"FireBlaze mode, engage!"

The command transformed the V-Defender back to sword mode, blade blazing with fiery red energy. Eric raced at Braq as the alien readied his own sword, swinging to push away Braq's blade, then slashing through the alien's torso, quickly spinning back around and striking again in rapid succession, finishing the attack with an "X" strike and turning to face away from Braq as the alien crackled with red energy. "End of the line!"

Braq bellowed in pain as energy lashed out from his body, dropping his sword just before he himself collapse, then suddenly exploded in a brilliant fireball, the Rangers staring in utter shock and horror as one of Braq's hands landed near them.

"Arakami...he killed him..."

Syon looked at Yuuri, some how hoping for an explanation. "I thought Time Force made the V-Fire and the TimeFire powers, why make them to kill?!"

"Time Force didn't create the TimeFire," Yuuri stated. "They found the V-Fire and the V-Rex on an asteroid out in deep space..."

Circuit flew over and landed before the Rangers, blinking his eyes with shock. "Time Force never activated the V-Fire to find out what it could do..."

"Just the sheer power of them is frightening," Domon added.

"Just how Eric is gonn'a to use that power is what we may have to worry about," Yuuri stated as the man walked toward them, Wes approaching him in return.

"Eric, are you okay?"

The newly empowered TimeFire nodded in response, chuckling a bit. "Never been better."

Days later, the Rangers walked into the Silver Guardian training area in time to see Eric making short work of his sparing partners. Strangely, the V-Fire was missing from his wrist.

He finished up his match and glanced over to see the five Time Rangers, smirking as he nodded to his fellow Guardians and walked over to where Wes and his friends stood. "Glad you five made it. Guess you can make a commitment after all, Wes."

"Where's the V-Fire, Eric?"

The man smiled and snapped his left wrist, the V-Fire flaring into existence much to the surprise of the Rangers. "I've been learning quite a bit about this thing. It's got some kind of cloaking function, something your, Chrono Changers don't have. I'd say my powers are already superior to yours."

"You don't know what you've gotten into," Domon snapped. "Do you have any idea what holding those powers..."

"What I understand is that I now have Bio-Synth's key to duplicating the technology you five use. The reason I invited you down here though is because I want to know more about this, V-Rex. What is it?"

The five stood in silence, shocked with Eric's demand. "How do you know about V-Rex?"

"I overheard you and that thing talking about it at the dig site the other day," Eric replied. "I want to know what it is, and what it does."

"You're not going to..."

"Wes-san, don't," Yuuri snapped. "May as well tell him what we do know about it. The V-Rex is a large dinosaurian battle machine, about as big as the TimeMega. We don't know much about it, sorry we can't give you more information."

"You gave me enough," Eric stated with a smirk. "You know where it is?"

"No idea, and even if we did, that's something I wouldn't tell you," Yuuri replied, her tone cold. "You've got too much power in your hands as it is, I'm not going to add a weapon of extreme power to that."

Eric snorted, then looked up as the sky filled with a flash, the air high above the city distorting with lightning. "What the hell?"

As the distortion grew, a loud roar echoed through the air, the six staring up in shock as a time hole opened and released a massive red and silver machine. It roared, its form based on that of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex, a pair of long cannons mounted on its shoulders.

"Oh no," Yuuri whispered. "V-Rex..."

Clash For Control
Part 1

The massive dinosaurian machine roared as it looked around in confusion at its surroundings. It was as if it had no idea where it was, or what was going on. Eric smiled as he raised his V-Fire clad wrist to his mouth. "Alright, this thing is mine! TimeFire!"

"Eric, no!"

Lightning exploding out and engulfing the man, Eric was transformed in as violent a fashion as he was when he first used the V-Fire. Light laced over his body to form his armor, helmet literally burning into shape. He turned away from the Rangers, then saw data stream across his visor like how the V-Fire had given him information before. "Alright, FireEagle, online!" he called, a fiery blast flaring out of the air before a sleet jet craft flew down to land near him. "Weapons, transports and everything! Soon to add a giant robot to that list, if you'll excuse me!"

