Author’s Notes: Thanks for your input, and enjoy the story.
Adam could now hear voices heading in his direction, and gave a look around for a safe hiding place. He found refuge behind of marble statue of a winged lion that sat in the corner of the garden.
From his hiding place, Adam watched as three females made their way through the garden and then took a seat in a white gazebo.
Three girls appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties. Two of them were dressed in pink and black dresses and wore barrettes, made of roses, on their heads.
The third girl was dressed more elegantly, in a shivering red dress with a locket that hung from her neck. The color of her hair a mix of pink and blonde, and her blue eyes sparkled like diamonds. Adam sensed that this girl some sort of royalty by the way she carried herself.
“So have you heard the latest gossip, your highness?” one of girls in the pink and black dresses inquired.
“No, Malory, please share it with,’ the girl in the red dress stated.
Malory looked around to make sure no one else was around and then went on to say, “ Well word has it that Lord Shroud is getting really steamed that his generals haven’t been able to apprehend the Revolutionaries.”
“Really,” the princess said with heightened curiosity.
“Yes, but word has it that Gen. Cobrada is in the process of setting a trap that’s sure to put an end to the Revolutionary group on Alter Earth,” Malory continued.
“And where did you heard this?” the princess asked.
“I heard your father and Flightscream discussing it when I passed your father’s war room this morning,” Malory stated.
“Well if you ask me, its about time Cobrada put an end to those rebels,” the third girl stated. “I mean, who do those Revolutionaries think they are challenging the rule of Lord Shroud. When they attack Lord Shroud’s outposts or try to stir up here on KO-25, they are only causing the generals to come down harder on the innocent people that the Revolutionaries claim to be the saviors of.”
“Speaking of stirring up trouble.....Have either of you heard the wild stories about six multi-colored heroes who have been turning this whole universe upside down?” Malory.
The princess burst into laughter, “Yeah, I heard they are responsible for blowing up Cricka’s palace and that they even bested the legendary Cargen the Hunter.”
“I heard that also,” the other girl added. “What are they called........Oh yeah, Power Rangers.”
“Well personally I think its great that these Power Rangers are roaming around. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do support my father and Lord Shroud’s rule, but at these Rangers are making thing interesting,” the princess said.
Adam then noticed a giant monster with the features of a white tiger approached the girls.
“Your highness, Lady Malory, Lady Canni, I do apologize for interrupting your conversation, but Gen. Bardak wanted me to inform the three of you that there will be a formal dinner at sunset.”
“Thank you for informing us, Tygore,” the princess nodded. The monster then turned and walked away.
“Oh my! A dinner party,” Malory exclaimed. “I have to go pick out which dress I will wear this evening.”
“Oh, me too,” Canni nodded in agreement. “Princess Lana, are you coming now.”
Lana plucked a rose from the ground and sniffed it. “No, Canni, I think I’ll stay out here for a few minutes longer. If you see my father tell him where I am.” The princess then watched as her two friends headed into the palace.
Adam knew he couldn’t stay hidden much longer. All of these flowers were beginning to cause his allergies to act up. If only that princess would go back inside the palace, then he could make a dash for the wall that surrounded the palace. Under normal circumstances, Adam would just teleport himself to another location, but since this was his first trip to KO-25, he didn’t have a clue where to teleport to. On of that he didn’t want to risk the princess seeing his green energy trail.
In his concentrating on coming up with a plan Adam inadvertently kicked under a vase that was lying near him.
Startled the princess looked around. “Who’s there?” She bravely rushed over to Adam’s location.
“Um, hello.” Adam worn a sheepish expression on his face, as the princess stood glaring down at him, as he knelt behind the statue.
“Who are you, and how did you get past the guards?!” she demanded.
Thinking quickly, Adam came up with an excuse, “Um......well....my name is Adam and I’m a big admirer of yours, Princess Lana. I knew that the palace was heavily guarded, but I just had to meet you, so I entered the palace in a shipment of cargo for your father.”
The princess considered the Asian man’s explanation for a moment. His story sounded believable. He didn’t appear to be armed with any weapons, and most importantly....he was cute.
