Power Rangers Pixelated

AKA: Shiai Sentai Pikuseranger

Part 1: Computerization

'Hey look, there's goes a ranger,' said Kade, leaning back in his seat as he looked out the restaurant window and out to the city street beyond. A white SUV with a blaring purple light bar pootled past the burger joint. Kade wore an old maroon shirt underneath a navy leather jacket with red stripes. His black hair was naturally unkempt above his gaunt, Indonesian features.
Justin turned in his seat to look the same direction as Kade 'A city ranger? What's so great about them?' he replied as he unwrapped his fresh cheeseburger 'I think they just check parking meters and stuff.' He took a bite and began absent-mindedly gazing down the street. He wore blue hoodie jacket atop a black shirt, the hoodie having a cartoon bee stencilled on the shoulders. His head was topped with short, brown hair and his features were slightly pudgy.
Kade slumped against the table 'Oh, damn, I thought they had a way cooler job.' He sighed and idly poked his empty cup of coke 'When's Mike supposed to get here? It's been half a fricken hour now.'
Justin shrugged and, whilst still chewing his latest bite of burger, replied 'If you're bored then order something else to eat, or at least refill your coke-'
'Hey guys,' said a voice behind the pair. They'd turn and see Mike Trahn, resplendent in his yellow long sleeved shirt with a circuitry stencil across the torso and his pink stripped cap. His brown hair was gloriously spiked beneath the brim of his hat and he had what seemed to be a natural grin on his face. He noticed the discarded remains of his two friends meals on their trays 'You ate without me, y'know that's rude.'
Kade frowned 'Don't start that crap, you exchanged your right to a meal for extra buggering around with your hair.'
Mike feigned hurt 'You don't know that it was for my hair. It could've been this awesome shirt.'
Justin chuckled 'Did you forget how to put on a shirt?' He wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up from his chair 'Well I'm finally full, so I guess we should get to business now.'
'You guys practiced?' Asked Mike.
Kade shook his head 'Not me, girlfriend supercedes games.' Mike began raising his hand to make a whip motion but Kade raised his palm to stop it 'Get one for yourself, then you'll understand.'
'He's right,' added Justin 'but then again my girl is an actual gamer, so yeah, me and her got some practice.'
Mike sighed 'Alright then, well you and me together can compensate for Kade. Let's get going.' He turned and began leaving the fast food place 'I think by now they would have only just set up the computers, so we can try and bags the far corner ones if we're fast.'

