A Champion Of Good From A Family Of Evil

• By Midnight Ranger

This story takes place a week after “From Princess to Purple,” and a month after the last Masked Rider episode ever aired. (There was no real series finalie.) It’s a bit longer than my last PR story, but it should be more enjoyable.

It’s been over a year since Tommy Oliver retired from the Rangers. Since then, he’s been working on his race car driving. Lately though, he’s been missing Angel Grove, teaching karate, and-most of all- Katherine, who is now his fiancé. So, after much deliberation, he’s decided to retire from racing, go home, settle down with Kat and become a Sensei. We find him, now, at his last race somewhere on the East Coast of the United States.

The air was cold, the sky was cloudy, and a light rain was falling, but it wasn’t enough to cancel the race. The fans were in the bleachers, cheering for their favorite racer. Very few of them noticed the rain, and those who did, didn’t care. They just wanted to see the race.

At least, that’s what all of the human spectators wanted to do.

Razzor, Captain of the Royal Concorian Guard, Veriki, the Chief Scientist of Concorock, and a few of the Royal Guards were hiding behind a wall of tires with Veriki’s Power Copying laser. It could make an exact replica of a Super Hero’s powers just by blasting him or her with it. It would also weaken that hero for several minutes. Veriki had made copies of five of the seven Power Rangers of Angel Grove and molded the copied powers into Psycho Ranger Powers.

So far, the powers Veriki created were excellent, the Psychos beat the Space Rangers in almost every fight, but the last battle the Power Rangers had won and Psycho Pink was almost lost. All because she and Psycho Yellow had decided to break the rules and go after the Yellow and Pink Rangers on their own. If Veriki hadn’t pulled her out of the battle, Psycho Pink would have been history. Comandri wasn’t happy with the defeat, but was pleased that they burnt up so much of Dark Specter’s energy when they fought, and that the powers seemed to have no side effects. So now she decided to make powers for a warrior who was more loyal and had a better attitude than the Psychos.

That was why Razzor and company were here.

“We’re ready to attack, Captain,” said one of the female guards.

“In a moment,” said Razzor. He pointed to the car that was about ten seconds away from the finish line. “Let this human have his moment of glory, then we’ll attack. Remember we want to attract as much attention as possible.”

Razzor waited until the car crossed the finish line, then he whipped out his blaster and shot the back side of the car, making it spin out of control. It crashed in to the side of the track, flipped over and stopped. Razzor, then shot down one of the tall posts with the lights on top. It came crashing down beside the car, trapping the driver inside.

Tommy stomped on the accelerator and made his car go as fast as it could. He had the finish line in his sights and he was going to cross it first. After this race, he would be leaving the track for good and it looked like he was going to go out in glory.

Tommy’s car speed across the line, the checkered flag came down, and Tommy let loose a wild cheer of triumph.

Then, disaster struck. Something hit his car from behind and sent it spinning out of control. It struck the wall, flipped over on it’s top and stopped. Smoke was pouring out of the engine and into the car. He knew that any second the car was going to explode. The the windows were blocked by the wall and some heavy object that Tommy couldn’t shove out of the way. He unbuckled his seat belt and maneuvered himself so that he was sitting right side up. Then, he tried to break open the front windshield, but it wouldn’t break. The smoke was making him cough and making his eyes sting.

Tommy tried, once more, to break the windshield, but it wouldn’t even crack. Soon after, he passed out.

The Concorian guards were all over the track, destroying evreything in sight. Thousands of panicked, innocent people were fleeing for their lives. But among all of the frightened people, there was one person who was calm and ready for action. He was Prince Dex of Edenoi, better known to most of the people of Earth as the Masked Rider.

“I don’t know who these guys are, boss, but they mean business,” said Combat Chopper, Masked Rider’s motorcycle friend.

“Well, they’ve picked the wrong place to do their business,” Dex replied. “Let’s get ‘em.”

When they got onto they race track, they got a clear view of who the invaders were.

“Concorian guards?” Dex gasped. “What do they want here?”

Out of the corner of his eye, Dex could see a race car, five feet away, with smoke pouring out from under its hood. It was upside down behind a fallen light post. There was someone inside that car. He could sense it .

“Come on, Chopper,” he said. “Someone needs help.”

They sped off toward the car. Once they were about a foot away, Chopper stopped and Dex dismounted and, at the same time, summoned his Electrosaber.

“Hold on!” he cried to the driver of the race car.

The top of the pole was blocking the driver’s side window. With one swipe of his blade, he chopped it off, then pushed it aside so that he could get to the driver.

Dex got down on his hands and knees and peered into the car. He tried to find the driver, but he couldn’t see a thing through all that smoke . “Are you all right?!” There was no response. “Can you hear me?” Still no response, but Dex could see the driver now. He quickly, yet carefully, pulled him out of the car.

“Better hurry up,” said Chopper. “That car’s going to go any minute!”

Dex gently laid the driver on Chopper, then got on himself. The bike speed off to safety. Just as they reached the center of the race track, the engine exploded and the car burst into flames.

“That was close,” said Chopper.

Dex laid the unconscious driver on the ground. He was still alive, but he needed to get to a hospital. So he could see if the driver had any head injuries, Dex removed his helmet. The face underneath of it was very familiar to the Masked Rider.

“Tommy?!” he gasped.

“Uh, boss..” Chopper began.

Dex looked up to see that a few of the Concorian guards had noticed that they were there and were rushing toward them in an attack formation.

Dex snatched up his weapon just as one of the guards fired three shots at him from his laser. Dex managed to dodge the first two and deflect the third with his saber.

Two male guards were getting ready to shoot at Masked Rider from behind, but Chopper saw them and rammed into them from behind, knocking them off their feet and their blasters out of their hands. Before either of them had a chance to get up, Chopper came around them and ran over their weapons, crushing them.

Chopper laughed. “Sorry about your toys, boys.”

The two guards screamed in outrage.

Meanwhile, Razzor and Veriki were watching the battle in the bleachers beside the track. Razzor was mad because Masked Rider was beating all of his best solders. Veriki was frustrated because she couldn’t get a clear shot at the young prince.

“Shoot him!” Razzor ordered.

“I can’t,” said Veriki. “He won’t stay in one spot long enough for me to copy his energy. And we only have one shot, remember?”

“I remember,” growled Razzor. He caught sight of the unconscious human laying on the center of the track, and smiled. “Maybe we should see how much our little bug friend here cares for these pathetic humans.”

He jumped on to the track and walked over to the young race car driver. He signaled for all of his troops to fall back. “I applaud you, Prince Dex. You’ve beaten all of Cocorock’s finest warriors. It’s obvious that we wont be able to steal your powers for our queen, so we’ll just accept our defeat and return to our own planet.”

Dex tightened his grip on his weapon. Something smelled rotten here.

“The day wasn’t a total loss for us though,” Razzor continued. “We did gain a new addition to our planet’s work force.” He pointed to Tommy with the tip of his sword. “This strong looking lad here will make an excellent slave.”

“Rider Kick!” Dex shouted as he leaped into the air.

The soles of his boots glowed bright red adding power to his kick. Razzor didn’t have time to react before Masked Rider’s boots came in contact with his chest and sent him flying through the air, landing just inches from the burning race car.

“You’ll leave him alone,” Dex said.

He’d barely finished his sentence, when a laser bolt hit him in the back. Dex fell to his knees. All of a sudden, he felt weak and dizzy.

“Boss, are you okay?” asked Chopper.

“I don’t know,” said Dex. “I feel strange.”

Razzor laughed and walked over to Dex. Chopper raced forward and rammed into the evil captain as hard as he could, shoving him into he burning wreck, butt first.

Razzor screamed, leaped out of the flames. His armor was so hot he could barely stand it.

“Hot enough for ya?” mocked Chopper.

“Laugh all you want, but we got what we came for. You’ll be sorry.”

He vanished along with his guards, Veriki and her laser.

Chopper rolled over to Dex and let the young Super Hero grab one of his handle bars and pull himself to his feet.

“Thanks, Chopper,” Dex said.

“What happed to you?” Chopper asked.

“I don’t know. Something hit me in the back that seemed to blast all of the strength out of me.”

“Did it do anything to your powers?”

“Not that I can tell, and I can feel my strength returning, so I don’t think it did any permanent damage to me.”

He looked around the race track. All of the civilians had fled to safety and the only person in the area besides himself and Tommy was a lone reporter with a news camera. All was quiet for a few seconds until the silence was broken by the sound of an ambulance siren.

Hours later, on Concorock, Veriki was working on creating new powers with the copy of the Masked Rider powers she had just gotten. Razzor and a young female soldier were watching her.

“And the queen is going to give these powers to one of her own daughters?” Razzor asked.

“Yes,” said Veriki. “The Psychos are staring to become disloyal. Queen Comandri wants a warrior who’ll always be loyal to her and will help her gain more power.”

“But I thought the queen had only one daughter, Princess Venisslah,” said the guard.

“No,” said Razzor. “She has two. Not very many people remember Princess Terrina, the queen’s first child.”

“I remember her,” said Veriki “The child was such a little darling. Not at all like her stupid, good for nothing father, Count Dreagon.”

“What happened to her?” asked the guard.

Razzor explained that Count Dreagon had come to Concorock shortly after Comandri had divorced her first husband. He was the first husband that Comandri actually loved, but that love didn’t last long. After a year, it had turned to hatred and the couple divorced. By then, Dreagon and Comandri had a daughter, who they named Terrina.

Years later, Dreagon heard that his father, King Lexian, was retiring and he had chosen his oldest son, Prince Darex to take his place. Dreagon decided that it was time to seize the throne, but to successfully do that, he had to get rid of, not only his father and brother, but his sister-in-law Princess Quianne, his nephew, Prince Dex, and his brother’s step son, Prince Orious.

A couple of days before the coronation, Dreagon came back to Concorock for the first time since the divorce. He told Comandri that he had a plan to take over Edenoi and he wanted his daughter there to witness his great victory.

Comandri, who just had Venisslah, refused to let her daughter and future heir to the throne go with Dreagon, claiming that he wouldn’t take good care of her. Dreagon said that she’d better, or he’d go to the Varrian Court and tell her that she was violating the Divorce Charter.

The Varrian Courts handled all sorts of cases for the people of the three planets in the Varrian System-Pudusis, Corrios, and Concorock. Their Divorce Charter stated that, unless the courts decided otherwise, all divorced parents were to have joint custody of their children. No parent was to keep a child away from the other. There was nothing Comandri or her father could do to change it.

Early the next morning, Dreagon left with Terrina and a human named Rebeckai, the princess’ personal slave. They arrived on Edenoi just before the coronation was to begin. Dreagon ordered Rebeckai to take Terrina to a park near the palace while the evil prince and his assassins went over their plan one last time.

At first, evreything went well, but then Terrina and Rebeckai disappeared. On top of that, the plot to take over Edenoi had been discovered before the assassins could dispose of the king and his five-year-old grandson. They had managed to kill off the Crown Prince and his wife. Prince Orious had managed to put an end to his assassin, but took a blaster shot to the abdomen while trying to save his grandfather. Some said that the teenage boy had died a short time later, others said that he was alive, but hiding from Dreagon on Eltare.

As for Dreagon, he and his folowers were rounded up and banished from Edenoi.

Comandri, meanwhile, hired a bounty hunter named Darkonda to go to KO-35, the place where she was sure Rebekai was hiding with the young princess, and bring her daughter back. But instead of brining Terrina to her, Darkonda brought Comandri a little girl that he’d kidnapped while she was playing with her brother. Outraged, Comandri fired him right then and there.

Rather then return the girl, who was named Karone, back to KO-35, Darkonda left her on the doorstep of his old rival, Ecliptor. The rest of that story the soldier already knew so she didn’t have to have it repeated.

“But what about Princess Terrina?” she asked.

“Well, after thirteen years of looking for her, the queen’s scouts have told Her Majesty that they have reason to believe that her elder daughter is on Earth,” said Razzor.

“Living in Angel Grove,” added Veriki.

“So all we have to do is go down and get her,” said the soldier.

“All Dreagon has to do is go down and get her,” said Razzor. “Queen Comandri wants him to make up for the mistake he made when he forced her to take the princess to Edenoi against her better judgment.”

“And these powers will make sure he doesn’t screw up this time,” said Veriki. She tapped a button on her computer. Instantly, an image of Queen Comandri appeared on the screen. “All is ready, my queen.”

“Excellent, Veriki,” said Comandri. “Your timing couldn’t be better. My golden headed ex-husband is trying to get through to me even as we speak. Stand by.”

Comandri never thought that she would ever be happy to see her only ex-husband who was among the living, but here she was ready to face Count Dreagon for the first time in thirteen years. Soon she would put into action her plan to get back at him for losing her oldest daughter and, now, heir to the Concorock throne, and for taking almost all of her army from her when they separated. It was a plan that would also speed up the depletion of Dark Specter’s powers.

The screen beside her throne flickered and a image of Count Dreagon appeared.

“Dreagon,” she said. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“Skip the pleasantries, Comandri,” Dreagon said. “I want to know why you attacked Earth this afternoon.”

