POWER RANGERS:
THE BULK OF MY SAMSARA
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
NOTE: This idea occurred to me after watching a short film called "Step Towards The Sun-A Vice For Killing" which starred several Power Rangers cast members from the original series.
DISCLAIMER: Power Rangers is owned, maintained and operated by Saban Brands and transmitted on Nickelodeon, no profit shall be made from this story.
ANGEL GROVE:
THE YEAR 2010
As the alarm clock began buzzing inside the small cabin Farkis Bulkmeier inhabited close to his ailing juice bar, 'Bulkmiers', the big-boned roundly character felt no joy as his hearing took in the harmonious morning calls of the birds outside.
"What kind of idiot sets the alarm for 5:30 in the morning?" he said, staring at the alarm. before quickly spotting the other, lankier body almost hanging out of a hammock right above him
"Oh right, MY kind of idiot" Bulk said, and promptly tried stirring the person, his much more well-off sidekick, Eugene Skullovitch, who, while he had his own home and family to think about, had opted to sleep over and keep his best friend company.
Taken by surprise, Skull went into a wild spasm as he reacted to being shaken, spun his body around, and fell out of the hammock in doing so.
He abruptly sprang up, and looked about in each and every direction
"Those burglars come back? Don't they know I'm skilled in a special kind of defensive art?" Skull said
"Would that be the act of "Cowardice?" Bulk said
"It's gotten us out of every scrape hasn't it? Not a scratch on us" Skull replied.
Bulk grabbed him by the ear.
"You set the alarm too early again" Bulk sharply whispered, tweaking the ear ever so slightly, "The city records building doesn't open for another five hours"
"Plenty of time for some fresh air don't you think?" Skull said, the pain of his pinched ear beginning to be felt. Bulk let go of it and grabbed Skull's arm, pulling him to the door in order to begin their outdoor convalescence
As they walked along the shore, Skull could tell Bulk was distant in addition to being angry. Financial times had been hard for him, a series of bad investments and the lack of a burglar alarm had put his business in unnecessary debt. He'd tried to rely on the more fiscally sound Skull, but Skull's wife would have none of him, forcing the two to rely purely on their friendship to scrape them out of any psychological turmoil.
"Bulkie, what's with you wanting to dig up your family tea?" Skull asked. Bulk sighed heavily and stared out at the calm and cool sea stretched across the harbour and out into the endless horizon.
"It's TREE, get that through your thick skull" Bulk snapped, Skull gave him a sheepish, child-like look. Bulk put his right hand to his temple and rubbed it ever so slightly trying to cope with the ridiculousness of it all. He chuckled to himself and changed the subject.
"I met one of those dweebs we hung out with in school back in the day, back when we ran with a rough crowd, back when we were the bitter salt of the Earth, the kind of guys who stepped on the anthill..."
"We were the hard cement that formed most of our heads and clogged up our brains" Skull added, Bulk gave him a dirty look
"Yeah, well, it was Jason alright? He'd come into town looking for a drink, he'd just come back from some kind of trip up north, he said he'd felt like there was a lot of red rising within him and he needed something to keep him cool, so I gave him a free swim in the pool, just figured I'd be charitable...having a heart doesn't pay any bills I know, but the guy looked zoned out, then he said he'd just been in a fight, and not with the average alien neither-do-wells that you get around these parts, but actual genuine regular humans, they'd been trying to rob someone"
"And he thought he'd step in and step up. Sounds in-character to me"
Skull responded, and joined Bulk in looking out at the horizon as the sun began to slowly rise before them
The sun seemed to stir Bulk's emotions up a little, that breathtaking sight combined with the burst of nostalgia of meeting Jason was enough to elicit some raw emotion in his voice, Bulk's expressions changed, from a steeled fixture to a solemn outlook.
"He didn't take a pounding, which I thought was strange, he said he'd fought off a good number but not an inch of their blows appeared in his face. He hinted he'd worn some 'protection', I was too busy fixating on what kind of dopey death wish he'd brought on himself wanting to cause that kind of a ruckus rather than run...and then I caught myself thinking that and figured 'you're the guy that stood up before a campfire and tried to inspire a whole city to have faith in people that could overcome the odds, and then that city rewarded your faith by doing just that against a swarm of alien bozos. Why are you slipping back the way? And you know what Jason said to me? He said "Step towards the sun", and requested I look up my family records from around the 1800s, he said he'd done the same and reading a bit of that helped him discover why he was how he was and it could help me out too. it's like he saw something in me, some kind of...of..."
