In spite of the frustration of not being able to kill their opponent, it was at least a fairly content group of Psycho Rangers who left the training room, none more so than Tommy Oliver.
Those Gold Psycho Ranger powers should have been his, HIS! He deserved them, far more than his former martial arts student. He'd finally put the upstart in his place today, though, with the help of the three other Pyscho Rangers. Persuading them to aid him hadn't been hard; Psycho Rangers were always up for a fight, and his warning that their newest member might start throwing his weight around if something wasn't done had found eagerly receptive ears.
The Pink Psycho Ranger leaned into him as they walked, purring an invitation in a low voice, "Come back to my room so we can celebrate."
Tommy was tempted, picturing the shining golden hair, beautiful face and flawless body hidden by the Pink Psycho armor. Each time they'd been together it had been a passionate, primal joining as each of them strove for their own pleasure.
"Not now," he said curtly, and his teammate's seductive voice took on an ugly edge.
"You're going to her, aren't you?"
It wasn't so much a question as an accusation, one the Psycho Rangers' leader didn't bother answering as he went down the corridor leading to his room.
Fuming, Kat turned to find herself alone; the Green and Yellow Psycho Rangers had already gone to Adam's room.
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The coolness of the metal wall stung his bare back as Tanya all but hurled him into it, kissing him as though she meant to literally consume him. Adam Park kissed back just as hard, his mind clouding over with arousal and passion.
Nonetheless he found a brief moment to reflect with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction on his current situation. After turning his Turbo power over to its new wielder, he had felt . . . empty. Adrift, purposeless, he had enrolled at AGU mainly because it was expected of him, attending the classes he was signed up for with no enthusiasm. The only moment of real excitement had come when he had helped his successor Carlos through the latter's crisis of confidence regarding accidentally striking a teammate. After that, though, everything had seemed even more pointless.
Darkonda and Justin kidnapping him had actually been a blessing in disguise. Now he had a mission again: to help the UAE subjugate the galaxy and slaughter all who opposed him. In the meantime he had the pleasure of Tanya and his concubines, none of which he genuinely cared for, but all of which he enjoyed. Life was good.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
She was lying on the bed when he entered her room. Her head whipped around to face him and he saw the despair in her eyes. Even sweeter, he saw helpless resignation.
He didn't love her. Psycho Rangers could not feel love; their neural nets prevented it. The near-obsessive possessiveness he did feel was probably as close as he could get, though, even if it was mixed with a bitter and enduring anger.
Justin and Adam thought it odd that he had chosen only one concubine; they both had over a dozen. His teammates simply didn't understand. One, this one, was all he'd needed, all he'd ever needed.
Early on, soon after he'd brought her to the Dark Fortress, she had screamed to him that they were not Beauty and the Beast. She'd been half-right. He was no mere beast, but she was beautiful. He had always thought she was beautiful, from the first day he had laid eyes on her, and she remained lovely still. He had made sure of that. The scars, the broken bones, the internal injuries-all had been healed over the years by Rita's magic.
Before going to her Tommy shot a quick glance to the Quantron standing silently in the corner. The machine made no response to his unspoken inquiry.
Good. She hadn't tried to kill herself again. Maybe he'd finally broken her spirit, at last made her realize that there was no escape. Perhaps she had finally come to terms with the fact that she was his now, only his. There was no choice anymore, and there never would be again.
Of course he'd believed she had accepted that truth before, many times, and each time she had surprised him, each time she had bounced back and returned to her pointless resistance. Her spirit was enduring and her will strong, as he well knew.
Stripping off his clothes he approached the bed, frowning as she cringed away. She was so small, so compact, yet she was lithe and flexible. He deeply enjoyed those characteristics in her.
He ran his hand through her brown hair, ignoring her shudder. Leaning down, placing his lips next to her ear, he whispered to her the same words he always had every time before he had taken her, even when the two of them had been together back on Earth.
"You are my heart," Tommy murmured.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
The discussion, or rather argument, with Gasket and his wife had gone on long into the night. The Prince was by his programming cautious and careful, not at all lacking in courage, but also not given to taking any unnecessary risks. That was why he'd fled his father's wrath when his love for Archerina came to light. His current kingdom was small, but stable and well-fortified, with an impressively powerful navy and military. The course of action the Blue Psycho Ranger was proposing could lead to Gasket regaining his status as Crown Prince of the Royal House of Gadgetry . . . but the plan required him to put himself and his spouse in a position of great vulnerability, and if anything went wrong it could easily result in their permanent destruction. Hence the robotic ruler's natural reluctance.
