SUMMARY:
[Recap of "Zhane's Destiny", "Always A Chance" & "The Secret Of The Locket"]
On KO-35, Astronema wanders the deserted streets, hearing the ghostly echoes of herself and her brother as young children. As also hears her mother calling them in for dinner, as she gazes into her locket with the pictures of her and Andros when they were kids. She flashes back to the previous episode, where Andros confronted her about being her brother. She continues walking down memory lane, and ends up in the park where she was kidnapped as a child. She suddenly remembers the event, where Darkonda snatched her up and robbed her of her childhood. She gets startled when Andros pops out from behind a tree, hoping his sister is returning to him. She tries playing evil, but he is still trying to remind her of what she once was, and probably still is deep inside. The memory of being abducted replays again in her head, causing her to lash out with her Wrath Staff against Andros, who leaps out of the way of her purple power blasts. When the smoke clears, Astronema is gone, leaving Andros to search for his sister-of-evil Karone once more. Closeby, Darkonda, the monster to blame for all this, laughs with glee over Astronema being torn over what she was, and what she is. Andros teleports back to the Megaship, and Darkonda keeps up with his obnoxious laughter over the way things are shaping up, when Ecliptor appears. Eclipty is fed up with his arch rival, and plans on finishing Darky once and for all, for he is vile without honor, and all that bad jazz. Darkonda is poised to give what he takes, and pulls out his Extenda-Sword, ready to battle Ecliptor once more!
[opening credits]
Ecliptor and Darkonda circle each other, swords drawn, trading taunts. The action starts when Darkonda makes a jump over his foe, and blasts him with his hand beams. Darky then rushes over and the sword fighting starts, Ecliptor off balance from the blast, but holding steady against the ugly semi-immortal. They lock blades, and Darkonda mentions his plan involving Astronema, waiting as she falls to pieces, then when she's most vulnerable from her identity crisis return her to evil, darker than ever! Ecliptor wants nothing but to stop him, but Darkonda's skills with a sword equally match his own. More fighting erupts, with Darkonda cheating by jumping around like he's on another potion, and tossing a few hand blasts to throw off the Green Grid Warrior. Ecliptor is able to knock Darky down, but Darkonda returns the favor and both monsters are grounded. Weary & torn, they strain to get back on their feet and get back to battle. When Darkonda seems to be making a getaway, Ecliptor fires some eye bolts at Darky, missing and smashing rocks around him, yet causing Darkonda to flip into a nearby canyon. Ecliptor runs over looking for him, but Darkonda telewarps behind him and gives Clippy another beat down. The only way Darkonda is leaving KO-35 is if he's destroyed, so Ecliptor has his work cut out for him. Just as he brings his Ecliptsword down on Darkonda, Darky does warp-races behind him again, and grabs Ecliptor in a lock. Energy is crackling all around, with Darkonda beginning to merge Ecliptor into himself again, whether he likes it or not! Once all is said and done, Darkliptor is reborn! Suddenly, Darkliptor keels over in pain, and quickly both monsters separate! Darkonda is speechless as to how Ecliptor could pull that off, and Clippy gives the old 'stronger and more disciplined mind' deal. With Darky's defenses down, Ecliptor rushes him and with one sword stroke, Darkonda goes up in a firestorm flash! Ecliptor collapses, this being his toughest battle yet, but pulls himself together and searches the spot where Darkonda blew up, finding nothing. There should be debris or body parts, this means Darkonda has escaped once more, and Ecliptor is none too happy.
[commercials]
In Darkonda's cave, he marks off the fourth in a series of little pictures of himself on a scroll. He complains he only has five lives left, giving some details into the reasons for his constant rebirths (sounds like he experimented on cats or something)! Dark Specter speaks with Darkonda via the holoimage about Astronema. Darky doesn't think she can be trusted, but Specter knows she's always been loyal and believes finding her past hasn't altered her stance as princess of evil. He plans on testing her, just to be sure which side she's on now. Darkonda agrees it's a good idea, but Dark Specter won't destroy Ecliptor for him, no matter how much he asks. On the Dark Fortress, Ecliptor returns home, seeking Astronema, who's in her sleeping chambers lying down thinking of her brother. She confronts him about not telling her that her brother wasn't dead, and he comes clean. Clippy tells her that while he was built to be evil, she was born to be good, and all those years of supervision under him to become evil would be undone if she knew the truth. Astronema understands this, but she's confused about what side she feels she should be on, good or evil. Ecliptor speaks no more on the subject, but tells her about Darkonda spying on her, and how he recently contacted Dark Specter. She's furious over this, and finally realizes Ecliptor was right all along about not trusting Darky. She knows Dark Specter will test her loyalty, so to pass with flying colors, she calls forth an unnamed needled nose monster i'll call "Spikey" (since Andros calls him that later on). Astronema will prove her evil worth, sending him to destroy the Red Ranger! Speak of the devil, he's on KO-35, scouring the empty streets looking for his sister once more (not satan, Andros). He doesn't find Karonema, but he does bump into her monster, firing some needle-bolts at him, which luckily he dodges. Andros tries fighting off Spikey, but he does no damage in his human state, and the second he lifts his arm to Morph into Red Ranger, Spikey kicks his Astro Morpher off! The Morpher thrown across the abandoned court of KO-35, Andros is helpless as the monster gloats at this misfortune.
