Chapter 17: Gaining and Losing

"Guys, just because someone takes your stuff does not mean they're evil," Tommy insisted toward his teens. He cared about them deeply, but some days they came up with the oddest ideas. In this case, Ethan had.

"She didn't just take something. She took my Ruby Dragon card," Ethan informed him. Conner and Kira both shrugged.

"We don't get it either, but we've gotten down that it's Ethan for 'really important' and he misses it," Conner offered as Ethan shot him a look. The soccer player held up his hands. "Hey! I got 'important' down, didn't I? Look, Doctor O, can you get it back before Ethan goes vigilante?"

Tommy sighed. "Guys, I'm a teacher. She's my boss," he reminded them. He immediately felt for them, especially Ethan, at how crestfallen they got and sighed. "But… if you promise to put in some extra training, I'll see what I can do."

Ethan looked at the other two who did not look happy at the prospect of having to do more training especially since Tommy had been working them harder anyway. They had the feeling that was why their teacher had waited until the rest of class left. Kira looked at Conner who sighed. "He'd do it for us if it was my favorite ball or your guitar."

"Damn loyalty," Kira agreed, not any happier than her leader. "Alright, fine. We're in. Extra training for Ethan's card."

Tommy grinned as he headed off, rather proud of their decision. They were really growing up and he couldn't help but think that Rangering had something to do with that. Before, they would have told Ethan he was on his own. Now, they were willing to do something they hated in order to help him out. Still, that meant that he had to get the card back so he didn't have to listen to them complain. He sighed, took a deep breath, and opened the door, thinking of what he was going to say to Principal Randall to get the card back. He opened the door and watched as the principal changed into Elsa. He shook his head. "I knew there was something I didn't like about you."

"I was wondering how long I could pull this off," she scoffed. He shook his head.

"I have to give you credit, we should have seen it," he informed her.

"It's a shame, Tommy. We could have had something," she pushed and Tommy rolled his eyes.

"Dream on," he said and the next thing he knew, she was lunging at him, changing back into the principal form.

"Alright, guys, where's your teacher?" Kim asked as she walked up. The trio glanced up, surprised to see her.

"Kim? What are you doing here?" Conner asked and Kim looked serious.

"I need to talk to him about something important. Do you know where he is?" She asked and Conner shrugged.

"He was going to talk to Principal Randall about Ethan's card," he answered. "That's the last we saw him."

"Thanks, Conner," she said and headed off toward the Principal's office. "Come on."

Ethan looked a little confused. "What's going on?" He asked and Kim offered him a tired smile.

"Let's just say, she's a bigger bitch that we thought," she answered. She ran around the corner and watched as the window broke as Tommy and Principal Randall flew out of it. Kim sighed. "Of for the love of… at a school?!"

The teenagers stared as one of their mentors fought off their principal. The other students had come by to watch as well and Conner wasn't sure how they were supposed to cover this up. He turned to ask Kim, but to make the situation worse for him, she had walked over and yanked up the other woman up by the hair, throwing her aside. She folded her arms and glared. "Stay away from him. He's mine."

"Little bitch," Elsa hissed, still in her principal form. She threw a kick at Kim and was surprised when the woman caught it and threw her back. "So there is more to you than arrows."

"Yeah. I just try not to waste it on scum like you!" She growled. She glanced at Tommy who nodded and their attacks became coordinated. Elsa fought them both off.

"Okay," Conner decided. "Kim and Doctor O have officially lost their minds. We're on our own."

"Shouldn't we tell someone?" Kira asked. "Like Jason or Trini?"

"That'll be a fun phone call. 'Hey Trini? Jason? Kim and Doctor O lost it. Will you teach us now?'" Ethan quipped. "Look, maybe there's a reason for it."

"Like what?" Conner asked and their principal dropped their disguise. "Oh. Never mind. They're fine."

Elsa pulled away as Kim and Tommy looked ready to go again. "Tell the school board that I quit!"

She turned and disappeared. Ethan looked at her. "Don't go," he whined. The other two looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "She still has my card."

Conner nodded and patted his friends' shoulder not knowing what to say to comfort him. Instead, he looked over at their mentors who were dusting themselves off. Both he and Ethan watched as Tommy held up something which Ethan took and quickly put away. "Doctor O, you rock!"

"You're welcome, Ethan," he answered and looked at Conner's scowl. "What? I got the card back."

