Part Eight
Chapter Four
"Ian, c'mon," Brendan said, shaking his best friend's arm. "You gotta wake up. You're sleeping through a nightmare."
Ian's eyes fluttered open. He sat up on the mattress and ran a hand through his messy blond hair. "Bren, I know I get up early," Ian began, and pointed to the window, "but it's not even sunrise yet."
"I'm sorry," Brendan replied. "We've got trouble," and he stepped over to where I was sleeping on the other side of the room. But as he leaned down, he noticed my arms tensing, my movements sudden and violent. My whole body was shaking.
"Is he dreaming?" Ian asked.
Brendan's face fell. "Pete, you have to wake up!"
Surprised at Brendan's urgency, Ian joined in. It was still a minute before my eyes opened. I grabbed Brendan's shoulder and held on in a panic, my heart racing. It took a long while to get my bearings.
"Sorry," I said softly. "I must've been dreaming. I think. I was in this desert, and I was being chased by something. I don't remember what." My voice trailed off as I held up my hands. There were grains of sand under my fingernails.
"What's going on?" Ian asked.
"I got the weirdest message from Teresa," Brendan began. "The nightmare from before? You both had it. Everyone in the city did. Something bad is going on."
By now, I was fully awake. "Someone's coming at us in our dreams?" I asked, then remembered my nightmare. "That would make sense. How do I know I'm not still asleep?"
Ian slugged me in the arm. I yelped. "You're awake," the Grey Ranger nodded.
"I can reach Zordon but nobody else," Brendan continued.
"Guys?" Ian interrupted, pointing to the window. "There's something outside."
Brendan and I turned to the window. The street was lit by moonlight, and we could see to the playground in the park across the road, empty and quiet in the night time. The skeletal, grasping limbs of the trees were swaying in the breeze. We held still, holding our breaths. A shadow suddenly flashed past the swing set and disappeared into the trees. The three of us jumped back.
"We have to check it out," I said. "But I'm not fighting a monster in my pyjamas."
Brendan looked down to his boxers. "Good call," he said, and we reached for our morphers.
"Iguanodon!"
"Dilophosaurus!"
"Stegosaurus!"
Transforming in flashes of silver, aqua and orange, we teleported onto the street, materialising on the road and falling back-to-back. Apart from us, things were quiet. There was no traffic and nothing was moving. But something was off. The moon was bright in the sky, yet the shadows were darker than they should've been. The light from the overhead street lamps was barely reaching us. Even with our enhanced Ranger senses, it was almost impossible to see through the gloom.
"Let's check out the park," I said.
"I don't see anything," Brendan murmured.
Ian glanced to a stand of trees by the playground when a dark figure came into view. "Get down!" Ian shouted.
Brendan and I dived to safety as the area lit up. We rolled to our feet and instantly spotted the armoured warrior Ian had seen. But there was no time to compare notes. His blue eyes flashed and he punched the air. We jumped to safety as the park lit up again.
Finding my footing as the warrior kept his distance, I looked around. There was no visible damage to the park, but I was seeing spots. "I feel a bit woozy," I began, "but I don't think he's trying to hurt us. At least, not directly."
"Same," Ian nodded. "We're faster than him. As long as we duck and cover, we should get through this."
The warrior kicked one of the park benches straight for us. The blow shattered it to splinters, and we dived out of harm's way and rolled to our feet.
"You were saying?" Brendan asked.
"Go!" I shouted, and we leaped towards our opponent.
I took to the air with a high kick but the warrior was faster than he looked, stepping around the move and striking me out of the air in a shower of sparks. While he was off-balance, the boys attacked, Ian aiming high with Brendan kicking low. The warrior struck away Ian's arm and easily blocked Brendan's boot. He lashed out for the Aqua Ranger, but Brendan somersaulted to safety, spinning back around to rock the warrior with a high kick. As the warrior stumbled back, I raced forward to join Ian, and we aimed side-by-side kicks for his stomach. The warrior recovered quickly and dodged the moves, throwing me aside before catching Ian's foot and sending the Grey Ranger crashing. Even as Ian fell, Brendan dropped down before him, landing a flurry of rapid punches to the warrior's chest and stomach. The blows barely seemed to faze the warrior, and he casually threw Brendan away.
The Aqua Ranger found his footing as the warrior lowered his head and marched towards him.
"So you're strong," Brendan began, holding his ground. "You're doing the whole Terminator thing and you're doing it pretty well. But I don't think you're used to people standing up to you. Because if you were, you would've realised that when someone spends this much time talking to you? It means they're just trying to distract you."
