Ram nearly jumped out of his skin when someone shook him awake. He came up in a fighting stance. Mars held up her hands. "Chill, bro. Just me," she said. She flicked her gaze over the red key marks on his face and the tousled hair, and drool smeared on the side of his face. "Did you pull an all-nighter...after facing off against that Kragar monster-alien-thing?" she asked him.

  Ram rubbed his face and slapped his cheeks. "I did. I wanted to know everything there was to know about that building," he answered.

  "What did you find out?" she asked.

  "Coffee first," Ram said, and stole her cup right out of her hand and gulped it's piping hot contents. He made a face. "When did you switch to tea?" he asked.

  "It's better for you," Mars said, gently jerking her cup back.

  "There's no scientific proof of that," he denied. "What time is it? Is Doc and the others back yet?" he asked.

  Mars took her seat. "It's almost noon. I've been letting you sleep, but I couldn't handle the sleep-Spanglish anymore," she said. "Do you want me to ask Doc to the Lab?" she asked.

  Ram blinked several times. "Sure. I'm going to find coffee and food," he said and wandered out.

  Mars shook her head. She didn't know what he'd found, but he was acting like a dingus as usual. She asked for Doc to come to Lab when she had time because Ram may have solved her mystery.

  --/-\--

  Ram was surprised to see Taylor in the mess for a change. He got himself a coffee and a sandwich and joined his friend. "Not down in the city on Rena patrol?" he asked.

  "I was thinking about going after lunch, but if Azula's smart, she's probably laying low. Besides, I am a bit worried about Drage. He's not just going to let it go that we stopped his ceremony and killed his right-hand henchman," Taylor said. "What are you up to?" he asked, taking him Ram's disheveled appearance.

  "We're going to solve a mystery. Want to join in?" he asked.

  "This the mysterious mystery of mysterious hospital mystery?" Taylor asked. "I been hearing about that all over the place. Apparently, you go in, see something, and then completely forget what you saw," he said.

  Ram nodded. "That's the one. I'm thinking some kind of perception filter set up by the Caervinians to protect something. Something important," he said. "You game?" he asked.

  "I'm game," Taylor agreed. Why not? It was better than dwelling on all his other problems. Ram nodded and finished my sandwich.

  When the two of them went back to the Lab, they found not only Lark, but Sin, Gore and Tempe were there as well. Gore and Sin were checking their weapons while Mars was helping Lark check some recording equipment.

  "So, we're making a team adventure out of it, are we?" Taylor asked with a slight smile.

  Lark nodded. "It appears so. So, Mr. Ramon, what did you find out?" she asked.

  "Nothing. There's absolutely nothing," Ram said.

  Sin frowned. "Well, that was a bit anti-climactic," he declared.

  "That's nothing to get excited about," Tempe told him.

  Ram shook his head. "No, I mean nothing. That building doesn't exist in the database at all. It's only in our schematics, not the ones original to the base. there's no notion of an architect, builders, anything. Everything connected to that building was erased. Erased again. Hit with a magnet and erased one last time just for good measure," he explained.

  Lark frowned. "But why?" she asked.

  "Ram thinks there's something super important there being hidden by a perception filter," Taylor said, totally stealing his thunder which earned him a glare.

  Lark was nodding slightly, but luckily there was a theory Ram hadn't told Taylor. "I think the whole building was supposed to be protected, but ten-thousand years have passed since this technology was implemented. Rumors also get passed around about a mysterious building, and the more the rumor persists, the less it can be filtered out," he suggested.

  "Yes. That makes sense. The video evidence should also help," she said and handed him a camcorder. "Let's go, gang. We have a mystery to solve," she said and sailed out of the room.

  "Scooby-doo is like the only cartoon she would watch as a kid," Sin told his surprised teammates.

  Taylor chuckled. "Right. You heard the lady. Let's go," he said, and they followed Lark out of the Lab.

  --/-\--

  Devourer

  Sylon had been summoned to the bridge by Captain Drage. After a fit that nearly tore apart the ship, the alien had gone quiet. Sylon wasn't entirely surprised when he'd been summoned. He cautiously walked onto the bridge.

  Drage stood calmly, looking at the Earth projected on a large view screen. "You wished to see me, Captain?" he asked calmly.

