Elsa watched as Mesogog and Fealdor left the main lab with Zeltrax following like a well trained puppy. Maybe Frankenstein's puppy...she amended to herself. Just watching Zeltrax's retreating back made Elsa nauseous all over again. Never before had Mesogog punished one of them so irreversibly. She didn't know what made Mesogog take such drastic action – was it purely to punish Zeltrax, or was there a message in it for herself and Fealdor?

Elsa counted herself lucky not to have been involved in the fiasco with the life force extractor. But now she was at something of a loss. Obviously Mesogog meant to pursue the plan Fealdor had laid out. Even now they were going down to the cell where the Rangers were being held. And she had been left out. She hated second and triple guessing herself, but the situation with Zeltrax made it clear that she was not able to anticipate what Mesogog was thinking. Should she follow them down to the dungeon? Should she remain in the lab? And do what? she thought bitterly to herself.

Ever since Mesogog had given her new life and a new name; ever since she gratefully called him Master, Elsa had made herself valuable to his cause. She was not necessarily smarter than Zeltrax, but she was slicker. She was able to turn even bad situations to her advantage. She had to figure out a way to turn this one, or when they were through it would be Fealdor sitting at Mesogog's right hand, not her. And after all this time, Elsa was not about to go down without a fight.

Predicting that the others would have to make a side trip to Fealdor's lab, Elsa caught up with them in the hallway heading down to the cell. She said nothing, willing for the time being to be silent and observe. Now was not the time for impulsivity. Fealdor was so nervous Elsa could smell the stink of his anxiety though she walked a number of paces behind. She could almost feel sorry for him if he weren't so damned pathetic. There was no way she would lose her place beside Mesogog to such a sniveling weakling.

The clanking of the cell door brought Elsa's focus back to the task at hand. She was the last to enter the room, and stationed herself close to the doorway. The smell of a human was bad enough, but the smell of two humans who'd been locked in a room for a day was so much worse. Not wanting to appear weak, Elsa struck an aggressive pose in the doorway, as if preparing to prevent an escape.

She was somewhat surprised to see both rangers on their feet. Dr. Oliver was, not surprisingly, positioned protectively in front of the boy. But the fact that the boy was even conscious, let alone standing, seemed to be a testament to his recuperative Ranger powers.

Fealdor advanced on the pair with his scanner. "This is amazing...just amazing." Tommy eyed Fealdor warily as he got closer, but since he didn't seem to be armed with anything more than his scanner, he let him pass. Dustin flinched visibly when Fealdor waved the wand of the scanner too close to his face. Tommy put out a hand to steady him.

Elsa couldn't understand it – even under these dire circumstances, Tommy carried himself like he was the one in charge. His protectiveness toward the boy was touching, if in her opinion, misguided. There was no way he would be able to prevent Mesogog from draining the boy dry, and once he did, Tommy Oliver would be a historical footnote. Yet he persisted in his role as protector, and stood implacably before Mesogog as though he wore a cloak of power around him.

Neither Mesogog nor Tommy spoke. The only sound in the room was Fealdor muttering to himself as he calculated the readings on the scanner. Mesogog finally grew impatient. "What have you to report, Fealdor?" Both Tommy and the boy looked warily at the lizard-man.

"My Lord, the boy has recovered much more quickly than I anticipated. It must have something to do with his Ranger powers. I need..."

Mesogog cut him off. He motioned to Zeltrax, "Take him. Leave Dr. Oliver here." Without hesitation Zeltrax moved forward. Tommy moved to intercept him. Elsa could see his eyes go wide as he got his first good look at Zeltrax's "improvements". In the small quarters, Tommy had very little room to maneuver as he was already backed into the corner with Dustin behind him. Perhaps Tommy was expecting banter or something preliminary to the fight giving him a little more time to formulate a plan, but Zeltrax wasted no time. He simply grabbed Tommy by the shirt and threw him against the wall. Before Tommy could gain his feet, Zeltrax had grabbed Dustin by this throat, lifted him off his feet, and headed for the door.

"Stop!" Tommy yelled. He watched as Dustin struggled ineffectively against Zeltrax's grip. Elsa moved in to intercept Tommy, keeping him at bay with her sword

"My Lord, stop him!" implored Fealdor. "The boy can't take that kind of damage."

"Zeltrax," stated Mesogog, obviously pleased with the immediacy of his minion's response. "put the boy down." Zeltrax stopped moving immediately and released Dustin. Dustin landed hard and couldn't keep his feet under him. He crashed to the floor hitting his head on the wall in the process. He groaned softly in response. Elsa chuckled at the look of panic on Tommy's face.

Fealdor gasped with alarm. He ran over and began to scan Dustin again. "Just a few moments...and so much energy already lost." Dustin sat looking dazed. "My Lord," Fealdor began, "as I tried to say before, I need more time to assess how to help the boy recover his power. Even this encounter with Zeltrax has taxed him more than it should." Fealdor looked over his shoulder trying to get a read on how Mesogog was taking his comments. As he swung around to address Mesogog, the scanner pointed away from Dustin toward Tommy. The energy spike that caused got Fealdor's attention.

Getting to his feet, Fealdor approached Tommy. Elsa didn't see what good that would do; it wasn't Tommy's energy they needed. Fealdor said nothing as he swung the scanner back and forth between Tommy and Dustin. After a moment he demanded of Tommy, "Help him up."

Tommy needed no encouragement and shouldered between Fealdor and Elsa. Elsa rolled her eyes as Tommy asked Dustin with concern, "Are you alright?"

Dustin nodded in response, and then realized that was a bad idea. "Du-uude..." He reached out a hand to Tommy, feeling the need to get his feet under him, and not show any further weakness in front of the enemy.

Fealdor watched the readings on his scanner intently as Tommy gave Dustin a hand up. "Now walk over there." Fealdor pointed across the cell where he wanted Tommy to go. Dustin propped himself up against the wall without Tommy's support to keep him upright.

"They're connected..." Fealdor didn't seem to be speaking to anyone in particular. Then he turned his attention to Mesogog. "My Lord, I don't understand how...but the boy seems to be drawing strength from outside himself...from the Black Ranger. The closer they are, the more energy that is transferred. We cannot separate them – the boy will recover much more quickly if the Black Ranger is present."

"Is that so?" rasped Mesogog. "Then it seems that you both will be getting better accommodations." Mesogog reached out to Dustin and ran a scaly finger down his arm. "After all, the quicker you recover Yellow Ranger, the quicker I will drain you dry."

Tommy strode back across the room, interposing himself between Dustin and Mesogog. "I guess you'll still have to deal with me for a while." he stated challengingly.

"Not as long as you think, Dr. Oliver." Mesogog spat back. "You've got twenty-four hours, Fealdor. Do what you can to increase the boy's energy. Tomorrow morning we put him in the Energy Chamber."

TBC