At the Star Kats' current base, the two newcomers stepped out of the shadows. In addition to the one Roadhound had identified as Technorg, there was also the figure the latter had made contact with in the woods, who could now be seen to be blue and possess a smile carved into his face. "So, you couldn't let me do my assigned task, huh Technorg?", Roadhound growled. "And who's your crony?"

The other being brandished his two sword arms at Roadhound, who barely reacted. "Who are you calling a crony?"

From the sidelines, the Star Kats looked on in confusion. "Does Roadhound know these guys?", Grillion asked.

"Well he certainly knows the one with the big head.", K.P answered. "The other guy, probably not so much."

Technorg then spoke up. "I see that you haven't informed your minions of our true affiliation. As for your question, this creature is my bodyguard, Slashmark. As you can probably tell, his blade is as sharp as your tongue, so I would avoid any overt insults or based threats. It wouldn't look good in the reports to the Boss."

The Star Kats were shocked by this. "You mean… you guys is part offa larger group?", Meowbile gasped.

"Quite right.", Technorg nodded.

Roadhound sighed. "Well, it was a good ruse while it lasted. Technorg and I are members of the Galactic Mafia, one of the largest criminal cartels in the universe. I took you under my wing because I felt you had potential to help in our operations."

The Star Kats were elated to hear this. "We must be doing something right if the Space Mob wants our skills.", K.P cheered.

"So when do we get to make the acquaintance of the big boss?", Grillion asked.

"As of right now, that is impossible.", Technorg answered him. "The Boss of the Galactic Mafia is locked in a GSPO prison, serving 10,000 years for his crimes. Our operations on Earth are conducted with the end goal of releasing him from his imprisonment by gathering the necessary funds for bail."

The three were taken aback at this. "Maybe we signed on fer more 'an we can chew.", Meowbile realised.

The three thought back to the time they were just poor street gangsters, at war with the Space Dogz and the Kosmic Rats. And they were on the losing end, as Grillion and Meowbile were thrown into a pile of trash bags. "Hang in there, G. We're not beat yet.", K.P urged.

"Easy for yous to say.", Meowbile cried. "You didn't sees what they did ta me."

K.P then slumped forward. "You're right. It's hopeless.", she sighed.

But Grillion was still able to pull himself up. "Don't say that now. We can still make things come up Star Kats."

The 3 senior members of the Space Dogz, including a robed figure in a top hat and a big horned alien with cybernetic cannons grafted onto his arms. "Time we put the kitties down for the count.", their leader laughed.

"We should just give up.", K.P urged Grillion. "We're losers."

"Only if we insist that we are losers!", Grillion yelled as he knocked his associates aside. He pulled himself up. "I'm not going to go out at the hands of these filthy mutts, even with or without you. We need to survive for the purpose of achieving greater things."

Though he failed to pull himself up, another figure appeared to beat up the thugs. "I like your style, Kitty-cat.", he said as the three watched him go to work on the Space Dogz, who were select reeling on the ground. He then approached the group. "My name is Roadhound. And you work for me now."

"W-who are you?", Grillion asked.

"Just a concerned watcher who sympathises with your plight.", Roadhound stated. "If you stick with me, I'll make you the greatest in the universe." He reached out his hand, which Grillion took to pull himself up. Not long after, the revitalised Star Kats and Roadhound began tearing up the streets of their backwater planet, before moving onto better things.

Back in the present, tentacles emerged from Technorg's back. "Since you seemed too evenly matched with the Red Ranger, Roadhound, you are in need of an upgrade. A function I can provide handily."

Roadhound stepped backwards, terrified. "No, I beg you! Don't do that!"

But his pleas went unheeded as the tentacles dug into his body, causing Roadhound to scream in pain. "Scanning body. Technological implant of minimal use embedded in left leg, left hand less dominant. Conclusion: translate implant into laser weapon. Upgrade in progress!"

Sure enough, as the tentacles retracted from Roadhound, the robotic dog that was embedded in his leg was now attached to his left arm. Roadhound did not look pleased at this. "What have you done to me, you mechanical freak?", he growled.

The Star Kats came running to him. "Roadhound, are you ok?", Grillion asked.

