Power Rangers Time Force
"Trip Takes A Stand"
Original Air Date:06/09/01		Based on: Timeranger #32 - Hanzaisha o Sukue (Help The Criminal)
*Season 9, byte 19 *Official Fox Kids Show Number PR-1119 *19th episode of PRTF *397th total Power Rangers episode
Writers: Judd Lynn & Jackie Marchand		Director: Isaac Florentine
Starring Cast: Jason Faunt _AS_ Wes (Red Ranger) Michael Copon _AS_ Lucas (Blue Ranger) Kevin Kleinberg _AS_ Trip (Green Ranger) Deborah Estelle Philips _AS_ Katie (Yellow Ranger) Erin Cahill _AS_ Jen (Pink Ranger) Daniel Southworth _AS_ Eric (Quantum Ranger) Vernon Wells _AS_ Ransik Kate Sheldon _AS_ Nadira		Additional Cast: Terence James Rotolo _AS_ Driver Steve Nave _AS_ Customer Brianne Siddall _AS_ Circuit (voice) Eddie Frierson _AS_ Frax (voice) Barbara Goodson _AS_ Notacon (voice)

SUMMARY:

Deep within the Silver Hills woods, likes the nation's newest landmark, the Leaning Prison Ship From The Future. Inside it, in one of the central security offices, Ransik dwells alone in his stolen residency. He sits behind the large wooden desk, not going over evil paperwork, but screaming to the tops of his lungs in sheer agony! His right arm, with the mangled flesh, has begun to mutated further again. It bubbles over, and warps slowly, wrenching pain throughout Ransik's entire body. He struggles to open up the secret compartment atop the desk, and pulls out one of the 7 vials of the blue serum he so desperately needs. Ransik trembles, but manages to get his mutating arm down into the compartment to pull out a vial. He grunts deeply, before popping the top (with one hand, as his metal left arm sees quite useless in times like this) and guzzling down the near-pint of liquid in one swallow. Ransik turns around in his big office chair, his left arm still visibly deforming. He suddenly drops the vial onto the floor, with a few leftover drops spilling out amongst the shattering glass. The mutation subsides, as the bubbling ceases and his arm returns to the veiny, scarred mound of muscle & skin that it always is. Ransik begins to open his eyes and sigh in relief, his torturous screaming and groaning giving way to malicious delight. He looks at his black leather-gloved left hand, flexing it, and upon realizing the serum halted his mutation once again, he lets out some well-deserved wicked laughter. Outside of his office, in the main detention hall, Frax is slumming it up for appearances. Sure, he could go to his private stash of mutants in the X-Vault, but instead, he's picking one out of the Prison's usual cryo-shelves! Frax peers through the cold mist of the newly opened shelf, and staring at a set of three tubes contemplatively, he remarks, "Hmm. Let's see... AHH! Perfect!" He removes the center one, noting with a grim tone, "This one looks like an especially DEVIOUS criminal!" Nearby, Nadira sits at her leopard-print chair, with her pink hair down. There's a Cyclobot behind her, holding a kit before her, the contents of which she uses to file her beloved fingers in boredom. Frax sets the mutant down in the smoking chamber in the back of the room, and as he steps away from it with the empty tube in hand, he gloats, "A moment in the Reanimator and we'll see JUST how DANGEROUS you are!" Gleefully with evil, he announces, "Be-GIN!" The silver-suited Cyclobot at the Reanimation Booth's controls presses a few buttons, and the chamber slides shut. The "enlarge" button is pressed, lights flash throughout the room, and Frax metallically chuckles with diabolical intent.

In the security office, the quelled Ransik slowly steps out from behind his desk, lifting and lowering the wooden board-door on the side. The Reanimator's lights switch from yellow to green, and the flashing stops, causing the door to slide back open. As the smoke clears, a light blue mutant with long tentacled-topped arms, roughly four eyes, and a coned beak exits the chamber. He groans softly, and begins to pat his hands against his body, wondering in a kind & gentle (and quite female, despite being male) voice, "Hey! WHAT'S goin' on here?! WHERE am I!? WHO are all of you, and WHY have I been unfrozen!?" The mutant, later aptly named Notacon, frantically looks around the room, seeing Frax standing before him, Nadira filing her nails next to her pile of stolen jewelry & stuffed leopard, and of course, the numerous Cyclobots. Frax points out, and informs him viciously, "YOU'RE the mutant, who's going to DESTROY the Power Rangers!!!" Notacon notes innocently, "I couldn't destroy ANYONE! Why don't I just go back in my canister?" He laughs nervously, and rushes into the Reanimator, desperately trying to return to whence he came. Two Cyclobots march up and grab him, trying to drag Notacon out. He's tougher than he let's on, easily shrugging the two robodrones onto the floor. Notacon, despite how they're just brainless bots, apologizes, "Sorry!" While the mutant is turned, Ransik appears, and gets Notacon's attention by squeezing one of his short shoulder tentacles. Notacon cries, "Whoaaahh!", and turns to face the mutant overlord. Ransik angrily shakes his right fist at Notacon, and screams, "What's THIS?! You don't want to FIGHT?!" Notacon confirms honestly, "NO! I'm not a VIOLENT mutant! I was only put in jail for petty theft!" Nadira seems particularly disgusted by this, pausing in her nail-filing and uttering snobbily, "Petty THEFT?!" Ransik growls loudly, and slams his hand against his right knee. Nadira giggles wildly at the sight, as her father pulls a bone-sword out from his kneecap for the first time in a while! Ransik removes the blade from within his leg, grunting as it passes through his skin audibly. He then looks upon the bonesword, and proclaims with copious amounts of spittle, "THIS is what happens to mutants, that DON'T fight for ME!" Notacon cries out in terror, as Ransik lifts the bonesword over his head, and prepares to drop the blade down with a mighty howl. Nadira excitedly smiles in the background, anxiously hopping off of her seat to get a closer look at her daddy's bloodlust.

