[980207] [Preview] 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 tonight's episode: "Smog" 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! Messuta Suisei, a.k.a., Ron Michaeli. MercuryAstro! Lotia Kinsei, a.k.a., Amy Leven. VenusAstro! Nashiran Dosei, a.k.a., Tom Nevison. SaturnAstro! and... Commander Leto, a.k.a., Dr. Aaron Hanson. Featuring... Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez. ACT I: As the small, ice-covered world known as Pluto remained in the darkness of outer space, the Nazitan outpost--a bunker beneath the surface, housed the Pleadia's lab. Inside of the brown, stone walls of the oval chamber, torches were mounted on iron posts bolted to those walls. Between them was his video display terminal, backlit maps of space and various planets along with his infamous collection of cybo-eggs contained in the wall's ice rack. This was placed opposite a circular hatch he used to hatch and launch his remote-controlled cybernetic creatures to planets. At the center of the mosaic-styled glass floor was Pleadia stationed at his circular workstation. He sat on the stool bolted on the floor before the wrap-around console with a top that had a green and black grid pad used as a holographic projector for displaying information.. Strutting into Pleadia's lab was Ginara. "May I have your attention, please?" "Walking like that will get the attention of Igan without you asking for it." She tilted her head in a confused way. "What?" "Never mind. What can I do for you, Ginara?" She began to circle the chamber. "Pleadia, Adol wont be interested in the egg you've discovered with the potential for a great beast if we keep losing." "So what do you want me to do about it?" Pleadia asked. Ginara slightly chuckled. "Your enthusiasm is inspiring," she sarcastically remarked. "We need a way to get rid of the Astrorangers, I suggest we do enough to keep them from stopping us." "What would be the point of that?" Ginara stopped and approached him. "Pleadia, the stall would give me time to find the egg. Right now, it's going to take too much time, energy and resources in finding a way to get rid of them permanently." Pleadia nodded. "I think I might have something." Just then, the aged Nazitan stood up and walked away. Ginara followed him over to his chest of cybo-eggs and as he opened it, cold fog flowed from the cabinet. "I was going to send this one against the armed forces that were not in flying machines or the armored vehicles on land or at sea," Pleadia said while holding the heavy, thick-shelled egg. "Its mid-level class armor would easily protect it against the bullets while a smoke it's always generating causes them to fall unconscious." Ginara looked at the egg and then at Pleadia. "Do you think it will work on the Astrorangers?" "As far as I can tell, they are both human. This smoke was specially made to travel to the brain along with its oxygen supply to make it sleep immediately." Ginara held her fist beneath her chin and nodded affirmatively. "That should work perfectly!" "There is just one problem, Ginara. Justification to Adol wont be easy," Pleadia replied. "How will this aid our overall mission of gaining people for assimilation?" "Simple! Turn Fogger loose on the city and when the Astrorangers show up, they're out of the way too and I'm free to track down that fossil egg," Ginara answered. "Let me know what Adol says the minute he gives you an answer. I want to know exactly when this cyborg of yours is launched." "I'll speak to him now." Episode 11: "Smog" On a warm spring morning, the sunrise at dawn melted the dew from the windows of the house in the Hollywood Hills. Dave's red Trans Am was parked in front of the garage on the driveway because he'd intended to go out earlier today. Wearing his white sneakers, gray sweat pants and red tank-top shirt, Dave sat on the couch in the living room watching television. On the screen, footage of many people standing in front of City Hall in downtown Los Angeles was accompanied by narration provided by the reporter at the scene. "The great majority of the people you see here are parents. They remember growing up in the city when the air pollution prevented them from going outside without experiencing pain in their eyes and when breathing. Now that City Hall plans to block newly proposed laws restricting use of older cars that have less efficient exhaust systems, people wish to express their concern that City Hall is wimping out on the fight for cleaner air in Los Angeles." The clips of footage had soon shown a slender latino woman in her early thirties talking to the reporter with a microphone before her face. "People need to realize that their older cars not only make a great deal of noise and smell something awful, they add to the problem of smog that is a result of millions of drivers congesting the freeways everyday instead of taking the bus or trains to go to work. I mean--I know people who drive their cars