[070611]
                                                                      [Preview]
A bad day at the bank leaves Dave in the hospital, meanwhile Cyborg Shokush
gives the Astroranger Battle Team a challenge they wont soon forget in today's
show, Episode 22, "Critical Condition!  The Showdown"


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:

     Pluto remained in its slow orbit in the far reaches of our solar system;
meanwhile underground its freezing surface was the Nazitan outpost.  Inside of
the primary chamber was crystal ball on a pedestal in front of the stairs that
led to Adol the Great's throne.  Tortan, Ginara and Pleadia stood behind him
with their heads bowed when Adol stood up from his throne.
  "One half Earth year has been spent attempting to complete our mission on
Earth and still we have not managed to eliminate our foe," Adol groaned.  "The
_only_ foe that has ever been able to at the very least delay our attack!"
  "Need I remind you, Adol, that our military was never developed for the
purposes of trying to take on the massive undertaking of assimilating an entire
society," Pleadia mentioned.
  "You are a fool, Pleadia.  Our military has wiped out entire solar systems
with civilizations existing on each and every planet," Adol said to him.  "I
have led missions to planets with technology superior to Earth's."
  "It is my belief this is not Earth technology we are dealing with, my liege,"
Ginara theorized.  "My hypothesis is that they are receiving help from an alien
civilization."
  Adol nodded while pondering.  He turned around and returned to his throne to
sit down while he sighed.  "The point still remains that we have spent longer
than the amount of time it should have taken to do away with combative
resistance and persist in the adaptation of their society."
  "I would imagine our best approach will be to focus our efforts entirely on
eliminating the Astrorangers," Tortan proposed.  "Keep attacking until our
strategy is so fine-tuned that they will be no longer able to resist our
forces."
  "Agreed, however be forewarned--my patience is limited.  And I will not
tolerate failure from, what I have been told, the best people of their trade,"
Adol warned.  "As your inability to complete your tasks will eventually result
in severe punitive action."
  Tortan nodded.  "Understood."
  "I believe the primary reason our warriors--cyborgs, armatons, et cetera--are
unable to defeat the Galaxy Task Force Astroranger team is because of their
significantly high power source," Pleadia reported.  "I have been attempting to
modify a cyborg to properly absorb this power while draining it.  The effects
are only temporary, but I believe that by giving the cyborg that much more of
an advantage over the Astrorangers for any amount of time will be detrimental
to them."
  Adol nodded.  "What do you have in mind?"
  "Cyborg Shokush is my combination of a humanoid and an octopus.  It was
somewhat difficult getting the construction under way but once all the pieces
fit together, the installation of electronics for control and energy retrieval
was not excessively difficult."
  "Fine then, send it down into a well populated area.  We must get the
Astroranger's attention at once," Adol ordered.  "Should it encounter
conventional resistance such as the military or local law enforcement, it will
not be able to complete it's primary task."
  "I will send down Armatons to ensure that such a thing will not happen,"
Tortan said.  "It might be important that Cyborg Shokush also test out its
energy drainage ability through attacking such a well populated area as well."
  Adol nodded.  "Agreed.  Make it so."  The other nodded, turned around and
left threw different caverns.
  ``I hope this works,'' Pleadia thought.


                                  Episode 22:
                      "Critical Condition!  The Showdown"                     