"How come you can get to fight in front of a bunch of witnesses and I can't?" He asked. "That would have made my life so much easier when it came to Derrick and Trent but no…"

Tommy's face paled as Kim grinned. "Because he was defending his students from a vicious killer," she answered. "At least, that's what we're going to tell the school board so that they don't fire him."

Tommy relaxed and turned to his girlfriend in confusion. "Kim, what are you doing here anyway?" He asked.

"We got something from an old friend of yours that I thought was important." She looked at him completely seriously, though Conner could tell she was trying not to smile. "Tommy, did you know that Principal Randall is Elsa?"

He just stared at her.

"We got the disk this morning," Hayley explained, setting it up for the others to see. "It obviously from Mercer considering that he stars in it. I think he went through hell trying to make it though."

"Well, yeah," Kim agreed, resting against the desk. "We're just lucky it wasn't destroyed. You got it, Hayley?"

She was answered when the video began to play.

Anton Mercer sat at his desk, one hand on his head and the other shaking. He looked sick and definitely like he was trying to repress everything. "Thomas, I hope this gets to you. As you know, our experiments were… stolen, changed. What I didn't tell you… I changed. There's not a lot of time. He's coming. Listen to me… the principal… is Elsa… spy on you… Zeltrax… is Smitty… vengeance…"

He paused and started to fall back, but forced himself forward. He looked determined. Sweat poured down his face and he looked haggard, but he tried to continue as he got a slight second wind. "I… encoded some of the… information onto the disk. That friend of yours… Hayley… she can… handle it. Experiment… went wrong… changing… Jekyll/Hyde. So sorry… for everything… Please… help Trent… I wish… I wish things… had gone… differently…"

"Sander!" He called out. "Take this… to Thomas Oliver… And Sander? Until… I call you… back… you're on… paid …vacation."

"Yes, Sir."

"It stops there," Hayley explained. "Though he obviously put in the information a little at a time."

"I think that's why it got here so late in the game. He's finally able to start fighting it," Kim explained. "Probably was able to start when Trent went nuts."

"So, this runs in the family?" Conner asked. "Oh this is great. If I kill Trent, Daddy will come after me. You know that fear thing? Kicking in!"

Tommy gave him a sly smile. "Then it's a good thing you have extra practice, isn't it?"

Conner groaned. "Yep. Today sucks. Wait, can we do the new training too?"

Both Ethan and Kira looked just as hopeful. For as much as Kira had rolled her eyes, she had to admit it was an enjoyable game. Especially since Zack had helped them work out the details before he had to leave for a bit. Tommy sighed. "Fine."

"I want to play," Kim said, pretending to pout. "You never let me play!"

"You don't need to play, Kim. It's an exercise, remember?" He pushed. She just folded her arms and stuck out her lip which caused the other Rangers to giggle. Even Hayley looked amused.

"Come on, Tommy. You'll give in eventually anyway," Hayley teased.

"Fine. But I'm going first. And you have to take a raptor from the losing side," he said and Kim grinned, kissing him as she headed out. Conner looked at his teacher.

"Please tell me you were faking thinking about it," he said and Tommy nodded.

"It's a game. A weird game, but we're not normal people," he assured the other. "So, what are the teams?"

"I'll take Kira and you take Ethan. We did it the other way last time and they complain when we team up, Doctor O," Conner decided. The science teacher chuckled.

"Gee, I wonder why."

It was an easy set-up. There were four baskets in play, two of which were the main baskets. One for each side like in basketball. The other two were on the sides and were only worth a point instead of two. While the raptor was running, the rider could only hold onto the ball for five seconds. If the raptor was stopped, the rider could hold onto it indefinitely but could not move until they got rid of the ball again. The raptors could bump into each other, but biting and scratching was not allowed. Pulling a rider off the raptor was not allowed. Attacking spectators was not allowed. Jumping over each other was legal and the boards that held the baskets had been rebuilt in order to hold the raptors weight if one chose to jump onto it while the rider dropped the ball in. This too was legal and was the equivalent of a slam dunk. Games lasted for thirty minutes of two halves, fifteen minutes each. Finally, it was cheating to have Red chirp for the others to stop so that his rider could make a basket. Though, to be fair to Conner, it was Red's idea and he was acting on his own accord.

The game continued on for a while until the raptors decided they were done. Besides for being a great game that they could introduce at Ranger reunions, it was a good exercise for both raptor and rider. It helped them work as a team and helped the raptors with agility. Afterward, they started into their group training.

