Always a Ranger - Part 40
With This Ring Part 3: All’s Fair in Love and War
By Jeannine Trevizo
Kim swiveled
her head wildly as the doors slid open again. She’d just about gotten to the
point where she was wondering when they were coming back. The long periods of
silence worried her. As long as it was quiet and Mesogog or one of his goons
weren’t tormenting or talking to her, that meant they still had the upper hand,
and a rescue was still to come.
But, she
continued to remind herself that if Tommy was coming, which she knew he would,
she had to buy him time to figure out how to get to her. And by keeping Mesogog
and his cronies talking, she could hopefully do that.
She heard
footsteps and then Mesogog walked in. Behind him this time was more than just
Zeltrax in his stunningly bright red armor, but a chick in black leather. Now,
she thought, she needed to keep them off balance and talking, because talking
meant they weren’t attacking Tommy and the others.
“Wow, I’m
impressed Mesi. I wouldn’t have picked you as the kinda guy that liked leather
bar chicks. But honey, the makeup is a bit much,” Kim teased as she watched the
woman following Mesogog, waiting to see if the bitch was soft or if she was
going to be trouble.
Suddenly Elsa
stalked over to the chair and swiftly backhanded Kim across the face. As soon
as she snapped her head back to glare at her, Kim realized that the leather chick
was going to be of the latter category.
“Such nice
friends you have.”
“I’m sorry,
we haven’t been properly introduced, although after we’re done with you, it
might be a waste of breath but… I’m Elsa.”
“And this
should mean something to me?”
“I forget.
You and your silly fiancé Dr. Oliver have no idea I’ve been keeping tabs on him
for the last year.”
“What the
hell are you talking about?” Kim questioned angrily.
“You see my
dear, once my master realized that your precious Dr. Oliver was coming here, to
Reefside for a power source, he sent me to watch him. And I have…as Reefside
High School’s Principal Randall.”
Kim was
stunned for a moment, wondering if Tommy had any idea… and then she immediately
pushed it aside. She couldn’t let them throw her…
“Oh joy!
Well, at least I can tell Tommy your pathetic attempts to pick him up were out
of evil intent,” referring to Randall’s behavior that had prompted Kira to
e-mail Kim about her hitting on Tommy.
“Ah yes, that
little game I played with him. Had I known he liked petite brunettes, I would
have made more of an effort to change my look,” Elsa stated with a cold fury,
her hand tossing back her dark mane.
“Please, you
can’t hide skank with a wig,” Kim verbally swiped at Elsa, earning her another
slap across the face.
“Enough Elsa.
We need our guest in good condition. At least until Oliver gets here,” Mesogog
demanded, instantly making Elsa back up.
Kim’s face
went white. He knew…
“I’m sure
that Oliver and his pathetic excuse for heroes will be here soon,” Mesogog
stated, as if answering Kim’s mental comment. “They more than likely have
deduced where you are by now, and we plan to have a welcoming committee ready
when they arrive. Then they will have a choice… hand over their dino gems, or
watch you die my dear. And we know your dear Doctor Oliver will fall on his
sword for you.”
“You don’t
know what you’ve done,” Kim said in a low, dark tone.
“We’ll see.”
With that, he
and the others swept out of the room, once again leaving Kim alone. Then her mind
struck on a hole in his plot. He’d said he would demand the dino gems from the
team coming to rescue her as the price to save her life. That meant he didn’t
know…He had no idea he’d picked the worst possible time to try and force Tommy
and the team into bending to his will.
If her love
and the leader of three power rangers teams had thought of what she was sure he
had, Mesogog had a rude awakening coming his way.
-x-
Tommy stood
with the current team to either side of him, and the others flanking him. To
one side stood Jason and the original team members of the Dino, Ninjetti, Zeo
and Turbo powers. On the opposite side was the second Turbo team who had become
the space rangers, along with Cole from the Wild Force team and Wes from Time
Force. Behind him, Hayley and Billy manned the console, and they turned to
listen to Tommy’s announcement.
With the
teams nearly surrounding him, he cleared his throat and prepared to hand out
the assignments.
“I’m breaking
us up into three teams,” he stated, looking around the room at the different
rangers as they awaited his orders, as if he was their general.
He forced
himself to stand a little straighter, living up to the image that many had of
him as the greatest ranger ever. They expected him to have all the answers, but
he’d had precious little time to build a game plan. Years of being the leader
though had ingrained in him the process of executing battle plans, and he’d
always excelled at it. Still, all he had for this one was the bare bones of a
plan; yet it was one that he didn’t think Mesogog would be prepared for. As it
was, they were at a huge advantage… Mesogog had no idea that he had a literal
army at his command.
