Legal: I do not own the Power Rangers Franchise. But I do own the intellectual property of the concepts and characters written in this story.
Author's Note: This has been a brewing story which started off as a joke and became something more. Trying to see what the most ridiculous theme for a Power Rangers/Super Sentai series would be, I won't really spoil anything by going into detail though. I'd also like to give my good friend Rick Xeros some credit here, This story wouldn't have evolved without him.
Power Rangers: Hoagie Force
Order 01: Day in the Dumpster - Part 1
The shrill ring of the school bell shook Thomas out of his daydream. Class was over, and it was time for him to head to his afterschool job. He stood up from his desk, a tall young man, of average build with light brown hair, he collected his math book and casually dropped it into his crimson schoolbag. Today didn't feel any different from any other day, but little did young Thomas Tow know, that soon, everything would change.
Thomas walked out of the classroom and shortly arrived at his locker, swirled the dial around on his lock, and opened the door.
"Sup, Tow!" came a familiar voice.
Thomas glanced over and saw Crispin Romaine, captain of the football team, sporting the light green and white colors of the school on his letterman jacket, followed by Ryan Kaiser, local science genius, toting both his white backpack and Crispin's green duffel.
"Hey, Iceberg. Hey, Ryan." Thomas acknowledged.
He was still busy adding more of his schoolbooks to his bag. Iceberg was a nickname that Crispin had earned, due to him being an unstoppable force on the field, and as big of a guy as he was, it was no wonder, and with his dark black hair and pleasing facial features, he believed himself to be an unstoppable force with the ladies as well.
Ryan, on the other hand, had light blonde hair and glasses, he was a bit shorter in stature, but his intelligence and problem solving abilities more than made up for it.
Most people would think that a friendship between these two types of individuals wouldn't seem possible, but Thomas was rather used to it by now.
"We're taking your car, right, Tow?" Iceberg asked.
He leaned up against the neighboring locker awaiting the answer. Crispin and Ryan were not only Thomas' friends, but also his co-workers.
"Kaiser still hasn't been able to fix mine." he added.
Ryan looked over at Iceberg, looking slightly hurt.
"I told you, I'm waiting on the parts I need to properly restructure the alternator!"
"Relax, bro," Iceberg said with a chuckle,
"I know you'll get the job done."
Iceberg loved to tease Ryan, not in a mean, bullying way, but sort of an older brother type of teasing. Thomas closed his locker, shouldered his bag, and looked at his friends. A thought struck him and he tilted his head slightly.
"Sure, we can take mine, but what about the girls?"
Outside, in the school's parking lot, A young Asian girl was unlocking her pink, Volkswagen beetle. She tossed her schoolbag into the backseat and was about to sit down.
"ASUKA, WAAIT!" came a yell.
Asuka Meyer, the daughter of a Japanese business woman and an American lawyer. she had dark black hair and prominent Japanese features but was average height for an American girl. She never inherited her parents drive to achieve, in fact she seemed more opposite them than anything.
Recognizing the voice, She casually glanced over in the direction of the school's gymnasium entrance.
"HURRY UP, BRIE! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR WORK!"
Brieanna Camembert, stopped waving her arms and picked up her yellow gym bag, and ran her way over to the car. Brieanna, or Brie to her friends, was an avid sports enthusiast. She was blonde, and thin with strong muscle tone, and with School, sports and her part-time job, it's a wonder if she ever gets any free time.
"You were going to leave me behind!" Brieanna scolded.
"Yeah, probably." Asuka replied, "you could have gotten a ride with the guys though."
"No thanks! I really don't feel like squeezing into the same car as Iceberg after he's been through practice" replied Brieanna.
Brieanna put on a look of slight disgust which Asuka mimicked
"Point made. Get in."
Brieanna ran around to the passenger side as Asuka sat down in the driver's seat.
((This would be where the title sequence would be, if this were an actual TV show. You'd see the names of everyone, their actors, and what rangers they are, also with various scenes from the original Japanese show, completely ruining the reveal of the bad guys, the zords and some monsters. Buuuut.. Since this ISN'T a TV show, and there's no theme song, you guys don't get the spoilers.))
