[971012] [Preview] Dave disagrees with Amy's wish to be married while on Earth. Meanwhile, Cyborg Illusion terrorizes the Astroranger task force with nightmare fantasies so they will be paralyzed, and not able to stop Tortan from taking Earth's Solar Sphere in Episode No. 46, "Terrorism" -- next! [Title Theme] Artist Bros. Enterprises presents . . . GALAXY TASK FORCE ASTRO RANGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Starring... Sheratan Kasei, a.k.a., Dave Marcello. MarsAstro! Australis Mokusei, a.k.a., Will Richards. JupiterAstro! Nashiran Dosei, a.k.a., Tom Nevison. SaturnAstro! Messuta Suisei, a.k.a., Ron Michaeli. MercuryAstro! Lotia Kinsei, a.k.a., Amy Leven. VenusAstro! Beverly Tenmei. EarthAstro! and... Commander Leto, a.k.a., Dr. Aaron Hanson. Featuring... Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez. with... Captain Tony Fleishman. ACT I: In the Hollywood Hills, it was windy in the Los Angeles suburb Los Feliz with big white clouds in the blue sky over the Terranian's house, a block south of the main thoroughfare as indicated by the traffic signal. Inside, the kitchen was brightly illuminated by sunlight through the window above the sink. In blue jeans and a pink t-shirt, Amy was pouring pancake batter on a grill and bent down to open the toaster in the oven to check toast and other side-dishes for breakfast. While Amy bent over, Dave, in a bathrobe snuck into the kitchen from out of the downstairs bathroom and and put his arms around her waist. She stood up and grinned. "Good morning, Dave." "Mmm-morning, Amy," he sighed. "Beautiful day today." Dave pecked off her cheek and she smiled. "Yeah, but now I have to get the eggs on," she replied. Dave kissed her on the neck. "Heh, you're playful today." "Well, the day isn't the only beautiful thing around here," he replied while grinning. Dave untucked Amy's shirt, slipped his hands under it and slid his fingers up her abdomen between her ribs. "Ah-ah-ah, Dave," Amy said while grabbing his hand. "If we get started, we're not stopping and I don't think Tom would appreciate burnt pancakes." Dave took his hand out of Amy's shirt and grinned. "Ah, to hell with him." Amy laughed out loud. "Dave!" "Oh okay," he playfully moped. Dave hopped up onto the counter and looked at her. "It's just that I had such a nice shower and I was thinking that perhaps you and I could share one." "You know," Amy began before taking two slices of toast out of the bread toaster, "that wouldn't be a half bad idea." "I know," he confidently replied. "When our mission is finally over, we are just going to have so much fun, we wont even need to pack any clothes for our honeymoon." Amy laughed. "Ah, Dave... I never thought I'd see the day we'd actually be engaged." Dave looked at his ring, fashioning it against the white walls of the kitchen. "Me either but I'm glad it's happened." Amy put pancakes on one plate and buttered them. "You know I'm actually looking forward to the ceremony." Dave went to get a glass of orange juice. "Me in a big beautiful wedding gown and you all dressed up in a hansom tuxedo while..." Dave interrupted her after finishing his first sip. "That's not how weddings on Terrania are held." "I know," Amy lightly replied before applying syrup. "I was thinking that perhaps we could have a wedding here--on Earth." "Oh Earth?? Mm, Amy," Dave groaned, "I dunno..." Amy stopped what she was doing. "Oh, come on, Dave--live a little! Not everybody from Terrania can say they got married on another _world_." "Yeah I know, but," Dave sighed. "I don't know anybody from our world who could say they'd _want_ to be married in a civilization like this." Amy remained silent. Dave finished his glass of orange juice. "I mean, we're only here because we have to be right??" "If you say so," Amy quietly replied. Dave smiled and walked next to her. "When we finish our mission, we'll be able to go home and have a wedding with all of our friends. Hell, even bring Beverly along. I'm sure that she could handle it after becoming an Astroranger." "I know," Amy quickly replied, "but I wanted to get married here." Dave sighed and left the kitchen. Episode 46: "Terrorism" In orbit of Earth's Sun is the ice-covered Pluto and beneath the gray planet's surface was the Nazitan outpost; within the primary chamber, Adol the Great sat within his iron-clad throne before Pleadia and Igan standing on the floor below the steps that led to his throne. "I want everyone to know that I want to see the recent success of these past few missions continued. And that will be ensured if the Astroranger task force is suspended for as long as possible while we find the last solar sphere," Adol ordered. "The one on Earth; ideas?" Igan