PRLG: A Different Shade of Pink
Episode XLI. All Fired Down
by Green Senturion

Cassie turned up her head as she heard a groaning sound from outside her doorway. She whirled her head around and was surprised to see a helmetless, black-suited Ranger staggering down the hall. She leapt up from her seat and prepared to stare into his hurt face as she asked, “Are you all right?”

“Yeah…I’m fine,” Mike replied as he slumped down against the wall clutching his helmet in his hands, “But Terra Venture isn’t. I was in the middle of discussing with Commander Stanton the situation of Terra Venture…”

“Which is?” Cassie asked.

“Not good,” Mike answered, “Our fuel supplies have been practically exhausted during this course through the Lost Galaxy, and our mechanics don’t think they know how to conserve our fuel supplies for the journey home. But…that’s not the point of my story,” Mike breathed as he stood up wincing, “I was talking with Commander Stanton when I saw Barbarax terrorizing the City Dome again. The Commander let me go—he thinks I’m the Red Ranger,” Mike quickly added when he saw Cassie’s confused expression, “And I tried to stop him…but I couldn’t. He fought me off and then disappeared.”

“And this isn’t the first time this has happened, as we all know,” Maya said as she walked out of Cassie’s room, “By the time we get there, he’s already rounded up a large quantity of civilians to take back to…wherever.”

“His slave camp,” a soothing voice came from behind them. The Spellcaster, dressed in a pink satin gown, looked at the three Rangers and said, “Mutiny, like any pirate, is only concerned with harvesting more gems. He has a site where he makes his slaves mine for riches; but whenever we tried to infiltrate it, we were caught. His guards, the Swabbies, were too many in number for us to handle. We couldn’t save the people and fight off the Swabbies at the same time. So, we would only save a handful of people each time, and since Mutiny would soon capture more people to make up for his loss, our efforts proved futile. And Barbarax’s new method for increasing Mutiny’s slave count is effective.”

“Hey,” Mike said, as he straightened himself up, “Maybe I could purposely get captured the next time Barbarax shows up. I may not be able to stop him when he appears, but I can at least catch him every time, so if I were one of the civilians caught…”

“No!” the Spellcaster cried, “Do not be foolish. You would be caught and killed the moment you revealed yourself to them. If only there were some way that we could enter the base and not be caught…”

“Then we could save them,” another voice came from behind the Rangers. Shimmering into view was the Phantom Ranger, a small crack in the corner revealing a tear-stained brown eye. Seeing the four Rangers staring, he waved his hand across his visor, causing it to repair itself, then spoke, “I can turn invisible at will. I could free all the slaves, while you could bring the Megaship, and before Mutiny could know what was going on, we would be free.”

“No,” Cassie said, shaking her head, “You can’t, it would be…”

“This is not a bad idea,” the Spellcaster said, nodding her head, “But how will we know when to send the Megaship for you?”

Mike smiled and stepped forward as he said, “I’m capable of communicating with the other Rangers. Plus, if the Phantom Ranger slipped, I could cover for him. I think I could really help the effort here by being captured too.”

The Spellcaster narrowed her eyes at the two Rangers and said, “You are willing to risk yourselves in order to have a chance at saving those innocent people?”

Mike nodded enthusiastically, while the Phantom nodded too, albeit with less enthusiasm. Anything to get out of here, I’ll do, he thought.

“Phantom Ranger, no!” Cassie yelled, “Just because you’re…”

“Leave me be,” the Phantom Ranger replied coldly, “You know only my mask, and nothing else about me. Why would you be concerned?”

Cassie opened her mouth, but then closed it. The Spellcaster knew enough not to pry, and gave a nod to Maya, who also understood not to intrude. The Pink Ancient Ranger then stepped forward and said, “So it is settled. Barbarax, the next time he appears, will catch you two Rangers, and then you will contact us so we can bring you away when the time is right. Correct?”

“Correct,” Mike said.

