Tommy took in the view from his new prison. He and Dustin had been moved to a room on a higher level of Mesogog's fortress – high atop one of the rocky towers, jutting out over the restless ocean. They'd been provided with cots and blankets, and there was heat coming from somewhere to alleviate the never-ending dampness of the island fortress. Food had been provided as well; it was mostly fruit and some energy bars, though Fealdor had mentioned trying to get some meat. Tommy wasn't sure if he'd be willing to eat whatever kind of meat the lizard-man came up with.

Tommy and Dustin hadn't had a chance to speak much since the move. Both were wary of talking in front of Mesogog or his minions, and once they'd gone the lure of the cot was too much for Dustin to resist. He's collapsed onto the closest bed almost as soon as the mutants were gone and had been sleeping ever since. Tommy was pleased to see how much better Dustin looked already. He wondered if it was due to the improvement in conditions or of his newly reestablished connection with Shane and Tori.

Tommy was pleased that Fealdor misinterpreted his scanner readings and believee that Tommy was the source of Dustin's renewed health. It was certainly to their benefit that they were being held together; at least this way they could make some sort of plan. Tommy waited impatiently, wanting to talk with Dustin but unwilling to rob him of what little sleep he was likely to get.

Tommy paced as he thought about the confrontation with Mesogog and Zeltrax in the dungeon. Something was decidedly wrong with Zeltrax – the changes were extremely disturbing to Tommy. There was no posturing, no threats. He acted like an automaton. It was just weird. Evil flunkies usually had much more mouth than muscle. This change in Zeltrax could cause a problem.

The conversation with Mesogog in the dungeon also played over and over in Tommy's head. "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." So it seemed that the life-force extractor was no longer an option, but the energy chamber didn't sound any better. And now they had a time limit – something the others needed to know.

Watching Dustin sleep gave Tommy an idea. He'd been drawn into the dream construct by Sensei Kanoi when he'd been trying to meditate. He wondered if it would work the other way too. If being telepathic was a ninja trick, it was never one that Tommy knew he had or tried to develop. But at this point he was willing to try anything. It couldn't hurt.

A glance at Dustin showed he was still sleeping soundly and not likely to rouse anytime soon. That decided Tommy; at least if he was trying to contact Sensei Kanoi he'd be doing something instead of staring at the wall. Since he had the opportunity and the space, Tommy decided to actually go through the kata he'd been practicing in his mind earlier. Taking up the first position brought Jason strongly to mind again. With a deep pang of regret Tommy wished his friend had been one of the ones who'd been brought in to help. Something about having Jason around just helped Tommy feel balanced. Tommy drew on that feeling, took a deep breath, and began.

Dustin felt very disoriented as he woke. He kept his eyes closed as he drifted toward awareness. He could tell he was in a bed, but it was not his own. He couldn't put a finger on where he was. Dustin could hear someone moving around in the room, and figured it must be Shane. Were they still in the hotel? Hadn't Tori and Shane threatened to steamroll him again if he slept too late? Wait...didn't that already happen?

Throwing an arm across his eyes, Dustin tried to recall where he was. Something about Tori, Shane and other Rangers was tickling his memory. Other Rangers?! In an instant, all that had happened in the past 48 hours came crashing back into Dustin's awareness and he sat up with a start. That was a bad idea.

"Whoa." he groaned, and grabbed his head in his hands. It felt like every bruise he'd ever had was coming back to haunt him. Dustin took a few deep breaths to center himself. Once he felt like he could lift his head without falling off the cot he looked around. It wasn't Shane he'd heard moving around, it was Tommy. The Black Dino Ranger had positioned himself at the foot of Dustin's cot. His back was to Dustin, but as he moved around Dustin could see he was deeply involved in the kata; the intense look of concentration on his face made Dustin disinclined to interrupt.

Tommy must have sensed that Dustin was awake because he snapped out of focus and greeted him. "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Hungry." was the succinct reply.

Tommy nodded in understanding and gestured toward a small table. "Well there's fruit and some other stuff."

Dustin looked torn as he climbed out of the cot onto his feet. "I feel totally like those kids in that story...you know - Hansel and Gretel." He bent over in an imitation of a crone and adopted a wavery voice. "Come eat all my candy so I can fatten you up and shove you in my oven...or, uh energy chamber."

