Fantasuchikku Senshi DEJIRANGER Chapter 1: Episode One: Brave Heroes of Hope!, a digimon fanfic

FANTASUCHIKKU Senshi DejiRanger Episode One: Brave heroes of hope?! A careless lot will not help anyone!

(Disclaimer: Dekaranger and Abaranger, as well as other Sentai series, are property of Toei, along with anyone else I may have forgotten. Digimon is a product of Toei animation, Bandai and Disney/Saban. I do not claim any ownership to anything, except some concepts used in the story itself. This fanfic has been edited, to your approval, by Neo Arkadia. Check out his stuff, especially "Hello". And I apologize in advance, of anyone perceives what happens to Izumi as bashing or anything bad like that; I'm quite fond of her, actually, and I promise that her role with greatly improve by the end! Please, do not kill me, for something that I perceive as happening to her a lot in the series!)

Digital Police Headquarters; the lead in human and Digimon connections, and has been this way for as long as most anyone could remember. Here, it was where tamers could become Rangers- people devoted to the protection of Earth and the Digital World. This place held a lot of power in the world of today, as this police was where you turned not when your purse was stolen, but when a large ATM-Wig-Mushroom combination monster decided to go on a rampage. While that may not seem all too common to some people, in Tokyo it's a daily thing.

Yes, the Digital Police had a to be proud of, ever since it's humble beginnings in 1999; the Digital police, who were sworn to defend the world; Thousands of DejiZords under its beck and call; And quite a few generous donations, from several multi-billion dollars. Pretty soon, it would have another jewel to add to its crown of achievements: the specialty DejiRanger group, the elites in other words. It was to be the best of the best, compromised of five candidates to fight against… Against… Against something that was not covered in the notes.

Ryo sighed, as he looked over the packet again, first skimming over it before reading more in depth. No… That's not right. Even with all of the ego-stroking that the superiors seemed to put into the primary information, they never said why the DejiRanger group was necessary, or even anything basic, like where they'd be stationed in Tokyo and what they'd defend. Was this all just some sort of publicity stunt or some hoax? If so, Ryo knew he would need to kill something or someone in the executive offices; he did not drop out of retirement and Tokyo U, just to play mentor to some ornamental task-force.

The brunette tossed the note aside, not caring about the mess he just made. Soon, the assistant from those bureaucrats in the executive offices would come down… Whoever that was could clean up the mess… Well, that's what Ryo was thinking now, but he would end up picking up the mess himself, so that he'd give the assistant less to worry about; as mad as he was now, the former Ranger still happened to be a pretty nice guy.

As he stared at the door, finally she came in. She being a red-haired girl, about his age, bound to a wheelchair. He looked surprised for a moment, before feeling kind of like an ass about his earlier thoughts, and bowed deeply to her. "Pardon me, Miss, I'll just pick this up, you don't have to worry…"

"About the mess, you mean?" The girl nodded to the assorted notes and contracts sprawled out on the conference table. "No need to apologize… My brother makes a worse mess, and he usually has me get it. Are you Mr. Akiyama?" He nodded, still in the bow. "… You can get up you know. You're the superior."

"Well, you don't need to call me Mr. Akiyama, miss… I may be retired, but it doesn't mean I'm an old man. I'm only nineteen, you know." He coughed a bit nervously, while thinking about how idiotic he was acting. Yeah, a world-renown Ranger, one of the strongest of his time, and the Tamer of the fiendish Milleniumon… And he could barely talk to most people without acting like a goof. "Please call me Ryo. But let's get to business… You've got the files of the Ranger candidates that will be considered for DejiRanger, correct?"

"Yes." She held a small bundle of files, each one color-coded for easier reference. Then again, most Ranger information came in easy to manage color-coding… Just find the group you're looking for, and match the Ranger you want with their theme color. Still, it appeared as if the young woman either only took a small amount of files with her, or had lost a few on the way, as she placed them on the table; all five of them.

"… This is it?" Ryo asked, indignantly. "This can't be everything…"

"What do you mean 'this can't be everything'? This is all I got, when I asked for the candidates files." The red-haired girl answered, the tone of her voice sounding rather peeved at what he suggested, that she made a mistake on what was correct. "That's how many Rangers reached the qualifications on making the elite team."

"You mean to tell me that, out of five thousand or even more Rangers… We can count all of the candidates we received on one hand?" The red-haired girl nodded. "You sure that's all the files?"

"Positive." She muttered, frustrated. "There isn't anyone else who reaches the requirements of the DejiRanger code. These five are all that we're going to deal with." The group was meant to be five people, or at least according to all of the reports Ryo poured over, in the past few hours. In other words, he really didn't have a choice on who'd make the cut; everyone possible already did.

Resisting the urge to bang his head on the table, he took the top file on the desk. The file already showcased a leader Ranger- Red- and came with an "urgent" stamp on the top of it. A small label on the side had the name written in English, along with the sub-division where it came from. "New York City? They're sending us a Ranger?"
"Well, from what I've read, the boy originally came from Japan. The whole group… I think it was the ArmoRanger… They were stationed in Japan, since the NYC center came under siege last year, from the whole Wendimon and Diablomon fiascos. Motamiya… Daisuke, I think it was."

"Oh?" As he read through the notes on the one known as 'ArmoRed', "He certainly seems strong enough to be part of DejiRanger. Powerful weapons, a power outside of combat, a partner with both a decent Digimon form and a powerful DejiZord…"

"Certainly so; in fact, from all I've read on the boy, there's only one problem." Ryo looked at her, as she flipped the file to a certain page. Had Ryo been drinking anything, he would've surely spat it out across the table. The page she had turned to gave a list of prices, ranging in wide amounts from two thousand yen to somewhere above ten million. The list only had a simple header on the top; TOTAL PROPERTY DAMAGE.

"Over seventy million yen's worth of property damage? By one person!? Surely you mean this is for the whole team, I mean how can one person be responsible for all this?!"

"ARMORANGER POLICE!" ArmoRed shouted, as he ran and held out an ornate-looking badge. "PLEASE SIR, COME TO A COMPLETE STOP, AND PUT YOUR HANDS ON THE GROUND!"

The creature, a rogue Devimon, looked back at the boy as he kept on running, holding one arm close to his body. The dark-type monster turned back, holding out an arm in attack position. "Do you think you scare me, Ranger? You're kind is the least of my worries! Death claw!"

