[980217] [Preview] It's up to Sheratan to defeat Cyborg Fogger to save his fellow Astrorangers and his new found friend, Beverly Tenmei from the wrath of Tortan. Meanwhile, Ginara takes advantage of this situation to stake out the dinosaur egg. Will the Nazitans succeed this time? They will if Sheratan doesn't survive Fogger's sleep smog in episode #12, "Awaken Galaxy Task Force!" 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. Last time on Astroranger "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..." The words, "That's a woman," silently escaped from Dave's lips. "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. Dave stood beside an exercise machine examining it without the first apparent notion of how to properly operate it. 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. "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." "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." 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. Armatons took the arms of civilians and police officers that were in the park and dragged them away, including Beverly. "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 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. Meanwhile, MarsAstro drove northbound towards Mount Hollywood where Griffith Observatory was to head for the Astroranger SpaceBase. "I've gotta find a way to free my team," MarsAstro said--feeling a sense of responsibility to them as leader. "And I have to figure out how to save Beverly." He pushed the golden button in the communications section of his dashboard's terminal. "Commander Leto, this is MarsAstro--prepare to meet me aboard the SpaceBase immediately." Episode 12: "Awaken Galaxy Task Force!" ACT I: Underground, a dimly lit cavern with rock walls and tunnels leading almost anywhere was inhabited by the Astrorangers, lying on the ground amongst other comatose victims of Cyborg Fogger. VenusAstro was able to move her foot as she brought her elbows back and looks around. "Sheratan?" she called weakly. She noticed her surroundings and rolled over and onto her knees. "Messuta--Australis," she called, "Nashiran; wake up." The white Astroranger sighed strongly. "Man! I'm so tired," he said leading into a yawn. MercuryAstro leaned up and shook his head. "Hey--seems like the air is fresher in here." "We're not in the city anymore," VenusAstro said while JupiterAstro moaned and started to move. "I don't even know where we are. Oh good, they're waking up." The pink Astroranger yawned and stretched. "How long have we been here?" MercuryAstro asked while SaturnAstro shook his head and got on one knee. "Feels like overnight," SaturnAstro replied. "Hey, that's Officer Tenmei." He pointed to Beverly lying on her side in her uniform and hat. JupiterAstro stood up. "Who is she?" VenusAstro stood up and checked her condition. "Sheratan's new friend," SaturnAstro answered upon standing up and looking around. "(Hey, where are we?)" "This cop!?" MercuryAstro asked out loud. Beverly started coughing while she started to wake up. Her almond shaped eyes closed tighter while frowning indicating the LAPD officer was rather uncomfortable. VenusAstro put her hands on her back. "Looks like she's waking up." "Yeah, he wanted her to come to dinner with all of us and shoot the breeze, as they say," SaturnAstro said. "I guess that'll be delayed," JupiterAstro replied. "(Man, What a way to meet her.) Messuta, find a way out of here. Lotia, help her. Nashiran, secure the parameter." Beverly squinted while looking at the four of them. "You sound like Lieutenant Newall," Beverly said. She leaned up and dusted off her navy blue uniform; she checked the gear on her utility belt and then suddenly realized she was in a cave. "Hey! Where are we?" She then looked at the four uniformed Astrorangers. "Hey, you're the... I mean those... The..." SaturnAstro looked down one of the backlit tunnels of the underground caves, he then looked at the other three. "You notice something strange about how there is like maybe a half a dozen other people in here when there were hundreds that were put to sleep?" "Yeah! Where did THEY go!?" Beverly asked. The police officer stood up and put her hand around the back of her neck from sleeping on it wrong. She grew curious of what time it was based on this discomfort and checked her wrist watch. "It's 7 A.M. Sunday morning." MercuryAstro nodded. "Looks like we spent the night in this place after all." "You'll be spending a lot longer then that in here," Adol said as he walked into the chamber. "What the hell is that?!" Beverly shouted upon assuming a defensive posture. He spoke, though his lips had not moved, for he was speaking to them all with telepathy. "Greetings, I am Adol the