Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Saban. I own nothing other than the original character.
Jason stumbled backwards into an outcropping of the mountains behind him, barely managing to dodge a downward swing of Goldar's sword.
The visor of his helmet was shattered, exposing his left eye. His ranger suit was torn in several places, exposing the muscular flesh of his arms and torso it was supposed to protect. He had cuts that were bleeding, bruises, and burns in places his suit no longer covered.
"You can't win Red Ranger. Surrender now and I will grant you a quick end!" Goldar taunted from his position, standing a few feet away from Jason.
"You're delusional, Goldar! I'll never surrender to you!" Jason exclaimed forcefully, as he tightened his grip around the hilt of his Power Sword.
"Resist if you want, but I will relish in finally ending you, Jason." Goldar responded, his features twisting into a sickening smirk that exposed his jagged teeth as he continued his advance towards Jason.
"Oh man. I wish the other guys were here." Jason internally prayed for the other rangers to come to his aid. His communicator was damaged, leaving him unable to teleport, and even though he had tried to reach his friends, Alpha, and Zordon, there had been no response to his calls for help.
For every advance forward Goldar made, Jason took a step back. Soon, he felt the coolness of hard stone press against his back. Looking over his shoulder, Jason saw that he'd backed himself into the cliffside. To his right was a wall of jagged stone and to his left was a steep drop-off, he had nowhere left to go. Despite summoning every ounce of his strength and will to keep himself standing, he knew he couldn't last much longer.
"Guys, where are you!?" Jason felt panic grip at him and a chill run through his body that he hadn't felt since he was in Rita's dark dimension fighting against Goldar and Tommy when he was still under Rita's evil spell.
Taking his last step, Goldar closed the gap between him and the red ranger, his smile twisting even further as his victory over Jason loomed before him. Gripping the hilt of his sword with both of his clawed hands, Goldar lifted it into the air, aimed for Jason's heart. "Say goodbye Red Ranger!"
Jason's memory flashed of images of his friends and mentor, the last one to linger in his mind being of his best friend in pink.
"I'm sorry, Kim..." He thought as his mind came back to the present as he saw Goldar swing down towards him, and closed his eyes anticipating his end. His eyes flew open at the sudden screech of a bird that sounded as if it were right next to him. In a flash, a streak of fire flew in front of him, sending Goldar stumbling back and losing his grip on his sword.
"What…" was all Jason managed to get out as he saw Goldar's sword on the ground and his foe knocked back a good distance from him.
Goldar pushed himself to his feet and moved to charge, but was stopped as Jason saw an orange-reddish streak dive in front of Goldar. It flew around him, creating archs of fire that left Goldar trapped with nowhere to move or escape the flames that licked at him. Letting out a frustrated growl at his stolen victory, Goldar teleported away.
Breathing heavily from his battle and exhausted, Jason brought his hands up to his helmet, undid the latches and pulled it off. He starred at the spot on the ground a few feet in front of him where Goldar had been, marred by scorch marks. A screech drew his attention away from the spot on the ground, making him lift his head upwards. The same streak that he'd seen moments before flew closer to him. It circled around a few times before landing a few feet in front of him.
"A bird?" He voiced the questioned out loud as he looked at the sight before his eyes.
"What are you?" Jason asked the creature standing before him. He'd never seen any birds like it before, despite all the strange things he'd come to encounter since becoming a ranger several months ago.
The bird was translucent with an aura around it that was constantly shifting between yellow, orange, and a red that was a few shades lighter than his suit. The sight making him think of the flames it created earlier fending off Goldar and saving his life.
Standing on its feet, the bird was as tall as him, and despite that its wings were currently folded; he could tell that they'd most likely be double his size if they were open.
"Thank you." Was all Jason could think to say to it as it starred at him with curious, yet calm eyes. He stepped closer to it, raising a gloved hand towards the bird as if to touch it. Before his fingers connected with the creature, it spread its wings open. The motion created a gust of wind that kicked up the dust from the ground.
Jason threw up his arms to cover his face from the cloud of dust. He dropped them as the dust began to settle, then looked up and watched as the bird flew away and out of sight faster than he could blink, leaving streaks of fire in its wake dissipating in the air.
"Jason..." A feminine voice to his left called out, trying to get his attention. "Jason?"
Feeling a gentle nudge to his arm, the teen in red snapped back to reality to see his four friends all staring back at him with concerned looks on their faces. He turned to Trini, who sat to his left, his mind registering it was her voice that was trying to get his attention. "Hmm? Sorry, what?"
"Hey man, you okay?" Zack asked from his seat directly across from him. The group of teens had come to the Juice Bar after school and was now seated at their regular table.
Jason shook his head, clearing his thoughts and refocused on his friends. "Yeah bro, sorry about that. Just thinking about a dream I've been having for the last few days."
The other rangers exchanged glances with each other before looking back to their friend and leader. "The one about Goldar, the green candle, and Tommy losing his powers?" Kimberly asked in a low voice from her spot next to him on his right.
Jason shook his head "no". "Goldar, yes, but no to the candle and Tommy."
He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face before dropping them back on top of the table. "That dream is getting less frequent and I haven't had it in a while. This one is…different."
