[980427]
                                                                      [Preview]
Rebuilt, Cyborg Haget returns and Ron chases after Hageta but doesn't realize
Lucy's new found awareness of his true identity.  After the Astrorangers come
to MercuryAstro's aid,  they find themselves trapped within the ultimate maze
deception in episode 24, "No Longer the Cloaked Dagger"


Artist Bros. Enterprises presents . . .

                        GALAXY TASK FORCE ASTRO RANGER
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Starring...

         Sheratan Kasei, a.k.a., Dave Marcello.  MarsAstro!

         Australis Mokusei, a.k.a., Will Richards.  JupiterAstro!

         Messuta Suisei, a.k.a., Ron Michaeli.  MercuryAstro!

         Lotia Kinsei, a.k.a., Amy Leven.  VenusAstro!

         Nashiran Dosei, a.k.a., Tom Nevison.  SaturnAstro!

  and... Commander Leto, a.k.a., Dr. Aaron Hanson.

  Featuring...

         Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez.



Last Time on Astroranger

    Ron frowned.  "I was on a date, `Inspector.'"
    "Oh really, with who?" Amy asked cheerfully.
    Ron turned around to look at her on the staircase.  "Uh, a lady I've
  been e-mailing that I met at the music store in the mall.  Lucy."
    "A human...  Oh--Ron, you could do better," Dave snapped.
    "Yeah right, Dave," Ron countered.  "That's the pot calling the kettle
  black."  Tom chuckled.
    Dave looked over at Tom and frowned.  "Hey, shut up."

  Behind the jet plane, a silver android with slender, metallic armor and
  pink, transparent pixie wings stood by waiting for the vehicle to pass.
  This busty cyborg looked at the many windows flash by and suddenly, Cyborg
  Haget ran after the jet airplane.  As the plane began to take flight,
  Haget hung off the right wing.  Its two pink wings began to flutter and
  the vibration actually caused waves of pink rings began to roll out.  The
  waves were sparkling brightly and the plane was actually beginning to
  descend again.  On the runway, the tires screeched and smoked as the jet
  plane jostled on returning to the runway.  Landing on the wings, the
  soldiers used their bladed rifles to bash the windows in. 

  On television, the anchor listened to a co-anchor finishing a sentence.
    "Heh-heh, that is _so_ funny!  All right, it's 6:11am and...  Wait a
  minute, this just into the newsroom.  A Union Air passenger jet plane has
  been grounded by what witnesses describe as robots whom have..."
    "We better hurry up and get out there before anybody else gets hurt,"
  Amy said.  "LAX is one busy place."
    "Get ready to ChangeForm," Dave cued, "We're outta here--AstroCharge!"
  Shoving their fists forward, their five GeneGem stones flashed brilliantly
  as the light blinded the view.
  
  After Cyborg Haget flew out of the sky, it hung in midair and wrapped its
  arms in a unique way, holding its silver, metal claws in a circular
  formation.  Between its palms, a chaotic sphere of light began to form
  before becoming a glowing comet.  Suddenly, Haget pushed both of its arms
  forward, launching the purple comet out of sight.
    As the comet flew by, it split apart into five individual comets that
  smacked into the Astrorangers--pushing them out of sight.  On the
  pavement, the green Astroranger hit the asphalt with the white foam on his
  shiny uniform before it made contact with the road surface.  Suddenly
  faded into a black smoldering tar.  "What is this?!"
    The white Astroranger's torso was slicked with tar smoking on his
  uniform while sticking him to the runway as well. "Sheratan, we're stuck!"
    Cyborg Haget held a white baton with golden ball-tipped ends to control
  a Union Air Boeing jet airplane into rolling over them.
    "BlueNeptune!" the leader announced, holding his arms in the position of
  a swimmer.
    "GoldUranus!" the next shouted, punching out before miming holding a box
  near its right side.
    The third mimed digging with a shovel before holding the air like a
  staff.  "SilverPluto!"  Thunder and lightning struck after holding their
  fists end to end before each of them formed a triangle, proclaiming
  themselves, "TRIRANGER!" 
    SilverPluto, with the pluto insignia over its visor, stood before a
  black background crossed his arms.  "Plutonian AntiGrav--Force Out!" he
  shouted, causing rings of light to emanate from his palms.  The nose of
  the airplane was pushed away by the rings slamming into its side and the
  jet had finally begun to rolled to a stop.

    Tortan pointed the shimmering, silver blade of his razor-sharp sword at
  the cyborg.  "Don't just stand there, Cyborg Haget.  Do something; _right_
  now!"  GoldNeptune nodded first and SilverNeptune gave a thumbs up.
    "All right, then," BlueNeptune said prior to standing up.
  "CometCannon!"  In the blue morning sky, flames pushed a black cloud of
  smoke upward in a loud explosion filled with fire.

