QSO 01

The best thing about Topher Grant's new house was the treehouse in the backyard. It was tall enough to fit his gangly frame without bumping his head. It had a window on each side. It was big enough to fit him and his telescope. His dad had wanted to tear it down, but Topher saw the potential. Since his parents already felt guilty for moving him away from his friends, the treehouse stayed. In return, to prevent him from stargazing all summer and doing nothing else, they signed him up for the beginner’s classes at the Watanabe Bushido Studio.

Topher felt that was a fair trade. He wasn't against physical activity and had even been a runner at his old school in Miami. Afterall, you had to be in shape if you wanted to join NASADA or SPD. Which is definitely what he wanted. He didn't just want to star gaze. He wanted to be out there among them. Sprinting a few hundred yards, or even the associated weight training, did not even compare to Watanabe karate or kendo.

However, he diligently went every day and thought he was even starting to get better. Sensei Saeko didn't look quite so annoyed every time she saw him now. After a quick dinner, he came out to the tree house. This time of year was perfect for seeing a certain star, but he still hadn't managed to get it into focus yet. His telescope connected to his phone and he was hoping to get a picture of it.

He was fiddling with the knobs of his telescope when he happened to see movement on his screen. He picked up his phone and swiped his finger over the screen and telescope moved accordingly. There was something in the sky not far away. He put his eye against the telescope sight and looked through it, seeing everything much more clearly than he could on his phone.

"Whoa!" There were spaceships over the Earth, five of them. Or rather, space crafts. One of them looked like a simple space shuttle, one of them looked like a spinning top with rings, but the other three looked vaguely like animals. A green one looked like chameleon, a black one like a bull, and a yellow one like a swordfish. The top-looking one was shooting at the three smaller crafts. A devastating blow landed against the green one. The black and yellow ones tried to help but didn't get the chance when the top looking thing transformed into a giant robot. They also sustained heavy damage.

It looked like a sure victory but suddenly the shuttle rammed into the robot from behind. Its thrusters continued firing until it pushed the robot into the atmosphere. The heat from entry must have ignited something, because suddenly there was an explosion that made Topher look away from the telescope.

By this time, he didn't need to look through it to see the explosion in the atmosphere. He could see streaks as pieces of the shuttle and robot went crashing into the earth. He quickly looked through the telescope again, but he couldn't see the smaller space crafts.

He stayed up most of the night looking for any sign of the other crafts and searching online for anything in the news about the explosion over the atmosphere, but there was nothing. A few people from his stargazer's forums also said they saw the battle, but within a few hours, their threads were shut down by those who ran the boards without explanation.

Due to his late night and the excitement of what he'd witnessed, he didn't sleep well, and his performance during his lessons the next day were almost as bad as when he'd first begun. But Sensei Saeko didn't remark on it. He was grateful.

He left the Studio dejectedly. He really didn't have anyone in real life to talk to about what he saw last night. His parents either wouldn't care or think that he was making stuff up since he was bored, which apparently was something he used to do when he was a kid. He didn't lie, he just made up fantastical stories about swamp creatures and the like. He'd outgrown that years ago, but to his parents he was still pretty much eight.

He knew they were working, which was how he came to be in Angel Grove to start with. His dad got a promotion from his company, and off they came to Cali-forn-i-a. He was older than most of the kids in in his class at the Studio, and they thought he was kind of a spazz. Man, it was hard to get laughed at by a bunch of seventh graders. He'd probably make a few friends when he started school, but for now, he was on his own.

He was so in his own stupor of dejection and his head filled with battle scenes, that he nearly ran over somebody heading into the same gaming center he was. "Oi, watch it, mate."

The guy he almost trampled put on the toothiest, most winning-est smile Topher had ever seen. It went well with his light eyes, and dark hair. He was one of those magazine perfect guys. Except for a scar through his eyebrow. And that only made it worse. "Looks like. Almost wonder what you were looking at since it certainly wasn't in front of you. Am I losing my charm?" he wondered, rubbing his chin.

Topher snickered, feeling a bit better about his attempted hit and run. "You cannot compare to spaceships, no matter how pretty you might be," he answered.

