Power Rangers Time Force
"The Time Shadow"
Original Air Date:03/31/01		Based on: Timeranger #18 - Kage No Yokan (The Shadow's Foreshadow) And: Timeranger #19 - Gekka No Kishi (The Knight Of Moonlight)
*Season 9, byte 09 *Official Fox Kids Show Number PR-1110 *09th episode of PRTF *388th total Power Rangers episode
Writer: Judd Lynn		Director: Koichi Sakamoto
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) Vernon Wells _AS_ Ransik Kate Sheldon _AS_ Nadira Edward Laurence Albert _AS_ Mr. Collins		Additional Cast: Jason Faunt _AS_ Mystery Man Roy Werner _AS_ Captain Logan Dan Sachoff _AS_ Dr. Levoy Brianne Siddall _AS_ Circuit (voice) Eddie Frierson _AS_ Frax (voice) David Lodge _AS_ Izout (voice) Kim Strauss _AS_ Tronicon (voice)

SUMMARY:

From the people who brought you NASADA and the Lightspeed Operation, comes another in a highly successful line of labcoat infested buildings! A technician, in such a white labcoat, walks towards this rather high security building, and is saluted by two guards who stand in front of the main stairway. The building's sign is shown, reading in large font with a box outline, "BIO-LAB". Apparently, Mr. Collins' business has dropped its name from TF Ep 3 (of BioSynth), and stuck with its name from TF Ep 6. Deep inside the Bio-Lab complex, Mister Collins is giving a tour/ press conference to the media. He walks into a lab, with cameras flashing, as he tells the press, "Thanks to my weapons team, led by Dr. Levoy... (pats the smiling labcoat wearer on the shoulder) ...The Raimei Destroyer's COMPLETE!" Dr. Levoy, a middle aged male scientist with glasses, seems humbled by the mentioning of his contribution in front of the public. Collins also smiles, as he turns the media towards the Raimei Destroyer. It's a massive mechanical tank, with a large silver spiral drill on the front end. The entire room looks like it was designed by the same people to built the Zeozord hangars up in the mountains of Angel Grove. The press flash abundant amounts of pictures of the Raimei, which even had the words "Raimei" written on the side. The Raimei, btw, is named after acclaimed film director, Sam Raimi, of Evil Dead fame. Or not, but it's gotta mean something, and I have no clue what. Mr. Collins continues with his mighty, self-serving speech, "With its help, Silver Hills, and the rest of the world, should be a safer place!" The media then swarm on Collins with shouting questions, only to have Dr. Levoy break in and tell them, "Ladies & gentlemen, PLEASE! We'll now tour the labs! This way, please." Guards are literally behind ever door in the Bio-Lab complex, and all just happened to be dressed like your standard Japanese cop. Dr. Levoy leads the way into one of the main laboratories of the building, with Collins quietly behind him. Levoy explains about the Raimei, "It took 20 years of Top Secret research! Depleted Uranium armor, sensor-locking target locking, aaaand LOTS of cupholders!" The press all get a chuckle from this lighthearted remark. The lab gets fully shown, with all of its standard beakers and racks of strange chemicals, and numerous labcoated technicians working on unexplained projects. Dr. Levoy adds, "Even now, the next generation of fighting machine is being created right in THIS very lab!" Indeed, as we see one of the machines in the room, as it processes chemicals, and empties a load of golden dust into a container.

Meanwhile, outside of the Bio-Lab complex, a strange figure is lurking behind some bushes. It's a violet colored mercenary type mutant, aptly named later as Izout (pronounced "eyes out", though he does have two misshapen red eyes on each side of his oddly formed head), with a shotgun weapon in hand and a patch of grenades across his chest. Izout peeks over the shrubs, and snickers, "Hehehe! CYCLOBOTS!" The squad of robotic drones pop up all over in the surrounding areas, lifting their arms in the usual marching pose. Soon, Izout leads the Cyclobots into the lobby of Bio-Lab, shoving a nervous guard down through the door. The mutant cocks his shotgun and shouts, "Everybody, OUT of our WAY!" He fires a few sparking rounds into the ceiling, causing the unusually large amounts of Asian workers in the room to dive to the floor. Izout marches with the Cyclos, laughing wickedly as he fires round after round upwards, semi-peacefully making his way into the deeper levels of the complex. He must be afraid of elevators, as he takes the stairs to his destination. The sound of gunfire doesn't go unnoticed by those in the labs for long. Dr. Levoy & Mr. Collins turn their attention to the sound, with Levoy gasping, "What in the world?!" Three Japanese guards race out into the hallway to confront Izout, only to have the mutant whip them down with the butt of his shotgun! He enters the lab with our previously established characters, knocks out the guard with a gut elbowing, and cocks his gun. Izout aims it into the crowd of technicians & media, ordering, "Everybody FREEZE!" Cyclobots storm into the room, marching around and leading the people into a manageable lump. Izout shoves a tech into a wall, shouting, "All right, give me what I want, and NOBODY gets hurt! WHERE is it!?" He searches around with his gun drawn, not finding what he seeks. Mr. Collins stares at the mutant with his usual look of contempt, backing off merely when the Cyclobots wave their sabers in his face. Izout finally passes a processor, and finds the bucket of golden dust he was seeking. He exclaims, "Ah-HA! There it is! The Zirium powder! Cyclobot! Bring me the container!" One lone Cyclo walks over, and opens up a specially designed tube, emptying the bucket of Zirium powder into it. Izout urges, "Come on, come on! And DON'T spill a speck, or i'll melt ya into a HUBCAP!" Mr. Collins stands nearby and watches confusedly as the robodrone fills the tube with every ounce of powder it can fit. The other Cyclobots terrorize the crowd of media, causing an older lady to scream loudly. The Cyclobot finishes loading the Zirium powder into the tube, reseals it, and hands it to the mutant. Izout takes it and cradles the tube against his body, waving his shotgun with his free hand, and ordering, "Give it to me! Now, if ANY of them move an inch... BLAST 'em! Hahahehaha!" He walks away, out the direction he came from, leaving the Cyclobots behind. Mr. Collins stands amid the fearful crowd, as the drones shake their sabers with evil intent before each of them.

