Woo guys prompt number six! Yeah! I'm pumped—are you pumped?! Jose is pumped!
Wait, who's Jose?
Er… well, whatev. This one was fun. At first I didn't know what to do and I'm over with all my geek friends and I ask them, hey, what should I do for this prompt? And one of them suggests something with the Axem Rangers, and really, who can say no to that? I can't.
Neither can Jose.
So I interpreted the theme this time as like… defection! Good times yo.
Enjoy!
…
006. Break Away
The Axem Rangers were tired of this. The constant cycle of Smithy attacking a dimension, getting defeated by some local hero, and then Smithy's henchman rebuilding him and the process beginning anew. It was so tedious, so frustrating! They themselves had been rebuilt hundreds of times and honestly they were sick of it.
And so they ran off, escaping to the Mushroom Kingdom while Smithy was incapacitated. He'd built a new set of Axem Rangers, surely, and that was fine. Those new Axem Rangers could continue the neverending fight—they themselves, though, were done.
Of course, there was the matter of getting on their feet in this new world. The only experience they had here was their quick travels to steal Star Pieces and fight Mario. Establishing a new life here was a different matter entirely.
"Can we rest now?" asked Axem Pink. "It's hot and I need to fix my make-up."
"No," said Axem Red. "We need to find a hideout."
"I think we need to find lunch," Axem Yellow said.
"We need to find a hideout," Axem Red insisted.
"It needs to be a fortress," Axem Black said, adjusting his shades, "With black walls and gargoyles looking over the edge. And… strobe lights. Strobe lights are cool."
"Where are we going to get all that?" Asked Axem Green.
Axem Black shrugged. "We're bad guys. Lets just go steal a fortress from someone and fix it up."
"That's actually not a bad idea," said Axem Red. "We've just gotta find a fortress somewhere."
"It can't be that hard," Said Axem Green. "Aren't fortresses all over the place in the Mushroom Kingdom?"
"I think so," said Axem Black.
"Let's ask someone where one is," suggested Axem Pink.
"We can find one on our own," said Axem Red.
"There's someone!" Axem Green started waving to a figure flying overhead. "Hey! Heeeey! We wanna ask something!"
The figure stopped and paused, as though inspecting the group. Finally it flew down to the ground, revealing itself to be a small Beanish boy with thick swirly glasses and a strange helmet with rockets on its sides. His face was twisted into a very unnerving grin and he looked at the group with interest.
"What are you wanting?" he asked.
"We wanna know where the nearest fortress is," said Axem Red.
"Yeah!" Axem Black chimed in, "We're gonna storm that place!"
"Shut up!" Axem red whispered.
"And where's the nearest burger joint?" asked Axem Yellow.
"Shut up!" Axem Red insisted.
"Hmm," the Bean chuckled. "Ruru… what will you have giving to me if I am assisting the strange things who are yourselves?"
Axem Black shook his fist. "Who you callin' strange?!"
Axem Red shoved Axem Black before reaching into his storage compartment. He pulled out a few bolts and paperclips, but no money. He sighed and held out the useless material, hoping that the stranger would help them anyway.
The Bean took the bolts and looked them over. "This does not have sufficiency," he said before putting the bolts into his pocket.
"Then you could give me back my bolts," Axem Red said.
The Bean shook his head. "No, I am requiring payment as you have had the wasting of the time of mine which is valuable. This is not much, but it will have doing." He then smiled and stuck his tongue out, blowing a raspberry at them as he fired his rockets and started to fly away.
"What the—did he just blow a raspberry at us?!" Axem Red asked, incredulous.
"Nobody blows raspberries at the Axem Rangers!" Axem Green shouted.
Axem Black pulled a bomb out and tossed it at the Bean, shouting a haughty "Take THIS!"
The Bean dodged the bomb—Axem Black's cry had given him warning enough to see it coming. As a response, he turned and started shooting bolts of energy at them from his headgear. The bolts hit the dirt with enough force to cause an explosion, tossing the Axem Rangers into the air. The Bean continued flying away, his high-pitched laugh fading away as he put more and more distance between himself and the battered Axem Rangers.
Axem Green groaned. "Nice going, Black."
Axem Black smacked Axem Green upside his head.
Axem Yellow grunted as he tried to get back on his feet. "Hey, Red?"
Axem Red pulled his face out from the dirt. "Yeah?"
"Can we get some lunch now?"
Axem Red growled and buried his face in the dirt once more.