In the park, the Dominion had sent down a lizard Hybrasect, with a cross between a satellite transmitter and a laser on his chest. The Rangers were, of course, quick to intercept and face down this new invader. Mark jumped towards it and delivered a punch to the Hybrasect's chest, which knocked it down. He jumped back as the others joined him. "Well that was easy. Rover Launcher!"

Cannon Mode! Red Black Yellow White Blue Charge! All Charge, Combine! Full Power!

The Hybrasect could only recoil as the Rangers launched their weapon's full force at him.

Maximum Firebird Bombardment!

The blast incinerated the Hybrasect's body, leaving behind the bug, as usual. But this time, Wayne wasn't having the whole 'make my body grow' act. "Oh no you don't." He pulled out his AviAttacker and shot the bug again.

Freeze Attack!

The bodiless (that's a word, trust me) Hybrasect was covered in ice from head to tendril, stopping it from moving. "Man, these AviAttackers make handling the Hybrasects a snap.", Steven noted.

"Indeed.", Wayne replied. "The city gets a few more intact buildings and we get a subject to study. Everyone wins."

"Not everyone.", Mark said solemnly. "We still need to find out the truth about our Group captain, or I'm going to have even more trouble sleeping. But other than that, yeah. The Dominion gets screwed over both in the destruction and giant monster departments. Tann's not going to be happy about that."

Sure enough, on the ship, Tann wasn't happy. In fact, he was taking his anger out on Algrin, the one who'd had the idea in the first place. "You're a stupid incompetent!", the Emperor bellowed as he threw his subordinate to the floor. "Now you can't even hope for your pathetic monsters to grow giant, with the Rangers being able to freeze them in the process. Literally, I might add."

Algrin scoffed. "Like you're doing much better. They've taken out two of your top lieutenants, one of them singlehanded and with low powered weapons. You couldn't even kill the Red Ranger or demoralise his teammates. What right have you got to criticise me?"

Before Tann could inflict a greater punishment, Galvahex entered. "My Lord, I have detected a meteorite entering our sector of space, inbound towards Earth. It contains something I think you would like to see."

Tann immediately ceased his punishment of Algrin and went to look at the computer screen the robot had brought up. What he saw surprised him. "It can't be. This is the DNA of… a Hadaruga!"

"Halatia" was confused. "For those of us not well versed in galactic fauna and flora… what's a Hadaruga?"

It was Algrin who answered her. "The Hadaruga were parasites that attacked the civilised outposts of the universe, draining their energy and demolishing their societies."

Galvahex continued the lecture. "Merely killing a Hadaruga wasn't enough, as they could channel their stored energy into a sphere on their shoulder, which granted them a second life. Eventually though, they were wiped out, with their remaining DNA dispatched throughout the universe to prevent anyone from resurrecting the species for their own purposes."

"Until now.", Tann declared, holding a basic Mutasect that hadn't been given any DNA yet. "A Hadaruga fossil is the perfect opportunity to try and eliminate the threat of the Flying Rangers. After all, if you cannot strip your enemies of their life, then you can strip them of their power."

Back at the Nest, the team returned to find Captain Rolfe and the rest of his squad were there, with solemn looks on their faces. "What's going on?", Mark asked.

"I can show you, but you won't like it.", the Captain responded. "Our higher-ups have decided to show up."

Sure enough, when Mark and the others entered the control room, they saw Gordon arguing with an older man, dressed in the uniform of a Lieutenant General. His uniform identified him as 'Alexander. D'. "This is an outrage.", Gordon said, angrily. "By what right are you trying to take over MY project, that has taken over 20 years to perfect?"

"By the right of the UN's 'First Contact' protocols.", the older officer, who Lulu decided to dub 'General Alex' for lack of a better name, said in response. "Thanks to a report from your own Flying Officer Goodman to my own Private Dawson, I have evidence that you murdered a defenceless extraterrestrial during Project: Falling Star. Not to mention, doing god only knows what to poor Mr. Hartford over there." He pointed to Steven as he said this. "With that new evidence, I am placing you under close watch until your court martial." He signalled for Corporal Jarvis to come along and take her away.

"This is ridiculous.", the Group captain protested. "I've done nothing wrong."

"That may be true, but General Alex won't hear of anything other than your arrest.", Jarvis said apologetically. Lulu noted hat he seemed to have come up with the same nickname for the superior officer as she had. Nonetheless, he continued to lead their commanding officer away.

