Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers.
Chapter 38 – B-Squad
Trent and Ethan had been recalled from their job and schooling, Ethan having gotten his Masters and now working on his PhD, while Trent had been working at an animation studio since getting his undergrad, all in anticipation of Mesogog's return. They had expected this to happen and so had had their excuses prepared in advance and gotten off with relatively little questioning for an undetermined amount of time, for they had no idea how long Mesogog would stick around; they only hoped it wouldn't take them a year to defeat him like last time. However, their presence in Reefside could have been put off for maybe another week, as Mesogog wasn't the next villain to show up.
Kira was picking Eric up from school, one of the more enjoyable chores she'd been assigned since she'd moved back in with her parents for the time being, when it happened. 'It' referred to the explosion that forced Kira to swerve the car, and the subsequent foot soldiers that appeared out of the smoke.
"Krybots?!" Kira muttered, not having seen these particular robots for many years and wondering what the hell they were doing here now. "Stay here!" She told her brother before getting out of the car and taking the bots on. They were easier to handle this time around then when she was eleven, and Kira didn't know if it was because she'd been eleven and was much more well trained now, or if it was because she'd fought so many different foot soldiers these past few weeks that none of them posed a problem anymore. Either way, the problem wasn't the Krybots, but Gruumm himself who decided to make an appearance.
"Hello." The female minion, whom if Kira was remembering correctly was named Morgana said with a taunting sneer as she and her master appeared, calling on some more Krybots to keep Kira busy while they headed directly to the car, and Eric.
"No!" Kira cried trying to get through the Krybots to her brother. As she fought, Kira watched as Gruumm got closer and closer to the car, and her brother, and when he was within reaching distance of the car, his hand prying the door open, she allowed the Cheetah to well up inside her and for a small surge of energy, one that barely tapped into her power, if at all, at least that's what she'd tell her parents and Connor, to leave her and take down the Krybots in one fell swoop.
"Call to the beast inside! Bring out the Cheetah!" She then called, summoning her Animal Spirit in it's entirety and sending it at Gruumm and Morgana who were forced back by the sheer might of the prophesized Spirit. The Cheetah stood in front of them growling, blocking their way to Eric, and ready to pounce if they so much as took one step forwards. Kira took that time to launch herself in the air and over the car, landing behind her Spirit and recalling it as she stalked towards them, looking as fierce as her giant, glowing Spirit had.
"You stay the hell away from my brother." She growled falling into her fighting stance. They'd gotten far too close to him for her liking and she was on full on protective mode, ready to take them out if they made another attempt on her family, which, thankfully for Gruumm, he recognized.
"You cannot protect all those you love forever." The arch-villain snarled.
"Yeah? Just try me." Kira dared.
"Oh we shall." He assured her. "When you are alone and least suspecting."
"Good thing she won't be alone then, huh Gruumm?" A voice called and Kira turned to her left to see the S.P.D. Rangers emerge from the trees.
"S.P.D." Morgana muttered. "How did you get here?" She asked louder, obviously having thought they'd left S.P.D. behind in the future.
"You're not the only one with friends capable of time travel." Said Z. Morgana prepared to retort and jump into another battle but Gruumm stopped her.
"No. We'll get them later." He told his minion, wanting to re-group and plan a new strategy with S.P.D. now back in the picture. Morgana growled but followed her master into the portal he conjured that took them back to wherever their ship was. With the threat gone, Kira turned to her brother in time to catch him as he rushed into his big sister's arms.
