Back in Time
Chapter 12
Jason teleported to the clearing next to the cabin where the Dino Thunder rangers were staying, away from prying eyes. He looked around and saw Kim and Trini sat on the porch, watching Conner, Trent, Ethan, Tommy and Zach playing a very small game of football. He smirked and walked over to the girls, leaning against the railing next to them.
"Hey, where have you been?" Kim asked, smiling at him.
"Command centre. That's where Billy disappeared to earlier." He said, sighing as he did. "Kira and Dr Oliver are there. They found the device that brought them here. Billy and Dr Oliver are trying to see if they can recreate it to send them back."
"Why do you look so sad about that. I thought you'd be happy to see them go." Trini said, frowning at the red ranger.
"I am, but I've been thinking. What's going to happen? We know what's going to happen in the future, or at least part of it." He said, making the two girls share a look. "And something that Dr Oliver said has made me think."
"What was it?" Kim asked, the two getting up and moving to stand next to him.
"He said that none of us have spoken to him in years. That not long after we stopped being rangers, we stopped returning his calls." He said, making the two share looks and look at the current white ranger that was trying to get the ball away from Conner. "I don't know what happened, or why we stopped contacting him, but I know that if we remember everything that has happened, I am going to do everything to change that." He said.
"We all will." Kim replied, making Jason shake his head.
"But we can't." He said, closing his eyes before looking at them. "If we do that, if we remember everything we've learnt about the future, then we'll change it."
"Isn't that good?" Kim asked, making Trini shake her head.
"We change Tommy's life." She said, looking back at the long-haired, white wearing teen. "And if we change his life, he might not be a ranger now, those teens might not become rangers, and a lot of things will change, but it might not all be for good." Kim looked down, blinking back tears.
"If none of us have spoken to him, that means we break up, doesn't it?" She asked, making Jason sigh.
"He said you break up with him. He didn't say why, when or how, but he did say that it was your decision." She nodded, refusing to look up for a moment before looking at Jason with a determined look on her face.
"We need to forget. We can't change the future, and I want to spend whatever time I have left with Tommy being happy, not wondering when I'm going to hurt him." She said. "Is there a way to do it?"
"Let's talk to the others, then we can all go to the command centre and try to figure it out." He said. They walked over to the others, who stopped their game when they saw them.
"Hey, you guys coming to join us?" Ethan asked, smiling before he noticed the serious looks on their faces. "What's going on?"
"How much do you know about us in the future?" Jason asked, making Conner, Ethan and Trent share looks.
"Not much. I don't think you guys talk much in the future. Not that Dr O has much time to call anyone, between teaching, marking, training and being a ranger." Conner said, making Zach and Tommy frown.
"What's this about Jas?" Tommy asked.
"The future you hasn't spoken to any of us in years." Jason said, making Tommy's eyes widen. "I think it was our fault as well. I don't know why, I just know it was some time after we stopped being rangers."
"Why are you telling us this?" Zach asked.
"Because even if only I knew, I would try to change it, and change the future." He said, making Trent frown.
"But that could change more than you want. It could mean that we never became rangers." He said, making Conner look at him in shock.
"That's why we need to forget." Trini said. "We need to forget all about the Dino Thunder rangers coming here. We need to make sure the timeline stays the same."
"How are we going to do that?" Tommy asked.
"Let's go to the command centre and see if Zordon has any idea." Zach said. Tommy, Zach and Jason put their hands on Conner's, Ethan's and Trent's shoulders to help them teleport into the command centre. When they got there, they looked around, seeing Dr O and Billy bent over a device on the table. Conner turned around and froze when he saw Kira asleep on the bed in the corner.
"Kira?!" He gasped in shock, making Billy and Dr O jump and spin to see them. "What happened?"
"She's fine Conner." Dr O said, making him turn around to look at him in shock. "Alpha healed her injuries, and she's been asleep for a while. The exhaustion kicked in."
"Injuries?" Kim asked, looking at the yellow ranger with wide eyes.
"She had a couple of broken ribs." Alpha said as he walked over, making Ethan, Conner and Trent start.
"Broken?!" They shouted, making Dr O shush them and glance at Kira to make sure she didn't wake up. "Did he do that?" Trent asked, his tone letting Dr O know exactly who he was talking about as the original rangers frowned slightly.
"So she told you." He muttered with a slight nod. "They were badly bruised when we got here. The fight with Brainsaur and the teleporting just made them worse until they broke. Alpha healed her though."
"But what about getting her away?" Ethan asked.
"Her injuries would be mostly healed by the time we got back, making them look too old for the timescale. We'll get her help another way." He said, smiling slightly at his team. "Now, is there something you wanted?"
"We need a way to make us forget you ever came here." Jason said, making Billy look up in confusion. "We know too much about the future now. And if we don't forget it, we'll try to change it. And we don't know what damage that could cause." Dr O nodded, looking behind him at Zordon.
"Zordon, do you know of anything that would erase their memories of us?" He asked.
"I have been theorising about that since you arrived." Zordon said. "But I hadn't thought of anything, until you brought the unbonded Dino gem back." They all looked at where the Dino gem was sitting on the scanner in the corner of the room. "I have been scanning it's energy, and studying how it behaves in this state. Since it has not bonded to Kira yet, it is possible that it's powers can take away memories, if we figure out how to harness it correctly."
