A few hours later the doctor had come and gone Ken was suffering from severe dehydration and lack of food in his body that a virus that could have been fatal to him since he was so weak from the lack of medical treatment, so the doctor had given Mrs Nakanishi some strong anti- biotic to help him recover.

He heard a crying baby somewhere in the house and he became worried that the virus he picked up might be contagious, he tried to point that out to Mrs Nakanishi but she only hushed him, and told him that she would make sure the baby stayed away from him until he was over the worst part.

"It's alright mother." Ryu leapt to his feet. "I'll go and see what Senji is crying about...he probably needs his nappy changed."

Mrs Nakanishi smiled affectionately at the door her eldest son just walked out of. "He loves his baby brother so much...I guess he waited a long time for a sibling."

Ken just nodded as he accepted the puréed food from the spoon she was feeding him, it was all he could manage as he was still sleeping more than he was awake, and his strength was still coming back slowly, at least he could feel his limbs again.

Each day from that time on Ken got a little bit stronger, it was about a week later he was able to sit up in his bed without much effort and his thoughts had turned to Akiya and the storm cloud for the first time.

His recollections of the events after he became ill were vague, but he had some idea that the electrical charge might have something to do with the time travel. He was deep in thought on this when young Ryu walked into the room with a breakfast tray.

Seeing the young boy was a reminder that he was still not back in the right time, but then maybe it had benefits being in this time frame...Red Impulse was alive and he began to think of what would happen if he met himself as a boy.

"Good morning...you're looking a lot better today." Then Ryu smiled cheerfully at his new friend and he put the tray on the side table and jumped up onto the end of the bed. He couldn't help but like Ryu as a boy, he was just as friendly and goofy as he was years later when Ken would meet him for the first time and wonder how the kid was going to learn to fly a ship in such a short time.

"My mother washed your clothes...she said they were full of some strange dust...it looked volcanic ...are you a vulcanologist Kisho." Ryu's eyes went wide with wonder as he looked at Ken.

"That's right...I ahh was doing some research on extinct volcano's..." Ken hoped he wouldn't be asked too many questions about Volcano's he really only knew the basics he had learned from Dr.Nambu. Like keep away from them if the look like they are going to erupt...especially in the Cessna.

"So where did you say my clothes were?" Ken quickly changed the topic knowing

Ryu would forget about the Volcano's.

 "Your clothes are in the hallway." Ryu just sat on the end of the bed and he pulled Ken's bracelet out of his pocket and he turned it over in his hand as he studied it, "Mama found this in your pocket...Can I keep it?" He asked not looking at Ken as he pressed the com's button.

Ken quickly retrieved it from him.

If you be good you'll get you own one day. Ken thought.

"It's a present from a close friend." He told Ryu before he could ask more about it and Ken put it out of sight, Ryu just accepted what he told him and the boy got off the bed and returned with Ken's jeans and shirt, and underwear. Ken felt colour rising to his face at the thought that she took off his underwear while he was sleeping, he finally noticed that his underwear was missing when he moved.

"Do you want to take a shower...after you finish your breakfast." Ryu indicated the bathroom was down the hall.

"Yeah, that would be good..." He ate his breakfast in bed and then he wrapped a towel around his waist, picked up his clothes and headed for the bathroom. A hot shower would feel good, he felt like it had been weeks since he had seen running water. And then he realized it had been weeks.

The warm hot steaming shower felt like a massage as it washed his body clean from the adventure of the past few weeks. His flight into the future seemed more like a dream now than something that really happened...but he had a reminder that told him it did and he hoped the piece of paper he carried in his pocket didn't go through the wash was well.

He let the foaming soap work its way into his skin as he moved the sponge in between his legs to get some of the dirt that seemed to be stuck to him like glue. Gradually he began to feel human again as he rinsed off the soap and the shampoo from his thick hair that was full of dust.

Finally he dried off and dressed in his clean uniform and he walked out of the bathroom feeling like a new man.

He needed to build up his strength again he wasn't going to do it laying on his back all day he walked into the room and smiled at his ‘new' friend.

"Do want to show me around Ryu." He asked him with a smile, the boy's face lit up with delight at Ken asking him to take him on a tour.

"I sure would!" But then he stopped and hesitated and Ken knew his mother must have given him some instructions. "What does your mother or father want you to do?"

Ken quizzed him; Ryu looked surprised that Ken just read him like a book.

"Well mama says you're still recovering...and I...ahhh shouldn't take you on hikes or out in my boat until she says I can." Ryu looked up at the ceiling and scratched his head he was still thinking about what he was going to do. "I told her you were studying volcano's...she is still wondering how you ended up on our fishing trawler...so is papa."

"Me too..."Ken muttered as he looked back at the boy who just missed what he said.

"Well..." Ken smiled at him. "Common...Lets find your mother."

Ryu followed along behind his future commander like a lost puppy...

Less than an hour later they were walking up a hill which was making Ken's chest hurt like he had been jogging for hours.

This is not good, he thought. I have build up my strength again fast.

When they reached the top Ken looked out at a familiar view, he walked over and sat on a rock and caught his breath. He had sat here once not so long ago with Jun and looked out at this same view while on a mission, why did so many things have a connection with her in his life he wondered as Ryu ran around the grassed sloping hill and then he collapsed in a grassy spot and went to sleep.

