It didn’t matter. She saw what that man was capable of, and she knew he had to be freed. Monsters and panicked civilians raged in the distance. Time had run out. If she was going to do this, then she was only getting one shot. She emerged from the bushes.

Kendrix was the one who saw her first. “Karone?” No matter. Hexuba ordered no threats, and orders had to be carried out. Kendrix positioned her body towards Karone, raising her hands in an attack form. “You should have stayed away.”

“Excuse me?” replied Karone, appearing flabbergasted at the remark. “Is that how you choose to talk to your princess?”

“Princess? You haven’t been called that since-”

“Since I was Astronema. I’m glad you’re catching on quick, Pink Ranger.” Karone walked provocatively around her. “Hexuba has restored me to my rightful reign as a leader in the Alliance. She sent me to make sure this creature doesn’t interfere.”

“Anatari is our mission.” Kendrix got face-to-face with her. “Just because you had my powers doesn’t mean you control me. If you’re really Astronema, let’s see your powers.”

Karone only smirked back. “I wouldn’t use my weapon…if you can’t use yours.”

She was right. Her Quasar Saber was what kept Anatari at bay. Maya’s saber wouldn’t respond the same in her hands. She was going to handle this imposter herself. “Maya, guard Anatari.” Kendrix cracked her knuckles.

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Jinxer snickered at the mayhem. More demon cards materialized in his hands, but a thundering cry from behind halted his actions. A shadow descended by his head. Turning around, a Yellow Ranger smashed a giant hammer onto the crown of his head.

“And that bugger’s outta there,” yelled Dustin, dematerializing his hammer.

Cam came up next to him. “Good. Never cared for mosquito monsters.”

From out of nowhere, a strong thunderclap raced through the sky. Rainfall followed as massive storm clouds began to gather.

Cam felt a sudden pressure on the right shoulder of his golden shield. A Blue Ranger with a gorilla-shaped helmet stood coldly behind him. With a hard punch to the side, Cam was dropped to knees in agony.

Behind Dustin stood a Green Ranger. Looking at his suit, Dustin couldn’t help himself. “Yeah, so where’s Snoopy at?” He could barely contain his laughter. That was when he was tackled to the wet ground with his arm twisted behind his back. Suddenly there was the sound of bone cracking. Dustin screamed trying to break loose.

“Dustin!” Tori was in shock seeing the power of that Ranger. But then she herself was tackled hard to the ground by the Blue Ranger, who proceeded to strangle her. She tried pushing him of with all the strength she could, but the effort was futile, and she was pinned to the ground.

The metal cuff from the Red Galaxy Ranger was grinding Shane without mercy. Hunter charged in on his Glider Cycle. Before Shane could be reached, however, Hunter was spotted by the aggressing Ranger, who then aimed a large shoulder cannon right at him! There was no time to maneuver. A red energy blast caught the wings of the cycle, igniting flames. Alarms beeped rapidly. Hesitantly, Hunter disengaged himself still one–hundred feet in the air. As he fell, he barely missed the wicked explosion of his vehicle, avoiding the shooting flames by inches. Hunter unsheathed his Thunder Staff from his back and converted into a cross formation, the Tornado Star. Springing back his arm, Hunter pitched the weapon at the rod that connected the cuff to the Red Ranger. The rod was severed in sparks instantly, throwing the Galaxy Ranger to his back.

Shane was finally freed, but the propelling function of his battlizer suit was crushed. He fell alongside Hunter.

With his free arm, Dustin signified the move to burrow himself into the ground. He did so with dirty debris flying at the Blue Galaxy Ranger. Digging deeper until convinced of safety, Dustin altered his course underground; now digging up at a diagonal slant. When he popped up from the earth, he converted his sheathed saber into a shotgun form using his good arm. A golden stream of power launched and rained onto Galaxy Blue.

While still in the air, Dustin was tackled by the acrobatic Galaxy Green.

Coughing profusely, Tori found it in her to rise back up, seeing Dustin engaged with the Green Ranger. Injured on the ground next to her was the Blue one. “Let’s see how you take to water.” With her own hand signification, the earth around Tori converted into an expanding pond. Galaxy Blue was sunk before he even realized what was happening.

Galaxy Green took Dustin down with him. To their surprise, they landed in a deep body of water. While submerged, Dustin performed a spinning dive. The faster he spun, the more the two Galaxy Rangers became sucked into a fierce whirlpool. The two slammed against each other like rocks.

Tori, focusing hard, mentally lifted the whirlpool high in the air. She materialized her Sonic Fin and took aim, shooting a series of consistent blue rings at the Galaxy Rangers, which kept them spinning in every angle.

Dustin jumped down, morphing his saber into Gold Mode and quickly taking an energized slice out of the Rangers. He then regrouped with Tori, who let the two fall to the ground. Seeing them hurt, Dustin and Tori both readied their sabers in Gold Mode; each gashing the Galaxy Rangers with a devastating energy slash.

The two Wind Rangers turned their backs as the enemies fell limply in a fiery heap.

When the smoke cleared enough, they saw the Galaxy Rangers had been demorphed and scarcely conscious.

Closing in on Galaxy Red from behind, Cam stabbed his Samurai Saber across the neck, knocking Red to the ground again. He rose again and locked on his targeting systems. Cam stood ready for it. A barrage of red energy tumbled his way. Cam fell to his back and boomeranged his saber, charged with glowing green energy. It struck Red in the chest, slicing a large chunk of the battlizer armor. This created a field of dashing sparks to blind Red. Quickly, Cam charged with a flying sidekick.