His claw elongated and enlarged a bit, the tips of his pointed fingers becoming sharp to the point of razors. The claw went flying to the teen in the red spandex, and destroying a mailbox in the process of rushing to him. Instinctively, ArmoRed bounced up, letting the claw fly harmlessly (unless you count the three cars he just totaled) underneath him. Landing on the extended arm, he ran up to the Devimon, and kicked him right in the face.

Devimon yowled in pain, his mouth now bloodied from the row of broken and jagged teeth that remained. The demon smacked the boy away, extremely hard, with his free hand, sending ArmoRed flying. ArmoRed flew right into a parked bus, breaking a couple of windows in the process of a jagged landing. In the bus, he slammed into a group of tourists, cushioning the blow for himself.

Even though they were unhurt, the tourists were all very surprise. Some of the people, including one little girl in particular, found all of this very exciting. The little girl found this twice as much so, since she didn't know they had Rangers in New York. "Reddo Rangaa!"

"Ouch…" He didn't notice the small child pointing to him, and shouting his name, or at least "Reddo Rangaa". "Sorry for all of the trouble everyone," he shouted, "Please, return to your seats, and enjoy your tour!" With that, the boy in red spandex got up once again, before dashing out of the bus. "And sorry about the windows, but at least some of you on the left can enjoy a nice cool breeze!"

The Devimon stood on the ruins of one car, waiting for the Ranger, while holding his misbegotten relic close. "Had enough, boy? Or do you want more punishment?" The demonic creature smiled grimly, which didn't have quite the effect he was going for, due to the shattered teeth in his mouth.

"Oh, I'm just getting started with you…" ArmoRed let his arms drop to the sides, close to the two holsters on his waist. "But, unfortunately, this is just your end." With that, the teen in red spandex grabbed the two guns, and proceeded to shoot at everything and everyone with reckless abandon. Street signs, cars, windows, store fronts- all shot up to hell. Most people duck out of the way of the blast, recognizing ArmoRed's attack. New York may be a large place, but when there's news of a "Bullet-Crazy Maniac in Long Red Spandex", you tend to listen. And you remember that.

Devimon was totally ripped up from the attack. The demon-like monster yowled, the last noise he made on this plain, as he deleted from the multiple shots. Even after he died, Daisuke still shot at a mailbox behind him for a few seconds, converting the damned thing to Swiss cheese or some sort of "modern art gone bad". It wasn't that he wanted to shoot the mailbox but, when the guns go off, he really had little control on where the shots would go. At least no one was shot this time.

In the tourist bus, everyone had ducked again, at the sounds of the shooting. The little girl peeked up from her seat, on her mother's lap, before looking out the window, whimpering. "Kowaii…" She said. The Rangers in New York were very scary.

On the ground, there laid a purse with two or three good-sized holes in it. De-transforming as he did so, Daisuke walked over to the bag and picked it up, blowing away the smoke and dust from it as he did so. The teenage boy, with wild red-brown hair held back with goggles, walked back to a street corner a block away, whistling as he did so.

"Here you go, ma'am!" He handed the bag back to the old lady standing on the corner, before glaring at four other teens. "And I appreciate you're help guys… Especially you, Ken."

"Daisuke… You know we're not supposed to go to such…" He looked at the purse, ridden with bullet holes, as the old lady gawked at it. "… Extremes, for something this minor…"

"Minor?" Daisuke scoffed. "Minor? What, how is the theft of an old lady's purse considered anything 'minor'. Ken, you usually help out the elderly much more than me; what makes this time different?"

"Why does it smell like gun-powder?" The old lady, a frail little thing in her nineties, asked. "Did you shoot the purse, young man?"

"Well, ma'am, I didn't mean to really shoot it… At least it's no longer in the hands of evil! And, you can patch up the holes with fabric, and make it look at cool and sort of punk-ish!"

Takeru, ignoring the old lady's commentary, snapped at Daisuke. "Look, mister 'Property Damage', we're not supposed to transform unless lives are at stake! You don't go and destroy half a city block," With that, the blonde teen directed his hand to all of the wanton destruction ArmoRed left behind. "…Over petty theft. Once the chief finds out about this, he'll…"

"He'll what? He can't fire a ranger, otherwise he'd have to take V-Mon away, and that's never happened before!" Or, at least, it hasn't happened before to Daisuke's knowledge. But they wouldn't take away someone's Zord, their partner Digimon… Would they? No, of course not!

A cell-phone went off. Immediately, Miyako answered the phone, "Hello, ArmoRanger! This is ArmoGreen speaking, what is the… Oh." The girl's eyes bugged out a little at something. "OH." She looked over to Daisuke, before turning to the side. "I'll tell him so. And it's that bad." A loud noise came over the phone, sounding a little like a yell. She yipped, as it just went off in her ear. "Okay, I see… Wow, that's a new record… it's really close to twenty-five thousand dollars? In one hit alone?"

Daisuke winced at that one. The call had to be it; it was possible to fire a Ranger, and he was about to be canned… He was so dead… "V-Mon…"

The brunette looked at the folder, an array of rather morbid thoughts coming to his mind, including the repeated thought of "Has this guy ever killed a person? He must've, at one point or another…" He grimaced, before just placing the folder to the side, holding it like it was a used condom. "Is there anything as…? What would be a good word… Disturbing, with this one?" Ryo asked, as he picked up the next file, which had a blue dark to the point of being nearly black.

"Kimura Kouichi. No, he's not nearly as reckless as Motamiya… Well, actually, there's something rather troubling in his files."

Ryo didn't see anything too bad, at first. A ranger mode-change, unique to himself and the ability to use dual swords… Alright, the fact his partner was, quite literally, the Spirit of Corrupted Darkness can be considered 'disturbing'. But he's probably very close with his partner, or could manage the dangerous nature of his partner. Then, he came across the hospital records.

"An overdose of Celexa? You mean he's tried to kill himself before?"

Rei became quiet, for a moment. "It's not sure if he even meant to over-dose on the medication. Team members say he did so intentionally, but he's claiming that he didn't even know he was given it. Perhaps he was so out of it that he didn't realize what he was doing."

