Blasts went flying as Eric ran, dodging the shots from the Reavers as he returned fire with the V-Defender. "I gott'a give these guys credit, they're really starting to bug me!" he cried, barely avoiding a shot as he ducked around a corner, firing back at the robot soldiers. With the Silver Guardians having their own shoot-out with the machines, Eric was having quite a problem.

"V-Fire, tactical analysis!" Eric stated, but got no reply from the V-Fire. "V-Fire, tactical analysis! Damnit, say something!" The unit on his wrist was silent, Eric swearing as he fired at the Reavers and managed to strike one directly in the eye. "One down, fifty more to..."

He was interrupted as a massive blast slammed into the Reavers, detonating several of them and giving Eric a break from the fire fight. "Eric, you okay?!"

"Wes," TimeFire groaned. "I don't need your help, Collins!"

"Baka," Yuuri snapped lowly as she hefted her V5. "I don't know why we bother."

"He's human," Wes stated. "Even if he is an ass most of the time."

Yuuri nodded as she sent her V5 back into its subspace storage pocket and called out her Chrono Vector, rushing into the Reavers as the rest of the team joined her in the battle.

"Idiots," Eric muttered, racing off as he followed the signal he and the Guardians had tracked down. "Okay, freak! Come out now, and I'll make this as fast as possible!"

"That's no way to treat a superior!" came the low bassy voice, its owner stepping out to reveal a powerfully built alien body. "And I know very well what you can do, TimeFire! You don't refreeze us, you kill!"

"Blame it on the weapons designer, I just use them!" Eric snapped back, switching the V-Defender to sword mode and racing at the alien. His every strike was blocked with ease, Eric shocked that such a bulky being could move so quick, his shock increasing as the alien knocked the V-Defender out of his hands. "Oh shit."

"Time to die, Ranger!"

Eric quick leaped up as the alien ran at him, sailing over the alien, but the V-Defender was still to far away from him to get it in time. "Damnit, I am so screwed this time!"

The alien laughed as he closed in, herding Eric into a corner. "You said it, human. Time to meet your maker!" He ran at Eric, then screamed as the familiar blast of the V-Defender struck him. "What?!"

Several more shots fired, slamming into the alien before a blur shot by, sending him to the ground. The alien stood up again, then gasped as the fiery red blaze of the V-Defender's FireBlaze mode cut through him several times, energy crackling out as he fell and exploded.

Eric stared in shock as the Time Rangers ran over, expecting him to have killed the alien, then getting a surprise as they saw who had wielded the V-Defender. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I think the question is who the hell do you think you are," the new arrival replied as he converted the V-Defender back to gun mode. "Namely, what the hell do you think you're doing using the V-Fire."

"How the hell do you know about-"

"Because I knew the man who created it," the blonde male replied, straightening his black jacket a bit and taking off his sunglasses to reveal his emerald green eyes. Silver streaks glinted through his hair. "And because I'm here to check on what the hell is going on."

There was a moment of hesitation from Eric. "What? Who the hell are you?"

The teenager smiled a bit as he twirled the V-Defender on his finger. "I'm the guy who saved the universe six years ago. Matt Corbett."

The Legacy

Eric growled in contempt at the black clad teenager before him. "Sorry, the name doesn't ring a bell. Now give me back my weapon."

There was a pause, and then, Matt tossed the V-Defender back to Eric. "I'm not surpised you haven't heard of me. War heroes are only loved until they're not useful anymore, the same goes for them being known." He shrugged, then glanced to the V-Fire attached to Eric's wrist. "Still, as the only Ranger in the area who did know the man who designed TimeFire, I have to ponder how the V-Fire got here, and that inquiry includes the BattleZord."

"Battle...what?"

"The BattleZord," Matt stated. "The V-Rex BattleZord. How it and the V-Fire got on Earth, I don't know. But I'd prefer taking them both back to Eltar."

"Hold on a minute," Wes cut in. "Where and what the hell is Eltar?"