POWER RANGERS: HOAGIE FORCE!
Outside of an intergalactically themed sandwich shop, aptly named SubSpace, A red, late nineties, Toyota Celica convertible, containing Thomas, Iceberg and Ryan carefully parks next to Asuka's beetle. Inside the establishment Asuka and Brieanna are each wearing an oval paper hat and tying on their aprons. At most eateries, employee uniforms are all supposed to match, but here at SubSpace, each uniform has a different color for some strange yet obvious reason. They all maintain a similar light gray vertical stripe pattern. Asuka's uniform was striped with pink, while Brieanna's was striped with yellow.
Thomas, Ryan and Iceberg entered through the shops front double doors, an electronic 'doon dun' announcing them.
"Is that Crispin, Thomas and Ryan!?" came a deep booming voice from the bowels of shop's office.
The three young men stopped in their tracks and looked surprised.
"Yup, boss, it's the boys!" Brieanna informed.
"Good! Thomas, I left the assignments on the counter."
The three boys let out a sigh of relief as Thomas walked over to the counter to pick up the clipboard. He casually glanced over the sheet clipped to it.
"Brie and Asuka, you're on order and cashier duty."
"We already saw the assignments." Asuka said dryly.
"Iceberg, you're on sandwich duty,"
"YES!" Iceberg exclaimed, "I love making sandwiches!"
"And Ryan, Boss wants you to repair the ice cream machine."
Ryan frowned and shrugged his shoulders.
"What about you?" Brieanna asked.
Thomas grimaced and looked up with furrowed eyes.
"Special Training." He answered.
The rest of the SubSpace crew let out a soft audible gasp.
In a pitch black room, a loan door opens, flooding light onto the floor. Thomas slowly walks in, after a quick glance around; he focuses on a small stand, with a wooden sword, or boken as they're called. Thomas sighs as the booming voice invades the quiet of the room.
"Good Afternoon, Young Thomas."
"Good afternoon, sir." Thomas replies with respect in his voice.
The door to the room closes automatically.
"Pick up the boken." the deep voice commands.
Thomas approaches the boken and takes a deep breath. As his fingers wrap around the hilt the blackness of the room suddenly transforms into a pixellated three-dimensional rendering of forest. As the pixelation slowly gives way to a higher defined rendering, the scene becomes more recognizable, a place that Thomas, only recognizes from these simulations. The sky is a light pink, while the trees resemble the ones he's used to, but with unusual shaped leaves, which vary from bright green to light yellow. And the bark is covered in an orange moss. The grass blades below his feet are wider than normal grass blades and have a reddish hue to them.
"Thomas, defend yourself!" The booming voice warns.
Thomas pulls up the boken and blocks an incoming kunai knife. Several humanoid figures shrouded in black come out at him from between the trees. Thomas leans back dodging a sword attack and knocked the blade away with his boken, he quickly steps back to regain his balance. Thomas then pushes his boken forward knocking the sword figure off him. Thomas' eyes dart through the trees and he takes off running through a pair large gnarled ones. The black figures give chase, catching up to him in a clearing. Thomas lunges at them with his wooden sword.
"Poor Tow, man. I hate special training" Iceberg casually says.
Ryan looks up from the inside of the ice cream machine. Both boys now dressed in their uniforms, white striped for Ryan, and green striped for Iceberg.
"I don't see how it helps us make sandwiches." Brieanna adds.
"Well, I have been cutting through the hoagies faster lately." Iceberg admits with an accomplished look.
"And I can actually hold my own against most of the bullies now." Ryan boasts from back inside the machine.
"I don't think I'm ever going to need to be firing a laser gun at people while being a cashier." Says Asuka.
Iceberg and Brieanna look at each other in thought for a moment.
"What if someone ever tries to rob us?" Iceberg suggests.