[Opening Credits]

This attack has become aware by the Time Force Power Rangers, proven by the fact the five of them are now on the scene at the front stairwell of Bio-Lab! All of the guards and bystanders have been scared off by the mutants, so the coast is clear for monster hunting. Pink Ranger orders, "Alright, let's spilt up!" Red Ranger concurs, "Right!", as he and Blue Ranger race up the steps, while Pink takes Yellow & Green Rangers with her around the side of the complex. Two Cyclobots (one silver & one gold) in the halls of Bio-Lab, apparent lookouts, get a sudden surprise in the form of two bolts (one red & one blue) of laserpower. The blasts strike the bots, taking them both down in a flash of sparks. Wes & Lucas pop up around the corner, each with their Chrono-Blasters held steady. Red Ranger, recognizing the layout of the place from having been there at least once in his life as the son of the CEO, notes, "C'mon! The lab's THIS way!" Elsewhere in the building, the other three Rangers have different ideas, as we see they've pulled out their V-cannons since we last saw them. They dart down a hallway, and enter an office room. Izout is in there, either seeking money or having gotten lost trying to find his way out. Any way you look at it, he quickly fires his shotgun the moment Pink & Green enter the room. Trip ducks into the hall, while Jen drops onto her back to avoid the blast, and fires V-5 back at him. Katie appears, and unloads V-4 into Izout, as well. The mutant is nearly struck by the blasts, causing him to leap out of the way and smash through a nearby window. He laughs all the while, with the tube of Zirium powder still in hand this whole time. Pink Ranger shouts, "After him!", and Yellow Ranger does so (going out the hallway, not the window), replying, "Right!" Outside, Izout races across the parking lot, cheering in a giggly singsong voice, "I did good! I did good! Frax is gonna reward me for this! Hehahaheah!" The mutant comes to a halt, when Frax's metallic voice echoes out from around the corner, "Izout! You got the powder! Give it to me!" Izout hands the tube of gold dust over to the slightly more golden robot, who takes it with his normal arm. He motions with his claw-hand, and states, "Excellent! For your hard work, i'll let YOU destroy the Rangers!" Izout is excited, crying, "Oh, THANK you! Hahaha!" He rushes off to do just that. Frax remains standing there with the Zirium container, nodding his head and whispering with resentment, "Stupid mutants." Izout leaves the area of Bio-Lab, gleefully rushing up the steps next to a rock-covered display. He laughs some more, since this appears to be the friggin' zoo or something!

Back inside Bio-Lab, the Cyclobots are still frightening the people held captive. That is, until Red & Blue Rangers open up the door and let themselves in, with Wes holding his Chrono-Blaster out and shouting, "Alright, everybody, get down!" The humans drop to the floor on cue, while the Cyclobots turn around and stand patiently for the expected bombardment of laserblasts. Red & Blue Rangers fire their Chrono-Blasters, shooting each of the robodrones are in the chest, causing them to fall over (some with gaping, sparking holes where the blasts hit). Wes turns to Lucas and pats him on the arm, while stating, "Good. Let's get 'em out of here!" Our two heroes reholster their Blasters (or whatever they do between scenes to be rid of weapons), split up, and scramble to aid the former hostages. Blue Ranger rushes over to one group, grabbing one technician by the shoulders and stressing, "Come on! Follow me!" They get up from their ducking positions, and follow the Power Ranger to the door. Red Ranger does the same to the second group, telling them, "Everybody MOVE! Quickly!" They get up and bolt for the exit, nearly in a stampede. Mr. Collins is in Lucas' group, following along in a line with his workers & the press. Wes glances over and spots his father, staring at him from across the room. When Collins passes over towards the door way, Wes yells out, "Hey Da...", stopping himself before exposing his secret identity. Mr. Collins pauses when he recognizes the sound of his estranged son's voice, turning around and backing behind the crowd of escaping technicians to look back at the Red Ranger. They watch each other for a moment, both silent, until Blue Ranger's leading of, "That's good, that''s good. C'mon, hurry!", sends Collins on his way with the rest of the people. Lucas, who's never met Wes' dad before and probably had no clue what was going on, tells his fellow Ranger, "Okay, I think that's everyone. Let's go!" Wes takes a moment to overcome his fatherly distraction, before snapping out of it and rushing over with an affirmative, "Oh, yeah, right!"

Izout's journey to the zoo is interrupted by Pink & Green Rangers appearing at the top of the steps. Jen yells, "That's far enough!", and the mutant lets out a nervous grunt at the sight of Trip's muscle flexing. He turns around and finds Yellow Ranger at the bottom of the steps, noting, "We've GOT you surrounded!" Izout, holding his shotgun in the air, stammers, "O-oh y-yeah?!" Pink Ranger folds her arms, and wonders, "What's your hurry? You think you're GOING somewhere?" Izout confirms, "YEAH! I'm going RIGHT through ya!" He cocks his gun and fires two blasts at the two Rangers. In oddly out of order sequence, Jen, Katie, then Trip are shown being tossed into the air by a shotgun-induced fireball behind each them. Each of the three Rangers land on the cement, clutching their chests and crying out in agony. Izout grows tired of not only them, but of the direction he was headed, as he bids, "Now to find the others!", and turns around, running back towards Bio-Lab. Just then a burst of sparks lands in front of him, bringing him to a stop and causing him to yelp in surprise. He looks upward to see the source of the disturbance, as Red & Blue Rangers both leap off the topside of the building, with their double-bladed Chrono-Sabers in hand. The two land perfectly, and pull out their gold-rimmed badges at the same time, with Wes shouting, "Time Force!" Together they walk slowly at the mutant, badges held in right hands side by side, while Lucas demands, "You're under arrest. Put your weapon down and come peacefully." His TF Badge then gleams with power, which sets Izout off, causing him to cock his gun and fire, while screaming, "NEVER!" Red & Blue Rangers roll out of the line of futuristic buckshot safely. When Lucas finishes his roll, he quickly whips his Saber around, and shoots off a bolt of blue energy at the mutant. Izout whines aloud, and drop his shotgun from the attack. Blue Ranger stands up, spreads his arms, and allows Red Ranger to hop up and off of his shoulders. Wes, in midair, summons, "Time Strike!", with his Chrono-Saber holding arms forming 11:15 on a red energy clockface. He double slashes Izout, causing the maniac mutant nothing but sparking pain. Yellow, Green, & Pink Rangers finally recover, and shout their weapon names aloud as they pull out V3, 4, & 5 for a second time today. Pink Ranger commands, "Fire!", and that they do, all at the same time. Izout is bombarded by the blasts, knocking him to his knees. Our heroes regroup, and await anxiously for the inevitable. Izout, his body smoking, screams, "I won't be till you Rangers are DESTROYED!" He reaches down and rips the gold & black patch off his leg, causing his exposed mutant DNA to chain react, and cause both him & his trusty shotgun to grow gigantic.

