The Shining Armor:

“Okay, we’re now hovering over the planet Argos. Not to be confused with the constellation,” the Doctor stated, as he brought up a viewscreen. He, along with the rest of the Paladins were in the Shining Armor’s conference room currently looking at a mostly desert planet, with small patches of heavily industrialized cities here and there. “It’s hot, dry, and mostly what you’d call Hell outside the city walls. The citizens, they use Geothermal power to get by, and draw their water from the soil and conserve it in huge water tanks for when it’s needed,” the Doctor explained. “It’s quite ingenious really. Just over a thousand years ago, they were barely scrubbing to get by with their day to day life and now look at them! Oh, I love it when civilizations rise up, and surpass their limits and go beyond what’s said to be supposedly impossible!” he chorused, throwing his hands up in the air in excitement.

Nobody else seemed to particularly share his excitement, and in fact were actually all staring at the Time Lord and Gold Ranger with expressions of boredom and annoyance.

“Can you just get on with it Doctor?” Stardust asked. “Just tell me, is this the last planet we need to free in this system? The last planet with a local Magistrate lording over it?”

“Yeah, should be…” the Doctor murmured as he rubbed his chin with one of his hands in thought. “Unless I missed one. But that’s eh, let’s say highly doubtful and get on with things shall we?” he asked, clapping his hands together. “Okay, Magistrate. Denvil. A few of you, me amongst you have met him before, back on the Baroness Manx’s planet. Slender, long neck? Conjuring up a picture in my mind for you all?”

“Yeah, I remember him,” Stripped muttered. “Setting that pet Scorpion Drone of his on me. Nearly sliced me to ribbons with those arm blades it has had Pharynx not shown up when he did.”

Pharynx chuckled. “It’s what I do, really… Pleasure saving your ass, by the way. Really, you belong behind a desk, not in the field sorry to say.” he remarked with a small smirk.

Stripped snarled, and rose up out of his chair with a growl. “Why I oughta…”

“Easy boys, you can settle your little pissing match later, maybe kiss and make up?” the Doctor told them firmly, with just a hint of a teasing note in his voice.

“ME? KISS HIM!?!” Pharynx and Stripped shouted at each other, pointing at one another as well. “NO WAY IN HELL! YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND!” they shouted in unison.

“Aw, already speaking in unison, do I hear wedding bells on the horizon?” the Doctor teased, with Stardust joining in.

“Stripped and Pharynx, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!” Stardust singsonged. “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the little unicorns and changelings in the baby carriages!”

“He’s such a child.” Flurry thought to herself, facepalming even as the Doctor and Prince Stardust laughed their asses off.

“SHUT UP!” both Stripped and Pharynx shouted at the two. This only encouraged the Doctor more, and he turned his Sonic over to a nearby speaker making it play a snippet of one cheesy as hell love ballad.

“Lying close to you feeling your heart beating
And I'm wondering what you're dreaming
Wondering if it's me you're seeing
Then I kiss your eyes and thank God we're together
And I just wanna stay with you
In this moment forever, forever and ever…”

Pharynx let out a hiss, his tongue flicking back and forth as he seemed to contemplate how best to murder the Doctor.

“Well, you know what they say, denial isn’t just a river in Baladi…” Stardust joined in. “Seriously, you and Stripped? Just start snogging the living daylights out of each other already!”

“Children, I work with such children!” Flurry mentally screamed.

“...They are so in love with each other…” Fågel commented as she looked at the now furious Pharynx and Stripped, before leaning in and whispering to her half-brother. “Seriously, they are. Tell me, are they not kæri bróðir minn?”

Coldcast chuckled to himself, and passed a bag of bits to her underneath the table before his expression turned more serious. He sighed. “Can we go back to an older subject, something that’s been on my mind as of late?”

“Sure, can do. I suppose we can, what’s your troubles? You need a Doctor?” the Doctor asked. “Cause if so… There’s one right here…”

“Shut up…” Coldcast muttered. “It’s… Well, no reason to beat around the bush about it really. It’s the Baroness Manx. I’m just worried about her, how she’s holding up after being... “ he had practically force the next few words out of his mouth. “Raped.”

