It was a breezy day in Sydney, a light wind that helped to cut the early summer heat. The lingering hints of spring humidity hung in the air, stubbornly clinging on despite the growing influence of the sun. Somewhere in the distance, a cicada sung its siren song, piercing through the din of passing cars and people. It seemed like a normal day, urban living spread out across millions of people squeezed into the same small space.
Kronii Orou walked down one of the sidewalks in this city, sharing it with the many folks who moved to and fro around her. What small lives they led, bound by the laws of time and space. But, there was an honor in that, in doing what they could with what little opportunity they had. For the Warden of Time herself, though she couldn't understand the tendencies of humans, she did respect them.
An adjustment of her black hair caused a glimpse of green to her left. There walked her friend Fauna Ceres a companion on this trip of theirs. Both girls carried bags of various sizes and colors loaded onto forearms and grasped in hands. Indeed, all five of her comrades were similarly encumbered. Except, of course, for Baelz Hakos who'd somehow managed to wrap one around her neck. How she'd managed to feed her wild red hair through its narrow loops was anyone's guess.
The furthest on the left, and thus closest to the road, held the most bags, some of which belonged to the other members. As the physically strongest of their group, Sana Tsukumo volunteered herself to share some of the load. The last and quietest of their quintet, Mumei Nanashi, hadn't volunteered any of her score, however. Not wanting to be a burden was just like her. Instead, a sentient paper bag with glowing blue eyes floated next to her, a shopping bag draped over him. No one really knew who or what he was, but he was Mumei's friend, and that was good enough for them.
If she were honest with herself, Kronii didn't really know what to say at this juncture. This little shopping trip had been the first time all five of them were together in real life. Their interactions thus far were restricted to voice, video, and text communication through the internet. To stand next to them like this felt surreal. Kronii couldn't really describe it. All she knew was that, for the fist time in a very long while, she was happy.
Fauna must've felt her eyes lingering a bit long, for she glanced over and smiled. When their eyes met, Kronii looked away, a vain attempt to save face. Arguably, such a reaction made it worse. Knowing Fauna, she probably found it cute, which was infuriating.
"I'm so glad we could all do this," Sana said.
"Me, too," Fauna echoed, looking forward again. "Not sure my wallet agrees, though."
"Why do you even worry about money? Can't you just grow it on trees," Baelz asked, adjusting the bag around her neck.
"You know that's not how it works," Fauna said with a chuckle.
"Lame," mocked Baelz.
"Did you get anything good, Mumei?" Kronii asked of her owlish friend.
"I'm curious about that, too. I literally have no idea what you would possibly buy," Sana added.
Mumei hesitated for a moment. "It's mostly small stuff. Makeup, art supplies, snacks, that kind of thing."
"Snacks?" Baelz perked up. "What kind of snacks?"
"Don't worry, I'll share," Mumei said.
"What about you, Kronii? What did you get?" Sana leaned forward to look at her.
"Clocks. It's literally all clocks. And a snow globe," joked Kronii.
"Fine, keep your secrets," replied Sana.
"Snow globe?" Mumei wore a puzzled expression.
"It had a polar bear in it."
"That's adorable," Fauna said, causing Kronii to grumble deep in her throat.
The wind picked up, and Kronii lowered her head to face it. It was a windy day, after all, so a momentarily stronger breeze struck her as normal, if a bit annoying. Indeed, she didn't think twice about the weather until lightning struck the ground. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, and a bolt should never have actually reached the pavement with all of the high buildings around. When Kronii looked up at this oddity, what she saw shook her to the core.
A mob of what she could only describe as robotic monsters wreaked havoc through the intersection up ahead. They attacked the citizens, running after them with reckless abandon, punching, kicking, and throwing them to the ground. Some of these machines had weapons, which they trained on the innocents now screaming as they ran for their lives. One of them even chopped a parked car in half for no apparent reason, though it did seem to delight in the shower of sparks.
Kronii's brain failed to understand what was happening. The scene which played out before her was such a jarring juxtaposition from what the day had been just moments ago, she found it nearly incomprehensible. How had a prefect moment gone so wrong in literally the blink of an eye?
Where she hesitated, other's acted. Sana and Baelz both, without a millisecond's hesitation, rushed into the fray, dropping their bags as they went so that the contents spilled all over the sidewalk.
"Hey!" Kronii called and reached a hand out to them, but they were far beyond listening to her. She sighed.
"Should we... help them?" Mumei asked.
"They'll get themselves hurt, otherwise. Come on, girls," Fauna said. The three of them shared a glance, and then they were off.
