Sledge (Dino Charge)

"Quiet... Quiet! Which of you minky, rotten, diabolical monsters can destroy me a Power Ranger?!"

- Sledge in the Cell Block, scolding his imprisoned outlaws, as he offers them a chance of freedom should any bring him the Energems.

Sledge is an alien bounty hunter who comes into conflict with the Dino Charge Rangers due to his obsession to acquire the Energems.

Character History
In prehistoric times, Sledge collected asteroids, rare items, and outlaws as both a hobby and a way for life, gathering handsome sums measured in thousands of "Space Bullion" per conquest. He traveled through space with his bride Poisandra, his second-in-command Fury, his mechanic Wrench, and his Vivix crew. On a job involving the search for the Energems, he discovered that all ten of them were in the possession of Keeper. He then chased Keeper to Earth and sent Fury to fetch the Energems when Poisandra managed to make him crash land. However, when Fury returns with the Energems case, they are surprised to find a bomb instead. The bomb throws the ship off-course and releases all his collected asteroids, previously trapped in the electro-net, off to Earth, destroying four-fifths of life there and causing the dinosaurs' extinction.

Sixty-five million years later, Sledge releases Iceage to retrieve the Energems, only for his outlaw to be defeated, after several lost battles, by the newest generation of Power Rangers, who already possess five of the Energems.

Sledge later notices Scrapper trying to escape his ship and offers to personally chauffeur him to any galaxy he wants if he can get him an Energem. Despite being successful at finding the location of the Rangers' base, Tyler prevents the mechanical monster from returning to the ship to report his findings. The outlaw ends up defeated despite Wrench's assistance, and is ultimately destroyed by the Dino Charge Megazord: Tri-Stego Formation.

Later, Sledge concedes to Fury's suggestion to send Slammer to cage the Rangers, forcefully sending his minion out of the warship to begin the mission immediately. As Poisandra complains about her stay at the ship and the lack of companionship, Wrench unveils his creation, Curio, as a gift to her, after which the happy-go-lucky duo merrily leaves. Slammer fails due to Koda's interference and is eventually felled by Dino Charge Megazord: Stego-Raptor Formation.

For the next plan, Spellbinder is released to steal a pendant that would allow him to control the Rangers, and is almost thrown into solitary by Wrench and Fury by Sledge's order for seemingly failing. Seeing the assignment was partially successful, Spellbinder is given a second chance and sent down to Earth once more alongside Curio and Wrench. However, the Rangers' new weapon, the Dino Spike, along with their teamwork is enough to counter both his magic and his defensive cape. Once grown, he is dealt with by the Dino Charge Megazord: Para-Raptor Formation, though the pendant is saved by Wrench due to its potential for later use.

As Poisandra tries wedding cakes made by Cavity, with Curio and Fury later participating, Sledge orders Cavity to head down and use his decay recipe on the Power Rangers. Pestered by Poisandra and Curio due to his unwillingness to make cakes now, he reveals his true evil self and pushes the heart-shaped general aside after stating his loyalty is to Sledge only. However, Riley and Chase overcome their analytical differences and work together to defeat him. When enlarged, Cavity is beaten by the Dino Charge Megazord's Stego Saber.

Once again acting on her own, Poisandra, accompanied by Curio, enlists Wrench's aid to find out the search whereabouts of the Power Rangers and sics Stingrage on them. Fury notifies this to Sledge and he confronts her about it, shifting the situation to her favor and allowing Stingrage to return to Earth once he learns about him stinging the Ankylo Zord, only to have it freed from his control by Shelby, who defeats him singlehandedly. Enlarged, he is overpowered and obliterated by the Dino Charge Megazord: Tri-Ankylo Formation.

After stating his feelings for Poisandra, he decides to give her a moment in the spotlight and carry out her first authorized mission. For that end, she takes Curio and Wrench with her and has Duplicon released to battle and fool the Rangers by cloning their appearances with Vivix while the three generals attempt to decipher the recently stolen E-Tracer. Though Duplicon is felled by the Dino Spike while in normal size and destroyed alongside a clone of Fury as a giant, the mission is accomplished. However, Fury arrives at the scene and tries to steal the E-Tracer, only to force the Rangers to destroy it. However, the beast-warrior general retrieves the Ptera Charger and leaves, confident he will be able to find and control the Ptera Zord.

