Malice groaned and slowly pushed herself to her knees. "What just happened?" she muttered to herself. She took a quick glance around and found herself in her "meditating cave" before letting out a long sigh. She felt like she had a hangover "I think I preferred getting hit with the car." By now she had stood fully and began pacing, thinking. "What time is it?" she stumbled again and leaned against the cave wall for support. A quick image of a clock tower flashed in her head it read 9:30 am
"What is going on? 9:30? oh god 9:30! Dustin's race! I am so late!" Malice began running for the cave exit, You're leaving? We almost met! she skid to a halt
"Great, now I hear you while I'm awake too, who are you? my conscious? Or am I just going crazy? I am you and you are me, me is we and we is us and us is one.
To most people that would have made no sense, but Malice understood. "So we are the same thing? Do I have a personality disorder or something?"
Come to the mirror The voice demanded. Slowly Malice went to the mirror and glanced at it, she rubbed her eyes again but the scene did not change. In the reflection it was her, but still not her. A girl that looked like her was wrapped in a pure black cloak, her black hair sticking out a little from the front of the hood. Her eyes were an eerie purple and her pupil were yellow. In her left hand she held a scythe of purple shadow, and in her right she held a lit lantern. In the lantern was a purple flame, it emanated a greenish-purplish light, the light cast a brooding shadow on her face. She let out a crooked grin, and narrowed her eyes. Sitting on her shoulders were two ravens, their eyes matching hers. In the back was a cemetery with dead trees scattered all around it. Lighting crackled from the black sky and struck a part of the frozen ground, sending ice chunks in the air.
Malice took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and letting it out with her mouth. "Who are you"
We've been over this.
"I mean what's your name?"
Not now, later, as you return here each night, we can speak more then.
It wasn't like Malice to get angry, but after everything that happened... she furrowed her eyebrows "That's all you're going to tell me? I'm going to miss Dustin's race!" she turned and tried to punch the wall but instead She faded in a stream of dark violet energy. seconds later the energies merged together behind Kelly at the race track, to her side was a grey van that had the Storm Charger's logo on it. As soon as Malice was "complete" she fell to the ground with a thud, Kelly, who was fixated on her watch was startled and jumped a little. Malice wondered to herself, What the heck just happened!? It's probably another nightmare or I was sleep walking again like last night. But she only half-believed her excuse? If there were Power Rangers and monsters, why couldn't there by a creepy doppelganger in the mirror? Malice decided to put it at the back of her mind, she needed to support Dustin right now. She focused her attention back on Kelly, who had extended a hand to help her up.
"Serves you right for sneaking up on people! And where where you anyways!?"
Malice rubbed the back of her head for a second before she stood up "Well, I uh, went for a walk and I kinda got lost."
Kelly seemed to buy it and pointed to a rider clad in yellow gear "That's Dustin." the yellow ranger was in the lead.
Malice shifted a little "He's gotten faster." Kelly was half paying attention and nodded. Dustin was almost at the finish and in the lead. Out of the blue two riders came up to Dustin, one on either side. After a few moments the two riders, one clad in a shade of blue and the other in a shade of red, surpassed Dustin and crossed the finish line - Only moments after them Dustin flew past the finish line in the 3rd position. He rode up to the two girls and removed his helmet. Kelly handed him a bottle of water from the back of the van.
"Thanks" Dustin took a breathe of fresh air before continuing "Hey, who where those guys?"
Kelly shrugged "Never seen them before, but they ride like factory pros."
"Yeah, i'm just glad they don't race 125's." He started walking towards them and Malice followed, she wanted anything to take her mind off of what she'd just seen - what she'd just done. They walked to the two riders, The blue clad rider was Asiatic and had short black hair. His friend was of European decent and had blonde hair.
Dustin approached the riders and smiled "Hey there, how's it going?"
The Blonde frowned, "Tracks a little soggy"
"Didn't seem to slow you guys down."
"Hey I'm Blake" the blue rider laid his hand on his friend's shoulder "This is my brother Hunter."
Dustin cocked his head to the side a little "You guys are brothers?" Malice palmed her forehead.
Hunter cracked a smile "We're adopted"
"OH! oh cool!" he bit his lip a little "Well, uh, I'm Dustin" he pointed towards his companion "and she's Malice."
Malice raised her head to meet them and nodded as if to say 'hello'. The two brothers raised their eyebrows
"Um, cool contacts." Blake was talking about Malice's eyes, he was only one of the thousands who couldn't stop but notice her eerie eyes, some had idolized her, claimed she was their goddess. Still, others had sought to harm her, thought her the devil, and forsook their kids from nearing her.
