Chapter Five
Black Out
"Welcome to USC Ms. Anderson. Here is your number six jersey."
Sara once again stared with such a longing at the gold and red jersey before her eyes as she traced her last name, the number six, and every other detail on there. There is was. Her life's dream of becoming an accomplished athlete was just about to start here at the University of Southern California home of the Trojans and eventually lead up into a career on some women's pro team and maybe even going to the Olympics one day. And yet…as she reached out once again to try and grasp upon this dream her fingers went right through the jersey as it became a ghost and disappeared only to once more have her hand held by that same black gloved one she knew belonged to a green dragon motif faced helmet. Staring into the lidless outlined eyes, her own brown eyes started to gleam with brewing tears as she just silently shook her head.
"Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?" Sara asked in a plea in which her voice was laced with a deep hurt as a tear suddenly slid down from her eye and followed the curve of her cheek.
In mirror image to her, the helmeted figure now produced a tear from the exact same eye. "You exist." A harsh and raspy voice answered from seemingly nowhere and yet everywhere at the same time to Sara's two questions. A simple answer and yet it held a deep wound that cut to her very core.
Allowing the pain of everything to fall upon her at once, she fell to her knees and started to quietly sob while still holding on to the hand of the figure. The hold on her hand became more secure as if this thing was trying to assure her of something. No, it was trying to assure her that everything was going to be all right. That she shouldn't allow that evil answer of – "You exist" to harm her any more than it even should. As another hand was now laid upon her shoulder, she looked up.
Slowly her eyes started to open again only to have her vision invaded by a burning white light. Oh, I'm dead. How lovely. Sara thought sarcastically to herself while allowing her eyes to slowly adjust to the light before opening them all the way. What now? Are Michael and Gabriel going to appear and escort me in through the pearly gates of Heaven? Or am I about to be sent on a one way train to Hell just by the mere pull of the perennial lever of St. Peter? Blinking a few times, Sara finally managed to refocus her vision away from the light and off to the side of it. Well, she wasn't in Heaven, or Hell for that matter. That is, unless they redecorated with a starch white ceiling of shinny plastic tiles. Turning her head to the left first her cheek came to rest upon a rather soft pillow and affirmed to Sara that she was once again on her back and on a bed of sorts. There was a distinct sound of soft beeps like that of a monitor you see in a hospital. And Sara knew all about that as she worked in one and had been hooked up one time to those machines after crashing her dirt bike on an off-roading trail and breaking a wrist and three ribs.
On the left of her, Sara was seeing a wall lined with what appeared to be computer towers that reached from floor to ceiling. At the center of this line was placed what at best she could describe as a flat screen plasma TV that showed various pictures that went from small to large and then listed off data to the sides, top, and bottom of the screen against a neon green hatch grid. The images she was seeing was that exactly of the stone she had found in the forest a few days ago and then the bracelet she now had around her wrist. The hell…? Turning her head away from the wall and now turned it to the right, she stared at a light brunette haired girl around her own age at best guess. The girl was staring back at her with a friendly smile on her face and in her black eye liner rimmed eyes. On her lap Sara spotted an open magazine she had apparently been reading. The girl's attire totally spoke follower of punk, primarily Avril.
"Hi." The girl greeted in a rather cheerful manner while closing her magazine and getting up from the chair she had been sitting on. "How are you feeling?" she asked while coming over to Sara's side and looking over her in a quick once over.
Sara's brow furrowed a moment as she processed the girl's question. "I think I'm fine." She answered and then got her arms up near her immediate side and pushed herself up into a sitting position and near regretted it as a sudden rush smacked the center of her forehead that caused her to feel slightly dizzy. The girl had seen this and placed a hand gently on Sara's shoulder as if ready to help sit up if need be. However, now sitting up, Sara looked over at the girl again who was looking her over to make sure she was in fact okay for the most part. "Who are you?" she asked as she suddenly realized that this was someone she had never seen nor met at all.
The girl looked at her and again smiled. "Oh, sorry about that. My name's Kira Ford." She introduced herself and then gave her a wondering look. "It's Sara, right?" she asked as it appeared she knew the name but just wanted to make sure she was putting it to the right face. Her response to this was a slow nod from Sara's head. "Good. I'm bad with names." Kira explained while laughing nervously as she spoke. "So, do you remember anything before you blacked out?" she asked.
