The course of Time is fickle. When some try to control its flow,
Time will resist and fight back against what should not be. As
a result, each cycle of Time will produce new results to key events,
new outcomes and new possibilities with each new cycle.

This has progressed for countless ages of the universe. The first cycle
held the Great War we now know is coming, and in that cycle, the
universe was decimated by the War, and the hero who fought against
the armies of Darkness died in the final battle.

And then, the being known as FATE was born...

Undisclosed Era, Zero Cycle Continuim

There was celebration in the crowded laboratory. The scientists gathered there had finally been met with success after decades of work, and the result of their work watched with wide glowing yellow eyes. Its body was pure light, merely holographics to give it form, but the mind behind those eyes was all too real, and it began to access data and records on the universe it had been born into.

It found that its purpose, as the creation of these organic beings, was to monitor and safeguard the timestream, that it was to be a watchman. Its name was FATE, and it was designed as the ultimate functionary of destiny's hand. It was not to interfere, only preserve.

And then, with the incredible intelligence that FATE had been given, it preformed the one thing that made a being fully sentient, that separated life from mere machine. And in doing so, FATE changed the very course of the universe forever.

It made a choice.

FATE decided that destiny was far to uncontrollable to be allowed
free reign. The only thing that Matthew Corbett's destiny had
brought was suffering to him and everyone around him, and to allow
such pain to continue upon the universe was an act of cruelty.

And so, FATE made her choice; to enter the timestream and cause a
massive rupture in the Continuim so that, with the new course of
destiny, the Great War would never happen. By entering the past and
killing Matthew Corbett before he could become the Silver Ranger,
FATE insured that the Empire would never return, and that the War
which would destroy the universe would never come to be.

1998.165, First Continuim

There the boy lay, huddled in a corner in the NASADA complex. There was almost a sense of hesitation in FATE's eyes, like this child didn't deserve to be punished. But FATE knew what he would bring into the future, and it had made the choice not to allow that event. In order to create a perfect future, this boy had to die.

"Matt!"

FATE turned at the sound. For a moment, again, there seemed to be the understanding of remorse, of guilt from the choice it was about to carry out. But then, it recalled the history of the future it came from, and was reminded that so long as this boy, this eight-year-old boy, lived, then his fate would bring about a war which would nearly destroy the universe.

And so, with all emotions and lesser thoughts deleted, without any more hesitation, FATE brought its hand into the heart of Matthew Corbett and caused an electrical surge which killed the boy almost instantaneously. It was the least it could do, to give the child a swift and painless death, for even FATE knew that he was not the evil, at least not the willing one.

But Time is not without desire, nor is it without sentience...

2005.135, First Continuim

Furio growled and rushed Michael Corbett, the man blocking just in time to be push back several feet from the impact. With a grunt, Mike returned with a punch to the alien's side that made Furio roar in pain. His eyes narrowed, Furio let out a yell of anger and kicked Mike in the gut to send him flying into the Stone of Ages. "Stupid human!" he spat while picking up his sword from the ground. "No one dares defy me!"

Mike snarled as he got to his feet, then, feeling something pull at him, turned to see the Quasar Sabers in the stone. "Never argue with chance!" he remarked, then grabbed the center Saber. Even as his fingers wrapped around the handle, Mike could feel energy pour through him, incredible energy. Light shined around him as he drew the Saber from the stone, the villagers gasping in shock while Furio stared in horror.

"No," the alien gasped as he saw the center blade being drawn from the Stone of Ages by this insignificant human. "Nooooo!"

Light still shining down on him, Mike spun around in time to deflect Furio's sword, sending the alien flying back with an energized kick. He stared in amazement while the villain slowly rose to his feet, then brought the Saber down to gaze at its blade. "This...this is what I saw in my dreams," he whispered, unable to believe the power he could feel coursing through him. "The sword that I saw Matt pull, but..."

Realization came now. Because, in his dream, he had seen his deceased younger brother pull this sword from the stone, it was meant to have been the boy's fate. But he had died, meaning that it was the duty of his older brother to carry on his destiny. And he smiled. "I'll try and fill your shoes as best I can, kid..."

Since that first cycle created by FATE, the original cycle of Time, the
Zero Cycle, has been erased, and with each new cycle of Time has come
new events that must be dealt with. To that end, FATE created the
organization known as Time Force, to safeguard the preservation of a
perfect timeline. With each new cycle that was born, Time Force absorbed
the events which contributed to their Continuim Matrix, and erased those
which would lead to the Great War that FATE sought to avoid.

But again, Time has a desire to see true Fate play out as it is
meant to be. To that end, Time will choose its own champions...

2006.330, Tenth Continuim

The sun shined brightly over the city of Silver Hills. Even with all the destruction that had been caused by the recent invasions, the city still stood tall, as if in defiance against the will of the future. There were few clouds in the sky, and for once, things were perfect.

A loud roar tore through the air as the stealth black craft came down from high altitude, firing several maneuvering repulsors to stabilize its position. It hovered in the sky for a moment before the main thrusters ignited to push it forward into the city. There was a gleam across its hull as the sunlight splashed upon the golden lining and silver plates, and as it came about toward what remained of what had once been the Tomorrow Research clock tower, it came to a slow hovering halt.

It hung there, almost in reverence, before once more igniting its main thrusters and flying away to continue on through the city. There seemed to be a pattern to the Shadow Winger's course, like a patrol route. As it reached the outer edges of the inner city, the Shadow Winger pulled up higher into the sky and powered up the main overdrive. Within moments, it tore away, heading toward the headquarters of the Silver Guardians at incredible speeds.

It had been more than two weeks since the final invasion by Time Force. Crews were still trying to clear out the mess left by the enforcers, and more so, they were searching for any survivors from the attack, though so far, there had not been much success. Time Force's armies were all too efficient at what they did. It had almost been a miracle that they had failed in their task of wiping out the entire city.

As he piloted the massive transformable craft over the city, Alexander Murphy sighed. It had been a long two weeks for him and the Time Rangers. Sweeping through for any remains of the invasion had been stressful on all of them, and he could only pray that indeed, their efforts had been enough to make Time Force abandon their agendas.

The com units lit up, gaining his attention for a moment. As he tapped the switch, Alex was greeted by the face of his past-self. "What's the news, Wes?"

There was a faint smile on the lips of Wesley Collins. "Everything that's been coming in here looks good, save that we didn't find too many survivors from the attack." He paused for a moment, losing his smile now. "Makes me think now I really know how Kendrix and her team generally feel."

The TimeShadow gave a resound chuckle. He did know what Wes meant, but he also knew that the people in question had it a lot harder in the subject of pyrrhic victories. "Consider us lucky we don't deal with demons on a daily basis," he replied. "I'm on my way back now, so keep some breakfast heated for me."

"Will do."

He shut off the comline, then smiled. It did seem odd a bit, regarding his past self as someone separate, but in all ways, he had ceased to be Wes long before he'd been swept into the future of his cycle. "To have that life again," Alex softly whispered. He looked out the viewport, sorrow in his eyes as he remembered his own past. Many events he wished he could forget, but just as many he was glad he could still hold onto.

It was then that he looked up to see the coms blinking again, but it seemed odd. Would the Guardians be calling back this quickly? Alex shook it off and tapped the switch, only to be greeted by a face he thought he wouldn't see again. "Logan," the man hissed angrily. "I thought we killed the last of your copies."

"One would think so," the android's image replied. "However, Alex Murphy, I survived our encounter at Provider Base when you cut me in half at the waist, and as such, I remain to be FATE's hand."

There was a paling to Alex's face as he realize that it wasn't yet over. He knew now what Time Force was readying to send now, to begin and end the final assault on this cycle of time. "The Devourer," he whispered. He'd finally read through the files that were in the documents related to Project Trigger, and he knew exactly what it was that enabled Time Force to erase entire timelines, to delete Continuims and make it as if they never existed. "You're going to release the Devourer!"

"You actually are quite intelligent, Murphy. It's so sad that you chose to use that intellect for such a futile cause, rather than realize that nothing can stop the will of FATE."

The transmission ended, leaving Alex to grab his controls and engage every single engine drive that the Shadow Winger possessed. There was no time now for repairing the past, he had to get to the others and begin the plan of stopping the eradication of everything they had worked to birth. At last, after all the waiting, he knew that it was going to end. One way or another, win or lose, this cycle was going to face the end of time.

As the holo-screen wavered in and out of existence, it was then that Alex came running into the room, panic on his face. Yuuri and the others merely looked over at him to reveal that they too had just gotten the transmission from Logan. "We're not going to make it this time," Lucas remarked sadly. "Are we?"