"Eric, wait!" Wes yelled, too late as Eric boarded his craft and shot off toward the V-Rex. "Damnit! He gets control of the V-Rex, we can kiss capturing Ransik and his forces good-bye!"

Elsewhere in the city, Frax, again plotting behind Ransik's back, turned to see his alien companion walk over and look up at the confused V-Rex. "So, you can take control of it now that it's arrived? If we gain the V-Rex, Ransik will have no opposition."

"I know very well this is your own agenda," the alien snapped back, then smiled. "But hey, that's my kind of thinking. I'll get that overgrown lizard machine tamed, just make sure I get my payment for this. Mercs don't work free for anyone."

Frax nodded with a flash in his eyes. "But of course, my dear Zigrath. Expect no less than you earn." He turned and vanished, leaving the alien to his work.

Zigrath snorted at the departed robot, then turned back to face the V-Rex. He lifted up a high-tech staff he carried and aimed it carefully before firing of a device from its tip. The small disc spun rapidly as it flew high and latched to the V-Rex's head. He tapped a switch on his staff, then laughed as the dinosaur machine roared in resistance. "Oh, please! Try as you like, robot, but you can't fight my control! You're mine now!" Zigrath smiled and tapped on his staff's controls again. "Alright, time for a little test run...V-Rex, attack the city! Destroy all that you see!"

The machine bellowed out in rebellion as it tried to ignore, then found itself firing down on the city against its own will. Plasma blasts fired from the cannons on the V-Rex's shoulders, causing explosions to decimate several tall buildings and destruction to erupt across the city. Zigrath smirked with malice and turned to let his new weapon do his work for him, then saw the sleek FireEagle come to a landing before him. The canopy hatch popped open to let TimeFire out, Eric drawing the V-Defender and aiming it straight at the alien's head. "Whatever the hell you did to the V-Rex," he growled. "Stop now! That machine is mine!"

"It belongs to me now," Zigrath replied with a chuckle and tapping his staff. "Or perhaps you're blind and can't see that the V-Rex follows my orders! I suggest you run now and save your own pathetic hide!"

"I can't do that!" Eric snapped harshly. "Looks like you're gonn'a end up like the last guy who messed with me and get the big slice and dice death!"

"Bring it on, human!"

The Rangers, in the meantime, raced to the center of the V-Rex's unwilling rampage. Yuuri narrowed her eyes as she saw the destruction that the machine was causing, then turned to the others. "We have to stop it some how."

"But the TimeMega might not be repaired completely yet," Syon said in reminder to the damage that their Time Jets had taken against Izout a week and a half ago. "And we're not sure if TimeShadow will be able to get to us, he's not even with Time Force."

"It's a chance we have to take," Yuuri replied, taking stance. "Time Rangers..."

"Chrono MORPH!"

Time froze as the Rangers were transformed into their armor, resuming again upon completed morph. Yuuri was quick to summon her V-Cannon as she ran a scan for alien life-forms. "We find the alien controlling V-Rex, we can find a way to get control of it before Eric does. Let's go!"

3000.308

The hidden base of TimeShadow was permented by darkness, a few dim lights piercing the shadows. The only occupant of the underground complex was busy working on something when a monitor snapped on to display an alert and show the devastation being caused by the V-Rex.

"Son of a bitch!" TimeShadow swore as he quickly put aside his work and ran to the console. "Why doesn't Logan send them the Time Jets, the repairs are done!" He frowned and shut off the monitor before tapping something on his left arm and flashing with light to be transformed into his own armor. His helmet shifted out from the neck piece to encase his head, face plate and visor slamming into place. He boarded the Shadow Winger, did a pre-flight warm up, and pressed several controls before gripping his flight controls.

"Start up time gate sequence at Provider Base!" he stated to the computer as the Shadow Winger lifted up into the launch tunnel. "Full activation in five minutes, and set temporal coordinates for two-thousand six, geographic for Silver Hills!"

"Accessing. Systems locked, unable to access Providus time gate systems."

TimeShadow frowned, knowing that he had to take his own route to the past now. "Logan must have wised up against hacking. Alright, power up the displacement drive, we're gonn'a have to do this the old fashion hard way."

"Engaging drives. Coordinates set, ready for launch."