Conner was definitely getting better at blocking them and still moving which he was going to have to do. Still, there was a definite unfair shift in powers between Conner and Trent. Conner's powers worked in conjunction with the others. Ethan and Conner, for instance, or Kira and Conner were easily as strong if not stronger than Trent. If Ethan was concentrating on Conner and Conner accepted it, he was just as strong. However, one on one, Trent had the stronger power because his worked alone. On the field, it was a deadly disadvantage.

Whenever possible, Conner had one of his teammates close by so that Trent couldn't catch him unawares. For that matter, the three of them had started to stay closer to each other for their own safety. Hayley was working on ways to keep them safe at home with Billy's help and even Neen had tried to help. Though her version of helping was sneaking up behind and yelling "Got you!" at the top of her lungs. It had started as "Apprehended", but the teenagers were teaching her slang anyway and had convinced her to yell "got you" instead. Conner was getting better as catching her which was helpful considering if Tommy heard the girl's cry, Conner would give a lecture and more training for being outsmarted by a kid.

"Are we done yet?" Conner whined. "I mean, I know we agreed to it, but haven't we done enough today?"

Tommy sighed, but nodded. He figured he was only going to get so much out of them today and it probably didn't help that no one had had time to absorb the events that had occurred. "Yes, we're done."

The teenagers rushed back to the house and Kim laughed. "That's more than I expected," she joked. "How did you get them out here?"

"Elsa took Ethan's card. If I got the card back, they promised to train," he answered. "It seemed like a good deal to me."

Kim nodded and sighed as she sat down. "You know, we really should have seen this one coming."

"Randall is Elsa?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No. Mercer is Mesagog. Think about it, Tommy. He's been acting differently since he got back and we thought he died. Not only that, but he showed back up at about the same time Mesagog did. You guys worked on this together. Did you know he was testing it on himself?" She asked and he shook his head.

"No, I would have tried to stop him," Tommy answered. "God, this is…"

Kim listened to the pause and understood what he meant, even if he couldn't say it. "Horrible, but kind of a relief?"

He glanced at her and nodded. "Part of me is happy that Mercer is Mesagog and that makes me feel disgusted with myself, Kim. He was a mentor to me and part of me feels happy that he's part dinosaur."

"It's because that means the way he treated you wasn't him," Kim said. "I know, I feel the same way. He wasn't my mentor, but I was around enough and he was nice to me."

"He liked you. Well, he liked you when you weren't picking up things that were worth 10,000 dollars," he teased. She looked a little sheepish.

"It was pretty. I wanted to see it closer," she answered. "I didn't know it was worth so much. Besides, he didn't throw me out for it. I just got lectured. 'Ms. Hart, we need to have a chat. Sit.'"

"One of the greatest days in my life," Tommy joked. "Seriously, he constantly had us going in and out of there. And then there was Hayley on top of it."

"That's what he gets for having taken an interest in you in college. If he would have waited, we would have been over less," she said happily and Tommy gave her a look. "Okay, a little less… You said he liked me!"

"He did," Tommy assured her. "And now that we know what's wrong with him, he probably still does."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Same for you. And you know he'll probably still be able to make us feel like were college kids again."

Tommy laughed and then sobered up. "If he lives through this. It isn't like just being evil, Kim, not that we've had any luck with fixing that either right now anyway. It was like he'd accepted that we would probably have to kill him."

Kim looked at him and nodded slowly. Both of them understood the severity of the situation. "If we can, we'll save him," she said. "But if it comes down to it, for either him or Trent…"

"We'll finish it," Tommy promised. "I don't think the kids will have a problem with that."

"That's what worries me."

"Neen, don't touch that!" Hayley shouted as the small girl reached for the blender. She immediately stopped and stood perfectly still until the café owner reached her. Hayley sighed, though she couldn't fault the girl. She was being half-way good, but she was also six and curious about everything. This was the third time in ten minutes that she'd had to stop the girl. Still, at least she stopped at the first request instead of deciding to continue trying until Hayley got there.

"Apologies, Hayley," she said earnestly. "I did not mean to cause trouble."

Hayley sighed and handed out the drinks, silently whispering a thanks that it was a slow day. "I know, Neen. I thought you were watching T.V."

Neen looked a little ashamed of herself as she looked back at Hayley. "It is not real."

"No, so…" Hayley started, but quickly caught on and sighed. "Everything is so new so you'd rather look at it?"

"Aff… Yeah," she answered, using some of the slang that the others had taught her. "If Papa and I return home, I want to have seen more."

