[980131] [Preview] An invisible foe occupies the Astroranger battle team while the Nazitans search for the fossilized egg beneath Los Angeles carrying the Tyrannosaurus dinosaur that Pleadia intends to use against the world. Will the Astrorangers find out about their plans? [Title Theme] Artist Bros. Enterprises presents . . . GALAXY TASK FORCE ASTRO RANGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Starring... Sheratan Kasei, a.k.a., Dave Marcello. MarsAstro! Australis Mokusei, a.k.a., Will Richards. JupiterAstro! Nashiran Dosei, a.k.a., Tom Nevison. SaturnAstro! Messuta Suisei, a.k.a., Ron Michaeli. MercuryAstro! Lotia Kinsei, a.k.a., Amy Leven. VenusAstro! and... Commander Leto, a.k.a., Dr. Aaron Hanson. Featuring... Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez. Last time on Astroranger Pleadia looked over at the constellation of a Tyrannosaurus-Rex dinosaur. "I want to send another cyborg to that city we've been attacking." "Why?? The Astrorangers are there!" "Once this drone finds what we're looking for, they wont be there for very long." "Lunch time?" Ron asked. "You mean you will be stopping shortly to eat?" "Right after I'm done with you," Lucy answered. Ron smiled. "Think I could join you?" "Aheh," Lucy chuckled out of surprise before stopping to stare at him. "Why?" "Why not?" Ron's ring started glow and Lucy looked at it, not noticing at first but then taken by surprise. "Ron; your ring!" Ron looked at his hand. "Uh, what? Oh." Lucy pointed. "It's glowing!" When Ron finally got there, he looked back and forth in the dark parking structure on the ground level. "Well, this is where the action would be." After walking along the narrow path along various shops on the inside of the lot, including a chinese food restaurant, Ron didn't see anything until he looked up. On the stairs, Ginara leaped off the roof of the restaurant and onto the staircase leading to the roof of the parking structure. "Ginara!" he grunted as he quickly approached the metal stairs himself. Overhead, his shiny white, uniform-clad body twisted through the air while flipping over. And, after he landed behind Ginara, she and Cyborg Shadow turned around and looked at the white Astroranger pose for battle. Its black glove was suddenly holding three razor-sharp discs of metal shaped like snow flakes--Cyborg Shadow held them before itself like a fan before tossing them out. Yellow light flashed against the white Astroranger as sparks bursting all around him had forced him to leap out of the way. Rolling over on his back, he returned to his feet where he whipped out his Moleculatom Blaster and caused a forceful beam of electric power to course out of his weapon. Like before, Cyborg Shadow's left index finger was grasped by its left palm, with its index finger. Miraculously, the image of the black warrior's body suddenly zig-zagged until it vanished. The current of electricity burst past where Cyborg Shadow used to be until it fizzled out. MercuryAstro gasped, "Wha?" when Cyborg Shadow re-appeared a few feet to the right of where he used to be. the taller five-story parking structure next to the restaurant, Cyborg Shadow was using its hand to change its saber's blade from metal to a static beam of purple light. Shadow struck out, launching the energy from the guard of his saber's hilt. The ray split apart into several beams of purple light and as soon as they hit the roof of the Generic Cinema parking structure, MercuryAstro was faced by a wall of sparks that had blew up in front of him. Looking at the edge of the roof from below, one could see the white Astroranger fly over the side. Episode 10: "I Know" ACT I: Pluto--the gray, ice covered planet remained in the slow distant and orbit only to receive a fraction of the sun's heat and light. Beneath the surface, a massive bunker housed the Nazitan outpost installed by their battleship. Within the primary chamber, torches were mounted upon the brown, stone walls of the oval room. The ceiling was a dark, crystal dome and, on one end of the chamber, a stage that supported a large iron clad throne. Toward the steps was a gray crystal ball that was held up by a clay-like pedestal. Adol the Great, within his throne sat watching his gaseous globe grinning from his strategy working as planned. "How wonderful. Ginara has gotten the attention of the Astroranger task force so easily and now they're about to play along. Tortan!" The samurai-style armored warrior marched from the shadows and into the dim spot light that highlighted his muscular features. "What is your command, my leader." "Tell Ginara to prepare for being energized into a titan." Tortan gave a deep, affirmative nod. Adol stood up and gazed upon his globe showing the streets of Los Angeles. It displayed a view of one road in particular where the other four Astrorangers were riding on their colorized motorcycles. "The white Astroranger was the perfect way for Cyborg Shadow to gain the attention of the remaining team members. And, now that we know it lives up to Pleadia's claims, Shadow may begin its search for the fossil egg." "Why is this egg so important, sire?" Tortan questioned. "Because once Pleadia matures the beast inside and has it under cybernetic control, we will never have to worry about the Astrorangers or Earth's military again." Driving southbound on La Cienega Boulevard were the red, green, black and pink HydroCycles in single-file formation heading for the Beverly Center. The black display of the motorcycle with a pink body had a white dot flash on a map of the area. VenusAstro, riding the bike, looked up and said over its radio, "Messuta is to our left. Head for the parking lot and enter it until we reach the top. Scanners read he's at an altitude of about 14 meters." The red Astroranger looked behind himself and