just to go to the end of the block because they don't want to walk in the rain to go to the liquor store." The news reporter in a business dress walked down the street next to the curb facing the camera. "So far, there has been no attempt by local law enforcement to break up this rally for City Hall to show some guts, as one picketer put it. However, the most interesting factor in all of this is that the picketing was organized by a police officer." File footage of a black and white police car driving out of a division in Central L.A. was shown while the reporter's voice-over narrated. "Officer Beverly Tenmei joined the LAPD in 1995 and became a member of the K-9 unit just two years later. Born 25 years ago in Los Angeles, the Japanese-american has been requested to assist in narcotic-related investigations with her extensively trained police dog, King--the siberian husky with..." When he first saw this story, Dave thought about how Human get themselves worked up over anything and everything. There is a simple solution to everything and that if one were to use logic and reasoning, there would be no need for disagreement. This was his philosophy based on his limited understanding of Earth's societies. However, as he began to listen to the report about Officer Tenmei, he got interested in her but only mildly so. She was still human and thus, still doomed to make the same mistakes as every other one of her kind. Still, how could a brave and strong yet innocent animal such as her dog be so loyal and friendly with her. Could it be training or was it that she was the dog's friend too. "Tenmei's history of intelligence and record of devoted work probably confuses her peers on how she could engage in this bold action here at city hall. I'm Suzi Mizumoto for KNBC News." Jogging down the stairs in white stretch pants and a pink leotard was Amy, who'd put her hair into a ponytail to keep it out of her face. She was about to run out of the door when she stopped to find out what could possibly keep Dave still. "Hey, what are you still doing here? Don't you need to get ready to go to work?" Dave turned to look at Amy and then back at the television set again. "No no, remember how a month ago, Tom got upset I took his truck to go to work?" "Uh huh." "I started working at night back then but I wasn't going to get my car out of the shop until the following morning," Dave explained. "Anyway, since I'm usually out back practicing like always, you probably don't see me on your way to work. Speaking of which, where are you going?" "Going on my morning jog. I should be back in about five or so minutes," Amy answered. While speaking, she'd noticed Dave's affixation with the news returning. "So what's so interesting on TV?" On screen, they'd returned to the story because their reporter had the opportunity to speak with Tenmei. Dave pulled his head away to look at Amy. "There's some kind of a protest happening downtown and this officer organized it for some reason. That took some real guts; she must really believe in what she's doing to risk her career like that." Amy nodded. Dave's eyes suddenly grew in size when he saw a young Japanese-american woman in white tennis shoes, blue jeans and a yellow turtle-neck sweater. In uniform, she's amazing, Dave thought to himself, out of uniform--she's breathtaking. And then he realized what he was gawking at and made a face of disgust. "Officer Tenmei," the reporter on TV said, "have you heard anything from either the LAPD or City Hall about this movement?" A somewhat highly-pitched voice for an adult woman answered, "No but I hope we're doing something useful out here. There is no reason why this law should be blocked before the chance to vote on it has been presented. The most important attribute to this system is that people can vote on matters that affect them. And this does affect us--it affects everyone in this city and people shouldn't have to be forced to move from the most incredible and amazing city in the world because of people who don't realize their cars are a public.. The words, "That's a woman," silently escaped from Dave's lips. Amy overheard and asked, "Pardon?" His eyes shifted side to side, realizing that he let her hear him and that he even said that, at all. "Uh, I didn't say anything," Dave replied, "I was just clearing my throat." Amy grinned. Who does he think he's kidding?, she thought. "Oh; well, anyway, I'll see you later, Dave," Amy said while opening the front door. His eyes still locked onto the television, Dave raised his hand to wave. "Bye--have fun." As soon as she heard the door close, he looked at Beverly on the television and asked himself why does this person interest him so much. In downtown Los Angeles, the sunlight never could reach the surface streets from the high rise buildings extending hundreds of feet into the sky. One of the skyscrapers across the street from City Hall was tall enough to get sunlight on its east-facing