[Preview]Now based on the distant, dark world of Pluto, the Nazitans have sent their travelling vessel to Earth to unleash their Armaton combatants for populous assimilation. Fearing for their world on the other side of dimensional gap on Earth, the Terranian Government of Uton elected Commander Leto to pose as Aaron Hanson, an observer at Griffith Park Observatory. Now five members of the security task force from Terrania have been brought to Earth to stop the Nazitans and Pleadia's telepathically controlled Cyborg mutants. Read on!

Phil. Enterprises presents . . .

GALAXY TASK FORCE ASTRORANGER

Starring...

Sheratan Kasei as Dave Marcello………………………………………………………………….MarsAstro!

Australis Mokusei as Will Richards……………………………………………………………..JupiterAstro!

Nashiran Dosei as Tom Nevison…………………………………………………………………SaturnAstro!

Messuta Suisei as Ron Michaeli……………………………………………………………….MercuryAstro!

Lotia Kinsei as Amy Leven………………………………………………………………………VenusAstro!

and...

Commander Leto as Dr. Aaron Hanson.

Featuring...

Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez.

In outer space, Pluto floated in orbit while underground, a brown, oval chamber featuring an iron-clad throne upon stairs in front of a crystal ball that stood on a pedestal was the Nazitan outpost. In this throne was seated their mission commander, Adol the Great. Before him knelt Tortan and Igan, Pleadia and Ginara.

"Rise," said Adol as they all stood. On the crystal ball, images of their ship travelling past Saturn at an incredible speed were seen by all. "Soon our craft will reach earth and unleash our powerful Armaton warriors on their planet as the ship roams the world defeating their defences," Adol said.

The Nazitans, an ancient race desperate for immortality, has decided the planet Earth of more than five billion human beings will be assimilated into their species. The metallic sphere was seen at the ocean's horizon in the sky as it came for the shore. Yellow stars were fired upon the Hawaiian shore from the ship causing powerful explosions to occur on the vacated beach. The sphere came to a stop as it floated in mid air and fired a green beam upon the ground causing a tree to get cut down and the ground to explode again. The USS CARL VINSON was just leaving the Hawaiian shoreline as its mighty guns blasted away at the ship. Explosions pounded the hull but it was undamaged as it returned fire forcing the water to explode on each side of the ship.

Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez of the Los Angeles Police department's headquarters, Parker Centre, were on their way to see Commander Leto, otherwise known as Aaron Hanson on Earth.

"Frank," she said to him while he attempted to navigate through the tight traffic. "Look at that!" Kathy pointed to a huge floating metallic silver sphere floating above the centre of Los Angeles above the tall skyscraper as tiny jets and helicopters were seen flying around it exchanging fire.

"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it with my own eyes, Kathy," Frank said.

"Whatever the threat may be, we must stand against them because what this all boils down to is that the only thing that stands between this planet and those forces are you," Leto said.

One after the other, the camouflage coloured spandex suited Armaton Solders somersaulted in criss-cross formation in the sky. On the ground, the rifle-sword carrying warriors charged forth. One Armaton free-fell through the air and landed on the ground, pulling out to reveal possibly hundreds of Armatons with silver bladed rifles strapped to their backs. The fireworks ignited everywhere as the battle between the metal sphere hovering in the sky pounding the Earth forces whom fired back. Suddenly, airborne alien ship stopped firing, turned and then moved eastward at a tremendous speed leaving behind a thunderous sonic boom.

"They're moving east soldiers! Move out!" said one command officer.

"It's moving faster than the speed of sound, we'll never make it!" said one soldier.

"Have Edwards Air force Base head them off, they'll know what's going on," said the commanding officer. "And if I'm not mistaken, the whole world probably knows."

Episode 2: "We Need A Hero"

ACT I:

At an emergency press conference, Dr. Aaron Hanson stood there in front of a collection of microphones at a podium with dozens of reporters shouting questions at him.

"Doctor Hanson, you were the first to discover the UFO, are you aware of the onboard inhabitants if any?"

"No I am not, currently our information on the contents of the vessel, currently is limited. We're concerned that the craft will revolve around the planet leaving behind a trail of mass destruction."

