Silver Guardian Headquarters

Rachael sat idly at her desk, trying to balance a pen on top of her pointing finger. It had been a slow week since her father's almost death, and things had been a little different at BioLabs. It was like he'd become a different man, working harder at simple things like spending time with her. She sighed and glanced toward Eric's door. He had not changed and was still as ornery as ever, which didn't make her any happier to have to deal with him every day.

"Rachael, did anyone call?" His voice came over the intercom. Frowning she threw down the pen and sat up, pressing the button.

"Nope, nothing all day, I'm bored, have anything I can do?" She said into the intercom, trying not to sound bored.

"You can go home." He clicked it off and she made a huffing noise at it, indignantly wrinkling her nose at the com.

"Fine!" She yelled, not bothering to use the thing, but making sure her voice carried back to his office. Rachael grabbed her things and left the office, going out the back door to avoid Bronwyn and the teasing that would result from her poor mood again. Stepping out of the door she took in a deep breath of fresh air and smiled, it felt good to get out of the office. Until the arm that belonged to a cyclobot. A strangled scream escaped her mouth as she was knocked against the wall of the building, and slid to the ground, her head throbbing. Trying to catch her breath, Rachael tried to stand up, but her spinning head made her only lean against the wall. "Oh crap." She muttered, closing her eyes to the pain that was to come, but nothing came. She opened her eyes and gasped when she saw Eric pushing cyclobots out of his way to get to her.

"You alright?" He asked his voice genuinely concerned as he faced away from her.

"Yeah, just winded." She gasped with one hand on her chest, the other against the wall. Eric continued to fight and as soon as she was the least bit able she started to fight as well. Rachael dropped all of her things on the ground and kicked off her shoes, sinking into a perfect fighting stance. Eric only had an instant to see if before a cyclobot attacked him, and his mind was more occupied making sure she was safe than thinking about it. Rachael was focusing on her battle, but wasn't doing to well, getting jarred against a wall wasn't the best way to make you a better fighter.

A cyclobot came from seemingly nowhere and knocked her down, landing on her back, where she'd stored her chrono-morpher for the day's work. A blue light came from nowhere and in a second she and Eric fell, hurtling through something, landing hard on the ground, and blacked out.

Hours Later

"Rachael?"

"Five more minutes Wes." She mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. A deep chuckle escaped his lips and she immediately realized it wasn't her brother trying to wake her. Her eyes flashed open and Eric's face was grinning awkwardly above her. Instantly aggravated, she rolled away from him and tried to stand up, but stumbled back and hit a tree.

"Hey, relax." Eric muttered at her. "You fell pretty hard."

"And you didn't?" Rachael snapped back, sliding down the tree and holding her head in her hands.

"I didn't hit my head, you did." He frowned at her.

"I'm fine." She muttered, but honestly she wasn't. Whenever she tried to look up the world spun and blurred, a poor combination for someone who wanted to stand up in the next few seconds.

Eric on the other hand was standing with his hands on his hips above her, frowning at the fact Rachael was clearly affected by the hit she'd taken to the head. He rolled his eyes and leaned over, scooping her up into his muscled arms before she could protest his movement. Surprisingly she only tried to shift away from him a little before she gave up and pressed her forehead against his chest, keeping her eyes closed.

"You really aren't fine." He muttered and he heard her grunt unhappily. Eric started walking through the dense forest of where they were, his eyes scanning the surrounding area like the police officer he'd been trained to be. Rachael didn't weigh all that much, so it wasn't such a big deal that he was carrying her for a while. After a few minutes he needed to pause.

"Put me down." She requested quietly, as if she was trying to be nice and civil about the whole thing.

"Promise you won't try to walk anywhere?" He asked, looking at her. Rachael frowned instantly and immediately went into a sulking mood when he simply readjusted his grip on her and continued walking through the dense woods. What seemed like a long time later she tried again.

"Eric, I can stand now." She said softly as he tried to carry her over the fallen logs that were covering this part of the forest. "I'll take it slowly I promise." She urged her tone now sincere. He paused walking and considered her offer and after little prodding he set her down, keeping hold of her arm to steady her. They continued their trek this way, his arm always protectively hovering near her, no matter what the obstacle was.

"Is there no civilization anywhere?" He grumbled. Rachael smiled at his impatience, but didn't retort, there really wasn't anything she wanted to say that didn't involve mentioning her association with Time Force. But the distant sounds of metal hitting metal caught her attention and she shushed the annoyed Quantum ranger and ducked behind a tree to peek into a large clearing.

"Oh my God." She whispered softly. Eric poked his head out next to her and they stared at the sights before them. Two men in leather were hammering on steel, their full beards shining dark brown in the light. A large fire blazed next to them, attached to a full scale barn that sat on the edge of what looked like a colonial village complete with many cottage like houses lined up along a dirt road.