     At a bank in Beverly Hills where Dave worked, Ron was getting ready to
deposit some money at the ATM when he saw Dave standing around talking with a
fellow security guard.  Dave turned and saw Ron, smiled and waved.
  "Hey, Dave," Ron said as he walked over to him.  "What are you doing here in
the afternoon?  Doesn't your shift start by dusk?"
  Dave joined Ron as they walked back over to the ATM.  "Oh, the guy for this
shift got some weird hay fever and I'm taking his place today."
  "I see," Ron replied.  "So how are ya, man?"
  "Not too good, Ron.  I went to go see Beverly who was visiting Sasha at the
hospital a couple of days ago," Dave answered.  "I finally figured out why she
turned me down a few weeks back."
  Ron started to operate the ATM.  "You did?  What did you find out?"
  Dave sighed.  "Well, Ron, as it turns out, she's in a relationship with
someone."
  Ron frowned.  "Ouch..."
  "And it's _with_ Sasha too," Dave said while nodding.
  Ron chuckled carelessly, "You got dumped, not for a man but, for a woman?"
  "No, jack ass, they've been friends for seven years," Dave snarled.
  "Sorry, man," Ron replied while dropping in his cash.
  Dave sighed harder.  "Anyway, I don't know what I'm going to do now."
  "That's tough luck, Dave--sorry to hear about that," Ron pushed more buttons
on the ATM.  "Hey, maybe you'll find someone else like her?"
  "I don't think so, Ron.  She's special.  She's almost like...  I don't know
(I've never said this about anyone Human before) but Beverly's like one of us,"
Dave admitted.
  Ron pulled out his ATM card.  "Coming from you that's saying a lot."
  "Yeah, Ron, and what makes things worse is that I feel like a jerk for
wanting her," Dave told him.  "I mean, she obviously wouldn't have a girlfriend
if she weren't really serious and possibly in love."
  "How do you figure, Dave?" Ron asked.
  "Well you know where we come from, what ever you do on your own time is your
own business.  We don't care one way or another but here it's pretty primitive
and people who aren't, as they say here, straight are very badly abused," Dave
told him.  "They're treated like sub-human beings, perverts.  Like they aren't
even human."
  "Damn, that sucks," Ron said.
  "Yeah, it's a cold, cold time humans live in so Beverly is obviously not
doing this just for the hell of it," Dave told him.  "But you know what, Ron?
So what?  I mean, it's her life and she's only got one--why can't she live it
the way she wants to?"
  Ron nodded.  "That's true.  I guess this place has evolved only
technologically but are still several hundred years behind when it comes to
matters of the mind."  Dave nodded.
  "Well, I gotta get back to work.  Lunch break's almost over ya know."
  "Yeah--okay, Ron, tell Amy I said good luck to her new work at home with that
costume fabrication job.  I'll seeya."
  Ron walked towards his delivery truck.  "Yeah, later, Dave."  Ron got into
his truck and drove away.
  "Hey, Dave," the other guard said to him.  "I'm gonna go to the head for a
little while, you mind?"
  Dave sighed, "Go ahead."
  "Thanks buddy," the guy said before he walked inside the bank.  Dave walked
over to where he was.  About a minute later, Dave heard off in the distance car
tires screeching around the corner as the sports engine loudly roared bringing
the car towards the bank.  "What the hell!?!"  He watched as it hit the curb
and two guys in black head masks jumped out.  "This doesn't look good."
  Dave ran down the stairs and tried to stop them but one of the guys punched
him across the face and he dropped on the pavement and rolled over.  The two
guys rushed the door and started shouting at everyone inside.
  Meanwhile, Dave braced his jaw with his hand and tried to pull himself up off
the ground.  By the feel on his jaw, they obviously used the butt of a gun to
knock him out.  Being Terranian kept him from going unconscious but he soon
realized everyone in that bank was in danger so he quickly jumped up.
  The two guys busted out of the bank's entrance and ran towards their car
holding sacks of cash.  Dave got up and pulled out his gun.  "Stop!!"
  One of the guys turned around and shot from his gun; Dave leaped behind a
blue postbox on the sidewalk as more bullets bounced off the mailbox.  When the
shots stopped, Dave got up over the top of it and fired at one of them.
  The guy running on the left took it in the leg and fell down and his
companion took his sack of cash and threw it in the car as he got in himself
and started up the engine.  Dave came out from behind the box and aimed his gun
for the rear tire of the car and fired.
  The rear corner of the car dropped onto the asphalt and Dave came running
towards the car with his gun.  "All right, outta the car, now!  I got you
covered!"  The driver got out the other side of the car and started running
down the street.
  "Hold it!!" Dave shouted while aiming his gun.  Before he could shoot, the
other robber had turned around and fired a shot.  Dave's shoulder jerked back
as he was pulled off his feet by the force of the shot and twisted backwards
onto the ground and rolled out.

