Zoorangers

by Bionichute

When a group of mysterious creatures start wreaking havoc across Zootopia, Nick and Judy find themselves thrust into a legacy of heroes they never knew about, and must use new powers in order to save not only the city, but their whole universe. Features numbers of characters from across Super Sentai history. (Updates whenever I finish an episode)

37. Episode 36 - The Lion's Hunt

Episode 36 – The Lion's Hunt

The sharply dressed polar bear stepped out into the frozen night of Tundra Town. The sky was pitch black, clouds seeming to block out the stars. He plodded through the snow covered courtyard of the mansion, heading towards one of the limos parked out in the front.

He reached the limo, and pulled out his keys. Before he could unlock it, his ears picked something up. Someone running through the yard.

He turned around, and briefly managed to catch someone running behind the mansion. It was too large to be any of the residents, but too small to be any of the other "employees".

"HEY!" He shouted. "THIS IS PRIVAATE PROPERTY!"

There wasn't any response. The bear let out a grunt, and slipped the keys back into his pockets, before trailing the intruder. He rounded the corner, expecting to see someone.

But there was nothing.

The polar bear squinted, and then continued around to the back of the mansion, He entered the back garden, but there was still nothing. He looked around, confused.

"Hey, you looking for something?"

The bear looked behind him, and jumped as he saw an odd, clown like monster.

"Yeesh, don't have to be THAT scared." The monster said, shaking its head. "You know, I was looking for someone who came back here too!"

"A runaway circus member, perhaps?" The polar bear retorted.

"Well, less a 'member' and more a… volunteer."

The monster snapped his fingers.

"GET HIM, BOYS!"

The bear looked back, as suddenly more monsters had appeared. Around five odd green ones with horns, and they were all carrying a rather oversized tarp.

Before the bear could say anything, the monsters tossed the tarp over him, and quickly scooped him up into the bag. He let out a roar as he tried to get out, but even his claws couldn't seem to break through it.

"Alright, that's the last one." Yabaiba said to himself as the Orgettes dragged the bear off. "You're still going to help out, right?" He asked, looking over at someone.

Kyuemon appeared in a puff of purple smoke. "Yes, I am." He said. "I'm the only one who can figure out what's going on with those Zoorangers, but you need to follow my plan as well."

"That's why we're capturing these guys!" The Org continued. "I just have to write something down, and we can head back to the hideout."

Kyuemon shook his head. "You and your games. But I suppose this will be good enough."

"You know it!" Yabaiba said. "We'll have them all beat no problem!

"They'll NEVER see this coming!"

---

"Isn't it nice to be working on a Monday again?" Judy said as the two got comfortable on their shared, oversized seat.

"I'd usually be opposed to that, but this is much easier." Nick replied. "Usually we would've heard something by now, right?"

The rabbit nodded. "Maybe the monsters are just taking a break." She suggested. "Either way, we can relax for a bit."

Max was sitting several rows behind them, right next to Officer Delgato. He had his paw placed against his chin, and was scraping at the table with his claws.

"Max, don't do that." Delgato said, elbowing him.

"Oh, sorry." The wolf replied, stopping. "I kinda just do that when I'm bored."

"Why are you bored?" The tiger asked. "It's your first Monday here in months, you should be happy to get a break from fighting monsters."

"Yeah, I guess…" He sighed.

Bogo stomped through the door with little warning, and then up to the podium. "Alright, assignments." He said. The buffalo seemed to want to get this done quickly. "First up, Officers Hopps and Wilde."

The two sprang to attention almost immediately. Them getting called on first must have meant something big.

"Last night we received reports of four different mammals having gone missing." The Chief continued. "A black bear, a giraffe, an elephant, and a polar bear, all from different parts of the city." He pulled out a folder as the two hopped down from their chair.

He handed it to them, and they quickly headed out. "Wow, wow, WOW!" Judy let out. "Can you believe this? This is something BIG!"

"I wouldn't get that excited yet, lightfoot." The fox said, grabbing the folder from her. "Could just be a coincidence. Besides, how could someone go to every district in the city in one night?"

"That's what makes it suspicious!" She replied, as they headed outside.

Back in the bull pen, Max had gotten slightly excited. If Nick and Judy had gotten something big like that, that would mean Bogo trusted them, and by extension, trusted him. Maybe he'd get a big case too!

Minutes passed, and the wolf waited for him to be assigned to something. Most of the room had cleared out when he finally said his name.

"Wolford, Delgato," Bogo started. Max's ears popped up. "You two are assigned to…"

Max held his breath.

"Patrol."

The wolf let his breath out as a sigh, and the two officers quickly headed out as well.

"You seemed… disappointed, back there." Delgato said as they headed for their car.

"Man, I think I'm just too used to exciting things happening on Monday." Max said as they got into their seats. "I know that's weird, but, you know what I mean. I was just hoping for something… bigger."

"Think about it this way," Delgato said as he started up the car. "At least this job is easy."

"Right. Good point.

Back in Nick and Judy's cruiser, the two were going over the files.

"So, who are we looking for?" Nick asked as Judy sifted through them.

"Uh, hmmm." She muttered as she glanced over them. "An elephant who lives in Savannah Central, by himself, a giraffe who lives in Sahara Square for some reason, lives in an apartment by herself, a black bear who lives in the Rainforest District, only lives with his wife, and a polar bear from Tundra Town who lives with his son."

Nick quickly gave her a glance, and she shrugged in response. "So, we go talk to the wife, right?"

"That's already a dead end." Judy said. "She's the one who made the call when he didn't show up from work last night."

"What about the polar bear's son?"

"Same story." The rabbit said. "He just didn't show up at home, didn't come back from work."

"Alright, let me see those." Nick said, grabbing the folders from her. He started to flip through the files. "Lets see, who are their employers-"

Nick paused for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Judy asked.

"I know this polar bear."

The rabbit's eyes widened. "Who is he?"

"Koslov, one of the bears that works for Mr. Big." He explained, shutting the file. "He's the guy who carried Mr. Big around, remember?"

"Oh, so he's like, the head honcho of the goons?" She said.

"Yeah, basically." Nick replied. "We should go ask Big if he saw anything. Would be a good place to start."

Judy nodded, and started up the car.

---

A few minutes later, Wolford and Delgato were patrolling the city. It was almost as boring as Max had thought it was going to be, but at least he had someone to talk to. The two had parked the car in order to eat some donuts they had bought earlier, and that had quickly evolved in Max rambling.

"Seriously?" Delgato said, a bit shocked. "You guys fought a god last week?"

"Well, they just called him a god." The wolf continued. "I doubt he was actually a god. Just liked to destroy things. Besides, that wasn't even the weirdest part of that whole thing."

"How can it get weirder than fighting a god?" The tiger asked, with a bit of a laugh.

"Well, there was this weird lizard guy…"

As Max continued the tiger looked down at an alleyway, some kind of… creature, running into it. It was green, and hard to make out.

"Speaking of your monster fighting," He interrupted. "I think you might have to do some of that."

"What are you-"

The tiger pointed to the alleyway, the wolf glancing over at it. "Alright, let's go check out what's happening."

He quickly transformed into ZooSilver, while still inside the car, and got out. He looked back at the car, as Delgato got out while rubbing his eyes.

"Can you at least warn me the next time you do that?" The tiger said, annoyed.

"Oh, sorry." Silver apologized.

The two quickly headed over to the building next to the alley, and glanced around the corner of it. Down the alley was a gang of Orgettes, each holding a club, as well as a monster. But at the back of the alley was a small mammal, a yellow fox. The gang was closing in on the terrified fox.

"Kyle…?" Silver whispered to himself. "Alright, time to get to work."

"I'll just hang out back here." Delgato said, giving a quick thumbs-up and backing away.

Silver stepped into the mouth of the alley. "HEY!" He shouted out, pointing his blade at the monsters. "Get away from him!"

The main monster turned around, revealing its horrible visage.

It was bizarrely shaped, and seemed to be a mix of various different animals. The monster's head was stumpy, and seemed to be marked with a giraffe-like pattern of spots. These seemed to continue down the monster's back, down its legs, and covered most of its waist. The giraffe markings also crawled up a large spike in the middle of the beast's head, which curved forwards. The creature's face, while surrounded by the spots, was entirely purple, which formed into a stripe of purple, wrinkly skin that went from its head all the way to its crotch.

The face itself was marked with six different eyes, two sets of large, red ones on its actual face, and a much smaller pair located on a small giraffe head directly above them. It also carried two purple, devilish horns. Beneath the eyes was what looked like a mouth, though it didn't seem to have an opening. There were four small fang-shaped protrusions, closed in on either side by much larger yellow tusks, which also seemed to be growing out of its back. Even stranger, the tusks seemed to be coming out of a pair of elephant ears.

Its arms were strange as well. Both of its shoulders were marked with busts of a black bear and polar bear head. The polar bear head turned into some sort of whip-like appendage, silver and metallic blue, ending with a large spike. The other arm seemed much more organic, with white and black fur swirling around the upper arm to form into a half-white, half-black bear arm. Finally, its legs were shaped like a giraffe's, but much shorter, and were even complete with the peculiar hooves. However, purple spikes were bursting out of its knees.

Silver stepped back, shocked at the monster. He quickly shook it off, and stepped back forward. "Alright, monsters!" He shouted. "Prepare to have your eve of terror… ended!"

"It's nine in the morning!" Delgato shouted.

"I'm just trying to look cool, alright!?"

Silver growled, and then dashed into the fight. He quickly chopped at a few of the Orgettes, causing them to start spilling green ooze across the alleyway. Silver continued cutting through them as he reached Kyle.

"Oh, ZooSilver!" He said, sounding a bit surprised, but thankful.

"Don't worry, kid, I'll save you!" Silver said back. The Orgettes and the monster stomped forward as the wolf raised his sword, primed to protect the fox.

The chimera monster let out a roar as energy started to build up in its horns. Several lasers shot out of them, which Silver quickly blocked with his blade. He dashed forward, cutting through several more or Orgettes, before clashing with the monster's metal arm.

"What the heck are you supposed to be anyway!?" Silver asked as he pushed the arm back.

"CHIMERA… ORRRRRG!" It growled.

The monster was remarkably strong, pushing Silver back almost effortlessly. As Silver stumbled, the monster swung its arm, and knocked the wolf into the wall.

"Maybe you should call in for help!" Kyle yelled over to the struggling wolf. "This guy seems too strong for you to take care of on your own!"

"NO!" Silver shouted as he got up. "I can take this… thing!"

While Silver wasn't looking, Kyle gave a snide smile.

Silver quickly spun the guard of his sword around, causing it to yell out "HOT HOT SUN!". He then flung his blade at the monster, and a few of the remaining Orgettes. The minions were incinerated immediately, but before the fireball could even hit the Chimera Org, it held its bear paw up, causing a storm of ice to fly out from it.

The fireball froze almost instantly, and crashed to the ground, shattering into many, many pieces.

"That's, uh, that's not good." Silver said to himself. He quickly glanced over at the fox, who shot him a look of confusion. He then glanced back at the monster, which was raising its trunk arm, preparing to do something.

Probably not something good.

Silver leaped out of the way as the monster's arm extended, smashing into the brick wall behind the wolf. Silver ran over to Kyle, and quickly picked him up, and then dashed towards the exit of the alley. He ran out into the street, and spotted Delgato, who was sitting in the cruiser.

"RICH, START THE CAR!" Silver yelled as he ran towards it.

Delgato rolled down his window. "WHAT!?"

"START THE CAR, GODDAMN IT!"

He swung the door open as Delgato started the car, and quickly tossed Kyle into the backseat. The car quickly drove off as the Chimera Org stomped out of the alley. It let out a roar of frustration as the car drove off into the distance.

Max was breathing heavily as he untransformed, and started to slink down into his seat. "Max, what the hell happened?"

"The thing was strong." He said. "I had to get Kyle out of there somehow."

"Kyle?" Delgato said, a bit surprised. He glanced at the fox through the rear-view mirror. The fox seemed to be a bit dazed from all this himself. "You know this kid?"

"Yeah, he's our biggest fan." Max explained.

"that's technically true, I guess!" Kyle said, making himself comfortable.

"Why were those monsters attacking you?" Max asked, looking back at the fox.

He shrugged in reply. "I was just walking home, and they attacked out of nowhere!" He explained. "I don't know why, they just did!"

"Hmmm." Max muttered to himself. He let out a sigh, and continued. "Well, if you were heading home, we might as well take you back, right?"

"W-what?" Kyle said, suddenly sounding very nervous.

Max's ears twitched at that. If he was trying to go home, why would he sound like that? "So, you don't want us to take you home?"

"No!" The fox blurted out. He quickly seemed to try and cover it up. "I mean, yes, I mean…"

"Is there something you can't tell us?" Delgato asked, very softly.

"No! I'm… Uh…"

"If there's anything you need help with, then we can call protective services." The tiger continued.

"Oh, uh…" Kyle paused again for a moment. "I was… getting groceries, but the monsters attacked me before I could get to the store."

"I thought you said the monsters attacked you when you were trying to go home?" Max asked, skeptically.

"Uh, I forgot my wallet."

Max shook his head. "We're still taking you home. Where do you live, anyway?"

"Oh, it's a few blocks from here." He said.

"Like, a whole lot of blocks away from here."

---

The rabbit pulled the cruiser up to the snow covered mansion. They quickly got out, and stepped out into the snow. "Shame this place snows every few hours." Nick said as they walked through the yard. "Maybe we could've gotten some footprints."

"Footprints would be helpful, but I think asking the big cheese himself might be aa bit more helpful." Judy said as they walked up to the oversized door.

