Chapter 7- With Memoroni and Mushrooms

“Well, Felectro, I do have to say,” Elsa said as she, the White Ranger clone and the hybrid entered the main room of Mesogog’s island fortress. “Your performance against the Rangers was nothing short of incredible.”

“Indeed.” Mesogog said as he rose from his chair. “However, I do have to ask: The two teenage reporters, why didn’t you bring them with back with you? If the plan was to force the Ranger’s hand and make them squirm in their suits before they acted, you should have proven your point and brought them here.”

“You are right my lord.” Elsa replied. “But in a way, we already have proven our point to those prebubescents.”

“What do you mean?” Mesogog asked.

“I mean that because of this fight, we have, as kids say nowadays, freaked out the Power Rangers. And we have done so in a way so that everytime they try to go head-to-head with us, they won’t know for sure if an innocent bystander will ‘accidentally’ get caught in the crossfire. And if that bystander happens to be someone they know or care about, it’ll only give us more of an advantage.” Elsa answered.

Mesogog lowered his head and placed his claw under his chin as he paced around in thought. After a few moments he then raised his head and looked at Elsa. “As strange as this is for me to say Elsa, you may very well have a point.” He said. “Now I am not one to usually ask this, but seeing as how our good friend Felectro left those Rangers reeling, I’ll ask it; what do we do now?”

Elsa smirked. “We’ll let those Rangers lick their bruises…for now. But once they think they can relax completely…”

Felectro swiped at the air with his right claw as if to finish Elsa’s sentence.

Mesogog saw the gesture, and snarled wickedly.

--

“Okay, I feel like I seriously had my bell rung about 5 times.” Conner said as he rubbed his hand against his semi-sore chest.

“Try me, I feel like I’m standing on toothpicks.” Kira said as she leaned against the column and slumped to the floor.

“Just what the hell was that freak?” Trent asked as he sat down next to Kira. “I mean, of all the whackos Mesogog’s cooked up, this one takes the cake.”

“Well, if you ask me I think Mesogog made a clone out of Jet Li, and then pumped him full of Panther/Bird DNA.” Ethan said as he walked over to the group rubbing his left shoulder.

“More like a Bruce Lee clone.” Tommy said as he sat on a chair by the console.

“Dr. O, there’s one thing I do wanna ask,” Conner said. “Why didn’t you let me go Triassic? I probably could’ve warped that monster someplace else so he wouldn’t threat Cassidy or Devin.”

“If you had gone Triassic, he would have.” Tommy said. “Whenever you’re in situations like that, the only option you really have is to just yield. You can’t put innocent lives at risk even if you know you can save them right then and there; it’s just too risky.”

“But what about that time when Zeltrax had Krista?” Conner asked.

Tommy smiled. “It wasn’t as risky, plus Zeltrax didn’t use her as a shield. That in turn, gave you the advantage.”

“Well I…was able to…save her in time.” Conner stammered.

“Are you turning red, bro?” Ethan asked, a goofy grin already spreading across his face.

“No.” Conner quickly replied.

“Just askin’.” Ethan said, even though he had a feeling deep down Conner was. As a result, a chuckle began to spread all over the room.

“So what do we do now?” Trent asked.

“Right now we know Mesogog has a new freak of the week, and one that, along with using electrical powers, seems to know how to go mano a mano as well, so our best bet would be to keep an eye out.” Tommy advised.

Conner then felt his stomach rumble. “Think you can try to call Pizza Hut again doc?” He asked.

“Can you think of something else besides your stomach, man?” Ethan asked. “I thought girls were the only things you thought about.”

“Oh, and you’re not starving?” Conner asked.

“Nope.” Ethan replied. Then his stomach started to growl. “Okay, maybe I am.”

“I’ll head upstairs and try again. Hopefully the line won’t be busy.” Tommy said as he got up, reached for his portable home phone and started up the stairs. “Oh yeah, what toppings do you guys want?”

“Pepperoni.” Conner, Trent and Ethan said in unison.

“Mushrooms.” Kira answered.

“And extra cheese for me.” Tommy said to himself. “Okay, I’ll be back down in a sec, guys.”

“Sure thing, doc.” Ethan called out.

“Yo, Conner, where’d you put ‘em?” Ethan asked as soon as their teacher was out of earshot.

“Put what? The photos?” Conner asked.

“No, the topless picture of Natalie Portman.” Ethan said sarcastically.