Thomas leaped forward hitting one of the black figures in the head with his boken, knocking them to the ground. He then spins around, hitting another one in the side, the dull blade of the wooden sword can't cut them but the force behind Thomas' strike is enough to send them toppling over. He comes down on the figure with another strike. Just as Thomas is about to go after the next one, his gut wrenches as he sees the sharp metal end of a sword burst from his stomach. He let his guard down and one of the black figures managed to land a mortal blow. Thomas' shock subsides as he remembers one important thing, reminded by the digital interference of the sword touching his body.
"All just a simulation" he exhales.
"You're improving." the boss tells him.
"Thank you, sir" Thomas says, as he attempts to catch his breath.
The digital surroundings pixelate into blackness as the lights come on, revealing his boss. Now, Thomas liked his boss, he wasn't an ordinary employer, he let his crew work on their homework during their shifts, let them have free sandwiches, sometimes he'd close down the shop when Iceberg had a game, and he trained them in martial arts, and for a large floating head in a glass ball, with robotic limbs, he seemed like a real down to earth guy.
"Oh my sparks!" exclaimed a shrill voice from the doorway.
A humanoid robot with a square head and bright orange metallic body shuffles through the door carrying a tray with a drink and a towel on it.
"Thanks Beta." Thomas says.
He takes the towel and begins to dry the perspiration from his body as best he can.
"You were great out there, Tom!" Beta tells him
The robot steps around him.
"I still can't beat the simulation though"
"I have full faith in you, Thomas. Your skills are progressing swiftly." His boss encourages.
"Thank you Ja-Rawd" Thomas says with a smile.
The exterior door to the training room opens, and Thomas slowly steps out, followed by Beta and Ja-Rawd. Asuka quickly steps over to him and looks him over.
"How'd you do?" She asks excitedly.
"I think I was down to one left on the sword simulation."
"Whooa! I'm nowhere near that good" Iceberg confesses.
"I'm better with my hands" he adds as he makes fists.
He then glances over at Brieanna.
"If you know what I mean."
Brieanna rolls her eyes and looks over to Thomas
"I thought I was good with a sword, but you're cutting me down to size." She says with a grin.
The whole group begins to laugh together, except for Ja-Rawd, who rolls his eyes and floats over to the register.
"Alright kids, the Dinner rush is coming up and we don't want to be caught off guard when everyone arrives."
Meanwhile, in the cold depths of space, a large space station that looks sort of like a mall slowly approaches the Earth. The station looks to be made up of various food court eateries, all with colorful signs advertising what can only be assumed to be the names of the shops, in various alien languages. Even without understanding the languages, it's easy to tell that some of them are Italian, seafood, Asian and burger themed, which might be considered odd since this is an alien vessel, and it is sporting Earth styled cuisine. Suddenly, a loud alarm beep breaks the silence.
Inside the dimly lit command center of the alien station, a strange creature approaches the source of the beeping. A humanoid with bright white skin, wearing a dark red, button up shirt, with bright orange short sleeves and matching collar, his lower half is adorned with khaki pants. He looks human, for the most part, except for his large perfectly round head, which bares cold emotionless icy blue circles for eyes, a pointy black cone for a nose, and a thick red line for a mouth, frozen in a forced smile. The name tag on his right breast pocket bears the name 'JACK'.
Jack looks up and makes a frantic illegible noise, a noise that sounds like muffled screams and curse words, its high-pitched electronically augmented, possibly an alien language. Several other of these same humanoids run over and begin pointing at the monitor on the console making the beeping noise, none of them distinguishable from the next, all with the same name imprinted on their badges.
Suddenly, a large set of double doors slide away, at the back of the command center, fog and light pour into the darkness of the room. Two silhouettes can be made out in the swirling fog and the Jacks go silent as they step into the room.
One of the figures is a tall, thin, male humanoid in a dark yellow business suit. He's wearing large crimson boots, which must cover massive clawed feet, his ankles adorned with long, horizontally striped red and grey socks, the pocket and lapel trim match the crimson of his boots. His collar, however, is gray, unlike most suits though, this one is cut rather casually, the pants are shorter than average, and the jacket appears to be cut like a vest. Underneath said vest the man wears an expensive shirt that matches the striped pattern of his socks. This shirt appears to be worn over a red thermal body suit, which can be seen on his forearms and upper chest. The man's hands end in yellow fighting gloves, matching the color of his vest and trousers.