"Do I look like I'm okay?", Roadhound yelled as he knocked them back with his new appendage. "I've had my sensor drilled into my arm through my hand."

"If you don't like it, I may undo it.", Technorg said, flatly. "Provided that you prove capable of completing a mission for me." He took out a small device, which resembled a crude replica of the Rangers' Morphers made out of rusted metal, and gave it to K.P. "And if the Power Rangers show up, you could benefit from having this in your arsenal. I trust you can intuit its proper use."

"It's a lot like what the Power Rangers use to summon those fancy cars of theirs.", K.P answered, and thought back to how many times she'd seen the Rangers use it as such… and the one time that guy had used it to turn into Red. "I'll make good use of it."

"See that you do.", Technorg said as he and Slashmark walked off.

As soon as they were gone, Meowbile wheeled up to K.P. "I know dat look. Yous got somethin' in mind."

"Oh I do.", K.P giggled.

Elsewhere, at the Rangers' base, Lee and Mover were showing off the computer to Kit. "You mentioned that you were the best in your programming class, so we thought we'd see what you make of the Zord sync servers.", Mover explained.

"Well it's not the easiest system to read, but I'll give it a shot.", Kit said as he went over to the computer, looking over the scans for all of the Zords. "According to this, the next two to finish programming will be Battle Dozer and Super Shovel. But there's something else odd."

"What?", Lee asked.

"According to this, there are 6 Zords fully programmed and able to be summoned, but in my time with the Rangers, I've only seen 5 in use. The discrepancy seems to be with one called the 'Red Racer' Zord.", Kit explained. "Which if the system means anything is assigned to…"

"Me." Lee took out a Zord module resembling a modern car designed for racing. "It's my personal Zord, in the same way Blue Mountain, Pink Cruiser and Capture Cruiser are for the others."

"Well why have you never used it then?", Kit thought to ask. "Why do you always pilot Mover into Megazord battles?"

Lee sighed. "It all goes back to when we were first training to be Rangers."

Lee remembered the early days with the initial team, training on the Hyper-Dimensional Road with their Zords. "And Anna Ketchum takes the lead!", Anna announced as Pink Cruiser bounced in front of the others. But hen she found that the Super Shovel and Capture Cruiser had matched her position, with the former using its arm to swipe at her. "Hey, no fair. How can robots catch up?"

"Never bet against automatic pilots with artificial intelligence.", George answered as he took out a yellow version of Blue Mountain. "Like my Offshoot Mountain." He inserted it into his Morpher, causing a yellow copy of Blue Mountain to split off. Both then managed to pull ahead of the others.

"What the-?", Anna blurted out.

"A good race is full of surprises.", Lee commented from within Red Racer. "Time to go full throttle." He pressed the pedal on his Morpher, causing the Zord to go into full burn. But this ended up causing the vehicle to move closer to the others at a faster speed than Lee had been expecting. "Two much RPM. It's gonna blow!" The car then began shooting sparks outward, before spinning off course towards the side of the road.

Back in the present, Lee concluded his tale. "Let's just say that if any of us feels sorry for Meowbile when we knock him off the road, it's me."

Kit was still confused. "But, surely you've fixed those issues by now? It was just a technical hitch."

"Right.", Mover chimed in. "We fitted the Red Racer Zord with parts to prevent a similar overload months ago. But if you ask me, I think Lee has some trauma from that incident that keeps him from using it."

It was then that the alarm went off, with the scanner showing Roadhound and the Star Kats walking through the woods. "It seems the Mafia are up to something in the woods outside Crosslands.", Kit noted. "We'd better call in the others and get going."

"Oh no.", Lee insisted. "I'm not putting you in danger before your Morpher's been completed. You're staying here, while I gather the others."

"Okay, but promise me this." Kit picked up the Racer Zord module and put it in Lee's hand. If all else fails, you'll make use of this."

Lee looked at it for a second and nodded. "You're right. Perhaps we should make use of this." He took the small car and pocketed it, before running out.

In the woods, Roadhound's party made their way to a cave. "So this is where the energy source came from?", K.P commented. "Well let's get in and take it."

She made a dash to the cave entrance, but was deflected as a forcefield appeared briefly upon impact. "Looks like even morons have their uses.", Roadhound noted. "Looks like whatever this energy source is, whoever put it there didn't want it removed."

