This is the sequel to my New Year's Conundrum story. If you didn't already, please read NYC before reading this, because some of the things that happened in the story will be mentioned in this story.

Fall of an Empire

Chapter 1: Bankrupt

Deep in the darkest reaches of the universe their floats, around two orange suns, a large purple planet with ten moons. Flying around the planet's atmosphere, were the flag ships and star fighters of the Zangyack Empire. This is Zangyack Prime, the original home world of the Zangyack Empire. For untold centuries the Zangyack have sent their ships into the far reaches of their galaxy and beyond to find and conquer worlds. The Zangyack went unopposed for a long time. No one, not even the planets that boasted the mightiest armed forces in the whole universe were a match for the Zangyack Empire's might. That was before the Zangyack went to Earth. That was before they had even heard of Super Sentai. That was before they inadvertently gave birth to their greatest enemies…the Gokaigers.

From the moment Captian Marvelous first dawned the GokaiRed suit, the Kaizoku Sentai have been the most consistent thorn in the Zangyack's side. It was't enough that the Gokaigers continuously destroyed their fleets and their soldiers but the space pirates even went as far as to kill members of the royal family. First it was Commander Warz Gill, then it was the Emperor himself Ackdos Gill. Hell, the Gokaigers even got so bold as to attack Zangyack Prime itself. However, it turns out that the Gokaigers had attacked one of the Zangyack's decoy planets by mistake. This mistake nearly cost the space pirates as they were almost defeated by the Emperor's nephew, Bacchus Gill. However, after tricking Bacchus into going to Earth and with the aid of the Go Busters, the Gokaigers killed Bacchus, which only increased the already sizable bounty on their heads. With the deaths of her husband and son, the Zangyack Empress, Hilda Gill, went into a deep depression and vanished overnight. As of now, the Zangyack Empire is being controlled by the sister of Ackdos Gill and mother of Bucchus, Grand Duchess Merina Gill. With nothing but revenge on her mind, the Grand Duchess has hired the best and most feared bounty hunters in the universe to hunt down and bring the Gokaigers to her. Dead or alive.

This is what brings use to our story now. As I speak, an evil looking starship is passing through the blockade protecting Zangyack Prime. This ship belonged to the four most feared and ruthless bounty hunters in the Zangyack's neck of the universe, the Deadman's Hand. Amazingly enough, poker is not just a popular card game on Earth. The whole universe plays poker and these four bounty hunters fashioned themselves after a two pair known as the Deadman's Hand. The group consisted two men, one calls himself the Ace of Spades and the other calls himself the Ace of Clubs. The other two are women. One is called the Eight of Spades and the other is called the Eight of Clubs. Their ship, the All or Nothing, has just been cleared to land and now the bounty hunters enter the planet's atmosphere and are heading straight for Castle Zangyack with a prisoner the Duchess has been dying to meet. As the All or Nothing descends to the castle, we get to see the capital city of Zangyack Prime. The capital city of Zangyack Prime was built in a circular formation that stretched out to five hundred miles in diameter. The outer walls of the capital city was heavily armed with anti-aircraft weapons with a range that reached all the way out into space itself. The weapons on the wall was powered by a power generator that was located near the outer parameter of Castle Zangyack. Inside the walls, one would find that life in the capital of Zangyack Prime was a comfortable one. That is if you yourself was one of the Zangyack and apart of its army. For the poor souls that were captured and enslaved, life in the capital city was a living hell. The citizens of the capital city abused their slaves whenever they could, which was very often. There were few among the slaves that still had the will to dream of the day that the Empire would be overthrown and that they would be free once more. Unfortunately a vast amount of the slaves spirits were broken a long time ago and spend everyday from the time they woke up to the moment that they fall into their restless sleep that they were dead. The city itself consisted of many large skyscrapers that stood several hundreds of feet tall. All the skyscrapers were black and like other major cites in the universe, various signs lit up the city with advertisements or propaganda that did nothing but paint the Empire in a good light. Finally, at their very nerve center of the capital was Castle Zangyack itself. Castle Zangyack was white in color. Despite its bright and beautiful exterior, Castle Zangyack had a very foreboding aura. Royal Guards surrounded the castle, inside and out. If one were ever able to infiltrate it, their demise was almost imminent as the Royal Guards would completely overwhelm those that would dare try to do harm to the Royal Family. However, if you were an ally of the Empire, then you could pass through the many halls of the castle as if you were almost invisible. It is very fortunate for the Deadman's Hand that they have something with them that the Grand Duchess wants or they most likely would have been destroyed long before the All or Nothing made it to a landing platform that was positioned about one hundred feet away from the power generator.