"He was so close." He said, tears evident in his voice. "He almost grabbed my arm. He would have captured me." Although Eric had grown up knowing of the Ranger universe, and the numerous villains they fought, this was the closest he had ever come to one, at least that he could remember. He had been a tiny baby when Mesogog had been destroyed, and when Gruumm had come to the past for the first time, and so didn't remember those encounters, and with Mesogog gone, his family weren't active Rangers anymore, so there were no villains for him to come in contact with unless he went to another city. This was also true when Kira became a Jungle Fury Ranger, the villain wasn't attacking his home, and so the chances of running into one of them was slim. Tommy, Kim, Kira and Connor had all also kept him far away from any villains on those rare times that they did get close to him, with the result that until today Eric had never come face to face with one of the monsters his family fought, nor had the truth of the danger he was in as the son and brother of Power Rangers truly sunk in. Both he and Kira had grown up with this knowledge, but unlike her brother, Kira had been front and centre, her parents unable to keep her away from it no matter how hard they tried, so by the time she was Eric's age, she was used to the monsters and ready to fight them. Eric thought that he too was ready, and theoretically perhaps he was, but actually being faced with those villains is a lot different then talking about them.
"I know. It's ok, I'll never let them hurt you." Kira promised her brother. She was as scared as he had been with Gruumm getting that close to him and was not afraid to admit it, though she knew Eric was, and he must have been truly terrified to let her see him cry. Kira knew a long talk with their parents would be forthcoming, as Eric fought with himself over his beliefs that as the son, brother, and nephew of Power Rangers he shouldn't be afraid of these guys and should fight them like his family, over the reality he'd just been forced to acknowledge.
"Thanks Bridge." Kira mumbled, looking up to the Red S.P.D. Ranger who, along with the others, had crowded around them.
"Bridge?" The Red Ranger asked, powering down to reveal Jack. "Why would you think I'm Bridge?"
"But-" Kira looked around to the others, seeing the group she'd fought with nine years ago, all wearing the same colours they had been back then, the only difference being a few signs of age, some time obviously having passed for them as well. "Last I knew, you were the Red Ranger." She directed to the man in question.
"I was, and am, technically." He amended. "But with Gruumm coming back to life we thought it best to get the gang back together, so we all went back to our original colours."
"Ok, you all have to stop changing colours on me, it's confusing." She muttered, as she led Eric back to the car. "If you can squeeze into the back seat I'll give you a ride to my parents' place. Unless you've got a ship or something."
"We do but we already set up the cloaking device and protective field." Said Jack. "I'm sure we can squeeze." It proved not to be as easy as Jack made it out to be but they made it happen and got back to the Oliver house in one piece. Kim and Tommy came out to greet their kids, having known about the surge of evil energy in the area but not knowing what it was, and were surprised that their kids weren't alone.
"Do we own a clown car now?" Tommy asked Kira as he watched the five S.P.D. Rangers all climb out of the back seat.
"Haha very funny." Kira deadpanned. "Gruumm's back."
"Gruumm?" Kim asked. "Isn't he-hey!" Kim had reached for her son to give him a hug as he passed her, but he merely brushed her off and headed into the house. "Eric!" She called after him but he didn't turn back and it was left to Kira to explain.
"Gruumm almost got him." She admitted.
"What?!" Kim and Tommy both gasped.
"I know. I nearly snapped, he got so close." Kira muttered. "Eric's in shock a bit, and angry with himself for being as scared as he was, he doesn't think he should be, being your son and my brother."
"That's crazy." Kim said before rushing off after her son.
"Go." Kira told her dad. "I'll get S.P.D. settled and get the story from them."
"Shorten it for us when we get back." Tommy said, giving his daughter a quick kiss on the cheek before running off after Kim.
"Shall we head inside?" Kira then directed to the S.P.D. Rangers who nodded. Connor had apparently teleported in sometime after Kira had told him through their bond that S.P.D. was here for not only was he waiting for them in the living room but also had drinks and snacks ready.
"Alright, so what's going on?" Kira asked once they were all seated. "Why is Gruumm back? Why's he here in this time?"
"Thrax brought him back." Jack said plainly, much to Kira and Connor's shock.
"How the hell did Thrax bring a futuristic villain back to life, when in our time Gruumm is actually alive, but just millions of light years away?" Connor asked. "Actually, that really doesn't even make any sense to me."
"I think what Connor's trying to say is how, and why, did Thrax get to the future to bring future Gruumm back to life?" Kira clarified, only to realize that didn't really clarify much.
