The series represented in this fic do not belong to me. The Tomorrow People elements belong to Roger Damon Price, Tetra Films, Thames Television, and Nickelodeon. The Power Ranger and Mystic Knights elements both belong to Saban.

Ian, Teresa, Lucas, Vanessa, and Teague are all mine, as is the plot.

End disclaimer.

This is a crossover with two crossover universes and one television series. In case you're not familiar with them (or want to see where these fall on the timeline), I've included a summary below for each.

"Opposites Attract" is a Power Rangers/Tomorrow People (new series) crossover universe. In this world, both the Rangers and the peaceful telepathic-teleporting Tomorrow People exist, and have discovered each others' existance. Rocky has broken out (become a Tomorrow Person), and many of the original stories deal with him coping with what he's become.

This story falls during the second part of "Opposites Attract", where a second generation of Rangers is fighting a new foe and trying to follow in their parents' footsteps. As it is after the events of "Expected Changes", ex-Yellow Ranger Teresa DeSantos has broken out and is herself trying to adapt to the new dimension of her life.

"Tomorrow's Future" is a Highlander/Tomorrow People (new series)/Sliders crossover universe, although this story deals almost exclusively with the Tomorrow People end. In this universe, the Tomorrow People have discovered the existance of the Immortals (people who live forever except after their heads are cut off), thanks to meeting the Immortal Greer Lewis.

In the "Tomorrow's Future" timeline, this story is set somewhere in the 2050's, after the events of "Mistakes" but before Melinda (Vanessa's sister) marries.

"The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog" was one of the new shows on Fox Kids during the time this was written. It follows the adventures of four young people in what is presumably Ancient Ireland. In these adventures, they find armor and allies to protect their kingdom against an evil queen who's made an alliance with evil faeriefolk.

Note: This fiction is not beta read, and I'm not even sure it's spellchecked. It was written spur-of-the-moment, after one of my characters decided he needed to take a trip in time. (He wanted to go meet the teenaged Hercules- I managed to divert him to Ireland, since the other writer was writing a Young Herc crossover fic.)

The Principles of Teamwork
by Selma McCrory
copyright 1998
part 1

It was a nice, quiet, sunny day. One could say that it was a little bit too quiet. Still, like a lot of people that day, Lucas Scott and Teresa DeSantos were enjoying the nice day and fresh air. Their picnic lunch had been eaten a long time ago, and the couple were just relaxing, taking some time out from school and chores, and in Lucas' case, Rangering. Not that he'd left his communicator behind, of course. But at least for a little while, maybe he could forget that he was on call.

Not for very long, though. Lucas' communicator beeped, and he groaned. "Not again," he said. Reaching into the basket, he snared his communicator. "What's up, Alpha?"

"It's Ian. There's a disturbance in the Park. I'll be teleporting over with some scanners."

Teresa put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, there's still time after whatever."

"I know," Lucas said. "I just hate it when this happens."

These kinds of interruptions hurt Lucas a lot inwardly. First of all, Regina was fond of mounting attacks during his and Teresa's dates. But what probably hurt more was that he could see Teresa missing her old status. Probably Regina was doing that deliberately. So, when Ian showed up, Lucas made a mental note to find something that Teresa could do.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Ian was holding three scanners. He realized that Teresa was staring as well. "Ian?" she asked, plainly surprised.

Ian shrugged. "We're getting readings similar to when Gavin and his team showed up here, but it's not in the same spot. Three of us will be able to locate this thing faster than two, and you two were here, so...."

Lucas nodded. This was exactly what Teresa needed. She could fight off Putties as much as anyone else, just in case, and she needed to be included in more stuff. He accepted a scanner from Ian, and handed the other to Teresa. "Got it. Just let us pack up, and we'll go."

* * *

Some ten or twenty plus minutes later, they met back in an unremarkable section of the Park. "You sure that's where this thing is?" Lucas asked.

"I think so. The entrance is kinda slipper-"

"Ian!" Teresa shouted as their teammate disappeared, shimmering as he went. "We gotta go and get him."

"I will," Lucas said. "I'm responsible for him."

"We can't risk you," Teresa argued. "You're a Ranger. I'm not. If this is Gavin's world, I'm a bit safer than you, plus we can't risk this closing and stranding you there and us missing two Rangers."

"I'm going," Lucas said firmly. He twisted his wrists, summoning the two parts of his morpher. "You have experience, and the rest of the team can take care of some things for you."

He handed Teresa the morpher. She attempted to hand it back to him, but he managed to stop her. "I'm going," he said, and pushed himself through the nearly invisible portal.

Lucas stood for a moment. This wasn't Angel Grove park. It was some house, somewhere. Ian was standing there as well, looking probably as confused as he felt. About half a minute after he arrived, he felt something behind him. He turned around to find Teresa behind him, still clutching his morpher. "Teresa!" he exclaimed, not at all pleased. He moved to lecture her.