Shortly after yet another setback, Wrench analyzes the stolen Ptera Charger, only to find out it is dead. Sledge calls Fury forth to explain the cause of his attack on his bride. Openly showing his discontent over yet another failure, Sledge takes the Ptera Charger and banishes Fury from the ship, but Fury takes his conquest back and, along with Wrench's mechanical assistance and Puzzler's handiwork, successfully manages to charge it and use it to summon the Ptera Zord, though it runs out of energy before it can destroy the Dino Charge Megazord due to firing at Puzzler. Impressed by his efforts and achievements, Sledge welcomes Fury back to the ship and salutes him with applaud, much to Poisandra's chagrin and annoyance as she is completely ignored by Sledge. The two leaders then leave together to discuss Fury's plan to deal with the Rangers.

Sledge then monitors the next battle with the Rangers through the monitor connected to his throne and is furious when the Ptera Charge Megazord is forced to retreat from the battlefield due to lack of energy. He informs Fury he has to fix the problem or otherwise he is of no use to him. With Fury unable to use his energy to further recharge the Ptera Charger, Sledge mobilizes an assault to retrieve the Gold Energem from Prince Phillip III. However, despite the efforts of all four of his generals and their minions, Sir Ivan of Zandar, the medieval knight who originally bonded with the Gold Energem, successfully separates from Fury and morphs into the Gold Ranger, driving off Sledge's forces.

Angered at both the loss of the Energem and the fact there are now six Rangers to deal with, Sledge punishes Fury by having Bones strip his courage, making him cowardly. He is then instructed to do the same to the Rangers. Upon returning to the ship, Bones informs Sledge he only managed to do so with four of them. Enraged, Sledge kicks Bones into a ship and tells him not to dare return until he has thoroughly done the job. However, Ivan and Shelby defeat him and the other heroes regain their courage by remembering the bonds to their friends, giving them the strength to overcome the enlarged Bones by using both of their Megazords against him.

Sledge then changes tactics and has Wrench to create a bomb that will destroy Amber Beach, tasking him and Smokescreen to hide it at Tyler's jeep. The two complete the mission, but their clumsiness sabotages a perfect plan. Wrench takes the opportunity and distraction at the moment to retreat back to the ship, leaving Smokescreen to deal with the Rangers. Putting their rivalry aside, Ivan and Tyler successfully defeat the outlaw at both normal and giant size. As a last ditch effort, Sledge fires the Magna Beam at the bomb, making it grow, so the Rangers are unable to move it. However, the newly-formed Tri-Stego Ptera formation of the Dino Charge Megazord enables it to fly into outer space, closing in on Sledge's ship just as the villains gloat victory. Despite firing every laser on the ship at the Ranger duo, they are unable to stop them from tossing the bomb toward the ship. The detonation barely misses the ship, sparing it from being destroyed, but severely damaging it. With Poisandra's approval, she and Curio bear witness as Sledge insults Wrench for the failure.

The bounty hunter then approaches Gold Digger, who is trying to escape the ship after ridding himself of one of his Spikeballs, and tells him to stop fooling around and get the job done or else he will melt him into Poisandra's jewelry. Being the one thought the outlaw cannot stand, he complies and descends to Earth with Curio, Wrench and Poisandra to try and blow up the Rangers with his explosive coins. When that fails, he attempts to crush them with his stone slabs, but, upon mastering the Armor X, Chase is able to break through his defenses and defeat him alongside the other Rangers. The Tri-Stego Ptera Megazord is then formed and defeats him. Wrench is then threatened to be tossed into solitary if he fails again, to which he cowers away, much to the pleasure of both Sledge and Poisandra.

Sledge then assigns Memorella and the recently revived Duplicon to retrieve the Energems by infiltrating the Rangers' Halloween party, though not before she reads his memory in order to prepare for the upcoming struggle. When their cover is blown, Sledge enlarges Memorella with the Magna Beam. However, she is defeated by the Ptera Charge Megazord's Pachy Formation, to which he lets out his anger at the airheaded Curio and Duplicon, who abandoned their post to trick or treat.