The warrior froze, and Ian slammed his boots into the warrior's head, rocking him into the shadows of the overhanging trees. He staggered out into the moonlight, but I dropped down before him and summoned my Power Sword with a thought, carving it across the warrior's chest. He lunged for me, but I blocked his wrist and swung my sword again. Wounded, the warrior grabbed one of the metal bars holding up the swing set, and wrenched it free with a screech of twisting metal. He swung the makeshift weapon towards me, but I struck it away with my sword, spun around and kicked high. Before he could recover, Brendan summoned his Power Sai and sliced them across the warrior's chest. The warrior growled and swung the bar for him, but Brendan caught the bar in a blaze of sparks and twisted it out of the warrior's grip. Behind him, Ian's Power Blasters appeared in two flashes of silver, and the park lit up as he fired a barrage of blasts to drive the warrior back.
"I think we're done," I said, and ran my hand along the blade of my sword to charge it with power. "Ian, let's send him home."
With that, I slashed my sword for the warrior. As the sword's arc sliced across the battlefield, Ian fired again. The blasts slammed into our opponent, instantly destroying him in a massive explosion. The three of us lowered our weapons and turned to each other as the street grew quiet.
"Rough night," said Brendan.
I was about to reply when our communicators chimed.
"Guys?" Scott's voice echoed into the night. "We've got a big problem."
"I think we had the same problem," I said. "An armoured warrior with blue eyes and a mean right hook?"
"You had one of those too?" Sarah asked.
"You know what this means?" Ian began. "We're being hunted. If nobody's answering, we're the only ones who know about it."
"It's worse than you think," Scott added. "These things link back to the broken chains case."
I felt my stomach drop. "Scott? Tell us everything you know," I said.
Still reeling from what she'd seen in the viewing screen, Teresa barely had time to recover when the world came into focus around her. It felt like a warzone, something Teresa had seen too many times. There was bitumen under her feet, with shadowy buildings all around. But she could hear the crackle of fires, glass smashing, and the shouting of angry mobs. The smell of smoke was thick in the air. Like before, Luna had appeared beside her.
"I've had enough of this," Teresa said coarsely. "Take us home. Right now."
"But my dear," Luna said sweetly, "we've got so much to see! You have an audience with the queen. Why would you want to leave?"
Teresa looked away before she said something she'd regret. Being around Luna made her skin crawl, but there may have been a benefit to sticking around. Luna seemed oddly at ease around Teresa, but that was probably a reflection on how little a threat Teresa posed. That wasn't exactly a comforting thought, but if Luna was over-confident, she might slip up and reveal something that Teresa could pass onto the others. As long as Luna stayed civil, Teresa might as well play along.
Besides, at the moment she didn't have much of a choice.
"Fine," Teresa said. "But where are we? This isn't a memory of a past warzone. I've never been here before."
"Haven't you?" Luna asked.
Teresa looked around. At the end of the street was a bookstore on the corner, and several shops back from that? Teresa's face fell.
It was the gelato shop.
"Wait," she said. "This is town!"
The sounds of footsteps filled the air, and Teresa jumped aside as a crowd of people surged past. Some had cricket bats and lighters, while others were brandishing iron rods, fence palings and other pieces of debris. Further up the street, cars were burning, while she could see shops being broken into and looted. Teresa watched in dismay as the rioters continued making their way down the street, smashing everything in their path. Even as she watched, two of the looters began brawling in the street.
"What did you do?" Teresa asked angrily.
"Hardly anything," Luna replied. "They woke from my dream, scared and alone. They were convinced the world was ending, so they did what you gormless little savages always do. They lashed out." She paused to savour the look of disbelief on Teresa's face. "Just think how little it took for them to devolve into beasts."
Teresa was sick of listening to the midnight queen, and was about to reply when the crowd of looters finally reached the gelato shop. Her heart sank. She raced over towards them as one of the men raised a cricket bat. She reached out to grab his hand, but it phased through hers like smoke. As the window smashed, she staggered back, guessing the truth.
"You're here to watch, not join in," Luna confirmed. "This is the night the world ends, my dear. Aren't you glad to have a front row seat?"
"Take me home," Teresa demanded. "I have to put a stop to this."
Luna laughed loudly. It was one of the cruellest sounds Teresa had ever heard. "Child, why?" Luna asked. "So you can inspire them to be better? Look around!" and she held her arms wide. "I saw the pain on your face as you recalled those past battles. All that hurt and all those sacrifices, and do you think they care? Do you think they appreciate the world you keep saving for them?"
Behind them, the looters smashed their way into the gelato shop.
Luna leaned in close. "Do you actually think it matters to any of them, the horrors you endure on their behalf? Was any of it worth it?"
Teresa glanced around hopelessly. She didn't answer. She couldn't. And Luna knew it. Sirens began sounding in the distance. With a triumphant smile, Luna snapped her fingers.
Everything went black.
To be continued.