"Mister Hanson, were you aware of the arrival of the UFO prior to it's entering Earth's atmosphere?" asked one reporter.

"We currently have a team of astronomers checking video tape of our telescopes as we speak and they will converse with local, state and national authorities as soon as they have a clue as to what occurred."

"What are the advisable actions of defence, Mr. Hanson?"

"I wish I could say; I am not a military man so I wouldn't know the first thing. However, I would heed the fact that these aliens could possess powers one could only imagine. Underestimating what they can do would not be very intelligent."

"Doctor Hanson..."

"I'm sorry, I must join my colleagues to research the matter further—excuse me," said Dr. Hanson has he made his way away from the press conference.

In outer space, Pluto floated in orbit while underground, a brown, oval chamber featuring an iron-clad throne upon stairs in front of a crystal ball that stood on a pedestal was the Nazitan outpost. In an adjoining chamber, a workshop featuring one wall with a circular hatch next to a transparent cabinet in the wall of green eggs on a rack. A membrane keyboard and a hand-pad sat on a console before a pad projecting a holographic display. To the right of the entrance, Pleadia, a thinly built, lab-coated Nazitan with a long face and large oval white eyes, frowning thin slit of a mouth and pointed nose sat at the illuminated board in which he was drawing curved symbols into board with his fingers. Suddenly, Adol the Great walked into the chamber and Pleadia stood and crossed his arms over his chest with his hands on his shoulders and bowed.

"Greetings, Adol," Pleadia said. "What are your orders, master?"

"It is time to send forth your organic robotic creature to begin fulfilling its task prepare the human race for assimilation."

Pleadia nodded. "As you command, Adol." He returned to his console facing a holographical display. Upon typing at his workstation, the profile of a humanoid creature was drawn. Pleadia inserted a card as he pushed a button and typed some more. The graphics became more animated as the diagram showed a reptile creature with a dual-tank backpack with hoses attached to a spray nozzle on his right arm and suction nozzle on his left.

"Our home planet of Procyon III finally recognised my genius with this experiment, Adol. The Society of Biomechanical Genetic Engineers wrote about this one for its high independent intelligence," Pleadia bragged.

"Pleadia, I do not care about this. It is supposed to be under your control so they carry out the task."

"Adol, that is incredibly difficult."

"I know that," he interrupted, "but you're the best..."

"Certainly," Pleadia was saying.

"...and that's why I assigned you," Adol concluded. "So do your job."

Pleadia sighed. "As you command."

"What does this cyborg do?"

"It is Cyborg VacMan; it's abilities are to remove all solid material in an organic humanoid, making them one-hundred percent liquid so that it may be stored for easy cellular rebuilding here at base," Pleadia answered.

Adol nodded in acceptance. "How fast can it do this?"

"I would assume it could make several rounds in one earth week."

"Good work. Proceed," Adol permitted. Pleadia opened the foggy cabinet and removed the first egg of several. He pressed a button on the left side of the circular hatch door forcing it to pop open. Pleadia pushed the door aside and pulled out another rack placing the egg inside. He closed the door drawing the rack back inside, tightening the hatch manually and walked back over to the view-screen console and typed in several commands until a beep was heard. From outer space, a small flash of light is seen on the surface of Pluto as a glowing object passes out of orbit. In outer space, the glowing red object begins to disappear as Earth comes into view.

The transparent white clouds in the clear blue sky floated past the sun which shined over the quiet, well kept neighbourhood in the Hollywood hills where a house and garage could be seen at the corner of the block just south of the busy thoroughfare signified by the traffic light. Inside, Commander Leto walked away from the door and approached the five Terranians who stood near him.

"Okay, team. Here is your Earth base and living quarters for the duration of your mission. This domestic structure Humans called a house is complete with the standard accommodations for sleeping. One living room and den, a kitchen and dining room for preparing and eating food; two and a half bathrooms (one only has a shower), three bedrooms, an attic and basement which is attached to the laundry room; back and front yards with fence." While he explained this, the others had walked around the fully furnished environment with wonder.

"So this is how humans live," Sheratan said.