    The the remaining four Astrorangers gathered to face the Trirangers,
  they'd extended their hands.  "Allies," MarsAstro said.  BlueNeptune
  braced MarsAstro's hand and shook it once, firmly.
  

                                  Episode 24:
                         "No Longer the Cloaked Dagger"                       

 ACT I:

     Hidden behind the dark side of Earth's natural satellite, the moon, was an
opal shaped space station similar to the lunar celestial body itself.  "I don't
even know where to begin," Australis started.  Aboard the Astroranger
SpaceBase, the Terranians stood, lined up in front of Commander Leto who paced
back and forth, listening to this disturbing account of events.
  "I've been in defense since before becoming an Astroranger," Nashiran began,
"but this felt staged. I felt like an audience to some kind of elaborate show."
  "Why don't we start from the beginning?" Leto slightly sarcastically
proposed.
  "Well," Messuta answered, "we saw Armatons crawling all over an airplane down
at the L.A. airport this morning and drove down their after AstroCharging.
Almost immediately, we were slimed by this pixie-like cyborg Tortan called
Haget and got pasted to the ground."
  Lotia nodded aggressively.  "I just knew we weren't gonna survive that."
  "Why?" Leto asked.
  Messuta looked away from Lotia and at Commander Leto.  "Somehow, Haget remote
controlled the jet it had previously hijacked so that it would eventually roll
over us."
  "Oh," Commander Leto replied, "hmmm.  This already sounds suspicious."
  "Yeah," Sheratan spoke up.  "That's when these three guys who look almost
just like us showed up and freed us immediately and after a quick fight with
Tortan and the Armatons--they wasted that cyborg."
  Surprised, Leto asked, "Is that so!"  Sheratan rhythmically nodded, implying
the same level of surprise at the time it first occurred.
  "Hm," Leto moaned, "it's hard to know what to make of this."
  Nashiran shifted his shoulders, immediately knowing his own opinion.  "First,
I'd like to know where these guys came from and what they're doing here?  How'd
they know exactly what to do when they showed up."
  "Maybe they've been watching us all this time, studying the Nazitans until
they could discover a weakness in their cyborgs," Lotia hypothesized. "If they
finally figured out what that is, becoming their allies would be useful."
  "Yeah, I know," Nashiran said, "but there's also the possibility that these
guys are some new enemy of both us and the Nazitans and figure that by gaining
the trust of the team that looks the most powerful, they can defeat both of
us."
  "I don't think so," Sheratan replied, "they're too powerful to care whether
or not we believe in them.  They could be somebody else with a reason to fight
with the Nazitans.  Maybe they were an old target of there's that's come back
to even the score."
  "No...  No...  That would be too easy of an answer," Australis replied,
shaking his head.  "It's just too hard to tell what their story is just from
what we know.  Which isn't much."
  "That's right," Sheratan interjected.  "These maybe's and could-be's aren't
real answers.  Now, I've been a fighter all of my life and have learned to
never mistrust someone who saves my life; but, you never turn a blind eye on
your friends either--no matter how often they come through for you."