“Adam is it,” she said suspiciously. “Stand to your feet, Adam.”
The Ranger did as she requested. He felt a little uncomfortable when the princess circled him, looking him up and down. “I’m not armed if that’s what you’re concerned about.”
“Tell me, Adam, do you think you can sneak me out of this palace?” Lana questioned.
“You want ME to sneak you out of the palace? Why?”
The princesses’ expression transformed from one of happiness and curiosity to an expression of sadness, and it was easy for Adam to see that there was more to this girl than meets the eye. Could she be the one that Curry had sent him here to find?
“Its just that I very rarely get a chance to leave these walls, and on the occasions that I do, I’m always in the accompaniment of my father or one of his soldiers.” Lana said sadly. “I want to see how the commoners live, and find out why some of them wish for the downfall of Lord Shroud’s empire. Will you help, Adam?”
This girl didn’t seem to be a bad person. she genuinely wanted to gain a better understanding of why the Revolutionaries were fighting so vigorously to defeat Lord Shroud. Though he didn’t know how he’d do it, Adam did know that he had to find a way would show this princess that Lord Shroud and his minion were unjust and cruel, and that they needed to be defeated so that goodness could be spread throughout this universe. The Asian man figured it wouldn’t be easy, but he’d have to try to get through to Princess Lana. One good thing about the situation was that she actually to find out why the Revolutionaries were doing the things they were doing.
“Well, are you going to help me sneak out of here or not,” the princess waved her hand in Adam’s face.
“Yes, I’ll help you, Princess Lana,” Adam replied with a smile.
“Good. I’ll go change into something more suitable for this adventure. I’ll be right back,” With that the princess dashed off. In the back of his mind, Adam hoped he was doing the right thing.
Their leader Dylan took a moment to address his teammates, “Okay, you guys, here’s the plan. According to the blueprints our spy on the inside supplied us with, there should be a tunnel entrance around here somewhere that will take us into the lower level of the outpost. Once inside we’ll make our way to this room.” Dylan pointed to a square box on the blueprints. “One of the main servers for Alter-Earth’s Global Network will be in this room.” He then addressed Eugene Skullivich. “Did you bring the disk?” Eugene nodded and held up 3’5 diskette. “Prof. Phenomenus wrote a program to that diskette that we need to load onto Cobrada’s network. This program will allow us to pretty much be able to control all of Cobrada’s Weapons Systems.”
“Cool! Then we’ll be able to use ol’snake face’s own weapons against him,” Randy stated.
“Exactly. Now let’s spread out and find that tunnel entrance,” Dylan commanded.
After searching a for moments, Farkus Bulkmire found the entrance, which was behind a set of bushes. One-by-one each Revolutionary leaped down, with Dylan being the last one to jump down.
The tunnel was a simple dirt path, and Kelly just had to ask the question, “Who originally dug this tunnel?”
“An earlier group of Revolutionaries dug this tunnel in attempt to gain entrance to this outpost and steal information from Cobrada’s forces,” Dylan explained. The Revolutionaries were so focused on reaching their destination that they didn’t notice a small red light, that was embedded in the dirt wall, flash when they walked by.
Within the outpost, Gen. Cobrada, a few Predatrons, and blue monster with silver wings watched a computer screen with a flashing red dot on it.
“Excellent! They’re in the tunnel,” Cobrada stated. “We’ll let them enter the outpost and then close in on them.”
“I’ll go put the other Predatrons on alert,” the blue monster turned and exited the room.
Cobrada couldn’t help but feel pleased with himself. It seemed that he finally had the Revolutionaries within his grasp, and this time there would be no escape. Even if he couldn’t capture all of them at once, at least he’d have their leader.
Yes, he knew exactly what he’d do. He would make an example out of these Revolutionaries. Cobrada had a full proof plan, that he was sure would greatly please his master, Lord Shroud. As Cobrada pondered about how brilliant he was, he couldn’t help wondering where Hogley, Darkonda, and Master Vile were.