-

'Alright, just this last one to set up and we're done,' said David as he sat at the final computer along a row of a dozen others.
'Good, plenty of time to spare,' replied Henry, whom was standing beside David. Henry turned to look around the rest of the game store, the entire back half of it had been converted in a gaming tournament section, with three long rows of computers all newly plugged in and set up on a LAN system. 'I'll go get the clipboard and start waiting for people to show up.' Said Henry as he left to go to the storeroom, to which David simply nodded and continued hooking the latest computer up to the grid.
Sparse few patrons were in the store, with the computer tournament taking shape those who weren't going to be participating weren't interested in having to contend with all the noise and that it would create, and as such there weren't many people there to notice the strange newcomer. A man, appearing to be in his late forties and wearing a tan rain coat, with its collars lifted around his neck, entered the store and from beneath his dark brown bowler his eyes spied the computers set up in the store. With almost serene smoothness he walked past the occupied David and went all the way to the back row of computers and sat before the one nearest to the wall. Once seated he'd be prompted for a login code, but rather than even touching the keyboard he simply reached into his pocket and drew out a small, rectangular object. The object was strangely designed, with slanted angles with came together in irregular points, and it was tinted a dark green that was slightly translucent, showing a formless black silhouette within.
The man brought the object closer to the computer and pressed down on it, causing a metal USB tongue to emerge out from its edge. With a triumphant smile he plugged in the device and the computers screen would flicker for a second before returning to normal. Henry returned from storeroom, clipboard in hand and see the man sitting there. 'Hey sir, are you here for the games?' he'd ask, trying to be polite even though he suspected that the guy had just wandered in from the street.
The man would turn to face the shop owner, a slight smile on his neatly bearded face 'My mistake,' he'd say in a cool voice 'I thought these were for everyone.' He'd start getting up from his sea, leaving the device connected to the computer, it's dark contents slowly shifting as it remained connected.
The shop door would open and Kade would come through 'Hey awesome, we're the first ones here.' He'd say to Justin and Mike as they followed through. He'd walk up to store owner 'Hey Henry, we're all here, is it alright if we sit down early?'
Henry would turn away from the older man to face Kade 'Hmm, oh yeah sure guys, we're all set so you can use the same logins as last time.'
Mike would lean towards Justin 'I guess our spot in the back corner has already been taken.' He'd say as he nodded towards the older guy.
'Don't mind me boys, I was just passing through.' Said the man as he walked around the computers, past Henry and towards the door, during which Kade was already rushing past to get to his computer. By the time the older guy had left the store Kade was already sitting in the seat that the man had been sitting in moments before.
He'd pat at the computers to his left 'Check it out guys, we got these after all.'
Mike dropped into the chair beside Kade 'Looks like we can get some practice before this thing starts after all.' He'd look over at Kades computer and see the strange device 'Hey what's that?'
Kade looked down at it and Justin came around to see as well. 'Oh, it's just a USB stick,' said Justin 'that thing looks pretty awesome. Hey David, did you leave a USB stick down here?' He'd call out to the front row of computers.
David looked up from his work 'What? No I did those ones first, ages ago.'
Henry then walked over 'Oh hell, it probably came from that guy who was just sitting there before. We should probably see if he's still around and get it back to him.'
Justin sighed 'Alright, I'll take it and try to catch up with him.' He'd say with resignation. He reached over Kades shoulder and took hold of the device, but immediately flinch his hand away the moment he touched it 'Ouch, that thing is red hot!'
'Wow serious?' Kade then bunched his shirt over his fingers and tried to take the device out, but was having difficulty 'Uh, it's stuck in there two. Can you guys give me a hand?' Both Justin and Mike would reach over and take hold of the device as it was wrapped in Kades shirt and help pulling. It felt as though the USB had been fused to the computer itself, all three of them put their weight into pulling the device out. For about ten seconds they strains before the device would suddenly give just an inch.
Suddenly it would be as though a flash bomb went off in the back of the room, light burst out from where that device had connected to the computer for just a brief second, its glaring brightness engulfing the trio, almost as though it was enveloping them. Every person, save for the trio, staggered back and covered their eyes to shield them from the shine. A second later the light subsided and Henry, blinking as his vision began to return. 'Hey, is everyone alright?' A few people replied, but he noticed that the trio at the computer hadn't. He walked over closer 'Guys, you ok?' His vision grew better and with a shock he'd realize that weren't there.

