Disclaimer: Belongs to the fine folks at Saban Brands
Note: To begin, this is a story about possibly one of my least favorite Rangers of all time…Cole…but he was the one I wanted for the story…if he seems out of character (intentionally), just blame it on the story's setting. So I hope you enjoy.
Into the Darkness: An Unbalanced Soul
Part 1
He had no idea how he'd gotten there, nor did it really matter. He was here, and that was that. Four others were with him, though he never learned their story. He, Cole Evans, former Wild Force Power Ranger, had only one concern, keeping these strangers alive. The truth was, ever since they had arrived on whatever planet this was, Cole had felt something trying to take him over.
Years being raised in the wilderness had granted him a sixth sense of sort, yet it also seemed to enhance his sensitivity to the planet itself. The planet seemed to emit a strong, dark aura that sounded like a combination of sorrowful souls screaming for help and an evil presence lashing at them with a whip to keep them silent. The planet was cold, but alive, and it was screaming out to him.
The others that were with him followed unquestionably, amazed by the sheer amount confidence the young man possessed. They never spoke to him, or he to them, but they trusted his judgment. Either that or they were just too scared not to trust him. He had kept them fed and he had kept them safe thus far.
It was he who had led them to a large lake, fresh water, filled with edible fish. They had been there for two days, resting before they would begin to move again.
Cole had waded waist deep in the water. As he looked around, he saw the others were sitting calmly along the bank of the lake, still resting before they continued trying to find any sign of life. He was unable to rest, something in the planet seemed to be calling to him, and every time he rested, images that seemed like nightmares came rushing to his mind. Yet here, in the water, he felt a closer connection to the planet, as if the waters calmed him, and he closed his eyes, breathing the air in through his nose and releasing it from his mouth.
In the calmness of the waters, he could clearly hear the planet as it screamed for help, but Cole had no idea what he could do about it. He was in a strange world, with no connection to the Wild Force powers that had once been his.
He continued breathing, closing his mind off to everything around him, only focusing on trying to understand the aura that was calling out to him. In his mind he saw two forces clashing, a light and a dark one, he saw bodies of strangers, and then he saw his reflection as a blank slate, neither light nor dark. The two forces continued to clash, neither giving way to the other as Cole continued to watch.
The light fought back harder and for an instant the dark seemed to shrink, but not submit. The dark reached out, as if searching for something, then finding what it sought; the dark prepared another attack, this time fending the light off. The light tried to fight back to no avail, becoming engulfed in the darkness and everything went black. Cole noticed his reflection was no longer neutral as the darkness began to cover it. Yet before he was engulfed he awoke.
Instinctively he felt his body reach out and grab something, and then he felt the water splash against him. He came to and realized that the bend of his elbow was around something soft…a neck. Immediately he released the hold.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," a female voice choked out, fighting back fear.
"No, no I'm sorry. You surprised me, are you okay…" Cole asked the girl, trying to ask her by name, but he wasn't sure what her name was.
The girl massaged her throat for a moment. She was maybe 15, pale skin, with long, dark hair. "You were still for so long, and then you started to shake a lot so I came to see if you were okay."
"It's okay. Thank you," Cole said, though he wasn't sure if he meant it. When he was lost in his thoughts he seemed to be getting closer to knowing more, but before he could be certain the girl had woke him. It had been out of concern, but part of him was still irritated. He forced a smile and offered to walk with her back to the shore.
As they arrived back to the small group, Cole returned to his silent vigil. The others had grown accustomed to his odd silence, and they spoke to one another, figuring if Cole wanted to speak, he would.
"So are you okay?"
Cole cocked his head and looked to the direction of the voice. Apparently the young girl from earlier was talking to him.
When he didn't reply she turned away, "I'm sorry to bother you then."
After a few moments Cole responded, "I'm fine. So where are you from?"
All the others were amazed at his question, it had been one of the first times he had spoken casually to them.
The girl turned back around, she smiled, "I'm from Stone Canyon."
"I've never been there. Is it nice?" Cole asked, trying to sound genuine.
The young girl nodded back at Cole's attempt to be sociable.
As night approached everyone settled in for a few hours sleep.
One of the others offered to take first watch that night. Cole separated himself from the others slightly, wishing to sleep closer to the lake, despite it being significantly cooler there.