Within a second, a cloaked figure appeared in front of them. "Is that a g-g-g-g-ghost?", Grillion asked, terrified.

"Don't be ridiculous, it's clearly a holographic guardian.", Meowbile answered. "Da same somebody who put da energy source here obviously left it behind."

"Looks like 'moron' might've been too harsh for some of you.", Roadhound said as he approached the hologram, while K.P came to. "Tell us the key to enter this cave."

"The only one who may enter the cave is he who is the answer to this riddle.", the hologram spoke. "I appear once in the summer, twice in the autumn, but never in the winter."

The group all thought on this riddle. "I know. Flowers. They don't appear in winter.", Grillion blurted out.

"No, it's clearly a full moon.", K.P interjected. "They only appear once a month, and autumn on some planets is longer than other seasons."

"Yer both wrong. It's leaves changin' colour.", Meowbile spoke up.

"Silence!", the hologram bellowed. "All are wrong. None shall be allowed entrance." He then fired lightning from his hand to knock the three back, before vanishing again.

"Well never mind. Maybe I was being fair.", Roadhound commented. "Now we won't get into that cave without some force."

"Don't worry, Roadhound.", K.P said as she took out the Activator she had been given by Technorg. "I'll tear that cave apart with our new weapon in no time."

"Are you sure it's this way?" K.P stopped as everyone overheard a familiar voice. "I'd hate to think you'd pulled us away from work to go on a wild goose chase."

"It's the Rangers!", Grillion panicked. "Run for it."

"Wait!", Roadhound stopped him. "Perhaps we don't need to answer the riddle, when the Rangers can do it for us. Let's hide."

He and the Star Kats retreated behind a rock as Lee, George, Anna and Bobby came driving up in the former's car. "Mover said that the satellites indicated the Star Kats were headed in this direction. And Kit double-checked it."

"But what would the Star Kats be doing out here?", Bobby asked. "Surely there's nothing out here they could use?"

"Maybe they want to use this cave as a base of some kind.", George suggested. "It's remote enough that no-one would ever find it by actively searching for them."

All 4 then climbed out of the car. "Well if they are basing themselves in the cave, we'd better check it out." She ran towards the entrance, only to bang into the forcefield. "What the-?"

The hologram man appeared again. "The only one who may enter the cave is he who is the answer to this riddle. I appear once in the summer, twice in the autumn, but never in the winter."

Everyone looked pensive at this, before George spoke up. "Us. We can enter the cave."

"Correct.", the hooded figure nodded. "You may enter." The hologram disappeared, as did the forcefield.

Anna and Bobby were surprised by how quickly George had answered the question. "Wait, how is 'us' the answer to that riddle?", Bobby asked.

"Not 'us' specifically, but 'you'.", George answered him. "With the 'you' in this case being our group."

"I get it.", Anna said, realising the solution. "The 'you' is phonetically similar to the letter u, which is used to spell both 'summer' and 'autumn', but not 'winter'."

"Well let's head inside the cave before it seals shut.", Lee urged, as everyone went running inside. The Star Kats emerged from hiding, stealthily pursuing their enemies.

A few feet into the cave, the Rangers came to meet with a pair of terracotta warriors. "To pass further, one must solve the choice between further travel into the cave, or ejection.", the voice of the Hologram Man announced. "One of the guardians will tell only the truth, while the other will tell only lies." Both guards opened their hands to reveal buttons. "You may ask one question."

This time, it was Anna who stepped forward with the answer. "What would the other guard say is the correct button?", she asked the stone figures.

"My… button.", the stone figure on the left struggled to vocalise, speaking as if through a megaphone.

"His… button.", the other guard answered.

"That means that it must be yours.", Anna said as she went over to the rightmost guard to press his button. The two then vanished, as did the rocky wall behind them. "You see, the guardian of truth would know what the guardian of lies would answer with, and have to tell me that. Thus, both guards would give the same answer to what the liar would point out, exposing the true button."

"Nice work.", George complimented her. "You're almost as clever as me." He then took the lead in walking into the cavern beyond.

It took less than a few seconds for Anna to furiously follow him in. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Lee and Bobby followed them, laughing at the scenario.