     In the Hollywood Hills, the house and garage on the corner of the block
south of a main thoroughfare marked by the traffic signal was the Terranian's
property.  Inside, Tom was sitting at Will's computer in his room while Will
walked back in with the newspaper.  "Ugh, more front page articles about the
Astrorangers."
  "Yeah, I saw this coming," Tom replied.  "Check it out, I ran a search on the
world wide web and I turned up some 30,000 web pages about it.  I swear, when
these humans don't know anything--they just make stuff up!"
  Will walked over beside Tom and started reading from the pages along with
images of scanned pictures featuring the rangers in action.
  "This here you're looking at is a pro-Astroranger page.  The kids love us,
apparently," Tom added, "but this page over here is a link to anti-Astroranger
pages."
  "Aw jeez, that's a picture of MarsAstro kicking one of those vampire-type
humans after they were bit by that cyborg," Will complained.  "Oh well."
  "Yeah, while I'm out working whenever I've got a job to do, I'm always
hearing about people talking about their family and friends in trouble," Tom
told him.  "It's not that I don't feel sorry for them but how can these people
possibly relax or be recreational during a time like this?"
  "Perhaps a lot of them are in a state of denial.  Humans have often believed
they are indestructible and that they could over come anything," Will said.
"The fact is, they'd be burnt toast by now if we weren't here."
  Tom chuckled.  Amy came running up the stairs, "Will?  Ron?  Tom?"
  "We're in Will's room," Tom called out the open door.  Amy walked into the
room and looked around.  "Oh man, they called me on my cell phone..."
  "Who did??" Will asked.
  "The hospital!  I'm in his list of people to contact in case of an
emergency..."  Will nodded.
  "Okay..." Tom urged on.
  "Dave's been shot," Amy distressfully said.  Tom and Will looked at each
other.

    Downtown Los Angeles--Parker Center, L.A.P.D. Headquarters; Robbery Detail.
Sgt. Kathy Sanchez walked entered the office where Frank was writing down
information while on the telephone.  "Uh huh, and you got him, right?  Good.
Okay, thanks Joe."
  "What's the scoop, Frank?"
  "Well, we got one of the guys cause a bank security guard wounded him in the
right calf and the paramedics brought him in.  When they're finished bandaging
him up, we're hauling him in for questioning," Frank answered.  "We also found
the get away car with one blown out tire, also probably shot out by the same
guard.  With plates, we can nail the other suspect who got away."
  Kathy sat down holding a file folder.  "Good work, Frank.  Looks like these
guys had no idea what they were doing."
  "No ma'am--according to eye-witness accounts to officers at the scene, the
guys just came driving down the street, hit the brakes--got out, robbed the
place and got right out again," Frank told Kathy.  "But the bad news is that
when they were trying to make a break for it, to their car, the guard that was
there got shot trying to stop him."
  "Yeah I know; that's what I was just checking out.  I wasn't going to pay too
close attention to this but something just happened to had catch my eye," Kathy
replied.  "Turns out, this guard wasn't even supposed to be on duty.  His name
is Dave Marcello and, at first, I didn't care where he came from; but that name
struck me as familiar so I checked him out.  I found out he lives where William
Richards lives."
  Frank nodded.  "Oh, yeah, I remember him.  We were interviewing him when that
IRS agent got killed for reasons we've yet to discover," Frank recalled.  "What
are these three doing living together anyway?"
  "I'm not sure, but I'll figure that out later. Right now, it's Dave's anatomy
that really made me do some digging," Kathy told him.  "They ran X-rays on him
and various other kinds of tests and they found a lot of unusual stuff."
  "Like what?"
  Kathy started reading from her file folder, "Like extra bones in his body,
strange muscle tissue, unknown blood type, weird DNA, an extra unknown organ.."
  "What?!" Frank exclaimed.
  "Yeah.  They were just as interested in him as I was so they're right now in
the middle of doing a brain scan," Kathy answered.  "One of the doctors told me
that more than likely this man has incredible cardiovascular ability and as
soon as he comes to, they're going to have him checked out athletically."
  Franky sighed and dropped his pen.  "This is getting too strange."
  "Well, you know what--I don't know what the story is here but I'm inclined to
believe that Dave's been somehow altered by one of those aliens that attacked
Echo Park or in some other instance," Kathy replied.  "I bet he's very lucky to
even be alive right now."
  "Well, let's not forget he's one of the five that Aaron Hanson brought to
L.A.  And, when they showed up, the Astrorangers also showed up as well.  And
those guys are fighting these aliens," Frank said.  "Perhaps Dave..."
  "...is an Astroranger?" Kathy finished for him.
  Frank nodded.  "Yeah."
  "But how?  We TALKED to them, surely we could've recognized their voices by
now?" Kathy said uncertainly.
  "But their voices were synthesized," Frank countered.  "I bet that if we were
to record their voices, it would come out like gibberish."
  "What about a digital sample?" Kathy asked.
  Frank shook his head.  "Same thing.  If the sound is being sent through some
means other than sonically, there is no way any microphone can create a signal
for the sound to be stored magnetically or digitally."
  "Okay, Frank--so even if we prove all five are the Astrorangers--what could
we do?" Kathy asked.  "Even if we booked them on--disturbing the peace,
destruction of public property...  Whatever; how could they ever be taken into
custody?"
  "That's really frightening, Kathy.  But I would imagine that the governments
of the world wouldn't stand for this.  They'd probably hunt these five down
until they are taken down," Frank said.  "But that would never work because if
these guys can blow up creatures from outer space, that _easily_ over powered
our weapons, these same weapons wouldn't do anything against the Astrorangers."
  "Besides, Frank--if we attack them, what's to say they wont stop defending
us?" Kathy suggested.  "There's already a smear campaign out there in
mass-media against them; if we take an undiplomatic approach to trying to make
contact with them, we would be left completely vulnerable to the attack from
those aliens, the Nazitans."