As Mike prepared to walk off, his Magna Morphers beeped with a warble identical to that of the Transmorphers. As he bent his head down to listen, Alpha’s voice echoed, “Ay-yi-yi! Mike! Barbarax is in the City Dome capturing citizens AGAIN!”

Mike grimaced and said, “Probably thinks I’ve had enough. Well, he’s wrong. Phantom, it’s show time.” Mike waved his hand and de-morphed himself as Phantom Ranger used a similar gesture to make himself disappear from sight. The Spellcaster, Maya, and Cassie all shook their heads as the two boys strode out the door, their emotions ranging from pleasure and hope for two of the three to utter discontent and confusion for the third.

Mutiny watched with pleasure the sight of Barbarax capturing more citizens, particularly fascinated by the capture of a muscular, uniformed young man, around whom a wisp seemed to appear as he faded into the capture jar. As Mutiny prepared to analyze this strange occurrence, Barbarax appeared before him and bowed, saying, “I shall return these filthy humans to the treasure site so that they can harvest more jewels for our bounty.”

“Excellent,” Mutiny replied, clapping his hand and hook together, “I love nothing more than some good slave plundering. I’m glad to see you picking up the slack around here with Hexuba gone to the side of…good,” Mutiny spat. “Now our other general on the other hand…”

Barbarax bowed again and teleported away as Mutiny shuffled to Deviot’s workroom. There he saw the robot wearing his welding mask and pounding away on a rectangular device with several colored buttons and a joystick.

“Well, Deviot, m’boy,” the Captain shouted so as to be heard over the buzzing of the welding torch, “Are you almost done?”

“Nearly,” Deviot answered in an equally loud voice, “I’m just putting on a few finishing touches. In about an hour or so Titanisaur will be fighting fit once more.”

Mutiny cackled and cried, “Now that’s what I like to hear!” As he strutted away, Deviot turned and yelled, “And I will get to pilot Titanisaur, yes?” Captain Mutiny threw up his hook and continued wandering out of the room. Deviot returned to his work and thought, Excellent. Mutiny looked back as he closed the door to the workroom and thought, I wonder what he just said? Bah, he’s doing good work, so I won’t disturb him.

Mike toppled onto the ground, a little dazed, but definitely conscious. To his surprise, he looked down and saw large handcuffs binding his hands. He then whirled around as he heard a loud voice booming. Barbarax called out to the crowd:

“Hear this! You lucky people have been chosen by Captain Mutiny to mine treasure for him. And as you can see,” Barbarax said as he gestured to the hordes of Swabbies behind him, “You are outmatched, and bound by hand. Wherever you find a shovel, you may mine. And I’ll warn you now: if you try to escape, there WILL be consequences. Observe this fool here.” Barbarax laughed as pointed to an unconscious man in yellowing robes imprisoned in the stocks.

Mike shuddered and shivered a little bit, but shook off the feeling as he began to walk towards a workstation. Feeling no one around him, Mike became frightened and whispered, “Phan…” but was cut off by an invisible hand covering his mouth. A pat on the back from nowhere indicated to Mike that the Phantom was nearby. Mike smiled and struggled to remove his shirt, revealing a black muscle shirt beneath. It’s going to be a long day, Mike though, entering the station. As Barbarax yelled at him to get moving, Mike picked up a shovel with his right hand and thought, Come on Phantom, let’s get this done in a hurry. I don’t want to know what will happen if we stay here longer than we’re supposed to.

Cassie stared about the room nervously. She had many thoughts on her mind, some happy, but most of them less so. To distract herself, she turned to the Spellcaster and said, “So, have you and the other Ancient Rangers had time to catch up?”

“Yes,” the Ancient Ranger replied, “And I was most disturbed to hear that our Galactabeasts had become…machines.”

“Well,” Maya said, “That is said. That they were once living, breathing, animals, and now they’re just…zords. But…”

“Yes, I know,” the Spellcaster interrupted, “They still retain the memories of when they were zords. And I know they forgave the other three Ancients, but I would like to do something…something for them…so that they know we will never leave them again.”