"Huh…" That really didn't seem possible… Still, there was the problem that he was severely depressed, as most of the records went to show. Repeated visits to psychiatrists… At least five different types of medications over the past four years… And a previous suicide attempt. If nothing else, the boy may end up having an emotional collapse, at least. He didn't even want to think what the worst that could happen was…

Heavy rains poured down the tops of buildings, as the four Rangers speeded to action, atop roaring motorcycles. The four Rangers of Shadows- ShadRanger, as they were called- road to the scene of a fight, the colors of their suits blending in with the darkness. They were ShadRed, ShadGreen, ShadPurple, and ShadBlue, even if their colors could be more accurately described as crimson, forest green, dark purple, and navy.

In the foreground of all the chaos, there stood what the rangers were racing to fight; an over-grown beast, with two faces on it. This beast, with wings used rarely for flight, and fangs in both sets of mouths, was the terrible King of Vampires known as VenomVamdemon. He growled, the mouth on his head foaming at the lips, as he watched the cycles speed up to the rescue, before swinging a giant clawed hand towards the group. Most of the cycles- red, green and purple- went flying, sending the three Rangers on each sprawling onto the ground.

The fourth cyclist, ShadBlue, looked to his side at his fallen comrades, before turning his eyes to VenomVamdemon. The devil stared back, realizing that one ranger still continued onward to him, and said ranger was the one he'd been warned about. Roaring, he slammed his arm into the ground, absolutely destroying the motorcycle with his hands. At first, he was sure he'd kill the ranger, and lifted, expecting to see a usual pool of read, mixed in with the crushed pavement and burning bike. However, there was something missing; there was no body. All that was there was a motorcycle with a burning mess in there.

ShadBlue landed on the ground close by, thankful for knowing to jump in time. Damnit. At least he wouldn't have too much trouble… At least, not for long, as he'd hoped.

VenomVamdemon noticed the still blue figure, as it stood on the pavement for a good portion of time. Not even giving it a second, he slammed into attack stance, while the second mouth of the giant beast, one close to his waist, screamed "Chaos FLAME!"

Fires, hotter than hell itself, poured from the Demi-God's mouth, searing everything in the area really quickly. Noticing the blast as it came, ShadBlue rolled out of the way, still managing to earn some heavy burns on his right arm and leg, before falling to the ground. He coughed harshly, standing up as fast as he could to avoid another such attack.

"Ouch." The ranger looked to his arm, the skin underneath now visible from the spandex being both burned away and torn in the fall he had, to avoid the blast. It would definitely need massive medical care, and it would hurt for another few days. If one could see the face of the ranger underneath, however, they would fine his expression wasn't of pain or even "Damn it!", but a curiously calm and detached one. "Well, I was the careless one, wasn't I?" The tone of voice became chillingly calm, a monotonous and slightly bemused tone for someone who should be in large amounts of pain.

VenomVamdemon growled, stepping back from the blue-suited teen. Fire started to swarm its lower mouth again, the eyes on both sets of faces opening wide. The arms of the beast, large and fur-coated, went to shield its chest, the claws pointing outwards to ShadBlue and the still burning earth. It wasn't the flames upon the ground that worried him; the fear came from something much more sinister, a force of darkness even greater than himself.

ShadBlue took a step forward, the suit slightly glowing with blue energy. "Of course, it's no real concern to me; after all, it's not my fault for this injury. It's yours." The ranger looked up, his visor no longer looking expressionless, but with rage and wickedness growing in the grey visor. "And I really hate it when someone else hurts me."

Instinctively, VenomVamdemon's second mouth poured forth the flames again, moving so rapidly that he didn't have time to shout the attack name. Both arms flailed at the ground, destroying the pavement, dirt, and concrete that cemented the streets. In one fleeting moment, VenomVamdemon felt sure he'd killed the boy, the one they called "Duskmon's Child".

He felt sure until he felt a first stinging, then sharp and hard pain in his right arm. On the arm, being held up by a sword in one hand, ShadBlue hung on his arm like a parasite. Fear becoming a force of insanity, VenomVamdemon started to claw at that arm, tearing off bits of his own skin and fur with each strike. All the swinging of the hand did, for ShadBlue, however, was give him the boost he needed. With each swing, he'd climb up a little higher on the arm, using the second arms momentum to slide him up. All VenomVamdemon's franticness did only hurt his goal, and helped the blue ranger's.

ShadBlue, in one last movement, suddenly swung of the arm, using a second sword to jam onto the monster's arm for a millisecond. In that moment, he launched from the swinging arm to the monsters body, and slammed bother swords into it repeatedly, jamming the chest of the monster deeper and with more passion than any other attack the VenomVamdemon knew a Digimon to be capable of. No, this couldn't be the work of a mere Digimon; this whole creature was far more wretched than any monster of his world, even himself, could ever hope to be. This… This child, if one could call ShadBlue as such, didn't belong to Earth or the Digital World, but the deepest depths of the Dark Ocean, Hell as the humans would call it.

The beast took both claws, far from thinking right, as he did as so, and pointed them to his own chest. He needed to destroy this ranger of darkness more than anything else, and he intended on doing so by any means necessary. VenomVamdemon jammed both claws into his chest.

ShadBlue merely let go of the swords seconds before he knew what VenomVamdemon tried to do. He watched, as he fell back to the ground, as VenomVamdemon impaled himself. "Only I am allowed to bring pain to myself. You, however, are nothing more than a fluke. And now, you're dead."

The rest of the rangers had not even thought of calling into base, to send for their Zords and ShadBlue's; there was no need to. All that would've done, to send for them, was make ShadBlue angry. ShadRed and ShadGreen watched, while the smaller ShadPurple hiding behind the taller rangers, as ShadBlue flipped back to Earth. Within moments, ShadBlue collapsed to the ground, whimpering at the pain in both his arm and his leg. As he rubbed the leg, the two swords clattered to the ground, ringing off the pavement. He looked around, confused for a moment, before noticing the other three rangers. "Are you guys alright? Did any of you get hurt in the-"

"Get back!" ShadRed shouted, as he stood in front of the other two Rangers, holding out his arms as if it would prevent the blue ranger from seeing either of them. "Don't even come close, you murderous freak!"