nodded. "There have been instances of paralysis through shock. Usually induced by fear. I submit we scare the Astrorangers to death." "Hardly amusing, Igan," Adol sniped. "We've thrown the worst mutants Pleadia has conjured up in his career at that battle team. If anything, warriors aren't easily scared." "Perhaps then we need to exploit the worst fear of each Astroranger in order to induce a catastrophic failure to perceive reality," Pleadia suggested. "And what could that be?" Pleadia shrugged. "We don't know but we don't need to do. Cyborg Illusion can uncover hidden thoughts that the task force may have that frighten them. If properly exaggerated, they can be made to seem real enough to put them into a state of a coma." "Make it so. We need the final solar sphere, otherwise--this all goes up in smoke," Adol warned. "Igan, pay attention to what Illusion finds that they are afraid of. We may learn some interesting things that we could use to our advantage." Near downtown Los Angeles at a Junior Highschool, Peter, the pre-teenaged, precocious boy Amy had run into on her way from work sat in the cafeteria. He was alone in front of his fish sticks while tapping a pencil against his tray and reading papers that he'd written. It wasn't homework but the letter he was writing to Amy. Suddenly Jose and Xavier, two of three academic failures two years older than him showed up behind Peter. Jose nabbed the paper and Peter threw up his hands. "Of course." "Hey, Peter--homework during lunch? I'm impressed! For a minute there, we almost had figured you had a life," Xavier commented. Jose laughed. "Well, why aren't you bothering your sister about getting a life, Xavier? Or are you making too much money from her standing around on street corners appealing to guys too ugly to get it the legal way." "Hey, shut up, man." Jose grinned. "So what is this, anyway? This don't look like no long division." Peter raised an eye, wondering why they'd still be doing division by the seventh grade. "Gimme that," Xavier said, snatching it out of Jose's hands. Peter frowned. "Hey, take it easy, guys." "Naw stupid, this ain't no homework--this is some kinda letter," Xavier sniped. "Let's see here." Peter crossed his arms and sighed. Xavier chuckled. "Heh-heh, check it, Jose. This is some kinda sickening note to a girl, I bet. It's hard to read it with all those long ass words." "Heh," Peter sneered, "buy a thesaurus." "Hey, you you wanna shut up?" Xavier said. "So who is this girl?" Peter raised an eyebrow again. "Thank God for her, she doesn't go to this school." "So where does she live?" Jose asked. "What are you, stoned? Oh wait a minute, of course you are. Unlike you, I'm not dumb enough to answer that." Xavier threw Peter's letter at him. "You know, I'm gettin' sick of your smart mouth, wise guy; I'm thinkin' about closing it--permanently." "And how's about I expel you--permanently," said a balding man in a suit and tie. "How many times has your parents had to call me up, begging me not to throw you out of this Junior Highschool now?" Jose looked as if he were about to cry, much to Xavier's humiliation. "Aw come on, Cecil..." "That's Mister Harrleson to you, JOE; why don't you go to class, huh?" "But, Mr. Harrleson--we got fifteen more minutes!" "Then I guess you'll be the first one's in class, wouldn't it?" the principle said. "Listen you two, I've had it with you turning this campus into your hang out. And, as far as I'm concerned, you guys are already D.O.A. with where you're going but while I've gotta worry about the students here, you losers are gonna try and straighten up and fly right, you understand me?" "Yeah, we get you," Xavier said. "Come on, Jose--let's split." Jose jumped off the cafeteria booth seat leaving Peter alone, yet again. Xavier walked away and then looked behind himself at Peter, muttering, "Weenie." Peter exhaled and shook his head, thinking how unfit he is for such an environment. Continuing to read his letter, he proof read the last sentences: In any case, I know this seems strange and that it's pretty shocking but I can't help how I feel--I can only hope that we can be friends even after knowing that I like you, Amy. More than anyone else I've ever known. Peter sighed and put his pencil away. "Unlike the gift, I hope you accept this, Amy." Mid-afternoon at the house in Los Feliz--Ron came out of the study holding a sheet of music, humming a tune to himself. Meanwhile, Beverly, wearing a denim shorts and a bikini top, walked in to the living room holding a brown paper bag. She saw Ron and thought he'd be perfect for what she'd about to try. "Hey, Ron," Beverly said. Ron looked up, not paying attention and looked up at a silly rubber mask