"Now that we know where everyone is, we can go back," Teresa replied. "Ian?"

"It's not there anymore," Ian said quietly, reading something on his scanner. "It looks like it's probably downstairs, if this place has a downstairs."

"We're going to hope," Lucas said, annoyed. "Teresa, when we get back, I have something to say to you about following orders."

Teresa rolled her eyes.

"Guys? Let's get home, first," Ian said pleadingly.

"Okay," Lucas said, noticing Ian was getting a bit fretful. "Let's split up and look around."

Teresa looked at her scanner, and teleported out. "Great," Lucas mumbled. "She'll probably teleport right into the wormhole."

Ian shook his head. "Don't be too tough on her, Lucas. She hasn't had this much adventure in a long time."

"I know, and it's making her reckless," Lucas replied unhappily. "She's being bored to death."

"Guys!" Teresa yelled from somewhere. "Kitchen."

The two of them finally found the kitchen. Teresa was standing in a doorway. "Found the basement."

Lucas decided not to lecture her right then and there and went towards Teresa and the basement steps. Teresa put up a hand to stop him. "There are people down there... TP. They don't know about the Rangers. Behave yourself."

"I'll try," Lucas said. He knew that some TP were pretty cool. He just hoped these were. He wasn't in the mood to deal with anything else.

He followed Teresa down the stairs. Below, there was this big... contraption was the best that he could name it. There were two people there, teens younger than any of them. A black girl and a white guy. Both TP, if Teresa was correct.

Lucas stopped at the bottom of the stairs, allowing enough room for Ian to come down as well. He pulled the scanner out, puzzled by the readings. "Where *is* it?"

"Inside my machine, I'd guess," the black girl said. "Hi, I'm Vanessa Skye."

"Teague," the boy added.

"I think that your wormhole is doing something weird to my machine," Vanessa observed. "We were just doing a bit of manipulation, and bang, some stuff that shouldn't be working is suddenly doing just that."

"What kind of machine is it?" Ian asked.

"A time machine, y'know, the kind you use to travel in time."

Ian nodded, a little wide-eyed. "Ah. That might explain the problem."

"Oh?" Vanessa perked up, suddenly interested. "You dealt with time travel technology before?"

"No, but I know it's very possible, and I figure it could be possible to reproduce it technally."

Vanessa grinned and stuck out a hand. "Pleased to meet you. Come here, give me a hand, and we'll get you back home as soon as possible. You're -?"

"Ian," he responded, shaking her hand.

The two and Teague shortly commenced working on the machine, and Lucas sat down on the steps. What little he could make of Vanessa's and Ian's talk was not understandable to non-techies.

Teresa sat down beside him. "He's in his element," she said.

He looked over at the working trio. "Yeah. Too bad we can't stay."

"I know," Teresa responded. She handed the morpher back to Lucas. "These are yours."

Lucas strapped the two parts back on, but they didn't disappear. "They don't work in this world."

"They will when we get back," Teresa said. "We need to, anyway. We're down two Rangers-"

"We wouldn't be if you'd followed orders!" Lucas snapped. "I ordered you to stay there."

"I'm not a Ranger anymore, Lucas," Teresa said softly. "I can't be, you know that as well as I. You should have kept the powers and let me through. Ian is my teammate, and my friend. I should have gone, not you."

"You're part of the team," Lucas responded just as quietly, mindful of the fact that two of the people in the room didn't know about the Rangers. Though it seemed that the three working on the machine were oblivious to them. "You said it yourself. And that means cooperation and teamwork, Teresa. It means that you don't leave the world undefended."

"I could say the same thing to you, Lucas," Teresa replied. "Leaving me your powers was worthless. It's just something that I can't do anymore."

"You may not be able to kill, but you can fight! I've seen you. And your dad managed to Ranger after he broke out."

"My dad lasted less than a week, passed out in the Megazord, and had troubles defeating a monster."

Lucas shook his head. "You've been letting them get to you again."

"Actually, no. I know my own abilities, Lucas. I can fight, yes, but I've learned to trust my instincts. And something there tells me that I'd not be an effective Ranger anymore. I'd be a liability to the team."

Lucas inwardly sighed. It was immediately obvious that her friends had been nagging her again, and that reinforcement from their end was needed. Teresa didn't get in this mood unless her balance was upset, and as far as Lucas could tell, it was. "Look, Teresa-"

But whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a yell from Ian. "Get-"

A wave of white overwhelmed them.

* * *

When Lucas came to, he found that they weren't in the house anymore, but outside. And not in Angel Grove park, either. No, this was an entirely different place. Even he could recognize that the plant life was not normally found in Angel Grove.

