[TaJaDoru]

Last time on Power Rangers: GALAXY STRIDERS...

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“James? You think Celeste is looking down on us right now?” Byron asked innocently. “I mean, I know she kinda has to since she gave us these powers, but maybe she checks on us every once in a while?”

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“You called, my lord?” Cerberado asked.

“Indeed. I want you to target the pink ranger.”

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“Um...how can I put this delicately?” Byron said trying to lessen the blow he knew would be coming. “Remember the missing ranger you asked about just a second ago?”

“Yeah.” Mike replied wondering where Byron was going with this.

“Well...they just arrested her. TA-DA!” The red ranger said with a flourish and a stupid grin on his face.

There was an awkward pause before Mike’s face slowly began to match Byron’s sweater.
“WHAT!?!? You mean...SHE...HER!?” Mike stammered. “Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me! How did she get to be a ranger?”

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“Who’s there?!” She asked angrily.

“Just someone who wants to talk.” Cerberado said in a low tone.

“We have nothing to talk about! Leave!”

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“Oh, no? Then look at Byron.” Hannah ordered as she pointed to the red ranger fending off Cerberado with a sword in one hand and clinging to the child with the other. “That child is also innocent. What you say we’re doing to the planet is no different than what Cerberado is doing right now. Don’t you see? We’re all really fighting for the same thing: to protect the innocent...all of them. But we can’t do that without you, Tacari.”

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“Let’s show him what real power is!” Byron ordered as they all shouted:

“AURORA BLADES! CELESTIAL STRIKE!”

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Soon, the lion zord opened up and rearranged itself to form the head and torso while the yellow and pink zords formed the arms. The green and blue zords went on to form the legs with an extra component flying off of the dragon zord. The arms snapped on to the red torso before the upper half attached itself to the legs. The extra piece that flew off formed the regal shogun helmet that the megazord would wear into battle. The chinstrap materialized and a long sword with the five animals etched into the blade appeared.. In th cockpit, the five rangers appeared in front of podiums that housed their strider swords.

“STRIDER KING MEGAZORD!” They shouted in unison as the complete robotic warrior stood atop a cliff.

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But the Strider King stood firm as he cut each one down with a single slash. Byron and his teammates pulled their swords from their podiums and pointed at Cerberado. The megazord mimicked the ranger’s move and pointed its Stellar Saber at the quaking demon.

“Time to finish this!” Byron said calmly.

“STELLAR SABER! COSMIC SLASH!”

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“Well...” Byron began hesitantly. “She has a point. I mean, why keep building new things if they’re only gonna get knocked down by monsters anyway? Right? Wouldn’t it be better to wait until the 50 story demons are beaten?”

Now, it was Mike’s turn to mull over the terms. After a few moments of silence...

“Okay. Agreed.” Mike nodded.

“Agreed.” Tacari parroted.

Chapter 4 - Second Chances, Part I

A droplet of dew steadily trickled down the vein of a leaf, evident of the passing rain fall. A short storm had danced it's way through the jungle and happened to also grace the city with great force. Tropical storms were fairly common on Miranoi, as the inhabitants found out in their first tenure of living there many years back. Despite this, the city, and the buildings wherein, were resistant to those hurricane force winds and torrential downpours. Such a storm had passed by, leaving much of the city unharmed. The outskirts surronding the city of River's End however... that was certainly a mess.

The lovely backdrop of the jungle, just at the base of the city, was completely ransacked, scattering many leaves and debris consisting of thin trees and saplings. There were puddles of mud and water present in every which way the jungle floor was open. Clearly this wasn't the day for a hiking trip. Unfortunately... one particular person lacks such sense. Or rather... he doesn't get it readily.

Trudging through the moist and humid jungle grounds, wearing customary hiking gear, complete with an obsidian and garnet design, was the incurable optimist, Byron. Wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead, he made it to the top of a small pile of fallen arbors, taking a good look around to assess the damage. He sighed as he reached into his bag, feeling around for the object he needed. In a moment, in his hand was a small notebook and a writing utensil with a similar design, as it was a matching set. Byron mumbled to himself as he began to scribble down his own observations.

"I was hoping to run into Tacari if I came out here... she said she's stay within at least 40 miles..." As if on cue, a whoosh of wind blew past the young man, knocking him over into the mud. Within a few seconds of the assault, he started to hear some more incomprehensible shouting come from above him. He grinned and sat up, looking up at his attacker.