being worn by Beverly. "Oh." Beverly took off the mask and looked at Ron walk past her. "Uh, didn't that spook you?" "Uh, wasn't paying attention--working on a new song that Tom and I recorded last night," Ron said while looking at sheets of printed up music. "Got it stuck in my head since I've spent the past, like, hour mixing it." "How come you're not at work?" Beverly asked. "Well, they laid off some evening people at the beginning of the year so now, instead of delivering packages, I'm moving the overnight stuff. Oh, by the way you wouldn't happen to know where Tom is, would you?" "I wouldn't but Dave would. He and Tom both went out together but I'm not sure what they're doing or when they're gonna be back. Maybe Will might know." "Yeah, he's like the household's own shuttle van service," Ron remarked. "Say where'd you get that novelty mask from anyway?" "I won it at the Santa Monica Pier," Beverly answered. "I decided to get an early start on the beach before I had to go to work given how it was such a great day." Ron nodded after a sudden realization. "That would explain your attire." "Yeah, besides, I was tired of cramping you guys' style by hanging around here until I had to go to work," Beverly said. "You know, the infestation at Sasha's house. Ran out of the shower one day 'cause somethin' weird came out of the drain." "Ehhl gross," Ron groaned. "Well--anyway... I'm gonna go see if I can find Tom; later, Bev." "Bye, Ron," Beverly answered. In a vast region of grass and trees at the south end of Griffith Park, Tom sat in front of a rock holding an acoustic guitar. It had taken him quite some time to find a spot where nobody else was around. Tom plucked out the melody of the song Ron recorded for which Amy had sung to Dave with the title Closer Than Friends with his own lyrics to the song. You have reached, your darkest hours before. And you can see that I know your pain. Unlike before. Never feel, that you're out of the game for life. You can beat all the odds, I swear. It'll end your strife. Even though--your heart was given pain. Don't be sad--please know that you are loved. Understand, that your life wasn't in vain. Never let them keep you down... Tom continued to strum more chords on his guitar while he stared out into the field. Reminiscing, he began to thinking about the first few times he'd ever met the only human he'd ever met that he thought of as a friend... Sara stood up and walked towards the kitchen. "Debbie and Megan (you remember me mentioning them, right?)..." Tom nodded again. "(Yeah sure...)" "The reason I've been able to stick with them so long and vise versa is that we all seem to be outside everyone's concept of what a woman should be," Sara said from the kitchen. Returning to the doorway, she opened a can of root beer. "Maybe I need to start a new club; friends of the un-befriendable." Tom laughed. Sara smiled and walked, her foot swung into a speaker attached to her stereo system and stubbed her toe. "Oww... Argh!" Tom got up to see if she'd cut her toe as she sat down to rub her foot. "Sorry. This is the second time today," Sara said. "Ooh, this smarts..." Tom grabbed her foot. "Here, let me..." In too much pain to care, Sara let Tom apply pressure to specific parts of her foot to relieve the pain. Sara was surprised by the sharpness leaving the bruise on her small toe. "You know, since I've learned more about you, Sara, I can understand why it is you felt you had call a gardener when you didn't need to," Tom said. Sara smiled coyly. "I wasn't going to go through with it but Debbie had prepared me with things to say and even told me to let my lawn go for a few weeks before calling to be more convincing." "Seems like they had it all figured out. I can understand why you wouldn't want to do this," Tom replied. "Under most circumstances, most people wouldn't understand." Sara nodded. "That was their logic. They figured, if you were strange enough to stick around after this, you were the one. I guess I went through with it because I was tired of having to deal with always being alone." The conversation had taken her mind off the pain in her toe. Tom nodded. "Okay, how does your foot feel?" Sara wiggled her toes and smiled. "It feels better, thanks." "Something I picked up along the way somewhere," Tom replied while standing up. "Go ahead and stand on it." Sara stood up effortlessly. "Thanks a lot, Tom. You should be a masseuse, not a gardener," she said with a grin. Tom shook his head to the contrary. "I'd like to think that all my clients would be a pretty as you." Sara grinned and chuckled. Tom finished his song and pondered why it is people like that are often a prime victim of this society. Quite suddenly, he