She knocked on it, not exactly lightly. The door suddenly creaked a tiny bit open, a polar bear looking through the crack between the doors.

"Hello!" Judy started. "We're here to talk to-"

The door quickly slammed shut.

"Mr. Big." She finished, ears drooping. However, before she could say anything, a smaller door at the base of the larger one opened up.

"We've been waiting." The polar bear on the other side said.

"That's not ominous at all." Nick muttered as they walked into the building.

They were very quickly lead to Mr. Big's office. Unlike the last two times, it was a… less violent trip. No grasping at throats, just one bear leading them down the hall.

Eventually, they were stood in front of the large desk, the portrait of Big's grandmama looking down over them. They made sure to stand slightly away from the desk, trying not to stand on the massive trap door.

Another polar bear, one that was definitely not the one that carried Mr. Big around the previous times they had met him, walked into the room, and placed Big down onto the desk.

"I keep tellin' you Kevin, you need to wash your hands more." Big said, as the bear looked down in shame. Big glanced over at the two officers. "Nice to meet your acquaintance once more, Mrs. Hopps."

Nick let out a quick cough.

"Not you, Nicky." Mr. Big said quickly. "I believe you two are here to investigate the disappearance of my right-hand man, Koslov?"

"Uh, yeah, we are." Judy said, slightly confused. "How did you-?"

"You really think I wouldn't expect the cops to show up after we reported it?" The shrew chuckled. "We specifically requested you two, as well."

"Uh, why?" Judy asked.

"Because of this." Mr. Big snapped his digits, causing the polar bear to step forward, and toss something to the ground, directly at the two's feet.

"I found this note last night." Big continued as Judy picked it up. "Its hard to say for sure, but it might be related to the missing bear."

The two officers examined it. It was a note of some kind, shaped like a rather normal piece of paper… except two of the corners curved up and inwards, forming paper horns. The note was mate of an odd material, rather disturbingly feeling like skin. Holding it felt wrong.

Being a note, there was a message written on it. The words seemed to be pressed into the paper, rather than written.

"Animal Fact: A polar bear can survive in ridiculously low temperatures! This part of the city doesn't even reach that limit, but what would happen if you broke past it? You better come and find this bear before he EATS IT!"

The end of the note was signed with a small face, sticking its tongue out at them.

It resembled Yabaiba's face.

"I don't really see what this has to do with the missing mammals." Nick joked.

Judy rolled her eyes, and elbowed him.

"Please find Koslov." Mr. Big said. "He's like family to me, and his family is like family to me."

"Don't worry, we'll find him ASAP." Judy said.

The started to head out, but were interrupted as Big spoke up again. "Oh yeah, and thanks for cleaning up my spare room! I can actually use that thing now!"

Nick and Judy looked at each other, and shook their heads.

The two quickly headed outside, back into the snowy courtyard. "So, what do you think this card… thing, means?" Nick asked as they stopped to look at it again. "Just gonna guess and say this is a monster plan."

"A rather small scale one." Judy said. She quickly read the note again. "Temperature… how low can a polar bear survive?"

Nick shrugged. "I'm not a polar bear. How would I know?"

"The only temperature stuff I know is that my cousins up north can somehow stand living in temperatures colder than it is now." Judy said.

"You have cousins up north?"

"My family tree isn't important right now." The rabbit quickly said. "This is definitely some kind of clue, but I don't really know what it means…"

"Maybe I can help you with that!"

The two turned around, looking up at the mansion's roof as a figure leaped down from it. There was a loud roar as he hit the ground.

The figure was another human, and definitely a Sentai Ranger. This one dressed up in an almost entirely red outfit, with golden highlights on rims of his white boots and gloves. A gold sash-like design ran down his chest, and next to it was a symbol with a stylized lion head on it. He also wore a golden belt, which was decorated with various different animals.

His helmet was almost definitely designed after a feline creature, presumably a lion judging by the symbol on his chest. The visor was rounded out, but had four small fangs pointing inwards. The sides of the helmet streaked back, most likely to resemble a mane, and left orange eyes at the top of the helmet open. There was also a grey marking at the bottom of the helmet, most likely a mouthpiece.

"Whoa, another one of these guys?" Nick said, surprised. "We just went through one of these things last week!"

"Nick, seriously!" Judy said, elbowing him again. She looked back up at the ranger. "Sorry for my friend, sir. You're a… Sentai Ranger, right?"

"Yep!" The Ranger said, pounding at his chest. "Name's Kakeru Shishi, but right now you can call me… GAORED!"

There was another lion roar as he said his name, which seemed to come from nowhere.

"Uh, alrighty." Nick said, a bit uncomfortable.

"AkaRed told me you guys were going to have to deal with an Org problem." He continued. "My team was called Hundred-Beast Sentai Gaoranger, and we fought against the Orgs."

"Great!" Judy said, excited. "So, you have some kind of special, secret way to track the Orgs, right?"

"Uh, sorry, I don't." He said. "At least, not right now I don't."

"Oh." Judy said, her ears dropping.

"But!" Kakeru started. "I can help you figure out this riddle!"

Her ears perked up again, as she quickly handed him the note. He read it out for a moment. "Hmm, well, the lowest temperature a polar bear can survive in is minus ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit…"

"Wow, you just know that offhand?" Nick said, genuinely impressed.

GaoRed nodded. "I'm a vet, so I know a lot about animals."

"I, uh, don't see the connection there." Judy said, confused.

"Oh, sorry, I'm a veterinarian." He corrected. The two looked at him weirdly. "You guys still don't know what that is, do you?"

They shook their heads.

"In my world, it basically means… animal doctor." He explained.

"Why didn't you just say that?" Nick asked.

"Its been my job for almost two decades, its weird not calling it by its title." He explained. "But that's not important, this note is the important thing."

"Right!" Judy said. "So, we know that polar bears can survive at… ridiculously low temperatures, but there has to be something else to this, right?"

"Yeah, all that helps us with figuring out is that he's somewhere in Tundra Town… which we already knew."

"Well, this part at the end is in capital letters." GaoRed Said. "So, maybe that has some relation? Something about the food polar bears eat, maybe?"

"Good thinking!" Judy said. "That must mean that Koslov was taken to some kind of… food place."

"Well, in my world, polar bears eat any other animals they can get their teeth on." GaoRed explained. "I'm assuming that they mostly eat fish here, right?"

"Yeah, they do." Nick said. He quickly glared at the Ranger. "What kind of hell world do you guys come from, anyway?"

"You two should know that already." Kakeru said. "But, like I said, that's not a big deal. If this Koslov guy is being captured somewhere, it's a place that's cold and has fish."

"Would that be the lake?" Judy asked. "There's lots of fish there, but you aren't really supposed to eat them."

"I'd be more willing to bet he's in a cold storage place." Nick suggested. "There's a few of them around town, but only one of them has exclusively fish."

"Good thinking, Nick!" Judy said. "Where is it?"

"The Barely Brother's Fish Storage, around Bank Street I think." He said.

"Alright, let's head out then!" Judy cheered.

"I'm coming with you guys!" Kakeru said, stepping through the snow. "I feel like I'll be a massive help."

"You guys usually are." The rabbit said, before the three headed out.

---

The cruiser was driving down the street, it had been for quite a while. "How far away is your house?" Delgato asked the fox seated in the back.

"Its an apartment at the edge of this district." He explained.

"We're only halfway there." Max sighed. "What if that monster attacks again?"

"I doubt that thing can move that quickly, Max." Delgato said.

"Right, I guess now." The wolf said as he slunk back into his chair.

"Hey, Max?" Kyle asked from the backseat. "Can I, uh, ask you a question?"

Max's ears twitched at this, and he looked back. "What kind of question?"

"Well, I don't know if this is too personal, but…" He took a deep breath. "I thought I heard about you guys getting a new member, but he didn't seem to be in any of the reports for last week."

Max thought for a moment. "Yeah, we did have a new member, but he quit." The wolf explained. "It was his choice, so I can't really fault him for it."

"Oh, alright." Kyle said with a sigh. "Does he still have the cool arm gadget on him?"

"Oh, no." Max continued. "We've actually been trying to find someone who can become our new member. It hasn't really been… successful."

"That sounds like an understatement from what you've told me." Delgato added.

"Yeah, it's been… difficult."

"So, you need someone to join?" Kyle asked, his ears perking up.

Max let out a sigh. "Listen, Kyle, I know what you're getting at. You're too young for this kind of stuff."

"Wasn't there a Zoo Rangers series with a kid in it?" Delgato quickly said.

"Yeah, but that's fiction." Max said. "It's not real."

"So, I can't join?" Kyle said, a bit disappointed.

"No, you can't." Max said. "We only have one shot at this, and you don't have any of the skills we need."

"Oh."

"Max, you're being a bit mean, are you alright?" Delgato asked, glancing over at the wolf.

Max seemed to be very angry, surprisingly. It wasn't a mood he usually saw the wolf in, and it was definitely odd. "I'm fine." Max quickly said, sitting up straight in his seat. "I'm just doing what I think is best-"

There was a sudden crash in front of the cruiser, and it quickly skidded to a halt, flinging all three passengers forward. The pavement in front of them had suddenly exploded, causing a massive cloud of dust to surround the car.

"What the HELL was that!?" Max yelled, his heart racing.

The dust quickly cleared, revealing the visage of the Chimera Org. It let out a roar, audible from even inside the completely closed off car, and started to stomp towards it.

"Back it up." Max ordered.

"Way ahead of you." Delgato said as he flicked the sirens on, and shifted the vehicle into reverse.

The cruiser sped off as the monster let out another roar, and thrusted its bear claw forward, firing out several purple bolts of energy. The tiger swerved the car around the blasts as best he could, several of the shots completely missing, but one managed to strike the side of the car.

"Shit!" Delgato yelled. "Did he hit the gas tank!?"

"Looks like it!" Kyle said, looking through the window. Max looked back as best he could, definitely seeing some oil trailing down the side of the cruiser.

"At least he didn't hit it directly." Max said. "Or else we'd all be dead."

"Well, there's at least that bright side!" Delgato said as he pulled the car back in the middle of an intersection, interrupting a few other vehicles. "We're taking a detour! It'll be longer, but hopefully we won't run into that goddamn thing!"

It quickly sped off down the road, the monster far behind it. The three relaxed for a moment, before Max spoke up again.

"If that thing's chasing us, then we'll definitely be seeing it again." The wolf said with a sigh. "I'll be on more alert, don't worry."

"Well, I doubt it'll be chasing the car that long." Delgato said. "That hit blasted a hole into the car, we're losing fuel really, really fast."

"How far do you think we can get?" Kyle asked, sounding worried.

"Maybe about… five, six blocks from here?" The tiger said. "We won't be able to make it to your house, and the monster might..."

"Don't worry," Max started, quickly transforming into ZooSilver. "I'll protect you guys."

"Hmm, sure you will." Kyle whispered, a sly grin growing across his muzzle.

---

The cruiser pulled up to the large cold storage warehouse, a massive steel building with a rather tacky sign showing two bears on it. "So, taking it that this is the place?" Judy said as Nick, Kakeru, and her got out of the cruiser.

"Yeah, this is it." Nick said.

"You know, that cruiser is surprisingly spacious." GaoRed said, lolling his head around as they headed for the entrance. "How exactly do you reach the pedals, anyway?"

"Oh, they're boosted up." Judy explained. "Little steel bits push the pedals up, so my feet can reach them."

"If only we could do that for cars in my world." GaoRed said.

The three stopped at the large steel doors. "How are we supposed to get in here?" Judy asked, pressing her paws against the doors. As soon as she touched them, a quick, cold pain went through them, and she stepped back in pain. "What the hell…?"

"What's wrong?" Nick asked.

"The door is… really, REALLY cold." She said. "Colder than it is out here."

"That's slightly disconcerting." Kakeru said. He thought for a moment. "Maybe that's what the note meant by going beyond the limit? Maybe Yabaiba lowered the temperature down to ridiculous levels!"

"But, that would mean if we went in there…" Judy started. "…We'd all die almost instantly!"

"Well, that's a problem." Nick said, nonchalantly. "Good thing I have a personal heater."

He quickly transformed into ZooRed, and pulled out the Vickscannon, before pointing it directly at the door. He quickly fired a blast, a massive fireball firing out and blasting the doors open. They were nearly knocked off their hinges by the projectile.

"Oh, wonderful." Judy said with a sigh. "You just caused property damage, you know."

"Wouldn't be the first time!"

The fox quickly strolled into the warehouse, and glanced around it for a moment. It was lined with shelves and shelves of different kinds of fish. A rather terrible smell broke through his mask, causing him to retch.

"OH GOD, I FORGOT ABOUT THE FISH SMELL!" He shouted.

"Idiot." Judy muttered.

The two quickly followed Red into the building, and were instantly hit with the cold. It was still absolutely freezing, more than it probably should have. "I c-can't move." Judy murmured.

"Oh, poop." Red said, walking over to her. "I forgot you don't have fire powers, sorry!"

"Don't worry, I can heat things up a bit." GaoRed said. He quickly pulled out a small dagger, with a white and golden handle. The middle of the dagger, before the blade, was a golden, sun like design that rounded a large hole. The dagger itself didn't even seem to be complete, having two very large holes in it.

GaoRed then pulled out a small, red orb, with something inside it. It looked like a figurine of a lion. He placed the orb in the dagger, causing it to glow for a moment.

"BEAST KING SWORD!" He shouted, raising it into the air. "GAO FLAME!"