But to his complete shock, Red caught his foot! The busted battlizer armor was then strapped onto Cam’s shoulders and then Red jumped away, projecting both hands to produce a large horizontal stream of fire that impacted Cam. Seconds later, the armor exploded and blinded Cam from the world. Everything blacked out.

Leo watched the flames burn bright on the Samurai Ranger, who demorphed after collapsing. He watched in stillness. The crackling sound of the fire soothed him for some reason. Then sudden flashes of memory stunned him. The bloody face of his Commander retreated Leo into a terrified state of mind.

Yelling thunderously, Hunter gashed Galaxy Red from behind. Then summoning his Crimson Blaster, he fired a heavy round of energy all over the Ranger, giving him no room for comfort. Red flew back with his body twitching momentarily.

Hunter teleported over to Cam, removing him from the flames. Cam coughed some but was barely awake. “Can you hear me, Cam?” he shrieked. He’d never seen him so bruised up before. Nothing Lothor threw at them ever had that much firepower. Either way, it would be a cold day in hell before Hunter would let Cam give up this easily. He looked behind his shoulder, seeing Galaxy Red charging towards them. A stream of fire was hurdling before him. Hunter quickly converted his lance into a circular ring with a force field generated on the inside. The fire was blocked by it. “You brought the heat. Now here comes the burn.” Hunter picked up Cam’s Samurai Saber laying next to him and turned his back to the Ranger.

Just as Red got within a foot’s reach, Hunter turned around and swung a charged Samurai Saber and a charged Thunder Staff together in a diagonal strike across the chest. Red’s head was flung back hard and his body thudded onto the ground; his suit crackled with electricity before a large explosion consumed it.

It was then that they both saw what they hoped was their eyes deceiving them. Nearby, two life forms lay unconscious in a wreck of ship debris. It was Andros and Blake.

“No!” they cried, but the Wind Rangers were shot down. Hexuba revealed herself back in normal size and laughed at them all.

“You miserable fools! What chance did you really think you had against our power? Separated, we were all defeated once. Together, as family should be, the reign of the underworlds and Lothor will finally commence.”

“What?” Dustin couldn’t believe it. “She’s Lothor’s…daughter?”

“A new United Alliance will form, and everything that’s every opposed it and all their loved ones will die at his hands!” A voice from behind then interrupted her.

“What’s the rush? You still have us to contend with.” Blake had risen up; his body was unable to move smoothly. However, he materialized his Navy Antler only to toss it to the ground. “Don’t you think that before you divvy out the universe for yourselves…you should at least win the first battle?”

“Point taken.” Hexuba’s crystal ball forged, immediately emitting sharp shards of electric power.

“Blake!” The Winds desperately cried out, but their own bodies were too damaged to move.

In a flash, Blake teleported towards his nemesis, bypassing the electricity and driving his staff’s end through her abdomen. Ignoring the spellcaster’s feral screams, Blake reached a hand in Andros’ direction where the Antler laid.

On cue, the Navy Antler was telekinetically lifted by Andros and thrown to Blake, who then attached it to the piercing end of his staff. Locking it in, the Navy Thunder Ranger applied all his strength to raise Hexuba via the staff. “Next time, pick your battles better!” More dark clouds gathered amidst the rainfall.

Lightning charged relentlessly in the clouds and then streamed thickly onto Blake’s staff, traveling through up to the Antler and frying every part of Hexuba. After seconds, no part of her was left unscorched. Her body plummeted to the ground with a hard thud. The crystal ball rolled out from under her gown.

Andros, barely up on a knee, mind-locked onto the ball. He then turned to Blake. “Batter up?” The crystal ball was heaved into the air.

As the crystal dropped, Blake positioned himself as a batter. The staff then smacked the ball so hard that the mystical object shattered into uncountable shards. A shockwave generated from the remains that pattered onto the ground. When it surged through the Galaxy Rangers, it threw them backwards ten feet.

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Kendrix had her hands wrapped around Karone’s neck against an oak tree. Karone knew her act as Astronema wouldn’t hold up for long, but it at least gave her a chance. While Kendrix had her back turned to the stone, Karone telekinetically locked onto the Pink Quasar Saber. The steel rattled inside Anatari, who tried his best not to alarm Maya. But Kendrix caught on to the ploy. The result was a quick punch in the face of the Karovian.

Karone fell to the ground with a bloody nose, but was glad to still be conscious. Kendrix pressed her knees against the breastplate and leaned down. The gloved hands wrapped around Karone’s skull. An immense amount of pressure was then applied. It felt like bone was caving in. But it was giving her the advantage she needed. With Kendrix focused on the kill, Karone finally loosen the Pink Saber with her thoughts and had it boomerang towards her.

Maya, however, caught the handle of the saber before it reached Karone. Anatari fell limply to the ground, breathing hard and unable to move.

Karone was out of options. Her eyeballs were being pushed into her sockets and she couldn’t escape the pin.

Kendrix was heaved off Karone and slammed against the tree, as was Maya. When Karone looked up, Anatari was still where he was, but the two Galaxy Rangers looked to be defeated. Then in the far distance she saw a ring of energy leaving the area.

Either way, she grabbed both Quasar Sabers, winded back and unleashed the most powerful blow she could onto Maya and Kendrix; both flipped backwards from the force and didn’t get back up.

Karone breathed heavily, falling to one knee and starring at the Rangers with a hatred she’d not felt in a while.