Kronii threaded through the now abandoned cars, fighting against the tide of people moving in the opposite direction. To her left, Mumei drew her golden dagger. That was probably a good idea, so Kronii produced her own weapons, dual swords made to resemble the slim-pointed hands of a fancy clock.
Within seconds, they were upon the enemy. The machines, taken by surprise, were not able to immediately respond to this second wave of attackers. Kronii spun as she stepped, lashing out three times in the rotation, a hit for each slice. An opposing machine slashed down at her with a blade of its own. Kronii blocked with one sword, and cut across its middle with the other. Another came at her and she tried to give it a push kick, but the slim and lanky nature of these foes made them surprisingly evasive. It punched at her and she slipped back. She then ducked underneath spinning kicks from opponents on either side, slicing up at them with her weapons as they whiffed. The one she'd missed tried to tackle her. She rolled to one side and sliced out as it passed. She sprung to her feet and sprinted further forward, passing Baelz as she did.
The redhead caught a punch from one enemy and spun her body around to fling it into another so that both foes went tumbling down. She then used this momentum to pop up for a spinning kick through a third machine. One of them brandished a sword at her. She sidestepped the attack, simultaneously kicking the robot's wrist so the blade went wide and sliced through an enemy on her left. Baelz stepped forward and leveled a pair of punches into the swordsman's torso, buckling it over. As it fell, she placed a hand on its back to vault over it and scissor kick another two machines. One of them simply crumpled, while the other went flying past Sana.
As their tallest member, Sana had arguably the easiest time in this battle. She blocked a high punch from a foe in front of her. Two machines tried to flank her on either side. Sana flung out straight arms to backfist each at the same time, and then brought both her fists together onto the head of the first robot. One came at her left with an overhand punch. She blocked and gave it a low uppercut. Another tried to come up behind her, and so Sana stretched out a back kick for it. She then jumped into a body varial to rotate and bring a foot down on yet another machine. Landing on her front, she clapper her hands and feet together to both pop herself up into the air and also avoid an incoming sword slash. She tucked into a frontflip to heel down on the swordsman. As it fell, its blade went flying.
Mumei snatched the sword out of the air and delivered its point to a waiting foe. This hand now open, she deflected a punch, stepped and spun past this attacker, sliced with her dagger through an enemy behind it, and then continued this movement with a twist to hamstring the machine she'd surpassed. As it fell to one knee, Mumei shoved it into a fourth opponent. She quarter-turned to her left and administered a trio of quick slashes, each one finding a different home. A step forward brought her beneath a sword swing. She caught the enemy's wrist and stabbed with her dagger. He paper bag friend, not wanting to be outdone, charged full-force into a robot. The foe stumbled several steps backward, unready to be hit by a flying brown sack.
This robot faltered right past Fauna, who gave it an elbow for good measure. She placed a front kick each into a pair of machines coming straight at her. An enemy on her left received a spinning open hand chop which put in on the ground. Fauna ducked low and swept out the legs of a foe behind her, and then rose with an uppercut to one on her right. Facing forward again, she rushed forward with a blitz of straight punches that took out four total machines. A fifth one levied a sword against her. Fauna continued to surge, forming an X with her wrists to stop its hand. She ripped her hands in opposite directions to throw the robot off, and then buried tandem fists into its chest.
Lightning struck again, and thus delivered a new challenger to the battlefield. Where the first machines were slim, this one was big and bulky, broad around shoulders, a barrel chest, and no real neck to speak of. He seemed to be made of a few dozen horizontal metal bands. Lights of red, green, and yellow shone from his body at random intervals. In his oversized hands he held a long axe with a big spike behind the savage-looking head. As he looked upon the situation, a grimace formed on his disturbingly human-like face.
"Come on, then! Don't tell me you can't handle a bunch of girls," he shouted.
"Why is he British?" Baelz yelled back.
Kronii, Sana, and Mumei broke off to deal with this new threat. As the fastest, Kronii got there first. She slashed with both swords diagonally downward. The machine blocked both with his axe and then slid his weapon against them so they were caught together beneath the natural hook created by the head of the axe. Sana came up on the left. The machine continued to pull down at Kronii's swords so he bashed out Sana's knee with the butt end of his axe. He then jabbed upward, catching Kronii in the chin with the blunt top of his weapon.