The dagger lit up for a moment, before spewing out a wave of fire throughout the building. The place instantly warmed up, ice starting to melt down and flood across the floor.

"Well, that's one way to do that." Judy said, feeling herself warming up quickly. "We probably just ruined a lot of product, though."

"Not a big deal." The fox said. "Plenty of fish in the sea."

The three of them headed to the back of the cold storage, and were met with a rather odd sight as they reached the back wall. A rather old TV, sitting on a stand. Next to the stand was another one of the cards.

"Oh, great." Nick said, untransforming. "I was actually kind of hoping for a fight." He walked up to the card, and picked it up. Suddenly, the TV flickered on, surprising them.

Yabaiba appeared on the screen, standing in the middle of the cold storage the Rangers were currently in. "Is it on?" He asked, looking off-screen. "It is? Can you edit this out later? Alright."

He cleared his throat, and let out a laugh. "Greetings, Zoorangers!" He shouted. "I suppose you're wondering where that polar bear I said was here is! Well, the truth is, he isn't here!"

"Oh, great!" Judy shouted. "A dead end."

"But this isn't a dead end, in fact, its just the start of our little game!" Yabaiba continued. "If you continue to follow my clues, then you will eventually find out where the captive animals are being held! I've given you your first clue, so work on that! Toodles!"

He paused for a moment.

"Was that good? It was? Alright, time to go-"

The TV quickly flicked off.

"Was that… Yabaiba?" Kakeru asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah, we've been dealing with him for the last few months." Nick explained. "He's… and idiot."

"Not gonna disagree with that!" GaoRed replied. "He was around that stupid when my team fought him, too."

"Don't worry, you'll get to see him later." Judy said. She quickly turned to Nick. "What does the card say?"

The fox started to read it aloud.

"A giraffe's neck can reach incredible lengths, but this place reaches even farther than that. She'll never be able to get a nibble in this hot and sweaty city."

"Pff, who's he trying to fool?" Judy said, grabbing the card. "This is way easier than the first one! Its obviously somewhere in Sahara Square!"

"Yeah, and there's another food reference." Kakeru stated. "Giraffes eat trees, so it has to be at a really tall tree, right?"

"We knocked down the only tall tree I can think of." Nick said. His ears perked up. "Unless you count the Palm-Tree Casino!"

"Alright, solved it in three minutes!" Judy said. "Let's get going!"

The three quickly ran out of the building, but were left unaware of Yabaiba, who had poked his head out from behind one of the many shelves.

"What the heck is GaoRed doing here?" He muttered to himself as he stepped fully out from behind the shelf. He quickly shook his head. "Doesn't matter, he can't help stop my super great plan! Better go check out how Kyuemon's doing."

He took a step forward, and slipped on some water, falling onto his back.

---

The cruiser continued to drive through the roads, rather recklessly, as oil and fuel continued to drip out of the back of it.

"We're almost out of fuel." Delgato said, taking a quick glance at the fuel gauge. "We're only three blocks away, that thing could be on our tails still."

"That's a problem." Silver said. "But you guys don't have anything to worry about, I'll keep you safe, no matter what."

There was a sputtering noise as the car came to a halt. The tiger let out a long sigh. "At least this is property of the city and I don't have to worry about it." He said with a slight laugh.

There was a sudden crash again, and the three looked out their windows. The Chimera Org had crashed through the wall of a building next to them, and stomped closer. A crowd of Orgettes were trailing behind it.

"You guys stay here." Silver said, getting out of the car. He pointed his blade at the monsters, and dashed into the fight.

The wolf leaped over the monster itself, and landed in the middle of the crowd of Orgettes. They started to swarm on him, preparing to bash him with their clubs. Silver quickly spun around, slashing through a several of them. The force of the slash caused the rest of the Orgettes to be knocked over, with them all scrambling to get back up.

Silver turned back to the monster, which quickly raised its trunk arm into the air. It stretched upwards as the monster prepared to swing it downwards. As it did, Silver leaped out of the way, leaving the trunk to cleave through the building behind him.

The monster's arm started to retract slowly, leaving it open for Silver to attack. He dashed in and started to slash at the monster with his blade. After several slashes, the monster blocked a slash with his paw, and then backhanded the wolf away. Its arm finished retracting, and it turned to the wolf as he got back up.

Suddenly, the Orgettes started to swarm onto him, dropping their clubs as they did so. Silver slashed at a few of them, causing them to burst into goo, but several managed to latch onto him, holding his arms back. Silver struggled, but the Orgs wouldn't let go.

The monster stomper forward, energy gathering at its claw. It quickly fired a purple energy ball at Silver, who used all his strength to flick the Orgettes grabbing onto his arm in front of him. The blast hit them instead, causing them to explode. Silver pulled his other arm from the Orgs, and slashed at the ones on his legs. He stumbled back as the monster stepped forward and swung its trunk arm at him. He barely managed to dodge.

"MAX, YOU CAN'T TAKE THEM!" Delgato yelled. Silver looked over, and saw that him and Kyle had gotten out of the car.

"WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Kyle shouted.

Silver glanced back at the monster, who quickly swept at him. It was a direct hit, sending the wolf flying directly into the car. The vehicle caved in as Silver hit it, and he fell to his knees as he hit the ground.

Delgato ran over, and lifted him up, before quickly running off, Kyle following behind.

"I… could've taken them…" Max mumbled as the three ducked into an alley.

"No, you couldn't." Delgato said. "You were trying to take on a monster by yourself, that was crazy!"

"I'VE DONE IT BEFORE!" Silver shouted, pushing himself off of the tiger. "I CAN DO IT AGAIN!"

"Christ, calm down!" Delgato said. "What's up with you!?"

Silver fell silent for a moment, letting out heavy breaths. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

"So, those guys are still coming after us!" Kyle said. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"

Silver looked back at the alleyway. There was a fence, which none of them could get over.

Except for him.

"Hold on." Silver said, holding his arms out. Delgato grabbed on, and Kyle leaped up to hang from the wolf's arm. Using all his strength, Silver leaped up into the air, at least two stories high, and crashed down at the other side of the fence.

"That was easy, wasn't it?" Silver said with a laugh as the two let go.

"Yeah, we overcame a simple obstacle." Kyle said, almost mockingly.

"Excuse me?" Silver retorted, glaring down at the fox.

"I bet if Nick and Judy were here, they'd have been able to defeat that monster no problem." Kyle continued.

"Yeah, what makes you say that!?" Silver said. "I've saved their asses MULTIPLE times by now!"

"How many times have you done it recently?" Kyle question.

"Are you two seriously doing this right now?" Delgato said, facepawing.

"Well, I… uh…" Silver hesitated for a moment. "I still help them out all the time, I'm strong enough to take care of a single monster!"

"Didn't look like it to me."

"Can you two just stop it!?" Delgato growled. "We're STILL being chased, and with you two bickering we aren't getting anywhere! We need a plan!"

"Right. Plan." Silver said. He thought for a second. "Alright, if we can get to the station, we should bee fine. Isn't that far from here, either!"

"Guess that's a decent plan." Kyle said. "Wouldn't stop the monster from chasing us there, but…"

"Shut it, that's what we're doing." Delgato said. There was a sudden clanging noise as he finished. The three looked over their shoulders to spot the Chimera Org and the Orgettes at the fence.

Several of the Orgettes were starting to climb the fence.

"Alright, we're out of here!" Silver shouted, and the three ran off.

---

"Wow, look at how big that thing is!" Kakeru shouted as the three approached the massive pal-tree shaped building.

It was a regular tourist attraction, housing a massive casino and a hotel, alongside many restaurants. The unique shape of the building helped as well, and its size made it one of the easiest to spot buildings in the whole city.

"If you think its impressive," Nick started, "You should see it from down here!"

They walked up to the doors, a rhino bouncer blocking the way.

"Licenses?" He said, looking down at the three

"I think I have it somewhere in here…" Nick said, pulling out his wallet.

"Nick, seriously?" Judy said, baffled.

"What?"

She pulled out her own wallet, and flashed her police badge at him.

"Oh, right."

"We're here on police business." Judy said to the rhino.

"Oh, alright." The rhino said, before looking up at GaoRed. "What about you? You have a license?"

"Me?" Kakeru said, pointing at himself. "I don't, uh…"

"He's with us." Judy said. "Now, if you please…"

The rhino stepped out of the way, and the three headed into the ground floor, the casino area. It was a cacophony of noise, and a barrage of lights, as mammals of all kinds spun slot machines and machines went off. The place was lined with hundreds of slot machines, and an entire restaurant's worth of poker tables. In the back was a small restaurant itself, which had even less seating than the gambling area did. The entire area was particularly garish.

The noise was too much for the rabbit, who pulled her ears down as soon as they entered.

"Too loud for you, Carrots?" Nick joked.

"There's a reason I don't go to casinos!" She yelled.

"There should be somewhere quiet, right?" Kakeru asked. "Maybe we should head up a few floors!"

Nick nodded, and the three ran towards the elevator, located past rows of slot machines. The out of place steel doors slid open. Kakeru hit the button for floor three, and it started to move.

"Better?" Nick asked as the rabbit let go of her ears.

"Still ringing, but otherwise fine." She said. "So, where are we supposed to look for this clue here? I hope its not back down there…"

GaoRed thought for a moment. "The card said something about a giraffe's neck length…" He started. "The longest recorded reach is around… six feet."

"And that means what?" Nick asked.

"The sixth floor!" Judy responded. She quickly ran over to the elevator controls, and jumped up to press the button for the sixth floor.

The elevator continued to go up, at a distressingly slow pace. After a brief stop at the third floor, the elevator continued.

"Hey can I ask you something?" Nick started, turning to Kakeru.

"Sure, ask me anything."

"What's that weird orb you had?" He asked. "With the little lion in it."

"Oh, that's a Gao Jewel." He started, pulling it out. "This lets me connect my spirit to my Power Animal, and gives me my powers."

"And, what exactly is a Power Animal?" The fox continued to ask.

"A Power Animal is…" He thought for a moment. "A spirit of the Earth, a protector of nature that defends all from evil threats. They look like giant robot animals."

"Cool."

The elevator finally stopped, and they got out, continuing down the hall.

"The next clue is probably in a room." Nick said. "The question is which one…"

"Uh, pretty obvious." Judy said, pointing towards an open door.

The three walked up to it, and read the number. Room number six-zero-six.

"Of course." Nick said with a sigh.

They went into the room. It was a fairly standard looking hotel room, but there was one definitely odd thing. The window was wide open, the curtains blowing in the wind.

"It looks like they were here recently." Judy said.

"Now we just have to find the clue!" Kakeru said. "And I bet I know where it is…"

The lion Ranger quickly ran at the window, and much to the shock of the two mammals, he performed a flip and jumped out the window.

"KAKERU!" Judy yelled, as the two ran to the window.

As they reached it, GaoRed poked his head over the window sill. "Hey, sorry for surprising you there."

"That was TERRIFYING!" Judy blurted out, before the two paused. "… How are you doing that?"

GaoRed held up one of his hands, revealing golden claws at their tips. "My claws let me climb any surface!" he explained. "I'll be back in a second, the clue should be somewhere around here."

His head popped back down, and they heard the sound of scraping against the building. This went of for a few minutes, before Kakeru slipped in through the window, holding the clue card.

"It was under one of the panels." He said. "Let's see what we have here…"

He started to read the card.

"Elephants are some of the heaviest creatures on the planet. They're said to have good memories as well, but not only will this bit of history stick around in the city even longer than one, it's even heavier too! Maybe this trip will help you get some WEIGHTS off your minds!"

"So, that has something to do with the city's history, definitely." Nick said. "Where do you think that means?"

"Not sure," Judy started. "There's a lot of historical places around the city, but… Hm…" She shook her head, and shrugged.

"Not sure this will help, but an elephant can weigh up to six thousand pounds." Kakeru stated. "With that weight, the only thing it could be is some kind of monument."

"Still doesn't limit it." Judy stated. "But… if there's anywhere that's historical in the city, its in the museum in Savannah Central."

"That's as good as any place to start." Nick said. "Let's get going-"

There was a sudden loud noise, and screaming from outside the window. "Oh great, what is it now?" The fox sighed.

"Probably trouble." GaoRed said. "I can sense… something downstairs."

The three quickly headed back to the elevator, and headed down to the first floor. As the door slid open, they were met with disaster.

The slit machines and tables had been knocked over, some destroyed, and a number of mammals, large ones included, were laying across the ground. In the center of the mess was a horrible monster, the Chimera Org.

It turned towards them, and let out a roar.

"What the hell is that thing!?" Nick shouted.

"The Chimera Org!?" GaoRed said, surprised. "That monster was created from four of our stolen Gao Jewels years ago, how is it-?"

The monster let out an even louder roar, and thrust its trunk arm forward. It extended out and towards them at ludicrous speeds. The three quickly leaped out of the elevator as the arm impaled right through the steel of the elevator. It quickly retracted back as the elevator fell down the shaft.

"This might be some trouble." Judy said.

The two quickly transformed, and pulled out their melee weapons. GaoRed pulled out his dagger, and the three rushed at the monster.

Red leaped up at the chimera, preparing to swing his sword at it, but the monster swiftly knocked him down with its trunk. Blue attempted to follow up the blow by slashing the monster's legs, but it flung the trunk directly in her path before she could. The monster swung it again, knocking her away.

GaoRed ran in next, and actually managed to get several slashes through the monster's defences. He quickly stopped with the dagger slashes, and then started to slash at the monster's face with his claws. The beast stumbled back, allowing Blue and Red to recuperate themselves and go in for another attack.