nodded. "Good work, Lotia." The four HydroCycles leaned into a left turn before leaving the roadway. In the back lot of the restaurant, MercuryAstro rolled off the top of the dumpsters before hitting the ground face-down. The feet of both Cyborg Shadow and Ginara landed on the gravel covered pavement as one could see between their legs the white Astroranger trying to get up. "This is it, Astroranger--this time, you don't have your playmates to save your a..." "Wanna bet?" JupiterAstro said. Ginara turned around and saw the four of them standing in front of an alley. MercuryAstro looked up and mumbled, "Good timing." "You're too late!" Ginara looked at the black cybernetic ninja and shouted, "Shadow, do it!" Cyborg Shadow nodded and started running after MercuryAstro and from its point of view, he layed in front of the garage door of the shopping center's rear, bracing himself for impact. "Don't think so!" JupiterAstro interjected while shooting an arrow from his green bow. In the sky, a light green arrow shot by and before anyone knew it, sparks had exploded in front of Cyborg Shadow. Out of the air, the black-clad warrior dropped onto the asphalt while smoking. VenusAstro helped the white Astroranger to stand up as the others collected around them. "Messuta, are you all right?" MercuryAstro stood up. "Just a little worn out but I'm not out of the game yet." "Good," Ginara interjected, "because we haven't finished playing yet. Armatons!" When black smoke exploded from the ground, the armed automatons had ran through the fog. While bringing up their forearms before forming a V with them, they shouted, "Galaxy Task Force," and assumed their individual battle positions upon shouting, "Astroranger!" "Charge!" MarsAstro commanded before the entire battle team ran ahead. The two teams jumped against one another before each Astroranger fought a group of Armatons. VenusAstro ducked when a black soldier's leg roundhoused against her and after it turned around to shin kick her side, the pink Astroranger roundhoused the Armaton's foot out of the way. Meanwhile, another Armaton Soldier had a low sweeping spin-kick coming after her feet right before she jumped backwards onto her hands and onto her feet again. VenusAstro noticed another Armaton's foot flying into her shoulder and chopped its shin down. She blocked its fist coming down on her before it tried punching her abs. VenusAstro hammered its fist with her own but the Armaton's knee was coming up to her ribs. The pink Astroranger was quick enough to slap down the automaton's knee and block yet another punch before ramming her fist into its abs. Triumphantly, VenusAstro punched the Armaton across the face, knocking it off its feet and into a spin before hitting the asphalt. JupiterAstro leaped off the top of a dumpster before tumbling onto the lot between two Armatons. On one knee, the green Astroranger's forearm blocked a kick from an Armaton on the left and his right before dipping into a low sweeping spin-kick that caused the entire automaton to flip into the air and onto its back. Another soldier ran after him and JupiterAstro side-kicked his shin. He also hook-kicked another automaton's shin before suddenly leaping into a high hurricane kick. SaturnAstro sprang into a high split-kick that pushed back two soldiers before a third attempted to punch him. The black Astroranger pushed the Armaton past himself before a fourth stepped in and swung a fist at him. After using both palms to stop the skinny drone, SaturnAstro ducked its left fist from crashing into his helmet. In the process--he noticed an Armaton attacking him from behind so he back-kicked it in the chest. It bounced off the fence behind itself and took a tumble afterwards. Meanwhile, another Armaton clawed after the black Astroranger so he bent over backwards to make it miss but had to completely bend over the other way when yet another soldier's high spin-kick came at him from behind. Right after he stood up, SaturnAstro found a fist coming straight for him so he used his forearm to block it before using his other arm to chop it down. A high kick from the black Astroranger is what it finally took to get rid of that Armaton Soldier. The all-over black Cyborg Shadow drew its saber from the sheath attached to its back. Holding it firmly before itself, Shadow held it high and struck down. Standing in front of a blue dumpster, MarsAstro turned to get out of the way of Cyborg Shadow's blade coming down like a guillotine. After the saber sparked off the iron lid of the dumpster, the red Astroranger ran to get out of the way of a high spinning kick. When Cyborg Shadow cut sideways against MarsAstro's abs, sparks broke out of his shiny red uniform before Shadow kicked his shoulder. MarsAstro was forced to stumble backwards until he turned around to stop himself. "Nobody pushes me around!" he shouted while clenching his fist. "Celestial Weapon!" Swinging his arms in a circle until they landed behind his back, the red Astroranger drew a full-length, double-sided sword shouting, "FireSword!" Holding the weapon beside his red helmet, light gleamed across his black visor before light twinkled in the corner. Cyborg Shadow pointed its saber at MarsAstro before holding it with both hands and charging after him. As a part of the cybernetic warrior's strategy, the black-clad ninja forced the red Astroranger to block a high strike with his sword. Shadow withdrew his weapon and swung across and towards MarsAstro's helmet. He ducked and, in an effort to get the cyborg to forget about using its sword, the red Astroranger shin-kicked high up against its side. Cyborg Shadow was forced into stopping to block the red Astroranger's boot so he had a chance to strike with his FireSword. Shadow quickly switched back to using his saber to block