Her vision blurred as her eyes moved from one side of the Command Center to the other. The bright lights leaked from the command console and swirled around her in rainbow colored bands of light.
The room itself shaked, but very slowly, like the way a ship bobs up and down on the water. She reached out to grab a console to keep her balance, but when she reached for it, it slid away from her. Again and again, her hand reached out for the console, but it move farther away. In fact, the whole room seemed to be moving away from her.
She tried to run after it, but it didn't matter how hard she moved her legs, she knew she wasn't going anywhere. She was just running in place, unable to move forward, like someone was holding her back.
This fight to move only made her feel even more dizzy. WIth her head being to disoriented to take it all, she collapsed. She fell unto the black void left behind by the Command Center.
"Trini?" someone called out to her.
Hovering over her, Jason and Tommy stood there. They looked at each other, confused, but then stared down at Trini with black beady eyes and twisted smiles. "Shoosh," they both said with their fingers over their mouths, "everything is going to be okay."
They both stretched out their hands over her eyes, blocking the light
Heart racing, hands trembling, chest heaving,Trini jumped out of her bed as the banging of the ancient bell grew louder. Ripping off her mask, she found that it was only Stanley trying to call her. Seriously need a less creepy ringtone, she thought as she put Stanley on speaker phone.
"Hey, uh, sorry if I— I woke you up, just remember that you said to call a 9 o'clock sharp, so I just did," Stanley stammered on.
"It's fine Stanley. It's okay," she said, stretching her shoulder muscles.
"Good, uh, so I'm about to arrange the flight right now, but— but I have to ask, are you sure you wanna take a whole week of your time away, just to go to Angel Grove? You know we have other things going on?" Stanley said.
"Of course I know that," she said, applying her anti-wrinkle cream, "but some things are more important. I haven't seen these people in a long time, and when they ask me to drop by, i'm not going ignore them in favor of the queen or anybody else."
"I guess I can understand that," Stanley said.
"Good, now just tell me what's next after I get back." She slipped on her silver robe and headed for the balcony.
"Well, you should start to prepare for dinner with the queen when you get back. Also, there's that press release coming up for the charity, and you know they're gonna want to interview you, Plus, you have to make the proper arrangements to get Neo-Barbie into the Metropolitan Museum. And . . ."
As Stanley went on, Trini pulled back the curtain, and the sun light flooded into the room, bouncing off the granite tile floor and illuminating the handcrafted wooden furniture.
She looked out the balcony to see the familiar blue tides wash in and out of the beach front, the light warming her face.
This is going to be a great day.
She looked out the window as her limo drove past the golden skyscrapers that made up Angel Grove. It was amazing how much the city had changed since she left. Trini remembered the days when it considered a relatively large small town, but now it had grown to give Los Angeles a run for its money.
The buildings stretched out far above what she could see. Her eyes could barely make out the flying vehicles that swooped by the digital billboards that made up the entire walls of some skyscrapers. Welcome to the City of Dreams, one billboard read while showing a picture o the city's colorfully vibrate skyline at night. An animated board of the red ranger helmet flashed bold words the bottom of the screen: We've Got Your Back!
Things really have changed. She remembered the Power Rangers first year in Angel Grove, when they always had suspicion thrown at them from the outside, and they had to remain hidden from the rest of the world, but over time that suspicion just melted away, the public trusted them. After Zordon passed away, there wasn't a reason to hide anymore.
"I hate the traffic here, and I hate crowds," Stanley said, straightening his bow tie.
"Would you relax? Only you would find something to complain about while on the greatest place on earth," Trini said. Some days she wondered why she even hired him. Stanley always look uncomfortable in any situation. The tiny man would squirm in his tweed jacket, running his finger through his red curly hair, like a kid impatiently waiting the in the doctor's office.
But as squirmy as he was, Stanley was an excellent assistant and manager of Trini's time. He always knew how to work her schedule to get the most done with each passing day. Though he complained a lot, he never complained about being overworked and dedicated long hours into the night to fix any problem Trini had, like the time he— Actually, now that Trini thought about it, she couldn't remember a specific time Stanley helped her through a problem, or anything about him at all. How did I meet him again?
They jolted as the limo came to a dead stop.
"Oh, what now?" Stanley said.
Through the window, she t all the cars in all the lanes stopped. Everyone was jumping out of their vehicles to crowd around a cloud of smoke billowing in the distance. Now this looks interesting. She grabbed her handbag and hopped out of the limo.
"Where are you going?" Stanley yelled.
"I'm gonna go say hi," Trini said as she ran down the street.
She passed all the yellow taxis to join the crowd, and swam through the sea of people snapping photos, fighting to get to the front. Darting around the back of heads, she saw that they were gathered around the ten foot tall golden statue of all the rangers.
Some kind of snake monster quickly slithered on ground, looking for an exit. The snake creature lifted its head a foot over the happy people. It opened its mouth, showing off its great fangs with a hiss. It coiled its head back, ready to strike the people. Everyone grew even more excited and started snapping pictures of it.
A pink arrow flung into its neck, causing it to convulse as electricity ran through its hulking mass. Trini smiled, she always loved seeing this unfold.
As the creature convulsed, Jason beamed in front of the crowd and sliced its tail off, the tail turning to crumbling rock and the creature falling to the ground. Hungry for vengeance, the snake lunged at Jason, but not before Billy came from behind and wrapped his lance around its neck. The other rangers beamed in next to Jason and they all fired at the creature, reducing it to dust in the wind.
The crowd roared as they snapped pictures through the dust cloud of the fallen enemy. Trini fought her way to the police barrier in front of the crowd, the cops occupied with trying to get their picture taken with Tommy and Zack. All the rangers took their helmets off and waved at the insane crowd, Kim and Billy signing autographs.
"Hey guys over here," she called to them, "it's Trini! Look I'm back guys! I got your invitation and . . ."
The rangers beamed away, without even giving her a look.
I guess they just didn't see me, she thought. Yeah, that must of been it, they're probably swamped by people all the time, It would make sense. There was still plenty of time to see them later.
In all the commotion, Trini had completely forgotten that she dropped her bag. She looked around for it, moving around the now clearing cloud of people. She found it a couple of feet behind her and picked it up.
The bag bit her.
She dropped the bag and looked at her hand to see that it was fine. No cuts, no blood, not even a red mark. Must of been a shock, she thought based on the slight tingle she felt between her fingers, her bag must of caught some static electricity somehow.
"Trini!" Stanley called from a few feet away, "come on! We gotta check in!"
"Alright," she said, gazing at the bag. It's probably nothing. She slung the bag over her shoulder ran back to Stanley.
Trini typed a message to Billy: 'So, how does 3:00 sound?' She waited in her hotel room for an hour before Billy got back with her.
'Sure, we can fit you in at 3,' Billy's message read.
Fit me in? They invite me over and then their not even sure if they can take time out to see me, she thought, What could be making them so busy?
In the corner of her eye, she saw an old image of the Power Rangers on the T.V. She unmuted out of curiosity. A female news anchor's voice spoke over old footage of the rangers during a battle: "Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Power Rangers arrival to Angel Grove. Here at channel four, we will give you a recap of their history, and more."