He looked much like a businessman, except for his face, a face more pale than any creature on a sunless world, except for his lips, they were stained red like blood, and larger than any humans, the tip of his nose was the same color, as if it had dipped it in a cup of blood he drank from, his eyebrows were thin, black and arching, his hair was thick and bright red, slicked and combed back, but it was obviously hard to tame, as it proofed out in a few spots. His face was cold and calculating; like you could tell he was figuring out the easiest way to kill everyone else in the room.
"What's the issue, now, Ron?" said the female voice of the second figure.
She stepped in shortly after the pale man, the massive doors closing behind her. The woman looked to be human, she had the same skin tone as one and no strange alien features, but she had the same colored hair as Ron, although longer and braided into two pig tails, with little sea green bows at the ends. She wore a simple woman's business suit, with a long pleated dress. Her vertical stripes were in contrast to Ron's horizontal ones, but were sea blue and gray, instead of crimson. At her waist was a thick white belt which matched the color of her pump shoes. Her face was pretty, with sparse freckling on it; she wrinkled her nose as she looked across the room and noticed all the Jacks staring at her.
"I'm not sure, Wendy," Ron replied.
"One of the proximity alarms went off."
Ron turned his head and focused on the monitor making all the noise, startling the Jack at that station.
"What's this?" he asked himself
Ron quickly strode over to the console. Wendy followed and studied the images on the monitor. Both of their faces went wide in amazement as they came to a realization. Their joy quickly changed to surprise as the doors opened once more, again releasing light and fog into the room, but this time a more massive figure was blocking shadowing the light.
"Father!?" Wendy shouted in surprise.
A large muscular leg stepped into the room, clothed in white silk tights, ending in a large black leather boot. The other leg soon followed, bringing the massive individual into the command center with it. The man wore a beige tunic, accented with reddish-brown and gold trim, belted with a thick gold chain. Over his tunic, a knee-length crimson robe, with an intricate gold leaf pattern depicting various patterns with alien animals, Spiraled flowers and star-like images while the collar and front opening of the robe was lined with a thick white fur.
Over most of his neck, flowing down into under the front of his tunic was a white and silver laced jabot. On top of his head, he wore a simple gold crown, befitted with glowing red and white gems. His hair was a light brown, which curled upwards from the side of his head, as if trying to encompass his crown. He had a medium length beard which seemed to wrap around behind his neck and a simple mustache which curved under his cheek bones. Despite the great aura of fear and command he emitted, he was smiling quite happily, he looked almost cheery, except for his eyes, which gave off a menacing sense of anger and annoyance.
"Where are we?" The man asked, coldly.
Ron dropped to one knee, bowing his head and holding his fist to his chest.
"Monarch, we've come across a suitable planet."
"Bring it up on the screen, Ronald."
Ron quickly rose and punched in a few buttons at the station next to him, soon a holographic screen came into existence before the Monarch, showing a familiar blue planet floating in space.
"This is Sol three, my liege." Ron explained.
"Over seven billion posadinoids, and plenty of creatures similar to most Posadian livestock."
Ron began pushing buttons as images of pigs, chickens, cows and various fish began showing up on the screen."
The Monarch walked over to Ron's console and entered a sequence of buttons, which brought up a document, on the holoscreen, which the Monarch studied for some time.
"Ert." He said with a hint of surprise.
"Ert, daddy?"
"Long ago, before the formation of the syndicate, my ancestors set out to create various storage planets." The Monarch explained.
"This is one such planet, although we never planned on the small population of posadinoids to begin feeding on the livestock we left to propagate."
"It seems that these.."
The Monarch looked down at the console and typed in a few buttons as the holoscreen showed various news feeds and internet sites, the images slowed down as it focused on a medical site with an image of human anatomy, the screen quickly flashed a box translating a specific word into their alien language.
"These humans.." He continued, "have been thriving on our livestock, and have evolved similarly to our ancestors."