"What?" ShadBlue said, his voice tinted with worry and confusion, "What on earth hap-"

"Stay back!" ShadRed screamed again, taking out his own swords and holding them out in front of him. His arms and legs shook, while his joints felt like they locked up, preventing him from running. Behind him, ShadPurple's whimpers and ShadGreen's attempts to calm the younger ranger, despite sounding like she was crying herself, were very audible. "There was no need to go that far… We could've gotten out the Zords and merely deleted him! But you had to make him suffer, didn't you?! You just live to bring fear to others!"

ShadBlue's confusion ended very quickly, once he realized what ShadRed meant and why they acted that way. It happened again. He lost it… He lost control and he just went and ki- … And he was the monster's mur- And the monster was… He couldn't bring himself to think it. ShadBlue hung his head, his mouth becoming dry. "Guys…" At least they'd never see him again, in less than a day. He'd be going away very soon… Very far away from them, and the city, and everything. He'd be going to Tokyo soon, and no one in this city would ever have to see him again.

At least the city and the Shadow Rangers would feel safe.

"Mr. Ryo?" The redheaded girl asked, snapping Ryo from his thoughts. I must've started day-dreaming again, he thought, as he looked up from the folder's various contents and comments penned in from various doctors of varying fields. The girl smiled a little, as she took the folder from him and moved it on top of the red file. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Ryo-san. Sorry I couldn't leave you to read Kimura's file for the rest of the day, but there's still three other rangers you need to check out…"

Ryo looked to the other three files, while a various amount of dark and ideas that, although interesting for b-movies, just made his blood ran cold as he thought of what else he had to look forward to. "Miss… Hey, I never did catch your name did I?"

"Saiba Rei. You may call me whatever you wish however." The girl bowed in her seat, before handing a green folder, with odd Chinese characters along the side where the name should be. "And you prefer this folder. This one's a bit milder, compared to the other two, and I think you could relate to him."

Ryo glanced within the contents, checking out the name in its Japanese written format quickly. "Jianliang Lee… What a minute…" With that, the brunette took out the planning sheets and, running a quick scan of the advisors and members of the council, found a similar such name. "The same Lee as in… I don't know… Lee, Janryu?"

"It says so on page three." Rei replied, before quickly adding "But Lee-san isn't why Jenrya was even considered. Even if he's the chief's son, there's a better reason to him being a member of the new team than just pure nepotism." She didn't sound quite convinced herself, but most of the people in the staffroom swore on the fact that the team was selected before anyone even knew their names. Of course, the same people have also swore to her, in the past, that Olestra was a safe and delicious oil for potato chips, so she really didn't have much to go on. "He's actually quite strong, and even has a black-belt in Tai Chi or something like that… Chances are he could take care of himself, at least."

"Huh." Ryo sounded as if Rei just told him the boy was a Cambodian street whore, and enjoyed dismembering small animals for fun. After working with quite a few members who were blood relatives of generals, officials, and even a senator's daughter, Ryo really didn't have a good impression on such people. The brunette turned the page, looking at "Jianliang's" previous records in the Digital Police. At least he understood now, as he checked out the history Jen had in the Rangers, why Rei thought he could relate to him.

According to the records, Jianliang had joined the Rangers at the age of ten. Since then, he'd been transferred to different teams six times. The latest team, the HakkuRanger, seemed to be the best choice however. He'd been there for most of five years. Everywhere else only lasted a month each.

Buildings in the area still smoked and burned, while firemen in the area worked to put out the flames. People- both rescue workers and paparazzi- worked down the streets, helping the injured, moving the dead, and interviewing everyone else. In one crater, not a particularly far distance from where the monster finally died, an odd sort of goop surrounded the vicinity, as men in hazmat suits struggled to clear every last bit. Only this remained of the last known D-Reaper strand, known to the people as Cable Reaper.

A short distance away, one could see three figures on the top of a building. If someone was looking for them, it would not be a hard task to find them. Even in the late evening, it didn't take much effort to point out three people in brightly colored, somewhat shiny spandex suits. Silence was the extent of conversation for most of the hour between the three figures, as they looked over the same spot as the battle just happened, the green figure pacing on the ledge, while the blue one just looked to the previous battleground, everyone once in a while glancing over to Green.

The red just kept on looking straight ahead, or at least had his head facing that one. He usually acted a lot more energetic than this, the boy in green spandex thought, as he glanced over to Red. Usually, the boy talked constantly after a battle, going over to the Zords and making sure they were alright, along with complaining to him and Blue that 'I thought we really were going to die this time!'.

Then again, none of the Zords were here. MegaloGrowZord, TaoZord, RapiZord… They were off in base, in the technician's department. Right after the battle, the commander recalled all of the Zords, not even given them time to clean off the bits of D-Reaper. Right now, they were most likely being re-wired, having all of the previous connections changed. Of course they knew this was going to happen though; after the defeat of the D-Reaper, the HakkuRanger had no purpose in Okinawa.

"… I really didn't have a choice on this." HakkuGreen tried again, stopping his constant pacing as he did so. "Really, this isn't my decision to make this time…"

"Oh?" The voice of HakkuBlue had a hissing, bitter tone, a tone she never used for him in the past five years. "And what did you say to the other teams in the past? Or did you just want to get close enough to leave an impression, Lee?"

"Do you really think I left them just to piss them off, or something petty like that?" He really didn't want to be confrontational, especially when trying to apologize, but... She should've known why he left them, by no. "Hell, there's nothing I want to do than stay in Okinawa, or at least get transferred to the same place as you two. But, for some odd reason, I just can't!"

"Please…" HakkuRed said, his voice quiet and hoarse-sounding from crying, "Please stop fighting…" Neither listened to him, as HakkuBlue got up from where she has been sitting.

"Like hell, you don't have any control! What made you decide to leave anyway? Aren't we good enough for you anymore? Or would you rather go off to Tokyo, so you could be hero-worship by rookies!?" HakkuGreen winced, as her tirade continued. "And you don't even have the balls to tell us you were leaving either! You couldn't even speak up and say 'I'm out of here', instead you just had to let us find out from that letter!"

"I never said anything because that letter was when I found out too!" HakkuGreen shouted. His fists clenched and unclenched, while he struggled to keep from slapping or punching the girl in blue spandex. "It's not my fault I was chosen for this… DejiRanger thing, but I'm sick of you assuming that I want to abandon you two!"