Great, leader of the Nazitan battle team from our outpost inside of Pluto and I am here to inform you that soon you will all become apart of our species to ensure its existence for many millennium to come." "Fire at will!" JupiterAstro commanded. Suddenly, all four Astrorangers had beams of bright electric blue light streaming from their Moleculatom Blasters at Adol only for them to pass through his image. SaturnAstro stopped firing and shook his head. "What the?" "It's a hologram," MercuryAstro interrupted. "Fools; you should know better than to think that I would waste my time with you overconfident warriors of this world," Adol stated. "Soon you will all join the ranks of our dynasty." "Where are we?!" JupiterAstro asked. "You in a temporary holding area to be brought to Pleadia's laboratory and prepared for assimilation," Adol informed him, he looked to Beverly. "And since you have already come to, I believe that you shall be next." Out of the shadows, Tortan stepped in after the conclusion of his orders. Beverly drew her gun from her black leather belt's holster and pointed it at Tortan. "Hold it right there, pal." "That thing wont do you any good," Adol said. "Soon, you will no longer know who you are as you are reborn as one of us." SaturnAstro used his palm to point to himself. "We're not interested." "Suit yourself," Adol replied. "Tortan--proceed." "Attack positions," JupiterAstro ordered. VenusAstro stood behind Beverly with her hands on her shoulders in preparation of what was about to happen. MercuryAstro and SaturnAstro switched positions and assumed their fighting positions along with JupiterAstro. Adol turned around and walked away. "Tortan, bring me the pieces when you're done," Adol said as his image disappeared. Tortan stepped forth and put out his fist as his sword materialized within his grip. "Oh my God," Beverly muttered. Still holding her pistol on Tortan, she extended her arms further "Freeze, Police!" "Hah!" Tortan laughed. "Don't make me laugh!" VenusAstro began to pull Beverly away. "Follow me." "But..." Beverly said while being pulled away. Tortan swung his sword down and MercuryAstro leaped to the side; rolling clear, the white Astroranger cartwheeled past the armored warrior. Tortan rammed his sword ahead and SaturnAstro's Planetary Ring Kick knocked the blade away. The black Astroranger's punch was used by Tortan's reverse punch to effectively flip SaturnAstro out of the way. JupiterAstro stood in and front-kicked Tortan's thigh and then his abs. Tortan wasn't going down and came up to strike across the green Astroranger's chest. As the blade came down, a bright flash of sparks shot out of his green uniform. The Astroranger SpaceBase, an opal globe shaped satellite, stayed in synchronous orbit with the dark-side of the lunar celestial body. 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. The sliding double-doors parted, allowing Sheratan to walk inside the chamber while Commander Leto sat at one of the five stations on the right side of the chamber. "Sheratan, are you all right?" Leto said as he stood up. Sheratan nodded. "Never mind about me, what happened out there?" "According to this, the cyborg was releasing some kind of noxious gas into the air to maintain it's initial effect." "It's already in the air, I know, but--where did the others go? What did Tortan do to the Earth??" Sheratan asked. "It looks like to me, it opened up a portal in the space continuum causing them to be _immediately_ placed somewhere else on Earth," Commander Leto said as he looked at the Mission Operations console he was sitting at. "However, I have no idea where they went since tracing such holes take literally hours." "Damn," Sheratan angrily groaned. "Can't we get rid of that sleep fog?" Commander Leto walked over to the CommandShuttle console and began reading information. "JupiterAstro's ThunderBow might cause a rain cloud to eliminate the pollutant however he's missing along with the others." "I thought the suits were supposed to protect us?!!" Sheratan asked. "The mask's filter was only able to delay what was happening because the gas concentration was designed for humans. However, the effects might not last on Australis and the others," Commander Leto stated. "According to our doctors at Uton Defense, Terranians have a much higher tolerance for airborne impurities." "Good, that means they will probably wake up soon. But I've got to figure out a way to get them out of where ever it is they are," Sheratan declared. "Since Tortan brought them there, they can't be anywhere good." The sun above the horizon of the pacific ocean shined on the waves which splashed against the pillars supporting the Santa Monica Pier. The pier had hundreds of people