All three villains had been gone for two days now, and Hogley had never been gone for this length of time without contacting his reptilian superior and briefing on how things were going. Either the three villains were still on Rizi searching for the Scrolls of Bangoli or they had met some unfortunate demise during their journey. Cobrada chose to believe his first assumption that the three villains were still searching for the scrolls and would be returning soon with the ancient writings in their possession.
“General, the Revolutionaries just entered the basement,” the blue monster informed, after re-entering the room.
“Tell the Predatrons to take their positions. The Revolutionaries mustn’t know that this a trap until its too late,” the general ordered.
She was now dressed in a pair of leather pants and a peach colored tanktop, and had tied her hair in a ponytail.
“You look like an ordinary girl,” Adam said. The girl gave Adam a warm smile and then motioned for him to follow her.
The two of them stowed away in the back of a transport shuttle that exited the palace.
The shuttle soared over the terrain of KO-25 for awhile before landing.
Both Adam and Lana were shocked by the scene that awaited them when they exited the shuttle. From a hiding place behind some trees, they looked down a hill to see peoples, old and young alike working in a field.
“What is this?” Lana said in confusion.
“This must be one of Shroud’s slave camps,” Adam said.
“Slave camps?! I don’t understand. Why would Lord Shroud need to enslave his subjects?” the princess questioned.
“Because he’s evil, Lana. I know this may come as a shock to you, Lana, but this is how the people you called “commoners” live. You wanted to know how they live, well that’s it.” Adam pointed down to the slaves who were shoveling dirt aside and then stuffing small crystals into large barrels.
A few tears streaked down the princesses’ cheeks and she quickly turned her head, so that Adam would not see her show of emotion. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that her subjects were being forced to mine crystals for the dark sorcerer, and additions to this, Lana now came to the realization that her father was a willing contributor to this enslavement.
“Princess Lana, are you okay?” Adam asked softly.
The princess wiped the tears from her cheeks and then faced Adam once again. “Yes, I’m fine.....I have go down there. I have to help those people.” She made a dash, but Adam grabbed her and pulled her back. “Let me go! I’m going to put an end to this injustice..right now.”
“You just can’t go barging down there barking out orders,” Adam stated.
“And why can’t I. I am the Kerovan Princess, which makes me the second most powerful person on this planet.” With that Lana made another dash towards the hill, before Adam pulled her back again. “Now what!”
“Just listen to me for a moment,” Adam pleaded. “You’re not even supposed to be here. If word gets back to your father that you snuck out of the palace you’re going to be in big trouble.”
“Well I can’t just sit here and let those people keep digging in this hot weather.”
“You don’t have to. We’ll sneak down there together and try to do what we can to help those slaves,” Adam stated. With that the two of them crept down to hill and then ducked behind a set of barrels.
“Psssssst!” Adam whispered, trying to get the attention of one of the slaves. An elderly man glanced over at Adam and smiled. “We’re here to save you.” Adam stated.
“Hey, you, over there!” yelled Tygore, from across the field. “What are you doing?!”
‘I was only catching my breathe, mighty Tygore,’ the old man whimpered.
The white man dashed across the field and then knocked the old man to the man, and then holding a sword to the man’s throat, the monster threatened, “If you stop digging one more time, I’ll personally see to it that you don’t have a breathe to catch, because you’ll be dead. Got it, old man.”
“Please spare him, mighty Tygore,” a young girl pleaded. “He’s learned his lesson, and won’t disobey you again.”
“Okay, Carrie, I’ll spare your pitiful grandfather, but he’d better meet his share of the quota or else I’ll not only kill he, but you also,” Tygore sternly warned. The girl fearfully nodded in acceptance.
“Oh, I’d like to make that monster into a throw rug,” Lana grumbled.
“Don’t worry, Lana, he’ll get his,” Adam assured.
Once Tygore had walked away, Adam instructed Lana to stay hidden. He then dashed over to where Carrie and her grandfather were standing.
“Who are you?” the old man asked.
“I’m a friend, who’s going to put an end to Tygore’s tyranny,” the Asian man promised.
“Then you’re a Revolutionary?’ Carrie asked.
“Not exactly, but I don’t have a lot of time to explain things now. What I need for the two of you to do is pass the word around that at sunset everyone who’s willing and able needs to be ready to flee this place,” Adam instructed.
