Chapter Eighty-one
A Chimp in Charge

"Whoa."

Cassidy peered cautiously around Devin. He stood transfixed in the doorway, preventing her from seeing much besides walls of dark stone. "What is it?" she hissed.

"Mesogog's private chambers," Devin breathed.

Cassidy rolled her eyes. They'd been wandering aimlessly over the gigantic demolished complex for what felt like days—Cassidy had no way of telling how long it had been, as she didn't wear a watch and Devin's had been fried by the trip through the Invisiportal. Cassidy's interest in the laboratory had long since waned, and she was getting dangerously tired of Devin oohing and aahing every time he recognized something from descriptions given to them by Mercer, Elsa and the Rangers or else from his own sci-fi fantasies.

"Devin, come on," Cassidy complained, exasperated. "Poking around Mesogog's bedroom isn't going to get us anywhere."

"Yeah," Devin said reluctantly, sweeping his gaze around the room anyway. It was designed to mimic a cave, complete with a small stream that still trickled through the center of the room. A door at the opposite end hung shattered on its hinges, giving them a glimpse of the jungle-like terrain outside the damaged complex.

Cassidy tugged at his arm, pulling him back into the hallway. A lot of the doors in the place were automatic and wouldn't open, though some were stuck half-closed, like the one to the Tyrannodrone storage bay, which was full of row after row of dormant minions and had nearly scared Cassidy and Devin witless before they realized the Tyrannodrones weren't aware. Not far past that had been a fully-closed door labeled "Triptoid Storage," behind which were loud bangs and sounds of frantic movements; that had not only been unnerving but somewhat sickening, to think of dozens or even hundreds of mindless creatures doomed to live out their meaningless lives trapped in a locked box.

They'd already found what appeared to be a cafeteria, a training room for hand-to-hand combat, a repair bay for heavy machinery, and a room filled with dancing green laser beams that Devin mused was designed to test the reflexes. Most unsettling had been Zeltrax's personal quarters, the walls of which were plastered with pictures of Dr. O, a throwing knife stuck in every last one, and a secret shrine to Elsa in the closet, à la Helga G. Pataki in Hey Arnold!, complete with an intricate wig on a mannequin and a badly-drawn black heart on the wall. They'd tried to remove some of the knives from the walls, just in case they needed a weapon at some point, but they were stuck so deep that neither of them could budge a single one. They'd spent a while studying all the pictures, some of which were startling—most of them involved Dr. O during college, doing all sorts of things neither of them had ever tried to imagine Dr. O doing, like singing karaoke, hanging out in a bar, dancing, and dressed in various Halloween costumes. Elsa's room hadn't been half as unnerving—it was rather cliché, in fact, filled with lots of black furniture and medieval weapons and torture devices. It looked a lot more like a villain's lair than Zeltrax's science-teacher montage and principal shrine, and they'd both felt better after liberating a couple of weapons from the hooks on Elsa's walls. Devin had chosen something that Cassidy didn't recognize, which he called a morning star, and Cassidy had gone with a sword that had gotten really heavy really fast, so she'd made Devin carry it, though she left the cool belt and empty scabbard hanging around her waist.

Cassidy let go of Devin's arm when they reached the end of the hall and turned left. He followed obediently at first, then stopped dead in his tracks. Cassidy sighed and spun around. "What now?"

"A fuse box," Devin breathed, staring at a box mounted on the wall. "At least, I think that's what it is."

"So?"

"So, if I flip a few switches in here, we might could get the power back on!"

"We don't exactly need to sit down and watch TV, Devin," Cassidy snapped. "We need to get out of here."

"I know, but if we had power, we could probably operate some of their computer systems," Devin explained. "The ones that control the network of portals, for instance, or ones that would allow us to contact someone for help."

Cassidy's face lit up. "Well, what are you waiting for? Pop it open and light it up!"

"Um, well…"

"What?"

"If I turn on the power, it could, you know… what with the severed cables… shattered lights… automatic doors…"

"What?"

"I could blow us up or unleash the Triptoids. Or something worse."

Cassidy stared at him, then frowned, thinking it over. "Well… we're obviously not getting anywhere. Even if we find a boat we'd have to find the shore in order to actually, you know, survive. We can't even find the front door. This place is huge and falling apart and I for one don't want to be here any longer than I have to. We can't even find another portal, let alone guarantee that it'll take us to Reefside and not China. We have to do something." Cassidy held out her hand for Elsa's sword. Devin gave it back to her and hefted his morning star a little higher, glancing around nervously before opening the fuse box.

Devin sighed. "It's not labeled."

"So?" Cassidy asked.