As he lay on the ground looking into the starry skies of the planet they were on he found himself falling asleep far faster than usual. For the first time since they had arrived on the planet, his dreams were not filled with confusing images and cries of help. He was in front of an ancient tree, surrounded on all sides by deep forests, he knew he was dressed, yet he felt bare. Two lights appeared in front of him, one black, and one white. The lights began to take shape and two figures stood before him, the black light became a young man who seemed to be at the peak of his health, the white light became a decrepit and withered old woman.
"I do not know if this is wise," the old woman spoke to the younger man.
"His spirit feels like that of a Warrior, he must be one of them," the younger man replied to the old woman.
Cole tried to speak but found himself mute.
The man and woman spoke to one another yet again, neither acknowledging that Cole was standing in front of them.
"His spirit is unbalanced. I do not believe he is one of them…at least not one of the right ones," the woman spoke.
"You're going mad in your sickness old woman. He IS one of the Warriors," the man replied almost forcefully.
"I gave my counsel, but ultimately it is your decision to make. If you are certain that he is one of the Warriors I will bequest my powers to him," the woman said, albeit reluctantly.
"You will see. It will be for the best," the man looked towards Cole, "you may speak now Warrior."
Cole realized that the man was speaking to him, "what is going on here?"
"Your spirit has been recognized as derived from the great Warriors of old. The stone is now yours to claim," the man turned his face towards the woman, who instantly seemed to vanish and in her place was a shining white stone. "Now reach out and claim what is yours."
Cole wasn't sure what would happen, but he was convinced that this was all a dream so he did as requested. Approaching the white stone that lay on the ground by the towering young man, he reached out inches away from the stone he stopped.
"What did she mean by saying that my soul is unbalanced?" Cole asked the man.
"Nothing you need worry about. She was old and senile, if not taken into possession soon she would have slipped away for good, her powers lost to the void" the man answered.
Cole reached out for the stone once again, this time touching the stone; he wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it from the ground. His whole body felt afire, consumed in pain for a split second, but soon the brief pain faded and he felt a new strength inside him, an ancient and powerful strength, yet all the while it seemed to vaguely familiar.
Cole sat up abruptly, his heart racing, his brow coated in sweat. It was a dream, only a dream. He tried to convince himself as such, but the glistening, white stone in his hand told him otherwise. Lifting the stone eye level, Cole noticed it seemed to produce a bright, white light. Looking around he realized that the guard had fallen asleep, so no one had noticed the commotion he had been causing, despite being slightly annoyed that no one was pulling guard, he had other things that concerned him.
Cole was awake now, so he took it upon himself to remain as the guard for the group. Clinching the stone tightly in his hands he began to walk around, even more confused about what was happening.
A loud sound brought him from his thoughts. The tall grasses that were nearby began to rustle, as a hissing noise filled the air. Four creatures emerged; they looked like lizards on their hind legs, but moved with precision of birds, they were roughly four to five feet in height, their appearance conjured up images of dinosaurs. The creatures sniffed the air, moving closer to the group. Cole noticed that the creatures seemed to have no eyes, and were guiding themselves on scent alone. The lead lizard snarled towards the others softly, as the creatures split apart, surrounding the sleeping humans.
Cole screamed for the others to wake, and doing such garnered the attention of the lizards. They turned towards Cole, believing him a threat, all charged in his direction.
After his yell the four others awoke, and looked around at what was happening. Before anyone could speak, Cole yelled for them all to remain quiet. Despite being scared senseless the others complied.
Cole soon found himself surrounded by four snarling, blind lizards. They all four lurched at him simultaneously; Cole managed to gracefully flip over all the creatures as they ran into each other. He was surprised that he had done it so seamlessly; as he landed on the ground in a three point stance, lifting his head swiftly he looked at the four creatures as they untangled themselves. Not sure if he could dodge the attack again, he brought himself upright completely again, as one of the creatures massive jaws lurched open and charged his leg, Cole kicked out, sweeping his foot along the nose of the creature, sending it to the ground, no longer moving, it was unconscious.
A second creature attacked, this one getting much closer, but missing. Cole could feel the hot breath of a third creature that had leapt at his back, attempting to sink its teeth into Cole's shoulder, after successfully knocking the young man to the ground.
Letting out an angry cry Cole felt his blood boiling as he seemed to get stronger. He grabbed the creature's mouth from above his shoulder, using all his force he flung the four foot creature into the lake, where it became quickly apparent that the creature couldn't swim. The strength that had flown into Cole became stronger, as he felt his stone heating, before swallowing him in a white light.