heard a female voice scream out; Tom put his guitar down and alertly looked around. "Help!!!" was screamed in a familiar voice. He stood up and walked around, increasing pace until he began to jog and eventually run. Tom came to the top of the hill and looked down, Armaton soldiers had tied a woman in torn clothes with long black hair to a stake while coal were set aflame beneath her bare feet. "What the hell?!" Tom shouted. He ran down the side of the hill towards the black robotic soldiers in the field. An Armaton punched right at him but he grabbed its arm, knee-kicked its abs and elbow-hammered its neck. Another soldier came flying in with a high-spinning kick that Tom ducked. Tom's forearm blocked two soldiers rifles swinging against him, winding his arm, Tom separated the weapons and turned around to spin-kick both of them across the face. Overhead, an Armaton somersaulted out of the sky and Tom looked at the soldier plunge through the air. Over Tom's head, the Armaton's body was pushed past himself. A high-strike from another soldier's bladed rifle was caught by Tom's fist. Tom rammed his elbow into the Armaton's abs and dropped low to sweep-kick the soldier right off its feet. He got up to spin-kick down another soldier running in. "Help me!!" the woman shouted again. "Tom, please!" Tom flipped an Armaton onto its back and turned around to look at her. "Sara!?" The fire that was beneath her was at full strength. "I'll get you out of there, so help me!" Tom shouted before leaping into the air. In the sky, Tom somersaulted over and landed behind Sara. He used his superior strength to tear apart the rope. "There!" he said after taking a deep breath. "Go! Run!" All of a sudden, towers of sparks had exploded everywhere. Tom dropped onto the grass, his clothes smoking. When he managed to pull his head up, his blackened eyes saw Sara stumble over into the bonfire that was set near her. "Oh NO!!" he cried out. The flames began to consume the ragged clothes she wore while rolling over in the grass. Black smoke left Sara's burning clothes and Tom got up, running after her shouting, "Sara!!" Armaton soldiers gathered around him and grabbed tight hold of his shoulders while he strained to resist. Tom helplessly watched as she watched Sara burn alive. "Sara!" he yelled. In Griffith Park, Tom had actually never left his spot in front of the rock. Still holding his guitar, Tom sat motionless while staring blankly into space with his mouth open; standing before him was a humanoid in light reflective silver armor with a bald, gas-masked head and face. Cyborg Illusion, holding a modified television news camera on Tom's eyes, turned off a ray that had been focused on his eyes and walked away. ACT II: Eastbound on Franklin Avenue, Peter rode his bicycle down the sidewalk and turned southbound onto Vermont Avenue that late afternoon. Meanwhile, in the parking lot of the post office there, a red Pontiac Trans Am drove into a space in the parking lot and Dave, in his security-guard's uniform, got out of his car. After closing the door and arming the alarm, he'd walked into the office. Through another door, Peter, holding his letter, also entered the postal facility. Peter entered a hall featuring walls of gold post office box doors and turned a corner to enter the lobby on his way to the service windows. Meanwhile, Dave had left the lobby to visit the post office boxes to check his. Both in a rush, they collided. "Woah, look out, kid!" Dave smiled and said. "You okay?" "Yeah, thanks," Peter replied; suddenly, the sun shined off Dave's badge and his eyes darted to avoid the sunlight. What he saw was "Dave Marcello" engraved on the name plate. That rang a bell; in the white pages--he and Amy Leven had shared the same telephone number. "Hey, wait a minute, sir--is that your box?" Dave grinned. "Who's asking?" "I'm sorry, my name is Peter Lum--you've probably never heard of me, but, I'm a friend of Miss Leven's." "Amy?" he asked. "You're right, I haven't heard of you. How are you friends?" "Well, we're not really 'friends'-friends but... She and I took the subway home together and bailed me out of some deep trouble with a couple of losers so I thought I'd write her a note thanking her for helping me out," he answered, "especially when that earthquake messed up our subway." That rang a bell; when he was MarsAstro, Dave had seen her and Peter together. "Well, listen--you can send it to this box right here. We've stopped having a lot of our mail delivered at home and--actually... You could just give it to me. I'll make sure she gets it." "No that's okay, I'd rather she be the only one who reads it. By the way, I don't mean to pry but, how come you and her have the