"So I don't know which switch does what," Devin said, opening the door wider to show her the double rows of switches. Cassidy glowered at them, wondering why all the bad things always happened to her. Then, deciding that she simply wasn't going to put up with any more nonsense from this place, she reached out and flipped a switch at random.

"Cassidy, no!" Devin shrieked, crouching and clutching his morning star for dear life. Cassidy swallowed as a low whirring noise echoed throughout the complex. What few lights that hadn't been shattered suddenly flickered on, startling them so badly Devin nearly put his morning star through the wall.

A computerized female voice filtered through a speaker system. "Auxiliary power online."

They waited a few moments, twisting their heads around warily, waiting for some sort of monster to pop around the corner and eat them. When none arrived, Cassidy shrugged and turned back to the box. "Well, that went well."

Devin nodded shakily. "We have lights, anyway. Now we won't have to worry about it getting dark."

"I want to be gone long before it gets dark, anyway," Cassidy said firmly. "Monsters aside, who knows what's in that jungle out there. Snakes, bugs… ew." She stared at the box critically. "So. If the auxiliary power was the top one in this row, what would the others be? Logically?"

"Um… well, it all depends."

She stamped her foot, annoyed to find herself wandering through science geek territory only to have her pet science geek fail her. "This is your area, not mine, Devin. You figure it out."

Devin nodded and stared at the switches while Cassidy glanced around. He tried to remember what the switches in the fuse box of his own basement did—upstairs lights, downstairs lights, basement lights, furnace and water heater… somehow he doubted Mesogog's fuse box was the same. For starters, Devin's box didn't have anything called "auxiliary power." Frowning, he decided his best bet was to do what Cassidy had done—flip a switch and hope whatever higher power was watching them happened to be in a good mood.

He flipped another switch. A new whirring sound started, accompanied by distant booms of heavy things colliding. "Defense systems armed," the voice said, making them jump again.

"Well, that's probably good," Cassidy said brightly. Devin decided against pointing out that the defense systems might think they were intruders and attack them. Instead, he shakily flipped again.

"Invisiportal network reconnecting with main grid."

"YES!" Devin exclaimed.

"What does that mean?" Cassidy asked excitedly.

"It means… it means… well, I'm not sure, but if it's 'reconnecting,' that means the portals were supposed to be connected already, so it's fixing something, which means… which means the portal will be better on the way home."

"Oh. Good. Keep flipping."

Devin did, pausing after each flip for the voice to explain what he'd done before moving on to the next switch. "Laboratory power online." "Vehicle Repair Bay power online." "Communication systems online."

"Did you hear that, Cassidy? The communication systems! All we have to do is find a… a terminal, or whatever… and we can get out of here!"

"Whew," Cassidy said. "Should you keep flipping?"

"I don't know. Maybe. I mean, it's possible that we'll need some of the stuff these switches control, and we might get lost if we wander away from the box, but…"

"Devin?" Cassidy whispered, suddenly sounding strangled. "Did… did you hear that?"

Devin stopped, listening. His entire body abruptly filled with dread as he recognized the sound.

Slowly, cautiously, he turned and peeked around the corner. Triptoids were coming down the hall, moving in odd, jerky motions, each of them carrying a weapon. Devin fought the urge to faint as he jerked back out of sight. "Cassidy?" he whimpered.

"Yeah?" she asked, clutching her sword for dear life.

"We released the Triptoids."

They stared at each other in wide-eyed terror, taking a moment to digest this latest bit of bad news. Then they ran like hell.

Conner had been searching for ages for anything remotely familiar. He'd wandered over what felt like half of Angel Grove and had yet to find the park, the Youth Center, the hotel, Jason's house, or the mall. He'd asked at three gas stations for anyone who might remember a tricked-out VW Beetle and a break dancer, but all it got him were blank stares, although given that he'd been in the trunk the whole time he doubted he'd be able to find Billy's house even if he could find the gas station they'd stopped at in the RADBUG. Worse, he vaguely remembered something about Billy's father going out of town, so he didn't think finding the Cranston residence would be much help.

He'd eventually given in and started asking people for directions to the mall. To his surprise, he hadn't been hit with a cane or seduced by a wino; he'd just gotten more lost.

Finally, however, he did find something familiar—a shuttle bus emblazoned with the words "Club Bulkmeier, now offering tours of the fine City of Angel Grove." It was the same van Conner, Kira, Ethan, Trent and Tommy had toured the city in, only now it had streaks of orange paint all over it, as if someone had tried to give it tiger stripes.