“Team one is
TJ’s. With you are Cassie, Ashley, Carlos, Andros, Cole and Wes. Your job is to
secure the portal point and keep the hallways clear and provide us a way out.
If that portal gets closed or taken over by Mesogog’s goons before we get back,
no one is going home.”
TJ nodded. He
was actually glad of the assignment. While some might have thought the task was
the least of them, he knew that he was responsible for getting everyone home in
one piece. As well, he still had something that he had to make up for… it had
been on *his* watch that the command center, the first command center had been
destroyed. It was a failing that he was still trying to make up for, and he
knew this might be his last chance to do that in Tommy’s eyes.
“Team two is
Jason’s. You have Adam, Kat, Aisha, Zack, Tanya and Rocky. You’re the secondary
incursion team. You’ll need to take on all resistance between the main
objective and the exit point. I have no doubt we’ll get slammed, and you’ll
need to dispatch any oncoming reinforcements so we can get out.”
As much as
Jason wanted to go with Tommy, he knew that they needed the teams and that his
group had a vital role; they would make sure Tommy could get to Kim and that
they could all get back to the portal. To their advantage, he had people he
could trust, people he knew and in some cases served with as a leader, others
as a team mate. Without thinking, he turned to Zack and the two clasped arms,
smiling at the prospect of being back in action together after so many years.
“Team three
is with me, we’re the primary assault team. I’m going to be taking the new dino
team: Kira, Ethan, Conner and Trent. We’ll go into the main part of the
complex, first the lab, then the other areas, with Jason’s team backing us up
and locate Kim. If we can destroy Zeltrax, Mesogog and his other henchmen, we
will. But the first priority is Kim.”
Kira, Trent,
Conner and Ethan glanced at all the older, more experienced rangers and saw
them looking back with respect and support. It was in that single moment that
the four of them felt that they really *were* rangers.
“Hayley, you and
Billy are going to get us there, keep an eye on us and get us back. I’m relying
on both of you. I’m putting everyone’s lives in your hands.”
“You have one
hour,” Hayley said seriously, feeling the responsibility of their task weighing
on her like a Buick. “Any longer, and I can’t guarantee the portal will still
be stable… you might not get back here.”
“But we’ll
hold it as long as we can past that if you’re not through,” said Billy, and
gave Hayley a look that said that they *could* do anything they put their minds
to. “Good luck.”
“Let’s go,”
Tommy said, “Power up.”
With that,
the teams pulled their different morphers and in a bright flash of light and
sounds, the room was suddenly filled with rangers; Jason and Zack and Aisha in
the original dino ranger uniforms, Adam, Kat, Tanya and Rocky in their Turbo
uniforms, Ashley, Andros, TJ, Cassie and Carlos in their Space ranger uniforms,
Wes in his Time Force uniform, Cole in his Wild Force suit and the new Dino
Thunder team in their armor.
Once everyone
was in uniform, Tommy turned and headed out through the command center bunker
to the forest, the others following. Before them there was a slight pinpoint of
dark light, and lightning began to crackle and crash around them. Some of the
rangers who weren’t familiar with the portal technology nearly jumped, but
Tommy’s raised fist held everyone in place as the portal opened up.
Then, with an
authority that he’d never had, and a desperation and drive he never wanted, he
waved his hand forward and strode into the portal, followed by a ranger army.
-x-
The second
that Tommy stepped onto the metal flooring of Mesogog’s base, he was shocked
with a sensation in his gut… he could almost feel Kim like she was standing
beside him, and it took all his will power to wait for everyone rather than
race off in search of her. Slowly the small corridor began to fill with rangers
in a wide variety of colors and armor. When the last member of TJ’s team came
through, Tommy turned and clasped TJ’s hand.
“May the
power protect you,” Tommy stated seriously, and TJ’s hand tightened on Tommy’s.
“Same to
you,” he replied, “We’ll be waiting for you.”
Nodding,
Tommy spun and headed off towards the area he thought was the center of the
complex, his team and Jason’s following. They flew down the corridor, seeing
nothing and no resistance. Had they been lucky enough to have entered the
complex without being detected, Tommy wondered. But he knew in his gut that
Mesogog knew he was there, just like he knew Kim was too. He was just waiting…
Suddenly the
entire labyrinth of passageways was bathed in red light, sirens began to sound
and they all knew then that the battle was upon them. From in front of and
behind them, Tyrano-drones appeared, their spike-covered countenances swarming
over them. Tommy knew that as they were being attacked, so to would TJ’s team,
and he hoped that they all were up to the task.