The Winger shot down the launch tunnel and out into the air before accelerating high into the sky. Light began to ribbon from the hull of the jet before bursting out and engulfing it in a flash, twin streams of fire marking the trail. TimeShadow fought to hold his craft steady as it tore through the fabric of time, finally bursting out of the cascade of energy and into the skies of Silver Hills. Already he could see the devastation the V-Rex was causing. "Damnit," he whispered. "One of Ransik's troops must have gotten control of it some how."

"Look!" Syon exclaimed once the deafening sonic boom had faded. "It's the Shadow Winger!"

"TimeShadow, he made it!"

The five Rangers quickly moved to avoid being stepped on by the V-Rex despite their joy at their mysterious ally's arrival. The Winger was quick to open fire on the massive dinosaurian robot, lasers and pulse cannons impacting rounds on the V-Rex's hull. The machine roared and returned fire from the cannons on its shoulders, acting almost as if it was alive and reacting to pain.

TimeShadow took a chance to fly down low and set the Shadow Winger on autopilot before leaping down to the ground to join the Rangers. "Lieutenant Asami!" he called, getting Yuuri's attention. "What happened?!"

"The V-Rex burst out of the continuum fabric," Yuuri replied as she explained. "We're guessing that when the V-Rex and the V-Fire were separated, they were sent to different time periods, resulting in the V-Fire being sent into the prehistoric times, and the V-Rex here at this precise moment."

"We can use the V-Fire to regain control of the Rex, but we have to scan the control frequency this alien is using," TimeShadow stated, tapping the side of his helmet. "Lieutenant, I need you to give me the V-Fire control box, I should be able to-"

"You don't know?" Syon said in shock, cutting the man off. "The V-Fire's been activated, there's already a TimeFire."

"There's what?!" TimeShadow exclaimed sharply. "That's not what-" He stopped himself, knowing he almost gave away information he had to keep secret. "When the hell did this happen?! When you said that the V-Fire was sent to pre-historic times, I thought you knew because you had recovered it, who activated the control box?!"

Wes sighed and walked up to the armored Ranger. "His name is Eric Okibi, he's someone I knew a few years ago. Right now, he's got the V-Fire, and he's probably fighting that alien for control of the V-Rex."

TimeShadow glanced to Wes, almost worried in his posture at that name. "He's under your command though," he inquired with hope in his voice, only getting shaking heads in response. "Shit. The V-Fire's been activated, and E-the user is not with your team, just perfect! He gets control of the V-Rex, there's no telling what could happen!"

"Wait a minute," Lucas cut in. "How come you didn't know that Okibi has the V-Fire? You're in the future, I'd think you could monitor the events of this past."

"I can't always keep an eye on things," TimeShadow quickly said, hoping that he wasn't slipping up too much on what he knew. "I'm guessing you know by now that I'm not an operative of Time Force, which means that to get here last time, I had to hack into the Providus Time Gate, and I have to limit how much I scan into the time stream because it depends on my ability to access Time Force's own systems. Therefore, my own computers only tap in when there's a situation that requires me to help."

"You're gonn'a really hate hearing this then," Wes stated. "Eric is part of a strike team that my father owns, called-"

"The Silver Guardians," TimeShadow finished flatly. "Private sector security force, services to those that can pay. If he tells them about the V-Fire, it could warp the time stream beyond repair!"

"How did you..." Wes shook off the strange feeling he got, assuming that perhaps at some point in the original timeline, his father formed the Guardians anyway. "Alright, so what do we do?"

"First," the man stated as he looked up to where the Shadow Winger was flying about while attacking the V-Rex. "We get that lug to back off its attack. Hate to do this, but we need to injure it hard. Shadow Winger, convert to battle mode, attack protocol alpha five, theta x!"

The jet swung about as it avoided a blast from the V-Rex's cannons and quickly transformed to its humanoid mode, drawing weapon blades from its legs. The machine moved in while trying to avoid blasts from the Rex's weaponry and slashed down hard with its blades, cutting hard into V-Rex's arm. The dinosaurian robot bellowed as if in pain, then unleashed a violent volley from its own cannons and caused the Shadow Winger to fall back to the ground.