-

Greens hills rolled beneath a static blue sky, a few clouds hanging still in the air. Standing atop one of the hills was a figure in black, a long black cloak that was tightly buttoned against the torso of the man wearing it. Around his neck was a long grey scarf that would appear to slowly float around his body as though moving through water. Underneath a black hat the face of the stranger grinned with triumph. About thirty meters infront of him hovered a series of floating icons, each with a title beneath them. The strangers coal black eyes were fixed on one icon in particular, a circular, mutlicoloured icon labelled "Chrome".
'Finally,' uttered the stranger 'this world shall be-' suddenly his eyes snapped open and he bent forwards. 'What? What is this?' A black smoke began to emanate from the bottom of his coat and would billow out across the wallpaper hills. 'Someone has interrupted the transfer!'
As the smoke travelled over the hills it would begin to lighten and turn white. The stranger grimaced 'Dammit, they've made their way here.' He'd raise his hand and move it across his face, a black mask materializing across his features. The mask was featureless save for a pair of long, triangular eyes that would go from the front of his face around to its sides.
The white smoke would drift across the hills for some time before resting at the crest of the next one over. Gradually the fog would begin to condense into three masses. The stranger would level a venomous gaze that could transmit his loathing even in spite of the mask. The smoke would begin to form shapes and change colour, the forms within becoming clearer every second. Eventually they formed the trio that had, as far as they knew, were in the game store just a second ago. Mike coughed, white smoke escaping his mouth with each breath, and he looked at the area around him 'Wh- Where are we?' he asked the pair beside him.
Kade rubbed his eyes 'I, don't know.' He looked around and patted at his arms and chest 'Does anyone else feel kinda weird?'
Justin was on his feet and looking at the next hill 'Uh, guys, anyone know who that is?' He'd raise his hand and point to the black masked stranger. The stranger said nothing but outstretched his hand, his fingers curled into a claw and a shadowy miasma began to seep from his palm. The trio began to back away, their expressions a mask of shock.
'Wha-Who are you?' Shouted Kade as he raised his fists defensively, trying to sound unintimidated and hide his real fear.
'I will be your killer, interlopers!' roared the stranger. With a slashing motion the shadow formed a series of long scything blasts that raced towards the trio. Before the trio could try and avoid the attack the energetic scythes had crashed into them and released an explosion of black energy. The hilltop was immersed in the blast and the scene was showered in debris. The stranger growled and lowered his hand, angered by the interruption dealt to his plans.
He began to turn to look towards the "Chrome" icon once more but he saw something that was utterly unexpected to him. As the debris cleared and the hilltop became revealed he'd see the trio of mortals once more, but strangely changed. The dark energy had enveloped them each and seemed to crackle across their forms like arcing lightening. The trio had shut their eyes when they saw the attack coming, and Kade was the first to open theirs. He looked down at his hands as purple and black lightening arced and crackled through his fingers. 'Guys… GUYS!' He'd shout to his friends.
Mike opened his eyes and leaped back, yelling in surprise 'YAH! What is this, this is too much too fast!' Justin could only look at the energy dumbfounded.
The stranger looked on in shock too. 'Those bastards,' he thought 'whatever they did they stole some of my power.' His body shook with rage and he began a roaring charge towards the trio, ebon energies releasing from his hands and reforming them into gruesome claws. Mike and Justin began to turn, the frightening ghoul charging at them being too much to bear.
Kade however once more made his hands into fists. He felt his heart go into overdrive, his throat feel like it was being blocked and his head swam, but wasn't going to let it get him. He gritted his teeth and mustered every ounce of strength he had into keeping his feet rooted in place. The ghoul cared not for this and pounced upon the stuck mortal, its claws raised and ready to slice its prey to ribbons. Kades mind run on pure instinct and his fist thrust out before him and he let out a yell to let out what could have been his last breath of air.
Suddenly the air between the two would shimmer and a blastwave of chromatic energies would expand out. The stranger was caught off guard by this and Kades fist slammed right into its masked face. Mike and Justin would feel the multi-coloured energies wash over them and turn to see their friend strike the beast square in the face. The energies then rapidly withdrew back to the mortals fist and the stranger was sent flying into the wallpaper sky. Kades hand glowed with crimson power and it was quickly travelling down his arm. 'Whoa, Kade, you ok?' Said Justin as he rushed back to his friends side.
'Dude that was sick,' added Mike, patting his friend on the shoulder 'I've no idea what that was but it- Hey get this off me!' As Mike had touched Kade suddenly a yellow aura was travelling across his body too.
Justin grabbed Mike to pull him away from Kade but as he did so a blue light appeared on his fingers. In moments all three of them were enveloped by the energies. Kade finally turned to his friends and said 'Guys, I think I have a theory about what happened to us.'