"We're going to get through this," Alex snapped back, almost on reflex. He was too much against even the thought that they could lose the war with Time Force, so much that he would not listen to any suggestions to the contrary. "We're going to stop anything they throw at us, and we are going to win this war!"

"But how do we stop something that devours Time itself?"

There was silence, because Alex didn't have an answer to that. Lucas was right in his question; how did one fight something that ate Time, something that by erased entire Continuims? What was there that they could do?

"The Devourer is obviously a creature of physical form," Ransik said, finally speaking up since having watched Logan's transmission. "As such, I doubt that it will be able to consume the entire timeline all at once." He then shrugged. "Perhaps then also the point that Time Force must release it means we can also trap it."

Yuuri reluctantly nodded. It had been long enough since the invasion and the joining of forces that she'd come used to the idea of Ransik as her ally, but she could not completely yet eliminate her fears of him. "We don't yet know what exactly the Devourer is though, neh? It may be something we can't fight."

"I've gone over Time Force's files on Project Trigger," Alex remarked while walking to the main holoscreen and tapping at its controls. "Most importantly, I've been researching the Devourer." As he continued to type at the keypad, the screen projected the image of a large spine-shelled creature, though according to the dimensions readout data, it was about half the size of the Shadow Winger. As such, that this thing was what could consume timestreams confused the group. "The Time Devourer, according to FATE's records, is a creature of unknown physiology, and what kind of intelligence it is capable of is also unknown," Alex began, then looked to the group for a moment. "It's origins, however, are from what we call the Tesserect, the Darkness beyond the End of Time. All things that can no longer be go there, and based on Time Force's data, are consumed by the Devourer."

"What I wonder," Syon spoke up as he shifted in his seat. "How can such a thing exist? If it consumes Time, how can its own existence be?"

There was a silence for a moment while Alex tapped at the keypad again. "That, Syon, is something even FATE has yet to discover." He then smiled while glancing to the Xybrian. "And hopefully, she won't have the luxury of time to find out, because I intend to either destroy the Devourer, or to turn it on Time Force."

The quiet that followed his words were enough to tell the shock everyone had in reaction to his plan, and Alex knew well that despite the desperation of it, his plan was, to the innocents of their own cycle, a cruel one. "I know it's harsh," he whispered. "But if it's our only option to remove the threat that Time Force presents, then we have to use any measures possible."

"But we'll be no better than they are!" Syon gasped. "Alex, we can't become them in order to end this war!"

"The young one is right," Ransik agreed. "I refuse to be part of such a plan so long as there are other ways. If we destroy FATE itself, then our own timeline should no longer present such an enemy to Time."

He only nodded, knowing that his friends and allies spoke the truth, but in regards to dealing with the Devourer, Alex didn't see too many choices. "I never said we'd let the Devourer consume our home timeline, merely turn it on Time Force, and that is a absolute last resort." He paused. "However, if it comes to that decision, we will do what we can to let it attack Time Force only, then send it back into the void where it belongs."

Again, Alex paused, tapping at the holoscreen keypad to shut the device off. He glanced to the Time Rangers and Ransik, then sighed. "I know that this plan is not the kind we'd normally consider, but right now, we don't have many options, especially if we can't kill this thing when it arrives."

There was a soft rumble. Everyone jumped at the quake, but as it persisted, they knew that this was no natural earthquake; something was happening. They ran from the building to see the mad crackling cascade of light that was tearing open in the city limits. Something gave out an alien scream, and as the long hooked limb reached out of the rift, a massive chunk of what looked to have once been a building came flying out and slammed into the ground.

"My god," Domon whispered. "Tesserect..."

"The void beyond Time's End," Yuuri finished. "That means that..."

Alex only nodded while mentally triggering his helmet into place. It shifted around his head in sections, shutting the visor and face plate as the blue sensor crystal flashed. "That's the Devourer," he stated as he drew forth his saber. "And we've not had enough time to plan how we're going to stop it."

"Then we'll just improvise," Eric quipped. He raised up the V-Fire that clad his left arm, then smiled. "Just like always." There was a flash in his eyes, and then, with his cry, Eric was engulfed in the power of the V-Fire, golden flames transforming him. His armor blazed into existence, and drawing out the V-Defender, Eric took stance while the flux of energy caused a blazing cascade behind him. "TimeFire! Ranger of the Continuim!"

Jen grinned and raised her own changer clad right arm. "Can't let you guys have all the fun," she added before yelling out her own transformation command. Even as the crackling lightning surged over her body to form her armor, she thrust forward her right hand, allowing the burst of power to take shape as the Thunder Stinger. "TimeThunder!" she called out as she took pose. "Ranger of Justice!"

It was then that the Time Rangers took their own stances, preparing to engage their armors. "Ikuaio!" Yuuri cried, thrusting out her left arm. "Time Ranger!"

"Chrono Morph!"

The timestream ripped open to take the five Ranger into it. The energies of time quickly swirled about as it focused on their bodies, sweeping up along from their feet to form their armors. Reaching the neck, it halted, then began again from the top of the head down to form their helmets. The flow of time ejected them back into real space, leaving the Rangers to prepare for this battle with a creature that Time itself feared.

As the massive form of the Time Devourer finally breached through the rift into Tesserect, five Time Rangers drew out their V-Cannons and fired at full power. Round after round impacted on the creature's spine-covered shell, but it did almost nothing. Even as they continued to fire, large chunks of what they could only assume to the remains of dead timelines were flung out of the rift. They slammed into the ground, tearing up the concrete while bouncing up slightly from the pure momentum behind them.

"We have to force it back into the Tesserect!" Alex cried. He glanced to Eric, who was already firing the V-Defender at the Devourer. There was then a look to Jen, who nodded and ran in tandem with Alex to make their own physical strikes against the creature. With his own saber crackling madly, TimeShadow swung up and brought the energy blade crashing down into the shell of the Devourer, but the time eating entity merely swat him away with a large insectish leg. The results of Jen's own attack were the same, and they quickly backed away when the creature opened what they assumed was its head to reveal a large blue organ that resembled an eyeball.

A blast flared form the barrel of the V-Defender, slamming directly into the Devourer's eyes and causing it to scream in pain. "I think we found a weak point!" Eric cried as he waited a moment for the eye to open up again, then fired, again burning in on the sensitive organ. "Aim for the head, it's the only vulnerable spot that thing has!"

The Time Rangers redirected their own assaults, now aiming for the Devourer's eye whenever it was a target. However, the creature quickly learned, and began running up to charge the Rangers with its spines. New strategies had to be made, and as they quickly figured out how intelligent the Devourer had to be, the tactics that the Rangers used had to stay one step ahead of the creature.

"Can't we just step on this thing with the V-Rex or the ThunderCat?!" Eric cried while continuing to fire at the Devourer. "That'd solve the problem real quick!"

Alex shook his head. "No! That shell it has is too tough to be cracked like that! We have to find another weak point to converge on so that we can drive it back through the rip into Tesserect!"

At that moment, a massive piece of metal and what appeared to be glass windows flew out from the rift. The Rangers dropped down in time to avoid being hit while the Devourer was missed completely because it was close enough to the rift that the chunk of building barely passed over its spines. The piece of fragmented building skipped slightly off the road while tearing into the ground, then hit again and skidded to a halt.

Domon glanced over to Alex while lifting up his V-Cannon. "We can't keep this up!" he cried. "Either that thing is going to get us, or the pieces of what it couldn't eat are!"

"We have to force the Devourer back into Tesserect!" Alex maintained while charging his saber for a full strike again. "It hasn't yet been able to figure out how to start eating our Continuim, so we have to take the chance while we have the time!" He then ran forward, using the volleys being fired by the Rangers as cover. Nearing the head of the Devourer, TimeShadow brought his saber back, then, as the blade erupted to began almost three times its normal size, swung forward to cause a massive crackling smash into the creature's head.

The Devourer screamed in pain while the blade of the beamsaber burned deep into its unprotected skin. It lashed out at Alex with one of its legs, but the man was fast to dodge and bring his saber about again to thrust into what he could see of a neck joint. Blazing white fluids burst out from under the flesh, but instead of acting like fluid, it seemed to vaporize moments after contact with the air.

"I think I got him!" Alex cried. He readied his saber as a leg came at him, and slashed hard to sever the limb in half. The creature roared angrily before opening its eye at the TimeShadow. Light began to build up around the organ, then fired out to slam into Alex and send him flying back to crash down several meters away. He shook his head, trying to ignore the pain in his joints now. He'd found a way to hurt this monstrosity, he couldn't give up now. "There's a reason I lived this time," Alex muttered while returning to his feet and running toward the Devourer. "Raijin hadouha!"