aboard visiting food stands, arcades as well as carnival rides such as an impressive roller coaster. The pier led back to the 57 foot cliff that overlooked the parking lot behind the sands below. Multiple towers along the 3-mile wide beach is where the lifeguards watched over the thousands of beach goers at the world famous Santa Monica Beach. There was swimming and wading while inland, bicyclists and rollerbladers rolled in opposite directions on the bike path in the sand. Everyone was oblivious to the state of emergency 15 miles inland or even that band of black automatons with bladed rifles led by Ginara, the female ninja-armored Nazitan with the tiara supporting her unique jewel. They marched out from beneath the pier and when Ginara was in the sunlight, she looked from side to side while her silver battle armor shined. "Hm, this is a lot of area to cover. Too many people as well. ARMATONS!" The soldiers stood straight and still while facing her. "Vacate this region as fast as you can," Ginara demanded, "do it!" They were already running as they past her and she watched as them charge action. On a beach blanket under a huge sun umbrella, this guy in oversized swimming trunks looked at this girl in a bikini laying next to him. He was grinning while saying, "Come on, baby, nobody'll see you. Just smile for the camera." He picked up a Polaroid camera while the girl giggled. "Oh, I don't know," she said but after a brief pause, the blonde replied, "well, okay." And just as she put a hand on her shoulder, the umbrella suddenly got pulled out of the sand. "What the hell?" the guy said while looking up--really angry. Armaton soldiers were shooting near people, with sparks blowing up, scaring people away; meanwhile the Armaton standing right there tossed their umbrella away as there was screaming. Sitting in the sand, the guy and the girl were still screaming; the Armaton held its rifle and was pulling the trigger and while they scrambled to get up, bolts of light were shooting out of the soldier's rifle and sparks blew up. Meanwhile, those two ran from sparks blowing up and towards the ocean while everybody else ran in every direction with Armatons chasing them. A lifeguard looking through his black and yellow binoculars immediately took them away. "Aw this is bull crap," he said while walking back inside of his tower. He picked up the phone and started speaking over the radio to headquarters. "This is Brad at Tower 18, you wont believe this..." Looking at the beach from above, people were running around yelling and screaming. And in the center of all the chaos stood Ginara who looked around again before looking down at an oval-shaped display pad. "These readings are dubious but useful. I probably should start here and work my way around the beach." Upon touching the central jewel within her tiara, her eyes began to glow yellow. A beam of light hit the sand as a pit was being created by the beam from her tiara's jewel. The Astroranger SpaceBase--an opal globe shaped satellite, stayed in synchronous orbit with the dark-side of the Earth's moon; on the top deck, Sheratan paced while Leto typed at one of the stations. "I think I've got something here," Leto said. Sheratan came up to his side and watched the screen showing video footage of the battle with the Armatons. "I'll transfer this to the main screen." On the main screen, the footage continued. Sheratan turned to look at it. Leto continued to type at his station. "Now look at the lower left hand corner of the screen." The footage goes into slow-motion as an Armaton is scene dragging the unconscious Beverly Tenmei away towards the hole. "Tortan must have set up some kind of subspace gateway into a private dimension maintained by that cyborg producing the smog," Leto theorized. "So, they're probably not on Earth and the only way to free them is to dissolve that subspace. Unfortunately, I don't know how..." "Hey wait a minute, Leto," Sheratan interrupted, "run this back and roll it again." The scene moved backwards and then played normally again as he noticed that Beverly was dropped inside of the long separation in the park's ground. "Oh this just gets better and better," Sheratan said sarcastically. "She's not only in an artificially induced deep sleep but she's in some Nazitan booby trap with them doing who knows what to her." Confused, Commander Leto looked at Sheratan. "Who?" "This young Japanese girl I met at the health club this morning," Sheratan said. "We.." Leto interrupted, "Sheratan, she's a police officer and..." "Yeah, I've heard the lecture many many times over," Sheratan replied. "I need to go." Leto tried to speak anyway but Sheratan did not let him. "Listen, let me know if you figure out how I'm