“Go!” Jason
yelled, violently throwing a tyrano-drone across the floor and nearly hitting
Tanya where she was angrily trading blows with another of the foot soldiers.
“Get Kim… we’ll do our part.”
The two men
shared a look, even through their visors, and Tommy inclined his head slightly
and turned to his team.
“Let’s go. Kira,
blow us a hole through them,” Tommy barked at her in his leader voice.
She nodded
and let loose her terra scream, tossing dozens of the drones away and clearing
them a path. Hurriedly, Tommy charged forward, the rest of the dino thunder
rangers following him as they hurried past the downed drones, knowing they’d be
up soon and either engaging Jason’s team or following them. In the small space
where the evil that had taken root in Tommy so many years ago, he hoped that it
was the former, because he had other battles to take on.
The team
turned the corner, the sound of fighting still echoing off the walls behind
them when Tommy stopped short. He was sure…
“Kira,
Conner, Ethan, wasn’t the lab here?” he asked in a stunned voice as they stood
before an empty room.
“I…. I don’t
remember,” Kira said, her only two occurrences being there having been when
she’d been captured and when they’d come to rescue Dr. O… it was months ago…
“I don’t know
where we are Dr. O,” Conner stated worriedly, and Ethan nodded as well, his
helmet shining in the red light as he did so.
“Trent?”
Tommy asked, suddenly remembering that the formerly evil white ranger had spent
weeks in and out of their enemy’s lair.
“Dr. O… I…. I
can’t,” he said, his voice cracking.
“Trent,
what’s your problem? You probably know this place like the back of your hand,”
Conner argued, his adrenalin pounding in his veins from the fight they’d just
been in.
“I can’t…”
“Why not?”
Kira said confused, moving over to Conner’s side.
Trent looked
at the masks that covered the faces of his team mates, and knew that beneath
the expressionless helmets their anger, frustration, fear and concern for
Kimberly was threatening to explode. He’d made a promise to his father… but he
couldn’t let Kim die or them die to keep it.
“Mesogog’s
chamber, where he probably has Kim is down this corridor to the left, then up
two more intersections, and into the center of the complex.”
“Why didn’t
you just say so?” Ethan asked, frustrated at the white ranger wasting time they
didn’t have.
“Because I
need to protect him…”
“What?” they
all said, except for Tommy.
He’d known
that Trent had a secret when he’d broken the evil spell on the white dino gem.
As it was, he’d always wondered how Trent had broken the spell, and part of him
had speculated that he’d had help. Now, with Kim’s life in the balance, he was
going to have to press the issue, because if there was an ally in Mesogog’s
camp, he wanted to know so they could use them… but if not…
“Protect who
Trent? Tell me!” Tommy demanded, his voice not raising but sounding deadly
serious.
Trent looked
to the members of the team, realizing his dilemma. He’d neglected to tell them
the truth, and now that lie, that omission was going to divide them. Still, he
owed them all…
“Mesogog…
he’s… he’s my father.”
The stunned
silence that fell on them all was broken when Conner lunged at Trent, not
caring that the white ranger was his friend. They’d given him chance after
chance, only to be betrayed over and over again. And now, they were involved in
an all out war when they could have resolved the Mesogog problem months ago.
“You rotten,
lying son of a…” Conner yelled, cocking his arm back as if to let fly, when
Ethan and Kira caught his arms and restrained him. “Let me go! He deserves…”
“To make
amends,” said Tommy, interposing himself between them. “Trent’s our guide, and
now we know that Mesogog isn’t fully evil. He’s the one who helped you break
the spell on the dino gem, wasn’t he… Anton I mean.”
“Yeah… he
can’t control it Dr. O. I know I should have said something before, but he’s my
*father*. I owed him my silence.”
“I
understand. But right now, I want you to know that if you can’t get Anton in
control, *full* control, and I have to chose between killing him and losing
Kim… I will finish him.”
There was no
mistaking the steely determination in their mentor’s voice. He would do just
that, and they found themselves accepting that possible outcome. Being a ranger
was about protecting, but sometimes, just sometimes, you had to protect with
deadly violence.
“Trent, lead
the way. Hurry, we don’t have much time.”
The white
ranger spun around and headed down the corridor, taking the corner at a
blinding pace as Tommy and the others followed him. They quickly made their way
through the labyrinth and suddenly met a group of tyrano-drones guarding the
door Trent was headed for. As soon as Tommy laid eyes on the door before him,
he knew she was there, just beyond the metal. He felt like he could tear the
drones and the door down with his bare hands.