The guy grinned. "Not sure how I should take that. But you called me pretty, so that's a win in my book. What you here to play?" he asked, opening the door for him and gesturing him in gallantly.

Topher sighed. "Nega Wars. This is the only place in town I can play it because my processor was damaged when we moved here and my parents chose to spend money on Bushido classes instead because I needed the exercise and to not sit around on a computer all summer," he complained. "Not that you wanted to know all that," he said apologetically.

"It's cool, mate. This is one of the best places to game. I been away for the summer though, guess that's why I ain't seen you 'round. Hard to miss you otherwise," he said, eying Topher's floppy red hair.

Topher his head a toss. "I am a stop light," he declared, winked, and made finger guns.

"Too late, Ginger," Laiken said. He threw an arm over Topher's shoulders. "C'mon, mate, I'll challenge you to a duel in Nega Wars," he said and dragged him to a couple of empty computers beside each other.

Topher learned that his new friend was the same age as he was, and they'd be in the same grade when school started at Angel Grove High in a few weeks. His father was a retired British diplomat who was now teaching a Poli-Sci course at Angel Grove University. His mom was a Brazilian national that wrote poetry and did speaking tours.

Topher's dad was a supervisor at a robotics factory owned by Nodroz Corp. His mom was a dentist. He had a slight case of parent envy.

"At least they have a set schedule and you know they'll be home every day," Laiken pointed out. "What's the thing with the exercise instead of fixing your computer?" he asked curiously as they wandered toward their neighborhoods, which seemed to be in the same direction.

Topher made a face and gave an exaggerated shrug. "No earthly idea. I mean, I did atheletic stuff. I ran track since middle school. I never came in first place...or second...or third..." he waved his hands in air, "that's not the point, the point is I did it," he said.

Topher had to walked through the Angel Grove Park to get to his neighborhood. He'd heard that the park was cursed ever since he moved there. He hadn't seen anything eventful happen at the park himself. He didn't count the purse snatcher that the police chased and eventually tackled. That kind of thing was no big deal, and not attributable to a "curse".

One version he'd heard was that the park was haunted by demons. A friend of a friend of a friend of his neighbor's twelve-year-old son swears that a decade ago, a demon horde exploded out of the center of the park from the Underworld.

Topher stopped and looked around at the peaceful rolling greens and a bespectacled woman in a lab coat with a little girl feeding squirrels. Other children played on swings or other playground equipment while parents watched. Looked perfectly ordinary to him. No demons, no ghosts, no curse.

He turned to continue on his way and realized he was face to face with something not quite human. Parents and children screamed. "Oh, fudge, here we go again," a resigned voice floated through the noise, but he was too busy trying not wet himself to pay attention to who said it.

There were more of them. All of them had one some sort of gray helmet with red visors and black uniforms with various colored designs on them. Each held a saber-like weapon. They spread out to try and get the people now running away from them.

Without really realizing what he was doing, Topher suddenly reacted. He kicked the thing in the middle. Then he ran.

Three somewhat people-sized orbs came flailing through the park and landed nearby. The orbs opened and disappeared, revealing that three people had been within them. There was an Asian-featured girl with shoulder length dark hair; a tall, broad young man with dark features and hair; and a girl with tanned skin, long, wavy, dirty blond hair.

"Constellizers!" the first girl, she seemed to be in charge, said. Large devices were strapped on their left arms. They had smaller devices powered by multi-colored orbs.

The dark-haired girl had a green orb with an image of a chameleon on it. "Chameleon to the power of Q!" She plugged the orb into the Constellizer and pressed it backwards. It glowed and a ghost image of the orb surrounded her body, forming a green, skirted bodysuit with a chest piece and various silver details as it shrank around her head to finally form a helmet with a definite chameleon visor-ed helmet that seemed to glitter with stars. "Q Ranger Green!"

The young man put a dark-gray-black orb into his Constellizer. "Taurus to the power of Q!" A ghost image of the orb with a bull's head on it appeared. A black bodysuit formed around him. His helmet was a large, horned bull's head. "Q Ranger Black!"

