before twera could worry i said, <don't worry. it would take a few days for fertilization. and time travel would not hurt them unless they were ready to be laid. then it could affect their mind set.>

<Thank you. I was worried.> I smiled at Thunder, then proceeded to clean the wound

<no problem.and if you go back, just saying, you might see me. don't draw any attention to yourself. i was kinda....moody a few years back.>

<I'll be careful. I'll try to just bring Mother and Father forward. I won't deliberately change the timeline.> I started gathering the supplies I would need. By Thunder's reckoning, the Door would still be open in the past, and I might be able to use the cryo chambers. If all went well, two more innocent lives would be saved from the Shadows. If not…

<So I'm needed to send Twera 19 years back in time just great> I flap my wings<Twera ready when you are>I flick my tail and disappear for 10 minutes and then come back<You're all lucky I ain't give up my time powers back to Time>

<I'm ready.> I had double-chhecked everything. This time, I'd be prepared. <Siik and Fynd used to liveina huge cave in Asia until Thunder was born. After that, they moved to the Americas. They should still be there 19 years ago. If they're not, it won't be too hard to find them.> I laughed. <A couple of Asian dragons thedir size will stick out a bit in America.>

<Ah, before you go, I finished these.> I hand Twera a set of strange, glowing rings. <They go around your neck and legs and generate a electro-magnetic field that repulses plasmas, such as fire and lightning.>

"Thanks," I said out loud. From my pack I pulled an identical copy of the crystal Thunder had left for me when he traveled back. "I enchanted this crystal so it'll link with my mind. Since your mind-magic isn't as strong, the enchantments on this crystal will be different from the ones on the crystal you left for me. As long as any part of anyone is within twenty feet of it, they'll be linked to my mind." I set the crystal on the floor of the cave, thedn put away the rings.

<So to make this short you're ready to go so>I flick my tail<Have fun in the Past and try not to damage anything to much I can fix a ripple but its tiring>I send Twera 19 years back in time

((The cryo chambers won't be there in the 19 years ago... They're less than a year old...)
<Thank you. Hehe, I almost forgot, If you decide to fry someone while wearing those, the fire will be focused a little more than you're used to, the fields only have a small opening at your mouth.> The rings would also deflect human bullets, but I didn't want to tell her to much, Invulnerably would make anyone careless.

There was a brief blinding flash of light. Mizuko, Thunder, and the cave in Eden had vanished. Instead, I found myself standing on the bank of aariver on Earth. A human-made bridge spanned the river some distance to the south. I knew this place. Just over the next line of hills would be the home of Siik, Fynd, and Thunderhawk.
Speaking of wich, I caught sight of a very familiar sillouhete flying overhead. The Thunderhawk of the past wasn't nearly as docile as the one I knew. Even though this version was nineteen years younger, he was still considerably bigger than me. I decided to follow him on foot. If past experience was any indicator, Thunderhawk didn't take kindly to other flying creatures following him.

"Well I always wanted to see the battle with the Shadows from everyone's POV so tootles" I disappear seeing the whole battle of the Shadows from everybody's POV in less then a minute and appear again"I hated that anyway I'm thinking sending myself back in time to another place"

My theory proved correct. Young Thunderhawk ignored me and jusst headed straight home. Dealing with Mother and Father would be a lot easier. But,in order to keep the timeline intact, I would have to grab both of them just after thed attack, but before anyone could come poking around. These hills, in my youth, had been full of dragons. The more permanent neighbors were quite friendly. Thhe migratory dragons almost killed me on a few occasions, an experience I was not eager to repeat. This would take careful planning.
I looked up at the sun. It was getting late. It would be easier to tell how much time I had in the morning. I retreated farther downstream to make camp. Carefully, I pulled my crystal from my pack. By using this crystall to link with the one I left behind, I ensured that I wouldn't accidentally contact any dragons from the past.
<Thunder, I'm in. I followed your younger self back to the cave. I can't tell if I'mup there yet. I'll have to wait for morning. This'll be trickier than I thought. These mountains are packed with dragons.>
((Two things about that. #1, she doesn't know that. And #2, Thunder was sent way far back, yes?))

roll my eyes at Sudoku. oh, he thinks having the power of time let's him go back and forth. i actually pity him because soon, too soon, he will find out the price of his borrowed power. and the continuous use of them dose nothing to lower that price.