They both leaped and slashed at the monster's middle, causing sparks to shoot off as it stumbled back. The monster quickly got up, and started to spin the trunk arm around, causing it to spread out. GaoRed ducked down as it swung over his head.

"Alright, lets rush him!" GaoRed suggested. "If we attack his legs all at once, we can knock him down and finish him.

"You sure you can do that?" Blue asked. "It looks like it'd be a bit… awkward?"

"Yeah, I can do it." GaoRed said. "Trust me on that!"

Blue glanced at Red, and they both shrugged. The two braced themselves, and then ran at the monster. GaoRed rushed past both of them, running on all fours and with his dagger attached to the mouth of his helmet, somehow. He stopped at the monster's feet, just as it seemed to notice him, and the Gaoranger started to slash at his legs with his dagger.

The Org roared again, but was interrupted as Red and Blue ran to the sides of the monster, and slashed at its legs as well. The pain caused it to stop spinning its trunk arm, and quickly fall over onto its back.

It struggled as GaoRed got up, and glanced over at the two Zoorangers. "Time to finish this!" He said. "Strike at the same time as me!"

The two nodded, and raised their blades alongside GaoRed. They quickly brought them down, through the monster's body. It let out one more roar as it vanished into a burst of purple mist startling the three.

"The heck was that?" Red asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah, it should've exploded." Blue said. "Not… vanished."

"There's definitely something strange going on." Kakeru said. "Maybe we'll figure out more if we find the next clue?"

"Good idea." Blue said. "I feel like there's more to this than just a kidnapping."

"Hey, why don't we call up Max?" Red suggested. "It says he's transformed right now, so we can probably call him. More mammal-power would be good."

"I'll radio him up." Blue said, placing her paw next to her helmet. She let out a screech as she clutched her head and stumbled.

"Whoa, what happened?" Red asked, trying to help the rabbit back up.

"There was horrible static!" She said. "Something's blocking our communicators."

"Hmm." GaoRed let out, thinking. "That's definitely strange."

"We'll figure out what's happening later." Blue said. "Let's just head out before there's another monster attack."

---

The three runaway mammals were currently heading through an industrial section of the city, surrounded by rusted pipes and empty steel buildings. They quickly ducked into the corner, behind a loose sheet of tin.

"I didn't even know we had an industrial section." Delgato said as they sidled up next to the tin.

"I didn't either, to be honest." Silver said. "Guess I never really explored it that much."

The three quickly ducked down as the sound of mumbling became audible, alongside loud stomps. The monsters were starting to get closer.

"Hey, Max," Kyle started, whispering. "Why don't you try to call the other Zoorangers?"

"Because I can do this myself." He angrily whispered back.

"No, Kyle has a point." Delgato said. "If you don't stop being stubborn, then we'll all be dead."

The wolf fell silent for a moment, and then placed his paw to his helmet. "Guys, I could really-" Before the wolf could finish, he let out a screech of pain. The mumbling and stomping started to get louder, the monsters knew where they were now.

"Oh god!" Delgato shouted, quickly helping the wolf up. "What the hell just happened!?"

"Horrible… static." He mumbled. "It didn't sound like anything I'd heard before."

"Uh, guys?" Kyle said.

Silver looked over as a few Orgettes jumped into his view. Despite his head ringing, Silver pulled out his sword, and leaped forward, slashing the Orgettes until they were goo on the floor.

He ran out, directly into the sights of the rest of the monsters, including the Chimera Org, and quickly switched his sword to Moon Mode. He lashed it forward multiple time, whipping the Orgettes surrounding the Org, causing them to fly back.

The whip quickly retracted, and the wolf backed away as the monster stomped forwards while letting out another roar. Silver quickly spun the blade around again, this time to Sun Mode, and slashed to forwards a few times. Fireballs flew out, and homed in on the monster.

However, the Chimera Org held its bear paw up, causing a flurry of ice to surround it. The fireballs froze again, and crashed to the ground. Silver hesitated for a moment, before dashing in to attack the Org directly. He slashed and slashed at the monster, but it seemed to keep blocking him with its steel arm or paw. After one more failed strike, the monster knocked the sword back, and punched Silver.

The wolf stumbled back, as the Org quickly smacked him in the face with his trunk arm before he could even react. This was quickly followed by a knee to his stomach, and then a slash to his chest. The monster then whacked him over the head with his trunk arm, causing the wolf to fall to the ground. He was almost instantly met with a powerful kick to his jaw.

The force of the kick caused the wolf to fly through the air, crashing into a pipe. Steam burst from it as he climbed back to his feet and stumbled forward. He raised his blade again, preparing to continue to confrontation.

"Max, stop!" Delgato yelled. "You can't take him yourself, idiot!"

The wolf fell silent, before letting out a grunt of pain. The monster stepped forward one more time, before the wolf bolted off, the tiger and fox quickly following behind him. The monster let out another roar, and started to chase after them.

The three continued to run, quickly climbing up a set of rickety, rusted stairs attached to a long abandoned warehouse. Silver quickly opened the door, and the three went in.

"Just stay quiet for a bit." Delgato said to the young fox. Kyle gave a quick nod.

The tiger looked over at Silver, who was huddled up to an old mattress. "Max, are you alright?" He asked, sitting down next to him. The wolf didn't respond, but there was a faint sound.

He was crying.

Before the tiger could say anything, Kyle spoke up. "Guys, we're actually farther away from the police station now." He said, looking at his phone. "What are we going to do."

Delgato looked at Silver, and then back at the fox.

"I don't know."

---

The three Rangers arrived at the museum. As they walked through the entrance, Judy got a chill as they passed the large pit in the middle. It reminded her of how close her and Nick had come close to being killed.

She took a deep breath as they walked by, and looked around. There were a few mammals scattered about, enjoying the exhibits.

"So, the clues are pointing to it being around here." GaoRed said. "I mean, maybe."

Nick started to pace around, and let out a shrug. "I swear, there's something here that make me want to say this is where we need to be."

"Me too." Judy continued. "There's just… something. If we had come here more often, maybe we would know."

"Wait, you guys haven't been to your city's own museum?" Kakeru asked, slightly surprised. "Think about all the culture you're missing!"

"Yeah, we almost got killed her a few years back." Nick said, rather bluntly. "Made it kind of a sore spot."

"Oh, that's… Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine." Judy assured him.

GaoRed looked around. "You know; I could stay here for a long time." He said. "All this stuff about the evolution of mammals in this world, the history, I really want to learn about it."

"I'd love to do the same with your world." Judy admitted. "But we don't really have time for that, every moment we waste is us getting farther away from the kidnapped mammals."

"Yeah, and I'd like this to not last a week." Nick said.

"You guys say you saw something that might match the clue right?" GaoRed asked. "Which parts of the museum did you see when you were chased?"

Judy thought for a moment. "We were in here, and in a back hall with a…" her ears popped up. "THAT'S IT!"

She quickly dashed off, the others quickly following behind.

They ran into a hallway near the back of the museum. Right by the subway tunnel entrance. Sitting right in the middle was a massive statue of a stone-age mammoth, a direct ancestor of an elephant.

"It's a stone statue of an elephant, so it's way heavier than a real one!" Judy said as the three ran up to it.

They stared for a moment.

"So, where is it?" Nick asked.

"Uhhhh…" She glanced around for a moment. "Let's try at the base."

The three walked down the stairs, and stared at the square stand the mammoth was standing on. Still, there was nothing.

Judy let out a sigh as her ears dropped down. "Sorry, I thought this would be the right place."

"It's alright." Nick said, patting her on the head. "Maybe we need to look somewhere more open, like a park…"

The three started back up the stairs, Judy trailing behind. She was sure that this would be it, it matched the clue even. She let out another sigh, and stepped forward.

And stepped on something.

It jabbed into her paw, causing her to let out a squeak of pain. "You alright?" Kakeru said, looking down at her from mid-way up the stairs.

"Yeah, I just stepped on this…" She lifted her foot, and glanced down at what she had stepped on. It was a piece of white stone, matching up with the statue in front of her. As she looked at it, she noticed a trail of the stones, trailing behind the statue's base.

"…This chunk of the statue!"

"Excuse me?" Nick said, before she bolted towards the statue's base. Nick jumped up and grabbed onto the stone railing, and glanced down at the rabbit. GaoRed quickly followed.

They watched as she ran across the base, and headed around to the back. She let out a loud "AHA!", before somehow disappearing into the base. A moment later, she came out, carrying the card.

"THERE WAS A HOLE IN IT!" She shouted up. "THEY DUG A HOLE, AND HID THE CLUE THERE!"

"Nice detectiving, Carrots!" Nick said, after letting himself down from the railing.

Judy quickly dashed up the stairs, Nick and Kakeru quickly following behind. They stopped at the top of the stairs, and Judy started to read the message.

"Ugh, so you actually managed to get this far? Oh well, you still have one more clue, so don't get wet! Bears can hold their breath for quite a while, but you'll need to hold it for even longer than that to find this clue!"

"I feel this one is pretty easy." She said, tossing the card away. "Judging by how each of the clues has been hidden in each of the four districts, this last one is probably in the Rainforest District!"

"Yeah, and the references to water help that theory." Nick added.

"Bears can hold their breath for two minutes." Kakeru said. "Which means the clue has to be hidden somewhere with a lot of water."

"There is a lake in the Rainforest District." Judy said. "That's probably where it is."

"There's actually, like, a dozen lakes there." Nick corrected. "But if we're going with landmarks, I'd say Lake Okukhulu. It's the largest one, has a few restaurants near it. Nice place, actually."

"So, tourist attraction, yeah." Judy said.

The three quickly ran out back to the main entrance of the museum. As they headed for the exit, Judy noticed something strange. All the mammals who were there previously had just suddenly vanished.

"Uh, where did everyone go?" Judy hesitantly asked as the three approached the exit.

"What?" Nick said, turning around and looking around. "Oh yeah, there were visitors here, weren't there?"

"Wait…" Kakeru said. "I'm sensing something again. It's…"

There was a very familiar roar, as the Chimera org leaped out of the pit in the middle of the room, and crashed down in front of the three.

"What the-!?" Nick shouted. "Didn't we beat this guy already!?"

"There's definitely something up!" Judy said, before her and Nick transformed into ZooRed and ZooBlue. "Let's deal with this thing quickly so we can find out just what's exactly happening sooner than later!"

The three rangers pulled out their weapons, and rushed at the monster, who seemed to just be standing still. Blue leaped through the air first, slashing at the chimera with her daggers rapidly as she leaped by. Red followed up with a heavy slash from his blade. GaoRed came in last, and rapidly slashed at the monster's face with his own blade.

None of these attacks seemed to have any effect on the beast.

It let out a grunt, before thrusting its bear paw forward, launching GaoRed away. It then jumped up and slammed both of its feet into the ground. The impact left a massive crack around the beast, and launched Red and Blue away.

The fox and rabbit crashed into the ground, and Red quickly sat up, shaking his head. "I'm pretty sure those worked last time."

"Did he get… upgraded, kinda?" Blue asked as she got up.

"I think I know what's going on." GaoRed said, stepping forward. "He's using the power of whatever animal the clue was based around. Last time he was stretching his arm out like a giraffe's neck, and he's as strong as an elephant!"

"So, how exactly are we supposed to beat him like this?" Red asked.

"Pretty simple, actually." GaoRed continued. "We just need to hit him harder!"

He quickly held his hand up, revealing that he was holding a strange gauntlet. It was shaped like a feline head, streaked back and smooth, and most likely modeled after a lion. It had similar black markings to GaoRed's helmet, and a golden wing-like design on the sides. His hand seemed to fit well into it, as he moved the jaw of the gauntlet in and out, creating a chomping effect.

"Lion Fang!" He shouted, before leaping forward.

The lion ranger delivered a swift punch to the monster's face, causing it to stumble back. The monster's feet plodded off the edge of the pit, causing it to fall back in.

He glanced at Red and Blue. "You guys have hard-hitting weapons, right?" He asked.

"I got something like that!" Blue said, pulling out a ZooTag. She quickly plugged it in to her Zoolizer.

"LET'S MORPHIN'!
GET FIGHTIN'!
DON DON BAM!
BUSTER BOXERS!"

The two boxing gloves appeared on her paws, right before the monster leaped back up. Before it could even hit the ground. Blue used all of her speed to run and jump, landing on top of GaoRed, before launching herself up and delivering a swift uppercut to the monster.

The blow knocked it off course, causing the beast to fall back to the ground. Blue landed back on the ground, GaoRed meeting up with her.

"You wanna join in?" The rabbit asked the fox.

"No thanks, I think you guys can handle this." He said, giving a quick double thumbs-up. "Besides, I don't have anything like those."

Blue looked back at the monster, watching as it unsteadily got back to its feet. "Let's finish this sucker off, shall we, Kakeru?"

"Yeah, I've been ready this whole time!"

The two raised their punching weapons up as far as they could, before dashing at the monster. Both of them leaped into the air at the same time, and struck at the exact same time. They seemed to punch directly through the chimera's body, as they skid to a halt behind it.

The beast started to spark, and it let out another grunt as it disappeared into more of the purple mist.

"I feel like I've SEEN that somewhere." Judy said as she untransformed. "That mist is something one of the bad guys use, right?"

"Yeah, I think so." Nick said, also as he untransformed. "Wasn't it, like, that Kyuemon guy's thing?"

"Kyuemon?" Kakeru asked, putting away the Lion Fang. "So, you're saying that Yabaiba is working with another villain?"

"I mean; we can't exactly confirm that." Judy said, crossing her arms. "But right now, it definitely seems likely."

