From Princess To Purple

Karone struggled to get out of Ecliptor’s grasp, but deep down, she knew that it was impossible. Ecliptor was strong, she of all people should know that. And now that he had been improved, his grip was stronger than ever.

“Ecliptor, let me go!” she shouted.

“I’m afraid I cannot do that, my princess. Dark Specter has ordered that you are to be reprogrammed, just like I was."

"Reprogrammed?"

"Yes. For evil. Never again will you have to worry about that accursed Red Ranger pulling you from your destiny."

He pulled Karone through an open doorway into the Dark Fortress' infirmary. Once they were inside, the door closed behind them and Karone could see that the room had been transformed into some sort of lab. On a table in the corner was what looked like a new and improved version of her combat armor and a strange looking headband with a small device on the side of it.

In the center of the room was another table with iron arm and feet restrains to keep its prisoner getting off and escaping, Standing at the head of this table was Darkonda and two Quantrons.

"Welcome back, Princess of Darkness," Darkonda said, bowing to Karone. "We've missed you so much since the Rangers took you away."

"I'll bet," said Karone.

Darkonda laughed. "It seems you've picked up some of the Rangers' bad manners. Such a pity. But don't worry, Doctor Darkonda will fix you up and make you as good as new. No wait, make that better than new. Ha! Ha! Ha!"

He motioned for his assistants to bring her to him. The two Quantrons walked toward Karone and Ecliptor. Ecliptor hesitated for a moment before shoving her into their metal hands. Then he walked over to a corner and folded his arms over his chest and watched as the Quantrons began to drag the girl toward the table.

Karone gritted her teeth. She was not going to be reprogrammed like some machine. Not without a fight. She stomped on one of her captors' feet. It let go of her and clutched its sore foot, leaving Karone with a free hand that she used to punch the other Quantron in the face and knocked him out. Then she ran for the door while Ecliptor just looked the other way.

Karone was just about to open the door when Darkonda grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her backwards.

"Leaving so soon, Astronema?"

"I'm not Astronema anymore."

"That's going to change very soon, my dear."

She struggled to break away from him, but his grip was too strong. Ecliptor walked to the door.

"Aren't you going to stay and watch the show?" Darkonda asked.

"I'd rather not," said Ecliptor. He opened the door and walked out, not bothering to close it behind him.

"Suit yourself. Come along my princess." He yanked Karone towards the table as the Quantrons began to recover from their injuries. "Get up and help me restrain her."

Two robots were on their feet in an instant, but before they could put Karone on the table, Elgar came rushing in.

"What is it?" Darkonda barked.

"Well.." Elgar began.

"Well what?"

"You wanted me to tell you when the asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere, so you could watch to planet go boom."

"It's happening already?"

"No. It's ...not going to happen at all! About an half hour ago, the Rangers used their Megazords, along with a Zord brought in by the Silver Ranger to push the asteroid off course."

"What?!"

Darkonda was so surprised that he loosened his grip on Karone, making it possible for her to yank her wrist free from Darkonda's grasp, punch him in the ribs, and kick his feet out from under him. Before Elgar and the Quantrons could make a move to capture her again, she snatched her boomerang from its holster on her leg and expertly tossed it at them. The weapon struck all three, worthless goons and returned to her. Then Karone raced out the door, closing and locking it behind her. As she fled down the corridor to the control room, she heard Darkonda bellow with rage.

Andros and Zhane, the Red and Silver Space Rangers, and best friends since childhood, crept silently through the Dark Fortress' docking bay. It took all of Andros' self-control to keep him from going crazy with worrying about his sister and keep his mind focused, so that he didn’t make a mistake that could get himself and Zhane blown to bits.

As for Zhane, he had two reasons for accompanying Andros on this suicide mission. One, because Andros was going to need all the help he could get, and two, even though she had tried to kill him with the Mantis monster when she was evil and his powers were unstable, Zhane had developed a crush on the former Princess of Darkness. A fact that Andros couldn’t believe.

"You went out on a date with my sister?" Andros whispered.

"I didn’t know she was your sister," Zhane whispered back. "Besides, it wasn’t really a date." Out of the corner of his eye he saw two Quantrons approaching. "Watch out!"

He and Andros ducked behind some crates and waited for the robots to pass. When all was clear, they ventured from their hiding place.

A few seconds later Andros taped Zhane on the shoulder. "Just one date?"

"It really wasn't anything."

They were now on a balcony overlooking the inside door to the docking bay. Quantrons were streaming in and out of it.

“I think we may have a better chance of getting inside as Quantrons, than as Rangers," whispered Zhane.

"I agree," Andros replied.

They waited until two Quantrons walked under the balcony, then they jumped over the metal railing, tackled them to the ground, and knocked them out.

A few minutes later, wearing the Quantrons' armor, the two Rangers walked through the door, toward the control room.

The communicator the Space Rangers had given her was Karone's ticket out of danger, but when Ecliptor had grabbed her in the control room, he made her drop it. Now, if she could only get to it, she could teleport to safety.

Getting to there, however, wasn’t going to be easy. Quantrons were everywhere, and they weren’t on her side anymore. Plus Ecliptor was on the loose, and he wasn’t going to let her get away.

So far she was able to dodge all of the Quantrons that came her way, but as she got closer to the control room, she found that she was running out of cover. Finally, she reached the control room's door. It was open, and to her dismay, she could see about ten Quantrons inside.

And she could hear two more coming up behind her.

"Ki-yah!" she cried. And jabbed her elbow into one of the robots' stomach.

Karone whirled around and struck the other Quantron in the throat. By then, the others were racing towards her. Quickly she snatched up her boomerang and tossed at them. It sailed around the room and struck them down. It was on it's way back to her when a wide blade slashed down and cut the boomerang in half.

Karone gasped. The blade was Ecliptor's!

"You're making this harder than it needs to be, Astronema," her former lieutenant said.

"I'm not Astronema anymore!" Karone declared.

Ecliptor sighed. "I don't want to hurt you, but if that's what it will take to get you back to where you truly belong, so be it."

But Ecliptor didn't get the chance to even touch Karone. A Quantron came running in from the corridor, jumped Ecliptor from behind and wrestled him to the floor.

Karone couldn’t believe it. There was still a Quantron that was loyal to her, even though she was good now? She was about to jump in and help him, when a strong hand griped her shoulder. She ripped it off and flipped the body it was connected to over her shoulder and on to the floor, causing his helmet to fly off his head. Revealing the blonde hair and handsome face of the Silver Ranger.

"Is this any way to treat your rescuer?" Zhane moaned.

"It is when he scares me half to death," said Karone, helping him up.

They heard a moan and a thud, and looked up to see that Ecliptor had knocked Karone's other rescuer to the floor, knocking his helmet off and revealing that it was Andros.

"Red Ranger!" an outraged Ecliptor boomed. "How dare you interfere!"

Andros kicked Ecliptor in the groin. Ecliptor moaned and went down to his knees, while Andros stood up and tore off his disguise.

"Let's Rocket!" he cried. He punched in his morphing code on his Astromorpher.

Before he was through, Zhane ripped off his Quantron suit, took out his Digimorpher and cried, "Let's Rocket!" Then he punched in his morphing code.

It only took a second for the two Kerovian humans to morph into Space Rangers, but no sooner were they fully morphed then Darkonda burst into the control room with more than a dozen Quantrons behind him.

"Well, look who's here," Darkonda mused. “I was wondering when you Rangers were going to show up."

"Destroy those meddlers," ordered Ecliptor. "Then take Astronema to be reprogrammed." The Quantrons hurried to obey.

"I'm the one who gives the orders around here, now. Remember?" Darkonda scowled.

Karone kicked a Quantron in the stomach. "There's no way the three of us are going to last long against a whole army of Quantrons, plus Ecliptor and Darkonda! We've got to find a way out of here!"

She spied her communicator on the floor and smiled, but that smile turned into a frown when she saw that it had been smashed.

Zhane punched his opponent in the chest, then threw it into several of its buddies. "Got any suggestions?"

"We can't teleport out with the Fortress' shields up," said Andros. He nailed a Quantron with a sidekick. After it went down, Andros could clearly see the large view port window and got an idea.

"Andros, look out!" his sister screamed.

"Spiral Saber!" Andros cried.

Instantly, his weapon materialized in his hands. He turned to see Ecliptor’s sword slicing through the air. Andros blocked the blow with his Saber. The two battled each other, neither getting the upper hand until a Quantron struck Andros from behind with its double-edged sword. He cried out in pain and crumpled to the floor. Ecliptor shoved the Quantron away.

"I can deal with him myself, you overgrown tin can!"

At the same time, Andros looked around to see how Zhane and Karone were doing. Zhane was taking on Darkonda with his Supersilverizer, while the Quantrons were either watching them or ganging up on Karone. The young woman had lost her tiara and two Quantrons had her by the arms.

Andros kicked Ecliptor in the kneecap, and as the remodeled monster groaned, elbowed him in the back, making him fall to the floor.

"Karone, hang on!" Andros called out.

He flipped over the group of robots that stood between him and his sister. As he landed, he slashed his Saber across the abdomen of one of his sister's captors, causing it to let her go. The other Quantron didn’t wait around to see what Andros would do to it. It let go of Karone and ran out of the Control Room.

"Are you okay?" Andros asked.

“I’m fine," replied Karone.

Andros glanced over at Zhane. The Silver Ranger was up against the wall trying hard not to let Darkonda cut him in half.

"You're not getting out of here alive," Darkonda declared, as he raised his sword over his head to finish him off.

Zhane shook his head. "You know something Darkonda?" He punched the villain in the stomach, making him double over in pain. "You talk too much." Zhane dealt Darkonda a strong upper cut, causing the monster to fall to the floor.

"Get him!" Darkonda barked at the Quantrons. "Get them all! Don’t let them get away!"

The Quantrons rushed into action. Zhane pushed a button on his Supersilverizer that transformed it into a laser. Then he opened fire on the useless buckets of bolts. Andros shot at the Quantrons who were attacking him and Karone. Together, they managed to blow most of them away and regroup, but more Quantrons were hurrying through every door in the room, forcing the three Kerovians back towards the view port window. Andros and Zhane stood, protectively, in front of Karone.

"Just how many Quantrons are on this ship?" Zhane asked.

"More than a hundred," replied Karone.

"Oh, great."

"Don't worry," said Andros. “I have an idea."

"Don't destroy them just yet," Darkonda ordered. "I want to say my good-byes."

The Quantrons stood there with weapons drawn, waiting to attack if their prisoners made any sudden moves. Darkonda made his way to the front of the crowd.

"Zhane," Andros whispered, "do you remember how we escaped from the Apocalypse Space Station when we were caught spying on Dark Specter two years ago?"

"How could I forget?" Zhane whispered back. "That was one of the most dangerous escapes we ever did. "

"Do you think we can do it again?"

"Do we have any other choice?"

Andros turned to his sister. "Grab anything you can that's solidly anchored to the floor. Zhane and I are going to break the window open."

"Are you crazy?" Karone asked. "You'll be sucked out into space!"

"Just trust us," said Zhane. "We know what we're doing."

"I hope so," said Karone.

"Well Rangers, and back stabbing traitor," said Darkonda, "it seems as though you've run out of room to run. It will do you no good to fight any longer. You've lost. I'd destroy all three of you now, you're more trouble than you're worth, but Dark Specter still has a soft spot for his protégé. So give her up Rangers, or I’ll make your deaths slow and painful."

"You took her from me once, you're not going to take her from me again," declared Andros.

"Just try and stop me."

Darkonda’s eyes glowed red as he prepared to fire laser bolts from them. Karone knew what he was up to and pushed past her brother and boyfriend, so that she was standing in front of them.

"You want to kill them? You’ll have to kill me first," she said.

Darkonda laughed. "Why not? I've been wanting to do that ever since you bit me right before I delivered you to Ecliptor when you were just a bawling brat."

Ecliptor snarled and pushed through the crowed of Quantrons.

"Dark Specter will destroy you," Karone warned.

"Let him," said Darkonda. "I'll still have three lives left afterwards."

Ecliptor grabbed Darkonda's shoulder and pulled him backwards. "Which I will make your worst nightmare if you so much as swing your sword at her."

"You still care about her after she betrayed you, went against all that you taught her. You were like a father to her and she repays you by going over to the other side."

"Whatever you're going to do," Karone whispered to Andros and Zhane, "do it now."

No one was watching them. All of the Quantrons were waiting to see if a battle would break out between their two commanders. None of them even glanced at them when Andros and Zhane called for their Galaxy Gliders, or when Karone grabbed a near by computer console.

“You know," said Darkonda. “I think you’re getting soft. Astronema has made you so tender and loving that not even the remodeling job can help you be strong again."

The three Kerovian had their eyes on the view port window. The Red and Silver Galaxy Gliders had just flown up beside it.

"Ready?" Andros asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," said Zhane.

"Me too," said Karone.

Each Ranger had one hand holding the console and the other holding his Astroblaster or Supersilverizer. The two opened fire on the window. It shattered, easily, with the force of the combined blasts.

Immediately, the suction of space began to pull the Fortress' occupants into its vast realm. Darkonda and Ecliptor managed to find something to anchor themselves to, but many of the Quantrons weren't so lucky. They were sucked out into space.

"Come on," said Andros. "But be careful."

They carefully made their way towards the Gliders, clinging to the wall to keep from being sucked out. Zhane was the first to reach his Glider.

"My lady," he said, helping Karone on to it. "Let’s go," said Andros, getting on to his own Glider.

The Silver Glider shot into space. Before the Red Glider could take off, Darkonda let go of his computer console and let the suction take him straight on to Andros’ glider. Andros turned to fight him, but the alien was too quick for him. With his sword Darkonda knocked his weapons out of his hands and on to the Glider. Then he threw Andros off. Luckily, Andros managed to grab the side of the Glider before he fell too far into space.

"Andros!" Zhane cried. He turned the Glider around and flew back to help his friend.

“This is the last time you meddle of my affairs,” Darkonda said, trying to kick Andros’ hands off the Glider.

Suddenly, a laser blast from Zhane’s weapon nailed him in the back. Darkonda howled and fell to his knees. Andros quickly took up his Spiral Saber, and with all his might, struck Darkonda in the chest. The ugly, evil bounty hunter sailed off the Glider and exploded a few seconds later.

“There goes life number six,” said Karone.

They flew over to Andros and helped him get on his Glider.

“Thanks,” he said.

“No problem,” said Zhane.

“And thank you for coming after me,” said Karone.

“You're welcome,” said Andros.

“Don’t mention it,” said Zhane. “Saving good looking girls like you is what we good guys do best.”

Karone smiled.

“Come on, you two,” said Andros. “Let’s get back to the Megaship.”

“Computer,” Ecliptor ordered, “seal off the window.”

Two large, steel doors slid across the opening and sealed it off. The Quantrons who were left in the control room moaned.

Ecliptor jumped to his feet. “Get up and get back to your posts!” he ordered. The Quantrons jumped up and obeyed, leaving Ecliptor alone.

She was gone. His princess, who he had loved as a daughter, had left the way of evil forever. Dark Specter would be furious, but he would take the loss out on Darkonda when he came back to live his seventh life. That gave Ecliptor some satisfaction, but not much.

Ecliptor was about to retire to his own quarters when he saw something laying on the floor. It was Astronema’s tiara. He picked it up and looked at it. Then he walked into the room that had once been her quarters, remembering how she laughed out loud with happiness when she first stepped into it after receiving command of the Dark Fortress. Now she would never want to walk in here again.

Ecliptor noticed a corner of what looked like a photograph sticking out from underneath the mattress in her bed. Pulling it out, he saw that it was a picture of the Silver Ranger in his uniform with his helmet tucked under one arm. The picture looked like it had once been crumpled, but then been flattened out again.

Astronema had acted very peculiar since the day he sent the Horribull to attack the Rangers. Now he could guess why; she had fallen in love with the Silver Ranger.

