[970528] [Preview] To Beverly Tenmei's horror, VenusAstro attacks her girlfriend Sasha in Lotia's attempt to protect the young Japanese police officer Tenmei. Meanwhile, Cyborg Vampire is found but MarsAstro is overpowered by it, and, Cyborg Sniper forces the others to retreat! It's double trouble tonight in episode 21, "Awakening". 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. Dave's elevator door opened and he stepped inside as the doors closed behind himself. He turned around to look out the glass while the elevator went down. His eyes eventually found Beverly and Sasha on the bench and smiled curiously wondering where Amy was. Dave then saw Beverly and Sasha move closer together. Sasha cupped Beverly's chin in her palm and kissed her for a lengthy period of time. Dave knew that sinking feeling he felt wasn't just from the elevator. As the smoke cleared, a black-dressed robot with human body parts sewn together held a black cape across its face and body before drawing it away. Cyborg Vampire's green-faced zombie with slicked back hair, bulging blood-shot eyes and fangs became visible as it looked back and forth from side to side. The disturbing realizations hadn't ended when Dave left the Beverly Center. The cyborg that attacked their eventually rendered Sasha helpless after it's bite: Beverly got up and tried to stop the vampire cyborg but for her own safety, Amy held her back. Beverly didn't care about her own safety as she screamed out, "Sasha!!" "Not very much time passed since we first met but in that time I've grown to love you very much, Sasha. "And I owe so much for showing me what love is." She sighed and stood up. Soon enough, she left the hospital room after staying their for over two hours. However, after she left, Beverly was unaware that Sasha's hand had moved. Cyborg Sniper wore a machine gun of a unique type on the arm of its silver-metallic body. It's head was a silver-metallic skull with red laser lights for eyes. This retro-gangster robot lowered its machine gun into place and while standing there, it unleashed rapid rays of yellow light shooting out of its laser machine gun. "Aaagh!!!" the four of them shouted as sparks exploded out of the grass like fountains, blasting them off their feet. Will stood up with the others who simultaneously brought up their fists. "ChangeForm!" Dave shouted. Shoving their fists forward, each GeneGem flashed brilliantly when they all yelled, "AstroCharge!!!" The view of them became negative in color before reverting to normal. In the process, their bodies became glowing silhouettes of red, green, purple and white before transforming into the red, green, black and white Astrorangers. "Galaxy Task Force," MarsAstro cued. In the park, they struck their battle position upon simultaneously shouting, "Astroranger!" Sasha had awakened and attacked a woman visiting her injured brother at the hospital as a vampire and gained strength from the bite. Now, she's turned to Beverly as her next vicitim: Suddenly, Sasha pinned Beverly's shoulders to the floor and pushed her entire body down. Face to face--Beverly could smell her breath but it wasn't bad nor good but intoxicating. Beverly's nervousness forced her to breath it in deeply despite feeling its effects almost immediately. Beverly wanted to lie perfectly still but Sasha was frightening her too much to let that happen. "Why can't you hear me?" Beverly said to her. "Don't do this, please." Sasha blinked. "Uh, what? What's going on?" "Oh thank God," Beverly gasped before dropping the back of her head against the wall. "You snapped out of it--that monster must have done something to you. And that woman in that room..." Sasha stood up and held out her hand, helping Beverly to stand. "We should probably go back to my room. I need plenty of rest." Catching her breath, Beverly nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Oh Sasha, I'm so glad you're alive. I was so scared you weren't gonna make it or worse." The mutant being that dwelled within Sasha's body was satisfied that Beverly had well enough been convinced she was normal again. When Beverly walked ahead to open the door, vampire Sasha grabbed Beverly's shoulders and tried to bite into her neck. Episode 21: "Awakening" ACT I: "Rrgh!" Beverly groaned, pushing off Sasha's hands before running away as fast as she could. Beverly didn't look back as she passed nurses, doctors, visitors and patients and headed for the stairs as panic set in. Running down the last set of stairs, she headed through a door without realizing it was the rear exit. Inside, Beverly jogged down brick steps while breathing sharply. Sasha looked around--she could still feel Beverly's presence. "There is nowhere for you to hide. I can smell your scent." Eventually, she returned to the hunt and ran down the hall in the opposite direction. Turning the corner, Sasha ran towards a window. A nurse coming out of somebody's room turned around and saw her about to run into that window. "No, don't!!" Sasha crashed through the window in one mighty leap. Outside, bits of glass exploded as her body flew through the 8th story window. Meanwhile, in the dark lot behind the hospital, Beverly stopped running because she no longer knew where she was. The darkness intensified Beverly's fear; she did not like being on the run--afraid. Sasha landed on her feet some ten feet behind her. Startled, Beverly turned around but quickly assumed her battle posture. "I don't know who you are, what you are and what the hell you've done to my