his blade and counterattacked on the other side before also shin-kicking to MarsAstro's side. With both forearms, he blocked Shadow's leg and turned around to swing his sword against Cyborg Shadow's head. That distracted the cyborg long enough for the red Astroranger to lock swords at the base and push him backwards. After they ran backwards, MarsAstro pushed away Cyborg Shadow's sword and attempted to slice through the cyborg's chest. Shadow immediately stopped that with its saber but it was on the defensive instead of the offensive and MarsAstro kept it that way with a high spin-kick. After the black cyborg managed to dodge his boot again, Shadow held his saber sideways to stop MarsAstro from cutting through his body. Cyborg Shadow returned to the offensive position by roundhousing the tip of the red Astroranger's FireSword out of place. And while MarsAstro was attempting to recover, Shadow struck against his chest and the explosive force of sparks blasting out of his shiny red uniform, knocked the Astroranger out of sight. All of a sudden, the pink Astroranger came out of the sky and landed on a dumpster before cartwheeling off the lid and into the air. Upon landing on her feet, VenusAstro bent down to swing her leg against Cyborg Shadow's knees. It flipped forward into midair and onto its back, but, with both hands, Shadow pushed itself back onto its feet again. After standing up, the black ninja's gloved hand slid along the length of the saber's blade, transforming the blade to a tube and pointed it straight ahead. "Uh oh!" she said before leaping backwards onto her hands. Cyborg Shadow had bright red stars of light flashing from the tip of the tube replacing its saber's blade. As the pink Astroranger continued her handsprings, she narrowly avoided the sparks exploding from the stars slamming into the pavement. When VenusAstro bounced onto her feet again, she cartwheeled out of the way of a spinning star of light that slammed into the dumpster behind her, blow a hole through the iron. The pink Astroranger stood on her feet again and shouted, "Venus Libra Scale Tackle!" and leaped into the air. In the sky, VenusAstro flew forth while her legs were spread far apart to lock her ankles around her enemies' neck. Cyborg Shadow shoved the saber back in the sheath on its back and locked its right index finger in the palm of its left hand and vanished. The pink Astroranger dropped out of the partly cloudy sky and, on the black pavement, she landed on her back and rolled onto her hands and knees to look around. "Hey! What happened to it?" MercuryAstro stood up. "It's done this before!" "Australis, Nashiran--keep your eyes peeled," MarsAstro said. "It couldn't have gotten away from us that quick." While everyone's backs were turned, something was charging after them with a great force. Suddenly flying between the battle team was Cyborg Shadow with its saber striking down VenusAstro and JupiterAstro. Suddenly, it was flying back the other way with its sword blasting down SaturnAstro and MarsAstro. Cyborg Shadow shifted in another direction before running away and MercuryAstro noticed. "Hey! Hey, come back here!" he shouted before running after it. The cyborg ran into the alley while being chased by the white Astroranger. "Is everybody okay?" MarsAstro asked while looking at everyone. "We could be a lot better," SaturnAstro said. "How did that thing do that?" "Never mind that, Nash," VenusAstro interjected, "where did it go?" Extremely loud foot steps shook the ground with a thunderous boom causing the entire team to look around. "The hell was that?" MarsAstro asked. "WOAH! Look up over there!" JupiterAstro shouted while pointing up. Surrounded by medium sized buildings was Titan-Ginara, approaching slowly by foot. At least a hundred meters tall and as she marched toward the Beverly Center. People waiting for a Metro bus ran screaming into the streets as the giant gold and silver armored titan stepped towards them. Traffic below was jammed tightly while, inside of the Beverly Center, people were running around scrambling for exits. Meanwhile, in the parking lot, SaturnAstro looked to the two Astrorangers on his left and red and said, "Panic has already set in so we've got get rid of her before somebody gets hurt." VenusAstro looked from side to side. "Hey, where did Messuta go?" "Astroranger!" Titan-Ginara bellowed. "There is no where you can escape!" "We'll find him later, Lotia," JupiterAstro said. "In the meantime, we need to get to work." MarsAstro nodded. "Here we go." "Galaxy Task Force Command--Astro Shuttles Blast Off!" they all shouted. In the zero-gravity take-off bay at the bottom of the SpaceBase, the force field maintaining air-pressure inside of the take-off bay was activated. The doors began to open, showing Earth in outer space, as indicated by the warning signal. The afterburners flared with rocket propulsion prior to moving the two shuttles, two rockets and one space shift out of the shuttle bay. In outer space, the five AstroShuttles had left the take-off bay as the SpaceBase became invisible again. The fleet began to travel towards the planet Earth at maximum velocity. In the city--MarsAstro was joined by the others while they watched the green CommandShuttle lead the red CombatShuttle, pink RescueShuttle and black SolarShuttle fly between skyscrapers. "All aboard!" the red Astroranger called out as they crossed their arms. The team became glowing spheres of light prior to traveling towards the cockpits of the shuttle fleet. Within the CombatShuttle's cockpit indicated by the Mars insignia, MarsAstro had materialized before sitting in his seat. The chair lowered onto the floor and rolled forth while the console slid towards him. "CombatShuttle manned." A simultaneous view of the other three seated Astrorangers