"He came to the future with Ransik's help." Sky said.
"Yeah we heard Ransik was one of the ones who'd been captured and turned evil again."
"He's got his mutant DNA back. He helped Thrax get to the future and brought Gruumm back the same way he brought all the others back. Then they brought Gruumm back to the past to help with the war he's waging against you guys." Z explained.
"But why?" Kira asked. "Why would Thrax go to all that trouble? If he wanted Gruumm he could have just summoned him from whatever galaxy he's trying to take over in this time. Why go through all the trouble for the future Gruumm?"
"Because future Gruumm has a grudge against you guys for helping us to defeat him twice." Said Jack. "He didn't think we'd come to the past so thought Gruumm would be a villain out for your blood that you didn't have a chance of defeating."
"We also think he's hoping it'll destroy us." Bridge added. "And subsequently our parents."
"How does he figure that?" Asked Connor.
"Because unless we want to thin out the Rangers, we're gonna have to stay in this time, which will slowly see us disappear as we can't exist in two places at once." Jack said, then continued. "You guys have your own battles, your own villains who are returning, you don't have time to deal with Gruumm too, but if we don't stay you'd be forced to, which would thin the Rangers enough so that one or more villains aren't being covered enough and they'll wreak havoc."
"And we don't want that so you have to stay." Finished Kira. "But you can't. You'll disappear, which is exactly what Thrax and Gruumm want. Either you leave him to run wild or you disappear, it's a win/win for Thrax and Gruumm." They got it now, Kira and Connor understood.
"Alright, well we'll work on that one when Tommy and Kimberly come back downstairs." Connor said. "We may have to contact your parents though. Especially Time Force."
"We figured as much." Syd muttered.
"So what's been going on with you guys?" Kira then asked, knowing they now just needed to kill time till her parents came back. "What year is it for you?"
"2033." Bridge answered.
"So eight years has passed for you guys too since we all fought together." Connor concluded, earning nods.
"That means everything Bridge told me when he came back to deal with Thrax the first time has come to pass." Kira said with a mischievous smile. "Last I heard you were pregnant, Syd, and Carter and Jen were about to kill Sky." The two in question groaned and hung their heads while their friends laughed at them.
"I remember those first few weeks after the two of them announced they were pregnant." Z said as if reminiscing fondly.
"Once you got over the fear of being anywhere near Uncle Carter and Aunt Jen at the time it was kinda funny." Bridge agreed.
"So what happened?" Connor asked.
"We had a little girl." Syd said, smiling brightly at the thought of her child. It was Sky though who reached for his Morpher/S.P.D. identification where a picture of a little blonde haired girl of around five or six had been taped inside.
"What?" Sky asked of Jack when his co-commander burst into laughter.
"You taped a picture of her to your Morpher?" He asked, finding this quite funny.
"Well it's not like we're back at Delta Command where I have a desk." He defended.
"So she's a daddy's girl?" Kira asked Syd who nodded.
"Big time. Her name's Marcella, or Macy, we call her."
"She's a tiny bundle of energy." Sky said with his own fond and proud smile. "Keeps us on our toes, that's for sure."
"You mean like you did every time I used to babysit you?" Kira asked.
"Yeah, don't remind me that you used to babysit me, it's weird." He groaned. "And before any of you say anything she used to babysit you too!" He added to the rest of his friends, Jack who then closed his mouth, deciding not to say whatever it was he was going to say.
"So are you two, like, a couple?" Kira then asked. Syd and Sky nodded.
"We got married just before Macy turned two." Syd answered.
"And the rest of you? Any children or significant others?"
"No children, and so far I'm the only other one with a significant other." Jack said. "I married a girl name Ally about a year ago."
"Well congratulations to you guys." Connor said.
"Thanks." Syd said, then Sky turned things around on Kira and Connor.
"And what about you?" He asked, having decided they'd embarrassed them, him, enough. "How old are you guys now? Any kids in the picture?"