"Thanks." Malice had memorized every reply or explanation she would need, this being one of them.
Dustin had completely missed what was going on and continued "So I haven't seen you guys around here, where's the home track?"
Blake tried to explain "We come from uh-" Hunter cut him off "You wouldn't have heard of it"
"Easy bro" Blake pointed towards his brother as if to mock him "and he wonders why we don't have any friends." Dustin smiled a little.
"Hey you were pretty fast out there" he continued.
"Yeah, well I must of lost a couple of seconds on my lap time."
Hunter chimed in "You get too much air on your jumps."
Blake nodded his head "He's right, dark and brooding, but right." OH! Dustin thought to himself, I wonder if less air will really help.
Blake continued "Hey so, what are you doing? You want to follow us?"
A sad expression fell on Dustin's face "ah no man, I can't, I gotta be somewhere."
Blake nodded understandingly, "No worries, maybe next time" he then began to walk off, leaving Hunter there. Dustin too turned and left, shortly after Malice began to leave. After she took a few steps Hunter called out to her "Hey!" Malice stopped and glanced back.
Hunter continued "Those aren't contacts, are they?"
Malice looked down at the ground for a moment, "No." she said before walking off. Something seemed familiar about these guys, she had seen them somewhere, but where?
NEW SCENE
Dustin was in his ninja uniform, walking along a path in a forest. "Hey Tori? Shane, come on you guys !?" He called out, but to no avail.
He muttered to himself "Man, don't tell me I missed training again." he looked around a few times, "Why do I do this to myself?"
Lighting struck the ground, black and red creatures stood there.
"Kelzaks!" Dustin raised his fists and leaped towards a Kelzak, kicking it down. He ducked and dodged a spinning back kick from a Kelzak behind him and threw a few more punches. Dustin was holding his own until the numbers overwhelmed him, a Kelzak kicked his feet out from under him and Dustin fell to the ground with a thud. The Kelzaks surrounded him and prepared to finish him when they were blasted away by lasers. Dustin jumped up only to see Tori and Shane riding on armed motorbikes. A red one for the red ranger and a blue for the blue one. They roared past Dustin and engaged with the Kelzaks.
Dustin was baffled "Oh dude!" he exclaimed, "These are the Tsunami bikes!?"
Cam ran up to him, grinning at his latest success "You know I told these guys not to engage until the bikes were ready, but of course no one listens to the guy with glasses."
Dustin's eyes were all lit up "I thought these bikes were months off being ready."
Cam nodded "So did I."
"So where's mine?"
"What are you talking about?"
Dustin's smile disappeared, worry took its place. "come on Cam, quit joking around."
"Alright fine." Cam pulled out a joystick "Meet your new mobile command center." A large black big rig pulled up, out of the back a yellow Tsunami cycle rolled forward.
Cam handed Dustin a CD "Hey, since you're the bike expert why don't you take a look at these specs and give me an altitude chart for auto-jetting, and don't try and play games on it like you normally do."
Dustin scoffed and fixated on the bike, "Ok! anything I should know?" Dustin began rubbing his hands together
"Yeah, make sure you-" Dustin took off and jumped onto the bike, he morphed and sped off to join his friends.
Cam shook his head "Why do I even bother?" he walked back into the M.C.C (mobile command center).
The three rangers greeted each other from their bikes, Shane nodded towards Dustin "Hey man, where have you been?"
"Oh at the track! I met these two guys, insanely fast!"
"Just make sure you don't forget what's important." Dustin nodded before riding off to attack the remaining Kelzaks.
"250's Here I come!" he shouted. The blue and red ranger followed him, as soon as they left two figures emerged, one clad in a navy ranger suit, the other in a crimson suit. They glanced at each other before ninja streaking away.
NEW SCENE
At Storm Chargers Malice was organizing the shelves, perched on her shoulders were her two ravens. She was still trying to remember where she'd seen Hunter and Blake. They stood by the entrance, talking to Dustin.
Hunter nodded towards Malice "Dude, she has ravens as pets?"
Dustin nodded in affirmation "Yeah, her aunt found these two ravens, and their eyes matched hers, so she got em for her."
Blake had a confused look "I thought she wore contacts."
Hunter rolled his eyes before continuing "That and the way she dresses, man... I'd hate to get on her bad side."