"Hnittes b moitcurtsnoc ftis eniheb zm lcab?! J xenk J u'ndluoc usurt neht! J mliw... Oh..." The attacker revealed herself to be the wild and wonderfully confrontational Tacari. She stopped her ramblings as her eyes laid on Byron. She turned away, clearly embarassed at her mistake... not that she'd admit to it. Byron just sat there in an indian-esque pose, with quite a large smile on his face. Neither said anything for a few minutes, making the whole thing seem incredibly awkward. Feeling the need to actually communicate, Tacari finally turned back around and addressed Byron, recovering her dignity, "... You shouldn't come wandering in here... I don't want to accidentally do something I'll regret later."

Byron shurgged off this dark premonition and said sweetly, "But, since you won't come to the city, save for emergencies, we can hardly know you. I came out here... to get to know you." Tacari's folded arms began to soften a fraction lighter, but she didn't let her surprise register on her face, instead, she shot back another question,

"I understand we happen to be a team, but you don't NEED to know me, why go through the trouble?" Byron placed a hand under his chin and looked up for a minute. He seemed to be deep in thought. When he looked back at Tacari, his expression was blank as he responded,

"I want to be your friend, isn't that a good enough reason?" She took a few moments to process this and her lips curved into a smooth smile, if only for a brief second. She turned her back to Byron and started to head into the jungle. Byron jumped and shouted out, "Wait!" Tacari stopped just before the foliage had consumed her. She turned her head slightly and said softly,

"You're naive... I don't know why, but that's one of your better qualities Byron..." With that, she disappeared into the moist green maze. Byron scratched his head and sighed.

"Man, I was hoping we could talk more... ah well, at least I got to see her, so it's not a total waste." As Byron headed back, his eye caught the sight of something gleaming in the low light that penetrated the jungle's canopies. Another rather endearing qualities was his insatiable curiousity. With a quick jump and a few paces forward, he was standing atop what he assumed was an uprooted tree. deeply embedded into the trunk was a circular object, shining orange, as if it was alive. Byron stared at the disc for a while. In the back of his mind, he knew that he had seen something similar to this... but where? It was recent too.

"Huh... where have I seen this...?" The feeling was nagging at him as he tried to think. As if to help him, the disc-like object began to glow bright, like a star. "Star...? Oh wait! That's right! This is the same as our Star Discs!" Byron grasped the disc and dislodged it from the trunk. In the intrum of this, a bright light shot out of the hole which the disc was sealed in. Byron didn't have the attention to notice, he was too excited over the disc... a potential increase to their firepower. But the light flew off the planet, shooting straight off in a path that was parallel to Celeste's star.

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Meanwhile, on the brilliant star itself, the ever-potent beauty of Celeste was in deep meditation. She was positioned atop of a spherical crystal, opaque in appearence, yet sparkled with the intensity of the star. Her eyes were shut while her body was fixed into a praying position. She stayed like this for many hours, the only time her concentration giving out was when a monster had attacked. She broke out of her conciousness and sighed.

"It's almost done... but I'm sure it will take many more days before it is finally complete..." she subconciously rubbed her arm, which was now bare, with no cloth to cover it. Trailing down from her shoulder to the wrist was a gruesome scar, it stood out in stark comparsion with her skin, which was a luminscent white with its crimson bloody hue. She raised her head to the stars around her, letting her eyes wander. She spoke next with a hollow tone,

"These stars are losing there luster without you... Orion..." She continued to stare into space, her mind lost in her own memories. The hand that was rubbing her arm suddenly stopped. Celeste instead used it to slowly reach into the void of darkness that was space, a face full of clear longing.

Without a hint of warning however, she jerked her head back towards the monitor of the planet, something catching her attention. As her eyes graced the screen, she was just in time to catch the sight of a flash of light... no... that wasn't an accurate description...

"That's...!" Celeste quickly dashed over to the monitor, searching around the atmosphere. "I thought he sealed them into the planet forever... why would they appear now?" She kept searching for the light, but by now it escaped her. With a grim look, she turned to the planet and whispered, "Which one was it...?" Her worry was increasing ten fold. If she was correct about the light that had passed her... the people of Miranoi, including the rangers themselves, were in grave danger...

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"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!" roared the infernal lord himself, Reapus. The news of his monster's defeat had come down many hours prior... and he still hasn't grasped his calm yet. Fuming with rage, he pointed at the cowardly minion before him. The squid-headed monster backstepped a bit in fear.

"Y-you must understand L-Lord Reapus... he obviously was not strong enough..." Reapus didn't take kindly to this and lashed back,

"ARE YOU SAYING MY MINIONS ARE INEFFECTIVE KALAMAX?!" The squid quickly shook his head in a variety of directions that implied a 'no'. He vocalized this in a stutter.

