Episode 1: A Fallen Lion

The Power has failed. Five years ago, a being called Jack Matter united the forces of evil for an all-out assault on the universe. His conquest is near completion. Earth and others like it were quickly pacified in the initial attacks. Most forms of resistance are scattered amongst the stars. It seems that evil has finally triumphed. However, all does not appear to be lost …

The planet Horath, once freed from its former masters of gear and cog was now enslaved by masters of silver and black. The insignia of Jack Matter flew high above the smoke-filled skies of the newly conquered world. Legions of silver headed Entroopers and their plantlike commanders sorted through the survivors as Photon Fighters screeched through the skies blasting away at ruined skyscrapers as a show of force. Any last bit of resistance from the populace was silenced by the constant stare of Entrooper crimson visors. As the civilians were being herded for processing, three distinct twinkles of various colors from above caught their eyes.

In an instant, multiple laser blasts surged forth and shot down several Photon Fighters while others crashed along the surface to avoid the laser fire. Following the rain of lasers were three machines in the form of animals; a black bull, a green chameleon, and a yellow swordfish. As the three machines descend closer to the ground, one figure from each of the machines jumped and landed to the ground.

As the three figures rose from the landing they made, the Entroopers have a better view of their opponents. From the swordfish ship was a black Aquitian, easily distinguishable by the purple bumps that adorned his head. From the chameleon ship was a shorter human girl with her blonde hair done in a ponytail. And emerging from the bull ship was the largest of the three, a black and silver robot, six and a half feet tall, with the head of an ox. All three also brandished blue jackets although the robot has his draped over one of his shoulders.

As the Entroopers and Plantoids began to brandish their weapons the girl, with a smirk, spoke, "Time for our grand entrance. Think that these guys can handle it Velspro?"

The Aquitian was the next to speak, "Don't get overconfident Millie. These guys can still pack a punch. Got anything to add Aurox?"

The bull just gave a laugh, "Have you forgotten? The heroes always win in the end. Shall we?"

The other two nodded in unison and all three pulled out an orb and with a flick of their thumbs activated the orbs' power. Setting the orbs into the open socket of their wrist blasters on their left hand they yelled out, "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

All three shot blasts straight into the air, and in a sudden blinding flash all three appeared in their ranger uniforms.

"Tauros Power! Cosmic Black!"

"Chameleon Power! Cosmic Green!"

"Swordfish Power! Cosmic Yellow!"

With that, the three rangers began to engage the enemy. All of them rushed in, taking down some of the Entroopers with their hands while also using their blasters for the ones that were out of reach. They were doing well for their debut fight. Their melee with the foot soldiers was interrupted when they received a call from a female voice.

"Rangers, need I remind you that you're trying to make a good impression? It would be better getting the civilians to safety as oppose to being caught in the crossfire."

The Green Ranger was the first to respond, "Oh sorry Wren. We'll get right on it. Let's focus guys."

Her compatriots nodded at that and thus the three begin the evacuation process.

Just outside of the planet's orbit was a peculiarity that seemed distant from the fighting. A space scooter was lazily heading towards the planet with its sleeping occupant none of the wiser. That was until the scooter's computer blared out a call that caused the rider to wake up. "Now approaching the planet Horath. Repeat. Now approaching the planet Horath."

The rider became elated with the news, "Ah, fantastic! A chance to train with some of the best warriors in the universe." As he said that the scooter decided that now was the time for the engine to stall. With the scooter near the planet's atmosphere, the only direction it could go was down. As the rider tried in vain to steer the scooter for a more 'proper' landing, he verbalized his thoughts, "Oh now's the time for you to die on me."

Back on the surface, the Rangers were escorting a group of civilians to a cluster of ships until they came across a rather large amount of Entroopers. Knowing that with the large group of civilians behind them the Rangers could not guarantee everyone's safety. So, the three simply held back and try to prevent the Entroopers from coming any closer. After a tense few seconds, everyone was looking up as they heard the mixture of a sputtering engine and someone yelling hurtling towards them. Fortunately for one side, the falling object wiped out a large swipe of Entrooper forces.

Immediately, a figure sprung up, helmetless, with a hand running through his short brown hair. To the surprise of everyone, not a scratch can be seen on the person. "Woah! Kinda got lucky with that landing huh?"

The Black Ranger tilted his head at the sight of the strange figure, "Uh, what was that all about?"