As the vile ship lands on a platform outside Castle Zangyack, a member of the Royal Committee comes down a flight of stairs, flanked by six Royal Guards. This is Deuce Marces, Prime Minister of the Zangyack Empire and right hand man to the Grand Duchess. Marces resembled Warz Gill in a way, only he was blue with a golden face. Once the ship was secure of the landing platform, a ramp descended to the floor and the Deadman's Hand made their way off the ship. The two Eights made their way off first. They were followed by their prisoner and then the two Aces. The Deadman's hand were dressed head to toe in black armor and each carried a large laser rifle that fired off rounds like a machine gun. Their helmets were all the same. The faces of their masks looked like human skulls and on the forehead had the playing card of their respective call signs. But most importantly of all was their prisoner. Standing between the four bounty hunters, bound by his neck, wrists and ankles was Captain Marvelous. The Deadman's hand had tracked the Gokaigers down on a planet on the other end of the galaxy and ambushed them. Marvelous sacrificed himself so that his crew could escape. Even though the captain was expecting to be killed, the Deadman's Hand decided that he would be worth more alive then dead, so that is way they brought him to Castle Zangyack on this day. At least, that is the Deadman Hand's story. Nonetheless, Marces excepted the story and before he allowed the Deadman's hand to bring the pirate captain to the Duchess, he had a few words to say to Marvelous. "So you are the leader of the pirate filth." snarked the Prime Minister. "I find it hard to believe that such rebel could cause the Empire so much trouble. Then again, you and your crew no longer have the aid of all those Ranger Keys to save your sorry excuse of lives now do you?"

Having said his peace, the Prime Minister slapped Marvelous in the face and laughed at the captured captain. Once Marces had his chuckle, he waved the Deadman's Hand to bring Marvelous into the castle so that he could be brought to the Grand Duchess. Once inside, Marvelous could feel the vast hallways of the castle moving in on him. He could have looked around if he wanted to but it was useless as their was not a single friendly face to be seen. As the imprisoned captain continued down the main hallway, hear began to hear whispers of the delegates that were socializing their. Marvelous heard every hiss and derogatory thing that the delegates had to say about him and how they cursed him and the other Gokaigers for the deaths of their beloved Emperor and Prince. Finally, after twenty minutes of walking, the Deadman's Hand and Marvelous finally came to the doorway to the throne room of Castle Zangyack. The two Royal Guards on duty opened the massive doors and the Deadman's Hand escorted Marvelous inside.

The throne room of the castle was quit possibly the grandest room in the entire castle. The floors, walls, roof and pillars were paved with marble. A red Zangyack Empire flag hung between each pillar and there was a long red carpet the stretched out from the entrance to the throne were the Grand Duchess sat. The throne was seated up high and required a staircase of ten or twelve steps to reach it. Whoever sat their could see and look down upon everyone within the room. Now for the first time, we and Marvelous will get a glimpse of Grand Duchess Merina. Appearance wise, the Grand Duchess looked like a female version of her brother, only Merina was dark purple in color. They shared the same face except that Merina still had both of her eyes. As Marvelous looked away to examine the rest of the thrown room and saw that the rest of the Zangyack Empire's Royal Committee had assembled in the thrown room as they were waiting in anticipation to final lay eyes on one of the Gokaigers. Just as it was in the main hallway, Marvelous could hear the snickering mumbles of these over privileged ass wipes.

Within a time frame of about three minutes from the time they entered to the time they walked across the thrown room, the Deadman's Hand have finally delivered their prize to the Grand Duchess. Once they were at the staircase to the throne, Merina stood up and descended the staircase. Once she was on the ground floor, Merina walked up to Marvelous and placed her hand under his chin so that she could raise his face to hers. "Captain Marvelous," began the Grand Duchess "so nice to finally make your acquaintance. It is a same that I have to carve up such a handsome face. But then again, you and filthy crew are responsible for the murders of by son, brother and nephew so you will be getting what you deserve."