"WILL YOU BOTH JUST SHUT UP?!" The teen in red spandex stood up suddenly, screaming as loud as he could at the two. Both HakkuGreen and Blue looked to him, silencing immediately. He sobbed, "Look, can we all just stop fighting?"

"Takato…" This was what he was doing to them. HakkuGreen was killing one of his best friends with grief, and completely destroying another's trust, a trust that took four years to develop... And he didn't even have any control on what he was doing. The green ranger really wished he could just make this all end; that the Digital Police council would just reply with "Just kidding, happy April Fools Day", and it would just turn out to be some sick joke or something.

"Goggle-head…" The girl in blue sounded equally low. Her helmet lowered, as her body lost the tension it had merely seconds ago. "Look, I'm sorry…"

HakkuRed sniffled a little, before he said "Why are you apologizing to me? It's Jen who you were screaming at…" Then, he turned to HakkuGreen. "And I don't know why this is happening… Or if you want to leave or not, or what's going to happen to me and Ruki, but can we at least act like friends for the next few hours?"

HakkuGreen nodded, as his throat and mouth began feeling extremely dry. He wanted to go over and pat HakkuRed's back, or hug him or something, but he felt frozen in place. All he could do now was nod, while feeling nauseous. HakkuBlue, however, had much more initiative; she wrapped her arms around HakkuRed's neck, and walked into a hug. "I'll try…"He never felt more alone with the two of them as he did now.

The group became silent again, for a very long time, as they resumed watching the hazmat team continue cleaning the Jell-O-esque substance from the streets, while the last of the fires on the buildings were put out. None of them noticed the white-haired woman in red, as she stood by the pile, watching the men clean the rest of the mess. "Jen…" HakkuRed said, "Do you know if it hurts a Digi- Sorry… Does it hurt a Zord to have its systems reconnected, so it can connect to a new Zord system?"

"It shouldn't hurt. At least, Terriermon says it doesn't hurt, and I doubt he'd lie about something like that…"

"Poor kid." Ryo muttered, as he placed the green file on the pile of the previously read files. The HakkuRanger were a three-person team; since it was against regulations to have a group under three count as a separate Ranger squad, the team would be dissolved, and the other two members relocated to new teams. Since Jianliang was switched to this group… that meant the HakkuRanger no longer existed.

"Oh?" Rei asked bemusedly, as she looked at Ryo's face. The boy really was little good at concealing emotions, or at least he thought so. Chances are, she noticed the change of expression. "I thought you weren't too thrilled at this one? What brought the change of heart?"

"… I've been in similar situations in the past. Just… Some of these damned regulations and the like." Ryo's voice grew quieter, as he pulled the pink folder to himself. "And the previous transfers and group separations too. It's part of the reason why I was looking forward to retirement…" Yeah, more than a good enough time to let the subject drop. It didn't do anyone any good to just live in the past, and not move on with the future. He came up to this decision a long time ago.

"You might be familiar with some of the names in that one, Ryo-san." Rei said, noting the file he was checking. "I think an old… Acquaintance, of yours is in the files."

"Hm?" He checked the last name briefly, noticing the kanji to a familiar surname. "Yagami? You mean this is Taichi's little sister? Hah! I haven't seen that bastard in a while!" The tone Ryo had when he said the word "Bastard" seemed to convey a much different feeling than most other people do.

"Yagami Hikari. She'd probably function very well in the DejiRanger group, especially with the training she'd be getting for her powers."

Ryo blinked a little, in surprise, as he checked over some of the notes inside. "She's a psychic? I thought… Telepathy and all of that stuff was just BS."

"… Ryo, we're part of a police force that fights in spandex, and uses giant robots from another dimension in combat. I don't think telepathy is really that much of a stretch." Rei gave a small pause. "And telepathy's only a piece of her power. Really, if you must know, there's no clear information on how powerful her mind really is."

The swarms only grew in size around the six ChoRanger, as they watches the currents of Evilmon surround them. For the six of them, it looked like the end. One of the strongest fighters was too heavily injured to fight; while the rest of the team all sported nasty looking cuts and bruises. All of there weapons were destroyed; all of their communicators were disabled, so help from their Zords was highly unlikely. In fact, all that was left, for the Evilmon now, was to just consume the flesh of these humans, and return to the conquering plans they had.

Even as the Evilmon kept on surrounding them, the leader, a young man in a bright red uniform kept on shooting at them, with a laser pistol that was on its last legs of life. They were all that stood between them and Kyoto, and he'd be damned if he'd let Kyoto be destroyed due to his own failure. "Come on, you… You…" He barked out in pain, as on tried to attack him again, lunging for his good leg and taking a rather large bit, worsening his already bad status. He smacked at it, with the butt of the laser-pistol, with all intents to get it off.

"Taichi, this isn't working!" A girl to the boy's side, donned in a yellow version of the suit, shouted. She, herself, was merely fighting with her fists and hands, and kicking everything in sight. Even then, the strategy was working horribly; with each attack, she ended up being scratched, bitten, or bruised. At this rate, the girl in yellow, ChoYellow, would soon collapse. She turned to a couple of other fighters, both holding up a young man in a blue outfit of spandex. "Mimi, Jyou, we really need help at this point!"

"Don't bother! I can more than beat these assholes!" The red-suited teen, ChoRed, shouted, pistol-whipping the one who'd been previously biting his leg before. Of course, he couldn't be thinking straight; the boy's body showed many slashes and nips, his left leg bleeding quite profusely. The visor on his helmet was cracked, showing one brown eye.

"Don't be stupid!" ChoYellow said. Still, she knew why he kept fighting. For the same reason she fought so hard, despite her whole body being racked with pain. If she and the rest even stopped for a moment… Then they wouldn't hesitate to swarm them, en mass. But what could they do? ChoBlue already collapsed, in pain, and needed two of the others to protect him… And ChoBlack had to go off soon… To get their last chance at victory. She only hoped he would make it in time, if at all.

One feisty Evilmon hopped with all of his might, and jumped right into ChoRed's face. His tiny claws scratched at the helmet viciously, ripping off the remains of the visor and clawing at ChoRed's face. ChoRed screamed, as he desperately tried to yank off the creature, closing his eyes as tightly as he could. The creature held tight, breaking a portion of his helmet, as it crushed at it. He knew what the monster intended on doing; it would shoot its specialty attack right into his face. Fried human brains always tasted better than raw, after all.