"When was the last time we actually SAW Kyuemon?" Nick asked, genuinely wondering. "I feel like it's been ages."

Judy thought for a moment. "You're right, that is weird. Usually these villains love to make themselves obvious." She shook her head. "Let's head to the Rainforest District, maybe the last clue will lead us to some answers."

The other rangers nodded, and they quickly headed out of the museum.

---

Back in the abandoned warehouse, Silver, Delgato, and Kyle were still hiding from the monsters. It had been a while since they had hidden in the place, but there didn't seem to be any sign of the monster's knowing where they were.

"You feeling alright, Max." Delgato said. He was still sitting next to the wolf, who seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"Yeah, I'm… fine." He said. "I was just a bit… frustrated back there."

"It's alright." The tiger said.

"I feel like this is all my fault, though." Silver said. "I have to protect you guys, but I just… I can't. Not without help, at least."

"Shame about your radio not working." Delgato said with a sigh. He thought for a moment, and then looked back at the wolf. "Hey, don't you have the numbers for those SPD guys?"

Max's ears popped up as he untransformed. The wolf quickly pulled out his phone, and called up Emily.

"Yo, Max!" The hyena said as the screen flicked on. It looked like she was at an outdoor diner. "How's it going?"

"Oh, pretty well, how are you?" He asked, somewhat obliviously.

"Taking my break day off, y'know?" She said. "Nice to not have to fight monsters for a while."

"Oh, yeah, I'd love to not be doing that right now!"

She glared at him through the phone. "…Where ARE you?" She stared at him for a moment. He was beaten and bruised, several blood clots lining his fur. He even had a slightly swelled eye.

"Hiding out in an abandoned warehouse, trying to avoid being killed by a monster."

"Jesus Christ, Max, that's not something to be casual about!" She shouted. "Where the hell are you, I'll get Henry and we'll come and help."

"Uh, industrial district, somewhere near-"

"Industrial district by Hill Street, right?" She said. "I know where that is, I'll come get you in a second."

"Wait, did you know that we had an industrial district?" Max asked, a bit surprised.

"You didn't?" She said, confused. "Whatever, just hold on for a bit."

She hung up.

"Well, now we just need to… not die for the next however long." Max said.

"We've been doing well for the last bit." Delgato stated. "The monster's are probably long gone by-"

There was a loud banging at the door of the warehouse, and the three mammals quickly got up. They started to back away as there was another bang. Max held out his arm, signalling Delgato and Kyle to get behind him. The wolf transformed, and pulled out his sword.

He was a bit unsteady, however. Max himself knew he wouldn't be able to put up much more of a fight against the monster, but he had to hold out as long as he could.

There was one last bang, which quickly turned into a crash as the doors of the warehouse flew off their hinges and smashed into the ground. The Chimera Org stomped in, and let out another roar. Another gang of Orgettes were following it.

Silver took a deep breath, and dashed forward. He quickly switched his blade to Eclipse Mode, causing time to freeze for a moment. He quickly stepped around the monster, and started to slash through the Orgettes. If video games had taught him anything, it was best to take out the small fries first.

Having slashed through the minions, and with one moment left before time restarted, Silver spun around, and jabbed his blade into the back of the Chimera Org.

Time quickly resumed, an explosion of slime bursting from behind the Org. The chimera itself was flung forwards by Silver's blow, and started to writhe on the ground.

"Maybe you're not as tough as I thought!" Silver taunted, though he knew he had just gotten lucky. "I'll deal with you no problem!"

The monster got back up, and let out a much, MUCH louder roar, causing all three mammals to have to cover their ears. The chimera then held its bear paw into the air, causing a purple ball of energy to form. This was much larger than the previous energy orbs it had thrown… but it didn't seem keen on actually throwing the projectile.

Instead, it placed the ball on the tip of its trunk arm, the curvature of it fitting precisely around the orb. It then hardened, and dropped to the ground with a loud thud. The Chimera Org let out another roar, before it started to whip its trunk arm above its head, like a ball and chain.

Or rather, a wrecking ball.

The monster's arm stretched out, beyond the confines of the warehouse as it crashed and tore through the flimsy walls. As the ball swung around, it continued to shred the warehouse's walls, until there was nothing left above them. It seemed to be preparing for something, something that Silver didn't want to find out.

The wolf quickly rushed at the monster as it continued to spin the ball around. He thrust his rapier forward, clashing right through the monster's skin, to zero effect. He pulled his sword out, causing the monster to let out a gruff laugh. Silver caught a quick glance of its arm. It had stopped moving.

Silver looked up, right as the wrecking ball came down on him.

The ball crushed him under its weight, leaving the wolf twitching in a crushed pit of pavement.

"MAX!" Delagto shouted. The monster quickly spun around, and launched its arm at the tiger. Knocking him out instantly.

"Oh no!" Kyle shouted. "Now I'm the only one left, whatever will an innocent child like me do?"

He started to laugh, as purple smoke covered his body. In a few seconds, Kyuemon had replaced the fox. "Excellent job, Chimera Org." He complimented, the monster simply grunting in response.

The fox yokai walked over to the body of Silver, and placed his hand on the wolf's chest. "Good, still alive." He said. "We don't want him dead just quite yet. He'll make excellent bait."

Kyuemon performed several quick hand motions, as Silver's body began to rise up into the air. He glanced over at Delgato's body, and performed the same motion. "Actually, both these two will make fine bait."

"Come," The yokai said, swishing his arm and creating a dark portal. "Yabaiba is waiting for us."

The yokai and the Org, followed by the floating, but unconscious, bodies of the wolf ranger and the tiger officer, walked into the portal, which quickly vanished.

---

"So, this is the place he said?" The bull asked as he and the hyena walked through the industrial district.

"Well, he said the industrial district," Emily started. "And this is the only one of those in the city, so probably!"

They wandered around for a moment, before coming across a rather distressing sight. A warehouse… or rather, half of one. The entire top half of it had just completely vanished somehow, like it had been torn up by a shredder.

"So, you think that's where Max was?" Henry asked as they approached the ruined building.

They stepped inside, and noticed a large imprint on the ground. The ground was pushed upwards, but there was the vague shape of a mammal in the middle of it.

"Uh, yeah, probably." Emily guessed. "This is… pretty bad, isn't it?"

"Oh, definitely." Henry said. He quickly pulled out his phone. "I'm going to call up Nick and Judy, see if they know anything."

He quickly dialed Nick's number. He quickly answered, his camera turning on. It looked like he was on the sky train. "Henry?" He said, confused. "What are you-"

"We have some probably really terrible news." Henry said. "Em got a call from Max saying he was in danger, and when we got to where he was supposed to be, he wasn't there."

"WHAT!?" Judy yelled from off camera. She quickly snatched the phone from the camera, panic showing in her face. "What happened to him!?"

"We don't know." Henry said. "We just found what is almost definitely a battle site, and an imprint in the ground that looks like him."

"Yeah, definitely him." The hyena said, examining ground a bit more closely. "Did you guys get a call from him?" She asked, turning to the phone.

"No, we didn't." Nick said through the speaker. "Judy tried to, but there was some sort of interference."

"It REALLY hurt."

"Maybe it was a two-way interference?" Henry suggested. "There could have been something blocking your radios."

"What would be blocking them?" Nick asked.

"Considering he somehow ended up in the industrial district, he had to have been running around." Emily said. "Which means whatever was blocking the transmission was following him around."

"Wait, we have an industrial district?" Judy said over the phone. "Why do we even have one of those?"

"It's stuff they haven't paved over yet." Nick explained. "Thanks for letting us know, guys. There's something weird going on, we'll let you in on anything we find out."

The bull nodded, and hung up. He glanced at the hyena. "We probably have some time to kill, anything you want to do?"

"Man, I haven't had lunch yet." Emily said. "Let's get something to eat."

---

The three rangers arrived at the edge of the massive lake. It definitely was large, and with roughly a pear shape to it. There were several buildings lining the lake, and the ones on the opposite side of the lake seemed remarkably tiny. Massive trees hung over the lake, giving it a nice shade.

"So, we got work to do." Judy said. "If we find this next clue, we can figure out where the missing mammals are, and hopefully figure out what's going on with Max."

"Max, huh?" Kakeru said as they approached the edge of the lake. "He's your friend? What's he like?"

"A bit nerdy." Nick said. "But, you know, nice."

"God, I hope he's alright." Judy muttered to herself. She shook it off, and clapped her paws together. "Alright, judging by the water and swimming references in the clue, that means that the next one is IN the lake."

"Yeah, simple enough."

The three paused as they looked at the water. It was murky, they could barely see past the green surface.

There was silence.

"So, uh, who wants to go get it?" Nick asked, placing his paws to his hips.

"Uh, not me!" Judy said. "Rabbits are terrible swimmers."

"Seemed like a pretty good swimmer the last time we went in the water." Nick said, rolling his eyes.

"What about you, Kakeru?" Judy quickly asked, turning to the Gaoranger.

"I'm not particularly a good swimmer myself." He admitted.

Both of them looked at Nick, who let out a sigh. "Come on, do I really have to?" He asked, desperately.

"Just go in with your suit on!" Judy said, slapping the fox on the back. The fox quickly fell over, and he quickly transformed into ZooRed.

He stood up from the shallow water. His suit was dripping wet… but the fox inside it wasn't. "Wow, guess these things are water resistant!" He said, a bit cheerfully.

"You should have some air while you're down there." The lion ranger said. "Just don't take too long."

The fox gave a nod, and took a deep breath. He leaped into the air, and splashed down into the water. The fox swam down into the harsh, murky lake. It didn't seem to actually ever end. A sudden thought crossed his head as he floated for a moment.

The lake was massive. Where the hell would that clue even be?

He continued to dive down, and finally hit the bottom of the lake. He tapped at the side of his helmet, causing the visor to suddenly change to a view that let him see through the murkiness. There was a lot of garbage strewn about, unfortunately, and even a few cars.

He floated about the bottom of the lake for a minute, taking a quick gulp of air from his helmet. After a moment, he spotted something very conspicuous sticking out of the dirt. There was a pedestal, which looked like it clearly did not belong. On top of it was the clue.

He quickly grabbed it, and swam back up as fast as he could. It took a moment, but he broke through the surface, gasping for air. He waved the card in the air, catching Judy and GaoRed's attention, and swam back to shore.

"I'm just gonna… lay here for a bit…" He mumbled as he climbed to shore, almost instantly falling prone as he gasped for air.

Judy took the card from the fox, but before she could read it, there was a sudden mighty crashing noise behind them. "Oh come on." She muttered, turning to face the Chimera Org.

"Can't I just rest for ONE MINUTE!?" Red shouted as he got back up. Judy quickly transformed into ZooBlue, and the three rangers prepared to take on the monster.

The monster let out a growl as it stomped one foot forward. It jutted its bear claw out, suddenly firing off a cloud of ice and snow. The three braced themselves as the cloud flew past them.

They glanced back at the lake, which was now partially frozen. The grass around them was frozen as well, and the air had suddenly gotten a lot colder.

The monster roared again, this time raising its paw into the air, several purple balls of energy appearing. It flicked its paw forward, sending the orbs flying at the Zoorangers and their guest. The three leaped out of the way as the energy balls ate directly through the ice.

"Okay, this guy is seriously starting to get on my nerves." Blue said. "Let's finish him off quickly!"

The three pulled out their melee weapons, and rushed at the monster. They went in for an all out barrage, but this plan was quickly foiled as the monster shot out another burst of ice, causing all three to stumble back in surprise.

GaoRed quickly regained his equilibrium, just in time to watch the beast leap into the air. It landed on the ice it had created previously, somehow not cracking right through it.

"It's playing keep away now." He said.

"Guess he realized we can take him on alone, huh?" Red said.

"So, you're suggesting we blast the sucker?" Blue said, pulling out her blasters.

"Actually, I have a better idea." GaoRed said. He pulled out the lion-shaped gauntlet again, but he quickly grabbed it with his hand, seemingly trying to pull it off.

Suddenly, the entire weapon had changed. It was now a large gun, mostly red and black, with the same golden logo that was on GaoRed's belt. The head of the gun was a lion head, with a round of barrels forming the mane of the head itself. He cocked the gun, causing the mouth to open and reveal another barrel.

"Gao Mane Buster!" He shouted.

"Ooh, nice!" Red said. He quickly pulled out the Vickscannon. "I got something like that!"

"I know," GaoRed started. "Both our blasters are fire based, if we fire them both at the same time, we'll be able to melt the ice, and maybe get rid of that thing."

"Sounds like a plan!"

"I'll just stay out of the way of your… arson." Blue said, backing away.

The two quickly took aim at the monster, who let out a gutter utterance. They both pulled the triggers, both cannons firing out massive fireballs. They merged together into an even larger fireball, which crashed into the ice.

The ice instantly melted down, causing the monster that was standing on it to fall into the lake. It let out a roar as it thrashed in the water, before sinking down.

"Think that's it?" Red asked.

"No."

The monster burst out of the water, hanging in air for a moment. It held its paw out, creating a steel ball from it. "Now we can finish it!" GaoRed shouted, as they aimed the guns at the monster again.

They fired another round of fireballs, which combined together again. The Org then quickly tossed the steel ball at the fire, and the two forces clashed. It was brief, as the fire was strong enough to launch the ball back before it evaporated. The steel ball flew back towards the monster, which let out another grunt as it crashed through him, nearly instantly causing the beast to burst into purple mist.

"Well, that's that." Nick said, sweeping his hands as he and Judy untransformed. "Now, what's that clue say?"

