Disclaimer: We don't own the Power Rangers series, just this plot, the characters and anything concerning this story (arsenal, monsters, etc.) :]
Aaron's usual black space suddenly had lights turning on one by one. He blinked, trying to get used to the bright lights that began to surround him. He held up his arms to shield himself. There were murmurs and he wondered what they were talking about.
"Mr. Ashdown, please tell us more about yourself."
"What?" he asked in surprised. Why would they be suddenly asking about him?
"What are you plans for the future, Mr. Ashdown?"
"Why are you interested?"
"What do you think about the death penalty to punish criminals?"
"That line is quite harsh, sir."
"Mr. Ashdown, do you mind telling us about your plans about leading your team of Power Rangers against the sorcerer Kale and his generals? You are the red Power Ranger, after all."
"H-h-how'd you kn-kno-know th-th-tha-t-that?"
"Sir, please, just answer the question."
"W-w-well I…um…I-I-I-I don't-t-t think-ink y-y-you're s-s-supposed to know-ow that. Now, p-please, I have to g-g-go…I can't-t ta-talk about-t thi-is in pub-public."
"But, Mr. Ashdown, we would want to know your perspectives."
"I-I-can't." Cameras flashed and more people appeared in front of him. The platform he was standing on suddenly became higher and higher. People asked more questions and he knew he couldn't answer them. "Wh-where are you-you all c-c-coming from?"
"Sir! Sir! I have a question!"
"Sir, would you look over here, please?"
"Mr. Ashdown, could you please answer the question? I think the whole world would like to know what the red Power Ranger has in mind, it's a live interview. Please don't back out now."
"Live!? Whole world!?" Aaron began to hyperventilate. "I…I…" He tried to steady his breath. He didn't know where he was, how he got there or whatever was going on but he didn't like it one bit, in fact, he hated it. "L-l-listen, I-I-I don't-t know h-how I g-g-g-got here but I w-wa-want to l-l-leave right now. I don't-t think th-that this is wh-where I'm-I'm s-s-s-s-supposed t-to b-be."
"Mr. Ashdown! Mr. Ashdown! Mr. Ashdown!"
The blue ranger was sweating and she hated it. Her vision was getting blurry and her head wasn't responding well to the situation. She couldn't see anything but the mountains in front of her, the white, puffy clouds and clear, blue sky. The air was cool and windy, a perfect day. Too bad it wasn't anything near perfect for her.
"Come on, Paige! Jump! We'll be here!"
"But it's dangerous, Mom!"
"Honey, the straps are very secure. Look at your father and me, we've safely landed and we're just waiting for you."
"But…" She tugged on the metal hook that secured her to a rope tied to a machine that would make sure she was safe. "I don't trust this."
"Dear, just relax!" Her father called out. "Give it a try! You might enjoy it!"
Paige didn't know what to do at all. She wanted to be with her parents but at the same time she didn't want to jump. If she estimated she was fifty feet above ground on a very high mountain, she wondered how she and her parents were able to communicate properly. There was no supporter behind her and that made things even more suspicious. She hadn't seen her parents actually jump off but she really wanted to see them.
"Paige Cordelia Blake! We are waiting!" Her mother shouted. "We don't have all day!"
That hurt. Her parents knew that she hated heights and yet they were forcing her to jump down and hurry. "I can't!"
"Hurry up, dear! We still have another meeting to go to!" Her father exclaimed. "They'll be waiting!"
"There must be another way down, right? How'd we get up here in the first place?"
"Paige!"
"I can't do it!"
"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"
The car had a comfortable silence surrounding them. Finn was smiling broadly as he looked out the window. He loved how it was such a windy night and the stars were bright and the moon gave enough light to let him see the trees outside.
It was his parents' anniversary and they were heading to their favorite restaurant, Italiannis, to celebrate. He was craving for their 'Create Your Own Pizza', something he had always loved since he was a child.
"Are you okay there, Finn?" his mother asked. "You've been rather quiet."
"I'm just…really happy."
His father smiled. "I'm glad."
Suddenly his mother's phone rang and the yellow ranger had a dreaded feeling in his stomach. "Hello?" Jennifer greeted. "Yes…no, we're on our way to a dinner…really!? Don't worry, we'll be there in five minutes!" She hung up the phone and turned to her husband. "Donald, there's been an accident not far from here, we have to go!"
Donald nodded. "I'm sorry, Finnie."
Finn gripped the edge of the seat tightly, afraid. The car was going past the speed limit and they were nearing the accident. Nearing their accident.
"No, please no…" he said quietly. "No. I don't want this to happen. This dream is long gone…no…please."