One of his companions groaned. Vanessa. "Are you all right?" he asked, helping her to a sitting position.

"I think," the girl responded.

Lucas moved to the others, reaching Ian, then Teague, then Teresa. He gradually got all of them sitting up. When all were more or less proved to be all right, he sat down. "Anybody have any idea where we are?"

"Looks like a nature conservancy in Ireland I used to go to all the time," Vanessa commented. "I don't claim to know all that much about botany, but my big sister's fiance is into it so I know something about it."

"Anything familiar?" Lucas asked.

Vanessa cupped her hands arround a small blossom. "I know these don't grow in Sacramento. They're northern-climate plants."

"They wouldn't be growing in Angel Grove, either, then," Teresa observed.

"We're not in Kansas anymore," Teague spoke up. "Haven't you two noticed? Nobody's talking except for us."

Teresa sat absolutely still for a minute of two, as did Vanessa. Lucas had seen the look before- tuning out the physical to concentrate on the mental. "You're right. This isn't either of our homes."

Vanessa reached down into her shirt and retrieved something from inside. It looked like a small remote control or something, and Lucas guessed that it was some sort of remote for the time travel machine, maybe a retrieval device. She pressed on a button, frowned, and looked at Teague, obviously telepathing something to him. He reached into his own shirt and pulled out an identical device, but it didn't function either.

Lucas didn't need telepathy to know that they were stuck there.

"The mechanism must be broken," Vanessa said. "I'll have to pry this thing open and see if I can get it fixed."

"But what if this isn't home?" Teague asked her. "I don't think you ever made a contingency plan for wormholes interfering with the function of the machine."

Vanessa nodded. "Could be," she said, and then grinned. "I'll just have to make some adjustments, then. Let's find a nice spot and get to it."

Teague nodded, and stood up as she did. "You guys coming, or what?" he asked.

Lucas looked over at Teresa. She shrugged. "Might as well, until we can find out what's up. I presume if they needed to stay in one spot to be tracked, they'd want to stay here."

The three of them followed the rapidly-disappearing Vanessa and Teague.

* * *

"A road. Must be some form of civilization here," Vanessa said. "But I haven't detected any electrical signals, so we might be a century or two back in time."

"Should we take the road?" Ian asked.

Vanessa and Teague almost simultaneously shook their heads. Vanessa spoke. "That's the one thing we *don't* want to do. History is a very fragile thing, and we don't want to run into anyone and wreck it. We're still living with the consequences of what happened when I accidentally sent my sister back in time."

"It's not our world, but it may be yours, or it may be someone else's," Teague replied, looking a bit haunted. "We just can't mess things up this time."

Loud, rapid hoofbeats echoed and interrupted any further revelations by the two Tomorrow People. "Cover!" he yelled. Teresa and Vanessa looked at each other for a moment. Then he fled for it himself, with Teresa right behind him. He looked at her expectantly.

"Vanessa and Ian are hiding over there," she motioned, "and Teague's on our other side. I just hope we have enough cover."

They watched the riders go by, some people in armor with blueish shields and standards. Lucas made a silent sigh of relief as the company disappeared out of sight. Gradually, the five of them came out. "Anybody good at history?"

"This is one of those times where I had my sister nearby," Vanessa replied, looking a bit pale. "She's the big history buff. She might be able to identify them."

Teague shot her a look that Lucas hoped was a telepathic comment. Either that, or he was very non-verbal. When Vanessa shot a look back, he knew that it was telepathy. He was so busy looking at the two of them that he didn't know anything else was wrong. Until he felt the spear in his back.

Lucas turned around to find a group of the blue-outfitted soldiers, armed with spears, arranging themselves around his group. The leader, wearing a helmet with horns, babbled something in what Lucas supposed was some form of Gaelic. Normally his powers would be kicking in and translating, but apparently they weren't working here.

The soldiers quickly wrested them down to the road and along it.

* * *

It seemed forever, even to him. The blue-outfitted soldiers had been marching them towards some unknown destination for a while now. This hadn't been in his plan for the day for sure. Still, they hadn't tied Teague or Vanessa up, and those two still had their toolkits with them.

He, Ian, and Teresa had been tied up after an abortive escape attempt. He was heartened to see that Teresa's fighting ability hadn't diminished. She'd obviously been practicing recently, probably with her father. They'd need it here, where she, he, and Ian were all equals without the power.

They couldn't understand their captors, but he did understand their actions: if he and the others didn't get out of captivity, they were probably going to be killed. Their captors seemed wary, so there must have been an enemy force somewhere around. He hoped that they wouldn't end up getting rescued by the other side. He didn't want to get stuck in endless provincial politics, plus if Teague and Vanessa were right, they were kind of mucking up history as it was.