Sledge then witnesses Fury save Poisandra from the tentacle of a monster. Impressed by his loyalty, Sledge gives Fury another chance to destroy the Dino Charge Rangers and then learns the Graphite Energem has been located and orders its retrieval, sending a swarm of Vivix and Spikeballs to aid Fury and G-BO, a robot owned by Phillip and reprogrammed by Wrench to be evil. However, the prince bonds with the Energem and becomes the Graphite Ranger, felling G-BO while his Pachy Zord destroys two Vivizords. Sledge is furious at the failure and tells Fury his patience is growing thin and will end soon.

Sledge then questions Shearfear after he severs the bond of friendship between Curio and Poisandra and orders him to fix it after he deals with the Dino Charge Rangers. When Wrench is done fixing his scissors after they break during his first battle with the Rangers, Sledge warns him he better not fail or he will be the one who will be snipped. When Shearfear is defeated, Sledge considers punishing Wrench due to his part in the failure, having been tasked along with Curio to ensure the outlaw would succeed, but declines after Fury informs him he has found the Purple Energem.

Sledge then sends Meteor to search the Purple Energem on New Zealand and even has Wrench to reanimate Stingrage and Iceage and aid him in battle during his second mission after the latest freed outlaw fails both his search and first assignment, but once the Energem bonds with Albert Smith, he and the other Rangers succeed in working together to defeat the outlaws, after which Albert relinquishes his bond with the Purple Energem, giving it back to Keeper and the Dino Charge Rangers for safekeeping after deciding to stay on New Zealand.

Sledge then agrees to Fury's suggestion of reviving Meteor and has Wrench to do it in order to destroy the Plesio Zord to avoid the Dino Charge Rangers from controlling it and becoming even stronger, even recalling the past experience with the Ptera Zord as an example not to be repeated. However, Meteor is defeated when the Plesio Zord is recharged and turns into its Megazord mode, to which Sledge informs Fury he has had it with failures from his servants and will see to it he eliminates the Rangers personally.

After the Dino Charge Rangers obtained the Purple Energem, Sledge sends Wish Star down to capture it, only for the outlaw to escape upon finding out he would go back to jail after Fury overhears it is unbonded. Sledge is furious upon learning this, as his employer would have paid 40,000 Space Bullion for the outlaw, even remarking he should toss him in a volcano just for that. However, upon learning that the Rangers are looking for someone to bond with the Energem, Sledge decides, against the advice and to the shock of Fury and Wrench, to release Heckyl, a mighty convict locked in solitary confinement. The alien agrees to help if they become partners and rule the universe together in case he is successful. However, Fury retrieves the Energem instead, so Sledge blasts him back into his cell with a now Energem-empowered blaster.

Though Poisandra, Wrench and Curio most actively lead the attack against Santa Claus, during which they steal his computer and attempt to extract the information necessary to learn the location of the base of the Dino Charge Rangers, Sledge makes a brief, yet somewhat goofy and hilarious, appearance with a Christmas bonnet and chanting the famous rhythm to Santa before ordering the Vivix to fire the Magna Beam at the Spikeball his bride had sent to deal with their enemies, but to no avail.

With the acquaintance of the Purple Energem, Sledge prepares to deal with the Rangers, earning time by promising marriage to Poisandra as soon as he acquires one more Energem, something to which she celebrates with Curio. Though he successfully overpowers and defeats the Dino Charge Rangers by paralyzing them, Keeper prevents him from taking all but the Red Energem as the Rangers make their getaway aboard the Ptera Zord, though at the cost of his own defeat and capture. Distraught by having his complete victory foiled, Sledge has Wrench to release Greenzilla. Unbeknownst to them until just after their escape, Kendall infiltrated one of Sledge's transport ships and headed to the main ship alone. The heroes are forced to split their forces to both fight the monster and rescue Kendall and Keeper. As Greenzilla is fought, Kendall's heroism causes her to be chosen as the new Purple Ranger and she, along with Shelby and Keeper, escape from the ship through the Plesio Zord, while Tyler remains on the ship to retrieve his own Energem. After narrowly doing so, he has Sledge to hit the ship's control consoles during their fight and escapes the doomed ship, much to the terror, horror and chagrin of the villains within it, as they have a small discussion before the ship crashlands and bursts into flames, as Tyler is rescued by Ivan in mid-air. With only Greenzilla left to deal with, the Rangers join their Zords and form the Plesio Charge Megazord Pachy-Rex Formation and easily destroy the outlaw. With this apparent final victory, the Rangers resume their normal civilian lives and bid their goodbyes to one another for the time being. The threat to Earth is not yet over, however, as Snide survives the destruction and escapes to enact his own evil agenda.