Within the cavern, they found nothing but wide open space, with a transparent pedestal showing off a gun that appeared to be wrapped in bandages. "So I'm starting to think this isn't just the Star Kats scouting for a base.", Bobby suggested. "Maybe they're here after that weapon."

"It's a good theory.", Lee pointed out. "The only issue we have now is to figure out how to get it out of that container."

"Well that should be simple enough.", Kit's voice came from the other side of the Morpher. "The two barricades were puzzles of some kind, so this last one should also involve one."

The voice of the guardian echoed once more. "Whosoever lays his claims to this weapon will have the power to extinguish a Sun. But they must derelict either their friends, or their duty."

The Rangers were confused by this. "What could that mean?", George asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Roadhound entered, flanked by the Star Kats. "It means we'll have to duel for ownership of that blaster."

"Roadhound, you look different.", Lee commented. "Did you get a haircut?"

"Your attempts at humour won't save you, Leeleekent. Nor your friends." Roadhound pointed and fired his new weapon at the Rangers, separating Lee from the others. "Now we can settle things."

"You bet.", Lee nodded as he took out his Morpher. "Ready! Set! Morph!" He pressed the pedal three times, before spinning the wheel to complete the transformation. He then summoned his Wheel Saber to do battle.

The Star Kats faced down the other three Rangers outside the cave, with K.P taking out her Activator. "That looks like our Morphers.", George realised.

"Yep. And ours has a lot of the same features too.", K.P giggled as she pressed down on the pedal. Summon Negazord! A dark brown and orange version of Mover's Turbo Trailer with spikes on the wheels and a cab with a front that was seemingly made of corrugated iron. It then shifted into a demented parody of Mover, with the latter's near featureless face replaced with a pair of crooked yellow eyes with no pupils and a rictus grin.

"They've got their own Megazord.", Bobby gasped. "Guess we'd better get in there." He took out the Police Zord modules…

Which were promptly snatched up by Meowbile. "I got em, KP. The Rangerth Thords are in our grathp."

"And now we can pay you back for all the beatdowns you gave our guys using these.", Grillion declared as he slotted them into the backside of the Activator. Attach: Capture Cruiser! Attach: Vision Van! As the evil robot's head folded backwards, the two Police Zords teleported in to combine with it in the same way they would do so with Mover. The only visible difference: this version lacked any eyes, instead having two blank sockets.

From within the new robot, Grillion, sat in a driver's seat either a steering wheel, K.P in the passenger seat and Meowbile situated on the dashboard all declared the name of their new toy. "Police Pursuit Negazord, ready!"

As the Rangers looked on in shock, George spoke into his Morpher. "Mover, Kit, I think we might have a situation here."

On the other end, Mover responded. "Two of our Zords just got hijacked. I'm well aware. Kit, prepare to operate the override protocol."

"Okay.", Kit nodded nervously. "And what does that entail exactly?"

"Just operate the blue switches.", Mover said as he moved towards the gate to the Hyper-Dimensional Road. "It'll give you automatic control of the Zords whose modules haven't finished tuning." He initiated the launch sequence, before transforming into his Turbo Trailer mode and driving off after the launched remaining Zords.

"I think we're in for a special delivery.", George told the other two. "Let's go."

The other two nodded and ran off, but George was stopped as Lee threw something at him. "You might need to use this.", Lee called out, before resuming his battle with Roadhound. George reached down and picked the object up. It was the Red Racer module. He nodded, before heading off.

As Lee resumed his battle, the weapon in the altar began to glow.

Mover soon appeared, with George taking the driver's seat. He then combined with two new Zords - the Lion Van and Dolphin Tanker Zords. "Mega Monster Megazord, ready!", Mover roared. "Hate to hurt a handsome guy like you, but I need those Zords back."

"Well too bad, because these babies are ours now.", K.P responded.

"Let's see just how fast we can go with them.", Grillion added. "Blast Barrage!" He pushed a lever, causing the Negazord to begin firing its weapons at Mover, who used his arms to block most of the shots. But this wasn't enough to stop the onslaught.

"These Zords aren't as comfortable to ride in when they're not properly tuned.", Bobby noted.

"Then it's a good thing we're used to discomfort.", Grillion responded. "Which means you can save yourselves the trouble by handing over those Zords now."