The Yellow Ranger however saw a golden opportunity, "Doesn't matter! Now there is an opening for the evac! Everyone, stay close to us!"

With the Yellow Ranger charging forward, the other two Rangers quickly understood what he was saying and followed suit. While the Entroopers were trying to regroup from the crash, the middle of their formation was open for the Rangers as they fought while the civilians followed close behind. At the same time, the man in the scooter turned towards the commotion and was delighted at what he saw.

"Power Rangers! Now they would be ones who know how to get into a fight."

With that he grabbed his sword from the back of the scooter and joined into the fray. As he swung against some of the Entroopers he managed to get behind the Green Ranger who was a little surprised at the stranger, "Hey, who are you?"

"The name's Lance." As he turned to face the Ranger, his sword took out three Entroopers before resting on his shoulder, "And I would like to join you."

Sometime has past and the Rangers decided to bring Lance onto their ship, not helped by the fact that Horath was not the best place to stay and his scooter was busted. In the meantime, Lance is sitting in the main room of the ship eating sometime that Velspro cooked up once they returned, figuring that spending a long time on a space scooter would have made the spacefarer rather famished. Lance seemed to enjoy the meal, "Thanks for the food, it was rather delicious. It sure beats eating some stale rations."

Velspro appreciated the response, "Glad you like it. It's nice to have a second opinion what with Millie liking anything I make and Wren and Aurox here not being able to eat any of it."

Aurox took a second from training on the punching bag to explain himself, "It would probably be edible if there was some more oil in it."

"That would just destroy the whole thing."

"But it would be served with a side of justice."

"That does not make any sense!"

As the two continued to bicker, Millie and a pink haired, feminine looking robot arrived onto the deck. The robot, with tablet in hand, turned towards Lance. "Ah Lance. I managed to fix your scooter as best as I can. You should be able to land to the nearest inhabited planet and be on your way from there."

"Thanks, but that is not my intentions," Lance said while getting up, "I want to join you guys."

Everyone else, in a mix of surprise and disbelief, spoke, "What!?"

"Yeah. I'm aiming to be the best warrior in the universe just like Orion. Initially I figured that I would train alongside some of the universe's toughest. But with you guys around, why not join the greatest monster slayers out there?"

The pink haired robot, Wren, had a quick response, "You can't just join the Rangers on a whim. You need to have a Cosmic Orb first."

"Cosmic Orb?"

"Yes. They're artifacts that activate when the universe is in great peril. When Jack Matter conquered the universe, the Orbs started to appear and found their way to their proper owners; Aurox, owner of the Tauros Orb, Millie owner of the Chameleon Orb, and Velspro, owner of the Swordfish Orb. Together they form the last hope for the universe. Together they form the Cosmic Force Power Rangers."

"Impressive," Lance remarked. However, something about the team seemed off to him. "Although, I noticed that you guys lack a Red and Blue Ranger. So that must mean you're missing a few members."

Wren quickly fell from feeling proud of herself to twiddling her fingers. "W-well, that is correct. We're short six Rangers before the team is complete, so we have the Orb Detector installed into the ship to look for the rest."

"So that settles it then. I'll go find one of these Orbs and then I'll be able to join the team."

Millie quickly intervened. "Finding an Orb isn't that easy. They are scattered across the universe. And it took five years to get the three of us. Who knows where the next one's going to be."

"Shouldn't be a concern. I've traveled 200 planets by myself without any trouble. What harm is there trying to find an Orb along the way?"

That last bit piqued Velspro's interest, "Wait. You managed to travel that far without getting caught by any Entroopers?"

At that remark, Lance just put a hand behind his head and laughed, "What can I say? I'm just lucky like that."

Suddenly a dining sound can be heard throughout the deck, coming from a globe-like compass placed at the main desk in the room. There appeared to be a flickering, glowing arrow that was pointed towards the back of the ship with a set of coordinates.

Aurox was the one to verbalize what most of the ship was thinking, "A new Cosmic Orb has been found."

Lance was just elated at the news. He didn't have to wait long for his chance to join the Rangers. Grabbing his sword, he declared, "Fantastic! Now to grab myself an Orb!" And with that, he sprinted out of the room and towards his scooter. It took about a second for everyone else to process what had just happen. However, Wren was there to snap the others back to reality. "Well don't just stand there. Go after him."

The rest were quick to respond, "On it!" And so they ran to catchup with Lance.