"Well, I know it's not the same, but… Ethan! Can you take Neen to the back please?" Hayley asked, happy to help the girl and get some peace and quiet for two minutes. She didn't care if Billy was trying to decode everything and needed to be able to concentrate fully, this was the last time she baby-sat. Once Ethan was over, she leaned over to him. "Show her the computer and let her see what she wants, okay?"

"Got it, Hayley," Ethan said, taking the girl's hand. Once they were in the other room, Ethan grinned at Neen. "Good job!"

"Thank you, Ethan," she said proudly. "Can I watch?"

"Of course. Couldn't have gotten this far without you. I had no idea how we were going to get a hold of some of the other Rangers without anyone seeing until Kira thought this up," Ethan said, messing with the computer. "She's good."

"Affirmative," Neen agreed and scrunched her nose up. "I mean, yeah."

Ethan smiled at her and started to mess around with the computer, waiting until Andros' face came up. "Andros?"

"Ethan, right?" The other asked. "How can I help you?"

"Well, we want to give the older Rangers a surprise, but we need your help. Well, yours and everyone else who wasn't an original Ranger," Ethan said. Andros nodded and shrugged.

"What do you need us to do?" He asked.

Ethan just grinned.

"He looks exhausted." Kira glanced up at Kim as the older woman spoke. Kira had been watching Conner try the same thing for over an hour and had helped on some occasions, but Kim was right. He did look exhausted and he didn't look ready to drop it. "Have you tried to get him to quit?"

"Three times," Kira answered. "But I'm thinking that unless I go and throw myself in mortal danger, he's going to keep doing it. How was work?"

"I know how that is. I swear I felt like that a lot with Tommy when we were young and, you know, a week ago," Kim joked. "Work was fine. It was a slow day. How was school? I saw Ethan but…"

"Same old, same old," Kira answered and glanced at her mentor. "So, I know who Principal Randall and Elsa are, I know who Mesagog and Zeltrax are, but I don't know much about Dr. Mercer other than he's Trent's dad and who's Smitty?"

"Well, Dr. Mercer, Tommy, and Smitty did some of the dig sites together. If at all possible, I helped, but they were more of the three who did it. There was a job for Mercer Industries that came up and Tommy and him were at odds for it. Dr. Mercer chose Tommy and Smitty went to a different company. He died on a dig a while later. To be honest, I don't see much of a change between Zeltrax and Smitty. He was always coming on to me and was just kind of an ass. I'm guessing that's why Dr. Mercer chose Tommy instead. That and Tommy is good at what he does."

"What about Dr. Mercer?" Kira asked and Kim sighed.

"That was another story. He was a huge mentor to Tommy and was pretty nice to me and Hayley, when she came, too. I liked him," Kim answered and looked a little sad. "I'm just hoping we're able to save him and his son."

Kira nodded. "Can you tell me about some of the times you guys had?"

Kim thought for a minute and then obliged.

"I thought you were staying in Angel Grove," Tommy groaned and Kim grinned at him.

"Aren't surprises fun?" She asked and Tommy glared at her.

"No. Hayley, did you know she was coming?" Tommy asked and the girl scowled at him.

"Yes and I told you that three times. It's not my fault you didn't listen. She's here for the dig. Dr. Mercer agreed to take her too so that she didn't have to spend the money to fly there," Hayley explained. She rolled her eyes and looked at Kim. "Was he always like this?"

"Yep," Kim answered. "In one ear and out the other, Hayley."

Hayley shook her head. "Well, have fun," she decided. "I did my job. I dragged Tommy here on time."

Kim laughed at that. "Hayley, you're a miracle worker," she joked and the younger woman smiled back at her before she left promising to catch up with Kim once they got back. Kim began to look all around the large manor as they waited. "Wow. There are a lot of cool things here."

"Yeah, well…" Tommy groaned and Kim glanced over at him.

"Why are you Mr. Grumpy anyway?" She asked.

"I don't know. Maybe because my mentor is bringing my ex-girlfriend with us on this trip. That might have something to do with it," Tommy groaned. "Why did he agree to bring you?"

"Because I'm helpful," she answered. "And persistent. And I've already had the training. That's what he said anyway. Oh how pretty!"

Tommy glanced over and saw her reach for the pterodactyl statuette on one of the shelves. He nearly called out when he saw her pick it up, but he was afraid she would drop it. His eyes widened further, however, when he saw a hand fall on her, grabbing her wrist and taking the item from her. "Tommy, you shouldn't let your ex-girlfriend touch important things like that. She might break it."