Ecliptor took the photo and the tiara back to his quarters and remained there for the rest of the day.

For the fiftieth time that hour, Ashley Hammond, the Yellow Space Ranger, glanced at the main viewing screen. All it showed was darkness and stars. There wasn’t a sign of her two fellow Rangers anywhere.

“Shouldn’t they be back by now?” she asked.

“A rescue mission like this takes time,” said Cassie Chan, the Pink Space Ranger.

“But shouldn’t we at least contact them and make sure they’re okay?”

“Let’s wait a little while longer,” said Carlos Vargas, the Black Space Ranger. “They’ve only been gone for about an hour and a half.”

“Besides,” added T.J Carter, the Blue Space Ranger, “Andros told us that he or Zhane would contact us if they needed any help. We’re supposed to wait here in case Dark Specter decides to make an attack on Earth. You can bet he’s not going to be happy when he hears that we pushed his asteroid off course.”

“Attention,” DECA, the Astro Megaship’s computer announced. “The Red and Silver Galaxy Gliders are approaching.”

The four Rangers, and the robot Alpha 6, looked at the main viewing screen. Sure enough, sailing toward the Megaship as fast as they could was Andros on his Glider and Zhane and Karone on the Silver Glider.

“Are you guys okay?” T.J asked, as his friends entered the Bridge. Andros and Zhane were still morphed, but had their helmets off.

“We’re fine,” said Karone.

“Yeah,” said Zhane, “but you should see the losers.”

“We gave Ecliptor, Darkonda, and their Quantrons a fight they won’t soon forget,” said Andros.

Karone, Zhane, and Andros told their friends all about their escape. When they were done. Andros and Zhane powered down out of their uniforms, while Karone went to go change into her flight suit.

A little while later, all six Rangers were in the maintenance/galley area getting their dinner from the senthitron.

“Man, am I hungry,” Zhane said, programming what he wanted to eat into the machine.

“Why does that not surprise me?” laughed Andros.

“Laugh all you want, but I’ve got a long way to go before I get back to the Rebels and it won’t do them or me any good to be a starving boy. I’ve got to keep up my strength.” Zhane pulled his plateful of food out of the senthitron. “I’ll have to be heading out in the morning."

“You’re leaving so soon?” asked Cassie.

“Yep,” said Zhane. “Me and the Mega Winger are needed someplace else.”

Karone walked into the room. “That’s too bad. I’ll really miss you.”

Zhane turned. Without the red hair dye, Karone looked exactly like the blonde he had bumped into when Cassie and Ashley dragged him, Andros, Carlos, and T.J to see a romantic movie.

Zhane stood there with his mouth open for a few seconds before saying, “Well...I’ll..uh, be back when you guys need me. Don’t worry.”

Cassie and Ashley giggled.

“You look really good,” he added.

“Thanks,” said Karone. She walked over to the senthitron smiling. Leading a good life after so many years of being evil was going to take some getting used to, but with good friends and a great brother to help her, Karone was sure she would do all right.

She looked over her shoulder at the six Rangers enjoying their meal and wondered what in the galaxy ever possessed her to try and destroy them.

The planet Concorock was once one of the most beautiful and most respected planets in the universe. Eighty-five percent of it was beautiful rain forest that housed many different plants and animals. For hundreds of years, there were no people living on the planet. Then Devilscom, Dark Specter’s father, destroyed a group of Insectivites, a race of people who were distant cousins of the Edenoites, decided to make Concorock their home after their world. At about the same time, a large group of human colonists came to Concorock with the same idea-to make the planet their home. It wasn’t long before the two groups found each other, but instead of fighting over who’s planet Concorock belonged to, they decided to co-exist. Over time, the two peoples began to marry one another and have kids, who became to be known as Concorians.

The settlers built their cities and planted their crops in the places on the planet where there were no forests, being very careful not to disturb the wild life or do anything that would hurt Concorock’s eco system. When cities began to get overcrowded, people set up communities in the mountains while others found ways to build houses in the trees without damaging them. They wanted their new home to be cherished for years to come and not be ruined by pollution and senseless destruction.

All went well for many years until a young, Concorian warrior, named Tyroben, became dissatisfied with his people’s way of life. Concorock was filled with valuable resources. The mountains were loaded with valuable and very rare crystals and gems, some of which could be used to make some of the universe’s most powerful weapons. The skin and horns of many of the animals that lived in the forests were also valuable. Many of the wealthy visitors that came to the planet annually would pay handsomely for a robe made out of the fine gold fur of a large Cunga Ape or a necklace made out of the small, ivory horns of a Rainco Lizard. The people of Concorock could be wealthy beyond their dreams if it weren’t for those unnecessary, old-fashioned rules protecting the environment.

Tyroben managed to win a few supporters by telling them of the riches that other planets enjoyed if only he was in charge. With the help of Dark Specter, who had just begun his evil reign, Tyroben and his cult overthrew the Concorock government and he was made ruler of the planet.

Now, sixty-five Earth years later, Concorock was in a state of decay. The rain forests were almost completely gone; there was only one left. The rest had been cleared away to make room for factories and housing developments. Many of the plants and animals were endangered or extinct.

When Tyroben took over, he forced the fifty or so purebred Humans and Insectivites that were left on Concorock to become his slaves.

“This is your punishment for making us obey your stupid laws,” Tyroben had said when he made the decree.

As for the Concorians, they tried to adapt to their new lifestyle by going out and getting jobs. Jobs that the new king himself had made for them-mining, hunting, construction work, and so on. They were paid little for their work and every month they had to pay a heavy tax. Those who couldn’t pay it were made into palace slaves. Also, everything they needed to survive, like food and water, was heavily taxed. The life of wealth Tyroben promised turned out to be nothing more than a lie. The only people who lived in riches were the king, his family, his best soldiers, and his nobles.

Even worse, Tyroben was as unjust as he was rich. Whether a criminal was guilty or not depended on what he or she did to whom. If a poor person or their property was harmed the one responsible would get a slap on the wrist and nothing more. If the damage was done to a rich person, however, the one responsible was made into a slave or executed.

The evil tyrant’s reign lasted sixty-five years until the day he finally passed away. Even though most of Concorock’s people hated him, they didn’t rejoice much when they heard the news. They knew that the one taking his place on the throne would be his only child, wicked Princess Comandri.

The-soon-to-be-queen was even more power hungry and greedy than her father. The people would get no relief from her. In fact she was likely to want to extend her newly inherited empire, by taking over other planets, and she would do anything to accomplish that goal. Other people would soon be living under her harsh rule.

The day Comandri became queen would be the beginning of a disaster for the whole universe.

Tyroben’s funeral took place the night before Comandri’s coronation. It was not a lengthy or heart felt one. There was just a brief service done by Klutzvar, the Grand Viser, before the dead king’s body was placed in a plastic bag and carried into the jungle, where it was thrown into a pit for the wild animals to eat. After it was all over, Comandri went back to her palace at the top of Mount Royalace, the planet’s highest mountain, to prepare for her coronation.

At dawn, the coronation began. The future leader was dressed in a long, dark green, satin dress with long sleeves and a low-neck line. She wore an expensive, gold ring on each finger, and a large diamond necklace around her neck. Her red curly hair that flowed all the way down to her thin waist was the only thing on her that wasn’t decked with jewels or gold, but it would soon be decorated with the crown of Concorock, which awaited her on her father’s thrown. In a few minutes, both would be hers.

Comandri walked up to where Klutzvar stood in front of her throne, ready to begin the coronation ceremony. On the seven, stone steps leading up to the throne stood Razzor, the captain of the Concorian royal guard, and Comandri’s youngest daughter Princess Venisslah. The mother and daughter duo had the same emerald green eyes, the same snow white skin, the same small waist line, the same purple mind diamonds, the same cruel smile, and the same dark and cold heart.

But the two had other differences as well. Venisslah had straight, raven black hair that was the same length as her mother’s, but unlike her mother, she didn’t like to wear her hair long. It always had to be done up by one of her slaves before she ever left her bedroom. Today it was done up in a bun. She wore the same gold rings as her mother, and around her neck, she wore a string of silver pearls, produced by the endangered Venti Oysters. Her blue dress was tight, sleeveless, and went down to her knees.

Venisslah smiled at her mother, and she smiled back. The ceremony was about to begin.

Klutzvar banged his bronze rod on the floor to get the royal court’s attention.

“Members of the Court,” the short, fat Viser said. “We are here to pass the leadership of our great planet to Comandri, daughter of King Tyroben, mighty warrior, born leader, deliverer of...”

“Get on with it,” Comandri snapped.

Klutzvar cleared his throat and took the crown from the throne. It was a pure gold circelet, and was decorated with the most rare and beautiful gems of Concorock. “This crown, designed by the great Tyroben himself, symbolizes leadership and royalty. It once sat on the head of your father, and now....”

Klutzvar’s speech was interrupted when the lights in the room suddenly went out. A second later, lightning flashed inside the palace. People screamed with fright, the palace guards, clad in their blue and gray armor, reached for their weapons. Razzor, who was dressed in green and gray armor, drew his extra large blaster and thrust himself in front of the frightened, teenage princess. Klutzvar dropped the crown and ran for cover. Comandri was the only one who wasn’t frightened. In fact, she was angry. She knew who this intruder was and she expected to see him either at the coronation or soon after, but she was still annoyed that he just had to barge in and interrupt the most important day of her life.

The giant form of Dark Specter materialized just as the lightning ceased. The court gasped, but Comandri just smiled, masking all signs of annoyance, and stepped forward.

“Dark Specter,” she said, cheerfully, “what a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe this, unexpected honor?”

“I had heard about the death of your father, and thought I’d come and pay my respects and to see the crown of Concorock passed down to his successor,” the leader of the Evil Alliance replied.

Comandri shook her head. If those were the actual reasons why Dark Specter had bothered to come to Concorock, they weren’t the only ones. The giant lava monster had another reason he was here. He was somehow going to use her current situation to his advantage. Whether his plan was going to somehow benefit her was something she would probably find out soon, but for right now, she was going to have to play along and be nice to this overgrown hot air balloon.

“The Grand Monarch of Evil does me honor,” she said as she curtsied. “But I’m afraid that you’ve missed the funeral and most of the coronation, but don’t worry, as soon as the coronation celebration is over, I’ll meet you outside and tell you all about it. Now, if my sorry excuse for a Viser gets back over here and finishes crowning me queen, we can be done with this ceremony, and enjoy the party. “ She eyed the table, where Klutzvar had taken his refuge and motioned for the klutz to come forward and finish the ceremony.

Klutzvar rushed over to his post, picked up the crown and held it in his shaky hands. “And now, I crown you, Comandri, daughter of Tyroben, Queen of Concorock.” He slowly began to place the gold crown on the new queen’s head. His hands were still shaking. The crowed cheered, and the celebration began.

“Mother, I don’t see why I have to come with you to see this guy,” Venisslah said as Comandri led her upstairs to the highest balcony in the palace.

“Because, my daughter, someday this kingdom, or maybe some other kingdom, just might be yours,” said Comandri. “And when you’re queen you have to learn how to use people in power to get what you want. Just like I’m going to do right now.”

She pushed open a door that lead into a sort of museum that had ancient looking spears, swords, and other weapons hanging on the walls. Comandri and Venisslah walked right passed them and over to the large windows. Comandri unfastened the lock, threw them open and stepped out onto the large, bronze balcony. It was near sunset now, and Concorock’s sky had turned pink as the setting sun started to disappear behind the distant mountains.

But Comandri wasn’t interested in seeing the sunset. She and her daughter walked to the edge of the balcony of the massive bronze palace and waited as the howling wind that had started to blow at around noon whipped at their clothing and hair. Venisslah moaned as she tried to keep her hair its bun, and she begged her mother to let her go back inside.

“This wind is messing up my hair! I can’t take it anymore!” she wailed.

“Hush, now,” her mother said. “This won’t take long and besides, it will be worth it.”

The air before them shimmered, and Dark Specter appeared before the balcony.

“Greetings Comandri, Queen of Concorock.”

The new queen smiled. “And to you, Dark Specter. I assume you’ve heard of my daughter, Princess Venisslah.”

Dark Specter’s large, yellow eyes looked at the teenager, who was trying to keep her hair from blowing to pieces. “I must admit that I haven’t heard much about this lovely child of yours, Comandri. Tell me, which one of your twenty-three husbands is her father?”

It was a well-known fact throughout the universe that the only daughter of King Tyroben had a way with men. She always went after handsome men who had power, or something else she wanted. She would lure them to her by either being charming to them, or by simply giving them what they wanted in return for marrying her. When she grew tired of her husband, or when she found someone new, she would divorce, or find some other way to do away with the unlucky prince. In the last seventeen years, she had gone through twenty-three husbands, and only one of them was still among the living.

“Oh,” said the queen, “Venisslah’s father was one of my father’s nobles, who had a mining business my father was interested in taking over. I got him interested in me, we married, and on our wedding night, he got me pregnant. I was going to wait until after our child was born, so he could, at least see her once before I threw him out, but he didn’t want to have any children, and wanted me to dispose of the baby before she was even born, so I disposed of him. He was husband number six or seven, I think. It’s easy to loose track of them all after you’ve had so many.”

“I see,” said Dark Specter. He looked at the teenager, who was moaning because her hairpins were coming loose in the wind, and chuckled. “This breeze is a bit of a nuisance isn’t it my dear?” Venisslah nodded. Dark Specter turned is attention back to her mother. “Your becoming ruler of this planet, Comandri, is something that can be a benefit to me, as well as to you.”

“Well I can see how it could benefit me, but I don’t quite see what’s in this for you.”

“You are now in a position to add Concorock to the Evil Alliance.”

“You mean, make my subjects your subjects?”

“You might say that.”

“And how would turning over my new leadership position to you benefit me?”

“First of all, you wouldn’t be forfeiting your leadership. You will still be queen of this planet, but whenever I need your assistance in this fight against good, you must respond with your armies quickly, and when I have control over this whole universe, you will find yourself handsomely rewarded.”

“It sounds good, Dark Specter, but if I’m going to join you little alliance, there’s something you must give me right up front.”

“What?”

“Word has reached me about the...disappointing actions of your human protégé, Astronema. I understand that out of all your warriors, she was the most qualified to be your successor. Give me a chance and I can prove that I can be just as qualified, if not more, to take her place.”

“I could certainly use someone like you running my forces orbiting Earth. Darkonda is in charge of the Dark Fortress now, but he can’t be trusted.”

“I can.”

“To be worthy of such an honor, you must do away with those meddling Power Rangers, so they don’t ruin my plans to gain Zordon’s powers.”

Comandri smiled. “Oh, I have a few tricks up my sleeves that should do the job. Make me your successor, I will add Concorock to your alliance, and the Rangers are as good as gone.”

“Very well then, my new successor. Begin immediately. I want them crushed as soon as possible. But if you fail me, I won’t hesitate to eat you for dinner.” Dark Specter raised his arms skyward and vanished.

“How, rude,” Comandri mussed. “He didn’t even say goodbye.” she turned and walked back into the weapons room with Venisslah on her heels.

“Is this an example of getting what you want from people in power, Mother?” the princess asked.

“Yes,” replied Comandri.

“It didn’t look very profitable to me. You may be Dark Specter’s successor now, but how much good will that do while he’s still alive? All he’ll do is boss you around, and any time he feels like it, he’ll overthrow you as Queen of Concorock.”

“That oversized, hot air tank won’t get the chance.” Comandri closed the windows, and walked out of the room.

Venisslah followed her. “What do you mean?”

“You see, Venisslah, that little conversation I had with Dark Specter gave me all that I need to do away with him and become ruler of all evil.” She pulled what looked like a silver belt buckle off of her green sash that was wrapped around her waist, and showed it to her daughter. “This is something the scientists down in the palace lab cooked up. It’s some sort of energy absorber that I used to get a little of Dark Specter’s energy while we were talking.”

“So?”

“So, I can use it against him. Aren’t I brilliant?”

