[980315] [Preview] The community of Los Feliz becomes Cyborg Tousoy's slave team for finding the dinosaur egg the Nazitans seek. And now, the mind-controlling formula by Tousoy released into the water supply is consumed by Amy. However, being Terranian has the effects of the formula on her be different. As a result, Green JupiterAstro ranger Australis pries her off of himself and searches for the cure of Tousoy's mind controling formula in Episode 16, "Drunk! The Lust of VenusAstro" [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! 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: In the star-dotted blackness of outer space was the massive sphere of blue gasses Uranus and orbiting the planet was a space station. With an iron core, saucer-shaped platforms were stacked along the pipe-like center having an octagon instead of round shape. This dark, metallic station had thousands of tiny oval windows with yellow light shining from within them while clearance lights along its edges and top flashed occasionally. Aboard the top level of the station, the central chamber featured a spacious control center with stations circling the walls. At one of the terminals, the stool bolted to the floor was occupied by Pleadia before he turned around to see the others entering. One of the four doors in the corners of the round room opened as Adol the Great, Tortan, Ginara and Igan entered. "Excellent," Adol said, "its assembly is complete." After standing up, Pleadia nodded and walked down the steps into the center chamber. "We have had the different parts of the station for a while now; but, our cloaked robotic fabrication plant needed to complete re-construction of the base before we could use it. Now our plan to collect bodies for transport to processing plants on Procyon VIII and Procyon IX will work." "I cannot wait until we can ship that cargo we will acquire to those planets," Tortan moaned. "Once we receive the MicroFighters from Procyon IV, the Armaton soldiers will sweep the world and destroy all that resist our conquest of Earth as a new Procyon world." "There is enough cargo space to house thousands of soldiers and MicroFighters," Igan mentioned, "as it was all too easy to land the should for transporting Adol and the rest of us here." Adol nodded. "I'm glad something is going right for once. I was extremely displeased with Cyborg Morpher's performance despite the clever nature of the plan. Hebosha has only managed to collect enough brains just to provide for a small village on one of our less populated planets." "Not to worry, Adol the Great, for I have a plan that should make seeking out the beast egg we will use against the Astroranger task force simple. Also allowing us to acquire potentially millions of humans," Ginara said. "Keep talking." Ginara approached the golden rim that ran around the inner circle of the chamber and touched a backlit bar that grew brighter. Suddenly, a green, transparent board came down from the ceiling and within it, a holographic image of 3-D appearance appeared. "Cyborg Tousoy is constructed like a parasite we've located on Earth some humans have identified with the name: tick. However, instead of drawing something from a host, it will inject a substance through the same means. Microscopic penetration." "Humans will be infected with a formula that modifies their brain chemistry to listen to Tousoy and Tousoy only. As its slave, they will search for the egg, tirelessly digging for hours until it is located," Pleadia explained. "When they're done, Armatons will force them into unconsciousness and abduct them for storage here on this station," Ginara concluded. Adol nodded. "Good idea. But how will it infect so many people without being detected?" "Being primarily composed of a liquid gas composed of two hydrogen and one oxygen molecules, humans require ingestion of this substance regularly. So, it is the most logical way they will unsuspectingly ingest formula," Pleadia answered. Episode #16: "Drunk! The Lust of VenusAstro" In the room he shared with William, Ron sat in front of the Macintosh computer connected to another one beside it used by Will while mouse clicking. On the monitor, an arrow appeared over a mailbox icon that flashed before a box expanded into view. Ron's pupils reflected the screen's light while they shifted from side to side reading text. "Hahaha! Yeah right," he laughed to himself, "stupid junk mail." On the display, the arrow appeared over a trash can icon and when he clicked it, the message vanished. A few moments later, a box spontaneously appeared reading "You Have New Mail". "Hm," Ron moaned in response and clicked the mouse. It was from a Lucy G. Ron squinted while thinking to himself. "Who is that?" He clicked the mouse twice and a new box appeared and inside was her message. Ron's eyes jumped wide open. In the backyard, the sun shining against the back of the house made the white panels brighter than usual. Plastic sheets covered the broken windows and the new paint on the side of the house covered the burnt sections caused by Morpher's attack on Will. In the yard, William stood outside taking