     The Rose Bowl--Pasadena, California; a crowd of several thousand out of
over 100,000 seats watch a live performance.  Dancers were all over the set up
stage in the football field while the live band played the music.  This show
was interrupted when, elsewhere in the field, a dust cloud had exploded.
Security there whipped their heads around and pulled out their radios.
Meanwhile, other men ran in with their guns cocked.  When the smoke cleared, a
humanoid with eight arms and thick whale-like rubber skin waved around its arms
and opened its tight black eyes.  The guards just started shooting at the
creature but the bullets sparked off as normal.  Cyborg Shokush's belly opened
up and started shooting out jets of black oil.  The guards were covered in the
immobilizing ink when suddenly, it threw out its arms.
  The arms started extending themselves as the ends wrapped themselves around
their necks.  The guards started glowing; the suction cups on the octopus arms
started pumping their body as they were growing pale.  When the cyborg reeled
its arms back in, the both of the men dropped to the ground limply.
  "This is an emergency evacuation, this concert _is_ over!  Please leave the
stadium immediately!!"  While this announcement was being broadcast over the
loud speaker, the crowd had already started running after the exits.  People
were getting hurt by the stampede cramming to get out of the stadium.
  A lot of the people could not make it out as its eight arms were taking
people by the wrist, the ankle and the neck and sucking the life force directly
through their nervous system from their brain and into its core.
  Inside of Cyborg Shokush's body was the core, a metal cylinder with four
tubes attached to it, two taking in eletroplasma and two putting out raw
energy to feed its powerful muscles.
  Cyborg Shokush threw its victims away with its powerful arms and kicked away
police arriving with its metallic legs.  More cops were firing from cars that
had parked on the turf.  Bullets bounced off Shokush's back and it turned
around, put its arms in front of its eyes and took them away again sending many
light-darts out.  Towers of sparks exploded blowing the police officers back.


 ACT II:

     At a hospital, Dave layed in his bed in the room watching daytime
television.  Eventually, his four friends came in through the door to see him.
He looked over and saw a worried Amy followed by Ron, Will and Tom and smiled.
"Glad you guys could make it."  Dave used the remote control to muted the
television.
  "Dave, are you all right?" Amy asked.
  Dave nodded.  "They just winged me...  Busted my clavicle; I'll need to wear
this sling for a few days.  They said weeks but, you know about our healing
time."
  "I guess this just isn't your week, huh, Dave?" Ron asked.
  Dave nodded.  "Can't say I'm too pleased with life on Earth here lately."
  "Hopefully these humans wont screw up again and let an obvious criminal get
off scott free 'cause they didn't do their jobs right," Tom commented. "They've
got plenty of evidence.  All they need to do is catch the guys."
  "Yeah, but I'm worried about something else," Dave replied.  "When they
examined me, I don't know what they're going to think of the results."
  "Oh crap, you're right," Ron replied.  "Once they see all of our advanced
humanoid traits, they're bound to be suspicious."
  "Don't sweat it, guys," Will interjected. "They wont immediately associate us
with the Astrorangers.  If anything, they will think that you've been mutilated
by one of those cyborgs."
  "Yeah, I hope so," Dave said.
  "What happened out there anyway?" Tom asked.
  "Well my worthless partner went to use the rest room when suddenly these two
guys driving like maniacs show up and knock me out.  After they robbed the
bank, they tried to split but I shot one of them.  The other guy jumped into
the get-away car so I blew out his tires," Dave explained.  "He tried to get
out on foot and I told him to hold it.  I had my gun on him, but that didn't
stop him.  Before I could pull the trigger, he got me in the right shoulder."
  "I'm glad he didn't get you any lower than that," Amy said.  "He would have
gotten your secondary heart."
  "Yeah, I know," Dave replied.  "I just hope they get the son of a bi..."
  "Hey, what's that?" Ron asked looking at the television.  Helicopter coverage
of the rose bowl showed Cyborg Shokush blowing up police cars with energy it
obtained from the people it was also shown as having drained it from.
  "What the heck is that thing doing?" Dave asked.
  "Don't get yourself too worked up over this, Dave, you're going to need to
conserve your strength to heal yourself," Amy said.
  "Yeah, we'll take care of this situation--don't worry," Tom added.
  "Thanks, you guys; be careful, all right?" Dave said.  "Don't let what
happened to me happen to you guys."
  "For the sake of the world, we hope not," Ron replied.  "Ready to ChangeForm
you guys?"
  "Yeah," Will said.  "Let's go..."