     After noon, William's dark purple Toyota minivan drove westbound on Pico
Boulevard, shining in the sunlight radiating from the northeast sky.  In Will's
van, Ron sat in the passenger's seat beside him, looking bothered.  Knowing he
never holds onto any negative feelings unless the situation causing them is
recurring, William glanced over at him to double-check Ron's apparent
depression and then watched the road--preparing to speak unofficially. "Worried
about those Trirangers?"
  "Yeah," Ron lied.
  Will nodded.  "Kinda weird how they even use the same kind of weapons we do."
  "Uh huh," he lifelessly replied.
  "I got my finger caught in a pencil sharpener but it didn't feel all that
bad," Will humorously said, testing Ron's attention.
  Ron nodded and moaned, "Mmm hmm."
  Will grinned.  "You're not even listening to me, are you?"
  Ron nodded.  "Uh huh."
  "Ron," Will sternly called.
  "Yeah?"
  "The hell are you thinkin' about?" Will asked.  "You're acting weird.  Even
for you."
  Ron's lip got upturned.  "Dave's startin' to really startin' to tick me off."
  "Why, what'd he do this time?" Will asked.
  Ron sighed.  "Dave's always actin' like I don't know what the hell I'm doing
half the time."
  "What?  If that were the case," Will was saying, "he'd never ask you..."
  "No no," Ron interrupted, "not with the mission.  He knows I know more than
he does about technology but when it comes to the business end of our covert
mission, he thinks I'm some kid who needs a lesson in how to live."
  "Oh, I see."
  "I mean, I'm not some boy who doesn't know how to handle himself," Ron said.
"And Dave, standing up on his stage talking about me going out with Lucy when
he got all bent out of shape when he found out Beverly already had a lover."
  "Yeah, I see your point," Will replied, "but I think he's just trying..."  A
fountain of sparks erupted from the roadway ahead of himself and Will
immediately swerved to the right, cutting off a car in the lane behind the
minivan.  After the gray Honda honked at him, Will looked behind himself and
then ahead again.  "What the!"
  "William, look out!" Ron shouted.  The silver pixie flying overhead shot more
spinning stars of yellow light from its beady eyes and sparks exploded on the
roadway.  Will's minivan swerved in a zig-zag around the blasts and smoke as if
it were on a slalom.
  As the smoke and sparks rained beside the passenger-side window, Ron's
shoulders came up to protect the side of his head before looking at Will to his
left.  "William, stop this thing and let me out; call the others while I figure
out what's doing this!"
  "Ron, are you sure..."
  "YES!" Ron interrupted.  "Stop this thing before we get into an accident!"
  The red brake lights of his van flashed and Ron, in his white sneakers, pants
and t-shirt ran out of his vehicle before the engine loudly revved from Will
quickly accelerating again.
  Running around an America Bank branch on La Cienega Boulevard across the
street from a video rental, Ron moved towards the parking lot and jumped over
the low brick fence.  While he ran towards an ally to try and head whatever
that was off, Ron's face was bright with surprise when he stopped himself from
running.
  The slender, lightly-armored silver cyborg with the transparent wings like
crystal glittering in the sunlight stood before him once again.
  "Oh man!" Ron complained.  "They rebuilt it!"  Cyborg Hageta's feet came
together before launching into the air.  In the sky, it's arms were out as the
busty android swung overhead.   Two fists crashed into Ron's chest and in the
blue sky, his body was sent sailing backwards out of sight.  Trash cans were
knocked down by his body hitting them sideways.
  Banking, Cyborg Hageta turned around in the sky and Ron stood up looking into
the air.
  Hageta somersaulted overhead and landed in the ally in front of Ron before
slapping him across the face with its metallic hands.  He used his arms to
block its shin-kick but its side-kick to his shoulder made Ron stumble.
  Hageta ducked his punch and rammed its elbow into his abs, forcing him to bow
over prior to raising her fist into Ron's forehead.
  Cyborg Hageta pulled its arm back before launching its clenched fist straight
ahead.
  The blow to Ron lifted him off his feet before falling on the old, broken
asphalt.

     In the Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz, the sun glowed in the cloudless
blue sky directly above the two-story house in the Hollywood Hills.  The home
of the Terranians' was on the corner, one block north of Los Feliz Boulevard on
the residential road and at that intersection, Will's van turned left and south
to make another left turn into their driveway.
  In the living room, Amy tugged on her half-top and gasped.  "Damn A/C, wish
that repair person would show up."  Tom nodded.
  "Anyway, you're right.  It does seem like the whole reason Nazitans keep
coming to Earth is to abduct people," Amy continued.  "This time, they tried to
get people in bulk with this airplane.  It's already easily transportable."
The doorbell had sounded and Amy got off the sofa with a happy look on her
face.  "Ahhh, he's here."
  Dave walked down stairs, asking, "Who's here?"
  Before opening the door, Amy looked behind herself at Dave walking off the
staircase behind the front door.  "The repair man."  Looking through the window
of the door between the small drapes, she continued, "or not."  Unlocking the
chain, turn and knob locks, Amy pulled the door open.  "What are you doing here
so soon?  Didn't you take Ron to work?"
  "I sure did," Will answered before walking inside.  "The real work.
Apparently, Cyborg Haget's back but with a bigger stinger.  Ron told me to get
you guys while he tried to track it down and keep it from doing anymore
damage."
  "Well, we can bet that he's having zero luck after it made short work of us,"
Dave answered.  "Come on, let's get outta here."  Amy and Tom nodded as they
moved out the door with Dave and Will.