Oh, this should be fun. Trini highered the volume. The anchor summarized the first two years of their existence, but Trini thought it was weird how they skipped all the controversy that happened after they showed up. No mention of the tensions the team had with the public or with the E.S.B, and the Green Ranger was barely a footnote in the story.
The anchor continued: "After ten long years of struggle, the rangers were finally able to find and execute known intergalactic dictator, Lord Zedd." Trini remembered that day she got the call from Jason about that. She remembered because it was only after a year after she officially retired from ranger duty. . . or. . . something like that.
"Not long after the victory, team leader, Jason Lee Scott, decided it was time to reveal themselves to the public, sharing their technology with the world," the anchor said. That was a crazy day too.
"Where are they now? Former Yellow Ranger, Trini Kwan, retired from the team after the first two years to pursue a career in art, she has since become one of the world's leading philanthropists. The others still perform ranger duty when necessary, but have pursued over things. Zachary Taylor became a spokesperson for Xtreme Sports, Billy Cranston now assists on NASA space missions, Jason Scott and Kimberly Hart both moonlight motivational speakers. After the break, you get the chance to get into the minds of these heroes with our in depth interviews with each ranger."
Hey! They didn't ask me for an interview!
There was a knock at the door. Trini shut off the T.V and jumped out of bed.
Splash!
She shivered in shock as she felt ice cold water fall all over her body. Drenched, she was absolutely drenched in the freezing liquid. What th— She looked up, but there wasn't even a leak of water dripping down from the ceiling. It was completely dry.
"Trini, it's me, open up," Stanley said from behind the door.
She opened the door. "Stanley, I think there's something wrong with the plumbing," she said, "one second I'm fine, the next i'msoaked."
Stanley gave her a small smirk and short giggle. "That's because you just got out of the shower, silly. You told you me you were gonna take one after we checked in," he said.
"What?" Trini looked to see that she was wearing a white bathrobe. Did I have this on earlier? She thought. The Image of her pulling open the shower curtain did begin to hazelly enter her mind. I guess I just forgot.
"So, we're going at three?" Stanley said.
His words broke Trini out of her confusion. "Yeah, wait . . . you said we?"
"Please, it's not everyday you get to meet a Power Ranger," he said, pressing his hands together.
"I was a Power Ranger," she said.
"Oh, you know what I mean. Please?".
Trini couldn't help but see the eager little boy in Stanley. Who was she to say no?
"Alright, but no complaining," she said.
"Deal."
"Who?" The voice from the speaker said.
"Trini Kwan!" She said, bending her torso over the limo driver to talk to security booth herself.
"I'm sorry madam, but your name is not on the clearance list," the voice said.
She pounded her fist on the limo door. "That's ridiculous, I was a Power Ranger! They're expecting me."
"Mam, if you don't calm—" the voice stopped and she heard the sound of shuffling papers coming out of the speaker. The voice spoke again: "Alright Ms. Kwan, you're clear to enter."
"Thank you," Trini breathed out
The doors of the electric fence swung open and Trini's limo drove through the paved road leading to the Command Center. Trini remembered the last time she visited they had just started putting in the road. Jason said he wanted the Power Rangers to be more open, but he still wanted to be cautious, hence the fence.
The road led up another ten miles before approaching the mountain the Command Center was carved into. There was another security checkpoint at the base of the mountain, a face recognition camera. After that, it was another, six miles up the windy road on the mountain. They approached one last security checkpoint as their limo was locked into a tiny parking lot with a fence surrounding it, on the four corners of the fence stood armed guards.
Trini and Stanley were cleared to enter the building.
Trini led Stanley into Billy's old workshop, where the old metal shelves that held all of Billy's inventions were now replaced with a rotating conveyor belt running throughout the area. Trini smiled as Stanley stood, mouth gaped, in awe of the place. Billy came out from around the corner with clipboard and a lab coat.
"It's nice to have you back," Billy shook Trini's hand before snapping his head back to his clipboard.
"It is great. I just thought it would amazing if we all got back together again," Trini said.
"Yes, definitely," Billy said robotically, not even turning his head away from the board. "How was your flight over here?" he asked.
"Oh it was . . . uh . . . it was well—" Her brain stopped. How was the flight? She realised she couldn't remember a thing about the flight over here. Even after all the flights she has taken overseas for her job, Trini always remembered all of them. Going to the airport never became mundane and there was always a weird story to tell, but now she was drawing a blank. There had to be something. . .
"Hey, ," Stanley stepped in front of Billy, "could you please give me a just a little peek at what you are working on?"
"I do not know about that," Billy said.
Trini snapped back into reality. "Oh come on Billy, he practically begged me to take me to take him. Show him something."
"Alright, follow me," Billy said.
Billy walked them over to his desk. On it stood a silver, candlestick shaped, stand. On top of the stand was a blue energy orb. Trini and Stanley gazed inside the orb to see billions of tiny particles moving around at incredible speed.
"It's beautiful." Trini thought it was prettier than anything she had made herself, "What is it?"
"I call it the Sonic Atomizer, what you are looking at is the solution to the world's energy crisis. It's not quite stable yet, but I think I'm on the verge of a breakthrough," Billy said.
"And on the right, you'll see are little lab here run by our science expert," A familiar voice said.
Trini turned around. It was Jason. He was wearing the khaki button down shirt and shorts that a camp counselor would wear, complete with merit badge sash. He led a troop of similarly dressed kids into the lab.
"Now remember kids," Jason said, "I was once a little trooper myself a long time ago, so if you listen to your parents, practice helping people everyday, and stay away from drugs, you can might be a Power Ranger yourself one day!"
All the kids wowed in amazement. She wanted a piece of this action, so she walked over to Jason. "What do you got going on over her?" Trini asked.
Jason looked over. "Oh hi," Jason motioned for her to come closer, "kids, say hi to my friend, Trini" She waved to the crowd, but she didn't exactly get the same amazed look, or even a "hi", just confused looks.
"Who are you?" A blue-eyed kid with curly blond hair asked.
"Well I was ranger like Jason back in the day," She said.
"Which one?" a kid in the back asked.
"The Yellow Ranger," She said.
"LAME!" At least half of the kids yelled.
"Hey now, I don't-" Trini started before Jason tapped her on the shoulder.
"I gotta go," Jason said, "I promised the camp I would hang with these kids for the day and show them a good time."
"Really? I was kinda hoping we could all-" Trini started.
"Maybe next time," Jason said, leading the kids away.
Stanley walked over to her. "Is everything okay boss?"
"I guess," Trini was hoping that she would be getting of the welcome wagon than what she had been getting. It seemed like she invisible, that was a feeling she hadn't had for years, before she met any of these people.
Zack walked by holding two supermodels in each arm. He was wearing a golden jumpsuit and golden brimmed sunglasses."Hey Billy, you know where I could get some food for Teresa and Veronica?"
"Zack, I haven't seen you in ages!" Trini said.
