Disclaimer: see part 1

Author's note: Thanks to everybody that wrote in or otherwise encouraged me to continue with this series! Giant thanks to Nalanzu for putting up with me.

Another Time, Another Place
by Smittysgirl

People usually didn't pay Devin much attention at school. That was how he liked it. He could drift from one clique to another, hanging on the outside unnoticed. He earned as little scorn as he did respect, and it made him an ideal journalist. Whatever had happened to Conner yesterday, it certainly made a difference in Devin's life.

He shuffled into class, taking his accustomed seat near Mr. O'Shaunessey's desk. It had been a much better perch when Mrs. Norton was still teaching, but surprise elopings had a tendency to catch up on you like a cold.

He'd heard the whispers all morning. Was that Devin Fong? He seemed so much more confident. He was dressing better. He'd finally done something with his hair!

Devin didn't know what it was about. He looked, and he thought acted, exactly the same as always. Maybe a corona of power was being released without a dinogem to contain it, making him project the authoritativeness of a Ranger even when demorphed. He'd need to speak to Hayley about it.

All he knew was, he didn't like it a bit.

Marianne Chandler slid across from him, not even giving her usual perfunctory nod. That, Devin realized with a start, was unusual for Marianne. Even more unusual with his powers acting up the way they were.

"Something on your mind?" he asked softly.

The girl looked up, her eyes bloodshot. "Hey, Dev. Sorry if I was spacing out. somebody I care about has gone missing, and nobody seems to have any answers."

"There anything I can do to help?"

She laughed dryly. "Tell me the whereabouts of Eric McKnight, for starters."

Devin's heart leapt for the girl. The only two answers he could provided - dead and laid out in Dr. Smith's freezer, or turned into a deadly cyborg and so crippled by guilt he'd created an autonomous personality patterned on his twin brother - wouldn't have done her much good. "I haven't seen either member of that clan in almost two days."

"Conner cut school mid Wednesday last week. Nobody's seen him since. I'm hoping Principal Randall will have some idea where at least Conner is."

Devin winced. Hayley's revelation that the head of the school was in fact Mesogog's top general - by virtue that theo ther one kept dying - had shocked all of them. As dangerous as Mercer was when they were in detention for any infarction he could dream up to keep them out of battle, knowing the head of the school was out for their blood had only notched up the danger for the Rangers.

"Eric and I haven't really talked in a couple weeks," she continued. "I'm getting concerned. Conner's illness is taking its toll on him. Eric needs his own identity, he's not his brother's keeper."

If only you knew, Marianne.

"It's been hard for all of us," Devin admitted. "You see somebody suffering like that, you just want to do something. I'm sorry you got caught up in that."

He gently placed his hand over hers, and she smiled up at him. "But hey, it looks like you're doing better. You're all the girls are talking about in the bathroom."

Devin felt the flush rising to his cheeks. "Nah. It's a setup for some gag, just you wait."

"I don't think so. They were especially amazed how you threw away your internship with Channel 3. You had a ready made career, Dev! Rumors are already circulating about what horrible assignment you and Cassidy were given to make you quit. You even dragged her along with you!"

He shook his head. "She's the one that got me to quit."

Marianne shrugged. "Believe what you want. All I know is, after 3 years Devin Fong has finally arrived at Reefside. Enjoy the next 5 months."

The class bell rang.

"Is someone sitting here?"

Cassidy took a moment to respond to his query, and Ethan's gut tightened. His girlfriend had been distant for the last few days, and while it was perfectly understandable given how much crap they'd had to endure, being away from her was even worse when she was right there.

She shook her head absently, and Ethan slid next to hear. Rare as it was to see Cassidy eating cafetaria chow instead of sacking it, it was rarer to see someone's tray piled with nothing but beverages. He wondered if she'd even looked at what she was grabbing.

"Cass, what's bothering you?"

She turned to look at him slowly, her expression glassy. "Why do you think something's the matter? Aren't we talking now? Haven't I been coming to base every day for the last week?"

Ethan swallowed. This wasn't going to be pretty. There was steel behind those words. "Cass, I wanted to spend time with you as your boyfriend, not your teammate."

"They're pretty damn intertwined, aren't they Ethan?" her voice shot up, and even Cass seemed to notice. She lowered her tone before they got too much attention. "I'm sorry about being a cold fish, I've just been dealing with a lot. We all have."