     Shooting backwards out of midair, Ron soared into view before he hit the
gravel and groaned, "Awgh!"  Cyborg Hageta crunched its knuckles while taking
deadly steps towards him.  Its blank, steel face unchanging as it gazed on Ron,
using his feet to push himself backwards over the ground.
  Your style of fighting is too familiar, Ron thought to himself.  "I don't
know how you found us but you're gonna be sorry you did!  Uhn!"  He pushed
himself off of his hands and back onto his feet.
  Cyborg Hageta ran after Ron and he also charged after it.
     Hageta's arm hooked Ron's body into a flip, causing him to tumble.
Hageta mercilessly stepped towards him as he struggled to stand up and
kicked him in the ribs before punching him across the face, knocking
him off his feet.
  A red Saturn turned into the right lane to park against the curb before the
engine was turned off and the door was opened.  Getting out of the car was
Lucy, the filled out blonde with little glasses and braided pig-tails.  The ATM
was within view as she approached it but the sound of her thick black shoes
clicking against the concrete sidewalk stopped when she heard some guy groan
when they hit a wall.  Recognizing the voice, she turned around and
walked back up the pavement.
     Cyborg Hageta's metallic silver arms were locked down onto Ron's
shoulders who struggled against it; he managed to break the grip but
Hageta's fists grabbed his shirt.
  On the pavement, Hageta put its feet together and jumped into the
air.  Its pink wings rapidly fluttered, generating sparkling light dust.
Meanwhile, Ron's white sneakers were dragged backwards over the ground
while he tried to pry the cyborg's hands off of his shirt.
  Over a concrete barrier in the asphalt for parked cars, his feet
tripped and Cyborg Hageta let Ron go.  His body flipped over and hit
the ground before rolling over multiple times.
  Lucy walked out into plain view of the alley before realizing what she saw.
Instead of screaming, Lucy ducked down behind an Isuzu truck and peeked from
behind the cab.
  Hageta pointed its right index finger before shooting more stars from
its bulging, golden eyes.
  Bright yellow sparks were like mist in midair.  "Aaaagh!" Ron shouted while
he writhed in flying off his feet.
  After dropping into the ground, his torn shirt blackened by the explosion,
Ron looked up with his hair in his face.  "Big mistake," he snarled.
  Standing up, he brought up his right fist shouting, "ChangeForm!" causing his
white diamond ring to glitter.
  From behind the truck, Lucy's eyes got wide as she whispered, "What's he
doing?!"
  With the sun behind his bruised head, Ron stood with his legs apart under the
blue sky before he shoved his right fist forth.
  Looking directly ahead, his fist came forth and Ron shouted, "AstroCharge!"
     Appearing before a red grid on a black background, Ron's body--a dark
silhouette, was scanned by a white beam of light that molecularly showered onto
his form the white helmet and shiny uniform of MercuryAstro.  The arrow ahead
design above the golden star on his silver belt shined brightly before the
flash blinded the view of the white Astroranger.
  Lucy hid her head behind the truck because the ray of light beaming past the
front of the truck she squatted behind was brighter than the sun itself.  When
she looked back, she gasped.
  Lucy's mouth hung open and didn't blink once.  "Oh my God..."
  The white Astroranger brought up both arms before forming a circle on the
left and an arch above his head.
  After tossing the white, gold-tipped baton upside down, Cyborg Hageta caught
it with the same hand and jumped into the air.
  Sparks exploded from MercuryAstro's battle suit when Hageta flew by, cracking
its baton against his chest.
  Lucy was startled by the loud bang from the blow and gasped.
  MercuryAstro held his smoldering chest while breathing deeply.  "So you like
to play with sticks, eh, flunky? Let's see how you like this," he said wrapping
his hands behind his back.  He drew his white PowerStaff and pointed it at
Cyborg Hageta with both hands.
  Falling out of the sky, Cyborg Hageta swung its baton downward.
     MercuryAstro batted the end of Hageta's baton with one end of his
staff before swinging the other end across its face.  The white
Astroranger rammed it into its abs and then into its face.
  Out of the air, Cyborg Hageta fell before rolling over.
     In the sky, MercuryAstro was somersaulting out of the
air--bringing down his PowerStaff in the process.  "Uuh-taiya!!"
  Sparks exploded from Cyborg Hageta's molded, metallic bosom when his
Celestial Weapon beat down on its chest.
  Lucy smiled when she watched him do that.  "I can't believe this!"
  Cyborg Hageta pointed at the white Astroranger and used that finger
to drag it across its own neck, indicating its intended fate for MercuryAstro.
Hageta jumped into the air and, in the sky, its wings fluttered--taking
the pixie cyborg further away.
  MercuryAstro ran into the spot where she'd taken off, holding his staff and
clenched his fist.  "Oh no you don't!  Galaxy Task Force Command: HydroCycle...
Ignition!"


 ACT II:

     The white HydroCycle's wings were deployed with MercuryAstro onboard.  His
grip on the handle-bars intensified as he increased his air speed velocity.  As
he flew by in the sky, he was joined by the red, green, black and pink flying
motorcycles. Briefly looking behind himself, MercuryAstro radioed, "glad you're
here.  I kicked that little android pixie's ass so it ran away."
  "Heh," SaturnAstro chuckled.  "Where is it anyway?"
  "I don't know, I can't find it," MercuryAstro answered.
  VenusAstro looked on her bike's terminal.  "Let me see if my HydroCycle
cyborg scanner can find it."  On the black screen--a map of the city had one
red dot superimposed flashing rapidly.  "(Boy that's a strong signal.)  I found
it.  It's headed northwest to the Santa Monica Airport."
  "Let's get on it," MarsAstro ordered as he banked to the left.  The other
HydroCycles turned off their original course to follow the cyborg.

