Author’s note:The following story takes place in 2004, shortly after the start of Legends of Zeo. Legends of Zeo and Turbo run concurrently.

Turbo: Chapter One

High Gear

On a moon-sized planet not too far from Earth, a young alien known as Dappu ran through the dark streets as explosions ignited around him.

A space pirate of the Borzock Clan named Divatox picked up a handful of gems lying on the streets and laughed as she placed them in one of her pockets.

Dappu walked over to a cliff side and looked down at his city as it burst into flames. He saw Divatox enter an amphibious-styled star craft, and he snuck on board as the shuttle left the planet.

The world exploded minutes later.

The amphibious star craft docked on a gigantic world ship that served as the Borzock mobile hideout. A variety of exotic life forms and humanoids congregated in a musty and dark bar within the mobile hideout.

Divatox sat at the bar along with two Piranatrons, aquatic creatures that served as her elite guard.

The heavily-armored creature known as Rygarg walked over to Divatox and grabbed her hand. "Another successful outing my dear..."

Divatox pulled her hand away as she pushed Rygarg back, and the warrior fell to the ground. Divatox casually shrugged before taking a sip of her bubbling ale. "I've had better..."

Her aide Porto, dressed in a bulky white suit that resembled a tank, walked over to her. "There aren't many populated planets left in this sector," the pudgy Porto said.

Divatox looked over a group of rubies in her hand as she answered. "Then we'll have to take our business elsewhere, won't we..."

"The next most likely target is Earth," Porto said. "It hasn't been effected by galactic affairs. They fancy themselves alone in the universe."

Dappu, disguised in a cloak, walked up to Divatox after wading through the crowd.

"I would stay away from Earth if I were you," Dappu said. "Legend says that the planet is cursed."

"Cursed?" Divatox asked with disbelief as she arced an eyebrow at Dappu. "You're mad. It's a backwater world."

"If you go there," Dappu said, "you will be defeated by one of the most powerful Ranger teams ever."

"Ranger team?!" Divatox said. "Hah. There hasn't been a Ranger team in this galaxy for centuries."

Divatox's slender warrior, Elgar, waddled over to the cloaked stranger.

"Who are you anyway?" Elgar asked as he reached over and pulled off the cloak.

Dappu leapt backward and landed on a stool; his wide face, bubblous eyes, and pointed ears revealed.

"One of them survived!" Rygarg shouted.

"How observant," Divatox said sarcastically as she pushed Rygarg back to the ground.

"My name is Dappu," he said. "Son of the planet's greatest mage."

Dappu chanted an incantation, and he teleported away towards the Earth.

"After him," Divatox commanded.

IN Angel Grove, five high-school seniors were working in a small auto repair shop known as the Pegasus Garage.

A car drove reverse into the garage as a young Hispanic teen named Carlos directed the vehicle from behind. "Closer, closer...stop," Carlos said.

Luke stepped out from the driver's side door. As soon as he slammed the door shut, it fell and crashed to the cement floor.

"Well this thing needs a lot of work," Luke said with a sigh. Luke's father was the owner of the Pegasus Garage.

An African-American girl named Tanya pushed over a  box of tools as another girl, Cassie, sat nearby on a crate while working with some figures in the garage's check book.

Tanya hooked a cable up to the car's engine as blonde-haired, blue-eyed Tyler looked over the computer readout. "Huh," Tyler said. "More like it needs a complete overhaul."

Luke shrugged. "We'll have to be creative."

Carlos shook his head as he started to climb beneath the car. "I'd rather be in algebra class."

"That's the spirit," Luke said sarcastically as he too climbed under the car.

A flash of light suddenly erupted in the center of the room as Dappu appeared. The teens stopped what they were doing and gathered around Dappu, more than a little shocked at the sight of the alien.

"Ahhh..." Dappu said as he walked around the room and looked at his surroundings. He then turned to the teens as they took a step back. "You five...could you be the Rangers?"

Dappu continued to look around as the teens looked at each other with confusion.

"Excuse me mister..." Luke said, "weird alien...guy. Did you say something about Rangers? Because we sure as hell aren't..."

"Yea..." Dappu said as he nodded. Dappu extended his hands, and an image appeared of the Borzock's planet ship in orbit. "These are the Borzock. They followed me to your world. Now that they're here...they will destroy it."

"From what I hear on the news, they'll have to take a number," Luke said.

Dappu continued to look around at the workshop with amazement. "All these vehicles..."

He turned to an empty wall and pulled out a golden key of crystal that glowed with fiery energy as he waved it through the air. A doorway appeared after a flash of bright orange light. Dappu opened the door, and the teens were stunned.

