POWER RANGERS DINO THUNDER
THE WILL TO LIVE
Chapter Four
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.
A moment of silence, please... okay, all done. Let's move on...
-o-
Black. The darkest color of the spectrum in which no light is visible.
Black. A vague description in a negative tonality as something dangerous.
Black. Complete darkness.
This is all that Thomas Oliver sees when he opens his eyes. The pain was gone. The weight of dry blood was also gone. He felt nothing but a cold surface under his feet. Tommy moves his left arm around and feels nothing. He pinches himself and feels nothing. He simply stands in darkness, letting the fact sink in to him, shedding away any doubt that had clouded his mind a few short minutes ago.
He's dead.
No tricks. No illusions. No spells. None of that.
He had expected to be in a cloudy place or in a realm of bright light. He had also considered the possibility of being sent to Hell and had expected to be surrounded by little imps with pitchforks dancing on flames. Instead, he found himself in this black void... a void he couldn't possibly identify. Tommy didn't really want to know about that. All he wanted to know was... what now?
In the distance, Tommy could see a small door of light appear. With no other option, he walks towards the door until he is a few steps away. He looks at the door and from it emerged another figure who looked like Tommy, with the exception of a few glaring differences. This particular figure wore a standard black tuxedo with white shirt and shiny black shoes. His hair was about an inch longer than what he had, and he had a full beard as opposed to Tommy's pinch. Both men stared at each other for a long time before the bearded man broke the silence.
"Welcome to the afterlife, Doctor Oliver," he said, then let out a shallow chuckle. "Man, I can't believe I just said that. I never would have saw that coming."
Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Who are you? And where am I?"
The man smiled. "You're currently in limbo, the realm between heaven and hell. This is where you still have some chance of survival. As for who I am, I'm you."
Tommy stood there wide-eyed. "You're kidding?"
"Actually, not you-you. But rather you in a different way." The other Oliver let out an exaggerated breath. "Let's call it alternate realities to keep things simpler."
"Good enough for me... Tommy?"
"Don't call me that," he said harshly, "I prefer Thomas."
Tommy scoffed. "Fine then... Thomas. So you mind explaining to me how you got here?"
Thomas smiled. "I died obviously, though through a different means than your own. I got stabbed in the back while attending a banquet that had turned into a bloody brawl."
"You? Stabbed in the back?"
"Incredible, isn't it?" Thomas shot with a dry grin. "Since then, I've been scrimmaging around here looking any way to get out of here and help my friends, but for several days, I've been unable to find a means of escape." He paused and took a long hard look at Tommy, who eyed him suspiciously. "Doctor Oliver?"
Tommy nodded. "A doctor of paleontology, actually."
Thomas groaned, almost in disbelief. "Even better. How about we find a means of escape together?"
"If one exists. We're dead, remember?"
"We're in limbo," Thomas added with a smile. "We're not dead yet."
-o-
Hayley sat at the computer console, inputting several key commands. When she was done, a loading screen appeared and she turned to see the makeshift containment chamber, where the unconscious Tommy laid on a bed with electrodes attached all over his body. She then glanced at the busy Black Ranger - normally a guise assumed by Tommy, but thanks to some modifications on Tommy's morpher to override the DNA decoders, was now occupied by a longtime friend who had arrived on short notice to try and save Tommy. When he had revealed his plan to Hayley through the telephone, she thought it was a risky venture, but considering that he had been in a similar situation before - and given his own credentials as a Ranger - she had no problem trusting him and going along with it.
Within the containment chamber, the Black Ranger tapped on a comm system. "Hayley, my side's ready to go. Are you all set?"
"Not like we have a choice or anything," she replied and turned to the console. She saw the monitor display Tommy's life readings, which were low but steady - definitely an improvement in any case. "Everything's set on my end. You sure you know what you're doing?"
The Black Ranger couldn't help but laugh. "Not like we have a choice or anything. Let's get started."