“Now!” yelled
Conner, taking the leader role for his team, and the four younger rangers
attacked, quickly spearing into the assembled drones and unleashing everything
they had.
As soon as they
did, Tommy realized their plan, one he hadn’t thought of. Quickly he used his
power of invisibility and weaved his way unseen through the fighting as his
team kept them occupied. Once he was beside the door controls, he quickly
opened the door and rushed inside. In front of him he found Kim, alone and
strapped to the chair that he’d been in so many months before.
Dropping his
power, he hurried to her side.
“Tommy!” Kim
cried from where she was still stuck to the table, overcome with the sight of
her love in his uniform. Her rescue had arrived.
“Oh God Kim,
I was so scared I’d lost… I’d kiss you but…” Tommy joked, noting his helmet
before something flew past him and he ducked. Quickly he released the straps
holding Kim down, and she leapt from the chair. “I brought you a little
present.”
From beneath
his glove on his right hand, he pulled her gauntlet and handed it to her. Kim’s
face lit up, and she gave Tommy a wink.
“Hurry up, we
can’t hold them forever!” called Conner from behind them.
Without a
pause, Kim slapped the cool metal onto her arm, and quickly started to morph.
“Dino
Thunder, Power Up!”
Almost as
soon as her armor encased her, they heard a yell of anger and fury. In front of
them, a door slid open and Mesogog entered the chamber, surrounded by another
group of tyrano-drones. Kim and Tommy stood together, facing their enemy as the
pair of them created a wall of warriors between him and the others. But they
quickly realized that the door that Mesogog had entered and the one behind them
weren’t the only ones.
“Whoa, heads
up!” yelled Ethan as he saw Elsa and the now crimson armored Zeltrax emerge
from a side door near the main entrance. They rushed in, heading towards Kim
and Tommy.
Immediately
Conner and Trent used their speed to zip into the main room with Dr. O and Kim,
while Kira and Ethan continued to battle the waves of drones forcing them back
into the chamber, towards the leaders of Mesogog’s tyranny and into the fire of
all out war. Trent and Conner skidded to a stop beside Dr. O, falling into
battle stance in preparation to engage Zeltrax and give their mentor some
breathing room.
Their efforts
were useless however, as they went flying, sailing across the room and landing
in the midst of the battle ranging between Kira, Ethan and the advancing
tyrno-drones, Zeltrax’s single-mindedness in his pursuit of his former friend
relentless in its intensity. Zeltrax immediately attacked Tommy, bringing his
sword down and crashing against the black ranger’s chest, sending him flying backwards
into the chair in the middle of the room. The black ranger’s back slammed
against the metal, doubling him over with the force of the impact, and Zeltrax
was on him again, faster than his eyes could track.
He kicked out
in his prone position, throwing Zeltrax off-balance and crashing into the metal
paneling of the floor. They both jumped back up to their feet, ready to come to
blows again. Tommy barely hesitated as he ran forward, intending to land a
flying kick on his crimson armored foe only to have Zeltrax sweep his feet out
from under him, throwing him back, Tommy’s helmet cracking loudly on the edge
of the metal chair.
Kim spun on
her heel from where she’d been fighting with a Tyrano-drone, her soul knowing instinctively
somehow that she needed to get to Tommy. She saw Zeltrax’s menacing form
stalking towards Tommy’s prone and still form. Without thinking, she jumped
into the fray as he lunged forward, sword in hand as he brought it down towards
his enemy, catching Zeltrax’s wrists and holding with all her strength both his
hands and the sword above her, keeping him from landing another blow on Tommy.
“Guess what,
it’s a much fairer fight when I can do this,” she nearly growled as she leapt
up, pulling both feet up and kicking outwards, landing the blow on his chest as
she let go of his hands, sending him flying backwards, and then landed on her
feet, whirling around to go to Tommy’s side.
Behind her,
Kira, Ethan, Conner and Trent were fighting tooth and nail for every inch as
they pushed back the tyrano-drones that had followed them into the chamber,
their fierce dispatching of the drones slowing Elsa’s advance towards them, Dr.
O and Kim. Realizing the other ranger’s plot to keep her from Oliver and his whore,
Elsa tried to rush around the rangers, throwing drones into their path as she
attempted to keep them occupied as she headed towards her prey.
“What, you
don’t want to play with us? I’m hurt,” quipped Kira with anger in her voice as
she threw a kick in the direction of Elsa’s side, the blow glancing off her as
she hurried past.