“Well, Dreagie, I am Dark Specter’s successor now and as his successor, I must take over Earth for him. It’s part of the job description.”

“Yes, but you are a part of the Evil Alliance. Meaning that your sworn enemies are the Power Rangers. I am not a member of the Alliance. I’m free to make enemies out of whoever I want. I’ve only gone after the Rangers that one time when they helped Masked Rider on Edenoi. I made an agreement with Dark Specter soon after that. I was to leave the Rangers for the Evil Alliance unless they interfered with my plans again. Dark Specter agreed to do the same with Masked Rider.”

“Dreagie...”

“And I’ve told you, time and time again during our brief alliance, that I dislike being called Dreagie.”

“I know, that’s why I call you that. Anyway, I didn’t attack your nephew for the glory of the Evil Alliance, I did it to get back at you for loosing my daughter.”

“What did you do to him with that weapon of yours?”

“Besides temporarily weakening him, the laser made a copy of the Masked Rider powers. Powers that my chief scientist has molded and added to until they are so powerful, the welder of them will be invincible.”

“Oh really?”

“Don’t believe me?” She began to press buttons on her computer, opening a communication link to Veriki’s lab so that she could join in on this little conversation. “Veriki, why don’t you show us your latest creation.”

Veriki did some programing so that the images on her computer screen could be seen on the computer screen in Comandri’s throne room and Dreagon’s Spider Base.

The suit of armor they saw looked almost like Masked Rider’s uniform, but instead of being green and black, the uniform was crimson and black. There was a silver, oval shaped device on the front of the belt and the helmet looked like the head of a red scorpion with wicked looking, violet eyes, but no pinchers in front. Instead, there was a steel mouth piece that looked like the ones the Power Rangers wore on their helmets. The rest of the suit looked like Masked Rider’s uniform. The one thing Veriki forgot to change about this suit was the gold symbol on the chest. It looked the same as Masked Rider’s chest insigma. Veriki noticed this just as she showed the image to Comandri and Dreagon. Neither of them seemed to notice it, so she decided that she didn’t need to change it.

“It’s impressive,” said Dreagon.

“I call it Crimson Rider,” said Veriki. “A warrior who can do evreything Masked Rider can do and then some.” She pressed a key on her key board, and an array of arsenal appeared beside the image of Crimson Rider. “These are its weapons.”

Dreagon looked at the weapons. There was a small, Concorian blaster, a whip that bore the resemblance of a scorpion’s tail, complete with a stinger on the end, and a sword with a red energy blade and gold handle.

“I’m impressed,” Dreagon said. “Those powers are just what I need to finally capture Masked Rider and steal his powers, and with both Rider powers...”

“Hold it,” Comandri interrupted. “Who said these powers were for you?”

“Why else would you show them to me?”

Comandri laughed. “Well, you asked why I had a copy of Masked Rider’s powers made. I didn’t show them to you so you could claim them. If you look at Crimson Rider’s chest plate again, you’ll see that the suit was built for a female.”

“Female?”

“Yes. The Masked Rider powers have been passed from king to king, and sometimes, from king to Crown Prince. Well, the Crimson Rider Powers are going to be something that are going to be passed down from queen to queen, or in this case, from the queen, who is me, to the Crown Princess, Terrina.

“You see, Dreagie, my daughter has been located on Earth. Soon, I’m going to have her brought home to me. The Crimson Rider powers are to be her welcome home present. She’ll be helping me with my duties as Dark Specter’s successor with her powers, not helping you capture a boy that you couldn't get rid of when he was a child .”

Dreagon frowned. “In case you’ve forgotten, Terrina is my daughter, too. According to the Vivian Divorce Charter, you and I have joint custody of her. Not even you can change that.”

“I don’t see why I should let you have any custody of her,” said Comandri. “But since you are her father, I don’t see that I have much of a choice. If you’ll just bring her to me, give us a chance to get reacquainted, and let me give her the Crimson Rider powers, I’ll let her help you gain the Masked Rider powers.”

“How long will this, ‘getting reacquainted’ take?” asked Dreagon.

“I’m not sure I’ll let you know when you can have her. It won't be longer than a few weeks.”

“I’ll get her to you as soon as I can.”

“It shouldn’t take too long. She’s in Angel Grove. I’ll tell Dark Specter that you’re coming to get our daughter so he won’t accuse you of breaking your agreement if you have to tangle with the Power Rangers.”

“Fine.”

“And I don’t want you to brain wash her or anything like that. I won’t have my daughter turned into an emotionless zombie. She was born to be evil, so she’ll stay evil, no matter what.”

Before Dreagon could say another word, Comandri terminated their connection. She was done talking to him, but not done talking to her scientist.

“Well, Veriki,” she said. “Do you think that he suspects that I’m going to use his own daughter to take over all that he has?”

“No, Your Magesty, but...”

“But what?”

“There’s just something I don’t understand.”

Comandri laughed. “What’s not to understand? I simply train Terrina to be a warrior, give her the Crimson Rider Powers. Then, when she goes to live with Dreagon, she’ll have the opportunity to get rid of him so I can take over the planets he has conquered and add to my empire. Then, I shall be a step closer to ruling the entire universe.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, but...”

“Oh, I see, you’re wondering why I’m having Dreagon pick up Terrina. Well, it’s very simple. The Rangers aren’t familiar with Dreagon’s forces. If I sent my forces to get her, the Rangers will think that I’ve kidnapped her, and will come here to get her and bring her back to Earth. that’s not what I want. But, like I said, they don’t know Dreagon’s forces, so when they get her, the Rangers won’t know where to even start looking for her, so while they search the galaxy for a bunch of slimy bug warriors, I’ll be training my Terrina to be a warrior.”

“That’s not what I’m confused about, Sire.”

“Then what are you confused about?”

“What you said to Dreagon about being born to be evil. I’ve always thought that whether you were good or evil depended on weather you wanted to be good or evil.”

“My dear Veriki, have you already forgotten about Astronema? She was one of the most evil villains in the Evil Alliance until she discovered that the parents and brother she thought were evil, but dead, were not only alive, but good. In fact, her brother was the leader of the very group she was ordered to destroy. And what did she do when she discovered this? She became good and joined the Rangers. It will be no different with my daughter. If she’s become good, she’ll go back to evil when she rediscovers what her destiny is.”

It was near closing time at the Surf Spot. All seven Space Rangers had gone there for dinner. It was sort of a victory party. They were celebrating their first victory over the Psycho Rangers. They had come so close to destroying Psycho Pink, but she’d disappeared suddenly. They’d assumed she’d run away just as the other four had done earlier in the battle. They had sent the Psychos packing for the first time ever, but they were still out there and still dangerous. That fact cast a dark cloud over the Rangers’ celebration.

“At least were finally winning,” said Karone, the Purple Space Ranger.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we should let our guard down,” said Andros, the Red Space Ranger.

“Right,” said T.J Carter, the Blue Space Ranger. “The Psychos are still out there.”

“Oh, don’t remind me,” moaned Cassie Chan, the Pink Space Ranger.

Carlos Vargas, the Black Space Ranger was about to add his comment on the situation, when he felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned to see nine-year-old Silvy Larson, daughter of a teacher at Angel Grove High, standing behind him. The blonde haired girl had joined the Rangers’ circle of friends just a few days ago.

On the day she and Carlos were introduced, the Psychos attacked Angel Grove and the Space Rangers needed his help to beat them. The only place Carlos could morph without anyone seeing him was a photo booth, so he rushed inside and morphed. What he didn’t know was that while he was morphing into the Black Ranger, the camera was taking pictures of him.

Later, he got a note through e-mail that someone knew his secret and wanted him to meet them at the Fun Center. He decided to go down and find out who the sender of the memo was and was surprised to discover that it was Silvy. The little girl had found the pictures from the photo booth and decided to use them to her advantage. She threatened to blab his secret all over town unless he did what she said, when she said it.

At first, Carlos did what he was told, but when Silvy asked for a rock from the moon, Carlos lost his temper gave Silvy a stern talking to about how he wasn’t her own personal Ranger, then stormed off. He had a change of heart when he found out that Silvy had just lost her brother, Tony. He and Silvy had dreamed about becoming astronauts someday. In fact, Silvy had promised her brother that she would bring him a rock from the moon when she went into space. Carlos felt so bad, he left immediately to go get a moon rock. He returned just in time to help the other Rangers save Silvy from Psycho Red and Psycho Black.

Afterwards, Silvy gave Carlos the photos, apologized for blackmailing him and swore she’d never tell anyone that he was the Black Ranger. Then Carlos gave her the moon rock and a ride on his Galaxy Glider. Seeing that she could be trusted with Carlos’ secret identity, the other Rangers decided to trust her with theirs too. And she never told a soul.

Now, she had a favor to ask her friends.

“Hi Silvy,” Carlos said. “What’s up?”

“Not much,” Silvy said as she sat down in an empty chair beside Cassie. “My mom’s going to some teachers convention. She’ll be gone for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh,” said Ashley Hammond, the Yellow Space Ranger. “You’re going to be staying with relatives then?”

“Nope,” said Silvy. “My uncle’s in Japan, my grandma’s sick, and the lady who usually baby-sits me is on vacation in Hawaii. Mom wants to know if I could stay with you guys for two weeks.”

“With us?” asked Zhane, the Silver Space Ranger. “Silvy, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. We might have to leave Earth at any given moment and we might not be back in time to get you back to your mom.”

“Carlos said that you guys were staying close to Earth for awhile because of the Psychos,” said Silvy.

“That’s true,” said Cassie. “We weren’t planing on leaving for awhile.”

“Then let me stay with you, please!” Silvy begged. “I’ve got nowhere else to go, and Mom can’t miss this workshop.”

“Well...” Andros began.

“How about we talk to your mom?” suggested Ashley.

“Sure,” said Silvy. “She’s over at the counter getting some drinks. No, wait. She’s coming over here.”

Mrs. Larson, caring a glass of soda in each hand, walked over to the group.

“Hi, everyone,” she said. “Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all,” said Karone.

“Silvy told us that you’re in need of a sitter for a couple of weeks,” Ashley said.

Mrs. Larson sat her drinks down and pulled up a chair from a vacant table.

“Yes, and I’d really appreciate it if you guys would do the job. All of the teachers at Angel Grove High School are supposed to go to this computer workshop. I missed the one offered last summer because Silvy had the chicken pox. This is the last chance I’ll have to attend it. Silvy is really attached to you guys, and you’re very responsible, and I can’t find anyone else to take care of her. Can you help me?”

“I don’t know,” said T.J “We’re kinda busy right now.”

“I promise I won’t get in the way,” said Silvy.

“Could you excuse us for a minute?” asked Andros.

Silvy and her mother went back to their own table while the Rangers talked about their current problem. They knew that this was something Mrs. Larson couldn’t pass up and they knew Silvy wouldn’t purposely get into any trouble or get in their way and if they needed to get her out of a battle, they could teleport her on to the Megaship. If they did have to go away from Earth, one of them could take her back to her mom on a Galaxy Glider or the shuttle. So, after about twenty minutes of discussion, they agreed that it wouldn’t be a bad thing if they took care of Silvy for two weeks.

Carlos told Silvy and Mrs. Larson the good news, and asked when it would be okay to pick up Silvy.

“I have to be on the road by ten tomorrow, so how about 9:45 A.M?”

“Okay,” said Carlos. “Do you have a pen?”

“I think so,” said Mrs. Larson. She rummaged around in her purse until she found a pen. She gave it to Carlos.

Carlos wrote down a phone number, then put the pen on the napkin. “This is where you can reach me.”

“Okay.”

As she slid the napkin toward her, she caught sight of her watch. The time was 5:25 P.M.

“Oh, great. Sorry, Carlos, but we’ve got to go. Come on, Silvy.”

Silvy sighed. “Okay. See you, tomorrow Carlos.”

“All right,” said Carlos. “Bye.”

The small shower that had started that afternoon in Leewood had, in a few hours time, turned into a raging storm. Complete with thunder, lightning, and heavy rain.

Dex, dressed like a human civilian, climbed out of his adopted mother’s car, then locked the vehicle up. He was in the parking lot of Leewood Memorial Hospital. He’d come to see how Tommy was doing.

After he’d entered the facility, Dex slid the wet hood of his black jacket off of his head and looked around. A few doctors and nurses were walking to different places in the hospital. Each was minding his or her own business and didn’t pay much attention to him. In the lobby were three people. One, an old man, was reading a magazine, another, a middle-aged woman, was staring blankly out the window at the dark and rainy night, and the third, a young man with long hair, was using one of the pay phones.

Dex walked up to the front desk. The nurse behind it was on the phone, so he patently waited until she finished her call. Fortunately, it was only another minute or two before she said, “Good-bye,” hung up, and faced Dex.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes,” said Dex. “Could you please tell me where I can find Tommy Oliver?”

Dex expected her to ask him whether he was a family member or a friend. Instead she pointed to the lobby. “He’s over there, using the phone.”

Dex spun around and looked, again, at the young, dark haired man who had his back to him.