friend but I am not going to let you terrorize me or anyone else anymore!" Vampire Sasha did nothing but snarl as she poised her hands and arms like claws. Beverly's eyes tightened and then ran after to her. Beverly hopped up and side-kicked at Sasha and he jumped out of the way. On the side of the hospital building, both of Sasha's bare feet pushed off the wall. In midair, she somersaulted past Beverly who watched her fly past her head. "What the?" Beverly said. Landing on the fence, Sasha jumped off into a flying side-kick at Beverly. Beverly used her forearm to knock Sasha's foot away. Quickly, Sasha threw her fist into Beverly but she grabbed hold of her fist and turned her over. Sasha successfully cartwheeled onto her feet again and pushed off Beverly's hands. "Sasha stop!" Sasha low spin-kicked and Beverly back flipped off her hands when both of the high-kicked to each other. Both of their hands blocked each other's shins before Sasha turned around, and high roundhouse kicked to Beverly. Beverly ducked and counterattacked with a double spin-kick but Sasha only ducked both feet. "Where did you learn to fight like this?!" Beverly crossed her arms to block a kick from Sasha as she tried to punch back. Sasha used her crossed arms to block Beverly's fist and uncrossed her arms to punch straight ahead. A fist hit Beverly's cheek bone and knocked her out of sight. Hitting the uneven asphalt, Beverly ripped the collar of her half-top when she fell on the pavement. Looking up, Beverly held the back of her hand to her bruised face and cried out, "What happened to you?!" At Pan Pacific Park, the Armatons were running straight ahead, driving their blade-tipped rifles. 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 blind the view. "Blaze!" While standing in a single-file line, the Armaton soldier in front found a red comet of light slam into its chest before busting out of its back and blow into the one behind it. Eventually, one after the other were destroyed by the fireball shooting through the soldiers. Standing in front of the flame of eight burning spots in the grass on fire was the red Astroranger--slicing across with his sword before holding it up beside his mask with the visor shining. Cyborg Sniper stepped forward and when the others gathered beside him, MarsAstro pointed his sword at the cyborg. "You're next, buster." Rapid flashes of light blasted out of the laser machine gun the silver, skeletal robot held on the Astrorangers. A wall of sparks thunderously exploded from the grass but as the smoke was rising, the red Astroranger tumbled through and jumped into the air. Overhead--MarsAstro somersaulted out of sight followed by the black Astroranger flipping into the opposite direction. JupiterAstro jumped into the air and somersaulted out of the sky before the white Astroranger followed him in the other direction. In the sky, SaturnAstro hammered down with his black BattleScythe. Cyborg Sniper pulled out a black device resembling a flashlight and pushed a switch causing a beam of red light to pulse out and form a laser blade. Sniper spin kicked the black Astroranger out of the way before striking down JupiterAstro. Sparks exploded from his shiny green uniform when MercuryAstro used his white PowerStaff to joust into the silver cyborg. Sniper roundhoused the end of the white Astroranger's staff before striking one end of his celestial weapon. Sparks broke out of the white staff before MercuryAstro promptly used the other end. Cyborg Sniper's laser sword sparked off that end as well before using the hilt of its laser sword to pound him in the abs. Sniper punched the white Astroranger out of the way before turning around and finding sparks flying out of its chest from MarsAstro's sword cutting against its silver metallic chest. Sniper's laser sword clashed with the metal blade of the red Astroranger's FireSword, sparking both times. They locked swords and MarsAstro leaned against him but Cyborg Sniper leaned back before forcing him to hold his FireSword straight out. Sniper sliced along the length of MarsAstro's FireSword, causing sparks to fray the blade. It was burnt to a crisp and so was MercuryAstro's white PowerStaff and the silver blades of the SaturnAstro's black BattleScythe, as they'd just noticed. "Oh no," MarsAstro gasped but when he looked up, he found a black foot coming up and kicking straight for his face. Falling out of the air was the red Astroranger hitting the grass and rolling over multiple times. The green Astroranger was the first to get to MarsAstro before the others arrived to help him up. "He fried the Celestial Weapons!" SaturnAstro shouted. JupiterAstro shook his head. "Now what are we gonna do!?" Walking towards them, Cyborg Sniper suddenly stopped and opened his overcoat. Along the inside of its lengthy black coat were hand grenades strapped in place on both the left and right side. MercuryAstro jumped off his feet for a moment. "Woah! This guy is loaded!" Pulling the pin, Sniper hurled the egg-shaped bomb in black metal into the air. "In coming!" MarsAstro shouted. Bright yellow flames were rushing skyward when fire had violently exploded, launching the red and green Astrorangers into the air. Also being blasted in front of the towering inferno were the black and white Astrorangers, twirling out of control. Cyborg Sniper was vibrating from the multiple shots being rapidly fired from its special laser machine gun and the four of them were already off their feet in midair as the sparks were exploding everywhere. Flying