Someone was going to die.
Forget the Power. Tommy was going to find whoever had made an evil Ranger and have himself a nice little supervillain snack. Personally, his money was on Elsa; the way the White Dino Gem had been hidden suggested her work. But why would Elsa have given the Dino Gem to Trent? And that was who Tommy was betting was under that suit—the body shape was right, the movements were right, the dagger even looked like a pen—
Trent started draining energy from Kira and Ethan.
Tommy didn't bother demorphing before shapeshifting. It didn't matter, the suit vanished anyway, but he reached down and yanked the three teens apart, lifting Trent off his feet and away from the others, sweeping his wing over Kira and Ethan. Trent tried the same trick with Tommy, and discovered that, in fact, dragon scales and skin were impervious to almost any form of energy attack, and that was before the Power enhanced it.
The stricken teens climbed to their feet. They'd been demorphed, but they weren't injured. Tommy made a soft noise of concern.
"We're okay, Dr. O." Ethan said. Kira rubbed her arm.
Get home. Conner, call the Raptor Riders. I'll take Trent back to the Lair. Tommy ordered.
"Get off me!" Trent shouted. "Laser arrows!"
They splattered off Tommy's scales harmlessly, and Tommy turned his head and raised an eyebrow, growling a little. Trent tried to stab him. Tommy sighed and resigned himself to dealing with this for a little while.
The other Rangers jumped on the Raptor Riders and headed for Tommy's house. Tommy glanced at Trent. So, Trent, want to ride on my back, or in my claw?
Trent told Tommy to do something that, even as a dragon, was not anatomically possible.
Tommy sighed and took off.
They were in the middle of testing when, out of the blue, Trent demorphed, going limp in Tommy's grasp. Tommy carefully handed him to Hayley, as quickly as possible so his head didn't snap or something. Hayley caught the unconscious teen and set him against Tommy's side.
Tommy curled a wing around him, sighing. At least Trent was quiet like this. Another Dragon Ranger was amazing, was wonderful—but this kit was currently more like an evil puppy than anything. And the yapping was getting annoying.
Trent blinked awake after a minute, looking around. "…wha?" He managed. "Hayley?"
"That's my name." Hayley agreed, still scanning. "Hold still, I need to run a few more scans."
"I…what happened?" Trent managed, trying to push himself upright. Hayley pushed him back down. It must have registered to Trent that he was laying against scales, because he looked up.
Hi, Trent. Tommy said.
"…You sound like Dr. O." Trent said slowly.
I am Dr. O. Tommy replied, amused.
Trent tried to process that. Tommy tried not to laugh as he watched. Trent was very clearly out of it, and it was a bit like watching the school stoners try to answer a question. "M'going back to sleep now." Trent finally decided.
All right. Tommy agreed. There would be enough time to ask what had happened later. For now, he needed to stay still so Hayley could scan him.
"That Gem is a menace." Hayley finally said. "My scanners can't even read his DNA right! I have no idea what's going on."
Someone's been experimenting, Tommy guessed darkly.
"Experimenting on what?" Trent piped up.
The gemstone on your wrist. It's called a Dino Gem. Tommy explained. It works with the morpher to let you become the White Dino Ranger.
Trent considered that. "I'm a Power Ranger?"
"Sort of." Hayley confirmed. "You were acting like a totally different person back there. You attacked the others, almost attacked the city…I think something's messing with that Gem, but I'm not sure what yet."
Trent looked at Hayley's hand, then got up, staggering a little. "Whoa. I feel like I got hit by a truck."
Close enough, Tommy told him. That much corrupt energy is knocking your whole system out of balance. You're going to have to be careful for a few days so you don't get sick.
Trent blinked up at him. "…Sorry, but…Dr. O? You're a dragon…"
Tommy chuckled and shifted down to human. Trent gaped. Tommy clapped him on the shoulder. "Come meet the other Rangers, kit."
"…Do they turn into dragons too?"
"No, but you can." Tommy said with a wide, wicked grin.
"He what?" Hayley caught sight of Tommy's face. "Don't you dare teach him that spell, Tommy Oliver. Do. Not. Dare."
Tommy chuckled and led the way back to the Lair.
Mesegog and his generals had secret identities. That was the conclusion Tommy came to after figuring out that Randall and Elsa were the same person. Zeltrax was Smitty; there was just no one else Tommy could imagine being that petty and vindictive. So that only left Mesegog.
Anton Mercer having invisiportals in his office wasn't proof of anything, but either way it didn't look good.
So now that he'd officially put Trent in danger by leaving an invisiportal wide open to be stumbled into (to say nothing of gaslighting Trent when he'd found one), Tommy felt entirely justified in paying him a visit.
Of course, Hayley would have said that the full dragon form wasn't actually necessary, but, well, it was the middle of the night, and it wasn't like Anton had any neighbors to be woken by Tommy growling his name.
Anton almost came flying out of the door.
Tommy grinned. Hello, Anton, he said in a rough approximation of calmness. Want to tell me how your son ended up the White Ranger?
Anton paled. "…Tommy, I didn't know."
Tommy roared.
Anton cowered away. "Please! I don't want him to-!" Anton fell silent.
Oh, now that was interesting. Don't want who to what? Tommy coaxed.
Anton looked even paler than normal. His eyes darted around, like he was looking for a way out. Tommy, in full hunter mode, settled closer to the ground, his tail twitching in anticipation.
Suddenly Anton came to some sort of decision. He looked up at Tommy, meeting his eyes. "Mesegog will find him if he stays here." Anton said. "So make sure he doesn't come back."
That's your solution? Throw him away? Tommy demanded.
"I don't have to justify myself to you." Anton snapped. He turned to go inside.
Tommy picked him up by the back of his shirt, bringing him closer. Actually, Tommy said pleasantly, Yes you do. So let's talk about how you're going to handle this. Won't we.
Anton actually whimpered. It was a surprisingly lovely thing.
(Later that night, when Tommy came home, he almost threw up from the strange wrongness of attacking his old mentor like that. As he stared at the walls of his bathroom, kneeling on the cold floor and clutching reflexively at his stomach, he thought of Trent.
It didn't make everything fine. It just made it suddenly worth fighting himself for.)