"That's right, Sheratan and you will be growing accustomed to them as time goes on so that you may carry out your mission with little interference from the surrounding population," Leto explained. "For example, Sheratan, you wont have the magnetic propulsion supersonic carriers like on Terrania..."

"So how are we supposed to get around on this gigantic planet without our MagnoCarriers? We can't possibly rely on public transportation," Lotia stated

"Yeah, especially during emergencies," Australis added.

"You're all going to use what the Humans call automobiles or cars," Leto said as he showed a picture of a lavender minivan to Australis. "They run from fossil fuel which has become crude petroleum oil."

"I thought they use that to make plastic?" Sheratan said as he was handed a photograph of a red Pontiac Trans AM.

"It is. They also refine it into motor oil and gasoline," Commander Leto said as he handed Messuta a picture of a motorcycle. "By the way, Messuta, you should be familiar with this vehicle."

"Yeah, the HydroCycles are like these, except more like Harley Davidsons," Messuta replied. "I read some magazines at the airport's lobby."

"You all have licenses, registration and insurance which are all required whenever you should be stopped by an officer for whatever reason which should hardly happen because before you use these, I invite you to spend a couple of days at the Space Base training in the VR Simulation room," Commander Leto said as he handed a photograph of a black pick-up truck to Nashiran and a ten-speed bicycle to Lotia.

"No need, I've already taken the liberty of doing so," Lotia said.

"Good," Commander Leto said. "You can find these vehicles in the garage which is accessible through the door in the back of the kitchen."

"Where's all this documentation stored?" Nashiran asked. Commander Leto gave each one of the members a wallet and Lotia a purse. Messuta opened his wallet and flipped through various cards and then thumbed through two bills of every denomination. Sheratan put his wallet in his pants pocket.

"These. According to them, you are all your appropriate ages which was determined by calculating your cellular growth against Human chronological calculations," Leto answered. "So, though you may be 29 Terranian years old ,you would be 22 Earth years old."

"Right, earth time moves about a third slower than ours," Messuta said.

"The staff at the Uton didn't waste any time getting us firmly planted into this society, did they?" Sheratan said.

"That is right. Even this house was unofficially refurbished using Terranian building techniques without using Terranian building materials so that seismic activity would leave little or no damage upon it," Commander Leto explained. "During the remodelling, any potential security problems such as secret listening devices were removed and a security parameter arranged to alert the Lunar Orbiting base which is in constant contact with Terranian Security Headquarters, Division A. Anyway, you've got identification, birth certificates, social security numbers, drivers licenses, credit cards, bank accounts with A.T.M. Card and even High School Diplomas with records to match so you can get jobs."

"I guess then, we're all set up then," Australis said. "Now all we do is keep our eyes and ears peeled."

"Remember, these Audio and Visual Radio devices, both commercial and emergency-based, will be useful in quickly locating problems but also remember your Genesis Gems will light up if destructive energy is sensed near by," Leto stated. "Shortly, we will be providing with what they call here a police scanner and the HydroCycles. for your transportation while you're in uniform."

"How did the press conference go, Leto?" Lotia asked.

"It was predictably busy. I'd go into the philosophy of it but I'm already spending too much time here. The local law enforcement officials were recently asking me about your origins."

"Well if they ask, we'll tell them the story we all agreed on before coming to Earth," Australis said. "Getting legal name changes to avoid stalkers is common these days."

"I hope that your training will be sufficient in aiding you in living in a human society," Leto said. "This way you can perform your duties without being hassled by law enforcement agencies."

A glowing ball of golden light streaked through the sky; at the Los Angeles Zoo, a little girl looking at the tigers noticed the ever growing comet-like streak of light. She tugged on her mom's shirt hanging over her pants.

"What's that?" she asked. Her mother looked into the sky and wrinkled her forehead.

"Yeah, what is that?"

"Looks like a comet!" her Husband said.

Elsewhere, in Griffith Park near a golf course, a tree was sliced in half by the golden sphere as an explosion followed. Men and Women turned around in shock as they saw the smoke clear showing a half humanoid half reptile creature step forth. This thick-suited beast with hoses connected to its arms from out of its dual-tank backpack was Cyborg VacMan.