Suddenly, Frax steps forward, and cautions his master, "Ransik, WAIT! No sense in wasting a perfectly good mutant. I can MAKE him fight... with THIS." He holds up a triangle-like device, colored gold & black, with a red antenna sticking out of it. Frax approaches the fearful Notacon, and orders the two Cyclobots, "Hold him!" Notacon whines and struggles in vain, as the golden robot places the device atop his body. It sticks perfectly to his light blue skin. Frax then picks up a gold metal control wand, with a pink light atop it. He then explains, "TRUST me, my peaceloving friend. You WILL fight for Ransik. It's up to you! You can choose the easy way, or the HARD way. Hahehehahah!" Frax aims the wand at Notacon, causing a surge of pink electricity pulsate out from the device on the mutant's body. He writhes in agony and screams, drowned out only by Frax's sadistical laughter and the humming of the wand. Notacon overcomes the device's control enough to pitch both of the Cyclobots off of him, making Nadira squeal. The second one is tossed towards Frax, causing him to drop the wand on the floor. Freed from the pain, Notacon bolts towards the door, smacking some Cyclobots away with his quite-long tentacles. The coast appears clear, and after searching around for a moment, the mutant happily spots the hallway out. Nadira picks up the dropped control wand, gasps, and coos, "Oooooh!" Frax snatches it out of her hands, causing her to sneer at him brattily. The robot makes the excuse, "It appears he is more POWERFUL than I anticipated!" Ransik aims his bonesword at Frax, causing him to let out a nervous yelp. The mutant overlord grabs his henchbot, taking the control wand, and furiously exclaiming, "STUPID robot! Get the mutant BACK or I will use THIS on YOU!" He grunts and hands him back the wand, before storming off to his office. Nadira also storms off, walking away with her nose in the air. Frax loyally snivels, "Yes, master. Right away!"

[Opening Credits, Version 1.2 returns.]

In the city of Silver Hills, crowds of citizens flee for their lives in a panic, some in American footage, some in Japanese. Yep, it's just a typical day in their lives, pretty much. A few trip and fall, and just remain lying on the cement. What's really strange is that some of the footage has a lot of smoke in it, as to imply a deadly attack just occurred. No such actions in other footage, such as people fleeing from Notacon, who staggers towards them cautiously. The mutant pleads, "No, WAIT! I'm not gonna hurt you!" They ignore what he says. Would YOU trust someone with spikey cuffs & chains hangings from their tentacled arms? Every crowd has to have a whining little girl lagging behind, and this is no exception. A small, pigtailed Asian girl squats under a tree nearby, rubbing her fists in her eyes. Notacon approaches gently, begging, "Aww, please don't cry, little girl!" The girl's mother suddenly appears, scooping her up in her arms and shouting, "Get away from her!" The lady runs, causing Notacon to yell defeatedly, "I wouldn't hurt her! I wouldn't hurt ANYBODY!" The mutant soon ends up wandering into the middle of the street. An unsuspecting driver, talking on a cell phone, gets a rude awakening when he spots the large blue creature at only that last minute. He gasps and swerves sharply, causing his vehicle to tilt over onto two wheels, and skid off into the nearby parking lot of a Quick Stop! In said parking lot, an Asian couple are together, the man helping the woman with her head bandaged & a cast on her arm, into a wheelchair. I assume that convenience store doesn't have a ramp, since they're standing off the sidewalk. The out of control car is now flipped over, lying on its top, and continuing to skid dangerously towards the Quick Stop. The couple screams, and the next thing we see is the wheelchair slamming up against the sidewalk, and dropping into a heap. The car has stopped at last, allowing the driver to poke his head out of the shattered window, witnessing a strange sight. The angry woman, with her foot bandaged like her head, standing tall and holding the cowering man in her arms! The driver reacts only by putting his cellphone to his ear, and asking, "Get me the Silver Guardians!" At the Silver Guardians Headquarters building, adorned with lots of golden eagle CGD symbols, the red flashing alert lights spin to accompany the sirens. Eric announces over the speakers, "Guardians! Man up and move out!" The squads of navy-blue clad soldiers race into the garage, and hop into the twin SUVs. Eric, wearing his old CGD hat instead of his red Commander beret for a change (the red tassel on his right shoulder remains, though), takes the driver's seat of one of the two vehicles. They both pull out simultaneously, leaving the sirens echoing through the empty garage.

