Disclaimer in a part one.

Author's note: Nalanzu made all this a lot better than she found it. Thanks. : )

Another Time and Place
by Smittysgirl

Conner sank to the ground, his body racked with sobs. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't. His brother was gone and he was ... was ...

"Eric," Dr. Smitty said nervously, "let us help."

Hayley brushed past the Rangers, kneeling beside him. "Look at his eyes. He's nearly catatonic. We have to get him back to base."

Her words were like a splash of cold water on his face.

"NO!" Conner said suddenly, pulling away from the woman. "You can't take me with you. I'm a liability like this. I don't know what Mesogog did."

She moved in close again, softly caressing his bare cheek. "Eric, please. We want to help you."

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

"He might still be identifying himself as Zeltrax," Trent noted uneasily. "Hayley, you might not want to be so close."

Dr. T nodded. "He had Zeltrax's style of speech when we were in the field, the same as Eddie's. We can't know what Mesogog did to his mind."

"Still," Hayley insisted.

"Let me go," Conner pleaded. "Let me go and find Mesogog and end this. Please."

"Eric...."

"NO!" Conner rose unsteadily and tried to rematerialize his helmet. He nearly stumbled over from the coordination this required.

"Trent, can you get Eric someplace safe?" Smitty asked.

They thought he was crazy. He thought he was crazy. "Trent, do you remember the day we met?"

The helmeted head cocked to one side. "I remember. You came by the Cafe to pick Conner up."

"No," he insisted. "The day WE met. Your father let you pass for arriving to class late. I didn't like you even then."

"Eric," Trent said uncertainly, "you've never been to Reefside High."

"Do you remember when we fought in the hallway, and you nearly went White Ranger on me? I was having a dino episode. We could have killed each other. Derrick nearly killed you."

"Derrick didn't...." Trent shut his mouth. "Dr. Smitty, Eric thinks he's Conner."

Dr. Smitty ran a hand down his face. "It figures."

"I AM Conner!" he insisted. "I remember everything about all of you. I know about the embarassing mole Hayley is thinking of getting removed. I know how many times Ethan and Kira would whisper about me when they thought I was out of earshot. I even remember what Cassidy said about me last night."

Hayley's hand went to her mouth. The others looked at him uneasily.

"I remember all the passcodes to Dino Ops, even the ones you conveniently changed a few days after my learning them. I remember what it felt like to be turning into a mutant freak like Mesogoon."

"That," Dr. Smitty gave a start, "isn't possible. There's no way you could just change like that. We SAW Conner die, Eric."

Conner gestured to the mangled remains of the exam table. "The lifeforce extractor was siphoning my human elements out. It blew up in the middle of it. My soul, it must have gotten tangled up with Eric's or we switched or something."

Realization hit him, and he tried to make his way to the body before falling over. "The Dinogem! It'll respond to me, my soul!"

Dr. Smitty nodded his affirm to the White Ranger, and he made his way over to the body. A moment passed, and Conner tried to raise his head back up.

"Dr. T, we've got a problem."

"What?" the Black Ranger asked.

Trent held out his hand, the shattered remains of the gem and bracelet filling the glove.

"Mission Control, we have a problem."

Cassidy awkwardly hit the call button on the console. "Go for Cassidy."

"Something happened."

"What is it, Ethan?" She tried cueing up the telemetry on the Rangers, finally giving up.

"Anything happening at Casa Mesogog?" Ethan asked.

"I don't know," she said. She felt flustered and awful. She had only the faintest idea how to work most of these systems Hayley had developed. A computer at the cafe she could handle - those were straightforward. This had some garage-made OS and equipment not meant to work together forced into some kind of mutual truce. "I can't get anything out of this computer. It makes no SENSE."

"Cass," Ethan said exasperatedly. "Great. We've got a problem."

"What happened?" she asked anxiously, trying to get a visual off one of the satellite feeds.

"It's Devin. He collapsed."

She bolted upright. "Ohmigod," she gasped. "What are his vitals? I took some nursing classes last year, there's stuff you have to do!"

"Cass, I'm a computer geek, not a doctor."

"Where are you?" she asked. "I'll get over there right now!"

"In a field," Ethan said.

She grunted. "That's not helpful, Ethan!"

"Look, I'll send Dr. T's raptor back for you....

Cassidy sighed, returning to the chair in frustration. "Do either of you have even the slightest idea how to treat someone? He could have an aneurism

or all sorts of things. Can Kira?"