into the vast view of the park was Sheratan, hitting the grass before tumbling over followed by Australis, Nashiran and Messuta. Through the flames, one could see Cyborg Sniper taking its ominous steps forth holding its gun on them still. Multiple bloody cuts were all over Messuta's face as he'd rolled over, holding his shoulder while trying to get up but failing from a twisted ankle. In the clearing smoke with bruises and blood down his face from the corner of his lip, Nashiran looked up and choked. "Ugh, what happened!" Australis looked to his side, towards the others with soot on his face. "I don't know but we better get out of here before we're killed." "Let's get the hell out of here!" Sheratan shouted. "Let's go!" Australis was on his feet taking steps backwards before turning to run away; Sheratan put Messuta's arm around his shoulder and helped Messuta escape with him. The setting sun was shining off of the windows in the high-rise building of Cedars-Sinai Hospital. Inside, numbers were illuminated one by one until the 8 was lit up and a bell was sounded. As soon as the doors in the floor below parted, a white tennis shoe on a pink-sock covered foot stepped out. Amy was vigorously running in pink bike shorts, searching for Beverly as fast as she could. Turning the corner, she found an area occupied by doctors and nurses whom were speaking with police officers. "Oh no!" she complained. She looked over and had to do a double take when she saw the window had a hole in it. Amy walked towards the crowd gathered near the hospital room now blocked with yellow police tape. "Hey, what happened to that window?" "Somebody jumped out of it but we can't find the body," an officer said. Amy looked away to ponder something before suddenly running away. A nurse was already walking inside of the elevator and hit a button on the inside as Amy ran between the doors that were closing. In the back lot of Cedars-Sinai Hospital, Beverly, in her dirty cutoffs and yellow half top blocked several kicks from Sasha. Both to the side and straight ahead when Beverly turned around and used her sandaled foot to knock Sasha into tumbling over. Beverly clasped her hands together and bowed her head. "Please forgive me!" "You are only postponing your destiny!" said Sasha as she pushed off her hands and onto her feet. Sasha she came after Beverly again and swung a fist at Beverly. She held her wrist up blocking the attack and punched Sasha's abdomen. Taking Sasha's arm, Beverly turned around and flipped her over. Sasha managed to land on her feet and turned around before throwing Beverly's hand off her body. Beverly used her hand to chop Sasha's shoulder and nothing happened. "What the hell?" Beverly said then pointing her fingers. She struck Sasha's chest and parts of her arm. These specific blows had no effect when Sasha swung her fist at Beverly. Beverly cannon-ball back flipped and side-kicked into Sasha but missed. She cartwheeled and then hook-kicked Beverly down. "I can't _believe_ this is happening!" Beverly pushed off her hands and onto her feet as well. Both of them high-kicked at each other. Sasha turned around and spin-kicked; Beverly ducked and then kicked at Sasha. She caught her foot and pulled Beverly's leg high up. She back flipped from the lift and after landing, put both her hands on Sasha's shoulders. Sasha broke their arm lock and rammed two upper-cuts into Beverly's abs before reverse punching her face. Beverly tumbled over onto her back and looked up. "Ohhh," she moaned after landing badly. "Ow, my back." Sasha plunged forth out of the dusk sky. Beverly was sore from being beat up so she couldn't move when suddenly, Sasha landed on her. "You will become one of us," Sasha said to her. "Resistance is a waste of time." Beverly's legs were pinned down with Sasha's knees while her palms nailed her shoulders to the ground. Beverly was stuck and couldn't get up. "Sasha, if you're in there you've got to listen to me!" Beverly pleaded. Sasha opened her mouth as her fangs began to extend themselves from her jaw. Beverly's reddened eyes began to show terror as her attempts to break free were intensified. Sasha's superior strength as a mutant locked her in place. "Come on, Sasha; don't do this..." Beverly cried out while continuing to pull away. Sasha leaned in and Beverly pulled away. "No, Sasha! No! Please--no!!" ACT II: Amy rode her bicycle into the visitor's parking lot at the hospital to come get Beverly to go home on the Metro Red Line subway. While chaining up her bike, she heard a noises from somewhere and she listened carefully. Walking towards the far right side of the lot she could have sworn she were hearing Beverly's voice but it wasn't like she'd ever heard before. It sounded like she were struggling. Walking along the side of the hospital, Amy heard a fight going on and stayed quiet. Reaching the end of the building, she brought her head around and saw Sasha, with a mutant face, on top of Beverly getting ready to bite her. "HUH?" she whipsered to herself. "I can't let Beverly down this time." Amy stood out and shouted, "Hey!" Sasha got off of Beverly and stepped toward Amy. "I don't know what's wrong with you but leave her alone," Amy said as she walked in to the lot towards Sasha. "Amy," Beverly gasped. "What are you doing here? Get out of here!" Amy ran beside Beverly and helped her stand again. "No; I came to pick you up. Beverly, _what_ is going on??" Beverly coughed while still recovering. "Save yourself, you can't stop her; she's