Everyone in the room now wore a grim expression. “Best as to be expected one supposes,” Spada muttered to himself, shaking his head sadly. “I mean, she’s not breaking down into tears or anything like that, she’s a strong woman or cat rather but I do notice she shies away from every male on the ship except possibly that Syrian named Garu and Pharynx here. Her knight in shining chitlin I suppose you could put it.”

“I’d rather not be treated as some sort of hero for doing what I did,” Pharynx remarked, with a small sigh. “I was just stopping a monster from treating a woman as his plaything. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“And I’m glad you did,” Flashfire stated, laying a hand on the Changeling King’s shoulders, Pharynx’s wings buzzing slightly. “Merci beaucoup for that. I mean it. Seriously thank you so much for what you did. Much as I hate to think of it, most creatures probably wouldn’t have been so kind. Sure, they might have rescued Manx and slaughtered that bâtard for what he did, but keeping an eye on her like I know you are? That’s just going above and beyond really.”

“She’s not even your species, you barely know her. Just why do you care so much?” Pharynx asked in that gruff tone of his.

“Do I need a reason to?” Flashfire asked, though Pharynx being so good with emotions as he was, knew he was probably hiding something. Stripped, having known his friend for so long knew the same thing as well. But both also knew pressing Flashfire, at least for the moment would do them no good.

“No, I guess not. You do have every right to be concerned, one supposes. It’s in your nature, you’re just that kind,” Pharynx admitted. “Surprised you didn’t sign up to be ship’s counselor really.” He remarked.

“Eh, just not me. I like to be in the middle of things, and I’ve always loved the stars,” Flashfire said in reply. “Sitting behind a desk even if it was to help others work out their issues just wouldn’t feel right for me. Maybe someday, when Dark Matter’s defeated and we have a new home I’ll consider it but for now…?”

“Getting back on topic,” Pharynx continued. “If I could, or rather if Manx would allow it I’d probably take you with me. Might help with the healing process. Who knows? It’ll be a long road ahead, for both of us but a King must be prepared for any task no matter how difficult.” he stated, getting up from his chair and walking out of the room.

“Who died and anointed him King of the Changelings anyways?” Stardust asked in confusion, and Spada leaned over to whisper to him.

“Well,” the yellow drone replied. “Technically his brother was royalty so that meant if Thorax were to die -and he did- he’d be next in line for the throne.”

“....I thought Pharynx was his older brother?” Stardust remarked.

“True yes,” Spada confirmed. “But Thorax was the one who became king so that put Pharynx second in line by default. And as we haven’t had a true king for years, not since at least the sun went supernova I suppose Pharynx’s natural genetics took over. See, and I don’t know how to explain it properly as I don’t entirely understand it myself but when a hive senses it has no true ruler it appoints one at random. But when someone with royal blood running through their veins comes along, like say Pharynx who was technically a prince in a way they would get nominated.” Spada explained to Stardust, who only nodded along.

“So, Denvil. What are we to expect from this guy?” Stardust asked, absentmindedly fiddling with the sculpted dragon’s head on the top of his cane.

“Oh boy, this guy is everything I’m not,” the Doctor replied, sucking in a breath and pointing to the hologram of Denvil with a pointer stick. “Authoritarian, with a real penchant for loving the rules to a ridiculous degree. Makes everyone under his control do unbearably hard tasks, and should they fall from exhaustion -and they generally do- he whips them and orders them to get back up. He drives people to the point of exhaustion, that’s how he subjugates his planets.”

“Well, nothing for it then,” Stardust replied as he got up out of his chair rising to his full height and his horn began to crackle with magical energy as he gripped the head of his cane. “Time to take this planet back. I’m leading the away team. Spada, Fågel! You’re with me. Space Squadron Zyuranger, move out!” he proclaimed, raising his cane skywards.

“It’s Kyuranger, get it right!” Spada shouted, smacking him upside the head.

“...What, I’m not allowed to get creative? Plus, there are ten of us now…” Stardust trailed off.

