Chapter 23
Mesogog brought Anna to the main control room of the island fortress as Trent was establishing contact with Dr. Oliver and the others. As they were waiting for the communications to open, Anna saw the doors open and the clone entered.
"What is he doing here?" She asked.
"He's taking you home, along with Trent of course."
"Conner said you didn't need him anymore."
"Well, I say we do. He's an insurance policy."
"Whatever, can we just get me home now?"
"All set." Trent said. Dr. Oliver and the others appeared on the screen.
"What do you want Mesogog?" Tommy asked.
"I have what I want, Dr. Oliver. Now, I'm returning something that you want. We have no use for the girl here, we are sending her home. We're bringing her now, so be ready."
"How do we know this isn't a trap?"
"Tommy, it's me. I'm okay." Anna paused and looked to the doors, hoping that Conner would show up at the last minute."I just really want to come home."
"Anna?" Kim asked from behind Tommy.
"Mom?"
"Are you really okay?"
"Yeah mom, I'm fine. I'll talk to you when I get there."
"Enough of this. My servants are bringing her now, so be ready." Mesogog said as he cut the transmission but not before Tommy and the others saw Trent and 'Conner' grab Anna by the arms in a forceful manner.
"If they hurt her in any way-" Kim began.
"Kimberly, she's fine. If he did anything to her, we would have been able to know just by looking at her." Rita said in a calm voice.
Just then, a green light engulfed the basement. When the light dimmed, Trent, 'Conner' and Anna appeared. They let her go and Anna ran toward her mom and the others before being smothered by everyone. They just watched the displays of affection that was being shown and made no move to leave the basement. Tommy was the first to realize that they were still there.
"What are you still doing here? You've done what you came here for, now leave."
"Not quite. We have a message from Mesogog." Trent said.
"What is that?"
"The next battle, will be your last. You will fall at the hands of your own." He said, pointing to 'Conner'."
"Conner, don't do this. Come on man, you can't win with Mesogog. It's not worth it man." Ethan pleaded with his friend.
"Sorry blue ranger, I disagree. The next time you see me, will be the last time you see anything." With that, Trent and 'Conner' teleported back to the island fortress.
"Man, I can't beleive he's still serving Mesogog. Why can't we get through to him?" Ethan yelled in frustration.
"He's not serving Mesogog." Anna said, almost in a whisper.
Eight heads turned towards the girl at her declaration. Tommy made his way over to her and looked directly at her for a minute before asking: "What do you mean, 'he's not serving Mesogog?'"
"That's not Conner. I spent the entire time I was captured with Conner. Conner is being held captive as well."
"How is that possible when he was right here?" Jason asked.
"Like I said, that's not Conner."
"I think we deserve an explanation." Kira said.
"I was taken to the lower chamber when they kidnapped me. Trent and Conner had me by the arms much like they just did. When
the doors opened, there was nothing but darkness. I couldn't see two feet in front of me. I heard someone whisper my name
and when I got close enough, I saw Conner chained to the same wall that they chained me to. We had a lot of time to talk,
apparently when he was in the hospital, Mesogog cloned him and switched the Conner's. The one who took me and the one who
was just here is a clone. Our Conner is still in the lower chamber."
As realization donned on Tommy, he remembered the conversation he had with John just a few hours prior. He turned to John who was at the computer.
"Was that your theory? That somehow it was a clone and not the real Conner?"
"Yes, but until we could get inside, there was no way of knowing. I didn't want to throw that out there and get our hopes up if it wasn't a possibility."
"How can he have possibly cloned him?" Kim asked.
"Many ways, remember when I made a clone out of Billy? there are so many ways to clone someone."
"So now what?" Tommy asks.
"There's more to it. Our Conner made a deal with Mesogog. He promised to serve him willingly if he would let me leave."
"So now, Mesogog has both of them at his whim. How are we gonna know which one is which?" Ethan asked. "I can't hurt my friend."
"There's a way." Rita said.
"How?"
"We have the red morpher, they don't. They said that the next battle would be the last, chances are you are going to fight them in ranger form. If he shows up as the red ranger, you know it's the clone."
"But what if they come down in civilian form before then?"
"You'll know. Conner looks like hell. Like he hasn't slept for days. He has bags under his eyes, a person's eyes can tell so much. That Conner has nothing but evil in his eyes, our Conner has a tired look in his eyes and no matter what Mesogog does to cover that up, I will be able to tell the difference." Anna said. "Right now, our main focus needs to be getting into that fortress and getting our Conner back. I promised him I would, now I'm not gonna break that promise."
"John, Hayley, do your stuff." Tommy said with a smile.
"Hey has anyone seen Kira?" Ethan asked realizing that their yellow-clad friend was no longer in the basement.
"Did anyone see where she ran off to?" Jason asked.
"Oh no." Ethan said before running out of the basement with the others hot on his trail.
Ethan ran outside and frantically looked around the area for his friend. He didn't find anything and just before he walked back inside the house, he spotted a piece of clothing dangling from a branch. He ran to it and picked it up just before every one got to him.
"What is that?" Kim asked.
"It's Conner's jacket, he gave it to her one night. It's never left her side since this whole mess started." Ethan said with fear in his voice.
"Ethan, where did she go?" Tommy asked, not really wanting to hear the answer.
"She's going after him. The last I remember, she was here right up until Anna said it was a clone and Conner was still in the fortress."
"Where would she go to get to him?"
"The lake, there is always an invisportal there. No doubt Mesogog's watching and he'll open it for her. She's walking right into a trap."
"Then let's get to her before Mesogog does."
With that, the group filed into their cars and headed for the lake hoping that they would be able to get to Kira before she
made a mistake. Within minutes, they were at the park. They split up and started searching for her. Tommy, Kim and Jason
went one way, Hayley, Rita, and John went another with Ethan and Anna picking their own way. After twenty minutes of searching,
everyone made their way back to their cars.
"Wait you guys. I want to check one more place before we leave. Come on." Ethan said.
"Ethan, where are we going?"
"Just trust me."
They found Kira standing at the edge of the rock formation, staring into the water. It was the same place that it was revealed that Trent was the white ranger. Ethan motioned for the others to stay back and let him handle it. He carefully walked to his friend and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
Kira only nodded her head yes.
"Look, Kira, I know what you are doing, don't do it. Don't go there alone. We'll get in there and we'll get him out but we'll do it as a team. If you go there, you're only putting yourself and Conner in danger."
"I know." She said in a whisper. "But I hate being here and not doing anything."
"I know, it's frustrating but all we can do is let them do their work. When, not if, when we get inside, I'll save the first
blow for you. After that, that freak's fair game. We at least know that Conner, for the time being, is safe. Now come on,
let's get back to the house and get to work."
Kira turned and gave Ethan a small smile before walking back to the group. She stopped in front of Dr. Oliver.
"I was right."
"I know. I'm sorry for not taking action sooner."
"That's not important, what is important is that we get him back."
"I agree."
"Then let's go home and break that firewall."
"Let's go."
The group made their way back to their cars and drove back to Dr. Oliver's, more determined than ever to get inside Mesogog's island fortress and save their friend.
TBC.