"...Perspiration?" Skull said, noticing that the heat from the rising sun and the combination of warm summer weather was causing Bulk to sweat slightly.
"I was going to say 'potential' numbskull. All the work I'd put into '' Bulkmiers', to create a port of call for people to come and have a good drink, a good swim, and good company..it all feels like I'm making up for my past as a bully and a career opportunist who put his own interests ahead of everyone else, but maybe the reason I'm losing it all is that it's strictly not enough, that it's not humanitarian enough. Maybe I'm meant to do something greater, something with more impact..."
Bulk looked out at the horizon and felt more inspired by the second, he was getting caught up in the Romanization of his new found goal in life
"Just keep your eye on the sun, in just a few hours, we're heading towards it" Bulk said
A few hours later, Bulk and Skull arrived at the Angel Grove Archive building, and promptly asked for records on their respective family trees from around the timeframe Jason suggested. It wasn't long before they were buried in a laundry list of old newspaper articles detailing the checkered history of 'One-Eyed Bulk' and Doc Skullovitch.
"Look here Bulkie, Doc Skullovitch once stood accused of stealing candy...from someone called 'Baby' now that took a lot of gusto" Skull said, Bulk was too preoccupied with another album full of old clippings and antique looking photographs.
"Oh wait, turns out he stole candy from a genuine baby, never mind" Skull said as he read further.
What he brought up was fascinating, prior to losing an eye, One-Eyed Bulk had been part of an ancient order of Samurai, until the day he and his clan met with the "Vice Slickers", a group of merciless roustabouts who were thin on patience and sharp in aim. Skull examined the photo Bulk was looking at. In it was a group of men that resembled, in appearance, Jason and one other
"That looks like another of the dweebs we hung out with in school back then" Skull said, pointing out the one that bore the most resemblance to the master of hip-hop kiddo, Zack Taylor
"Yeah, quite a lot of us look alike, wish the Prof was here to bedazzle us with scientific theories on why that is..." Bulk replied
"If you ask me, we're better without his brand of hogwash" Skull said," Especially after what he did to all those 'hogs that belonged to the county science community"
"This article here describes how the Vice Slickers were determined to pin down intruders on the property of a family who were looking after a young fifteen year old called Sabrina Shiba, the Samurai arrived in the area looking to 'recruit her', but her family didn't want her to be enlisted in what they viewed as a 'war with God's poisoned waters", so they hired the Vice Slickers to deal with the intruders They tracked them all over the family property, engaged in a horrific fight, and although the Samurai fought bravely, they were ultimately outmatched and taken out, only my ancestor survived, and had only one eye with which to see the sunset, he became disillusioned with his mission and vowed to cause nothing but trouble, he also swore he would hound the descendents of those who had shown his clan little mercy throughout any and all ages across time, the cycle only ending at the persistence of one of his own descendents"
"No wonder Jason threw himself into the deep end with those crooks, always figured a guy who taught others to beat people up had a rattlesnake inside him" Skull replied
"Skull...do you know what this means?" Bulk said, "The concept of 'action and deed' that creates, in turn, 'cause and effect' in the ever continuous flow of life. Be it life, death, or reincarnation, everything is a reaction to something prior, and either rewards you or condemns you. It's all making sense to me...J ancestor committed several wrongs, and it's somehow his responsibility, his purpose, to make up for those mistakes in the present. I know what I have to do now, I have shamed my ancestors with how I've acted over the years, I have to make up for that, it may take a few years, but, Eugene, I know what the logical thing to do is now, the honourable thing, this will be the bulk of my samsara, my continuous flow of life...I'm going to be...a Samurai" Bulk said, a glistening gleam in his eye as he became enchanted by this notion, a new life goal.
"Cool...can I be one too?" Skull said.
"I don't think you've got the track record for it" Bulk replied
"What about my kid?" Skull requested
"He's still failing to get a steady job?" Bulk asked
"Prospects are dropping like a stone" Skull admitted
"Alright, him too" Bulk conceded.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING