Disclaimer: 'Power Rangers' (all incarnations) are property of 'Saban', who are in some strange way related to Disney, who run the show on ABC. No infringement is intended.

ROARING ON THE WIND

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Twenty-Three: When I Close My Eyes

Kendrix suppressed a scream that was welling up in her throat. It wouldn't do any good to scream—she had tried that already and nothing happened. She was not entirely sure where she was even. The tiny cell she had been put in had a single window letting in a pale, dusty stream of light. That small light was enough for her to see how filthy the cell was. In fact, she was no longer sure how long she had been in here. Her stomach rumbled painfully. None of this was good for her or the baby. If Mesogog wanted her baby, wouldn't it have been in his better interest to keep her comfortable and healthy? Although, she imagined most of the problems centered around the cyborg.

The only thing in her cell that got changed regularly was the water bucket. The cell stank of human refuse and moldy dirt. She tried to pick out the cleanest spot in the cell and sank to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. She felt like all she had done in the time she had been by herself was cry or scream. And this was behavior expected of a former Power Ranger? Being locked up with no way out was not frightening her so much as the fact that she was by herself. This might be bearable if someone was with her.

"Leo!" she cried in between the harsh sobs that shook her entire body. "Let me out of here!" she screamed at the solid steel door.

In a wild frenzy, she threw herself at the door with some far-off notion of knocking down the door. Her nails scratched at the surface, but all the act got her in the end was a bruised shoulder and lower morale.

This wasn't happening. She wanted to be home with Leo, walking on the beach and doing all the ridiculous little things that people expecting their first baby did. Not that she was sure what those things were, but there had to be something. She was not trapped in a dirty, rank cell with no hope of escaping.

She could recall many times when she and Leo had been active rangers when Leo got trapped by someone and no one knew where he was. Trakeena had taken him prisoner at one point in time with the intent of destroying him. But a confused Sting-Winger gave him ample means to escape. Another time, he and Damon had been trapped by Captain Mutiny and Deviot and the galactic pirate had been going to destroy them at sunset. She recalled Damon telling her about that, since she had technically been dead and Karone had been serving as the Pink Galaxy Ranger. She sighed. Reminiscing was going to get her nowhere fast.

Closing her eyes, she tried to send a mental message like she had seen so many of the rangers before and after her do. She was not the one to try those things normally. She had been a GSA science officer, specializing in botany and ecology. There it was for anyone to see—she was a science nerd and not prone to believe anything of the supernatural. This was in contrast to Maya, her best friend and the Yellow Galaxy Ranger, who strongly believed that.

"Someone just get me out of here," she whispered, her eyes still squeezed shut tightly. "I don't care if it's Robin Hood, someone… please…" She trailed off as she convulsed into racking sobs once more. This was just great. She was going hysterical and then off the deep end into the abyss of insanity. Maybe that's why Mesogog was doing this—he wanted to drive her crazy so she would be complacent to whatever was going to happen.

"Come on!"

A voice echoed down the hallway. Kendrix gasped and scrambled to her feet. A loud scraping noise came from the door to her cell. The cyborg and some drones entered the cell.

"Ready to serve your purpose?"

"No!" Kendrix screamed as the drones advanced on her and tried to hold her down. Something about being threatened filled her with a crazed strength and she flailed her limbs so that they couldn't get a good grip on her.

"Such antics." The cyborg approached her with a large syringe filled with something green that did not look normal.

Kendrix let out an ear-piercing shriek and struggled even more against the drones. She jerked one of her arms free and elbowed the offending drone in the face. This gave her enough momentum to free her other arm and try to dash out of the cell. A drone grabbed her leg and she tripped just in the doorway of the cell.

"You won't win," the cyborg said mildly.

She closed her eyes and then she saw it—her morpher. Her morpher was right in front of her face. Not bothering to contemplate how it got there, she grabbed it and pressed the correct button, screaming, "Go galactic!"

In the instant she morphed, she felt her body materialize and then appear… in the lab?

"I think I've got a lock on Kendrix!"

Tommy shook himself from his stupor as he had been staring at the wall in the lab. He dashed over to where Hayley and Billy were manning the controls. Hayley was pointing to what appeared to be a small, out-of-the-way chamber on Mesogog's island fortress.

"The readings are centered there," Hayley continued. "But I can't get a strong enough lock on her unless she's morphed."