(oh. zero, time i told ya. a Thunderbird is a convertible car from like the 1950s of 60s. look it up if ya don't believe me.)

I slept uneasily that night. It was probably because of the screaming dragon somewhere above me. I wished I could investigate who it was, but that could change the timeline.

<Nemesis you should know my power is not borrowed> I flap my wings and lock off my mind and start thinking hard

I stayed hidden in the trees near the cave, watching. It wouldn't take long for the Shadows to find Father. I sifted back through my memories of that day…this day. I could remedmber a strange figure, almost like aa guardian angel, standing over me. The angel wasn't as big as the dragons I was used to, but it was powerful, more powerful thaan me.
I could remember standing there with the angel, each of us looking deep in ther other's eyes. Then the angel had pushed past me and gone deeper into the cave. I had tried to follow, calling out that no one was there, but it didn't listen. It strode into Father's lab and never came out. I never saw the angel again.

<I got something to do> I fly out the cave

I had decided not to tell any of them about the angel.

((@ Dragonsmem: Yes, Thunder was sent back far (1000 or 2000 years) but before he could ask the dwarves to build the facility, Clat's death-cry interrupted and he somehow sent himself forward almost to the present and that is when it was built.
@ Greek: Of course, Ugly, tiny, short thing, I've seen one))

<Yeah, neighbors, they can be quite annoying. Damn, I should have made you some sort of cloaking device; I guess it didn't occur to me because my skills make such a device useless to me.> Cloaking devices! Duh, I can use them on the Mechs, make the surprise a little more surprising. Thank goodness Ketna brought me a deer, I'm getting more like father, forgetting to eat, next I'll forget to breath! I take a look at the results of the quick test Twera preformed on the synthetic crystal before she left. It would seem that the structure slightly amplifies the charge, and the power does not dissipate as fast as it would in a natural gem... Far better than I expected.

I teleport to Earth and a spear flies through my wing. I go back in time, healing my wings in the process." Okay how far did I send myself back" I thought about it and realize that I don't know< Great, I don't know where I am in time but I might be where you are Twera> I growl

The night deepened. The screaming dragon sounded like she was giving birth. It wasn't until a male dragon's furious bellow that I knew when I was. The healer's voice carried down the mountainside.
"Siik, Fynd, your daughter is nearly blind." Everything matched up with my memories.
"We will manage." I listened to Father's voice, a sound I hadn't heard for nearly twenty years. "Thunderhawk, you will have to watchover your sister. She will needyou." I knew what would come next.
"I WILL NOT! That…thing…isn'ta dragon! No dragon can survive without sight! She'd be better off if youkilled her!" Thunder's voice seemed to carry for miles. Had he really thought that about me? I watched young Thunder soar outof the cave. He wouldn't come back into my life until that snowy night in Minnesota or thereabouts.
<Thunder, I have a bone to pick with you. I'm back on the night I was born. I'm sure you remember what you said about me. Why did you say those things?>

I let my breath out, shooting a large blast of water

The crystal rod I was tinkering with shattered, I could here my own words through the link. I cannot believe that was me back then. All that hate. <I have a bone to pick with myself after hearing that again, you have my permission to give that fool a taste of your power.> How could I have been so cruel? <I was... afraid, what would be next, you blind and me... No one ever has noticed what's wrong with me, have they? It doesn't matter, nothing justifies what I said.>

I tumble to the ground and turn invisible as Young Thunderhawk flies over me< So that corrects my theory that I sent myself 19 years back>

<Trust me,> I said, acid anger lacing my voice, <I would, if doing so wouldn't harm the timeline.> Isnarled softlyto myself. How could he have thought those things? <Did you really mean what you said? Do you think all of this could be prevented if my younger self was killed in the attack?> I could make it look easy. Mother and Father would still disappear, but this time around, the body ofa hatchling dragon would be found in the wreckage.