The boy screamed, while ChoYellow tried to run over to him. However, as she turned away from the Evilmon she was fighting, she forgot one important rule of combat: never turn your back on your enemies. Immediately, two Evilmon bit into her calves, harshly. Barking in pain, she fell to her knees, as she struggled to shove the Evilmon off.

"Sora!" One of rangers trying to protect ChoBlue screamed, as he ran over, leaving only one protector to watch over the semi-conscious young man. He would've wanted it this way, the one in white spandex decided, as she ran over and kicked at the Evilmon harshly, trying to help her injured friend. He ended up in his state, due to protecting her. And ChoBlue would not forgive himself, had So- ChoYellow been devoured. Then, she heard a sharp scream from elsewhere, and turned to see ChoRed struggling with the Evilmon on his face, trying to claw it off himself.

"Taichi!" ChoWhite felt stuck; wouldn't ChoBlue want his best friend safe too? Oh, he couldn't help either like this! The situation became too desperate, and now they desperately needed a miracle, an ally, anything!

As if on cue, a grand flash of pink light past through the area. It illuminated the battlefield, flashing by at a grand and hurried speed. The light had no effect on the Rangers themselves… But had one hell of an effect on the Evilmon. All over the field, Evilmon rolled on the ground in pain, holding their minds and screaming wildly. The one that formerly clung to Taichi's face now was slamming its face into the ground repeatedly, howling about the Ocean.

And, in the distance of all of this insanity, there were a whole brigade of police vehicles, ambulances and containment vehicles. It was not due to them that this happened, however; rather, it was the fault of a young teen girl, with a slightly taller teen boy, both in similar spandex outfits. She stood at the edge of the field, her hands and the visor of her helmet both glowing the same eerie pink as the light. She lifted her hand high into the air. To her side, the boy held onto her shoulder, and watched the rest of the battle field.

"… They made it…" The one still supporting ChoBlue up, the girl in a green suit, said. Her tone bordered on shock at first, before reiterating "They made it! Thank god, they made it here!"

The younger girl, ChoPink, rose her hands up, while the Evilmon were levitated high into the air. Some started to cartwheel in the air, spinning like little pinwheels on a windy day. Others just sort of hung in the air, looking as if they'd fall at any moment. With a sudden drop of her hands, the Evilmon fell hard to the ground. A good many fainted right on the spot; others just merely suffered broken bones and severe bruises. At the sound of this, the police within the area rushed out, arresting a good many of the survivors.

"… Hikari…" ChoRed said, looking right at ChoPink. She looked at the older boy, her helmet hiding her expression of intense agony and exhaustion. She suddenly fell to her knees. "Hikari!" The boy rushed over, grabbing her shoulders before she fell face-first into the ground. She looked up, her eyes aching something awful. "Hikari, it's alright now! Just keep awake, and keep on listening to me…"

"… I'm sorry…" She sounded intensely guilty, along with weak and near the brink of collapse. The boy by her side knelt down, rubbing her back a little.

"Hikari-chan, it's really not you're fault… You know how headquarters is about this sort of thing. You didn't have any control over it." He shut up after that comment, however. The boy in black had promised her he'd not bring up the subject again, especially around her older brother.

ChoPink weakly held up her head, struggling to keep it looking in ChoRed's eyes. "… I was selfish… I didn't head out right to battle because I was talking to headquarters… And now they're taking me away…"

With that, she promptly fainted. Taichi wouldn't know what she meant by that for the rest of the week, as she would not bring it up again until five minutes before she left. On that day, she packed up her possessions, and left for Tokyo.

"Well, no matter how powerful she is, at least I know there's one Ranger who's definitely not going to piss me off. She's a really sweet kid, you know." Ryo stated, as he placed the pink file with the rest, before looking at Rei. "Any news on the last one?"

"I'm not sure myself… I ran out of time to check it. I do know one thing about this person…" She checked the name quickly, to make sure she got it right, "Orimoto Izumi, is a rookie. Not only that, but she's a first year here."

Ryo looked very surprised at this. A rookie, in the ranks of the highest? Someone that hasn't even had a full year of service to the Digital Police? This made little to no sense, as is. There must be something extremely amazing about this girl, something to the level of Hikari's abilities, or some sort of fighting skills, or something. He took the light purple, nearly white, folder from Rei's hand and began reading.

For a moment, the expression on his face became extremely blank. Then, he balked. "You've got to be kidding me… You really must be kidding."

"Nope… That's the folder they gave me. Is there something really horrible in the folder? I mean, I just figured it was thin like that for no good reason."

"It's thin because she's got nothing note-worthy!" Neo said, nearly snapping at the innocent girl to his side. He plopped the folder on the table, opening it wide to show the scant contents to here. "A win ratio of 20%, a Zord that barely can do damage… Hell, she can't even use her bow and arrow correctly yet! And she's only been a ranger two months! Nowhere even close to a year of action, and she's already a part of the elites, especially with a record like this?!"

"Stop yelling!" Rei shouted at him. She felt used to yelling, at this point, but she was not too keen about being verbally abused by someone who she only met today, and would have to work with until god knows when. He silenced, at her cry, before blushing something awful, and bowing deeply again. Wow, she thought as she watched him, this will be an entertaining year.

"Sorry… I'm just not having a good year… Especially since this is the last thing I really want to do currently…" Ryo rubbed the back of his head, sheepishly, as he resist the urge to start giggling like an idiot. He directed his hand to the folder once again, and tried his hardest to suppress the anger. "And it really feels like we're really being mocked by the superiors with things like… Like this! Honest to god, I'm more than sure they're just assembling this 'crack team', just to get rid of a lot of the crap fighters and dangerous team-members." And hoisted them onto him, due to the outburst he had at his retirement. Yeah, the one in which he called the Chief of Digital Police an 'impotent douche bag'.

"… Do you really think this?" She seemed utterly flabbergasted at this. It's as if he had proclaimed himself King of Crabs, stripped of his clothes, and light his head on fire right then and there. Rei stuttered a little, her eyes wide with utter shock. Her hands fidgeted rather stiffly, rubbing against each other roughly. Finally, she stopped stuttering and shaking, and sat rather rigidly. "So, you really have no clue what they're up against?" She asked, her voice an emotionless tone, unless you could detect one smidge of utter shock within it.

"Yeah… It says nothing within the packet that the upper office gave me… And I don't know who to ask about it." Obviously, the group couldn't be an ornamental task-force… Not from Rei's reaction. The moment he said that, she nearly fell out of her wheelchair, only keeping her supported by grabbing onto the handles tightly. What were they up against, to bring out such vivid and intense emotions from her?

"Oh my…" she wheeled a little bit away, her mind spinning in surprise. He had no idea what they were up against… No wonder why he was acting so sour to her, and being so pissed off. He didn't realize the importance of this at all… No one even bothered to tell him their name. Rei felt a hand, the hand feeling strong as it pressed onto her shoulder. She turned to see Ryo again, his face filled with all sorts of confusion. "They never gave you the name…"

"What's the name of this group?" He just wanted answers, at this point. Whatever this was, the information made even the group who wrote up the packet too nervous to mention them by name… Or they just wanted to lull him into a sense of false security. Either way, this wasn't making the brunette feel any bit comfortable, in the last.

"They're… They're… The group is the Reaper Five." She quietly added, as she turned her attention to the files, especially the light-lavender one from before. As she looked in it, her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets, and her mouth opened widely. "This… This is all of the information on Miss Orimoto?" When Ryo nodded, Rei made a tiny gasp, nearly a sob. She placed the folder down, lowering her head.

"Rei? … Rei, what's wrong?" Ryo said. She looked right to his eyes, trying to hide the sadness in her face.

"That girl, Miss Orimoto… She stands no chance against the Reaper Five, and there's nothing we can do about it. She's fated to die, at their hands…"

"EEK!" That was the exact phrase ElePurple, the newest of the five EleRanger, used, as she was pitched right out of the window, out of the goddamn abandoned warehouse, into the goddamn pavement. She whimpered a little as she got up, rubbing her skinned elbows and knees. Sometimes, being a full-blown Ranger was no fun at all; especially when the monster of the day tossed you around, like an over-sized UFO catcher.

The monster, a rather silly looking tree-monster, laughed at her pain, as it hopped out of the window itself, crashing the rest of the glass that she hadn't broken herself. Thank goodness for the helmet, at least. Usually, going head-first out of a window leads to a lot more cuts than she currently had. It landed in a rather fierce battle stance, holding out one wooden hand in a "come and get me, punk!" sort of way. "What's the matter, girlie? Are my hard limbs too much for you to take?"

"Please, when it comes to wood, you're all bark and no bite!" ElePurple snapped, as she made a hastily stance, taking out her bow and arrows again. She knew that the chances she'd hit him were less than zero; however, at least the arrows would do more damage than all of the kicks she'd been doing to his face and even his nuts did. All those did was make her feet and legs hurt really bad and scratched up her spandex.

"All bark? I'll show you the powers of the forest and trees!" The monster, Woodmon, shouted, as he pointed at her. However, instead of merely punching at her, or even grabbing her again, he did something she did not expect; he bum rushed her, sending the girl flying. Her bow and arrow went one direction; she went another, slamming into a building. The Woodmon growled in disappointment, after he sent her flying. "You mean this is the strongest warrior the Rangers send after me, when I go on a rampage? You will be defeated by my mighty wood, bitch!"

She rolled out of the way as he made a ramming attack into the ground she was standing at. ElePurple knew how screwed she was without that bow and arrow set, and she could tell she was not going to beat him by herself. Man, if only she knew what to do in these sorts of situations… No, she thought to herself, as she got back up again. You don't need help now, and you're doing well for someone who's barely had any combat. After all, you're not dead yet! Just go, and get your bow, and get that pine-scented creep!

ElePurple got onto her hands and feet, and made a dash for the weapon, as the Woodmon still tried to figure out where the blood stain that should've been the remains of that annoying newbie Ranger was. He noticed she was still running about, and hopped to his feet only as she grabbed her bow and arrow. "What are you going to do, pierce me like a shish-kabob? Girlie, I am a tree!"

"Well, let's see how you're heavy wooden hide takes this, you pest!" She launched an arrow right to him, will all intents on getting him in the eye… Only to watch it sail by, rather harmlessly, to his side, as it went and impaled itself to a random box. The air between the two grew very awkward, as a left fluttered by in the wind. "… Alright, let me try that again." He was in such a deep shock at how badly that went, he didn't even move as she got out another arrow, and shot it. This one went whizzing by his head, going through the window that they'd jumped from

At first, he was quite disturbed at how badly her aim turned out to be. Then, he just stood there in amusement, as many arrows soared by him, going at speeds not particularly life-threatening, or even scary. With each attempt, she ended up letting out some sort of expletive… In some odd language. Was that Italian or something? Either way, she seemed more than happy to keep this up, until she ran out of arrows. "… You want me to do anything? Or should I just keep standing here?"

"Don't you… Don't you go and get lost now, merda!" The whole incident finally transcended the line between embarrassing and utterly humiliating, as she kept on screwing up her shots. In her mind, she swore that, as soon as she could, she would go and take a decent archery class. Oh, why did she get stuck with a bow and arrow!?

Woodmon yawned, and scratched his head a little. This wasn't funny anymore, watching this girl screw up. Now, it was just plain dull. "Yeah… You're probably having a blast with this… But I'm more than done with it." He launched out his right arm-like branch, while shouting out his attack phrase, "Woody Smash!" The attack sent her flying into a cement wall in a nearby warehouse, injuring her something awful. She knew she heard a rib snap in the slam, and her left arm ached horribly now. The dizziness in her head clouded her mind, making her incapable of even noticing that Woodmon was aiming his arms right at her.

"BRANCH DRA- GAHH!" That certainly didn't sound like an attack name… ElePurple opened her eyes, to see two other Rangers, a rather heavyset figure and a slightly smaller one. Both were looking at her, and she could feel a pair of arms, probably from the larger Ranger, holding her up.

"It's alright Izumi… Don't worry a thing. You actually did pretty well." The heavyset figure said, trying to sound comforting. He always told her things like this; perhaps EleBlue felt that he needed to boost her confidence, in order for her to improve or something.