"What? Oh right," Zack pulled a dvd box and a pen out of his jacket and signed it, "It's always nice to meet a fan." Zack handed her the DVD. She saw the cover of Zack in the middle of an exercise pose. The title, Hip Hop Kido: 7 Easy Steps to Fitness, was printed on it in purple. "Actually Billy, I just remembered where we can go, come on ladies," Zack said before walking off.
He didn't even recognize me? she thought. In the corner of her eye, she saw Kim and Aisha walk toward the exit."Hey Kim! what's up?!" Trini yelled as she ran toward them Kim's gotta be happy to see me, she's gotta.
Kim pulled off her gigantic sunglasses off of her face. She stared at Trini the same way she would stare at a crushed cockroach. "Oh. Hey Trini," Kim said with exhaustion in her voice.
"I was hoping we could—"
"Like sorry, I'm too busy. Me and Bestie over here are going to the salon, and we will be busy all day. Right girlfriend?" Kim asked Aisha.
"Totally," Aisha said, pulling down on her identical sunglasses and smacking her gum loudly.
They walked off. Bestie? Trini thought. It had been a while since she's talked to Kim, but has it really been that long? Was she really that angry about Trini leaving?
Tommy came up to Trini wearing a jacket with a bunch of corporate logos on it. He flashed a smile decorated with golden and diamond studded teeth."Hey Trini, what's up?"
"Nothing much, apparently," she said.
"Trini, please ,you have to get up," Tommy said.
"What?" Trini asked.
"I said do you want a soda," Tommy said. He pointed to a little blue square on his shoulder pad. "Because, I got this sweet deal with Pepsi's new citrus—"
"No, no, you said something else. You said I should 'get up'?" she asked.
"I didn't say that," Tommy said.
Trini accidently knocked into Billy's desk, hitting the button that turned the orb around the Sonic Atomizer off. The ball of particles flew around the room destroying everything in its way. Jason tackled a kid to the ground to save him from being hit by it. Tommy fires a blaster at it, destroying it. Billy drops to his knees, and screams into the air.
"Maybe we should go," Stanley said.
"I guess so," Trini said.
She spent the next couple of days in Angel Grove seeing the sights that the town had to offer. She still had a couple more days in town before her flight back to . . . her house. . . her state. . . her country? So, she was nervous about seeing the rangers again, but Billy messaged her again out of the blue.
Hey, everything is fine. I think you should come back again before you go, it read.
Are you sure? she sent back.
Of course, another one read.
Well, if they were willing to see her again, then what could it hurt to go back? Trini left a voice message to Stanley that she would be heading out. Stanley told her that his stomach wasn't feeling very good, and she should go without him.
The limo took her to the gate at the electric fence. It was a little weird because they didn't even talk to the security booth. As soon as they pulled up, the gate opened. Trini couldn't help but smile at the thought that maybe the security guard learned his lesson. They parked in the fenced off parking lot, but the guards weren't there.
When she approached the door, it slid open revealing the Command Center to be in utter shambles as sparks flew through the darkness. The accident she caused was bad, but it wasn't this bad.
She ran into the darkness to find Billy crushed and unconscious under a metal shaked his arm, but he didn't respond at. She looked over to see Jason crushed under rubble, with only his arm and his head sticking out.
That's when she heard it, the laugh. A very slow, meticulous laugh echoing throughout the command center, as if the person was pronouncing every single, individual 'Ha'. The source of the laughter came into the light.
"Stanley?" Trini said
Stanley stood their with a malicious grin. His tweed clothes were almost rotting off of his body, his bow tie hanging off his collar, his eyes black. He laughed more as his skin began rotting away, thinning out his face into a skull. "Hello little one," he said.
Her heart raced as she remembered that voice very well, the voice that lead to end of her sleep for many years, the voice that beckoned her to jump off the cliff every night, the voice in her dreams. The voice belonged to the monster that Zedd placed under her bed, the skeleton in her closet. "Bones?"
"Back from the dead! Well, in a manner of speaking," he said. He continued to laugh at his own joke, laughing so hard the left side of his jaw became loose from his face. He raise an index finger up at Trini, then turn his head to side, grab his jaw and popped it back into place.
"Wha— Wha— Wha— What?!" she yelled.
"Yes, for years I've been waiting for this day," Bones whispered, " The day I take my vengeance on you, little one. At first, I just wanted to kill you, but then I decided to wait for a time when I could hurt you the worst way possible. And it happened, Trini. You brought me right to the other Power Rangers, and now they're all dead, because of you."
She ran for it. She bursted out of the Command Center and ran as far as she could she could, all while his voice whispered into her ear: "You know you can't run from me, little one." She ran fast, digging her feet into the grass . . . grass?
She stopped and looked around. Where's the limo? Where's the mountain or the Angel Grove desert? She realized she was now standing in the middle of a grassy area with dead trees everywhere.
"Oops," Bones whispered behind her, "lost my train of thought."She fell onto the grey grass and crawled away from him. His long coat floated over his skeletal body, like smoke. He place his wide brimmed hat over his cranium."You know hard it can be to focus when you're having fun!"
The ground shook and cracked and separated, opening a gigantic crevice. She on tight to the grass, but she couldn't. The grass dissolved into the sand of the Angel Grove desert.
That's when it all made sense to her. The grass was fake, everything was fake. It was all a dream, another one of Bone's allusions. That's why she couldn't remember anything, there was nothing to remember. She looked down to find that they were now standing at the peak of the mountain, a hundred feet above the ground.
She got up and walked over to the edge. "Come with me little one," Bones said, " It will be easier, far easier than what you are thinking off."
Without even looking at him, she said: "I'll jump, then I'll wake up."
"Maybe, maybe not. Are you brave enough to find out?" he asked. "It's a long way down."
"I have bigger things to be afraid off than heights."
She dove off the edge.
The darkness that surrounded her dimmed into light. Very slowly and gradually, shadowy figures came into focus. As the light the light returned, the figures formed into familiar faces, and their sounds into familiar voices.
"Trini? Trini?" one of the voices said.
When the light returned she saw Tommy and Jason kneeling over her, the others standing in the background. The shock of it all made Trini jump up. "Wow, it's okay," Tommy said, holding her shoulders.
"What happened?" she asked.
"We don't know, you just passed out on us," Jason said, "we tried everything to wake you up." Jason and Tommy pulled out a wet bucket and one of Billy's electric probes.
She looked around the Command Center in exasperation, then back at the objects in the boy's' hands. Everything shot back into her memory. "Bones!" she said.
"Bones?" Jason said.
"Yeah, he's back, I don't know how, but he's back, and now he has some kind of control over my dreams," she said.
"Then hopefully, we can take him out like we did last time. If he can knock you out, then his skull must be somewhere in the Command Center." Jason stood up. "Alright rangers, let's split up. Billy and Zack, you two go check out the vehicle hanger, Tommy and Kim, you check out the main hallway. Me and Trini will look through the basement. Let's move!"
What they called the basement of the Command Center, was the deepest the levels of the base. It was where the Command Center Power Reactor was kept and was only occasionally visited by the rangers when Billy performed maintenance on the reactor or when they needed the extra storage space. There was very light sources down there, only a few ceiling lamps and whatever light emitted from the reactor that reflected on the metal pipes that surrounded Trini and Jason.
