Dr. Hikari Labs' Underground Bunker, AD/DC Town, Japan
There was a large group of people sitting around a large round table in a large underground bunker. Dr. Yuichiro Hikari was reading a large folder of notes on his laptop, "Ok. It looks like everything's gone to shit. Apparently, within our knowledge area, only two planets are free of the Stellar Empire. Us and the planet of Lux, where most of the Ultras are from." Another man in a lab coat of a similar age to Dr. Hikari snorts, "I am assuming that's because they are freaking huge and able to destroy their fleet." Dr. Hikari smiles, "Indeed, Doctor Oliver." A set of giggles could be heard from near them, and a quick look shows us two teens, Lan Hikari, son of Dr. Hikari, and Mayl Sakurai, his girlfriend.
As Dr. Oliver opens his mouth to speak up, a loud popping noise could be heard from the air above the two. Lan, curious about the noise, looks up to see a decent size hole full of a swirling mass of multicolored energy with a figure falling out as the gap quickly closes. The figure lands on top of Lan. Both stand up, Lan and the figure looking at the other. Lan was noticing how similar the figure seems to him, though seemingly several years older. The figure stood around six feet tall, wearing a standard lab coat over a simple white buttoned-up shirt and blue trousers, with a white scarf draped over the shoulders. The figure looks around, taking in his surroundings before fixating his gaze back on Lan. Lan then notices the familiar logo on the lab coat over the left breast pocket.
Lan groans softly to himself before turning to the figure, asking, "Who are you?"
The figure turns to him, smiling, "I am Hub Hikari. Of course, I know who you are. Gotta love parallel universes."
Lan's eyes widen in shock at the name and the words in a very similar manner to his father. Dr. Oliver, unaware of the surprise to the Hikari's, walked over to him, "Hub Hikari… You mean the NetNavi, who is better known as MegaMan?"
Hub smiles, turning to him, "I would be a different universe's version of him. If I seem too calm about this, it's because it's happened before. Um…?"
Dr. Oliver smiles, "Ah. I am Doctor Thomas 'Tommy' Oliver. I believe that you are having some things going on in your universe then."
Hub shrugs, "At the moment, not really. At least nothing we can't handle. I just was testing a device to transport stuff between two parallel worlds. It's not the first time a prototype malfunctions and throws someone to an unintended destination."
Hub pauses for a moment. "Tommy Oliver… I know I've heard that name before somewhere. Either way, you're taking this whole thing much better than my brother did the first time he got thrown into another world."
Dr. Oliver smiles, "Your world got a team of people in spandex called Power Rangers? I am one. Had to deal with pocket dimensions and timeline stuff before."
"Well, we had the Super Sentai in the east and the Power Rangers in the west, but… those were TV shows. The latter was adapted from the former."
Mayl shuffles forward, "Why are you doing that kind of test? Wouldn't that be a risk to both sides?"
Dr. Hikari stood up and walked over, "She's right. That kind of technology is risky even by our technological advances that our world has experienced during the many alien invasions that we had since the 90s, along with the threats that we had within our society."
"Alien invasions? Funny that you'd mention that."
"Not to mention the Great Peace-Time Tech Jump that we had in 2010."
"We don't use that calendar anymore, but I guess some things don't change that much…" Hub said, a slight grin creeping over his face.
"What do you mean?" Lan asks.
Hub's expression softens as he focuses his attention on Lan and Mayl. "I guess this is how our Lan felt when he got thrown into the Earth Next Door… But wow. Seeing you two brings me back."
Lan blinks. "Huh?"
"Where I'm from, you two have been together for the better part of twenty years."
Mayl's eyes light up at that remark. "R-Really now?"
"With three kids to show for it, no less," Hub adds with a smile.
"Th-Three?!" Lan stammers, his eyes widening in surprise.
"But wait." Mayl chimes in, staring intently at Hub. "Are you…?"
"I look as human as any of you, but I died of a certain heart condition as a newborn and was reborn as a Navi."
"Then how do you look like that? How are you standing here?"