deep breaths of the windy air. He was wearing a dark green tank-top and black jogging pants and began moving in a dance like pattern, raising his arms and legs in a pre-arranged set of movements. And while Will practiced his style, he stopped and asked, "What's up, Ron?" "How did you know I was here?" he said as he came, walking away from the backdoor. Will turned around and smiled. "It's hard not to know when anyone is around when you're listening to everything." "Will, do you remember me talking to you about this woman I met at the mall one day? Lucy?" Will looked up for a moment to think. "I think so. The blonde in pigtails, right?" "Yeah. She told me she didn't want to even be friends because L.A. has been a wreck for five and a half months straight," Ron replied. "I honestly don't blame her, William; and I was willing to give it up. We're only gonna be here a year, right?" Will nodded. Ron sighed. "She somehow got my e-mail address--probably from some search system online and contacted me. Lucy wants to talk to me at a park on Venice Boulevard and Normandie Avenue." "Yeah, okay." "Will," Ron urged, "I don't know if this is such a good idea. I was just curious but I think she might have taken what I was going for the wrong way." "Don't be close minded, Ron. Let her know you wont be in the city for very long," Will told him. "If she doesn't care, then you're okay. In fact, she must not care because if she's willing to risk losing you to warfare in Los Angeles, she must be after something else." "Like what?" Ron asked. Will shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she'll tell you." A double-set of beeps sounded from his wrist watch. He looked at the Seiko watch and pushed a button to make it silent. "I need to go pick up Amy from the grocery store. I took her to go shopping." "All right. I guess I'll see Lucy--I've got nothing to loose," Ron replied. Will nodded. "Never reject anything that has the potential of becoming a good thing--even if it is for a short while." Ron nodded and smiled. A red Arrowstead truck loaded with massive bottles of water sat in the left turn lane of Los Feliz Boulevard with its turning signal blinking. Eventually, it rolled down the residential street it was driving down. The red brake lights in back of the truck appeared while the air brakes audibly slowed the truck to a halt. The driver side door opened and the delivery man stepped out of the truck and walked around to the front of the truck to get the dolly mounted on the hood. While the delivery man walked into the driveway of a house with a bottle of water on the dolly, a humanoid tick of silver metallic color climbed out from beneath the trailer. A bottle's red cap was penetrated by a thin tube leading to where Cyborg Tousoy's mouth should be as a green fluid with bubbles ran through the transparent tube. Another bottle cap was penetrated the same way with another oral needle as the formula had already begun to flow into the supply. Soon enough, this concentrated supply proliferated throughout the supply of water this truck was about to deliver to the entire neighborhood. At the Terranian's house, Ron pulled on his white jacket over a dark gray polo shirt tucked into white denim pants when the doorbell rang. He walked over in his tennis shoes and answered the door. The Arrowstead deliver man had a dolly with a bottle of water. "Delivery for..." Before he could finish, Ron interrupted, "yeah--right this way." The red baseball capped man in shorts wheeled the bottle of so-called purified water into the kitchen through the living room as Amy walked down the stairs. "Who's what?" she asked from not seeing him before the delivery man left. Ron checked his wallet before stuffing it in his pocket. "Uh, it's just the water guy." "Oh thank goodness, it's really hot and I could use a drink of water," Amy said. "Why do you have that jacket on, Ron?" "Because if I hit the pavement going 35 miles per hour, I wont have a shirt to speak of," Ron replied. "By the way, I thought you were at the store? Will went to go pick you up." "Oh, I caught a cab home. Where are you going?" Ron opened the front door. "Long story. Anyway, I'm going to be late if I don't get going so I'll tell you about it later." Amy shrugged. "Okay, Ron--see ya." The big "M" in an orange circle above the text METRO marked a bus stop posted at the corner of a busy intersection. People standing around, shielding their eyes from the sun looked for the bus, hopping it would come soon because the heat was increasing--like normal for Los Angeles this time of year. Around the corner, some guys with green eyes, mussed hair and untucked clothes staggered about like ogres, groaning and moaning. Like the norm, the to-be passengers stood around, not paying attention when those ogres came up to them and started pushing them around. "Hey!" a black man said, "watch out, man!" "Rrrgh, RRGH!" one guy groaned while pushing him aside. The gang continued down the street. Walking out into the middle of traffic, the ogres caused cars to screech to a halt; drivers pounded their horns, honking at them but they didn't respond. One