Venisslah wasn’t impressed. “How?”

“You see, my scientists have developed devices that can make copies of the Rangers’ powers. We can use them to make our own evil Rangers and we can give them extra power and mix their power with the energy I got from Dark Specter and they’ll be far superior to their originals.”

“So, your Rangers will beat the Power Rangers, guaranteed?”

“Not just the Rangers, but Dark Specter as well. Thanks to this, all of my evil Rangers power will come from Dark Specter, the more they use, the more energy they drain from Dark Specter until....”

“Dark Specter is drained to nothing!”

“Making me the Queen of Evil!”

“Oh, Mother Dear, you’re so intelligent!”

“Thank you, darling. You know, sometimes, I even amaze myself!”

After being with the Rangers for a whole week, Karone began to feel less like a new comer and more like an actual member of the team. Her brother and his friends had done their best to make her feel welcome as they searched the galaxy for Zordon. Karone had tried to help out by telling them where Dark Specter might have taken the great Eltarian mentor, but each spot turned out to be a dead end. On the planet Variks, Darkonda had set up a trap for them, but the Rangers saw what was coming before the trap was sprung, and managed to escape with Zhane’s help. Now they were returning to Earth to stock up on fuel and supplies.

As he and his sister worked on repairing the Galaxy Gliders that had sustained quite a bit of damage during the Rangers’ last battle Andros couldn't help but smile a little bit. After twelve long years of searching for her, he had finally found Karone. He just hoped he would never have lose her to the forces of evil again. He had already lost her once when Darkonda had kidnapped her when they were both five-almost six years old. They were playing in the park near their house and, while little Andros had run off to re-capture their runaway cage ball, Darkonda sprang from the bushes and took Karone away.

Andros and Karone’s parents had sent a hovering computer chip camera to record them playing in the park, but the images captured on the small, round chip were a lot different than a peaceful day at the park. Until the day he found out who his sister had become, Andros carried the chip in his locket. Now it lay on a table in his room. He was thinking about discarding it. Now that he had found Karone, the chip wasn’t needed anymore.

Just as the two Kerovians finished fixing Carlos’ glider, Cassie walked into the room. “Hey, guys. We’re just about ready to head down to Earth.”

“And we’ve just finished here,” said Andros.

“Yeah,” added Karone. She was a little nervous, but very exited. It would be her first time on Earth since she became good, and she was anxious to see what it was like as a civilian instead of a tyrant.

Cassie smiled at her newest friend. “We were thinking about having lunch at the Surf Spot after we get our supplies.”

“The Surf Spot?” Karone asked.

“It’s a restaurant in Angel Grove that’s owned by a friend of ours. Trust me, you’ll love it.”

The Kerovian Rebels had made the small planet Artickanya their temporary home and base. The planet was a lifeless lump of ice, covered with snow that had only a few hours of sunlight each day, and the temperature was always below freezing. Even with his thick coat, gloves, snow pants and boots on, Zhane was shivering.

The Silver Ranger was patrolling the area around the cave that the former KO-35 colonists were staying in. It wasn’t as warm as the Astro Megaship, but at least it was a lot warmer than it was outside, with the temperature fifteen degrees below zero, the snow coming down hard, and the wind blowing it in his face.

Zhane’s communicator crackled and a voice said, “Do you see anything?” It was Tyqua, the second in command of the Rebels.

“Nothing except ice and snow,” Zhane replied. “How about you?”

“Same. It looks as though there’s nothing out there tonight. Might as well turn in.”

“Yeah, might as well. I don’t know about you, Tyqua, but I’m freezing my tail end off.”

“All right. I’ll see you inside.”

Zhane was just about to reply, when he heard what sounded like the engine of an old spacecraft powering up, then dying, and the sound of an angry owner getting out of it and kicking the side of the hull. Zhane knew it couldn’t have been any of the Rebels. None of them were crazy enough to try and take off in this weather unless it was an emergency, and, besides, none of their transports had an engine that was as worn out as the newcomer’s sounded.

“Hold on, Tyqua. It looks like we may have some company after all. I’m going to go check it out.”

“Be careful,” Tyqua replied.

Zhane crept as silently as he could through the snow to where the ship was parked. It wasn’t hard to find. The old rust bucket made a lot of noise when its owner tried to start it, and he, or she-by the way it searched, Zhane couldn’t tell if it was him or her-made even more when it cursed the thing for not starting. All Zhane had to do was follow the sound to a hilltop, over looking the cave.

At the foot of the hill, Zhane could see a small, battered, ship that was about a hundred years older than he was. It looked more like a heap of scrap mettle than a one-person trade ship. The unlucky pilot of the vessel was a Canavalk, a creature from a jungle planet of the same name. They were evil beings that served the tyrant or crime boss who would could pay them the most money, which was usually Dark Specter. The humans of KO-35 nicknamed them Slugs because that’s what they looked like, overgrown, fat, slimy, pale blue slugs with two fat arms and one eye each.

The Slug was beating on his ship with its fat tail and had a holo camera in one hand and a blaster in the other. Zhane guessed that it had or was going to tape the location of the Rebels hide out for Dark Specter. Zhane couldn’t let him get away, but he couldn’t just jump at an armed thing, no matter how slow it was. He needed a plan.

But, he didn’t have time to form one. After the Slug took one last whack at his ship, a piece of the hull dropped off and slid down the hill, toward him. Zhane rolled out of its way, hopping that the Slug wouldn’t see him. Unfortunately, it did.

“Hey you,” it roared. “What are you doing down there? Are you spying on Horbitz? Huh? Are you spying on him? Come here!” He raised his blaster, and fired it at Zhane.

For a Slug, this Horbitz was a pretty good shot. The Silver Ranger could barley dodge the blasts that were being fired at him. After dodging four or five shots, he dove behind a large clump of ice. He knew that the Slug could blast his cover away in a matter of minutes, but that was all the time he needed to morph, then he’d have a better chance of taking out this thing.

Zhane pulled his Digimorpher out of his coat pocket.

“Let’s Rocket!” he cried.

The uniform of the Silver Ranger appeared on his body just as Horbitz blasted his icy shield into ice cubes. Zhane quickly stood up with his Super Silverizer in blaster mode. Before the Horbitz the Slug could blink, Zhane fired two shots at him, the first hit the blaster, and the second hit the camera.

Horbitz wailed with furry. “Oooo! Horbitz will get you for that, and get you good!”

The Slug retreated into his ship. Zhane raced up the hill to try and catch him. But, even though the Slug was slower, he had less of a distance to travel than the young Kerovian did, so Horbitz managed to slither into his ship and shut the cockpit hatch just as Zhane reached the top of the hill.

But the closed cockpit door didn’t stop Zhane. He changed his weapon to sword mode and sliced a hole in the door then jumped to one side.

One of the many things Zhane and Andros’ mentor, Avatar, taught them was to never ignore a villain’s threat. Zhane guessed that Horbitz had another weapon concealed in his ship, and was waiting until he made his move before the overgrown bug would use it.

And Zhane was right. Just a split second after he moved to safety, a laser blast came flying out of the doorway. After it came several more, until Horbitz realized that his target wasn’t in firing range and decided to where it had disappeared to.

The very instant Zhane saw the barrel of a large laser gun emerge from the ship’s entrance, he brought his blade down on it and sliced it in half, making it useless. Horbitz shrieked, dropped the gun and retreated into his ship.

His next plan of action was to get away from this menace by slipping out the other side hatch and slithering away as fast as he could, but when he opened the door, he found himself face to face with a blond haired woman, wearing a thick coat and pointing her own laser pistol at his oversized stomach.

“Don’t even try it,” she said.

“Perfect timing, Tyqua,” Zhane said from the other cockpit door.

“Thank you, Zhane,” Tyqua replied. “And now, let’s get bug boy here to Kinwon. He’ll know how to make our unwelcome guest tell us why he’s in this part of the universe.”

The Surf Spot was crowded with the usual lunch time crowd, but the Power Rangers and Karone, who was wearing a purple shirt, jeans and a black leather jacket given to her by Ashley and Cassie, managed to find a table for six. Adelle Ferguson, the restaurant’s owner, saw them, and when she could spare a moment, walked over to their table.

“Hey guys,” she said. “I haven’t seen you around for awhile. Where’ve you been? Outer Space?”

“Well, we have been traveling around a lot,” said Cassie.

“Yeah,” Carlos added. “Just seeing what there is to see.”

“But we are glad to be back,” said Ashley.

“Well I’m glad that you’re back, too,” said Adelle. “This place hasn’t been the same with out you.” She noticed that there was a new face among her favorate group of customers. “And who might this lovely young lady be?”

“This is my sister, Karone,” Andros said.

“Well, I’ll be. You never told me you had a sister, Andros.” Adelle extended her hand to Karone. “It’s nice to meet you, Karone.”

Karone took her hand and shook it. “It’s nice to meet you too, Adelle.”

“Have we met before? I think I’ve seen your face somewhere else before. I can’t think of where right at the moment...”

Karone turned a little pale. She’d been to Earth before as Astronema. Adelle probably saw her then. What would she do if she recognized Karone as the evil princess who tried to take over Earth?

“I don’t recall ever meeting you before,” said Karone.

Adelle shrugged. “Maybe I just caught a glimpse of you in town and just didn’t bother to say hello.” She started passing out menus to the group. “When you guys are ready to order, just let me know.”

After she was gone, T.J put a hand on Karone’s shoulder. “I don’t think you have to worry about anybody recognizing you as Astronema. When you last came to Earth, we were the only humans who got a good look at your face.”

Zhane and Tyqua had taken Horbitz to a small cave about a mile away from the Rebels hideout, contacted Commander Kinwon and told him to meet them there. The two Kerovians had used chains from Horbitz’s own ship to restrain him to a large rock at the back of the cave.

When Zhane tapped into the ship’s computer log, he discovered that Horbitz was wanted for theft on Durrian, a planet that wasn’t far from Artickanya. Kinwon told the Slug that he and his people were going to turn him in to the authorities on Durrian, but he would have them go easy on him if he cooperated.

Horbitz refused to tell him anything and tried to free himself of the chains. After an hour of trying and not succeeding, he realized that the only way he was ever going to get out of this mess with the least damage to himself as possible, was to tell the Kerovians everything they wanted to know.

“Horbitz thought that he could make some money by telling Comandri where you humans were camping out,” he said.

“Princess Comandri of Concorock?” Kinwon asked.

“Queen Comandri of Concorock. Her dear old dad died a couple days ago, and they put her butt on the throne. Dark Specter made her his successor after she told him that she could kill off you,” he glared at Zhane, “and your multicolored friends on Earth.”

Zhane laughed. “It’ll take more than the Concorian army to beat the Power Rangers.”

“She knows that. Why do you think she asked Dark Specter for command of the Dark Fortress and all the guys that come with it?”

“Okay, so she’s also got Darkonda and company. She still can’t beat us.”

“Oh yes she can, Silver. Her scientists have come up with some pretty powerful top-secret stuff. They say that, compared to this, your powers ain’t worth the dirt you defend.”

“What kind of powerful, top secret stuff?” asked Tyqua.

Horbitz shrugged. “If Horbitz knew that, do you think it would be top secret?”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive lady. If I knew what kind of stuff Comandri has, do you think Horbitz would be snooping around this iceberg, spying on you for a few lousy bucks? If Horbitz had any idea what she’s got, he'd be on some tropical planet right now, surrounded by beautiful females, and happily spending the fortune he got from the competitor who’s willing to pay anything to use her plans and take her place as the big guy’s next in line.”

“Zhane,” said Kinwon. “I think you’d better tell this news to Andros and the other Rangers. If Comandri has come up with some sort of powerful new weapons, the six of you need to be ready.”

“I’ll take the Mega Winger and be there in no time,” said Zhane. He turned to leave.

“Just a minute, Silver,” said Horbitz. “Horbitz got some info about a powerful device that just might help you fend off whatever Comandri decides to throw at you.”

Zhane turned around and looked the Slug straight in the eye.

“What?”

After they had finished their lunch, the Power Rangers, and Karone walked to the local hardware store, and purchased some of the parts they needed to repair the damage that was done to the Megazords during their recent space battles. They were coming out of the store, when their communicators beeped. The seven of them ducked into an alley that was behind the store.

But they didn’t have to answer them to find out where and what the trouble was. Just as they entered the alley, they saw Ecliptor, Darkonda, a few Quantrons, and some armored humanoids-male and female-attacking a parked delivery truck. The driver and a few of the hard where store’s employees were running for their lives.

“What are those things?” Cassie asked.

“They’re the Royal Honor Guards of Concorock,” explained Karone. “The guy in the green and gray is called Razzor, and he’s the Captain of the Guards.”

“What do they want with Earth?” Carlos asked.

“Let’s worry about that later,” said Andros. “Right now, we need to save the civilians. Let’s Rocket!” He activated his Astromorpher. The other Rangers followed suit.

After they were fully morphed, Cassie, Ashley, Carlos, and T.J raced into battle, but Andros stayed behind and quickly called his Glider. When it came, he turned to his sister.

“Take my Glider and get back to the ship. You’ll be safe there.”

“Okay,” said Karone. She jumped on to the Galaxy Glider, and prepared to take off.

“Try not to let anyone see you.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Andros had taught her how to fly a Galaxy Glider, and she had practiced flying one through a simulated space on the Simudeck. Now she would be flying a real one by herself into space. Andros watched her, until she was out of sight, then went off to help the others.

“What are you creeps doing here?” Carlos demanded.

“We were just in the neighborhood and thought we would see if we could find the mighty Power Rangers,” said Razzor.

“Well here we are,” said T.J.

“Yes. Now, let’s see what you’re made of.”

Darkonda grabbed Razzor by the shoulder. “Oh no you don’t. My army and I will take care of the Rangers.”

Razzor tossed Darkonda’s hand off his shoulder. “If you and your so called army could take care of the Rangers, they wouldn’t be a problem now.”

He was about to order an attack, but then he found that he didn’t need to. Four of the Rangers were already attacking his soldiers and the Quantrons, and the Red Ranger was going one on one with Ecliptor.

Under his steel mask, Razzor grinned, and tapped Darkonda on the shoulder. “Follow me, I want to show you something that will really fix those Rangers.”

He led the sinister alien to the delivery truck. Hidden in the back, was a giant laser cannon, and Veriki, one of Concorock’s smartest female scientists.

“Well, Veriki,” Razzor said, “is this contraption of yours ready?”

“Yes, Captain,” she replied. “Its all set.”

“Good. Fire when ready.”

Veriki aimed her gun at the closest Ranger, the Black Ranger, and fired.

“Aaah!” Carlos cried as a laser hit him in the back. Feeling dizzy he collapsed on to the pavement. Cassie rushed over to him to see if he was okay, but just as she reached him, she was hit in the hip. She too, collapsed.

Veriki smiled. When she fired the continuous beam was always white, but when it hit a Ranger, it changed to the color of that Ranger’s suit and retuned to the laser with just enough energy to make a Ranger duplicate. Then she would reset the laser to shoot a white beam, and pick her next target.

Spotting the Yellow and Blue Rangers fighting back to back, she fired on them, taking out Blue first, then Yellow. Now there was only one more left to take care of. She could easily get the Red Ranger in the chest if that bumbling Ecliptor wasn’t in the way.

“You can’t win this one Ranger,” Ecliptor laughed. “We have you out numbered.”

“We’ve been outnumbered by you guys before,” Andros said. With a mighty swing of his Spiral Saber, he knocked Ecliptor’s sword out of his hand. “And each time, we’ve been victorious.” He gave Ecliptor a shove, and sent the villian to the pavement.

A second later, a white laser beam hit Andros in the chest and sent him to the pavement. He tried to get up, but found that he couldn’t. The world was spinning around him and he felt like he’d been drained of all his strength. Ecliptor laughed.

Karone had just left Earth’s atmosphere. She knew the artificial atmosphere surrounding the Glider made it possible to breath, and protected her from the suction of space, she just wished she knew what was happening to her brother and friends right now.