Less than a
second later, a tyrano-drone rushed up behind Kira, sending her flying. The
yellow ranger shoved herself up from the floor and rushed back into the fray,
coming to fight back the drones pounding on her team mates.
Kim knew the
rest of the team probably needed help, but she knew that Tommy would be the
best person to do that. She had to get him on his feet and back into the fight,
even if she had to distract Zeltrax to do it. But before she could get two
steps towards Tommy, who to her relief was now getting up, she felt a blade
kiss her back, sparks flying as it met her uniform and she fell forward,
quickly rolling and then jumping up to find Elsa staring at her with malicious
intent.
“Oh God, do
we have to do the catfight thing? It’s so old,” Kim said, and avoided the next
swing of Elsa’s sword. “How about we even things up and get rid of that?”
Kim executed
a spin kick, sending Elsa’s sword flying, and then charged her, pushing them to
the far side of the room.
“I guess we
don’t rate,” Conner stated dejectedly as he watched Tommy and Zeltrax starting
to engage in their deadly dance again as well as Kim struggling with Elsa when
he felt a searing pain through his uniform and went crashing to the floor.
Trent, Ethan
and Kira turned to find the final player that had been missing… the white
ranger.
“You and I
have some unfinished business,” he said to Trent, pointing his dagger at him.
“There can be only one of us, and I prefer it to be me. The rest of you should
take care of Trent’s dear old dad before he kills you all.”
The white
ranger clone leapt forward, bringing his dagger down and across Trent’s armor,
sending up sparks and throwing him backwards. Conner, Kira and Ethan were torn
between helping Trent and going to make sure Mesogog didn’t enter the fray. The
choice was made for them when another group of tyrano-drones swarmed in from
behind the door where Mesogog stood, watching the battle with an imperialistic air.
It was all
they could do to keep from being overwhelmed.
“Dr. O, this
might be a good time to finish this,” Conner yelled over the crashing swords
and sounds of fists and feet meeting metal and ranger armor.
The black
ranger nodded, bringing his Brachiostaff down again on Zeltrax, cracking the
crimson armor. Instead of staying down, Zeltrax rose again, almost faster than
before and brought down his sword, which Tommy just barely blocked.
“God damn it
Smitty, I don’t want to kill you!”
“That didn’t
stop you last time, now did it?”
With that,
Zeltrax stopped talking and lunged at Tommy again, his sword point preceding
him. Tommy twisted away and brought the tip of his staff down on the space at
the back of Zeltrax’s neck with the earthquake setting in place, the power of
the energy harnessed in the staff sending him to the ground hard. Tommy stepped
back and waited to see if he was getting up, and when he didn’t, he turned and
rushed to find Conner, Kira and Ethan surrounded by drones, Kim and Elsa fighting
and Trent doing battle with his double.
As much as he
wanted to run to Kim’s side, he knew in his heart that Kim could take Elsa; if
anyone could, it was her. But he knew that the kids needed his assistance
first. With a rush, he went invisible and bowled through half the drones before
they knew what hit them.
“Dr. O!”
Ethan yelled, raising his armored arm to deflect the blow coming his way as he
realized the invisible force tossing bad guys away had to be their mentor.
With Tommy
among them, Conner, Ethan and Kira began to push back the attack, felling
drones as they made their way towards where Trent and the white ranger clone
battled.
“This is
perfect… you’ll all perish in here, by my blade or by theirs. And when it is
all over, I will rule in Mesogog’s place.”
“You’re
crazy,” Trent yelled, bringing his own dagger down, only to have it blocked.
“No, I am
practical. Dr. Oliver and Mesogog will destroy one another, and I will be able
to destroy what is left of the opposition,” the evil white ranger laughed, his
voice deep and ominous sounding.
“No!” Trent
cried out in rage, and then turned on his speed to ram his clone, slamming them
both against the wall.
The force of
the impact sent them flying, and it took Trent a few moments before he slowly
pushed himself from the floor. With care he got up and hurried to join the
others, hoping that he had enough time to help get the others out, and get his
father back before his clone could regain consciousness.
Across the
room, Kim and Elsa continued to fight; the leather clad cyborg kicked at Kim,
who caught her ankle and tossed her aside. Chasing her, Kim grabbed hold of the
collection of dark braided hair and hauled the woman up. Elsa threw her elbow
back, and caught Kim at the throat, making the pink ranger release her hold on
her. With a quick twist, Kim was able to slip behind Elsa, swiftly catching
both her arms and pinning them behind the cyborg. Then with a rush, she ran
them forward, smashing Elsa’s face into the closest console, the machinery
sparking at the impact, shattering glass which sliced into the cyborg’s face.