Mumei reached them on the right. The machine whipped his axe around to hit her in the chest. Sparks flew from the impact as Mumei flew back. Kronii stepped into save her, stabbing three times, alternating swords each attempt. The machine stepped backwards, matching her strides, twirling his axe this way and that to deflect her attacks. Sana tried to catch him unawares with a crescent kick. He ducked beneath the attempt and caught his axe behind her one foot still connected with the ground. A yank uprooted her. In the split-second of hang time, the machine punched her in the stomach, slamming her into the ground.
The enemy then made for Kronii. He stepped and lifted his axe up high, but it was a feint. As Kronii lifted her swords to block, he kicked at her left thigh with enough force to unseat that foot. While she was off-balance, he slammed her in the side with his axe blade. She went flying, crashed into a nearby building, and bounced back to land flat on her face, trailing sparks the whole way.
Fauna and Baelz entered the picture, charging in tandem at the enemy machine.
"You want a piece of the great Mig? I've got plenty for both of ya!" The machine taunted them.
Baelz launched herself into a flying kick. Mig sidestepped and spun, deflecting her foot with his axe, which caused her to spin off-kilter. Coming out of his spin, Mig blocked a punch from Fauna and struck upwards with he butt end of his axe, catching Fauna in the ribs. He then twirled his weapon to slash at her, but Fauna stepped back. Soon as the blade passed, she pressed forward with a duo of punches. Mig blocked, then gave her a sidekick to the middle that halted her approach. He then administered three quick circular diagonal cuts to her chest. Each one trailed sparks as they hit, while the last one sent her spinning away.
"No!" Baelz screamed.
She charged at him again, and for a second time the robot sidestepped. This time, however, he flared out his axe so he trapped her neck beneath its blade. The sudden stop ripped her off the floor. With her head secured, Mig yanked her into the ground. All of the air left her lungs as her back and head slammed against the pavement. Mig finished by giving his axe a flourish and bringing it down into her stomach, showering sparks on contact. Baelz cried out in pain, but lacked the strength to fight back further. She writhed on the ground as Mig turned and walked away.
Kronii watched as Mig came around to loom over her. She tried to stand, but wounded as she was, her elbows only buckled underneath her ow weight. Helpless to defend herself, all she could do was look up at him.
"You're a dual-wielder," he observed. "I don't much like dual-wielders. Best deal with you first."
Mig raised his axe. Kronii refused to close her eyes or look away. She would stare her ending in the face with pride and dignity, no matter how painful it might've been. Distantly, she wondered what would happen to time if there were no one to govern it.
A fog formed around them. Within a matter of seconds, it obscured everything behind an undulating wall of pale grey cloud. Gone were the screams of panic, the stampede of running feet, the speeding cars and blaring sirens, replaced with an eerie silence. The gentle breeze no longer blew. Perhaps most alarmingly, the robots were gone. Mig and his cohort of defeated denizens were nowhere to be found. No aggressor lorded over Kronii threatening to finish her off. It was just the five girls, all alone in their own little world.
"What happened? Where are we?" Sana's demand echoed around the space.
"Fauna, what is this?" Mumei asked.
"How should I know?" She fired back.
"You're the nature chick. What's up with this fog?" Baelz piled on.
"This isn't a natural fog. I don't know what it is, or where it came from."
Kronii tried to stand up, and was shocked when her body cooperated with her. Indeed, all of the pain and weakness she'd felt just seconds ago vanished entirely. She wasn't even tired anymore. Strong, normally functioning hands and feet pushed her up into a regular standing position. Doing so made her realize her swords were gone. Distressing, but not the most important matter right then. The other girls were also starting to rouse themselves.
"Is everybody alright?" She asked.
"I'm fine, I think," Sana said, straightening up. She looked at Kronii, and her eyes tripled in diameter. "Hey!"
"What?" Kronii looked over her shoulder, and then mimicked Sana's expression.
Standing behind her just inside the fog ring was a human figure. This androgynous being had long, straight silver hair and a triangular halo. They wore a one piece jumpsuit and a long fancy coat, also in silver. Belts hanging from this coat seemed to have a mind of their own as the slivered around like snakes. The only amount of color on their body was a red tie tucked into their suit.
Kronii retreated back to where Sana was. The other girls gathered around them. Baelz and Sana took fighting stances, and Kronii did the same a second after. Fauna seemed ready to do so, as well. Mumei, understandably, seemes puzzled, while her paper bag friend looked to her for reassurance.
"Who are you?" Baelz demanded.
"Peace, Rangers. I mean you no harm. My name is Omega," the figure said.
"What did you just call us?" Fauna asked, incredulous.