of them pulled up the manholes and discarded the manhole cover before they all jumped inside. Meanwhile, others rammed their heads through plate glass windows and despite bleeding, the zombies were oblivious to their cuts and bruises and started vandalizing stores while looking for something. "Hey! Hey you!" a liquor store owner shouted, "either buy something or leave! Get out! All of you. Stop it, please!" the man with the indian accent hollered. Outside, a guy walking down the street in a hawaiian shirt wearing a mustache looked up and saw a whole bunch of these mindless people jumping on his car and kicking the windows in. "HEY!" the guy shouted before running after them. "You break it, you bought it, punks!" the overweight man screamed. They all turned their heads to look at him, showing their green eyes, pasty faces and mussy hair. Their groaning noises was starting to put the fear into him so he ran out of sight. As the sun shined bright in the, now, cloudless sky, it was clear that it got hotter as the day went on. The view of the horizon was warped by that heat while the tires of Will's van rolled slowly along the asphalt. It was being pushed by Will who was sweating while backing it into the driveway in neutral. While breathing heavily, he moaned, "Aw man." After taking his shirt off, Will wiped his forehead with his entire forearm and kept pushing. From the garage, Will walked in through the backdoor with his shirt off sweating and breathing heavily from exhaustion. While in the kitchen, he looked around and saw empty shopping bags and then a half empty cup of water. "Amy?" Will called out as he grabbed a towel and wiped off his forehead. "Are you home?" "I'm in the den," Amy said in a slurred way. Will looked concerned as he walked out of the kitchen. "Are you okay, Amy?" "Sure I am," she said. Will looked at her layed out on the couch in a short white t-shirt and pink skirt. He looked over and saw her shoes on the floor. "Hey, you--changed since I got back?" "Australis, you look tired--come over here and sit down with me," Amy said flipping her hair in a pony tail. "It's a really hot day and you look like you could use a break." "I had to push the van down the street 'cause rolled over a piece of metal just as I was coming home," Will said. "And--you're _never_ ever supposed to call me that while we're here." Here being Earth. "That's too bad, Will--I think that after all that work, you should come here and lay down with me." "Amy, are you sure you're okay. You're sweating and it isn't _that_ hot." Amy stood up lazily, shook her hair bangs away from her eyes and put her hands on Will's shoulders. "Relax, William, I feel fine. And you know what?" "What?" Amy grinned and slightly giggled, "You could help me feel a lot better too." "What are you talking about?" Will asked. Amy's hands wondered down his chest and stomach then tracing up his arms again; she layed her arms around his neck and leaned a lot closer. "This is what I'm talking about." Parting her lips, Amy tried to kiss Will but he backed away. Quickly standing up, he asked her, "What the hell? Amy, what are you doing??" "Will--what's wrong?" she asked. "Don't you think I'm pretty." He watched her stand up and asked, "What is the matter with you, Amy?" Amy walked towards him steadily. "Will, you tease, you walk in here like you are and expect me not to want to do this?" she said finally pinning him against the wall. Will felt Amy's arousal through her shirt and tried not to look. "But I don't think..." "Don't think, Will," she interrupted while unbuckling his pants. "_Feel_." "No!" Will said jumping away. "Amy, you've got to concentrate." Amy came to him and and started kisses along his clavicle. "Something is making you do this, you're sick..." Will took Amy's shoulders and shook her strongly. "Listen to me!" All Amy did was grin and comb his hair with her fingers. "I like your strength..." "Okay--that's it, you're outta here," Will said. "Take your clothes off, you're taking a shower." "A shower! How creative!" she said crossing her arms to lift up her shirt. "Hey--no!" Will said while stopping her, "(aw, what was I thinking...) I mean, go into the _bathroom_ and take a cold--really cold shower." "It'll be more fun if you join me," Amy said when she had dropped her skirt. "Amy, stop that!" Will said as he knelt down pick it up but he watched Amy's toes turn as she'd already walked away. "Amy," William nagged. "Take me, Will--how can you resist? We'll never have this opportunity again! We're all alone in this big house. And there's all this time to do what we really want to do!" Amy had declared. Will picked up her skirt and walked after her but suddenly, Amy grabbed Will's hands. "What the--what are you doing?!" he said when Amy tripped him by kicking his shin. Will flipped over onto his back and suddenly, Amy was on top of him with her knees beside his ribs. Amy looked at Will lasciviously, "I've been thinking about this for hours." "Amy, stop--get off of me!" Tom walked in from the study on his way through the den to the living room. "Man, that new Kurzweil electric piano Ron helped me