supposed to beat the cyborg." "But..." Leto watched Sheratan step back while preparing to transform. "Genesis Gem!" he shouted with his left fist on his hip and right fist up. "AstroCharge!" Thrusting his fist in front of himself, the red Ruby on the golden ring began to glow brightly. Within a flash of light, Sheratan was gone. ACT II: On red HydroCycle, MarsAstro drove westbound on Mulholland Drive heading for Laurel Canyon Park. On the black screen in the motorcycle's dashboard terminal, a radar scan showed the location of Cyborg Fogger in relationship to MarsAstro's current location. He looked up and accelerated. It must be hiding to determine its next target, the red Astroranger thought to himself. From the Nazitan Outpost in Pluto, Pleadia saw what Fogger saw from his workstation's holographic display. "Looks like one got loose. I'll fix that." Pleadia continued to operate the cyborg while watching MarsAstro. Cyborg Fogger fired alternately from its arm-mounted exhaust pipes; sparks exploded in front of the red motorcycle as MarsAstro drove through. He ducked as the white-smoke cleared and accelerated. "Woah! I didn't even see him!" Cyborg Fogger bent over, pointing both of his back-side mounted smoke-stacks. Two dust-filled explosions occurred in front of the red HydroCycle as he flew into the air over the smoke cloud. The bike wheel hit the pavement as he spun around and came to a stop. MarsAstro got off his motorcycle and walked away from the bike, pointing at the dark, iron-clad cyborg. "You're gonna pay for that one, metal head. Moleculatom Weapon!" he said as he swung his arms through the air gripping his AstroSuit's belt-mounted holster. "Blaster mode!" he said while holding it beside his red helmet. Fogger pointed his right arm and fired from its triple-barreled exhaust pipes and the triple-bolt shot of light hit the ground in front of MarsAstro. In midair, the red Astroranger was coasting above the white cloud of smoke as he shot a ray of yellow light from his weapon; quickly replaced by a blue beam streaming from the hole in its tip. The thin, electric blue ray pulsed forth into the cyborg's chest causing sparks to shoot out of its chest. MarsAstro turned his Moleculatom Weapon upside down into his left gloved hand and put his right fist on the base of the hilt. "Moleculatom Dagger Mode!" Drawing his fist away from the hilt, the red Astroranger formed a blade with a ray of fuzzy white light. The dagger of his Molecuatom Weapons was formed as soon as the light dissolved. Cyborg Fogger's foghorn-head blew smoke out of its metallic face of anger. MarsAstro used his arms to get up the leverage for jumping high enough into the air. In the sky, MarsAstro plunged forth with his Light Dagger. Upon landing, he caused sparks to blow from Fogger's grill-plated chest. After it recovered, the cyborg turned around and spin-kicked by the red Astroranger tumbled beneath his foot. As soon as he stood up, Fogger's fist jammed into MarsAstro's chest, sparking off of his shiny uniform. The blast made him stumble but when the smoke cleared, the red Astroranger never fell and roundhoused a second attempted punch before cutting back the other way with his dagger. The cyborg held up its left forearm to block the weapon, kicked his dagger's blade skyward and elbow-punched MarsAstro in the mask of his helmet. Out of the air, MarsAstro fell back and rolled out again. Cyborg Fogger charged after MarsAstro, seemingly to him, in slow motion. "I'm not done with you yet!" MarsAstro put his weapon back into his silver belt's holster. "I bet that if I stop you, I'm going to free my friends!" MarsAstro said upon standing up. Cyborg Fogger held onto MarsAstro's shoulders to head-butt the red Astroranger. MarsAstro pulled up his knee, jabbing Fogger in the abs. The red Astroranger used his arm to knock the cyborg's hands off of his shoulders and punched straight into its face. Cyborg Fogger caught his fist and pulled him into flipping over onto asphalt of the roadway. The image of the red Astroranger within the gray glass globe was spied on by Adol, sitting upon his iron clad throne. "Facing reality should bring our red Astroranger out of his self-delusional state of mind." From out of the shadows, Adol walked in beneath a single light from above as he approached the glowing crystal ball on its stone pedestal. It gleamed in the light before a skeletal shadow was cast over the gas-filled sphere by the boney hand of Adol the Great. When he waved his black, pin-wheeled wand, Adol to speak. "Cyborg Fogger: by the power of Lord Vahorra, magnify your size one hundred fold! Augment your strength one thousand fold! Grow, my warrior," Adol commanded; the wheel on his wand began to spin on its