Trini and Jason walked over the metal bridge that hung over the coolant pipes. Still a little afraid even the most minor of heights, Trini instinctively grabbed the railing. Why was it all sandy? They were pretty far away from the desert on the get their minds off the humidity of the place, Trini and Jason talk about the dream she had.
"So I was teaching to a group of boy scouts?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, It was actually kind of adorable how much you were into it," she said.
"Huh, that's funny, I don't remember really telling any of you guys that I was a boy scout. It's not exactly something I like to think about," Jason said.
Trini stopped underneath a ceiling lamp. "Really? I mean, you must of, right? How could I have dreamed it then?" she asked, but Jason seemed just as confused as she light above her was growing in ridiculously bright. She looked up to see what was up with it.
It was the sun, the light from the sun was heavy as it illuminated the blue sky. She snapped her head from side to side to see that they were now walking inside a crack between two rock walls in the Angel Grove desert. On her left, she caught a glimpse of the bridge railing fading into the rock.
"We're still in a dream!" she said.
Jason turned to her, eyebrow raised. "What are you talking about?" he asked.
"What do you mean? We were after Bones, remember?"
Jason squinted his eyes and tilted his to the side. "Huh?" he said, approaching her, "Trini we we destroyed Bones a while ago." He place his hand on her forehead. "Are you feeling okay?"
He's gone, she thought. He's been sucked into whatever reality Bones has created for him, just like she was earlier. She needed to think of something fast. Pulling Jason's hand away, she said: "Quick, tell me. You were a member of the boy scouts?"
"Yeah actually, how did you know that?" Jason asked.
"I know because we are in your dream right now!" she said, "Bones is back and he's messing with all our minds. You have to wake up!" She slammed her hand on the top of Jason's head.
He backed away from her. "That's crazy," he said.
"Is it? Where is everybody else right now, huh? Where is Tommy and Kimberly?"
"Who's Tommy?" he said.
The rock wall next to them exploded into a grand fireball. They hit the ground as as rocks flew over them. She lifted her to face the smoke, and a shadow formed in front of her eyes. The shadow grew as it approached, emerging from the smoke. The more of it she saw, the more she realized that maybe this wasn't Jason's dream after all.
The boot of the Green Ranger stomped within an inch of her face.
Tears ran down Tommy's green eyes as his muscles forcefully pushed him toward them. Each limb was consumed in burning pain with every movement. His mouth twitched as he tried with every fiber of his being to stop himself from saying what he wanted him to say. "Your angel of death has come for you," Tommy said.
"I don't think so," the red ranger said before morphing.
His hand contorted itself into a fist before repeatedly punching itself into the red ranger's lower rib. The Red Ranger stopped dead in his tracks and folded into the impact. Tommy's other fist forced itself into the visor of the ranger's helmet, knocking him to the ground.
Gazing down at the fallen ranger beneath his feet, It was like watching the worst horror movie imaginable. He was strapped to a chair, forced to watch himself break bones and hear the cries for mercy. Nothing could be done, his eyes burned as he struggled to turn away, to get away from himself.
Something scratched his shoulders, gripping into them, holding them tighter than any constrictor snake. In the corner of his eye, he could see him coming with his horrible fake grin and red and silver face.
"You see my child? This is what you were made to be, don't fight it. That will only make things worse," Zedd said.
"No," Tommy managed to whisper.
"I can make you do whatever I so desire, my child," Zedd said
"I won't . . ."
"Just let it be . . . kill him."
His hand slipped the dagger out of his holster. The ranger looked up at him, Tommy could see the ranger's eyes through the cracked visor. He could see the glassiness in his eyes. He had given up. All this man had was a hope for mercy. Looking into his eyes made his heart sank for reasons he couldn't explain. Watching himself do this to him was going to make his core implode. Tommy's fingers wrapped themselves around the ranger's neck. His other hand raised the dagger over the ranger's chest.
The girl grabbed his wrist as he began his plunge. His arm rattled as it tried to merge with the Red Ranger's heart, but she kept holding it back. Did it really matter? There was no she was strong enough to keep him back for long. He didn't even want to look at her. There was no point.
"Tommy," she said. The voice, the sound it made when she said his name, there was something awfully familiar about. He slid his eyes over to look at her, to really look at this person.
"It's over," she said, struggling against his arm, "You don't have to do this anymore." Her voice was so warm, so were her wide eyes and her round face. She wasn't afraid at all, like she knew exactly who he was.
"I must, I am a weapon of Lord Zedd," he heard his voice say.
"No, you are Tommy Oliver, you're a passionate, funny person. You're a great martial artist, a great ranger, and a great friend. You broke free from Zedd a long time ago. This is Bones trying to trick you, fight it!" she said.
"Lies," Zedd hissed in his ear. He wrapped his talons over Tommy's throat, squeezing out the all of his air. "Does this not feel real to you, my child? Is this not sufficient enough? Real Enough?" Zedd released his grip. "Kill him!"
"No. . ." Tommy dropped the dagger.
The earth shaked, the sun grew brighter, and Zedd began to fade into the light. As Zedd screamed, his metal face rusted and crumbled apart. In its place, was Bones, grimacing in agony.
Flash!
Billy fumbled through his drawer of parts and pulled out a small silver cylinder. He uncoiled two wires hanging of one of its ends and opened a claw that was on the other end, exposing a red diamond. Now this will prove what she really knows, he thought as he handed it to Aisha.
"What is it?" he asked.
She rapidly tapped her fingers against the table. "Well, it's carbonix-vaporizer, and it's used to minimize any electromagnetic-discharge within a plasma conductor." Aisha's face winced. "Is that right?"
"Well, that is correct," Billy said as he put the vaporizer in the drawer. "You know, you are an excellent intern. One day you may know more about this technology than I do."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Aisha said, "For instance, I don't know what that is, do you?" She pointed at the object Billy just pulled from the drawer.
"Well, it is quite simple." He examined the golden disc in his hand. "It is a. . . a . . . It is a. . ." His mind went completely blank. No clue, he had no idea what he was holding in his hand or what it's function was.
"You don't know, do you?" she said.
"Well, I mean, I do not remember at this present moment, however—"
She smirked, giggled, then she laughed. She laughed at him with a twisted jaw and blackened eyes. Her began getting thinner and thinner. "You act like you're smart, but you don't know nothing!" Yellow puss gushed out of her mouth as she cackled away at him.
"No, no I swear!" he said. "I know how all this works. Everything has its purpose and I can explain it in detail For example, The Morphing Grid operates via a trans—" But, that was gone too. He could even remember how The Morphing Grid works, the basis for everything Zordon as ever taught him, gone. He couldn't remember anything, his mind was, the room was blank. There was nothing but him, nothing, noth—
Something grabbed his shoulder. He looked over to see Trini smiling down at him. "You are being silly," she said. "Tell me, what's two times two?"
He scrambled for thought. "Well, two times two is four, and four times four is sixteen, and sixteen times sixteen is two hundred and fifty six. . ." He smiled. It was all coming back to him. "Two hundred and fifty six times. . ."
