Sorry for the delay. The holidays kinda put me behind a bit. Here's Chapter six. I hope it answers a few questions, but leaves you with more. Please review. THanks.
Chapter Six: Dreamscapes
Tommy blinked his eyes slowly and marveled at his surroundings. He definitely was not in Adam's living room anymore. The landscape laid out before reminded him of every post-apocalyptic movie he could ever recall seeing. The barren waste land consisted of little more than an occasional half-dead tree that threatened to completely topple over when the slightest breeze wandered across the plain. The sickening gray sky cast an eerie monochromatic tint to the flat land that seemed to stretch out about 40 feet in front of him and then suddenly stop. He could see Billy and Heather standing at the precipice, looking over the edge. The whole place made Tommy feel incredibly depressed and ill at ease.
"Man, is like something straight out of some Sci-Fi original movie or what?" Jason let out a low whistle. He glanced around to see that everyone was present and accounted for. Kim and Adam seemed just as disoriented as he and Tommy were.
"Is this it? Are we asleep and dreaming?" Tommy tried to get his bearings.
"I think so." Jason said.
"This place it creepy." Kim wrapped her arms around her in an involuntary defensive gesture.
Adam nodded absently. "Yeah," His mind began to wander to Kat. Had she been here? Had this place led her to her untimely death? A wave a nausea washed over him. He had hoped that he would be able to sense her here; that he would be able to feel her presence. All he felt was the same emptiness that had plagued him since that morning he had realized that she was gone. He gave Kim a grim smile when she put a hand on his shoulder.
"You alright?" Her voice was low and sympathetic.
Adam shook his head slowly. "I'm fine. I just...well, I was hoping for some sign of Kat."
She smiled sadly at him. "We still might find something."
"Hey guys, check this out." Jason called from where now stood next to Billy.
Adam, Kim, and Tommy made there way to where the land seemed to meet the darkening skyline and then disappear. Kim walked gingerly to the edge and peered over. The ledge dropped into what seemed like oblivion disappearing into a dense fog that blanketed the bottom of the cliff. There was no way to tell how far the drop was. As her eyes wandered out to the horizon, she saw more desolate terrain. The sky darkened as it stretched out over the forsaken land.
"What is this place?" Tommy set his jaw to keep the impending dread from coming through his voice.
Heather stared out into the blackness almost in a trance. "When we sleep, there are two gates that a soul may enter in the dream dimension; a positive gate and a negative one. We're standing at the thresh hold of the two gates." She gestured away from the cliff to the other horizon where the sky lightened into an almost serene shade of blue and greenery began to appear sparsely far off into the horizon. She turned back to the blackening sky. "This is called the Black Lands. Just beyond the horizon, black mountains rise so high that any light from the sky is virtually blocked out. This is where nightmares are born."
"Terrific." Jason was beginning to feel a little squeamish."We're not going in there, are we?"
Billy answered, "No, we're not going that far."
Jason let out the breath that he was holding in. "Thank God."
"It's this way." Billy turned suddenly and began walking along the edge of the cliff. Shrugging, the others had no choice but to follow.
Adam shuddered as a cold breeze whipped up over the edge of the long drop below. The group followed Billy in silence, trusting that their friend really knew where he was going. Although reality dictated that only a short while had past, it seemed as if they had been walking for hours. The landscape never changed and Adam was beginning to sense a feeling of hopelessness creeping into his stomach.
Finally Billy stopped to examine a sad looking brush pile. "This is it." Without warning, he hopped off the ledge and disappeared. The group gazed over the edge to see Billy standing on a ledge only a few feet from the top. From the ledge, they could see a narrow path that led downward into the dense fog below. Jason shrugged at the others and jumped down to meet Billy, followed by Heather.
"It's not far from here." Billy said as he started down the rocky path.
Kim eyed the path with reservation. It was only wide enough to permit one person at a time and the drop off was frightening to say the least. She looked at Tommy, uncertain. "I don't know if I can do this."
"Come on, Kim," he said, smiling reassuringly, "You were the balance beam Queen in high school. You can handle a little rocky path that leads to uncertain doom, right?"
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Thanks, Tommy, I feel so much better."
"Don't worry, Kim," Adam put a hand on her shoulder. "Stay between me and Tommy. We won't let you fall."
Seeing the resolve in Adam's face, she nodded. "Okay, let's go."
"That's my girl." The words were out before Tommy had realized what he said, and he prayed that he had merely thought them without speaking. The questioning looks from Kim and Adam told him he had put his big foot in his mouth. He blushed furiously. "I mean..."
"It's okay, Tommy," Kim waved him off, smiling. It wasn't unusual for any of the guys to refer to her and Trini as their "girls". They had since high school. They had been a tight nit group and definitely considered themselves as belonging to each other. Though she had to admit, hearing it from Tommy after so many years was a little disconcerting.