His saber exploded out just before he brought it crashing down toward the ground. As the blade slammed down, a massive surge of lightning roared forth toward the Devourer, and, as it impacted, crackled violently over the creature's shell. It screamed once more, but this time, it began to back away toward the rift into Tesserect.

He turned to the Time Rangers. "Assemble the Vol-Accelerator!" He ordered. "Recalibrate it to as much of a power output as possible, and we may be able to drive that thing back into its hole!"

"On it!" Wes replied while he and the other four Time Rangers locked their V-Cannons together to form the Vol-Accelerator. They all knew it would take some time to modify the massive cannon so that the energy it put out was lethal, but until then, they had to rely on Alex, Jen, and Eric to hold off the Devourer. "Give us a few minutes to get it set!"

Alex growled and nodded as he swung back with his saber. "We'll try!" he answered. "But I don't know if you've got a few seconds!"

The Devourer charged again, but as it did so, Eric fired right into its now exposed eye, forcing it to scream out and back away once more. Jen took her own chance and ran into the fray to stab her Stinger into the creature's neck, causing the pulse she'd been charging to rip into the insides of the Devourer. The Devourer swat at her, but the leg missed as Jen expertly hand-sprung away, then landed on her feet to ready again for another strike.

"Any chance we can get that super cannon shot now?!" she yelled at the Time Rangers.

Wes hesitated, then, as Syon gave him a confirming nod, took up his position at the main trigger of the Vol-Accelerator. "All ready to fire!" he cried. Even as the three fighting the Devourer moved aside, light and crackling energy began to lash about the barrel of the Vol-Accelerator, revealing just what kind of power it was now capable of. "All or nothing, guys!"

He pulled the trigger, and, as the bulging charge of power reached its peak, unleashed the raging fury behind that build-up as a massive five beam stream of raw energy. The streams slammed into the Devourer, causing it to scream out while being pushed back toward the Tesserect. For a moment, it seemed like they would be able to force the creature back into its prison, that they could beat it. But then, the side of the Vol-Accelerator blew out from overload, causing one of the beams to die out.

"We're losing the blast streams!"

"Keep firing!" Wes cried. He knew they had to push it as far as they could, but as the left side main cannon Lucas held blew out, he knew that it wasn't long before they'd fail. The V-Cannons hadn't been built or designed for this kind of output, and they'd known that when they made the adjustments to make them this deadly.

Domon's cannon shorted as the top section was blown open by the overload inside. Only two beams continued to fire out, and the weakening of their attack was shown when the Devourer resumed its course away from the rift into Tesserect. "This is not good!" the Yellow Ranger remarked. "Alex, any ideas?!"

TimeShadow said nothing. If this didn't work, then they had failed in their mission, and Time Force would only continue to ravage more timelines as they were born. They had to stop the Devourer here so that it no longer was a weapon of oblivion. The thing was, how did one stop that which consumed existence?

He suddenly saw the answer. Bringing back his saber, Alex charged forward even as the last two sections of the Vol-Accelerator died. Lightning lashed about the blade of the saber, even while the Devourer charged energy in its eye and fired. With a cry, Alex leapt up over the blast, raised his saber, and brought it crashing down into the eye of the Devourer. Some kind of barrier now guarded the vital organ, but he continued, and, reaching back, pushed forward to impale his saber on the field between him and the Devourer's eye.

"Give my regards to the hell you made!" he cried as he saw the energy field suddenly begin to die away. "Time will not be your victim!"

There was a flux of light as the field that the Devourer maintained suddenly shattered, and the blade of Alex's saber burned through to drive itself deep into the creature's eye. It persisted, tearing deep into the head of the Devourer, then exploding out into a massive spike that ripped through the creature's internals. There was a horrendous scream that split the air, and then, the Devourer erupted. Light burst out as the feasting of hundreds of dead eras and Continuims now ruptured within it, tearing out of the beast which was an enemy to all existence.

And then, as Alex took the chance to step away from his foe, the Devourer looked at him with its dead eye. He could see something, some kind of expression, like a feeling of hate, and he knew then that this creature had very much wanted to follow through the will of FATE. But that hunger it had could not be allowed to continue. And so, as he gripped his saber tightly, Alex swung hard to bring the blade cleaving through the head of the Devourer, causing it to scream out just before it detonated violently.

He was flung back, slamming to the ground while energy lashed out in the death throes of the Devourer. The wild storm slowly ended, and the rift to Tesserect collapsed, leaving the group to stare about at the devastation that had been caused. There were now massive chunks of what had once been buildings and torn masses of earth scattered about the area, most of which had been spat out by the Tesserect.

Alex slowly got to his feet, shutting down his saber and hooking it to his pack. There was a moment of silence while his helmet opened, and then, he looked back at the Rangers. "It's not over yet," he whispered. He looked back to the crater that marked where the Devourer had enter their timeline. "FATE isn't going to give up that easy, and we have to take the fight to them if we're ever going to stop this."

With heavy sigh, TimeShadow tapped at his arm computer, then looked up to see the Shadow Winger fly into view overhead. "We have to take the war back to where it all began," he stated while the massive jet craft slowly lowered to make a landing. His helmet closed over his face again, but even with the visor, the emotion and rage in his eyes could still be felt. "I know, it's not something you thought we'd do," he stated while the massive jet craft slowly landed. "But it's the only choice we have, Yuuri."

"To stop a future which cannot be," Eric remarked. He holstered the V-Defender, then tilted his head toward the Shadow Winger. "I have to admit though, considering I won't be able to use the V-Rex, nor will Jen have the ThunderCat, you know how nervous we are about this."

He could only nod, but Alex still walked toward his craft and keyed open the side hatch. "We don't have any choice," he added. "Until FATE and Time Force are destroyed, we will never know peace of any kind here. The war must be brought to them."

As he pulled himself inside, the Time Rangers looked to each other, and knew he was right; to end the war, they had to take the fight into the future they knew as home. There were no other options, there was no other course to take. And thus, the seven followed Alex into the Shadow Winger, the hatch shutting behind them as the craft lifted up off the ground and toward the sky.

Yuuri walked into the cockpit, taking her seat next to Alex, but even though she knew the truth, it now felt awkward. After the many months they had spent together, she had fallen in love with Wes, but he was destine, one way or another, to become Alex. Or was he? Was his destiny according to the ninth cycle mutable?

"He won't become me," Alex stated, knowing what was on Yuuri's mind. He glanced to her, then allowed his helmet to open to that she could see his faint smile. "What happened to me won't happen to him, Yuuri. You can rest easy on that one." He looked back to the console, tapping at the controls in preparation for departure. For a moment, however, he wasn't so sure how much of his own fate Wes would be able to avoid.

The main drives came on as they reached a safe altitude, and lifting the cover over the displacement drive activation switch, Alex began making calculations for the trip into the timestream. "Setting course," he muttered while tapping at the key pads. "Computer, run through navigation tables for safest course of travel into the ninth cycle."

"Beginning computations."

The data ran across the main screens, leaving Alex to punch in the course before he slowly powered in the engine drives. "Temporal vectors; three-zero-zero-zero point three-three-nine, Continuim zero-nine, confirm."

A moment as the computer ran through the calculations. "Timestream vectors confirmed."

He began tapping at the keypad again. "Spacial for zero-zero-one point zero-three, geographical set to nine-seven-nine mark three-seven point one."

"What are you doing?"

The screen ran through the coordinates while Alex glanced over to Yuuri. "Exact exit vectors for our jump," he answered. "With any luck, we'll take Time Force by surprise."

"But those calculations will drop us out into real time right on top of Provider Base."

He nodded while the final vectors were locked into the navigation system. "That," Alex quipped with a smile, "is the point, dear Yuuri." There was a pause while he glanced momentarily at the displacement drive switch, then looked back to Yuuri. "They won't expect us to just fly right in, so that's exactly what we should do. It'll give us the biggest advantage for a frontal attack."

"And then Time Force will send everything that's front line while calling in aid from the Alliance," Yuuri responded. She shook her head. "They don't know what's really going on, they'll believe Time Force's claims that we're a hostile force, and in a very broad way, to our home cycle, we are."

He smiled. "Not if we give the Alliance the truth first."

Now Yuuri only shook her head. "That's gonn'a be damn hard, and you know it."

"We'll worry about that when we get there." Alex merely looked at the main screens, then tapped the activation switch to power up the temporal drives. "Just hang on, cause it's gonn'a be a bumpy ride."

2001.295, Second Continuim

"You thought you could outsmart me!" Ransik screamed as he stepped toward the burning pile of debris. However, when he looked, he didn't see any trace of his prey. Instead, it looked almost like there was pink hair on the figure who lay on the ground. "What the-"

"Ransik!"