"Alright, Omega. What do you want?" Baelz continued to question.
"All will be explained in time," was all Omega said.
"Oh, no, don't give me that," challenged Sana. "We just had a bunch of robots,-or something—ruin a perfectly good day, so don't you come in here talking in riddles. I want answers, now!"
Omega just smiled. She waved a hand, a motion which trailed colorful sparkles. These artifacts moved from her toward each of the five girls. Kronii and the others made to escape, but the sparkles were too fast. Each girl became encircled in the sparks. What's more, they all had a different color. Kronii's swarm was blue, for instance, while to her left Sana was surrounded by pure white. Baelz made vain attempts to swat away her red sparkles, but the others dared not move. Whatever these things were, they didn't seem to pose a threat. Kronii was willing to wait and see what they did.
There came a brilliant flash, emanated from all the sparkles at once, and then gone quick as it came. When it vanished, so too had the sparkles. Kronii looked down at her palm, and found that she now wore a white glove. She pulled at her clothes, but they had been replaced with a skin tight blue suit of some description. Trying to run a hand through her hair caused her to instead grab at a helmet.
Peering around at the other girls revealed they were in a similar predicament. Each of them wore a functionally identical suit, save for differences in color. White sleeveless halter tops with criss-crossing black patterns hung loose over solid colored bodysuits. Golden bands circled their biceps and wrists, where the latter of which helped hold in place white gloves. Black belts fastened with intricate circular buckles secured short skirts that lay over top that same bodysuit on their legs. White boots also latched with gold completed the look.
Their helmets were the most unique parts. While they shared a similar design aesthetic, each of them had a differentiating feature. Sana's had her little spiral limiter sticking out the top. Baelz had tiny mouse ears, while a pair of feathers protruded from out of Mumei's. Fauna had her twig-antler-things. Kronii couldn't' see her own, but a cursory inspection found a ring at an angle around the back of her head.
They all had a different primary color for their bodysuits. Baelz was red, while Sana wore white. Fauna sported green, and Mumei had yellow. Kronii had already discovered her own color was blue.
"You've got to be kidding me," she said.
"This is so cool!" Baelz enthused.
"Omega, what is this?" Fauna asked.
"Destroy the great Mig," Omega said his name as an insult. "That will prove your worth. If you succeed, I will answer any questions you may have."
The fog began to disperse.
"Wait!" Sana called.
But it was too late. The fog disappeared, and with it went Omega. Just like that the girls were back on Earth, standing together in the now mostly abandoned streets of Sydney, Australia, dressed up in their new outfits. They had been deposited facing Mig, which was bizarre, because—unless Kronii's spacial awareness failed her—they should've been looking in the opposite direction.
"What? Power Rangers?" Mig shouted.
"Oh, that's what these guys are called," Mumei said. "I couldn't remember."
"That's right, we're Power Rangers," Baelz took a step forward, "and we're here to destroy you!"
"You're... taking this rather well, Bae," observed Fauna.
"I'm surprised you're not. I mean, who didn't want to be a Power Ranger growing up?" Reasoned Baelz.
"You know, I'm kinda into it," Kronii said. "Everyone compares us to Power Rangers, and now we actually are. It's neat."
"Do we have weapons?" Baelz held out her right hand. A four-foot red boomerang materialized within it. "Ah, wicked, mate!"
The other girls followed her example. When Kronii held out her hands, she grasped a pair of matching jian swords. Sana had a meteor hammer, a circular weight on the end of a long chain. Fauna brandished a staff made out crooked branches. Oddest was Mumei, who held her seemingly unaltered dagger.
"I don't care what you are, or what you have. You're still no match for the great Mig!" The machine blustered.
"We'll see how great you are. Rangers, attack!" Baelz demanded.
The girls charged, and Mig ran to meet them. Even with their strange new powers, Kronii was still the fastest, and as such engaged first. She struck up with her swords, jumped as she spun into the air, and brought them both down right before landing. Mig stepped back from these attacks. When they'd cleared him, he retaliated by striking down at her. Kronii blocked.
The big red boomerang from Baelz collided with Mig's midsection before returning to her, forcing him to grunt and disengage. Mumei followed immediately afterward. Before Mig could recover his defenses, Mumei covered him from bottom to top with a series of impossibly quick slashes. Kronii joined next to her, and together they sliced all over Mig's form until the sparks from their blades made him hard to see. The only indication that he'd managed to escape from all of this was when Kronii's attacks began to meet only air.
