Hello! This is my first story. I hope you all enjoy it. This was inspired when I was watching Mystic Force, and thought that they have limitless power at their fingertips, yet all they do with it is animate brooms and create pizzas out of thin air, Disney magic. So I changed it.
"Ugh, why does Boss Man work us so hard?" said the kid sitting at the register. He was young, easily late teens, more likely early twenties. He had a shock of brown, unruly hair that fell down to about his shoulders, which he appeared to take great care of, based on the way he carefully brushed it to one side when it fell into his eyes. He was about 5 foot 10 inches, very gangly and yet seeming rather capable. He had an air of confidence about him that some misinterpreted as arrogance.
"You don't have to do anything. You just have to push a couple buttons and do simple arithmetic every hour. I have to sweep the store and organize the shelves, so don't complain to me." Said his companion in the store. He appeared to be about the same age as the kid at the register, but was much bigger. He stood a good 6 feet, and he had a lot more meat on his bones, and appeared also to know full well how to use it. He had the makings of an NFL star, but had never played ball in his life.
The kid at the register rolled his eyes at his compatriot's disapproval, and returned to his magazine, as well as his unconscious habit of snapping his fingers. He did not know why he did it, but he had since he was little, so he never really questioned it. Until his boss did it for him.
In his office, which was right next to the register, the manager of the store worked. He sat there, trying to file a tax return, until the incessant snapping drove him NUTS. He threw his office door open, and began yelling at the kid at the register, "Ridley, would you please sto-." He stopped mid-sentence when he realized what Ridley's hand was in fact doing.
Every time he snapped, his thumb lit on fire, and then went out with the next snap.
The manager stood there for a moment, dumbfounded. Ridley looked up, realized that his boss was standing RIGHT THERE, and hastily put up him magazine and pretended to be attentively waiting for a customer. Words started spilling from his mouth rapid-fire, "Hey boss, how's it going? I was just sitting here, waiting for more -." His boss cut him off by raising his hand.
"Can it, kiddo." His boss said after an awkward pause. "Keep snapping."
"What?" Ridley asked, a little confused.
"Just do it." Said his boss.
"Okay, whatever you say, boss man." Ridley replied, and snapped. His thumb immediately lit on fire.
Ridley reacted, as anyone else would have in this situation: he FREAKED OUT.
"MACK, FIRE EXTINGUISHER NOW!" Ridley yelled to his compatriot, who saw that Ridley's thumb was indeed on fire. He then freaked out as well, and ran to the other end of the store to get the extinguisher. The boss stopped him.
"Snap again." The boss said.
Ridley hesitantly complied, and the fire went out. Ridley's look of fear was immediately replaced by one of utter confusion, as was Mack's. But the boss looked like he knew exactly what was going on. He walked into his office, fumbled through his desk for a minute, and pulled something out. It looked like a cell phone, but it was gold and had a big "M" on the front. He flipped it open, dialed a quick number, and as he walked out of the store Ridley heard him say, "Udonna? It's Xander. I need to talk to you." Before he left he stopped, put his hand over the microphone on the phone, and said to Ridley, "Try not to burn the place down." Then he walked out.
"Xander's in a mood." Ridley said after a minute.
"No, you're misinterpreting. While he's gone, what do you say we hit Mystic?" Mack replied.
"No complaint here. Let's do it." Ridley replied as he was getting up.
They both left, walked up the stairs leading to the street, and turned left. They walked one building over, and entered it. They immediately felt the music reverberate in their bones, because they knew Vida, the DJ, loved bass lines with her heart and soul, behind mixing music. They showed their ID to the guard, had a quick chat with him about his kids, and walked in.
The place has strobe lights all over, and plenty of lasers. Mystic had barely avoided numerous lawsuits due to their lights causing seizures. They immediately picked out the DJ booth, because it was the only one-way mirror to be seen. They wandered over to the bar, and ordered some sodas (because they were still technically on duty, so no stiff ones.). They sat back, sipping their delicious beverages, and surveyed the landscape.