All of a sudden Karone had the feeling that she was being watched. She turned around and saw that she was. A Vilocifighter was right on her tail! She leaned forward to accelerate, just as the craft started hailing her with a round of laser bolts. She managed to dodge them, but she knew that, with the way the Quantron pilot was shooting, she couldn’t avoid all of them, and it wouldn’t stop shooting until she was blown into space dust.

At a time like this, I wish I had the powers Dark Specter gave me, she thought. But it wasn’t any use to hope for the impossible. Dark Specter gave her those powers when she was evil. Now that she was good, they were gone.

Or were they?

Karone cupped her hand and, like she had many times before, summoned her spear. Instantly, the weapon materialized in her hand. She smiled, then quickly dodged another laser bolt that was ready to nail her in the head.

It was the last shot the Vilocifighter fired. Karone turned the Red Glider around and fired a blast of purple lighting bolts at the spacecraft, which exploded into a billion pieces.

The young Kerovian woman breathed a sigh of relief, and headed off, once more, to the Astro Megaship.

If there was ever a time for Darkonda to be furious, that time was now. It was bad enough that Dark Specter had given command of the Dark Fortress to Queen Comandri, and that he now had to take orders form this fool, Razzor, but now he was going to be denied the honor of destroying the Rangers. They were on the ground, too weak to get up. The Quantrons were about to go in and finish them off, but Razzor ordered them to back off.

“The queen has other plans for them,” he said.

“I have my own plans for them,” Darkonda, said. He drew his sword and moved toward his sworn enemies. “No one is going to destroy them but me. Not you, and definitely not any of the flunkies your queen creates.”

Razzor had told Darkonda about Comandri’s plan to create duplicate Rangers, but he left out the part about draining Dark Specter's powers.

The Concorian Captain of the Guards put himself between the Rangers and the evil bounty hunter. “The weakening effects of the ray will only last for a few more minutes.”

“That’s all the time I need. Get out of my way!”

Darkonda shoved Razzor aside and started toward the Rangers again. Two of the Concorian Guards tried to stop him, but he grabbed them and threw them against a brick wall. The other Guards backed off as Darkonda stepped over the Blue and Yellow Rangers and strolled over to the Red Ranger.

The other Rangers cried out in protest as Darkonda raised his sword over his head, preparing to finish their leader off.

A gold laser bolt nailed him in the ribs and sent him hurling towards the wall. The blast came from the motorcycle of a menace he’d forgotten about; the Silver Ranger.

Concorian Guards and Quantrons rushed to get out of the way as Zhane zoomed into battle on his Silver Cycle.

“Coming through. Look out, bad guys.”

After chasing the tin cans off, Zhane dismounted from his bike and prepared to fight beside his comrades, but when he saw that they were too weak to even stand, he confronted Darkonda alone.

“What have you done to them, Darkonda?” he demanded.

“Oh, just gave them a little energy drain. No big deal,” Darkonda said.

“It is when you mess with my friends! Super Silverizer!” The weapon materialized on Zhane’s arm. Seconds later, he and Darkonda were battling each other with all they had.

“That stupid Darkonda will ruin everything,” Razzor moaned. “Ecliptor, grab that shinny, little brat and bring him here. He’ll suffer the same fate as his friends.”

“It will be my pleasure,” said Ecliptor.

He walked over to the battling duo and grabbed Zhane from behind.

“What are you doing?” Darkonda demanded.

“Let me go!” Zhane ordered.

Ecliptor ignored them both and dragged Zhane into the firing range of the Veriki’s laser.

“Are you ready?” Razzor asked.

“One energy drained Silver Ranger, coming up,” Veriki replied.

But before she could fire a shot, the truck roared to life and quickly took off, causing both Veriki and her laser to tumble out of the back. Veriki quickly set it up again and fired at Silver Ranger, but all that came out of the barrel was smoke.

“Oh no!” she moaned.

“Can you fix it?” Razzor asked.

“Not here.”

Razzor roared. “That meddling fool will pay for this, whoever he is!”

But when the truck came to a stop and the driver got out, Razzor saw that the “meddling fool” was actually a she.

The girl had shoulder length red hair, brown eyes, was wearing a red tank top and jean cut-off shorts. Ashley, Cassie, T.J, and Carlos recognized her as 16-year-old Terry Springwillow, a friend from school.

“You stooges mess with them, and you mess with me,’ said Terry.

Darkonda laughed. “You, a powerless little twirp, think that you can save the Power Rangers from us?”

“I’m willing to give it a shot.”

“You’ll regret it.”

Darkonda charged forward and swung his sword at her, but Terry ducked and punched him in the stomach, and dealt a strong roundhouse kick to his already hurting ribs. She was about to punch him in the face, but Darkonda blocked the punch and grabbed Terry by the hair.

“Ow!” Terry cried. “Buster, get your slimy hand off of my head or you are going to be sorry.”

Darkonda only chuckled.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She put both her hands on top of the hand trying to uproot her hair, and squatted down, a move that made the bounty hunter’s wrist hurt. Terry began to kick him, first striking his groin, then his right kneecap. Darkonda let go of her hair, ripped his hand free from hers, shoved her backwards and raised his sword. It was time to get rid of this brat, before she did any more damage to his body.

But Terry wasn’t done yet. She, with all her might, thrust a sidekick into Darkonda’s stomach. The blow sent him backwards into a wall with enough force to knock him out.

Zhane was impressed with the amount of skill and strength this girl seemed to possess. She had beaten Darkonda, and in doing so, distracted Ecliptor, who was too busy watching the fight to notice that Zhane was raising his foot to stomp on Ecliptor’s.

“Yeeow!” Ecliptor cried, as Zhane’s blow struck home. He was so surprised, that he let go of his captive, who then elbowed him in the ribs.

Outraged, Ecliptor swung his weapon at Zhane, but the Silver Ranger blocked it with his own blade.

Razzor could see that this would be a good time to exit. The other Rangers were regaining their strength, and without his soldiers here to protect him, they could easily finish him off.

“We’re out of here,” he whispered to Veriki." In a flash of light, the two Concorians and their laser were gone.

Zhane kicked Ecliptor in the stomach, causing him to stumble and fall down. Before he could get up, the other Rangers were by their friend’s side, ready to take him on.

“It’s six against one Ecliptor,” said Andros.

“ Seven against one,” Terry corrected, as she ran over to join them.

“And no one to come and save your hyde,” said Cassie.

Ecliptor growled. “We’ll meet again, Rangers.” In a flash of green light, he was gone.

Zhane turned to his friends” Are you guys okay?”

“Never better,” said Terry.

“We’re fine now,” said Andros “Thanks for your help.” He turned to face Terry. “And thank you Miss..”

“Springwillow,” Terry finished. “Terry Springwillow. You can call me Terry.”

“Thanks for all your help, Terry,” said Carlos, extending his hand.

“No problem.” She shook his hand, and gave him a puzzling look, as if she were trying to see past his helmet. “Your voice sounds familiar. Have we ever met before?”

“Uh..... No. No we haven’t.”

That statement had some truth to it. He’d never met her as the Black Ranger before.

“Well, we’d better get going,” said Ashley. “It was nice meeting you Terry.”

“Yeah, same here,” Terry replied. Now she was really puzzled. The Yellow Ranger’s voice sounded familiar to her, too.

The Rangers called for their Galaxy Gliders. As soon as they arrived, the Rangers got on board. Andros hitched a ride with Ashley, since he had lent his Glider to Karone.

Zhane pressed a button on his Silver Cycle and stood back as it transformed into a Galaxy Glider.

“Hey Terry. If you’d like, I can give you a ride home.”

“You’d give me a ride on that?” Terry asked, pointing to the Glider.

“Sure.”

Terry had saved him from being zapped, so Zhane felt that the least he could do was give her a ride.

“Cool,” she said, jumping on to the Glider.

“We’ll see you later,” said Andros.

“All right, Zhane replied. He looked at the red head in front of him. “Are you ready?”

“Yep,” said Terry.

“All right.”

He took the Silver Galaxy Glider up and took off. The other Rangers flew off to the Astro Megaship.

When Zhane returned to the Megaship, he found the other Rangers and Alpha in the infir- mary. Alpha was running some tests on each hero to see if the laser beam did anything to them, besides take them out of action temporarily. Karone, who had changed back into her flight suit, was helping out. Neither she, nor Alpha could find anything wrong with the Rangers’ powers or bodies.

“It looks like you guys are fine,” said Alpha.

“I don’t understand it,” Andros mumbled.

“What’s not to understand? You guys are healthy, your powers are okay....”

“It’s not that. It’s this whole situation. We get blasted by this ray that makes us too weak to fight, and Razzor won’t let his army or Darkonda finish us off, or even capture us while we’re down.”

“He said that their queen had other plans for us,” said Carlos. “Maybe he was leaving the honor of killing us to her.”

“Maybe,” said T.J.

“That’s another thing I don’t get,” said Andros. “Concorock’s Queen Sanave died more than a decade ago, and the last I heard, King Tyroben had appointed one of his male nobles to be his successor, so Concorock shouldn’t have a queen.”

“That male noble was caught trying to hire an assassin to get rid of Tyroben, so he was executed,” said Karone.

“And Tyroben himself died a few days ago, so now his daughter, Comandri, is on the throne,” said Zhane.

He told his friends about his encounter with Horbitz the Canavalk Slug, and about the information the insect gave to him, Tyqua, and Commander Kinwon concerning Comandri and her new weapons.

“This is bad,” said Cassie.

“Yeah,” said Ashley. “But, whatever these new weapons are, we’ve got to be ready for them.”

“How can we be ready for something if we don’t know what it is?” asked Carlos.

“Did that Slug tell you anything else?” T.J asked Zhane.

“Yeah, he did,” replied Zhane, “but....”

“But what?” asked Andros.

“It was about Ren.”

Andros frowned. “Ren?”

Zhane nodded.

“Who’s Ren?” asked Alpha.

“He was a friend of ours until he turned into a traitor,” Andros said.

“What did he do?” Ashley asked.

“Gained our trust, convinced us and our teacher that he was Ranger material, and when he got his powers, and got familiar with the Megaship, he turned us over to Dark Specter.”

The two Kerovian young men took turns telling their friends about how they meet Ren in school when they were nine. The boy was twelve and liked to cause mischief whenever he could, but nevertheless, a tight bond of friendship formed between them that stayed strong until Ren and his family left to explore the galaxy. Neither Andros, nor Zhane heard from him again until five years later, when he came back to KO-35. By that time, Andros and Zhane had already gotten their Morphers from Avatar, and had been on a few galaxy saving missions.

Avatar was one of the oldest people on KO-35 at that time. In her youth, she had heard about a planet called Earth, and she wanted to see it. So, she got herself a ship and flew there.

Thanks to some of the tracking equipment on her ship, she was able to find the Command Center, and meet Alpha 5 and Zordon. She stayed with them and learned from them for many years. Zordon had taught her how to be a Defender of All That Was Good, and told her some things about Earth, as well as some other planets she had never heard of before.

Occasionally she would venture out into the world, and when she did, she would help out any human that need her assistance, whether it was protecting them from a criminal, or just helping them carry home groceries. She lived like that for thirty years, until the calling of home became to loud for her to ignore any longer. Zordon, however, did not send her home empty handed, he gave her five AstroMorphers that Zordon and Alpha had made. Like Zordon’s power coins, these devices could transform any humanoid into a Power Ranger. They were to be given to warriors on KO-35, who could use their powers wisely whenever evil became a threat. Avatar herself was too old now to take on such a responsibility, but she wasn’t too old to build two Morphers on her own, devices that she would call Digimorphers.

For twenty years, there was no need for any Power Rangers on KO-35, but after her own nephew became the planet’s first Brillian Bug victim, she saw that evil forces were getting close to her world’s back door, and something had to be done before more people got hurt.

Avatar searched for seven young people who were worthy of the honor of being Power Rangers, but after months of searching, she only found two boys, Andros and Zhane. She trained them like Zordon trained her. The great mentor himself would often contact KO-35, just to give his protégé’s protégés a lesson or two. When they were finally ready, Avatar gave Andros the Red Astromorpher, and gave Zhane the Sliver Digimorpher. As a graduation present, the Rangers of Aquitar, who had heard about the boys’ training, gave the two their own ship-the Astro Megaship.

With their new powers and their new ship, the new Rangers helped three planets withstand attacks made by Dark Specter, and his followers. When they had come home for a visit, they were reunited with Ren. He said he had heard that Zhane and Andros had become Rangers from a soldier on a planet they helped defend. Ren had gotten into this saving the universe business ever since Dark Specter’s goons had shot down his family’s ship, killing his mother, three sisters, and two brothers. Ren and his father were stranded on an asteroid for days until another ship arrived and took them home.

During his travels, Ren had learned a lot about being a warrior and now wanted to fight by his friends' side as a Ranger.

At least that’s what Ren said.

Andros and Zhane, bought Ren’s story, and took him to see Avatar. She, and Zordon made him take a few tough tests that would push his physical strength, skill, and bravery to the limit. Ren managed to pass each one with flying colors, and convinced Avatar, and Zordon that he was ready for the task of defending the galaxy. With confidence that Ren would fulfill his tasks as a Power Ranger well, Avatar gave him the Purple Digimorpher, and made him the Purple Space Ranger. At first Zhane, and Andros were glad they were getting a new teammate, but that would change.

It had all started on the night the three Rangers had driven Dark Specter’s forces off the planet Bancariar. Andros and Zhane had defeated the troops on the planet’s surface, while Ren shot down the reinforcement ships with the Megalasers. When the Red and Silver Rangers returned to the ship, they noticed that their purple comrade was acting funny, like he was nervous or something. When Zhane asked him what was wrong, Ren said that he had a headache and announced that he was going to bed early. Andros and Zhane hit the hay a few hours later.

The two Kerovian Rangers received a rude awakening the next morning when a squad of Quantrons yanked them from their beds and dragged them to the ship’s bridge. On the way, they learned that DECA had been reprogrammed and that the Astro Megaship had landed on the Sumerian Planet.

Waiting for them on the bridge was the evil Astronema. It was the first time Andros and Zhane encountered the Princess of Darkness, and she assured them it would be the last. Dark Specter was planning to execute them that night. Ren was there too. He was staring at them from the far corner of the room, unrestrained. Astronema strolled over to him and thanked him for willingly helping her capture two of Dark Specter’s worst problems. She also told him that he would be handsomely rewarded, then she ordered for Andros and Zhane to be taken the Sumerian prison.

The two prisoners tried many attempts to escape from their cell, none of which worked. The cell door was locked with an electric lock and could only be opened from the outside. But then, two hours before their execution, the prison experienced a power failure. With all the electrical systems down, Andros and Zhane could easily escape their cell, get on the Megaship, restore DECA to her original programming, and leave the Sumerian Planet. Luckily, no one had looted the ship, so everything, including their morphers, was still on broad. As for Ren, neither Andros nor Zhane saw him again.

When they got home, they faced another nasty surprise. KO-35 was under attack!

“After I had frozen Zhane in a cryogenic tube,” Andros explained. I went back down to see if any of my friends and family had survived. A few of them did, but most of them..... most of them... didn’t. They were dead.”

“Avatar?” Ashley asked.

“She died, too,” Andros said sadly. “I found her body crushed underneath the ruble of her own house. I also found the four remaining AstroMorphers, and took them back to the ship with me.”

Ashley, put a hand on her love’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

T.J turned to Zhane. “What did Horbitz tell you about Ren?”

“He said that Ren didn't want to betray us, but he didn’t have any other choice,” Zhane replied.

“What do you mean?” Andros asked.

“Ren wasn’t brainwashed, or anything like that,” said Karone. “He did what he did willingly, but he wouldn’t have if Dark Specter hadn’t kidnapped his father.”

“What?”