Elsewhere in the city, Trip places the grill-cover to an electric fan back on, and starts it up. The miniature standing fan begins to spin its blade rapidly, causing the green-haired alien teen to smile and chuckle, "Good as new!" He's just outside of a warehouse, surrounded by about 7 fans of various colors, shapes, and designs. All of them are working perfectly at the same time, likely keeping Trip cool in that unseasonably bulky orange coat of his. The bearded man who hired Nick Of Time Odd Jobs for this task, called "Customer" in the credits, comes walking out, and is stunned in his tracks. He lets out a mighty southern, "Boy, HA! HOWDY!" Happy at the good job in repairing the fans (which are likely big business in the energy-conserving 2001 California), the customer pats Trip on the back, and remarks, "I don't know how you did it! Hahaha!" He hands a wad of money over to the teen, before heading back into the warehouse. Trip smiles, and checks out how much he made (it looks to be about $22, but I could be wrong). He sticks it in his coat pocket, and then returns his tools to the toolbox lying on the ground. Just then, Notacon comes stumbling down the road of warehouses, crying out, "Oh, WOE is ME!" Trip sees the approaching mutant, and quickly hides behind a crate. Notacon pleads, "PLEASE, somebody! Help MEEE!" Trip continues watching, peeking his head around the corner, and seeing a troop of Cyclobots, along with Frax & Nadira, marching towards the mutant. This is Nadira's first Sentai footage appearance, I should note, easily distinguished by how her pink hair helmet is taller in the USA. Notacon has dropped to his knees, as the Cyclobots swarm around his despaired body. Frax informs the mutant, with fluctuating emotions, "THIS is your LAST chance. You WILL fight for Ransik!!" Notacon argues with a sob, "Noooo! I CAN'T!" Nadira, changing her expression from sadistic glee to flaming rage, screams, "NO more chances! Destroy HIM!" Trip's on the edge of his proverbial seat, growing uncomfortable at the sight of injustice. Frax taps his finger against his golden metal chin, and contemplates, "Destroy a mutant?! It will be my PLEASURE!" He holds his left arm outward, and just as he changed his mind so quickly from wanting to control the mutant to eliminating him, Frax morphs his white claw-hand into its black cannon-fingered mode! Notacon moans in fear, as Frax aims his cannon-hand at the helpless creature, and snickers sinisterly. Instantly, Trip's voice calls out, "DON'T do it!" Frax turns his attention to the sky, witnessing the Green Time Force Ranger leaping his way! Trip lands amid the group of Cyclobots, and foot-sweeps a few down. Nadira gasps, and immediately glares at the avenging hero. Green Ranger smacks the robodrones away, and reaches Notacon, urging, "Hey! C'mon!" He helps the confused mutant up, and the two begin to rush out into the clearing. Cyclobots still lurk all around them, so Trip has to halt from escaping in order to fight with them still.

The work-for-hire Calvary arrives just in time! The Silver Guardian SUVs zoom into the warehouse district, and gain the unpleasantly surprised attention of Frax & Nadira. The SGs pile out of their vehicles, and get into a line in front of them, aiming their weapons at the mutants & robots. Eric is the last to exit, standing among his men without raising his Blaster. Green Ranger chops another Cyclo down, and looks up confusedly to see his estrange ally, "Eric?!" The Commander of the Silver Guardians holds his left wrist up, and proclaims into the black & crimson Quantum Morpher, "Quantum Power!" His morphing sequence plays, and when he emerges from the digital domain, he's the Quantum Ranger once more. Eric whips out his Quantum Defender, and instantly fires a few red bolts at the Cyclobots. Two robodrones are struck, the second one plopping down at Frax's oversized feet, with a smoking hole directly in its chest! Frax is disgusted by this attack on his creations, vowing, "Ugh! You'll PAY for this! Cyclobots, FI-RE!" The squad of robodrones lift their Saber-Blasters, and unleash a wave of sparking blasts at the SGs. The Guardians duck out of the hailstorm of fire, bracing themselves against their SUVs and firing back. Quantum Ranger does the same, shooting off his Q-Defender at the opposing team. Nadira & Frax yelp in shock they're nearly struck by the SGs' purple-bolts. Once the dwindling line of robodrones before them are wiped out by laserfire, Nadira deflects the blasts by spinning around, while Frax is unable to do much but get bombarded. Two of the Guardians set up a SG rocket launcher, and fire a concentrated burst at Green Ranger & Notacon! They're only shaken up by the near-miss, prompting Trip to motion the mutant away, saying, "C'mon! Follow me!" Notacon simply replies, "Dohhh, okay!" Quantum Ranger watches them fleeing, and wonders aloud, "What is he doing?!" Eric quickly realizes there's still two targets left, and reaims the Quantum Defender at them with a startled, "Huh?! Whoah!" Not to worry, they're on their way out. Frax bemoans, "These guys are SO annoying!" He & Nadira turn swiftly around, and teleport away in a shimmery warped light (oddly not either's normal teleport method). The Silver Guardians just watch them escape. Notice, the SGs are quite few in numbers between footage, and one SG is lying on the ground in pain. All of the Cyclobot scrap has apparently by cleaned up by cosmic janitors between shots, as well! Quantum Ranger immediately races off in Green TF's direction, exclaiming, "Argh! Where'd Trip go?!"