Face lighting up, Conner hurried towards it, hoping Bulk and Skull would remember him and give him a ride back to the mall; after all, they were friends of Dr. O's, and apparently they liked to help people—during the tour they'd talked all about how they'd saved the Power Rangers' lives and been involved in all sorts of quests to help in the fight against Rita and Zedd. He found the two of them standing in front of the van, wearing orange-spattered coveralls and arguing quietly.

"Hey, guys, remember me?" Conner called.

To his surprise, the two jumped guiltily and turned around. It was only then that he realized that Bulk was holding a monkey in his arms—a large monkey with matted, bright orange fur.

Bulk, Skull, Conner and the monkey regarded each other in wary confusion for a moment. Then Conner asked slowly, "Why do you guys have a monkey?"

Bulk and Skull gave little jolts of surprise and looked at him innocently. "What monkey?" Bulk asked, trying unsuccessfully to detach the monkey from his shirt and shove it behind his back. The monkey let out an indignant chattering noise.

"Yeah, what monkey?" Skull repeated, eyes darting from side to side shiftily.

"That monkey," Conner said, pointing. His finger came a little too close to the monkey and they hopped back, yelping.

"Careful! He bites strangers!" Skull yelped, clutching an arm covered in Spongebob Band-Aids.

"Sorry," Conner said, hastily backing away and shoving his hands in his pockets, greatly startling Ms. Syrian Hamster and Mr. Mongolian Gerbil.

"What're you doing here anyways?" Bulk asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, what're you doing here, kid?" Skull demanded.

"I got lost," Conner replied, confused.

"A likely story!" Bulk said, Skull echoing him. "I'll bet you're really here to SPY on us!"

"Yeah!"

"Who sent 'cha, huh? The zoo? The feds?"

"I'm not—I'm not a spy! I'm… remember Dr.—uh, Tommy? The guy I was with? Tall, muscles, spiky hair, kinda dorky?"

Bulk and Skull paused at this. Bulk shifted the monkey in his arms. "You were one of the kids with Tommy that day on the tour?"

"Yes."

"Yeah—yeah! I remember you!"

"Where's the hot one you were with?" Skull asked.

Conner furrowed his brow. "…Trent?"

Bulk and Skull looked at each other. "Trent? That's a weird name for a girl…"

"Wh—OH! You meant KIRA! Right, right, it's Kira."

"Which one was Trent?"

"Uh… the… kinda… attractive… guy wearing white—I'm sorry, why do you have a monkey?"

Another pause followed Conner's subject change as Bulk and Skull looked at each other conspiratorially before motioning Conner closer. "Can you keep a secret?" Skull whispered.

"Sure."

Bulk and Skull looked at one another again, then proceeded to survey the area, craning their necks and shifting their eyes so rapidly that Conner felt a dizzying need to check over his own shoulder. They waited a moment while a man in a business suit wandered down the sidewalk and out of earshot, then checked the area again. Satisfied, they motioned him even closer.

"This," Bulk began, once the area was secure, "is Farcus Skullovich, and he… is our new mascot."

Conner blinked. "Ah. Why a live monkey?"

"You kidding? Stuffed monkeys are so passé!" Bulk said with a snort. "And by the way, he's a chimpanzee, thank you very much."

"Why is he covered in orange paint?"

"An accident," Skull supplied. "We were trying to paint the bus, and Farky went berserk."

"No, Farky was trying to help," Bulk insisted with the air of one resuming an old argument.

"No, he was trying—"

"SHH!" Bulk interrupted. "Not in front of the spy!"

"Sorry, Bulky," Skull whispered. He looked at Conner expectantly, as if waiting for Conner to leave so Bulk and Skull could continue their conversation.

"Um," Conner said slowly, "I was kind of hoping you guys could tell me how to get to the Angel Grove Mall."

"It's that way," Skull said, pointing left.

"No, it's that way," Bulk argued, pointing right.

"No, it's that way," Skull shot back, pointing directly behind him.

"No, it's—"

"Ah," Conner interrupted, a sinking feeling settling into his stomach. "Well, um, thanks. I'll just be going."

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you?" Bulk demanded in a panic.

Conner frowned, confused. "Tell anyone what?"

"Oh, I see," Skull said, glaring at him. "The kid's trying to blackmail us, Bulky. He's threatening to tell everyone he sees that we've got an illegal chimpanzee if—"

"Illegal?" Conner repeated.

"Skull, you idiot!" Bulk exclaimed. "Now he knows we don't have a license for Farky!"

"You need a license for Farky?" Conner repeated.

"Yeah, why, do you have one?" Skull asked.

"A license for Farky?" They nodded. "Uh, no. No, I don't usually carry around monkey licenses. No matter what Kira says."