“I don’t remember seeing that one.” Conner replied. Then when he saw Ethan give him a dirty look he smiled. “I’m kidding, man! I’m kidding!”

“Dude, you weren’t kidding.” Ethan countered.

“Seriously, I was!” Conner shot back. “I left them right by the High School box.”

Ethan walked over to the box labeled High School stuff and looked around it. He then saw the bundle hidden under one of the flaps and grabbed it. “Did you look through all of them?” He asked.

“No, just up to the one where Dr. O was leaning on the tree and Katherine was leaning on him.” Conner replied slyly.

Ethan then flipped through the pictures and came to the one Conner was talking about. “Speaking of leaning…”

“I know.” Conner remarked.

“Are you guys just gonna look at that all the time we’re here?” Kira asked.

“Ohhhh, yeah.” Conner and Ethan said.

Kira lowered her head between her knees and shook her head in disgust. Trent then got up to look at the photos with the other guys.

Ethan then looked at some of the photos but they were mostly Tommy/Kat pics so he passed them to Trent for him to see. He then came to one where it showed Tommy and Kat standing by what looked like a beach. No sooner did he see Kat’s swimsuit did his eyes bulge. “Uh, guys?” he asked.

“What?” Conner asked.

“You uh, might want to get me a brown paper bag, and pronto.” He then looked closer at the photo. “On second thought, make that a big one.”

Conner and Trent looked at the photo and instantly their eyes bulged.

“Y’ know…Dr. O…he…ughhh! It’s just not fair, y’ know. How was he able to garner the attention of one (maybe two) Power Ranger bombshells?” Conner asked exasperatingly.

“Who knows?” Ethan asked. “Although I do have to say: Dr. O was one lucky guy.”

Ethan then finished looking through the bundle and passed it off to Trent.

“Having fun, guys?”

Conner, Trent, and Ethan turned around and saw their teacher standing behind them with his arms crossed.

“Oh, uhh…hi Dr. O.” Conner said.

“Having a party?” Tommy asked.

“Uh…no. Actually we were…just picking up on where we left off and, well…uhhh…”

“While we were digging up some stuff, we found…these.” Trent finished Conner’s sentence as he hesitantly handed over the photos to his teacher.

As Tommy took the photos he then looked at them himself. However, as he did a sad smile began to break across the corners of his mouth. “I was actually wondering where these were.” He said softly. “I thought I had lost them.”

To Conner and the others, Tommy seemed to be talking more to himself than to them, and the way he reacted when he saw the photos was really starting to pique Conner’s interest. “Old friend?” He asked cautiously.

Tommy looked at his protégé, and he quickly found himself feeling very uncomfortable. “Yeah. You could…say that.”

If Conner saw signals that were telling him to just drop the subject, he didn’t see them. So he pushed on. “So…where’d she go after you guys gave up the power?” He asked, remembering seeing his teacher, Kat, Adam, and Tanya pass on their powers to four other successors.

Tommy gave Conner a warning look, but when he saw Trent, Ethan, and even Kira look at him with curiosity, he knew he was trapped. So he quickly thought of the least uncomfortable thing to say on the Kat subject.

“She…went off to London to start her ballerina training at the Royal Academy.”

“Wait a minute, I’ve heard of that.” Kira said. “I remember my mom telling me once her college roommate had studied there for a while, but then she went on to major in theatre. According to her, it’s quite hard to get into.”

“It is.” Tommy said.

“Look, Dr. O, we didn’t mean to look through them.” Conner said apologetically. “Okay, maybe we did. But it wasn’t as though we were deliberately looking for photos of you and your old friends.”

“Conner, I know. It’s all right.” Tommy said to his student. He then glanced down at the photos. “Well, with all the junk I’ve accumulated over the years, you probably would’ve found them sooner or later.”

DING-DONG!

“Pizza’s here?” Ethan asked.

“Probably.” Tommy said as he placed the photos by the console and started up the stairs. Conner, Trent, Kira, and Ethan followed him.

“Just sit down and act like you’re talking about something.” Dr. Oliver said to his protégés as they shut the door to the Dino Ruins. Conner sat on a chair, while Kira, Trent, and Ethan reclined on a sofa.

Tommy unlocked the door and saw the delivery guy holding a large pack that pizza is placed when deliveries are done. “Hi.”

“Hi.” The pizza boy replied. “1992 Valencia Road?”

“Yeah, this is it.” Tommy said.