showed them being lowered into place. The four star ships flew through the city of Los Angeles and Titan-Ginara popped her knuckles. "Good, the cavalry has arrived." ACT II: The shaded sun was entirely blocked by the buildings that stood on each side of the alley. The white Astroranger ran down the center of the cracked asphalt before stopping to turn around and look from side to side. "It's too hard to see here." All of a sudden, he heard people talking under their breath to avoid being heard. Their subtle speech drew MercuryAstro's attention even more because nobody talks like that. "What's going on?" He walked out of the alley and onto the corner of a sidewalk in a residential area near the main thoroughfare. There, MercuryAstro found two young adults in baggy clothes with their hair in strange cornrolls. The guys had traded a plastic bag for several ten dollar bills and bumped fists before nodding their heads. "Sorry to bother you but I need to..." One of them said with surprise, "Hey, what was that?!" "I dunno man!" The white Astroranger stepped out and looked at them before the both of their stated back in shock. "Excuse me but did you see a, uh--guy run by here in entirely black clothes?" The guy who gave the bag for money asked, "What the hell is that?" "I said I don't know, stupid," said the buyer. "That better not be no cop, man." "Does that look like a cop to you??" "Hey, why are you dressed like that sucka?" the dealer asked. MercuryAstro clenched his fist. "This is important! Did you see someone run by here with a sword in all black clothes?!' "No but I tell you what," the person selling started to say, "you've got about two seconds to step." All of a sudden, he started to pull a big, silver gun out of his pants. "Hey, take it easy, buddy," MercuryAstro said. "Put that thing away before somebody gets hurt. Tell me what I need to know and I can go. We're all about to be in a lot of real danger!" The guy buying chuckled. Meanwhile, the guy selling started to take steps towards the white Astroranger with his gun in plain view. "The only one who's gonna get hurt is you, freak." After that, he held it sideways and pointed it at MercuryAstro. "Uh oh," he said. The thug pulled the trigger and after the bright flash came from the hole at the end of his gun, the bullet sparked off the white Astroranger's shiny uniform. After the smoke cleared, MercuryAstro was forced into leaning back by the force of the bullet but snapped back into place. The guy buying got wide eyes as he saw the white Astroranger still standing. "Hey, he's supposed to be dead, man!" The dealer nodded his head. "I know, I know!" He pointed the gun at him again and fired at MercuryAstro once more. He leaped out of the way as the bullet sparked off a trash can in the alley. After MercuryAstro rolled over his back, he stood up and said, "So much for human hospitality." "I don't want to fight with you people!" The gunman shot at the white Astroranger yet again and he ducked down. As the bullet bounced off the back of MercuryAstro's uniform, sparks snapped off his shoulder blade. He came up again and looked at them still. "It must be some kinda robot," the buyer exclaimed, "I'm outta here! We're gonna get killed!" And after that, he ran away but after watching him go, the dealer looked at him and started shooting even more. "I'm getting tired of you!" MercuryAstro said after ducking both shots. "Comet Kick!" The white Astroranger jumped into the air and in the sky, he had leaped into with a flying side-kick. A white boot kicked the gun out of the man's hand and, in the street, the big weapon hit the asphalt. MercuryAstro somersaulted out of the air and onto the sidewalk before turning around to face him. The dealer saw his gun land out there and took another one out of his pants. MercuryAstro put his gloved hand on his helmet's mask and shook his head. "Good grief, don't you ever give up?" "Why don't you get out of my face first," he said before aiming his second gun. In MercuryAstro's white gloved hand was a Moleculatom Blaster and after he pointed it straight ahead, a yellow ray of light pulsed from the end of the weapon before it was replaced by a blue beam of electricity. Sparks exploded out of the black gun as it flew out of the dealer's hand and while the 45-caliber weapon hit the gutter in the alley, the unconscious thug dropped onto the pavement as well. MercuryAstro put his weapon away while looking at him. "I hope his half-hour nap calms him down. Now to find that cyborg," he said upon dashing off. While Titan-Ginara stood in the heart of downtown Los Angeles, four of the AstroShuttles circled her like mosquitos, blasting away with multicolored beams of light. A blinding flash of sparks exploded from her golden and silver chest armor after pink bolts of light rapidly fired from a cannon mounted beneath the ventral hull of the RescueShuttle. "Sheratan, we can't keep doing this," VenusAstro said, "everybody's at risk and Ginara doesn't seem to really be getting overwhelmed by all of this." Within the CommandShuttle cockpit, JupiterAstro looked to his right and said, "Lotia, we've got to be patient. MercuryAstro can't stop trying to find the disappearing cyborg because we need to know what this is about." Inside of the SolarShuttle's cockpit, SaturnAstro looked to his left and nodded in agreement. "Ginara just didn't come down here because she likes us." "I want to know to but as long as she's here, we've got to try and stop her even if this is a distraction because all hell is about to break loose," MarsAstro said. The red Astroranger clenched his fist and continued to radio, "What we really need right now is AstroMan!" Titan-Ginara touched a special jewel cut to the shape of an octagon within her silver tiara and after pointing that same