“Mio Dio…” Spada muttered, rubbing his forehead in pain with a claw.

Meanwhile, as the Voyagers were prepped for launch Pharynx made his way to Manx’s quarters. They were generally a calming place to be really. However, because of Manx’s rather traumatic experiences, Flashfire had personally requested that hers were even more calming than the norm.

It was filled with mostly light colors like mild whites and greens along with a piano with plush cushions on every chair, and while it had a massive window that looked out into space that could be changed with the push of a button to a jungle landscape or a flowery field. At Manx’s request, some of her items that had been recovered from her office back on Zigama had been placed in her room. Ancient tribal stuff, like old shields and hand-woven tapestries depicting intricate yet beautiful patterns now hung from the walls. Manx just thanked her god that Gamettsui had been too stupid as to recognize their value.

Manx, fiddling with some beads her great-grandmother had given to her back when she was just a young kitten looked up when she heard a soft knocking at her door. For a moment, she flinched and flashbacked…

“Oh Manxy…” Gamettsui’s voice called as he knocked on her office door, with Manx trying to scurry away to the most out of the way place possible so he couldn’t possibly find her. “Can’t a little kitten come out to play with his master? It’s not nice for pets to disobey orders!” he laughed.

She shuddered, forcing the bile down her throat and reminding herself that Gamettsui was long dead now, slaughtered by Pharynx. “C-come in.” she whispered, and with a small hissing sound the door opened and Pharynx stepped inside.

Pressing a button on the side of a nearby wall, the viewscreen depicting the imagery of the stars outside the ship changed to that of a calming jungle pool, with a waterfall in the background and various animals like a cheetah and a leopard drinking out of it. Soft tribal music played in the background, complete with native chanting.

Manx pulled a leopard printed blanket over herself. Even though she was far from what you could call immodest at the moment, it was still a force of habit. She’d worn that slave outfit for what felt like an eternity it was now almost second nature to her to cover herself.

She heard the sound of what resembled an energy blast fired from a gun and then a distinct thud, followed by two more similar sounds.

“What was…?” she asked.

“The Draco, Chameleon and Bull Voyagers launching via a sorta catapult system. We’re about to start work on freeing Argos from Dark Matter’s control,” Pharynx answered. “But enough about that. Are you alright? Do you need a glass of water or anything? I’m sure I can replic-” he started off, sitting down beside her on the couch.

“NO!” Manx shouted suddenly, before she sighed. “No, I’m fine. I don’t like to be coddled, treated like someone who’s about to break any second now. Yes, I know what happened to me, but I don’t want to be treated like some sort of fragile piece of glass.”

“What happened to you was horrible, no denying that,” Pharynx replied softly, surprising even himself with the gentleness in his tone. It was something he didn’t even he knew he possessed. Then again, maybe for the most part he never had a reason to be gentle with anyone. It was always the rough tough, bruiser Changeling Captain of the Guard everybody wanted or expected of him so that was what they always got. “It was something nobody should have to go through, and I’m not trying to treat you as this fragile piece of glass. I’m here to simply talk with you, that’s all. Try to help you move on, that’s all.”

“I have moved on, it’s over and done with. Understand?” Manx stated firmly in a tone that left no room for argument. Or well, it would have had Pharynx not been in the room with her.

“I’d say you haven’t,” Pharynx replied. “After all, don’t think I didn’t notice the brief moment of hesitation before you allowed me to enter, and don’t think I’m blind to not see you covering yourself up with that blanket when it’s anything but cold in here. Look, I’m going to be brutally blunt with you,” Pharynx stated, his veins flashing a brief orange color. “Brutally honest. You haven’t moved on. You’ve most likely got PTSD, amongst other things and maybe you never will fully move on from this, but I can help you through it. And… And I’m not the only one.”

“What, you’re not the only one who knows someone who’s been violated?” Manx asked, blinking in surprise.

