Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.

I wouldn't normally do this, but today is an important day, so today I dedicate this chapter to my home team, the Boston Red Sox, who just last night won the ACLS playoffs and are going to the World Series. Who's your daddy now?

As the Red and Yellow Rangers were kissing in their jail cell, the Blue Ranger was in a cell of his own still. He was awakened from his fitful, restless sleep by the sounds of a scuffle. Something in the back of his subconscious jumped to the irrational conclusion that maybe Dr. O. was okay, and he jolted awake, sitting upright. He blinked at the door to his cell, where the Triptoids slowly tumbled to the ground, to reveal the White Ranger.

"Get up. We're getting you out of here," Trent said. A flurry of motion, and the flimsy replacement lock was shattered, the metal door swinging slowly, creakily open.

"Uh..." Ethan said. "Um, some sort of explanation, please?"

Trent sighed. "Jeez, you guys have gotten a few too many knocks to the head; you're all idiots. I'm here to get you out. Mesogog and Elsa are somewhere in the fortress with the Black Ranger, and--"

"Wait, he's not dead?" Ethan interrupted.

"No," Trent said irritably. "At least, not yet. Anyway, they're doing that, and Zeltrax is wreaking havoc on Reefside. No one's watching the Dino Gems. You go in, get the morphers, get out."

"Why are you helping me?" said Ethan suspiciously. "We're not exactly pals, in case you'd forgotten."

"Because I want Mesogog to get his as much as you guys do. I don't like you. Any of you. At all. I can take you losers down, no problem. But I can't take down Mesogog, and you might be able to. If you defeat him, then I can defeat you, then I'm the winner. Simple."

He said it in such a cold, calculating tone that Ethan didn't for a second doubt that Trent believed every word he said. He didn't care about the Rangers. He didn't want to help them. He wanted only to help himself.

But he was getting Ethan out. And at the moment, that was all that mattered. "You're sure about all of this, right?" he said, stepping out of the cell.

"Yeah."

"For the record, I don't trust you."

"That makes you smarter than I thought. Let's go."

"What are they doing to Dr. O., do you know?" Ethan asked as they darted down the hall, on their way to the main chamber.

"I'm going for stealth here," Trent grumbled. "And no, I don't know what they're doing to him, nor do I care. So shut up already, would you?"

They reached the main chamber, where the morphers sat on a pedestal in the open, unwatched. It was too easy. Way too easy, but Ethan didn't have much of a choice. He entered, grabbed them. Red, blue, yellow. He fixed his own bracelet back to his wrist, and jammed Conner's and Kira's into his large pockets. "Done and done. Where's the invisoportal?"

"In the hall there. Same one that brought you in. Back to the warehouse."

Ethan started for the hall, then stopped. "Hey, Trent...thanks."

"Don't thank me," Trent said gruffly.

"Fine, whatever, I won't. But there was something weird...that warehouse belongs to your dad. Anton Mercer. Do you know why he would have a portal opening there?"

The White Ranger was completely impassive, as Ethan had expected. He decided to let it go, and get going himself. He jumped into the portal and landed in the warehouse he'd been taken from. He activated the communicator. "Hayley? It's Ethan."

"Ethan! Where are you?" she demanded.

"I'm back in the warehouse district," he said. "Where are the Cycles?"

"No time for that. Please tell me you have a morpher on you."

"Yeah, I've got--"

"Great. There's trouble, and Reefside needs you more than ever."

"'My lord?'" Conner repeated incredulously. "What's going on here?"

"Dr. O..?" said Kira uncertainly.

Mesogog stepped out of the shadows, Elsa hovering at his elbow. "Your beloved Doctor Oliver has defected to my side," he hissed, sneering grotesquely. "And he's come in quite handy. Now I have all the Rangers I need to complete my collection."

"You could just collect action figures like a normal person," Conner spat. "Dr. O., you can't be serious...you're not in league with Mesogog."

"I live only to serve my lord," the Black Ranger said, his voice thick with worship. Conner could only stare, flabbergasted. Kira looked disgusted and horrified, then settled on sad.

"I can't decide if that's better or worse than Trent," Conner said. "He may be a slime-sucking scumbag, but at least he has a mind of his own."

"This is a very touching reunion, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said, "and I'm enjoying the betrayal and emotional pain thing, but shouldn't we get around to destroying the Rangers so we can claim the power of the gems for ourselves?"

Mesogog flashed her a 'don't-try-to-upstage-me' glare, but he conceded. "Yes, that would be excellent. Retrieve the Gems."

Elsa went to the side of the room, and stood with her back to the group for a long moment, as if composing herself. Then she returned, head bowed in anticipation of the severe rebuke she was about to receive. "Master, the Gems are gone."

"What?" Mesogog hissed, whirling on his subordinate. Conner hid a smile at the knowledge that Mesogog wasn't as unflappable as Conner had originally thought. The Red Ranger exchanged a confused glance with Kira as they both silently wondered what had happened to the gems. And Ethan, for that matter...Mesogog had brainwashed Dr. O., but where was the Blue Ranger?

"This is unacceptable!" Mesogog roared. "Where is Zeltrax?"

"Monitoring the monster, my lord," Elsa said, nodding submissively.

"Take our prisoners to join their friend," Mesogog said, and Conner was relieved to know that they still had Ethan. Well, not so much that he was still in the clutches of the bad guys, but at least they knew where he was now. The Rangers were going to be reunited.