Dino Thunder: Chemical Beast!

Chapter 12: Different DNA

"Zeltrax! Report!" Since yesterday, Mesogog has been in a bit of a foul mood no thanks to the White Ranger escaping and Amelia's tease about having to go to the bathroom. The faint sounds in his lab were ignored when he examined his surroundings, however, he couldn't ignore the Doctor's laughter that continued to linger in his mind.

"My lord. If my calculations are correct, Rojobot will be the most aggressive creature we have ever created," Zeltrax's explanation left plenty of doubt in the dino man's mind. He didn't need to look to know that the Cyborg headed to the Geno-Randomizer console.

"We will see about that," As he wandered around, he spotted something peculiar on a table nearby and stared at it while the Randomizer did its job.

"Activate!" The Cyborg yelled, to which he heard Elsa follow up with, 'All systems online!'.

Just as he turned to watch the doors fog up and open, what came out was something he began to question.

"Oh! It's so cold in here! How can you stand it? And who's the big, scary lizard?! Get me out of here!" The creature stepped out and curled into itself momentarily, much to the dino man's distaste, before he saw it run away to hide somewhere.

"Who is this fool?!" Furious now, not once in his prehistoric life had Mesogog seen a mutation express cowardice. The sight disgusted him, even more so when he asked Zeltrax, who responded with confusion. This is a first and I hope it will be the last creature to act this way. If he had a human mouth, he'd scowl at the situation.

"Uh... Rojobot?" Zeltrax, with a shrug of his shoulders, answered.

On cue, alarms flared and Meso strode over to Elsa, who was deactivating the Geno-Randomizer. "What is it?" Now this was certainly different. It's not every day that something out of the blue happens that would trigger one of his alarms, so he watched as the goth scanned for the cause.

"My lord. I'm picking up heat signatures and radiation from the forest," After she explained, it left him curious, the mention of radiation had his interest piqued just like any other scientist.

"What kind of radiation?" His softer tone had little to no malice, only genuine curiosity. If it's radiation that can be manipulated then it could be of use to me. The mere thought had his patience grow as thin as a toothpick.

"It's like nothing on record," Stated the gothic woman, whose eyes were full of concern over the predicament.

Nothing on record? With a lift of his head, while his golden gaze moved to the creature nearby, he hummed curiously. Amelia could be useful here. She could collect data on this particular radiation and examine its contents. There was a bit of delight at the thought, nonetheless, he knew that he could use the cowardly creature for now. "Send that creature and Amelia, to retrieve it. He should be able to handle that! I will go inform her of our plans," Slowly, away from the goth, he made his way to the door and heard Elsa's 'As you wish' before he left the room.

She should be in the Tyrranodrone Room. During his trek through the halls, scaled some stairs and turned a corner to the same set of doors that opened upon his approach. However, he froze when he saw her get tackled to the floor by Stevie and licked to no end.

"S- Stevie! No! Bad!" Laughter filled the room when he watched her struggle to move her face away from the beast's relentless affection and tilted his head, amused by the display.

"Hahaha! Okay- okay! Break time! Here!" From a bucket close to her head, she reached in and handed him a piece of raw meat that Stevie took greedily. It was interesting, to say the least, how she treats the creature as if it were a pet and not a tool to be used.

Stevie was seen hunkering and lying on his stomach to rip the meat apart, as a cat would to a mouse. From the hybrid to Amelia, his sunken eyes observed her exhausted state, for her heavy breaths and smile took a while to ease up. "Stevie? I know you have some of Mesogog's personality traits. I wonder... If he wasn't so angry all the time, would he act like you? Then again, you're still a kid, so maybe not. Hehehehe! You're the only one I can talk to about this!" Giggling, rolling onto her stomach, Mesogog observed from the side and hurriedly pressed his back against the wall to eavesdrop.

"I mean- who else can I express this to?! Mesogog's friggin hot, hahaha! His intense stare, the dangerous vibe, how cool he looks! Don't get me started on his raspy voice!" He heard it, there was a squeal at the end of her sentence and rapid giggles.

It was hard not to pull off his amused smirk. His slacked jaw and lift of his head proved how much her words blew up his ego. Slowly around the edge of the open door, he stepped around, with golden eyes peeking at her red face which she tried to cover with her hands.