The holographic screen flickered and various images of hamburgers, tacos, pizzas, fried chicken and other common fast food items. They invaded the screen like pop up ads. The Monarch's eyes widened as he sucked in a slow gasp.
"Wendy, assemble the syndicate."
Back at SubSpace, Ryan was pouring out some soft serve ice cream into a dish while smiling.
"You see, I narrowed the Freon output to keep the ice cream five degrees warmer, so that the motor doesn't have to work as hard to turn."
Iceberg nodded as if he understood
"This will save on the electricity and keep the machine from breaking down again." Ryan continued.
"Uh-huh." Iceberg replied, "But can we get strawberry now?"
"And, mint chocolate." Ryan answered.
"Very good," Interrupted Ja-Rawd, "Your intelligence is a most valued asset to this team."
Thomas walked up the counter from the side of the dining area, holding an empty tray.
"It hasn't been as busy as I thought it'd be today, is the weather supposed to turn bad or something?" He asked.
He set down the tray on the counter.
"I hope we get some customers pretty soon" Brieanna added.
The doors to the shop suddenly opened with the familiar 'doon dun'. Asuka gasps and brings her hands to cover her mouth. Brieanna and Ryan slink back a bit and Thomas and Iceberg ready a fighting stance.
"These aren't the type of customers I meant." Brieanna whispered.
Two young men enter the store. A large teenager, overweight, and wearing a tattered business blazer, with a dull orange shirt underneath, sporting black jeans and a bandana over his bald head, followed by a taller skinny teenager, wearing a grayish purple shirt under an oversized leather coat.
"Skulk and Bull." Thomas says aloud.
Bull, the larger of the two, lets out a nasally laugh.
"What are we doin' here, Skulky? Isn't this where the twerps work!?"
"I told you, Bull, I felt like having a milkshake." Skulk replied rudely.
"Hey Losers, you got that machine working again!?" Skulk asks threateningly.
Ryan narrowed his eyes and tried to smile
"Yeah. And it'll keep working as long as no one sneaks behind the counter and breaks it again, trying to get free refills!"
Skulk and Bull grin widely and look over at Ja-Rawd.
"Hey! Floaty head guy! Two Chocolate Milkshakes!" Bull demanded.
He approached the counter, laughing nasally and slapped down a wrinkled five dollar bill.
"Yeah, and make them extra shaky!" added Skulk.
Ja-Rawd closed his eyes and calmed himself
"They are customers, please serve them."
"Yeah! Paying customers!" added Bull.
Ja-Rawd hovered into the shop's back office and collected himself. Ryan begrudgingly grabbed a couple of cups and began to fill them with Chocolate ice cream.
Inside the back office, Beta 9 approached Ja-Rawd.
"Oh, my sparks! I don't see why you choose to serve humans who behave like that."
"Beta, I believe that there is good in every human." Ja-Rawd reminded him, "And we can help them to find it."
"I know, Ja-Rawd" Beta replied, "Being here thousands of years is just taking its toll on me, I guess."
"Relax Beta; we've got a good thing going on here."
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation.
"Sir, the dinner rush is beginning." announced Thomas from the other side of the door.
"We'll be there soon." replied Ja-Rawd.
"Yes, sir!"
"These people need us, Beta." Ja-Rawd whispered, "Even if right now, it's just to make them delicious sandwiches at reasonable prices."
"I will always fight by your side, Ja-Rawd, even if it's only to nourish humans." Beta reassured his old friend.
Out in the shop, Skulk and Bull were obnoxiously having a conversation among themselves at one of the booths, while Thomas was busy taking orders to people's tables. Ja-Rawd and Beta 9 walked out from the back, Ja-Rawd began assisting with the sandwich making while Beta ran over and began cleaning tables.
"Oh, my sparks!" Beta exclaimed, as three more people entered through the front doors, "You jinxed us, Tom, when you said it wasn't busy."
"Don't worry Beta, I have a feeling people will start clearing out of here any moment." Thomas said with a smile.
Back in Space, aboard the giant mall station, we find a large dimly lit meeting room. Guarding the door are Wendy and Ron. The Monarch slowly enters folds his arms.
