Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

[daemonomicon.livejournal.com]

Nighttime.

Or, at least, what passed for nighttime on the meatship.

A time when most of the crew was already fast asleep, dreaming away pleasantly throughout the night.

...Or, perhaps not. For you see, tonight, something particularly strange is happening.

Now it is not all that unusual for someone to have a nightmare, especially not on the ship.

Yet tonight, no one will sleep easily, for the Nightmare King deems it so.

Everyone's dreams will have a tinge of horror to them. Nothing so out of the ordinary to rouse one's suspicions, but at the same time, no one is left out.

Pleasant nightmares, meatship.

[ooc: And thus begins the start of the Nightmare King's spree of insanity. He's starting out subtle, of course. The nightmares won't be anything more than your run of the mill bad dream, but he is giving them to everyone. Posting in isn't mandatory, but if you want to have fun with your character's nightmare, go right ahead.]

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[morphitudinous]

Green.

Billy's vision was filled entirely with green. The green pressed sharply against his cheeks, digging into him, providing an unsettling tingling sensation---oh, that was just the grass. Pushing himself unsteadly onto his hands and knees, he lifted his head and saw a most troubling sight.

The backs of Tommy, Kimberly, Rocky, Aisha, and Adam were before him, their clothing burned in several places. Wounds littered their arms and legs. Panicking, Billy jumped up and took his place beside Tommy. If Billy had paid attention, he might have noticed that he was suspiciously uninjured, or that the other Rangers never acknowledged him, but the sight the other Rangers were fixed on had completely consumed his attention.

Before them sat Angel Grove. Or, to be more precise, what remained of Angel Grove. The familiar park was completely consumed by flame, the school and Youth Center were reduced to rubble, and no sign remained that their homes had ever existed. Bits of twisted metal that he recognized as the remains of their Zords littered the streets.

"I don't believe it," whispered Tommy brokenly.

"I never thought this could happen again," mourned Kimberly.

Concerned, Billy tried to set a hand on his leader's arm. He found that his hand passed right through. Billy moved down the line of Rangers, calling their names and trying to touch them, but none responded. Finally, he stood silently at Adam's side while the apparent cause of this disaster arose from the ashes.

The five defeated Rangers glared at their conqueror, pain evident in their eyes. Billy glared too, but no amount of intense focus changed that he only saw a humanoid black shadow standing on the head of the fallen Tigerzord. That was odd, as they were in bright daylight.

"You're finished," hissed the shadow man in an oddly distorted voice. "Enjoy your miserable lives while you can, because I can assure you that they won't last much longer!" With a foreboding laugh, the shadow man vanished, his fist clenched around something that Billy couldn't see.

"This is it," Adam sighed mournfully.

"Game over," added Aisha.

"How could he do this?" pondered Rocky.

All throughout, Billy tried to scream. It's not over! I'll help you! This world still exists, we still have time to save it! But he'd learned from the past few minutes that attempts to interact with his friends were futile. He could only look helplessly on as his friends were consumed with despair. Who on earth could be responsible for this?

Elsewhere, in the world outside his head, Billy Cranston twisted on the bed in restless sleep.