"I remember slapping someone." Sara replied while looking down at her hands, which were still sore from the scrapes they had taken on and of course glared quickly at the bracelet still on her left wrist. Without much notice the girl name Kira started to laugh, which now had Sara looking away from her hands to her directly. "What's so funny?" she asked while raising a brow.
Kira shook her head lightly causing her long light brown tresses to move about her shoulders. "Nothing." She replied while composing herself and forcing the end to her laughter. "Maybe I should explain where you're out before I say anything else." Kira suggested while turning part way around and dragging the chair she had been sitting in over so she could sit next to Sara's bed. "After you fainted in the courtyard, you were brought here to this med lab to make sure that you were all right. You've been asleep for a little over a day now." She explained while watching for a reaction from Sara.
The facial expression on Sara's face remained a rather passive one as she listened to Kira tell her what had happened after passing out once again. After she finished, Sara sighed quietly to herself and looked down into her lap for a moment. "I have no idea what is going on anymore." She mumbled quietly before looking up at Kira again with a small smile on her face. "So, in all honesty I have to say, that I am so glad that you were the first person I met after waking up again from some random black out." Sara laughed slightly as she spoke.
"Random black out?" Kira inquired as she scooted closer to the bed. "Has this happened before?" she pressed while her brows furrowed at the thought that this had happened more than once to her. "I mean aside from the other time."
The fact that Kira mentioned the only other time that she had blacked out caused Sara to cock her head to the side slightly. "How did you know about another time?" she asked with a suspicious tone in her voice as she now eyed Kira in a rather unnerving way.
Lost for any kind of answer on her part that she could use and not have Sara freaking out horribly, Kira just sighed in defeat while giving the girl a deeply apologetic look. "I don't know how I can go about explaining this to you without having you trying to run out again." Bad one Kira! "I mean, um, well…" Kira trailed off as she realized just how deep of a hole she had dug herself into as Sara's facial expression showed a sense of panic while also she started to slowly edge away from Kira. "No wait, Sara, don't! There's someone else I think who can explain everything to you when he gets here." She pleaded while reaching out a hand towards her and laying it down gently on Sara's own hand.
"Fine. Whatever." Sara sighed while quitting her instinctual attempt to get up and flee. "After all, you guys have so many things stuck to me, it's not like I can just up and go." She gave a pathetic attempt of a smile to Kira. What other choice is there? Really, here I'm being held by human people and not some talking dinosaur and his insane lady friend, and I'm more ready to bolt than I was with…uh…what's his name? Mesagog or something? Whatever, right now I just want an explanation for whatever the hell is going on.
"Well, it's good to see you awake finally Ms. Anderson." A rather familiar voice stated from behind the two girls.
Looking back over her shoulder Sara's eyes became rather wide with the shock and surprise of seeing none other than Dr. Oliver coming in through the door to the med lab and left it half open behind him as he entered. How did I know that was coming? Sara watched as he came to stand just beside Kira on her right (Kira's right) and stop there only to offer a sympathetic smile to her. "I take it you're the 'he' Kira was talking about who's going to explain things to me?" she asked while raising an unamused eyebrow at the grown adult.
Dr. Oliver nodded his head while maintaining his small smile for the most part. "Indeed I am. Well, at least I can explain to you our part that is." He answered and then sighed right after. "Sara, that day we first met at Haley's Cyber Café, you gave me a green stone that you said you had found out in the woods. That stone happens to be a very important object, and not just in paleontology matters at all." He paused a moment before continuing. "The stone you found is actually called a Dino Gem. It's very old and…very powerful from what I could tell after scanning it." Dr. Oliver gestured over to the flat plasma screen on the wall off to the left of the room on Sara's side.
Sara followed his gesture and again gazed upon the screen that was still repeating over the same images she had seen before when she came too. "What do you mean by powerful? Is it like some sort of high content mineral?" she asked while looking back to Dr. Oliver and glancing a moment over at Kira at the same time.