The car zoomed past a sign and Finn readied himself for impact. Mr. Webb lost control of the car and they swerved, falling in the deep lake that would take their lives.
Finn tried as hard as he could to open the door and wake up his parents but with no such luck. He wanted to scream but the air would be wasted. He tried kicking the glass but again, it was no use. His head began spinning and he knew he was going to lose consciousness. 'No…I need to get out…get to the surface…Mom and Dad would want me…to live…'
Sean was holding his parents' hands as they strolled around the circus. It was his first time there and he was enjoying himself so far. Lara was with her friends so he was stuck with his parents, but it was okay, they gave him lots of cotton candy.
"Do you wanna ride the Ferris Wheel, Sean?" His father asked.
"Which one is that?"
His mother pointed at the big and circular ride that towered them a few feet away. "It'll be like we're flying."
Sean grinned and nodded in enthusiasm. "Yes! Yes! I wanna ride! Let's go!"
While they were up in their seat, the little green ranger was looking around the view. He saw a colorful tent and it intrigued him, lots of people were going in and maybe something nice and fun was inside.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at the designated place.
"Oh, I think that's where the clowns are," Krista answered. "Is it, Bobby?"
The father looked out and nodded. "Yeah, it is. I heard their performance was really good. Wanna go there next, Sean?"
He nodded. "Yes!"
The ride ended and they raced towards the tent. Sean was excited. He had seen clowns on T.V. but never in real life. If on T.V. they're already funny, what more in real life?
They got good seats and he was a bit restless. He was too excited to see the clowns.
Bobby laughed. "Don't worry, Sean. They're coming."
Minutes later they arrived and Sean couldn't contain his excitement. He was laughing at all the jokes and stunts, his parents wondered if he actually got them. Next was the magic show. At first it was the simple disappear and appear and all the other easy, cheap tricks. But then it was now time for the dangerous ones.
They asked for a volunteers and Sean immediately shot his hand up. They picked him and ordered him to get inside the box. He did and they closed it. They tapped it twice and he fell under the trap hole. He looked for any way where he could go up again but he was in a dark room that only had one light.
Suddenly, more clowns appeared, surrounding him. He smiled at them but they just snickered. They advanced at him more and Sean was becoming scared. "Um…please help me?"
The pink ranger was standing in front of the glass mansion. She remembered this from the movie, Thirteen Ghosts. It was the only horror movie, aside from the Scary Movie franchise, that she actually liked.
There was a thunderstorm and she had to take shelter somewhere. So she ran towards the house and knocked, hoping that there'd be someone there. The door opened by itself and she hesitantly went in.
Eve was walking around the house, wanting to explore the beautiful rooms. She knew that going to the basement was a bad idea, all she had to do was hope that the spinning thing wouldn't work. Too bad she hoped to early. The whole machine was spinning.
Her eyes widened and she ran back to the entrance but it was already locked. Breaking the glass was no use so all she could do was scream. Without the special glasses she couldn't see but she had to know if there were ghosts around. Spotting a pair of the infamous 'special glasses' she nervously put it on, then screamed. She was surrounded by all twelve ghosts, and only the fourth one wasn't looking at her menacingly. She backed away but came in contact with all insects that she hated.
She screamed in terror.
"Good morning, Paige!" Demitri yelled in the brunette's ear, making her shoot upright and stare, wide eyed at her surroundings. "Did you have an enjoyable sleep?"
"No." She snapped, both angry at Demitri for waking her up and relieved after realizing that she was no longer on the cliff, and was in fact safe in her room. "And don't go all happy with me, I had a terrible night."
"Someone's cranky."
She shot him a glare and placed his tray on the table. "I have to go prepare for school. I'll see you before I leave, okay?"
He nodded and leaned back in his seat. He shouldn't be too worried about a bad dream because he had one, too.
'A coincidence?'
"Good morning, Miss Blake." A blonde maid greeted her. "I was just about to bring you your breakfast upstairs. I've also noticed that you've been eating down here even while your parents are out."
"It gets lonely up there, Fely. Where's Jennifer?"
"It's her turn to clean the rooms, ma'am. I hope you enjoy the food." She placed the tray on the dining table and waited for the teenager to eat. "Um…Miss Blake, your eyes look red; you don't look like you've gotten enough sleep."
"It was just a nightmare, Fely, don't worry about it."
"If you say so, Miss Blake."
Paige was eating her toast carefully, making sure the buttery taste remained fresh in her mind. She needed to forget the dream…nightmare. She loved dreaming about spending time with her parents but the one last night was just too much. Not only did she have to stay on such a high place but she didn't even get to catch a glimpse of the adults.