"This can't be real." Eric whispered in awe.

"Oh it's real." Rachael said back and looked down at herself, the black pants and dress shirt she was wearing. "But we don't really fit in with them." She glanced at him and snatched the red beret off his head, holding it away from him as he tried to snatch it back. "Let's go." She whispered and went back through the woods in the direction they started.

"Are you insane?" Eric asked, following her, speaking loudly as they got a safe distance from the village.

"Yep." Rachael responded. "Now shut up and no matter what happens, don't say a word."

"What?" Eric asked, but Rachael hushed him with a look. She pulled an object out of her pocket and placed it on her wrist.

"Where the hell are you?" The hologram of an angry blonde girl appeared out of the chrono-mopher Rachael had strapped to her wrist. Eric gaped, but remembered their bargain and didn't say a word.

"Not entirely sure, but it looks like we're a little bit back in the past." Rachael winced with a brief glance toward Eric.

"We?" Bronwyn asked with fury building in her voice.

"Eric fell with me." Rachael frowned at her. "It's not my fault so don't go blaming me, just get us out of here." She snapped angrily.

"Fine, you two get comfortable and I'll ask the others." Bronwyn's hologram disappeared and Rachael frowned, looking up almost sheepishly at the man standing with his arms crossed staring at her.

Silver Hills 2001

Bronwyn tore through the town, speeding to the clocktower and sprinting up the stairs with record timing. Her wig was off almostas soon as she got to the top, and the other rangers stared as she pushed the green ranger out of the way so she could use the holographic computer.

"Sorry Tripp." She half said, her voice fading as she tried to work the controls.

"'Wyn, what's going on?" Jen asked, coming up behind her blonde counterpart.

"Eric and Rachael."

"What about Rachael? Did she finally snap and kill him?" Wes asked with his usual grin, sliding onto his face.

"Not yet." Bronwyn said distractedly. "They were attacked by cyclobots outside the Silver Guardian's headquarters and fell into what looks like an Aoristic Egress."

"A what?" Katie asked blankly. Bronwyn closed her eyes and made a few noises before opening them again.

"Basically, a hole in time in space that, when one goes through, can take them to a different time." She tried to explain as her fingers flew across the keyboard, as if she was searching for something.

"Like a time warp?" Wes asked sitting down next to the others around their small picnic table, watching Bronwyn through the computer screen.

"For lack of a better term, yes." She frowned. "That term is a stupid bastardization of the proper term determined by Time Force. 'Vicis prodigium'."

"You're too smart for your own good sometimes." Jen muttered.

"So I've been told, mostly by you." Bronwyn threw a grinning glance at her sister before continuing with her work. "Ok, so I have a lock on Rachael but I can't find Eric, although I'm assuming they're somewhat together."

"Where are they?"

"1823." Bronwyn turned to Wes and Jen with a frown. "No idea how they got there, and it'll take a while before I can get the clearance to get them out of there.

"Clearance? You can time jump?" Jen stared at her sister.

"Yeah, it's pretty primitive, and it takes forever to work, which is why they try to regulate whether or not we get to." Bronwyn frowned. "There are a ton of rules for the travelers, and right now we only get them when we need them, in the future Logan hopes to have several scattered through time permanently to help in the protection of mankind." She started rambling. "That's why we brought Rachael to Millennium City, she was in training for this Lieutenant program when Ransik escaped."

"Before?" Wes' eyebrows popped up.

"Let's just say Earth has a bad reputation for getting attacked repeatedly, so Time Force has been experimenting with offering help when they can." Bronwyn smiled as she was typing on the computer. "Report is submitted, all we can really do is wait." She frowned. "And find out which criminal did this." She moved as Tripp came up next to her and started working with the computer.

Silver Hills, 1823

Rachael hiked through the deep forests, ignoring the ranting male behind her who was currently berating everything she'd ever said or done in her ranger uniform. It was easier to pretend Eric didn't exist than try to fight back at this point, and she was even slightly entertained at how much he was actually speaking. Actually yelling at her, but that wasn't bothering her, until he grabbed her arm and pulled her off balance, falling into his arms. Rachael looked up and he looked down, their faces inches apart.

"Ow." She whispered and a second later, pulled herself away from him, straightening her shirts as she stood up. "Ow." She repeated, louder this time and more pointed.

"You weren't listening." Eric frowned, crossing his arms. "Why didn't you tell me you were the Delta ranger?"

"This would be why." She snapped back at him, rolling her eyes as she turned to continue hiking, but was blasted off her feet onto the forest floor.