What Kim
didn’t know that the panel she’d sent Elsa into was more than just for show, as
Mesogog roared from his spot by the back door to the chamber.
“No! Damn
you, you’ll destroy my work!” he yelled, his red taloned fingers raking the air
as his teeth gnashed in anger and frustration.
“Guys, some
backup here?” Kim called out nervously as she realized that they were on the
verge of being converged on by Mesogog.
Then, before
she could move again, the panel blew up, setting half the room on fire, and the
rest of the panels sparked as the electrical shorts spread across the
machinery, arcs of current jumping from one panel to another, electrifying the
panels nearby.
“You will not
defeat me… I refuse to lose to you!” Mesogog hissed, his reptilian nature
reinforcing itself as he lunged at Kimberly. “We ruled the world for eons… I
will not allow mere humans to drive my race to extinction!”
She caught
his claws as they wrapped around her throat, fighting simply to keep him from
closing fully around her neck. Mesogog pressed his advantage, leering at her
while his teeth grimaced at her in a way so evil that Kim couldn’t remember
seeing that look since Zedd had fought the rangers back in Angel Grove.
“Kim!” Tommy
nearly screamed, turning to see Mesogog grasping Kim by the throat and then
leapt over the fallen bodies of their defeated foes to get to her.
Once in the
air, he poised himself for a flying kick, violently slamming his feet into
Mesogog’s body, breaking the hold the monster hand on his lover, sending
Mesogog into the far wall and Kimberly stumbling away. Tommy landed hard, his
knees buckling to absorb the residual power of his blow, and he quickly stood
to find Kim standing in battle stance, waiting for their enemy’s next move. He
moved to her side, following her lead but knowing that this was it… if he
couldn’t get Anton to take control of Mesogog now…
“Anton, you
have a chance… break Mesogog’s hold and we can help you be rid of him forever.”
Deep, evil
laughter filled the room as Mesogog rose slowly, his eyes trained on his arch
nemesis and his rangers.
“Mercer was
just a tool Oliver,” he rasped, the look in his eyes hateful as he spoke to
Tommy. “He thought he could break free of me, cure himself. He has no idea that
he would have to die with me… he *is* me now!”
Suddenly
around them the canisters holding the liquids and chemicals that Mesogog had
used to create his monsters began to shatter from the heat of the growing
flames, spilling their fluid across the floor which quickly added to the
growing fire, sending up dark blue chemical flames that scorched the metal
walls… and rapidly ran across the floor, blocking Mesogog’s advance on Tommy
and Kim, cutting him off.
Trent turned
at the sound of growling and cursing to see Mesogog surrounded in flames, his
hands clawing at the fire as he tried to find a way out, but found all his
exits blocked with flames.
“Dad!” Trent
yelled, rushing forward towards Mesogog and the fire.
“Trent, no!”
screamed Kira, fearful that he’d be engulfed along with Mesogog… Anton… his
father. The whole thing still was confusing.
“Dr. O, get
everyone out of here!”
Kira stood
beside Conner, his hand holding her in place. They all cared about Trent, but
this was his decision. The three teens looked to their elder counterparts,
hoping that they could change his mind.
“Trent,
there’s nothing you can do,” Tommy said, reaching towards the white ranger, trying
to will him to take his hand, move away from Mesogog and the encroaching
flames.
“I don’t
believe Mesogog. He’s lying! I can’t leave my father without trying to save
him. I *have* to try. Look, I’ll follow you. Just go!”
The
determination is Trent’s voice cut through Tommy. It sounded much like when
he’d vowed to rescue Kim from Mesogog… Kim turned to Tommy, and as always, the
communication between them snapped into place. Unless they physically tried to
move him, there was no way Trent was leaving, and from the increasing smoke in
the room, there was no guarantee how long they could stay before the room and
then the whole complex crashed down around them. And they had other people that
they were responsible for, that they needed to get out of the building too.
They had to
go.
“Trent,”
Tommy said solemnly, and the younger man turned to look at the older ranger.
“You’ve done your uniform proud. We’ll see you at the basement.”
Trent nodded,
and Tommy grabbed Kim’s hand and turned to run to the door, with Conner urging
Kira before him, Ethan at his side.
And in the
room where Trent had found his freedom from the evil spell on his gem, he
fought to break another evil… the one holding his father prisoner in Mesogog’s
body.