The five Time Force Rangers back up away from the huge psychotically laughing mutant. Blue Ranger lifts his arm and shouts into his Chrono-Morpher, "We need some help! Circuit!" At the Clock Tower, the robotic owl named Circuit flaps his wings and commands, "Time Force Megazord, activate!" The red lights on the lower section of his chest begins to blink in a steady succession, as he sends a signal to the future. In the year 3000, at the Time Force HQ Launchpad, the first Time Flyer is loaded onto the track. A female voice, same one as always, echoes out over the speakers, "Launch sequence 07459 initiated! Launch in 2... 1..." Trans-Warp Megazord lowers its visor, and pitches its arm into the Time Flyer, knocking it into the vortex inside the Time Gate at the end of the runway. The voice calls for, "Launch 2 & 3", and two more Time Flyers are battered into the timestream. The next two are shown already in the row of Flyers entering the vortex, and all five make it into a line inside of the multicolored tunnel between the centuries. The other end of the vortex appears atop the stadium dome, as always. They pop out, Red Ranger hops in his cockpit, and the Time Flyers go into their configuration stances for the creation of Time Force Megazord in Mode Blue. The Time Jet also appears, transforming around into Blaster mode, and being used by Mode Blue, which completes its activation by posing in front of the TF Badge. Izout faces Mode Blue in the middle of the Silver Hills City. He's apparently been busy, as there's quite a bit of rubble strewn across the streets. The mutants lets out one crazy continuous chuckle, as the two giant combatants face one another in patient stances. Izout finally breaks the frozen tension, by kicking a large chunk of debris at the Megazord! Mode Blue blocks most of it from hitting its face, but some still strikes it. Izout then fires his shotgun, the blast dazing the Megazord instantly with flashing sparks. Mode Blue fights firepower with firepower, shooting its Time Jet Blaster at him. Izout simply leans to his right, and the laserbolt streaks right past him, sparking up the building behind him. He shoots his shotgun once more with evil laughter, hitting the Time Jet and knocking it straight out of the Megazord's hand! The massive Blaster is thrown into the air and lost from Mode Blue's grasp in dramatic slow motion.

Weaponless and having taken quite a smoke-inducting blasting, Time Force Megazord in Mode Blue presses onward with its battle with Izout. Mode Blue looks down and expresses what the Rangers must be feeling, that being shock at the revelation that laying amid the ton of rubble around them, are several of the mutant's silver grenades! In the control room, Pink Ranger gasps, "OH! It's a TRAP!" Altogether, there has to be at least a dozen of these dangerous Easter eggs placed around the Megazord. Before our heroes can react to what they've noticed, the grenades ignite, one by one. Mode Blue is swallowed by a domino effect of massive explosions filling the area around it. The yellow, red, and orange flames drown Mode Blue completely, as that must be some high-tech napalm in Izout's arsenal! The entire Megazord control room is shook so hard, that the moment the explosions cease, and Mode Blue falls to the ground, our heroes are thrown out! Not only are the Rangers ejected, but they all demorph by the time they hit the pavement! The five waste no time clutching their pained bodies on the debris-ridden streets, instead their attention turns to their misplaced Megazord. Mode Blue remains grounded, and helpless, as Izout slowly marches towards it, laughing diabolically. The mutant cocks his shotgun once more, and gloats, "Ahahaha! Even the Power Rangers can't stop ME!" Said Rangers slowly rise to their feet, and watch speechlessly as Izout nears his target. Suddenly, the Time Jet, acting possibly by Circuit's remote controlling, returns to the scene in regular mode. It fires its central cannon into the air, shooting as many blasts as it can at the mutant. Izout, taken unawares a mere few feet from Mode Blue, turns to see the Time Jet a little too late. The blasts fired not only hit Izout, but strike the strip of grenades across his chest! The added explosion is enough to defeat the mutant, as well as shrink him down to Chrono-Froze mode once again. Our heroes fail to retrieve his tiny body at the moment, instead witnessing the five damaged Time Flyers returning to the time vortex in the sky. Wes ends the defeated silence between them, by noting, "The Megazord REALLY got hit hard."

[commercials]

For the first time since TF Ep 1, we get to see more of the year 3000 than just the launchpad. Multiple hovercars zoom past the futuristically designed buildings of tomorrow underneath a cloudy sky. More stock footage is shown, until we reach the white & blue Time Force HQ complex. Inside the central command room, Captain Logan enters with two TF Officers (a man & a woman), as others are shown scrambling about. Logan is holding a neon green clipboard, and reads off what it says, "Damage to the Time Flyers is extensive. The Megazord will be down for a while." He then hands the clipboard over to the man, as the woman looks on. Captain Logan orders them, "I want EVERY man available repairing the Time Force Megazord. Until that Megazord is fixed, the Rangers don't have a chance." Unbeknownst to anyone in the room, on one of the white spiral pillars in the back of the room, a small security camera has been hidden. It's facing Captain Logan's command post, with a small red blinking light, as to show us that it is recording the image. We see what the camera is relaying to a hologram viewing screen elsewhere in the city, a shot of the two TF Officers saluting the Captain and bidding, "Yes, sir!" Captain Logan salutes back, and continues working at his post. The image cuts off from the holoscreen, and the person behind this spying on Time Force makes little known to us. All we see, is that he has short dark hair, and he wears a pair of silver rimmed sunglasses (exactly the same as the ones the Rangers wear to scan for mutants when unmorphed!). He also has on black leather gloves, offsetting from the pure white (nearly TF-Uniform-style) leather suit he seems to be wearing. The room he's in looks to be mission control room, with a large console covered with buttons before him. A constant humming and beeping sound can be heard in the background. The man, named in the end credits as "Mystery Man", presses some of those buttons. A female computer voice (similar to the one at the TF Launchpad) announces, "Beginning initiate startup testing! Testing complete! Awaiting final commands!" Mystery Man sits in his chair at the console, with a large window above it. Outside of the window, appears to be the head of a Megazord! Mystery Man tightens his right glove, before pressing a few more buttons, and causing a small compartment to open up. Inside of it, he flips two switches, causing needles on two gauges to rise. The man turns his dark lensed (highly reflective of the dashboard lights around him) eyes away from the console, as the DECA-like voice states, "Test run... begin!"