"God no." Connor said, just a little too quickly, then amended his statement at Kira's questioning look. "Tommy and Kimberly would kill me. I mean, I've only just started calling them Tommy and Kimberly and not Dr. and Mrs. O."
"I'm nineteen, twenty next August." Kira said. "We live in L.A. together, I go to UCLA and Connor plays for the L.A. Galaxy."
"Cool." Z said, ending any further questioning, though she needn't have, for the alarms blaring from the Dino Lab, and through the S.P.D. Rangers' Morphers did it for her. Connor and Kira led the way down to the Dino Lab where they activated the computer and brought up the images of the attack on the screen. Unsurprisingly, it was Gruumm and his forces, also unsurprising, though luckily as well, they were waiting in a field outside the city, and not downtown.
"Shall we?" Jack asked.
"Hell yeah." Kira said, her features having gone stony upon seeing Gruumm. "He went after my brother. No way in hell I'm sitting this one out."
"Us neither." Kim's voice called from the stairwell where she and Tommy stood, their faces just as, if not more, stony then Kira's.
"He's really torn up about this." Tommy explained to Kira and Connor's questioning looks. "He thinks he should be like you." Kira growled and slammed her fist against the wall.
"Fucking Gruumm." She muttered, then changed her tune slightly, though her anger by no means abated. "It would have happened eventually anyways. What do we do?"
"We sent him to hang with Bridge, Sky and Spike." Tommy acknowledged to the S.P.D. Rangers in question, but it was obvious he referred to their past selves. The four boys, who were all within a year or two of each other in age, were really good friends. "I just wish there was some way to convince him that it's ok to be scared, that there are other Ranger children, other Rangers, who are afraid. But he couldn't believe that Rangers are scared and the other kids were younger when they first met a monster face to face."
"I wasn't." Jack spoke up. "I was about his age when I came face to face with my first monster, and it wasn't even really a monster. It was Zen-Aku who's like, Uncle Merrick's shadow. He's not evil, but he looks like he is. I totally freaked out."
"Would you talk to him?" Kim asked with the hopeful, pleading, look that only a mother could accomplish when it came to her child's wellbeing.
"Sure." Jack said. "When we get back."
"Right." Muttered Tommy, finally remembering that there was an arch-villain waiting for them. "It's time to kick some Troobian ass." He was pleased that he also remembered what Gruumm's empire was called. No one disagreed with Tommy, the S.P.D. Rangers too afraid to given the look on his face. Following behind Tommy and Kim, Kira and Connor and the S.P.D. Rangers all raced to the field outside of town, made easy by the fact that they teleported there.
"Gruumm!" Kimberly roared upon laying eyes on the arch-enemy. While they all acknowledged that Eric's fear would have come forward eventually, Gruumm had the misfortune to have been the one to bring it out, pissing Eric's family off to no end, but he'd also made the glaring mistake of having tried to capture him as well. The Olivers, and Connor, may not defeat the arch-villain today, partially because they were sure that Thrax would just bring him back to life again, making their expended energy a waste of time, but when this battle was over, he'd certainly be feeling their wrath and would think twice of ever going after their family.
"And who have you brought with you this time S.P.D.? Another little girl to fight your battles for you?" Given the distance from which they stood from Gruumm, and Kim's short height, none of them could fault his comment, at this distance it would be easy to mistake one so short for a child. All the same, everyone prepared for the wrath of Kim.
"More like a pissed off mother." Kim ground out, showing great restraint.
"Meet my mother, Gruumm." Kira called over to him. "The Original Pink Ranger. If you think I was bad when you went after my brother, you've seen nothing yet." Gruumm didn't care for Kira's thinly veiled threat and ordered his army to attack. The S.P.D. Rangers took on the Krybots, Morgana and the monster Gruumm had created, while the four others went for Gruumm himself, morphing on the go. With four near raging Rangers, let alone these particular four, Gruumm saw his defeat coming all to quickly and so retreated at the first opportunity, leaving Morgana to lead his forces.
"Ready to join the party?" Connor asked the still un-morphed Rangers as they all regrouped.