     On a runway, a twin-engine, private jet plane was taking flight and
retracting its landing gear in the process.  Aboard, the pilot's head was
twisted too far in back of himself while laying slumped against the wall in the
cockpit.  Cyborg Hageta was seated while holding the steering wheel and looked
through the window.
  JupiterAstro saw business as usual at the airport while looking down and then
radioed ahead.  "Lotia, are you sure your scanners reported this location?"
  "The cyborg was here," VenusAstro answered, "but surface scans are turning up
nothing now."
  "Scan up to 3,000 feet above ocean level," MercuryAstro suggested, "remember,
it can fly and we don't know how high."
  Coming up from behind them was the private jet; SaturnAstro thought he saw
something but then the black Astroranger took a double take and looked ahead.
"Hey guys, look out below!"
  "What?" MarsAstro exclaimed.  The plane flew between the Astrorangers on
their flying motorcycles and MercuryAstro banked out of the way.
  JupiterAstro looked behind himself at the plane.  "That was too close, guys."
  "Is that dude out of his mind??" MarsAstro shouted.
  "Here he comes again!" VenusAstro cried out.  The plane banked around and
came after them head on.
  "Hey wait a minute," MercuryAstro gasped; as the airplane traveled towards
them, he could see through the windshield and saw Cyborg Hageta.  "That cyborg
is flying the plane!"
  "Scanners are reading human life signs," VenusAstro reported.
  MarsAstro looked behind himself at the pink Astroranger.  "Are they alive?"
  "Inconclusive!"
  "I say we jump for it before they aren't alive anymore," JupiterAstro
shouted.
  MarsAstro reached out, "Australis--wait!"  As the private jet plane flew by,
the green, black, white and pink Astrorangers jumped off of their HydroCycles.
  On the wings, the black and white Astrorangers landed on the left while the
pink and green Astrorangers ended up hanging off the right.
  "Where are those Trirangers when you need them?!" SaturnAstro shouted.
  "Come on, everybody--we gotta get in there now!" JupiterAstro also shouted.
  Inside of the jet airplane, the windows were smashed and the air flow was
causing everything small and lightweight inside to fly out the small windows as
the Astrorangers stepped inside.
  "I can't believe we just did that," VenusAstro remarked.
  MercuryAstro looked around as well as SaturnAstro--both having a feeling
something bad was about to happen.
  "That cyborg is gonna figure out we're in here pretty soon so lets hurry up
and get these people off this plane," JupiterAstro directed.
  SaturnAstro looked up.  "Too late!"  The door to the cockpit opened and
Cyborg Haget was there, clenching its fist and lurching forth to attack them.
  "The only way out is down!" VenusAstro shouted.
  MercuryAstro looked at her and replied, "then that's the way we're going!"
  Looking out of the window, SaturnAstro added, "We have no choice!  NOBODY'S
flying the plane!!"  From the black Astroranger's point of view, they were
literally pointed to the Earth as their altitude was rapidly dropping.
  In the sky, the private jet was spinning out of control as its falling speed
increased.
  "Take someone and jump!" JupiterAstro shouted while grabbing hold of a
passenger in a business suit.  "There're enough of us for everybody."
  "Ready," VenusAstro replied while holding a woman in a dress and big hat.
The black and white Astrorangers nodded while also holding fully dressed
passengers.
  "Let's get outta here!!" JupiterAstro hollered as he jumped out of the window
with the passenger in his hands.
  Outside, the four Astrorangers, holding the passengers, were flying out of
the broken windows of the private jet just before it began to crash into the
pavement.  The nose was getting crushed as the wings snapped off, smashing the
engines into the ground, busting the fuel line and causing an explosion to
begin.  The fire ripped through the body of the airplane from tail to cockpit 
before becoming entirely consumed in flames.
  Elsewhere, wind rushed against the black and white Astrorangers as they
landed with the passengers in their arms.  VenusAstro looked up and around
after landing while breathing heavily and watched the private jet explode
again, from the main gas tank catching fire.
  JupiterAstro looked at everyone.  "Are we okay?"
  Nodding, MercuryAstro caught his breath.  MarsAstro drove the red HydroCycle
down the runway until he reached the Astrorangers and stopped.  After throwing
down the kickstand, the red Astroranger ran up to them.  "Guys!!"
  The four of them stood up with the passengers as MarsAstro approached.  "Oh
man, Australis--I'm glad you all made it!"  JupiterAstro nodded.
  "So are we," SaturnAstro replied.
  MercuryAstro looked at everyone and said, "So much for that cyborg, huh?"
  "Yeah," MarsAstro replied.
  "Not quite," Ginara said.  MarsAstro turned around and jerked in surprise.
Standing from the neck down in the body of Cyborg Hageta was Ginara--and, upon
touching the dark jewel at the center of her tiara, her body was surrounded by