"I'd like to thank all the heads of the Grime Syndicate for assembling so quickly." He announced.
He motioned towards a seat at the table.
"Pauline Cheng."
A being dressed in full beige and green samurai armor is illuminated in her seat as the light above her clicks on. Her face is covered by a black oni mask with green glowing eyes.
"Head of our oriposadi food branch" The Monarch continued.
"Lord Kronos."
The Monarch opened his hand towards a recently illuminated man in a white folded tunic, with a light red cloak, wearing what looks to be a laurel wreath for a crown.
"Head of our Mediposadean food branch." The Monarch beamed, "Captain Silver"
He again motioned to the man whose light just turned on above him. The man was wearing a tattered long coat, with brass fasteners, a three cornered hat and an eye patch.
"Head of the seafood branch." the Monarch went on, "The Colonel."
The Monarch pointed direction the next light turned on illuminating an elderly man, with white hair and a small thin goatee, wearing a white business suit and red western styled bow tie.
"The head of our southern style Posadian food branch. And last but not least" The Monarch introduced, "God Papa John"
As the light went on, he motioned towards a dark-haired man in a red windbreaker styled jacket, wearing a white apron.
"Head of our Italposadian food branch."
The Monarch slowly sat down and looked over everyone.
"And of course, you all know me," he began, "The Burger Monarch."
"Yeah, we all know each otha already! Ya don't gotta introduce us each time we have a meetin'!" exclaimed God Papa John.
"This is correct." Added Pauline.
Lord Kronos and the Colonel both nodded in agreement as Captain Silver cleared his throat.
"Aye, we be respectin' ye, Burger Monarch, but we've all known each other fer several millennia, I attended ye daughter's sweet one-sixty."
Captain Silver nodded at Wendy.
"Hello darlin'"
Wendy smiled and nodded back as Ron narrowed her eyes at her.
The Burger Monarch slammed his hand on the meeting table to regain order.
"It's all protocol, now if we can kindly get back to business."
His face was still smiling, but his eyes angrier than ever.
"I have come across one of the ancient food storage planets."
A holographic display of Earth shimmers into existence above the middle of the table.
"Sol three, or as we had named it, 'Ert'"
The rest of the syndicate started to take more interest.
"Long ago, our ancestors came to this world to raise our livestock." Burger Monarch continued, "They destroyed the dominant species by blocking their sun's rays, allowing them to freeze to death, then terraformed the planet using our Posadian flora and fauna."
"Several indigenous life forms still managed to survive however." Burger Monarch explained, raising the tone of his voice.
"Humans, as they call themselves, have dominated the food beasts, and now thrive off of their flesh!"
The Burger Monarch stood up and continued his briefing.
"And what's worse. Their cuisine has evolved to near-Posadian like meals."
The rest of the syndicate gasped.
"That's right!" Burger Monarch continued, "Ladies and gentlemen, long ago, we united in the aftermath of the great food war. If we do not stop these human ertlings, we may see the same catastrophe as we did many millennia ago."
"Wha-What do you expect we do about them?" Pauline asked nervously.
The Burger Monarch gently placed his large hands on the table and leaned in, looking at his fellow syndicate members. "We conquer them, before they conquer us."
"They're primitive; they won't be able to even put up a fight."
"Actually, my liege" Ron interrupted, "I've been doing some research on the galactic net, and it seems every time this planet has come under invasion, the planet has repelled all attacking forces."
"Really..?" Burger Monarch questioned.
"Yes, with.. With a handful of teenagers.."
"Ridiculous! You know you can't trust Galactipedia!" Burger Monarch scoffed, "Plus, I've got a tactic that never fails!"
At SubSpace the staff were busy fulfilling orders. Asuka and Ryan were cashiering. Beta and Iceberg were busy making sandwiches. Tom and Brieanna were taking the food to the respective tables. Skulk and Bull seemed to be behaving themselves. The hustle and the bustle of a busy sandwich shop with happy customers.
"Here's your ham, turkey and swiss with avocado." Thomas said to a red-headed teenage girl as he handed her a tray with her sandwich.
"Ahh, thank you!" she replied.
