Author's notes - Hey, Son of Whitebeard, good to see you again friend! Thank you for the kind reviews, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Yes, the villains of this story are not the usual goofy aliens and monsters that the Rangers are used to. I wanted to write a darker, more mature story with Nyctophobia, you know, really get into the cosmic horror themes. Even the characters talk about how different this threat seems, with Kim and Trini's conversation in part four. Part eight is probably the darkest part of the whole story. I remember, it was even quite difficult to write, because the characters really get tested (particularly Teresa, who is usually so optimistic and hopeful). But I wanted to do something really different with Nyctophobia, and I think I succeeded.

Anyway, happy to see you again :). On with the show!

Part Eight

Chapter Five

Zac watched in fascination as a single glittering snowflake fell towards him. He held out his hand to catch it, and the snowflake settled onto his palm and melted. He laughed and looked around.

He was standing in the middle of a dark forest. It was the middle of the night, and he couldn't see through the trees beyond a few metres. All around were towering pine trees, covered in snow, with a hint of the stars far above. Wherever he was, it was deathly silent. The only sound was the snow crunching under his feet.

Zac knew it was a dream. It had to be, particularly given that his last memory was a warm summer's night. But the longer he stood there, the more he could feel it. There was someone in here with him.

Zac folded his arms. "Whoever you are, you might as well show yourself," he called. "This all feels too sharp. You think you're the first badguy who's tried to come at us through our dreams?"

A soft laugh filled the air. Zac watched as two glittering snowflakes hung in the air before him. They glowed blue as a face and body took shape around them, and Zac's enemy soon appeared.

"Clever boy," the midnight queen murmured.

"I'm the guy who punches things, but I'm not an idiot," Zac said. "Feel free to keep treating me like one. I mean, you're obviously good, since you're in my head while I'm safe at home. So that means old magic, which means…" and Zac's face fell. "The broken chains case. Huh."

Luna's brow raised. "You're not afraid?"

"Of you? Not particularly."

Luna lashed out, scratching Zac's cheek with an abnormally-long arm. Her clawed fingers found their mark, and droplets of red fell to the ground, staining the snow. "Impudent wretch!" Luna screamed. "You are in my realm now!"

Zac tilted his head. "That's funny," he said. "I thought we were in my head. Wanna see a neat trick?"

The forest shook violently as one of the pine trees behind Zac suddenly shattered. Luna staggered back in alarm as an enormous mastodon appeared beside the Black Ranger. The creature's dark fur was tangled and matted, its eyes glowed red, and angry blasts of steam from the animal's trunk filled the night air. The mastodon's gaze fell onto the retreating figure of Luna, and it snorted angrily.

"When I wake up, I'm gonna thank Zordon for teaching us how to do this," Zac said, then met Luna's gaze. "Nice try. Really."

The ground shook as the mammoth charged, slicing its tusks for the witch queen. Luna dodged one blow but wasn't fast enough to avoid the second, and she was picked up and thrown into the shadows. Zac watched for a few seconds as the mammoth chased after her, then turned on the spot to find that an old wooden door had appeared before him.

He reached for the handle, but the door didn't budge. He froze, and tried it again. Fear crept in as the door refused to open. He pulled with all his might, but to no avail. This was supposed to work. It had in the past. Why wasn't it working now?

He spun back around. His protector and the witch had gone. Starting to panic, he looked around and then up. The moon had been joined by a second moon. Then he realised.

Not moons.

Eyes.

With a screeching howl, Luna swept a giant arm down and snatched up the tiny figure of the Black Ranger.

"I don't know what amateurs you're used to dealing with," Luna's voice boomed, as Zac struggled to escape, "but the midnight queen will not be denied!" And Luna's other arm rushed down towards him.

The nightmare had been more unsettling than usual. It stayed with Trini a long time as she tried to get back to sleep.

She'd long since accepted that being a Ranger meant your subconscious had to process some pretty horrible things. But this one had left her rattled and shaken. Still, she cleared her mind, focussed on her breathing, and thought about her favourite memories. That did the trick, but it felt like barely a second later when someone was frantically pounding on the door.

"Trini! Trini, are you there? You need to wake up!"

Once again, the foggy haze of sleep dissipated. She sat up on the side of the bed. "Hold on," she called weakly. It took a long time for her to wake up, though, and she still felt groggy as she stumbled over to the door and pulled it open. Tommy was standing in the hallway, visibly concerned. "Tommy?"

"I'm sorry for shouting," Tommy began, as Trini ushered him inside. "But when you didn't respond, I panicked."

"If it was an emergency, you could've called," she said, and reached for the communicator lying on the bedside table. She fumbled with the clasp.

"I did," Tommy replied. "We all did. Something weird is happening tonight. It's like, once we fall asleep, we're locked in. Ian only reached me when I got up to use the bathroom."

"Okay, Ranger stuff," Trini said, and glanced to the clock. "At four o'clock in the morning. What do we know?"