circling yellow lights that dissolved her costume.  After the lights completed
their cycle, Ginara stood within her own battle armor.
  "What the hell is going on here?" SaturnAstro slowly and seriously said.
  Ginara laughed.  "Your death!  ARMATONS!"
  Tearing off their clothes, the passengers the Astrorangers had previously
rescued were Armaton soldiers whom all jammed elbows into their respective
saviors.
  A black foot came swinging up and after the soldiers kicked skyward, all five
Astrorangers were knocked off their feet before landing on the runway and
rolling out.
  MercuryAstro looked up and shook his head.  "I don't understand any of this!
What's going on!?"
  "Fools," said Ginara, "it was so easy to trick you pathetic Astrorangers."
  MarsAstro stood up and pointed at her angrily.  "I HATE being lied to!"
  "Too bad," Ginara, "now, you're histor...  What the?"
  BlueNeptune jumped into the sky and flipped out of sight followed by the Gold
Triranger somersaulting diagonally out of the air before SilverPluto's body
flipped in the opposite direction out of sight.
  Assuming their triangular position, the three of them shouted, "TRIRANGER!"
  "Not you guys again!" Ginara shouted.  "Armatons, finish them first--we'll
save the Astrorangers for desert."
     SilverPluto's upper-cut crashed into an approaching Armaton's abs
before karate-chopping his back down.  Turning around, the silver
Triranger turned around and ground-sweep kicked another soldier into
tripping.
     In her libra-scales position, VenusAstro's raised hands caught two
high-striking rifles from Armatons before she stood one foot and used
her left leg to kick both of them down.
  An Armaton attacking from behind found her two white boots knocking
against its face in a tornado kick.
     GoldUranus used a punch the hurl an Armaton's body out of the way.
Turning around, a shin-kick from another soldier was held onto by the
gold Triranger's arms before stepping in to force the Armaton into
falling by lack of footing.
  In the sky, an Armaton's flying sidekick came in after him.
GoldUranus's white gloves caught the black foot of the automaton and
pushed back.  The Armaton fell backwards out of the sky before dropping
out of sight.
  Back flipping onto his hands and off onto his feet again, both of
MercuryAstro's arms blocked the karate chops of Armatons before he
knocked their arms out of the way and used both fists to knock them out.
  Two shin-kicks from two Armatons met BlueNeptune's raised right
forearm before his left came down to karate chop their legs down.
After, reverse punching the one on the right, the blue Triranger
blocked punch from the Armaton on the left before using it to flip it
onto its back.
     A hurricane kick from SaturnAstro knocked an Armaton out of sight.
While its body continuously hovered backwards, the black Astroranger
reversed punched two Armatons before running ahead and double-front
kicking down two more Armatons; downing five in all.
     Ginara somersaulted overhead and out of sight; rapidly ascending
into the sky, she end up into a flying side kick.  The red Astroranger
was kicked out of sight.
  Between Ginara's legs, one could see MarsAstro land on the ground.
  JupiterAstro turned to his left shouting, "Sheratan!"  The green Astroranger
immediately lept into the air.
  "Jupiter Great Red Spot Kick!" JupiterAstro shouted as his body soared
through the blue sky, twirling into a corkscrew kick.
  After touching her dark jewel, Ginara shouted "Yaa!!" and pointed her finger,
sending a yellow beam of light coursing out of her tiara, surrounded by a
spiraling blue ray.
  Sparks exploded from the green Astroranger as he dropped from the sky.  On
the ground, JupiterAstro landed on his back as he arched it from pain.
  VenusAstro stomped an Armaton's foot before going low to punch into its abs,
finally karate chopping its back.  Once he dropped, the pink Astroranger looked
up and said, "Australis needs help."
  "Soon enough you're all going to need help when I'm threw with you," Ginara
said to them.  "I'm mad as hell so I'm gonna take you there!"
  "Not if we can help it!" BlueNeptune replied.
  Ginara looked shocked.  "What?"
  SilverPluto came up into the sky and, with both feet--quickly flew ahead.
Two white boot covered feet hit Ginara's shoulders.
  GoldUranus surfaced into a reverse somersault that allowed him to plunge
ahead with both fists extended.  Those two white gloves crashed into her abs.
  Somersaulting out of the sky was BlueNeptune, swinging down his WaterSword in
his landing.  Sparks exploded from Ginara metallic armor after the blade of the
blue Triranger's sword struck her.
  Coasting overhead, Ginara's body sailed with her legs cycling in her
freefall.  While smoking, Ginara landed and could barely reach up.  "No more,"
she gasped before coughing.  "I surrender!"  The Astrorangers stopped charging.
  "Huh?" MarsAstro exclaimed.
  "What?" MercuryAstro also reacted.
  ``Ginara never surrenders!'' JupiterAstro thought to himself.  Suddenly, the
Armitons and Ginara vanished and the Trirangers stood side by side facing the