Cole smiled as he felt the return of a strength he had not felt in a long time. His body was garbed in complete white, save his arms which were covered in black. His hands were covered by white gloves and around his waist a belt appeared, attached to the belt were a pair of long, three-bladed, shining claws, each roughly a foot in length and both with brackets near the base where his hands could fit. Sliding his hands into the brackets they automatically secured themselves to his wrists. A black head band with a white stone appeared around his forehead, before glowing and disappearing as a white helmet engulfed Cole's head.
The lizard that had missed moments ago returned to charge Cole, unaware that his prey was now armed. As the creature leapt at Cole, he brought both his fists into the air, catching the creatures skin in his claws and cutting six gashes into the creature's hide, not enough to be fatal, but enough to make the creature flee, in agony.
The fourth lizard decided to stray away from the target, realizing that this opponent was not worth fighting for a meal. He called into the air and fled.
A loud scream from behind Cole sounded, turning immediately he saw the source. The young girl with the long dark hair, screamed as a smaller lizard had managed to sneak up on the humans while they watched Cole battling, and locked its teeth into the young girl's ankle. The others quickly bashed at the creature, eventually forcing it to let go, and send it fleeing into the night.
Cole ran to the others, making sure nothing else was around. Seeing nothing he released the claws back his side, where they seemed to shrink, leaving only the wrist brackets. Reaching up Cole removed his helmet, which quickly vanished and the headband reappeared.
Cole looked at the creature's bite on the girl's leg, it wasn't massive, but it still looked painful enough. He reached down, and lifted her in his arms and flagged for the others to follow, as he went back to the lake, to use the water to clean up the wound.
"Is it bad?" One of the four humans who had arrived asked Cole, the White Ranger.
"It could be a lot worse," Cole answered as he bathed the wound with water from the lake, "but we need to get somewhere away from here before something else shows up."
The young girl looked down at the wound on her leg, yet remained calm, a fact that Cole was thankful for. It would've been even more trouble for him to try and keep someone from freaking out after being attacked by some type of dinosaur-like creature, at least all he had to worry about was cleaning the wound and carrying the girl.
"Where are we gonna go?" Another person asked the White Ranger.
"The same way we've been going," Cole answered.
"But it hasn't lead us anywhere yet," a middle-ages woman spoke up.
"No one said you have to follow me. I'm going this way with the girl, if you think you can do better, be my guest," Cole was harsh with his words, the harshness surprised even Cole, but something about this place had changed him, and the more he thought about it the more it bothered him. He chose instead to ignore the thoughts for now, and started walking. The others followed.
The walk proved no easier, even with his new found strength, the weight of the girl was slowing him down, and Cole knew this, but he also knew that he was the only one capable of the burden. He toyed with the thought of having her carry her own weight, but the bite seemed to worsen, becoming swollen and discolored, obviously the bite was infectious. The most surprising part was that the girl never whined or complained, despite the amount of pain she had to be feeling, she even offered to walk on her good leg, and just support herself on someone else's shoulder.
"You're resilient aren't you?" Cole spoke to the girl as they walked, even under the weight he remained ahead of the others.
The girl smiled, but the smile quickly vanished as her face showed a grimace of pain instead.
Yet no matter how much land they were covering, there was still no sign of life in any form, and unless they had somewhere that could treat the wound, and found it soon…well even Cole hated to think of the consequences.
"We rest here, I'm going to scout ahead a little," Cole looked towards one of the other humans, and pointed to one, "You, come here. Keep an eye on her."
The other person, a short man with dark tan skin, nodded and settled beside the fair-skinned girl.
Cole moved ahead much faster without the weight of the teen. His new found strength letting him climb rapidly up the side of a large boulder. He scanned the area, hoping to see any sign of anything, but saw nothing…at first. As he looked over the landscape again he noticed something new, it was smoke, and where there was smoke there was fire, and where fire was there was often people. Swiftly he moved back towards the small group of humans, all sitting wide alert, in case the lizards came back.
"Let's go, I think I may have found something," Cole called back.
The others immediately stood, no longer as tired as they were. The slight possibility of any type of life seemed to re-energize everyone. Cole returned to the girl, lifting her as he motioned for the others to follow him.