"Oh yeah." Jack said as he and the others all took out their Morphers. "Ready?"
"Ready!"
"S.P.D. Emergency!"
"One! S.P.D. Red!"
"Two! S.P.D. Blue!"
"Three! S.P.D. Green!"
"Four! S.P.D. Yellow!"
"Five! S.P.D. Pink!"
"Rangers ready! Space Patrol Delta!"
The Rangers paired off by colour as per usual. Jack and Connor fought together, though Jack remembered Connor's suit to be different, and for it to be a true red, not so much a crimson, for he'd yet to see Connor as the Lion Ranger. Z and Kira were naturally together, getting along quite well this time around, while Syd was thrilled to be fighting with the Original Pink Ranger. This left Sky and Bridge with Tommy, who had morphed into the Original White Ranger. The battle was neither long nor difficult, their enemy's forces already being somewhat depleted while Morgana's heart wasn't into it, having watched her master have his ass handed to him. As such, it wasn't long until they'd defeated the Krybots and monster and sent Morgana on the retreat. The monster didn't grow big either, apparently Gruumm was smarter then they thought and knew it would be nothing but a complete waste of time, and an embarrassment, to have his monster defeated easily twice in a row. With no giant monster, the Rangers returned to the Oliver house and it was a sign of how desperate Kim and Tommy were for their son to be ok that they brought Eric home immediately and practically shoved him and Jack outside to talk.
"Hello Eric, I'm Jack." He introduced, knowing that although they knew each other already, and would become good friends in the future, the very near future actually, that the last bit hadn't yet happened for the eight year old.
"Mom and dad asked you to talk to me didn't they?" It wasn't really a question, and Jack didn't try to hide it.
"They're worried about you."
"They're always worried about me. Kira and Connor too." He grumbled. "I'm just the worthless son and brother of four of the most powerful Rangers ever. And today I proved it."
"You're not worthless." Jack insisted, not going to let Eric think of himself that way. "And it's ok to be scared."
"Not in this family."
"Did they tell you that?" Jack asked with feigned shock. "Your parents and sister told you it wasn't ok for you to be scared?"
"Well…no…but look at who they are! What they've accomplished! Kira wasn't scared when she was my age."
"Kira grew up coming face to face with monsters almost daily since she was born."
"So? She still wasn't scared." Jack sighed and tried a different tactic.
"Look Eric, I could sit here all day trying to convince you that it's ok to be afraid. But I'm not gonna try to convince you. I'm gonna give you some facts and let you convince yourself." Eric looked sullenly at him, clearly not believing that he'd be convinced afterwards. "I was scared too you know. For a long time." Jack confessed. "I was around you age, eight or nine, when I came face to face with my first monster. I freaked out, ran away, wouldn't listen to anyone who tried to explain, so convinced was I that the monster was trying to kill me."
"He wasn't?" Eric asked, not having really heard of monsters who weren't trying to kill you.
"No. He wasn't even really a monster, just looked like one. He was a…friend, of my uncle's." Jack didn't want to reveal too much to Eric, not because he thought he couldn't handle it, but to preserve the timeline. As far as he was concerned, too much of the future had been revealed already. "I didn't get over my fear for a long time. I was a teenager before I realized that not all scary looking beings are monsters trying to kill me. And look at me now. Now I'm a Power Ranger, I fight those monsters I used to be afraid of."
"Yeah but did you have so much to live up to?"
"I didn't have a sister who was The Child of Power if that's what you mean." Jack said, knowing exactly what Eric was referring to. Due to the Dino Rangers trip to 2025 and his team's trip to the past, the future had altered, and their families had become much closer, bringing their children closer. The S.P.D. Rangers had known of the prophecy for awhile. "My dad was a Ranger though."
"He was?"
"Yeah. The Blue Wild Force Ranger."
"Wait… you're that Jack?!" Eric cried, having put two and two together. He knew that S.P.D. came from the future, and he knew they shared names with his friends, but it hadn't clicked that they were the same people until now. Jack sighed, realizing his mistake, but nodded nonetheless.