"Dorado to the power of Q!" A yellow orb emblazoned with a swordfish surrounded the blonde girl forming a yellow power suit and a helmet that resembled a sword fish as seen head on, including a protruding visor. "Q Ranger Yellow!"

"Whoa," Topher declared from his not quite hiding spot. He dodged back as the thing he kicked in the middle was now out for revenge.

Green shimmered to invisibility, and reappeared where a group of the creatures were trying to catch a nanny with a baby stroller. She landed a deadly accurate high kick to his head that sent him flying. She held out her Constellizer and hit him with a blast of energy that made him disappear.

She whirled around and fired a few more times but had to resort to hand to hand combat some more. She fought like a well-trained warrior. Which in fact she was.

Black was a large and powerful fighter. He moved with a grace that belied his size. He grabbed two of the creatures and slammed their heads together, disorienting them. One jumped on his back. He made an oddly moo-like sound and reached back and tossed the creature over his shoulder. He fired his blaster at them before turning back to take on a few more.

Yellow was a less skilled fighter than the other two. But she was strong, and graceful, and picked up new physical skills rather quickly. She jumped back as a creature swiped his blade at her, turning a backflip, bouncing off her hands, and kicking with her feet all at the same time.

When she came up, she fired her blaster. She moved quickly and fluidly. When one of them grabbed her from behind, she threw her head backwards and smashed against his face. They both went down hard, but she made sure her elbow landed hard into his side. She rolled to her knees and blasted him.

Topher found a discarded umbrella and held it up to defend himself against his pursuer. "Stay back, this is a dangerous weapon and I know how to use it," he said with bravado. The creature used his saber to cut the umbrella in half. Then he disappeared. Topher blinked. Standing just beyond, Green held her Constellizer out. She lowered her arm. He realized there weren't any more creatures.

"Was that the last of the Scourge that survived the explosion?" she asked as she disengaged her morph. The Constellizer disappeared. The other two disengaged their morphs as well.

"That's a long story and we don't have time. Omni, have you located any of the missing QSOs yet?" she asked as she walked to join her friends. Topher didn't get to hear the answer as orbs formed around them and they flew up into the sky and disappeared in colored streaks.

"Whoa," Topher said, grabbing at his hair, trying to comprehend the completely unbelievable thing that just happened. No one was going to believe this. He wasn't even sure he believed it.

Laiken wasn't sure how to process what Topher was telling him about what happened in Angel Grove Park. They'd met at the game center the next day, but Topher was too unsettled to concentrate on the game. Laiken gave up and decided to introduce his new friend to one of the best places in Angel Grove for lunch.

A lot of things about his new friend mystified Laiken. How could he have been in Angel Grove for <i>weeks</i> and never make his way to the Youth Center? After ordering their food and drinks, the teenaged waiter heavily flirting with Laiken, Topher finally explained what had happened the past couple days.

Topher rubbed vigorously at his red mop. "I know the spaceship battle may be a little much, but look," he pulled up some news footage reporting alien and Power Ranger sighting in Angel Grove Park. He dangled the phone in front Laiken's face.

Topher nodded. "One of the things with the helmets, see, the blurry thing there? Yeah, all in my face, dude," he explained. "See, this blurry chick in green, she saved my life," he declared stoutly.

Topher stared at him a moment. Then he slowly put his phone away. "I don't even know how to respond to that," he said. "Life changing events. Barely managed to live. And that's all you can ask about?" he shook his head. He took in Laiken's unrepentant grin. He shook his head again.

Laiken laughed at him. "All right. I'm glad you are okay, Ginger. Really. But this is Angel Grove and those were Power Rangers. It's what they do. They save people," he said. He vaguely gestured at the decor around them. Power Rangers was the bread and butter in these parts.

Topher sighed and gave up. Power Rangers might be old hat for people from Angel Grove, but not for the native Miamian. It was a brand spankin' new hat. When the waiter returned with their food, he ate in silence.

Laiken snickered at him. "How's the food?" he asked. Topher didn't answer him. "Admit it, this is the best hamburger you've ever had," he prompted. "Admit it," he wheedled. He continued pestering until Topher had had enough.

"Okay, yes. This is mighty fine specimen if flame broiled ground beef," he said finally. "My compliments to the chef," he said.