Tommy forced a smile. "I think she was being careful. I thought you were meeting us there, Smitty."

"I was, but I was in town anyway and I heard the Kim was coming with," he answered, glancing her way and smirking. "So, I thought I'd stop by to see how she was. Besides, I'll need to move here when I get the job."

"If," Kim brought up, gently yet forcefully taking the pterodactyl back and ignoring the rest of his speech. "Tommy's up for it too."

"Mmm," he answered, leaning in closer to her. "I've been in the field longer. I think I have a better chance."

"I think you both have an equal chance," a voice called out. All three of them turned around to face Dr. Mercer who was standing in the doorway looking none too pleased with the situation. "Terrence, please wait outside. We will be there shortly."

Smitty smirked at Tommy and Kim knowing that he was in the least amount of trouble, but did as he was told without saying anything. Tommy tried not to look nervous at the older man's entrance and he always wanted to laugh at himself when he felt that way. He'd faced several different psychopaths who wanted to take over the world without breaking a sweat, but he felt like a nervous wreck in Dr. Mercer's presence. "Sorry, Anton."

He nodded once to the younger man before turning to Kim holding his hand out. She quickly placed the pterodactyl in his hand and put her hands behind her back. He looked at her and motioned to the couch. "Ms. Hart, we need to have a chat. Sit."

Kim did as she was told. She really wanted to go. Like the rest of her former teammates, being a Ranger had caused them to become nearly obsessed with dinosaurs at times. It wasn't too recognizable but they were there: Tommy's models, Zack's toys, Kim's stuffed animals, Trini's art, and Jason's collection of movies and books. Even Billy had taken the equivalent of research books with him. She'd been looking forward to this and ruined it in less than a minute. Tommy, not wanting to make it worse for her, looked at Mercer. "Should I wait outside too?"

"No," Mercer answered. "Go make sure Sander has everything under control."

Tommy nodded. "Okay." He rushed out leaving his mentor and one of his best friends behind.

Mercer was quiet for a minute which Kim didn't interrupt. Finally, he spoke. "Do you touch things in others' houses or am I just lucky? You're an adult, a normally intelligent and well-behaved young woman. I'm surprised."

Kim gulped a bit. "No, I, umm, don't usually and I meant to just look but I, uh…"

He looked relatively calm which made it worse. "Did you know it was worth 10,000 dollars?" When her eyes widened, he nodded. "I didn't think so. I will only warn you once and then I will not allow you here again. Do not touch anything on the walls."

"Yes, sir," she said quietly. "Sorry, Dr. Mercer."

"Now that that unpleasantness is out of the way, are you ready to go?" He asked and her eyes lit up as she nodded, though tentatively. He gave her a quick smile. "Someone needs to make sure those two don't kill each other. Besides, you seem eager to come. I could use the enthusiasm. Come along, Ms. Hart. Thomas! We're leaving."

Kim finished looking more than a little embarrassed as Kira laughed. "I didn't think that you'd tell one where you got in trouble!"

"I thought it might be a good change of pace," she joked. "Besides, it showed the difference between them."

"True," Kira said. She opened her mouth to say something else, but the only thing that came out was "Duck!"

Kim did as Kira suggested and leapt on the ground as power arrows soared over her head. Kira had done the same, though she leapt back up. "Dino Thunder power up!"

Conner glanced over and quickly did the same as Kira came to him side. "I'll back you up the best I can, Conner," she whispered and he nodded.

"Just try to counter what he does," Conner suggested and turned to the white Ranger. "You sure you're ready for this?"

"I've been looking forward to this for a long time, red Ranger," Trent answered. Conner nodded and rushed at him. The fight had begun.

Kim watched and kept an eye on things. Still, the one thing that bothered her was the lack of help Trent had. She hadn't expected him to use it against Conner since he wanted to face him, but Kira was around and there wasn't anything for her to fight. In fact, other than Trent, there wasn't anyone at all. Her intuition went wild and she reached onto her wrist and pressed the communicator to her mouth. "Tommy, Conner's got trouble. Get to the training spot with Ethan. Quick!"

She finished and looked at Kira, making sure that the girl was concentrating on other things than just Trent and Conner. Deciding that she was, Kim began to glance around for trouble, knowing it had to be nearby. Seeing nothing, she sighed and kept an eye on the fight wondering if maybe things were just working out in their favor. So far, Conner was winning after all. "You know, two on one really wasn't fair."