Flash!
Zack pushed his crutches into the kitchen, his arms aching with every step. Oh man, the cereal was on the top shelf. He leaned his on the kitchen counter, while holding one of his crutches up in the air to get the cabinet open.
He tried to hook the crutch onto the knob, but it slipped. He tried again; it slipped. The third time he was finally able hook it and swing the door open. He tried to push the crutch into the cabinet to grab the cheerios, the hand on the counter gave way. He slipped and fell onto the floor. The cheerios rained onto his face.
The rest of the day proved to not be as exciting. It was only exciting whenever Zack had to pull himself up and down the stairs whenever he needed to use the bathroom, his ankles feeling like they each had a safe weighing them down.
But the day was so boring that all he could muster was watching T.V, and even then, lifting up the television remote was a chore. This routine carried on for weeks as Zack continued to do nothing over, and over, and over again as his muscles refused to heal, but was it really weeks? Or was it hours? It all felt the same.
Zack flipped through the channels, until he found one of his favorite shows: Turn it up with Andre Benson. Andre had been one of Zack's heroes ever since he was six. Seeing that man dance was amazing, the way he flipped and gyrated was magical.
Andre, as he always did, started by talking to the camera. "Alright, today I'm gonna take a step back and let you show me what you got? Today i'm gonna stop teaching you and let you turn it up! Are you ready Zack?"
Zack's eyes widened. He couldn't be talking to me, could he? he thought. Andre had to be, though. He was looking straight into Zack's eyes. Awestruck, Zack pointed at himself.
"Yeah, come on man, turn it up!" Andre said.
Zack got up from the couch. "Alright man, I'll teach you some hip-hop kedo!" He tried his spin kick, but his ankle couldn't handle the weight and he tumbled onto the floor. He tried to get up, but it was as if he was magnetized to the ground. He couldn't lift his arms up.
"Sorry man, it ain't for everybody," Andre said before he channel went to static.
"Andre, wait!"
The channel changed to a female reporter in a trench coat standing in front of a cloud of smoke. "Bob," she said, "I'm standing in front of what maybe the rangers most difficult battle yet. Just an hour ago—" The reporter was interrupted by the sound of a blaster fire. The rangers emerged from the smoke.
"We gotta fall back, there is too many of them," Jason said. From out of the smoke, a wave of putties washed over the rangers, dog piling on top of them, creating a mountain of putties seven miles high.
"No!" Zack tried to pull himself off of the floor. He closed his eyes and tried to lift his left arm, but it was like someone was standing on it.
"Get up you fool!" a voice said. Zack opened his eyes to see Billy standing over him, smiling at him.
"Billy, I can't," Zack said, tossing and wriggling, "I need your help."
"Figures," Billy said, "I've wasted year of my life helping you out because you were too stupid to get yourself out of your own problems. Why are you even one of us? You're not much better at fighting than me or Trini. You're certainly not very smart. Why are you here? Is it because you're such a good dancer? I guess not anymore."
The words cut through him because he knew they were true. The floor began to crack and he sank deeper, and deeper into the floor. "Billy, please help me up!" Zack pleaded.
"No, you're gonna pay for your uselessness," Billy said with a grin.
He couldn't get up, no matter how hard he tried. Each limb felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. The edges of the floor closed in on him, chomping on him. The floor was eating him. He closed his eyes and waited.
"Zack," a whispering voice said.
He looked over at the T.V. Trini was in there, in the static, waving at him. "It's not real," she said, "take a closer at him."
He looked back at Billy, squinting his eyes. Billy frowned as his face dissolved into a skull. Bones! His memories came flooding back to him. He lifted himself up off the floor with everything he got.
Bones stretched out his jaw to let out a horrible screech.
Flash!
Fifteenth time's the charm, Jason thought, as he attempted to whittle a whistle with his lucky pocket knife. At least, his uncle said it was lucky when he gave it to him as a secret gift for his birthday last year. His parents didn't like the idea of Jason playing with sharp objects, but he was thirteen now. He was old enough to handle anything.
Jason whittled away, trying to get the whistle that the scoutmaster showed him how to make. If he got this right, he would only be five merit badges away from completing his stash. Only five away more from finally seeing the pride on his parents faces he almost never sees. Only five more . . .
"Jason," Richie said, "can we head back now? I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry,"Jason said.
Richie adjusted his round glasses. "I'm serious, we got enough wood, dinner will be served soon, let's go."
"Yeah he's right," Twitch interrupted," Mr. Applegate isn't gonna like that we spent more than an hour by ourselves," Twitch scratched his face nervously, " we'll get in trouble again and can't after what happened to the raft. No no no. That be no good Jason."
"Alright, alright," Jason threw the wood he was whittling on top of the stack they made on the little red wagon. It was gonna take twenty minutes to just wheel the thing back to camp, so it would be best just to go now.
"Alright troop, let's mo-"
It came out from behind the rock and hissed it's large fangs at Jason.
"I'll eat your souuuuuullllllllll!" it screamed.
Jason tumbled to the ground, as Richie and Twitch grabbed each other for comfort. Jason stared into it's yellow cat eyes . . . it's obviously rubber eyes.
It laughed until it pulled off the rubber mask, revealing the familiar blonde, blue eyed jerkface.
"Connor!" Jason said from the ground.
"Hehe, you kids, really are as easily scared as you're stupid," Connor said.
Connor Clayton sucked. If you could grow as big in size as you were in jerkiness then Connor would be the tallest man on earth, and he seemed to like that idea. He relished being three years older and a foot and a half taller than everyone else.
"What do you want?" Jason asked, dusting dirt off of him.
"Just thought I'd check on your progress," Connor examined their wood pile.
"Pathetic," Connor said, "not nearly as impressive as ours.' Connor pointed his thumb behind him. Ten feet away, Jason could see Connors thugs piling on a stack of wood twice the size of theirs.
"You're just jealous, man!" Twitch said before hiding behind Richie's wide frame.
"Yeah, Jason has more merit badges than you do, right Jason," Richie said.
Thanks guys, Jason thought. Now instead of leaving, the caveman was gonna target Jason.
"Oh, I bet you think you're so great, huh?" Connor asked.
"I never said anything," Jason shook his hands in front him.
"Well, I bet there is one thing, you'll never do. The one merit badge, you'll never get," Connor said.
"What?" Jason said exhausted.
"Donny's cave," Connor said with a smile.
"What's that?" Twitch asked from behind Richie.
"Oh it's just a little tradition, done only by the bravest of Hawk-Scouts, and without any supervision." Connor said," In '32 a Hawk-Scout named Donny went on hike unsupervised, he went missing and after months of searching, nobody found him."
"Really?" Richie asked.
"Really. Ten years ago, a Hawk-Scout found a cave not too far from here. He ran back to his troop and claimed that he found Donny's body laying there. He even claimed that Donny opened his eyes and reached out to grab him, but when they checked the cave out nothing was there!"
"Huh," Jason looked over to see Richie and Twitch quaking in their hiking boots.