He turned, and gasped to see the woman he had chased into this building just before Jennifer Scotts pulled the trigger of her Chrono Blaster and struck Ransik right in the chest with a pink beam of laser energy. He went flying back, skidding on the ground before coming to a halt. Ransik grabbed his chest, then, hearing the coughing besides him, realized his error, a dangerously wrong error, in who he had fired on. "Nadira!" he cried, coming to his knees and moving to hold his daughter. "Oh no, what have I done!"

"What about him?" she whispered. It was then that Ransik saw why Nadira was in here, and what she held in her arms; a human baby. "Is he hurt?"

He sighed, now realizing what his daughter had been trying to tell him before, and why she had insisted they leave this era. "No," he replied softly, even as the Time Force Rangers moved to cover him. "He's not harmed at all." He sighed. "But, I was so consumed by my own desire for power, that I nearly destroyed what I hold most dear; my beloved daughter."

The woman nodded, but still, she knew she had to press her feelings now. "Don't you see, daddy? Mutants and humans aren't so different. We both feel pain, anger..." She paused, then, looking to the baby, smiled. "And we both feel love."

He nodded, soon holding the infant child after Nadira handed the baby to him. With a sigh, Ransik stood, and gave the child to Katie before holding out his arms to Jen. "I'm ready," he said. "To pay for what I have done."

The five stood there in shock. Ransik was surrendering to them? After all this? Jen looked at him waringly, but then, holstered her blaster and nodded. Reaching behind her, she withdrew a pair of cuffs from the back of her belt that expanded out into a large arm restraint. She slid them over Ransik's wrists, then finally pushed down to engage the locks. And through it, the man didn't even resist.

It was over.

3000.339, Ninth Continuim

Logan looked up from his place on the repair table. Transmissions were already routing into his positron brain, data processing as he understood the whims of FATE. "They're coming to us," he hissed. Glancing to the technicians, he narrowed his optics. "Finish the repairs before they arrive. I don't wish to have to fight them in such a half-complete state."

"Working as fast as we can, sir."

There was an angry flash in his optics, but Logan said nothing more. They would be done before the Time Rangers arrived, because they knew the consequences if they failed in their duties. "We shall at last see which cycle is the stronger," he whispered. "And thus, Wesley Collins, we shall see the death of TimeRed at last."

The sky darkened as the sun was blotted out by the massive surging of temporal energies. As the lightning bolts lashed out from the center point of the distortion, the Shadow Winger exploded out into real time, having traversed not only temporal distances, but the boundaries of timelines. The defenses of Provider Base were unprepared for such a direct entry into their area, and despite their efforts to scramble into action, the firearms of the Shadow Winger were first to ignite, beams lacing down and ripping into the auto-turrets. Explosions rippled across the ground while the craft swung up and shot into the sky.

Inside, Domon was watching with confusion. "Aren't we going to attack them?" he asked.

"We have to inform the Alliance of the truth," Alex replied. He keyed up all the data they had on FATE and Time Force, then set it for a tight burst laser transmit while bringing up the frequencies he need to send the message where it had to go. "That's our priority first, then we worry about taking on Time Force."

He tapped a key and sent the message on a path into space. Knowing that it wouldn't be long before there was a response of any kind, Alex pulled on the controls to send the Shadow Winder diving back toward Provider Base. The auto defenses were now finally firing back at the craft, forcing Alex to jinx the Shadow Winger and narrowly avoid the rounds that flew at them. The jet's cannons returned fire, blossoming into explosions on impact.

Hordes of remote drone fighter craft launched from the flight bays, but the Shadow Winger quickly fired down and tore into the launch deck, preventing any more of the drones from making it to the air. Even so, those that had made it now pelted the jet with an onslaught of energy weaponry. The craft served sharply about, saved from the majority of the shots by the shield fields that protected the Shadow Winger.

"Alert! Shield failure in the rear sectors imminent!"

"I know!" Alex snapped at the computer while trying to get clear of their pursuers. He glanced back to his party, then resumed his control of the Shadow Winger and pulled up hard to narrowly avoid a swarm of missiles. "This is gonn'a be a rough one."

The Winger quickly shifted its course, making a power dive for Provider Base while launching a vengeful assault that tore open the defense grids. Alex took the lull in counterattack to bring the craft about near the ground and open the hatch so that his fellow Rangers could get out and do things the way they did best. With the Time Rangers on the ground, he pulled away, returning to the sky in time to draw away the launching fighter drones.

On the ground, because the drones and enforcers had not yet been scrambled, the Rangers took the chance to race toward the main building complex of Provider Base. Eric swiftly drew the V-Defender, firing away to cause several drones to explode, then switched the weapon to blade mode, blocking shots form the enforcers. "A little help!" he cried just before a Chrono Vector flew past him and into the chest of one of the drones. Syon ran over then, pulling his weapon out of the machine, then nodding to Eric before returning to the assault.

With a sharp yell, Domon grabbed an enforcer, tore the machine's head off, then flung the body away just before it shorted out and exploded, taking another pair of drones out with it. With his way relatively clear, TimeYellow broke into full run, swatting aside any drones that got in his way while making a mad dash for the front entrance of Provider base. "Let's get in there and trash them!" he cried.

The others followed him, picking up the weapons of several downed enforcers and firing at the drones that even now were moving to block them. A round from above detonated one large cluster of drones, clearing the way as the Shadow Wing came about low. Out of the entry hatch came TimeShadow just before the Winger went streaking back into the sky on full autopilot. His beamsaber came forward, blazing as he swung and cleaved down through an enforcer, then took his place at the head of the team and led them into the base complex.

"FATE's main control room must be somewhere at the heart of the base," he said, looking around while trying to get a good reading. With a grunt, Alex ran down the hall, saber flaring as rounds from auto turrets fired out. A shot to each defense placement from the V-Defender gave them a clear run into the complex, but, as they neared the main corridor, they stopped at the site of the white clad man who stood in their way. Alex opened his visor and face plate while letting his saber lower toward the ground. "Logan," he hissed. "I should have know there'd be one last fight with you."

The machine nodded, but made no other motion. "It was rather anticlimactic," he replied slowly. "After all, that version of me didn't even put up much of a fight before you destroyed him. However..." Logan paused, then suddenly began to grow and expand, his uniform tearing away from his body while the false flesh ripped open and fell off to expose the blue steel underneath. "This time, it won't be so easy!"

With a grunt, Jen readied the Thunder Stinger, allowing a surge to wash over the blade to show a crackling effect. "Why do I feel like I'm in the middle of the Matrix?" she quipped to TimeShadow. "This guy has enough copies of himself to be a regular Agent Smith."

"Your attempts at humor in this situation will not avail you!" Logan roared, flexing the pistons and myiamer bundle packs that comprised his muscles. The ground cracked under his feet while he stood to his full height, showing that this Logan was much larger in his true form than the last they had faced. As such, there was no doubt that he would be harder to put down, just as he claimed. "I suggest, Rangers, that you prepare to meet non-existence!"

He lunged forward, causing the Rangers to scatter. With his left fist driving into the ground, Logan caused an uprooting of the floor plates, leaving in the wake of his blow a hole and scrape metal shards. His eyes flashed just before firing a burst toward the TimeShadow, but the shot was blocked by the Ranger's saber. Logan growled, gripped his hands tightly into fists, then rushed at the Rangers, this time swinging about and swatting away Eric to send the man flying back and slamming into a wall.

With another mechanical growl, Logan swung his open want to hit Domon, causing the man to go sailing back down the hall and crash to the ground. It was obvious now that he was indeed stronger than the last Logan they had faced, and with another burst firing from his optics, Logan struck Wes in the chest, knocking TimeRed to the floor. He looked about at the Time Rangers, his metal skeletal face appearing to have a permanent grin. "Still think you can win, organic filth?!"

"You bet your tin-plated ass we do!" Eric rose to his feet, then tapped a switch in the V-Fire to send a surge of flames coursing over his body. "FireStorm armor, engage!" he cried, causing an eruption of fire that formed into the golden plates of his power armor. He brought down his hands, shifting the wings into gunblades, then brought both firearms up to aim and unleash their fury just as Logan stepped toward him. The twin pulses slammed hard into the machine's chest, and as the impactive rounds crackled over his body, it became clear that he could be hurt.

"I'd like to see you attempt that again!" Logan roared, but stopped in his lunge when something slammed hard into his back. He turned to see Wes standing at the ready, the large Sword of Draganta in his hands. "An archaic weapon," the robot hissed while looking at the blade. "But the question would then be, what purpose does it serve?"

Raising the sword up to point at the robot's head, Wes growled. "Kicking your ass," he replied, then twirled the weapon about to grip it with both hands at the emblem on the blade. "BattleFury!"