Trip's demorphed between scenes, and is now dragging the weary Notacon along by his tentacle. They reach large docking yard, where Notacon finally succumbs to stress by falling onto his knees and groaning, "Oh, my nerves! I can't GO any further!" Trip looses his hold on the mutant for a moment, but rushes back and tries helping him up, anxiously trying to get him out of the area as fast as possible. Notacon asks, rhetorically, "Where can I go? Where can I HIDE?!" Trip points out, "Over there! Come on!" The mutant staggers back to his feet, and keeps up a ragged pace to the Time Force Officer's brisk hurrying. The two end up racing around the clutter of one of the Storage Depot-type buildings. Trip finds a perfect hiding spot, behind a stack of barrels and boxes, and urges, "Come ON! Over here should be safe." He pushes Notacon into the makeshift shelter, and the two sit down, with Trip finally asking, "What's goin' on with you?!" Notacon clutches his face nervously, explaining, "Y-you GOTTA help me! I may LOOK scary, but ya HAVE to believe me, i'd never hurt a FLY!" Trip listens, and as per his Xybrian nature, appears to trust the mutant's words. Notacon sobs deeply, "I just wanna be frozen again! Oh, HOW did I get into this predicament!?" Trip gets up and walks a few steps, as he presses a button on his Chrono-Morpher. He softly asks into it, "Do you have his file?" Oddly, no hologram image appears on his Morpher, thus saving the budget a whole $5 this ep. At the Clock Tower, Jen sits at the picnic table (which gets moved around the room quite often for something without wheels), with Wes looking over her shoulder, Lucas standing behind near the Containment Freezer, and Katie soon walks in. Jen types quickly at the Holoscreen control board, and brings up a rap sheet for Notacon. Jen lifts her left wrist, and actually talks into her Morpher, but strangely, it's only Wes whose voice is heard by Trip, saying, "He's tellin' the truth. He's not dangerous at all! He only got arrested for stealin' some vegetables!" Trip looks over to the crying mutant, who reveals with, "No one would feed me because of the way I look! I had to STEAL or I would've STARVED!" He then blubbers into more sobs, cover his four eyes with both his hands. Trip worriedly notes into his Morpher, "If Frax finds him, he'll destroy him." Wes only now lifts his left arm and replies into his own Chrono-Morpher, "We're ON it!" The four TF Officers make a mad dash for the stairway of the Clock Tower. Trip crouches before Notacon, and promises comfortingly, "Don't WORRY! Help is on the way." The mutant continues weeping, but manages a grateful, "Oh, THANK you!"

[commercials]

Soon, Red, Blue, Yellow, & Pink Time Force Power Rangers are riding along the outer edges of the Silver Hills city limits on their Vector Cycles. Red Ranger tells his teammates, "Keep your EYES open! Trip's around here SOMEwhere!" Just as they round a corner, one of the Silver Guardian SUVs speeds onto the scene, parking with a slide, as to cut the Rangers off from passing. Only one person is inside the SUV, and that's the driver, Eric! He pulls off his seatbelt and steps out with a VERY unhappy look on his face. Wes stares straight at the approaching man, growling out his name in recognition. Eric looks around at the Rangers on their Vector Cycles, and asks facetiously, "Ya GOIN' somewhere?!" Wes confirms sarcastically, "Yeah, we ARE. What's it to YOU?" Eric gets up in the Red Ranger's helmeted face, and states directly, "Your FRIEND's hiding a mutant. And I wanna know where he is." Wes points his finger at him, and stresses, "That's NONE of your business!" Eric slaps his hand away, and responds, "It IS my business... AND your father's! Mutants are a THREAT to this city!" Yellow Ranger jumps in, arguing, "But you don't understand! This mutant ISN'T violent!" Eric walks around the Red Vector Cycle, and heads over to the Yellow one, and exclaims, "NOT violent!?" He leans forward towards Katie, and scoffs, "Don't make me laugh. They're ALL violent." He turns and faces Wes again, vowing, "And when I catch him, I'll destroy him." Red Ranger balks, "We'll SEE." Eric returns to his vehicle, and drives away. Wes remains watching him leave, and softly stresses, "We CAN'T let him find Trip & Notacon." Soon, Eric has returned to his Silver Guardians troops, and orders the scattering squads, "Alright, everyone. FAN out! We got a lot of territory to cover." Just behind a stack of barrels near where one of the SUVs is parked, Trip & Notacon are keeping sanctuary. The TF Officer peeks his head out and watches the SGs marching by, but is thankfully unseen. Trip notes to the mutant, "They're ALL over the place. Keep down!" Notacon's ceased crying, and again gratefully remarking, "Thank you, Time Force Ranger." He replies with a smile, "You can call me Trip!" The mutant giggles, restating, "Heheh! THANK you, Trip!", causing the alien boy to smile even wider.

Meanwhile, inside the Prison Ship, various Cyclobots march about, while Frax approaches the central command console (ya know, the one with the Time Warping Device atop it). He picks the control wand up off of it with his claw-hand, just as Ransik enters from a side hall, and exclaims in anger, "YOU let a Ranger escape with MY mutant!" Frax takes it in stride, bidding calmly, "JUST a temporary setback, sir! But don't worry! I've got it ALL figured out! I've got a PLAN." Nadira sits nearby with her hair down, fanning herself with a furry pink bow, while holding a silver piece of stolen jewelry in hand. She sighs girlishly, and facetiously remarks, "I can't WAIT to hear THIS one!" In the background, Gluto is apparently ordering about 4 Cyclobots around, demanding them to do something, which we're not privy to hearing. Ransik lets his frustration known in an ominous tone, "I'm running out of PATIENCE with you, Frax." The tall golden henchrobot tweaks the pink-bulb-topped control wand with his claw-hand, and explains, "JUST a few slight adjustments... and VIOLA! Now the device will destroy his good nature, and the signal will lead us to his exact location." The triangle implant atop Notacon's head begins to activate many miles away, causing a surge pink electricity to surge throughout his light-blue form. Trip sees his new pal writhing in agony, and rushes over to his side. Notacon cries, "What's HAPPENING?!" Trip panicky asks, "What is it?! What's WRONG?! What is that?" He spots the implant, and foolishly touches the source of the power surge, the pink protruding conduit. Instantly upon pressing against it with his left hand, Trip is shocked and knocked onto his rear end. Notacon's electro-shock treatment ends at last, causing him to fall over in a groaning heap. Trip glances at his Chrono-Morpher, and discovers the electricity fried it! The Morpher is partially scorched, with the central glass-gem cracked, sparking, and all wavily with a yellow light. Trip just shakes his head, and looks at the mutant, stating, "We gotta get RID of that thing!" In another section of the warehouse district, the Blue & Red Rangers pull into a lot, and meet up with Yellow & Pink, all still riding their Vector Cycles. Pink Ranger asks the males, "Hey, guys. Any luck?!" Blue Ranger replies, "No, nothing!" Red Ranger shakes his head, concurring, "Me neither." Wes lifts his left arm, and presses a button on his gauntleted Chrono-Morpher, shouting, "Trip? Trip, come in!" The sound of warbling static is all that replies, a side effect of his Morpher being zapped. Wes calls out his name one last time, and then lets out a frustrated grunt, slamming his fist against his Cycle. Immediately, all four of their Morphers beep, and Circuit, at the Clock Tower, announces, "Rangers! I'm picking up mutant DNA at the old shipping docks!" Jen responds, "Thanks, Circuit", and orders the team, "Alright, let's get moving!" The four Vector Cycles ride off, with none of our heroes aware they're being watched. Eric sits in his SG SUV just down the road, and once they pull away, he smirks wickedly and follows just behind them.