Kim recognized Elsa's voice and whipped her head around just into for Elsa's fist to connect with it. Then came the darkness.

Conner ducked and swerved around Trent's blows, halfway impressed at the job he was doing. Even if Kira was cancelling the other boy out, he was still doing a pretty good job of this. He swung a kick under Trent, knocking the other off balance. He grinned at that and felt his power rise as the other Rangers arrived. Trent had made the rules earlier in the game and that meant that he was allowed to use the strength the others gave him. Still, as he'd said before, he didn't want to do this with all of them and once Trent stopped trying to affect his powers, the others backed off completely as well.

He pulled out his staff to meet Trent's dagger and the two clashed against each other. They parried and attacked, each keeping the other at bay without either side winning. Conner's pride swelled and he could practically hear the dinosaur king roaring within him. He had the feeling that neither side would be able to win this and that was fine with him. He reached out with his own crystal toward Trent's to make sure that Trent wasn't trying anything and heard the Dragozord protest as if it were trapped.

He pushed away and made his way back toward Kira and the others. With a small movement of his hand, they followed and stood behind him. Trent stood a little ways a way, obviously not happy with the way that everything was turning out but feeling that Conner wasn't trying to cheat. He took the moment to regain his power and prepare to tear apart the red Ranger when he fought back. Kira moved her head to the side. "I thought you wanted to do this on your own, Conner."

"I can take him," Conner answered. "I know that. But…"

"But what?" Ethan asked and Conner sighed.

"I think I know a way to save him," Conner answered. He could feel the shock and surprise running off the rest of the team and felt a little insulted. "Hey, if Dr. Mercer was man enough to make sure we got that tape, then I can be man enough to help save Trent no matter what I feel about him."

"We're right behind you," Tommy answered and Conner could feel the pride in his voice. He couldn't help but to feel even better with that behind him. He hated to admit it, but he really liked it when he had Kim and Doctor O's approval.

"Okay, wait until I knock him back again. Then start giving me power. One at a time," Conner instructed. "I hope this works."

"It will." It was all Ethan said, but it was enough. With the rest of his team behind him, he turned back to Trent.

"Hey! Birdbrain! Let's finish this!" He yelled. The two went back at each other and Conner dodged and parried, yet Trent still wasn't doing much better. Conner picked up the staff and moved toward him, but the white Ranger took advantage of the situation and took control of the red Ranger's abilities. His speed was failing him and he was feeling tired and dizzy already. He stopped himself from falling to the ground and took his staff, quickly knocking Trent's feet out from under him. His strength started to return and he recognized Kira's power backing him up. In his mind, he could almost see the Pterodactyl fly around the Tyrannosaur's head before landing near him, a slight affectionate nudge before getting back to work. Conner swung his staff and knocked Trent's weapon out of his hand and put the staff to his neck. Trent started to move, but Conner put it in deeper.

"Finish it," Trent finally said and Conner smiled within his helmet.

"I am," he answered. He took the two powers and dug them toward the white gem. The white gem fought against him and it was taking all that Conner had to keep the yellow and red powers going as the white used its own power to try to negate them. Both he and Trent were yelling in pain by this point, but luckily for Conner, he felt Ethan lending his own strength. The white power was putting up all that it had, which the most powerful part of it being evil was placed on the front against the other powers. Conner was holding it, but he needed the last bit of power. He need Doctor O's strength and trust to win this. He held on and felt the black power slowly enter into his own gem. The extra strength was all that was needed and the dark shield cracked. There was a flash of light and all five of the dinosaurs that the gems were based off of cried out as the powers were flying back into the gems.

All of the Rangers were in their human form again and on the ground. Their eyes hurt from the flash and everything that had happened was taking its toll on them. None of them really wanted to get up as the pain increased. Finally, Trent started to get up, but he felt a hand hold him down. He glanced up to see Conner who looked uncharacteristically serious and laying next to him as he kept the other down. Trent moved to argue, but stopped. "So, how are we going to prove I'm okay?"

Conner looked at him and reached out, though tiredly with his own gem. The red gem touched the white one and there was no protest, no fear, though not much help either like the others. That wasn't Trent's fault. That was because the other colors of the gems and the white one weren't made to work with the others. At least, not in any way they knew of. Conner pulled himself up and wasn't surprised when Trent stayed down. The red Ranger sighed and reached down for him. "Welcome to the Rangers. You better not run away again."

"Uh, thanks," Trent answered. Both boys had a tentative look about them as if they wanted to start beating each right there and then, but neither did. Tommy and the others came over and Tommy looked at Conner.

