sky looked down at Cassie, who was in a critical state, blood was all over her body, a large cut on her head, and she was looking up at him as if she was seeing a ghost or something close. There was only one person in the whole universe who she knew could create such a powerful shield, but he was a little boy. "…Who are you?" Her eyes then closed, fading into darkness.
He knelt down, feeling for a pulse; his eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. His eyes met with Chase's. "..She's alive, just barely."
Chase could feel his heart racing; he looked at his watch as the time went down. "…We've got to go." There was nothing he could do now; they would just have to leave Cassie as is. Whatever would happen, would happen, and time would just have to deal with it, whether for better or worse. One thing was for sure, he had no idea whether this would insure the young pink Ranger's survival or only would delay what had already happened in history.
Sky nodded his head and never said a word, just ran towards Chase, grabbing a hold of his shoulder just in the nick of time, as the two disappeared in a bright light. Andros and the others were able to make it towards their teammates to see a horrifying sight, but not before seeing the unusual bright light.
Bridge was in the SPD Academy's Memorial Chamber, just taking in the greatness of the room, feeling surrounding by heroes of all kinds and one day hoping to be just as great. Though he was the green Ranger and might not be considered one of the top best, he did feel that he was just as important as any of the other members of the team. Though the color might represent a rank, it did not mean that any color was better than the others. Every one of them had something to offer to the team.
He was getting ready to leave when his eyes fell onto a very old photo of the first SPD Earth Rangers, led by Andros. Underneath the photo was an inscription that had been placed on a plaque. 'In honor for their bravery. You will never be forgotten, may your legacy never die.' It was then followed by a list of names: 'Andros and Ashley Hammond, Theodore J. Jarvis Johnson, Carlos Vallerte, Cassie Chan'
But the more he stared at the plague and inscription, the more he slowly saw one of those names disappear out of sight. Bridge blinked his eyes a few times, but sure enough the name was gone, and for the life of him he couldn't understand why. Was he just seeing thing or had indeed Cassie Chan's name been there one moment and gone the next? Even knowing his memory of what he had learned about that day seemed altered, he was sure something was different, but at the same time, was sure it wasn't.