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-Five: Halfway There
"No way! You can't go there! It's suicide!"
Tommy looked sadly at Conner's outburst. For the better part of half an hour, him and the remaining Dino Thunder Rangers had been arguing about what to do about Mesogog's latest proposal. The reptile freak wanted to see Tommy alone. Probably had a strange grudge against him like Zeltrax had. Of course, no one was entirely sure what Mesogog's problem was other than that he wanted to turn the earth back to its prehistoric roots.
Unfortunately for him, most of the other rangers and Hayley supported Conner's view point. It was pretty much suicide for him to face Mesogog alone. But he didn't see any other way around the dilemma. Mesogog would just flee if others showed up with him and that would accomplish nothing. They needed to get rid of Mesogog once and for all.
"It may be suicide," Tommy said softly. "But what other choice do we have?"
"I want to know why Mesogog and his crew hates you so much in the first place," Kira stated, getting up from the crate she had been sitting on and pacing the lab. "What did you ever do to them?"
"I helped with the research that created them. Do they need a better reason?"
"Actually, they do have a better reason," Trent spoke up, his voice soft.
Six faces turned to face Trent. Kira stopped pacing and stared at him. "Trent? What do you know about all this?"
Trent stood up. "My father did some kind of experiment on himself when you guys were doing all that research. He is Mesogog."
That revelation was met with stunned silence. Tommy had to consciously keep himself from gaping at his student. Anton Mercer was Mesogog? How was that possible? First, he had thought Mercer died in that explosion by Mesogog's hand. Then Mercer reappeared. Suddenly, it all made sense. That was how Mercer survived, not because he had been lucky or a search team found him, but because he was Mesogog and Mesogog was the one who facilitated that explosion.
"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" he asked.
Trent looked pained, like he hadn't wanted to tell this in the first place. "My father asked me to help you. I don't think he wanted me to tell you he was Mesogog."
"Then there's got to be a way to negate the dinosaur half," Ethan said fervently.
The White Ranger shook his head. "No. Every time my father got close to a break through with that, Mesogog would come along and destroy his work."
"But if we kill the dinosaur half, we kill him," Conner replied.
"I know," Trent said sadly. "Maybe it's the only way."
"No," Tommy said firmly. "It is not the only way. Hayley, do you still have all of my notes from the island research?"
"Sure," she replied. "They're in the vault."
"It's time to break them out."
Twenty minutes later, his notes were spread out all over the floor and he, Hayley, Ethan and Billy were pouring over them. He was fairly certain that when he sent copies of his notes to Hayley, he had also included Mercer's notes. And if he sent Mercer's notes before that island exploded, then there had to be something here on what he ultimately did to himself.
"Got it!" Billy said suddenly. They crowded around him.
"That's easy enough," Hayley was saying.
"Yeah," Conner added. "But he has ten minutes to be there."
"All right," Tommy announced, shifting into leader mode. "I'll go to Mesogog and hold him off for as long as I can. Hayley, send someone the moment you have the antidote ready. Everyone else, take your zords and go destroy Mesogog's island fortress. We have to take care of this once and for all."
Everyone nodded. Tommy gave him a forced smile before he morphed and teleported to the Museum of Natural History. He hoped that he could hold off Mesogog long enough for Hayley to finish that serum.
"I've given Billy the coordinates for the Dragon-Zord. All you two need to do is follow the Dragon-Zord and you'll be at the right place."
"All right," Kira said into her communicator. Ethan echoed the sentiments.
She and Ethan along with Billy had volunteered to take their zords to the island fortress. It was the most logical thing, since they couldn't form the Megazord without Doctor O. Her zord was the Yellow Eagle and could fly to the island. Ethan had the Blue Shark and could, obviously, swim. The Dragon-Zord normally lived underwater. At the moment, it was doing a strange dog-paddle with Billy balanced on his head. Dark underwater currents indicated that the shark was following the Dragon-Zord at close range. She kept an eye on them, encouraging the eagle to stay just enough behind them to spot trouble.
Trent and Conner had stayed at the lab, mainly to take the antidote to Tommy when Hayley got it done. She understood why Trent wanted to help with that. Mesogog was his adopted father in some strange sense. None of the other rangers wanted to lose their parents, so why should Trent? She also imagined that Dr. Mercer would lighten up quite a bit once he no longer had to worry about Mesogog. All the same, she wanted what was best for Trent. He deserved so much more than the hard breaks he had suffered.