The Negazord continued to fire, with Mover struggling to block. "I… can't hold out… much longer." He hen pushed forward to strike at the Negazord, which was more easily able to block the hit. "You got lucky once.", Mover growled as he unleashed more strikes, eventually knocking the Negazord back. He then unleashed his attack. "Aqua Artillery Diving Spash!"

"It'll take more than fishies to stop us.", Grillion declared as he opened fire on the shots fired by Mover, stopping them from hitting their target. The Negazord then leapt up into the air to fire on its opponent while he was weakened. The Rangers inside ended up buffeted as well.

"Maybe this isn't the best form while it's unfinished.", Mover gasped as he recovered his bearings.

"We need to try something else.", George agreed, staring at the Red Racer module.

"What though?", Bobby asked. "We've only got one other pair of completed Zords."

"And I don't think a sword and claw will help.", Anna commented.

At the base, Kit received a communique from Mover. "Send out the Builder Zords."

Kit sighed. "Might as well get the practice in." But internally, he was annoyed the others weren't going the simple solution of using the Knight Zords.

Battle Dozer and Super Shovel came down the Hyper-Dimensional Road to combine with Mover into another new combination. "Battle Builder Megazord, ready!"

"Ya think that'll stop us?", Meowbile asked, mockingly.

"You can't win this time.", K.P declared.

"It's over for you.", Grillion added. "Take this." The Negazord fired again, with Mvoer using his new hammer weapon to knock the shots away.

Back in the cave, Lee's battle with Roadhound continued, with the latter swinging his Drill Staff towards the Red Ranger. Lee merely rolled out of the way and fired his Wheel Saber. Roadhound took this hit, but wasn't affected. "That all you've got?", he asked.

"Well it certainly did last time.", Lee answered, which gave Roadhound little pause. Before the enemy could attack again, the gun floated out of the pedestal and flew in front of Lee. "What the-?"

The wrappings around the weapon disintegrated to reveal an appearance similar to a fire extinguisher, with a circular trigger on the back and a tube like decoration on top. "Your decision to allow your friends to fight for themselves has proven an acceptable sacrifice that does not forsake the greater good. This weapon is thus entrusted to you. Use it well."

Lee took a hold of the weapon, cocking the gun three times. "My instincts are telling me this is a Super Hydro Blaster. And that with it, I can - Rescue Up!" He pulled on the trigger to generate a set of armour around his body, consisting of additional silver details on his helmet, a new red under-suit with black lines along the side, wheels on his shoulders and chest armour with a speedometer and two holes on a white line along the chest section and twin cannons on the shoulder. "Hydro Burst!"

Lee unleashed two streams of water at Roadhound, who began spinning his weapon around to block. "Getting a new power is different to mastering it.", he stated, as he knocked the streams aside. "And you haven't mastered it."

"Well there's no time like the present.", Lee declared as he cocked the barrel of his weapon before pointing and firing. "Super Hydro Nova!" He fired a powerful blast of water.

But Roadhound spun his drill to block and redirect the attack, sending Lee backwards. He then picked up the Red Ranger with his drill head before sending him flying into the roof. As the cave slightly collapsed from this, Roadhound fired his new cannon at his falling foe, knocking Lee back to his base form. Roadhound then launched one final shot that sent Lee to the floor. "Looks like you haven't mastered anything.", the Made Monster said as he pointed his new cannon at his fallen opponent. But he hesitated. "No, this wouldn't be a fair defeat. Both of us had a handicap. You couldn't control your new power effectively and I'm stuck with one hand in a metal cage." He turned around and began to walk off. "I'll let your friends finish off my men. We'll meet again when we're both ready and have a decisive match."

As his foe walked off, it was now that Lee took notice of the arm cannon. "He didn't have that last time. How could he have got it?"

Back outside the cave, Mover swung his hammer at the Negazord once again. "Oh dear.", Grillion said as he pulled a lever that sent his robot flying backwards as it fired at Mover, buffeting the three Rangers once again.

"What are you guys doing?", Kit asked from the other side. "You're getting slaughtered out there using forms that aren't properly tuned for your use."

"Well what else can we do?", Anna asked. "We have one other form we can use and it's not going to be much help."