windows. It was Los Angeles Police Department headquarters: Parker Center. Many officers as well as men and women in suits with badges maintained a pattern of traffic within the hallways that led to various offices and departments. Detective Frank Mahoney walked towards the office he'd shared with partner Kathy Sanchez when he was stopped by a man in a higher ranking uniform. "Good, just the man I've been looking to see--or one of you two anyway." "Lieutenant Newall," Mahoney said in greetings, "what can I do for you this beautiful morning." Newall wanted to tell him to cut the crap but decided that time was short and it was important to get on Frank's good side today. "Did you happen to see the humongous crowd in front of City Hall?" "How couldn't I?" "Good," he replied. "Do you know who seems to be in charge of it?" Frank shrugged. "An officer out of our department," Newall said. "Beverly Tenmei." "The Beaver? She worked her ass off to be number one," Frank replied. "Are you sure she isn't out there trying to stop a..." "No," the Lieutenant interrupted. "You and Sergeant Sanchez are to go out there as quickly as possible and bring her back here." "You can't fire her, Lieutenant--she's like one of the only twenty officers we've got that still..." "I don't want to hear it, Mahoney," Newall interrupted--again. "Nobody said anything about firing. This mess is going to screw up our reputation worse than the deal the celebrity in Brentwood so if we cut her loose, they'd think City Hall was pulling strings to shut up any opposition. No, she's staying but not without some strong words from Captain Fleishman." "I understand sir," Frank replied. "I'll find Kathy and be on my way out as soon as possible." While people stood around on the sidewalk facing Temple Street holding signs, Beverly Tenmei looked back and forth to make sure nobody was taking advantage of her demonstration to break the law. After all, she was still an officer of Los Angeles--or was she? While scanning, Tenmei's eyes spotted a black and white patrol vehicle waiting at a crowded intersection for the traffic light to change. "Oh no." A guy holding a sign asked her, "What?" "No strobe lights on that car's roof," Beverly answered, "It's either a detective or Lieutenant." The young hispanic guy looked worried. "This is bad news, isn't it?" Beverly shrugged. "I dunno, Louis." Frank shook his head as he got out of his car. "Sergeant Mahoney--he works at my division." Frank walked between cameramen and officers as he approached the woman in question. "Officer Tenmei, may I ask you WHY on earth have you organized this demonstration?" "I'd hate to sound like those conspiracy obsessors in the underground but I've got reason to believe that corporate pressure has made this cities' politicians refuse to pass this proposition," she answered. "I don't mean to be confrontational," Frank started. "I mean, I believe in you and what you're standing up for but it looks really bad for an officer to be apprehended _by_ the very department that she works with." "I know! And I thought about all of that; I thought about it for weeks, but when I came to Los Angeles, I looked forward to living in this beautiful, busy city. And I became a cop because I found out about the dark side of this wonderful city's personality." Frank couldn't answer her when Beverly waited for his response. "You know it's just not right what they are doing and I feel bad that I'm defending people who don't have the courage that we do to maintain decent living standards in this city." "Listen, Lieutenant Newall has asked me to pull your behind out of the line of fire before the media use this as an excuse to smear the department anymore than it has been," Frank told her. "Beverly--you already know what happened when their was that big murder trial and high priced lawyers from Beverly Hills accused one of our men of planting evidence. Let's not have anymore bad press." "I'm sorry, Detective Mahoney, but, this isn't over until City Hall speaks." The Astroranger SpaceBase, an opal, globe shaped satellite, stayed within synchronous orbit with the dark-side of the Earth's moon. Inside, the top floor marked Deck A on the floor featured a wall showing an active matrix color monitor with five work stations on the left and right with the whole chamber illuminated by the entire ceiling. Australis walked in through the sliding doors before they closed again and Commander Leto, sitting at a station on the right wall turned to face him. "Australis, I've got some footage for you that I think you would be interested in." Australis looked at one of the five monitors with Commander Leto and watched a manhole cover turn in a street in the hills of Mount Olympus. "Hey, that cover is coming up all by it..." "No wait," Commander Leto replied, "watch..." His fingers rapidly struck membrane keys on his terminal and on the active matrix monitor, the transparent outline was filled in by the color