  Drage clenched his firsts. "My Warstars have fallen. Kragar has fallen. All because of the Power Rangers," he said. He turned toward Sylon. "You'll help me wipe out all life on this planet, won't you, Sylon?" he asked with an eerie, calm demeanor.

  "Of course, Captain," Sylon said and gave him a polite bow.

  "Then, let's begin," he said and stalked off the bridge, expecting Sylon to follow. The blue alien only took a moment to send a message to Azula to help Drage if he gave her the order.

  --/-\--

  The much contentious mysterious medical building was located near what seemed like it was intended to be a business or financial area if was how the Caervinian society operated. It was a bit disheartening to think that such a nature-worshiping culture would bow to capitalism in Lark's estimation.

  The building itself was small and didn't have the soaring ceilings of most buildings. It had one purpose and that was to treat the sick and injured. She held up a camcorder. "We are about to enter the building. There's rumored to be something in there, but no one can ever remember what it is. Today, my team and I will find out for ourselves," she narrated quietly.

  Gore, Sin, and Taylor pulled their sidearms. "I'm not sure that's necessary. None of the reports have indicated there was anything harmful," Lark told them.

  "Yeah, but what do they know? They can't remember," Gore pointed.

  "Good point," Tempest said. "Why don't you strapping young men go first," she said.

  Sin grinned. "We were going to anyway."

  "Well, get one with it already," Mars said.

  Taylor strode forward and eased the door open. "I don't hear anything," he said. Gore nodded and he and Sin slipped in ahead of Taylor to scout the area.

  "Holy...Doc! I think you wanna see this!" Gore called from inside, indicating it was obviously safe.

  Lark bustled in with the others coming in behind her. She gasped when she saw what was inside. There were several doors that more than like led to individual exam rooms, a waiting area and a reception area. But in the center of all that was a tube. It glowed vaguely pink and inside that tube was a young man with pale hair. And wings. He had dried blood on his face and various places on his body where his clothes were ripped. The wounds had long healed. That wasn't why he was in the tube.

  It was his wings. A pile of white feathers stained by something black nearly covered his boots. The appendages that sprouted from his back appeared to be rotting on the ends, a poison that had nearly reached his body and if the pile of feathers was any indication, had been doing so for ten thousand years.

  Whatever stasis he was in was unable to stop the rot, it merely slowed it down. "Oh, my God," Lark whispered and felt tears spring to her eyes. His face seemed peaceful. It wasn't feeling any pain in this state but awake it must be excruciating. "Mars. Contact Dr. Harris. Now. Get him here, now!" she shouted and approached the tube as Mars quickly dashed out of the building. She wouldn't remember why she needed Dr. Harris, but she'd remember it was urgent.

  "Doc," Taylor said cautiously. But it was too late. When she got close enough, the eyes of her Morpher glowed and the stasis chamber chimed. It slid open with a hiss and the man fell out nearly on top of Lark. She barely managed to hold him up as he became conscious, and the pain hit him like a bolt of lightning and he began to scream.

  "We've got to get him to the med-bay and stabilize him. First, we've got to stop the poison. I need your holsters," Tempe said as Gore and Taylor wrestled the screaming man to the floor. They didn't argue when she practically ripped them off their legs and used them as make-shift tourniquets wrapped around where his wings sprouted from his back. It wasn't until she was done that, she realized Mars had teleported them to the Med-Lab.

  Sin was waiting with a syringe. "I really hope our physiologies are close enough for Morphine to work," he said and jabbed the needle into his thigh. After a long moment, the man stopped thrashing about and passed again.

  It took Sin, Gore, and Taylor to get him on to a bed. The poison was still spreading, but not as rabidly as before, but it was fast acting and strong. "We're going to have to remove them, aren't we?" Lark asked in a muted whisper.

  "Is that even a decision we should make?" Tempest asked with a frown.

  Taylor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes. If that's what it takes to save his life, even if he hates us, that's what we're going to do," he declared.

  The Alien Alert began to sound. "Uh-oh," Tempest murmured.

  "Dr. Harris will handle this. We have our own job to do," Lark said with a shaky breath and she smoothed her hair back. Her mystery had only deepened.