Kira grinned at this as she managed to suppress a giggle to what Sara had asked, while Dr. Oliver shook his head. "No. I mean powerful, as in literally powerful. This Dino Gem is very peculiar and it has now grown rather mysterious when it suddenly vanished during the same day I met you in the cyber café. I believe it reappeared not long after in the form of a simple piece of jewel when the Water Dog appeared." He stated as he directed his gaze towards Sara's unseen left wrist where he knew that bracelet rested.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Sara started while taking on a rather irritated tone of voice. "Are trying to tell me that you how this got on my wrist and that it's actually that rock I found!" she asked while holding up her left wrist for both him and Kira to see. "And what the hell is a Water Dog?"
Kira looked up at Dr. Oliver with a look on her face that caused Sara to look between the both of them as a very uncomfortable feeling started to rise throughout her entire body. Dr. Oliver sighed and gave Sara a defeated smile. "I suppose there's no tip toeing around this in any way to make it easier on you. Sara, after you gave me the Dino Gem I noticed that the luster and gleam it had was gone. Almost as if it reacted being separated from you and this had me thinking it was more than just a simple rock. I left the cyber café and came home to scan it. That's when I learned it to be a Dino Gem. An unknown and unheard of green Dino Gem." He paused a moment and took note of the lost look on Sara's face before continuing on.
"The scales took high readings of power that seemed to only be a scratch of the surface. When the Water Dog appeared, the stone just completely vanished from under the scanner and the readings were incomplete." The look on Sara's face was only growing in the further exploration of lost. Dr. Oliver sighed. "A Water Dog is what you saw that day in the intersection fighting. The noise everyone was hearing during the fight was more than likely coming from the stone bracelet in reaction to the monster and us."
The last few words had Sara raising a brow as realization was starting to set in now with a very nervous jump in her stomach that was growing. "What do you mean – "us"?" she asked knowing that he was going to answer with something she was now anticipating, though she prayed that wasn't the case.
"Us, as in myself, Kira, and three others. We were the people in the suits and helmets fighting the Water Dog." Dr. Oliver answered while pulling up the sleeve on his own left wrist to reveal a single solid band of silver holding a black oval stone sitting at the top center. Kira did the same to show a similar bracelet only with a yellow stone on hers. "We're the new team of Power Rangers." Dr. Oliver stated while keeping his gaze on Sara, watching her for any reaction that should show him signs of concern for the girl's well being seeing as she had passed out on them twice already.
Sara dropped the lost look on her face and took on a blank one. "Power Rangers." She repeated and then received a nod from both in return. "Okay, where are the hidden cameras at?" she asked while nervously smiling and looking around the room she was in. "Is Aston hiding somewhere in a side room?"
Kira held a sympathetic look on her face for the reaction Sara was having to this. Clearly she wasn't taking this well. "Sara, there aren't cameras and Ashton Kutcher isn't hiding out somewhere punking you. We really are Power Rangers." Kira stated while staring the girl in the eyes.
Shaking her head and swallowing hard, Sara looked between them. "No that's not possible." She stated desperately as her mind said otherwise. How else was she going to explain all of this if not accepting reality? "You can't be Power Rangers, they're not real! It's just a TV show that I watched when I was a kid, and now my cousins watch it."
"I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but I am telling you the truth Sara." Dr. Oliver stated while touching the black gem on his bracelet. Immediately the once piece of jewelry shifted itself in a mirage like way to take on the shape of a long black dinosaur head accented with gold. "I think the best way to get this across is to show you." He explained while pulling out from his jacket pocket what appeared to be some sort of key with a more razor edge than teeth to it. Without another word, Dr. Oliver stuck the key into the side of the dino headed bracelet and turned it.
Sara watched in slack jawed awe as some sort of black light sped out from the bracelet and consumed the entire adult frame of Dr. Oliver head to toe and then left him in a black outfit with gold stripping along the top of his shoulders that followed down his arms. The striping continued down the sides of his torso and ended finally where boots started. The last thing to be covered was his head, which starting from the back of his neck came what could only be described as unraveling of a helmet bearing a slight resemblance to the same dinosaur face of the bracelet in a decretive motif. Once this had finished the key that he had used to start this all was sucked inside the bracelet only having the butt end barely peeking out in a button. Not a single word formed itself within her brain, throat, and or mouth as Sara just stared with wide eyes at what had just happened right next to her.