of Cyborg Shadow. "This was the cyborg that fought Messuta and the rest of you after it escaped the first time. Apparently it was trying to go underground while invisible." Australis blinked. "That's weird. I wonder why it was doing that?" "I called you the minute this was done but it took hours for the computer to find what I was looking for which was a lot. Biological and technological items of value such as rareness, high quality or extreme complexity," Commander Leto answered. "I turned up lots of microscopic trace elements of chemical powers left by trucks leaking as they drove by but the one thing that seemed weird on the biological search was that it turned up an egg." Australis shrugged. "What kind of egg?" "Take a look," Leto said while changing windows on screen. The color monitor showed a rock shaped oval with lumps and spots. "The imaging software cleaned up the results but this is what I found." Australis knelt down beside Commander Leto to look at the screen. "What kind of egg is that??" Leto turned to look at him before asking, "Do you remember reading that report in the L.A. Times about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority discovering the tooth of a Mastodon while unearthing part of North Hollywood for the Metro Red Line subway project?" "No," Australis promptly replied. "Well, you know about the dinosaurs right? We went over that in the 'Before Man...' courses in your covert training at Terrania City." Australis nodded. "Yeah, yeah. So what does that have to do with this?" "Teams have not only recovered fossilized skeletal remains but a few eggs as well. Now, the few eggs they did find have all contained dead embryos," Leto answered. "However, according to the results, this one is alive." "A real, live dinosaur? After millions of years of being extinct?" Australis pondered. "That's one outrageous miracle! Their scientists would be thrilled." Leto nodded. "I know, but that's not what I'm worried about. I've been able to determine that the Nazitans' cyborg warriors were once organic creatures of mostly humanoid design. Through unique bioelectronic engineering, they've managed to not only bodily enhance these creatures for combat through gross mutation, but place them under complete psychological control. They have no mind, memory or free will of there own." "Damn," Australis moaned. "If they have a way to grow up this baby dinosaur and use it against us, we're looking at one major problem." Australis stood up. "The Nazitans probably already have a way to do that. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone ahead and sent that last cyborg." "Who knows if AstroMan can handle a dinosaur with cybernetic mutations," Leto replied. "Another problem is that it's so deep in the Earth that a scan any farther than 60,000 feet above the surface would result in highly inaccurate results. It could be anywhere in the county of Los Angeles which is the area I scanned." Looking away, towards the floor, Australis said, "It looks like we've got no choice but to let the Nazitans do the footwork for us and hope to get the egg away from them when they find it." ACT II: Later that weekend, Dave's red Trans AM was parked in front of a street sign saying Santa Monica Boulevard as he walked opened glass doors above which 8612 is marked. In the lobby, he walked towards the front desk wearing red gym shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt. "Ah, you're a new member," said the attendant next to the receptionist answering the telephone. "Ah yes sir, I'm Dave Marcello," he said presenting his fitness club membership. "Okay great, you can sign up for One-to-One Training or our Aerobic Classes if you would like, otherwise you can use any machines that we have here for use upon availability," the attendant listed. Dave never even looked at the list he read from. "Thanks, I'll come here if I need anything. Oh, where can I find the cafe?" "Right over there, sir," he said pointing, to his right. "And the entrance to the main spa is over there." "Great thanks," Dave said as he moved away. "Aerobics?" he mumbled to himself as he frowned.. "Only if I want to be injured." Elsewhere, inside of the indoor swimming pool, a woman with short black hair in a yellow swimsuit climbed out of the water. Dripping wet, she grabbed a towel to dry off. This was the same young Japanese woman who was demonstrating at City all, Beverly Tenmei. Meanwhile, Dave stood beside an exercise machine examining it without the first apparent notion of how to properly operate it. He looked at others workout on the various workbenches and returned to staring at the machine. By the entrance to that room, Beverly walked by drying her hair when she was struck by Dave's obvious state of confusion so she walked inside. Dave suddenly began to sense that someone was paying attention to him. "Do you need any help with that?" Beverly said. "Aw no--but, thanks," Dave said upon turning around, he