own as fog blew like the wind. "Grow tall, cyborg and become... Titan-Fogger!!" The pinwheel on his wand spun even harder, showering his crystal ball with purple bits of light. The energy passed through the smooth, transparent surface of the sphere and bombard the cybernetic creature pictured on that crystal ball. Standing on the grass of the mountainous Laural Canyon Park surrounded by trees, the steel-built robot raised its arms to receive the flow of energy. Its arms started vibrating from rapidly expanding on both the left and then the right side. Its metal legs were also quickly gaining more and more width from increasing in length and acquiring more armor. While bent over, Titan-Fogger's horn-like head blew steam from its open mouth while uncrossing its arms and standing up, now hundreds of feet tall. MarsAstro jumped backwards and turned around to get a gain some distance between himself and the titan cyborg. "This is not my day!" Bolts of white light shot out from Titan-Fogger's open mouth and while the lone Astroranger stood in the park a great distance below, fire erupted from the white bolts of light slamming into the ground all around MarsAstro. While the flames were bursting skyward, the red Astroranger yelled while being blown up high into the air. While marching, Titan-Fogger stopped to raise its foot before dropping it straight down. MarsAstro leaped out of the way of the giant iron foot while surrounded by grass that was on fire. "I hate it when they do that!" In the cave-like subspace of Cyborg Fogger, the black and green Astrorangers were thrown into the dirt to tumble over and roll clear. Tortan stood forth holding his sword and clenched his left fist. "And they said you were tough." MercuryAstro knelt behind the two cast down Astrorangers and held onto both of them while looking behind himself at the pink Astroranger. VenusAstro looked over and asked. "Messuta, are they all right?" He nodded. "Yeah but none of us will be if we don't find a way out of here!" "Procyon Sword Thunder Crack!" Tortan said as the symbol of Procyon's insignia became visible upon the dark jewel in the guard of his sword when suddenly a wide beam of light pulsed out. The light beam zapped the ground causing an explosion of sparks in front of the Astrorangers throwing them up against a wall and out onto the ground again. In a surprise attempt, Beverly stood up and fired shots from her pistol. The bullets sparked off Tortan's armored body as he turned his attention to her. "How primitive." Tortan put out his left hand and arcs of electricity jumped from his finger tips. Exploding towers of sparks surrounded the police officer as she fell down from the blast with smoke rising from the ground. VenusAstro reached out while on one knee shouting, "Beverly!!" Her service pistol dropped onto the ground before she did; while on her hands and knees, Beverly's soot-covered face expressed pain while looking down. Falling onto her side, her eyes squeezed shut and teeth gritted while holding her bleeding arm. While moaning and gulping to endure the pain of moving, she looked over at the warrior walking forth and gasped, "It's indestructible." VenusAstro came to her side and helped her stand. "Messuta, keep looking for a way out!" At Santa Monica Beach, Ginara was surrounded by giant pits that were drilled into the sand. Ginara's eyes were glowing while a yellow beam of light pushed out of the jewel upon the center of her tiara. Stopping for a a moment, she clenched her fist and nodded affirmatively. "Yes! I'm almost there!" Focusing again, Ginara's eyes lit up as the beam from her tiara returned to drilling. Looking up, one could see Titan-Fogger as it marched forth very slowly but to MarsAstro, who dashed through Laural Canyon Park; he'd traveled several feet per footstep. Titan-Fogger's fists came up before they pointed downward, shooting six groups of bright lights into the ground repeatedly. While the red Astroranger continued to run through the park, he zig-zagged to avoid the fountains of sparks bursting behind himself on each side. Eventually, he miraculously leaped out of the way of powerful explosion and rolled over. "That's enough of that--Galaxy Task Force Command: red HydroCycle ignition!" The parked motorcycle's headlight came on and began to roll off its kick-stand without a driver automatically. In the sky, MarsAstro's body flipped overhead and out of sight before landing on his seat with his hands on the handle bars. "Jet Mode!" The wings on the left and right rear wheel guards came down and extended while the jet on the back of the HydroCycle's red body began to turn rapidly. Suddenly, the front tire came off the pavement and in the sky, the red HydroCycle banked around. The