pick out _and_ pay for is really," Tom was mumbling to himself when he saw Amy in a shirt and underwear sitting on the stomach of a shirtless Will, "what in the _hell_ is going on in this room?" Will looked up at Tom and tried to get up. "Tom! It's not what you think!" "Will," Tom gasped, "what are you doing!?" Will grabbed Amy's arms and pushed over as he turned over and got up. "I had to push the van home and I was real hot so I had to take my shirt off and then Amy saw me and she started trying to take my clothes but tried to to talk some sense into her but she wasn't listening so I told her to get in the shower and then she," Will rambled when suddenly Amy jumped on his back and wrapped her arms and legs around him. "Tom, you gotta help me!" Will pleaded. "(This'll go down in history as the most embarrassing moment in our mission.)" Tom said. "Okay, Amy--get off of him." Amy giggled mischievously. "Make me." Tom sighed as he walked towards the both of them. "Down, Amy," he said pulling her off of him. "Man--you're on fire!" "It's ironic when you consider the nature of the reproductive drive on Earth is the exact opposite situation on Terrania gender wise," Will said. "Too bad this is obviously being caused by some strange sickness." Amy was breathing really heavily and started fanning herself as she layed down on the couch wiping her forehead. "Will--she's got a mean fever, we've got to get her to the base and find out what is wrong with her now," Tom said. "Did she eat or drink anything?" "I dunno, all I found was a half empty cup of water. We'll put her in your truck and take her down there," Will said. "I'll catch up to you." "I'll bring the water," Tom said. "Maybe Aaron can find out why she's sick." "Yeah, but how are we gonna get her in there?" Will asked as he put his shirt back on. Tom looked at Amy. "Well, her batteries finally ran out; maybe we can just carry her in." "Good idea, let's go," Will said. Tom ran upstairs to go get her keys while Will picked her up as she started to come to. "Ahhh--taking me over the threshold, lover?" "Back to sanity if possible," Will said to her. ACT II: A red Mitsubishi convertable was driven eastbound on 3rd street with its top down by Dave. Picking up a piece of paper, Dave glanced between it and the road trying to figure out the directions Beverly Tenmei sent to him. "This map is terrible." When he looked into the intersection he was crossing at Vermont Avenue, there was a woman there and he shouted, "Woah!!" He rolled the steering wheel hard to the right around her but the possessed woman jumped into the air. In the sky, her body hopped overhead like a kangaroo that eventually landed in the backseat of his car. While standing behind Dave, she'd dropped her hands across his eyes while the car swerved from side to side. "Hey! What the heck?!" Dave pulled her hands off his face and looked up to see a semi-truck headed his way, because he driving into on-coming traffic. "Oh shoot!" he shouted before pulling on the steering wheel. His red car swung half way around, tossing the woman out of his car. Dave jumped over the door of his car and landed on the asphalt. "Well, that stinks. I wonder..." The zombie woman stood up, unharmed and started to lurch over to him again. "Uh oh!" Dave started to take steps backwards before running out of traffic. In the back lot of a grocery store, Dave jumped over the bushes and into the parking lot where semi-truck trailers were kept. Suddenly he stopped and said, "Uh oh." Cyborg Tousoy was surrounded by dozens of men and woman under its control as they bent down low, ready to attack. "Hey! What is this anyway?" They started coming after him with rocks, broken sticks of wood, broken bottles as Dave looked at them. "This doesn't seem like they're doing this on purpose. I can't get any mental output from their minds!" A black and white police car with K-9 Unit marked on the door drove down the street with her siren screaming and strobe lights spinning. As Officer Beverly Tenmei slowed down, she looked through the windshield. "Why's Dave's car just sitting out here in the middle of the street?" Behind her was a police dog, her brown siberian husky which began to bark. "What's the matter, King?" she asked him. "Come on, boy--point." King put up a paw and she looked at the large supermarket on the corner. "Hmm." She made a right turn to park. The view of Earth in outer space soon was soon occupied by the Moon. Around the dark side of the moon, the opal globe SpaceBase for the Astrorangers remained in synchronous orbit of the lunar body. Inside, Nashiran walked in with Lotia in her arms while Australis followed. Commander Leto inside stood up from his seat expecting them. "I got here like you asked, Australis. What's going on?" Australis watched Nashiran walk into another chamber with Lotia as the door closed behind himself. "Lotia's drunk. Analyze this water and find out what in it could have such an effect," Australis said while giving it to him. "What do you mean--drunk, Australis?" Australis shook his head and sighed. "You don't want know." Nashiran came back out with his sleeves