"It's another planet out in the Andromeda Galaxy," Matt answered calmly. "It's the home world of Zordon, the man who first formed the Power Rangers, and designed the TimeFire, as well as created the V-Rex BattleZord. Since Zordon is dead, I'm checking this out myself."

"If he's dead, then the TimeFire is unclaimed, and that means it's mine!" Eric snapped in contempt. He noticed then the surprise on Matt's face at his response. "No offense, kid. It's just that I found it and activated it."

He narrowed his eyes, wondering how this man was a Ranger with such an attitude. "You're not going to make this easy," Matt muttered. He again shrugged. "I don't know the whole story, but be sure, I'm interested as hell to find out exactly what's going on. By all means, the V-Rex and the V-Fire should not be here on Earth. Now, if one of you could kindly explain the situation..."

He stopped, now noticing the similarities between the TimeFire and the other Time Rangers. Such a resemblence should not exist. "Where did you five get your armors, and why are they so obviously derived from the TimeFire?"

The five Time Rangers said nothing, but Eric then glanced at them, realizing that with what this boy had said, things didn't make sense. He had assumed that the Time Rangers had a part in the source of the V-Fire, but if they didn't, then where did their powers come from? Why did their armors bear such a resemblence to his own?

"Am I going to get an answer?" Matt asked. When no one replied, he shook his head. "Fine, you can tell me later." He turned and began to walk away, then paused and glanced to Eric. "I am going to keep my eye on you though, because something about this doesn't smell right." With that, he walked away, leaving the five Time Rangers to look at TimeFire in shock.

Eric looked to them now, trying to sort things out. "Wes, I want answers from you now, because-"

"Commander," his coms rang. Eric silently swore and turned away from the five while his own troops gave a report. "We've begun clean up, but I have to say, something's really weird about this. It's almost like someone just tore these things apart with some kind of sword or something."

There was silence from Okibi, but then he tapped the com. "Gather what you can and start heading back to base. We've got a lot of work to do." With a sigh, he ended the comline, then glancd back to the Rangers. "I have a job to do. You can start explaining things later, because I will want answers." Eric turned and tapped the V-Fire to call down the FireEagle from subspace. He quickly boarded the craft and launched, leaving behind the five Rangers.

"Frax!" Ransik bellowed as he walked into the cryo-freeze block of the prison ship. "What the hell just happened?!"

"I don't know!" Frax replied, most honest with his master. "Adrax was about to finish off the TimeFire, when someone used the TimeFire's weapon on him."

"I want to see!" Ransik ordered, Frax nodding as he tapped several keys on the console and brought up a video feed from the head cam in one of the Reavers.

"That's new. I wonder what caused-"

"Quiet!" Ransik stated. Hew looked closely at the image, then narrowed his brow. "Frax, get a close up of that boy," the man stated calmly. "He looks familiar."

"Magnifying...historical database identifies him as Matthew Corbett, once the Silver Ranger as a child. He's also recorded as one of the earliest naturally evolved mutants in this century."

"A mutant...what type?"

"Telpathic, possibly the most powerful on this planet," Frax answered. "He has an extremely high telepathic rating, the highest ever seen in a human, he also has some minor telekinetic abilities. He's recorded in our history as having brought down the Dark Empire during the Great War."

"He seems to know something about the V-Fire and the V-Rex," Ransik mused. "I want to meet this...Matthew Corbett."

There was little said as the five Time Rangers returned to the clock tower. However, there was someone waiting when they arrived, someone they'd already met and was the last person they wanted to see at that moment.

"So why is the V-Fire here on Earth?" came the cold statement from Matt Corbett. "I easily have other ways of finding out what I want to know, but I don't wish to lower myself to that level, so start explaining now."

There was again silence as none of the five wanted to reveal the truth of what was going on. Matt tilted his head slightly while looking at them, then shook his head. "Regardless, I still need to know one way or another, because the V-Rex has got to go back in storage on that asteroid."

"But it'd still be there!" Yuuri exclaimed, then realized she said something she shouldn't have.

Matt stopped as he stared in shock. This woman knew something about where the V-Rex was hidden. "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Wes replied. "She's just--"

Matt however, focused his mind and frowned. "Oh shit," he muttered. "That's why we didn't get a signal from the asteroid's alerts...you four have any idea how much this could have possibly screwed up the timestream?"

