Today, I finished something I started about a year ago: watching the first season of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I started the second season sooner in the day. I know I'm like 26 Power Rangers shows late, but we all gotta start somewhere.
The black jet landed on a little river shore in the city of Rome, Italy. General Seguin insisted on getting there to avoid attention and discretely led them to the docks and then into the streets. It was night time and things were pretty quiet - there was practically no one in the streets except the trio.
"Huh, why did we came here again?" Livai silently asked the general.
"There's someone here who could help us in our mission to stop those aliens from destroying our country," the general replied without turning around to look at the cowboy and kept walking in the street.
"Say, General, think we can take the chance to try some whine in here? I've heard Italian wine is a pure wonder."
"No," Seguin firmly said, annoyed by Livai's drunk habits. "Now stay focused; we must find him."
"And where can we find him?" Juice asked curiously.
Just then, a big scream was heard, making the trio freeze in their track. Seconds after, a woman ran out of an alley with two man - visibly robbers - running and catching up to her. "Dai, piccola, dacci solo quello che c'è nella tua borsa e nessuno si farà male (Come on, baby, just give us what's in your bag and no one will get hurt)," one of them said, taking out a knife.
Almost instantly, Juice turned on his beetle armor and Livai rose his barrel gun, ready to help the woman. However, Seguin rose his arm, stopping them. "General, what are you doing?! We need to help her!" Juice seriously said.
The old man just smiled. "No need; HE will do it for us."
Just after he said that, something happened: a dark figure watching the scene from the top of a building jumped down at an incredible speed across the two attackers. A split-second after, a jet of blood came out of the robber's arm, causing him to drop his knife and shout in pain.
"Che diavolo?! Chi ha fatto questo?! (What the hell?! Who did this?!)" he angrily asked and turned toward the figure who stepped out of the shadows and into the light of a street lamp.
A tall, muscular 6'2 "man weighing not far from 190 or 200 pounds, long black hair with a long black wick that lies in front of his face, bloodshot red eyes and he has a black tribal tattoo on his left arm. He was dressed in a black hoodie robe (Assassin's Creed style) and his face was covered by a white mask with holes for his eyes and some red streaks looking like cuts.
The robber was briefly impressed by his unusual look, but quickly shoved it aside and grabbed his knife from the ground. "Sei morto, bastardo! (You're dead, bastard!)" he shouted before running toward the masked man.
However, as he swung his white weapon toward him, he easily grabbed his wrist, snapped it to make him let go of the weapon, and then hit a violent knee strike right into his stomach, causing him to clutch down in pain while also holding his broken wrist and groan in agony.
Seeing this, the other robber let go of the woman, who immediately ran away in fear because of the whole situation, and took out a crowbar which he had hidden beneath his jacket prior. The masked man simply turned his head in his direction, but didn't seemed very interested.
Suddenly, another strange event happened: the masked man transformed. His body got covered of black fur and took the shape of a wolf, making him look like a werewolf with six long tails behind him, though he kept his attire and his normal bloodshot red eyes. He glared toward the robber who was already trembling hard and pushed a loud growl at him which was enough to make him pee in his pants (for real!) and run away while screaming.
Once the robber was far enough, the masked man returned to his human appearance and just cracked his neck. "That was a very impressive, old man," Seguin said, finally deciding to step in.
The masked man turned toward him and removed his white mask and hoodie, revealing his face which had scars across his eyes and some black beard. "This woman could have gotten killed, if I wouldn't have stepped up, Seguin," he calmly responded, despite visibly being scolding the general. "Why didn't you helped her?"
"I knew you would jump in action: you're always there whenever something goes wrong in this city."
"True. So you came here to see me in action then?" he guessed.
"Not exactly," Seguin replied and then showed his two companions. "Darkmare, meet my two disciples, Juice Roy Baratier and Livai Longstorm."
"Hi, what's your name already?" Juice asked with extending his hand.
The man just narrowed his eyes at his hand and then back at his face before shaking it. "Darkmare Nightwish. Also known as Mystery M. Call me Darkmare."
