a/n-so, forget what i said about a little more of eagle and dove left. u people know what happened at the end. and if u don't, then go re-read it! this chapters takes off right where a legacy continued leaves off with the real people and all them. u know, when the alternate twins disappeared. and just so you all know, that means that i'm not 're-using' any more stuff from my other stories. and zordon is still alive if anyone was wondering.

dicalimer-must you constantly rub it in that i don't own the power rangers? and that i can't spell?

Chapter Sixteen-Time Travel Is Too Confusing

"So then, " Kaylie said, "What do we do now?"

Alternate Ann was just starting to answer. "For now, we should just try to keep every-"

David blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, the alternate twins weren't there anymore.

"Where did you and David go?" Jason questioned Ann. She shrugged cluelessly.

"They're gone." Kimmie said softly.

"Yeah." Ted agreed. "But where to? And why?"

"I think I know." Kaylie said hesitantly. "The why part anyway."

Everyone looked at her expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

"Mom told me this story once." Kaylie continued. "It was about the time that Scarlette captured you guys." She indicated Ann and David. "She said that there were other people there besides the older twins, though. But who did she say they were? I remember!"

Kaylie turned to face Ann. "Your children helped to save you."

A strange look appeared on Ann's face. "I...see. So, what does this have to do with anything?"

"Stupid people." Zachary muttered. As one, everyone turned to look at him. "What? Don't you get it?"

"Well, obviously not." Ted said. "Care to enlighten us?"

Zachary rolled his eyes. "In the future, further in the future than the alternate twins were from, your children traveled to the past, because something obviously happened to change the course of history. It probably had something to do with mom going back. She probably tried to fix things quicker than they were meant to be fixed, and ended up changing everything. Anyway, these children of yours went back to fix things, and ended up replacing your older selves in whatever roll they played in saving you."

"So...where did they go then?" Kimmie questioned. "They can't have just disappeared, could they?"

"Since we're all still here," Zachary said thoughtfully, "They obviously couldn't have gone back to their own reality. So, they somehow ended up back in the past, like they were supposed to, to begin with. The twins were somehow sent back to keep the timestream moving."

"What do we do now, then?" Kaylie questioned again.

"We have to make sure Ann's kids go back in time as well." Jason said. "So the timestream keeps moving. In the meantime though, we should probably do something about Scarlette. She kinda still has our parents held prisoner."

"How do we fix that?" David asked.

"I need the staff." Crystal announced, speaking for the first time.

"You need the evil staff?" Kaylie questioned suspiciously, eyebrows raised. "Is that supposed to make sense?"

"Yes." Crystal answered. "The staff is only evil when the person controlling it is evil. Scarlette was never meant to possess it. It was always my birthright, not hers. She just got it because mom and dad disappeared, and she was the oldest. I was always supposed to be the empress."

"Why is life so confusing?" Kimmie asked exasperatedly.

"Time travel." Jason said knowingly. Kimmie rolled her eyes at him.

"It was a rhetorical question."

David shook his head slightly, trying to clear his vision. His blurry vision blurred even more, he closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, it was to see the face of someone he had somehow forgotten before now.

"Kyle?" David questioned.

"Ada, Uncle David woke up." Kyle announced. "Jeesh, he takes longer naps than I do."

"He's right you know." A very familiar voice said.

"Hello to you too, Ann." David said, sitting up and looking around slowly. "I see we're back on that time ship. So, how did we end up back here?"

"Time caught up with itself." Sam said. He indicated the front of the ship. "After we saved your mother, the three of us ended up backhere on the ship, but you two disappeared. We were on our way back to the future, when something got messed up with the controls and we landed here. And as soon as we got here, you two appeared."

"Yeah, and now everything works perfectly again." Jen said. "I guess we were meant to be here."

"Where exactly are we, though?" Ada questioned.

"The year 2020." Ann announced. She turned to her future children. "Wanna meet the parents you're gonna go back to?"

"So," Ann said casually, "How do you propose we get the evil staff away from the evil empress, who never should have been the empress in the first place, and give it to her 'good' younger sister, who plans to use the currently evil staff to perform good deeds, thus making the evil staff a good staff?"

The seven rangers, plus Zachary and Willie, were currently seated in a circle on the floor of a random empty room they had found in the aquabase. They were trying to brainstorm battle plans that would get the staff away from Scarlette. So far, no one had any ideas. Until just now, that is.

"Steal it." An unfamiliar voice said from the doorway.

As one, all nine of them turned on the spot to see who was there. It was a girl, about the same age as Ted and the twins, who bore a remarkable resemblance to those very same three people.

"Who are you?" Ted questioned suspiciously.

The girl blinked slowly, processing what she appeared to think was a stupid question. Then her eyes went wide with comprehension.

"I forgot!" She said suddenly.

"Forgot what?" Kaylie asked.

"I forgot that none of you know me yet." The girl finished. "How could I have forgotten that?"

Zachary opened his mouth to reply.

"Shut it, Zach." Ann snapped. "We are all very familiar with the processes of memory loss. Thanks to you, no doubt."