“We can do that,” the old man assured, with a smile. Adam then ducked behind the barrels again.
“So what’s your plan, hot shot?” Lana asked.
“We’re going free these people just before sunset.”
“But that’s when I need to be back at the palace,” the princess reminded.
“I know, but if we wait til sunset, we’ll stand a better chance of overpowering Tygore and the Predatrons. Besides I have some friends that I need to contact. Come on.”
As Tygore made his rounds through the field, he spotted the Ranger and princess making their way up the hill. “Predatrons, seize them!”
“Uh-oh!” Adam yelled, as laser beams flew past his head. “We’ve got to get to the shuttle.”
As they neared the shuttle, Tygore materialized in their path. “Going somewhere?” he snarled.
“Tygore, I should have you beheaded for your actions down there!” the princess yelled.
“Princess Lana, I didn’t recognize you in your less than formal attire,” the monster stated. “You’re father won’t be pleased to learn that you snuck out of the palace, and worst than that you’re running around with this commoner.”
“Lana, go hide,” Adam instructed.
“But what about you?!” she pleaded.
“I’ll be fine, now go!” Adam ordered.
“Yes, my princess, it won’t be a pretty sight when I wipe the ground with this rebel’s blood. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!” Tygore laughed.
Adam glanced around to make sure that Lana was hidden, and then turned to face his opponent. “Okay, Tygore, now I’m going to show you just how much of a commoner I really am........Turn on the Power!” Tygore was briefly blinded by green light, but when his vision returned he was stunned to see a warrior clad in green armor standing where the ordinary Asian man had been only seconds ago.
“Well what a pleasant surprise. You’re a Power Ranger,” Tygore said with glee. “I’ve heard so much about how well you Rangers can fight, now let’s see how you fare against me, Green Ranger.”
Both warrior drew their weapons, Tygore his sword and Adam his Spacial Blade. They then clashed swords, as Lana watched from behind a tree.
*I knew there was something special about him, but I never imagined that he’d turn out to be a Power Ranger.* she thought.
“Give up, Ranger, you can not defeat me,” the tiger snarled, as he swung his sword.
“Do you realize how times other times I’ve heard that from other monsters,” the Green Ranger retorted.
“Tiger Strike!” the monster yelled, as a bolt of lightning went from his body to Adam’s, knocking the Green Ranger to the ground. Tygore then moved in to finish off the Green Ranger. “You shouldn’t have come here, Green Ranger. Now prepare to meet your end.”
Adam was down, but certainly not beaten. Once Tygore was within range, the Green Ranger activated his Green Hurricane Mode. The monster was swept up by a gust of wind and then slammed against the side of a tree.
“Oh, Adam, are you okay?” Lana asked, as she rushed over to the Green Ranger.
“Yes, I’m fine, but that move won’t keep Tygore down for long, so we’d better get out of here,” Adam said, as he removed his helmet.
As Tygore regained his senses, he spotted the shuttle heading into space. Gen. Bardak was not going to be pleased by these turn of events at all, he thought to himself.
“Because I want to remain as inconspicuous as possible, so how come you have the title of a princess when you’re father is a general?” Adam asked.
“Bardak isn’t my real father,” Lana said, as she lowered her tone. “I was told that my real parents were killed by an upstart group of Revolutionaries, however, after today’s events I’m starting to believe that Lord Shroud and my adoptive father had something to do with it.”
“I’m really sorry for bringing you into this,’ Adam said.
“You didn’t bring me into anything,” Lana corrected. “I’m the one who asked you to help me sneak out of the palace. So where are we heading now?”
“We’re going to need help if we’re going to overthrow Gen. Bardak and Tygore’s rule of KO-25, so we’re going to find the rest of my teammates.”
“Cool! More Power Rangers!” Lana happily stated.
“Yes, sire, but I’ve already taken the liberty of sending a squadron of Predatron jets after them.”
The general, who appeared to be in his mid fifties, and who was dressed in a red uniform with a black cape that ran down to his knees, paced back and forth. “Okay here’s what I want you to do. Gather together my troops and have them meet me at the flag ship and twenty minutes. I’m going after them.....MYSELF, and when I get my hands on that Power Ranger, I’m going to make him sorry that he ever set foot on this planet.”