At that moment the whole shop began to shake.
"EARTHQUAKE!" screamed Bull.
Skulk and Bull and the rest of the patrons began to take shelter under their tables. Skulk and Bull reached back up above the tables to grab their milkshakes.
Soon the shaking subsided and the store's customers along with the SubSpace staff began to peek out of the windows.
"I guess it was a low magni-" Ryan began, but, was interrupted by a sudden explosion across the street.
Down the street an army of Jacks were marching along the street, firing lasers at obstructions, and attacking anyone who stood in their way.
The crowd inside SubSpace started panicking and trying to figure out what to do.
"EVERYONE CALM DOWN!" came Ja-Rawd's voice, booming over the noise outside, "Everyone, please proceed to the emergency exit at the back of the store, we'll sneak you out behind the building."
Everyone stood up and hurried towards the back exit, which Beta 9 had just opened.
"Please make your ways to a shelter or to your homes and please be very careful!" continued Ja-Rawd. "You five, stay here and make sure everyone else escapes."
The five teenaged employees nodded and began helping everyone out of the building.
"Beta! I want you to take out the trash." Ja-Rawd said with an obvious wink.
"But Ja-Rawd! I already took out the trash!"
Ja-Rawd's eye rolled back and he signed loudly.
"Beta, please take out the trash." He said, winking extra hard.
"Ja-Rawd, I just told you I-" Beta began, but was interrupted by Ja-Rawd.
"Beta, take the trash to the OTHER dumpster."
"But that's not a-Oooooooh!" Beta exclaimed, finally getting what Ja-Rawd was hinting at.
Beta quickly walked over to a trash can by the door, pulled out its half empty bag and tied it shut. He then walked over to the exit door where the store's customers were trying to escape.
"Heeey Beta, where do you think you're going?" Iceberg asked with concern.
"I was ordered to take this trash out to the dumpster, now please let me pass." Beta replied.
Iceberg carefully eyed the half full empty plastic bag then slowly stepped aside, holding some of the customers back.
"Alright, but get back here soon."
Beta 9 stepped out into the alley way and walked over to two dumpsters, one of them was painted green and quite old, obviously falling apart, and the other one looked shiny and brand new, with futuristic etching engraved into it. This was the dumpster that Beta 9 walked up to. The robot stood in front of it for a but, lost in thought before finally opening the hatch and tossing in the bag of trash.
Beta then proceeded over to the older dumpster and pulled out what looked to be a car key fob out of a small compartment on his hip. He clicked the button and the old dumpster let out a small chirp and opened its hatch.
"I hate this part." Beta 9 said to himself.
He grabbed hold of the top of the dumpster and began pulling himself as black and gold tendrils of energy grabbed a hold of him and yanked him inside. Beta's voice could be heard screaming as the hatch to the dumpster closed after him.
Back inside the sandwich shop, The last of the customers were leaving through the door and Ja-Rawd approached the five teenagers.
"Come on, sir, let's get out of here!" Thomas exclaimed.
"Not just yet. The city may be under attack, but the store still needs to be properly closed." Ja-Rawd ordered.
The staff stood in front of their employer, blinking in shock for a few minutes.
"Seriously?" Ryan asked, dumbfounded.
"Seriously." Ja-Rawd replied. "I'll be finalizing some things in my office. "
Ja-Rawd floated through the door behind the counter and hovered over to behind his desk, and flicked on his computer monitor.
"I can't believe he would put us in danger like this!" exclaimed Brieanna, it's just like the-"
Everyone looked at each other in surprise.
"Just like in the simulator!" Everyone said in unison.
"Beta, have you arrived?" Ja-Rawd said to his monitor.
"Yes, Ja-Rawd." Said Beta as his image flickered onto the screen.
Beta carefully pulled an old banana peel off of his shoulder and dropped it to the floor.
"We need to recruit a team to protect the planet" Ja-Rawd began, he then narrowed his eyes and said with complete seriousness. "Find me five teenagers with attitude."
Beta's LED eye lights blinked a couple of times.
"Don't ALL teenagers have attitudes? We should really narrow down the search criteria."