Back at the old shipping docks, Trip is using a small silver laser-torch pen on Notacon's head implant. I assume that's one of the futuristic tools Trip keeps in that backpack he always carries around. The short yellow zapping beams strike around the tri-sided device, causing pain in the mutant. Notacon yelps, "Ahh! Ooh, STOP! Don't DO that!" Trip tries in vain to remove the implant, but it fails to come off his skin. Notacon's fidgeting doesn't help the lasercutting either. Trip lets out an annoyed grunt, and gives up, citing, "Augh! It's NO use! If I remove it... it'll destroy you." Notacon reaches up for the implant, and screams, "Then i'll do it MYSELF!" Trip snatches his right arm, the only one capable of proper reach around his big head to the device, and holds it down, crying, "No, DON'T!" Notacon laments, "If Ransik finds me, he'll force me to HURT people. I couldn't LIVE with myself if I ever did that!" Trip struggles with all his might to hold the mighty mutant's arm down, but somehow keeps him from committing suicide, encouraging, "DON'T give up! We'll find a way!" Having followed the implant's signal, Frax appears solo on the scene. He remarks amusedly, "Oh, how sweet. A human helping a mutant! Now i've seen EVERYthing." (odd choice of words, as Frax knows from firsthand experience that Trip is an alien.) Trip stands in front of Notacon, guarding him as best he can. Frax adds, his voice becoming more robotic towards the end, "It's almost a SHAME that I have to do this." The henchbot aims the golden control wand at Notacon, sending a pulse of pink energy aggravating through his body. The mutant stands up and screams in pain, prompting Trip to grab him, begging, "Huh?! Notacon, NO!" The bedeviled Notacon tosses Trip up against a nearby barrel, and runs away. Trip's Chrono-Morpher appears to be repaired, either between scenes by maintenance means, or by an extra surge of power from getting too close to Notacon just a second ago. Notacon, no longer pulsing with pink power, wanders out of his shelter, and ends up stumbling over onto the ground in the middle of the dirt lot. Trip follows, and rushes to his side, comforting the sobbing creature, "Hey! A-are you okay?!" Before the mutant can answer, a small band of Cyclobots march their way. Trip, growing increasingly tired of the robodrones, doesn't even attempt to Morph. He dashes towards them, and takes two down with a few smooth spinning kicks.

As Trip's engaged in combat with the Cyclobots, just around the corner, the four Vector Cycles pull up. Yellow Ranger points out, "There he IS!" One lone robodrone is about to slash his Saber into the weakened Notacon, but Trip snags his arm and kicks him away. Immediately, another Cyclo appears, trying to footsweep him down. Trip just twirls in the air and avoids it, only to land perfectly on his feet, and get smacked in the back by an additional Cyclobot. The Time Force Rangers finally decide to help out, with Katie urging, "Let's go!" They park their Cycles, and hop off, causing Wes to also urge, "Come on!" The techno-mix fight music, a blatant homage to the Matrix, last heard in episode 2, returns just for this scene. Red, Yellow, and Pink TF Rangers fight the Cyclobots. No special moves or weapons, just kicking and punching. Blue Ranger has his double-bladed Chrono-Saber out, slicing into a few robodrones' chests. Red Ranger also breaks his Sabers out, slashing up some sparks in the surrounding Cyclos. While our heroes battle, the Quantum Ranger quietly lurks along the sidelines. Eric sees Notacon amid the commotion, and comments triumphantly, "GOT 'em." The spy is in turn being spied on, as Frax gazes down upon Eric in contemplation. He remarks, "How CONVENIENT! The Quantum Ranger will destroy him FOR me!", before pressing a button on his left wrist and teleporting away in a warp of light. Trip continues fighting unmorphed, more than holding his own now that he's got Ranger backup. Quantum Ranger sneaks closer to Notacon, and removes his Quantum Defender from the holster. He aims it at the helpless creature lying on the ground, and queries coldly, "Any last words, mutant?" Notacon sobs, unable to form a single syllable. Trip spots this, and darts across the yard, lying down in front of the mutant's body, and asking Eric, "What're you DOING?!" Quantum Ranger demands, "Step aside, Trip!" He then commands into his Quantum Morpher, "Maximum Power!", before pressing the button on the side of his Q-Defender, causing an audible increase in energy. Eric aims the blaster directly at Trip, and fires a firm bolt of crimson laserpower at his unmorphed body. The green-haired teen flinches, and covers his head with arms, crying, "NO!" Luckily, Red Ranger cuts in suddenly, and deflects the blast with his twin Chrono-Sabers! Quantum Ranger offendedly asks, "What're you DOING, Wes?!" Red TF lowers his Sabers, and proclaims, "I'm NOT gonna let you destroy him!" Trip slowly peeks his eyes over his arms, and seeing a lull in action, orders the whimpering Notacon, "Go on! RUN! Get outta here!" Notacon gets the head start, with Trip trailing nervously not far behind.