"O-of course not! W-why would you think of such a thing! The Lord has quite an imagination doesn't he C-Crescenda?" Across the room from them, the solitary mistress played her sad and often slow song on her shimasen. She didn't interrupt her playing, but she did offer a reply dryly,

"Really Kalamax? I heard the same thing too." Kalamax eyed her with anger aand muttered under his breath,

"Miserable witch." She smirked as she continued playing, quite undisturbed. Reapus, his eyes glowing a feral chrome, reached his hand towards the immense sword the laid at his belt. Kalamax quickly fell to his knees and pleaded, quite pitiably, for his life.

"OH PLEASE LORD REAPUS! SPARE ME! I WILL NOT MAKE SUCH A HEINOUS MISTAKE AGAIN!" Before the demon's hand was grasped around the hilt, something made him look up, deep into the sky above them, above the waters even. He let his hand down, something registering on his face. He then turned his back to the both of his minions and said roughly,

"Kalamax... you're spared for now. I still have some use for you... Crescenda... I leave the command of the monsters to you. Pick them as you like." With those short words out, he walked out of the room and went even further below deck... to his personal quarters. Crescenda was indifferent to it. Without a hint of interest, she strummed her instrument twice. A horrendous moan was heard below deck, screeching in the ears of most of the crew. In a flash of green, a spectral appirition appeared through the floor. The woman of musical wiles smiled.

"Yes... you'll do fine. Now... let's give you some form... Senior Bambina!" She quickly played a delicate melody of notes, each one transmuting the spectre into a solidified being. As the creation took shape, his features became more distinct. Protruding from his head, as well as his shoulders, were strands of what could be described as hair, but extremely superficial in color. His wardrobe was even stranger. What seemed to be a fine heavy armor traced his figure, with his head covered in a helmet-esque head piece. Draping down from his armor were little clothes that resembled something like ponchos, only in miniature. In terms of facial features, his eyes were as deep in hatred as Reapus, but were lighter in sheen. His mouth was in a permanately fixed fashion of half-closed and half-open. At his side though, there was a strikingly large armament, which he took in his hands and caressed. The barrel was unrealistical large for a fire-arm, even more so when considering that it was modeled after a bayonet... with a large knife of sorts added as an appendege to the gun's front. The monster bowed out of respect for the mistress and spoke swiftly,

"Ah! Mi amor, how may I be of service?" Crescenda smiled at her soldier. She nodded off to the surface.

"Your targets are the ones known as the Power Rangers." Bambina nodded, with a grim demeanor,

"Ah! Que suerte! I haven't had a battle with the rangers since the battle on Alpha Centari... I still have a score to settle with them." With a smile, his master responded,

"Good. Now, do your worst for them." Bambina bowed once more and disappeared from the deck, evaporating into the spectral form he had prior to his solidification. Crescenda, now satisfied her plan would work, begin to strum her instrument in anticipation of a new song. In the background however, Kalamax gritted his slimly teeth (or equivalent of), adamant in his hate. He muttered on the far side of the deck so his comrade couldn't hear him.

"... Reapus and Crescenda... you both shall rue the day you crossed me... and treated me like garbage. This I will make certain!"

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Meanwhile, at the Tower, many a head was turning in confusion. Lobbying into the Command Room was further in dismay. Commander Stanton and his first officier, Mike, was busy with more work than usual. Mike turned to the stack of paperwork that was piled in twelve different corners.

"Overseeing the city is one thing, but this time of the year is more a pain than usual... all these new commuters from earth... the regristration's hard enough as it is." His superior tipped his cap with a grin.

"At ease. Be thankful these forms are the only enemy we're facing today." Mike rolled his eyes. Deep inside, he honestly wished there WAS a monster attack... it'd be more gripping than this... with a sigh, he continued to file the newcomers into the database of the citizens of River's End. That is... until one file inparticular caught his interest. Flipping through it, he was shocked. With a stupid grin to rival that of Byron, he said quickly,

"Wow! She's coming back!" was all he said, everyone around him gave him a questioning look. It didn't last long though, as the alarms, like the sweet ringing of bells to his ears, began to scream with shrillness. Stanton quickly issued orders,

"Monitors on screen stat! Give me coordinates now! Officer Corbett, contact the rangers!" In an instant of his words, the actions were quickly done. Mike flipped his headpiece on and said just as swiftly,

"Celeste, we got a live one, have everyone head over to Sector B, near the center of the city."

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Shining on the city from above, the sun had placed itself on a high mount in the sky, as if to give itself more prominence. It hung over the city, making it gleam. It would've been a serene scene to be sure... if it wasn't for the stampede of fish-esque samurai that was inhibiting the population. Screams of terror rang out of the city, along with sword clashes and even some gunfire. Unlike the previous monsters, Bambina loved populated areas... made his job more... interesting.