“I don’t like this,” Randy whispered. “We haven’t run into the first Predatron Droid.”
“Yeah, either we picked the perfect time to come here-,” Eugene started.
“-Or we’re walking straight into a trap,” Farkus finished.
“Hey, guys, over here,” a voice whispered. The seven heroes glanced over to see a short mole monster standing in the shadows.
“Grounder, its good to see you again,” Dylan said, as he rushed over and shook the little monster’s hand.
“Come quickly, my friends,’ the mole motioned for the seven Revolutionaries to follow him.
“So where are all the tin cans, Grounder?” Randy asked, suspiciously.
“Cobrada sent a squadron of jets to Rizi to search for Hogley and two other monsters,” the mole explained. “The control room is just around this next corner.”
“Thanks for your help, Grounder,” Kelly said, as the little monster led the seven heroes into the Control Room.
Abruptly, the door slammed shut behind them.
“Hey what’s going on?!” Randy yelled, as he began to beat on the door.
“Surprise!” Cobrada yelled as part of the wall slid open to reveal him and about thirty Predatron Droids.
“Grounder, how could you do this to us?!” Dylan yelled, trying to grab the little monster.
“Ya know its amazing what you can get people to do for a few pieces of silver,” Cobrada casually revealed. “Predatrons, seize them.” There was nothing the Revolutionaries could do. Even if they could use their blasters to take out a few Droids, they couldn’t get them all.
“Ah, Dylan, leader of the Revolutionaries, you’ve eluded me for too long, but now I have you.” Cobrada hissed, as he ripped Dylan’s mask off. Seconds later the whole room was rocked by laser fire. “Who dares ruin my moment of triumph.” Cobrada’s question was quickly answered, by image of the Power Rangers’ ship on the viewing screen.
‘I knew the Rangers wouldn’t let us down!” Farkus exclaimed.
“Mandate, go keep the Rangers occupied while we transport these rebels to their temporary new home,” Cobrada commanded.
“With pleasure,” the blue monster stated before teleporting away.
“Here comes a monster!” Karone pointed to Mandate, who was descending from the sky.
“Look out, Rangers, cuz Mandate’s gonna give you a beat down!” the monster yelled.
“Take your best shot, Mandate!” T.J. yelled. Mandate swooped down at the Blue Ranger first. “Whoa!” T.J. exclaimed, ducking the attack.
“Don’t worry, Teej, I’ll take care of him,” the Yellow Ranger yelled, as she brandished her Astral Daggers. “Hi-ya!” Ashley flipped through the air and struck the flying monster with her weapon sending him to the ground.
“Ready, Zhane?!” Andros asked.
“Let’s get’em,” the Silver Ranger replied.
As Mandate rose to his feet, he was struck by a combined Spiral Sabre and Super Silverizer attack.
Sparkles gushed from the monster’s body as he began to writhed in pain.
“Nova Staff!” Karone yelled, as she delivered a powerful blow to Mandate that caused him to burst into flames, but he wasn’t beaten yet.
To the Rangers’ surprise the monster grew to mammoth proportions.
“Ha, ha, ha! Now what are you going to do, Rangers?!” Mandate taunted.
“We call upon the power of the Beasts of Virtue!” the five Rangers shouted, in unison.
“Red Jaguar! Pink Phoenix! Yellow Wildcat! Blue Bull! Silver Ape!” each Ranger yelled.
“Green Frog!” the Green Ranger added, as he materialized beside his teammates.
Six bolts of lightning struck the ground, and the Rangers gazed at their new zords.
“Glad you could join us, man,” Andros said.
“I’m glad to be back. Now let’s show this monster how the Power Rangers take care of business,” Adam replied.
Each Ranger leaped into the cockpit of their respective zord.
“Andros, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Karone asked, as she spotted a button on the zord’s control console with a picture of a little robot over it.
“I’m with ya, Karone,” Andros replied. “Okay, team, its time to from the Gaiden Megazord.”