Regardless of his feelings, Dustin walked over to the table and selected some energy bars and an apple to munch on. "Sorry I crashed like that." Dustin nodded toward the bed. Tommy made a gesture of dismissal. "You needed it. It's not like we had anywhere to go."

"I just don't want to help them," Dustin gestured toward the doorway. "But for me to eat and sleep is what they need, and that's what I'm doing." He dropped his apple to the table with a thud.

"Dustin, you have to keep your strength up for you, not for them. When help comes, and it will, we've got to be able to help our friends all we can. And you can't do that if you faint." With a half-smile, Tommy handed the apple back to Dustin.

"I think I would pass out...it's more manly." Dustin stated.

Tommy, not quite used to Dustin's non-sequitors, took a moment to catch up; then he chuckled. Dustin changed the subject. "What were you doing there? I've never seen that kata before."

Tommy smiled again, a real smile. "That's an old one, a good friend taught it to me a long time ago. I was actually trying to contact your Sensei, but I didn't do a very good job of it. I feel like I'm tossing messages in a bottle and just hoping one will reach the shore." He ran his fingers distractedly through his hair.

"Shane says it's much harder to reach someone if they're distracted." Dustin paused thoughtfully. "Maybe it would be easier for you if I helped."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea. You really do need to conserve your energy."

Dustin shook his head, "I'd just be along for the ride – you'd be doing all the work. You need a ninja teacher, and that's what I do." Dustin smiled at the irony of the situation – him, teaching one of the most legendary Power Rangers.

It took a little trial and error to get the first effort off the ground. Being able to speak mind-to-mind was a power Dustin didn't have but had always admired, so he tried to drag up from his memory everything Shane had ever said about learning mind-speech. A lot of it stayed with him even though it didn't relate to his own power, but it was hard to explain the trick of it to someone who had no experience at all.

Dustin and Tommy had settled on the floor, cross-legged and facing one another. Dustin, no longer feeling any qualms about eating, deposited a variety of fruit nearby to snack on while working. He took a big bite of his second apple while deciding how to begin.

"Okay...yeah..." he said around a mouthful. "From what you said, it sounds like what you were doing before was just shouting into the wind." Tommy shrugged; it seemed a fair description of what his first attempt had felt like to him. "You've got to get more focused." Dustin declared. "Try this – when Sensei called you in the dream, how did you know it was him?"

Tommy considered his answer. "I didn't know who it was at first. I was flying and realized I was following this red-banded hawk. Then he spoke to me."

Dustin's eyes squinted. "You were flying?"

Tommy nodded as he answered. "Yes. I was the falcon. The white falcon."

"Then that's where you start. In your mind's eye, picture yourself as the falcon again. If that's how Sensei saw you before, he'll recognize you if you try to call him on your own."

At first Tommy found it difficult to picture himself as the falcon. It wasn't until he realized that he needed to focus on how he felt as the falcon rather than how he should look externally that it started to feel right to him. Tommy took a deep centering breath, but kept his eyes closed as he felt Dustin move closer.

"Okay, now that you've got the picture in your head, let yourself fly. Be drawn to Sensei. If you can sense his thoughts clearly enough, he should feel like a strong magnet."

Tommy let his falcon spirit soar and felt the exhilarating freedom of its flight. Almost immediately he lost contact with Dustin, and that pulled him out of focus. Tommy, angry at himself, opened his eyes and clenched his fists in frustration. Dustin just grinned at him. "Not bad for a first try." He looked at Tommy encouragingly. "Try again."

After a few faulty starts, Tommy began to get the hang of directing his thoughts through the falcon spirit without succumbing completely to it. That was when they ran into a different obstacle. "It's so frustrating!" Tommy exclaimed. "I can send my thoughts only so far...like something's keeping me back from getting past this damn island."

Dustin's eyebrows raised – he'd never heard a Ranger curse before. Tommy caught something in his expression and quickly apologized. "Let's take a break." Dustin suggested. "Maybe there's something we're not thinking of."

Tommy quickly climbed to his feet and started pacing. "We have got to get through. We've got to let them know they're working on a deadline."

"I know I can reach Shane and Tori on some level... "Dustin began.