"Ever since then, It's been a tradition for the best and the bravest Hawk-Scouts to go out in the middle of the night and spend a couple of hours in the cave. Many have tried, but few stayed the whole time. I was thinking of doing it myself," Connor said.
"Well, good luck with that. I think we'll be on our way," Jason pulled the wagon forward.
"Oh, what's wrong Scott? Chicken?"
Jason stopped, "No, I just-"
"You know, I thought courage was one of the biggest parts of being a Hawk-Scout, but I guess you three will never know what that feels like. You'll just lay around like the losers you are," Connor said.
In that one sentence, all of the frustration Connor had caused over the past year flooded into Jason's face. That jerk didn't know how hard he had to work get where he was, it was time he showed him. Jason went up to Connor's face.
"Alright, count me in. In fact, count all of us in," Jason said with a smile.
"Yeah . . . wait, what?" Richie said.
"Alright, I'll see you boys at the edge of the lake, 9 o'clock, after lights out."
"Jason, I'm really not so sure ab-" Twitch started.
"We'll be there," Jason said.
"Good. Oh, and by the way . . ." Connor kicked the wagon. Wood fell spilled onto the dirt.
"You better clean the mess you made!" Connor yelled as he laughed away.
Jason looked on furiously. He'll get what's coming to him, he thought.
"What have you gotten us into?!" Twitch said, furiously scratching the back of his head.
"Look, it's just a dumb urban legend, it will be okay. If we do this, we might finally get him off our backs for good," Jason said.
"But what if we get caught? Leaving camp grounds at night is one of the worst offences possible," Richie said.
"We're not gonna get caught, and trust me, any punishment will be worth the look on Connor's face when we finally do something he can't do. Now let's just wrap this up and go home."
Jason and the others tried to put the wood back on the cart as quickly as they could. Ouch, Jason's thumb stung with pain when he picked a stick up. He looked at his thumb to see he had a tiny cut on thumb, trickling out a small bit of blood. It was a neat cut, too clean to because by a deep splinter. He must of cut himself with the pocket knife without even noticing.
Sneaking out of the cabin was the easy part, the camp didn't exactly have a state of the art security system, in fact, it was more of an honor system. At nine, Jason woke up Twitch and George and they set out into the night, keeping low in case of anybody was out late.
They walked by the pier, around to the side of the lake, where Connor waited. They hiked up the grassy hills and passed the trees was there incline went from horizontal to vertical.
Other than the occasional mocking from Connor, silence consumed the group. They had nothing to say that hadn't already been said. Richie just tried going through this stone faced, keeping his eyes on the ground. Twitch on the other hand, his body shook and trembled the whole hike. Jason tried his best put off the confidence that he knew Connor hated. It was hard though, with only the eerie silence and occasional chirp of crickets.
They had arrived, the mouth of the cave was wide and it looked almost like a dead shark in the moonlight, ready to swallow them whole.
"Alright," Connor said as he flipped on his lantern," let's go babies."
Jason followed behind Connor, but not before giving Twitch and Richie a push into the cave. The sound of their footsteps vibrated in the cave. Each step, spooking one of them.
"Jason, I'm not so sure about this," Twitch said.
Connor whipped around to face them, "Look, if you think you can bac-"
That's when Jason saw it, illuminated by the light, it's black eyes.
"Connor look out!"
Connor looked around to see It rise on two feet.
"Bear!" he screamed.
Connor was consumed by the it's lunge over him.
The next three minutes of Jason's life came to him as if it were only three seconds. It flashed before him, fragmented and incomplete. Did I run away? he thought. I couldn't have, Jason remembered that it was impossible to run away from a bear. Applegate told him it wasn't even worth trying. But he was there, hiding in bush far away from the cave.
He waited in the bush as it smelled over him. It stopped. He slowly got out of the bush, searching through the trees to see if it was still there. It wasn't on his left and it wasn't on his right.
The claw swiped by his face, he ducked out of the way.
The heavy lights made sweat pour down Jason's face. Where am I? he thought. He squinted his eyes to see he was in some kind of auditorium. He peered down to see that his parents sitting in the front row, actually they were sitting in all the rows.
Applegate came by. He held out a badge with a large pin sticking out of it. "And the merit badge for the world's biggest coward goes Jason Lee Scott," Applegate said, his face decomposing.
"Why couldn't you just follow the rules!" Jason's dad yelled out.
"I— I tried," Jason muttered.
Applegate grabbed Jason's neck.
Jason looked at him, but he wasn't Applegate anymore. It was Connor holding the pin. He had red claw marks over his face.
"Loser."
"Wait!"
The pin morphed into the claw as it went closer to Jason's face. Then he was back. That's right, i didn't leave, he thought. He stood there in the cave the whole time and watched it happen. The claw went for him again.
Slash!
He saw Twitch lay on top of a fallen Richie.
Slash!
He saw Billy lay on top of a fallen Kimberly.
Slash!
Connor reached out for him.
Slash!
Tommy reached out for him.
Slash!
Slash!
He fell out of the bush, he looked out in the distance to see it waiting for him. It was different now, no longer a normal bear, but a zombie-skeleton bear. It charged at him.
I guess this is it.
Someone grabbed his arm, he looked behind him to see a girl, a few years older than him.
"Let's go," She said.
After looking into her eyes, it came flooding back to him.Trini! He looked back at the zombie bear and remembered what to do. He plunged his pocket knife into its snout.
He grabbed her hand.
Flash!
Kim stumbled through the void. Was it the Command Center? All light, even the Command Center's dim reflective light, was gone. There was nothing but darkness and the echo of Kim's heels hitting the metal floor.
She couldn't even be sure if she was even inside a building. For all she knew, the next step would have no floor beneath her, and she would fall forever into the tread carefully to make sure she would avoid that.
In the far distance she spot a light, illuminating a path before her. She ran toward it, maybe there was a way out of here. As she ran, shadowy figures below the light materialized with every step they became more and more defined and clear to the eye.
Within feet, she saw Billy and Zack sitting at an old fashioned, green, card table. Something normal that they did together.
"Do you have any twos?" Zack asked.
"Go fish."
"You're cheating, for sure," Zack said.
"What possible motivation could I have to cheat a child's game?" Billy said.
"Hey guys," Kim said, "mind if i play?"
As their heads turned from their cards, all color seemed to drain out of their face. They looked at with such repulsing disgust on their pale-grey faces.
"Let's get outta here," Zack slammed the cards on the table, "game night is ruined."
"Why are you so boring?" Billy said before walking away.
"Boring?" Kim saw them walk away from the light. "Wait, can you at least tell me the way out of here."
"She's not too bright either," Zack said.
Kim took a step forward, and in a flash, the light was out. She stumbled around a and took a few steps back to make up for the sudden darkness.
Bump!
The back of her head throbbed as she realized she hit something. She felt around with her hands. There was a metal wall behind her now. But she swore there was nothing behind her, nothing at all.
Very freaky, she thought. She continued forward, whatever was ahead was better than what would behind her. Emptiness laid before her, there was no telling where she was going or where she had been with every step she fear she might have been going in circle. She had to keep going though, for every time she stopped to take a breath she felt the wall behind her touch her back.