"That stinks," she muttered. "Hey, Fely…do you remember when Mom and Dad are coming back home?"
"Next week, Miss Blake."
She nodded. 'That'll give me enough time to figure out how to hide Demitri….' She finished her breakfast and thanked the maid. "Have a nice day."
"You, too, Miss Blake."
'I hope so…that nightmare keeps popping inside my head.'
"Hey, Aaron!" Marc greeted cheerfully, before he saw the dark circles under his friend's green eyes. "Your siblings again?"
He shook his head. "No, dreams. I had a really bad one."
"Oh. Was it about public speaking?" Liam asked, walking up to the pair of teenaged boys.
The blonde teenager glared at him. "How'd you know?"
"Lucky guess." The younger boy shrugged.
"I hate it. That's why I hate debating. I'd rather let the others win."
"Speaking of, I heard Mr. Ogilvy is in the hospital."
"So no debating assignment?" Aaron asked hopefully.
"Mr. Reid is substituting for him." Marc answered.
"But then what about Mr. Reid's original class?"
"Another substitute. And don't ask about why there's no sub for debating class. Nobody likes that."
"I know some people." He laughed.
"Okay, well, class is gonna start." Liam started. "I gotta go."
"Me too." Marc agreed. "See you guys during lunch?"
"Yeah." Liam nodded.
"Um…maybe…" Aaron mumbled. His two best friends looked at him oddly. "I'll try. I promise. It's just…a lot going on and…"
"Go have fun with your new friends," Marc muttered as he fixed his backpack and left.
"Sorry, Aaron." Liam looked at him, then back to the retreating figure of Marc. "Give him some time, okay?" Then he ran off to his class.
The blonde teenager sighed. He didn't like ditching his friends but it was fun hanging out with his teammates; they shared a secret, something that could start helping them bond together, sort of like a school group. It'd be weird if they stopped hanging out with one another and they just met during monster attacks.
He was about to go and walk to his class when he saw Finn pass by. The two of them had first period together. "Finn!"
The dark skinned teenager looked up and smiled. "Hey, man." His eyes were puffy and he looked as if he was about to cry or had just finished crying. "Are you okay?"
"Are you okay?"
He shook his head and they began walking to first period. "I had a bad dream."
"Me too."
"Yeah? Wanna talk about it?"
"Sure, it's nothing big, though. Quite a few people know my biggest fear. I was on a tall platform that kept growing and each passing second more people would arrive to ask me questions and take pictures. Some even asked about my plans as being…you know, the red thing…." He shrugged as he put down his bag and sat on his chair. Finn sat beside him.
"Oh." Finn looked from him to the whiteboard. "Did you give out any…information?"
"I couldn't even if I tried. No public speaking abilities." He shook his head. "And what was yours?"
Finn thought for a moment. It was no secret that he was adopted and that his parents died in a car crash. He decided to open up; after all they'll be working together a lot. "I was in the car with my parents, we were heading to a restaurant to celebrate their anniversary. On the way they got a call, an emergency, and they sped there…but we ended up falling in a lake."
"Is that how your parents died?"
He nodded. "It's funny, they were about to rescue people who had also been in an accident. I was only five when that happened. Ever since they drowned…I've always been afraid of water."
"Can you remember what they were like?" Aaron asked tentatively, avoiding looking at his friend.
After a brief silence between them, Finn replied "They always did the right thing. I don't remember much, but I remember that. They would never do anything in front of me that they weren't proud to do."
"You sure admire them, huh?"
"I guess."
"I'm sure that they'd be proud of how you turned out to be."
Finn smiled at his friend. "I hope so."
Eve yawned as she sat on her seat for second period. She woke up late and wasn't able to go to her shift in Sundae's Best and even first period. She'd also have to keep awake since it was science, the teacher was Mr. Reid and she hated the subject. She and Ethan had different schedules so she didn't really have anyone to talk to. "I hate that nightmare."
"You had a nightmare, too?" Sean asked, a hint of concern in his voice as he sat down on the chair beside her.
"Mm. What was your nightmare about?"
Sean looked away, a bit embarrassed. "Cannibals."
"Did they eat you?" Eve asked, a hint of amusement twinkling in her dark brown eyes.
"I woke up. What was yours?"
"Ghosts and insects."
"Scared of something that doesn't exist and the creepy crawlies?"
"Ghosts exist!" She defended. "At least…I think they do. And you said so, yourself, the creepy crawlies…they're so…icky."
"Who knew you were such a princess." He smirked. "Thanks for telling me your secret. Can you spell 'Blackmail'?"
Eve glared at him. "Don't you dare."
"Oh, I dare."