     On the Pasadena Freeway, the HydroCycles, green, black, white and pink
merged with traffic on the freeway.  In traffic heading in the opposite
direction, a Los Angeles Police Department car with no strobe light headed back
to downtown.  Inside Kathy was driving when Frank turned his head around to see
the Astrorangers driving north.  "Hey what the...  Kathy!"
  "What is it, Frank?" Kathy asked while checking rear view mirrors.
  Frank looked at Kathy, "The Astrorangers are driving towards the Rose Bowl
right where we came from!"
  "Yeah and it's a good thing too," Kathy said.  "Hopefully they can help."
  "Not only that, I noticed the red leader was missing," Frank mentioned.
  "There are a number of possibilities for that, Frank, but I get where you're
going with this."
  "Man, Kathy--we're going to have to figure out something and soon," Frank
said.  "If they are who we think they are, we've got to talk to them."  Kathy
just wondered what what they would say to them.
     The green Astroranger jumped into the blue sky overhead and flipped out of
sight, followed by the black Astroranger somersaulting out of the sky in the
other direction; the pink and white Astrorangers also jumped overhead in the
opposite direction before landing on the grass.
  All of them stood beside each other and turning around to strike their battle
position shouting, "Astroranger!" at the Rose Bowl football field.
  While the parameter was secured by Armatons kicking and punching away the
police, Cyborg Shokush had dropped two unconscious victims of its own and
turned around to see them.
  "Attack!" JupiterAstro ordered.  They broke their position and ran after the
cyborg.
     Cyborg Shokush's arms were swinging down as it fell out of the
blue sky.
  VenusAstro's pink battle uniform was whipped by the cyborg's arm
slapping down on her chest, blowing sparks in the process.  After she
fell, the white Astroranger got behind Shokush.
  It turned around and swung in reverse against MercuryAstro's abs,
as the sparks exploding from his shiny uniform caused him to cartwheel
over onto his back.
     Cyborg Shokush wound its arm and bright yellow sparks exploded
from SaturnAstro's torso when his black uniform was whipped.  The
explosion knocked him into a flip that landed the black Astroranger on
his side.
  Shokush slapped down its arm on JupiterAstro and he jumped into the
air when sparks bursting from his green uniform knocked him down.
     Cyborg Shokush hopped while swapping feet and jumped into the
air.  In the sky, Shokush used both arms to swing down.
  VenusAstro fell on her bottom and when Shokush turned around he
found MercuryAstro running after him.
  MercuryAstro jumped up into the air, stood on and then jumped off of
Shokush's shoulders.
  Shokush tumbled out of the air and landed on its back before rolling over,
trying to stand up.
  The white Astroranger landed on one knee upon the turf with both arms
out and stood up before turning around.
  Cyborg Shokush was running after him with arms poised for attack.
  MercuryAstro pulled the weapon in his belt's holster out while shouting,
"Moleculatom Weapon!"  While standing in the football field, he pointed the
device to the grass, causing a short beam of light extended from its tip.
After the ray dimmed down, a blade was attached to his weapon.  "Dagger mode!"
  Cyborg Shokush's bulb-like head was crawling with arcs of blue electricity
before they thunderously bolted forth in a chaotic stream of light.
     Fire exploded violently behind the rapidly ascending white Astroranger
holding his dagger ahead of himself.
  Cyborg Shokush whipped MercuryAstro while he was flying overhead and sparks
blew him off course.
  "Messuta!" VenusAstro shouted.
  JupiterAstro held his Moleculatom Weapon while standing next to her.  "We've
got to intervene.  Let's move it!"  SaturnAstro nodded as they all ran ahead.
  Running after them, Cyborg Shokush jumped into the air; in the sky,
it positioned itself like a kangaroo and fired bolts of light
alternately from both eyes.
  Sparks blew up the playing field and the Astrorangers were dropped to the
ground.
  While the smoke was clearing, the pink Astroranger looked around.  "Is
everyone all right?"
  "Yeah, barely," SaturnAstro answered.  "I'm getting sick and tired of this
thing.  I say we hit 'em all at once with our blasters!"
  "I agree," MercuryAstro added.  "Circle formation is the best for this
situation."
  "Well then, let's do it!" JupiterAstro replied.  "Everybody spread out!"  As
seen from overhead, Cyborg Shokush was surrounded by the Astrorangers.
  JupiterAstro brought up his Moleculatom weapon.  "Fire at will."
  Four brilliant rays of yellow light struck Cyborg Shokush from all corners
before electric blue beams of energy traveled along those rays.  Shokush's
bulb-like head pulsated with a pink glow before returning four red beams of
light in the direction the Astrorangers had fired on it.
  Sparks erupted in front of the four, blowing them up one by one.
  "Well that didn't work in a hurry!" MercuryAstro said.  "What are we gonna do
now?"
  "I don't know," JupiterAstro said, "but we're gonna have to think of
something fast or...  Lotia!!"
  VenusAstro's foot kicked away one of Cyborg Shokush's arms and then used her
arm to chop its stomach.  The cyborg bowed over and VenusAstro cut down against
its neck and it tumbled over.  She turned around and so did it when suddenly it
started spraying jets of the black immobilization gel.
  VenusAstro waved her hands through the air to get it away but she found
herself slowing down.
  "Lotia!" MercuryAstro called out.
  "Can't--break free!" VenusAstro shouted.  "Help!!"
  The Astrorangers watched VenusAstro fall to the ground unable to move.
"Lotia!!" they all shouted when suddenly a wall of sparks exploded behind 
then in front of themselves blowing them away.  In the sky, they all flipped
overhead head and out of sight.  The Armatons put down their smoking rifles and
Tortan walked between the group with his sword in hand.
  "Yes!  Finally!  Very good work, all of you!!" Tortan said.  "Cyborg
Shokush, drain her energy."  It looked behind itself and nodded as it threw
out one of its arms.  Its orangish arm started streaming from out of its body
almost endlessly when on the ground, VenusAstro's boots were stuck in the tar
like muck on the ground.  "Help me!"  The arm wrapped itself around her neck as
she began to glow pink.  The arm was flowing with pink arcs of electricity.
"UCK!  What's happening to me!"
  The Astrorangers were still on the ground smoking from the blasts unable to
move.  While absorbing VenusAstro's energy, the core of Shokush was started to
glow with massive amounts of raw power.  VenusAstro held onto the arm that had
held onto her by suction cups trying to pull it off but she was couldn't free
herself.  "I'm losing a lot of energy--FAST..."
  JupiterAstro got up along with the others and ran after Cyborg Shokush.  "We
can't let this happen to her," he said.  In the air overhead, three arms had
streamed out of its body; all three Astrorangers' were wrapped up either by the
neck or around the body.  The energy of the Astrorangers were flowing to the
cyborg in green, purple, white and pink electric arcs powering a bright glow in
its bulb like head. 
  "Suck every last drop out of these heros, Shokush," Tortan said.  "Once you
are done I and my Armaton soldiers will terminate them once and for all."