Juice was feeling a bit intimidated as this guy was so tall that he kinda towered him. "And I'm Juice Roy Baratier also known as Beetle Man. You can call me Juice. Or Roy, it's like you want."
"And I'm Livai Longstorm, nice to meetcha," the cowboy introduced himself with adjusting his hat.
"We came here to ask for your help," Seguin said. "An alien race is about to attack our country and the government tasked me with forming a team of superhumans to fend them off."
"Aliens?" Darkmare asked curiously with rising an eyebrow.
"Yup, I kinda had an hard time believing it too," Livai said, nodding in understandment.
"I want you in the team," Seguin continued. "We need as much help as we can get to fight them off."
Darkmare rubbed his chin. "This seems serious indeed. Unfortunately, I'm gonna have to decline." This statement caused the trio to widen their eyes in surprise. "I know you wanna save your country, but I too have a country to protect; I cannot leave it without protection. Specially since crime is on the rise around here. Sorry."
He then turned into his werewolf form again and ran away into the night. "So that's another failed recruiting attempt, he?" Livai pessimistically said with crossing his arms.
"Apparently," the general said with shaking his head out of despair. "We have no choice but to move on to the next on my list. We're going back to Canada."
And so, picking up the black jet, the trio left Italy without any new member and flew all the way back to Canada. However, instead of going to Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, they landed in a campaign located not too far from a city. There, General Seguin made them walk into the woods to an unknown location.
"Let me guess, your next friend lives in the woods?" Livai guessed.
"For once, you guess correctly, Livai," Seguin said before making them come to a stop.
Not too far from them was standing a man. From their position, they got a good look at him: he was visibly an aged man with neck-length dark brown hair and some beard going from his chin all the way up to his side whiskers. He was dressed in a military attire that helped him melt in the scenery. He was also holding a bow and arrow in his gloved hands, aiming toward an unseen target.
He remained immobile for many seconds. Just as Livai had enough and was about to say something, the guy rose his bow and shot his arrow in a split-second. He then stood up from his kneeling position and walked away, returning moments later with a little lizard impaled on his arrow.
"You can come now," he said, looking in the direction of the trio who stepped forward to be properly seen.
"So you already knew we were there?" Seguin asked with a smirk.
"Yes; you were standing opposite to the wind, so it was easy to smell your odor," the man explained.
"That was a pretty cool shot you did there," Livai remarked. "I didn't noticed this lizard before."
"It's because he was standing one kilometer away from here," the man explained.
"One kilometer?!" Juice and Livai exclaimed at unison, completely shocked.
"Yes," Seguin said and pointing at the man. "Allow me to present you Volk Okhotnik. He's a professional hunter, trapper and fisherman not only for the animals but also the living beings and vegetable. He can adapt and get to know an ecosystem very quickly."
"Nice to meet you," the man named Volk said with stepping forward and holding his hand to Juice.
He accepted to shake it. "I'm Juice Roy Baratier and this is Livai Longstorm," he said with pointing at his friend who waved with a little smile.
"So what did you came here for, General?" Volk asked.
"Yesterday, our satellite got destroyed by an alien race named Chitauris. We have all the reasons to believe they will try to invade Canada and take down our military forces. Unfortunately, we know little to nothing about them. The government decided to take action by forming a team of superhumans to fend them off. Would you be interested to join? Your hunting skills could be helpful."
Volk pointed his pierced arrow at the general. "So let me get this straight: you're tasked with forming a superhero team to face invading aliens whom you know absolutely nothing about?"
"Well...for short, yes," Seguin said with rubbing the back of his head.
Volk actually smiled. "Alright then, count me in."
The first one might have refused, but at least, the second one accepted. That's better than nothing, don't you think?
The characters of Darkmare Nightwish and Volk Okhotnik belongs to my real life friends Lana and Dominic respectively. Thank you guys for accepting to join my superhero team!
Recruiting time is over; the fight against the Chitauris will start officially start in the next chapter.