Silver Hills

"Got it!" Tripp shouted happily through the clocktower. "Epochtica, arrested for multiple transgressions that has caused rangers to be sent through time, not including Rachael and Eric." Tripp laughed.

"I hope she hasn't killed him." Wes grinned. "I don't want to visit her in jail."

"I don't want to have to put her in jail." Bronwyn agreed. "Although it might do her some good."

"It's a thought." Wes agreed with a smile. Jen rolled her eyes at them and pushed her sister out of the way to see the image on the computer screen.

"What can we do?"

"Well," Tripp started, "If Eric and Rachael can get the hands of the clock to both hit noon, it should bring them back here because they're both from this time, or to Millennium City because that's what time Epochtica's supposed to be in." He replied. "Either way it's better than being stuck there."

"Oh lord." Bronwyn brought up her morpher to her face to call Rachael, but the other girl's face didn't appear in the hologram.

"What?" She sounded out of breath and angry.

"We figured out who sent you there."

"Yeah well so did we." Rachael snapped back. "It's kind of trying to kill us at this particular point in time." The sounds of a battle over the morpher and a scream were all they could hear as they gathered around it.

"Rachael!" Wes called toward Bronwyn's morpher

"Just talk!" She yelled back through the battle.

"There should be a clock somewhere on Epochtica's body, move the two hands so that they face twelve noon and it should transport you here, or to Millennium City."

"Sure!" Rachael shouted back, and more yelling and screaming. "Ok, and how are we supposed to do that if we can't get near her?" She asked almost conversationally, but didn't give them time to respond. "Eric no!" She screamed, her voice cutting out immediately after the second word.

"Rachael?" Bronwyn asked, pressing the button on her morpher rapidly. "Rachael?!" She swore loudly. "I lost her." Her arm dropped to her side in defeat.

Eric

"Please wake up." Her voice was soft and inviting in his ear. He tried to smile but it felt like his face was too heavy, as if his muscles were too tired. Why was Rachael so far away? He could hear her, but he couldn't tell where she was. Where was she? "Eric, please wake up." He tried yelling to her, but his throat was dry, unable to make a sound. He felt pressure on his hand, and tried to move his fingers, but he couldn't, so he focused on opening his eyes, and finally he caught a glimpse of light. "Well hi."

"Hi." He rasped back and blinked, realizing his inability to move was restricted to his mind, and once he'd gotten his eyes open it was coming easier. He pushed himself up and Rachael leaned back in the chair she was sitting in as he looked around the sterile white room.

"What the?"

"Welcome to the future." Rachael smiled almost evilly at him. Eric's eyes widened and she grinned as she stood up. "Get up, come on." She stood up and went for the door, and after a few seconds he threw the thin sheet off himself and followed her out of the room, dressed only in his uniform's pants and dark crimson t-shirt. He followed her into the hallway, his eyes on the amazing building he was in, his wildest childhood dreams didn't even come close to the reality that was the year 3000. Rachael walked quickly and with purpose down the halls, knowing exactly where she was going, to a command center with several important looking people in it, including the man who looked exactly like Wes, but with Rachael's hair color.

"Alex." She snapped loudly and the man looked up, trying to contain his own dislike for her in his facial expression. The same face that got harder and more annoyed when it landed on Eric.

"We can't clear you guys back to 2001 for at least another hour." He said immediately, not bothering to hear them out. "The rangers are using their zords, you can watch here, and return when they're on their way back."

"Why can't we help?" Rachael sneered back at the annoyed former red ranger.

"Because I said so, go watch it on the monitors." He glared at them, giving Eric a death glare as he passed him going out the door.

"What's his problem?" Eric muttered, moving next to Rachael where she was bringing up video feed onto a thin monitor.

"He and Jen are engaged." Rachael replied to Eric's surprise. "So you can imagine he wasn't too thrilled when she told him she preferred Wes as their red ranger."

"She's engaged to him?"

"I'm glad you agree with me." Rachael grinned as she watched the rangers battling another one of the mutants.

"I do?" Eric asked, almost confused at how nice she was being with him.

"That he's an ass." Her eyes flickered off of the screen and up to his face for a few seconds before returning to the battle at hand. "They're doing fine, Bronwyn's there." She pointed to the purple colored ranger.

"And who's Bronwyn?" Eric frowned at her and she laughed.

"Oh, right." She laughed with a twinkle in her green eyes. "Whitney the new receptionist, she's really Jen's sister from here, Bronwyn Scotts. Oh and she's really blonde and doesn't wear glasses."

"Anything else you'd like to tell me?" Eric asked sarcastically. Rachael wrinkled her nose back at him and narrowed her eyes.