The dance floor, or as the regulars called it, "The Arena", was a maelstrom of arms, heads, and bodies. More lawsuits had been narrowly avoided because people fell in The Arena, and almost got trampled, having to spend a couple days in the hospital and suing for the medical costs. They saw a figure expertly weaving through the crowd, dodging limbs and heads with practiced ease. They immediately recognized Nick, the dude who lined up guest performers every Friday. He was about the same height as Ridley, and structured much more like a relatively physically fit human, except his hair has in a permanent fohawk.
"Hey, guys! How's it going?" Nick asked as soon as he got there, a huge smile on his face. He was wearing a button down shirt, about half unbuttoned with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows, an undershirt, and jeans.
"Not bad. Xander left in a huff." Ridley told Nick.
"Really? What happened?" Nick asked, the smile dampening a little.
"I'm not sure, but he was talking to someone named Udonna on this freaky phone." Ridley replied.
"What?" Nick asked, the smile disappearing and being replaced by a look of concern.
"Yeah, it was weird." Ridley said, taking a sip of his drink. By the time he looked up, Nick was shoving his way through the crowd, frantically making his way through the crowd to a door on the other side of The Arena.
"Why are those two freaking out? Who is Udonna anyway?" Nick asked, turning around to face the bar.
"No clue to both questions." Mack said, also turning around. They finished their drinks, Ridley slapped a $20 on the counter, and the two began working their way through the crowd to the door. They said bye to the guard, then walked outside. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky.
"Huh. There wasn't a forecast for rain today." Ridley said.
"I don't remember such a forecast for the day either." Mack replied, hen they made their way back to the Rock Porium.
As they did this, Nick, Vida, Mystic's DJ, and Madison, Vida's sister in charge of publicity for Mystic, ran past them. Ridley noticed that all three had the same weird phone that Xander had been talking in their hands. They also noticed that Charlie, known to pretty much everyone as Chip, owner of the gaming club next door, run out of his business, meet up with the other three, and then the four continued running.
Then Ben, one of Chip's employees at Arcane Games, the gaming club, walked out with a look of utter confusion on his face. He stood about 5 foot 8 inches, with a pale, freckled face and rather thin limbs. He was a gaming fanatic, explaining his place of work, but ran every day, so he was relatively good shape.
Two girls walked up behind them with similar looks of confusion. Ridley recognized one as Sarah, Vida's protégé at the art of mixing music. She was okay, with brown about shoulder length hair, and a red stripe running down the inside of her hair. She stood around 5 feet 6 inches, and worked out often, so she was also in relatively good shape.
Mack recognized the other as Joanna, but everyone called her Joana. She was learning the art of making movies from Madison. By comparison, she was pretty, with mid shoulder length dirty blonde locks and an okay body. She didn't work out as often as Sara, so she wasn't as toned.
Ridley broke the silence by voicing the one question everyone was thinking: "Where the hell did out bosses go?"
Then they noticed the massive pillar of light in the middle of town.
Nick and the crew showed up at the pillar of light, and met Xander. Xander immediately started talking.
"I went to visit the gang at Rootcore." Xander said.
"Oh yeah? How's Clare?" asked Vida.
"Fine, but while I was there, the Xenotome said something."
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Chip piped up "What did it say?"
"'For a new evil, a new generation will rise.'" Xander replied.
"Spooky." Said Vida. "For now, let's deal with the oversized fluorescent light bulb, okay?"
"Agreed. Let's Ranger up." Nick said, and the group took their positions, flipped open their morphers fully, punched in the appropriate spell code, and began the transformation.
"MAGICAL SOURCE! MYSTIC FORCE!"
Unbeknownst to them, their various employees had arrived a moment ago, and the moment Ridley saw the phones in their true form, he whipped out his (normal) phone and began taking video.
