Disclaimer: Nada

Note: Chapter's longer than I anticipated, but oh well. Anywho Cole from Wild Force comes in here. I was never really a fan of that show, or Cole in particular, but I decided to give Cole a chance. So he's not really the same person he was on PRWF for various reasons, but oh well, besides I have plans for him in the long run.

Into the Darkness

He had no idea how he'd gotten there, nor did it really matter. He was here, and that was that. Four others were with him, though he never learned their story. He, Cole Evans, former Wild Force Power Ranger, had only one concern, keeping these strangers alive. The truth was, ever since they had arrived on whatever planet this was, Cole had felt something trying to take him over.

Years being raised in the Animarium had granted him a sixth sense of sort, yet it also seemed to enhance his sensitivity to the planet itself. The planet seemed to emit a strong, dark aura that sounded like a combination of sorrowful souls seeking help and an evil power that seemed to ensnare the souls. The planet was cold, but alive, and the planet was calling out to him.

The others that were with him followed unquestionably, amazed by the sheer amount confidence the young man possessed. They never spoke to him, nor he to them, but they trusted his judgment, either that or they were just too scared not to trust him. He had kept them fed and he had kept them safe thus far.

(Elsewhere)

"We have intruders approaching the gates," a young man said, as he motioned towards another man of similar age. Both were dressed in drab grays, and carried an odd short spear on their backs. Both men had black eyes, and pointed ears and both were lean built.

"Enemy?" The other man asked up.

"They do not appear so, but there is no way…wait a second. It can't be, but there seems to be one of Ancient Warriors with them," the first guard spoke.

"Impossible," the second guard spoke, "allow them in, if they do not seem hostile."

"Very well," the first guard flipped a switch as a series of gears began to grind and a large stone iron gateway swung open. Several similarly dressed guards, some male some female approached the open gate, their spears withdrawn.

Trini, still garbed in the Crimson Ranger gear lead the group from the front. She motioned for the others behind her to stop, as she approached the guards, her hands in front of her showing she meant no harm.

"Identify yourselves," an older male guard, with an odd insignia on his chest approached.

Trini wasn't she sure how this strange man, who looked almost human, except for his eyes and the pointed tips on his ears, spoke English, but she was more than pleased to hear it.

"My name is Trini Kwan. My companions and I have no idea where we are, or what planet we're on, but we originated on Earth and somehow wound up here."

"Why do you wear the Crimson garb of the Warrior?" The guard asked.

"Something happened to me in the caverns, I was covered by a weird light and this happened," Trini answered honestly.

"We were attacked by some weird rock creatures, and bam, Trini here was decked out in this new outfit," Harris explained.

"Interesting…" the guard said as he nodded in thought, "well far be it for me to inhibit a Warrior from entering the city, though the elders would probably wish to see you for sure, just to make sure."

The guard stepped back from the gate and motioned for Trini and the others to enter into the city.

The other denizens of the city looked very much like the guards at the gate, without the armor. The colors in the city were drab, mostly grays and blacks and everyone in the streets wore similar colors. Trini's crimson garb stood out in strong contrast from the grays, and those in the street took notice, some trying to hide the fact they were staring, and some outright staring, as if they had never seen anything like it.

"This is a little weird," Thomas said to Hayley softly as they walked side by side.

"That's an understatement," Hayley whispered back.

(A lakeside a distance away)

Cole found himself waist deep in water, as he looked around. The others were sitting calmly along the bank of the lake, getting a little rest before they continued trying to find any sign of life. He was unable to rest, something in the planet seemed to be calling to him, and every time he rested, images that seemed to make no sense came rushing to his mind. Yet here, in the water, he felt a closer connection to the planet, and he closed his eyes, breathing the air in through his nose and releasing it from his mouth.

The planet seemed to be crying for help, but Cole had no idea how he could help. He was in a strange world, with no connection to the Wild Force powers that had once been his. He continued breathing, closing his mind off to everything around him, only focusing on trying to understand the aura that was calling out to him. In his mind he saw two forces clashing, a light and a dark one, he saw bodies of strangers, and then he saw his reflection as a blank slate, neither light nor dark. The two forces continued to clash, neither giving way to the other as Cole continued to watch.