Astrorangers.
  "What gives here?" MarsAstro asked.
  "Where did Ginara and the Armitons go?" VenusAstro asked.
  BlueNeptune stood forth.  "Astrorangers, meet your doom."  GoldUranus fired
from his Triton Gun a beam of red that streamed into the sky.
  A thick iron pole holding up high-voltage electrical cables was severed
immediately by the beam, causing sparks to blast out from the laser cutting
through.
  "What the?" SaturnAstro exclaimed, "he missed??"
  VenusAstro looked over and held her fist beneath her chin.  "No he didn't!"
  In the blue sky, the tall tower began to fall over.
  MarsAstro shouted, "Dive!!"  The tower crashed into the ground and the live
wires hit the ground, causing sparks to fly everywhere.
  Elsewhere, the five Astrorangers rolled out and into place. "It was a trick!"
SaturnAstro shouted while getting up.  "Damn it--I knew it!!"
  MarsAstro stood up angrily and assumed his battle position.  "Celestial
Weapons!!"  The red Mars FireSword, black Saturn BattleScythe, green Jupiter
ThunderBow, white Mercury PowerStaff and pink Venus Sonic Boomerang appeared in
their hands and aimed them. The Triranger team had drawn from behind their back
the Blue WaterSword, Gold BreakerAxe and Silver LightningSpear and attacked.
     SaturnAstro and GoldUranus clashed weapons twice on each side in
the air and SaturnAstro attempted the flying Saturn ring kick.
  GoldUranus knew to duck from watching him fight the Armitons, when it didn't
work, SaturnAstro said, "Uh oh!"  GoldUranus turned around to swing his axe
into the black Astroranger's chest.
  Sparks blasted SaturnAstro into flipping him over onto his back.
     MercuryAstro swung down with his PowerStaff and SilverPluto
blocked with his LightningSpear.  "This is how to handle a staff," SilverPluto
said while knocking MercuryAstro's staff clear.  SilverPluto swung back up
causing the white Astroranger's suit to blast with sparks and fall back into
the ground.
  JupiterAstro shot two arrows at SilverPluto, he knocked both away with his
spear and leaped to the side to roll clear.
  Rising again, SilverPluto turned upside down into his left hand the spear and
drew the red rod like weapon from his belt-mounted holster.  "Triton Weapon..."
SilverPluto pulled out the core and pushed it down to form the handle.  "Triton
Gun!"  Several beams of red light zapped the ground where JupiterAstro stood as
he was surrounded in towers of sparks exploding, generating a huge white cloud
JupiterAstro fell backwards into.
     GoldUranus drew his Triton Gun and aimed it at SaturnAstro; he
turned his BattleScythe upside down into his left hand and drew his
Moleculatom Blaster.
  Standing directly opposite each other, they opened fire.  The
electric blue beam and red laser-thin beam hit each other dead on and
caused sparks to blast back both GoldUranus and the black Astroranger
off their feet.
  Before a black background, VenusAstro held the edge of her boomerang and
brought her other hand from tip to tip causing it to glow pink with energy.
  "Sonic Boomerang Thunder Blow!" she called out as she flung it into the air.
In the sky, the spinning boomerang gained more speed and became glowing disc.
  SilverPluto, stood before another black background crossed his arms,
"Plutonian AntiGrav--Force Out!" he's shouted causing rings of light to emanate
from his palms.
  The laser disc flew through the sky but when it encountered the rings was
taken off course and returned to the pink Astroranger.
  "Uh oh--you guys?!" she called.  The others turned to look as her sonic
Boomerang returned.  "Hit the deck!!"
  The five Astrorangers were soon blown back by a massive dust cloud that had
exploded when the disc returned.  SilverPluto was joined by GoldUranus and
BlueNeptune.  "You wont win, Astrorangers; surrender now!" SilverPluto ordered.
The Astrorangers attempted to get up as they looked at them.
  "The loan on your borrowed time here has just been called in and now we know
the secret to your powers!" GoldUranus told them.  "Now, you will all perish
for standing in our way all of this time."
  Smoking, MercuryAstro stood up.  "I wont die without taking you with me!!"
  "So be it," BlueNeptune said, bringing up his sword, "embrace oblivion..."
BlueNeptune sliced down on MercuryAstro and then turned around to cut
past his uniform.  BlueNeptune turned around and struck down one final
time as the third blast of sparks knocked the white Astroranger into
flipping over onto the ground.
  Down the street, police cars came to replace the ones already at the scene.
One of the units arriving was the K-9 Unit and Officer Beverly Tenmei got out
with her dog King and looked at all of the damage.  "What in the world happened
here?"
  A car with no strobe light abruptly braked to a halt when Sanchez and Mahoney
got out.  They looked over into the construction yard, now a battle field
filled with towers of sparks bursting everywhere.  "Officer Tenmei, try to find
our down men.  We'll try to secure the parameter," Sanchez said.  She nodded
and headed off with King while another police officer came up to Frank.