-x-
Tommy, Kim
and the remaining rangers rushed back down the halls, Ethan leading as he
remembered the way the best, until they converged on the continuing battle in
the hallway. Jason’s team was still fighting, though the numbers of their
opponents had dwindled. With reinforcements, they could clean the place up.
Before they
could call out to give Jason and his crew a heads up that they were coming,
they heard a loud boom, like an explosion back the way they’d come. Kira almost
turned to go back, but Conner held her arm and pushed her forward. Trent had
said he’d get out if he could; the fact that his father, Anton Mercer was to
blame for all this, had made him feel as if it was his duty to try and save his
father and make sure that the team could escape. And Conner respected that.
“Kira, we
need to get through,” Conner said, nearly yelling over the sounds of the battle
raging in front of them.
Nodding, Kira
threw a terra scream at the tyrano-drones, sending them flying and some of the
older rangers in Jason’s group wincing at the sound. They were still standing
however, though Tommy noticed that Kat was holding her midsection, and Rocky
looked like he was ready to fall over at any moment. Adam had Tanya at his
side, and he noticed that she wasn’t putting any weight on her left ankle.
Still, they
were alive and they’d held their ground. Hurriedly they ran to meet them.
“Sorry,” Kira
said to Jason and his group as she and the dino thunder team ran to join them.
“Understood,”
acknowledged Jason, who watched as Conner and Ethan hurried past them, with
Tommy and a uniformed pink ranger that Jason knew had to be Kim bringing up the
rear. “God Kim, we were worried. It’s good to ‘see’ you!”
“Likewise
Jase. But let’s get the hell out of here before we celebrate,” Kim remarked
tersely, realizing that there had to be more obstacles yet to come.
Nodding
behind his red helmet, Jason called for his team to head back to the portal,
urging everyone back to the rendezvous point that TJ’s team was defending as
they ran from the oncoming heat, smoke and flames from the explosion.
-x-
The battle at
the portal had been fierce ever since the alarms had sounded. TJ had fought
hard not to let the tyrano-drones split their group. Andros had taken the other
space rangers, while TJ had stayed shoulder to shoulder with Wes and Cole.
They’d fought before, when Tommy had led the red rangers against the generals
of the Machine Empire.
But the odds
they’d faced were overwhelming.
They’d all
been hurt in some way: Cole was limping from a slash to his leg that had gone
through his uniform, Cassie was dazed from an extremely hard blow to her
helmet, Ashley had injured her arm blocking one of the blows from a
tyrano-drone, Carlos was holding his side where he’d been kicked with more
force than he’d expected, throwing him into a wall and TJ, Andros and Wes were
all utterly exhausted from taking on the remaining drones.
So it was
with a sigh of relief and a cry of hope that they saw Tommy and Jason’s teams,
along with another ranger in pink that they knew had to be Kimberly.
Tommy and
Jason’s teams plowed into the remaining forces, engaging them in hand to hand.
It was blistering, as the heat from the explosion started to radiate from the
walls, the metal conducting and funneling the fire towards them.
There wasn’t
much time, and Kira and Ethan turned to Conner and he recognized their intent.
Reaching up, he called on the Shield of Triumph. As the gold gilded shield
appeared, and his armor changed to incorporate the additional power drained
from Ethan and Kira, he looked to his sides to find both Ethan and Kira
collapsed on the floor. While they hadn’t unmorphed, the drain on their powers
and from the battle had rendered them unconscious.
“Kira!
Ethan!” he shouted helplessly, fearfully in the din the battle created.
Conner knew
he had to stop this, now… Kira and Ethan were vulnerable, and he was
responsible for them; he refused to let anything harm them if he could stop it.
Using the
power of the shield, he began to focus it, to send it outwards, when he felt a
hand on his arm, and the power he was channeling nearly doubled. He chanced a
glance to his side and found Kimberly clinging to his arm, and he could almost
see the power from her feeding into the shield and into him. Suddenly he
remembered that Dr. O and Trent had both infused the shield with their powers,
and Kira and Ethan did the same. Kim was now adding her pink dino gem power as
well, and it was beyond anything he’d experienced yet.
Long seconds passed
and then Kim’s hand went limp, and Conner turned to see Dr. O appear at their
side, catching Kim and picking her up. Around him, he observed Jason and Zack
haul Ethan and Kira from the floor and they backed up, the others that weren’t
injured defending them.
It was now or
never, Conner thought, and he thrust the shield forward, sending forth a blast
of pure white energy, disintegrating the tyrano-drones that had been in their
path.