"Don't give me any of that self-righteous shit of yours lady." said Marvelous pulling his face away from Merina's hand. "You and family are responsible for the genocide of countless people. As far as I'm concerned, me and my crew did the world a favor by killing those three."

"HOW DARE YOU!" yelled Marces taking offense at Marvelous' comment. "HOW DARE YOU TREAT THE LIVES OF SUCH NOBLE AND ESTEEMED GENTLEMEN AS IF THEY WERE LESSER THEN A BUNCH IF WEAK AND PATHETIC MISCREANTS THAT WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE EVOLVED ENOUGH TO HARNESS FIRE!"

"There, there Marces." said Merina. "It is to be expected by such a lower life form. Now then, you four can just leave him here and go down to the treasure room and decide what is a suitable some for your services.

"No." said the Ace of Spades.

"No?" repeated Merina.

"First we take our treasure, then you can have this pirate scum." said the Eight of Spades.

The Prime Minister took a step towards the bounty hunters as if he was about to start yelling again but was stopped by Merina. "Very well," said the Grand Duchess "have it your way. Guards! Take them to the treasure room!" Two Royal Guards approached the Deadman's Hand and gestured for them to follow them. As the Guards began to make their way out of the thrown room, the two Clubs broke away from the group and followed the Guards leaving Marvelous in the custody of the Spades. Once the four villains left the throne room, they made a left turn and began their long climb down to the deepest reaches of the castle. It took the four about a half hour Earth's time to reach the very bottom of Castle Zangyack and to one of the many entrance ways into the treasure room. After unlocking the door, the two Guards lead the Clubs into the treasure room. As the two bounty hunters crossed the threshold to the treasure room, they were both aw struck by the magnificence and the vastness of the it. From were the four villains stood, they were about two miles above the the surface of all the gold, jewelry and other artifacts of great importance that the Zangyack had plundered over the years. The treasure room itself was three times the size of the capital city in width and stretched all the way down to just above the planet's core. There were several catwalks set up above the mountain of treasure, to make crossing over the treasure all the easier.

"Go ahead." said one of the Guards. "Take as much as you wish."

"Don't mind if we do." said the Ace of Clubs. Just then, the two clubs raised the riffles and shot the Royal Guards at point blank range and killed the two. With the Guards disposed of, the Clubs removed their helmets and as it turns out, these two along with the Aces aren't the real Deadman's Hand. No, the two that just shot the two Royal Guards are in fact, Don Doioger and Ahim de Famille. As you my have guest by now, the two Aces are really the other core members of the Kaizoku Sentai, Joe Gibken and Luka Millfy. As for the real Deadman's Hand, the four bounty hunters had indeed caught the pirates off guard by the Gokaigers quickly turned the tables on the bounty hunters and killed them. The reason for way the Deadman's Hand were defeated in such a quick manner was because, like the Zangyack, the four bounty hunters believed that the Goakigers no longer possessed the Ranger Keys of the other thirty-four Super Sentai teams. Little did they know, on one of the Gokaigers' return trips to Earth two years ago, they were given a brand new set of Ranger Keys of their thirty-four predecessors and then some. However, before the Gokaigers received their new keys, they first had to go through hell by helping three other Sentai teams stop a madman from bringing destruction upon Japan before New Year's Eve. Long story short, they heroes won, the villain lost and the Gokaigers have new Ranger Keys. As a matter of fact, everything that has transpired so far as all been by Marvelous' design. You see, once Marvelous started to think on what he and his crew could use the new Ranger Keys for, he immediately decided that he and his crew should use the keys and the Greater Powers they granted them to destroy the Zangyack Empire. Even though the Gokaigers have over two hundred Ranger Keys and every single Greater Power at their disposal, dethroning the Zangyack Empire is still much more easier said then done. The Zangyacks still have an uncountable number of soldiers ready to answer the call to action and even if the pirates unloaded every single Grand Power onto Castle Zangyack, it would still be very risky and costly battle. But all of that changed once the Gokaiger's defeated the Deadman's Hand. Once the bounty hunters were defeated, Marvelous formulated the current plan. Joe, Luka, Don and Ahim would disguise themselves as the Deadman's Hand and take Marvelous as their "prisoner." But wait. Someone's missing in this equation. Marvelous, Joe and Luka are still in the throne room, Don and Ahim were in the treasure room but…were is Gai? Ikari Gai, GokaiSilver, was sitting inside GouJyuDrill as it floated behind one of the far moons of the planet and was waiting for Don to give him the signal to drill into the treasure room. You see, part of Marvelous' plan was that Don would remotely control the All or Nothing and fly it into the capital city's power generator. With the defenses down, Gai would be free to drill his way into the treasure room inontested and start loot the place. I have no idea how Gai is going to pull that off but right now, Don is getting ready to put the next phase of the plan in motion.