recognized her as the protest-group leader. "Well okay," she said as he began to turn around to leave. "Hey wait. Weren't you the demonstrator earlier this week at City Hall?" "(Here it comes...)" she said before an awkward pause. "Yes, I am." "I don't know what to say but, I'm happy about what I saw on television." "Right," she said sarcastically. "No really," Dave said. "Uh, listen, I'm not from around--here... And, when I moved, I really didn't have much hope for the type of people here but when I saw you act like a thinking person I was impressed." "Well I'm glad someone's paying attention, I guess," she said still not entirely sure what he is talking about. "Hey, I'm Dave," he said upon extending his open hand. Beverly shook it lightly as she smiled courteously. "I'm Beverly." "Hey, listen, uh," Dave said upon staring reluctantly upon the weighted machine, "How's about we catch a bite to eat at the cafe." "Yeah okay," Beverly agreed. Dave smiled. While people of every ethnicity and age strolled through MacArthur Park by the lake, nobody noticed a golden sphere glowing in the blue sky. By Wilshire Boulevard, the fiery comet of light pounded the turf, blowing fragments of the grass into the air where the smoke cleared. The dust cloud blew people backwards off their feet while a couple of women quickly screamed at the thunderous explosion that gained everyone's attention. Frozen by fear, the people helplessly watch a seven-foot humanoid step out of the smoke. Its calfs had a steel tailpipe on each leg while its arms featured shiny triple-tubed exhaust pipes on each arm. When it stopped walking, everyone could clearly see the deadly Cyborg Fogger. Between the two silver smoke-stacks on its shoulder blades was a gray head mead of steal. Gas escaped from the angry face on its foghorn-like head. A crowd began to form out of the park visitors as they started making noise, reacting with "What is that?!" questions. Black blades on a fan started spinning behind its metal-grill chest plate, drawing air into its abdominal storage tanks. The evil eyes on Cyborg Fogger's tubular head flashed as it began to intoxicate the air it stored. Suddenly, Fogger's arms came up and six streams of thick, black smoke came shooting from the shiny silver exhaust pipes. Everything was brown and dusty while people held their necks as they coughed. The two smoke stacks on its back were also puffing with smog that filled the air. Soon enough, people waving their arms to clear the air couldn't stay awake long enough to realize they were falling asleep. On the other side of the park, other citizens were loosing their resistant momentum as they merely collapsed before the ominous Cyborg Fogger. Traffic proceeded as normal on Santa Monica Boulevard in front of the health and fitness club while, at the bar in their cafe, Dave ate from his clear bowl of salad with a plastic fork. Beverly was still wearing her swimsuit but had on white sandals and a polo shirt tied her waist over so she could sit with Dave to eat her turkey sandwich. "So what do you do--for a living, I mean," Dave asked. "I'm a police officer, what about you?" "Security Guard for a bank on Sepulveda and Sawtelle," Dave answered. "How long have you been working?" "Since I came here about three years ago when I turned 22," Beverly answered. "So you come to this gym often?" Dave asked. "Oh yeah," she answered after biting into her sandwich, "all the time. I've been a member for over two years." "I just signed up; I've been into the martial arts for years now so when I came here, I thought that I'd stay fit so that I can stay good," Dave replied. "I practice too," Beverly said with a smile. "What art?" "Kenjutsu. What about you?" "Kajukembo, I've been training since I was seven," Beverly answered. Dave nodded. "Why did you decide to get into police work?" "My mother was a prosecutor for the District Attorney's office," Beverly answered, "Which was quite incredible because she grew up and went to College in Japan. But anyway, I always thought I could help by catching the bad guys that she puts behind bars," Beverly answered. "What about your father?" Dave asked. Beverly shrugged. "I--don't know much about him as he disappeared before I was born," Beverly told him. It dawned on her that she did and wondered immediately why he seemed rather trustworthy. "Where are you from?" "Alberta, Canada. I came down here with my four best friends to live in a nice sunny place," Dave said. "It's very cold up there you know." Beverly chuckled--Dave joined her for a short time. "You're really different," Beverly just candidly remarked. Dave grinned at that remark. "What do you do in your spare time?" "Well, I like to spend my nights watching the moon and stars through my home telescope," Beverly answered. "What do you like to do?" Dave hesitated to answer; he was only on Earth as a job. "Oh not much, I like to just do whatever my friends are into for the moment." Beverly