Judy pulled it back out, and stared at it for a moment, her eyes going wide. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

"What's it say?" GaoRed asked.

"Sorry for hounding you, but it looks like you'll have to claw it back to where you started." She read, dryly.

"Wait, 'where we started'?" Nick said, confused. "Does he mean we have to go back to that cold storage place?"

"Either that or Mr. Big's." She said. "Considering what we know, probably the former."

"Wait, Yabaiba's just been having us running a circle?" Kakeru said, surprised. "This sounds far too clever for him."

"We'll see how clever he is when I knock that horn off his head." Judy growled, crumbling the note up.

"I'll call up Em and Henry." Nick said, pulling out his phone. "Let them know to meet us there."

GaoRed thought for a moment as Nick dialed up his friends. "Wait, what species is Max?" He asked Judy.

"Uh, a wolf." She said. Her ears popped up almost instantly after she said the words.

"You don't think…?"

"Nick, tell them to meet us at the warehouse or whatever it is ASAP!" Judy commanded. "This is a bigger problem than we thought."

"Uh, alright." Nick said, a bit weirded out by the rabbit's sudden burst of anger.

"I knew something was up." Judy muttered to herself. "I just didn't think it would be something like this."

---

Nick, Judy, and Kakeru arrived back in front of the old cold storage building. Parked directly outside was the SPD's cruiser, with Emily and Henry standing nearby.

"Que pasa, why did you tell us to meet at this dumpy fish place?" She asked as the three approached. She quickly noticed Kakeru. "This guys a, uh, friend of yours?"

"My name's Kakeru Shishi." He greeted, holding out his hand. Emily gave him a quick, confused glance, before he pulled his hand back. "I, uh, came here from another universe to help with the investigation."

"Oh, you're one of those guys." She said. "You seem a lot more… intelligent than the last guy."

"A lot more intelligent." Henry noted. "So, why exactly are we here?"

Judy took a deep breath. "So, we were sent to investigate missing mammals, which lead to us going on wild goose chase for clues to their location, and they lead us here, which probably means the missing mammals are inside and also we think Max was taken here."

She caught her breath after the ramble, and cleared her throat. "That's why we're here."

"So, Max should be in there?" Emily asked. "Well, let's bust in and save him!"

"I'm right with you!" Red said.

The four quickly transformed, and alongside GaoRed, ran into the cold storage.

However, it wasn't nearly cold anymore. In fact, it was positively warm. The place's layout seemed to have changed as well, at least the shelves had, as they were now pushed to the sides, creating a large space, like an arena.

Hanging by a hook from the ceiling was a rope, which was tied around what looked like an unconscious Max and Delgato. Directly underneath that was Yabaiba, and next to him, the Chimera Org.

"Hey, took you guys long enough!" Yabaiba said. "It's almost dark out, and I had better things to do than sit in the back room waiting for you guys."

"Yabaiba!" GaoRed shouted, stepping forward.

The Duke Org let out a girlish shriek as he stumbled back and fell to the ground. "G-G-GaoRed!? What are you-!?"

"Your evil will not be tolerated any more!" The lion ranger shouted dramatically. "Prepare to have whatever you're planning completely foiled!"

Yabaiba got back to his feet, and regained what little composure he had. "Sorry, but I'm not going to be fighting this round!" He said. "You have to fight my little pet here first!"

"Ugh, enough games, you clown college dropout!" Blue shouted. "Where are the mammals you kidnapped, and what did you do to Max… and Delgato!?"

"Calm down there, cottontail!" The Org joked, side stepping over to the Org monster. "You followed the notes, right? Then you found the missing mammals! All TWO of them!" He pointed up to the tied up wolf and tiger.

"Can you talk sense for once!?" Red shouted back. "Where are the other mammals you kidnapped!? Your stupid clues didn't lead us to them!"

"Um, excuse me?" Yabaiba said. "While I did totally kidnap them, they'd have to be mammals in order to be 'missing mammals'!"

The five stared at him, all of them confused.

"Wait, have none of you figured it out yet?" Yabaiba said, genuinely surprised. "I thought this was like, so obvious!" He motioned towards the Chimera Org. "Giraffe, elephant, black bear, and polar bear!" He shouted. "Get it!?"

"Wait, so that monster is…" Red started.

"That monster is the missing mammals!?" Blue shouted. "How did you even DO that!?"

"It caused a lot of pain, I can tell you that!" Yabaiba said with a chuckle, tapping the tip of his horn.

"So, all we have to do is beat that thing, and we save everyone." Red said. "Easy, we did that three times already!"

"I'm completely lost right now." Pink said, looking at Green. The bull shrugged in agreement.

"Oh, right, those guys!" Yabaiba said. "Well, those weren't real! They were illusions my good friend Kyuemon whipped up, around a third as strong as the real thing!"

"Oh yeah, and one more thing!" Yabaiba continued. He pulled out a large shell, full of green goo. "I have some more playmates for our game!" he thrust the shell upwards, causing the slime to fly out of it. It crashed into the ground, and quickly formed into a cadre of Orgettes.

The monster let out a roar, and stomped forwards, the ground slightly shaking as it did so. "Prepare to have your final fight, Zoorangers!" Yabaiba said, as he started to back off. "I'll just be… over here."

The Duke Org quickly ran over to a door at the back of the room, and stepped inside. There was a window next to it, which the Org quickly started peeking out of.

"Well, this might be… difficult." Red said as the monster stomped forward.

"I'm going to go fight Yabaiba." GaoRed declared. "Don't want him trying anything sneaky."

"Good idea, we'll take on the beasty bruiser and his buds here." Blue said.

GaoRed gave a nod, and then ran towards the crowd of monsters. He leaped into the air, claws prepared, and slashed at one of the Orgettes. He continued to run as he slashed through more of them, knocking them all away.

"That guy's got some guts!" Pink said with a chuckle. "Don't want him stealing the show, let's give 'em a show, Horns!"

Green gave a nod, and the two quickly ran in front of the two Zoorangers, and pulled out their blasters. They started to fire at the Orgettes and the Chimera Org. Pink shot several of the slimy ogres down, but more seemed to spring back up in their place. The bull fired at the Chimera Org itself, causing it to stumble back.

The monster gave a threatening roar as it stompe forward, causing the SPD officers to recoil for a moment.

"Let's get in there ourselves and make sure nothing bad happens!" Blue said to the fox. He gave a nod, and they quickly dashed in.

Before the monster could do anything, Red and Blue leaped in, performing a double kick directly into the monster's face. It flew backwards, crushing several of the Orgettes underneath it.

Red turned back to the SPD Officers. "Think you guys can take care of the small fries for a bit?" He asked.

"Only if we get to help finish this guy off." Pink said. Red chuckled for a moment, and nodded his head.

The Chimera Org got back up, and let out a roar. "Alright, I have a plan." Blue said as the monster stomped towards them. "Get your claws ready."

"Which ones?"

"The fast ones."

Red quickly pulled out a yellow ZooTag, and plugged it into his Zoolizer. In turn, Blue pulled out a white ZooTag, and plugged that in as well.

"ICH NI
SAN SHI
GO GO GO!
RACING CLAWS!"

"TRAINING THE WILD!
CUTTING THE JUNGLE!
POTSURI! ZUBARI!
WILD AXE!"

The clawed gauntlets appeared on Red's paws, while the massive ax appeared in Blue's. "Think you can guess what I'm planning?" Blue asked the fox.

"I think I get it."

The fox dashed at the monster, and started to circle around it. He continued to rapidly slash the beast, but it seemed to be causing little actual damage to it. The org seemed slightly confused at what was happening, but quickly let out another roar, before kicking the fox away.

The beast started to stomp over to the grounded fox, preparing to crush him under its giraffe foot.

"HEY, UGLY!"

The beast looked up, watching as Blue flew towards him, ax prepped to strike. She slashed directly through its midsection, sparks flying as it was flung backwards.

"Good to see we're on the same wavelength." Blue said as she helped the fox up.

"Yeah, I totally didn't just guess what you were thinking." He said. The rabbit rolled her eyes.

GaoRed slashed through several more of the Orgettes, before reaching the door at the back of the room. He attempted to open it, but it was locked. He quickly glanced through the window, catching a glimpse of Yabaiba taunting him.

The lion ranger started to back up. He paused, and let out an animalistic roar, before dashing forward, slightly hunched over. He leaped up, and delivered a devastating dropkick to the door, practically blasting it off its hinges.

Yabaiba let out a shriek as GaoRed rolled into the room.

"Why can't you Gao freaks just let me be!?" He shouted.

"Because you're evil!" GaoRed responded. "We can't really trust you to play fair!"

"Okay, yeah, fair enough." Yabaiba admitted. "I was gonna come out and knife one of you guys while you weren't paying attention, so…"

GaoRed quickly pulled out his blade, and rushed at Yabaiba. The Duke Org quickly drew his own blades, and swiftly blocked GaoRed's strike. GaoRed quickly scraped his blade downwards, causing sparks to fly from the two blades, and disorient Yabaiba for a moment.

He quickly slashed at the Org's chest, and the two quickly began exchanging knife blows. They struck at each others blades for a few moments, before GaoRed kicked Yabaiba into the wall. He lunged at him, Yabaiba putting his blades back up in defense. The lion ranger slashed his own blade between the knives, and started to drag the Org across the wall.

In a swift movement, GaoRed quickly tossed Yabaiba directly through the window. It shattered, glass flying across the warehouse's cold grounds, and the Org skidding across it as well. GaoRed walked through the door, prepared to confront Yabaiba again.

"Oh, this is getting bad." The monster muttered to himself as he got up. He quickly pulled out his blades, looking prepared to fight the ranger… and then quickly ran off into the crowd of Orgettes.

GaoRed shook his head, before running in as well.

"Alright, guys!" Yabaiba started, talking to the monsters. "Get ready for this!"

The Orgettes let out excited grunts as they began to huddle together. "Chimera Org, get over here!" Yabaiba yelled to the monster, who was currently tussling with Red and Blue.

He glanced over to his master, and leaped out of the fight. The five Rangers looked as Yabaiba and the monster watched the Orgettes continue to swarm together. All of the Orgettes started to run towards the huddled mass, and begin fusing into it. In a few moments, they had all combined together into a horrid green ball covered in small spikes. It was roughly twice the size of the two monsters, and towered over the smaller mammals.

"Time for the ultimate weapon!" Yabaiba shouted, before giving a bow to the Chimera Org. The monster grunted, and jabbed its trunk arm into the massive ball.

It let out a massive roar, before somehow managing to lift the orb into the air. Its arm bended as it attempted to lift the massive weapon into the air, but it somehow managed. The ball hung in the air for a moment, before slamming into the ground, creating a massive crater where it landed.

"You know; I have a feeling that might not be good." Red said, sarcastically.

The Chimera Org started to spin around, pulling the massive spiked ball out of the crater, but crushing the ground beneath it as it moved. The beast dragged it for a moment, before flinging it towards Green and Pink, who barely dodged out of the way as it flung past them.

Green quickly glanced back, just in time to see the ball retract, with him directly in its way. The weapon smacked into the bull, launching him into one of the shelves.

The ball stopped partway to Chimera Org, but it then started to whip its arm back and forth. The weapon followed, rolling back and forth as well, at a bizarrely fast pace.

GaoRed, being on the other side of this, quickly rushed at the monsters, leaping into the air and slashing at the Chimera Org. It grunted as it fell to the ground, the lion ranger then turning directly to Yabaiba.

"Whatever you were planning, failed!" GaoRed declared.

"Not yet it hasn't!" Yabaiba retorted.

GaoRed glanced back at the monster, just before the beast's trunk arm slammed right into his gut, launching him off.

The beast let out another roar, and thrust its trunk arm back into the green ball. He pulled it back, and then quickly launched it forwards. The massive weapon crashed through the cold storage, sending the Rangers flying as it smashed through the front of the building.

"Wow, I might actually win this!" Yabaiba said, clapping his hands together.

Meanwhile, directly above the two monsters, an unconscious wolf has hanging. However, he blinked his eyes a few times, having been fully awoken by the crashing of the weapon.

"What the-?" Silver muttered to himself. "Where am I?" He looked back, seeing the unconscious body of Delgato.

He looked down as he heard laughing, spotting Yabaiba. He then turned to what the Duke Org was laughing at, seeing the bodies of the Rangers littering the ground.

They were all still alive, but whatever had hit them seemed to have caused major damage. He needed to help them. He had been kidnapped, and obviously they were trying to save him. He needed to return the favor! That was just what heroes do, right?

He struggled for a moment, but couldn't seem to get anything to loosen. This was a lot tougher than it looked in movies. He struggled a bit more, watching as the monster pulled back its arm from the massive green orb, and started to stomp forwards. Yabaiba soon followed it.

"Gah, I can't break free!" Silver said to himself. "My friends are gonna die, and I can't do anything!"

He let out another growl, before spotting something. In the corner, there was a door, presumably an emergency exit. It creaked open a bit, revealing a small, yellow mammal.

Was that… Kyle?

The fox quietly snuck up to Yabaiba, who somehow hadn't managed to notice him at all. Before either of the monsters could do anything, the young fox leaped up onto the Duke Org's back.

"Hey! Get off!" Yabaiba screeched as he stumbled around. Kyle promptly flipped over Yabaiba's head, and drop kicked him as he came down, knocking him back.

"What the heck…?" Blue said as she and the other Rangers got back up.

The Zoorangers and SPD Officers watched on as Kyle dashed up to Yabaiba, before he could even get up, and chopped him directly in the face. The Org fell back to the ground, but quickly started to get up, pulling out his knives.