Outside of this secret control room, a Megazord as mysterious as the man running a test with it, sits inside of a hangar. It's shrouded in shadows, lit only be a few spotlights flashing nearby. Its eyes are brightly green, and its bright coloring highlights are visible even in the dark. Notice, a small Time Force triangle symbol is on its belt area. Suddenly, this phantom robot lifts its blue translucent bladed arms out of its sides, and begins to hover into the air. The mysterious Megazord holds its arms out as it rises quickly, with the glow of the first quarter moon backlighting it. It seems that not only is it nighttime now in the year 3000, but there are an abundant amount of spotlights flashing throughout the city for some reason, kinda like the old Fox Kids logo! Anyway, the Megazord instantly vanishes from sight when it takes off, materializing on an adjacent rooftop. It does the trick yet again, vaporizing and popping up atop a building across the street. The Megazord ceases its blurry teleporting, and begins to fly through the darkened sky. It waves its bladed arms in the arm, as the reflect the light from the many spotlights flashing against it. The Megazord lands on a more modern day, rectangular building, and poses with a few arm-chopping moves, under the light of the giant first-quarter moon. As it stands on that tower, guess what? More spotlights are shone into the sky, bobbing back and forth with no particular target in sight. The mysterious Megazord is now surrounded by a wall of fire, to which it readies its arm-blades, and stands poised to attack at any moment. Next, it's back on the rooftop, in front of the moon, flipping its arm-blades over in a shoulder-heaving stance. Soon, the shadowy Megazord is in a wooded area during a torrential thunderstorm. It practices slicing its blade arms into the rain and wind battering against it, finding no operational problems with tackling the weather. It stands perfect against the downpouring storm, as wind tosses chunks of dirt at it, and lightning flashes in the distance. Finally, the Megazord lands on the very top of two twin skyscrapers (kinda like the World Trade Center), with the first-quarter moon right behind it against the night sky, as always. The Megazord crosses its bladed arms, and the entire set of lit-up buildings begin to blur. The camera tilts upside down, as both the buildings and the night sky flicker out of existence, revealing they were nothing more than hologrammatic virtual sequences! The mysterious Megazord is shown now hanging upside down, like a bat, with its arms crossed, inside of a large wire & floodlight filled sphere. The Mystery Man walks over to it, and stands not far from the Megazord's giant head. The computer voice states, "Simulation complete! All components test at 100%!" Mystery Man crosses his arms behind his white leather back, as the Megazord's eyes fade to black.

In the present day, at Bio-Lab, Mr. Collins enters his office with Dr. Levoy right behind him. Collins asks his chief scientist about the Cyclobot invasion, "Why would they take the powder?" Dr. Levoy explains, "I can't imagine why! It's WASTE, Mr. Collins. Just a byproduct of one of the processors." Collins sits at his nicely decorated desk, and notes, "They MUST be up to something. You just make sure the Raimei Explorer is ready." Dr. Levoy, knowing better than to correct the CEO on his misnaming of what was called the "Raimei Destroyer", simply obeys, "Yes, sir!" Levoy departs, and Mr. Collins puts his left hand to his wrinkled face, pondering what all of this means to his business. Meanwhile, out in the forest surrounding Silver Hills, the Prison Ship sticks out like a sore thumb. Within, Frax holds his container of Zirium powder greedily in his clutches. He peeks around a corner, and snickers sinisterly, as he watches what's going on in the main detention hall. A Cyclobot is giving Ransik a neckrub. Next to them, Nadira is on her leopard print couch as usual, filing her nails, and sitting with ironically a leopard stuffed animal in her lap. Behind her, a Cyclobot is fanning her with a large pink feather. Behind that robodrone, is Gluto, ominously quiet lately, simply playing with Nadira's collection of pink & white feathers. Having not learned from the last time he had a Cyclobot attempt to give a professional massage, Ransik suddenly opens his eyes in pain when the Cyclo working on his neck squeezes too hard. Ransik stands up and screams, "AHH! WORTHLESS heap of JUNK!" He grabs the Cyclobot by the arm, and tosses him against a nearby wall. The bot hits so hard, that it explodes upon impact with a flash of electricity, leaving only a smoking pile of an arm, a leg, and its wire-filled head on the floor. Ransik shouts, "You robots are all USELESS!", before returning to his seat. Frax remains behind the corner, taking offense to the comment, and remarking to himself, "Useless, are we? YOU shall see about THAT!" He sneaks back around the corner, and heads into a previously unseen area of the prison.

In a dark hangar, several Cyclobots are operating on a much larger robot lying on a table. One Cyclo is welding some metal together, while two other Cyclos are using a nearby machine to zap the Zirium powder with a concentrated dose of laser energy. Frax monitors this up close, staring into the beam and noting, "YES! It's WORKING! Hehehehehe." The laser causes the pile of golden dust to suddenly become solid, as a small yellow, pufferfish shaped crystal. Frax boasts, "Hmm, excellent! Robots are smarter than you THINK! Eheh! Ehehe! Eheheheh!" Notice, the tube of Zirium powder was shown next to the machine, and still has quite a bit leftover to possibly use later. Elsewhere, at the Clock Tower, the hologram viewing screen is showing images of Japanese footage, or rather, an image of the crystal Frax just made (with a large display reading "L-2000", with the L as the Roman symbol Lambda) on a computer readout. Wes walks around the table, holding two cups of coffee or whatever. He sips out of one, and says aloud, "Zirium powder is USE-less! So, what would Frax want with it?" Wes hands the second cup to Jen, before leaning down to Circuit, who is sitting in front of the holoscreen. Circuit replies, "Hmm... The powder MAY be useless, but with advanced knowledge, it can be made into a POWERFUL crystal!" The holoscreen, now with a display of "Investigate" on it, shows the crystal Frax just made getting shuffled aside for an image of a second, greenish, pointed crystal, with the words "Z-3" atop it. Trip, being the genius he is, exclaims its name, "Trizirium Crystals!" Jen realizes, "But, Trizirium Crystals shouldn't be discovered for another hundred years!" Lucas, standing silently in the background with his arms crossed, finally speaks up, "Power like THAT, can change the future." Jen expresses urgency on her face at the mention of this, and Katie stands up to also look at Lucas, Seems they're worried about the repercussions of yet another future-influenced device being used in the present. It's bad enough the mutants are using prisoners and weapons from the year 3000, but now they're making extra powerful items out of present day materials!