“Maybe, maybe not. I have my suspicions that someone does know, although I won’t voice them just yet. But a lot of the Equus residents, they’ve gone through some sort of traumatic event. Losing your home to ice will do that to you. You could talk to Coldcast, kid’s had it rough from what I understand. Grew up in the system, Hive Mother knows what only happened to him there. Or when Fågel or Stardust get back from freeing Argos, talk to them. Fågel, she was a wanted criminal for a time. Stardust, had to know his relatives died trying to save their world. Point is, a lot of us are broken in some form or the other. Flashfire, he mentioned to me a few days ago about starting this support group, let everyone get their feelings out in the open.”

“He’s… He’s a kind one, and I do admire what he’s trying to do, but I think being raped is something entirely different from watching your parents die or being a wanted parrot.” Manx replied.

“Perhaps. Perhaps not, I’m just trying to help you here. I just wanted to make sure you understood that. We’re all just looking out for you here, even your own people. Garu, he’s stayed aboard the ship and even become a member of the crew just because of how concerned he is about you. I have to admire his loyalty. If the Element of Loyalty wasn’t already spoken for by Coldcast, I’d honestly vouch for Garu there using it.”

“R-Really? He actually went that far for me?” Manx asked in surprised. “He actually switched from the crews of my planet’s flagship to your colony ship?”

“Yes, and it’s all just because he knows you need the support of your people right now and he said, and I quote: “I’ll be damned if I don’t give it, grr!” Pharynx stated, morphing with a green flash of fire into an exact replica of Garu, fur and all. To the Changeling King’s surprise, Manx actually laughed at this.

“Good impression, though I think you need to work on just toning down that aggressiveness in your voice a little bit if you want to completely fool people. Also, stop standing like a king all regal and such. Garu never does that,” Manx criticized. “Completely ruins the whole bit, really,” she stated, as Pharynx transformed back.

“B-But… I-I am a king… King Pharynx, of the Changeling Hive! My aggressive tone is to intimidate enemies!” he stated in annoyance, though inwardly he was smiling. At least he’d gotten Manx to open up a little bit, which was the entire goal. And she was smiling and laughing now which was even better. Thorax was probably rolling in his grave laughing his ass off out of how much of a fool his big brother was being made to look but he’d punch him the face when he died to remind him.

“You’re adorable, you know that?” Manx smiled. “Seriously, I can see why I keep hearing rumors of both you and Stripped being… ‘shipped’ is it? You two do share similar qualities, you’re always so serious half the time.”

“Bah! Me and him, dating? What a ridiculous comparison! We are nothing alike!” Pharynx muttered, as he crossed his arms and huffed. “Yeah, this is going to be a thing now isn’t it? Yep, it definitely is…” he thought to himself.

“Also, you do realize ‘pharynx’ refers to the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity and above the oesophagus and larynx right? Not a very intimidating name when you think on it.”

“Q-Queen Chrysalis was running out of names that day!” Pharynx stuttered out. “I swear she named a changeling Bob eventually!”

Manx just laughed her ass off.

The planet Argos:

Planetside, the three Kyurangers had found themselves in the midst of yet another towering city, a dome of energy high above them to keep the hot sun from beating down on them. The streets were eerily quiet, really.

Almost reminded Stardust of a ghost town, the Prince thought to himself as a sheet of paper blew by.

“...Okay then, monster. How hard can it be to find a monster?” Stardust asked, more than a little unnerved. Both Fågel and Spada kept their gauntlets primed, and at the ready aiming them into the alleys to blast any potential Invaders or Strongindavers who decided to pop out of the woodworks.

“Maður, mér líkar þetta ekki... Ekki einn hluti. Bara ekki einn hluti.” Fågel murmured nervously in her native language. It still bewildered every one of the Paladins on how an Icelandic parrot could be a half-brother to an Azteca-speaking griffon. “Bara rólegur, bara of fjandinn rólegur.”

“Hmm,” Stardust agreed with a nod of his head. Truth be told, Fågel was far from pleased to work with the pony who put her in prison and kept her from her only remaining family but for the sake of the mission she’d just grin and bear it.

Then, a scream pierced the air, and everyone’s hair or feathers stood on end.

“What was that?” Spada asked. “Please tell me that was just the wind.”