Though the last part was supposed to be sarcasm, the older guy behind the main counter smiled and waved. "Thanks," he called out before popping back into the kitchen.

Laiken laughed at him. "I think I agree with your parents. You need to get out and about more," he said. "Learn more about your new home," he said. He nodded to himself and inhaled his triple-meat hamburger, hold the lettuce, hold the tomato, hold the onion.

Topher grumbled. "Speaking of getting out and about. Much to my parent's delight and consternation, I'm taking my telescope on a camping trip this weekend. If you weren't so annoying, I'd ask you to join," he said.

Topher opened his phone again and navigated to a map. He then showed it to Laiken. "This ridge here. Looks like a great spot, and has a clear southern view," he said.

"Looks brill. I'll join," Laiken said. Topher grinned. He honestly hadn't looked forward to going into the wild alone after what happened in the park.

Neri Meridian inhaled deeply as she and her two companions walked along a quiet beach. The water line and terrain were too dangerous, and the entire area was closed to the general public. "The oceans here are so beautiful," she said as the sea breeze pulled at her long blond locks.

Kamad Ravi crossed his arms and exhaled through his nose. "If you say so," he said.

The third member of their party looked at long tablet-like device she held in her hands. "We're not here to sight-see. We have to find the missing Orbs before the Syndicate makes it to this planet," she said. "Omni, why can't you pinpoint the closest two's exact location?" she asked.

"There's interference," a voice replied from the device. "I can definitively say that they're at a higher altitude than you currently."

"So somewhere in the radius, but higher up," Ravi said, looking at the screen over her shoulder.

"Guess that rules out the ocean," Neri said, unable to hide the small disappointment in her voice.

Mika Ro scanned the area. There were a few foothills dotted around, but only one barely contained within the red circle on the map Omni, a crystalline intelligence contained within an orb that was attached to the device, had outlined. The intelligence functioned as a supercomputer of unknown potential.

Ravi and Mika turned toward her, but she was gazing at the sky. Just becoming visible, round, somewhat wheel shaped space crafts were heading toward the Earth.

Topher was setting up his telescope while Laiken finished setting up the tent. When he was satisfied, he opened his pack and pulled out a bag of jerky. "Gotta say, Ginger, this is a nice spot. Look at that ocean view," he said as he sat on a large rock nearby.

Topher stopped fiddling with his telescope and looked over the view. He held up his phone and snapped a few pictures. "That's weird," he said when he went to look them over before deciding which ones to share.

"What is?" Laiken asked around a mouthful of dehydrated meat. He was startled when Topher tossed his phone to him and went for the telescope. He looked at the picture what'd caught his friend's attention. The picture had been zoomed. Beginning to shimmer into view but still pretty far away were weird Ferris wheel looking somethings in the sky above the horizon. He got to his feet. "What can you see through the telescope?" he asked. He had exceptional vision, better than even 20/20 but they were still too far away to make out with the naked eye.

"Spaceships. Like the ones the other night, but a lot of them," Topher answered.

Topher moved his telescope to look. "That's them. Those are the guys from the park," he said.

"I've lived in Angel Grove for nearly a decade and this first time Power Rangers have been back," Laiken said.

Topher stared at the same guy who'd hardly reacted when he'd told his story about the park. He clapped his hands together. "Wow. You should be on stage. Those acting skills," he praised.

"Right? Let's go," he said and looked for a quicker way to descend the ridge than the trail they'd used to get there. He went to the edge and a piece of it crumbled under his foot.

"Careful!" Topher lunged, reaching for him. He managed to grab his arm, but instead of saving his friend, they both toppled over the ridge and began to roll down.

As the crafts, known as Harvesters, got closer, they began firing on the beach, knocking the trio off their feet. Disturbance from the ships' engines were making the water crash against the shore erratically. The multi-colored, helmeted Scourge began disembarking the ships, led by plant- or flower-like aliens of a different species they'd learned during their short tenures as Power Rangers acted as direct superiors or supervisors of the Scourge. They were referred to as Scourgeweeds.