Mig tried to run away, but Sana intervened. She used the ball and chain of her weapon to wrap up Mig's arm and pull him back, straight into another throw from Baelz. The newly christened Red Ranger jumped high in the air as the boomerang returned to her. She caught it mid-leap and came back down, smashing it into Mig's face.
He stumbled back, and as he did, Fauna appeared next to Baelz. The Green Ranger lashed out, spinning her staff in an intricate pattern up, down, and around to strike several times at Mig, driving him further back. Baelz again threw her boomerang. As it came back, Fauna caught it on the tip of her staff. The boomerang rotated around these branches as Fauna spun herself around. At the end of her spin, she whinged it at Mig, hitting him again. Baelz rushed forward, caught the boomerang, and slashed twice at Mig's stomach.
Sana rushed up between these two girls. Her weapon was a constant rotation, quick continuous circles to both control and utilize the momentum of it. She place three hits into Mig's chest before he even reacted. Fauna then weaved between these rotations, passing in front of Sana to strike Mig twice. Sana hit again, and Baelz followed her companion's example. She also threaded herself through the chain to smack Mig. The trio, two of them having swapped places, lined up abreast. All at once, they drew back and brought their weapons down. Mig finally uprooted. He flew through the air and tumbled several times along the ground to finally, somehow, land on one knee.
The Rangers gathered together. From left to right they ordered Fauna, Sana, Baelz, Kronii, and finally Mumei on the far right. Together they stared down their enemy, utterly defeated and brought low before them.
"I almost feel bad for him," Mumei said.
"Don't. He brought this upon himself," Kronii reasoned.
"Wow, Kroniini, that's harsh," Sana joked. Kronii shot her an annoyed glare.
"Lets put him out of his misery. Ready girls?" Baelz said.
"Ready!" The other four shouted in unison.
The girls assumed a fighting stance and raised their weapons high.
"Continuum Counter!"
All at once, they brought their weapons down. A kaleidoscope of color shot from them. Each of their shades spiraled together as they rocketed toward the enemy. Mig screamed as the lights passed through him, trailing sparks and explosions. The colors dissipated then, and Mig stood still for a second. He almost seemed to have resisted the attack, but soon toppled forward. The moment his face hit the ground, he went up in a great fireball. The Rangers turned their back on the blast, assuming a relaxed stance as the fire faded away.
"Decommissioned," Baelz announced when the flame had gone. "Or something. I'll have to workshop that one."
It was a solemn victory. The citizens had abandoned the area long ago, leaving them alone to celebrate the resolution of their first ever battle. It was better that way, Kronii thought. Recognition would make her jobs harder, both as the warden of time and a Power Ranger. That no one knew them, though it may have been lonely, was a good thing overall.
Baelz whooped, pumped her fist, and jumped. "That was so awesome, girls!"
"I'm... not really sure what happened, but I think I liked it."
"That's the spirit, Mei-Mei!" Enthused Baelz.
"That was all so fast, I don't think I've processed it yet. We're... Power Rangers?" Fauna wondered.
"Heck yeah we are!"
"I hate to break up this little party," said a voice from behind them, "but we have work to do."
The girls turned around to behold the figure of Omega, not concealed in their fog shroud, but there in the city street. Kronii couldn't hep but notice the breeze had settled down, and yet Omega's hair still blew in an unseen wind. Their three belts slithered around as if alive.
"Alright, then. Talk," Sana said.
"Not here, too many eyes. Follow me."
Omega didn't walk away. Instead, they glided about an inch above the street. The girls hesitated to follow, exchanging uncertain glances amongst themselves. This indecision would destroy them. They'd never get anywhere if no one made a choice. So, Kronii decided. She began after Omega. The others fell in behind her. Kronii did not trust this Omega figure, whoever they were, but the only way to get answers was to play their game. So, she would play, just long enough to see if this was worth her while. After all, even she only had so much time to waste.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, I'm currently writing both a Hololive fanfiction, and a Power Rangers one, so it's only natural that I would combine them. I got this idea I saw that the HoloCouncil was five perfectly color-coded larger than life beings. Then, when Kronii herself compared them to the Power Rangers, I knew what had to be done. Thus, Continuum.
I noticed there are some similarities in the character designs for each of the HoloCouncil. All five of them wear a white top of some sort, and they all have skirts. I incorporated these features into their suit designs, while also taking some cues from Lost Galaxy and Lightspeed Rescue, just because I'm currently rewatching them.
Please remember to leave kudos and a comment if you liked this first chapter. What do you think Omega is up to, and what will the main villain be like?