"Doc-san," began Ahim "do you really think that you can hit the power generator with the ship from here?"

"I don't." replied Don. "This is by far the craziest plan Marvelous has ever come up with. It'd be a miracle if we make it out of here alive."

"You shouldn't lose faith in Marvelous-san." said Ahim. "He is yet to lead us astray."

"Yet is the operative word." said Don. Despite his doubt in the plans success, Don flipped open a small compartment on the left forearm of the Ace of Clubs' armor and activated the All or Nothing. A holographic screen then appeared in front of the green pirate's face, allowing Don to see the outside of the castle from the ship's point of view. This little feature wasn't something the Deadman's Hand already had. It was something Don built into the ship and armor a few days prior. Anyway, Don used the remote to make the All or Nothing go into hover mode. Once the ship was about seven feet off the ground, Don turn the All or Nothing around so now it was facing the power generator. Once the generator was in sight, Don hit the thrusters and the All or Nothing took off at full throttle. The Royal Guards stationed outside could do nothing but watch as the All or Nothing exploded upon impact with the power generator, which in turn caused the generator to explode. "Well, that did it." said Don. "It's time to get Gai down here." Don then press a button over by his left wrist that went straight to GouJyuDrill. Once Gai received the signal, he activated GouJyuDrill and began to speed his way to Zangyack Prime.

"What was that?" said Merina hearing the explosion outside. As most of the Royal Guards rushed out of the throne room to investigate, Marvelous broke free of his bonds and pulled out his GokaiSaber. At the same time, Joe and Luka, while still in disguise, began to open fire upon the members of the Royal Committee. As the Royal Committee members began to drop like flies, Marvelous took his sword and stabbed Merina in the chest with it.

"GRAND DUCHESS!" cried Marces in horror. It seems as if Marvelous has her. However, the Grand Duchess is much stronger then she appears and she won't be killed off so easily.

"Damn…dirty…pirate." said Merina through her teeth. The Grand Duchess then took hold of Marvelous' GokaiSaber and began to pull it out of her chest. Marvelous didn't want to admit it but this feet of strength and will power impressed him. Once the GokaiSaber was out of her chest, Merina fired a pair of lasers from her eyes. Marvelous was just barely able to dodge the beams as he fell to his back and rolled away from the Grand Duchess. Joe and Luka were also nearly able to avoid being hit by the laser beams as they passed by the two. Once Marvelous was back to his feet, Luka took out a flash grenade and tossed it at the Grand Duchess, blinding her temporarily. Right as the flash went off, Marvelous, Joe and Luka sprinted for the doorway. Once outside, Joe and Luka removed their helmets and followed Marvelous down the staircase that lead to the treasure room.

"Doc," began Marvelous into his Mobilate "did you knock out the power generator?"

"Yes." replied Don talking into his own phone. "The generator's out and Gai is on his way. Are you sure this is going to work?"

"Don't worry Doc." replied Marvelous. "Tell Ahim to transform. These Guards are going to be on top of us at any time." Funny enough, just as Marvelous ended his talk with Don, a swarm of Royal Guards sprang on the three pirates right as they had cleared the third staircase down. The Guard nearest Marvelous swung he spear downwards and almost cut off the captain's nose. As Marvelous froze in his tracks, the Guard went for a second slash only to be blasted down by Joe. As that Guard fell, the other Guards tried to attack the pirates but the three were able to pull out their Ranger Keys and insert them in their Mobilates. After crying out "Gokai Change!" three large 'X's sprang from the phones and acted as a shield for the three. As the 'X's touched the three pirates, the Mobilates cried out "Gokaiger!" and the three were now in their Ranger forms. Luka, still using the riffle of the Eight of Spades provided cover fire for Marvelous and Joe who pulled out their GokaiSabers as they engaged the small squad of Guards. Their were nine Guards remaining in this section of the castle and the three Gokaigers made quick work of them, striking down three Guards each. With this small portion of the Guards out of their way, Marvelous Joe and Luka continued down to the treasure room. They would need to hurry as Don and Ahim were in dire straights right now.