The fox leaped up and body checked the Org in his stomach, causing him to drop them. Deftly, Kyle picked the daggers up, and quickly threw one at the rope hanging from the ceiling. It slashed directly through it, causing Silver and Delgato to fall to the ground.

Silver struggled with the rope for a moment after they hit the ground, quickly untangling it. "Rich!" He said to the tiger, who had been jarred awake by the fall. He quickly knelt down to check on him. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said as he slowly got up. He looked around. "What the hell is happening?"

"Monster fight." Silver said. "You should probably get out of here."

The tiger nodded, and quickly made a run for the hole the ball had knocked out of the building.

"Silver, thank god you're alright!" Blue said as she and the other three Rangers ran up to him.

"In a manner of speaking, yeah, I'm alright." He said, sounding slightly angry.

GaoRed quickly ran up to Silver as well. "Hey, you're Max, right?" He asked.

"O-oh, yeah!" He said, suddenly nervous. "Are… are you a Red Ranger?"

"Yep!" GaoRed said. "Kakeru Shishi, GaoRed, leader of Gaoranger. We can talk later."

The six looked back at Kyle and Yabaiba. The fox was using the knife as a slightly, for his body shape, too small sword, and the Duke Org was frantically avoiding the strikes.

"I didn't know Kyle could use a sword." Red said, shocked.

"Is he another friend of yours?" GaoRed asked. "Another member?"

"No, he's not a member." Blue explained. "Just a fan."

"Looks like he's doing a pretty good job keeping Yabaiba busy." Pink said. "Let's take out the quimera!"

"Now that all of us are together, we'll have no problem taking this guy out!" Silver declared. "Let's do this!"

Blue and red readied their special weapons, while Silver pulled out his blade, and the Officers preparing their blasters. GaoRed pulled out the Lion Fang, and the six dashed at the monster.

The chimera let out a roar of its own as it charged in. Blue and red opened first, the fox leaping up and rapidly slashing at the monster's face. The rabbit followed up by slashing her ax at the monster's legs. Red pushed himself off the monster as it started to tip over, with a final push coming from Pink and Green's blasters.

The monster tipped over, and started to roll on its side. Its trunk arm quickly extended, pushing it into the air and back to its feet. It then quickly lashed towards the giant wrecking ball, its arm impaling it. Mustering up all its strength, it pulled the ball back into the arena, faster than it had before.

The ball rolled across the ground, preparing to run over the SPD Officers, but GaoRed quickly leaped over them, and delivered a swift punch with the Lion Fang. The attack struck the ball directly, causing it to explode into a burst of slime, which quickly evaporated.

The monster growled as its arm started to retract back to its body, but before it could, Silver leaped in. He slashed at the monster's arm, the blade going directly through it. The monster, for the first time, let out a cry of pain as its trunk arm limply fell to the ground.

Silver quickly moved in, wanting to finish the monster off himself, but Blue, Red, and GaoRed moved in instead, them all now using their normal weapons.

They slashed at the beast rapidly, and from every angle, with GaoRed delivering a final blow that pierced its skin, and sent the beast flying.

Silver's ears twitched a bit as he watched this.

"Oh, this is BAD!" Yabaiba said, dodging another swing from the young fox. He quickly glanced down at him, the fox giving a quick, nearly unnoticeable nod. Yabaiba gave back a nod as well. "And honestly, I've had enough of this!" Yabaiba finished.

He quickly kicked the fox in the face, causing him to let go of his dagger and knocking him across the room.

"KYLE!" Blue shouted. "Emily, Henry, help him out!"

The two nodded, and quickly ran over to the fox's body. They quickly started to run him out of the place.

While that was happening, Yabaiba gingerly picked his dagger back up. "Ugh, you know, I was really hopeful about this!" The Duke Org whined. "I thought that maybe all this would actually be able to defeat you! Guess not!"

"Face it, Yabaiba, nothing you've ever done works out!" GaoRed yelled. "Maybe you should just give up!"

"Nah, I like doing this stuff." Yabaiba said. He quickly pulled out a red object, and tossed it at the heavily wounded Chimera Org, hitting it directly in the face.

The monster began to glow, and was then suddenly covered in an orb of purple energy, blocking out view of it. "That's a new one!" Red said, before the orb exploded, knocking everyone back.

"Oh, wow, this thing is AMAZING!" Yabaiba shouted as the smoke cleared.

The beat had changed its shape completely, and was now considerably more humanoid. For one, it now had a head, featuring the same four red eyes, but how with an actual mouth, still with only four fangs. Its face was now also red, and had several, large, golden horns awkwardly jutting out of its head, forming a sort of mane.

Its body had a large, organic looking lion head sticking out of it, complete with mane, though large, yellow feathers jutted out from the mane as well. It was a mix of dull red and yellows, but one of its arms was now almost entirely blue, and seemed to be covered in fish scales. In fact, its arm seemed to be an entire shark, twisted into the shape of an arm, with the head forming a hand.

The other arm was white and black, and considerably more mammalian. This one appeared to be most of a tiger, and like the other arm, was contorted into an arm, the head of the tiger still forming a hand. Its waist was entirely black and brown, and seemed to be a bull head, with the horns fusing into the side of its body. Its legs were simply oversized bull's legs as well.

The monster let out a roar, sounding like a mix of bird call, mammalian roar, teeth chomping, and painful groaning.

"Is that thing even the same monster!?" Blue asked, repulsed by the monster's horrible appearance.

"No!" GaoRed shouted, before turning to Yabaiba. "This thing is a mockery!"

"What?" Yabaiba said, a bit confused. He examined the monster for a bit. "Oh yeah, it does look like that big robot! Weird!"

"I won't have my friends be… be mocked like this!" The lion Ranger roared, before dashing at the monster.

"Wow, he's a bit hot-headed, isn't he?" Red said.

They watched as GaoRed rushed into the fight, leaping up and preparing to slash at the monster with his claws. The chimera let out a roar, before quickly grabbing one of GaoRed's arms with its shark hand. The teeth pierced through the ranger's suit, causing him to let out a grunt of pain.

The monster quickly followed by punching the Ranger in the gut with his other arm, and then quickly flung him away.

"Wow, this thing is great!" Yabaiba said, skipping up to the monster. "I'm going to let you deal with this guys, alright? Alright. Ciao!"

The Duke Org gave a quick wave, before melting into goop, which quickly vanished.

The other Rangers helped GaoRed up to his feet. "Care to tell us what's going on with this thing?" Blue asked.

"Well-"

"Its some kind of horrible mockery of your mech, right?" Silver quickly interrupted.

"Yeah, how did you-?"

"I have the toy, its pretty easy to see it." Silver explained.

"Toy…?"

"So, we're basically fighting a mini-mecha right now, huh?" Red said. "Okay, nothing we can't handle, just gotta do this like we usually do!"

The monster quickly let out another horrible roar, before its shark arm started to pulsate. Something started to slide out of the mouth. It looked like a sword made out of bones, ridged with teeth. The beast somehow managed to grip it in its mouth-hand.

The monster quickly slashed its blade forwards, launching out energy waves that sliced through the air. The six leaped out of the way as the slashes flew, and sliced through the shelves and wall behind them.

The Rangers prepared themselves, and then rushed at the monster, launching an all-out assault against it. Red leaped in first, alongside Pink, who leaped into the air and slashed at the monster while the hyena rapidly shot at it. Green charged in soon after, body checking it and knocking the monster back, letting Blue and GaoRed leap in with their blades, and strike the monster right down its middle.

Silver went in last, attempting to leap over the previous two, but the monster quickly slashed at him with its sword, sending him flying back. He crashed into Pink and Green, knocking them both to the ground as well.

The Chimera Org let out a roar, before stomping forwards, causing a slight earthquake with every step. It then dashed at GaoRed and Blue, using its tiger hand to quickly punch the lion Ranger away, before lashing at the rabbit with its sword. A lucky shot knocked Blue away, before it started to lash its blade more at the recovering Rangers.

The three of them weren't able to escape from the laser slash in time, but were saved when Red jumped in and blocked it with his sword. The slash broke in two, and the three Rangers quickly got back to their feet.

"How are we supposed to beat this guy?" blue asked. "He doesn't even look like he was phased by our attacks!"

"Oh, I know!" Red said. "How about we pull out a deus ex machina to get us out of this jam?"

"What does that mean?" Blue asked, confused.

"Yo, maneman, hold your weapon out for a second.

"Uh, alright." GaoRed held his sword aloft, ZooRed doing the same thing.

All of the sudden, the two weapons started to glow, and lifted up into the air. They collided in a burst of light, forming into a new weapon… or rather, a pair of new weapons.

Two swords, around the size of the Foxfire Blade itself, but were shaped like fangs, alongside being as white as teeth as well. The blades were marked with a golden sun-shaped marking in the middle, similar to what GaoRed's sword had, but without a large hole in it and spreading out slightly farther. These seemed to act as the sword's guards, and connected the hilt to the rest of the blade.

The swords dropped down from the air, and the fox caught both of them in his pawss. "Hah, nice, two weapons!" He said, tossing one up into the air and than catching it.

"How come I never get any weapons?" Silver quietly muttered to himself.

"Alright, now we need a name for these things…" Red said to himself. "How about… the Brave King Blades!"

"That's pretty good!" GaoRed said.

"A bit corny." Pink followed.

"Time to see what these babies can do!" The fox chuckled, twirling the swords around.

He dashed at the monster, leaping up and rapidly swinging the blades at the beast's chest. They seemed to actually be affecting the monster, as it stumbled back with each strike. Sparks flew as Red hit the ground, using the momentum of his leap to slide under the monster's legs. He quickly chucked one of the daggers into the beast's back, before using the other to stop himself.

He spun around and skidded to a halt, before holding one of his paws out. The sword that had impaled itself in the monster was somehow pulled out, and flung back into the fox's hands.

"These things are great!" He said, rapidly twirling the blades. He quickly threw both of them at the monster, which attempted to block with its own sword. However, the swords skimmed past the monster's torso and under its arms, and then circled back around and struck the beast in its shoulders. With that strike, the swords flew back to the fox, who caught them effortlessly.

"I'm gonna join in too!" GaoRed shouted, pulling out the Lion Fang. He dashed in, and struck the monster directly in its side with the gauntlet, knocking it away.

"Time for you to see red, buddy!" Zoored joked, leaping up onto GaoRed's head. He quickly leaped off, and started to fling the blades at the monster, which zoomed back and forth quickly with each strike.

GaoRed quickly shifted his gauntlet into its blaster form, and unloaded fire on the monster. It let out a shriek of pain as the two weapons continued to strike at it. Red finally pulled his blades back in one final time, and landed back on GaoRed's head, before leaping off. He performed a quick cross clash through the monster's body, landing on the other side of it.

The Chimera stumbled for a bit, before glancing up and seeing GaoRed rushing at him. The Lion fang had been turned back into its gauntlet mode, and the lion Ranger performed a quick uppercut, launching the beast into the air. ZooRed then quickly tossed both of the blades at the monster, with enough force to send it flying.

The monster crashed into one of the shelves, and bounced off, hitting the floor shortly after. It stumbled back to its feet, as ZooRed and GaoRed approached him. "Alright, let's finish this sucker off!" The fox said, spinning his blades around rapidly. Gaored quickly nodded, and pulled back his fist.

"BRAVE SOUL DOUBLE STRIKE, GAO VERSION!"

ZooRed quickly tossed the blades at the monster, but instead of flying at the Org, they instead hung in the air. GaoRed ran in next, punching one of the daggers with the Lion Fang, before kicking the other one. They flew into the monster, slashing through his body. ZooRed then ran up and leaped off of GaoRed, as the blades curved back towards him. The fox caught them as GaoRed switched the gauntlet to its blaster mode. At the exact same moment, ZooRed slashed through the back of the monster, while GaoRed blasted at it from the front.

The beast let out another pained yell, before exploding into a massive burst of fire. Out of the fire came the four mammals, a giraffe, a black bear, an elephant, and Koslov the polar bear. They were unconscious.

"I think we can let them be for now." Red said, skipping back over to the others.

He paused as the daggers started to glow and float upwards, before splitting back into the two blades, alongside a red ZooTag. ZooRed caught his weapon and the ZooTag, while GaoRed caught his sword.

"So, is that just like, a thing that happens every time one of these guys shows up?" Green asked.

"Uh, yeah, kind of just a thing." Blue said. "That's how I got the ax and boxing gloves."

"An now we have to finish things up for good!" Silver stated.

The six turned to the small glowing object on the ground as it floated up into the air. It zoomed upwards, smashing through the ceiling and flying off. The group ran outside, and watched as the Chaos Chimera Org appeared in a burst of red light, completely revived.

It let out a roar as it stomped towards the city.

"Let's fly in there and take him out!" Blue said, as she, Red, and Silver quickly pulled out their summoning objects.

They quickly summoned up ZooRobo and ZooKami, which crashed into the ground. They pulled out their blades, and stomped towards the monster, which was also brandishing its sword blade.

The two mechs lunged in at the same time, slashing at the beast, but it quickly blocked the strikes with its sword. It pushed the mechs back, before rapidly slashing at the mechs. Sparks flew as they stumbled backwards, nearly hitting the edge of the city.

"This thing's strong." Red said. "How 'bout we mix things up?"

The other two Rangers nodded, before the two mechs leaped into the air and combined into ZooRobo Oh Kami. The combined mech crashed back into the ground, and started to slash at the monster rapidly. The monster continued to block the attacks, but they seemed to be putting strain on the sword at least.