"Anyway," Bulk said loudly, "just because you know our secret doesn't mean you can blackmail us, kid."

"It's Conner," Conner reminded him. "And I'm not trying to blackmail you; I wouldn't do that. I'm just trying to make it back to the mall before Dr. O—Tommy—finds out about the mime."

"Mime?" Skull asked, shuddering deeply. Conner and Bulk copied him.

"It was horrible," Conner said. "But, like I said, I'm not going to, you know, turn you in or anything, I just—"

"Oh, so now you're threatening to turn us in, eh?" Bulk demanded.

"No, no, no! Look, I—OW!" Conner broke off with a yelp, withdrawing his hands from his pocket; Ms. Syrian Hamster had just mistaken his finger for a food pellet. "Sorry," he added to Bulk and Skull. "Ms. Syrian Hamster—ooh, hey, that's it!" Conner reached back into his pockets and removed the two furry creatures. "Ta-da!"

"Aw, look how cute," Skull cooed, stroking Mr. Mongolian Gerbil's head.

"What exactly are we looking at?" Bulk asked suspiciously.

"Proof that I'm not going to try to blackmail you," Conner said proudly, pleased with his reasoning skills. "See, I accidentally set free a bunch of hamsters and gerbils at the mall and I got these little guys along the way."

"And that proves you're not trying to blackmail us… how?" Bulk asked, frowning.

"I've got illegal animals, too," Conner pointed out. "So we're all in the same boat."

"Ohhhhhh!" Bulk and Skull chorused. "Sorry for doubting you," Bulk said. "We're just a little nervous. At this point… well, we actually kind of have to return him, and…"

"Return him? Why?" Conner asked.

"Well, he is illegal," Bulk said. "And kind of…" Bulk coughed. "Stolen."

"Stolen?"

"They weren't treating him right," Skull said defensively.

"We have a special bond with chimpanzees, you see," Bulk explained.

"We used to be chimpanzees," Skull added.

"Doubt us if you want, but stranger things have happened than being temporarily turned into chimpanzees," Bulk proclaimed.

"Oh, I know. I'm from Reefside. Home of the Dino Rangers," Conner said. "We have all sorts of strange things happen there."

"Really? Hey, did you ever meet the Power Rangers?" Skull asked eagerly.

Once again, Conner felt the urge to laugh, just as he had when Dee had asked him the same question the previous day. "Sure. Lots of times."

"So have we. Only we met the originals," Bulk boasted.

"And a bunch of the evil villains," Skull added.

The urge to laugh was growing. "Cool," Conner said. "Hey, listen, speaking of the original Power Rangers—only not really, because I'm not talking about them at all anymore," he corrected himself hastily, "would you guys mind giving me a lift back to the mall? I really don't want D—Tommy to worry about me. He told me not to leave."

"Sure," Bulk said.

"It's just past the zoo," Skull said.

"So if you don't mind us making a quick stop first to return Farky here…"

"I'm gonna miss him," Skull said, sniffling.

"What happened to him being your mascot?" Conner asked.

"Well… taking care of a chimp is a lot more work than it seemed like when we were chimps."

"And after the orange paint incident, we're thinking Farky isn't suited to life outside the cage," Skull added sadly, rubbing the Band-Aid patch on his arm.

"So we're going to sneak him back in," Bulk continued. "Shouldn't take long. Then we'll drop you off at the mall, okay?"

Conner nodded and looked down at Mr. Mongolian Gerbil and Ms. Syrian Hamster. He thought about how sad he'd feel if he had to give them up after forming such a strong emotional bond.

"Know what guys? I'll help. I know what it's like to care about an animal you're not supposed to have," Conner told them.

"Ha! You're an all right kid, kid," Bulk said, clapping his shoulder. Farky copied Bulk by smacking Conner's other shoulder, hard.

"It's Conner," he said. "You guys ready?"

"Sure, kid," Bulk said. "Should probably get out of here anyway, before someone complains about the orange paint all over the road." He nodded at a long smear of paint stretching across the asphalt from the van almost to the opposite curb.

"Hop in," Skull said cheerfully, climbing into the driver's seat and pulling the lever that opened the shuttle's door. "Time to send Farky off in style."

"Sounds like fun," Conner replied, replacing his pets in their respective pockets and following Bulk and Farky into the bus.

"It'll be more than fun," Bulk announced. "It'll be an adventure, won't it, Farky?" He ruffled the monkey's fur. "Yes, it will."

"I like adventures," Conner said as Skull shut the doors and started the bus.

"Oh, good," Skull said. "Then you'll really like hanging out with us."