"If you weren't such a jerk all the time we may have told you sooner." He frowned but didn't respond to her accusation. "They've got this." She shut off the monitor to his surprise. "Let's go get food, I'm hungry." She started walking away and Eric followed her without any other reason to. Rachael led him to what looked like a very futuristic and handed over a plastic card that they scanned twice, returning it to her with a nod. Eric watched her go over to a small square hole three feet away and pulled out a red tray with a pile of food on it, then reaching in and pulling out a second that she held out towards him. He reacted and took it from her, following her lead as she got a drink from yet another square hole in the wall and sat down at a two person table.

"Careful, it sucks." She warned with a sad smile as she took a bite of what looked like brightly colored mashed potatoes. Not too thrilled about what he was about to do, Eric took a bite and nearly spat it back out, Rachael laughing at his expression. "I warned you."

"You failed to mention it tastes like someone pureed a can of vegetables into a paste." He frowned.

"That's what it is." She winced. "Cooking has died a little in this future. Bronwyn cooks as a hobby, not to survive, they just eat this highly nutritious crap most of the time."

"Do you cook?" Eric asked curiously.

"I used to cook with my mom." Rachael answered honestly, thinking over the answer. Their rivalry was on hold while they were here, they might as well have a decent conversation to pass the time. "After she died my Dad hired a chef and I only know the basics." She shrugged. "What about you? How does the bachelor eat these days?"

"I cook sometimes; usually just grab take-out somewhere though." He shrugged. "I don't really have time after working all day."

"Makes sense." Rachael agreed.

"Are we really having a civil conversation?" Eric grinned with sarcasm.

"We've both suffered head wounds today, I wouldn't get used to it." Rachael let out a short laugh. Eric couldn't help but smile at the accuracy of her joke and continued to try and swallow the disgusting meal. "The good part about this stuff," She mentioned at his expression toward the food, "You won't be hungry until tomorrow."

"How does that work?"

"No idea." She shrugged and cleared her tray in a few minutes time and threw it into a basket. Eric followed her as they made their way back to the command center to check on the ranger's progress.

Silver Hills

The navy blue Theta Ranger demorphed and checked her morpher for messages from Rachael or even Eric. They hadn't heard a thing since Rachael had gone silent, even after Epochtica showed up, they hadn't gotten word from them or Time Force.

"Any word?" Wes asked her, coming up with a concerned look on his face. Bronwyn shook her head sadly before her eyes caught something over Wes' shoulder, a cyclobot hovering behind him, ready to strike.

"Move!" She pulled on his arm to get him out of the way, but a blast from the left sent the thing flying. Bronwyn looked at the source of it and smiled in happy relief. Eric had his blaster pointed at him while Rachael was walking away from him to help up her brother and partner.

"Sorry we missed the battle; Logan wouldn't let us leave until the zords were coming back to only open one portal." She rolled her eyes.

"Vicis prodigium." Bronwyn corrected with a frown and Rachael rolled her eyes.

"No one cares Bronwyn." She pulled her up as Eric stood with his arms crossed behind them.

"Are you ok?" Wes asked, hugging his sister tightly.

"I'm fine." She muttered, her eyes flickering to Eric. "He helped me when I hit my head, and when he hit his, he got to see Time Force." Eric raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, thanks." He muttered uneasily and Rachael smiled.

"Don't mention it, you're still an ass."

Clocktower Later

Bronwyn took a deep breath and took a few steps toward where the blue ranger was sitting, but stopped and tried to go back to where Jen was, but stopped when she saw the look Rachael was giving her from the couch. Sucking it up, she went over to the window and climbed out, sitting on the ledge next to Lucas.

"Hey." She didn't look at him, keeping her gaze out on the setting sun. She and Rachael spent a lot of their time with the rangers in the clocktower, but as it wasn't really big enough to house all of them, they usually didn't stay overnight, going back to her apartment or Rachael usually headed back to the mansion. Lucas looked at her briefly and then back down at his hands.

"Hey." He answered, just as uncomfortable as she was.

"The way I see it," She started slowly, "Is that we could keep ignoring each other forever, or we could try and be friends."

"What if I don't want to be friends?" Lucas looked up at her seriousness in his brown eyes. Bronwyn frowned.

"We couldn't make it work then, why would it work now?" She whispered frowning.

"I don't know." He frowned, looking out at the city below them. "I don't like not talking to you though."

"Avoiding you is sort of hard when you're one of the seven people I know in this time." Bronwyn tried to laugh. "Should we be friends and see where that takes us?" She asked softly.

"Alright." Lucas grinned and reached forward, pulling her into a friendly hug. They held each other for a second longer than socially acceptable for 'just friends', but neither cared as they pulled apart. "So how did you and Rachael get paired up?" Lucas asked as he cleared his throat conversationally. Bronwyn laughed and launched into the story, her back against the wall, just talking like friends.