“Hálfviti,” Fågel admonished. “Since when is it ever ‘just the wind’?” she asked in a deadpan tone, giving the changeling a flat look.

“Good point,” Spada agreed, and he heard another sound, this time a pained groan. Training his ears in the direction of the sound, he gestured to them to follow. Placing a Kyutama into his gauntlet, he suddenly had a dog’s nose and began sniffing the air, and it wrinkled as his nose picked up the very distinct odor of fresh blood. The power of Canes Venatici, the Hound. “Molto bene! This way, amici!” he shouted running down an alleyway his Kyuchanger at the ready just in case they ran into trouble.

What he found, was an alien -resembling one of the Grays- nearly half whipped to death and looking completely starved.

“Fågel, tend to his wounds! Quickly! Velocemente ora!” Spada barked with an increased sense of urgency before placing another Kyutama into his Kyuchanger and summoning a fish out of mid-air before cutting it up into little bitty pieces with his Astral Rapier. As Fågel quickly began bandaging up the alien's back and applying salves to help along with the healing process, Spada gave a little bit of the fish to the alien. “Here, eat this. Get some of your strength back. Take your time. We can wait,” the changeling said, sitting himself atop some nearby crates.

“What happened?” Stardust asked. “C’mon, you can tell us,” he stated gently.

“Cosa, sei pazzo?” Spada shouted angrily at the Prince, with Fågel giving him a particularly dirty look as well. “We don’t know if this guy’s going to live or not and you want to ask him questions?”

“Look, like it or not, we need to know happened. What’s going on around here, that sorta thing,” Stardust said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “More information we get, the better chance we have on stopping Denvil.”

“Fottuto bastardo…” Spada mentally growled to himself, his tongue flicking back and forth out of his mouth in his anger. Right now, he so desired to mess up the Prince’s pretty boy face and good.

“No… No, it’s alright,” the alien started, grunting out in pain as he did so. “Name’s Kalternecker, that’s what they call me,” he said, visibly straining himself to speak. “Denvil, he did this to me. When I wouldn’t do his ‘dance lessons’ along with the rest of his troupe. Tried to run, but he whipped me good and so that’s why you found me as you did.”

Spada let out another hiss of anger, and clenched his fists, his claws digging into his chitlin and drawing blood. “Don’t worry, we’ll stop him. You, you just rest easy now understand?” he asked, placing the Aries Kyutama into his Kyuchanger and firing it, knocking out Kalternecker and sending him into dreamland. He then opened up a comm channel to the Shining Armor.

“Okay, Spada here. Got someone coming up to sickbay, prep a medpod. Severe burn wounds from an energy whip, signs of exhaustion and starvation as well.” he informed as Fågel summoned her Bull Voyager, and placed Kalternecker inside it before the Bull rocketed up back up to the ship. The energy dome above the city parted briefly, creating a small hole for the ship to enter though before it re-sealed itself.

“You do realize that leaves us without a limb to form a complete Megazord right?” Spada asked. “Just wanted to point that out.”

“I’ve got Pharynx on standby,” Fågel replied. “He’ll be ready to assist when needed.”

“Okay, nice to know. That Ophiuchus Voyager of his, it should come in handy,” Spada nodded in reply, before he made another hiss of anger. “Right now though, let’s find Denvil. He’s got a few crimes to answer for. Bastardo’s got a lot of pain coming his way, and I’ll be damned if I don’t get to dish out a bit of that main course of it!”

“Guess that means I’ll be the second helping then, and Stardust the just desserts right?” Fågel chuckled darkly, and Spada nodded before once more drawing on the powers of Canes Venatici to hopefully sniff out the Magistrate. Sadly, this was only going to end in failure as there were too many scents in the city for even the powers of the Bloodhound constellation to find just one guy. He needed the scent of Denvil beforehand to work with it, to find him. He was like Trusty from the movie Lady and the Tramp in a way while using the Canes Venatici powers. The powers of Canes Venatici’s sniffing abilities were simply too acute to concentrate on one scent at a time.