“The doctor gave him a clean bill of health earlier this evening,” the nurse continued, “but it wasn’t soon enough to catch the last flight back west. He’s all checked out of here and everything, he just needs a place to stay. He came to me asking if I knew where he could find a vacant hotel. I told him that, because of the race, all of hotels are probably going to be filled up, but never the less, he’s trying to find some place to stay. Doesn’t look like he’s having much luck.”

Dex turned back to the nurse. “Thanks.”

He walked over to the phones.

“So, how long will I have to wait for a flight?” he could hear Tommy saying.

There was a pause.

“No, it’s not that I don’t like staying in Leewood, it’s just that I wasn’t supposed to be here that long.” Another pause. “I have a friend who might be living somewhere in town, but I don’t want to burden him. He has a pretty important job...” Another pause. “I see. I don’t have any other options.” Another pause. “All right. Good-bye.” He hung up the phone.

Dex came up behind Tommy. “I never consider it a burden to help a friend.”

Tommy turned around. “Dex?”

The disguised, Edenoite prince nodded. “How are you feeling?”

“A little frustrated, but otherwise, okay. The doctor said that I should consider myself lucky that Masked Rider was there to pull me out of my car before it exploded.” He lowered his voice so that none of the other people in the lobby could hear him. “I don’t know about lucky, but I am grateful. Thanks, man.”

“You’re welcome. By the way, the nurse at the desk said that you didn’t have a place to stay for the night.”

“Yeah. Tonight and every night for the next two weeks. That guy I was on the phone with was from the airline I was supposed to fly home on. I was still out when the plane I was supposed to be on took off. Then they closed the airport because of the storm, and now I find out that they’ve overbooked a lot of their flights and I won’t be able to get back to Angel Grove until Wendsday of the week after next.”

“But, weren’t you checked into a hotel before you got here?”

“Yeah, but I was so anxious to get home, that I checked out before the race started. I figured that after the race, I could quickly change in the bathroom, answer a few quick questions from the reporters, if they wanted to ask any, then get to the airport and go home. Now someone else is in the room I was staying in. I guess even a former Power Ranger has to prepare for the unexpected.”

“I guess so.”

“Hey, you’ve been in Leewood longer than I have. Do you know of a hotel or some place like that where I could stay until my next flight that’s not too expensive?”

“I might know a place like that. Let me check.”

Dex put a quarter in the phone and dialed a number. Tommy heard him explain his situation to someone on the other end. After a brief silence Dex said, “All right. I’ll see you soon. bye.”

“Who was that?” asked Tommy.

“My adopted father, Hal Stewart,” Dex replied. “I asked if you could stay with me and my Earth family for awhile.”

“I’d like that,” said Tommy. “But is it okay with your parents?”

Dex nodded. “My dad said that one of the things that would make you a perfect house guest is that you share our secret and we won’t have to work so hard to keep Furbus out of sight while you’re around.”

Tommy smiled. Just before he had left Edenoi with his friends, and then fellow Rangers Aisha Cambell, Rocky DeSantos, Adam Park, and Billy Carson back in September of 1995, Billy had asked Dex to keep them informed of his and his people’s well being. Dex had managed to keep in contact with the Rangers even after he’d come to Earth, so Tommy was familiar with the battle against Count Dreagon on Earth and Edenoi, and Dex’s adopted family as Dex was with the people who had left and joined the Power Rangers team over the years. But after Tommy and Adam retired, the communication between the Rangers and Dex stopped for some reason.

Dex carried Tommy’s suitcase and Tommy carried his backpack out to Barbara Stewart’s car. The two young men put the luggage into the trunk and got in the car.

“So, how are things on Edenoi going?” Tommy asked.

“Better than they have ever been since Dreagon’s first attack,” Dex replied as he started the car. “Zarious, Ferrian, Donais, and the other rebels lead by my grandfather, have taken back most of the planet, including the gas mines.”

Tommy smiled when he heard this. He remembered how sick he felt when he first saw the Edenoites being forced to destroy their own planet’s atmosphere by digging up poisonous gases. If they had taken the mines away from Dreagon, that meant they wouldn’t have to be forced to do that ever again.

“It’s only a matter of time before Edenoi is free again,” Dex continued. “I just hope I can be there when that day comes.”

Later that night, on board the Megaship, Ashley was in her room, typing up a book report on her computer. The report was due Monday and Ashley decided that it was better to get it done now so that she could have all of Saturday and Sunday to, hopefully, get some R&R. Rest and relaxation moments were hard to come by when you were a Power Ranger.

As Ashley finished the last sentence of her report, she remembered that she hadn’t checked her e-mail in awhile. She printed out her report, then she opened up her e-mail. The only new message was from her friend, Terry Springwillow. The subject was “Top Secret” The message said:

Ashley, I have something really important to tell you, but I’d prefer to tell it to you in person. When can we get together? R.V.S.P A.S.A.P please, Terry.

What’s this all about? Ashley thought.

She knew that the only way she was going to find out was to meet with Terry. She typed up her own message, titling it, “Top Secret Reply.” It said:

How about ten tomorrow morning at the park? We could meet at the gazebo.

After she finished, Ashley sent her message.

Terry must’ve been on her computer at the time, because a minute later, Ashley received another message from her entitled, “Conformation”

Tomorrow,10:00 A.M at the park gazebo works for me. I’ll see you there.

The next morning, Carlos, Ashley and Silvy were in Ashley’s car driving from the Larson’s house to the park. The plan was to drive to a secluded area where Carlos and Silvy would teleport to the Megaship with Silvy’s stuff, then Ashley would go meet Terry at the gazebo.

“So what does Terry want to talk to you about?” asked Carlos.

“I don’t know,” said Ashley. “All she said was that she had something important to tell me.”

“If she knows that you’re a Power Ranger and threatens to blackmail you, I’ll be glad to tell her why that’s such a bad idea,” said Silvy, who was sitting in the back seat.

Ashley laughed. “Thanks, Silvy, but I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Terry and I have been good friends ever since I moved to Angel Grove. She wouldn’t do anything like that to me.”

By now, they were in the park. Ashley parked her car by a tree. Carlos helped Silvy get her suitcase out of the trunk. When they were sure no one was watching them, Carlos pressed a button on his communicator, and both he and Silvy vanished in a column of black light.

Ashley locked up her car and walked towards the gazebo.

“Get away for awhile. Here I am out on my own again. Won’t blame it on myself. I’ll blame it on the weathermen. Standing on the shore, calling out your name...”

Terry Ann Springwillow was listening to and singing along to the song “Blame it on the Weatherman” performed by B*Witched, Terry’s favorate band. She was on her way to the gazebo to meet her friend Ashley. She had brought her portable cassette player along for two reasons.

1. So she could listen to music on the way to the meeting. Music was one of the few things that helped Terry stay calm when she was nervious.

2. So she could show Ashley how she had discovered that she was a Power Ranger.

Which was why Terry was nervious in the first place. She and Ashley had been friends for a long time, but Terry wasn’t sure how Ashley was going to react when she told her that she’d discovered that Ashley was the Yellow Ranger. Terry hadn’t told anybody this, so she figured that Ashley shouldn’t be mad at her. Ashley Hammond wouldn’t get mad at Terry for something like this, would she?

Terry shook her head. Ashley was a good natured, cool headed person. She wouldn’t be mad at her for discovering her secret identity the way she did. It wasn’t like Terry secretly followed Ashley and spied on her, or looked through her diary. She had just compared the voices of Ashley and the Yellow Ranger and discovered that they were the same. And if they had the same voice, they must be the same person. It was simple logic. Ashley wouldn’t be mad at her for that. Terry should’ve known better. She bit her lip and silently scolded herself.

By now, she was at the foot of the gazebo stairs. She turned off her cassette player and slid the headphones off of her head. She could see that Ashley was already inside the gazebo, waiting for her.

“Hey, Terry,” Ashley said.

“Hi,” Terry replied.

She quickly climbed the stairs, being careful not to disturb the ants crawling on the second step. Unlike most of her friends, Terry liked bugs.

“So what do you need to talk to me about?” Ashley asked.

Terry took a deep breath and let it out. “I need you to listen to something.” She took her B*Witched tape out of the cassette player, put it back in its case, then into the pocket of her jeen jacket. Then, she reached into the other pocket and pulled out another tape and put that into the cassette player. “This is a recording I made of my last birthday party.”

Ashley heard Terry’s voice thanking her for the earrings she had given her as a birthday present, and Ashley’s voice saying, “You’re welcome.”

Terry hit the stop button.

“And this is a recording I made of the Power Rangers’ last, televised battle,” she said.

Ashley heard Psycho Yellow’s voice saying that the Rangers were doomed to be destroyed and in reply, the Yellow Ranger’s voice said that they’d see about that.

Terry stopped the tape. “Your voice sounds exactly like the Yellow Ranger’s voice. Carlos’ sounds just like the Black Ranger’s, Cassie and the Pink Ranger sound the same, so do T.J and the Blue Ranger. You guys are the Power Rangers. I have all the evidence I need on this tape to prove it to the world.”

Ashley gasped. She wouldn’t dare!

Terry smiled, took the tape out of the cassette player and handed it to Ashley. “If I was the kind of person who would do such a thing.”

Ashley breathed a sigh of relief and took the tape.

“Had you going there for a little while, didn’t I?” Terry asked.

“Yes, you did,” said Ashley.

“Well, don’t worry. I haven’t told anyone else your secret and I’m not planing on telling anyone, except your fellow Rangers, about it in the future.”

“Thanks,” said Ashley.

Suddenly, something inside Terry’s head said, Danger! Be on your guard! and her forearms and legs sprouted goosebumps. This feeling wasn’t new to Terry. She had been experiencing it whenever she or her friends were in trouble for as long as she could remember.

Terry began looking around, but couldn’t find anything that looked suspicious.

“What’s wrong?” Ashley asked.

“Something’s not right here,” said Terry.

Whatever was after them was getting ready to strike. Terry could feel it. Without thinking, she pushed Ashley down, then got down herself just as a yellow energy bolt blasted through the air space they had just occupied.

The two girls looked up to see Ashley’s evil counterpart sitting on a branch of the tree across from the gazebo.

“Psycho Yellow,” Ashley hissed.

“I don’t know why she’s here,” said Terry, “but she’s cursing for a bruising.”

The Yellow Psycho Ranger jumped from the tree. No sooner had she hit the ground then she flipped through the air and, somehow managed to land in the gazebo. Before Ashley could react, Psycho Yellow grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her out of the gazebo. The she jumped out and pinned Ashley to the ground with her foot.

“This is where our conflict ends, Yellow Ranger,” Psycho Yellow said.

Terry jumped over the railing of the gazebo and landed right behind Psycho Yellow. Without wasting a second, she pushed the Psycho away from Ashley, then clobbered her with a roundhouse kick. Psycho Yellow stumbled, but managed regain her balance before she fell to the ground. Terry dealt her a strong front kick that sent Psycho Yellow backwards into a hedge five feet away.

Meanwhile Ashley got to her feet and flipped open her Astromorpher. “Let’s Rocket!” She punched in her morphing code and morphed into the Yellow Ranger.

Terry threw a punch at Psycho Yellow, but the Psycho Ranger blocked it, grabbed the girl’s arm and flipped her over her shoulder. With Terry out of the way, Ashley had a clear shot at her opponent.

A blast from Ashley’s Astroblaster hit Psycho Yellow in the chest.

“You’ll pay for that!” Psycho Yellow roared. “No one does that to me and gets away with it. You’re going down.”

“If anyone’s going down today, it’ll be you,” said Ashley.

“Yeah,” said Terry.

“The two of you defeat me?” asked Psycho Yellow. “Don’t make me laugh.”

“How about if the three of us defeat you?” asked a new voice.

Psycho Yellow turned to see the Red Ranger standing behind her.

Terry got to her feet. “That’s Andros, isn’t it?”

Ashley nodded.

Outraged, Psycho Yellow raised her hand to fire a bolt at Red Ranger, but then she saw Blue Ranger and Black Ranger coming out from behind a tree.

“How about four?” asked Blue.

“Or five?” asked Black.

The Pink and Purple were next to emerge from behind the gazebo.

“How about six?” asked Pink Ranger.

“Or seven?” asked Purple Ranger.

“Where’s Zhane?” Andros asked his sister as she and Cassie joined the others.

“Up there,” Karone replied.

Andros looked up in time to see the Silver Ranger leap from the roof of the gazebo, do a front flip, and land right beside Cassie.

“I think eight should be just enough for you, Psycho Yellow,” he said.

“Show off,” Andros murmured.

Psycho Yellow look around her in dismay. All of the Rangers and that girl who’d stopped her from taking out Yellow Ranger had her surrounded. All seven Rangers had their weapons out and were ready to use them if she attacked.

“Give it up, Psycho Yellow,” said Red Ranger. “You’re outnumbered.”

Terry’s feeling of sure victory, suddenly was overshadowed by that strange feeling that more danger was coming.

The air around Psycho Yellow started to shimmer. Moments later, the Red, Pink, Blue and Black Psycho Rangers appeared around their yellow comrade.