"What you see before you is the culmination of several years of research and development on something called Copy Bots. The first models were pretty basic - just a frame laced with nanomachines that would take the Navi's shape. Battery-powered, too, so they couldn't be used for long periods."
"I'm guessing that's not the case here." Dr. Oliver remarks.
Hub nods. "This here, though? Full sensory range and the same functions as a human body and then some. Navis in our world can have a physical body and live outside the Cyberworld with their human partners. We can enjoy the same world, eat the same food. Some Navis even get together with humans."
Dr. Hikari smiles at that, "Good to know your world has access to the Copy Bots. We had someone suggest it. But, our science community shot it down due to the timing being poor due to a robotic army invasion and most of them being fans of the Terminator franchise."
"The Terminator?" Hub scoffed. "Now that's silly. But I guess some things never change. Like Mayl being head over heels for my brother and his head being denser than a dwarf star."
Mayl rolled her eyes. "You have no idea… Or maybe you do. How about having to try and give him hints for nearly 14 years," She then glares at Lan, "and getting locked in YOUR DOGHOUSE."
Hub laughs. "Been there, done that. But wait... the doghouse?"
Mayl smirks, "Apparently, Dex and both our parents got tired of Lan being an idiot."
Dr. Hikari laughs, "Indeed I was. Also might have helped that Lan's mother threatened me with no food for a month if I disagreed."
"H-Hey now…" Lan tried to protest, feeling a little put on the spot.
"Ah, yes. Our Mayl does that to Lan sometimes, too, if he gets out of line. Of course, she usually turns into mush once he turns on the charm."
Dr. Hikari smiles, "I am assuming that your girlfriend or wife does the same, Hub. That's just the norm of the Hikari males. That's been a thing since my great grandfather."
"Not really," Hub said, looking just a little bit smug. "Mostly because I don't annoy Roll. If anything, sometimes it can be hard to get work done since she's very… touchy-feely."
Mayl blushes at the last sentence and glares at Lan, "After today's encouragement, I hope I got the message across loud and clear. Also, I expect that when we get married that you're ready to have at least as many kids as your other self, whatever that number is!"
Lan meekly tries to protest. "H-Hey now! Slow down a little… I mean…"
Hub lets out another laugh. "I don't think you want to turn this into a competition… But at least our Lan was the one who proposed. That's gotta count for something."
Mayl snorts, "I don't want to be in a competition, but if I know that I have a certain number of kids, I want that amount."
Hub lets out another laugh. "Then I suggest you just spell things out to him about how you feel unless you want to wait for his brain to finally click."
Mayl laughs, "I think I just did an hour ago."
"And? I hope at least he reacted."
Dr. Hikari laughs at the large blush on Lan's face and the smirk on Mayl's face, "Anyway, let's move on because I think Lan's about to explode from embarrassment. However, most of the risks that we're facing aren't of an average threat level. We just fought off a universal empire from Earth. Earth and another planet named Lux are the only two known planets that we are aware of that weren't conquered by the empire. They call themselves the Stellar Empire."
"Doesn't ring any bells. We've had some troubles with an alien empire too, but they mostly use giant robots. They don't really seem interested in taking planets."
"By the way, what do you mean by 'that calendar'?" asked Mayl.
"Well, almost a hundred years ago, the nations of my world bundled together in regional blocs. The idea was to put an end to nationalist and ethnic bickering. They changed the calendar around that time to mark what was supposed to be a new age. But after several issues, with the Sigma Uprising being the last straw, they went back to the old individual nations, with new international pacts."
"But you said something about aliens on your end?" Lan points out.
"Yes. We're still not sure what they really want. First, they came shooting indiscriminately, now they seem to be looking for something. We had some advance warning, though, so we spent a couple of years designing and building some mechs of our own and picking pilots for them."
Suddenly a familiar voice to Hub speaks up, "May I ask how your mecha is designed?" Hub looks over and sees a man with a mane of purple hair covering one of his amethyst colored eyes.
"Gilliam Yeager… What are you doing here?"
The man quirks an eyebrow. "You know me?"
"We haven't spoken in person yet, but you've already had contact with my brother. Wasn't there supposed to be only one of you in all the universes?"