"What the hell is it!" one spectator exclaimed. VacMan flexed its arms and then aimed them at the man. Suddenly, a green juice sprayed from its right arm's mounted nozzle. It coagulated into a green gel that began to cocoon around the mans body and then begin smoking and glowing.

"What's happening to me!!" the man shouted as his hollers became muffled by the gel closing itself around his body. The glow disappeared as the gel became a green puddle of juice on the ground. VacMan sucked up the juice with the nozzle on its left arm. Inside of the tank, it occupied a very small portion.

"Woah!!" another spectator said. VacMan turned to that man and aimed its arms.

"Oh no!" the man said as he began to run. VacMan launched its juice through the air . . .

ACT II:

In the Hollywood hills, the house and garage at the corner of the block south of the busy thoroughfare signified by the traffic light came into view. Inside, Amy dropped keys on the coffee table in front of the entertainment cabinet as she sat down on the couch. Ron walked in from the kitchen, reached over and picked up the remote off the coffee table as he turned on the television inside of the cabinet beside the stereo.

"What are you turning that thing on for?" Amy asked.

"Just checking the news," Ron asked. "After an earthquake, there are aftershocks. I'm seeing if there's anything happening after that metal sphere took to the East."

"Good idea," Amy said. They watched as helicopter footage showed Cyborg VacMan rampaging the golf course.

"Hey we better hurry, the others are near there!"

"I can notify Australis telepathically while you drive," Ron said.

Amy stood up. "Let's get to work."

In outer space, Pluto floated in orbit while underground, a brown, oval chamber featuring an iron-clad throne upon stairs in front of a crystal ball that stood on a pedestal was the Nazitan outpost.

"With Pleadia in control of the mind of our mutant soldier on Earth, it shall bring us the human race in its rawest form for simple genetic reprogramming," Igan told Adol.

At Griffith Park in the golf course, the five Terranians ran into the park and saw the Cyborg.

"I believe it's a mentally controlled mutant," Lotia said.

"Yeah, I'm getting some bizarre cerebral transmissions from a source extremely far from here. It's artificially amplified," Messuta said.

"Apparently, telepathy is common in their culture as well as ours," Sheratan said.

"Let's make a break for cover so we wont be seen," Nashiran said. The five ran after plants to hide behind while police cars drove into the park and abruptly came to a halt.

"I don't believe this," the officer said.

"Believe it, Don," the other officer said as she got out of the car. All of the cars' doors busted wide open as officers got on one knee and drew their guns.

"L.A.P.D., Freeze!" an officer yelled. VacMan sprayed its juice and the cops ducked behind the doors of their car. The juice sizzled the hood of the police car warping it.

"Don! It melted the hood!" said his partner. The five looked at Cyborg VacMan become irate while they hid. As Lotia looked on in sheer horror, Australis was actually looking angry. Messuta noticed Nashiran walk out of their hiding place, clenching his fist.

"Alright--I've seen enough," Nashiran said.

"It's _got_ to be stopped." Sheratan nodded. "Okay everybody--this is it. Change Form!" He ordered as they all gathered together. Lined up, Lotia and Australis stood on the left with Sheratan in the centre and Nashiran with Messuta on the right.

"Genesis Gem!" they all shouted with their left fists on their hips and right fist pointed up. "Astro Charge!" they shouted as they thrusted their fists in front of themselves. The jewel on the golden ring began to glow brightly as the white-after glow blackened out the scene. In front of a red grided background, white beam of light rolled back and forth across a black silhouette of Sheratan, leaving him in a shiny red, full-body uniform with a white arrow-head design upon his chest with the same design on the wrist and ankle guards of his white gloves and boots. A red helmet with moulded, metallic lips were beneath the black, uniquely shaped visor across his eyes. The Astro Suit was complete when his silver belt materialised a golden star within a circle on the belt's buckle. Simultaneously, black silhouettes of Australis, Nashiran, Messuta and Lotia were in view before the white band scanned across their bodies. Respectively ,the green, black, white and pink uniforms were molecularly showered onto their bodies prior to disappearing into a bright flash of white light.

