Episode 27: Part 1
Dull orange rays of the fading sun hung over the city of Hyperion Falls as the workers finished unloading the last large crates of food from the delivery truck. When they finished stacking the last crates in the produce distribution center, one of the workers wiped his brow and chuckled to his coworker as they closed up, "Wow, looks like a big crop yield from the Adler farm this year. They must be doing something right."
After the lights went out for the day and the workers left, a dark figure emerged from the shadows wearing long black robes. The gaunt bony figure removed his dark hood revealing a withered sallow skinned being who gave a sinister smile. The Horseman named Famine approached the many crates of freshly arrived food and took on an ethereal form, passing straight through them like a ghost.
It was only a matter of time before the tainted curse he placed upon this food would reach the humans. If he was going to bring ruin and starvation to this city, then he had to grow stronger, meaning he had a lot of work left to do here.
The next afternoon, the six Vanguard Rangers met for lunch at the Student Union food court between their classes. While some of them brought a bag lunch, the rest ordered food from the lunch line and brought their trays to the table. As Danny sat down beside Joe and began bugging him to copy his notes for an upcoming Calculus exam, Kara took her fork and poked at the garden salad on her plate. It was an unusual main course for her as she had always been more accustomed to a warrior's diet of meats and starch. She was beginning to regret letting her fellow female Rangers talk her into it today.
"I still do not understand how this will be a filling meal by itself," she commented dourly.
"Oh come on Kara. Fruits and veggies are still good for you too," Izzy said with a reassuring wink, "And besides, they're good for our girlish figures too."
Kara frowned, "Perhaps more of a result from our exercise and Ranger training."
From across the table, the Green Ranger gave a good natured laugh, "Don't be such a sourpuss Kara. For all we know, the veggies in that salad came straight from my own family farm and I guarantee that we grow the healthiest, tastiest food in the state."
Seeing there was no arguing, Kara gave a defeated sigh and began to eat a fork full of the salad when the other Rangers stopped and witnessed a clamor erupt in the Union cafeteria. To their shock, they saw several other students begin to wolf down their food like ravenous animals and grab the meals off their fellow students' plates. Across the room, a few students pushed through behind the serving counters and began trying to get at the food trays with fierce determination.
"Eww, gross!" Claire commented in horror at the messy chaotic display.
"I know, right?" Danny said wryly in agreement, "That's school cafeteria food."
Rising from the table, the Red Ranger led the others quickly toward the door, also startled by the sudden mysterious feeding frenzy from their colleagues, "What the hell is going on here?"
As university faculty and workers began to rush in to calm the madness breaking out in the food court, the Rangers all rushed outside, looking around for any signs of trouble, or an attacking enemy. To their surprise, they found none. As they regrouped on the front lawn of the Union, Danny frowned, "Who wants to make a bet the Cambion demons are behind all this?"
Claire furrowed her brow and adjusted her glasses, "I'm sure of it. The question though is, how? This just happened out of the clear blue and we haven't seen any other trace of a demon."
"It's possible that this could be the work of a very powerful monster," Kara said ominously, "Powerful demons sometimes project a sort of passive aura to assert their will over others without any effort."
"Gee, what a comforting thought," Joe muttered darkly as he checked his watch, "Professor Bishop should be finishing one of his classes right about now. I think now would be a good time to go visit him."
Later that day, the Rangers headed into the lecture hall where Professor Bishop taught his classes. As they entered, they found their mentor sitting behind a large desk in the empty classroom. As he sat browsing on his small portable laptop, he laid out some food to eat a late lunch. As he took a packed ham and cheese sandwich from his bag and brought it to his mouth, Nick gave an alarmed cry and charged forward swiping the food from his startled teacher's hand.
"No Professor! Don't do it!"
"What the... Nick! I was going to eat that! What's gotten into you?" Bishop exclaimed in annoyance as the Green Ranger held the sandwich up and away from his reach. "Everyone? What's going on here?"
The others approached, also startled by Nick's sudden action.
Joe gave his roommate a pointed look and shook his head silently making the Green Ranger hand back the sandwich with a sheepish expression, "Um... sorry about that professor. There's a bit of a situation going on and I jumped the gun a little."
"Ya think?" Izzy sighed giving him a light slap in the arm.
Bishop sat and listened as the Rangers recounted the strange occurrence at the Union. While he listened, he began doing a few internet searches on his laptop.