“So,” Psycho Red said to Psycho Yellow, “you've decided to take on the Rangers by yourself.”

“Yellow Ranger was here without her Ranger friends, so I thought I could easily finish her off,” protested Psycho Yellow, “but then they showed up.”

“Well,” said Psycho Blue, “then it’s a good thing that we showed up to help you get rid of them.”

“What makes you think that you guys can get rid of us?” asked Karone.

“Yeah,” said Terry. “You guys are still outnumbered eight to five.”

Psycho Pink laughed. “You? A pip squeak with no powers at all, defeat us, the mighty Psycho Rangers?”

“And what are you going to use for a weapon, little girl?” asked Psycho Black. “A twig? Or perhaps a toy yo-yo will serve your needs better.”

“Laugh all you want, maniac. But as Psycho Yellow here will tell you, I’m a force to be reckoned with.”

Psycho Red, Psycho Blue, Psycho Pink, and Psycho Black laughed. Psycho Yellow growled.

“The only reason you ever got the best of me, is because you attacked me from behind. That will not happen again.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Terry.

Carlos put a hand on her shoulder. “Terry, why don’t you let us handle this? Things could get ugly.”

“But I want to help,” Terry protested.

“You can help by staying out of the way so we don’t have to worry about getting hurt.”

“Enough talk!” roared Psycho Red “Prepare to meet your doom, Rangers.”

Carlos, Andros, Ashley, T.J, and Cassie whipped out their Astroblasters and fired on the Psychos, while Zhane shot at them with his Super Silverizer, and Karone added blasts from her spear. The Psychos shot back with their weapons.

“Get some place safe!” Carlos called to Terry.

Terry realizing that, without a weapon, she couldn’t do anything to help the Rangers in this shoot out, decided that Carlos was right. She jumped over a hedge and looked for a place where she could watch the battle from a safe distance.

But as soon as her feet touched the ground a long blue tongue wrapped around her wrist. The tongue was connected to an orange, bug monster that kind of looked like an overgrown maggot. As Terry struggled to get free, two more Maggots grabbed her from behind.

The first Maggot withdrew his tongue from Terry’s wrist and stepped aside to allow a Cyclops alien and a woman dressed in red and black to step forward.

“Are you sure this it the one, Nefaira?” the Cyclops asked.

“Think, Cycolpter,” said the woman in red and black. “Would a mere human be able to do what she did to that Yellow Psycho?”

Terry struggled even more furiously to get out of the Maggots’ grasp. She didn’t like what she was hearing.

“Let me go! What do you want from me?”

“Settle down, child,” said Nefaria. “We just want to do a little blood test. That’s all.”

The Maggots held her tightly as Nefaria opened her hand to reveal a small, plastic box. She opened it, and withdrew a thin piece of plastic wrapped around a sharp needle. After unwrapping it, she poked the needle in one of Terry’s fingers, then she used some sort of paper strip to catch a drop of blood that came out of the wound and put the strip in a small device at the bottom of the kit. After a few seconds she showed the device to Cycolpter.

“See? I was right. She has the DNA of an Edenoite and a Concorian.”

“Indeed,” her companion replied, looking up at Terry. “She also fits the physical description, but does she have the mark on her arm?”

Nefaira ordered her Maggots to check. They forced Terry to take her right arm out of the sleeve of her jacket, then they pulled up the sleeve of her red T-shirt. Just below her shoulder, was a tattoo of four little diamonds joined together to form one big diamond. Each of the four little diamonds was a different color. The one at the top of the design was a dark purple, to the right of it was a crimson diamond, to the left of the purple one was a royal blue one, and at the bottom was a pine green diamond. Terry had that mark on her arm for as long as she could remember.

“It’s just a tattoo. It doesn’t mean anything,” she said.

Nefaria smiled at her. “It means a great deal. This was put on your arm at the time of your birth to prove that you are the handpicked successor of Queen Comandri. You’ll be coming with us.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!”

“You don’t have much of a choice,” said Cycolpter.

But before any of them could go anywhere, two laser blasts came out of nowhere and struck Terry’s Maggot captors in the chest. They let go of her and fell to the ground. Three more blasted Nefaria, Cycolpter and the other Maggot.

When the smoke and dust cleared, Terry saw that her rescuer was none other than the red leader of the Power Rangers.

Andros!” Terry cried.

“Terry run!” the Red Ranger yelled to her. “Get out of here!”

“I wasn’t afraid to take on those creeps back at the hardware store and I’m not afraid to take on these guys,” Terry said, reminding him of how she had bested Darkonda in hand to hand combat almost a week ago.

But before the girl could even make a move, Nefaira took out her whip and, with a flick of her wrist, wrapped the end of it around Terry’s legs, then pulled them out from under her. Luckily, Terry managed to land on her butt, not on her head.

Andros rushed forward to save her again, but someone grabbed him from behind.

It was Psycho Red.

“Worry about yourself, Red Ranger,” the leader of the Psychos said. “We still have our little game to finish.”

Cycolpter stood up. “Hold him still,” he said to Psycho Red. “I want to make him pay for what he did to me.”

Before Psycho Red could protest, an energy blast from Cyclopter’s eye came surging toward his captive’s helmet.

“Andros, look out!” Terry cried.

Andros tilted his head out of the way at the last moment and the bolt hit Psycho Red.

The Red Psycho howled in pain, released Andros, and clutched the visor of his helmet. Andros shoved him into the hedge so hard that the front end of him went all the way through to the other side. Then, Andros walked around Psycho Red’s kicking legs and advanced towards the group of bug warriors.

Nefaria frowned. She would have loved to teach this meddling Ranger a lesson, but she and her crew needed to get back to the Spider Base before Masked Rider detected their presence on Earth and came to do battle with them. She raised her hand skyward and both she and Terry disappeared in a mass of black bubbles.

“No!” Andros cried. He pointed his Astroblaster at Cyclopter. “Bring her back.”

Cyclopter only laughed and vanished in a flash of blue light. The maggots disappeared in a flash of orange light.

Angrily, Andros tore Psycho Red out of the hedge and threw him to the ground.

“Who were they?! What did they want with Terry?!”

Psycho Red was breathing heavily and smoke was pouring out of his visor.

“Why is this girl so important to you?”

Andros pointed his Astroblaster at Psycho Red’s throat.

“She’s my friend. Now, I won’t ask you again....”

“I don’t know. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

The air between the good and evil Red Rangers shimmered and Psycho Red disappeared.

“What?!” exclaimed Andros. “Where’d he go?”

“Andros, where are you?” he heard Ashley call.

“Over here,” he called back.

Ashley flipped over the hedge and landed beside him.

“The Psychos have vanished,” she announced.

“And so has Terry,” Andros said.

“What?!”

Nefaira and Cyclopter strolled on to the Bridge of Count Dreagon’s Spider Base, followed by two Maggots who were trying to restrain a very angry Terry.

“You let me go, you ugly, oversized, slimy, scum eating pieces of irritating fungus with hygiene problems! It’s bad enough that you kidnap me, but you could’ve bothered to take a bath first!”

Nefaria and Cyclopter walked up to their evil master and bowed.

“We have brought Princess Terrina to you, as you have requested,” said Nefaira. She handed him the small device, containing the results of Terry’s blood test.

Dreagon looked at the device for a few seconds, then nodded to the Maggots. The Maggots released her, bowed and withdrew from the Bridge.

“Look, mister,” Terry said, “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but I think it was pretty crummy of you to have you goons kidnap me like that!”

“Kidnap you?” Dreagon asked. “My dear, I assure you, we’re doing nothing more than taking you home.”

“Great. Just great. Well, I live about a half a mile from where I got picked up....”

Dreagon laughed. “I was talking about your real home, where you will be the Crown Princess of the planet Concorock.”

Terry decided to be sarcastic. “Well, I hope someone will let my parents know that I’m going off to a planet for awhile or else they’ll be worried.”

“You humor me, child. Your parents won’t be worried.”

“And how would you know that?”

“Because, I am your father.”

“DECA, display all of the insect warriors working for the Evil Alliance on the main viewing screen,” said Andros.

He and Karone were attempting to identify the creatures who’d kidnapped Terry. Ashley and Zhane had gone to Terry’s house to tell her parents what had happened. The others were somewhere around the Megaship, probably trying to figure out how to defeat the Psychos the next time they attacked.

On the viewing screen, DECA displayed dozens of little pictures of insect monsters, half of which the Power Rangers had defeated at one time or another over the years. Andros asked DECA to show him bigger pictures of creatures that looked like the ones he’d fought earlier, but when she did, there was always something that made Andros see that it wasn’t the same. After five minutes, Andros had gone through the whole display.

“What about monsters that don’t work for the Evil Alliance?” asked Karone.

DECA replaced the first set of pictures with a second. This set contained twenty five little pictures and Andros didn’t need to see any bigger ones to know that none of them were the ones he was looking for.

“This is all of the non Evil Alliance insect warriors that I have in my memory banks,” the computer said.

“They don’t look anything like the ones I saw,” said Andros.

“I’m afraid I can’t be much help to you in this department, either,” said Karone. “I’ve never met any of the non-Evil Alliance tyrants set on controlling the galaxy.”

“And there’s no trace of Terry on Earth. Which means we’ll have to look for her like we’ve been looking for Zordon. From planet to planet.”

Terry gasped in disbelief. “You are my dad?”

“Indeed I am,” Count Dreagon said. “Surprised?”

“Yes. My mother told my adopted parents, and they later told me, that she was hiding me and herself from somebody notorious. I’ve always suspected that that person was my father, but I never dreamed that he was an alien.”

“Your mother said this?”

“Yeah. Her name was Rebeckah. She died the day after she met my adopted parents.”

Dreagon laughed. “That woman? She wasn’t your mother. She was your personal slave, Rebeckai. Don’t you remember?”

“I don’t remember anything about her. My earliest memories are of playing with a dark haired boy.”

She didn’t know why she was telling this jerk her life story. Maybe because there was something inside of her that told her that the evil Count really was her dad. And he had what she had been searching for since she was twelve. Information about her past.

“That boy was Prince Dex of Edenoi,” said Gork, the shortest and ugliest of Dreagon’s commanders. “Since then, he’s grown into a valiant fighter and gives us a lot of trouble as the Masked Rider.”

Masked Rider is a prince? Terry thought.

Double Face, another of Dreagon’s commanders, steped in front of Gork. “Yes. Masked Rider has been a thorn in our sides for these past three years, but unfortunately, he’s also your cousin,....”

Unfortunately?! Terry wanted to say. Do you know how many of my friends would love to be in my shoes?”

“..... but don’t let that get in your way of your destiny to capture him.”

“What?” Terry said. She was expected to capture someone who was not only her cousin, but a hero respected by millions of people, including herself?

“It’s true,” said Dreagon. “As my daughter, you will be required to help me conquer this galaxy. Your first mission will be to capture Prince Dex, so that I can steal his powers for myself.”

Terry wanted to slap him. She wanted to spit in his face and tell him that there was no way that she was going to fight against her cousin. But then, a thought crossed her mind. What would she accomplish if she did that? There was no way for her to get off this thing right now and she was outnumbered. If this guy knew that she had no intention of joining his side, he might kill her or brainwash her so that she did what he told her to. However, if she simply pretended to be bad, she’d be able to get off when Dreagon sent her after Dex-since she knew he was her cousin, Terry figured she’d better start calling Masked Rider by his real name-she’d simply team up with him and make her escape.

Terry smiled. “Let me at him. I’ll bring him back to you with two black eyes and a broken nose.”

Dreagon turned to his commanders. “Don’t you just love her enthusiasm? It’s plain to see that she’s her father’s child.” He turned back to his daughter. “I’m afraid you’ll have to wait, my dear. I have to take you to your mother, Queen Comandri, on Concorock for a visit. But, don’t worry. She has a marvelous welcome home gift for you.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “Something to help you defeat Masked Rider once and for all.”

Terry forced herself not to step away from the evil warlord, not to shiver at his cold touch, to look up into his eyes, and to smile.

During the one and a half hour fight from Earth to Concorock, Terry asked a lot of questions about the alien family she couldn’t remember. Most of them were questions about Dex and his family, friends, acquaintances, etcetera. The way she asked her questions made her sound like a bounty hunter getting valuable information about her next target, so Dreagon told her evreything she wanted to know. Not only about Dex, but King Lexian, the Stewart family, the time Masked Rider meet the Power Rangers, Donais, Zarious, and Ferrian,-Dex’s three best friends on Edenoi-his father, mother, and half brother Orious. Terry had to restrain from punching Dreagon’s lights out when he bragged about how he and his assassins successfully murdered her aunt, uncle, and cousin the day she had been taken from him.

Finally, the Spider Base reached Concorock. While Terry stared at the brown and green planet on the main viewing screen, Dreagon made arrangements with the Concorian Flight Control for her and himself to be escorted to the Bronze Palace as soon as they arrived on the planet’s surface.