"Even if he is my childhood crush, I don't think he'd ever fall for someone as weird and crazy as me.~ No one likes me! I'm too talkative, I find creepy things adorable, I'm ugly, and I annoy people to no end! But- that doesn't mean I should let those things hinder my progress! He will never know how I feel and I don't think he'd care either," Her blue eyes stared hard at the ceiling for the longest time until frustration made her eyes roll.

"Ah! I'm so hopeless! Stevie, I wished you knew how to talk!" He watched her lay onto her stomach and bury her face onto the floor, while her soft curls became a curtain around her face. "At least... I got the chance to visit his lair and experience seeing him in person. Not a lot of people can say that!" Once more, Mesogog quickly moved closer to the wall when he saw her sit on her knees, with tightened triumphant fists and a smirk.

So... It wasn't just because she could relate to me or that she needed a lab to help her. She thinks that I am... Hot? Genuinely confused, he was, when he turned his head from her to ponder her words carefully. Of course, his jaw closed and both of his hands clasped against his lower back. Her statements left him puzzled, as to why she would feel that way toward someone who was pure evil and uncaring.

Nonetheless, he turned on his heel and marched into the room, where Amelia stood and adjusted her lab coat. "Amelia. Accompany the mutation to retrieve data on a particular object. There are significant signs of radiation. I'm sure... You wouldn't want to-" Before he could say more, he jerked backward when she squealed and clapped her hands.

"Wee! Yay! Yes, yes! I want to! You don't even need to ask or demand me! Radiation is a form of chemical that could potentially alter DNA and other things! This must be episode fifteen! Let me gooo! I wanna go!" He could've sworn she was a child at this point, the small shakes of her limbs and continuous excited giggles made him nervously avert his gaze.

"Rojobot will be of assistance! Now go!" With a point of his claw, he demanded but felt all of his muscles stiffen when she gave him an appreciative hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" His yellow eyes followed after her form when she ran off to catch up with Rojobot and left him alone with Stevie.

Peering down to see the creature, he saw its ears perk up like a Doberman and give him a skeptical, hard stare as if he was saying 'I knew you were eavesdropping...' For once, Mesogog noticed that Stevie had the same red spot above his yellow eyes which strangely enough looked similar to his. "Do not look at me like that!" As soon as he turned to leave the room, he almost toppled forward had he not controlled his balance, when the creature flapped his wings and hitched a ride onto his shoulders.

Angry hisses fell from the dino man's maw, for he tried to pry the creature off, but the lengthy tail Stevie had tightened around his waist threateningly. "You are going to pay," If there was one way to embarrass a very stoic and unemotional person, it would be this. Nonetheless, he left the room, albeit angry and uncomfortable with Stevie's insistent need for contact.