“When Dark Specter learned that Ren had become the Purple Ranger, he had Darkonda kidnap his father. Before you came back to the Megaship, Dark Specter told Ren that he had his father, the only family Ren had left, and would kill him if he didn’t deliver the two of you to the Sumerian planet.”

“That’s right,” said Zhane. “And it was Ren who broke into the prison’s control room and caused the power outage that made it possible for us to escape.”

Andros turned to his sister. “Did Ren and his father escape?”

Karone shook her head. “Ren was caught, and striped of his powers. He, and his father were...they were executed that night, at the execution that was meant for you.

“Later, Dark Specter sent two Quantrons to retrieve Ren’s Morpher from the prison storage unit, but when they got there, they couldn’t find it. It had somehow disappeared.”

“It didn’t disappear,” said Zhane. “Horbitz stole it. He took it back to Canavalk and hid it in the training arena of the Canavalk Gladiators. He was going to sell it to someone who could pay the most for it, and who wouldn’t tell Dark Specter that he’d stolen it. He told me exactly where it was in return for convincing the officials Durrian to give him a lighter prison sentence.”

“Well, we can’t leave something as powerful as a Morpher in the hands of Dark Specter’s spies,” said Carlos. “I say we go to Canavalk and get it back. What do you guys think?”

“I say let’s go for it,” said Cassie.

“Another Ranger on the team would sure be a big help,” said T.J.

“Yeah,” said Karone, “but who are we going to give the Purple Digimorpher to once we get it. Ren’s gone, and I can’t think of anyone else who’d make a good Purple Ranger.”

“I can,” said Alpha.

“Me too,” said Ashley.

Alpha and five of the Power Rangers looked at Karone. Andros was the only one who didn’t.

Karone was shocked. “Me? You want to make me a Ranger?”

“Why not?” asked T.J. “You’re already an honorary Power Ranger.”

“And I don’t think anyone in this room can think of a person more qualified for the job than you,” said Zhane. “Isn’t that right, Andros?”

Andros didn’t reply. He was still in shock from learning about Ren’s death, and about learning that the young man he’d thought to be a traitor, turned out to be a loyal friend after all.

“Andros?”

The sound of Zhane’s voice brought Andros back to the present.

“Huh?”

“What do you think about Karone becoming the Purple Ranger?”

“If she wants to become a full fledged Ranger, I don’t have any problem with it.”

Cassie noticed that the Red Ranger looked like he was going to be sick.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Me? I’ll be fine,” said Andros. “Excuse me.”

Andros left the infirmary, and headed toward his room.

On Concorock, Veriki was working in her lab. She had just extracted the Space Rangers’ energies from her laser and put them into a large computer. Next she set to work creating five evil Rangers that would carry out Queen Comandri’s evil plan. She combined the powers she had made with the powers she had copied earlier that day, and then made a few changes to the results the combination had produced.

When she was satisfied with her creation, she downloaded each of the evil Rangers powers on to one of five disks, after that was done, she put each disk into one of the ten disk drives that lined the back wall of her lab. Each drive was on top of a large tube, which was big enough to hold the largest humanoid.

Veriki had just finished putting the last disk in, when the door to her lab slid open and in walked Comandri, and two of her guards.

“Well Veriki, have you finished yet?”

“Just about, my queen,” the brunette scientist said. “The disks have to finish loading, but that should only take a minute.”

“Good. While we’re waiting, let me take a look at what you’ve created here.”

Veriki pulled up a chair so that Comandri could sit beside her at the computer. After she was seated, Veriki pulled up her recently created system.

Veriki typed on a password and waited as the program loaded. When it was done, a sinister looking warrior appeared on the screen. It was clothed in red and black body armor and rotated in a circle, so all sides of it could be seen, then it was replaced by a pink one, then a black one, then, a yellow one, and finally, a blue one. Then the display started all over again with the red one.

“These are my Psycho Rangers,”

“Psycho Rangers?”

“I heard it on Earth. Psycho is a word the Earthlings use to describe someone who’s a homicidal maniac.”

“And that’s what my new warriors are going to be like?”

“Homicidal, yes. Maniacs, maybe. It all depends on what kind of warriors you chose to possess these powers.”

Comandri looked at the display one more time. “They don’t look like Rangers.”

“Oh, Your Majesty, why would you want your warriors to look like those losers back on Earth?”

“You’re right. Their suits are very unattractive.”

“And uniforms aren’t the only things I’ve improved on these bad Rangers.” She typed in another code. The screen changed and a more lethal looking version of the Power Rangers’ weapons appeared on the screen.

“Impressive.”

“Yes. These are much more powerful than the good Rangers’ toys.”

“And how much energy will these Psycho Rangers burn up when they fight?”

“Quite a bit, fighting just as they are, but when they transform into their Mega Monster forms, they’ll burn up even more.”

“Mega Monster forms?”

Veriki typed in a code, and the rotating Psychos changed from Rangers to hideous monsters. “They can fight at normal size in monster form, or they can grow to humungous size.”

“Excellent Veriki, you’ve....” The queen was interrupted by a loud beeping noise. “What was that?”

“It’s just the computer telling us that the Psycho powers are ready to be given to your finest warriors.”

“No, Veriki.”

“My queen?”

“You’ve out done yourself, my scientist. These powers are magnificent, but it hasn’t been proven that this machine will work right. If I put in my finest warriors, and something went drastically wrong, I would lose them. No, Veriki. This project must be considered an experiment. I’ll need soldiers that are excellent fighters, but yet, expandable to be my Psycho guinea pigs. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my queen.”

At that moment, Razzor came into the room. “Queen Comandri, I’m sorry to disturb you, but this is urgent.”

Comandri stood up and faced her Captain of the Guards. “What is it, Razzor?”

“I have received reports about five young soldiers wanting to start a rebellion against you. They’re angry that you’ve allied yourself with Dark Specter, and claim that your father would never had made such a move.”

“They’re right. He wouldn’t have.”

“Anyway, I looked into the reports myself and discovered that they were true.” My soldiers and I captured the worms and threw them in jail. It wasn’t an easy job. These five are very skilled warriors, and they gave us a real battle, but we finally overcame them. They await your punishment.”

“There are five traitors?”

“Yes. Three males and two females.”

“How convienent. We have powers for five Psycho Rangers, three male, and two female.” She smiled and turned to Veriki. “Once my chosen ones receive their powers, they can never demorph out of them, correct?”

“Correct,” said Veriki. “But if you want to make it so that they can morph and demorph, I can make a few quick adjustments on the machine...”

“That won’t be necessary,” Comandri interrupted. “Reprogram the traitors so that they will be loyal only to me, then bring them here. We will test these new powers on them.”

It was late in the evening when the crew of the Astro Megaship had finished making repairs to their vessel and were ready to head out to Canavalk. After the course was set and the Rangers and Karone had eaten dinner, they made planes to set out for the Gladiators’ arena just before dawn. Afterwards, they said goodnight and went to bed.

Ashley awoke in the middle of the night feeling thirsty, so she got up, put on a housecoat, and walked to the senthitron for a glass of water. When she arrived, she found Andros in the maintenance area working on what looked like a purple Galaxy Glider. His long black-streaked with-blonde hair was totally lose, the way it was when Ashley first meet him.

“Andros?”

The Kerovian Ranger looked up at her from his work. “What are you doing up?”

“Getting a drink. What are you doing up?”

“Fixing up this Glider. If Karone is going to be a full fledged member of the team, she’s going to need her own Galaxy Glider.”

Ashley programmed the senthitron to get her drink. A few seconds later, a tall glass of ice water materialized in the machine. Ashley took it out, and drank it as she watched Andros work.

“Was that Ren’s Glider?” she asked.

Andros nodded, and was silent for a few minutes, as he fixed the broken rocket boosters. “Zhane was so confident that Ren was somehow forced to turn us in to Dark Specter, but all these years, I’ve been so mad at him for what he did.”

“He didn’t have much of a choice,” said Ashley. “What would you’ve done if you were in his place?”

“I’ve been asking myself that question all night, and I haven’t come up with the answer. Zhane, and Ren were like a second family to me. It would’ve been hard to choose between them, and my biological family. It must have been as hard for Ren to make that decision.” He put his tools away as Ashley finished her water. “The last time I saw him was when Zhane and I were being dragged away by the Quantrons. I called him a traitor and a liar. I wish we could have saved him and his father, or that they could’ve escaped, so that I could have apologized to him.” He took a deep breath as he fought to hold back the tears that were forming in his eyes. “At least, the Digimorpher and the Glider he left behind will be put to good use.”

Ashley walked over to her boyfriend, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Try and get some sleep. Okay?”

“I’ll try,” said Andros.

Ashley walked back to bed, leaving Andros alone in the maintenance area. For a few minutes, he sat at the table, reflecting on the past, until he fell asleep.

Early the next morning, before the Canavalk sun rose to light up the planet’s sky, the seven Rangers set out on their mission.

Karone flew beside Zhane on her new Galaxy Glider, enjoying the thrill of flying through space.

The Space Rangers parked their Gliders at the edge of the jungle just outside of the Canavalk’s capital city. They avoided the Slug guards at the city gate, by squeezing through a small hole in one of the large, stone walls. The streets of the city were empty, so the Rangers didn’t encounter any trouble as they hurried the Coliseum in the center of the city.

The Coliseum was a huge fortress that looked similar to the one built by the ancient Romans of Earth. But this one was much, much, bigger.

“Horbitz said that the Gladiators’ training arena was located on the lower levels,” said Zhane.

“Did he tell you how to get into this place without letting the guards know you’re here?” T.J asked.

“There was some sort of basement window on the west side. If we can get in that, we should be able to sneak into the bounty vault, get the Digimorpher, and get out without any confrontation. At least, that’s what Horbitz said.”

“Well let’s hope Horbitz wasn’t pulling one over on you when he said it,” said Andros. “Come on.”

Karone pulled her jacket closer around her as she and her comrades searched for the window. The morning air was chilly, and the wind blowing around them only made it worse.

After a few minutes of searching, Cassie finally found the window, hidden behind some overgrown bushes. She motioned for the others to come over, but when they tried to open it, they found that it had been sealed shut. Probably to keep the captive Gladiators from escaping.

Luckily, the Rangers had brought tools with them, which they now used to pry open the window as quietly as they could. After that was done, they climbed inside.

They found themselves in a hallway. Up ahead of them was the doorway leading into the training arena. The thick door was locked, but the Rangers could still hear the sound of Gladiators practicing inside. The Power Rangers moved quietly past the door, and down the hall.

“The vault should be the next door on the left,” whispered Zhane.

It wasn’t long before they found the door, but it was unlocked, open, and a light was on. Someone was inside. The Rangers peaked in, and saw a number of weapons, jewelry, and other things made out of gold, silver, and bronze. All of it was stuff the Slugs had stolen from other people. Out of all the things in the room, the thing that surprised the Rangers the most was what looked like a young human woman, who had her back to them. She had beautiful red hair, some sort of gold headband on her head, and a bright red cape around her shoulders. She was standing over a table, looking at something on it.

“I wonder who she is,” whispered Ashley.

“She doesn't look like anybody that belongs on this planet,” said Karone.

“Hey guys,” whispered Carlos. “Look.”

He pointed to a high shelf beside the doorway. On that shelf, was the Purple Digimorpher. The shelf was too high for any of the Rangers to reach, but the wall of the vault was like a rough cave wall, and was perfect for climbing.

“One of us is going to have to climb up there and get it,” whispered Cassie.

“Now?” asked Ashley. “With her here?”

“The sooner we get out of this place, the better. It gives me the creeps.”

Andros looked over at the mysterious young woman. She was still preoccupied with whatever she was doing at that table. “If we’re quiet, I think we’ll be able to get it before she notices we’re here.”

“I’ll do it,” said Karone.

“Be careful.”

Karone carefully, and quietly made her way toward the Digimorpher. At first, she managed to climb up the wall without any complications. But just as she reached the shelf, the rock she was standing on crumbled beneath her feet. Startled, she cried out and fell.

Luckily, Zhane managed to catch her in his arms, before she hit the floor, but the sound of the rock crumbling, and Karone’s cry hadn’t gone unnoticed by the red haired girl.

Who was now pointing a lethal looking crossbow at the Rangers.

“How much longer is this going to take?” Comandri asked.

The five traitors that had tried to overthrow her had successfully been reprogrammed last night and now were in the transformation tubes. Comandri had been waiting at the tubes for over three hours for her new warriors to finish their permanent transformation. She was getting tired of waiting. She wanted to see her finished warriors right now.

Veriki yawned. “Not to much longer, my queen.” She couldn’t wait for the Psycho Rangers to emerge either. After they were done, she could finally get some sleep. She had been up all night.

The tubes were glowing with red, pink, black, yellow, and blue light. The disk drives on top of each tube were flashing red. Inside each tube, was a young Concorian warrior, who had dared to challenge the mighty Queen Comandri. They had blank, expressionless, faces as their bodies were permanently transforming into that of a Psycho Ranger. During the past three hours, the skin on their bodies, from the neck down, had turned into body armor. Now, all that remained to transform were their heads.

Razzor looked on quietly as the queen complained about the speed of her warriors’ development. He hadn’t told her this, but he had been fond of the five now standing in those tubes. They had joined the army when Tyroben was alive, and were extremely loyal to the King. He was convinced that they would go far as Royal Guards. They, like many of their fellow soldiers, weren’t happy that Comandri had allied Concorock with Dark Specter, but unlike the others, they had decided to do something about it. Now, they were paying the price. They would destroy the Rangers, and, in doing so, destroy Dark Specter. Once he, the source of all their energy, was gone, they would die. Their young lives that had so much promise would be snuffed out forever. It would be a shame to see them go, but they shouldn't have rebelled against the queen. Duty was more important than personal feelings, or friendship. That’s what Razzor believed, and that’s why he had turned the ungrateful swine in.

Now, he looked at the faces of his warriors for the last time. Seconds later, their heads were covered by the helmets of the Psycho Rangers.

Veriki smiled. “They’re ready, my queen.”

“Excellent,” said Comandri. “Come forth, my Psycho Rangers. Come and meet your mistress.”

The tubes opened, and the Psychos steeped out. Comandri walked around each one, inspecting them.

“They seem to be in perfect order.” She faced the Red Psycho. “Tell me, Psycho Red, what is your mission?”

“My mission is to serve you, my queen, by destroying the Power Rangers,” the leader of the Psychos replied.

“Yes. You serve me. Don’t you ever forget that. Don’t any of you ever forget that. You will attack when I say, and how I say. And if any of you get out of line, I’ll have you vaporized. Understood?” The Psychos nodded. “Good.”

Psycho Pink steeped forward. “I am ready to destroy Pink Ranger for you now, my queen. Just say the word, and I’ll go after her.”

“Patience, my dear. Patience. First, I must give you the battle plan, and then you can attack the Rangers. Not by going after them, but making them come to you on their precious, planet Earth.”

“Who are you?” the young woman demanded.

Zhane put his girlfriend down on her feet. “That all depends on who you are.”

“First you tell me who you are.”

“We’re not going to get anywhere with this lady,” said T.J.

“Look,” said Andros, “all we want, is to get something that doesn't belong to the Canavalks."

“And so do I,” said the red headed girl.

“Good,” said Zhane. “So, we’ll just get what we have to get, and you can get what you have to get, and we’ll be on our way.”

The girl backed to the table with her crossbow still pointing at the Rangers. With her free hand, she picked up several pieces of old, rolled up paper, and tucked them under her arm.

“You still haven’t answered my question. Who are you?”

“We’re the Power Rangers,” said Andros. “My name is Andros. This is Zhane, Ashley, T.J, Karone, Carlos, and Cassie.”

The girl opened her mouth to introduce herself, but was interrupted by the sound of Slugs slithering down the hall.

“Uh oh,” said Zhane.

“Let’s get the Digimorpher, and get out of here,” said Carlos.

“Why didn’t I think of this before?” Andros mumbled. He pointed to the Digimorpher, and focused. A second later, the Digimorpher, floated down to Andros’ hand.