[commercials]
Spikey jumps Andros and proceeds to beat the tar out of him. Astronema appears on the scene, standing above Andros' Morpher, smiling at the evil she's caused. She notices the Astro Morpher and picks it up, then continues watching the unmorphed Andros face impossible odds, going against everything her monster throws at him. Finally, Spikey pins Andros down with his feet, and is crushing the life out of him. Astronema watches, and flashes back to what he said to her about being her brother. This is enough to make her think twice, and she tosses the Morpher near Andros' arm, in reach for him to grab it and knock the monster off. He notices his sister walking away, and she turns around, giving him a look, but fails to stop despite him calling for her. Andros quickly morphs into Red Ranger and finally does some hurt on Spikey. He looks for his sister again, she's already out of sight. Spikey blasts more needles at Red Ranger, he whips out his Spiral Saber and blocks them, then chases the scaredy monster and gives him a mean slice. It took them long enough, but finally the other Rangers show up ready to help out. The team does a simultaneous stance, powering up to the KO-35 backdrop. They leap at Spikey in pairs, giving him a taste of his own evil medicine. Surprisingly, he's not done yet, and fires more needles at them, which Black Ranger deflects back at him with his Lunar Lance. Now it's time for more firepower, as Quadroblaster & Spiral Saber Booster Mode are shot at once, taking Spikey down! At lot good that did, because the second he falls over, he pops back up to Zord stomping heights! Red Ranger calls for the Mega Voyager, and all the Mega V Zords head to the battle, transforming along the way. The Mega Voyager makes landfall on KO-35, ready to take on the unnamed needle face baddie. They fight a bit, Spikey's nails shorting out the Megazord electrical system. Red Ranger makes Mega Voyager break those Lee Press-On Nails of evil, and finishes the monster off with a Mega V3 Missile attack! Elsewhere, atop a mountain under an unsettled cloudy sky, Dark Specter is contacting Astronema. He tells her that to prove her loyalty to evil and his cause, she must destroy her brother, the Red Ranger! She only gives it moment's pause, and agrees to do the deed at once. Meanwhile on the Astro Megaship, Andros argues with his Ranger friends about his sister. They all believe she's pure evil and can't be trusted, but he denies it, bringing up her returning his Morpher to him. Their war of words is interrupted by a hasty transmission from Astronema, whom wants to meet her brother down on KO-35 alone. Andros defies his teammates wishes and goes down by himself to meet up with his sister. Once more, he enters the deserted streets looking for his sibling. He spots her searching for him also, and hides to watch his blue wig wearing enemy/ sibling for a short minute unnoticed. Finally, he emerges from hiding and goes over to her, trying to reach his long lost sister by asking her if she remembers who she was. He reminds her that when they were kids, they both wanted to be Power Rangers, and instead she was forced into being the princess of darkness. She admits she barely remembers anything of their childhood, and that Dark Specter would destroy her if he knew she was there with him. She then proceeds to say that she came to tell Andros where Zordon is being held, and she can take them there. Andros knows the good in her is surfacing, and takes her with him to the Astro Megaship, with new hope of rescuing the Morphin Master.
[commercials]
The Ranger teens are pacing back and forth on the bridge of the Megaship, waiting their leader's return. Andros then shows up, and all are happy to see him, but get defensive when they see who he brought with him! Andros tries explaining his sister knows where Zordon is, but TJ angrily states she knows because she helped kidnap him. Astronema denies helping, but offers to help the Rangers free him. Cassie just wants the coordinates, but no assistance from their long time enemy. Astronema continues to proclaim they need her help, whether they like it or not, since there's a force field around the planet, which only she can get Dark Specter to lower for them to get around. Carlos is still bitter about her trying to destroy them just yesterday and Ashley is worried this is a trap they're walking right into. TJ finally accepts bringing her, only on the condition of her being restrained. Despite Andros' objections, she agrees and tells them Zordon is being held in the Kirak Galaxy on the jungle planet Yotoba. TJ has DECA plot the course, maximum hyper rush. Course set, The Rangers await to see if their worst enemy is telling the truth. The tension in the air is so thick you could cut it with a Spiral Saber!
[scenes from "The Rangers' Leap Of Faith"; end credits]