Back at the Prison, Frax enters the secret hangar/ workshop, finding the robot on the table now without the Cyclobots working on him. The golden henchbot walks around the table, and proclaims, "I... have been waiting for this... for a LONG time! Soon my robotic masterpiece... will come to LIFE! There is only... ONE thing, that is still missing." Frax picks up the Bizirium crystal, and places it inside of a small compartment. He flips a switch on the machine, causing the compartment to light up. I suspect he made this device out of an EZ Bake oven. Frax stares down as the Bizirium crystal flashes with energy, and gloats, "Yes! SOON the Trizirium crystal... will be COMPLETE!" A bell dings, and Frax removes the now altered crystal from within the compartment. It's changed shape and color, now resembling the greenish blue pointy one from the holoscreen earlier. Frax places the Trizirium crystal inside of a small tube, and walks over to his robotic masterpiece, later named Tronicon. Seems between shots, Frax picked the Big Guy up and got him on his feet. Frax, as he slides the Trizirium crystal tube into a slot on Tronicon, states proudly, "Where SO many mutants have FAILED, and now YOU, a robot, will FINALLY succeed!" He turns the tube, and beeping sounds activate, signaling the birth of Tronicon. The robot, slightly more golden than his creator, has hefty shoulders, an antenna sticking out of his, and a single red glowing eye (he's a Big Daddy Cyclobot!). Frax immediately takes Tronicon out into the middle of Silver Hills, the two walking along above the side of a busy street (thankfully, the cars are going in the proper American direction, despite the footage). They pause, and Frax boasts, "Our glory is AT HAND! We will finally prove once and for all, that ROBOTS are SUPERIOR!" Frax yanks a silver & black patch off of Tronicon's leg (which is quite silly, as a robot wouldn't have mutant DNA in which to expose to make him grow. Frax must have created an artificial DNA code from which Tronicon can grow, or something). Moments later, the giant Tronicon stomps his way down the now-empty streets, with his body now covered with numerous weapons.

At the Clock Tower, Tronicon's huge metal feet cause the foundation to rattle even out that far, as the building shakes and dust goes flying. It lasts only a moment, but is enough to gain the attention of the five Time Force Officers. Jen quickly motions them to the window, "Guys, C'MON!" They rush over to look out upon the city, witnessing to their dismay, Tronicon using his explosive weaponry on nearly every building set up in a circle around him. The robot then lifts its arm-cannon towards a different target, two office buildings in the distance. The concussive bolts fired from his arm are enough to wipe out several floors on both of the towers. As citizens flee for their lives, the five Time Force Power Rangers race past them in the opposite direction. Our heroes avoid slamming into the screaming masses, and eventually reach the cusp of the park area. They look up and see Tronicon blasting several more skyscrapers with ease, causing Wes to cry, "Oh, NO!" Pink Ranger points out, "That robot will destroy the WHOLE city!" Red Ranger, optimistic about events, replies, "Not if WE can help it! We need MEGA Zord power! Circuit!" Wes calls into his Chrono-Morpher, and the robotic owl answers simply by not answering him. Circuit, sitting on his perch in the Clock Tower, sends a signal straight to Time Force HQ in 3000, exclaiming, "Captain! We NEED the Time Force Megazord, NOW!" An aerial view of the TF Launchpad confirms what we already know, that the whole thing is out of commission. The empty runway is highlighted by nothing but the gusting sound of wind blowing across it, as not even the Time Gate and Trans-Warp Megazord are in sight. Heck, all of the hovercars seem to be avoiding the area for a change, as well! In TF HQ, Captain Logan walks up to the holoscreen (with Circuit's warped timestream transmission in front of him), and breaks the news coldly, "The Megazord is too damaged. You'll have to fight WITHOUT it."

In the present, Green Ranger looks up in the air for any sign of the Time Flyers, to no avail, and remarks, "Something must be WRONG. The Megazord ISN'T coming!" Blue Ranger asks into his Chrono-Morpher, "Hey, Circuit? What's going on?!" Just then Tronicon changes weapons, and using a large silver blade attached to his right arm, he bashes the top of a skyscraper into a flaming rain of debris! The rubble drops on our five heroes, causing them to shield their helmeted heads as they try to get out of the way of the falling rocks. At the Clock Tower, Circuit informs them, "Rangers! The Captain CAN'T send the Megazord!" The five Rangers roll out of the danger zone, only to have things go worse as Red Ranger realizes, "WHAT?! Time Force Megazord isn't coming?!" Lucas wonders, "What does THAT mean!?", and Wes explains, "It means we FIGHT without it!" Nearby, Frax is having a very good day, as he motions his arms excitedly and exclaims, "The Rangers have met their MATCH now! Go on, Tronicon! Show them what robots are REALLY capable of!" Elsewhere, at Bio-Lab, the building must either be secured for monster fights, far away from the middle of the city, or the people are too cocky to evacuate. Anyway, Mr. Collins is handed a clipboard, and begins to sign it, when Dr. Levoy rushes in and reveals to him, "The city is under attack!" Collins drops the clipboard & pen anxiously, and orders his worker, "Bring the Raimei online!", before racing to the lab to aid in this himself. Back in the city, Frax stares out over Silver Hills, with several buildings pouring pitch black smoke out of burning holes in their sides. The henchbot turned self-made villain proclaims, "Good work, Tronicon. Soon this will all be MIIINE!" At Bio-Lab, Dr. Levoy hits the keyboard at a computer. Footage of the Raimei plays on the screen. Mr. Collins puts his hand on Levoy's shoulder, and nods to him. Levoy leans down, while two technicians behind him look puzzled, as he orders into the microphone, "Energize main engines!" Two pilots, both Japanese with badly dubbed mouths, flip some switches in the Raimei cockpit. One of the men confirms, "Yes, sir. The main engines are on!" Levoy then tells them, "All systems check. Clear for departure!" The pilots handle the control stick, which is pretty much like a helicopter. The Raimei starts rolling out of the hangar slowly like the massive tank that it is.