The beast let out another roar, before pulling its sword back and quickly punching the super robot in the chest with its tiger hand. ZooRobo was pushed back a bit, but the monster quickly fired out white shots of energy from the mouth of the tiger, which exploded as they struck ZooRobo. As the robot was stunned, the chimera let out another roar, before slashing at its chest several more times.

"This thing might be…" There was another strike, causing the rabbit to be thrust back in her chair. "…Too strong!"

The monster thrust its sword into ZooRobo's chest, causing a massive explosion. The force of the strike was strong enough to completely separate the mech, the mechanical fox, bunny, and wolf flying back into the city and crashing into the snowy streets.

"Well, that's new." Red said, shaking the landing off.

The fox mech wriggled around for a moment, before getting back to its feet. The rabbit and wolf mech quickly did the same, but there was hesitation as the monster stomped towards the city.

"That thing defeated ZooRobo Oh Kami!" Silver said, panicked. "That god thing wasn't even able to do that, how the hell are we supposed to beat this thing!?"

"I… I don't know." Blue said.

Back in front of the cold storage building, the SPD officers and GaoRed watched as the Zoorangers had been defeated. "Well, looks like we're in a lot of shit." Emily said.

"Not yet." GaoRed said, stepping forward. "Maybe I can help them out!"

He held the Beast King Sword into the air, the jewel in the middle of it lighting up. In a flash of red light, a massive, mechanical looking lion had appeared in front of them. Emily nearly fell down from the shock, while Henry just looked on, awestruck.

GaoRed leaped up into the air, and landed on the lion's head. "GaoLion, let's go!" GaoRed commanded. The lion let out a roar, and rushed down the street.

"That's the second scariest lion I've seen." Emily said as they watched on.

The lion mech stomped through the city, before leaping out of it and tackling the monster. It latched onto it, and started to scratch and bite, before leaping off and knocking the Org back to the ground.

"Alright guys!" GaoRed yelled. "I'll give you enough time to combine back up!"

"Got it!" Blue replied. She paused for a moment. "How can I even hear him from in here…?" She shook it off, and the mechs quickly started to regroup.

The three giant mechanical animals leaped out into the outer city, just as the chimera started to get back up. It let out a roar, and started to stomp towards them, but GaoLion leaped in the way.

"If you wanna get them, you gotta go through me!" GaoRed shouted from on top of the lion.

Suddenly, GaoLion started to glow. "What the-?" Gaored said, watching as the light overtook him and his mech. The mechanical lion let out a roar before it was completely covered.

"Alright, time for a new mech!" Red said, excited.

"Wait, I think something different is happening!" Silver said, pointing as the light suddenly turned red.

There was a burst of red light, and from that appeared something completely new.

While it still resembled a mechanical lion, it was now colored gold and red, and was more in line with how the rest of the Zooranger's mechs looked. It was also much larger than the other mechs, barring ZooOkami, and its mane was large and spiked out more, like a sun, while its wire-like tail ended in a golden crescent. Most of the creature was gold, with only select parts of its body, its claws, and face being red. A large, thin piece seemed to go right through the mech's torso, connected from the tail to the head.

"ZOOSHISHI!" A voice yelled.

It let out a roar, before scraping its paws against the ground. "W-what the!?" GaoRed said from inside. The cockpit was entirely golden. "What happened to GaoLion?"

"He should be fine after we beat this guy!" Blue assured him.

"That thing is… big." Red said, shocked by what had just happened.

"Guys!" Silver started. "I think this might be our SUPER mech! We just have to combine all of them together!"

"Good idea, let's try it out!" Blue ordered.

The four mechs leaped into the air, and started to combine. ZooSagi split apart, forming into the arms, similar to how it had done with ZooRobo Oh Kami. ZooOkami, however, folded up, and split into the legs and torso, halves of the wolf heads forming into the feet, and the rear of the mech forming into the upper legs. It split in half, the tail folding back in.

ZooKitsune quickly folded out, the head appearing, and the legs folding out into a sort of backback. ZooShishi curled its body inwards, forming a full torso, with the lion's head sticking out of the chest. All the parts connected, legs connecting to the bottom of the torso, and arms connecting to the side. ZooKitsune attached to the top, and its backpack suddenly transformed into a golden split cape.

The large piece of ZooShishi slid out from its back, revealing a massive, cleaver-like sword, its tail forming into the handle of it. The final change was made, a helmet springing up from the lion's body and onto ZooKitsune's robot face. It was shaped like a sun, but with a crescent visor. The visor lit up for a moment, before the mech grabbed onto the sword.

"ZOOROBO, BRAVE OH KAMI!" A voice yelled as they crashed into the ground.

"Wow, this is… incredible!" Blue said as they looked around the cockpit. It looked mostly the same, the four seats connected by a large pole in the middle of it, but it was now entirely golden inside.

"Does this happen often?" GaoRed asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah, it happens a bit." Red said. "Not usually to this level, though."

"…Why am I the legs?" Silver muttered to himself.

The new and improved ZooRobo stomped towards the monster, dust raising up as it did so. The chimera instinctively stepped backwards, and brandished its sword in defense. ZooRobo raised its MUCH larger blade, and swing it into the bone one, cleaving it in half. The monster dropped the smoking blade, and glanced up at the mech.

In a last ditch effort, it started to grabble with the massive robot, but ZooRobo quickly managed to break free from it. The robot quickly kicked the monster back, before raising its blade into the air.

The golden sword started to glow blue, as ZooRobo slashed it downwards, forming a crescent shape mirage of energy. It then pulled the sword back as the lion head opened its mouth and started to glow as well. A mirage of red energy, shaped like the sun, appeared, and hung in the air fro a moment.

"FULL LUNAR ECLIPSE SOLAR STRIKE!"

The sun-shaped energy fired forward, catching the moon-shaped energy. The crescent stated to swirl around clockwise, while the sun began to spin counter-clockwise. The blast fired right through the monster, causing it to let out a roar of pain.

It quickly exploded with one final horrible roar.

ZooRobo stomped its foot down, and slashed its sword a few times.

The mech vanished, and the four reappeared back on the ground. GaoRed quickly checked his sword. The GaoJewel was still there, causing him to let out a sigh of relief. He felt something else however, and pulled out a red ZooTag.

"Here, I think you guys'll need this." He said, tossing the tag over to Nick, who had untransformed.

"Well, we got that finished… surprisingly quickly." Nick said, slipping the tag into his pocket. "Guess you'll be heading back home soon?"

"I have a bit." Kakeru said. He turned to Max, who was pacing around the front of the warehouse. The lion Ranger ran up to him, and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, Max, think I can talk to you for a bit?" He asked.

"Uh, about what?" The wolf replied, rather grumpily.

"I just wanted to say that you reminded me of someone…" Kakeru started.

Suddenly, Max flicked his hand off his shoulder. "If that someone is like me, then I can't see he'd be worth remembering." The wolf said, before stomping off.

Kakeru watched as the wolf walked away, and then shook his head.

---

Around an hour later, Nick and Judy had helped Kakeru out of the city and into the outer limits, where they were waiting for the Rainbow Line. The sun had gone down by that point.

"Max was acting a bit weird back there, huh?" Judy said, a bit worried. "What did you say to him?"

Kakeru sighed. "I just wanted to tell him that he reminded me of an old friend." He explained. "Dependable, loyal. Didn't even give me a chance to say who."

"He's a bit stubborn sometimes." Nick said. "A lot of times."

"We'll ask him what's up when we get home." Judy said. "I'm a bit worried about him. He should've been able to take on that monster himself…"

Kakeru fell silent for a moment. "I have a special power, you know." He started, out of nowhere. "I can read the hearts of any animal. I can tell how they're feeling. It's why I'm such a good vet… doctor."

"So, you read Max's heart?" Nick asked. "Shouldn't he consent to that?"

"I wouldn't have told you, but there's definitely something going on with him." The lion Ranger explained. "He felt… upset about something. There was a storm raging in his heart, a whirlwind of regret and hatred."

"That doesn't really sound like him." Judy said, confused. "Could you tell why he was feeling that way?"

"Kakeru shook his head. "Sorry, I can only read the emotions. He's bottling… something, up, at least." He continued. "Make sure nothing happens to him, alright?"

With that, there was a flash in the sky, as the Rainbow Line landed in front of them. The door slid open, and GaoRed stepped towards it. He turned back to the two, and gave a quick nod, before stepping onto the train. Iit quickly took off into the air, and then vanished.

"That was a long day." Nick said with a sigh, his ears and tail dropping in exhaustion.

"I don't think we'll be able to keep this up with just the five of us." Judy admitted. "I think we need to figure out who ZooYellow should be, and fast."

"Yeah." Nick said. "Guess that means no more auditions."

---

The two arrived back at the house a few hours later. The rabbit was looking through the front window, at the car parked in the driveway. Max was sitting in it. He had been there ever since they had arrived back, which meant he had been in it for at least three to four hours.

It was definitely… strange.

"You think I should go out there and talk to him?" Judy asked.

"I think you should just let him be, and talk about it in the morning." Nick said with a yawn. The fox was in his pajamas, and ready for bed. "We're all exhausted, maybe some sleep will put him in a better mood."

"Alright." Judy said. She was in her sleepwear too, and the two headed down into the basement.

"I think I have an idea about who should be ZooYellow." She said as they hit the bottom of the stairs.

"Lay it on me." Nick said as he walked towards the bed.

"It's Kyle."

The fox paused, and looked back at her. "You're joking, right?"

"No, I'm serious." She said. "You saw him take on Yabaiba, better than even we've done! I think he's qualified, as much as I wish he wasn't."

Nick sighed. "Alright." He started, climbing into bed. "We'll figure out what to do about it tomorrow."

"Right." Judy said, quickly hopping into the bed as well.

She really hoped this wasn't a terrible idea.

Meanwhile, outside, Max was sitting in the car, by himself. His muzzle was pressed against the steering wheel, slightly tilting it back and forth. He was starting to get tired. He was thinking about the day, and how terrible it had been for him.

Suddenly, someone began to speak.

"You really botched this mission, didn't you?" The voice said. It was deep, electronic.

"No, I didn't." Max said. "If I didn't have to protect Rich and Kyle, I could've beaten it…"

"Hah." The voice laughed. "Yeah right. You know you need their help. You're worthless without them."

The wolf raised up, and slammed his fist into the dashboard. "I AM NOT WORTHLESS!" He shouted. "I'm the sixth ranger! I'm supposed to be the cool one!"

"Doesn't seem it to me."

Max tilted the rear-view mirror, to get a better look in the backseat. Despite what was sitting there, he wasn't surprised.

It was ZooSilver.

"You should go and tell them about how you feel." ZooSilver said. "Oh wait, if you do that, they'll think you're a bigger wimp than you are now!"

Max let out a sigh. "Can you just… shut up for a bit?" he said, slumping back down into the seat.

"You can't shut up the voices in your head, Max."

---

"Wow, I can't believe how well that plan went!" Yabaiba said, skipping through the base.

"'Well'?" Sambash said with a chuckle. "Your monster got busted, and the Zoorangers got a better robot, I wouldn't call that 'well'!"

"Actually," Kyuemon said, suddenly appearing behind the bike monster. "As the one who came up with the plan, I can say it did indeed do 'well'."

The yokai walked around the table, all of the villains, besides Yabaiba, were sitting at it. "The goal of this mission was to get information, with destroying them as a secondary." Kyuemon continued to explain.

"Well, did you learn anything?" Yogostein asked.

"I learned what happened to the yellow one." He continued. "It turns out that he gave up his power, and the Zoorangers are currently looking for a replacement."

Enter's eyebrow raised at this comment.

"Yeah, real helpful." Sambash said. "Now we just have to wait for ANOTHER one to show up."

"Wrong!" Yabaiba shouted, quickly grabbing onto a chair. "Kyuemon's disguise is someone they think is a friend! After Kyu told me, we set up an act where I'd get defeated by him!"

"And with one of their allies currently a bit… indisposed." Kyuemon said, pausing to chuckle. "They'll need all the help they can get. And once they come for my help, I'll take the Zoolizer… and destroy it."

"Renard à tête épaisse!" Enter shouted, slamming his hands on the table. "Do you know what kind of power we could get if we got our hands on one of those things!?"

"Yes, but none of us could use it even if we wanted." Kyuemon said. "Destroying it is the best option."

"Tch." Enter let out as he started to walk out of the room.

"Anyway, the plan is in motion, and we just need one more step." The yokai continued. He turned to the large robot. "Yogostein, you've been working on something, correct?"

"What?" He let out. "Me? Working on something? Something secret? No I wouldn't… Fine, I have."

"Excellent." Kyuemon said, slowly walking up to the massive cylinder at the back of the room. "Oh Omnipotence, may this humble servant have a small request?"

The cylinder boomed to life.

"WHAT IS IT"

"I request that me and Yogostein head out tomorrow for the next part of my plan." He started. "If we can pull it off, the Zoorangers, and the city, will be in our grasp!"

Surprisingly, The Omnipotence fell silent.

"VERY WELL" It suddenly boomed. "YOU HAVE MY PERMISSION THIS ONE TIME, BUT DO NOT MESS IT UP"

"I won't, my Master." Kyuemon said, bowing.

"Ugh, what have I gotten myself into?" Yogostein muttered.

---

Yaaaay a new episode!

This one ended up being longer than I expected, but I had some fun with it. I don't have a whole lot to say, other than that Chaos Chimera Org is obviously based on GaoKing. Also, hopefully Max's emotional issues didn't come off as too angsty.

Next time, terrorism, emotional turmoil, death, and revelations.

Fun times!