Soon afterwards, Terry and Dreagon teleported down to the surface. As soon as they arrived, a worker at the Concorian Docking Station showed them to some sort of white limo with no roof and no wheels that was hovering three feet above the ground. It was in this flying car that the princess and her father were driven to the Bronze Palace on the top of Mount Royalace. The driver was careful to avoid the shabby, crumbling towns that surrounded Concorian’s business district. This was where the poor people, more than half of Concorock’s population, lived.

However, the driver didn’t hesitate to show his passengers the business district, or the homes of the rich and famous, located on Mount Royalace, just twenty miles or so away from the palace.

The Bronze Palace itself was a little bit bigger than Buckingham Palace in England. The whole palace was made out of steel and coated with bronze. The brightest and most colorful flowers from every part of the galaxy filled the plot surrounding the place, and huge tapestries lined the path from the front gate to the Palace’s two large, golden doors.

Once they arrived at those doors, Terry and Count Dreagon were escorted into a huge courtyard by two guards clad in blue and grey. In the center of it was a large fountain with a group of people gathered around it.

“We will inform the queen of your arrival,” said one of the guards. “Please wait here.”

After they had left, Terry left her father’s side and went to get a closer look at the fountain. Small, ivory fish were swimming in the pool underneath the fountain, and on the bottom were black oysters-the largest one was half a foot long. The people by the fountain were picking up the oysters, opening them as much as they could without killing the oysters and taking the pearl inside of them out. After the pearl was removed, it was put in a little felt bag and placed it in a basket.

Some of the workers had small diamonds on their foreheads that were either red, purple, green or blue. Others were just regular humans, but most of the people in the group looked kind of strange to Terry. In addition to those strange diamonds, they had little, silver antennas sticking out of their heads, large eyes, and no hair.

As Terry studied the group of people gathering pearls, she noticed a dark haired girl that was about her age. She wore what all of the other workers were wearing; a long sleeved, black shirt, with a brown tank top over it, ugly reddish brown pants, and black boots.

The doors of the courtyard were pushed open an in walked a very angry woman with red hair, just like Terry’s only longer, a purple diamond on her forehead, and wearing a green dress. She turned her head to yell at a group behind her. Terry wanted to shrink into the floor or dive into the fountain when she saw who it was.

The Psycho Rangers!

“I don’t know why I bother to save your necks every time the Rangers come so close to destroying you!” bellowed the woman. “Next time, I think I’ll just let them finish the job.”

Terry hid behind a silver pillar. If the Psychos saw her and told Dreagon that she was a friend of the Power Rangers, the game would be up.

“We were close to destroying them this time,” said Psycho Red.

“You had no reason to call us back,” said Psycho Pink.

“Oh, I didn’t, huh? And why...?”

“Look!” cried Psycho Yellow, pointing to the pillar that Terry was hiding behind. “It’s that girl we saw on Earth. What is she doing here?”

“What do you mean?” asked the woman.

“Over there, my queen,” said Psycho Black. “She got in our way in today’s battle. She managed to get the best of Psycho Yellow.”

“Really?” said the woman, who Terry figured was Queen Comandri. “Well, I must meet this girl. Come on out, child. Let me see you.”

Terry wiped her sweaty palms on her pants and came out from behind the pillar. “Hi, Mom.”

Comandri gasped in surprise. “Terrina? My dear, sweet child is that really you?”

Terry nodded. “I wanted to jump out and surprise you, but those guys back there botched it up.”

She hoped the queen would believe it. From the look on her face, Terry guessed that she did.

“Dreagon,” Comandri said to her ex-husband, “I’m impressed. I thought it would take you a month, at least, to bring her back to me.” But the smile on her face turned to a frown as a thought crossed her mind. “Or is this some impostor you’ve brought me?”

“She’s Terrina,” Dreagon said, crossing the gap between his ex-wife and himself. “This is the result of the blood test that one of my commanders did on her.” He handed Comandri the device from the blood test kit.

Comandri studied the device for a few moments. “Well, I see no evidence that this was tampered with, but I’d like to do a little test of my own, if you’d don’t mind.”

“Go right ahead,” said Dreagon.

Terry expected her to do another blood test, but instead the queen just put a hand on her forehead for a second. Terry felt a spot on her forehead tingle, but that was it.

“Well?” said Dreagon.

“She’s definitely a Concorian/Edenoite mix,” said Comandri. She faced Terry. “Now, my dear, if you will just take off that jacket and let me see your arm.” Terry took her right arm out of her jeen jacket and showed Comandri her tattoo. “And she bears the mark of Concorian royalty! No question about it, Dreagon, she is my Terrina.”

“She is our Terrina,” Dreagon corrected.

“She also came to the aid of the Yellow Ranger just before I could destroy her,” said Psycho Yellow.

Terry put her arm back in her jacket’s sleeve and shrugged. “I was just looking for a little action. I pick a fight with the tough guys for excitement. It gets pretty boring in Angel Grove. I’m hopping to take on the Power Rangers someday.”

“The only ones who will be taking on the Rangers anytime soon is us,” said Psycho Red.

“If your losing streak keeps up, she may be your replacement,” said Comandri.

The Psychos were scilent.

The Concorian queen pointed to the door. “Now go. Leave us.”

The Psycho Rangers bowed and withdrew. Comandri turned to her daughter. “And now, my dear, let me take a closer look at you.” She circled around Terry, looking into her eyes, looking at her face, and running her fingers through the girl’s shoulder length hair. “What happened to your hair? It was so long and so beautiful when you were three.”

“I had it cut,” said Terry. “I like it short.”

“Well, short hair isn’t very stylish here on Concorock.”

Dreagon cleared his throat. Comandri rolled her eyes.

“What is it, now?”

“If there’s nothing else I can do for you, Comandri, I’ll be on my way,” said Dreagon.

“So soon? You’re not going to stay for dinner?”

“No.” He turned to leave. “Remember, I get her back in a few weeks.” He left the courtyard.

“Men can be so rude sometimes,” said Comandri. “Oh well.”

“Oh well what, Mother?” said a voice.

Comandri turned to see her other daughter, Princess Venisslah, enter the courtyard from the west door.

“I was just telling your sister here that men...”

Venisslah didn’t give her a chance to finish. “Sister?” she eyed Terry. “Her? This vermin dressed in Earthling rags?”

“Excuse me?” asked Terry.

“Oh, Venisslah, behave yourself,” said Comandri. “She just got here and hasn’t had a chance to change her clothes yet.” She faced her elder daughter. “Princess Terrina, this is your half sister, Princess Venisslah.”

“Hi,” Terry said.

“Hello,” the black haired girl replied.

For a few seconds, neither of them said anything. Venisslah just stood there, playing with her pearl necklace and Terry stood there trying to think of something else to say.

Finally she decided to break the silence with the only thing that she could think of to say.

“That’s a nice necklace you’re wearing. Where’d you get it?”

“It was a gift from Mother for my thirteenth birthday.”

“It’s traditional for a Concorian princess to chose a Venti Oyster from the pool over there on her thirteenth birthday,” Comandri explained. “Then, the royal jewelers make a necklace from the pearl inside and a few of the valuable silver pearls.

Terry looked at Venisslah’s necklace again. There were ten silver pearls-each one was the size of a marble-on either side of a smaller white one-which was the size of a BB.

“Is that white one very valuable?”

“All pearls that come from the Venti Oysters are valuable.” said Venisslah. “They’re an endangered spices, and the only ones left in the whole world, maybe even the whole galaxy, are right there in that pool.”

“The white ones are the most common,” said Comandri. “The silver ones are the next common. The more valuable pearls are the ones with the darker colors, but we haven’t seen to many of those lately.”

“Yes,” said Venisslah. “These no good pearl collectors just don’t have the knack for finding any good ones.” She spotted a little boy putting a small oyster back in the pool. She grinned and pushed the boy into the water with her foot. She and her mother laughed as the girl Terry notices earlier rushed over and pulled him out.

Terry was angry. Princess or not, Venisslah had absolutely no right to do that to a little kid who was minding his own business.

“I don’t know Venisslah,” she said. “These guys seem to be okay. At least, they can find the bigger, silver pearls.”

Venisslah stopped laughing and gasped. How dare she even think that these slaves were better than her at anything!

“Watch your mouth, or you’re going to find out how well I can best you in a fight.”

Their mother didn’t seen to notice Terry’s insults or Venisslah’s threat.

“Terrina, since you didn’t get to pick out a pearl on your thirteenth birthday, why don’t you look around the pool and do so right now?”

“Okay,” Terry said. She walked around the pool, keeping her eyes on the pool, but once every few seconds, she look over at Venisslah, to make sure that she didn’t try anything funny behind her back.

She’d learned in school that pearls with darker color could be found in oysters that had hair on their shells. The hairier the oyster, the darker the pearl. After ten minutes of looking, Terry saw an oyster covered with black hairs hidden in the shadow of the fountain. She took off her jacket, tape player, shoes and socks, rolled up her pant legs and waded into the water.

Venisslah and a few of the guards gasped. It was unproper for a princess to go into the pool and get an oyster, that was a slave’s job. Comandri told them to be quiet.

“She’s been living like those uncivilized Earthlings for thirteen years. Give her time to relearn the laws of our society.”

Terry got out of the pool with her oyster, she asked one of the pearl collectors to help her open it.

Venisslah laughed when she saw how harry it was. “What kind of a pearl are you planning on getting out of that ugly thing?”

Terry just ignored her while the collector, an old human man, opened the oyster and carefully removed the pearl inside. His eyes went wide as it was brought to light. Without a word he showed it to Terry, who smiled. The pearl was as big as the black ball with a gold star on it she’d seen on a necklace advertised in one of her adopted mother’s jewelry catalogs. And it was royal blue, one of her favorate colors.

The old man took a tool out of a kit siting near by and measure the pearl. “It is about an inch in diameter. The biggest pearl I have seen in all my years.”

“Well,” said Comandri, “let me see it.”

The slave rushed over to the gem to his queen, while Terry bent down to put the oyster back in the water. As she did, she noticed that there was a purple diamond on her forehead just like the one her mother and sister had. Terry rubbed it.

“That’s your mind diamond.”

Startled Terry dropped the oyster. She stood up, turned and found herself face to face with the young slave girl.

“It’s like the mind crystals that the Edenoites have,” she continued. “You can hide it or summon it at will.”

“Oh,” said Terry. “Thanks.” The girl turned to leave. “Wait. What’s your name?”

Without turning around, the girl said, “I don’t have one.”

Terry heard Comandri call her name, so she put her shoes and socks back on, gathered up her jacket and cassette player, and rejoined her mother and her sister.

“Terrina, my dear, I must say that you certainly do have a gift for finding treasures. The jeweler is going to make your pearl into a necklace, he should be done by this afternoon. In the meantime, I have another gift for you.”

“The Crimson Rider Powers?” Terry guessed.

“Now, where did you hear about those?”

“Dad told me.”

“Well, your so called father was supposed to keep that a secret. I was hoping to surprise you by telling you about them tomorrow after Razzor, my Captain of the Guards, gives you some fighting lessons. After you become a warrior, then you will get the powers.”

“So what’s the surprise you’re giving me now?”

“Word has reached me that Rebeckai, the slave you had when you were a child, has died, so you’ll be needing another one. My guards are going to bring all of the palace slaves into the courtyard in an hour and you can take your pick. Unless, of course, you have one already picked out.

Terry frowned. She didn’t want a slave, but if she refused, Comandri might become suspicious and she didn’t want that. Besides, maybe she could make her “slave” into a friend. It’d be nice to have someone to really talk to while she was here.

“Well, I do have someone picked out already,” she said. She pointed to the girl she was just talking to.

“Bring her,” Comandri said to her guards. One of the guards grabbed the girl and dragged her over to the queen and princess. “What is her code number?”

The guard pulled up the girls sleeve so that he could see the two letters and the number tattooed on her wrist. “SA17.”

“Well, SA17,” Comandri said, “consider yourself fortunate. The princess has just chosen you to be her new slave.”

Terry smiled at the girl, who scowled back at her.

“Show them to the princess’ quarters so that she can get freshened up before lunch,” Comandri commanded the guard.

The guard bowed and motioned for the two girls to follow him.

Venisslah frowned as she watched them go. It was bad enough that her sister was getting the Crimson Rider Powers and not her, but now she’d picked out an oyster with a bigger and more valuable pearl then she did. Venisslah decided right then and there that she would never consider Terrina to be her sister. Instead, she was to be a rival. And tomorrow, in fighting class, she was going to be humiliated.

The bedroom Terry was given was twice the size of her bedroom at home. Plus, there was a bathroom right next to it with a spa for a bathtub.

Terry, deciding to take advantage of this luxury while she had it, bathed herself and washed her hair. When she came back into her room, dressed in her human clothes, she found SA17 waiting for her.

“The jeweler brought this by while you were taking a bath,” she said. She handed the princess the necklace made from the pearl she’d picked out earlier.

“Thanks,” Terry said. She sat down on one of the plush chairs by the window and motioned for SA17 to come to her and sit in the chair beside her. The human girl came forward and stood behind the chair. “Here, sit down.” SA17 sat in the chair. “Why don’t you have a name?”