too strong!" Amy walked ahead of Beverly and positioned herself for battle. "Prepare yourself as you shall now lose your identity to the powers of Cyborg Vampire!" Sasha declared when she jumped up and, in the air--flew into a side kicked targetting them. Amy moved out of the way and turned around to high spin-kick Sasha's hands away. Sasha side kicked Amy to the stomach and then punched Amy across the face causing her to tumble over. "Amy!!" Beverly said standing up again. Sasha then jumped up into the air. In the sky, Sasha positioned her arms and hands for attack. Beverly looked helplessly upward when Amy got up and looked over at her. "Beverly, watch out!" Amy shouted when leaping into the air. In the sky, Amy tackled Sasha out of the sky. Both of them hit rear wall of the hospital and Amy fell on to the pavement. Like a spider, Sasha leaped off the wall; out of the sky, she free-fell to pounce on Amy. Amy jammed both her feet into the air and Sasha's body was pushed overhead. Sasha flipped onto her hands and knees like a cat and snarled again. Meanwhile, Amy ran over to Beverly and maintained her defensive posture, "Beverly, we've got to leave--there is nothing anyone can do for her!" 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, Commander Leto dabbed a cotton ball on Messuta's face as he loudly yellowed, "OW!!!" "Damn it, Messuta," Sheratan complained, "can you keep it down over there?" Messuta looked over at him in pain. "I would if I could you, son of a..." "Shut up you two," Nashiran replied with an ice pack on his cheek. "Both of you. We've got more work to do so let's not loose it, ok?" Australis stood in front of him with his blackened face and nodded. "Nash is right. That other cyborg Lotia found is somewhere out there doing in more people." Leto nodded. "The police scanner indicated that the Parker Center division has sent officers in with riot gear on to hold back the masses of people in Echo Park." "Oh great," Messuta said. "So while we've been busy playing decoy duck for this cyborg's target practice, this other cyborg has been feasting on people!" Sheratan nodded. "But the one we ran into that tried to blow us up is still out there too." "What we need is a plan," Nashiran said. "This was obviously a set up." "You're right. Commander Leto," Sheratan queried, "is my FireSword ready?" "The metal has already been reforged and the blade is now being gamma welded into the hilt," Leto replied. "The rest of your weapons are still under going repairs." Sheratan looked down and took a deep breath. "That's okay. I'm going to Echo Park to find that cyborg while you three wait for your Celestial Weapons to be ready." Nashiran looked at Sheratan and walked up to him. "Wait a minute. What if they're expecting any, if not all of us to do that? They'll waste you." "That's just the chance I'm going to have to take, Nash," Sheratan replied. "Besides, we're still waiting to hear from Lotia on what's up with Beverly and her friend." In the back lot of the hospital, vampire Sasha ducked a tornado kick from Beverly, punched her in the stomach, grabbed her shoulders and knee-kicked her in the chest and then turned around to kick her across the head as she tumbled over and cringed. Amy jumped behind a dumpster and hid from Sasha; she looked around for Amy and then started to sniff the air. "Impotent mortal! DEATH is your only escape now!" "Beverly's a good fighter but not good enough," Amy said to herself. "I'm surprised she's made it this long; but now she needs help. ChangeForm!" She brought up her right fist. "AstroCharge!" The white flash of light shined against Beverly's body waking her up. Beverly's first thought upon returning to full consciousness was how much of a remarkable fighter Amy was when she looked over and saw VenusAstro getting into hand to hand combat with Sasha. "Woah, where did she come from?" Beverly asked. "And where did Amy go??" VenusAstro gave it everything she had when trying to merely defend herself with Sasha however she was striking much to fast from every possible angle. VenusAstro grabbed a punch, pulled her fist in and knee-kicked Sasha. Beverly couldn't help but feel bad for Sasha, even though she was mutated. Sasha threw off the pink Astroranger's white hands and kicked her shin and chopped VenusAstro's stomach. Beverly wanted to help but couldn't even being to think on how she could do more than an Astroranger! VenusAstro and Sasha simultaneously had done a walk-over in opposite directions when Sasha turned and kicked at the pink Astroranger. VenusAstro ducked and, in a circular motion, swung her fist towards Sasha's head. She ducked while VenusAstro tried to roundhouse Sasha's head. Sasha tumbled under the pink Astroranger's foot and turned around. When she came up, Sasha crossed her arms to block VenusAstro's arm from chopping down. Sasha uncrossed her own arms through pushing the pink Astroranger away and out of sight. VenusAstro's body in her shiny, pink uniform hit the dumpsters before dropping onto the pavement. On the ground, Beverly found her shoulder grabbed and picked up by Sasha before getting pushed up against the back of the hospital. Pinning Beverly's shoulders to the wall, Sasha pushed her body up against hers to hold her in place as she bared her fangs. "Relax, this won't take long," Sasha said while pushing Beverly's head to the side, against her will. She took in the smell of Beverly's perspiration and then leaned down. Beverly knew she was going to die when she felt _anything_ against