"Holy shit!" Lucas exclaimed in shock. "Is the Winger alright?!"

"Yeah, V-Rex took a nasty hit though," TimeShadow replied as he checked a display on his left gauntlet. He looked up to see the V-Rex leave the city, then ran over to where the Shadow Winger was getting up. "Winger, jet configuration," he ordered, the machine lifting off the ground and transforming to jet mode, then landing again. He turned back to the other Time Rangers and gestured to the entrance hatch of the Winger. "Come on, we need to figure out what the hell we're going to do now."

As Eric and Zigrath continued to battle, the alien paused long enough to see the V-Rex retreating from the city. "Damn, it must have taken some heavy damage. We'll finish this later, TimeFire!" He tapped his wrist band and vanished just as Eric swung with the blade mode V-Defender, TimeFire swearing in defeat.

"Shit, almost got him!" Eric growled and turned to see the destruction caused by the V-Rex, shaking his head and looking back to where Zigrath had teleported away. "Next time, your head is mine!"

"So what do we do?" Domon asked, he and the other Time Rangers sitting in the cabin of the Shadow Winger. TimeShadow had set it for autopilot, and they were only a few minutes from the clock tower. "As long as that alien has control of the V-Rex, neither Eric nor us can recover it."

"V-Rex took some heavy damage to its arm," TimeShadow replied as he sighed. "It'll be a while before its self-repair systems can fix the damage, but it won't be long enough. We need to get the V-Fire back from Eric, and we need to do it fast. Wes, I want you handle getting the V-Fire. The rest of us will try to figure out how to break the control jamming Ransik's alien is using."

Wes nodded and looked out to see the ground approach, the Winger landing and cloaking while its engines shut down. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he stated, then opened the main hatch and jumped down from the Winger's cabin.

"The rest of us try to figure out how to stop this alien from regaining control over V-Rex," TimeShadow continued. "Start a sensor sweep for non-human life forms at once, we have to find that prisoner."

At Bio-Synth's main building, Eric kept his face stonic while walking into the personal office of Jeremy Collins. "Sir, we need to talk."

"Okibi, right?" Collins questioned. "If this is about trying to get command position, I don't have time for your petty-"

"So a Ranger isn't good enough for you as commander then?" Eric spat in reply. He snapped his wrist and revealed the V-Fire, Collins staring in shock at the device. "I am the TimeFire, no one is more qualified than I to lead the Guardians."

With a smirk, Collins nodded and continued to stay in his seat. "I agree that the Guardians should be led by a Ranger...but no one said that it would be you." He turned his chair around while Eric narrowed his eyes. "No, I actually intend to attain the services of four more Rangers, ones who control battle machines."

With an air of disgust, Eric snapped an about-face and started to leave, then paused and cocked his head back slightly. "And what if I take control of the V-Rex, the machine that was rampaging through the city?"

"Well now," Collins mused with a smile. "That would be rather impressive."

With a nod, Eric continued on his way, finally smiling as he headed into the elevator and to the ground level. His rise in rank and power was guaranteed now. The elevator reached the lobby floor and opened to let Eric out, only for the man to see none other than Wes walking through the main doors. "Wes?"

"Eric!" Wes exclaimed. "We need to talk, now."

"You've got a lot of nerve coming here after the way you disrespected your father," Eric said as he ignored Wes' request. "I should throw you out right now."

"Eric, listen to me," Wes replied, his eyes cold and filled with purpose. "We have to talk, about the V-Fire, now."

Eric narrowed his eyes as he slowly nodded and followed Wes out of the building. They walked away to a deserted location before Okibi finally spoke again. "Alright, spill it. I'm guessing that you want me to just hand over the V-Fire you?"

"The V-Rex will be back at any time," Wes explained. "We need the V-Fire in order to get control over it and stop the rampage that alien is causing."

With a snort, Eric shook his head at the man. "Oh please. If I can't get control of it now, what makes you think you can?! This isn't about V-Rex, this is about me having the V-Fire, you can't stand the thought of me having more power than you!"

"That's not what this is about!"