“Well,” Maya started, “You cast spells…isn’t there a way to bring them back to normal?”

“Perhaps,” the Spellcaster replied after a moment of thought, “Perhaps you are onto something.”

She walked to the Galaxy Book and said, “I only wish the Keeper were here with me. He saw the Book most recently, having edited it all, the Seer’s prophecies and my spells included...so he probably would know better than I whether I had a spell for such an occasion.”

“Where is the Keeper?” Maya asked.

“He,” the Spellcaster replied, “And all the other male Rangers, save the Defender and the Phantom, are in Terra Venture’s fuel room. They are trying to give moral support to the Green Ranger so that he can help the Colony to move on.”

“I must be out of it,” Cassie replied, “How long has it been since you and I talked, Maya? I thought the guys were all still here.”

“Well,” Maya replied, “You fell asleep for a good several hours. I only came back into your room to talk some more when I saw you waking up.”

“I guess I’ve just had a lot on my mind,” Cassie said as she shook her head. “Now,” she said, turning to the Spellcaster, “Back to that reanimation spell you were talking about.”

Damon worked hard, sweating and tugging at one off Terra Venture’s multiple large engines. He then sighed as he stared down at the ground in frustration.

“I’m trying to fix it,” he said, “So that it will use a minimal amount of energy when traveling…it needs to know that the colony is essentially “parked,” and that it doesn’t need to waste fuel hovering in space. But the climate of this Galaxy seems to have warped its engines, and I just don’t…”

“Relax,” Kai said, “You’ll figure it out.” He turned back and looked at the clock as he said, “Hey, the Commander is expecting me back now. But I know you can do this, Damon. Good luck!”

As Kai ran away, the Guardian said, “You have some good friends, young one…do not forget that.”

“Yeah,” Leo added, “We’re here for you, buddy.”

Damon, sick of the heat, unbuttoned his shirt as he said, “Normally, you guys wouldn’t be allowed in here…but I could use the moral support about now.”

The Keeper smiled and said, “This is not a hopeless task. We are a strong group. There is probably something you have not yet thought of.”

“Maybe…but in the meantime…could you step off for a second?” Damon said, waving away the four Rangers surrounding him. They backed up to the stairs and walked up to the balcony. Now overlooking Damon’s work, the Rangers stared at the annoyed Damon pulling on a large lever and sighing. The Warrior said, “Hopefully, the solution will come to him soon.”

Mike continued to chisel away with one hand at the rock wall before him. He anxiously looked about, trying to see if the Phantom Ranger had set anyone free yet. But surely, he would be the first one to be freed so that he could help the others? Mike stared down at his bound wrists. The iron rod linking the handcuffs was too long—he couldn’t put his Magna Morphers together even if he wanted to. He then looked up at the sad old man, still unconsciously trapped in the stocks. Sighing, Mike thought, Please hurry, Phantom!

The Spellcaster flipped through the Galaxy Book, growing increasingly more tired as the pages wore on. Finally, near the back of the book, she spotted a page, first one with glowing silver lights, and then, right after that, one with pictures of three Galactabeasts—the Lost Ones, coincidentally—roaring happily at the sky.

“Here it is, once again,” the Spellcaster said as she shook her head, “The Seer’s knowledge was great. He predicted the Galactabeasts’ fate, and probably told me to find an according spell…oh, that man.”

Inexplicably, the Spellcaster then looked down at the ground and began to whimper a little bit. Cassie patted her on the back and said, “Hey…be strong. You and four of your other teammates lived. Who’s to say that the Seer too isn’t alive?”

The Spellcaster nodded and said, “You’re right—I must take my own advice and be strong for my teammates.”

“So,” Maya said, “Can you bring the Lost Galactabeasts back to normal?”

“I hope so,” the Spellcaster said. Then, looking over at Cassie and then Maya, she said, “Yes, I think I can.”