Even with the two of them having nightmares the night before, it didn't stop them from bickering now.
Eve saw Sean's hand dangling and she wondered if she could heal him. 'From what? He's not sick….' She casually draped her hand and her fingers brushed lightly against him. 'It's worth a shot. Ugh, I can't believe I'm healing or whatever you call it Sean Allen.'
"How are you doing that?" He whispered, looking back at her with a mix of confusion, insult and admiration.
"Doing what?"
"That nice…soft…feeling."
"I'm healing you."
"From what?"
"I dunno. I just thought you needed healing. Maybe it'll help you."
"I'm going to need all the healing I could get," He muttered. He grabbed her hand and intertwined it with his.
The pink ranger turned red. As much as she wanted to let go a part of her didn't want to…and it was winning. She looked up to try to distract herself and saw an adult she didn't recognize. "Whoa…he's hot."
Sean looked at the guy and scoffed. "I am way hotter."
The teacher smiled, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. "Good morning class. I'm Mr. Cornel and I'll be your substitute teacher while Mr. Reid subs for Mr. Ogilvy."
"I hope everyone slept better than Finn, Sean and me." Aaron said as he sat down. He was supposed to sit with Liam and Marc but he was thinking about his nightmare and came to the conclusion it was rather strange that his teammate had one too concerning his darkest fears. Then the yellow ranger told him that Sean had a nightmare as well. That was too much of a coincidence. "All three of us had terrible nightmares."
"Negative." Paige shook her head. "I had one too."
"I had a bad dream also." Eve announced.
Finn sighed. "So, all five of us then. This is too much to be a coincidence."
"Did you tell Demitri that you had a nightmare, Paige?" Sean asked.
"Yeah, I did but he didn't seem to be bothered by it."
"We have to tell him that we all had nightmares." Aaron sighed. "I honestly don't think it's healthy that our team all slept badly."
"Come over to my place after school." Paige told them.
"We have to come over to your place." Finn reminded her. "It's fight training today."
"No, it's power training today."
"No, you switched it. Training is now Tuesdays and Thursdays while power training is Monday and Wednesday so that we'll look forward to a Monday…I don't know how that helps though."
"Ugh, that nightmare is making my memory blur." Paige rubbed her eyes and temple. "Right, right."
"Do we have to train?" Eve whined. "We've all had bad dreams that until now we still can't get over!"
"Let's just talk to Demitri later," Sean said "We'll pass by Sundae's Best to grab some smoothies."
Someone slipped beside Eve and observed them. "Wow, you guys. No offense but you all look terrible! What did you do last night? Have a late night party without inviting me?"
"Far from it, Ethan." His friend responded.
"Something must be wrong then. You don't call me by my name."
Everyone slumped down and groaned.
"Okay. I'll just eat my lunch then. Are you guys gonna' eat your jell-os?"
"DEMITRI!" Finn and Sean shouted once they opened the door.
The prince looked up from his work and was about to smile at them until he saw the look on their faces. "Everyone got a bad dream?"
They nodded.
"I figured." He nodded. "I was looking through some scrolls," he stood up "and remembered Reverie. She was a witch whose specialty was dreams. There was a rumor a while back that she feeds upon your dreams, so people were given nightmares. In return, they plagued her with nightmares as revenge."
"Did she really feed on their dreams?" Aaron asked.
"Feed isn't exactly the right word, more like…actually, that's probably the only way to describe it simply. She feeds on them. She did it for the right reasons, of course, but because of that rumor, people believed she was evil…they didn't know that giving her nightmares weren't for the best. She became a monster, thus, sealed in a scroll."
"So what? She explores our deepest, darkest fears?" Paige asked.
Demitri nodded. "I had a bad dream, too, you know."
"Well…how do we stop her?" Eve wondered. "We can't have bad dreams forever."
"You destroy her in your dreams."
"How?"
Demitri hesitated. "I…I have no idea."
The rangers sighed in frustration.
"We haven't been rangers for a long time and this is already happening." Aaron groaned.
Demitri had a small, playful smile on his lips. "Then maybe that's where Reverie comes, maybe this actually has something to do with facing your fears. Knights face their fears all the time, back in my time squires had to conquer their fears before they were knighted. If they didn't do so, they'd surely perish in battle."
"Gee, great tip, Demitri." Aaron said, expressionless.
It was going to be a long training session.
Sorry once again about the late update! I (as in Rosie!) am in the middle of my GCSE exams currently, so there hasn't been much time for anything BUT revision...still, this was perfect procrastination!
We hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed making it! If you liked it/didn't like it, tell us why in the reviews! Reviews makes writers better!