Again, silence. Matt merely glared at the five, then looked to Wes. "You're from our era, but these four...someone, tell me now what the hell is going on!"

Syon blinked at the boy. This human was acting like he could read their minds! "How did you-"

"I'm a mutant," Matt stated quickly. "Telepathics, I read her mind. Now explain what is going on, and why the hell the V-Fire is here on Earth?!"

Yuuri sighed and nodded. "Four of us, Lucas, Syon, Domon and myself, are...well, actually were, part of a military organization that polices the flow of time in the year three-thousand, Time Force. The Chrono powers were made by them based on the V-Fire, that's why TimeRed looks so much like the TimeFire, save a few differences. Both the V-Fire and the V-Rex were found on an asteroid in the Andromeda Galaxy in twenty-seven fifty-three, it was put in storage until about a hundred years ago in our time, around when Time Force was formed. It was used to be a test subject for the time gate..."

"And was lost in the time stream," Domon finished. "Along with the V-Fire, which Eric activated."

Matt frowned as he shook his head. Now things were making sense, but it created new problems. "Damn glad I was in the neighborhood then. I'm not so sure the fabric of space can handle so much extra mass, mostly with the V-Rex BattleZord. Time will do fine, but I hope that you manage to get your V-Rex back to your time within...I'd say a couple years to be on the safe side."

"And the V-Fire?"

That now was something bothering Matt. "How did this Eric get the V-Fire? He most definitely does not act like someone I'd trust to be a Power Ranger."

"I'm afraid that he didn't exactly do it in the most well meaning ways," Circuit said as he hovered over, Matt raising a brow at the eagle-like robot. "He in essence stole it from us when Wes tried to recover the command box, and has been using it for his own gains."

That got Matt's undivided attention, not to mention a look of disgust. "God damnit!" he spat, about to kick something over, then stopping. "I should have known the minute he snapped at me like that." He shook his head, then sighed. "I gott'a get it back from him and get it out of here."

"That's not an option," Circuit continued. When Matt looked over to him for answers, the eagle robot gave an approximation of a resound sigh. "Like it or not, Matt, we need the TimeFire and V-Rex. Either Eric keeps using the V-Fire, or you find a replacement for him, those are the only options we have."

Matt sighed as he rubbed his temples. "Damn, this is one hell of a mess we're in." He took the chance to sit down, then glanced to the Time Rangers. "I've got to get the V-Fire back from him, if only so he can learn his lesson, but..." He shook his head, as if there was something else. "I can't stick around to replace him, I've got my own problems elsewhere. Hopefully, we can find some middle ground with him, but until then, I gott'a do my best to keep V-Rex from being abused."

"Ransik, this prison is nothing but murderers and the such," Frax tried to explain as he and the mutant walked down the halls of the prison ship. Ransik had spent the good part of an hour looking for any inmate that didn't have a record of wanton killing, with no success what so ever. "As I have tried to point out before, the only way to control them is a retraining band of some kind."

"And I'm not so sure even that will be reliable," Ransik replied as he came to a cell block and looked at the readouts on the cells. "No, no, no, no...ah! Finally! Frax, take this one to the reanimation chamber and de-freeze her. If memory serves me right, Jega should be the one I need."

Frax bowed as Ransik walked away, the looked at the readout and growled. "Imprisoned for hacking into high level government database? No, you will not do at all." Frax looked away from the block and found one more of his use, laughing as he pulled the ice block out and carried it to reanimation. "Yes, you on the other hand, will do quite nicely! The TimeFire will soon be under my power!"

Eric growled as he walked into the Bio-Synth main office. Collins needed to hear about the possible problem they had, and if Corbett was going to make good on his claims, there would be trouble. For that matter, something about the boy bothered Eric, like there was a part of him trying to get out now.

"Mister Collins, sir?" he called as he walked into Collins' office. "I need to speak with you."

"Of course!" Collins replied with a smile. "No time I can't spare for Bio-Synth's own Ranger!"