index finger straight ahead, a yellow beam of light pulsed from the gemstone. The ray shot through the partly cloudy skies surrounded by a sparkling swirl of stars the same color. Within the CombatShuttle's cockpit, MarsAstro jumped in reaction and shouted, "Full power to the shields!" He pushed up a slider on his console and pushed a backlit button. As the four star ships flew ahead, the ray split apart into four directions and simultaneously hit the entire fleet. All at once--the red, green, black and pink Astrorangers were jolted in their seats upon the impact of on-coming fire. In an apartment building in downtown, Lucy was in a young man's room helping in pack as out the window an assortment of fireworks were seen outside featuring the battle between the Astrorangers' and Titan-Ginara. She unloaded his drawers in a hurry and stuffed his cases while he dumped his possessions into boxes. "I'm so glad you're helping me get outta here," the guy said. "It's a good thing I decided to drop by to return your C.D.s!" Lucy said. "Besides, what kind of sister would I be to let you deal with this alone." "I don't know I've had my doubts sometimes," her brother jested. What a time to joke, Lucy thought. Regardless, she played along and grinned sarcastically. "Oh funny, Greg. Hurry--that giant is gonna make this place come down and us in it if we don't get out of her pretty soon." "I know. I think I've got everything. I guess I'll have to stay at our folks' place until I can get a new place if I can," he said after taping boxes shut. "But you can be sure of this. I'm not staying here!" "What do you mean?" she said standing up again. Her brother walked over and grabbed his cases. "This city has been dangerous before, but this is ridiculous. I've got to get out of here while I'm still alive." "I'd hate to see you tear out of here in such a hurry, Greg--I mean, will you be around?" She looked at him concerned over whether or not he'd ever come back to see her again. Even through college, they'd always spent an unusually high amount of time together for brothers and sisters. Greg paused briefly and looked at her. "Yeah sure." He smiled and stood up. "What I'm afraid of is that you wont be able to get out of here. Friends and family are nice to have but it's nicer for them to be alive, Lucy." "I'll be all right, Greg." She hugged Greg for a while when suddenly a thunderous boom was heard. At the window, Lucy looked out as white flashes lit up her face brightly. Inside, she moved away from the window and picked up some boxes. "Come on, Greg--let's get this stuff in your car." Greg grabbed boxes with his suit cases stacked on top and nodded. "Right." The hydro-turbine engine whined from the white motorcycle MercuryAstro had driven straight up La Cienega. On the dashboard, one of the couple of active matrix color monitors displayed a highly detailed map of surface streets with a green bar of light streaking clockwise in a circle. "Why can't I find the cyborg control transmission signals?" the white Astroranger asked himself. "All I've got are phase-shifted photons. (In fact, I bet that's how it's reflecting light to disappear) but that doesn't explain how things can go through..." "Messuta!!" VenusAstro shouted through the white HydroCycle's radio, "answer me! Hurry!" "Lotia, what's going on?" Within the cockpit of RescueShuttle, the pink Astroranger was sharply jolted by another direct hit from Titan-Ginara. Afterwards, VenusAstro continued to see bright flashes light up her cockpit. "Ginara's raising hell in downtown L.A. and we can't hold her off much longer." "Really?" MercuryAstro replied over her shuttle's radio. VenusAstro nodded aggressively. "You better believe it, Messuta. We need you right here, right now." Riding the white HydroCycle, MercuryAstro leaned into a right turn onto Sunset Boulevard. "I can't deal with that right now. That disappearing cyborg that was kicking our butts is all of a sudden keeping out of sight!" "But Ginara is blitzing the city!" "You've got to hang in there! I just know they've got that cyborg on a mission and they don't want us getting in the way," MercuryAstro replied. "You have to trust me on this one." VenusAstro clenched her fist while looking off to the side. "I hope you know what you're doing, Messuta." "I do," he replied. "MercuryAstro out." Along Sunset Plaza north of La Cienega Boulevard, the double yellow lines painted on the asphalt led to a man hole cover with Department of Water and Power engraved in the iron lid as cars drove around it. All of a sudden, it start turning all on its own. The white Astroranger rode his HydroCycle northbound on Sunset Plaza and while driving, he suddenly jerked forth. He gasped, "What the?" while watching the man hole cover unscrew from the iron ring in the pavement. "That's impossible! HydroCycle Moleculatom Cannon!" MercuryAstro shouted upon pushing a keyboard key on his dashboard's terminal. The white metal panel slid open below the headlight and ejected a silver tube into place. The white Astroranger shouted, "Fire!" and a bright blue beam of light shot out of the tube. The lengthy but solitary ray of electric blue light shot ahead over the roadway but was suddenly diverted when hitting a transparent barrier. The invisible object of opal shape distorted like water rippling before taking a humanoid form. In the sky overhead, Cyborg Shadow, the black android fell out of sight. The cyborg dropped into the grass by the roadside and got up while smoking. The tire of MercuryAstro's white HydroCycle had skid to a stop and, after setting up the kickstand, he climbed off of his motorcycle. "I knew it!" At the foot of the hillside next to the mountain road, Cyborg Shadow held onto the sheath attached to its back while running up the rugged terrain. While running