  "Right, let's go deal with whatever Drage is throwing at us now," Taylor said and left the medical bay with the others reluctantly leaving the winged man with the other medical staff.

  They came into the Lab and stopped short when they noticed several interlopers waiting for them. Seven people in slate-colored uniforms splashed with color were waiting for them. Wearing red, a dark-skinned man with long dark braids was looking around with an almost child-like wonder. A mocha skinned woman in pink with bright eyes and a reddish hair pulled away her face was talking with a woman in white with dual-toned and an obvious baby bump. Also present was a brunette man in green, a pretty Latina with sharp cheekbones in blue, and an Asian woman with a pixie cut in yellow. Leaning against a console with arms crossed over his black splashed chest was Rex Hart.

  "They just sort of appeared," Mars said by way of explanation.

  "I don't doubt it," Taylor said. "Rex," he greeted. "I didn't call for back up," he said.

  "You didn't need to. A while ago, a ship entered Earth orbit and has rejected any attempts at contacting it. We thought it might have something to do with the alien that tried to bring the moon down on us," Rex said.

  "We're not trying to take over, but it's kind of our thing. Aliens and spaceships," the man with the braids said.

  "And who, exactly are you?" Gore asked.

  Rex smiled. "Rex Hart. This is my team. Wood Johnson," the man with the dread gave them a wave, "Tori Johnson," the woman in pink smiled at them. "Manny Diaz, Jake Grayson, and Hikari O'Keefe," the woman in blue, the man in green, and woman yellow nodded as their names were called. "And in an advisory position only, Melody Hart," he said finally.

  Melody patted her belly and nodded. "Advisory only," she agreed gravely, but her blue eyes were filled with mischief.

  "We're from S.P.D." Jake stated.

  "We know who you are, so don't waste any more time with introductions. Something started ding-a-ling-ing when we arrived and I don't think it was us," Tori said.

  "It wasn't. It was Drage. Last time he appeared, he gave off a unique chemo-signal. It's him. He's back on Earth and he's up to something," Mars said. "I have his location," she announced.

  "What are you going to be doing while we're otherwise occupied with Drage?" Taylor asked Rex.

  "We'll keep an eye on the spaceship and if it looks like you need help, come to the rescue," Rex answered.

  Taylor nodded. "Let's go, guys," he said to his team. They went to the teleport and stepped in, leaving the S.P.D. officers to keep an eye on the spaceship situation.

  --/-\--

  Drage stood on the roof of a high building overlooking the city. He held his arms out to his sides and breathed in deeply.

  "Drage!"

  He turned and saw that the unmorphed Rangers had arrived. He laughed. "Rangers!" I was expecting you! Not that you can stop what's already happening," he said with a smug tone in his voice.

  "After what happened to Kragar, I'd think you'd have learned not to underestimate us," Gore stated.

  Drage clenched his fists. "After what happened to Kragar, you Rangers have some inflated egos," he warned them. He made his axe appear and threw an energy blast at them. The roof top exploded, but the Rangers jumped free of the explosion, fully Morphed and weapons in hand.

  They converged on Drage, but the roof was assaulted again by a barrage of lightning strikes that ran in a line in front of him, protecting him from the Rangers.

  Drage stepped back surprised as a woman walked toward them dress in white. "Y-you!" he gasped, recognizing her as the woman who helped the Rangers destroy his lady friend.

  "Azula!" Red called, his grip tightening on his sword.

  Azula smirked. "Sylon sends his regards, Captain. I'm here to help," she said. She pulled a card from her sleeve with a strangely shaped barcode on it.

  "What is that?" Pink squeaked.

  A device appeared on Azula's arm that was similar to their DynaMorphers but slightly bulkier. In a manner quite like scanning a coupon at a store, she swiped the card over the eyes of the sacred face. It beeped and began to strobe in bright flashes of light as she was enveloped in dark blue and gold armor that was bulky yet feminine. A helmet formed that was mostly metallic blue but gold wolf head shapes adorned the sides. "Dynamic Canid Laser!" She held out her arm and a gun-like, wolf-looking weapon appeared in her hands, and she fired at the Rangers.

  Drage laughed. "Good luck, Rangers," he said and jumped off the building.

  "Drage!" Red tried to go after him, but the powered-up Azula fired on him. He managed to knock the blast aside.