Adam couldn't hide the smile that crept across his face at Tommy's embarrassment. He decided that there would probably always be a certain awkwardness between the two of them, and one could hardly resist enjoying the show.
"Are we going to do this or what?" Kim straightened her back and lifted her chin. "Let's go."
Tommy nodded and leapt off the edge, landing nimbly on the ledge below. He looked up at them.
"You can do it." Adam whispered in her ear. "Focus on Tommy."
She gazed down at Tommy and imagined that she was back on the balance beam preparing for a dismount. The image gave her courage as she leaped into the air only briefly feeling the loss of ground beneath her feet before she landed solidly on ledge.
Tommy grinned at her. "Nice dismount."
"Thanks." No sooner had she gotten the words out when Adam was suddenly standing beside her.
"Everybody with us?" Jason called from where he stood only a few feet away.
"We're with you, bro." Tommy replied, turning to follow his friends down the path.
As they moved along the rocky terrain, Kim found her confidence returning. She kept her attention on the back of Tommy's head, consciously avoiding looking down.
In the front of the line, Billy began feeling more uneasy as they approached their destination. He was all too familiar with the path they were taking. The ledge became even more narrow causing him to flatten himself against the rock face and feel along the side with his hands. He glanced back and saw that the rest of the group had followed his lead. Gingerly, he moved step by step, willing himself to stay focused on the path in front of him. Just a little farther...Relief washed over him when his leading hand suddenly felt an empty space in front of him. He stopped, holding his hand up to signal the group to stop, and glanced back.
"This is it." He told Jason.
"Thank God." Jason announced, peering around Billy to get a better look at the mouth of the large opening in the side of the mountain. The cave was dark save for what little light the opening allowed in from outside. "Maybe I spoke too soon."
A light tapping on his shoulder made him turn to look at Heather. In her hand she held a flashlight that she offered to him. He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Where the hell did you get that?"
"I thought it, and here it is."
Jason was astounded. "You mean you just pulled that thing out of mid-air."
She smiled at him. "It's amazing what you can do when you can control the environment around you."
"Here ya go, Billy. Shine a little light in there, bro." He handed the light to Billy, then turned back as Heather tapped his shoulder again. She offered him his own flashlight. Shaking his head, he took the offering. "You're going to have to teach me how to do that."
"It'll have to wait til our next outing." She said, handing another flashlight behind her to Tommy.
Jason followed Billy into the mouth of the cave. They moved only far enough in to allow the others to catch up.
"What now?" Kim asked, as she flicked on her own light, her voice echoing throughout the cave.
Billy shined a beam of light down a corridor. "This way." Without ceremony, he began down the trek into the dark passageway. With only their flashlights to guide them the group followed him him.
Tommy moved his light from one side of the cramped passage to the other. "Have I ever told you guys that I'm just the slightest bit claustrophobic?" He was beginning to feel the affects of a full blown attack coming on.
"You could've mentioned that before we started walking down this incredibly narrow space." Jason admonished him.
"Say the Pledge of Allegiance." Kim said suddenly.
"What?" Tommy was sure that he had misunderstood her. Maybe his mind was playing tricks on him.
"Say the Pledge of Allegiance." Kim said again. "Or anything else the you have ever memorized in your life that you can recall easily. It'll help you focus on something other than this confined space."
As stupid as it sounded, Tommy had to admit that it made sense. He began reciting the Pledge of Allegiance quietly to himself. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..."
There was no sense of time passing as the group moved further into the cave. By the time Tommy was on his fifth recitation, Jason was ready to tell him to give it a rest. Suddenly the corridor opened up into a large, round room. The walls were made of the natural stone of the mountain. Along the walls, lit torches stood guard, casting eerie shadows with their light.
Tommy let out a breath. "This is more like it."
"Did it work?" Kim questioned.
He nodded. "Yeah, it did. I hardly noticed the close quarters." He smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, I'll have to remember that little trick."
She returned his smile. "Anytime."
Jason and Heather followed Billy across the room to stand in front of a very large, intimidating door that reached to the ceiling.
"This is as far as I've ever come." Billy told them.
Jason laid a hand on his shoulder. "Well, we're here with you now. Why don't we go in and find out what kinds of secrets are being held behind this door?"
Billy nodded and, placing both hands on the massive door, he pushed hard. The hinges creaked loudly as the door moved forward allowing them entrance into another large room. This room was also illuminated by torches lining the walls. It was empty save for six granite pedestals that formed a circle in the middle of the room. There was an electricity in the air that was felt as each of them entered.
"Whoa." Was all Jason could say.
"Do you guys feel that?" Adam asked. "There something in the air. Almost like the room is..."
"Alive." Kim finished, standing next to him.
"So what now?" Tommy's question prompted them to turn to Billy.
He shrugged. "I don't know. I told you, I've never been this far before."