-o-
For several hours, two Thomas Olivers from different parallel realities were stuck in limbo, searching for a means of escape to no avail so far. Although Tommy was frustrated that he hadn't found a way out of limbo - whether it be to the realm of the living or not was irrelevant at this point - he did have conversations with the counterpart Thomas Oliver from the other dimension concerning personal matters. While he has his doubts that he is who and what he claims to be, he was amazed by how similar and different both their lives were in comparison.
Both of them had a personal command chamber under their homes, both of them had been considered legends among their respective Rangers, and both of them had suffered similar personal losses. But while Tommy had chosen to continue his lifestyle and eventually get a job as a high school teacher, the other Thomas Oliver had dedicated his whole life to the war against evil, abolishing his normal life in favor of anonymous status to look over various Ranger teams and commanding them from his personal command center that he had built underground in a land. Tommy noticed that there was a hint of disdain coming from Thomas whenever he spoke, but at the same time he couldn't help but wondered if he would turned out that way had he not decided to return to university and finish off his classes.
As Tommy was stray in his thoughts, he had tripped over a pebble laying on the ground but had managed to recover quickly. Eyeing the curious stone, he picked up and studied it for a moment. It was a simple, smooth-surfaced pebble about the size of his palm, but its touch was rather warm. As it got hotter, Tommy reluctantly dropped the stone. When it hit the ground, the stone shattered and from it released a cascade of energy which formed into a doorway. Through this doorway, Tommy looked on and saw Dino Base, where he saw Hayley and an old friend working over Tommy's body. The image just as quickly shifted to that of a darkened room with a body draped over it. From some of the tubes and equipment, Tommy assumed the room to be some kind of morgue, but he had never seen a morgue with this much technology. It came to mind that this might be the other Thomas Oliver's home dimension.
Tommy turned to Thomas, who was about a few feet away from him. "I found something of interest."
"What is it?" the bearded man asked as he approached his counterpart.
Tommy eyed the doorway as it shifted between the Dino Base and the dark morgue. "Looks like an Invisi-Portal."
"Invisi-what?"
"Invisible portals," Tommy cleared up, "Doorways that often transport from one spot to another. But they're usually invisible when inactive."
Thomas eyed the phenomenon closely, noticing several particles of energy leaking from it. Tommy just as quickly noticed it too, as all well as the fact that the doorway was slowly shrinking. Tommy assumed that it might take a couple hours as best, but his counterpart seemed much more pessimistic.
"Looks like this one's unstable," Thomas said finally, "Chances are only one of us can get through."
Tommy stared as the shrinking portal before he replied. "You're probably right. Hayley might have more experience with this, though." He turned to the bearded Thomas. "Any ideas on how we should proceed?"
Thomas thought for a moment. "Yeah, I've got one. I'll go and you stay."
Tommy looked at him incredulously. "What kind of idea is that?"
"My world needs me more than yours does."
Tommy winced. "Based on what?"
Thomas shot him a icy glare, ignoring the buckling of the doorway. "My world is on the verge of destruction while yours is threatened by a mutant dinosaur."
"Who is also capable of mass destruction," Tommy interrupted, "We've both got our reasons for going back. You just can't assume that yours is more important!"
As the two continued to bicker, the doorway suddenly turned a pale white and the light began to intensify. When the increasing brightness caught the attention of the two Rangers, they turned in time to see the portal collapse completely without a trace. Tommy looked down to find the pebble that had vaporized previous returned to normal. When he reached for it, a bolt of lightning shot from the stone and shocked his hand, causing Tommy to step back. Behind him, Thomas let out a strained chuckle.
"Great job, Doctor," he snorted, "We're stuck here now."
Tommy angrily pushed away his counterpart. "You wanted to leave me behind."
"It doesn't matter now," Thomas said, "We're stuck here. Possibly forever."
TO BE CONTINUED...