Gilliam furrows his brow. "So you know about that… Since I don't remember you, that means that those events are still to come from my perspective. That being the case, I'll ask you to be careful about what you disclose. Knowledge of the future can be a dangerous thing, and one may accidentally change things too much even when trying to avoid doing just that."
Dr. Oliver gives a cough, "Um… Pardon me, why are you asking that, Gilliam?"
Gilliam sighs, "Nothing major to worry about. Just an issue that I have to deal with."
Dr. Oliver sighs at that, turning to Hub, "Do you want to discuss the events of our universe in terms of the significant events of our heroics or in the normal historic outlook?" Hub smiles, "Let's stick to the heroics since that's the major stuff here…"
Dr. Oliver nods, pressing a button and a screen pops to life behind the table where they were sitting, "How far back do you want to go? We have some stuff that's nearly 10,000 years before the Earth is a major player?" Hub thinks for a short while before saying, "I say just focus on the recent events. There's a lot of space for events in 10,000 years."
Dr. Oliver smiles, "Ok. Earth only, or you want the recent activities since 1944 in the universe?" Hub sighs, "Earth only if you can't condense the activities since 1944." Dr. Oliver nods, "Fair. I think we can condense things."
He then began to type, and the screen showed a planet with the label of Kurox, "This is Kurox. The first known instance of the Power Riders in recent times. This is the home planet of Kejin, a young woman at the time who barely survived an attack from a group called 'The Divine Ones.' Her father saved her and caused her to become Power Rider EXE, named after the armor that her cyborg body is called, 'Environmental eXoskeleton Equipment." Another planet pops up on the screen, "This is Florauna. A quick overview of the powers of this planet. Every generation, the planet holds a contest to figure out who the warrior will be to continue a legacy of warriors that host their jungles' spirit. After a while, Power Rider EXE went to the planet, and the warrior of that generation, Namazo, began to call himself Power Rider Roarior."
Another planet pops up, "This is Zaxis 12. Not much here, minus two runaways who became Power Riders, to our knowledge. In fact, we don't know why they became Power Riders. Power Rider Static is Yuriki while Power Rider Surge is Shigo." Another planet, "This is Sorai, home planet of Power Rider Zephyr, better known as Hiroba." A world shows up on the screen, "Supras 1, home planet of Power Rider Eclipse, Kazuki."
(Just assume that when I switch planets in the dialogue that it appears on screen) "Zeexros, home planet of Power Rider Ninobi, or Ryome. Deckora, home planet of the Power Rangers Royal Flush. Red Spade Ranger: Teenah Johnex. Blue Diamond Ranger: Lordan Gefferzon. Green Clover Ranger: Chezter Thort III. Pink Heart Ranger: Neetah Jamezon. White Joker Ranger: Jakqson "Joker" Addamms. Next up is Rateh, the homeworld to the Power Rangers Dance Beat. Red Dance Ranger: Hibiki. Blue Dance Ranger: Blaise. Orange Dance Ranger: Katya. Green Dance Ranger: Tau. Pink Dance Ranger: Lisel. On to Vulcana, homeworld of the Power Rangers Trisol. Red Trisol Ranger: Aira. Blue Trisol Ranger: Aqua. Yellow Trisol Ranger: Tarra. Marigate, homeworld of the Power Rangers Treasure Trackers. Red Tracker Ranger: Naven. Blue Tracker Ranger: Harta. Yellow Tracker Ranger: Kincs. Black Tracker Ranger: Ratna. Pink Tracker Ranger: Naya."
Dr. Oliver pauses to take a drink before smirking at Hub, "If you are anything like Lan in our world, you might enjoy this next set of Rangers. Meet the Power Rangers Dyna Might! Powered by EXPLOSIONS! They are based on the planet, Glycrin. Red Dyna Ranger: Aliza. Blue Dyna Ranger: Illisine. Yellow Dyna Ranger: Kiros. Black Dyna Ranger: Orelle. Pink Dyna Ranger: Vion."
"Explosions? What's next, little girls with ridiculously powerful magic? And all these planets have their own superpowered team?"