The girl was impressed. “Wow. What kind of magic did you use to do that?”

“It’s not magic,” said Andros. “It’s telekinesis.”

“Let’s go,” said Cassie.

Andros handed the Digimorpher to Karone, and the eight warriors raced out the door. Before they could get very far down the hall, the heard a loud, angry cry coming from the vault.

“Guards, come here! The scrolls are gone! Someone’s stolen the scrolls!”

Then they heard the sound of Slugs coming toward them. Soon, they could see three Slug guards. Each was carrying a large laser cannon.

“Get down!” Andros cried.

The seven Rangers dove to the floor, but the other young warrior stayed on her feet. Just before the Slugs could fire a shot at her, she fired a shot at them with her crossbow. But it wasn’t an arrow, or even a laser bolt. Instead, what came out was a gust of wind that blew the cannons out of the Slug guards’ hands and blew them over.

The Rangers were amazed.

“What kind of weapon is that?” asked Ashley.

“A Mystic Weapon,” replied the girl. “Let’s go.”

The Rangers got up from the floor, and followed the young woman. They jumped over the Slugs’ fat bodies.

Soon, they were right under the window that the Rangers had come in.

“By the way,” said Cassie, “you still haven’t told us who you are.”

“My name is Deirdre,” said the girl. “Princess of Kells, and the Mystic Knight of Air.”

T.J, Ashley, Carlos, and Cassie stopped in their tracks, forcing Karone, Andros, and Zhane to stop in theirs. The four Earthling Rangers had heard about the ancient heroes of Kells who had the power of the air, earth, water, fire, and forest at their command, but the Kerovian Rangers hadn’t.

“Mystic Knight?” asked T.J.

Deirdre stopped, and turned around. “Yes.”

“No way,” said Carlos. “The Mystic Knights are just an old Celtic myth.”

“Do I look like a myth?” asked Deirdre.

“No,” said Ashley.

“But you can’t be the Mystic Knight of Air,” said Cassie. “She and the other Knights defended Kells from Temra invasions thousands of years ago. She’d be dead by now.”

“Or really old,” joked Zhane.

Deirdre was about to answer that remark, when both she and the Rangers heard the sound of more Slugs slithering down the hall.

“Sounds like we’ve got company,” said Andros.

“Should we morph?” asked Ashley.

“No. We don’t need our powers to take down a few Slugs.”

Just then, they heard someone unlock the door to the training arena.

“Gladiators,” said a Slug guard, “there are eight intruders in the hallway. They’ve stolen the scrolls we got from Earth. There’s a reward to the one who brings them back.”

The next thing they heard was the sound of heavy footsteps rushing toward the door.

Zhane looked at Andros. “To beat a few Slugs, no. To have a chance against an army of Gladiators, yes.”

Twelve muscular creatures from all over the universe streamed into the hall behind them, while five Slugs came up in front of them. Two more blocked the Rangers escape window.

“We’re trapped,” said Deirdre.

“Not for long,” said Andros. “Let’s Rocket!”

He, Ashley, Cassie, T.J, and Carlos punched in the morphing codes into their Astro Morphers, while Zhane punched his code into his Digimorpher. Instantly, they transformed into Power Rangers, and began to battle the monsters.

Karone flipped open Ren’s Digimorpher. Below the keypad, was a little sticker that had the morphing code 4-7-2-*. She was about to type it in, but a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backwards.

“Go ahead and get the others,” a rough voice said. “I have a score to settle with this one.”

He dragged her toward the door of the arena.

“Karone!” Andros cried.

He rushed to his sister’s aid, but two Gladiators stood in his way. Angrily, he tried to push them out of his way, but they were too strong.

“I recognized your face, as soon as I saw it, Princess Astronema,” the Gladiator said to Karone.

He pushed his captive into the arena, and shut the door. The monster was a hairy beast with two, sharp fangs.

Karone gasped. She recognized him too. His name was Vandor, one of the Chief Warriors of Mancock, a planet who’s ruler was a rival of Dark Specter. Two years ago, the Grand Monarch of Evil had sent her to conquer the planet, and stop Mancock’s ruler from gaining any more power. She, and her army had been successful in their mission. Mancock’s ruler was overthrown, and destroyed. The Mancock warriors who had survived, she had sold into slavery.

Vandor narrowed his eyes at Karone. She, bravely, looked him in the face.

“I remember you, too, Vandor,” she said.

The monster laughed. “Yes, brat. I am Vandor.” He ripped the Digimorpher out of her hand, and placed it in the pocket of his Gladiator uniform. “And do you know what I’ve been doing here on this bug hole because of you? Huh? I’ve been risking my life every time I enter the arena, just for the entertainment of those stupid Canavalks. Now...” He grabbed a large ax from a weapons rack nearby, “it’s payback time.”

Karone cringed. Would her evil past ever stop haunting her?

“I won’t deny that what I did to you was wrong and I’m sorry. I’ve changed. I’m no longer Astronema.”

Vandor took a swipe at her with the ax, Karone summoned her spear, and used it to block the blow. Vandor took his ax off her spear, and punched her in the stomach. Karone recovered from the blow in time to block another one from the Gladiator’s ax. He was about to strike her again, but she blasted him with a bolt from her spear.

Vandor growled, and threw his ax at her. The weapons’ handle hit her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her.

Vandor got up, grabbed his ax, and raised it high above his head.

“Good-bye, princess.”

Before he could bring it down, he heard the sound of the door being kicked open. The hairy Gladiator turned, expecting to see one of Astronema’s multi colored friends, but instead, he saw a red headed warrior with a crossbow in her hand.

Karone smiled. It was Deirdre. But for some reason she didn’t have the old scrolls with her. Karone wondered if a Slug, or another Gladiator took them from her.

“You leave her alone, you big oaf,” the princess ordered.

“Who’s going to make me?” the creature asked.

“I will.”

“And who are you?”

Deirdre smiled. “You don’t know who I am? Perhaps this will give you a clue.” She raised her crossbow skyward. “The air above me!”

A gust of wind swirled around Dierdre, as her leather boots transformed into white and gold metal boots. Next, her clothing changed into white and gold armor, and finally, a gold helmet appeared on her head.

Vandor laughed as he got up and, with, lightning speed, rushed over to Deirdre, kicked her crossbow out of her hand, and yanked her to her feet by her left arm.

“You’re mine.”

He raised his ax, and prepared to finish her off.

“That’s what you think,” said Deirdre.

With her free hand, she drew her dragon’s breath dagger from its sheath, and made a deep cut in the arm that held her. Vandor roared in pain as he let her go.

“You’ll pay for that!”

But before he could do anything, a purple lightning blot nailed him in the back. Vandor turned to see Karone, with her spear aimed at him.

“Forget someone?”

Vandor smiled. “Not at all, my dear. In fact, I’ll finish you both off at the same time."

He reached for Deirdre, but found that she wasn’t behind him any longer. She had gone to retrieve her crossbow.

“Hey, hairball,” Deirdre taunted.

Vandor turned to the right to see the Air Knight aiming her weapon at him. Before Vandor could move, a gust of wind knocked him down. Deirdre rushed over to Karone’s side.

“Together now!” she shouted.

Karone, and Dierdre fired their weapons together, just as Vandor got up. The combined blasts threw him against the wall. The Gladiator knew he had to think of some way to separate these two warriors, or they would kill him for sure.

“Let’s finish him off,” said Dierdre.

“No,” said Karone. “He still has my Digimorpher.”

Vandor smiled. He knew what to do now.

“That’s right,” he said. He pulled the Digimorpher out of his pocket. “And if you want it back, you’ll have to fight me one on one. To the death.” He tossed the morpher on the floor, and gripped his ax with both hands. “Whenever you’re ready, girl.”

Karone closed her eyes.

“Without the Purple Ranger Powers, I don’t know if I can beat him alone,” she whispered to Deirdre.

“Yes you can,” Deirdre whispered back.

Karone opened her eyes. “How?”

“The same way I defeated the Lightning Bat of Temra to get my armor.”

Come on,” Vandor roared. “I don’t have all day.”

Deirdre turned Karone around so that the two girls were facing each other. “Karone, listen to me. This floor is covered with dirt. If you can’t defeat this beast with your weapon and skill, use that to your advantage. Toss a handful of dirt into his eyes and blind him. Then, defeat him. After that, you can you truly claim the Purple Ranger Powers.”

“Okay,” said Karone.

Vandor was getting impatient. “Come on, already! What’s the hold up?”

Karone stepped forward. “Let’s do it.”

The battle was on.

For the next few minutes the combaters fought. At first, it looked like Vandor had the contest in the bag, but then Karone got the upper hand, when she fired a bolt from her spear that destroyed Vandor’s ax.

“I’m going to tear you apart with my bear hands,” Vandor growled.

He leapt at Karone, but she was ready for him. She swung her spear at him and hit him in the chest. Sparks flew from the wound as Vandor fell backwards. The Kerovian took another swipe at him to finish him off, but this time, the Gladiator grabbed the spear, threw Karone to the ground, yanked it out of her hands, and threw it aside.

Vandor smiled. “Now, to finish you.” He spotted a stone gargoyle just above Karone. The ugly statue had a stone club in its hand, which Vandor broke off, and raised above his head.

Karone thought that this was a good time to use Deirdre’s advice. She picked up a handful of dirt.

“Say your prayers, princess,” Vandor laughed.

Just before his club came down on her head, Karone flung the dirt into Vandor’s large, yellow eyes. The Gladiator roared, and dropped his club.

Karone rolled over to her spear, picked it up, and fired her spear at him. She stood up and hit him three more times until she had driven him under a stone archway. She changed her target and fired on the stones above him.

A rain of rocks pored down Vandor’s head. Karone didn’t think he could survive all that, but, as the dust cleared, she could hear him moaning underneath the rocks. Seconds later, she saw his head emerge from the rubble. He glared at Karone, and tried to get up, but his back and legs were pinned under some heavy rocks.

“Go ahead,” said Vandor. “Finish me.”

Deirdre walked to her new friends side. “No. He’s been beaten. He can’t hurt you anymore, and he can’t stop you from getting what’s yours.” She pointed to the Digimorpher lying on the ground, waiting for its new owner to pick it up.

Karone knew Deirdre was right. If she was going to be a Defender of Good from now on, she was going to have to learn when to kill and when not to kill. When to use violence and when not to use violence. If Vandor had learned that lesson earlier, he wouldn’t be in the fix he was now.

Karone walked over to her Digimorpher, and bent over to pick it up. As she did so, she caught sight of her reflection in a near by shield. The battle with Vandor had left her pretty banged up. The right arm of her flight suit was torn, there were cuts and bruises all over her body, and her bottom lip was split, but, at that moment, she didn’t care how she looked. She needed to hurry up and morph, so that she could help her brother and friends defeat the crowd in the hall.

Karone flipped open the Digimorpher. She had seen the Rangers do this hundreds of times before, both as friends and enemies, now it was her turn.

“Let’s Rocket.” she cried, and punched in the morphing code.

In a flash of bright purple light, Karone became the Purple Ranger. The suit had silver stripes over the shoulders and across the chest area. In the center of the chest stripe were five, gold squares. Unlike Cassie and Ashley’s uniforms, Karone’s didn’t have a skirt. At her waist there was some sort of holster, but instead of a blaster, it contained a boomerang that looked a lot like the one she lost at the Dark Fortress but it was purple and silver. Her spear had undergone a transformation as well. The handle was purple and the spear point was purple and silver.

“It looks good,” said Deirdre.

“Thanks,” the new Purple Ranger said. “Now, we’ve got to help the others. Come on.”

“These guys just won’t let up,” said T.J.

One of them grabbed Cassie and hoisted her up into the air. “Give me the scrolls, Ranger, or you’ll never get out of here alive.”

“What makes you think I have them?” Cassie asked.

The Gladiator didn’t have a chance to reply before Carlos shot him in the back, making him drop Cassie, who then kicked him in the stomach.

“Thanks,” she said to Carlos.

“No problem,” the Black Ranger replied.

Two lizard-like monsters were ganging up on Andros in front of the arena’s door. The Red Kerovian Ranger was desperate to get to his sister. He’d seen Deirdre go inside a while ago, but these lizards were making it difficult for him to follow her.

One of the lizards grabbed Andros from behind; the other began to punch him in the stomach. After four or five hits, Andros was sick of being used as a human punching bag. Luckily, he didn’t have to put up with it any longer. A purple lightning bolt zapped the punching lizard from behind, then a gloved hand grabbed his shoulder and pushed him down.

“Watch it, reptile. That’s my brother you’re messing with.”

Underneath his helmet, Andros smiled. It brought a great deal of pride to his heart to see his sister in a Ranger uniform, even if her primary weapons were still the boomerang and spear she had from her Astronema days instead of the katana and blaster, Ren used to carry, but just like Karone’s weapons, those were weapons Ren owned and could use well before his Ranger days. Avatar had never told Andros, Zhane, and Ren why what the Purple Ranger’s weapons were always depended on the owner of the powers.

Zhane took out the other lizard, by slicing him in the back with his Super Silverizer. The lizard roared in pain and let go of Andros. Andros jumped clear of the monster before he blew into a million pieces.

Zhane rushed over to his friends. “Are you guys okay?”

“Were fine,” said Andros. “Thanks for your help, both of you.”

“No problem,” said Karone.

“Yeah,” said Zhane. “Hey, Karone, looks like you figured out how to use that Digimorpher.” He spotted a girl in white and gold armor standing behind his girlfriend. “Is that you, Deirdre?”

The Mystic princess nodded. “This is how I look in my Mystic Armor. Now that the odds are even...”

“No, they’re not,” interrupted the remaining lizard. “I’m getting out of here.” He got up and ran off.

“Okay,” said Deirdre. “Now that the odds are in our favor, we should be able to get rid of these lads in no time.”

She blasted two Gladiators with a gust from her crossbow. Ashley nailed another with her Star Slinger, while T.J sliced a Gladiator’s mace in half with his Astro Ax, then kicked him in the chest.

“Let’s get out of here,” said Andros. “Our work is done.”

Dierdre rushed over to a section of the wall, pulled out a few, lose bricks, and retrieved her scrolls from where she’d hidden them before going after Karone. The others were climbing out the window they had entered earlier. The Slugs were gone, so the way was clear. Dierdre was the last to leave.

“Hey!” a Gladiator with a rhino horn cried when he saw her with the scrolls. “She’s getting away with the scrolls!”

“Let her,” said one of his comrades. “I’ve had enough good guy trouble for one day.”

“Just what’s so important about those scrolls?” Carlos asked.

“They contain a lot of valuable information about a lot of magical weapons that can be dangerous in the hands of evil,” Deirdre said. “One of these scrolls is a map to where my friends Mystic Weapons are hidden.” She held out the scrolls to the Rangers. “You must make sure they don’t end up in the hands of those who will use them for evil.”

"We will,” said Andros. “You have our word.”

Each Ranger took a few of the scrolls.

“One thing I’d like to know is, how did you get here?” asked Cassie.

“I’m not sure. All I know is that I went to sleep in my room, and woke up in this strange room with my crossbow, and the other Mystic Weapons hanging on the wall. I wasn’t there long before a woman in white appeared before me. She told me that I had been transported to the twentieth century, told me about the scrolls, and whose hands they had fallen into. Then she asked me if I wanted to get them back, and I said yes. The next thing I knew, I was standing in the room you found me in with my crossbow in my hand. Before I found the scrolls on the table, I heard the woman’s voice say that if I meet up with a group of mighty warriors, known as the Power Rangers, that it was all right to trust them. They fought for good and justice with courage and honor just like the Mystic Knights do.” She smiled at her new friends. “I can see she was right.”

“Did this woman in white tell you her name?” asked T.J.

“No,” said Deirdre.

The wind began to blow again. The Rangers barely noticed, but a puzzling look formed on Deirdre’s face. It was as if she was listening to a voice only she could hear. After a few seconds, the wind quit blowing.