"But I don't want to forget forever." Zach said, frowning at the gem. "We know that for some reason, we stopped answering your calls." Dr O dropped his head, Tommy studying his reaction carefully. "If we remember, maybe after this plays out in your time, we can do something to change it."
"I think you might change your mind about that in the future." Dr O muttered, moving back over to the device.
"You don't even care, do you?" Tommy asked, making his older self freeze. "You don't care that you don't talk to them. Why? What could possibly happen to turn you into the bitter person you are now?"
"Hey, back off." Conner snapped.
"No. This is my future." Tommy snapped. "I deserve to know why you don't care about any of your friends. Because I know for a fact that if any of them stopped talking to me I would fight to change it. So why did you care so little that you gave up?" Dr O snapped, grabbing the screwdriver next to his hand and throwing it across the room as he spun around.
"Because it was the only way to keep them safe!" He yelled, making everyone jump back in shock. "People get hurt! Being around rangers puts you in danger! When I gave it up, I kept getting involved somehow. The morphing grid wouldn't let me stay away. And people got hurt because of it. I kept losing everyone, and after Zor-After the incident, I kept away from everyone. I tried for a while, but soon everyone stopped answering the phone, stopped responding to texts. So I didn't fight. Because if I did, more people would have gotten hurt, and it would have all been my fault." He sighed and turned back around. Everyone had been so shocked by his outburst that no one noticed Kira wake up, and no one saw as she sat up in the bed, listening to the rant.
"What do you mean the incident?" Tommy asked, stepping forward.
"It doesn't matter." Dr O whispered, looking at Zordon with sad eyes.
"But this is my future." He said.
"And you can't change any of it, so there's no point in trying to." He snapped. "When Kira is better, I'll talk to her about the gem. It's hers, so she's the only person that can use it, or we risk it being bonded to the wrong person. I need to work on the device."
"Do you want some help?" Billy asked, not taking a step forwards just in case.
"No. Go and spend some time with your friends." He replied, picking up some tools and beginning to tinker away. No one moved for a moment, until Conner nodded at Jason.
"Best to leave him to it when he's in this mood." He said. Jason nodded and they all teleported out of the command centre, not realising Kira starting to stand up.
"Kira?!" Alpha exclaimed, seeing her get up. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine Alpha." She replied, not taking her eyes off Dr O. "Are you and Zordon able to leave us alone for a minute?" Alpha looked at Zordon, who had heard the exchange and nodded. His head went upwards in his tube until it was no longer in view, and Alpha walked out of the door, probably going to another room that Zordon could access. She waited for a moment before walking over to Dr O, who still hadn't realised she was awake. "Tommy?" He spun around in shock, allowing Kira to see the tears in his eyes. She walked closer and wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his chest as he pulled her close. "Are you ok?"
"No." He muttered, putting his chin on top of her head. "How much did you hear?"
"You throwing something woke me up." She said, letting him know that she heard his whole rant. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I wanted to protect them." He said, his arms tightening slightly. "I thought if I waited until they no longer replied to me, that it wouldn't hurt as much. I was wrong."
"You were doing what you thought was right." She said, leaning back to look into his eyes. "And from what you told me, it's not like they were the best of friends to you."
"The worst part is, if I could change it, I wouldn't." He said, making her frown. "Kim stopped talking to me long before the others. I've only seen her once since she sent me that letter, and that was when Divatox kidnapped her and Jason. Kat, Tanya, Rocky and Adam haven't spoken to me since Kat and I broke up. I don't even know if Aisha is still in Africa, or if she's back in America. As for the others, I haven't heard from any of them since the mission to the moon."
"Tommy, don't be too hard on yourself. I know that it might hurt, but it's made you who you are. And besides, the day you stop protecting people is the day that you die." She said, making him laugh. "You, Brachio, are too kind for your own good."
"I'm glad someone thinks so." He said, bending down to give her a kiss.
"I can't wait until we're back in our own time. Then we won't have to hide as much." She smiled. "Now, what did you want to talk about the gem for?"
"I forgot you were awake for that." He muttered. "The rangers of this time made a really good point earlier. They know too much about the future, and if they keep that knowledge, they can change it. Zordon thinks that we can use your unbonded gem to erase their memories." Kira frowned for a moment.
"But isn't that just a bit harsh? Completely erasing everything that happened to them." She said.
"Well, what else can we do?" He asked. Kira walked over to where the unbonded Dino gem was, picking it up and weighing it in her hand. She closed her eyes, feeling the power that resonated within the gem before smiling as she opened her eyes.
"Lock them away." She said, looking back at Tommy.
"What?" He asked, smiling at her enthusiasm.
"The gem, it can lock the memories away until we are back in our own time. When we walk out of the portal in Reefside in 2004, then wherever they are, their memories will come back and they'll remember everything." She said. Tommy thought about it and nodded, knowing that even though in his time his friends had abandoned him, he still cared about them and still wanted them to know what had happened to them.
"It's a good idea." He said with a smile. "Can you get the gem to do that?"
"Yes, but we will need to make sure that they are asleep somehow first. We need time to put the gem back and open the portal once their memories are locked away." He nodded before smiling at her.
"Well, we've got that sorted and I think I'm closer to figuring out this device. What do you say we go back to the cabin and relax for a bit?" She smiled and Dr O pressed the button on the console that teleported them out of the command centre.