Personality
Sledge is a powerful bounty hunter. He is easily angered with little to no provoke when it comes to serious matters, which causes his minions to fear and respect him. His main motivation is money and he emphasizes his desire to be even richer. When a failure happens, he is comically abusive towards his servants, threatening them with several ways of punishment only to laugh at it, either to calm himself after a failure or simply to have fun at their expense.

Though resilient and ancient, Sledge is not immune to aging or its effects, as he clearly shows signs of it during his first personal battle against the Dino Charge Rangers and bids a retreat after defeating the heroes with the aid of his minions. His elderly traits, however, do not obscure his intelligent mind, still able to come up with efficient and practical strategies, pretty much like those his generals devise. He also has the habit of closely monitoring attacks.

He displays respect to Fury, Wrench, Curio and his outlaws, though he still scolds them whenever a plan fails and goes as far as to threaten them to ensure they try harder, though he does not physically punish his minions if he does not consider it necessary and may actually provide encouragement and support to them if need be, though his way of doing so is usually rather forceful and through intimidation and threat rather than a civilized suggestion.

Sledge is surprisingly shown to be romantic to Poisandra and truly care about her, openly courting her and walking her around as well as providing her a constant degree of company. He will go as far as give her gifts, such as when he asked Wrench to create Curio simply because she felt lonely and had no close friends, causing their affection to each other to increase even more. They are the only villains not to fight amongst themselves, although even they do not agree all the time.

Although Sledge is seen as a villain, he is often misunderstood by both, Keeper and the Rangers because of their continuous battles to gain possession of the Energems. Sledge's reasons for wanting to steal them from Keeper is so that he could become the strongest Bounty Hunter in the universe, and his only desire for that power is capture stronger bounties so that his employer can increase his salary. Technically, this would make Sledge keep Earth safe from harm, as for many years, Rangers have been stopping alien threats that inhabited Earth for their own personal agendas. However, because Keeper gave the Energems to the Dinosaurs, and then the Rangers bonded to them, Sledge fails to talk to them logically about why he needs them, and instead decides to take them by any means necessary, even if it means destroying the rangers. He has no actual intention to destroy Earth, but will destroy anything that gets in the way of his passion to capture criminals, which makes him more neutral than evil.

Power
Protected by an old but resilient armor, Sledge can stand toe-to-toe and overwhelm any opponent one-on-one. Though he is not quite as fast or agile as Fury, Wrench, Curio and Poisandra, as the armor also restrains his movements and slows him down considerably, he can compensate it through the use of the jetpack and thrusters input onto the backside of his armament. Sledge is also powerful enough to battle the Dino Charge Rangers singlehandedly.

Powers and Abilities

 * Enhanced Lifespan: Similar to all aliens, Sledge has a far longer lifespan than mortal beings, which allows him to live for millions of years, though it is possible the conditions of outer space may slow down his aging process.

Arsenal and Weaponry

 * Armor: Sledge is mostly covered in armor, which protects his body from attack. He is also able to fly with great speed using a potent jetpack with twin thrusters positioned on the backside of the armor.


 * Blaster Gun: Through his armor, he can unleash a powerful handgun from his right hand capable of taking down any opponent in one shot.

Weaknesses and Vulnerabilities

 * Aging: Unlike his shipmates and prisoners, while capable of living longer, his body is subjected to aging, as evidenced when his fighting skills diminished in battle, though he could still overwhelm the Rangers in battle regardless.
 * Armor: Sledge's armor is ancient and brittle and, at times, would malfunction, which could hinder any opportunity of movement, such as when it is needed to escape from enemy fire.
 * Behavior: While intelligent, Sledge can be impulsive and impatient, leading him to be uncooperative with plans laid down by his minions, which can result in the failure of a mission and which eventually bring about his downfall and undoing.