Cole led them in the direction he'd thought the smoke had come from, trying to find the best way for the others to follow. After what he figured had to be about a half mile he noticed something new…voices. Not just voices, but they seemed to be talking, and even more shocking they were speaking English. He figured it had to be two or more persons, and only hoped they were natives, or at least someone who could help.
Against his better judgment Cole called out, "can you help us?" He knew that if it wasn't for the young girl's leg getting worse, he would have preferred to observe the people for a time, before approaching.
"What the…" one of the voices responded, male, "who's there?"
"My name is Cole, and I have someone injured," was Cole's response. He wasn't sure how far the others were behind him, but he left an obvious enough trail for them to follow, if they didn't show soon he'd return to look for them, "myself and several others are lost."
"Well no need to hide in the shadows boy, come clear, let us look see at the girl," the second of the two voices replied, this one female.
Without hesitation Cole came forward and got a clear view of the two people, the male was human and the female was human-like with brown skin, red eyes and slightly pointed ears. They were set up in a small camp, several items that resembled hunting weapons lay neatly to the side. A small tent was set up nearby, and beside it what looked like other supplies.
As he emerged the two strangers first surprisingly glanced at his clothing, but after seeing the girl he carried, they focused solely on that, his story could wait until later.
"What happened to her?" The female asked.
"We were attacked by large lizards, one of them managed to bite her," Cole explained, "it tried to clean it the best I could."
"Good thing you did to, otherwise this could be much nastier had the saliva settled in much longer," the human male said as he examined the wound, "that's not to say it's not bad now, but it could've been much worse. Anyway set her down…oh and let your friends know it's safe to come out, we won't bite."
The others had caught up with Cole, but remained out of sight until they thought it safe, though their attempt at not being seen had apparently not worked.
"Betta, could you fetch me my bag," the human man motioned to the grey skinned woman.
"No problem," the woman disappeared into the nearby tent.
She appeared moments later with a small duffle bag, on the side of the bag something caught Cole's attention, a symbol that he recognized, the symbol of the Silver Guardians…
"You're a member of the Silver Guardians?" Cole examined the bag closer.
"Well, I was, a long time ago that is," the young man who Cole had approached in the clearing answered as he examined the wound.
"I worked with Wes and Eric once upon a time," Cole responded.
"Small world, anyway I never introduced myself, I'm Jacob Allistor," the man never looked away from the wound as he reached into his bag retrieving a small box, "Betta, see if any of the others care for a bite of food."
"No problem doctor," the brown skinned woman nodded as she disappeared back into the tent.
The other humans who had followed Cole looked uncertainly at one another.
"Trust me, the food is perfectly edible by human standards, I've been in this world several years and it hasn't harmed me yet," Jacob assured the humans. Quickly switching topics, yet never turning his attention from the young girl's wound, Jacob spoke towards Cole again, "so it seems even in this world there are Power Rangers, amazing."
"So it seems…wait a minute you said you've been here several years, but the Guardians have only been around a couple years. How is that possible?" Cole wondered.
"No idea, I just live here now, I have no idea how it works…hmm there's not a lot I can do for the girl here, I can stop the spreading, but I'd need to get her back to the village where I have better facilities," Jacob looked up from wound.
The young girl smiled and said thank you, despite the fact that she seemed to be forcing the sentiment.
"You're a tough one aren't you," Jacob looked at the girl, "here comes Betta, eat something you'll feel a lot better, trust me."
Betta emerged from the tent, carrying several small bags, of what was probably food, though it wasn't apparent what type. On the word of Jacob Allistor everyone tore into the bags, devouring the contents. No one seemed to have problems with the food, and in moments they all felt better.
"So you said you need to get to a village," Cole approached the Silver Guardian, "how far is it from here?"
"No too terribly far, Betta and I were just planning on spending a few days camping, but now that our food supply is dwindling, those plans are coming to an end. In fact if you and your friends wouldn't mind giving a hand we could leave quite soon and I assure you, you will all be welcomed in the village, and perhaps learn a thing or two about this world," Jacob stood up completely, dusting himself off, "or you can hang around in the wild and wait for the next attack."
There was a general consensus between the humans who were new to the world, and that consensus was that they would go back to the village. They wasted no time offering aid in collapsing the camp site, the possible notion of a civilization of sorts invigorated them.
Cole reached down to the wounded girl, once again offering to carry her. Within an hour the small party was off.
"So what exactly lives here?" Cole examined the settings around him. It was a small fortress like town. The population seemed minimal and the streets…more accurately the paths didn't seem to busy.
"The Foils of course, this is one of their smaller villages. It's an outskirt settlement. Part of one of the much larger towns a couple miles up the valley, Betta and me work as the medic on demand here." Jacob replied, "There are several outposts like this one spread throughout the valley. With the growing number of incidents involving…let's just say less than friendly species…the outposts have been fairly active."
"Doctor, want I should I take the child to the medical bay?" Betta asked as they approached a small, clay-like structure.
"That would be fine, clean the wound properly and prep my equipment I'll be in momentarily," Jacob answered the dark-skinned Foil, "and you, Cole, and your companions here are welcome to walk around the village, you may get a couple of odd stares, merely because the people here are not used to seeing such a large number of humans, but they are all friendly for the most part."
"What about her?" Cole nodded towards the clay building Betta had taken the young girl into.
"Don't worry, I've seen this many times, but you are more than welcome to hang outside the facility if you so choose," Jacob answered the White Ranger.
The other humans who had traveled with Cole stood around looking to him for what they should do. Cole hated having the responsibility, he had set out to get the others somewhere safe, and it seemed that they were safe here…for the time. He simply told them to walk around, but stay close to one another, just in case. He chose to remain near the medical bay for the time being.
Jacob Allistor entered into the small building, joining Betta and the little girl.
Finding a ladder aside the building Cole climbed to the roof to get a better view of the surrounding area, and to get a feel for the land itself. Though the roof didn't allow a great view, Cole felt as if he was hearing the sky speak to him. Closing his eyes, he opened his ears. He could hear the sounds carried on the winds; cries of unfamiliar animals, voices flowing from the mouths of the people…the Foils in the village. The whole of the planet seemed to be talking…but the voices were disconnected…the planet spoke with multiple voices…none seemed to mesh with the others.
"What are you trying to tell me?" Cole asked no one in particular.
The multitude of voices came back at him, some sorrowful, some in pain, some strong and commanding. One sound broke over all the others though. A loud cry…he heard it in particular…a voice that sounded in turmoil. Cole collapsed to the ground as the sharp cry shook him to the very core. His newfound Rangers powers could not quiet the anguish, immediately the helmet formed from his head band again, encasing his head completely. Only then could he decipher what the cry meant.
"Not again…no…please…no…" the voice he heard, was broken and distorted, but at the moment it was decipherable.
"Who are you? Where are you? What can I do?" Cole once again spoke to no one. He felt himself fall into a trance. He saw images flying before his eyes again. A woman with long, ragged brown hair, but something vaguely familiar about her, she was human he was certain of that, but he felt as if he should know her. The images, at first distorted, began to clarify. There were people bound together in tight rooms, there was blood and grime coating the faces and bodies of the people, there were weapons of all shape and sizes, creatures of unrecognizable origins, brutality, violence and pain. The scene shifted to a view of a mist shrouded island.
Cole lost all track of time while in his trance, it could've been 5 minutes, or it could've been 5 hours, but he was brought back to reality by a firm pressure pressing against him, and a voice asking if he was okay.
It was the young girl; she had been brought up top by Jacob per her request to check on Cole. Her pale, thin figure contrasted greatly against the darkening sky, the light that shone on her gave her an almost ethereal appearance, "Are you okay?"
"I'm…I'm good. How about you?" Cole tried to regain focus.
"My leg hurts, but the poison is gone. Dr. Allistor told me that it would be better for me to relax here for the time being," the girl responded.
"Yeah, we'll stay here for a little while," Cole answered, trying to sound concerned but the fact was the images were telling him something, and he was actually trying to figure out what as opposed to listening to the little girl, whose name he didn't even know.
"No we won't…you…you have to go," the girl replied.
"What?" Cole was curious to what she had meant.
"You got us here; Jacob said we were welcome as long as we wanted. The others agreed that it was a good idea…but there's something calling you elsewhere isn't it. I mean you're a Power Ranger…that means there is something out there that needs to be faced," the young girl sounded almost sad at the sense she made.
The helmet around Cole's head retracted, as the headband reappeared, he smiled kindly, and knew that she was telling the truth. He didn't know how she knew, but she did.
The next day Cole knew he was going to leave the village. He had talked to one of the Foil Elders in the town mentioning a mist covered island. The elder told him of an island no one dared approach that matched his description, telling him how to reach it. Cole thanked him and decided his next location.