There was a tense silence from Eric before he spoke. "That's what I have to tell you. Someone's shown up, and he knows a lot about the V-Fire."

"What?" Collins' expression suddenly went rock cold. "You still have it, don't you?"

Eric nodded, then sat down as he tried to figure out how to explain everything. "I still have it, but from his words, I think he may try and take it from me. The V-Fire isn't even from Earth, sir, it's some kind of alien device, as is the V-Rex. Some kid named, Corbett, I think, showed up when I was fighting one of those monsters and-"

"Corbett?!" Collins exclaimed, his anger now melting into shock, terrified shock. "Matthew Corbett?!"

"I think so, yeah. The kid acted like I should have heard of him, claimed he saved the universe. Who is he?"

Collins was pale white now as he realized just how bad now the situation was. "God, I should have seen it! That boy must have some crazy savior complex now. Eric, he wasn't lying. Matthew Corbett, six years ago, caused the Purge Wave, derailed the plans to use the Devestator for a weapons platform back then. He knows about the V-Fire?"

"It gets better," Eric continued. "He claims he knew the guy who created it and the V-Rex, some guy called, Zordon. What bothers me is that he knows how to use the V-Defender, probably better than me. Corbett says he's gonn'a be keeping an eye on me, so..."

"He's probably going to try and take it from you," Collins muttered. He shook his head with worry; this was not something he wanted to deal with, not now. "I'll try and figure something out, but you be careful, we can't be losing our prime sell."

"Sir, we've got a situation downtown!" Eric's head set screamed. "City council is practically begging us to handle this!"

Okibi looked to Collins with a frown. "Problems with Corbett or not, I still am the TimeFire."

"We'll handle this problem later," Collins said in agreement. "Get going, now!"

"Prisoner detected!" Circuit called, getting the attention of the Time Rangers and Matt. "Location is downtown Silver Hills, grid one-one point five alpha!"

"Let's move!" Yuuri exclaimed as she and her team ran down the stairs. She paused for a moment to make sure Matt was with them, but he was gone in that instant they hadn't been looking. "Nani? Where'd he go?"

Indeed, Matt had vanished with little trace, having jumped out the nearby window. He pulled out a small device from his pocket, and if the others had seen it, he knew they wouldn't have believed what it has he carried. "Somethings I can't reveal yet," he muttered. "FireEagle, engage systems and retrieve!"

The FireEagle shot out of subspace beneath him and caught him before he reached the ground, Matt pulling on the controls and shooting off toward the downtown area of the city. He glanced to the obviously incomplete device now on his wrist, wishing he'd been able to finish it, but such things could wait. "I'll at least have the V-Defender," he muttered softly. It wasn't long before he saw the source of trouble below and brought the FireEagle to a halt only feet above the ground. "Freeze!"

The deformed figure turned to glare with an inhuman hatred, sharp elongated fangs peering out from his upper jaw. There was no mistaking it, Matt knew this was an alien monster. Strangely, there was something slightly human about it somehow, but this creature couldn't possibly be Terran. Still, he slipped on a scanning visor, hoping that he could get a few more answers.

"Cease now, and you can avoid lethal consequences!" he continued, tapping the device to force his own V-Defender to appear into his hands. "Do you yield?"

"Burn in hell!" the deformed being screamed, firing what looked like liquid from some kind of gland pouch on his arm. The fluid forced Matt to jump back and see that it was acid, strong enough to burn into the road within seconds!

"Shit!" he muttered, the boy slowly backing away. A quick scan only disturbed him further as he did indeed find traces of human DNA in his foe, highly mutated DNA! "Holy shit! You're human?!"

"Humans reject me!" the mutant spat with anger in his voice. "They cast me out, and force me to lash back at them! It's the least of what your kind will deserve!"

Matt shook his head and holstered the V-Defender in his jacket as he held up his hand. "Wait, hold on! You're a mutant! Your body changed to something else, that's not your fault! We don't have to fight, there can be another way!"

"Grand words from a stinkin' human!" the mutant said in reply. "You're all alike, piece of shit normal!"