The Blue Bull and Silver Ape zords formed the legs, then the Red Jaguar formed the torso and head. Next, the Yellow Wildcat and Green Frog zords formed the arms, and finally the Pink Phoenix formed the wings.
“Gaiden Megazord Power Up!” the six Rangers said in unison, as they sat in the cockpit of their new Megazord.
“Your fancy new Megazord won’t save you from me.” Mandate then began to throw a series of punches at the Gaiden Megazord.
“We just can’t stand here and take these blows,” T.J. stated.
“Zhane, Karone, see if you guys can bring up the shields,” Andros stated. The two Rangers nodded in agreement and immediately went to work routing the Megazord’s energy into the shield.
Mandate continued to punch the Megazord until he received an electrical shock that knocked him backwards.
“I think Mandate just got a real shock out of our shields,” the Yellow Ranger mused.
“Well let’s finish him off while he’s dazed,” Andros stated. “Sword of Virtue, Power Up!”
Before Mandate could gather his composure, a blow from the Megazord’s sword caused him to burst into flames.
“One down, one to go-----,” Andros was interrupted by laser blasts that were now rocking the Gaiden Megazord.
“I don’t believe it!” Zhane exclaimed, as he pointed to the ship in the sky. “That looks like a Kerovan Battle Cruiser.”
“Looks like Gen. Bardak and Tygore followed me back here,” Adam guessed.
“Well they’re not sticking around,” Andros pulled a lever on the zord’s control console.
“Quickly, Tygore, fire another round of blasts before they recover,” the general commanded, however, it was too late. The Megazord lifted off the ground and headed in the Battle Cruiser’s direction. “Tygore! Get us out of here!”
With one swing of the Sword of Virtue, sparks and small fires emitted from the Battle Cruiser and it began to tumble backwards through space.
“This isn’t over, Power Rangers!” Bardak vowed, before the ship disappeared from the Rangers’ view.
“Now what are we going to do, Dylan?” Kelly asked.
“I don’t know, Kelly, but we’re going to get out of this mess, somehow,” Dylan assured.
In only a matter of minutes the Rangers had defeated the robotic foot soldiers and saved the captured slaves.
“Thank you, Power Rangers,” Carrie said graciously.
“Hey, Lana!” yelled two familiar voices.
“Malory, Canni, what are you two doing here?” Lana asked.
“We heard about what happened, and we were so scared that the general and Tygore would hurt you,” Canni stated.
“Oh, Power Rangers, these are my two best friends, Malory and Canni, Ladies, meet the Power Rangers.” the princess introduced.
“This is quite an honor,” Malory stated. “I assume the six of you will be sticking around for the formal dinner.”
“Malory, there’s not going to be a formal dinner,” Lana stated. “I’m in charge now and the first thing I want to do is put together an army. No longer will the people of KO-25 live in fear of Lord Shroud. We’re going to fight back or die trying.”
“We’d like to stay and help you put together your army, Princess Lana, however, the Revolutionaries have been captured by Cobrada and---,” Andros began to explain.
“There’s no need to explain. The six of you must follow your destinies, just as I must follow mine.”
“You never did tell me why you came here in the first place?” Lana asked shyly.
“I came here to help someone very special find their way to the Light,” Adam replied.
“Did you accomplish your mission?”
Adam gave Lana a warm smile and then said, “Yes, I sure did.”
“Adam, will I ever see you again?” The tears were beginning to well up in Lana’s eyes now.
“We’ve got an uphill battle ahead of us. Lord Shroud will be furious when he learns that Gen. Bardak has bee ousted from power, and Bardak and Tygore won’t stay gone forever, so its a safe bet that we’ll be seeing each other again real soon.”
Lana glanced over at Adam, and then grabbed him and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. “Till next time, Green Ranger,” she whispered.
“Till next time,” Adam replied, before dissolving into green energy and flying away.
The princess then watched as the Rangers’ ship streaked upwards and then disappeared through the clouds.
“I know, but I hope she stays safe until then.”
“I don’t understand why you’re making such a big deal over that
princess, anyway?” Brandon stated. “I hate that mushy stuff.”