"You still with us, Kira?" Billy asked over the communication line.
"Yeah," she said. "I've got a clear view of the two of you."
"Good deal," the Green Ranger replied.
Kira smiled to herself as her zord soared over the open ocean. She could really get used to this zord. It was almost like an extension of herself in more ways than her Ptera-Zord had ever been. She just hoped that Conner didn't decide to ask any stupid questions while he and Trent were waiting in the lab. She had known for ages that Conner had a crush on her, but he just was not her type. Trent was. That was all there was to it. However, Conner tended to speak before he thought about what he was going to say. That got him into trouble more often than not. There were times she wished he were more like Ethan, just going with the flow. But then again, if any of them were any different, they probably would not be here right now.
"Whoa! That looks like the castle from Super Ninja Space Wars!" Ethan exclaimed. Kira had never played that particular game, but she supposed that his assumption was right. The island they were approaching had a very medieval looking castle sitting on top of it. It occurred to her that she had never seen the outside of Mesogog's fortress. All the times she had gotten into it had been through the invisi-portals.
"Looks more like the castle from Willow," Billy countered.
"Willow?" Kira asked.
"It's a 80s fantasy movie. It's pretty decent. It's got Warwick Davis in it."
"I'll have to check it out."
"Can we focus?" Ethan asked. "We do need to attack that fortress."
"All right," Billy said, taking charge. "Ethan, stay in the water and attack the base of the fortress as best you can. It will fall faster if the foundation is weak. Kira, take an aerial attack. Aim for the generators and signal towers. That will take out any defenses and power sources."
"What about you?" she asked.
"I'll take the ground. I can use the drill tail to take out anything in my way." He paused. "Let's do this!"
"All right!" Kira and Ethan said in unison.
She watched as the Dragon-Zord crawled out of the water and onto the land. The drill tail revved up and took out a stone formation nearest to it. The shark dived deeper into the water and the whole island suddenly shook. She steered her zord to the first generator she found. The zord fired on it and the generator went up in an explosion. She scanned the island again and found another generator. As she was aiming for it, she caught sight of a swarm of Tyranno-drones nearing the Dragon-Zord. The zord used its tail to bat them all away like flies. She almost laughed. That looked slightly comical. The generator she had just found exploded.
"Billy, watch out!" came Ethan's voice. "I'm firing again."
"Affirmative!"
The entire island shook again, presumably from the shark that was attacking from under the water. The Dragon-Zord continued to take out the drones that kept attacking it. Kira wondered at that. Why didn't Mesogog have better defenses on his island? Unless… taking out the generator on that battle royale island had disrupted his other power sources. Perhaps that was why he was taking a much more personal attack on them.
"Pull out, guys," Billy said. "If we all fire at once, that should be enough to destroy the fortress."
Kira steered the Yellow Eagle back out over the open water. She saw the dark form of the Blue Shark emerge from deep water several yards away from the island. The Dragon-Zord lumbered off the island and jumped back in the water with a terrific splash.
"Ready?" Billy asked. Upon the affirmative answers, he called, "Fire!"
The three zords fired at once. The explosion that followed was enough to shake the entire earth. Great orange clouds rose up and dissipated, leaving belching clouds of smoke that revealed the ruins of the fortress. Slowly, the island began to sink into the water. It was almost like the House of Usher sinking into the swamp.
"Hey! What's that?" Ethan asked.
A small female form could be seen waving frantically from the island. "It almost looks like Principal Randall," Kira replied.
"I think it is," Billy said slowly.
"Wait a minute!" Kira exclaimed. "Why would she be on that island unless…"
"Elsa!" Billy groaned. "Didn't you say that that cyborg female called herself Elsa?"
"Yeah…"
"Principal Elsa Randall?"
"Principal Randall was the cyborg? Why didn't any of us notice?"
"Should we rescue her or let her drown?" Ethan asked.
"We have more honor than the latter," Billy countered. "I'll pick her up, but if she goes psycho then it's to a watery grave."
"Sounds good," Kira agreed.
