Ep. 3: Hare Raising
At the House
"Another failed attempt, Bastien?" asked Damien.
"Yes, my lord. A thousand apologies again and again."
"You have truly brought me great anger and disappointment, lately. Perhaps it is time we let Adien handle the situation."
Bastien heard a voice coming from behind him.
"I totally agree with your decision, my liege."
He turned around to find Aiden bowing to Damien, holding a syringe containing his DNA enhancer formula in his left hand and a tranquilizer gun containing a syringe filled with a different substance in his right.
"In fact, you should be happy to know that I have completed another one of my projects, leading us even closer to our full invasion." Aiden got up and nodded toward the gun in his right hand.
"What I have in contained here is a chemical substance that enhances the growth of an individual by several times its size. The Ranger might succeed on the streets with someone relatively their height. But let us see how they fare against someone the size of a building or more."
"You're serious?" asked Bastien.
"Oh, yes. Very much."
"Splendid." replied Damien. "Aiden, take some troops and commence the invasion."
"What?!" Bastien shouted, looking visibly upset.
"Yes, of course, my lord. But first…" The brilliant vampire quickly stepped out of the room and was back a second later with a vampire in chains, vainly struggling to get free.
"You really need to relax." Aiden said to the vampire. "Let me help." He jammed the syringe with the DNA enhancer into the helpless prisoner's neck and pressed the plunger. Stepping back and viewed the results of his handiwork.
The vampire screamed in agony as his skull began to push outward and his skin began to darken. His ears started to grow until they reached far above his head, sticking straight up and twitching nervously. His screams were soon muffled as his two front teeth began growing, though they only grew an inch longer. The hair on his body began to lengthen until it was an inch long. He fell silent as the transformation ended.
Aiden smiled, satisfied. "Another work of art."
Vamp Force building
As the Rangers headed back to the building, their mentor, Jared, was busy upstairs. He spread enchanted dust over some cages and quietly chanted an incantation to himself.
Jared heard footsteps on the stairs outside and quickly took some syringes and drew some blood from the animals. He quickly threw the covers back on the cages just as the Rangers entered the room.
"Hey guys. Great job out there tonight." said Jared, smiling encouragingly. Then he noticed the bummed out look on the Black Ranger's face. "What's wrong with him?"
"Oh he's just upset because a couple of girls turned him down because of his Ranger costume." Dante responded with a chuckle.
"You know those are meant to be used responsibly." Jared said to Shaun, who was still deep in thought.
"I just can't believe it. Not that long ago I was getting more than the Spirit and Tony Stark combined."
"Oh get over it. Shaun." Mena rolled her eyes. "It's just an off day. The important thing is that you learn to bounce back--bwah ha ha ha!" The Violet Ranger couldn't help but laugh at the joke she made.
Dante grinned and added his, two cents worth. "Yeah, you know, get the hip back into your hop-- ah ha ha ha!"
"Hey, shut it!" Shaun yelled.
"The three of you, calm down." Jared directed.
The three instantly stopped. "Sorry." They apologized in unison.
"All right. Now if you guys will be serious for a few seconds, I have something new to give you."
Walking over to the covered cages, he pulled the covers off with a grand flourish, revealing three cages, each containing a different animal. He carefully took the animals out and handed one to each Ranger. Dante was given a red snake, Mena had a violet raven, and Shaun was given a black rabbit, the tiny creature shivering in his large hands. Shaun looked at it with disgust.
"Pets?" Mena asked, stroking the raven's feathers.
"Not just any pets, Mena. These animals will help play a big role in your fight against the vampire and demons." Jared pulled out the syringes and handed them one each.
"What's in them?" Dante asked, holding the syringe up to the light and peering at the translucent red liquid.
"Their blood." Jared said with a smirk.
The Rangers all turned to look at Jared, their faces all exhibiting different stages of disbelief, worry and skepticism.
"Containing with them, some hints of magic." Jared continued.
"I take it you want us to stick it into ourselves?" asked Shaun.
"Once after, you will begin a true bond with your animal. You will be able to understand them and see what they see when needed."
The Rangers each took a deep breath. Looking at each other unsurely, they all inserted the syringe into their forearm and pressed the plunger. They felt a wave of goose bumps as they felt the animal blood mixing with their own. They shivered at the feeling.
"As of now, you have a magical bond between you and your respective animal."
Dante let the snake wrap around his arm, Mena let the raven stand on hers, while Shaun just held the rabbit and frowned at it with disappointment and concern.
"Thanks, Jared. They're amazing." said Dante.
"Yeah, they're really great." Mena smiled.
Shaun hesitated. "Yeah, they're, uh, something alright."
Just then, the alarms went off. The Rangers put down their new friends and quickly followed Jared into the room with the televisions and pinpointed one.
"Looks like they're still up and at them tonight." said Dante.
"And it looks like Aiden is the one causing the commotion this time." Jared replied, frowning thoughtfully.
"So that's Aiden." said Mena, peering at the small image on the screen.
"Awesome, a good smack down is just what I need." said Shaun. "Oh, we are off."
2-6-9
"Let's Vamp On!"
They headed out the building, into the car, and off they were.