her neck. Sasha had only licked the sweat off her skin but then she opened her jaw wider. On the ground, VenusAstro was laying mask down pavement when she pulled her helmeted-head up. "Beverly," she moaned when she took the Moleculatom Blaster from her belt's holster. The electric blue beam stunned Sasha; her body had dropped onto the asphalt. Beverly was breathing heavily while VenusAstro stood up. Beverly looked at her and then at Sasha on the pavement hoping that VenusAstro did not kill her. At a shopping center on the corner of an intersection near the Hollywood Freeway, police officers in full riot gear were there in the streets as the men and woman that had become vampires were scattered about, trying to bite other people. One officer punched a hole in an unmarked can and tossed it into the field but the tear gas had no effect on the mutated humans. There merely walked through the smoke cloud, lurching after the riot police. "The tear gas didn't work!" an officer said. "Get the hose! Get the hose!!" A red fire hydrant stand-pipe was cranked open by a wrench and heavy rubber hoses were attached to the ports. Soon enough the officers turned on the blasting stream of water and it kept some of the people back. Hiding in a parking lot, Dave watched with curiosity and confusion. "What the heck's doing this to these people?" He noticed the ruby GeneGem on his golden ring was glowing and looked at it. "A cyborg is around here somewhere and I bet it's manipulating all of the people." Standing on a building where no one could see, Cyborg Vampire used a wand and waved it to and fro, as if it were composing an orchestra. Dave's eyes were squinting while looking everywhere until he looked up. That's when he looked again and jerked. "Oh man he's ugly. Better get busy." Cyborg Vampire watched the people below wade through the wall of water blasting against their bodies while the riot police continued spraying the strong jets of water from the hydrants. Vampire nodded and continued to play its silent symphony before looking skyward. It suddenly stopped and stumbled backwards. In the blue sky, the red Astroranger was coming out of midair with his white gloved launching forward. Vampire pushed his body out of the way so he fell into the roof and tumbled over. "You can't get rid of me that easily!" MarsAstro shouted. He charged after him but had to stop when arcs of powerful electricity had caused multiple sparks to explode in front of him. As the lightning bolts stemmed from the roof, the red Astroranger was surrounded by the yellow sparks cascading all around himself. The parking lot below was seen past the edge of the shopping center's roof as MarsAstro shot over the side and fell out of sight. He landed on top of a car and rolled off the top before falling onto the asphalt. Meanwhile, Cyborg Sniper was walking into the parking lot, pointing his special laser machine gun at him. MarsAstro got up and shook his head to regain his orientation. "Ugh. Not you again!" Pulling its overcoat behind its leg, Cyborg Sniper attached the black shotgun to its silver, metallic leg. "Surprise seems to be your only advantage," MarsAstro shouted while pointing at it. "But now that I know what I know, I can fight you!" On the roof, Cyborg Vampire nodded and clenched its fist. It back flipped and before completing the flip, it glowed like a light bulb before becoming a bat and flying away. Cyborg Sniper suddenly started running after MarsAstro, using that time to calculate its best strategy. MarsAstro reacted to Sniper's aggression and charged after the cyborg. As they both came into contact on the black pavement beneath them, the red Astroranger's white-gloved fist was blocked by Cyborg Sniper's forearm. Sniper's hydraulically powered strength forced MarsAstro's arm down and smacked the back of the red Astroranger's back, blasting sparks out of his shoulder-blade. The explosive force threw him off his feet and caused MarsAstro to flip over and tumble in the pavement. Effortlessly, Sniper casually walked up to MarsAstro as he struggled to get up. Suddenly, Sniper kicked the red Astroranger's abs, sparking off of his battle suit. The cyborg then punched him in the chest and the second blast of sparks blew down MarsAstro. After falling out of the air, the red Astroranger tumbled over several times. "You think you're tough, eh? How's 9 megavolts?" he rhetorically asked while drawing the silver weapon from the white holster on his uniform's belt. While kneeling, he fired a yellow ray straight ahead before it was followed by a bright electric blue beam of power that slammed into Cyborg Sniper. Sparks exploded from its body but it stood still as a statue after MarsAstro fired on him several times. Cyborg Sniper drew its machine gun and unleashed multiple bolts of red laser light on MarsAstro. Fireworks exploded from his abs, launching his body out of sight. The red Astroranger fell on his back and cringed. "That was hot!" With the orange, evening sky above him, MarsAstro stood up and clenched his fist. "When the others are here, you're gonna be sorry. But until then, you better say you're prayers because this time, it's over." Forcing his fist down, MarsAstro's white glove held the red FireSword in brand new condition before holding it in front of himself. "It's time for you to go!" He put his two white boots together and jumped into the air. In the sky, the red Astroranger's arms were in a T-formation while rapidly ascending before coming together and swinging the metal blade