Chapter Five – Desertion

"God damn it! How the Hell did Zeltrax come back!"

Trent ripped off his helmet and threw it against one of the walls in Tommy's underground base. The battle had been fierce, with both sides fighting to a standstill. After sneering at them again, Jabark and Power Zeltrax had teleported out to god-knows-where. Tommy then had suggested that they 'port to his base for debriefing but the question that was on everybody's lips was "How did Zeltrax survive?". Tommy gave the signal for them to demorph, then walked over and inspected the wall, sighing in relief when there was no damage. He gave Trent a reproachful look, but had a small grin on his face – to show that he wasn't seriously pissed at him. Trent coloured slightly, but then went on softly.

"What I don't get is how he came back? We destroyed him – twice – but now he's back. And what's up with all the new duds he's got? He never used to have this kind of power before."

Tommy sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He looked over to where Weihan was talking with his team – the newly formed Elemental Rangers looking both elated and shocked. He couldn't blame them, but he couldn't give the White Ranger an explanation. He wondered if this was what Zordon sometimes felt. Opening his mouth, he began to speak but was cut off by another familiar voice.

"Yes he did. You just never experienced it until now."

The Dino Rangers, Elemental Rangers and the Orange Ultra Ranger whirled around to see the tall form of Anton Mercer step out of the shadows. Next to him was the reformed Elsa, the short woman seeming uncomfortable in the presence of so many Rangers. Tommy narrowed his eyes and started to ask something, but again was beaten to the punch by Cat.

"Wait a minute, you're Anton Mercer right? How do you know these people?"

Weihan sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes as Anton began his "history lecture". Out of all the Elementals, Cat seemed to be the most annoyed by her Power – and her anger and irritation was beginning to spread throughout the others. Only Dani seemed to be unaffected by the animosity of her team mates. He flicked his eyes back to Anton, just as he concluded his "pep talk" – shock and undisguised hatred on his team's faces. Everyone except Dani. He made a mental note to talk to her later about that, just as Matt asked the question that was on all their minds.

"Then who's Zeltrax – or Power Zeltrax then? Another of your twisted experiments?"

Tommy, Anton and Elsa winced slightly, knowing that the Earth Ranger's comment had hit closer to home than intended. Finally, Anton nodded slowly to Tommy and Elsa – this was his story to tell. Turning to face Matt and the rest of the Elemental Rangers, he sighed and ran a hand through his greying hair, closing his eyes in deep thought. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and began to speak to the "newbies".

"Zeltrax is – or was – Terrance Smith, one of the brighter men in my team. He was the best of the best but was slightly insane. When I picked Tommy to head one of my digs, he distanced himself from us and began to drop sharply into total insanity."

Anton's speech faltered slightly, memories of his transformation into Mesogog causing his throat to close up. He mentally shook himself and forced himself to go on.

"When I was…transformed, I could see everything that Mesogog could. In some way, I could influence his thoughts – just as he could influence mine. You ought to have heard the fights we used to have. Ah well…but then came the day that I changed his life forever. I'll never forget that day…

Flashback

Reefside – House of Terrance Smith

Anton Mercer wandered aimlessly through the blackened halls of his ex-colleagues home. Thankfully, the police and authorities would not be up here for another two hours tops – an advantage of living in the middle of nowhere. Using the vast network of invisiportals Mesogog had set up, the middle aged palaeontologist had been able to come as soon as his house had stopped shaking and he had made sure his adopted son was all right. He came to what remained of the door to Smitty's inner sanctum – his private laboratory. As he walked into the scorched room, he could see the results of the devastating explosion.

Consoles, benches, computers and dozens of things he couldn't identify – all irreparably destroyed. Billions of dollars worth of electrical wiring and hardware reduced to so much ash and soot. Behind his eyes, he could feel the coldness pulse and he suppressed it – barely. Not much use he'd be for Smitty turning into a hideous mutant dinosaur freak. But then, that was the price of his research into dinosaurs. He grinned to himself, seeing the irony for what it truly was – not seeing how dinosaurs lived, but living as a dinosaur. All humour was stripped from him as he saw the figure lying in the middle of the room – still lying next to a damaged suit of armour. As he neared the body, his nose crinkled at the smell of decay. He hoped he wasn't too late.

"Smitty!"

The crumpled figure didn't move. He tried again and again, trying to see at least a twitch or a sign that his one-time partner was still alive. Over and over, for what seemed like hours – even neglecting to fight the mutation, until at last, a hand twitched. Anton breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief turned to horror as he felt the Mesogog personality becoming more dominant. He struggled to fight it and didn't notice Smith's eyes weakly opening. He did, however, notice the weak voice that issued forth.

"Anton. Is that you?"

Anton stopped his futile effort to control Mesogog and focused his attention on Smitty's body. He winced in pain as the first signs of the mutation made itself known – the shifting of the brow ridge. He swallowed his pain and then looked at Smitty.

"Terrance. Can you hear me? What happened to you? Scratch that, I can see what happened."