He couldn't get what she said out of his head. The longer he stayed in silence, the more her words lingered and made him ponder the word hot; it still left him confused.

~~~~

Dr. Ray couldn't hold in her fangirling squeal, she didn't notice Zeltrax and Elsa awkwardly stepping away from her when she stood close to Rojobot and several drones. "This is my first time! I'm excited!" Tightly in her arms was a container and a pair of tongs. "Thanks for lending me these!" Her hands lifted the items eagerly, shaking them from side to side. She didn't notice the curious stare from Mesogog or how he looked her up and down.

"This lady is much nicer than that scary lizard!" If it couldn't get more awkward than it was, the monster huddled close behind the redhead and hid his arms. Within moments, the invisiportal sucked them through, and she soon found herself in the forest.

Behind a tree she hid, peeked around the side, and watched Rojobot approach the four rangers she knew as Conor, Ethan, Kira, and Trent. The other two, her brows knitted, and finally recognized them as Cassidy and Devon. "Hehehehe, while they're busy, I'll just sneak my way close to the thingy and snatch it! There isn't one time in the series where this meteorite is mentioned, only when it gets broken and that's when Tommy Oliver is taken out of his fossilized state and forced to stay in his suit. I wonder... If I can just touch it with my glove, I could have it attach some radiation to it and I could take it back to the lab that way," As she mumbled to herself and grinned, the fight was underway and the two non-rangers fled the area.

There the fight began, Tyrannodrones surrounded the teens and Rojobot stood behind them like the coward he was. She ignored their short conversation when Cassidy and Devon were spotted hiding. The more they fought, the longer the fight took. When Amelia saw an opportunity to get closer, she did an army crawl closer to the rock and thankfully missed getting stomped on by Rojobot when it was changed to be more aggressive no thanks to the rock.

As close as she could, her rubbery gloved hand reached in and touched it. Joy filled her eyes at the sight of its strange energy wrapping around and sticking to her hand, however, she didn't expect to get shot by the same substance. Suddenly, there was a surge of anger, something she couldn't control, and thoughts of Solar clouded her mind the more she stayed there. "I'm going to tear that prick apart even if it's the last thing I do," Through gritted teeth, she stood, ducked, and ran out of the group to hide behind the same tree again.

Furiously she yanked the rubber glove off and put it into the container with the tongs. There was so much anger that she clenched a fist and hit the bark of the tree next to her until blood started to trickle down to her wrist. It was so overbearing that she wanted to scream, that she wanted to show Ace Solar the same kind of hell, the same pain he had put her through and her aggressive cry almost cost her. "Aaah!" From her pocket came her Plasma pistol and several burst shots went through many trees, making them tumble and almost fall onto one of the Rangers.

However, she didn't expect an invisiportal to appear above her head and pull her through. After she appeared in Mesogog's lair again, Tyrannodrones soon flooded her on all sides during her rampant cries of fury, for they held her down and tied her to a chair. "Let me go! I want to tear that arrogant, piece of poison apart! Solaaaar! I'll kill yoooouu!" Through gritted teeth came a primal growl of rage. Her red curls appeared more messy from her countless thrashes and her voice carried an aggression that took the three others by surprise.

Yes, even Mesogog was taken aback by her sudden change in personality. Over and over the redhead jerked her head back, flailed, and did everything she could to break free from the binds that the drones used to tie her up. Her screams weren't shrill, no, they carried so much hatred that could easily outshine Mesogog's over humanity.

She couldn't think, she couldn't see straight, the only thing she could see was Solar's disgusting grin and the memories of his tortures that returned to her like a speeding truck. This was a part of her she always kept deep within herself, the amount of rage, her anger, everything was kept under a lid, and was afraid to bring it out.

Rojobot had returned, thanks to Mesogog's method, he tried to ignore the furious cries from the redhead not too far from him and approached the thing. "You have failed me," Despite the screams nearby, he spoke, and watched his strange change in personality.

"But- but, give me another chance! I want to pound those Rangers into the ground!" The several stomps from the creature proved its anger that much more.

"I don't know what happened to you... But I like it!" With both hands outstretched, he found amusement in its attitude adjustment and began to walk away. "Maybe I will give you another chance," It was beginning to be hard to ignore the grunts and cries of fury in the corner of the room, but he did his best. There wasn't a time he could recall when Amelia was infuriated to the point of screaming out her lungs, especially not like this.

"I knew it, I knew he was a fearsome warrior!" Zeltrax commented.

"I have a feeling, things in reefside... Are about to change! However... There is an issue at hand," Aside from the eager creature behind him, his prehistoric tilting head slowly met with another that had slumped over in her seat. Over to her, he strode and soon stood inches from her feet. His claw was used to lift her head by her chin, and he bore his gaze confusedly upon the sight of fiery anger on her face. "What has caused you to be like this? This anger... I like this part of you," However, when he asked, he saw the same expression on her face that her transformation had before and the gasp that left his maw showed how quickly he put the puzzle pieces together.

