AN: Use your imagination as to what Lustor is doing. Mental images are a fic writer's best friend.

Chapter One Thirty: Playthings

"How long is she planning to keep them here?"

Psychogre shrugged as another round of screams echoed through the ship. So far, Lustor had been at it for the past ten hours and showed no signs of stopping. He had peeked in to the room and had seen the three Rangers she had taken completely under the control of her pheromones. Actually, they had been all over each other and using methods and techniques that would have possibly been fatal. He wasn't sure how a foot actually fit…there…and if he was completely honest with himself, he didn't want to know.

"Not sure, boss. Why? You worried or something?"

Xonix looked at his strongest monster and growled under his breath. He wished Twinlobe and Yit would hurry up and complete at least the outer shell of the revised Fortress so he didn't have to spend all of his time on the flagship. Well, it wasn't that he hated being on the flagship; it was more the close proximity with Arachno and Premil…and now with Lustor and her captive sex slaves. The only reason why the Rangers probably hadn't come up guns blazing was that they were probably still recovering from the thrashing the Ultra Psycho Rangers had inflicted on them. From his scans of them combined with what little he knew about human biology the Rangers wouldn't have lasted long without help. Indeed, after the Orange Ranger had fallen, they had been teleported away by some other allies. Although the Ultra Rangers had been on the brink of death, the Ultra Psychos weren't all in one piece either.

The Orange Ultra Psycho Ranger, whose designs had been taken from a possible future project of Dark Spectre's, had been destroyed in an unforseen move from the Orange Ranger. Psychogre had just been bluffing when he had said that they had more in reserve as the creation of another one would take more than a few weeks to complete…and would set back the completion of the Fortress by a few months. It could be done on the Dark Fortress but he was loathe to send such an important project…there; especially after he heard that Divatox's idiot nephew Elgar had been transferred there. Although, word had it that the Dark Fortress was making its way to Hercuron for something and Ecliptor would be there to keep Elgar in check. He would think about it.

Creeper was in the Medical Bay under the watchful eye of Nekros. The shadow monster had third-degree burns over almost all of his upper body and had to be sedated upon his arrival back on the ship. His body was recovering nicely and although his wounds were severe – he was in better shape that both Arachno and Premil. All eight of Archno's arms had been severely injured in some way or another and three had even been sliced off by the Orange Ranger. He was now scrounging through the scrap metal yards on the surface of the Moon looking for viable replacements. An easier alternative would be to not use them until they regenerated but on the other hand the last lost limb had taken a lengthy period to grow back. Xonix didn't want to think about how the arachnid monster would attach the replacement limbs to his body as it would probably mean the forceful removal of the remnants of the arm…and there went his stomach again. He would have to dispatch a few Golems to help with the limb removal or the cleanup.

Premil on the other hand…was a literal mess. He had just been able to reconstitute himself for the teleport back and had spilled onto the floor nearly a second later. The Silver Ranger's attacks had liquefied the liquid monster…which meant the mudpie wasn't gunning for Xonix all the time. He couldn't blame him as Premil was the last remaining golem from his first disastrous attempt. The humanoid mudpie had escaped the mass culling and fled into the stars where it had grown in strength on the harsh quicksand pits of Voicin. It had attempted to ensnare the newly renamed Xonix but Psychogre had freed him from Premil's suffocating grasp. After a short scuffle, the mud creature had somehow slipped past Psychogre's defences and claimed the Red Psycho Gem…yet Xonix was sure there was no such Psycho Gem. The truth was revealed when Premil had been forcefully recruited into the ranks of the Ultra Psycho Rangers – the mud based monster had created the Gem from iron rich sands and duplicated the powers of the Orange Psycho Gem. The Orange Power had bonded with the iron ore and created a pseudo-Ultra Psycho Ranger. The cohesiveness of the Power had also allowed him to assume a solid form when he was 'morphed'…which led to the current problem.

Sound waves or earth tremors of any kind would disrupt the tenuous connections the Powers held with his internal structure. Repeated sound waves would make it nearly impossible for him to reconstitute himself into any form other than a giant wet sand puddle. Effectively, Premil was out of action for the next few weeks while he literally pulled himself together. Unfortunately, the Silver Ranger would probably keep using that attack until Premil was finally destroyed.

"Oh yeah, that's it right there!"

Shuddering at the yells coming from Lustor's private chambers, Xonix slumped on his throne as he considered the Power the Orange Ranger had shown. Wreathing the Battle Armour in flames had been a rather unorthodox move to escape Creeper's Shadow Grip but it had worked to the advantage of the Ranger. What had come totally out of left field – as the humans liked to say – had been the chest blaster used to destroy the Orange Psycho Ranger. It had drained the Orange Ranger completely but if that was the amount of power that the Orange Ultra Crystal contained…then he was correct in wanting to destroy the immense power they held. Looking at the chronometer on the wall, he shook his head as another minute ticked over. They would come soon; he was sure of it.

It was only a matter of time.

TBC…