"This is destined for the Youtube." He said with a smirk.
Chip whipped out his MagiStaff, flipped it into crossbow mode, and opened fire on the column of light, which shattered into thousands of intangible pieces, leaving a figure floating there. He appeared to be about as tall as Chip himself, but dressed radically differently. He had on a cape blacker than the darkest night, and wore red and gold armor beneath the cape. He had shockingly white skin, and hair to match.
He landed lightly on his toes, slowly settling down onto his feet, then his gaze snapped up, to look at the Rangers. His eyes were white, empty, devoid of feeling or emotion.
"And who would you be?" Nick yelled, sword at the ready.
The figure chuckled lightly, and then swept into a deep bow, saying, "I am Seilus, Prince on the Night, Vampire King." He straightened, and suddenly he had a sickle in each hand. "And your worst nightmare."
He moved impossibly fast, ramming Madison and sending her flying. Xander and Nick attacked him together, but by the time they swung, he was gone. Their attacks were met with pavement as they overbalanced and crashed to the ground. Chip opened fire, but whatever shots Seilus didn't dodge, he deflected by putting his sickle at the perfect angle. He charged Chip similar to how he charged Madison, and Chip flew a good ten feet.
Vida transformed into a tornado and charged him, but Seilus simply stepped back and threw a sickle. His aim was impeccable, and Vida flew into the side of building 50 feet away, propelled by her own tornado.
Ridley had stopped taking video around when the fight began, and simply watched in stunned horror. Everyone else had a similar expression. Ridley's fists clenched, and he charged into the fray.
"Ridley! What are you doing!" Mack yelled, "You're gonna die!"
Ridley stopped about 15 yards from Seilus, and unconsciously, not even fully aware of what he was doing, he cocked his arm back and threw a ball of fire like a baseball, catching the vampire in cheek. Seilus felt his cheek, then slowly turned to face Ridley. Ridley responded by flipping the bird.
"Oh, you are gone." Seilus said under his breath as he began to charge.
"RIDLEY!" Mack yelled, and he slammed his fist into the ground.
Seilus finished his charge: By ramming headfirst at full speed into a wall of stone. He bounced off, and staggered back, feeling his head.
"I will not deal with you peasants any longer! Hidiacs!' he said, snapping his fingers, and a group of Hidiacs appeared behind him, looking as unnatural and undead as ever, with their steel faceplates and cleaver-sword thingies. "Get them!" Seilus said before morphing his cape into a pair of bat wings and flying away.
Mack lifted his fist, and the stone disappeared back into the ground. The soldiers split into two groups. One went for the Rangers and one went for the kids. Second group had easy pickings, right? Oh, how wrong you would be.
Ridley lit his fists on fire, and started lighting Hidiacs on fire by punching them. Mack stomped, and a fissure opened in the ground beneath another few, sending them on a quick journey to an unknown destination very far down. Ben started hurling bolts of lightning like his preferred character class (mage), and Sarah threw gusts of wind, enabling Ben's lightning bolts to his targets further away. Joana drew water from the sewer, and started channeling it into a midair river; washing Hidiacs away like a flood washes away houses during a hurricane.
The Rangers dealt with the Hidiacs, and when that was done, they turned, demorphed, and faced their employees.
"We're screwed, aren't we?" Ridley asked after making eye contact with Xander.
Meanwhile, Seilus sat on his throne in darkness, and a werewolf approached him. The wolf was bent over, not unlike an old man, with white fur, spectacles on his nose, and a cane, which he leaned on heavily. He bowed down to Seilus, and said, "Master, what shall we do next?"
"We shall wipe those damn magicians and their brats off of the face of the earth!" Seilus roared, slamming his fist into the arm of his throne.
"Who should I send?" The werewolf asked.
Seilus pondered, then a smile crossed his face, and he said "Send Reiker. Go with him, Desmonicus. You could use the practice."