The light fought back harder and for an instant the dark seemed to shrink, but not submit. The dark reached out, as if searching for something, then finding what it sought the dark prepared another attack, this time fending the light off, the light tried to fight back to no avail, becoming engulfed in the darkness and everything went black. Cole noticed his reflection was no longer neutral as the darkness surrounded him. Yet before he was engulfed he was interrupted.

Instinctively he felt his body reach out and grab something, and then he felt the water splash against him. He came to and realized that the bend of his elbow around something soft…a neck. Immediately he released the hold.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," a female voice choked out, fighting back fear.

"No, no I'm sorry. You surprised me, are you okay…" Cole asked the girl, trying to ask her by name, but he wasn't sure what her name was.

The girl massaged her throat for a moment. She was maybe 15, pale skin, with long, dark hair. "You were still for so long, and then you started to shake a lot so I came to see if you were okay."

"It's okay. Thank you," Cole said, though he wasn't sure if he meant it. When he was lost in his thoughts he seemed to be getting closer to knowing more, but before he could be certain the girl had woke him. It had been out of concern, but part of him was still irritated. He forced a smile and offered to walk with her back to the shore.

As they arrived back to the small group, Cole returned to his silent vigil. The others had grown accustomed to his odd silence, and they spoke to one another, figuring if Cole wanted to speak, he would.

"So are you okay?"

Cole cocked his head and looked to the direction of the voice. Apparently the young girl from earlier was talking to him.

When he didn't reply she turned away, "I'm sorry to bother you then."

After a few moments Cole responded, "I'm fine. So where are you from?"

All the others were amazed at his question, it had been one of the first times he had spoken casually to them.

The girl turned back around, she smiled, "I'm from San Angeles."

"I've been there. It's nice," Cole replied, nodding in her direction.

The young girl nodded back at Cole's attempt to be sociable.

As night approached everyone settled in for a few hours sleep.

One of the others offered to take first watch that night. Cole separated himself from the others slightly, wishing to sleep closer to the lake, despite it being significantly cooler there.

As he lay on the ground looking into the starry skies of the planet they were on he found himself falling asleep far faster than usual. For the first time since they had arrived on the planet, his dreams were not filled with confusing images and cries of help. He was in front of an ancient tree, surrounded on all sides by deep forests, he knew he was dressed, yet he felt bare. Two lights appeared in front of him, one black, and one white. The lights began to take shape and two figures stood before him, the black light became a young man who seemed to be at the peak of his health, the white light became a decrepit and withered old woman.

"I do not know if this is wise," the old woman spoke to the younger man.

"His spirit is that of a Warrior, he must be one of them," the younger man replied to the old woman.

Cole tried to speak but found himself mute.

The man and woman spoke to one another yet again, neither acknowledging that Cole was standing in front of them.

"His spirit is unbalanced. I do not believe it is he," the woman spoke.

"You are going mad in your senility woman. He is one of the Warriors," the man replied.

"I gave my counsel, but ultimately it is your decision to make. If you are certain that he is one of the Warriors I will bequest my powers to him," the woman said, albeit reluctantly.

"You will see. It will be for the best," the man looked towards Cole, "you may speak now Warrior."

Cole realized that the man was speaking to him, "what is going on here?"

"Your spirit has been recognized as derived from the great Warriors. The stone is now yours to claim," the man turned his face towards the woman, who instantly seemed to vanish and in her place was a shining white stone. "Now reach out and claim what is yours."

Cole wasn't sure what would happen, but he was convinced that this was all a dream so he did as requested. Approaching the white stone that lay on the ground by the towering young man, he reached out inches away from the stone he stopped.

"What did she mean by saying that my soul is unbalanced?" Cole asked the man.

"Nothing you need worry about. She was old and senile, if not taken into possession soon she would have slipped away for good," the man answered.

Cole felt the stone calling back to him. Reaching out once again, this time he touched the stone, wrapped his fingers around it and pulled it from the ground. His whole body felt afire, consumed in pain for a split second, but soon the brief pain faded and he felt a new strength inside him, an ancient and powerful strength, yet all the while it seemed to vaguely familiar.