same phone number? I know this 'cause she asked me to look her up," Peter explained. "Well, me and four other people share the same house to split the bills. We were friends in high school so now we've got different jobs to save up for university tuition," Dave answered. "How's that?" Peter looked over and noticed the genuine diamond ring on Dave's finger beside his ruby stoned ring. "I guess those rings are heirlooms then; no way could you afford it trying to save up for college." "Well, not both of them," Dave said. "One of them is an engagement ring." "Really?" Dave smiled and nodded. "Yeah, you know--speaking of Amy, she's the one I'm engaged to." He sighed; "I just hope we do get married. We got into a little disagreement over how we were going to get married." Peter's forehead wrinkled while he squinted, his mind became very preoccupied. "Peter?" Peter blinked and shook his head. "Uh, yeah..." Dave sighed. "Oh well--things will work out in the end. Well, at least, I hope so anyway." "Well, I know it's none of my business but Amy seems like a woman that you'd have to be a fool to take for granted," Peter commented. "I'd gotten more out of spending less than an hour with her than years with any given girl at my school. Don't let go of that--they just don't make 'em like that anymore. She deserves a good man and it seems like you'd have to be in order for her to want to want to spend the rest of her life with you. If not yourself, make her the happiest person in the world." Dave was silenced by surprise over his mature commentary. "I dont know what to say... You're right. She's worth it--whatever it may be." During Dave's pause to cogitate on his words, Peter began to realize the reality of the situation. "Anyway, I need to be going..." Peter said while he moved backwards towards the exit. He dropped his papers on the floor and left. "Hey, uh, Peter, you left your..." Dave called out the door to him. He'd purposefully left the letter behind while getting on his bike and riding away. Dave closed the door and appeared confused. He looked at the paper in his hand and slowly unfolded the sheets. ``Dear Amy, I know that you hardly remember me but in case you forgot, I'm the one on the subway when it derailed because of the earthquake. Anyway, I can't think of much to say except thanks for being there for me. Out of all the people I've ever met in my life, you are the only who I've yet to forget about as soon as I've stopped seeing you. I guess you could call it a crush but whatever it is, I know it's real. You probably don't feel the same way, I know, but if there's any chance we could be together in the future, I'd be willing to wait.'' Dave skipped a page, not feeling right in reading it all. ``In any case, I know this seems strange and that it's pretty shocking but I can't help how I feel--I can only hope that we can be friends even after knowing that I like you, Amy. More than anyone else I've ever known. Love, Peter.'' Dave looked up and began to realize something. That there are no guarantees in life and that he could lose Amy. It would be a mistake to not do everything in his power to make sure that his fiance would be his forever. Southbound on Main Street, a black and white Chevrolet Caprice police car was making a right turn onto Pico Boulevard. Inside of the K-9 unit, Officer Beverly Tenmei listened to her radio while keeping an eye on the sidewalks. The traffic signal changed from yellow to red and the red brake lights in back of her car also had been illuminated while she slowed to stop at the cross walk. She took off her hat to wipe her forehead. "Argh, Air conditioning still doesn't work. Need a drink." Accelerating again, the police car had driven into the parking lot of a supermarket. After parking and turning off her engine, Beverly unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the LAPD car. "I'll be right back boy, don't worry," she told her dog King. Beverly rubbed the brown husky's head and walked away. Behind a fence, Cyborg Illusion hid behind the brick wall section of the lot. Officer Tenmei reduced the volume of her belt-mounted radio before entering the store when she saw Sasha walking out of the parking lot and turning the corner. Beverly looked to her side and saw Sasha walking behind the wall into the residential section of the neighborhood. Beverly smiled and called out. "Hey!" Sasha kept walking as if she did not hear her. "Sasha!" Beverly walked through the parking lot, passing people who didn't know what she who she was calling to. On the sidewalk, Sasha walked down the sidewalk and Beverly slightly jogged behind. "Hey, wait up; I know you can hear me." Sasha turned the corner heading down an alley and