Desmonicus nodded, and said, "At once, master." And with that, Desmonicus shuffled off to find Reiker.
Back in the square, Nick paused, and then said "How did you kids do that?"
"Because they are the foretold next generation." A voice echoed behind them, as a woman in white clothing appeared behind the Rangers.
"Mom." Nick said, turning around.
"Yes, hello Nick. You really should visit Rootcore more often." The woman said, then walked past the Rangers and said, "I am Udonna. We need to discuss something, but not here." And with that, she retrieved a wand, which looked more like a stick tipped with a white star, and the star glowed for a moment, then the wand was replaced with a full-blown staff. She said something in a different language, and then the lot of them disappeared in a bright flash of light.
When the light ended, they were standing in a very interesting room. It appeared to be inside of a tree, and there was a landing where a rather-important looking book sat on a pedestal. There was a big round table with a crystal ball in the middle.
"Where are we?" Ridley asked.
"Rootcore." Nick replied, and walked around the table until he was between it and the book. He spread his arms and said "The base of the Power Rangers Mystic Force."
"I would probably laugh at you, but given the scene we witnessed a little while back, combined with how we got here, makes me inclined to believe you." Ridley said, looking around.
"Oh my GOD!" Ben yelled, nearly about to faint with the excitement he was having.
Chip ran over and said, "I know! Isn't it great!"
"So, what is this I heard about the next generation?" Mack asked.
"Ah yes, that. You see, we haven't had to fight in a while, so our powers are a bit, uh, rusty." Xander said. "That, combined with what the Xenotome said," gesturing to the book on the pedestal, and continuing, "We need new warriors, who are a little fresher, to deal with this."
"And I'm going to go ahead and assume that we are said warriors?" Joana asked, and Xander nodded. "Awesome."
Then the fog in the crystal ball in the center of the table cleared, and Nick leaned in, and worry creased on his brow, and he leaned back, and said, "Two new monsters, a werewolf and a skeleton thing."
Chip leaned in, and said, "That second guy looks sort of like a draugr." When he got quizzical looks from most everyone else present, he explained, "A draugr is an undead warrior from Norse mythology said to guard the tombs of warriors."
"Oh, okay." Nick said, and turned to the kids, and said "Listen, I'm getting the feeling that you guys will need to use our powers to beat these guys."
"And how do we do that?" Ridley asked.
"It'll come to you. Just take these." Nick said, and tossed his phone to Ridley, and said, "It's called a Mystic Morpher. We use them to turn into Rangers, and I have been wanting really bad to get an IPhone. And now I can, because you five are the Power Rangers Mystic Force now."
And with that, Chip passed his Morpher to Ben; Vida passed hers to Sarah, Madison to Joana, and Xander to Mack. They inspected their new phones, and Sarah asked, "Do these things get data?"
Xander said, "I haven't tried it, but I would assume they do. Though, data is annoying on flip phones, so I would try and live without."
"But what if I need to post something on Twitter NOW?" Sarah asked.
Xander replied, "Then go without for five more minutes."
"But what if I can't?" Sarah asked, her voice taking on a slight whiny tone. Xander looked disbelievingly at Vida, and his eyes asked the question for him.
Vida stammered a reply, saying, "What? She has talent with the turntable!"
"You took on a Twitter junkie as your protégé?" Nick asked, gesturing to Sarah.
"HEY! I can hear you!" Sarah replied indignantly.
"I know." Nick said.
"You know what? Just go, fight the monster. The suits will tell you how to fight." Nick said, and continued, "Believe me, that's how the lion's share of us learned to fight." Xander, Vida and Madison nodded in agreement, and Xander remained silent, but his expression told the whole story.
"Got it. Lets go, people." Ridley said, and ran out. Mack, Joana and Ben followed him, and Sarah stood there for a moment, but the looks from the former Rangers in the room eventually caused her to give in. She sighed, put her purse on the table, and ran out of Rootcore.
To Be Continued in Episode 2.