< Yeah I'm bored can we get something to do>

<No...> It would be better if the body of a male dragon was found... A temperamental, midnight blue male... <Please, don't... your my sister, I love you... > I felt hate building for myself, but then it collapsed into deep sadness.

< Yeah I'm going after Young Thunderhawk> I blast over the land, catching up with YTH in no time

((I guess I can play my a**hole younger self...))

Past Thunder: "Who the hell is following me!?" I flip around and blast the interloper with lightning. "BEGONE OR DIE!" I scream.

I dodge the lightning and use wind to turn it around, shooting water as ice, which blocks it < Well I'm gonna be in a fight with Past Thunder but I can't hurt him or I mess up the time stream which I actually did fight Thunderhawk in the past> I make the ice water and it blasts at Past Thunder

Past Thunder: "YOU WERE WARNED." This fool wishes to fight me? Fine, his own attacks shall be his downfall. I blast the water, splitting it into Hydrogen and Oxygen, Which bursts into flame. I punch through the flames, spinning so the E-M fields repel the flames, and slam past the other dragon, electricity arching at him. I turn back, the perfect combustion reaction(H2 + 0 -> H2O) had formed a steam could, which now covered my target. I wait for signs of movement.

I stand still and teleport behind Thunder "Come on you're angry because you're sister blind and you flew away" I stop and blow colder-than-dry-ice breath on him

"Silence, fool." My voice drops to a hiss, and I barely feel the burn of the extreme cold. "You know nothing of me, or my family. I have no sister." Is this dragon stupid? He should have fled if he knew what was good for him. I start to call upon the ancient power of the dragons... The power I can't wield. "Hhhhhyyyyyrrrrr!" A wordless scream of rage, then I vanish, flying away as fast as possible.

< You're calling me a fool Thunderhawk but I know who you are> I don't fly after him<Yeah maybe I shouldn't do that" I say to Twera, Present Thunderhawk, and Nemesis

I contacted Mizuko. <He won't realize his mistake for eighteen years.> I then turned the mental contact to older Thunder. <Can you remember whatmade you come around? Forget that. I'm goingafter you. He can't just wallk out on the family for eighteen years aand suddenly be all ok when we meet up again.>

((i'm not following. i don't understand.) and alvin, all power s borrowed, we all have to give it back and pay for it someday. even if it s not in the way we would think.))

i stood in the cave. it seemed dark. something was happening in the timeline. i was not listening to whatever my friends were saying. how weird is that? i usually did not call them that because i was...reluctant...to. but now i think of them as that and i do not pay attention to them?
i shake my mane out and focus on the flow of time. where was it? i shut my eyes and my mind to anything but the flowing river of time. small ripples...deep plunges...fast currants...deep and slow pools...where was it? ah-ha! there! just past a bend i caught sight-or sense-of it again. the small, almost hairline crack. the crack reviled that the river was a substance so much like glass but more delicate. i honed in on it and watched as it spread, creating a spiderweb-vein in the pristine glass. then, it started getting bigger and making the cracking sound i so feared.
<GET OUT NOW! GET OUT NOW! GET!OUT!NOW!> i yelled at the others. <IT'S BREAKING! SOMEONE ELSE IS ALTERING TIME! GET OUT OF THE PAST IF YOU WANT TO LIVE! they are diverting the path of river.> i just whispered the last part. i knew my warning would do no good. and i knew in a minute it would not matter. sorrow for my friends overcame me and i collapsed in a hep on the floor. that was when i noticed i was not a horse anymore. i was a snow white panther. and yet, this small victory would mean nothing in a minute. i knew who was changing the future. and i knew why.
and then...nothing. i was watching myself from above and then .... time played back. back to when i was bout to scream out. and i understood.
<G-> i stopped myself short and stood up. <sorry. bad dream.> i said to the weird look thunder gave me. i shook my mane and concentrated on the crack. it was gone. but i had this feeling the river of time was shifted to the side at that same point. but i tried not to think about it and concentrate on trying to become that snow panther.