As her eyes remained transfixed upon the now suited up Dr. Oliver, Sara was unaware of the fact that the bracelet on her left wrist was now glowing with an eerie green light about the outline of the intricate lattice web work. The effects of an oncoming light headness started to cause Sara's body to sway ever so slightly, but it was enough to raise concern on Dr. Oliver's part as he reached out and set his hand upon her shoulder in attempt to steady her. "You okay there kiddo?" he asked and received a rather abrupt shock as Sara's eyes fluttered a moment and then closed completely as her body went limp and started to fall backwards on to the med table. "Kira, help me."
Kira immediately reached out with both hands as she stepped closer to the bed and helped Dr. Oliver ease the now unconscious girl down carefully. "What happened to her?" she asked as Dr. Oliver's new attire disappeared in the same manner as it had come.
"I'm not sure." He replied while pocketing the ejected key from his bracelet as it in turn reshaped itself to its more jewelry like state. As Dr. Oliver went around the table to fetch a few monitor applicators, he noticed something. The bracelet Sara was wearing had an intense green glow to it that seemed to moving a wave-like manner. What the hell is going on? Shaking it for the moment Dr. Oliver found what he was looking for over near the plasma screen and soon had Sara hooked up right to it and a complex computer system.
The plasma screen was reading out the vitals of Sara's body as well as scanning for anything that may have caused the sudden blackout again. As Dr. Oliver and Kira waited in silence the computer system alarm started to blink and sounded as the screen brought up the same image of the bracelet and stone that had been replaying over and over again earlier. Kira looked over at Dr. Oliver with a confused look on her face. "What does that mean the bracelet had something to do with this?"
"Maybe." Was the only reply that he gave for the moment as he watched the read outs on the screen. Something is definitely very wrong here. The way she reacted to all of this seems to be a pattern of sorts. But just what kind and why is the question now. I only hope she's alright.
It was near going on three hours since Sara had once again blacked out, and finally there was a sign that she was waking up. She stirred a bit before opening her eyes all the way and blinking a few times to chase out the light staring down from overhead at her. "Oh god, my head." She groaned while placing her left hand to her forehead and shutting her eyes a moment.
Kira sighed in relief from her spot that she had once again taken up in her chair off to the side. Standing up, she came over to Sara's side and looked down at her with worry lines wrinkled down her forehead. "Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked while stepping back a bit as Sara sat up.
"Like I have one of the world's greatest migraines ever." Sara replied while looking over at Kira with a tired half hearted smile. "This is really getting old." She smirked in defeated fun at the fact that she was starting to become a one trick pony so to say.
This had Kira grinning while holding back a small laugh all at the same time. Kira looked across the room to where Dr. Oliver had been standing the whole time. "I think she's fine." She stated in good humor as the adult male came to stand on Sara's opposite side from Kira.
"I'm glad you're okay Sara. I really am. I didn't mean to freak you out so bad." Dr. Oliver apologized with a sympathetic smile on his face. "You've blacked out three times now. I don't know yet what's causing these black outs, but I think it's obvious from the way you reacted to what I told and showed you, that there's more to this than just the unexplained bracelet on your wrist." He stated while hinting to an obvious mention on Sara's part.
Sara nodded to this meekly while biting the inside of her lip and looking down into her lap before facing Kira and Dr. Oliver again. "I don't know what is going on. And, I don't think I'm even near home anymore." She stated with a look on her face that showed just how close she was coming to breaking down.
Kira placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you tell us everything you do know from the beginning? Maybe we can help you out some way." She offered in suggestion while glancing over at Dr. Oliver who nodded in agreement to this.
Taking in a deep breath to calm herself, Sara then exhaled and started from what she could recall and piece together. "Well, I know I finished grave shift at the hospital gift shop at around nine forty-five. I left and headed for my car going out the ER hall since the front doors had been locked. Um, when I got to my car I heard loud voices coming from the ER walk-in station and then I heard what I think was a gun going off. The next thing I know there's a blinding pain spreading through my body and hurting the most at my left shoulder. I think that's when I first started the whole black out thing." She explained decently enough so as not to go off track with trivial matters. "Then the next thing I know, I'm waking up in a forest in a place I've never heard of."
Taking this all in, Dr. Oliver held a rather intent look upon his face for a few minutes after Sara had finished her story. He nodded his head finally as he seemed to understanding now what may be going on. "Sounds like you've had a rough time." He commented while offering a ghost smile. "Sara, whatever has happened here to you, I promise, I'll do what I can to help you out."