“I must go now,” said Deirdre. “It’s time for me to go back to where I belong.”

“Thank you for all your help,” said Karone.

“You’re welcome.”

A bright, white light engulfed Dierdre, and the Rangers heard her voice say, “Farewell, Power Rangers.” A second later, Deirdre was gone.

“We’d better get going ourselves,” said T.J.

“Yeah, I’m ready to put this place behind me,” said Ashley.

Each Ranger raised one of their hands skyward. “Galaxy Gliders, hang ten.”

Immediately, the Gliders answered the call. Andros and his friends were about to board them, when he saw one of the last people he wanted to see today, hiding in the bushes.

“Ecliptor.”

“Where?” asked Zhane.

“In the bushes over there. Show yourself, coward.”

Ecliptor emerged form his hiding place. In one hand, he had his sword, in the other, a package wrapped in brown paper.

“You have a lot of nerve, Red Ranger, calling me a coward.” He looked at the girl he had raised for twelve years. “So you’ve become a Power Ranger, Astronema.”

Karone put her scrolls on her Glider. “Yes, Ecliptor. I’m a Ranger.”

“I guess this means that you won’t be retuning to the side of evil.”

“Yes, it does.”

Andros put a hand on his Astroblaster.

“Then there’s only one thing I can do,” said Ecliptor.

“No. You are like a daughter to me. I could never battle you. I’ve left the Dark Fortress and the Evil Alliance, never to return.”

“Where will you go?”

“I do not know yet.”

“How did you find us?” asked Andros.

“I tracked your ship here. I have information that will be useful to you. Comandri has made evil Rangers from the copies she made of your powers. She calls them Psycho Rangers, and she plans to unleash them on Earth soon.”

“Big deal,” said Zhane. “We can beat them.”

“That’s not all,” said Ecliptor. “Darkonda has learned where your Rebel friends are, and is sending an army to wipe them out. When I heard of the plan, I informed the officials on Durrian of his plan, and asked him to pass the word along to the Rebels, but they may not be able to clear out in time.”

Zhane bit his lip, then said the two words he thought he would never say to Ecliptor. “Thank you.”

“You’d better go and warn them,” said Andros.

“I’ll go with you,” said Karone. “If Darkonda has already launched his attack, you’ll need all the help you can get.”

They handed their scrolls to the other Rangers.

“The rest of us will head back to Earth and stop the Psycho Rangers,” said Andros.

“Wait a minute,” said Carlos. “Are you sure we can trust Ecliptor?”

“Distrust me if you’d like,” said Ecliptor, “but if you do, you’ll risk the safety of Earth, and the KO-35 Rebels.”

“He’s got a point,” said Cassie.

“It won’t hurt to check,” said T.J.

“Let’s go then,” said Ashley. “If Earth is really in danger, we can’t waste any time.”

“Yeah, we’d better get going,” said Zhane.

“Before you go, Astronema,” Ecliptor said, “would if be too much to ask if you would take off your helmet, so I can your face, for what could be the last time?”

“Only if you stop calling me Astronema,” said Karone. She took off her helmet.

After a few moments of silence, Ecliptor sighed, and he held out his package to her. “These are some things from the Dark Fortress that I thought you would like to keep.”

Karone took the package, and opened it. Inside were her tiara, and her photograph of Zhane.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” said Ecliptor. “Now, I must go. Good-bye Rangers, good-bye...Karone, and good luck to you.”

In a flash of green light, he was gone.

For an hour after they retuned to Earth’s orbit, the Power Rangers waited, anxiously, for DECA to pick up any sign of the Psycho Rangers.

“I wish Ecliptor had told us a little more about these Psychos before he left,” said Andros. “Then, we’d at least know what we’re up against.”

“I guess we’ll know that when they attack,” said T.J.

“Maybe they’re not ready yet,” said Carlos. “I say we go to Concorock, and put them out of commission before they attack.”

“Attention,” said DECA. “Five alien life forces have entered Earth’s atmosphere and are attacking the Angel Grove warehouse district.”

“Well, forget that idea,” said Carlos.

The Rangers raced to the jump tubes.

The citizens of Angel Grove fled in fear as the Psychos used their weapons to blast the warehouses to pieces.

“This should be enough to attract the Rangers,” said Psycho Blue.

“And when they come, we’ll destroy them,” said Psycho Yellow.

“The Black Ranger is mine,” said Psycho Black. “You can do anything you want to the other four, but leave him for me.”

“Agreed,” said Psycho Red. “Just as long as you leave Red Ranger for me.”

“I want Pink Ranger all to myself,” said Psycho Pink.

“Just don’t touch Blue Ranger,” said Psycho Blue.

“Or Yellow Ranger,” said Psycho Yellow.

She shot an energy bolt from her hand. It shattered a window on the top floor of a warehouse.

Suddenly, someone shot them from behind. The Psychos fell to the ground.

“Who dares?!” roared Psycho Red.

The Red, and Yellow Power Rangers emerged from behind a warehouse, while the Black, Blue, and Pink Rangers came out from behind another. The Psychos hissed with anger.

“You Rangers will pay for that,” said Psycho Red.

“Let’s see how you do against us, face to face,” said Psycho Yellow.

Andros summoned his Spiral Saber. “Leave Earth now Psycho Rangers, or you’ll see what real Rangers can do.”

“That’s a opportunity we wouldn’t want to miss,” said Psycho Pink.

“Attack!” said Psycho Red.

Landing their Gliders on Artickanya was no piece of cake was for Zhane and Karone. The cold, strong winds made flying very difficult. Karone was nearly blown off her Galaxy Glider once.

Finally, they managed to land right in front of the cave where the Rebels had hidden themselves.

“I can’t believe you guys decided to live on this heatless rock,” said Karone. “I can feel the cold right through my suit.”

“It’s a lot warmer in the cave,” said Zhane. “Trust me.”

They quietly walked into the cave. They couldn’t see any lights, or hear the sound of portable heaters running. In fact, the way this placed looked; it had been abandoned for a while now.

“Are you sure you’ve got the right cave?” whispered Karone.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Zhane whispered back. He heard the sound of Quantrons coming their way. “Get back.”

Zhane pulled Karone behind a rock. Seconds later, two Quantrons came into view. They looked around for a while, then turned, and went back the way they came.

The two Kerovians were about to emerge from their hiding place, when they heard Darkonda’s voice.

“Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”

The Quantrons said that they hadn’t.

“And you searched this place thoroughly?”

The Quantrons said that they had.

“Those Rebels must be in this cave, somewhere. This is the only place in this ice block where they could’ve survived.”

“Your friends must’ve got Ecliptor’s message and gotten out in time,” Karone whispered. “Must have,” Zhane whispered back. “If they’re gone, we don’t have any reason to stay. Let’s go.”

They exited the cave just as quietly as they came in. As they left, Zhane noticed a small pouch. On the font of it, was a circle with a pyramid design made out of small squares. In front of it was a drawing of a crescent moon. This was the same symbol that the Space Rangers wore on their flight suit jackets.

“Karone, look at this,” said Zhane.

“What is it?” asked Karone.

Zhane opened the pouch, and took out a small cylinder shaped object with a flashing red top.

“It looks like a communication device. One of the Rebels must have left it here to tell me where they’re going next.”

“We’ll look at it back on the Megaship. Right now, let’s get out of here.”

A laser blast shot out from the cave. Karone, and Zhane ducked out of its path just in time, and it sailed, harmlessly over their Gliders.

A squad of Quantrons came racing toward them, followed by Darkonda.

“I should’ve known we weren’t going to get out of here so easily,” said Zhane.

Back on Earth, the Power Rangers weren’t having an easy time with the Psycho Rangers. Thanks to the copies of their powers the Psycho got, the evil Rangers knew what the good Rangers were going to make before they even made it. No matter what the Power Rangers threw at the Psychos, they always managed to block it, and throw something more powerful back at them.

Ashley didn’t know how much more she could take.

“They’re too strong. We need to regroup,” she shouted to her friends before a bolt from Psycho Yellow blasted her.

The Power Rangers retreated backwards and regrouped.

“Let’s give these guys a taste of the Quadroblaster,” said Carlos.

He, Ashley, Cassie, and T.J combined their weapons to from the powerful Quadroblaster, while Andros gave the command for his Spiral Saber to turn into a powerful blaster.

“Let’s take these guys out,” said Andros.

Lasers from the Quadroblaster and Spiral Saber shot at the Psychos, who took several hits in the chest, and fell down.

“That got 'em,” said T.J.

The Psychos quickly got to their feet.

“You think you’ve got us beat,” said Psycho Red. “Think again.”

Smoke poured out of the Psychos bodies as they began to grow and transform into monsters.

“Oh, great,” moaned Cassie.

“Ooof!” Zhane moaned, as a Quantron kicked him in the stomach.

The fight with the Quantrons, and Darkonda wasn’t going well. He and Karone were out numbered, and the cold wind, blowing in their faces wasn’t making things any better.

One of the Quantrons punched Karone in the ribs, and pushed her down. That’s when Karone decided that enough was enough. She summoned her spear and zapped him with it, he found himself in a million pieces.

Zhane managed to take out four Quantrons with his Super Silverizer, while Karone zapped three more with her spear. The remaining four Quantrons retreated back to the Dark Fortress.

“Good for nothing tin cans,” Darkonda shouted. “I’ll finish them off myself.”

“When the odds are two against one, I doubt it,” said Zhane.

“We’ll see about that,” said Darkonda, and he charged at them.

But, like Zhane said, he didn’t have much of a chance against two Rangers. He managed to inflict a few blows on them, but in the end, they got the upper hand.

Karone kicked the villain’s sword out of his hand. “You’re though, Darkonda.”

The beast glared at her. “If you think I can be so easily defeated, Purple Ranger, you....Wait! I know your voice. You’re Astronema!”

“Was Astronema.”

“Well, well. This is a day for surprises. The former Princess of Darkness has become a full-fledged member of the losing side. Such a pity I’ll have to destroy you and your boyfriend over there.”

He fired a bolt from his hand, but Karone, and Zhane ducked out of its way. Karone aimed her spear at Darkonda, and Zhane did the same when he put his weapon in blaster mode.

“This is for everything you’ve put me, my brother, and my friends through since the day you kidnapped me,” said Karone. “And if you ever bother us again in your next life, you’ll get even more.”

The two Kerovian Rangers fired their weapons at Darkonda. Seconds later, the bad guy exploded.

“That takes care of him, for now,” said Zhane. His communicator beeped. “We read you, guys.”

“We’ve got big trouble on Earth, Zhane,” Andros’ voice replied. “The Psychos have grown to humungous size. We need the Mega Winger right now.”

“We’re on the way,” said Zhane.

“What’s the matter, Rangers?” said Psycho Black. “Are we too big for you too handle?”

“In your dreams,” said Carlos.

“Carlos,” Andros began. “You and the others.. Whoa!”

He and the others jumped to safety as they saw Psycho Yellow’s enormous foot coming down on them.

“What was that you were trying to say Andros?” asked Carlos.

“You guys will have to pilot the Mega Voyager, while I handle the Astro Megazord,” said Andros.

“Okay, we’re on it. Mega Voyager Power, now.”

“Astro Megazord Power, now.”

Andros summoned his balteizer, and called for the Delta Megazord, before he teleported into the cockpit of the N.A.S.A.D.A shuttle, which was already transforming into the head of the Astro Megazord. Below him, the Astro Megaship was opening up to form the body of the Zord. Andros connected the shuttle and the ship together, then steered the Megazord toward Earth. He could see the Delta Megazord fly in from its docking station, and he could also see that his friends were just finishing bringing their Mega Vehicles, as well as his own Mega V One, together to form the Mega Voyager.

“Let’s get back into action,” said Andros, as the three Zords headed downward to battle the Psychos.

Zhane jumped into the cockpit of his own personal Zord, the Mega Winger, and quickly began doing preflight checks. The cockpit was only built for one, so Karone was flying back to Earth on her Glider. At the speed that thing could fly, she should be there by now.

The communicator on his wrist beeped.

“Zhane,” Karone’s voice said. “I’m just outside Earth’s orbit and I can see the others getting the Megazords ready.”

“Tell them I’ll be there soon,” replied Zhane.

He prepared for lift off as the doors to the secret space station on one of KO-35’s moons opened. Zhane fired up the engines and shot into space.

Karone docked her Galaxy Glider in the Megaship and walked up to the Bridge.

“Hey, Alpha,” she said.

“Hello, Karone,” said Alpha. “Oh, Ai-yi-yi. This is so circuit racking.”

“I know how you feel. Going into battle always makes me a little nervous, too.”

Andros’ voice came over the speaker. “Are all systems go?”

“You bet, Andros,” said Alpha.

“Andros,” said Karone. “Need any help in the cockpit?”

“I might. Come on up.”

“Do they think they can scare us off with those tin can Zords?” asked Psycho Blue, when he saw the Zords.

“Zords, smords,” said Psycho Pink. “There’s only three of them and five of us.”

The Zords landed in front of the Psychos.

“Let’s get this over with,” said Carlos. “We have better things to do.”

“Ready whenever you are,” said Psycho Red.

The two sides charged at each other. Andros called for the Astro Megazord Saber and began using it on Psycho Red. Psycho Black grabbed the Zord from behind, and threw it into a warehouse.

“What are you doing?” roared Psycho Red.

“My job,” replied Psycho Black.

“You’re job is to destroy Black Ranger. Red Ranger is mine.”

Andros got the Astro Megazord back on its feet, and summoned the blaster. With it, he shot at the two Psychos, hitting Psycho Red in the back, and Psycho Black in the shoulder.

Carlos’ voice came over the speaker. “Andros, Karone. We could use some help over here.”

“It’s on the way guys, just hang on,” said Andros. “Delta Megazord, assist the Mega Voyager.”

The Mega Voyager was wrapped up in Psycho Pink’s tentacles. The only reason it wasn’t destroyed by now, was that Pink, Blue, and Yellow were arguing over who would get the honor.

“I want to do it,” said Psycho Blue. “Hold them still Psycho Pink, while I blast them.”

“Hold it,” Psycho Pink said. “I was the one who caught them, I should be the one to blast them.”

“No way,” said Psycho Yellow. “I out rank both of you, so the honor is mine.”

“You?” asked Psycho Pink. “Outrank us?”

“Who says?” demanded Psycho Blue.

“This is great,” said Cassie. “We’re being fought over like an unmarked present.”

“Well, we’re not any present for these creeps,” said Carlos. “Fire the lasers.”

Brightly colored gold lasers shot out of the Megazords’ chest, blasting Blue, and Yellow. They fell down.

“I guess you wanted me to take you apart, huh?” laughed Psycho Pink.

The Delta Megazord came up behind her, and shot her in the back with its gyro blasters. Psycho Pink screamed in pain and let go of her prize.

Psycho Blue got to his feet. “I’ll fix you right now!”

“Andros,” said Ashley. “tell the Delta Megazord to get out of the way. Blue’s going to fire.”

Andros gave the command, and the Delta Megazord backed up. At the same time, Psycho Blue fired several energy bolts at the Mega Voyager, but the Mega Voyager jumped up out of their way, and the bolts hit Psycho Pink.

“Missed us,” taunted T.J.

Psycho Pink was furious. “What’s the big idea?!” She grabbed Psycho Blue in her tentacles. “You were supposed to hit them, not me!”

“I was aiming for them, but they got out of the way,” said Psycho Blue. “Now, let me go!”

Psycho Pink tossed Psycho Blue aside. Now, Psycho Blue was mad.

“No one does that to me, Pinky!”

He shot her with energy blots. She growled and shot back. Both of them had completely forgotten about the Rangers, but Psycho Yellow hadn’t.

“Stop this. You’re being pathetic. You’re going to let the Rangers get away!”