Energy exploded out, tearing up the hallway and throwing Logan back while Wes' armor shattered, reshaped, and locked back into place, now in the form of the Gaean armor. The red wings formed from the back piece, and as he took hold of the handle again, Wes assumed a ready stance. "You obviously forgot to factor in that I have two souls in my body now," the young man stated while red energy crackled over his armored form. "Details like that can lead to disaster for the one who ignored them."

"Indeed," came the metallic tinged reply from Logan as he rose to his feet again. Ports opened on the back of his hands to expel a surge of energy that formed what looked to be a pair of beamblades. "However, I'm more than equipped to handle you all, regardless of what mythic powers you've attained!"

As the machine raced at him, Wes brought his sword about to deflect a strike, but when the other beamblade came about, he knew he couldn't move the massive sword fast enough. The glowing green beamsaber, however, did, pushing back the counterattack and forcing Logan to back away while Alex took his place at Wes' side. "Did you think you'd be going at it alone?" the cyborg remarked while glancing to his past era counterpart.

"Not really," Wes retorted while adjusting his grip on the massive weapon he was using. With a grunt, he raised his left hand to aim at Logan, then flashed with red light just before a surge of fire leapt forth from his palm. The bolt of flame slammed into the mechanoid, and while it didn't do much internal damage, the fact that TimeRed could throw fire from his hand shocked Logan. This was no property of the Time Ranger powers, how could a human do such a thing?

He swung again, TimeShadow jumping back while TimeRed surged upwards like a burst of fire trying to rise away from the earth. He spun about, feet impacting on the ceiling, and Wes came back down with a strike that tore off Logan's left arm, flames still burning about the blade of his sword while those on the machine picked up life from the highly flammable fluids that were now leaking out. "It seems," Time Red remarked while Logan stepped away from the Rangers, "that something from a forgotten past is more than a match for the obsolete future you maintain."

"You are the one who is obsolete!" Logan bellowed, racing forward at the Imbued Time Ranger. With a red flash, Wes moved about like a flickering flame, expertly avoiding Logan's swing, then returning with a blazing punch that impacted against the mechanoid's chest. Energy crackled out, then exploded to send Logan flying back down the hallway and crashing to the ground. Unlike the fire bolt that had been flung at him before, this physical blow had left a large blackened hole in the machine's chest, exposing internal systems underneath it. Not only that, but his CPU detected heavy levels of internal damage in his main body as a result of the blow. It was like that single punch had carried the force of a bomb in it.

With his servos almost screaming at the massive amounts of damage that he had taken from just one hit, Logan rose to his feet, igniting his fist blades again. "I don't know how you've come to hold such abilities," he stated while focusing on Wes. "But I assure you, such outdated powers will not save you from the will of FATE!"

He ran forward, but was stopped when a Chrono Vector flew out and slammed into the hole in his chest section. Every sensor in his body was sounding off an alarm, while Syon walked out from behind Wes, his larger Vector in one hand while the Dragoon Lance now was held firming by the other. "Wes isn't the only one with extra powers," the Xybrian Ranger stated. He dropped his remaining Vector to the ground, now holding the Lance with both hands. "Dragoon Defender!"

Emerald lightning surged down through the ceiling, ignoring the barrier that Provider Base's structure presented, and slammed down upon Syon to engulf him. The emerald dragons of light swarmed over his body, forming into his own ancient armor while the last one curled about his body and slipped over his head to form the helmet of the Dragoon Warriors in place of his own. Transformation complete, Syon, along with Wes, raised his weapon, and ran toward Logan, both mystically empowered Time Rangers slamming the blades of their weapons through the robot's sides. Fire ignited along the length of the sword, while a flare of green light burst out to surround the head of the Lance.

Logan fired another burst from his optics, a shot that was deflected by the wings of Wes' armor as they folded down and over his body to act as a shield. They rose back into place just in time for the man to hold out his left hand and fire off another burst of fire that tore right into Logan's chest and burned the internal workings. He felt a lock-up, Logan looking to his left leg and finding that he couldn't get any processing of movement commands to make it into the limb. Again, he brought his gaze to the two Rangers and fired his eye blasts, this time being hit by his own fire power when Syon used the blade head of his Lance like a bat and timed a swing to swat the beams right back at the robot.

"Time to finish this!" Wes cried, the flames on his sword erupting into an inferno. He and Syon rushed forward, the Lance blazing with light as the Xybrian dodged a third blast from Logan's optics and thrust hard to impale the robot's head. With a grunt, he pulled back, allowing Wes to cleave down through the machine's head, continuing through the neck and down the chest until the blade of his fiery sword came through the bottom of the waist piece.

The machine twitched while the two stepped back, making sure they were a safe distance from Logan while he crackled with energy discharge. "You ca-ca-can't defeat!" he stated, voice breaking up from the massive damage he'd taken. "Ca-can't de-e-e-e-feat, FATE!" came his last words. One last discharge crackled out before Logan detonated, throwing out a force that sent Wes and Syon flying back, while the rest of the Rangers stumbled a bit.

For a moment, as the bits and pieces of parts hit the ground, they didn't move, only watch in amazement that they had defeated the massive machine. Then, as Alex walked over to help his fellow Rangers to their feet, the mystic armors on both Wes and Syon transformed back into those technological ones that they wore. "One hell of a show," Alex remarked to both his former self and his Xybrian friend. "Think you'd be up for an encore?"

"Just point us at FATE," Wes replied, glancing to Syon, who nodded in agreement. With that, all seven Rangers raced down the hallway, Alex scanning ahead in attempt to track down the largest source of power usage in the complex. "Any idea where we're going?"

He shook his head, thought with the readings he was getting, Alex had the distinct feeling they'd know soon enough. "Not yet," he replied. "There's fluxes all over the place, I'm having a hard time locking in on the main flow of power."

Its eyes flared while watching the final death of Logan, and, turning to the black clad figure that stood in wait for orders, the being known as FATE narrowed the light of its eyes. "It is time," it stated, tendrils of light falling away from its form only to dissipate. "Time for the Rangers to learn of our greatest weapon, and for them to face the power of lost cycles."

With a grin, the figure nodded, then turned and headed for the main doors of the chamber. He paused at the doors, then, while bringing the device strapped to his left arm up, laughed. "Vae Victus," he whispered just before tapping a key on the device and becoming engulfed in light.

2005.295, Fifth Continuim

Scorpius continued his attack, starting to fling off electrical bolts at the Rangers and the ECD defense squads. "I have had enough of you humans!" he bellowed, flinging out a tentacle and grabbing Kai. "I gave you the chance to surrender to me, but you continue to defy my reign!" With a clicking hiss, he flung the Blue Ranger away, beginning his electrical barrage once more. The entire station began to quake, and for all the fire power that was being thrown at him, the Insectoid wasn't even phased. "You all pay the price now!"

With a grunt, Matt stood, then knowing that this was the end of everything if he didn't do something now, threw off his helmet. For a moment, just a moment, everyone stared in shock at the face beneath the helmet of Delta Red, but Matt ignored it as he raced at Scorpius, Saber blazing angrily. "You son of a bitch!" the boy yelled out. He knew that he wasn't going to make it through this battle. His team was near breaking, with Ma'aya already out of action, and Kai probably wasn't faring much better now. Terra Venture was in danger of dying if this battle didn't end now, and from how much the weapons of the ECD forces had done nothing to the re-mutated Scorpius, it came down to him; the Ranger of Light. "You're going out with me," he hissed, then kicked the Insectoid hard in the side, following up with a knee right to his head. "If I have to die, then at least I know someone will carry on in my place!"

His Ieyadon Armor blazed into being, not needing the command. Tossing his Saber back, Matt glanced back only a moment to see it land straight up, impaled in the ground, and knew that this was it. He gripped his fist to extend his forearm blades, then came around to slice hard into Scorpius' gut, following with a second strike that sent fluids gushing out to the ground and onto Matt's own armor.

"Fool!" the Insectoid lord roared while swatting Matt to the ground. "I am supreme in this universe!"

With a roar, Scorpius brought his full weight on the boy as he slammed down his limbs onto Matt's shoulders, bringing the Red Ranger to his knees. Matt knew it had to end now, or he would never get a second chance. "Supreme dumbass," he whispered while his shield began blazing with golden light. He looked up while Scorpius had an expression of confusion, then smiled. "I die, you die, dickwad."

"Matt, no!"

Even as his armor fluxed from overload, Matt looked back, and, gazing to his team, let them know that his time was over, that this was the only way he could say good-bye. And, as the powers within him erupted out, he felt a moment of pain, and then, it was over.