     At the hospital, Dave watched the battle come to a close with Cyborg
Shokush weakening his comrades at the Rose Bowl.  On television, helicopter
footage showed the Astroranger battle team on one knee trying to pull back
while Cyborg Shokush was actually growing in the process.  Muscles in its
abdomen and arms were pulsating with veins lining them.
  Dave's eyes grew wide with terror while practically sitting on the edge of
his seat.  "I can't let that octo-freak do that to them!  Once he has the power
of our Genesis Gemstones he will be unstoppable!!" Dave gasped.  He threw off
the covers and leaned up, but he was stopped by a sharp pain shooting through
his right shoulder.  "Oww!  Damn this wound..."  He grabbed it and then looked
at it and then his arm in a sling.  "I hope the AstroSuit will hold me together
long enough to take him out," Dave said.  He stood up while changing the fist
his ring was on.  "I have got to ChangeForm--they aren't going to make it."
  Standing up, he looked outside his door and saw no one in the vicinity.  Dave
re-closed the door and walked towards an open space in his room by his bed.
  "ChangeForm to red Mars astro ranger!" he shouted bringing up his left fist
as the ring started glowing.  "Astro...CHARGE!" he said forcing out the ring.
In a flash of brilliant white light, Dave's face appeared before a black
red-grid backdrop as his face dissolved into a black silhouette.
  His entire body a black silhouette, a white bar scanned across his body and
then back again leaving him in the red, shiny AstroSuit.  In another flash of
bright light, he was gone.

