POWER RANGERS DINO THUNDER
THE WILL TO LIVE
Chapter One
Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by Saban Brands and not the author.
Originally written and posted December 2005 – April 2006, this story serves as a follow-up to the episode, "Fighting Spirit", and takes place a few days afterwards. This was my first story involve one of the more recent seasons, Dino Thunder.
-o-
It had been so sudden...
He had been teaching his class, which was going as well as any other day. He was feeling perfectly fit, save for a slight case of fatigue due to the lack of sleep last night. Things were relatively calm and other than a few cases of the monstrous type, it was another routine day for him. Then without warning, he collapsed on the floor prompting several students to run up and check on him. Though he had suffered the symptoms of simply "passing out", he had somehow managed to retain consciousness. He had tried to move his limbs, but found that he couldn't. He tried to speak, but his lips wouldn't move.
It seemed all so sudden...
He could hear them screaming for him to hold on. He had heard some of them calling for help. He even heard some muffled cries from some of his students. But no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't respond. He simply stared up to the ceiling mere moments after he collapsed, unable to move a finger or even a nerve. It was as if he had lost all control over his body. Slowly, he found himself floating upwards and assumed he was waking up, but a quick glance at his students' faces (shortly before they fell out of his view as he floated) showed that they were still looking down in tears. He quickly spun his head (with more relative ease than before) and saw his body laying on the cold floor without moving a single muscle. His eyes were open, but they were completely lifeless.
Before long, the scenery changed from his classroom to a place surrounded by white light. He soon found himself standing on his two feet, rather than floating away on his back as he had been a few seconds ago. He looked around his new surroundings with a confused expression; definitely weird even by his standards.
"Where am I?" he yelled out. His answer came in the form of an appearing figure in the distance. The figure was shrouded in shadows, but maybe he knew what was going.
"Who are you?" he asked the figure, but the figure didn't respond until he was closer. The figure soon emerged out of the shadows and into the light, revealing himself to be a white-robed man of basic build. His most shocking feature, though, was the lack of skin and a metal mask covering his face. A familiar mask that he thought we would never see. A mask that had struck him with more fear than he ever thought possible.
"Welcome to the afterlife, Tommy," Lord Zedd greeted Thomas Oliver as cheerfully as he could. "You're dead."
-o-
Hayley's Cyberspace cafe would normally be filled with teenagers getting together and hanging out, but today the place was practically void of life. The reason for this is that it was closed for the day since the owner had yet to arrive.
When Hayley got the news of Tommy's passing out earlier in the morning, she took a detour from the cafe to the hospital where he was supposed to have been to for intensive care. This was the same hospital where Tommy had been in a coma just days earlier. Hayley wondered if the two might have been related, but pushed aside those thoughts and concentrated on getting there as fast as possible.
After a rather lengthy ride, Hayley had arrived at the hospital in question and quickly got inside. With help from the receptionist, Hayley managed to get to Tommy's private room, where the three Dino Thunder Rangers, Conner, Kira, and Ethan, were looking over him along with a middle-aged, gray-haired doctor. Hayley walked in the room and took a closer look at Tommy, who seemed to be breathing and sleeping comfortably.
She turned to the doctor. "How's he doing, Doctor?"
The doctor turned to Hayley and shot her a half-smile. "Well, the good news is that he's breathing normally and that he's currently in no danger of dying."
"Currently?" Ethan replied, "You mean he still could?"
"At this point, son, we don't know enough about his condition to figure out what's going on," the doctor said, "I promise you we're doing everything we can for him, but until we know what we're dealing with, we can only speculate."
Hayley nodded. "Thank you, Doctor. I know you will."
The doctor returned the nod and left the four alone with the unconscious Tommy. When no one was in sight, Conner spoke up. "Do you think Mesogog has something to do with this?"
Hayley shook her head. "I doubt Mesogog has that kind of power. I'm thinking it has to do with that procedure a few days ago."
Ethan studied Tommy for a moment before turning back to Hayley. "But he's breathing fine now. Back then, he wasn't. There's no way the two could be related."
"We don't know for sure, Ethan," Hayley told them, "But we do know that you guys have to be on the alert now. With Tommy out, Mesogog will want to take advantage."
Conner nodded in agreement, as did the others. Whatever happens, they would have to be ready for it, since Doctor Oliver wasn't available to help them this time.