Dr. Hikari smirks, "How about a team of girls who are powered by the Goddess of their planet?" Dr. Oliver continues, "Anyway… Next on the list is Neuros with their Power Rangers Atomic Burst. Red Atomic Ranger: Jecht. Blue Atomic Ranger: Aristo. Yellow Atomic Ranger: Korinda. Green Atomic Ranger: Nindala. Pink Atomic Ranger: Klover. Ionide is the homeworld of the Power Rangers Cosmic Spark. Red Cosmic Ranger: Ewald. Blue Cosmic Ranger: Doctor Zap. Yellow Cosmic Ranger: Isa. Green Cosmic Ranger: Pia. Pink Cosmo Ranger: Meili. Circrune with their Power Rangers Alchemist Adventurers who fought against the two great generals of Stellax. Red Alchemist Ranger: Asta. Blue Alchemist Ranger: Renza. Black Alchemist Ranger: Gripha. White Alchemist Ranger: Alia. Pink Alchemist Ranger: Sacha."
A new voice speaks up, being from a young woman, "How are you handling this information, Hub?"
"That's… a whole lot of Rangers. And aren't their identities supposed to be kept secret anyway? I seem to remember that being a condition for them to keep their powers unless that giant head in a tube was making it up."
Dr. Oliver smiles, "It is in a way, that was mainly for Zordon's, the giant head as you know him, sect of the Morphing Grid. And even then, that was mostly for the benefit of the Rangers of the time since we were mainly teenagers who had lives beyond being heroes."
"I can understand that part. But sects? And where did he come from anyway?"
"We use the term Sect for the Morphing Grid mainly just as a convenient word, but basically its mainly used to separate the origins of the power. Zordon comes from the planet of Eltar from 10,000 years ago and is the source of the Morphing Grid's connection to us Power Rangers. He created the Morpher System to defend Eltar from the Noxturn Empire."
"I'm… a bit behind on the whole Ranger stuff, but I seem to remember something about him being dead?"
"He sacrificed his life in 1999 when the Space Rangers had to destroy his time warp to avoid the complete destruction of Earth. Also, as to why the people behind the powers are public knowledge is what is being dubbed the Ranger War."
"Ranger War?"
"It was when all of the superheroes of the Earth got together and fought against the last of the fleet of the Stellar Empire. We drove them off but at the cost of our powers, minus any powers that became a part of our citizen identity."
"Wait, go back a bit. So you have regular powers, and then you have powers that become part of your identity? How does that work?"
"That isn't a normal thing for the Rangers. Our powers are just transforming into the spandex suits that you know in the shows. The powers that become part of our identities are based on the Power Source, or in the Time Force Rangers' case, your DNA development in the lab. Mostly though, the main benefit of being a Ranger is just a better health situation and martial art style information for your Ranger team placed into your mind, only notable exceptions being the Time Force Rangers and that's due to their births in 3000."
"DNA development in the lab? You mean genetic engineering? Or did something happen in that year that messed with their genetics?"
Dr. Oliver waved to a woman wearing a skintight white uniform that had a badge that shows the Time Force logo, "I am Officer Jennifer "Jen" Scotts, Time Force Pink. We are born naturally, but when we are in the womb, our parents, due to our society's nature, give us a selection of powers. Some pick our jobs for us. It's for our society, which has an underlying issue with mutations. Some therapists believe it's due to a significant event or even the Time Force's reason for being created. Either way, it's an issue."
"In my world, we don't have that, but we do have at least two people who were augmented with nanomachines, giving them perfect health, enhanced strength and stamina, and some cognitive and metabolic benefits. Then we have some people with special abilities. I know some martial artists who use energy manipulation, a seer who communes with spirits…"
Hub raises his hand and it starts glowing with a soft white light. "And then we have this. People who manifest a shining power by overcoming hardship and fighting evil. I hear they have many names across other worlds. Radiant. Suntouched. Warriors of Light."
Dr. Oliver nods, "Ah, in our universe, you could see similar Warriors, but we don't separate by the origin of their powers because we have just as many Warriors and villains who are empowered directly by Light or Darkness. So we just call them the Warriors of Honor. We could probably continue this later for hours. You want to finish up the history lesson or discuss philosophy?"