rolled up and toweling off his wet hands. "From the looks of things, she was giving off heavy doses of pheromones when I found her crawling all over Will. She's in the shower now." "Sounds bad," Leto immediately droned. "Let me check this out right away." Leto took the cup water to the wall and opened up a door similarly to that of a microwave oven. "She had a pretty intense fever, Commander," Australis said. Commander Leto typed away at the primary console in the front of the large room. "The results of the chemical scan should be on the primary screen in a few minutes," Commander Leto said. "I better check on Lotia," Australis said as he left. Over by the main entrance, the doors opened as Messuta walked inside. "Good, at least I've found somebody," Messuta said, "where's Australis?" Nashiran looked behind himself at him and answered, "he's with Lotia in the lab trying to help her recover." "Recover?" Messuta asked while walking further into the chamber. "From what? What's happened?" A sharp alarm sounded once as lighting became tinted yellow. Messuta looked up and around. "Yellow alert," Nashiran announced. "Let me bring it up at another station," Leto said as he slid over on his rolling stool to another terminal. After pushing a couple of keys with his index fingers, he looked up and squinted. "What the hell?" Messuta walked up to Leto from behind urgently, for he'd seldom ever heard his commander use such language. "What is it?" "Cyborg controller signals being broadcasted using a high-voltage frequency localized entirely within sector 7G." Nashiran squinted to think for a moment. "Hey, wait a second--that's like the Miracle Mile district." "The transmission is coming FROM a cyborg, Nash. And it's emanating typical cyborg control data on a brain waves," Leto said. Nashiran shifted his head sharply. "Wait a minute! I think I've figured this out. I betcha that, somehow, a cyborg or something got into the water supply and everyone drank some kind of chemical making people obey its mind control signals." "But what about Lotia? If she drank it, then, she's under it's control too." Nashiran shook his head. "I don't know why the effect on her was so different but I intend to find out. Tell Australis that I'm going to Earth to investigate this situation while you and him help Lotia recover." "I'm with you, Nash--let's do it," Messuta added. "Be careful, you two," Leto told him. After nodding affirmatively, Nashiran and Messuta looked straight ahead and brought up their arms Punching their fists forth, they shouted "AstroCharge!!" Just then, the onyx and diamond GeneGems lit into a brilliant flash of bright white light. In the back lot of the supermarket on 3rd Street and Vermont Avenue, Dave's hands held off the arms of one of the mindless people controlled by Cyborg Tousoy merely standing there. It wasn't idle, though; the antennae on its head were generating yellow arcs of electricity from the base to each tip repeatedly which was sending the high-voltage mind control signals. Even with his Terranian-given strength, Dave couldn't keep himself from kneeling down at the approach of the man with a broken glass bottle. Dave rolled onto his back and used his feet to push the ogre over himself. After pushing off of his hands, Dave jumped back onto his feet again and observed Cyborg Tousoy's brain control in action. "You've got to be what's behind all of this; so, it's time for me to kick your behind--with this!" he shouted raising his right fist, showing the ruby GeneGem. Standing beneath the blue sky, Dave pulled his fist back before shoving it straight ahead shouting, "AstroCharge!!" In a flash of light, the red Astroranger appeared and struck his battle posture. After putting his left boot with his right, MarsAstro leaped into the air. In midair, he held out his celestial weapon shouting, "FireSword!" In the sky, as he rapidly ascended, MarsAstro came down again with his stainless steel sword coming down with him. When he landed, Tousoy kicked the blade of his weapon clear of itself before the red Astroranger turned around to spin-kick its face. However, after head-butting his chest, sparks blew out of MarsAstro's uniform. Even though the smoke cleared and the red Astroranger was still standing, Tousoy spun around and tripped him into flipping over onto his back. Officer Tenmei was walking behind the supermarket on the sidewalk following her policedog when she heard the sound of Sheratan's voice grunting in a struggle. "Sounds like a fight," she mumbled. "Let's go, King." The brown dog moved with her as she crept into the rear lot of the grocery store. After the red Astroranger's shiny uniform sparked from a series of blows that Cyborg Tousoy dealt him, MarsAstro wasn't going to fall as he shin-kicked its side. Tousoy wasn't affected at all before punching him back and forth across the helmet, knocking him out of sight. The red Astroranger fell out of the air and hit the pavement before rolling over. "You're not so tough!" Looking over, he saw some zombies draw guns and jumped back while kneeling. "Which would explain why you've got this gang to back you