-o-
"Zedd? What's going on here?" Tommy barked as he instinctively fell into a defensive stance. "Where am I?"
"I told you, Tommy," Zedd replied in that uncharacteristically cheerful voice, "This is the afterlife, you're dead, and I'm God."
Tommy snorted in disbelief, slowly backing off from the fleshman. "So what? You're stealing other villains' dialogue now? I would have thought you come up with more original material these days."
Zedd shook his head in disappointment. "Laugh it up, Tommy. But the fact is you're dead."
"That's not true. I've had an episode like this before. But I proved that my will-" Tommy stopped when Zedd raised a hand and bellowed.
"Your will to live is stronger than any Ranger power. Is that what you were going to tell me?" Zedd couldn't help but chuckle at that last remark. "Looks like you've lost that will to live, my boy."
"You lie!" Tommy spat, turning away from his old enemy. "Somehow Mesogog had me sedated through some spell and this is all a dream state that I have to fight my way out of." He took a few steps away from Zedd, almost expecting to be stopped. As he continued onward, he casually glanced back at Zedd who stood there, much to his surprise.
"Funny," he said, "I would have thought you would come after me or shoot me in the back."
Zedd shook his head. "I'm beyond that, Tommy-boy. And like I said, you're dead."
Tommy couldn't help but smile. "There's no way I could pass out like that and just die. It's medically impossible."
"You're an idiot," Zedd shot out as he slowly approached the veteran Ranger. "How did you get to become a doctor anyway? And not even a real doctor on top of it!"
Tommy didn't flinch. He just stood as the fleshman approached him until they were only a few inches apart. "You still refuse to believe, Tommy. I'll have to prove it then once and for all."
Tommy shot him a wry smile. "I'd like to see you try."
"Tommy?" a familiar voice called out, which shook Tommy to his core. He hadn't heard that voice in years since the Turbo days. He slowly turned to see a familiar blonde girl in a pink gown walking towards her and Tommy's jaw dropped opened as he stared at her in disbelief. She hadn't been seen since her house blew up years ago - an experience Tommy didn't want to go through again.
"Kat?" he asked quietly, "Is it you?"
The girl nodded. "It's me."
"B-But how can this happen?" Tommy's word broke as he talked. "That's impossible."
Kat frowned and started to place a hand on Tommy's shoulder, but he quickly slapped it away. He looked at her as she quickly turned away and ran.
"NO! I don't believe it! This isn't real!" he screamed to no one in particular, "This is just an illusion! None of this is real!"
He turned to Zedd, who shook his head in disappointment. Without a moment's hesitation, Tommy threw his fist at Zedd's head and as soon as it made contact, Zedd's form shattered into a million shards of glass. Tommy study his fist for a moment and saw that it was bleeding. A smile crept on his face as he looked up to find himself in a darkened chamber; the illusion of heaven having faded away. He looked around to find Kat, but saw nobody except for a lone figure who stood at the end of the chamber. A spotlight lit over the figure, but his or her physical features were blackened.
"Congratulations, Tommy," the figure greeted in Tommy's own voice, much to the shock of the veteran Ranger. "You've passed the first test."
Tommy broke into a stance. "What test?"
"The test of your endurance," the figure said as he slowly approached Tommy, with the spotlight following the figure's movement. "The test that you have managed to avoid the last time."
"What do you mean?" Tommy took a few steps back but soon he found himself backed against the wall. The figure stopped in his movements and with a snap of his fingers, the chamber lights opened to reveal a colorless room adorned with gems. Tommy looked around momentarily before looking at the stranger, who was no longer a stranger, but a familiar sight. He didn't want to believe this possible, but he knew it was entirely possible when he quickly knocked out by a red blaze.
The blow knocked Tommy to the ground and just before he faded into darkness, he saw the Red Turbo Ranger standing over him. He barely caught the single word that the Ranger spoke before passing out.
"Me."
-o-
"It's worse than we feared," Doctor Payne told Hayley as they both looked at Tommy's deteriorating vital signs late at night. The other Rangers had long since left.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know what's happening to him, ma'am," he replied, knowing well what he had to say wasn't good. "But I do know that whatever is happening to him is quickly eliminating any chances we have of recovery. There's nothing we can do."
Hayley gasped. "You mean..."
The doctor nodded painfully. "He's not going to make it."
TO BE CONTINUED...