Mike looked up in anger. Almost a half an hour or so had passed, he thought, and there had been not one indication that the Phantom Ranger was nearby. Still off in his own little world, Mike thought. I have got to talk to him about Cassie. But not now. Suddenly, a shimmering in the air caught Mike’s attention. The Phantom Ranger! Sadly, the Phantom Ranger’s moving hadn’t been subtle enough, and it had caught Barbarax’s attention too. The henchman waved his mace in the air and riled the Swabbies over toward where the Phantom Ranger had appeared. Panicking, Mike leapt away from his workstation, and thought, I can wait for him no longer.

He ran in front of the now fully visible Phantom Ranger toward the oncoming Barbarax. Barbarax swung his mace and prepared to lop off Mike’s head, but Mike put his cuffs in the way instead. The metal rod was broken, and with a powerful kick to Barbarax’s gut and a cry of “Magna Power!” Mike had become the Magna Defender. All people around him, Terra Venture citizens and the like, gasped at the revelation of who the Magna Defender was. Mike then fought his way past the Swabbies, leaving them and Barbarax for the Phantom Ranger, as he used his Magna Blaster in Sword Mode to free the old man from his shackles. The man blinked into consciousness, and arose gently from the stocks as Mike lifted him. The old man then gasped in words foreign to Mike as Mike turned around and saw Barbarax aiming his mace at the pair and yelling to the Swabbies, “Get them!” Phantom Ranger was behind Barbarax, busy tackling more Swabbies. Seeing the odds were not in his favor, Mike yelled into his left Morpher, “Hey guys, now would be as good a time as any!”

“And now, the spell is complete!” the Spellcaster said in triumph. “When we next see our friends the Galactabeasts, they will be in their animal forms once more.”

Maya nodded gleefully and said, “And just in time, too!” as her and Cassie’s Transmorphers beeped. The three then raced out of the living quarters, but not before some wind rustled the pages of the Galaxy Book, and Cassie noted that a seemingly familiar page was now completely blank.

Meanwhile, Damon was tugging on a lever with one hand and hammering at the engine with another, but to no avail. As his and Leo’s Transmorphers beeped, Leo yelled, “You’ll have to get back to this another time. Let’s go!” Damon sighed and grabbed his shirt as he, Leo, and the three Ancient Rangers then darted up the stairs and out of the engine room. As Alpha explained the situation to the unaware male Rangers, Leo gulped and said, “Come on guys, let’s pick up the pace!”

The eight Rangers then gathered aboard the Astro Megaship, where Kai was already at the controls. “Took you long enough,” he said, “I may not be Mike, but I can still find ways to sneak away from Captain Stanton when I need to. Are we ready?”

“Yeah!” Alpha answered.

“Before we go, we’d better morph,” Kai said, “So we don’t waste time when we get there.” Kai, Cassie, Maya, Leo, and Damon called, “Go Galactic!” while the Ancient Rangers muttered their morphing calls. Kai then pulled on the accelerators and said, “Hyperspeed go! We’re moving on out of here!”

Mike and the Phantom Ranger held their blasters and fired against the oncoming Swabbies. They seemed to be holding them off pretty well for a while, but soon Barbarax made his way to the front and floored the two Rangers with a swing of his mace. “Now, say goodbye!” he laughed.

“Monsters first!” a voice called from behind Mike and the Phantom Ranger.

Behind them stood the old man in the yellowing robes, the one who, unbeknownst to them, had tried to warn Captain Stanton of Mutiny’s corruption. Mike was in awe that the old man who had previously seemed so weak now stood so proudly. Stranger still was the fact that the old man flashed his wrists and showed a yellow Ancient Morpher upon them. A few indiscriminate words later, the Yellow Ancient Ranger, the final Ancient Ranger, stood tall before them.

“Thank you, Defender,” the Yellow Ranger said, “And stranger. It is good to see you. I cannot say the same for you though, Barbarax.” The Ancient Ranger pulled out a long steel rod from the air and began striking Barbarax with it. He fought remarkably well. The Phantom Ranger and the Magna Defender seized the moment and fought off the Swabbies, joined in by the rebelling slaves.

