Power Rangers In Space/Power Rangers Lost Galaxy - Heather Ray (books for 5 year olds to read themselves txt) 📗

can't handle the possibility that Kendrix is gone forever. I know it hurts...Kendrix has been my friend since we both joined the GSA. She's so brilliant, fun, and just so giving, it's impossible to see the justice in her death. But at the same time, I'm not surprised she'd make that kind of sacrifice.

"Dammit, Mike, we will

find her," Leo suddenly snarls at me. I look up, shocked to see the anger simmering in that haunted green gaze. Apparently, he took my silence as a sign of doubt. "I'm not giving up on her."

I hear the door slide closed behind him, my astonishment slowing my response. This kind of obstinance is more than dedication. It hardly sounds... sane.

Leo...I'm sorry this happened, both to Kendrix, and to you. She's just too good a person to die so young. And you, little brother...you're too unprepared to lose someone you care for.

Someone, I suspect, you really care for...

Part Three: Reality

Chapter Five

-Kendrix-

I wake to the soft sound of my husband's sleep.

I open my eyes, nestling closer to his warmth. His arms wrap me, and I'm glad for it. Slowly, I reach out my hand, and run my fingers against his strong jaw. And for a moment, I revel in the feel of his stubbly chin against my skin.

Every morning is the same. Every morning is perfect. Each day is long and lazy, and each night is refreshing and sweet.

And every morning I wake just before sunrise. No matter how long I sleep, I never miss the sunrise.

I know something isn't right. I can't place my finger on it, nor have I developed a hypothesis yet, but I just know this isn't real. No matter how wonderful it feels, lying in his arms, talking to him, holding him...I know this can't last.

I refuse to accept this perfection without a healthy dose of skepticism.

As the days go by, I've managed to piece together the puzzle of my memory. Each day I muse on the feelings that brewed just beneath the surface of my consciousness, buzzing just beyond my hearing. Slowly, I'm getting somewhere.

I carefully creep from Leo's intoxicating embrace. I know the longer I stay with him, the more I want to submit to this wonderful dream.

I frown, furious at my own weakness. This is a dream! I know it is! And somehow, I have to figure out how to return home! Home to my friends, home to my responsibilities...

Home to Leo. The real

Leo.

This man is gorgeous, charming, and attentive, but he's not Leo. He doesn't challenge me, or intrigue me in the same way the real Leo always does. And while this man beside me has won my affection, he hasn't earned my love. Or...my trust.

I feel my frustration build, and quicken my pace. Soon, my feet sink into the powdery sand of that wonderful beach, and I wait for that familiar calmness to soothe my mind.

Strangely enough, that peace doesn't come. Instead, I feel something else... something churning from deep within. Suddenly terrified, I fall to my knees as a geyser of pain erupts from within me.

Never before has the world gone so black, so quickly.

Chapter Six

I don't know how much time has passed. Hours? Days? Or perhaps, I've entered another phase of this dream?

For once, I do not wake in the warm perfection of my bed. I feel the grains of sand cling to my sweat-soaked skin, and slowly rise.

I tremble as I realize that I am surrounded

by sand. No ocean babbles to the east, no modest home rests behind me.

Yet I know I am not alone.

"Who are you?" I shout into the nothingness. "Show yourself!"

No sooner do I voice my demand that it comes to pass. I whirl around, and my jaw drops in renewed shock.

"Mike?"

Leo's elder brother slowly shakes his head. "This is the form you have chosen," he explains, in a deep, solemn voice that is nothing at all like Mike Corbett's. "This is the form of a person you trust, to whom you look for guidance. So this is the form in which you see me."

My eyes harden as I stare at the doppelganger. "Where are we?"

"You are in the Nexus," he explained, "a pocket dimension that is nearly impossible for any to reach from the mortal plane. Somehow, you pierced the dimensional fabric, and entered this domain."

A vision of fierce red smoke and white fire flashes through my mind. I shake off the memory, and return my full attention to 'Mike.'

"What is the 'Nexus,'

exactly?"

"Unlike the realm from whence you came, the Nexus is a perfectly malleable environment. You exert your desires onto the plane, and what you wish will appear."

Not wholly unlike what I had suspected; a dream world made reality. My heart sinks when I realize that, for an unknown length of time, I've been living in an elaborate Simudeck.

"How do I get back?"

'Mike'

stares at me in silence. "There is no way back."

A chill sweeps through me. "Of course there is!" I object, with far more venom than I intend. "If there's a way into this dream world, then there's a way out of it!"

Again, he sets his dark gaze on me. I fight a shiver as I feel

his perception enter my mind.

"No one has ever asked to go back," he murmurs. "Do not fret... you will be happy here."

I open my mouth to refute his brazen assumption, but the sudden pain in the core of my being returns. I stagger, falling again to the sand as my knees give way.

This time, I maintain consciousness. I stare up at 'Mike,'

who watches me without the slightest gleam of concern. As I gaze into those dispassionate eyes, I wonder how I could have mistaken the creature before me for the friend I admire.

"What...are you...doing

to me?"

"I do nothing." He lowers himself to the ground, and rests his fingers against my head. His touch is ice to my fevered brow.

"I see," he breathes, his tone thoughtful. "Now I understand."

"Understand what

?"

"What draws you to your world. What keeps you from embracing the Nexus." He rises to his full height, his cool gaze hovering over me. "You are bound to your world."

I tremble as the pain slowly subsides. "I don't understand," I admit.

"You are a Power Ranger. Your soul is bound to the Quasar Saber. So long as you live, you will be bound to the Saber. It has chosen you to wield its power."

The fading pain disorients me, but I am still able to reach a conclusion based on 'Mike's'

comment. If I'm linked to the real world, then I must be able get back...

"You must break your bond with the Saber."

My eyes widen. "What?"

His eyes remain unfathomable. "You feel pain because your Saber has fallen into evil hands. The darkness encroaches upon the light of the Power. You had been chosen to wield and protect the Saber, but now you are unable. You must pass the responsibility to another."

Obstinance hardens my heart. "I will not

give up the Saber. And I will not surrender to this world!"

His gaze is almost... puzzled. "The Saber is what keeps you from accepting the Nexus whole-heartedly. Relinquish the Saber, Kendrix Morgan. Otherwise, the Power Rangers will be incomplete."

He has me now, and he knows it. In the Nexus, I can't protect the Quasar Saber. I can only feel the foul corruption that threatens to taint the pure Power forever.

I had been willing to die to help Cassie, and Terra Venture. I can't be so selfish as to jeopardize my teammates by single-mindedly clinging to the Saber... to the last thread that ties me to my home.

In all my life, I have never felt so defeated. "What... do I do?"

Chapter Seven

-Maya-

I walk in a hazy jungle, each step taken with the greatest caution. Where am I? Am I back on Mirinoi? My blood freezes as I scan this dark plane, trying to prepare myself for the sight of my dear friends and family frozen in stances of shocked horror, as Furio's dark magic petrified all living creatures on my peaceful planet.

Yet nothing could prepare me for what awaits me in a clearing.

"Maya!"

My throat dries as too many confused