"The Galactabeasts won't fight," Kai muses, and I nearly lose my concentration on my pen-spinning, "So we have no Galaxy Megazord." He shakes his head. "Why won't they fight?" That question is what sits at the top of my notebook page, a few hastily scribbled notes underneath it. We haven't gotten too far, if that wasn't already obvious.
"The answer has to be in the Galaxy Book," Kendrix replies, holding up the scan of the page she'd taken the other night. "If only I knew what it said."
"One thing for sure is that they'll be back," Leo muses, and I add this to my notes, "Question is, how do we stop them?"
"If we combine the lasers of the three Astro Cycles," Damon pauses, holding up his blueprint, "The phases add up to be a pretty mean blast."
"Sounds cool, and it also sounds like it might work," I murmur, "but it's risky all the same."
"I second that," Kendrix agrees, "How do we know that will destroy them?"
"I don't. I don't even know what they are, but this is the best we can do." High risk, high reward. I fucking hate gambling.
"Maybe this is a crazy idea," Leo pitches in again, "but if we set an Astro Cycle on overload, and launched it right into the Zords, the explosion might destroy them both. It's dangerous, but I think it might work."
"Then it's settled," Kai agrees, and I stand from my perch on their sofa. "We use the Astro Cycles."
"I'm coming too." My brother turns to me, arms crossed. "Before you say it's too dangerous, you're literally putting yourself into this position. And you could use my abilities in case anything goes wrong." Kai sighs.
"Fine."
"I'm going to the science division," Kendrix announces, "I need to keep looking."
"I thought you'd say that," Leo replies, resting a hand on her shoulder, "Good luck."
"Let us know if you find anything," I add, and she nods to me, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. It's all or nothing.
I hate this. In what I know is an attempt to get me close to Leo, Kai refuses to let me ride with him and Damon just shrugs, says I'm better off in front. "As second-in-command," he'd said. So now, I cling to Leo as he swerves between fallen chunks of debris, and he's so tense I'm afraid he's going to burst a vein or something.
As we pass between two buildings, the telltale buzz of Stingwingers sounds behind us, and I frown. Before they can fire off their lasers, I throw a shield up above us, but it develops too slowly. Damon, who's taken up the rear, goes hurtling off his Cycle, and when we pull to a stop, I leap off Leo's cycle.
"Behind you!" Leo warns, but Damon's on it, trapping two Stingwingers into a chokehold.
"Go, I can handle this!" For a moment, both Kai and Leo hesitate, but when the Green Ranger gives us a nod, I know I can have full confidence in him.
"Alright. Let's go." The others nod, and soon, we're off again. We round another corner and come face to face with another horde of Stingers.
"I'll clear the way," Kai insists, "It's up to you now, Leo. Try to keep him from killing himself, Kara." I roll my eyes.
"Like I haven't been doing that this entire time." With that, Kai's off, and I lift both hands, tossing the first few creatures to the side with a telekinetic push. Then, my brother fires off his Cycle's lasers into the remaining bugs, setting off an explosion that finishes them off. The shockwave that follows knocks him off his seat, and Leo and I rush over to him.
"Are you alright?"
"Fine. You've got to hurry. Don't worry, I'm okay."
"Alright. We won't let you down." We zip between a few more warehouses, and Leo glances towards me for a moment. "Abilities holding up?"
"Better than ever. Let's do this thing-" Spoke too soon, way too soon, because as we turn the next corner, electricity smashes into my body: a net that the Stingwingers had laid out. A yelp of pain escapes me, and I instinctively hold tighter to Leo, hoping neither of us passes out-
The trademark sound of a Quasar Saber cuts through the air, and the electricity stops.
"We thought maybe you guys could use some help," Maya explains, and I breathe a sigh of relief.
"You got that right." A few more minutes of driving, and we finally spot a ramp at the top of a building. Somehow, the panic only hits me right now, and I gulp.
"Are you sure this will work?"
"It was your idea, Red."
"And I wish there was another way." Just like how it'd been with the original Magna Defender, it was never easy to fight something that could be an ally. "Sorry, guys." Leo starts to rev up his Cycle, and I close my eyes, focus on my breathing and the space between us and the Zords. Once we leave the ramp, I'll only have a few seconds to activate the shield around us. We can survive the fall back down, but not the explosion, so if the shield doesn't hold… "Ready?"