Not so far away, a Capital-class Drillship floated through space with its commander Lord Nergal in tow. A new commander, he wanted an easy victory on Horath to court favor with Jack Matter. However, the presence of the Rangers proved problematic, as that would mean notifying Jack Matter on growing opposition to his rule. With a kneel and a hand on his staff Nergal began the conversation, "Milord. I have come to bring status on my conquest."

A hologram of his master appeared before him. Before him was a figure accentuated by the sheer size of the hologram towering over the commander. The being was adorned in armor that was adorned with faces and wings that formed drill like tips at the end. His face both intelligent and sinister looking with bright yellow eyes. And his bare chest and head was etched to appear to be parts of the brain.

The being in the hologram awaited the commander's report. "Ah, Lord Nergal. How goes the invasion of Horath?"

"The invasion is going as planned," Nergal calmly assured him. Although he was trying to stop the trembling that came with the following news. "However, there was a complication. There appeared to be reports of Power Rangers during the attack."

Jack Matter's eyes boiled with rage once he heard the statement. Power Rangers. More of them. While he was aware that he was unable to account for all of them. The fact that there were does that dare to confront his forces publicly. That would lead to further complications. He bellowed his new orders to Nergal with such fury that the transmission room rumbled in his wake, causing Nergal to fall to the floor. "Find these Rangers and destroy them! They must not be allowed to grow in numbers!"

Nergal, quickly try to straighten himself all the while giving a quick response, "At once my lord. It will be done."

Having gone to the coordinates the Detector displayed, Lance was confident that he had found the location of the Cosmic Orb and potentially Ranger powers. Granted, he wasn't sure which Ranger the Orb belonged to, but if it would allow him to join the team, he didn't care.

The same couldn't be said about his scooter as the engine sputtered and die again. As the scooter began to plummet towards the planet below, only one thing came to Lance's mind, "WWRRREEEENNNNN!"

Fortunately for Lance, the scooter crashed landed towards one of the many forests on the planet, so the thick canopy broke his fall. That still didn't stop him from hitting head first to the ground.

It wasn't long for Lance to return to consciousness, and not a moment too soon as he saw a pair of clawed feet coming towards him. Slowly pushing off the ground with both hands, Lance looked up and was able to have a clearer picture of the approaching figure. The figure was not what he expected as the figure was a hunched, blue, wolf-like person with scales instead of fur. His face covered in strange white tattoos and the only true hair the being had was white, shaven except for the top, and shortly tied behind his head. Seeing the figure with sword in hand, Lance quickly realize that he might be in trouble.

The wolf-like figure snarled at Lance while pointing his sword to Lance's face, "Why are you here?"

Lance only gave a quick response, "I'm just looking for something and then I'll be on my way."

The response he got began with a sword swing, "There's nothing here worth looking for. Now, get out of here!"

Lance barely managed to grab his own sword to deflect the attack aimed towards his head. A duel soon escalated between the two with Lance trying to reason with his opponent, however he was not willing to listen. Eventually the two made their way towards a beach with no clear victor between the two. At the same time, the Rangers manage to catch up and see the fight.

Millie, with a tired sigh, was the first to comment, "Guess we have to stop these two from causing any more harm."

She was only stopped by Velspro, "Wait a minute. They're probably not in the mood to stop. It is best for them to tire themselves out first."

The two fighters continued to clash swords. However, Lance noticed his opponent's right side being undefended, and took the initiative by punching him across his snout hoping for a knockout blow. After the punch, Lance noticed that his opponent was hiding something around his neck. As that something flew from the opponent's collar it was clear that it looked like a blue orb. Once his opponent landed on the ground from the punch, Lance was in between breaths while asking, "You have a Cosmic Orb. All along?"

"So that what this thing is?" the wolf asked while holding the Orb in his hand. "If this is what you were looking for then you can have it."

Lance simply refused, "I am not going to take something that is rightfully yours. Since you found it that must mean you are supposed to fight against Jack Matter." He then try to offer a hand to the wolf.

"Fight Jack Matter?" Lance's opponent asked, before swiping his legs to throw Lance off balance. Landing on his back, the next thing Lance saw was his opponent pointing a sword at his face. "You didn't think I have already tried that? You didn't think that my world stood by as the universe fell? I am the last survivor of the Sirian colony Lyca. This Orb took me away from my brothers that died in battle. Because of this thing I did not face an honorable death. I am no more than a coward! Now leave me alone!"