She watched as the Dragon-Zord reached out to the slowly sinking island and Principal Randall stepped onto its outstretched hand. She laughed as Billy left her in the hand and they turned and headed back for the lab. There appeared to be no way he was letting her up where he was perched on the thing's head. That was probably a mark that in addition to be being a sinister partner to an evil overlord, she was also a bad employer. She imagined that Billy would turn her over to the proper authorities when they got to land.
"Hayley," Billy said into the communication line. "Have a police unit meet us at the Reefside Harbor."
"Did you guys get the fortress?" Hayley asked.
"Yeah and we also found that cyborg woman who has been interrogating us and terrorizing us. Turns out she's also Principal Randall."
"I always knew there was something wrong with that woman," came Conner's voice.
Kira laughed to herself, as the zords flew smoothly (or swam smoothly) across the open ocean. If she had not been out here on a ranger mission, the flight would actually have seemed really peaceful. The ocean was a deep azure and the afternoon sun shone down, reflecting gold on the peaking waves.
In no time, they were back at the Reefside Harbor and two police cars were waiting for them. "Don't power down, guys," Billy said. "We'll hand over Randall and then get the zords back to the lab."
"Sounds good."
She watched from the Yellow Eagle as Billy, still powered up, handed Principal Elsa Randall to the authorities. They searched her and loaded her into a police car, before taking off with their sirens blazing. Well, it was good to know that they would be getting a new principal at school. Perhaps the new one would be better than the old one. Heck, anything was better than Principal Randall!
Tommy landed in front of the Museum of Natural History. The place seemed fairly quiet for a Tuesday afternoon, although, it seemed foreboding. Mesogog was sitting casually on a bench in front of the place. His hands were folded in his lap. He slowly stood up when Tommy appeared.
"You're late, Doctor Oliver," he said in his traditional low hiss. "I had expected you five minutes ago. You are lucky that I did not leave."
Tommy would have considered that very lucky, but didn't say so. "I know all about you now," he said in a deceptively steady voice. "Anton Mercer," he stressed the name.
Mesogog just gave him a mild look. "Anton Mercer is dead. He died when I was born."
"Then why do you still fight his reemergence?"
"He is weak. I am strong. Soon enough he will be gone forever."
Tommy noted the use of the present tense. "And your son? What about him?"
Mesogog growled. "That stupid boy betrayed me! He is no longer my son!"
"No…" he replied slowly. "But he is Anton Mercer's son."
The reptile creature just pulled a sword from his belt and held it in a ready position. "I have waited for this moment for a long time, Doctor Oliver."
"I don't want to hurt you," Tommy said softly. "I just want to bring back the Anton Mercer that I knew and respected."
Mesogog did not reply. He just lunged at Tommy with the sword. He rolled back his left shoulder to avoid the blow and pulled out his Brachio-Staff. He countered the next blow and rolled out of the way as Mesogog stabbed the sword blindly into the air. This was madness. He hated the creature before him, but couldn't bring himself to hurt him now that he knew the truth. Defense was his only advantage here. He wasn't angry. He was hurt and betrayed.
"Why me?" he asked as he blocked a blow to his shoulder, but doing a back-flip. "What do you have against me?"
Mesogog thrust his sword towards Tommy's abdomen, but he blocked the blow with his Brachio-Staff. "You are the only one who stands between me and my dream." He threw Tommy away from him and charged at him with the sword. Tommy rolled to the right and the sword struck the concrete. "You and those gems!"
The reptile-man hauled his to his feet by his arm and threw him against the Plexiglas that was the doors to the museum. The stuff splintered at his weight, but didn't break. Tommy slid down the doors and fell to a heap on the ground. Using his Brachio-Staff as a support, he slowly dragged himself to his feet.
"You were once good," Tommy said, clutching his left shoulder which had taken the brunt of his crash into the doors. "What happened?"
"I am good," Mesogog replied, advancing on him with his sword drawn high. "I am taking away the complicated petty life that humans have made and giving them back the simple life that existed before all of this!" He waved a hand to indicate the museum.
"Yeah, but don't you use all those things to create your utopia." He paused. "In my book, that's defined as a hypocrite!"
Mesogog hissed and lifted the sword to strike him. Tommy held up his Brachio-Staff and deflected the blow at the last moment. Using his staff to brace the sword, he dodged from in between Mesogog and the wall, leading the battle to an open space that gave him more freedom.