So, when that failed, Spada opted out for an even possibly weirder ability. The powers of Camelopardalis. This Kyutama allowed him to stretch his neck to a ludicrous degree, and allow him to see all over the city, and the Changeling’s sharp eyes pinpointed a crowd led by a long-necked alien in a nearby square.

“Got him,” Spada smirked triumphantly before grimacing. “Man, he’s even uglier in person, gotta say…”

“Well, you know the way, so…” Stardust commented, and Spada nodded after disengaging the Camelopardalis powers before unfurling his wings and flying off.

Soon, he and his two fellow Rangers found themselves in the middle of that very same city square where as Spada had seen, Denvil was cracking his whip and ordering everyone to go through some monotonous dance routines to the Oompa sound of a tuba. Behind him and his dancing troupe, were twin banners. They both were mostly white, depicting the logo of Dark Matter, which was two massive black claws grasping a galaxy in their clutches.

“Man, those dance moves, and that music. They fail to get the beat of my burnin’ heart pumpin’!” Stardust stated, pointing the tip of his cane at Denvil. He was a long-necked creature, with two small bat-like wings, a massive forehead, and two very large ears. “Think it’s time we change your tune, eh?”

“W-What? K-Kyurangers?” Denvil stammered out, staggering backwards in shock upon recognizing their uniforms and equipment.

“It’s Zyurangers now, but whatevs,” Stardust replied with a shrug of his shoulders before placing his Draco Kyutama into the dragon head at the top of his cane. “Guess that means it’s showtime I suppose.”

“Say the Change!” the cane sung as Stardust opened the head up, before biting it down on the Kyutama.

“Draco~!” the Prince proclaimed, before raising the cane high and then slamming it back down. “Star Change, Eye of the Dragon!”

“...Kyurangers, and that’s the end of it,” Fågel muttered before she and Spada pulled out their own Kyutamas and slammed them into their Kyuchangers.

“Say the Change!” their gauntlets requested, and the two were only far too happy to comply and reply to that.

“Chameleon!”/“Taurus!” they shouted in unison before proclaiming “Star Change!”

A purple circle of runes came down and covered Stardust transforming him into his costume while the constellations of the Chameleon and Taurus appeared in front of Fågel and Spada and lit up before they gained their uniforms as well.

“The Dragon Ma-Star, Draco Purple!”
“The Shinobi Star, Chameleon Green!”
“The Armored Star, Taurus Black!” Fågel shouted. “Three stars shining in the heavens, Space Squadron Kyuranger!”

Denvil cracked his whip, and shouted: “Invaders, get them!”

Soon, the whole square erupted into chaos and discord as both Invaders and Strongindavers sprung out of seemingly everywhere. Some attacked and barraged the Kyurangers, while others began rounding up the rapidly scattering citizens.

“So, you like a bit of order in your life do you?” Stardust asked, using his cane as a sniper rifle and shooting Invaders in the head, before doing a spinning flip in mid-air and striking down a Strongindaver with a headshot. “Well, I say we spice things up a bit with a little bit of chaos!”

He snapped his fingers, and while his horn glowed it wasn’t a particularly prominent glow as it should have been. Nevertheless, broiling angry storm clouds appeared above them and began summoning bolts of lightning taking out footsoldiers.

Under her helmet, Fågel’s eyes narrowed. That was odd, very odd indeed. But she put her thoughts aside as more foot soldiers filled the square to take the place of their fallen comrades.

“Okay, this is getting out of hand here!” Spada shouted, even as he used his rapier’s blade to take out a few Invaders at a time with parry and then riposte movements or simple quick thrusts and jabs of the blade. “I mean, this is crazy! Need some breathing room here!”

“Providing.” Fågel stated, before bringing out the Skill version of the Taurus Kyutama and summoning a hard light projection of her Voyager that if you excuse the pun, bulldozed down a group of Strongindavers. She then slammed her fists into the cobblestoned ground below her, sending a bunch of foot soldiers flying skywards before she used her personal Impact and sent out arcs of energy slicing the soldiers apart.

Laser fire was sent her way as punishment and she threw up a shield using the Scutum Kyutama to block it, but eventually, the Strongindavers joined in as well and fired blasts of pure plasma balls from their bazooka staffs and shattered the shield like glass.