None of this mattered to the Blue Psycho Ranger. Gasket and Archerina were going to go along with this, because it was what the UAE needed. More importantly, it was what HE needed!
The idea had come to him in a flash of inspiration, shortly after Archerina's love arrow had struck him. In reviewing the pair's past history he had come across reference to Louie Kaboom, the usurper who had briefly taken the throne of the Machine Empire. Before his destruction the mechanical monster had himself fallen prey to one of Archerina's love arrows. The arrows could affect robots as well as organic beings; the only reason the one she'd sent at him had failed was because his neural net was specially designed to prevent him from ever experiencing love.
King Mondo did not have such an add-on.
Not that they could make the mechanical monarch fall in love with Archerina; that would be far too obviously a trick and would lead only to disaster. If the bow could be slightly modified, however, to produce a familial love, then it could be used to restore Mondo's feelings for his eldest son.
The scheme was admittedly audacious in the extreme, calling for a direct attack on one of the leaders of the United Alliance of Evil, but it was the only avenue open which offered any possibility of success.
He was a genius super-warrior, not a family counselor! He could not hope to heal a half-century rift between two robots with words; Gasket's reaction to his initial offering had made that all too clear. His only hope lay in his area of specialization: technology.
Except the bow wasn't purely technological, Archerina had eventually disclosed. It was instead an amalgam of technology and magic.
Given its effectiveness on both organic and non-organic beings, he should have deduced as much for himself, but there were no other signs of magic use anywhere around Horath. That turned out to be because the bow had been a gift from Archerina's father, who had been a sorcerer himself. He'd also been annihilated centuries ago, and Archerina had no magical ability of her own.
Once again Justin was thankful that he did not possess the standard Pyscho Ranger neural net. If he had, he surely would have attacked both sovereign and spouse upon learning that information, though he was by no means certain he could survive a battle with both of them at once, even discounting the legion of soldiers the Prince had at his beck and call.
So he needed someone well versed in magic if he hoped to alter the bow's enchantment. Yet neither Lord Zedd nor Rita could be trusted with the news of this plan. That left only one possibility.
"Prince Gasket, I know of someone who can aid me in altering your wife's bow. I can help you regain everything you've lost: your parents, your position as heir, your rightful place as one of the rulers of the galaxy-but only if your wife and her bow come with me now, to the Dark Fortress."
"You expect me to allow my wife to accompany you alone? Do you take me for a fool?" sneered Prince Gasket.
"Then come with us! I'll prove to you what I say is true and Dark Specter himself will give you his personal assurance of the rewards you'll receive for this!"
Justin took a deep breath before going on into his final pitch.
"My Prince, I cannot force you to agree to my plan, but know that the fate of the galaxy itself hangs on your decision! We must strike now if we hope to defeat the Galactic League of Light, while the ranks of their Ranger protectors are diminished. If you refuse to even try this, then you will doom yourself, your wife, and this entire system! Right now you are left alone in your cocoon of neutrality as the war rages around you, far too costly a prize to be worth seizing for either side. But my Prince, while you might be able to last forever, given the proper replacement parts . . . this war will not!"
"If the League prevails, do you truly believe they will allow you continue with your enslavement of the native inhabitants of Horath? They'll come for you, to finish their purge of evil from the galaxy. And if the UAE triumphs without you, you won't be the glorious hero who came to our side in our hour of need; you'll be Mondo's traitorous son, and Dark Specter will be more than happy to obliterate you in vengeance for your unwillingness to side with us."
"You can take either victory with the United Alliance of Evil, or have the surety of eventual extermination. The choice is yours."
The Blue Psycho Ranger sat back in his chair, his body language not betraying his anxiety as he waited for the Prince to either save or condemn all of them.
Gasket did neither.
"Leave us," he commanded, motioning towards the throne room's double doors. "I will speak with my wife."
Rising and bowing, Justin left the room, only to find a squad of Cogs waiting for him in the anteroom. He called his Psycho Axe to his hand with a feeling of despair, but instead of attacking the Cogs merely filed around him to stand in front of the throne room door. Apparently Prince Gasket was unwilling to take the risk that the Blue Psycho Ranger might eavesdrop upon his conversation.
While he waited he paced the small chamber and strove unsuccessfully to think of a back-up plan if Gasket should refuse his offer. There wasn't one. Dark Specter would reduce him to the status of a beserker upon his return, and there was no place he could hope to go to evade the Grand Monarch of Evil's reach.