The red Astroranger, MarsAstro stepped forth and made his arms into horns.

"Sheratan!" he shouted as he pointed his left arm up diagonally and then formed a circle with his arms to his right. "Mars!"

The green Astroranger, JupiterAstro, held his right fist up with his left fist at his right elbow.

"Australis!" he shouted when he brought his right fist into the air diagonally with his left fist brought back as if he were shooting an arrow upward. "Jupiter!" he said, forming a circle with both of his arms on his left side.

The white Astroranger, MercuryAstro created a cross with his arms.

"Messuta," he shouted when then he brought his arms up to form a half-circle and then a full-circle on his left. "Mercury!"

In a white-rimmed, pointed skirt, the pink Astroranger, VenusAstro, put her arms out into a T formation.

"Lotia!" she shouted as she made her arms into a cross, then forming a circle on her right side. "Venus!"

Black SaturnAstro Ranger points his left fist up and right fist down.

"Nashiran!" he shouted as he made a cross out of his arms as he brought his right arm around to make a circle on his left side. "Saturn!"

With sky above the Astroranger galaxy task force, the sunlight shined against their glossy uniforms as they formed an X with their arms.

"Galaxy Task Force!" Casting their right hands into the air and forming a fist with their left, they all shouted,

"ASTRORANGER!"

At Nazitan's Plutonian Base, Adol looked at the team on the special globe and stood up in anger.

"This is not a pleasant surprise, my comrades. However, this appears to be perhaps an unknown human defence team. And thus should be no match for my army of Armatons."

"I will have Pleadia dispatch them right away," Tortan said. One after the other, in camouflage coloured armour, the Armaton Soldiers were somersaulting in criss-cross formation in the sky.

On the grass, the rifle-sword carrying warriors charged forth.

"Wait a sec... Is that metal they've got for skeletons?" MercuryAstro asked.

SaturnAstro nodded. "If it's not--those are some amazing party costumes."

The red Astroranger nodded affirmatively. "Well, I don't like parties like this. Get 'em!" They nodded affirmatively after clenching their fists and charged ahead at full speed. SaturnAstro blocked an Armaton's attempt at a punch and held its fist. Using the Armaton's fist, SaturnAstro flipped it onto its back.

"Saturn Ring Kick!" he shouted as he performed a swinging side-kick that another Armaton ducked. The Armaton blocked a high shin-kick but SaturnAstro side-kicked the Armaton in the chest forcing it into the turf. VenusAstro back-flipped onto the grass and ducked as an Armaton round-housed over her. She ducked and tripped the Armaton as it flipped off it foot and onto its back. After two soldiers punched straight for the pink Astroranger, she took their fists and flipped them both into the turf. An Armaton punched at MercuryAstro and knocked its fist away. He turned around and kicked the Armaton's other fist away but when the white Astroranger turned to look behind himself, MercuryAstro saw multiple soldiers running after him. After he jumped into the air, the white Astroranger flew through the sky and eventually tackled an Armaton to the grass. He turned around and low spin-kicked causing an Armaton behind him to flip off its feet and onto its back.

"Jupiter Great Red Spot Kick!" the green Astroranger shouted; JupiterAstro's flying corkscrew kick knocked an Armaton soldier out of sight. Three more Armatons ran after JupiterAstro in a zigzag way to confuse him. Focused, the green Astroranger prepared himself for each one of them in assuming his bow and arrow battle posture. After an Armaton leaped up and chopped down with its arm, JupiterAstro caught its hand, upper-cut it in the ribs and pulled down its arm before punching it across the head.

"Jupiter Double-Kick!" he shouted as he hopped into the air and used both feet to kick the Armatons into back-flipping face down into the turf. MarsAstro cross his arms into the air blocking the downward karate-chop of an Armaton. The Armaton kicked at his side; blocking that too, MarsAstro high shin-kicked the Armaton's side. Like the horns of a ram, he double-side punched the Armaton and upper-cut it into twirling into the air and rolling out onto the grass. SaturnAstro kicked an Armaton onto the turf and then turned to face the others.