Dustin smiled "I don't even think she has one, I've never seen her get mad, even at the guy that drove into her. He broke her whole arm." Dustin was explaining and making hand gestures.
Blake rubbed the back of his head "Wait? her arm is broken?"
"Yeah! she has a cast and... everything." He glanced over to Malice's arm, she wasn't wearing a cast, and she had a raven perched on her broken arm. Tori and Shane walked in and Dustin immediately pulled them into the group "Hey, you guys finally get to meet."
Tori smiled towards Blake "Hi."
"Hey" the blue rider replied.
Dustin excused himself from the group and ran over towards Malice. "Hey um, what happened with your cast?"
Malice smiled "My arm healed" she twisted her arm around to prove her point.
Dustin knotted his eyebrows "That fast? I mean there's like now way it healed that fast."
Malice bit her lip before smiling and tilting her head, "When something bad happens, we so easily believe it, yet when something good happens we have so much trouble believing it."
"Um..."
"Oh! Shane's calling you." She pointed behind her friend towards Shane who was beckoning with his hand. Dustin turned around and ran up to him.
"Hey what's up?"
Shane took a deep breath and whispered "Hey Dustin, you were supposed to be back at ninja ops."
"Oh man!" Dustin face-palmed himself "Hunter and Blake showed up and we started looking at some bikes and I totally forgot."
"Sensei isn't happy, he's doing that thing with his nose again."
"Oh great, ok, um, one sec." Dustin said his goodbyes to the brothers before running out the store with his friends. After a few seconds Shane came back in wanting to ask the Bradley brothers something. Hunter and Blake were talking to each other, unaware Shane was there.
Blake licked his lips "Man, that Tori is fine!"
Hunter nodded "Why would someone like Tori hang with a goof like Dustin?"
Blake raised an eyebrow "Who knows? Maybe she likes doing charity work!?" The two brothers laughed. Shane gritted his teeth and left.
NEW SCENE
"98, 99, 100!" Dustin was being made to do 100 push ups as penance, Sensei was the weight. A tired Dustin collapsed onto the floor.
"Maybe now you will understand the importance of punctuality." The Sensei said.
Tori teased "and you'll have really nice pecks." Dustin rolled his eyes.
Shane help Dustin off the table "Hey Dustin, can I talk to you?"
"Yeah sure."
"How well do you know Hunter and Blake?" Shane continued "I mean, they come out of no where and suddenly you're all best friends."
"Dude, it's a Motocross thing." Dustin shifted his weight onto another leg "You've got your skater friends and their total posers, but we don't say a word."
Shane glared at him "Well at least I know what's important here, man ever since you've been hanging with those guys your priorities have been totally messed."
Dustin scoffed at him "Dude, that's crazy man, come on back me up here Tori." but she only looked down in shame. "Sensei a little help here?"
Sensei had a wounded look on his face "Only you can help your self, Dustin, with your actions, not your words."
"OK look man I admit I've been a bit of an airhead lately but-"
Shane gritted his teeth "Look, this is NOT chess club, we're talking about the end of the world. Do you even get that?"
Dustin became frustrated "You know what, I can't believe this man, I'm going riding!" He turned and raged out of Ninja Ops.
NEW SCENE
Dustin sped past the midway turn and came off the ramp, avoiding as much air as he could. He landed and zoomed past the finish line and rode up to Blake and Hunter. "Cleared it no problem that time man!" he beamed.
Hunter smiled at him "Keep this up and you'll be ready for the 250's"
Blake nodded in agreement "Hey I'd remember this moment."
Dustin felt a little better "You know what it's been really cool hanging with you guys, it's hard to find dudes that actually get what you're into."
Hunter gave him a fist bump "I hear that." The ground began to shake violently and the three friends fell to the floor, after a few moments the quake subsided.
"Man! what was that?" Hunter questioned.
Dustin raised an eyebrow "That was weird." A beeping sound was coming from his morpher and it caught the brothers' attention.
Hunter pointed towards the morpher "Hey, cool watch. Does it have a compass?"
Dustin nodded "Yeah, it has a whole bunch of cool stuff, I'll have to show you sometime... hey I gotta go."
"Why are you always bailing? If you want to be a pro you have to ride like a pro."
Blake nodded "Let's see if we can shave a few seconds off your lap time."
Dustin bit his lip "I'm sorry guys, I really have to go." Dustin ran off into the distance leaving the Bradley brothers alone.