when Beverly also came upon the narrow road between buildings she Sasha standing there. In front of her was a man in a three-piece suit and tie. Raising his arm, his fist held a gun while wearing a black glove at Sasha. Beverly stopped and grew alert. "Freeze! Police!" she shouted while drawing her service weapon. Sasha had not moved or said anything; she merely stood and before Beverly could make sense of what was going on, a shot was fired from the anonymous gunman which caused air to explode from Sasha's shoulder before going down. Beverly had jumped against a wall to avoid catching the bullet after shooting through Sasha. When she stopped to look into the alley again, the anonymous one walked away while Sasha layed on the old and broken asphalt with a red stain in back of her blouse. Officer Tenmei dropped to her knees beside Sasha and put two fingers at the base of her neck. She looked down and then grabbed her radio. "This is unit B-101-E, I've got a possible 187 at Pico and Grand; request for paramedics, over?" There was no answer on her radio. "This is unit B-101-E to dispatch, do you read me??" She let go of the radio, dropping it on the ground and began to kneel over Sasha's body. In the parking lot of the supermarket, Officer Tenmei sat within her police car, blankly staring out of the frame of her car door's window to her left. The evening sun began to descend behind the house in Los Feliz while in the drive way was Dave's red Trans Am. Inside, Dave walked into the living room and closed the door behind himself. "Hi, guys." "Hey, Dave," Ron greeted. "Any idea where Tom is?" Dave nodded. "Sure; he asked me to drop him off at Griffith Park by the horse stables. Why? Isn't he back yet?" Will shook his head. "Hm. That's strange--he said he was gonna catch the bus and be here at 3:30. What time is it?" "4:15" Will answered. "Something's wrong. Tom's usually very punctual and I can't seem to contact Beverly via LAPD H.Q." "Sounds like to me we better make sure everything's all right," Ron said. "Let go guys..." Dave shook his head. "Count me out, fellas; I'm waiting for Amy to come home so you'll have to go on without me." "All right, but if we run into trouble, I'm gonna page you," Will told Dave, "okay?" Dave nodded. Will opened the front door. "Let's go, Ron." In Griffith Park, the lawn had a traveling lump roll underneath the surface of the turf. Elsewhere, Ron, in a white t-shirt and sneakers with denim shorts walked with William who wore a sweater over a green dress shirt with dress shoes and corduroy pants. "How can you stand to wear shorts, Ron?" Will asked. "It's 60 degrees out here." Ron shrugged. "It's what I'm most comfortable in. Any sign of Tom?" "Not yet," Will answered. "Dave said he was quite a hike from the horse stables." "While you were parking the van, I talked to some guy named Tim who said he saw a man with a guitar right around here somewhere," Ron said. "We've got to be close." "Yeah--I just wanna make sure that everything's all right," Will said. "Hey; over there." Ron nodded. "Come on, let's go see if he isn't sleeping or something." The two of them began to run towards the bicycle path that led down the hill. Behind them was the rolling lump that followed. Will slowed down while Ron came close to Tom who sat perfectly still with his mouth open, starring blankly into space, not blinking once. "Hey, hey--Tom..." "Ron," Will groaned, "he isn't sleeping. Something's the matter with him." Ron knelt down beside him. "Yeah, I know..." He snapped his finger in front of his face and also waved his hand in front of his eyes. "Boy, Tom definitely zoned out." Behind Ron stood a gas-masked humanoid in silver, reflective armor. "I knew something was wrong," Will complained. "What could've did this?" "Good question," Ron said before standing up. He looked behind Will and saw the bald cyborg with the gas-masked face. "Will! What is that?!" Will turned his head and asked, "Huh?" A distorted television news camera was pointed at his face and the lense had shined a ray into Will's face. In a matter of moments, Will's face became expressionless--his eyes not blinking. He stared into space and Ron came in front of him, waving a hand across his eyes. "Will! Hey! Wake up!" Ron turned around and saw Illusion change targets. "I'm gettin' outta here!" Ron leaped out of the way just as Illusion turned on the camera. Ron hit the grass and rolled over several times. When he looked up, Ron found the cyborg approaching him. "Why does this always happen to me?" Ron stood up looking straight ahead. "ChangeForm to white MercuryAstro!" he announced while bringing up his right fist. "AstroCharge!!" Forcing his fist forth, the diamond Genesis