  "Not just a pretty face, am I?" she asked, and laughed and turned away from them, disappearing in a crack of lightning.

  Red uttered an oath and ran to the edge of the building, looking for Drage. He was nowhere to be seen.

  "Well, that's a heck of a kink," Green declared. "Is anyone else feeling a little short of breath?" he asked.

  "We'd better get back to the base. Something is going on. The air feels wrong," Pink declared.

  Red nodded. He kicked the side edge of the roof, and they teleported back to Sky Base.

  --/-\--

  Hikari O'Keefe was seated in Ram's usual spot when they came back to the lab. There was a firm frown on her face as her fingers flew over the keyboard. Mars was also typing furiously.

  "That didn't seem to go very well," Melody said sympathetically. She jumped when a scream echoed down the corridor. "What on Earth was that?" she asked, her eyes wide. Rex raised a brow.

  Lark winced and frowned. "How much do you know about Sky Base?" she asked.

  "Just assume they know everything and go from there," Taylor told her in a slightly grumpier tone than he'd intended. He didn't apologize as he walked out of the Lab. He needed air, and even fake air was apparently better than the real air on Earth right now. He was aware that he was being followed as he headed to the edge of the floating island. He leaned against a large white arch only feet away from the drop. Rex took up position against the other side of the arch. From this high up, they could begin to see the speck that was the spaceship.

  "Good thing we dropped by. You're going to need our help after all," Rex said.

  Taylor nodded. "More than likely," he agreed. "You guys will probably need to stop that if you can. Drage won't go down easy," he stated. "When Mars finds him, it's end game time," he said.

  Rex nodded. "The team can handle that. Wood's wearing the Red. That's his job. I'll handle my sister," he declared.

  Taylor looked at the older man. "That's not your sister," he said.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "It will be."

  Taylor smiled slightly. "You might be Mr. Perfect, but you can't fix her," he said. "That's my job," he said.

  "I said I'd handle her. I'll leave the fixing to you," he said. "I've been fighting with the Rat for over twenty years, and she hasn't beat me yet," he said with confidence.

  Taylor's Morpher beeped and he pressed the eyes. "Hikari found out that the spaceship is sucking up oxygen, that's why it's getting harder to breath," Mars explained immediately. "A ship that large, filled with oxygen, coming toward the Earth at that speed, it'll be an extinction level event if it crashes," she added on a grim note.

  Rex whistled. "Well, that definitely is not good," he said.

  "What about Drage? Do you have a location on him yet?" Taylor asked.

  "Working on it," Mars said. "You'll be the first to know," she said and cut off.

  "There you are!" Melody said as she came up to the two men. She ignored Rex and gave Taylor a hug and a kiss on the cheek which he returned.

  "When did you two get so chummy?" Rex demanded.

  "In the background while the rest of you were off samurai'ing and I was around visiting you," Melody answered pertly. "We have a lot in common. The biggest being a soft spot for a couple of underserving brat siblings," she added.

  "Uh-huh. I see. I see that I didn't keep a good enough eye on him," he said, eying Taylor shrewdly.

  Taylor just gave him an unrepentant grin. He winked at Mel and she started laughing. She slipped her arms around Rex's waist and rested her head against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "We're getting Rena back, right? I promised her she could help me pick a middle name for her first niece or nephew," she said.

  Taylor smiled. "I remember her saying something about that. If I remember correctly, she even had a list of names already picked out that Rex would hate but wouldn't make the kid sound like a dork. She said it was a thin line," he said.

  Rex narrowed his eyes slightly. "When exactly did that conversation take place?" he asked. The one thing he hadn't been able to figure out was when Taylor and his sister had developed such a deep relationship.

  Mel cleared her throat. "You probably don't want to know. We should head back to the others. We're going to have to do something about that soon," she said, pointing at the Devourer speck that had actually gotten bigger when as they stood there. "I know, I'll stay behind and advise," she promised. "I have to protect the next generation," she said.

  Rex decided to let her distract him. She was probably right about not really wanting to know. "Let's go," he agreed.

  Mel gave Taylor a wink as the two of them walked off. Taylor let out a sigh of relief. He made a note to send Melody something fancy and frivolous as a thank-you. He followed behind them slowly because now they were whispering to each other and he really didn't want to overhear any of that.