Blake elbowed Hunter, lifting up Dustin's yellow back pack
NEW SCENE
Dustin was in ranger form, running through a rocky path "Man! I can't believe i got stuck in traffic!" he ran further up to a cliff side, and saw Tori and Shane in ranger form, getting blasted by Terra-Mole, a deadly mutant mole. Dustin clenched his teeth. "That's It!" He withdrew his lion-hammer and front-flipped off the cliff. He tried to strike Terra-Mole with his hammer but the mole retreated underground
"You can't hide forever!" Dustin felt the ground with his foot, when he locked onto the Terra-Mole's vibrations he raised his hammer "It's Lion-hammer time!"
and slammed the ground. It sent out a shock wave that sent the Terra-Mole flying out from one of his holes.
"Lion-hammer!"
"Sonic Fin!"
"Hawk Blaster!"
The three rangers assembled the Storm Striker. "100 tons of fun!" Dustin shouted. He pressed the trigger and a matter ball shot out. It transformed into a large heavy-metal ball and crushed the Terra-Mole.
"All right! Yeah!" Dustin cheered.
Shane walked up to Dustin "Hey man, about what I said earlier, I didn't mean you weren't committed."
Dustin nodded understandingly "Yeah I know man."
Tori smiled, she was glad her friends were, well, friends again. "You're a great ranger Dustin, a flake, but a great ranger."
Dustin smiled back at her "Thanks guys?"
Shame tapped Dustin on the shoulder "So how about we all head to the track, I'm sure the guys are waiting for you."
Dustin shook his head "Nah, I'd rather hang with my best friends, besides, I think they have better things to do than hang with a goof like me."
Tori felt bad for Dustin, he was a space case but had a great heart, and sometimes people would judge him before getting to know him.
The three teens began to walk home when they heard a voice from the sky "Scroll of Empowerment descend!" It was Kapri's voice.
The Terra-Mole towered before them. Dustin brought his arm to his mouth and spoke into his morpher "Cam! you know the drill."
After a few moments the Wind megazord stood before them and the teens ninja-streaked into them. The giant mole leaped into the ground and tunneled behind them striking them on the backs. The megazord swung around and tried to punch the mole, but history repeated itself as the megazord was knocked to the ground.
Dustin hit his console "Man! He's too fast."
Cam spoke on the voice com "He's made a new configuration, I call it lightning mode but be careful, it only lasts for 60 seconds."
"60 seconds!?" Shane gawked at his screen "It takes longer to make a bowl of pop corn"
"60 seconds is all the time we'll need." Dustin pressed a button on his console "Lightning megazord, engaged!"
The zord began folding in its extra parts, becoming more agile. The Terra-Mole burrowed yet again and tried his same tactic, but as he was emerging the megazord back-flipped behind him and struck him with twin assassin blades.
"Ugh, now that is animal cruelty!" cried the giant mole.
Tori teased the mole "Well then, the Animal Protection League is about to get very mad!"
Cam snapped at Tori "Can you do that later? you've only got 20 seconds!"
"Fine! ramp attack!" The megazord jumped into the air, and from it's chest extended a long ramp. The assassin blades extended to form a full circle around the megazord, the zord then thundered down the ramp and sliced through the mole - after a few seconds it exploded.
NEW SCENE
Kelly was snoring in her room, tied of a full day's work. Dustin was sitting in his room, thinking. I got lucky today, I almost blew it. He went and stood by the window, staring at the fountain in the front yard. I can't be late again. He pulled out his phone and set an alert '4:30 PM - training' he confirmed it then set it on the charge. He trotted back to the window and stared at the pink orchids in the front, he liked the way they looked and smelled and danced in the wind. His gaze fell on a figure in a black cloak, heading through the front yard, sitting on this figure's shoulders were two ravens - Huginn and Muninn.
What was Malice doing out at 12:00 AM? Dustin decided to follow her. As she glided like a phantom through the park Dustin leaped through the trees like a monkey, following her, past the harbor and town square, towards the outskirts of town. Where was she going? He followed her up to an old icy mountain, it was local taboo to go up there, a legend about those going up never coming down, - but Dustin didn't believe it. He followed her up the side trail of the mountain and came upon an old sign, it read Mountain Of The Raven. He followed her with ease until they came to a thin ice path, it began to fall into the ocean behind Malice, and snow from the top of the mountain slid down. It was now or never - Dustin leaped over the broken ridge and continued to follow Malice, stepping only where she stepped, stopping only when she did. They finally reached the top and Dustin saw Malice walk past a dead tree and enter a frozen cave, he was freezing up here, so why wasn't she? He hid by the entrance of the cave, listening.