Kim left the group and made her way to the center of the room where the six pedestals stood. As she got closer, she began to feel an irresistible pull toward them. Moving around the circle, she saw that atop of each pedestal rested an engraved stone box. She glanced at the pictures on each box. On the first, the head of a saber-toothed tiger glared at her, it's mouth open in a wide roar. Two daggers rested above the head, crossed in an X. The next box was marked with a three horned monster; a lance crossed behind it. A tyrannosaurus Rex was stamped on the next box. In it's small arms, it wielded a mighty sword. She moved on to the next. A mastodon stood proud on the box, a large ax rested across it's incredibly long tusks. The next box finally made Kim stop.
"Hey guys, check this out." She stared at the familiar markings etched into the box. A large taloned creature stared menacingly at her as it rose to the heavens. It carried a fiery bow in its claws. She lightly ran her finger over the picture, knowing that it should mean something to her.
The others followed her suggestion and made their way to the circle of pillars; each feeling the same strange pull to one of the boxes. Tommy was in awe at the intricate detail of the dragon on the box before him. The large beast intertwined itself around a blazing sword with a lion's head in place of the hilt. Under the lion's opened jaw, a dagger crossed the blade of the sword. It was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.
Around the circle, Jason, Adam, and Billy were each mesmerized by their own stone box. When each one was in place, the lids of the boxes suddenly opened of their own volition, lifting silently then falling back on their hinges. Each box contained a round orb about the size of a baseball. As they gazed at them, the orbs suddenly came to life, each glowing a different color. Adam's was black, Kim's pink, Jason's red, and Billy's blue. Tommy's gradated between green and white. As the group unconsciously focused on the soft lights, the orbs rose into the air to eye level.
Tommy watched the blinking ball of light in front of him, suddenly unaware of anything around him. As he stared, the light grew brighter, finally causing him to squint his eyes. He knew he should but was unable to look away. The light had him now. He could feel it penetrating his skull, causing him to feel lightheaded and dizzy. It pounded his brain until he felt as if his head would split in two. Just when he thought he could not take anymore, it stopped.
There was nothing. He could not hear anything nor could could feel the ground beneath him any longer. He was floating. The green light surrounded him now, but he no longer felt the pressure in his head. Where was he? Was he dead? Had the orb somehow transported him to somewhere else? In his mind, he answered his own question. He was inside the orb itself. He knew that he should be afraid, or at the least a little freaked out, but he wasn't. He felt strangely; at peace.
As he looked out into the vast green and white light before him, he began to see images. Fuzzy at first; they soon began to take familiar shapes. He saw himself, just a teenager, making his way across the parking lot of Angel Grove High School for the first time. He saw his friends. Jason, Billy, Trini, Zack, and Kim. He smiled as he remembered the first time he had talked to Kim. He was at his locker, feeling clumsy and awkward, basically feeling like most teenagers in the throes of puberty. But Kim had been so confident as she approached him with that determined gait that she had and invited him to hang out with her and the others after school. He had gladly accepted and at that moment he realized as he watched her skipped away that he would never be able to deny her anything. As the memory faded, another took it's place. He was in a dark place surrounded by strange creatures. Among them, a crazy woman with a stupid hat on was ranting and cackling like an old hag. Tommy struggled to remember the familiar woman. Then it hit him like a brick. Rita. Rita Repulsa.
Suddenly the memories washed over him like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on his head. The green power coin. Rita had turned him into the Green Power Ranger. He had been sent to destroy the other Power Rangers. He had fought Jason, nearly destroying them all. After Rita's evil spell was broken, Zordon had made it possible for him to fight beside the other Rangers. The memories moved faster now. Losing his powers, then being resurrected as the White Ranger. Lord Zedd. Tommy moved through time, witnessing the seemingly endless barrage of battles fought and won. Finally, one last memory brought itself to light. The final battle.
As the Power Rangers fought another of Lord Zedd's monstrous creations, Zedd had finally found his way into Zordon's control room. There, a great battle had ensued between Zordon and Zedd. The Rangers arrived just as Zedd was preparing to destroy Zordon. With his impending demise at hand, Zordon destroyed the Power Coins and sent the Rangers, powerless, back to Earth. Before Zedd could finish him off, Zordon self destructed the control room, destroying himself along with Zedd. The Rangers had returned to Earth unharmed, all memories of ever being Power Rangers completely erased.
Tommy felt sick to his stomach as the memories seeped into his brain, returning to their rightful place. As they began to fade, he felt the green and white lights slowly begin to disengage themselves from his mind until he found himself standing once again in the cave surrounded by his friends. As he looked around the circle, he realized that they had each had the same experience. Their own memories being returned to them. The ramification of the return of the memories was hardly fathomable. They had been other people back then. People that they had forgotten. They had been heroes; the saviors of Earth. They had been the Power Rangers.