She heard a loud thud behind her, and turned to see what it was. Only to find the Mega Voyagers’ fist colliding with her face. Psycho Yellow cried out in pain, and stumbled backwards right into the arguing Psycho Pink and Psycho Blue. The Psycho trio lost their balance and fell down.

“Hey,” said Psycho Blue. “What’s the big idea?”

“Get off me!” ordered Psycho Pink.

“Oh, shut up,” said Psycho Yellow.

“You guys really need a lesson in team work,” laughed T.J.

Meanwhile, the Red and Black Psychos were taking on the Astro Megazord, and the Delta Megazord, and, so far, were winning. Psycho Red blasted the Astro Megazord in the chest, and sent it crashing into an abandoned warehouse, while Psycho Black punched the Delta Megazord in its mechanical ribs, then kicked it in the chest.

“Isn’t there anyway to beat these guys?” asked Karone.

“I hope so,” said Andros. “I don’t know how much more of this we can take.”

Suddenly, from out of the sky, laser bolts began to rain down on the Psychos. The Rangers looked up to see the Mega Winger in shuttle mode zooming overhead.

“Mega Winger, transform,” Zhane ordered. Instantly, his shuttle transformed into a mighty Megazord. “Try this on for size, Psychos. Wing Blaster.” The Wing of his Zord flew into its hands and transformed into a blaster. “Fire.”

Laser bolts zapped the Psychos in the chest.

Comandri had arrived on the Dark Fortress with Razzor, and Venisslah to watch her Psychos in action. At first, she was pleased with what she saw, but then the Rangers had gone into the cockpits of their Zords, and now her warriors were fighting over who would finish them off. So now those pathetic young humans in their giant, metal toys were besting them.

“Mother,” said Venisslah. “Your plan is going down the drain.”

“I know that, dear,” said Comandri. “You don’t need to remind me.”

“But what are you going to do about it, Mother Dearest?!”

“Give the Psychos a new battle strategy.”

“You can do that from here?” asked Razzor.

“Yes, Razzor, I can. Veriki put headsets in the Psychos suits when she made them. I can talk to them from anywhere.” She pressed a button on a Computer console. “Psycho Rangers, combine your energies and blast them.”

“Hey, Rangers,” said Psycho Red. “Watch this.”

The other Psychos grouped together behind him and aimed their hands at him. Their bodies glowed bright red as they fired their bolts at their leader, but instead of crumpling to the ground in pain, he laughed, and absorbed their energies.

“What are they doing?” asked Cassie.

“I don’t want to stick around to see what,” said Andros. “Let’s back out of their firing range.”

But before they could move their Zords, Psycho Red fired bolts at them, fused with the combined energies of all the Psycho Rangers. The bolts hit the Zords with such force, that they were thrown into the middle of the dessert outside Angel Grove.

“Now, this is more like it,” said Comandri.

“It sure doesn’t take them long to get the message, does it Mother?” asked Venisslah.

The two Concorian rulers smiled as the Zords crashed into the middle of the dessert. Then, the image on the giant view screen flickered.

“Hey!” yelled Venisslah. “I thought they said this place had good reception.”

The flickering images were replaced by an image of Dark Specter. The burning orange lava that covered the evil monarch was now a cold blue, and he was breathing heavily.

“Comandri,” he said. “My powers are being drained. I think the cause of this is on Earth. Stop whatever you are doing, and find it, then destroy it.”

“Why does she have to take time out of her busy schedule to solve your problems?” asked Venisslah.

“Venisslah,” Comandri scolded. “You should know better than to question your superiors.” She faced Dark Specter. “I apologize for my daughter, sire. She can be quite rude at times. I’ll investigate the cause of your power drain, immediately.”

The image of Dark Specter faded. Comandri pressed a button on the console. Instantly, an image of a sleeping Veriki appeared on the screen.

“Veriki,” Comandri summoned.

The scientist awoke with a jerk and sat up. “Yes, my queen?”

“Open your program and bring the Psychos back to Concorock immediately.”

“Yes, my queen,” Veriki yawned.

“Mother!” Venisslah gasped. “What are you doing?”

“My dear, if we let them go on any further today, Dark Specter will discover my plot to get rid of him. We must cover our tracks for now, and attack again when he’s not watching us so closely.”

The Power Rangers could see the Psychos coming toward them.

“We’ve got to get back on our feet,” said Andros.

The seven defenders managed to get their Zords back up. Just as the Psychos were about to attack them, they vanished.

“What? Where’d they go?” asked Andros.

“I can’t believe this,” said Ashley. “Why would they just disappear like that?”

“Check around guys,” said Zhane. “This could be a trick.”

The Rangers used the Zords’ scanners to search for the Psycho Rangers, but they couldn’t find a trace of them.

“Wired,” said T.J.

Hours later, the Power Rangers were on the Megaship’s bridge listening to the message Commander Kinwon left on the communication device that Zhane, and Karone had found on Artickanya.

“I’m sorry that we had to leave before you returned, Zhane,” Kinwon’s voice said, “but, we had no choice. Darkonda’s army would have wiped us out for sure if we had stayed. We’ll contact you and tell you where we will relocate, just as soon as we can. In the meantime, I’m sure you won’t mind staying with the other Rangers, and helping them find Zordon, and protect Earth from Comandri. With this new technology she has, who knows what evil she will unleash. Give my regards to the others, and take care of yourself.”

The device automatically shut down.

“Well,” said Zhane. “It looks like I’m stuck with you guys for a while.”

“Is that a bad thing?” asked Karone.

“Not really,” said Zhane. “Kinwon’s right. I won’t mind hanging around here for awhile.”

“Kinwon’s right about something else, too,” said Andros. “Comandri’s new Psycho Rangers are easy to beat when they fight each other, but when they decide to team up, they become powerful, maybe even too powerful for us to handle.”

“But her goal can’t be to destroy us,” said Cassie. “At least, not right away.”

“Cassie’s right,” said Carlos. “If Comandri wanted to kill us today, she wouldn’t have called her Psychos back just as they were about to do it.”

“Maybe, something went wrong with her plan on the side lines that forced her to call them back,” said T.J.

“Maybe,” said Karone. “But I have a feeling she’s got her sights on a much bigger prize than us, or Earth.”

“How could you do this?” Psycho Red demanded, when Comandri, and her daughter rejoined them on Concorock.

The Psychos were down to normal size, and in normal form, and standing before the queen in her council chamber.

“We were just about to take the Rangers down,” said Psycho Yellow. “Why did you stop us?”

“Do you remember what I told you before you left here?” asked Comandri. “I said that we may have to ware the Rangers down some before they can be destroyed.”

“We had worn them down enough to finish them off,” said Psycho Black.

“Not from what I saw. You blasted them once, big deal. But you could have destroyed them if you hadn’t wasted so much time quarreling amongst yourselves. Can’t you five work together?”

“We were,” said Psycho Red. “Until he....” he pointed at Psycho Black. “went after Red Ranger, after we had agreed that he was mine.”

“I was trying to help you get him,” protested Psycho Black. “You don’t seem to appreciate that I put off my chance to finish off Black Ranger to do it.” He turned to Psycho Yellow. “I thought you would live up to our agreement, and leave him for me, but no. You, Pink, and Blue had to try and destroy him.”

Psycho Yellow shrugged. “I was trying to get to Yellow Ranger. Can I help it if, by some chance I accidentally destroy them both at the same time, because they’re in the same cockpit?”

“You wanted to take Pink Ranger from me, Psycho Blue” whined Psycho Pink.

“Well, you were going to take Blue Ranger for yourself,” said Psycho Blue.

“Well, like Yellow, I can’t help it if I take out another Ranger while getting the one I want.”

“I’ll remember that when I see Blue Ranger and Pink Ranger together.”

“Why you...!”

“Enough!” braked Comandri.

The Psychos fell silent.

“You are so immature,” said Venisslah.

“What?” boomed Psycho Red.

“It’s true,” said Comandri. “This is no way for any warrior to act, especially an evil one. You must work together to destroy the Power Rangers, or they will destroy you.”

“They won’t get the chance,” said Psycho Yellow.

“No they won’t,” said Comandri. “Because if you have another battle like your last one, I’ll be the one who’ll destroy you. Now, get out of my sight!”

The Psycho Rangers filed out of the room. Comandri growled and turned to face the chamber’s large window.

“They’re very disappointing, aren’t they Mother?” asked Venisslah.

“Yes, Venisslah, they are,” replied Comandri. “But this will be the last time they disappoint me, or I’ll give their powers to someone else, and have them executed.” She turned back to her daughter. “They are expendable, after all.”

“Of course.”

“Now, run along, my child. I have some things to discuss with Veriki.”

Venisslah went to her room, while her mother walked over to her communications box, and contacted her scientist. With a push of a green button, Veriki’s face appeared on a small screen on the box.

“Yes, you Majesty?” asked Veriki.

“How are the repairs on the laser coming along?” Comandri asked.

“Oh, my queen, I wish I could say they are going well, but that Earthling child’s stupid stunt has damaged it beyond repair and I don't have the parts to make another one. It can only be used one more time. Should Razzor, and I go to Earth and try to blast the Silver Ranger, so you can have a Psycho Silver?”

“No. All I want you to do is recalibrate your power-creating machine so that the next warrior who goes in can have powers she can morph and demorph out of. If the Psycho Powers don’t produce any side effects, I may have planes for that last shot.”

The sun had almost completely set in Angel Grove, and at the Springwillow house, Terry was surfing the Internet on her computer, while listening to Belinda Carlial’s "Heaven" on her stereo.

Terry was barely listening to the song. She was too absorbed in the project she was working on. She was trying to find information about her biological family.

When she was twelve, Scott and Janice Springwillow had told her that she was adopted, and they told her the heart-breaking story about how she came to them at age three.

Scott, and Janice had always wanted to have children, but soon after they were married, they found out that Scott had a rare disorder that prevented him from being a father. Years later, on a cold, rainy night, a mysterious woman knocked on the back door of their small house in Seattle. She had a warm coat, but it wasn’t wrapped around her, it was wrapped around a three-year-old girl, who Scott and Janice assumed was her daughter.

The woman called herself Rebecca, and she called the girl Terrina. Rebecca was not only soaked, but also severely beaten. Terrina, however, was dry, and unharmed. The Springwillows interviewed Rebecca, asking her questions about where she’d come from, and why she was beaten. She said that she was running from some bad people, who would do a lot of bad things to her Terrina if they found her.

When Scott, and Janice asked if Rebecca wanted to see a doctor, she said no. She didn’t want to go anywhere too public because she was afraid the bad people would hurt her daughter. No matter how hard the Springwillows tried to get her to change her mind, she still refused. She did however, accept their offer to let her and Terrina spend the night.

But the next morning, Rebecca was so sick, that the Springwillows felt they had no choice but to take her to the hospital. The doctors there said she had pneumonia, and tried all they could to save her, but it was no use. Rebecca died that afternoon.

Before she passed on, Rebecca wrote a letter to the Springwillows, asking them to take care of Terrina. The Child Care Workers in Washington State agreed to honor Rebecca’s last request and let the Springwillows legally adopt Terrina, after they couldn’t find any of the girl’s real family.

Scott Springwillow didn’t think Terrina was a very good name for his new, little girl. He wanted to name her Ann, but his wife wouldn’t let him. She liked the name Terrina, and convinced Scott to stick with it, but she did allow Scott to call the girl Terry and make Ann her new middle name.

But Scott and Janice didn’t forget what Rebecca had said about bad people getting their hand on Terry if they could. As soon as they could, the Springwillows packed up everything they owned and moved to Angel Grove. They figured they would be safe there. Ever since then, they had lived in the same house they’d bought when they arrived in town, and no bad guy ever came to hurt Terry.

Ever since she was told that she was adopted, Terry had been trying to find her biological family, but over the last three years, she hadn’t had much luck. She hadn’t found anyone who knew anything about a Rebecca who had a three-year-old daughter and was running form some people. She only had two clues to her past. One was a blurry memory of playing in a with a black haired boy, who was about her age. Maybe a bit older. The other was a strange tattoo on her right shoulder. The tattoo was four diamonds put together to make one larger diamond. The four little diamonds were purple, blue, green, and red.

A knock on her bedroom door brought Terry’s mind back to the present.

“Who is it?” she asked.

“It’s Dad.”

“Come in.”

The door opened and Scott Springwillow walked in. Terry’s adopted father was a little overweight, was going bald, and wore glasses. He looked completely different from the skinny guy she’d seen in his wedding portrait, but Janice Springwillow still thought he was the most handsome man in the world.

“Are you on the Net?” Scott asked.

“Yeah,” Terry replied.

“Could you shut it down for a few minutes? I have to make a phone call.”

“Yeah, sure. I’m not having any luck with it tonight.”

“Can’t find something?”

“Yeah. Information about my life.” She logged off the Net and shut her computer down.

“I see. You were trying to find your biological family again.”

“Yeah. You and Mom have been great parents to me, but I’d still like to know where I came from.”

“I understand, but sweetheart, your mother never gave us her last name, or told us where she came from, so it’s going to be almost impossible to find out about her.”

“Well, the information is out there, somewhere.”

“And what are you going to do when you find it?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about that yet.”

“Well, maybe you should start.” He was about to leave the room, when he remembered something. “By the way, the Power Rangers were in the news again tonight. It seems that they’ve managed to save our town from the threat of five monsters this time.”

Terry sighed. The Rangers were another thing she had been thinking a lot about lately. After the Silver Ranger had dropped her off at her house, she spent an hour trying to figure out why the Yellow, and Black Rangers’ voices sounded so familiar to her. She watched one of her recently taped news reports about the Power Rangers. A reporter and camera crew had managed to get close enough to film the Pink and Blue Rangers in battle with a monster. Instead of helping Terry solve her mystery, though, the report only added to it. She could swear that she had heard their voices somewhere else before. Was she going crazy?

After the report was over, the T.V screen went fuzzy for a few seconds. When it cleared, Terry saw her sixteenth Birthday party appear on it. Her father had used the same tape to record it on, as she did her news report.

Among the guests at the party, were Ashley Hammond, Carlos Vargas, T.J Carter, and Cassie Chan. When she heard their voices on the tape, she knew they had to be the Yellow, Black, Blue, and Pink Rangers, their voices and the Rangers’ sounded exactly the same.

Terry couldn’t believe it. Why hadn’t she figured this out before? Her four friends always ran off with some excuse, every time their “watches” beeped, and a few minutes later, the Power Rangers would be somewhere in Angel Grove, fighting a monster. Plus, Ashley always wore yellow, Cassie always wore pink, T.J always wore blue, and Carlos always wore black.

After getting over the shock of discovering that her friends were legendary super heroes, Terry began to try and figure out who the Red and Silver Rangers were. She remembered that Ashley had a new boyfriend named Andros. She had seen him a couple of times before. The first time was at the Surf Spot. He was trying to eat a banana before taking the peel off. The second time she saw him was, again, at the Surf Spot. This time, he was on a date with Ashley. On both occasions, the guy was wearing red, and when their romantic dinner was interrupted by a beeping noise, they both got up and left.

As for the Silver Ranger, Terry could only guess who’s face was under his helmet. It could be the handsome blonde guy, she saw with the other Rangers as they were leaving the downtown movie theater, just a couple of months ago. She always wondered who that guy was. She’d have to ask her friends the next time she saw them.

She hadn’t told anyone of her discovery yet, not even her parents. Both were at work when the Silver Ranger dropped her off, and by the time they got home, Terry had made up her mind not to tell them at all. It was a hard decision to make, because she didn’t like to hide things from them, but she knew that if her friends knew that she knew their secret, they’d want her to keep it a secret from everybody, parents included. If she didn’t she’d lose their friendship, that was something Terry didn’t want.

As soon as her father left the room, Terry floped down on her bed and gazed up at the cieling.

“The Power Rangers,” she mumbled. “As soon as I can, I’m going to tell them that I know their little secret.”

She looked out her window, and saw the first tiny stars appearing in the sky. The sound of Shawn Mullens’ song "Lullaby" was now filling her room.