"Yeah I'm that Jack."
"So then the Sky and Bridge inside are the future selves of my friends."
"Yep. And they're still your friends in the future. I will be too. I know you know my past self already, but we'll be getting closer real soon." Jack was now throwing all caution to the wind. He'd tentatively learned that when it came to this family, things were completely out of whack and the usual rules often didn't apply; he figured now would be the best time to truly learn that lesson. "You, me, Sky, Bridge and Spike are all really good friends in the future. Us along with Z and Syd, and Jane and Annabelle, that's Eric and Taylor Meyers' daughter and Merrick and Princess Shayla's daughter, are all a really tight knit group, kind of like your parents and the other Originals. You and Z were even named godparents to Sky and Syd's daughter."
"Really?"
"Yep. And we've even got our own more extended family, like your parents and mine. That consists of the other Wild Force and Time Force, and Lightspeed Rangers' kids. There's just a big enough age gap between us and them that we were always at different stages of life growing up so we aren't quite as close as to the others, but they're definitely still family. I know you consider basically every Ranger through to Wild Force family. Well except most of Lost Galaxy cause they live on Mirinoi." Eric nodded and they lapsed into silence for a moment, until Eric asked the question Jack knew he would.
"Do I become a Ranger in the future?"
"No." Jack answered after a moment's hesitation. "I know that right now you want more then anything for me to say yes, but I'm not gonna lie to you. I know you feel like you have a ton to live up to, and although in reality you have nothing to live up to, let me just say that there are more ways to live up to what you think you have to live up to, then by becoming a Ranger."
"How?" Here Jack sighed again.
"Listen, I can't tell you too much of your future, I have to protect the timeline, and while things like us still being friends is pretty harmless information, details about your future are not. Where your mind is right now, you may try to stop the future from coming true in hopes that you become a Ranger instead and I can't let that happen."
"Why?"
"Because you're too important. And not just to me personally. Suffice it to say, Eric, that even though you never wear the spandex, you're integral to the future of the Power Rangers." Jack then stood and began to lead the way back inside, knowing he could say no more either about the future, or to help Eric. It was up to him now to realize that what Jack said was true.
"What's integral mean?" Eric asked as he caught up with Jack. The Red Ranger laughed, but answered the question.
"It means you're very important and essential. The Power Ranges as we know them in 2033 would not exist with you." It was a slightly happier Eric that entered the house, much to his family's utter joy. But while one problem seemed to have solved, or rather one crisis averted, if not exactly solved, there was another glaringly obvious one.
"Gruumm's here to stay." Sky said. "Here in 2014."
"But we can't stay in the same time as our past selves." Syd added.
"So what do we do?" Jack asked. "We can't just leave them to face Gruumm alone."
"We might have a solution." Tommy said. "While you guys were talking Kim and I went and contacted Time Force."
"Not my parents again, please!" Sky muttered.
"No, not your parents, but your aunt and uncle." Tommy pointed back towards the staircase that led to the Dino Lab, which Katie and Trip were coming up, Alpha having teleported them in.
"Man Tommy, I know you said they were grown up, but this is closer to our age!" Katie said as she and Trip took in their nieces and nephews.
"Uh huh." Was all Trip was capable of saying.
"They definitely look like their parents." Circuit spoke up from his place in Trip's ever-present backpack. "Well, at least the three the me of this time knows well, I'm not so sure about the other two."
"Right…" Syd trailed off a little awkwardly. "So how can you help us? I mean, your future selves have never said anything about ever being able to get around this particular problem."
"Not us I'm afraid." Katie said, motioning for Trip and Circuit. The owl robot flew out of the Green Ranger's backpack and landed on the kitchen table, where Trip immediately began setting up the holo-computer that belonged to the 31st century.
"About a half hour ago we received a call from Alex." Circuit said. "He knew you would need help and told us to come here and let him talk to you."
"We were just about to contact Kim and Tommy when they contacted us." Trip added, and having set up the computer he pressed the button on the remote that brought up the connection with the year 3013.