  --/-\--

  Azula appeared on the bridge of the Devourer. "I am quite enjoying my trinket," she said and gave him a smile.

  Sylon scowled at her. "I didn't say you were to use that," he said.

  Azula pouted. "I thought it was for me," she said.

  "Why would allow another human access to that technology?" he demanded.

  "I'm not human," Azula reminded him with thinly veiled impatience. "Besides, you told me to help Drage. That's what I did," she said.

  Sylon glowered and held out his hand. "Give it back to me," he said.

  Azula sighed and unstrapped the gear from her arm. It beeped in protest when Sylon took it. "What did you do to it?" he demanded.

  She shook her head. "Nothing, I swear. I just put it on," she said.

  Sylon strapped it to his arm and attempted scan the card. It beeped but nothing happened. "How is this possible?" he demanded and scanned the card again. He glared at her and handed it back to her. "You broke it," he accused.

  "I did not," she denied. She put it back on her arm and scanned the card. The armor appeared around her. She deactivated it. "Oh. It only works for me," she said. She danced away from him. "Drage will need my help again," she said and disappeared in a crack of lightning because she could tell he furious.

  The gear had not bonded to Azula. The gear had bonded to the host and he hadn't liked that one bit. Azula wasn't sure how happy she was about it either. She decided not to worry about it. The host had been quiet since Azula had allowed the excursion to defeat Mistress B.

  --/-\--

  Sin and Lark headed toward the medical bay to see check the progress of their mysterious patient. Lark had been worried ever since she heard him scream again earlier. They stopped short when Nia came out of the supply room with extra supplies.

  "What are you doing here?" Sin asked her.

  Nia handed them masks and answered as she went back into the bay. It was equipped with highly advanced air scrubbers, but they still used the masks and gloves for extra precautions. "Mars found out I had operating room experience from my last job and brought me to assist Dr. Harris since I was already "read-in" as she put it," she answered.

  "How is he?" Lark asked as she held a mask up to her face.

  "He metabolizes Morphine at an accelerated rate and it wore off before we realized it a couple of times. Dr. Harris is doing the best he can under the circumstances. We've switched to chloroform for the moment, but since he has two hearts, he circulates things quickly. We managed to remove the poisoned wings before it spread to his core, but now Dr. Harris is having to stop the bleeding while determining how much more of his wings we need to remove to be safe," Nia explained.

  Lark shook her head. "If the poison is no longer and immediate threat, we'll have him moved back to an actual operating room in the medical building we found him in. I'll have my father send for experts that can help us," she said.

  "How many experts on bird people do you have?" Nia asked.

  "We'll find out," Lark declared staunchly and turned on her heal and walked out of the med-bay, already doing something on her tablet.

  Nia glanced at Sin and smiled under her mask. "I never realized she had that much passion," she said.

  Sin chuckled. "Finding a dying bird-man sure has sparked a fire. Are you okay? I mean, this is probably really crazy to you," he said.

  "A bit, but hey. Fairies and trolls in Briarwood, aliens in New Tech City. Why not bird men in Starkweather Valley?" she asked. "I need to get back to Dr. Harris," she said. "I'll catch you later?" she asked.

  "Assuming the world doesn't burn, absolutely," he agreed.

  "Well, you'd better make sure the world doesn't burn then, huh?" she said. She gave him a wink and went back to Dr. Harris.

  Sin blew out a breath. "Found him!" Mars suddenly announced on an open channel across the base.

  --/-\--

  Drage was standing in an area that had been decimated by an earlier monster attack and was all but deserted. He raised his arms again.

  "Warstar!"

  He turned to see the Rangers facing him once again. "I see you've returned," he said. "Didn't learn your lesson the last time?" asked.

  "Obviously not," Azula said, appearing behind him and walking forward.

  "We know what you're planning. You aren't going to succeed," Gore vowed.

  Drage laughed. "Let's see if you can stop me," he suggested.

  "If you can get through me," Azula said and thrust her staff toward them, launching and arc of lightning toward them.

  A man with metal skin appeared in front of them, attracting the lightning like a lightning rod and directed it back at her. It hit her dead in the chest and sent her flying backwards.

  "Eh?" Drage asked when he noticed that along with the metal skinned man, five other humans had joined the Rangers.