"Huh!" Ken laughed out loud. "Some things stay the same."

He was so close to getting back to the time he left, now all he had to figure out was how it all worked and he wished Jun was here to go over ideas on how to set things right.

So he was a few years from the team being formed...Ken reflected for a few minutes on the events that would be happening in his life at this point.

He would be just 12 years, his mother would have just passed away and he would be practising his martial arts for hours each day so he block out the pain he felt at her loss. Each day he would wonder about his father, but then he was realizing more now that Dr.Nambu took over that role from the time he was 5 years old.

Dr.Nambu helped him through that difficult time the best way he could, he took him out of school, and he began to home school him. Ken figured it was because he kept getting into fights, but then it was because he was always defending a certain ‘friend' who he now knew wasn't worth it.

Akiya had disappeared and he was wondering if she actually made it out of the cloud. She could have dropped him...but then there was that dream. Ken shook his head to get the jumble of thoughts out of his mind.

If she was hurt, then he should try and find her and help her...

So he sat down and relaxed his mind and reached out to her...

"Ken the Eagle...you live!" Akiya entered his mind.

"Yes, I'm alive, are you alright?" he asked her concern for her safety filled his voice.

There was a few seconds of silence before she spoke again.

"My wings suffered from the lightning bolts...I have found a cave to recover in, it is in the mountain, but I cannot fly ay the moment." She informed him.

"Then guide me and I will come to you..." He stood up and looked out at the ocean, and then over at the still sleeping Ryu.

"Build up your own strength first..." She told him weakly.

"If you can't fly then how will you find food?" Ken questioned her sternly.

"There are small animals that dare venture into the mouth of the cave; they are enough to keep me going..." She told him a voice that sounded stained.

"I'm leaving to come and find you tomorrow..." Ken told her and wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"As you wish...I'm in the mountains...far from where you are now...close your eyes and do not resist me." She warned him.

Ken did as she asked and images filled his mind showing him a path through the Himalayan mountains to where the cave that she was resting in was located, he caught a glimpse of her for a moment, she looked sick, and he knew her pride was not allowing her to tell him how bad she really was.

"I can't...this has weakened me-"Akiya told him in a breathy voice before she disappeared.

"Ryu..." Ken called out to the now snoring future Owl.

"Common Ryu we have to go..." He didn't know how he was going to get to her, but he really had to start straight away, the wind was picking up and a storm was coming in across the ocean, it was later in the day and Ken was amazed at how long they had been up on the hill. All thoughts of looking for his father drifted from his mind in his bid to help a friend.

"Ahh...uugghh...what?" The dazed boy stumbled to his feet as Ken grabbed his arm and yanked him out of his sleep.

"I need to-"Ryu interrupted him.

"Look!" He cried out and pointed to a small boat that was out at sea." It looks like whoever is in that boat is in trouble...the current and the wind is taking it towards the rocks, and he doesn't look to be able to steer."

Ken follow Ryu's finger and then Ryu ran off ahead of him in his sense of urgency, Ken followed as best he could, the Owl could be slow at times but when he was needed to move fast he always could keep up with them.

The wind was howling now, but Ryu was already at the mariner pushing a row boat into the water.

Ken went to join him but Ryu shook his head and with a serious face he gave Ken the first order he had ever heard from him. "You would only hinder me...your not well enough and mama would fry me if I took you out in a storm and you got sick again...go and get my father, he can bring out the bigger boat to meet us. "Ryu looked back and gave Ken a reassuring smile." I know these waters better than anyone..."

This was a different side of the Owl...one that Ken wanted to see more of, so for once instead of trying to resist him, Ken decided to trust him, and he ran as fast as he could back to the house...

The Captain was about to leave the house to make sure his fishing trawler was secure in the storm when Ken arrived as the rain began to fall...

"Ryu spotted a boat in trouble...he's gone out to help in his row boat." Ken questioned the wisdom of allowing an eleven year old boy to go out in a storm on his own, but this was Ryu, and he had to trust him.

"My, he can be stubborn...don't worry you couldn't have stopped him, when his mind is set on doing something..." Ryu's father shook his head sadly." but if someone is in danger at sea and he's willing to help with thinking of his own safety...then I have taught him something."

"I'm coming with you..." Ken told the Captain as the two of them headed out the door, the Captain ran ahead of him to the marina and they boarded a speed boat and set out in the direction that Ken indicated that Ryu had gone in.

The sea was choppy and the seed was thrown around in the water as the ocean swell picked up, the dense rain made it hard for them to see, but Captain Nakanishi knew what he was doing.

He pointed to a cliff face and Ken could barley see the small white row boat that was bopping in the waves.

They made their way closer to Ryu's row boat, in the distance the other boat they had spotted earlier was breaking up on the rocks that Ryu was rowing away from.

It seemed to take forever for the two boats to meet up in the water, but Ken could see that Ryu had managed to save the man who was in the other boat, he was slumped in the bottom of the row boat but he was conscious.

Captain Nakanishi pulled Ryu's boat in closer with the rope Ryu tossed him, and then with help of all three of them they transferred the nervous man over to speed boat, despite the dark rain and the force of the wind.

Ken took one look at the man that they had just pulled on board...it was Dr.Nambu...