The other rangers
stood in awe as Conner turned and dismissed the shield, powering down to his
normal state. He moved forward and took Kira from Zack, picking her up in his
arms, similarly to how Dr. O carried Kim. Zack moved to help Jason hold Ethan
between them.
“What about
the white ranger?” TJ asked, shocked at the idea that Tommy would have left one
of his team behind.
Tommy swung
his head around, looking at the way they’d come through, now quickly being
engulfed with flames. He’d never lost someone on his watch… but it was a
decision to wait for one or make sure the rest were safe that had to be made.
And being the leader made it his decision to make.
“If he’s
coming, he’ll have to find his own way,” Tommy stated darkly, and no one was
willing to ask anything else. “We need to get out of here, now! Everyone
through the portal!”
Quickly they
complied, TJ’s team going through first, followed by Jason’s group and Tommy’s
last. They fell through the portal, landing on the forest floor as they escaped
the complex. As soon as they hit the ground, Kim started to come to, as well as
Kira and Ethan.
“Everybody
okay?” Kim asked dazed, and Tommy didn’t know what to say…
Then behind
them, the portal collapsed, the last glimpse they saw was of the corridor
swallowed up by flames. Ethan eased himself off Jason and Zack’s shoulders,
moving on his own power and Conner slowly put Kira down, holding onto her until
he was sure she had her feet under her.
For Tommy, he
was still reluctant to put Kim down. He’d been so fearful of losing her, but
he’d been able to get her back. Finally he bent down to let Kim stand on her
own, even if he wasn’t willing to let her go; he held her hands tightly.
“Trent?” Kira
asked, and Kim looked to the younger woman. She watched how Conner hovered over
her, and thought that maybe she and Kira needed to have a talk about what was
right in front of her eyes…
“I don’t…”
Tommy started to say, when the dino thunder team’s communicators went off.
Hurriedly,
Tommy pressed the button to activate the com channel.
“Hayely,
Billy, we read you. We’ve got Kim and we’re outside the command center’s back
door.”
“That’s good,
because we’ve got something you might want to see,” Hayley said, her voice
slightly amused.
Once the
communication cut off, the door to the basement command center slid open. The
rangers slowly trudged inside, the aches and injuries starting to become more
apparent as the adrenalin began to wear off. Inside, they came to find Hayley
and Billy with the monitor screen on, the image it showed being that of
Mesogog’s island and base aflame and crumbling. Tommy and the dino thunder
rangers stared at it in shock.
“Mesogog’s
island?” Ethan asked, awed.
“Yup. Seems
whatever you guys did, you burned the place to the ground. And I monitored only
one portal besides ours out of the place, and it didn’t have Mesogog or any of
his people passing though it. You did it… you stopped Mesogog and saved the
planet!” Hayley gushed, her hand reaching for Billy’s on the console.
“But if none
of Mesogog’s people escaped, who…” Tommy started to say, when from the back
stairs stepped a young Hispanic man, no longer morphed in his white armor that
no one thought they’d ever see again.
“Trent!”
yelled the members of the dino thunder team, and they all rushed to embrace
him.
“How?” Tommy
asked, stunned as he left his hand sit on the younger ranger’s shoulder.
“I knew the
place pretty well. I knew there was another door that led to a series of
passages and at the end of it was a portal. I guess being evil did help me in
the end,” he said with a wistful tone.
“Your
father?” Kim asked, holding his hand.
“He broke
free, took control for a short window at the end,” he said softly, “and he told
me to go. He hadn’t been able to find a cure for the disease that gave Mesogog
control, and he wanted to stop him as much as we all did. Even if he couldn’t
survive…”
Tommy nodded
in understanding, pulling Kim to his side. He was thankful that Anton had
chosen to do the right thing in the end, and that he’d released his son to escape.
Quickly he looked around at the battle weary rangers around him and felt the
responsibility of leadership again.
He let Kim go
long enough to power down, prompting everyone to do the same. Then he took
Kim’s hand again as they walked the circle of rangers, shaking their hands or
hugging them as Tommy and Kim expressed their gratitude for these rangers,
their friends’ willingness to come to their aid.
“Thank you,”
they said to each and every ranger, as well as to Hayley and Billy who had come
down from the console, looking them in the eye as they let them know how much
what they’d done meant to them.
“Hey, you
know what they say bro,” Jason said, coming up to hug Kim and Tommy when they’d
finished their thank you’s, the other rangers converging on the couple, “once a
ranger, always a ranger.”
Kim and Tommy
stood in the middle of their friends and comrades and realized that they were
truly blessed to be among such heroes.
-End-
tbc…
One more
chapter!