through the gras beside the street, MercuryAstro reached out while shouting, "Oh no you don't!" Putting his white boots together, he leaped into the air. In the sky, the white Astroranger flipped into twisting overhead and out of sight. As Cyborg Shadow was making its speedy escape, it suddenly stopped when MercuryAstro landed feet first onto a higher portion of the hill. "I've been blown off a rooftop twice, been confronted by criminals and had to watch you beat up my friends," he said to the cyborg. It stood wondering what it would do now that it wasn't supposed to fight the Astroranger battle team. MercuryAstro clenched his fist before saying, "I'm not in a good mood and I'm having a very rotten day so unless you wanna get your butt kicked, I'd suggest you back off. Otherwise, some heads are gonna roll." The sound of Shadow's saber being drawn from the sheath on its back was heard before it aiming it. "All right," MercuryAstro said while holding his Moleculatom Weapon. From his point of view, he watched Shadow carefully move to the side while activating the blade of his Moleculatom weapon. "Let's do this." Cyborg Shadow suddenly stopped and sprang into action. MercuryAstro jumped skyward holding his dagger and while ascending, he held his weapon above his head while free-falling against his enemy. Using his saber, Cyborg Shadow's blade knocked MercuryAstro off target. When the white Astroranger landed, he turned around and spin-kicked the tip Shadow's saber. The cyborg's recovery through slicing straight across forced MercuryAstro to tumble past Shadow and stand behind him. Shadow turned around and clashed blades with the white Astroranger once on each side to exhaust him. MercuryAstro wouldn't be stopped held his dagger straight up to block a horizontal strike from the black cyborg's saber. Cyborg Shadow gained the advantage by forcing him into a defensive position so after withdrawing its saber, Shadow tried cutting down on the white Astroranger. MercuryAstro quickly placed his dagger at arms length while holding it horizontally. Unexpectedly--Cyborg Shadow kicked him in the ribs sending MercuryAstro falling out of sight. "Aieh!!" he shouted while flipping over the edge of the hilltop above other side of Sunset Plaza. At the foot of the hill, MercuryAstro landed on his behind but quickly turned around and rolled onto his back. "Moleculatom Blaster!" he said while shooting from the opposite end of his hand held weapon. A yellow ray of light preceded an electric blue beam of power shooting into the air. Cyborg Shadow jumped off the top of the hill as fire erupted from where it once stood; as Shadow had free-fallen from the hilltop, it held its saber above its head in the attempt to cut through MercuryAstro. MercuryAstro rolled over and out of the way. While the white Astroranger stood up, the blade of Cyborg Shadow's saber met his dagger's blade before the white Astroranger withdrew it and clashed on the other side. He locked it there and pushed against Shadow's saber to hold the cyborg in place. "It's too bad you're just a machine--you could actually regret ever fighting me." Cyborg Shadow and MercuryAstro pushed away from one another to gain some distance. When the both of them turned around and sliced against each others abs, their blades sparked violently against each other's armor. The force of the explosion pushed them away from one another briefly before both lashed each other again. After the smoke cleared from the sparks blasting each other back, Cyborg Shadow grabbed its smoldering chest. It turned saber upside down into its left hand and used its right to draw a fist full of snow flake-shaped razors. "Not so fast," MercuryAstro said while twirling his Moleculatom Dagger in his gloved hand causing the blade to retract within the weapon. "Blaster mode!" With the flick of the wrist, Shadow tossed the razor discs at the white Astroranger while, simultaneously, MercuryAstro shouted, "Fire!" A yellow fuzzy ray was chased by an electric blue beam of power. The razors were burnt to a crisp as the beam of electricity pulsed through the sky. Once the ray struck Cyborg Shadow's shoulder, sparks broke out of its body from the high voltage. Holding the Moleculatom Weapon in front of his shoulder, he forcefully pointed it to the ground, causing a short beam of light to stem from the hilt's base. Once the glow had resolved to form a dagger's blade, the white Astroranger jumped into the air. In the sky, MercuryAstro plunged ahead from overhead with his dagger held above his helmeted head. Still stunned from the last blow, Cyborg Shadow looked to the sky without the first idea of what to do. The black cybernetic ninja warrior held up its saber in the last ditch effort to protect itself but as the white Astroranger landed, his dagger busted straight through the blade of Shadow's saber. The blast of sparks blew Cyborg Shadow hit the ground before tumbling back on its feet again. It grasped its right index finger with the palm of its left hand and began to disappear. "Aw great! I had that," MercuryAstro cursed before interrupting himself with, "wait a second." The sun was shining brighter from the clouds clearing overhead. In the grass, a shadow was found portraying a humanoid leaping away from the battle scene. "Hey, I know!" MercuryAstro flipped his dagger upside down, catching it by the end. He threw his weapon by the tip and after it shot through the air like a bullet, it was suddenly stuck inside of what looked like thin air. Suddenly, a yellow light with a humanoid shape had brightly glowed in that same spot before disappearing to show Cyborg Shadow standing their writhing from a fatal malfunction. The white Astroranger clenched his fist and nodded affirmatively. "Got him!" Sparks were streaming from the hole in his