Lance could do nothing but to take it all in before slowly getting up. As he did, he tried to find a way to comfort the wolf, "I'm sorry that you lost your world, I'm truly am. I can also sympathize for not being able to fight when needed. But that should not be an excuse to do nothing! You are granted an incredible power few dream of possessing, and yet you decide to hide away while others suffer. That's more of a cowardly act than anything else!"

The Sirian can only stare in silence while the three Rangers off in the distance was only able watch and speculate about what is going on. With the waves crashing behind the two swordsmen, the only things the Rangers could have make out were the yelling. Suddenly Aurox noticed something approaching from the horizon, "Uh oh. We got company."

That company being a Capital-class Drillship and a swarm of Photon Fighters. Coming from the capital ship was Nergal's voice which could be heard across the beach, "Entroopers! In the name of Jack Matter, destroy the Power Rangers!" As he said that a large assortment of Entroopers and their Plantoid commanders landed on the beach to do battle.

The Rangers quickly morphed and ran towards the enemy. The Sirian on the other hand was quick to hide out in nearby bushes, still considering himself not worthy to fight again. Lance focused on fighting the enemy with the Rangers, until a Photon Fighter, trying to ram the Rangers, flew too close to the ground and causing Lance to be caught onto the ship's gun barrel as it flew away.

The Fighter, having noticed the stowaway, decided to accelerate through the atmosphere and expose him to the airless void of space. Holding on and aware that without his helmet that he will be losing oxygen, Lance was thinking to himself, No, this is not how this is going to end. Not when there is a universe to save. At that instant, he noticed a red glow that was emanating higher in the sky. That glow being a series of meteors falling onto the planet. The largest one striking the fighter and causing Lance to land on it with both of his hands holding on as the fighter was destroyed.

While trying to shield his eyes from the heat and debris, he saw a small red orb in front of him being held up by a series of green lightning. Lance was amazed about what this orb was implying. "A Cosmic Orb. Ha! Talk about luck!" The moment he grabbed it, a wrist blaster suddenly appeared, attached to his left hand. And as he placed the orb into the blaster's open slot, he instinctively knew what to say, "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

The combatants on the beach now noticed the meteor shower heading their way and tried their best to dodge them. Unfortunately for the Entroopers, the shower took out a large chunk of them in the ensuing inferno. And in the fiery blaze of the meteor landings stood Lance, now cladded in the uniform of a Red Ranger.

In glee he shouted, "Haha! Leo Power! Cosmic Red!"

Millie did not take it well, "What! He's the Red Ranger!?"

Aurox had the opposite approach, "Ha! Another warrior in the fight for justice!"

Velspro was more pragmatic, "We'll deal with it later. Right now, we have to beat these guys."

With that the Rangers pulled out their weapons. Lance brought out a new sword while Aurox, Millie, and Velspro brought an axe, a rapier, and a dagger respectively. Eventually the ground forces were reduced enough that the Rangers can focus on the fighters above. Aurox commanded Millie and Velspro to get into their Zords for aerial support while he deals with the remaining ground forces.

As such, Millie and Velspro tilted their orbs towards one end of the morpher, summoning their Zords seemingly out of nowhere. The two then jumped towards their Zords and begun to take out the Photon Fighters.

Seeing the two Rangers fight in their Zords caught the Red Ranger's attention. "Cool. Now how do I summon my own Zord?" However, that would probably have to wait as a Plantoid swung its club cannon behind him. While blocking the attack, the Orb on his blaster slightly tilted which caused the blaster to light up. Suddenly, the ground began to shake as a roar was heard. The noise came from a giant machine in the shape of a lion that materialized in the sky. Lance was then flown uncontrollably towards the giant machine as it blasted off to join the aerial fight.

This left Aurox alone to face the remaining ground forces which turned out to be too much to hold off, even for a giant robot like him. Off in distance, the Sirian was in awe the entire time the Rangers fought, all the while hearing the Red Ranger's words to him over and over again.

This caused something to stir in the Sirian as he was finally able to come to terms of what his thoughts have come to accept. "If they fight with the same power as I have, then I'm a fool if I am just going to standby and do nothing." With that, he yanked the Orb from his neck and saw a blaster morpher appear on his hand. Having heard the Rangers morphing call, he knew what he had to say, "Cosmic powers, Activate!"

Suddenly a Blue Ranger landed on top of an Entrooper and started to beat him using his claws. He then managed to fight his way towards the Black Ranger who was thankful for the help, "Excellent work, though I don't think we've ever got your name."