A few minutes later, the Astro Megaship landed a short distance from the mob and out came the nine Rangers. “Seer!” the Spellcaster cried as she approached. She took out her rod and struck Barbarax to the ground with it. She and the Yellow Ranger then hugged before teaming up and striking down Barbarax again. The other Rangers then approached and, once on the scene, assumed fighting poses. The Red Ancient Ranger called, “Leo, you and the other Galaxy Rangers must guide the slaves back to the Astro Megaship. We Ancient Rangers will fight off the Swabbies and Barbarax.”

“And I,” the Phantom Ranger said, “Can unbind them.”

The Phantom Ranger raced past the Galaxy Rangers and blasted off the chains of every slave that ran by. The Galaxy Rangers held the slaves and led them toward the Megaship, with Alpha 6 ushering them in at the door. The Ancient Rangers fought hard against the Swabbies and Barbarax.

Back on his ship, Mutiny saw this scene, and thought, NO! Within a matter of minutes, as he watched helplessly, all of his slaves had been cleared onto the Astro Megaship, which was now clear for take off. The Ancient Rangers, the Galaxy Rangers, and the Phantom Ranger stood in front of the heavily panting Barbarax and the beaten Swabbies. Captain Mutiny shook his head and began hyperventilating as he thought, This can’t be…I’ve…never lost. Making matters worse, the five Galaxy Rangers then summoned their Orion Armor and began to stare down the Captain’s lowly minions. That’s it, the Captain thought, I can wait no longer. It’s time to raise the Titanisaur.

Deviot raised his mask and stared at the new remote for Titanisaur. It is excellent, he thought, as is this magnificent beast on which we rest. And soon, his power will be all mine.

Deviot’s basking in his own success was interrupted by Mutiny’s bursting through the door and gasping, “Is it…ready…now?”

“Why yes, my lord, why do you ask?” Deviot replied.

“Rangers…at…camp…must…strike now…” Mutiny breathed as he waved his hook to motion Deviot out the door.

“All right I’m coming…but will I get to pilot Titanisaur against them?”

“Yes, yes,” Mutiny spoke as he attempted to recover his breath, doing so finally with a gulp. “Now let’s go!”

Deviot clicked his heels together as he ran forward and said, “Yes…let us!”

Suddenly, Captain Mutiny and Deviot appeared before the Rangers and Barbarax and the Swabbies. Captain Mutiny turned on Barbarax and said, “Clearly, entrusting you with the safety of the camp was foolish. Idiot!” Captain Mutiny raised his hook and struck Barbarax across the chest with it. He then turned to Deviot and wrestled the remote from him. Next, he struck Deviot with his hook and said, “And you…taking so long with this device…you’re lucky you’re still alive!”

“But Mutiny, our deal!” Deviot pleaded.

“What deal? You think YOU would pilot my star beast?” the Captain cried as he pressed the blue button on the remote, causing a large white sea dragon to warp into sight overhead and descend behind him, crushing all the Swabbies and barely missing Deviot and Barbarax, “Unlikely.” The dragon looked mean and spiteful, with various mechanical parts about its body and glowing red eyes. Equally spiteful was Captain Mutiny’s showing little remorse for the killing of practically his entire crew. Captain Mutiny then laughed heartily and haughtily and bellowed, “Now, Rangers! The time to fight is nigh!” Captain Mutiny leapt high into the air and landed atop the Titanisaur’s head as he called, “Ancient Rangers, Galaxy Rangers…I challenge you to a duel!”

“Fine by us!” the Seer called. He then turned to his teammates and muttered, “We’ll get reacquainted later.”

“We’ll take you on!” Mike yelled.

“We’ll beat you easily…and do you want to know why?” the Seer cried.

“’Cause we are…” the Phantom Ranger started.

“THE POWER RANGERS!” the twelve Rangers called in unison as colored smoke billowed behind them with seemingly no explanation. Then, they prepared to summon their zords. As they did, Deviot glared at Barbarax and said, “You fool! If it weren’t for you, I would be piloting that beast right now, and have all the power in the universe!”