of his sword down. Below himself, Cyborg Sniper looked into the sky as MarsAstro came down. And after Sniper stood watching as MarsAstro landing, it suddenly drew the laser sword from out of its black overcoat and blocked the FireSword. Sparks exploded from the laser blade and metal blade coming together. Sniper pushed MarsAstro's sword down flat and while it was horizontal, sliced along the length of the FireSword. Sparks blasted out of the blade again before Cyborg Sniper swung up, knocking the FireSword up and out of MarsAstro's hands with a final explosive blast of sparks. In the sky, the smoking, red FireSword flew out of control until it got stuck in the sidewalk grass by its tip. "FireSword!" MarsAstro shouted. His eyes closed in on his sword so far out of reach while smoldering. Cyborg Sniper shoved the red Astroranger before punching him across the helmet. He went flying into the air before falling face first into the ground. Sniper walked over and stepped on his back, forcing him to stay pressed into the pavement. VenusAstro and Beverly stood in front of each other in the back lot of the hospital that night. Beverly leaned down and checked Sasha's pulse and felt one along with warmth as well. "I'm glad you didn't kill her, pink Astroranger." "I'm VenusAstro," she said to Beverly. Beverly did not recognize the voice because it sounded as if it were going through a synthesizer to her. "VenusAstro, where did you come from?" Beverly asked. "I found your friend and I came to help," VenusAstro replied. Beverly watched Sasha moan on the pavement. "What did you do to her?" "I stunned her," VenusAstro told Beverly, "and I say we get out of here before..." Beverly shook her head. "No we can't. We can't leave my friend here. She's in a condition I've never even seen before. But it's bad, I'm sure you must realize..." "You have to listen to me, she can't be helped," VenusAstro announced. "Can you understand that? The way she fought was almost super-human, wasn't it?" Beverly nodded and then looked back into the blackness of her helmet's visor. "Perhaps. But you wouldn't understand why I can't let her go." "I only know what I know and that is how to survive while under attack," VenusAstro said. "Haven't you seen all the police and military men and women die from defending the city?" "Yes I have!" Beverly protested. "I _am_ a police officer. The partner I had before Jason said ``Beverly, I'll be right back.'' and was killed _by_ a cyborg, VenusAstro." VenusAstro put away her blaster. "Then you must understand why we should go--now." "No, VenusAstro; it's the very reason I want to stay. I became an officer because I believed in helping out the victims of circumstance," Beverly told her. "Anybody can see some poor kid gunned down in the street and run away scared they'll be next but it takes a person who cares to track them down and make sure that if the young person survives, they can feel safe in that their attacker was locked away." "You're talking about human situations in a human world," VenusAstro replied. "What is going on here is happening because of forces outside of the realm of man verses man. A human approach wont work here." Beverly couldn't speak as it all suddenly began dawned on her. VenusAstro stepped forth; "Galaxy Task Force Command: Pink HydroCycle!" In the sky, white clouds parted as a disc shape saucer warped into visibility. The underside door opened as Pink HydroCycle, a futuristic motorcycle with a forward mounted photon charge gun rolled out into the sky. Air-jets on the rear-wheel guards rise and extend to form wings as it flew out of sight. Cyborg Vampire was running down the street to escape the Astrorangers on their HydroCycles. "Holy Cow this guy is fast!" MercuryAstro said. "I'm exceeding 80% of maximum velocity!" JupiterAstro looked behind himself and nodded before looking ahead. "We've got corner him before he gets away from us. It could become a bat again!" SaturnAstro pointed straight ahead. "Hey, what's going on over there?" At the shopping center near Echo Park, Cyborg Sniper stood in the parking lot with his foot stuck on MarsAstro's red suited body. "Get off!" MarsAstro shouted while his helmet was ground into the asphalt by the foot of Cyborg Sniper. "Sheratan is in serious trouble!" SaturnAstro shouted. "Run this cyborg into that parking lot! I'm taking on the hired gun." JupiterAstro nodded. "Go for it, Nash." The black HydroCycle jumped over parked cars with SaturnAstro onboard. This got the attention of Cyborg Sniper who watched the bike land in the lot and continue pursuing. "Moleculatom Gun!" SaturnAstro shouted. He pushed a key on his terminal and yelled, "Fire!!" The front of the black motorcycle parted in the center as the gap allowed for a steel barrel to slide forth. The motorcycle shot bolts of blue light at Cyborg Sniper. Dark yellow sparks exploded, leaving black smoke to rise from Cyborg Sniper's ultra-strong metal body. The explosions were so great, one could no longer see Sniper. In the blue sky, his body went flying backwards out of sight. MarsAstro stood up as the black Astroranger came beside him and grabbed his shoulders. "Sheratan, what happened?" "I don't know but I'm glad you're here," MarsAstro said. "But Vampire escaped again." SaturnAstro shook his head. "No it didn't; the others have him cornered but we better help them because they can't keep him forever. Let's go!" "No wait! I've got an idea," MarsAstro said. In an alley, Cyborg Vampire ran down the road until he ran up to a brick