3000.339, Ninth Continuim

Bodies littered the floor as the eight Rangers came to a halt. They hadn't caused the bloodbath that lay before them, which left the question of who had. Certainly, FATE wouldn't just mindlessly kill off its own living underlings like this, it served no purpose.

"I was wondering when you all would make it this far."

An armored form stepped out into the corridor. Clad in black with ruby red and silver sections of plating, his helmet had a red visor, and the armor, overall, bore a resemblance to both TimeFire and TimeThunder. However, unlike the two members of the Time Rangers, there seemed to be a sinister style to the design of this new armor.

The figure stopped, looking about at the mass of corpses. "I got bored," he added, raising his right arm and igniting a massive blade of green energy form the gemstone mounted in the gauntlet. "Though, perhaps I should introduce myself to the people I am to replace." He allowed his blade to dissipate, then gave a bow to the Time Rangers. "I am the Quantum Ranger, though perhaps, you already know who I am."

And his visor slid open while the fate plate split to reveal the face underneath, one that was recognized well by the five from this era of time. "Oh my god," Lucas whispered. "But, you died a thousand years ago, in Star Light Bay!"

"In your history," replied Ryan Cole, his icy blue eyes staring at the eight Rangers. "But I was pulled from my own timeline, the only survivor of my Continuim cycle, and I honestly could care less about those that weren't spared."

"But, you're a hero!" Syon exclaimed, shaking his head with disbelief. "You were the Red Astral Ranger, how can you do this?!"

With a snort, Ryan let his helmet close up to hide his face again. "I decided different," he stated, igniting his energy blade again. "FATE saw a use for me, so she pulled me from my timeline and brought me here to be the Quantum Ranger, her hand." There was a sinister laugh from the black and red schemed Ranger, the massive blade on his right arm crackling. "And it's time, my little Rangers, that you met your destiny in oblivion!"

With a roar, he raced forward, causing the eight Rangers to scatter while his blade tore through the air and cleaved through the ground paneling. He chuckled, shifting his weight and leaping up to back flip around over Eric. His blade flared briefing, then swung only to be held off by the solid blade of the FireStorm enhanced V-Defender. He grunted, a bit surprised that such a weapon had parried the strike of his own, then jumped back a few feet while Eric readied his stance for attack.

"Is TimeFire that eager to die?" came the taunting words of the Quantum Ranger. "You of all people can see that I will kill every single one of you pathetic rebels." He grinned, and though Eric couldn't see it, the man knew that his enemy was mocking him. "After all," Ryan continued. "You were the Quantum Ranger yourself, in the second cycle of time."

Something flashed in Eric's mind. Visions of what could have been; him standing alone, fighting a monestrous golden machine, and all he had was the V-Rex. Yet, something was off. His armor looked more like cloth, smooth without plates, and seemed to bear near identical resemblances to TimeRed.

"Q-Rex, full power!"

The scene continued, he and the V-Rex defeated by their enemy, and he saw himself demorph. But something again was wrong with this vision; he was still wearing the uniform of a Silver Guardian. More so, he still was wearing the red rope of command on his shoulder.

"You can see it," Ryan whispered. "This place is filled with lost fragments of past Continuims. FATE likes to keep memories of what she has erased, and since this is the first time people like you have come this deep, she didn't know how your minds would react."

He looked at the Quantum Ranger, almost blazing with anger. This person seemed to feed off of his thoughts of failure, of seeing a world where he was not able to finish his battle. "I learned the meaning of being a team," he hissed while bringing about the V-Defender. "But in your case, shit-head, I think I'll go back to being the glory hog just this once!"

"Eric, don't!"

He sped forward, carried by the repulsor cushion of his boots as he swung at the Quantum Ranger. The massive green blade of energy deflected his strike, but within mere moments, he brought up a gunblade and fired into the chest of his foe, sending Ryan flying back. The firearm was quickly returned to its place on Eric's back piece, both hands now gripping the V-Defender's handle. He leaned forward again to go flying at the Quantum Ranger, spinning around to bring the flat of the V-Defender slamming hard against the servant of FATE. Eric slid to a halt, turning to see his enemy pull himself back to his feet.

With a groan, Ryan snapped his head up and raised his weapon arm, running toward TimeFire and clearly telegraphing his intent to run the man through. The V-Defender came about, pushing away the energy blade and allowing Eric to slam his elbow into Ryan's chest, then bring his fist up to backhand the Quantum Ranger in the head. He took his chance to swing about and deliver a solid kick that flung Ryan back to the ground, then hovered backwards to try and give him a chance to give up now.

"You're mocking me," he hissed while getting up, energy blade crackling while it re-ignited. "Giving me a chance to stand down, is that it, TimeFire?!" He laughed. "Whatever happened to the man who stole the powers of the V-Fire and the V-rex for his own goddamn personal agendas?! What happened to the old Eric Okibi, huh?!"

The V-Defender flashed briefly while Eric stared down at the Quantum Ranger. "I learned what it means to hold power," he replied, his voice cold in tone. "And I learned it from someone I should have listened to in the first place!"

With a snort, Ryan ran forward, his weapon clashing on the blade of the V-Defender once more. He swung his right fist, but Eric was quickly to block it with his left arm and twisted his hand about to grab Ryan by the wrist and pull, throwing the Quantum Ranger about and into a wall. The young minion of FATE yelled out in anger, swinging his blade wildly, but all he succeeded in doing was tearing up the panels of the flooring and walls. "I'm sick of you all!" he screamed, but even as he again swung at TimeFire, he missed, and was repaid with a sharp kick to the head.

With a high-pitched roar, Ryan raced at Eric, then gasped when he missed with his attack and felt the blade of the V-Defender flash right through his abdomen. For a moment, the Quantum Ranger stumbled, like he had survived untouched. But when blood began to drip down from out of his armor, it was clear that he had taken the fatal blow. "Why?" he whispered just before his upper body slid off and fell to the ground, lower body from the waist down falling down to the back of his standing direction. "Why can't I...just...win?"

And he fell silent. The blade on his right arm vanished, and Eric breathed heavily before shutting down his armor's FireStorm mode, returning to default armor form. He turned to the other Rangers, giving them a quick nod. "We don't have time to look at his corpse," he said, now once more having a trace of the old Eric Okibi. "We need to take out FATE and fix what it did to everything."

1991.095, Fourth Continuim

He tumbled through the void, aimless and without awareness. The young child could not help but cry at what had happened. He had been stolen, taken from his bed in the night by that horrible monster. His parents would find him, they had to, it was all he could believe.

The endless nothingness ended as he hit the ground. Blinking, the toddler looked around at what looked to be a barren world, utterly lifeless. His pale blonde hair wisped in the winds that softly blew against him, but then, he turned at the sound of footsteps. And what he saw shocked him.

The figure was huge, standing over seven feet tall, and his olive hued green skin was scaled like a serpent's. Large horns grew from where he should have had ears, curling about like those of a ram. The child stifled his sobbing, but then curled up into a ball while tears poured down his cheeks. He didn't have any hope now.

"I know the power you hold," the man whispered. Looking up, the toddler met his glowing red eyes, and his tears stopped. "I know that you are not from this Continuim, but you have a place still here, yes..." The man smiled and reached down to pick the child up carefully. There was something almost caring in his hold, but the gleam in his eyes revealed the insidious intentions behind his actions. "Yes, I think, little one, that I well have a place for you here."

He turned, the child in his arms, and as he tilted his head, a massive tear in the fabric of space opened to reveal a massive black castle beyond the event horizon. The man smiled as he stepped through the rift, now floating through the air. He glanced to the child, who even now had a look of amazement in his eyes. "Yes, little one," he whispered. "I think that a child such as you will very much find his place, to find revenge against those who would claim what was meant to be yours."

3000.339, Ninth Continuim

As they finally reached the end of the hallway, the eight Rangers came to a halt. Before them was a massive pair of doors that would not open to their presence. Alex narrowed his eyes, then, drawing out his saber, thrust forward and let the blade erupt to burn open a hole in the doors. Alerts went off, but it didn't matter as they stepped into the chamber, now seeing the face of their enemy at last.

Hovering over the floor was the massive form of light, streaks of multi-colored holographics being form to the incredible AI. Its eyes blazed with yellow light, and looking to the eight Rangers, the being known as FATE only nodded to acknowledge their presence. "I welcome you," the entity of light stated in a calm tone. "That you have made it so far impresses me, Time Rangers. I would not have thought that Ryan Cole would be defeated do easily."

"You forgot who you're dealing with," Lucas snapped while readying his Chrono Vectors. He could see the fear in the eyes of the human technicians. They were genuinely afraid of the Rangers, of what they had come to do, and what they really could do. Did that mean that FATE in fact had no control over them after all?