"Yeah. This is our last shot, so let's make it count." Leo nods, and I keep my eyes closed as he drives full speed towards the ramp-
"Guys, stop!" Kendrix? My eyes fly open, and I can barely toss her to the side before we skid to a halt.
"What are you doing?" Leo asks worriedly, helping her up from where she'd fallen, and I rush to her side.
"Did I hurt you?" She shakes her head.
"I figured it out. Those Zords are the missing Galactabeasts. It was Deviot who made them evil!"
"That's why our Galactabeasts won't fight them."
"Exactly! They know who they are, they're not going to fight their friends."
"Well, we've got to help them."
"We've located the remote control," Mike radios in over comms.
"We'll be right there."
"What have you done to those Galactabeasts?" Kendrix demands when we burst out onto the rooftop.
"So, you've discovered their true identities. There was a time when these Zords were the rhino, the phoenix, and the shark Galactabeats. But three thousand years ago, they lost their powers in a great battle, doomed to float forever in an asteroid field. I captured them, and rebuilt them to become my slaves: the Stratoforce and Centaurus Megazords, and the Zenith CarrierZord," Deviot explains.
"Now the only spirit these Zords will ever know is transmitted to them through this controller." Disgusting if I've ever heard of such a thing.
"Alright guys. Let's get that remote!" The Stingwingers charge us head on, but I easily dodge the first few, running against the wall and slamming my fists down as I hit the ground. My punches take out two Stingers, and I launch a high kick at the remaining one. My enemies defeated, I rush over to join the others as face off against… What is that thing? A green Yeti? "Time to finish this." We charge, knocking the creature over the side of the building, and we swoop down to safety, surrounding it.
Kai and Maya manage to grab onto its legs, tripping it up and forcing it to drop the remote.
"Alright guys, I've got it!"
"But you'll never use it!" With a single burst of energy, the monster destroys the controller, crumbling it to bits in Leo's hands, and I gasp. Fuck. "Now, nothing can stop them! They'll keep fighting until your Galactabeasts are no more."
"Maybe we can't stop them," Leo mutters, "but we can stop you. Lights of Orion, activate! Power-Up Mode!" The monster falls, but as usual, grows to become giant sized. And we can't take it down in this state without our Zords.
"We can't just stand here and watch."
"You're right, Kendrix. They need our help," Leo replies. "We need the Galactazords. Everybody ready?"
"Ready!'
"Zords, transform now! Galaxy Megazord, transform!"
"Blast them!" The monster orders, and of course, the other Zords obey.
"Wait, we're your friends! You need to try to remember us!" Leo pleads, and I brace myself for a long fight.
Night falls, and we're still fighting to no avail. All we've managed to do is get ourselves beat up time and time again.
"You're attacking your friends," Maya explains, "You've got to fight it."
"Don't let them control you!" Kendrix pleads.
"You have to remember," Kai urges.
"This isn't who you are!" Damon shouts.
"Please, fight on our side," I add.
"Don't waste your breath. They are slaves to the mighty Scorpius now!"
"That's not true," Leo retorts, "Their original spirits have got to be inside."
"Silence!" The monster snarls, targeting us with a laser blast of its own. We hit the ground hard, and my cockpit tilts dangerously. "Finish them off." No. We've come this far: obtained the Galaxy Book, decoded its contents, and made this crazily dangerous plan to save Terra Venture. We can't let this be the end.
"Wait, don't do it. Try and remember who you are."
"What are you waiting for, attack!" Here it comes. I brace myself to be thrown out of the Megazord, but the final strike doesn't happen. Instead, Stratoforce and Centaurus turn, weapons aimed at the monster. "What's happening?" Before our eyes, the Megazords transform.
"Look, they've stopped!"
"But why?"
"They remembered," Kai breathes.
"I knew they would," Maya cheers.
"Welcome back," Kendrix greets.
"Glad to have you with us."
And as the green Yeti falls, I've never been more glad to have gained an ally (or two).