up!" "Freeze, police!" a woman shouted. MarsAstro stood up immediately. "What???" Facing the sun, Officer Beverly Tenmei stood beside her siberian husky, King, while holding and pointing her service gun, aimed straight for the crowd. "Aw man, she's gonna herself killed," MarsAstro said to himself while looking at the uniformed woman. Cyborg Tousoy uncrossed its six arms before holding them up and out, allowing six rapid streams of yellow bullets of light to blast out in a flaming arch. "King, RUN!" Beverly shouted before a wall of whiteness exploded in front of her. King, standing far away started barking but as the sparks rained down, the officer hit the smoldering ground before rolling over and getting up on one knee. "Eat led, you son of," Beverly moaned before loud shots were fired from her .45 caliber weapon. While Tousoy walked forth, bullets armlessly sparked off of its body while the shots bounced off of its skin. "What?" Beverly gasped. MarsAstro clenched his fist. "You get away from her--NOW!" he shouted while running after the police officer. Elsewhere, the zombies started shooting bullets from various store-stolen guns. MarsAstro's white boot was shot as the force of the sparks blasting beneath his toes tripped him into flipping over onto his back. They kept shooting too; Beverly took cover behind a dumpster when King joined her. "I need back up," she said before grabbing her portable radio. "This is unit 11-Lincoln-6 at 3rd and Vermont, I need back up--I repeat, back-up requested at..." Her broadcast was interrupted by an ogre taking her radio and crushing it with his bare hand. Beverly looked at him as the mindless zombie reached down for her but his face was kicked out of sight by her black work shoe before falling out of sight. Meanwhile, as the other ogres kept shooting wildly from the pistols they stole from stores in the neighborhood, MarsAstro jumped into the air before dropping into a tumble to dodge a bullet. When he came up again, a bullet bounced off his red uniform, knocking him down with the force of the sparks. One of them ran out of bullets and threw their gun at them. MarsAstro ducked out of the way while breathing deeply with his hand on his chest. "I can't hurt those people," he gasped, "but they're not going to stop until I'm out of that cyborg's way." Unexpectly, beams of electric blue light rammed zombie after zombie, blowing them out of sight. Officer Tenmei looked up to her other side and saw the black and white Astrorangers stand on top of a truck trailer. They continued shooting low-voltage beams of energy from their Moleculatom weapons. "Good timing guys," MarsAstro said. After the two of them landed on their feet in the lot, they ran up to MarsAstro while MercuryAstro kept his eyes on the ugly crowd being manipulated by Cyborg Tousoy. "Sheratan," the black Astroranger said to him, "Lotia is sick from drinking some water I think these guys drank making them obey that cyborg's commands." MarsAstro nodded. "I had a feeling it was telling them what to do somehow." "Australis and Leto are working on a cure that can take care of Lotia," SaturnAstro told him, "but we better get rid of this cyborg before it has the chance to somehow intoxicate more water." "If we can get past all of these people!" MercuryAstro said to him as they looked at the dozens of men and woman groan and moan while walking towards them and all Officer Tenmei and King behind the dumpster could do was watch. Meanwhile, at the SpaceBase that stayed within synchronous orbit of the dark side of the moon, Commander Leto opened the door in the wall after the light stopped glowing. Australis looked at Lotia, laying on a propped up table sweating and blushing, and then at Leto. "Hurry, Commander; the computer is showing her temperature is climbing to 30 degrees Celsius," Australis said. Commander Leto looked at a test tube while walking over to Lotia. "What is that?" Australis said as he put a cold wet cloth over her forehead. "Lobelia and Aloe in Camomile Solution," Leto said. "This is going to taste worst than anything but it will totally purge her system of all toxins and inorganic material. Prepare the facilities for immediate entry." Australis nodded and walked into another chamber through the auxiliary exit. Commander Leto looked at Lotia and lifted her head up with his hand as he poured the solution down her mouth. "Drink this quickly." Lotia's eyes barely open, she opened her lips and drank in the solution. It was so disgusting, she started coughing. Leto mopped her mouth with a napkin as the high potency elixir awakened her. "Oh--Sheez," Lotia said while coughing. "What is that? It tastes like, like liquid death!" "Lotia, do you remember anything?" Leto asked trying to find about any potential permanent damage. Australis returned. "Uh..." she sat trying to ponder, "oh no... What happened to me?" Commander Leto pointed to the main screen showing the battle on Earth. "You drank something that beast over there had poisoned." Australis looked at Leto and asked him, "Is she okay?" "How do you feel, Lotia?" Leto asked. Lotia jumped off the bed and held her towel up. "I