"Those Rangers are starting to get on my nerves!"  she muttered as she stood up. The motion set a few raven braids about her face swinging. She walked gracefully towards a large viewscreen, crossing her arms in front of her as she stared out at the twinkling  stars of outer space. "No matter what I send to destroy them, they somehow manage to thwart me every time!" The woman tossed her head in disgust. She did not like to fail.

 From the shadows of the command room, a beige colored alien said, "You could send another monster to their home planet, Astronema." His gold-tone armor rattled as he shifted his weight from one foot to another.  "That always brings them out of hiding."

 The woman smiled at the alien, only her eyes betraying the disgust she felt for her servant.  "I'm tired of toying with the Rangers, Elgar," she said sweetly. Without
warning, her expression turned dark. "I want to destroy them!" she continued, the anger in her voice causing Elgar to seek cover deeper in the shadows. Her face, once again, assumed an almost angelic quality as she turned a calculating stare towards a small, brown planet that was moving slowly into the viewscreen. After a few moments, a slow smile lit up her features.

 "Oh, they're clever," she chuckled. "But I'm more clever. I've been trying to destroy all the Rangers at once."

 "But that's what Dark Sceptre wa--" Elgar started.

 "Shut up, Elgar. I'll still destroy the Rangers," Astronema snapped. "This time, though, I'll make them destroy themselves!"  she continued. Elgar scratched the top of his conical head.

 "Uhh... I don't get it..." he muttered as Astronema made a sharp gesture with her left hand.

 "Ecliptor!" she called, her voice carrying an undercurrent of authority. Almost immediately, a vaguely humanoid figure in onyx armor appeared in the center of the room.

 "How may I serve you, Dark Princess?" he asked, inclining his head slightly out of respect. Astronema smiled at her childhood protector. Surely he would understand her plan better than Divatox's bumbling nephew had.

 "Go to the planet Rintar," she ordered. "Use your powers of illusion to capture one of the Rangers and bring it to my Dark Fortress."

 "Only one, Princess?" Ecliptor asked, slightly surprised.

 "Yes," Astronema replied, brushing a dark strand of hair away from her forehead. "The Rangers have one major flaw: they care too much for each other. If we have one of them, the others will follow us to the ends of the universe." The woman smiled evilly. "Their loyalty-"

 "--will be their undoing," Ecliptor chuckled. "A brilliant plan, Astronema. Worthy of the Queen of Evil." Astronema smiled thoughtfully.

 "Queen of Evil. Hmmmm, I like the sound of that," she said. Her face suddenly grew serious. "Now, go! And take the Quatrons with you," she ordered. Ecliptor bowed once more and vanished. Returning her gaze to Rintar, Astronema nodded her head in satisfaction. She knew that Ecliptor would not fail her. Of all Dark Scepter's minions, he was the most loyal, and the only one she trusted.  The princess smiled.

 "Rangers," she said, "your days are numbered!"
 

 Andros had to admit one thing: out of all the planets he had visited, Rintar had to be one of the dullest. He turned around and started walking towards his friends, the Power Rangers. They had been exploring the planet for the better part of four hours, searching for clues that might lead them to the  wizard, Zordon.
 
 "Alpha?" the teen asked, speaking into the communicator on his left wrist. "Have you or Deca found anything unusual?"
 
 "Not much yet, Andros," Alpha's high-pitched voice responded. "Deca found a small asteroid belt near Rintar's second moon."

 "The belt is interfering with scans of that sector," a female voice added. It was the voice of Deca, the Astro Megaship's main computer.
 
 "I'll tell the others," Andros said. "Keep scanning."

 "You got it, Andros!" Alpha replied.
 
 Andros walked towards three of his friends, all of whom wore grey flight suits similar to his own. The only difference was the color of the bodysuit each wore
underneath. As the Red Ranger, Andros's bodysuit was red.
 
 An oriental girl smiled as he approached. She wore a pink suit. "Hey, Andros," she said. The brunette working on a scanning array next to her wore yellow while an athletic African-American boy, adjusting another part of the scanner, wore blue. "Any luck?"
 
 Andros shook his head. "Nothing yet, Cassie" he replied. "Deca found an asteroid belt close by. If there's anything behind it, the Megaship's scanners won't detect it." A light breeze blew his shoulder-length hair into his eyes before he brushed the annoying strands away.
 
 The other boy grimaced. "That means Astronema or someone could be hiding there and we'd never know it," he said.

 "You're right, T.J," the brown-haired girl said, brushing her hands off on her uniform as she stood up. "I don't like it. Well," she continued, looking at the knee-high tower of metal she had been working on. "The scanner's set. If Zordon comes here, we'll know it."

 "Good job, Ashley," Andros grinned. "Umm... has anyone seen Carlos?"
 
 "Yeah," Cassie answered, jerking her thumb towards a ridge about fifty yards behind them. "He left about ten minutes ago. I think he was going to check out that hill."

 Andros looked around the area. Something just didn't feel right. "We'd better check on him. Especially since we don't know if Astronema's around." The other
rangers nodded and started walking through the hot sand towards a ridge that towered over them by at least thirty feet, it's sheer, rocky face reflecting sunlight.