After what felt like a century but was in reality only an hour the squad of Cogs opened the old-fashioned double doors and filed to the sides of the room. The Blue Psycho Ranger walked back into the throne room, alert and ready. If the answer wasn't the one he wanted, he would destroy both Prince Gasket and his wife or die trying. Death was perhaps a better fate than being reduced back to the level of Tommy and the others.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
Darkonda started at the unexpected opening of the ship's door, swiveling in his pilot's chair. He had assumed it would be at least a week before the brat admitted the impossibility of his task and returned to face Dark Specter's wrath. He was looking forward to the event, knowing that none of the blame for this mission's failure would fall upon him. It would be a pleasure to see the Blue Pyscho Ranger turned back into a warrior overwhelmed with anger and bloodlust. That was what the Psychos were meant to be, and Darkonda far preferred them that way; it meant one fewer variable in his plans to take over the Alliance.
So he was hardly upset that Justin had conceded so quickly. He smiled hungrily as the Psycho Ranger boarded the ship, a smile which faded when Prince Gasket and Archerina followed him.
"Signal Dark Specter that the United Alliance of Evil's newest leaders need to meet with him in secret and discuss the last pieces of the plan for them to join," Justin commanded, and though the helmet blocked any view of his face, Darkonda was sure that the human was wearing a smile not unlike the one he'd been flashing.
For once the alien mercenary found himself speechless.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
For Dark Specter it was a simple matter to teleport to the currently dark side of Triforia and meet them as they arrived. Justin explained his plan and Dark Specter examined the mystical aura of Archerina's bow. Extending a clawed hand larger than their tiny ship he shot a cord of red energy into the weapon, then instructed Justin on several technological modifications which would also need to be made. Since the facilities to do so did not exist aboard ship, Justin teleported to his lab on the Dark Fortress while Dark Specter spoke with the electronic monarch and his spouse.
When he had finished he prepared to teleport back, then hesitated. As long as he was here anyway . . .
"Fred! Miss me?" Justin asked through his helmet comm.
"Justin!" came the excited reply. "Where are you?"
"In my lab adjoining my quarters," he answered.
Eighteen seconds later the door to the corridor chimed, and Justin opened it to admit his ally.
"Finally! Now let's go and kill Tommy!" the Gold Psycho Ranger enthused as he stepped into the lab in full morph.
"What?"
"You're here again, so let's go butcher him!"
"Fred, what happened while I was gone?"
"He came to the training room and said he wanted to spar. I agreed, and I beat him! That's when the other Psychos hit me from behind. All of them together . . . "
The helmet's visor turned away and Justin knew his friend didn't want to admit to being defeated. 'Now you know how I feel every time we spar' the Blue Psycho Ranger thought to himself with a thrill of bitter enjoyment. Overall, though, this was pretty bad. It was a good thing the discipline Fred had developed as a rebel had kept him from taking action alone.
"When did this happen?"
"About fifteen minutes ago."
"Fred, we can't do this now," the seventeen year-old insisted, reaching out to place both hands on his friend's increasingly broad shoulders. "I'm on the verge of accomplishing my mission, but I need to go to Mondo's palace to complete it. After I pull this off and we finish the Rangers, Dark Specter might be willing to let us kill Tommy openly, with his blessing! Right now, though, it's the same as it was before: we can't let anyone know that we're the ones who killed him. I know you're angry and you should be, but as soon as I get back we'll start brainstorming ways we can get rid of him. Can you wait that long? Please?"
There was no way to read Fred's expression, but to his relief Justin felt the tension seep out of the Gold Psycho Ranger's shoulders.
"He's not living an instant longer than he has to, Justin," and the words were as much warning as promise. "I've let you get away with a couple of cheap shots because you're my friend-" "Get away with them"?! Was Fred somehow unaware of just how strong he was, of how hard he hit? How were taking blows like that in retaliation "getting away with" anything?!-"but not him. Nobody does that to me and lives. Nobody," he emphasized, and Justin caught the meaning. Fred didn't just want to kill Tommy; he was planning to kill all of the other Psycho Rangers who'd done this to him too.
Oh, well, once the Light Rangers were dead the UAE would no longer need a very experienced team of Psycho Rangers. In fact it would be better to bring in new ones, recruits with the same friendship/loyalty modification to their neural nets that Fred had been given. Once he was Grand Monarch of Evil he'd even let Fred pick the team, since the Gold Psycho Ranger would be the one leading them.