Mika popped to her feet, Neri and Ravi just behind her. They held up their QSOs. "Constellizers!" they called. The devices appeared on their off arms.

Ghost images of their Orbs appeared and knocked out several of the Scourge that were coming at them before doubling back and forming their power suits.

Fully morphed, the trio ran forward to engage with their enemy. Green, a ninja of no little skill with the ability to appear in an out of visibility, was dauntless in her attack. Black, though large, was strong and powerful. His kickboxing style had a certain grace to it even has heavy blows sent his enemies flying and falling into each other. Yellow, her grace and size belying her strength. She was less of skilled fighter, but she fast and agile.

Still, the Syndicate had more numbers on their side. They kept advancing, and the Rangers kept retreating. There was a continuous series of cracking and yelling from somewhere above them and even the Scourge halted their attack in curiosity to see what all the commotion was.

After the initial fall, Topher and Laiken had managed to stop their descent by grabbing on the local flora. Topher had held a death grip on a small branch growing out the side of the ridge, and Laiken had a hold of a small tree.

Topher didn't realize his branch was giving way because he was intent on something caught in the leaves.

"Maybe not," Topher said and adjusted his grip to reach for the object. He had just closed his hand around it when the branch gave way. He gave a startled yelp when he began to tumble down the ridge again.

"Topher!" Laiken shouted and tried to figure out the best way to safely get down the ridge and check on his friend.

The redheaded kid falling into the middle of their fight startled both the Rangers and the Syndicate. Topher sat upright and shook his head to clear it. The Scourge jumped back.

Green looked at him, then up the ridge, where she could make out another figure trying to descend, then back to him. "You again?" she asked.

Topher nodded. "This time I have this," he said holding up a brilliant red orb with a lion's face on it.

"Wait! What? Me?!" Topher scrambled to his feet even as a Constellizer appeared on his arm.

By now the Scourge had gotten over their surprise and were fighting with the Rangers again.

"What's that saying you Terrans have? Finders keepers?" Green said as she jumped on the shoulders of a Scourge, wrapping her legs around its neck. She hit it in the helmet several times, then fell back, using her momentum to throw him.

Topher took a deep breath and put the orb into the Constellizer. Here goes nothing, he thought. "Leo to the Power of Q!" A ghost image of his orb formed around. There was sub-sonic thump as the image expanded, sending Scourge and Scourgeweeds flying as it hit them but not harming the other Rangers. Then the orb sucked back in on him and formed a red power suit with white gloves, silver accessories, a black buckled belt, and an off-center star on his chest with the orb in the center of it. The last thing to form was a red helmet with a lion-like visor that seemed to be filled with stars. "Q Ranger Red!"

"That was needlessly impressive," Laiken grunted from his perch about halfway down the ridge as he looked for his next grip.

The newly form Red Ranger looked around. His fighting skills were subpar, but he felt pretty confident in this suit. "Q Sword!" He summoned a base weapon and attached a couple of blades to it. He ran into a group of Scourge with the sword and swung it. A summer of learning at the Studio seemed to finally have kicked in, coupled with the capabilities of the suit.

He slashed his sword into one of the Scourgeweeds, jumped a high arc over a hole troop of Scourge and landed, slashing into another one leaving an arc of energy that exploded at his hit. He stood up from his crouch. If only Sensei Saeko could see him now.

He stood and ran into the Scourge, slashing red arcs as he went. He paused as they exploded.

Getting over their somewhat surprise at this new turn of events, the Q Rangers summoned their base weapons and attachments.

They fought through the Scourge. Yellow connected her QSO to the base weapon. "Time to make a splash." The blade of her Slasher glowed. She arched it in front of her face, leaving vertical yellow energy slashes that she then slashed into the Scourge. They exploded around her.

Black connected his QSO to the base of his weapon. The axe blades glowed, and he crashed it forward, a circular wave of murky energy crashed into the Scourge. He gave a small bow and murmured a blessing under his breath. "May your souls find peace."

Green connected her QSO to the base of her weapon, the long thin blade glowed. She thrust forward and the blade elongated and whipped about, attacking the Scourge like a chameleon's tongue. When she was done, she held the blade in front of her face, and whipped to the side as the scourge exploded around her.