"We're being hunted by someone calling herself Luna the midnight queen," Tommy replied. "She's got her own imperial guards. She's somehow connected to the broken chains case."

"Given that we've been hearing more and more about this omnipresent father figure," she began, "I guess it was a matter of time before we met a queen. Do we know anything else?"

"Whatever she's doing, it's working. That nightmare from before? Everyone in the city woke up from it at the same time. Teresa's missing. We can't find Billy, and I went past Zac's room before. He wasn't there."

Trini chewed her bottom lip. She wasn't fully awake, but something Tommy said clicked in her mind. "But that doesn't make sense," she said. Tommy stepped outside as Trini got dressed and pulled on a pair of running shoes, joining him in the corridor a minute later. "If this Luna is attacking us in our dreams, why wake everybody up? That seems counter-productive."

"To freak everyone out? Knock us off our game?" Tommy suggested, then gestured to the windows. "Maybe mass panic was her goal? A lot of people not used to dealing with our kind of nightmares are rioting right now."

"Still," Trini said, as they reached the foyer of the dorm building. "Even with the strategies Zordon taught us, we're more vulnerable on the astral plain. It would make sense to attack us there. What are we missing? Why did she want to wake us up?" They stepped outside into the cool night air, and Trini froze. "Because Luna's not the one doing the hunting," she said. "You said she has some kind of imperial guards, right? Think about it. If we stay asleep?"

"Luna grabs us in our dreams," Tommy said.

"Right, but if we wake up? We panic and rush out to find each other," Trini finished. "Where Luna's guards are waiting for us. It's the perfect trap."

"But why wait until the middle of the night?" Tommy asked.

"Luna," Trini repeated, then looked up. "Moonlight. They're powered by the moon! We have to warn the others!"

Even as Trini raised her wrist, the air seemed to shimmer, and a tall warrior with glowing blue eyes appeared before them, as if he'd been there all along. Tommy wondered for a second whether the creature had actually been hiding behind a beam of moonlight, when he punched his fists at the two Rangers.

The air lit up. Trini raised her hands, but it was too late. By the time she realised the lights were hypnotic, everything was going dark, and the Yellow and White Rangers collapsed to the ground and moved no further.

As the darkness receded and the world took shape around her, Teresa stumbled away from Luna, holding her head in her hands. She was dizzy. Luna had yanked her away from the main street of town so quickly that her head was spinning. She took a couple of deep breaths, and wondered whether Luna simply didn't care about her welfare, or was she deliberately trying to keep Teresa disoriented?

"Where are we now?" Teresa asked. The dirt at her feet was parched and red. She thought that Luna had taken her to the endless desert, but flies were buzzing around her head, and she could hear the sounds of people nearby. Weeds were poking through the ground beneath her feet, while the shadows around her indicated birds were circling high above.

"You wanted a warzone," Luna began casually. "I thought I'd bring you one."

In the distance, Teresa could see a small camp, half a dozen large tents behind a barbed wire fence, patrolled by what looked like a squad of armed guards. Partly from watching the news and partly from her own experience, Teresa recognised them as United Nations peacekeepers. If they saw her or Luna, they gave no indication. But the faces behind the fence told a story of horror and pain. Everyone was carrying wounds, even the children. People had bandages, some with canes and crutches, and a few could barely stand on their own. These were people who had seen awful things and suffered inhuman tragedies because of it.

"This is a refugee camp," Teresa realised. She took a step towards the camp.

"Careful where you step, dear," Luna said cheerfully.

Teresa glanced around and noticed the sign behind them. She couldn't read the words but immediately understood the danger they represented. Land-mines. The whole area was littered with the damn things. Luna had brought them to an actual mine field.

"The funny thing is, I visited here in my youth," Luna murmured absent-mindedly. "This valley was a lush paradise. How things change."

"Where are we?" Teresa repeated, her voice quiet.

Luna giggled. "Does it matter?" she asked. "You know where we are. Everywhere. You've seen this played out on every planet in the galaxy. War is the only constant in the human condition. Everywhere you go, people will always be people. You cannot deny this. Greedy. Corrupt. Selfish. This is the ugly truth of humanity. Do you honestly believe you'll ever make the world a better place when it's filled with them?"

"No, I don't buy it," Teresa replied, but even she could barely hear the conviction in her voice. "I can see what you're selling. This is a trick. You're showing me things you want me to see. My friends…"

"Yes!" Luna interrupted. "Your friends. Where are they? They know you're missing. They don't seem too concerned, do they?"

"No, you're just…"

"Look at the time," Luna said forcefully. "Shall we go?"

And before Teresa could reply, the world went dark.

To be continued.

Author's notes – I like the idea that, even despite the defenses in their suits, occasionally the Rangers have to deal with telepathic or psychic intruders, so Zordon has actually taught them some basic techniques to defend their minds. The only reason Luna won the mindscape battle against Zac was because she's a witch queen goddess. Anyone else would've been smoked.

But Luna isn't just anyone.