wall. "Dead end, loser," MercuryAstro said. The green Astroranger stepped in and clenched his fist. "It's time to say goodnight, cyborg. Right, Messuta?" "Let's do it," MercuryAstro said, "Moleculatom Weapons!" Both of them drew the weapons from their belt's holsters before holding them straight ahead. Cyborg Vampire wrapped itself up in its black cape causing the beams of electricity to become diverted. And in a puff of smoke, it became a bat and started to flap its wings. "Oh crap!" MercuryAstro shouted. JupiterAstro looked up and around. "Keep your eyes on it, guys!" The vampire bat circled overhead before shooting darts of light from its face. Those little darts torched the pavement with fire blasting out of the asphalt like rocket boosters. Both of them hit the wall before falling and JupiterAstro looked up while MercuryAstro held his Moleculatom Weapon. "That little creep must've gained energy from the victims its bitten!" The vampire bat was hovering overhead when suddenly a boomerang came out of nowhere and knocked it out of the sky. Cyborg Vampire hit the ground and tumbled over just as the pink Astroranger's legs landed on the asphalt. MercuryAstro stood up. "Lotia!" "Lotia, did you find Beverly?" JupiterAstro asked after standing next to her. She nodded. "She's safe, for now. But Sheratan explained what's been happening to you guys while I've been away and he's got a plan so follow my lead." Cyborg Vampire whipped out its wand and ran after the three of them. They engaged in combat with Vampire while it used it cracked its wand against their uniforms. As the sparks flew, VenusAstro was the last to fall. After they dropped out of the sky, she rolled over and reached up desperately. "Please! No more! I give up!" After turning the corner of a sidewalk, the black and red Astrorangers ran away from Cyborg Sniper running after them from behind. "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Sheratan!" "Be quiet, Nash," MarsAstro shouted. While the two of them continued to run, they saw Cyborg Vampire in the alley down the street. "In there, come on!" Cyborg Vampire was immediately distracted by VenusAstro standing in front of it while the white and green Astrorangers watched. Noticing that Sniper was coming, she asked, "What are you waiting for?" The pink Astroranger stood close to Vampire and turned around. "Go ahead." All of that power waiting for the taking caused the cyborg to drool at the fangs. In a split second, VenusAstro ran away when the black and red Astrorangers ran by. Cyborg Vampire was locking down but instead of grabbing her body, it grabbed Cyborg Sniper by the shoulders. Its fangs extended and pierced the metal in Sniper's neck, causing sparks to come shooting out of the punctured armor while it resisted. Cyborg Vampire bit down harder and the red, pink and black Astrorangers stopped running to turn around and watch. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion and Cyborg Vampire was launched into the sky above and flew out of sight while smoking. "He's down!" MercuryAstro cheered. JupiterAstro looked at the red Astroranger. "Sheratan, the Cosmic Missile!" 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 flaming light soaring through the sky was joined by the LightArrow. 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. The flaming arrow in the sky was electrified causing it to gain speed, leaving a trail of light behind. 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 flaming arrow with the electric blue trail of speeding light was joined by the boomerang's arc increasing its size. 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. And just after Cyborg Vampire managed to stand again, the missile came coasting over the ground and busted through its abs. Fireworks blasted out of its back when the missile shot through the beast and after it tipped over to fall onto its face. Five beams of red, green, purple, white and pink light arched back to the Astrorangers as their Celestial Weapons returned to them. Meanwhile, Cyborg Vampire's body had burst into a fountain of sparks that preceded a great explosion. Fire rushed skyward with huge clouds of black smoke following its destruction. The following Sunday morning, in a hospital room for resting and observation, Sasha was asleep in her bed and Beverly was sitting in a fold up chair again. Sitting beside her bed, Beverly's eyes were baggy from not sleeping all night. In blue jeans and a red dress shirt, Dave knocked on the door he was walking through. "Um, hello?" Beverly jumped a little--being half-startled, half-asleep. Turning around, she saw Dave looking curious and anxious. "Oh, hi." Dave continued to walk inside as he closed the door behind himself. "Amy told me about what happened last night; with you and Sasha. I'm sorry about that." "Thanks, Dave. Whatever happened to Amy?" "One of those Astrorangers came got her and took her to safety so she could go home," Dave said. "It looks as if you hadn't had an ounce of sleep last night." Beverly broke a smile and chuckled somewhat. "I haven't been able to go to seel since last night. Heck, Dave, about an hour ago, I would have been up for 24 hours." "You really ought to think about getting some sleep, Beverly." "I can't really sleep, I came in her two hours ago at seven this morning when she came too after sunrise," Beverly said. "The strangest thing happened. Her face was normal and her teeth were too." "Yeah, I heard about that in the news on radio on my way here," Dave said. "Nobody