giant fan within the chest of Titan-Fogger began to spin sucking in a great amount of air. Its eyes glowed yellow before its mouth suddenly spewed a brown fog. "Oh no you don't!" MarsAstro said. The exhaust pipes on Fogger's arms began to flush out six streams of brown smoke to try and subdue the red Astroranger. "Here I go! H'ugh!" MarsAstro stood on his seat before leaping off. As the red motorcycle flew by Titan-Fogger's steel head, MarsAstro free fell into it's open mouth. "E'yaah!!" The red Astroranger yelled as he free-fell through total blackness and inside of a red tinted room, MarsAstro landed on his hands and knees. "Oough!" He'd knelt to look up and around. "It's really hot in here!" He was surrounded by steel walls with indicator lights and gauges. Huge white wheel valves connected to pumps that terminated transparent tubes were bolted to walls all over the chamber. "This is like the broiler room of a battleship," MarsAstro said while standing up. He walked over to the walls and felt the heat from the bulkheads. While looking, he trace the tubes to pumps that drove mechanical machinery leading to another chamber. "It's motor systems are driven by the smog it generates like air brakes of a semi-truck." The voice of SaturnAstro fighting echoed out causing the red Astroranger to turn his head sharply; suddenly, he ran elsewhere. One of several huge holes in the wall that functioned as ventilation for steam turbine engines was approached by MarsAstro who heard one hole as the source of the sound. "That's Nashiran and it sounds like he's in big trouble. I better do something fast." He looked over at the big white wheel on the end of a valve that connected two massive tubes. "It's always putting out exhaust." He jogged over to the valves and grabbed one of the wheels. While turning them, he said, "Maybe it'll blow a gasket if it can't do that anymore." In an isolated chamber, six pistons cycling at high speed started jamming until it locked. Smoke started rising from the steel gears and elsewhere, sparks sparked off of circuit boards located somewhere within the cyborg. The fan inside of Titan-Fogger's chest suddenly stopped while smoke poured out of its chest. While standing in the park, sparks snapped from random locations of the titan cyborg's body slowly at first before resulting in a widespread cascade of explosions. While holding onto the burnt and bleeding Officer Beverly Tenmei, VenusAstro knelt behind MercuryAstro while the green and black Astrorangers stood against Tortan who walked towards him. In the cave, they watched him hold his sword on them. "You've wasted my time long enough. Now, you die." "Come on, Sheratan," JupiterAstro muttered, "save my life." Rumbling like an earthquake shook the cave with an all-surrounding sound that forced Tortan to look up and around. "What is this!?" he shouted. Beverly looked at the Astrorangers with a look of worry. "Oh no... Oh God, guys--please, you've got to save me. We're not gonna die are we!?" "Just hang on," JupiterAstro said. "Lotia, hold her steady." VenusAstro nodded. "I've got her." "Don't see this as your opportunity to escape my execution," Tortan said. In midair, the black sole of MarsAstro's boot was flying straight ahead and no sooner than seen, Tortan was already kicked out of sight. Standing before the Astrorangers holding his Moleculatom Blaster, he turned around to look at everyone. "We're gettin' out of here. Everything in here is blowing up." "No kidding?" SaturnAstro sarcastically replied. "Save it, Nash," MarsAstro said while pushing a button his weapon. The LED indicator lit up blue, green, yellow and then red lights after reaching full power. "Beverly, stand back." Beverly looked up and thought, ``How did he know my name?'' A yellow ray of light streaming from the end of the red Astroranger's Moleculatom weapon was traced by a brilliant electric blue beam that, upon striking the cave wall produced a white flash of sparks that rained onto the ground. After the explosion, a giant hole in the wall was left and MarsAstro put his weapon away. "All right, everybody out--let's go!" VenusAstro was the first to go with Beverly in her arms while the black, white and green Astrorangers left. MarsAstro eventually jumped through the hole. In the park, sparks sprayed out of Titan-Fogger while writing continually in pain, as if every part of its body was about to burst from a pressure building and building with no way to escape. Suddenly, five lights of pink, white, purple, green and red streamed out of its face. Spheres of those lights hovered around over the grass until light formed the Astrorangers who landed on the ground. Beverly looked up and around. "We're not dead," she gasped. MercuryAstro