Cole sat up abruptly, his heart racing, his brow coated in sweat. It was a dream, only a dream. He tried to convince himself as such, but the glistening, white stone in his hand told him otherwise. Lifting the stone eye level, Cole noticed it seemed to produce a bright, white light. Looking around he realized that the guard had fallen asleep, so no one had noticed the commotion he had been causing, despite being slightly annoyed that no one was pulling guard, he had other things that concerned him.

Cole was awake now, so he took it upon himself to remain as the guard for the group. Clinching the stone tightly in his hands he began to walk around, even more confused about what was happening.

A sound from nearby brought him from his thoughts. The tall grasses that were nearby began to rustle, as a hissing noise filled the air. Four creatures emerged; they looked like lizards on their hind legs, but moved with precision of birds, they were roughly four to five feet in height, their appearance conjured up images of dinosaurs. The creatures sniffed the air, moving closer to the group. Cole noticed that the creatures seemed to have no eyes, and were guiding themselves on scent alone. The lead lizard snarled towards the others softly, as the creatures split apart, surrounding the sleeping humans.

Cole screamed for the others to wake, and doing such garnered the attention of the lizards. They turned towards Cole, believing him a threat, all charged in his direction.

After his yell the four others awoke, and looked around at what was happening. Before anyone could speak, Cole yelled for them all to remain quiet. Despite being scared senseless the others complied.

Cole soon found himself surrounded by four snarling, blind lizards. They all four lurched at him simultaneously; Cole managed to gracefully flip over all the creatures as they ran into each other. He was surprised that he had done it so seamlessly; as he landed on the ground in a three point stance, lifting his head swiftly he looked at the four creatures as they untangled themselves. Not sure if he could dodge the attack again, he brought himself upright completely again, as one of the creatures massive jaws lurched open and charged his leg, Cole kicked out, sweeping his foot along the nose of the creature, sending it to the ground, no longer moving, it was unconscious.

A second creature attacked, this one getting much closer, but missing. Cole could feel the hot breath of a third creature that had leapt at his back, sinking its teeth into Cole's shoulder, after knocking the young man to the ground.

Letting out an angry cry Cole felt his blood boiling as he seemed to get stronger. He grabbed the creature's mouth from his shoulder, using all his force he flung the 4 foot creature into the lake, where it became quickly apparent that the creature couldn't swim. The strength that had flown into Cole became stronger, as he felt his stone heating, before swallowing him in a white light.

Cole smiled as he felt the return of a strength he had not felt in a long time. His body was garbed in complete white, save his arms which were covered in black. His hands were covered by white gloves and around his waist a belt appeared, attached to the belt were a pair of long, three-bladed, shining claws, each roughly a foot in length and both with brackets near the base where his hands could fit. Sliding his hands into the brackets they automatically secured themselves to his wrists. A black head band with a white stone appeared around his forehead, before glowing and disappearing as a white helmet engulfed Cole's head.

The lizard that had missed moments ago returned to charge Cole, unaware that his prey was now armed. As the creature leapt at Cole, he brought both his fists into the air, catching the creatures skin in his claws and cutting six gashes into the creature's hide, not enough to be fatal, but enough to make the creature flee, in agony.

The fourth lizard decided to stray away from the target, realizing that this opponent was not worth fighting for a meal. He called into the air and fled.

A loud scream from behind Cole sounded, turning immediately he saw the source. The young girl with the long dark hair, screamed as a smaller lizard had managed to sneak up on the humans while they watched Cole battling, and locked its teeth into the young girl's ankle. The others quickly bashed at the creature, eventually forcing it to let go, and send it fleeing into the night.

Cole ran to the others, making sure nothing else was around. Seeing nothing he released the claws back his side, where they seemed to shrink, leaving only the wrist brackets. Reaching up Cole removed his helmet, which quickly vanished and the headband reappeared.

Cole looked at the creature's bite on the girl's leg, it wasn't massive, but it still looked painful enough. He reached down, and lifted her in his arms and flagged for the others to follow, as he went back to the lake, to use the water to clean up the wound.

(Elsewhere, the Dark One's lair)

"So it seems another has arrived," the Dark One's voice spoke into the shadows.

"It seems," a voice from the shadow responded.

TBC