Terrance Smith stared up at his former boss through a smoky haze of pain. He held no anger at his former boss – nor at Tommy Oliver, upon further reflection he had sensed that the younger man knew his stuff. Those three gems were way out of his league, but strangely Tommy had accepted them casually. That was one of the reasons he had grown to distrust the younger man but he had dismissed that as silly. Now, staring up at Anton, he saw how his boss had changed since he saw him last. He licked his lips and opened his mouth.

"Anton. I'm fine. I just need time to recover and I'll be on my feet in no time."

Anton smiled, then grunted in pain as Mesogog took over just that bit more. He grimaced as he felt his skeleton twist and contort to a more saurian posture, a tail starting to sprout from his backside. He breathed in, trying to regain control. Not Yet! he screamed mentally, only to be replied by a hollow and haunting laughter. Mesogog was breaking through rapidly. He swallowed again and looked straight down at Terrance, his viewpoint skewing wildly as his skull shifted.

"I can't leave you like this. He'll kill me first."

Smitty's eyes widened in fear and shock as he saw his old boss mutating into…what looked like a cross between a Tyrannosaurus and a gorilla without the fur. He moistened his lips again and spoke in a trembling voice.

"Who'll kill you? Not Tommy…what are you?"

Anton finally gave in to the transformation, shouting in pain as the tyrannical form of Mesogog thrust through. As usual, he could see what was going on through one of Mesogog's eyes – a strange irony. Mesogog drew in a hissing breath as he stared at the scorched body in front of him. He recognised it as that of Terrance Smith, Mercer's former star pupil – before he shed him for that annoying Dr. Oliver. He stood up at his full height, but growled in annoyance as his tail hit the side of a console with a dull thunk. He chuckled at Smith and drew in a rasping breath.

"I am Mesogog – your new master, Terrance Smith."

Smitty shook his head violently. He couldn't believe that Anton would willingly transform himself into this…hybrid creature – even for the sake of research, but it seemed like his boss was willing to do anything for research. He narrowed his eyes and stared up, pain shooting from every nerve in his body.

"I'll never serve anything as twisted as you! I'd rather die!"

Mesogog smirked. Through the "window", Anton mentally winced. This would not go well. He mentally yelled out to the dinosaur. Mesogog, stop! All the power in the world can't get him to join! No response, except a light seemed to go off in Mesogog's eyes. Anton groaned, thinking that he had just made a massive mistake. He found out how right he was as the saurian focused his power and blasted the prone body in front of him. Smitty tried to resist, but it was no use. He cried out in pain and fear as the darkness consumed him, filling him with hatred. Hatred for one Tommy Oliver. The rational part of him knew it was crazy, but that was soon silenced. He took in his last breath as a good person and closed his eyes. When they reopened, Mesogog and Anton saw that they were pulsing with inner darkness. Anton grieved for a lost friend while Mesogog roughly pulled the body to its feet.

"Well, Smith. It seems like I can use you after all. I will salvage this project you started and rebuild you into my ultimate general."

Smith nodded, pain still shooting through his body. In the back of his mind, a small voice called out for help, but was silenced. He opened his mouth to speak, the transformation into evil having deepened his voice considerably.

"Yes, my lord."

End Flashback

"…and that's when I transformed him into Zeltrax. After you received the Power of the Black Dino Gem, I upgraded him. He never used his upgraded power, so Mesogog and I just forgot about it."

Anton finished his tale, and looked over at Tommy. He saw that his colleague was pale and slightly shaking. He sighed and looked over at Trent and Weihan.

"I'm sorry. Maybe if I had come clean – "

"No," interrupted Weihan "we had just defeated Mesogog and we thought Zeltrax was destroyed. We thought nothing of it."

Tommy nodded in agreement, then looked at his watch. His eyes widened, then he spoke up.

"Damn, it's really late. Weihan, can you take the Elementals back to Sydney? I don't know what'll happen here, so all we can do is wait."

Weihan nodded, then motioned for the Elemental Rangers to gather around him. He took in all their faces and sighed. He nodded and hit a button on his morpher, sending them streaking back to Sydney. As they rematerialised in the ruins of the classroom, Cat, Matt, Robert, Brett and Taz separated from him and placed their Elemental Callers on one of the desks and stood away from Dani and Weihan. Robert spoke, his accented voice laced with a mix of regret and fear.

"I'm sorry Wei, but we've decided not to take up the mantle. It's like Cat said, we didn't ask to be recruited for this war. We've got our own lives and well…"

Cat spoke up next, taking over from Robert, her voice shaking slightly with suppressed pain and sorrow. She really did want to stay, but it would be too much, wouldn't it?

"We don't want this. We like who we are – even if we're not powered. I'm sorry, no we're sorry. We'll see you, but don't expect anything."

With that, they filed out of the room, leaving Weihan with Dani. She looked at his face and placed an arm around his shoulders, her voice full of hope.

"They'll come round."

Weihan nodded mutely. He knew they would come around. It was only a matter of whether any lives would have to be lost before the Elemental Rangers were a team once again.