"Right.." Ja-Rawd agreed, "Find me five teenagers with exceptional martial arts skills within range of the city!"
Beta typed in to the keyboard at the console in front of him. The computer whirred a bit and made a sharp buzzing noise.
"No go, Ja-Rawd!"
Ja-Rawd rolled his eyes back a bit.
"Find me five teenagers with pretty good combat skills who are.. within at least driving distance of the city."
Beta gain typed into the console and was quickly given another buzzing noise.
"Well crap!" Ja-Rawd exclaimed before getting an idea. "Five teenagers who.. Get into fights a lot at school and would be willing to relocate?"
"okaaay." Beta replied as he began typing.
The resulting buzzing noise sent Ja-Rawd into a frenzy.
"Looks like the Earth is doomed unless I can find five teenagers with at least some ability to fight and work as a team!"
The silence after his yelling was broken by a loud yell from the sandwich shop's foyer.
"Hmmm.." Ja-Rawd said to himself, leaning back to peek through the door.
The five employees of the sandwich shop were sparing with the mop and broom handles. Thomas seemed to be doing pretty good.
"I wonder if they know anyone.." Ja-Rawd whispered.
Suddenly the whole building began to shake violently. Foam ceiling tiles broke apart and fell out of the ceiling. Electrical conduits exploded, showering sparks all over the floor. Ja-Rawd quickly whirled his hovering device into overdrive and flew out into the store's foyer.
"It's not as safe here as I thought!" Ja-Rawd's booming voice announced, "Quickly follow me!"
Ja-Rawd flew to the emergency exit and opened it, pulling his staff out the door. Ja-Rawd began leading them towards one end of the alley way. A swarm of Jacks were rounding the corner, coming straight for them, blasting trash cans and boxes. Ja-Rawd turned them around to head to the other end, and again, Jacks were heading towards them.
Ja-Rawd looked at both ends and at his loyal staff.
"This way!" Ja-Rawd ordered.'
He hovered over to the old dumpster and fiddled with a compartment in his isolation tube.
"We're trapped! What'll we do!?" Iceberg panicked.
"What are those things!?" Brieanna asked frantically.
"They're some sort of clone batch army, genetically augmented to be more productive, no mouths, most likely they don't need to eat or take bathroom breaks." Ryan explained with interest in his voice.
"They don't poop?" Asuka asked with little emotion in her voice.
"No, but they fight!" Thomas said as he took a defensive stance in front of his friends.
The others followed his example and stood their ground as a sudden loud chirp distracted them. They all turned around to see black and gold energy tendrils pull their employer into the dumpster.
"Did that dumpster.. just eat.. Ja-Rawd?" Iceberg asked, surprised.
"I.. I don't think it did." Ryan answered.
Suddenly an explosion right next to Thomas, shook the group back into panic mode.
"I think he wanted us to go in there!" Thomas yelled over the noise of the debris falling.
"I am NOT going inside a dumpster!" Brieanna yelled back.
Another explosion from a Jack's laser gun ignited the area around them.
"We have to!" Thomas commanded as he stood in front of the dumpster.
The Jacks were closing in fast. The rest of the SubSpace staff crowded around the open dumpster and looked at each other.
"This is soo gross!" Brieanna exclaimed.
"There's no way this dumpster will provide the necessary protection." Ryan added.
"I don't think we have a choice." Thomas said coldly.
The Jacks opened fire on the teenagers, the whole area around the dumpster started exploding in fire and sparks and the remains of blasting caps. When the smoke cleared the dumpsters hatch slammed shut. The Jacks assembled at the spot, looking around the area for any remains.
The five teenagers found themselves falling through blackness, and falling fast. All of them were confused and screaming for their lives. Soon the blackness engulfed them and muffled their screams.
To be continued..
((This would be where the end theme would be, again if it were a show, but it's not, but if it was.. you'd most likely see sequences of the zords combining, even though the zords haven't been shown yet, and it would ruin all the fun of finding out what happens next Saturday at 7am, but since this IS a two parter, they'd probably be shown together.. Come to think of it.. I really should have released them together.))