General Alex then went over to Mark and patted him on the shoulder. "Good work on the tip-off, son. Keep up the good work and I'm sure you'll go far under me."

"It wasn't a tip-off.", Mark insisted. "I was just sharing what I'd found in my investigation of the crash site in South Korea. None of which was clear as to what it meant."

"Heh, heh. You're modest as well. Just be sure to follow orders and I'll help you make Flight Lieutenant in no time."

Before the conversation could continue, an alarm sounded as Ratcliffe announced what his screen was telling him. "Tann has been sighted in a quarry in the mountains. A meteor is also set to land in the same quarry."

The 5 Rangers wasted no time in moving out. As soon as they were gone, General Alex took out his radio and called someone. "The old Rangers are exactly as we thought. Gordon was too soft on them. Prepare to move in on my command."

Elsewhere, Corporal Jarvis had put Gordon in a holding cell. "I don't want to do this ma'am, but orders is orders with General Alex. I've made sure that you have a linkup so you can still observe events."

"Terrific.", Gordon said unenthused.

The Rangers had reached Tann in the mountains. "Ah Rangers, I see you came to meet your demise.", Tann gloated.

Carrie was confused. "I think you're underestimating your odds. You don't even have a monster accompanying you."

Tann laughed at this. "On the contrary, I do have a monster waiting to face you." He pulled out a blank Mutasect to illustrate this. "He's just waiting on the right host." As if on cue, the meteorite he was anticipating flew past the Rangers and crashed in the centre of the quarry. He went over and placed the Mutasect on the still-smoking rock. "Now, my pet. Absorb the DNA of the Hadaruga from within its prison, to revive the universe's greatest predator under my control!"

The Mutasect glowed and turned into a Hybrasect, which merged into the meteor it had been placed on, creating a plume of smoke. When it cleared, the meteorite was gone, replaced by a blue creature, possessing large red eyes, volcanoes on both shoulders and a yellow orb on his chest. "KUUUURRRROOOORRRRGGGGG!", it growled

Lulu was now nervous. "Maybe we shouldn't have underestimated this guy."

"Don't worrry.", Mark reassured her. "We'll beat this thing, maybe kick some stuffing out of Tann and then go home to find out the truth about Gordon. Now, let's Ranger up."

Everyone nodded, as they all stepped forward and pressed their change bracelets. "Let's Fly!" In a flash, the Rangers were now morphed.

"Let's focus on taking out 'Kurorg' over there first.", Wayne suggested. He had named the monster after its grunt.

The 5 Rangers engaged Kurorg in battle, with Mark doing a sword slash, the girls doing a diving kick and the rest doing a flying punch. However, the monster was affected by none of this, instead using the force of their hits to send them flying backwards. It then began to draw energy from them into the orb on its chest.

"What's happening?", Mark wheezed out as he collapsed, dropping his Wing Saber.

"I don't know. But I'm feeling weak.", Carrie responded as she and Lulu also collapsed.

"I think… we're losing power.", Wayne said as he and Steven fell to the floor.

But Steven wouldn't allow himself to stay down. "We need to finish this thing off quickly."

Mark also got up. "Steven's right. Let's get this done quickly. AviAttackers!" The 5 drew their weapons after they had all stood up and fired in Kurorg's general direction. While this did create sparks on his body, it didn't seem anymore effective than their previous hits. "We need more power. Sonic Smashers!"

Fire Attack, Power Up!

However, before any of them could pull the trigger, Kurorg blasted the five with beams of energy, knocking them down again, this time reverting them to civilian attire. Lulu tried morphing again, only to be met with the sound of static and a flickering light, which quickly died. "Guys, I think we've lost our powers."

The others tried morphing, only to meet the same results. "That thing must have siphoned off all the energy from our bracelets.", Wayne realised. "I don't know if I can re-power them."

Tann laughed. "You are acting as if time is a luxury you possess. Now, my creature. Destroy these humans."

Kurorg advanced on the powerless Rangers, only to be hit by a shot from high above. Everyone looked up to see a group of 5 all dressed in identical black armour, with silver and blue chest panels and bird "faces" on their helmets. The 5 removed their helmets' visors to reveal 4 men(one African-American, two Asian and one Caucasian) and a woman(Hispanic). They all had advance weapons, which they put away. "Don't worry, Rangers.", the African-American said as they pulled their visors down again. "We Armoured Rangers will take it from here."

