Snippet #1223735

It all began on a saturday morning for Ryan. He was still a kid, just 18 years old, when he met Professor Hart for the first time and was selected to be a member of the Trooper Project. At that time, he had been so impressionable, especially since the Professor offered hope of finding his long-missing father. He could never expect what Grimlord had in store for him and the other VR Troopers; the fight itself surged between the real world and Grimlord's artificial plane of existence, which always seemed to leave him confused as to which was which. It was built identically to the real world, which was intended to keep anyone who dared to challenge Grimlord confused; Ryan had definitely fallen victim to the trick, even those years later provided a challenge.

He couldn't ever really put his finger on what he remembered for sure and what was true, besides a few minor details that had affected him ever since. The reality barrier itself was sketchy; even as it collapsed into itself, Ryan was struck lightheaded and could not point out exactly what he had done or how long the fight lasted. It came down to what was in front of his eyes at any given moment, Grimlord's minions always gave him some defensive point to break through. As a cruel joke, Grimlord had settled his defensive line around Tao's Dojo, the one place Ryan always considered sacred ground. He did his job, however, and did it well, until the reality barrier's instability tampered with his armor's code, and Grimlord himself caused his left side to blow apart. Although the plane of existence wasn't real, everything inside Ryan's mind was, and as far as he could tell, the burns and shrapnel were as real as the day he was born. He called up the VR Saber Command and delivered the coup de grace with a shattered helmet.

He drank away the memories of the other Troopers dying, Kaitlin taking an irreparable blow from Tankotron during the armor coding surge and JB having been left behind when the reality barrier finally collapsed into itself. Ryan was scarred badly, and still bore the marks of the battle on the left side of his body. Although he was in no condition to fight, Ryan insisted on continuing the Trooper program, even after his father died and Ryan's drinking became more destructive. He had been approached by a young man from California, who revealed himself as the Green Power Ranger at the time, and asked Ryan to replace him as the White Ranger, admitting that the Green Dragon powers waned and he did not wish to go on with the Rangers. Ryan, still shellshocked from his greatest triumph, refused, and allowed life to go on.

Ryan had spent the last 15 years trying to leave things behind. The risks alone made him tremble; he could barely instruct his karate classes anymore. There were nights that he wished he could have the courage to put his old 1911 to his head and give himself the coup de grace that he delivered so many times to so many evildoers. He watched heroes come and go, reports on the news of Power Rangers that were always changing their suits, new insect-inspired heroes called Kamen Riders, which always reminded Ryan of Dex, the Masked Rider, and the tweens that called themselves Beetleborgs. He had known anyone who was anyone in the superhero team community right before Grimlord was destroyed, and his only comfort when he was hurt by the past was knowing that someone carried on.

Then, like some horrible joke, he found a package on the doorstep to his apartment. It wasn't marked with addresses or stamps, it was a plain envelope that had a very heavy object inside. He believed he had been hallucinating when it began to glow red from the inside when he picked it up, but thought nothing of it until he had opened the package and saw that it was literally glowing red. It was a crystal of some kind, it was glowing too bright for Ryan to see clearly; he admired its high quality and immediately considered getting it appraised. He then noticed a note sticking out of the envelope and set the rock down. As soon as he let go to reach for the paper, it went back to its regular, opaque hue, and Ryan realized the note may have had something written on it that he didn't want anything to do with. His hand stopped halfway there, and he thought carefully about what he was doing.

He bit his lip, considering what he really wanted out of life, and as began reflecting on the Trooper program, his virtualizer, the means by which he transformed into a VR Trooper, began glowing also. It hung around his neck on the laniard it was issued with those years ago, and began glowing in unison with the crystal, as though it knew he was hesitant about whatever the note said. It emanated the same white and blue light it always had, and as he began reaching closer for the note, the virtualizer got hot on his chest, and shared the same red light as the crystal, both humming with untapped power. Ryan snatched up the note and read it:

I KNOW WHO YOU WERE AND I NEED YOUR HELP
MEET ME IN THE CAVES NEAR MORDANT PARK
BRING THE CRYSTAL

Ryan wouldn't have thought anything of it if it hadn't have said "I KNOW WHO YOU WERE". It chilled him to the bone, and as long as someone knew who he had been, he would not be safe. It was the exact reason that any superhero kept their alter egos apart: safety. No one was going to use him or Tao as bait, he promised himself. So there he was, inside a damp, dark cave with a glowing crystal in his pocket, which he regretted when he fell into a large hole in the ground. His hip slammed right into it when he landed in the middle of what immediately reminded him of Professor Hart's laboratory, which doubled as Trooper Headquarters. The crystal was glowing a very bright red, showing itself through the stitches of his jeans, and Ryan retrieved it, rubbing the spot on his leg where it had caused him discomfort. He waved it around, trying to get his bearings in the dark room, but found himself surrounded by water on all sides. He had landed on a small island in the dark cave, illuminating his world through the red light that filtered everything around him. Ryan called out into the damp cavern with a voice that quivered in the cold. He felt blood run down his forehead and suddenly realized he had hit his head on a rock. If he had any luck at all, he was dead.

"Hello?! Is anyone there?!"