My friends and I walked down the road after church. Meagan Brown, Julia and Matt Hodge and Kaleb and Daniel Ross and myself.

"Are ya'll going to the barbeque next Saturday? Jason said it's going to be-" I broke off as something grabbed my attention.

A man stumbled out into the road, clutching his side. Julia and Meagan ran forward, the rest of us close behind.

"Michelle. Kaleb. Meagan. Matt. Julia. Daniel." He said, looking up at us.

"How do you know our names?" Julia asked, a touch of fear in her voice. "How do you know who we are?"

"I know more than you think. I know that Matt and Julia are brother and sister. I know that Julia and Daniel and Kaleb all have very good soccer skills. I know that Meagan has never had a fight in her life. I know that Michelle rides horses. I know a lot about you…because you've been chosen." He groaned, a low animal-like groan that chilled me to the bone.

And then…then his face came into clear view. A jolt of recognition shot through me. "You're Leo! The red Galaxy Power Ranger!"

Before he could reply, Kaleb snorted. "Power Rangers aren't real. Everyone knows that. Duh."

The denial of his very existence didn't even faze Leo. "Yes, we do exist. Most evil does not exist in this world because the Power Rangers, near and far, keep it away. But now, we need your help. You have been chosen to carry on the mantle of the Power Rangers."

Matt rolled his eyes, "Oh yeah? Prove that you're a Power Ranger."

Leo looked at him, then he suddenly doubled over in pain. "Aaaarrrggghhh…I don't have long. I am dying. But first, before I die, I must show you something."

He pulled a flat box from his pocket and pressed a button. A picture appeared. As we watched, a creature walked across, followed by many monsters, more than I could count.

"That is-or was-Trakeena. A couple weeks ago, we got word she was back. At first we didn't believe it, but recon done by the Aquitar rangers proved it was true. But this time, she's different. She has absorbed, over time, the abilities, special powers, will and skills, of countless monsters, demons, mutants, Orgs and the like. She is composed of Rita, Zedd, Divatox, Dark Spector, Olympius, Master Org, Lothor, Grumm, and Koragg. And she has used their armies of Putties, Quantrons, Stingwingers, Batlings, Cyclobots, Krybots and more to her advantage. We don't know the extent of her new powers, only that she is a lot tougher to destroy. She has killed countless rangers already. The Space Rangers were the first to confront her. She killed them without breaking a sweat. Four teams of rangers were sent against her, the Wild Force Rangers, Ninja Storm Rangers, Dino Thunder and Mystic Force Rangers. Five rangers walked away from that battle. Five out of twenty-two rangers. Only one Space Ranger walked away and that was to warn us." Leo paused to take a breath, then went on.

"After she destroyed these other rangers, our leader sent the Lost Galaxy Rangers and the Lightspeed Rescue Rangers to attack. Watch this."

Trakeena stood in the middle of a plaza. No one but her and her motley crew were around. Everyone had fled in terror. Well, not everyone.

"Trakeena! We destroyed you twice, we can do it again!" a voice yelled.

Running up behind Trakeena came twelve people, eight guys and four girls. I recognized them as Carter, Dana, Chad, Kelsey, Joel and Ryan of Lightspeed Rescue and Leo, Kendrix, Maya, Damon, Kai, and Mike of Terra Venture.

They came to a halt facing her and Carter and Leo yelled, "Ready guys?"

"Lightspeed Rescue!"

"Go Galactic!"

"Lightspeed Rescue Red! Lightspeed Rescue Blue! Lightspeed Rescue Green! Lightspeed Rescue Yellow! Lightspeed Rescue Pink! Lightspeed Rescue Titanium Ranger!"

"Galaxy Red! Galaxy Blue! Galaxy Green! Galaxy Yellow! Galaxy Pink! Magna Defender!"

These were the battle cries before the Rangers rushed to attack.

The battle looked real good for the Rangers at first. They took down Stingwingers and Batlings, fighting their way to the real bad guys, the monsters, mutants, Orgs and robots. Dana and Kendrix were the first to break through.

As my friends and I watched, Dana and Kendrix were surrounded on all sides by at least twenty monsters. They were struck time and again, their screams echoing. Their bodies twisted in the air, their injuries overtaxing the morphing grid and their Ranger suits disappearing as they fell to the ground, bloodied and broken. Someone behind me gasped and I could hear Daniel muttering, "Oh, no, oh no, oh no…" Dana and Kendrix struggled back to their feet, determined to keep fighting.

On the screen, we could see Damon and Joel pushing their way through their enemies, trying, trying to get to the pink rangers, but before they could make it, the four Duke Orgs the pink rangers were fighting, slashed through Dana and Kendrix and they fell back to the ground, lifeless, and didn't move.

"Dana!!" Carter screamed.

"Kendrix!" Leo yelled.

Screams filled the air and Damon and Joel began attacking with a vengeance. Kelsey and Maya found themselves beset by six mutants and though they slashed and cut, the mutants were scoring hit after hit. Before anyone else had the chance to see what was happening, Kelsey and Maya were struck down and killed, still morphed.

The battle was short after that. So overcome with grief, Kai and Chad and Damon and Joel found themselves being beaten down and one by one, they were killed.

Julia was crying softly behind me as we watched Leo and Carter face off with Trakeena. Carter's faceplate had been blown off and I could see the tears on his face. Leo's side was burned and he was barely able to stay up.

"Leo, get out of here! You need to carry news of this to Captain Mitchell! Tell him we need that new team!" Carter snapped off a shot with his Rescue blaster.

"No! I'm not leaving you!" Leo yelled, blocking a blow from Trakeena.

"Please, Leo! GO!" Carter gave him a one-handed shove, as he struck at his foe with the other.

"Okay." Leo's words sounded as if they were wrenched from his gut.

Then he turned and ran.

"Let him go," Trakeena said, "I'll still get to kill one red ranger."

As we watched, a huge fireball rose into the air behind the fleeing Leo and then the box closed.

"Oh, Leo, I'm so sorry." Meagan gave him a gently hug, so as not to hurt him any more.

"I don't have much time left. You six have been chosen to carry on to defeat Trakeena. Will you fight?" Leo asked.

"No! I don't want to die!" Julia's answer was an honest one.

"At least let me take you to our base and you can hear our leader. Please." Leo groaned.

"Ok." I said, making the decision for all of us.

Leo didn't respond, just attached little teleporter things to each of us, then pressed a button.