The 5 engaged Kurorg using a set of swords, boomerangs and guns, with one of them using the sword as if it was a hammer he was preparing to throw ala a bad comedy act. But the other 4 were able to effectively use their weapons to fend off Kurorg, before pulling out a bazooka and using it to blast the Hybrasect into a pool of cold water, which caused the body to fall apart. "That's what happens when you put a hot rock in cold water", the guy who had been fake hammer throwing commented, as if expecting laughs. Fortunately, none came.

"This is not over.", Tann growled before teleporting out.

The old Rangers ran over to the the new ones. "No-one told me about another Ranger team on Earth.", Mark said, perplexed at the situation.

"Are we being replaced?", Lulu asked, legitimately worried.

Then their communicators beeped, with General Alex on the other end. "Sorry to surprise you like this, Rangers. I'd like to explain the new Armoured Rangers to you, but first, how about you get back to base?"

"Yeah, that monster ain't gonna be a problem anymore.", the Afri-Am (short for African-American, because I couldn't be bothered to type the whole thing again) Armoured Ranger said, leading everyone back to base. However, none noticed that within the pool, the Hybrasect prevailed.

"Those fools", the big commented. "They thought me done for, but all they did was redistribute the heat energy within my body." The bug laughed as it began to reassemble.

Back at the Nest, General Alex introduced his new Armoured Rangers. "You see, I've been watching my former soldier's work on this project for a while and it gave me an idea. 'What if we took the basic concept of you Flying Rangers and improved on the concept, making them more indestructible?' So, with the aid of some spare power cores Gordon had left lying around, I created the next generation of America's defenders."

"We're supposed to defend the whole world, not just America.", Mark pointed out.

Alex ignored him as he continued. "So, now I think since your powers are gone, you should meet your replacements." The Afro-Am man stepped forward. "Victor Hardrock."

"Call me 'Vic'.", Vic insisted as he reached out for a handshake, which Mark accepted out of politeness.

"Benny Clark Simeon." The Asian guy who had tried to be funny earlier stepped forward.

"I guess you could say that the power and responsibility is on our plating now.", Benny Clark said, once again expecting laughs.

"That's not funny.", Lulu said.

"Nicky Simonson."

"I just want you to know I respect your work, Dr. Burley.", Nicky said. "I hope I can live up to the standard you set."

"Good luck with that one.", Wayne responded. "You're looking at a guy who fought until midnight to put out the sun."

"Michael Koon."

"Yorokonde to meet you, Carrie-chan.", Michael said, leaning down to kiss Carrie's hand.

"Excuse me?", Carrie said, pulling her hand away.

"I'm half-Japanese.", Michael clarified.

"You don't say."

General Alex then introduced the final member of his team. "And last, but by no means least, Antonia Montana."

Mark interrupted. "Your new team is all well and good, sir. But are you sure they can handle the same duties we've been pulling off for months?"

Before General Alex could answer, the alarm sounded. "Sir, the Hybrasect's reappeared as a giant in the city."

General Alex thought, before answering the question. "Tell you what. If my team can't stop this creature from wrecking havoc, how about I use their generators to restore your powers?"

Vic stepped forward at this. "Sir, are you sure? If I lose this job, I'm not going to pick up women as easily."

Michael stopped him. "Not the best priorities there, Hardrock. There's a dai mondai in progress. We need to stop it." Carrie once more winced internally are the gratuitous (and incorrect) use of her mother's native language.

As the 5 went out to battle Kurorg, Mark decided. "In the meantime, how about we ask our former leader some questions?" Everyone nodded and headed out, but Carrie stopped when she saw something. Particularly, the names "Hayato Moboroshi" and "Mohammed Nanak" on Alex's resource sheets.

Elsewhere, Tann watched from the mountains as Kurorg continued to destroy the city. "Excellent. Continue to crush this planet until that new ranger team comes out." As he walked, he heard a chink sound. He looked down to see blue chunks within the rock, which he recognised. "My sister's power sapphire. But how?" He picked up the pieces and pocketed them.

The Armoured Rangers flew out to the city in the Ranger Vehicles, in their first use since the Kodokor attack. "Alright team, let's see what sort of power these babies have.", Vic declared.

"Hopefully not just crying.", Benny Clark declared.

Within a few minutes, the 5 came face to face with Kurorg. "Let's get him with our stray shots.", Vic declared, unaware of what a stray shot actually was. He and Nicky then executed Mark and Wayne's Whirlwind Atrack, knocking Kurorg back slightly. Benny Clark then used the Swallow Plane's Bomber Mode to attack with the boomerang wing. "Now let's bring these together."