“During the last years of his rein, King Tyroben commanded that slaves were not to have names, only code numbers to remind them that they were possessions, not people,” SA17 answered. “The older slaves, who were born before the law was passed are still allowed to call each other by the names their parents gave them when they’re together in the slave quarters, but the younger ones have no names at all.”

“How sad.”

SA17 stood up, and walked over to the closet and opened it. “Lunch will be served soon. The queen asks that you dine with her and Princess Venisslah and that you dress up.”

“This is a formal meal, huh?”

“Every meal is formal in this palace.” Terry walked over to the closet. There were a few dresses hanging up inside. “I’m supposed to ask if you want your old garments disposed of.”

“These?” Terry tugged at her shirt and pants. “No thanks. I’ll keep these for awhile. I’ll be needing them when I go back to Earth.” She pulled a white dress off its hanger and held it up to herself while looking in the closet mirror. It was way too small around the waist and too way big across the chest. “This one can go.” She laid it on her bed, then picked out a black one that was also too small across the waist. “And this one. Are these new dresses, or have they been previously worn?”

“They’ve been made for you by the royal dress makers.”

“Well, the royal dress makers must think that I don’t eat.” Terry tossed another dress on the bed that was also too small for her.

“Well they figured that since you were a princess, you would be thin.”

“I am thin, but not pencil thin.” Terry held up a green dress that was way way too thin for her.

SA17 gigled. “That one looks like it was made for someone who was paper thin.”

Both she and Terry laughed until SA17 remembered who she was laughing with and gasped.

“What?” asked Terry

“Slaves aren’t supposed to make remarks like that,” lied SA17.

“But it was funny and it fit in with the conversation we were having. Look, I’m not like Queen Comandri and Princess Venisslah, I may have to act like it front of them and a lot of other people here so they think I’m a bad gal, but I’m really a good gal, okay? And I’m hopping that we can be friends.”

SA17 gasped and gave Terry a horrified look with a hint of anger in it.

“Here’s a nice, red dress, Your Highness,” she said, turning her attention back to the closet. “It looks like it will fit you.”

Late that night, SA17 crept out of her quarters that were adjacent to the princess’ room. To her surprise and delight, Princess Terrina didn’t lock her in the small, white washed room with no furniture except for a thin mattress stuffed with sawdust.

The girl tiptoed past Terrina, who was sound asleep in her bed, and out of the room. Most of the palace’s inhabitants were in bed and the few guards that were up didn’t pay her any attention as she slipped through the hall.

How could she? the girl thought. What made her think that I would want to be friends with the daughter of that vile witch? I can’t even think of why I was friendly to her in the first place.

She hated Comandri and Venisslah, and she had made up her mind earlier today that she would hate Terrina too. But, after spending the afternoon with her, she began to think that she wasn’t so bad, but it was best not to get too attached to her. The whole royal family, their most loyal servants and nobles were all going to be dead tomorrow unless plans had changed.

SA17 walked, unnoticed, through the dark halls of the palace until she came to the laundry room. The laundry chute, on the left of the largest washing machine, was big enough for her to squeeze into and it had a false bottom that only the slaves knew about. She flipped a hidden switch on the door of the chute. Instantly, the bottom slid aside to reveal a wider chute big enough for a humanoid to slide down it. Which is exactly what SA17 did. The door of the tunnel slid back into place after she was halfway down.

The tunnel was one of many hidden entrances to the slave quarters downstairs. The architect, who was forced to design the Palace by Tyroben, had them installed secretly so that the slaves could easily escape. But when Tyroben noticed that the number of slaves he had was decreasing, he had a large wall built around the palace and ordered that it and the docking bay be heavily guarded at all times. At first, the wall and the guards kept the slaves in, but as more and more guards began to hate Tyroben and Comandri, escape became more and more possible for the slaves. The friendly guards simply looked that other way when the slaves left the palace and some even helped them get out.

A large number of young slaves had already gathered around a large box in the center of one of the rooms when SA17 came in. She quickly found a place to stand right by four of her closest friends, KJ39, YC12, GF68, and Darec. KJ39, was an Insectivite with a red mind diamond, and Veriki’s slave, YC12 was a Concorian red head with a green mind diamond, and Venisslah’s slave, GF68 was a human girl with black hair, and was kitchen slave, and Darec was a teenage guard who was secretly on their side. He had blue eyes to match his blue mind diamond, and a mop top of blonde hair.

“You’re just in time,” Darec said to SA17. “It looks like the meeting’s just about to start.”

A hush fell over the crowd as Shem stepped on to the box. Shem was a human with tan skin and almond shaped eyes. He was born just before Tyroben forbid slaves from having names, so he was the youngest slave to ever get one from his parents. He was also the leader of the secret rebellion against Comandri that every one of the young people in that room were apart of.

SA17 had known and admired this handsome youth even before he began his rebellion. In fact, she was the first one Shem asked to join the movement after he confessed that he had fallen in love with her.

Now he was about to tell his rebels how the arrival of Princess Terrina was going to change their plans.

“My friends,” said Shem, “there is a new tyrant that has come to torture us. She is the daughter of two of the worst villains in the galaxy. She is going to be given powers that will allow her to add the planet Earth to Comandri’s evil empire. Do we want that? Do we want more innocent people to suffer like we’ve been forced to?”

“No!” the rebels shouted.

“Then she must die,” Shem continued. “Along with her mother and sister. Every one of those tyrants who have made us suffer over the years must be sent to their graves!” A loud cheer came from each one of the rebels. “The arrival of this Princess Terrina doesn’t change anything. We will take our kingdom back tomorrow, only we’ll have to speed things up a bit. We must strike before Terrina can get her hands on the Crimson Rider Powers.”

Plans had already been made to assassinate the royal family and their followers. Shem and a group of rebels would trap Comandri, Terrina, Venisslah, and Captain Razzor in the fitness room where Razzor would be teaching the girls how to fight, and kill them. Everyone else would use their weapons to dispose of the servants who were most loyal to the queen. No one thought that the Psychos would give them much trouble. They hated Comandri. Surely, they would jump at the chance to finish her off. With the tyrants out of the way, the people of Concorock were free to live as they once did, many years ago. Everyone in the room liked what they were hearing, all except for one person.

Daneval, a dark skinned Insectivite, was the oldest slave and the only sage from the days before Tyroben still alive. Most of the young people never agreed with anything he ever said, but respected him anyway. He was a wise man, it just was that his wisdom was outdated. When the shouting and the noise died down, he decided to speak up.

“So that is your plan?” All members of the Rebellion turned to face him. “You are just going to execute everyone who appears to be loyal to Queen Comandri? What about the people who pretend to be loyal to her, but would love to see her overthrown?”

Shem, who never listened to or respected Daneval, just shook his head. “Don’t worry, old man. We know who those people are. We won’t hurt them.”

“I don’t think you do know who’s really friend or foe here.”

“Yes, we do. Twelve of the guards here are on our side. We know that. Plus, there are the royal electricians, the royal jewelers...”

“What about Princess Terrina?”

“The Crown Princess of Concorock? The daughter of the very enemy we are going to destroy? The granddaughter of the tyrant who destroyed the peace you once enjoyed and made you a slave? Where has your mind gone, Daneval?”

“It is you who has lost his mind, Shem. You’re leading a group of people, who do not know how to fight, into battle against warrior who, not only can fight, but are experienced at it.”

“We have weapons and we have a fool proof plan. You yourself said that brain triumphs over brawn.”

“Your plan is not fool proof. There are too many flaws. Too many things that might go wrong and you have no plan of action to deal with them if they do. Besides that, none of you know how to use most of the weapons that you’ve stolen from the guards.”

“We will be victorious and Comandri will die, but why should we spare her oldest daughter, who has the same evil heart as her mother and father.”

“You assume she has the same heart as Dreagon and Comandri. You forget that whether a person is good or evil depends on the choices they make, not the family history they have. Terrina, during her first three years of life, spent more time with Rebeckai than with her mother, and Rebeckai taught her how to be good and caring.”

“But, I heard Rebeckai died soon after she brought the princess to Earth,” said a female Insectivite.

“If that’s true, then I know that she would have found a good, kind family to take care of the girl. I doubt that she’s as evil as her mother. In fact she may not be evil at all. If that is true, then she’s in a position to help us.”

Shem and the majority of his followers laughed.

“And you say that we are foolish,” said Shem. “Listen to your own foolish ideas, old man.”

“But he does have a point,” said a human male.

“And so do I,” said Shem. “How can this Terrina be the product of Dreagon and Comandri and not be evil? If we spare her, she will somehow gain the throne of her mother and we will have fought for nothing. She will make our lives miserable like her mother did before her.”

“What makes you think that?” asked Daneval. “Is she torturing you now. Does she have the same opinion of us as Comandri does?”

“SA17 would be the only one who knows that,” said KJ39.

“Well then,” said Daneval, “have her tell you how she was treated by the princess.”

“Yes,” said Shem. “Let’s settle this once and for all. Tell us, my love, how were you treated by the tyrant’s daughter.”

SA17 shuddered as everyone turned toward her. What should she say. She didn’t want to lie to her friends, but only Daneval would like what she said if she didn’t.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said.

“The truth,” said Daneval.

“Yes,” said Shem. “We are not afraid of the truth.”

The girl took a deep breath and, slowly, let it out. “She never ordered me to do anything. In fact....she....she was kind to me. She wanted........” she stopped in mid sentence. Her eyes were on Shem.

“She wanted what?” he asked.

“She wanted us to be friends.”

The rebels gasped.

“Friends?!” Shem shouted. “She, the daughter of Comandri, dares to ask such a thing?! You didn’t accept, did you?”

“Of course not,” said SA17.

“Why?” asked Daneval.

Shem jumped from his box, tore through the crowd toward Daneval. “I will not have you trick her into believing your foolish philosophies, old man. Old foolish man.” He turned to face the crowed. “We can’t allow any of Tyroben’s family line to live or another of his relatives will take the throne and let tyranny thrive again. Do we want that?”

Everyone shouted “No.”

“Then let’s take back what is rightfully ours!”

Everyone, except SA17 and Daneval, cheered.

All was quiet at the Stewart’s house in Leewood. Everyone was asleep except for the family’s guest. Tommy, who was sleeping in the spare bed in Dex’s room, awoke a few minutes earlier and he was trying to go back to sleep.

The Stewarts had been kind to Tommy and had really made him feel welcome. He could see why Dex liked them so much. But meeting Hal and Barbara Stewart made Tommy wonder about Dex’s real parents. When he’d meet the young Prince on Edenoi, he heard him talk about his grandfather, but he didn’t say anything about his parents. As he lay there, thinking about it, Tommy made up his mind to ask Dex about his real family in the morning.

Just as Tommy was about to doze off, he heard Dex puffing and panting as if he’d been running long and hard. Tommy got up and looked over to see if he was all right.

Dex was drenched in cold sweat and was thrashing around violently. A few seconds later, he began to scream. “Mother! Father! No!”

Tommy grabbed Dex’s shoulders and shook him a little bit. “Dex, wake up!” Dex’s eyes flashed open and he sat up. At the same time Tommy let go of him. “You were having a nightmare.”

One of the things that became rare when he became a Power Ranger was a good night’s sleep with pleasant dreams. Nightmares became almost as common as monsters in his life. He knew Dex must be going through the same thing.

“Yes,” agreed Dex. “It was a nightmare. One that’s been haunting me since I was a child.”

“Would you feel comfortable talking to me about it? The Rangers and I always shared our dreams when they bothered us.”

“I’ve already talked to my family about it, but I guess it wouldn’t hurt if I shared this dream with you. It isn’t really a dream. Just a bad memory that comes back to haunt me every so often. But before I tell you about it, there’s something you need to know about my family. My real family.

Dex explained that his mother, a beautiful, Edenoite woman named Quianne, was married once before she married his father. Her first husband, Salvin, was the ambassador of Eltare. He was respected throughout the universe. He had a good heart and a strong spirit, but not very strong lungs. However, that didn’t stop him from trying to help people whenever he could. Quianne loved to work by his side when he did good, but she got worried when the work began to get to much for him, but he wouldn’t slow down and rest, no matter how much his wife and friends begged him to do so. But when Quianne became pregnant with their first child, he finally began to slow down a little. He wanted to be around long enough to see his child grow up.

When Quianne and Salvin’s son Orious was seven, the three of them took a trip to Edenoi. Salvin had been asked by the Eltarian Government to talk to King Lexian about a treaty that would allow Eltarian merchants to sell their goods on Edenoi. But the assignment put too much strain on Salvin’s weak lungs and he died just as he was explaining the Eltarian Trade Commissions' proposal to King Lexian and Crown Prince Darex.

Quianne was devastated by the loss of her husband, but that devastation turned to determination to be strong and carry on for her son. They moved in with Quianne’s mother on Edenoi soon after Salvin’s funeral on Eltare.