"Um...."

"His pulse is steady," Kira said.

Cassidy crossed herself absent mindedly. "Good. It might be anemia, but there's nothing you can do about that. Try waking him gently."

"Right," Ethan said. "Um... Kira?"

"Devin? Come on, wake up Devin."

She could hear Devin groan. "Did anybody get the number of that forcefield?"

Cassidy smiled nervously. "Devin, are you feeling all right?

"I feel like... oooh, what happened to me? I feel like one of the raptor riders danced all over me...."

"Devin!" Kira gasped. "Your wrist!"

"My whaaa?" Devin asked groggily.

"Your Triassic Morpher!" Ethan exclaimed. "The faceplate changed!"

"That's silly," Devin said drowsily. "I didn't call my Zord."

"Okay, something's wrong," Kira said.

Cassidy smacked the CPU in frustration. "Will you guys knock it off with the radio drama already and tell me what happened?"

"Er, um...."

Cassidy screamed. An indicator light notified her that the black rider had returned to his pen and was awaiting redeployment.

"What in the hell is going on?"

"Cass, we have to get back to you," Ethan said quickly. "Stay there. We can't leave the base unguarded. Dev's, um ... Awake."

"Awake...?!"

"We'll be back, Cass!"

Cassidy growled in frustration.

A deep hiss filled the destroyed laboratory. "RANGERSSS!"

"I think that's our cute to leave," Dr. Smitty said.

The four of them struggled to the more damaged of the exits - the one Mesogog wasn't coming from - only to find their path blocked by a disheveled

Elsa. "Not so fast!"

Conner - Eric - whichever - raised his sword. "I'm tired, and I want to go home," he said, sounding like an overgrown two-year-old.

"Zeltrax?" She asked uneasily. "Why are you helping them?"

"Because... because... oh, get out of my way, Elsa, before you're unable to walk," the form said.

In spite of herself, Elsa let him brush past. She obviously knew what that body could do. He staggered back past her a moment later, lifting the prone form of his brother over his shoulder before returning to the hall. Hayley nervously eyed the general as the rest of them headed out, Trent facing backwards to make sure they weren't ambushed.

"Something's happened to Zeltrax," she murmured, wondering in her mind whether her Lord's idea to turn the Rwd Ranger's brother against him had really been a good idea, but not suicidal enough to voice it out loud.

"ELSA!" Mesogog cried as he stormed into the chamber. "The Rangers have fled!"

"Invisiportals, my Lordm" she said easily. As if on cue, a portal momentarily sputtered on the far side of the lab.

Mesogog hissed.

"Everybody okay back there?" Terrance yelled over his shoulder as he cross-wired the door to the axiliary invisiportal control room.

"Fine, Dr. T," Zeltrax rumbled.

With a hiss the hatch opened and the rest of them piled inside. Hayley made her way to the controls and began hitting everything that crossed her line of sight. "One of these has to be a way out of here."

"This room is bigger than my quarters," Trent muttered claustrophobically.

"It must be nice having an island to yourself," Zeltrax said.

"Hayley, any luck...."

A portal snapped to life in front of them. Hayley shrugged. "That's not my doing!"

"Do we dare...."

"Dr. T, let's get out of here," Zeltrax said. "Before they notice that I'm not their loyal minion."

"He's right," Trent nodded. "Anyplace is better than here."

Dr. Smitty looked doubtful, but jumped through the portal feet first..

Terrance's fall was cushioned by a boddy beneath him.

"Get offa me, you oaf!"

Pulling upright, he saw the familiar sight of the Blue Ranger underneath him.

"Ethan? Where are we?"

"Not in Kansas anymore," Zeltrax rumbled.

Ethan and Kira jumped backwards. Kira wiped at her mouthpiece in shock. Devin stood between them, unmorphed but largely inattentive to what was going on.

"Everybody stay cool," Trent said. "It's Conner. Or it's Eric who thinks he's Conner. Either way, he's not our enemy."

"Eric who thinks he's Conner?" Kira repeated.

"No, I'm Conner," Zeltrax said.

"So, ah, what's new with you guys?" Hayley asked uncertainly.

Devin raised his left arm, his Triassic Morpher remolecularizing. A second later the face plate changed ot the familiar Tyrannosaurus.

"Guys, I'm the new Red...."

Then Devin fainted.