Gemstone on his gold ring flashed brilliantly. In the vast field of grass, the white Astroranger appeared and struck his battle position. "All right!" Cyborg Illusion took his camera and threw it into the air. MercuryAstro looked into the sky and watched it flip and somehow shape-shift into a spiked mace. Cyborg Illusion caught the iron weapon and stepped towards the Astroranger. "I don't know what you've done to Thomas and William but I'm gonna make sure you can't keep on doing it!" MercuryAstro said. "Celestial Weapon!" he shouted while reaching behind his back. Drawing a white staff, he twirled it in his hands and then aimed it at the cyborg. "Power Staff!" Cyborg Illusion started swinging its mace around in the air while running after him. "Prepare to eat it, cyborg!" MercuryAstro jumped into the air holding his staff. And while Cyborg Illusion charged after him, it put its feet together and leaped skyward as well. In midair, the two flew past each other while striking out, blasting sparks out of each other. Landing on the grass, MercuryAstro turned around and used his staff to block Illusion's mace coming down on him. "Back off!!" The white Astroranger stood up and pushed off the cyborg's weapon and jabbed its chest causing sparks to explode out of its body. Cyborg Illusion came back and swung its mace at MercuryAstro. He used his staff's other end to block the spiked weapon. "Not so fast." So, the shiny cyborg turned around and kicked the white staff out of the way and struck right onto the Astroranger's chest causing sparks to blast out of his uniform. "Hu-ugh!" Knocked around, he flipped away and off of his feet. Smoldering, MercuryAstro came out of midair and tumbled over before rolling out. Once he stopped, his helmeted head pointed up as he looked ahead of himself. The white Astroranger stood upand turned his staff upside down into his left hand. "Moleculatom Weapon!" he shouted while taking it from the holster on his belt. "Fire!" He pointed it ahead and fired an blue beam of electricity ahead. Cyborg Illusion's armor reflected every beam the white Astroranger shot at him to the sides where sparks burst out of the grass. Illusion slowly walked ahead, despite the high-voltage rays of electricity. "So that's the way you wanna play it, huh?" he said, putting away his weapon. "Let's see ya handle this!" 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. Cyborg Illusion's shiny silver armor reflected the thousands of volts worth of electricity. Lightning struck the grass behind MercuryAstro causing fire to erupt from turf. In the sky, the white Astroranger was blown into the sky in front of the firey explosion before he flipped over. MercuryAstro landed on his back on the lawn, with small fires surrounding him. Illusion ominously walked closer to MercuryAstro while he turned over and had struggled to pull himself off the grass. The cyborg tossed his mace into the air and in the sunlit sky, it transformed back into the mutilated portable camera that it once was. Cyborg Illusion caught the camera and pointed it at MercuryAstro's white helmet. Suddenly, MercuryAstro began to think of that song that Tom had made; the music was looping in his head, probably to distract him from the pain of that last reflected blow. When Illusion pushed the red record button on the modified camera, MercuryAstro was not affected. Illusion looked at its device and turned it on again. The white light shined into MercuryAstro's black visor but nothing was happening. "Get that camera _out_ of my face!!" MercuryAstro shouted before launching his fist into the lense of the camera. Sparks busted out of every part of its casing. The smoking camera dropped onto the ground and Cyborg Illusion wiggled its smoking right hand which was burned when its camera exploded. Tom's eyes returned from the transparent silver they were to their normal color of brown. Blinking, he closed his mouth and looked around. "Hey, what the heck?" Will almost fell forward when he was awakened. Looking around, he appeared confused. "What am I still doing here?" Tom stood up. "Will, what are you doing here? And where are the Armatons??" "Armatons?" Will asked. "Wait--nevermind... Look!" MercuryAstro stepped on Illusion's thigh, disabling his knee and stepped in to knock its face in by his elbow. Illusion wouldn't fall, however and Will looked at Tom. "You know what to do." "ChangeForm!" Tom shouted as they bought brought up their right fists. Forcing them forth, the onyx and amethyst gems flashed when they shouted. "AstroCharge!" Cyborg Illusion held both of MercuryAstro's hands before kicking his ankles. In midair, the white Astroranger when flipping over. Illusion dusted its black, robotic