But, on the other hand, the enemy force could be of use- as a distraction. He had three people who could teleport, if given half a chance, and if they could make it to some bushes, the group could teleport to where they started and find a safer place for Vanessa to poke at circuitry.

* * *

The attack finally came about a mile down the road. He saw Teague sigh in relief as the other warriors attacked. He grabbed him as best he could with his hands tied. "Teague! Cover! Bushes!"

Teague stumbled, probably in fear, and nodded. Suddenly, both Vanessa and Teresa knew the game plan, and he saw them running off. He and Ian weren't far behind. They crouched behind some scrub. "Everybody here?" he asked, mentally counting to confirm that they hadn't lost anybody.

Everybody was there, he noted with relief. "We gotta get out of here," Vanessa said, looking rather worried.

"I'd say aim for the place where we started," Lucas said. "We'll all meet there, and figure out where else to go so that Vanessa can work on her thing without interference. Everybody got a good picture in their mind? Good. Ian, go with Teague. I'll go with Teresa."

Teresa took his hand, Teague took Ian's, and the world flashed white.

* * *

They were exactly where they started. With one difference. One very possibly dangerous difference.

Lucas took in the flying thing with the red outfit first, followed by the four people staring at them. Behind him, he could hear Vanessa cursing mildly. He didn't blame her. "Anyone got any ideas?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the lone female of the four babbled something in her own language to her fellows. Lucas was waiting for suggestions from his own group. Normally, if they were teleporting somewhere, it was to go into battle, but Lucas didn't want to fight these people. He studied them. Two guys, dressed in similar clothing that suggested that they were at least from the same region, a fellow who didn't look like he did, and the one woman, whose costume he had a hard time identifying. The woman had some sort of crossbow out, but that just probably meant that she was alarmed. He'd be.

The lightest-haired of the men, obviously the leader, came up to him and babbled something formally in the same toungue at him. Lucas looked around in the forelorn hope that somebody in his group understood what the man was saying.

Nobody did, although Vanessa had a comment. "Something in the Gaelic language family, probably a form of old Irish," she said. "Can't understand it, though."

The leader of the other group was obviously in the same fix. The woman came up and tried something else. "Germanic, probably one of the languages that became English," Vanessa quietly added.

The darkest-skinned one, darker than Vanessa, came up and tried one more language. "I think that's related to Arabic, I'm not sure," Vanessa said when he looked at her.

The leader talked to the being in red. It- she- twittered back at him, obviously answering a question. She flew up to them. "What are you doing here?" the being asked.

"I wish we knew," Lucas answered her truthfully. "We're trying to get home, but..."

"I could see your problem," she replied. She then flew over to the other group.

"What *was* that?" Ian asked.

"Probably some form of telepathy," Vanessa replied. "She hooked into the language centers of our brains and pulled a knowledge of English, or at least enough to speak to us."

Two of the other group were arguing, the leader and the woman, with the other two putting in an occasional comment. It seemed to be over where to take them, as Lucas didn't put too much hope in them being let go. He wondered what bad luck had brought that bunch to where they had appeared.

Finally, there was an end to the argument, with the leader of the group winning. He said a few words to the being, and she flew back to the group. "He asked if you would accompany them to the the stones."

"Why?" Lucas asked.

"Why, 'tis may be a way to find what you seek. They are going there, as well."

Lucas looked at the others. "Any opinions?"

"Stones sound good. If they're man-made, then I can use one as a surface and see if I could fix the problem," Vanessa said.

"Any objections?"

The others shook their heads. It seemed that the course offered was the best way to go.

* * *

As it happened, the stones weren't *that* far away, if you were fresh. Unfortunately, none of them were overly fresh, and so the group was forced to camp and stay the night in the wilderness.

"Vanessa. Any luck?" he asked. The young woman had disassembled her recall device.

"Not yet," Vanessa said. "I can't find anything wrong with it. I'll try boosting the power when I have a chance, but our captors got my spare components. Good thing they missed my tools."

"They missed this as well," Lucas replied, holding the two parts of his morpher up.

"What is that, by the way?" Vanessa asked, curiously. "I'm not familiar with it."

"I can't tell you," Lucas said, and was not overly surprised when Vanessa nodded. If she was like most Tomorrow People on his world, she knew a thing or two about secrets.

"Lucas, I'd like to ask you something that may be uncomfortable to answer, but I'd kinda like to know, if you're willing to answer."

"What?" Lucas asked, feeling a bit surprised.

"What were you arguing about? I caught the word 'undefended', but things got a bit busy after that."

Lucas felt a lump in his stomach. She'd heard parts of his and Teresa's argument. He didn't need her disapproval right now. "You're right, I don't feel comfortable talking about it."

"Do something for me?" Vanessa asked. He turned around to see her concerned face.

"What?"

"Talk to Ian about it, or someone, before it tears the two of you apart."