  "This time, we brought back-up," Taylor said.

  Rex's metallic coating receded.

  Azula got to her feet and hissed. "And who are you supposed to be?" she demanded.

  "Ask your host. She knows who I am," he answered. "Warstar Captain Drage! This is your only warning. Cease what you are doing now and surrender to Space Patrol Delta," he said in an authoritative voice.

  Drage just laughed. "I'll never surrender!" he said.

  "They never surrender," Wood declared.

  "Never," Tori agreed.

  "We all know what to do then?" Rex asked.

  "Right!" they all agreed.

  The Dynamic Rangers flipped out their Morph Cards. "DynaMorphers!"

  The Prime Rangers unclipped their badges from their "Prime Emergency!"

  "Red Ranger Power!"

  "Delta Prime One! Red!"

  "Pink Ranger Power!"

  "Delta Prime Two! Blue!"

  "Blue Ranger Power!"

  "Delta Prime Three Pink!"

  "Green Ranger Power!"

  "Delta Prime Four! Green!"

  "Black Ranger Power!"

  "Delta Prime Five! Yellow!"

  "Yellow Ranger Power!"

  "Delta Prime Seven! Black!"

  The Prime Rangers morphed into power suits that were mostly solid except their colored visors and chests had white shapes on them. Black's suit had a red visor and shape. All twelve Rangers pulled their sidearms and fired on Drage.

  Azula intervened with another lightning attack. "More doesn't mean better!" she stated. She flipped out her own Morph Card. "DynaKnighter! Cobalt Knight Power!" she scanned her card and her armor appeared. "With the thunderous power of Storms! Cobalt Wolf Knight!" She announced. "Dynamic Canid Laser!"

  "Prime Defender!" Prime Black summoned his own fierce faced laser and fired on the alien ghost that had hijacked his sister.

  Before the Prime Rangers could do what they intended to do, Oozers began appearing. "Seriously gross!" Prime Blue declared.

  "Delta Sabers!" Prime Red instructed. They summoned swords that could be one long double-ended blade or be separated into two swords. He separated his swords and jumped upwards, sailing over their heads, achieving a ridiculous height. He landed behind the Oozers and slashed at them, reducing them to sludge.

  Prime Pink kept her saber as one piece. She used it to turned a series of flips before curling into a ball with the blades jutting out on either side as she rolled to take down a few of the Oozers before she sprung up, pulling the sabers apart and slashing them.

  Prime Blue was still for a long moment as they converged on her. Suddenly she put on a burst of speed they weren't expecting, running and slashing through them.

  Prime Green used the flat of his blades to push through some Oozers that had converged on him. He then whipped it around, cutting them down two handed. He speared several of them, then threw them over his head.

  Prime Yellow was the team rookie, but she wasn't a rookie. She separated her swords and swung them around and stood in a tiger stance. She gracefully moved around, cutting down any Oozers that came too closer.

  There were a lot of Oozers and their focus seemed to be on the newcomers. They were herded into a circle where they stood with their backs together. "Delta Blasters?" Pink suggested.

  "Definitely," Red agreed. They dropped their weapons and summoned massive blasters that could only be operated with two hands. They opened fire.

  The Dynamic Rangers went for Drage, who realized with his newfound guardian otherwise occupied, he would have to face these whelps. He was unafraid. He threw a blast from his axe at them. "You'll never win!" he shouted.

  The Rangers jumped and rolled from the blast and came after him with their weapons. Black and Yellow sprang up from the ground. "Snake Bite!" Black crashed his Axe into the alien captain's back.

  "Tiger Shock!" Yellow clawed him with a shock of electricity.

  Drage thrashed, lashing out with his axe, but Green was coming down with his staff. "Crocodile Crush!" and bludgeoned him over the head and sprang back.

  "Phoenix Shot!"

  "Shark Snipe!"

  Blue and Pink fired on him, causing him to stagger back.

  Coming from high above, Red plummeted, his sword at the ready. "Dragon Slash!" he landed in a crouch, his sword leaving a red streak of energy that exploded.