"Fenris."

"Aurox. Now let's beat these vile goons and join up with the others."

"Right."

While the Photon Fighters were numerous, the Green and Yellow Rangers were able to hold their own against them. That was until a Plantoid decided to grow massive above the Drillship and use his club cannon to snipe the Zords. With no care if the blasts hurt its compatriots, the monster was able to send the two Zords spinning in space all the while the giant monster gloated at his seeming victory. However, the Plantoid's gloats were stopped when the Red Ranger manage to shoot some missiles at it.

Lance afterwards exclaimed, "Don't worry guys I got you."

Millie was a little annoyed at this for one specific reason, "Of course he gets the bigger one."

Lance was pressing all sorts of buttons and levers to get the two towards him, until he accidently nudged his blaster which caused the Chameleon and Swordfish Zords to link up as if they were arms. Lance amusingly ask, "Woah, did you guys know about this?"

Velspro responded, "It was mainly just the three of us, so the answer is no. Look, the Plantoid is heading towards the moon."

"Might as well finish this right?" Lance shouted.

He then hears Aurox on the intercom, "Not without us you're not." As such, heading their way was the Tauros Zord and another one that looked like a mechanical wolf.

It was Fenris's turn to speak, "This is Fenris. Finally time to do something with these powers don't you think?"

Lance instantly recognized who was the Blue Ranger from the voice. "Glad to have you with us. Now let's form a true Megazord!"

As they landed on the moon, the Tauros and Lycan Zords linked up to form the legs and now the Constellation Megazord, they were truly ready to face the Plantoid. With the Plantoid not fully aware of the new Megazord's capabilities, the best it can do was swing its club cannon as the giant machine was coming at point blank range. Dodging the attack, the Megazord countered it with claw and horn kicks before using its Chameleon arm to snatch the cannon away, followed by the Swordfish arm stabbing the Plantoid countless times. The fight ended with the Megazord powering up its final attack, a slash of its sword, which caused the ground in front of it to break apart. This sent the monster to its fiery doom as the Megazord turned around heroically.

While the Drillship managed to flee the battle, Jack Matter was not taking the news that Nergal brought well, "I thought that someone like you could take care of this problem. Perhaps my faith has been misplaced." the hologram then started to power up a black energy ball in one of his hands.

Nergal tried to reassure his master, "Wait milord. This was only a minor setback. I will be able to complete the job just as you instructed. I just need a little more time"

Jack Matter contemplated for a moment before lowering his hand, "Very well. The Rangers have yet to come into full strength. Make sure that does not happen or I shall see to it your replacement."

"Of course, milord."

The Rangers have arrived back into their ship and were ready to welcome in their newest members. Both Lance and Fenris came onto the deck, all cleaned up and now wearing the blue jackets like the other Rangers. Lance was the first to speak, "Fantastic, now we're officially part of the team. Only four more Orbs and we can take the fight to Jack Matter himself."

Velspro gave a counterpoint, "Slow down for a minute. The enemy knows who we are now so we can't just blindly charge in every time. Also, there's still work to be done outside of getting the others."

Fenris then reassure the new Red Ranger, "Even so, with more Rangers it just means more trouble that we can cause to Jack Matter."

Aurox chimed in for support as well, "And as the good guys, we will reach our goal in the end!"

With that Lance, Fenris, and Aurox yelled over each other.

"To Victory!"

"Arwhooo!"

"Justice will prevail!"

Millie can only put a hand over her face, "The saviors of the universe and they can't even chant in unison."

Lance then interjected over something that has been bothering him, "Oh by the way Wren you didn't fix my scooter at all."

This sent the robot into a rage. "I'm a pilot robot not a mechanic! And besides, I said it could take you to the nearest planet and you decide to overshoot it!" As she was saying this she chased Lance around while using her tablet as a bludgeoning tool. It took the strength of everyone else to calm her down.

On the planet Onyx, two figures were sitting together in a tavern bar. One looked like a human with tanned skin and brown hair, writing down something on a piece of paper, while the other was a gold-plated robot that was looking at a tablet while going over the news. The robot quickly swipe through the articles until something piqued his interests. Two humans, a Sirian, an Aquitian, and a robot, all with hefty bounties on their heads.

A/N: Happy, belated, 25th anniversary. Curious to see where this goes. Also yes this feels like a carbon copy of Kyuranger, it's going to be a while.