nodded and opened her mouth to say something, causing Dave's pulse to rise. For some reason, he wanted to know everything about this woman that he knew he'd never see again after this year--if that long. However, her wrist watch's alarm began to beep and she looked at it. "Ehh... I better go," Beverly said while picking up her gym bag. "I'm back on duty four o'clock in the afternoon." Dave was almost surprised as the time just flew by to him. "I don't mean to seem forward, but, are you doing anything tomorrow night? After work? Perhaps I could introduce you to my friends or maybe just the two..." Beverly interrupted, "Sure, that sounds nice." Dave was about to mention something more intimate as apparent by his look of disappointment. Regardless, he kept his concentration and searched his gym bag. "Here," he said to her. "Let me give you my number." At the house in the Hollywood hills--Ron stood in the living room staring down on the television. He turned his head to the side calling out, "Hey guys, come look at this." On the staircase, Amy, Will and Tom came down the stairs and looked at Ron. "What's up?" Will asked. "Another cyborg showed up and polluting the air for some reason." "What?!" Tom asked. "What is the point of that?" Will looked up and thought about it. "I don't know but I know there's a reason for it. We'll figure it out though when we go out there." Amy looked at him and Tom asking, "Where's Dave?" "I don't know," Tom immediately replied. Amy gestured to him that he could've been slightly more helpful. Ron answered, "He went to the gym to work out and should be back any minute now." Tom and Amy continued to walk down the stairs. "Page him and use the number indicating to AstroCharge, get his HydroCycle and use its computer to map our location," Will told him. "We'll meet him there." Ron nodded. "I'll catch up--go ahead and AstroCharge." Standing between Tom and Amy in the living room, Will nodded to him and then looked at the others. "Everybody ready to ChangeForm!" They all moaned while nodding affirmatively. "Good," Will said looking straight ahead. As the three of them held up their fists bearing the golden rings containing their genesis gems, they forced them forward upon shouting, "AstroCharge!" The amethyst, onyx and zircon stones then shined brilliantly. A black and white police car was driving at high speed northbound on Hoover Street with its siren screaming and red and blue strobe lights rotating. Inside, Officer Beverly Tenmei was driving towards the park with her partner in the right seat. "Bev, they've already got units arriving at the scene as we speak," he said. "Jason--relax," Beverly answered. "They called all available units--we were available." Jason shook his head while looking at the scene. "Well I hope you're ready." While braking to a stop where the other police cars were parked, Beverly grinned, "I hope _you're_ ready." After taking off her seat belt, she got out of the patrol car before Jason did the same. The red, green, black, white and pink HydroCycles were driven by the Astroranger task force westbound on Wilshire Boulevard when VenusAstro looked up higher and pointed straight ahead. "Look at that!" As the battle team drove closer to the park, they saw a brown cloud hovering over Lafayette Park. "Good thing we wear masks," MarsAstro replied. "Messuta, thanks for the page; I didn't have my phone." MercuryAstro put up two fingers and nodded. "No problem." Cyborg Fogger walked to the edge of the park on Wilshire and Hoover, and after looking up, it saw the blue sky. The cyborg reasoned the region wasn't fully polluted as it looked back and forth above itself. "Halt!!" Cyborg Fogger jerked and turned around; it shifted its shoulders in reaction to what its programming recognized. While their HydroCycles were parked in a slant, the Astrorangers stood in front of them. "Is everybody ready?" MarsAstro asked. "Yes!" the rest of the team answered in unison. The red Astroranger struck his battle pose. "Let's go!" After he ran ahead, the rest of the team also broke their battle positions before charing ahead with him. Cyborg Fogger blasts off into the air using its calf-mounted tailpipes. The rangers come to a stop in circle formation as they all look up. In the sky, Cyborg Fogger points both fists down before six yellow lights beam from its arms' exhaust pipes. The shiny uniforms reflected the bright flashes caused by sparks exploding around the Astrorangers before they leaped away from the smoke. MarsAstro rolled over and while kneeling, his belt's holster carried the weapon his white gloved hand rapidly took. After holding the device beside the black visor of his red helmet, MarsAstro commanded to the others, "Moleculatom Weapon!" Standing in the late afternoon sky with the sun behind them made the task force into dim silhouettes when they shouted, "Fire!" Suddenly, five yellow rays of light were followed by bright blue beams that streamed from