"I know you can, but we can't risk it. We don't know what it will take out of you. And you said yourself that mind-speech isn't your strength. We have got to be sure the message gets through!"

The discussion was interrupted by a noise at the door. Dustin quickly scrambled to his feet and Tommy moved to stand near him. The door was opened by a Tyranodrone who moved into the room followed by two others and Fealdor. The drones were carrying platters of food; Tommy hated to admit it, but the odors were enticing. It was like they'd robbed a Boston Market or something. They'd brought a huge meal, from salad to apple pie.

Fealdor ignored what the Tyranodrones were doing and immediately approached Dustin. He muttered to himself as he scanned the younger man. "Excellent...excellent. You've gathered much more strength in these few hours than I had predicted." Tommy was surprised when Fealdor turned the scanner his way. "Same as before..." he tweaked his instruments minutely. "Hmmm...that's a little different."

Tommy's heart lurched wondering what Fealdor was seeing, and if it meant they'd separate him from Dustin. Fealdor didn't seem inclined to act on anything, and the constriction in Tommy's chest eased just a little. Fealdor raised his head and acknowledged the rangers directly for the first time since entering the room. "I can see that you've eaten a little already. We've brought something more substantial for you to share. Eat...eat," he encouraged while gesturing toward the table. "You've got to keep up your strength you know."

Dustin crossed his arms over his chest and got a stubborn expression on his face that concerned Tommy. This was not a time to pick a fight – they needed Fealdor and the drones to leave so they could try contacting the Rangers again. Time was not on their side.

But Dustin had had enough. If Tori or Shane had been present, they would've told Tommy that once Dustin had that look on his face, no amount of persuasion would deter him from his chosen course, right or wrong. There was almost nothing in their current situation that was in Dustin's control – he'd been dragged around, nearly drained of his life, and pretty much moved like a pawn on a chessboard – but damned if he was going to be told by this lizard-dude when to eat. Even if it smelled better than almost anything that came out of his mom's kitchen.

"Keep up my strength, yeah I know...so your boss can suck me dry tomorrow." answered Dustin sarcastically. "I'm really looking forward to that."

Fealdor blinked, nonplussed. He'd been counting on the appetite of a teenage boy to win the day. The aroma alone should've had the boy leaping toward the table, but there he stood, rock-solid, in the center of the room. Fealdor was at a loss. The Yellow Ranger needed to eat if he was continue to regain his strength, but short of having the Tyranodrones hold him down and force feeding him, there was nothing Fealdor could do about it. Even that was risky – the boy was bound to struggle and might waste more energy than he gained by eating.

"You need to eat. You're too weak." Fealdor's ineffective gestures toward the table and pleading didn't move Dustin at all.

Tommy could see that Dustin was in a bind. He understood on an intellectual level why Dustin refused to eat when Fealdor encouraged it; but at the same time, he and Dustin both knew that he was going to have to eat if there was any chance of helping their friends once they arrived. Tommy didn't know why Dustin had chosen to make this particular stand, and was trying to think of a way to help him out of it without him losing face in front of Fealdor.

The notion when it struck Tommy was fairly obvious – Fealdor couldn't order Dustin to eat, but Tommy could. He hoped that Dustin would play along. Tommy could see that Fealdor's pleading and placating were not helping the situation, so he decided to take the opposite approach.

Tommy broke ranks with Dustin and sidestepped Fealdor to get to the heavily laden table. He took a deep breath of the mouth-watering smells then turned and looked at Dustin. Using his most authoritative "Red Ranger" voice he simply said, "Dustin, it's time to eat."

To Dustin's credit, he didn't bat an eye or take his steely gaze off of Fealdor. "Not 'til they leave."

Fealdor, shocked by assistance from Tommy, was not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Get out! Get out!" he shrieked as he ushered the Tyranodrones out the door. He hastened to join them and slammed the door behind them.

Tommy was ready for an argument, but was surprised by Dustin's lopsided grin as he looked over at the Black Ranger. "Dude, that wasn't the best fight to pick, huh? I about broke down when I got a whiff of that chicken."

Tommy chuckled, relieved that the situation was resolved so simply. Dustin joined him at the table and they set in to eat. It was unspoken between them that once they had their fill, they would set to work attempting to contact the others again.