"So that's what happened," Claire said finishing the story, "It seems that anyone who had eaten from the school cafeteria went bonkers."
At that moment, a loud burbling growl escaped Kara's stomach and she gave a self conscious look as everyone glanced at her for a moment, "Um... excuse me."
Bishop waved it off, "Look at this everyone. This is interesting. I just did a few local news searches and it looks like there are several reports of similar incidents breaking out across the city.
"Already? And on such a wide scale?" Joe asked in genuine surprise.
Bishop nodded and gave his own sandwich a second glance, "It seems they were occurring in a few restaurants and supermarkets. The common link sounds like it's tainted food."
"Ok! So we get to the source of the food and find our answer, right?" Izzy asked hopefully.
"Maybe. But we still don't know what the demons are up to," Danny mused aloud, "I mean... cursed food?"
Nick pounded his fist indignantly, "Well there's no way any of that came from my family's place."
"Calm down Nick. No one said that," Claire said gently, "But we'll have to do some digging and find the food distribution place to make sure. Until we do, I think it's a good idea to find out more about the victims so we know what we're up against, or how to prevent it."
Joe nodded his head gravely, "Agreed Claire. That's a good place to start. If several of our classmates were already affected, then let's check out the campus hospital nearby."
"I'll work on tracking down the produce distributor," Bishop added as the Rangers made their way out, "I'll give you a call when I find something out."
Early that evening, the six Rangers made their way into the campus hospital and asked to visit their schoolmates who had been affected by the curse. As they were led into the room by a doctor and a nurse, the Rangers were shocked at the sight of their classmates. There were around 25 students sitting upright, restrained to their beds. In front of them were trays and bowls of bland hospital food that the students were voraciously consuming. Whenever another hospital worker came near to take the trays, the victims would react with an almost animal like aggression.
"We've never seen anything like this before," the nurse commented, still trying to wrap her head around the recent events. "It's almost like these students are possessed."
"Aren't they getting full?" Izzy asked flinching at the disgusting eating habits of some of the patients, "How is it that these people can just keep eating like this?"
The doctor shook his head, "We have no idea. The only clue we've been able to learn is that these patients' metabolic functions have been elevated to unprecedented levels."
"If that's the case, then where is all that metabolic energy going? How can it be sustained?" Claire asked aloud with a genuinely puzzled look as her own scientific curiosity began to spark.
While the White Ranger pondered those questions, Kara walked over toward a bowl of porridge on a nearby table and began to quietly eat a couple bites. After the doctor and nurse stepped outside, the other Rangers began to speculate amongst themselves when they noticed all the other patients in the room freeze and sit motionless in silence while the lights flickered for a moment.
"Ok, this just went from gross to creepy," the Pink Ranger muttered as they looked around for some hint of what was going on. The lights flickered again, and the Rangers found themselves staring face to face with a tall gaunt figure in black robes atop a black horse. They were staring into the face of Famine.
"Whoah! What's going on?" Danny cried in alarm as the six friends recoiled, fearfully backing up against the wall of the wide hospital ward. "Who are you?"
The rider in black laughed as the sinister horse snorted in a threatening stance, "Do you not recognize me Ranger? I am one of the ancient beings freed from Bansheera's cistern."
"Wait! I remember now. You're one of those ghostly horsemen I saw!" the Red Ranger exclaimed in fear, "There were... four of you."
"Yes," Famine hissed, "My brothers and I have all returned as harbingers of the End Times."
Izzy shook her head in astonishment, "Wait... as in the biblical Apocalypse? You're like... one of the mythic Four Horsemen?"
Famine laughed aloud, "That's right my dear. You humans know us by many names, but you may call me... Famine."
Nick glanced over at the food trays and bowls that had fallen to floor near the motionless patients, "What do you want then Famine? What are you doing here?"
The rider gestured toward the motionless students, "What else? To inflict human misery. The Cambion were right about your race. Such weak disgusting creatures who are driven to constantly consume... all in the vain hope of your own survival... to prolong your own inevitable ends."
"You are aligned with Gideon and his demons?" Kara called out with a scowl as she wiped some porridge from her own lip.
Famine tilted his head, "We have an agreement child. We will help them destroy their enemies and they will allow us free reign to torment the slaves of their new dominion when they invade this world. I can already see the taint of hunger has begun to touch you too."