  Drage roared and held up his arms. "Planet Bombs!" Energy balls that looked like planets rained down upon them, exploding everywhere they landed. The Rangers were thrown off their feet and landed in a haggard circle around him. Drage laughed again. "I warned you not to get too full of yourselves just because you defeated Kragar. He pulled out a canister of Ooze. He cracked it open and drank it.

  "Oh, boy. That just happened," Green said, getting to his feet.

  Growing big, Drage just laughed again.

  Red blew out a breath. He flipped out a Card. "Macro DynaZords! Dragon DynaZord!"

  "Phoenix DynaZord!"

  "Shark DynaZord!"

  "Crocodile DynaZord!"

  "Tiger DynaZord!"

  "Snake DynaZord!"

  The Zords appeared and the pilots appeared in their cockpits. Red flipped out another card. "Dynamic Megazord!" The Zords combined, this time with the Crocodile Zord attaching to the left hand.

  Azula barely had a moment to be shocked and outraged that Drage had somehow managed to get his hands on a canister of Ooze. Prime Black used her distraction to knock her back. "Who are you!" she demanded shrilly.

  He glared at her for a long moment. "That's my sister you're taking out for a test drive and I'm a little peeved about it. That explain enough for you?" he asked.

  "You're certainly treating your sister rather roughly," Azula sniffed.

  "She'll get over it," he said and fired on her again.

  She managed to deflect. "Canid Sword!" she changed modes on her weapon and produced a long, wicked blade.

  Prime Black. "I can do that, too," he said. "Sword Mode!" He changed modes on his weapon as well. They ran at each other and blades clashed.

  After there were no more Oozers, the Prime rangers realized that the Devourer had gotten even closer. "We're running out of time," Red said. "Delta Flyers!" he summoned.

  Seven multicolored jets came soaring through the sky, and their perspective pilots appeared inside except the black and red one and the white and pink one. "Delta Prime Megazord!" Red initiated the combining sequence into a Megazord rocket man with a blaster. They zoomed into the sky toward the spaceship.

  Meanwhile, The Dynamic Megazord was using its sword to slash at Drage, who deflected it and attacked with his axe. The Crocozord caught the axe in its powerful jaws. Drage let it go and stood back. "Planet Bombs!" he summoned his attack again, only now it was giant sized. The bombs exploded around the Megazord and blew them backwards.

  The Delta Prime Megazord was priming its weapon and fired on the ship. The ship fired back with an electrothermal attack that literally knocked it out of the sky. It crashed nearby.

  Dynamic Red sucked in a breath. "I am like seriously done with this guy," he said as the Megazord got to its feet.

  "Seriously?" Green asked.

  "Super seriously," Black answered instead.

  "Seriously seriously," Blue chimed in.

  Red ignored them and flipped out a card. "Let's do it. Seriously," he said.

  "Right!" They all agreed and pulled out the same card. "Hyper Megazord!" They slid the card. The Crocozord detached from the arm. It split apart and attached itself to the back of the Megazord with the two parts of its mouth sticking up over its shoulders while the wings flipped to the front. The Sky High, Core Earth, and Deep Sea MacroZords appeared and attacked Drage before attaching themselves to the Megazord along the Crocodile's mouths and at key points along the body of the Megazord. Beetlezord and Swordfishzord made new hands.

  Drage scoffed. He slashed his axe numerous times and sent energy blasts at the Megazord that rocked it back, but didn't deter it one bit.

  "This is it, Drage. You and your plan are done for," Red said. The Rangers slid new cards. "Victory Charge!" The Megazord powered up.

  "Nothing can stop me!"

  "We'll see about that," Red muttered. "Hyper Strike!" The powered up auxiliary Zords blasted toward Drage. They hit him and began to push him upwards, into the sky and toward his ship.

  Inside the Devourer Sylon was shocked at such a move. "I'm sorry, Captain. I do wish our arrangement could have worked out," he said drily and disappeared from the ship.

  Drage raged and struggled but by the time the Zords broke off, his momentum carried him crashing into his own ship. The impact, the storage of oxygen, and his own power combusted into a powerful conflagration that burned the sky.

  Azula was so taken aback, and worried about what happened to Sylon, her guard slipped. Prime Black got close to her, pressed his Defender against her chest armor and fired. She flew backwards, crashed into the ground and bounced a few times, her Morph failing as she struggled to catch her breath.