As soon as another light appeared, she ran for it, hearing the sound of the wall sliding behind her. The figure beneath this light shaped into Tommy. She quickly grabbed his arm to get his attention.
"Tommy, you have to help me. I'm trapped," she said.
"Yeah, and you're trapping me. Why are you always so needy?" he said.
"Please, I need your help."
Tommy pulled his arm away from her. His face grew pale and his eyes yellow as he stared her dead in her eyes.
"It's a good thing you're hot."
What? Why would-
Before she could process what happened, the light flickered out and she was knocked onto her side by another wall. Her head spun, but she quickly shook it off when she realized she had two walls coming in at her. She crawled to the left hoping she would find the walls edge, but it seemed to go on forever. The other wall closing in behind her feet.
The light flashed right onto her face, when she opened her eyes she saw Trini walking casually past her on her phone. By instinct, she grabbed Trini by the ankles.
"Get off of me, you freak!" She screamed as she tried to Kim off.
"Please. We're best friends, remember? Don't leave me!" Kim said.
"Stop holding me back!" Trini said as she kicked Kim off of her.
Trini returned to her phone. "Yes, I would like to speak with the queen . . ."
Trini vanished and the light with it. Kim felt a third wall press against her head. The only way she could move was forward. She went back on her feet ran as she heard the wall closing in around her. She ran hoping that there was some kind of end to this madness.
The light was so bright it seemed to have a force that knocked her off her feet. She held her upper body off the floor to see that it was a white light, shaped in the form of a doorway. Another shadow popped out of it, a familiar shadow with black and silver hair and a mustache.
"Daddy?" she said.
"Yes," he said
"Daddy, please help me."
"No, you have been nuisance to me for ten years now. I could have been somebody, you know? Me and your mother were happy until you came along. That's why I left, I couldn't stand you. After we got divorced, I was finally free, but here we are again. You trying to suck the blood from like a tick, goodbye Kim," he said.
"Daddy, no," She said with tears in her eyes.
He went through the door of light and vanished. The door shrunk and Kim saw the wall coming it rest on sliding toward her. She stood up and looked around. All four walls were going to box her in.
Something tugged at her shoulder, she looked up to see Trini hanging on top the wall with an open hand and a smile. Kim grabbed her hand.
Flash!
Trini got up from the floor to see the rangers around her. They all rubbed their temples as they struggled to their feet.
"We did it!" Kim yelled as she hugged Trini.
Zordon's smiling face materialized in the tube. "Rangers, I'm glad you're all okay."
"Well, not without some help from you know who." Tommy turned to Trini, "she's pretty clever isn't she?"
"Indeed, all of you children are so . . . stupid."Zordon's blue tube turned blood red, his face melting into a skull. He fired lasers from his eyes. The beams, zig-zagging around Trini until they hit all the rangers. The rangers exploded into ash.
From the ash cloud, Bones appeared. "Sorry little one, I'm afraid it's not going to be that easy for you. Now, are you going to fin—"
Trini ran out the front door, only to find that it lead to the edge of a cliff.
"How many times do I have to repeat myself?" Bones said.
The shock made Tommy jump onto his feet. His head darted around to see that the danger was gone, at least the immediate danger was gone. He saw them all there still laying in the circle they made on the floor. How were they gonna get out of this with Bones messing with their minds like this?
Beep! Beep! Beep!
A mini-alarm from the command center console caught Tommy's attention. He ran up to the platform to see a red screen. It read in flashing letters: Unusually high heat signature detected in sector C-473.The skull! It must be there! With all the games Bones has been playing, it must be red hot by now.
Tommy looked back at his friends lying peacefully on the blue crystal floor. Looks like it's up to me, he thought. His friends needed a hero to save the day, and what better hero could they have other than the great Tommy Oliver! A hero so triumphant, he was the only one to wake up from this nightmare!
"Isn't that right, Guardian?" Tommy said.
She smiled at him. "That's right, sir. Only someone as daring and amazing as you can save them," Guardian said. "I'd really hate to be Bones right about now."
"Couldn't have said it better myself."
Tommy ran down to Sector C-473 in the basement. The sector was an industrial nightmare of pipes that ran around the walls of corridors. Tommy searched through, occasionally lifting a leg over, or ducking his head under a pipe that ran from wall on the corridor to another.
With all the pipes strung about, each wall had a million little nooks and hollows in the spaces between pipes. A million perfect hiding spots for the skull. He scanned the area carefully looking up and down the sides of the walls.
"Ha!" Tommy spotted it lodged between two pipes way at the top of the wall, barely escaping the light. He grabbed it, but it was stuck in there more than hethought. He grabbed it both hands and wedged it out. Tommy turned it over to face its face. He smiled back at the skulls dead grin. It was a great victory for a truly great hero.
"Looks like you won the grand prize!" It said, laughing.
He dropped the skull. The floor shaked as bright red cracks spread throughout it. Tommy jumped to his left, but it was too late. The floor gave in under his feet and fell. His hands managing to hold on to the edge.
He looked down. Oh, why did he look down? A crevice stretched fifty feet down below him. A river of lava boiled at the bottom. Tommy's face sweated as he stared into its red-orangish glow.
"A great hero?!" Bones said. Tommy looked up to see a fully formed Bones, his imagine alternating between himself and Guardian.
He laughed again. "I swear White Ranger that you really are your own worst enemy. Why can't you just, pardon the phrase, wake up and realize you can't save them, you can't yourself, and you certainly can't save him."
Those last words briefly snapped Tommy's attention away from trying to retain a good grip. He looked up at him. "What are you talking about?"
"You know what I am talking about, I'm talking about making a bed and refusing to sleep in it. I'm talking about breaking the universe and not expecting to pay a fine."
No, there was no way he could've known about what Tommy did in the pyramid all those months ago. Breaking the universe? He had to be bluffing. It's time to change the subject."Hey, aren't you supposed to be dead?"
"Oh please, death in my case has always been relative. But In this case, I would like to thank you personally for opening that door for me," Bones said.
Gotta be a bluff, gotta be a bluff, Tommy thought as his fingers strained to hold onto the edge.
"It's like I keep telling you, actions have consequences," Bones said.
Trini's heart thumped in her chest as she ran, at this point she stopped paying attention to what was around her a focused on getting away. She couldn't take much more. She spotted a boulder and hid behind it to catch her breath.
She rubbed her hands together, trying to get her whole system to slow down. As the thudding in her chest slowed, she saw where she was now. Back in the pale-grey woods where Bones had accidently brought her before. Fields of tall, but dying, grass laid before her. She couldn't help but get up and explore.
The endless empty fields of grass were occasionally filled with one or two trees, each one withered and looking as if they were being starved. Their were branches dry and cracked, pointing to sky with sharp ends. Loads of empty space as their branches were empty with only the rare yellow leaf here and there.
What is this place? she thought. There something familiar about it, but she had no real clear memory of it, only a weird feeling in her chest. Everything else Bones created was based on something she remember clearly, but this was different.