In the city, Tronicon shoots his cannon-arm at some stock footage of skyscrapers blowing up. Down below, Circuit delivers the 411 personally, by flying in and landing in front of the Time Force team. The five squat down and listen as Circuit explains, "Over here, Rangers! I'm afraid I have bad news. Captain Logan said the Time Force Megazord was TOO badly damaged, and he needs TIME to repair it!" Of course, due to the relative nature between the points in time between when they left the future and arrived in the present, they can't just have Logan send the Megazord back to now when he has it fixed a few weeks from then in 3000. It just doesn't work that way thanks to their time travel technology. Blue Ranger, forgetting the fact Jen just called it a robot, asks the robotic owl, "Circuit, can you tell us anything about the mutant?" Circuit schools the absent-minded Lucas, "First off, it's NOT a mutant, it's a ROBOT. You're gonna HAVE to destroy it. Freezing it, will NOT work." Pink Ranger asks, "But, now CAN we without our Megazord?!" Circuit admits, "I don't know!" Suddenly, the ground begins to quake, causing Circuit to scream. The five Rangers arise, and Trip wonders, "What's that?" Lucas spots something over the tops of the buildings, and points out, "Huh?! Look over there!" Red Ranger does so, and gasps, "What in the world is THAT thing?!" They watch in awe as the Raimei Destroyer Explorer Implorer rolls through the streets of Silver Hills, making loud noises as it rides on its rusty gears. Frax spots the machine, and blurts, "Huh!?" Tronicon ceases his rampage at the sight of the drill-nosed tank, watching as it comes to a rest within firing range of the robot. The Raimei is revealed to the public, in its full militaristic style glory.

[commercials]

Reprise of that last shot, leading into the pilots flipping switches in the Raimei cockpit. One of them, with the words "GL-3" on his helmet, notes, "Target is locked on." Indeed it is, and as the pilots ready their firepower, so too does Tronicon, lifting his cannon-arm up and aiming it at the tank. At Bio-Lab, Dr. Levoy looks at the monitor and speaks into the mic, "Divert power to weapons!" The pilot obeys, "Roger, powering weapons. And... fire!" A few more switches flipped, before the twin cannons atop the Raimei begin to unload several red energy bursts into the air. The blasts strike Tronicon perfectly, exploding all over his golden robotic body. Red Ranger looks over at the exploding robot, and remarks to his teammate, "Hey guys! It looks like help's arrived!" Yellow Ranger asks, "Great! But do you think they can destroy Tronicon?" (did Katie read his instruction manual to find his name, or did Circuit ask his fellow bot?) Pink Ranger states, "Well, let's give THEM some help!" Wes concurs, "Right! Vortex Blasters!" The five Rangers whip out their V-cannons (silly Wes, it's only the Vortex Blaster when combined!), and aim them up at Tronicon. Instantly, they fire their spectrum of Ranger-colored energy bolts up at the giant robot. Tronicon simply spreads his arms and takes the tiny swarm of laserbeams striking his belly without much fuss. The pilot calls for the firing of the Raimei's cannons again, and with the press of a button, another round of blasts are shot at the robot. Tronicon is damaged this time around, a hole filled with exposed wiring is ripped open by this sparking attack. At Bio-Lab, the technicians all cheer and slap each other five, as Dr. Levoy turns around and smiles to Mr. Collins, saying, "It's working perfectly!" Collins stands there quite happy, smiling as well and nodding. Levoy speaks into the mic again, "Go to maximum power!" The badly dubbed pilots, consisting of about 3 seconds of footage replayed over and over again (we come so far in PR, yet never escape our badly dubbed footage past, don't we?), say, "Power's at maximum!"

Nearby, Frax mocks the puny humans, despite how they can't hear him, "HE'S got a Trizirium crystal! You CAN'T destroy him that easily!" The Raimei fires its cannons some more, while the Rangers continue firing their V-blasters. The bombardment of blasts soon become annoyances to Tronicon, as he charges up a purple forcefield. They're deflected off the field, and ricocheted back at the Raimei, causing the pilot to grunt in pain. Our heroes cease firing at Tronicon, and lower their V-weapons in defeat. This allows the robot to drop his forcefield, and aims his cannon-arm at the five morphed humans beneath him. The Rangers are fired upon by Tronicon, and knocked senseless by the sparking blasts. Tronicon then walks over and kicks the Raimei swiftly, causing the entire tank to explode! At Bio-Lab, Mr. Collins' eyes widen as he witnesses this, likely realizing the fault in them not designing the damn drill-nose to actually drill! The pilots groan and moan, as they attempt to keep the thing operational. Tronicon aims his cannon-arm at the defenseless Raimei, and fires a few rounds into it. The pilots cry out, as more explosions tear through the Raimei. Collins shakes his head in disgust at the loss. A red flashing, warbling light begins to go off in Bio-Lab. Dr. Levoy sees this and panickingly orders, "G-get out of there! EJECT!" The pilots manage to do so, popping up out of the Raimei, just before the whole thing erupts into a ball of intense fire. The signal to the monitor suddenly turns to static, as all traces of the formally top secret project go up in smoke. Mr. Collins stares down at the screen in as much anger as sheer disappointment and loss. Even Dr. Levoy is shown overwhelmed by this instant failure of the Raimei.