"Si si! Now dance!" the psychotic gunsman laughed as he shot around the feet of the running people. In a matter of a moment though, a shaft of red energy crossed between him and the inhabitants. "Eh? Who is this?"

His answer came sooner than he thought. Forming a line, and side by side, the five rainbow-claded warriors turned their swords upon him and each said in turn,

“FIERY AS THE PLANET’S CORE! GALAXY STRIDER RED!” Byron shouted.

“UNPREDICTABLE AS A TSUNAMI! GALAXY STRIDER BLUE!” James called out.

“FIERCE AS A WINDSTORM! GALAXY STRIDER PINK!” Tacari said with confidence.

“STRONG AS A FOREST! GALAXY STRIDER GREEN!” Jun exclaimed.

“STEADY AS A MOUNTAIN! GALAXY STRIDER YELLOW!” Hannah shouted.

“We protect this planet with the power of the stars! POWER RANGERS: GALAXY STRIDERS!” The fivesome shouted as they struck their heroic pose.

The monster wasn't impressed. But rather he aimed his arm upon them. "You want to play? Then let's play!" He fired a stream of bullets at them, causing them to break formation. The Grimlings weren't about to sit this one out either. In droves, they piled on the rangers, more than the usual amount, this is true. However, they did manage to make a clean path for Byron to face Bambina head on.

"You're mine!" cried out Byron as he raised his sword, calling forth his weapon. "Star Disk Alpha, Nova Bihander!"With a mighty thrust, he heaved the weapon towards his enemy, who was rather nonchalant about it. Rather than react accordingly, he simply stood his ground, not moving. When the massive weapon made contact, the red ranger was sent blasting backwards with violent force. Bambina laughed as he said,

"Hahaha! Now you see? I am invulnearable to physical attacks! No one can hurt me!" Byron clutched his chest, staggering to get himself up. He wasn't about to give in.. no, not a chance. He opened his compartment in the belt a took out the orange disc, eyeing it curiously and impulsively slipping it onto the sword, reverting it back to it's base form. Spinning it, he called out, "Aurora Blade!" His sword was now engulfed in an intense inferno of flames, those that would match the sun in power. With a furious cry, he launched the energy at Bambina, who was shocked.

"Ay CALIENTE!" He cried out as the flames engulfed him, shooting past him and disintergrating him. Byron lefted the sword up, but the attack didn't finish. The inferno, like a snake of it's own accord, covered itself all around the area. The sidewalks were scorched, the buildings started to melt off their supports... and Byron tried to stop it.

"NO! PLEASE STOP!" He cried out. Alas, the flames didn't recognize him as their master. Byron's eyes caught a group of people, which included a young woman and a few children with their parents. He began to run towards them, helplessly trying to navigate those hellish flames. But to no avail. The deed was done. It could not become undone. The fire began to grow bored of its games and withered out, but once they left, the blackened and red skin of the victims was still festering in the young ranger's head. Horrified, he dropped his sword, ready to scream. The others, finally finished dispatching the Grimlings, joined him. With varying reactions.

"W-what the hell?" voiced James, his voice was clearly surprised that his friend was capable of such a thing.

"What in the world happened?!" said Hannah with worry. She hurried over to the surviving victims and began to help them up. Jun said nothing and instead placed his gloved hand over the burnt ground, the smoldering ashes still giving off puffs of smoke.

"Byron... just what happened?" Tacari, looked from Byron, then the damage, then Byron again. Secretly, she did enjoy the destruction... but she saw that her friend was shaking. With a terrible scream, he ran off from them, his morph becoming undone.

"BYRON!" called out James as he ran after him. Tacari placed a sword over his path. With a slight nod in his direction, she said,

"No... Byron needs to grip reality. Better he does now or we all will end up like those unfortunate ones there." She pointed to the people being carried on strechers, now that the ambulances had been called. She looked to the sky. "I just hope this isn't the thing that breaks him..."

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Watching from a distance, a young woman with blonde hair eyed the red ranger making his guilt-filled get-away. In a mere moment, she walked slowly towards the tower and placed her hand on the infrascanner. With a whoosh and a click, the machine rang out

"BIOSCAN COMPLETE... SUBJECT OF ORIGIN: KO-35... Name?" The young woman leaned towards the machine and whispered in a soft voice,

"Karone." The machine's screen went green, letting her into the Tower...

TO BE CONTINUED....

Due to his gross error, Byron has done the one thing he never thought he'd do... attack a civilian. Or rather, a group of them. Will he make amends with himself? And what was the mysterious power he had called upon? All this and more on the next POWER RANGERS GALAXY STRIDERS!

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End of Act Four