pointed to the sky. "Hey, check it out!" Titan-Fogger's exhaust pipes suddenly sprayed sparks instead of smoke until it finally fell backwards and collapsed into an explosion of fire that pushed black smoke into the sky. The wind from the explosion rushed up against Beverly and the others who protected her from metallic debris being cast from the cyborg's flaming remains. The opal, sphere shaped space station within the dark shade of the Earth's moon came in to view while, aboard the Astroranger SpaceBase--Commander Leto's fingers were rapidly striking keys at his terminal while speaking into the condenser microphone. "MarsAstro, this is the SpaceBase, come in!" Sitting on his idle HydroCycle, the red Astroranger looked at his console and nodded. "I'm here, go ahead, Commander." Leto looked at the terminal while replying, "I've been trying to contact you for a while now, what happened?" "It's a long story, what's going on?" While MarsAstro sat on his HydroCycle, the other Astrorangers listened as Leto said over his radio, "Scanners located a highly concentrated energy source on Earth at the coastline approximately 20 kilometers due west your location. Telescopes indicate it's Ginara." JupiterAstro looked at everyone saying, "They must've wanted us out of the way to keep searching for the dinosaur egg." "What??" Beverly asked. MarsAstro shook his head. "Australis, what are you talking about?" "I'll explain later--you need to get Beverly out of here while Messuta and Lotia need to stop Ginara." SaturnAstro looked at the green Astroranger. "What are you gonna be doing?" "You and I are going to try and wake up everyone," JupiterAstro replied. "Use a shot from your ThunderBow--Commander Leto said it would wipe out the smog that's keeping everyone in a coma," MarsAstro replied before looking at Beverly. "Hop aboard, I'm taking you back to the city." Beverly got on behind MarsAstro and wrapped his arms around his stomach. "I've always wanted to ride a motorcycle like this!" MarsAstro revved the motor and released the break pedal. "Just be sure to hang on tight, this is a fast ride!" Red HydroCycle snapped out of the park and MercuryAstro stood in his place. MercuryAstro looked at the pink Astroranger and asked, "Ready, Lotia?" VenusAstro nodded affirmatively. The white Astroranger looked up and shouted, "Galaxy Task Force Command: HydroCycles Ignition!" The clouds in the blue sky began to part as the faded image of a white saucer began to warp into visibility. Beneath its ventral hull, two black lines perforated a plank that lowered out of the saucer's underside. Four motorcycles with green, black, white and pink body shells rolled out of the saucer. No sooner than MercuryAstro sat on the seat of the white HydroCycle, VenusAstro landed on the pink HydroCycle's seat as well while they were flying. While SaturnAstro looked at them fly off, JupiterAstro turned his head and used his arm to signal the black Astroranger to follow him. "Come on!" SaturnAstro nodded and ran away with the green Astroranger. At the beach, Ginara looks into the sand as she eventually is able to see the prehistoric egg buried in the sand. She stopped running the beam from her tiara and jumped inside to get it. Meanwhile, elsewhere, two bike-wheels came to a stop as the Astrorangers dismounted and looked towards the ocean. The two Astrorangers ran forward before they jumped over a sandy barrier and stopped to see the situation. VenusAstro pounded her right fist into her left palm. "Are you ready to kick some ass, Messuta?" MercuryAstro glanced at her and stepped forth. "As I'll ever be." Ginara stepped out of the pit with the egg in hand. "Ahhh--finally! I have it. What in the?!" In the sky, the white and pink Astrorangers leaped into opposite directions overhead before somersaulting out of sight. MercuryAstro lept up into the air in front of the cliffs behind himself. "Astroranger Comic Kick!!" he shouted while assuming a flying sidekick posture. A white boot to Ginara's chest knocked her out of sight. "Celestial Weapon!" VenusAstro shouted in midair. "Sonic Boomerang!!" she shouted upon tossing the pink boomerang. Ginara was still kneeling when sparks blasted her metal-covered hand. Sparks knocked the rock-like egg out of her hand and into the sky. Ginara stood up and clenched her fist. "Oh, you'll pay for that!" Ginara looked to the sand as she is able to see the egg sit there. After the pink and white Astrorangers came running after her, she turned to look at them. Ginara ducked MercuryAstro's flying hurricane kick before catching a punch and using it to flip him off his feet. And after VenusAstro turned around and chopped against her face, Ginara's forearm came up like a switchblade to block