He turned and looked to Leo, who had taken to living in the lab along with Wes ever since the official count of who was missing had been announced. He wasn't worried about the people roaming around the house. Mesogog wasn't going to try to put them anywhere now that he knew they had a means for getting away. Leo's blue eyes were wider and more panicked than they had been yet.

"Can you get her morpher to her?" Leo asked in a hoarse voice.

Billy shook his head. "I don't know. My telekinesis isn't strong enough to send something that far." He looked over at Andros. The Space Ranger had just come into the lab and was assessing the situation.

"If we combine our powers," Andros said slowly, "it might be enough to get the morpher there. However, there's no guarantees that there will be a way to get it into the fortress and into her cell."

The looked on Leo's face could only be described as wild desperation. "Do it!" he whispered. "We have to try!" Leo squeezed his eyes shut and looked ready to break down at any moment. Ashley, who had followed Andros down stairs, gently took Leo by the arm and sat him down on some crates lying around the lab. She gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders and was whispering something in his ear.

Tommy found that truly amazing. Andros and Ashley had put their newborn baby into the hands of someone who admittedly knew nothing about babies. Now, Cole and Karone were missing. And even with their child God knows where, they were still able to remain calm and comfort those around them. He would have imagined that it should have been the other way around. Someone should have been comforting Andros and Ashley. However, whatever Ashley did calmed Leo down enough that he looked less desperate and more determined.

Billy took Kendrix's morpher out from where it had been under the scanners so that they could try to find Kendrix herself. The Green Ranger nodded at Andros and both of them held the morpher. "Do we know where this place is?" Andros asked.

Billy nodded. "I know. It will get there."

The two of them let go of the morpher. The morpher floated in the air between the two men and then took off like a shot. Leo gasped and stood up, Ashley trying to keep him from doing so. In no time at all, the morpher was out of the lab.

Tommy stared at Billy and Andros. The two of them had their eyes closed, concentrating their combined power on that morpher. Hayley had swung around in the captain's chair, watching them. The moment seemed to freeze in time. No one moved or breathed. It was like moving at all would disrupt something and they would lose Kendrix forever.

Andros suddenly opened his eyes. "It's there," he said.

Hayley swung back around to the computer. "Come on, Kendrix!" Hayley was saying to the computer. "Morph and I can have you out of there!"

Leo ran up to the computer. "What's she doing?" he cried.

"I can't tell," Hayley said as she shook her head.

"It's there," Billy added.

"The door to the cell is open as well!" Hayley quickly surmised from the readings.

"Oh God," Leo groaned. "Just morph!"

There was suddenly a burst of pink energy on the screen. Hayley quickly moved her fingers over the keyboard. "I've got a solid lock!" she reported. "Teleporting…" It seemed that everyone in the lab turned around and stared at where people who were teleporting landed. There was a streak of pink light and Kendrix landed in the lab, lying on the floor morphed.

"Kendrix!" Leo yelled, running to her.

"Power down," Kendrix muttered as Leo pulled her into his arms. She suddenly convulsed into sobs as Leo held her close. Tommy had the feeling that he was viewing a scene that was not meant to be public in the long run. "Leo…" Kendrix was sobbing. "They wanted our baby and they wanted to do experiments and…"

"Shhh…" Leo whispered to her. "You're safe now."

Ashley walked over to the couple and gently stroked Kendrix's hair. "Nothing's going to happen to you Kendrix. We're not going to let it."

Tommy caught Andros' gentle smile as he joined his wife and the two Galaxy Rangers. He had one arm around Leo and the other around Kendrix. Billy and Tommy exchanged a glance. There were times he hated being a ranger, but it was times like this that he loved being a ranger and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

"Hayley," Tommy said to her, since the situation with Kendrix appeared to be well in hand. "Keep the scans going on the island for Jen and Carter. I want a full diagnostic report of that thing before we send someone in."

"Who's going in?" Hayley asked as her fingers flew over the keyboard once more.

He sighed. "I don't know."

"I'm going," Wes spoke up.

Tommy nodded at him, knowing that he would be the first to volunteer. Aside from Wes, he wanted other Dino Thunder Rangers in there who could teleport without the computer. He'd probably send Adam and one of the kids down there. But there was time to work all of that out. It would still take Hayley a while to do the scan. While they had time, he just hoped that Carter and Jen had time as well.