“Oh no, you don’t! Nobody lays a hand on my subjects!” Prince Stardust shouted as the Strongindavers advanced upon the now fallen Fågel chuckling darkly. Creating a ball of energy in his hands, he soon formed it into a towering whirlwind of purple energy and sent it their way. “Just because you’re not dragons, doesn’t mean you can’t fly in style! Courtesy of Stardust Airways!” he laughed as the Strongindavers and their Invader cohorts hit ground groaning out in pain.

Roaring out in rage, Denvil leaped towards him a sword at the ready and the two clashed blades briefly, metal singing out as sparks flew before Denvil kicked the so-called “Dragon Ma-Star’ backwards with a strike to the stomach making him stagger.

“That’s what you get for disrupting the order and harmony of my planet!” Denvil cackled, before lashing out with his whip striking Stardust several times and the Alicorn screamed out in pain with every scorching strike. Sadly, while Stardust definitely had the combat power to keep up with a lot of major enemies, he didn’t have the fighting experience due to him not going out in the field much. This was the simple reason why he was losing, badly.

Eventually, with a cry of “Prince!” Spada leaped into view and let the whip wrap around his rapier blade before pulling the whip from Denvil’s grasp. “How’s that for harmony Denvil? Two teammates, watching each other’s backs!” Spada proclaimed, his earlier rage and fury towards the Prince forgotten. “You alright?” he asked Stardust, whose costume was smoking a bit. Stardust nodded.

“I’ll live. Him, on the other hoof…”

“Well, I must admit to the elaborate coordination between you two…” Denvil mused. “But sadly, your harmony won’t be enough to match this one…” he smirked, before snapping his fingers and a Deathworm erupted from the ground below the Rangers, who braced themselves for one Hell of a fight…

“Today just isn’t our day, is it?” Stardust asked himself.

Hearing all of this, no thanks to the Dark Matter satellite Stripped Gear had hijacked was Pharynx and Baroness Manx. They’d brought up the battle on the viewscreen, and were bearing witness to the Deathworm kicking the asses of all three of their fellow crew members.

“Goddess…” Manx whispered before her eyes narrowed. “There’s got to be something we can do. Does this ship have orbital bombardment capabilities?” she asked, turning to Stripped Gear. “Well, does it?” she asked urgently, the Baroness side of her on full display for the first time. Pharynx felt a little turned on by it actually. Just a little.

“A-Are you crazy?” Stripped sputtered out. “Even if it did, and because this is a colony ship it doesn’t, getting a precise lock and not hitting any of my fellow Rangers would be next to impossible!”

“Guess that settles it, prep my Voyager,” Pharynx stated. “I’m going down there. A King always protects his subjects.”

“Getting the dynotherms underway, prepping megathusters.” Stripped nodded. “Everything’s ready to go.”

“Right then. Star Change, Ophiuchus!” he called slamming his Kyutama into his gauntlet and morphing.

“Well, I’m not going to sit around here being useless either,” Manx replied as she changed the viewscreen to inside the factories of Argos, where a despondent populace was mining precious ores deep within inside their planet while a watchful Denvil stood on a catwalk whip at the ready.

“That man… that devil. He reminds me far too much of my own Master. He tore that race’s hope away from them, and now I’m going to help them take it back,” Manx stated, before whipping her head around to face Jabari who had been watching this whole thing anxiously. In the background, the sound of a distant thud and a laser sound going off was heard as the Ophiuchus Voyager was fired out of the hanger bay. “Jabari, you play the violin right? You know someone who can sing?”

“Y-Yeah, I do. Crescendo, a member of the Siren race. B-But why?”

“In my culture, long before we were an industrialized civilization music always helped to lift our spirits. Hell, it still does even when Gamettsui enslaved us. Take me to her, we’re about to lift some spirits. Stripped, prep that satellite. Get it broadcasting on all frequencies.”

“Just give me the beat and I’ll have it shouting.” Stripped stated even as Manx and Jabari ran off with Jabari summoning his violin and bow from his room with a flash of magic.