"I'm a mutant just like you!" Matt snapped. "I'm telepathic, I'm a mutation! You think my kind have it any better?! We've already got anti-mutant groups cropping up in this era, but we're trying to deal with it peacefully, why are you killing?!"

"Because I don't have a choice!"

Matt gasped as the mutant ran at him, forced to redraw the V-Defender and fire. The inmate yelled as the shot pierced his side, falling down and holding his wound tightly. The deformed human roared in fury as he looked up at Matt, then tapped a device that was strapped to his arm. "Get ready to die!" he bellowed an instant before he again screamed, this time from the near instantaneous growth that turned him into a giant.

"Son of a bitch!"

Matt turned to see the Rangers arrive, then looked back at the giant mutant. "You guys do have Zords, right?"

"We have the Time Jets," Syon replied, tapping his Changer's com. "Circuit, send signal to Provider Base! We need the Time Jets!"

"Signal sent and confirmed! Time Jets on the way!"

Moments later, the five Jets burst out of the sky, and the five Time Rangers boarded the Time Flyer to race up and man their craft. Matt ran back when the mutant tried to step on him, then turned to see the TimeFire arrive. "Oh shit," he muttered. This is what he had been worried about, and since the V-Fire he had wasn't finished, he had no way of being on par with Eric.

"Time for me to shine here," Eric remarked while bringing the V-Fire he wore to his mouth plate. "V-Rex, engage systems!"

Just as the TimeMega was formed, the V-Rex raced to the scene. Matt narrowed his eyes, then ran toward Eric, hoping that he had something of a chance. "Okibi!" he screamed, raising the V-Defender and firing to get Eric's attention. "Give me the V-Fire!"

With a twist, Eric moved out of the way of the boy, growling as he realized that a little too soon was he having to deal with this problem. "I don't have time for your messianic dellusions!" he replied. It was then he noticed the incomplete V-Fire on Matt's wrist, and the V-Defender he was holding. "Where the hell did you get those?!"

"I built them!" came the answer. "Zordon only designed the V-Fire after be built the V-Rex, I'm the one who's been building it now!" With a grunt, Matt switched his V-Defender to sword mode, raising it toward Eric. "They told me, Eric. You stole what isn't yours, now return it to me!"

With a snort, Eric looked up at the V-Rex. "Rex, handle the freak, use any means needed!" He then turned to face Matt, drawing his own V-Defender and converting it as well to blade mode. "Your V-Fire isn't even finished yet," he remarked, his voice holding an acid edge of contempt. "You can't transform, can you, Corbett?"

"I don't need armor to do what must be done," Matt replied, readying his stance. He glanced momentarily at the V-Rex, thinking of trying to lock in with his own commands, but he wasn't so sure that an incomplete V-Fire could override what the finished one of the future was. "I don't want to hurt you, Eric. The fact that you still fight for the city, regardless of your own personal gains, tells me you have a good heart."

"So why do you want the V-Fire?"

"Because," the boy continued. "The powers of a Power Ranger cannot be used for petty things such as personal rewards."

Crimson energy laced out from the V-Rex's cannons and slammed into the mutant, cutting open wounds and spilling the being's blood down onto the ground. Red began to stain the streets as the mutant screamed in both pain and rage. Matt knew that here, there wasn't much choice; this being was in more pain just being alive. "Eric, I don't have time for this! That mutant is in pain just being alive, at least show some pity and give him a release!"

The man hesitated, then nodded. Corbett was right; at least he could make it as quick as possible. "V-Rex," he stated. "Transform!"

As before, the command transformed the machine into humanoid mode, racing to attack the mutant again. Matt shook his head, knowing that Eric didn't know all there was to using the V-Rex. He ran over, grabbed Eric's arm while he had the surprise, and lifted it to his own mouth. "V-Rex, fire Max Storm, now!"

There was a moment of silence as the machine backed away from its foe, then charged up the shoulder cannons to a bright glowing green. Matt's eyes shut tightly, unable to watch as the V-Rex let loose the Max Storm to assault the mutant with a storm of energies that blew him apart.