     At the rose bowl, Armatons surrounded the Astrorangers who were pulsating
with energy glowing like an extra aura while Cyborg Shokush absorbed the
power.  Tortan watched when suddenly, several spark-filled explosions blew up
everywhere.  The Armatons scattered however they were not able to avoid the
force of sparks blasting all around themselves.
  Tortan walked through the clouds of white smoke and looked around.  "What did
that!"  Flying overhead was MarsAstro riding the red HydroCycle that was
landing in the football field.
  "Armatons!  Open fire!" Tortan said.  The soldiers aimed their rifles and
started firing pellets of light.  MarsAstro on his red motorcycle swerved
around towers of sparks exploding alternate on both sides.
  "You will _not_ interfere," Tortan said bringing up his sword, turning
around, the jewel in its guard began to glow brightly as the symbol of Procyon
III's planetary insignia illuminated.  Tortan forced his sword ahead causing a
beam of light to stream from the jewel.
  MarsAstro jumped over a fire-filled explosion on his bike; Armatons in his
path were knocked down by his HydroCycle while landing between all of them.
  The tire of the motorcycle hit the ground and spun around to a stop as
MarsAstro got off of his vehicle and started running after the remaining
Armatons.  "I'm here you guys!  Just try to hold on."
   MarsAstro knocked upwards a rifle leaving an Armaton open to his
subsequent upper-cut then chop to the neck.
   He turned around and pulled around an Armaton by its fist, pushed up
its arms and then side-kicked to its head.
   An Armaton solder's bladed rifle was kicked up by MarsAstro's boot and
then with the same foot side-kicked another in the chest as it fell back.
     MarsAstro then brought up his right fist and punched directly ahead.  An
Armaton's head was knocked back and it fell up against two Armaton robotic
soldiers behind itself.
  "Celestial Weapon!" MarsAstro said.  "FireSword!"  MarsAstro turned his sword
upside down with the hilt at a 45-degree angle as he ran his gloved hand the
length of the blade.  A red beam of light followed his hand converting the
blade into a laser.  Turning the sword sword vertically again, MarsAstro ran
after the monster with the glowing sword.   "MarsAstro Fire Strike!"
  MarsAstro jumped up, somersaulting over, the laser blade swung through the
arms of Cyborg Shokush two by two dismembering each.  The Astrorangers fell to
the grass after they'd stopped glowing.
  Cyborg Shokush pulled its cut off arms inside of its body and ejected its
two primary arms back into position.  MarsAstro's blade returned to normal.
  "Come on!" MarsAstro said.  Shokush kicked away the blade of MarsAstro's
sword and then kicked him in the chest.  He stumbled back and then tumbled past
him, using his sword to block the cyborg's strike.   "Very strong!!" MarsAstro
said as it pushed down.  It then rolled him over onto his back.
  "Come on, Sheratan, don't give up!" VenusAstro said.  MarsAstro's chest
exploded with sparks after Cyborg Shokush fired shots from its eyes.  As if the
close range shot wasn't bad enough it whipped its tentacle down upon
MarsAstro's right shoulder causing him to flip over onto his back.
  "Ugh!  My shoulder again!!"  MarsAstro said.  VenusAstro wanted to get up but
she just didn't have the strength yet.
  Man, don't die on us now, JupiterAstro thought.  MarsAstro stood up but was
kicked back into the ground by Shokush.  "I wont let you win," MarsAstro said.
"You might have the power of all of my friends put together but you don't have
what always makes us win."  Shokush stood over MarsAstro and picked him up.
  In the air, the cyborg tossed the red Astroranger through the sky as he hit
the ground and rolled over several times.
  Stopping himself, MarsAstro forced himself to get off his back.  "And that
one thing is the powers of the universe!" he said using the sword to pick
himself up off the ground.
  "Cyborg Shokush, drain MarsAstro now!" Tortan ordered, "Do _not_ hesitate!!"
Before a black background setting, MarsAstro turned his sword upside down with
the hilt at a 45-degree angle as he ran his gloved hand the length of the blade
again.  "Celestial Termination!" he shouted as it regained its laser-blade.
  "Cosmic FireSword Blaze!" MarsAstro shouted as he horizontally struck out
causing the red beam to shoot off the blade the sword and fly forth.
  It passed through Cyborg Shokush making sparks explode out of the chest and
then out of the back.  Its core totally destroyed, the cyborg's strength and
size was dropped quickly. 
  Streams of light returned to the Astrorangers as they began to glow; standing
up, they looked around. "We're okay!" MercuryAstro said.  People unconscious on
the ground and in the seats were zapped with their own life force and began to
wake up.
  "Yeah, now that this monster is all out of power, its arms don't work anymore
and we're back in the game, it looks like it's time to wrap this up," MarsAstro
said.  "Get ready for the Cosmic Missile!"
  MarsAstro 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!"
  "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 as the
arrow flew through the air, into the sky and joined the FireSword's red-beam.
  "Celestial Weapon!"  MercuryAstro twirled his Power Staff in his hands and
then lifted it to the sky as clouds gathered and formed lightning.  The Power
Staff 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 the end of her boomerang.  "Celestial Weapon!"  She rubbed
her fingers the length of the weapon causing it to become a pink light arc.
  "Sonic Boomerang Thunder Blow!" she called out as she flung it into the air.
The spinning boomerang gained more speed and became glowing disc and become
ingulfed by the power in the sky.
  "Saturn Ring BattleScythe Strike!" SaturnAstro called out as he threw his
scythe into the sky causing it to join the combined powers to form the Cosmic
Missile.  The rainbow colored missile rocketed towards the cyborg and upon
contact, Cyborg Shokush violently blew up into a fire-filled explosion.