out of their weapons. After converging on one point in the ground, a wall of sparks blew up in front of Cyborg Fogger. But before the white cloud of smoke could dissipate, Cyborg Fogger leaped through the fog, tumbled over and jumped into the air. In the sky, Fogger's entire body flipped into a twist that landed him in the grass behind the Astrorangers. And when they turned around, Cyborg Fogger bent over. The two smoke stacks on its back were aimed and ready when two powerful explosions blew out of the open end of those tubes. Like two comets coming straight for them, when the bolts of light struck the grass, fire erupted out of the ground. In front of the fire, the Astrorangers were tossed two by two into the air. Surrounded by grass set aflame, the task force dropped face down into the turf. "We've got to get closer to it!" SaturnAstro said. MarsAstro looked over and replied, "Easier said than done, buddy." Police Cars were rolling past red and white ambulances and red fire engines parked near the entrance of Lafayette Park. And while fire fighters put out trees that were on fire, burn victims including officers and citizens were wheeled into the ambulances by paramedics on gurneys. After sharply stopping, Officer Tenmei turned off the ignition before she and Jason unbuckled their seat belts. "I think I saw Detective Sanchez back there, Tenmei." "Let's coordinate with her and find out what we should do and what happened." Jason nodded and they both got out of their cars. The heavily armored samurai warrior Tortan somersaulted overhead and out of sight. After his steal-covered legs landed in the grass, he stepped forth commanding, "Armaton soldiers, Attack!" From one angle, a black soldier free-fell through midair while another came flipping out of the sky. Yet another dropped out of the sky while one more had flipped into diving feet first. Rapidly ascending before the trees was an Armaton, thrusting its blade-tipped sword directly ahead. One by one, each Astroranger decimated the squadron of automatons in black with quick chops and hard kicks. The black and red Astrorangers somersaulted past each other in opposite directions while JupiterAstro came coasting between them, firing an arrow from his green bow. Soldiers were leaping through the white clouds of smoke to avoid the sparks exploding all around themselves. "Sonic Boomerang!" VenusAstro shouted while tossing her Celestial Weapon. A fiery explosion sent Armatons somersaulting out of control in opposite directions while Tortan ascended. "ThunderCrack Attack!" he commanded. The dark jewel at the center of his sword's guard shined before pushing forth a ray of white light. Sparks snapped off the pink Astroranger's uniform, thrusting her backwards out of sight. The black and green Astrorangers high kicked in opposite directions, knocking out two Armatons. And while they beat up some more soldiers, Cyborg Fogger landed out of nowhere. Fogger bent over and the two smoke stacks on its back were in position as two powerful explosions blew out of the open ends of those tubes. The green and black Astrorangers were already in midair, somersaulting forth to escape fire exploding behind themselves. While flipping over, the two Astrorangers landed away from the black smoke rising from the flames, they tumbled away while Cyborg Fogger was charging after them. JupiterAstro's punch was knocked down while Fogger slammed its fist against his helmet. After the green Astroranger flipped over, SaturnAstro's high punch was caught by Fogger's fist. The cyborg used his fist to flip the black Astroranger onto his back. After the SaturnAstro tumbled over, he was joined by JupiterAstro. "Australis, the Comet Kick!" The green Astroranger nodded. "OK!" Both put their feet together before leaping up and away. As the two Astrorangers approached Cyborg Fogger with a flying side-kick, it brought its arms up to resist the kicks. So, like a wall, both Astrorangers bounced backwards off Fogger's chest and landed on a higher section of the park. Simultaneously drawing Moleculatom Blasters from their belt's holsters, they held them out and shot down electric blue beams of light. The fan blades in Cyborg Fogger's chest caused the beams of electricity to be diverted on its left and right sides before holding up its arms. Multiple shots were fired from its exhaust pipes which caused dust clouds to burst from the small hill the Astrorangers were standing on. Both Astrorangers were blown clear of where they once stood before falling out of sight. Beverly and Jason took cover after watching the explosion blow them away. "It looks like most of it's body is covered in metal, we could never get off a shot," Jason said. "Look for body parts that aren't covered!" Beverly replied. VenusAstro turned around to kick Tortan's sword blade away and then back flipped out of the way of a return strike. "We have to stop that cyborg from releasing anymore smog before everybody around