"Go in, go in..." Dappu said as he walked through the door.

The five teens looked at each other with disbelief before reluctantly starting to follow Dappu inside. They hesitated by the doorway and stopped in their tracks, but Dappu was in quite a hurry. He grabbed the teens with telekinetic energy and tugged them inside.

The teens rose from the ground as they looked around the small room, similar in design to the car shop on the other side of the door.

"My dad's going to kill me," Luke said.

Dappu waved his key again, and braces appeared on the wrists of the five teens.

"What are these things?" Luke asked.

"Axel Changers!" Dappu said as he mimicked a transformation stance. "You will be the Hyper Task Force...Turbo Ranger!" he said. "Yes...I like the sound of that..."

"Turbo Rangers?" Tyler asked with disbelief.

Dappu nodded. "Your powers will be modeled after the vehicles you're familiar with..."

Dappu handed the teens five keys of crystal, and they transformed into more metallic keys.

Red sirens began to blare from a row of computer panels set up in the garage.

"The Borzock," Dappu said.

An army of Divatox's robotic soldiers called Wampa tore through the streets as they pillaged and looted the city.

They crawled over buildings, broke into stores, and appeared on stair cases.

Divatox walked through the streets with a smile of approval on her face.

"This planet is more rich than I thought," she said. "I love pleasant surprises..."

Back in the garage, Dappu was showing the teens holographic images of Divatox and her troops.

"You must stop her!" Dappu shouted as he stared at the image. "You must fight as Hyper Task Force Turbo Ranger!"

He looked over his shoulder to find the teens nowhere in sight.

Dappu sighed. "These humans are so strange..."

He lifted his hand, and magic sparks flew out that blasted the teens from their hiding behind a pile of crates.

Back on the streets, Wampa continued to cause havoc as Dappu used a rope to drag the teens to the scene.

Elgar spotted them and waved a jagged sword in their direction.

"You again!" he growled.

"You're in trouble now Borzock!" Dappu shouted. "Prepare to face the Hyper Task Force Turbo Ranger!"

Dappu tugged on the rope, and the five teens fell down. Dappu shook his head.

Divatox looked down at them and smiled with amusement.

Luke rose to his feet, managing to untie his binds, and he ran up to Dappu's side.

"Okay you crazy old...thing. We are not, I repeat, not Rangers. We're high school students working at a stupid garage my dad owns to try and make a few extra bucks. That's it..."

Dappu stood with his arms across his chest.

Porto stared down at the two girls bound with rope and giggled. "I like girls..."

"Ew gross," Cassie said.

"Look at me again, I'll rip your eyes out," Tanya said.

Tyler and Carlos managed to untie themselves, and they started untying the girls.

"Fine!" Dappu said as he stormed away. "If you won’t fight....I will!"

Dappu leapt through the air towards Elgar in a blur of motion. Elgar jumped towards the mage, and the two opponents clashed across the rooftops before landing on the streets.

The five teens watched the struggle continue, and they watched as Dappu fell, beaten.

"Dappu!" the teens called as they ran down the steps toward the alien. They crouched by his unmoving form.

The Borzock looked at them and laughed, and the teens glared at the villains.

Dappu gasped for air. "They...destroyed my planet...don't let them do the same to yours..."

"The whole planet?" Cassie asked.

Dappu slowly nodded. "I promised my father...I would give the keys...to the sentai that would...stop the Borzock...I failed him..."

Dappu leaned his head over. His eyes closed. He stopped breathing. And his body went limp.

"Dappu!" Luke shouted. He glared at the Borzock and rose, and the other four teens followed. He readied the key Dappu gave him. So did the others.

"Let's shift into Turbo..." Luke said as he snapped open his key.

"Axel Power!" they shouted as they inserted the keys into their braces, mimicking the movements Dappu had shown them. Morphing energy was injected into their braces and hyper accelerated before being pumped into their system.

Their armor shimmered around them as they morphed into their Ranger forms.

Dappu rolled his eyes opened and jumped up and down with excitement while shouting "Ya ta! Ya ta!"

"Huh?" the Rangers asked with disbelief as they gathered around Dappu.

"You're..." Red Racer started to say.

"Alive and kicking," Dappu said. "I figured I could get you to transform if I made you feel guilty enough."

"That wasn't very nice," Red Racer said as he made a fist.

"What I told you was true though," Dappu said. "They destroyed my world, and they'll do the same to yours...unless you stop them first."

Red Racer looked down thoughtfully.

Nearby, the Borzock were continuing to cause havoc as Rygarg laughed.

"Stop!" he heard someone yell. He looked to see the Turbo Rangers charge at him with their side arms drawn.