"Hey, I don't know if you know this but they not staying down long enough!" After an Armaton ran into the pink Astroranger's stuck out arm, its neck hooked and forced the soldier's entire body to hit the turf.

"And I don't know where that mutant is," VenusAstro added.

MercuryAstro looked up and shouted "Uh oh, get down!" All of the Armatons lined up and drew their rifles as cyan light-bullets rapidly fired from the barrels. Sparks exploded from the grass in front of the team but they jumped through the white cloud of smoke, tumbled over and jumped into the air.

In the sky, the black Astroranger shouted "Saturn Ring Flip Kick!" SaturnAstro somersaulted straight ahead and kicked an Armaton out of sight. SaturnAstro landed on the grass to finish his move as the Armaton stood up again.

"Moleculatom Blaster!" he said as he rotated his arms through the air and braced his belt-mounted holster. Drawing the grip, he held it out in front of himself. A yellow beam of light pulsed out of the end of the device as it quickly became replaced by a bright blue beam of electricity. The Armaton was struck with the blue beam and sparks exploded on contact causing it to fall into the ground smoking. SaturnAstro returned the Moleculatom Blaster to his chest and nodded affirmatively.

"Now it's staying down."

Upon the main viewer in Pleadia's laboratory, Pleadia himself nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw the lightening-like beam down the Armaton.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Ginara asked as she walked in through the chamber entrance.

Pleadia looked at her and then at the holographic display. "One of those fighters damaged an Armaton with a strange light device."

"Use the Cyborg on them," Ginara immediately solved.

"But it's not equipped to battle them!! And now I don't know what kind of damage they're capable of doing to it."

Ginara looked at Pleadia with an expression of impatience. "Improvise. We cannot lose. You can be certain of one thing, those warriors are not human."

Meanwhile, at Griffith Park's Harding Golf Course, VacMan moved on to a populated portion of the park. The patrons ran screaming from the tall staggering monster. Behind it, the five Astrorangers stopped running after it once they'd caught up to Cyborg VacMan.

"Moleculatom Weapon!" MarsAstro commanded; he swung his arms through the air gripping the white holster on his AstroSuit's silver belt. Drawing the device within, the red Astroranger held it while putting his other fist against the tip.

"Dagger Mode!" he commanded while forming a beam of light through lifting his fist away from the weapon. After the beam flashed, the metal blade of a dagger pointed from the hilt of the Moleculatom Weapon.

"Attack!" he said as the team charged after Cyborg VacMan. VacMan turned to the team and pointed its arm and suddenly, juice was pouring through the sky.

SaturnAstro stopped and exclaimed, "What the?" VenusAstro and JupiterAstro were partially splattered.

"Ugh!" VenusAstro groaned as she fell back. "It's so hot!"

"Hang on, agh..." JupiterAstro said. MercuryAstro rolled clear and stood again and ran after VacMan. MercuryAstro jumped up and lashed VacMan with his Moleculatom Dagger producing a blast of sparks upon contact and then turned around and struck across its abdomen as the blast forced VacMan to stumble back. VacMan activated its vacuum. MercuryAstro resisted the wind suction but was yanked through the sky. MercuryAstro found himself in VacMan's hands and was cast clear into the sky again, hit a tree and rolled out onto the grass.

"Holy heavens what a throw!" MercuryAstro said while standing up. The black and red Astrorangers shin-kicked at VacMan's face, forcing the cyborg to stand back. SaturnAstro turned around and spin kicked its head before MarsAstro tornado kicked it as well. Cyborg VacMan's head snapped back into position immediately after every kick and took its fist to punch straight ahead. Knocked off their feet, both Astrorangers fell from the blow. MercuryAstro smeared the smoking green gel off of VenusAstro as she laid in JupiterAstro's arms.

"You're fine," MercuryAstro said.

"The uniforms must've protected us," JupiterAstro said.

"Hey, we have to help," VenusAstro said as she stood up. The others followed as they looked at MarsAstro

took a tumble.

The Astroranger SpaceBase, an opal globe shaped satellite, stayed in synchronous orbit with the dark-side of the lunar celestial body. Inside, Leto came into view as he watched the main display and returned to one of the five work stations on the right side of the chamber. He typed at the back-lit membrane keyboard and then talked into a goose-neck microphone.