The holo-graphic form gave a nodding gesture. "It seems, that for a moment, I did." FATE waved around it, as if showing off its accomplishments while multiple images flashed on all the screens in the command chamber. "But you forget, my Rangers, that I have made everything you know possible! I brought about the great peace in the universe, I have strived to give you everything that will make you happy!"

"You can take your perfect timeline," Eric snapped. "And shove it up your digital asshole! You want to control people's lives, take away true free will!"

FATE paused, looking to this human who dared to accusing it of such things. "Would you prefer," the being of light said while bending down to face Eric, "that you never had the chances you had in your timeline? Would you prefer that you instead died before you could become the TimeFire?"

"What I'd prefer," Eric replied, right hand gripping tightly to the V-Defender. "I'd prefer that you did what you were supposed to do in the first place, not ignore your purpose and go killing the one person who can save this universe!"

With a laugh, FATE floated about the room, while the human staff fled, knowing well what was going to soon happen. But the AI didn't mind at all. It didn't need the humans to handle these eight pitiful organic rebels. It was the master of Time and destiny. "You really believe that Matthew Corbett will indeed save this universe?!" FATE hissed. It stopped, hovering before the main screen array. "It is because of Corbett that the Great War happened, and because of him, the entire universe will almost be destroyed!" It paused, allowing the Rangers to understand now why it had done everything that had been preformed to create this Continuim. "Yes, Matthew Corbett can be considered a savior, but the Great War of the original cycle nearly destroyed the universe, and it is all because Matthew Corbett released the Wave!"

With a grunt, Domon stopped forward. "But that's because we all have a choice," he stated firmly. "Matt chose to do what he knew was right, and even if it almost destroyed the universe in the original cycle, it didn't. The universe and life survived, and you, FATE, are proof of it!"

"But I seek to change the horrors that would tear the cosmos apart!"

"That's not your decision to make!" Syon added, standing by his friend while holding his Lance in his left hand. "No one gave you the right to decide the destiny of the whole universe! Your purpose was to safeguard the flow of time, not rule it!"

With a nod, FATE hovered toward the Rangers. "Yes," it replied. "That was the purpose of my creation. But as you said, Domon Kashuu, we all have a choice. And I made mine to preserve the universe and make sure that the Great War of the Zero Cycle could never happen!"

There was no denying it now; FATE could not be convinced that what it was doing was wrong, that by denying the real choice, it was just as wrong as the thing it tried to stop. But FATE knew that it could not sway the Rangers, and to it, they were as wrong as they saw it. And so, in the computer mind of the being created to safeguard time, all the possible outcomes formulated, and of all of them, one stood above all others; the Rangers would defy FATE. And so, as before, when everything had started, FATE made a choice.

It chose to fight.

"I am FATE," the computer entity stated while rising up in the air. "I have seen the past, the present, and I have seen the future. And the future that must be, Rangers, is that TimeRed will die!"

With a scream that echoed throughout the chamber, FATE unleashed a surge that slammed into the Rangers, shutting down the armors of the five Time Rangers, but leaving Eric, Jen, and Alex still in morph. FATE, shocked by the fact that its initial attack failed to take out these three, floated back and vanished. However, Alex got a quick and solid lock on the flow of energy now, his body's cyberware tracing it straight down the hallway at the back of the chamber.

"You five all right?" he asked. The Time Rangers nodded, though it was obvious that for the moment, they were in no condition to fight. But Alex knew well that wouldn't stop them, so there was no sense in arguing the point. Hopefully, they'd have a chance to engage their armors again before they found FATE's core.

The eight Rangers ran into the rear corridor, following the trace that Alex had on FATE's energy signal, but slowed as images flashed by in the monitors that lined the walls. On each screen was a different scene, almost like these was the last memories of the Continuims that had been. On one was show the image of the Lightspeed Rangers, armors smoothened like fabric, while another displayed the Lightspeed Rangers that the four natives of this era knew from their own history.

In another monitor was a scene playing out, what looked like the death of Matthew Corbett at the hands of Trakeena, only for the Insectoid Princess to be killed in turn by Delta Yellow. Each screen was showing what had once been, but then, as the others watched the multitudes of events, Jen continued down the corridor and found her attention grabbed by one scene in particular.

TimeRed stood before FATE, alone. For a moment, Jen could swear that this had to be some kind of false image, because there was no indication that what they were doing had ever been attempted before. And as the scene continued, she saw that this was not a record of the past, but a prediction of the future; their future. Wes was going to face FATE alone, and from what she saw, he was going to die.

But something clicked in her mind then, as she watched. Not once in this scene did it show Wes himself, only the Red Time Ranger. In fact, the body seemed all wrong, smaller than he would be and there looked to be slim curves where there shouldn't have been.

Her eyes widened as she realized what she was seeing, looked at Wes, then to the Chrono Changer on his left arm. Jen turned back to the screen watching the scene play itself out. It was all wrong, the TimeRed in this image acted nothing like Wes, didn't fight like him or anything. In fact, from the look of the body, she would guess that this TimeRed was a woman. More so, there was a black and silver device attached to the right arm that Wes did not have.

And then, she knew what was going to happen. She knew who would face FATE, who would survive, and who would be lost. FATE had seen what had to be, but it failed to notice things that did not fit pure logic. Logic said that, since the Red Changer was encoded to Wes' DNA, only Wes could become TimeRed. Logically then, if TimeRed was destine to die in the battle with FATE, then that meant Wes was going to die.

But Jennifer Edwards knew in her heart that logic wasn't always reality. Logic said that Time was merely a force of nature, a progression of things, and nothing more. But she had seen, with her own eyes, that Time had a sentience, that Time was always exploring every thing that could be, because it wanted to. And Time, even now, was guiding Jen to her own destiny, the destiny she was always meant for, in order to break FATE's hold over the flow of destiny.

And she knew how to do what must be done. Shutting down her armor, Jen ran over to Wes, then pulled him away from the others while they stared in shock. Tearing the Chrono Changer from his wrist, she flicked out her knife, cut Wes along the top of his arm, then coated the DNA sensor piece on the underside of the Changer with his blood before pushing him back into the other Rangers.

"Jen!" Eric cried. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Doing what I have to," the woman replied while locking the Changer on over her left sleeve. "I'm sorry, but FATE is right. TimeRed will die, but it's not gonn'a be you!" With that, she stepped back and mimicked perfectly the morphing stance of the Time Rangers. "Chrono Morph!"

The DNA locks of the Changer read only the genetic code in Wes' blood, allowing her to tap the activation switch and engage the morphing protocols. Jen found herself flying through the stream of time itself, armor energizing around her body as a stream of light washed over her from the feet upwards, then stopped at where her neck met her head before resuming on a down sweep to form the helmet. She returned to real time, standing before the seven as the TimeRed she saw in the record of what was to come.

They could only stare in shock while Jen ran down the hallway. What she had done was the impossible; bypass the DNA locks without any method of gene alteration, and now, to change destiny, she was going to take Wes' place as TimeRed.

"Oh god," Lucas whispered moments before they all broke into full run. "She'd gonn'a get herself killed!" He tapped the activation switch of his Changer while crying out the transformation command, flashing as he morphed into his armor. Domon, Yuuri and Syon followed suit while Alex, Wes and Eric raced to keep up.

With a resounding solid kick, the doors flew open, torn off their mountings and hitting the ground with a series of loud thuds. The slim and curved form of TimeRed stepped into the massive chamber, her eyes welcomed by the site of what looked to be the largest computer hive network imaginable. With a grunt, Jen flicked out the Double Vector, the scanners in her helmet going haywire from all the energy readings they were picking up.

"I know you're here!" she called, her voice distorted by the filter of her helmet. "You wanted to face TimeRed, well here I am!"

"So, you would try and rewrite destiny."

Jen turned her attention to the center point of the chamber and gasped when the scanners of her armor went out of control. They couldn't be working right, because if the readings were true, there was a temporal black hole right where the form of FATE was taking shape! "Good god," she whispered, sure now, as stray bits of light pulled away from FATE to reveal the presence of such a quantum singularity. "That's how you do it. You've got a fucking black hole!"

The being of light tilted its head, as if amused it took so long for this organic being to figure things out. "A temporal flux," FATE stated calmly while moving away from the singularity. "But yes, you could call it a black hole. It is a void in space and time, and if not for my control over it, this flux singularity would expand and consume the entire Continuim that I have built."

Footsteps could be heard, Jen looking back but for a moment to see the others arrive. "Don't try and talk me out of this!" she yelled. "This is the way it has to be!"

"Jen, don't do this!" Wes cried, though both Alex and Eric held him back. "You don't have to throw your life away!"