Eric calls out, "Hold it RIGHT there!", and begins to pursue, just to find the other four TF Rangers blocking his progression. Jen yells, "I don't THINK so!" Wes takes his old rival's last action personally, noting, "You ALMOST hit Trip!" Quantum Ranger points out harshly, "Then you should have kept him out of my way! NOTHING's gonna stop ME from getting that mutant!" Red Ranger retorts, "Well, WE'RE not gonna let you do that!" Eric argues, "You CAN'T stop me." Lucas levelheadedly puts his two cents in, saying, "Do the math, Eric. There are four of us, and only ONE of you." Quantum states confidently, "Do I LOOK scared to you? I'm only gonna say this ONCE." Wes resentfully asks, "Then SAY it!" Eric slowly steps forward, "I've got a mission to do, and ANYONE who gets in my way is gonna be SORRY... including YOU." Quantum & Red are once again uncomfortably close to one another's faces, just staring helmet-to-helmet. The moment passes, and Eric firmly asks, "Am I making myself CLEAR?" Wes doesn't answer, inspiring Eric to gently lower his Quantum Defender. Seconds later, he sucker punches Red Ranger in the gut, and when he's bent down, bashes him on the back! Wes falls, more stunned than injured. His three teammates leave the assailant alone, instead comfortingly rushing over to Red's side, where Jen gasps, "Wes!" They all look up at Quantum Ranger, who points their way, and warns, "Don't MAKE the mistake of crossing me AGAIN!" Eric races off along the docks, in the direction Trip & Notacon fled. Wes is aided back onto his feet, and leads the charge after him by shouting obsessedly, "We've GOT to STOP him!"

[commercials]

Behind a maze of large metal pipes, Trip eventually finds Notacon hiding out again. He sighs relieved, "Oh, THERE you are" He ducks down with him, causing Notacon to state with despair, "It's no use, they're gonna catch me. You gotta go, it's TOO dangerous!" Trip refuses, "NO! I'm NOT leaving you!" Just then, Quantum Ranger rounds the corner, and finds the two in plain view. Notacon is about to argue with Trip, getting out only a, "But...", when Eric orders, "Hold it right THERE!" They turn their attention to him, though the mutant's attitude returns to trembling whiner. Quantum Ranger notes, "There's NOWHERE left to run." Trip arises to the occasion, demanding, "Leave him ALONE!" Eric aims his Quantum Defender at the Xybrian once again, simply telling him, "Step AWAY." Trip steps, but not away, instead stepping up and standing taller in the face of certain injury. Katie's voice calls out his name, leading to the other 4 Time Force Rangers' arrival on the scene. Eric turns and faces them, yelling, "Stay back!" He fires a warning shot, shooting a sparking laserblast at their feet. They do as ordered, though Wes reminds him, "Eric, you're making a BIG mistake." Quantum Ranger states his position on the situation, "There's NO mistake. Mutants have to be DESTROYED, plain and simple." Yellow Ranger looks at Blue, and gasps in disbelief, "What?!" Red Ranger explains to the misinformed soldier, "Listen. We DON'T destroy them. We capture them, and bring them to justice." Eric reaims his Q-Defender at Trip & Notacon, and asks bitterly, "You think they deserve the same justice we do? WHY?! They're not even human! Look at 'em, he's a... a FREAK!" This strikes a chord inside the alien TF Officer, causing him to see deeper into Eric's mentality than his mind-gem ever could. Trip figures clearly, "Oh, THAT'S it. You wanna destroy him because he's a mutant?! Well, you don't even know his STORY! You HATE him, because he LOOKS different." Quantum Ranger starts to falter his aim as he listens to this. Trip continues taking a stand, by "Well, if you have to destroy everything that's different than you? Well then you'd better destroy me, TOO!" He rips the bucket hat off of his head, and reveals his sparkling forehead crystal for Eric to see for the first time ever. Quantum Ranger lowers his weapon, confusedly gasping, "What?!" at the strange sight. Katie, the Ranger closest to the alien in a personal sense, cries out in protest, "Trip, NOOO!"