"Rangers, that thing out there is way more powerful than your Moleculatom Blasters can handle. We just got the Celestial Weapons, use them to start the Cosmic Missile. Received?"

MarsAstro listened intently and then nodded at the conclusion of his telepathic message.

"Acknowledged," MarsAstro said. "Everybody, they got the celestial weapons. Let's try to break him down so we can do the cosmic missile technique just like before."

"We're ready." JupiterAstro replied. MarsAstro formed his fists as if he were holding the hilt of a sword and took it the sky. Red lightening drew a sword and then with a flash of red light, the Fire Sword, a two-handed, double-bladed battle sword, two and a half feet in length appeared; Mars Astro brought it to his side. JupiterAstro cast forth his fist with his left fist pointed up as green lightening drew the a bow and with a flash of green light, the Thunder Bow appeared and JupiterAstro took it into his other hand. MercuryAstro put both open hands into the sky as white lightening drew his Power Staff and with a flash of light it became the solid staff, four and a half feet in length as MercuryAstro twirled it and aimed it. SaturnAstro brought his fist in front of his chest with purple lightening drawing his scythe, within a flash of light, his Battle Scythe was formed. VenusAstro brought her fist in front of her chest a lightening drew a boomerang in her grip and, with a flash of light, her Sonic Boomerang was formed; VenusAstro turned and aimed it above her head. Coasting through the air, the pink Astroranger tossed her boomerang and Cyborg VacMan unexpectedly found sparks blasting from its shoulder. Already in mid air, MercuryAstro somersaulted straight ahead with his staff. The end of the white Astroranger's staff cracked against the top of VacMan's head, forcing it to stumble back. A reverse somersault from SaturnAstro landed him and his black scythe against the cyborg's body, causing the blade to spark off of its chest. Flying through the sky overhead, JupiterAstro let go off an arrow he had drawn within the bowstring of his ThunderBow. While smoking, Cyborg VacMan's other shoulder was hit by the green arrow as sparks shot out of electronics within itself. While rapidly ascending into the sky, the red Astroranger had his sword held high above his helmeted head before striking down in his landing. Cyborg VacMan held up its arm to protect itself but as the blade swung down out of the blue sky, sparks exploded when the FireSword cut through the vacuum tube on its arm. The smouldering cyborg fell out of the air and hit the grass before tumbling over several times. While holding the FireSword, MarsAstro watched as the others gathered around himself.

"It's weapons are no more so we can try the Cosmic Missile."

While SaturnAstro nodded, JupiterAstro replied, "Ready!"

"All set," said the pink and white Astrorangers. In a smoky black background, the circle and right arrow symbol of Mars shined as a bonfire was seen behind MarsAstro. He took his sword upside-down into his left hand and ran his gloved hand the length of the blade causing a red beam of light to follow his fingers.

"Red FireSword!" MarsAstro shouts as he horizontally strikes out causing the energy to leave the sword and fly. "Blaze!" A flaming light soared in the sky.

Lightning cracked and clouds rolled rapidly upward while JupiterAstro put out his ThunderBow. "Celestial ThunderBow!" JupiterAstro pointed his fist into the air. "Cosmic Arrow!" JupiterAstro shouted when a green beam of light materialised into a glowing arrow. He loaded the arrow into his bow, pulled back and let go of the bowstring shooting the arrow. The flaming light soaring through the sky was joined by the LightArrow. The crescent, circle and cross symbol of Mercury painted themselves onto the backdrop of outer space while the planet Mercury itself faded into view.

The white Astroranger rose up holding his staff and held it up. "Celestial Weapon!" MercuryAstro twirled his Power Staff in his hands and then lifted it to the sky as clouds gathered and formed lightning. The Power Staff became brilliant with electricity as he aimed it for his target. "Power Staff Electro-Charge!" MercuryAstro shouted as he thrust the weapon ahead of himself as the electricity jumped off the tip of his long weapon. The flaming arrow in the sky was electrified causing it to gain speed, leaving a trail of light behind.