“No,” Barbarax retorted, “If it weren’t for YOU, I wouldn’t be in Mutiny’s bad graces right now.”

Deviot raised his blaster hand and said, “I don’t like playing second fiddle.”

Barbarax pulled out his mace and said, “And I don’t like being upstaged.”

“Let’s settle this matter as all disgruntled generals to,” Deviot started.

“WITH A DUEL TO THE DEATH!” the two finished simultaneously.

But the Rangers, like Mutiny, were paying the generals no heed. They were in the process of summoning their artillery to fight the Captain’s great war craft. Mike was the first to summon his zord with a call of, “Torozord, Arise!” As Mike transformed into the Mega Defender and then Defender Torozord, Phantom Ranger followed his lead by shouting, “Artillatron, Descend!” The ten remaining Rangers then finished up the summoning by calling, “Galactabeasts, Arise!”

All eight Galactabeasts appeared out of the sky before the Rangers. The Rangers stared happily and almost welled up with tears as Maya said, “They’re back to stay,” to which the Seer replied, “And they are beautiful.” The Spellcaster nodded and said, “I’m glad you like them…our wonderful, animate companions for life.”

The five Galaxy Rangers used their Trandaggers to transform their individual Galactabeasts into Galactazords, next combining them into the Galaxy Megazord. The Warrior and the Spellcaster, the Guardian and the Seer, and the Keeper leapt atop the Rhino, the Phoenix, and the Shark Galactabeasts, respectively, and then with their mystical power rods waving transformed the three Galactabeasts into the Centaurus Megazord, the Stratoforce Megazord, and the Zenith Carrierzord. The Seer accompanied the Guardian in the cockpit of the Stratoforce Megazord, and the Spellcaster joined the Warrior in the cockpit of the Centaurus Megazord. With all the Megazord formations seemingly complete, the Galaxy Rangers shouted, “Lights of Orion, activate!” and allowed the Galaxy Megazord to don its own Orion armor, becoming the Orion Galaxy Megazord.

Then, to the Galaxy Rangers’ surprise, the Spellcaster said, “Now that we are a team…can we not do the same?” The five Ancient Rangers then shouted, “Lights of Perseus, Activate!” Defender Torozord instinctively uttered this call as well. The five Ancient Rangers donned silver armor similar to the Rangers’ Orion Armor. Then, their Megazords began to change accordingly as they did. The Centaurus Megazord’s Blaster nearly doubled in size, and across its chest appeared a long silver plate. The Stratoforce Megazord gained silver arm and leg covers, and the boomerang’s length became even greater than it once was. Finally, the Zenith Carrierzord gained a silver helmet, as shockingly, Defender Torozord did as well. Mike then gained a silver shield in its right hand to accommodate the twin lance in his left hand.

“Let’s not leave Alpha out of this!” Leo cried, “I’ll bet the slaves want to get their revenge on Mutiny as much as we do!”

Beside the three Megazords and two Carrierzords arose the Astro Megazord recently transformed from Megaship Mode, with Alpha 6 and the freed slaves at the helm. The Astro Megazord, Orion Galaxy Megazord, Perseus Centaurus Megazord, Perseus Stratoforce Megazord, Perseus Defender Torozord, Perseus Zenith Carrierzord, and Artillatron all moved forward one step as multi-colored smoke exploded wildly behind them.

“Your days of evil will soon be over, Mutiny,” the Seer rasped, “Your fate is at hand.”

Mutiny, in awe of the Rangers’ huge arsenal, took a moment to shake his head before he spoke, “It matters not, Rangers! The number of toys you have is meaningless, for my Titanisaur is stronger—and it’s quality, not quantity, that counts! But I will agree with you on one count…a fight to the finish is at hand. And the loser will not be I.”

“I will fight you to the death!” Deviot cried as he and Barbarax charged one another.

“I will fight you to the death!” Mutiny screeched.

“Bring it!” the two teams of Rangers and Barbarax yelled back. Then, the battle began.