“Crescendo, are you ready to do what you do best?” Jabari asked as they entered the pool room, with the siren nodding. Jabari smiled and looked towards Manx as he began to play a tune. Soft, but sweet. But more to the point, hopeful.

“People of Argos,” Manx stated, with the satellite broadcasting every word she had to say, along with the music Jabari was playing and Crescendo was humming. “You’ve had your hope stricken from you, ripped from your very beings! I, Baroness Harx Manx know what that’s like as well. My people, they were defiled. Now you are suffering under a cruel master, just like my people were. But no more, rise up! Rise up, and take arms!”

“Someday you’ll notice – I pray that you’ll realize
These wings on your back aren’t a dream
At last, you’ll have all you need to escape to
The world where you’ll finally be free

“This was all a Cruel Angel’s Thesis from the start
Brought to life, out window now it’s taking flight
Scorching pathos if you betray your memory
Follow this deviant-divine philosophy!” Crescendo sang loud and clear, Jabari’s strings singing a song of hope, and of prayer and as if spurred on by this both the people of Argos and the Rangers themselves seemed to regain their fighting spirit.

One powerful slash to the deathworm’s chest by Fågel and her Astral Axe finished the job. Meanwhile, the people in Argo’s mines and factories took up various improvised weapons and charged the very stunned Denvil who was quickly taken out by this onslaught.

“With grace, and in my embrace
You fall deep into sleep, so tempted to stay
In the morning that falls,
You alone will be called
By message from the realm of dreams…

“These group activities... Are hard to do!” Denvil proclaimed as his final words before he went up in a fireball of an explosion.

“Shining more than these stars that bathe the galaxy
Go forth, young boy, and you’ll become a legend!”

Of course, that wasn’t the end of things. It never would be as Denvil had a little mutation in his DNA, one that allowed him to grow giant-sized whenever he lost enough blood or his heart stopped beating. Both of which had happened in the past few moments.

Flying in his Voyager’s Mecha mode, Pharynx Rider-kicked the local Moraimarz destroying it before he linked up with a now rapidly forming Dragon Knight Megazord. Stardust had already leaped into his cockpit and pressed the transformation button, with the massive Asian style Dragon beginning to shift and change. The head armor detached and the entire mech folded down in the center to become a pair of legs and a torso, with the head and tail becoming feet. A red visored head popped up, and the Kabuto grafted itself on top with the Ophiuchus and Chameleon Voyagers forming arms.

“Like a Dragon, but with style! So, you want a game with continues?” Stardust remarked, before taunting. “Sorry, not in this game of life! Here, you don’t get any!”

Both Spada and Pharynx nodded, before Spada pressed a button on his console and a long whip-like tongue shot out and grabbed Denvil, wrapping itself around him tightly.

“Consider this payback for earlier!” Stardust shouted, before the Dragon Knight Megazord tossed Denvil skywards, the whip letting him go before the Ophiuchus Voyager’s jaws opened and began to charge up a beam. It then fired, eradicating Denvil completely leaving no traces of his body behind.

“Consider that a checkmate Dark Matter, and now a message for you. We will take the universe back!” Stardust then shouted as the Megazord basked itself in the glory of a cheering populace.

Aboard the Shining Armor, Flashfire looked on to Manx with a smile.

“Seems she’s getting better. Little by little, the old Manx is returning.” he thought before quietly taking his leave. Had anyone been paying attention on the bridge, they might have noticed a brief blip on their sensors, before it vanished.

“Seems it’s time to take matters into my own hands…” Sir Ikargen muttered aboard his ship, clutching a Kyutama with a Black Hole on it, the Scorpius Drone’s cycloptic eye watching him carefully...

Author's Notes:

Okay, so yeah. Not sure about a few things. Like for one, if I had portrayed the healing of Manx correctly, and even then if I did there's still more to come.

Not sure if the fight scene with Denvil needed to be extended, or it's as good as it is. Really not sure on a lot of things with this chapter. But that's where your feedback comes in, always welcomed.

Next time... Maji ka!? Majide!? Majida! Shō taimu!