He suspected it was going to come down to this. She'd been forced to choose between her duties to the Rangers and her dreams of working in journalism. Ethan had been amazed when Devin had told him about Cassidy's decision. It was an obligation he'd have never taken, and he was an active Ranger. Cass was an adjunct to the team!

"I just wanted to be with you. I thought that's what you wanted too."

She smiled faintly. "I want to be with you too Ethan, but now isn't the time."

"I was ... hoping maybe we could get together one night this week and do something. I'd had some plans that were postponed ..."

Her expression hardened. "Ethan, try and see beyond yourself for a moment! I'm trying to reassure you our relationship will endure these hardships, and you're not taking a hint!" With a harumph, she got up and marched out of the cafetaria.

Ethan sighed, opening one of her abandoned milk cartons and taking a long swig. That was so not like the Cassidy he'd met online, the Cassidy he called his girlfriend. That wasn't even the Cassidy Cornell half the student body wanted to kill. He got the distinct impression that there was way more going on than he was seeing.

Elsa was concerned. The last few weeks had been a trying time for Mesogog's command. She had no love lost for Zeltrax, of course, but his repeated deaths had put a distinct strain on her own relationship with Lord Mesogog.

"He doesn't have a whipping boy anymore," she sighed.

A knock came on her office door. In a flash she rematerialized her Principal Randall form - another advantage she'd had stripped from her by Smith's accursed woman. Her anonymity. Her vessel from escaping punishment when Mesogog was confined to his human form. Elsa nervously pulled one of her sleeves down, masking the welts on her wrist. Marks shaped like a human hand.

"Come in!" she bellowed.

Her holographic secretary meekly peeked her head in the room. "Ma'am, a Dr. Smith would like to see you."

The Black Ranger? Here? He wouldn't force a confrontation, not on school grounds. Certainly not with them both in their human guises. What could he possibly want? "Send him in," she said.

The mousy simulation disappeared around the corner, and Dr. Terrance Smith entered. He was such a fine specimen of humanity, from his down-home good looks to his floppy, playful hair and his firm, muscular...

Elsa coughed. "Is there something I can do for you, doctor, or are you paying a social visit?"

Smith frowned. "Let's not mince words, Elsa. I have need of your help on something. You know as well as I do what happened to Eric McKnight was a tragedy. There's a lot I'll accept in war, but roping Eric in was crossing boundaries. Right now we're stuck with a body that I can't explain, and two parents I've had to convince their sons were kidnapped by Mesogog."

She snorted. "I don't see how any of this is my concern yet. You're down one Red Ranger, but that's all the better for us."

"Mesogog doesn't want me in jail. He wants me dead. I can accept those terms. I want you to deposit E - Conner's body downtown. Stage a Tyrannodrone attack, I don't care. Just stick around long enough for the press or the cops to show, and make a spectacle of unloading your hostage. Give the terms you want for releasing the other."

Elsa lowered her glasses to glower at him. "You're in no place to make requests of me, Black Ranger."

"Understand something, Elsa. No matter what I might say or do, I can't touch Anton Mercer. He's too well insulated. There is nothing that will stop me from destroying Susan Randall if you don't cooporate. It is only because of my monk like self restraint that you're allowed this semblance of a life. You will do what I ask, becaus you really have no other choice in the matter."

Her hand fumbled across the table, seeking purchase as his voice went hollow. She knew there was conviction behind those words. Dangerous as Mesogog might be to her in body, what he was threatening her with would destroy her soul. Without Randall her life would be nothing more than a monotony of action and punishment - like Zeltrax.

She slid back into her chair, trying to look contemplative. "I'll do as you ask, Black Ranger. But this makes us even."

Smith shrugged. "Believe that if you wish."

He turned and left without another word. Elsa sighed.

"This is incredible!" Conner cried as he struck another hit on the manequin with his rapier. It was only Hayley's insistence that kept him from using the Zeltrax sword and in all likelihood ruining their meager testing equipment.

"Your coordination is improved," Trent said from the sidelines with a stopwatch. "You're almost pushing the human limits of response time."

Hayley spun her chair around to face them. "I'll say. Pretty soon we'll need to record everything you do for analysis later. Neither of us is quick enough to accurately mark your progress."