gotta go." She left for the auxiliary exit as Australis watched her leave; he turned around and looked at Leto again. "What's up with her?" "Aloe is a potent laxative." "Oh!" Meanwhile, behind the supermarket, an explosion blasted fire skyward with the red, black and white Astroranger spinning out of control in front of the flames. After landing on the ground, the two of them were surrounded by debris that caught fire from the explosion. "That Tousoy packs a punch!" MarsAstro said. Meanwhile, the mob of ogres were beginning to circle them as they closed in for the crushing kill. "What the hell is wrong with these people?" MercuryAstro asked. SaturnAstro looked from side to side. "That cyborg has them all under its control--they drank what Lotia drank except being Terranian made it have a different affect on her." As the people tightened the circle, the Astrorangers found themselves unable to do anything but hold up their hands; the mob pounded their fists over and over--indicating their brutal intentions. Meanwhile, Tousoy took this opportunity to step out of sight. Approaching a water dispenser available at most supermarkets, Cyborg Tousoy rubs its hands together before ramming its head towards the main storage tanks. In the sky, the pink Astroranger somersaulted overhead and out of sight before leaping up and thrusting her fist dead ahead. Tousoy's head was punched by VenusAstro's gloved knuckles, blowing the cyborg out of view. After landing on the parking lot, now evacuated by police as indicated by the now abandoned police cars, the cyborg rolled over before using two of its six arms to get up. In front of the sun above, the pink Astroranger stood solid, still as a tree. "I don't know what you did to me but soon, you wont know what I'm about to do to you when I'm finished!" she said before striking her battle stance. Cyborg Tousoy jogged after her with the razor-sharp fins on the ends of its arms ready to shred VenusAstro to pieces. As they met in the parking lot in front of the store, Tousoy's arms came down on both sides before VenusAstro almost immediately knocked them both clear of her shoulders. Alone, the pink Astroranger front kicked it in the abs before punching its shoulder in with her left and then right fist. VenusAstro upper-cut its abs again and used both fists to ram its chest. Cyborg Tousoy was forced into stumbling backwards but didn't notice her leaping into a powerful tornado kick that hammered the back of its head. After her heal slammed down Tousoy, it fell into a tumble but she wasn't threw yet. "Celestial Weapon!" came bellowing from her voice as pink rays of light shined from the fist she'd made with her right arm. "Sonic Boomerang!" Tousoy got up again and looked at VenusAstro come charging after him with the pink arch of metal. Sparks leaped out of its body when she struck its chest before cutting down the other way. After sparks broke out of its smoldering chest, she turned around to strike across. And, when her boomerang sparked off of its abs, the blast forced into flipping over, off of its feet and onto its back. The pink circle and cross insignia of Venus was large and bright as it spun around. It flew backwards while spinning when it eventually reached the top of VenusAstro's pink helmet above her visor. VenusAstro held up the end of her boomerang. "Celestial Weapon!" She pushed her fingers the length of the weapon causing it to become a pink arc of light. "Sonic Boomerang Thunder Blow!" she called out as she flung it into the air. The boomerang slammed into the cyborg's body a number of times, sparking off of its exoskeletal body before the final blow knocked it down. VenusAstro caught her boomerang on its return to the pink Astroranger and held it proudly in front of herself. Cyborg Tousoy fanned out its arms like before, firing a cascade of spinning red stars that sprayed out of the multiple holes beneath its six arms. Dust clouds exploded all around VenusAstro and as she screamed, the explosions blasted her off of her feet, leaving her to fall into the fog. As Cyborg Tousoy marched towards the offending Astroranger, she layed there helplessly in the parking lot beside the boomerang she'd dropped. While smoke smoldered from the pavement she was on, Tousoy was about to fire again for the last time. VenusAstro was trying desparately to get up when suddenly, on Tousoy's body, electric blue beams of power sparked off of its shell. "Leave her alone!" JupiterAstro shouted. He and the other Astrorangers stood upon the roof of the supermarket, shooting from their Moleculatom blasters which forced Cyborg Tousoy to fall. VenusAstro knelt while looking up, holding her hands beneath her helmet. "Australis!" Overhead, the Astrorangers somersaulted off the roof of the store. After they landed next to her, she asked them, "How did you all escape that mob this cyborg sent after you behind the store?" "You must have injured it enough so it lost control of all of those people," SaturnAstro answered. "But it's going to heal unless we kill it right now." "Sheratan," JupiterAstro said, "the Cosmic Missile." MarsAstro assumed his battle