The other Rangers glanced over toward Kara who shot them an uneasy look before turning back towards Famine, "A curse that will be lifted by destroying you. We won't let you harm any of these people."
"I already have," Famine replied, "Now I am here to feed on them myself."
Before the Vanguard Rangers could react, Famine stretched his arms out and tilted back his cloaked head. In an instant, rippling light began to pour from the cursed patients' mouths and filter into the spectral rider's own mouth. For a terrifying moment, the Rangers watched as Famine seemed to siphon some sort of life energy from the victims. As he did, Famine grew larger in size and more monstrous in appearance until he absorbed all the current energy of the victims causing them to collapse back in their beds unconscious.
Giving an evil laugh, Famine turned and slowly trotted away, phasing through the wall and leaving the stunned Rangers before Joe shook off his surprise and ran over to the window, tearing it open. "Come on everyone! We can't let that monster get away!"
The Rangers followed him and scrambled out the window, chasing the black rider into a nearby park, across the street from the hospital.
"Hey! Hold it right there!" the Red Ranger called out in challenge causing Famine to turn around in annoyance. "You're not going anywhere! Not until you make those people well again!"
The Horseman sneered as the Rangers drew their Keyrunes. "Why don't you make me."
In an instant, the Rangers morphed as the Horseman gave a hideous shriek and charged forward, brandishing a fearsome spiked flail. As the Rangers scattered, Claire pulled her bow and fired a volley of icy arrows along with supporting fire from Izzy and her blaster pistol. The powerful Rider easily deflected the shots with a dismissive wave of the arm before charging forward on his horse, sending the two girls flying backwards after colliding with the beast.
To everyone's shock, the White and Pink Rangers demorphed and lay on the ground completely stunned. As he saw that happen, Danny summoned his spear and leveled it furiously at the Horseman calling out a challenge. "You're going to pay for that!"
Famine grinned and turned on the Blue Ranger charging on him in a flash. Danny got low and set his weapon to meet the charge, aiming to unseat the rider. As Famine bore down on top of him, the Horseman surprised Danny and reared up in the saddle making the Ranger miss with his spear thrust. In a flash, Famine used his flail to snare the spear and disarm the Ranger. Before Danny could move, Famine brought his flail around and struck him full on, causing him to fall and demorph as well.
Immediately, Nick charged in with a cry swinging his warhammer to try and protect his friend. To his shock, Famine caught the hammer easily with one hand and pulled the Green Ranger closer before grabbing him by the throat.
As Famine effortlessly lifted the struggling Nick off the ground, he gave a sniff of contempt, "Pathetic."
In one motion, the Horseman hurled the Ranger into a nearby tree, nearly destroying it. Like the others, Nick demorphed as he slumped to the ground, the fight taken completely out of him.
As Famine glanced at the defeated Ranger, he grunted as he felt a scimitar slash deep into his side crackling with electrical magic. The Gold Ranger was already upon him, trying to knock him off his horse and deliver a follow up blow with her second scimitar. Completely untroubled by the blade in his side, Famine lashed out and grabbed Kara's arm as she brought her second sword around, surprising the girl.
"You thought you could surprise me, did you?" the Horseman laughed before bringing his other arm around and striking her hard with his flail. Kara gasped as she took the hit and spun to the ground, landing face-first on the grass and demorphing as well.
"Is that all?" the Horseman laughed again before the Red Ranger sprung up from behind with a winged leap and brought his own fiery saber down on the black rider.
"Radiant Smite!" Joe called driving his brilliant blade home through the back of the Horseman with his finishing attack. To his shock, Famine only began to laugh hysterically at the blazing sword sticking out of his chest before radiating a dark energy of his own.
"You really think your pathetic weapons and magic can harm me? I have the power of the masses to protect me right now," Famine cackled intensifying his aura.
The Red Ranger gasped and tried to maintain his grip on his weapon, but felt the intense dark energy weaken him and burn away at his Ranger suit. In one more burst from the evil aura, Joe was thrown backwards and landed hard on the grass demorphing.
Famine sat atop his horse and surveyed the battlefield before giving a scoff at the six downed Rangers around him, "I don't have time to play with you children. Let this be your only warning to stay out of my way. I have work to do."
With blurry vision, the Red Ranger watched as the Black Horseman turned and began to slowly trot away into the night. As he left the battlefield, Joe glanced over at the stunned forms of his friends lying on the ground before putting his own head back on the grass and momentarily passing out.