"You have villains wielding the Light? That's definitely a disturbing notion… and something I'll have to look into later. But go on."
Dr. Oliver smiles, "Trust us, we agree. But the next stop is Irisa and the Power Rangers Prism Protectors. Red Prism Ranger: Caelan Malyn. Blue Prism Ranger: Eryl Garran. Yellow Prism Ranger: Torik Lystan. Green Prism Ranger: Akros Neilsil. Pink Prism Ranger: Miya Hartsole. The planet of Xanadu holds a planetary aura that caused a group of monks who used it to be attacked, creating the Power Rangers Universal Aura with the death of a monk wearing green. Red Aura Ranger: Azzan. Blue Aura Ranger: Joska. Yellow Aura Ranger: Zenara. Black Aura Ranger: Hass. Pink Aura Ranger: Shara. Galus was then attacked by a race known as the Polunts, which gave birth to the Power Rangers Nature's Guardians, who were actually five of the Polunts who defected. Red Nature Ranger: Hawke or Jira Ghestalt. Blue Nature Ranger: Phin or Nora Helmsworth. Yellow Nature Ranger: Leon or Tarin Ghestalt. Green Nature Ranger: Rhi or Divie Dupart. Black Nature Ranger: Bise or Irios Rowlan."
"That's… a whole lot of names to keep track of," Hub mutters, looking a little dizzy.
Dr. Oliver sighs, "For now, I am going about this in the quick and dirty route. If you want, I can show you the transformations of them from now on and even show you the ones that I told you about."
"Fair enough. Or some kind of database link would also be helpful. Even my brain has limits."
Dr. Oliver laughs, "The database is purely on a need to know basis. And for now, I am not willing to risk it with someone of your capacity. It's still being developed. You want me to show you the transformations?"
"Might as well start with something simple like that."
Dr. Oliver then waves to the seat behind Hub, "You might want to sit down. Also, do you need to use the restroom? This will be a bit."
It's Hub's turn to laugh now. "I'm good. My body is built extra tough. I can probably hold off on the restroom for another day."
Dr. Oliver shrugs, "New tech for us. Got to be sure. Also, I didn't want to be rude about it. Also, you want anything to drink?"
"That would be nice, actually. Something fresh to cool the head."
Dr. Oliver smiles, "You can just ask the table for any drink, non-alcoholic. Military use for us."
"Well, that won't be a concern for me. I don't drink alcohol. Not like it would do anything to me anyway."
Dr. HIkari laughs as Dr. Oliver snorts, "Fair, mainly just noting because we have some alcoholics in the room."
Hub blinks. "Really now? Anyone I know?" He punctuates that by glancing in Lan's direction.
Lan notices that. "HEY! I am underage!" Dr. Hikari just raises an eyebrow at that interaction. Dr. Oliver points at a woman who was clearly pregnant.
"Oh. Just checking. I remember this one time our Lan and Mayl mistook a bottle of cider for juice and… well…"
Mayl and Lan's faces spoke to how accurate that was. Dr. Oliver snorts.
"Some things really never change."
Dr. Oliver just smiles, "Anyway, you good to start the footage?"
"Go ahead."
Dr. Oliver smiles, "We're starting with the Power Rangers Eltar. Names of the Rangers. Red Eltarian Ranger: Zoltar. Blue Eltarian Ranger: Sabevy. Yellow Eltarian Ranger: Xof. Green Eltarian Ranger: Yensid. And the Pink Eltarian Ranger: Nickel."
Then the screen pops up with a scene: In unison, they each step forward with each hand to the side of their bodies parallel to the ground. As they step back into a neutral position they place both wristbands on top of each other, "With the Power of Eltar!" The Rangers are covered from feet up in a glow of ranger color. They hold their hands out and an orb of Ranger-colored energy forms their helmet which they bring towards their head as the energy wraps around their heads. The being where Zoltar once stood spun around and said, "Red Ranger!" The man where Sabevy stood spun around and said, "Blue Ranger!" The figure where Xof stood spun around and said, "Yellow Ranger!" The green-clad figure where Yensid stood spun around and said, "Green Ranger!" And the female figure where Nickel stood spun around and said, "Pink Ranger!"