Down in the treasure room, Don and Ahim had more then their hands full with Royal Guards. As we speak, every available entrance into the treasure room had Royal Guards passing through all of them one right after the other. Don and Ahim, who transformed long before the Guards started to swarm them, were keeping the villains at bay at first with their GokaiGuns but there were too many Guards for the two to keep back for very long. Once the Guards got too close for their comfort, Ahim and Don took out two Ranger Keys and inserted them into their phones. "Gouraiger!" cried the Mobilates as the too vanished in a crimson and navy flash. The Guards all stopped and starred into the blank space in front of them, wondering where the pirates could have disappeared to. However, Don and Ahim didn't disappear per say. They were merely using the Gouraiger's famed lightning speed and were merely moving faster then the eye could see. While traveling at this speed, Don and Ahim cut down all the Guards that were currently in the treasure room with them with the Gouraiger's Ikazuchimarus. Also, in a way to bottleneck their enemies, Ahim and Don began to close every door to the treasure room and destroying the control pairs that opened them. All the entrances into the treasure room were now unusable. All except the one the Ahim and Don used that is. "There," began Don as he an Ahim came to a full stop "that should hold them. Now where is Gai?"

Just then, a loud cracking noise came echoing into the treasure room. Within seconds, GouJyuDrill came busting in from the top of the treasure room at a diagonal. You see, right after Gai busted through the blockade, he made a B-line for the outskirts of the capital city. Once he was their, Gai turned on his mech's massive drill and began to dig his way through Zangyack Prime's crust. With the capital city's defenses down, Gai was able to reach the planet's surface uncontested and he started drilling right away. Once he was inside the treasure room, Gai jumped out of GouJyuDrill and cried out "Gokai Change!" "MagiRanger!" cried his GokaiCellular as the silver pirate turned into MagiShine. Once the now pirate magician landed on the treasure, he removed the top of the MagiLamp and recited a Magitopia spell. Once Gai finished reciting the spell, a moderately sized tornado emerged from the top of the MagiLamp and began to suck up all of the treasure in the room. This was Marvelous' master plan. The captain had his crew pose as bounty hunters and bring him in as a prisoner so that they could capitalize on the Unlimited reward status on his bounty. What a unique and well thought of plan. If the Gokaigers couldn't overthrow the Zangyack Empire by force, then they could ruin the entire Empire financially. As Don and Ahim began to marvel at their captain's plan, more Royal Guards began to fill the treasure room again. After snapping back to reality, Ahim and Don took out two more Ranger Keys and changed into another pair of Rangers. "Go-Onger!" cried the phones as Don became Go-On Green and Ahim became On-On Black.

While Ahim and Don were holding off the Royal Guards in the treasure room, Marvelous, Joe and Luka were just a few floors above their allies and were fighting off a shad of a few dozen Guards. As of now, the three had changed into their Liveman counterparts and have taken down five Guards each. Though Joe was sill fighting the Guards at close range, he also took every chance he could to use Blue Dolphin's Dolphin Arrow to now only parry the spears of the Guards but also shot those that were at a far enough distance. Luka was using the same strategy as before only now she was using Yellow Lion's Lion Bazooka. As for Marvelous, the pirate captain was using Red Falcon's Falcon Saber to fight four to five Guards at a time. Despite their best efforts, the Guards couldn't brake the captain's defenses and ended up being either cut down or stabbed by Marvelous. Eventually only a handful of Guards remained and the three pirates decided to blow them away by combining the core Liveman's weapons to from the Triple Bazooka. Once the Triple Bazooka was formed, Marvelous, Joe and Luka destroyed the last of this group of Guards with one blast. After dissembling the Triple Bazooka, the three pirates continued on their way to the treasure room. After fighting off squad after squad of Royal Guards, the three had finally reached the bottom and were about to enter the treasure room when all of a sudden, another squad of Royal Guards appeared before them. Without flinching, the captain, first mate and lookout inserted three different Ranger Keys into this phones and cried "Gokai Change!" "Goseiger!" cried the Mobilates as the three ran towards the Guards while turning into their immediate predecessors. The Guards put up a valiant fight but they were overwhelmed by the Gosei pirates and were cut and shot down like the rest of their comrades. With all of these guards cut down, Marvelous, Joe and Luka were finally able to enter the treasure room, which was almost completely empty by now.