here is out cold!" VenusAstro said. "Yeah, I know," MercuryAstro replied. "Uh oh!" Tortan turned around and kicked MercuryAstro away before lashing the pink and green Astrorangers in a double-contact blow. "Now then, I may proceed," Tortan said as he ran his glove the length of his sword, turned it upside-down and jabbed the ground. Sparks exploded through the ground in a straight line horizontally from where Tortan stood. The earth began to open up. "What the hell is going on now?" MarsAstro asked as he stood up. Cyborg Fogger pointed its fists out at the exhaust pipes on its arms, the hole from its foghorn head and smoke-stacks on on its back started pumping out black smoke. The sky got dark as all five rangers put their hands over their masks and while using their right arms to wave away the smog. "I say we open fire now," Jason said and Beverly nodded. Both of them got up and started shooting at Cyborg Fogger and after sparks bounced off its presumably vulnerable body parts, it turned around and got both officers within his sights. "Uh oh!" Jason said. Fogger used its right arm to shoot three yellow pellets into the ground blowing Jason backwards after a tower of sparks exploded upon contact. Beverly rolled over multiple times as she saw Jason lying on the ground unconscious. "Jason!!" she yelled. MarsAstro turned and heard Beverly's voice. "Oh no!!" "What, Sheratan?" SaturnAstro asked. "Beverly is over there," MarsAstro answered and ran away. SaturnAstro looked over at him and asked, "Who?" Meanwhile, Cyborg Fogger sucked in more air and pumped out more dirty fog as the remaining officers at the scene fell unconscious. Beverly yawned but shook her head to fight off her abnormal state of exhaustion. Her service pistol dropped into the grass as she followed. "Very good," Tortan said. "Armatons, abduct the unconscious." So as commanded, Armatons took the arms of civilians and police officers that were in the park and dragged them away, including Beverly. MarsAstro was running with his arm out stretched, "Hold on!!" He couldn't see anything though and never realized Beverly was already taken. Meanwhile, an Armaton leaped up into a fast flying side-kick. MarsAstro's head was kicked back by the black automaton's foot as he fell out of the way. Elsewhere, Armatons who attempted to stall the Astroranger task force were no match for the intense blows the team dealt back. VenusAstro karate chopped down a black soldier, turned to notice that the people were being dropped into the hole in the ground. "Guys, look!" JupiterAstro stuck his foot out sideways to trip an Armiton and looked at people being dropped out of sight into the hole. "They're just disappearing!" MercuryAstro shouted with disbelief. "They don't even hit the bottom." "Where have you taken them?!" SaturnAstro demanded to know. "Black Galaxy Task Force Astroranger--you, and the others will soon join them as you are all going to become apart of the Nazitan Species," Tortan told him. "Fogger, make them sleep." "Don't breathe!" MercuryAstro shouted. Cyborg Fogger exhaled through it's foghorn head generating a massive cloud of brown air as the Astroranger battle team were practically blown backwards by the flow. They diligently held on while fanning their arms to clear the air. "More, Cyborg Fogger! Make them fall!" Tortan commanded. The cyborg fired shots from its right arm as it unleashed a cloud of fog upon the team. Sparks exploded all over their uniforms as the Astrorangers were blown off their feet and into the grass. MarsAstro crawled to his feet and tried to stand. "We must retreat!!" MarsAstro said. "Everybody, let's go!" He saw his team, two by two, lying in the grass perfectly still. The red Astroranger ran over and touched VenusAstro, then JupiterAstro. They were inanimate. "Damn!" he said. "I'll come for you later..." MarsAstro ran towards his HydroCycle, got onboard and started the ignition. Tortan watched him and drive his red motorcycle off into the street. "He will have to return for his comrades. At which time, he will fall to the wrath of our might." Tortan turned to the Armatons. "Soldiers, take the Astroranger battle team into the pit." The black soldiers pulled the sleeping Astroranger team one by one over the grass and towards the the gorge Tortan created with his sword. "Victory at last, the Earth will be ours for the greatest harvest in the history of our mission," Tortan announced. "Into the hole!" The automatons leaped inside of the gap in the ground before Tortan soon followed. TO BE CONTINUED In next week's episode of Galaxy Task Force Astroranger . . . After discovering they've spent the night in Cyborg Fogger's subspace dimension, Beverly is protected by the Astrorangers but must face Tortan in this dangerous trap. Meanwhile, MarsAstro attempts to defeat Cyborg Fogger. We'll see who defeats whom in episode #12, "Awaken Galaxy Task Force!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------