"That's right! I would've done a lot worse!" The smaller figure said, nodding along with the older Ranger. He, EleGreen, seemed to be truthful with his comment… If anything, they were on the same level as each other, combat-wise. In the distance, she could see two figures, one a boy in red, the other a boy in white, both quickly finishing off the battle for her, and handcuffing the offensive monster. Great… EleRed and EleWhite didn't even have to put up a fight with it. How on earth did she get chosen for that DejiRanger thing…? No, Izumi-chan, stop putting yourself down! You were put into DejiRanger for some reason, and it's probably due to some potential you just haven't reached yet. After all, you are a rookie, and you haven't gotten used to fighting yet.

Right after the battle, both of the two Rangers walked to the rest of the group, EleWhite looking rather dark and offensive with each step. Probably, he still felt sore that Izumi, who couldn't hit a large oak-tree with an arrow, was chosen for the elites. Either that or he actually saw this. EleRed seemed a little easier-going though. "You've got some balls, to face Woodmon on your own!" EleRed said cheerfully, as he patted her shoulder. "But next time, leave the battle to the professionals… Or at least until you have something closer to you're level."

"Professionals? Hah! Since when are you good at fighting, Takuya?" She playfully said, as she punched him jokingly in the arm. At least he wasn't too upset. And she knew how good he was… And EleBlue, and EleWhite. At least EleGreen was right on his comment. At least she never shot an arrow accidentally into herself. He and his axes were a whole other story, however.

"What on earth were you thinking, Orimoto?!" EleWhite, however, was definitely quite pissed at this. "You could've gotten yourself killed in that! I mean, look at you… And look at your arm!" He pointed to the arm, which most likely suffered from a fracture. She rubbed at it, sheepishly, before stopping at the ringing pain from that.

"I… I thought I could more than take him by myself…" She muttered, looking away from EleWhite's visor. "He didn't seem to be too major… And I figured I'd get him with my arrows." A quick glance of the battlefield showed at least twelve arrows, all in various states of impalement on the ground, in buildings, in doors, through windows, and in several wood boxes.

He shook his head, giving up on arguing with her. With that, the white Ranger walked off, his total aura casting a darkish mood in the air. Before he left for home, he turned to ElePurple and said, "You'll never make it in the DejiRanger elites, with an attitude like that. You might as well stay here… It's better than returning in a coffin, at least."

"Rei, please calm down…" Ryo had been rubbing the redhead's back for a good half-hour, as he tried desperately to calm her down from this nervous fit. She's gone into a state of minor shock, after he'd said that, and became extremely worried about that Izumi girl. "Look… Nothing bad will happen to her… We'll just contact headquarters, and make sure they didn't give us the wrong teen…"

"… It can't be a mistake though…" She said, still sniffling a little at the thought. That poor girl… Doomed to death, before she even had a chance in the Rangers! What a horrible thought.

"Well, then there must be something about her that makes her a strong person! She's probably hiding a trait or something that no one but a few of the bosses upstairs knows about!" He said, trying desperately to make Rei stop crying. He really was bad with crying girls… It was so much easier when the girls would throw things and yell at him. She stopped crying, but still became very quiet, in an extremely unnerving way. "… I don't suppose… You could tell me anything…"

"Hm?" She knew what he was going to ask, but she still acted as if she didn't. He knew nothing about Reaper Five, or what was connected to all of it. Perhaps he was better off, that way. But he would ask, and since he was her supervisor, she'd have to tell him.

"What's… What's so bad about them, anyway?" He asked. "They can't be any worse than anything the Digital Police force has faced in the past, right?"

She became quiet again. Her face turned to stone, her lips press together tightly. In fact, the only view of emotion for the red-haired girl came from her hands, which tightly gripped the wheelchair's hand rests again. Then, her voice almost a whisper, she said, "Do you fear death, Mr. Ryo?"

The room felt devoid of any life. Yes, there were the starts of life growing in various cultures, tubes, and beakers around the tables, and the computers within the massive room glowed with an eerie false-life, but none of this felt true. This wasn't life that you feel outside, in the warm and loving sun, as you tired to enjoy your day. This wasn't the life that surrounded people all over the world, whether they desired it or not. No, this was a perversion of life, a false life that felt all the more fake to anyone who came from the outside. This room was not full of life, but rather, it was a place where to grow death.

A mysterious woman, with shockingly pale hair for her age, and a red dress entered the room. She walked smoothly, her gait very sensual and rather coarse at the same time. The feeling one could get off her, as she looked to the various empty chairs and places of the computer room, was one of hunting, of a predator who found a piece of game.

The white-haired woman walked over to a single man, the only person in the room besides herself. The man, a rather grotesque looking male with greasy hair seemed to pay her no heed, as he typed on the laptop on the computer, various double-helixes and models and insignias staining the screen. The woman watched over his shoulder for a while, acting indifferent to the models and scientific bits on the screen.

"The D-Reaper was destroyed in Okinawa, you know." The white-haired woman said, her voice showing no clear emotion. The man nodded ever so slightly, a gesture most people would not catch as they watched him on the computer. "The three HakkuRanger defeated the last piece of it… Cable Reaper, I believe they called it. It took several hours of clean up, close to a day in fact."

"This is leading to good new, right Arukenimon?" The man's voice sounded not gruff, or hateful… But sort of dreamy. As if he really wasn't paying full attention to anything he did, but was lost in a happy day-dream. In fact, he didn't seem to pay any mind, as the white-haired woman reached into a hidden pocket and took out a vial.

The vial glowed, similar to a glow-stick or some similar decoration at a late-night festival. The glow didn't come from some man-made chemical, however; it came from a tiny little wire, about the size of a large word, trapped within the vial itself. It quivered and twitched, moving in a rather sickening manner. The man's pallor face grinned, the teeth in his mouth stained from many years of harsh coffee, cigarettes, and improper care. He kept looking to the screen, as the woman places it beside him. "Very well, Arukenimon. Head over to the rest rooms and take a break. You've been a very good girl for me."

She nodded, and bowed deeply. The woman smoothly walked out of the room, looking back at the man on the laptop as she did. She closed the door behind herself, encasing the room into darkness, besides the glow of the computers and the neon brightness of the vial, which carried the label: "Cable Reaper: Reaper Cell".