“Okay, I’ve got two medium-sized pizzas: One’s half extra cheese, half pepperoni; and the other one’s half pepperoni, half mushrooms.”

Tommy fished out a coupon from his pocket and took out some bills from his wallet as well.

“Okay, the buy one medium, get another medium free…that’s about $12.99.” The pizza boy said as he calculated the price.

Tommy gave him $13.00 plus $3 as a tip. He then thanked the guy and took the pizza boxes inside.

“Uh…Dr. O, do you need any help lightening that load?” Conner asked, his mouth already watering like crazy.

Tommy smirked and shook his head slightly at Conner’s expression. “Thanks Conner, but no thanks.” He answered. “Ethan, there’s some paper plates in the closet you can get out, Kira, if you want silverware there’s some in that drawer by the stove.” He said as he carried the pizza boxes over to a stove and set them there. Kira took out a bundle of napkins for everyone and silverware for herself, for she quickly saw she was the only one that would eat pizza with knife and fork first, then with the hands.

“There’s still one thing bugging me though.” Ethan said as he reached for his slices.

“What’s that?” Trent asked.

“When that Felectro freak tried to take Cassidy and Devin hostage and then held them out in front of him as if they were shielding him. And then he dares us to take a piece of him?”

“I know.” Kira said. “It’s as if he wanted to see if we would go ahead and try to attack him even with Devin and Cassidy in his grasp, literally.”

“Look, guys, can we please eat first?” Conner said in-between mouthfuls of pizza and Sprite. “I mean, we just got our butts handed to us badly and as a result I’m not in a humorous mood and I’m hungry like a T-Rex. Can we talk about it later?” Even though he was coming off as obnoxious at that moment, Conner was really just pissed about the fact that for once one of Mesogog and Elsa’s creations really mopped the floor with them without breaking a sweat. And just when Conner was about to go Triassic on the monster’s ass, Felectro used human shields to try to force Conner’s hand. Even though Cassidy and Devin weren’t harmed, Felectro still ended up getting the last laugh.

“Translation: I just want to finish my pizza so I can get back out there, find Felectro, and pummel him six ways to Sunday.” Ethan said.

Conner sighed. “Yeah, more or less.” He admitted.

“But what if he tries the same thing?” Trent questioned as he finished his third slice. “I mean, this is something Mesogog could use to his advantage.”

“What would that be?” Conner asked.

“Using innocent people as shields, thus leaving us unable to fight his flunkies and letting him get away with whatever he has planned.” Tommy said.

“So that could also mean that if our parents or those we care a lot about happened to be around…” Conner then let it hang, for he didn’t need to say more. And judging from Ethan, Kira, and Trent’s faces, they knew too.

Silence then filled the kitchen for a while, but then it was broken as Conner reached for his third slice of pizza. As he feasted on it a frown crossed his face. “Y’ know, it’s not a question of whether there’s too much pepperoni or tomato sauce, it’s more around the lines of whether there’s enough pepperoni and/or tomato sauce.”

Needless to say, that brought a much-needed laugh among the fivesome.

Conner then looked at his teacher and saw somewhat of a far-off look on his face.

“Still think about her, doc?” he asked.

Tommy’s face then turned serious. “Who?”

Conner couldn’t help but gave his teacher a you-know-who-I’m-talking-about look.

“Conner, that’s my business. Not yours.” Tommy said sternly.

“Sorry, it’s just that…you had that far-off look on your face and I recognize it because I’ve had that look when I see girls I like walking ar-.” Conner then saw Kira give him a death glare as if to tell him it was probably a good idea if he just shut up so he quickly stopped himself.

“Okay, well I don’t know about you guys, but I’m stuffed.” Ethan said as he drank the last of his Sprite.

“There’s still a few slices left.” Kira pointed out.

“I’ll put them in the fridge.” Tommy said. “You never know if you might get hungry later.”

“True.” Ethan agreed.

Tommy took the last of the few slices and put them all in one pizza box. He then opened the fridge and put the box on the bottom shelf. After he closed the fridge he then took the other box and placed it in the trash can. As he sat down with his protégés he heard a faint BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! coming from downstairs.

“Think that guy’s back for Round two?” Conner asked.

“Somehow I wouldn’t be surprised.” Tommy replied as he rose from his chair.

“Just let me get a piece of that freak.” Ethan said as he followed his teacher. “I’ve got a score to settle.”

“You and me both.” Conner added