Eric chuckled as he turned to face his back to Wes. "It eats you, doesn't it? That I have more power than you, that the V-Fire is superior to your Chrono Changers. None of that will matter soon enough though, I'll be in charge of four more Rangers!"

Wes blinked, then almost laughed in reply as he shook his head in disbelief. "You? Lead the Time Rangers? Eric, what makes you think that I'm even the leader? Haven't you been paying attention to who give the orders between the five of us? TimePink does!"

"And soon enough, she'll take orders from me!" Okibi snapped. "Oh, and so you didn't know! Well, then let me explain."

"Alright," TimeShadow stated as he pointed to a holo-map of Silver Hills. "V-Rex landed here, and the last energy reading was here in the outlaying mountains. If we have Circuit run a full spectrum scan..."

The squeak of the wooden staircase caused the five to look up in shock as Jeremy Collins and one of his assistants walked up into the loft. Collins looked around, then noticed the five, most prominently, TimeShadow himself. "Well, it seems my hunch was right," he muttered. "You are the Rangers."

"If you're looking for Wes-san, he's not here," Yuuri stated, trying to keep her glare from becoming that of hate.

"Actually, I'm not here to see Wes, I'm here to see you four...or is it five of you?" Collins smiled as he put his hands in his suit pockets. "I have a business proposal for you...I want to hire you."

"Hi-hire us?" Syon stuttered. "Wait, why-"

"Let's hear him first," Yuuri stated as she held up her hand. "I wann'a know what we're worth to him."

"Your father has already sealed a contract with them by now!" Eric taunted in boast, smiling in a mocking way when he turned back to look at Wes. "He's going to hire them, and have them be a part of the Silver Guardians, with your battle machines at our command, and the Rangers under my control."

Wes, somehow unable to take this idea serious, finally burst out laughing at Eric. "That's great, I needed a good laugh! The Time Rangers work for my dad? That's the best joke I've heard all month!"

"Is it?" Eric stated. "Think about it, Collins! They have a mission, and obviously, they can complete it a hell of a lot faster with your father's resources!" A smug smile on his face, Eric continued. "They'd have to be damn stupid fools to pass up such an offer." He saw the growing worried look on Wes' face and chuckled. "You never thought of that, did you? You only thought about yourself, like the little spoiled rich kid you are! The truth is that they're better off without you, Wes!"

"That's bullshit, and you know it!" Wes snapped angrily. "Who was it that gave up being served to by the brown nosers, who was it that gave up having everything handed to him on a silver platter?! It sure as hell wasn't you Eric, cause you were the one they all treated like dirt! I gave it up, I gave up the money and Bio-Synth for my friends, because I do not want to be forced into a life I did not choose, because I wanted to help them make a difference! I gave up everything for my friends, so don't you dare say that I think only of myself!"

"Prove it!"

"Who is letting the city be destroyed because of his damn pride?!" Wes bellowed, seeing the expression on Eric's face go from smug pride to uncertainty. "That's right, it's not me. I'm trying to save this city, I'm willing to lose my life to protect the people, while you are just trying to get yourself higher on the food chain. Who's the one looking out only for himself now, Eric?"

"Shut up!" Okibi screamed, racing at Wes with fire in his eyes. "TimeFire!" came the command, the V-Fire flaring to life and violently transforming Eric into the TimeFire again. He quickly drew the V-Defender, switching it to blade mode and raising it with intent to run Wes through.

"Chrono Morph!" Wes cried, time freezing and allowing him to be transformed into TimeRed. He took the moment before unlock to jump up and avoid Eric's weapon, landing behind TimeFire. He backed away while Eric turned around and tapped his Changer to call out a single Chrono Vector. "This is insane and pointless, Eric! If you wann'a prove yourself as TimeFire, work with us, don't make us have to take the V-Fire!"

"Get the clue, Collins!" Eric snapped as he spun and fired the rapidly converted to gun mode V-Defender at TimeRed. "I don't want your damn advice, so shove it!" He readied to attack again, then was stopped as the loud roar echoed through the city. Both TimeRed and TimeFire turned to see a twin blast fly over head and explode against a building, the source non-other than the V-Rex! "Ah, shit!"

"We're too late!"

To Be Continued...