Notacon wraps his tentacled arms around him, and begs, "Trip, please, no! You can't do this!" Trip crouches down and faces his mutant pal once again, promising, "It's okay! I'm NOT afraid to stand up for what's right." Notacon fails at arguing, "But Trip, what if... ?!" Trip wonders rhetorically, "If we don't do it, then who will?" The mutant stammers, realizing he's correct. Trip stands tall again, facing Eric and pointing at him, vowing, "You WON'T hurt him!" Quantum Ranger targets his Quantum Defender at Trip once again, and informs him viciously, "You're WRONG." Wes shouts out Trip's name, though the Rangers remain off to the side, unsure of the proper thing to do to ensure a safe outcome. Eric slowly begins to squeeze the scarlet colored trigger of the Defender. He hesitates some, with Trip never once blinking or backing down from his defiant position of defending the mutant's rights. Quantum Ranger eventually pulls the trigger, and fires a heated charge of crimson energy at the duo. The multiple bolts are unleashed, though because Eric slightly titled the aim at last second, they strike harmlessly against the metal piped wall a mere few inches to the side of Notacon & Trip! The mutant shivers in fear against his buddy, as the sparking explosions erupt near him. But Trip? He doesn't budge, nor change expressions. Eric glances at the Quantum Defender, inspecting it in a false confusion, ungratefully telling Trip, "Your LUCK. There must be something wrong with this thing." Through the clouded smoke, Trip smiles, his pants seemingly dry. The four TF Rangers worriedly sigh in relief, not quite understanding what just happened. As Trip looks down and finds Notacon safe, just as shooken up at always. Frax has apparently returned (I hope he gets frequent teleporter miles), and lurks around the corner, with the controller wand in hand. He watches the scene disappointedly, and quips, "It looks like it's time for a little persuasion!" Frax flips the switch and turns the wand back on, causing a humming pulse of pink power to become activated in Notacon's implant! He cries out in agony, causing Trip to turn to him and ask, "What's wrong?!" Trip makes the mistake of approaching him, and despite how the pink electricity has faded, the device has gotten a grasp on the mutant's body completely. Notacon smacks Trip off his feet! Katie & Wes help him up, while Lucas & Jen pose intimidatingly. Notacon charges towards the line of Rangers, knocking each one out of the way, until only Trip remains. He's grabbed by the mutant, and drug up against a wall, painfully pinned against it. Notacon maintains speaking ability, apologizing in agony, "I'm sorry, Trip. I can't control myself!" Trip grimaces his face tightly, before being hurled into the air. In midair, he presses his restored Chrono-Morpher, and shouts, "Time for Time Force!" The full sequence plays, with the DNA strand and the green digital tunnel, morphing him into the Green TF Ranger!

Trip lands in a very different kind of pipe-yard, and his teammates regroup around him. Notacon flays his tentacled arms around, and groans uncontrollably. Green Ranger rushes over to him, and begs, "Notacon! Y-you've got to FIGHT it." The mutant grabs him and the two struggle, as Notacon sobs, "I'm TRYING, Trip!" He smacks Green Ranger aside, causing him to roll over to his teammates. Once on his feet, Trip stresses, "He DOESN'T want to hurt us!" Notacon fires a beam of light-blue energy from his beak, blasting all five Time Force Rangers in the chest at once. They drop the ground, where Katie quips, "He sure has a funny way of not hurting us!" Trip explains, "It ISN'T Notacon, it's FRAX! He's controlling him!" Notacon growls as best he can with such a kind voice. Frax continues hanging out on the sidelines, commenting, "You think he's nasty NOW?! He hasn't even gotten warmed up YET!" With a twist of the control wand, more pink energy is sent surging through Notacon's body. The mutant grunts, and obeys the implant's suggestions, reaching down and yanking the gold & black patch off his leg. His DNA is exposed, it expands, and Notacon grows gigantically, extremely reluctantly. His huge tentacles slap down against the cement, nearly striking our heroes. They roll out of the way safely. Green Ranger informs Red, "Hey, Wes! I have a plan! If we're lucky we can STOP him, without actually HURTING him." Red Ranger concurs, "Okay, Trip," and commands into his Chrono-Morpher, "Circuit! We NEED Megazord power!" At the Clock Tower, the robotic owl remains on his perch, acting stiff at first, but soon flapping & blinking as he states, "I'm WAY ahead of you, Wes. Megazord, online!" In the year 3000, Trans-Warp Megazord swings its arm around, and sends the five Time Flyers into the Time Gate, as the usual female computer voice announces, "Launch Time Flyers." They zoom through the timestream, and exit atop the stadium. Back at the Time Force launchpad, the same computer voice, instead of Mystery Man's, announces, "Launch Shadow Winger." The Shadow Winger is belted into the Time Gate by Trans-Warp, passing through its own special time tunnel. Red Ranger hops into his Flyer cockpit, and tells his teammate, "Trip! Let us know when you're all set!" The five Time Flyers begin to converge. Green Ranger lands in his Flyer cockpit, and replies, "Wes! I'm ready to head out!" Wes bids into his Morpher, "Be careful, Trip.", before summoning, "Shadow Force, Mode Red!" Time Shadow is already setup, allowing Time Force Megazord in Mode Red to drop into it, and link up. This is as successful as always, with the big gleam TF Badge behind the perfectly formed Megazord.

Inside the control room, Trip takes his leave, saying, "Here I go!" Wes wishes, "Good luck!" Green Ranger, holding his Chrono-Saber with the orange & white Electro Booster attachments upon it, leaps out of Shadow Force Megazord in Mode Red's head! He lands on its fist, and begins searching around for a firing position in the city. Trip drops down onto the ground, and holding the Electro Booster firmly in his right hand, his explains into his Morpher, "Okay, guys! The only thing you have to do is keep him BUSY. All I need is ONE clear shot!" Notacon runs towards the Shadow Force Megazord, and flies across the city, slamming himself into Mode Red explosively. They end up locked in hand-to-hand combat, struggling against one another's unbreakable hold. Notacon's bloodcurdling screams are quite disturbing. Shadow Force more or less arm-wrestles with him, prompting Katie to note, "WOW! He's as strong as I am!" Wes confirms, grasping the control Saber, "I know! Just... try to hold him steady for Trip!" Down below, Green Ranger aims the Electro Boostered Saber up at the Megazord & giant mutant in the near-distance, whispering, "C'mon!" Notacon is repositioned in the struggle with SF Mode Red, causing Trip to wonder, "Where IS that thing?" His computer targeting systems finally lock onto the control implant on the mutant's head, making him shout, "There it IS! C'monnn, just hold him STILL!" Green Ranger lowers the Electro Booster, and focuses upon the battle raging overhead. This allows Frax to take Trip by surprise, slapping him down with his claw-hand, and then stomping on his chest with his oversized metal feet! The henchbot remarks casually, "I won't let YOU foil my plan." He continues stamping down upon Trip several sparking times, with the Green Ranger helpless beneath his heel. Suddenly, the Quantum Defender is fired at Frax, blasting him away with a smoking shot to the stomach. Trip sits up and looks over at Eric, who silently stands before him. He gasps victoriously, "I KNEW it!" Quantum Ranger looks to the sky and calls into his Morpher, "Q-Rex! Arise!" Out in the Silver Hills, the Quantasaurus Rex tears through the soil from its cave dwellings, and howls majestically as it staggers towards the beckoning of its master.