"Brachio-Staff! Land strike!" he commanded and pointed the staff at the ground. Immediately, a minor shaking of the earth occurred. Mesogog jumped away from it just before it hit him.
"You'll have to do better than that, Doctor Oliver," the reptile taunted.
Tommy didn't dare do anything else for fear that Mesogog would be accidentally destroyed and then Anton Mercer would be lost forever. He slowly backed away from the reptile, his staff held in front of him. His left shoulder ached horribly. 'Hayley!' he thought. 'Hurry! I can't hold out much longer!'
Mesogog advanced on him and reaching out with his free hand, grabbed Tommy around the throat and threw him into a nearby bench. Tommy was stunned for a moment, but dragged himself into a sitting position on the bench. Mesogog calmly walked towards him.
"Goodbye, Doctor Oliver," he said in a mocking sad voice.
"I don't think so!"
Tommy turned and saw Conner and Trent, morphed, running towards them. Trent held a large syringe in his hand. Conner had called out his Tyranno-Staff and brandished it as they came forward. Mesogog barely had time to deflect Conner's first blow, as Conner jumped into action. Tommy forced himself to stand, further distracting Mesogog.
The reptile pushed Conner back and Tommy blocked the sword with his staff. It didn't matter where Trent had gone, they needed to distract him long enough for Trent to inject him. Mesogog blocked Tommy with one hand and threw Conner against a wall of the museum. That forced Conner to power down. Before Tommy knew it, he was flying through the air as well and landed next to Conner. He felt himself power down. Mesogog walked in front of them, his sword held in a ready position.
"I came here to destroy one ranger, so I suppose two for the price of one is all right." He lifted the sword. Tommy instinctively covered his face with his arms, but he soon found that there had been no need.
Mesogog froze with his sword, raised over his head. He was screeching an unearthly tone and dropped the sword. The reptile-man convulsed and landed on his knees. That revealed Trent standing behind him, still morphed, with an empty syringe. Tommy forced himself to his feet and helped Conner up. Mesogog had become still, making no noise. The three of them watched in amazement as the tall reptile seemed to shrink and the scales disappeared revealing fair skin and blonde hair.
Slowly, the man began to moan and writhe some. "Power down," Trent said and leaned over to help the man stand. Tommy and Conner reached out to help as the three of them hauled Anton Mercer to his feet.
He looked pale and shaky, his suit rumpled. "What happened?" he asked slowly and then took sight of all of them. "Tommy? Trent?"
"It's a long story," Tommy replied with a smile.
"Dad," Trent said in a half-strangled voice. Anton turned to his adopted son and pulled him into his arms. Trent clung to him like a frightened child, his shoulders shaking. Tommy suspected that the teen was crying. But then again, he had been slightly younger than them when becoming a ranger. In many ways, they were still children at heart. He smiled as TJ pulled up to the museum in his car and all them piled in. This was going to take some explaining.
"Up there!" Adam said, pointing to a small clearing in the trees ahead.
Wes felt his heart constrict slightly as he pushed ahead of Adam and ran towards the clearing. It had taken them too long to get this far. Heart in his throat, he dashed into the clearing and immediately saw what he was looking for—Jen… She was lying on the ground, still. He gasped and ran to her, barely aware that Carter was not far from her.
"Jen," he whispered.
She didn't move. Adam was next to them in a minute, feeling for a pulse. "She's got a pulse," Adam said. "But we need to hurry." He held his communicator to his mouth. "Hayley, we need Life Flight here right now!"
Wes gently smoothed back Jen's hair, taking in the blood that had dried next to her ear, making it appear like she had been hit in the head. He glanced sideways and saw the mangled state that Carter was in—especially his leg. He suppressed another gasp.
"He's got a pulse too," Adam was telling Kimberly, who was sitting next to Carter.
Hot tears stung his eyes and spilled down his cheeks as they sat with Jen and Carter and waited for the Life Flight helicopters to arrive.To Be Continued...
Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews y'all! I know that my interpretation of their reaction to Trent confessing that his father is Mesogog doesn't gel with the series, but this is AU. I didn't particularly like how they reacted on the series... At any rate, thanks for all the support, keep it coming! --EK