That transformation. Her current state. They're the same, if not, more tame than her primal state of mind. Perhaps... Whatever happened to her, it brought out her hidden anger. So, her primal mind from before let her unleash her pent-up anger. I am... Beginning to see it now. For a moment, he thought and kept his interested golden hues upon her blue ones for the longest time.

"Look in the friggin container! That space rock had radiation and it touched me!" Through a growling breath, she spoke, and the moment he let go he walked over to the said container nearby. "I want to show him the same kind of HELL he put me throuuuugh!" Her last word came out as more of a growl, which made the dino man pause in his movement, and look over his shoulder at her.

"In time... You will. Now- I'll examine this," Slowly, he removed the lid to the container, took the tongs, and picked up the glove that was covered in a violet aura. As if it were poison, he did his best not to have it touch anything or anyone and carried it to an examination table.

There he got to work. Thanks to Elsa who joined in, it took him some time but he finally figured out the issue and it was surprising, to say the least. "It contains a chemical that seems to alter a person's personality. A recessive personality trait of some sort, which she keeps hidden under lock... And key. Intriguing," He paused for a moment, lifted a claw, and looked at Elsa who straightened up. "Send Rojobot to strike the Rangers! While he tends to them... I will tend to her," His last word came out as more of an exhale and began to mess with the radiation that was attached to the glove. "She has proven herself useful, once again. She knew of the radiation, but hardly cared of the effects it would have on her and brought back something to study," Amusement showed when his jaw slacked, for he picked up the glove with tongs and placed it into some water.

"Yes, more lord," Unbeknownst to him, Elsa glanced at the infuriated redhead, before she sent Rojobot away through another invisiportal.

More time was spent and some results came in. The chemicals he removed from the glove spread itself throughout the liquid in a test tube and thanks to some changes, an idea occurred. What if I used this and mixed it with some creature's DNA in a chemistry tube? Would it help her retain her human mind instead of a primal one? OR would it worsen it? Questioning the theories that flooded his mind, he took gradual steps closer to the panting redhead who kept her head down. From his robe he took out a blood-extracting needle and stuck her with it, however, it made him jerk back when she screamed in rage and tried to bite his arm.

"I won't let you put any more needles in me! A scum like you should have it shoved up your crack! Solar!" Screaming again, he saw her poor attempts at yanking on her arms to try and pry the bindings off but it only resulted in her making the chair hop.

Growling, he didn't much like the idea of being compared, so when he took her jaw in his hand and brought her face to his he saw raw fury for the said man. "I am not Solar! It would do you well to remember that! Open your eyes!" Hissing, he punctured her arm to retrieve some of her blood and noticed how her gaze lit up with recognition. It didn't take long for her to realize this, and with that, he let go and pulled the needle back with the red liquid inside.

Again, he returned to the chemistry station and examined her blood for quite some time until he decided to take a break and go to his throne room to sit a while. What he found in her blood was staggering, it was astonishing, it was human but not at the same time, and it angered him. Both Elsa and Zeltrax stood on either side of him, for they both watched the screen above.

In the fight against the Power Rangers, he believed Rojobot was doing well given the couple of fights were victorious and to see it get blasted into pieces spiked his anger. With both claws, streams of his power were sent to them both, he didn't hold back his growl of displeasure. Stronger and stronger, his power grew, so much so that his minions fell to the ground in agony and curled up; over to a machine he began to speak. "As I engage the hydro re-generator myself, I would like you both to think about what you have done. Activate!" With his hand, he pushed the lever and made the clouds above the scattered creature, come back to life, and become ten times its original size.

Back to his seat, he sat down and watched the fight unfold. He ignored the two who struggled to stand and left him in the room alone. As he observed, he couldn't stop thinking about the results from her DNA. "I find it odd. Her DNA... It looked... Artificial," Quietly to himself he spoke. There was hardly any care when he watched Rojobot battle it out, it helped him cope with the discovery. "She claims she has rare human DNA. But from my knowledge, there is no such thing. Her DNA has a much stronger adaptability trait and from what I saw... There were many animal DNA pieces in her," He stared at the screen as the creature exploded and was torn asunder by the Rangers.

"From what I learned when she took in Raptor DNA, it seems her strong human adaptability trait forces her body to return her to human form. And because she has that trait, it also allows her to obtain the characteristics of the creature she chooses to take in... For a limited time. It is as though her body takes in the DNA and forces the animal behavior of the said creature, to take over. I would have to alter the creature's DNA liquid she drinks, for her to keep her current mindset. She is a very complex woman... That I intend to figure out," From there, he stood and left his seat.