Too bad all of the people Fred would know well enough to recommend for the positions were already dead.
"I understand completely," Justin assured him. "I'll see you soon," he promised, and transformed into column of blue light as he teleported back to Darkonda's vessel.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
Their journey was nearly at an end, Tideus reflected as he watched the planet Phaedos grow larger in the viewscreen. Given the fate of almost all who had preceded them here, perhaps he should be worried or even frightened, but he was not. For one, it would be a tremendous relief just to be out there taking action! These days of waiting had weighed heavily on all aboard, leaving them with literally nothing to do except mourn their losses. A powerful atmosphere of gloom had settled over the remaining Light Rangers.
Still, Tideus didn't doubt that Billy's advice on masking their approach had been for the best. He'd told them about how Ivan Ooze had sent troops to stop them when the disgusting despot had learned that they were seeking the Great Power. The UAE wouldn't just send a squad, as Ooze had done; they'd send the Psycho Rangers, and they couldn't face those murdering bottom feeders again until they had received the Great Power.
There had been no hostile attention paid to them at any point, not even when they'd set course for Phaedos after the last stop. Presumably the UAE remained completely unaware of their plan.
Of course the planet alone had been sufficient to do in virtually everyone else who had come here. Fortunately they were the best Ranger team the galaxy had ever seen. They would gain the Great Power, and then they would pay the Psycho Rangers back in full for Cestro and Corcus' deaths.
"Attention! We're approaching Phaedos!" The Aquitan Ranger announced over the in-ship comm. In less than a minute all of his comrades had crowded in behind the pilot's seat, life showing in their faces for the first time . . . well, for the first time since Morrigan.
The planet was massive, at least three times the size of Earth and with far less water, a most disconcerting fact for him and the other Aquitans. Happily their destination apparently lay on the edge of Phaedos' sole sea.
"Take us down and skirt the coastline," Delphine instructed as she leaned over his shoulder. "Scan for any sign of the ruins Billy told us about."
"Which coast?"
"He said he journeyed north and the sea was on his left. Follow the eastern coast," Delphine directed.
They soared above a rocky coast, one frequently giving way to sheer cliffs. It was atop one such cliff that the ship detected a number of stone pillars.
"That must be it! Take us in."
"Aye aye, captain!" Tideus cockily acknowledged, carefully setting the ship down a sufficient distance from the ruins so as not to endanger the ancient architecture.
Without any command needing to be given, the Light Rangers all morphed. Delpine took the lead until Aurico's right hand fell upon her shoulder.
Please, let me go first, he asked telepathically. We don't know for sure what's out there.
Beneath his message she could feel his heavy guilt over their losses, his fear that he would once again fail to protect his teammates, his friends.
It wasn't your fault, Aurico. You did the best you could. We all did, she sent to him, accompanying it with a wave of support and reassurance, hiding her own grave sense of responsibility for the losses her team had suffered.
She stepped aside, letting Aurico take the lead, and the Rangers emerged onto the surface of Pahedos.
There was no sign of hostility. There was no sign of anything. All was quiet.
"Dulcea!" Aurico called out. "We have come to seek the Great Power! Billy sent us!"
His words echoed around them.
There was no response.
"Where is she?" Justin asked in frustration.
"I don't know," Delpine admitted. "Billy said she found him, and led his group here."
"Wherever she is, we will find her!" Aurico announced decisively. "Delphine, you and Cassie wait here in case she shows up. Contact us through the comms if you see her or anyone else. Tideus, you are with me. We will go south along the coast. Justin and T.J., head inland toward the southeast. Report in anything unusual."
Without question the six broke up into their specified groups, four of them setting out while the other two settled in to wait-and hope.
ΩΩΩΩΩ
To his surprise Justin found his mouth dry and his stomach heaving unpleasantly as Darkonda brought the ship in for a landing at the Royal Pad. It wasn't fear of a fight; Dad had started teaching him karate almost from when he could first walk, and he'd sparred countless times before doing a year's duty as a Ranger. He enjoyed fighting, he didn't fear it.
No, his fear was because they couldn't be sure this would work. If it didn't everything would come down around him. Unless . . .
"What are you waiting for?" Darkonda snarled.
Shaking himself from his reverie, the Blue Psycho Ranger created chains around both Gasket and Archerina's wrists, just as he'd done for Fred not too long ago.
Leading them down the ramp he followed a short corridor before passing into the palace throne room.