Prince Darex began to call on Quianne and Orious often to see how they were adjusting to their new life, and if there was anything they needed. He had also respected the late ambassador and wanted to do evreything he could for his wife and child. But Darex couldn’t stop himself from falling in love with the young widow, and soon, his visited Quianne for different reasons than to offer sympathy.

Two and a half years later, Darex, Prince of Edenoi asked Quianne to be his wife and princess. She accepted his offer and they were married. Almost a year after that, they had a son.

“You?” Tommy guessed.

Dex nodded. “My parents loved me very much, but they never forgot Orious. They made sure he didn’t feel neglected because of me. They wanted him to know that both of us meant a great deal to them. Maybe that’s why we were so close to each other despite what the people of Edenoi said about us.”

“And what was that?”

“When I was five and Orious was seventeen, my grandfather decided to retire from being king and pass both the rulership of Edenoi and the Masked Rider Powers to my father. The kingdom was divided over who would become the Crown Prince, myself or my brother. A few people thought that since Orious was older than me that he should become heir to the throne, but most of the kingdom thought it should be me because Orious was only Darex’s step son and had no ‘royal blood.’ He wasn’t even all Edenoite.”

“So, what happened?”

“What happened? Trouble. I was only five, but I remember everything so clearly.”

Dreagon, who had reportably been on a sight seeing trip across the galaxy had returned to Edenoi to watch his older brother assume the throne, or so he said. No one guessed that he had other plans.

Orious, meanwhile, had taken his younger brother to a park near the palace to spend the few hours of free time they had before the coronation playing. Dex had brought along his transparent kick ball that had been a birthday present from his grandfather. Dex wanted to see how far he could kick it, but just before his foot came in contact with the ball, Dex slipped on the wet grass and landed in a mud puddle, causing the ball to roll down the hill. Orious could not keep himself from laughing. Neither could the little red headed girl, who appeared to be from the planet Concorock. She had found Dex’s ball and brought it back up to the top of the hill.

After helping Dex out of the puddle, Orious asked the girl if she would return the ball. She refused to do so until she was allowed to play with them. Dex, seeing that he wouldn’t get his ball back any other way, agreed. They kicked the ball back and forth for a few minutes until Orious told Dex that it was time to leave. The girl asked where were they going. Orious said they had to watch their father, Prince Darex, become king. The girl shocked both of them when she said that it wouldn’t be their father who was going to be king, it was Dreagon. He was going to take what was rightfully his and assassinate all who got in his way.

Both brothers were speechless for a few seconds until a human woman, whom the girl called Rebeckai, came up the hill, looking for the child. When Orious told her what the little girl said and asked if it was true, Rebekai said that it was and told them just how Dreagon’s assassins were going to dispose of him, Dex, their parents, and their grandfather during the coronation. Orious asked her to come with them back to the palace and explain all of this to King Lexian, but Rebeckai refused, saying that she couldn’t let Dreagon know who betrayed his secret, or else he’d kill her. And Rebeckai was afraid of what might happen to the girl if he did. Before either Dex or his brother could say another word, she picked up the girl and ran. The kick ball slipped out of the girl’s hands as she asked the woman where they were going and why they couldn’t go with the two boys.

Dex didn’t want to believe that his own uncle would want to kill him and his whole family, but even a five-year-old could tell that Dreagon had been acting a little suspicious ever since he returned to Edenoi. Orious said that they’d better tell their parents and grandfather about this and let them handle the situation. So they hurried back to the palace.

They were over halfway there when two of Dreagon’s servants attacked them. Orious managed to grab one of the assassins’ blasters and used it to shoot them both. He didn’t kill them, but he did hurt them enough so that they couldn’t harm him or Dex. Then, Orious demanded that they tell him who had hired them to do away with him and his brother. When the villains said it was Dreagon, Orious disposed of their blasters and he and Dex raced to the palace.

They found King Lexian in the court yard, looking over the preparations for the coronation. Dreagon was just a few feet away from him with a blaster in his hand, ready to shoot his father in the back. Orious darted through the crowed of people and shoved his grandfather down just as Dreagon’s blaster went off. The laser bolt hit Orious in the abdomen. The palace guards quickly arrested Dreagon, and Sargene, Quianne’s brother-in-law from her first marriage and one of the best doctors on Eltare, began to attend to the wounded prince. Orious was alive but fatally injured.

After Dex had told his grandfather what had happened at the park King Lexian asked one of the guards to find the Crown Prince and his wife and tell them that their lives were in danger. The guard did what he was told, but he was too late. Darex and Quianne were found dead in their bedroom. The assassins who’d done it were found and arrested an hour later.

Dreagon and his folowers were banished from Edenoi that evening when Darex should’ve been crowned king. One of them, whom guards had found in the park, unconscious, told investigators why the assassination was ordered to be earlier than planed. He’d been ordered to bring a human woman, a slave of one of Dreagon’s Concorian associates, and the little girl she was taking care of, back to the palace to see the coronation. He’d overheard the woman tell the two young princes about Dreagon’s plans, contacted Dreagon with the communicator that he’d brought, and told the evil Count what he’d heard. Dreagon told him to dispose of the woman and bring back the girl. The only problem was that the servant didn’t count on Rebeckai being such an excellent fighter. He’d managed to hit her a few times, but in the end, she got the upper hand and knocked him out.

As for Orious, the only thing that could be done to save his life was to put him in cryogenic suspension. So, Sargene froze his nephew in a cryogenic tube that was on his ship and took the Prince back to Eltare with him. As far as Dex knew, Orious was still in hypersleep in a cryogenic tube hidden beneath an Eltarian hospital.

“What about Rebeckai and the little girl?” asked Tommy.

“I never saw either of them ever again,” said Dex.

“Well, did you ever find out who she was?”

“The girl? She was probably the daughter of one of Dreagon’s three Concorian friends that were with him that day. And, like I said before, I still have nightmares about it, every once and awhile, but they usually begin with Orious and I getting attacked by Dreagon’s assassins. This is the first time I’ve ever dreamed about the little girl and her nursemaid.”

Dex got up from his bed and walked over to his bedroom window. From there, he could see the sky turn from light grey to pink. The sun was rising over the horizon and the stars were beginning to fade from the sky. A new day was dawning.

Princess Venisslah had never liked her fighting classes with Razzor. The Captain of the Guards seemed to always forget that she was a princess and he had no right to boss her around and tell her that she needed to be more agile and quick. Now, her half sister was sharing lessons with her and things had gone from bad to worse.

Venisslah had planed to humiliate Terrina by beating her in sparing, but Terrina was beating her instead. Worse than that, she was bossing her around the way Razzor did.

“You can’t stand in one place all the time,” said Terrina. “You need to keep moving.”

“I’ll do the teaching, if you don’t mind,” said Venisslah.

She threw a punch at Terrina and, then a kick. Her sister managed to block both moves easily. Venisslah, angrily, began punching and kicking at Terrina wildly.

“Stay in control,” Terrina said. “Keep focused, and you’ll keep your head. Speaking of which....” She tapped her sister on the head. “You should really keep your hands up.”

With a savage roar, Venisslah lunged at Terrina, but Terrina jumped out of the way and Venisslah ended up on the mat.

Razzor, who was only wearing a pair of hunter green pants, applauded from the side lines. “Very impressive, Your Highness.”

Comandri, who was sitting on a cushioned chair off to the side, smiled. “Indeed.”

“Thanks,” the Crown Princess said.

Terry’s morning had begun with breakfast with her mother. She wore the same red dress she’d worn to dinner last night. It was the only one in her new wardrobe that fit. SA17 hadn't said one word to her all morning, and Terry was afraid it was because of something she had said to the girl last night. When she went back to her room to get ready for combat class with Razzor, Terry found a sleeveless, red jumpsuit and knee-high, black boots on her bed. She’d seen Venisslah wearing a similar outfit earlier, (It was all black instead of black and red,) and she figured that this was what she was supposed to wear to class. To Terry’s relief, both the jumpsuit and the boots fit her perfectly.

At the beginning of class, Razzor said that he would start by teaching her some of the basic rules of fighting. It didn’t take long for her to show him that she knew all of the basic rules of fighting and then some. She’d taken karate lessons from Tommy Oliver in Angel Grove since he began teaching at the Youth Center in 1993, until he left Angel Grove in 1997.

“And now,” Razzor said, “I would like to go through some sword drills with both of you before we finish today.”

Without another word, Venisslah ordered her slave to bring her practice sword to her.

Terry walked over to the side of the room where SA17 stood beside a rack of practice swords. The swords ranged from dagger size to four and a half feet long. Their blades weren’t very sharp, making them almost useless for combat, but great for practice fighting.

SA17 handed Terry one of the middle sized blades.

“Thanks,” Terry said.

The other girl said nothing in reply.

First Razzor spared with Terry, as the Captain of the Guards began to teach the princess the basics of sword fighting, what to do and what not to do with a blade during battle, some of the many ways to switch from defense to offense, things like that.

Razzor was surprised how fast the girl was catching on. It took Venisslah three weeks to accomplish what Terrina had in an hour. But then again, Venisslah had never been enthusiastic about learning to fight, and it took Razzor longer to teach her anything because she rarely ever listened to him. The only times she ever attempted to do well was when her mother was watching her.

After Terrina was done, Venisslah stepped on to the mat for her turn to spar with the Captain. The were just about to begin when, the door to the training room burst open and in walked the Psycho Rangers.

“What is the meaning of this?” asked Comandri.

“We’re tired of waiting,” said Psycho Red. “We want to destroy the Rangers NOW!

“Has anyone ever told you that patience is a virtue?” Comandri asked.

“We’re villains,” said Psycho Yellow. “Virtue is not in our vocabulary.”

Comandri ignored her. “If you wait awhile before you attack again, The Rangers will get lazy, they will let their guard down, and they will be easier for you to defeat.”

That wasn’t really the case at all. Comandri would like nothing better for them to pick a fight with the Rangers and burn up a large quantity of Dark Spector’s energy in the process, but she knew that the evil monarch was watching Earth very closely now. If he found out that it was the Psychos that were draining his powers, her plan to become the Queen of all Evil would be ruined.

“The Psychos are in the training room now, Shem,” said a female slave named Q842. “What do we do?”

“We proceed with the plan,” said Shem. “The Psychos are on our side, remember?”

Shem and ten of his followers were in the utility room below the training room. KJ39 had activated the computer system that controlled the lights and the locks on the doors for the training room. On Shem’s command, he would shut off the lights and lock the doors. The only way in or out would be through the trapdoor that a group of slaves had made a month before.

“I’m ready to begin whenever you are,” he said.

Shem nodded. “Let’s end the evil reign of Queen Comandri.”

“You’ve foiled our plans one too many times,” said Psycho Red. “I say, from now on, we call the shots.”

Comandri glared at him.“You wouldn’t happen to be planing to rebel against me, would you?”

Before any one of the Psychos could answer, the lights in the room went out, and the room was engulfed in darkness. Then there was a loud thunk.

“What was that?” Terry asked.

“That’s the sound of the door locks activating,” said Razzor. He felt his way along the walls until he found the intercom. “Captain Razzor to the utility room. What’s going on down there?” No response. “The com system is dead, my queen.”

“Dead is not a word, I’d like to hear right now,” said Venisslah.

Through the darkness, Terry could make out a square section of the floor in front of her feet sliding to one side. Her incetopathic sense warned her of danger and she jumped to the left just before a laser bolt tore through the airspace that she’d just occupied.

“We’re under attack!” she cried.

At the same time, ten people, dressed in slave garb, jumped up through the hole in the floor. Each one was holding at least one blaster, that looked like the ones the guards used, and wore strange looking helmets with lights on them. The first one to emerge threw a small blaster to SA17 and another to Venisslah’s salve, YC12.

As soon as the second one emerged, she began to fire at Razzor. He managed to dodge the first five shots, but the sixth caught him in the shoulder. The girl laughed, and by that laugh, Razor was able identify her as GF68, a kitchen slave.

Terry ducked behind a suit of armor with a long handled ax in its right hand. From there, she could see three of the slaves grab the queen and drag her to the center of the room. Another raced to Razzor, pointed a blaster at his throat and ordered him not to move. Four more, including SA17 and YC12, had cornered Venisslah.

“Get away!” the princess screamed. “Don’t hurt me! I’ll do anything you say, just don’t hurt me!”

“All of your screaming and moaning won’t do you any good,” said YC12. “You’re going to pay for what you’ve put me through, what you’ve put us all through! And you’ll pay with your life.”

“Nooooooo!”

Venisslah’s scream was so loud, that Terry had to cover her ears.

“I demand to know why you are doing this,” Comandri shouted after her daughter was finished screaming.

One of the slaves steped forward, so Comandri could see his face. “What’s going on here is that you are being overthrown and the tyranny that began with your father is coming to an end.”

“Who are you? What is your code number?”

“My name is Shem. I am the youngest slave to have a name. And when you’re gone, no one will ever have a code number for a name ever again.”

“You son of a Slease Slug. You’ll never get away with this! Psycho Rangers, attack them! Take no prisoners!”

“Why should they? They’re slaves to you, just like we are. After they’re no longer useful to you, they’ll be killed.”