Cole thanked the cab driver as he got out in front of one of the ritziest hotels in the LA area. If this wasn't going to throw off that crazy cyborg woman then he didn't know what was going to. And if Wes got mad about the exorbitant charges on his credit card… well… there wasn't much he could do about it since it would take him thirty years to pay him back. But then again, Wes probably wouldn't mind too terribly much. Wes had always been really nice and laid-back about things whenever Cole was around him. (Granted, he tended to be around Carter more since they lived so close together, but still…)

He took a deep breath, shouldering the bags and switching the hand that the baby carrier was in. This had better work. He also hoped that his luck of not being asked for an ID when he handed over the credit card would hold out.

A bellhop in a wine red and gold-trimmed uniform held the door open for him. He flashed the guy a brief smile, trying not to look like he was hiding something and went into the lobby. He didn't take time to dwell on his opulent surroundings. He went straight to the front desk where a woman wrinkled her nose at him.

"May I help you, sir?" she asked, obviously wanting him to leave. Cole paused for a moment. He had showered and his clothes didn't smell that bad.

"I'd like a room," he replied.

"How are you going to pay?"

"Credit card."

"Really?" she raised an eyebrow as Cole handed her Wes' credit card. Her expression changed immediately when she read the name on the card. "Oh, Mr. Collins! I am so sorry! I didn't recognize you, sir! Your normal suite will be ready in a moment."

Normal suite? Cole just smiled and tried to act like this was perfectly natural. He didn't think he and Wes looked alike at all, but if this woman was going to believe that they did, then all the better. The cyborg was looking for Cole Evans, not Wesley Collins. He nodded to himself and checked on Karone as the woman bustled around and told a bellhop to take Mr. Collins and his bags up to the suite.

He followed the bellhop to the elevator. The man pressed a button for the top floor. When they got to the floor, Cole was impressed with the mere hallway, not to mention the room. The bellhop handed him a room key. "If there's anything else you require, Mr. Collins, then please call for room service."

Cole nodded and the man left. He was glad to finally be alone again and not in the public eye. The bags were set in the front hall. He assumed that if this was such a ritzy place, it probably had a complimentary laundry service. But he didn't want to investigate it now. He was still exhausted. Kaye had already gone to sleep. He sighed and got her comfortable on one of the beds, much the same way he had at the previous hotel. For some reason, he remembered watching a movie where the mother had put the baby in a makeshift crib out of pillows and towels. Oh yeah. It had been Ghostbusters 2 when he and TJ and Eric had watched both the Ghostbusters movies the first night they were in Reefside.

"Don't go out the window after any creepy ghost men dressed as nannies," he told Kaye. "I don't want to climb on the window ledge to go after you."

She slept on. Cole shook his head as he stripped down to his boxers and fell into the other bed, falling into the dreamless sleep of one mortally exhausted. It seemed like he had just closed his eyes when he opened them again. The clock in the room said that it was several hours later. Kaye was awake and fussing to be changed and fed. Why was it so hot in here? He padded across the room and checked the thermostat. The heater was on a comfortable level. He put his hand to his forehead, not that that was going to tell him if he was sick.

He quickly fed and changed Kaye, before going into the bathroom to look at himself. He looked a bit pale—but that could be explained by the lack of sleep and all the running. His eyes looked glassy and his cheeks were flushed. No… he couldn't get sick now! He didn't want to be sick around a baby. How could he face Andros and Ashley knowing that he got their child sick? That was assuming that some of the rangers were still alive.

Choking back a sob that rose in his throat, he went back out to the bedroom to find that Kaye was sleeping. Smart kid. He felt like doing the same thing. He lay down on the other bed and closed his eyes, wondering why it was so hot in the room.

The alarm chimes went off in the lab. Tommy watched as Hayley swung into action and brought up the surveillance screens. His heart froze when he saw what it was. The thing was already ten stories high and looked like Mesogog, but not Mesogog. No… the only times they had gone against Mesogog in battle, they had lost or Mesogog retreated long before they had an opportunity to find his weak spots. But this thing appeared much more dinosaur like and looked like it had no weak spots.

"What's going on, Doctor O?" Conner asked, swinging himself down the steps to the lab and freezing at the sight of the surveillance screens. "What is that? Is that Mesogog?"

Tommy nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so."

The other Dino Thunder Rangers ran into the lab and crowded around the screen. "I guess the rescue mission to the island is off?" Ethan asked, looking like it was a bad, but necessary idea to abandon that search.