 Before they had gotten very far, several silver-armored, bug-like creatures materialized in front of them. "Quatrons!" T.J. exclaimed. "Looks like Astronema's here after all." Cassie spun around.

 "They're everywhere!" The teens were surrounded on all  sides by the warriors, most of whom carried wicked-looking lances.

 "Let's rocket!" Andros yelled as the Quatrons advanced.  The four friends flipped open the covers of their Astromorphers-- watch-like objects worn on their left
wrists which, when opened, revealed a small keypad-- and  entered the code, 3-3-5. Almost immediately afterwards, they were all clad in their Power Ranger suits and helmets.

 "Hah! Let's get these guys!" T.J. shouted as they called their weapons just in time to meet the rushing onslaught of Quatrons. The aliens attacked from all sides, not giving the humans time to do anything except react and try to defend themselves.  Strangely enough, as soon as one of the rangers destroyed a Quatron, it was replaced by another.

 "What??" Ashley gasped. "They just keep comin'!"

 "I can't get Carlos on the communicator," Cassie called hurriedly, sweeping the feet out from one of the aliens and smashing her elbow hard into it's chest.
 
 "Alpha? Hya!" T.J. said into his communicator as he slashed at a Quatron with his battle axe. "Get Carlos!" He received no response. "Alpha?" Still, he got nothing. "They must be jamming our communicators," he told the others as several more Quatrons materialized, rushing in to take the place of their fallen brethren. As they fought, realization suddenly hit Andros like a cold, heavy weight int the pit of his stomach.
 
 "They're trying to separate us!" he called to the others as he tried to break through the mass of Quatrons. "We have to find Carlos!"
 

  'Wow!' Carlos thought as he clambered up the rocky hillside, stumbling a few times on loose gravel. His black and grey uniform trapped the heat from Rintar's sun, making the climb much more difficult. 'Tougher climb than anything back home.' Finally reaching the top of the ridge, he looked around, briefly savoring the solitude. He opened up a pocket on his jacket, pulled out a hand-held scanner and proceeded to check out the hilltop. He probably should have waited until one of his friends could have accompanied him, but-- just once in a while, it felt really good to be alone. Besides, if something happened, his friends could reach him with their communicators.
 
 'Nothing here,' he thought, snapping the scanner closed and puting it away. 'I'd better get back.' He turned and started walking back the way he had come when a voice called from behind him.
 
 "Carlos!" The teen spun around, recognizing T.J's voice. He soon saw the rangers, battling against a large group of Quatrons amidst several large boulders near the edge of the ridge. They were barely holding their own as a darkly-armored figure approached them.
 
 "Guys?! Ecliptor! Let's rocket!" Carlos said, morphing into his black fighting suit and running to the aid of his friends. 'The rocks must have blocked my scanner,' he thought guiltily. He pulled a blaster from its holster on his left hip and quickly dropped a Quatron who had pinned Cassie to the ground.
 
 "Carlos, you're okay," the pink ranger panted as he helped her up. Carlos nodded, not noticing that many of the Quatrons behind him vanished. The rangers took defensive stances close to the edge of the ridge as   to the edge of the ridge. "The communicators went down and we couldn't reach you."

 "You guys all right?" Carlos asked. The others nodded.

 "Carlos, let's combine the Quadroblaster with my Spiral Saber," Andros, the red ranger, said as Ecliptor came nearer. "I say we get rid of Ecliptor once and for all!"

 "Right!" Carlos said. "Quadroblaster, online!" he ordered. His Lunar Lance, T.J's Astro Axe, Cassie's Satellite Stunner and Ashley's Star Slinger disappeared, reappearing in Carlos' hand linked together as a cannon. As Carlos knelt on one knee in the sand, he noticed that something about the Quadroblaster didn't feel right. It was too light-- almost as if it had been made of air.

 "Let's take this guy!" T.J. said as the rangers clustered around Carlos, their hold on his shoulders unusually firm.

 "Ready--"Andros started. Carlos happened to look over the edge of the ridge into the valley below, shocked to see four power rangers, each carrying their own weapons, battling a dwindling group of Quatrons. Almost in slow motion, he saw the red ranger break away and, while the others gestured frantically at Carlos and
continued to fight, summon a surfboard-like vehicle.

 "Wait!" Carlos ordered, trying to stand up. The Quadroblaster suddenly vanished as did the rangers surrounding him. The beings gripping his arms were Quatrons! 'No!' Carlos thought, breaking free and rolling away from the ridge and the Quatrons. 'It was a trap!'

 "Well, Black Ranger," Ecliptor taunted. "It seems you are mine!"

 "Not this time, Ecliptor," Carlos said. Alone, he knew he could never defeat the monster. He had to get to the other power rangers. "Galaxy Glider! Ha--" he started. He was cut off as Ecliptor fired a volley of energy bolts at him. The human pitched forward as several of the beams struck him, almost knocking him unconscious.

 "It seems you are mistaken, Ranger," the monster taunted, motioning for the Quatrons to grab him. The silver aliens jerked him to his feet, holding his arms tightly behind him. "Take him to the Dark Fortress!" Carlos blinked furiously, trying to stem a wave of blackness that threatened to overtake him. As Ecliptor teleported the group out, the ranger finally succumbed to unconsciousness, one thought screaming through his mind.

 'How could I have been so stupid?'