chest while arcs of electric blue crawled all over its black, robot body. Still fighting against every component in its cybernetic structure from overloading, it continued to writhe until it was off its feet and slowly falling backwards onto its back. And, before it had hit the grass, fire blew Cyborg Shadow apart. Overhead, the Moleculatom Dagger was tossed sky high before the white Astroranger caught it. "I still wish I knew what that thing was looking for but I'm sure I'll find out whether I want to or not. Right now, I've got to do something about Ginara." Just then, MercuryAstro ran out of sight. Surrounded by buildings set aflame, Titan-Ginara still marched on despite the futile attack from the incomplete AstroShuttle fleet. She stopped to touch her gemstone while her voice echoed out, "Star Jewel of Procyon II! Focus your planetary energies!" Bringing her hand away from her face, her eyes and gem had simultaneously lit up. Bits of energy streaming from her jewel preceded a brilliant ray of white light pulsing from the gem in her tiara. Aboard the CombatShuttle cockpit, MarsAstro jerked in his seat and shouted, "Scatter!" while banking out of sight. Two by two, the star ships flew apart but the ray followed the black rocket and pink cargo shuttle--causing sparks to blow from their hulls. Inside of SolarShuttle's cockpit, the black Astroranger was jostled in his seat from sparks exploding within his cockpit. "I've lost my shields!!" Different lights were dimming and flickering within the cockpit of the pink RescueShuttle while VenusAstro waved smoke away from her console. "Same here!" As the CombatShuttle flew between buildings, MarsAstro replied, "Come on, guys--we can't let her win! We've got to give it all we've got until she's down for the count!!" JupiterAstro reacted angrily within the cockpit of CommandShuttle. "But we can't without Messuta! One more hit and my guidance systems are as good as gone." Titan-Ginara looked back and forth as the shuttles circled her. "I think it will be more effective to smash you one by one rather than all together. It will assure me that your deaths are a reality." She'd reached behind herself and drew a chain-whip. While swinging it around and around like a lasso, Titan-Ginara tossed the end to the sky. The chain hooked onto the tail of CommandShuttle causing all of its thrust to keep it airborne but not traveling forward. VenusAstro nearly leaped out of her seat when she saw the green shuttle be captured. "Australis!" JupiterAstro's arms were in the air from being shaken in his cockpit. "I'm goin' down!" On his console, the power level meter was dropping as the digital counter subtracted by one number from 100% as a rapid pace. Suddenly the clouds in the blue sky were parted by the massive white rocket ship sailing overhead. Within the cockpit, MercuryAstro exclaimed, "Oh no, Australis!" The white AstroShuttle's nose irised out and rapidly fired comet-like bolts of white light. Multiple blindingly bright sparks blasted from Titan-Ginara as the chain was severed by TurboShuttle's fire. MarsAstro gasped. "Damn that was close. Messuta, are you ready for us to bring it together?" MercuryAstro slightly chuckled. "I can't wait." "Good. Prepare for fleet docking sequence." He placed his white, gloved hand on a large, black lever beside his console before shouting, "AstroMan Unite!" Simultaneously, all five Astroranger's fists pulled back a large black lever. As the Red and Pink shuttles landed on the ground, dust came up as feet came from the cargo bays and the wings had become shins. In the blue sky, the green CommandShuttle nose folded under the ventral hull while its afterburners slid onto the sides to become robot shoulders. The green starship connected to the noses of the red and pink legs, forming the torso and shoulders. The black and white rockets hooked up into the shoulders and gained joints in the middle of both vehicles to form elbows. And, from the afterburners of the rocket ships--big, black fists of iron extended into place. Meanwhile, tubes running throughout the interior of the massive robot allowed chairs on tracks to roll each Astroranger to the main cockpit. AstroMan's head ascended from between its shoulders and, through its red visor above a metal nose and lips, one could see the Astroranger battle team rising into place. On the bottom level, JupiterAstro and SaturnAstro occupied the control bank there while the top bank was manned by VenusAstro and MercuryAstro. The cockpit was brightly illuminated by tube lighting within the ceiling. MarsAstro manned the middle and center station by placing his hands on the controls. "AstroMan robot transformation complete." Seeing all of the gigantic robot, its fists' knuckles were held together and, while AstroMan's red visor gleamed in the sunlight, the towering robot brought its fists apart. Behind AstroMan was a field of stars in outer space showing the five planets: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. While AstroMan stood holding its SunSabre, Titan-Ginara prepared to be her deadliest. "Together or not, I've still got you beat." MarsAstro pointed up at her from within the cockpit of AstroMan. "United we stand, Ginara!" "And united, you shall fall!" she shouted prior to firing the yellow ray from her tiara's jewel. "Delta Shield!!" shouted the red Astroranger. Already holding the triangular shield, AstroMan positioned it an angle so that when the beam had struck the surface of its raised surface, it would shoot back the way it came. Titan-Ginara was shot in the abs by the beam before sparks rained from her armor. MercuryAstro looked down on the red Astroranger and said. "Let's end this, Sheratan." MarsAstro nodded affirmatively. "SunSabre SuperNova!" the task force commanded. AstroMan held the sword's