Disclaimer: I do not own "Power Rangers" or its characters. They are properties of Saban Entertainment and its affiliates.

Author's Note: Inspired by the "Shattered Grid" teaser trailer.

"You Are Not a Monster, Tommy"

By TwilightSparkle3562

I don't know what just happened. One minute, I was fast asleep and the next, I am suddenly thrusted awake, my body sweating and loud gasps coming from my mouth. But, whatever I had woken up from, it was scary as hell from what I can see.

"Tommy," my girlfriend, Katherine asked as she got up from her own sleep. "Tommy, what's wrong?"

"I…I don't know, Kat," I gasped. "I just had a nightmare."

"What kind of nightmare?"

"Something that I thought…I would never relive ever again, Kat. I was standing face to face…with myself."

Of course, to Kat, this wasn't surprising to say the least. Like me, she once worked for our archenemy, Rita Repulsa. So, she could understand what I was going through.

"With yourself? What do you mean, with yourself?"

And I began to relay my story to Katherine…

…

In the dream, it was right after Lord Zedd had transported me to another dimension around the time when my green ranger powers would eventually be lost. I had been drained of my powers and being chased by Turbanshell.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, Tommy!" cackled the seashell monster as I hid from behind a rock. "You've got nowhere left to hide from me!"

Part of me was probably wanting to just surrender right then and there, but I couldn't. I had to stand my ground. But, when I turned around to fight Turbanshell, I saw the figure in question, myself clad in armor made up of not only my green ranger powers, but also my future white ranger powers.

"Hello, Tommy," I heard the figure say in my own voice. "You do have nowhere left to run, don't you?"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing and part of me was wondering if Lord Zedd had something to do with it.

"Who are you?" I asked, getting up to face the figure in my likeliness. "And what do you want with me?"

"I'm Lord Drakkon," answered the figure. "Once and forever loyal faithful servant to Rita Repulsa."

It was then that I began to realize immediately that this Lord Drakkon figure was indeed me, if Jason and the others hadn't broken the spell she had over me.

"This must be a trick," I cried.

"It's no trick, Tommy. This is what you were destined to be and what you could have been."

I couldn't bear to listen any more of these lies and I tried to face off against the figure. But, without my green ranger powers, it was almost next to impossible to fight this guy. With each punch and kick I tried to strike at him, Drakkon just blew them off.

"Of course, you once knew yourself as Tommy Oliver," said Lord Drakkon walking towards me. "You once knew yourself as the Green Ranger. But, I am not the man you became to be. I am a man from a different reality."

"Different reality?" I gasped, struggling to get back on my feet. "What are you talking about?"

Lord Drakkon then proceeded to create a screen using a version of my enchanted sabor, Saba, that showed a very different picture of Rita Repulsa and me conquering Earth.

"In my reality, I conquered Earth," he explained. "And became someone with infinitly more power. I am…Lord Drakkon."

I will be honest, I was beginning to get more and more scared of this guy. In a way, he was trying to get me to bow down to his level and he was certainly succeeding at that.

"Now, I am coming to your world to conquer the Power Rangers there and everywhere else. Wherever and whenever they are hiding. And that is just the beginning of my ultimate plan of conquering the universe."

Lord Drakkon then proceeded to make the screen disappear and raise his sword right over my heart.

"Beginning with you, Tommy!"

Trapped and helpless, I closed my eyes and prepared to die. But before, I could be killed…

…

…It was over."

Exhausted, I threw myself against the back of our bed.

"Tommy, I'm so sorry," sympathized Katherine. "I can't believe that you would be subjected to such a dream."

It was then that I decided to ask Katherine a very personal question of character.

"Well, Katherine, do you think I am a monster?"

An awkward silence fell on the both of us when those words were spoken.

"Tommy," she answered, bluntly. "You are not a monster. You are a good man who has done so much for the Power Rangers and the universe. Why should you let some copy of yourself tell you how to run your life?"

"Part of me," I remarked, looking over at Katherine in the eyes. "Even wonders what would have happened had I never joined Rita in the first place?"

"I sometimes think of the same way, Tommy," sighed Katherine, remembering how she was recruited to serve Rita just like me. "That's what I think of how our relationship is and what it will continue to become. We were given a second chance because there is good into us and that's all that really matters to us."

I knew that Katherine was right, I wasn't a monster. Perhaps this Lord Drakkon was just a figment of my imagination. Nevertheless, I went about my routine of getting ready for another day of teaching science.

Still, I had my reasons for deep thinking, whether the dreams that concoct inside of me are real or not. Could this Lord Drakkon be really from a different dimension or not? If he is, then how much of a threat is he really? I don't know, but I couldn't let this get to me right now.

Until I would be proven otherwise, it was a nightmare, nothing more and I couldn't let it bring me down one way or another.

…

THE END