Chapter Text
I open my eyes and I’m in a hospital room. My chest seizes up when I see myself laying in the bed. Bruises are on my neck and face, and bandages are wrapped around my forehead and arms. I can see hints of more on my torso under the hospital gown.
“I don’t understand,” says an accented voice, the same one from when I was in the dark. I follow it out of my room and I see a group of people around my age. The owner of the accented voice was sitting in a chair with his face in his hands. The others crowded around him. A girl in pink crouched next to him, rubbing his back.
“He’ll be fine, Chase. Trust me.” Chase is his name. Why does this sound so familiar?
“His Energem should be healing him right now!” Chase half-yelled, borderlining hysterics. “It’s not doing anything for him!”
My chest began to stir, my heart seizing up again. I felt like it was breaking but why? Who’re these people? Who is Chase?
"You idiot!" Yells a strong, solid voice from down the hall. I, and the other Teens, look down the hall to see a young man storm his way over. His eyes have a murderous intent, but I can see much more.
"Matt," Chase begins, but is cut off by the older man hitting him in the face.
"Matt!" The boy wearing red holds him back. "Stop!"
However, he did not listen. "You son of a bitch! You said you'd protect him! You said you'd take care of him! Where were you when Riley was in the monster attack, huh?! Where the hell were you?!"
Chase is at a loss for words and looks away, fighting back the tears welling up in his eyes.
"Stop!" I yell at them. But of course, they can't hear me. The tension, the fear, the anger, all of these negative things weigh heavily on me.
I feel the gem in my hand heat up and whisk me away again. I look around me and I see people moving about like blurs. It’s like time’s sped up and I’m the only person who isn’t affected. Suddenly, a tear opens up in front of me. I look inside and see myself in the past. I’m standing in a plaza square with puffy red eyes wearing a distraught look on my face while I dig into my pocket for something.
Across the square are the Power Rangers fighting a huge bee-like monster. It lobs a venomous green orb at a group of people from my High School. I see myself abandon the pocket dig and spring forward. I spread my body as far as I can, ready to take the bulk of the attack. I wince at myself crumpling to the ground, then the tear closes.
The tear closes, then BAM! I’m hit by impressions and flashes of memory. The day I saved Rubik from Fury was the day I bonded to the Energem and became the Green Power Ranger. I remember Tyler, Shelby, Koda, Kendall, Keeper, Ivan, and finally Chase. They’re my friends, my family. I have to get back to them somehow. I have to let them know that I'm okay and I'll wake up soon. I want their sadness to end.
I try to move, but something’s keeping me in place. A sinister cloud wells up from the ground and a dark, shadowy figure rises from it with an outstretched hand.
Terror fills my being and I shield my face. The gem reacts to my fear and plunges me away from the shadow and into the void once more. “You want to go back, but you do not know your story,” my gem tells me, “go on this journey and put the pieces together…”
I grip the gem and accept its invitation. One last tear… one last door opens up to me and reveals a younger version of me reading “The Odyssey.” It closes and I know exactly what the gem wants me to know. “I’m ready. To get my story back, let’s start from the middle.” A bright green light overtakes me once more, and just like that, I’m plunged into a new memory.