stance and ordered, "Let's get into position!" In a smokey black background, the circle and right arrow symbol of Mars shined as a bonfire was seen behind MarsAstro. He took his sword upside-down into his left hand and ran his gloved hand the length of the blade causing a red beam of light to follow his fingers. "Red FireSword!" MarsAstro shouts as he horizontally strikes out causing the energy to leave the sword and fly. "Blaze!" A flaming light soared in the sky. Lightning cracked and clouds rolled rapidly upward while JupiterAstro put out his ThunderBow. "Celestial ThunderBow!" JupiterAstro pointed his fist into the air. "Cosmic Arrow!" JupiterAstro shouted when a green beam of light materialized into a glowing arrow. He loaded the arrow into his bow, pulled back and let go of the bowstring shooting the arrow. The crescent, circle and cross symbol of Mercury painted themselves onto the backdrop of outer space while the planet Mercury itself faded into view. The white Astroranger rose up holding his staff and held it up. "Celestial Weapon!" MercuryAstro twirled his Power Staff in his hands and then lifted it to the sky as clouds gathered and formed lightning. The PowerStaff became brilliant with electricity as he aimed it for his target. "Power Staff Electro-Charge!" MercuryAstro shouted as he thrust the weapon ahead of himself as the electricity jumped off the tip of his long weapon. VenusAstro held up the end of her boomerang. "Celestial Weapon!" She pushed her fingers the length of the weapon causing it to become a pink arc of light. "Sonic Boomerang Thunder Blow!" she called out as she flung it into the air. The peculiar symbol of Saturn appeared as the cosmic backdrop revealed a shot of the beautiful planet. Rising from below, the black Astroranger took his battle pose while holding his Celestial Weapon. "Saturn Ring BattleScythe Strike!" SaturnAstro called out as he had cast his scythe to the sky. In the sky, the flaming boomerang and arrow, leaving a trail of light from its speed, was struck by the glowing, spinning BattleScythe. When they made contact, a brilliant flash transformed it all into a missile made up of red, green, blue, white and pink light that streaked out of sight. Standing in the parking lot, Cyborg Tousoy was gutted by the fireworks that rocketed through its torso before falling face first onto the pavement. Tousoy's body began to glow so brightly, that all else couldn't be seen prior to bursting to an explosive tower of fire, rushing flames sky high with black smoke at its tip. Standing behind the flames were the Astrorangers standing in their individual battle positions. Overhead, the sound of helicopters flying were heard rattling the windows while he went back to work. After the chopper left, a knock was heard at his door. "It's open, Ron." Amy walked through the door in a long dress with her hair down. "Not Ron, Amy. Mind if I talk to you for a little while." "Sure, Amy. I was only expecting Ron because he had something he was going to talk to me about too but I guess he's saving that for tomorrow. What's on your mind?" Will said turning around on his chair. Amy sat down on Ron's bed. "Will, I wanted to say I'm sorry for what happened while I was poisoned." "Amy--you don't need to do that," Will interjected. "What you did, is what you did because of being diseased." "Will, I would be lying to myself if I said that I was acting purely because of being sick," she explained. "I know that all this substance did was bring out what was already inside of my mind, Will." "What are you saying?" "Don't take this the wrong way but, it isn't personal. I don't have any particular feelings for you, Will--it's just that I've been so lonely and that cyborg just released pressure that had been building up inside of me for years now," Amy said. "Amy, I don't know what to tell you," Will said being without advise or wisdom for the first time in his adult life being involved in matters of the mind. "What is it that you need?" Amy sighed and looked down. "I need someone." "Earth is full people, I could imagine you could find someone?" Will proposed. "No, Will--I already have someone in mind but, he's already interested in somebody else," Amy said. "Ahhh, listen--Will, I'll be okay. I'm sorry for putting all this on you. I just wanted to apologize." Will smiled. "That's okay, Amy. You're not the only one who can be an open ear. I just hope that Ron benefited from my advice more than I did." Since I didn't take it, Will thought to himself. TO BE CONTINUED Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . Ginara's last chance to catch the dinosaur egg the Nazitans lost at the hands of Tousoy is supported by Cyborg Pyro. And while the Astrorangers do their best fight fire with fire, MarsAstro finds Beverly trapped in her burning apartment building. Which will it be? The dinosaur egg or Beverly? Find out what the red Astroranger can do in episode 17, "Arson! Attack of the Evil Dragon" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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-14] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------