"They've definitely nailed their choreography… just like in the TV shows."
Dr. Oliver shrugs, "No one knows why we are so choreographed. Anyway, you want to see the Power Riders from the era?"
"It gets even weirder where I'm from. First, you had the Japanese shows called Super Sentai. Then they were adapted into Power Rangers in the west. Then someone decided to release Power Rangers in Japan, dubbed by the Sentai actors who played the same colored Rangers."
Dr. Oliver snorts, "Sounds like Japan."
"Anyway… These Power Riders? Any relation to the Kamen Riders or Masked Riders or whatever they're called here?"
Dr. Oliver smiles, "Actually yes, I know that they are. I'll explain when we hit the Masked Rider. He's the main reason that people have confusion over it. So you want to see the original Riders or skip to the modern Riders?"
"By original Riders, do you mean Takeshi Hongo and so on, or do you have different ones here?"
"Technically, yes and no. The first Power Rider in the universe is a king of the planet of Edenoi and the first Kamen Rider, which is different from the Masked Rider, is Takeshi Hongo."
"OK. Just one question. Well, two. Do you also have a Spider-Man here, and does he fight like a Kamen Rider and with a giant robot?"
Dr. Oliver gives a large grin, "We do have a Spider-Man. Shit, we have every known version of him within the Marvel Comics universe. Even the Toby Macguire Spidey."
"And I thought my Earth was turning into a weird mishmash. Your world has it beaten by a long shot."
Dr. Hikari smiles, "I feel ya. Also, you know of the anime and manga Dragon Ball? We have the company of Capsule Corp. And we are just waiting on a Namekian and Saiyan crashing here."
"Honestly, your world has so many unusual elements put together that it makes me wonder if someone tampered with reality itself to make it this way."
Dr. Oliver snorts, "Not the strangest thought we have heard of to describe it. Anyway, you want to see the transformations of the first Power Riders?"
"Go ahead."
Dr. Oliver nods, "I am just going to give you the names of the three Power Riders. Power Rider Royal 1: King Takgo. Power Rider Royal 2: Queen Hayno. Power Rider Royal V3: King Shirami."
The screen shows him a series of transformations. Takgo flips the Edenoi Royal Family's crest that is the buckle on his belt, which flips to transform into the Rider Belt, "Let's ride!" A whirlwind appears from the crest, surrounding him and forming his Rider Armor. He slides into a grasshopper-like pose, "Power Rider!" Hayno flips the Edenoi Royal Family's crest that is the buckle on her belt, which flips to transform into the Rider Belt, "Let's ride!" A whirlwind appears from the crest, surrounding her and forming her Rider Armor. She jumps into the air and lands with one knee on the ground and raises her head, "Power Rider 2!" Shirami flips the right switch on the Rider V3 Belt activating the fans on both sides of the belt, "Let's ride!" He flips the left switch with creates twin whirlwinds from the fans which slowly forms his Rider Armor. He squats and forms a "V" shape with his arms, "Power Rider V3!"
"Not too different from the ones I've seen."
Dr. Oliver nods, "These are simple because these are from around 10,000 years ago. Next up is Power Rider E.X.E." On the screen, Kejin places the EXO Belt on her waist. She slid into a warrior pose, "Let's Ride!" She then slams her palm into the center of the EXO Belt. She jumps into the air as an 'X' of energy appears around her and forms into her Rider Armor. She lands on the ground in a squat, "I am Power Rider E.X.E.!"
Hub blinks. "Well… if this whole Ranger thing doesn't pan out, they've got a future in the Cirque du Soleil."
Dr. Oliver snorts, "I know that a few did try."
Lan blinks. "I don't remember our Hub being this much of a smart mouth."
Hub grins. "After over thirty years dealing with you, what would you expect? Besides, our Lan is worse."
"Oh?" Mayl interjects.
"Ever since he started having kids, his smartass act and his jokes have been getting worse. "