"You sure?" He asked and Conner held up his wrist.

"No, but it is and I think that if I can't trust the gem, then I can't trust anything," he answered. "So, let's go home."

Kira nodded and paused remembering that she and Conner hadn't been alone when the whole mess started. "Hey, Kim, you coming?" When Kim didn't answer, she turned around to see that the female mentor wasn't there.

Tommy looked confused. "Kim was still here? I thought she was contacting us from the house."

"You didn't see her?" Kira asked, beginning to get worried. "She was standing next to me until the fight."

Tommy turned to his wrist. "Kim? Kim, come in. Kim?"

When no one answered, he motioned for the others to try, but none of them could reach her either. Conner looked at Tommy. "Bad, very bad feelings here."

Tommy nodded. "There's nothing we can do here and we're all still tired. Let's get back."

Reluctantly, they followed hoping that Hayley or Billy would have a clue of what's going on.

Kim screamed in anger as they Tyrannodrones dragged her. Elsa winced a bit at the noise and groaned when she realized that her prisoner was awake. "Why me? Why always me?! There are five, count them, five former Rangers other than me! Okay, Tommy's a Ranger now, but every time you guys have a plan, I get dragged in! Then you get mad at me when I do something useful. Like cut off an ear!"

Zeltrax stood in the doorway and looked at Elsa. "How long have you had to listen to her?"

"That last bit. I knocked her out," Elsa answered. Zeltrax chuckled.

"I can see why. Mesagog wants to see her," he let her know. Elsa nodded and sighed, but motioned for the Drones to follow. Kim was kicking, biting, screaming, and struggling the entire way there. By the time they got there, one of the Tyrannodrones was limping and the other wasn't in much better shape. They literally threw her in front of Mesagog while Elsa watched the door.

Kim pulled herself up into a sitting position, wanting to stand, but guessing that was unadvisable at the moment. "You destroyed my house," she informed him and gave a sly smile. "Do you destroy others' houses or am I just lucky?"

"Clever, Ms. Hart," Mesagog answered though he didn't act like it was. Kim had to wonder if his human side was already dead.

"So, why am I alive?" She asked. "Not that I'm complaining. Just curious."

"I don't need you," he answered. "I need the gems."

"Ah. Bait. I hate being bait," she informed him folding her arms. He acted like he didn't hear her. Instead, he headed over to where potion was waiting for him. The Tyrannodrones handed him a beaker with red liquid in it. "What's that?"

"I have one weakness," he told her calmly, deciding to answer this time. "In order to succeed, I must make sure that Anton Mercer never returns."

"No!" Kim screeched, but he drank the potion after speaking. She pulled herself off the ground, glancing back at the door to see Elsa was still there. Horrified, she watched as Mesagog shifted back and forth between the dinosaur form and Mercer's form. Finally, they separated and Mercer fell to his knees. Using her own agility and speed, she caught him before he hit the ground, ending with her on the floor as well though neither was hurt. Mesagog kneeled down in front of them without Kim being able to really move since she was holding the wealthy man's weight.

"You shouldn't have betrayed me," he told the limp form. He glanced at Kim and made a noise at her surprise. "Yes, I know the tape he sent you. But it will help me, not you."

"Yeah? I bet you're wrong," she argued, but Mesagog didn't bother to argue.

"Get them out of my sight. I have no use for them right now," Mesagog hissed. Elsa nodded and motioned to the Tyrannodrones, some of which grabbing her and others grabbing Mercer. Kim struggled, but it was no use. Elsa had made sure that it wasn't the same Drones she's fought against before. Elsa walked down the corridor, past various doors and finally opened one. She nodded to herself and then pointed at the room. The Tyrannodrones threw their prisoners in and Elsa locked the door after.

It was dark and definitely cold. There wasn't anything in the room other than the metal floor and Kim shivered as she made sure that they were on the other side of the room, away from the door for right now. She had lost her communicator at some point when she was unconscious and even if she had it, it wouldn't have been of much use. Her friends weren't stupid; they had to have realized where she was.

"I-I'm s-sorry, Ms. Hart."

Kim jumped a bit at the voice before realizing that Mercer was coming through the shock and the cold floor wasn't helping. She glanced in the direction he was in and sighed. "I know, Dr. Mercer. So is Tommy," she answered and tried to joke. "But you guys are not allowed to work on any more projects together unless it's a dig."