A thousand years later, the Mystery Man is watching the scene on his holoscreen. The images show Tronicon firing his cannon-arm at the five Time Force Rangers, sending them flying into the air from the explosions blasting around them. Mystery Man remains silent while viewing these live images from the past. The reflection of the barely adequate reception can be seen on the dark lenses of his sunglasses, as he awaits the moment to strike. Back in the today, the five Rangers lay in the burning rubble, and give grunts of collective agony. Circuit's loud hover-ass announces his arrival, as he lands on a chunk of concrete and asks chipperly, "Is everyone okay?!" Red Ranger groans as he sits up, "Yeah... I think so." A few feet away, just beside the pile of ashes once known as the Raimei, the two pilots speak to one another, "Are you alright?", "Uh-huh!" Yay! The dopey dubbed pilots are gonna live! Let's hope they get their own spinoff next year, titled "Tzachor's One Cheap Bastard". Wes, more concerned for the cannon-happy duo than his teammates, quickly hops up and urges his pals, "Come on!" They race to the Bio-Lab employees' side, and remove a few tipped over poles lying across their bruised bodies. Wes shouts, "Gimme a hand!", and Katie does just that, and despite her super-strength, actually has trouble lifting the flimsy stick! Jen, possessed by the spirit of Lightspeed Rescue, states, "We NEED to get them outta here, right away!" The sound of Tronicon's marching echoes towards them, increasing the urgency. Jen notes, "He's coming! Hurry!" Our heroes help the pilots to their feet, then send the duo on their merry limping way alone.

In the year 3000, nighttime really has fallen this time around. The skies are dark, spotlights are shining, and hovercars are going in kinds of directions over the strange shaped buildings. Hidden somewhere in the unnamed future city, the mysterious Megazord remains in its the shrouded hangar quietly for the activation of its first mission. In the control room, Mystery Man grips his gloves again, and stares at the console with his special sunglasses. The computer voice states, "Time Shadow prepared for deployment. All missiles active and ready." Mystery Man hits the same buttons as earlier, and opens up the compartment with the twin gauges. They're initiated to the "enable" side, and the DECA-voice reminds him, "Time Shadow is NOT in test mode. Repeat, this is NOT a test." Mystery Man awaits and watches the window above him, as the mysterious Megazord, now named the Time Shadow, gets prepped into position outside of the hangar. It lifts its blue-bladed arms, and takes off into the crescent mooned night sky again. In the present, the five TF Rangers get their V-weapons out again, and under Jen's command, fire them at Tronicon once more. Tronicon is struck by the blasts, but fails to halt his progress towards them. You have to wonder why they haven't tried using the Time Jet after it successfully took down a monster just a little while ago. Heck, they haven't even tried to use the combined Vortex Blaster, or their Vector Cycles! Chrono-Blasters, Chrono-Sabers, they haven't tried anything else, yet already know the V-weapons aren't working! The modern day genius Wes notes, "It's not working! C'mon!" Our heroes skadaddle, and run away as fast as they can. Tronicon's giant metal feet slam down into the weak cement just behind them, bashing through the courtyard they passed through seconds before. The Rangers miserably end up running into a wall, with Wes exclaiming, "Oh no! We're trapped!" Jen turns around and fires V-5 at Tronicon, ordering, "Blast him AGAIN!" Tronicon shrugs off the tickling sparks, and points his massive cannon arm down at the cornered Rangers. They're startled, with Katie gasping, "Whoah!", and Lucas shouting, "Look out!" Tronicon flips its cannon-arm around for a better barrel aim, as Frax crosses his clawhand across his chest and gloats, "There's NOWHERE left to run!"

The sun shines brightly above the city, only to have a black spot suddenly begin to slide over in the way of its light. Tronicon notices this instant solar eclipse begin to occur, as it grows dark in Silver Hills without warning. He stops aiming at the Power Rangers, and gazes up at the sun in confusion. Frax also turns his attention to the solar phenomenon, wondering, "Huh?!" Green Ranger points it out to his teammates, "Look at the SUN!" They all do, and risk going blind, as the black spot moves farther along the surface of the star. Blue Ranger realizes, "Something's causing an eclipse!" The eclipse continues to grow, until suddenly when the black spot transforms into a green colored portal! The vortex appears to be quite different from that used by the Time Flyers to transcend the timestream, resembling a pure light green technologically sectioned warping of space (it resembles one of the old Jump Tubes from PRiS!). A strange silver craft swoops out from within the focal center of the vortex, and dives directly down towards the city. Red Ranger points and asks, "What IS that?!" The craft, named the Shadow Winger on the toys, glides perfectly along over the tops of the buildings. Don't ask why, but not only are all of these buildings not damaged in the least, and the damned first-quarter moon is up in the sky, but there are a bunch of spotlights waving about! What's with the flippin spotlights?! Circuit answers either me or Wes, saying, "I have NO idea!" Shadow Winger floats its impressive wingspan towards the surprised Tronicon under the false nightfall cover of the continued eclipse. When within range, Shadow Winger begins to fire off a set of laserblasts from the cannons on each side of its wings. Tronicon is struck directly, but wasting no time, Shadow Winger fires with both cannons, and then goes into stealth mode! It turns totally invisible, and shoots off behind the dazed Tronicon. Before the robot can react, the unseen Winger starts firing behind. It then zips around and fires at him from the front, then the side, its hull partially visible only when firing its cannons. Shadow Winger fires at Tronicon one last time, and then takes off into the skies, decloaking just as it zooms up into the glow of the crescent moon. With the half lunar landscape as a backdrop, Shadow Winger transforms around before our eyes, into robotic Megazord mode! It then lands on the roof of a tall building, and poses patiently against yet more spotlights and the moon behind it.