The pink circle and cross insignia of Venus was large and bright as it spun around. It flew backwards while spinning when it eventually reached the top of VenusAstro's pink helmet above her visor. VenusAstro held up the end of her boomerang. "Celestial Weapon!" She pushed her fingers the length of the weapon causing it to become a pink arc of light. "Sonic Boomerang Thunder Blow!" she called out as she flung it into the air. The flaming arrow with the electric blue trail of speeding light was joined by the boomerang's arc increasing its size. The peculiar symbol of Saturn appeared as the cosmic backdrop revealed a shot of the beautiful planet.

Rising from below, the black Astroranger took his battle pose while holding his Celestial Weapon. "Saturn Ring BattleScythe Strike!" SaturnAstro called out as he had cast his scythe to the sky. In the sky, the flaming boomerang and arrow, leaving a trail of light from its speed, was struck by the glowing, spinning BattleScythe. When they made contact, a brilliant flash transformed it all into a missile made up of red, green, blue, white and pink light that streaked out of sight. And just after Cyborg VacMan managed to stand again, the missile came coasting over the ground and busted through its abdomen. Fireworks blasted out of its back when the missile shot through the beast and after it tipped over to fall onto its face--Cyborg VacMan began to glow. The glowing was becoming as intense as sunlight before it burst into a fountain of rainbow coloured beads of light that preceded a great explosion. Fire rushed skyward with huge clouds of black smoke following its destruction.

"It worked!!" MercuryAstro shouted.

"What about them?" SaturnAstro said as he looked at the Armatons. They performed backward hand springs over and over again until they dissolved individually into thin air.

"What about them?" JupiterAstro asked.

"That was too easy," MarsAstro said. "I think they're going to try again."

"If we beat 'em this time, we can beat 'em again," VenusAstro said.

Sgt. Sanchez walked into the office noticing that Frank was watching live television coverage of the battle scene as emergency vehicles piled up at the closed Harding Municipal Golf Course.

"Frank," Sanchez called out. Frank continued to watch the footage of the fiery remains of the Cyborg's disintegrated body.

"Can you believe this, Kathy?"

"Yeah, I know," she replied. "That's pretty amazing."

"You always read about costumed heroes in the comic books but never does it actually happen," Frank turned off the television set. "I can hardly believe it's real."

"It's real all right, and witness accounts report that four men and one woman were in the area right before five suited warriors appeared," Kathy mentioned. "The other thing is that we see a light prior to the smoke explosion at Griffith Park where that space-suited creature turned up."

"Any idea if it's just a hoax?"

"Well, what would be the point?" Kathy asked him.

"Heh--I dunno," Frank shrugged, "but all of this stuff looks too fake to me."

Kathy pointed to the television and asked, "But Frank, what about those robot-like guys that showed up with the space-suit man?"

"What about them?"

"They roasted one of our units, Frank. And it was with a beam of light," Kathy told him. "Which was real."

"I'm pretty sure, then, that this is related to the UFO that showed up this morning."

"It's too bad the I-5 was closed and we couldn't get to the observatory," Kathy said. "I've got a lot of questions for that Hanson guy."

"Don't worry about it, Kate," Frank told her, "we'll see him."

Kathy arched an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, Frank. Something just occurred tome."

"What's that?"

"Dr. Hanson was the man who first reported to the news that the extraterrestrial was coming to Earth and it was that same thing that released those armed fighters on the National Guard. Then five costumed warriors fought them and that monster at Griffith Park right after five people go to see Hanson."

"So you're saying there is some connection between those extraterrestrial's, Dr. Hanson and the woman and four men who came to see him," Frank pressed.

Kathy nodded. "I think so. And even more importantly, Dr. Hanson probably knows who those extraterrestrial's are."

TO BE CONTINUED

In next week's episode of Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . .

Detective Kate Sanchez investigates the battleship now several miles west of Las Vegas in the desert and little does she or anyone realise, it has been set to self-destruct! Meantime, to eliminate the Astrorangers, Adol the Great traps them in a sub-dimension of Mars with Cyborg Regurgitor in episode #3 "Trapped!"