 "Auto Blasters!" they shouted as they fired lances of green energy that exploded around the pirates.

"Who are they?" Rygarg asked.

The Rangers assumed fighting stances as they shouted their identities.

"Red Racer!" Luke called.

"Blue Racer!" Tyler shouted.

"Green Racer!" Carlos yelled.

"Yellow Racer!" Tanya called.

"Pink Racer!" Cassie shouted.

"Hyper Task Force...Turbo Rangers!" they shouted together.

"Turbo Ranger?!" Rygarg exclaimed in disbelief.

The Rangers ran into the chaos.

A group of Wampa were leaping on top of cars on a nearby city street, causing the drivers to swerve out of control, crashing into each other, buildings, and posts.

Red Racer saw through his visor as a Wampa landed on a Ford and smashed through the front windshield, causing the vehicle to fish-tail out of control towards a girl who was standing alone on the sidewalk crying.

The Red Ranger leapt forward and grabbed the girl in his arms before rolling away from the vehicle. He set her down before turning towards the car and jumping onto its hood. The Wampa leapt towards him, but the Ranger countered with a backfist blow that knocked the soldier to the ground.

Pink Racer and Yellow Racer led a group of pedestrians out of harm’s way as the Wampa continued to cause havoc behind them.

"You'll be okay," Pink Ranger said. "...now run."

 The Rangers regrouped in the middle of the street once all the civilians were safe.

"Vi-Blades!" Red Racer shouted as the Rangers armed their sabers and charged towards the robot soldiers.

Red Racer sliced a Wampa horizontally while dashing forward. Another soldier swung a fist at him from his side, but the Ranger parried that blow before cutting diagonally across that Wampa's chest.

The other four Rangers split up as they hacked through the formation of robot soldiers.

Blue Racer slashed his sword against a Wampa's collar bone, while Green Racer sliced a soldier horizontally across the chest.

Yellow Racer speared a soldier in the midsection with her saber, as Pink Racer cut through a soldier with a diagonal strike.

The remaining Wampa regrouped and aimed energy cannons at the Rangers while firing pulses of destructive force. The Rangers leapt out of the way as explosions sparked around them.

They rose to their knees as Red Racer pulled out his side arm. "Auto Blasters!"

The other Rangers armed their blasters, and the five Rangers took aim while firing lances of green energy that exploded against the soldiers.

Divatox watched the battle from a safe distance as she wrinkled her brow with anger. "Launch the ship!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

A small frigate appeared hovering above the city streets as it moved forward, blasting at everything in sight with a cluster of blaster cannons.

"What is that thing?" Green Racer asked as the Rangers took a few steps backwards.

The frigate moved their way as its fire intensified.

"Let's get up there," Red Racer shouted.

"You're kidding, right?" Blue Racer asked.

"No," Red Racer shouted as he leapt high into the air and landed on top of the ship. The rest of the Rangers followed his lead.

The frigate altered its course as it purposely slammed against a building and pushed forward. The Rangers were thrown off of the frigate like rag dolls as they fell onto the war-torn streets below.

The Rangers rose to their feet as the frigate continued its advance.

"Aim for the engines," Blue Racer said as he held his sidearm.

Rescue Red primed his blaster as it expanded to its super-charged mode, and the others did the same.

"Auto Punishers!" they shouted as they fired golden pulses of energy that exploded against the frigate, causing it to lose control and crash onto the streets. The vessel's systems overloaded as the craft blew into flames.

Red Racer leapt through the explosion while drawing his Vi-Blade and spearing the weapon in between Rygarg's armor plating. Rygarg knocked the blade away before slamming his fist against the Ranger's faceplate and knocking him backward.

Elgar regrouped with Rygarg as the other Rangers ran to Red Racer's side to help him back onto his feet. The two villains fired optic blasts that exploded against the Rangers' armor and sent them crashing to the ground.

The pair advanced, but the Rangers rose to their feet while reading their blasters in punisher mode.

Red Racer aimed his weapon at Rygarg, glaring at his opponent. "Try that again, you dumb walking ornament...I dare ya."

Rygarg and Elgar each took a step back.

"I'm out of here," Elgar said as he teleported away.

"Fall back!" Rygarg shouted as he and the remainder of the troops teleported away.

Divatox glared at the Rangers from on top of a building as she rolled her hands up into fists. She silently cursed her crew as she teleported away.

"Guys!" Dappu yelled as he ran towards the Rangers. "See! I told you! You all did great!"

"Thanks," Red Racer said as he holstered his weapon.

"We sent them packing," Yellow Racer said.

"Yes," Dappu agreed. "But they'll be back.

"We'll be ready next time," Red Racer said.

To be continued...Chapter Two