"Detective Mahoney, we have no idea how this airport got attacked but when we
were called, this was already happening!"
  "Thanks, Steve, we'll take it from here," Frank replied.  Officer Tenmei and
her dog King looked for officers down.  The brown Siberian husky found one of
them and started barking.
  "Good work, King," Beverly said to her dog as she leaned down to check his
position.  More sparks exploded close by and she jerked back.  King grew scared
and she knew he was.  "Hang in there, boy--we've just got to find the rest of
them and bring them back."  Beverly gained a disturbed look on her face as she
realized this one was dead.  "Come on, King..."
     BlueNeptune somersaulted overhead and out of sight while MarsAstro
watched.  BlueNeptune flipped over and cut him down with the blade of
his sword blasting him off his feet after a burst of sparks.
  MarsAstro tumbled over holding his FireSword and got up again.
"Die, Astroranger." BlueNeptune groaned while running after him with his blue
WaterSword.  MarsAstro ran after him with his Red FireSword.
    Passing and striking each other at the same time, their blades sparked off
each others uniforms.  "You've got another thing coming if you think I'll be
beaten by you!" MarsAstro told him while turning around to cut across.
BlueNeptune's the golden shield of blasted with sparks on contact.
  BlueNeptune kicked the FireSword blade away with a roundhouse kick
and swung his sword into MarsAstro's side. "You are brave but not intelligent!"
  The red Astroranger blocked his blade with his sword.  "Your swordsman ship
isn't as good as your imagination," MarsAstro said while cutting upwards.
He tried to slice down but BlueNeptune's sword was already positioned
horizontally in the way.  He took his WaterSword away and knocked away
MarsAstro's FireSword.
  "Neither is yours," BlueNeptune replied while striking out; sparks to
exploded off the uniform of MarsAstro's chest. 
  The red Astroranger hit the ground and rolled away smoking as the
others gathered around him. "Sheratan, are you hurt?"
  "No but these guys are tough--they've got more power than all the
cyborgs I've ever fought put together!"
  GoldUranus stood in front of a black background and assumed his battle
position.  "Uranian AirForce--Force Out!"  A wind storm started and
four of the Astrorangers, two by two, flew backwards; up against the
wall, they crashed into it and then fell out on to the ground.
MarsAstro rolled away just in time with his sword still in hand.
  BlueNeptune stood before a black background holding his WaterSword as
the guard's circular shaped core started spinning like a generator.
"TRIRANGER Weapon!"  The blade started to glow from base to tip.
"Blue WaterSword flood!"
  "Celestial Weapon!" MarsAstro shouted standing before another black
background.  He held his sword diagonally and ran his fingers the length
of the blade turning it red.  "Mars FireSword Blaze!" he shouted as he swung
out forcing the energy to shoot off his sword's blade.
  The flaming energy from MarsAstro's sword flew through the sky, meanwhile the
tsunami like flood approached.  They came together and the flame was washed
over by the WaterSword's stream of water.
  The stream of water that flushed MarsAstro swung him backwards through the
sky.
  "Triton Lasers!" all three Trirangers announced, firing from their Triton
Guns at MarsAstro in midair as his uniform was smoking from several blasts of
sparks.
  He dropped onto the ground with the rest of the Astrorangers.  "Ugh!  What
the hell was that?"
   "I don't know," MercuryAstro answered.  "I've never seen anything like that
before."
  GoldUranus and SilverPluto ran towards BlueNeptune with their weapons in hand
and switched positions to prepare for the ultimate attack.  "Trirangers, the
finale is near--activate the CometCannon!"
  In a black setting, the three of them held up their hands and a large bazooka
type weapon materialized in their hands.  "CometCannon activation!"
  "Oh, I don't like this," MarsAstro said.
  JupiterAstro looked at everyone else.  "Everybody brace yourselves!"
  The three of them pulled back the large handle that was the trigger.  "Fire!"
A wide beam of yellow light streamed out of the cannon's barrel.  In the air,
the beam pulsed forth powerfully.
  A powerful, fire-filled explosion blew the Astrorangers into the sky as they
all flipped over and dropped away from the thick black smoke.  Tiny fires
burning everywhere on the ground from the massive explosion as the smoking
Astrorangers layed there motionless.
 

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    


Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . .

Lucy gets caught in the cross fire as Ginara returns as a titan to take
advantage of a helpless Earth and in case she encounters resistance, the
Trirangers have CosmoTron to crush the opposition in episode 25, "Evil Mecha
Arrives"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"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]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------