Notacon bashes Shadow Force in the chest, toppling the whole Megazord and rocking the Rangers within. The mutant turns around and sees the stunning sight of the growling Q-Rex stampeding his way! Wes exclaims in protest, "Eric, DON'T!" Quantum Ranger doesn't hear him, merely pressing a Morpher button and shouting, "Q-Rex, attack!" Quantasaurus lunges at the mutant, and attempts to chomp down. Notacon predicts this maneuver, and grabs his jaws, holding them in place while he kicks the sides of the savage Zord. After a few sparking blows, Notacon releases Q-Rex, dropping him onto the ground in a heap. Shadow Force in Mode Red recovers, and is ready for another beating. Notacon blasts his cone-beam at the Megazord, striking it so sharply that it tosses its Saber into the air while bursting. Q-Rex snarls and attacks again, this time biting down on Notacon's right arm, and stepping on his foot. Shadow Force recovers once more, to see Quantasaurus apparently restraining Notacon in its own bestial way. Blue Ranger points out, "He's not trying to DESTROY him!" Yellow Ranger adds, "He's trying to HOLD him!" Red Ranger takes the incentive, and urges, "Trip, GO for it!" On the ground, Green Ranger aims the Electro Booster at the giant implant, and remarks, "Okay, here it goes!" Getting a good target on the implant and pulling the trigger, Trip yells, "Fire!", as he does just that. The yellow flash of shattering laser-light engulfs the implant, and somehow removes it from Notacon's body, ascending up into the sky and exploding harmlessly. Q-Rex growls deeply, and lets the mutant go. Notacon's kind naturedness returns, as he exclaims in his happy squeaky voice, "Yay!" Green Ranger demands into his Morpher, "Wes! Freeze him NOW!" In Shadow Force Mode Red's control room, Red Ranger pulls out the Megazord Saber remote in a flash of blue light. The Megazord itself uses its yellow & blue Saber to create, with a black dramatic background, a large green clockface just a little bit taller than itself. Once forming 12 o'clock, Shadow Force cuts its Saber down the middle! Wes is surrounded by a pure green screen with the clock digits, and the words, "Blizzard Slash." He slices his remote Saber into the camera diagonally with a mighty hiyah, as the Megazord repeats its own downward slashing. Notacon manages to yell out a grateful, "Thank you!", before the green-energy Saber slices rip into him, and freeze him in place. Trip holds the Electro Booster in his arms, and happily bids, "There ya go, buddy." Notacon unfreezes and explodes massively, though not as massively as most mutants do. He sparks and smokes, and lets out what has to be the most joyous painful defeat cry in a long while. Notacon falls limply, bursts, and implodes, with his DNA retracting to the point that he falls onto the cement in re-shrunken Chrono-Froze mode as he desired. Frax remarks with bitter resentment, "That mutant was USELESS, anyway!", before walking off empty handed. The Shadow Force Megazord in Mode Red poses triumphantly along the city skyline with Saber in hand.

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Around the old shipping docks, Notacon's tiny cryogenically frozen body has gotten back on its feet. Trip holds a Time Force Badge over him, and in a flash of light-blue light, creates a new capsule around him. He picks the resealed mutant up, and with his four equally demorphed teammates behind him, he stares into the tube and promises, "You'll be safe from Ransik now. I'll make SURE of that." The sound of a fast approaching vehicle catches their eyes, as they see the Silver Guardians SUV pulling up very quickly. It skids into park, and Eric steps out. The TF Officers gather closer to Trip, with Wes standing in front of him. Eric walks over, removes his shades, and looks over at the capsule. He tells the team unaffectionately, "Ya got lucky this time. But the NEXT time a mutant attacks, you'd BETTER stay out of the Guardians' way... or, we'll RUN right over you." The Commander puts his sunglasses back on and returns to his vehicle. Lucas notes, "That guy is MEAN." Wes shakes his head softly. Trip realizes, "No, he's not! I saw how he really feels inside. He's lonely! He only acts mean to hide it." The five watch as the SG SUV speeds away, a very reluctant ally driving, indeed. There's you symmetry, an evil mutant who didn't want to be evil, and an anti-hero Ranger who doesn't want to be mean. Trip puts it into terms that his teammate can understand, telling Lucas, "Kind of like... how you act cool!" Lucas raises an eyebrow and scoffs, "What? ACT cool?!" He brushes off his silk jacket, and proclaims with an egotistical strut, "I AM cool!" Katie makes bemused faces, and follows behind him, asking with a grin, "Oh, REALLY?!" Jen, whose lipstick DOES seem unusually a high contrast of red, follows along behind her, giggling, "Yeah, RIGHT!" Trip laughs heartily, and follows along behind her. Wes is off in his own world, lost in thought about the source of his old acquaintance's varying moods. He thinks to himself, "Eric... lonely?!", and stares off at the departing SUV (which just left, yet is magically back in sight... is he circling the block for pity or something?).

[Scenes from "Quantum Secrets"; End Credits]