"Gai!" called Marvelous as he returned to his normal Ranger form. "How much longer are you going to be?!"

"Give me another two minutes and we'll be out of here!" said Gai Calling back to Marvelous.

Just then, more Royal Guards began to enter the treasure room and began to charge at the core Gokaigers. As the Guards began to cross the catwalk, the pirates cried out, "Gokai Change!" and scattered to give themselves more breathing room. "Bioman!" cried the phones as the Kaizoku Sentai drew the Bio Swords and engaged their advisories. As with before, the Goakigers were making mincemeat out of the Royal Guards. Marvelous used Red1's ability to turn his Bio Sword into the Fire Sword and used it to cut through the Guards like a hot knife through butter. Joe used Blue3's ability to turn his Bio Sword into the Elec-Sword and began to electrocute thaw Guards with every slash. Luka did similar to this by using Yellow4's ability to turn her Bio Sword into the Thunder Sword and sent one massive thunder bolt from it to electrocute an entire line of ten Guards. Not far from Luka, Don used Green2's ability to turn his blade into the Hurricane Sword and used it to blow the Guard near him across the treasure room with the mighty winds he created. Lastly, Ahim, used Pink5's ability to turn her sword into the Laser Sword and not only used it to cut through the guards spears but also cut through the guards themselves. While his crew were still cutting down Guards, Gai was wrapping up with sucking up the treasure inside the MagiLamp. Just a few more seconds to go and…there, Gai was finished. "Everyone!" cried Gai returning to his normal ranger form. "I'm done now!"

"Good!" cried Marvelous. "Everyone board GouJyuDrill, Now!" At their captain's command, the four pirates jumped in the air with Marvelous and pro formed another Gokia Change. "Jetman!" came from the phone this time as the Goakigers spread the wings of the Choujin Sentai and flew for GouJyuDrill. Gai jumped up to his mech at the same time as his crew made their change and all six pirates boarded the mech at the same time. Once inside, the core Gokaigers returned to their normal Ranger Forms as Gai took to his controls.

"Alright," said Gai taking his seat, "hang on." In one quick motion, Gai spun the ship wheels of his mech and made GouJyuDrill point directly upwards. After activating the drill, Gai began to dig through the roof of the treasure room. In little to no time, GouJyuDrill didn't just begin to drill through the roof but through Castle Zangyack itself. The Zangyack inside the castle scrambled for their lives as the mighty drill mech plowed through the castle. Once the GouJyuDrill had busted out and through the roof of the castle, Castle Zangyack began to collapse in onto itself. Weather or not the Grand Duchess survived the castle's cave in doesn't matter to the Kaizoku Sentai at the moment, because as they are making their way into outer space, the entire blockade had turned its attention to GouJyuDrill and began to open fire upon the mech.

"Get us out of here Gai!" commanded Marvelous as he hand Gai the TimeRed Ranger Key. Gai inserted the Key into his control panel and began to set a corse for the pirates. In a flash, a wormhole in time and space opened up and GouJyuDrill entered it. Once all of GouJyuDrill was inside, the wormhole closed around it and the Gokaigers escaped.

We will see where the Gokaigers went to later, right now let us go back down to Zangyack Prime where Merina and Marces are picking up the pieces of their now shattered lives. "H-how?" began Marces wondering through the rubble that was once the proud Castle Zangyack. "How did this happen? How did the Gokaigers managed to do this?"

"Because they are more cunning then we were willing to give them credit for." answered Merina who is at the moment, receiving medical attention for her stab wound. "I will allow the Gokaigers this victory today. But believe me Prime Minister, this war has only just begun. Rally every fleet, every soldier, every Action Commander we have. For tomorrow, we start hunting pirates."

And so ends Chapter 1. What do you guys think of the story so far? Leave a review if you'd please cause like would like to know.