Two of the flowery aliens were converging on Red. He was fending them off. He blocked a blow from one of their strange club-like weapons. The creature depressed a trigger on the weapon, and it fired a blast that knocked the Red Ranger back. He flipped and managed to somewhat land on his feet. "Well, that was lucky. All right let's try this," he plugged his QSO into the base of his sword. He jumped high as the weapon glowed. "Regulus Impact!" he slashed downward as he landed. A large strong crescent of energy slashed throw the air and the earth and into the aliens, making them explode in a blaze of glory.

Green glanced up after slashing through a few more of the Scourge. "More will be coming from those Harvesters," she said. "Let's go, Neri," she said.

"Chameleon Voyager Zord!" Green pulled something on her Constellizer. An orb formed around her, and it took off to combine with a green chameleon shaped zord.

"Swordfish Voyager Zord!" Yellow pulled on her Constellizer. An orb formed around her, and it took off to combine with a yellow swordfish shape zord.

They sat in cockpit as they zoomed through the sky. Green pulled a joystick and the mouth of the Zord opened up and a tongue shot out and wrapped around an enemy vessel and threw it off course, knocking into more vessels as they she went. She also fired green lasers as she hurtled along.

The Swordfish Zord moved through air as if swimming through the oceans. Her pilot was familiar with such a vehicle. Traveling long-distances on her world was mostly done via similar submarine vehicles. She fired lasers as she and Green exited the atmosphere to handle the enemy vessels there.

"Man, that's sweet," Red said. He was distracted by a few of the smaller vessels coming in low and firing on the beach. He placed his QSO in his Constellizer and pulled a switch. "Lion Voyager Zord!" An orbal cockpit formed around him and took the brunt of the enemy fire directed at him. "That was close," he sagged in his seat.

A distant roar startled him as a large, red leonine zord charged through the vessels and attached to the cockpit. "Right, let's get serious he said as he navigated to catch up with Green and Yellow.

"Wow. That Zord is humongous," Yellow said, glancing at its approach as she zoomed around, doing orbital battle.

Red barreled along. Several of the smaller vessels headed toward the other two. "Oh, no," he said and fired missiles from the Zords's claws at them and they exploded. "Whoa," he muttered as he zoomed around.

Back on the ground, Black wasn't too bothered about being left alone. He could handle himself. They were right, the scourge would keep coming if they didn't cut off the source. But the Scourge kept coming at him. "I'm started to get annoyed," he grunted. He slashed the axe around in circle, but more Scourge were coming. He needed to calm down, but they really weren't letting him.

Laiken had finally made it to the ground. He was a bit in awe of all the Zords flying around, but he could see that the Black Ranger needed back-up. He put his fingers in his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. The Scourge paused and glanced back. "Here to lend a hand, big guy," he said and held up a blue orb with a wolf-like head on it.

A Constellizer appeared on Laiken's arm. He plugged in the QSO. "Lupus to the Power of Q!" A ghost image of his orb formed around him. Then the orb sucked back in on him and formed a blue power suit with white gloves, silver accessories, a black buckled belt, and an off-center star on his chest with the orb in the center of it. The last thing to form was a black helmet with a howling-wolf-like visor that seemed to be filled with stars. "Q Ranger Blue!"

He ran forward and leapt. He wrapped his legs around the neck of a Scourge and tossed him as he went down. He rolled to his feet next to Black.

"No problem," Blue said. He sprang into action and took down another Scourge. "Prepare yourselves," he warned. He punched one and sprang backward, taking out another by kicking backwards. He was fast, agile, and strong, moving through the enemy like he'd always been waiting for the opportunity but never realized it.

He'd go low and kick the feet from under an enemy or spring forward and kick one around like it was nothing.

With the extra help, Black was back into it, he crashed his axe around again, taking out a swath of Scourge that exploded around them. He bowed his head and murmured a blessing.

Blue had been crouched, but he rose to his feet. "Shall we?" he asked, looking up. Even in the daylight, they could see signs of the battle above.

Black nodded. They plugged their QSOs into their Constellizers. They pulled a switch and the QSO's glowed.