"Looks like it." He paused. "Billy, you'll need to go out with the Dragon-Zord-"

But he was cut off by several people protesting at once. The roar of voices was nonsensical, the gist of it all being that the Dragon-Zord was old and not up to Mesogog's technology and that Mesogog would crush it like a fly.

"What choice to do we have?" he roared over the voices.

Everyone was silent at once. "None," Trent said. "We have to take out the Dragon-Zord and hope it will be enough."

"He's right," Adam agreed. "We're rangers. We don't give up. There has to be something we haven't thought of, something left to try."

Tommy hated to break it to him that most of the zords from the previous power teams were either destroyed, in a government building somewhere or lost with the power source. But he didn't say that. He just smiled bravely. "We'll think of something," he agreed softly.

"Aren't the Zeo Zords still left?" Kimberly asked.

Tommy shook his head. "No. They were lost when we went to the Turbo powers." But it had been a good thought.

"Tommy!" Eric yelled from the stairs.

"What?"

"You've got to come see this!" The Quantum Ranger disappeared at the top of the stairs. Tommy exchanged a glance with Adam and they followed Eric up the stairs with the rest of the Dino Thunder Rangers on their tail. "I think help is here," Eric said as they all clustered at the trapdoor to the lab.

Tommy took in the man standing with Eric. He was dressed simply in blue jeans and a blue flannel shirt. His brown hair was longish and he had a goatee going for him. In fact, he looked very familiar from the archives, but Tommy couldn't place where.

"Tommy Oliver?" the man asked. Tommy nodded. He bowed slightly, his entire persona filled with dignity and honor. "I am Merrick Baliton. I bring greetings from Princess Shayla."

"Uh, that's great," Conner interrupted. "But how will that help us now?"

Merrick raised an eyebrow at Conner. "He was the Lunar Wolf!" Ethan hissed.

"She has seen your troubles," Merrick continued as he led them slowly out onto the front porch. "And she sends these as a gift." He motioned to the sky. Tommy looked up, seeing nothing and wondering if Merrick was quite sane.

Suddenly, there was a terrific shriek from the sky and a huge yellow bird… no, wait… a huge yellow zord swooped down in front of them. Tommy looked at Merrick and slowly smiled. They heard a roar from behind the house and all eight of them ran around behind to see more zords sitting in the back yard. There were five zords in total. Merrick followed them, a wry smile on his serious face.

"These are the Wild Zords," he explained.

"Which one's mine?" Conner asked with a grin.

Merrick gave the young red ranger as appraising look. "The Red Lion will be yours to command," he replied. He turned to Kira and Ethan. "You two will have the Yellow Eagle and the Blue Shark." He then turned to Tommy and Trent, the last of the original five Dino Thunder Rangers. "You will command the Black Bison and the White Tiger." He paused. "Together, the five zords become the Wild Force Megazord."

Tommy gaped at the animal zords just lounging around his backyard. "I don't know what to say," he stammered. "This is amazing!"

Merrick just nodded slightly, before looking at Adam, Kimberly and Billy. "I don't have zords for you. I don't think Princess Shayla anticipated that there would be so many rangers."

"It's all right," Kimberly said. "We never really had zords to begin with."

"How?" Tommy asked.

"Princess Shayla saw the trouble from the Animarium. She contacted me and asked me to bring you the Wild Zords."

"Are you staying around for a while?" Trent asked him.

Merrick shrugged. "I wouldn't be much use in a battle since I no longer have my growl phone."

"It doesn't matter," Billy replied. "We need all the man power we can get."

Merrick shrugged again. Tommy took that to be a sign of acquiescence. He looked at all the Dino Thunder Rangers and the Wild Zords. "All right, guys!" he said. "Let's take care of Mesogog in his creepy new form."

There was a cry of "Dino thunder, power up!" and "White ranger, dino power!" and the eight of them appeared morphed. The five of them jumped up and into the new, well new to them, zords and took off towards Mesogog.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Thanks for the great feedback! To answer some questions that were asked (and I'm being a horrible person and lumping them all together rather than doing reviewer responses, because it's almost time for me to go to class!) All issues revolving around all characters will be resolved at the end, however some may have to wait until the very end. And it is implied that Adam could not phase out of the cell for the same reason that Billy and Andros couldn't use their telekinesis and Jason couldn't tap into his power source-- the shields/force fields. No, Cole is not still running around looking like a jungle boy gone wrong (that is not specifically stated either, but he does have Andros' clothes...) That appears to be all-- if I missed something, e-mail me-- but once more, thanks for the good comments! --EK