hands before suddenly jerking its head, looking into the sky. The green and black Astrorangers had leaped into a flying side kick. Two white, boot-covered feet knocked Cyborg Illusion's shoulders back. In the grass field, the cyborg tumbled over and away. The two Astrorangers back-flipped onto their knees with their arms out in a T; JupiterAstro stood up and ran after MercuryAstro. When the black Astroranger caught up to them, he'd managed to help the white Astroranger to stand. "Messuta, are you okay?" JupiterAstro asked. "What happened?" He looked at the green Astroranger and then at Illusion. "That cyborg pointed a weird looking camera at you and right after a ray of light entered your eyes, you were totally frozen." "That's not how I thought it happened," he replied. "It seemed like something else was going on." "Likewise," SaturnAstro added. "I bet it's this cyborg that's freezing people by making them have nightmares while they're awake." "I guess I didn't get messed up because I was very distracted," MercuryAstro mentioned. "If anybody was hit by this thing, though, they should be awake by now because I destroyed it's image maker." "Here it comes," SaturnAstro warned. JupiterAstro stood head of them all and looked at the cyborg come running after them. "I got it, you guys." 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. Arming his green bow, he pulled back and shouted, "Fire!!" Letting go of the bowstring, the arrow sprung forth. The arrow became a green streak of light that got stuck in Cyborg Illusion's chest. Sparks sprayed out of where it was shot while it fussed before finally collapsing onto the ground into huge explosion of sparks. The three Astrorangers in the park let down their arms and took a huge breath, sighing in relief that the cyborg was now flaming debris in front of them. Stars in the night sky were just appearing as the sun set behind the house in Los Feliz. Inside of the Terranian's home, Amy sat at a desk drawing up new costume designs; beside her was an incomplete dress on a foam dummy. There was a knock on the open door. She pulled hair away from her forehead and saw Dave, in a blue dress shirt and black slacks--his security guard uniform. "Can I come in?" Amy smiled. "Hey, sure." She turned off the fluorescent lamp and watched him wonder into her room. "Bet you'll never guess what did while I was out today," Dave proposed. Amy shrugged and grinned. "Picked up our mail?" "Heh," he lightly chuckled. "Yes, but I also made withdraw from the bank and I called up a couple of places and as luck would have it, I managed to get us reservations for a wedding." "You did?" she asked. "But, Dave, I thought you..." Dave shook his head and interrupted. "Never mind what I thought. What's the important thing is that you're happy. If you want a wedding here then let that be your way." "I don't understand, why the change of heart?" Amy curiously asked. Dave came closer and sat on a chair next to her. "Amy, after all that we've been through, it'd be trivial to let anything that really is not a big deal get in the way of our happiness. I know you have put yourself through a great deal trying to even start a relationship, the least I can do is honor the best thing that has ever happened to me by doing it just the way you want it." "I never wanted to put you through any changes, Dave. I merely wanted what I thought we both wanted," Amy replied. Dave smiled. "You haven't put me through any changes; you've made me realize that when you're not happy, I'm not happy either. So as long as there's nothing wrong with what you want to do or what I want to do--why shouldn't we do it?" She smiled. "You're absolutely right." "Come here, you," Dave said before leaning towards her. Amy reached over and kissed him on the lips softly. They continued kissing more deeply shortly upon the small double-beep of Dave's wrist-watch. Dave broke the kiss. "And now I've got to leave for work." Amy exhaled. "I love you, Dave." "I love you too, Amy," he replied while slowly leaving the room. "I'll see you tomorrow." Amy waved. "Bye, Dave." Dave waved back and walked out of the room. Amy went back to drawing while smiling to herself. TO BE CONTINUED Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . . An impersonation of Lotia performed by Cyborg Morpher III leads to the theft of the solar spheres Sheratan managed to keep from Ginara. Now, Pleadia can begin the re-uniting of the Infinitum Genesis Ring in Episode No. 47, "A Set Back" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "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)1998 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] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------