Red was engaged in the battle of his life. Considering his rather ordinary and sheltered life until that moment, wasn't quite giving the moment it's due gravitas. He fired a powerful blast of energy that crashed through space, but the largest harvester was still intact.

The shockwave of energy disturbed the equilibrium of Chameleon and Swordfish. "Careful there," Green warned as she got her Zord under control.

"My bad!" Red said. "What's this?" he said and pressed a button. "Megazord Mode Activated," a voice said in his cockpit. "Whoa!" The Lion began to shift shapes. Chameleon and Swordfish were drawn it to it and shifted shapes. The Lion formed a head torso, while Chameleon and Swordfish’s orbal cockpits docked into it to form arms.

"We'll have to make do," Green said. "Head toward the Harvester," she instructed.

"Right," he agreed. The semi-formed Megazord barreled toward the largest spacecraft. It dove in and out of its rings, slashing it with Swordfish's blade, causing the alien within it to be knocked around. "Do something!" he shouted to his subordinates.

One of the flower-like aliens was jettisons into space and enhanced until it grew exponentially from its normal size. It engaged the other craft and bashed it with its club-like weapon. "Augh!"

Red's cockpit sparked and it fell toward am icy near-Earth asteroid. Hope came to them as a black bull-like Zord, and a silver and blue wolf-like zord came toward them.

Red grinned. "Yes!" he said. He smacked the Megazord button with gusto. "Megazord Mode activated!" he said as the same as the automated voice did. Bull and Wolf Shifted shapes and their orbs docked to form the legs. "Voyager Megazord!" The Rangers announced as one.

The Megazord landed on the asteroid followed by the giant flowery Scourgeweed. It produced a glowing multi-whip and lashed at the Megazord. The Megazord moved in and slashed with Swordfish. The Scourgeweed tried to club them. They traded a few blows.

Black gripped his control sticks and used his leg to move the Megazord forward with a burst of strength when it jabbed with the Swordfish. The two massive beings crashed through mountainous ice protrusions.

Green jerked one of her control sticks. The Chameleon arm punched forward and opened its mouth, the tongue shooting out to wrap around and jerk it forward. Yellow used Swordfish to repeatedly stab the Scourgeweed. Finally, Blue back kicked the Scourgeweed in the face. It flew back and crashed into a mountain.

"Now for the finish!" Red took control. "Voyager Stellar Slash!" Each of their orbs glowed and energy coalesced in the Swordfish. The Megazord zoomed forward and slashed with explosive energy. It crashed into the asteroid, creating a crevasse through which the sparking Scourgeweed fell into and exploded.

The Harvester had fled, and the Rangers regrouped at Topher and Laiken's campsite. Mika had her hands on her hips surveying her newest teammates in the faint light of the nearly set sun. "I'm Mika Ro. This is Neri Meridian of the Planet Maralago. This is Kamad Ravi of the planet Mynos," she said, nodding to each of them. Ravi gave a slight bow and Neri waved brightly.

"I'm Laiken Thorpe and this handsome ginger gentleman is Topher Grant. Planet Earth...?" he raised his scarred eyebrow at Topher.

"Right," Mika said. She pulled the skateboard-shaped portable-computer from her backpack. A whitish QSO was plugged into it. "This is Omni. He's our supercomputer. This is just his portable interface," she explained.

Neri looked around. She breathed in deeply. "This a good place to camp," she declared.

Mika nodded. She opened her backpack and began taking things out of it. Way more than it seemed should fit in it. Neri and Ravi began taking things and setting up tents.

Topher wandered away from the bustle of camp. He stood at the edge of the bluff and looked up at the deceptively peaceful twinkling stars. Mika noticed him. She walked over and stood next to him. "Makes you look at them differently now, doesn't it?" she asked.

Topher nodded. He opened his mouth, but she shook her head. "Let's eat and rest. I know you have a thousand questions, but they can wait," she said.

He gave another nod reluctantly. "But really. You have to at least explain the backpack," he stated.

She snickered. She headed back toward the encampment. He followed with one last glance back at the night sky where it was calm once more. But perhaps it was a short-lived peace. "Good night, Earth. And good luck."