He still couldn't shake the image from his mind. The one where she was in her transformed state, crying above him, and ran away. There was so much pain and suffering behind those eyes when she came to recognize him, now he knew why. She didn't want to hurt him or anyone else because of the effects the transformation had, not only that, but because she had a crush on him; which is still something he doesn't know how to feel about.

As he trekked the halls, he could hear her calls. "Mr. Mesogog? Elsa? Zeltrax? Hello?! I'm kind of stuck here!" His prehistoric smirk made his jaw slack at her words, so when he turned and walked into the lab, he saw her blink curiously at him. "Hey... Uh- I'm sorry. I knew the radiation would affect me but I didn't know it would bring that out. I didn't mean to lash out at you," He saw it, guilt in her eyes, which he couldn't help but feel relieved by.

"You weren't yourself. There was no reason to take you seriously," With that he wandered to her, used his claws to cut her binds, and stepped back to see her stand and rub her wrists.

"Thanks for restraining me! Who knew what I would've done if you hadn't! I knew that the radiation would bring out a recessive personality trait, but I had no idea it was an aggressive, vengeful, hateful one... Why did you say you liked it? That's weird.~" Giggling, she felt like herself again, and he could tell.

"Because. It is something new I haven't seen you with. I have never seen you so full of raw anger before, it was... Different. A good different," He couldn't contain himself. Hearing her enraged cries earlier and how much she wanted to rip Solar apart, made a strange sensation flutter in his stomach that he only ever felt during moments of torturing someone.

"Well... I don't like showing that. I've always been told to keep a positive mind and to not let others get under my skin! That I should always look at things differently and intelligently!" The fist to her heart, a hand on her hip, the confident stance she took, and the triumphant grin she donned, made his jaw slack again.

"Whoever told you that, had a brain. However, a positive mind can blind you from other, more dire matters. You are too positive! You need to express your anger more and let out that inner rage. That darkness that's in your heart! You need to accept it, let it take over," Much to his distaste, he grew tired of her ignoring that dark part of her and it put him into a state of disappointment. She needs to let that rage out. The happy mask she wears is only meant to cover up how she truly feels. For a moment, with a contemplative glare and a growl, he thought to himself.

"Hey- I wouldn't mind that if it wasn't going to hinder my thought processes. I don't want to be down in the dumps every day and scream and holler at everyone who so much as reminds me of Ace Solar. It's not healthy... So. How about this?" Closer and closer, he watched her move to him with a challenging smirk on her lips. Her words caught her attention, for he gave her a prehistoric tilt of his head to show he was curious before she continued. "If I work on expressing more of that to try and sustain a healthier mindset, then you have to work on something! I don't want to... Do it alone," There it was, nervousness, but he saw the pain in her eyes when she averted them from his.

"A challenge, eh? Then what would you suggest... I- work on?" Now he was intrigued. Alone... Alone. That word. For a moment he went into a daze. He recalled the day when he emerged from Anton and took over. He found that there wasn't anyone like him at all, only humans that roamed about, and looked identical to one another. He could remember how much he hated what Anton wanted to do for the humans and it irked him. Alone, no one else was like him. Alone, he was at that time, and it plagued his mind until he felt warmth in the middle where his brows would be.

"Hey... Are you okay?" Those depressing thoughts that once clouded his mind were swept away from her gentle touch, he strangely wanted more and leaned into her palm. He stood like that for several minutes and cared not if she was stunned by his approval, or by the content grumble he gave.

The moment his eyes opened, they felt heavy and tired, but he snapped himself out of it with a shake of his head and growled. "What is it, then? What would you suggest?" Again, he repeated, watching her brows knit confusedly as though she didn't understand. It was as though she had already told him and maybe he was too dazed for him to register what she said the first time.

"I... Already told you. Oh well! I'll say it again! I would suggest you work on things that you don't want to admit to! Like- how you enjoy it when I pet your forehead and you deny yourself that!" Again, she reached, and this time he allowed her to place her hand between the red spot above his eyes.

It was soothing, like a calm among the storm that raged in his mind. He felt himself daze into a blissful peace he had only begun to realize he needed and for a moment, he picked up a faint gasp from the redhead. There was no need to open his eyes to see her expression, he knew she wasn't expecting him to accept it right away. For the first time, he found himself leaning more and more, pushing against her hand as it moved with his force. When he opened his eyes, he jerked away as fast as he could upon the closeness of their noses. "Fine! I accept your challenge!" Quickly on his heel he marched out of the lab and growled irritably.

There was no time to listen to whatever she said, the doors closed behind him before she could say much else.