knows how it happened either." "Oh well, that isn't important," Beverly said. She looked at Sasha and brushed her hair aside with her fingers. "All that's important is that I have her back now." Dave looked down as the images and the feelings of him riding the elevator while watching Beverly kiss Sasha had, again, pushed pins and needles through his heart. "Is there something to matter Dave?" Beverly asked. He truly didn't expect to be asked, or, for that matter, her to even notice. "No no, I was just trying to remember who Sasha is," he covered. "Is she a relative? Like a siste...uh, NO no, uh..." Beverly looked at him strangely. "Cousin or... An in-law of some kind, yes?" Dave finished up. Even still, he thought that it'd be pretty disgusting for relatives to kiss the way he saw it. However, he still made reservation for human customs, however sick they might be. "No, Dave, Sasha's was a friend of mine while I was in Japan," Beverly said. "In San Fransisco, I graduated from High School in 1990 and my mother wanted me to go straight to Berkeley to get a degree in law but I felt I should visit Japan. So for my birthday in July, I went and when I arrived, I met a girl there; 13, going on 14 that october." Dave nodded admiring her extreme sense of chronology. "I see." Beverly sighed. "Sasha was a young, precocious person then. She'd been the first girl I could speak intelligently with at that age; I was really quite surprised and amazed. I never really could get her out of my mind every since the first day I met her. Turns out she lived in Los Angeles and her family were going on a vacation in Tokyo so I decided that I'd some day I'd catch up with her." Dave nodded. "When I graduated from college in 1994, I took an Amtrak train to L.A. and when I got on and I find Sasha sitting beside the window seat I was going for!" Beverly remembered. "So we caught up with the times and everything. She even helped me pick King, my dog when he was just a little puppy. "A lot of the free time I spent not training at the academy, I spent going places with Sasha. I think we were really trying hard to make up for being apart for four years after such a good friendship, you know? So on October, 1996 we celebrated her 18th birthday by going to a beach party. I think it was at hermosa beach," Beverly reminisced. "Oh yeah! I know four of the lifeguards down there, they seem pretty cool," Dave suddenly recalled. "Especially that Brad guy." "Yeah, so we went there and watched a contest and had food and danced. It was just a bunch of fun," Beverly replied. "So we went up to my place and, well, after two years of being together, and constantly staying over at one an others places, you're a little more casual than you are with just a guest." "Yeah, I suppose," Dave shrugged. "Even though it was October, it was still muggy and hot. I even had to dig out the sun dress I never wear. Heh-heh," Beverly recalled. "Anyway, Sasha was taking a bath at my place and I was getting ready for bed. In my tiny apartment, I just walked right into the bathroom to get something when the other door facing the bedroom was open." Beverly had smiled sheepishly. "She had finished bathing and was in my room putting on a night gown. I don't know who reacted first! Aheh; she just kinda stood there wondering what my problem is while I was just simply freaking out." Dave was visualizing the entire story while nodding; he almost forgot about what he had asked and why. "Beating pulse, sweating, seeing stars--I didn't know what I was acting like that for. But regardless, I quickly shut the door. I didn't even apologize like I wanted to. At first, I didn't know what was going on but I since that day, I wanted to see that again and realized I liked it. It took me weeks to get up the nerve but it was New Years Eve and we were both pretty messed up at the party a few of us off-duty officers had. "It's embarrassing to believe that the only set of circumstances I was willing to talk about this under was intoxication. However it made saying the words so much easier, unfortunately. I always had the idea that I'd grow up and marry some guy and whatever but I never gave much energy to romance." "What about Sasha," Dave asked. "Well, she told me that she knew about herself since she was 15. I didn't say anything because I wasn't sure if I wanted to be apart of all that," Beverly answered. "I mean, I wasn't ignorant of what a lifestyle like that is all about. I've seen the movies and read the books and even been called into action when someone called the cops because of a hate crime." Dave nodded. "My mind was going into shock trying to calculate whether or not living the way I want to live is worth the pressure and the threats and basically being an outcast. The next thing I knew, Sasha's lips were pressed against mine and I didn't resist, in fact. I liked it so much I kept it going." Beverly chuckled to herself. "Aheh, here I go again telling you stuff I wouldn't tell my mother. But how would I, or could I tell her that I love Sasha?" "That's all right, I'm interested. I've always been interested in you," Dave said. Beverly smiled. "Really?" "More than you know." TO BE CONTINUED Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . Dave is attacked by a bank robber while on duty leaving the Astrorangers short one member. Meanwhile, the Astrorangers must fight their own powers! Cyborg Tentacle drains them dry and fights in Episode 22: "Critical Condition". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------