Eric, however, instead of retaliating for the sudden seizere of his arm, only stared in shock as he realized the horrible truth. "Oh my god," he whispered. "Those things, actually suffer from their existence?"

"Now do you see why I do what I do?" Matt stated, slowly switching his V-Defender into gun mode and slipping it into the inner pocket of his jacket. He noticed the hesitation in Eric's actions, then took his chance and twisted the man's arm about. "V-Fire, override command!" he stated into the device while he had the chance. "Alpha, theta, zeppa, zeppa, beta!"

Eric yelled from the pain, then was shocked to find his armor de-energizing from his body. He finally felt his arm released, but then, when he held it tightly, found that the V-Fire was gone; Matt had taken his morpher! "Hey!"

Even as he glared at the teenager, Yuuri and her team ran over when they finally the two standing in the gruesome remains of the prisoner that littered the streets. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

There was a glare of contempt from the boy. "I did him a favor by ending his pain," Matt stated. He unstrapped the incomplete V-Fire from his wrist, then put on the future version before slipping his own into his jacket. There was pain in his eyes, regret from what he had been forced to do, both to the mutant, and to Eric.

"Just being alive made him feel like he'd rather be dead, both from the pain of his mutation, and of being rejected by the rest of humanity." The pain melted into anger, and Matt turned to the Rangers. "Do you people know what you do to them?! You make their pain and torment eternal! And what's more, you didn't decide to inform me that these mutations are human! I don't know who's worse now, them or you!"

"Matt..." Wes sighed and shook his head. "Look, I know it's hard to understand, I had a lot of the same doubts myself. But if these prisoners aren't stopped, then the future will be destroyed, that's what Time Force is here for."

With a growl, Matt turned away from the Rangers and saw the Silver Guardians arrive on-scene to handle survivors and clean-up. "Right now, I wonder if I should have come here to fix things. Maybe I shouldn't have left Mariner that one time, they at least have someone I know deserves my help." The boy sighed, then glanced back at the Rangers. "But I have my obligations here, so I'll stay. I just hope that I'm wrong about those you take orders from, because if I'm not, you're only making things worse."

He turned and walked over to the hovering FireEagle, climbing into the cockpit before looking to the V-Fire he wore. The jet shot off into the sky before the Rangers could stop him, leaving the group of six to watch.

"That kid has one major additude problem," Eric snorted. That remark got him quite a few stares from the Rangers. "What?"

"You don't get how hypocritical that is coming from you," Domon replied, harboring a harsh tone to Okibi. "At least he has reasons for how he acts." He turned away from Eric, but he too was bothered by Matt's actions. "Though, I'm not so sure he'll be there when we need him now."

Ransik also was doubting the loyalty of his allies. Namely, he now knew that Frax was willingly disobeying and mangling his orders. The release of that last mutant, a craze and obsessed killer, was the final proof of it. And he had a strong idea he knew why Frax was so belligerent.

Years ago in his time, when he was not even a teenager, Ransik had met a man that was one of the few who did not shun mutations. He knew that there was the origin of Frax's anger, and the memories were ones Ransik hated to revive, painful and full of remorse.

"Why did you help me? I'm a mutant, normal humans are suppose to hate me."

"Other people are unknowledged in your pain, I actually bothered to learn about your troubles. As such, I do not fear those pained with deformation, I try to help them. I've been working on a way to heal mutatives such as your own, to let you rejoin the 'normal' human society."

"Despite what some of us have done, you still helped me."

"My boy, you are not responsible for what others do, only what you do. I saw that you were in pain from one of your 'fellow' mutants, so I helped you. Unfortunately, the virus he infected you with affects mutants different than humans, so the serum I gave you must be taken once a week for the rest of your life."

"I, guess I owe you my life then."

"You owe me nothing, humanity owes you for the pain you've suffered. Oh, so sorry, I've forgotten introductions. My name is Samuel Gien. You are?"

"I...don't have a name...not one my parents gave me. People who see me have named me Ransik."

"Such a horrid name! As long as you're in my care, you will go by a name you choose."

"Gien..."

To Be Continued...