Conner beamed. Most of the testing conducted on his current body had been intrusive and embarassing - especially the agonizing night before they realized the cybernetic aspects of the Zeltrax armor used the biological's waste elements as raw fuel. Fight training had been wonderful. It gave Hayley a chance to analyze how integrated the cybernetic augmentations were to Eric's nervous system.

It beat cutting him open and praying they knew what they were doing, anyway.

"Let's take five," Hayley said as she caught sight of Dr. Smitty heading into Dino Ops. She fell in beside him as they headed toward storage and tried to keep her voice low. Conner was glad she hadn't tested his hearing just yet. "How did it go?"

"She seemed receptive. I hate lying to the McKnights like this, but it's the only way we can get him back to a normal life. Speaking of, how's it looking?"

Trent moved alongside Conner, his head quirked. He'd evidently deduced what the other boy was doing but had decided not to rat him out or disrupt his concentration.

Hayley shook her head. "Whatever Mesogog did to Eric, it affects nearly all of his motor skills. I don't want to imagine the kind of surgery removing the implants would require. Maybe the Space Rangers could do it with all their fantastic equipment, but we're a little short on magic and alien technology at the moment."

Dr. Smitty held her against him for a moment. "Just keep at it, we'll think of something. How's his mental state?"

"Either that's Conner, or he told Eric more pertinent details of his life than most documentarians. He's under a lot of stress, and I think what Mesogog did to him is going to leave marks for the rest of his life especially now that he's off his meds, but he's held together pretty well.

Trent nudged Conner gently. Conner shushed him.

"And Trent?" Terrance asked.

Hayley sighed. "He's bottling it up. I think that night really drove home what he would lose if he didn't join the team. I worry what happens - whatever happens - when Mesogog is defeated. His facade is only temperary. He needs clinical help, Terr. Help we can't provide."

"Everybody's got it tough right now. I only hope they can be strong for each other until the end is in sight. All we have is each other."

"What did they say?" Trent whispered. "Are we getting committed or something?" The joke in his voice aside, it was evident what Hayley and Dr. Smitty thought of their mental states was of vital import to the White Ranger.

Conner turned towards him and forced a smile on his face. "Smooth sailing. They're amazed at how well we're doing."

Trent exhaled heavily. "GREAT. I was afraid they'd treat us like we were made of china for the rest of our natural lives. Hey, you wanna go knock off and prowl the estate for a while? It's nearly feeding time for the herbivore zords."

Conner looked back at the two adults plotting away at their fate, and then at his friend. "That'd be great. Wanna bring some ice cream?"

Ethan's time at home for the last couple weeks had been severely limited by his duties to the team and the continuing deteroration of his relationship with Cassidy. Today hadn't been much better, as Kira spent the entire afternoon in Dino Ops trying to duck Cassidy herself, awkwardly forcing Ethan into the middle of something he barely understood.

He'd hoped getting Cass work at Channel 3 would have done something to mend their virulent relationship. Clearly that wasn't the case.

With a soft smile he slid into his computer chair and punched up his USENET 'bot. The Ranger sightings for the last week were few and far between, but there was an ominous consistency to the appearances. While most sightings were a healthy mixture of teams, weapons and tactics, this was almost uniformly the Ninja Storm Rangers. The sightings even formed a loose pattern.

His eyes quickly began to sag from the strain, and he diligently fought back fatige for at least a few minutes more. Who knew when he'd get an opportunity like this again. Punching up his email, he saw a chain of letters from Samurai Cam, getting increasingly more urgent with each passing day. Today's was entirely in capital letters and featured fifteen exclamation points.

A furious pounding on the front door jarred Ethan out of his confusion, and he barreled down the steps three at a time. No doubt the team had run into some kind of trouble again - there was no way his parents would have visitors at this hour of night. Hastily undoing the chain and deadbolt before his parents did awaken, he pulled the door open.

A tall Asian man looked down at him with a mixture of concern and frustration. Behind him a medium-tall blonde waved. "Ethan James?"

Ethan swallowed, suddenly wondering if men in black were known for wearing polo shirts and jeans on their off hours. Or bringing along swiss miss models. "Yeah?"

"I'm Samurai Cam. Something's come up. We need your help."

The end.

To be continued in The Tempest