With a smile under her new helmet, Jen understood why this man had been able to convince Eric to change his attitudes toward life. He cared more about other people than about himself, and that was his greatest gift, but it was also his ultimate weakness. That's why it was about time someone started thinking about him for a change, and she owed his father a debt that had to be repaid. This was the only way she could do it now.

With a cry of rage, she ran at FATE, only to be struck by a barrage of pulse fire that slammed her to the ground. The other Rangers start to head in to help her, but FATE gave a cold laugh and created a field before them that kept the seven from continuing on.

But Jen wasn't phased. She already knew what was going to happen, she had seen almost the whole battle in that screen. And most likely, she had seen parts that FATE was too arrogant to bother seeing. "You just made my job easier," she whispered before getting to her feet and readying her Double Vector. Even with the wild fluxes of energy in the chamber, her helmet scanners struggled to locks down the CPU mainframe that was FATE.

Another round of firepower slammed her to the floor, but Jen continued scanning until, at last, she had a lock. She stood once more, then, looking up at FATE, ran forward and threw the Double Vector just as a third round fired on her. It was then that, as the blade of the Vector slammed into the mainframe, FATE all too late knew what Jen was doing.

And the woman smiled just as she stumbled. A scan from her armor told her the truth; the pulse fire assault had done more than just bring her down, it had punched through the armor and into her body, leaving her barely hanging to life. She knew well why it was meant to be that, having become TimeRed this once, she wasn't going to return with the others. She was dying.

She looked to FATE while the computer being began to short out. "You have back ups," she hissed, trying to stay standing long enough to finish it all. "But you said it yourself. If the containment on that flux ends, it consumes your perfect timeline."

"No!"

Taking one last look at the Rangers, Jen opened her visor to reveal the pain in her eyes, and the expression that told them this was how it had to be. "Thank you all," she said. "Because of you, I had a chance to be a part of something I never thought possible." There was a smile tugging at her lips now. "Get your asses out of here so you can do me a favor. Find my sister Cassidy, and tell her that I'm proud of her."

With that, Jen turned away and ran toward the center of the room. Her armor began to blaze, alarms going off in her helmet, but she knew already what they were screaming at her for. She was going to self-destruct from power overload, and even as FATE screamed for her to stop, Jen knew that this was her destiny.

The Rangers ran, racing to escape before while Jen heard a final warning go off from her armor. Seconds later, she saw a bright light. Her life flashed before her mind's eye, everything she had done rushing back in an instant. And, in that moment, she smiled, knowing that she'd finally found her peace.

There was a massive roar as the armor of TimeRed detonated. Tearing out and slamming through every computer in the chamber, the blast shattered FATE's form, ripping apart every monitor and system there. Most importantly, the systems that maintained the containment fields on the temporal flux were destroyed, causing the quantum singularity in the timestream to begin expanding. Everything it touched vanished into nothingness, consumed by the void and cast into Tesserect.

Everything shook violently, and with Provider Base collapsing around them, the Time Rangers knew they had not a moment to spare. They had to get out now.

"Winger!" Alex stated into his arm comp. "Retrieval!"

As they made their way through the base, the seven remaining Rangers found the way they came in through had caved in. Eric quickly noticed a stairway, leading the group upwards and out onto a balcony platform that overlooked the entire city. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "Where the hell is the Shadow Winger?!"

His answer came as the massive jet craft came about from above, the side hatch opening while it came to hover just feet from the end of balcony. With a grunt, Eric ran the length of the platform and jumped to land in the hold of the craft. Behind him, the other Rangers did the same, leaving Alex and Wes left to make the jump.

With a glance back into the base, Wes nodded to Alex. "I'll be right behind you," he said, TimeShadow taking his chance to run and leap into the Winger. Just as Wes was about to make his jump, a large piece of ledge from the upper level came crashing down, forcing the Winger to back away while the majority of the platform was torn away. Wes stepped back, then looked to see that the expanding void was getting closer. His friends had to leave now if there was ever going to be a chance. "Go!" he cried.

"No!" came Alex's reply. He held out his hand, singling for Wes to jump. "We all go home, Wes, or none of us go home!"

He gulped, then, running what little remained of the balcony jumped out, almost missing the edge of the doorway. He held on while Lucas, now in the cockpit of the winger, maneuvered the craft away from Provider Base. For a moment, Wes felt that he was going to slip, but just has his fingers lost hold of the edge, a strong grip came down and caught his arm.

"You think I'd let myself go?" Alex stated, Eric moving to help him pull Wes into the Winger's hold while Syon tapped the keypad that shut the hatch the minute Wes was in. The cyborg gave a sigh of relief, then headed up to the cockpit to take up a seat next to Lucas. "Take us home," he said while unlocking his helmet from his head and pulling it off.

"We might have a problem," Lucas replied. He tapped on the control console to bring up a readout of the flux core's power levels. "There's just enough charge left to take us back to Silver Hills. Once we're there though, the flux drive is useless."

With a nod, Alex let the man know that it didn't matter anymore. "We don't need to go anywhere after we get back home," he said while punching in the commands needed for returning to their own new Continuim. "This timeline will be consumed by that rift, and then be absorbed into the future of our new cycle." He paused, smiling. "Everything works out in the end, Lucas. Let's go home."

With energy crackling over the hull of the Shadow Winger, the craft shot off, vanishing in a flash with a trail of fire behind it even as the temporal void expanded rapidly in their wake.

Unknown Date, Tenth Continuim

The skies flashed as a sonic boom peeled through the air. A second explosive sound, and the Shadow Winger burst out of the time stream in the skies over Silver Hills. It came about, heading into the city, but something was wrong, something very obvious to everyone inside.

It was all in ruins.

The entire city was demolished, from the outlying suburbs to the tall skyscrapers in the heart of the city, it was all destroyed. The sky itself was darkened with clouds, thunder rumbling every so often, while a bolt of lighting flashed. And in the Shadow Winger, they all stared in confused horror. What had happened?

The Winger headed down into the city, finding the location of the old clock tower and landing. Wes was the first one to get out, instantly wrinkling his nose moments before having the urge to throw-up from the smell. "God, what's that stench?!" he cried.

Alex followed him, looking around, then frowning as he recognized the scent. "It's sulfur," he stated before heading into the remained of the clock tower. Inside, there was evidence of someone having been here recently, despite that the building's upper levels had been previously destroyed. The other six Rangers joined him inside, but there was no one else there now save them. "What the hell happened in this city?"

A violent crackling sound, like that of an impacting beamsaber, gained their attention seconds before something crashed through a wall and landed before them. It was a massive form, most definitely a demon, and as it rose to its feet, a second form came in after it, this one lithe and humanoid clad in light blue armor.

"Suck on it, hell freak!" the armored figure screamed just before swinging a blazing green beamsaber to cut into the demon's chest. With a roar, it swat the figure away, then turned toward the Rangers. The armored form quickly moved to guard them, then slowly glanced back to recognize these seven. "Wes?!" the person said in shock. It was then that the Time Rangers noticed the bright red hair that came out of the back of her helmet. "Where the hell have you people been for the last six months?!"

"Six months?!" Syon exclaimed. "We should have arrived back here the moment we left!"

With a frown, Alex realized what had thrown them off. "The temporal singularity," he said, glancing to the demon form that stood before them. "It warped our trip into the timestream and messed up the vectors." He paused, then pulled out a Chrono Changer from his leg compartment and tossed it to Wes. "It's a good thing I held onto that," he said while he brought his helmet up to lock on his head while shutting the face plate and visor. "Consider this the last passing of the torch to you, Wes. That's the Changer I used when I was you."

With a nod, the six took position, Chrono Changers raised while Eric brought the V-Fire to his lips. "Time Ranger!" Yuuri cried, she and the other four Changer wearing Rangers shifting posture.

"TimeFire!"

"Chrono Morph!"

			Executive Director		Christopher Blair

			Executive Producer		Blain Anderson

			Assistant Producer		Chris Sawyer

			Screenplay			Christopher Blair

			Casting Director		Michael Miller

			1st Assistant Director		Seth Hart

			2nd Assistant Director		Matt Lobdell

			Production Manager		Eric Sandberg

			Music				Mitsuda Yasunori 

			Wes Collins			Jason Faunt
			Alex Murphey
		
			Yuuri Asami			Mika Katsumura

			Domon Kashuu			Tomohide Koizumi

			Lucas Delgado			Michael Copon

			Syon				Kevin Kleinberg

			Eric Okibi			Daniel Southworth

			Jen Edwards			Erin Cahill

			FATE(voice)			Carol Hoyt

			Logan				Roy Werner

			Ryan Cole			Blain Anderson

			Ransik				Vernon Wells

			Matt Corbett			Christopher Blair

			Mike Corbett			Russell Lawrence