“They live for one thing only, and that is to serve me. Just like your only purpose in life is to serve me.”

“I don’t know about this swine, but we don’t serve you. We just put up with you so we can destroy the Power Rangers.”

“And our patience with you is wearing thin,” said Psycho Yellow.

“You will serve me or I’ll...”

“If that’s so,” Shem interrupted, “then help us get rid of her folowers after we get rid of her, her Captain, and her daughters.”

Terry gritted her teeth and tried to think of a way to get out of this mess, but she didn’t have time to do much thinking before one of the rebels found her.

“And that includes you, brat. Get over here so your mother can see your demise.” Terry stepped in front of the suit of armor with her hands up. “You’re going to die, girl. Are you ready?”

Terry shrugged. “Well, if I’m going to die, rather than stand here like a target board, I’d prefer to die fighting.”

Quick as a flash, she ripped the pin holding the armored glove holding an ax to the rest of the suit. The ax came crashing down and chopped the blaster her assassin’s laser canon in half. Then, she kicked him in the stomach.

Razzor tried to get up and help her, but GF68 still had the blaster aimed at him.

“I guess, I”d better finish you off now,” she said. She tried to pull the trigger of her gun, but it wouldn’t budge.

Razzor smiled. This scum obviously didn’t know about the laser’s trigger lock. While the slave was busy trying to figure out how to get her stolen laser to work, Razzor got up and kicked it out of her hand. Despite his injured shoulder, he still managed to grab the girl, knock her out, and take the trigger lock off of her weapon. Princess Terrina looked as if she had evreything under control, so Razzor rushed to the aid of Princess Venisslah.

Queen Comandri was safe as long as the Rebels didn’t kill off the Psychos. They wouldn’t hurt her or let her be hurt by these rebels, Veriki had made sure of that. In addition to being programed to defeat the Power Rangers, the Psychos were also programed to protect the queen and her daughters.

Razzor, after taking cover behind a suit of armor, opened fire on the slaves cornering Venisslah, being careful not to hit the princess herself. He managed to hit two of the assailants, wounding them. A third one grabbed Venisslah and put her in front of him, but if he thought he could use the princess for a Concorian shield, he was wrong. The light on top of the slave’s helmet made it possible for Razzor to take him out with his blaster. The fourth slave was no where to be found.

Meanwhile, Shem was about to finish off Comandri, when Psycho Red kicked him in the back, causing him to drop his weapon.

“Hey!” shouted one of his friends. “I thought you were on our side.”

“Fools,” laughed Comandri. “They’re programed to protect me no matter what.”

The Psychos attacked Comandri’s captors and got the queen out of their grasp. She quickly hurried to Shem’s blaster, picked it up, and aimed it at the boy, who was fighting Psycho Red.

“This one is mine,” she said.

Since she didn’t have a light, SA17 couldn't tell who in the darkened room was friend or foe. She felt someone tap her shoulder and she turned around. The red and black uniform of the person she was looking at identified her as Princess Terrina.

“Where’s KJ39?” the slave girl asked.

“The guy who attacked me?” the princess asked. “I tied him to that suit of armor over there with a piece of chain that I found. Are you okay?”

SA17 smiled. “Yes. I’m all right.”

She raised her blaster to Terrina’s face and fired, but Terrina ducked out of the path of the shot and disappeared into the darkness.

The fact that SA17 wanted to kill her was a complete surprise to Terry. What had she done to make the girl so mad at her? After a few seconds of pondering Terry figure it out. It wasn’t her that was the problem. It was Comandri. SA17 wanted her dead because she was Comandri’s daughter. Terry had to set that girl straight.

“Did you honestly think that I wasn’t brave enough to take you on and take you out?” SA17 asked.

Terry emerged from her hiding place behind a pillar, yanked the gun out of SA17’s hand, and pinned her to the wall.

“No. But I didn’t think you’d kill me just because you hate my mother’s guts.”

Suddenly, the lights went on, the doors opened, and several guards rushed in and began to arrest the blaster holding slaves.

“My queen,” one said, “are you all right? We got the power back up as soon as we could.”

“Yes,” said Comandri. “I’m quite all right. Captain Razzor needs medical attention, but the rest of us are fine.”

“It’s just a minor laser burn,” said Razzor. “Nothing to fuss over.”

“Your skill and bravery is to be commanded, Captain,” Comandri said, putting a hand on Razzor’s good shoulder.

“It is an honor to use them to protect you and your family, Your Magesty, especially your eldest daughter, who’s bravery and skill should also be commanded. I think that Her Highness is ready for the Crimson Rider Powers.”

“I agree, Razzor. Terrina, my dear, how about we stop by Veriki’s lab tomorrow and get you your new powers?”

“Sounds good to me, Mom,” the princess said.

Comandri turned her attention to her youngest daughter, who was still in the corner, shaking. “I am very disappointed in you, Venisslah. How could you be so cowardly. Your life wasn’t in danger, these vermin slaves aren’t capable of pulling off a successful assassination. And even if they were, you could of, at least, shown them that even if they killed you, you were still better than them. You should of looked into their eyes and said something that showed them you were brave.”

“What good would that have done?” Venisslah asked. “They still would’ve...”

“I don’t want to hear another word. You’re a disgrace, the exact opposite of your sister.. Get out of my sight.”

Venisslah left the room in tears. This is all your fault, Terrina, she thought. I’ll make you pay!

Terry, meanwhile was watching the slaves being rounded up.

“I’m sure that this little skirmish will be over soon,” Comandri said. “The leader is gone, so the backbone is out of it.”

“What do you mean?” Terry asked.,p/>

Comandri pointed toward two of the guards, who were putting the body of a dead slave in a body bag.

Terry gasped.

SA17 screamed.

The slave was Shem.

By the end of that day, the rebellion was crushed. Most of the slaves that had taken part in it were rounded up and put into prision. A few of them had managed to escape with the help of the guards who were on their side and stowaway on ships heading off planet.

Terry was the only one who knew that SA17 was part of the plot to end her life, but to the salve girl’s surprise, she didn’t tell anyone. In fact, when the guards arrested her, Terry told them that SA17 wasn’t part of the rebellion. Razzor, who’d known that SA17 and Shem were in love, warned Terry that the girl might try and kill her to take revenge for Shem’s death and suggested that she should be locked up anyway.

“Just take her back to her quarters,” Terry said. “I have ways of making sure she doesn’t try to kill me.”

She tried to sound as evil as she could when she said this, so she wouldn’t blow her cover.

So, now SA17 was alone in her dark room, still crying over the loss of her love. Terry was in her room, still wearing her exercise outfit, sitting on the couch by the window and watching the sun set. Her tape recorder was on the arm rest, playing her B*Witched tape. The song she was listening to now was called, “Like the Rose.”

“Every little word

Nothing stops me loving you.”

This was one of the songs that helped Terry unwind after a stressful day, and it was helping her recover from the shock of seeing someone, who was a living person not a monster, blasted to death right in front of her face a little bit, but not much. This was the kind of thing that could only be helped if she talked to someone.

From the sound of sobbing coming from SA17’s room, Terry figured that the girl could use someone to talk to, too. Maybe they could comfort each other. If the slave girl would talk.

“Baby like the rose

Terry walked over to the door of SA17’s room and knocked on the door. When the girl didn’t answer, Terry knocked again.

“Can I talk to you?” she asked.

“I don’t care,” said SA17.

Terry unlocked the door, just as her song ended.

“Oooo ooo ooo

Like the rose.”

“Why don’t we talk in here,” suggested Terry. “There’s more light.”

Without a word, SA17 steped into the room, and Terry locked her own bedroom door, then turned off her tape player. When she saw the slave girl curiously looking at the device, she explained what it was and how it worked. Then, she told SA17 about the band B*Witched.

“They’re four girls from Ireland, a country on Earth. And each one has her own symbol. Sinead’s is a three leaf clover, Lindsay’s is black cat, Keavy’s is a red star, and Edele, who’s Keavy’s sister and my favorate of the bunch, has an orange B for her symbol.

“Their music is a mix of pop music...”

“Pop music?”

“That’s an abbreviation for popular music. Anyway, they combine that and old, Irish music and it makes their music unique and really cool. The cover for my tape has a picture of them on the front of it. I wish I could show it to you, but I left it at home.”

“You don’t think of Concorock as your home?”

“This planet, the way that it is, could never be home to me. Everybody here either hates me or likes me because I’m a princess and slash or the daughter of two of this universe’s sickest villains. No one here likes me or hates me for who I am, what my personality is, what I stand for, stuff like that.”

“There are only a few people who like Venisslah on this planet, and it’s not because of her personality, it’s because of her social status. She knows that, but she never complains.”

“Well, that’s just another difference between her and me.” Terry flopped down in one of the chairs. “Tell me something. I know Venisslah hates my guts, but does Comandri have any real love for me? Any at all? Does she want me?”

SA17 sighed. “She wants a weapon that will get rid of her enemies, she wants an heir to her royal line. There are only two reasons why she’s even bothered to have scouts look for you all these years. You are Comandri’s successor and you’re the only one she can get close enough to Count Dreagon to destroy him.”

“So, I’m her pawn, not her daughter.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”

Terry stood up. “That’s okay. At least I know that there’s no reason to stay here longer than I have to. When Dreagon sends me into battle against Masked Rider, I’m going to end this little charade, I’m playing and go back to the good side. Then, I’m going to go back to my parents back on Earth.”

“Are they good people?”

“Mom and Dad? Of course. They’re the best parents I could have. They’re the best parents I’ve ever had. Why?”

“Nothing it’s just that....” SA17 was silent as tears started to fall from her eyes again. “They sound just like mine. Mother and Father were miners and I was their only child. Comandri was in charge of overseeing the mines up in the mountains that once belonged to one of her late husbands. One day, six years ago, one of the workers found gold in the walls of one of the old caves. Comandri wanted to begin mining that spot at once, even though she was warned that the cave was so unstable that mining in it would cause a cave in. She didn’t care if anyone got hurt, she just wanted the gold. The very day, that a troop of slave miners began to mine the gold, the cave collapsed, killing everyone inside, including my parents.”

“I’m sorry.”

“They weren’t supposed to be there. They would have never have gone near that cave if she didn’t force them too. And now, she’s taken Shem away from me. Do you see why I hate her so much?”

“Yes, I do. And I understand why you want her hyde. But I’m not anything like her. I’m not evil.” SA17 just kept on crying. Terry reached for her tape recorder, flipped the tape over and fast forward it a little bit. “When I’m down, I listen to some music to help cheer me up. Sometimes it helps even more if the song somehow relates to my problem. It may not work for you, but if you want to try it.”

“There’s a song on that tape that relates to what I’m going through?”

“Kinda. it’s a song B*Witched wrote for their parents.” Terry held out the device to SA17.

The girl looked at it for a moment, then pressed the play button and listened as the beginning notes of “To You I Belong” floated from the speaker.

“Rain fell down

Meanwhile, on planet Earth, Dex was in the cave that he used as a garage for Magno, his talking car, and Chopper. He was cleaning one of Magno’s spark plugs, but his mind wasn’t on the task at hand. For some reason, he couldn’t stop thinking about that Concorian girl he’d meet when he was a child. Even weirder, he was now hearing a song by an Earth band that called themselves B*Witched. He’d only heard one song from this Irish group, and this wasn’t it. But it did make him think of, not only the girl, but his family on Edenoi and Earth as well.

“Beside the Sea

And on the Bridge of the Astro Megaship, Alpha was monitoring the scanners, while Karone was sitting in on of the chairs looking at the pictures in her locket. She was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice Andros come in the room.

“Hey, Karone,” he said. His sister gave a startled gasp. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that.”

“It’s okay,” the Purple Space Ranger replied. “I was just thinking.”

“About what?”

“About our parents. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t remember what they look like.”

Andros thought for a moment, then said, “DECA, bring up memory file 0001 on the main viewing screen please.”

“Loading now,” the computer said.

“The first thing I put in DECA’s memory banks was a copy of the chip I used to carry in my locket,” Andros explained, “so if anything happened to it, I would still have my only clue to who kidnapped you.”

“I don’t need to see myself getting kidnapped by Darkonda,” Karone said.

Andros smiled. “That’s not all that’s on here.”

A second later, an image of Karone and Andros’ house on KO-35 appeared on the main viewing screen. The front door of it opened as two adults approached it, and out flew Young Andros and Young Karone. The middle aged woman embraced her son, while her husband scooped up his daughter, tossed her into the air, and caught her.

“I ran to you, you were there”

Both Andros and Karone smiled as they viewed this happy seine from their childhood, but, unknown to them, others were thinking of and missing their parents, too.

“Whenever dark turns to night

In Leewood, Price Dex walked home under the light of street lamps as they began to, automatically, turn on as the sun went down, and the sky turned from grey to black. He missed his parents, his brother, and grandfather, but couldn’t wait to get back to the family waiting for him down the street.

“To you I belong”

And on the planet Concorock, two friends, who had once been enemies, now stood side by side, watching the sun go down. Each girl was missing her family, too.

“To you I belong.”

To Be Continued.....

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