Circuit remains in the dark, but fails to remain in the dark about this mysterious Megazord's vital stats, as he shouts, "It's sending me DATA!" As the TF Rangers look up at the majestically shrouded battle robot, Circuit explains, "This is the Time Shadow Megazord, and its here to HELP us!" Pink Ranger says breathlessly, "It's FANTASTIC!" Time Shadow stands there, getting spotlights flashed at it, and uses footage of it we've already seen earlier. Frax is cautious about the new arrival, remarking, "So, Time Force has another TRICK up its sleeve?!" Jen yells, "A-MAZ-ing!" Frax continues, "Well, then... so do I! Watch THIS!" He motions his hands, causing Tronicon to shift his cannon-arm around, and aims it up at the Megazord. Time Shadow does some arm shifting as well, getting its bladed hands into a defense position. Tronicon fires at the Megazord, though this time using the strip of secondary barrels attached to his forearm. He fires off a stream of deadly missile projectiles at the Time Shadow, only to have the Megazord lift off into the air and avoid them. They explode all around the buildings Time Shadow was near, but not a single one hits it. Tronicon looks upward, and watches peacefully as Time Shadow dives down, locks its arms into its sides, and begins to fire the two cannons on the opposite sides of the wings on its back! The missiles rip into the robot, causing large explosions. The moment they cease, Time Shadow is already all up on Tronicon, slashing at him with its bladed arms! Tronicon topples at the first blow from the blade, and poor Frax is standing on the building situated in his falling range! Frax cries, "Nooo!", as his large creation slams into the building, and shatters its structure. He's not injured at first, until he wanders over and steps on frail glass, causing Frax to plummet through a massive skylight! He crashes to the ground floor along with a ton of glass shards, but manages to land perfectly on his metal feet. The five Time Force Rangers rush into the room, searching for the henchbot. Frax calls out with anger, "Rangers!" Pink Ranger turns to him and demands, "Give up, Frax! You don't stand a CHANCE against the new Time Shadow!" Frax corrects her, "Ahh! But i'm not fighting the Time Shadow! I'm fighting YOU!" Red Ranger notes, "Which means you're VERY outnumbered!" Yellow Ranger says, "Five to ONE!" Frax changes the odds, telling her, "WRONG!", as he whips around his cape, and causes a squad of Cyclobots to instantly appear!

Red Ranger faces the armada of marching Cyclobots, by pulling out his twin Chrono-Sabers, and attacking. The "really blurry fight" mode from TF Ep 2 is back, though gets a welcome change of really quickly cut in normal mode shots to spice things up. Blue Ranger also fights the robodrones, though he just runs really fast and combats them with his bare hands. Wes slashes into some more of the bots, while Pink Ranger starts Saber-slicing them as well. Lucas does more hand-to-blur fighting, and Jen continues letting out loud grunts as she cuts the Cyclos into scrap. Nothing's blurry over with Frax, as he faces Green & Yellow Rangers. They attempt to strike him with their Chrono-Sabers, to no avail. Frax, despite his lackey demeanor most of the time, is quite a capable fighting when he uses his claw hand to slash at Trip & Katie's chests! Outside, Tronicon tries his rocket launcher forearm strip once again. Time Shadow Megazord takes a different route to avoiding the missiles, by racing its legs rapidly along the sides of the buildings in its path! This tactic is successful, allowing Time Shadow to run so fast that it not only dodges all explosives, but is able to get to Tronicon when his guard is down. The Megazord bashes its bladed arms into the robot up close, using each arm at least once, and concluding the attack by crossing them together and poking him in the single at once. Tronicon staggers backwards, his body smoking. He has one last weapon to try, that being a set of energy discs fired from the sides of his rounded shoulders. They're shot off at the Time Shadow, and somehow manage to take it by total surprise. The Megazord bursts with sparks, and Tronicon feels confident enough to step forward again. The moment that Time Shadow recovers, it splits its clear-blue arm-blades off, and forms them into a single weapon, attached firmly onto its right hand! The Megazord fires the jets on its back, and takes off, flying a few feet off the ground, directly towards Tronicon. The robot marches slowly at the other robot, but totally helpless when the Time Shadow strikes. The Megazord shoots right into Tronicon, and slices its double-edged blade weapon twice. Each cut is show individually chopping Troni in half for dramatic effect. When Time Shadow zips into the air after completing this attack, Tronicon explodes massively, though freezing in mid-burst. Time Shadow lands atop its favorite building, and reholsters its two blades into the sides of its legs. Tronicon then stops being frozen, and continues exploding where it left off. The giant robot is flooded by a sea of sparks, before falling forward, and blowing up totally. Nothing remains of Tronicon by the time the eclipse in the sky begins to retract.

Frax gets out of the building and cries out for his creation, "Tronicoooon! Oh!" The Rangers follow him, and Wes suggests, "He's destroyed, Frax! And it's time you & Ransik surrender!" Frax "Surrender?! No, no, no, no, NO! Not THIS time, Rangers! We WILL meet again! Ahaha!" The golden robot teleports away in a flash of light, leaving Katie to promise, "You can count on THAT, Frax. But with the Time Shadow on our side, he WON'T be so lucky." Yellow Ranger looks up, and witnesses the green Jump Tube-like vortex reappearing inside the dark spot covering half the sun. The Shadow Winger flies into the tunnel just before the eclipse ends entirely, leaving no trace of the portal between millennia. Trip agrees with Katie, "Yeah, you can say THAT again!" The eclipse finishes, and the sun returns brightly, turning all eyes watching into full squint mode.

[commercials]

Soon, at the Silver Hills Clock Tower, Trip, Katie, & Jen are sitting in front of the holoscreen, with Lucas standing off in the back to the side, and Circuit on his perch a bit closer to them. Where's Wes, you wonder? Possibly off seeing what's up with his dad, or maybe sleeping. Who knows, all that matters is that Captain Logan doesn't see him! Jen informs the Captain, "The Time Shadow performed WELL, sir." Trip anxiously amends her statement, "Oh, nonono! She means it was AWESOME! Thanks!" The flickering holo-image of Captain Logan says sternly, "I wish I could take credit." Katie wonders, "If Time Force didn't send it, then WHO did!?" Logan vows, "I don't know. But i'm GOING to find out." His transmission ends, leaving only a staticy holoscreen, and a group of disappointed & worried TF Officers. Jen stands up, and gives an expression of deep contemplation, almost like she's suspicious of something familiar about these questionable events. Meanwhile, in the year 3000, at the secret control room, the Mystery Man shows us only his sunglassed eyes, as the computer voice states, "Time Shadow Megazord has returned. Mission completed successfully!" The Time Shadow lands atop the trade center again, and the screen spins around, as the Megazord reverts to its bat-like sleep mode once more. Mystery Man looks through the window at the Time Shadow as it settles upside down and its eyes turn off. The DECA-like voice proclaims, "All systems offline. Awaiting further instructions." Mystery Man stands up from his chair and stares at his triumphant secret project. The white leather suit-wearing, dark haired man remains ominously silent, as he looks around without making a single sound. A shot of the red control console lights reflecting off of his sunglasses close out the show. Who is he? Who is he working for? Who's his daddy? Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

[Scenes from "Future Unknown"; End Credits]