She saw it out of the corner of her eye. The biggest of tree that stood, still starved, but tall. It almost called to her from the distance, she couldn't but take a step toward it, then another, then another.
It wasn't until she was mere inches away from the tree that she could see what it truly was. She covered in her mouth with both hands as she saw what was hanging with the tree's clutches.
It was her. Grey and lifeless she was, like a corpse. Dust and moss covered whatever parts of her body that were exposed, the rest hidden as it was woven into the branches and tree itself.
Truth crashed onto her head, the origin of her favorite work of art was a nightmare.
It opened its black eyes as it screeched at her, It's face rapidly rotting away. She tried to book it, but the the branches whooshed down and wrapped themselves around her torso and ankles. It pulled her in, slamming her into the tree. She struggled for freedom as its rib cage closed over like a bear trap.
Hanging on a long branch, its head swung around to meet Trini face to face as he was being crushed. Its face finally rotted away, revealing Bones' skull.
"Hello little one," he said
"This isn't real, It's just a dream, it's just a dream," She said as she tried to pull her arms away from herself.
"But that's the thing girl, it is real. Everything I show you is real in some form or another," he said, "You see, I thought was a goner. I could feel myself slip away as my head turn to ash. I faded until I was only a memory, but then something happened. A force, a hand reached out of the darkness and awakened me. I fed off of its energy and slowly my head came back, in your little command center. As I fed, i saw things that were beyond the simple illusions of mind. I saw the future. And that is what I showed you. That future was real."
"No." A branch wrapped around and squeezed her forehead."You're lying!"
"Lying?" he said "No. You're far more of a liar than I lie to yourself all the time. You lie when tell yourself you're going to get better as a ranger, you lie when you tell yourself you wouldn't rather be somewhere else than where you are now, and you lie when you tell yourself you're not a terrible person for wanting to go. You lied and lied until you were stuck, unable to do anything. But now, your gonna be stuck with me, forever."
Tommy gripped the edge with all that he had.
"Well, I don't have all day!" Bones crushed his boot against Tommy's fingers.
How do I get out of this one? he thought. How could I beat someone who's in my own head? It hit him like lightning. Use someone who is also in my head! Tommy closed his eyes and concentrated hard, trying to hone in on some bad memories.
"What are you doing you weakling?" Bones said.
"Tommy opened his eyes. "Me? Nothing."
A metal spear stabbed through Bones. He screamed, looked at it then turned around.
"You were always my least favorite creation," Lord Zedd said.
"Boss?" Bones said.
Zedd grabbed his skull. "It's time to rid myself your incompetence."
"Boss! No!"
Tommy watched as Zedd wrapped himself around Bones leaped off the edge. Both of them plunged into the lava below.
The branches went limp, allowing Trini to fall to the ground. She looked back and saw the tree set itself a blaze. Bones twitched and convulsed in agony as he burned. The flames rose higher, and became brighter, and brighter, until . . .
Flash!
The Command Center was sideways. No, she realized she had been laying on her side. From this angle she saw a glowing red light under the stairs leading up to the platform. The realization of what it was, snapped Trini's groggy mind to attention. She grabbed the skull from under the stairs and threw onto the floor. She pulled out her blaster.
"It's your bedtime." She fired.
The skull exploded into ash and red fire.
Tommy vision came back into focus upon looking at the skull disintegrate five feet in front of him. He and the other rangers rose to their feet to meet Trini.
"Wow, that was . . . that was definitely something," Zack said, rubbing his neck.
Trini was still staring down the ash pile where Bones skull use to be. Tommy walked over and pushed the gun down, and waved his hand over her eyes to get her attention.
"It's alright," he said to her quietly.
"Is it?" Jason asked across from them, "How do we know for sure that this isn't just another nightmare?"
Tommy thought about it for a minute. If this is a dream, then there should be some things I did before that I can't do now, he thought. He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples as he walked toward the door that led to the Zord hanger bay. He opened his eyes turned to the other rangers.
"Lord Zedd is right behind that door," he said. Tommy pushed the button and the door slid away revealing nothing but darkness.
"I guess we are awake," he said, smiling.
Clap! Clap!
Tommy heard that sound come slowly out from the dark corner of the Command Center. "Congratulations," Bones said as he stepped into the light, clapping his hands so hard that his right hand fell off.
The rangers huddled together.
"Relax, relax," he said as his hat fell apart,"you are all 'free' now, the monster is vanquished and the Power Ranger will live on to fight another day, as it's always been." Bones turned his head to the side and laughed a little bit, "You know, that really is a dumb name, you know that? Power? I mean really?"
Bones took a step toward them, leaving behind his right leg. "Sure, you have the fancy coins, and the gadgets, and the giant robot, and you live in the hi-tech castle in the mountains far above everybody else. But at the end of the day, you six are no different than any other of the disgusting insects that infest this planet. This world, the things that scurry around in it, disgust me. It's sickening the way they just move about their existence, thinking they have power, thinking that just because they have free will, that makes them free."
"Can you get to the point?" Tommy said.
The trench coat dissolved off his body, revealing his crackling skeleton. He raised his left arm,only for it to disintegrate. He raised his right arm instead. "The point?" Bones said,"The point is that it doesn't matter that you escaped your dreams, because you are all still part of its dream."
"What do you mean?" Jason asked.
Bones jaw fell off and a ring of red fire formed on his forehead. A dot in the ring made it made appear as a third eye. He spoke without his jaw, but it wasn't his voice. It sounded much older, much deeper.
"The dream is over, the one with the real power is awake."
Bones' remaining leg caved in and he finally disintegrated into ash and dust.
Tommy and the others gathered around Zordon's tube, Trini had decided to go home and get some actual rest from the experience.
"Well rangers, it seems we've learned some new things," Jason said
"Do you really think Trini doesn't want to be with us anymore?" Zack asked.
"I don't know, but It's safe to say she needs some kind of break from it all," Jason said.
"But what about what Bones said? About the future and all that?" Tommy asked.
Jason scratched his head. "I don't know, with Bones it's hard to tell what's real and what was just him trying to scare us."
"If I may interject," Billy said, "even if she wanted to leave the team for good, does it really matter? We have to understand, it was going to be very unlikely that all six of us were going to stay on the team the whole time. We do not have contracts, and we do not know when our job is going to end anyway."
"What do you think, Zordon?" Jason asked.
Zordon had just watched silently whole time, he always wanted to know what everyone thought on something before he spoke.
"Billy is correct," Zordon said, "Everyday we create more and more enemies, and I never expected all of you dedicate your lives to a battle that will never end, like I tried. Above all, we must let her make the decision if the time were to come. We shall not try to control the actions of others, that makes no different than the monsters. Sometimes people must make decisions for only them . . . and they have nothing to do with us."
Kim stood up and slumped away.
"Where are you going?" Tommy said.
"Home," she said.
Kim violently rubbed her hands over her steering wheel as the words from her dad repeated over and over again.I could have been somebody, you know? You trying to suck the blood from me like a tick. Her father's words turned into someone else's: Stop holding me back!
The words themselves seemed to violently attack Kim's face, the words stung her until her face was wet with tears.