guard before its face as the visor sent a slow, wide beam of light into the base of the SunSabre's blade. This caused a yellow beam to flow to the very tip of the sword. While standing in front of a field of stars in space, AstroMan swung the sword around in a 360-degree circle with its blade of light forming an image of the zodiac. And, as the giant, multi-colored warrior Robot held the SunSabre high, AstroMan cut straight down through the center of the circle. "Not today," Titan-Ginara announced, "but it wont belong before I'm no longer away." All of a sudden a pink cloud of smoke exploded from the ground before mysteriously imploding again, disappearing along with Ginara herself. Just then, the yellow laser-blade of the SunSabre swung through thin air after she'd vanished. The black Astroranger clenched his fist with anger. "Missed her _and_ Tortan!" "Don't worry, Nash--they'll be back," MercuryAstro replied. "The cyborg I defeated wasn't here to fight us but was in search of something this planet." Meanwhile, in between the skyscrapers of Los Angeles' business center, AstroMan, the tall, multi-colored robot of heavy armor stood facing the sunlight. Inside of the Beverly Center, police officers were standing around on all three floors trying to prevent looters from robbing abandoned stores. Ron ran past the KC Toy Store after the Record Tavern music store where Lucy worked and a cop noticed him. He looked at him while shouting, "Hey--you can't go in there." "I have to know if a friend of mine is okay!" he said while still running inside. After Ron ran inside of the store, he stopped to look back and forth, scanning over the shelves of compact discs. "Everybody's gone..." He suddenly ran out of the store. After the one of the three elevator doors opened on one of the levels of the internal parking structure, Ron looked around after immediately jogging out. Gotta get a feel for her mental presence, he thought to himself. Miraculously, he found a red Saturn backing out of a stall and saw, through the rear window of her car, the back of Lucy's head featuring her unique hair style. Waving both his arms in the air, Ron shouted "Lucy!" Her brake lights came on and her white reverse lights also appeared as she rolled out of the center of the lot. Ron came up beside the driver side door as she lowered the window. "What happened to you? I was looking for you and when the giant showed up, I got worried." "I had to go and when that huge monster came towards the mall, the security teams evacuated the entire building," Lucy replied, "besides--that ring really freaked me out." "No no! It was just the light reflecting off of it--see?" Ron held it in front of her running lights and shined it against the windshield so that it appeared as bright as it did when she saw it up close. "Well--still... Ron, don't take this personally but, I don't even want to flirt with the idea of having any sort of friendship or relationship in this city," Lucy told him. "It's getting too dangerous and it would be stupid to lose someone just as I start to actually like them, you know?" Ron didn't have a reply--he never even considered that not being the hero, you actually would fear for the lives of others and your own. Lucy sighed. "As soon as I have enough money, I'm going to move in with one of my cousins in Denver." "Lucy, don't be naive--you're too smart for that; the enemy of those five guys that fight them are going to have the whole world if they don't stop them. Even if you moved to the Fiji Islands, you would be in terrible danger." "It's bad enough the city I love is probably going to be destroyed; I don't want to add anymore misery to the pain I'll have." Ron knelt down beside her car and held onto the door to look into her eyes. "Lucy.. Together, we will stand. When this is all over, we will have our friendship to look forward to. And that is far more powerful than any evil or violence that may come about." I can't believe I said that, Ron thought. There was only silence after he spoke to her and Ron's curiosity over Lucy's thoughts grew more intense. After the lengthy pause, she finally stopped to look up and take a deep breath. "I... I have to--think..." Lucy released the brake and Ron stood up. Standing in the parking structure, he watched her red Saturn drive to a stop before making a left turn. TO BE CONTINUED In next week's episode of Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . The Los Angeles Police Department already has the Nazitans and Astroranger to worry about without K-9 police officer, Beverly Tenmei protesting at City Hall. The young Japanese-American gains Dave's attention despite his feelings about humans. Meanwhile, the Astroranger battle team are targets of Cyborg Fogger; once in a coma--Tortan and his Armaton troops can excavate the fossilized dinosaur egg in episode #11, "Smog" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Galaxy Task Force Astroranger" is a trademark of Artist Bros. Enterprises. The above text is protected under laws of the United States and other countries. Unauthorized duplication, distribution or exhibition may result in civil liability and criminal prosecution. Copyright (c)1997 Artist Bros. Enterprises, Artist Bros. Music and Dairenn Lombard. All Rights Reserved. Country Of First Publication: United States of America. Artist Brothers and Dairenn Lombard are the author of the preceding text. The characters and events depicted in this story are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional. This copyright notice does not extend to infringe upon the existing copyrights for `Super-Sentai' titles maintained by Toei Company LTD., Toei Agency, Toei International, Asahi-TV, Marvel Comics and Ishimori Productions. [TV-PG] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------