"Your majesty," he said, kneeling before the ruler of the Machine Empire, and yanking the chains to make his two "captives" kneel as well.
"You!" Mondo exclaimed, his visual receptors locked on his chained son.
"This is why I requested a private audience with you, your Majesty," Justin smoothly explained as he stood. "I know you and the Queen don't see eye-to-eye regarding Prince Gasket, and I thought you would wish to decide his fate and that of his wife alone."
"You will be rewarded for this!" Mondo promised fervently, staring now at the Blue Psycho Ranger. "No machine could have done better!"
That was when Archerina acted. Summoning her bow from its other dimensional storage space, she shot an arrow of light at King Mondo, breaking her chain in the process with no apparent effort.
The rotund monarch reacted with commendable speed, lifting his hand and bringing a transparent forcefield into being; Justin certainly hadn't known he could do that! Yet the arrow passed through it, striking him in the chest.
Gasket lurched to his feet, moving forward so that he stood directly in front of his father.
"Please, father, forgive me for following my heart! Please accept me again as your son and heir!" Gasket importuned, and there seemed to be real emotion in his voice.
The only biological being in the chamber realized he was holding his breath as he waited for King Mondo's reaction. With a thought he summoned his Psycho Axe, ready to strike if need be.
"Of course, my son! I am so glad to have you home!" King Mondo announced, deactivating the forcefield, descending from his throne to snap Prince Gasket's chains in two and then embracing his son.
Justin quietly slipped away down the corridor, leaving them to their reunion. It had worked! It had worked! Stopping for a moment, the Blue Psycho Ranger stood and gloried in his triumph! The Galactic League of Light was as good as finished! Soon the galaxy would belong to the UAE and before the year was out . . . the UAE would belong to Justin!
He continued down the corridor, relieved beyond measure that he hadn't needed to use the back-up plan he'd come up with on the spur of the moment. If the arrow hadn't worked, he had intended to strike down both Gasket and Archerina from behind, before they could do anything else. He would have apologized profusely to King Mondo for having brought unsecured prisoners before him, and then he would have gone back to the ship and had Darkonda assume Gasket's form.
Whether that appearance would have been enough to get Gasket's forces to obey the mercenary was a question which would happily never need to be answered now.
There was Darkonda, waiting outside the ship, a scowl on his hideous face.
"It worked," Justin gloated aloud as he approached. "We're going to have Prince Gasket's forces to add to our own. The UAE-"
That was when he broke off, because something had caught him from behind in a bear hug! A quick glance down showed nothing visible, yet he could feel the compressing force! Summoning up all the incredible strength his morphed state bestowed upon him, he broke free and whirled to confront . . . nothing!
A swift roundhouse punch at head height cut through the air, meeting no resistance. Then the unseen enemy seized him around the waist! He pressed down on what felt like a pair of armored shoulders. Was this Kat? But why would she be attacking him here?
"Darkonda, help me!" he called back over his shoulder.
The alien had taken a few steps forward, but he wasn't moving now. Under Justin's furious gaze the alien mercenary's arms dropped to his side. He did nothing but smirk and wink as he laughed.
Then Justin was being teleported, to somewhere very close by given how brief the trip was. Rematerializing so unexpectedly soon he needed to take a second to get his bearings-and that was a second too long.
The invisible thing holding him released his waist and a massive shove sent him tumbling back onto some sort of raised, circular platform. As he scrambled to his feet there was a sharp, unpleasant cracking sound.
And then the Blue Psycho Ranger involuntarily demorphed.
In disbelief he started down at his tanned hands and wrists, his Psycho Morpher still attached to his right one. Glancing around he saw another large, circular platform above his head, and behind him there was a four foot-wide, square green pillar of metal which connected the two, like a capital E missing its central strut.
Even in the midst of his growing panic the seventeen year-old's brilliant mind reached the only conclusion which made sense. He was inside a forcefield, one powerful to block the transmission of energy to his Psycho Morpher. He couldn't remorph, he couldn't teleport away, he couldn't do ANYTHING!
As he looked forward again his attacker shimmered into view: the Phantom Ranger!
Justin's assailant turned without a word, going to the pilot's chair of the ship they were in, one even smaller than Darkonda's. Leaning over the console the Phantom Ranger depressed a button.
"Billy, this is the Phantom Ranger. I've done it! I've captured the Blue Psycho Ranger in your forcefield generator! Be ready, I'm bringing him straight to you."
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