I sifted back through my memories. It had been two yeaars after Thunder left that the attack came. That was just long enough for him to betray us. I shook my head. The Thunder I knew wouldn't do that. Then again, the Thunder I knew didn't recognize me when we met up.

Present Thunder: Mizuko, he just has to always mess with the past, doesn't he. <No, you should not.> I was feeling hot and faint. Something's... not right. That fight... <YES, CATCH HIM! THAT'S NOT ME, NOT YET!!> Of course, that temperament! That hate! That darkness. The reason I didn't recognize Twera that night, I didn't exist when she was born! I start sending Twera information on what to do. I know I can't be wrong, it already worked!

I listened carefully to Thunder's instructions. <Are you sure this will work?>
((What's the plan here?))

((Check your wall, And put any further questions on mine.))

Present Thunder: <It has to.> Or everything I know now is a lie, just like my past.

<If you're sure then. You do realize that this could seriously alter our futures, right?> My mental voice shook. If something went wrong here, if the timeline was altered too much, then Thunderhawk would turn out to bed a totally different dragon in eighteen years. I knew what to say this time. I flew after young Thunder as fast as possible. "Hey! Wait up!" I called.
"What do you want?" he asked, sounding very pissed.
"To talk. There's nothing wrong with two dragons enjoying a nice chat, is there?" That comment caught him off guard.
"I guess not. What do you want to talk about?"
"Your sister." I had to stay as ignorant as possible.
"I have no sister."
"Yes you do. I was in the next valley over and I heard your mother's roars clear as day. Never heard such a sound my whole life."
"So what? She's dead to me."
"That doesn't mean she doesn't exist. Takesome time and think this over. Things happen in life, and there isn't anything we can do to chaange them. We may be dragons with the power to alter the physical world, but the Past, Present, and Future are always beyond our reach. Twera will need the guidance of an older brother, one capable of showing her the light." I left him there, hoping this crazy plan wouldwork.

((Err, you did read what I put on your wall, right? It's kinda major, not something a "You sister's going to need you" is going to fix...))

i succeed in turning into that panther and purr. cats were so like dragons. i turned to thunder and said, <you know, if this is not something that-no. that's wrong. if this is just one way things could go....do you believe in quantum physics?>

Present Thunder: <Of course, I'm sure I can follow anything you throw at me.> Quantum Physics, I got this.

ok. <well, that is the only part of science that interests me. the idea that it is technically NOT impossible. that every thing is moving, not solid. the theory that all possible situations are being played out...what is i told you dragons can tap that very...inside, and....preform quantum leaps? what if i told you...we had the power to play it backwards? what if...i asked you not to tell the others?> this was dangerous. like the two wheels. identical, both stripped. in two different places, spun at the same time.one is red. you automatically know that the other is blue. you know the answer, but you also fear something odd might happen this time.

Present Thunder: <Your secret is safe with me.> Of course, a large part of quantum physics is probability and uncertainty, like Schrödinger's cat.

<ok. all of it is true. and...i was the one who told the first humans about it. and now...could you help me with some experiments?>

((Careful there, Thunder may have a nerd-gasm, and that may get a little messy...))
Present Thunder: <You, you're the origin of the theories of quantum physics?> Holy shizz balls. <Of course I'll help you out.>

(she can handle it. she's 30 centuries old. she's seen worse.)

<don't over excite yourself. just...observe.> i concentrated on my atoms. just to be sure thunder got everything that happened, <is it all right if i form a mental link so that you can relay what you saw and what i did? as another set of senses.>