"Done," Mercer answered, accepting the attempt at a lighter mood. They were both quiet again as Kim thought hard. She needed to get them out of here before things got worse, but she didn't have much of a plan. Considering that it would take Billy and Hayley a little time to finish getting everything figured out, she had some time to figure out how to get them out of here. She just hoped that this all ended up with everyone good living.

"Now have you found her?" Conner asked again, kicking his soccer ball between his feet quietly. Hayley glanced up at him, annoyance in her eyes.

"Conner, I'd like to remind you that I fix everything that you break," she snapped, leaving an underlying threat. Conner stayed quiet for a minute and sighed. Kira and Ethan had both already pushed their limits and Tommy hadn't been allowed in the Lab in the first place when they'd found out since they knew he'd be a distraction. She'd hoped that the others would be better, but she'd been mistaken. Conner looked at the last member of their little group and nodded.

"Papa?" Neen asked and Billy closed his eyes, hoping she wouldn't ask.

"What is it, Neen?" He said.

"Have you determined where Aunt Kimberly is?" Neen asked. Both genius' threw up their hands and turned to the small group.

"Go play," they both said together. "Out!"

Billy walked them to the door. Once they were on the other side of it, Conner turned to him. "Is that a no?" The door slammed in his face. "Guess so. Hey, Doctor O. We got kicked out. How's Trent?"

"Feeling guilty over everything and I think he just wants it to be over," Tommy answered, having been the one to talk to him. It made the most sense considering Tommy had been evil before. He glanced at Neen, who followed the silent command and raced up the stairs to stay out of the bigger people's conversation. "I just spent the last fifteen minutes explaining why he couldn't quit. I think he understands now, but it isn't going to be easy to keep him involved."

"That's kind of understandable," Kira said softly. "I mean, yeah he was evil, but everything still happened. He still hurt people, his dad is Mesagog, his ear got cut off… Maybe we should just let him go."

"We can't," Tommy answered. "One, he needs us and two, we need him."

"As long as he doesn't turn his back on us, Doctor O is right," Conner agreed, though somewhat reluctantly. "Look, I don't like him, but he's still our teammate now. If he still wants to leave after, we won't stop him. Hell, I'll help him pack. But for now we need for him to stay."

Kira let him wrap his arms around her as he said it. Both Ethan and Kira knew that while he was trying to fight it, Trent being back had placed Conner into a situation where he was worried about losing Kira to the other Ranger. Trent came around the corner and Conner left Kira, heading toward the white Ranger. "Hey Conner," Trent said quietly. Conner looked him squarely in the eyes before glancing at the others. Realizing what he was doing, the others, even Doctor O, left to let them talk.

"I heard you wanted to leave," he said and Trent shrugged.

"I don't belong here," he answered. "I'm not going to run away without telling you, but you can't honestly think that it's better for me to be here."

"I'll tell you what I know, Trent. You were an ass, you were evil, and you were my worst enemy when you evil, but I think I still respected you more then because you weren't willing to quit. We worked our asses off to help you and you're going to run away? We lost Kim because of you. Now, you might not care about that, but I do. And what about your father? Are you just going to abandon him too?" Conner demanded. "Grow a spine and get in the game. You don't get to pick anymore and when this is over, you can get the hell out of Reefside and never come back for all I care. But right now, you're helping."

"But Conner…" Trent started as Conner shook his head.

"No buts," Conner said and started to follow his other teammates.

"Didn't you have a choice?" Conner stopped at the question and spun around.

"Yes, I did. But I wasn't evil and I chose to stay," he answered. "I don't care that you were evil when you hurt everyone, you have a chance to make up for that not. So do it."

With that, he left Trent there by himself as he joined the rest of his teammates. He knew he'd been hard on Trent, but right then he didn't care. He cared about ending the war and if he had to fight him the whole way, Trent was going to help.

Author's Notes: And we're heading into the final chapters before beginning the new one. I thought long and hard about whether or not I wanted Trent to be good again and decided for it. Though it did bother me in the series that he was willing to run at one point, but when he turned good again, he goes to them to want to join them. Daddy's wishes or not, I had a hard time with that. So, he's obviously not like that here.

Raptorball has been created. While not really in the next few chapters, it will return more in the sequel.

First of all, thank you for all of the reviews. I loved reading through them. However, equally important to me, you guys have given me over 100 reviews! So, as a way of saying thank you, if you have a one shot idea you want to see for this fanfic, leave it in a review or send me a message of what you'd like to see and I'll write it. It's the best way I can think of to say thank you!