"How so?" Billy inquired from his seat next to Trini. "It must be extremely perplexing if it's causing you an escalated sense of bewilderment."
Jason's eyes shifted from Billy to Trini in a silent gesture to ask her to translate.
"He said your dream must be really confusing if it's causing you to be so distracted." Trini explained.
Jason let out a short laugh and his played with the empty cup in front of him. "Confusing is putting it lightly."
Turning over the thoughts of the dream in his head, he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. "I guess. I mean…it starts off the same way. I'm fighting for my life only to be saved in the end at the last second."
"How long have you been having it?" Kimberly asked, a puzzled expression crossing her pretty features.
He let silence fall over their table as he considered her question. "I don't know. A couple of weeks I guess." Jason answered dropping his eyes to the empty cup in his hands on the table.
"And it's the same every time?" Zack asked.
Jason lifted his eyebrows as he at Zack's inquiry. "Yeah…at least from what I can remember after I've woken up."
"What exactly happens in the dream?" Trini asked, her brows furrowed in curiosity.
Jason lifted his head and took note of the people walking by their table. He looked to his friends before motioning towards the exit with a nod of his head. "If we're going to talk about this, we should probably head out."
Recognizing the look of concern on their friend's face about their conversation being overheard, the other teens nodded in agreement. They each stood up from their seats, gathered their belongings, and headed for the exit of the Youth Center.
"It's always the same thing. I'm in the middle of this intense battle with Goldar...my helmet is damaged, communicator is shot, and my suit is in shreds. I can't contact anyone for help or teleport away. I'm so tired and weak that Goldar manages to corner me, and just as I think I'm done for, this…thing appears out of nowhere and saves me." Jason went over the events of his dream as he and his friends walked down one of the pathways through the park on their way home. The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a soft pink.
"What's this "thing" that saves you?" Kim asked as she walked in-step with him off to his right. Zack walked beside him to his left, with Trini and Billy walking in front of them.
Jason shrugged at the petite brunette's question. "I'm not sure myself. All I can really remember is that it sort of looked like a bird."
Suddenly remembering the memory of her that played in his dream, Jason glanced over to Kim beside him. "Thankfully, it's just a dream." Feeling his eyes on her, Kim turned her head ever so slightly to look up at her best friend. She blinked a few times as her mind registered the look in his eyes as he starred at her.
"What?" she asked, crinkling her nose at him and giving him a smile that only he could evoke from her.
"Nothing. Just thinking." He said, returning the smile and shaking his head a bit. "About you."
Kim opened her mouth to ask him about what exactly he was thinking about when Trini abruptly stopped her steps forward as she turned to face Jason, causing Kim to walk into her. "Whoa! Trini, what's with the sudden stop?"
"Jason, you said a bird? A bird saved you?" She questioned looking for confirmation on what he'd just said.
Jason remained silent, considering Trini's response and mentally went over the events of his recurring dream. Finally, he ran a hand through his hair looking up to meet her gaze. "I know it sounds crazy now that I'm saying it out loud, but yeah…I'm pretty sure that's what it was. Except…it didn't look like any kind of bird I've ever seen before. It was-"
"Translucent? You could see through it?" Billy asked in an attempt to finish Jason's thought.
Jason looked over to Billy, confusion evident on his face as to how his friend knew what had seen in his dream. "Yeah…how did you know?"
"Was it this reddish-orange color? With something like an aura around it that looked like fire?" asked Zack as he turned to better face the group.
As Kim listened to the others, a thought occurred to her. "Jason…in this dream…were you in the mountains?" she interjected before he had a chance to answer Zack.
Jason raised his hands as to signal his friends to wait a moment as he attempted to wrap his head around as to how they knew the details of his dream. "Okay, wait a minute…how do you guys know?"
A silence reined over them for a few moments as each of the teens looked between each other, waiting to see who would speak first.
"I had the same dream." Trini finally spoke up, breaking the silence.
"Me too." Zack proclaimed.
"Affirmative." said Billy
"Same here." stated Kimberly.
"You guys…have all had the same dream?" Jason questioned.
"That seems to be the consensus." Billy replied as the others shook their heads in the affirmative.
"Well…not exactly the same. One thing was different in mine." Kim interjected, causing her friends to all bring their attention to her.
"What do you mean, Kim?" Trini asked.
"Well, in mine, everything is like Jason said, except I wasn't fighting Goldar. I was fighting the Samurai Fan Man." Kimberly explained.
"Now that you mention it, it was the same for me. Everything was then same, except I was against the Knasty Knight." Zack added.
"Madam Woe." said Billy.
"Bones." added Trini.
"What do you think it means?" asked Jason as his eyes moved to each member of their small group. Each of them looking as uncertain as the other.
"Maybe it means we have a major battle ahead?" Kim surmised as she looked at her friends, her voice tinted with worry as a feeling of unease settled over her.
"Maybe we should talk to Zordon? Rita might be up to something or he at least might know the significance of the bird saving us." Trini suggested.
"Good idea." said Jason.
They double-checked their surroundings once more to ensure they were out of sight of any passersby before disappearing in streaks of light of their respective colors to their base of operations.