"Trip, Katie. Circuit." Alex greeted, earning smiles and little waves from the two humans. The head of Time Force then turned his attention towards the S.P.D. Rangers. "The future's changed once again." He said, getting right into it. "Of course, the future is always changing, but rarely is there a change that The Power deems necessary for me to keep my memories of what would have been before the future shifted, so that I may intervene when that change comes."
"What change was it this time?" Z asked.
"Gruumm escaping to the past. In the world that would have been, Gruumm was not a part of this battle. Thrax knew of Gruumm's existence, of course, for in 2014 he was already causing trouble a few galaxies away, but he saw no need to involve him. But something happened to alter Thrax's course. He somehow learned of S.P.D., even though it's creation in a few years is far from public knowledge, and decided to bring an enemy into this battle that he thought no one would be able to defeat, for S.P.D. could not come to help you without risking their lives, and the lives of their family."
"So how do we get around this?" Kira asked.
"With these." Alex opened up a case that was on his desk and turned it to they could see what was inside. The case held five bracelets, each Ranger colour coded, that were practically glowing with energy, though the brightness of the bracelets may have something to do with the darkness of the case they were in, and the room Alex was in. "Time Force has invented what we call a Time Stop. Inside these bracelets is energy that will literally stop time for the one wearing it."
"And that means what exactly?" Sky asked, always feeling slightly creeped out by the guy who looked so much like his father.
"It means, that so long as you wear these bracelets, time will not matter for you. The power that makes it so you cannot be in the same time as your past selves will think you don't exist. As to your daily lives, little will change, save for the fact that while wearing these, you will not age. You won't grow older. You will be frozen in time, never changing until you take the bracelets off."
"So if we wear these, we can stay in this time with no problems?"
"Yes." Alex said.
"And you can get them to us from the 31st century?" Bridge asked, basically saying yes, they'd do it, for all of them.
"Of course."
"Then let's do it." Said Jack.
"Wait, hold on a moment." Said Syd. "We have a daughter to think of." She motioned to her and Sky. "We can't just stay."
"Syd," Z came up to her best friend and wrapped an arm around her. "I know you don't want to leave Macy alone, but she'll have all her aunts and uncles to take care of her. And we're fighting for her future. If Earth falls in 2014, there won't be a 2033." Syd groaned at that thought, not liking it at all, but conceded Z had a point.
"Ok fine." She muttered. "But I want to see her! We can call her right? Talk to her over the holo-comm?"
"Can this one contact the one in 2033." Sky asked Alex.
"Of course."
"Even though they're technically the same one?"
"We're Time Force, time travel, and all that comes with it, is kind of what we do."
"Point taken." Sky said. Alex gave a small smile and leaned forward to punch a few buttons. Next thing any of them knew, the case disappeared from Alex's office and reappeared in the Dino Lab.
"I'll contact you again if things change." He said. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do."
"Thank you Alex." Katie said, not sounding surprised at his generosity, per se, more that he'd offered open ended services with the resources of 3013 behind him, instead of knowing ahead of time what they needed, giving it to them, and then not allowing the future to interfere more then absolutely necessary.
"Earth's survival in 2014 doesn't just impact 2033, but 3013 as well. But you're welcome." Alex explained before closing the connection. With a look to the rest of their teammates, the S.P.D. Rangers took their bracelet and put it on, feeling absolutely nothing as they did so, though the bracelets glowed brightly for a moment before settling down, the energy no longer visible.
"Well," Kira said, an indiscernible look on her face; Connor doubted even she knew what she was feeling, for he certainly didn't. "Welcome to 2014."
A/N - Did anyone really think I was going to leave S.P.D. out?
I liked the bit with Eric, I didn't want him to be all fearless and gung ho like Kira, but I certainly think that given who his family is he'd feel quite a bit of pressure to be like her. No, Eric will not be a Ranger, I know some of you will be disappointed with this, but as Jack said he is still integral to the future of the Rangers.
Next up really is Dino Thunder.
Review please!