  She stared up at Prime Black as he dropped his Morph. She staggered to her feet. "You'll regret this," she hissed.

  A streak of red fell out of sky and Taylor landed in front of her. She was still dazed from the attack, she wasn't fast enough to react to what he did next. He reached out and grabbed her. Pulling her close, he pressed his lips against hers. But it wasn't just a kiss. It was something else. A powerful wind whipped out, then sucked in.

  The ghost image of wings unwrapped from around the girl's shoulders and suddenly the wind exploded outwards. Azula screamed as she was literally blown out of Rena's body. Briefly, her true self could be seen. A pale woman with large white wings and long black hair before she dissipated.

  Rena went limp in Taylor's arms. He scooped her up and looked at her face. Very briefly, her golden eyes opened. She gave him a small smile before she completely lost consciousness, her head resting against his shoulder. He heard people cheering and clapping for him and realized he'd had an audience.

  Rex crossed his arms over his chest. "So, your big plan was to make out with my sister?" he asked.

  "Pretty much. Lark, have Tempe teleport us to medical bay," he requested.

  "Right away," she said with a smile.

  --/-\--

  Rena Hart's eyes sprang open and she sat up. Everything started swimming and she felt nauseous. A warm hand steadied her. She looked up at Taylor Hicks. She smiled and sighed, and lay back down. She was herself. Somehow, she knew that. "Someone beat me up," she murmured.

  "That’d be Rex," Taylor answered.

  "Figures it'd be him," she muttered. She realized she was in a medical facility and she had an IV drip. Across the room, she saw a man lying on his front, also hooked to an. "Who's that?" she asked. She knew she wasn't making sense, but she was still a bit spacey.

  "Alien bird dude we found dying in a stasis chamber because his wings were rotting off," he answered with a smile.

  She was silent for a long moment. "How did you get rid of her?" she asked.

  "True love's kiss," he answered.

  She frowned at him. "Say again," she said. "Did you kiss me while that creature was in control," she demanded and tried to sit up again.

  Taylor put a hand on her shoulder to hold her down. "Yes and no. It was a kiss but it wasn't a kiss. It was a Wind technique. Advanced stuff. I got the idea when I remembered how the Shadow Generals were purified. I researched then meditated on it for weeks," he explained.

  Tears welled in her eyes. "Thank you," she whispered and grabbed at one of his hands.

  Taylor wrapped her hand in both of his and pressed a kiss against it. "That's not something you need to thank me for. I'm just mad at myself. I didn't even know you were missing. I waited for you for two weeks. I almost got fired. I was, I don't know, hurt, mad, sad, everything. I couldn't even bring myself to try and contact you," he said and looked away from her.

  She felt the wetness slip from her eyes. "I showed up a week early. I was so excited," she said and sniffled. "She found me the first day. We never stood a chance. Stupid bad timing," she muttered. "So, don't apologize. You wouldn't have been able to find me and just drove yourself crazy. You were where you needed to be when you needed to be there," she said.

  He looked at her for a long moment. "What I said was true. It was true love's kiss. You know I'm not the sappy guy, but I do love you," he said. "Always," he added softly.

  Rena blinked as another tear leaked out. "Wow," she said. "How am I supposed to top that confession?" she asked.

  "You can try when you're stronger," he assured her.

  She laughed tiredly. "What's wrong with me anyway?" she asked. "I haven't felt like this ever. It's not just Rex beating me up," she said.

  "Azula didn't take very good care of you. As far as Dr. Harris can tell, you haven't eaten anything in weeks, or had water in days. It seems Azula's power was the only thing keeping you going," he explained.

  "Another reason to send her where she belongs. She'll be after a new host now, but from I understand, she's not compatible with just any old human. She's a shadow for a while and she can't use her power without a host," she said.

  "More good news," he said.

  Rena wiped her eyes. "Okay, you can let Rex in now. I can hear him pacing the corridor," she said.

  Taylor kissed her hand again and stood to let her anxious brother and sister-in-law in. He hovered in the background to give them space.

  He'd like to think with Drage and the Warstars defeated and Rena rescued, their troubles were over. He knew better. Sylon was still out there. That meant their troubles were far from over. He knew the Dyanmic Power Rangers of Sky Base would be needed again.

  --/End 12\--