the pink Astroranger's arm. Her foot kicked VenusAstro's hand out of the way and before she knew it, Ginara had tornado-kicked the back of VenusAstro's head, knocking her over onto her back. "Oogh!" she groaned when landing in the sand. MercuryAstro jumped over and knelt beside her. "They get deadly when they're desperate." "Procyon Galaxy Stars!" Ginara shouted while holding a fist full of snow-flake shaped discs of razor-sharp metal. "Yah!!" After casting them forth, the sky was filled the discs raining down like hail. When the metallic debris showered the white and pink Astrorangers on the beach, multiple bursts of sparks broke out of their shiny uniforms and the sand they eventually fell into. "Yes... I've got what we need to finally end this!" Ginara said, picking the egg up from out the sand. "Goodbye forever, Astrorangers!!" "Oh no you don't!" VenusAstro got up on one knee and shouted, "Moleculatom Blaster!" Running, Ginara didn't see VenusAstro standing on a knee shooting a beam of electricity that caught up with her in the blink of an eye. A yellow beam of light pulsed through the blue sky then becoming replaced by a bright blue beam of electricity. The electricity drilled Ginara's back and sparks fried her armor, knocking her into a tumble. In the sky, the egg flew through the sky and hit the ocean as it floated out to sea. "No!!" Ginara shouted. "UGH!" she fumed, pounding the sand with her fist. MercuryAstro joined VenusAstro. "Good work, Lotia. Now, let's end this--for real." The pink Astroranger nodded affirmatively before looking at Ginara. "We will find that egg again, Galaxy Task Force," Ginara warned, "and then you will not be able to stop us." The two of them watched Ginara vanish from the beach. It was quiet that late Afternoon in the residential streets of the Hollywood Hills where the Terranian's house was. Inside, the doorbell rang and Dave ran downstairs to answer the door directly ahead. Behind the door upon their sheltered front porch stood Beverly in jeans and a yellow T-shirt. "Hey, Beverly," he'd said. "Want to come in?" "Sure, thanks," Beverly said. "Hey, listen, Dave, I'm sorry I didn't come by for dinner like we were supposed to." "That's all right I understand," he replied still smiling. "Please have a seat." She briefly closed her eyes and nodded her head. "Thank you." "Hey, listen, Beverly--you can still meet everyone if you still want. Everyone's home. In fact, Amy's fixing supper now." Beverly looked up at him from the couch as Dave came beside her to sit. "Oh how nice, but I couldn't stay--I didn't even call when I got home," Beverly said. "I feel bad for my poor manners." "I appreciate your apology, but I don't find it necessary for me--being your company is too pleasant for me to begrudge you." Beverly smiled. "I suppose I should tell you what happened to me. It's actually quite a terrific story, I'm not even sure you would believe me." "That's okay. You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to." Amy walked into the room to go upstairs when she stopped to see Beverly sitting in their room. "Oh, hello Officer Tenmei," Amy said with little ease. "I'm off-duty, you can call me Beverly." Amy forced a smile. "Okay. I'm going to get the others. Dinner is in the dining room." "That's great--would you mind if we set an extra place for Beverly?" "I don't know," Amy said. Dave and Beverly looked at her with confusion. "I'll be right back." Upstairs in Will and Ron's room, Tom stood next to Will as Ron looked at the computer monitor as he operated the mouse. "Now this is amusing," Ron said. "A world wide network called the Internet has pictures and stories about the battle with Cyborg Fogger." "Well there you have it," Tom said. "We've become internationally known in the matter of a few days without even trying." "That's how it happens most often," Will said. Amy came into the room through the open door. "Hey guys." "Hey, Amy," Ron said. "Dinner done?" "Um--yes. Beverly's sitting in our living room and Dave asked her to join us." "Yeah, he told me he was going to do that," Tom said. "Might as well get this over with." "You think this is a good idea?" Ron said. "Well, it seems to me that Beverly is not functioning in the capacity of a police officer," Will said. "Maybe we can get to know someone that Dave has apparently made an allowance for, as far as humans go." TO BE CONTINUED In next week's episode of Galaxy Task Force Astroranger . . . The Astroranger's vacation at the beach turns deadly when Cyborg Kappa cannot be stopped! Pleadia forms a warrior made entirely out of water capable of becoming solid and fluid in episode #13, "Possessed! Beware the Demon Water" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------