Action Shift, On! Flier! Zoom! Jet! Sonic! Plane! Icarus Megazord! Take Off! Go, Go!

"Flock together! Icarus Megazord!"

The newly formed Icarus then engaged Kurorg, only to find itself on the losing end of the fight, with the Beak Daggers and the AviMace being ineffective against the Hybrasect. The Armoured team tried using the Icarus Saber, only for Kurorg to break it on impact. "We can still fight without it, right?", Antonia asked.

"Don't worry, daijōbu.", Michael assured her. "We've got the strongest machine on the planet here. Of course we're gonna win."

But they didn't. The broken sword proved ineffective, with Kurorg using it to slash off the Icarus' left arm and knocking it down. On the ground, a figure noticed the battle, with confusion. "Why aren't the Rangers using the Robot we gave them? Gordon must be off her head." He then turned and ran towards the direction of the Nest, looking for answers.

And at the Nest, Mark and the others had filled Gordon in on the situation, but "I'm aware.", she told them. "These 'Armoured Rangers' are probably a group of flu kids that Alexander brainwashed into his flunkies through his methods."

"How do you figure that?", Carrie asked.

"Because we went through the same thing.", Steven was the one who answered. "I remember now. Back when he was a Colonel, Alexander was the superior officer of Gordon and I. He led us on the mission in South Korea with intent to loot anything valuable that the alien within the ship had by killing them."

"But Gordon resisted orders.", said the older woman. "She knew that the alien was non-malicious in her intent and sided with her. When Alexander tried to do the job himself, Marvin tried to stop him and was accidentally thrown into the warp drive following a struggle. The warp drive made his body disappear, until I found it 2 years ago, in Kuwait. The warp drive had thrown him forward in time, with his mind broken by the experience."

"So General Alexander's been a dirty snake way longer than recently.", Mark noted.

"I've already sent the names of two of his providers to a friend of my father's.", said Carrie. But then she realised something Gordon had said. "You just said 'Gordon' as if referring to someone else entirely."

"Yeah.", Mark realised. "Who are you? You've been lying about who you truly are since we all met you. You knew the truth about Steven, and you took advantage of all of us to help fight your battle for you."

Gordon sighed. "I guess there's no point in continuing this facade. I'll tell you the truth. You deserve it." But before anything else could happen, they saw the Icarus being felled on the screen. "This reveal will have to wait. You have to take the Falcon Corde and help them defeat that Hadaruga."

Mark sighed. "Okay, team. Let's head out there and save them." Everyone ran out of the cell and into the launch bay, where they entered the Falcon and manned the controls. "We've never launched this thing manually before. Do you think we can do it?"

"It can't be that difficult.", Wayne assured him. "It's just like our old training to use the Vehicles. They even have similar mechanisms." Lulu remembered how similar the simulated combatants were to the Bio-Roids when she heard that statement. She started to think about it but was interrupted by the sound of the standby announcement.

Get Set, Ready? Dashing, Dashing, Dashing! Dashing, Dashing, Dashing! (Dashing is repeated multiple times)

"I'm not sorry to have missed out on this sound.", Mark commented as he depressed the launch mechanism.

Goooo! F-F-F-Falcon!

In the city, Kurorg once more swung the Icarus around, before breathing fire at it, knocking it down once again. "Isn't there anything we can do?", Nicky asked.

"We're missing twenty percent of the Icarus and one of our weapons.", Antonia stated. "We're done for."

At that moment, Kurorg was distracted by the arrival of the Falcon Megazord, which kicked him back before tending to the downed Icarus. "All life signs present and accounted for.", Carrie noted. "They're okay."

The Hybrasect tried to say "But you're not.", but without any vocal chords within the Hadaruga body, it could only growl. It then fired beams at the Falcon, sending it reeling.

Inside, the Rangers were buffeted by the force. "It's not as comfortable when we aren't morphed.", Lulu complained.

"Never mind that now.", Mark said semi-dismissively. "We need to focus on stopping that thing.

After he said that, Kurorg breathed fire at the Falcon, before once more bombarding it with the same energy as before. The new Armoured Rangers could only watch as their backup was close to being soundly thrashed.

In case anyone can't tell, the new Ranger team is a jab at Eiga Sentai Scanranger. I'd explain how, but maybe you'd like to search that fic yourself and see why.