"I am not related to him." Jason said, slowly- no, quickly edging away from his identical triplet brother.

"But you are crazy." Kimmie reminded him.

"I prefer mentally unbalanced." Jason said loftily, while still moving further away from Zachary.

Ann rolled her eyes. "Back to the point. Who are you?"

Ada gave her teenage mother a smile.

"The name's Ada. Ada Park, actually."

This announcement was met with...well, a shocked silence. And as one, everyone turned away from the new arrival, to stare at Ted now. Who, was continuing to stare at the girl in front of him.

"Oh, don't worry," Ada continued, "He doesn't know me...yet. None of you do."

"Why not?" Ann asked. "The two of you look enough alike to be twins."

"So do you and I." Ada pointed out. "Personally, I think it's really boring to look like your parents. I mean, come on, the world already has the two of them, so why does it need almost exact replicas of them as well?"

"Because people think it's cute when you look like your parents." Another new voice said from behind Ada. "So, did you find them? Or are you just talking to yourself, as usual?"

"I protest that statement." Ada said. "I do not talk to myself."

"Sure you don't." The other voice, it was a boy's voice, said. "That's what all the crazy people say."

"Hey!" Jason protested suddenly. "I'm the crazy person here!"

"What happened to mentally unbalanced?" Kimmie asked, with a grin on her face.

"I decided to tone my word choice down a bit for all of you people." Jason said.

"You do realize that you're saying that to the person who has Billy Cranston for a father, right?" Ada said.

Kimmie looked at her in amazement.

"How did you know that?"

Ada gave her a knowing grin, then pulled a teenaged boy into the room as well.

"This, is Sam Stewart." She told the nine people in front of the two of them. "Sam, entertain these lovely people while I find Kyle and the twins."

"No need for that." Another new- but at the same time, old- voice said. "We're all here now...again...for the first time...oh, you know what I mean!"

"Ann? David?" Ann questioned. "We thought you guys went back to the past."

"Nope." Alternate David announced, stepping into the room. "Time just caught up with itself."

"Huh?"

"Don't ask." Alternate Ann warned, coming into the room carrying Kyle. "You'll get a headache." She then turned to Ada. "You're crazy to think Kyle's a pain. I love this kid."

"That's because you're his mother. You have to love him." Ada said sarcastically.

"What?!" Ann exclaimed. Ada turned back to her.

"Meet my little brother, Kyle Park."

"What?!" Now Ted joined in with Ann's confusion.

"We," Ada said, indicating herself and her brother. "Are your children. From the future. And this is Sam. He's from the future as well."

"You guys know my dad." Sam said cheerfully to all of the confused faces. "Justin Stewart."

"Time travel is so confusing." Kimmie said, rubbing her temples.

"You got that right." Jason said.

"Of course she's right." Kaylie told him. "She's Kimmie."

Ann held up a hand. "So, let me get this straight." She pointed to her alternate self. "You, are me?"

Alternate Ann nodded.

"He," She pointed at Kyle. "Is your son?"

Ann nodded again.

She pointed at Ada now. "That, is your daughter."

Another nod.

"We are the same person. Time travel could never change that?"

"Yep." Alternate Ann said.

"Their last name is Park."

"Yeah." Ada said. Ann turned to her daugher now.

"You two look a lot like Ted."

"And you, too." Ada added.

Before Ann could say anything else, however, Jason started literally howling, with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Kaylie asked, looking confused.

"They get married." Jason said, pointing at his sister and Ted. "In the future. And have kids."

"My life is ruined." Ann said, while Ted blushed crimson.

"Not really." Ada said cheerfully. "You love us."

"You're also birds." Kyle put in.

As one, Ada and Sam groaned.

"Not again!" Sam said.

"Enough with people being birds already!" Ada exclaimed. "Why are you so obssessed with birds, anyway?"

"But birds are truly amazing!" Zachary said in awe. "How could you not be obssessed with birds?"

"I get it now." Ada said suddenly. "My little brother gets his obssession with birds from the uncle who never existed in our time. Time travel is certainly enlightening."

"Is not." Kimmie retorted. "It's confusing."

"Not important right now." Ann interrupted. "What do you mean Zachary never existed?"

"It's like this." Ada said. "In our time, things happened differently. When you were two, Grandma Kim came back from the future and tried to fix everything that happened with Scarlette on her own. Unfortunately for her, and everyone else as well, it didn't work. All of the Ninjetti rangers, excluding Billy and Conner, were captured by Scarlette. She held them as prisoners in her dark dimension, trapped in a sort of time loop. Somehow though, Crystal managed to free only our grandparents. When we were reunited, so to say, the only plan we could come up with to fix things, was time travel. So, we went back in time to the day Scarlette captured our grandparents, mom, and uncle, and we saved them all. With, a little help from mom and Uncle David's future selves. After that, we ended up back on the time ship, which crash-landed here, in 2020. And here we are, ready with a plan to defeat Scarlette, once and for all."

"Suddenly," Ann said, "My life doesn't seem so ruined after all."