     It was almost evening the next day when Tom was in front of the house
sweeping the gutters while, in Dave's room, Amy sat beside him while he wore
his sling in his bed.  Looking at him, she was so glad to see Dave alive.  "I'm
glad I was able to talk your doctor into letting you go.  You'll probably be
healed in a couple of days using our Terranian remedies."
  "It's a good thing you know them too.  I think the Uton Defense people did a
wise thing by putting us together--with each of our individual talents and
skills," Dave replied, "and virtues."
  Amy smiled.  "I like working with you too, Dave.  In fact, I think I'm a
little more thankful you're with us now that you went through what you did."
  "Oh come now, Amy--I've dealt with bank robbers before..."
  "No I mean," she interrupted, "I mean, actually getting downed.  I don't know
why I would take this for granted, especially in our line of business, but
sometimes, after succeeding so many times, failure seems almost too unreal."
  Dave nodded.  "I understand; but, as risky as our duties are, they are
necessary--for the good of all.  And we couldn't all do this alone--we need
each other.  Without your friendship, I don't know what I'd do.  And now that
Beverly has become just a fantasy, anything--anyone who can even come close to
what I thought she was; someone who can understand, would be more than enough."
  Amy sighed.  "You're probably right.  Together, we stand a better chance of
surviving this mentally--even more importantly than physically.  And I do know
what you mean about someone who can understand you; that is something very
rare.  For both of these worlds."  Dave nodded.
  Amy looked away from him and hesitated to find a way to be subtle.  "I
suppose this is why (as impossible as this may be) I don't ever want to lose
you, Dave."
  Looking at her, Dave didn't want to read more into what she just told him,
but, he had the feeling Amy meant something more than the spirit of teamwork.

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    

Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . .

A super-powered task force of three prevent terrible disaster in the city and
this Trio gains the trust of the public while the Astrorangers investigate
their true identities in Episode 23, "Verbatim".

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"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]
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