"I wouldn't be so sure.", George said as he took out the module he had been given. "Lee gave me this for a reason, and I think it's his way of saying it needs to be used. Bobby, summon the Saber Zord."

Bobby nervously summoned the module for it. "Okay, if you say so." He placed it into the back of his Siren Morpher. "Summon Crimson Saber!"

George did likewise. "Summon Red Racer!"

The two Zords appeared and took the place of the Builder Zords. While the Crimson Saber transformed into the same sword as before, the Racer Zord backed into Mover's left shoulder, with the from end of the car folding downwards to create a paldron, while the engine portioned rotated 180 degrees the other way, before said engine rotated further to form a faceplate resembling a knight's helmet. "Crimson Knight Megazord, ready!", Mover called out.

The Negazord's repsonse was to ready its guns. "You think a sword and a new face will stop us?", Grillion asked sarcastically.

The Negazord began firing, but Mover cut the shots down with his sword. "Actually, yes.", was his answer. He then set the Crimson Saber alight.

"Time to go full burn.", the three Rangers inside him said as they pressed on their pedals.

Mover then initiated his attack. "Burning Saber Thrust!"

"Let's go!", Grillion responded as the Negazord continued firing. But Mover zoomed past all of the shots before delivering his attack directly to the enemy robot, slicing through it.

Having sustained sufficient damage, the Negazord dropped its weapon and exploded, sending both the Police Zords falling downwards next to Mover and the Star Kats flying upwards. "We're out in the litter!", the three called out.

"Well we got my Zords back.", Bobby noted. "Another job well done."

"But what about Lee?", Anna pointed out. "What happened to him?"

At the base, Roadhound slammed Technorg into the wall. "The cannon you gave me didn't help. Turn me back now!", he growled.

"Unfortunately, that is not an option.", Technorg informed him. "Upgrades cannot be undone. They are meant to make you permanently more efficient."

"Organics aren't machines, we don't all want to be efficient.", Roadhound said as he pointed his weapon at his fellow Made Monster. "So either remove this thing or I'll remove your head."

Slashmark then slashed Roadhound from behind. "You forget about me, wise guy? Now I suggest you go along with Technorg's gift to you, or I'll cut into you harder."

"This isn't a gift, it's a curse!", Roadhound yelled as he used his staff to slash Slashmark down, before mounting it. "If you're not going to fix me, then I'm clearing out to fix myself." He then took off out of the door. "You two can have the Earth mission until I get back."

"Outcome: unexpected, but acceptable.", Technorg noted. "Now my plans can commence with minimum impediment."

It was then that the Star Kats made their entrance. "What happened to Roadhound?", Grillion asked. "Did the Rangers beat him?"

Technorg concluded that a lie would be efficient in preventing a pointless civil war. "Negative. He was recalled back to home base. I am to assume command of the Earth mission. You report to me from now on."

The Star Kats thought over this for a minute. "Well a job offer is a job offer.", K.P said eagerly. "We'll do it."

"As long as we're gettin' paid.", Meowbile clarified.

"All of you will be rewarded handsomely when this is over.", Technorg stated.

Back at the Ranger base, Lee managed to pull himself in, despite being wrapped in multiple bandages. "So the Red Racer Zord managed to save the day, from what Kit told me."

"Sure did.", George answered, handing the module back to him. "And in case you're still scared, it worked like a charm. I think you can pilot it safely now."

"Trust me, I'm not worried about the Zord anymore.", Lee said. "Now my worry is about the Super Hydro Blaster."

"A good worry to be sure.", Mover spoke up. "Kit's analysis noted that the reason it failed to defeat Roadhound wasn't due to any lack of experience, but more due to the power it gave off being too much to handle for long periods."

"Meaning that until we can fix the problem, prolonged use could prove fatal for you.", Kit finished. "Until e can fix the runoff problem, it's better that you refrain from using it."

"Good luck with that.", Anna commented. "That thing was in that mountain cave for Lord only knows how long. Maybe you should make sure its circuits haven't eroded."

"Well it is a darn shame.", Bobby noted. "With Roadhound joining the invasion, we could use every advantage we can get."

"Don't worry.", Kit said as he looked at the second Siren Morpher, which was being 3D printed. "We'll regain the advantage soon enough."