"I'm here." Malice stared at the mirror and waited for the familiar scene of the girl to appear, and it did. Much to her surprise the ravens bowed before the girl in the mirror before sitting on a small slab on the wall.
"Earlier, how did I end up at the track?"
I call it fading."
"Right, but how did I do it? I tried doing it again all day but it didn't work."
Your powers are stronger here, near the mirror. You will be able to use it at will, but you must complete its trial.
"Trial?"
The girl nodded and signaled Malice to sit on the ground, and as commanded she did. Dustin was listening closely, thinking to himself, Fading? Who was Malice talking to, who was that girl? A secret friend?
Close your eyes, make your mind a blank, and watch. Once you begin, you may not stop, are you ready?
Malice nodded and closed her eyes, she took a deep breath and allowed her mind to wander.
A scene took form, so vivid, it was if if she was there. In the scene the town was on fire, ashes and embers falling onto the street, dead bodies of women and children lay strewn across the street. A young girl was crying, screaming as loud as she could "HELP ME! HELP ME!" The child was pushing the body of a dead woman "MOM!? MOM WAKE UP!" but the dead mother lay still, her eyes wide open, Malice could see the terror in them and her heart felt like it would burst. The kid cried louder "Mom! mom! wake up! Don't leave me." The kid gave up and lay down next to her dead mother, waiting to die, either from starvation or the heat. Tears were streaming down Malice's cheeks, she was sobbing as she watched the child cry, the pain in her voice as she called for her mother. Malice was watching, for about 15 minutes, crying. Finally the child stopped crying and she took her last breath. At the sight the robe clad girl began weeping uncontrollably. She always had the strength to bear her own pain, but she couldn't stand other people's pain, it always broke her heart.
You have completed the trial.The voice in the mirror spoke, The power to fade is now yours. As you complete more trials and discover more about yourself, and your purpose, your visions will get stronger.
Malice was listening halfheartedly, she was still sobbing at the scene that had unfolded before her.
It is good to withstand one's own pain but weep at the pain of others. It is a sign of noble character.
Malice had dried up her tears and stared at the mirror, what she used to see as a ghastly grin was now a painful look, cold eyes looked like eyes that had seen too much.
Malice cleared her throat "I didn't cry at my mom's funeral, I didn't cry when I buried my father alone. For 16 years I didn't cry, and you made me weep a river in an hour."
and how did it feel?
Malice smiled, it was the first time she had actually smiled - it was a real smile. "It felt great."
Malice stood and smiled at the girl and closed her eyes, she thought of the spot next to her, and willed herself to be there. When she opened her eyes she was there, in the spot she had willed. She smiled and laughed a little and had turned to hug her ravens, but saw they were bowing to her.
They see some of me in you, and some of you in me, we are one and now they can see that.
Malice smiled and nodded to the girl in the mirror.
The girl's smile quickly faded A spy.
Malice furrowed her eye brows "Who?"
Your friend Dustin, he followed you.
"What?" She ran out of the cave and saw Dustin trying to make a break for it, a loud sound came from the mountain, it sounded like a Cicada's mating call, and he passed out. Malice dragged him into the cave and looked at the mirror
"Now what do we... I do?"
The girl in the scene smiled, Lets try a little remote control
Malice found her hand fell on Dustin's forehead, her eyes widened, she couldn't control her hand. A small low pulse of violet energy washed over Dustin, and then it stopped.
"Now what?"
some of his memory will be gone.
Malice frowned, "Some?"
You can't handle anything higher yet, or you won't be able to make the trip home. I know you will cover effectively. The mirror disappeared and malice could see herself again, her pupil were slowly fading from gold to black.
"Great." She sighed then grabbed the ravens and perched them on her shoulder, Malice walked back towards Dustin and put her hand on his shoulder. She closed her eyes and willed the four of them into Dustin's room -it worked. The four of them faded into his room. An unconscious Dustin began to fall from his standing position.
"Oof!" Malice caught him and laid him on his bed, pulled the blanket over him, and turned off the lights before heading to her room. Malice laid the ravens in their baskets and plopped onto her bed. She was exhausted, tired, and a little dizzy from fading the four of them. She pulled the blanket over her and closed her dreary eyes. Malice had a feeling she would sleep well tonight, without any nightmares. The last thing on her face before exhaustion overtook her was a smile, a real genuine smile.